Takumi looked out to the forest through the bushes near him, and formed a wind energy arrow on his Fujin Yumi, already in position to hit the Faceless about a dozen feet away. Some branches obscured his vision, but not enough to block the view of the stupid, humanoid creature, and others like it nearby. He released the conjured arrow, and the Faceless fell, not even roaring as it thudded to the ground. One down; twelve more to go.
He and his small army had already taken care of around sixty of them in the area. This wasn't too much to handle for any small, talented band, and the Hoshidan royal army members had many proud, fierce veteran warriors.
Even though the country of Nohr, where the creatures had originated, was now ruled by Xander, a decent enough person for a Nohrian by Takumi's standards, dissenting mages that disputed his rule still sent Faceless to Hoshido. The monstrosities were created in secret, or perhaps even openly in outlying areas not under close watch. Not all Nohrians were happy about the change in ruler, and still viewed the nearby country of Hoshido as their eternal enemy. Takumi also knew that when King Garon was still in power, the creatures had been made to control, or more often cull, areas in Nohr that did not find the laws and demands of their King reasonable. It was probable that some of those still remained, wandering the countryside.
Wherever the Faceless came from, a lone sky knight had spotted the creatures they were currently fighting while patrolling about ten miles from the castle. He had soon returned, and Takumi's brother, King Ryoma, and had been told of the monsters. Takumi had volunteered to take a small army to eliminate the creatures; they were all a threat to Hoshido, and he knew that he his soldiers could take them on just fine. So with the Sky knight that had scouted them in the first place, he had led the band near the clearing in the woods where the Faceless had been spotted.
Currently, they were then about eight miles from the castle when the monsters had first been seen. The Faceless had not been directly coming to the castle, but they had been wandering in that general direction, and the Sky knights first, searching from above, then later as well as the roars and broken greenery told of where they were.
He fired several more arrows in synch with the other archers in his army nearby, felling several more of the creatures. Nearby, he could hear Hinata, one of his retainers, excitedly take down several Faceless close to him. Apparently he had saved one of their own men from being smashed by a large shackled fist, since he had heard one of the army state their thanks to him, and Hinata's jovial reply before the sound of their weapons joined in again with the others nearby.
Thankfully, these creatures did not seem to be magically reinforced, as had been a fear of several of the more recent recruits of the general Hoshidan army. Such creations were rare, but of course he, his siblings and the Hoshidan army could and would take down any type of Faceless any day. However, he would prefer his younger sister Sakura to stay away from too much combat, even though she could handle a bow fairly well.
Takumi did have another hidden weapon now, but did not feel the need to resort to it. His bow, the Fujin Yumi, his signature weapon and a divine weapon at that, could handle this task just fine.
Unseen in a pocket, cleverly sewn by his other retainer, Oboro, an excellent seamstress, rested a small blue dragon stone. It was strange, by what the diminutive stone represented. He was half Vallite, and could turn into a dragon. He was just glad that the only pain of releasing the seal that had prevented him from doing so was a physical, not mental toll that had only lasted for a brief, but agonizing time while the seal was being removed.
Corrin was still the only one that could turn parts of her body into parts of a dragon to fight, but Takumi was quite glad for that. He was more than a little jealous that Corrin had somehow picked up the flying part so easily. Maybe it was due to Azura helping her from the start. Of course, maybe there was natural talent involved, but Takumi had stubbornly learned it also. And so now he could fly and fight as a dragon.
But he was still Takumi, master sniper, and now the only prince of Hoshido. His heritage was what it happened to be, and he did not want to change it.
For now, though, there was still the small Faceless horde to worry about. Not that they were really much of a threat. In fact, the most to worrying thing, really, was if the overcast skies would start raining. Takumi had seen clouds slowly thickening overhead while travelling here.
