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Standard disclaimer: I now ownies.
AN: good afternoon! This marks the last chapter for ACT I. Don’t you all feel special??? Hahaha! No, really! This really is the end of Childhood. The next chapter will be starting ACT II! And that means everyone’s adult forms! Or, the older forms for those who were already adults. (snicker). This will be super fun.
Oh, I guess I should say this now. If you haven’t noticed by now, NOTHING is ever what it seems in one of my stories. So, just cuz you think that character 489 is dead, doesn’t mean they are… what? That does not qualify as a spoiler. That just means that I am trying to desperately cover my poor ass. I doubt that any of my readers and reviewers will cause my flying monkeys to rally against me or anything. No… not at all.
(Flying monkeys are seen in the corner, looking quite scary)
Eep! Just uh… ignore them!
Oh, well anyway. Here’s the chapter!!!
Demus lunged at Jin, his sword drawn and ready to strike. Jin gauged the distance between him and Demus, readied his katana, and jumped back just as Demus struck the ground. Demus jerked back up and glared at Jin. He steadied his sword and stepped forward with his left foot.
Jin lowered his head and watched as Demus circled him. His eyes narrowed as he readied his katana once again. Demus jumped and swung at Jin’s head. Jin ducked and weaved his body around each slice of Demus’ blade. Jin did a back flip and landed a few feet away from Demus.
Demus grinned and readied his sword once more.
“You are indeed a very good swordsman!” Demus laughed. “It will truly be a pity that I will have to end your life!”
Jin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. After all, he was trying to be intimidating. Besides, how embarrassing it would be if he let this little hotheaded teenager get under his skin. That was what little sisters were for, after all.
Jin swung his katana over his shoulder and placed his left hand on his hip. “Seriously, is that all you are going to do? Talk? I’ve seen bacterial colonies of E. coli that had better comebacks than you.”
“Ouch…” Nina said. “I think I will have to use that one…”
Demus grunted and slammed his sword point first into the ground. “What do you think this will accomplish? Why do you try to protect that monster?” Demus turned to Salla. “You. Not only have you betrayed me, you side with these ingrates that defy the king’s orders and protect this murderer?”
Salla shook her head. “Please, Prince Demus! It is the King that has betrayed us! You didn’t see what happened in Lahan!”
Yuki’s head snapped up at the mention of Lahan. Salla continued to try to reason with Demus.
“Why this great lust to kill your brother?” Salla asked. Demus scowled and glared at Salla.
“You know why! The king has always favored his Destined Child! He left me with NOTHING! Treated me like I was NOTHING!” Demus shouted as he pointed to Ryu. “You are an abomination! You should have been the one to be ignored! Father was always too concerned with YOU to EVER care about anything else! If he did, then he would not have married that whore and have her bore him a murderous monster!”
Ryu took a step forward. He walked over to where Jin was standing and glared at his brother. Jin looked down at the boy, nodded, then turned his attention back to Demus.
“Why…” Ryu whispered brokenly. “Why would you say something like that?!” Ryu screamed at his brother. “My mother was NOT a whore! I am sorry that your mother died, but that does NOT give you the RIGHT to say that about MY mother!”
Jin took a step back as Ryu slowly advanced on his brother. Yuki walked up to Jin and wrapped her hands around his upper arm. Jin glanced down and noticed the worried look on Yuki’s face. He glanced back and watched as Nina and Sari walked to the two siblings. Nina and Sari stood a few feet behind Jin. Nina never did release the death grip on her wand.
Salla looked over at Demus and Ryu. She felt torn as to what to do. She had been charged with protecting both princes at some time during both of their lives. She failed to save Ryu and she had allowed Demus to spiral into madness. She shook her head and boldly took a step forward. She had to end this before one of them died.
Bunyan watched as Ryu and Demus stared each other down. Ryu had been like a son to him the past four years. Unlike Jin, he had not been asked by anyone to keep an eye on Ryu, or any of the children for that matter. Bunyan was solely there because he loved Ryu like he was his own son. He took a step forward. He would not allow Demus to kill Ryu.
