Author's note: Merry chirstmas, guys! Though it's a bit late, but still happy holidays, everyone! Here's a sweet melody and some simple animation I made based on the Before Light characters, feel free to have a look and listen! And give a Like and Subscribe if you enjoyed it!
Video links here:
[Music+Animation]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rImm1PXR0_Y
[Animation]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI8odW1SJLo&t=28s
[Music]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErH_yUSsrZc
Now, back to the main story we shall!
<ⅩⅣ>
No matter what would rip the skies, what would sweep the earth, or burn the seas, Rio knew he would not avert his eyes away from the one he now beholds with reverence and adoration he himself never realized he could. A sensation so foreign yet welcoming to him that Rio never would let go, yet it was the one, the wonder of dazzling blue hair, that manifested his such yearnings who left before he could react and hold on longer.
Speechless, Rio could but reach out a sure yet wavering hand as the girl dived away to the end of the bridge into the citadel, her half-transparent long turquoise robes bidding farewell like waves forgone, rippling into the dark corner with a soft tender whisper Rio did hear, crisp and clear under the thundering thrashes of the beams of destruction enveloping the skies.
" Take care, Rio."
I will, Rio promised in silence, just to meet her a second time, he would withstand any ordeal in his way.
Rushing forth, craving to catch a glimpse of the flowing luminance just once more, turning the corner the mysterious girl just wounded in, to see it was a sealed solid wall before him that only a ghost could pass through.
" This way, Rio." The others called from behind. " By the way, do you know where the girl went?"
" No…" Rio whimpered like his light was gone forever, his eyes hollow and voice airy.
His simple world forever changed, upheavaled.
…
...….
Once the sky cleared, free from stars and flares, not a single spec of dark remained in the City of Light. The Skylord looked out upon his fief in the sky from his royal balcony of marble and saw that it was good, nodding with satisfaction.
" Father."
Gentle and sweet, the bright call did urge the Lord of Sky to turn around attainably, to face his dear Princess, dazzling blue of hair, turquoise and silver of swaying robes, elegantly posed before his lordship.
Caesar Skylord smiled, not of a snide sneer, but of genuine joy, one of his last remaining portions of humane essence.
" …Sora…"
The Lord loomed before the small glowing child's sweet presence.
" You've gone to meet your friends…earlier than I instructed."
" I…I cannot contain my excitement to see them, lord father." abashedly and well-spoken the princess replied.
" And they need help then. I cannot just stand by and watch, as I did all those days before…"
" It's alright." His dry crooked fingers ran down the radiant soothing blue hair tenderly, without a sign of his previous outbursting cruelty elsewhere.
" Promise me next time…to inform father whenever you wish to meet them, my dear Sora. So that I can…arrange for them to come…closer…"
" Yes, father." The princess replied gratefully, hugging the hand close that soothed her, the hand that made her, the hand that made all.
But also the hand that shall taketh all from the world.
" I promise…"
Gladly, Turning to face this world before him, the splendor under his creation and supremacy, Caesar Skylord spake to all in his omnipresent voice. Up and down, high and low, near and far, all was his voice, the unescapable, ubiquitous call to the Emissaries of Light.
" Believers! Knights, folks, and all! Transcendence is Upon us! It's time we bid farewell to the dreaded Night!!"
All ears, could but listen without resistance, motivated, ensnared, captured by the all-around voice over the skies.
" Demons, they know not of Enlightenment. They are destined to fail before our Leap Beyond! Captains, Starbreakers, droids, and confidants, Assemble!!!!
Assemble to me and I shall Illuminate the next phase, the coming step into Light!! Let there be the Grand Gathering Ceremony Tomorrow Night, and I will show thee, My Vision!"
Across the battered streets and boulevards, building tops and balconies, all the Starbreakers and folk knelt in united allegiance, promising their Lord with utmost loyalty, praising his grace with resounding cries in unison.
" ALL HAIL SKYLORD! ALL HAIL LORD OF LIGHT! MAY LIFE HEALTH STRENGTH BE TO THEE!!!"
Captain Bradson and his stunned crew, Firren and Reina both also, stood their ground among hearty loyalists, sickened by the deep manipulations yet unable to say otherwise. Light hearts, Memories, both grasped in The Lord's iron grasp, kept in his layer for further grave disposals. Still, Bradson was sure, the only power to topple his despotic reign his imminent, and yet to awaken.
That power…Bradson prayed, the Memories within Yuri's Light…
It must not fall into the wrong hands…!
…
.....
Returning with pomp and accolade, accepting them praises all from fellow Starbreakers of awe and admiration with promising triumph, the Champion of Starbreakers, Guardian of the walls of Sky, Riser of the Capital, and Protector of All Light, Exalted Caerlia of the six Star Rifle lances entered the Skylord's council to report of the happenings and decimation of the foul Archdemon that had attempted to break peaceful order of the proud city among the clouds. Accompanying her into the court of the Lord was the General of her armies of Starbreakers Solo, holding all the gifts and prizes of adoration from fellow Starbreaker fans to her Exaltedness that piled up high into a mount of presents.
As Caerlia looked forth atop the tiered pedestal where the golden-wired throne was situated, she saw that the Lord was not alone. On the monarch's lap sat the royal Princess of Sky, Sora, reciting her astounding and adventurous encounters outside the castle walls. The Lord seemed pleased and at rest at all that the little said with her tender blessed voice.
Caerlia waited for a couple of minutes before she intruded when the Princess' tale came to a subsequent end.
" Your Highness, Princess,"
Caesar Skylord scooched his frail slumped body up straight a little more, hugging the Princess close while he listened to what his Starbreaker Champion had to say.
" The Archdemon has been eradicated, my Lord. And the damage is now being repaired as we speak. The Capital will resume its glory sooner than ever before."
" Good." Caesar nodded, remembering something also.
" Then the preparations of the Grand Gathering tomorrow night, of the Captains and their Starbreaker Knights I leave to you, Caerlia, and Solo too."
" Rest assured, my Lord." both Starbreaker elites bowed in unison, some of the presents from the tall pile in Solo's arms toppling off to the ground.
Yet, before the Skylord resumed his rest with the Princess, her Exaltedness has something else to report.
" Your Majesty, about the Emissary of this Herunis Carna—" Caerlia began but was immediately cut off by the Lord's strict reply.
" That I will deal alone, Caerlia."
The Lord's voice, like a low bell thrumming the entire throne room.
" But my Lord, she isn't found yet—"
" She is in this Capital. Her Presence is in my grasp." Caesar's voice echoed coldly, like a threatening blade unseen.
" She is mine, therefore my ordeal to taketh myself. Let her not be of your concern, my Champion, my sword and spear Caerlia. Look over the preparations for the Grand Gathering for me, that is all I ask."
Reluctantly still, Caerlia bowed low in answer.
" Yes…my Lord."
Picking the presents from the fans of her Exaltedness, general Solo saw what those admirers could never bear witness, of the burning hatred and envy glaring in the Champion's eyes.
…
...…
.
.
.
" Alright, class, so how do we know the area of this circle ?"
Drawn on the murky green blackboard, under the graceful tracing of the short white chalk in the old wrinkled fingers, there, a perfect circle was shown under the oblique sunlight dawning down from the side of the shattered window.
