Chapter 2:
The people of Elva were filled with confusion and alarm, their voices rising in a chorus of disbelief. "What in the Omnis is going on? Is that an earthquake?! Where did all this energy come from!" These questions echoed through the air as Queltsom's Kota release took place.
Jane was walking in the hallway of the office building dedicated to the Silverstar noble family. She was heading out to check what was going on and silence the riled-up people when one of her green-robed guards came into view and intercepted her, slightly breathless.
"My lady! Lady Jane! A huge Kota dispersion has just happened on a scale we've never felt before, and everyone is either frightened, enraged or curious, and an endless cascade of screams and crowds blocking roads is everywhere! What should we do?", he half screamed half panted.
"I was wondering what the commotion was all about. A dispersion you say? From where? Was it the boy?", she asked.
"Yes, my lady. ", came the reply from the guard.
"And you're sure it was a Kota dispersion and not something else? I've witnessed that energy and it was a wave unlike anything I've ever sensed before.", she said.
"Yes, ma'am. The squadron leader your assistant has posted in your name confirmed this to us, and he was shivering in utter terror.", the guard answered.
"This is very alarming.", she thought apprehensively.
And what of the boy, guard?", she questioned.
"He's unconscious, my lady.", he replied. "The guard I mentioned before said that he was planning an attack that shook him to his core with a staggering amount of Kota even the illegally harvested Kota cores from the other guard's stamina, as well as many other cores that he had collected could not hope to match!".
"Make sure the child is thoroughly chained to the ground! I don't want any mistakes, because the Kota in the air seemed very pure and unblemished, like it wasn't carried by the wind. I will go with you and use the chain of the silver star technique myself. Prepare the ambient Kota energy anchor immediately so the prison is always sustained.", she commanded.
"Yes, my lady. Will do.", the guard complied. Then he quickly left Jane's sight. "Who are you, boy? Why was your Kota like that, eh? Soon, you'll tell me how you bested my guard and all your little secrets. I will get my hand on that oh-so beautifully crafted power you wielded. Soon, not even my naive sister will be a thorn in my side any longer, and Elva will be all mine! It is the strong's right to rule over the weak, after all.", she thought, and licked her lips in anticipation.
Queltsom:
I woke up feeling my muscles tense and constrained, like they were gripped and surrounded by something metallic. Wait, my whole body was surrounded by something metallic. It covered my hands, my feet and my shoulders. I was standing, though I remember falling to the ground the last time. Handcuffs? Chains? I'm trapped! Curse it! Who trapped me! Must be the work of that Jane the guard with the crappy Kota energy talked about. They didn't kill me outright, so they want something. I could use that to my advantage! Dragnoria always told me to search for leverage when I'm in a bad position, so I can get my way out of that position. I have a feeling that I know what they want from me, though I won't even try to get out with making deals, because I also have a bad feeling when I think that thought. *buzzing in the head*, because, I'm the strong one here. They are enemies! Enemies! And no one must show weakness to their enemy no matter what! They trapped me, and I'll get out on my own! How dare they trap me! *Growl!*, *Scream!*.
Eileen Valdris:
Eileen Valdris just couldn't make herself sleep for some reason. It was hard to do tonight, due to the thoughts clouding her mind about the news that bounced around, that the Silverstars have caught what they described as a demon that threatened Elva, though she had a suspicion that said demon was just defending themselves. She hoped that whoever this person described as a demon was were ok and not suffering or in pain.
Then, she heard a noise. It sounded like heavy breathing. Then she heard it again, then again, then again. After around 5 seconds, she started hearing an angry growling of an underage person or a middle-aged woman. She couldn't be certain, but she heavily leaned toward the latter. They couldn't have imprisoned a child, could they? No, that sounds ridiculous and impossible, yet she had her suspicions that tonight wasn't going to be normal. It was just a hunch, likely as imprecise as many of the previous hunches she had were, but still possible.
*Ruaaaaah! Raaaaah!* *Hurrrrr-raaaaah!* The growls started getting louder and louder, and she soon started hearing a metallic vibration alongside the screaming. It sounded like, rattling? Rattling chains? It sounded less like a human and more like a caged monster, though she wasn't offending whoever was in there. She wanted to see if they were well, even if the authorities or the guards would take her into custody as well.
