The Flames Within Us
By: V-Dawg
Chapter 2: Warp Powder
Ike was sure they were onto something. This forest contained some truly unique branches that looked dismembered, ranging from slightly to severely.
He could tell the others were also skeptical. Ranulf because his sights are better than Ike's, and Leanne because she can sense something was off.
Regardless, they made their way towards the deep part of the forest.
"Am I the only one who feels a bit off here?" Ranulf asked, as the trio were trekking the deep forest.
"It's not just you Ranulf." Ike replied.
"Me too." Leanne replied as well.
Despite this, they continued to trek, as the reward may be worth it.
With Urvan back at the base, and Ettard in his hand, Ike had insisted he had geared himself up in the worst case. While Ranulf had doubts, Ike predicted that someone must be at the forefront of this.
Accepting this, Ranulf agreed.
It had been their fifth day searching, and despite the first day hint, they couldn't really find anything else.
It was rather frustrating, Ike had thought, thinking they were reaching a dead-end.
Maybe this area was a lost cause, maybe those responsible had moved away, finding others.
Regardless, they had to try, maybe they'd get something.
Making their way towards the end of the other side of the dark forest, the trio sighed.
"It doesn't look like there's anything suspicious here guys, we should probably head back."
Before Ranulf could agree, Leanne felt something. "I..."
They looked towards Leanne.
"What's going on Leanne?" Ike asked, to which Leanne began to hide behind Ike. Confused, Ike turned around to Leanne's direction, only to gasp at what he and Ranulf were looking at.
"W-what?!" Ranulf yelped, as the figure unexpectedly attempted to swipe at Ranulf with its claws. In its tiger form, it was pretty ferocious, but this gave Ranulf the speed advantage.
"A feral..." Ike quietly spoke, before raising his sword.
"Wait Ike! I got this!" Ranulf said, but Ike was not having it. He knew of Ranulf's reluctance to kill those, even those not in the best mental state. This was clearly a feral laguz, and Ike knew it was either a kill or be killed scenario.
"Try and calm it down Leanne, I'll help Ranulf, got it?" Ike told a shivering Leanne, who nodded.
"Got it."
Sheathing his sword, Ike launched himself towards the feral laguz, who simply blocked the sword with its large hands.
Its claws were sharp, Ike could see, as he slowly pushed himself away. This gave Ranulf enough time to attack from its behind, which aggravated it.
With its back turned, it was vulnerable to Ike, who swung his sword in the same spot Ranulf had inflicted damage.
Suddenly, whimpering, the feral laguz laid down, still feral, and blood pouring out of its wounds. It appeared the puncture Ike had given the laguz was to a vital organ and it was bleeding to death.
Eventually, its breathing subsided, and Ranulf sighed.
"I'm sorry Ranulf." Ike said, feeling ashamed he was so quickly killed a living thing.
"Kill or be killed, now one's at fault Ike. It's a torturous game regardless, I just wish I could break those rules."
Leanne noticed the sadness among the group. "We go back?" She asked timidly, which Ike nodded.
"Let's head back." He concluded, helping Ranulf up and following the trail back.
Unbeknownst to them however, they had taken a new route, which was exposed during the feral attack, and therefore, were trekking down a new path.
It wasn't until a bright white light surrounded them did Ike, Leanne and Ranulf realized their errors.
The bright light shone, as Reyson felt something strange erupt where Ike, Leanne and Ranulf were.
"Something happened to them." He said simply before rushing towards the scene.
"What the-" Soren said before he was picked up by Lethe, who had switched in her cat form to run more efficiently, with Soren as a pickup.
Eventually, they found they're place, and Lethe and Soren's eyes widened in shock.
"Be very careful everyone." Soren stated, before slowly making his way towards the area the previous group was.
Eventually, Soren picked something up, a white powder. "Warp powder..." was all he said, shocking Lethe and Reyson.
"But where did they get white powder from?!" Lethe asked angrily which Soren understood, as even he too knew too little of the stuff.
"What happened Reyson?" Soren asked to heron.
"Well, I saw a white light shine through the green forest, and I felt a strong surge of chaos. So, there may have been a feral laguz ar-" He was interrupted by a short scream by Lethe.
