Arc 4: What families entail
"Ow!"
He had dropped a glass, slipped into that glass, and cut his leg. Leaving the young boy crying away while holding the worst wound he had ever gotten, and would get until he was 17.
"It's okay it's okay!"
His mother ran toward him, wearing large circular glasses, black pants, and a gray turtle neck sweater, trying her best to keep a smile for her sobbing son.
"Look at me!"
She said it with as friendly and calm a voice as possible. She brushed his hair, looked his eyes away from the wound, and kept on smiling.
"Isn't that bad right? All things considered you're fine! Just keep on smilin!"
He wiped away the tears over and over, almost knocking his new glasses away, before his father swooped down to catch them at the last second.
"I bite my lip to pass it."
"Yeah and you always get a sore there!"
The two continued playfully bantering while the boy, Gray, smiled softly and held his leg. Still crying, but able to get through.
Gray {It's gonna be okay it's gonna be okay!}
Eleven years later in another world ran the wanna be Hero Gray Kyojin, breathing heavily, injured, with that same leg gushing blood. He felt its warmth slowly draining down his leg. How much it burned. How disgusting it felt for his skin to tear in two. Even if the cut wasn't too deep, wasn't too large, it was enough to force out a limp.
Gray {It's gonna be okay!!!}
The only reason he wasn't on the alley floor crying and holding his leg was due to adrenaline. This absolute need to love and keep going. And because his combust arm hurt more than almost any one thing he had experienced before. He couldn't move it, he couldn't think about it without the almost seizure-inducing pain flooding forth. Yet he wrapped in I'm the cloak as a makeshift cast. Dashing through an alley of a collapsing war filled town he took snow to cool his sizzling, boiling, erupting arm. He had tears in his eyes, he wasn't smiling, but he was running on even still.
"YOU! PHANTOM!"
Gray {Not okay not okay!}
Gray slid to a stop as the bounty hunter he shot through the third floor of a building just a few minutes ago somehow stood to fight again. She was illuminated by the nearby blazes stretching into the sky. Prepaid to ravage the world for her embarrassment. Covered in blood, limping forward, wheezing from crushed ribs, flooding with anger. Becoming nothing but an avatar for her own bloodlust.
Gray: "Can't we just talk this out!?"
"DIGALM!"
Using a small earth wand she charged in from the end of the oddly long alley of randomly sized wooden and brick, densely snow covered buildings. Lit by the waxing crescent moon, and all the fires consuming the land. Her spell called forth the Earth Spirits in the air to coat her arms in a thick, dark brown earth, creating two large hands of stone.
Gray {SHIT!}
He almost lost it all, but he clenched his injured arm to snap himself forward, and just took a breath. In, out, with each of her rapid steps. Her chest was bleeding, her jacket had been knocked away to show her thick red chainmail, even her hair was knocked out of its tie to let all of her many black twists flow out. A face slightly covered in her hair, with only bloodshot eyes and a bruised face underneath.
Gray {Wait! WAIT! JUST LIKE THE GAMES! Or what Ryo or Musashi would say!}
He took in Spirit mana each second she rushed. So he could create a slightly power boosted, Spirit Sense enhanced, blue glowing aura.
Gray {WAAIT!}
She leapt, spinning her arms around to create a tornado of force that tore through the nearby buildings. Right as it went to shred Gray, he turned back and around with the flow of her spin, managing to partly roll underneath her and dodge. She instantly pivoted into the snow, crunching her bleeding leg and almost sliding away, but got hit back anyway by Gray's only working arm.
Gray: "Jab ow Jab ow Jab!"
Back and forth in a rapid motion, breaking her nose and her face while he was weakening, knuckles cracked and crunched, but she still fought on; he had to jump and stand on her large palm as she swung it around. It sent him flying through the alley, ready for her shot -
"DIGIST!"
She quickly placed her hands together, forming a large stone fist that rocket through the air. It would have broken a handful of bones in Gray's body, even killed him outright, if it weren't for Dema blasting through the air to snag him to safety.
Gray: "Oh I love yah!"
