Book III: Stolen Valor

Chapter XXII

Thanks to the ship, we were already waiting to dock at Garfont, Uraya. Uraya was full of cherry trees that would glow a gorgeous pink, and on certain rate occasions, the rocky, watery land would be covered in the pink pedals. They would glisten in a gold light and was known by the locals as petal rain.

Of course, I had to make sure I gave Sheba the opportunity to have a conversation, and I had her introduce herself to us, along with Malos and Azami, since neither of them had much of an opportunity to speak either.

"We are Sheba, lover of beauty, wealth, and banquets!" she said in a high-and-mighty tone. "To wit, we dream of assembling our own entourage, and to that end, we must acquire all the assets we can. We expect you to support our noble cause."

"Doesn't sound very noble," Malos laughed.

"And what is THAT supposed to mean peon?" she said irritably.

"Oh nothing," Malos grinned. "Just curious on how 'noble' hunting for a harem can really be."

Sheba immediately got red in the face and pulled her weapon.

"Sheba! Please not in the ship, we don't need to walk there!" I pleaded.

Luckily, she listened to me, huffed, and left to the back.

"Malos, can you try not antagonizing her please?" Acacia asked.

"With the way she was speaking? Face it, she deserved it," Malos laughed.

"Probably, but we're in this together, so we might as well put our differences aside. Think you're up to challenge?" I said.

Malos rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"So what about you anyway? What's your story?" Gabriel asked.

"Don't remember and personally don't care to," he shrugged.

"Aw, come on! I bet there's way more to it than that!" Kasandra added.

Malos shrugged and looked away.

"Poppi have question for Malos!" Poppi said, shyly approaching him.

"Why are you so cautious? I don't bite THAT often," Malos joked.

"Poppi watched Malos' core crystal get destroyed, how is Malos still alive?" Poppi questioned unexpectedly.

Malos raised an eyebrow before an image popped into his brain, one he couldn't explain. He grabbed his head as a sharp pain hit him and he got up suddenly and left the room.

"Malos, where are you going?" Acacia began to interrogate, but he was already gone.

"Oh well...," Azami interrupted, before smiling excitedly. "My turn to talk about myself!"

The ship finally finished docking. And the Urayans called for us to exit.

"Sorry Azami," I said. "It looks like it'll have to wait a bit."

"Awwww...," she said loudly as we all walked out.

She followed close behind before getting my attention again.

"You might wanna watch out for the armed guards up on the walls up ahead, they don't appear to trust that us," Azami explained.

I looked around and only saw blue ground and blue grass, some pink flowers, cherry pedals, and water. No walls to be seen.

"Azami what are you talking about?" Acacia asked.

"Azami have ability to see really far away," Poppi explained. "Can even see places very far away!"

I studied Azami's face, it still looked eerily like a dolls, but I noticed that her left eye, the one that looked like a shattered part and left nothing but a plastic-looking socket. It was glowing bright purple.

"This eye sees all. This way I can keep track of my darling driver no matter where he is!" she giggled.

I ignored that bit for now and focused on what was ahead. "Nobody engage them if it can be helped. We're not here to make enemies, if it comes down to it, surrender. We'll let Zeke's wife know that he sent us and we should be able to clear any misunderstandings up."

"What about me?" Acacia asked. "I'm a BCC Colonel and I'm carrying a stolen blade." she ushered towards KOS-MOS.

"I'm here to," Malos pointed out. "And from what I'm gathering I'm not exactly anyone's white knight."

It amazed me how someone so cynical could pick up very subtle references so well. All of his thinking seemed very logical.

"I suspect if Silas, Mythra, and Poppi explain the situation, there is an eighty-four percent probability that they will see reason," KOS-MOS stated.

"Agreed," I added. "Let's go test it out."

"RAFI AND FRIENDS AWAY!" Rafi shouted excitedly as Poppi rolled her eyes.

We kept on walking, and after what seemed like twenty minutes of walking, we made it to a large gate. In front of us was a twenty-foot-high wall that stretched as far as I could see.

"State your business immediately," a voice said as immediately we noticed that our bodies were covered in lasers.

I immediately realized the gravity of the situation and immediately began explanation.

"I am the driver of the Aegis Mythra, we have come in search of Zeke's wife, Mòrag."

"What is the password?" another man shouted.

"Password?" I asked aloud.

Immediately we were surrounded by troops.

"Colonel Acacia Uzuki, you are trespassing on territory that is not yours, we have full authority to kill you here."

