Corrupted Radiatons

by Michael Rogers

  Nathan: "Ah, yeah. My bad." *He coughed with his deep voice and adjusted his hands on the back of his head, before walking towards Rachael.*

  Arcadia: *She listened to the two logs close on their own accord.* "The Rostical Guild.. Thy didn't expect to see thou all so soon."

  *Arcadia closed her eyes, as if she was slowly falling asleep.*

  Arcadia: "The quality of the guild will rise to another level upon entering The Remenistic Village."

  --

  *Arcadia opened her eyes and noticed she stood inside a magnificent, holy-like castle.*

  Arcadia: *Her eyes shined gold and she took several steps forward.* "Celestiana?"

  *Arcadia's voice echoed in the holy castle, giving the feeling it was empty.*

  Arcadia: (How odd? Thy felt her emotions here?)

  *A man suddenly appeared in a flash of white light, catching Arcadia's attention.*

  Arcadia: "Those Radiatons, Locki?"

  Locki: *He turned around.* "What are thou doing here, Arcadia?"

  Arcadia: "Thy came here to follow up on that yellow-eyed creature-" *She paused and observed Locki.* "Why are thou worried."

  Locki: *He frowned, as if he wasn't happy she read his emotions.* "Thou are dismissed, Arcadia."

  Arcadia: "Being ignorant of the situation will not make it any less severe-"

  Locki: "The Wise have prioritised the death of Niklauseh Susanoo. Without the planet's Aurorions, Valhalla will no longer be stable."

  Arcadia: "Thy-" *She stuttered out of character, as if she didn't know what to say.*

  Locki: "And now Celest has decided to do her own research when she is needed at a council meeting!"

  Arcadia: "Where is she?"

  Locki: "She's gone to The Astral Plains."

  Arcadia: "The-" *Her beautiful golden eyes widened.* "The Astral Plains, itself?"

  Locki: *He nodded his head in a worried-like manner.* "Directly."

  Arcadia: "But.. Even Celestiana."

  Locki: "She is powerful.. Let's bless the Astragons that nothing bad will happen to her." *Images of a beautiful woman with two long ponytails on each side flashed in his mind.* "Thy won't lose another person."

  Arcadia: (He's recalling a woman from the previous Sacred Knights? This is causing him such grief.)

  Locki: (Pepper Captian, thy miss you.)

  ----------

  *Bright white orbs swirled around Celest's body, blowing her hair to each side.*

  Celest: *She kept her eyes tightly shut, as if she was concentrating on the white orbs.* (In order to visit The Astral Plains, thy need to shroud myself in pure Radiatons.)

  *The entire area around Celest was completely white, but a different shade to the white orbs that swirled around Celest.*

  Celest: (The difference between normal Radiatons and pure Radiatons, are the elemental contamination.)

  --

  *Arcadia shook her head and took a step forward, causing her echoing footstep to catch Locki's attention.*

  Arcadia: "Why did Celest go there? Surely she must understand the threatening conditions."

  Locki: *He turned around and faced Arcadia while pulling the hood of his robes off his head.* "Pure Radiatons."

  Arcadia: "The ability to concentrate nothing but Radiatons, to filter out the Neurons and Astragons."

  Locki: "The contaminants."

  Arcadia: "Unlike Roharnia, pure Radiatons cannot possess even the minuscule of Neurons or a trace of Astragons.. If she fails to do this, or-" *She paused.*

  Locki: "Or if she loses her concentration, her body shall vaporise into the world beyond, as if she had died."

  Arcadia: "Only the Valkyrie or more than two Sacred Knights can do such a thing."

  Locki: "Thy already know this information." *He frowned.* (Why didn't she ask me to come with her? Thy don't want to even think about the possible loss of my closest friend-)

  --

  Celest: (Focus, Celest, focus!) *Her thoughts of determination echoed in her head, as a serenity sounding wave of wind pulsed away from her.*

  *Celest slowly opened her eyes and watched the white landscape slowly appear, as if it was hiding.*

  Celest: (Thy know the repercussions of what may happen if thy lose focus-)

  *The white orbs around Celest's body suddenly cushioned against her skin and absorbed into it.*

  Celest: *She looked at her skin and observed the unnatural white glow in them.* "Okay-"

  *Celest felt brushing around her legs, causing her to look down to notice she stood in the middle of a beautiful field of sea-looking flowers and coral.*

  Celest: *She watched the flowers and coral move, as if they were underwater.* (Why is this flora moving in such a manner-)