"DAMN THAT STUPID LIZARD!"
Gray: "SHE'S AN EARTH BOUND DRAGON!"
The compact, relatively small town, allowed Demas instant speeds to soar across in moments. Scoping out the area through the rising smoke and blowing ash. The moment he saw a Walgonian be slayed by an Anarchist he tried to leap off Dema, only for his arm to surge out in pain and send him back onto her saddle.
Gray: "No! I have to keep going!"
Dema rapidly began to slow down to Gray's surprise, leaving him screaming and grabbing the reins while she plummeted. Bursting through an already burnt building, across the roof of a lower shop, into the wall of an alley.
Gray: "What happened!?"
Gray barely got off, rushing to Dema instantly. Only to find her dirty, a bit injured, and lost to sleep.
Gray {I've been pushing her all day…what is wrong with me!?}
The sound of rocking wood and metal sent off chills through his body; Gray instantly felt the presence of a firearm, even if it was a musket. So he thrust around and -
"STOP!"
Anarchists at all sides of the small court yard, some holding muskets, others holding large swords with their Demi-human strength. All ready to kill him.
"You're Kyojin right!?"
Gray: "Who's asking!?"
"The master!"
Gray felt even more chills as his mind seized back to the castle. Instantly his heart locked up, his chest almost burst, and tears formed. Forced to listen to Prometheus' laughter, Kisohi's body bursting, Ophelia's horrid screams. Before he was instantly snapped back out of it by the stop of the lead Anarchist's foot.
"You need to stop, come with us. And we won't have to detain you by force."
"Hah! Yeah, you're already half dead as it is."
Gray {They have no idea how much strength I have.}
That rage was as present as ever, especially with this new threat on the line. The Cloak even shivered, enjoying and wiggling to his anger. All while the Spirits sensed his danger, flowing faster into his body as he pulled it in.
"STOP IT NOW!"
The guns were held right at him, their fingers on the -
"DIE!"
A younger anarchist shot early, causing Gray to lose concentration. As a bullet had been sent grazing over his vambrace, while the musket exploded in the anarchists hands. He let out blood curdling, vomit inducing, almost nightmarish screams of pain. Feeling his slashed, torn face with his broken hands. All the fingers either gone or barley on, all the skin burned away, all the bones present. All almost instantly cauterized by the heat. This triggered fear from the larger anarchists and action from the other shooters.
Gray: "CENIC!"
A large burst of smoke flooded the courtyard just as their exploding muskets did. Only two of the four members fired, as the other two valued their lives more than testing out such a weapon.
Gray {Can't run, gotta help Dema, gotta help the Knights, gotta do my part!}
He bit his lip and pushed on, using one hand and some spiritual fueled mana to cut through. His Spirit sense, even if weak because of his current state, could see through Cenic. So he could fight through it. Going for legs, arms, backs; he tried his best to avoid truly dangerous blows as he fought. The Demi-humans were trouble, swinging wildly and screaming in fear, but Gray barely dodged and cut them a few more times to leave them on their knees.
Gray {Gordon said there's a difference between people like me and normal people! I have to believe it! I have to think it'll work! Cause it will! I'll fight and I'll win! For Rosemary! And everybody else!}
As the smoke cleared, there was nothing but the sound of war all around. As the anarchists were lying on the ground holding their wounds, whimpering and out of the fight, For Gray stepped lightly through the snow, and took the collar of the anarchist that led the ambush.
Gray: "Did Arthur send you here!?"
"Why would I answer you?"
Gray: "Because I don't want to kill you! I don't want to threaten you! I just want to talk, seriously. I want to stop this without bloodshed."
The anarchist shook with confusion. Unable to believe, unable to take it in, but the look on Gray's face was truly worrying. Truly, himself. Honest.
"Thank you for not killing my family."
Gray: "No problem, but it seems those guns did a better job than me."
"That's because we're testing them. They're new, horrific. Arthur said they were ways for people without magic, or mana to use their affinity to fight. No training needed. Just hand it off, and they're a soldier."
