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Digital Manifest

Keepers

Chapter: 17/ Quoth the Raven…

The sun shone down upon the temple ruins, illuminating the small areas of darkness while casting shadows in areas of light. Perhaps there was something to be said about that, a philosophical poem that could be transcribed to describe the ruins that stood there in this harsh, unyielding desert environment that baked beneath the sun under which the temple sat, a scarred, shattered remnant of its previous self; a ghost really, a shadow that called forth images of time's power over the world.

A white colored sneaker crunched on the ground directly in front of it as a girl with gray-blue eyes and dark hair tied back into an arching pony tail came to a stop, and looked at the temple, her cool gaze measuring it, taking in each and every battered inch as she licked her lips to rid them of the dryness that had been pervading them ever since she had arrived on this level of the digital world.

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings," the girl whispered to herself in a calm, measured manner as her eyes slid over a vicious scar that ran long and deep into the temple's outer wall, brushing next to the entrance. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."

"What was that Jane?" Asked a small, dark colored bird that stood next to the girl, her head just coming up past her knees.

The dark haired girl known as Jane looked down at the small bird digimon who had chosen to share her travels and hardships with from the moment that their partnership began looked down and smiled at her.

"Just something that I read in school a while ago Munnimon," the girl replied with a light chuckle. "Some stupid poem. I think that it was describing that temple up ahead."

"That temple?" Asked the bird digimon that Jane had called Munnimon as she took a skeptical look at the building before them, taking note of the craters and boulders that littered the area like so much refuse. "But it's in ruins! How can something a poem take something like that and call it frightening?"

Jane again laughed lightly as she shifted her bag on her shoulder.

"It's a little complex," said Jane. "It's more of a statement of irony and the power of the natural world over that of humans, and probably has something to say on our pride too."

Jane frowned.

"Actually I don't know if any of that is right. We only started studying poetry in class and our teacher just thought that one would be a good one to start from."

"Oh," said Munnimon, cocking her head to one said and blinking in slight confusion. "Is there more of it then? Or was that all there was to the poem?"

"Oh, there's more," said Jane as she once again set her gaze on the temple ahead of them, her eyes setting themselves in determination and she began to get moving again. "I just don't remember it all. Just that particular passage was all that I remembered. It kinda stuck with me and I thought that it was worth remembering. I feel that it applies to that place up ahead very well."

"Hmmm…" was all that Munnimon said in response as she hopped into the air, spreading her wings and catching the thermals, allowing them to lift her up into the air, flapping her wings every so often so that she could stay within range of her partner. In the meantime, as the two companions made their way towards the temple ruins, Jane reached to her side, brushing aside the unzipped black fleece jacket that she wore (and had been regretting wearing ever since arriving here) and unclipped a T-shaped device with black trim from her belt, raising it in front of her as a holographic circle appeared above the devices screen, displaying a map of the surrounding environs and a white colored line that led straight ahead.

Straight towards the temple ruins.

"Are you sure that this is where they are?" Asked Munnimon as she flew close to the dark haired girl, flapping her wings so that she hovered next to her, looking over the girl's shoulder to take a look at the halo map. Jane looked up from her black trimmed device thoughtfully, knowing full well whom Munnimon was referring to when she said they. After all, they were the reasons why the two of them had come to the digital world in the first place.

"Well, this is where the digivice's reader is telling us they went, provided that we're not following someone else's…" Jane paused for a moment as she pursed her lips, deep in thought.

"…Again," the girl added after a moment.

Munnimon looked at Jane as she said that before shaking her head.

"I still don't know why you think that we were following another signal after we met up with that Ryo kid…"

Jane narrowed her eyes and regarded the bird digimon coolly.

"We already discussed this Munnimon…"

"Yeah. I know. A dream."

"That's right. And you of all digimon should know how important that sort of thing is…"

"We discussed that too Jane," said Munnimon with a huff as she landed on the ground in front of Jane, bringing the girl up short as she crossed her wings in irritation. "I left that part of me behind after I met you, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," said Jane lowering her eyes, her face set in a grimace as she looked back at her digivice, as though troubled by whatever memories that her partner had brought to the surface. After a couple seconds the girl shifted uncomfortably and she set off again. "Come on. We're almost to that temple. Better get there while we still have daylight."

Munnimon watched the girl walk off with sad eyes before taking flight again once more, matching her partner's pace.

"Jane," the bird digimon began softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

"Just forget about it, okay?" Said the girl a little harshly, though the look of sorrow on her own face suggested that she regretted the words and their use as quickly as she had said them. Her face softening Jane offered the bird digimon her shoulder to ride upon as they walked, and Munnimon accepted it gratefully, settling down on it carefully. After she had settled herself Jane reached out and stroked the bird's feathers.

"Come on," said Jane quietly, and with a slight nod from her friend the two of them continued their trek towards the temple ruins.

