Chapter 7-----
Rei went out the door, one by one the rest followed after him.
"Hey, wait!" Mai ran in front of the group to block their path. "You can't go there; everything's burnt to a crisp. There's nothin' left" Mai panicked. What if her grandfather was there waiting for her to come back? Everyone eventually comes back to the scene of the crime…right? Right? –haha, so cliché-
"We won't know until we get there" Tyson pushed Mai aside.
"No, you dun understand! What if he's there waiting for me to come back?" she said. She was scared…she didn't want to show it, but she was frightened that he'd take her away…
"Like Tyson said, we won't know until we get there" Rei placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "He won't take you, we promise."
Mai looked at them, they had warm smiles on their faces, well… other than Kai whose face just eased up –Kai: I don't do smiling…-
"Minna… (everyone)"Her worried look slowly faded, she felt comforted knowing that she could depend on them.
"Hurry up guys! The bus is here!" –it's a private mini-bus to chauffeur around the bladebreakers, cool huh? - Kenny called.
"Let's go." Hilary pulled Mai by the hand. "Yeah" Mai nodded.
On the bus-
The journey to the town was a long one and soon everyone dozed off. Mai sat in her seat, staring out at the window; the countryside spread out before her:
Fields of mustard flowers stood out against the blue sky. The rivers flowed calmly, occasionally hitting the rocks causing water droplets to spew out; glistening as they caught the light. The clouds rolled past, shadowing the lush greenery below.
Everything felt so soothing…She had missed this, all of this…and now she was going home.
She diverted her attention to the sleepy heads. Just then, something sticking out of Hilary's bag caught her eye. She reached over and pulled it out. It was black eye-liner.
Her mouth turned into a playful smirk as she thought of something; it would keep her entertained later. 'I finally get my revenge, Hilary' she thought as she unscrewed the cap…
'There, all done.' Mai tried to control her laughter, Hilary looked ridiculous. But then she let out a sigh. 'This wouldn't be fun…I know!' She hopped from one sleep head to another, each time drawing silly images or designs on their faces. 'Now this is gonna be fun' she grinned to herself, pleased with her masterpieces.
A little while later…
"IIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Hilary let out a loud shriek. Her cries woke everyone up from their deep slumber.
"What's the big idea…"Max asked, rubbing his eyes. Then he noticed Hilary's face and burst out laughing. "AHAHAHAHHAHA, what's with your face Hilary?"
"You're one to talk! Look at yours! You've got a black nose and some weird looking bunny on your cheek." Hilary snapped.
"Huh?" Max looked at his hands, there was something black smudged on them; he turned to look at his reflection in the window. "Holy shit! What the hell?" Max frantically tried to rub off the eye-liner.
"Hey Tyson! You've got some on your face too! So do you –points at Rei- and you –points at Kai- and you –points at Kenny-" Hilary said as she looked from one person to another.
"WHHHAATTT!" the four of them shouted in unison and turned to look at each other.
Tyson pointed to Rei's face. "Rei, you've got swirls on your check and your lips are…are….AHAHAHHAHA! They're black!" Tyson clutched his stomach as he collapsed with laughter.
"HAHAHAHA, you think that's funny? Take a look at Kai" Rei defended.
Kai had the word 'LOSER' on his forehead, fluffy angel wings on his cheeks, a long curly moustache, long eyelashes and a goatee drawn on his face.
"AHAHAHHA, my god, Kai! You look GAY!" Max laughed.
"Shaddup Max… or I'll post that picture of you sucking your thumb while you were sleeping on the internet." Kai smirked. Max stopped laughing immediately.
Kenny had eyes drawn on his glasses and big cat whiskers while Hilary had nose hair, fury eyebrows, thick glasses and her whole chin was drawn to resemble an open mouth with a few teeth knocked out –LOLX! I seriously had fun destroying their faces!-
Mai just sat there listening to their rants as she held back her laughter. 'Oh man, this is sweet!' She couldn't control it anymore and finally burst out laughing.
Everyone turned to face her. "Hey, may I ask why Mai is the only one whose face isn't vandalised?" Hilary questioned. Mai stopped laughing when she saw the look on their faces; they had that evil look in their eyes. She quickly flung the eye-liner out the window.
"Hah, now you guys can't do anything" She said in a victorious tone.
