Danae sits on the grass in the middle of a clearing, drinking a glass of wine as the sun illuminates the ever blue skies. She reaches into a brown half-moon wicker basket and pulls out a silver butter knife, absentmindedly playing with it between her fingers before abruptly throwing it halfway into the trunk of a tree.
“You’re not making sure to match the energy of the earth nieta, it’s a living thing so it’s divine force fluctuates” she says as the leaves from the tree hit the ground. A milky white aura appears around the knife as it removes itself from the tree and slowly makes its way towards Danae’s outstretched hand. As she grabs the knife, she takes her wine and splashes it in front of her to reveal a partial outline of a body.
“I win abuela! You said if I was able to get within a foot of you that it would mean I pass” Sofia states gleefully.
“That’s true, I can’t believe you’ve already learned to use Nube Oculta so deftly only after 3 months.”
“It’s pretty difficult to keep going for a long period of time, especially against someone like you” Sofia replies as her invisibility slowly evaporates from her body.
“Yes, concealing yourself by matching the energy of the environment and reflecting light is very difficult, but you were able to maintain it for the most part.”
“I want to practice a bit more, so I can do it perfectly.”
Danae chuckles before erupting into raucous laughter, to the confusion of Sofia.
“ Do it perfectly, you sound just like your dad did when I taught him. He would obsess over perfecting techniques day and night. I honestly don’t know how he ever found a wife.”
“Abuela, I-”
“Oh that reminds me,” Danae interrupts, “you never opened your gift from Eren right?”
“I didn’t, it’s been so long since my birthday I kinda forgot about it.”
“Make your way to the top of the cliff so we can officially conclude your training.” Danae picks up the basket and pulls out the storage script before disappearing through the summoned door.
“What’s that all about?” Sofia murmurs to herself before sprinting towards her destination. As she runs through the forest, a white light appears in her peripheral, causing her to suddenly stop as Eren’s large body emerges from the doorway.
“Hey Sofia, been a bit!” Eren yells before Sofia wraps her arms around him.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming back today! I thought you were back next week?!”
“Well we finished early and I thought it would be a good idea for you two to practice on each other, get some practical training done.”
Sofia looks up at Eren and sees he is carrying a large, black metal backpack. “Is Kiyan in that thing?”
“Yeah, he’s recovering from the training but he should be out any moment, it’s been about a week since he’s entered.”
“A week? That’s an E.R. Nuyu model, that can replace a limb after one day and you’re saying he’s been in a week? What kind of training did you guys do?” Sofia asks with a tinge of horror in her voice.
“Nothing really special, just continuous physical training and no sleep, followed by me beating him up.”
“Oh for the week?”
“No, the whole time. This is his first week off” Eren replies nonchalantly.
“ You guys did that for 5 months straight?! He must look horrible.”
“He’ll be fine, he’s a lot tougher than any of us thought.” Eren looks at the top of the cliff briefly before pressing Sofia against his body with his right arm. “Danae waiting for us, you don’t mind if I take us there right?”
“Not at all, I was heading there anyway, I have to open my gift.” Eren braces himself before exploding off the ground towards the top of the cliff.
“You still didn’t open it?” he says as the pair land in front of Danae. “Yo, what’s the deal with gift?” he asks Danae.
“It’s not like it’s time sensitive right?” Danae responds as she gestures for Eren to place the tube on the ground. She approaches NuYu and jumps onto the top portion, opening it to reveal an unconscious and skeletal Kiyan in tattered clothing. Danae reaches under her shawl and pulls out a brown leather pouch with a red patch stitched into its side. “ You know, you’re lucky that I was able to find this in that disaster you call a shop!”
“I’ve seen your fridge, you don’t get to say anything about my organizational skills” Eren jests, “did you-”
“ Infuse the powder with the divine force of the land for 3 days before infusing my own? Your teachers instructions were very clear Eren.”
“Abuela, what are you guys doing? He’s in a E.R. model, shouldn’t it stay sealed?” Sofia inquires.
“It’s ok, this is gonna wake him up” Eren chimes in.
