Chaotic Worlds: Book 1

Chapter 3: Aftermath

Disclaimer: The concept of the Seven Seals belongs to the manga group CLAMP. However, my main Seven Seals are my own original characters. All aforementioned anime series listed so far in the previous chapters do not belong to me at all.

Universe 1566

When the fire had finally been extinguished the five went over to one of the cops in hopes of getting some answers. By this time, Ken had visibly calmed down and was asking about his family in a composed voice while the rest looked on.

"There were no signs of my family? At all?"

"Afraid so, kid. Eyewitness reports say that there was nobody in the house at all. There were no signs of escape, just one big fire."

"That can't be right, officer. My dad messaged me on my cellphone just now, he told me that the whole family had just come back. They should've been at home."

"Well, son, all I can say is that we haven't found anything yet that suggests they were here. Now if you'll excuse me, I got work to do and you need to come with me."

"Hey wait a second!" burst in Rachel indignantly. "He didn't do anything!"

"I know that, you four have vouched for him. But since there's no one here to claim guardianship over him yet, he'll have to come with us until a suitable guardian can be found. The kid needs a place to stay for the time being anyway."

"Oh, right."

"Hey, it's cool guys. I'll be fine. Really. I need to know all I can about what happened anyway and the cops can totally help with that."

"Actually, I was under the impression that it was going to be the other way around, kid."

"Right, whatever," Ken snorted dismissively. Then he smiled reassuringly at his friends. "I'll meet up with you guys tomorrow morning for breakfast if possible. I'll tell you all I've learned, okay?"

Having agreed upon a meeting place, the group split up, Ken walking off with the police officer while the other four walked back towards their own houses, thinking about all the strange things that had happened that day. After a while, Matt and Rachel went off in different directions leaving Jake and Cassie. As they walked hand in hand they discussed.

"You know, Jake…Ken didn't seem all that upset after a while. I mean, when we first saw the fire he was freaking out badly but after we calmed him down he seemed so…" mentioned Cassie thoughtfully.

"…In control?" finished Jake.

"Yeah."

"I was expecting that, actually."

"Huh?" Cassie immediately stopped and turned to face her boyfriend. "Seriously?"

"Yep. You see, Ken isn't what he seems most of the time. The school geek impression that people at school have of him is just an act. He's nothing at all like that. I've known him since we were toddlers, Cassie, and he's always been a calm, composed dude. You and Rachel and Matt don't know him that well but he likes to keep things to himself, that boy."

"So he's emotionless? Like a robot?"

"No, he's just real good at controlling his emotions. It could be because of all his training but he's got a real slow fuse; it takes a LOT to make him angry. Usually, if he's pissed off he keeps his anger level to a frown, maybe a scowl and even that's rare. I can count with one hand the number of times I've actually seen him explode. Not only that, he cools down real quick. He forgives people easily; it's part of his character. It's hard for him to be angry and to stay angry. Right now, I know he's worried sick about his family but he's keeping all that emotion inside him," explained Jake

"That's not helping him any." Cassie raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe that's what you think but I figure it does help him. It focuses him, gives him the drive needed to get to the bottom of this mystery," Jake shot back.

"The mystery of the missing family?"

"Yeah. There's something more to this, and I can't help but feel that the fire was related to this afternoon."

"The one with that hunky dreamboat?" sighed Cassie, eyes misting over at the memory of the tall, handsome stranger.

"Oh c'mon Cass…"

Universe 1566: Mithril HQ

Commanders Karl and Jessica Fanell, respectively the overall head and head of the medical squads of Mithril led their family, currently consisting of their youngest son Sam and their two daughters Lisa and Ally, down the long corridors leading to the main offices of Mithril. As they walked purposely, their children were looking around, bewildered. Life for the three had drastically changed in a matter of a few hours. They had escaped their burning house while finding out at the same time that their parents were more than just the head of a small security company and a doctor respectively. They had found out that they each had different powers which had just been triggered by their parents. And now they were on their way to meet up with their two elder brothers who they had originally thought to be miscarried babies.

The faces of their parents, however, were portraits of calm, of people in control who knew what they were doing. People who the three children had clearly never seen before, people of various nationalities, were snapping to rigid attention and were saluting their parents who nonchalantly returned the salutes. Most were dressed in smart military attire and were clearly busy yet stopped respectfully to salute two ordinary civilians who were headed to the main offices with their three children.

"Sis, this is unreal," muttered Sam to his older sister Lisa.

"Tell me about it."

"You don't think we're having a dream, do you?"

"Together at the same time? I don't think so. Let's just go with it, see what happens."

"If you say so."

