2.1: Sickening voices

Mikashi and Kira began their descent towards the faster path Kira mentioned a little bit further ahead of the path they came from initially. A few minutes passed as the path began to appear and the snow fade the air stiffened and very little wind breezed through the untraveled path. They felt uneased the deeper they walked through the path. As if someone was watching them with malicious intent. Kira, however, despite being uneasy she knew no animal and no person walked there. She began to suspect something else at play. Mikashi on the other hand felt at edge, like he couldn’t relax because someone might attack, while also worrying about Itara looking through his shoulder every few seconds to make sure he was ok.

What is this feeling? There shouldn’t be anyone here. So, why do I feel this unease? If it’s not a person or an animal or beast, what is it then? Damn, I never thought I wanted to get out of this place, it’s usually so relaxing, so why? Mikashi seems unnerved as well, it’s understandable I mean you can cut this tension with a misericorde. Well, anyways we should near my house some time now, so we shouldn’t be too long here.

I wonder if Kira is feeling the same thing I am right now. What is this anyway? It feels like I’m being poked by a thousand needles all over my body. What’s more is that I feel like a chiaroscuro is staring down at me. Seriously, why did she decide to take this route? Wouldn’t she know it’d be like this? Well, if it’s short then I guess the price to pay is worth it.

Having passed 7 minutes, they approached Kira’s house from the back and arrived at the town. They began walking towards the hospital which was only 2 minutes away from there. As they approached the hospital Kira and Mikashi started talking about what they felt back on the way there.

“I have one question though; did you know that would be like that?”

“Huh?! What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing, I’m just wondering because I don’t know if you wanted to test me or something”

“Well, no, I didn’t know. It was very weird because it’s usually very quiet, you can’t even hear not one bird.”

“Wait what?! That’s even weirder! Why would you not hear a bird?! What makes that place so voided of noise? There has to be something amidst there?!”

“I always found normal though. Perhaps birds don’t have a reason to fly there, it is close to a climate where they can’t live.”

“If that is case you would still hear them, I mean sure in that area there weren’t many trees that birds could perch on, but there are trees further down and sound will still travel its way here.”

“Yeah, you have a point there now that I think about it. It wouldn’t make sense you couldn’t hear absolutely anything.”

“Exactly! So, the question is what’s preventing sound from traveling through there?”

“You know that path was used by village elders when it was only one family instead of five. So, it wouldn’t be uncommon that they place some flair or art that made that specific place voided of sound.”

“I did know about that, but why would they do that? Also, what you mean by flairs and arts? Is that like some sort of power?”

“Seriously? You don’t know what flairs are? That’s what I was using back in the cave.”

“First time hearing about that. Huh?! What was? The wind and pressure we felt?”

“Wow, well I’ll explain some of it and tomorrow you and Itara can come to my house so I can explain it more thoroughly. Yes, the wind and pressure. That was my flair, I use wind flairs.”

“Oh ok. So, what’s an art then?”

“An art is a more specialized of flairs unique to you. Anyone from my family, The Namikazes, have wind flairs, which means they can use wind to form an attack. While each one of us can create an art based on the flairs, we’re compatible with. An art though, isn’t as easy to do as a flair, it requires more time, energy, and mental synchronization to just awaken.”

“I get it now, so what happened to Itara, was that his flair?”

“Yes and no. I’m guessing that both of you have awakened your flairs, so it would make sense to see a faint spark of whatever element you were born to. So, you’re a Kaminari, right?”

“Yes I am.”

“Well, that explains the spark of electricity I saw at the cave when you launched yourself to Itara. But wit—

“Wait what?! So, I awakened flairs then?!”

“I think you already did before the cave fight, but since one doesn’t really notice it you need another person to notice it, but yes.”

“That’s awesome, so tomorrow you can help us train it?”

“No, tomorrow I’m going to teach you about flairs, arts, and atomic force, which is essentially what moves around from an atom’s nucleus to another connecting everything.”

“Oh, makes sense I learned what it is first.”

“So, going back to the topic. what I don’t understand is why did it came up in steam, for everyone or at least most of people’s flairs awaken as sparks like yours did or a sudd—

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt a sharp and consistent pain in her chest and legs that made her kneel on the floor and blackout from the pain. Mikashi worriedly crouched down to her level frantically asking if she was ok repeatedly.

“Kira!!? Are you ok?!! What happened?!”

A voice whispered to Kira as a nurse who was walking by took her to a room.

Oh, Kira did you not learn anything, you cannot be saying that.

Recovering on the other side of the garden in a room, Itara heard the voice whisper saying Kira’s name and talking to her further, but Kira, wasn’t responding. It was a one-way conversation. He thought to himself and in a moments flash, two eyes staring down at him, the voice directed towards him now uttered the words: “You cannot save her!” and heard a sudden scream filled with terror.

Being taken to a room on the opposite ends as Itara’s, Kira began to hyperventilate and sweat profusely drawing enough sweat to fill a bucket. As she showed extreme symptoms the nurses took her to the room to be treated and tried to get into contact to her parents. When they finally found her record and sent a messenger to her parent’s house, her parents were also told there was two other boys with her, a blue and red haired, her parents immediately knew who they were and told them as they all headed to the hospital.

“Is that right? mhm I didn’t know she made friends with them. Good for her. They’re good kids.” He replied as he thought to himself.

