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Aki was stunned. There had ever only been four elements in the known world. This sounded like a whole new set of challenges altogether. She was starting to feel she was in over her head. Like she was in the middle of something much larger than them, dealing with legends that were older than time itself. “Don’t worry,” Temujin reassured her. “You’ve got the best detective on this case. There’s another piece of information I haven’t mentioned to you yet and this is our next clue.” Aki leaned closer in anticipation. “How the thieves knew about the exact location of the Egg and the design of the security system could only have been through the chief architect of the Treasure Vault.” Aki felt her excitement rising. Her hunch was right! The human element in the security system was the chink in the armor, and the chief architect was where the bad guys had put pressure to get to the Vault. “All we need to do now,” Temujin proudly finished, thinking himself so clever for coming up with t
Aki prepared to cast a Divination Spell (Uranai Majutsu). First, she knelt and made the kuji-in hand seal of Retsu. She held her left hand palm-forward in front of her chest with forefinger raised. Then, with her right hand she gripped the forefinger and pressed her right thumb onto its nail. This represented The Wisdom Fist and allowed her a peek into the space-time fabric. She chanted: “I am one with the energy of manifested reality”, and the spot between and right above her eyes flashed briefly. What she intended to do was open her mind to different flows of energy. All matter consisted of energy waves that were constantly being re-created. Visualizing this re-creation would grant her partial control of time. Having geared her ki properly, Aki took out a kinchaku drawstring purse from the inner pocket of her Slayer suit. From it, she spilled magic gemstones and an odd collection of things. Temujin recognized pieces of lapis lazuli and hematite but there were also vials of oils, a
Before she knew what was happening, Aki’s consciousness was whisked away to a completely different time. It was as though she had leapt a couple of years forward and was at once seven years old. As it was in a dream, logic evaded her and it appeared as though the raid on the castle and the attempt on the Egg happened on the same day as the meeting with the chief architect. Aki knew this was virtually impossible (the chief architect was yet to begin construction of the Vault) but her consciousness believed and existed in the moment nevertheless. Just as it was on that fateful day, the red-clad invaders had set fire to the Grand Hall. Aki could see the blaze even from her spot under the table, which was indeed very odd. All participants of the meeting rose and cried out in alarm. They left the door open, giving Aki front row seats to the painful event that was about to take place. She saw her father, just like she did so many years ago, rush towards the invaders in full Slayer suit and
And so they set out to the north. At first, Aki and Temujin clung to each of Griffin’s legs to avoid being seen by Stork gliders who might be flying overhead, which included Aki’s search and rescue party and Temujin’s shoot-on-sight fanbase. As they advanced northward, they felt the gradual change in temperature which was a clear sign they were nearing the territory of the Clan of Undina, whose mother element was water and ice. Temujin radiated the flame on his fingertip to keep all of them warm: himself, Aki, who sat behind him, and Griffin, whose neck was the only spot his heat could reach. Any hotter and Griffin’s feathers would catch fire. The drop in temperature went hand in hand with a decrease in light. At that time of year, it was night all day long in the territory of the Undines and it became harder and harder to see anything beyond the fire-glow that Temujin shone. The weather, too, had grown harsher. Snow was falling though they didn’t notice when it started to; nor when
“Have we lost it?” Temujin screamed, his dark-accustomed eyes straining to pierce the inky vastness below. “Tell me we lost it!” “Of course we lost it! Bears don’t have wings, silly,” Aki tittered. “Oh, you should’ve seen your face! That was the most scared I’ve ever felt in my entire life!” They tried to bring their racing hearts and the sudden rush of adrenaline under control. Griffin especially, whose heart they could feel through all his bulk and feathers, beating madly like a rapid volley of cannon fire. “It wasn’t just the bear!” Temujin shouted. “There was something else!” “Something else?” Aki shouted back. “What?” “I can’t be sure… but I think it’s… a dragon!” “A dragon? Are you out of your mind? Dragons have been extinct for two cen—” Before Aki could finish her sentence, a large mass from below struck them like some black, flameless rocket. Griffin stiffened in pain. “Nooooooooo!” Temujin screamed as Griffin convulsed trying to break free of the deathl
The Kuma-wani water dragon hunched over Griffin’s body, wary as any predator. The relentless winds swept the land and sometimes howled like angry spirits. They were enough to send frightened children under their blankets and push ordinary trekkers to the ground. But Temujin wasn’t ordinary. He was a Slayer. The dragon tensed and snarled when it saw Temujin ahead, making a lone stand in an extremely uneven showdown. His right hand was crimped on his side and blazing like a torch. Without it, he would be lost in the suffocating darkness. He was like a faint candle on the edge of the world. The dragon didn’t mind the dark. Its eyes glowed yellow. Just like Temujin, it was capable of night vision. And a dragon could see a hundred miles ahead of it, close to if not surpassing the visual acuity of its ancestor breed, the Ri-Tatu. “Hey you!” Temujin shouted. “That’s right. I’m talking to you, Ugly! That’s my friend you got there. If you know what’s good for you, you’re gonna leave him alo
Aki brought all the elements smashing against the dragon’s glowing underbelly. The beast budged and used its tail to steady itself against the onslaught. It was determined to withstand the second attack and prove it was the king, the alpha predator of its domain. What the dragon failed to realize was that Aki wouldn’t stop at hurling funnels upon funnels of wind. After she had super-cooled the dragon’s underbelly, she launched herself in the middle of her own cyclone and withdrew a short wooden implement from her suit. Another ingenuity of the Ciconi Clan, the object was an extendable bō staff. Near the mouth of her wind tunnel, Aki teleported again. But she was so focused on what she was doing that she barely noticed. She ended up floating parallel to the dragon’s chest and executed rapid combos of two-handed underarm spins with the bō staff. It appeared as though she was emerging from the cyclone in an invisible boat but she was pulling the oars so fast that she threw out sparks on
With the sunless dawn came the proverbial ray of hope. A gaggle of curious onlookers from the nearby villages had come and caught Aki and Temujin asleep in the open. Last night, they were sitting close to Griffin and Aki projected a giant dome of airflow around them (with a chimney on top). Then Temujin radiated heat to keep themselves and the whole length of Griffin warm. They must’ve been exhausted from the fight because they fell asleep that way. They were woken up by a great deal of chatter and wide-eyed stares, just as Temujin’s fire disintegrated into its last sparks and Aki’s air dome fizzled away. Naturally, it was still dark in the north but at least the weather had cleared. Many of the villagers, blonde and blue-eyed, were carrying torches that threw a harsh light on the outlanders. “Greetings, friends!” spoke a jovial, stout man who sported a lot of white, from his handlebar and long, squarish beard to his ermine-trimmed surcoat. “Welcome to our humble little fell, Pukk