by Andrew Jones
The gatekeeper scoffed at him, finally standing on his feet and approaching the gate that separated the two. He narrowed his eyes at him, exhaling some of his nasty smelling breathing into his face while observing his body and positioning.
"You don't look hurt. Anyways, we're completely full. Tough luck." The gatekeeper responded, turning back around as he would yawn and walk toward his watch house.
Xanadu gasped, "W-What?"
All of a sudden, Xanadu felt his arm get grabbed from behind. He was too surprised to pull his arm back, but before he could see who grabbed his arm, he felt an excruciating pain from where he was grabbed.
"A-Ahhhhhh!!!" Xanadu screamed out as he pulled his arm back and saw that it had been bent completely backwards.
A familiar voice spoke just behind him, "He is clearly hurt, now let us through."
The gatekeeper had an exclamation mark pop out of his head, shocked to hear Xanadu's sudden screams. He turned around and gasped, rushing to open the gate for them.
"My apologies, Blaze. I didn't know this lad was with you." The gatekeeper spoke more softly as he opened the gate and let them through.
Blaze frowned at him and just walked by him, not saying a word. Xanadu held his arm and shook in great pain, closely following Blaze.
"T-That's Blaze..." Xanadu whispered after looking ahead as she walked in front of him.
Blaze turned back to him, tilting her head, "Excuse me?"
Xan jumped and offered her his good hand for a mannerous handshake, "Name's Xanadu."
"Xanadu, huh? Your name sounds somewhat stronger than you. How odd." Blaze said bluntly as she laid her hand on her hip, ignoring his offer for a greeting handshake, "Just so you know, I used you as an excuse to gain entry into this village. So-... Don't think about following me."
As she spoke, Kryptonite had popped his head out of her bag, "What's going on, Lady Blaze?"
Blaze shut her eyes, she gave an obvious angry look as she shoved his head back in the bag, "Get back in the bag, bear!"
"H-Hey! What about my broken arm!" Xanadu shouted at her.
She grumbled and rushed back to him, grabbing his arm and cracking it back the right way. The sound of his bones cracking back into place sounded as though he had been a Human, but Blaze didn't say a word about it. This stranger was already wasting enough of her time, and he had given her a headache after his loud scream from her fixing his arm. But after that, she quickly took off, without saying one word to Xanadu. He rubbed his arm, still whining a bit from the pain, and watched her walk off to apparently where Amaya was. He heard his name from behind him, watching as Shalya panted and rushed to him.
"I'm surprised you were able to manipulate this world enough to get through the gate, rookie." She spoke from her heavy breathing, "Anyway, these machines... I've never seen machines such as these before. It has to be a discovery, 'The Age of Machines."
Xanadu whispered, being amused by the thought of a new discovery, "Armoraga Machina."
Shalya nodded her head, "From here on out, we're going to split up. We need to find out as much as we can from this age, and as quick as we possibly can. Since you found Blaze first, you can look after her. Nova should be arriving soon, so I'll look after her. Just, make sure everything goes according to plan."
Xanadu nodded his head and watched as Shalya walked back toward the gate, in order to watch out for the arrival of Nova and Atreyu. Xanadu began to follow the direction Blaze had went. He continued deep into the village, sometimes hearing her argue with Kryptonite in their usual low voices. He jumped behind a little bush that was used for decoration, as he looked over the bush to watch Blaze approach a man who looked like the man named Jet. This was odd, they looked like they've already met before, how far did Shayla teleport themselves?
"Ah, welcome back, Blaze. We're you able to find anything out about that Network?" Jet asked as he sat on the blanket he had laid down, he was fixing up his mechanical leg once against, like he had been inputting some new mods to it.
Blaze shook her head as she jumped up onto the bench of his market place and sat on it, "Nope. It's bizarre, there are no traces of the Network anywhere. Even our flash drives had been wiped of any recent traces of the Dataspace..."
Jet hit his wrench against the mechanical leg, seeing some black smoke arise from it as if it was malfunctioning.