"Anyone?"
Old Castiel asked the class, looking around the children, who were either in deep thought or edge of deep slumber, save for one girl sitting in the front row that was listening attentively.
"Well, it is simple."
Old Castiel dotted the center with a poke of his calk and drew a straight line from the center of the circle and out to the brim.
" This be a radius. To get the area of the circle, any circle, we must draw this radius here first...
…Yuri, wake Up."
Wait…Me…?
Giggles and laughter erupted around the corner of the dingy classroom, at the far side next to the broken window panes, as the child, yawning and wiping the drool off her cheek as she searched her paper and pen, given to her by the boy sitting next to her.
The old Sensei wasn't pleased.
Right…that was me…
Yuri realized as she glanced closer, moving forth in a delayed fashion as if underwater, just to get closer, to have a better look at herself.
Her younger self, sitting next to him.
Vernui.
" …This class is boring…. Let's go out and play already !"
The young Yuri whispered impatiently as the boy could but chuckle in return. Both children chatting quietly and writing small notes at the edge of their sheets to each other,
Smiling together.
Reaching far, edging closer as far as she could, Yuri tried to see, she tried to discern, to know what they were saying, what they had written. She wanted to know. She wanted to know—
— Only to wake up before the writings became readable.
The dream was gone, and all that her blurry eyes beheld were the dark blue ceiling basked upon dim moonlight.
Sitting up, Yuri wiped the tears away, which were more than she expected.
They were real.
They were part of her that was once lost, now slowly returning, one after another. She must remember, Yuri told herself as she searched frantically around the room, making sure she was not bound by restraints or under the scrutiny of android eyes or any surveillance of the Skylord. She must recall them back, the past, the precious memories, before they were taken away again from her, by Demons, by Light, by anyone—
" Oh, hey. You're finally awake."
Yuri leapt up with utmost vigilance, darting to the wall with her sword rifle she summoned immediately along with her nanoparticle liquidus Starbreaker armor upon her flesh, pointing her weapon at a lean shadow standing at the door to her room.
" Woh! Stop! I mean no harm!!" The voice of a startled teenage girl shouted, crouching low away from the tip of the humming glowing sword rifle held tightly in Yuri's ruthless grip.
" I come in peace! I know who you are! You are safe with us!"
" Who...are you?!" Yuri asked aloud, her voice straining due to the constant sobbing in her sleep, pointing her rifle still at the figure lying flat on the floor.
" What do you Want?! My Memories?! The Memories of my Mother—?!"
" No! We are here to help you protect it! That's all I know! I swear!"
The girl on the floor hollered back, standing back up slowly as the figure also summoned her Starbreaker armor, shimmering ultramarine blue under the moonlight, dazzling soothing bright.
Yuri examined the person's armor closely, per her commander Firren's teachings, searching for the opponent's weapons and potential weaknesses.
Yet the more she saw, the more the figure's armor resembled hers, in design and hue, even the golden-lined runes, though differing only in detail, were nearly exactly identical, glowing even in similar places upon the plates of nano steel.
The weapon of this unknown Starbreaker was undiscernable.
" Here, I am putting my weapons down on the bed. See?" The figure in the shadows spoke, turning gears upon her wrists that Yuri finally realized were miniature belts loaded with sharp needle-like canisters all over the surface as the pair were dropped on the bed.
" Chill, okay?"
Yuri would never have realized those were weapons upon her wrists and the figure would definitely ambush her if the one before her had the intention to. Or mayhap this is not all her weapons but a guise to lower her guard, like how Demons would pretend to play dead and spring up to bite when no one's expecting an attack, per Firren's survival teachings.
Don't be fooled, Yuri! Yuri told herself, like how her commander would coach her.
" Fine, fine, I'll deactivate my armor." The one reluctantly let go of her liquidus armor that swirled in particle fashion to a glistening band around the figure's arm, wearing shorts and clean pallid blue pajamas, a casual outfit as if she had been living here for a long time.
As soon as the armor dispersed did Yuri finally see the full extent of the appearance of the person before her under the dim glow, a girl of tanned soft skin, blue hair trimmed short and messy leaving just one thin ponytail running down the right side of her shoulder.
And the figure's countenance, Yuri saw and gasped spontaneously, was in resemblance of staring at a mirror, looking just like herself, a clone? A droid look-alike?!
Wait, Yuri recalled of the happenings earlier that day, of the one timid girl that had saved her out of the crumbling lab tower of Scrutiny, that also looked just like herself. Could it be…
" …Yun?"
Yuri asked, hesitant if this girl, all energetic, loud, and bright, was the same serene maiden that had saved her before.
But the figure shook her head quickly.
" No, no. Yun is sleeping in her room next door. I am just here on guard duty."
" Guarding what? Me?" Yuri snapped, raising her rifle forth as the teenage girl without Starbreaker protection winced back in reverence.
" Seriously, as an expert, I suggest you not point that rifle at others. The trigger goes off too easily and the energy inside the canister could blast through three walls if you aren't careful."
" I am careful, that's why I am not letting go of my Sword rifle," Yuri replied vigilantly.
" You and the Skylord's followers take Light away from people, and lie your way while you snatch my memories. This is just another lab where you take away what I have left! Of my friends, my Mother—!!!"
" Wait!! WAIT!" The figure suddenly hollered, slightly angry with a raised holler and pointing a finger at Yuri to clarify.
" First things first, I am Not with the Skylord! We are here to protect you from him! Okay?! We are risking our own Lights to get you here, in our flat! Now drop your weapon so we can talk!"
Spooked by the sudden holler of anger from the person before her, Yuri slightly lowered her weapon, not of fear, but of understanding from the figure's voice that she meant every word she said.
" …How can I trust you?" Yuri asked however after a short period of silence, her sword now pointing at the floor yet still she held tightly.
The person thought for a moment.
" I am Yuka. I build weapons and all kinds of shi–stuff. I said stuff." Yuka, the rash hot-headed Starbreaker introduced herself properly.
" Me and my sisters have been waiting and searching for you while slaying Demons all the way. We know who you are. And the Herunis Carna too."
With a sigh, Yuka sat down crosslegged on the stool next to the bed, gazing at Yuri as the moonlight shifted slowly, where the beam dawned upon her face.
" We look the same," Yuri whispered in wonder and disbelief.
" Yun too…why is it so?"
" Dunno." Yuka shrugged.
" Maybe because we are linked by the Herunis Carna, by the powers that lie within somewhere in this world."
" My mother…she told me to stay away, from the Land of Light." Sitting down finally at the bed also, face to face with the tanned girl that looked almost like her in countenance but differ in temperance and tone.
" Fear no Darkness…Do not Seek the Land of Light…That's all I can remember of her."
" Yeah. Me too. All of us, actually."
Yuri looked up at Yuka in surprise.
" Your mothers…They all told you the same thing? To not seek the Light, The Herunis Carna?!"
Yuka uneasily nodded.
" That is where we all Started. The First ever memory we get. But no matter what our mother said, we still try to go back. To learn more, to know more. To understand, Why."
Yuri couldn't agree more with Yuka's words.
She too has decided to seek the whereabouts of her mother and ask her herself what the reason for all this struggle was, and the purpose to stay away from it.
