Chapter two: A new world
The mood in Elysium's main hall was grim to say the least. Solon sat at the head of the massive oaken dining table with his head in his hands. He was clad in a set of gleaming, iridescent steel armor with midnight blue trim that his now-missing oldest brother Nasoro had forged for him. Having just come from a heated sparring match, his massive ringblade rested against his chair. His handsome face was marred with patches of soot and streaks of dirt, his brow creased with worry. The free-for-all melee between Solon and his younger brothers had come to an abrupt end when Theresti had appeared in an explosion of black mist and informed them in no uncertain terms of Nasoro's accidental banishment. Calling a halt to the match, Solon had immediately called an emergency meeting in the main hall.
Solon lifted his head as his siblings began to file in and take their places. The first to enter the hall was Lumes. His affinities were fire and wind and his bearing and appearance showed it. Like his older brother Solon's hair, Lumes' hair was silver but their similarities ended there. Where Solon's eyes were a bright icy blue, Lumes' were a vivid shifting orange, comparable to the flames he wielded in combat. Where Solon was relaxed and languid in his movements, Lumes was the complete opposite. His movements gave the impression of a tightly coiled spring, ready to explode into action, every action quick and precise. Wrapped across Lumes' shoulders and arms was his weapon of choice: a long chain that was tipped at either end with a vicious serrated short sword which was currently tucked into the orange sash he wore around his waist.
Immediately behind Lumes strode Tacitus. The flame-wielding dervish was dwarfed by the ponderous armored form of his younger brother, for Tacitus' affinity was the earth, and it showed. Tacitus was far and away the most physically imposing of all of his brothers, standing at just over seven feet with a musculature that made him look as if he could casually toss the giant oaken dining table from one end of the hall to the other. His massive form was encased in a suit of powered armor that made his already huge profile look positively titanic. In one of the many trips Tacitus had made to the various universes, he found himself recruited by a group of superhuman warriors that identified themselves as the Mentors Space Marine Chapter. After many long years of serving with the warriors he came to call his battle-brothers, the Chapter-Master ordered the armor forged for Tacitus as a gift. The armor was a white and dark green with a black leather sheath strapped to the back. The sheath bore the enormous kanabo that Nasoro had made for Tacitus when the latter was still in his teens. Tacitus bore the blank-faced helmet under his arm, the high collar of his armor obscuring his face from the nose down. His face set in a stern and slightly worried expression, making his normally soft features look as if they were hewed from stone. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were as grey as storm clouds. Those same eyes turned towards the window that dominated the far end of the dining hall at the sound of beating wings.
With an ease born of practice and skill, Theresti glided into the hall on shadowy wings that seemed to constantly ripple and shift as if they refused to stay bound in any one form or reality. Deftly landing next to Solon, Theresti's wings folded into themselves and disappeared. Theresti was robed in his signature high collared black and amethyst attire with only one difference. A rather large, black-bladed scythe was strapped to his back.
As the brothers respective womenfolk began to arrive by varied methods, the door leading towards the library tower opened and admitted the youngest of the family: Shirohet. From his sun-kissed blonde hair to his deep oceanic blue eyes and gentle serene features, he hardly looked like he was capable of harming a fly, let alone a human being. Those who had witnessed him in combat however, knew that the handsome, almost beautiful features hid an utterly lethal and merciless killer, capable of showing brutality that bordered on cruelty to those who would harm the people he cared for. To those people he considered friends however; he had a near perpetually sunny disposition and a knack for cheering people up. He was absolutely unflappable; there was just no way to keep him depressed or sad for any stretch of time and almost always bore a smile on his face that members of the opposite gender found near irresistible. He was clad in navy blue cargo pants and black t-shirt over which he wore a dark blue leather jacket. At his hip he wore one of his jian swords while the other he carried in a shoulder sheath. Shirohet's elemental affinity was water and thus made his lack of armor a non-issue.
Solon waited until everyone had taken their seats before beginning. "Brothers, we have a serious issue on our hands here. By accident, Nasoro has been sent to another dimension. While this is a fairly common occurrence for us, there are a few unforeseen factors that make this particular event rather worrisome if not downright alarming. Theresti will elaborate."
