Occult Encounters: Aumakua
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming and SA June for their OC's used in this fic.
As the final bell of the day rang throughout Numin High and students poured from their classrooms, Sera stood by at the front of hers, giving a sigh as she looked at the Teacher in front of her. Michael stood watching as the last of the students dawdled making their way out, waiting until any prying eyes had left the area. The young Angel hadn't seen the Archangel today until this class. It was clear to her he had been busy, but what with she couldn't tell. She thought that the reason he had been so scarce lately and why she was told to stay could be one in the same, but it wouldn't be long until she found out.
As the last of the students left and the door half closed, Michael turned his gaze to his pupil. "Sera, I'm sorry for keeping you back before you head off to the others but… This is something they shouldn't hear. Or rather I'm worried what some of them would do with what I'm about to tell you."
"Why? What's so important they can't hear about it?" She questioned his motives for keeping it a secret, clearly beginning to think for herself rather than following blindly, just as she had done with Seraphim before her death.
"You know how the Celestial realms are currently in disarray thanks to certain parties openly rebelling. Well it seems as if some of the Archangels disagree with how we decided to handle it and want to crack down harder by mobilizing our own forces against them." He explained the current development in Angelic politics before giving a sigh. "As much as I love my siblings, we can't ever agree on a course of action due to practically childish bickering and spend days, weeks, potentially even months debating the matter and criticizing each other over past decisions that are similar to whatever solution we present. Eventually something will be decided and we will either stay the course or decide a new plan of action but until then, I must unfortunately return to the High Heavens."
Sera put her hand to her chin and thought for a moment. "What about my training, without you I won't get anywhere with learning how to do my job."
"It's alright." He smiled. "I have faith you'll do fine without me, you should have some in yourself too. Don't worry though, I'll return as soon as I can to continue it."
Sera gave a nod. "Alright, it'd be much easier though if we didn't have to deal with the Archangels disagreeing all the time though or if we'd not have to deal with those problems to begin with."
Michael let out a short amused laugh. "You're still young so you've got much to learn Sera. Even in our realm, we face more conflict than you'd expect. Yes even in the realms of light, darkness lurks in places most unexpected." He vaguely explained the imperfections of their realm as his gaze drifted toward the door. "But speaking of darkness, I suppose you've sensed the little Infernal eavesdropping at the door?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"Yes." She confirmed quietly with a nod. "I can feel her aura behind me, hot like fire."
"It shouldn't matter, if the Demon Houses learn about this one way or another, I doubt they'd be able to do much. After all they can hardly come together for a meeting to discuss an alliance because of their petty feelings toward each other. A single House can't do anything against our Celestial army, our only real problem would be if they somehow joined together. When Hel freezes over maybe. At least they take little interest in humans except for souls and servants, fortunately this realm would be left alone save for a raid or two by Behemoth. But I'm getting off trail with hypothetics here." He said, loud enough for the eavesdropper to hear, hoping the information would get to the Underworld Kings and rile them up at least.
"But you know what to do if this gets out of hand, don't you?" Michael asked, keeping his voiced hushed again, sounding as if it was a statement rather than a question.
Sera paused for a moment, her face seeming to go blank before answering. "Yes." She spoke, her voice completely monotone before her features shifted again and returned to normal.
"Good, then I must be going, I tend to be late to these debates and Gabriel is quite obsessive about punctuality, it wouldn't bode well for me to leave him waiting to start the debate, otherwise he could be swayed to the wrong opinion and I'd hate to let my brother down and lose my strongest ally in these things. Farewell Sera, may your faith stay strong." He said his goodbyes to her before walking out the door, to find that the eavesdropper had already fled, perhaps after his jabs at the demon court, or at least he hoped so.
'Even in the realms of light, darkness lurks in places most unexpected.' Michael's words echoed through Sera's head as she turned around, walking out of the classroom and casting her gaze onto the departing Archangel. Looking away, she held her head low.
