Everything had been dusted in white—winter had finally arrived in earnest. For some reason, winters on this island would last no longer than a month and would get just cold enough for an even dusting of snow. It often amounted to no more than a foot of coverage above the ground. The first snowfall however, was always the largest.
Snowballs whizzed through the air above my head as I crouched behind a barrel of sand. Every year on the first big snowfall our school would have a snowball war for the first hour of the day. There was no surrender or abstention, if you didn’t want to take part, you simply didn’t come to school for the first hour—or that day. Every year I made it my goal to get inside the school without getting hit once. So far I had been quite successful, but unfortunately some of the other students had realized this and as of last year I became a prime target for some reason. The school council even offered a reward to whoever managed to hit me—talk about abuse of power. This time around however, I had Cadeyrn and decided that this would be a good time to practice an interesting theory I had been practicing with recently. By combining my use of multiple elements, I was able to develop a barrier that was more-or-less an eraser.
"Sakujo," I whispered from behind the barrel.
It's what I had decided to name it after a few days of careful deliberation, and possibly, too much TV and video games. Slowly, a thin green aura seeped out around my body until it had covered me entirely. It was barely noticeable to anyone that could perceive quanum, mostly because it was currently useless against anything of real substance. At the very least it was effective at eliminating small particles before they touched me, and, in the case of snow, it was exactly what I needed. I didn’t intend to cheat, really, but when you have nearly an entire school hunting you down I thought it to be a fair advantage.
“He’s behind the barrel!” Someone shouted.
Grunting, I bolted down the side of the school towards the nearest door—it was locked.
“Damn it! They locked it on purpose. I bet only the front door is unlocked,” I whined aloud to Cadeyrn.
“How many people are tracking me?” I asked, but Cadeyrn didn’t respond.
“Hey… I’m talking to you Cadeyrn!” I yelled, but still, nothing.
“Fine, I didn’t need your help anyways,” as I finished speaking, a snowball brushed past my head with a chunk missing from it.
“Crap,” I said, bolting again.
As I ran, three students popped out of the bushes, shouting and throwing more fist-sized snowballs in my direction. Using a little bit of quanum, I kicked up some snow and manipulated the wind to conceal my escape route. It was all going fairly well so far, I had managed to sneak most of the way around to the front of the school, until Alden appeared in my path.
“Using quanum? That’s kinda cheating man,” he said, chuckling.
Raising his hand, several large snowballs formed and blasted towards me. I quickly dodged to the side, avoiding the first two, then, with a quick spin, I managed to avoid the third. Alden started creating a small storm of snowballs this time. He noticed the erasure effect as he hurtled the first few towards me and quickly decided to coat the rest with a layer of ice.
“Woah, that’s dangerous!” I yelled in surprise as I just barely managed to dodge one that scraped past my barrier.
“Then don’t get hit!” Alden laughed as he continued his barrage.
I dashed towards Alden to limit the effectiveness of his attack and used a small burst of fire to turn his snowballs into a blinding fog. As I ran past him I noticed a wide smile on his face, and then, suddenly, I was flying sideways towards the wall. I quickly braced myself for impact but I went straight through instead, and before I knew it, I was falling through several floors before crashing into something hard, causing my vision to blur. To my surprise, I had accidentally enhanced my new Sakujo ability to the point that I had erased the wall and subsequent floors I had made contact with—until I had hit the bottom, that is. I lay sprawled on the ground, stunned for a moment before regaining my focus, my vision restoring itself. Looking up, I clearly fell quite a ways, I could hear Alden and what sounded like Nicole asking if I was alright.
“I’m alright!” I shouted up to them.
Standing up I dusted myself off and took a brief moment to observe my surroundings. A musty smell and ominous sensation rang through me as my gaze shifted swiftly around the darkness. I was barely able to make out curves and edges, only slightly visible, illuminated by the inadequate light flooding in from above. The unfamiliarity embodying my newly transitioned environment coupled with my understanding of the building’s layout led me to conclude this to likely be the mysterious basement of the school. I squinted my eyes to discern more when suddenly lights clicked on, inundating me with their brightness. Once my vision cleared, I began to slowly take in what was once hidden by the darkness—hundreds of large, glass tanks mostly filled with purple liquid.