Gray: "Then help me stop it. Where's it coming from?"
"I don't know. But…but I know where our shipment came from. Another town not too far from here, named Bruge. It's filled with anarchists, rebels. Anarchists eligible to be Pillars."
Fear hit him instantly. Gray had to save Rosemary and the others. He had to go to Athens as instructed. But these people needed him. So many were joining the Sect out of fear, so many people of Walgonia were being brutalized. All because of Arthur, their leaders. Right now, Gray wasn't clouded by some hatred. He could see it, through their mask, at the eyes they all had. The soul they all had. And smiled, patting the shoulder of the anarchists before standing.
Gray: "Go get somewhere safe. Get some of your friends out."
"And you?"
Gray: "I'll try and help my own fight."
He rushed back into the fight, before quickly turning back to Dema to check on her.
Gray: "Can you get somewhere safe?"
She only turned her large head, before slowly taking herself into the sky.
Gray: "Wait how do I get her to come back? Whatever, I'll worry about that later."
This time he dashed into the fight, toward the middle of the town. Where all the action was moving. The outskirts were filled with fleeing Refugees, injured rebels, and injured Sect members. The fires were either closing in or already settled, working to destroy the town even if the Walgonian's pushed all the Sect away. It was an undeniable fate now, but Gray was only leaving when the last blade fell. Only to hear a familiar yell right after. Standing in a street filled with flaming buildings, covered in battle and bodies, staring off the bounty hunter.
Prissa: "I AM PRISSA, TWO SKULL BOUNTY HUNTER! OF VALATROCITUS! AND I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY YOU, A NOOBIE, SOME DUMB KID!"
Gray: "Sorry to break the news to yah but I'm not too sure about that."
She gritted her teeth against the mouth full of blood, before kicking up snow and dirt in her launch toward Gray. At the same time Gray realized just how much stamina he had used; when he went to pull mana from his OD, it almost felt like his hands were smacked away with pain.
Gray {Shit! Used too much -
Prissa: " DIGVUP!"
She sent out an uppercut, while earth propelled out of the ground to land against his chestplate. The tip of the earth broke, but the force almost knocked him out, before sending him down the alley choking with pain and blood. However when Prissa aimed her hand out, her entire body let out a massive burst of pressure. Sending her to her knees while clenching her OD.
Gray: "You said you had a date right!? Leave! Leave and call it a draw!"
Prissa: "She'll understand. And do you know how bad that looks on my record!? My purse!? My pride!?"
Gray: "Better than us both dying right!? And I'll never tell!"
Prissa: "UGH!"
Gray: "Look, honestly just go loot or somethin from the houses before it burns up if you need the cash."
Her eyes instantly lit up, waving and saying "bbbbyyyeee" as she pulled her broken body through the snowy streets. Gray was stunned, laughed, and then turned around the head back to the center. To town hall. The largest tower in the city; Gray peered up toward the six story building in the middle, a building lit in massive flames. Around it fought Anarchists, Knights, while people screamed from below in horror. Gray tried his best to push forward, aiming his head toward the action and staring at his feet to not slip in the snow without a mana flow.
Gray {No mana, I can do this? SHIT I GOT NO MANA I CAN'T DO THIS!!! But I'm not knocked out, that means I got one last burst in me, I just gotta force it out the old fashioned way. But I'll pass out!}
Chris: "Kid!"
He slashed through an anarchist's leg with a slide, curved to slash the back of an armored anarchist, and then threw his blade into the head of a Sect knight ready to cleave down on Gray. While the horror almost made him vomit, he tried to look away and smile at the sight of somebody he kinda knew, even if he met him like twenty minutes ago.
Chris: "You gotta get to safety!"
Gray: "Not when I can still fight! That building, why protect it?"
Chris: "...Because the mayor is there. Still. Others, people that lived inside, worked inside. Some have run but we haven't found him! We can't get inside -
That's all he needed to know; Gray burst past Chris as fast as he could. The fight surrounding the tower was like a mote, while the other flaming buildings and street battles worked as waves pushing him back. So he had to pull himself right over.
