Cuts concealed by white tape, blue towels dirtied by red spread, as the fluff signature of hair was tied down by another spiral of tape around the head, Katie winced at the sting, acidity striking through all nerves. Scratching at her head, wiggling around, Azazel's apathetic eyes stared ahead, her incessant ramblings distancing to his stone surroundings. Ace, on the other hand, left unscathed, just sat right ahead on a wooden crate, facing Mei, being tended to by the Requiem Master. Vita, a versatile capability, unable to be utilized to the extremes unless gifted exponential treatment, had the potential to go beyond the normality.
Strengthened with enough beating and battering, Vita had regrown her sliced-off hand, for as Mei tested her limb, opening then closing her hand, she couldn't help but smile. Examining the lines curved throughout her pale skin, clenching her fist after her regenerated limb returned, Hana withdrew her hands from Rivera, giving her a soft smile as she stepped away. Rubbing her nape as Saiai vanished behind a corner, her fingers slid to her throat, scratching with her nails as she coughed in her mouth.
"So... agh, uh, what's happened since the Advent? Did we manage to win?"
That screech on that desert-like battlefield where nothing but dread was all she remembered, deafening her like she were some mindless extra, a weed to be cut, a string to be cleaved. Holding her head as if sanity were meant to be lost, like searching a rocky ground for glasses to perceive the world better, the corporeal nature of her material form started to morph. Returning to whatever the primordial soup of humanity was, at that time when the Black Moon overshadowed the brightness of the sun... she could feel her finger transforming to sludge, for her skin disgustingly bubbled as a lump of her soul puddled to the ground.
That nightmare of a story banned from the minds of humans for who knew how long reoccured like a program on television, those familiar faces replaying to reflect in her violet-purple eyes. Every time she woke up in a cold sweat, an inescapable itch plagued her being as if a shark outswimming the inferiority of a human's speed chomping at the backs of her bare soles.
A pool of dread remained her drawn bath, but finishing her blink, another breath slid out her pink lips, and finally, the present turned apparent to her, once more. The cold remained recognizable to her, the stone against her bottom, the debris layered atop itself, scattered to her feet. Rubbing at her arms with a quivering exhalation replacing a normal breath, the familiar warmth of another soothed the anxious soul to normality, for as she turned her head, there was one of those students she'd heard so much about.
Edward Singh, he who represented the Star, sidelined by the efforts of the man he named his best friend, by the girl he previously dated, Rivera couldn't help but spot his face. Every little wrinkle, every random beauty mark, even down to the lips that parted however quickly to reveal those pearly whites, that beautiful smile the illuminated everything, for those rays even managed to burn the chains imprisoning her heart. The embers of her dread flickered away, drifting away into these summer winds, Mei leaned on the shoulder of Singh, nodding her head as she received her response.
"I see… so my mom, uncles Jason, and Ben… they're all gone…"
Mei whimpered, holding over the fabric her legs were covered by tightening, lip trembling, the corners of her eyes filled with tears. As her vision morphed into a blurrier version of what it used to be, those memories resurfaced, that time in Vegas where her cousin was suffering; where he'd desired to be in the arms of that one white-haired girl.
"It's all the fault of the Incarnations, but we managed to destroy them… well, all but one, anyway."
There remained the fact that she was powerless, compared to the self she was before; a mere weakling. The rumbling of the ground, the descent of the trees as they crashed outside, the nearby crashing of waves audible from the river they frequented, all were nothing to her, for as her fingers raised, the tightness gripped onto her collar was like that of the chokehold the very Sun wielded over the Earth.
Ace and Katie couldn't help but step back from the range they were enclosed to, around Mei's vicinity, who knew what might happen? But Azazel and Ed, to her front and side, even as she stood tall, aura burning like a recently-lit candle, for the ground she platformed herself against… just tiny steps forming craters and cracks into the stone below.
"From this point on, choose your words wisely… who is the one we need to eliminate? Which one… do I have to KILL?"
Halfway across the sea, at the infamous island ruled by the Founder, there he stood at the peak of a building, gazing at the sight laid out before him; a map guiding him to his destination. Hands behind his back, his head snapped to his rear, examining that darkened face, that corrupted figure, entirely shrouded in blackness, save for the eyes, as bright as the winter's snow.
"How much longer, I grow impatient."
Those words, almost like a demon emerging from the depths with signature growls, demanding to be fed whatever blood was in sight. The origination of his turning to begin with, for Callum couldn't help but chortle, shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, a month, even still. Most of my former Agents spent their time in the Remnant World sparingly, so we have to lay in wait, it's only fair, of course. What of you, though? Why the 22nd of July, again? From what my memories informed me of, your greatest failure occurred on that date, and yet you wish to return. Why is that?"
Naraku's maniacal laughter wasn't new, for as it echoed through the night sky to only Rivers, the latter of the two couldn't help but roll his eyes at such dramatics.
"Deep, deep inside me, there's a glimmer. For I am not wholly myself, and neither was my brother wholly himself. We are two sides of the same coin, and while he damned himself, as long as those glasses existed, and as long as I continue onward, preserving my life with every single second; the embers of his soul will never die out. He's watching, and as he continues to watch, I want him to witness the fruits of his labor. The fall of the Rivera legacy… I want it to begin, already. That is the reason for my guiding you thus far, Callum Rivers. You are not special, neither are you a God among the Heavens, like my father, commanding everything with strings at the tips of your fingers. You are but a pawn…"
The Founder's hand raised, gleaming with a heavenly hue, like flames welcoming in outsiders with but a gate opening, the fire did not direct outward- but inward, for as the tips of his fingers aimed at his chest, the inner demon squealed like an injured animal.
"STOPPP!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!!" Cried the former Blessed Emperor, extending out his hand, and as the Founder turned his head, that smirk emerged as he observed but one phenomenon occurring over his other self's face… sweat.
"I want to make one thing extremely clear. You are not my master, neither am I your pawn. I am the one who founded the Island, who innovated the people under my command, if not for my ambition, then none of this would've occurred. I am not going to oppress my people for the sake of your selfishness, I brought them here to live, not to die for your gain. The coming event is not for your entertainment, but a battle of wits and justice to determine who is more righteous in the grand scheme of this New World, I, the Foretold Founder, originated!
On July 22nd, 2022, it'll begin, the preparations are finally in place. You are so dramatic, so I think I'll take a page outta your book for a change. Operation Chaos Center will finally commence!"
Just over the edge of the rooftop, he perched upon, as Naraku fell to his knees and Callum felt his arm do the same, he keeled over and watched. Citizens entering their homes guards policing the streets, tanks driving so casually behind them, and who piloted their patterns was none other than the members of the Frontier themselves.
"What a beautiful sight."
And as the Jester praised the organization below, the future allowed for him to giggle, staring off at the stars… for what did the plants' alignment have in store for them. What laid ahead for their fate at Chaos Center?
Prelude Chapters - Fin.
To Be Continued.