She got outside her house. She advanced in the direction of what they called the outer dungeon, where they would imprison criminals under ruff conditions with no protection from the sun's light and heat, nor the cold wind. The noise was coming from that direction, and she was beginning to have doubts about the sanity of the Silverstars. She saw a man heading toward the same location and ducked out of sight, where she could still ruffly see and hear the happenings in that place.
Though what she saw horrified her and made her skin crawl. She saw a boy estimated to be in his early youth age with strange, closed brown eyes that were glowing or glimmering, and brown skin. He was wearing clothes made of the fur of a Tharo. He was chained to the ground standing up in the middle of the night without even lengthening the chains for him so he could even sleep on the ground. Said boy was moving like a desperate fish out of the water on the edge of death, but on a faster, more furious scale. The boy was moving and flailing rapidly, desperately trying to free himself from the chains, causing them to rattle and scrape when they touched the ground, while growling, roaring and screaming like a little monster. The man advanced toward him, smirking and laughing at him. How could they do this to him! He's a child, for the sake of the God! Where were his parents? Did they kidnap him? The questions raced around in her mind with no answer in sight, and the tension was rising quickly.
"Ha ha ha. Like a little demon in its cage, trying to free itself by any means necessary! Who's mocking the other now, huh brat? Do you remember me? Do you remember my voice? I'm the one you humiliated not 10 hours ago, and look at you now! Locked up in a cage like a bird and fumbling around uselessly. The lions have decided to feed the snake, which is me, and you'd do well to remember that, stupid child! No one dares to mock me and comes out of it unharmed. Now that I've gotten the chance, I'll get you back for it and I'll enjoy every last scream you produce from your tiny throat! You hear me brat?", the man said to the boy with a growling voice. "How could they do something like that! He's a child, not even in mid-low youth yet! Doesn't he have a shred of mercy? This village is slowly turning insane!", she thought.
Queltsom:
I sensed 2 changes in the air, like pockets of air that were in a certain place and a certain distance from me. I'll just call them pressures because that describes the exact meaning of the feelings. Whatever had come over me stopped and my thinking went back into focus again, though I was still flailing, and still angry. One was farther and unmoving, staying in one position. It gave a cool impression that seemed inviting, and I got a feeling that this person was nice. Person? I can sense people now! It's foggy and hard to focus on, but it's there if I focus on it. And now that I know I should focus on it, then I'll try as best as I can to focus on it. The other one gave me the impression of being in an enclosed space, alone, surrounded by snakes! I don't like it at all! I don't exactly know how a pocket of air pressure could be tied to the concept of hostility, but only I call it pressure. It's probably something else. I lost my Kota, and I got the pressure-sensing thing and my weird hunch-like feeling, which was fairly strange. Right now, it told me that this person wants me dead! He's without a doubt an enemy.
The hostile pressure walked closer in my direction so I naturally surmised that they were walking toward me. I must have woken them up. Good for them, I guess. When they got close enough, the hostile guy, now known as a he, spoke.
"Ha ha ha. Like a little demon in its cage, trying to free itself by any means necessary! Who's mocking the other now, huh brat? Do you remember me? Do you remember my voice? I'm the one you humiliated not 10 hours ago, and look at you now! Locked up in a cage like a bird and fumbling around uselessly. The lions have decided to feed the snake, which is me, and you'd do well to remember that, stupid child! No one dares to mock me and comes out of it unharmed. Now that I've gotten the chance, I'll get you back for it and I'll enjoy every last scream you produce from your tiny throat! You hear me brat?"
A demon? This guy's harsh. That idiot just about wants me dead, doesn't he? Well, I guess he's one of these guys that blame their own faults on others. Instead of being afraid or having learned from the battle between us, he decided to blame me instead of his own weakness, which is really, really stupid in my opinion.
Eileen:
"Are you done yet? You're starting to sound less like a human and more like a rabbit by now. Do you like hearing yourself, mister, um, yeah, you're the guy who forgets to tell people his name, so I'll just call you rabbit-guard. How does that sound?", the boy said to the man in a surprisingly calm voice, considering that he was growling a few seconds ago. The flailing did not subside, but the growling stopped completely when the guard got closer to him. "What is with the change of demeanor? Wasn't he roaring like an animalistic creature only heartbeats ago? In any case, why's he locked up?", she thought, ideas still spinning in her head.
