It has been three years since Sin’s war against the cults and the world is still healing, even the strongest man in the world Rotan. After a conference called by Rotan to try and persuade the world to keep faith in the legendary Panta Astelles he is attacked. While searching for these enemies he runs into others and joins a journey with the Panta Astelle Rea. The two try to work out their differences while they each are introduced to the new politics they have both empowered.
Listen to an excerpt of Warrior Reconcile's first chapter. Rotan finds himself surrounded by an unknown foe. He is forced to defend himself and now must find the cause of the assail.
Read the Prequel, Mystical Trek: Preventing the Sinner, today!
Chapter I
All rights reserved to Thank You Theo Productions LLC and Theodis Houston III. This product should not be recreated, sold, edited, or manipulated without the consent of both parties.
Inside the Museum of Revolution, a mud of world officials crowded into an auditorium. The strongest, most influential warriors entered wearing their land’s emblem and the contemporary draping silk fabric custom for combat. Scientists entered wearing their signature lab coats. Analysts entered wearing suits, along with Inventors who dressed leisurely. Many important figures were in this auditorium including Cal and Falcon, the leaders of Libertarian and Allure, respectively.
Rotan peeked behind the satin curtains out onto the crowd. “More than half the seats are empty,” he thought while he continued his prowl of the audience. “I don’t see her,” he ruminated.
“Rotan it’s time,” the showrunner said.
He walked while the silk muddy sand colored fabric from his clothing followed him. He kissed the Sun emblem that hung from his chest held by a diamond necklace; then he habitually fixed his diamond framed glasses.
He stood at the podium in front of the crowd. “It's only about two hundred people. I invited all the world advocates and leaders; that’s roughly seven hundred people. Where is everyone else?”
“That damn Rotan. He just can’t let the past be the past.” Cal said irritated while he spectated from the audience.
“You can’t blame him. Sin’s war... it left a lot of destruction, physically and mentally. The world right now doesn’t trust in the Astelles, better yet the Panta Astelles. He’s just trying to do what the Sages would have done once upon a time,” Falcon retorted.
“Yes, I understand, but his approach is…how can I say it…a bit aggressive. Sins war lasted ten years, it has only been three since he ended it,”
“I know but he did end it, and the world owes him. It’s quite alarming that the others did not show,”
“Well—”
Rotan walked onto the stage and began to address the world. He spoke to his fellow contemporaries about what the Astelles truly meant. The Astelles were the source of energy for everything living on the planet, they granted them life and wisdom, but for those virtues there is a price to pay. Rotan contested that every man on Kisment was obligated to protect, study or master the Astelles.
While he continued his speech he spoke on the traditions of the lost cults and sages, honoring them and their customs. The young warrior who defeated Sin in the past war elaborated on the cults and sages teachings; and how it was their lessons that prepared him to protect the Astelles and value the power that they conceded.
Rotan led on about how the planet was now demoralized; how the war vanquished faith in the Panta Astelles. Rotan rhetorically pleaded for an answer because he could not understand how they let this happen. He evoked words about Elly, the Panta Astelle who sacrificed her life in Sin’s war. He reminisced on how he arose when she was killed and how he, a Warrior, protected the planet by killing Sin, with the power of the Astelles. Concluding that he would not have been able to do so without mastering the Astelles.
Rotan felt the world shouldn’t be so quick to lose faith. He said without true masters of the Astelles there’d be no hope. They must remember what their predecessors taught them and wash the world of Sins stain. Rotan believed that for a brighter future they’d have to study their serene past. He asked for them to trust in him, the Panta Astelles, the Shaman’s and their ancestors because he knew they could find a way to restore the cults and the true teachings of the Astelles.
While Rotan spoke some of the audience couldn’t heed his words and departed from the conference. He wanted to make sure that everyone who stayed understood his message; he knew the planet was traumatized by Sin’s reign. However, he planned to keep his promise and revert Kisment’s faith. Kisment’s hero not only wanted his peers and neighbors to trust in the Astelles but also the Panta Astelles; he planned to restore their legacy as well.
To help the world remember the compassion of a Panta Astelle he brought out the most recent Panta Astelle, Sire, the reincarnation of Vaint and Kin.
Sire was twenty years old, and did not have much experience as a Panta Astelle or as a warrior. He was five feet and eight inches and had straight black hair. He wore an orange cotton hoodie, which fit perfectly with the number ten embroidered onto the chest. His shorts stretched to his knees and were made of a hippo hide.
Sire took the podium; more spectators took the exit. The young Panta Astelle began to speak but his words were mince and bombastic. His voice did not carry concern, and his reach was precocious. When he elaborated, recalling the past war, a scientist interrupted him; the scientist believed Sire had no right to speak on something he never experienced, even if he was a Panta Astelle.
Once one spoke out, a second did, then a third, and it was a chemical reaction. It continued until Rotan was forced to walk Sire off stage. The outburst mimicked the social climate. It was clear to Rotan that the world didn’t trust the Panta Astelles and might not for a while. Sin’s reign still reeked, and its odor felt imperishable. The cults and sages were now extinct. Kisment needed an alternative in case of another Sin. However, despite all that Rotan believed the world always had a solution with the Panta Astelles and if there weren’t any around, he felt he was strong enough to protect the planet. He felt he owed it to Elly to reinstate the legacy of the Panta Astelles and he wasn’t going to stop trying.
The crowd funneled out while Rotan spoke to Sire outside the back entrance of the Museum of Revolution. The two sat at the bottom of a set of stairs that climbed four meters. They sat and pondered by the pond while the final sun began to set. Upon the glowing orange horizon was an arid coast of small four-meter-tall evergreen trees and half meter shrubs.
While they gaped at the horizon and roasted in the calm breeze Rotan thanked Sire for attending. Sire whimsically responded accusing Rotan of setting him up to be berated. The Panta Astelle confessed he knew the world didn’t favor Panta Astelles, but he was the new guy. He didn’t think they’d turn that fast.
Rotan blamed Rea for not coming. He told Sire that Rea needed to be there because she fought in the war and owed everyone an apology. Sire questioned her whereabouts, who was just as curious as his teacher.
Suddenly a familiar voice yelled Rotan’s name from the top of the mountainous stairs. It was Bal and Falcon; they appeared serious and wanted to speak with him. Rotan urged Sire to return to his scribe; telling him he’d contact him soon. The world’s hero proceeded to climb to the two Capitol Leaders.
“Thanks for coming guys, it’s great to know at least half of the Capitol Leaders will show up for me,”
“It’s no problem, Rotan, and don’t worry about the others. The world is forever grateful to you,” Cal endearingly responded.
“It’s still no excuse for Moscow and Tiff not to show up,” Falcon added.
“Tiff is still reclaiming lands of Enliven and Moscow, she’s tired. Her role as leader is ending so it’s no surprise to me, to be completely honest she should have retired after my father's death,”
“I guess the world is changing,” Rotan expressed with sympathy while he gazed at the starry night sky.
“It is. That’s what we wanted to talk to you about Rotan,” Cal interjected.
Cal’s statement unexpectedly made Rotan anxious. His hunch was right, this was not a typical conversation amongst peers. “You have to take it easy with this tour,”
“Tour? What are you talking about?” Rotan casually questioned.
“All these conferences. This is like the fifth one since the war, give the world affiliates some time,”
Rotan turned to Falcon, filled with disappointment. “You feel this way too?” he asked the bald, one eyed, menacing man. Falcon’s vapid expression was Rotan’s answer. “I can’t believe you guys are folding, Elly wouldn’t want this,”
“If it’s what’s best for the world she would, and it is,” Falcon responded.
“How is giving up on restoring the cults and their teachings best for the world? What about giving up on the Panta Astelles, I know she wouldn’t want that,”
“That’s not what’s happening here Rotan, stop playing dumb. You’re Kisments hero, you can see it just like we can, the planet is more terrified than ever before…. Sin…he was just too strong, if it wasn’t for you and your—”
“I’m still here!”
“What?” Cal questioned.
“I’m the proof of why we can’t lose focus. I’m a master of the Astelles, Chief Maximus of the Cygnus Tribe of the Triad Sages. If it wasn’t for their teachings the world would be in Sin’s hands now,”
“Even with you around Rotan it’s still difficult to depend on Warriors. It’s possible one day someone can learn what you know and be on the opposing side. If you aren’t around, how do we stop them?” Cal asked.
“That is what I am saying we have to continue to value the Astelles and pass on their teachings,”
“And we will,” Falcon said. He took a step closer to Rotan, “We just can’t place all our focus into reviving the Cults,”
Rotan was perplexed at the two of his superiors conclusion. With deep concern he asked, “Without the Cults and Sages who can we trust to protect the Astelles?”
“Agencies,” Cal responded.
“Agencies?”
“Yes, they will be sponsored by lands or individuals who have the resources and are deemed trustworthy. They will consist of Warriors who will be on assignments received by their Agency HQ. They will still follow the chain of command from the Land’s legions, which are Beginner, Intermediate, Lieutenant, and General; but the warriors will report to their Agency leader or lieutenant. It’s a system put in place to provide Warriors with resources to become stronger and offer the world an idea on who the strongest are,”
“This is ridiculous, most of these people don’t even have the Astelles best interest. Yes, the world is scared, and I know it is because of Sin, but we can’t let one Panta Astelle steer the world down this road. If we turn our back on the Panta Astelles we turn our back on the past Shamans, we turn our back on everything we learned,”
“Rotan this will give us a way to watch the Panta Astelles and prevent another Sin. Especially if you are on board,” Falcon responded.
“On board?” Rotan asked.
“We want you to open an Agency and continue your teachings and train the next generation of Panta Astelles. The world only trusts you to lead them,”
Rotan looked at the night sky and stared at the stars. Aloofly he rebutted no. Cal and Falcon were astonished.
“I won't be a part of any plan that devalues the Astelles and Panta Astelles. I’m a warrior who will protect the Astelles with my life same goes with the Panta Astelles and if the world can’t get that I’ll just go live with the Nomads,” Rotan stormed away.
“Have it your way Rotan. You’ll face reality sooner or later,” Cal said.
“I can’t believe you two. What would Bal and Elly think?”
“What did you say?” Cal ferociously asked while lunging at Rotan. Falcon reached his arm in front of Cal as a sign of a treaty. He stepped in front of his contemporary and spoke to Rotan.
“Rotan that’s enough. It’s time for this to stop. This is happening whether you like it or not. What would Elly think of you right now? What would Ramu think?” Rotan stared, stunned by the question, his face was bare and his eyes dazed. “For everyone to trust in the Astelles and Panta Astelles again, it’s going to take time. And the world can’t wait we have to do what’s best for everyone and that is expanding our technical powers and creating Agencies for research and fighting…just in case another Sin does show up,”
“Sounds awesome,” Rotan then vanished.
“Why does he have to act like that!?” Cal shouted. He flailed and flipped ranting. “He thinks I want to, just give up on the Cults? Sin wiped them away; everyone who still follows the ways of the Sages is with the Nomads now. And what did he expect the world’s reaction to be after Sin was defeated. Sometimes he’s just so delusional, especially when it comes to the Panta Astelles. I still don’t know how he brought himself to kill Sin if he feels this deep about the reincarnates; it’s a bit obsessive,”
Cal recklessly took a seat on the stairs, and Falcon carefully followed.
“Give him a break, he’s been through a lot. We all have. No one thought Elly would have died so late in the war, she’d truly become a Warrior to be proud of. And Rotan he adorned her; he had no choice but to kill Sin. He wanted to save him desperately but couldn’t, now he probably just wishes he could do it all over again. I know I do,” Falcon said as he caressed the scar that replaced his right eye.
“I’m grateful for Rotan and because of that he’ll always be a Capitol Warrior as long as I’m leader. I know he’s not going to change anyway. I just wish he’d trust us for once. The world doesn’t know but we’ll need him soon, along with the Panta Astelles for the new revolution. Tech is stronger and making many rich and powerful, we’ll need real warriors to balance it out,”
“That’s true, with Rea’s new research, many might fall under the assumption we no longer need Masters of the Astelles,”
“But we do,”
“Do you think Rea knows that?” Falcon questioned.
“She’s a Panta Astelle, she should,”
“You’d think, but remember she hid during the war, she watched while Elly lost her life, she watched the entire world go through despair, and never once revealed herself. Not until Rotan found her,”
“You don’t think she redeemed herself? She helped Rotan stop Sin and with this new research she’ll give everyone the ability to become as strong as her…maybe?”
“Way to show your youth,”
“What do you mean? You’re only like ten years older than me, I’m the same age as Rotan,”
“You’re both around twenty-nine, but I have to say Rotan is wiser,”
Cal’s body became red; his face crumbled, and his ears nearly jumped off his head. “What!? How!?”
Cal’s expression forced a chuckle out of Falcon before he responded. “Relax, it’s just a joke,” Cal reverted to his normal ways, his libertarian thobe glistened with the stars. “But partially true, Rotan would never believe that tech can be stronger than the Astelles,”
“Well, whatever happens we have to protect Rotan, Rea and Sire”
“That I can agree with. Though no matter how wise Rotan is, that won’t stop his popularity from plummeting. With the Abysso gaining more and more involvement we have to stay prepared for the worst,” Falcon ominously explained.
“Rotan…that guy he’s the world’s hero. No one will try to hurt him, if they’re smart, but his views and his influence will continue to place targets on him. You think Rea will be able to talk to him? She is a Panta Astelle,”
“Well first she has to tell Rotan about her new tech,” Falcon retorted.
“Oh…well maybe not,” Cal satirically responded.
When Rotan left his conversation with Cal and Falcon, he escaped to a prairie on the top of a grass-fed hill. He stood on the summit near the Astelles. He placed his index finger and thumb on both hands together to create a diamond shape over his heart. Three oscillating hues of green ran through his body from head to toe. A tunnel began to manifest, studded with diamonds and glares. The tunnel seemed to stretch forever and broke into an assortment of trouble. He stood in the middle of the tunnels, waiting.
Diamond figures grew from the ground. Rotan jerked open his eyes and his Neonkem projected off his body like a burst of wind. He spurted to the creations and began to battle the diamond human-esque figures; he destroyed every one of them with a diamond crusted punch to the ground.
“I need to make them stronger…I need to get stronger,” he mused.
He stood straight and placed his fist together, knuckle to knuckle, and a geyser of a green hued Neonkem climbed to the Astelles. The bold green Neonkem changed to a red hue and then an orange hue. His body was drenched with the orange Neonkem until it suddenly disappeared.
Immediately his body’s rim glowed an orange hue. Rotan opened his eyes and stretched his hands creating bulkier figures and an increased amount. “I’ll start with the Orange Wavelength,” he thought as he jumped into the center of his creations.
The figures were much quicker than the previous moving at fifty miles per hour. Rotan dodged all their attacks as they punched and kicked him. He destroyed a few figures with a manifested diamond sword.
While he continued to dodge their attacks, he became surrounded by the remaining diamond figures. They all raised their palms towards Rotan and began to shoot tiny diamond bullets. Right before the diamonds touched his skin Rotan encapsulated himself inside of a water prism reflecting the attack; the creations stayed on the offensive.