" But even if we do not seek it, The Skylord will. Heck, even the Demons will." Yuka explained further of the dilemma.
" It is something that even we can't seek for ourselves, but must protect from those who want to get it."
Indeed, Yuri quietly nodded.
" Do you remember anything more about your Mother, Yuka?" Curious to know, yet feeling it was a question too personal to ask, still, Yuri bravely asked.
To which Yuka shook her head.
" Do you…remember anything else before? Anything before becoming a Starbreaker?" Yuri continued but all Yuka did was shake her head swiftly.
Surprisingly, the more Yuri inquired, the more she realized that Yuka seemed to have little to no idea of her own past. Of a school, friends, Sensei. Not even Vernui.
" My mother's message is all I got," Yuka admitted.
" But hey! That just makes things simpler, doesn't it? At least I am not brooding as much as the other two, definitely not like Yuno, who seemed to be sick and brooding all the time."
" …Yuno?"
" Yes. Me, Yun, and Yuno. We are a team. A three Starbreaker Squad! Linked all by the Land of Light, The Herunis Carna. They certainly know more than me about the past and Light and whatnot, but can they build weapons of high caliber? No. I can."
" I must talk to them." Yuri decided, standing up from the bed.
" You are not interested in my weapons of high caliber either." Yuka sighed crossly.
" Not now. We must discuss this together. You too, Yuka." Yuri held the girl's hand also, heading to the door.
" There is something terribly wrong about us, about everyone, about this World. Especially the Skylord…I need to find Grandpapa Bradson, and Lima—"
No. Not again—
" Oy! Yuri?!"
Before Yuri could reach the doorknob of her door, the pain, the searing piercing aching erupting all of a sudden within her belly once again bursting out inside of her, pinning Yuri to her knees, crumbling down to a helpless kneel as Yuka quickly rushed out to call for her sisters' help.
Yet, grasping, clinging onto Yuka's hand, Yuri stopped the girl mid-way from her rush.
" Oy oy oy…! Yuri, what are you doing?! Let me go and get help—"
" It's alright…!!" Yuri panted heavily, wheezing with cold sweat pouring down her face, with one hand holding her lower abdomen and the other gripping tightly onto Yuka's arm, squeezing her fingers deep into Yuka's tanned flesh.
" …It's alright…I can…I can…" Yuri breathed, deep and slow as Yuka finally settled down and helped Yuri lay upon the side of her bed.
" Tell me…More about yourself…Yuka…?" Yuri whispered, hand in hand with the distraught girl before her, wishing to hear more of her, to know more and listen to someone's voice that could distract her away from this drilling pain deep down.
" …Please…?"
" Sure sure…uh…Where do I start…" Yuka stammered, searching for a topic worthy of alleviating this poor girl's pain.
" Well…I don't remember much about myself either, I just do things, I don't think and brood because that's a waste of time…My mind moves only when I am moving…that's all…Yuri, are you sure—"
" That's why you build things, right…?" Yuri's question, like an airy breeze, brushed across Yuka's worried facade.
" Your mind flows with the hand that makes, the designs you create…it's like a natural flow, without beginning, without end…I felt that too."
" You do." Yuka nodded, sitting crosslegged next to Yuri, their fingers clasped tightly.
" They all came out of nowhere, from the depth of my mind, these weapons, designs, arsenals. I don't know what they meant to me, but my hands, my body remembers. So I have to build them. I want to know where they come from, why they are with me, and who my Mother was. You know that feeling too, right, Yuri?"
" Of Course…I do…" Yuri sighed with a weak smile, closing her eyes slightly more relaxed than before for her pain had finally ceased by itself, and with the sudden warmth and soothing, Yuri fell back into slumber, right in Yuka's arms.
Chuckling to herself, Yuka gently placed Yuri back onto her bed, pulling the bed covers upon Yuri as she sat back down next to the bed.
" You are a strange sister, Yuri. But I like you. You are like me…longing for what's long gone."
Sensing the movements slowly subside on the other side of the closed door to the room before her, Yuno surmised that the pain and struggles must have stopped.
" Coast clear?" Yuno asked Yun, who nodded as the timid Starbreaker drifted out of the room like a transparent ghost without being seen by either Yuri or Yuka.
( I added some aerial soothing medicines to help ease the pain.)
Yun replied in her tender whisper.
( Should would be fine.)
" But this can't keep happening." Yuno harshly whispered back as the eldest sister headed back to her room in her long silky half-transparent nightgown flowing behind her wake.
" We have to find the cause of this infrequent resurgence lest it interferes with our task."
Yun didn't reply, spacing out in her own thoughts with dimly lit eyes that stare beyond, a sign that Yuno could clearly comprehend that her quiet sister knows a thing or two about what was happening to Yuri.
" Yun, what is it?"
Instead of a reply, or either shaking her head in wonder, Yun reluctantly turned away, refusing to answer Yuno's question.
" Yun, wait…Yun!!"
Unable to offend her sister's raised calling, Yun the timid one succumbed and stayed her ground.
" Yun, a penny for your thoughts, please. I need you. I need your insight, Yun." the elder sister coaxed the silent teenage girl softly in her arms, using every way possible to get something out of Yun.
" What is it? Tell me, so we can help Yuri."
( Yuri…she might be experiencing something similar...…to what I had...long ago…)
Yuno's thin eyes slightly widened with sharp vigilance.
" Are you sure?"
Yun shook her head.
" Then we have to make sure..." Yuno muttered as she walked around the center lounge where the foyers of their separate rooms all conjugated to the circular clearing where a large soft divan sat in the middle.
" This…complicates things…greatly…"
Yuno brooded, putting all situations, possibilities, and consequences into consideration, trying to plan out a way to facilitate the task at hand.
Their task, linked deep into the Herunis Carna's Core.
Where their fates all entwined.
…
...…
Though high and mighty his presence now was, Caesar Skyman was a man with an ideal, a man with a mission. And to gain his prize to support his ultimate goals, the now Lord upon all Light-Hearted kind still pursues with unparalleled diligence to secure his reign and keep the one that holds all the Power and Secrets he needs safely in his city.
Though her exact whereabouts are elusive, Caesar was assured that Yuri, the One and Only, is still in his grand abode. With Austriuss his analyst now rebuilding the labs, once he has finished, the initiation would finally continue.
But first…he had to make sure none of his works are to be interfered.
Castiel Bradson, and his two confidants with actual memories of the past…They are the ones that are able to cause upheaval over his reign.
They should be taken care of, Caesar brooded as he sat by the Princess' bed, watching her soft rhythmic breathing as she slept.
Which reminded the man of something else that would potentially ruin his supremacy.
The children.
The children that Castiel Bradson had hidden behind his back since the very beginning of the rise of Skyworld. Who knows what wanton knowledge and secrets to stop him Cas had taught them?
With his thin crooked fingers, Caesar pressed the temples of the sleeping little girl and immediately the princess' eyes lit up abright, ejecting a virtual screen before his eyes of all the memories and happenings that had been recorded through her seeing eyes.
Sora had encountered the children, as he had expected. The girl's curiosity is blooming and well predictable. Surely she had seen what the children are capable of.