"How dare you say that to me! How dare you even try to fight back! You're supposed to slave away at my command, do what you're told and beg for mercy from me!", the guard screamed. Then he produced a long, thick whip made of iron and whispered: "It's lashing time!", then started striking the boy with the weapon with full force over and over again, laughing and shivering in savage glee all the while. The boy screamed with each hit, and his eyes brefely glowed dark blue for a second, then returned to their previous faded color. "Very odd. Just who is this boy!", she kept thinking.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Queltsom:
The guy was hitting me with something made of solid iron. It hurts, hurts a lot, but I'll bear it. Because when I finally become free again, I'll get him for every strike. I'm counting the number of hits I received, planning my escape, and flailing all at once. Though now I'm doing the flailing without even thinking about it. Guess even my body wants to release me, thanks body! As for planning my escape, I've made a great plan, which is, to get yourself out of here, find somewhere else to go, and don't turn back!
After a long time, in which I got horribly and utterly bored, the guy panted his everything off and stopped, getting away from me in stupid-sounding footsteps. When the pressure disappeared, I noticed the other pressure and asked them to come out.
Eileen:
The guard kept striking the boy over and over again for 2 hours! She had her timepiece on hand, And she could do nothing to save him! That boy was very daring she'd say. He talked back at the guard and did not do as he said to him, while having humiliated him yet again after whatever they apparently had between them 12 hours ago. Then she heard the panting breath of the boy, now full of scars from where the strange iron weapon struck. Then she heard him say: "You can come out now, other person. The guard is no longer there. Aren't you going to sleep? Why were you just watching me, I'm curious. Oh, I woke you up with my screaming before, didn't I? Sorry, whoever's in there!", he said the last part in a lower voice. Then he said: "Unless a bird was watching me and he or she couldn't reply, or no one's there at all", muttering under his breath.
Eileen was dumbstruck yet again. He somehow knew her location. How did he even know she was there? She concluded that it was likely the same thing he used when the guard approached him. She did as he asked anyway, and walked closer to him. Now that she thought about it, how did he know what time of day it even was? His eyes were closed the whole time from the moment she came to investigate.
"Hello, son. What is your name?", she asked.
"Queltsom. What about you, lady who was watching me earlier? I can't just keep calling you that, it's kinda long and hard to say, ha ha!", saying the last phrase while chuckling. She also laughed, and told him her name:
"Eileen, daughter of Valdris."
"Oh nice to meet you, ma'am", he said. "What is Valdris, a city?"
"No, it is my family's name. I am a farmer.", she clarified.
"A farmer huh? That's nice!". Nice? That was a first for Eileen, who had always faced the issue of having most people downplay the importance of her craft her whole life, ever since Elva became her home, so hearing a (that's nice) from someone made a big impact somehow.
"Uh, thank you", she said, slightly trembling.
"Behind you! Avoid it!", he suddenly shouted. She hesitated, which was a clear mistake, as a silver hooked blade descended upon her, mere inches away from her throat. She saw a woman's face, but she couldn't know who it was.
"What's this? Well, look who it is. If it isn't Eileen Valdris. And why are you standing here, talking to this hideous demon, eh? Are you planning to escape with him? No chance, farmer. If not for the crucial nature of your (duties) we wouldn't need you in this village", the woman said coldly.
Queltsom:
The pressure I sensed next was very, very bad. It gave me the impression of claws and teeth inside a flower, and my feeling thing confirmed it. Very, very dangerous. But I couldn't let lady Eileen die! Not if I can help it. I can't fight directly, but I'll still be able to help the only person who doesn't want to kill me or try exploiting me for whatever knowledge they want to extract from me.
Kerriosko Valdris:
Kerrio sensed something wrong in his vision, the system was telling him something. He got it as soon as he was transported from his home. No longer was he Arther Green, the promising computer nerd who got the best of marks. It was a fantasy realized, like so many fictional novels he read that gave him experience in dealing with a magical world. Which is: just roll with it and learn the Magical part. "Warning: Eileen Valdris is facing a dire threat!"
"What, mom? What happened to her?", he thought. The system didn't wake him up early in the morning to let him know that breakfast was ready. It truly must be a great threat! He quickly got out of their house and ran as fast as he could toward the location the indicator of the system was pointing. After some time, he received another system notification that made his jaw drop.
"Eileen Valdris has been implanted with a fundamental piece of essence by the Will of Protection. Implantor has a high chance of death. Update: The essence is being used to flood life energy into contact Eileen Valdris. Eileen Valdris has been saved! Implantor is facing: Affliction: Full starvation, 67%. Would you like to add the implantor, (Queltsom unknown) to your contacts list?"