“I was guessing they were her friends, but one of them seemed to be in a bad shape though. His body seemed like it was burned severely. He was covered in second degree burns from his feet almost to his neck, it barely reached the head.”

“Are you serious?! Do you what could’ve happened to him?! Were they training?! Just what in the hell did you put them through, Kira?” her mother said as she thought to herself while glancing sideways at her husband.

“Unfortunately we still don’t know, but it seemed like they were fighting because both your daughter and the other kid with them were covered in bruises and sweating like crazy.”

“And what happened to our daughter? From what you’re telling me she was alright when she came to the hospital, correct?” her father replied worried.

“Yes, your correct. She was alright when she came, however, it was a few minutes after while they waited in the courtyard when we suddenly heard a kid call for a nurse and we saw her kneeling on the floor holding the left side of her chest. Then as we took her to a room she began to hyperventilate and sweat a lot.”

They both glanced at each other put everything together and fearing for the worst. They began thinking to themselves.

“Is it returning here? Why though, it doesn’t make sense. Why would it be interested in some kid? I guess we’ll know when we get there.” Her father thought to himself.

“Could it be him? If it is we should definitely tell them about this, especially since their sons are in the hospital. But still, why would he be interested in some kids?” her mother thought to herself.

Her father asked the messenger a question as they arrived at the entrance of the hospital.

“Hey, excuse me. Do you think you can go to the parents of the other two kids and tell them this? You can also tell them we sent you personally.”

“Yeah, that’s no problem I’d have to tell my boss first, so they know where I’m going. Where do they live?”

“Alright, that’s perfect. They live in the Kaminari and Hitochi regions.” Her mother replied

“Perfect, thanks.”

As they entered the hospital they were escorted first to Itara’s room per request while the doctor was finishing treating and diagnosing Kira. When they exited the hallway connecting the courtyard and entrance, they saw the blue haired boy sitting in a bench with his hands covering his face. They asked the nurse escorting them if that was the boy who came with Kira and the other boy.

“Yes, that’s him. It looks like he’s taking the whole situation pretty hard, he’s been like that for a while now and before he was banging his head against a rock, so we had to stay with him for a while and treat his wounds.”

“Oh, wow they got pretty close then” her father rejoiced at the thought that she was finally able to make new friends.

“I guess we know why she’s been waking up more excited these past few days.” Her mother replied joyfully.

Her father laughed while replying “yeah, I guess so.”

“Oh, so you guys know those kids then?”

“Yeah, we kind of grew with their parents.” Her mother replied.

While they were talking, they descended the stairs to the courtyard to get to Itara’s room on the other side. As they passed through Mikashi they stopped for a bit to say hi and comfort him a bit. Mikashi suddenly looked up through his hands watching as a couple glanced at him with warm smiles, he whispered to himself.

“Mother? Father? Is that you?”

He went on deprecating himself in whispers not knowing those weren’t his parents.

“ I- I couldn’t protect them- why? Why can’t I ever protect those I love? Why can’t I ever be strong enough? Good enough?”

…

Kira’s parents stayed silent in awe from the words coming out of his mouth. Before heading to Itara’s room her mother kneeled in front of him and whispered two words that widened his eyes in shock as if it broadened his world.

“Give up.”

Kira’s mother went to give him a hug and whispered a sentence that would stick with him for the rest of his life. She then got up and headed to Itara’s room.

As they approached the room, they felt it was wrapped around a blanket that kept in the cold. As they entered, they saw Itara paralyzed with fear? Shock? There was a nurse tending to his fever, but it didn’t seem to help him, the nurse, however, did everything she could to help him with no luck she then glanced over her shoulder to see a couple standing in the doorway simply watching them. She proceeded to ask them if she could of any assistance. Kira’s father, who took a step ahead of his wife told the nurse who she was and explained the situation.

“I see, so you’re this kids’ parent’s friends. Do you know if his parents will be here soon?”

“If I’m not mistaken your messenger should be here soon with them. Also, we’d like to have a minute with him to check on him. Don’t worry we’ve treated plenty of people in the realms, so we have a bit of experience.” Her father replied in a tender tone.

“Seeing how you know his parents and are experienced I wouldn’t have a problem with, but I would still need to check with the physician in charge, if that’s ok with you.” She hesitated a bit as she thought if she should give them permission.

Kira’s mother stepped forward replying to her in a concerning tone.

“That’s ok with us, but we would really need to check him now, so we can clear our suspicions. It’s imperative that you let us.”

“Alright then, I’m going to get the physician in charge and in the meantime, you can look at him and see how he does,” she hurried to Kira’s room where the physician in charge was.

In that time, the nurse, as she crossed the courtyard she glanced at Mikashi in shocked and saw Itara’s parents looking frantic, so she approached them asking them about her son and pointed them to his whereabouts. As their parents came to Itara’s room Kira’s parents were concluding one of two things, but they needed to discuss it with Mikashi and Itara’s parents present fearing for what could happen to them if they didn’t. At the same time Mikashi’s parents were comforting him concerned for his well-being and they took him with them to Itara’s room, when they reached the room, they told Mikashi to wait right outside the door. Kira’s parents looked towards the door as they concluded their diagnoses and began telling Itara and Mikashi’s parents.

“Huh? What are you two doing here? Is Itara ok?!” Goru said concerned and surprised.