Soren rushed to find Lethe, staring at what appeared to be a dead laguz, with a bloodied Ettard on the ground not too far away. Upon further inspection, Lethe also found claw marks that she knew very well was Ranulf's.
Reyson, held his chest with his hands, "That appears to be what's left of a feral laguz."
"This is the father of a tiger laguz family, turned into a savage killer..." Lethe simply couldn't believe the fate of the laguz. She didn't blame Ike or Ranulf at all, as she knew the fate of those who succumbed to it.
"Regardless, we found the source of these disappearances, so we should give our information to Caineghis and Tibarn." Soren concluded, in which they nodded.
Before they ran, Soren looked back to the scene, "wherever you are Ike, I hope you're okay. Ashera, please keep them safe."
After 15 minutes of running, the trio made their way over to the Gallian castle.
"Tibarn! Caineghis!" Lethe yelled out, panting from the run.
"And I thought you laguz were able to run further." Soren mocked, which Lethe huffed in response.
Tibarn and Caineghis had made their way down, clearly tired from the search.
"Yes?" Tibarn asked, his tone making Lethe nervous.
"We have good news and bad news." Soren stated simply.
This interested Caineghis, "well spit it out boy, what is it?"
"Good news or bad news?" Reyson asked, to which they shrugged.
"Good news, we found the source of the disappearance to be caused by warp powder spread out across the forest. The bad news? It took Ike, Ranulf and Leanne."
At this Tibarn and Caineghis, realizing what happened were in clear shock.
"This is bad." Tibarn said after the shock had worn off.
"Indeed, this is also the first report of a missing beorc now." Soren stated, which confused Tibarn.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Ike was taken as well." Soren replied, which made Tibarn do a facepalm.
"Oh right..."
"How are we to tell them?" Reyson asked.
"Ask who? Ohh the Greil Mercenaries..." Soren mumbled.
"Yeah, Mist is going to be devastated, as well as Titania." Lethe sadly replied.
"Everyone will take a hit, maybe even Shinon." Soren replied, snarling at his name. He didn't despise the guy but he hated his guts.
"This disappearance is very concerning." Caineghis confirmed, which confused them.
"What do you mean?" Lethe asked.
"Not only did we lose our righthand laguz, Ranulf, but we also lost a beorc and a heron laguz, which are the first recorded cases of those species missing."
"That means we may have to tell the Crimean Royalty and the Raven laguz clan." Soren replied, seemingly getting the idea.
"No! I will not let that happen!" Tibarn remarked.
"And why not? At this rate, we've lost Gallian, Phonicians, and Crimeans!" Soren angrily disputed.
"That may be the case, but this has happened in Gallian and Phoenicis territory, therefore it will only be told by those who inhabit these lands!" Tibarn remarked.
Soren himself knew why Tibarn was being this way. He didn't fully trust the beorc, still blaming them for the herons' conditions, and while Ike did help him with his prejudice, he was still skeptical of them, especially those in Begnion.
Soren sighed, realizing some similarities between him and Tibarn, and thus understood where he was coming from, and while he didn't agree with his point, he did want him to realize his errors, and thus he just let it go.
"Fine, we'll continue our search, now for Ike, Leanne and Ranulf."
Everyone else looked skeptically at Soren, but decided against it.
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a young beorc, whom everyone recognized.
"Where's Ike?! Boyd's being a nuisance again!"
Many within the room sweat dropped, as if the timing couldn't have been any worse.
"Mist! He must be busy talking to Caineghis don't bother your brother!"
Titania was about to walk away when she saw the scared faces of everyone within the room.
Calming down, both she and Mist went in.
"What's going on?" Titania asked the silent crowed, noticing their presence was causing this silence.
"Where's brother?" Mist asked, which noticing his absence was making her nervous.
When the silence continued, Mist raised her voice.
"Where's Ike?!" She yelled this time, causing Soren, Reyson and Lethe to lower their heads in shame. They blamed themselves for what happened.
Unfortunately, Mist seemed to have understood what happened.
"No..." Mist started, realization and suspicion taking place.
