The calm before the storm

There were only Altin, Julien, Eléonore, and Paul still present in the tent. Everybody else had left to give the teens some privacy.

Altin hid nothing from his friends: he described how he reacted when Jurgen tried to kill him and how he met the mysterious Eternitus.

The story told by Atlin was unbelievable. If it weren't for the fact that Altin hadn't changed at all and that he had disappeared without a trace for so long, one would doubt that he was telling the truth.

However, not his friends: they trusted each other, for they had no reason to lie to each other.

He also welcomed Eléonore into the team, happy that she finally decided to join.

With the four of them, the team was finally complete.

The story of Paul pained Altin immensely, but there was nothing he could do except to support him the best he could.

Perhaps Eternitus knew something about the string force that their world didn't. Something that could help repair Paul's body from the damage of excess string energy.

They caught up for hours.

Like Altin expected, a lot had changed. It was worth mentioning that this camp, named Interoutes, was established to recruit and train massively new and current police and military officers in the string force. It was the reason why the army had hastily expanded it. These days, the squads of the Espadon units were mainly deployed here to train the recruits.

It gave the unicorn squad some respite from dangerous missions and also some fame.

Of course, urgent situations still required the unicorn squad to go, sometimes with other squads.

When Altin reported to Brener what had happened, he was unfortunately forced to "lend" the orb to the army for research. Although Altin had given the orb, he knew the orb would teleport to his location when he would need it.

Of course, Altin's story was staggering to the military brass. So they ordered Altin to do a complete medical checkup. They were primarily interested in any side-effect of dimensional travel and in checking whether his body had aged by a day or by six months.

It turned out that Altin hadn't gained a single centimeter in height since he last reported before he went on vacation and left for Reims.

It was impossible for a boy of this age not to grow a single centimeter during six months.

They were forced to admit that Altin indeed didn't age in consideration of his unchanging height and other metabolism marks.

Altin wondered what impact his story would have.

The revelation that there were multiple worlds, species, planets, and seemingly unlimited powers in which somebody could train was mind-blowing. However, it wasn't something for him to worry about.

After reporting to Brener and the medical staff, Altin was given a day off to visit Mr. Durand.

It was an emotional reunion.

The poor man had lost his wife. He had survived and recovered from his injuries, but he had lost the will to live. After recovering, he had returned to his house at Reims. However, every time he would walk into the house, he would think of Mrs. Durand.

The house was full of memories like precious photos or little things like the objects they bought together. Each of them would stir at his heart.

The garage was gone, of course, but the rest of the house was fine.

Mr. Durand was not able to move on. Instead, he lived trapped in the past, reminiscent of the life he had had.

Nonetheless, he was glad to see Altin.

He had thought of him dead as the rest of the world, so this "resurrection" brought some happiness back to his life.

It was a very emotional reunion.

Altin stayed a full day by his side, and by the end of the day, the older man had accepted Altin's request to move to the community created by the 5th force association.

Altin trusted Juliette and Pascal. He knew they planned ahead and that the place they were building would be safer than most places.

He also deemed that Mr. Durand couldn't be left alone. He needed to be around people.

After promising to visit soon, Altin came back to Interoutes.

The place was as busy as usual, but it seemed the enclosure of the camp was nearing completion.

He and his friends all got a full day off to hang out together. It was a little gift from the brass so that they could adequately catch up.

The respite wouldn't last: string force instructors were in terribly dire demand all around the world. As the first squad ever formed of ability users, the teens were often requested to teach at Interoutes.

***

"Altin, wake up! We're late!"

The sleepy boy opened his eyes, only to close them right away.

It was too damn shiny.

Besides, he still felt that sleeping a little more wouldn't hurt...

"Come on! We've agreed to meet at 10 am at the train station. No way I'm letting you miss this. It's a golden opportunity to go out of this camp!"

This reminded Altin that he had to catch a train with Eléonore, Julien, and Paul.

It was time to live again!

Altin jumped off the bed, barely avoiding bumping into Julien, who was already dressed and by Altin's bed.

"What time is it?" Altin asked.

"It's 9:30. We have to leave now. I think Eléonore and Paul might be waiting at the east gate already." Julien replied.

