2-3c: An Orange Flying Thing
The two left with their respective trays, the carved oak door snapping quietly shut behind them. He immediately lurched forward at that sound, catching himself on his knees with his elbows as the exhaustion of the night finally attempted to catch up with him. If it were anyone else, he was sure they would've freaked out or called the whole thing a hoax by now. As it was, he was having a hard time believing it himself. The only thing that had kept him around was that he had actually been shown that everything he was being told was true. If nothing else, the transforming wand had convinced him more than anything. Staring at his own, newly-created key, he let his mind slip away into nothing more than a blank state...
A soft series of knocks sounding out into the room eventually brought him out of his empty thoughts, and he silently admonished himself for having zoned out like that. He looked up to a clock on the wall – seven-thirty five. Almost three hours had elapsed since his arrival. He hadn't realized that he had been here for so long. But then, anyone else would have also lost track of the time as well, situation considered. He stood up and started his way towards the door when that knocking sounded out again, and somewhat impatiently at that. Only this time it had come from behind him, from the curtained window that lead to the room's balcony. His eyebrows furrowing down in confusion, he turned around and moved cautiously towards the window, making a note to keep open a clean path to his katana.
Flicking aside the edge of the curtains slightly, he spotted a small, flying, orange object floating just outside of the sliding door. Curious, more than anything, he threw the curtains wide open to try and get a better look. The moment the orange thing – it looked like a plush toy with wings – spotted him, it panicked visibly, shooting straight up and out of sight. Confused, but still intrigued, Reios pulled the curtains clear of the door handle and pulled the sliding door open to step out onto the balcony.
Sakura had said that the friend that she had called over wasn't exactly human, but there was something else about how she had worded her request that was bugging him. What was it now, something about asking this Kero person to fly over to Tomoyo's house? Well, the plush toy that he had just seen seemed alive enough, had wings, and was obviously flying around. Taking a guess, he stepped up to the balcony's railing and leaned back to try and see out onto the roof.
"Uh, you are... Kerberos, I presume?" he asked hesitantly, unsure of whether the strange creature was even still present.
He waited there a moment, attempting to stare past the edge of the roof that was just over his head. Just as he was about to head back in, a movement above him caught his eye. He looked back up to find a pair of small, beady eyes set into an orange face staring back down at him. He stepped back out onto the balcony to try and get a better view of whatever was up above him, but the creature pulled back away as he moved, revealing no more than those two eyes that were continuing to peer at him with a suspicious glare.
"I can see you, you know," Reios insisted, narrowing his gaze as if to see against the encroaching evening darkness, though it was more in annoyance that the little creature thought that it was being stealthy.
It ducked away completely from view at his remark, an act that Reios could only roll his eyes at. He was getting tired of this game of hide-and-go-seek, "Look, I know who you are, I know where you are, can we move this inside, please? The wind is surprisingly chilly tonight."
The pair of beady eyes, within which he thought he could see a speckle of gold, popped back over the ledge of the roof to consider him a moment. The creature then launched itself fully into the air without warning. Reios spun about to confront it, but it U-turned in mid-air and had already zipped by him, through the door, and into Tomoyo's room, all before he could think to get into its way. With yet another sigh of disbelief, This cannot be happening, really, he made a U-turn for himself and headed back inside.
"Considering that you know who I am," the orange lion (bear? cat?) started, even as it was eyeing the room's contents carefully, "I'm going to assume that you are the problem that Sakura has."
Reios watched as the orange plush toy made a bee-line for the small table, and meanwhile considered how a plush toy could speak. With an Osakan accent, no less. However, there was also the fact that plush toys didn't fly around on their own, either, which made his encounter with this Kerberos all the more interesting.
Still unsure as to whether this was all one big joke or not, he decided to try and be polite to the thing, at least, "Err, well, I'm not so sure about the problem part, but... yeah, that's about right. The name's Reios."
This Kerberos (or was he supposed to call it Kero?) didn't seem to have even heard him at all, and was instead busy eyeing the three plates of cake that were still sitting where they had fallen from the tray that Sakura had dropped. Wearing a mask of utter perplexity, Reios moved his way back over to the sofa and sat down near the little creature who, by now, had taken up one of the provided forks. He was wielding it with a surprising proficiency, considering the size differences between the two.
Stunned into silence, Reios watched as Kero shoved the fork into the cake, tore off a chunk the size of his little orange head, and engulfed the whole thing within a single bite. The rest of the cake disappeared in a similar fashion, in what Reios estimated was as little as under twenty seconds. A raised eyebrow said a lot of how ridiculous the entire spectacle seemed, if anyone had been there to even wonder at his expression in the first place.