Several more of the Faceless in the small clearing in front of him were quickly dispatched by the katanas and naginatas of his group's soldiers, including the naginata that belonged to Oboro, as she quite keenly sliced through the thick green skin. He saw as a samurai nearly collapse as a large fist slammed into his side that had swung underneath his katana. Another samurai came from behind the creature, quickly dispatching it. The injured samurai must have only been winded, as after a moment to catch his breath, he jumped straight up again and lashed at another Faceless nearby.
Takumi fired two more arrows, and saw a samurai slash a faceless, to only be knocked to the ground by another behind him. Two naginatas quickly ended the creature's moving fist, and Takumi quickly nocked and fired another arrow at the injured creature who had just narrowly dodged an arrow shot by another archer kneeling near him. The arrow he fired easily hit the target, and the creature let out a small guttural roar, before crashing to the ground.
He then surveyed the area around him, but did not see the green skin nor hear more of the tell-tale thud of the heavy footfalls breaking through branches of the forest. That creature had been the last, and as he looked back, he only saw other Hoshidan warriors surveying their handiwork: the bodies of the slain Faceless, soon to turn to dirt as the magic holding them together unraveled.
The group he had brought had divided into two parties at his order to take on the scattered group of Faceless. After parts of the outlying Faceless group had been defeated, the other group rejoined with his so that everyone was relatively close by.
Takumi stood from his kneeling position, and walked into the area where the last of the Faceless had been, the glowing green string still formed on his bow, while beckoning to a sky knight and a samurai.
"Reino, take the other Sky knights and circle around the forest for any more signs of Faceless nearby. Daichi, get several men and search the southern area." he ordered. "I'll go with the others and cover the northern. Search for and take down any Faceless remaining. Meet back here to regroup once you are finished."
The samurai he had named nodded at his prince, and ordered some others to come with them and ran off, while the Sky knights went toward a more empty clearing and took off, the wings of the Pegasi flapping strongly.
Takumi called to the rest of the small band to search and took some of them around the small clearing in front of him, and he carefully trod through the leafy ground, searching carefully for any more of the creatures. It already seemed like the last creature he had seen standing could have been the last one in the area, but he just wanted to be sure.
Hinata quickly ran up to his liege's side, smiling broadly.
"Wooo, that was a good fight! Did you see me at all? Whoosh, bang! And down they go. No match for quick Hinata, I'll tell ya! Haha!"
He laughed at the memory of the fight. Takumi knew that Hinata loved to be fighting, and would boast about his prowess often. It was well founded as he was quite the strong warrior.
"Pipe down, Hinata. Any Faceless will hear you from nearby. You don't really want them come charging in, do you?" he said to his excited retainer.
Hinata grinned again and said, "Well, I'll take them down anyway, but I can sure be quiet for a bit. Yup!" he stated, exaggerating a small march as he walked.
Takumi bit back a sigh and a small laugh at his retainer's enthusiasm and exaggerated seriousness, and heard several other members of the group hush nearby. The order had been meant for Hinata, yes, but also for others that were still exuberant over the victory. Oboro rolled her eyes at Hinata's behavior, but remained silent.
Around three-quarters of an hour later, he and his part of the army was back behind the small clearing that served as the rendezvous spot, along with the Sky knights that he had sent. Only the southern group led by Daichi was left, and he expected them to report the same all clear that he and the Sky knights had given.
Oboro and Hinata stood nearby him. The latter shifted his feet restlessly as he sighed, obviously wanting to get moving back to the Hoshidan castle already. The other members of the army lingered nearby, chatting to each other.
However, Takumi stopped and turned his head when he saw a movement of swirling leaves in the trees to the right of him, seeming to encircle a small area with wind. He turned and faced the area. The wind was too strange, even with the overcast skies promising rain, whirling in too small of an area to be a passing gust, but what was . . .?
Suddenly, a black light moved in a curve from the area that the wind had come from, and about six feet in front of him and his retainers, formed a shadowed outline of humans, which quickly faded to reveal the group of six now there. They looked human, with skins varying from peach to dark brown, but their serious expressions told him they had not come there by chance, nor was their business pleasant. All of their visible weapons were sheathed. The scabbards and visible parts of weapons all appeared similar to a Nohrian style, but none of them had armor that was common among of the country's military force.