"What about breakfast?" Altin joked. He was hungry, but he knew there was no time for that.

He would have to wait until they reach Orléans, the nearest "large" city from Interoutes base.

Julien knew Altin joked as well, and he didn't reply. Instead, he gently slapped his shoulder.

The two boys were alone in the tent. It was similar to their school dorm in size, except it was brighter and only fit to host two people.

Julien and Altin both shared the tent, while Paul had his own tent due to his disability. Eléonore shared one tent with a girl of her age, 17, named Sara.

Sara had barely started training the string force, but she had shown promising results.

Altin quickly dressed: fortunately, for this trip, he could go out as a civilian. He wore the most ordinary blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Next, he roughly dressed his hair to the side. In that process, he noticed that his hair had grown ever whiter. It was now perhaps 50% white.

Julien himself had opted for something more classy. Instead of wearing jeans, he wore linen light brown pants and a shirt of the same color. As usual, his pair of glasses were clear of any dust and neatly placed on his nose; together with his blond hair, he looked something similar to an aristocrat. The truth was that he was just a science nerd, but one who cared about appearance.

The two boys soon left the tent and came to the Eastern entrance of the camp. As usual, it was busy with military vehicles coming in and out, but fortunately, a sidewalk had been built for pedestrians.

Eléonore and Paul were both waiting there indeed.

They had not changed either; Eléonore wore a colorful purple dress that reinforced her joyful and innocent traits. Her blond hair was tied in a ponytail.

Paul's style was still as messy as always, but perhaps because he was now dressed with the help of an auxiliary, at least the colors matched. He wore blue jeans and an unlikely brown sweatshirt. Seeing Altin and Julien coming late, Paul couldn't help but smile.

It was time to have fun.

They soon arrived at the train station.

Seeing Paul, the people were accommodating and helpful, so there was no problem during the trip.

A little more than an hour later, Altin, Julien, Paul, and Eléonore arrived at Orléans.

The teens were all aged 17, except Altin, aged 16 on record, but still aged 15 by body age.

They all jumped energetically off the train and decided to first head to the MOBE Museum of Orleans, which stood for Museum for Biodiversity and Environment.

Fortunately, Paul could roll there with no issue. It was less than a kilometer away from the train station.

Eléonore was primarily interested in reading and discovering the pawned animals, while Julien wanted to head straight to the section where old skeletons of former humans laid for display.

Eléonore marveled at the little and stuffy animals: every so often, she would say: "This one! It's so cute!" or "Can we find it in France? Can we raise it?"

Disappointed that so few animals could be taken as pets, she even brought the question: "Guys, do you think we could adopt a cat or a dog in the camp?"

"Probably not," Altin replied, "I saw no dog nor cat in the camp, so it's probably forbidden."

"It doesn't mean it's forbidden, though." Eléonore insisted.

The conversation died after that, but Eléonore kept that thoughtful look until they left the museum.

Altin hoped she was not planning to bring in animals in the camp nonetheless. He feared to anger Brener.

The next step of their adventure was the most exciting part for Altin: eating.

Picking up a restaurant for lunch.

Thanks to their missions in the platoon, they had earned some money.

They chose to go to "Le Brin de Zinc," a classical French restaurant with a definite retro ambiance from the sixties.

None of the teens had ever known anything this old, so the looks of the restaurants were funny to them.

Nonetheless, they had a good lunch. The beef "tartare" (a classic French dish, raw beef meat served cut in very thin pieces and aggregated with onions, pepper, salt, and oil) was delicious. It was one of Altin's most favored recipes.

"With just this, the trip is worth it!" Altin had exclaimed.

Everyone knew how deep the love for food ran in Altin, so Julien, Paul, and Eléonore laughed.

Next up, they rent a set of "pétanque balls" - 3 pairs of iron balls marked with the same pattern and an extra ball that served as a goal. It was a game similar to golf.

The game's goal was to throw the iron balls as close to the goal ball as possible. Thus, the player whose balls were closest to the goal ball would win the game.

Altin, Julien, Paul, and Eléonore found a clean spot to play. It was a very fun game for Paul.