'I already know.'
[Occult Circle]
Trees rustled from the slight wind as the sun began to set in the sky. Maxcine Silverbolt was walking down a street toward her family home in Numin. Her brother Max was once again taking part in club activities, which she knew would likely take most of the evening. Turning a corner, she came to an abrupt stop, six figures obstructing her from going any further down the pathway.
The light was low but the figure in front of the rest was at just the right angle to properly make out. Maxcine took a step back as she recognised who it was, from the furs to the tribal tattoo on his cheek, there was no mistaking it. Hunter Ranulfr once again stood in front of her, what he wanted, still unclear. Though judging by the other figures also glad in fur garments and the quite serious expressions they wore, it couldn't be good.
"W-What do you want from me?" She asked, he voice jittery, Hunter smirked, seeing how nervous she seemed.
"I'm after your brother Max, and you're gonna help me and my Clansmen find him."
"W-What are you gonna do when you find him?" She asked, taking a couple more steps backward, shifting to give herself a clear escape route when it was the right time.
"I'll crush him and prove who's better and I'm gonna take everything he has. Not in that order either. Nobody Beats Hunter, Clan Ranulfr is the strongest!" He proclaimed as Maxcine turned to her side and began to break off in a sprint, fleeing from the party of Lycans.
As she began running however, she bumped into another figure she hadn't seen. Stepping backwards, she found her way barred by yet another of Clan Ranulfr's warriors, this one being larger and bulkier than the others. He also appeared quite older with greying hair.
"Keep a better eye on your prey Pup." He spoke, directing his words toward Hunter as the warrior approached back by his Clansmen. "Even a whelp like this girl would've got away. Remember, a hunter's mind should always be sharp and aware of his prey's next movements.
"Y-Yes father…" Hunter said as he bowed his head in shame of his failure to live up to the hunter's standard.
"Remember who you're talking to when we're on a Hunt boy. Whether in the savage wilds of Wulfen or here, our prey is all the same and don't get angry because some City Lycan got the better of you, that's how you get yourself killed." His father lectured him as Hunter sank lower.
"Y-Yes Huntsmaster, sorry Huntsmaster. Hunter will remember in future."
"Good, now we've got what we want here. We should find these Power Rangers the Dark Angel wants gone… Brothers, tonight we hunt!" The Hunstmaster exclaimed to the pack gathered around him, met with ecstatic wolf-like howls from the group.
Maxcine just stood in the middle of the hunting party silently, too scared to say or do anything and hoping that Max and his friends would once again come to her rescue.
[Occult Circle]
Two hours after the Ranulfr hunting party had taken Maxcine captive, the unaware ranger team had arrived at an old tackle and bait shop just off of Lake Numin, a lake which the City was built near and received its name from, which extended out into a large river heading further north. The shop itself was in a state of disrepair and like quite a lot of the buildings on the City's outskirts, abandoned. The lake itself added to the eerie vibe of the location at night, a thick fog having rolled over the surface, completely obstructing the view of the water's surface, often described as numinous given all the ghost stories surrounding it, hence the name.
While Nyssa and Ellie walked down to the decrepit wooden dock, beginning their patrol of the area, not willing to let the Cult ambush them once again, Max lead the way into the tattered building, choosing to go first and take the brunt of any potential surprise attacks waiting inside. If the Abyssal Cult intended to carry out ambush attacks at each of the locations they had come to investigate, it was possible these rumors had reached their ears alongside the information that the rangers would be there to check their validity.
None of them was willing to play stupid and fall into the clutches of the Abyssal Cult, especially when the struggle against them still had such a fine line between defeat and victory, any wrong move could result in death. Their last few encounters with the Axis had taught them that much at least. Opening the door and bracing himself, Max scoped the area.
It was practically empty. Old worn shelving units were scattered around the building, reclaimed by nature as weeds, moss and other plant life had grown, sprawling across them. Other than a few abandoned pieces of fishing equipment, the rest of the place was deserted.
