''Crap!'' Oliver yelled as a disgusting green goop hit his shoulder and started disolving part of his body armor.
''Be careful Oliver! Don't let them aproach you!'' Clara yelled at him before blasting an uncoming Acidermin before it could spit at her.
''Oh gee! I would have never thought of that! Thanks for your great wisdom Clara!'' Oliver said in a sarcastic tone. Another rat came close to where Oliver was but before it could try to attack his Chosen, Bolt sent a shock of lightning toward the vermin frying it on the spot. But Oliver could see that the poor Shockrirrel was getting tired and the vermins just continued to keep pouring in the room.
Oliver made an annoyed grunt before deciding to change strategy. ''Alright Bolt that's enough come back!'' He said before the squirrel-like Elestia was recalled in a yellow beam of light.
Clara looked back at him incrediously. ''What are you doing?! I need your help!'' She said before backing off as another Elestia tried to spit at her. With an annoyed expression she lift the green mucus with her psychic abilities and flung the offending object back to the sender. The Acidermin squealed in agony as it's own spit began to melt him alive.
''Alright Snowy come out and use your frost breath!'' Oliver yelled before a white bear cub made of snow emerged with a pale blue flash of light.
Clara eyes widened when she saw an avalanche of ice coming toward her. By instinct she raised an energy shield in front of herself making the ice bounce around it. The next thing that followed was the alarmed squealed of the rats as they all turned to solid ice and were immortalized in the last moment of their life.
Once the attack finally died down Clara put down the shield and looked at Oliver with a crossed look. ''You almost froze me! You can't just do something like that without warning me!''
Oliver rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. ''Sorry, I guess in the heat of the moment I just acted on instinct.''
Clara huffed before walking away being careful to not step on the dozens of ice statue in the way. Oliver followed behind her with a guilty expression.
- - - - -
They had received payment for the job well done by their client and now Oliver and Clara had been walking back home for the past hours. Despite how long they had been on the road she had not said a single word to Oliver since the end of the mission.
''Oh come on Clara! I said I was sorry right? I will never make a mistake like that again, don't you believe me?'' Oliver pleaded but it fell on the deaf her.
The conversation quickly fell back to an uncomfortable silence. They were now in the middle of a small woodlands. It's crazy to think about but just a few months ago Oliver would be scared to death to be in a place like this. At any moments a wild Elestia could come out of a bush and try to eat them. But ever since he became a Chosen and got Elestia on his side he became less and less afraid of wild Elestia. They wouldn't know what hit them if they dared attack him now, Oliver thought with a confident smirk.
His confidence was soon shaken however as the sound of gunshot errupted from his right and barely missed him before hitting a small tree a few meter away from him. Another gunshot rang and this time it was heading straight for him. But just before it could hit him Clara ran in front of Oliver without hesitation.
The bullet hitted her in the face and promply bouced away as if it was nothing more than a toy. ''W-what are you?'' A feminine voice asked incrediously.
Clara glared toward the sound of the voice and found a girl with a tan skin and long flowing black hair. She wore a black tracksuit along with a red shirt underneath and a pair of black pants. Her white shoes were almost yellow by now with how much dirt and wear and tear had happened to it over the years. Around her neck she wore a necklace with two white feathers but it looked like at one time there was supposed to be three.
In her hands were a pair of glocks that were still smoking due to the last two shots she had just fired toward Oliver.
Clara decided to drop her disguise so she would be able to face her foe at her full power. The black haired girl's eyes widened when she saw Clara change form into from a normal human girl to a goat-like form.
But then the girl chuckle. ''Ah I see so you must be one of those hybrid freaks I heard about. Is that the company you keep now Oliver? Then again someone like you deserve nothing better, don't you think so, traitor?!'' She said the last word with as much venom as she could.
It was then that Oliver finally recognised the girl. She had changed a lot in the last four years but he would never forget someone like her. ''M-Maikoh.'' He said in shock.
''I don't know what you want with Oliver, but I'm stopping it right now! Get out of here before I decide to blast you with my mind!'' Clara said in her best threathening voice.
Maikoh seemed to think about it for a moment. ''Well I guess I should, after all it's not like I could do anything to a freak like you...'' The girl put her weapons back in their holsters and started to slowly walk away.
Clara relaxed slightly before sighing in relief. But her celebration came too soon. Because without any warning the girl turned around and whipped out one of her gun and fired toward Oliver once again.
Oliver yelled out in pain as the bullet hit him in the left leg and sent him falling on the ground. Clara roared in unadulterated rage before taking taking grasp of the girl with her mind and sending her crashing against a tree. The girl hit the back of her head and instantly lost consciousness before falling limply on the ground.
But Clara wasn't done she opened her pouch filled with coins and was about to blast them all on the girl until she was full of holes. But before she could try that a weak voice interupted her. ''C-Clara stop, please.''