“We were called here because Kira your boys were with her, so we came and while the doctor treated our girl, we decided to come look at Itara, and he’s kind of alright. His overall health is fine and all that, minus some first-degree burns and bruises, but it’s like he’s in a storm in the sea of Patrios. He doesn’t have the calmness someone of his age should have,” he paused for a moment to let them respond.

“Wait, hold on, go back to the first-degree burns. What happened to him? I’m not surprised about the bruises but burns?!” Aiko replied.

Kira’s mother continued where her husband left off. “We don’t know much about how he got those burns, but they’re pretty severe, especially on the lower body. What we’re suspecting is that it’s somehow back. I’m sure the burns are from him awakening his flair and if that’s the case then it could definitely be it.”

Goru quickly replied, “are you sure?! I mean he hasn’t appeared in how many centuries? Even if it is him then there should have been signs long before this. May I need to remind you of the whole Maledictio incident? And we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary in Itara—

Aiko cuts him off and vaguely remembers a few months before his birthday.

“Actually, there was that one time before his birthday where he seemed off like something happened. He said he was ok, but it seemed like he had a nightmare.”

Goru remembering it, starts backtracking on his words and Kira’s father adds to the conversation with a remark, “then our conclusion makes sense. The question should be why is it back?”

Mikashi’s father reminds them of historical events pointing out the why, “it’s obvious something piqued its interest and if Kira experienced something similar we can have another mass genocide soon. If we take into consideration what happened in the lands to the west of here and its connection with it, then the reason is obvious. The question should now be why Itara.”

Mikashi’s mother reaffirms her husbands and Goru’s statement about the Maledictio incident, “that’s very likely and Goru is correct as well. Those two events also have another another thing in common and it’s that they were caused by a single person, or at least indirectly caused. What led to the eventual incidents were a contiguous chain of events, right? So, shouldn’t we be looking for chain of events that may cause another mass genocide?”

“You have a point there, but how about we continue this conversation at our house and discuss everything properly there? I don’t want to stir up trouble. Also, I think it’s best if we take our children and treat them there too.” Kira’s father added.

“We’ll go to Kira’s room to see how she’s doing and ask them if we can take them to our house to treat them.” Kira’s mother stated after.

Itara’s parents stayed with Itara in the meantime for comfort and to monitor his condition. As others headed towards Kira’s room, they heard a sudden scream muffled by something preventing her from crying out. They quickly rushed to her and found her moving like a fish out of water as she struggled to cry out and when she did, she spoke in a dead tongue. Her parents were shocked by how fast she learned the language, but quickly frowned after thinking there’s no way she could’ve learned it in just a month. Their suspicions were only reinforced, they immediately thought to themselves what the next sign for could be the inevitable. Before they landed themselves on a train of thought they rushed over to the doctor and offered a hand to soothe her current condition. After 20 minutes non-stop her behavior normalized and her parents proposed they took her and Itara to their home to be further treated, the doctor hesitated at first, but complied later after some persuasion.

2.2: Stories and Secrets

Still recovering from his injuries two months later. In his futon when he got up to head to the kitchen he saw his parents had packed a few things. Among those things was what looked like a walking stick and a piece of paper sticking out a bag. Out of curiosity he grabbed the piece paper that was rolled and found that it was map with two locations marked. When his parents came from their room to finish packing he asked them about it in an upset tone.

“Mom, dad. Are you leaving me? Are you mad at me for being in the hospital?”

Aiko replied (with the correspondent tone) “Itara, there’s no way we would leave you! Why would you think that? We’re also not mad at you for that. Worried and concerned we were yes, but not mad. We’re just going on a quick trip outside the village to meet up with some old friends.”

Itara, a bit relieved, but frustrated “outside the village? Cant you tell your friends to meet here?!”

“They live pretty far though, so we don’t want to make them do the trip here, but don’t worry you’re going to stay with Mikashi in the meantime.” Goru replied reaching to his level as he caressed his hair.

His mother gently put him down getting to serving the food.

At Mikashi’s, they were eating, and his dad told him about what was going to happen in the next month “for this month Itara will be staying with us until their parents return from the trip. I’m sure you’re okay with that, right?”, Mikashi excited “wait, really?! Is he really going to stay over for the month?!” his father and mother laughed gently “yes, he will, his parents are going on a trip for the month” Mikashi dropped the chopsticks on the table and started jumping around the table out of excitement.

In the mornings after eating breakfast at 7pm Kira always went to the library room across her room to either learn about her history or about the concept that is called “atomic force”. Every day she went and read at least 2 chapters of the available books her parents had of that, however today she went to the back of the room looking for book on nightmares and visions represented as dreams, looking for a book related to that she found something not a book, but a picture of her parents with the parents of Mikashi and Itara when they were young in the academy of flair arts, “why wouldn’t they put this in a picture frame in the hall instead of here? And why would they hide them from me?! It makes no sense!” she put the picture in her pocket and kept looking. As she kept looking she found another unrelated thing, but interesting nonetheless, she found a piece of paper with Latin writing and drawing behind showing the conquest of the mightiest kingdoms in all of the 6 realms, “oh I heard of this kingdom they were the strongest one and still alive to this day, question is why do my parents have a paper written in a foreign tongue and even signed by the king of the kingdom?! Just how much are they hiding from me?! They know how curious I am about history so why wouldn’t they tell me?!” she put that piece in the same pocket to ask to her parents about it later. After a few minutes she found the book she was looking for “finally here it is” she reached her hand to the back of the shelf “hm it was right here, where did it go” she took out her hand to look again and observed that it was under two other books “oh there it is, got it” she carefully took it out without knocking the rest. When she took it out, she wiped the dust of it “wow it has been a while since this was taken out it’s very dusty” she then exited the room and went to her room.

