Chapter 16
"One? It's a swarm!" Abel yelled, panic-stricken.
Hoku had determined the agitation because of the undevised way his voice cracked near the end.
"Juno, you just returned from your own fight, we'll handle them if you can stand your ground and preserve distance from any slated ambushes on the kid, then we can contain the ones following." Yu-ze eagerly pioneered a swift plan out loud, earning a gesture of command from Mirai.
She reinforced a safely measured severance of ground between herself and Hoku.
A creature with a massive wingspan overlaid in dustlike scales swept in from the center of where they all stood.
This creature had reduced avoidance and heaviness, rendering proficiency in its speed as well as directness.
If aquatic species can swim in the sky, shouldn't insects at least be in the water? How can an environment stray from a natural balance?
The insect had partially slowed upon drawing a coordinated distance. It billowed a robust body with fine hairs, curling its softly rounded bottom.
The motion resembled a bird preparing to snatch certain prey.
However, this ginormous threat mercifully fell short of the bird's sharp talons, alternatively operating six petite limbs evenly attached in a row of three on each side of its thorax.
Li hurriedly strode past Juno and Hoku and seized the point at the rear of their group.
Hoku flinched upon feeling something bump into his leg in the wake of Li leaving his peripheral vision.
He peered down, stiffly lowering his chin toward his collarbone.
Cheshire was perched on the ground gazing up at Hoku with deep emerald eyes.
His tail was curved to the side, beating on dead leaves, while his ears were angled outward on both sides of his head.
A protective instinct unexpectedly befell Hoku, and he compulsively extended his arms toward the cat, leaning in to scoop him up.
He secured Cheshire with both arms, wrapping one around the higher part of his body and supporting the lower back with his palm.
Cheshire didn't refuse, rather to Hoku's amusement he merely turned his body over and placed his front paws over Hoku's shoulder.
While Hoku was practicing how to hold a cat the correct way,
Li covertly extracted his sword from beneath his spruce-colored mantle and situated the edge at a diagonal angle.
Glancing at the weapon branched at his side, Li confronted the pair closely covering the front ground with instructions.
"Juno, Stand still—when it barrels in to pitch you, heave Hoku down, unless you want your heads cleaned off your shoulders,"
Hoku was about to turn around to ask Li what he had meant, when suddenlyfive slender fingers pressed in a foreboding manner on the between his shoulder blades.
Hoku faltered, ultimately allowing the hand to avert his body forth from him.
"We got it," Juno said, effectively glaring at Hoku with a cornered gaze.
Hoku darted his eyes away from the creature, forcing himself to swallow the queasiness swelling in his throat.
His fingertips peaked through delicate layers of black fur as he held onto Cheshire like a timid child clinging to a stuffed bear.
A conspicuous shade of crimson fell into the frame of his vision, piquing his concern instantaneously.
He hadn't bothered to ignore it, reeling his head to the side while sparing effort to refrain from curving his body too.
It's Juno's fan… are the 'elixirs' just random objects imbued with magic? Hoku wondered.
"I'm going to transfer signals to your fan when you receive the cue, brace for my opening gambit," Li explained, quaintly kneeling behind Juno.
Li appeared to waver before conveying his last order.
"Hoku, you mustn't resist her, and stay unfettered of your unease toward injuries."
"Exactly, you're probably more inclined towards a bruise rather than funerals, so stop distracting yourself," Juno hadn't flagrantly regarded Hoku, yet she had somehow guessed he was examining her elixir.
She pushed his fairly reddened cheek, detaching his eyes from the slim fan wrapped in her other hand.
"Relax, I heard you bo—"
"You three carry center forefront! Qi—aid me after you assist them with the maiden moths!" Yu-ze obliviously interrupted him.
"Those are moths!?" Hoku muttered, overtaken with repulsion.
"Antheraea polyphemus. They are naturally harmless, but based on the size—life will cease to appear in the context of your world," Juno remarked.
Hoku's jaw twinged as he firmly bit down inside his mouth.
However, his grit untethered as he peered newly in front, realizing Yu-ze, Fleur, Mars, and Abel, had departed into different positions on elevated sides of him.
Drab distortions of brown, purple, and black charged through the middle of the trees, swaying the tops like tall straws of wheat in a field.
Hoku thought his heart would lash out if it hadn't already started.
Whilst scanning the moths traveling like a dim terrain in the sky, Fleur and Yu-ze had secured themselves on the highest branches.
Abel tarried near the ground.
His and Li's roles would soon require an appreciable amount of movement.
Hoku's alertness had honed near Fleur when she suddenly summoned the bow that had been on the verge of full display because of Mars.
A vibrant flash of red rapidly flickered for two seconds, unfortunately, performing a languid warning for Hoku.
The fright hadn't presided over him until he had already tumbled to the ground next to Juno.
Hoku peered between the ground and his body, heaving a breath of relief once he acknowledged that Cheshire remained safely tucked against his chest.
Though his body appeared to uncomfortably droop into the tapestry of rust colored leaves.
His right elbow was already starting to bruise as a result of landing his weight on it to prevent crushing the cat.
"Ow."
In comparison to what had just occurred, however, the surge of sharp pain was a meager setback.
The dreaded arrival of a creature had appeared quicker than the swarm Hoku had momentarily observed.
That's why she wanted me to focus…
Its wings brushed above his head, but before it had stricken the chance to harm them, Li's blade glinted a small orb in his eye.
Beyond his line of sight, Hoku heard a blunt tear, sequent with the echo of metal colliding into an impenetrable surface.
"Hideous insect," Li grumbled.
Thud! Thud!
A chunk of the moth's wing plunged directly across from Hoku.
Then the heavy drop of the creature's body cratered near Juno's head, floundering with its legs pointed up from the ground.
Hoku involuntarily twitched as he slowly glanced away from the deformed moth.
The wing had been cut in a sharp diagonal line, removing the entire hindwing, as well as a sliver from the top.
He couldn't refrain from admiring the spherical pupil on the hindwing.
The shade was a variant in the abundance of brown exalting everywhere else, though it matched the dull saturation of color.
"Then perhaps beautifully hideous," whispered Hoku.
The Memoir 12
Dear navigator, I have left you The Stars Of Chaos to assist you in the indefinite circumstance of the timestream. An objective will return to the pages in the form of illustrations concisely before every fundamental occasion.
I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you…
Signed,
The Arbiter
Rule 17
The consequences of being too late will most commonly be infestations. Infestations as you may have already surmised are deformities that come from ordinary organisms. Refrain from lingering on the simplicity of defeating them, because much worse awaits you in the fluctuating years that have lost time.
-The First Quota's End-
To be continued…