Chapter 19 – Clues
We spent about two days looking around for any clues to where Master Nether’s orb was, but to no avail. It’s also been quiet all around Ethoria. No rebellion activity. I did enjoy being in the city. I hadn’t been here since I was a kid. Mother usually came here to shop for things we needed. I was told this was where my father grew up and was even where my parents met when they were kids.
I was walking around one afternoon in the run-down part of the city when I stopped and looked down an alley way. I saw a big pipe connecting the buildings and was bent inwards. It was about the size of a human. I walked down the alley to get a closer look at it and I found it strange.
“So, she’s at that place,” Spex muttered while watching.
“They never fixed that pipe. Not sure why. That was a crazy day. Some kids did that a long time ago. 30 years ago, or something like that,” Someone said.
I turn around and there was a homeless old man sitting on the ground up against the wall. He had a beanie, and a dirty old trench coat and fingerless gloves. I looked around and was confused.
I pointed to my chest and asked him, “Are you talking to me?”
“Well, I’m not talking to that wall,” He replied, pointing to the wall of the building he was facing.
“Okay, whatever then,” I said back.
The old man examined me and said, “You remind me of them.”
Feeling creeped out, I exited the alleyway with a fast walk.
‘That was weird.’ I thought.
I continued down the street and made my way back to the hotel. I entered the room we were staying in to find Ansel sewing the holes and rips in her dress. She was still wearing sleepwear while doing it. I know that she has gotten more upset lately over Vlayru, but she wouldn’t admit to it. I was feeling the same way because he’s been my best friend for as long as I could remember. Kaido was reading the newspaper, looking for any news on the rebellion.
“Nothing still,” I told them.
Vlayru looked up from the newspaper and answered, “Same here. Looks like businesses around Adus are losing money from lack of workers.”
He had a cigarette in his mouth. I started to get angry.
“You’ve been smoking?!” I yelled at him.
A look of surprised innocence came on his face. He was caught and trying to a way to explain himself. I looked at Ansel, who stopped sewing, was staring at us.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked her, but she said nothing back.
I nodded my head in disgust and looked back at Kaido, “You knew my rule.”
I turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the door on the way out. I didn’t know where to go, so I walked in a random direction. I was too furious. Kaido then appeared around the corner in front me. I looked at him and he had an upset look about him. He must have used his Fog Form to get ahead of me.
He spoke, “Look, I’m sorry with everything that has happened, I didn’t know how to coop with it. so I turned back to cigs. I knew it was against your rule, but it’s hard to stop once you’ve started.”
I nodded head in disgust again. People that were walking by were looking at us making a scene. I ignored them.
“Why do hate smoking?”
“Cigarettes kill people, Kaido,” I snapped, “I know not right away, but slowly.”
I started to tear up and I continued, “I don’t want that for you.”
Kaido looked around then embraced me.
“I know it does. I’m sorry. It’s an addiction and helps me keep calm. That was until I met you. you’ve been my replacement for that,” He said, softly.
We hugged for seemed like a long time. We let go of each other then made our way back to the Inn. Ansel was back in her normal clothes.
“Tana, I’m sorry,” She said rush over to me.
I smirked, “It’s okay, Ansel. I don’t blame you for not telling me. It’s not who you are.”
She smiled back and we gave each other a hug. I sat down at the desk and looked at our funds.
“We are running low on Nero. Not sure if we can continue staying at inns and hotels,” I told them.
The both looked at me.
Ansel then asked, “What should we do?”
I thought for a moment. Then the answer came to me.
I suggested, “let’s go to my house. It’s not too terribly far from here. Should be there by the time the sun sets.”
They both agreed by nodding their heads. We packed up and left the inn and I lead them outside the city and down a road leading to my house. We got there and the house was looking kind of dusty.
“I’m going to up to my room for a minute,” I told them
They stood in the living room, while I made my way upstairs and to my room. I opened the door and entered. My room was kind of dusty as well. I did miss this room. I heard the door open and I made my way back downstairs. My Mother, Vlaykre, and Regan walked through the front door.
“Hey, guys.” My mother spoke, “Sorry for the mess everyone, I was coming back to do some cleaning.”
Regan asked, “What are you guys doing here?”
Kaido responded, “We were looking for Master Nether’s orb, but we are low on Nero and can’t stay at any hotels or anything.”
“Wait, you don’t have all the orbs yet?” Vlaykre said.
I sighed and answered, “Yeah, I was thinking the orb was Waterfall City and we looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find it.”
“That was the hardest one for us to get as well, back in the day,” My mother said.
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” Regan said, worrying.
My mother changed the subject, “Well let’s get settled in.”
Ansel and I went up to my room to unpack. Vlayru got set up in the living room. Ansel examined the room.
“You have a nice house, Tana,” Ansel complimented.
“Thanks,” I said back with a smirk.
“I’m a little hungry. You got something to snack on?” she asked.
I responded, “Yeah, there should be some cheese and crackers in the kitchen.”
Ansel nodded. She turned and exited the room. I finished unpacking, I then turned around to find Kaido standing there knocking on the door that was still open. He walked in and looked around, studying my room.