“This is perfect, I can get a grasp on absorbing the Camelo constellation,”
While Rotan was concealed by his water prism, he interlocked his hands in front of his heart. He activated the Camelo constellation and began absorbing the Neonkem from the Astelles constellation.
Rotan released his prism and shrunk himself down to the size of a bug. He appeared behind the creations at full size while he emulated a sizzle with his orange wavelength. “Now since I’ve absorbed the Constellation fully I can…” Rotan placed out his palm holding it out for five seconds while the figures rushed him. “Effect my element with it,” Rotan closed his hands making a fist. A meter before the figures reached Rotan, they were all demolished by millions of diamonds that grew to the size of golf balls penetrating and breaking their body into pieces.
While the shards of the figures glistened in the sky Rotan could only think about how he wasn’t strong enough for the world to trust in his words.
Rotan stood straight and took a deep breath. The roof of his manifested cave opened like a dome. He then closed his eyes and dropped his arms. The warrior tightened his fist and turned them outward, holding his position. A burst of energy covers him and his surroundings. His clothes flow in the aggressive wind, along with his chain and braids. The Astelles glimmer like diamonds and the sky grows a purple-greenish haze of gas. While the sky transforms Rotan pulls open his eyes. “The Osar Rays. I’ll practice this technique next,”
He held his pose; his arms were dropped, and his fist clenched with his palms out. This was the Heru pose, a pose that granted the power of the Osar Rays and unlocked divine abilities. The Osar Rays cosmic Neonkem flowed through the veins of Rotan, Kisment’s Hero brimmed with power and his demeanor depicted that.
He manifested one giant megalith of a diamond figure. He stood almost four meters tall and weighed an elephant. When the creature walked the stars felt it. Rotan was fearless, he walked towards the magnificent figure, “The Osar Rays boost never surprises me,” he mused while he prepared to attack.
However, before Rotan could attack the creature punched a crater into the ground. Fortunately, Rotan was able to dodge the attack by shrinking his body and escaping using the Camelo constellation. He was behind the creation when it located him once again. The creature instinctively jumped at Rotan with the same fist. “Alright let’s do this!” Rotan shouted.
He once again performed the Heru pose. This time light particles speckled around him. An eminent glow surrounded the hero. He started to turn oxygen into water when a river moving at intense speed began to flood the cave.
The creation finally landed punching through the river, creating rain. Rotan used his Orange Wavelength to increase his speed and dodge the attack. Surrounding him now was a twirl of water in constant motion creating the barber pole illusion. Before the creature could react a slingshot of water, the size of a river, punched him.
The cave was completely drowned while the current moved faster than speed. Rotan stayed protected but the figure was destroyed. Though while the current continued Rotan felt a sharp sting through his body. He became paralyzed and could only scream in agony. He lost his water protection and his orange wavelength rim; he then succumbed to the deadly current. While he uncontrollably flailed in the river everything slowly began to dissipate until he fell to his back on top of the prairie hill. He looked exhausted and out of life while drenched.
“I still can’t maintain Aqu Rippa, the toll it takes on my body is ridiculous,”
He sat up but still sat down. He huffs while looking out onto the capitol. He then gaped at the night sky which reverted to its normal appearance.
“Should I open an Agency?” he mused. While he continued to ponder his temper rose. “No, I won’t submit to the World Affiliates. I won’t turn my back on the Panta Astelles no matter what,” he stood to his feet instantly. “I’ll show them. There will never be any tech that’ll rival the Astelles,” Rotan clapped his hands and held them in front of his heart aligning to the Astelles once again. He looked down at his feet and noticed his alignment line had two hundred centimeter diameter. “The Osar Rays took half of my gas. I'm at a level II alignment. Its fine this should be enough, I’m only training,”
Rotan placed his fist together, knuckle to knuckle, to perform the Wavelength pose. “Since the Osar Rays flushed my veins, I can practice…” His Neonkem once again journeyed to the stars from his body in the color of green. Rotan began to absorb the Neonkem from one Astelle and the hues began to transform hues; they went from red, to orange, and then to yellow. “…the yellow wavelength” the hero gutted out.
Rotan held the pose but once the hue transformed to yellow, he began to endure unbearable pain. “The wavelength technique is always painful to master,” he struggled to think. The yellow hued Neonkem continued to conquer the sky rising from his body. “This sensation, this burning, my veins they burn so badddd!” he painfully thought. He was forced to yell to the heavens while his body was battered by Neonkem. “Just a little longer,” he thought optimistically.
The yellow hued energy continued its stay while Rotan continued to endure its consequences. This lasted for one full minute when the yellow hued sky rising Neonkem vanished. Rotan opened his eyes and around his body was a rim of yellow Neonkem. He stood straight, bruised and sore. “It still takes too long,” he thought. He then took a step forward and once his foot touched the ground a yellow cloud of gas extinguished from his body and surrounded the area. “And I still can’t hold it,” he thought as the Yellow Wavelength dissipated. “Well, it doesn’t help that I’ve already used the Orange Wavelength. Aqu Rippa reversed my Neonkem flow but still using a wavelength is always taxing not to mention the Osar Rays,”
He sat down once again and monitored the sky. He began to evoke memories of Elly and her efforts in the war. He then ruminated on how she taught him valuable lessons, one that stuck with him is how she trained him to master the Purify technique. While Rotan enjoyed the fond memories, he unwarrantedly evoked his dismal memories. He pondered on the death of Elly and how he let her down by not being strong enough. He regretted not being able to provide back up with Falcon that day and when he finally arrived, she had been defeated.
He wondered how Elly would handle world affairs today, after the war. He knew if she was the one who defeated Sin then there wouldn’t be any issues, but since it was him who defeated their enemy, he enabled the world to become delusional.
Then his thoughts switched to the current era of Panta Astelles. He knew the world despised their lineage, but he believed they can be the generation to change things. Rotan believed Rea has no malicious intent and neither does Sire. Kisment’s Hero grew anxious while thinking about the new Panta Astelles, traumatized the last ten years, which is why he is making it a priority to restore their legacy to the way the last Shaman intended it to be.
Rotan continued to ruminate. Now he was focused on Sins reign and what he had done. “The world will never be the same.” The warrior thought. Sin ruined their future generations and conquered their morale. Although despite all his terrible doings, Rotan still regretted killing him. The memory of Sin’s death elicited and all he could see was the blood on his hands, the blood that stained his mind.
While he ruminated his anger grew, his regret grew, his pride was belittled. He was the strongest warrior in the world but full of regret and didn’t know which way to walk in this new climate. He thought about his father Ramu and then the Triad Sages, his mentor Toh, and the ways of a warrior. To calm himself down he meditated on the words most masters of the Astelles would repeat. “If a Warrior has the Astelles best interest at heart then his actions should never be doubted. To be a true Master of Maata a Warrior should imitate Kadoph’s way and query the Astelles,”
Rotan stood to his feet lethargically. “Maybe I should go to the temples for a while…well first I should go talk to Rea,” while he walked down the prairies hill and toward the district, a small waterfall surrounded him.
First it trapped his feet, causing him to repeatedly walk in the same spot. Then the water surrounded him. After that he fell from the peak of the waterfall to its pool, continuously. “Is this a trap? Who could have set this?” he wondered as the cycle continued.
“My reflective lock wasn’t active.,, they’re definitely emitting a trap,” he continued to fall from the waterfall. He interlocked his index and middle finger in front of his heart and yelled “Aversa Laque,” reflecting the trap with his Neonkem, ending it.
The trap dissipated and Rotan stood alone on a grass plane analyzing his surroundings ready for a battle. Everything around him looked normal. “Who was that? I didn’t recognize the Neonkem,” Rotan ruminated. He looked around the entire prairie and could not depict an enemy until he looked at the sky.
Above him he saw an array of thorns which fell at him with intense speed as if they weighed a hippo. They reached Rotan faster than a blink. He created a diamond barrier just before they cut through his flesh; but a few of the tiny thorns cracked the shield and slightly cut Rotan. “I didn’t have time to Align to the Astelles. They’re breaking through my barrier,”
While Rotan was protecting himself a man appeared behind him. Rotan released his barrier and his covered his body in diamond while the man attempted to hit him with an all-black staff encapsulated by a green hue. The attack clinked with Rotans diamond armor and was ineffective, however the thorns continued to fall. Rotan began his evasion, dodging the blur like thorns which punctured the ground leaving notable damage.
While the thorns continued to harass him from above and this man chased him. Rotan emitted a Graphite Trap in his trail incarcerating the man’s feet. He then used the Neonkem that flowed in his veins to aim a destructive blast at the sky to destroy the thorns. Before he can shoot the blast, he barley doges a punch from a lady on the battlefield. The two began to fight with fists as if they were boxers.
Rotan stayed efficient and didn’t let his opponent land one punch. He was able to create space when he used graphite to blind her. He fell back and so did his opponent. The woman helped her teammate escape from the graphite trap; by that time Rotan had already aligned to the Astelles and Osars.
He manifested his diamond crusted water gun and his diamond creation figures and was ready to battle. “Who are you all?”
“How rude of us,” the woman responded with a light laugh. “I’m Nile and this is Niilo, we’re Memphis Elite nice to finally meet The Rotan,” she spoke satirically.
“Yes, it’s our pleasure,” Niilo said stoically.
“I wish I could say the same,” Rotan retorted. “What do you want? You guys know who I am so I can only assume you’re stupid,”
“Oh no. We’re quite Intelligent, Rotan. We’re just here to honor out contract,”
“Contract?”
“Don’t worry you don’t need to know about the details, just that for it to be fulfilled we need your head,” Nile said with a menacing leer.
Rotan sent his diamond creations after the tandem. He had created five of them and while they ran amok, he shot water bullets at his enemy for cover. “Memphis Elite? I’ve never heard of them. Who could they be working for?”
While the two were distracted destroying his creations Rotan began to perform the Wavelength pose. “It seems I can only use Red for now since I’m at a level II alignment, lucky me,” he thought.
Though before he could garner more attacks, Niilo used the yellow wavelength technique to bring down a town of gravity and crush the creations of Rotan. Rotan felt the unbearable force and fell to his knees. Then suddenly Nile activated an Orange Wavelength.
“We can do it too,” she said mocking the hero.
“Don’t mock him, Nile, he is a contract worthy of our respect,”
“Whatever, let’s just hurry this up,”
“Don’t rush he is the—”
Before they knew it Rotan shrunk his body and appeared behind Niilo at full size. He emitted a contract, slapping his back and stopped his gravity technique.
Before he could infect the foe, Rotan was hit by balls of explosive water, forcing him to shrink himself and escape. “My alignment is getting weaker, I have to stop them soon,”
“You aren’t the hero for nothing. Which is why we came prepared,” Nile’s Neonkem changed colors from Orange to Yellow.
Rotan was dumbfounded by this ability. “How strong are they!? I can’t even switch my wavelength in the middle of battle let alone in the middle of an alignment. What is going on,” he ruminated concerningly.
Suddenly a patch of vines covered their battlefield from Rotan to Memphis Elite. The vines were controlled by Nile, and they attacked Rotan who used his diamond sword to exterminate them. While defending himself Rotan began to meditate on how fortunate this tandem was to find him at this time.
He had less than half of his Neonkem and this duo were heavy handed. Rotans contract on Niilos gravity element was weakening and he could feel it. While he continued to evade Nile’s vines, he extinguished more Neonkem; in the corner of his eyes, he witnessed Niilo change his wavelength to blue, breaking Rotans contract.
However, Rotan was far out of the reach of Niilos ability. Nile’s vines pushed Rotan almost thirty meters away from the tandem. His armor was weakened and so was his Alignment to the Camelo constellation. “I have no choice,” Rotan thought. He placed his right hand onto his heart, cuffing his left pectoral. He clenched his muscle and used his right hand to transfer the pulse of Osar Neonkem into his veins. His body throbbed from the Neonkem leaving a shallow shockwave. The Neonkem in his veins revived and he was back to full strength. “I only have three minutes, I’ll start—”
Niilo appeared through a droplet of water from the vines attacking first with his Kobelis staff. He swung at Rotan and shot Neonkem blasts from his staff. Unfortunately for Niilo he couldn’t touch Rotan, he was more agile than before. He realigned to the Astelles and activated his Orange Wavelength. Rotan then attacked Nile, moving more than one hundred miles per hour. He appeared like a bullet and punched him with a diamond covered fist back to his partner.
“Tell me who sent you and I’ll let you all live,” Rotan demanded appearing before the two.
“We will not breach our contract,”
“Yeah, sorry Rotan, Niilo’s real strict about that. I guess it looks like you won’t be able to let us live…so what are you going to kill us?” Nile starred at the hero with a sinister grin. While she leered at him her thorns rose again in the sky this time combining to make three megalith thorns.
While they flew in Rotans direction they became coated with diamonds and ice. They crumbled into nothing, along with the vine patch. The entire battlefield had frozen over and Nile and Niilo soon became entrapped. Their feet and ankles were immobilized by Rotans diamonds and ice and it was creeping up their bodies. Rotan’s creations then formed from the ice surrounding them and latched themselves on for a better grip.
“What is going on,” Niilo stoically asked.
Rotan appeared within arms distance of the tandem and spoke. “It’s my Ultimate Technique, Carbon Frost,”
Nile manically laughs. “What’s so funny?” Rotan curiously asked.
“You just think you know everything? Don’t you?”
“I don’t know who sent you,”
“You’re a smart ass too. Strong as well. I think I’m beginning to get a crush on you…its just too bad I’m going to kill you,”
“I have to say your determination is admirable,” he moved closer and began to ponder their ability to switch Wavelengths. “How can you guys use your wavelength like that,”
“Tell me how to use Divine Eyes,” Nile retorted.
Rotan paused before he responded because he noticed something peculiar. “I’m beginning to sense a malignant amount of Neonkem Neutron and it’s the negative Neutron not the positive one we use for the Osars. What the hell is going on?” Rotan pondered when he created a circle in front of his heart. He began to emit positive neutron, then he began to absorb the negative neutron, and finally he reflected it against each other. Rotan purified the Neonkem Neutron surrounding the area and coming from Nile and Niilo.
He placed the Neonkem Neutron—which was a multi hued green—into a bubble and purified it with the emit, absorb and reflect technique, turning it into a pure Neonkem.
“A persons body can’t hold this much negative neutron without dying,”
He gazed at Memphis Elite whose Wavelength was no longer active. Rotan summoned the Fist of Water which roared like a rotten tide. It splashed to the ground, moving at a hundred miles an hour carrying the body of a creek. It destroyed the area where Memphis Elite stood and created a hoard of debris so devastating it garnered the towns attention.
Nile’s patch of vines disappeared and when the water cleared the tandem was missing. Rotan was protected by his diamond armor while he searched the area for the two.