Sheesh, those two must have put up quite a fight, thought Jane as she glanced around her, taking note of the boulders and deep gouges in the earth that were scattered across the landscape, not to mention the sheer amount of large footprints that littered the landscape around her. One set in particular called to her, due to the enormity of their size. Reptilian in appearance, and certainly larger than that of the other digimon tracks that were around.

An Ultimate? Jane wondered before brushing the thought away, realizing that there wasn't much point in trying to discern the identities of the combatants. Size, she had learned long ago, though the most reliable way of determining a digimon's level was by no means the standard of all digimon. Besides, truth be told, she couldn't tell one digimon footprint from another, or at least when it came to dinosaur tracks.

Wonder who they were fighting?

The question certainly begged to be answered. Ever since she had arrived on this plain she had noticed signs that there had been a struggle of some sort between those that she hoped that she was following and another group, possibly another group as well, and with the amount of data that her digivice was picking up whenever she passed through there had certainly been casualties being suffered by the pursuers. The data was far too old and fragmented to get a clear idea as to who or what digimon had been involved, and it wouldn't have told her who they owed allegiance too either. There were many powers both within and outside the digital world that could lay claim to these attacks, but if she was right about one of the pair whose trail she hoped she was on then the playing field could be narrowed down to only a few. Hopefully.

As Jane followed the trail marked on her digivice's halo-map, a memory flickered through her mind.

A crowd of snobs led by a girl named Ashley Brahms was roughing up the kid in the halls, and during the struggle a small object had fallen out of his bag and slid over to where Jane had stood, watching the scene with mild disgust. Quickly, before anyone could see it she bent down and retrieved it, looking it over carefully to make sure that it was what she thought it was. It was shaped like her own, almost in the form of a T, but not quite, with smooth rounded angles and a screen; no buttons adorned it. The only major difference between the two was that while hers had black trim, his was green. His cry of surprise as he was shoved up against the wall caught her attention and she decided to step in. Ashley had laughed in her face, but once she saw the look on Jane's face she decided to not tempt fate. Jane had something of a 'reputation' that, while wasn't anything especially frightening, was enough to keep the flies off. She had looked the boy over as he watched Ashley and her troupe head to class, as if she were sizing him up, before returning his digivice to him.

"Keep track of your toys" she had told him before leaving herself. "You don't want to end up losing them."

It's gotta be the Aesir, thought Jane as she trudged up to the temple. Or at least the Jotun. Heck, there's any number of powers from the Regin that would probably want to get their hands on him. His friend too if he's in the same boat. For some reason they're interested in these digivices, and since that one kid has one and has disappeared here, pulled into the digital world…

Jane frowned as she let the thought drift.

I've gotta find them and bring them back home, the girl thought to herself as she picked up her pace with a fierce determination in her steps, causing Munnimon to squawk in surprise before giving her partner a look of irritation, but didn't as yet say anything about the unexpected change in velocity. She had been with the girl long enough to know that Jane could at times be aggressive, heavily focused, and sometimes even narrow minded whenever she pursued something with a high degree of attention and passion, a trait that Munnimon sometimes admired and was wary of at the same time, as she could become somewhat irritable towards anything that could distract her during such times.

Even so, Munnimon wouldn't have it any other way.

The two friends made their way carefully into the darkness of the temple, Jane pausing at the entrance to take a moment to rummage through her bag and produce a flashlight so that they would have an easier time looking around. There wasn't that much there to see really. Mostly rubble, collapsed columns and pillars of stone, a cracked door behind them…

Jane focused her flashlight upon the door. Her digivice was indicating that that area was the last place that the signals were, so where were they? All she saw was an empty door filled with nothing more than shadows…

Panic seized Jane's heart and she dashed forward, Munnimon leaping off her shoulder and fluttering in the air as the girl raced up to the rubble, her hands scrabbling around on the stones as she flashed her light around, trying to find some sign of them… some sign that the two that she had been searching for were there, hopefully not dead, or even hurt. If they were, she'd… she'd…

Tears began to spring forth into Jane's eyes as she tried to push a shattered piece of a pillar out of her way. From her point of view it looked like it was lying on top of something and she had to see what it was! There was too much rubble in the way for her to see with her flashlight. Try as she might though, the pillar didn't so much as budge. Biting her lower lip angrily Jane punched the unyielding stone with her right fist, grunting in pain as her knuckles made contact with it. For a few seconds she stood there, feeling anguish at the possibility that she had been too late to rescue them… that they had been either killed or captured before she could bring them back home. She may have never known them personally, but she still felt responsible for them nonetheless. They were in the same boat as she was after all. Outside of Munnimon she hadn't had any help when she had received her digivice, and those two were probably even less prepared for this than she was! At least she had been looking for something to give meaning to her life…!