Titania was starting to realize what had happened, "Did- did Ike van-"
She was interrupted by a single nod from Tibarn, who seemed angry at himself, for letting this happen.
After all, this was a laguz issue, not a beorc, and now, a beorc was paying for this. While Tibarn may still have hated most of them, he still had morals and knew what unnecessary suffering was.
Mist began to tear up, and Titania, being the motherly figure of the group, wasn't faring better. They were devastated, at the supposed loss of Ike.
Their cries were enough to make Tibarn get emotional, and while he didn't lay a tear, he was close.
"W-who else perished?" Titania asked.
"Ranulf and Leanne." Caineghis confirmed.
"I-I'm so sorry." Titania replied, knowing the importance Ranulf and Leanne were to Caineghis and Tibarn respectively.
"A white light shrouded them and then they vanished." Reyson confirmed.
"Warp powder." Soren corrected. While it didn't make the news any better, it did make Mist and Titania a bit hopeful that Ike and the others, and perhaps maybe all those other laguz who had disappeared, was still alive.
"We found one of the places where they have been disappearing, so I want it to be barricaded so that no one else can fall in, okay?" Caineghis spoke seriously to Lethe, who nodded in understanding.
"Good. This is a lesson to all of us." He spoke finally, before leaving the hall.
Silence took over the room for what appeared to be hours, but in reality, was just a couple of minutes.
"Come on, Mist, let's get back, someone will have to take care of the Greil Mercenaries." She stated.
"I-I understand." Mist said, in a shockingly emotionless tone.
This sudden change in mood was enough to make Reyson shiver, as he saw, right in Mist's eyes, fury, aimed at whoever took away her remaining family.
Eventually, the duo left, and Reyson, Lethe, Soren and Tibarn were the only ones left in the room.
"So, we know now that warp powder has been teleporting others somewhere in Tellius?" Tibarn asked, to which Soren nodded.
"Affirmative, though the questions we have now, are where did they get this much warp powder, and where does the other side lead out to? We can't just have a test subject." Soren finished.
"This is terrible, I want as many of you to look over the Greil Mercenaries, if we lose another beorc, then we may have to alert Crimea." Tibarn muttered.
"And why are you so hesitant to ask them for help?" Soren replied angrily.
But Tibarn remained stoic and quiet.
"Is it your laguz pride? Not wanting to be given help even when we're clearly losing?!"
But there was more silence, with Lethe and Reyson in shock and the sudden anger Soren had emitted.
"I'm not prideful, I was never. I always was taught to be responsible. Any problem you get yourself into, you yourself must get out of. I brought myself into this because a fellow Hawk Tribe member disappeared in a similar fashion. Ike and his mercenaries had no reason to help us, he had none! Yet, he's now suffering because of our issue. It's disrespectful in our eyes! We failed him, and I want to be the one to fix what we caused. I don't think the solution is more help only for more people to succumb to this warp powder, but to stick on what we have."
It was a rare moment for many to hear Tibarn get rather emotional, even Soren, was shocked.
And now, here he was, debating in his mind on whether or not he should personally tell Elincia himself, or, for the sake of Tibarn spare him from humility.
May Ashera look over us, giving us hope and order.
"Uh..." Ike woke up in fatigue and pain. That warp powder really took the energy out of him, and he didn't even control it.
"Ranulf? Leanne?" Ike hoarsely called out for them.
"H-here..." Leanne called, and Ranulf make a noise to confirm.
Struggling to rise, Ike was instead met with a metal bar.
"A jailcell? What is this place?" Ike asked himself mentally, but he digressed.
This place was so dark, all Ike could see was a faint light coming from the roof. In fact, it was so dark, he was pretty sure even Ranulf, being a cat would struggle, but Ike didn't know the true extent of his friend's enhanced vision.
And so, Ike was resorted to feeling his way around the darkness. Eventually he found a figure, by almost tripping on them.
"Ranulf?" Ike asked, to which he got a grunt in response.
Even in the dark, he could feel the two laguz next to each other, huddling each other from the cold. Which confused Ike as to why he wasn't feeling cold, but he shrugged it off.
