[Author's note: I'm so happy. Everyone, thank you for your support. All your reviews inspire me to continue writing this story to it's full extent. As some have noticed, I have kept Ryu without a voice. I kept Ryu this way so people would relate this story as if it could have actually happened in the game, it also might help me as a literary device a little bit later. Thanks again for your Reviews and support. Here is the next installment of the smash-hit Rei no Kigen To... Chapter 3 title translation: Endless Light and Dark.]
Chapter 3 : Hateshinai Hikari to Kurai
Caer Xhan, the city of metal, a place devoid of life. The city of an old world yet more advanced than the current. It's heartless...
"I can't believe that we are back here again," said Rei.
Everyone walked into the city of metal. Ruins was the best way to describe what was left.
"It doesn't look anything like it used to," Nina noted outloud.
The old entrance to the machine labyrynth was gone, completely shut down. Ryu looked at the ruins with a quiet dignity, Myria's grasp of the world was released here.
"We ought to find a different entrance, this machine looks a bit different from the other machines we saw the first time through. I know! Let's see if there is a back way in," Momo explained to the party as they walked around the metal mostrosity.
"Does that computer of yours give any other information?" Rei asked.
"No, I tried to get in but the information other than what I told you was deleted in the explosion. Myria possibly did this," Momo replied.
"Does it have directions to where the information might be?"
"I'll try."
Momo turned the computer on and scanned through all the files and stopped at one called "Caer Xhan Renovation Plans."
"Well?" Asked Rei.
"It does have a sudo-map, it does help a small bit. I was right, we should go to the back and go deep down into the center. There we will reach a laboratory, with luck it will be operational."
Ryu signaled to everyone that he had found the entrance to the inner sanctum of Caer Xhan. The doorway was fairly small, but only Rei had trouble getting into it. As soon as everyone got in, the whirr of machines started and the hallways became lit by lights on the sides of the walls. Everything that was once dormant was awakened in the pathways down to the laboratory.
"I wonder if there are monsters down here..." Nina wondered.
"Not likely," replied Rei, "but I wouldn't rule out thos damned robots!"
Left, Right, Right, Left, Left, Left, Left, Right, Forward, Right, Down, Down, Down, Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Forward, Down, Down, Down, Down. These choices no longer made any importance, they seemingly led to the same places. The lights were dimmer as they moved further into the crust of the planet.
"How many floors have we gone down?!" Yelled Rei, frustrated at the length of the maze.
"By my count, we have gone down about 57 floors, no, wait, now we have gone down 58," said Momo who was using the computer as a calculator.
"How could I be so important that the answers to my existence are locked down in this place," Rei thought to himself.
Momo stopped walking. She stared at the screen the illumination from the screen showed her face to be horrified. "There is something here! Everyone, be careful! It's nearby!" Momo shouted.
The lights became very dim as the generators slowed down. Rei's pupils widened from the slits they once were and became more rounded. "Don't worry, I can see it!" Rei yelled to the other members of his group.
Shots were fired from the dark and filled the corridors with small bursts of light. Nina screamed as one hit her squarely on her left shoulder. Nina was thrown by the blast to a wall where she blacked out. "We can't avoid them! Something has to block the blasts while attacking!" Momo yelled to Ryu and Rei.
Rei thought of a risky move that would protect everyone yet endanger them too. "From what people have described, my transformation changes my shape. I might be able to block the corridor with the increased size," Rei thought to himself.
He ran into the darkness past Ryu and Momo. "What are you doing?!" Momo yelled.
"I'm the only one who can block the corridor and attack at the same time!"
"What do you mean?!" Momo yelled.
"I will have to transform! Ryu protect everyone! And if I attack you, please forgive me!"
Ryu ran back to Momo and Nina and he cast Protect on Momo. Momo cast Shield on everyone around her.
Rei stopped running and stared into the darkness, he could almost make out the figure of a large robot. He focused his rage and energy into himself and the transformation started. His size increased and his overall form changed. Rei no longer had controll of himself, but before he did, he felt something on his chest (near his heart) move. He was right, he filled up the corridor with his new form. The tiger ran forward and extended his claws at the machine with a loud roar. Momo watched on in horror and fear as the person she knew so well become someone that struck fear in her heart.
The robot fired another round of shots and the huge body of the were-tiger took the blows of almost all of them. Ryu pulled Momo down to the ground as a few stray shot flew past her odd-shaped ears. The lycanthrope roared in pain as small drops of blood stained the ground. But it did not stop him from continuing his attack on the enemy. Rei's claws dug deep into the steel layers of the mechanical enemy. Tiny sparks of electricity scattered throughout the body of the machine as wires and circuitry was torn away. The robot stopped, but the monsterous Rei didn't. He continued to tear at the machine, wires and circuits scattered everywhere.
When the enemy became a pile of scrap the new monster turned around and fixed its gaze on his old group members. "Oh, my god! Damnit! He's going to attack us!" Momo screamed. It was almost too late, the tiger tore into Ryu and tried to bite him. "He ignored us! Why is he only attacking Ryu?! Rei isn't conscious. He loves Ryu like a brother!" Momo thought to herself as she tried to find a way to stop Rei.
Momo had no solution, she could only watch as the new monster attemped to tear Ryu apart. Momo threw herself into the attack and jumped on Rei's back. But he continued to attack the yelling victim below. She swung her bazooka and whacked Rei in the head. The monster fell to the ground right below Ryu. Rei returned to normal shape and size soon after.
Momo cast healing spells on everyone and tended to Rei's heavy and bloody wounds. "He protected us.." Momo said to herself, "I can't believe I did that to him. I guess it goes with the saying, you always hurt the ones you-.... No, I don't... But is it possible that I do?" Momo cast another healing spell on the K.O.-ed Rei and watched as the wounds stopped expelling blood and practically disappeared. Ryu tried to get Nina back on her feet when she regained he consciousness.
The generators turned back on and the lights returned to normal.
"The robot must have taken up the electricity..." Momo said.
"I hear something, it's coming from Rei!" Nina exclaimed.
They could hear a faint sound of muttering. Ryu moved Rei's body to a sitting position, leaning on the wall of the corridor.
Rei's eyes were open, but his iris was all blue, his pupil was almost invisible. His mouth was moving making sounds.
"Enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy," Rei continued on and on. Without stopping he continued to stay in the trance.
"Rei! Wake up!" Momo yelled, "Get up! Rei, you have to." Her eyes started to fill with tears.
"Enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy," Rei continued as Momo shook him.
"Get up Rei! Wake up! Please come back! Rei! Reeeiii!"
To Be Continued...
Next Episode: Chapter 4
Rei no Jibun Suisoku! (Rei's Self-Speculation!) In the darkness inside, Rei confronts his own emotions and fears. Will he be welcomed by the light of the outside? Follow your heart, Rei! Gambate!