2 months have passed since Zion and Talia had reached Risunitia, and the time they spent there was very heartwarming and wholesome.
Suddenly in the middle of the night, Zion sits awkwardly on his mattress bed at the guest room, not being able to sleep. Talia on the other hand, sleeps comfortably.
He slowly gets up and walks towards the balcony. Opening the door with his delicate hands, he sees the midnight view of a street, still bustling. He looks at the moon while his a blue flame aura surrounds his left eye.
The soaring wind tousles Zion's silky hair as the scene ends with the breathtaking view of the secluded town. Accompanied by the lush rainforest surrounding it, Aeturnus.
After he looked at the moon at awe, he slowly walked back to the guest room, leaped on his mattress, and fell asleep instantly.
The next morning, He wakes up from the sound of Talia telling her brother to wake up. He jolted awake and gets up, they both walk down the creaky wooden stairs of the home of Kai and Miori.
As they see Miori and Kai waiting for them in the wooden table filled with savory meat and rice.
"Hey grandma, you cooked too much food." says Kai.
"Now let's pray!" Miori says in delight.
Aren't you avoiding the topic..? Zion thinks.
"Yeah let's eat!" says Talia.
"O great Choronzon. Bless us with the food before us, which we are about to recieve."
Both Kai and Miori close their eyes and recite this prayer before digging in, which Zion and Talia remembers a faint memory about them, Uncle Kenzou, and Hannah praying this exact prayer before enjoying the food on their table.
But as they think about this memory, they both think:
"What happened to mom? There's a chance that she didn't die since we didn't really see her die.."
The yell of Miori snaps them back.
"Dig in, kids!"
They all happily dig in as they savor the delicious taste of the food in front of them, which a tear dropped in both Zion and Talia when nostalgia hits them. Zion realizes about how much they missed.
We didn't realize.
That throughout these days, we we're lonely all along. The days filled with only one desperate goal in mind, survival.
After eating their lunch, Zion, Talia, and Kai walk outside the home and into the bustling streets.
"Hey Zion, Talia, have you recieved your talent yet?" Kai asks.
Zion and Talia looks at him in confusion.
"What do you mean by 'recieving your talent?'" Talia asks.
"How do you recieve talents??" Zion asks.
Kai points out the building that had a large sphere on top of it. It was the talent examination building, Examen.
"See that building over there? We're heading over there, let's see what your talents are."
Kai guides both Zion and Talia to the building, which were greeted by 2 guards wearing metallic armor.
"Oi, Kai! Never see ya hanging around here often. What's the occasion?" One of the guards question with curiosity.
"These kids, I've been requested by Miori to let them examine their talents."
-- 7 hours ago, 5:08am --
Kai wakes up and was greeted by the beautiful sunrise, and Miori with a serious face.
"Hey Kai, asks these kids if they have recieved their talent in the morning. Alright?"
Kai was surprised by this, wondered why she had such a serious face.
Instinctively, he replied: "Uh, yeah."
-- Present time, 12:08pm --
"Hmm..? Who are these kids? I've never seen them around town." The other guard asks.
"I found them when they got attacked by 2 wolfmen. Surprisingly, the held on pretty well. That's why I wanted to find out their true talent, so they could polish it." Kai replies, which then, they were let inside the building.
Kai signs a few waivers and paperwork, as well as Zion and Talia writing some of their personal info for confirmation.
A woman approaches them, stating themselves as the examiner. She had long green hair and eyes.
"Hmm..? Kai? Who are these children?"
"Ah, I'm just letting them take the exam."
They formally introduced themselves to the examiner, and they found out her name was Shinomiya Ai.
After all that, they finally reached the examination area. Which then Zion and Talia was met by the same stone they saw in the cave.
What? This stone looks similar to... the one we saw in the cave. But this one doesn't have the mysterious writing.
He nervously reached his hand to the stone, which symbols began to form on the stone.
The symbols just formed out of nowhere! It's similar to the ones in the cave as well!
The characters on the stone were very similar to the symbols written on the stone tablet they had seen inside the cave. It written:
"Κίνηση ενστίκτου, σκοτεινές τέχνες, τέχνες με στιλέτο, στυγική μαγεία"
As the stone was fully engraved with unknown symbols, the test examiner walked up to the stone and wrote the text down in his profile.
