They called it the the Lost City; and in a way, it truly was. It was a relic from the past, tracing its origins back to the age of the Ancient Civilization. A piece of the past that survived the Great Dragon War that not many knew about. But 'not many' didn't mean the same as 'all'.
Within one of the city buildings one teen couldn't help throwing up. An iron stomach that had survived arduous adaptation to various substances and poisons was unable to hold itself together this time. Bile held a deep tint of black and red, obvious side-effects of what had been forcefully introduced into his system for these past couple weeks. Wasn't poison, just something else. Body felt like hell, bones felt like they were snapping under the weight of a Lao-Shan Lung's foot. Felt like his heart was trying to burst. Pretty sure he had a fever too. Still that said the teen moved, forcing his screaming body to respond as he dragged himself along the hall as he gasped for breath and glanced outside the walls. Storm, looked heavy too.
Used to like the rain, not so much lately. Lately all this endless rain had done was lace itself with bad memories. Not only that, the rain felt wrong; violent, confused… scared. It wasn't the only one though; around the world, everywhere the rain touched, the people felt the same, as did the creatures. Problem was that most didn't really understand what was causing the disturbance. He did… or at least he thought he did.
"You need to stop this." Hearing a familiar voice the teen stopped, looking around before blinking. When he did someone stepped out the shadows and stared down at him. Even with the haze his mind was in he could still make out this person rather easily.
"Great you again, what do you want?" The teen grunted as he glared ahead.
"I'd like you to stop this, we aren't ready to go back out into the world yet."
"You're right, but it sure as hell beats being stuck here with these psychos." His counterpart frowned, though it disappeared a moment later returning to a neutral expression as the teen clenched his heart as it threatened to jump out is chest. Irregular beating causing him to hunch over in pain as he took a moment to try getting it back under control. "D-damn it…" The Hunter choked out as he dropped to his knees. 'Come on… this is nothing… pain is nothing new to you… your a Hunter for fucks sake. You've been tackled by wyverns and hit by their elements. This is nothing compared to what you're used to.' He picked himself up again as his counterpart walked forward. Resting his hand on his chest while another went to his chin.
"Hurts doesn't it, I can make it stop if you'd like?"
"I don't need your help." The hunter stated as he swiped at the hand, only for it to pass through the limb. "You're not even real, something they created by turning my mind against me."
"Is that what you believe?" The counterpart said as their wyvern like eyes stared into his own. "I'm as real as you are Brother. If not I'm even more real."
"Bullshit. You're more real than me? You don't even have a body."
"I do, you just happen to be at the helm Brother." The doppelganger stated as he rested his forehead on his counterparts. "But when the time comes, when our training is complete, I will take the helm."
"That's just another reason for me to get out of here before we're done 'training'." The teen stepped through his doppelganger as he moved through the hall, Stopping only when he heard other footsteps.
"I think he went this way."
"Damn." The hunter grunted as he stepped into a room to hide himself in. He watched as a group of people ran by him, stopping by the door to talk for a moment. Their armor was strange… and that was coming from a Hunter; someone who wore bone and hide and scale for a living. It was a solid metal, but unlike any metal that the smithies of the Hunters Guild used. Had to guess it was probably a synthesis of different metals and ores that had been fused together thanks to Ancient Civilization Alchemy.
Not that that mattered at the moment… or maybe it did? After all these people, were descendants of the ancient tribe. The 'Lost Order'; humans and wyvernians that saw themselves the rightful rulers of the world. If anything they were just a batch of cultists that wanted to return to the old ways. They followed the Ancient teachings, particularly the forbidden ones left behind by the Ancestors. The same that put the lost ancestors on the path they had tread down leading to the inevitable creation of the Equal Dragon Weapons.