“We will meet soon Rotan, because someone important wants you dead,” Niles voice said frightening Rotan and forcing him to turn. What stood behind him was two translucent figures of water held together by Niilo’s gravity. The watery figures lost all bonding; immediately after the Capitol warriors appeared, along with Cal and Rotan’s team.
“Rotan what happened here?”
Rotan couldn’t hear Cal’s question. His mind was on his escaping opponents. His surroundings became a haze, he shut off his mind, and searched for a trace of their Neonkem. His senses were disabled, until a short bald brown man with cultural tattoos on his face wanned him back to reality; shaking the hero vigorously until he came to.
​
Chapter II
All rights reserved to Thank You Theo Productions LLC and Theodis Houston III. This product should not be recreated, sold, edited, or manipulated without the consent of both parties.
“Rotan, tell us what happened here,” Oz said while he held the shoulders of his dear friend. Rotan was still ghast when he saw Oz, he looked around and noticed the rest of his team working with the Capitol Warriors while Cal sought a statement.
Then suddenly, as if he woke from a coma, Rotan snapped back. He unconsciously brushed Oz’s hands off him. “We have to go, we need to find Rea and Sire, right now,” he said in a hurry while walking towards the city.
“Why?! Rotan tell us what’s going on!” Cal demanded.
“I don’t know myself,” Rotan said turning back to Cal and Oz.
“Was there a fight here Rotan?”
Rotan gaped at the stars. He could still smell the burnt Neonkem in the area, reminiscing on his two foes. He began to wonder if this was what Cal and Falcon tried to warn him about. “Yes,” Rotan carefully replied.
“Damn it. Who was it? And why’d they attack you?” Cal asked.
Rotan looked directly towards Oz and Cal and explained. “It was a duo, they called themselves Memphis Elite; a woman and a man. They said someone wanted me dead, that’s all I could gather,”
“For them to get away from you…they must be strong,” Oz retorted.
“They’re strong, but nothing we haven’t seen before. To be honest they just caught me at a bad time, but the two did have a unique ability,”
“What was it?” Cal asked.
“The two, could change their Wavelength in the middle of battle. Have any of you ever seen that before?”
The two both denied ever seeing anything like that without the use of a pulse technique. They declared the duo trouble and planned to procure a counter measure. Before any brainstorming Rotan said he’d handle it, because they came after him, not a Land. He also believed that there was some form of tracheary involved and wanted to investigate himself.
Rotan expressed that if the two were after him, he could only infer that they wanted him dead because of his support for the Panta Astelles, meaning they might be after Sire and Rea as well. The hero commanded everyone to hurry up and locate them.
Rotan aimed to activate his link with Sire, but to his amazement it was erased. In a panic he called for his scribe to be summoned. He then proceeded to link to Rea but was denied, by her. Rotan grew furious. He fouled her character and then ordered his team to appear, and they did.
Rotan defined the plan; he and Oz were traveling to Serenity to find Rea. Lia a young woman on their team was going to stay back with Cal and search for Sire and his scribe. The others were requested to furtively travel to Nomads Land and speak with their leader Master Dunday about their new threat, hoping to find some information on the group. He told his crew that their goal has been the same since the beginning of Sin’s war; they will protect the Panta Astelles, Astelles, and the People no matter what.
They all went their separate ways. Rotan and Oz stayed in Libertarian’s Capitol, planning to leave with one of their groups Saucers. While the two warriors made their way to their ride, Cal detoured them. He reminded them that he must officially declare this an assignment because of current world affairs. They traveled to a nearby Saucer Station and Cal equipped Rotan with the finest Capitol equipment and technology, but Rotan decided to only take a saucer and Kemical patches for healing.
“Rotan…you have to understand what we’re up against now,”
“What are you talking about Cal?” Rotan questioned, quitting his packing.
“This new era that we’re entering, there are going to be many that challenge you and come for you, this might just be the beginning—”
“And whose faut is that Cal?”
“Sin’s fault Rotan,”
Rotan returned to preparing, furious with his superior. “Rotan just listen to me for a second,” Cal pleaded. Rotan and Oz just kept packing. “You can’t stop the world from changing. People are just not fond of the Panta Astelles, and you can’t make them—”
“I understand Cal, we’ve had this discussion already, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop,”
“Well neither are they,”
“They?” Rotan and Oz both questioned.
“Who are they?” Oz asked offended as he stepped toward Cal.
Cal harshly requested Oz back the hell up, but he didn’t, not until Rotan gave him a nod.
“The Abysso, the dark world of Kisment, will only get stronger from here, with the idea that the Panta Astelles aren’t needed, many will try to abuse the Astelles power. People will start choosing sides; there will be those who want protection, which will be few, and there will be those who oppose. I believe that this will allow for criminals to seek power and finance, like for example coming after you Rotan,”
“Well, I hate to say I told you so, so I won’t,”
“This issue is bigger than us and you know it Rotan,”
“Well right now it is at my front door,”
“And whose fault is that? Think about it Rotan, running around louder than thunder protesting and lobbying for the Panta Astelles right after Sin’s reign. What’d you think would happen?”
“Whatever. Oz lets go,”
“Rotan stop! Right now!”
The hero and his partner stopped and casually turned back to the leader of Libertarian.
“You ought to remember who is in charge here. You can’t leave until you’re dismissed,”
“Then dismiss me sir,”
Cal leered at Rotan but his expression couldn’t hold. Rotan leered back right through Cal’s soul.
“Figure out what’s going on. And only report back to me, understand?”
“Understood, boss,” he condescendingly replied.
Rotan and Oz completed their entrance onto the Saucer, while Cal watched them off. While peering he sat in rumination concerning world affairs. He thought about the fears that Falcon discussed and believed they were finally being revealed. The world hadn’t even announced the Stella Cells, VIPs, Agencies, or Serenity’s open bid; but it seemed that those who do know want to make certain moves. He dialed Falcon and told him about Rotans situation and asked if he could investigate Memphis Elite privately.
While Rotan finished his battle with Memphis Elite, Rea sat with her team under the stars in Serenity. They were at the Patented Creators research facility. An assortment of scientists lounged in the private patio of their headquarters. Their lab coats were off, and they each had a drink in hand. The group was spread through the yard, comfortable, taking leisure in the luxurious outdoor furnisher. They chattered while below them, under the plateau of their facility, was a scenic view of mountains and orangish valleys joined to the highlands that they reside in.
“Who made the cider?” one of the male scientists asked when he took another gulp. “It's really good,”
“I made it,” Rea said gazing into her mug.
“Where’d you learn how to do this? You’re a genius, who can cook; who would’ve thought?” one of the female scientists retorted.
“She’s one of a kind! She is a Panta Astelle!” another scientist added as they all laughed and cheered. Meanwhile Rea continued her apathetic gaze.
“What’s going on Rea? You should be excited, we are almost there. The world leaders are accepting the Stella Cell research and are ready to introduce the tech to the world,”
Rea awoke from her daze and pondered her eyes out toward the valley and mountains. She removed her glasses and untied her hair. Her fingers combed through her hair which danced like a princess’ ebony curtains. She tied it together, the same way, and stared at the stars. Her face was wise as well as her demeanor, and her team sat in awe of her presence.
“It's indeed great news that the world will officially introduce Stella Tech, however the beginning of any revolution is always blurry, to polish our sights will take time,”
“When our sights are clear, we’ll see we changed the world...for the better,” a young scientist jubilantly said.
While the Patented Creators continued to discuss the new Stella Cell Tech, Rea began to feel a sharp tick within her Neonkem. It was a transmission of Neonkem from Rotan; he was trying to link to her. “What does he want? Did someone inform him of our new tech already?” she thought about accepting the link but settled for peace and denied his request.
“Listen up guys. I have some news,” Rea commanded.
Her team sat about, attentive and pious. Then Rea spoke. “We were all somehow impacted by Sin’s war against the Cults and Tribes, some more than others, but the impact the war left on the world is permanent. I don’t believe we’ll ever go back to how things used to be...and that's good. I know this better than anyone, because I am one, the world shouldn’t have to rely on Panta Astelles; that is why we created this new technology to start this new era. The Panat Astelles pose a grave threat to safety and lives on the planet, even though all aren’t bad, we always run the possibility of dealing with another Sin. Rotan won’t always be around and because of the reincarnation cycle, sometimes there might not even be another Panta Astelle. That’s why with the Stella Cells capabilities I believe we are one step closer to giving the world access to a power that would rival a Panta Astelles, alignment,”
“You think we can stop another Sin with this tech?”
“Not right now, but if we continue to invest, just like how we created the Stella Cell with research from the Kobelis Miineral, then yes. As long as we keep evolving, keep learning, and trust in our science, anything is possible,”
“But Rea, you’re a Panta Astelle. I know the benefits of the Stella Cell and they’re monumental, but do you really want the tech to ostracize the Panta Astelles,”
“Yes, but it's not only because of the risk. It's also the reward. I’m a Panta Astelle, and only we know the burden. It weighs the world; to be relied on to protect the Astelles from possibly your brethren or anything else isn’t ideal. I don’t want anyone to have to carry that...curse around. As a Panta Astelle your life is short lived, because of my cowardice in the past I’m the only Panta Astelle to reach their forties, besides Wanu. I’m trying to help both sides no matter how drastic it may seem,”
Rea stood from her cushion and walked towards the horticulture that bordered them in from the edge of the plateau.
“What do you think Rotan will say?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve made up my mind, if he wants to fight me on this so be it, but the world is behind me. Even if he is the hero his obsession with the Panta Astelles will only harm his reputation in these times,”
“Good luck making him listen. He’s been parading about you guys since the end of the war,”
“We’re just an agency though Rea. How can you make sure the Stella Cell will lead to such change,”
She turned toward her team. Her ebony waves flowed with the wind. The bright stars were a beautiful contrast to her coca melanin. Her purple dyed lab clothes—scrub like garments—gave her a calm appearance. She spoke, and said, “I’m placing my name in the bid to run for Leader of Serenity,”
“Are you serious?” her team questioned.
“Yes, I’ve thought about it for a while and there is no way to push this change without me doing this,”
“But you just said so yourself, the world isn’t interested in the Panta Astelles right now,”
“That’s true, but once they see the Stella Cell, and hear my opinions on the future Panta Astelles they’ll understand,”
Rea and the Patented Creators continued their conversation about her decision. She had garnered her whole corporation's support. However, it came with warnings about what she was risking, and with the current climate of the world it was no guarantee the people would be happy about it. Even though there was a risk, Rea believed the reward was much greater. With the new world approaching, her and her team were cognizant that the Stella Cell would bring many possibilities for science and power. Meaning there’d also be those willing to abuse the tech and extort it for personal endeavors.
The team and Rea believed it would be difficult but not as difficult as talking to Rotan about this. Her entire staff knew about her and Rotans rocky relationship, and the whole world knew about how he felt about technology and the Astelles. The hero was a true master, so he always mocked using technology to fight. They were aware, and so was Rea, that once Rotan found out what she was planning he wouldn’t approve, especially since their relationship was already dwindling.
The Patented Creators asked Rea how she’d handle telling this news to Rotan and Sire, but she didn’t have an answer; she did state his opinion in this matter didn’t matter. She was only planning to tell him out of respect and so that he wouldn’t be blindsided by the announcement. Even if Rotan didn’t approve, Rea wouldn’t stop what she was doing, she had made up her mind and felt, as a Panta Astelle, that this was best for the Kisment and Panta Astelles.
She told the team not to worry and that they were dismissed. They coated her with wishes and exited the premises back into the facility, headed for their housing. Rea sat alone under the stars. She ruminated on her endeavors, meditating. She sat on her bottom and crossed her legs like crosses.
A family of violet drones hovered above her forming a five-mile diameter with Rea in the center. The drones hovered highly hidden by grey clouds. While she meditated, she pondered on her daunting task of talking to Rotan. Rotan was by far the strongest person on the planet, but he also contained the strongest head. If things weren’t in his favor everything fell apart. She blamed his youth.
Rea believed that whatever bad news she had to offer him, the news of her running for Leader should help ease the other surprises. Rea had no doubt that the way the world relies on Panta Astelles, warriors, and even just the Astelles wasn’t healthy. The ones who wore the burden of protecting the Astelles, got no peace. From the fluttering thought memories of Elly began to evoke. Rea deemed no one deserved to die like that. Her meditation steered to Elly and how she risked her life, and how before that, gave up her life for duty; a duty the world said destiny chose. Then when she died, not a person on the planet could celebrate her because once she was gone so was hope. No one had the time, which is why her efforts are still not recognized by many, because Sins evil outweighed her good.
Rea visibly became irritated, frustrated, because of this world she is considered evil, because of the Shamans choice to separate his power into five individuals, the world was able to label her and her brethren; and she just wished she had a way to lift it. Suddenly Rea felt the snap of an alignment and a bloodlust so sinister it froze her blood and sharpened her hair.
“I hear they are calling you the Queen of Industry,” a raspy deep voice croaked while fog began to fill the air. Rea’s body jumped, “What a waste of an Alignment,” the voice croaked again.
“How’d he sneak up on me with my drones watching? Do I know him?” Rea questioned checking her wrist for feedback from her drones. They relayed that there was a figure near, but they vanished immediately. “How are they doing this?”
Rea lifted her head peering at the sky and located the Astellure Cygnus constellation above her. Then she vanished. “I figured it was the Cygnus constellation,” she thought standing invisible.
“Thanks to you, I can find you,” the man yelled.
Rea stayed invisible, searching for the intruder. She aligned to the Astelles and began to Reflect her Oxidization trap. She tried to track the foe but had no luck. Her body impetuously began to burn while her vision was still obstructed from the fog. “This isn’t fog, its steam. That must be his element,” she thought while she searched. The Queen of Industry surrounded herself with her drones and began to travel towards the sky activating the Aquil and Vulpec constellations.
“First you watched while Elly died--” the frightening voice whispered floating behind Rea.
Rea turned through the gravity of fear. “How’d he find me?” she questioned, when she saw his face. “Those goggles,” she thought while she stared at their bulky metal black frames. The green lenses extended outward but the crystal photonic cell on the right frame caught her attention. The glittery pattern of the cells and the attractive bright tint that digitized when it Absorbed Neonkem certified that Rea knew what she was dealing with. “He’s using Stella Cell Tech. How’d he get it?” she wondered when she revealed herself.
“…Now you want the world to forget the value of the Panta Astelles. It sickens me you were blessed with the Shaman’s Alignment,”
“He got through my trap, he shouldn’t be able to breathe right now,” Rea thought as she reached into her pocket. “He’s got gas tubes,” Rea noticed while the man prepared to attack. He reached his hand out and, in an instant, a geyser of steam extinguished from his hands toward Rea. “He came prepared,” Rea thought. The heat of the steam was unbearable and guaranteed third degree burns, but it slipped right through Rea who was now completely permeable to any substance or matter.
Her drones attacked the area with explosions, forcing her opponent to the ground, escaping into the valleys of the highlands. The drones went after the foe under her command. The Panta Astelle then activated the Lupus constellation for better sensing abilities and finally covered herself in in rusted iron foil.