"Uh... I think you broke it." Blaze said as she wiped any of the black smoke away as some drifted into her face.
"Damn ol' thing." Jet muttered angrily as he began screwing the mechanical leg back onto him, "Anyway, the Network might be down. Networks due to go down at a certain moment. Indications show that it has been up and running for hundreds of years. If it had it's down time, it would be now of all times."
Blaze wasn't convinced, she didn't think that was the case. She sighed as her eyes drifted downward like she had given it some deep thought. But Jet chuckled and stood up on his feet, patting Blaze's back.
"C'mon, Blaze. Lay back a bit, for once in a while. You're always so tense, and in the moment. You've got to learn to relax." Jet laughed.
Blaze tensed up, nervous as she was patted on her back, "Relax? I can't. I wasn't built to 'relax', Jet. I was created to eliminate a target. And then after that, I find another target to eliminate."
"... Sounds like a never ending cycle with you. Don't worry, you just need to ease into it."
"E-Ease into it?"
Jet nodded his head, "Just ease into it. You know, sit and actually relax. Feel your body's pressure lessen. It's an addictive feeling that helps Humans grow lazy."
Blaze frowned, "Why would I want to become this lazy you speak of?"
Jet looked frightened, as he must've given her the wrong idea, or she just misunderstood him. Xanadu was still watching, and observing the two, just as he was approached by Ace. He crossed his arms and stood up confidently, watching Blaze's actions.
"So, that's Blaze, huh?" Ace asked.
Xanadu looked up, he had the obvious picture of confusion written all over his face as he glanced up at Ace.
"What are you doing here?" Xanadu asked.
"We need a sudden change in this branch. From how it looks, it will drift toward the direction of the previous branch, since Blaze is looking for the source of the Network. I disposed of the Network, and also did a little side stuff to ensure a complete change will occur any second now."
Xanadu gasped, "You made a dramatic change like that!? There's a risk of destroying this whole branch if you do that!"
Ace shook his head, "This branch has another way of fate. You should see it now."
The ground began to shake ferociously, and it was obvious that the people of the village became alarmed by the sudden noise- even Blaze and Jet looked toward the noise. Blaze looked around to see if anything looked suspicious, and in no time at all, she caught sight of Xanadu speaking with someone of great suspense. She quickly walked toward him and looked down at Xanadu.
"Didn't I make it obvious not to follow me?" Blaze asked harshly.
Xanadu looked up at her, being frightened from the tone of her voice. He had to admit, it was pretty clear that he had been watching her. He was still crouching behind the bushes he had used as a cover, and his body was facing the way toward Jet's marketplace. He sighed and stood up, trying his absolute best not to look her in the eyes.
"Xanadu... Right?" She asked, sending a chilling glare Ace's way. "Who's this creep?"
Xanadu looked at Ace, but before he could answer, the shouts of the gatekeeper were echoed throughout the village. The sound of destruction followed, as the gate that separated the village's entrance and the outside world was broken down. Swarms and swarms of machines had been flooding into the village like they were reenacting a flash flood. People screamed as they were piled on by the machines, with a splatter of blood from the people soon following.
"W-What the hell!?" Blaze shouted in utter shock, pulling out her spear and looking at Xan, "I see you have a petty sword, are you go
ing to help?"
Xanadu nodded his head, watching Blaze and Kryptonite rush into battle. He looked toward Ace, but he noticed that Ace had disappeared when he was being distracted by Blaze. He frowned, with the sword in his hand. He was tired of being pushed around, just because he was basically a rookie with the Divergence.
He gripped onto his sword, and a purple glow began to shine from his arm, pushing his power into the blade of the sword- where it grew more big and massive with the material of crystal, his hidden power as a Divergence. He swung the sword and created a barrier of crystal he jumped on and used that to jump high up in the air and strike down a machine who was about to do harm to Blaze. She looked back at him, slightly gasping from the surprise. She didn't give him a sign of thanks, however. She only went back into fighting.
Just as Blaze and Xanadu manage to defeat a majority of the lifeless machines, more began to floor into the village.
