๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ-๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต.
~๐๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ก๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด
---
A cool breeze fluttered through the curtains of Rato's window, making him instinctively rub his arms with his hands. Though the breeze was far from cold, it was a habit of Rato's since the island-nation of Ziro was covered in snow year-round.
Spread out on the top of his dark wooden desk were piles of papers all related to Asher Mark. Bjorn came into his room early in the morning and dropped the stack off, and Rato had been sorting through them all day. A few gentle knocks came from the door. Rato sighed, put his pen down, and stretched as he moved to go open the door.
He opened it just a hair and a familiar face popped in, much to Rato's chagrin. It was a young woman, around maybe eighteen years of age, with dark black, shoulder-length hair that fades to a dark orange near the tips. This woman was, in fact, Rato's younger sister.
"What're you doin' Ra," she asked as she tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the stack of papers on Rato's desk.
Rato narrowed his eyes and pushed her head back through the door as he said, "nothing you should worry yourself with, Kari."
Kari clicked her tongue indignantly as she was pushed out of the room. Rato shut the door behind him and joined Kari in the hall.
"So, what are we going to do today? I know you have something in mind since you came all the way to visit me." Kari's face lit up as she beamed a smile and grabbed Rato's arm with both hands. Kari dragged Rato outside of the large dormitory and then ran ahead of him to stand in front of a dark black mustang with white stripes down the middle.
"Is this yours," Rato asked with a slight smile, "how did you get it?"
Kari shrugged her shoulders as she fished the key out of her pocket and tossed them to Rato, who caught them and walked around to the driver side before getting in and starting it up. The interior was solid black with dark red stitching.
When Rato turned the key in the ignition, however, the dash began to change into a holographic display. "Welcome," a robotic voice said as a map appeared on the middle of the dash, "where would you like to go?"
Rato glanced at his sister, who was practically glowing with excitement, before inputting a destination and watching as the A.I. began to guide the car.
"How did you even afford this," Rato asked as he crossed his arms and cocked a brow at his sister. A habit he usually exhibits when suspicious or curious.
Kari turned her attention to the window, muttering, "I didn't buy it..."
"So, who did?"
"Dad..."
The two stayed silent as the car drove itself out of the Chimera dorms of the Chimera Headquarters of District 13. Now that Rato thought about it, how did Kari even get onto baseโฆ
"Hey K-" Rato was cut off as the car stopped in the middle of the road. A crowd of civilians and soldiers both were staring up at the sky; a bright, blazing beam of azure blue outlined with a black, fire-like energy.
It was far enough to have been overseas, but why would there be a beam of light from The Dark Zoneโฆ
Suddenly, a familiar translucent screen popped up in front of not only Rato, but every Chimera in the world.
---
The first Awakening has begun. 1st seal has been broken, 1% of strength has been regained.
Will you join the Warrior's cause?
[YES] [NO]
---
Rato blinked his eyes in rapid succession as he wracked his brain trying to find out where he had heard of the name 'Warrior.'
"Ra...? Ra! Ra snap out of it!"
Rato looked over at his frantic sister in time to see a crazed civilian smash through the passenger window. Before Kari could even blink the man was pulled from the window and slammed to the ground. Rato was gone from his seat.
The majority of the nearby Chimera were busy subduing the panicked civilians while a handful subdued the frenzied civilians. Rato was now wearing his matte black suit with a belt strapped to his waist, which housed a plethora of tools for Rato to employ while scouting or hunting, as well as his wakizashi and tanto tied to his left hip with a thin cord.
Rato opted to keep his mask off his face for quick recognition. The man underneath Rato squirmed and roared as he tried to claw Rato off his back, with much of the other frenzied civilians acting the same. Rato grit his teeth before sinking his fingers into a pressure point on the man's neck, knocking him unconscious. Rato gave his hands a single disgusted glance before turning to Kari and telling her to stay out as he ran off to help the other Chimera.
'๐๐ข๐ต๐ฐ, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ.' Rato almost jumped from the man's voice suddenly appearing in his head.
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต. ๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
'๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด. ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ?' Rato immediately recognized what Kieran was talking about. His ancestor had wrote the damned thing after all.
๐๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต.
'๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ป๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด, '๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.'
Rato could just barely piece his memory together enough to remember the lines Kieran had recited, but even still it was hazy. Was this perhaps related to Asher Mark's sudden disappearanceโฆ?
๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, Rato thought to himself, ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ.
A rough pat on Rato's shoulder made him spin around in a panic, but Bjorn managed to grab Rato's wrist before he could grab his tanto and drive it through his throat.
"You were spacin' out. You gotta watch yer back out here, never know when someone'll stab ye in yer back. Have you forgotten about the traitors?" Rato calmed down and absently nodded his head before motioning toward Bjorn to follow closely.
