Alright, here comes the next saga, the Geffen Saga. Definately more interesting than the first, I assure you ;)
Chapter 11: To Geffen! Conspiracy revealed!
A huge tower spiraled up from within the walls of an ancient city, as if looking watch over the entire metropolis, casting a long shadow over those beneath it. Hundreds of visitors gathered around the tower, like ants swarming over a chunk of sugar. This was the famous Geffen Tower, which rose high above the city, and situated directly in the heart of Geffen, the arcane city of magic. Each day, hundreds of visitors would flock to the tower. Some of them were normal travelers who wanted a look at the famous artifact; others seeked to purchase the mysterious concoctions brewed by the Geffen high wizards and Albertan Alchemists alike. Most of them, however, were novices who hoped to become a mage. Here, they would apply for a job change test, and, if they passed it, would become a fully qualified magician.
A lone figure, draped in a swirling traveling cloak, approached the tower, holding something close to his heart, clutching it tightly as if his life depended on it. As he watched the novices stand in line, he let out a small laugh as he recalled his oldern days, where he too once stood in line.
Wasting no time, the traveler proceeded to enter the tower. Upon presenting his identity card, he was allowed instant access into the tower. "Good job, Master Kira," the guard whispered as he let him through. Kira smiled beneath his hood, and, without replying, entered the Geffen Tower.
Miles away, a party of three ran across the Pronteran Fields, heading towards their next destination. One of them was a wizard, who wore a Marduk's Helm upon her head. She moved surprisingly fast for a wizard, as if she was gliding on the winds, being extremely fast and extremely silent.
Leading the party was a dark black shadow, which moved so fast that his movements were rendered unseen by the naked eye. He was an assassin, an elite soldier who served the mysterious assassin guild. He was clad entirely in black, as most assassins usually were, in order to effectively conceal himself. His head of white hair, though, strongly clashed with his jet black outfit, juxtaposing it like the stars in the dead of the night.
The last of the three was an acolyte, tall in stature and also heavy on foot. He was the slowest of the three, as he struggled to catch up. He was, however, showing no signs of fatigue, and it appeared that he was well built physically. Together, the three made their way towards the tall tower of Geffen, determined to reach there before nightfall.
"Well done, Kira," a tall figure, seated behind a chair, said, rubbing his fingers in glee. Before him lay a stack of documents, pages worn yellow by age, and edges curled by the flow of time. "I never would have thought that the manuscripts would one day be mine..." he said, more to himself.
"Thank you, your Excellency," Kira said. "I trust that my bounty is ready?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll personally make sure that you're handsomely rewarded."
Kira bowed low again, before continuing. "Your Excellency, I beg your pardon, but can you reveal to me the true purpose of you wishing to obtain the documents?"
The seated figure smiled, before saying, "I have with me another part of the documents that were scattered across Midgard a millennium ago. I wish to gather all parts of them and form a complete collection."
"But your Excellency, what do these documents contain?" Kira asked in confusion. The seated figure's grin grew even wider, as he said, "These papers contain the very secrets to reviving the ancient MVPs, the greatest creatures of all time. Once I have gathered them, I will unseal all of them and, with them under my rule, take control of the entire world!"
Kira smiled as he lowered his head. "Just as I thought..." he said softly. The seated figure looked at him in surprise, before asking, "What did you say again, Kira?" Kira continued to smile, as he slowly approached the figure. "You really think..." he said, as he drew closer to the figure."That we will go quietly under that stupid rule of yours?" as he talked, he moved dangerously close to the figure, who began backing away in fear.
"What are you talking about, Kira?" he asked as he continued to back away. Kira said nothing as he continued to make his way towards him, until at last he stood right in front of the figure. "Nothing..." he said, as he slowly lifted his head. At sight of him, the figure grew pale, as he immediately let loose a blast of thunder. "Jupitel Thunder!" he roared, bolts of electricity crackling out from his fingertips. Kira merely laughed as he threw on his cloak, absorbing the full force of the blast. "Futile!" he roared as he threw his cloak aside, and sprang towards the wizard. The wizard didn't even have a chance to scream, let alone defend himself, as Kira plunged his abnormally long fangs into his neck.
