Journal Entry:
Ever since Taka slipped into her comatose state, reports of such incidents had surged, becoming much more frequent. Studies revealed a grim statistic… Thirty percent of those affected succumbed within the first month. It’s been dubbed LuminoCo's ‘doomsday device’. The corporation strongly denied any involvement, going to great lengths to develop the pods that now cradled the growing number of victims, including Taka. To this day many scientists are seeking a solution to the spreading pandemic. As if the Shattering wasn’t enough...
The training over the years was tough, but Hanabi was there to assist me whenever I pushed myself too hard. Thankfully, Tux knew a friend in Excalibur named Grace who let me stay with her. Not only did it allow me to access extensive training grounds, but it gave me the chance to visit Taka whenever I wanted. Once the day finally arrived, Tanabe, Milu, and I all aced the exam with flying colors. Even more surprising is that we were all selected for the apprenticeship program!
Beside Takara’s pod, Rai stood clutching a book and a birthday balloon with Plu wedged between his arms. “We finally nailed an important mission,” Rai said, placing a small children’s book beside her pod. Visitors were allowed to leave small gifts on the tables beside them. “Excalibur has this humongous library with books from all over the world, I know you’d love it. I’ve been using it to find clues on how to cure you. Once I do, we’ll have to check it out together one day.” Rai looked up, staring through the window of a room beside the one he was in. A family was crying over the news of a deceased member in one of the many pods stationed within the facility. “Anyways, tomorrow’s the big mission. Wish me luck, and a happy birthday.”
***
The castle walls trembled as Rai and Milu climbed the spiral staircase. Another quake shook the fortress, causing the wall to collapse and Milu to slip out, but Rai managed to save him from falling. Milu looked up at Rai, who shared the same concern in his eyes, however, even thousands of feet in the air, they pressed on.
“This is nothing like the mission report!” Milu said.
“We ditched the mission report with our officer in charge!” Rai argued.
“Second thoughts?” Milu shouted.
“Never. We have to hurry! He's close, but his flux force is fading fast!” Rai urgently replied.
Rai and Milu entered a grand ballroom with a massive window view.
Tanabe, heaving heavily, rose from one knee. Seeing his friends he said, “What’re you doing here?”
“We ditched that loser bodyguard the moment we heard the explosions,” Milu said.
“You know me, when there’s a party, I just can’t resist joining,” Rai added, glancing at a figure approaching them.
Tanabe smiled, “Guess it can't be helped. We’ll need all the help we can get if we're going to beat this guy.”
“This is what they send me, a bunch of kids,” Seph, the man opposing them, scoffed. “I’m not a babysitter!”
“Don’t worry, I grow up fast!” Rai declared, charging at Seph.
The man slammed a whip of devil's ivy onto the ground, causing the floor to crack slightly and tiny roots glowing yellow to appear. The whip shot forward, but Rai narrowly avoided it, his shirt being torn in the process. The whip, extending longer than it should, smashed a pillar behind them. What this? On Seph’s bare back; a blue demon’s face etched in like a tattoo. Rai had seen the same marking on the neck of another soldier earlier. Exchanging blows with Seph while switching places with Milu periodically, a strategy they became accustomed to.
Tanabe, appearing above Seph, swung his fist with his fist, shouting, “Impa-”
Seph used his whip, swiftly ensnaring Tanabe’s foot, slamming him into Rai and sending them hurling into the wall opposite him.
Milu, jumping in front of his fallen companions, slammed smoke bombs on the ground. “Dammit,” Milu said. Taking this mission was a mistake. Milu recalled the day before the mission.
“Tanabe, Milu, and Rai, do you understand the risks accompanying a mission like this?” General Kur asked.
“If I may,” Milu gave a proper bow before addressing the emperor. “Emperor Adonis. The three of us have performed as well as anyone, when as a team that is. If it’s simply scouting, especially with Gael around, there shouldn’t be a need to worry.”
“I still don’t feel okay with it, it is still uncharted territory,” Emperor Adonis expressed his concerns. He was seated in a giant golden chair with a prominent crown bearing the crest of the empire, Lumi’s, a rare and endangered flower that grows only in pairs. “Rai, Tanabe, do you feel the same?” Emperor Adonis asked.
“We do,” they both answered.