As for the Hunter, he was a… recruit, a Brother, one of many Lost Sons and Daughters until recently and like many of them he hadn't come with them willingly. This one; he'd been on a Hunt a few months prior with his team, though after getting abducted he hadn't seen them again. He doubted they were here though, rather he hoped - and at the same time knew - they weren't somewhere in these walls. All that he had seen to be recruited, all that were here shared a common trait, one that the rest of his team didn't. Hair the color of snow. Signs that their blood was more 'pure'. More deeply related to members of the Ancient Civilization and not just their genetically improved warrior caste. In his case, his hair gradually went from purple to white, though which of his parents he picked that up from he wasn't to sure.
"Luma…" The teen muttered as he looked at a particular young woman. Couldn't have been older than him, but she was dressed in the same armor as the other, and her eyes weren't the way they should be. A Lost Daughter that they had successfully 'awoken' to her true calling in life. "What did they do to you?"
"Showed her the truth." His doppelganger whispered as he stared at Luma for a moment as she and the group disappeared. "The same truth you refuse to accept."
"Truth… Truth?" Grunting as he looked at his mirror image and growled. Stepping out the room the Hunter turned down down the direction he had previously been heading and continued to run. "The only truth I see is that they're unmaking us. Stripping us as our identity and replacing it with… you." His doppelganger said nothing as his counterpart continued struggling don the hall. "Their ideal version of us, one dedicated to this madness."
"Madness? I wouldn't call it that, I've seen you act on madness time and time again. This however; all they're doing is bringing out the real you, showing what you are meant to truly be… why can't you understand that?"
"I don't want to be you." The Hunter stated as threw up again, another black and red puddle spreading itself on the floor as he gasped for breath. "I'm… I'm me. I'm a hunter. And I will never be a member of some cult that wants to takeover the world."
"Take over? No we don't want to take over. We just want to take back what is ours Brother." The double stated as he followed after his counterpart. "Our civilization ruled this world, with our technology we subjugated the tribes and brought order. Then the Dragons took that away from us."
"Oh and I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with the preforming the Forbidden Act." The Hunter said with a leer. "The Ancient Civilization killed thousands upon thousands of dragons in order to create the Wyvern Machine Soldiers and they paid the price for it." The Hunter stated as he made his way to another room and hid as a few others ran past.
"We will correct the mistakes of our ancestors."
"And how is that? By repeating the actions they did so long ago? Those that refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
"Then it is good we learned from our ancestors past mistakes." His shadow stated as they moved again. "We will not make the same mistake. With Master Lucio leading us, we won't."
"Let's get one thing straight he is not my master." The Hunter hissed as he turned back to his mentor. "He will never be my Master. He will never take Ashe's place." The teen muttered as he looked back ahead and took a breath and walked.
"I'm not saying he must take Ashe's place." The doppelganger stated as he returned to following his counterpart. "Ashe is very important to us, raised us, trained us. We can not replace her with Master Lucio."
"And yet he's trying to undo everything Ashe ever taught us." The Hunter muttered as he frowned before sniffing the air. "There." The teem muttered as he dragged himself further on before reaching another room. Looked like he hit the main chamber, and like the rest of the interior it was well maintained, as if the elements had chosen to forget about this place. His eyes turned, taking sight of a treasure of some sort, an absolutely gigantic chunk of refined blue crystal. It was probably as big as his old house. Then again this citadel within the Lost City was more a palace than anything. "Got pretty far, now I just need to get out of here." The Hunter muttered as he reached behind him and grabbed his weapon of choice; a greatsword he called Gandora. He traced his fingers along the blade's handle before, bringing it back an instant later as he looked at his hand. Blade might as well of bit him. "That pain again, why?"
"It no longer acknowledges you as it's rightful owner." The hunter froze as as he heard the voice behind him. "I had a feeling you'd make it this far."
"Abel…" Abel Helmwind just stood at the wall, arms crossed as he stared at the other teen. Abel… he was the Hunter's former teammate, the one responsible for getting him in this situation to begin with. A Brother of the Lost Order, a spy that had been sent into the Hunter's ranks in search of other Lost Sons and Daughters. Of the Brothers, Abel had the purest bloodlines tracing back to the Ancient Civilization; which manifested as his hair being pure white.
"It's been a while little Brother." Abel stated as he stepped off the wall.
