“They’re the special forces for the Hierocracy of Victashia,” Leptin answered, his eyes not leaving Akane’s.
“So I’m a target after all…”
“You know attacking us is a violation of the treaty,” Leptin addressed his enemy as he touched his hands together.
“Fool,” Akane scoffed, lowering the katana. “That treaty has long since been broken. Your federation desperately clings to it in a pitiful attempt to keep us from completely taking over your worthless country. The rods you still possess are not kept within your borders due to your own powers, but rather by Viate’s grace. With your past eleven long dead and your science experiment still discovering her wings, it’s only a matter of time before we annex you. A country that experiments on their people will not be one for long. Vitae showed Kaiga mercy out of respect for Jamieh’s existence, but you’ve lost that grace. The goddess will first strip you of your power, then your land, and will wash away your dignity after she removes your identity and assimilates you to our ways.”
“Why were you sent here?” Leptin demanded.
“First it starts with her,” Akane replied looking past him. Blood trickled off the tip of one of her swords as her cold black eyes met his purple ones. “I will end her life here and now. Her existence is a copy that Viate deems unnecessary.”
“Keep your distance Melissa,” Mr. Leptin warned. “If she manages to—”
Without another word, Akane, raised the duel katanas and darted in.
Mr. Leptin jerked up his hands. Round beads of water rising from the desert sprouted into spikes and hardened into concrete as they shot toward their adversary like mini missiles.
Diving to one side, Akane coming up slashed her swords at the air as the spikes changed course. Cutting through the waves of fire, the spikes fell as the flames blackened them to the core.
Spreading out his feet, Mr. Leptin slid his hands past each other. As he lowered them sudden surges of water spilled out of the dirt to pool before him and submerged the surrounding area in ankle deep water.
Fire versus water, he thought. This should be interesting.
“Melissa, keep your distance,” Mr. Leptin commanded. “And stay behind me. If she tries to attack me in my blind spots, use your metals to block it. Teamwork is how we’ll survive this.”
“All right…” she said as she retreated a few more steps. Observing the scene from a greater distance, she willed her metals to extend their range.
Walking Akane began to approach her adversary. Springing forward, she swung a blade for his throat. Stepping back out of range as it slashed at him, Mr. Leptin struck her arm with the base of his palm and knocked her off balance. Recovering in record time, Akane stepped in quickly. Bringing her katanas up, she began to turn into him to execute consecutive slices across the chest.
Responding to Leptin’s will, water shot up into a wall before him. The first blade cutting through it sent up a cloud of steam as the water reacted to the flames. Sparks flew as Melissa’s white metals snaked forward to block the attacks. Breaking off into another wire, the whip-like strand that had come to his aid deflected the second blade preventing it from cutting into Leptin’s neck.
Holding her own against the silvery metals for a brief blade-lock, Akane jumped back and bobbed and weaved as the wires came after her. Parrying their onslaught of slashes, she slid her blades along the metallic whips to misdirect their underhanded stabs and praise-worthy slices. However, as her foot stepped out of water, her gaze centered on Mr. Leptin.
“Quick Step,” she muttered and ducking a wire’s swing as she stepped back into the muddy water, she generated a flash of light to gather at her feet. Bringing her katanas up before her she flew toward him, her feet treading the pool so fast she appeared to be running on it. Zig zagging to avoid the wires’ pursuit, she turned from Leptin, and coming around from his side, she readied her swords and came in as if to cut him in half.
Using the water beneath his feet, Mr. Leptin slid away as Akane brought around her swords.
“Gotcha,” he muttered, a grin crossing his face as he lifted a hand. “Concrete Release!”
Wet concrete spurted from Mr. Leptin’s body like blood as the katanas slipped into it. Color faded as skin and clothes sagged into dark grey sludge.
A duplicate? Akane thought as she flung the mess from her blades and her eyes flew to their corners in pursuit of her elusive adversary.
“Harden!” Mr. Leptin shouted, clasping his hands together as he rose out from the water, behind his fallen clone.
