In a cold sweat, Rai quickly rose from the floor. It was dark with shades of blue around him. “Where am I?” Exiting the tent, he noticed people sitting by a fire.
“He guys, he’s awake!”
“Tommy? You’re okay.”
“Yeup,” he replied with a smile.
Tina and Adrian were at the fire with another man.
“Hey guys,” Rai said.
Walking over Adrian placed his hands on Rai’s shoulder, “Thank you.”
“Tommy told us what you did,” Tina said, giving a slight bow of appreciation. “We owe you.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s what any hero would do,” Rai said, gazing at Tommy with a smile.
“Hotdog?” the other man sitting down said, extending his arm, hotdog in hand. “Whoops, where are my manners. My names Olaf, I’m Adrian’s brother-in-law. Well, not officially just yet. The ceremonies in a week from now, so you can consider this my ‘bachelor party’”.
“Nice to meet you,” Rai said, grasping the hot dog and taking a seat on a log across him. “Not much of a party out in the woods,” Rai said, biting into the hot dog.
“Meh, I was never one for going all out. I’ve got all I need here in Northwood. Including my best man for the wedding,” he said gazing at Adrian.
Smiling, Rai curiosity prompted him to ask, “Hey, how did I get here exactly?” Rai asked.
Extending his arms out, Tommy said, “A large root thing carried us, but eventually it stopped moving.”
“Plu?” Rai muttered.
“After, a search party came across you both in their search for Tommy,” Adrian said.
“I didn’t expect to come across you Rai,” Chloe, one of the apprentices spoke, appearing from behind.
“Chloe?! What’re you doing here?”
“I was on vacation with family,” she said with a smile.
“You guys are related?!”
“Tommy’s my cousin,” she said.
“Yesh, small world,” Rai said.
“Chloe, how is she?” Tina asked.
“She?” Rai asked.
“Hanabi, I asked her if she wanted to come along.”
“Hanabi’s here too?!” Rai said, almost choking on the hot dog.
“Yeah, once we found you, your core was in pretty bad shape. She spent all day repairing it. She’s recovering in the tent as we speak…”
Rai gazed at the tent she would be in, placing his hand on his chest. Hanabi… With a standing stretch, “Well, about that time.” Placing his hand on the floor, he poured his flux force into the earth. Soon, a small root emerged, and from it an apple grew, poofing back into Plu.
“Plu!” Plu said, appearing from thin air, happily extending its arms.
“What—” the three adults were in shock; Olaf fell backwards from the log he sat.
“Plu!” Tommy said happily.
Leaning over, Rai said, “You did great buddy. When we get back, it’ll be a double scoop of strawberry ice cream for you.” Plu’s beady black eyes seemed to glisten with pure joy from hearing this. Gazing at Olaf, “You okay?”
“Yeup… Didn’t expect that one bit,” Olaf said.
Rai, staring at the ground noticed cards from the card game known as Minus Wars. “Hey?! You play Minus Wars!?”
Olaf, hearing this, quickly popped his head up, “You bet!”
Rai took out his deck of cards from his back pocket, “Me too!”
The two exchanged a fiery passion towards the other.
“Oh boy…” Tina said. She was well aware of Olaf’s addiction of being a collector of the game.
That night, Rai and Olaf played the cards game until the break of dawn.
Snoring Rai awoke later that day; cards were spread all across the tent floor.
Lying beside him was a letter, reading:
Thanks again for helping Tommy! We had to head out early, but you can keep the tent. We look forward to seeing you win the tournament! – The Calles’
Rai stepped outside, hearing the scrapping sounds of metal on metal. Looking outside he saw Olaf cooking.
“Good morning, Rai,” he said.
“Hey,” Rai said, rubbing his eyes.
“I gotta say, you’re pretty good at Minus Wars. That dark root magician, never saw it coming…”
“Thanks, you’re not half bad yourself,” Rai said, sitting down on the log, stretching his arms to the sky. “Who would have thought you owned a Bamboo Berserker. It totally changed the pace of the last game.”