Swiping through files and folders, Caesar navigated through the pages of memories stored within the Princess' hard drive and rewatched the meeting of her 'daughter' with the foreign children.
They had been trapped in the building under his command, to separate them from Castiel. Then the Archdemon attacked, and Caesar's vision followed Sora as she led the children out of turmoil to the wide glass bridge. Light dawned upon their faces which Caesar recognized them all.
Rio…
Neo…
Neliya…
Lucky…
Feira…
Finnir…
…and Lima…
Oh, sad, sweet Lima.
How you have turned against me.
How you repay my kindness, my benevolent charity with such audacity…
Lima…
Yet at the end of all the Princess' memories, Caesar heard an unexpected voice calling in a weak whisper.
" The Light…!" Finnir croaked all of a sudden at the corner of Sora's sight, fully awake now and terrified by the blinding rays dawning down from above.
Caesar's jaws dropped as he listened to the sick boy cry out in trepidation.
" Lights…of Caesar…Skyman…!!!! Lights of Treachory…!"
The Skylord's grip tightened as the screen ended to black.
" Finnir, Finnir…you poor, poor boy."
Caesar regretfully sighed as he put the Princess back to bed.
"… Your Light Heart…your Truthful Memory is Mine…!!!!!"
…
...…
" What Are You Talking About!!!"
The children all looked up from their breakfast trays as they dined the next morning at the dining hall at their new lodging.
" Feira, what's wrong?!" Neo, the Lead boy, rushed forth to the center of the dispute with Neliya close behind, to see two tall four-armed droids standing before them startled children, handling someone in their tight robotic grasp.
" They are taking Finnir away!!!" Feira shouted desperately as Neo saw that the one handled by the slender menacing droids was none other than the sick brother Finnir!!
" Let go of him!!!!"
" Demon residues detected." The twin androids remarked without sentiment to the futile punches and kicking of the children to halt their path in taking Finnir away.
" Pollution confirmed. Must eradicate."
" You can't do this!!!" Neo shouted, rushing to block the adamant droid's path.
" Finnir is not contaminated by any Demon! Let me speak to your Lord and we'll settle this out!!"
" Lord unavailable. Step aside." The tall droid bade patiently, yet bumping Neo out of the way with its metallic skirt that drove across the corridor at accelerating speed.
" Sis…Sister…!" Finnir croaked helplessly as Feira rushed down the hallway as fast as she could, but the androids were speeding also to the far end of the corridor in but seconds.
" Sister…! Don't Follow!!!" Finnir, at last, managed to shout to his frantic sister Feira.
" He…The Skylord is dangerous…Take Care—"
A vehement whooshing shot through the air as a long saber of light struck through one of the droids' sharp-beaked masks. A lightsaber of gold that had suddenly appeared, piercing through the head of the kidnapper robotic.
Lima raced forth with the children all as the droid's path was hindered.
Elsa the wolf cub barked triumphantly running alongside Lima's fast prancing feet.
" I wouldn't do it if I were you."
Lima halted abruptly, searching left and right at whence the voice, the eerie familiar voice of dread came.
" The children…your friends…They depend on your each and every move…Lima…!"
" Where are you?!?!" Lima snarled, picking up her lightsaber that had fallen off the face of the wounded android, who slowly crawled back up to its feet, cackling.
" You know me…Lima. You know where I am…"
The wounded droid answered, and its voice was not of senseless robotism, but a sound so familiar, so cruel and ruthless, fearful and ghastly.
" Let Finnir come to me…Or I shall spare No One…Your Friends, they are at your mercy…Lima…Lima…Lima…oh, desperate betrayer…don't cry. You know where to find me…"
The android stood back up, with its partner clasping Finnir by the wrists and dragging the hapless boy away while Lima could but stand idle and watch in horror.
" …I Am Everywhere…"
And they were off.
Elsa barked, nudging Lima to go forth with her, but the girl could stand her ground, terrified, heart crushed.
" Lima!! Did you get them?!" Lucky's voice echoed from behind as the children all came to the sight where the broken parts of the android's wounded face were.
But Finnir was gone.
Feira screamed and broke into dreadful tears, sinking to the floor, unable to recover from the loss of her recovering brother. No one knows if Finnir would ever return, and many believed he was gone forever. Unable to save his fellow kin, Neo could but slam the wall with his fist of anger, unable to contain his wrath toward the Skylord any longer.
" We should get Finnir back!" Rio, brother of Neo and bosom friend of Finnir cried out with utmost courage.
" I know the Princess, she can help us!"
" You don't know the Princess, stop hallucinating!" Lucky scalded, hugging the sobbing Feira close in her arms.
" Lima, you have your Lightsaber. You can defeat the Skylord's robot armies!" Lucky turned to the silent frozen Lima petrified at the corner.
" We will all fight alongside you! Neo and the boys, me and the girls! We should all rise up and get Finnir back!"
" The Skylord has to pay for this…And for Nia's Light Heart too!!" Neo snarled, calling his friends and the whole pack of angered children to join the cause.
" Lima, what say you?!"
" I say… Nay." Lima shook her head, putting her lightsaber away to all the children's utter disbelief.
Kai too, who was hiding in the corner a distance away from the rest, was surprised by Lima's sudden surrender to the Skylord.
" But…but Lima…WHY?!?!" Lucky asked frantically.
" Lima, why say Nay when you should have said Yay with us?!?!"
" Because the Skylord is too Powerful and threatens to destroy us all if we fight back!!!" Lima shouted back angrily, tears in her eyes.
" He has Starbreakers all over his court, droids and Sky pods hovering all over the skies watching our every move…We will only give our Light Hearts away meaninglessly if we go against him…"
" But Lima…" The sorrowful sister Feira moaned heart-breakingly.
" He took my Brother…!! He has Finnir…!!!!"
"...I am sorry…Feria…" Lima, without any choice, whispered at length, a gut-punching answer that pained every cell in her body.
" But I can't…I can't…I…"
Turning her back on the children, her friends, her comrades, Lima left.
And the firm determination of the Children wavered, and none could brave the wrath of the Skylord anymore, heading back with tremendous sadness, all witnessed in the eyes of silent Tricia, who could but watch the children lose their faith and succumb to their ill fate.
Except one.
Rio stayed at the scene long after all the depressed children had left. The younger brother, blood boiling, would not yield so easily.
Even if the whole world forbade his venture, Rio would still go and save his friend Finnir, and maybe have one more look at the beautiful blissful Princess on hte way.
Observing the tracks and following the androids' path, Rio realized something else was accompanying him on his lone quest to save his bro.
" Hark, Dog!!" Rio uttered as Elsa the wolf cub barked, sniffing the droid remains scattered on the floor carefully before heading forth towards a secret path.
" By the nine! Dog, you know where they've gone!" Rio exhilaratingly followed suit as the boy and wolf scurried their way forth along the secret passage leading straight into the Skyworld Palace under everyone's noses.
…
...…
" Captain…Captain, are you alright??"
Rushing to the old man's side, Reina was just in time to stop the old captain's fall, nearly tumbling off his chair in the back of his current lodging, a Captain's tower suite near the outskirts of the palace areas.
Quickly, Bradson readjusted his sitting and leaned on the desk, panting as if escaping from a wild unnerving nightmare.
" The children…" Bradson uttered in utter trepidation.
