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It was another routine day. An Ze was finishing up his reports, ticking off his guide report when a knock sounded on the door.
“A’Ze,” Dr. Shaw called, walking into An Ze’s small office with a smile. “Still working overtime?”
An Ze glared at him over the monitor. “Who told Eden all guides would submit day-end reports instead of monthly operationals?”
Dr. Shaw smiled rather helplessly, shrugging. “It’s not like I was the one who tagged the Colonel ‘unsuitable for combat’.”
“But he isn’t,” An Ze muttered, focusing his eyes back on his screen. Almost three months ago, Colonel Lu Feng of the Trial Court entered their facility for an emergency guiding session after a recon bust that killed nine combatants and left another twelve in rampage.
The facility had already been up to their throats in guiding, what with a seemingly endless line of espers coming in and going right back out into the field. An Ze had already been on duty for eight hours when Lu Feng was carted in, eyes bloodshot and aura erupting around him violently. The three espers who had carried him in had to be taken out for immediate guiding, and An Ze was left with the Colonel.
That was, probably, the worst guiding session he had ever experienced. It had felt like small needles were rushing into his bloodstream from where he held Lu Feng’s hand; and when further physical contact was required, it had felt like his very being was being consumed by a dark abyss.
It had left him bedridden for two days, and another four days later, he submitted his monthly report.
He tagged Colonel Lu Feng as ‘unsuitable for combat’.
Of course, neither Eden nor the Trial Court could afford to accept that such an evaluation was real; Dr. Shaw, his immediate superior, was immediately called to Eden to clarify before the report got published. All guiding evaluations were made available for the public; after all, people had to know that those who swore to protect them and keep them safe were capable of doing so.
And Lu Feng, as unstable and unloved by the public as he was, was the Northern Base’s most prestigious esper. Any report that might even hint at him having a weakness could be used as arsenal against not only him, the Trial Court, or Eden, but the entirety of the Northern Base.
And no one would be able to survive an attack against the Northern Base.
Lu Feng had personally visited the facility once more, after Dr. Shaw was called to Eden. An Ze had no choice but to change his evaluation into the same thing it always appeared — in need of dedicated guide, Compatibility Report requested.
He thought that was that, but Eden decided to punish not only An Ze but everyone else in the facility by requiring that guiding reports would be submitted daily instead of monthly, after they chalked up An Ze’s “mistaken evaluation” to “confusion due to inability to create real-time report” and “chaos caused by the dungeon confused the guides in the facility”.
It was a shitty situation made even worse because now An Ze not only had to face the envy of Lu Feng’s fans, but also the animosity of his colleagues.
You can all guide him next, for all I care, An Ze thought, shuddering at the memory of what it felt like, even attempting to guide Lu Feng.
A lot of people — including espers — think that guiding is just an act of soothing someone with physical touch, but only guides know just how invasive guiding could be, and how vulnerable it leaves the guide to the esper’s power.
Espers were gifted such amazing abilities, their brains wired so differently that they were able to affect the very molecules of everything around them. The only setback was that each time they used such abilities, even latently, it put a strain on their consciousness.
But they never seemed to think that a guide would have to dive into that very place, touching them in order to invade their very conscious, to attempt to soothe the fraying threads of their sanity with flimsy effort. Compared to the absolute power held by espers, guides worked with spider webs; and whenever they were in a state of guiding, they were vulnerable to any kind of attack… but especially from the esper they were guiding.
That’s why facility guides, like An Ze, were highly compensated and insured. That’s why he had more perks in the Northern Base than the average person. Because each time an esper walked into his office, and he guided at least a dozen on a daily basis, he was putting himself in danger akin to handing the esper a gun and pulling the safety, trusting that the esper wouldn’t shoot him in the head while he was patching up their wounds and bruises.
An Ze had wanted to leave back then, but when he went home and finally saw his baby brother in their home, waiting with a huge bowl of potato soup, he knew he had no other choice but to stay.
Like him, An Zhe was a guide; a much stronger one, in his opinion, especially since being in his vicinity alone can soothe even An Ze. Their childhood friend and neighbor, Josh, had confirmed it on several occasions, sometimes even joking that if An Zhe ever decided to become a base guide, his salary would be high enough for both he and An Ze to retire and get married. But An Ze forbade An Zhe from applying to become a guide; he didn’t even let An Zhe register. All An Zhe had to do was enjoy the perks of being a base guide’s dependent and keep on doing what he loved most: research.
He didn’t have to think of anything. He could stay in his cave — ahem, laboratory — and come home every now and then to share a bowl of potato soup with his gege, and that would be enough.
There was no need for An Zhe to endanger himself, and there was no need for him to catch Eden’s attention. And An Ze had no doubts that he would, with how incredible he is. He should stay at the Lighthouse, safe and sound, learning about his mushrooms and living his life as best as he could in this world.
“Anyway,” Dr. Shaw began, interrupting An Ze’s spiraling thoughts, “I didn’t come here to remind you of that. I came for this.”
He walked to An Ze’s desk and placed a closed envelope on top of a bunch of papers. The first thing that caught An Ze’s attention was the file name stamped in dark black ink on the paper.