The door to the room popped back open just as the little creature was finishing up, admitting in a shortcake-toting Sakura and a teapot-wielding Tomoyo. Kero, having just finished his piece, turned about and eyed the fresher entrée carefully. Sakura shook her head sadly and knowingly as she spotted the small guardian beast, linking him to the empty plate only a small space away. She also laughed inwardly when Reios directed his "what-the-hell-is-this" gaze at her, trying hard not to outwardly show how funny his face looked just then.
Crossing the distance to the table, they set the pot and plate down, with Tomoyo moving to the side to gain an easier access to the cups. Using the movement as a distraction, Kero shot back into the air and towards the new plate of cake, but was quickly snatched back by a well-timed swipe of Sakura's hand.
With a cross and unforgiving face, he spun his head around to look at his mistress, unwilling to wait for her to spin him around for herself, "What's the big idea!?"
"You've already had some, Kero!"
"There's nothing wrong with having two or three more!" the guardian shot back, refusing to back down.
"There is when it comes to your greedy appetite. I'm surprised you're not as fat as a pig by now!"
Kero put on a hesitant grin, now that he was thinking on how to work his way out of this familiar spot, "Let's just say that sweets are healthy for me."
Sakura's stern expression told him that she wasn't buying the excuse, which he should have expected anyway. He grunted at her stubbornness before attempting to struggle his way free of her grip.
Reios watched as Kero fought his way out from Sakura's reach and floated away to sulk to himself, then turned to Tomoyo as she handed him a fresh cup of tea.
"I'm going to assume... they do that often?" he asked in a half-whisper to her, while still maintaining a side glance at the other two.
Tomoyo had an unreadable, all-knowing smile on, something that he somehow found slightly irritating, "Sometimes."
His eyebrows bounced upwards in conjunction with his rolling eyes before he thanked her and took the cup. She giggled to herself at the act, pouring a second cup for Kero as he landed beside an empty one. Taking a nearby spoon, Kero took a sip of his tea, then held that spoon upright like a spear while he glared directly at Reios.
"So! From what I was told over the phone, here we have the one that saved Sakura from yesterday's unprovoked assault," the guardian started, never letting his piercing gaze drop away from the unfamiliar face before him, "The one who also has a book similar to hers, had a key created by her, and possesses items that she has foreseen.
"What's more," he muttered, closing his eyes, "I can sense an aura of energy around you. It is very faint, weak and untouched, as though it were recently awakened. Likely it has something to do with that key she somehow made. If something is starting to once again build up around Sakura, then this is most certainly not a coincidence that you have been revealed to us at just the same moment."
"Okay," Reios interjected, leaning forward to rest his elbows onto his knees again, his hands folded together, "but here's the obvious question: why me?"
Kero shook his head slowly, "It could be any number of influences that drew you here, although my highest guess would be that it's some kind of work left behind by Clow Reed. He was the only one with enough magical strength to pull off something like this. As for it being you, specifically... Clow Reed's whims were about as unpredictable as they came, so who knows.
"Anyway, it would seem that our biggest mystery here is, what is inside that book? Our best bet on finding out, as Sakura originally guessed, is to fully release your power, and the easiest way to go about doing that would be to transform your new key. Yet, to do that, we need to discern what alignment your power draws from. So sit still for a second."
Before Reios could interject again, the diminutive guardian had leapt up from his place beside the teacup to come to a stop a mere inch away from Reios's head. Eyes closed again in concentration, the guardian slowly floated forward with his paw outstretched until it came to rest upon Reios's forehead. Then Kero let out a low moan as he focused his powers into a singular point.
An explosion of energy washed all throughout Reios's body, an experience that was not all that dissimilar to what he had felt back within that space-world. A feeling of pure, scorching pain, yet it was a pain that refused to register within his mind as such. Instead it was more as a paradox, with the realization of something greater coming into focus. Through the world that was beginning to whitewash all around him, he focused purely on remaining upright as he felt his sense of consciousness slipping away under the pressure of Kero's apparent strength. That power struggle seemed to continue on into eternity, as Kero's magic fought harshly against Reios's mind to locate the source of this supposed dormant energy.
Reality came spinning back to him at a sickening speed as Kero unexpectedly broke the connection, leaving Reios wavering slightly with the effort of having remained conscious throughout the whole experience. Shaking off the feeling of vertigo that was starting to overwhelm him, he looked at Kero with a thin, heated gaze, and muttered, "A more descriptive warning would have been nice."