“Still, this was an extreme method Eren, he looks like a momia!” Danae pours the clear powder into the tank and looks on as the powder slowly dissolves around Kiyan’s dried up body. She closes the lid and gracefully jumps off the tank.
“Is it done?” Sofia asks Eren.
“It takes a few minutes but once it starts it’s instant” Eren answers. He walks over to Danae and sees there are two boxes; one the gift meant for Sofia and the other a dusty,brown container. “Oh, you found it!”
“I’m just as surprised as you are,” Danae replies, “ did you try to make it as difficult for me as possible?”
Eren grabs the brown box and tosses the gift to Sofia.
“ This is your official graduation from training. I wanted you to open it earlier but I guess your grandma had different plans.” He walks to the NuYu tank and removes the black wrappings, creating a curtain in front of it.
“ What is all of this?” Sofia asks as she opens her gift, “ are these...my baby photos?” She rifles through the white crystalized screens, pausing only to admire the few photos of herself being held by Danae and the first time she met Kiyan. As she continues through the box, she sees a piece of green cloth buried under more photos. “There’s a scarf in here?” A photo falls out of the scarf as Sophia puts in on, a photo that she has no recollection of. It was clearly an old photo, not due to its appearance but because of the people contained within; a much slimmer yet still visibly muscular Eren placing his arm on the shoulder of a handsome, copper skinned man with messy long black hair and an unkempt beard.
“I always told Alibran to cut his hair, but your father was never one to heed my advice” Danae says, leering over Sofia’s shoulder.
“Seeing him this happy...it’s hard to imagine this is the man who would walk out on his 7 year old daughter” Sofia remarks with no warmth in her voice. As she continues examining the photo, her eyes fixate on a black woman with voluminous curly hair wearing a green scarf, black blouse and blue pants.
“Ninah loved that scarf, said it was passed down for generations” Danae says.
“ It’s a lovely scarf” Sofia replies as she quickly wraps it around her neck, “ it even still smells like her.”
“Your father’s clothes are in there too, they might be a little big but I can-”
“ Leave it abuela, I can find something else to wear” Sofia says coldly.
Danae opens her mouth briefly but swallows her words. “ I’ll make you something tonight when I’m making Kiyan’s clothes.”
The door of the NuYu tube opens with a loud thud as Kiyan hits the ground. He sits up quickly, drawing a sharp inhale of air as if tasting it for the first time.A bewildered Kiyan desperately scans his environment before his eyes focus on the large form of Eren. Instinctively, Kiyan assumes a battle stance and a wave of blue, transparent energy emanates from his body.
“Kiy you gotta take a moment, we aren’t training anymore” Eren says in his most tranquil voice, only to see with his fist flying towards his face. Eren grabs Kiyan’s wrist and pulls him in closer, “I just told you to breathe, snap out of it already!”
“You had me near death for like half a year, you think you’re gonna get off easy?” Kiyan screams, attempting to connect a solid punch as Eren blocks him with his free hand.
“Who’s the one who told me they could handle it? Now get changed, don’t want Sofia to see you looking all raggedy.”
“My clothes?” Kiyan surveys the area and makes a note of the brown box. “Oh, we aren’t at the training grounds anymore.”
“I’ve been saying that the entire time” Eren replies before releasing Kiyan’s wrist. “ You’ve been asleep for a week and you come out swinging, I guess the training actually sunk in” a smiling Eren states.
“ My future therapist thanks you” Kiyan says sarcastically as he makes his way towards the plain brown box. “There’s just a blue jacket, purple pants, a white shirt and brown shoes in here.”
“What else were you expecting? This ain’t a store, besides it’s just for today.”
“Fine, but one of these days we are gonna get you some fashion sense” Kiyan remarks as he changes into the garments.
“Comfortable?” Eren asks.
“The shirt surprisingly fits but the pants are a bit too loose, and there’s no belt.”
“These were the smallest things I could find.”
“It’s fine, I can just make my own...but it is super weird you don’t own any belts” Kiyan says before tying the large jacket around his waist, securing his pants.
“Ok now that’s done, we can start with the last half of your training.” Eren walks over to the covering and removes it, revealing a perplexed Sofia.
