“Millennia ago in ancient Bretonia, back when it was called Gallander, there was a man. He was a powerful wizard called Doran the Reclusive. As his name no doubt gives away, he lived in isolation and most of that time was dedicated to meticulous study of other dimensions.
“After a breakthrough, he discovered that he had the power to open rifts in space and summon the wondrous creatures that lay beyond. Minakai. He did this quietly, unwilling to share his power or knowledge, but it wasn’t long before his experiments were discovered.
“The Rift Seekers, that’s what they called themselves, had long been studying the stars and determined that something more lay beyond our world. As luck would have it, they were the ones who discovered what Doran was capable of. Just think about that, will you Aurin? What are the odds that just the right people would discover just the right mage at just the right time? It was fate that led the Rift Seekers to Doran.
“They forced him to open up rifts and Doran, fearing for his life, complied. Not only that, but they learned how to open the rifts themselves. From each of these rifts, these…holes in the sky, came creatures that shot down to our Earth. The Minakai had arrived, and the greatest war of our lifetime began. Humans versus these monsters.
“It took untold amounts of human effort and ingenuity, but the Minakai lost. Sadly, the art of opening and closing rifts had been lost long before that upon the deaths of Doran and most of the Rift Seekers. Instead, the only source of Minakai remaining was the towers. Who constructed them? That is still a mystery, but we believe they’re the sum of the work of many mighty mages whose magic is also lost to time.
“You asked what the Zodiac Squad want? We want to bring back what was taken from our spiritual ancestors. We want the Minakai to freely roam the world once more and let nature take its course. We want to destroy the monster towers and to unleash the power of the rifts.”
Aurin had been fascinated by Virgo’s story right up until the last part. “You’re mad,” he said. “You would be the cause of the death of millions of people if wild Minakai were to be let loose.”
“No,” said Virgo, “not anymore. Humans have the power to control and subjugate Minakai. We know we can control them through hatching the eggs ourselves and summon them to our sides through the crystals. The world would be in beautiful chaos, but we would not be committing a murderous act.”
“There are plenty of places where Minakai roam free,” said Aurin. “Why don’t you just go there and leave the rest of us alone?”
“Controlled islands or small nations where they micromanage what the Minakai do and where they go is not the same as what we plan to bring about. We will open up the skies once more and the world will find itself reborn anew. A hybrid land of humans and Minakai.”
“And the cosmic Minakai?”
Virgo smiled slightly. “They are the keys to unlocking the magic of the towers. They are the controllers of time and space, it had to be cosmic magic that Doran discovered that led to him finding Minakai for the first time.”
Aurin couldn’t believe the Zodiac Squad were all so convinced by this, but the pieces started to fit together. It was no wonder they were desperate to steal eggs or commit all sorts of crimes for money. They were throwing everything at the wall in the hopes of finding or buying the cosmic elementals. They were creatures that did not come easy, nor did they come cheap.
“I’m going to leave you to mull things over,” said Virgo, turning away and walking back down the corridor. He waved over his shoulder. “Until next time, Aurin.”
Aurin’s mind was working overtime to try and process everything he had heard and everything that had happened to him over the past year and a half. He needed to talk to somebody. He needed to talk to Luna. He picked up what he could carry of her loot from the ground—most important was the Minakai egg—and used his Orb of Return.
Seconds later, he and Spikruption landed at the entrance to Harmony Tower. The sun was setting on this chilly September evening and the world seemed to normal out here, as though nothing had changed. Yet, for Aurin, everything looked a whole lot different. This peace and tranquillity was something the Zodiac Squad would destroy if they got their way. He could not allow that.
“You’re okay,” said Luna, jumping on Aurin and hugging him tightly. “I was worried that Virgo and Taurus had hurt you.”
“I’m alright,” said Aurin, holding her close. “Are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, releasing him. “I was hiding behind the tree until you showed up. I didn’t want to risk going back to the ranch to get more Minakai in case I missed you.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Alright, let’s get back to the ranch and find Kyle. You’re not going to believe what Virgo said.”
*
Aurin finished explaining everything that Virgo said about Doran the Reclusive, the Rift Seekers and what the Zodiac Squad planned to do. Luna’s mouth hung open the entire time, taking in everything in shock while Kyle’s brow was furrowed as he listened.
“What do you think?” asked Aurin.
Luna had nothing to say, but Kyle started to smile. A few seconds later he chuckled, then began to laugh uproariously.
“It’s complete and utter nonsense,” he said once he calmed down. “You think that with all of the advancements and ease of access to Minakai, that we wouldn’t be able to open these rifts with ease?”
“I don’t know,” said Aurin, “I’m just telling you what he told me. It sounded believable at the time, but maybe you’re right.”