" We must find them…they are not safe…!"
" How do you know that, Captain?!"
" I just know!" surprised was Reina, not just by how his captain seemed to have seen things others couldn't fathom, but also by the distraught attitude seldomly shown in this old man's demeanor.
His frantic eyes traced from the clean empty surface of his study, up to the envelope placed on the side, and up to his secretary's helping hand supporting his shoulders, which also had an envelope in hand.
An envelope, sealed in gold, wrought of thin metallic parchment, with multiple conjoined ringed sigils of Skyworld on top.
Captain Bradson looked closely at the envelopes in Reina's hand and the one on his desk.
" What is this…?" Bradson grabbed the silky silver parchment with shaking hands, reading the message apprehensively.
" Everyone's got one." Seito spoke as he settled down next to the low table after making sure the captain was alright.
" What does it say?! What does it say?!" Momo the young Starbreaker hopped around the grownups, eager to know what the envelope holds.
" It's an invitation to the Skylord's Grand Gathering tonight." Firren replied, reading the invitation once again many times as if to check if there were hidden codes within the wordings of the sly lord.
" It's a meeting where all the Airship captains are supposed to be present," Reina added.
" The Skylord must have something to say regarding his plan to end the war against the Demons now that Yuri is in his grasp…"
" Seems like it." Seito scratched his chin broodingly.
" So, can we not attend?"
" We have to attend to see what the Lord is up to or we'll miss out on his next step! We must stop his so-called transcendence. Right, Captain?" Reina asked Bradson, who was absorbed in his deep morose thoughts.
"...Captain…?"
Old Bradson Captain gave out a sigh after a long contemplating silence.
" He has taken a child away." Bradson looked around his hearty crew gravely.
" The Skylord has gone too far. We must attend, and find a way to stop him! "
" Understood." The Starbreakers nodded in agreement.
" But Momo got no invitation!!" Momo bounced in dismay at the back.
" Momo wants to go too!"
" Momo, be good and guard our flat, okay?" Reina tried to coax the rising Starbreaker but the young girl pouted no matter what the secretary said.
Deciding to bring Momo out for a walk around the capital to restore her spirits, Reina and Seito left the Captain's abode first before Firren headed to the door when suddenly, old Bradson called the young commander back.
" Yes, Captain?" Firren asked as the door behind him closed shut.
Bradson paused for a few seconds, waiting for Reina, Seito, and Momo to actually leave the compound.
" Firren, listen very carefully to what I say to you now." Bradson leaned forward to the bewildered young man as he whispered.
" I need you to stay here, during the Grand ceremony."
" …What—?!"
" Firren, Listen to Me." The old captain hollered seriously, in a charging cadence.
" It is of safety measure. I need you to lay low, stay here, and take care of Momo, Understood?!"
Gnashing his teeth reluctantly, Firren obeyed with a sigh.
" …Understood, captain."
" And when I say lay low, I mean it, Firren. You must stop your searching for Yuri immediately."
At this, the young commander was taken aback.
" Captain…Yuri is what matters now! We can't let the Skylord have her!!!"
" But what you do now will only bring attention to the Skylord's scrutiny!" Bradson boomed, trying hard to keep his voice at bay.
" We must act wise, not blatant. Observe, and wait for the right moment to strike, or we'll all perish in these trying times…!"
But Firren adamantly rejected Bradson's advice.
" Captain, what if the moment never comes? What if…we are too late, and Yuri's gone…forever?!"
Bradson closed his eyes, to discern the possibility that he so feared might be true.
A dreadful condition to which he had but one strategy to counter said situation.
" Firren, I shall run some hypotheticals so that you can be fully prepared for what is about to come. First of—"
…
...…
The moving of the shades before the morning bloom shook Yuka up from her slumber.
Oops, fallen asleep during guard duty, Yuka thought with her tongue poking out between her lips, scratching her head as she stood up, to see Yuri on the balcony outside of the small cozy room, Starbreaker armor activated,
Ready to escape from the building.
" NOOO!!!!" Yuka, wide awake, sprang to action as she summoned quickly her set of ultramarine armor and her dart-shooting bracelets that immediately shot out arrows attached to wires that coiled around Yuri's upper body, pulling her back into the room with one vehement heave.
" Yuri!!! What Do You Think You are Doing?!?!" Yuka hollered apprehensively.
" The Skylord's after you! He'll immediately sense your whereabouts the second you step out of this flat!!"
" But…but my friends…!!" Yuri quickly stood back up, tearing the wires coiled around her chest and shoulders.
" I don't know why…but something's happened to them—I need to find them, find Lima, Firren…sister Reina…Grandpapa Bradson…! I can't just stay here and hide!"
" That you must." A voice other than Yuka's spoke in a stern fashion, reverberating around not just the room, but the whole four-roomed flat. And before the resounding voice faded away. large circular disced sky pods emerged out of the air beyond the balcony, hovering perpendicularly to the surface below, blocking the skies and limiting Yuri's path.
" You are more than who you would ever imagine, Yuri." Spake the calm contained voice of a girl also of blue hair, light blue, polished to two croissants twintails sawing on both sides of her armored shoulders, with those thin eyes that were slightly, very slightly opened to a sharp gaze piercing through Yuri's soul, seeing all that Yuri had planned and will attempt to break free to the open. Something this brooding person could not accept.
Yuri immediately guessed who this girl of the same age as her, of similar hair color, and of the striking resemblance of countenance to her, might actually be.
" …Yuno…?"
Yuno nodded swiftly to Yuri's assessment.
" Yuri."
The eldest of the sisters reached out her hand and helped Yuri unbind the wires entwined around her armor.
" I know you have many questions, many things that you seek answers to, but none of them is more paramount than the meaning of your existence, and the task that fell upon our shoulders. I need you here, Yuri. We need you."
" But my friends need me!" Yuri argued.
" Your friends and loved ones will never be saved if you surrender yourself to the Skylord now." Yuno reasoned peacefully but sternly.
" Your meeting with them will only bring them harm and endanger the Memory that is the key to the ultimate power, the Herunis Carna."
Knowing that what Yuno said is true, yet finding it hard to accept, Yuri gazed out at the dire grey morning sky outside her balcony, lost in thought, surrendering to the grave circumstances.
" Come," Yuno invited Yuri with a gentle tug on her hand.
" Yun has prepared breakfast."
The breakfast was very different from what the Betelgeuse ship served. Unlike the wet brick red mixtures stored in tin cans, the substances served in Skyworld were delightful in color and rich in fragrance. Though none of the foodings Yuri recognized or was interested, by instinct and the fragrance, Yuri took a small bite. And she was right. in all kinds of shapes and sizes, colors from everything existing in the world and beyond, that taste exceeded anything Yuri had ever had before in her life on Captain Bradson's ship, resonating with her senses and dancing above her tongue, reminding her of the first day she had chocolate on the Betelgeuse.
" What is this…Starbreaking food?" Yuri asked Yun with utter shock and tears in her eyes.
" I have never tasted anything like this…!"
" Right? It's always this good no matter how many times we have it!" Yuka cheered, downing the whole meal in seconds.
Yun just smiled awkwardly, eyeing Yuno pleadingly yet the elder sister shook her head slightly.