The two moved to the roof of a nearby building to gain a better vantage point of the area. The rusted stairs of the seemingly abandoned apartment creaked and groaned in protest as the two Chimera made their way up to the roof.
Granted, they could've just used their strength and agility to jump to the roof, but that would've drew attention. They didn't want attention right now. The smell of the place permeated through Rato's entire body, and the stench of death and spoiled alcohol made his nose curl in disgust.
Bjorn pushed his way past Rato and charged into the large rusted door at the top of the steps, sending it hurtling to the floor of the roof. The two hurried to the lip of the roof to see if they could glean any more information, however, everything was silent. There were no people on the streets.
Rato immediately began looking for the car he and Kari were in but, when he found it, he saw no signs of his sister inside. Just as Rato was about to leap off the building to investigate, Bjorn's hand gripped his shoulder tightly as a familiar presence appeared behind them.
"Greetings, friends. I believe we have much to discussโฆ" Rato turned his head and saw Kieran, his blond hair now appearing silver with streaks of blond.
"Ah, you may not realize. I, Loki, am a monster of untold strength here to claim this place as my domain. I have taken all of the available Human and Chimera hosts to use in order to terraform my domain to my liking, and you shall help me in this endeavor."
Rato's wakizashi and tanto flashed in his hands as he snarled, anger flashing through his eyes with the force of a tsunami. Bjorn took one glance at the monster and his dual axes appeared in his hands. His opponent didn't seem to have an exoskeleton, so his axes should work just fine.
"This isn't who you are, Kieran. Hold on, we'll save you. Just trust us, ok? I know ye can pull through. Don't let this bastard's soul consume you now, not when you beat him once!" Bjorn's words fell on deaf ears. The monster turned its gaze to Rato.
"You, slayer of Titus the son of Cerberus, have yet to unlock even a fraction of your power. Come, join me, and you will be made my second-in-command. Think about it. The second-in-command of Loki himselfโฆ"
Rato's answer came with a flash of cold steel as he dashed forward and executed a high-thrust with his tanto while using his wakizashi to slash at the monster's legs. The blades passed through a hologram-like image before it faded away. The monster appeared just a few feet behind where Rato stabbed.
The monster now held a dark gray staff, poised and ready for battle. "A pity, but I shall have you sooner or later."
Loki twirled the staff overhead before slamming it down. Rato blocked the attack with his wakizashi before countering with a thrust of his tanto. Loki spun and slapped the back of Rato's knee with his staff, causing the man to fall, but Bjorn appeared at his side, causing the monster to back away from the deadly reach of his axes.
Loki dodged and countered every attack, flowing so smoothly between offense and defense that it seemed he was dancing. Every inch of Bjorn's body was bruised by the end of the exchange, and Loki began to grow visibly bored. With a tap of his foot, the scenery changed into that of a twisted forest topped with a black sky.
Ash rained from the sky and echoing laughter danced around just out of reach from the infinite expanse of twisted trees laid out before them. Kieran-no, Loki pinched the right arm of the glasses on his face and tossed them to the ground as an amused smirk covered his face.
"Welcome...to my domain."
A sudden gale ripped through the trees and tore the ground from underneath Rato and Bjorn. As the two hurtled through the air, slamming into branches and brush at high speeds, two different voices began to speak the same words to them.
'๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ...'
'๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ...๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ...'
'๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ...'
'๐๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ...'
'๐๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ!!'
Loki, standing in the same spot as before, clasped his hands behind his back as his staff disappeared into ash. A rough frown was on his face. After all, he loathed that he had to kill the slayer of Titan.
"A pity," Loki muttered, "he would have been such a great addition to my army." Loki turned and took a single step before a mass of malevolent energy blew a gust so strong that it nearly sent him flying. Now, a frenzied smile made its way onto Loki's face as a pair of bestial howls of sheer rage pierced through the howling of the wind.
Two blurs appeared from the trees, one a sharp purple, the other a dark black in color. Rato, or what appeared to be Rato, now wore an obsidian-like coat of scales fit with two black-purple horns that curved down near his jaw, enlarged canines, and sharp claws on his hands and feet. Purple lightning arced from Rato's body to the nearby ground and across his hands as he snarled at Loki, his own eyes purple and filled with malice.
Bjorn was more serene in appearance than Rato, but his aura was anything but serene. Bjorn's hair was fuller and longer, now black in color, with sharp, ridged armor of black and silver. A plumed helmet rested in between his right hand and right hip; a twisted and grotesque axe resting in his left hand.
Bjorn donned the helm and two raven-like wings sprouted from his back, lifting him into the air as a second axe materialized in his right hand. Loki snickered as his staff rose from the ground.
"The lightning beast, Titan. The black berserker, Americ. My, what a fun duoโฆ" Loki bared his teeth before loosing a manic laugh and charging forward, his staff in hand...