Itara exiting his home “goodbye!”

Mikashi exiting his home “see you later!”

Mikashi began walking to Itara’s house while Itara was walking towards his. A few minutes later, “Itara!! Hey! I was going to your house right now” “hey! I was going to yours. So, are we going to wait for Kira, or do we pick her up?” “actually today we’re not going to train”, “what!? Why?!” Itara objected, “a month ago when you got injured, we agreed that the day after we should go to her house and learn about a power called ‘flairs’, but since she got sick as well it got postponed”, “woah, a new power, that’s awesome!!”, “I know right!”. Shortly after they started pacing towards her house. Meanwhile at her house: “hm so back then voices in your head meant death in any way whether executed or a natural death” as she kept reading, she was stumbling upon similar symptoms she felt that day. “Citizens near gassel creek experienced symptoms such as severe chest pains, heart attacks, strokes, schizophrenic episodes, thirst for retribution, suicidal thoughts and sometimes even death. Since deaths began happening people put signs warning none natives of the dangers of gassle creek, there is one man however that has lived his whole life in complete isolation there who claimed he has never heard voices. Since his claim everything that has happened was passed off as ‘unfortunate accidents.’ The next line is a quote from a journalist/scientist who came by the area looking for a story: “I’ve done many investigations on this place and the people who have died or survived and what I’ve found may shock you, but you shouldn’t be surprised, all the people who heard voices and died or survived were mentally troubled, struggling with their lives and accompanied by others, what that means is that the person who wasn’t affected but watched it all simply exaggerated the claims creating the legend that voices were doing this, but I can assure you nothing of the sort has happened here, it’s all just coincidences and exaggerated claims.” The journalist/scientist was Julius Maxwell Bonaparte after he made his investigations no one knows where he went, there were suspicions he is from The Great Kingdom of Namor, but after numerous investigations and expeditions to Namor there was no record of a Julius Maxwell Bonaparte, the conclusion we came upon was that he came from past the boundaries of the six realms.” “Hm that’s really inte— “Kira!! We are here!!” she marked the page, shut the book, and put it under her bed. “Coming!! Hold on!” she walked up to the door and opened it, “you’re early, but whatever that’s even better,” “that’s how your welcome guest to your home?!”, “you have a problem with that?! Just enter” as they entered their eyes gazed upon her beautiful home, ornaments from foreign lands, paintings of her family, and maps of unrecognizable lands. “Wow Kira you have a very unique and beautiful home!” Itara said really amazed at it “thanks,” “so where are we going to learn about the flairs?” wasting no time and desperate Mikashi said, “over here” she led them to a conference room besides the library. “Everything is already set up so take a sit,” as they sat Kira opened a book named ‘Vitality of the heavens: arts, flairs and atomic force’, “ok so we’ll start. Do you want anything before we start? Snacks or water?” “Water is fine. For both of us” Itara said with kind smile “ok, I’ll get some.” As she returned with two ceramic cups of water, they got up their seats and grabbed the water. “Ok then let’s start first let’s establish the three powers: 1) Hawser – a practically invisible string that lets you combine your atomic force with natural atomic force. I will explain what’s atomic force in a moment. 2) Flairs – direct fusion of your AF with NAF creating an atomic collision manifesting that in whatever the user (you) is thinking as a physical attack forward or wherever you are facing. Also, this form is more potent than Hawser, but it will depend on your mental strength and stamina on the contrary trying to manifest the attack will consequently kill you. 3) Arts – only a handful of people can use this, and a range of factors are in play to be able to use it: bloodline, mental and physical strength, or capability, or just luck. This form is more complicated so try to keep up. Arts are created when your AF passes through your inner and outerdimens fusing with the molecular and proton energy that exists there and creating an explosion that surges through your entire body which can either kill you if not train sufficiently or creating armor the user visualizes, hence the name “Arts.” I simplified it as much as I could, so I hope both of you understood.” “We understood the concept, but I think we’ll understand better if we knew what AF, NAF, inner and outerdimens are.” Itara replied, “I will explain that right now. First atomic force, AF - is the vitality of celestial bodies such as suns, stars, planets, etc. everyone in the universe has atomic force in one way or another, some people have more than others, but we all have it, now here’s the tricky part, AF is not your life force, the only use for it is to defend or attack, we still don’t know what’s the actual use for it. Natural atomic force - now this one is a life force, it is the life force of plants, animals, trees, mountains, and so on so forth. It comes from the planets’ core and the roots turn the AF into NAF (life force). Inner and outerdimens – they coexist inside you and essentially these are your “soul”, they are pockets of molecular and proton energy, when your atomic force combines with it creating arts you’re basically using your soul to fight, manifesting it into armor or a weapon like armor, the more you use arts it slowly takes the life out of you, so you should use it only when your lives are in danger.” “what about the training that we would need to go through?!” Itara asked filled with enthusiasm “I’m getting there I’m getting there.” “ok so as I was saying arts is the most dangerous for you and your opponent, other than wasting away your life it also ignite or control (depending on how you’ve mastered it) the particles in the air and ground that belong to your element or in some cases the particles inside a persons’ body; for example: if your element is water, if you have mastered it completely you can control or ignite the water at will, if you don’t have controlled then it will simply explode from inside out any person you look at, that’s how dangerous “arts” is. Until you’ve completely master it you cannot go near anyone.” With a notorious smile Mikashi replied “is that so…” “yeah… you can also explode yourself or permanently turn yourself into a burning body, you will have no control, no consciousness, you will be a walking burning corpse.” With an even greter smile she replied, “well I’ll just mastered it and train to use like that so I don’t burn myself” an arrogant smile spread across his face “I guess that would work” an annoyed expression covered her face “can you two get a room already or can we get back to the lesson?!” Itara already reaching his tolerance limit stated, both blushing they yelled simultaneously “What!? Shup up Itara!!” “Yeah, yeah whatever. Now can we get back to the lesson?” Kira calmed down and cleared her voice “where was I? oh right the dangers of ‘arts.’ I explained that ‘arts’ are extensions of your soul and the more you use it your life expectance will lower each time. Other than being a danger to yourself and others if not correctly used there is not really much to it, so let’s get on with the training routine that’ll you’re supposed to do; with this training you’ll not only learn ‘arts’, but Hawser and Flairs too. You will need to train your whole body, from your brain to your feet, to sum it up here is what you need to train: every aspect of your brain, heart, muscles, bones, nervous system, and respiratory system. Do you understand now what this trains entails?” a smile that can shake mountains swiped through their faces in a flash “of course. It means excitement.” Both said simultaneously getting filled with adrenaline, Kira smiled knowing she was going to enjoy their suffering. “Ok getting back on track the training we’ll be enduring is called ‘road to the darkest sun.’ Here is the training summarized:

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“First, we will do four more training sessions in the cave for sensory development, mobility in tight spaces and a special mental training which I won’t spoil. Second, we will make the rest of the sessions in the lake where you guys trained, there we will focus on everything else till the entrance exam of the flair academy which I assume both are going to.”

“we’ve been training for that our whole lives of course we are going!” Itara not being able to keep his excitement stated.

“Ok, perfect.”

“Now I will not mention any more of the training I’ll leave it the rest of it to your imagination. That is it for today then, I explained everything about the powers in detail, so I hope you have no questions”

“Nope, we understood all of it. Right Itara!?”

“Huh! oh yeah of course!”

“Ok then, I will see you guys tomorrow in the morning. Byee!” she got up her seat and lead them to the entrance of her home

“Byee, see you tomorrow” said Itara enthusiastically

“See you” Mikashi gave a fake smile and went on

After making their exit they began walking to Mikashi’s house. “So Mikashi, you ready for this next month?!,” “heck yeah, this month will be chaotic!” full of enthusiasm he replied, “how many days do you think it will take us to master arts?” Itara gave a chilling smile as he said that “well… knowing our routine probably about a month” adrenaline was building up throughout their body as they kept imagining what was coming for the next month. “Then here’s the challenge: whoever takes more than a month has to do a hundred push-ups underwater,” meeting his gaze he smiled and said chuckling “challenge accepted.” Without realizing and too into the exhilarating conversation they had arrived at Mikashi’s house.