Compatibility Report Request.
An Ze blinked. “For who?”
“The Colonel,” Dr. Shaw answered.
An Ze looked up at him, tilting his head. “And…?”
Dr. Shaw shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable. “An Zhe, your little brother.”
*
An Ze scrambled his way up the five staircases that led to their apartment, barging through their door, almost unable to catch his breath.
An Zhe was home — good.
Josh was also here — very good.
The first thing An Ze did was to pounce on Josh and punch him squarely on the nose.
“How dare you!” he screamed. “How fucking dare you, you dog shit egg!!!”
“Gege!” An Zhe yelped, jumping into the fray and pulling An Ze off of Josh, who was looking bewildered at the both of them, nose bloody. “What has gotten into you?!”
“And you!” An Ze yelled, turning to his little brother, his sweet, little mushroom boy, pointing between his eyes, “When were you going to tell me you went into the Abyss?!”
What was the Abyss?
Oh, nothing, just the most dangerous. Fucking. Dungeon.
The one that killed nine espers. The one that caused twelve others to rampage. The one that forced even Colonel Lu Feng to receive actual guidance for the first time in his fucking career.
And An Zhe went in there. Alone.
Because fucking dog head Josh told him that An Ze was still inside, that their recon team lost contact with An Ze during a mission.
“You’re an asshole,” An Ze told Josh. “Get out of my sight, and I don’t want to ever see you again.”
Josh’s eyebrows furrowed. “An Ze—“
“No,” An Ze interrupted. “Just, get out. Wasn’t it enough that you almost killed me ? You wanted to kill my baby brother, too?”
Josh’s face paled, and he shakily stood up from the ground. “We’ll talk when you’ve calmed down,” he murmured, bypassing An Ze and An Zhe and walking out of their apartment.
The silence was deafening. An Ze turned around and brought his brother into his arms, breathing in his scent and his warmth.
He couldn’t even begin to describe how he felt when Dr. Shaw explained what brought the compatibility report request about.
He and Josh had gone to the Abyss together, as per Josh’s request, him as their team’s guide. Since it was right after the conflict with Eden, the facility thought it might be a good idea to fix his reputation, so he was immediately allowed to go.
Things were fine at first. The first few zones had already been either explored or cleaned out, and their task was supposed to simply confirm whether or not it was safe for the Lighthouse to begin sending their scientists into the dungeon.
But Murphy’s Law never favored anyone, and they suffered an ambush from a migrating group of monsters. The team captain was injured and the deputies were busy fighting the monsters off, leaving the other members — including An Ze — to fend for themselves.
Thankfully, they were able to immediately start the vehicle. An Ze and Josh brought up the rear.
Unfortunately, human instinct for survival won out for Josh. He decided that An Ze was simply dead weight, and left him to run to the running vehicle on his own.
An Ze didn’t even know what he told the captain when he got there. He didn’t know what he told Eden, or the Trial Court.
All he knew was that, when he got out of the Abyss with the help of another recon team, there was no report of his death, nor a request for his rescue.
Which was just as well, because he knew how much fuss Eden would have made for the safe retrieval of one of their guides, even one as controversial as An Ze.
And he knew that it would have reached the Lighthouse, and it would have reached An Zhe.
He didn’t want An Zhe knowing about it, but it seemed it didn’t matter to Josh as much as his conscience.
“Why did you even go to the Abyss?” he asked, finally releasing An Zhe from the crushing hug. “What were you thinking?”
An Zhe blinked at him. His face was so similar to his own, it was like looking into a mirror; he once joked, when their parents were alive, that maybe their mother hadn’t given birth to An Zhe, that maybe he himself had made a spore that turned into his baby brother.
“I was thinking about you,” An Zhe finally answered, his voice so sweet and milky that it was impossible to get mad at him. “I was worried when Josh said you were still inside. I knew I had to find you, whatever it took.”
“And it simply took having to guide Colonel Lu Feng?” An Ze asked incredulously. “You didn’t even find me! I made it out just fine on my own!”
“Because Lu Feng told all recon teams about your status,” An Zhe answered, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt. “He made an announcement after they found me that there was a missing guide, and that’s why Josh is suspended right now, because he failed the most basic duty of a Trial Court soldier — to protect guides at all costs.”
An Ze stared at his little brother, at the resolve in his eyes and realized he wasn’t playing any of his sly tricks — he wasn’t acting childish, or pouting, or looking at him with puppy eyes.
It was the first time it hit An Ze that An Zhe was now grown up, a person of his own and not just a clingy spore that he’d made with his own genes. An Zhe was now a man of his own, and his hardest resolve was the same as his own — to protect his brother and this life they managed to build off the skin of their backs.
An Ze deflated, handing the now-crumpled envelope to An Zhe. “I got this at work today,” he said. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
An Zhe took the envelope slowly. “I’m sorry for keeping it from you.”
He watched his brother open the envelope, read its contents in confusion, and then look up at him in bewilderment.
“How did it feel,” he braved, “when you guided the Colonel?”
