Word count: 1607 words
The boy was up in the bell tower again, the light of his senshi phone illuminating his freckled complexion. His eyes and thumb remained trained on the home button that took him to his asteroid before, but Cadmus was unsure if he was ready for his second descent. It took some thought after returning to Earth for the chibi to realize that what he heard last time he visited the asteroid were not haunts out for him, but ghosts from the past. Memories, to be exact.
While his mind drifted between the ones he became conscious of, nothing intrigued him more than the very last statement he heard before parting from the asteroid.
"You are Cadmus... And it is your duty to become more than what you are," Cadmus said. "What did you mean by that?"
He didn't know who the voice belonged to, but they sounded significant to Cadmus. Well, the Cadmus of the past. The boy wanted answers, and despite the knot in his gut, he steeled his resolve and shut his eyes. Pressing the phone to his chest, he took a deep breath, and then jabbed the button. White enveloped his vision, and when he opened them again, Cadmus felt the plush warmth of sand beneath him.
Pushing himself up to standing, the senshi glanced down to where he stood and then shifted his chin over his shoulder to the forest along the horizon. Same place I left from last time, huh, Cadmus noted. So what was I doing again? Looking for something important, right? It should be...
Unlike last time when Cadmus wandered aimlessly around the wasteland, his travels felt more concrete this time. Skidding down the dune, the senshi walked as if he guided by an unseen hand. After a half an hour or so of travel, his venturing came to fruition; something black jutted out of the sand and caught Cadmus's attention. With a hustle in his step, he raced up to it, and stopped just short of something smooth and black buried deep. Gently, Cadmus smoothed a hand onto its wind-torn surface, and jumped a bit when he felt a very slight throb in the back of his head.
"Is this thing alive?" Cadmus said, tilting his head. "Or does it just have magic? Either way, it's giving off a really faint energy signature..."
Suddenly, Cadmus became aware of another in the distance. Following it, the boy found another one of the odd, black figures buried in the sand. Their number multiplied as Cadmus traveled further into the wasteland; inky lumps against the strikingly blue sky. The further Cadmus walked, how striking their numbers came, to the point the boy couldn't count anymore. He related them akin to robots; odd structures that were vaguely humanoid, with twig-like limbs much too thin to stand on, possibly.
Soon, their numbers began to recede, but they seemed to lead to something significant and, upon its sight, what he was looking for. A sizable structure that the boy could only describe shaped like a dollop came into view. Approaching it, Cadmus climbed onto its foundation and rounded it twice; the sun glinting off of its dark beige surface. It rose high toward the sky, and just staring upon it provoked a myriad of emotions from the boy. Cadmus wasn't sure to either be pleased or disgusted by its appearance.
Tugging open the door at the base of the tower, Cadmus paced inside and shut it behind him. What surprised him most wasn't the interior, but of how cool it was inside; the smoothed, curved walls probably made from a breathable rock. He ran a gloved hand along the eastern wall and stared around, finally taking in the decorated interior; geometric patterns of squares and circles glazed in red made up the tiling of the first floor. Save a black, circle-shaped platform at the center, it was bare of any ornamentation save a few scattered lounge areas. Ignoring these as they were not of much interest to the boy, the chibi found himself drawn to the center platform.
Suddenly, Cadmus felt his mind jerk forward and then back as if his consciousness was literally pulled into the past. When he came to, he found himself staring in on his own memory; an outside observer to a pair of bodies—an elder male and a green-haired, gangly teen about his age—in the hallway of the seemingly new tower. Both of their ears were elongated and elf-like, causing Cadmus to tug at his own lobe self-consciously.
The green-haired teen seemed to be transfixed by the illegible writing carved onto the walls of the tower. The man, patient but firm, thumped his cane twice to the ground to draw his attention.
"Come now, young Cadmus, we do not have time to dally."
The Cadmus of the past perked up at the man and raced to his side. Slowly, matched to the pace of the elderly man and his limp, the two walked in tandem; Cadmus's hand clutching at the man's robe in either security or guidance.
"Grand Master, why are we here?" Cadmus asked. He looked around wearily. "I thought you said we wouldn't return to Cadmeia now that my powers were awakened."
"I meant in due time, my boy," the Grand Master said. "There is still much training to be done before Cadmeia can become yours. However, we are still here for something important."
"Mine?" Cadmus's eyebrows rose. "Why would it..."
"Now, now, my boy, that will be revealed in due time. For now, the platform, if you please."
Cadmus raced forward and stopped at the center of the black circle. Stamping his foot on it twice, the glass orb embedded in the middle glowed red. When the Grand Master clambered on, he used his cane to hit one of the button tiles surrounding the orb, and the platform rose up.
The memory broke there, and Cadmus felt his consciousness lurch back into him. Clutching his temple and then shaking his head to clear the haziness, he turned to the platform in the middle of the tower, and stamped a foot on it. Suddenly, the orb at the center shined forth with a red light, and after pressing the same button, the platform groaned to life as if it'd been centuries since it was last used, and levitated up a floor, then another, then another, until six were cleared. When it finally came to a stop, Cadmus found himself in another round room, but this one was completely bare save an iron gate that blocked off half of it and access to a staircase that curved into the wall.
The memory that came to him this time wasn't an image, just the exchange of Cadmus of the past and the Grand Master's voices:
"Sir, why are we here?"
"You have seen this place, Cadmus. Many times. Even tried to break the lock."
"Yes, I know, Grand Master. But why are we here?"
"To show you the truth of Cadmeia, of Cadmus, and of you, my boy. Now come. Up the stairs now."
Cadmus approached the gate and gave it a good tug. The rusted lock gave without any resistance, clattering to the floor. The chibi looked at his hand and wondered if it was due to age, or his strength as a super, that broke it.
He walked through the gate and up the stairs, rounding its curve into the wall and up to another floor. Cadmus stalled in the passageway at the sight before him. In this room, peculiar stone tubing ran all along the walls, stopping at a large, stone device that looked like a chunky computer the height of the ceiling. Cadmus approached it and ran his hand along its curved vestibule, wondering what it was for. His next memory answered for him:
"G-grand Master, what is all of this...?"
"This is the master computer of this world, Cadmus. It is what guides our crops and our livelihoods."
"I-I don't..."
"It is what started the battle of Teleboae, the start of this campus, the end of your father and the land it surrounds. It is a blessing and a curse. And the most important thing to you. Our lives are primitive, yes, but the technology we yield, and yielded, are great. It is you who must control the balance."
"Grand Master, I..."
"Everything will be explained in due time, young Cadmus. For now, here, your hand. Press your hand here and solidify your position as protector of this world."
As if guided by the words of the Grand Master, Cadmus lifted his hand, and looked to the stone indentation in the direct middle of the device—a hand print with the symbol of Cadmus carved into the palm. Pressing his hand to it, he shut his eyes, and was overcome by a wash of energy unlike anything he'd ever felt. It stretched out to all four limbs, imbuing them with strength as if lengthening them, before receding to his core and bursting. Cadmus choked back a yelp that frightened his eyes wide open, and when he became conscious of himself, he was no longer a boy.
He felt taller, swifter, and stronger. Now he was no longer bound as a chibi, he was a true, full-fledged senshi. The teen looked down at himself and then around the room, suddenly seeing his homeworld in a whole new light.
You are Cadmus... And it is your duty to become more than what you are.
"So this is what you meant by that," Cadmus said, curling his hand into a fist and smiling. "I think I understand now."