“Mom, dad I’m home! Itara’s with me” he said as they took off their shoes in the entrance. “Hm guess they’re not here, well what do you want to do?” he asked even though he knew exactly what Itara wanted to do, Itara looked at him with a menacing smile, “lets spar” Mikashi gave back the same smile and they went to the lake. Minutes later after arriving they stretched their limbs as they stared into each other’s eyes without blinking, “we’ve been at this for quite some time already are you going to attack?!” Itara stated leaving his gaze on Mikashi, “hm you already know that the first one to attack is the one who’ll lose, so we’ll just end staring at each other for the rest of the day” he said while continuing to stretch. They both stopped stretching yet continuing their staring contest while not budging until one attacked first, it was like that till the moment Mikashi created a smokescreen kicking loose dirt along with medium rocks, Itara tried dodging the rocks as they came at him, however a few of them hit him leaving small bruises in his arms and chest. As the dirt cleared and rocks fell Mikashi was nowhere to be seen and Itara too distracted with dodging the rocks fell for his trick. Now looking around for any place he could attack from he stood in the open waiting for Mikashi, a few seconds passed and he spotted a glimpse of a blue strand of hair at his twelve a ‘clock on the branch of a tree, he kept looking around when he remembered what Kira taught them in the cave, he proceeded to close his eyes listening, feeling and smelling everything around him from the slight change in the temperature to the sound of the grass. In the moment Mikashi sprinted towards from his six a ‘clock Itara slid his feet one hundred and eighty degrees turning his body towards him and making a fist while still having his eyes closed, Mikashi’s eyes widened and said to himself “damn it and I was careful and everything”, as he sprinted closer he launched himself in the air going over Itara, he lifted his right foot and began turning midair to land a solid on Itara. Being able to turn he launched the kick at him landing a solid hit in his side, Itara gasped for air almost letting out a scream before he gritted his teeth grabbing his ankle with both lands and throwing him against the ground over himself, Mikashi let out a scream blowing Itara and the trees around them Itara’s face went pale seeing the sheer force he felt. Mikashi started breathing heavily and whipping off the blood from his mouth he said in a sarcastic tone “guess I’m the one who’s going to lose.” He sprinted again towards him this time when he closes enough distance, he changed directions surrounding him with tremendous speed, Itara was completely overwhelmed, his mind was filled with fear yet excitement, his heart went into adrenaline mode, Itara’s blank expression dissipated entirely transitioning to blood lusted, his gaze was everywhere trying to keep up with Mikashi’s speed. Once he pinpointed him, he closed his fist he launched it from the back, meanwhile Mikashi stopped as the punch was going to hit him and lifted his leg to counter the punch, in an instant when they clashed the force of it knocked back several trees that were around them. Mikashi switched legs and attacked his side again, Itara this time dodged it and kicked his shoulder, not being able to dodge it he took it gasping for air, he let out a scream and launched a barrage of punches and kicks Itara dodged a few and countered them with a barrage of punches. Both were screaming their hearts out, when stopped the barrages they took steps back and forward again going full force, Mikashi however stopped, putting his left foot and arm back while in his mind saying “hope this works” he drew a circle where Itara was with his other hand and left it parallel to Itara’s shoulder. As soon as Itara came close for a punch Mikashi grabbed Itara by the shoulder tightly, breathed in deeply and he launched the punch while screaming with all his might sparks of electricity emitted from his hand, Itara was flabbergasted, he wasn’t sure if to be excited or afraid, Mikashi’s punch met Itara’s stomach, in that moment he gain excitement with that punch and got knocked out, Mikashi’s scream slowly faded away as he began to breath heavily falling beside Itara upside down. Mikashi slowly turned facing the sky, “hey Itara, you awake? Hm guess not, well I’ll still pretend you are, so by any chance you can hear this then just bear with me. Have you ever felt as if you are the strongest, as if you can take down anything, even if what you’re facing is the size of a mountain? Well, that is how I felt right now, the energy that surged through me was incomparable, it was a hundred times more than a simple adrenaline rush. Can you imagine how amazing that was for me? When you try it one day or tomorrow, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. The moon sure is beautiful, huh? Sometimes I wonder what the view from up there would be, I would love to someday see it. Well anyways it is about time we head home; I’m going to carry you.”

Mikashi picked him up and put him in his back heading towards his house. As he got away from the lake the view of the mountain came into sight revealing a silhouette on the top standing proud and looking down on the land below, Mikashi slightly turned his head glimpsing upon it and smiling, “that’s so cool” he said in astonishment. He kept walking continuously thinking about the silhouette, he could not stop smiling, his eyes were shining as bright as the moon. Arriving at his home his parents asked about what happened to Itara. “Oh, we sparred, and I delivered the final punch” he said prideful, his parents looked at him and laughed proudly “well as long as he’s ok” his mother said, “yeah I’m sure he’s ok, he’ll come back to his normal self soon. Well goodnight, love you.” “Goodnight love you too” both responded.

