CODE: REALMGATE YELLOW
Sparrow Night sat on the edge of his hospital bed, the afternoon sun casting long shadows across the sterile room. His right green eye, sharp and focused, scanned the pages of a tattered textbook on thermodynamics, a stark contrast to the sleek eyepatch covering his left.
Two weeks. Two weeks since the surgery, since the world had become a kaleidoscope of past and present. The retrocognitive eye implant was a marvel, but its constant barrage of historical echoes had become a maddening cacophony. He'd learned to live with the eyepatch, a silent truce between his new power and his sanity.
He turned a page, but his mind was elsewhere... in {Eldritch Mechworld}, the graveyard of forgotten machines. The nightly excursions into that realm of rust and ruin had become his sanctuary, a bizarre workshop where he could make sense of his powers.
The main law of that grim soulworld was easily understood. "Repair, Fuse, or Construct!" Once he could make any object work using either one of the three methods, he could turn it into a soultool card.
This card could be used in the real world to summon the object, but his soultool card would last for at most five minutes before entering a cooldown for about an hour.
That might be good enough for others, but Sparrow's other mystery talet, {Eye of Truth} gave him a surprisingly insightful revelation. The Eldritch Mechworld had hidden unique features.
Other than allowing him to understand supernatural mechanism of most objects in that chaotic junkyard realm, the world could allow twelve of the same tool cards to be fused into a permanent tool in real world. As a result, twelve pairs of Clairvoyant Glasses cards, painstakingly repaired and fused, now a single, tangible object.
He glanced at the small, silver-framed spectacles resting on the bedside table. It's not his anymore. He gave it to Canary. That was actually the plan from the start. He didn't need them, not with the {Eye of Truth} already granting him an enhanced form of clarity and insight, but his sister had been ecstatic when he presented them to her.
A soft humming in unfamiliar notes pulled him from his thoughts. Canary, perched on the window seat, her long black braid cascading down her shoulder, was beaming at him. She seemed even smaller than before, her fair skin almost translucent, like fine porcelain. {Fairy of Elements}, he mused.
The irony of her talent power, so delicate and ethereal, manifesting in such a physical way. Her fear of not getting taller and her desire to be more beautiful... well, she got both at the same time.
"Birdbro, you're being all quiet and broody again," she chirped, her voice like a melody. She hopped off the window seat and twirled over to him, her movements light and graceful. "Thinking about all those gears in your junk world again?"
Sparrow closed his book, the faintest hint of a smile touching his lips. "Something like that."
"Your soul world is terrible. I'm glad mine is much better. I actually found something really cool today!" Canary clapped her hands together, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
She pulled a small, translucent card from her pocket. The edges of the card pulsed with faint light. "This is Holy, my Light Cleaner Sprite! She's like a tiny sun in my hand."
She then showed another card with faint wave patterns. "And this is Echo, my Sound Changer Sprite! Can you imagine all the fun we can have with these two? And they were able to stay with me for much longer time... six hours, Birdbro. Six hours, not like your five minutes tools."
Sparrow's green eye reflected a mixture of amusement, envy, and concern. Canary had told him about {Arcane Spriteworld}, the serene garden where she interacted with the sprites. It was a world of gentle magic, a sharp contrast to his own chaotic scrapyard.
The main law of her peaceful soulworld was much easier either. "Play and Befriend!" That was like: Super Easy Mode. The soulworld fed her with golden spoon, way too easy, too... unfair.
"They seem… useful," he conceded, his voice a low rumble. "But stay vigilant, Tweety. We don't know much about them yet. Don't rely on them too much." He was still very wary about these supernatural beings.
Canary's smile faltered slightly at his serious tone. "Alright, Birdbro. But they're really nice! You should see Holy, she control lights and heals wounds with her light. And Echo can make the funniest sounds!"
She took the Clairvoyant Glasses from the bedside table and put them on. "Well, at least there is one good thing about your soulworld, Birdbro. These are amazing! I see everything so clearly."
Sparrow watched as she peered around the room, turning her head this way and that. The glasses were a simple tool, nothing compared to the raw data and complicated insight he received through his {Eye of Truth}, but on her, they seemed like a perfect fit.
He should craft more devices for her. Sparrow felt a surge of protectiveness, a fierce desire to keep her safe, away from the shadows gathering beneath the surface of Mearth.
...
There was a sharp knock, and the door swung open right away. Sparrow watched as Autumn, his Li'l Aunt, entered, her short dark-brown hair bouncing with each step. Her usual confident stride was tempered with a hint of concern as she approached him.
"Alright, Row," she began, her voice a soft rumble, "all the paperwork is done. You're free to leave this place."
"We're leaving now?" Canary asked enthusiastically.
"Yep," Autumn answered. "Pack up Ree! We're heading to the MIST Union right away for your registration."
Canary let out a twinkling happy cheer and quickly packed her things up. Sparrow's had already long been tidied up and stored in his big mountaineering backpack.
While waiting for the tiny whirlwind to get ready, Autumn looked at Sparrow pointedly and asked, "Ready for this, Row?"