"What did you do to me?" The Hunter said with a pained glare. "What do you mean my blade doesn't acknowledge me as it's rightful owner?"
"Simply that." Abel began. "Your metamorphosis is still underway, but it's progressed far enough that your soul - that which resonated with the beastial soul within that weapon no longer harmonize. To that blade of bone and scale and steel, you are not the one it submitted to so long ago."
"Your not just trying to overwrite my memories, but my soul as well? What kind of forbidden magic is that?"
"Not magic, science." Abel stated as he watched the Hunter take a couple steps back. "Magic is just a title we bestow what we don't understand. Science is when we break it down into an understandable form, learn what it is and how it works." Abel stated as he stepped forward. "Take the Hunting Horn for example, how does the music it produce strengthen our physiology?" The Hunter didn't answer as he dropped to his knees, clutching his chest for a moment as the pain returned. "A long time ago, people just referred to it as magic. Truth however; the music travels at unique frequencies that promote the production of specific strains of stimuli in the brain. That stimuli then temporarily boosts our physical parameters past self imposed limitations. Makes us faster, stronger, makes our bodies heal better." Abel knelt down next to the teen as he gasped for breath. "I'm here to take you back to your room Brother. We still have much to do."
"I don't… want… any part of this."
"That's because you're still confused, you still cling to what they taught you, and they taught you the wrong things, the wrong code. That's why we're trying to correct it."
"There's nothing wrong with the code I was taught Abel." The Hunter choked out as he looked at his counterpart. "Respecting nature, honoring the ways of the Hunt and the laws of the Tribes… but this…" The Hunter shook his head. "This is wrong. Kidnapping people, brainwashing them to your cause… trying to continue making those Wyvern Machine Soldiers… All of this is wrong." The hunter muttered as he stared at his former companion.
"We do what is necessary for the betterment of the world."
"This is for the betterment of the World? Your going to start another Great Dragon War. Why can't you see that?" Abel stayed silent shaking his head before looking at his counterpart again. "You were a great hunter, you saw and experienced our ways… you changed. That's why, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me what your doing isn't wrong."
"… What we're doing isn't wrong little Brother."
"And you believe that?"
"I…" Abel paused as he looked at the Hunter's eyes before looking away for a moment. That second of hesitation however was all the Hunter needed. Showed him that Abel… wasn't just 'theirs' anymore. He'd changed in the time they had known each other.
"Help me get out of here Abel… please. We still have a chance to stop this. If we tell the Hunters Guild, we can stop them. We don't have to become their weapons."
"Brother… I wish you could understand. You and I we are not weapons… We're-"
"We're what? If you really see me as your brother, tell me why we have to do this?" Abel didn't respond for a moment before reaching a hand out, holding a few strands of the Hunter's hair between his fingers and shook his head.
"You don't understand… and sometimes I don't either… I don't understand why it had to be you instead of anyone else. But maybe that's why you are the same as me despite your mixed-blood." The hunter gasped as he froze, a sharp pain suddenly ripping through his body. Looking down he found found Abel had stabbed a syringe into his chest, right where his heart was. His veins bulged, darkened to an almost pitch black, as he hunched forward. Abel injecting the rest of the syringe contents before he started to step back, looking at his work for a moment before returning the needle to his pouch. The Hunter choked for a moment, his body releasing a red and black vapor for a moment before it disappeared, as did the pain running through his body.
"W-what?"
"That will erase the pain, for a while anyway."
"Abel… thank you."
"Don't thank me just yet Brother." Abel said as reached for his Twin Swords; Weeping Titan and held them tight. "I have orders to take you back to your room, I aim to do so."
"Abel -"
"If you want to escape, if you want to return to the Hunter's Guild… you'll have to go through me." Gales stayed silent as he looked down for a moment and shook his head.