“Ki, you look very alive right now.”
“Hi to you too Sof. What’s with the outfit? Going for a ninja vibe?”
“I prefer a ninja over...whatever idea you had putting that on.”
“That’s a 3/10 comeback, I guess me being gone so long made you rusty” Kiyan jokingly states.
“Alright, enough of that you two” interjects Eren, “you guys can talk later, right now it’s time to get some work done.”
“Nah, hard pass” says Kiyan, “ I could go for some food though, I haven’t had a good meal in a super long time, you down?”
“ Yeah, I could eat” Sofia replies.
“I don’t think one day will hurt, besides it gives us time to make dinner since someone decided to show up earlier” Danae says.
“ Us? Oh I got things to-”
“You weren’t thinking of having a poor old lady slave in the kitchen all alone were you?” Danae says, putting on her best frail voice.
“You are the devil.” Eren sighs deeply before addressing the pair. “ You guys are free for today, but first thing tomorrow morning we get back to it, got me?”
“We got it, bright and early tomorrow” Kiyan replies as Sofia summons a door. “ Let’s go to Houlton’s Hogs!”
“I heard they added new stuff to the menu” Sofia remarks. As the two walk through the door, engrossed in their food dialogue, Danae and Eren exchange solemn glances.
“So, you still haven’t told her about her dad?”
“She’s not ready for that yet, there’s still so much anger there.”
“ The longer you wait, the worse it’s gonna be.”
“ Does Kiyan know about why he’s here?” Danae shoots back.
“ I-uh that didn’t really come up in conversation.”
“The longer you wait, the worse it’s gonna be.”
The two share a hollow laugh.
“What are we doing Danae?”
“Our best” she replies.
Eren lets out a strained breath as he stretches his right arm. “Well I guess that’s all we can do then.”
“ Why are you stretching out all of a sudden?”
“You said you needed help with dinner, which means we gotta divy up the chores and I’m not doing the cleaning.”
A devious grin appears on Danae’s face. “ Oh, so what did you have in mind?”
“Like you don’t already know. No Ignition though, don’t wanna get anyone hurt” Eren replies. He lowers his right shoulder and widens his stance.
“I appreciate you going easy on me, you’re always so thoughtful.” She raises her right arm slightly overhead, perpendicular to her left hand.
A small holographic, anthropomorphic pig in a white apron projects from a black table. “Welcome to Houlton’s Hogs, the only place where you can pig out on prime pigs. Please make a selection so we can get hog wild!” it says before disappearing.
“You know I’m not a fan of the slogan coming from a hologram” Kiyan states. “I thought you said they added new food items, this is a complete renovation.” The two look around the surprisingly bustling restaurant; brown booths with red seats, wood ceilings, black tables and ebony wood floors.
“I didn’t know the changes were so extensive, they put some money into this place” Sofia says.
“Yeah, since when did they have booths? I miss the chairs and the physical menu” Kiyan laments.
“You’re only saying that because you used to do the kid puzzles.”
“Puzzles are fun.” Kiyan frantically looks around the table, unsure as to how to bring up the menu. He leans slightly towards Sofia. “ Hey so how do we order?”
Suddenly, the pig reemerges from the table. “So you’re ready to order?”
“Geez, almost gave me a heart attack!”Kiyan exclaims.
Please have a look at our menu” the pig says, turning the table into a giant touch screen. Kiyan scrolls through the options, even though he knows that he will get the #5 Hogs Wild Special with extra Hogsauce. As he makes his selection, a 3D rendered image of the word unavailable appears.
“What do you mean unavailable?”
“Pretty sure that means they aren’t able to make it” Sofia replies as she continues scrolling through the menu.
Kiyan glares at her before turning his attention to the hologram. “ Hey pig what gives? Why is it unavailable?”
“We are currently shifting our focus towards a more sustainable and healthy stable of options for our patrons. As such, we have decided to discontinue the #5 as it was the unhealthiest option we offered. If you loved the #5, may I suggest trying our new Blazing Hog? We flash cook our finest meats, including real direhog meat, and drizzle it with HogWild sauce and our special seasoning.