Nodding to his older brother, Theresti took over. "As you all know, we travel through the Aeyah by creating a sort of anchor at our destination, tethering ourselves to it and then using that tether to pulls us through the void. While effective, this method is rather slow and uncomfortable." Theresti got up and began pacing around the table. "Over the past five years, I've been working on a different way to travel. Instead of using the anchor method, the idea was to create a tunnel of sorts that would allow for a much smoother and faster trip through the Aeyah." Murmurs of approval broke out around the table until Tacitus gently coughed. "That is commendable to be sure, but what exactly does this have to do with Nasoro's departure? And why haven't we heard from him? He knows better than any of us the rules of Aeyah travel."
"Let me finish and you might find out." replied Theresti. "I was finally able to open a stable portal and establish a functioning tunnel. Since this was just a test, I selected a location completely at random. As the test concluded, I was in the process of shutting the portal and collapsing the tunnel when it to act erratically. Just before I was able to close it, Nasoro and what looked like Dolor, fell through the skylight of my lab and through the portal. I have not been able to detect Nasoro's signature nor have I been able to communicate with him."
In the silence that followed, one could have heard a pin drop. Everyone in the hall bore an alarmed expression on their faces until a small shaky voice sounded from behind Solon. "S-so what exactly does this mean? Is Naso gonna be okay?" Solon and the others looked at the speaker with expressions of pity. The person in question was none other than Charity. She was a rather petite creature with vivid green eyes and chestnut hair with crystalline wings sprouting from her back. To say she was beautiful would be the biggest understatement ever made. It was often whispered that if Nasoro hadn't met Kaya, Charity would've been his next choice. The hapless fairy had completely fallen for Nasoro, but his love for Kaya had blinded him to Charity's advances. After a while, the heartbroken fairy had finally ceased her attempts but her feelings for Nasoro hadn't faded in the least. "Nasoro could take us all on with one hand bound and a foot glued to the floor." Solon said in a consoling voice. "There isn't anything out there that he can't handle." Solon's words had some effect, but Charity still looked worried. "I know, but you said that you can't find him, what if he can't find us? What if can't find his way home?" Solon gazed around the table and saw the determined face of his siblings and knew that they were thinking the same thing. "Don't worry Charity, we'll find him. Even if it takes us a thousand years, we won't stop looking until he's found."
On an unknown world:
Dolor rested his head on his paws and watched with an amused smirk as Nasoro explosively rearranged the surrounding landscape while spewing forth a stream of curses that was shocking in its intensity and awe-inspiring in its creativity. The reason for the raven-haired warrior's current ire was evident once one took a closer look at his appearance.
Five minutes earlier
Nasoro groaned and slowly got to his feet. He felt abnormally disoriented and his usually incredible sense of balance was completely shot. As he looked around, he noted that his surroundings seemed strangely….large. He turned as he heard a noise behind him and saw Dolor getting to his feet. "Glad to see you're alright old friend and wooooaaaa…." Nasoro's voice tapered off as he noted Dolor's size. He seemed to have doubled, no tripled in size. The wolf looked at him with a curious expression. "What?" he grunted. "Since when did you get so big?" "Since when did you get so big? And why is my voice so high?" Dolor huffed in amusement and grinned. "Since when did you get so small?" The expression on Nasoro's was one of confusion followed swiftly by one of horrified comprehension. Making a sign with his hand, a mirror of ice crystallized in mid-air and Nasoro took a good hard look in it…
Present time
"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY Y!? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THS SHIT!? WHAT DEITIES COULD I HAVE POSSIBLY PISSED OFF WITHIN A WHOLE FUCKING FIVE SECONDS OF GETTING HERE?! WHAT-"Nasoro suddenly stopped his tirade and took a deep breath. Peering into the icy mirror again he examined his reflection. The reflection that returned his gaze was that of a child, no more than ten years of age. "Well this is just fantastic. Not only am I stranded on world that I, for once, don't recognize, but I'm stuck here in the body of a frigging kid. At least my clothes shrunk with me." Hearing a faint snorting sound from behind him, Nasoro rounded on Dolor (who was trying desperately to keep from laughing) and glared at him savagely…..or tried to at least. The best his ten-year old features could manage was a rather humorous pout which pushed Dolor over the edge. The massive wolf exploded into gales of roaring, barking laughter and began rolling on the ground. He was laughing so hard he failed to notice the downright murderous glint in Nasoro's eyes and the vein that was pulsing above his temple. Dolor did take notice however, when Nasoro pounced on him and began pummeling him into the dirt with his tiny fists. "Ow ow okay stop!" Nasoro neatly rolled off Dolor into a cross-legged sitting position a few feet away while the massive wolf winced and stretched. "Ugh, I think you bruised my ribs." Dolor groaned. "Good. You had it coming asshole."