Gray {DAMN THIS GONNA HURT!}
He screamed even before he threw out his arm, coated in the Cloak, to stretch out as far as possible and snag onto a nonflaming part of the brick building. Sect members instantly tried to swarm him, with arrows, magic and blades, but he pulled forward with his good arm and slingshotted himself forward.
Gray {Didn't think it was that springy!}
This time it was a mix of fear and pain in his yells, soaring through the sky toward a window without mana to protect himself.
Gray: "THE GLASS!"
Without time to reach for his sword, he pulled the Cloak in and spun it around himself to form a ball that burst into the building. All the glass shards fell out of the Cloak when he burst forward, pulling the cast back on and leaving a small mask to block the immense ash.
Gray: "HELLO!? ANYBODY!?"
He was on the third floor, consumed in fire all around, with every door and office taken by the chaos. Everything was creaking, roaring, hazy and awful, but like he did again and again and again, pushed forward. Without mana, all he had to do was sit and breathe, focusing toward the spirits.
Gray {Please, I need you.}
When he opened his eyes again, he had taken an aura of mana from the Spirits, as well as entered the Spirit sense. It was incredibly weak, due to his improper hold and lack of mana given to the spirits, but it worked. He could see through the thick fire and find life. Instantly he went toward the stairwell, trying to use his sword to pull a broken wooden pillar away to free the door. When it opened the door fell forward, letting out a handful of people all screaming for help.
Gray {What the?}
A loud howl came forward, not from a beast, but from a Demi-human. Gray didn't understand the tone, but all the Walgonians did, and rushed toward the window Gray entered from. It was a chime of Walgonia, a signal. For a water mage to create an ice slide from the building to the ground for safety, before getting hit with an arrow and stabbed in the back with a dagger.
Gray: "IS THIS EVERYBODY!?"
Almost everyone went out of the building, aside from a tall younger woman holding a burnt arm.
"Liam, the Mayor! He's still in his office! On the top floor!"
Gray bolted toward the stairwell before he felt a hand, only to see a worried Cat-Demi-human covered in cuts and bruises.
"Please, my daughter…"
He could barely stand, but Gray understood, and smiled before dashing off into the rising hell. He went toward the stairwell to make it. Up and up and up, almost slipping on the sleep stone stairs, trying not to grab the red hot flaming rail, or look down at the rising pit of fire below.
Gray {The higher I go the more I can breathe, until the fire takes over. I'm not trying to die from smoking!}
He tried his best to focus, toward the faint lights through the building. Three, two on the fifth floor he reached. The door was stuck, leaving him with only two choices. Chop away with the sword, or use mana to burst past.
Gray {Come on Spirit Aura!}
He even managed to hold the small flow of Spirit mana, just enough to break through the wood with a kick. However it took another two before the door burst through, allowing Gray to head forward and kick through another door. An office, walls of fire, and two people against the brick wall at the end.
Gray: "Come on!"
His eyes instantly went open. He saw an older, shaggy blond haired member of the Sect, holding onto a barely conscious child while staring half-dead toward his broken leg. With all the smoke and ash he could hardly see, because of how much he was inhaling and because of how much was in the room. But Gray, not breathing for a second, rushed through it with Spirit Sight to grab hold.
Gray {OPHELIA!?}
The young girl looked identical to her, but he could accept it. He just had to pull them both onto his back and slowly march back to the exit. As he did, the weak floor began to squeal, causing Gray to leap toward the doorway just as the bottom gave way to the fires below. Without a thought the Cloak reached out toward a wall, allowing him to swing into the doorway and keep running without skipping a beat. And even with the young girl right in his arms.
Gray: "It's gonna be okay, okay!? I'm here now!?"
"...."
She muttered, and Gray got closer.
"My dollie!"
Gray: "I'll get it! But first we gotta make sure you're okay!"
They pushed back to the stairwell, only to find the bottom filled with even more fire. It was only rising, the building only becoming less sturdy. Even the fighters below slowly stopped to watch the massive tower crumble.
