"Oh, this? It's a storage ring… with ancient runes engraved on it." Harambe walked to the shore where Cleo was waiting.
Cleo got the shock of his life when he saw the ring itself. It has the same color as the old king's eyes, the same runes that the old king himself drew on his own storage ring…
"It's your father's ring!" Cleo yelled uncharacteristically with a blush on her cheeks. She proceeded to grab it frantically and checked its contents. "Your missing dual runic brass knuckles are here."
Why did that bastard Uhuru have King Harambe's ring?
Harambe's emotions stirred. The double brass knuckles formed a huge part of the original crown prince's fighting style, and temperament as an aggressive, in your face attacker. Draken is no Harambe though, as his adaptive style of a gun and sword suited him much more.
Do I have to start learning how to use this weapon?
He asked the question while punching the air several times, trying to get a grip on the new weapon. Surprisingly, the weapon felt like it had always been a part of his hands. It was as seamless a fit as he could've ever imagined.
'Oh… this body still remembers the brass knuckles as if it was an extension of it…'
A small grin showed on Harambe's face, as he produced powerful gusts of energy from the punches he's making with his mana. He might be among the best gun and sword users in the Sunset Legion, but he could always adapt to any situation the best as well. 'Not bad, maybe I'll enjoy this after all.'
"I never understood what's going on inside Uhuru's mind." Cleo was still skimming through the contents of the spatial ring, and found that it contained most—if not all of what she remembered it containing— of the weapons, artifacts, scrolls, and treasures her beloved King had. "What would he gain by giving us this?"
Harambe had made a deep indentation on the ground before coming to his senses. "The biggest gain he could possibly get. Time."
Right as the two left the place where the Ascension flower spawned, it welcomed a heavy, nourishing downpour.
***
Dawn.
The splintered group of Ani-shifters were headed off to an unknown location. They were exhausted, wounded, yet still vigilant of the dangers of the chasing pack within the woods. Actually, they have no idea if they're being chased or not. But to many of them, who'd survived persecution, hunger, and harrowing pasts… wanting to live is instinct. As long as they live, they can continue contributing to the organization, and changing their fates.
And so, the remaining members of Cleo's band of misfits reached a misty part of a coniferous forest of tall trees.
"Hercule!" A woman with a sweet, cheery voice yelled in indignation. "The portal hasn't been used yet! Chief and the Crown Prince..."
Hercule, a half-transformed man with two horns protruding from his temples, had always thought about the survival of his crew first. He barely escaped the inferno after the vanguard he led was almost fully wiped out. The bloodstains currently on his horns and all over his body were marks of the night's warfare.
"Here's what you'll do. All of you are going to enter the portal and wait for the mistress, the crown prince, and me on the other side, whenever that is. I'll stay and ensure they get a safe passage too and get on. Sata, you lead." Hercule transformed into a dung beetle and scampered away into the forest floor.
"We should not waste time." The girl with the sweet and cheery voice, named Sata, said softly. "Hercule! If anyone else gets here, send them in!"
The sun's first rays are starting to shine from the east, the gusts of wind brought with it the hope for a better day. Sata collected an encased ball of pure mana from her storage ring and threw it at the direction from where the sun is rising.
It emitted a glow that was akin to sunlight, a force as strong as a howling gale.
After the ball of mana passed through the middle of two nondescript, tall, coniferous trees, it mysteriously vanished.
Mana suddenly poured out like water in a burst dam in all directions, subsequently activating an almost transparent floating portal that was nigh impossible to spot through the naked eye.
"Portals never cease to amaze me." Sata beckoned everyone to jump into the portal. "Now, let's see where in the human territories we will land!"
The Ani-shifters jumped into the portal, with varied expressions. Some wore an expectant look, hoping that they'll land in a tolerant kingdom. The others looked grim, knowing the odds were almost as good as none. Sata, and the few veterans… had a blank mask on their faces.
As the last shifter jumped in, the portal disappeared without a trace. Hercule returned to human form and kneeled on one knee, wishing the World Tree for the best.
It was a portal that leads to Nowhere after all.
***
Lightning crackled in a rain soaked shanty town. Malnourished kids that wore nothing but tattered rags flittered by in the almost flooded narrow streets trying to avoid the acidic rain. In the next moment, the accompanying rumble of thunder scared away the cats jumping over the roofs of the countless number of shacks.
A singular black cat remained still sitting upright on a roof of a random, uninspiring, warehouse-like shack. Its eyes warily looked on at the kids enjoying acid rain with surprising compassion. It can even see the sizzle every drop of water was giving their disease laden skin.
Afterward, a snow white cat jumped the alley beside it and landed onto the same roof. Unlike the black cat, this one looked at the clouds above, as if waiting for something to drop.
A thin, barely perceptible line of light then connected the shack to the storm clouds above, causing the two cats to circle around it like moths to the flame. Those two became excited, after waiting so long in Nowhere. They wanna spread their wings and play with their kind once again.
The two cats jumped down from the roof in effortless fashion, and entered the abandoned run down shack with uninhibited anticipation for what comes next.
"Where the fuck are we?" Said the first one to arrive. "A house?"
"It seems like an abandoned place," inferred the one that came after.
"Damn, it reeks of pee." Meanwhile, the next one landed on a puddle of cat piss. "Shit!"
The black cat and the white cat were stunned. They shared the look of a person that waited all his life to finally taste a meal they always wanted to have, only for it to taste like fecal matter. It was an incredulous feeling.
But even as they started to waver… they still had a mission only they could fulfill. So the black cat steeled his resolve, and said the words he'd waited to say for years.
"Welcome to the city where dreams come to die. You lot are now here at Nowhere."