THE LAST ONE PART 1: THE BEGINNING
Story by: Malus Wolfe
Edited by: Davey Rootbeer
Produced by : Your Mom
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Chapter 5: A Quest Begins
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The time will come when angels cry. If one is to face fate, one must conquer it. A lightless land will shine truth. To call it a prophecy is false. To call it destiny is falser. Only man rules man’s destiny.
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I awoke to a startling shake to my leg. “Ugh, What the hell?!” I muttered, straining to lift my body up. The night before had run on, and I didn’t have much sleep. Davey was standing next to the window, his silhouette glimmering in the twilight.
“We need to get an early start.” He said, calm as ever. “The orb is in a temple on the outskirts of a desert, and I’m sure we want to get there before the sun is fully in the sky.”
I sighed and twisted my body out of the rock hard bed. “Whatever.” I moaned, reaching for my gloves. To my surprise, Davey grabbed them before I did. He threw them in the corner, and instead motioned to a small box on the desk. He was grinning from ear to ear. “You didn’t?” I said, laughing. Opening the box, I discovered two armored gloves. They were made of hard leather, dyed red. The finger and knuckle portions were covered with hard metal. Flipping the gloves over, I discovered the Planeswalker sign painted onto each palm. “Davey, these are awesome!”
He laughed, walking towards the door. “I thought you’d like them, and they won’t break when you use chi. Had them handmade, figured you’d like them. Let’s get going, our companions should be arriving shortly.” As I put my perfect-fitting gloves on, I stumbled out of the door.
The morning air had a surprising freshness to it. It was comforting, a serene feeling. Looking at Davey in the sunlight, I noticed his clothing was different. He no longer had on his normal clothing, but he had on more hard leather, strung together at the joints.
“Take these.” He said, throwing me a small chain vest and some leg armor. “You’ll need them if and when we run into trouble. Be sure to practice summoning your chi, you won’t have much time during a battle.”
“If you say so.” I said putting the armor pieces on. They were light, and allowed a good range of movement. Good for fighting. I summoned my chi almost instantly. Perhaps Serena’s drink really did beef me up…
“Hey!” Someone shouted.
I peered around the corner. Picc’elo and Demon Cougar were walking side by side, Picc’elo waving. They looked much different from the previous night. Picc’elo was wearing chains of beautiful silver, and a tiara that just barely showed on her forehead, covered by her hair. On her side was a silver katana adorned with various gems on the hilt and sheath.
Cougar was a different sight. She was wearing even more furs of some sort of creature or another, and a headband with azure feathers stuck on the inside band. She had no weapon in sight besides her two short daggers.
“Good morning all!” Said Picc’elo in a cheerful tone. She seemed to have more energy than any of us combined.
“Morning” Muttered Cougar, as she yawned, revealing small fangs.
“We’ve just arrived.” Said Davey. “We should probably start off, the sun is rising, and the Akvari can be harsh. Then again, we should probably wait for Asylus, and another we tacked on after you two departed.”
“Say no more!” Shouted Asylus, stepping out into the street from the bar down the road. He started running at us full speed! “The great Otapis has arrived!” He tripped on his own feet, sailing through the air.
Cougar caught him at the chest with her left hand. “Were you in there all night?” she remarked in a disapproving tone. She stood him up, and scoffed.
“Oh, yeah, bite me in advance.” He said, half asleep. “Lemme get my stuff.” He staggered into the inn, going to his room.
“I just hope he doesn’t pass out.” Murmured Cougar.
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Asylus staggered out ten minutes later, and we all set off. We walked away from Serai, going northwest, for a good twenty minutes when we reached a small camp. Jubei was sitting there, cooking the meat of some creature. After some small talk and introductions, we set off again. The road was silent, everyone thinking their own thoughts and keeping to themselves. I was admiring the scenery. We were walking through open grasslands, and strange creatures would pass us left and right. Antelope-like creatures with reptilian skin passed often, and I guessed these were the main source of meat in Yamakai.
After a few minutes of walking, my curiosity got the best of me. “Hey Jubei,” I said, breaking the silence, “Last night you said you were a rune knight. What’s that anyway?”
He grinned and said “Many races have special innate abilities. Rune knights are sort of like copycats. We attempt to use the abilities of other races thought the use of magical runes, that’s all. I’m personally familiar with the techniques of the elves, I studied them a good while.” At this comment, he and Picc’elo met eyes for a moment, and quickly turned away.
“Heads up!” Shouted Davey up front, breaking the spell. “We’re entering the desert.”
Yamakai was still out to shock me. The plains we were walking on suddenly cut off, ending in a straight line. The desert started immediately on the other side. In the distance I could see a small temple of sorts, most likely our destination. It was tall and imposing, looking like a misshaped pyramid. We reached it in less than twenty minutes.
Standing outside the giant temple, the group all admired the architecture. For a moment in time, all was still, everything quiet. All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of my neck jumped up, sensing danger. I spun around, and saw a small ball of radiating purple energy heading towards us at amazing speed. “Heads up!” I shouted to the rest, sidestepping it and jumping back. The whole group scattered and braced, ready for action. Cougar even produced a large wooden hammer adorned with feathers from under her furs.
