WITH Ryan's extra energy now distributed among everyone. They were able to go at an accelerated pace and made it to the settlement with only a few rest stops along the way.
After trekking so long, they came by a patch of rainforest with particular dense vegetation by a river bank.
"So, where is this settlement?" Ryan asked as he came to a rest by a tree.
"We're here," Mac said, pointing upwards.
The entire settlement was set up in the canopy of the hundred foot trees that filled that region of the jungle. Bridges crisscrossed between the trees connecting to the different levels of platforms and created streets and avenues that all made their way around the tree branches and down along the roots, the entire settlement was effectively camouflaged with the trees [like the worlds' most awesome treehouse]. Among the trees were miniature floating masses of land, moored by vines and branches, they served as some kind of farmland, there were also farmland on the ground, cleared for crops in fields by the riverbank, which was surprisingly close. The entire area seemed to have an effect on the senses, everything just blended together that you wouldn't notice unless you knew what you were looking for.
Like Mac had said, there was evidence of civilization; there were radio antenna and what looked like power lines running from hut to hut, the obvious luminous glow coming from the huts told them they had access to some form of electricity, and some of the tools being employed looked fairly modern. At one particular hut, which was higher up in the canopy, they could even see a mini-Tesla tower attached to it.
The inhabitants of this settlement were tall, at least seven feet, with brown skin and dark hair, their eyes were a variety of color; red, green, grey, yellow. They wore handmade clothes in colorful patterns, the men wore large short sleeved or sleeveless shirts over simple pants with sandals while the women wore either simple yet elegant dresses or skirts with tops that showed their midriff.
"These are the Wara'kare tribe, they serve as guides for this part of the rainforest to travelers." Ryd explained, as they entered the settlement proper, "They're really hospitable."
"I knew that," Mac commented behind him
A kid that looked no older than twelve but was still as tall as Mac ran up to them, she held in her hands a ring of flowers, she offered it to Ryan then ran off, giggling.
"First, we need to find a way to get a message out," Jasmine said
"First," Ryan added, "We need to get some rest."
The moaning and groaning the others made, convinced Jasmine that Ryan was right. She sighed, "Alright, we rest up for a bit, then, we'll see about getting in contact with Stephanie."
The people of the settlement were indeed very hospitable, an elderly couple had offered to let them stay in their residence, which was fairly large enough to accommodate all of them.
Jasmine had just come back from the communal bath house by the river and she was feeling refreshed. She walked back into the room she shared with Mac with a towel wrapped around her naked body, "I just came from the baths. Did you know they have hot water?"
"Really?" Mac asked, looking up from a magazine.
"Yeah, it was refreshing to have a hot shower again."
"Hey, I wonder where the boys are?" Mac asked
"Yeah, maybe I should go see how they're doing."
"My, my, concerned with Ryd are we?"
"Not just him," Jasmine said, "I'm also worried about Ryan,"
"Are you blushing again?" Mac asked, "You've been doing that a lot lately, since Rys showed up."
"And your point?"
"Ryan's probably noticed by now." Mac said
"It's a natural reaction, why should I care what Ryan thinks?" Jasmine scoffed
"I never mentioned anything about what Ryan thinks," Mac said, "Why are you so concerned about him?"
"Shut up." Jasmine said all flustered, then, there was a knock on the door.
"What?" Jasmine demanded
"It's me." Ryd said, "I wanted to ask you something Jasmine."
She immediately opened the door and faced Ryd, her face bright red, "Wh-what is it?
"Well, I was wandering whether I could show you around, or something."
Jasmine smiled, "I-I'd love to, just let me get dressed."
She noticed Ryd's cheeks take on a rosy tint as he looked away, "Y-yeah. W-well. I'll be waiting outside."
Mac was still on her bed, happily observing the two.
… )]≥( …
Meanwhile, in the room across the hall, Ryan was so exhausted from all the excitement that had happened that he risked dozing off.
