“This is 2558’s administration,” said the lady. “There’s going to be someone here helping you out, so I’ll be going now.”

Along the way, she had pointed out important places, most of them related to city security. Other than the soulforce she mentioned, there was nothing else that seemed superhuman or mystical, and after a while, Gaius was fairly sure that this world, Cybral, was a world far closer to Earth than Orb.

“Thank you,” Gaius replied. “What’s your name?”

“No need for that!” She patted Gaius’ head, and waved goodbye. The little girl beside her also waved farewell, the two figures turning smaller and smaller as they walked to their original destination. He regarded the sight thoughtfully, and then turned to the officer manning the counter.

“So, you’re a newborn, eh?” The uniformed gruff man rubbed his chin. “We’ve been getting quite a few for the past three years or so, and you’re in luck. Do you remember anything?”

Gaius shook his head, and the man scribbled down something. “So you’re an amnesiac. Do you have any skills? Crafts?”

He paused for a moment. “Anything you think you can do?”

The boy tilted his head for a moment. “Do you have a block of wood and a knife? I think I can sculpt things.”

“Sculpting, eh? It’s something the rich like. You’re in luck.” The official nodded twice, clearly deep in thought. “Lemme go get a knife for you. You should be able to procure materials anywhere, so it’s quite the cheap investment.”

He got up and vanished into a door at the back of his counter. Bits and ends clattered noisily, and Gaius took the chance to look at the nameplate on his counter. Despite the fact that most of his active Abilities were sealed, Gaius could still create a barrier and fly — he half-suspected that he now treated both activities as something natural — and he took his chance to see the man’s name.

Geo-Gai. It was quite the unique name to him, which meant that it was probably the native style for everyone here. By extension, the idea of otherworlders here was probably therefore non-existent…which made Gaius the first person to enter this world from Orb.

It was probably something that should be written in the Octantis Book of World Records.

“A knife, and a block of good quality wood.” The official slid both items over to Gaius, who caught it after they fell off the counter. The boy, instead of carving the block immediately, flipped the knife around and balanced it on his index finger. It was a tad unbalanced, compared to the knives he was used to, but it was still doable.

Gaius found a seat, and began to recall how Nakama did it.

His mind began to wander a few seconds later. Where was his real body now? Was Isabelle and Nakama worrying over him and therefore not getting enough sleep? What was going on, now that the East tried and failed in capturing the Unity?

There were so many things he wanted to know, so many things he worried about, but he couldn’t do anything at all. His knife moved on its own, over and over, hot tears threatening to escape his eyes. His breathing ragged, the sculpture began to take form, but Gaius didn’t have his mind on it.

Wood shavings fell, over and over, and by the time his eyes were clear of tears once more, he had carved out a little girl, holding on to her sister’s hand. They were incredibly lifelike, and Gaius, despite his emotional state, couldn’t help but wryly note that this was his best job so far.

Someone patted his back twice. “Seems like all hope isn’t lost yet.”

Gaius looked up at the man, and the last of his tears fell onto the sculpture, dyeing the blotches a darker brown. “What do you mean?”

“No one ever truly forgets things. Memories are irreplaceable. If you cannot recall them now, it’s because you’re not in the right state for it.” The gruff man had a surprisingly gentle smile for his demeanour. “You’re not alone. Never.”

Gaius felt an indescribable mix of emotions.

What he said didn’t really apply to the him now, but he was indeed an amnesiac of sorts, when he arrived at all.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all. I’ve seen many like you, all waking up without anything.” He picked up the sculpture and examine it. “This figure is well done. Your family?”

“I think so.”

He grunted. “You’ve done a darn good job. But you’ll probably not want this to leave your side. Can I trouble you to make a few more? That way, I can help you a bit. Simply placing some finely-crafted stuff here will attract quite a lot of attention. You’ll be in hot demand within moments.”

“O-ok.”

Within moments, a few more blocks of wood were sitting in front of Gaius. His sculpting speed had somehow shot up while he was lost in his emotions, but now that he was aware, Gaius was aware that it was going to take some time.

“You might need to wait,” he said. “Give me an hour or two, and I’ll have something done.”

He didn’t get all that emotional this time, but that didn’t stop him from being as meticulous as possible. His first sculpture was of the man in front of him, Geo-Gai, and his slow, steady scrapes soon resulted in a well-built little sculpture. Sneaking a few glances at his subject, who was busily processing some documents, Gaius began to replicate his uniform next, moving on to his facial features once he was done.

The hair was the hardest part. Even in Orb, where he had the benefit of qi, carving out someone’s hair was the hardest thing to do, given the profundities of hairstyle. Nakama had done it far better than him, even when she was working with soft snow, and the boy couldn’t help but wonder what advice she would give in this situation.

His knife moved slowly, taking off small strips of wood. Minutes and hours condensed into a blur as he kept on working.

The sun was already dipping down towards the horizon, but only Gaius’ hands had moved in the past few hours, over and over. He wasn’t tired — after all, this was a world where a physical body never truly existed. Fatigue, joint pains…things like that never existed.

And with one final cut, Gaius separated knife from wood. A small mess was sitting on his lap, which the boy gathered up to place inside a suit pocket. Standing up, he headed over to Geo-Gai, who was finishing off his last few documents, and placed the sculpture on his counter.

The soft thump made him look up.

“Is that me?” he asked.

“Yes.” Gaius paused. “As a token of thanks.”

The man guffawed. “This is far more valuable than you think. Let me treat you to dinner by way of repayment.”

On cue, Gaius’ stomach rumbled, making him too embarrassed to decline.

“There’s quite a few places to eat,” he said, “but I think 2558’s specialties should be the first thing you eat. Give me a moment, and we’ll head over with my colleagues.”

“Thank you.”

The man shook his head and grinned. “You too. I’m going to show this off for the next few weeks, trust me.”