Minutes later, the wizard fell to the floor, dead. Kira stood up and licked his lips, cleaning whatever leftover blood there was on his lips. "Tasty," he said sadistically. "I always loved it."
"The taste of greed."
Chidori and the party looked up in awe as the great Geffen Tower shot up from the ground, covering them in the huge shadow it cast. "Impressive," Chidori said. "To think that someone actually managed to build something this tall, and this strong, a millennium ago."
"It certainly is," Sky said. "The Geffen Tower is one of the 7 great mysteries of Midgard, along with the pyramids of Morroc and the floating gardens of Gonyrun. In fact, many still come here to investigate this tower, to find out what force holds it straight."
"However, a strange phenomenon has been happening these recent few years. Those who research the tower have found out that it has been in fact leaning more and more each year, starting from a few years back. Many have speculated that a mysterious force has been keeping the tower standing these hundred years, and that force is fast running out." Sky continued to explain.
"We don't have time for history lessons, Sky," Tsukiyo snapped. "We're here to capture that traitor, Kira Galewing."
"Relax, Tsukiyo," Sky said lazily. "He's here. I know he is."
"How can you be so sure?" Tsukiyo said hotly. "Because," Sky replied in a lazy tone, "I can feel a dark aura radiating out from this place."
"Kira came here for a reason, and that's exactly the same reason he stole those darned papers." Sky continued. "Kira is interested in releasing the MVPs."
Chidori was shocked. "But that's impossible! Not many know about them! Even I haven't heard of them before!" she exclaimed.
"My guess is that someone leaked the information out to Kira." Sky said simply. "And that someone most probably told him to steal the manuscripts in order to find the location of the MVP."
"But who is the MVP of Geffen?" Tsukiyo asked. Sky looked deeply at Tsukiyo, before finally saying, "The ever-increasing Dracula."
Each MVP had a nick name that most liked to use in their discussions, as most consider the use of their real names a taboo. Each name referred to the attribute and specialty of the MVP, and usually began with the word "ever". In the Dracula's case, he was called the ever-increasing due to his abilities to absorb the knowledge from opponents by sucking their blood.
"The... Ever... Increasing?" Chidori asked, clueless about what was happening. Sky shook his head and said, "I don't really know the details, either, but I do know that by sucking your blood, he can immediately gain access to all of your powers."
"Including your Forbidden Powers like the Storm Gust and Lord of Vermillion."
Chidori grew pale at that statement. "If so, how are we supposed to kill it?" She asked. "It's exactly like dueling a mirror image of ourselves!"
"Not quite," Sky said. "Dracula can only receive your powers after he has feasted on your blood. Without your blood, he cannot mimic your spells."
"So Chidori," Sky said, "In the unlikely event that the Dracula is indeed released, you must not let him get hold of your blood, or all hell shall be let loose. Literally," he added.
Chidori gulped, before saying, "Alright, I'll try my best..." That seemed to satisfy Sky, as he said, "Well, are you ready to hunt Kira down, before he releases the MVP?"
Tsukiyo nodded immediately, as the both of them turned towards Chidori. She in turn looked at the both of them, and, very slowly, took in a deep breath and nodded her head. Inside her body, a huge wave of sickness washed over her.
This was going to be a long night.
The moonlight poured over the city of Geffen, covering it in a sheet of satin white. The whole town was fast asleep, leaving the corridors deserted, and streets empty.
In the middle of the night, three figures slowly made their way through the darkness, towards the great Geffen Tower. The tower was off limits to all during the night, and it was guarded heavily by two knights and three wizards.
"This is going to be tricky," Sky said, as he watched the five guard the entrance. "We need to sneak in quietly..."
"Decrease Agility!" Tsukiyo roared as he charged out towards the guards. Instantly, two spears flew towards him, thrown by the knights, aimed directly at his heart. Tsukiyo, however, didn't even flinch. Raising his hand, he commanded, "Pneuma!"