“So, this is your room, huh? It’s pretty cool, for a girl’s room anyway,” he said.
I giggled and responded, “Yeah right, it could be better.”
He smiled and replied, “Maybe, but I just came up here to tell you dinner is ready.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said with a smile and stared at him.
He stared back and it was just like back in the hospital. We got close and I wanted to kiss him. He looked away then back at me with a bigger smile. He turned and exited the room. I sigh, smiled, and exited my room. We all had dinner then went to bed.
The next day, I got up and had breakfast with everyone, and decided to stroll through the woods. I found my way to the river and sat next to the river and meditated for a while.
“Everything seems fine here at this point. I’ll skip to the end of the day,” Spex said.
He skipped to the end of the day and continued on.
The sun was setting and I made my way to the fields and started to think of everything that has happened. I then looked over to the other side of the field to see Ansel doing the same thing. I looked behind me to see Kaido walking over to me.
“I was wondering where you went off to,” He stated.
We hugged for a long time. We repositioned so I was near his face and my arms were wrapped around his neck. I looked up at him and our eyes locked, as I stared into his gray eyes. Just then, my senses started going crazy. I looked over to see Ansel defending herself against shadow beings. Kaido and I let go of each other and ran over to her. I transformed into my Water Form and jumped high in the air. I blasted a massive Water Blast. At the same time, Ansel jumped back and shot Obsidian Spikes at
them, and Kaido fought some of them off with his sword. We all grouped together and saw that there was an army of shadow dwellers. Just then, Vlaykre appeared with my mother, Regan, and Icarus.
“You guys have to get out of here. The E.T.B. got intel that the Dark Rebellion’s leader was spotted in the Dark Empire. He was using Master Nether’s powers. Vlaykre will open a purple portal that will take you guys there. Also, here is your stuff.” Regan explained.
My mother threw me my sword and Regan gave Kaido his armor.
“Now, get going. We'll handle these guys,” My mother ordered us.
“We’ll be along as soon as we defeat the shadows,” Vlaykre added.
Vlaykre opened a portal and we quickly ran through it. We appeared on the side of a small rocky mountain with a building towards the top. It was five stories tall and looked abandoned.
“That must be where the leader was hiding out,” Kaido pointed out.
“His name is Cignas. I already ran into him,” I told them.
Ansel then asked, “When did you do that?”
I answered, “Back when I fought Heldin. She kept me from chasing after him.”
“Well, now is our chance to take down the rebellion for good,” Kaido responded.
We nodded and ran into the building. We entered the front room of the building and ran into more shadow dwellers. They appeared from the shadows of the room and lunged towards us. We defeated them quickly and continued. We got through the halls and ran into more shadow dwellers and shadow beings. As we got further into the building, we saw an open room.
I suggested, “Wait, there is something in here.”
I walked in and the other two followed me. We looked around and I saw plans on a table.
“Look at this. it’s the plans for events that have already happened like the riots and the attack on the castle in infernus City,” I told them.
“If that is true, then where is the rebellion?” Ansel said.
“You, think the rebellion was taken over by the shadow dwellers?” Kaido said.
“Probably,” I agreed.
We continued up to the top floor, running into more shadow dwellers. We got up a very large door and my senses were going crazy again. We cracked the door open a little. We saw Crios standing there on the other side of the room, holding his repaired staff and looking out the window. There was a man sitting in a throne-like chair. It was Cignas.
“You know, I like being in control. I’m in charge of the shadow dwellers, and they do my bidding. The only thing missing is being the leader of The Rebellion,” Crios explained.
The man said back, “We are supposed to partners, Crios. You told me that you understood when I said I didn’t want peace because the nations don’t deserve it.”
Crios turned and smirked, “No, I did understand. However, our partnership was ruined when you tried to take my kill, Cignas. Plus, I only partnered with you so I can get him back.”
“Who?” questioned Cignas.
“Master Nether. Do you think I would just let you have his orb?” Crios answered through a smile.
Crios put his hand up and look of fear came over Cignas’s face. Darkness then consumed Cignas. My anger started to rise, as I could feel a powerful dark energy forming. It was almost scary. The darkness disappeared and there stood a man in a long buttoned up trench coat, long black hair, and pale skin.
“Master Nether,” Crios said bowing.
Nether smirked, “Thank you for restoring me. Being stuck in his body was annoying. Thankfully, I came up with the plan to put a part of myself in the orb before I died, then give you the rest after the fact. Worked like a charm.”
He turned to us and we could see his creepy, smiling face.
“Oh, look who it is. Vlayru, come out and say hi to your friends,” Master Nether said.
Vlayru came out from around the corner. He still had the same dead look on his face. Ice had built up on random parts of his body.
“Damn, you,” I angrily muttered.
I calmed myself enough to keep back my Shadow Form. I lunged forward through the door, transformed into Water Form, and jumped at Vlayru. He blocked with an ice blade that he created and we struggled to break each other’s defense. We continued to swing our weapons at each other. Kaido transformed into Fog Form to keep Master Nether busy and Ansel threw Obsidian spikes and aimed them at Crios. Crios blocked them and floated into the air.
