28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOu9vRQbAnCindar – Caetis of the Dragon District – Crest House
Zekryo sat on his throne. He and the other Spiritan Commanders had been dismissed for the time being. He was thinking in silence when a commotion outside his doors was suddenly heard.
Kaci – Crest Head of the Kitsune Crest and one of his fellow Spiritan Commanders – stormed into his throne room, disregarding his guards, Seth and Yune.
They each stood at the bottom of the steps to his seat. Kaci had her arms crossed impatiently while Seth and Yune bowed apologetically.
"Forgive us, sir. She insisted," Seth stated, head down.
"It's alright. I'm well aware of how much of a handful she can be," Zekryo replied before dismissing them, leaving him and Kaci alone.
"Why have you come here?" He demanded, using a fist to lean his head on while looking down at her.
Why do you think?" she stated as if the answer was obvious. "I want my son back. We know it's the klevonians have him. The two of us could go get some answers while they're recovering."
"You think it's wise to go against Raina's demands? What if our assumptions are wrong?"
"I don't care," she said as thunder boomed. "Consequences be damned, I'm taking him back from them. Who else would..."
Suddenly, they both stopped moving, having sensed something for a split second.
"So, he's the culprit," Zekryo said calmly. "That's...unexpected."
"Aeric...," Kaci hissed, instantly growing furious.
Kaci turned away to head toward the exit.
"Where are you going?" Zekryo's voice echoed.
"To go get him. There's no time for us to wait for permission, and I don't want to risk Aeric knowing that we know."
"Hm. This course of action will likely result in a major conflict. There will be repercussions once the others learn of it," he replied. "But I agree that time is of the essence and there's an advantage of knowing exactly where the children are."
"So you agree with me," Kaci stopped and turned to him.
"However," he continued, "running in blind isn't the answer: do that and you'll lose outright. There are three noteworthy figures to be aware of: the first is Aeric, but he isn't a threat so long as he isn't antagonized directly. The remaining two are the klevonians who attacked Forgeton. The two of them have received zenith marks, which have granted them power comparable to us Spiritan Commanders. The two of them will be too much for you."
"I know," Kaci smiled with a false sense of innocence as it dawned on him that she said us. "That's why you're coming with me. After all, he's your son too."
Sona – The Dark Wildlands
Tymon and Naomi's true hybrid forms were undoubtedly powerful, but that didn't seem to help them in this situation.
Naomi tried to freeze the sonans before things could get out of hand, but they weren't affected by her cold at all, which confused her initially.
It's likely due to the extreme cold here, Tymon told her. Their kind has evolved to survive this place, so they're probably immune to the cold. Since there's no light, they've evolved with having to see too, so my darkness has no effect either. Hell of a place for the two of us to be sent to.
That's concerning, Tymon. You've got a plan, right? Naomi responded anxiously as she tried to keep the sonans at bay with walls of ice.
I'm working on it. For now, all I can tell is that they've been avoiding the light coming from the glemit. Makes me curious what happens when I do this...
Tymon grabbed another glemit stone from his spatial bag and threw it at high speed toward the sonans. They all scattered, showcasing impressive reflexes, but one was slower than the others and had one of his legs caught in the light before fully escaping its range.
When the light shone on it, Tymon saw the sonan's skin burn and realized that, since the planet was constantly dark, the sonans rarely experienced it and must have been sensitive to light. He was clearly onto something because the sonans threw their daggers at both pieces of glemit, breaking them to force Tymon and Naomi into complete darkness with them.
The two had to rely on omnivision to gain any semblance of sight. Even then, it wasn't much better. The sonans' energy signatures were barely distinguishable from the dark, cold energies that flowed through the planet and its atmosphere. Some of their energies were like black mist, while some were like a black crystalline substance of energy.
After some brief clashes, he realized that though the sonans were nimble, none of them had strength like his or Naomi's. Probably why they operated in numbers against strong opponents.
Tymon was really trying his best not to use Last Breath on these people. He found himself wishing Michael were there. It'd make things a lot easier.
Guess we'll just have to crush them with brute force then, he shared telepathically as he caught the wrist of one of the sonans who attacked him, then broke it by squeezing his fist shut.
The sonan must've been trained with discipline and pain tolerance because, despite the immense pain he undoubtedly was in, without a whimper, he simply gritted his teeth and flipped backwards while holding his limp hand in place.
Suddenly, three new figures showed up. Two males and one female, from the sense of it. Tymon couldn't see any detail, but he could tell that each of them was suppressing their power, making it difficult to gauge how strong they were.