Kero failed to hear him, though whether it was intentional or not was anybody's guess. Instead, he had turned his beady-eyed attention to Sakura to announce his findings, "There is definitely a power hidden there within him. As for why it hasn't surfaced on its own yet, it seems that either his own mind is actively suppressing it, or someone else had sealed it away. There was definitely an extremely powerful magical seal blocking my path to the source, in any event. Such a magic was no match for my awesomeness, however."
Kero's heroic posing was lost on her, as Sakura was too overly interested in wanting an answer to even take notice of his exploits. He grimaced slightly at her before continuing, "As you know, my power draws from the Sun and the Earth, the celestial bodies that define the powers of the Firey and Earthy cards. These two elements, in turn, align me with the ruling element of Light. It was because of that alignment that I was able to break through the seal that was placed within him, much like how you broke through the seal on his key. It would seem that our guest here also uses the powers of the Sun and the Earth, aligning him with the Light."
"So that means," Sakura added, verbally noting her reasoning, "that if we use the word "Light" in a transformation spell, Reios could probably change his key into its true form?"
Kero nodded, "That would seem to be the case."
"Uh, question," Reios put in, raising a hand to (hopefully) gain their attention, "What's this elements and alignment stuff? From what I know, magic is drawn from one's inner strength... isn't it?"
Kero turned about to address the question, "Well, it is true that most magic draws from the user's inner strength, the source of energy that your western culture would define as one's soul, but that strength also needs to be aligned with something to make that power tangible. Be it an elemental attribute, a celestial or terrestrial alignment, or even a worshipped god or demon, there always needs to be some kind of association. In this case, your own spiritual power draws from the celestial bodies of the Sun and the Earth, much like my magic. In this way, we are creatures of the Light.
"Spiritual energy, while strong or weak in its own regard, still needs a source from which to draw replenishing energy. Such a source places an identity to the user's spiritual power, and in a very limited way can also influence what types of magic they can or cannot use. It can also change how strong or weak their magical proficiency can be, based on varying factors such as time or location. Beings that use magic derived from the Moon, for example, will grow stronger during a full moon."
Kero made a landing beside his cup and picked up his spoon, "At any rate, Sakura is right. If you use the word 'Light' while attempting the spell, it should work. Do you know the incantation yet?"
Reios nodded slowly, still trying to keep up with the conversation, "Well, I'm pretty sure I do. I've watched her use it once already, and I think I can remember the words."
Kero took another sip of his tea, then nodded sharply to him, "Then let's see if it works."
He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts, and after a long moment, stood up and walked over to to the cleared-out part of the room. Reaching behind him, he unclasped the snake chain, slid the key from it, and re-secured the chain around his neck again. He stared at his key-like pendant for the longest time, wanting to accept as truth all of what he was about to do, but he was instead so sure that he was about to make a total and utter fool out of himself that it was hard to do anything of the sort.
He inhaled another calming breath and attempted to recall the words that Sakura had used to change her own key. They had said that he needed to replace the word "star" with the word "light" to make it work, though he found it hard to believe that changing a single word and spouting a fancy poem would fix anything. But what else was there to do but to trust and try? Releasing the breath that he still held, he nodded to himself, and held the key out before him in an opened palm.
The soft beep of a video camera turning on sounded out from nearby, but already he was engrossed within something else, blocking out all outside interference. An inner power welled up from within him at the first few words that came away from his lips. The feel of it's rising warmth would have scared him, had it not felt so welcoming.
"Key that hides the power of the Light..."
To his complete amazement, the key floated away from his hand and hovered in the air before him, glowing with a soft white light. From below, a stronger, golden glow emerged as the magic circle from the back of his book appeared below him. Kero flew up into the air as something about that circle caught his interest, and he noted that there was no moon or star representation within the design, but only the sun and its surrounding planets. A new magic circle that had never been seen before.
Reios, oblivious to this point, collected his thoughts and continued the incantation, "Show your true form before me... I, Reios, command you under our contract..."
All three of his viewers frowned in confusion as the spell continued, feeling that something was amiss. Normally, upon citing the portion of the chant that invoked the contract of the key, the object in question would begin to spin about uncontrollably as ethereal winds made to wrap themselves around it. Or at least, such was the case for Sakura's key. The silver key that now floated before Reios, on the other hand, as yet remained completely motionless, still softly glowing within an aura of white light.