"Yes darn yes! Add the bastard! Who's this fellow to have supposedly saved my mom? Whoever this is, they will get a big piece of chocolate from me when I see em.", he thought, determination sparking in his eyes as he did so.
Queltsom:
I technically broke myself and sent the broken shard into the pressure of lady Eileen, then used that as a catalyst to turn my own stamina into life energy for protection, much like I do with the cold fist techniques and sent it toward her. I was assaulted by heavy pain and fatigue, but hopefully, it was all worth it in the end. I Fell unconscious yet again for the third time in my fighting life.
Eileen:
Eileen felt something coming toward her. It entered her body directly from her hand, which should have been physically impossible, but it happened anyway. After that, it settled into her body, and she heard a faint buzzing in her head. The buzzing held meaning somehow, telling her to (let it in) over and over again.
"I don't know how. Who are you?", she tried to ask in her head.
"Me... will... protects you. Me... is... rescuer of you. Accept power before that you die!", it buzzed. She tried to think of accepting whatever this buzzing entity was giving her, and it seemed to have worked, because she felt a heavy warmth in her chest, and instructions that told her how to fight flowed into her mind. It also told her that the Holder was its first master, its origin, whatever that meant.
She did not want to fight, and apparently, the buzzer seemed to have expected that, because it buzzed again, asking her if she wanted to let the Holder control her body through itself, and it identified itself as an essence fragment seedling.
She did not have enough time to think about it over a cup of tea, seeing as the silver hooked blade was almost at her throat and all, so she accepted. Then she unceremoniously lost awareness.
Kerrio:
"Eileen Valdris and the newly born essence fragment seedling have successfully coexisted with each other! There is no chance of revoltion any longer! Eileen Valdris has accepted the seedling's protective power. Eileen Valdris has accepted the holder's temporary control over the vessel.", the system intoned. Kerrio was dumbstruck for the second time that day. What was this business about essence fragments and the Holder? What the heck is the Holder supposed to be? He had read many novels having essences as a source of getting magical powers or even helping to strengthen and build the foundation of the body, the mind and the spirit before, but he had never heard of essence "fragments" and the fact that they are alive somehow. He had no background experience about it, which left him completely in the dark.
For the first time, he saw his mother fight. She dodged the blow faster than he could blink, and punched the woman's sword, twisting it away from its position. Then she swung her fist at her chest a second time, sending her stumbling back. By the time the swordswoman regained her composure, the other woman was already spinning like a Beyblade, sending out a barrage of punches with reckless abandon all the while. No, that's not right. His mother wasn't even breathing quicker. It wasn't his mother fighting, it was whatever this Holder had done when she accepted its temporary control over her body. The offending swordswoman suddenly charged his mom, but she, or the Holder rather, dashed away like someone using a teleportation skill. Then she dashed back again toward her opponent, bumping fist first into the swordswoman's bracing arm. The latter's sword started glowing ever brighter, then she screamed: "Avalanche slash!", and struck with the sword, hitting not his mother, but a misty aura that surrounded her.
A shield of some kind. The shimmering, cold white-gray slash landed, causing an intense scream from the boy off to the right. He went in that direction as fast as he could sprint, and saw a strange-eyed boy. Was he the one they called the weird-eyed demon? The boy was panting and heavily bleeding. It appeared like his whole body was melting in on itself and, he wanted to save him! The stranger sacrificed his life for his mother, whom he doesn't even know! Kerrio broke the chain with some effort, raising an annoying alarm, and carried the boy away from the place and into their little house, which wasn't far off from where they were. They had located his mother in the closest house to the outer dungeon, maybe to remind them that they might be locked up in there if they didn't follow the rules. The bastards!
"Stop... let... me... save... ..., lady... Eileen...", the boy said in a slow ruff voice.
"Not a chance man! Now don't you die on me, you hear?", Kerrio said. They arrived at the house, and Kerrio shoved him into a bed in the sleeping room. After that, he sprinted back to the battle's site near the stupid dungeon.
"Warning: Connection between Eileen Valdris's essence fragment seedling newborn and the Holder threatens to sever! Update: The connection has been severed due to the abrupt disconnection of the Holder. Essence fragment's ability will be passive until the connection is reestablished again.", the system declared.
"Passive? What does that even mean?", he thought frustratedly.
"Alert: essence fragment seedling newborn has detected an empathic connection between its host and you, and wants you to help protect the host. It requests to contact you. Do you accept, or do you reject?"