Sparrow nodded once, a silent acknowledgment. He knew what Autumn meant. The 'paperwork documents' weren't just for discharge – they were the final step before officially joining the ranks of those who understood the bizarre truth of their world.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, the muscles in his thighs bunching under his comfortable black joggers.
Despite the lack of space for exercise, his physique was a testament to his dedication to martial arts. He hadn't been idle even on what supposed to be bed rest, tempering his body and practicing his forms diligently while his sister entertained him with her new songs and amazing gymnastic performances. A small smile flickered across his lips at the thought of his little sister.
---ooo---ooo---ooo---
Half an hour later, the three of them stood before a rather unremarkable building. It was a large, grey structure that looked like any other electrical and engineering company of the era, the sort of building lost in a maze of car-clogged streets and towering apartment blocks. But Sparrow knew that underneath the mundane façade, it housed the Soragant MIST Union headquarter.
Inside, the atmosphere shifted. The reception area was surprisingly vibrant, with the clatter of keyboards and the murmur of voices. The registration lady, greeted them with a warm smile. Her nameplate showed the words: Crimson Starfish, obviously a codename. It seemed that she was also an awakened mystery agent. She had a bright, efficient manner that was both comforting and reassuring.
"Starwitch." The registration lady greeted Autumn with simple smile and nod.
Autumn greeted back in much more casual way, "Sister Fish, help me with their registration, please."
"Newly awakened?" Crimson Starfish turned to the siblings and threw a rhetorical question with a professional smile. "Registration is simple. Just mention your real name, code name, zone address, mystery class, and mystery talent."
Sparrow had considered his chosen name, a tribute to the single eye he usually presented to the world. "Sparrow Night. Codename: Cyclops," he stated, his voice a deep, rumbling monotone. "Zone address: Soragant Town. Class, Mystery Pugilist. Talent, Physique of Giant."
Crimson Starfish's fingers danced over the keyboard, capturing his information with practiced ease. Canary, however, practically vibrated with excitement. "Me, me, me. Canary Night. Codename: Pixie!" she chirped, her voice like a cheerful melody, "Zone address is also Soragant Town. For mystery class... I'm the great almighty Mystery Marksman, and for talent, it's the super duper amazing Fairy of Elements!"
Sparrow facepalmed, hiding a helpless smile behind his hand. His sister's boundless energic confidence was always a... dilemmatic delight.
"Do you want to register as a team?" Seemingly unaffected, the registration lady kept asking in professional tone.
"Yes, of course!" Canary exclaimed, still full of enthusiasm. "We are Team: Super Incredible Hyper Force Monster Slayers."
Sparrow facepalmed again in exasperation as Autumn chuckled in the background. "Really Tweety?" he asked. And then, quickly said to Crimson Starfish who was about to type it. "No, not that name. Just call it: Midnight Siblings. A freelance team."
Canary showed a dejected expression. Was she actually serious with that ridiculous name?
The registration lady confirmed the registration, her smile widening. "Well then, welcome to the MIST Union, Cyclops and Pixie of the Midnight Siblings! Your identity cards, mystery manuals, and basic equipment will be ready in three hours."
Autumn clapped her hands together, "Excellent, you two! Now, as much as I'd love to join your team, I'm already committed to mine, the Three Witches. You know, Starwitch is my designation. I've already had Sunwitch and Moonwitch in my team. But that doesn't mean we can't do missions together. Let's go. While waiting for your starter packs, there's one more thing to do to really be mystery agents."
Autumn led them to a small briefing room. She rolled up a projection screen on the wall, revealing a series of strange, yellowish-tinged images. "Alright, this is important," she began. "We need to talk about another type of surreal entities... Realmgate Yellow."
Sparrow and Canary sat down on the nearby chairs and listened intently as Autumn explained this new type of surreal entity. It must be connected to the images on the wall.
"Realmgate Yellow," Autumn began, her voice brisk, "Well, you can think of it as… portals, but less sci-fi and more… literary."
Sparrow raised his eyebrows, his artificial purple eye, usually hidden, glimmering for a moment before he adjusted his eyepatch. "Literary?"
Canary giggled, "I know. I know. It's like a book that sucks you in. Like in your novel, Birdbro."
Autumn nodded, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Exactly, Tweety. Realmgate Yellow entities manifest as a yellowish mist surrounding objects – books, paintings, tapestries... They're story-related objects, transformed into gateways. Step through, and bam, you're in a different world."
"A different world?" Canary's eyes widened, her ponytail bouncing with excitement.
"More like an separated dungeon stage in a game," Autumn clarified. "Each realmgate has a mission, a specific goal. Complete it, and you get spat back out with rewards from its Judgment Hall. Fail, and… well, you get spat back too... with a headache lingering for several days. It's technically the safest type of surreal entities."
Sparrow, ever cautious, finally spoke, "Safest?"
"Compared to the Vicious Reds or the Sentient Greens, yes," Autumn nodded with confidence. "Death inside a Realmgate Yellow won't kill you, just make you feel under the weather for a bit. Not that I want either of you dying, of course. And obviously, if you die many times in a row before you recover, it won't end well. Thus, MIST has a policy forbidding anyone using realmgate more than once a month."