“Ever thought of pursuing it professionally?”
“Nah. My goal is to be the number one elite. I don’t have the time too,” Rai said. “Did Hanabi leave as well?” Rai noticed they were the only two around.
“Yeah. She wanted to say goodbye, but you were out cold. But she did ask me to get a message across… What was it… Oh yeah! She said, ‘Stop getting yourself hurt, you big jerk.’”
Smiling, Rai gazed at the clouds above his head.
“Plu,” appearing behind a tree in the forest, Plu came waddling by with a single berry in hand. It placed the fruit on the ground next to other small items like a wrapper, a ball and a half-eaten banana.”
“Its been at that for a bit,” Olaf said with a chuckle, gazing at the things Plu kept placing at his foot.
“You helping get food Plu?” Rai said.
“Plu,” it replied scurrying off into the forest.
“If you get anything good, bring it my way,” Rai joked. Sighing, “So, miss your ride?”
“Nah, I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors. Thought I stay an extra day,” he said, walking over and dumping eggs on a plate. “Here,” Olaf said.
“Thanks,” Rai said, gazing at the eggs, his stomach grumbled. “Are you going to eat?”
“I’m okay, I was planning on going fishing for fish sticks later,” he said.
Suddenly, Olaf’s stomach grumbled, causing them both to let out a quick laugh.
“Here,” Rai said, splitting the eggs on the plate in two.
“Plu,” Plu stated from behind Rai.
“Looks like our scavenger is back—PLU!” Rai shouted, tossing the plate aside and falling backwards as the food splatted on the floor. Plu was holding a rattle snake in the air. “That’s not food!”
Later that day, Rai was sitting at a dock overviewing the lake with Olaf, fishing rods in hand.
“Sorry about earlier,” Rai said, hearing Olaf’s stomach growl again.
“No big deal, besides, it’s a perfect day for fishing. Northwood is known it.”
“So how does this work exactly?” Rai said gazing at his rod with bait attached. He had never fished in his life.
“Fishing is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Let’s start with the basics.” He held his rod out in front of Rai, “This is the rod, and this,” pointing at the bulky contraption attached to the rod, “and this is the reel. The reel is where you’ll wind up the fishing line. The line runs through the rod and ends with a hook. The goal is to cast the hook out into the water and wait for a fish to bite.”
Rai nodded, trying to follow along. “Got it. And what about the bait?”
“That’s where it gets interesting,” Olaf said, reaching into a small container. “You can use live bait like worms or artificial bait like lures. For beginners, live bait is usually easier to handle.”
Olaf took a worm and demonstrated how to thread it onto the hook. “You want to make sure the bait is securely attached so it doesn’t fall off when you cast.”
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Rai took the rod from Olaf and tried to mimic his movements. “Like this?”
“Exactly,” Olaf said, smiling. “Now, for casting. Hold the rod with one hand and use the other to flip the bail on the reel open. Pull the rod back and then swing it forward smoothly. As you do that, release the line.”
Rai practiced the motion tossing the entire rod in. “Whoops…” After retrieving it he tried yet again, awkwardly casting the line in the water.
“Not bad!” Olaf said. “It’s all about practice. Once you’ve cast, you wait. Patience is key. You’ll feel a tug on the line when a fish bites.”
They spent some time fishing, with Olaf giving Rai tips and encouragement.
Opposite them, facing the water on the other end of the dock, Plu had constructed a make-shift rod; a stick with a string and the berry it found earlier attached to the very end. It dipped it towards the water, a determined gaze on its face.
“Alright! This time I got it!” Rai shouted, but he accidentally let go of the line as he flipped it backwards. “Here we go!”
“Pluuuu,” Plu squealed having been snagged by the hook and launched forward far into the water with Rai’s forward thrust.