Several of the other members of his army surrounded him in a guard, their weapons drawn. Hinata looked confused but readied his katana in his hand, face now serious and ready to attack, Oboro doing the same with her naginata. Had the group had appeared in front of Takumi by chance or on purpose? Takumi had taken his Fujin Yumi out of its holster, with the string formed, but did not nock an arrow nor aim at them yet. Though it seemed obvious that the group, bandits possibly, were not there for anything pleasant, they could be persuaded to either not fight them, or leave. They would be reported regardless.
However, before he could open his mouth to parley, some people in the rear of the new group suddenly took some sort of thin metal cylindrical thing- weapon? But of what type?- swiftly off of their backs, aimed them toward the group. The guards around him stiffened, ready for a fight. The strange people tightened their grip on the objects.
There was a loud blast, a split second sight of a small projectile flying towards him. There was utterly no time to dodge the attack, and Takumi felt something pierce his right arm, and then pain.
Intense pain, more than he had ever felt before. More than any amount of scratches and cuts received in battle from a billion battle-sharpened weapons, more than any bruise that he had received from falling off or being hit anywhere. This was like a powerful thunder spell that was inside him, encasing him completely on the inside and not relenting in its attack power. It was closest, really, to when the barrier that his mother, Mikoto, had placed on him and Sakura to prevent him from turning into a dragon had been removed.
The pain seemed unending, unyielding. There was no thought besides the pain, until it dwindled somewhat. Takumi thought he felt some magic, perhaps from a Bloom Festal, and the ground underneath him. He tried to move, but through the agony it was quite hard to feel anything besides gut wrenching pain.
The next thing he remembered was the pain lessening even more, and finally he was able to open his eyes to slits. A blurred image of the face of one of the sky knights was above him, as well as the end of a Bloom Festal. The knight's face was tense, and mixed with some sweat. How long had he been healing him?
Something was definitely strange beneath him, though. He was on his back on the ground, yet there was something there besides his clothes and his Fujin Yumi's holster. It wasn't really cloth, but felt . . . different. The closest he could come up with was . . .
Takumi had thought perhaps that this was what he felt after few seconds after noticing the softness beneath his back. Kind of in denial, though, he knew that even through his clothing, the strange material felt like the feathery wings of his sister Hinoka's pegasus. Takumi shifted his head downwards a little bit, and saw, to his horror, yet expected due to what he felt, a part of a feathery white wing.
"Lord Takumi, are you all right?" came the voice of Ieno, an older samurai.
Takumi heard the sound of feet running up to him. He must have seen Takumi open his eyes. The grey-haired samurai knelt down by the prince's right side, beside the healer, Janyun. Ieno's face was filled with worry as he looked down at his commander.
Takumi still felt quite tired, but could- would; he definitely would, even if he had to force himself to- respond.
"Yes," he replied in a voice that was not completely strong, but enough to be heard. "What of the enemy? And . . ."- he was not sure if he really wanted to hear a reply, but went on anyway- "What did happen? I mean . . ."
Takumi was not sure if he wanted to mention the wings. Shouldn't he be strong, unafraid of this inadvertent mutation? A prince, unwavering in the face of the unplanned circumstances? This was beyond random, though.
Ieno seemed to understand what Takumi was- or rather, was not- mentioning then. His face softened, though some of the worry still remained.
"The odd . . . weapons, if you could call them that, hit you and your retainers-" Takumi was worried at the mention of Oboro and Hinata. Were they all right? Hopefully they were all right. He let Ieno continue. Speaking was taxing at the moment. "-and all three of you fell down instantly. The enemy did not stay." His face filled with some confusion, then he continued.
"They just left, quick as they came, opposite of how they entered, with them changing to black shadows again and the dark light moving away from the area. It was like they were traveling on the light itself . . .
After they had disappeared, Janyun and some others tried to heal you and your retainers. You were completely in pain, completely oblivious to anything we said."
