Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Power Rangers
Chapter 6: The Final Eidolon
The next morning the Rangers gathered in the Aether Temple early.
Tenshii had expected their arrival since the Ranger's battle with Heket the previous day.
"Tenshii. How does Heket have the power of an Eidolon?" Jasmine asked as she took a seat on one of the open crystal like petals of the Lotus' throne. Menodora, the butterfly, flew over to her, landing on her hair.
"If what you say about the Eidolons only being the spirits of the original Aether Guardians are true; then why have we never seen that Eidolon?" Liam asked.
Romi crossed her arms. "It's not a Zenith Aether Eidolon. It's aura was as cold as that of the Demon Generals themselves. It's made of Nadir Aether. Unlike our Eidolons." She answered.
Crossing his arms Tenshii looked down into the reflecting pool's clear waters for a few seconds before heaving a sigh and looking around at the Rangers.
"I thought I had been feeling unusual energies in the Aether; energies I hadn't felt in a long time. It wasn't until I saw the Eidolon with my own eyes I knew for sure." He said.
Joey ran his hands through his hair for a second, "Knew what?" He asked.
Tenshii looked over to the man in purple. "I knew it had to have been Jinnai."
"Jinnai?" Liam asked.
Nodding Tenshii made his way over to the Lotus throne and sat down. "Shortly before I led the Zenith Order against Briezora; he was looking for ways to combat our strength. It had already been prophesied his destruction if he faced off against us; so he was looking for ways to change this." He explained.
A troubled look appeared on his tanned face as he gripped the edge of the throne's seat for a brief second before he finally spoke again.
"During the end of Briezora's Eidolon Hunt, several people from Elysia, and probably from this world too, went missing. They were to be used as experiments, for the process of Eidolon Creation. Jinnai, an alley of the Order and a friend of mine, was the last one to be kidnapped."
Tenshii sighed as he closed his eyes and continued to tell the story to the Rangers. The memories of the whole incident began to flash through his mind.
The moon shone over the planet of Elysia, it's lavender light bathed the fountain of the courtyard which Lathi sat. His hands were cold, and he couldn't help but feel anxious as he looked around waiting for one of his friends to come back from their patrol of the city. Tenshii ran his fingers along the soft petals of the pink flowers growing along the side the fountain, trying to keep himself calm.
He could feel Lathi's anxiety coupling with his own. There was activity on the Nadir Aether, which was spilling over into the Zenith. The Wisp activity had become suddenly silent in the last few days. Briezora was up to something.
The sound of the sole of a boot scraping against concrete made his ear twitch, and caused him to jump. The white haired youth turned his attention to the source of the noise, seeing a Green haired man and a tall woman with white hair tipped with blue and dressed in decorative blue silk clothing and adorned with Jewels, making their way across the courtyard. The woman in blue looked over at the shorter man in green. The two exchanged a wordless nod and changed their route to join Tenshii.
Getting to his feet he looked expectantly at the two of them. "Riza, Ishtar; Has Echo-?!" He began but slowly trailed off as he saw the solemn looks on their faces, knowing where his line of questioning was going.
"Echo has Menodora keeping watch on Jinnai now. She's still in Briezora's captivity, but like before-there isn't much Menodora can do by herself. She has to stay hidden. You know if she's found by any of Briezora's armies, they'll kill her...and if she dies while Echo is projecting at a long distance, it'll kill Echo too. This is a risk we cannot take." Ishtar, the woman in blue said.
Riza put his hand on Tenshii's shoulder and sat down on the edge of the fountain beside him. He knew how the teenager felt. After all Jinnai was Tenshii's best friend and about the closest thing to family the teenager had. They had failed to protect her from General Heket's recent attack and she was kidnapped.
"We're going after Briezora soon anyhow. Now that his Generals and the Wisp armies have retreated from Elysia, and from what Echo has told us on what she has seen through Menodora-Briezora's gathering his strength. Marduk says now is the best time to strike." Riza said.