“Alden! Get down here right now!” I yelled, nearly screaming in a panic.
Alden immediately jumped down into the hole I had made on my way down to the basement, weapons and armor equipped.
“What the hell is all this?” Alden said as he landed beside me, equally as shocked as I was.
Nicole slowly followed suit, floating down to the basement through the hole, shouting in surprise almost immediately upon her arrival. Alden and I quickly turned around towards the direction of her haunted gaze. A vile stench entered our nostrils as our heads turned towards what Nicole was fixated on. Something throbbing, inhuman, and obscene confined to a separate set of containers disturbed our vision. It didn’t take too long a moment for Alden and I to realize we were looking at an abomination that clearly was not meant to be seen by ordinary students like us—or anyone for that matter.
“Cadeyrn, what is this?” I asked, but once again Cadeyrn was silent.
“I believe I can answer that question for you,” an old man said, approaching slowly through a doorway.
Becoming more aware of our situation as my mind settled from the initial shock, I slowly realized that we were standing in the middle of what appeared to be a lab. The old man wore a grey robe with a small black cap, almost like a catholic cardinal. The sliding footsteps he took made him seem quite fragile but daunting at the same time. Then, somehow, he vanished from my line of sight despite having held my gaze.
“But first, who might you be?” His voice came from behind me, his hand gently propped up on my shoulder.
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We all froze solid, not even a single muscle could twitch. If they could, I’m certain my stomach muscles would have been able to crush walnuts.
“What did you do to us?” Alden demanded while trying, and failing, to raise his swords towards the old man.
“Oh…I’m just protecting myself. You did come into my home unannounced. Don’t worry, as you can see, I’ve only prevented your movement. We can talk freely now,” the old man replied, chuckling roily.
I glanced at Nicole and Alden, staring as if to say, ‘I’ll deal with this for now’ and shot out my first question.
“So, what is this place exactly?” I asked calmly, regaining my composure.
“This is the cradle. This is where we created vessels for our god. Although, now it's more of a final resting place for these failed attempts,” he said, nodding slowly towards the vats.
“Although, I’m surprised to see our most promising subject here. The only one to live after rejecting the attachment,” the old man spoke slow and methodically as he slowly circled me.
He stopped for a moment, and seemed to be studying my neck before reaching for Cadeyrn which was hanging around my neck.
“Don’t you touch him!” Nicole shouted in a visceral scream of anger.
The old man paused for a moment before slowly retracting his hand. Looking around more carefully, I started to notice odd engraved jewelry floating in the vats I thought were empty. I looked towards Alden and it seemed he had also pieced it together.
“So, you were trying to imbue these Dratmana with some sort of power and failed miserably,” I stated, matter-of-factly.
The old man seemed strong, but I was confident that we could take him head on in a fight.
“Oh…I wouldn’t say we failed,” he said, eye’s still focused on Cadeyrn.
“Now, what should I do with you lot?” The old man said as he turned, walked towards a control panel and began typing.
Nicole utilized his distraction to speak telepathically to her Dratmana, Meigetsu, linking their conversation to us as well. While she had weak control with her quanum, her connection to Meigetsu was incredibly strong—perhaps because its name had significant meaning to her?
“Have you made it down here yet?” Nicole asked.
“Yes, I’ve huddled behind a vat and am ready to strike when necessary,” Meigetsu responded in a soft, feminine voice.
“Who exactly is this god you’re attempting to resurrect?” Alden asked conversationally.
The old man ignored him and continued typing. We heard a loud clunk followed by the sound of rushing water—the tanks were draining?
“Isn’t it a bit late to try to destroy the evidence? It won't be long before others make their way down here. I left a large hole in your roof after all,” I said, goading him.
“Ahh…indeed you did. But no…I’m not destroying anything, quite the contrary actually. Old god,” he responded casually but sounded tired, almost too tired to exist.
“Go now, use the liquid to sneak by and release us from this bind,” Nicole spoke to Meigetsu telepathically.
From around a tank, in a blindspot of the old man, a blue blob crawled across the ground and waded through the purple liquid spilling from the draining containers.