Under the red leaves of the valley trees Rea found the foe who had covered the area with his thermal steam. She influenced the drone's sensing ability with her Lupus constellation since the drones Cell was combatable with her Neonkem. Once the drones found the intruder, they surrounded him. The foe had no choice but to us the Osar pose and connect to his Ba Osar. A violent gust of wind roared, it caused Reas drones recede but, Rea appeared. Using a round house kick she assailed at the man’s head; with the mighty speed of the Vulpec constellation. However, the man blew a whistle so distraught that it shook the leaves off surrounding trees and shot Rea meters along the dirt. Her drones survived but had to retreat further to stay restrained.
“It’s ironic. I’m going to kill you with the tech you’re cursing the world with,” the foe said, releasing a hysterical laugh at Rea who still lied in the dirt.
The Panta Astelle rose to her feet and glared at her enemy. The man had a ponytail and hadn’t shaved in days; and needed a cleanse. His face was scarred; he had a tattoo of a treasure chest on his red neck. A camouflaged Shaw swaddled him. With his bulky green-eyed goggles and tubes of a green mercury flowing into his nose and mouth, he loomed wicked. “So, you’re mad about the Stella tech, it seems to me you’re having so much fun using it,”
The intruder calmly exhaled. “I’m not mad just disappointed,” he retorted. “With Rotan in your corner this is the last thing I’d expect, after all he’s just like me. He’s a man with wisdom, but for some reason you still want to rewrite the Shamans work. Do you have no dignity?” the man whined slogging to Rea.
“Stop!” Rea shouted, forcing the wicked man to halt. “Who are you? Why do you care so much? And if you respect Rotan, why are you attacking me?”
“My name is Keon; some call me Keon the Krusher. I got that name during the war, so you probably wouldn’t know its reputation. Here’s a quick history lesson, let’s see...I’m from the Camelo tribe of Allure, I joined the Setters during the war, became a Chief Maximus, lived through a fight with Sin, started this new group, oh and yeah, the guy who’s going to kill a Panta Astelle,”
Rea laughed. “Who the hell do you think you are? Guess what buddy I helped kill that guy you’re talking about. If you think I’m really misusing the Astelles, show me, take off the goggles,”
“Me and my group the Pharoah of Reeds declared you as abusing the Shamans Alignment, and have decided to eliminate you,” Keon lifted the goggles to his forehead and showed his yellow pupiled eyes. “It’s no fun when the Warrior has the tech. It’s a lesson the world needs to learn,” he said with a small smile. Keon the Krusher began to absorb steam throughout his body. Rea sensed the massive amounts of Neonkem and it felt fatal, forcing her to turn invisible; but she quickly realized that’d do nothing. “Have you accepted defeat!” Keon shakily asked with a dangerous grin and his head hunched to the ground. Keon performed the wavelength pose and his Neonkem turned yellow, a jungle slowly manifested, and he began to grow predator like claws for nails on his fingers.
Rea’s drones distracted him with blast while she became enshrined in his manifestation. “I can’t use the Osars,” she thought in panic. Blast flew but Keon dashed through his jungle with ease avoiding attacks. “I can’t keep using this much Neonkem, I only have seventy five percent for myself since I need twenty five percent for the drones. If I plan on trapping him with rust, I’ll need at least twenty percent and it seems like this might be a long fight,” The Panta Astelle traveled through the jungle while Keon traveled through the trees like a beast searching for prey. “Using my permeability and invisibility with all these constellations will burn me out,” The constellations were deactivated; then she activated the cygnus constellation.
Immediately, like wind, Keon appeared. He sent a claw right through her throat, but thanks to Rea’s permeability he missed. The Panta Astelle vanished, and Keon searched for her again.
Rea hid in the trees of his jungle. “I can’t escape unless I injure him enough to break the manifestation. Is this why Rotan was trying to link with me?” she wondered.
Keon reappeared in a blur and punched Rea through the jaw into the leaves as she turned invisible. “Bad habit,” she thought while picking herself up. “He’s strong, but before I link for Rotan, I want to try something,”
Rea ran through the Steam. A chase ensued; Keon sensed her through his jungle. Drones began to attack from above with explosives and bullets. Keon sliced through the wind but because of the drone’s destruction he kept losing sight of Rea. Eventually he found her, like a victim she was standing in a grass field. From instinct he slung through the air and punctured her through the torso, but once again she was unaffected.
However, this time Rea aloofly stood there. “Are you mocking me!?” Keon questioned. Again, The Krusher shot back to Rea and attempted to execute her using his claws like blades; he extended each hand like an X through her neck “You can’t hold that Permeability for longer than twenty seconds I hear!” Electricity stunned Keon during his attempts briefly immobilizing him.
From the ground Rea appeared and cut Keon’s Achilles with iron rusted blades. Turning his attention to the ground he swung, but she had disappeared, reappearing ten meters in front of Keon.
“Rotan trained you well,”
“I’m older than him and he doesn’t even use tech. You’re just losing,”
“A worthy opponent is a worthy opponent,”
“I’m glad you think so. I wish I felt the same kid,” the drones turned into robots, taking the image of rodents, standing seventy centimeters, accumulating to thirty-five total. Dust of rust trailed their movements.
“You have a pest problem,” Keon snarked jumping towards Rea. When he landed from his first jump his legs gave and he tripped; he made it less than halfway to Rea. As he recuperated, he pondered why he felt so stiff, he then analyzed the cuts on his ankles; they were completely calcified with rust. “She infected me,” Keon thought.
He gazed at Rea’s robotics army and their leader. Instantaneously he interlocked his right hands middle and index finger in front of his heart, reflecting the infection with a constellation lock. The Krusher stood at his feet and the robots pursued him.
“I can still sense him. He didn’t notice the second emission of my rust infection,” she mused while she reached under her shirt for a metal ring on her utility belt. “I owe Rotan for the tutelage on embedding R(eflection)E(mission)A(bsorption) into my infection; and for the constant bickering on ‘always have your utility belt, you never know when you’ll be in a fight’” she thought mimicking her tutor. Dangling from her hand was a metal ring made of Kobelis, and attached was a tiny metal fist, whose length was no longer than fifteen centimeters. “Alright before I link with Rotan, I want to try this again. After all it is the influence for the stella cell and it came in handy during the fight with Sin,” she boasted, unhooking the charm.
She placed the ring back on her utility belt and sent a bolt of her Alignment into the weapon. The metal fist expanded into a sleeve complemented with static. The gaseous hues from the Osar Rays appeared and the Astelles began to dance and jolt from the excess energy. She put on the metal arm, its metals were pure and unknown, but its power was ostentatious. Immediately after she wore the armor a mysterious black rim of energy cultivated, and her power increased exponentially.
The Panta Astelle wandered to Keon and tracked him down in the forest of his jungle; when she found him, he was distracted evading her robots. Diligently, she watched in incognito while he jumped from trees, rode vines, dug through mud, and swam in lakes to avoid the pesty robots. The Yellow Wavelength Keon was using started to become exhausted. “What’s going on,” he thought vapid. “I should have more time,”
Suddenly a robot appeared through the ground, then another, and another, until Keon was surrounded. “She can pass her element on to them too. How annoying,” Keon absorbed the Camelo constellation and emitted a terrifying gust of wind. Some of the robots were destroyed but others remained and once they withstood the attack, they turned invisible.
Keon appeared sluggish and vapid, his breathing was heavier and heavier. He used the power he had and covered the area with molten steam. He surveyed his mind for any possibilities on why he felt so torn. Speckles of dust were surrounding him, “She couldn’t have,” he wondered. “She is Rotans student,” He performed the Alignment pose and searched his body for foreign Neonkem when he noticed Rea’s Neonkem. “She cultivated an infection with a second emission,” immediately his steam was suffocated, and Rea appeared.
She stood in front of Keon with a menacing demeanor and a celestial presence. Black light and static sizzled off her right arm, covered by the majestic armor. “I was wrong to doubt you Queen, you know more about Mata than I thought,”
“What’s Mata?”
“But you don’t know enough,” he performed another Reflection with a Constellation lock, this time sacrificing the Camelo constellation. “My alignment level has dropped to two,” he thought while he analyzed his situation.
Keon quickly aligned to the Vulpec Constellation. He shot a geyser of steam at a blur towards the Queen. It hit but once again it flew through Rea’s translucent body. Quickly after Keon the Krusher appeared in front of Rea attacking her head with his manifested claws. Her counter appeared before Keon’s attack could start. She punched through his nose with her right fist. A sound wave grew, sending him deep throughout his jungle, crumbling Keon’s jungle.
The valley reappeared and so did the molten steam. Once again Rea vanquished it, revealing Keon standing excited. “What is that on your arm?” he stuttered asking with a curious stare.
“The last weapon you’ll see,”
“You don’t know what you have,” Keon cracked salivating.
“I know it can stop you,” she raised her hand and sent her army of robots at Keon. Many rose from the ground, but Keon melted them away with his steams of geysers. “Now I’m running low on the Wavelength, and my Alignment keeps weakening. If I use a pulse, I don’t think that’ll give me enough time especially if—I just have to muscle it out,”
Iron needles assailed from Rea’s right hand; Keon tried to melt them away with steam, but her Neonkem was too powerful. He managed to avoid them but fell victim to one, leaving him poisoned again. “It’s not as strong as the first Infection,” he struggled to think. The iron needles continued to reap havoc, forcing Keon to alter her aim with harsh winds. Rea intuitively added more rust to add weight, but the wind just kept getting stronger.
None of the needles touched Keon but surrounded him. Half the battle field began to rust, caused by Rea’s needles. In the midst of the rust finding Keon a tornado appears trapping the Panta Astelle.
“This wind is scorching,” she ruminated. While the tornado boiled and blistered, she could only try to suffocate it, “My Neonkem is too weak, even with the weapon,”. She caught a glimpse of the sky and noticed the hues of the Osar Rays. “He’s connecting to the cosmos,”
Outside the tornado Keon was performing the Heru pose and aligning to the Osar Rays. Rust still invaded the area nearly capturing Keon until his eyes opened. He was infused with the Osar Rays leaving him a ravishing impression. A gold glow followed him, and he was rejuvenated. The tornado quieted; Keon venomously stood leering at the panicked Rea.
Fueled with steam and quick like fun he moved toward Rea. Blurs of him shiest through the wind when he attacked. Rea became dazed and dizzy by his movements, unable to locate him; she was confused by the cloaks he left in the wind. He revealed himself accosting her jugular. Rea fell muddled by the attack, when she looked up, she saw a diamond figure standing in front of her. “It worked,” she thought as she relaxed with a deep exhale. In front of the diamond figure was Rotan, head-to-head with Keon.
“Rea, we’ll talk about this later, and what did I tell you about using that armor,”
Rea gathered herself and prepared to back up Rotan. “I know but I needed it and yeah, we need to talk,”
“The time to talk is over Rotan,”
“Keon, what are you doing attacking her?”
Chapter III
All rights reserved to Thank You Theo Productions LLC and Theodis Houston III. This product should not be recreated, sold, edited, or manipulated without the consent of both parties.
Keon’s manifested claws struggled to break Rotans diamond sword, with the Hero resisting the two were at a standstill. “She can no longer be trusted to have the Astelles best interest. She...is worse than Sin,” an extreme gust of wind blew, separating the two. Rotan now stood three meters in front of Rea, his diamond sword was active with his Orange Wavelength and had Aligned to the Osar Rays.
“You can’t possibly believe that? Who amongst the Pharoah of Reeds is feeding you this information?”
“Rotan? Have we become popular?” Keon manically asked. He didn’t leave Rotan time to answer eccentrically he continued speaking, “Your Panta Astelle here, is planning to infest the world with a formidable tech. Solidifying the beginning of the end,”
Rotan turned to Rea looking for validation on Keon’s accusation. Rea retorted whispering and avoidant “We need to talk,”
He stared concerned, but didn’t have time to dwell. He partitioned for Keon to go about things differently. “Even though we might go about things different our beliefs are the same Keon. We both want to protect the Astelles and the Panta Astelles. But killing one is not the way to go about it, trust me,”
“You did what needed to be done Rotan. And even though Sin was gruesomely evil and wiped out the cults, what your pupil is doing is even more trifling,”
“If you think so let's talk about it Keon,”
“There is no need to talk, you’ve been doing a lot of that lately and I commend you for it, but the world isn’t listening. I won’t let the world hide the lies of Mata anymore. The Panta Astelles are the closest thing to the Shamans, to Kathoph, that we have, you know as warriors what we have to do when we feel the Astelles are losing their light,”
“What is he bantering about Rotan?”
Keon hysterically laughs. “She knows nothing Rotan! Yet she thinks she has all the answers!”
“Who is this guy Rotan?”
“He’s Keon the Krusher, a Chief Maximus of the extinct Setters, a dweller of the Abysso, and leader of the group after you, the Pharoah of Reeds,”
“Aren’t you forgetting something Rotan,”
Rotan peered at him with deceit, “And he’s a Master of the Astelles,”
“Now tell her—about my battle—with Sin,” he demanded nervously.
“He also is the only one, besides me and Elly to force Sin to burn out,”
“What!?”
“Thanks Rotan, she went on about how she helped kill him, and I don’t like to brag, but I felt she needed to know who she was dealing with,”
“Rea, he’s dangerous, that attack I just stopped, that caused you confusion, is called Wind Force, it's a divine technique,”
“He knows a divine technique?” Rea stuttered out. “And he wants me dead because of the Stella Cell?” she muttered to herself.
“Whatever you did Rea, he won’t stop trying to kill you until we settle this,”
“Rotan! Just like you did what you needed to do, so do I, because you can’t,”
“You need to calm down we don’t need this right now--” suddenly Keon used the steam in his body to shoot to Rea, he was faster than Rotan’s vision but he could sense him. “Damn, Wind Force,” Rotan thought while he chased desperately.
Keon reached Rea and his attack didn’t harm her just like his others, but a blur of wind in the image of Keon assailed immediately after. The image vanished in the wind, but Rea still sensed a presence with her right armor and used it to block an invisible looming attack. “That Armor how’d you get that!? You’ve even failed to tap into its potential. How pathetic,” Keon shouted.
Another Wind Force appeared aiming for Rea’s back. She could sense it with her armor, at the same time Keon chased after her. When the force seemed near, she was still held up with the first force. However, Rotan finally appeared, reflecting the full capabilities of the Lupus constellation with the Osar Rays to sense the force. He used his diamond sword and emitted a contagious ice trap to hold the force in place. Keon precipitously lunged at Rotan, when he created the Osar pose and manifested his cave of souls. Rea had been pushed out. Indie of Rotans manifestation Keon was held in a graphite trap turning him into a diamond, trapped by an accumulation of rocks and metals from the cave.
Keon responded absorbing his trap using his Osar Ren and last Constellation. When he was released from the trap, he had dusts of diamond affixed to his skin. A sprinkle of ice and diamonds flood him. Keon became incarcerated by another trap while diamond figures grew latched to him. “I need to ask you something? Who is Memphis Elite? Are you working with them?”