The other sonans around them fell to a knee and bowed their heads.
Naomi looked around in confusion and slowly started to lower into a bow, but glanced at Tymon, who remained standing, then straightened herself.
"Why do your heads remain high?" one of the males spoke.
"There's only one I'll ever kneel to and only one person who I respect enough to follow. Neither of you are them," Tymon declared defiantly, causing the male who spoke to step forward.
The second male signaled for the first to stop. He spoke patiently and with a slight southern accent.
"'S okay. There's no cause for needless bloodshed," he told the infuriated one.
"Identify yourselves," the first male spoke again.
Tymon could tell the guy had no patience for disrespect toward his kind's customs. Though slightly aggravated because they hadn't actually hurt anyone – at least not before being attacked first – Tymon decided to comply since his plan worked.
"I'm Tymon. This is Naomi," he answered.
"Do you know where you are – whose planet you're invading?" the sonan asked aghast.
"We were trying to explain to your friends before they attacked us that we aren't here to invade your world," Naomi stated, causing every sonan's head to turn her way, and she gulped.
"Why don't you enlighten us?" Tymon responded, regaining their attention.
"I don't care for your lack of respect," the aggravated sonan grimaced, ready to act.
"Skota, calm yourself," the collected, male sonan said with a hint of authority. He then raised a hand and released a ball of purple energy that emitted a weak light, giving everything around them a purple hue.
It didn't grant total visibility, but for the first time since arriving, Tymon and Naomi are able to see decently beyond five feet without omni-vision. Tymon was able to get a better look at the three sonans who had arrived now.
"Don't worry, this light, here, simply filters sunlight to protect our kind during our planet's brief daylight seasons. Should also help you two see better. I'm Aechal. These two are my close confidants, Skota and Kyra," the sonan with the southern accent informed them.
He was lean and slightly shorter than Tymon, likely six feet tall. In fact, he was shorter than the other sonan as well. This guy was stylish for sure. He wore an impressive, raven-like cloak that flapped in the wind. Underneath the cloak, he wore a thin, dark, open shirt that exposed his chest and abs. On his chest was a glowing scar of some kind. He also had a damaged brace around his left wrist that glowed with the same weird energy from his scar. His dark pants were made of the same material as his shirt, and around his waist was a holster of some kind that swayed at his thighs. From the holster hung a few daggers that were similar to the ones Tymon saw some of the previous sonans carrying, except he carried three instead of one. Around his neck was a crimson scarf. Then, hanging on his ears were two clunky ornaments that Tymon assumed were some sort of earrings. To top it all off, he wore a western-style black hat.
It was clear that Aechal was a leader here.
"Welcome to Sona, home to the sonans." Skota changed his attitude begrudgingly. He was lean as well, but was slightly taller than Tymon, standing at 6'3". He wore a black, raven cloak with a dark hood that – with the blindfold – helped hide most of his face. Like Aechal, his bare, grey-skinned chest and abs were exposed to the cold as well. His arms were wrapped in some unique, black bandage wraps; he wore dark pants, combat boots, and a black dagger holster around his waist. "Aechal is our world's ruler. Kyra and I are his loyal guards."
Tymon glanced at the female. She'd been silent this whole time. She wore a thin, dark dress that flowed in the wind. Her long, grey hair fell past her hips, matching her skin in color. She simply stood there, watching them. No. Tymon almost forgot sonans were blind. Kyra didn't wear a blindfold like many of the others. She left her eyes revealed. They were opaque, colorless sockets that made her seem lifeless.
Cool, so they're like the Ryfi Theos/Ryfa Pakt of this world, Naomi mused. He even has two bodyguards like the Crest Heads.
I'm not so sure... Tymon stated as he silently observed Skota and Kyra more closely. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but for the briefest instant, he got a flash of immense power from both of them, causing him to switch to a more alert state. His muscles were bound and ready to act at a moment's notice in case the group of mysterious individuals did something. He mentally envisions a scenario of quickly killing most of the weaker ones before being forced to face Skota. Hopefully it didn't have to come to that.
Skota must've sensed the intent from Tymon because he immediately lunged and tried to kill him.
Tymon transformed and caught Skota's blow. He grimaced from the weight of the blow. This guy was definitely stronger than the other sonans they'd faced earlier. There was no holding back against him. Tymon activated Last Breath, returning Skota's intent to kill, but even at full strength, it got cancelled out by something Skota used – some black mist.