Universe 1566: Jake Turner

It was 2 in the morning when I woke from my dream. I was tired from the events of that day. Ken's dream, the zombies and the stranger, the fire. It took me a long time to fall asleep and yet after the dream I just had, I simply couldn't go back to sleep. It was gonna be a long night and the knowledge of that did nothing to get rid of my fatigue. I lay back, closed my eyes. Tossed and turned. Useless. I couldn't sleep, kept going over and over the dream. It had been so surreal, so unbelievably ridiculous.

And yet it seemed right. Somehow…somehow I found myself accepting all that the dream had told me.

Let's recap, shall we?

After I had walked Cassie back to her house, I had walked home, replaying the events of just now through my head continuously. I had a feeling all of them were linked to one another in one way or another, yet I couldn't piece them together. Throughout the journey I went over them repeatedly. Still nothing. My head was throbbing. One big headache.

I managed to solve one problem, though. It was decided, after talking it over with my parents, that Ken could stay with us for the time being. Like I told Cassie, we'd been friends since toddlers. He was my best friend. We'd been through thick and thin together. I owed him anyway. So that was one problem solved.

A cold shower did nothing to get rid of the headache. My head was still muddled, all the random thoughts and emotions and gut instincts about what had happened jumbled up in one big mess. This sucked. I was tired, my head was aching and I couldn't sleep. Brilliant. Finally, though, I managed to fall asleep.

And I dreamed.

It was exactly as Ken had described it, barring a few extra details. Maybe he had forgotten them. Or maybe he just didn't care. It was a weird dream, after all. The seven of us, the seven people Ken had described, were standing on a vast green field in a circle facing each other. Cassie was standing on my left, Ken on my right. In front of me was the seventh guy, the one Ken didn't know. I didn't know him either. He had short, straight black hair that fell just over his eyes. He looked to be about the same age as the "dreamboat" stranger. It was his eyes that caught my attention. Piercing black eyes. This was clearly someone not to be messed with.

It was then that they came. The seven "beams of light" that Ken had spoken of. Just like he said, they were of different colors, and they changed as they got closer. I soon realized why Ken had said that he couldn't quite make out what the others were doing or what the other beams of light looked like. Except for mine, the other six beams rapidly moved to the six people who were standing, blocking their line of sight. And Ken's blue dragon was massive. It looked like one of those dragons you read about in fairy tales. It wasn't like those Chinese dragons with the long bodies but more like the dragon in Sleeping Beauty. Lightning danced all around the dragon, coursed through his skin. The creature was just bristling with energy. To say that it was intimidating was an understatement.

On my right, Cassie's pink beam of light was changing. A flash of pink light, and all that remained was a black panther cub. It was glowing a muted pink all over. It did look cute, I admit. One big kitten. Yet just glancing at it, I knew it was just as special as Ken's dragon, just as dangerous. And then the last beam of light which had all this while been hovering at the centre of the circle streaked down towards me.

It was still a great distance from me, a tiny red speck in the sky, but even from that distance I could feel the heat it was generating. Strangely, the heat gradually began to disappear, leaving a curious but enjoyable warmth. He was a red phoenix, a magnificent creature. Words fail me. I don't even know what to say to describe the phoenix's majesty. Flames licked every part of him, completely engulfing him. He spoke to me, the exact same words that Ken had said.

'After so long, the time of the Seven is at hand once more. You are the one who will wield me in battle. Make sure you remember my name.' I have to admit, his words did send chills running through my spine. But he had more for me. 'You are the chosen leader as well. Your friends will depend on you, yet you must learn to look to them for assistance when you need it. Heed my advice and do not forget your responsibility.' Like Ken, I couldn't make out his name when he said it either.

It was at that time that I awoke. I couldn't go to sleep after that. No matter how hard I tried.

Universe 1566: The next day

In the morning, Jake and his father went to the police department to take custody of Ken temporarily. The two teens were then dropped off at the park and proceeded to meet up with their friends at their agreed meeting place. The two were surprised to see a new addition to their group: Ken's younger cousin Kyle Freeman, the one who had been present in Ken's dream. However, they weren't so surprised on seeing their friends staggering from lack of sleep, like them. Evidently the rest had had sleepless nights themselves.

"What are we doing here? Isn't this the spot where we got ambushed by all those crazies yesterday?" asked Rachel indignantly.

"We're here because I thought we could find some clues about yesterday. Plus, I figured being here might help us think better," explained Jake patiently, trying not to sound as tired as he felt.

"Yeah, but what if those zombies come back for round two?"

"Lightning doesn't hit the same place twice."

