---- Dae ----

Song, in a rare display of consideration, didn’t ask about Dae’s dazed expression or drastically improved condition. She spared a nod of appreciation and got down to business. Song was the group’s leader. There was hardly a situation where Song wasn’t the leader. Not only were her physical abilities far beyond that of any other Esper in the nation, she was also the best strategic mind in the guild. 

She’d earned the nickname Ody, as in Odysseus-- Their guild had a thing for Greek mythology --The name came from her quick thinking and clever solutions. She also had absolutely no sense of direction which probably contributed. 

Dae didn’t appreciate the nickname given her mythological counterpart managed to get his entire team killed. Not that Dae was in any position to voice his complaints being named after a man who got his son killed. At least for Song it was just a nickname. 

“Rowan, Kane, I need you both checking in on the coms constantly. We don’t know if the kids are all together so we need to survey the area separately. If you find more kids than you can carry, stay with them and send out an SOS. If you see an SOS and you still have a free arm go to it. If you can afford to drop a kid off before going back for more do so.”

“Three of the kids are siblings and all of them know each other. Ages range between 3 and 9. Our priority is not just to get them out but to get them out with as little trauma as possible. That means keep them from seeing anyone injured or deceased.” 

Rowan and Dae nodded in confirmation.

“We have been cleared to administer sedatives to reduce the mental strain.” As if sensing the question on her comrades' minds she added, “Such high priority has been set for their mental wellbeing because the three siblings are all Espers. Only the oldest, the nine year old, has received any training.”

“If we don’t handle this properly we could have three overloads on our hands. We don’t have time to wait for full profiles on all the kids so we have to treat all of them as potentially volatile.” 

Dae frowned as Song handed out the sedative patches. Meant to be administered on the back of the neck at the base of the skull, fast acting but not instant. Dae had only ever used the injections meant for adults. These patches were small, with cartoon kittens printed on them. A bitter reminder that even children weren’t safe from Espers violent nature. 

“Any word on the kid's abilities?” Rowan asked. The look on Song’s face sent fear thrumming through her comrades. 

“I don’t know about the younger ones, but the oldest has mind control.” 

Rowan and Dae shared a look of horror, “So do we have clearance to sedate the kids before we send out an SOS if they’re all together?” 

Song shook her head and rubbed her hand across her face in exhaustion, “No we need them to be able to move just in case. Just try to be as gentle as possible.” 

It was clear Song wasn’t the one who had made this decision. Mind control Espers were some of the most dangerous, specifically to other Espers. While it was a horrible feeling to have your autonomy taken away at the best of times it was infinitely worse when it happened to another Esper. Creating an individual who effectively wielded multiple abilities. Esper kids were bad at controlling their powers. Their emotions made it more likely to lash out. With mind control this could cause them to activate their powers every time they spoke. Unintentionally forcing their desires on everyone around them.

Hopefully the nine year old would have had enough training to understand how dangerous their abilities could be. Maybe even have a basic level of control. But that was Dae being hopeful. 

“We ready?” Song asked. 

“Yes,sir.” Rowan spoke as Dae said, “Not even a little.” 

Song glared at Dae and smacked him upside the head again. Her eyes flashed with something gentle and sympathetic, “You’ve got this.” 

Dae smiled at her. From the outside their relationship may have seemed antagonistic, but Song was his closest friend at the guild behind Tessa. 

Song had been the person who recruited him to Titan. She had been aware of his reluctance to go into gates or receive guiding. Her belief in his tech gave him the opportunity to work with the best materials money could provide. 

He’d been determined to prove that her faith wasn’t unfounded. She seemed to sense this so she had never held back. She always pushed him to be his best self. If Dae ever voiced how much she’d done for him she would have beaten him to a pulp for being too sappy. Even as she smiled with every blow. 

Song stepped forward into the gate waving her hand for Rowan and Dae to follow. 

Stepping through a gate was like falling into a black hole. Being compressed and stretched to a breaking point. Lower level Espers(and Dae) got motion sickness the first few times they entered gates. Dae stumbled as his feet hit the solid ground on the other side. Rowan pulled up Dae’s shirt to slap on a nausea patch even as he laughed at Dae mockingly. 