Under the veil of the dark night birds chirping and frogs croaking, you could hear faint gasps coming from inside a house, sharp but small movements scurrying in the room, as if they were having a nightmare, the sounds of nature were somewhat muzzling the sounds of the person, if you heard it you couldn’t distinguished it was a person rather the wind or birds, this continued for several hours until dawn. The next morning Itara and Mikashi woke up early to the same smell of pork cutlets, eggs, and potatoes. “Good morning you two. How did you sleep?” Mikashi’s dad said sitting down while sipping coffee from his mug, “hey dad, good morning. I slept well” he replied with a small laugh, “how about you Itara?!” Mikashi’s mom asked, “eh I slept fine, a little warm, but fine” he replied with a nervous laughter, “oh, are you feeling well now though?!” his dad asked worried, “yeah I’m fine now, thanks for worrying” he gave a warm smile after finishing the sentence. Mikashi’s mother then proceeded to serve the food and eat. Itara after the two bites he praised her cooking by ten-fold. When finished eating they said goodbye and went by the lake to meet up with Kira. Various minutes after arriving at the lake Kira had not come around and so they were getting concerned, however they stayed waiting for ten minutes deciding to go to her house to check up on her. On top of a tree Kira was watching for ten minutes, “hm this was a waste of time, I was expecting a totally different scenario” she jumped from the branch revealing herself to them. “Wait… what!? Kira?! When- how- what- why- were you up there?! Itara said shocked and awed at her while Mikashi was completely dumbfounded “I was watching you guys to see how you would react” she said appearing confident and unmoving on the outside while also being stirred by Itara’s reaction, “well anyways let’s get moving” she added, Itara still in awe by Kira he went deep into his mind reaching a state of total awareness, seeing his body in third person standing right beside Kira, he felt as if he could rule the world, then: “Itara…” he heard her voice saying his name repeatedly, he showed a smile worth millions, until: “hey Itara!!” he exit his mind seeing her shouting in his left ear, completely caught off guard and hoping he didn’t let the smile while he was daydreaming his heart got stirred, his face turned red. “u- u- um- Kira what are you- doing!?”, she looked at him with annoyed face “huuuuh what do you mean!!? You were staring off into space and we’re about to go!” however in her head it was completely different story “omg, why was he staring off for long?! He wasn’t still thinking about me, was he?!” and without noticing her face as well turned red. Mikashi getting frustrated and annoyed interrupted “can you two love birds kiss already this getting pretty annoying; I get it you both love each other just get together stop wasting the reader’s time!!”. And so Mikashi led the way to the mountain while Kira and Itara were standing embarrassed with their hands on their stomachs. After passing the forest of silence went back to acting normally putting on their ‘training’ face on, “ok so what are we going to do today to reach the cave?!” said Mikashi enthusiastically, Kira let out a devious smirk “today we’re going to do synchronization and endurance; I’m going to tie you both together to your sides and you’re going to sprint to the cave while being synchronized with each other. This will help anticipate your partners’ or opponents’ next move,” “that seems pretty easy why don’t you give us something more challenging?!” Itara said arrogantly, but without looking at her, "don’t underestimate it, it will get back at you if you do” Kira said also ignoring eye contact with him. “Why are you guys like this?! Just stop and get together, God! Let us just start the training already!” they both looked at each other and Kira said speaking in a faint voice “should we?” Itara lowered his head and began to speak “I- I- love to”, Mikashi started clapping sarcastically “yay, finally now can we get on with it. Itara get on my side and let’s get this over with before you start making this a cringe romantic moment,” Itara looked at him with a mad friendly look “you know I hate you right!” “Yeah, yeah, I know. Kira, are you going to tie us or are you still fantasizing”, Kira gave a hate stare “why are you like this?! Yeah, in a minute.” After she tied them, they began to sprint together to the cave and stumbled not even a second later, “get your head in place you got the one you love so what is the problem?! Now it's time for training not cringe” “sorry, sorry, ok I’m ready now let’s go, thank you”, “no problem”. This time they sprinted for 2 minutes without stumbling still not getting the hang of it and continuing to act with separate minds, running with resistance, there was no trust despite their friendship. “Are you still thinking about Kira!!?” “no I’m not I promise I’m fully focused on this! It’s you who are making this difficult, stop resisting and move at the same speed as me!” “what!? Why should I go at your speed?! It’s not my fault you’re going slower than me?!”, “who said I’m going slower, it’s you who’s going slower!” (Side note: they were both going at the same speed) “look whoever was going faster we need to figure this out or we’re never going to progress” Mikashi said, “fine. Wait I remember Kira saying this about predicting each other’s next move!” “yeah, thing is how are we going to do that. It’s not like we can just do that”, “maybe the key to that is not overthink it or think about it and just visualize our environment and combine that with the speed and trajectory of ourselves”, “hm that sounds very logical… who are you and what did you did to Itara?!”, “huh… wha- do you mean?!”, “you’re acting very suspicious”, “I- uh.. am?” “yes, you are, but I like it” he chuckled and smiled, “well let’s try that” Itara said, “let’s go then”. As they kept trialing and erroring Kira was already waiting for them at the entrance, “hm I knew they underestimated it. Pathetic.” The voices as they continued to fail could be heard in the distance undistinguishable, “this time for sure, let’s go”, “this time now”, “argh we can do this”, for five more minutes they kept failing over and over, only seconds before arriving at the entrance were they able to do it and falling to the floor panting. Kira looked down on them with pity “you guys are pathetic you should’ve come here in at least 5 minutes or less, so go back down there and do it again I’m not training kids who can’t manage this much”. Mikashi and Itara wanted to argue with her, but she was right, and they needed to step up their game. After getting back down they began the exercise once again, “come on Itara if we don’t do this we’ll never get past anything, this is our point break, it’s now or never!” that speech sparked a fire inside them that would follow them for the rest of their lives, with blind determination they were able to complete the exercise in under 5 minutes. “You finally made it, it was about time” Kira said laughing looking down on them, “come on get up this isn’t over yet that was just a warmup” Itara and Mikashi looked at each other confused, scared and excited at how she called that a warm up. As they all walked to the inside of the cave it looked smaller than they remembered, the walls were tighter, the ceiling was closer to the ground, the stalagmites and stalactites disappeared as if they were never there, the cave looked like the insides’ of snake. “Hey Kira, why does the cave look smaller?!” Mikashi asked, Kira replied with a sinister smile “small?! What do you mean?!” Itara looked at her as if he was looking at a villain “what do YOU mean Kira, can’t you notice?! Just what did you do?!” “Guess you have to figure it out by yourselves” Kira replied with the same smile glued on and disappeared in an instant. “Damn it she really knows how to plan ahead!” Mikashi annoyed yet intrigue exclaimed, “I know right, she’s so amazing!” “dude stop simping it’s getting old and annoying!” “Look let’s just figure out her plan and come up with a counterattack”, Itara went serious “yeah we should and fast cause we don’t know when or where she’ll appeared from”. As they figure out her plan, she was touring around the cave warming up. “Instead of both figuring out her plan how about if one of us figures it out while the other one comes up with a strategy to counterattack?” Mikashi said, Itara agreed and decide that he should figure out her plan, “ok perfect, lets split up and survey the area then meet back here in thirty seconds. And so, the clock in their heads began to tick, counting down from thirty. 30. 29. Each second that past was 1.6 meters covered. What they were not expecting was running into Kira while surveying, they thought she was hiding and waiting for her moment. However. They were wrong.