“This feels tingly…whatever this liquid is, it's disrupting my form. I’ll only have enough stability to get to Alden, he's the closest,” Meigetsu stated.
Getting close to Alden, it latched on, flooding him with quanum, destroying the bind before its form destabilized. Having completed its duty, Meigetsu released its form returning to a bracelet zipping back to wrap around Nicole’s wrist. Now free, Alden immediately swung his swords towards the old man sending a blasting gust of wind towards him. The attack was quite strong considering how quickly it came out, yet, it struck an invisible barrier and was easily dispersed.
“Oh? You still seem to misunderstand your position,” the old man said, standing straighter as quanum started to pool out of him—purple and fluid…
“like the same purple liquid that was in the vats?” I thought, making a sudden realization.
“Alden…there’s a good chance that this liquid is made entirely of his quanum somehow,” I said, calmly observing the situation.
“Probably,” Alden agreed, as he steadied himself.
“My quanum? No, my young ones, it is his…” the old man said cryptically.
Alden ignored his words for now, his focus entirely on the obvious enemy before him. Suddenly Alden lunged into motion, sweeping the sword in his left hand upwards and, at the same time, sending a concentrated blade of wind that sliced through the barrier. Without pause, Alden pointed the sword in his right hand towards the old man, shooting a pressurized jet of water towards him. Immediately, the old man took some sort of martial arts stance and thrust his palm out dispersing the jet. As if expecting it, Alden continued his rush forward, unleashing a flurry of slashes, but the old man deflected each attack effortlessly with his palms. The two continued their dance for several seconds until the old man got inside Alden’s defense. A single palm thrust sent Alden flying backwards several feet with purple liquid spraying across the room.
“Alden!” Nicole and I yelled.
Suddenly, Alden appeared behind the old man, somehow leaping out of the ankle high liquid, launching another flurry of strikes. The old man quickly spun around, just barely managing to parry the attacks. Alden’s flurry of strikes had started to shred the old man’s clothes, if nothing else, revealing a muscular and sturdy body. Observing a split second of hesitation from Alden, the old man smacked both of Alden’s blades outward leaving him wide open. Faster than Alden could react, clapping both of his hands together as if praying, he froze Alden in place. Alden grunted, struggling but unable to move, resigning himself as the old man brought his arm back as if to punch and then held the stance.
“That was a brilliant attempt young lad,” the old man said, smiling apologetically. “Unfortunately, you’ll have to die,” his fist began to glow in a blinding silver light.
“Cadeyrn, I don’t have time for these games. Respond to me now!” I screamed at it telepathically.
“Understood, Master,” it replied, somewhat hesitantly, and then suddenly my body was no longer frozen. “Lightning dash!” I yelled.
As if teleporting, I appeared above the old man, hand outstretched as my blade formed in it. I swung my blade down with blinding speed, the old man twisting at the same time avoiding the attack and launching his fist upwards towards my face. Catching his fist with my other hand, I managed to dissolve the energy surrounding it—the sheer force of the punch sent me flying away from him. Quickly kicking off the air, I launched back towards him as he clapped his hands together once more, as if in prayer. Time felt like it came to a brief standstill as a beam of silver light crashed down from above. As the light nearly engulfed my body, Alden managed to free himself from his bind and sent a gust of wind knocking me out of the beam’s path.
Alden and I rushed back in to attack together but it was futile. The old man, maintaining his prayer stance, took a seat on the ground cross legged while six large silver arms sprouted from his body. As we rushed in, the arms swatted us away with the force of what I imagined someone swinging a building at you would feel like. It was almost like a fox fighting a bear—there was no chance.
“I bid you no ill will youngins, but you must not live, your sins—Our sins—are too great,” the old man said to us as we lay sprawled out on the ground around him.
“Why?! What have we done to deserve this?” Nicole asked, her tone accusatory.
The old man paused as if considering her words.
“The truth is, nothing. Your sin is existing…in this place…where we could create you,” the old man said as tears rolled down his face, dripping off his cheeks.
“Now…say your goodbyes. It’s time to sleep now,” he said as the silver arms raised above us in preparation to slam down—then suddenly, everything froze.