Kyle shook his head. “Look, there are parts of the story that I know are true. Part of an ancient Bretonia did indeed used to be called Gallander and mages were a lot more prominent back then. I don’t know why the art of magic has been lost to us, but most of it seems to be relegated to using the implements found in the tower.”
“You mean the crystals?” asked Aurin.
“Crystals, orbs, summoning stones, you name it,” said Kyle. “I honestly can’t tell you how the towers came about, whether they’re man-made, Minakai-made or something else entirely, but I don’t buy for a single second that the Zodiac Squad know the truth about them and how Minakai are summoned into them.”
“What about their plan to try and destroy the towers?” asked Luna.
“I would take Virgo at his word and say that that probably is their goal. I’m also sure that if any type of Minakai could do it, it’s a cosmic Minakai, but there are other Ethruki out in the world. A single Ethruki isn’t going to be able have the power to do anything like that. I think their plan is going to fail spectacularly if they try it.”
That wasn’t good enough for Aurin. “Okay, let’s assume that there are three Zodiac members, and they have three Ethruki each. Would they then have the power to destroy the tower?”
“How could I possibly know that?” asked Kyle. “I doubt that even they do.”
“I’m not quite sure what your position on all this is, Kyle,” said Aurin.
Kyle rubbed his temples in frustration before speaking. “My position is this…their story is ludicrous, but Zodiac are still dangerous. If they think they can destroy the towers, I believe they will fail. On the off chance that I’m wrong, I still think they need to be stopped.”
“They’re not wrong about Minakai roaming the Earth, are they?”
“No,” admitted Kyle, “that part is also true. The history is murky, but we can say with absolute certainty that wild Minakai used to run free and they were very dangerous. That’s part of what makes their plan so crazy if they are able to do what Virgo says. It would mean the deaths of many people in the fight to contain the wild Minakai. If they spawn here like they spawn in the towers, then we’re going to have to constantly be on the defensive in case particularly strong Minakai go on the rampage.”
The three stood in silence in the night, all still processing the information. Aurin was trying to think of ways that it could be true and what to do about it. Kyle was thinking of what possible holes he could find in the story. Luna suddenly realised that she had forgotten about something.
“Egg!” she yelled, running to get the incubator.
“She found an egg?” asked Kyle.
“Found it, lost it, I got it back for her,” explained Aurin.
When Luna returned, she was chirpy once more. There was nothing like the feeling of adding a new Minakai to her team and it brightened up an otherwise dark evening for her. Once the eggs was in position, she turned the incubator on and the forcefield appeared to begin the hatching process.
There was a brown light emerging from the glowing egg and the shape of a small six-tentacled octopus became apparent. Once the glow faded, there it lay like a statue of grey stone. Its mouth was pursed as though it was about to start spitting rocks and its eyes were half open, making it look lazy.
“A Stopod!” Luna exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
“Going back to your marine life roots, are you?” joked Kyle.
“It has been a while since I’ve hatched an aquatic type or a water elemental,” said Luna, pondering the list of Minakai she owned.
Aurin squatted down to look at it. “Is it awake?”
“He,” said Kyle.
“Again, how can you possibly know that?” asked Aurin.
“I must have seen fifty of these things,” he said as Aurin tried to work out how to differentiate the male and female of the species. He then realised it was hard to do without a female to compare it to.
“Welcome to my team, Stopod,” said Luna, picking him up before setting him down again after feeling how heavy he was. “Perhaps you can just scuttle along after me?”
Stopod followed Luna to the pens and Aurin decided to go visit his own Minakai while Luna introduced her latest addition to the team to the rest of her Minakai.
Aurin watched his Minakai inside their enclosure, smiling at the antics they got up to while he wasn’t there. Shamtile was juggling rocks with his feet, Spikruption was lazily eating a leg of raw meat after being exhausted by the tower while Snippet and Arium were sleeping after their earlier defeats. Dolissile was hovering in place, showing very little signs of even being alive as Steambot tried to swat a fly with his large metallic hands. Leonite and Desparee were playfighting, while Gorunze was shooting his laser eyes at Skrow, who was working on his ducks, dives and swerves while avoiding the attacks. Lastly, there was Sunny who was watching the more active of the Minakai in amazement. Every time one of the Minakai dealt even the smallest injury to each other, she was there to patch them up.
As Aurin watched them, it seemed increasingly stranger to him that his team were so miles apart from the wild Minakai. Although his Minakai had needed training to get to the stages of both discipline and power that they were at now, they were not feral. None of them would take any pleasure in hurting humans, least of all their master. The scariest thought to Aurin was what would happen if the shackles that were the monster towers were off. If wild Minakai roamed free across the world once more, what suffering would that bring?
“Shamtile,” Aurin said as his masked lizard approached. He had only just noticed his master watching. “I think we’re in for the fight of our lives, mate.”