Few days passed under the blessing of the peaceful altruistic dreams. Worries were a rare occurrence. Everything seemed to be progressing well for Aki under the umbrella of his loving family. He tried convincing mom to take him to library where archives are kept but she refused saying it's too early for him. Although, Beniko didn't voice it to Aki but he knew his mother just wanted him to spend the coming year away from struggles of Qutb, their house, their worlds, realms and all the politics. Aki understood her worries, he had tried convincing her by hiding his intentions behind curiosity, hoping for his charms to work on the woman; only to be refused outright followed by an emotional blackmail of a speech.
Even I dont know if it was his luck or misfortune that the metropolis of Sakura was hit by a storm. A storm named Niröhès (P/n: nae-ru-he-is).
...
Random entry points; seaming like fractures/tears/fill ups in the runic curtain called reality and world. These entry spots could open at point of time anywhere outside the 100km radius of each division of Qutb. These were places from where horrors, despair and reason of loss or suffering for many beings would take entry to this side of the curtain.
People had come to call these areas as GAPS, which seems appropriate too, as they were actual gaps in the ruinic structure of the world formed due to inculcating components of YOR to incomplete worlds.
Gaps were not without opportunity though, they had potential to give resources, treasures, elixirs, realm tickets, cultivation methods and more. The down side was only that to access the Gaps in form of realms they had to fight and defeat it's guardian within a certain amount of time. If not defeated, the guardian would tear open the GAP to give way for Niröhès to run rampart and pour out of it.
...
One such storm had been brewing in the forest of disasters, this forest spread wide across thousands of miles.
On the southern end of the forest, about 200 km north of the southern edge; a guardian with long staff carved with flowing runes and ethereal draconian figures crawling over it's length hovered in front of the gap emitting a radiant hue of dominance and pride. Golden hair like tendrils spread across the faceless ghost like figure of Guardian. The radiance dripped from the tendrils and passed into the gap slowly, very slowly seemingly trying to merge and repair the fracture that devoured all radiance promptly.
They would if one could, see a flickering rune of sort about to go off in the middle of the GAP. One moment it was there, other it wasn't. It was the rune which absorbed the radiance from the guardian to repair itself. Finally, a faint sound of breaking echoed in the eerie silence of forest.
And then, NIRÖHÈS came pouring out of the Gap, devouring the world of it's color and painting it in a hue of crimson black. Hunger evident in some with eyes, in some with mouths wide, in some with tentacles flaying abait, some ran with legs held about, some crawled devoid of any clout. A weird horde spread wild in all directions, picking the first citadel of Qutb they could detect.
For some the journey would be long; but for most it was the citadel of Qutb at house of Sakura. Hordes of them would soon arrive at the border of the forest where first outpost of metropolis was established few centuries ago.
...
Standing on one leg, Aki was practising sequence of various yogic and shaolin poses from previous life. Aim was to familiarise, synchronise, to know every inch of his physical existence. This had improved the rate of completion of his quests in last few days itself.
'YOR, open quest window.'
He was about to read it when loud sound of bugle billowed in the whole space of estate. Beniko called out loud to Aki and came rushing.
'Stay close son, don't wander around.'
'Mom what happened? What was that loud sound?'
'That is the sound of despair, grief, seperation. That is the sound of war, son.'
Aki felt like, he had been jolted out of his flowery, comfy place and put in huge mixer churning his insides. War was a whole new domain for him. He was always interested in trying to learn the art of war and fighting but learning from afar and being in one were two different worlds. He had never faced a situation like this in his previous life. Despite the struggles of it, his life was without war.
He took long deep breaths and calmed himself. He knew he shouldn't show any emotion, he wasn't supposed to know anything about war or despair or anything remotely related to the negatives. In an curious voice he asked Beniko, "Mom, what does that mean? Is it something bad? You look worried."
Beniko smiled at him and said, 'Don't worry Aki, mom is just cautious and yes, war no matter the cause never had a good outcome. But you don't worry, mom will protect you.'
With resolute eyes he looked into her eyes and said, 'No, I will protect you mother.'
She smiles at him and ruffles his hair with her hand.
Seeing her distracted and worried he chose to end the facade of a conversation.
'But war with who? There weren't any signs of them preparing for it or any tension at house in last few days.This is very sudden. Hmm, something sudden that can produce threat at a scale for the house to recognise and treat it as war. Odd…very odd. The only variable is Maraj-e-Qutb. It has to be related to that but what?'
He thoughtfully concluded that it was probably something more due to energy or Qutb and less of the war he had known in his previous life. He could think all he wanted but ultimately he had to wait for the news to travel to him. There's no way he was going in the middle of the conflict with knowing nothing about it.
Osuke appeared out of thin air near them and said in a grave voice to beniko
It's them.
Aura around both the parents changed.
'You have to go ?'
'Yes'
'Take care of him love, I'll be back.'
With that he placed his hand on Aki's shoulder, gave him a pat and vanished.
'Mom what was dad talking about ?'
'Aki, not right now. You see our Estate space is going to manifest at the centre of metropolis. Just hold tight to Mom. After all of this is over, we'll talk.'
With that he fell silent. The whole space shruddered. Like peeling of an orange, the five estates came into view of the metropolis.
This was not something the house could prevent or control. Qutb sends the pulses of origin energy so as to strengthen the protected space, making sure that no gap can manifest even in the presence of Niröhès.
Aki found himself amazed at the things happening, at the beauty of the metropolis, at the flying vehicles, people and what not.
He could see the well build houses stretching far wide. All he could think was that metropolis was huge, way beyond the scale he could have imagined.
Just then, bugle billowed once more, he could then see the faint changing of color of sky at the very edge of his vision. But looking at the expressions of his mom he could tell, whatever was the cause of this war had come knocking at their door.
•••••••••
At the northern border of metrolpolis of Sakura, one could see various warriors forming a defensive line. Seeing how organised it was, one had to agree this was commendable especially when the preparation time was so fucking short.
Mouths dry, determined eyes, some with shaking hearts, some with excitement looked at the Crimson Black travelling towards them.
Commander Kaine raised his spear and said, my soldiers, my comrades is this where we die ? Is this where we end our tales and let these son of a horrors consume our family and friends ? Is this where I taint my honor?
I say NOOO.....
To these fucking bitches I will not die. I will crawl, protect, fight and live on. My soldiers will not die. We will show Niröhès who's the boss.
To those who dared to attack our home DIEEEEEEE....
Every soldier replied in unison,
Ei Ei ohh...
Ei Ei Ohhhhhhh...
Ei Ei Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
And once more sound of the bugle travelled far and wide. Everybody shouted at the top of their voices:
YAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH.....
and charged ahead consumed by colors of rationale and madness.
Myriads of colors collided with crimson black and thus;
THE BATTLE OF CRIMSON BLACK BEGAN.
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