Takumi winced at the last part. He did not really want to appear helpless in front of his men, but was glad that they had tried, and did help, since of course the pain wasn't unbearable anymore. Perhaps, anyway . . . The pain could, of course, be receding because whatever it was that happened was over.
Ieno continued. "Those not tending to you and your retainers wounds scouted the area that the black light disappeared to, but found nothing. No footprints, nothing even close to a trace of them even having been anywhere near there. Of course, it did not help that we were just in a battle, but nothing was found seemed to be from the enemy, just previous signs of our skirmish with the Faceless.
As for you and your retainers, it was . . . strange. Beyond the pain you were in, there was obviously some sort of change in your appearance. We saw the wings come in on all three of you. And fur, and more feathers, at least on Hinata . . . black fur. Not like Kitsune fur; shorter . . ."
Takumi's eyes widened at this. Not only were there wings, but fur?! What was this about feathers, also? How much had they been mutated, apparently? He still felt human, with the appropriate limbs . . . besides the wings, of course.
"Hinata and Oboro," he asked, his voice more shaky than he would like to admit. "Are they all right?" He wanted to ask where the fur was, since he couldn't sit up and find out himself but he wanted to know of his retainers' conditions more.
"We're fine, sort of, you know," Hinata's voice came from the right. Janyun was blocking his view of the samurai, and Takumi wished that Janyun would just move already. Hinata's voice sounded tired and did not have the usual luster, but it was Hinata, all right. "This weird fur is-"
"We're fine." Oboro's voice, to his left, sounded clipped, as if rebuking Hinata- she probably was, really, as she often liked to. Her voice, though, sounded tired, like Hinata's. "But," she continued, in a more concerned tone, "are you all right, Lord Takumi?"
"I'm fine," Takumi answered. He hoped his voice did not convey any nervousness about the unexpected metamorphosis.
"That's good," Oboro, sounding unconvinced at his answer, but she did not say anything of it.
"Glad to hear it," Hinata replied.
He then continued. "This fur is really not my type, though. Hello, and these wings, just suddenly there. You do not realllllyyy expect to have fur all over your arms and face, plus these weird feathery stuffs all over your arms too, and fur on your hands . . . But yeah, handy-dandy, not as much pain. Those weirdo guys really know how to mess up a person's looks, though, right?" Takumi could imagine Hinata putting his hands behind his head, as he sometimes did, if perhaps he was not as tired as he sounded, and as Takumi felt.
"It seems like they sure know how to disappear, though. Well, sort of. It seems like that would be really handy."
It was just like Hinata to find the odd quirks that made a bad situation more bearable. Takumi nearly smiled about that, despite that a former Nohrian commander named Iago had had a similar ability. He was quite glad that his retainers seemed to be fine, or as much as they could be in this situation.
Ieno, too, looked gladdened at the sort of hearty reply of his retainers, perhaps since he could at least say truthfully that his retainers were coping.
The samurai's face became more worried. "Nothing we tried stopped the spread of the transformation. It just came, slowly. We tried healing with the rods, but it wasn't slowed at all. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, milord."
He looked even more pained, and bowed his head slightly. "I am truly sorry for this to have happened, Lord Takumi. We did not even get close enough to the enemy to stop this."
Takumi looked at the disheartened samurai, making his voice not harsh. "It is fine. You did what you could." Takumi was frustrated and angry at himself for not being able to stop the sudden attack. He then asked, hoping for good news, "What of the rest of the army? Were any of them hit at all?"
The samurai, looking less pained, shook his head. "No, no one. Only you and your retainers were hit."
He heard Hinata pipe up, "Yeah, and having a great time, too, with all this weird stuff. But not too bad, really. Yup. Just a grand time."
Takumi heard what sounded like Hinata trying to get up of the ground. He again wished that Janyun would move so that he could see Hinata, but the sky knight stayed insistently by Takumi's side.
One of the other sky knight's voice said, "No, you are not quite strong enough. Please, rest."
