The dressings covering Percy’s eyes grew wet with his tears. He hugged A-Ka, and in that moment, A-Ka couldn’t summon any words at all.
“If you could sacrifice yourself to let everyone survive,” Percy asked, “A-Ka, would you still go?”
A-Ka was silent for a long, long time. He lifted a hand and patted Percy’s head.
“Yes, I would,” A-Ka eventually admitted.
For some reason he couldn’t explain, his fear of death was no longer as intense as it had been in the beginning. After he and Heishi had struggled to escape annihilation, leaving the City of Steel and arriving in Dragonmaw City, everything that A-Ka had seen, without exception, showed him what little life force was left in this world. If it were his choice, he would not live in a world like this. Instead, he would rather leave behind a beautiful world like the one he had always wished for, so that everyone who continued to live would be a little happier and able to enjoy a good life.
“So would I.” Percy smiled. “As long as Daddy is able to live well, I’d do it.”
A-Ka thought of Heishi, and his heart throbbed once with pain. “But without you, he wouldn’t live well. Thankfully, I don’t think you’ll need to shoulder that duty.”
“Mm. Before Uncle Moran met me, I always felt like I brought misfortune to those around me. But, slowly, I began to realize that changing variables often appear in my dreams. Now, I think the future that my dreams foretold can change.”
“Because your dreams didn’t have Heishi in them! I believe the future can be changed, too.”
“Hopefully,” Percy said.
Suddenly, Feiluo hurried toward them. “What are you guys talking about?”
A-Ka stood up, and Percy said nothing else.
Spreading his arms out, Feiluo hugged Percy, then ruffled his hair. “Do your eyes feel uncomfortable?”
Percy beamed. “They feel cold. Uncle said he’ll operate on me in a few days. After the surgery, he thinks I’ll be able to see.”
Feiluo nodded before saying to A-Ka, “His Excellency the Pontiff has something to tell you.”
As A-Ka left the flower garden, he turned and looked back, only to see Feiluo with his arms around Percy. The two of them stayed on the bench, quietly talking to each other as they gazed at the sea of flowers.
If A-Ka continued along this path and perished alongside Father, it might be worth it if that let everyone live happily, like how Percy and Feiluo were in that moment.
When A-Ka walked into the pontiff’s study, he saw that Moran was mixing a bottle of medicine as he spoke to Heishi. Heishi was standing to one side, his head raised to examine the books on the bookshelves.
“This path you’re on is of great concern.” Moran nodded to A-Ka before continuing to talk to Heishi. “I imagine that, no matter who goes, they will have no way to change a fate that has already been destined. This is something that is difficult to accept, so it will be an unhappy experience.”
“What would happen if fate changes?” Heishi asked.
“As soon as fate changes, the moment you return, you will find that the butterfly effect will have triggered many subsequent outcomes,” Moran said. “The next time you see Dragonmaw City, it may already be in ruins, or perhaps I will have died.”
A-Ka stood there, completely lost, as he listened to the two of them talking. He felt a sliver of anxiety. Neither Moran nor Heishi said any more, and the study fell into a peaceful silence.
“What medicine are you preparing?” A-Ka asked curiously.
“Anesthetic,” Moran answered. “For surgeries.”
“What did you want to tell A-Ka?” Heishi asked. “Tell him.”
“Please sit, A-Ka,” Moran said. “Feel free to serve yourself some coffee. Do you remember your problem that I mentioned when you arrived here?”
Making his way over, A-Ka poured himself some coffee at the table. He was still thinking about the prophetic dream that Percy had told him about, but he didn’t know how to express that to Heishi. If Percy’s dream were to become reality, on the day that Father was annihilated, when Heishi rebooted the Astrolabe, A-Ka himself would return to nothingness alongside Father.
When he’d heard Percy say it, A-Ka had been very composed. He’d felt it was nothing special; dying this way would be much better than being slaughtered by the unfeeling mechanical guards in the City of Steel. However, when he saw Heishi, A-Ka felt a little sad for some reason, and that small unwillingness to part grew stronger inside him.
“What’s wrong?” Heishi had noticed A-Ka’s strange demeanor.