"She's not with them anymore! We're here in peace!" Mythra shouted.

"What's the plan boy?" Acacia demanded.

I used the device Acacia had given me and an ether shield appeared in front of me.

"Guys! Shields!" I yelled as our blades surrounded us and prepared for attack.

"Open fire!" one of them shouted and immediately we were covered in fire from all around.

We put up our shields, but they wouldn't last forever...

"Ready the shield-breaker!" one commanded as we heard a loud noise.

Before we could even react we heard a blast and a hello beam hit us all, draining our blades of all ether and knocking us on the ground.

They approached us from the front, as we were cornered against a wall and backed into a literal corner.

My shield remained fine and Poppi was unaffected by the blast, so we put up our shields as Mythra and Malos drew their weapons.

"Don't kill them guys! We just need to weaken their offense!" Acacia shouted.

"Rafi need a weapon!" Rafi complained.

Sheba, Azami, and KOS-MOS pulled their ether cannons and prepared to fire. Gabriel and Kasandra went back to back and readied for attack. All they waited on was for Poppi and I to drop our shields.

Before things escalated any further, we heard a loud roar that shook the ground beneath our feet and water flowed from seemingly nowhere.

The soldiers stood beside and a large, white beast approached us, growling as people stood out of his way.

The beast appeared to be a form of white tiger, with weapons to its side and an eyepatch covering a scar on his left eye.

It stared us down very menacingly before turning to the men.

"I know for a matter of fact I told you to never attack someone wielding a blade with a green core crystal, didn't I?!" It shouted in a deep voice.

"Sir! The enemy Colonel and the Aegis Malos is with them!" one explained.

"You IDIOTS! That doesn't change what I specifically told you not to do. Back in camp, a thousand pushups, all of you!" he shouted as they immediately went back inside.

He stared me in the eyes. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere, what is your name, child?"

"My name is Silas, Mythra's driver."

"I see, and are you Malos' driver as well?"

"No, that would be Acacia," I said.

He nodded and turned to Mythra. "How long has it been?"

Mythra laughed. "If I had to guess, five hundred years?"

"Dromarch!" Poppi ran up and hugged the beast.

"Poppi?! It's a miracle to even see you again!" he said back.

"Rafi rebuilt Poppi after Nia showed him to Poppi!"

Dromarch's face seemed to grow sad at the mention of Nia. "H-How is she?"

"Ask Silas! Nia practically raised him!"

"You know Granny?" I questioned.

"I am her blade, after all," Dromarch confirmed.

"Granny's a driver? She didn't tell me much about her past."

"Not that you ever asked," Mythra added.

"So do you not remember me?" Dromarch asked Mythra.

I explained, once again, that she was slowly recovering her memory, but could only recall emotions and personal experiences with Rex.

"I didn't know blades could be animals," I asked Dromarch as he walked us into the city known as Garfont.

"Blades can take many shapes and sizes, some look like animals, others like monsters," he ushered towards a large, black, monster-looking blade. Ironically he was happily pushing a child on a swing set.

"That's Wulfric, one of the most tender-hearted blades I've ever seen, but with the face of a killer. It took him years to convince everyone here that he wasn't trying to eat them," Dromarch laughed.

"Why Dromarch wearing eyepatch?" Rafi asked openly.

Dromarch showed us his chest, a tiny fracture in his core crystal could be seen.

"One monster got a little lucky one day and grazed it. It caused a glitch in my physical appearance and now I wear an eyepatch."

We walked into what appeared to be the actual city. And it was a massive area lined with skyscrapers that added silver to the atmosphere and roads that were pink, full of vesses, and large militarized vehicles. There were plenty of blades everywhere, but it was still much smaller than Torna was.

"Welcome to the Blade Assistance Program," Dromarch welcomed.

"Do you have everything set up?" Zane asked Canaan through the headset.

"Yeah, I've taken note of every possible exit, entrance, guard post, room, window—" Canaan would've continued, but Zane cut him off.

"I don't need to hear about it bro," he laughed.

"...Fair enough."

"Get some rest tonight Canaan, I've got a date with Violet tonight!"

"Don't stay up too late either, I don't need you tired when I go face the king of Tantal himself," Canaan warned.

"I know, I know," he replied. "I'll be fine."

"Right," Canaan agreed. "Tomorrow... we kill Zeke von Genbu."

Readability Level: 11th-12th Grade

Time Taken: 7 Hours