“ That sounds pretty good actually, yeah I’ll have it” Kiyan says.
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“Wonderful, would you like to make that a combo? We offer Humble Hog, Hankering Hog, Hearty Hog and Hulking Hog sizes.”
“ I’ll just get a Hankering Hog.”
“Excellent choice, and for your compatriot?”
“ I’ll have the # 7 from the Grazers Menu. Humble.” Sofia answers.
“A fine choice. That is one number 12 Hankering Blazing Hog and a number 7 Humble Slim Pig. Your order shall be ready in precisely 4 minutes and 13 seconds from now. Please have a look at the drink menu as you wait.” The pig disappears, leaving only the menu visible on the table.
“They got rid of my BlueCherry Float, truly nothing is sacred anymore” Kiyan whines.
“Good. Honestly I don’t know how you haven’t been hospitalized eating and drinking that stuff, you’re definitely not normal” Sofia replies.
“ What? BlueCherry Floats are the best and the #5 was a gift sent from the heavens. Those sesame seed buns holding together 3 strips of direhog meat, covered with caramelized onions, all stuffed inside marinated chicken sac and glazed with HogSauce was-”
“One of the leading causes of heart failure in the District. Seriously, the fact that you could eat it even once and not die is insane.”
“If it was so bad, how come they kept selling it to people then?”
“You’re asking me why a company would sell a harmful product to customers?” Sofia asks as she narrows her eyes.
Kiyan opens his mouth but quickly swallows his words. “ It’s just funny how when it was in the Runoffs no one cared, but put it next to Char’s and suddenly the health of the people matter.”
“That’s Vallis for you, anything that hurts the image is a no go here.”
The hologram once again appears from the table. “Hello, your order will be arriving in 5 seconds, please clear your hands from the table. Moments later, two plates emerge from the table.
“Ok that’s pretty yaxsy” Kiyan states before immediately diving into his meal.
“You are the only person who says that in real life” Sofia replies as she looks at her plate; steaming faux chicken, a bowl of kale, a bottle of PigPen Seasoning and Hoglite dressing. “ Hey Kiy, you were mummy when you arrived.”
“Huh?” he replies with his mouth full of pork belly.
“What kind of training did you go through to look like that?” Sofia asks as she puts seasoning on her chicken.
Kiyan takes a swig of Cherry Hogale to wash down the meat. “ Well I was left alone the first three months and had to fend for myself.”
“He left you alone? I’ve never even seen you cook before so how did you handle that?” Sofia asks while surgically cutting the chicken into pieces.
“It wasn’t too bad, I mean it was terrifying sleeping in the wilderness and having to find my own food, but compared to what happened after it was cake.” Kiyan grabs a handful of fries covered in cheese and shredded bits of meat.
“Eren can be tough once he gets into teacher mode.” Sofia places the chicken into the bowl and puts the dressing on it. “But at least he taught you a lot of stuff, I mean you had 2 months of direct training with him.”
“ He beat me up the entire time and I wasn’t allowed to sleep. The times he wasn’t actively rearranging my face, he had me looking over my shoulder every second of the day” Kiyan calmly replies.
“ You’re saying he didn’t teach you anything?” a puzzled Sofia asks, stopping her fork just short of her mouth with the clear dressing dripping from the kale.
Kiyan finishes swallowing his fries and reclines back into his seat with a look of content on his face. “ Well I learned how to take a hit...and I guess through that I was taught how to reinforce my body better...but that’s about it.”
“ I can’t believe it, no...you’re lying aren’t you?”
Kiyan smiles. “ You asked me if I was taught anything not if I learned anything.”
“You’re so annoying” Sofia says as she rolls her eyes, “ I don’t even care anymore, you better hope it’s enough to pass the exams.”
“ The exams? I thought it was just one physical fitness test” Kiyan says before taking another sip of his drink.
“No, it’s a series of exams designed to see how we work as individuals and groups, though I don’t know the specifics since it’s illegal for former participants to give that kinda info up.” She takes a sip of water before continuing. “ How do you not know that? Actually, why are you even trying to become a Steward?
