Chapter 86: Echoes of Oheyo (Part 4)
The moment Brennan missed the meeting—
Nobody thought much of it.
At first.
"He was busy."
Alice said.
"We all assumed he was busy."
The memory continued.
The group had a habit.
Every few weeks.
No matter how busy they were.
No matter what they were studying.
No matter what jobs they had.
They gathered.
Sometimes at a restaurant.
Sometimes at a park.
Sometimes in one of the dormitories.
Sometimes on rooftops.
The location changed.
The people didn't.
It was the one thing they always maintained.
Their little group.
Their little family.
Then one day—
Brennan didn't arrive.
"Late?"
Taai asked.
"He'll probably show up."
Raj nodded.
"He always does."
Hours passed.
No Brennan.
Akari frowned.
Chocomint became visibly worried.
Alice remembered checking the clock several times.
"He'll come."
She remembered saying.
"He probably got dragged into work."
Nobody believed it.
Not really.
Because Brennan was the type of person who would notify them.
Even if he was dying.
Especially if he was dying.
The meeting ended.
Without him.
Then the next meeting came.
And Brennan still didn't show up.
The office in Asphyxia had become completely silent.
Even Andre wasn't making jokes anymore.
"We started looking."
Alice said.
"And that's when things became strange."
At first they asked around.
Friends.
Officials.
Researchers.
Workers.
People who knew Brennan.
Nobody had seen him.
That wasn't the strange part.
The strange part was that everyone suddenly became unhelpful.
"They knew something."
Alice said.
"We could tell."
"They just wouldn't say it."
People changed the subject.
Avoided questions.
Ended conversations early.
Pretended ignorance.
Even people who liked Brennan.
Even people who owed him favors.
Nobody talked.
Raj folded her arms.
"I hated it."
Taai became increasingly frustrated.
"Then we dug deeper."
Alice continued.
Records disappeared.
Access requests denied.
Documents classified.
Meetings canceled.
The deeper they searched—
The more resistance they encountered.
And eventually—
They found something.
A single report.
Not complete.
Not detailed.
Just enough.
Alice remembered staring at the page.
Unable to believe what she was reading.
Subject:
Brennan.
Research Division Authorization.
Restricted Access.
Experimentation Approval.
The room inside the memory became silent.
Nobody understood.
"What experiment?"
Taai asked.
Nobody knew.
"What was Vaan researching?"
Akari asked.
Nobody knew.
"Why Brennan?"
Raj asked.
Nobody knew.
The questions only grew.
The answers never came.
So they made a decision.
A stupid decision.
A dangerous decision.
The kind of decision only friends would make.
"We were going to break him out."
Alice said.
Andre immediately pointed.
"See?"
"That's exactly the type of dumb thing we'd do."
Nobody disagreed.
The memory continued.
They spent weeks planning.
Studying schedules.
Guard rotations.
Restricted areas.
Maintenance routes.
Everything.
For the first time since arriving in Oheyo—
They were acting against Oheyo.
Against the city that had welcomed them.
Against the government they trusted.
Against Vaan.
And none of them liked it.
But Brennan was their friend.
That was enough.
"We finally found the location."
Alice said quietly.
A research facility.
Hidden beneath Oheyo.
Far beneath it.
The deeper they descended—
The more security appeared.
Magical barriers.
Steel gates.
Runic locks.
Everything screamed one thing.
Whatever was inside—
Was important.
Very important.
And that terrified them.
Because Brennan was inside.
The memory became clearer.
Cold hallways.
White walls.
Magic lights.
Endless corridors.
The facility looked more like a laboratory than a prison.
Which somehow felt worse.
Much worse.
"We reached the holding area."
Alice said.
And finally—
They found him.
Brennan.
Alive.
But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Alice stopped speaking.
For several seconds.
The office remained silent.
Kai noticed her hands clenching.
Raj looked away.
Even now.
Even after all these years.
The memory still hurt.
"We found him."
Alice finally said.
"And he smiled."
A bitter smile.
The kind of smile people make when they already know how the story ends.
Back in the forest.
Kai sat motionless.
Listening.
Remembering.
Watching the story unfold.
The river continued flowing beside him.
And for the first time—
He felt afraid of what came next.
Because Brennan was alive.
Which meant the worst part hadn't happened yet.
Not even close.