“Those amateurs, yeah right. Rotan you know me better than that,”
“Who are they?”
“Rotan you know me better than that. Give me Rea and I can help you, I hear they want you dead though. Some powerful people, I’d watch my--”
Rotan looked to punch him but he was hit then scratched in the face by one of Keon’s forces. Suddenly Keon broke free using his wind and steam powered by the Osar Rays. Another force cut Rotan who was no longer cognizant of their appearance.
“Two to Zero; what's happening Rotan?”
Rotan attacked Keon with his diamond sword emitting his Carbon frost trap. Rotan nicked him once, but Keon evaded all the other attacks. The steam that Keon manipulated gave him the advantage; he was quicker and his WindForce was troubling. The two masters were at a standstill once again.
“I’m close to burning out. My alignment level is almost down to one, which is probably why it’s difficult to sense his Forces,” Rotan pondered.
Steam clouded the Cave of Souls causing Rotan to encapsulate himself in his Diamond armor. Two diamond figures manifested next to Rotan.
“Rotan you aren’t willing to do what needs to be done to protect the Astelles, or the Panta Astelles,” Rotan queried for Keon, trying to follow his voice. The intense steam started to cause the cave rocks to displace and fall apart. Mud dripped from the walls while boulders fell near the warriors. “But you know who is—” immediately Keon appeared behind Rotan.
The diamond figures assailed. They both punched at Keon’s face but were halted by a simple barrier of wind, elevated thanks to the Osar Rays. “…I am. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the Astelles.” Rotan suddenly felt the intensity of two attacks from both of his flanks, the impact was detritus and caused the Hero great discomfort. Until the energies of the two forces were trapped in the diamond armor of Rotan. “How’d he do that?” Keon questioned.
“The Osar Ray subdue trap worked,” Rotan mused.
Rotan then raised his palms to the sky. The steam slowly began to disappear replaced by ice cycles. Keon stood there exhausted; he and his opponent alike. “Well, this sucks,” Keon whimsically uttered. The ice cycles dipped to Keon but in the blink of an eye he disappeared, while his words echoed, “I’m here for Rea, not you. But this was fun,”
The ice cycles hit the caves, ground and debris, and smoke claimed the scene. The cave continued to crumble but more rapidly than before. Rotan searched the area and was perplexed by his disappearance. “How’d he break my Manifestation? The only way to break the lock is to emit more energy than could be reflected and absorbed…I can’t think about it now, I need to find Rea,” Rotan released his Manifestation and returned to the valley.
When he returned, he witnessed Keon slyly appear before a weakened Rea. Like a predator the Krusher rushed her with his infamous geysers and used his Wind Force to stab her three times; once in her torso, and once in each of her ribs. Rotan wailed Rea’s name chasing after his foe, when suddenly Rea’s body turned into an orb of Sap and exploded on Keon. A sphere of Neonkem engulfed him while he floated in a gel substance immobilized.
Rotan halted his chase. He looked to the sky and noticed one of Rea’s drones hovering over Keon when Rea appeared from forest. “Is that Feathered Tree Sap?” Rotan pondered. The two, Rea and Rotan both met at Keon’s incarceration. They ruggedly gaped at their opponent, both the warriors were exhausted and damaged. Keon grinned and spoke, “To put off the inevitable is pointless,” Rea conceived his Wind Force appear once again grabbing Rotan to escape the attack, but Keon only used it to vanish.
The sky converted back to its nightly ways and Rea fell, exhausted. When she peered up all she saw was Rotans fiery mug. He brushed past the Panta Astelles and headed for the facility of the Patented Creators. Rea knew the obstacles would only get tougher, so she stayed back for just a few minutes to give Rotan his space. Eventually she made it back to the facility, which now had Warriors from all throughout the world on deck to protect.
Rea knew where to find Rotan. She knew him well and vice versa. The two warriors spent years together, he taught her the ways of the warrior, but like the old proverbs, you can lead the horse to water but can’t force him to drink. Rea made things difficult, and she was aware of it, her underlining cause was ultimately fear. Its why she never came forward as a Panta Astelle, not until Rotan found her, and unwarrantedly made her come into her role as the protector of the Astelles.
Rea walked through the labs, offices, product testing, and other scientist; she traveled through the forty acres of land her facility conquered and eventually made it to the Shrine of Elly. Inside this part of the facility was Rotan who studied her marble statue while the stars’ light illuminated the entire room, reflecting through the transparent walls. In that room everything was dedicated to Elly, there were inscriptions, diagrams, hieroglyphs, monumental moments, and gifts.
“I figured you’d be here,” Rea walked up to Rotan and joined him.
“You still know me well. I never got to express my gratitude for agreeing to add this feature to your facility,”
“Don’t mention it. I admired Elly too. She wasn’t like me; she was brave and was willing to harness such a destructive power and battle a delirious foe to protect the people from the abuse of the Astelles. She was a true legend, I wish I got to meet her,”
Rotan grinded his teeth and clenched his jaw. “Elly was special. She was the perfect contemporary for her brother. She’s the last Panta Astelle to learn from the Sages, she had a deep discernment of Neonkem. Without her, there is no me. Without her we have no peace…yet the world decided to ignore her death,”
“Don’t say that. It might be the only Shrine the world decided to fund but her work doesn’t go unnoticed. At least not by me,”
Rotan apathetically glared at his subordinate. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Rea asked concerningly.
“You and I, we’ve never seen eye to eye. You were my first real pupil, but my most difficult. You challenged everything, at first, I thought you just wanted to be the best Panta Astelle you could be. You had the brains for it, still do, but that wasn’t it at all. You challenged my teachings because you despised them, right?”
Rea stared out to the stars, stunned by Rotans analysis.
“Rea, since I’ve known you, from the day I found you hiding in Mount Ennead, I was aware that you never wanted to be a Panta Astelle. The fear that covered you when I found you was an obvious contrast to the tranquility you existed in, but it was false. You will never know true tranquility until you accept your fate,”
Rea’s perplexed expression turned sour. “What exactly is my fate Rotan? To die protecting the Astelles? To die and be ridiculed like Elly? To carry this cursed burden? I’ll never know tranquility and Rotan you could never—”
“I’ve had to put my life on the line for the Astelles, and I’d do it again, I’ll always do it. I know you think I don’t understand the burden, but I do. It’s something we were all plagued with. We just don’t all complain about it,”
“The Hero speaks again! What do you want me to bow down or something!? If I could give this alignment away to you I would, I know you’d just love to be one of us. Wouldn’t you Rotan?”
“Don’t patronize me, Rea. I’ve been with you through the fire, I’ve been nothing but generous, but you’ve only been dismissive, to your history, obligation, and the world,”
“Generous? You’ve done according to you your obligation. What’s generous about that?”
“I’ve taught you things people would kill to know. I attempted to guide you in the ways of the Sages so you could be the best Panta Astelle possible. You just never seem to listen, you’ve always held a secret agenda and now it’s showing,”
“Rotan I’m grateful for everything you’ve taught me, but it’s all outdated. The Sages were killed. No one trust in the Panat Astelles anymore and many are moving on from relying on the Astelles,”
“The things I taught you are lessons that last until the last sun fades. Newsflash Rea, this is our reality, no matter how gruesome it may be as Warriors—”
“I’m not a warrior anymore Rotan,”
Rotan gaped at Rea with disappointment. “What are you then?”
“I’m Rea, the woman who will reform the world. I’m the founder of the Patented Creators, and will eventually become the leader of Serenity,”
“So, you plan to bid for the role as leader now, is that right?”
“Yes,”
“I’ve dreamed of this moment. The day a Panta Astelle can lead a land without forcing their way in but instead having the people on their side. But I won’t back you Rea,”
Rea hid the pain that stung her body with a stoic leer. “You don’t have the Astelles best interest at heart. You believe that tech can rival a true Master of the Astelles, and it can’t,” Rotan continued to spill.
Rea gave a deep exhale, “You think so?” she satirically replied. “The world, thinks I do,”
“The world is scared. And you should know, because I taught you that fear causes unforgettable decisions. When making a choice, one should have a clear conscious,”
“The world wants peace Rotan. The Panta Astelles can’t bring that, but this new system can,”
“Agencies, right? You expect counselors to do what’s best for the Astelles? For the people? All these people involved are just like the doctors from Kumas Kingdom, the ones who manipulated Sins campaign. You really trust them more than me?”
“I don’t trust anyone Rotan. You taught me that. But let’s be serious, it’s about what the world trusts. And the world is looking for a way to stand without needing the Panta Astelles as a crutch,”
“This can’t be the only reason Keon is after you? He said something about some tech you invented,”
Rea dropped her head to her feet. She played with her fingers, then her hair, as she visibly became more flustered. “I’m sorry Rotan that I waited until now to tell you this, but…well follow me,”
“Rea, we don’t have time for this. He’s not the only person after us,”
“Us?”
“When Keon attacked you, he attacked me. He knows that. And you should know that I’ll protect you know matter what,”
“Just because I’m a Panta Astelle?” Rea whimsically asked.
“That’s not the only reason. If Oz or any other member of the Shadow of Light was in trouble, I’d do the same. Just like I’d do for the Cygnus tribe in the past and the Triad Sages, even Cal and Falcon. You all are family, but furthermore Keon he wants to vanquish your Alignment which is something I stand against completely and that is because you are a Panta Astelle. We have our differences on how the world should be governed, but that will never stop me from fulfilling my obligations as the strongest Warrior on this planet, as a Master of the Astelles,”
“Kid, I don’t know what the Sages beat into you, but I am thankful for it. The world is too, but I won’t—”
“Like I said we have our differences and that conversation can wait. Right now we need to meet with Master Dunday,”
“The leader of the Nomads; why do we need to meet with him?”
Rotan fixed the frame of his glasses and had a grievous tone. He was scrupulous, the matter was life or death for the two. “The reason I tried to link with you earlier is because after the conference I held in Libertarian’s Capitol I was attacked,”
“Who was stupid enough to do that? Was it the Pharoah of Reeds?”
“No. It was another group who called themselves Memphis Elite. It was a woman named Nile, and a man named Niilo. If I hadn’t worn myself out training, I have no doubt I’d been able to apprehend them, but they got away. They weren’t the strongest people I’ve fought but they had some interesting techniques that made them difficult to handle,”
“What could they do that had you thrown off?”
“The two were oddly able to switch their Wavelength in the middle of battle. They didn’t use a pulse technique either or force it. They also were using an abundance of Negative Neutron, from the Osars, a lethal amount. The only information I could gather from them is that someone wants me dead. I thought if they wanted me out, they wanted you out too, along with Sire. But to my surprise when you finally decided to link with me, you were already in battle, with Keon,”
“It can’t be a coincidence, right?”
“It's no coincidence, but not because the two are working together but because the world is dividing. A revolution is coming…” Rotan paused in Rumination, he turned to Ellys mural of her victory at Mount Ennead allowing for a two-year Hiatus in the war, “Memphis Elite is after me because I won’t conform to this new system. And I know they aren’t working with Keon because they are fond of tech. It must mean Keon is after you for bidding for Serenity, and this tech, what is this tech he is obsessed about,”
“The Stella Photonic Cell,”
Rotan quickly turned back to Rea. “The Stella Photonic Cell? What is that?” he questioned
“It's also known as the Stella Cell and it’s what I wanted to show you. It’s what we at Patented Creators have been developing. A new tech that sources it’s powers from the actual Astelles. The tech can one day rival the power of you Rotan,”
Rotan’s eyes bulged and his vessels swelled. His neck appeared to balloon. A monster appeared. “What did you say!? Do you know who the hell you’re talking to!” the Hero tyrannically roared.
Rea intuitively retreated. She halted a few hundred centimeters away from the infuriated Rotan. “It’ll help create a better world. The tech will give us the means to modify the planet, study nature, advance health, and even create more accessibility to the temples. It’ll give everyone what you always wanted them to have, without relying on the Panta Astelles. It’s a monumental discovery built off the Kobelis research from the Neutronic Weapons—”
“Stop it!” Rotan yelled turning his back. He looked back at Elly’s mural and felt disappointment. “You’ve done nothing but allowed for more people to abuse the stars, and more tools to forget the past, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this. Now it makes sense why Keon attacked you,” Rotan calmly spoke.
“How could you say that Rotan. I’m still a Panta Astelle,”
“I just understand why,” Rotan paused and peered toward the sky, he deeply exhaled then turned back to Rea, “At one point Keon had an opportunity to kill Sin, but he didn’t because of his Alignment. What you’ve done Rea, might lead to a more atrocious world than Sin could have imagined,”
“It won’t it’ll help I’m sure of it. We’ve seen it Rotan, that’s why you should stop by the lab,”
“Is it helping now? Just forget it, I understand now,”
“What?”
“That you wouldn’t understand. Just like everyone else,” Rotan solemnly responded. “We should go talk to Master Dunday now. I’m going to link to Oz, just follow my link,”
“Rotan, I’m sorry about everything, I am, but that burden, even if you understand it, you chose it. No one should be forced to do this, people should be able to enjoy the true benefits of the Astelles, that’s what this tech will do,”
Rotan heeded his pupil’s words and then vanished. Rea immediately linked with her former teacher and found herself with Rotan and his companion Oz inside of a Combat Saucer.
Chapter IV
All rights reserved to Thank You Theo Productions LLC and Theodis Houston III. This product should not be recreated, sold, edited, or manipulated without the consent of both parties.
“Rea! It’s good to see you!” Oz generously greeted the Panta Astelle with a bow.
“Get us to Nomads Land as quickly as possible,” Rotan commanded the pilot before Rea could respond. “Once we get in range we’ll link with the others,” Rotan told Oz.
“Don’t you think you should rest, we were just in a fight,” Rea petitioned.
“Two,” Oz interjected.
“Two! We need to slow down, our problems will be here tomorrow,”
“These enemies won’t retreat. The quicker we handle this issue the better,”
“We aren’t going to find them today,”
“Maybe not but we will find out something,”
“What makes you so sure?”
Oz interrupted the spat, “Master Dunday, there is not much on the planet that can escape his intuition. He and the Nomads might reside in Nomads Land but their reach stretches like the seas,” he explained.
“I thought the last remaining cult members just idled by,”
“They are still highly involved in protecting the Astelles. For the past three years, since the end of the war, they’ve helped Tiff annex lands from Sins former territory and they’ve also contributed to monitoring the movements in the Abysso,”
“Led by Master Dunday,” Rotan interjected.
“But even still can they know that much? I’ve heard of Master Dunday and everyone claims he’s nuts. I’ve never even heard a war story about the guy,”
“Dunday is completely crazy, but he’s a phenomenon. He didn’t fight much but he helped more than you could imagine. For one thing he’s the reason the Triad Sages were able to conquer Mount Ennead when Sin launched the Beetle Germ Ritual,” Rotan elaborated.
“He conquered a divine location?”
“Not only that, but found it,”
“He found Mount Ennead? Wow who would’ve thought? Can he find the others?”
