~ Episode Eleven ~

Roots of Yggdrasil's Wrath:

The Upending of a Stable Ground

“Mackenzie!!” Eri shrieked.

Zorfus’s shadow-hand dove back into the pool of lamp-glow with a splash and, seconds later, coalesced back into a humanoid form.

“Element Earth--R E L E A S E ! !” A sudden gust of bristly air formed at Eri’s backside. Shinji beat past her, dashing towards Zorfus with his sword at the ready. “You’ll pay for that, you bastard!!”

Zorfus grabbed Shinji by the arms and threw him headlong into a swing set gravel pit. The Monster turned to face Eri, considering her with a tilt of the head.

Eri found herself once again forced to face down a Monster all on her lonesome. She shivered at the sight of Zorfus’ wavering shape. Radiant eye slits burned through clouds of darkness that roved across an otherwise featureless face.

She backed away on fearful steps. But Zorfus drew towards her. Each stride he took quaked in tune with waves of anguish between her temples and within her uterus.

Eri raised the Fire Hammer in shaky hands, an attempt at a defensive stance. “S-stay away—o-or else, I’ll…” She winced, caressing her belly through a flash of cramps. “I’ll … agghhh—”

Zorfus shot an outstretched arm at her—then doubled over when the Earth Sword punched through his midsection. What appeared to be roots and vines gushed from the blade’s edges, binding the Monster in place. An arm locked around Zorfus’ throat. Shinji’s face appeared off-shoulder.

“Quick, Seruma! Seal it!” he cried out, dangling off the Monster’s back.

“…R-right!” Eri recovered enough to prepare the Fire Hammer a second time. “Zorfus, Monster of Darkness! By the oath of the Original Five, I command you! Surrender your power to me—now!!”

Strong winds exploded around Eri that encapsulated both Zorfus and Shinji. Despite its struggles and cries of anguish, the Monster began to dissolve into wavering liquid strands swept up by the winds of Eri’s incantation. The outline of a glassy orb took form from nothingness before the Fire Hammer’s spiked tip. It filled with Zorfus’ essence until there was nothing left of the Monster of Darkness except for a navy blue Mon-Orb, engraved with the image of a wispy shadow figure.

The winds died. The new Monster Orb dropped to the wet grass with a thud. So too did Shinji—face-first with a croak of pain.

“Shinji!” Eri tossed aside her Fire Hammer and rushed over him. She dropped to her knees at Shinji’s side as he pushed up on shaky arms. The bandages that kept his already-broken nose in place gushed with fresh blood that drooled down his chin in thin strands. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!”

“It’s fine.” He met her gaze with a grunt. “G-good job.”

From anyone else, the statement could be read as pure sarcasm. But Eri understood Shinji’s clipped forwardness enough to recognize the awkward compliment. She almost couldn’t help a smile at her broken mentor, but grimaced instead, and helped him to a stand.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go find our friends.”

~

After fixing his nose with a compact first aid kit Shinji carried in his backpack, the pair found Evan nursing some scrapes within the thistle bush Zorfus had thrown him into. He was okay, save for some thorns that needed to be tweezed, and for the next while the Star Warriors broke into a dedicated search for Mackenzie. They swept the main area of Grover’s Mill, high and low, like a trio of bloodhounds on a desperate hunt.

They dared even the edge of the arboretum, though it was unlikely she’d been discarded that far. As time passed, the search became a hopeless one that stretched on into the night. And the longer they searched, the more fearful Eri became for the fate of her best friend.

Shinji stopped beneath a patch of Douglas firs. “If I were thrown a hundred feet into the air, where would I land...?”

“…Above you, maybe?” came a weary voice.

“Macks!” Eri darted forward with Evan on her heels. Shinji looked up to find Mackenzie almost sixty-feet above him amidst a coniferous blanket near the top of the tree. “Oh my gosh! Don’t look down!”

“Um—too late.”

“Yo, Supergirl! You all right up there?!” Evan called up.

“N—not exactly.” Mackenzie seemed in desperate need for a blood transfusion, she was so pale. “I, um, I’d like to come down now.”

Shinji backed away from the tree to get a better look. “Just jump, Thompson. We’ll catch you!”

Eri gaped at him in disbelief. “Shinji!”

“I’m not jumping, baka!” Mackenzie snapped. Her voice echoed on the distant lull of nighttime town traffic. “Call your stupid flying dog or something! Right now!!”

“Y’know Shin, maybe just leave her up there,” suggested Evan. “Teach her not to touch a black man’s hair, y’know?”

Mackenzie answered with a shrill, “You’re still mad about that?!”