Tenshii heaved a frustrated sigh. "I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I mean. What did Briezora even want Jinnai for?" He asked.
"The girl was in possession of a fairly strong soul. Presumably Briezora either found the perfect soul to devour to give him the power he wanted, or at least the perfect soul to create a Shadow to rival our own Eidolon power." Riza said as he leaned back, giving a sidelong glance to Ishtar who gracefully crossed her arms and looked towards the moon shining overhead.
Running his hands through his long white hair, Tenshii turned and looked at his two friends. "I think I'm going to get some rest." He said, not entirely reassured by his fellow teammates' attempts to calm him down.
As Tenshii was walking across the grounds, Riza looked up at Ishtar.
"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked getting to his feet.
Ishtar shook her head, the decorative beads on her veiled headdress gently clinking together for a breif second. "It would hurt him too much to tell him about Aether Sage Asceneth's vision."
"So, then the Eidolon was-" Riza began.
Nodding Ishtar crossed her slender arms and frowned, "Created from the girl's spirit? Yes." She said.
Riza turned and frowned. "Then, we won't be able to save her?"
Ishtar began walking across the courtyard followed by Riza, "It's already too late. An Eidolon is to be born from the Nadir Aether, and Her soul will create a black Aether Crystal." She said.
Taking a hold of Ishtar's arm, Riza stopped the woman in blue. Her dark eyes looked down at the hand clamped around her golden armbands for a second, before looking back at the green haired man.
"Then I am to die against Heket as well." He said.
Ishtar remained silent, averting her eyes away from the slightly taller man.
"Ishtar, I know what Sage Asceneth saw, and what you haven't been telling us. She saw the crystal shatter. She saw us fail against Briezora's generals. Are you telling me this is unchangeable?"
"We must go. Athanasius and Vera are waiting." Ishtar said as she continued across the courtyard, leaving Riza to give a defeated sigh and follow her.
The walls of the Demon's fortress were overflowing with the mist like Dark Aether. It ran down the walls like thick smoke, and covering the floor almost a foot deep.
Various cells full of warped bodies were reaching their ways through the bars of the cells which lined the walls, as General Heket made her way towards a cell at the back of the long hallway, where a faint light emitted through the fog. Heket's dark eyes glared at the creatures as she passed, and she reached for the sword at her hip, ready to sever and limbs should they touch her.
They were only the remains of beings somewhere between life and death, representations of failure. Failed Experiments in the Eidolon project, their souls damaged in the process and failed to produce the results expected. The Nadir Aether in their veins swallowed their souls instead of bonding with them, failing to produce a mist creature and failing to kill them.
They were disgusting, and Heket loathed the idea she even shared the same Aether in their blood. The only appropriate use of these creatures would be as training practice and have them fight each other to the death. Heket looked over at one of the creatures as it almost managed to take a hold of her hair as she walked by, Swearing she could hear the garbled plea for death from the creature.
"Death is a mercy you do not deserve. " She said as she walked past.
Finally she reached the final cell in the hallway. This one was particularly larger than the others, and only contained one being, illuminated in the silver light of the Nadir Aether, and seemed to glow with her own personal light. Her raven black hair shone in the light, framing her delicate face.
As Heket approached, the young girl looked up from where she sat and slowly got to her feet. A long black cloak over an elegant black dress hemmed with gold draped over her. She had a stern look on her face as she looked at the long haired swords woman standing on the other side of the bar from her.
"I've told you before Heket, I'm not going to give my Eidolon power to Briezora. Tenshii and the Order are my friends; and I'd never hurt my friends! Not as long as I'm alive at least!" She said.
Heket laughed as one of her braids raised up to the bars of the cell. "Oh I know. See, we've figured something out about the Eidolon power. When banished to this side of the Aether; we found the power of the souls we absorbed granted us eternal life. Our counterparts however: only gained immortality through the passing of their mortal bodies." She said.