“If we need him to maybe. It’s still a difficult task. Even with his Alignment those locations hold immense Neonkem and to activate them, even finding the locations is a risky task. You’ve lived there, you know just how treacherous and confound the Divine Locations are,”
“Yes, I remember. That’s why I can’t believe he’s the one who Manifested it,”
“He did, so when we get there show him some respect,” Rotan requested.
It wasn’t long before they were in range to link with Rotan and Oz’s other teammates. When they got near, Oz and Rotan both linked to their comrades Kahari and Iki. Rea followed linking with Rotan.
The three appeared in a vast jungle. The area had been modified economically. Tree houses were scattered in the canopy, on the underwood were markets and disposable facilities made of clay. The jungle was massive, and it all belonged to the Nomads, thanks to the treaty Falcon brokered in Elly’s honor. Even though the jungle was ten acres only one acre was occupied for living. The rest was completely nature.
The area the three arrived at was Master Dunday’s Throne. It was created with clay, but the sun-dried brick that decorated his dwelling seemed to have roasted in a more glorious light, compared to the others. The abode was massive and rose four meters and stretched five. The architecture was detailed with tile textures and two ostentatious pyramid shaped columns.
When Rotan and the others arrived Iki and Kahari were talking to the aids of Master Dunday. They were in the same attire as before, baggy tan trousers that taper towards the ankles. Covering their body was a hooded earth-toned cloak decorated with silhouettes of warriors. Under the cloak was a dirty brown combat vest and a white long sleeve dry fit tee, and of course the infamous utility belt was around the waist of each member from the Shadow of Light. Behind them, above Dunday’s Throne were two flying Dragon-Frogs, and an assortment of animals encircled them.
“Good you’re here now,” Iki iterated.
“Yeah, what did he say?” Rotan asked.
“Nothing yet. He won’t speak with us,” Kahari responded.
“What! What do you mean?”
“Ask them,” Iki pointed towards the aids of Master Dunday.
“Dunday the Third is that you? You’ve grown up kid!” Rotan jubilantly shouted giving him a pat on the head. “What’s happening? Why won’t your Grandpa see my people?”
“He says he doesn’t know who the Shadows of Light are and demands to only speak with you,”
Rotan turned toward his group and assured them he’d handle this. He proceeded to request that Dunday the Third lead him to his grandfather. The two traveled through the pyramid columns into the Throne of Master Dunday. Once the two of them entered they were surrounded by a myriad of artifacts. This floor of the facility emulated a place of worship, its size was ample and there was a wide matt with the tribal markings of the five tribes that covered the ground. The walls were painted with ornamental emerald windows; murals of lands and leaders, murals of history, were stitched into the cement. The starlight that shone from the SunDome sprinkled inside the room congruous to an array of candles that led to an oasis.
“Little Dunday! Why are you bothering me again!!!” an innocent voice at the end of the candles screamed.
“He’s here!” Dunday the Third replied.
“Who!? Whose hear!? And Why!?” the voice screamed. Their conversation echoed around the voluminous room.
“Its me! Rotan! I need to ask you a couple of things about the Abysso,”
The candles were extinguished. And the cosmos became visible in the sky. The sanguine luminance found its way into the room reddening their surroundings. More artifacts were revealed, and others began to react to the Neonkem of the Osar Rays. Rotan peered back towards the silhouette of Master Dunday, but he’d disappeared.
Then with a gust of wind Master Dunday reappeared. His baggy black clothing flowed in the wind. He had a slim stature and white eyes, with immensely low saturated green pupils. His skin was unflawed and epitomized youth. He towered over the two and excitedly greeted Rotan, “How marvelous it is to see you child! Do you want to take a trip through the Temples with me?”
“I can’t right now Master Dunday, I have some urgent matters to talk to you about?”
“What’s happening? Is the planet in trouble?”
“No, but I am and so is Rea,”
“What’s happening Rotan?” Dunday the Third asked before being berated by his grandfather to speak when spoken to.
“What’s happening Rotan?” Master Dunday proceeded to ask.
Rotan ignoring their banter responded requesting to have his team enter. “Your team is here?” Master Dunday asked. “Why haven’t they entered yet Little Dunday!?”
“You denied their request Grandfather,”
“What did I tell you about calling me that!?”
“Dad told me not to call you that other name,”
“I’ll banish your daddy! I am his daddy and will be the daddy of all the Dunday Daddys until the end of time! Now call me by my proper name Little Dunday!!”
“You denied their request...The Thunderous Dunday, Dweller of Dundays, Master of Mata and Seed of the Cosmos,” Little Dunday unwillingly compelled to his grandfather’s request.
“Now why would I do that?”
“Because you don’t know who the Shadow of Light are,”
“Shadow of Light? Who the hell is that?”
“That’s us Master Dunday,”
“Rotan that's you? No, you guys are the Dwellers of Sages,”
“We’ve switched some things up since the war ended,”
“Well bring them in! You said Rea is here? I’d love to finally meet her; what about Sire, is the new guy here?”
“I was hoping you’d heard about him,”
“What’s going on? Is he missing?”
“I don’t know,”
Oz, Kahari, Iki, and Rea entered with Master Dunday’s aids. The four of them walked to Master Dunday, Little Dunday, and Rotan. Rea’s presence lulled their conversation. Master Dunday impetuously fell in adornment and intoxicatedly examined the Panta Astelles features. Rea unknowingly made the leader of the Nomads spectral; he glorified her existence with his mania; treating her as if she was an antique.
Rea was obviously uncomfortable and now illiterate. “My dear you are fabulous! Glorious! Just like the others. It is an honor to exist with you,” Master Dunday said bowing towards her hands.
“I’m glad you two could finally meet. It’s long overdue,” Rotan interjected. Master Dunday’s infatuation was dispelled by Rotans harsh tone, turning his attention back to the hero. “…But back to the matter at hand,”
“This must be urgent lad. I’ve never seen you so impatient,”
“It is. I need to know what you know about Memphis Elite and who hired them to kill me,”
Rotans words perplexed the Nomads in the room. They looked around weary while panic slowly started to reveal.
“Someone, tried to kill you? How strong are they?” Little Dunday asked in trepidation.
“Theres no need to worry about them. The issue lies in who they are working for,”
“Who would hire them to kill you. You’re the one who stopped the war. It doesn’t make sense I don’t know what Kisment would do without you if I’m being honest. And if it's a downright evil enemy, they’d just have to be stupid,”
“The world is changing Little Dunday,” Master Dunday joined. “…Our friend Rotan over the past three years has gained some extremely obsessed fans. Though to think these individuals would contract to have you killed Rotan…its bold. They’re sending a message,”
“They’re trying to get me to change my opinions about this New World order…but I won’t and anyone who tries to stop me I’ll—show them just how much protecting the Astelles and Panta Astelles mean to me,”
“I won’t say I disagree with your take on the world's new plans, but I can’t disagree with the world either. Trauma causes change, lad,”
“The best way to beat fear is to prepare. A teaching from the sages, a teaching I won’t let escape. I’ll show who ever hired that duo, and the world, I’m not stopping!”
“Understood. But all I can conquer about Memphis Elite is that they are a military group once hired during the war to protect whoever would pay. They didn’t have morals on who they’d protect, if someone paid, they did the work,”
“Who are they working for now?”
“I don’t know. They were never major figures in the Abysso, they were known to be adept at using Neutronic Weapons of the wild tech era. For someone to hire that band to kill you makes no sense,”
“Neutronic Weapons? That’s what their Staff was, I could see the mercury of the Kobelis stone flow through it during the fight. Is that how they used that Wavelength Frequency technique?” Rotan mused. “Have you heard anything about them being able to change their Wavelength in the middle of battle?”
“Changing their Wavelength in the middle of battle is impossible. It can’t be done,”
“Well, they were able to do it. It wasn’t as powerful as other Wavelengths I’ve faced but still a nuisance,”
“For them to be able to perform a technique like that is a first. But they aren’t Masters of the Astelles so I doubt it's something they are doing naturally. There must be some sort of tech involved...Have you heard of the Stella Cell?”
“I just found out about it. Why?”
“Recently the Abysso has been infested with the tech. Maybe they could be using that to perform the technique. From what we’ve gathered the tech uses photonic cells to absorb the abundance of Negative Neonkem in the planet and turn it into energy. However the tech allows for reactive weapons, that basically react to the users Neonkem,”
“There’s a limit to how much Neonkem can be absorbed,” Rea interjected.
“On some, but there have been weapons recovered that can absorb an ornate amount, and those that can Emit and Reflect Neonkem as well,”
“What!? That can’t be! There were limiters put in place to prevent that,”
“What are you talking about? How would you know?”
“Because she created the technology,” Rotan answered.
Master Dunday grew astonished. “So, you’re the Queen of Industry,”
“The Stella Cell shouldn’t even be in anyone’s possession. The research is classified and known by a select few chosen by me, and we’ve only sent prototypes to the new agencies. It’s no way it should be in the hands of anyone dwelling in the Abysso,”
“For power or knowledge there are plenty of leverages. It's not unbelievable the research was sold or bartered,” Rotan added.
“How? Who could have leaked the research?” Rea wondered.
“It explains Memphis Elites use of the Wavelength Frequency anomaly, and Keon’s goggles,”
“Keon?” Little Dunday vexatiously questioned.
Rotan turned his attention back to Master Dunday who was attentively listening, “That’s brings me to our other reason for coming. I need to know everything you know about Keon the Krusher and the Pharoah of Reeds,”
“Keon the Krusher? Why!? What’s going on Rotan?”
“He wants to kill Rea,”
The room quieted. Keon’s reputation was infamous. His power was recognized, and his wisdom had been proved. Though the flutter of thoughts that roamed through Rotan’s peers head caused anxiety to surface, “What do you mean!? Keon honors the Panta Astelles. He might be a criminal to the world, but you know just like me Rotan, he wouldn’t kill a Panta Astelle,”
“We just fought. A few hours ago. He... he’s intent on doing so. He doesn’t approve of the Stella Cell and the worlds new order, and... he blames Rea for it,”
“You two fought?”
“It was brief, and we were both tired. But next time we meet, it’ll be the real thing. I’ll probably have to--”
“I’ll stop him,” Rea interrupted. “He came after me, and I’ll show him and the rest of the world how much I’m willing to risk implementing this new technology,”
Master Dunday joined the conversation concerningly “Rea, my dear you might be a Panta Astelle, but your knowledge on the Astelles can’t compare to Keon--”
“I know he was a Chief Maximus of the Setters, and that he could have killed Sin, but I’m a Panta Astelle. I have the Shaman’s Alignment, and now I have the Stella Cell. I’ll find a way to stop him. I have my armor and it’ll be great promotion to stop a Master of the Astelles with the Stella Cell,”
“You wouldn’t need the tech to stop him if you kept studying and learned to use Neonkem correctly and I’ve already explained to you, using that armor--”
“We aren’t at war anymore. I can handle myself just fine,”
“You willing to test it?”
The room’s silence grew louder, and the tension was flamboyant like a full moon. The spectators of the feud queried if the Hero really meant what the room said. Before anyone could react, Rea took a step forward and, in an instance, the two boiling warriors were both aligning to the Astelles. The energy felt invincible. Only one person was bold enough to step in front of the feisty beaming warriors, and that was Master Dunday.
“I’ve been waiting to show you what this tech can do,” Rea gloated while Master Dunday played parent.
“Guys! Guys! Relax its no need to get heated. This fight can wait until after you two have handled your situations,”
“Rotan man, just take it easy,” Oz eased into the moment.
The two warriors both powered down and smiled the stress away.
“If you think you can handle Keon, I’ll let you. But I’m still not letting you out of my sights until this is taken care of,”
“Good, and I’ll watch you until we take care of Memphis Elite,” Rea tauntingly said.
The room chuckled and the animosity that once clouded the board vanished. “How are we going to find these punks!” Rea yelled elated.
“Maybe you all can lure them out,” Iki recommended.
“How did they find you?” Little Dunday asked.
“I don’t know,” Rotan responded.
“I’ve heard of The Pharoah of Reeds roaming in Serenity, near the marshes by its smaller sub lands,” Master Dunday stated.
“Because of Rea, I presume,”
“No. They’ve been roaming there for about a year now, a lot of criminals from the Abysso have flooded the area. Around the surrounding marshes and wetlands their presence is concealed. Closer to that area the population is slim. It doesn’t help that the land is weakened because of Moscow’s retirement, and there are the artifacts,”
“Artifacts?” Rotan questioned.
“Near the shore of Serenity that touches Lake Rage many treasures and artifacts from Duality are hidden there. It was kept quiet until groups started profiting from their findings,”
Rea gazed around the room, “You sure you aren’t helping their pockets?”
Master Dunday became flustered but assured Rea he deservedly found every antique that was in his throne. Master Dunday continued to discuss the situation at hand, “If you say Memphis Elite was also using Stella Cell tech then they might also be hiding there,”
“Why do you say that?”
“That is currently the Abysso’s heaviest market. The top dealers find their way there when they come into something valuable like bootleg Stella Cell tech,”
“That works perfect,” Rea interrupted. The room turned toward her waiting to heed her epiphany. “We can find the person selling the tech and we’ll deduce everything once we get some answers out of him,”
“That should work,” Rotan added.
Master Dunday grabbed his chin and pondered hard on candidates for Rea’s quest. “There are about three that I can think of who have the clientele and connections to be involved but it all seems to fall to one suspect, Sirio, as of lately he’s been a lot more popular and if Keon got any tech I am almost completely positive it came from him. He’s been dealing illegally to Cults and Tribes since the Intermission of the War,”
“Where can we find him?” Rea blurted.
“The place that makes the most sense is Kya’s Sub Land,”
“Which land is that?”
“It’s the most southern Sub Land in Serenity, the one nearest the shore and marshes following Serenity’s second isthmus,”
“What makes you so sure he’ll be there?” Rotan asked.
“He needs to be where the criminals are, and right now that’s in the Marshes of Serenity, near Kya’s land. Kya’s land is also renowned for their self-sustaining garden, one that developed right before you put an end to Sin’s beetle germ ritual. The garden attracts a lot of tourists but—”
“Plenty of Criminals,” Rotan finished the sentence of Master Dunday. “It sounds like that’s where we should head. Iki and Kahari I need you all to meet with Lia back in Libertarian and update Cal; also continue searching for Sire, we need to find him—”
“Rotan! Rotan!” a voice shouted from the entrance of Master Dunday’s throne. A man in an all black hooded cloak rushed into the room wailing as aids from the Nomads chased after him.
Iki, Oz, and Kahari jumped in front of Rotan to protect him; Rotan jumped in front of Rea to protect her; Dunday jumped in front of his grandfather to protect him, and Master Dunday jumped in front of his precious antique, an electrum vase engraved with smiley faces and feathers.
“Stop, or we will assail!” Oz shouted towards the man.
The man stopped abruptly and removed his hood. He had a bald head and stood tall. His face was covered with five stars, and his bald head had a tattoo of a Giraffe. Gems resided all throughout his body and carried the odor of an apothecary.
