"Ready or not, here I come!"
I concentrate intensely under the fury of Celestia's punches. I had to maintain a razor edge tight focus, sending a portion of my masks power to my eyes so that I could see her lightning fast punches coming.
The other portion I had to shift from my arms to my legs to my neck, every shift enabling a specific muscle to just barely dodge or block her attacks. I jump far back under the fury of her attacks to regain my bearings.
"Haha! This is great! Your instincts are truly special!" Celestia laughs as she takes one massive step and closes the distance I had made between us.
The sudden burst in speed catches me by surprise. I could barely bring my arms to the center of my body in time. BOOM! It was like a sledgehammer had slammed right into my forearms. I get knocked back a fair distance as my arms fall to the floor dead numb.
Even with the mask's power reinforcing my arms this was the second time they became useless today. Celestia had wanted to take me outside for a "test run." Show her what I could do. Not before I learned from Rudeus that she was currently the strongest known human on this world. Her fighting instincts were sharp, she had an unbelievable amount of raw strength, her personality was overwhelming and unpredictable, everything about her just radiated power.
I grit my teeth and remove all the power from my arms. Celestia had wasted no time following up her punch and was rapidly approaching me. When it comes to a fight, there is no time to think. You have to let your instincts take over; however there are always critical moments like these where you get a half second to think. She has done nothing but be on the offensive, what's going to happen when I make her have to block or dodge. I have to be defensive when she thinks I'll be offensive, and I have to be offensive when she's expecting me to be defensive. I have never fought anyone like this and it shows. Everyone I've fought previously were regular humans with no special powers, I need to adapt or else I'll die.
I put all of the mask's power into my eyes, slowing down time to a trickle. She is bracing her left hand to throw a punch. Or maybe that's what she wants me to think. She was in such a position where she could also throw out her right leg to kick. I stare at her left fist as she's approaching me. The millisecond she got close to me I suddenly step backwards as a vicious kick sweeps from below rocketing into the sky. I briefly see a glitter of admiration in her eyes as I bring my foot forward for a counterattack. I had stared at the fist on purpose, to make her think that I was going to defend against her fist when in reality I was preparing for the kick.
As I step forward, I abruptly remember that my arms were still numb and that I couldn't bring them up, so I then rear my head back, muscles on my neck bulging, adrenaline running through my body like never before, and using the full force of my body I head butt her with all my strength.
Our faces were extremely close to each other while touching foreheads, or in her case, she was touching my mask. Her eyes were wide open. No recoil. She had not been affected whatsoever by my blow. I close my eyes and cringe. I was too close to her to dodge any attack she throws out and I had no way of defending my body. Suddenly, I felt a warm arm wrap around my head.
"Hey Rudeus! Taigy is really great! He'd probably be able to beat you if he practiced diligently for maybe 4 or 5 weeks."
"I see, I see, is he hurt?" Rudeus was overseeing our practice fight to make sure I didn't die, Celestia had a tendency to not hold back when she got excited, sometimes accidentally killing people.
"Ah, I think his arms got busted again." Celestia admits sheepishly as if she broke a toy.
Celestia lets me go, and I stumble away. A crowd had formed around our fight, full of unfamiliar faces I had never yet seen at the temple. So far I had only seen Celestia, Rudeus, Toena, and have heard of Torika, so I had the impression that this place was quite deserted, but it looks like there were far more people here than I imagined.
As the audience realized that the fight was over, the crowd began to slowly disperse, everyone going off to do their own thing. Until all had left except for one girl. She looked similar to Toena, in that she had brown skin and golden eyes, nothing like any human from Earth.
She was staring directly at me, unblinking and unmoving, she radiated a very hostile demeanor, like a wild animal stalking its prey.
"Hey Rudeus, do you know who that girl is?" I turn around while the vestiges of feeling began to return to my arm. They might be broken, they might not, but, I have other things to worry about right now.
"Ah that Shesuan girl? All I know about her is that her name is Polly. Other than that, she's kinda of a lone wolf, doesn't really speak to other people. When someone approaches her for sparring she usually accepts, but she never really talks to anybody." Rudeus then bends down and takes a look at my arms.
