(and so time quickly passed, and my departure was near.)
That day, I felt a strange sense of urgency and a sudden uneasiness fall before me. I quickly gathered my things and met my grandfather outside as he had instructed the day before; he was out behind the castle waiting for me.
"This is really happening, isn’t it?" I said to myself.
"Believe me, I never thought this day would come. I’ve dreaded even the thought of it for so long, But I need you to understand the importance of this mission," my grandfather said to me.
"Yeah… I know," I said to him, "it’s just kind of hard to believe all of this. It all feels so sudden, like one day I’m here training to move up a single rank and the next I’m out in space fighting an ancient monster who almost destroyed everything at one point. It’s only natural that I’d be a bit nervous."
"If all goes according to plan, you won’t have to face Distortion in battle. If something like that were to happen again, I’m afraid no one alive would be able to stop him."
We soon began to hear a loud sound coming from above. Two spaceships had just entered the atmosphere, they were quite small but moved incredibly quickly. Not long after, we had met up with them near their landing site in the middle of an open field just outside the kingdom.
Out of the first one emerged a middle-aged man with a very built physique and short blonde hair. He appeared to only be an attendant. He stepped off his ship, opened the door to the second one, and bowed his head. A young man, about a head taller than me, emerged from the ship. He had crimson-red hair that was combed sideways, he wore a white and purple suit and had a cape draped over his shoulder; elegant as always I see.
"Greetings, Lord Zant, I have arrived as you requested," he said to my grandfather.
"Prince Reaver!" My grandfather shouted out, "It’s good to see you again; it’s been far too long.”
“Likewise.” Reaver responded. “Please enjoy these Ottom delicacies, they were a gift from my father.”
“Oh you didn’t have to. Please, come. I assume you remember my grandson, Mistery.” my grandfather spoke out, pointing at me.
I had first met Reaver a long time ago on Otoma. Being young, my grandfather would tend to bring me along to many of his meetings. We were quite young back then, so seeing him now all grown up seemed a bit strange.
"Uhh… hey," I awkwardly waved at him.
“So this is the great prince, Mistery?” He announced in a sarcastic tone. “Hey man, it’s been awhile. How have you been?” He said with a laid-back laugh.
"Well, you know, I get around here and there," I said to him with a nervous chuckle.
Prince Reaver had always been leagues above me. He actually had the power and skill to be considered a proper prince, and now that we had been put on a mission together I began to feel quite self conscious. Way to make me feel useful, gramps.
I wasn’t too sure of his actual ranking, but if I had to guess, I’d easily put him at least an S rank without a second thought. To earn the respect of someone like my grandfather so easily, it was pretty obvious that he had to have been at the very least much better than both Marz and Blade.
My grandfather then got our attention. “Your task is simple. You two will first head on over to Yulemn, where you will be instructed on how to track and locate each of the missing fragments. I have a colleague over there who would be more than happy to answer any questions. So please be prepared; this mission is one of high importance.”
I had never actually visited Yulemn myself, all I knew about it came from some of the books we had to read at the academy. Various researchers over there were apparently quite well known from their scientific breakthroughs in abnormalities and energy usage. But since their research papers weren’t quite combat focused I… tended to skip those.
My grandfather continued. “While I mentioned that parts of Distortion’s seal had gone missing, it would be more accurate to say that the power held within the seal is what has disappeared. Each planet within the astral ring was tasked with containing a fragment and while for the most part we’ve been doing a good job at it, recently the fragments have begun to emit a larger amount of energy so much so that two of them seem to have been released. Fret not, the five pieces of Distortion’s soul should still remain dormant for quite some time, so long as at least one of them is contained. But that is precisely why they must be brought back to the seal.”
“Way to lighten up the mood gramps…” I sighed.
“From what I was briefed, Otoma's fragment was unfortunately one of the two that were released along with Yulemn’s piece.” Reaver spoke out, “I mean it’s not like anything has really changed though, we still need to complete this mission. So it’s no use worrying about it.”
“The Neptarian piece is still being contained in an undisclosed location far from Torn or any other civilization,” he tried to reassure us, “You two should take a few moments to prepare yourselves, I shall send you both out once I receive word from Yulemn.” my grandfather had said to us as he returned to the castle.
"Welp… might as well take a look at the ship, then huh?" I had said as I made my way over.
"Yeah… I was spinning around in outer space for a good while until I managed to get the hang of the thrusters; it’s not as easy as it looks," Reaver had responded.
"As if it looked easy to begin with," I whispered.