“Peta!” Rotan shouted while escaping his protection. “What are you doing here? Where is Sire? We need to find him,”
“That’s what I came here for. Sire…he’s run off,”
“What!?” Rea and Rotan simultaneously questioned.
“He left a note. It tells him and Dhafu have decided to enjoy their youth and go see the world. He apologized to you and Rea and everyone else but explains that he can’t be a pawn, he wants to learn things like Rotan and make mistakes like Rea. He claims he won’t be able to be a true master until he goes off on his own,”
Rotan exhibited signs of frustration, he clinched his fist and blinked hard but eventually relaxed. He didn’t think Sire was wrong for doing what he did, but felt it was immature to run off, but he didn’t blame him because he believes he’d done the same thing. It was indeed horrible timing, but if Sire wasn’t in danger that burden was lifted from Rotan. “Thanks for letting me know Peta. Iki and Kahari after you all make it to Libertarian take Peta and track down Sire. I’ll feel much better once we have a physical confirmation of his whereabouts,”
“Rotan I’m sorry. I’m his scribe I’m supposed to be watching over him but instead he’s out doing who knows what,”
“Don’t worry Peta, Sire will be fine. He’s just young and ambitious. You remember how that was right,” Rotan explained while he grabbed Peta by the shoulder to comfort the scribe. He then looked towards his team and declared everyone good to go. Iki and Kahari vanished with Peta; Rotan told Oz and Rea to head out, while he stayed back to speak to Master Dunday about a good spot to eat in Kya’s land.
“Food? I thought we were in a rush,”
“We’ve got to eat up. Whenever you travel you should try new food, it helps you stay cultured,”
Rea and Oz left the room leaving Rotan and Master Dunday. The two stood in the middle of the room; Dunday towered over the Hero “I know a couple of great places Rotan. I’m glad you asked the chef--”
“Any word on Isa?” Rotan asked interrupting Master Dunday.
“Oh...No, nothing yet. Rotan she might be—”
“She isn’t,”
“How do you know?”
“I just have this feeling. I can’t explain it, I just know she’s out there somewhere my best bet is she is in Duality,”
“But why would she hide Rotan. The war is over, no one is after the Cults, Sages, or Tribes anymore. Sin is dead, so he can’t force her to marry him and she’s stronger than you, there is no reason for her to hide,”
“You have it wrong,”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not hiding. She’s searching,”
“For what?”
“Who knows. Me and her were a part of the last group the Triad Sages raised. We understand the secrets of Mata and what lies in Duality, and we also understand there is more wisdom to gain. I can’t tell you why she’s been gone for so long, but she’s always had a fascination with learning the secrets of the universe. I’m not worried; I’ll find her for sure,”
“I hope you do. The world can use her right now. I’ll continue to keep an eye out for her,”
Rotan paddled to the exit when the conversation extinguished. “Rotan!” Master Dunday called out. The Hero turned to the Nomads leader, “Are you really going to let Rea fight Keon alone? You know she is no match, he can compete with you; the strongest Setter of your generation. Even with the wonders of the Stella Cell Rea is still no match for him. If they fight—”
“You know I will do everything I can to prevent that, but it’s no guarantee I can stop him alone. Keon he’s obsessed with knowledge, and to be blunt he knows more than me. He might be demented but he is a true master. I’m kind of torn having to come to this decision, and even if Rea is in the wrong, I won’t let him kill her. I’ll die before that happens,” Rotan left the room immediately after his statement.
Master Dunday stood there aloof and hoped for safe travels for the Panta Astelle and world hero.
Chapter V
All rights reserved to Thank You Theo Productions LLC and Theodis Houston III. This product should not be recreated, sold, edited, or manipulated without the consent of both parties.
An hour or so later, Rea, Oz, and Rotan landed in Kya’s Sub Land. When they arrived, they were greeted by Kya and a group of warriors under her command. The warriors of Kya’s legion wore an all-grey stretchy cotton combat suit, a combat vest and utility belts. Serenity’s half-moon and half-sun logo was laser stitched into the right shoulder of the fabric; Kya’s name was stitched onto the left shoulder.
Kya led her team with baggy humble colored trousers and a different earth-toned rain jacket. The teams met on a cliff near the shore, it garnered a panoramic view of the entire second Isthmus of Serenity. The scene was Kya’s Land, the Marshes, Lake Rage, and the neighboring sub land. The closest in view was Kya’s Land and the neighboring land was the furthest.
When the two groups finally converged, Rotan and Kya greeted each other first. The Sub Land leader explained that Cal reached out along with the Patented Creators and a few of their sponsors, including the retired Moscow. Rotan was perplexed to hear just how prestige Rea and her Agency had become. However, the thought came and went as Kya continued; she and her team were briefed vaguely about their situation, but she understands that they’ve come to her land to find Sirio.
Kya elaborated that Sirio and others have been spotted recently using tech they’ve never seen before; assuring them that they came to the right land. She used her watch to project the data her land had gathered on the dealer. Rotan then questioned if she had any information on the groups Memphis Elite or the Pharoah of Reeds. Her response was underwhelming; due to her land’s lack of resources and wealth the criminals typically just stopped by to steal food and leave. The surrounding areas near the marshes, the shores and deltas wash up treasures which contributed to criminal’s appearance. She elaborated on the fact that Sirio has been around often and is pesky but witty, which reasoned why they’d never caught him.
She offered her gratitude to Rotan, believing that he is a major reason criminals won’t attack her land despite how small they are. With Rotan backing the four major lands and leaders, even with Moscow, the leader of Kya’s mainland being retired, no one will harm a land unless they believe themselves to be stronger than the world’s hero. She continued explaining that he taught her what protecting the Astelles can do and that she hopes to one day open an Academy in this land to teach others how to protect the Astelles.
Rotan was aghast by her gratitude and could only call it his obligation. Before he could finish his queries, Kya wanted to take the three into town, so that they could get some rest. The suggestion was immediately met with an objection from the world’s hero. He was fixed on finding Sirio, to which Kya retorted, relaying that they needed to come to town first, because there might be something there to help him find the two groups he was looking for.
Rotan had no choice but to follow the amber hair of the leader of this sub land. They walked to the end of the plateau and the start of the valley that led to Kya’s land. They halted when Kya performed the Osar pose, a diamond formed by touching the thumb and index finger of each hand, in front of her heart. When her body was done aligning, she emitted a sonic frequency.
“She’s more aware than I thought,” Rotan pondered.
“Did you just emit your Osar Ren?” Rea asked.
“Yeah, during the war I mastered it,”
“Rotan you still haven’t done that,” Rea expressed taunting the hero.
Embarrassment fell onto Rotan’s face, “I’m still working on it. I’m close,”
Rea chuckled, “Close isn’t one hundred percent,”
Rotan kept himself quiet, but the smoke leaving his body admitted he was belittled. After ten seconds or so a pack of Gazelle Cannabis came to service them. She apologized for the outdated mode of transportation using her freckled smile to explain that most of the citizens are immutable. She hasn’t been able to receive the support or resources to modify the land. Her land didn’t generate much funding because they lacked new warriors and barely bred scientists. Most of her people were like the Nomads, they farm and used Neonkem to enhance their naturalistic lives. She furthered the conversation, stating that she’d get some things situated with the next leader of Serenity, whenever they were named.
“There’s no need for your people to change at all. The world needs to go back to its roots. Tech has done nothing but cause trouble. I honestly think your people deserve that funding, and I think we’re with the perfect person to—”
“I’ll see if I can get your warrior some travel pods from Patented Creators,” Rea interrupted the obnoxious Rotan. “Is this your spirit animal?” Rea asked.
“Yes, the Gazelle-Cannabis. It’s fortunate that this species resides on this Isthmus,” Kya was grateful for the Panta Astelles generosity. She and her team escorted Rotan and his through the valley while she spoke on her admiration for Rea and the patented creators. Kya’s heard a lot about them and Rea’s achievements in Industry and expressed how she looked forward to the unveiling of the new tech she’s heard so much about.
“I’m pretty sure your warriors have had a teaser,”
“What do you mean?” Kya asked Rotan.
“Sirio and those other distributors, what tech do you think they were selling?”
“Are you telling me…”
“I shouldn’t, Rea don’t you think you should let her know how much more annoying the Abysso is about to become,”
Rea leered at Rotan and eventually explained what he was illuding to, “The reason we’re looking for Sirio is because we think he might be dealing illegal, alternated versions of Stella Cell weapons,”
“Stella Cell?”
“That’s the name of the tech. It uses a photonic cell to absorb Neonkem and use its energy more efficiently than the Kobelis metal. Leading to a more efficient world and stronger military weapons, which are now in the hands of criminals. The two groups after us to be exact,” Rea replied.
“Is this the tech that the Patented Creators plan to unveil in a few months?”
“Yes.” Rea solemnly replied.
Kya was speechless for a couple hundred feet, when she broke her silence. “I don’t know whether to be excited or scared. I’ve never encountered the tech myself but some of the warriors in my legion have and they haven’t been able to capture anyone who uses the devices. If they’ve already fallen into the wrong hands, I could only imagine what a mass production would do,”
“The mass production will benefit the world. Sub lands like yours will have tech that will obscure the fact you’re undermanned and nothing like the simple robots of the wild tech era. All legal warriors will have access to the tech, so the criminals will be outclassed. They just have the advantage now, but not for long,”
The groups traveled through an open prairie, exiting the valley headed for town, which was in eye. The Astelles were active and resounding, the luminance lit their path along with everything in the vicinity of Kya’s land.
“When you put it that way it does sound like it would benefit the people. It’ll give us more power, but don’t you think there would be some backfire?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like for instance, my land, I’ve tried implementing the Kobelis tech, but many fought it. They like how things were when the Cults reigned, I can only imagine the fit they’d have about a tech that essentially does what we were naturally bred to do,”
“They’ll be forced to adapt. I shouldn’t be saying this, but the World Leaders and Affiliates are already on board. It will be implemented in every aspect of life, if they want to keep up, they’ll have to, if they want money… you understand what I’m saying,”
“Or maybe they’ll just prove that mastering the Astelles is key to surviving,” Rotan interrupted.
“I still have some doubts but I think if you two are involved it will coexist well. It might just be what the world needs to get over Sin. They say change is never welcomed its pushed,” Kya added.
Suddenly Oz stopped his Gazelle-Cannabis and analyzed the area meticulously as if he sensed danger. Rotan and the others hadn’t noticed; they were close enough to the land to hear a bustling chatter, they were close enough to see the robotic figurines that protected the entrance, they were close enough to be distracted.
“Rotan!” Oz called out.
The group halted and finally noticed Oz’s resistance a few meters back.
“What is it--” Suddenly Rotan sensed a crude zing. It was verve so brash that it forced his Warrior instincts to kick in. He searched the area and began to align to the Astelles, “What is this feeling. I’ve never detected such an infinite amount of Neonkem, is there an army waiting for us?” the hero pondered.
“What you’re deceiving right now is what will lead you to your perpetrators,”
Rea was suddenly washed with the brash energy evident in her vexatious demeanor. “What is...that?” Rotan asked.
“They’re called Ausran Leaves from the Ausran Trees. They act almost like the tech you were explaining. They absorb Neonkem until they fall every five years,”
“What happens when they fall?” Rea asked.
“They can be absorbed to increase a person's Neonkem for a time being. They hold nutrients of Neonkem and are valuable to the right buyer,”
“So how will that help us find Memphis Elite and the Pharoah of Reeds,”
“Because criminals tend to make their way here during our Fall Fest to steal tree leaves to sell or use. Which brings me to a favor I need to ask of you Rotan,”
“What is it?”
“Will you give a speech tomorrow morning to let criminals know you’ll be attending. Your presence will aid in detouring crime,”
“…I can’t…no one is supposed to know about this assignment. I can’t publicize where I am or Rea,”
“I won’t broadcast it. And no one needs to know Rea is here, I’m just asking for five minutes so that the word can spread. It might even bring the people you're trying to find right to you,”
“I don’t want to put that target on the land,”
“We already have it. Criminals know about the fall fest even though it's a quiet tradition. We’ll have to deal with them either way you’ll just help bring those numbers down without lifting a finger,”
“What if the groups attack us in your land?”
“We’ll help you stop them, duh. If they’re trying to kill you and Rea, they are harming the Astelles in my eyes,”
“These foes aren’t typical--”
“Rotan, we might not be the wealthiest or strongest land. But trust me, the warriors here will not disappoint you. We might not be the smartest, but I’ve found ways to implement tech in our security as well, so trust me we can handle our own,”
“Fine. But I want to work on finding Sirio tonight,”
“I know exactly where to start,” Kya joyfully stated. “The Perennial Garden,”
The groups made it to the entrance of Kya’s land which appeared to be a farming civilization. The entrance was guarded with robots and the houses were like barns. Cattle roamed on pastures near the entrance. The wood and brick from the center of her land formed a view on the horizon. It was far but their eyes captured the image. The rest of the unallocated space in the land were homes and flora, woods and forests, a lot of it.
They traveled along a discrete road following a path through the woods, that typically criminals would take. They traveled further into the center of her land but were still outside of most activity and its true social district. “All right we’re getting close. It’d be best if you guys do a minor reflection of your Neonkem,”
“For what?” Rotan questioned.
“Do you know how our garden works?” Kya asked in response.
“Not exactly, just that it tends to itself,”
“It uses Khepri Worms from the temples. They spread a pungent source of Neonkem Neutron around the entire three-acre garden,”
“Its three acres!?” Rea whined.
“Yes, and it attracts plenty of fauna,” a buzzing sound gradually increased as they spoke. “I hope you all are reflecting,” a swarm of flying insects met them as they entered the garden. They flew everywhere and created a haze around the three acres, like a storm of ash.
“What the hell?” Rea blurted out.
“This is surprisingly unexpected,” Oz said. “How does this work? Won’t they just ravish whatever is produced here?”
“No, just take a closer look,”
The three looked deeper into the swarming insects, and noticed they seemed to be hurting each other. “Are they fighting?” Rotan asked.
“Yes, it’s like a perpetual battle. The Khepri Worms attract fauna but also produces its own to protect what it produces,”
“How fascinating, nature never ceases to amaze me,” Rea added.
“It honestly amazes me, that without Rotan this might have never happened,” Kya went on about how Rotan’s journey into the temples, with the Shadow of Light, to stop the famine in the beginning of Sins war, led to their findings about the Khepri Worm; a mystical worm that dwells only in the temples. “I’ve always wondered how you did it,”
“It was tough. Oz and a few of the others were there with me. Traveling through the temples is already dangerous, but on that trip, it was our first time entering Duality,”
“I’ve heard about Duality, some call it the other realm,”
“It’s other worldly, I can only assume you’ve been to the temples having mastered the Osar Ren technique, so you should understand it when I say the first thirty-five doors can’t compare to the trickery and deception of the doors in Duality…However it was a spiritual awakening and the cause of us finding the Deju Poem that reversed the Divine Beetle Ritual,”
Amazement shone onto Kya’s bright freckled face, “I could only imagine…you’d think someone would deter from going to such a place willingly, but hearing you say that just makes me more curious,” she looked at Rotan with a youthful fondness, “Is that crazy?” she asked.