This had to stop now.
Deis somberly shook her head as she walked the long hallways of the stone temple. Mount Zublo. She had once claimed this ancient temple as her sanctuary. Truth be told, however, this was actually a temple that was once dedicated to Ladon.
She had asked Garr to wait outside. She knew that the seals of protection would not allow someone that was not a Dragon to pass beyond the entrance. She was among the few that knew the correct spells to bypass the security system.
She walked to the center of the room, where a stone altar stood. It was the same altar that she had sat upon when the last Destined Child sought her aid. She had not been able to do much for the young dragon prince, other than awaken his Parna, the Eye of God.
How had it come to this? Deis stared at the altar with a melancholy expression on her face. The faith that the Ladonites had placed in the Cycles was tearing the world apart. It was not the gods themselves, but the believers of Destiny. An unchangeable destiny. An unbroken cycle of death and destruction.
How had she ever been a part of this? This all started when she had raised her weapon against her sister in a war that shook the very foundation of Creation. She knew what was going to happen at Angel Tower. Of course she knew. She was a goddess after all. She had seen the visions during her mediations.
She hated that when each time her sister would be reborn, for one could not actually kill a god, that the world saw her coming as a sign for the end of the world. But, she also hated that her sister struck at the mortals with such hatred.
How would things ever be set right now?
“An unchangeable destiny?” a figure clad in a black cloak asked as he walked out from the shadows.
Deis’ head snapped up and watched the man came into view. He lowered the hood and silver-blonde hair spilled out everywhere. He pushed the hair out of his face and gave Deis a solemn look.
Deis merely shook her head. “I cannot aid Ryu anymore. Not like I use to. I am… I am tired of fighting against my sister. I am tired of this. This ends now.”
The man nodded. “The Cycles will end with either the final death of the Goddess, or the Destined Child. Is this really how you wanted it to end? With his death?”
Deis glared at the man and furiously shook her head. “Of course not! No one planned for this to happen!” Deis looked thoughtful, then smirked. “He is the Destined Child. Destiny will not allow him to die until his time comes.”
“Is this why you inadvertently led him to Angel Tower? To change his destiny?” the man adopted a sly smirk. “Isn’t that against the rules?”
Deis crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked. “I didn’t break the rules that Myria and Ladon put into place. I merely… stacked the deck… that’s all.”
“I see,” the man said, placing his hands into the pockets of his cloak. “You think they can be saved then?”
“You said it yourself, that the heart can change from one moment to the next,” Deis said. “I am a firm believer that they can make this right. They WILL be the ones that will end this!”
The man nodded. “And… if they can’t?”
Deis’ face fell. “Then… we will all die.”
Demus grinned slightly as he watched Ryu draw his short sword. Demus grabbed his sword by the hilt and pulled it out of the ground. He readied the sword and pointed it at Ryu. Ryu nodded and readied his sword.
“This must stop!” Ryu pleaded. “I don’t want to fight you!”
Demus took a quick step forward. “This will only stop with one of our deaths!”
And with that, Demus lunged at Ryu. Ryu tried to jump back, but Demus proved to be too skilled, too fast for the young boy. Ryu was impaled by his brother’s blade. Demus jerked the blade out of Ryu’s torso as the boy coughed up blood. He gave his bother a dull gaze and grabbed his stomach.
The wound immediately healed and Ryu readied his sword once more. Demus lunged but Ryu was ready for him. Ryu dodged out of the way as Demus kept swiping at him. Demus had always took the offensive, while Ryu had always took the defensive. Plus, the ability to regenerate himself came in real handy.
Ryu jumped once more and struck Demus on the thigh. Demus roared and jerked back and in a quick motion prepared to impale Ryu. Ryu struck forward.
The two swords never met their targets. Before anyone could react, Bunyan and Salla had intercepted the two blades by throwing themselves in front of them. Demus’ sword was currently impaled through Salla and Ryu’s sword was through Bunyan.