Kiyan looks at Sofia and takes another sip of his drink. “ This is going to sound weird, but I don’t know why. Originally I thought being a Steward would give me freedom, but now there’s something inside of me I can’t explain. It’s like...a feeling that becoming a Steward will help me figure out what I want, ya know?
“You’re right, that does sound weird but I think I get it; you have no idea why you want to do it but you think doing it will give you an idea.”
“Pretty much. It must be hard to grasp, especially when you have Stewards in your family.”
“ My parents being Stewards has nothing to do with it” Sofia says before finishing her food. “ Stewards get access to information the public can’t access…”
“ And you think that information will lead to your mom?”
“ I need to know what happened” Sofia replies sternly. The two stare at each other before Kiyan opens his mouth.
“Well I need to know who is gonna pay for this, because I haven’t made a delivery in months and didn’t transfer anything from my savings.”
“Oh you have money, the deliveries never stopped.”
“What? So you’ve been making the deliveries for me?” Kiyan asks as he checks his phone.
“No, I’ve been busy training and helping out at the shop. Brick and his guys have been doing it” Sofia replies nonchalantly.
“Brick?! The Red Raider member that tried to flambe us at your party?”
“Mhmm. He kept coming around the store, saying something about being owed an upgrade?”
Kiyan places his hand on his temple and groans. “ That’s right, I promised I improved his scriptor if he helped me at the warehouse, but I didn’t think he’d remember after all this time.
“Well anyways, abuela convinced them to make deliveries for you so that when you did return you’d be more open to upgrading all of their stuff.”
“ Doesn’t Danae know they are gang members? Why would she want them working for me?” Kiyan asks as she places his card on the table.
“You really don’t get it do you? Have her tell you when we get back, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” Sofia gets up and heads towards the back of the restaurant, leaving Kiyan to ponder the fact that he suddenly has employees. As Kiyan thinks on how he’s a boss, a notification for a pickup appears on his phone.
“A pickup? I’ve never seen this address before...must be a new one that was added. Man, now I’m gonna have to teach those guys which areas we do pick up from” Kiyan says as Sofia returns.
“What’s up?” She asks.
“ Oh I got a request for a pickup...you don’t mind if I take it right?”
“I mean we are in Vallis and have the rest of the day, so I’ll come with.”
Kiyan picks up the translucent card and the two exit the restaurant and step onto Kiyan’s airskiff. Within moments the wind blows through their hair as they travel across the city, effortlessly navigating through the streets.
“You’ve gotten a lot better at this” Sofia says, holding tightly to his waist.
“Using Divine Sight makes moving like this second nature” Kiyan replies as he weaves through traffic. “ We’re about 10 minutes out from the location but I haven’t been here before, and these buildings don’t look like the business type.”
“Do you think something is up?”
“No clue, but it's not like we can’t handle it” Kiyan remarks confidently. Moments later they arrive at a hastily constructed shack in the middle of a desolate construction site. Fine gray powder lingers in the air before landing on the left over construction equipment. The half completed buildings and piles of shifting rubble do nothing to bolster the legitimacy of the business.
“ Ok so something is definitely up” Kiyan announces as he steps off the skiff.
“Clearly, but who would go out of their way to fake a pickup for you?” Sofia asks, following suit. The pair take one step towards the shack before suddenly stopping.
“You feel that?” Kiyan asks.
“Definitely, there’s some divine force coming from that building. I’m surprised you picked up on that.” Sofia remarks as she assumes a stance.
“Give me some credit, I pick up on things ya know” Kiyan shoots back before also taking a stance.
“ So I order a pick up and the delivery boy doesn’t even knock on the door? Ain’t that gonna make it kinda hard?” A voice rings out from the shack. “ But then again, I guess you guys know about divine force..interesting.” The door opens as an orange haired man with a red leather jacket and his hands in his pockets steps forth.
Kiyan’s eyes widen as his memory of the day at the warehouse comes flooding back. “That’s him.”
“Him who?” Sofia asks.
“The guy that I saw Brick talking to when I went to the warehouse.”
“Well, are you gonna pick up my order or not?” The orange haired man asks.