The three of them had been on missions together for nearly a year and wanted to test their abilities further. When they heard about the need for small, agile recruits, and that it was a mission coming directly from the emperor himself; there’s no way they could’ve passed the opportunity up.
“What about you, General Kur? He’s your grandson after all?” Emperor Adonis questioned.
“The second he became an apprentice, his decisions were his own to make. Even if they’re stupid ones,” General Kur responded. Tanabe, gaze fell to the floor, he hated disappointing his grandpa. “But that’s why I raised him to be strong enough to make those types of decisions,” he said staring at Tanabe.
Realizing this as his grandpa’s way of approval, he stood up straight, saying, “I won’t let you down.”
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“Very well,” Emperor Adonis conceded.
Smoke effectively shrouded the entire ballroom, providing them with temporary safety from the enemy.
Milu, Tanabe, and Rai, having regrouped, locked onto each other’s flux to get a sense of where they were, but strangely, the enemy exhibited none. Lowering their own to stay undetected, they pondered their next move.
“How’re we going to beat this guy?” Milu asked.
“Two words, my fists,” Rai said.
Seph continued to taunt from a distance, saying, “Maybe it’s just dumb luck you stumbled across this tower, but I’ll let you in on a little secret since you're about to die. Further up is the core, our kids 'supposed' sacred treasure. It’s even rumored to be the key to the survival of our race.”
Tanabe’s eyes widened at the mention of the core. It was in the mission briefing. Something about a source of power, one that powered the Furies, though they had no idea of its actual shape until now. He glanced over at his friends before making a decision. “I have a plan, but I need both of your help,” Tanabe said.
“Think I can’t find you,” Seph said. “I merged with the Seeker Root. Its vines grow in the direction of where flux force flows strongest!” Sensing danger, Tanabe moved in front of his friends while a series of lashes struck him. “You’re sitting ducks!” Seph said, laughing like a maniac, swinging away.
Reaching into his back pocket, Milu tossed a black shuriken infused with flux, shattering the giant ballroom window and allowing the smoke to escape. Once it cleared, Tanabe's clothes were drenched in blood, gashes all around his body.
“Tanabe!” Rai rushed to his side.
Tanabe gave them a thumbs up, smiling.
Surprised by their friend's resilience and positive demeanor, the fire in them reignited.
“Who said you get to be the cool one here,” Rai stated.
“That’s reserved for the future number one elite,” Milu also chimed in.
The building shook again, causing bits of the roof to fall.
“Phew, they’re sure having at it,” Seph said. “Even I don’t want to be a part of that. Hm.” Noticing his opponents splitting in three different directions with Tanabe at the forefront, Seph shouted, “That’s more like it,” directing his whip at Tanabe.
“Not on my watch,” Milu yelled, charging up flux, when all of a sudden, white-glowing roots broke through the surface of the ground. In Milu’s hand white radiant petals in the shape of shuriken materialized, “Shatter,” he said, smashing them on the ground, and as soon as he did, they shot out like bullets, hacking the whip into several smaller pieces. Milu fell to a knee, breathing heavily.
Tanabe darted past Milu, saying, “Incredible!” He used such an amazing ability from his roots.
Seph gazed up, unable to do a thing since his weapon had just chopped up.
“My turn!” Charging flux, Tanabe swung at the floor in front of Seph. “Impact!” With a single punch, a third of the room was destroyed, leveling any footing beneath Tanabe or his opponent.
Sliding towards the edge of what remained of the ballroom floor, Rai swiftly snatched Milu’s hand, reaching over the edge for their friend. “Got you!” Rai’s hand clasped Tanabe’s, but a sudden weight shift made Rai slip off the edge.
Milu shifted his weight back, slamming a normal black shuriken into the ground, gripping anything he could to avoid letting anyone fall. If not for Milu, they would have plunged into the rocky water below.
Tanabe observed Seph ascending the whip, a twenty-foot-long whip attached to his ankle, realizing he must have regrown it.
Rai struggled to maintain his grip as they dangled helplessly, even with Milu’s help.
“Don’t let go!” Milu shouted, pulling them up inch by inch.
“Back at ya!” Rai said, his grip slipping further.
Tanabe couldn’t help but frown at their struggle to save him.
“Gotcha,” Seph declared, gripping Tanabe’s ankle.
