Vhhhuurrrrrnnnnn♪
A silver roofless jeep speeds across the fields of Gaia bumping up pebbles and grass in path, scaring the many unaware creatures that now scurry away in fear
“Ahh, I missed this!” Pinoki outstretches his arm absorbing the warm summer breeze,
“Never ever, ever again will I let myself get confined to one place again,
Once was bad enough but twice is insanity.”
“I know what you mean,” comes an absent minded response from Shiryu who leans his face out the window letting the wind touch his skin,
A sensation quite foreign to him after being covered with resistant scales for so long…
“When I left the Bends after being there for basically my whole life, I made up mind I would never rejoin those beasts ever.”
“Well now you don’t have to worry about that since you don’t look the part anymore.” Pinoki says in assurance
“…mmm” Shiryu nods,
Still to this day the young man has not seen his own reflection….
“Are you going to explain how you did end up looking like this?”
“My current body? I merged with the dragons’ requiem remember?”
“Yeah and that turns you into an ugly dragon not a human.”
“For regular people yes, but my body has mana which counters the dark energy of the dragons’ requiem, instead of it absorbing me I absorbed it,” Shiryu points the swirling series of purple lines covering his arms and torso,
“You see the requiem is mean to absorb a host and use their body as a conduit,
But my body is like poison to it, so the opposite effect happens, I can use the dragon how I would want, whether it’s by making armor for myself or using it as spear, the raw power of the requiem is now mine,”
“Damn, I still can’t wrap my head around how different all these concepts over here, magical beats, mana types etcetera, I feel like a kid in college again.” Mf who had been steering the vehicle shares his thoughts
“It’s not as different as you think,” Shiryu yawns,
“I told you before that I was from Terra, the first ring, right?”
“You are, for real?”
“Born a taught there,
Magic is no different to a subject like rocket science, it seems jarring and complicated, but when you break down the core parts everything opens up,”
“So it’s possible to generate the same magical effects with machines?”
“If you know the all the exact intricate processes the yeah,”
“Hey I think I see the tree coming into view.” Pinoki interrupts totally uninterested in the duo’s conversation
“Can this thing move any faster?”
“Of course it can,” Mf turns his attention fully back to maneuvering the vehicle
Vhhhhhhuuuuuuurrrrrnnnnnnnn!!!♪
It zips on towards the city Soterra, the farmers and warriors in the fields outside the city break their necks in bewilderment trying to make out what manner of beasts move past them
“How do you people even get on travelling around without navigation?” Mf mumbles watching the building shapes focus in
“The navigation on this ship, the Jukebox, doesn’t work at all here,
I was flying around for a while before I saw that dragon in that city,”
“Maps obviously.” The little man squints at the looming town
“I’ll show you one when we get to Soterra…..”
The talk from here dies down with Shiryu already slipped into thoughts, Pinoki gazing at his homeland and Metal Fingers busy at the head….
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
….
….
“Halt!”
“Hey!”
“What is that!?”
“Stop it!”
As the vehicle zips into the city, so comes the alarmed shouts of it’s inhabitants unable to perceive what exactly it is
“It’s heading towards the city hall!”
“Kill it quickly!”
“It moves so fast!”
…
“Maybe I should stop so we could explain” Mf begins to slow down the craft
“No, keep going,” Pinoki nudges him on
“We’ll stop when we get to city hall, when Zinnia sees me she will clear everything up,
I’m not interested in wasting time in this cursed place.”
“Seems like a nice place to me.” Comments Shiryu,
“Well it wasn’t always a nice place,” Pinoki gazes at the magnificent tree shedding it’s leaves that joyously flutter in wind,
The image of the giant castle that once stood in place of the tree sill remains visible in his mind,
The memories of those times regrettably unforgettable….
Bump!
The jukebox comes to an abrupt halt in front of the city hall at the base of the tree, almost knocking Shiryu and Pinoki out of it
“Couldn’t you be a little softer with that?” grumbles Shiryu who’s torso is out stuck out the window
“I mean there are seatbelt for a reason–”
–WHAMM!
“Hey!” Now it’s Mf’s turn to exclaim as a giant hammer slams into the vehicle’s side
“This is as far as you go metal beast!” an armored warrior twists the hammer back again,
Other similar armored people start to emerge from the hall, ready for a deadly fight
“We’re not a beast, everyone calm down!” Pinoki hops out at once raising his one arm up trying to direct the attention to him
“Look this way, is this not a familiar face to you?
A person of legend in the flesh,
Pinoki of Soterra!”
“Who?” the hammer wielding warrior does not let down his guard
“Don’t act silly with me,
I am one of the people that helped kill Murdoc, surely there are songs and legends made for me by now?”
“I don’t know anyone by–”
“–Everyone stand down, it’s alright!” A slim seductively dressed woman swings down on a rope from atop the tree behind the hall,
Her voice rings loud and sharp as she lands right between the trio of Shiryu, Mf, Pinoki and the Soterran warriors
“I heard you died Pinoki.” The woman retracts her ‘rope’ which shrinks in size into a shiny black whip
“You can’t kill a concept.” Pinoki assumes a pretentious tone
“What is that thing, and who are those two.” The auburn haired woman disregards it, fastening the whip to her exposed thigh she struts over to the Jukebox,
…
Mf stays inside while Shiryu exits…
“I have never met these two before,” her pale brown eyes scanning them
“Actually we’ve met before Tori, I’m Shiryu remember?”
“Shiryuu….” Tori repeats to herself, eyes still haven’t moved off him
“You were that pet Zinnia was keeping if I remember right?”
“I was one of her knights not pet…
Is the queen there?”
“……” Tori doesn’t answer at once still suspiciously eyeing the trio, making up her mind on how to react
….
….
….
….
“Zinnia is in an important meeting right now, that’s why this place is heavily guarded.” She finally speaks
“Well I’m sure meeting her old friend will be more important than meeting whoever she with.” Scoffs Pinoki
“Hardly,” Tori runs her finger along the silver surface of the jukebox
“The people she speaks with currently are from the Wu Tang.”