Chapter 25: To the North

Chapter 25:
To the North

 

THE MIRROR ON THE CURTAIN did more than just block the moon.

The concave surface reflected a magnified image of the Earth back upon itself, and depending on the angle, it also reflected the sun from the opposite side of the Earth, turning night into day. The curved mirror concentrated the sunlight, creating bands of droughted land. Wildfires spread everywhere.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the rest of the birds had vanished, and insect populations had exploded across the globe, causing widespread damage to the forests and breadbaskets of the world.

The Earth was falling out of rhythm.

 

Super Eva and Shinji caught a ride north on a Russian floating dry dock vessel that passed by eastern Japan on its way to the Port of Tomakomai in Hokkaido.

This was his punishment.

He doubted he could be of any real help on this disaster relief mission, but as the UN’s military advisor had said, maintaining good P.R. was still important.

En route, in the remote briefing, Shinji had been assigned to clear the port of sunken ships and—in a few, very limited areas that were confirmed to be uninhabited—to demolish buildings that had started to tip over due to soil liquification. Super Eva couldn’t work just anywhere, as even the mere vibrations from its footsteps would cause further damage.

In truth, Super Eva wasn’t suited for constructive tasks. The giant was simply too large. Even the act of moving was bound to destroy something. Shinji acknowledged that his assignment was about the extent of what he could do.

The floating dry dock was supposed to sail west of Cape Erimo, but unusually tall waves had caused the ship to deviate from its intended route, and it had drifted east of the cape instead. That was the last thing Shinji remembered.

 

Think, Shinji, what happened next?

What did Misato say?

<<Shinji-kun, Cinq might—>>

Yes, I remember now. Misato told me that Ayanami—Cinq, that is—and Asuka went missing.

<<Cinq might be dead.>>

On the other side of my entry plug’s display, Misato lowered her eyes.

Steam rose from Super Eva’s armor, and I looked back into the cold wind.

I remember. I ran like hell.

 

Rattled by the death of someone close to him, Shinji lost the ability to distinguish which parts of himself were him and which were Super Eva. Before he knew it, he was leaping from the ship into the sea.

He picked a direction at random and ran until he reached land.

According to his navigation log, he’d cut across the Kushiro Plains and reached an open, flat area.

Shinji shuddered.

Thump. His heart pounded.

The area had been named the Kushiro Plains a long time ago, but now the land was home to cropland and pastures for dozens of kilometers in every direction, dotted by a few small farm towns. Shinji wondered if he had stepped on any buildings…or anyone.

Shinji had discovered a new downside to being merged with an Eva.

Evangelions, as a rule, were easily influenced by their pilots’ mental state. That alone complicated their use as tools of war. And now, with Shinji and Super Eva, the pilot and the giant had been inextricably linked. If Shinji had an episode, he couldn’t be disconnected, or restrained, or simply it out.

If he let his emotions run wild, he’d become a typhoon-level catastrophe.

But isn’t that why I practiced controlling my body?

“What am I doing?”

Here and there, the farmland had been scarred by earthquakes, and Shinji began to see that every single bit of damage had been caused by him.

Focusing his mind, Shinji increased the sensitivity of his sensors.

The houses were dark and devoid of life. Had everyone evacuated?

According to the map, there was an airport and a military base nearby.

But as far as he could see, the world was completely still.

Shinji had been told that under no circumstances was he to leave his entry plug while away on this assignment.

That was fine with him. He was afraid of seeing the devastation with his own eyes.

 

But as Super Eva scanned his surroundings, something caught his attention far off toward the northeastern horizon.

What he saw filled him with fear.

Thump. His heart pounded.

On the other side of the flat plains lay the open sea.

In the sea was an archipelago leading to Kamchatka Peninsula beyond the horizon.

The sky there was on fire.

It was right where the tectonic plate break had occurred.

The great rift was far from where Shinji stood—even farther than he’d traveled from Hakone to Hokkaido. It lay beyond the Earth’s curve. But standing near the eastern side of Hokkaido, Shinji could see red flames spewing from the depths of the Earth and thick, black smoke drifting east.

 

Shinji could only imagine how gigantic the flames were. Several jets fired in a line, like panels of a folding screen, the great rift hurling Earth’s insides into the sky.

“The lance is doing all that,” Shinji said with wonder and terror.

The Lance of Longinus traveled through the heavens, bringing large-scale destruction to the land.

And this was the result.

If anything could be called hell, this might have been it. But the cataclysm Shinji witnessed in this moment wasn’t just restricted to this corner of the world; it was a disaster playing out across the globe.

Aftershocks shook the ground, and Shinji grew even more disconcerted.

Upon landing at Tomakomai, Shinji was supposed to have been joined by a long-endurance UAV flown directly from Nerv Japan, but according to his subdisplay, the drone was nowhere near. Shinji had made landfall far off course, and the UAV’s signal was distant.

 

Suddenly, a voice spoke through his hydrospeaker.

<<Nerv Japan Super Eva.>>

Thump! Shinji’s heart pounded.

The voice startled him so greatly that even Super Eva’s body shuddered.