Demus stared in horror as he let go of his sword. Salla grunted and pulled out the sword from her lower torso. She threw the blade to the ground and covered her wound with her hand. She took a step towards the witless Demus, but staggered and fell to her knees. She doubled over and coughed up blood.
Ryu, meanwhile, could not process the fact that he had impaled his adopted father. Bunyan smiled weakly as he attempted to pull the sword from his gut. He howled in pain and was unable to remove the blade. He gasped for air and grunted in pain. Breathing seemed to be very difficult at the moment, for some reason.
Jin pulled away from Yuki and ran over to Bunyan. He knelt down and looked at the area that was around the blade. Jin frowned and grabbed hold of the blade. He gently tugged on the hilt of the blade, causing Bunyan to yell louder.
Jin let go of the sword and frowned. “The sword is stuck between two bones of your ribcage,” Jin explained. Bunyan nodded slowly. “I think that the sword has also punctured your lung. I… don’t think I can do anything without causing even more damage…”
Bunyan grunted again and gave Jin an amused look. Jin gave Bunyan a look devoid of any emotion. Ryu glared up at Jin, wanting answers.
“What does that mean?!” Ryu screamed. “You’re a doctor, right? Do something!”
Jin shook his head. “Do what? If the sword is pulled out, then he will not only bleed to death, but it will just cause more damage to his lung! If the sword is left in…” Jin trailed off. Ryu knew what he was saying. Bunyan would die, no matter what happened.
Ryu fought the urge to cry. Bunyan was dying and there was nothing anyone could do. And the worst thing was, it was Ryu’s fault.
“This is all my fault…” Ryu whimpered.
Sari started to take a step forward, but Bunyan smiled and signaled her to stop. Sari took a step back. Bunyan turned his attention to Ryu. He placed his hands on Ryu’s shaking shoulders and smiled.
“This is not your fault,” Bunyan said between gasps. “Things like this… happen. You should not… blame yourself. Remember, I love you. You are my son… and I am very proud of you… you mustn’t let… hatred consume you… you must…” Bunyan trailed off. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground.
Ryu blinked back tears. Jin sighed and closed Bunyan’s eyes. Ryu shook his head in denial. He just killed his father…
“No…” Ryu muttered. He felt like something had taken hold of his heart and just squeezed. Ryu moaned and clutched his chest. The throbbing just would not stop. Ryu’s head rolled back as he bit back a scream. The ground started shaking and then splintered under the force of energy that Ryu was unknowingly releasing.
“NO!” Ryu screamed at the top of his lungs as a light engulfed him. Jin stared up at Ryu and the realization dawned on him. He jumped back in horror and grabbed Yuki and Sari and pushed them behind him.
Nina watched as the light died down to reveal a massive gold and white scaled dragon. The giant looked down on Jin, then Bunyan and howled in pain and grief. He then stared down Demus and snarled.
Demus finally snapped out of his stupor and snapped to attention. Ryu had ascended to the form of the Kaiser Dragon. The Kaiser’s wings flapped, letting loose a stream of lights. The dragon took to the sky and stared down Demus. The only thing Demus could do was stand there staring. Salla weakly glanced up and shook her head in denial.
Jin stood up and looked over at Yuki, Sari, and Nina. He gave Yuki a look and motioned her back. Yuki gave Jin a horrified look, but she grabbed Nina and Sari’s wrists and pulled them back.
Jin walked over to the Kaiser and glared up at the beast. He took a deep breath and shouted. “RYU! YOU MUST STOP THIS AT ONCE!”
The Kaiser had no intention on obeying such a ridiculous order. He stared Jin down and prepared to release a blast of holy fire at this insect that dared to defy him. Jin jerked back and grabbed Salla and dodged the fire. He landed next to Yuki and placed the bleeding Salla down next to the girls.
“Save them… please!” Salla cried, right before she passed out from blood loss.