She pointed to the clearly separated images on the screen. "Now, about the basic categories. There are Unique and Universal Realmgates. Unique ones vanish after their mission is done. Universal ones go on 'cooldown' and can be accessed again later. Pretty easy to understand, isn't it?"
Canary leaned forward, her braid slipping over her shoulder. "So, like a game? Finish a mission, complete a level?"
"Something like that," Autumn agreed. "But it's not just about completing the mission. Within these realmgates, you'll sometimes encounter other entities, like some Vicious Reds or Sentient Greens, which are usually weaker than those in real world. If you beat them, they will give you surreal stones of different colors."
Autumn paused for a while, and in serious tone, continued, "Take note! If you get those stones, or any other consumables that can help you, use them immediately, because you might not be able to bring them out."
Sparrow nodded slowly, absorbing the information. He felt a strange pull, an itch to explore these worlds, to test his strength, his mind, in these fantastical arenas. Canary seemed to feel the same way, looking at the glitter of her eyes.
Autumn smiled at the two siblings. "Soragant MIST Union has collected quite a lot of realmgate objects. Since you've registered as freelancers, MIST Union will give you a chance to do the first dive for free. For the subsequent dives, well... you've got to pay with points that come from doing missions."
"We can go? So, what are we waiting for?" Canary chirped, already on her feet. "Let's dive in!"
"Alright. Follow me, then." Autumn led the siblings through a maze of corridors, passing locked doors, humming machinery, and downward stairs.
They reached a dimly lit area in the basement, and the air grew colder as they approached a door guarded by a thin, pale man with creepy eyes that seemed to absorb the light.
"Elder Grey Demon," Autumn greeted that MIST Union's guardian. "These kids are newly awakened. Requesting access, please."
The elder stared at the siblings with his eerie eyes. "Realmgates," he rasped, his voice like dry leaves rustling. "Find the story. Enter the story. Complete the story." He opened the door and gestured with a bony finger towards a room filled with various shelves. The air within was thick with the scent of old paper and something else, a mystical breath of the unknown.
Autumn greeted the elder again with a nod, and then entered the room leading her nephew and niece deeper into the strange fusion of museum-library.
"Don't touch anything that glows!" Autumn gave warning while she kept walking in front.
Following their aunt, Sparrow and Canary stepped into the library, their eyes scanning the rows of books, scrolls, statue carvings, and other things on the shelves. A soft misty yellow glow emanated from every objects. They hummed with an energy that tempted them to touch.
Canary, her gaze wandered on the objects, could not help but comment, "The yellow mist on these things is really creepy, huh."
Autumn finally stopped walking. "This," she announced, gesturing towards a beautifully crafted painting of a fantasy kingdom, "is 'Prosperous Kingdom'. It's one of the easiest realmgates. Perfect for the first dive. The mission of this realmgate is simply to do exploration in a relatively peaceful world with weak opponents. Both of you have learned wildlife survival techniques, haven't you? If you are careful enough, staying and surviving for twenty one days there should be a piece of cake."
"Wait!" Canary exclaimed in response. "Twenty one days? Li'l Aunt, I've got to go to school the day after tomorrow."
Autumn chuckled to that mundane worry. "Don't worry. Time works differently within the realmgate. Twenty one days in that world is just three hours here."
"Really?"
"Yep." Autumn nodded confidently. "The world inside this realmgate is interesting. The view is beautiful, air fresh... You can just consider it a vacation. Just remember not to stay in the capital city of that world for more than seven days."
Sparrow opened his mouth, pouring his concern in a short phrase. "The opponents?"
"A few weak thugs in the capital city and small wild animals in the outskirts," Autumn easily dismissed the concern. "As long as you don't explore too far, with your current abilities, it won't be much of a... Wait a minute!"
Suddenly remembering one thing, Autumn quickly changed her tone. "I forgot you are just newbies here. Listen, kids. Everything in there is not real and will reset once you were out. Just treat it like a game. Don't hesitate to steal, rob, and kill. You have to survive. That's the most important thing."
Sparrow and Canary nodded grimly. The idea didn't really match with their personalities, but they understood the significance.
"Anyway, one more thing to pay attention. Mystery artifacts won't work in the realmgate." Autumn looked pointedly at Sparrow's eyepatch. "So, no retrocognitive power for you, Row." And then, she turned to Canary's necklace and glasses, "And no teleportation or clairvoyance for you, Ree. So how about it? Ready for your first dive?"
Sparrow studied the painting. It depicted a vibrant kingdom, with golden towers and emerald fields.
Canary, her braided hair dancing with her excitement, was already bouncing on her toes. "Let's go, Birdbro!" she exclaimed.
Sparrow nodded, his calm exterior hiding a mix of curiosity and apprehension. He adjusted his eyepatch, the purple eye beneath burning with a strange, silent energy. He took a deep breath, feeling the weight of responsibility settle on his shoulders. He was no longer just Sparrow Night, the orphan. He was Cyclops, a
Both the siblings simultaneously touched the painting, and then...