He couldn't throw the ball with his hand, so he was allowed to use the String force to create pushing power.

Since the train accident that Paul had helped mitigate, his telekinesis powers had grown enormously. He had no problem pushing or pulling objects by channeling the String force on a specific axis.

Using that, he had naturally won the game. He would first throw a ball with the string force, and then the ball would miraculously slide towards the target goal, sometimes even drawing suspicious curves...

"Paul, you're cheating!" Julien had accused.

"What else can I do?" Paul argued back.

From a technical point of view, he was indeed cheating. It was too easy to adjust the aim after the ball was thrown, but Altin, Julien, and Eléonore accepted it nonetheless. They were glad to see Paul have some fun.

Paul was the winner, and Eléonore came after that. She had a good aim. The girl explained that she used to play a lot with the members of the 5th association.

Of course, the trip wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the library. Books were in very high demand these days, since surfing the Internet wasn't as easy and reliable as before. So when the opportunity arose, Julien didn't fail to ask the group to go to the library to buy new books.

They didn't object, for they all had something to buy.

Altin purchased a book on martial arts and another on popularized physics, a little like Julien. Except that the latter bought not just one but five books on physics, all more complicated than the previous one.

All this was of no interest to Paul, who bought every volume of a specific manga he had wanted to read. Moreover, a robust battery powered his wheelchair, so carrying this little weight was of no consequence.

Eléonore didn't have the slightest interest in science and all, despite having been raised by Marie. Instead, she bought beautiful books featuring photos of animals in various environments.

After that, it was already around 5 pm: time to head back to Interoutes camp. The friends couldn't stay longer, or they would miss the last train. Due to the planned night outages to save power, most came back home early. Travel was limited during the daytime.

"Eléonore, is there any good news about Marie?" Altin asked on the train.

"Not really," she replied, "She's still in the coma. She looks as if she's asleep. She's even dreaming sometimes. Once, I even felt her grip my hand as I held hers."

Eléonore's eyes were lowered and watery.

"Do you know when she will wake up ?" Altin asked, concerned, with both eyebrows raised.

Eléonore shook her head. "How about Mr. Durand ?"

"He's depressed and can't stop reminiscing of Mrs. Durand... But he's alright. He has moved to Crosses. Pascal has given him a job, I heard." Altin replied.

The discussion went on until they arrived at Interoutes.

A moment after, they had dinner at the military cafeteria.

The young adults were always a sight for the staff there: they were some of the youngest among the people dining. Fortunately, they were even younger people now that the army was openly recruiting ability users.

Altin, Julien, Eléonore, and Paul stayed together for some more time until they went to bed as soon as 9 pm.

It had been the best day the friends had had in a while.

Altin silently wished that they would have fun in the future like they had today forever.

***

In an unknown place.

"Lady Ensani! Lady Ensani!" A man came rushing towards a floating throne where a fine middle-aged lady sat.

The man wore a long black and red robe that covered all but his face of bronze skin. His skin was, in fact, hardly natural: it was of the same color as the bronze alloy and was shining just as much.

Like everyone in the big hall, he was flying with excellent stability and control.

"Ludor, what is it?" The woman replied.

"I bear great news! Your son's marker! It has been activated!" The bronze man replied.

The woman was shocked; she stood up, shouting: "WHAT! Are you sure?"

"There's no mistake! We have verified the signature several times. It matches!" The man confirmed resolutely.

"Altin..." She murmured thoughtfully. She then asked loudly: "So where is he?"

Doubts and indecisions showed on the man's face. "That...," he said, "we don't know. The signal comes from many space-years and time-years away. It is so weak that we cannot triangulate its origin for now, but I've already sent a team to find out."

The woman clenched her fists. It wasn't good news. Backtracking the source of a signal in the multiverse always took time and considerable effort.

"Also..." The man added. "Seeing at the pattern of the signal, it came from a primitive world."

The woman sighed. "So this is why I haven't found him after all this time..." She thought, looking at orange clouds through the windows.

The view revealed a shocking reality: the hall was only a tiny part of what looked like levitating city kilometers [miles] high in an orange sky.

It wasn't Earth.