Jin nodded. He turned around and walked back over to where Ryu was hovering in the air. He made a hand gesture and started to chant something. Ryu snarled and dove down a Jin to attack him. Jin finished his spell just as Ryu was mere inches from Jin’s head. The light from the spell enveloped Ryu and forced him to revert back to his human form. The light died down to reveal a completely crystallized Ryu. Ryu’s body started to fall to the ground, but Jin caught him before he could. Ryu’s body started to flash.
Demus quickly jerked around and thrust his sword forward. The sword struck at the crystallized body and shattered it. The sword had also impaled Jin as well. The shattered crystals scattered around Jin and Demus. Jin grabbed hold of the sword’s blade and forcefully jerked it out of his body. He grunted and staggered to his feet, never taking his heated glare off of Demus.
Demus actually looked surprised as Jin advanced upon him.
<å>“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!” Jin roared. Jin grabbed Demus up by the collar of his armor with both hands and raised him in the air a few feet.Demus smirked. “It’s over… finally…”
Nina screamed as she covered her eyes and shook her head. Yuki choked back a sob. She noticed a faint light behind her and turned around. Standing there was the redheaded Mary, her arms behind her back.
Yuki blinked, but the ghost girl vanished. She could have sworn she heard the girl whisper, ‘its not over yet…’
Jin growled at Demus and raised one of his hands to punch Demus in the face. Demus growled, but was unable to escape from Jin’s death hold.
“You bastard!” Jin yelled as he punched Demus in the face, giving the young prince a black eye. “You just killed your own brother!”
Yuki turned her head, unable to watch the violent beating that her own brother was giving Demus. Nina screamed again and collapsed to her knees, screaming and sobbing. Sari just stared wide-eyed at the events that had just unfolded.
“No…” Sari whispered.
A young, redhead boy that looked around 12, looked up. He looked up from the gun he was messing around with and stared out his bedroom window. He placed the gun down and walked over to the balcony and opened the door and walked outside.
He leaned on the railing, unaware of the purple-haired woman, dressed in a formfitting purple and black sleeveless dress, that just entered the room.
She looked over at the boy and cleared her throat. “Little Master? Is something wrong?”
The boy turned back around and looked at the woman. “Shelley… he’s dead.”
And with that, the boy turned back around and stared out at the blue sky.
Troy stopped walking and glance up at the sky. He sighed and hung his head. He placed his hands in his pockets and continued walking.
Deis’ head snapped up. She exited the ancient shrine and noticed Garr standing at the entrance. She gave Garr a bewildered look and shook her head in denial. Garr placed his hands on his belt and flexed his wings.
“What… has happened Deis?” Garr questioned.
Deis merely shook her head and continued walking, not giving Garr an answer. Garr shrugged his shoulders and followed Deis.
Manna solemnly looked up at the sky. She sat on the edge of the pier back in Rhalpha. She stood up and placed her hands in her pockets. She shook her head and headed back towards the docks.
“So…” Manna said quietly. “Now what will you do?”
Nina shook her head and looked up at Angel Tower. She noticed a bright light at the top of the altar. The light vaguely looked like a humanoid with angel wings. She blinked and the light was gone. She looked over at Sari, who was just shaking her head in denial. She balled her hands into fists and looked over at the crystal remains laid.
Yuki ran over to Jin and grabbed hold of his arm before he was able to give Demus another black eye. Jin looked at Yuki, his eyes flashing gold. Jin blinked and his eyes returned to green. He glowered at Demus and dropped the fool.
Demus scrambled to his feet and tried to draw his sword, but could not locate it. Demus turned around and saw that a young man with regal features and long blonde hair, dressed in a gold robe and white pants, was holding his sword… and pointing it at him.
“Legence…?” Demus asked in confusion. “What are you… urk!” Demus grunted as Legence ran him through with his own blade. Legence withdrew the blade and threw it to the ground. He smiled as Demus slumped to the ground, his expression one of shock and utter disbelief.