Max gave a sigh of relief that nothing was out of the ordinary, nor was there any spirit in sight, he thought as he relaxed. "Looks like that one was just a rumor after all, guess we can call it a day." He informed them as he walked from the building.
"Hold on a minute Max." Joe stopped him. "Even if this' a dead end. We should still wait around a little while. If we're right and there's a leak, that there's somebody helping the Cult who knows when and where we'll be, this' a good way to confirm it." He explained as Max stopped in his tracks a short distance from the building.
"I guess you're right about that." He said, scratching at the side of his neck, even without a spirit present, he wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of hanging around at a lake giving off the suggestion of a ghostly presence.
"Hmm…" Saya began, thinking back to the details they'd gained on this particular case almost a month ago. "I can't be certain of what kind given the variation of accounts but wasn't there supposed to be some sort of ghostly sound emanating from the shack? That's when most people said the ghost was around I believe." She reminded them, hinting that their investigation, even though having born no fruit thus far, may not yet be over.
Joe turned to the white ranger hanging back from the other three. "Sera, you think you could have a look around and see if there's anything in there we can't see that has an aura?" He asked, the Angel simply nodded as she stepped into the dark building.
As she did so, a loud hooting sound erupted from the shack, Max almost jumping out of his skin as he heard the noise. Turning around and tensing with fear, the Lycanthrope jumped a further few feet backwards as a small winged silhouette emerged, beating its wings rapidly before gliding, shooting past the rangers before perching on a nearby tree. Max was petrified as the other rangers looked up to the silhouette.
"It's alright." Sera reassured as she emerged from the old shop. "It was just an owl…" She trailed off for a moment. "But it's aura is certainly.. Unique."
"Oh so it was just an owl that made me crap my pants, thanks I feel much better!" Max remarked sarcastically as Nyssa and Ellie rejoined them, they as did the others, directed their attention toward the tree and the Owl perched atop it.
Joe looked at Max with an amused grin before turning his attention to the Owl again. "Looks like we found our 'ghost'" He said, stifling a chuckle.
"I don't think I've seen Max jump that fast before." Sera added to the friendly bashing of their teammate, also amused by just how terrified he was of the 'ghost.'
As his cheeks reddened, he turned to the others and gave a frown. "Come on you guys! I know you've all got fears too, how'd you like it if I made fun of you!?" He shot out clearly flustered by their light mocking.
As they were about to continue, Max's ears shifted, picking up the slight sound of movement from a small line of trees. When Joe was about to reply with another light hearted comment, the Lycanthrope's body tensed up. "Quiet, we've got company." He told them and as he did so, the mood quickly shifted.
From a small line of trees appeared the Ranulfr Clansmen, accompanied by both Hunter and the Huntsmaster. Each of them looked over the six rangers with their predatory eyes as they walked, finally coming to a halt several feet from the teens. Each of the rangers raised their guards as they took a step back, expecting the hunting party to attack at a moments notice.
"Looks like we were right." Joe spoke grimly.
"At least this trip was good for something then." Ellie nodded as the Huntsmaster turned his gaze on Max.
"So you're the whelp that beat my Pup over there. Can't say you look like much. I'm not after you though whelp, me and my huntsmen here are with Skuros and we've been told to come get you for him. But it's not a hunt to just catch your prey like this. So come, let's see what you're really made of rangers." He challenged them as he and the other five Lycans transformed into their beastial forms and let out sharp howls.
As the rangers prepared to morph, they noticed that the Huntsmaster's fur was white and eye pigment a bright blue, whatever it said about the elder Lycanthrope, there was no time to think it over. "Occult Breakout!" "Celestial Breakout!" They called, summoning the magic from their respective rings and transforming in a burst of coloured energy.