“Shinji, please! Summon Shiara!” Eri begged him.

“I have a better idea. ” He unclasped his pendant and called upon the Earth Sword again. “Thompson—Let’s make you some stairs.”

“Stairs??” Mackenzie cried. “What?!”

“Don’t let go—”

“Not! Planning! To!”

“This might feel a little weird at first.” With a few graceful swoops, Shinji pointed the Earth Sword at the center of the tree. “Come forth--Roots of Yggdrasil's Wrath!”

The Douglas fir started to shift and uproot all on its own. Mackenzie succumbed to a fit of hysteria. “Wait! Shinji! What's going on, what are you doing?! No! Wait!!”

“Macks!” Eri started towards the tree. “Shinji, stop—”

“Get back!” Shinji shouted at her and Evan. They leapt away from a string of roots that sprung free without warning and whipped the air like angry, soil-dripping, serpents. Others wiggled in the dirt to heave the entire tree on a deep backwards slant.

Mackenzie sobbed at the top of her lungs. “Stop it, you asshole! Just get me down like a normal person!!”

Eri groaned at the sight of her best friend being thrashed around against her will. She buried her face into her hands. “Oh my goodness … I can’t watch this.”

Raising his Earth Sword like a conductor’s baton, Shinji guided the first set of roots up to where Mackenzie clung for dear life to the branches around her. They folded within the tree and began to entwine.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Eri dared a peek that became an awestruck stare. A set of stairs had appeared, made from the tree’s own resources for Mackenzie to descend.

Evan nudged her, grinning. “Cool stuff, huh?”

“Come on down, Thompson,” Shinji said. “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”

“A-are you sure about that?”

“Trust me.”

Mackenzie hesitated, but after some time stepped onto the first riser down and pressed her weight to test its strength. It seemed sturdy enough. Eri rushed to the base of the stairs to meet her. What felt like hours passed as Macks made her way down to the others, slow and careful. “H—how did you do that?”

“It's called a Sub Elemental Crash; part of the magic of being a Star Warrior!” Evan explained. “Pretty sweet, right? We can bend all kinds of stuff!”

“You and Seruma both have a lot to learn,” said Shinji. With a flick of his wrist, the tree returned to its natural state in a matter of seconds. “Not bailing when people need you is the most important lesson.”

Mackenzie averted her gaze, embarrassed. She nodded.

But Eri flung at her, arms wide open. “Oh, Macks! I’m so happy you’re okay!”

“Eddi-chan…” She clung to Eri, shaking through fresh tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Eri whispered to her. “We were all scared.”

~

“Thanks for walking me home. You really didn’t have to.”

“Nn … Yeah, I did.” Shinji trekked with Eri up her driveway. The lights were all out save for the glow against yolk-yellow walls within a lone window over the garage—Eri’s bedroom. “Shorebrooke’s not safe at night. Anyway, it’s no problem. I don’t mind.”

They went around the side of the house where her mother’s vine trellis awaited. Eri started to hedge up the wobbly latticework. “Well—good night.”

“Hey—Seruma, wait. I … I just want to apologize.”

Eri blinked, surprised. She lowered herself to the ground to give Shinji her full attention.

“I’m sorry. For being hard on you before,” he continued. “Back at my house yesterday, you had every right to think we were lying to you. Any sane person wouldn’t blame you. Nor can I.”

“No, it’s—it’s okay. I’m the one who should be sorry … about tonight, I mean. Wandering off to fight Cloria and everything. Guess I put everyone in a lotta danger…”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” It was Shinji’s turn to be surprised.

“If—if I hadn’t have let Cloria drain my energy, Zorfus wouldn’t have come after us the way he did. We would’a had a better chance if I just stayed put.” Eri frowned at herself. “Dunno why I wandered like that. Her voice was just so … pretty. I did try to Seal her, though.”

“Seruma—you did what needed to be done. And anyway, Cloria was on our side. What’s important is that Zorfus was Sealed and the Child of Destiny is still safe.” Shinji raked fingers through his hair and sighed. “Listen, if anyone should be sorry, it’s me. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like I did yesterday. I’m just—not used to any of this yet.”

“It’s okay, Shinji,” Eri murmured. “How, um … how long have you been doing this for? Sealing Monsters, I mean?”

He shrugged. “About a month. Solo for part of it, until Evan got involved. Still pretty new. I guess trying to navigate this … new normal … is stressing me out more than I thought.”