“Sorry, are we supposed to pretend like you’re an actual customer?” Sofia retorts.
“Yeah, the rickety shack in a closed construction site really gives off a real ‘creepy dude’ vibe, and I was raised with common sense..you didn’t even give me a name” Kiyan adds.
“ You can call me Jake. My associate told me they ran into a kid at a warehouse and it sounded like the kid my guys started working for recently so I had to see what’s so special about him” he says as he approaches them.
“ So what’s the verdict?” Kiyan asks
“I haven’t decided yet, but I have an idea. Why don’t we have a little test? If you can make me remove one of my hands from my pocket, I’ll show you something good.”
“ What a dumb prize” Sofia says, “ there’s no reason to even listen to this-”
“Sure obviously fake name Jake, I’m game” Kiyan responds. Sofia looks at him and sees a look of elation on his face.
“Why would you say yes? There’s no reason.”
“You’re gonna hate me but…”
“You have another feeling?” Sofia says, fully aware of her correct answer.
Kiyan smiles at her. “ Plus, this guy is connected to what happened at the warehouse so maybe we can interrogate him or something?”
“How about we focus on not being hit, he’s coming right at us” Sofia says as she jumps back. Kiyan raises his right arm just in time to block an explosive left kick.
“Hey you’re pretty sturdy, that should have sent you flying” Jake says in an oddly complimentary tone.
“Gee, thanks!” Kiyan wraps his arm around Jake's outstretched leg and launches a left straight towards his face.
“Not a bad move, but now you left yourself open” Jake remarks as he delivers a right kick to Kiyan’s head, sending him careening into a partially constructed wall that immediately crumbles.
“Oh come on kid, I gave you a love tap and you go flying?” Jake taunts. “ You should be glad I’m spending time with you, especially since your pal ditched ya.
Kiyan shoots up from the rubble with only a slight scratch on his forearm and shirt. “ Sorry about that, I think I oversold the hit a bit. I wanted to make you feel special”
“Well ain’t you considerate? But if you keep worrying about my feelings, you’ll be in for a bad time.”
“Duly noted!” Kiyan speeds towards Jake and unloads a flurry of blows, each narrowly failing to hit their mark.
“Wow, I gotta admit kid, you got good instincts. If I were a step slower, I’d feel some pa-” A fierce right hook finds its mark before Jake can finish speaking, sending him back 5 feet into the shack.
“Hey! You know you could have blocked that with your hand! By the way sorry about that hit, I have a lot of pent up frustration from the past few months and you’re the first thing I got to hit.
An uproarious laugh echoes from within the shack before it explodes in a red flash of light. “ Oh, looks like overselling hits is contagious” Jake says as he emerges completely unharmed by the attack.
“ Stealing my bit? That’s not very nice of you” Kiyan says smiling.
“Well if you think that’s me being mean, you’re gonna really hate this!” Jake suddenly appears in front of Kiyan and knees him in the gut, only to have his attack blocked Kiyan crossing his arms in front of his body. Without missing a beat, Jake flips over Kiyan and delivers a kick square into his back, launching Kiyan towards a pile of equipment. While Kiyan hurdles towards the equipment, Jake appears alongside him. “ That looks like it's gonna hurt if you run into that construction equipment over there, here let me help you.” He sprints ahead of Kiyan and kicks him several feet into the air, following it up with a powerful axe kick that sends Kiyan immediately back down. His body bounces off the floor before coming to a rest, kicking up a fine cloud of powder into the air.
“Oh gee I hope you’re not overselling that one, I don’t think my ego could take another blow like that” Jake jests.
Kiyan picks himself off the floor and wipes the blood flowing from a small cut on his lip. “ I admit, I felt that one.” He looks around at the powder and notices that it still hasn’t dissipated, in fact it seems to be gathering around both himself and Jake. “But you’re gonna have to come a lot harder than that if you wanna keep me down.”
