“Test you?” asked Aurin, shocked that Virgo was asking to fight Dolissile and Rabbafat personally rather than rely on his Minakai.
Virgo stood up, cracked his knuckles and assumed a stance with his fists raised as though he was about to enter a boxing match. “Bring it on,” he said.
“I’m not going to attack a human,” said Luna, “even one that’s part of the Zodiac Squad.”
“Suit yourself,” said Virgo, shrugging and walking from the room. As he departed, he called back, “Are you two coming or what?”
Exchanging a confused glance, Aurin and Luna followed him with their Minakai close behind. Having encountered him enough times by now to know he was one of the Zodiac members least likely to get aggressive with him, Aurin was not too worried about accompanying Virgo.
The three humans walked along the corridor where they soon spotted a burly Frogre roaming. “Perfect,” Virgo muttered to himself, holding up a hand to stop Aurin and Luna from advancing further. “Come on, you brute,” he called to the frosty white ogre.
The Frogre grunted and ran for Virgo, who leapt out of the way. He delivered a forceful kick to the back of the Frogre’s head. It yelled angrily and turned around to punch the man, but Virgo stepped backwards and held up a purple crystal. He focussed and a bolt of lightning shot from it and zapped the wild Minakai in the face. He followed up with a second zap of lightning and the Frogre collapsed to the ground, vanishing from the tower seconds later.
“What were you saying?” he asked Aurin and Luna who were both dumbfounded.
“I…well, credit where it’s due,” said Aurin.
“Minakai may be magical creatures, but they often hold back their powers,” said Virgo. “They will unleash their full force when they think they need to. That Frogre did not perceive me as a real threat, so he neglected to use any ice magic on me. If he did, he could have killed me in seconds.”
“And if you find one that does perceive you as a threat or just has a bad temperament?” asked Luna.
“Then I’m smart enough to run,” said Virgo pointedly.
“I still think you’re a lunatic,” said Luna.
“How about you, Aurin?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy,” said Aurin, “but I do think the way you act is going to get you hurt one of these days. Do you not have Minakai of your own? You must need one to enter the tower.”
“Oh, I have Minakai alright,” said Virgo with a nod. “I simply prefer to rely on my own abilities and judgement rather than have something else do the fighting for me.”
“That’s your call,” said Aurin.
“A hypothetical for you both, hmm?” asked Virgo. “Let’s say that you are unable to use your Minakai and the world was swarmed with them. What would you do? Roll over and let yourself be mauled by rabid monsters?”
“We would have to fight back, wouldn’t we?” posed Aurin as Luna agreed.
“Precisely.”
“You’re preparing for the Zodiac Squad achieving its goal of bringing Minakai back into the world as wild forces rather than being contained within the towers. If you all succeed in your plan, wouldn’t you still use Minakai to fight? The eggs would just be found outside of the tower rather than inside in that case, wouldn’t they?”
“Perhaps,” said Virgo, “but I’m not willing to take any chances with finding myself in a situation where I could not defend myself.”
The three humans stood in silence for a moment before Virgo reached into his bag. “I think that’s enough for me today,” he said as he pulled out an Orb of Return. “I don’t think I’ll get the rest I need with you two about. Best of luck with your ascension.”
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Virgo activated his orb and disappeared from the tower, leaving Aurin and Luna standing with their Minakai. Neither knew what to say about their encounter with Virgo. He was clearly not crazy, but his mindset was more bizarre than anybody they had met before.
“Shall we forget about him and keep going?” asked Aurin, nodding towards the corridor ahead.
“Yes,” said Luna, looking relieved that Virgo was no longer here.
Dolissile and Angree fought their way through monster after monster, guiding their tamers all the way to the twenty-fourth floor before succumbing to their injuries. Angree was particularly impressive, having triggered a poison trap and pushing through the pain for another couple of battles. Aurin and Luna summoned Shamtile and Innogon as their final Minakai for the run and reached the elevator to the twenty-fifth floor.
“We did it,” said Luna looking pleased with herself. “We’re halfway!”
“Not until we clear this floor,” said Aurin, not wanting to celebrate just yet, as momentous an achievement as reaching floor twenty-five was.