Emerging clad in their ranger suits and drawing their weapons, the six stood their ground to meet the Lycanthropes head on. While they braced themselves, the hunting party dropped onto all fours and charged at their prey. Clashing against their weapons the Lycans clawed and exchanged blows as the once quaint and eerie area erupted into a vicious melee.
While the others fought the beastly hunters, Max faced up against Hunter, who charged at the amber ranger, Max pushing back against the former's open jaw with the shaft of his axe as they clashed against each other. Forcing back Hunter with all his might, Max came to a standstill as Hunter growled something in their beastly tongue.
The Lycan ranger remained still for a few more moments before his ranger suit and axe dispersed into energy around him. When it disappeared, Max nodded. "Fine, if that's the only way we'll fight, I'll play." He gave into the demands of the tribal Lycanthrope, removing the silver frames from his face and letting the primal call inside him take hold, transforming into his Lycanthrope form.
As the two fought once more with fang and claw, the Huntsmaster focused his attention on Sera, swiftly and effortlessly dodging the Lightspears she fired in his direction as he moved on her. Once close enough, the white Lycan pounced at the ranger digging its claws into her side with great force, and piercing her ranger suit and into her flesh.
Sera let out a pained yelp and gritted her teeth at the searing pain coming from her side. Unfurling her wings and taking the best wing assisted leap back she could amid the pain and shock from the injury, she skidded a few feet along the dirt before coming to a stop.
"Damn, my Lightspears aren't fast enough. If he keeps up his attacks, I'll be in trouble, I'll have to form a different weapon for this. Otherwise, I'll be no use… and the others..." She muttered, holding her side as the Huntsmaster prowled toward her.
Holding her hand out, the white ranger focused the Celestial energy running through her as a golden disc shaped weapon began to form. Solidifying, the weapon seemed more typical for an Angel than her previous projectile weapons. "Alright Lycan, let's see how well you dodge a Combat Halo." She dubbed the Halo shaped weapon as she sprinted at the Huntsmaster, picking up a second wind despite the wound at her side beginning to leak Celestial blood.
Her foe also shot into action leaping at the white ranger with primal ferocity. Diving under the leaping Lycan, Sera quickly turned heel as the Hunstmaster touched ground, tearing up the mud as he skidded. Bringing her Halo over her shoulder, she drove the weapon from her hand as a tether of Celestial energy binded to it, connecting the disc to her wrist. Spinning, the disc curved around the Lycan several times entrapping him in the Celestial tether. Gripping the line with both hands, Sera pulled with all her might, bringing the Huntsmaster in close.
While the elder Lycnthrope struggled against the Celestial tether, the energy line began to weaken, Sera was expending her energy and the wound at her side was likely straining her further. Readying to break out of the hold at a moments notice once his bindings were weak enough, the Huntsmaster went wide eyed as Sera took hold of her Combat Halo once more and made two quick searing slashes across his chest as the tether broke.
The Huntsmaster howled sharply as he took a few steps back and dropped to his knees, reverting to his human form. As he did, the Halo in Sera's hand dispersed, her suit quickly following as the Angel collapsed, her Celestial blood beginning to pool from her side.
Both groups looked toward the two downed combatants. While Sera had managed to cause insult and injury to the Huntsmaster, she had exerted far too much energy doing so while injured herself. Each of the rangers were thrown off by the sight of their comrade in a potentially critical condition. Yet the Ranulfr Lycanthropes reacted differently to the sight of their Huntsmaster on his knees. The remaining five Lycanthropes became enraged, Hunter especially and barraged the rangers with vicious attacks.
Even with the speed at which the four morphed rangers could block and parry attacks normally, the sudden burst of strength from their foes, quickly wore them down as they were knocked out of their ranger forms and attacked further, losing consciousness from the aggressive onslaught of attacks.
Hunter and Max continued fighting with all the might they could muster, running on pure adrenaline as the former sank his teeth into the beastly form of the ranger. This was enough for Max to begin to feel the fatigue and pain writhe through his body, quickly forcing him to give up his concentration. In Max's lapse, the battle turned against him as Hunter took the advantage, barraging him with forceful claw strikes before finally ramming him into the thick trunk of a tree.
