After the dreams of that morning, on Void, things were far more relaxed. Rather than get up early to begin training, Rana and Saiph had elected to have a quiet morning with Cassie and Geoffrey. They set up the viewport watching a mysterious planet of advanced long-necked beings and torrential rain. Breakfast was a simple affair, but serviceable.

Geoffrey and Cassie sipped their coffee and tea respectively as they watched the viewport. Cassie felt her mind at rest. Due to her clairvoyance, her mind was frequently ‘active’, constantly dipping into tiny moments of the future and informing her of what would soon transpire throughout the universe. From time to time, her mind would become more dormant; a release that she loved. It was nice to have her mind be her own for a short amount of time, where the thoughts in her head were there because she had actively chosen to think them.

As always in this downtime, her thoughts wandered to two things: her family, and a young man by the name of Zack Lyons. She missed her family, but there was no way she could speak to them, or even explain where it was she had gone and why it was so immensely important.

Zack, at least, could understand her position, living through it himself. It was this thought that prompted her to send him a message of her own accord. She had not foreseen the conversation, but there was something fun for a clairvoyant about not knowing what would come next for once.

Hello, Zack. How are you? CJ

ZL Oh, hey Cass. I’m just sitting around chatting to everyone, you?

I’m fine. Watching the viewport with Geoffrey and the Voidians. CJ

How are things going out there? CJ

ZL Surprisingly good, considering what’s gone on.

ZL Everything seems relaxed, guess it’s because we’ve got a mutual goal or whatever.

I can understand that. CJ

I have been working with Geoffrey despite his less-than-attractive nature. CJ

ZL He’s not that bad, Cass.

Why do you defend him so? CJ

Cassie glanced up and eyed Geoffrey, who was watching the viewport with avid enjoyment, his coffee long since forgotten. She still didn’t feel entirely comfortable around him, and for a moment, a cruel little voice in her head whispered ‘racist’, and she shook it away. It wasn’t his colour, but his behaviour that she could not tolerate. Wasn’t it?

ZL Geoffrey’s always been a good friend to me. I know, and I will be the first to say, that he is very forward with women. But do you want to know a secret?

Mm? CJ

ZL He’s never been kissed. Never had a girlfriend. Everything you see is bravado – the minute you respond in kind or accept his advances, he’ll chicken out. Because he doesn’t expect that.

ZL Geoffrey really believes that being popular with women is everything. His bilocation has made him incredibly well-travelled, and you and I both know he’s a genius when it comes to learning about culture.

ZL But he sacrifices a lot of his social life by travelling. You and I also both know that he spaces out a LOT in conversation. He does it in person too.

I see. CJ

Geoffrey was talking to Rana, but Cassie was too checked out of the room to listen to the conversation. She watched the way his eyes roved over Rana’s lithe form, and realised that she had seen his eyes rove like that in one other instance: the moment they had first arrived on Void.

He’s just caught up in his travelling. I suppose living with a lot of new people must be very different than just his family. CJ

ZL Yeah. He’s an only child like me, too. That, uh, does make you a bit weird. In my opinion.

You aren’t weird, Zack. I’ve never believed you to be any stranger than me. CJ

ZL Heh. Thanks, Cass.

ZL Uh, anyway, was there a reason you hit me up besides conversation?

No, Zack. I haven’t foreseen anything about our talk today. I just wanted to talk to somebody who could sympathise with my position. CJ

ZL What do you mean, your position?

I miss home. CJ

ZL Oh.

ZL Yeah. I miss home too. And not just my home, but Earth in general. All those videogames I never got to play. The anime that I never got around to watching. The future I’ll never get to have.

What did you want to do with your future? CJ

ZL I never really decided on what job I’d do. I just took a bunch of subjects I thought I’d be good at, and music, and… no idea. You wanted to be a lawyer, right?

My mother said I’d be able to join her firm soon after I finished university. I was always excited to work with her. CJ

ZL In some ways, it’s incredible, what we’re doing now. But normal lives would have been nice, right?

ZL We could’ve met up in person more often, for starters.

A smile grace Cassie’s lips as she read the message. For a moment, she tried to visualise the future that the six of them could have had. Once they weren’t shackled by college and school and parents, they could have moved out and lived nearer to one another; Lola and Joseph had often talked about travelling to the US in a gap year, hoping to head to New York and meet up with Zack, Geoffrey and Serafina.

It would have been so nice. And yet, the psychic powers that had brought the six of them together were also what had led them here, to the outside of the universe, ready to save it from destruction.

That would have been really nice. CJ

ZL Growing old, getting married, having kids, doing all that… yeah, a normal life would’ve been fine by me.

…Us getting married? CJ

ZL Oh! Sorry, no, I was just talking about me getting married generally. Sorry if you misunderstood.

Oh… no problem. CJ

ZL Would you have liked a normal life?

I think, on the day we discovered our powers, we knew that there was something more for us. CJ

None of your Japanese animations could compare to what we’ve seen in the last few days, could they? CJ

ZL I dunno, Sword Art Online has some stunning visuals. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. It is true that being psychic made us different. Maybe too different.

Do you think you would have been satisfied, living a normal life with the power you wield? CJ

ZL No, I suppose not.

ZL But the thought of it is comforting.

Yes, it is. Are you dissatisfied with what you’re doing? CJ

ZL …

ZL No. I’m protecting my home, and that’s pretty noble, to me.

ZL Looks like something’s happening over here, Cass. I gotta go, but talk to me later, alright?

Whenever you like. I’ll be here. CJ

ZL Cool. Bye!

With that, Zack went offline, and Cassie spent a few moments looking at the conversation before shaking her head and wrenching her eyes away from the screen. As she observed the viewport, still completely oblivious to the conversation the others were having, a vision clouded her mind, and she saw an island dotted with tents, and a young Zionid wielding two spears walking towards a tent.

What Cassie really didn’t like about the vision was the powerful sense of blood. Blood that would be spilled just sixteen hours from now.

Zack, wait, before you go. CJ

I just had a vision. Someone at your camp is in terrible danger! CJ

There was no reply. With a sense of looming dread, Cassie realised that Zack was not checking his messages. If he didn’t check for the rest of the day, it would likely be too late.

Too late, Cassie thought. But for who?