But they closed in on her. "Guys…haha –nervous laughter- it was only a joke…?" They towered over her; evil grins plastered on their faces. "Hey wa…wait, let's talk about this…guys?" Mai was slowly engulfed by six bodies…
Minutes later…
"Ahh, I feel much better now. Care to toast?" Hilary offered, and she and Tyson clinked their coke bottles together.
Rei opened the window and shouted "How's it up there Mai? Enjoying the fresh air?"
"I'm having the time of my life Rei… everything's just peachy… -note the sarcasm-" Mai answered. 'Fools, they'll pay for this!' She wanted so much to hurt them but she couldn't…not when she was tapped to the roof of the bus…
Arrive at the town-
"So this is Mai's town?" Tyson said in an –I-can't-believe-it kind of tone as he scanned the area.
Everything was charred. The roofs dangled on splinters of wood, the ground was black and sooty, broken glass lay everywhere and the walls were ashen…The fire had really done a lot of damage.
"Can someone get me down from here!" Mai yelled. The guys looked at each other…smirking. Should they let her down?
"Haha, I think she's suffered enough" Max said and went to undo the tape around Mai.
"Had fun?" he teased as he undid the tape. Mai just turned away, still angry with him for taping her to the roof… When the tape was undone, she jumped off the roof and landed gracefully on the ground. 'Woah, where'd she learn to do that?' he thought.
Mai rubbed her wrists; they were red from all that struggling. She looked around…everything had been destroyed…Is this what was left of her home?
She walked the empty streets, passing by familiar buildings that were once there. She glanced down the alleyways; she saw little children playing, laughing…but their images slowly faded and their laughter lost forever to the wind. The place looked like a ghost town…and the howling wind flowing through the hollow buildings only added to the effect.
"So have you found anything that'll answer your questions?" Kenny ran up to Mai and stood by her side.
"No…there's nothing here" Mai said sadly…Everyone was gone… 'Am I the only one left…?'
"Hey, Mai! I think I found something!" Tyson shouted and everyone ran over to see.
"Watcha find Tyson?" Max peered over his shoulder.
"Nah, just some picture…the girl in it looks a lot like Mai though" Tyson replied as he dusted off the ash on the picture.
"Lemme see that" Mai snatched the picture out of Tyson's hand, only to receive cries from Kenny telling her "Hey! Be careful with that!"
She looked at the picture. Its sides were burnt but the people could still be seen:
A little girl stood in between a boy with shaggy dark brown hair (kinda like Shin's hair, if you've seen gundam seed destiny, just tht its dark brown) and a girl with long maroon hair which was tied up in two pony tails. All of them had big smiles on their faces, making a V-sign at the camera.
Mai recognised the girl in the middle as her. The boy was Riya and the girl was Copellia. They were her childhood friends… 'Riya…Copellia…' She missed them so much. Suddenly, she noticed the background of the picture. Behind them looked like the entrance to a shrine… then it hit her. 'Yes! The Shrine! Why didn't I think of it before?'
"Tyson! You're a genius!" She wanted to hug him but decided not to for various reasons. Actually…for many reasons…
She ran up the familiar path which led to the shrine while the others followed closely behind her. 'Please let it still be there…please please.'
"Hey slow down will ya!" Max called from behind.
Mai raced up the stone steps and finally stopped. She bent over, panting heavily. She quickly recovered and looked up; a large tori (the two red pillars tht mark the entrance of a Shinto shrine in japan. See? I did my research! Lol) framed the entrance of the shrine.
"Yokatta... (thank goodness) it's still here." The others finally caught up with her.
"So…huh huh huh…this is the shrine?" Tyson said, catching his breath.
Mai nodded and walked up the dirt path. The trees above only allowed specks of light to filter through, making the trail look mysterious with a sacred air about it. The gang walked on, finally reaching the shrine.
"This is where my ancestors prayed to Alzea" Mai informed them as she stepped through the gates.
The shrine was not a very grand-looking one. It was simple yet commanded a lot of respect. It was set in the heart of nature which made its visitors feel relaxed and calm. Nearby, the sound of running water could be heard. The elements fused harmoniously, creating a soothing atmosphere that eased the mind, body and spirit.
"I used to come here a lot as a child." Mai said as she walked through the shrine's grounds, the memories flooding back to her. "The priest was a nice guy…He'd tell us stories about Alzea…teach us how to make wagashi… (Japanese deserts served during tea ceremonies)"
"You miss him?" Hilary asked as she walked by Mai's side.