“ You really got guts kid. I mean, I could spill ‘em at any moment but I gotta commend you for keeping up a brave face” Jake says as he pulls his hands out of his pockets, to the confusion of Kiyan. “ Tell your friend she can stop hiding, I’ve already made my verdict...besides this attack won’t work on me.” As quickly as his sentence ends a burst of red light emanates from his body, forcibly blowing the smoke away towards Kiyan. Sofia’s body begins to form from the powder next to Kiyan.
“ Sorry Sof, I thought I could distract him for a longer time” Kiyan says, not breaking eye contact from Jake.
“Don’t worry about it. If he could see through that then all that means is I still have a long way to go before using that technique” Sofia replies as her body fully forms.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself little girl, being able to do a complete state transition at such a young age isn’t something to laugh at.” Jake focuses his attention back on Kiyan. “You could learn something from her; she hid her presence after my first attack and gradually matched the divine force of the area so I couldn’t tell exactly where she was, or at least that was the idea.”
“You knew all that and you did nothing, why?” asks Sofia.
A sadistic grin forms on Jake’s face. “I’m a lot of things, but far be it from me to be the type of person to discourage creativity in children. It takes real skill and cold bloodedness to hang back while your buddy gets beat on, all to find a perfect moment to strike.”
A flash of anger streaks across Kiyan's face after hearing those words. “ You keep talking but all I hear is ‘please, punch me in the face’ and I’m feeling generous.” A light blue aura slowly envelopes Kiyan, gradually growing in intensity until a constant stream of divine force pours from his body.
“Oh, looks like I struck a nerve with ya kid. That’s some violent intentions I feel coming from you, it’s making me a bit uncomfortable so how about we end that?” Suddenly Kiyan’s divine force vanishes and he drops to one knee, desperately trying to catch his breath.
“Hang on!” Sofia rushes to Kiyan’s side but is interrupted by Jake.
“Oh c’mon don’t be jealous, you can try it too.” Sofia’s body immediately goes prone next to Kiyan. “ So that’s the level you guys are at? Gotta admit, I was hoping for more surprises.” Jake begins walking towards the two, his expression that of a child walking through the park on a Sunday afternoon. He stops over Kiyan’s body, leering over his immobilized combatant. “Although you even being on one knee is pretty rare, so rare in fact that I changed my mind!”
Kiyan tries with all of his might to stand up, but his body feels as if he’s being bombarded by crashing waves of force. He tries to focus on his breathing but his concentration is broken by the sensation of his hair being pulled; forcibly craning his neck to see the elated expression on Jake’s face. Being so close to him, Kiyan can’t help but notice how young he looks; he couldn’t be that much older than himself and yet even after all his training he couldn’t put a scratch on him.
“What’s with that look? I told you I changed my mind, you get to live..ain’t that exciting?” Jake, with Kiyan’s hair still in hand, looks over to Sofia. “ Hey little girl, I don’t know if you heard but you get to live today too, really impressed with what you’re able to do.” He looks up into the clear blue sky and mutters to himself “ Strange looking at the sky it being clear, even though I know it’s raining...that guy is really something else.”
Kiyan takes another shallow breath, snapping Jake back to the situation at hand.
“Oh I almost forgot, I told you I’d tell you something good and here it is: starting from this point on, the Red Raider Gang is no more. I got other interests now and I can’t have a bunch of weaklings ruining my name, so they’re all yours now.”
Jake looks at Kiyan’s eyes and sees they are starting to glaze over. “Oh, I forgot I was using Sakoku on you, here you go.” Kiyan and Sofia quickly take deep breaths as if they had just come back to life. “Oh one more thing, forget everything you saw in the warehouse, otherwise I might have to be less nice the next time we meet. Well, this has been fun but I gotta go.”
As Jake turns away, Kiyan grabs him by the ankle. “ You...don’t get to just...walk...you..bad guy” he says as his breathing slowly returns to normal.
“I can’t tell if you’re brave or just dumb as hell” Jake retorts. “ I just told you that I’m not gonna kill ya and you still think we are gonna fight?”
“That...or...you could surrender” Kiyan replies.
“Surrender?” Jake erupts into laughter. “ I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering you’re a rank amateur and all.”
Kiyan, wearing a confused expression, looks up at Jake. “ You say ...all that, but the most damage you did... was cut my lip.”