He was standing on top of a hill, the landscape around him was barren and desolate and the sky was wild and chaotic as if it was broken. Above him was the ruins of High V'hax, the giant mound the 1st Branch was built around had been shattered, and clumps of the city lay scattered in the air and on the ground.
Approaching the city, Ryan discovered that gravity was crazy in the ruins of the city. He could be walking sideways one second and then find himself upside-down. The place was long beyond abandoned, with all traces of life absent, there weren't even any corpses.
As he walked the crumbling streets that led to the remains of the hotel he had stayed in, he thought to himself how surreal it all looked, like he was in a dream.
Oh right, Ryan realized, this is a dream.
Then, amidst the empty ruins that offered shelter from the harsh elements, Ryan heard humming, echoing through the cavernous districts, the humming tune of a little girl.
"Hello?" he calls out, his voice carried much farther and much louder than should be normally possible, but the melody did not cease, it came from all around him, as if the little girl was everywhere.
Then, the humming voice laughed and started singing, although it didn't appear to be singing to Ryan;
The Stormborne came, the Stormborne fell,
Then all that was died as well.
Now there's no more joy, now there's no more fear,
Only silence reigns, now that the storm…
The voice cut out. Ryan then turned around, and there was the little girl with fair skin, bright eyes, shining pure white, and long dark brown hair, wearing only a simple white dress.
"Wh-who are you?" Ryan asked
She pointed at him, and whispers, "…is here."
At that final word, the remnant of the city and the world itself were suddenly shattered as Ryan was flung out of the dream.
He sat up, suddenly awake and breathing hard. Sleep was starting to seem a dangerous concept to him; his nightmares were a constant torment and the times where he was lucky enough not to have such nightmares were getting fewer and farther between, and that troubled him.
Like this new dream. Who was that girl? What was that weird poem? And what the hell happened to High V'hax? And why did that girl look so damned familiar?
For the time being, he chose not to dwell on it, there was still much that he didn't understand about this whole destiny business. He got off the bed and walked out of the room, down the hall to the girls' room, where the Grimoire dwelt in Mac's bag.
He opened the door to see Mac, standing in her underwear; blue and white striped panties and a canary yellow and black bra. Ryan looked directly into her eyes, so as to avoid his gaze wandering anywhere else, even though it was already futile.
"This is awkward." Mac stated looking directly at him,
"Only if we make it so," Ryan said straight-faced
"Agreed," Mac nodded
"I'm glad we've reached an understanding." Ryan said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him, "so long as Jasmine doesn't find out."
"Yeah, she'd probably get the wrong idea." Mac said rolling her eyes
"Yeah," Ryan said, "but this is a pretty incriminating situation."
"It's not like we was naked or anything," Mac smirked, "now that would be an awkward situation I would love to be in with you. Besides, she's a little busy at the moment, with Ryd."
Hearing that made Ryan tense up for some reason, a part of him didn't trust Ryd and it bothered him that Jasmine was so smitten with him. [that's right, 'smitten', I have a very wide vocabulary]
"Anyway, why are you here?" Mac asked, "I mean, aside from to catch me in my underwear."
"I actually came here for the Grimoire."
"It's right here." Mac said handing him the book.
"Were you reading from it?" Ryan asked raising an eyebrow
"No." Mac said, grinning sheepishly,
"Mm-hmm" Ryan said
"It's not like I can read it anyway," Mac said, "I don't have your knack for the weird cyphers."
"Well I'm having better luck," Ryan said,
"That's great." Mac said, "Now get out, I'm gonna have a shower, and I don't want you around for what happens next."
"Okay, got it." Ryan said as he walked out of the room, "Have fun at the baths."
"Who said anything about going to the baths?" she teased, tugging at the strap of her bra playfully.
Once Ryan got back to his room, he cracked open the grimoire as he sat on his bed and continued to decode it, sometimes he would find a code that held a double meaning. Ryan stared at the book for what seemed like hours, until codes and ciphers started swimming in his head. He let the book drop from his hands as questions started to fill his mind; what was the cypher used to code the book? Who wrote it? Why did the glyphs only respond to him?