As I entered the spaceship, I was greeted with a bright blue light, and the ship was a shiny, polished jet black color, which was obviously a plus.
It was pretty compact in size, and the shape was oddly spherical. As I sat down to get accustomed to the control panel I was immediately overwhelmed by the number of levers and buttons.
"If Distortion doesn’t kill me, my horrible piloting skills will," I said to myself, chuckling.
"I will ensure that doesn't happen," I suddenly heard a voice come from within the ship.
"Who was that!?" I jumped back.
There was complete silence. I took a peek outside to see Reaver doing some stretching. It couldn’t have been him, not to mention that it was a woman speaking to me.
"Hello?" I said quietly.
"Designated driver: Mistery. How may I be of service?" The voice echoed out.
It was an AI, most likely created on Otoma. While we here on Neptar excel at combat and our breakthroughs in that field, Ottomites excel at most things tech-related.
"W-who are you if I may ask?" I spoke out meekly.
"I am known as Codex 1-5-0-2. I am an artificial intelligence instructed to help you in carrying out this mission," she echoed out.
"Codex?" I said to myself, "That’s a weird name, and that’s not even mentioning the numbers."
"I wasn’t created with a name, but rather a production code."
"Well, if we’re going to be together for this mission, you need a proper name, don't you think? I wouldn’t be able to remember such a weird code." I said to her.
"You may call me as you wish," she replied.
"Hmm…" I stopped to think, "Well, your voice makes an echoing sound every time you speak, so what do you think of Echo?"
She paused for a moment.
"That is acceptable," she replied.
“Great! Nice to meet you Echo!”
“Likewise, Prince Mistery.”
I heard a knock on the glass, "Yo, Mistery," Reaver had called out to me.
I hopped out of the ship
“Wow, we’re really getting the royal treatment now huh? These things even come with AI companions.” I mentioned to him.
“Oh yeah that's right, I believe you got one of the new 1500 models. I heard those excel at scouting and overall general intelligence, lucky you.”
After a bit of time had passed waiting for orders to come in allowing us to take off I decided to strike a bit of a conversation. We were about to spend the next few months together, might as well start to get to know a bit about each other.
“Hey, Reaver.” I called out to him. “What do you make of all this? About Distortion I mean…”
He stopped for a moment and pondered to himself.
“It’s tough to say… I got a brief rundown from my father but he told me he never actually faced Distortion head on. In fact nearly everyone who had come face to face with that creature perished.”
Nearly everyone huh? I thought to myself. Could my grandfather have really…
“It’s still hard to wrap my head around the fact that the legend actually happened not too long ago.” I responded.
“I was told that exact dates and details were omitted from the history books, many of them were made to even be seen as myths. Trauma from that point in time still remains to this day, it’s understandable parents wouldn’t want their kids to know about such a tragic tale.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I’m beginning to think we’re way over our heads here.” I let out a nervous laugh.
“On one hand I understand that this mission must be carried out, my willingness to protect my people and the vow I pledged as Prince is ultimately what has me standing here today.” he then raised his now trembling hand up to his face, “Though as for my personal feelings… I’d be remiss to say I’m not freaking out at the moment.”
That’s right… I was so focused on my own thoughts that I completely neglected how Reaver must’ve been feeling at the time. Of course anyone would be scared to learn of this.
“Well, why don’t we lighten the mood a little,” Reaver spoke out to me as he walked a few paces away. He held his arms out to his sides and let out a few streams of lightning. “Would you care to join me for a quick sparring session?”
“Y-you serious…?” What have I gotten myself into…?
“Well if we’re going on this mission together, it would benefit us to know what the other is capable of, wouldn’t you say?”
I let out a deep sigh “Say what you will, but your face tells me all I need to know. You don’t have to come up with an excuse, you just want to fight don’t you?”
“Read me like a book, huh?” He let out a laugh, “I can tell… you’ve grown stronger since last we met. You may not believe it, but the fact of the matter is, I’ve been getting chills just standing near you.” He wore a wide grin on his face, unable to contain his excitement.
While on the surface, Reaver may have seemed like your stereotypical prince. Always acting courteous around others, speaking in very formal ways and overall just acting much more maturely than he actually was. But I knew the truth about him, since we were kids he would always obsess over fighting, he would compare rankings, stay up late to watch interplanetary tournaments, and study combat manuals vigorously, even more so than I did. Deep down, this guy was just a damn battle junkie.
I began stretching, preparing myself for the inevitable embarrassment I was about to experience.