A huge, blue, misty barrier shot up from beneath Tsukiyo and shielded him from the attack. The spears entered the barrier and dissolved into nothingness, just as Tsukiyo charged forward and walloped a knight on the face.
"So much for stealth," Chidori mumbled. No sooner than she had stepped out from her hiding place, two balls of thunder shot towards her. She narrowly avoided the first, as the second bolt knocked her squarely in the middle and sent her flying back. "Chidori!" Tsukiyo yelled as he watched Chidori fly through the air. Before he could heal her, a furious blast of lightning sent him flying, as the remaining wizard threw a bolt of lightning at him.
Sky emerged from beneath one of the wizards, and immediately buried his katars in him. As soon as he had ended his life, he glided to the next and proceeded to end his life.
"Safety wall!" The wizard yelled as he raised a pink wall before him, deflecting Sky's furious blows. Before Sky could retreat to safety, the wizard shot a blast of howling thunder at him, throwing him back.
"This is getting annoying," he thought as he went into cloaking mode. Not wasting any time, the wizards generated orbs of fire to sense him out. The light from the flames threw Sky's disguise off, as the wizards threw a barrage of spells at him.
"Jupitel Thunder! Fire Bolt!"
Sky closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact. Just as they were about to hit him, a dark shadow moved forward and intercepted the spells.
"Magic Rod!" it cried as it turned the spells into chunks of raw energy to absorb. Not wasting any time, the shadow immediately charged an attack of his own. "Colt bolt!" It cried as bolts of ice rained down from the sky and impaled the wizard, killing him instantly. The remaining wizard began chanting a spell, but before he could finish, the shadow broke his cast by yelling "Spell Breaker!"
The enemy wizard immediately lost his focus and stopped chanting immediately. Taking advantage of this, the shadow ended his life by sending a huge bolt of lightning at him. "Lightning Bolt!" he roared, as the spell delivered a thousand volts of electricity throughout his body, destroying his inner organs, and ending his life instantly.
Meanwhile, Sky was busy taking on the knights, who had begun their assault on the shadow. Without the wizard's safety wall, Sky easily dispatched them via his flurry of Sonic Blows, leaving the path clear for them to enter.
Wasting no time, the shadow ploughed through the gates and entered the tower. Sky quickly took out two herbs from his body, and crushed tem into fine powder. He then went to the unconscious Tsukiyo and Chidori, and placed the herbs into their mouths.
A few minutes later, the both of them began to stir. "We've got no time to waste," Sky said urgently. "We have to go now!"
"What..." Tsukiyo said grudgingly. "What's the rush?"
"Someone else is in there!" Sky said urgently. "Someone else is infiltrating the tower, and I fear that it's Kira!"
Sky was wrong, though. It wasn't Kira who had broken through. Kira was literally six feet underground, far below the Geffen Tower, in a secret basement not many knew about. Within his hands he held two manuscripts, as he chanted mysterious words of a strange tongue.
"That's as far as you'll go, Kira."
Kira turned to see who had made that statement. His lips curled at the sight of the intruder.
"Ah, it's been years, hasn't it?" he called out, with an excited tone. "Zephyr Galewing!"
Zephyr bent his body and readied himself. "How dare you call your grandfather by his first name, you traitorous wretch." He said as he pulled out his wand. "Perhaps its time I teach you some manners."
Kira laughed as he too brandished a wand of his own. "Oh but I don't think so, old man." Kira rasped menacingly. "In fact," he continued, "I think that I'll just kill you, and drain your precious Lord of Vermillion."
Zephyr said nothing but merely stared at Kira, who followed suit and remained silent. Both could feel the power radiating out from the other, and both knew that they were evenly matched.
As Chidori and the party headed down towards where the two were, a clock on the wall struck midnight, sending an eerie chime throughout the entire city. And it was exactly midnight that the two great wizards dueled.
A fierce duel, to the death, between the two separate masters of the Galewing clan.
END OF CHAPTER 11