28. Kira swiftly flew by Mikashi without him noticing rotating one hundred eighty degrees towards him while clinging to the ceiling, “hm what are they up to?! Are they finally making their move? No. Maybe they are inspecting the area to produce a plan? If that’s the case, then it’s very predictable” as she ended her monologue she chuckled and went the other way. 27. 26. 25. Itara also running around, however he wasn’t surveying, he was looking for Kira and start the counterattack he created in his head without Mikashi knowing. 24. Kira and Itara were approaching each other, Kira had sensed Itara before he came into hearing distance while Itara was still unaware of her location. 23. The moment he heard her footsteps he a hundred eighty degree kick her way, nonetheless she managed to dodge it in time arching her upper body backwards, she gritted her teeth and started figuring out their plan “this certainly is a surprise, I would’ve expected them to think their plan out first, unless Itara is acting on his own. Which makes sense, but this really puts my plan out of order. Unless… yes, I think that can work”. she began fighting him at close range using a variety of martial art techniques she had learned from her father, Itara on the hand was getting dominated yet not backing down, trying to find an opening, and putting all his training to test, “argh she’s very strong and fast I can’t find an opening. Damn it!” he launched a barrage of kicks trying to create an opening. “Hm he’s gotten stronger. And more tenacious, I like it.” She got more determined and excited letting out a smile that can shake down mountains. The force and preciseness in her techniques made Itara shiver with fear and excitement, as each clash more power emitted and the victor getting a grip on the battle. “Damn it, I’m losing my ground I need speed, need a burst of adrenaline, I need more excitement” Itara monologued. “I can see he’s losing his momentum, but I won’t let that happen, not when I’m starting to have fun” she backed down for a brief second launching herself forward again letting a surge of kicks with enough force to take down an elephant, Itara widened his eyes filling his brain with fear, for another second Itara felt as if he aged 30 years, fear was the only thing in his mind. 18. 17. 16. 15. Time was still ticking. He was hoping to win the fight before the thirty seconds. He underestimated her, even though he knew she was strong, he thought he had grown stronger. He almost fell to the floor when that surge of adrenaline, the fear, the excitement, what he wanted finally came. 14. He maintained a strong footing saving himself from falling, impulsing himself towards her launching a fierce barrage of punches. Kira smiled “thats what I want! Let’s go!” she counters with an even fiercer barrage of punches. 13. 12. 11. She was close to winning the fight, a solid hit was all she needed. Yet she was prolonging the fight, she did not want it to end. 10. 9. As the mind clock ticked, the fight reached its climax. Blind determination, excitement, fear, and adrenaline. All the ingredients were there. A new seedling has sprouted. A new goal. A new purpose. Has surfaced. 8. 7. 6. “This is it. This is what I want. To be the strongest. To be the fastest. To be the best.” Kira monologued over and over. The fight reached its decisive moments, Kira was about to land the final punch. 5. 4. Itara was reaching his limit, there was nothing left he could have done. “I still cannot beat her! When will I?! Yes! Someday! I will! I will beat her!! To conquer the universe!.” 3. 2. 1. Kira landed the punch throwing him two meters away, she was one step closer to her goal while Itara retreated one.

29. Mikashi was arriving at where they agreed to meetup, got pissed at him, because he knew he could not honor an agreement. “Damn you Itara!! Why do I always have to come and save you!!!” he cracked his fist and, in an instant, began running around the corridors of the cave to find Itara. Mikashi’s voice echoed throughout the cave reaching Kira and Itara “well, that was predictable. Let’s see what you got” flipping her hair while looking upwards she uttered. As Mikashi ran around looking for them Kira sat down in behind of Itara with her feet on him, “he’s sure taking a long time to get here, don’t you think so too Itara?” Itara tilted his head and with an arrogant voice he declared “you shouldn’t act so nonchalant; he’ll definitely beat you!” Kira laughed “I doubt that, but we’ll see.” Meanwhile Mikashi was getting close to them at full speed lifting dust off the ground “ahhh Kira!! I’m coming for you!!” Kira smiled “it’s about time” she took her feet off Itara and stood up ready to face Mikashi, as he approached them his left leg took off from the back full force at her, Kira intercepted the kick positioning her left hand at the point of contact, he proceeded to launch a myriad of kicking techniques he learned from his father, from a three-sixty degree kick to a vertical kick, Kira was amazed and excited getting the same feeling she had with Itara’s fight “Yes! Yes! Yes! This is it! This is what I want!” she countered with similar attacks. The fight kept escalating as each attack clashed, the cave shaking, debris was falling to the ground, their hearts were racing of the excitement, adrenaline rushing through their veins, their faces were stuck with grin full of determination and joy. However, they were too distracted on the fight they forgot about someone laying on the floor, debris falling on top of him, and he was completely knocked out. It wasn’t until Mikashi landed a solid punch on Kira throwing her Itara’s way that she noticed all the debris on top of him, in a flash her heartrate and grin faded away seeing Itara like that. “Mikashi stop the fight for a second! Itara is getting dragged into this!” she said in a worried tone, Mikashi’s excitement and adrenaline faded away as well getting to him immediately “how could we forget about him!? Damn it I failed again in keeping him safe!” Kira responded in a sympathizing maner “we both failed not just you. You got to remember I want to keep him safe too” in a regretful tone he replied “you’re right, it doesn’t fall on just me anymore. Well let us get out of here!” They both carried him to the exit of the cave all the way to the hospital. After waiting an hour at the hospital for Itara to be released the group of friends planned out the next training sessions till the entrance exam for the Academy of Flairs.