The long sprint to Seoul is enjoyable, honestly. I feel a little guilty about the damage, but its hard not to enjoy running at highway speeds for almost two hours straight. As the convoy moves into Seoul proper, the chaos becomes easier to see. The roads leaving the city are closer to a parking lot, tens of thousands of people trying to get away from the Fractures. I tune into a public broadcast. No hacking required for this.

  “—Martial Law has been declared in Seoul. All reservists have been recalled to military bases for remedial training and deployment. If you have not been called yet to evacuate, please shelter in place and only leave your home if absolutely necessary. A State of Emergency has been declared nation wide—

  From the far edges of Seoul I see strange, whirling beacons, a dozen of them. They’re not made of light. It’s not energy, at least, not electromagnetic. It’s not matter either, as something is off about how it flows. But the way it moves reminds me of mist and something deep inside is telling me that it is energy. The beacons are so very strange. I can see them through the skyscrapers that should have blocked my view. I think if I could get a headache anymore, my new senses would have given me one long ago.

  What the hell are those?

  As the convoy moves into the city, we’re unhindered by traffic. Not many people are looking to get back into Seoul, I guess. I’m catching lots of looks from the motorists and families stuck in traffic on the opposite side of the highway.

  What, you’ve never seen an eight foot tall beefy robot-knight lookin’ guy before?

  Can’t say I blame them. I’m still in shock over it too. I’m just capable of multitasking.

  Once we get into Seoul proper, the convoy slows, and I speed up to jog along side Lieutenant Jang’s vehicle. The streets are empty and eerily quiet. It’s like the whole city is holding its breath.

  “Lieutenant, where are we going?”

  “To City Hall, we’ve set up a command post there for the defense of the city. Some people have some questions for you.”

  “I-I-I think I’d like to go the US Embassy instead.”

  As we move through the silent city, my footsteps echo off the buildings around us. Lieutenant Jang chews his lip again, mulling over a response. He takes a deep breath and turns to me, arm hanging over the open window.

  “Look, if you want to go I can’t stop you. But… please? Hear us out? We aren’t interrogating you on suspicions of anything. Really, we just want to know if you know anything about what’s going on. No one else in the entire world slept as long as you did. Nobody knows anything, and we’re taking a shot in the dark that you do. Please.”

  “Are you talking about the beacons?”

  “Beacons?”

  “You can’t see them? There’s like twelve scattered around Seoul. I could see them from the edge of the city.”

  Jang smiles at me.

  “See? Already helping out. Please, you can go to the embassy after.”

  I’ve never been able to say no to people.

  “Okay, Lieutenant. Let’s go.”

  On our way to City Hall, we drive by a what I assume is a Fracture, and I skid to a halt, tearing up the road.

  “Woah.”

  It’s in the middle of a parking lot, and the military has it cordoned off, with dozens of troops keeping a close eye on it. They even have a few armored vehicles, heavy machine guns manned by nervous young men as they drum their fingers on the handles.

  The Fracture itself is… beautiful, in an abstract way. An endless, impossible swirling shape, diving down, deep into itself and sideways from the universe. It’s a kaleidoscope of impossible colors, not a single one ever seen by human eyes.

  I walk towards it, entranced by its infinite beauty. I’m lost in its endless, fractal, spiraling, jagged, smooth, irregular shape. It’s everything all at once, contained in a tiny, infinite dot.

  The strange energy I saw from miles away is thick and heady here. I can see it as it seems to “stick” to the soldiers around me. Strangely enough, it seems to refuse to touch me. I wave my hand through it, and watch as it runs away from my armor, like one magnet repelling another.

  *Is this magic?

  I must have been lost in admiring the Fracture for several minutes, as I’m brought back to our reality by Lieutenant Jang.

  “…Mr. Ryans? Hello?”

  He grabs and shakes my elbow.

  “Huh? Wuh? Oh, sorry.”

  “Mr. Ryans, what did you see?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I don’t think I could describe it. Can I get closer?”

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  Jang looks to the officer in command of the defense, who shakes his head.

  “Ah, sorry, no, Mr. Ryans. Maybe later?”

  Something in the Fracture changes, something indescribable. The shape? A fold here? A reflection there? Maybe a rotation? It’s hard to say, as whatever the Fracture is, it’s certainly has more than three dimensions. I’m not sure how I know that, or can even see that. I want to get closer, to view the incarnation of impossibility and infinity from every angle, to get lost in its depths. But I tear myself away.

  Maybe they’ll let me get closer to one if I answer their questions?

  “Okay, Lieutenant. Let’s go!”

  He nods and has to sprint to his car to catch up with my impatient jog. I still leave boot prints in the asphalt, though the armored vehicles have done worse.