As he bent down to pick up the book, a voice suddenly spoke, "Matthias Ryan Reins, what in the name of all that is holy are you doing with that thing?"
It was so sudden that Ryan jumped, dropping the book again. He turned around and standing there before him, was his mother, Lady Onruu, the Spirit King of the Dead and Lord of the Underworld.
… )]≥( …
Lady Onruu stood in Ryan's room, looking on at him with a face that was anything but pleased.
"Where in the name of sanity did you get that?" she said glaring at the book in his hands
"I found it in the Reins Vault."
"You… you were at Stormrise Manor?" Lady Onruu said, surprised, "I thought…"
"Yeah, it was in the middle of this rainforest." Ryan said, "But it's gone now,"
"No. no, no, NO! That place was never supposed to be found." she said to herself, a hint of panic in her voice "this wasn't supposed to happen, it's all falling apart,"
"Mom?" Ryan asked, concerned, "What's wrong?"
"That book… those secrets were supposed to stay buried," she said, "I should've destroyed it when I had the chance. Now that that book is in your hands, circumstances are out of my control."
"But what's so dangerous about this book, mom?" Ryan inquired, "I mean, it is amazing; the codes alone are beyond belief."
"Ryan, you don't get it," his mother says, sternly, "That book has knowledge, dangerous knowledge that should never have been immortalized on paper. It brings nothing but tragedy and death. I know, because I used its knowledge to mess with fate when I was still Julia… and it nearly wiped out our entire family."
Ryan was stunned,
She reached for the Grimoire, but the book started to hiss and her hand stopped before it could make contact.
"I can't even touch it," she sneered at the book, "fate really is a bitch."
Then, Drake's voice rang in Ryan's head, "Aw, isn't that sweet? Mom cares about us."
Shut up, Ryan thought, as he replied Drake.
"And seeing her now in this lighting, I must say; she's not too bad on the metaphorical eyes, quite the looker, even for a dead chick." Drake hummed.
Gross man, that's my mom, Ryan thought as Drake started snickering; Urgh! The voice in my head is driving me crazy.
"Ryan!" His mom snapped, "Are you paying attention?"
"Yes ma'am," he said abruptly, not knowing what she had been saying the past few moments.
"Then why haven't you reacted to the commotion?" his mom asked
"What commotion?" Ryan asks, then, there is a loud crash from outside.
"That commotion," His mom says
The door burst open and Mac pops in, her hair still wet and wearing only her trousers with a T-shirt around her neck, "We've got company," she states, "and not the friendly kind, c'mon."
Ryan turns back to face his mom, but she was gone.
"Ryan, c'mon." Mac said as she ran down the hall, with Ryan in pursuit.
… )]≥( …
Outside was way worse than they had initially believed.
A large gathering huts were in ruins, houses had been demolished, there were bodies littering the walkways and branches and a fire had spread across the vegetation.
"This is really bad." Mac states as Jasmine and Ryd meet up with her and Ryan.
"What happened?" Jasmine demanded
Ryan shrugged, "I only got outside,"
"We need to put out the fire." Ryd orders
"On it," Ryan raises his hands, a glyph glows to life over the river, and orbs of water began to float from the river surface over the burning settlement, when there were enough orbs they all exploded, showering down like rain effectively dousing the flames and everything else.
"Thank goodness," Jasmine sighs with relief,
Ryan looked around at the smoldering structures as people began rummaging through the debris, searching for the injured or dead. "What caused this?"
Then, one of the huts suddenly fell apart, cut to pieces, drawing their attention, "Ah, there he is." Came a familiar voice
"I told you, young magi are easy to smoke out; just use a little fire and out they come, like rats." another more sinister voice said
From the ruins of the destroyed hut, they see five individuals approaching; three men, two women. The women Jasmine, Mac and Ryan recognize instantly as Mika and Seraz. The men were dressed similarly, except for their masks. One was skinny and had a full mask with shark teeth, strapped to his back was a trident. One wore what was basically a Jason Voorhees hockey mask, he was big, with a capital BIG, with rippling muscles the size of Ryan's head. The last guy seemed to be the leader of this team and wore a kind of lion mask with horns at the temples.