Gray: "Just hold on a bit longer!"
They were heavy, growing heavier. Gray attempted to take in more Spirit mana, and it worked, but the weight was even heavier than his normal Spirit enhanced flow. The strain of it all. And still, all he saw was Rosemary and the others awaiting. A safe Walgonia and life awaiting. And a last blue building dot. Instead of bursting through the door, he slashed at the brick wall on the side to no avail.
"Watch…out."
The Sect member on his back held out his arm, pushing the only mana he had toward the Spirits.
"Igel..."
The wall lit up with red, before a burst caused the Bricks to collapse a small hole. Leading them right into the mayor's office.
"MY SAVIOR! THE SECT!?"
Gray: "It's okay!"
Just as they screamed even more rumbles were let out; the bottom of the building was giving way, and it was all going down. Gray tried to come near the Deer Demi-human, one of the first Demi-human mayors in all of Saga, desperately clinging to him in fear. She was covered in soot, small burns, even cuts, while the office was coated in more blood than fire. Bodies of guards dying to protect her from Sect Knights.
"Please..help."
Gray: "That's why I'm here!"
He bit his lip and forced out a smile, easing the tension just before the fire finally ate away at the building's supports. Sending it leaning, then falling all the way toward the ground.
Gray: "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I'M FROM -
Gray let out his loudest scream of fear yet, before calling forth the Mana Surge. The last bits of mana he had instantly flushed through his body to silence him, but he took that mana and pulled in more spirit mana. He then sent the Cloak toward the mayor, jerking her toward him and wrapping him with the Sect member, while the child was still in his arm, and then used his now free arm to swirl his arm desperately. At the same time the building's first few floors smashed into the streets, onto buildings, floor by floor. He threw all of his rushing mana, and even more mana he took out during the surge, into a sphere in his right palm, over and over, twisting and condensing, to become a bright blue ball of mana.
Gray: "TITANS IMPACT!"
It erupted, sending a shockwave of force around them. Breaking his vambrace, a hole in the roof, and almost his right arm. The building's floors smashed down just as they leapt, sliding across the streets. Gray kept the child tight while the Mayor and Sect member fell over, into the soft freezing snow.
Gray: "WE LIVED!"
Gray looked down to see the young girl coughing, but she looked nothing like Ophelia. She was a red haired mouse Demi-human.
Gray: "OW OW OW OW OW!"
In an instant he fell on his back, convulsing in pain to the point he looked like he was having a seizure. The adrenaline was wearing off, he had pushed his OD to its limit due to his hardly formed connection, and almost every limb was shattered. Leaving him bleeding, and open. Yet the fighting was slowly stopping. The mayor was safe, the citizens had fled, and the true Knights were successfully pushing back the Sect.
"Dollie!"
The half-dead member of the Sect Gray had happened to save the small hand stitched cat doll for the little girl, leaving him with a smile on his beaten and bloody face.
Chris: "You did it kid!"
Before he could respond, it all went dark. Gray Kyojin had hit his limit, but in his heart, he had finally felt like he won. Fading away into the darkness. Into the hands of Walgonia. And in the meantime, while he finally rested for who knows how long, the others really trained for the first time in a while. Edward was pulling a wagon of builders up a hill in stone weights, and Soku was standing atop a tree with her Glider while Peter looked on below.
Peter: "You got it! The books said Elves would bend the wind around them to float! Then you just bend it out to go, and then boom, flight!"
Soku: "Yeah, sounds that easy."
In her fear she was wobbly, but she never had a fear of heights, just a fear of breaking her legs. But with a breath and some encouragement from Peter, she stepped off the high tree with her eyes closed, and plummeted towards the ground. She held in her scream and let out her mana, all around, to hardly any effect.
Soku: "NOOOOO!"
Down and down, so loud Peter hid into a bush just in case guards came. Soku rushed faster and faster, before blasting it through her feet to soar forward. She was barely able to flow it around the glider, let alone flow wind all around in a perfect motion while falling. In the end she got close lined by a branch and flipped into a thick bush, leaving the glider slightly torn.