“This is where your journey ends, I’m afraid!” Said a confident voice. A small figure landed in front of us. “Turn over the Planeswalker unless you want to die horribly!” By the stature and voice, I could tell it was male. He wore a ninja's stealth suit, completely black and one piece. At his waist was a sash, tying two katana crosswise, in an “x” pattern. The black suit covered everything, the only thing visible on him were his deep red eyes.
“Just who do you think you are!?” Asylus shouted, a sudden rage brimming in his bloodshot eyes.
“Isn’t it a little late for introductions?” He said, laughing. “I am Khant’s agent, Fire Wyrm-0. But, you’ll only live long enough to know me as Zero.”
Davey said nothing, just drew his lute, readying his fingers. “If you want him, you’ll have to take him.”
Zero seemed to turn angry. “You always resist! Humans! Think you can resist all, think you’re above all! Elves and Alkirk, too! No matter! I shall kill you all right now, and be back before sunset!”
Zero removed several small glass vials from his suit, each brimming with the purple youkai. Throwing them to the ground, purple smoke shrouded and spun into the air. The smoke twisted and turned, forming into the shape of stout beasts. They were translucent, on all fours and muscular and looked like wolves with a purple aura. They sprung into action, faster than my eyes, surrounding us.
We backed up and stood close, the wolves circled, watching us. My adrenaline peaked. Then, the whole world started to explode with blinding movement. Zero jumped high in the air, and fired four quick youkai blasts. Picc’elo jumped as well, going to meet him, deflecting two of the blasts with the back of her hand, and dodging the others. The wolves dashed forward, razor teeth extended. They picked off targets with unseen strategy, each one assigned a target. My wolf seemed to be the smallest.
“Ben! Use your chi!” Davey roared to me, drawing his wolf away. I focused my chi, and spread it around my body. The chi enhance was in place, and my strength rose dramatically.
“Haah!” I grunted as I jumped, meeting my wolf with a sharp kick on its back. The wolf was knocked to the ground, where I met it with my other foot. It sprung into the air from the impact. I kicked off the ground unusually high because of the chi, and punched. My fist tore through the youkai, as the chi sifted through it. The wolf fell to the ground, split in two by my fist. It sat there, twitching, until I finished it with a chi shot. The youkai dissipated into the air, fading out of existence. I spun around to look at the others.
“Heh!” Grunted Cougar, ramming her hammer into the head of one. It flew to the side, dazed. She drew one of her daggers, and closed her eyes. As she opened them, chi spread over the dagger, dancing around the knife. She aimed at the wolf’s head and released. The chi accelerated the knife to unbelievable speed, and it tore through the wolf. The wolf dispelled immediately.
I spun around again. Asylus was firing small bolts of chi. They looked like lightning, and they had the speed to match. Everywhere the wolf went, Asylus tried to meet it with a bolt. He looked tired, but the wolf fell before him.
Jubei was right next to him, not having as much trouble. The wolf lunged, and pushed him back. Chi was brimming all over his sword. He moved it around in the air, the chi staying in place, as if it were ink and the sword a pen. When he finished the rune, it formed a thin shield of chi in the air. The wolf lunged again, only this time Jubei sliced the rune in two and the shield shattered, creating a thousand shards of chi. The shards spread all over, tearing into the wolf, ripping it to pieces.
Davey was in perfect control of his wolf. When it would try and move left or right, he would strum a string on his lute, and it would be met with a sharp bolt of energy. Lunging at him, he played a quick three note tune. A large stream of chi shot out and ripped through the wolf, knocking him down for good.
“Aaaah!” Picc’elo screamed. She was pinned with her back the ground, Zero’s sword pushing hers closer to her body. We all launched an attack at the same time. I aimed at Zero’s chest, putting quite a bit of energy into a chi shot.
The attacks bounced off Zero, distracting him. Picc’elo saw the moment, and slashed him upward, where he was met with my chi shot. The shot knocked him clear away from Picc’elo. “Ugh!” Groaned Zero, Injured. We all stood around him, in a circle. I looked at Picc’elo. She was panting, had several cuts on her face, and tears in her clothing. It didn’t look like she had faired too well against Zero.
“Hah…hahaha!” Zero laughed. “You managed to beat my wolves, and subdue me! You really are quite strong. But, this isn’t the end of me, not by a long shot!” He kicked Asylus back and sprung into the air. He shot away in a quick flash of black robes and youkai. He was nowhere in sight. I relaxed, taking off my chi enhance.
“You ok, Picc’elo?” Said Davey, relieved, putting his lute away. He produced some cloth, and began bandaging her wounds.
“Yes.” She said in a painful tone after he head finished, “Let’s just go into the temple.”
I turned towards the temple. I saw the mark on a small stone to my lower right. I looked at Davey.
“You know what to do.”
I sighed and took off my gloves. Extending them, the pain returned. The small threads of chi extended into the triangles and filled them. Flashing, a large stone door recessed in, and slid to the side. There was no light in the dark corridor. I turned around. Everyone was staring in awe at me, save for Davey.
“Well?” I blurted, “Let’s go already!”
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