Water snaked up to wrap around Akane’s body and strapped her arms down by her sides. It stopped at her neckline it transmuted into hardened concrete. Immobilized, she lifted her chin and gave him a dark look.
Putting a hand forward, Mr. Leptin cast his fingers down. Responding to his summons, a concrete wall studded with sharp jagged spikes rose up behind the woman, promptly followed by a large concrete figure which loomed over it. Grabbing the top of the wall with a hand, the figure lifted it and flipping it, pulled it back over its head.
“Rest in peace,” Mr. Leptin said dropping the hand. Obeying the order, the giant swung the spiked wall down upon her.
Looking up, Akane closed her eyes. “Angelic Flames.”
White fire erupted from her robes to cloak her as her black hair paled. The spiked shield deteriorated as it approached her, its concrete crumbling like ash before the flames incinerating heat.
“You are formidable but I will have you die here,” Akane said as she passed through the rest of the shield.
“No matter how hot your flames are, I will smother them out!” Leptin declared as he let out a battle cry. Stepping forward, he pushed his hands toward her, sending up a wall of wet concrete surging up into a wave that came crashing down upon her like one from an ocean.
A plum of ash erupted outward as Akane swung a sword and stepping atop the sludge, she walked on.
“All things return to ash before these flames,” she said, lifting a blade.
I'm reaching my limit, Mr. Leptin thought as he glanced back at his student.
“Melissa, run! Get as far away as possible!”
“But—” she protested weakly, her trembling legs already stepping back.
“Reinforcements should be here any minute,” he continued, watching Akane warily. “I'll…be right behind you.”
“Concrete Coffin!” he suddenly roared as he extended his arms.
Needing no further prompting, Melissa turned tail and ran. Her metals recoiled and returned to their sphere-like forms at the back of her hands.
The pool of water came forth in a synchronized wave before shooting up and then down on top of their master. Swirling around the principal, the water began to gather into a ball around him before expanding. Holding his breath as the bubble caught Akane, he willed it to rise off the ground. Pain arced through him as he brought his hands together and reached down within himself for the dredges of what titus he had left.
Not enough, he realized and as air bubbles surged from his mouth, he crossed the point of no return. Delving deeper with the fact that he would not survive in mind, he tapped into his life titus. Accepting his end, he faced death grimly and opened his eyes. Rather than fear, they withheld a certain clarity, a determined resolve that signified a purpose in sacrifice.
The water’s temperature spiked as the intense heat from Akane's flames spread and began to bring the bubble to a boil.
It has begun, Leptin thought, watching the dark red of blood began to drift up into the water as it flowed freely from his nose. As the rising heat began to encroach upon his focus, he shut his eyes and folding his hands over each other, intertwined his fingers.
Harden, he thought. Bubbles rose from his mouth in a choked cry of agony as the water beneath his feet transmuted into hardened concrete and caught his foot. Crushing it, the ball of water’s transformation began to spread up from its maker.
Swimming against a swirling current, Akane already nea
red the ball’s edge as its exterior began to harden before her. Putting a hand to her throat as she felt herself reaching her limit, she flipped around and changed course. Trying to beat the climbing concrete, her eyes widened as slivers of red began to rise in the boiling water, dying the water pink. Glancing down, she caught a glimpse of her adversary, his dark grey eyes already clouded with death as the concrete rose past his chin and smothered him completely.
Shoving her sword into its sheathe, Akane put both hands on the one remaining. Kicking harder, she brought the blade to the side and appraised the solid concrete above her. Encountering it, she swung and in one fluid movement, then jammed the sword back into its sheathe. Throwing her arms back, she opened her palms. Fire erupted out of their center. Smashing through the slit she’d cut head first, she broke out of the bubble and rocketed into the air as it began to solidify.