“Alright, whenever you’re rea…” before I could even finish my sentence Reaver had charged towards me throwing a wild punch.
I managed to dodge his first attack by just a hair, but I had to block the next few attacks he threw out. I was forced on the defensive, unable to throw out any attacks of my own.
Any time I thought I found some sort of opening Reaver would instantly snuff out my attack with a counter of his own.
Soon enough, the sheer amount of attacks managed to overwhelm me, I was unable to defend against all of them. Many attacks got through my defenses rendering me, once again, unable to retreat.
I was beginning to get frustrated. Did all my training really just amount to nothing at the end of the day?
Once more, that same frustration, that same old feeling I couldn’t seem to repress, managed to activate the dormant power within me. My energy surged and once it did I noticed that Reaver’s movements had become a lot more sluggish than before.
I charged forward, ducking through one of this many attacks and landed a strike straight onto his chest sending him reeling backwards. He quickly regained his balance and as if he’d read the situation ahead of time prepared himself for an onslaught of attacks.
One after another my attacks were swiftly blocked or avoided. Even with this unknown power aiding me I was unable to gain much of an advantage.
Though to my surprise, try as he might, Reaver was unable to regain the upper hand. It was like the tables had been completely turned. I noticed a drop of sweat start to form on his forehead as he struggled to defend.
He leaped backwards and placed his hands out and widened his stance. His body tensed up for a second before releasing wave after wave of crimson red lightning out. Causing me to stumble backwards each time one hit me.
On the fourth and last wave I had dropped my guard for just a second, but Reaver instantly seized the opportunity and charged towards me with a strike to my chest.
I was knocked backwards and onto the floor and a surge of intense energy traveled from the center of my chest, and pulsed throughout my entire body for a moment before quickly disappearing. I remained on the floor unable to move as my body twitched and contorted. My heart rate skyrocketed and my breathing had become irregular. Could it have been the same backlash from using that power for too long again?
“Wow!” Reaver shouted out as he held his hand out to help me up. “You’re incredible.”
I took hold of his hand and stood back up, I was still quite winded. “T-thanks I guess…”
“I’ll be honest. You were quite rough around the edges when we were younger, but seeing you now, it seems you really have improved. A bit too much if you ask me…” Reaver held his now trembling hand up.
“Maybe a bit sure… but you still managed to beat me with practically no issues.” I scoffed
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that…” He took a look back at the now destroyed field. “Man you are fast, I mean really fast. There were times where I couldn’t even keep my eyes on you, I swear it was like a blur. Not to mention that last thing you did, what even was that?”
“It’s… complicated. I’ve still been trying to figure it out myself.”
“Well whatever it is, that power is intense. The moment I knocked you down, I could’ve sworn you were about to get up even stronger than before. You exerted this terrifying energy, I swear I wanted to run away then and there.”
“I see…”
“Regardless, you’re a tough one. I can see why you were chosen.”
Shortly after our sparring session concluded my grandfather had finally returned.
“I have just received word from Yulemn. You two may begin making your way over there now.” My grandfather said to us, “My colleague, Professor Tidewell shall give you the rundown on how to proceed.”
“Well you heard the man.” Reaver spoke out as he headed to his ship.
As I was about to follow him, I heard my grandfather call my name.
“Mistery…” he said to me before remaining silent for a few moments.
“Y-yeah, what’s up?” I replied
He let out a deep breath before approaching me. “I never got a chance to apologize to you.”
“What are you talking abo…” my grandfather wrapped his arms around me as he brought me in for a hug.
“This shouldn’t be your responsibility. I wish… I wish I could do more to help you but my hands are tied here.”
To have my grandfather of all people as powerless as this was concerning. But I could also tell that this was important for him, since not once did he express any sort of disagreement in this ‘decision’ of theirs.
“I know gramps… I know…”
----------------------------------------
“You got everything? We should probably start heading out now.” Reaver popped his head out of his ship.
"Yeah, that’s fine with me," I replied as I hopped into my spaceship.
"Uhh… Echo?" I called for her.
"How may I be of assistance?" she asked.
"Do you happen to know where the on-button is?" I asked her.
"My apologies. By orders of the king, you are not allowed to pilot this ship," she said to me.
"W-what…?"
"King Zant believes you would crash the ship in an instant should you be given the opportunity, as such this ship was designed to be controlled automatically."
"I can’t tell whether to be offended or grateful," I said to myself.
“Worry not, your grandfather paid quite the large sum in order to ensure you’re provided the highest quality gear and support.”