"Matthias Reins," said the man in the demon mask, "I am Ramsey, the two gentlemen with me are Kraw and Ronan and I believe you've already met Mika and Seraz."
"Who are you people?" Jasmine asked, "what do you want with Ryan,"
"We are the Black Talons, and we have been tasked with the mission of capturing him by any means possibly."
Jasmine's mind raced, since her previous fight with them, she had analyzed that fight to better prepare for the next one. But now, looking at them, she realized; these were scarecrows, anti-ranger soldiers, they were trained to take her kind down.
At the snap of Ramsey's fingers, Seraz and Mika charge at them with their mystic gear, clashing with Ryan and Ryd, who drew their own blades and intercepted.
"Interesting," Mika said to Ryd as their blades clashed, "That sword, what is it made of?"
"Sorry," Ryd said as he swings with the ivory white blade, "trade secret,"
Meanwhile, Ryan and Seraz are having a much more destructive battle, with every strike that Ryan avoids, Seraz leaves whatever was behind him in more pieces than it started out with, like something from an anime.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked as they crossed swords once again, "Where's that homicidal grin? That murderous charm? Not feeling quite as chatty anymore?"
She grits her teeth, the anger flowing off her was hard to miss, though, oddly, not at Ryan, "Shut up and die, kid!" she said pushing Ryan back with such force he can feel the floor creak and groan under him. Her attacks seemed even more ferocious than last time, but less precise, she was out to kill and didn't care what was in her way.
This is bad, Ryan thought, I need to get this fight out of here.
"Why?" Drake asked in his head, "It's fun to watch this little settlement turn into a warzone. It reminds me of Christmas."
Shut up, Ryan thought to Drake as he kicks at Seraz in the gut with considerable force, sending her stumbling back, then he leaps from the decking onto the branch below, leaping from that branch onto another below it, effectively getting farther and farther away.
"No, you won't get away that easily." Seraz snarls as she followed
Ramsey sees this happening and gathers the others, "He is our priority, leave the others."
As Ryan ran off with the Black Talons in tow, Jasmine, Ryd and Mac looked on at them,
"Do we go after them?" Mac asked, uncertain,
"Yeah," Jasmine said, "Ryan won't be able to hold his own against all five of them,"
"Those people did this," Ryd growled inhumanly, "they need to be taught a lesson."
With that, they took off.
"All this running," Mac groaned, following behind, "give a girl a break here. I'm not that athletic."
… )]≥( …
Ryan makes his way out of the settlement, across the river, through the jungle and came to a stop by the edge of a cliff, at least a hundred-foot drop waited below.
"That is a long way down." Ryan comments to himself
"Jump! Jump! Jump!" Drake teases inside his head.
He could hear the sound of the mystic gear, Edgesplitter, ripping through foliage and vegetation, coming closer and closer.
"There's nowhere for you to run now, Reins." Seraz called out as she and the Black Talons revealed themselves from the bushes.
Ryan brandished his sword, "I won't go down without a fight,"
The one named Ramsey chuckled, "You aren't the first we've encountered to say that,"
Then, from above, Jasmine, Mac and a giant green gryphon landed.
"Ryan, you are such an idiot, did you know that" Jasmine said standing by his side
"No, I wouldn't have known if I didn't have you there to remind me every day," Ryan quipped back
"You should at least let your friends know what you're going to do before doing it." Mac said. Ryd the gryphon just roared in agreement.
"You think this changes anything?" Ramsey states, "we have killed many magi who stood against us."
The two groups face each other, waiting for the other side to make the first move.