"Your talent is.. Instinct Movement, Dark Arts, Dagger Arts, and... Stygian Magic."
!!!
Shock began to show on the Kai and Talia's faces, which the examiner proceeds to move on to Talia.
"Hey, it's your turn. Don't be nervous, just place your hand on the stone until symbols start to appear."
"Yeah.."
I wonder what mine is going to be. Zion got stygian magic... That's the magic of darkness.
After Talia placed her hand on the stone, yet again, the stone engraved symbols seemingly out of thin air.
"Κίνηση Πρόβλεψης, Τέχνες Ξιφομαχίας, Τέχνες μεγάλης εμβέλειας, Θεία Μαγεία"
"Yours is... Prediction Movement, Swordmanship Arts, Ranged Arts, and Divine Magic."
The test examiner, Shinomiya, wrote the text in her profile. Zion and Talia looked at each other in disbelief, as their talents were completely opposing.
They had knew each other all their life, just for them to naturally turn into fated enemies in the later future.
After getting their talents, they went back home and Miori greeted them all.
Zion walked upstairs while Talia remained, chattering with Miori. As he viewed the scenery of the town, he notices eaglemen in the streets showing the residents posters about him and Talia.
What? Why are they here? How do they know?!
He immediately goes back in to prevent one of the eaglemen from seeing them, and he rushed downstairs to notify everyone.
But as he ran down the stairs, one of the eaglemen, specifically the leader, saw a tiny glimpse of him and felt something off about him.
Knock Knock.
A knock can be heard in the front door of the house, and Zion grabbed Talia and rushed to the backdoor. On their backyard, Zion and Talia hid behind one of the barrels used for water.
"Zion? What are you doing?"
"The eaglemen!! Their here, we must stay quiet!"
How did they find us in this secluded town?
Zion and Talia both trusted Miori and Kai to not tell any of the eaglemen that they were hiding here, and prayed that nothing bad will happen.
Meanwhile, Miori is asked by the leader of the eaglemen group, the one wearing a green military shirt with a golden strap.
"Excuse me mam, pardon my intrusion. My name is Kiyazato Shihei, general of the Eaglemen Tribe in the Cyber City Solipsis, the 55th floor."
What? A tribe from the 55th floor? What do they possibly want from us here in the 99th floor?
Kai shows himself and greets them inside the house. Soon after, Miori made coffee for the leader and asked questions on their appearance.
"What do you wnat from us, General Kiyazato?"
"We were here to simply ask about these 2 kids. They are a wanted target that has escaped from our hunt of the 100th floor."
As the general showed images that were drawn by memory, Kai and Miori hid their shock about how precise the drawing of Zion and Talia were.
But, Miori stated that she had never seen the two kids, and move on to the next house.
"Hmm... Alright, as you say. We'll move on to other houses."
After a while, the eaglemen group left the house and moved to another house a little far away, which Zion and Talia went back inside and told them about it.
Zion apologizes for one of the final times to them, as he didn't want to be a burden to people not involved in their personal matter.
"I'm sorry, Kai, Aunt Miori, but we can't stay here anymore."
They hurriedly walked upstairs and packed their gear bags, which Miori questions what happened.
Talia explains to them about the situation once they reached downstairs.
"Kai, Aunt Miori, we used to live in the 100th floor. But, we got hunted by the eagleman army."
Which Zion continues: "Yeah, and we don't want to be a burden to you, so it's better if we move now.."
"So, this is goodbye to Risunitia, we need to climb the abyss and get stronger, so we could protect ourselves."
As they were walking towards the front door, Kai grabs Zion's bag and says something.
"Wait. Let me join you guys. I also have my own mystery to solve in the top floor."
Miori smiled as she reminisced about her younger days when she used to love adventuring the abyss, and the fact they looked very similar to her former adventure group.
"Kai, you can go. Thank you for accepting me as your mother, even though you're royalty."
Kai packed his stuff into a bag that her mother gifted him when he was still a kid, and sent all their farewells.
The three went outside of the hidden town of Risunitia and into the rainforest to Aeturnus. They walked into the forest unfazed, all of them looking forward to a new journey that could potentially shake the entire abyss.