Peter: "Guess we gotta wait a bit before more field testing."
Soku: "Just maybe."
Edward on the other hand wasn't having as much trouble. He was straining himself, and Lincoln was slowly piling up the weight as they walked up Mount Yelira. His body had mostly recovered from his time under the mountain. Yet he was covered head to toe in bandages, along with the thick vines attached to the cart around his limbs.
Edward: "It's getting hotter the further we go up. It was pretty hot below too. The Volcano, how long until it goes off?"
Lincoln was stuck in a trance, before choking on his booze to get out an answer.
Lincoln: "A few months. They've gotta call Valor soon or this island is going under."
Edward didn't know how to accept it, but Lincoln seemed fine. Somehow stepping on without a care in the world. Far more focused on Edward than anything else.
Edward: "You need to tell the people!"
Lincoln: "Yeah I know."
Edward: "Well have you?"
Lincoln: "Nope. They're all too busy with themselves to even realize it. In my mind, they don't deserve it."
Edward: "Why such a low look?"
Lincoln didn't answer. Instead he vanished from sight, so Edward ducked an instant punch from Lincoln through sheer instinct.
Lincoln: "Stop askin about me. If you wanna learn the Dragon's fist, you're gonna have to start asking yourself questions. You were supposed to tell me why you fought, remember? That was why I threw you into Yelira in the first place."
Edward instantly went silent. Letting the sounds of chirping birds and rushing winds blow past them. Before throwing out the answer as fast as he could. By bowing, closing his eyes, and pulling out the flame that kept him going in that hellish maze.
Edward: "I want to make up for my failures. From my family, to Athens, to Walgonia. All of it."
Lincoln: "Why?"
His mom taught him to laugh. His step father taught him to breathe. His real father taught him to dream. Al taught patience. Musashi taught perseverance. And he had taught himself almost everything up to this point. Gordon, Lincoln, they were the first people to ever truly give him a chance. Not pulling him away from the life that keeps grabbing at him. Not submerging him in their own desires. They were here to help, to push him forward, and give him a purpose. One he was finally beginning to see through all the vengeance.
Edward: "Because I'm a Helsing."
Lincoln smacked him so hard the trees blew around, but Edward remained standing.
Lincoln: "Again. Bad answer."
Edward: "Fine! Because it's all I can do okay!? I don't have anything else! Whenever I try something, think about something else, all I can think is that I'm wasting time! This is my life, everybody important to me is in this life. Everything I want, I have to fight for it. This is the only way I know how."
Lincoln: "Good answer."
Lincoln smirked, flicking his hand all around to chop away at the vines binding Edward to the boulders.
Lincoln: "But how does Moro and those pirates come into all of this? Is it because of your pride? Your need for vengeance? Some selfish absolute?"
Edward: "YES! I can't deny it. But…but it will do more good than it will help me. It'll help Athens, the world. And make sure nobody suffers the same fate I did."
Lincoln: "Another good answer. Well now that you understand enough to put it into words, you have to put it into your body!"
Edward: "Huh?"
Lincoln: "Ugh. I guess I finally gotta teach you something. Hell, I'll make it fun for myself."
Edward swung his hands up, hearing a quick whisper in his ear.
Lincoln: "Y'know you can only dodge cause I let yah right."
Lincoln's large palm took Edwards' bandaged face through the iron trees. Edward broke through the silver, deep brown bark, to barely land against the mud on his feet. Staring up to see Lincoln smirking down.
Lincoln: "Or, I guess saying I'm not putting full force is more accurate. Like not at all."
Edward: "And what does this have to do with the Dragons fist?"
Lincoln: " It's an example!"
Lincoln blitzed from Edwards view all around, jotting his feet side to side to push off the mud. Creating a whirlwind of steps before coming to an instant halt face to face.
Lincoln: "True mastery is feeling the world. But before you can really feel the world, move with it without thinking, you have to start mastering your body. The Dragon's fist is your body! Your internal power! Internal mana!"
Edward: "Isn't mana already internal?"