Oz and Rotan grinned at one another in solitude. Oz guided his Gazelle-Cannabis to Kya and grasped her shoulder, “It just makes you a Warrior like the rest of us,”
Rotan analyzed their surroundings but couldn’t garner any focus on sensing Neonkem. He pondered the abnormality perplexed on why his senses were dulled, “Kya, how do you catch the enemies from stealing? It’s not possible to do so inside of the actual garden,”
“What do you mean? We just do some recon it might be massive, but we’ll be able to sniff them out,” Rea retorted.
“Not in these circumstances,”
“What circumstances? The bugs?”
“Try to sense my Neonkem,”
“What? Why?”
“Just try it,”
Rea closed her eyes and began to search for the frequency of Rotans Neonkem, then suddenly her eyes jerked open. “I can’t”
“Exactly. This area is too potent to detect any activity. There is no way to track anyone in this garden. If we did catch a foe, they could disappear into the darkness,”
“You’re right,” Kya added. “We don’t search for them down here. We use the pavilion. And to track someone we use our motion detection system,”
The group was surprised to hear about the system that helped track foes and insisted on hearing about how it worked. Kya promised to reveal more information once they made it to the pavilion so they could witness the system for themselves.
“Why’d you bring us down here first?” Rotan asked.
“So that you were recognized,”
“By your warriors?”
“Yeah, you can say that,”
They made it to a cliff that was a meter above the garden. They were hidden by the cedar pavilion painted to blend in with the flora surrounding it. The pavilion was accessorized with tracking signals, screens for feedback, and communication devices. There were about five warriors inside when they arrived, but they were asked to move to the Eastern Pavilion for the sake of Rotan and Kya’s other guests who remained nameless.
Kya led them to the board that controlled and monitored their tracking system. She then proceeded to explain how everything worked. From the opening of the Pavilion there was an aerial view of the entire thirty acres of the Perennial Garaden. However, everyone’s senses were still distorted. Then Kya went on about the main resource for the tracking system, the Khepri Worms.
Rotan was baffled by Kya’s statement, until he conceptualized it. “I understand that, now that I think about it. The beetles Sin used were able to communicate and it caused a much faster spread,”
“Yes, it’s something similar. They don’t communicate with each other but—”
“The Flies,” Rea interrupted.
“Precisely. We use the Khepri Worms detection signal, Neon. The flies are then alerted. I don’t know if you all had the chance to notice but—”
“The Flies emit sonic waves when they notice you,”
“Yes,” Kya responded to Oz. “The waves are too harmless to do anything and very difficult to notice even close up,”
“So, you can’t use the flies to track them. And we can’t smell or see Neon in this environment, so how do you track them?”
Rea walked to the corner of the Pavilion along the end of the surveillance section and grabbed what appeared to be a wand made of Electrum. She pointed the wand out of the window of the Pavilion, and its metals let out three mild soothing bells. Suddenly a Yellow Eagled-Cardinal appeared. It was great in size compared to typical bird, it assimilated more to a Vulture. “This is how we track them,”
“An Eagled-Cardinal, how will that work?” Rea asked.
“This animal can sense Neon and sense the Khepri Worms when they release the gas and hear the sonic waves of the flies, putting you in the same area as the individual you’d be looking for,”
“Are you using the Osars to work with these animals?” Rotan asked.
“Yes, fortunately I am not the only person who developed the Osar Ren technique. The entire garden is filled with Fauna and is plentiful in Eagled-Cardinals and thanks to him we can work with them,”
“Who is the Warrior I’d love to meet them,” Rotan expressed eagerly.
“It actually was a farmer, he’s no longer in the sub land. He left a year after the war,”
“So how are you able to use their Spirit Animal?” Rea asked.
“The way the Osars work, is spiritually. Neonkem is connected in everything and if someone can become adept enough, they can host their techniques in nature and its objects, which is probably what this farmer did with those wands,” Rotan answered.
“I honestly couldn’t explain it you might be right Rotan; but he never revealed his technique like a true master. Although he did leave with four electrum wands, that hold his Osar Ren alignment. And told me that it was similar to a Kemical Link but instead it captures your Neonkem, enchanted using a spell from the temples. All you have to do is emit a dash of energy and it works. My brother’s kid could use this wand,”
“…Interesting,” Rotan responded fascinated by the tales of this farmer. “…Alright so now we know how to track them. Let’s get started,”
Kya and her guards eventually let the trio conduct their investigation, leaving to attend the Fall Fest activities that were going on in the Sub Land. However, she didn’t leave without reminding Rotan of the obligation he committed to, asking him to be in their Town’s Center by Nine in the morning.
Once Kya and her team left the group waited and watched and then watched some more. The night had gotten darker and the stars brighter, but there was still no sign of any movement from the tracking system or the Eagled-Cardinals in the garden. Rea was now impatiently pacing through the patio while Oz and Rotan diligently waited, watching for signals to appear on the detection signal.
“This is taking forever; we’ve been here three hours, and we haven’t seen any movement. We might have better luck going into town, you heard what Kya said about those leaves, maybe if we go—”
Suddenly the detection system rang, triggered by movement in the garden. They all instinctively peered toward the garden from above, but the swarm of flies and its vague environment contested any answers. Rotan then reached for the Electrum Wand, and once he did, he detected a pure force, and could briefly hear and sense the entire garden. Once is senses returned Rotan casually sat the wand down and himself.
“What are you doing? Call an Eagled-Cardinal,” Rea insisted.
“We’re fine it was nothing,”
“How do you know?”
Then a voice from the intercom spoke “Sorry guys, I wanted some fruit, didn’t think I’d set it off,”
“See it was just one Kya’s warriors,”
Oz and Rea both returned to surveying the garden.
“How’d you know that” Oz asked.
“It was weird. When I touched the Electrum Wand, I felt that farmers, Alignment to the Osars. The Neonkem somehow reckoned with mine and in that brief second, I could sense the entire garden through the Eagled-Cardinals. That’s when I somehow felt that warrior’s presence in the garden; I didn’t know what he was doing but I could just tell he meant no harm,”
“Do you think it somehow activated your Osar Ren,”
“No. I doubt that”
“Maybe you know the guy. Or maybe this is also your Spirit Animal,” Rea suggested.
“I don’t know,”
“Well pick up the wand again. See what happens,”
Rotan stared at the wand and contemplated taking Rea’s advice. He reached his hand out and hovered over the wand for a brief second until he grasped it with the same mannerisms as before. He closed his eyes and tried to recreate the event, but nothing transpired.
“Seems like it was a one-time thing kid,”
He placed the wand back at its spot and continued to observe the garden. Again, they waited and watched until a couple more hours passed.
“Rotan forget this! I’m going into town I guarantee you we’ll have better luck there,”
“Fine. Oz can you go with her?”
“No problem,”
“You don’t want to come. Can’t you see no one is hungry,”
“Someone needs to watch the garden. It’s the only place we know for sure that criminals will appear,”
“Fine let’s go Oz,”
“Check in with Kya first. Get some uniforms and masks to blend in,”
Rea vanished without heed. Oz assured Rotan he’d complete that task and disappeared as well. Rotan sat in silence and studiously remarked on the Garden. While he studied what he could, all he could do was wait for the system to do its work. He began to embark on the idea that whatever criminal he captured that night would lead them to an answer. He even coped with the idea that he might run into either Memphis Elite or the Pharoah of Reeds, maybe both. Rotan believed either way the garden was the place to scout. However, he couldn’t deny the truth in Rea’s statement, but he was confident that whomever they might run into at the fest won’t be as important as who he will meet.
While Rotan continued to wait, Rea and Oz had entered the Central Town of Kya’s land. The area was festive, hundreds of people glided through the Center with jubilance. Booths were scattered all throughout while stores held events full of mirth. There was hot cider being poured, and buttered corn chewed. Even though the center was business and social situations it held a leafy identity. Trees were mixed with buildings and even merged with some, the red leaves added saturation to the night and the yellow grass complemented the leaves that had already fallen.
The two, Oz and Rea, stood off to the side while the crowds moved like armies. Their faces were elated, and Rea was intrigued to venture. She took on step into the crowd before being dragged back into incognito by Oz. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Rea yanked her arm away from Oz. “Do you young men not respect your elders anymore? What do you think I’m doing kid, I’m going to see more about the festival and those Ausran Leaves,”
“That’s not what we’re here for, and we have to go see Kya first,”
“Do you even know where she is?”
“Yes, she gave Rotan a contact chip, she said she’s at her office,”
“We’re going to have to walk through the crowd to get there,”
“We can stay in the forest as long as we can to avoid unwanted interactions, even though you don’t see yourself as a renowned warrior, you are, people will recognize you Rea,”
“In this crazy crowd? I doubt it, but if you are so worried I can do something to make sure no one sees me,”
Rea then turned invisible. “That helps,” Oz stated. Then two drones appeared from her back. They soared into the sky above the clouds out of sight.
“They’ll help me watch our backs just in case someone notices you now come on,”
“Wait how am I supposed to see you,”
She then handed him a pair of glasses and asked him to put them on. Once he did the environment appeared like an x-ray and Rea was now visible to him.
“Woah, is this Stella Cell tech?”
“Yeah, it’s a pair of sunglasses that blocks certain frequencies that allow you to see certain frequencies, for example me,”
“Oh, wow these are nice,”
“I know,” Rea gloated as she walked out into the oblivious crowd.
As Rea and Oz disobeyed orders from Rotan, Rotan continued to observe the garden and bid for the detection system’s warning. He began to lose faith in the method, going on six hours since he started. The warrior then adjusted his diamond framed glasses and peered at the Electrum Wand. He replayed what Kya explained about the technique. Though he had never heard of such a thing being done, he couldn’t believe this person was a farmer. His Neonkem seemed as pure as his mentor Toh, which made Rotan infer that this farmers knowledge of Neonkem was equal to a Sage.
His mind soon ran rampant on the ideas of a sage roaming helping lands through the mystics of Neonkem. If anything, Rotan thought it’d make a good film. While his imagination soared the detection system rang, and rang, and rang. The Hero jumped out of his seat and noticed signals from multiple locations. He used a radio to communicate with the other Pavilions and questioned them about their targets. The other three pavilions then separated into sectors to divide and conquer. There were only four wands so only four Eagle-Cardinals could be used, limiting their chances of finding all the intruders.
Rotan then grabbed the wand and was underwhelmed when the event failed to occur. However, the Eagle Cardinal arrived, and Rotan aligned to the Aquil constellation and followed it. It landed in an area deep in the Garden and from there Rotan hunted the area, but all that was there was the remains of an explosion. He didn’t have time to query and followed the Eagled-Cardinal to the next location but again it was another explosion site.
The hero radioed the other troops to see if they located the intruder, but no one had. They all said that every location they checked revealed an explosion occurred. No one could comprehend the situation. There were about fifteen more locations to search, they searched four more, but again nothing was found.
Rotan desperately needed the event to occur again. He threw the wand in the air and aligned to the Osar Rays using the proper pose—the Heru Pose. He caught the wand before it fell and proceeded to use his Osar Ba to mix sixty seven percent of his Neonkem with the Negative Neonkem of the planet. He reflected the cosmic Neonkem of the Osar Rays off the Emission of the Osar Ren from the enchanted wand. Then suddenly a giant twinkle of light overcame Rotan, and he was once again one with this garden and the Eagled-Cardinals of the garden. He sensed out the intruder and understood that he was using an explosive device to cause the distractions. Adding more as Rotan relayed the information.
He asked the troops to form a barrier at the coordinates of the intruder he provided them with and guaranteed he’d handle the rest.
While Rotan flew into the vicinity the Eagle-Cardinal led him he could see the troops formatting from above. He landed gracefully in an area of the garden that hosted exotic fruits. There were berries sizes of watermelons, awkwardly colored foliage, and trees of all sizes and colors with juicy hanging crops. Even with his hazed discernment he could tell there was something out of balance in this area.
Rotan looked toward the ground and saw the fedora of a stumpy old man in a dusty suit for business. The man who stood at the knees of Rotan looked at the hero with a delirious smile and pressed a remote trigger, causing impact upon the hero. Caught off guard he absorbed the energy the best he could, but he was still bested and tosses into a tree full of a dark green juiced fruit, which had spilled onto Rotans head.
While he gathered himself, he saw the intruder trying to escape and impetuously chased after him with the Eagle-Cardinal prowling from above. The enemy was using a jet pack to increase his speed while Rotan ensued. The foe threw berries and apples trying to distract the hero, but Rotan was on his tail.
Then three explosions hit Rotan at the same time. Two from the side and one straight ahead of him. The Eagle-Cardinal still pursued while Rotan was waxing back to reality. During the explosion Rotan emitted an Ice trap embedded with his manifested diamond figurines, hidden in size with the Cygnus constellation.
The Eagle-Cardinal still pursued, but that was all it could do. Without its true herder the Eagle-Cardinals could only perform what the Enchantment allowed. The foe seemed to be clear of any trackers, so he landed his jetpack in the top of the trees and began to devour some of his stash. “What an idiot! He thought he had me, well too bad!” The man said as he bit a chunk out of a peculiar shaped fruit which oozed a reddish juice as he chewed.
The Eagle-Cardinal landed in the open field meters away from the foe, only able to sense the Neon, and hear the flies sonic cries, but was unable to locate the intruder. “Look at that stupid bird! Warriors are just worthless now. I think I pity them,” The intruder expressed while he relaxed and let out a hysterical laugh. Though suddenly the temperature in the area began to fall. “Woah, I should have brought a jacket,”
After he finished his snack the man stood to his feet and then aimed to power his jet pack to move to another location. “Let’s see what else I can find,” the intruder stated, but for some reason his jetpack kept back firing. He took the jet pack off to analyze the problem and noticed blotches of ice scattered throughout. “What the hell. It’s colder than a mountain peak,” he then looked around and noticed the same icy patters amongst the trees and fruit.
Immediately after Diamond figurines the size of this man appeared from the Icy blotches. There were three and they scattered onto the man and partially entrapped him from the waist down, keeping his arms and hands incarcerated as well. “What....what is happening!?” he struggles to scream.
“That jet pack is powered by Stella Cell huh?” a voice screamed from down below.
The intruder rushed to peer at the person responsible for this, and who he saw was Rotan who stood near the Eagle-Cardinal feeding it with foliage from the garden as a treat.
“So, you’re Sirio, I’ve been waiting for you,”
The figures of Diamonds transferred Sirio to Rotan pushing him down to the ground using a berg of ice and diamonds. Rotan leered at this man while the man concerningly tilted his head to Rotan still incarcerated by the Diamond Figurines.
“It seems what I was sensing was the Stella Cell, how annoying,” he thought as he walked to the man with vicious intent. “Now tell me where to find Memphis Elite and the Pharoah of Reeds,” he manifested his diamond sword and placed the spear at his throat.