Tanabe exchanged a glance with Rai.
“Don’t you dare,” Rai protested.
“Thank you,” Tanabe said, smacking Rai’s wrist, sending a shockwave through his arm, forcing Rai to release him.
“No!” Rai screamed.
Milu yanked Rai up, the weight had shifted drastically. Milu, rolling over, noticed only Rai, quickly scurrying to the edge of the ballroom.
They were nowhere to be seen.
“Dammit!” Milu yelled, slamming his fist on the ground. The building continued to shake violently.
“I tried… I tried to save him. He wouldn’t let me.” Rai said, covering his eyes with his arm.
Milu, gradually rising, swayed towards the ballroom entrance. “We have to destroy the orb,” Milu insisted, lifting his head, eyes full of hatred.
“Screw that,” Rai snapped back.
“Tanabe believed in the mission. If we can put an end to the Furies, he would have wanted us to see it through, and… We have to avenge him!” Milu said, standing to leave.
“He would have wanted to go back!”
“Then you go back! I’m finishing the mission, with or without you.” Milu sprinted out of the room, leaving Rai behind.
Survey the surroundings of the Knight Furies stronghold. A simple espionage mission. It was never supposed to get to this level of chaos... We should have never ventured into this palace. A whimpering child nearby caught his attention. There are children amongst the Furies? The boy terror-struck, couldn’t look away, prompting Rai to shout, “What’re you looking at!?” The boy ran off in fear. As he did, on his calf, Rai once again noticed the same markings as before. Shaking his head, in the end, he decided to chase after Milu.
Taking out some nearby guards, upon seeing Rai, Milu said, “Knew you wouldn’t bail.”
“Shut up. Let’s finish this.”
Somehow, the rumbling intensified, making displayed armor sets, vases, and portraits alike fall. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say it felt as if the castle was about to come down.
“Hurry!” Milu urged as more guards spotted them, but they had trouble standing, allowing them to escape.
Approaching the center of the castle, they spotted a large floating orb, coated in a twisting air of flux force. “There it is!” Rai said.
Sprinting towards the core, they were nearly halfway there when another large bang, shook the castle, causing both of them to fall over.
Milu looked up and noticed a large piece of debris crashing down—Rai! Reacting swiftly, Milu shoved Rai out of the way.
Rubble smashed against rubble, as a cloud of dirt and flying bits of debris instantly filled the room.
A moment passed, and the shaking ceased at last.
Rai, looking into the clearing dust cloud, said, “Milu?” Noticing blood, he followed it, his heart racing until a hand came in view. Upon closer inspection, all that was left was an arm and a gaping hole in the floor where Milu would have been. Ra fell back in shock as the arm dispersed into flux force, as do all Abminus who die... “No, this isn’t real.”
“Over here!” voices rang out from a distance.
“The core’s unprotected!”
Rai bit his lip, turning toward the exposed orb, he said, “Let’s end this.” He limped over to the core, pushing past the waves of flux force swirling around in the air. The guards closed in, brandishing spears. Raising both his fists to the sky, he slammed his fists down, shattering it! Instantly, a blinding light engulfed the area, and Rai found himself in another vision.
A young handsome man with long blue hair was courting an equally stunning woman on their honeymoon. The scene flickered, and Rai found himself waste high in swampy water. Wet vines rubbed against his cheek, if not already sliding across his neck leaving a grimy mud behind. Squeezing through the massive roots, the further he went, the more roots obstructed his path, creating a tangled web. Rai halted, a breeze brushed past him, followed by a large slab of saliva on his shoulder... He fearfully turned his head slowly as another breeze that reeked of death brushed against his neck, followed by a low clicking sound. Following the dripping ooze, he peered into the shadows when a large talon punctured his chest.
Standing in the castle, guards examined the pieces of the core scattered across the floor, prompting one guard to raise a spear, and aim it at Rai’s head; he was on the floor unconscious, drool dripping from the corner of his lip.
Holding the spear back, another guard intervened. “Camille wants him alive.” The guard with the spear grunted but was prevented once again from carrying out the execution. “Camille speaks for Veni,” he added, prompting the spear-wielder to release his grip, surrendering the weapon.
“What does His Majesty want with a human?” the spear-wielder asked.
“We’ll find out soon enough.”