“I should thank him for killing that annoying pest,” Legence smiled as he looked at the crystals. “His hatred for his brother made him the perfect target. Too bad his usefulness has run its course.”
Jin growled. “Who are you?!” Jin demanded.
“Oh?” Legence smiled. “I never excepted to see you alive ever again. Too bad, though!” Legence raised his arm as a pair of massive white wings erupted from his back.
He summoned a gold wind gale and sent it flying right at Jin. The gale slammed right into Jin and sent him flying. He landed a few feet away from a grief-stricken Nina. He struggled to get up, but eventually gave up and fell back to the ground, unconscious.
Sari shook her head. This was NOT supposed to happen!
“No,” Sari said, the word laced with a strength she didn’t know she had. “No. Make this right… please. Make this right…”
A green light formed around Sari and enveloped the entire area. Bunyan grunted as his wounds healed. He sat up, dazed and confused. Salla and Jin woke up and staggered to their feet. Demus’ wounds healed and he could only watch in amazement as Sari turned her attention to the crystal pieces.
Legence growled and took a step towards Sari. Sari closed her eyes and held her hands in prayer.
“PLEASE! MAKE THIS RIGHT!” Sari shouted as the crystal pieces began to glow. The crystals floated into the air and started to spin around each other. They started to spin faster and faster until they started flashing.
The light was blinding. An ancient magic was being worked, slowly lacing the broken body of Ryu back together. The light died down to reveal a completely crystallized Ryu. The body flashed and returned to flesh. Ryu stood there, as if he were in some kind trance.
Nina started to make a run for Ryu, but Jin held her back. Nina glared up at Jin. Jin ignored Nina and looked over at the crystals. He pointed to them and started to chant something. His eyes flashed gold as a white blue light appeared in his hand. The light shot forward and encircled Ryu.
Nina gave Jin a confused look and asked him what he just did. Jin said nothing. Legence howled in anger and formed another light gale in his hand. He sent it flying right at Ryu. Ryu’s eyes cleared for a second, before his body started to crystallize once more. Sari screamed and her light started to envelop and merge with the light Jin sent around Ryu, forcing his body to revert back to normal.
Legence’s gale swirled around Ryu’s body, trying to force it back to its crystal form. Ryu screamed and a gold and white light engulfed him. The light was blinding. It filled the entire area, forcing everyone to shield his or her eyes. A dragon made of pure light burst out from the light, and vanished just as the light died down. Ryu was gone.
Jin stood up and held out both hands and let loose a bolt of white lightning. Legence growled. Things had not gone as he had expected them to. He shrugged and admitted his defeat. At least the Destined Child was gone. He vanished just before the bolts hit him.
Jin suppressed a growl and turned his attention to Sari. The light died down around Sari and the girl just collapsed to the ground in grief and confusion. Nina looked over at Salla. Salla bowed her head and walked over to a stunned Demus. She grabbed him up by the wrist. She bowed to the others, then vanished in a flash of light, Demus in tow.
Jin turned to Bunyan, who was standing. Bunyan nodded and the two men turned their attention to the three girls. Nina was hysterical and Yuki just stared at Jin. She shook her head and ran over to her brother and grabbed onto his waist and started crying. Jin wrapped his arms around her.
A light formed and Mary reappeared. She looked over at Jin and Bunyan, then to Sari. She walked forward, a sad look on her face.
“This isn’t over,” Mary said. Jin glared at the girl. Mary continued. “All hope rests with Ryu, and he is now gone. He…”
“Where is he?!” Nina screamed.
“I do not know. I don’t know if he even lives or not. I can no longer sense his lifeforce.”
Jin nodded somberly. “I… understand. I see what we have to do now…”
Sari walked over to Jin and stopped a few feet from him. She stared at Jin for a little bit, then ducked her head. Jin nodded. He then turned to Nina.
Nina looked at Mary. “We will find him. This I swear to you!”
End of ACT I: Childhood