( It's nothing, really…) Yun replied vaguely and refused to elaborate any further.
After they finished their fast meal, Yuka and Yun doing the dishes, Yuno led Yuri up to the ceiling of their flare located on top of a large skypod hovering around the capital, stop the turrets and skyscrapers, drifting inside a large mist bubble unseen from the outside.
Those were Yun's Starbreaker powers, Yuri thought, recalling the transparent and all-penetrating powers the silent girl possess.
" If it could make you feel better," Yuno spoke in a casual tone, pouring clear water from a delicate porcelain pot into two small ceramic cups of precious decor on the small round table on the side of the roof balcony where they stood.
" You can talk to me. Anything you wished to ask of your captain, your friends, I will try my best to reply."
Fair enough, Yuri sat down at the dark metal round table as Yuno handed her the small cup. bubbles sparkled up from underneath the transparent liquid, popping in the morning breeze.
" I want to know who I really am." Yuri spoke after a long silence.
" And what the Herunis Carna hidden within my memory really is."
Yuno nodded slowly.
" Why do you need to know who you are?" Yuno tossed back another question with a curious smile.
" Because…I was told, that I am no longer the Yuri that once was, but a copy of the true self…that has deceased."
Yuri paused, and Yuno didn't respond.
" And my sole purpose is to keep this memory that never belonged to me, harboring it so that others can have it and achieve whatever they want…the Demons, they are people that seek revenge and the Skylord…I don't know, I really don't know…what am I supposed to do, to be? What is the whole purpose if I am nothing without a purpose?!"
" Your Purpose is very clear, Yuri." Yuno stopped Yuri at the edge of self-denial, sipping her sparkling water before she continued.
" Whatever you are, copy or not, you are the one bearing the memories now. And Memory is what defines us. What past you see, what self you believe you are, it is part of you now. And with that memory inside, you are destined with the purpose it holds."
Yuno sipped quietly as she continued while Yuri listened, speechless.
" To answer your second question, let me briefly describe the Herunis Carna, The Real Land of Light so you could have a better understanding—
— simply put, it is a Place.
A place with powers that could achieve wonders. Tons of powers; huge, huge amounts of light, with one purpose in the beginning, that is to save the World."
Yuri blinked after Yuno's brief mysterious introduction.
" That's it?"
" That's it." Yuno nodded.
" But how is my Mother associated with this World-saving power—"
" She is the one that built it, Yuri."
Yuri's jaws forgot to close back up.
" But the problem we face now comes in two forms. The Demons, that wish to contaminate the Herunis engine and use it to bring darkness to the World; and the Skylord, who wishes to use it for his selfish goals. Our task is to keep ou—Ahem, Your Mother's creation safe for its real purpose to save the decaying world, and away from the wrong hands that covet its miracles. That's why Yuri, you are most important in this whole task."
" Why?"
" Because you are the only one with the memory of its Whereabouts. Now, here. Only you have the location kept inside of you. None of us do."
" Why?!" Yuri asked again, finding it hard to believe she is the only one that possesses the memory.
" But…Aren't you all linked to the Herunis Carna too?! That's why we look alike, right? We are sisters, somehow, right? Surely you guys know…right…?! Right??"
Yuno's silent gaze said it all.
" Yuri…our relation is a bit more complicated than you expect. But I assure you, your memory is unique, one that your Mother has full faith upon. We will help you, Yuri. We will help you. You just need to focus, remember what you have forgotten, and leave the rest to us."
Silently, sorting out all that she had learned in mere minutes, Yuri accepted Yuno's advice to stay,
even though she still has several questions in her head that have yet to be resolved.
…
...….
" Solo, what is it that I hear that brings such sorrow to my ears?" The Champion of the Starbreakers, Queen of the flaring stars, Caerlia of the lance rifles asked as she strolled down the glass palace corridors, overwatching the construction of the arena for the Grand Assembly for all the Starship captains and their Starbreakers the following night. Though overseeing the preparations she seemed to be, Caerlia was in fact tracking with her six flying lance rifles reaching out far and wide over the capital in search of this 'Chosen One' the Skylord is so fond of. Obtaining the girl and the secrets she harbors shall surely give her the power and insight that Caerlia requires to be the one and only Champion of the world of Light, to be its worthy Protector, undeniable, indestructible.
But before her conquest to become fully unrivaled, the Elite Starbreaker Champion now faces a disturbance not far away from her in the form of desperate sobs.
" That must be the wailing of children." Solo mused, sensing the crying coming from the left side of the hallway.
" I heard one of the children was detected with Demon residue and taken away this morn. Can it be them from the Betelgeuse of Captain Bradson—"
General Solo turned around, to see that he was alone, talking to the air and himself.
Hurrying down the path, Solo found Caerlia soon enough at the side of the corner, kneeling before a small group of young girls that were wailing desperately.
" Young one, why is it that you cry?" Solo heard her Exaltedness ask in a tender cadence, nothing he would ever expect to come from the queen of all Starbreakers to utter out of those lips.
" My brother…" The little girl who Solo believed was indeed from Captain Bradson's ship replied between sobs.
" They took my brother away…They are wrong…He is not a Demon…!!"
Alas…Solo sighed to himself, things like this can't be helped. Demons had been searching for all sorts of ways to pass the barriers of light, either through morphing with light-hearted kind or through transforming their outlooks. Either way, once they are detected, they must be eradicated. There is nothing much to say here.
Solo cleared his throat, ushering the champion to leave and carry on with the suits at bay, but Caerlia knelt still before the sad children patiently.
" Touch my hand, young sister," Caerlia spoke gently, reaching her palm to the girl that had lost her younger brother.
" Do not be afraid. I mean no Harm to any sibling born of Light."
Without any more options left, the young girl placed her little palm onto Her Exaltedness' hand and Caerlia took a deep breath, closing her eyes as an unseen force swept suddenly past them, her long faint golden hair slightly afloat as if a stream of immense power was present in a form of a paramount pillar of light enveloping the blessed one in its center.
A second after, the sudden pressure dispersed as swiftly as it came, and Caerlia stood up.
" Young sister, you are wronged." Caerlia breathed in utter realization.
" There is nothing of Demon spec upon thee and your siblings. The droids must have made a grave mistake. Solo, I need the records of all the androids that were operating this morning."
" What are you talking about, Caerlia?"
General Solo tried to remain benign in his rapid speech.
" The droids serve the Lord, and the Lord is Never wrong!"
" Are you saying that I am wrong, General?" Caerlia questioned, her voice like a lance rifle pointed to Solo's throat.
" The Lord cares not of his droids and let them sail without heed. All he now thinks is the Chosen One of this Herunis Carna. Are you Assuming that a disregarding Lord's blind droid would sense Demon residues that a Protector of Light Cannot?!"
" No. Caerlia. I am saying is…It's none of our business to stop the Droids. Especially the Lord's Droids—"
" Even the Lord cannot wrong those born with Light in their Hearts." Caerlia snapped coldly, condescendingly per her right and resolve.
" This young child has touched nothing of Demon source in her entire life. Her Brother is innocent. As The Protector of Light and all its honest Folk, I shall meet out Justice. Solo, you'll watch over the construction site of the Grand Gathering while I am away."