"Where the hell are they coming from!?" Blaze yelled as she slashed through a few machines in one go, cutting them in half with a clean cut.
Xan grunted as he pushed away a machine guardian who struck him with a heavy attack, "Your guess is as good as mine! ... I think."
As he pushed back the guardian, it stopped it's aggressive attack and raised it's head up. A loud static sound erupted from the guardian's mouth that caught the attention of the other machines. Blaze held covered her ears tightly and shut her eyes, the static sound had been affecting her more than Xanadu, probably because she was a machine. Xanadu watched the actions of the machines, who all stopped and looked toward the Guardian- mimicking it by letting out the same echoing static sound.
And suddenly it all stopped, the machines and the guardian were still in their positions, but everything went silent. Has Xanadu grown deaf all of a sudden? He pushed his finger in his earlobe and tried to adjust his hearing, but it had no effect. He frowned and held his sword tightly, his confusion frustrated him.
"What the hell is going on!?" Xanadu screamed.
As he screamed, he unknowingly released a powerful wave of crystal around Blaze, Kryptonite and himself. The waves of crystal brushed against each of the machines and immediately forced them to explode. Was it the forceful power of Xanadu's crystal? He didn't know, nor care at this moment. The amount of power he used for the large wave exhausted him and forced him to sit on the ground to catch his breath.
Blaze watched, being somewhat amazed by the power. With caution, however, she pulled her hands away from her ears slowly, still feeling the lingering pains in her ears. The echoing static weakened her, but she was still able to crawl to Xanadu and place her hand on his shoulder to lean on him.
"That was... A-Amazing." She muttered.
Xanadu didn't respond, he only left himself to hang his head low to catch his breath slowly. He had grown pale like he put his whole soul into that one attack. But Shalya and Ace were watching from atop an abandoned skyscraper. Shalya crossed her arms and scoffed, staring down at the two on the ground.
"That wave wasn't enough, Ace. I feel a bond growing between the two. If he gains Blaze as a companion, then eliminating Xan would be nearly impossible." Shalya whispered.
Ace turned back and looked up at the dawn sky, watching as the blazing sun neared it's end, "Don't worry about that, I always find ways to do what it is I have planned. I just need a plan B..."
Ace responded as he began to walk away. Shalya frowned and kept her gaze down at Xanadu, hearing behind her the jumps Ace had to perform in order to get off the building. Sighing, she closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Oh, Xan. The trouble you're in..."
Verse III
To Form As One
The village had been destroyed, and most of the residents of the village had died from the sudden machine invasion. There were blood puddles all over the place- and there were some splattered on the crystals Xanadu had materialized from the ground. It looked like he, himself, had assisted in the destruction of the village. He grunted as he looked around at the destruction. There were body parts, and machine parts flew around the place, there was even a Human head laying down by his foot. Blaze picked the head by its hair and tossed it to the side, narrowing her eyes at him. She knew he was powerful, but his powers made her a bit suspicious toward him.
"Who are you, Xan? Those powers you have are quite foreign to what I've seen." Blaze muttered.
Xanadu shook his head, "Just a lone survivor, I don't know how I got these powers, but I might as well use them for my own survival."
Blaze kept her frown at him but pulled away as that was a sufficient enough answer. He's had practice in these kinds of predicaments. Knowing the trouble that would follow if someone were to find out his true identity, he's taken extra time to ensure he would become one of the people with a specific Timeline. Though, she shrugged that issue aside in order to check to see if Amaya and Jet were okay. Xanadu followed her though, as they would stop by Jet's marketplace.
No one was there, and it seemed like the village was deserted. Blaze grunted and slammed her fist onto the counter of Jet's shop.
"Something wrong?" Xanadu asked.
Blaze scoffed and looked at him, "Do you know anything about these machines? Or the Armagna Network?" She asked as she pulled her spear out and aimed the tip of it against Xanadu's neck, "You might as well spit it."
Xanadu stayed calm and shook his head. He was obviously lying to her, but again, that would reveal his true identity.