“Sorry Plu…” Eventually Rai learned how to feel for a bite and how to reel in the line with steady tension, and after a while, he felt a tug on his line. “I think I’ve got something!”
“Remember to stay calm and keep the tension on the line,” Olaf advised. “You don’t want to yank too hard.”
Rai carefully reeled in the line, his excitement growing with each turn of the reel. With Olaf’s help, he finally brought in a small fish!
“You did it!” Olaf said. “That’s a great first catch.”
“Plu plu!” Plu said, jumping up and down in joy.
Rai held the fish up confidently.
After collecting enough fish, they went back and cooked them over the fire while they shared stories.
Plu sat beside Rai, holding a fish stick of its own.
“Yeah, and when I yanked it, we all ended up falling down,” Rai laughed. “Good thing the drop was more of like a slide.”
Chuckling, Olaf said, “Seem’s like you guys have all sorts of adventures.” Taking a large bite of the fish stick.
“What about you?” Rai asked. “Any adventures of your own?”
“Surprisingly, I use to be a home body.”
“Home body?”
“Meaning I stayed inside, playing Minus Wars mostly, but also watching TV. It wasn’t until I met my fiancé that I began to explore the outdoors. She always loved being in nature, and as I got to know her, so did I,” he said, taking a bite of the fish stick. Gazing at Plu, “Is Plu not hungry?”
“Ah… Um, well Plu’s definition of eating is a little different,” Rai said. “Here buddy, let me—”
“Plu,” Plu said, holding the fish stick away from Rai’s grasp, signaling it wanted to keep it.
Yawning, Olaf said, “Well, I better hit the hay. Still running a little short on sleep from the other night. Thanks for hanging out with me today.”
“Thanks for teaching me how to fish,” Rai said.
“Will you be heading back to the empire tomorrow?”
“Nah, I’ve still got some days left to train. I think I’ll camp out a little while longer before my match.”
“Well, best of luck,” Olaf said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a card from the deck he kept on him, handing it to Rai. The card was called, Tulip Tempest. The design showed a Minus that was small and cute, however it was producing a storm within the woods. Its description read, Tulip Tempest is a Minus that can often be underestimated as a harmless creature, however if provoked, it can whip up a deadly storm. “My wife Meriam gave me that card. She wanted to remind me to never underestimate yourself, or others. I hope your opponent doesn’t underestimate you, or they’ll be in for a world of pain.”
“Wow, thanks man,” Rai said, gazing at the holographic card.
“Goodnight Rai, best of luck in your competition tomorrow.”
Lying in his tent Rai contemplated the fight. He still had five days left…
The next morning, the ground shook heavily, like an earthquake was happening! Multiple explosions echoed in the distance, prompting Rai to quickly jump out of his tent. In the distance, large clouds of smoke appeared, followed by more harrowing explosions.
Unzipping his tent, Olaf also stumbled out of the tent.
“What’s happening?!” Olaf said.
“Wait here!” Rai shouted, rushing towards the battle.
“H-Hey kid?!”
In the distance, he felt incredible flux pressure from two individuals, but he couldn’t make out who it was. Trees beside him toppled over, and he jumped, narrowly dodging a giant tree. By the time he made it their, to his surprise Inari was crouched on the floor, barely able to stand with torn ragged clothing.
She no longer sported the long green hair that nearly graced the floor, instead having cut it all off to shoulder height.
“Inari!” Rai shouted.
Surprised, she glanced back when suddenly a large root emerged from the ground, smacking her away. “Gah!” she spat up blood, soaring backwards.
Rai lunged forward, catching her while dragging his feet into the ground to slow her descent. “Hey, are you okay?!”
She grimaced from the pain, unable to respond at the moment.
“Hm. I expected more from the Nephilim fused with Root Root, the original root of the world tree.”
“That voice…” Rai said.
From the dust and chaos of twisting roots from a previous battle, Gaius appeared.