  *Celest took another step forward and she noticed two waterfall-like mountains, pouring gel-like water into a ravine.*

  Celest: *She continued to walk forward, mesmerised at the scenery around her.* "Majestic-"

  ?????: "Stop, watch out, you'll fall-" *A woman's whisper caught Celest's attention.*

  Celest: *She looked down and noticed one foot over the edge of a massive cliff.* "Much appreciated?" *She spoke to herself in confusion and stepped back to safety.*

  *Celest observed the area and noticed nobody in sight, as rainbow coloured smears of light rained out of the field and into the air.*

  Celest: *She observed the lights in amazement.* (All those are people that have passed away before merging into the world's Astragons..)

  *Celest smiled to herself in thought and looked back to the gel-like ravine, noticing a water's surface underneath the water.*

  Celest: *She leant forward to get a better look and a piece of the edge broke under her foot, before sprinkling upwards into light.* (Everything is alive around here.)

  *Celest noticed several of the rainbow coloured smears of light swirl and hover around her.*

  Celest: "This place. Despite having all sorts of colours, purple, green, white are the most dominant-"

  ?????: "Thou came here to discuss the colours of The Astral Plains?"

  Celest: *She shook her head with a smile.* "Thy've come here to talk to the previous Sacred Knights."

  ?????: "Which generation of Sacred Knights?" *Its holy, echoing voice came from the closest light.*

  Celest: "The latest generation."

  ?????: "There are no members of the latest generation of Sacred Knights."

  Celest: *She paused in confusion, as a swirl of light flickered past her face, causing the air to warp behind it.* "Thy'm confused, to my knowledge, at least one of the five Sacred Knights have passed into these plains."

  ?????: "There are no Sacred Knights of the latest generation present." *Its light flickered with each word in its genderless-sounding speech.*

  Celest: *Her eyes widened in disbelief.* "But.. That means Raphael and Lorilei..." *Her eyes widened even further.*

  ?????: "Is there anything else?"

  Celest: (Rumours about her betraying Valhalla and fleeing to the world below.. She has been thought to have passed on to these plains.. And Raphael, who disappeared after encountering a mysterious surge of Shadiatons-)

  *Celest took a step back and started to become emotional, causing the white glow in her skin to fade.*

  Celest: *She watched her fingertips suddenly shatter upwards and twinkle into light.* (My flesh is burning off into these plains!)

  ?????: "Thou must leave, or you shall join The Astral Plains as if your current life has ended."

  Celest: "Thy thank thou for your time!" *She spoke in pain, as half of her hand was eaten away into light.*

  --

  *Celest suddenly appeared in a bright flash of white light inside a holy-appearing castle and took several steps forward, watching a delayed spurt of blood gush out of her decomposed hand.*

  Celest: "Blast the Astragons-"

  *Locki and Arcadia both turned around and instantly focused their attention to Celest, who kneeled down to endure the pain.*

  Celest: "The pain imi
tates-.." *She hissed in pain.* "-Surges from being frozen solid, to scorching-"

  Locki: "Celestiana!"

  Arcadia: *Her eyes twitched in pain.* (Thy feel her pain-)

  Celest: "Locki?"

  Locki: "What happened?!"

  Celest: "The Sacred-, argh!" *She screamed at her hand.*

  Arcadia: *Her golden eyes flashed, as she closely observed Celest's wound.* (A structural breakdown of Radiatons from a molecular level?) *She thought to herself in shock.*

  Celest: *She attempted to keep her composure.* "It was beautiful."

  Locki: "We live in Valhalla, don't be ridiculous-"

  Arcadia: "The Astral Plains." *She reminded Locki of where she just was.*

  Locki: "W-What did it look like, Celestiana?" *He cupped his hands around Celest's missing fingers.*

  Celest: *Her eye twitched.* (The pain is unimaginable-)

  Locki: "INVOKING AURA" *His voice echoed and light glowed around Celest's hand before fading away.* (Nothing?)

  Celest: "Locki?" *She spoke in confusion.*

  Locki: "Quick internal light, INVOKING AURA" *He shouted with an echoing voice and watched light glow and fade away from Celest's hand.*

  Arcadia: (If Radiatons no longer work on the user's target, that means they are either dead or they are restored to the Remenistal's optimum standards.)

  Locki: *He shook his head.* "Sacred light of Radiatons cluster and form, aid and replenish what has been lost-" *He spoke with an echoing voice and raised both his arms.*

  Celest: (Is the damage caused by The Astral Plains' environment this severe?)