"Yep, they're broken. I guess you'll be able to meet Torika soon." Rudeus said.
More unfamiliar terms huh… I'm guessing Shesuan are just inhabitants of some unfamiliar country.
"Ah, all this fighting has made me hungry, I'm going to go get something to eat! Pollllllllly! Come eat with me!" Celestia jumps away running away from the responsibility.
"Is she... always like this?" I ask.
"No, I don't know what's gotten into her, she doesn't usually pay attention to the newcomers."
I slowly take my mask off while eyeing Polly. She takes she gives me a disgruntled look and leaves before Celestia can catch her.
Rudeus guides me to across the temple, as I bathe in the sunlight and weather, a warm refreshed feeling fills my stomach. A stark contrast to the storms and lightning going off in the faraway distance.
We arrive in front of a pleasant looking little house, big enough to only contain one room.
"This is Torika's home, she's currently the only person here who's specialized in Sananku, and she's usually in here studying. We always go here in case somebody gets injured."
"What's Sananku?"
Rudeus stares at me for a second. "Ah, I keep forgetting that you're not from here, Sananku is a separate application of anku, that allows you to heal injuries and certain diseases on other people or yourself. It requires a lot more studying and thinking than anku. Expensive textbooks on how the human body works, teachers who pass down their knowledge of Sananku, it's not worth the immense amount of effort for most of us to become proficient in it. Although I do have some limited knowledge of it."
"I see." I stare at my mask, if their power is the same as this mask's power. Then that means that I could also learn how to use Sananku. If I ever got injured, I wouldn't have to rely on anybody for help. I would kill to learn how to use it. Maybe I'll talk to Torika for a bit before I leave this place, see if I could get a small start on it.
"From the look on your face I can guess what you're thinking. All I'm going to say is that you're going to have a very hard time communicating with her."
"What why?"
Rudeus sticks out his tongue at me and points at it. "No tongue, so she can't speak."
"Oh." That was the only response I could utter.
We don't talk for the rest of the trip.
Rudeus knocks on the door. "Hey Torika! Sorry to bother you again, but the same boy got injured for the third time."
A face peaks out the door, she had long messy hair and dark circles under her eyes. She fully open the door and motions for us to come in.
I reel back a tiny bit from the musty stench that emanated from inside. Definitely not the impression I was expecting from her. Papers, books, socks, clothes, all had been scattered over the ground. It was an extremely disorganized room and there seemed to be no attempt of cleaning it up.
Torika takes my arms in her hands and then inspects them. She then turns to Rudeus and begins waving her finger through the air.
"Celes…" Rudeus opens his mouth to respond but then hesitates and begins tracing his finger through the air as well.
Are they tracing words? If they are… I stare closely at the motion of their fingers, but I just couldn't discern any language from what they were doing. I look away at one of the papers on the ground. As I read the text on the paper I come to a realization.
Why… do I understand their speech but don't understand their writing? The text I was readying was very clearly not English, even though from my perspective everyone was speaking English. In any case, if this was a different world then there should be no way I should understand what they are saying either. Language evolves way too specifically for this to even be possible.
I open my mouth to question this but then hesitate and shut it. No. I still don't trust anyone here, I won't reveal a weakness like that so easily.
Torika finishes her conversation with Rudeus, grabs my thumb and closes her eyes.
It was a strange sensation, my bones twisting and moving in unnatural ways, it wasn't a particularly pleasant sensation, however, you usually felt things from the outside touching your skin but you never felt things on inside moving around.
As my bones clacked into place, I move my arms to test them out, however Torika hold my thumbs firm, looks at me, shakes her head, and then closes her eyes and continues concentrating.
"I don't know much abouto how Sananku works, however I know that to heal a broken bone, you have to do a lot more than just move the bones back into place, just be a little bit more patient." Rudeus said as he patted my back.
Torika continues concentrating for the next ten or so minutes, strange tingly sensations run through my arms as she continues to heal my arms. I drown out all sensations as I feel the interior of my body being manipulated in strange ways.
She finally opens her eyes and makes some more signals to Rudeus.
