Summary: It's not a myth. The centre of the universe did exist. It's called the Nexus. A region spatially disconnected but governs all connections. The Nexus did exist until an evil force threatened the very balance of the whole universe. In order to protect itself, it destroyed its current host's physical body. The cost was the collapse of entire civilisation and the inevitable destruction of all stable physical relationships and connections. It's a race against the clock to counteract the consequences of a hasty decision. The brawlers are fated to assist in any way they can but not without strong opposition. Nothing can be done without a connection being made. The deciding factor now, is time and the answers they need seem to lie just out of their reach. (Inspired by Disney's Atlantis. Setting: After the events of MS arc 1)
The festivities were well under way. The atmosphere of the casual meeting quickly grew more accommodating and fun. Laughter and music; food and dancing. Those from Neathia and Gundalia were showing off their respective dance moves in a friendly dance war. The Vestals were commenting on similar aspects of their culture with Earth's. Soon it had become late and everyone helped in tidying up and were getting ready for bed. Outside, it had started to rain and it was really coming down, the best time to wrap up warm and fall asleep. To keep all the guests together in such a huge place, they agreed to share rooms close to one another. The rooms were big enough anyway. So the sleeping arrangements ended up being Dan, Shun and Ace in a room; Jake, Rafe and Ren; Keith, Gus and Baron; Mira, Fabia and Paige; and finally, Julie, Alice and Runo. It had been an eventful day and therefore tiring. It wasn't surprising to find that everyone had quickly fallen asleep, the sound of the heavy rain luring the whole house into a peaceful slumber, for now.
The Nexus was the name given to the dimensional region found at the centre of the universe. It was not just a place but supported a whole complex civilisation. The culture of the Nexai was built upon a sacred power. The power of Nexus was not clearly understood but it was known that it played a vital role in the connectivity of the whole universe. For example, physical encounters, geographical cycles, gravity, information, even human relationships, were all influenced by the power of the Nexus. For the benefits of research, it was normally called the connectivity power but it was far more complicated than that. For starters, said power behaved in such an unusual way, it was speculated to be sentient. Also, the conditions for wielding the power were not clear cut. Whatever was the source of the power, had decided it would only dwell in the souls of the Royal household and even amongst them it was particular with its desired host. It was the still a form of connection – the host had a soul composition that corresponded to the sentient nature of the nexus. The host was an unintended incarnation.
The power was deemed sacred and for periods of time, there would be no host. There was no pattern. The duration between consecutive hosts would range from one month to centuries. It also wasn't unheard of for there to be people covetous of the power. However, there was a particular person who couldn't be considered human. The man had learned about the Nexus more than he should have and was convinced that he should wield such power in order to conquer the world. A power he believed was his right to obtain. The means by which he was to go about it were still unclear but he knew he needed to gain access to the Nexus Oculum, the proposed point of convergence of the Nexus' energy. And in order to get to the Oculum, Akashi needed the host.
It wasn't long after he had concluded his right to power that he planned and eventually staged a coup against the reigning monarchy. It had come to his knowledge that the crown prince was the current bearer of the power. He had completely succeeded in eradicating the rest of the royal family but his prize had escaped. It had been a series of disappearing acts by the prince and quick sightings reported by clueless civilians that had led him to this final chase. Now the only things hindering him from obtaining his prize were the six other people who had pledged to protect their friend. Their backstories were of no concern to him. They were, in his eyes, useless.
Red brown eyes were staring at the ceiling. Dan knew he had slept for a few hours since they all turned in for the night. However, for some reason he was now wide awake. Every attempt to go back to sleep made him more restless, so he opted for just laying still and listening to the rain. It was still thundering out there. The rain normally calmed him, especially when he wanted to sleep but right now, he couldn't help but feel on his guard. It was a like an underlying feeling of distress, mixed with fear. Dan got up to splash some water on his face in hopes that the coolness of the water would refresh him. It had helped a bit and being careful not to wake anyone up, he made his way back to the window and sat on the large enough window sill to watch the rain. It was a few minutes when he noticed the discoloration of the sky, after which he had somehow left the waking world.
The sky had taken on alarming colours and the wind had subsequently picked up. Akashi was holding onto a spherical object in a vice like grip. The six friends were all immobilised and screaming in pain. "Reveal the path to the Oculum to me! Unless you want your friends to perish!". It couldn't be explained: Kaname, Ren, Rin, Rose, Megumi and Ame had all been dominating their enemies unleashing the full extent of their endowed powers. The armies of Nexai were completely powerless against the Six Guardians. They had all crossed paths with Kiyen in some way whilst they were young, their encounters sealing their fate. They were destined to protect him but in his eyes, these were his best friends. They saw it like that too, having all grown up together, one would think they were all siblings. That's why he couldn't bear to watch them suffer when they all started resonating with the object in Akashi's possession. He had never heard or seen such device before. "Stop it! Please! I'll do whatever you ask! Don't hurt them!".