Reios's eyes snapped open as he shot his left arm out impulsively towards the key, shouting the final command, "Release!"
Yet the key remained just as motionless and still as before, hovering calmly before him and being unexpectedly disobedient, instead of transforming into some kind of wand or staff as he had wanted it to. He thought that perhaps there was something that he had missed, and ran the the incantation through in his mind. When that failed, he thought that maybe there was some sort of effort he was lacking, though be damned if he knew how to put any effort into a power he had yet to understand. And he sure as hell didn't think that all of the extra posing Sakura had done had anything to do with it. That would just be too much.
Frustrated, Reios snatched at the floating key and took it back from its invisible perch, breaking the spell and dissipating the golden circle below him. It wasn't exactly what he had expected, but the end result was still the same: he had ended up making a complete and utter fool out of himself. He directed his attention onto the orange stuffed-toy creature, his fierce gaze demanding answers.
Kero understood the gaze well enough, humming to himself in a sagely manner, "Well, the key at least responded to the incantation, so obviously you're doing something right, but something else doesn't seem right about it. When I first contracted out the original Sealing Key to Sakura, I had felt the same bonds of magic form between her and that key that I felt form between you and yours just now. By all accounts, it should have fully transformed upon invoking the release of its true form."
Stepping over to where Reios's book rested, Kero began to glow slightly as he tested the latch. He soon nodded, thinking that he understood, "There is definitely a link leading from this book to the new key, and in turn to you yourself. This would mean that the bonds I felt forming up are indeed connected as they should be, but they're still inactive. I still believe that if we can get your key transformed into its true shape, we can finally unlock the book. The only problem now is that your key won't listen, for lack of a better term."
"So if I can change this key," Reios thought aloud, making sure he understood, "the book should open, right? Sounds like a kind of test to me. I hate tests."
Kero shrugged helplessly, "Be that as it may, it serves as our best chance to get to the next step. According to the dream that Sakura has revealed to me, it may be very important that you gain control of–"
The entire room froze up in tandem with Kero's unfinished sentence, leaving Tomoyo to glance between the three of her guests in worry as they stared off into space. It was a feeling that she couldn't seem to quite get rid of today, it seemed. Reios soon mimicked her, looking for answers as to what the majority of them had just felt.
Sakura and Kero both turned towards the window, watching the red-hued evening sky as if expecting some kind of disaster to descend upon them. Reios soon stepped up beside them and asked, "What was that just now? It felt like... like..." he trailed off, unsure of how to describe it.
"A presence... a strong one, amazingly strong. It was like a tidal wave washing over me," Sakura muttered, still trying to concentrate on it.
"Yeah, a powerful energy... very strong... almost evil... no, not evil. Corrupted," Kero added, doing his best to recognize the power he had felt, but with little success.
Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated on the residual traces that the dark wave had left behind, tracing it back to its source. The further her mind wandered, the more worried she became, constantly wondering at how strong the source of the magic had been to reach so far away with such might, and still her mind continued to span the distance between herself and the source. There were only two beings in the entire world that she knew for sure were capable of such power: Eriol, who was descended from the all-powerful Clow Reed and held most of his power, as well as Clow Reed himself. But the former was practically on the other side of the world, and the latter had passed away well and long before their time.
"It's coming from the park!" she announced suddenly, surprising Tomoyo and Reios at the sudden break in the silence.
Kero nodded in agreement, though he was still trying to discern the energy that he was feeling. Eventually he just gave up and instead addressed the group, "We'll have to go investigate. Try to pinpoint its source, but be careful! I'll go find Yue and meet you halfway."
"We can ask one of my bodyguards to take us," Tomoyo put in quickly, knowing that it would take far too long to get there by foot, or even if Sakura tried to carry them using the Fly.
Kero put all of his weight into the window's door handle, sliding the balcony window open with a grunt. He prepared to dart through, but spun back around with a last thought. Locking his sights firmly onto Reios, he commanded, "You! Go with them! It's no coincidence that this is happening at the exact same time that you show up – likely all Clow's doing. If you're supposed to be involved with us, then you'll do your best to help Sakura!"
Reios didn't even need to be told, as he was already sliding his staff into a loop on the left side of his belt in preparation for a fight. Nodding with a fierce determination, he rushed out the door to chase after Sakura and Tomoyo.
Holding his place for a moment, Kero tensed slightly at the strength of the energy that they had all felt. He looked up into the darkening sky, eying the half moon that was beginning to rise early. He had a very bad feeling about this.
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