The flames at her hands sputtered and died just as she reached her highest point in the air. She began to fall. Pulling out a sword, she whipped around in the air and coming down upon the massive concrete ball, she sank her flaming sword into it. As the hot metal cut through it, she rode the round mass down. Flailing as the sword snapped off, she descended the last few feet at a freefall. Tossing the hilt aside, she hit the desert floor.
Pushing herself up after a moment with a groan, the woman staggered to her feet. Coughing, she lifted a shaking arm to wipe the sand from her mouth with her sleeve. The glint of metal catching her eye, she approached her broken sword with heavy steps and stooping to retrieve it, her eyes widened. She stood on the fringes of a massive shadow. Whips of white titus dissipated from the concrete ball above like a shockwave. Looking up as it began to fall from the sky she sheathed the sword quickly.
“Quick Step!” she yelled, stepping forward. Light gathered at her feet as she shot out from under the ball like a rocket. Clearing it, her body left the ground as the mass crashed into the earth. Thrown into the air, she hit sand once more and tumbling, she rolled head over heels before dropping into a drift.
Pushing herself up feebly, a round of coughs overtook her. She paused and her back arched violently as she vomited. Gasping at the sandy air with a few coughs in-between, she got a hold of herself. and staggering to her feet, she started forward slowly before rising into the air.
“The girl…” she rasped as she willed her titus to lift her higher. “I need to kill the girl… Viate wills it.”
Steering herself to drift across the landscape, her eyes scanning the desert aimlessly. Passing over the concrete ball, her gaze fixed upon a small figure traveling beneath the scorching heat of the midday sun.
Found you…fledging eleven, she thought with a smile.
Chapter 9
Tomorrow Isn’t Guaranteed
"Rise and shine cupcake,” Wilson said cheerfully, lowering his magazine. He was sitting placidly in a wooden chair, his back to the room's large window. It was small but its simple furnishing and bubbly wallpaper added a cozy aspect despite the presence of three bodyguards; two by the windows and another by the door.
"Ugh...what—where?" Alex asked, sitting up groggily. He still wore the clothes Wilson had given him but in his arm was an IV.
"Well, some call it a hospital. Others call it a prison for the ill."
Alex threw off his sheets and swung his feet to the bed's edge. "How long was I out? What happened? You know, after—"
"You've been out a day. As for the other question, which would you prefer? Good or bad news?"
"Bad...?" Alex ventured.
"All right. You see, the thing is, you used up too much titus at one time. That's pretty common for beginners, but those tornados... Alex you have a larger quantity of titus than the average person."
"Of course, like I'd ever be average."
"Don't get cocky; even preschoolers can whip up something as simple as a sand spinner."
"Young minds are better conductors for imagination." Alex shrugged. "But I on the other hand—"
"Deflate your ego, it’s crowding the room."
"You first."
"Using too much titus poses a risk to your health, which commonly comes in the form of your body breaking down from the inside out. Organ failure, internal bleeding, et cetera. So watch yourself. Tapping into your life titus leaves behind corpses with mush for hearts and ground beef for muscle."
"That would have been nice to know beforehand."
Wilson flipped a page. "Slipped my mind."
"I'm sure."
Closing the magazine, the man stood. "Anyway, you're on clean up duty."
"For what?"
"You made a mess of the beach."
"Oh right...that," Alex said. Sliding off the bed, his bare feet met the cold tile. "So what's the good news?"
"There is none,” Wilson said over his shoulder as he left the room.
Discharged from the hospital, Alex, was dragged back to the beach by an over-enthusiastic Wilson. He walked along its sand, which surprisingly, had been smoothed back out. It was as if the event that left the landscape scarred with muddy pits and marred by the overarching shadows of hilly mounds, had never occurred.
"And I told them not to..." Wilson sighed, continuing down to shore. "Oh well, on to the next exercise."
Eyebrows raised. Alex started after him. "Next?"
"Why not? You might be a puzzler."
"Puzzler?"