Turning back with beaming confidence and valor, Caerlia smiled to Feira and the dumbfounded children like the unwavering sun that never sets.
" Fear not, my dear siblings of Light. You can always count on me, your dependable big sister I. Your Brother will be saved before this night passes. I promise in my name as Caerlia Lansara Suprema of the Seven Lances!"
And lo, there she marched away, down the corridors with each step like the thrumming drums of victory.
The girls all wiped their tears dry, their wide eyes of admiration riveted to the lean powerful back of her Exaltedness edging further away into the palace grounds.
" I want to be like her." A girl behind Feira accidentally blurted out before covering her face abashedly.
Solo, though his face was calm and stern, his inside was fuming with apprehension.
Not good, not good…the General muttered under his breath.
This girl who thinks she is the Queen of Star and Flare…is proving to be too much of a handful…
I should have warned her, but no. It is not of my concern…
…confused, adamant Caerlia,
Justice will be the last thing you find behind these Skyworld walls…
…
...…
Rio peered down from the railings at the top of the ceiling of the grand dome where a so-called Grand Gathering was said to be held soon after.
Already, Airships from all sides of the vast sky descended down and parked within the foundations of the grand stadium hall, parallelled in organized arrays as droids and hovering sky pods guide the ships to their designated spot.
Elsa whined in hopes to draw Rio's attention from the glorious airships of all kinds of designs and weaponry.
" Alright, alright…" Rio whispered back, making one last glance at the center pedestal towering high up over the succumbing airships below its magnificent wake.
Where the throne sat. And next to the grand prominent lord sitting, was a smaller elegant carved golden throne, jeweled with diamonds and luxuries that dazzled and confuse.
Yet Rio was sure, that tiny throne belonged to one person alone.
The Sky Princess.
If only he could see her again, even from this far away, he would be the most content of all children in the universe.
" Woof!" Elsa dragged the daydreaming boy's tunic, pulling Rio back to reality and the gravity to save his bosom friend Finnir.
" Okay, okay! I am coming!"
Scurrying off to the shadows of the upper dome layer, fast but obvious, the rushing visage of the boy and the wolf cub had been captured by curious glowing eyes that stared from below in the corner of the grand Gathering stadium.
Eyes that widened in recognition.
Eyes that belong to the Sky Princess herself.
…
...…
Bradson Captain was never a ceremonious chap in heart even before his time of sailing amongst the clouds. He would prefer to drink alone rather than chat and boast among fellow captains, not that he knew any of them.
But the circumstances, just mere minutes before the commencing of the Skylord's Grand Assembly, now forced him to counter the coming reactions and speech that many prestigious Captains of their proud Airships that come from every corner slaying Demons in the name of the Skylord.
" Captain Bradson!!" a gruff holler from behind halted Bradson and Reina's steps among the grouped crowd of fellow navigators and Starbreakers as the old man and his secretary turned around to see a bald short stout figure in splendid uniform of high-rank walking up to them, the bushy mustache being the only prominent gathering of hair upon the middle aged man's jovial visage, accompanied by some other captains of the same tier of prestige and their subordinate Starbreakers of much caliber.
" You know him?" Reina asked in a quick whisper, to which Bradson squinted hard, trying to recall.
" Captain…Delprim Jargo?" Bradson uttered unsure, to which the bald robust captain laughed heartily, indicating Bradson's correct guess.
" Har har! It is I! I have yet to repay your opportune aid during the First Scourge! My, a valiant battle it was!"
Laughed this Delprim Jargo, Captain of the Delfalak airship, whose round hairless scalp shone with reverence under the reflection of the skylights hanging above across the elliptical ceiling of the wide stadium. His cohort Starbreaker, a huge slim figure clad in full armor, concealing the face and outlooks under the murky black and golden striped metal facade, nodded silently in menacing greetings.
" Then you must remember Darrovid also? My Champion?! Har har!" Delprim Jargo patted the silent Black Starbreaker like a salesman showcasing a fine stallion race car.
" Say, where is your Starbreaker boy Firram, huh? I was hoping he could have a match with Darrovid and see who is the better man now after years of strife and conquest? He hasn't perished, has he??"
Delprim Jargo eyed the stern Betelgeuse Captain gleefully.
" Firren, is fine." Bradson replie,d shortly. " He had other matters to attend to. And so do we." And Bradson, with his mind focused on saving Finnir, ushered off towards the stadium up the wide flight of stairs.
" Then how about your other Starbreaker maiden, Bradson Captain? Why not she and Darrovid have a match and see who is better??"
The bearded bald busybody Captain Delprim Jargo guffawed, seeking yet another abrupt contest to prove his Starbreaker better amongst all. For it seems the failures ages ago of the first Scourge and Demon assault had left this man with quite a competitive ego.
" Is he serious??" Reina hissed under her breath, taken aback by the rude incoming of a meaningless joust.
" Captain Jargo, there's the Lord's Grand Gathering right there…" Bradson pointed at the bombastic entrance to the grandeur stadium, but the bald meddler was insisting.
" The Gathering will not start exactly at the opportune timing, Captain Bradson. I know, for the timing of the Skylord is exact and undoubtingly accurate, which leaves us with ample thirty minutes for a proper joust. What say you? Starbreaker against Starbreaker! Bradson Captain?…I have been waiting to prove my worth and this is my moment!!"
" You could prove it by exterminating Demons, captain…" Bradson was about to answer but Delprim Jargo put his palm straight up to halt Bradson's speaking.
" Demons are lame." Delprim Jargo blatantly announced among many on-looking bystander captains nosy and curious for entertainment.
" Darrovid and I have not met with any defeat in the past centuries ever since my epic failure at the First Scourge. Demons are not worthy enough to prove my progress, Bradson! I seek redemption, a rematch! A testimony of my growth!! Bradson, and Starbreaker Leina, are you going to turn your backs on an honorable tourney?!"
" It's Reina, but whatever." Reina secretary replied in her Captain's stead.
" But apologies, we have to refuse your request, captain. We would not want to bring havoc upon the Lord's court."
" Oh ho, that you are unaware!" Delprim Jargo guffawed still adamantly.
" Her Exaltedness Lansara Suprima has recently passed an accord to condone competition between Starbreakers upon Skyworld grounds! Jousting is a proper display of valor and knighthood! Even the Exalted one guarantees! Come, Bradson, Leina. I and Darrovid shall bring nothing but honor in this plight!"
" Not so fast!!!!" Another foreign voice from the side crowd suddenly cried out chivalrously before Reina was about to don her Starbreaker armor and give this Delprim Jargo a good beating.
" Lady Reina, may your grace and splendor rest and bask under my glory!"
" Oh no…" Reina muttered in disgust as a properly built young man in his early thirties of long pink long hair stepped out of the scene between Delprim Jargo and Captain Bradson.
It was a gentleman in both a captain's cloaked uniform and glistening light reddish armor of a Starbreaker, with a lavishing look of alluring manhood sheathed under pristine white skin. Edges of the young man's face and slightly bulged muscles were works of art, like a marble saint carved out by the renowned artisans of divine craftwork.
And that smile, the curved confidence that shoots out shafts of beams that captivated every female Starbreaker and captain watching, pulling their spontaneous riveted gazes only onto his utmost glamorous facade, unable to be free from the fascinating man, captain, Starbreaker's charming snare.