Clara looked back at Oliver with a disbelieving expression. ''You want me to stop?! She tried to kill you!''
Oliver nodded his head, wincing in pain as the slight movement sent jolt of pain down his leg. ''I know... But I deserve it, leave her alone.''
''Are you crazy?! What if she come back and try to kill you again?!'' Clara yelled at him.
''I'll deal with her when that happen please hide her somewhere so wild Elestia won't find her and let just go. My leg is killing me.'' He said in a pained voice.
Clara wasn't sure what to do all her instincts told her to finish off her foe and be done with it. But seeing the begging expression on Oliver made her reconsider. ''Fine but if she manage to kill you. I will bring you back to life just so I can kill you again.''
Clara did as ordered and hid the unconscious girl under a bush before. Then she took one of her many bandages in her backpack and tied it around Oliver's leg who winced in pain as the cloth wrapped around his wound. Then she levitated Oliver with her mind and led him away back to the New Ringabell.
Unknown to either of them a cloaked figure had watched the whole ordeal and once the two teens was out of sight he walked toward the body of the unconscious Maikoh before taking her with him to an unknown location...
- - - - -
Clara began to walk faster as she saw the stone wall of New Ringabell come into view. A guard came to greet her at the gate. ''Hey Clara! how did your mission go?'' But then the guard took notice of Oliver who was still groaning in pain in the psychic grasp of Clara. ''What happened to him?!'' he asked in shock.
''He need to see a doctor right now! Open the gate!'' She yelled at him.
The guard made a salute before calling his Earth Elestia to lift the stone gate. Clara quickly led Oliver down inside the metro. Unfortunately the doctor had yet to move on to the surface. So it took some precious minutes to finally reach the small improvised clinic.
Fortunately it seemed like not many people had needed of a doctor that day and they were able to see him quickly. The doctor looked at the almost unconscious form of Oliver with a concerned frown.
''What happened to him?'' He asked to Clara.
''Some insane girl shooted him in the leg with a gun.'' Clara replied with her fists clenched.
The doctor nodded. ''Well it's nothing I can't handle but you should leave us alone for a while. while I and my nurses work on him.''
Clara didn't like being forced to leave but she understood he need to follow procedure and so she left not really knowing where she could go...
- - - - -
Maikoh groaned she felt like her head had been hit by a train. What had happened to her? Oh yeah now she remembered she had finally found that filthy traitor and was intending to end his life. But that freaky goat had to come and ruin everything.
She opened up her eyes and her heart sink as she took in her surrounding. The room was mostly empty but lining up the walls was what looked like strange showerheads. And in the back of the room she could see a large mirror. She instantly knew that there must be people behind that mirror and start banging on it.
''Hey get me out of here! I don't know if you're those righteous Resistance assholes that Oliver joined but I don't care, get me out now!'' She yelled at the top of her lungs.
''So test subject one hundred and fifty-one finally awoke, good then the test may begin.'' The voice sent shiver down Maikoh's spine. It sounded... Cold and calculating almost as if the owner of the voice was devoided of any human emotions.
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Then the strange showerheads started spewing a sort of gas all around the room. Maikoh instantly tried to stop her breathing but after a while the lack of oxygen burned her lungs and she couldn't take it anymore and was force to breath.
She instantly regretted, it felt as if her troath had caught on fire and the rest of her body was soon engulfed in the same sensation. She screamed in agony and tried to slam harder on the mirror but to no avail. After a while she felt her vision go black and she fell unconscious on the ground.
- - - - -
Maikoh woke up with a gasp and looked around her surrounding confusion soon overtook her. The scenery had once again completely changed. She was in what looked like a vast desert with no end in sight.
She felt the harsh sun beating down on her. She had thought the summers in Orchestralia could get harsh but it was nothing compared to this. But just as the heat was getting overwhelming a sandhill closed to her suddenly exploded and a giant metallic beast out of a child nightmare emerged from under it.
''What is that?!'' She yelled in fear and confusion.
A deep and almost robotic voice answered her question. ''I have no name, for I have no need of it. But you humans have come to call me Zeus the Lightning Dragon.''
''T-the Ligthning Dragon?! What do you want with me? Are you going to kill me?'' She asked trying to hide her fear in front of the large beast.
The metallic voice responded with a deep chuckle. ''No, even if I tried to kill you, I wouldn't be able to since this is only a dream.''
Maikoh looked around and realisation finally dawned on her. She sighed in relief. ''So none of this is real.''
''Do not be mistaken, the world we are in right now is a dream. But I am very much real, I have come to talk to you because you have been converted as one of my children. You have become what humans came to call a 'hybrid'''
Maikoh felt dread in the pit of her stomach as the words of the beast dawned on her. ''No! You must be lying! I can't become one of these freaks!''