<<Nerv Japan Super Eva, this is UNAF-RRC3—United Nations Armed Forces Religious Riot Control, Third Brigade.>>

The transmission’s IFF code checked out, and the “friend” icon lit up on Shinji’s display. But something about the person’s Japanese—proper, yet low and gravelly—made Shinji feel like a ghost was addressing him.

<<We’re glad you made it, Super Eva. But you’re quite far from where we expected you to arrive.>>

Shinji was about to open a communications window, but he hesitated. He switched the two-way window to voice only before establishing the connection. He didn’t know what made him choose to keep the video off.

Shinji gulped in the LCL and replied, “Super Eva to UNAF-RRC3. I disembarked at the wrong location. I’m sorry, but if you could give me the route to Tomakomai, I’ll—”

<<No need for that, Ikari Shinji. We’ll come to you.>>

“Huh?” This came as a surprise.

What are they saying? This isn’t where I was I assigned during the briefing.

<<Repeat, UNAF-RRC3 will come to you. Send us your current coordinates.>>

Shinji tried to think about what this might mean.

“Are you…suggesting we meet here and then go to Tomakomai together?”

<<Look around you. After the earthquakes, everywhere is a disaster relief zone.>>

I guess, but… A chill ran down Shinji’s spine. Something isn’t right!

He felt as if hands had suddenly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

An instinctive sense of danger shouted an alarm inside Shinji, and his heart raced.

Thump!

Thump!

As if sensing Shinji’s reaction, the voice said, <<Calm yourself, Ikari Shinji. If you let yourself grow frightened, they’ll come.>> Then a pause. <<No, wait. You may have already summoned one. Watch your surroundings.>>

Sensing a presence, Super Eva whipped around and found—nothing.

Wait, there!

With the burning eastern sky at its back, a figure lumbered across the flatlands.

The entry plug’s AI scanned the figure’s outline and immediately classified it as an enemy. A match that fast could only mean one thing—the Eva had seen it before.

“An Angel Carrier!” Shinji shouted.

The Carrier appeared to have emerged from the distant rift.

But why has it come here?

Thump!

Shinji recalled what the Ayanamis had said when Super Eva’s heart had first begun to beat.

That heartbeat must not be. That pulse must not be written onto the parchment of time.

Just then, the Angel Carrier broke into a sprint, and Shinji reflexively drew the prog knife from his arm rail.

Is it too late for anything to be done?

 

What about those terrible jets of flame filling the horizon?

Armaros said, “From the great flood, the stage will be reborn.”

Was the end already nigh when the lance began its orbit? Is there nothing left for Asuka and Cinq to protect?

As if remembering to report the sighting, but actually just wanting to call home, Shinji connected to the satellite and said, “This is Shinji and Super Eva to Hakone command.”

Previously, the special communications channel had displayed multiple errors; the lines had been as tangled as Shinji’s thoughts. But now the connection went through.

“I’ve encountered an Angel Carrier in eastern Hokkaido!”

<<We got through!>> Hyuga responded immediately, like he’d been waiting at the ready. <<This is Hakone command. Why are you so far from the drone? We’ve been trying to reach you. What’s your situation?>>

My situation? What is my situation?

The two giants closed in on each other. Soft earth scattered in all directions under their footsteps, and what had once been orderly and beautiful cropland was trampled.

“It’s an Angel Carrier. I think Super Eva’s heart summoned it!”

However sketchy the UN military officer had seemed, their explanation had stuck with Shinji, because it felt like the truth. They’re probably watching me right now. Damn it!

“The Carrier is drawn to my heartbeat!”

<<Wait, how can you be sure of that?>> Hyuga asked. <<You don’t have any backup or long-range weapons on you, right? Keep your distance and do not engage!>>

“Too late!”

It is too late. And yet we sent Asuka and Cinq away. What if Cinq died for nothing? And what if Asuka never returns from the other side of that mirror? Assuming she’s even still alive.

Shinji’s thoughts sank deeper into hopelessness, and his chest constricted.

Super Eva’s heart—a window to higher dimensions—began to make a low rumble distinct from its beat.

<<Shinji-kun!>> Hyuga shouted.

“How… How is everything so unfair?!”

Indignant rage swelled within Shinji, and Super Eva kicked off from the ground, launching its nearly 4,000-ton body at the Carrier.

The Angel Carrier swung its staff, but Super Eva dodged the attack and delivered its knee shield to the Carrier’s head.

The sound was tremendous, but the attack didn’t land. The Angel Carrier manifested its A.T. Field-like shield and deflected the strike.

Sparks exploded, and then Super Eva was over the shield and landing behind the Carrier.

The UNAF-RRC3 officer came back on the comm.

<<Don’t go west. We’ve got evacuees there. If you’re going to fight that thing, do it where you are. SSDF from the nearby base have already finished clearing out the civilians in your area.>>

Shinji was still suspicious of this unknown caller, but he couldn’t risk hurting civilians.

Before Shinji’s guard was back up, the Carrier thrust its staff and tripped Super Eva. Shinji yelped as his Eva fell, gouging a large divot from the ground.