Rudeus nods his head. "Well, it looks like the experimental Sanaku she used to to heal you the first time wasn't perfect, your arm was only partially healed the first time, and then you fought Celestia which absolutely destroyed your arms as a result."
A sinking sensation filled my chest. "I can't use my arms anymore!?"
"Oh no, Torika's just explaining why it took her so long to fix it, she usually does broken bones within a minute."
A soundless sigh of relief passed through my body; getting permanently injured in this world would make any chance of me escaping this place zero. I had still not forgotten about my original objective to get out of this place and explore the world. That mysterious voice in my head when I died must have sent me to this world for a reason. For all I know, this could be my birthplace.
"Alright, now if you don't mind, wait outside for a minute or so, there's one last thing I need to do here." Rudeus said to me.
"I'm going to run away if you leave me alone." I said bluntly. I wasn't actually planning on it; I just wanted to get a reaction out of him.
"Mmh." That was the only noise Rudeus made in response before turning his back to me and towards Torika.
…Not even a sarcastic quip? Huh? Why does this piss me off so much more than if he actually responded? I walked out of the door dumbfounded.
I then sit down cross-legged waiting for five minutes. I take my mask out and try to listen inside the room, but as expected, it was dead silent in there.
I stand up. Maybe I should try my luck and run away again. There's gotta be some underground passageway out of here and through that storm. I just don't understand how it's possible to get through that storm, even with the mask's power.
I take half a step forward.
Then sit back down. Damn it, I'm totally at the mercy of these people aren't I? Now that I think about it there's just no way that tunnel theory is true.
"How long has Torika been studying Sananku?" I somewhat begrudgingly asked Rudeus as he came out of the door.
"Well she arrived at the Eye before I did, but I've heard that she's been here for over 6 years by now. Burying her face in those books every single day. Experimenting with new and different techniques every time somebody at the temple gets injured. She's been honing her Sananku relentlessly for quite a while."
I furrow my brow. If it took her that long and that much dedication to learn how to do it, then attempting to learn Sananku before I escape is probably a waste of time.
"Hey Taiga, I've been answering your questions for quite a while now, it's only fair that you answer one of mine?" Rudeus suddenly asks me.
"What do you want to ask?" I said.
"Do you know of a man named Dundee?" Rudeus asked.
"Never heard of him, who is he?" I was fully aware of the unfair amount of questions I was throwing at Rudeus, but I needed to learn a lot more about this world before anything was going to happen.
"Well, I'll tell you more about it after I finishing asking my questions; it's a long story, but then if you don't know him, then do you know how you got that mask?"
"I... I don't know either, it's been with me since I was born, or at least I think it has."
"What do you mean by that?"
I really don't want to tell him anything more about my past, but if telling him about it gets me more info then so be it.
"The world I lived in prior to coming to this place was called Earth. Nobody had crazy powers like you guys, I was the only person who could use powers because of this mask. But, I don't think Earth was my birthplace either. You see, I randomly appeared on Earth 10 years ago. The only thing I had in my hand was this mask. However, I already automatically knew how to speak their language for some reason, but I didn't know how to read, just like this world, I gradually learned how to do it over the 10 years."
Rudeus nods his head as he digests the information
"Well, since you told me that, I guess I'll tell you about Dundee."
Rudeus clears his throat.
"He had the same mask as you. Although, it looked a bit different actually, but I'm willing to bet that they're functionally the same. He appeared out of nowhere, just like you. But… was a lot stronger, a lot more competent, not like you."
"Didn't I just beat you?" I muttered.
"And I'm not just talking physical-wise, Dundee was capable of a lot more than hitting hard and sensing far like us. It was like he could do whatever he wanted to do, shift through solid, read minds, fly, use Tetsu. But you only seem to be able to use Anku and nothing else."
"Ah man, I wish I could have fought Dundee before he disappeared. He would have been an interesting opponent." Rudeus and I swirl around to see Celestia sitting cross legged on a tree.
"What Rudeus is trying to say here, is that you remind him of Dundee and that he wants to use you in some way since you could be as powerful as Dundee. Anyways, Taiga, let's have some more fun. I tried going after Polly but she ran away and escaped. Don't know about you but staying with a boring old man like Rudeus sounds like torture."