Jane cursed to herself and fought back the tears and pain. Thoughts like that weren't doing her much good. She had to clear her head so that she could properly think of a way to handle this recent development. Just because she didn't see them didn't mean that they weren't here, and she still had to clear away some of this rubble so that she could get a better idea of whether or not they were still in the vicinity. Though where they had gone now was beyond her. Maybe this temple had served as a gateway to another level in the digital world or maybe to the real world. Of course, whatever purpose it had served it was clearly gone now so she would have to think of a new way to track them down… that is, if their mangled bodies weren't still here, buried under this rubble.

First things first, thought Jane as she began to turn to her partner.

"Munnimon…" she began only to stop cold in her feet, an act that caused her partner to blink and turn around to look behind her and quickly copy the expression on the dark haired girl's face. Behind them, standing at the entrance to the temple was an all too familiar figure. It was humanoid in appearance, and wore white and blue armor that otherwise would have been obscured by the brown cloak that it had draped over its shoulders, and to top it all off was the curved, bird like helm that covered its face that stared at them almost mockingly. She almost could have believed that it was human, if not for the fact that it was seven feet tall. She knew this being of old, and her partner did as well. Sadly enough, they could both say that their acquaintance with this armored knight like figure was not anything that was of the friendly sort, but more in the trying to do each other bodily harm kind.

"You…" Jane spat coldly at the figure as she raised her digivice, even though she knew that if a fight broke out here she and Munnimon were at a disadvantage. The room that they were in was far too small for Munnimon's evolved forms to maneuver and fight in affectively.

"Me," said the armored figure humorlessly before nodding at Munnimon, acknowledging her presence.

"Hello there, little sister…"

"Shut up," said Munnimon in an angry tone. The armored figure tsked at the bird, waving a finger at her.

"That's not the way that you treat family you know. I thought that you remembered what we used to be…"

" 'What we used to be' is a good way to describe it," said Munnimon as she took a step backwards, inching towards her partner. "Both you and me in fact, but between the two of us you've changed the most and it certainly wasn't for the best. But then, memory was hardly your thing…"

"That's right," chuckled the armored figure. "It was yours. I always thought too much. But that was the whole point after all. We were meant to be like the Yin and Yang when it came to the mind…"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Jane angrily. "As much as I hate to interrupt your reunion but you got a reason for being here?"

The armored figure chuckled again.

"Well, this place is Regin property… but I digress. To put your thoughts at ease, I'm not here to fight. I told you before that you were made off-limits, otherwise…well, never mind. As it turns out you're in luck. The ones that you seek you won't find here."

Jane blinked and glared at the armored form suspiciously.

"And we should trust you why? And what makes you think that you even know what we're looking for?"

The armored figure folded his arms across his chest.

"Well, like Munnin there…"

"Munnimon!" The bird digimon clarified with a low growl, but the figure continued as if he hadn't even heard her.

"…My job was to find and gather information. Even with all the changes that I've gone through that part of me hasn't left. Why should it? It has proven to be so very useful in the past. I keep my ear close to the ground and I hear things, like the tale of the Keeper marked by Ahuramon's Shadow. Not something that happens everyday you know."

The figure paused and looked at the diminutive bird digimon before him, standing between him and the dark haired girl that was glaring angrily at him.

"See what you turned down Munnin? You could have found him much, much sooner had you not joined with this human. But then, your interests would have been different too I'll wager. Why you chose to stay with her I'll never understand…"

"Not that I even care for you too," growled Munnimon under her breath.

"…But the reason for my being here is that I've chosen to help you. Why? Because far too many groups are starting to stick their noses into my interests, and I would rather that someone that I know and can trust to do the job of keeping their hands off my interests then to let them have it for themselves."

Jane narrowed her eyes. For some reason she could easily believe this being on his trusting her to protect his interests. She had proven herself in the past, and her own status in the powers eyes gave them even more reason to believe that, though she hated it. But she couldn't believe that this being, someone that had tried to kill her in the past would just approach her and help her (as well as himself) with a job that he could handle on his own.

The armored figure laughed again, as though sensing the girl's doubts.

"Better decide soon Raven," the figure said sarcastically. "Loki and the Shadow are closing in on your friends," Jane's eyes widened as he spoke those names. She had heard them spoken in whispers before, and nothing that she had been told since were good things. "They've gotten away a few times, slipping through their fingers, but sooner or later their luck will run out. That's the way that the universe works you know. Gods notwithstanding. You could choose to abandon your search, knowing full well that I can track them down any time that I want, because your being there might provide me with another advantage, one that will tip the scales of power. Of course, I have other things to worry about at present so I have no time to play the Shepard, which was why I would rather that you do it. So… what's it going to be Raven? The devil you know versus the devil's you've heard. Lesser of evils? Or the greater?"

The figure raised his left arm and twisted his wrist a few times, as though imitating a watch's presence upon it, indicating that time was running out for her.

"Tick tock," the figure said mockingly. "The game is locked, and no one else can play. Come on Pure Born. Make a choice."

Jane gritted her teeth angrily.

Damn you Huginn…

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