by Aaron Oster
The two people were in bad shape, their robes tattered, the skin beneath covered in burn marks. They both looked exhausted and on the verge of collapse, but they stood straighter, each supporting the other.
“My name is Tonde Kaeru,” the man said, his voice sounding hoarse and rough.
“And I am Itachi Violet,” the woman said, sounding no better.
“What in the world happened to the two of you?” Hermit asked, quickly rushing over to stop the two from collapsing.
“You know these people?” Duncan asked.
“They were traveling with me on my way here, but that was well over a month ago. I honestly had no idea of what had happened to them.”
“But what are they doing here?” Ikari asked again, glaring daggers at Violet.
“We were captured over a month ago by a Supreme under the command of the Bringer of Fire,” Kaeru said, his voice still rasping.
“How in the world did you end up in the Burning Hills?” Hermit asked.
“How did a Supreme capture you?” Duncan asked a second after.
Kaeru opened his mouth to answer, then coughed, doubling over, his body trembling.
“We need water,” Violet croaked. “We haven’t had any in weeks.”
Hermit gestured, knowing how badly something like that would affect a Water Artist like Kaeru. If they were in the Burning Hills when the Cavern Beast was asserting his control, he would have had access to very little water, and his techniques would not have functioned properly.
Someone rushed over with a waterskin and Kaeru took it with a nod, then proceeded to drain over half before handing it to Violet. As he drank, the dark burn marks began to visibly fade, and the haggard look on his face became less severe. Violet drank slower as Kaeru began to explain.
“The two of us were running ahead after we sensed the mass of power over Reign City. We’d only made it about halfway when a tear in space opened before us, and we ran in before we could stop. It closed as soon as we entered, stranding us in a forest that was on fire.
We were almost immediately set upon by Beasts made of Fire. At first, we were able to fight them off as we tried to escape. But, as the days passed, the heat grew more and more intense, and my techniques stopped working. By the time the Supreme caught up, we were completely surrounded and exhausted. We had little choice but to surrender.”
“And where were you until now?” Hermit asked, handing him another water skin.
“In a prison,” Violet replied, resuming the telling of the story. “We were taken to a place called the Dreadpit, where we were both locked in cells made of living Fire. We were tortured almost daily by a humanoid Beast who appeared to be a Sage. He took great pleasure in his work…”
Violet trailed off, a distant look of anger coming to her eyes.
“What exactly did this Sage want to know?” Pelata asked.
“Everything we did,” Violet replied. “Every little bit of information we had, he wanted as well. We managed to resist at first, but when… but when…” Violet’s body shuddered, and she collapsed to her knees, pressing her hands to her head and squeezing her eyes shut.
The entire room went silent at her reaction, Kaeru leaning down to pull her close.
“We saw him,” Kaeru said flatly. “The Ancient Cavern Beast, who calls himself Furea – Bringer of Fire. I’ve never felt anything so powerful in my entire life, and I have already sensed the unleashed power of four Sovereigns and what I assume was a Scion. This creature is a monster. There’s no other way to describe it.”
The silence stretched as the Sovereigns all took that in. A Beast more powerful than a Scion could very well wipe them all out. If it could do this to Martial Artists who’d come this far along their Paths, they no longer doubted that the threat was massive.
“Wait, if this actually happened, then how did the two of you manage to escape?” Ikari said, breaking the silence.
Hermit wasn’t sure why Ikari was trying to cast doubt on their story. As Sovereigns, detecting a lie this monumental would have been easy. They weren’t lying, and everyone there knew it.
“We didn’t, not really,” Kaeru said, as Violet’s trembling began to calm down. “The cells were left open one day when our tormentor left. They let us go.”
“And why would they do that?” Ikari asked scornfully.
“So we could see.”
Everyone turned to see Sora Ame inspecting the crouched figures with a grim expression plastered across her face.
“The Beast wanted to send us a message, and what better way to do it than this? He wants us to know that he’s coming for us all and that even our best efforts won’t stop him.”
“So, what are you saying, we just give up?” Pelata asked.
“Not at all,” Ame replied. “What we need to do is come to a consensus on who will lead us. Additionally, anyone who can advance should do so as quickly as possible. Right now, the balance of power doesn’t matter. Not as much as survival.”
Her eyes flicked to both Hermit and Duncan as she said this, the implications being clear.
“There’s a problem with doing that, though,” Duncan said. “And one that you all well know.”
“Yes,” Ame said. “There’s a chance that once you advance, you’ll just leave. But right now, that’s a risk we’re all going to have to take.”
Surprisingly enough, all of the Sovereigns – except Ikari, of course – nodded their assent. This was not a time to be fighting political battles of power and strength. This was a time for action.
“I propose we take an hour, then,” Hermit said. “When we reconvene, we’ll elect someone to lead our combined forces. Majority rules. Agreed?”
Truthfully, they could have chosen someone on the spot, but Kaeru and Violet were on the verge of collapse. They needed healing, and they needed it fast.
“Agreed.”