Max let out a yelp as he slumped against the tree and reverted to his human form, his head dizzy. He saw Hunter growl before turning away from him and reverting to his human form alongside the remaining Lycans. He saw them pick up the four rangers save Sera, who remained still on the ground. Soon the Huntsmaster rose with the aid of his son and they began speaking as Max's vision became blurry.
"What do we do about them?" Hunter asked.
The Huntsmaster snarled and growled as he looked at the downed Celestial that had wounded his chest and glanced over to Max, his vision becoming bleeker. "Leave them. She won't last much longer. If the whelp wants to get his friends back, he can come find us. It'll make for a more interesting hunt than what we've seen so far." He decided as the Lycans fled the area with the other four rangers captive.
Max struggled to rise, wanting to head to his downed friend as quickly as possibly but his vision was fading. Letting his eyes close for a second, he opened them to find an owl, possibly the same from earlier fly down to Sera's limp form. His eyes slipping shut for a second once more, this time he could barely open them and what he thought looked like a man stood in the place of the owl before his vision turned completely black and he lost consciousness.
[Occult Circle]
Warm, a feeling of warmth spread over his body, a crackling sound by his ear and light flickering across his closed eyelids. As Max stirred, he soon drifted back into the realm of consciousness and sat up, rubbing his temples before looking around at his surroundings. He sat on the ground near the area of the previous lost battle, a campfire burned away, a few log seats scattered around it while a sleek black motorcycle was propped up nearby, the light from the fire flickering against its shiny body.
As he got his bearings, he saw Sera on the ground near to the fire, whoever had set this up seemed to have placed her into a sleeping bag. He was worried and started toward her but froze when another voice, likely belonging to whoever set this campsite up, spoke.
"You don't need to worry." The deep calm voice reassured Max. "I've checked on your friend. She is… recovering now." He paused momentarily to gather his words. "Her power is helping her now."
Max sighed in relief before turning to the source of the voice. "Thanks for helping her, she looked badly before I passed out. I wasn't sure she'd make it."
"She wasn't going to." The voice revealed, the figure still concealed in the dark as he neared the fire. "The, the wolf that hurt her. His claws had poison on, she wouldn't have kept alive by herself. I had to use some of my power to help."
"Your power? You're like us then, is that why your English is a bit off?" Max asked, picking up on the simple and somewhat broken dialogue of their mysterious saviour.
"A little." He responded, coming into the light of the fire.
"You look Hawaiian. I might be wrong but I've got some distant relatives from there so it's not that hard for me to pick out."
The young Hawaiian man smirked and nodded. "Hm, looks like I was right too. My um, suspicion about you was. I've been watching you all under the form of an owl for some hours now, since you came here. I am called Hanohano 'Alohi Keahi. That's how people greet other people, right?"
Max half shrugged. "Kinda, I'll just call you Hano though. You can call me Max. So what were you talking about?"
"Oh, about me and being right. You see I am what you'd call not alive, or a spirit." He revealed, Max freezing, he was speaking with a ghost right now. A socially awkward ghost but a ghost nonetheless. "But I am no ordinary spirit. They call me an Aumakua, from what people say I'm a 'Divine Spirit.' It is hard to explain, but my spirit is in here." He said, pointing to the necklace holding a small volcanic rock tiki, depicting the Hawaiian god Kane. "I don't have much power but I use it to help family. I helped her because I didn't want her to suffer and then die. But when I saw you, I could feel."
Max felt a little more at ease, his fear of spirits had always come from late night ghost stories portraying malefic spirits and the punishments they would unleash onto any soul unlucky enough to cross their path. With Hano however it was different. His speech pattern alone was enough to make him seem friendly. Hearing his intentions put Max's mind at ease though, meeting a peaceful spirit like him made him think and reevaluate his stance on spirits and for now he was glad that the Aumakua had crossed his path. "What could you feel then Hano?"