“That’s because I was here to send a-it doesn’t matter, look I’ll make this so simple that even you get it. You’re using Divine Sight yea? Good, keep doing that and watch closely...you too girly because I ain’t gonna be charitable again.” The two watch as a distorting wave overcomes Jake’s body. “ Tell me when you start seeing colors, trust me it’s for your own good.”
The distorted waves start to take the outline of a flame to Kiyan but before he can see any colors, he hears Sofia inhale sharply. He turns to her and sees sweat beginning to pool from her face and her body shudder.
“Hey girly, what color did you see” Jake asks in a remarkably calm voice.
“O-orange” a barely audible Sofia replies.
“Hmm, that’s not bad” he says as he turns to Kiyan, “ and what about you kid?”
Kiyan looks back at Jake but only sees the outline of a large flame. He thinks to himself that Jake could be using that thing he did before, but if that were the case he’d be just like Sofia. Kiyan’s train of thought derails when he sees a vibrant red aura exuding from Jake; as if he were being set on fire. Instantly he’s transported back to the warehouse where he helplessly watched Zariah go toe to toe with the Queen; that same feeling of dread creeping up his insides, arresting every thought he has except for one: death.
“You look like you’re about to piss your pants kid, so what color did you see?”
Kiyan answers with the slight hope that compliance will extend his life. “R-r-red.”
“Figures, I guess girly over there is the more experienced one then. The reason why you weren’t freaking out when we fought is because I was operating at a higher level than you two could grasp. Being the eternal teacher that I am, I lowered my divine force to a level that you could see, so now you get it right?”
Jake looks at a stone cold Kiyan. “Oh my bad, even though I said I wouldn’t kill ya I’m still putting out some low quality energy, one sec.” Kiyan feels the fear slowly evaporate as the distorted aura takes the place of the red flame. “ Ok so all good? Lesson over? Great, don’t forget to ya know forget everything about the warehouse!” Jake removes Kiyan’s hand from his ankle and instantly vanishes from sight.
“Kiyan, are you ok?” Sofia makes her way towards him and places her arm on his shoulder. “ Hey, we need to get home and tell Eren and abuela about this.”
After many moments of silence, Kiyan responds. “ No, don’t tell them anything.”
“Are you insane? This guy could have killed us and you want to keep it a secret?”
“He didn’t kill us though, he went super out of his way to not do that. Why? It would be easier to just kill me and the problem goes away.”
“Ok so maybe he was just feeling generous today.”
Kiyan turns his head towards Sofia. “Come on Sof, you’re smart, you know this isn’t adding up.”
Sofia bites her lip, something she does when Kiyan has a valid point.
“You’re right” she says begrudgingly, “ if it were me I’d have taken you out instantly, that removes an easily dealt with witness, and he did go out of his way demonstrate the difference in ability between you two. It’s like he was trying to show you when to know you’re outmatched.”
Kiyan excitedly stands up from the ground. “See? Plus he said something about a guy when he thought I couldn’t hear him, so he must be working with someone other than the bug lady from the warehouse.”
“Still, we could at least take this information to Eren, you told me the Stewards are already looking into things here” Sofia objects.
“And how do we tell him we came by that information? No, we look into this ourselves and when we have enough proof we can loop him in.”
“I’ve never seen you so adamant about something outside of Planestrider, what gives?”
“The way he spoke to me, it was like he had expectations of me...like he knew something about me. His first hit would have killed me 5 months ago, and if he was just here to send a message then why would he start off with an attack that lethal?”
“You think this guy has some answers about you?”
“I don’t know, maybe? I just have a gut feeling that finding out the deal with the warehouse will shed some light.”
“Fine, we will look into it for now.” Sofia crosses her arms, “ But we are really going to have to be on top of our game for the exams, all of this means nothing if we can’t get into the Stewards.”
“Yeah, and I’m extra motivated to do my best now. Let’s get back home, pretty sure it’s almost dinner time and we’re gonna miss the energy flux in the tunnel” Kiyan states as he looks at his phone.
“We could just run back, it’d probably be faster at this point.”
“I hear you, but I want to fly so…”