Lincoln: "That's not what I mean! Not the mana in your OD! The mana inside you! Every injury, every time you've trained or caught, anytime you've ever pushed yourself and healed, you have pushed mana toward it. Dudes like us without any mana struggle, and it's slower, so slow you might not see a difference, but you're also a Helsing."
It was like Lincoln forced that damn name into him as an upliftable weight. Lincoln's hand was far heavier, slamming him to his knees.
Lincoln: How long have you been in this life?"
Edward: "I've wanted to be a fighter since I could remember being alive, but I never really killed myself over it until I was twelve. After the pirates attacked."
Lincoln: "Not bad, means you've already got a lot in yah. All you need to do now is find it."
Edward: "I can't even use normal mana right, how am I gonna use internal mana!?"
Lincoln: "I dunno! You wanted to learn!"
Edward: "But you're supposed to teach me! Tell me how you did it or something!"
Lincoln: "Fine! But only when you've hit a milestone. So sit and think, kid."
Lincoln dropped to his knees and entered a complete silence. All Edward could do now was rock back and forth trying to breathe and relax
Edward {Just like what Bjorn taught me.}
He went criss cross, placing his fists against each other in front of his chest. In, out, in out went his breath. He was sweating, active, and energized. His Warriors spirit was itching to be dragged out. His muscles were screaming to be broken and rebuilt stronger. But he had to wait. He had to feel the mud and the breeze, the heat of the sun and the coldness of the world.
Under his closed eyes, he began to see. To hear, to love I'm a world he had lost so long ago. To begin understanding his new self.
Jasmine: "Just listen to Bjorn okay?"
As a child he had sat in his backyard day after day, swinging his mom's sword, and meditating with Bjorn. Even then he could hardly sit still. Now, he could manage. His home was an island. About a fourth the size of this island but still an island. His home had people just like Athens; they had loved lives drenched in battle, a love for battle. They had wisdom, they had purpose, and the will of Walgonia. From the small shops to the friendly neighbor.
I'm that peace, will all those smiles going through his head without bloodshed for the first time he could remember. His mom and only his mom. Bjorn and only Bjorn. Himself, and only himself. Smiling like he did everyday back then, without a burden to hold it down. Causing Lincoln to smile.
Lincoln: "It could take hours, it could take years, hell it may never happen. But this is step one. The next step is to find your power. Not your OD, not your anger, but what you've been forging since you were a boy. Inside your muscles, your bones, your veins and even your blood."
Edward thought of Moro, Musashi, Al, Kisohi, Ophelia. Ophelia's almost instant loss of life, all of their instant losses. An impaled heart, scorched child, popped Goddess, a soulless master swordsmen. A burned world. Where his Warriors Spirit loved. Where it grew and grew as Edward kindled the fire. Not to stoke the fire, but to hold it back. To just his body. For strength, for existing. He began to sweat, to shake, to frown and to grunt, but he stayed in the same potion. A star of being he would sit in for the next coming hours.
Lincoln {What's up with this kid's patience?}
It lightly snowed over Athens. However most of it turned back to water the second it got near. Creating a light haze to fill the forest. It was a warm, wet, but still cozy blanket of the world. A blanket shared by the sleeping, eating, and running Spirit beasts. The many types of trees and other flora. The earth. Cradled together. Under the rain shared by Red Arrow and Warrior. The Gravestone pirates and the Spartans. The strongest man in the world, and the last Helsing. As a body. As a purpose. A purpose to fight for what they want and what they need. A better life. A peaceful life. One that they could just relax in No fighting, no disagreements, no anger faces. They'd fight forever for such a reality. People all across the world did it every day and have done it every year of every decade of every millennia. Right now however, the world needs people trying so hard to be heroes. From each continent, to each hero. Gray Kyojin, Rosemary Golden wind, Edward Van Helsing, Soku, and Julius were fighting for that reality. But not just their own. The view of their country.
That has caused war and battle throughout all of history. It's just that now, things seemed truly different. And these people stood out from the rest. Stood out from reality, while they continued fighting for their dreams.