Kiyen walked up to Akashi, took off the pendant he wearing and presented it to him. "This is the key; it grants the wielder access to the Oculum". Akashi reached out to collect the pendant when he suddenly had second thoughts. He called one of the men beside him and told him to take the pendant from Kiyen. The man received the pendant but before he could give it to his boss, the pendant glowed a dangerous red and began to burn in the man's hand. In pain he let go of it and the necklace dropped to the ground. Red tendrils erupted from the man's hand and proceeded to do what could only be described as a devouring. Before long there was nothing left of the man, only what looked like blood that had stained the ground. Everyone who witnessed what had happened was speechless and a lot of the remainder of Akashi's forces steadily move back from the scene in fear. Akashi looked at the blood stain and lifted his gaze to the prince. Kiyen's eyes held his gaze steady but there were traces of shock in them. The prince had clearly not expected this outcome. Akashi was wary but with an air of confidence he made known his request, "You will take me to the Nexus Oculum."
"I'm afraid that I cannot help you in that regard, you seem to know more about the Nexus than a majority of us. I have never been to the Oculum and the method for gaining entrance has never been revealed to me". The prince's answer was even more surprising. This answer, however, was not satisfying. "All the more reason why I should wield the power of the Nexus, you are unworthy of it!" Akashi stated as he tightened his grip on the spherical device. The six guardians screamed in pain. Akashi considered delivering the fatal blow but then he took notice of the pendant. The shape was that of two concentric gold circles. The innermost circle surrounded a faceted purple crystal. The area between the circles had six circles set equally spaced round about. Each small circle contained a coloured gem. Akashi released his hold from the device, commanded his men to capture the seven of them and said, "we're going to the Nexus". The prince allowed for his capture as a struggle would be futile but he feared for what was to come. He knew that there was a reason why the information was withheld from him and he hoped that the consequences were not dire.
They came to the remains of the Royal Court Chambers. That was when the prince realised the same pattern in the design of the place. He had been disallowed from coming here after an incident. There was an inner and outer chamber and connecting the two, six paths. Given the known preferences for a host; the Oculum should theoretically be situated under the protection of the Royal Household. The seven of them were led to the centre of the courtyard under Akashi's instructions. "I know you now know what you need to do, take us to the Oculum". Kiyen was slightly sceptical at the insight into the power of the Nexus that Akashi had but he preferred not to have his guardians suffer anymore. "Only those that wish to follow should stay within the inner circle but away from this centre pattern, the guardians must stand in the pathway that corresponds to their power. I will stay in the centre." All of this was done. Kaname was went to stand on the yellow path; Ren on the white one, his brother Rin was on the black path; Megumi was on the red path; Ame was on the blue and Rose was on the green. Once this arrangement was done, Akashi and a few of his men remained within the inner circle. The rest were commanded to secure the area. Soon after, the area of the courtyard began to glow as the pendant did. There was suddenly a purple beam erupting from the centre where Kiyen was. His eyes were now a deep crimson and the outline of the pendant and their colours could be faintly seen in them.
Kaname looked towards Kiyen. He desperately hoped that Kiyen knew what he was doing. He was yet to recover from whatever Akashi had done to them but that didn't mean he liked the idea of the prince obliging to this mad man. His intuition about the Nexus had saved him from a deserving death and had led him to the physical representation of the portal to the Oculum. This man knew more than what was necessary and it frightened him slightly. There was a sudden flash of lilac and the next thing Kaname knew was that he was no longer in the courtyard. All the six guardians, Kiyen, Akashi and his men were now floating in what looked like an illuminated cavern with strange markings on the walls, it was like being inside of a sphere. Right above them and below them, trails of energy were flowing towards the centre of the cavern where a huge ball of randomly coloured energy was hovering. The sight was unbelievable. "At last, the Nexus Oculum".
As Akashi approached the ball of energy, he took the device that he had used to suppress the guardians and it began to glow orange. The Nexus energy began to enter the device, "Finally, I will have the power to control.". Then things went downhill, there was suddenly a surge of energy and the device shorted out. "You are threat to the Nexus. The knowledge you have is not of this spatial dimension. Your heart harbours selfishness and greed. The scale was set and you have upset it. The mind of the Nexus has deemed you unworthy!". The voice sounded like a unison of various voices but there weren't that many people. All eyes went to the source. Kiyen's consciousness had been taken over by the Nexus. His eyes were glowing lilac and a dark blue aura was emanating from him. "I have obtained forbidden knowledge as per my right. It has been my destiny!". The device in Akashi's hand suddenly transformed and fused with him. The result was unexpected. A monster was what he was. He wasn't human. The fusion brought forth a serpent like creature and it shouted, "I'll devour the Nexus!".
The rain had stopped by the morning. Everyone in the Marukura house was greeted with the lingering dampness left in the air. "Master Marucho has requested that I inform everyone that breakfast is ready, please come down to the dining hall" Kato's voice sounded over the in-house PA system. The breakfast was like a banquet. The food ranged from croissants to sausages; cakes to pudding. It was truly a sight to behold for the average person; a normal day for the Marukura household. As they all settled to eat; they noticed that one person was missing. "Has anyone seen Dan this morning?", Alice asked. "Didn't he share a room with Ace and Shun?".
Ace spoke up, "I haven't seen him this morning. He wasn't in his bed by the time I woke up, I just figured he had come down." All eyes went to Shun, expecting him to say something. "I haven't seen him either". Before any of them could remark, Daniel came into the Dining Hall. "Is something wrong?", he said when they all stared at him. Runo stood up and hit him upside the head. "Ow! What was that for?!". "Where have you been?", she asked him. "What are you talking about? Did I miss something?". Alice intervened, "It's nothing. We were just wondering where you were since nobody had seen you this morning". Dan looked confusedly at her and replied, "I went for a morning jog." He sat down on an empty seat and began to serve himself.