The word echoed around the room, taken up by the other Sovereigns. It seemed that while the Seven Great Clans would never agree on anything without months of squabbling and debating, this single, outside force had gotten them to agree without saying a thing.
38
“I feel like I’ve been roasted from the inside out,” Aika complained as Roy washed out her wound for the third time that day.
“Still?” Roy asked, bathing the reddened skin with the cool water.
“It’s a bit better than before, but yeah,” Aika said, wincing as he rebound the wound. “How’s your ankle?”
“Still throbbing,” Roy said, feeling the pain as soon as she reminded him of it.
It was nearing the end of their second day inside the safe zone, and it was taking far longer than Roy would have liked for the two of them to recover. The past few days had been spent cycling his Qi through his body and purifying more Essence as it was used to treat his wounds.
They’d each already taken one of the Pills to try strengthening themselves. While Roy’s Core was beginning to feel sturdier, his body was taking an inordinately long time to recover.
Aika seemed to be in the same boat as him, her arm recovering far slower than she would have liked.
“Looks like we’ll be spending another day here then,” she said, leaning back against the wall with a sigh.
Roy grunted at that, his eyes half-lidded as he tried unsuccessfully to banish the pain from his mind.
“You think we should try drinking one of those Supplement things?”
Roy’s eyes snapped open at that, and he looked to Aika worriedly.
“I thought we’d agreed to keep them sealed until we knew what they did.”
“We did,” she replied. “But would it hurt to take them out and look? After all, we only saw the one. Maybe we can find or identify something that will help us out.”
“How would we do that?” Roy asked, though he didn’t try and stop her as she reached over to snag the leather pouch.
“Easy,” Aika said, giving him a tired half-smile. “We just see if any of them are gold or white.”
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“That’s it?” Roy asked as she began carefully pulling the flasks from inside.
“Can you think of a better idea?”
“None,” Roy admitted, shuffling a bit closer to her.
His other shoulder was still in quite a bit of pain from where the lizard had bitten him, though it seemed to be healing faster than Aika’s wound, further lending credibility to what Geon had said about his body being tougher.
The first flask removed was the same one they’d examined previously, and the second looked exactly the same. When Aika removed the third one, Roy leaned closer so the two of them could examine it together.
“It looks promising,” Roy said as Aika swirled the contents of the glass bottle slowly.
The liquid contained within was a rich tan color, but when Aika began to move the contents, the hue shifted, becoming whiter and more opaque. After just a few seconds, a soft light began radiating from the vial, and after half a minute, it glowed in an unmistakable way.
Roy looked to Aika worriedly as her eyes reflected the light, her lips slightly parted in awe. He, too, was mesmerized by how the light continued to intensify the longer she swirled it, until it was at near-blinding proportions.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to drink that,” Roy said, finally forcing himself to look away.
“I understand your concerns,” Aika said, finally setting the flask carefully by her side.
Something shining that brightly had to be extremely potent, which meant that it may very well kill her if she tried to drink it at her current level of advancement.
Aika pulled another of the light tan flasks from the bag next, setting it next to the shining white one. She reached in for the next, then paused.
“That’s it,” she said, sounding a bit surprised.
“Are you sure?” Roy asked. “The bag felt like it held far more. Maybe there’s something beneath the wool?”
Aika began removing the wool lining the inside, passing it to him as she did. Finally, when about half the wool had been removed, Aika removed a single plate of metal.
“I think we have our answer about the weight,” she said, holding it up.
“Why stick a metal plate in there?” Roy asked, reaching out to take it.
He turned it over in his fingers, trying to see if there was anything special about it. Unfortunately, he didn’t know anything about metal, but even to his limited knowledge, this didn’t seem all that impressive. The metal was a dark, slate gray, like common iron. It might have felt a bit heavy to be iron, but his inexperience with metal in general didn’t really help him out right now.
“So, we got two flasks that are clearly meant for you,” Roy said. “Two that I have no idea what they are, and a piece of metal.”
“Have you tried swirling one of your flasks?” Aika asked.
The two containers of dark green liquid sat next to him, and Roy reached out to lift one by its narrow neck.
“I did earlier, but if I remember correctly, I saw some blue spots in there. Nothing gold.”
Still, just to be sure, Roy started swirling the flask, as Aika had done. Sure enough, small blue spots began appearing, glittering through the flask and growing brighter and brighter. As they did, the dark green liquid began to light up as well, glowing more and more intensely as he continued to swirl the flask.
The dark green transformed into a light, almost white-green as he continued to swirl its contents, while the blue motes actually darkened, becoming an almost black-blue. When continuing to swirl the contents got him no further results, Roy sighed, setting it down.
“It’s pretty, but no gold at all. Might be for a Wind Artist, or maybe someone following the Path of Water.”
“But that makes no sense,” Aika said, lifting one of the glowing white ones. “These were clearly meant for me, so those have to be for you.”
“I don’t see how,” Roy said, looking down at the flask as the swirling liquid inside began to slow.
“I don’t know,” Aika said, reaching over to take the flask. “Maybe there’s some type of trick to it?”