  Arcadia: *She watched a bright ball of light swirl into reality above Celest.* (Thy can feel her pain-) "Tell us more, Celestiana?"

  Celest: "They spoke to me."

  Arcadia: "They spoke to thou?" *She tilted her head to one side.* "There were other beings?"

  Celest: *She shook her head.* "The Voice of On."

  Locki: *He dropped his arms and a stream of light fell down, bursting on top of Celest.* "SOOTHING LIGHT"

  Celest: "Everything was absolutely extraordinary.. The feeling thy experienced, it was like winning The Swarming Light Flight for the first time." *She spoke with a smile, as she watched light pour around her like water.*

  Locki: "Celest?" *He spoke in confusion and kept his pose, as if he needed to stay on the spot.*

  Celest: "The Voice of On spoke to me.. Do thou know, when thou enjoy something to the extremity, time passes or flows irregularly?"

  Locki: (Thy don't understand-) "Arcadia?"

  Arcadia: *She shook her head.* "She's no longer in any pain, her mental health is at optimum levels. She appears to be feeling bliss? Serenity? At peace? Even accomplishment."

  Locki: "Thy am confused."

  *The light around Celest faded and she raised her arms, twiddling all eight fingers and two thumbs.*

  Arcadia: *Her eyes widened in disbelief.* (Amazing, completely healed.)

  Celest: *She smiled at Locki in appreciation.* "It felt like thy was there for days."

  Locki: "What did thou seek?!" *He sounded annoyed at Celest for taking such a risk.*

  Celest: *Her smile instantly faded, as if she knew she had something important to say.* "The Sacred Knights.. There are no deaths!"

  Arcadia: *She tilted her head to the other side.* "That's not correct, two of the five have passed on. Another has been banished, another imprisoned and-" *She looked at Locki.* "Another promoted-"

  Locki: "Yes."

  Celest: "Thy may not have shown it, but Arcadia's warnings and information had started to worry me."

  Locki: "Your information is wrong-"

  Celest: "The Voice of On." *She implied her information was genuine.* "There are no deaths in the previous generation of Sacred Knights."

  Locki: *He paused in confusion.* "Raphael-?"

  Celest: "Exactly." *She spoke sternly, as if that's exactly what she wanted to bring to Locki's attention.*

  Arcadia: "What does this mean?"

  Locki: "Raphael was sent to locate an unknown disturbance of Shadiatons."

  Celest: "His Radiatons suddenly faded, followed by an irregular spike of Shadiatons."

  Locki: "It was believed he was ambushed by a group of Scoldrants, thus, the end of Raphael." *He spoke with utmost respect.*

  Arcadia: "Don't take me for a peasant. A Sacred Knight defeated by mere Scoldrants."

  Locki: *He focused his attention back to Celest, who appeared to be thankful of her fingers.* "What does this mean?"

  Celest: "Raphael has not passed through to The Astral Plains, meaning he's still down there."

  Locki: "Perhaps he has betrayed us?"

  Celest: "Unlikely."

  Arcadia: (They are serious about this?) "What is happening?"

  Locki: "What does this mean?"

  Celest: "Perhaps.. His Radiatons were taken?"

  Locki: "That's unlikely. Our Radiatons are passed on through blood or love."

  Celest: "Did he have a secret admirer?"

  *Locki and Celest slowly looked towards Arcadia, as if they were waiting for an answer.*

  Arcadia: "Thy can't do such a thing without his Neurons, Astragons or-"

  Locki: *He touched his forehead and quickly flicked his finger towards Arcadia, revealing an 'S' shaped tattoo.*

  Arcadia: *She stared at the marking on his forehead.* (The Sacred Knight stigma?)

  Celest: "Locki, thou are part of The Wise now, thou cannot display that Radiaton induced Roharnia."

  Locki: "Despite even one's physical death, we are still linked.. Feel his Radiatons and tell us."

  Arcadia: *She closed her eyes and started to concentrate.* (Raphael... What is his name?)

  *A pulse of gold and silver wind blew away from Arcadia, causing torches on the walls to suddenly ignite.*

  Locki: *He looked around confused.* (Those are meant to go on during sunset.)

  Arcadia: (Raphael Steinheart.) *She slowly opened her eyes.* "He did not possess any feelings to anyone without Radiatons."

  Celest: "That eliminates the possibility of passing on his Radiatons."

  Locki: "Thy personally scanned the continents myself.. What about The Dontalia Facility?"