“I mean, that’s fair,” Eri justified for him. “We fight otherworldly creatures that legit try to kill us and use magical weapons to try and turn them into Pokéballs. Sure, every kid’s dream, I guess. But I mean, this is real. Feeling stressed by it all makes sense.”

“Suppose so.” Shinji grunted. “I just … want to do the right thing…”

“I think you are.”

But he didn’t seem so certain. “Do you remember when I went to Germany a few years ago? Just before you moved.”

“Yeah. For Christmas, right?”

Shinji nodded. “German New Year, actually. I got the Earth Pendant then. My Opa gave it to me. I didn’t know anything about it, or what it could do. I thought it was just a necklace—a present.”

Eri wrinkled her nose. “Your Opa made you do this?”

“He’s too old to do it,” Shinji said, a little too quickly. “It’s okay—I want to help him. It’s my birthright to.”

Eri studied him behind quiet eyes. There was something sad in Shinji’s tone that didn’t read just right.

“Hey, uh … What are you doing this weekend?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Eri unconsciously, nervously, stepped up onto the trellis. “W-why?”

Shinji shifted on awkward heels, caressed his arm like there was a deep itch under the skin. “Do you, uh, wanna hang out Sunday? I still need to fill you in on a bunch of Kenah’dai stuff. I mean—if you’re not busy.”

“Um…” She offered him a tender smile. “Well, I have church in the morning. And homework. But—okay. Yeah. I wanna learn as much as I can.”

Shinji returned the smile on weak lips. He stepped away on hesitant heels. “Well … see you in class.”

“See you. Walk safe, okay? Or fly safe. However you get home.”

“Heh. Goodnight, Seruma. Thanks again—for your help tonight. It means a lot that you came out to lend a hand.”

Eri giggled. “Yeah, of course! I mean it’s my birthright, remember?”

A knowing darkness glinted in Shinji’s eye. He nodded, then turned away with hands jammed in his jeans pockets. “Yeah.”

When he was out of view down the road, Eri started the slow and careful ascent up her mother’s trellis. She hedged careful steps across the shingles towards her open window and straddled the sill, ducking her head inside.

“Where the hell have you been?” Noah demanded.

Eri tumbled into her bedroom with a sharp cry. Her big brother was on the edge of the bed playing her Super Nintendo. Waiting for her.

“Noah! What are you doing in my room?!”

“Nana didn’t want to disturb you.” He hooked a thumb over to a Do Not Disturb note Eri had earlier taped to the door. It now lay crumpled in a ball on her vanity. Beside it stood the pharmacy bag she’d left there earlier that evening. From the look of its unsettled plastic folds, someone had nudged a curious peek inside.

A sharp inhale diced up Eri’s lungs at the realization. She glared at Noah.

“So, Nana’s down in my room, instead. I came to see if you were all right. Mom said you had a rough day.” He paused to check his watch. “A quarter after eleven—I was just getting ready to wake everyone up.”

“Sorry,” Eri murmured. She climbed to a stand, using her desk chair for support. “Won’t happen again.”

Noah barely heard her. “I’m not going to ask you a second time, Eriya. Where were you?” He tossed the controller aside and rose from the bed to meet her.

Eri shied away from his approach. “…There was s—something outside…”

“Come on, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not—”

“You snuck out! Just admit it already! Look at you, your pajamas are filthy! Are those grass stains?!”

“I…”

Noah grabbed her by the shoulders. “What were you doing, huh? Who’d you go fooling around with, huh? The guy who gave you that necklace?”

“Ow! Noah!”

“Are you drunk? High?” He snapped her jaw up, gripping her by the chin. “Is that what you did, went and got stoned with that white trash, Mackenzie Thompson?!”

“Mackenzie’s not—Stop it! You’re hurting me!”

“Exhale,” Noah commanded.

“What?!”

“Do it!”

Another headache rippled across Eri’s forehead. She needed to get away. Needed Noah to get away. Her mind flexed at the thought—desperate.

A sudden force launched her brother across the bedroom. He stumbled backwards, bouncing his head against the door so hard he slid to a seat against the floorboards.

“Agh! Did you just—did you just push me?!” Noah winced, caressed the back of his crown. He inspected his fingers for blood, shook himself alert. “What’s your problem?! I’m just trying to look out for you!”

Eri stared at him, shaking and numb, unaware of what had just happened. How it happened.

“Get out,” she whispered. “Get out of my room.”

Noah struggled to a stand, grabbing for the doorknob, and made a hasty retreat into the darkened hallway. He turned a leer back at her. “Watch yourself, kid. You’re lucky I don’t tell Mom and Dad about this.”

“Get out!”

The door slammed in Noah’s face.