“Don’t be a buzzkill,” said Luna, nudging him in the arm.
Shamtile and Innogon were at full strength and made quick work of every Minakai that they encountered. Shamtile shattered the icy boils of a Frocean and crushed it underneath a boulder. Innogon extinguished a Hogannon that was trying to blast the little drake apart with its cannon arm. Shamtile bent a Techwing completely out of shape. Innogon blasted away a Sanguice.
It wasn’t long before Aurin and Luna stood at the elevator leading to floor twenty-six, having finally reached the halfway point of the tower. They held hands and smiled at each other as they ascended to their impressive record.
“At last,” said Aurin, punching the air.
“Should we keep going?” Luna asked. “Shamtile and Innogon look fine.”
“They may be fine, but I’m beat,” said Aurin, slumping to the ground. “We’ve picked up so much loot today that it would be shame to lose it with a small slip up where the Minakai are so strong.”
“I suppose that’s the disadvantage of reaching higher floors,” remarked Luna, “we’ve got more to lose.”
“We’re going to need to buy bigger bags again,” chuckled Aurin, pulling out his own Orb of Return and unleashing the spell within. Seconds later, the two tamers stood outside Harmony Tower at sunset.
“I had best get home,” said Luna, hoping her parents weren’t too worried about how late she was out.
“Call your folks from Kyle’s house and have dinner with us tonight,” said Aurin. “Kyle won’t mind.”
“Okay,” said Luna brightly.
Aurin took her hand and the pair walked down the path and made their way towards the ranch, all the while Shamtile and Innogon chased each other and fought playfully to burn off the energy they didn’t have the chance to use up in the tower. Their tamers couldn’t help but laugh at the two, particularly when Innogon lost his temper after being clocked on the head by a rock and blasted Shamtile through the trees with a powerful water jet.
Kyle was finishing up feeding the Minakai when the two arrived at the ranch. “Ah, it’s about time you’re back. A good run then?”
“We left at the start of floor twenty-six,” said Aurin.
“You made it halfway!” exclaimed Kyle, unable to hold back his excitement. “Nice job, you two. Very few tamers can say they’ve ever managed that, especially after less than two years of exploring the towers.”
“We do alright,” said Luna with a wink as they made their way towards Kyle’s porch..
“Ah, I just remembered,” said Kyle, grabbing a couple of letters from the table by his front door. “These arrived for all three of us.”
“Why am I getting post at your house?” asked Luna.
“I told the postman he could leave it here and that I would pass it along,” said Kyle, passing Aurin and Luna their letters.
Aurin felt the paper and could immediately tell it was high quality material. He flipped it over and looked at the red wax seal that kept it shut. Pressed into the seal was a large ‘K’ that Aurin didn’t recognise, but the look on Kyle’s face told him that the rancher knew exactly who had sent this. All three tore open their envelopes.
*
Leo walked up the dark, humid corridor holding a summoning stone tightly in one hand and a letter in the other. It would have taken a lot to wipe the smile off his face for he had finally completed the task he was set by his mater. He had returned home with a sense of accomplishment and pride.
He knocked on the door to Taurus’s study and was told to enter. “You return to us at last?” Taurus asked him upon seeing who was here to visit him.
“I do,” said Leo calmly.
“And do you have it?”
Leo opened his hand, revealing a turquoise summoning stone. Even without being activated it had a faint, almost ethereal glow.
Taurus smiled slightly. “I must admit that I thought it would be another couple of years before you completed your task. The fact that you were able to get it so easily means that I have underestimated you once again, Leo.”
“Capturing the Minakai was easy,” replied Leo, then shaking his head. “It took everything out of me to bring it back as the Minakai is proving…difficult.”
“We will deal with that,” said Taurus, “but for now, you have earned yourself a favour. Take some time to think of it and let me know and I will see it done.”
Leo held up the letter clutched in his hand and Taurus observed the wax seal below where Leo had torn the letter open.
“You wish to participate in Kensington’s event?” asked the Zodiac leader.
“Yes,” said Leo.
“Then you are free to do so. Do not worry about your Zodiac duties until after the event is over.”
“Thank you, Master Taurus,” said Leo, bowing his head and departing from the room.