"Yeah." Mai replied.
"Hey, find anything yet?" Rei bounded up to the two.
Hilary shook her head. "How're we gonna do that? This place must have hundreds of scrolls! We've got no time to go through each one." She pointed out.
"Hey, I think I know where they keep the important ones" With that, Mai ran down a stone path to a small hut.
It was built near the waterfall and was the most shabby-looking of all the others. 'Sensei (teacher) never let me enter this place, so there must be something important here.'
"In here" she slowly pushed open the door, signalling the rest of the group to follow her.
The room was stuffy, with shelves packed high with scrolls. "Great... another room full of scrolls" Tyson whined.
Mai pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. It was written in Zeelan and told about how Alzea brought prosperity to the land. 'Argh, this is no help…' Mai put back the scroll, frustrated that she wasn't making any progress. She pulled out another, and another, and another. All of them spoke about Alzea. "Argh! None of them say anything about the creature!" Mai ruffled her hair in frustration.
"Maybe they don't keep records on it?" Max reached out for a scroll himself but found that he couldn't pull it out. 'Huh?' he thought and pulled harder. Suddenly something 'clicked' and the bottom half of the shelf detached itself from its upper half and swung open.
"Uh...guys?" Max said nervously.
"Max! How'd you do that?" Tyson asked; surprised that Max was the one who discovered it. 'Usually it's Kai or Rei who finds these kinda things…' He swung back the shelf so that he could peer in on what lay on the other side of the wall.
"Holy cow! You won't believe this guys but there's a whole room in here!" Tyson's voice echoed through the other side.
"Then get your butt outta the way so that we can enter!" Mai replied; earning snickers from the rest of the group.
One by one they crawled into the room. It was spacious and lit by the sun's rays passing through circular coloured glass windows on the ceiling. The ceiling itself was high, and the walls were wide apart form each other. "Hey, check out the walls" Hilary gasped, fascinated by what she was seeing.
The walls were covered in writings and symbols that seem to tell a story by the way the pictures were arranged.
"What do the words say?" Kenny looked at Mai.
Mai read the inscriptions on the walls, her face twisted into a look of confusion and awe.
"It says something about a legend… about this bit-beast—"
"Alzea?" Hilary questioned.
"No…it says here that the people called it Eden…See these pictures? –Mai pointed at pictures- They tell a story."
Mai's finger travelled across the wall, pointing at the symbols as she explained to the rest what it meant.
"Eden was the guardian of the Earth… He brought great fertility to the land, gave life to water, by controlling the bit-beasts that had power over the respective elements. He looked after its (the Earth) people well and they in return, helped look after the Earth. The people were grateful to Eden and prayed to him for good harvest and health."
"It says that four high priests, when together, were the only ones that could control Eden. They each came from four different tribes: Zeelas, Saint Shields, Dreads and Norwings. The four tribes lived in peace due to their bond with Eden."
"But the high priest from Dread wanted more power from Eden…so he captured each bit-beast one by one to use their combined powers against Eden. Because of this, the tribes waged a war against each other."
"The violence angered Eden and he sent seven disasters down to Earth. The people suffered terribly. The four high priests realised that Eden had grown to powerful for them to control, so they sealed his powers in four jewels –Mai points to picture of a stone with a scale in it- and sealed him in a rock."
"But Eden's two souls managed to escape and he promised that they will reincarnate themselves in two chosen ones in a fifty generation cycle among the four tribes. The souls will awaken when the chosen ones are sixteen years of age…"
"The high priests feared this and scattered Eden's powers to the four corners of the Earth. The high priest of Zeela then put a powerful curse around the area which protected the rock so that no one could unseal him…" Mai finished.
'Could the creature in those premonitions be Eden…? But why would they keep this legend a secret from us…?' Mai thought. Why didn't the priest tell her about it?
"If all this is true…and if Mai belongs to the fifty generation cycle…then there's a possibility that…" Kenny turned to look at Mai. "You're one of the chosen ones."
Mai was stunned. "No way! I can't be the chosen one, I'm not even fully Zeelan!" 'There must be another reason…there has to be!' She thought.
"Mai, are you sixteen?" Tyson asked.
"Yeah…my birthday was just last month" She looked at him with a –why-are-you-asking-this-all-of-a-sudden expression on her face.
"Then you ARE the chosen one." Tyson said. "You only started having those premonitions a few days ago right? And you've turned sixteen. Everything points in the direction that you ARE the one."