''You might not like what you have become but it come with some advantage. Accept me as your master and the fury of nature will be at your beck and call.'' Just as he said that a bolt of lightning splited the sky in two in the distance.
Maikoh recoiled at his words and looked at him in disdain. ''Accept you as my master?! Do you really think I'm going to betray humanity just for a promise of power?!''
The beast chuckled in response. ''We don't have the same definition of master, all it mean is that I will give you power. You can do with it as you wish, in fact we will probably never meet in real life after this pact is done.''
She looked at him incrediously. ''You're giving me power and then you expect nothing in return? I call bullshit.''
''Oh you misunderstand there is a price to pay for my power. Once you leave this mortal realm all of your ether will belong to me. Human have one of the most delicious and filling ether in all of the universe which is why we were so eager to invade your realm. But hybrids are in a league of their own. Their ether taste like it came from the All-Mother herself. I would do anything to taste it again.''
''That seem like a really risky move on your part. What if those hybrids take your power and turn against you?'' Maikoh asked incrediously.
The Dragons chuckled in response. ''They can try, but no mortal could ever take me down.''
Maikoh crossed her arms. ''I'm sure that's what the Winter Dragon thought before he was killed by the Resistance.'' She replied with an unimpressed expression.
''Boreas was a weak fool! He cared so much about his own Dragonlings that he shared about half the ether he was gaining to them! Dragonlings are supposed to fend for themselves not stay with their parents for years! His own bleeding heart was his undoing, he was easily the second weakest of us by the time your so-called Resistance killed him.''
Zeus took a deep breath to calm himself and turned back to Maikoh. ''But enough about this, do you accept my offer or not? I have other things to do than discuss with puny mortals like you.''
''What will happen to me once you eat my life force? Is lifeforce like a soul and I would be giving up the afterlife for this deal?'' Maikoh had never been a big believer in any religion but the thought of living in the stomach of a Dragon for eternity was less than appealing.
''Ether, or life force as you call it is part of the soul, however it is not the soul itself. What you humans call the soul we Elestia call the Spark. It is like a second heart made of pure light, invisible to most living beings. By giving up your ether upon death your memories of this world and your sense of self will vanish and you will only remain a echo of what you once were. But even we Dragons cannot do anything to your Spark. It will still rise up into the spirit realm where it will recharge until it is ready for reincarnation.''
Maikoh thought deep about this was it worth the price? Would losing all memories of her life be worth the power she could gain? And then she thought back on that day four years ago and the pain she had felt. She opened up her eyes and stared back at the Dragon with a determined frown.
''Alright, I accept. If it can get me my revenge on Oliver I will accept your deal.''
''Very well, from now on you are a child of Lightning, may the wrath of nature be forever on your side!'' Zeus said before disappearing into nothingness.
Maikoh felt something warm stirring up inside of her and the dream around her fade to white...
- - - - -
When she woke up back into the real world she was laying in what looked like a really old and worn down bed. She lift herself and look around and cursed when she noticed she was in what looked like a prison cell.
She searched everywhere for something to see herself in. Finally she found a small mirror on a desk. She took it in her hand and gasped as she saw her face. Her usual brown eyes had turned into a bright yellow color that glowed in the dark of her cell. Her long black hair had turned to a completely pearl white color. Atop her head stood two long canine ears of the same color and her teeth had become much sharper than any teeth a normal human should have. There was a metallic collar around her neck, she tried to take it off but as soon as she tried she felt a burning sensation around her neck that made her wince and recoil instantly.
She noticed that her pants felt really tight around her backside she decided to lower them to see the problem and gasped when she saw a long and white fluffy tail coming loose out of her pants. ''I really became a freak...'' Maikoh whispered to herself. her breath was coming faster and faster and before she even knew it she fell down on the ground unconscious.
She was woken up a few hours later by someone slamming their hands on the bars of her cell. She looked up groggily to see a hooded figure who proceeded to smirk at her. ''It look like our little experiment really worked. Allow me to present myself I am Claire Kaida the Chosen One of the Cult of The Great Ones.''
''You're insane! What have you done with me?! Turn me back now!'' Maikoh roared at her.
Claire giggled as if she had just played a good prank on her. ''Turn you back? Even if I could, why would I? You have become a child of the Dragons. You are now above humans and their selfish greed and violence that bought about their downfall. The Dragons will free us from the shackles of civilisation and bring about a better future where we are one with nature, as we should have since the begining! Humanity will finally have it's salvation!''
''You think the Dragons will save us?! Are you insane?! They destroyed everything! We have nothing left because of them! Don't you care about the billions of people that died because of your supposed salvation?!'' Maikoh asked feeling the blood boil inside her body.