  It only takes us another ten minutes to make it to City Hall, my impatient jog driving the convoy a little faster than was probably safe. Dozens of tents ring the building itself, with hundreds of people walking around. The parking lot is filled with military vehicles, including two tanks. Once we get there, a young woman, a Captain, introduces herself.

  “Hello, Mr. Ryans. We’re glad you decided to help us out, we really appreciate it. I’m Captain Hwang Chae-won. Please, come this way.”

  Lieutenant Jang gives me a wave before driving off. I glance in his direction.

  “He’s not coming with us?”

  “No,” she says with a smile. “His squad is needed else where to assist with the defense. Please, this way.”

  I go to follow the Captain inside, and as I ascend the stairs, I lurch forward as the stairs give way with a crack, followed by crunch. The Captain whips around, and I bashfully step back. A boot print is planted solidly on the stairs, concrete now turned to gravel. We both stare at it for a moment.

  “Ah, Captain? We may want to move our meeting out here…”

  She stares at it for a moment longer.

  “Yes, that would be a good idea. Let me see about a getting a tent.”

  She grabs a random soldier passing by, and asks him a few questions before he points in a direction. She motions me to follow. I gingerly step on the lawn surrounding City Hall. My boots crush the grass flat, but I don’t punch a hole and sink up to my ankle, at least. I give silent sigh of relief. I follow her to a random tent, several soldiers using it to stay out of the sun and brutal summer humidity. She orders them to get out, and after they hurriedly leave, grabs a chair.

  She grimaces at the flimsy folding camp chairs.

  “I’d offer you a seat, but I’m pretty sure you’d crush it.”

  I’m getting sick of breaking things.

  “It’s alright. Well, what did you want to know?”

  She glances down at a tablet she’s carrying, tapping at it for a moment before looking back up.

  “Many of the most powerful individuals the Apotheosis changed fell asleep during their… ascension. What is the last thing you remember before waking up again?”

  “Apotheosis?”

  “Yes, that’s what we’re calling the entrance of… magic into the world. As crazy as that sounds. Do you remember anything at all before you woke up?”

  I try to remember what happened before the agony. I internally shiver at the memory of it, and shove it away.

  “I remember hiking in Odaesan National Park. I remember… a warmth? Something deep in my chest. It burned. It hurt. It hurt so—” I cut myself off. Shivering internally again at the thought of endless, infinite suffering. It seems facial expressions are not the only form of body language I lost.

  She leans forward and prompts me again after I cut myself off.

  “It hurt…?”

  “I… I don’t want to talk about that.”

  She raises her eyebrows.

  “Why not?”

  Despite the agonizing and intrusive memory, I still don’t so much as twitch.

  “Just… next question. Please.”

  “Alright, I understand,” Captain Hwang says with a slow nod. “What do you know of the Apotheosis?”

  A sense of something bubbling up is the only thing that comes to mind. It reminds me of a lava lamp, strangely enough.

  “I… This might sound a bit silly.”

  “Please, anything you have is worth while.”

  “Whenever I think about it, I get the feeling of a lava lamp. That’s it. Something bubbling up.”

  She tilts her head in thought before writing it down, fingers flying across the bulky, ruggedized tablet.

  “Do you know anything at all about the Fractures?”

  “Maybe? I caught a look of one on the way here and it was… beautiful. Hard to describe.”

  She chuckles.

  “Yeah, they can be hard to look at. They give me a headache personally, looking like broken mirrors the way they do.”

  “No, no. More than that. They’re… they’re at least five dimensional. More, I think? I’m not sure.”

  Her gaze sharpens in an instant.

  “How do you know that?”

  I point my faceplate, the Y-shaped slit where a human’s eyes and nose would be, filled with blue fire. Well, had I been wearing actual armor instead of whatever I am now.

  “I can see in the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as other things. The Fractures are like beacons to me. I can see them from miles away. Through buildings, if you can believe it.”

  Her fingers are a blur, flying across the tablet again.

  “If we give you access to one, do you think you could tell us more?”

  “I could certainly try.”

  She stands up.

  “Alright, let’s go to the closest one.”

  As I follow her, one of the Fracture beacons flares. It shoots high, high into the sky, topping Seoul’s towering skyline. I feel something, strangely reminding me of breaking glass. A sharp crack, followed by ringing, tinking noises.

  “Oh, shit. That can’t be good.”

  The Captain whirls around.

  “What?”

  I point off in the direction of the flare.

  “I think… I think one of the Fractures just ruptured?”

  Her eyes go wide, and her hand goes for a radio at her belt. As she listens to it, another flare tears across the skyline. Then another. And another. They roar across the sky like firecrackers. The strange, tactile version of the sound of breaking glass ripples across my chassis.

  “Oh, God. They’re all going off.”