“Oh great, now I’m really going to look like a spoiled prince.”
The sound of the ship’s thrusters soon overpowered my voice as the spaceship slowly began to lift off and before long Reaver and I were both launched into outer space. The speed of these interplanetary ships always amazed me as they were significantly faster than ones used for travel within each planet.
I took a look out the window, and saw the large planet below me. A lush green sphere slowly rotating as it drifted away from me.
"Mistery? Do you read me?" I heard Reaver calling out to me through the communications system.
"Y-yeah," I replied.
"You’re pretty good at flying. Are you sure this is your first time piloting?"
"Yeah… Sure, let’s just go with that story," I gave a nervous laugh. "So we’re stopping by Yulemn?" I asked.
"That's the plan. They have a device that can track extreme levels of power with high accuracy. After we pick that up, we can begin to look around on any outlying planets near the astral ring."
I sighed "Does it have to be Yulemn of all places?" I complained.
"Oh come on. What’s wrong with Yulemn?" Reaver had asked. "They have an amazing view upon entry."
"Yeah, sure... an amazing view." I repeated. "Did you forget that the planet is nearly 90% water? I CAN’T SWIM MAN!" I exclaimed at the communications system.
I heard a strange beeping noise.
"Sir, I am picking up a strange signal." Echo had notified me. "I recommend warning Lord Reaver and turning around."
"What do you mean, strange signal?" I asked her.
"There isn’t anything within my database that matches this source of energy."
Suddenly the ships’ walls began to cave in on me, the windows had cracked, and most of the main engine had been badly damaged.
"Hey, Reaver!" I called out to him.
"Miste…can you…” Reaver was trying to get a hold of me.
“What’s going on!” I shouted out
“You’re losing signa..."
This feeling was a strange one; it was almost as if someone was exerting an immense amount of energy upon me. I couldn’t see anything but darkness around me, I could no longer see any distant stars or spacecrafts, this darkness was almost like a void.
"Echo! Can you do anything about this?!" I shouted
“Sir, I have lost control of the ship.” She replied. "Please open the container below your seat and place the communicator in your ear. I shall upload my data into it." she said to me.
I followed her instructions. With the ship in this state, there was nothing I could do. The whole thing was beginning to spiral out of control, and the main control system was completely fried.
I then felt another crash; one of the main thrusters had exploded.
By the time I was able to really react to what was going on, it was too late. The windows had shattered, and the spaceship was completely ripped apart. I was sucked into the vacuum of space.
I looked down to see myself falling into the orbit of a strange planet, one that was unfamiliar to me.
As soon as I entered the atmosphere, my ship was broken down, incinerated, and scattered throughout the surface of the planet.
“Sir, please brace yourself for impact.” Echo spoke to me through the earpiece.
I tensed my body and focused most of my available energy into my head and any vital organs.
With a loud crash I hit the ground, sliding quite a few paces as I did. Knocking down and uprooting many trees and plant life. I had landed in a strange forest.
If felt as if all of my bones were broken; my arm was bleeding,
"You have sustained critical amounts of damage," Echo said to me through the communicator. “Damage sustained has approached near lethal levels."
"Yeah, thanks for the warning; I kind of noticed." My body was surging with pain.
I forced myself off the ground and while it took a tremendous amount of force, my legs luckily enough, still seemed to be at least somewhat functional, though I did notice myself start to limp.
“Shall I administer a healing shard?” Echo had asked me.
“A healing shard?” I questioned.
“Each spaceship was loaded with a significant amount of equipment, unfortunately I only managed to absorb a few charges of the provided water energy used for healing before the ship went down.”
“N-no… we can’t use it right now, it’s too soon.” I groaned, clearly in pain.
I forced myself to take a few steps in order to get a better view of the surrounding area. With every single step, I felt a sharp, piercing pain throughout my entire body. My entire body was weak, and it took every ounce of energy I had to just keep myself upright.
“If we encounter any sort of creature we’re done for.” I mentioned.
“I sense no signs of heightened energy.”
I kept walking for what seemed like an eternity, my vision was beginning to get blurry, I was losing a lot of blood. Each step was followed by heaving and coughing, my hands struggling to remain held onto any trees around as my strength had all but been drained.
It wasn’t until I finally found solace that I saw what appeared to be traces of a civilization, but as soon as I stepped outside of the forest, my entire body had completely given up on me.
The last thing I remember seeing was a young, blonde girl around the same age that I was, staring at me in horror before I collapsed and eventually lost consciousness…