"Ryan." Drake says
If you're gonna say something useless I'd rather not hea- Ryan thinks
"This is getting dicey." Drake said
You don't say, Ryan commented sarcastically,
"Look, you know you can put an end to this right now, use the thunder's roar."
I'm not at full strength. Ryan said, and besides that is still incomplete.
"Use my share of power; we're only ever half as strong as we can be." Drake said, "Plus with me working with you, I'm sure we can piece that cast together."
Why are you being helpful?
"Because I don't want to get captured by them anymore than you do, who knows what they're gonna do to us. I'll take my chances with the idiot I'm stuck with, thank you very much."
With the two of them reaching a temporary armistice, Ryan grinned, "Buy me some time, I got an idea."
"Those words never end well," Jasmine muttered to herself as she drew her bow and launched three arrows. The arrows ignited on impact with the ground in front of the Black Talons, creating a wall of flames.
Ryan held his sword out with both hands as he focused his magik, above the storm clouds gathered in response to his will.
"Ryan, what're you…?" Jasmine asks sensing the dark menacing aura that now emanated from him.
She didn't have time to worry about him, though, as the burning wall died down and the black talons lunged forwards. Taking a deep breath, Jasmine readied herself to repel their attack, then, Ryan raised his blade to the sky,
"Lightning type; Great Thunder's Roar!"
The giant glyph formula lit up the night sky,
An enormous lightning storm churned in the clouds, a long arc of electricity made its way down to Ryan's sword and clung around his body building in power, then… then everything went wrong.
The glyph barely lasted a few seconds before breaking apart completely. The lightning magik around Ryan, now devoid of a proper focus, went critical and discharged around him, causing the cliff where they all stood on to explode in a might burst of power that cracked the cliff face with a mighty rumble.
The blast had momentarily paralyzed everyone there, except for Ryan, who wasn't in any better condition. His disorientated mind could still at least register what was currently happening; they were all about to plummet to their deaths. With what little strength he had left, Ryan willed the wind to envelop everyone in air bubbles –him mind too frazzled to pick out particular targets. The quickly approaching ground was the last thing he saw as everything faded to nothingness.
… )]≥( …
Ramsey and the Black Talons surface from below the rubble, surprised that they're still alive.
"Such power." Mika gawked, looking up at the shattered cliff face, "It is unbelievable that a magus so young could do something like that without any special training."
"The Reins is truly a special boy." Ronan agreed, looking up at the ruined Cliffside, "He even had enough power of will left after such a disastrous casting to cushion our fall."
"What a fool." Kraw blurts out, "By saving us; he has only doomed himself."
"I doubt he had the time, nor the presence of mind to pick and choose." Ronan said
"Where's Seraz?" Mika asks
They spot her lying on a pile of rubble,
"Her!" Kraw snarled, his voice full of acid, "This is all her fault!"
He lunged at her, with his trident raised. And then he runs it through her body.
"Kraw, explain yourself." Ramsey orders
"It was her fault, she had a chance to subdue the Reins brat, but she didn't, and now he's gotten away from us, again."
"Are you really blaming me?" Seraz asks, from right behind Kraw. "Only a weak-minded man seeks an equally weak excuse to kill a comrade. However, I don't have such qualms."
His eyes widen behind his mask as he tries to back away, but it is too late, Seraz's mighty blade divides diagonally. His blood spills over her face and she licks it before spitting it out.
"Seraz!" Ramsey demands after witnessing the murder, "What have you done?"
She faces him, "This disgusting excuse for a man, planned to kill me anyway and blame it on some failure he would make up." She said as she cleans Kraws' blood off the blade, "This was me quitting your stupid team Ramsey, and don't ever call me by that name again." Mika looks at her, "Seraz, calm down. Think about this."
"I have and I am tired of all this," She says, she unmasks Kraw and leaves with his mask in her hand as she walks over his corpse, "I'm keeping this trophy of my last kill as the berserker Seraz. If any of you try to pursue me, let me warn you; I will kill you too. I'm done with all of you." Then she walks away.