She turned it this way and that, as Roy stared dejectedly at the two flasks by Aika’s side. He could admit that he was a bit jealous – even if he wasn’t proud of it – that she’d gotten such an amazing reward, while his flasks were meant for someone else.
He reached for the second flask and his hand brushed against the small metal plate. With a grunt, Roy hurled it across the cave in a petty gesture. There was nothing to be accomplished by it, but he was annoyed. However, instead of hitting the far wall and dropping to the ground as he’d expected, the metal shattered, falling into thousands of tiny pieces and tinkling to the ground.
“What the hell?” Aika exclaimed, jumping at the loud noise.
She looked over to the far wall, where she saw the metal plate now in thousands of pieces.
“What in the world is that?” she asked, her eyes widening.
Roy had no idea. He’d thought the metal was some type of iron, but the thousands of small pieces reflecting back in a dazzling array of colors told him otherwise.
“Can you go grab some of it?” he asked, realizing now how stupid it had been for him to throw it like that.
If it had been in the bag, it was obviously important.
Aika pushed herself to her feet and ran over to gather as many of the pieces as she could. Thankfully, the cave floor was clean, otherwise she’d likely have picked a lot of dirt up along with them. Although she managed to get a good portion of the pieces, some inevitably escaped, but when she returned with the now-emptied satchel full of the glittering stuff, Roy couldn’t be bothered to think about a few errant pieces.
“What do you think it is?” Roy asked, turning one of the small pieces between his fingers.
It was still as hard as before, but now that the gray outer shell had been destroyed, it looked nothing like iron.
“Try looking with something other than your eyes…Moron,” Geon said helpfully.
Normally, Roy might have offered a sharp retort, but Geon did have a point. As soon as he looked to the metal, Roy’s entire Spirit lit up. All of the Essence types were contained within this metal, crystallized down and packed densely into an array of different shapes and patterns.
“This isn’t metal at all!” Roy said excitedly. “It’s some type of forged Essence!”
Aika opened her Spirit Sense as well when he said that and shook her head strangely.
“It’s far too stable to be Essence,” she said, lifting one of the pieces and examining it. “And far too solid to be Qi or Chakra…”
The two of them shared a look.
“No, it can’t be,” Roy said, looking closer. “Is it?”
“I’ve never seen it before,” Aika said, “but I’m pretty sure it has to be.”
“Reiki?” Roy asked. “Like the energy Hermit uses?”
“I think so,” Aika said.
The two of them continued staring at the strange forged rainbow-colored bits of maybe-Reiki.
“What does it do?” Roy finally asked.
“Beats me,” Aika said with a shrug, moving to place the bit she was holding back in the bag.
It slipped as it was about to enter, clinking down to the floor and rolling a couple of times before being stopped by the side of one of the glowing green flasks. The instant it made contact with the glass, the Reiki began to glow as well, then, before their very eyes, it dissolved, flowing through the glass and into the green liquid.
The colors changed then, taking on the hue of the forged Reiki for just a moment before fading back to its original color, aside from a thin layer of the rainbow-colored liquid at the very bottom.
“Well,” Roy said, breaking the silence. “At least we know what the rainbow stuff does.”
The mystery around these flasks was only growing stranger and stranger, but Roy definitely knew one thing. There was no way he was going to risk drinking this concoction, not unless he knew with
out a doubt that it wouldn’t immediately kill him.
“I think it only works for yours,” Aika said.
Roy turned and saw her press another piece of the rainbow-colored Reiki to one of the white flasks with no changes. Roy pressed the piece he was holding to the flask, thinking that perhaps it wouldn’t work if he were holding it. But as soon as he did, it happened again. The forged Reiki turned to a goopy substance between his fingers before somehow passing through the solid glass and into the liquid within.
“Okay,” Roy said, as the liquid settled back down. “I say we put these away and don’t even think about drinking them until we know more.”
“Agreed,” Aika said, holding hers out to him.
Roy carefully packed the flasks away, making sure to put the wool on top of the shattered pieces of Reiki so that no more of it would leak in. Then, he tied the mouth shut tight and stuffed it back into his pack. Although he now had a burning curiosity about the strange vials, they would solve this mystery another time.
39
Roy carefully placed his weight on his ankle and allowed his balance to center, slowly putting more weight on the foot until he was standing straight. He began slowly pacing around the cave, walking carefully at first, but beginning to stomp down harder and harder until he felt a small twinge.
There was a reason he was putting so much pressure on the foot, and that was because once they left here, they would have to run. Not only that, but he would also need to use a Movement technique when he did so, which would put extra strain on his body.
“How’s it feeling now?” Aika asked, slowly swinging her arm in circles and testing her range of motion.
“I think we should be good to go tomorrow…if you’re feeling up for it,” he quickly added.
“It’s still a bit sore, but I think I’ll be able to manage,” Aika said, giving him a smile.
“Then we finally move on,” Roy said.
Neither of them was looking forward to going back into the scorching cavern outside this small cave, but they also couldn’t stay here indefinitely. The water in the pool was draining quickly as they drank, and their food supply wouldn’t last forever.