She then looked down at her nails for a few seconds turning and leaning against the bars of the cell. She looked out of the corner of her eye to Jinnai for a brief second. "If you recall; Your buddies; y'know...what do they call themselves, ah right-the Zenith Elysian Order? Well, if you recall, they had to bond their energies with the Zenith Aether Crystal. Their souls absorbed the power of the Eidolons in infancy and bonded with the crystal." She said.
"So you're going to kill me for my Eidolon spirit? You're an idiot. Our souls are not compatible, and I'd never choose You, Briezora, or any of the others. You kill me, and I'll just choose someone else. A compatible soul in this world-I hear there are civilizations on this planet. Hell, plenty in the entire galaxy." Jinnai said with a glare set on her face as she looked at the back of Heket's head.
Taking a few steps away from the cell, Heket snapped her fingers, and the cell opened, and hands arose from the black stone of the wall, grasping Jinnai's arms and pulling her back into the wall. A hand of mist appeared and lifted her to a higher platform.
"Ah. You misunderstand. I'm not going to kill you. They are." She said. She snapped her fingers and a wave of energy swept through the thick fog. The bars of the cells came open and the other creatures began to shamble out after a momentary confusion. They slowly advanced to the cell at the end of the hallway.
A cold shiver ran through Echo's spine as she returned to her consciousness after having witnessed through the eyes of her Eidolon the events going on in Briezora's fortress. She felt a terrible pain in her chest; a sting of absolute fear and sadness coupled together. The feeling caused the brown haired woman in orange's lungs to seize up for a second and she nearly fell backwards.
A man wearing purple garments caught her. His concerned face was almost hidden behind his brown beard.
"Sister, Are you alright?" He asked as he helped her back to her feet.
Echo took a few deep breaths and looked around, as if she didn't realize where she was for a few seconds. Her breathing began to calm as she became aware of her surroundings. She shook her head in response to her brother's question as the words registered in her brain.
"Marduk, Jinnai...is in trouble. Heket is trying to force her to project her Eidolon soul." She said.
She heard a gasp from the corner of the room, catching their attention. Tenshii stood there, his face pale and troubled looking.
Marduk rubbed the back of his neck briefly before taking a step towards the young man. " Tenshii. Look. It's gonna be okay." He said.
Tenshii shook his head. "Between you and Riza. All I hear is 'it's gonna be okay'; Jinnai is going to be okay. Then, I look to Ishtar and Echo, and their faces betray your supportive words. Jinnai isn't going to be okay. We need to rescue her!"
Crossing his arms, Marduk frowned, nodding respectfully as he listened to the younger man. He didn't want to tell the teenager the truth. He'd heard the predictions too. Even the premonition which none of them had spoken to Tenshii about at all; the one regarding their final battle against Briezora.
"Echo, go find Vera and Athanasisus-Riza and Ishtar should be with them, and send Menodora to give word to Kaen. We're leaving to Briezora's Keep tonight." Tenshii said.
Getting to her feet, Echo nodded and slowly left the room, giving a look to her brother before leaving the room. It seemed the moment they had anticipated was going to come sooner than they thought.
"Tenshii, don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself. The Crystal hasn't given us the signal it's power is at it's strongest yet. It's reckless, and not to mention dangerous if we charge in. Briezora's power is far greater than ours. He is one of the original Corrupted Elysians after all; he's had millions of years to absorb power: Not to mention the boosts he's probably received from Earth life." Marduk said.
The white haired man shook his head and glared, "Yeah, well, he's gonna have a lot more power if he's able to get his hands on an Eidolon." He said as he began to pace the room.
"I know how you must be feeling-when I commanded my father's army-" Marduk began.