"Something in you, it felt the same as me, you said you had family from my home. I think them and you might be family, my family too. I had family when I died, so it makes sense I have family still too. I was told when I came back by him. Kane said that I must help, aid family in need. I feel myself with you, so you are family, so I must help you."
"You're telling me, that we're really distantly related or something?"
Hano nodded. "We look very, different but I feel it in you so it must be. You had other friends, right? I will help you get your friends back from your 'bad kin.'"
"Bad kin?" Max asked, wondering what he was referring to, though he had an idea that he didn't want to admit to.
"The others like you, the wolves. They aren't really bad, not in heart. Only the white one is. The others are just doing what their Chieftain orders."
Max shook his head. "I wish I could agree but the only good Lycans I've met aren't tribals. The tribals are savages and give the rest of us a bad name, I can't forgive them for dragging the rest of us down, that's why they need to be stopped quickly." Max explained his stance on them as he began to rise, his intent pretty clear to Hano.
"Please. Sit down again." Hano asked firmly but calmly. "You can't get angry at your 'bad kin' for acting like they do. If you took time to see things through their eyes, you'd think differently about them. But. All it takes is one bad person to make others act bad. Get rid of the bad and they might change their ways."
"You mean, the white Lycan?" Max asked as Hano stared into the fires.
"Yes, but wait, let your friend heal and I shall be with you, at your side. We can save your friends but we should wait, you should be calm." Hano explained, rising from the log he sat at.
Max looked to the stable sleeping form of Sera, thinking back to what he saw in the battle, she had pushed out as much as she could even while wounded and poisoned and it only scarred the Lycan, he hoped the others would be alright and could hold on until they could come and free them from the Ranulfr hunting party holding them captive, before they could bring them to the Dark Angel. As he thought about them, he also pondered over Hano's suggestion. Could the tribal Lycanthropes really be better than he knew them to be?
|Occult Circle|
Divine Spirit - Aumakua - Classed as lesser Divines, the Aumakua are figures from Hawaiian mythology. They are family gods, often deified ancestors, resurrected by the four great Hawaiian Divines, the major gods of the indigenous people, to watch over and protect their family and any descendants they may come across. Many take animal forms such as owls or sharks and each shares some properties of their patron Divine. Each Aumakua's spirit is housed inside a tiki, crafted from the rock they reside in, shaped in the visage of their patron Divine. If this tiki is shattered, their spirit is released and they effectively die, though these tiki are not easily broken.
That's chapter 25 and before I go any further I want to say a big thank you to Taiski, since he submitted the character of Hano for the OC contest a while back. He sent a couple of pretty unique and great characters in and while you might be thinking I've made my mind up on who the 'spirit' ranger is, you'd be wrong. While I love this character and the concept given with him, he felt better as a standalone and potentially recurring character. There's probably a couple other reasons too but nothing relevant right now. I decided to take some liberties with him and meld him into the established world better but I hope I've done him justice either way. There wasn't much building on Max besides his more hostile opinion on tribal Lycans but I'll rectify that in the next chapter, got some neat ideas on how to build on his character.
Alright that said, sorry for the wait with this one, don't worry though, I'll be getting straight on with the next one soon, probably while you're reading. I've got a crunch of about four chapters to get through in the next week and things should be exciting and you'll see why I'm knuckling down with these soon too. All that said, thanks for reading.
Next Chapter: Occult Beasts: Steeljaw
Synopsis: With most of the rangers incapacitated and held captive by the Ranulfr Clan's hunting party, Max and Sera must find the Lycanthropes and work out a way to defeat the Huntsmaster but with the help of the friendly spirit and Aumakua, Hano, they may be able to fight against the overwhelming odds. Will they save the day, what other surprises could the savage Clan have in store? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.