The Dream Shifter

Chapter 167

"Eleven days?!" Yori exclaimed, confused with this sudden new piece of information. It had everyone a little off balance having never heard anything about being on a deadline. Yori saw the pieces lining up from the actions that Ayumi took throughout the previous days. It all made sense, but oddly lacking until now. "This is the first any of us heard about being on a deadline. You couldn't have mentioned this to us sooner? It would have saved us a lot of questioning."

Yuki raised his hand absentmindedly. "I knew!"

"Then you're just as guilty as her," snipped Yori not even bothering to look at him. He focused his efforts on Ayumi. 'I can understand a certain degree of privacy for personal reasons, but this seems like she's deliberately withholding important information only giving us more when we force her into a corner.' Not many times did Yori feel really angry with anyone, but Ayumi pushed him. "Now I want some actual answers out of you about what's going on here and what we should be expecting. No more keeping us in the dark for your own convenience. That's how people get hurt."

Ayumi lowered her eyes contemplating her options. The longer that Yori had been around them the more that she did not like his presence. He more than made up for Yuki's obliviousness. She pressed on able to slowly feed Yuki pieces since he never asked probing questions after a while. Yuki gave up trying for anything too deep. The feeling she got from Yori told her otherwise about him. Too many things were left unexplained and she did not have the time to address them all.

She focused her sight back on Yori. Her course left her with no other action. "I'll give you the information you need when you need it." Ayumi refused to back down and submit to Yori's demands.

"Because you know what's best for us?"

"Yes, I do. This is my home and only I understand it. You forced your way to come with us. I didn't ask you. So I'm not obligated to give you anything!"

"Still sitting on that high and mighty attitude of yours, I see!"

Yumi came up behind Yori touching his forearm. She knew that Yori needed to say what he did, but the limit came to arguing. "Yori…"

"No, Yumi! This needs to be dealt with now. I can't trust someone that thinks of us as baggage."

"He's right!" chimed Seiji. He stood up behind Yumi to enforce his opinion that Yori was correct.

"Tch! Until I see a reason to think otherwise you're just trouble." Ayumi tried to turn away, but caught a glimpse of Yuki over their shoulders. He gave her a piercing stare locking her down. It made her sigh to herself. "You treat this like some school trip. Yet you fail to realize the seriousness of the situation. The moment they know Yuki is here this won't be about capture and throwing us back out. They'll kill all of us without a second thought. I can't allow them to twist everything My King has worked for and oppress My People! You just don't understand!"

Yumi shifted around her brother to get in front to address Ayumi clearly. 'I can sense how passionate she is about this. It's like a struggle between discipline and emotions.' She did not know if she had the right words for the task. Yet to stop before she tried would leave them frozen. "It's challenge for you, isn't?"

Ayumi staggered back a step a little confused and shaken by the look that she got from Yumi. It felt piercing even though the words did not seem to have a meaning to her. She did not understand what happened. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

She smiled with warmth knowing the correct path had been found. "It's the endless struggle between your training as a soldier and what you feel as a human. You're over compensating to cover up one with the other. You're in conflict, right?"

"How dare you speak like you know me!?" The closer that Yumi got her the more that backed away. It grew further unsettling for her. She suddenly felt the urge to run away, cornered.

Taking the momentum to add his piece, Yuki came out of the sidelines to take upsides opposite of Yumi. "She right, Ayumi. I've seen it as well. You bury your passion."

Teamed up against, Yuki dug Ayumi back further. The face that he made at her made it difficult for her to resist. She ground her teeth frustrated and trapped. "Damn it, you're so troublesome…" She had resigned.

"Let's get moving. I'll talk as we walk." She looked around at the group knowing that she had to start making good on being more forthcoming. Her arm stretched out to the horizon ahead of them. "There's a small border village a few hours by foot from here. It'll be where we can rest for the night and resupply since we're lacking enough food to make it to the capital."

Seiji and Yori stared between each other a little confused by the whole emotional exchange that happened. It puzzled Seiji more making him scratch his head. "What just happened? I thought we were arguing?"

"I'm not quite sure."

Fumiko joined them from behind looking a little amused by them. "Women are complex creatures." She looked forward at Ayumi already directing everyone and working to return back to her center. "Especially ones that are soldiers." The tall teen stepped on through them to join those that began to move on.

Both of them still felt lost. Chiharu from behind them with her arms folded up at the back of her head pressed through. "She's saying you're idiots," mocked the ninja casually continuing without missing a beat.