"Enough Marduk. All I hear is how you would have done things, and how you acted a long time ago. The thing is; you don't know how I feel. Jinnai is my best friend and I made a promise to come rescue her if she was ever in trouble. Well, she needs me now." Tenshii said, not facing Marduk as he spoke. He knew he was being unnecessarily harsh towards the brown haired man in purple.
For a brief minute Marduk looked down at the ground and put his hand on his hip. "Tenshii..."He began.
"I'm the leader here aren't I? I'm supposed to be this Aether Guardian or whatever right? The prophecy was about me, and Briezora's been after me this whole time. This time he's gone far too far and hurt someone I care about! I'm going to make him pay!" Tenshii said, his voice rising to a shout as he clenched his fist. His shoulders were visibly shaking, and he was on the verge of letting the tears forming at the edge of his eyes fall.
"I can't call myself a leader if I keep leaving the decisions to someone else. We're going to Earth, and end this once and for all...and that's final." He said, clenching his fist and turning towards Marduk.
Marduk remained silent, as Tenshii pushed past him and left the room to inform the others of his decision. He crossed his arms as the door closed and stroked his beard for a brief second. He shook his head and heaved a sigh before following Tenshii out of the room.
Jinnai forced herself not to scream in terror, disgust, as she felt the cold clammy hand of one of the creature touch her skin.
She could see Heket just above her. her silky black hair shining in the silvery light. She was leaning on the railing of the walkway she stood upon looking down at the scene with a hungry look on her face. Jinnai felt a warm sensation in her heart. She gritted her teeth against the feeling as it bubbled up in her chest. Her Eidolon soul was trying to gather her energy to project itself.
However the feeling began to become more intense in her heart, almost burning like fire. She didn't know how much longer she could take this.
"There's no point in resisting. You're only hurting yourself more and more." Heket called from the upper balcony as she examined her nails in a manner indicating she was bored of watching the scene going on below her.
The doors to the chamber burst open, catching Heket's attention towards the Green haired man whom stood there with his bow weapon at the ready, and a fierce determination in his eyes.
"So you've finally arrived to accept your fate." Heket said with an evil sneer on her face as she withdrew the wicked looking black blade from the sheath at her hip. She sighed as she looked at the young man.
Riza bit his lip and glared as he looked at Heket. A fire burned in his eyes, and he gripped the bow in his hands tightly. "Tenshii is on his way to Briezora as we speak. It doesn't matter how our battle ends; it's over for Briezora's reign of terror." He said.
With a grim smile on her face Heket looked at Riza for a few seconds. "So you face death with nothing left in the world but the hope the outcome of Tenshii's battle with Lord Briezora to be in your favor. Well, I suppose it is one way to die." She said.
The two rushed at each other, engaging in battle. Jinnai could hear it from the lower level. She listened to the battle going on for several minutes, even watching as Riza fall from the upper level and down into the crowd of wisps, which scattered as Heket lept down.
Heket's claw hand like hair grabbed Riza by the throat, picking him up off the floor and holding him in the air. The finger like tendrils of her hair tightening around his throat. His face began to turn blue, the green bow weapon dropped to the ground with a clatter, disappearing into the thick mist.
Looking up into Riza's eyes she saw the distress as he struggled to gain breath. The other braid of her hair reached up and caressed the side of Riza's face.
A grim smile appeared on her face, followed by the dull sound of a cracking noise as her braids made a quick movement. Riza's body suddenly became limp in her grasp. For a brief second his body glowed green, and the brief green light emitted from his chest. It floated into the air, briefly followed by the image of the bull Eidolon, which let out a noise, and then vanished with the orb.
"No!" Jinnai shouted, though her voice echoed with an odd undertone to it.
She was on her feet, having pulled herself from the bindings of the wall. A black aura surrounded her entire body, and the creatures around her appeared to disintegrate near her. Behind her stood the spectral image of a giant Frog.
Heket's eyes lit up and a greedy smile appeared on her face, but she didn't let go of Riza's body. Jinnai had summoned her Eidolon Spirit to the field.