“G-Gaius didn’t give me much of a choice…” Inari muttered, standing beside Rai. “I came out here to train… Then he appeared to challenge me…”
“What’s going on Gaius?!” Rai shouted, gritting his teeth.
“I merely wished to test my own Nephilim abilities against her own,” he said.
“You can’t go around hurting people you come across just because your strong!” Rai shouted.
“I can do whatever I please,” Gaius responded.
Alarmed, Rai looked down, “Below!” Jumping out of the way with Inari, a giant root burst through the ground.
“Inari watch out!” Rai said. He sensed Gaius’s light infused roots, which were invisible coming their way.
Smirking, Giaus infused flux into the light root, causing it to shoot forward in a blur of light, much faster than Rai could anticipate. It smacked Rai to the floor, while curling around Inari’s foot and bringing her slamming down before him. “You should be ashamed to hold such a root with this level of power,” Gaius said to her.
“Leave her alone!” Rai shouted, but many other roots had pinned him to the floor as he tried to get back up.
“And you… I gave you the time to get stronger and this is what you have to show for it,” Gaius said.
Suddenly, a rock pelted Gaius in the back of the head, and Giaus who normally had a smug look with arms crossed, looked shocked. Looking to his left, he noticed a man picking up another rock.
“What’s your problem?!” Olaf shouted.
“Olaf?! Hey, get out of here man! This isn’t the place for you to be!”
“I hope you know the penalty for assaulting the son of the emperor, is death,” Gaius said.
Hearing this, Rai started to push off the ground, slowly lifting himself even with the weight of the roots trying to pin him down. “Gaius don’t you dare!”
From behind Olaf, a small invisible root flickered, bursting a small beam that went straight through the back and out his chest. Olaf fell to the floor face first, blood everywhere.
Inari attempted to hit Gaius but was smacked far away by another invisible root.
“Damn you!” Rai shouted and he instantly broke through the weighted roots holding him. Holding his fists out, Rai roared, “IKKEN!” and an enormous blast, bigger than one he had ever shot burst forth at Gaius. From in front of Giaus a large root emerged, blasting light beam out that collided directly with Rai’s ikken. “Bastard!” Rai shouted putting even more flux into the attack.
“Hm,” Gaius murmured, gritting his teeth slightly, and from the root a large lump made it way towards the end where the beam blasted out of, adding twice the power as the blast ripped through Rai’s ikken and blasted him far away smashing through a few trees before rolling against the floor and coming to a halt. “Perhaps our match will be slightly more entertaining than I anticipated.” Turning, Giaus left the battlefield.
Rai, body twitching, slowly lifted his head. Plu meanwhile had just caught up with them, seeing Rai on the floor.
“Plu…” it said, nervously creeping closer. Next to Rai, it poofed into an apple, though it was already too late.
Rai pushed the apple away, crawling inch by inch to Olaf who was on the floor. “Please…” Please be okay… As Rai managed to arrive to Olaf, he flipped him over, only to see that he was dead. Even so, he had a smile on his face. On the ground, his cards were scattered everywhere. Tears welled in Rai’s eyes… His hand curling into a fist, “GAIUS!!!” he shouted to the sky.
The next day, Rai appeared outside of Adrian and Tina’s house.
Opening the door, “Rai? What brings you here at this time?” It was dark outside, with only their porch light shining.
Rai held his head down, unable to look up.
“Honey, who is it? Dinner’s almost ready,” Tina shouted from the kitchen.
“It’s Rai!” he shouted back.
“Rai?!” Tommy said from his bedroom upstairs.
“Oh, invite him in, he can meet Meriam.”
“M-Meriam…” Rai said, stumbling back.
“Hey kid, everything okay?” Adrian said.
“E-Everything…” Tears formed in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, his fist trembled. “I- I don’t know how to say this…”
“Rai!” Tommy said, appearing beside his father.
Noticing something was wrong, Adrian leaned down, “Hey Tommy, give Rai and me a moment.”