Rudeus glares at Celestia. "Isn't that why you're so interested in him as well? I know you were traveling around trying to fight Dundee for years after he disappeared before finally giving up and going to this temple."
"Yea, that's true, but unlike you I'm not being underhanded about it, trying to influence him to join a side in the ongoing war."
Did she just say war?
"Why do you think you know what I want?"
"I dunno, I can just tell just from the way you act. You want to take Taigy out of my hands for your own.""Then why don't you join the war? That would give you the fights you've been so desperately wanting to experience."
Celestia leans back exposing her midriff, she was surprisingly skinny considering her strength.
"Even I couldn't defeat an entire country by myself, if I joined the war, the opposing country would just focus all their resources to try and take me down. I want a stress free life, tearing down directly who's in front of me; I don't want to have to deal with looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Also… I don't like when people tell me what to do."
"In other words, you're afraid of death." Rudeus chuckles. "You're just a weakling after all." A chill runs down my spine. I glanced at him with a look in my eyes screaming, "Why did you just say that?"
Celestia continues lying down on the tree unmoving, her face hidden from view.
"What? Am I wrong? Do you really think you deserve all that power and strength? The only thing you ever done being born lucky?" Rudeus began stirring the pot even further.
I put a hand on my mask from behind my back, the current tension was beginning to reach dangerous levels.
"That's why you travel around the world searching for opponents right? To make sure that there is nobody out there as strong as you."
Celestia was acting uncharacteristically silent.
"And that's why you're so interested in Taiga too. If you establish your dominance over him right now, he'll never grow to be someone stronger than you."
"Hey Rudeus." Celestia finally breaks her silence, her usual tone of voice was gone, replaced by something much darker.
"Where is the confidence to talk to me like that coming from? I won't forgive you if you've been holding back all this time."
"I've been thinking for a while now-" Rudeus had placed his hand on his sword. "How can I take Taiga away from you? What can I do against the strongest human being in the world?"
Rudeus closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Celestia, let's go outside The Eye, I will fight with the intention of killing you."
Celestia slowly rises to her feet. Her figure, blocking out the sun, casting a large shadow over the area. "Even if you fight me with all your strength, you won't be able to beat me."
"I know. That's why I'm not going to fight you by myself. Taiga will be my partner."
I immediately grab my mask and rush to put it on my face. I am absolutely not going to fight the strongest human in the world to the death. I'm going to have to make a run for it right now. I still have no idea how to make it through the raging storm outside The Eye; however, it was now or never.
"Taiga." Rudeus grabs my arm before I can do anything and speaks confidently. "I will tell you everything I know about Dundee, everything I know about this world, and I will tell you how to get out of The Eye safely. Please trust me. We will win."
My arm suddenly stops, those were the exact three goals I had in mind before I was going to leave this place. I could accomplish all of them in one swoop right here.
"I'm sorry even if you say that; I don't feel like dying." I concluded after some deliberation.
"He's right you know. This is just complete delusion and you know it." Celestia said, crossing her arms.
"I'm surprised, are you rejecting a fight? Very uncharacteristic of you." Rudeus said.
Celestia blinks for a bit, as if realizing something. "Huh, I guess you're right, that is weird of me." She then cracks her knuckles and smiles. "Taigy, don't accept it, I don't want to kill you. I will try to hold back, but I recognize my limitations, you might not get out of it alive. All I want to do is to kill Rudeus."
I hold my head down, deep in thought. So it's a choice between Rudeus and Celestia huh, can't go for the solo option either.
I consider my options, on one side was a crazy strong and also crazy girl who acted on impulse and doesn't care for those around her, on the other side was an annoying old smart-ass who likes to hide thing from me.
…
"Celestia, how much can you tell me about Dundee, if I choose to stay out of it." I said after a while.
"I'm sorry but I know next to nothing about him." Celestia said with brutal honesty.
Oh God why am I actually considering this.
I take a big sigh, adrenaline preemptively building in my system, "Alright Rudeus, let's see how far we can take this."