Haruo had no words for them and passed on keeping his usual distance at the back. Yori and Seiji gave up after a few more seconds of trying to figure it out. They rushed out to catch up with the party that had already put some distance between them.

Once Ayumi saw that everyone had caught up to them she began her explanation. "My real name is Eudokia Ismene, as you probably figured out Ayumi Nishimura and everything about her is a false identity."

"Eudokia?" Yuki questioned to himself. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" He forced himself to go through his memories trying to recall where he had heard it. Each time he flipped a page it felt like he got further away. He knew it hid within him. It frustrated him that he failed to remember.

Eudokia gave him a slightly lowered flattened expression. "Because it's my name."

"N-no…I heard it before. I know it!"

She sighed to herself tilting her head away from him. "It's because you heard Dareia say it."

"Dareia? Who's that?"

"The assassin that pretended to be a child. We have a history I'd prefer not to get into at this moment." She headed off the inquiries that had already started to form from their eyes. Some things needed to stay buried for her. "My full title is Captain of the Royal Guard. I'm…was…the King's personal guard and it was my duty to protect his life."

"You knew my biological father?"

"Yes, very well. He was the strongest man I'd ever seen and the most gentle as well. He could be strict and fair, but then loving and caring the next moment." She began to drift in her thoughts away from what she planned. A distant longing appeared on her face as she traveled through her memories. While fond memories came to the surface an awkward pause developed making Eudokia self conscious. She cleared her throat trying to track back to where she had gone on a tangent. "The King holds a very important position for us besides governing. The King maintains Atlantis and allows for the continued survival of his people."

Yori saw that she finally reached a point that explained the impossible reality that they faced. Atlantis defied all logic in existing in an almost tropical environment while being at the South Pole on a frozen continent. He had to know more about Atlantis. "What do you mean when you say 'The King maintains Atlantis'?"

"Atlantis is something that's impossible. You should have all realized that by now. Even terraforming the land would still leave it a block of ice." She motioned out to the scene around them to make her point. At the end she pointed to the ground. "We're walking on a permanent Apati Agros, an illusion field."

The news came as a bit of a surprise to everyone, but more awe. Fumiko admired the rolling green hills in the distance. She looked back over at Eudokia. "You mean to say that this is all an illusion?"

"It works on the similar principle as our powers, but on a completely different level from what is possible."

"You mean it's like Japan?" Yori inserted.

"Yes. The creation of Atlantis here is nothing more than legend and myth to most of us. Even those that believe someone was able to do all this could not explain how it was achieved. It is honestly beyond all of our understanding. I was never quite sure myself about how much of it could be true. I figured that stories embellished the facts to make them seem grander than reality." She stared over at Yuki for a moment. The moments when Yuki awakened and unknowingly changed the country floated through her mind. Even when she saw it before it still felt impossible. The longer that it continued the more she knew better.

Eudokia blinked and focused back ahead. "When I realized what Yuki had done I knew that everything in our history was possible and real. What Yuki did and our ancestor did were vastly different, but the results are the same. Both created permanent change without maintaining a constant field. However, the range is significantly different from what Yuki achieved. The ancestor that must have created it had to be several times more powerful than Yuki. Even more so, it's said that it was a deliberate and controlled effort. Not an accident like with Yuki. Their knowledge of the Meso Prosecho powers far exceeds anything we have in the millennia of evolution."

All of the history lesson took a heavy weight on Yuki as he tried to absorb it all. He had not thought that someone else had done what he had and done so intentionally. It seemed like something impossible with the little understanding that he had of his powers. The thought that far more mysteries remained to be solved presented him with a long stairwell to climb. 'To be able to convert an entire continent almost with their field… How far above me was my ancestor? Will there be a day that I reach their level? Can I undo what I have done once I learn all of the secrets? What more is possible with this power that I haven't considered?'

"Does that mean all of the Atlanteans are special as well like in Japan?" asked Saki, after panning around the group.

Eudokia shook her head. "No, the majority of the people living here are normal. Only a tenth of the population is believed to have the Meso Prosecho powers." A few thoughts ran through her mind about Yuki. She knew his approach differed greatly from what they achieved in Atlantis. Before, there had been glimpses of his unconventional thinking. She regretted never realizing the foreshadowing until it came too late. "No, as I said before what Yuki did and our ancestor here were very different."