"But they would've told me…" Mai replied disbelievingly.
"They wouldn't have known that you were the one… Many kids could have been born in the same year as you. They'd only know when those kids turned sixteen." Kai spoke up. "But I guess your grandfather didn't wanna wait and find out…so he killed your whole tribe to be safe."
'No wonder my grandfather wanted me…he knew about the legend… he knew it all along…'
"But what am I suppose to do……free Eden?" Mai searched her friends' faces for an answer but got nothing.
"Maybe…maybe the inscriptions on the rock tell something. It does have a connection with the legend" Kenny said and started typing on his laptop looking for the picture.
"Here, you should be able to read them." Kenny handed the laptop to Mai.
Dizzi: Be nice this time.
"Read it aloud, I wanna know what it says" Max had a curious gleam in his eyes.
Mai nodded and began:
Here lies the beast asleepling,
Cautious souls will heed this warning:
Dare disturb its peaceful slumber,
Thy will regret what lies beyond yonder
It is good when good does yield it,
But it destroys when evil unseals it
Two souls will decide its fate,
The power to destroy or to create
The legend has been told,
Through the generations of old
Turn away for humanities sake,
Or thy life will be forever at stake
"I think your supposed to unseal Eden before the chosen one with the evil soul does" Rei said.
"One question: which soul is evil?" Hilary asked. Everyone gave a disappointed sigh…they thought they had figured everything out…
"But we're the good guys and Mai's on our side so…. she can't be the evil soul…right?" Tyson was hopeful.
"Hmph, that's what everyone thinks…that they're the good guys and the rest who aren't on their side are bad…Who knows? There's a possibility that she carries the evil soul." Kai replied. –wow! Kai's talking a lot now isn't he? Its good sensible advice too-
"He's right…I could be the evil one…" Mai said.
"Anyway, we should get going before the sun sets" Rei reminded them.
"Yeah" Hilary agreed and the group cleared out of the room, closing the secret entrance before leaving the hut.
"Ah, fresh air" Kenny rejoiced and inhaled deeply before exhaling.
The group walked back to the town, engaging in light conversations at times but other than that they were silent. Everyone was caught up in their own thoughts about the legend...Tyson on the other hand…was busy thinking about what he'll have for dinner… (readers: sweatdrop -.-;;)
Suddenly!
CHING- A blade flew out of the bushes and seconds later, a tree came crashing down, blocking the path of the bladebreakers. –DHHHUUUMMMBBB- The tree's impact shook the ground.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Tyson yelled.
"Hahahahaha –slightly evil laughter- It's been a long time Mai"A man appeared in front as his associates surrounded the group, their weapons out, ready to attack.
Mai recognised the voice "Mike!"
"I'm surprised you still remember my name" Mike pretended to be flattered.
"Of course…" Mai gritted her teeth as anger pulsated through her veins. "Who could forget you after what you've done."
"Mai, you know this guy?" Hilary asked.
"He's the one chasing me…he works for my grandfather…" Mai glared at Mike.
"Come now Mai, what's with that tone? Don't you respect your grandfather?" Mike smirked. "Now be a good granddaughter and come with us if you don't wish to see your friends get hurt."
"She's not going anywhere" Rei said as he, Tyson, Max and Kai stepped out, launchers ready.
"Hahahaha, what're you? The Cirque Du Freake?" Mike held back his laughter. (they couldn't wash the eye-liner off, hahah opps!)
The guys turned to glare at Mai who just gave a weak smile. 'How embarrassing…' Rei thought.
"You expect to defeat us with a bunch of toys? Hahahaha" Mike was so full of himself.
"Let's see who gets the last laugh shall we" Kai threatened.
"Guys…they've got weapons…and you've only got your blades…how can –" But Mai was interrupted.
"Hehehe, don't cha trust us Mai" Tyson and Max smiled at her.
'In a situation like this…how can they still be so happy…?'she thought.
"You twerps ready?" Mike sneered as he got ready to launch his blade.
"Bring it" Tyson said.
Hah….finally done…after countless times searching for ideas…IM FINALLY FINISHED! Yeah! Haha, this has gotta be my longest chapter… 9 pages!
Hope you guys had fun reading! Review k? My next one will take a while so I COMMAND YOU TO EXERCISE YOUR ABILITY TO HAVE PATIENCE!
Lol, pls review!
blu feels contented