Takumi inwardly grinned. Say that to Hinata, or to himself or Oboro, for that matter, and he would do quite the opposite. Or attempt to, at least.
"No," Hinata, replied, "as much comfortable as these wings are- really comfortable, yeah- I think I would reallllly rather be not be lying on the ground right now. You know."
Takumi heard more shifting as Hinata apparently tried to move. There was some labored grunting, then a "Whoa!" from the sky knight apparently near Hinata as perhaps he nearly fell down again, then silence.
"Well, sort of," came Hinata's muffled disgruntled voice.
Takumi heard some rustling on the ground from his left, and tried to turn his head to see Oboro, and managed to turn his head enough to see her. He was startled to see black fur covering every inch of her face and the hand that he could see. He could not see her arm, besides the parts of the sleeve that rose a little above her wrist as she tried to move.
So this was the fur? Strange, short black fur that had suddenly appeared, on not only him, but his retainers as well . . .
Then there were those large white wings that seemed identical to the type of wing that he had seen from one of his own wings- how strange, how strange! Of course in a dragon form he had wings and eventually got used to that, but definitely not as a human.
Oboro seemed as weak as Hinata had sounded, and fell down twice before a samurai who had healing practice and an archer propped her up in a sitting position, the samurai looking disdained as if she should really just stay on the ground.
Takumi tried to move as well- what would it say about he, a prince, to be outdone in something like this, by his own retainers? He could still feel his exhaustion, but tried to move his arms to help prop himself up. Janyun looked worried, but Ieno, also looking concerned but more composed, said "I will help," and placed one arm around Takumi's back and eased the prince into a sitting position. Takumi was put-out that he could not move even that much on his own, but was glad of the aid.
Ieno, still holding Takumi, spoke again. "We sent one of the sky knights back to the castle when it seemed that our healing rods had no effect. That was nearly ten minutes ago." He looked up, but of course the Sky knight, or whatever help would be sent, if any, would not have returned in just that amount of time.
"We should probably wait for them," Ieno continued, "or at least for a while for you and your retainers to get back your strength."
Ieno looked to Takumi for confirmation. "Yes, that sounds fine," he said.
It would make sense that Ieno, of all people in this small army, would take command after Takumi was down. The respected samurai was an older member of the Hoshidan army, his service dating well before when Takumi's father, Sumeragi, had been king. Takumi liked the kind, yet stern commander, yes, but wished that simply he was the one fully in charge, as it was supposed to be.
He despised the fact that he, the prince and the leader of this small army, was so weak now and was holding up the army returning back to the castle. Had he been the only one that was changed, he would adamantly insist that he could walk no matter how much help he would actually need, though he would not, absolutely would not, walk the entire way with help.
However, Oboro and Hinata were also in the same predicament he was. Albeit though they were his retainers, and would absolutely want to follow due their position and both of their stubbornness, which matched his a lot of the time, he did not want to force them to go farther than they could. So, he stayed put.
Takumi was glad of the break, but stayed restless. While he had gained a little bit of strength while weakly sitting up, he did not want to stay lying on the ground, definitely not with his army surrounding him. They had already seen him down; no need for them to think he was weaker than he really was. Ieno had stopped holding him and had stood up, which he was glad for, but the older samurai stayed a few feet away.
Janyun, still kneeling by Takumi, looked at the prince carefully. "Any more pain?" he asked, indicating that he could heal him more.
Takumi shook his head stubbornly. There was some pain, but none that he couldn't deal with. Besides, how much more could the Bloom Festal help, anyway? This pain was from the transformation itself, not a wound from a weapon, and even now it was slowly fading.
"I'll be fine," he said. Janyun nodded, looking unconvinced, but did not offer the rod's healing aid again.
He moved away from Takumi, and the prince could actually see Hinata for the first time after waking up. The black fur looked out of place on his face, as it did on Oboro, but unlike Oboro, Hinata was wearing short sleeves. The feathers on his arms he had mentioned were visible, all pointing downward, in a pattern similar to the wings, covering about two inches from his wrists up to about an inch below his elbow.