''Oh, of course! The Invasion was a sad day, I lost my own mother to it. But I can rest easy knowing her soul has been purified from the taint of humanity and she now rest with the All-Mother. And in the future humanity will be free of this taint as well, for we will have all become children of the Dragons just like you have.'' Claire said with a proud smile.
''Stop your insane rambling and get me out of here! And remove this collar from me!'' Maikoh yelled at her.
''Sorry but no, you were drafted in our great cause. I will only remove this collar once all of humanity have become Children of The Great Ones. Your first mission will be to hunt down the heretics for us. The ones who use the Dragons own children as their tools. I am talking of course of the Resistance. We can't have them running around after they went and killed one of the Great Ones, that was an unforgivable sin!'' Claire yelled angrily and her left eye began to twitch before she managed to calm herself.
''Your first mission will be to hunt down the three heretics that killed them. here is a photo of them.'' Claire presented her a picture of three people and her heart caught in her throat. She didn't recognised the man dressed in black but she recognised the two others. It was Oliver and his freak of a friend.
Suddenly she didn't felt trapped anymore and for the first time since she got captured Maikoh started to smirk.
- - - - -
A week had passed since the whole incident with Maikoh and Oliver had recovered greatly since that time. It was in huge part because of the healing propreties of the Doctor's Water Elestia without them he would probably still be barred from moving around.
But the General being the worrywart that she was still didn't allowed him to go on mission before she was sure he had completely healed. But today was the day, the General had sent them a letter in their newly installed mailbox and him and Clara made their way to the Olivia's office.
When they entered inside both the General and Xofamai were waiting for both of them. Oliver smiled glad that he would finally be able to see some action again. ''So what are we doing today? It's better not be another patrolling mission.''
Xofamai grunted at the boy's words and Olivia shook her head and shot him a slightly exasperated stare. ''Don't worry about that. Now that you and Clara are Hunter rank you won't have to do D rank missions often anymore, these tasks are mostly reserved for the Rookies. You have proven you were able to do a C rank mission on your own. Despite the issues you encountered along the way.''
Oliver tried to hide his mostly healed leg as the old General casted a worried glance toward it. ''So since we can do missions on our own now, why is Xofamai still there?'' Oliver asked curiously.
Olivia crossed her arms. ''You're only allowed to do C rank missions on your own. You still need Xofamai there for more serious missions until you reach the rank of Ranger. Today's mission is a mission of rank B but it could easily turn into a mission of Rank A if you get unlucky. Our client say that a mysterious mansion appeared out of thin air in the village of Organu. Everyone that tried to approach the premise got attacked by ghost-like apparitions. As if that wasn't enough three young women have gone missing since the mansion appeared. Understandably the villagers are disturbed and want something done as quick as possible.''
Xofamai had a frown on his face. ''Organu? I can't say I'm familiar with that name and I travelled to a lot of place in my time with the Resistance.''
Olivia nodded and developed a grim frown. ''That's why it might develop in a rank A mission. Organu is a small village down to the south of Orchestralia.''
Clara was confused when Xofamai's frown deepened at the news. ''What's so wrong with the south?'' She asked curiously.
The old General sighed before adressing the young hybrid girl. ''As you have probably noticed, the majority of missions the Resistance does in Orchestralia are to the east. There's a very good reason for that. We have good relations to the eastern region and for the most part we have control of the area. To the west is the territory of the Knights of Humanity we only risk doing missions there when it can really benefit us. To the north is the largest forest in all of Orchestralia. The forest is so big that it is imposible to go to the north of the country without passing throught it. It has been completely overtaken by powerful wild Elestia and we almost never send people there. The only people that lived past that forest was a group of native Amedian we lost contact with after the Invasion, we don't even know if they're still alive.''
Clara nodded in understanding but then she frowned. ''Then what about the south?''
Olivia developed a grim expression. ''Well if rumors are to be believed the south has fallen in control to the Cult of The Great Ones. They control a good portion of the south and if rumored are to be believed their cult also extend into a good portion of the United Stars of Amedia.''
Clara face paled and her fist clenched angrily. ''So they arleady spreaded that far.'' She muttered under her breath.
Olivia either didn't heard her or pretend not to as she adressed everyone one last time. ''But hopefully you won't encounter CGO on your way to Organu. But even if you don't you should still be careful. Anything that can conjure up an entire building out of thin air is not to be taken lightly.'' She said in a warning tone.
Xofamai nodded in understanding. ''I understand, if my suspicious are correct we're dealing with a Death Elestia. So Clara you should be careful Death Elestia have the advantage against the Mind Nature. On the other hand they're weak against Earth Nature, so Oliver's Flodeera should come in handy.''
Oliver and Clara both nodded before all three of them left the office on the way to their next mission...