But then the intensity of each of his senses increased and he realized exactly who had sent the message. It should have been obvious, looking back. Now he could place the feeling he had been experiencing at the beginning of the vision. It was not merely happiness, it was hope.
That combination of sensations had happened at a point in his life when he had felt a turning point. That new possibilities were now opened to him that he never believed would be a part of his life. That things were going to change for the better. That he had finally gotten a break in his depressing letdown of a life.
He wouldn’t have ever thought about this moment in particular but the hybrid-Nth had known. Somehow, they were able to communicate in a way that typical Nth weren’t, and had found this set of circumstances to transmit that emotion in the peculiar way they communicated.
Perhaps that was why it was so confusing to Gus when they had tried to communicate in the past. They didn’t have any context to share their messages.
As Gus was ruminating on this, an enormous moon began to rise, replacing the sun. It was much larger than a normal moon, and brighter by far. It began to rise above the horizon, its pale reflection creeping across the ocean as it continued to rise. The speed with which it rose was unnatural, and it slowed as its lower edge touched the horizon, balancing there.
The reflection flickered on the waves as it touched the shore. The light pooled together and coalesced as a figure stepped out of the water. It was humanoid in form, but it was also fluid. It glinted with a pale glow, shimmering like mercury. It stepped slowly from the waves and Gus saw the moonlight reflected across the head.
As the humanoid form approached, Gus could see that the head had no face at all—smooth and featureless like a mannequin. It stopped on the beach below and appeared to squint, the smooth surface puckering in. As the figure relaxed, the shape of the eyes remained, and lids opened, revealing blue eyes that glowed lightly in the dark.
Gus realized with a start that they were fashioned after his own eyes, at least the facial features around the eyes themselves. The iris reminded Gus of a wolf’s, penetrating and wild.
Without breaking eye contact, the figure reached an arm up and swung it in an arc overhead. Time sped by as if in fast forward, and it was day again. The figure pointed at both its eyes with two fingers then pointed to Gus and then to the water. He aimed his attention there and saw a ghostlike representation of himself, as he returned from his deep dive to get the second plate.
As he left the water, the figure pointed at the plate and then to itself.
“Okay, I get it. You’re the Kroutonium, or Endurium. Is there any name you’d prefer?”
The figure looked up and tapped its face where the chin would be as if in thought. It then nodded and its body went mercurial again, slowly reforming into a tower with multiple tiers as it tapered to the top. The hand re-emerged and pointed to the very top of the tower.
“Tower, tower. Top of the tower.”
The hand beckoned, in an encouraging gesture.
“Um. Roland?”
A quick finger wag no.
“Just tell me. If you can’t talk, write the words, like you did with the clouds—”
The brows furrowed and the figure shook its head in a violent ‘no,’ reminding Gus of his friend’s little brother throwing a tantrum.
“Calm down, I’ll keep playing charades, shhh. Shhh.” He held his hands out placatingly. The being vibrated and wisps of whatever it was made of started to emanate like dry-ice vapor. With some coaxing, he finally settled the creature and within seconds the being was just staring expectantly as if nothing had happened. It then formed the tower again with its accompanying arm.
“Turret? Spire?”
A back and forth wishy-washy movement. The finger once again pointed to the very top of the tower, then motioned at the body of the tower with another finger wag no.
“So only the top. Okay. Penthouse?”
A vehement thumbs down.
“Capstone?”
A tenuous, waggling okay sign let Gus know he was close but not getting the exact meaning that was trying to be conveyed.
“So Cap for now. I like that. A little more personal than ‘hey you.’”
The tower reverted to its previous humanoid figure. Holding its hand out, another figure bulged out of its hand and resolved into a small man the size of an action figure. As it became more detailed, Gus recognized it as himself, though it was a solid white with no shading for details. This was further confirmed when Cap pointed to it and then to Gus.
“I get it, that’s me. Now what?”
The mini-Gus split like an unwound piece of rope, separating into three components, each with a different color. One red, one blue, and one a greenish yellow. Cap’s other hand beckoned to the sky, where clouds had gathered to form a distinctive shape, reminiscent of his display. The figures leaped into the air and flew like streaks, leaving colored contrails behind them. They populated the areas on his display where he tracked his HP, MP, and Stamina.
Seeing the connection, Gus tried to confirm.
“So those three aspects are part of my nature, I guess? Health, energy, and MP. What would MP be?”
Cap waved its hands in a “slow down” gesture. The colored figures flashed back, and Cap pointed to the red one.
“That’s health—”
A vehement shaking of the finger.
“Not health, then… Life?”
Big thumbs up from the figure.
“Not sure how that’s different than health, though.”
Next Cap pointed to the blue figure, which was analogous to MP. With its other hand, it made a cage around the blue character and pointed to Gus.
“So I can’t access my MP. I have figured that out.”
The figure shrugged then scooped its hand