“Constant check in’s!” Song shouted as she began marching straight away from the gate. Rowan was off to the left and Dae went right. Song and Rowan may have the most experience together, but they’d all worked together enough to be a well oiled machine. There was little need for communication outside of the initial brief. 

This gate's pocket dimension was impersonating a medieval European village. The tight cobbled streets and wooden, thatch roofed buildings spread out infinitely in every direction. It seemed abandoned but Dae knew better than to believe first impressions. 

The urban environment was a blessing even if it created hiding spaces for gate beasts. It meant  his ability wouldn’t be totally useless. His outfit included several metal chains and a pocket with a small aluminium bar weighing about one pound. Any more than that would start to impair his movement or risk making too much noise. If he’d stayed on top of guiding he could have used his powers to displace the weight and still movement.

Nox’s face flashed through Dae’s mind. The amount of energy he’d been given from their brief interaction was astounding. Memories of his classification test drifted through his mind and an idea began to form. He let his powers stretch out the way he had back then. Tried to feel vibrations in bolts and metal detailing around him. It didn’t sing to him as it had back then, it was more like a murmur. A murmur coming from his left. 

Dae’s mouth twitched up into a grin made lopsided by the scar reaching from the left corner of his lip, past his chin and down his neck. The first exhibit in the museum of his regrets. 

He remembered climbing a tree and watching creatures circle below him praying that someone would find him. The memory of Nox’s smoke-like energy drifted around him, a spectral sense of comfort. Dae had used the thought of meeting Nox again to keep going. 

That thought was pushing him forward now as well. Though the children were a bigger priority. It was only due to Nox’s guiding that Dae had any idea where to go. He would need to thank Nox the moment he got out. Maybe he could treat Nox to dinner. 

Before that line of thinking could distract him any further Dae heard the sound of shoes scraping along stone. A small someone ran towards Dae. He assumed it was one of the kids but he began to pull at the surrounding metal just in case. A small dagger formed in Dae’s hand made of the bolts and chains of a nearby sign. The wooden sign thudded, dully against the cobbled streets.

Shadows peeked around the corner of a building ahead of Dae. Two young looking kids tumbled into the street in front of him. Both looked dirty and scared but unharmed. 

“Found two, sending SOS.” Dae announced over the chatter of updates. Both kids looked up at him. The youngest had tear tracks running through the grime on her face. Dust and ash turned their warm umber skin greyish. The irritants reddened the rims of their large round eyes. They had matching purple ribbons braided in their hair. Dae assumed they must have been two of the three siblings. 

Dae crouched down in front of them and held out his hands, quickly shifting the dagger into a set of rings, “My name is Esper Kane. I was sent to help you, have you seen anyone else?” 

The youngest threw herself into Dae's arms, sobbing in relief. The older one held back and looked behind herself anxiously. 

“Kris was with us. A tall man with no face that kept following us. Kris took it away. She said run as far as we could. I didn’t want to. I had to keep Mandy safe.” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she finally reached her breaking point. 

Dae pulled her into a hug and patted her back, “You did great kiddo. You were so brave. We’re going to get you and Mandy out of here. If you tell me where you came from we’ll be able to keep Kris safe too. Could you tell me your name?” 

The little girl balled her hands into fists and tried to wipe the tears away from her eyes, only succeeding in smearing the grime around. Dae used his free hand, the one not holding Mandy, to pull out a handkerchief and wipe some of the dirt away. 

“My name is Senna.” 

Dae smiled at Senna and patted her on the head, “I need to tell my team members about your sister ok? Can you hold onto my coat while we wait for them?” The little girl nodded and grabbed onto Dae. 

“Ok I’ve found two of the sisters and they say they can lead me to the third. Who’s closest to me?” 

“I am.” Rowan’s gentle timbre rumbled through Dae’s ear piece. Dae felt relieved. It wasn’t that Song was bad with kids. Rowan’s demeanor and abilities would just be more effective in getting these two to safety comfortably, “I see you.” 