"Lord Takumi, are you-" began Oboro.
She was interrupted by Hinata. "So, Lord Takumi, any idea we should do with these wings?" Hinata, asked, kind of doubtfully. There was note of glee in voice, though, as if he actually relished the thought of flying. Of course, he wasn't the one that could turn into a dragon.
Oboro turned her head angrily. "How can you even think of flying when we aren't supposed to have those stupid wings in the first place?" she sniped.
Hinata shrugged tiredly. "Well, they are there, and while they're there, we might as well have some fun with them."
Oboro rolled her eyes. No doubt she would say something later, if Hinata brought up the subject, or even if he did not. She seemed to want to retort, but instead looked at Takumi, and asked, "Are you really all right?"
Her voice contained her concern for her liege, and again, Takumi was quite sorry that she and Hinata had also both been transformed and would have to endure it, like he would.
"Yes, I'm fine." Oboro seemed to believe the statement as much as Janyun had believed his earlier response, but nodded.
"Hope it stays that way," Hinata said. "That would be nice, for you, for me. Oh, and for her also."
Oboro nodded. "Especially for Lord Takumi."
Takumi said, "I'm glad you're both doing better, really." He tried to bring out as much enthusiasm as he could into the response, hoping his tiredness did not invade his forced cheerfulness.
Hinata grinned. "Thanks."
Takumi nodded, in part wanting to put his head on his knees like Oboro had, but didn't desire to appear more weak in front of his army. It was bad enough that he was just sitting here while the rest of the army was waiting to move.
The people that had been helping his retainers sit up had moved away, but remained nearby, aside from the archer, who had moved behind them with some of the other army members. Some folded their arms, either just standing or leaning against trees. Others talked, and he heard some chatter about his and his retainer's current condition. Someone stated something about it not being surprising that Takumi had been transformed, since he could turn into a dragon.
Ieno came baring down on them. "This is your prince you are talking about," he said angrily. "Show some respect!"
The older samurai's voice held an angered, lethal edge, and no one dared to contradict him. Takumi glared at the offending archer, and they turned away, not saying another word about the topic. He wished that he were not so weak at the moment, so it seemed more like that he was their commander.
Takumi knew that they had won the battle against the Faceless, yet the sole fact that the transformation had happened in the first place seriously dampened the small victory. He had gone out to defeat the creatures as he had many times before, yet had been unprepared for another enemy that had appeared afterward.
He himself was a warrior and a prince, for goodness sake! Yes, it had seemed that the attack was staged, as the group of people had appeared directly in front of Takumi, and not only had transformed him- the fact was still extremely odd- but his retainers as well. The enemy obviously knew their targets, and at least somewhat of the timing also. The odd group had come when there were not anymore Faceless remaining.
Still, ought he not to have somehow been able to have done something to stop them? He had seen the enemy, knew that they were there. How could he not have done something to stop them? The Fujin Yumi had been in his hand! It sure seemed like Ryoma and Hinoka, renowned warriors throughout the whole country as they were, wouldn't have gotten into this situation.
Someone- it sounded like one of the soldiers that was away from the group- said, "I-Is that lightning on the trees, there?"
Wait, what?
Someone else snarked, "No, lightning comes from trees instead of storms."
Another voice: "Hmmm, I was sure that I saw-" The sky lit up for a split second. "Ah well, I guess it was from the sky."
Takumi nearly groaned when he heard a rumble of thunder, and felt wind that actually seemed like normal wind. It was no surprise, when just a little bit later, he heard and felt rain come down. The storm, of course, had chosen now to come after all. Well, the sky knights in the group would now be walking.
Slowly but steadily, his strength was fading. He saw Ieno come rushing toward him, and heard an exclaimed cry from Oboro as he fell sideways and knew he was losing consciousness.
Ryoma was going to kill him when he got back.
Thanks to Starsoarer for a huge help with editing this chapter.