Nasoro stood and took in his surroundings. By sheer good fortune, he and Dolor had arrived in a huge valley with an enormous waterfall at one end that was by sheer luck, completely devoid of any people. As he stared at the falls, Nasoro noticed two massive spires of rock and was about to dismiss them as curious rock formations when he noted that their forms seemed too….regular. Muttering a quick spell under his breath, Nasoro took a magnified look at the formations and gaped in awe. Due it being nighttime, what he had first taken to be rocks were actually ENORMOUS statues. The stone monoliths were somewhat weather-worn but details were still plainly visible. The statues were both male, warriors by the looks of them, facing each other with their right hands raised in some sort of sign. Dolor, having apparently recovered from his beatdown, padded up next to his master and whistled when he caught sight of the statues. "Now those are impressive." Nasoro nodded in agreement. "Doubly so once you notice that they were made by hand." The black haired child abruptly shook his head. "We're getting off track here. We need to find out what world we're on, what the general state of things is, and what the landscape, both physical and political looks like." Dolor grunted in agreement. "Conceal, Observe and Reconnoiter."
The first move the duo made was to get out of the open and into the nearby forest, concealing themselves in a cluster of rocks they found nearby. "First step achieved for now." Dolor grinned in anticipation. "Now for my favorite part…exploring the unknown." "Indeed old friend," Nasoro replied,
"it's going to be on you to get in touch with the flora and fauna of this world and see if there is anything we haven't seen before or can be of use to us. I'm going to handle the more civilized side to this world." As Dolor turned to set out, Nasoro stopped him. "Remember Dolor, stay out of sight. You know what happens when one of my kind begins to interfere with events in a universe we know nothing about." The gold-eyed wolf solemnly nodded his head and leapt from the rocks with an ear-splitting howl of excitement at seeing a world on which he had never set foot on.
Nasoro's eye twitched in irritation. "Dammit, that fur ball is my best friend but I swear he acts like a freaking puppy sometimes." Shaking his head at his familiar's antics, Nasoro flicked his hands through a familiar set of seals that his father had taught him centuries before. With a whoosh of displaced air, the clearing was suddenly filled with hundreds of Nasoro lookalikes. Rapidly moving his hands through another set of seals, the Nasoro clones suddenly wavered and took new shapes; men, women and children of all ages stood in the place of the copies and no two of them looked alike. Nasoro allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. "Yeah, I still got it." Out loud he said to the clones "You know what to do. Spread out, learn whatever you possibly can then discretely dispel." The clones simultaneously nodded once then leaped from the arena scattering in every direction. Alone, Nasoro looked at the night sky. "Hold on, Kaya. Once I find a way to get my full power back, I will find you. Please…please wait for me."
He lowered his gaze and shucked his backpack off of his shoulders and unzipped the top. Reaching in, he removed a glossy ebony sheath and in one smooth motion, drew the blade. His current size made using his normal blade far too cumbersome so the sword he held in his hand was a black-bladed wakizashi. Nasoro usually wielded the wakizashi and his katana as a pair, but with his now-smaller frame, that was out of the question. Sheathing the two-foot long blade with a satisfying click, he slung his backpack and blade over his shoulder, donned a conical, broad-brimmed hat that matched his coat, and set out to explore the new world in which he found himself.
To be continued…
A/N: Hey folks, sorry about the wait but my school and some personal issues got in the way. In the future, I will try my damndest to get these chapters out faster :P. Second chapter and still no mention of Naruto? Have patience readers, We'll be seeing him soon enough…I mean, anyone who's watched Naruto can probably guess where Nasoro and Dolor wound up eh?
P.S. I obviously don't own Naruto although all of the original Characters are mine; reviews and constructive criticisms are always appreciated :)