Ranulf, unbeknownst to Ike, could actually see a bit better. He was able to make out Ike's figure, but was unable to see anything else clearly. He could see the jailcell, but not the colour, or what it was made out of. It was barely vision for Ranulf, but it was better than Ike's. Leanne had a similar vision, but being a heron, hers was more comparable to Ike's.
Suddenly, a flash of white light shone on the trio, and they forced their eyes to squint to avoid the sudden bright light that had entered their eyes.
It was then doing the trio realize who their kidnapper was.
"Izuka..." Ranulf growled, knowing very well who he was. The guy responsible for creating feral laguz, he hated the man with a passion.
Instead, Izuka smirked, not paying any attention to Ranulf nor Leanne. Instead, his attention was on the beorc, Ike.
"Well, well, well, this is certainly a surprise, what do we have here?" Izuka chuckled, his eyes firmly on Ike, who began to tense.
It was then the trio notice, that a group of four laguz, two cats and two tigers, that were standing side by side, surrounding Izuka in a protective aura-like state.
"W-what's happened to them?" Ranulf asked Leanne, pointing towards the laguz who stood alongside Izuka.
"They lost mind, person status." Was all Leanne said, but Ranulf had an idea, must've been some sort of magic. Considering Izuka was a genius in magic, he must've done something to them.
"I certainly didn't expect to find a beorc alongside my quest for gathering laguz clients." Izuka then started. "What is a beorc doing alongside them in the first place? Care to answer that?" He looked at Ike, his face apparently appalled that a beorc would associate himself with a laguz.
"They are my friends." Was all Ike said, in a neutral tone, but aggressive tone.
"Ahahahaha, clearly just as temperamental like them as well. Well, if they are truly your friends, then you'll be the perfect experiment for my deeds." Izuka chuckled darkly, which terrified the trio.
"What's going on..." Ike asked himself quietly.
"Fetch the beorc, put him on this table." Izuka stated, pointing right next to him which contained a white table with metal placers, used to hold others still.
Before they saw it, the four laguz began opening the jailcell, and proceeded and attempted to grab Ike.
"Hey! Let go!" Ike bellowed, punching the nearest laguz, before kicking another. But that one caught his leg, causing Ike to trip.
This didn't discourage Ike, as he rolled, using his other foot to kick the laguz in the stomach, making them drop him.
"What is this?! Send more!" Izuka bellowed, and the next thing Ike knew, he was situated on the table, with three cat laguz and two tiger laguz needing to hold him still to strap him in place. Alongside two others to keep an eye on Leanne and Ranulf, who just watched in shock.
Ike wasn't able to escape, and was now under Izuka's rule. Not matter how much he forced his muscles to move, the metal was simply too thick.
"Yess. Truly a muscular, healthy beorc, he will be perfect for his trials. I have plenty of serums and vials, but which one should I choose." Izuka calmly though as Ike continued to struggle his way out of his captivity.
Izuka turned to Ranulf, "Hey kitty! Pick a number between 1 and 10!"
Ranulf sneered, "Don't call me kitty!"
Izuka smirked turning to the two laguz just outside the jailcell, "Torture him for a number!"
At this Ranulf yelled out a quick, "5!"
Izuka smirked, before turning to them, "Cancel order!" Which caused the laguz to return just outside their cell.
Chuckling, Izuka picked out a serum, and a needle. Washing it up, he smiled at the sight of Ike, who continued to struggle.
"Yesss, you'll be my perfect experiment. Ike, Saviour of Crimea."
With that sentence, Ike had been paralyzed, shocked that the twisted Izuka knew who he was. But Izuka smirked, knowing it would do the trick.
A.N / Second chapter done! What's going to happen to Ike? Why did Izuka tell Ranulf to pick a number? What did he do to those laguz, and will Leanne and Ranulf succumb to that fate? What's going to happen to Tibarn and Caineghis' investigation? Well, we'll find out in the third chapter. Also note, this is where we will start to notice some more darker themes of this story, including blood, suffering and signs of torture, so viewer expression is advised, if you want the rating to change to M, notify me please, whether it be through review or direct message.