“Ahh, okay…” Tommy said, and Adrian closed the door behind them.
“What’s wrong?”
Head down, a tear fell, “Olaf… Olaf’s dead.”
Adrian paused… “Come again?”
“He died… protecting me.”
Angrily Adrian gripped Rai’s shirt, holding him above the ground. “What kind of sick joke is this?!”
“I’m sorry,” Rai said, caching Adrian’s gaze. “There was nothing I could do…”
“You’re the Abminus, you should have been protecting him!”
“I tried…” Rai said.
“You didn’t try hard enough!”
“Honey…” the door had been slightly opened and Tina was peering in. In the distance, Rai caught the gaze of the woman known as Meriam. She hadn’t a clue what was going on.
“Get out of here!” Adrian said, tossing Rai away who fell on his but, dropping the cards of Adrian across the floor, many dotted with blood. “I don’t ever want to see you around here again!”
“Honey, what’s going on?” Tina said, holding his arm.
“Come on… Let’s go inside,” and the door closed behind them.
From behind the window, Tommy watched.
Rai, head still hung low, steadily lifted himself, exiting the front yard as he walked the empty streets alone.
***
Many people were gathered within a grand hall that stood before the emperor’s throne.
“Way to go Aeigis,” Lily said.
Everyone was dressed in formal attire as the knighting ceremony was underway. Standing before the Emperor, Aegis knelt in the direction of the people watching.
“First Yukio, then Tanabe, and now Aegis,” Marco said, standing beside Han, the number six elite. “And all within a few years. If we’re not careful, someone may come and take our spots,” Marco said, poking fun at the idea.
Han, not saying anything watched intently as the ceremony proceeded.
Emperor Adonis, giving a nod to General Kur, began, “Thank you all for joining today on this very special occasion. Today, Aegis will officially be inducted as an elite. As you know, elites aren’t just soldiers, they are ideals, symbols of strength and wisdom that will always be remembered. Aegis, I wish you the best on your endeavors, and perhaps, you too will join those legendary warriors placed within the Hall of Heroes.” At that time, a large flame within a golden bowl in that was placed before Aegis, sparked.
General Kur than said, “Please state the pledge of the elites.”
“I, Aegis, stand before the Illuminus Empire with unwavering devotion and resolve. In the presence of its people, I pledge to uphold the virtues of honor, courage, and integrity, guiding my actions with wisdom and justice. As an Elite, I shall defend the realm with steadfast bravery and unyielding commitment, striving to be a beacon of hope and strength in times of darkness. I accept the weight of this sacred responsibility, honoring the traditions of the Empire and embracing the path of leadership. May the light upon Asceria, guide my steps and illuminate my path, as I dedicate my life to the service and glory of our great Empire and its surrounding kingdoms, for as long as I remain an Elite.”
“Rise Aeigis,” General Kur said.
“Everyone, we now welcome, your Illuminus Elite, ranked 9th, Aegis Vanguard,” Emperor Adonis said.
The hall erupted with cheers as Aegis was officially recognized as an elite. The grand feast was set to commence.
“Congratulations Aegis!” Alan said, appearing with Alan and Lily.
“Brother you did it!” Yuta said, standing beside Lily.
“Thank you,” Aegis said. Even now, he still had his eyes covered by the red cloth.
“It’s a shame Rai couldn’t have made it…” Lily said.
“Apparently he’s off training still for his fight tomorrow,” Alan said.
“His loss,” Eiji said, currently at a table stuffing food down his throat.
***
Standing in the woods by himself, Rai was seen with his hands intertwined, eyes closed. There were many destroyed tree’s and large craters all around.
In the corner, Hanabi watched, sweat dripping down her forehead. Rai had come up to her place in the middle of the night, begging for her to help him in the last few days of training he had left. “Ri Ri…”
Rai took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he extended his arms. When he opened his eyes, they burned with a fierce, determined intensity. “IKKEN!”