No, it's more than that. Tymon swore it felt as though Skota's body changed composition to cancel out Last Breath's effects. And worse, Tymon looked at his arm and saw he was bleeding slightly. Whatever Skota used to protect himself was able to hurt him, too. It never occurred to him, but his Shield cintracy might only protect him against cindarian abilities. Other species' abilities could still hurt him.
"That's the interesting energy you just displayed," Skota said, pushing Tymon a few feet back. "You're the first non-sonan I've seen to have energy similar to one of ours."
"'S certainly somethin' of note," Aechal stepped in. Skota took the signal to stand down. It looked like the guy in charge wanted to test Tymon himself. "So? How 'bout it? Care to show me what that power of yours can do?"
After his clash with Skota, Tymon figured his Last Breath wouldn't have any effect on Aechal either, but he refused to just let them do whatever they wanted. His concerns weren't for himself since he was immortal, but he needed to look out for Naomi.
Tymon released all of his power. He used Blackout to shroud himself and Aechal in his darkness and lifted them from the ground.
"You're aware that we're blind, aren't cha?" Aechal spoke in the darkness, but Tymon ignored him and continued to apply full-powered Last Breath to the energy.
He unleashed several of his techniques like Blackout: Honed Execution, Black Fists, Sentient Reach, Sentient Reach: Chain, and even Dark Sentience, but Aechal wasn't affected in the slightest.
After Tymon finally stopped moving, and he tried to think of another approach, Aechal effortlessly closed the gap between them quicker than Tymon could react. Then, in one strike, he chopped Tymon with enough force to shatter his spirit enhancement and knocked Tymon out of his transformation. Tymon's vision went blurry as he felt Aechal support his body as they lowered to the ground.
There was some snickering from the other sonans, but Aechal silenced them.
"His defeat is amusing to you, is it? Had he fought like that against any of you, you wouldn't have survived."
None of them said anything, but a few looked down at their hands as dark mist emerged around them.
"Don't think just because my abyss protected me means yours would've done the same for you," Skota told them. "Whatever technique he uses is stronger than each of your abyss's strengths. You're all lucky he didn't use it on you."
Tymon regained enough of his strength to stand on his own, but Naomi still braced herself against him, looking worried.
Skota approached him.
"To gain such praise from Aechal, you should be proud. I'm willing to hear you out now. Why have you two come here?"
Tymon briefly informed them that he and Naomi were sent there from Cindar to search for someone who could help them master their power and possibly push them to new heights.
"Klevonians receiving training from sonans? I don't see how our techniques would help you at all. Other species can't learn our techniques," Kyra stated sourly.
"Hm. Darkness and ice. I can see why you two'd be sent here of all places, but Krya is right. Only sonans have the ability to be taught sonan techniques. Who would send you here with the impression that you could?" Aechal asked.
"Viraa," Tymon stated, not wanting to implement Alissia.
"The Scryer?" Skota looked at Aechal.
After some thought, Aechal agreed to help them, but only out of courtesy to the peace they had with Cindar that they wished to uphold. They were warned, though, that if they proved to become a threat to their people, they wouldn't hesitate to kill them and sever ties with Cindar.
That's a pretty big consequence if things go wrong, isn't it? Naomi spoke telepathically.
Yeah, looks like Sona is more important than we realized, he responded.
"With that bein' said, please, follow us."
Planet Gleme
Michael emerged from the rift somewhere on a foreign planet. Everything was bright. White buildings. Lush grasses. Crystal water. It was daylight. Wherever this Planet Gleme was, there were three suns in the sky.
As he looked up at the sky, he noticed an impossibly large and yet beautiful tree of light looming in it as well. He could tell that, despite how large it looked, it was very, very far away, meaning it was even larger than it looked.
He levitated off the ground to get a better lay of the land. From what he could see, he was just outside a small city that was more of a town if anything. Wonderful, somewhere he could start.
As he made his way to the town, he saw a map of the city. His brain translated the native language, allowing him to quickly understand it. According to the map, there was a pub nearby. A perfect place to gather information. He chose to walk to avoid suspicion and was soon standing before the door of a moderate-sized, white-stone building.
He reminded himself not to cause trouble for Alissia and mused about how he was always more approachable compared to the others. He was even skilled enough in bureaucracy. Not drawing attention to himself or causing trouble was going to be a simple task for him.
When he opened the door and stepped through, a bell rang, signaling his entrance to everyone within the bar. At first, people carried on with their conversations, but one by one, people looked at Michael and paused until nearly everyone was staring in his direction.
This may be more challenging than I presumed...
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