Dae turned and saw Rowan emerging from the thick fog settling on the town. Dae and Rowan realized how poor the visibility was getting simultaneously. Right on que Song’s voice crackled through their earpieces.

“How’s visibility with you two?” 

“Bad.” Rowan responded quietly. Dae was thankful he could only hear him through the earpiece. Dae turned back to Senna. 

“This is my buddy Esper Rowan. I need you to show me where you came from then go with him ok?” Dae’s hand reached up to gently cup Mandy’s head. He pressed the patch onto the back of her neck. 

Senna frowned as she saw the powder blue circle, “This is medicine we give people who get stuck in places like this so they don’t get too stressed. Your sister was crying a lot so she needed it. We’re gonna have to give you some too but I need you to tell me where Kris is first.” 

Senna nodded obediently and Dae breathed a sigh of relief. Senna had made it sound like Kris was the oldest but there was no way of knowing for sure, Dae didn’t want to take any chances of two of the three rescuers being under the control of a traumatized kid. 

Dae handed Mandy’s sleeping form to Rowan who summoned an ephemeral dog. He cradled Mandy and let the dog sniff her before sending it to check the surrounding area. Rowan lifted his free hand to cover one of his eyes. Allowing him to share the sight of his summoned creature. Something that could fly would have been better but a gargoyle would probably scare Senna. Scent tracking with Kris’ siblings would have to do. 

Dae thought they could find Kris without Senna’s help but asking her served two purposes. It made her feel more in control in a scary situation, and gave insight on the creature that had approached them. 

“We ran from that way, we mostly just went straight… we might have turned once but I don’t know- I still get my rights and left confused. I'm sorry.” Senna looked near tears again. Dae put a hand on her shoulder and told her it was alright and asked her to keep going, “The monster followed Kris I think. And Kris went the other way. She said we had to split up, I didn’t want to.” 

“I know, kiddo. It must have been so scary for you. You did the right thing. You were very brave. Can you tell me more about the monster? Anything you remember.” 

Senna sniffled and nodded, she was a brave kid, “It was big and tall and it looked like a person. But the arms were short and the legs were too long. Its body was really small. It had horns like a devil.” 

Dae relayed the information to Song and tried to keep his anxiety hidden. It was rare to have bipedal gate beasts. They tended to resemble things like bears or wolves, sometimes a bird. Anything that looked more human was a big risk. The closer it looked to a human the more intelligent it tended to be. 

Rowan had the same thought. He leaned down and asked Senna if she was ready for her medication before scooping her up in his other arm. 

“Did I help?” Senna asked as her eyes fluttered closed Dae smoothed the patch on the back of her neck while she looked at Rowan and responded softly. 

“You did great, kiddo.” 

Rowan nodded at Dae and bent down so they were level. Dae leaned forward, between the two girls to press his forehead against Rowan’s. A blurry, black and white image flashed across Dae’s vision. What Rowan’s summons saw. A creature, its form flickering as it circled overturned crates. 

Senna’s description of the creature had been very accurate. She had failed to mention how pointed the short arms and long legs were or how unsettling the faceless head was. Though Dae surmised the latter from how frightened she was. 

Dae pulled back and nodded at Rowan. Rowan’s abilities were much more oriented towards defense than offence. It was clear which of the two of them would be heading off into a fight and which would be escorting the kids back. 

“Esper Rowan is taking the two siblings Mandy and Senna back to the entrance. We have eyes on the final sibling, Kris, She is currently being attacked by a humanoid gate-beast. Permission to engage, Esper Song?” Permission was a formality, Dae was already running the direction the girls had come from. 

Just as expected, Song responded, “Granted, I’ve found the other two and will be taking them out as well. Keep that SOS on, we'll come back for you if we have to. She’s relying on you, Esper Kane.” 

Any other day Dae would have felt sick knowing someone’s life was in his hands but the comforting layer of smoke-like energy swirling around him acted as a shield against doubt and fear. 

“Going dark.” Dae called out, letting his team know he would be unable to verbally respond while engaging in combat. 

Broken Wing Display  © 2025 by Gabriella Mayhall is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This work is not to be used to train AI models