“I think I’ll kill the weakest one first,” Crios stated.
Crios aimed his hand and a giant beam of black aura blasts towards Ansel. Quickly, I heard Master Lightning telling me to use a certain technique. I suddenly I was surrounded by lightning and dashed over to Ansel and covered use with water shield. I continued to block it and Crios stopped and waited.
I turned my head and asked Ansel, “Are you okay?”
Ansel nodded, “I’m fine.”
She turned and looked at Vlayru he was waiting along with Crios to see what we would do next.
“I’ll take Vlayru,” Ansel suggested.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
She responded, “Yes I’m sure.”
I let down my shield and stepped in the direction of Crios, who still floating in the air. Ansel readied more spikes and began to fight with Vlayru. I lunged towards him into the air, swung my sword, and he blocked it with his staff. His block hit my sword back, and with the lower part of the staff, he quickly went for the opening he created with the upper part of the staff. I quickly blocked with water shield, then turned the shield into a Water Blast, hitting Crios making him smash into the chair, kicking up dust and smoke. I landed on the ground hard on one knee. Out of the smoke, a blast of darkness Blasted out and hit me. I got knock back onto the floor hard. Kaido was forced back to his normal form and thrown back at to the floor. Ansel was slashed at, across the stomach and thrown back to the floor by us as well. Crios got up, but then aura started escaping him, forcing him to fall to one knee. I followed the trail of aura and saw it getting absorbed into Master Nether.
“Errgg, no! You said you wouldn’t do this, Nether!” He yelled.
“Sorry, but I will be the one to resurrect him,” Nether said through a smile.
“NO!” Crios yelled.
He dissipated as the rest of his aura got absorbed into Nether. A giant black sword formed, and Nether put it on his shoulder and gave a big smile. I got back up slowly and readied myself for a fight. Ansel stayed on the ground, but Kaido tried to get up.
“Yes. You were a fool for thinking you can have all power. Now, I’m one hundred percent,” He said
He turned to look at me and continued, “So, you’re the new cast. How do you like it? I was hoping that you would take my path, but you just had to take that asshole Sabre’s path instead to be the good guy. Oh well, it looks like I’m going to have to kill you, then continue with my plans.”
“Plans that I helped you with,” said a voice
Someone entered from another door behind Nether. He had sleeveless robes in the style of a trench coat on, and baggy pants. His face was covered by his hood and the only thing I could see was his glowing yellow eyes. He also was wielding a giant scythe.
Nether turned to him, “Of course.”
“Wait, a Scythe?! Is this who I’m looking for?” Spex exclaimed.
“Who are you?’ I asked him.
“I’m here to make sure you die. I am Nether Remnant,” Nether Remnant stated.
Nether and Vlayru took up their weapons in a readied position. Kaido and I did the same and protected Ansel. We ran toward them and we each began fighting. Nether remnant stood and watched. Kaido stopped Vlayru’s attack from his ice sword.
“I’m sorry, Vlayru,” Kaido said to him.
Kaido broke Vlayru’s stance and slashed his chest, then kicked him hard enough and sent him flying into the wall. He spun around and just barely blocked Remnant’s attack.
“Tana, you need to take him out. that isn’t Master Nether.” Master Water’s voic
e echoed in my head.
I was confused, “What do you mean?”
Master Water replied, “There isn’t time to explain.”
“I need to get there, now,” Spex said.
He stood up ran over to grab his short sword that in his weapon storage locker that was left open, put his hood and goggles back on, and jumped into his aura. He appeared in the room where everyone was fighting. Tana was fighting Nether and Kaido was fighting Remnant.
“I sense the shadow inside you. You should feed it with your anger,” Nether told Tana.
“Never!” she yelled and shot a massive Water Blast.
Nether slid under the blast and the blast created a hole in the wall. Nether jumped up near Tana and I slowed him down. I quickly ran over to them and block his attack. I continued time normally and held his sword back. I pushed him hard away from us as I jumped backward, pulling Tana back with me. We landed and she looked at me for a moment and became surprised.
“Master Time!” She exclaimed.
“No time to talk, Tana. I have business to take care of with Nether Remnant. You and Kaido take Master Nether,” Spex commanded her.
Spex ran over and jumped in the middle of Kaido and Remnant. He blocked an incoming attack from Remnant, who then jumped backward.
“You!” Remnant angrily said.
“Master Time?” Kaido said, in a curious tone.
Spex replied, “No time to talk, Kaido. Help Tana. I got him.”
Kaido nodded, “Right.”
Master Nether was back fighting Tana. Kaido ran over and began to help Tana. They were on the offensive. Spex and Remnant then began fighting. It was a back and forth fight. Their weapons locked and held each other back. Now that Spex was looking at the scythe up close, it began to look familiar. It had a black blade with a steal edge. The handed was brown with black grip. His attentions turned back to Nether Remnant.
“Why did you screw up the timeline?” Spex asked him.
“How long were you on to me?” Remnant grunted.
Spex replied, “For a while, though you were pretty good at hiding. Are you from the future?”
The Masters: RE: The New Cast (The Crisis in Time Series Book 1) Page 16