Blaze frowned again while lowering her weapon, "Since you keep following me, I'll have no choice but to make you a companion. We'll need to find where Amaya and the others retreated to."
Kryptonite popped his head out of her bag, she hung her bag by her shoulder and let it dangle along her back. She only carried Kryptonite in it because she was tired of having him sit on her shoulder. He blinked his button eyes and looked up at Xanadu.
"Hmm, you look familiar." Kryptonite whispered while he observed him, "Anyways, welcome to the team! I'm Kryptonite, and this is Lady Blaze!"
Xanadu crossed his arms and chuckled, "Lady Blaze, huh?"
Blaze turned toward Xanadu and frowned again, "I'm surprised you're not surprised of the talking Teddy Bear..."
Xanadu might've looked calm, but he had facepalmed mentally. That might have blown up his cover.
"Is this the Village?" Atreyu asked.
Nova stepped over the broken down gate and peered inside, "It has to be..."
Nova and Atreyu both strolled through the destruction, seeing some of the buildings destroyed, and the area being covered in blood.
"What happened here?" Atreyu shuddered.
Nova looked into a dark alley and saw a dark figure. It looked quite suspicious, so she alone went to check it out. But before she could step into the shadow of the back alley, the figure turned around and looked at her.
"Oh, hello," Shalya muttered to Nova.
Nova crossed her arms, still feeling a bit suspicious, "Hello... Do you have any idea what happened here?"
Shalya shook her head after a few seconds, "I came into this village, knowing it was a safe haven for Humans and machines. Didn't think I'd come into a place that had been destroyed. I guess it wasn't a safe haven after all." She answered, shrugging her shoulders.
"Right..." Nova muttered, "That's all I need to know then."
Nova began to walk back toward Atreyu. But before she could approach him, she saw that he had found a few other survivors- Blaze, Kryptonite, and Xanadu. She stared at Xanadu and felt an odd aura around him, one similar to the one with Shalya that had made her feel suspicious. But if he was able to gain enough trust for Atreyu to talk to him, she would approve as well.
She walked over to them, glancing back into the marketplace where she saw Blaze going through Jet's files. She sounded frustrated and angry since she wasn't able to find anything useful in finding their location. No alternative village locations, or coordinates, or names of provinces. All Nova could see is pages flying everywhere, and
all the sounds she could hear were pages being sorted through or torn loudly.
"Is... She all right?" Nova asked awkwardly.
Kryptonite sat on the counter, dangling his legs playfully, "It's fine. She's trying to find where Amaya and the others went."
Atreyu gasped and watched Kryptonite, "Oh crap! A talking Teddy Bear!" He shouted in excitement as he picked up Kryptonite and tossed him up in the air, catching him each time.
Kryptonite screamed and squirmed each time he was tossed up, "H-Hey! Put me down! Put me down!"
Nova grabbed Kryptonite right out of Atreyu's hands and placed him back on the counter, patting his head and giving him an assuring smile.
"I'm sorry about that." She said.
Kryptonite crossed his paws and pouted, "It's fine, I suppose."
Nova laughed, "Anyway... You were saying something about Amaya?"
Kryptonite nodded but allowed Blaze to answer. She stood up and grumbled, looking back at Nova and Atreyu.
"... Are these two following us as well, bear?" Blaze placed her hand on her hip and looked impatient.
Kryptonite shrugged his shoulders.
"We were just trying to find Amaya, we ran an errand for her," Atreyu answered.
Blaze scoffed, "And...?"
"And... Yeah?" Atreyu answered, not even knowing how to respond to her question.
She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes.
"If it'll help, Atreyu and I can help you find them. Might as well, since we're looking for them as well."
Blaze grumbled more. She did not like to travel with a big party, it would only slow her down. And as the years go by, and the more her mechanical body broke down, the more impatient she had gotten. Though, she did not answer. It wasn't because she was wanting to say no, but she'd just rather not give a general answer, avoiding the question altogether.
"It might be good, Blaze." Xanadu interrupted.
Blaze glanced up at him.
"The more brains we have, the better. It'll be an easier task, and probably a faster one at that."