The Carrier was on top of him. It pulled back the staff and spun the weapon in a loop over its head. The axe-like tip rushed down toward Super Eva’s heart.

 

There wasn’t enough time to get up, so Super Eva rolled away from the attack—not left or right, but forward toward the Carrier, putting its head underneath the monster’s frame.

The Carrier had committed to the swing and couldn’t arrest its motion.

The staff struck the ground where Super Eva had been, and a spray of sediment erupted.

Shinji upended the Angel Carrier from below but kept hold of its arm.

“You’re a corpse!” Shinji shouted. “You’re dead! What do you want my heart for?”

Perhaps being dead is exactly why it wants my heart.

Shinji held out his knife at the base of the monster’s shoulder—inside its shield—and let the Angel Carrier’s weight do the work. The gruesome sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones echoed across the pastures, and a fountain of blood sprayed out.

Shinji had amputated the Carrier’s arm, including the shoulder plate with the Q.R. Signum.

“Maybe I’d give my heart to Ayanami after her death, but I’d never give it to you!”

Would I really? Would I offer my life for her? I can’t do anything if I’m dead.

Agh! Focus, Shinji!

The Angel Carrier landed on its back, and even with an arm missing, it got right back up and continued the attack.

Super Eva swung the Carrier’s severed arm like a club.

The blunt force penetrated its shield surprisingly easily, crushing the giant’s jaw, and it fell back on its rear.

The Q.R. Signum on the loose arm shattered into tiny crystals. Later, Shinji would realize that the Signum had allowed his grisly club to bypass the monster’s shield.

Despite its many injuries, the Carrier thrust out its remaining hand, which still gripped its staff, and projected its shield at Super Eva, knocking Shinji off-balance.

Seizing the opening, the wounded white creature stood and charged, its staff pointing forward.

Shinji barely deflected the weapon’s tip with his knife.

The staff slid across the edge of the blade, producing a shrill squealing, like a freight train slamming on the emergency brakes. The charging Carrier had too much momentum to be stopped, and it passed in a shower of sparks, its right shoulder hurtling toward Super Eva, the glowing Q.R. Signum projecting its shield.

Super Eva had manifested its A.T. Field in the shape of its body, and it took the blow straight on its own shoulder.

But Shinji wasn’t finished.

He roared as his Eva gripped the prog knife with both hands and drove it directly into the Carrier’s shoulder, putting its full weight behind the blow.

Light exploded from the surface of his opponent’s shield.

The shield held, but the Carrier was no match for Shinji’s rage.

Thump! Thump!

Shinji’s heart pounded. His body ran hot with anger.

His knife’s tip glowed with particles, making the quantum jump from the window to the higher dimensions.

As particles formed and evaporated on the blade, the knife began to pierce the Carrier’s shield.

“Give Asuka back! Give Cinq back!”

Shinji forced the blade through the shield. The tip neared the Carrier’s remaining Q.R. Signum and—

The black-red plate shattered, spraying crystalline fragments like blood.

The Angel Carrier returned to death. Its white corpse fell toward Super Eva, and Shinji let it roll to the side.

<<Watch out!>> Misato shouted. <<You haven’t dealt with the cocoon!>>

No sooner had she spoken than two of the Angel Shamshel’s tentacles lashed out from the Carrier’s abdomen, catching Shinji by surprise and coiling around Super Eva.

 

Something overhead fired four shots.

Shinji barely had time to fortify his A.T. Field before a rain of tungsten-core rods pierced everything around him. Stronger than steel, dense as gold, the projectiles descended at the speed of sound.

Shinji yelped as countless rods struck his A.T. Field.

His field stopped them, but the force of their impact drove Super Eva to its knees. By the time the dust settled, Shamshel’s larval body had been turned into a bloody pincushion.

The destruction had been technological—a human weapon.

“The UN?”

They saved me, Shinji thought. But the attacks weren’t over. The Nerv Japan drone had finally arrived, only to be shot down by an anti-air missile.

Super Eva swiveled in the direction of the missile’s launch.

Shinji swept his sensors across the landscape, but everything seemed hazy.

A black cloud hung low in the northern sky.

Am I seeing things?

A section of the cloud descended in a funnel, which quickly evaporated, revealing a white-winged giant suspended in midair.

“An Eva,” Shinji said softly.

From a distance, it strongly resembled the Stage 2 Eva-02, and though this giant didn’t have four legs, its wings looked a lot like Allegorica’s. This Eva likely carried the same type of N2 reactor and graviton thrusters.

The Unit-02 Eva looked down on him like a guardian angel.

Reflexively, Shinji said the name of a person he thought he’d lost.

“Asuka.”

 

A voice came from the Eva.

<<Asuka still lives.>>

A strange feeling came over Shinji. The voice was familiar.

<<I know she lives.>>

“Wait,” Shinji said, finally placing it. “Hikari?”

The voice belonged to his classmate and former class representative, Horaki Hikari.

 

Shinji thought he heard Kaworu speak.

A flowing river would sooner reverse course than humans would stop erring. The seventeenth Angel sounded disappointed. Even in times like this, they fight each other.