Jinnai held out her arm and the Frog Eidolon bounded forward. Heket tossed Riza to the side, his lifeless body colliding with the bars of one of the surrounding cells. She pulled out her blade with a flourish and rushed at Jinnai and the Eidolon.
The walls of the room shook as the Frog Eidolon opened it's mouth, and began to suck in the Dark Mist around it. It held the Mist within it for several seconds. It's eyes began to glow furiously. With a loud croak it opened it's mouth, letting out the mist in a laser like blast towards Heket, obliterating a large number of the remaining swarm of creatures by the blast, disintegrating into the air.
The blast engulfed Heket, her body fully disintegrating with it's power.
As the light cleared, the Frog Eidolon turned into an orb of energy, floating before Jinnai, whom stumbled forward towards Riza's body, walking with in a trance like manner as if she were not fully conscious. However as she approached him, She fell to her knees. The walls began to shake violently and began to crumble down. A blindingly bright blast of light appeared in the area.
The glowing light which had once been the Eidolon, transformed into a black eight pointed, star shaped crystal briefly before the light engulfed it and vanished.
"The Mist which Jinnai absorbed when her soul created the Black Aether Crystal must have absorbed Heket's soul as well. " Tenshii said as he looked at the Rangers.
With a small frown Ken crossed his arms, "How is Heket able to possess Ashe though?"
Ryo shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair briefly before he spoke; "Ashe's soul is incomplete somehow. When we were in the restaurant, and Ashe challenged Acedia; he mentioned about not being able to fully collect her soul-about a debt she owed him. Noh and Invidia both mentioned the same thing." He said.
Lisa nodded, "I guess it makes sense. if she doesn't have a complete soul in her body, it's easier for Heket to possess her."
She put her hand on Ryo's shoulder for a brief second as she walked up next to Ryo's side and looked down at the scenery below. "But on the upside of it all, it's not like Heket has full control or anything. Even with a partial soul, we've seen Ashe fight back. I'm sure all we have to do is just figure out a way to bring Ashe's soul to the surface."
"I'm going to head back and see if I can come up with some more information on Ashe. I have a feeling if we can learn more about her, we can find a way to get her free." Ken said as he put his hands in his pockets and glanced over towards Ryo.
"Yeah. Honestly, until we can learn more about Heket and Ashe, I don't know if we'll be able to do much. We're pretty much having to play things by ear right now."
One by one the Rangers left the Temple, leaving Tenshii alone.
He sat on the Lotus throne, stone faced as he stared down the reflecting pond, looking at the colorful lights which floated stationary upon the water like decorative torches. These were all which remained of his friends and teammates.
Bringing his knees up to his chest he heaved a sigh feeling a wave of deep regret and guilt was over them. He'd been a terrible leader. Marduk had told him the whole mission was suicide; the Crystal's power was not sufficient at the moment to stand a chance against Briezora. Yet, he had not listened. He had been too concerned about Jinnai.
Yet in the end he had lost all of them. He had failed at his mission, and lost everyone. Even with the added strength of his friend's powers with the Crystal, he had not defeated Briezora as he had intended. He had merely split the Demon King's soul in half, but Briezora had survived. Now he was back, and his friend's sacrifices meant nothing. Now he was having to put a new group in the same position, with potentially the same outcome?
As he closed his eyes, He felt Lathi nuzzling his head against his arm, twittering as if to try to reassure him and cheer him up. As if to tell him, this time was going to be different, because this time they were going to have something they didn't have the last time, even if he wasn't sure what.
He felt another presence. Looking up he saw a shimmering light at the far edge of the reflecting pond. It appeared to be a person wearing a dress of gold with a shimmering veiled headdress of gold. As Tenshii stared at them, he began to feel a strange sense of familiarity. He'd seen them before, somewhere.
However, just as quickly as they had appeared, they vanished.