"... fine." Wordlessly the Hunter reached for his Greatsword and held it in his left. No pain in wielding it this time but…
Abel might as well of been a shot from a Bowgun, in seconds he was on the Hunter as the teen suddenly found himself blocking with his weapon. He twisted the weapon to the side as he knocked Abel back, forcing him off balance before doing a full spin and swung his weapon. Abel, just bent backwards, letting the weapon fly overhead before he pulled a backflip and regained some distance. Gales held his blade ready as Abel lightly smacked it's edge with his own weapon as he moved closer, neither noticing the crystal starting to glow slightly.
Elsewhere
"Has there been any sighting of him yet?"
"No Master Lucio, not yet." Lucio sighed slightly as he looked out at the storm for a moment. "But he couldn't have gone far, he's still recovering from the previous trial… still I must say I'm surprised. I wasn't expecting him to be able to move as he has while still undergoing his metamorphosis."
"He is as strong as Abel. I'm not surprised." The man stated as he pulled himself from his seat and started walking out his quarters, his counterpart following right behind him.
"Still I wish he would let go of the false ideals and let us help him. We simply wish to show him the truth."
"He is young, and he has spent his entire life being trained in the corrupted ways. To know he's holding onto them as tightly as he does just shows how rooted they are in his mind."
"What shall we do?"
"Simply give him time. Part of him already accepts what we must do, the rest simply fights it. When he stops fighting us, that will be when the truth can be shown to him." The leader of the Lost Order said in a somber almost fatherly tone before looking to his companion.
"But -"
"Did you not struggle as well before the truth was exposed to you? It took awhile for you to understand what was happening to this world."
"Yes, but I was not like him or Abel. They are special."
"We are all special Brother, we have the right to correct the world, bring it back onto the correct path." Lucio stated. "But first… we must make small steps. Find our lost sons and daughters, and show them the right way. That is our Kaiser's will."
With Gales and Abel
The Hunter stumbled as he blocked another flurry of strikes while Abel pressed his assault. At one point though he dodged, slipping out of Abel's range before he twisted, bringing Gandora back in several arcs before bringing the sword form down, upon Abel's blades and and started to press him. Abel, he blocked, countered and retaliated with an equal level of force and vigor.
"You're adaptability never ceases to amaze me." Abel muttered as he spun, dodging another blade strike and countered. "Even with a blade that no longer sees you as its rightful owner you still carry it so well."
'That said nothing feels right when I swing it.' The Hunter thought as he blocked, twisting his body in a full circle as he continued to exchange blows with his opponent. Left, right, overhead, rising, each blow he went for was meant with equal force despite the obvious weight difference between their choice of weapons. 'It really does feel like I'm not meant to wield this weapon.'
"But it still doesn't feel like it's yours does it?" Abel questioned as he put some distance between himself and the hunter. He checked his swords seeing all the bruises that it had taken in their short number of exchanges. Even if they weren't meant to be used for defense, it still never ceased to amaze him how much punishment these things could take.
"You're right it doesn't." The Hunter admitted as he took a moment to look at his own weapon. "As a hunter, I've wielded a ton of different weapons in my short career, but this time… it really does feel like I wasn't meant to wield this blade."
"I am sorry about that." Abel admitted. "But once your metamorphosis is complete, we will build you a new set of arms, those that will accept the real you."
"This is the real me." The Hunter countered. "I'm not one of your people, I'm not a Guild Knight or even a Poacher. I'm just a Hunter."
"You are so much more than that." Abel muttered as he changed his stance. "And when the time is right, I'll show you just how much more you are Brother."
"Well see." The Hunter grumbled as he twisted his weapon and brought it back. Both charged , though Abel picked up more speed do to his lighter weapons. Before they met however a light caught their attention, the clump of crystal was glowing brighter as they both covered their eyes. "What the?"
Elsewhere
Lucio paused as he watched the light that began to shine through the lower chambers, his expression shifting from surprise to seriousness as he began to step forward. "What the - this light, what is it?"
"After so many years of it sleeping, it's finally waking back up." Lucio muttered as he made his way down the stairs as the others followed. "Come our Brother and Lost Sun should be there."
"Master Lucio what is going on?"
"This is the light of a doorway finally opening."