Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 2. Close calls
Back at Greenvale village, the floor of the cottage the group was living in begins to glow in the shape of the Sects' main symbol. The symbol releases a flash of red light and the group rematerializes in their living room.
They all stumble onto the floor, having lost all of their stamina. Gray, who is the only one standing upright, is still holding what they think is a communicator in the air.
Gray: “What the hell.”
With everyone distraught, covered in sweat and drenched in the taste of imminent death, they all try to get back into their right minds as fast as possible.
Peter: “WE WARPED!..where are we?”
Rosemary: “We’re…back home?”
Peter: “Like your house in Greenvale?”
Soku: “I think so.”
Edward: “We need to go to Gordons' home immediately.”
Gray: “Yeah we need to get right on that.”
Edward runs out of the front door and begins to run to Gordon's house.”
Soku: “Shit, we lost most of our stuff. Everything got burned in the Athens fire, and now that last bit is still in that carriage.”
Gray: “Good thing I grabbed the cloak, and my mask.”
Soku: “Instead of grabbing a bit of armor, or a sword you get your mask?”
Gray: “Look! I was scared and I had to act fast!”
Peter: “Good thing you did act fast, not only did you save my life you teleported us out of that shit show.”
Gray: “Yeah…not really sure how I did that.”
Peter snatches the Sects device out of Gray's hand and begins to feel and look for something to tell him more about it.
Rosemary: “That was Shioreta…the damn Black flash…if she and Zhao are working with the Sect then that is a big disadvantage on our side.”
Gray: “Um…who is that?”
Soku: “A super, SUPER strong sword master. She’s one of the three legands, her, Zhau, and Toren. Her sword skills are on par with the Devils Shogun."
Gray: “And Severus was there too…we almost fucking died.”
Soku: “Yeah what's with the old man's body? He didn’t look nearly that old last time we saw him.”
Rosemary: “I got some info from Calgary and when he described Sererus he said it was a woman. So either there is more of him, he can shapeshift, or he’s changing bodies.”
Stolen story; please report.
Gray: “A body hopper, guess that’s why his “soul aches” huh.”
Peter: “Oh, Edwards back!”
Edward walks through the door with Gordon by his side. Gordon greets the group and Gray notices Ryo walking in behind them. Gray excitedly runs up to Ryo, having wanted to tell him the way he defeated Caesar since he did it.
Ryo: “Gray! Edward told us what happened, are you alright?”
Gray: “Oh I’m fine, but I wanted to tell you something.”
Gordon: “Gray can it wait?”
Gray: “Yeah but -”
Gordon: “Alright good, we gotta break down what the hell happened in Athens!”
Edward: “This may take some time to break down.”
They all sit down in the kitchen, which Gray begins to clean out of boredom. The kitchen had been left unclean; it was bugging Gray, and the fact that he just wanted to do something and not listen to a boring recap was a good factor in his cleaning spree as well.
After a bit of explanation, Gordon decides they need to make a plan of action.
Gordon: “Gray, you came up with the idea of helping Athens and because of that the Red Arrows, Leo Valentine, and a third of the Athens guards are with us. Do you have any other ideas?”
Gray: “Ummm…all the capitals are surrounded by walls right?”
Gordon: “Yeah.”
Gray: “So split up groups of our army into three or six-something teams and move in on the castle. Driving them in so we can group up and stop them.”
Soku: “But how would we even get in? I’m sure they would ensure we didn’t get in since they’re looking for us.”
Rosemary: “The walls near the slums are hardly guarded! We get in through one of the many holes and slowly move throughout the capital.”
Gordon: “Communication would be an issue though, what if we just lose a side or we get found out?”
Peter: “I’m working on something that might solve that issue.”
Edward: “What if the rest of the army doesn't make it here?”
Gray: “What do you mean?”
Edward: “They’re going down the same path we did. Severus and Shioreta might still be on the road.”
Gordon: “They’re helping refugees, so hopefully the Sect leaves and Jong will come a little late.”
Ryo: “It’ll take a few days for them to get here, and with the refugees, it will possibly take a week or so until their arrival.”
Gordon: “Spend the time getting ready, I’ll spend my time refining the plan into a battle strategy. And when Lincoln, Leo, and Jong get here I’ll be able to finalize it.”
Gray: “Alright then, Ryo can we talk about something?”
Ryo: “Of course.”
Gray leads Ryo outside and shrugs his shoulders as if he’s letting a heavy weight off of them.
Ryo: “I’m very impressed with your development. And even if Athens was lost it wasn’t on you so in my eyes you won.”
Gray: “Thanks…but I did lose. I trusted someone I shouldn’t have too quickly…and he was working under my nose. And almost let my emotions get me killed.”
Ryo: “Having issues with the spiritual state?”
Gray: “Yes! Damn… I lost it…but I regained a little control. I flew out of my body and forced my way in. Then I trapped the pure spirit mana with the spiritual sense, and I used it like a battery.”
Ryo: “Really? That is something I never tried…I had to master it but you found a loop.”
Gray: “Not a complete one, I was running on fumes. But I did something weird to beat Caesar.”
Ryo: “What did you do?”
Gray: “Somehow I was funneling the mana through Caesars OD and forcibly broke it.”
Ryo: “Oh, that is a good skill to have down with weaker does. His OD must have been weak because it would take hours if you tried that on somebody strong.”
Gray: “I got lucky, but I’m not strong enough…Calgary almost killed me. I can hardly control my connections with normal spirit mana, but I can’t even fathom being able to use pure spirit mana.”
Ryo: “This “pure spirit mana” you talk of, you mean using the spirit itself right?”
Gray: “What do you mean?”
Ryo: “You see, spells work by mixing your mana with mana in the air produced by my spirits. Spirit mana is a finer form of mana, which you can use to create stronger attacks. Pure spirit mana as you call it, is just using the spirit. You take the spirit and absorb its mana into a fine power, but it’s difficult to use. It took me years to be able to do it on command, and it still gives me a headache after a while…I could even think of how much pain you’re in.”
Gray: “It hurts like hell but I gotta do what I gotta do…I promised to stop using spells because you said I would hurt them.”
Ryo: “Yes, you can use them if you want but your connection would suffer if you did. Making spirits lose their mana to perform the spirit magic can kill them, other than Cenic of course. Which uses more of your mana than theirs.”
Gray: “I know I get that, but is there anything else I can learn? Or a stronger form of Cenic?”
Ryo: “There is. There are three spells that you could learn, but Cenic has two advanced versions.”
Gray: “I can use more magic! And is there a difference between the two Cenics?”
Ryo: “Only in strength. El-Cenic. El is a prefix that strengthens spells and it makes Cenics' effects much more potent. Thicker smoke, better sense nullification, and you gain more control of it overall.”
Gray: “Is there a catch?”
Ryo: “It will take more mana to use and it’ll take a bit for your body to be able to adjust. Have you mastered the base form of Cenic?”
Gray: “Um…I can use it I guess but I don’t know how well I can use it.”
Ryo: “Well then we’ll have to fix that. Your connections to the spirits will grow, you strengthen your senses, and your mana control will get much, much better.”
Gray: “What about the other two spells?”
Ryo: “They’re a little complicated so I’ll teach you a bit later.”
Gray: “So a spiritual boot camp.”
Ryo: “Yes, a spiritual boot camp.”
End of Chapter two