An Zhe hummed. He had never gotten trained in guiding, aside from the basic instructions their mother had given them as children. An Ze didn’t even know how An Zhe managed to pull it off without irreparably damaging himself or Lu Feng.
“At first,” An Zhe began, “it hurt. It felt like I was getting pulled into the middle of a whirlpool, but the whirlpool was made of shattered glass. But then…
“But then, it felt warm.” He smiled. “Like that time I ate psychedelic mushrooms accidentally. There was a big, black thing, and it was trying to reach me, but… I think it was afraid of hurting me. So I tried to touch it. It stung. But after a while, it started seeking me out on its own. And then I woke up.”
Honestly, even with his experience, An Ze didn’t quite understand how his brother described the experience. But from his words, he could expect a high compatibility between his little brother and the Colonel, as strange as it may sound. Guiding that was warm? That made him feel like he was high? A guide would feel that way only during times of either high intimacy, or high compatibility.
Or both, but An Ze really had no plans of imagining his brother being intimate with the Colonel, or with anyone for that matter.
“You know if your evaluation turns out to be high, you’ll probably be contracted to be the Colonel’s dedicated guide, right?” An Ze asked, watching the silly smile still curling An Zhe’s lips.
An Zhe nodded.
“You know that means you’ll have to leave the Lighthouse?”
An Zhe nodded again.
“That means you might not be able to do research at the Lighthouse.”
An Zhe tilted his head. “But I’ll get firsthand research opportunity,” he said. “And that’s more valuable than simply studying collected specimen.”
And Lu Feng’s men will die before they let anything happen to you, An Ze thought but didn’t say out loud. “What do you think of the Colonel?” he asked instead.
“Strong,” An Zhe answered with a hum. “And… warm. And he is very handsome.”
An Ze rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said. “We’ll have to be at Eden early tomorrow. Get some sleep.”
“Okay, gege. You too, gege.”
An Ze rolled his eyes again.
*
The train ride to Eden the next morning was quiet and peaceful. It was too late for the morning rush hour, but too early for lunch, so there were very few people on the train.
They arrived at Eden half an hour early.
Eden was a glass monstrosity made of two buildings with over thirty floors each, connected to each other in the air by a glass bridge. It twinkled at the heart of the central business district like a homing beacon, or a sun controlling the gravitational pull of all other establishments around it. An Ze looked up to the bridge once before pulling his brother into the lobby.
He showed the envelope to the receptionist, who simply glanced at it once before gesturing at someone who immediately led them to the elevators.
They exited at the twenty-fourth floor. This was the wing dedicated to the Trial Court, the military.
Lu Feng was already at the room when they arrived, along with several other members of Eden — including Dr. Shaw. An Ze greeted his boss first before saluting to Lu Feng.
“At ease,” Lu Feng said, voice calm. He also greeted them one by one, but An Ze was quick to notice that his gaze stayed on An Zhe longer before it flicked away.
Compatibility testing didn’t really require much physically, but it was mentally demanding on the guide. After a quick blood draw, An Zhe was fitted with several machines to monitor his vital signs before he and Lu Feng were brought to the lower basement, where the actual test was going to be held.
An Ze and the other guides in charge of the test stayed on this floor, watching their vitals and a video feed of what was happening to the both of them.
An Ze had no idea what scenarios were going to be run for this test, of course, but he knew that all compatibility tests used whatever was most stressful for the esper in question. Because of the high risk of these tests, high military presence was required whenever one was done, and a high-level guide was also present at the basement to intervene if needed.
An Ze watched and watched and watched, but at some point he realized he had no idea what he was even watching for anymore. Neither Lu Feng’s nor An Zhe’s readings fluctuated much, aside from a few bumps here and there on Lu Feng’s end.
An Zhe remained steady the entire time.
Soon, the head of the testing committee called for a stop to the test, and Lu Feng and An Zhe were summoned back to their floor. Everyone else vacated except for An Ze and Dr. Shaw.
An Ze sat still, staring into space in shock.
Dr. Shaw watched him with a smile. “Surprised that your brother is that strong, or that they were that compatible?”
An Ze glared at his boss. “Of course A’Zhe is strong,” he said with a sniff. “But… is that level of compatibility really possible?”
“Maybe not with anyone else,” Dr. Shaw said with a smile, “but with the Colonel… I don’t doubt it.”
It was almost unheard of for a guide to have no physical fluctuations at all in the presence of an esper, especially one in high stress. It could be their heartrate, blood pressure, or breathing, but to have no reaction at all?
“What if my brother is actually a mushroom, though?” An Ze wondered.
“Then I’m the cutest little mushroom in the world.” An Ze looked up in time to see An Zhe, followed by Lu Feng, enter the room. An Zhe made a beeline for him, flopping against his side and elbowing his stomach in the process. “I’m hungry.”
“Just a bit longer,” Lu Feng answered, glancing at them once before looking away. He took a magazine from under the coffee table and began reading.
The results came out a mere hour later.
An Ze had prepared himself for it, honestly, but seeing the figures printed out for him to read almost made him faint.
98.1%?!?!
Why can’t Eden just say they were soulmates!!!!!