Stepping onto the water, Wilson stood atop the waves as surely as if they were solid ground. Alex on the other hand, put one foot on the water and lost his balance almost immediately. Giving the youth a hand up, Wilson lent Alex his sleeve, then guided his pupil over the water and glided along its surface like a skater on ice. Looking behind him, Alex was not surprised to see the bodyguards, as always, trailing a few feet behind.
"Puzzlers are a rare bunch who have the ability to materialize Rubik's cubes–complex cube-like puzzles, out of titus. For Kaiga who sees the Dark Realm as an unfathomable well of potential resources, puzzlers are invaluable."
"So...you want to use me?"
"I want to test you. Oddities oddly enough, tend to have the highest potential as puzzlers and I admit your stunt with the sand was like a beacon of hope; perhaps one the highest I've ever seen. And it's probably just the tip of the iceberg...it always is with prodigies."
"So in other words, you want me to be tool for this country—a place I could care less about."
"I'm not asking you to be a tool—"
"Yeah, okay. Look Wilson, you know what I want. So I only have one question, what's in it—?"
"For you?" Wilson offered a sarcastic smile. "Go figure. Those values...Alex, you're a true oddity."
"You're avoiding the question. What's this test about and when I pass, what happens then?"
"When you pass? What makes you think you'll survive?" Wilson halted and turned his head. They were a fair distance from shore, far enough that the beach appeared like a stretch of tan, a platform for the city behind.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. The chance of being a puzzler is one in five-hundred million. That's half a billion...and only five out of the total oddities in the last two centuries have ever displayed an affinity for puzzling. All of them except for two were duds. Then one just had to die when they were on the brink of finishing the puzzle. Ugh, we only got one scroll out that of that batch. Do you know how much they cost to train? Hundreds of millions. And except for one, it was money down the drain."
"Two centuries ago? It's not like you were alive...right?"
"Money is money. I don't like seeing it wasted and hate bad investments. So, if miraculously, you have a lick of talent to rival your ego, then...we'll see what's in it for you."
"You're offering a deal?"
"If there's way for you to get back..." Wilson pointed at the Dark Realm with a dramatic pause. "It's linked with that haze. We have research. So make a scroll and—"
"But wait, you said you can't get through the haze, err...Dark Realm."
"The scroll s
ays differently."
"Scroll?"
"You know what Rubik's cubes are right?"
Alex frowned, "I thought we covered—why are you avoiding my question?"
"'Cause it's not important," Wilson trailed off, continuing the tread across water at a brisker pace. He'd waited for his lagging bodyguards, Alex realized. The unstable footing of his protectors hindered their progress.
The observation sparked a question. "Hey Wilson, how are we walking on water?"
"Water's the only element to support the living and sink the dead. In other words, it's a preserver. It sustains the world and responds to the titus of the living and tries not to drown them."
"Sounds like mother nature,” Alex remarked, releasing Wilson's sleeve as he halted within a rocky enclave. Its smooth walls decorated with ten or so ladders bolted to its sides and stretched up to reach circular crevices. At the landmark's center a small but prominent cube-like opening resided. A white glow pulsed from its interior and below it was a hole nearly as large in diameter.
"Where are we?"
"The Scroll Enclave,” Wilson answered simply.
"Where are the scrolls?"
"You have to make the puzzle before—oh, but you don't know the legend...right, I forgot you're an oddity. Anyway, it's common knowledge that if a puzzler—"
"Yeah, yeah, so what's that got to do with this place?"
"That," Wilson gestured to the cube opening, "Is where a Rubik's cube created from titus goes. "So that's the test? Make a puzzle and shove it in a keyhole?"
Wilson nodded. "Except the titus has to be drawn directly from the individual's core, their soul and very being to make it."
"How do you do that?" Alex stared at his open palms. "You only showed me how to mix titus with the stuff around—"
"You don't understand. You're making a Rubik's cube in exchange for a transfer, a transformation for tiny fraction of your soul."
"I'm guessing that might cause health problems?"
"Millions upon millions have died in the effort."
"Oh, that's encouraging."
"It wasn't meant to be. Now Alex I want you to think about this—"
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