“Nothing much.” A-Ka managed a smile as he shook his head. His eyes were aching at the edges, but he pushed past it and said to Moran, “We only found two portions of the code to enter the Central System, and there’s still one section with General Liber, but Liber is already dead.” When Moran nodded, A-Ka continued, “I was wondering. Is there a backup copy in Dragonmaw City?”
He watched Moran with anticipation, but Moran had known what A-Ka was going to ask. He smiled apologetically. “It’s a great pity that I have to let you down. Though I knew from Percy’s dreams that the total mobilization would end in failure, I did not obtain a backup copy from General Liber.”
“Is that so?” A-Ka said dejectedly.
“Allow me to ask you two a question,” Moran said. “If you were to be parted after this is all over, if everything that you’ve done so far is not for your own sakes, would you carry on regardless?”
Heishi looked at A-Ka with a question in his gaze. A-Ka was a little lost, and he said nothing.
Moran continued, “To restart the Astrolabe, perhaps… It’s just a possibility, but it may cause you two to encounter hardship. Not only would it change the future, it may even affect the past.”
“I’ll do what A-Ka says. He begged me to give humans and clones a new world,” Heishi said. “A-Ka?”
A-Ka’s eyes watered, and upon hearing those words, he was no longer able to control his sorrow. “I…” Moving forward, A-Ka wrapped his arms around Heishi tightly and buried his head against Heishi’s chest as tears began to roll down his cheeks.
Moran put down the medicine and went to A-Ka so he could stroke his back.
“It seems like you are not yet prepared,” Moran said. “Rest for another day. We still have plenty of time.”
“The general offensive is going to start in three days, right?” A-Ka asked, wiping away his tears. “I am willing. I can do it.”
Moran studied A-Ka, as if he had long since known that he would respond in that way. “The world will remember the price you paid,” Moran said solemnly, lowering himself to one knee. “Son of mankind, please allow me to express my greatest respects.”
A-Ka hurried to lift Moran to his feet. “No need for politeness, Your Excellency. Is there any way to obtain that section of code that was General Liber’s?”
Returning to his position in front of his desk, Moran explained, “As you know, after the materials from the Creator’s laboratory went missing, one human created Father and the City of Steel, one human created the Country of Clones, and there was one more person who founded the Faith of the Stars.”
“Yes,” A-Ka said.
“Just like the others, the first pontiff of the Faith of the Stars brought back a portion of the Creator’s heart. We call it the Wish of the Tides.”
“What…what’s that?” A-Ka asked, confused.
“Technically, in our universe, time does not always flow forward. Elementary particles can be found everywhere, and through their back-and-forth vibrations, they generate a kind of energy. This energy pushes all physical objects to brush through time, and from there they reach the other shore…I imagine. Perhaps I’ll let you see this first. You’ll have a better idea of it then. Please come with me, you two.”
Moran opened a hidden door in his bookcase and guided them through a silent corridor as they descended to the lowest level. This path was very different from the rest of the splendid structures of Dragonmaw City’s Curia, and the moving stairs they eventually reached led toward the depths of the earth.
Moran removed his pontiff’s necklace, which displayed a five-
pointed star that illuminated the ground before them. “This is the Curia’s sacred ground,” he explained. “Only by using the key that ignites the stars can we enter this place.”
As they descended the first segment of rotating stairs, the stars of the sky began to shine in the darkness. This galaxy adorned the silent night like gems spread out on a goose down bed. Then, they began to flash in surges, sending thin threads of white light toward them.
A-Ka squinted. “Those are lethal lasers, aren’t they?”
“Correct,” Moran answered. “The first pontiff created this place, and he accompanies me by my side. Be as careful as possible in everything you do.”
A-Ka watched the lasers intersect as they traveled toward their bodies. However, Moran’s pendant seemed to possess a strange power that deflected the sea of lasers. It generated a warm, golden protective sphere that reflected all the light that approached it. Though, in A-Ka’s eyes, while the lasers were densely packed and formed intricate patterns, it would not be impossible to pass through them.
Of his own accord, Heishi took A-Ka’s hand. “There are gaps in this laser array.”
“Only to you two,” Moran said. “A-Ka’s eyes can perceive the structure of everything in this world. That injection that Professor Callan gave him turned him into the offering that can enter the center of the planet. Anything and everything, he may deconstruct it at will.”
A-Ka felt his heart jolt. So, that’s how this is going to go.