Delprim Jargo too was lost for words. Jaws agape, unable to respond immediately.
Darrovid, the wordless black Starbreaker however, just stared in silence.
" …Captain…Valentine…?" Bradson managed to recall the name of this marvelous gentleman that had intruded on their evening with yet unknown intentions.
" It's an honor to be remembered, Father." The stunning captain replied softly in dreamy cadence, shedding a tear as he addressed Bradson as his close relative, kneeling down and kissing the old bewildered captain on the back of his hand.
" I, Valentine Vanodai of the Hydrangea ship accept your joust, Captain Delprim Jargo!"
Turning back with a flourish, swiping his pink long hair like waves of love, Captain Valentine looked forth at the disgusted Reina deeply in the eye and spoke tenderly.
" My heart has been yours since the day of the First Scourge, Reina my Rose. Years I have traveled across desert and sea, mountain and valley, in search of you, dreaming of your crimson hair flowing down your marvelous silhouette. And after centuries, at last, here we are. It is Destiny. It is Love!
Reina my Rose! Let me Fight for thee and claim victory in your name! Would you, my fair blossom of night and morning, claim my hand the moment I return with triumph?"
Towards such words and wooing that no girl Starbreaker would not fall for, Reina simply replied tersely
" No."
" The thorns of the Rose do accentuate its beauty." Captain Valentine chuckled calmly on the outside yet coughed out blood due to his sadness deep down to which hundreds of girls swarm in to support his frame and hand him their handkerchiefs.
" Well then, if it is the joust that you wish to have a part, then I shall accompany thee as your second! Come! Let us destroy the world with Love!!"
The unrelenting Starbreaker fellow flew up from the wooed crowd of women and reached out his hand, his grasping hand that longed, yearned for Reina for centuries, finally so near.
Yet was stopped by the opportune intrusion of old Captain Bradson, grabbing the young Captain's hand in mid-thrust before the reaching fingers could touch a hair on Reina.
Captain Valentine was surprised, and so was Reina, who could have dealt with the pervert with her own fist. But it was Bradson, whose shadow now shielded before her that stopped the want, the pursues that came towards her, guarding her like Reina was someone important to him.
No, she is.
Captain Valentine shed another tear of utter disappointment.
" Father, why do you shun me away? Am I not worthy of Reina's hand?"
" No." Captain Bradson replied, tersely as well.
But instead of dropping to the ground in utter defeat, Captain Valentine stood tall and confident before the umpteenth time of refusal.
" If so, then I shall prove my worth, through this Joust!! Captain Delprim Jargo, Darrovid!! Be my stepping stones!!!!"
Swiping his fur commanding coat aside, sinking into the hands of crazed female followers, Captain Valentine revealed his armor in full glow, runes of power dazzling upon the light red hue as a long chained blade of fangs snaked out of thin air, slithering around the young man's sudden menacing presence.
But even so, standing before Captain Valentine's ominous stance of the whip blade, Captain Delprim Jargo was not satisfied.
" Captain Valentine! Being both a Starbreaker and a Captain of a ship may sound cool, but it is nothing compared to the outstanding Bradson Captain! Stand down and interfere not my joust!"
" No no. Standing here, I realize, we are the same, trying to prove of our Destiny! It is fate." Captain Valentine mused as his swiping long blade swam like a vicious serpent, slashing the solid marble stairs with clean cuts that reached deep meters down.
" Throughout the century in the field, never once have I hunted a Demon in the name of the Skylord. Reina, I hunt demons honoring your name! If you wish to fight Captain Bradson, then it is I that you shall pass!"
Realizing that someone had fittingly stepped in to take their place, Bradson and Reina hurriedly went forth toward the stadium in hopes to escape the farce. But Delprim Jargo is a man of sheer will and commitment, someone who would not let go of the weakness of his past and strives to prove his growth.
" Darrovid! Stop them!!" Delprim Jargo made the first move, and his black Starbreaker heeded his call, summoning two void towers behind his dark armored form which shot out a series of projectiles up to the air and pierced back down onto the slanting marble stairs, revealing all sorts of weapons, swords, spears, lances, forming a circle around them like an outer rim of an actual tourney.
Delprim Jargo is serious, Bradson and Reina both turned around as she donned her Starbreaker armor right away, shielding Bradson behind her.
" Captain, this might take a while…" Reina whispered quickly, preparing for the fight against Jargo's black Starbreaker that hover in the arena with the two towering voids behind its back.
" Then we'll finish them faster." with determination shining in those stern eyes of resolve, Bradson captain stood his ground, ready to face this unscrupulous act and bizarre encounter.
" Indeed, together we shall triumph!" Captain Valentine agreed, appearing in the weapon-forged arena also without anyone noticing.
Reina rolled her eyes, never expecting to meet a nuisance years before to come back to annoy her. But at least he is here to help.
" Wait ho, who is this? What is going on??"
Reina looked up in surprise as the loud voice came from a big shadow that entered the arena, passing through the weapons of the outer circle without realizing they were there, and joining both Bradson and Reina on the side of the Betelgeuse.
" Are we having a joust right now?" Seito Heroman asked, looking at all the dumbstruck people around him with exhilarated glee.
" No way!!" Delprim Jargo guffawed in disbelief.
" The Vajra of Lightning, once perished in the last day of the First Scourge, now returned?!?!"
Darrovid the Black looked at Seito as his dark crimson visor glowed with deep interest.
" Seito, I thought you aren't joining us!" Reina sighed in relief with a smile that Captain Valentine so witnessed that will never belong to him.
" Well, I got bored. So," Seito shrugged looking around at the contestant before him.
" What are these punks trying to achieve though?"
" To achieve Greatness before you came, Seito, you oversized brute!" Captain Valentine accused out of nowhere, conjuring his long chain blade down to smite Seito.
" You leave me no choice—I shall challenge you to a duel!!!!"
Sailing down like a hundred blades did the metallic chains of fangs that descended all upon Seito the lightning one, who looked up at the coming wrath without batting an eye.
And with his bear fists, Seito coiled all the strings onto his muscular armored right arm, gripping them tightly within his fist, and heaved, pulling the handsome captain Starbreaker off the air by surprise before landing a face-sized punch on the pretty unprotected face of Captain Valentine.
Gasps from the bystanding girls swept the crowd as they all bore witness to the sudden defeat of swell Valentine Vanodai, who now lay on the floor, knocked out cold.
" Seito wins!" Delprim Jargo uttered, becoming umpire and contestant altogether.
" Valentine shoo! Seito of the unstoppable storm, you are a warrior that gave your Light to country, therefore you have my respects. But you are in the way of my ascension! Be prepared! Darrovid!!!!"
Immediately, both Seito and Reina felt a sudden change of atmosphere, as if gravity had increased threefold over the small circular arena. And most shocking of all, was that Darrovid was nowhere to be seen.
Bradson stared startled at the arena, then to the sides, and above.
But no sign of the Starbreaker in sight!
Where did he go??
Captain Jargo sneered at the fruition of his long-awaited victory. Finally, he is no longer Delprim the loser, no longer does he need to look up to others.
They will look up to me now!
[...to be continued]