"You know, there was this one time…"chimed in Cassie, smiling, trying to cheer up her glum friends. When that didn't work, she changed tack. "So…did we all have our weird dreams yesterday?"

Five heads instantly snapped up, shocked. Rachel was the first to recover.

"You had a dream, too? Something like Ken's dream?"

"Yes. I take it the rest of you had your own dreams?"

"I had a repeat telecast," muttered Ken resentfully, rubbing his eyes. "You'd think one time was enough, but no…"

"I suppose, for you, once just isn't enough…ah well. Fools like you and your friends probably need a lot of punishments to learn, I imagine."

And then the black cards appeared again, rapidly changing into the cursed zombies.

"What was that about lightning not hitting the same place twice again?"

Universe 1566: Mithril HQ

At that moment, Commander Karl Fanell of the peacekeeping organization Mithril was locked inside his office with his advisory committee, discussing subsequent plans of action regarding the Chaos Legion while his eldest son Van stood by his side quietly. Outside, his second child Brian was overseeing the intelligence gathering by his communication specialists. His wife and the rest of his children milled about in the intelligence room trying to pass time when the alarms sounded.

Van immediately tapped the 'connect' button on his fixed earpiece, bringing up a voice connection with his younger brother. "What's up, Brian?"

"The Seals are under attack again, bro. All of the remaining six are together. I've got three Warlords and about 150 cursed zombies detected. They're going for the kill this time, Van. We need to do something fast."

The young captain conversed quietly and briefly with his father, then spoke into the earpiece in a clear, ringing tone. "Get Isaac down there now," he ordered. "It's time all the Seals were gathered together. I'm going down too. You're on standby."

"Again? Man, how come you always get to go down?" grumbled Lieutenant Brian Fanell. Then he sighed. "Orders acknowledged, sir. I'll send down Isaac at once."

Universe 1566

"Man, I am so not in the mood for this," Ken growled as he and Jake both shifted into fighting stances side by side. Behind them, the other four tensed visibly as the zombies slowly advanced upon them. "What the hell do you want with us? We don't even know you, we don't want anything to do with you people and yet you come here and try to 'punish' us. What did we do to you to deserve this? Nothing!"

"It's not a matter of what you did to us," answered the disembodied voice silkily. "It's more to do with what you'll do to us. You six are dangerous to us, to our plans. We can't have that."

"Yeah well, tough cookies, pal. I don't plan on dying today. Sixty years from now, maybe, when I'm too wasted from Alzheimer's to hear the sounds of my arthritic bones rattling in their sockets," retorted Ken defiantly.

"Y'know, sometimes I'd really like to know what goes on in that brain of yours," whispered Matt softly, rolling his eyes at Ken's morbid description of his future self.

The disembodied voice just laughed sinisterly in reaction to Ken's comeback. Then three figures cloaked in black with their hoods up materialized behind the advancing zombies. The six couldn't see their eyes. What they could see, though, were the twisted, evil smiles that slowly appeared on the faces of the three cloaked figures. When they spoke, they spoke together, the same disembodied voice echoing from their mouths. It was as if the three figures were part of another being.

"Unfortunately, it seems we can't give you sixty years. But we're feeling generous. We'll give you sixty seconds to reflect and reminisce about the good things in life that you all have enjoyed because frankly, you won't be able to enjoy them anymore. You may thank us , if you want."

"For what? I sure as hell don't owe you anything."

"But we are giving you the chance to reunite with your useless, dead family, fool. Wouldn't you like to see them again?" asked all three figures. Enjoying Ken's sudden, angry reaction to this, they continued to needle him. "Your father was an idiot," they stated flatly, coldly. "If he hadn't been too busy trying to get your mother and siblings to escape instead of fighting us, he might still be alive. Instead, like the sentimental fool he was, he concentrated on their safety and well-being."

"Don't you talk about my father like that," snarled Ken, on the verge of losing control, his 'slow fuse' finally lit.

"Or maybe he was just a spineless coward," continued the three, thoroughly enjoying themselves. "Mybe he was too scared to face us. Well, whatever. Karl Fanell was an irritating, meddlesome obstacle who had to be removed. It really doesn't matter how we got rid of him, eh?"

"Rrragghh!" Ken finally snapped, and he charged straight into the zombies, plowing headfirst into the black mass while the other five stood there gaping, dumbstruck at what they were witnessing. A split second later, Jake followed suit after recovering from his shock. The other four took slightly longer to come back to their senses, then rushed towards the zombies.

Meanwhile, Van and the last member of the foretold Seven Seals Isaac Matthews were bounding between rooftops towards the other Seals as fast as they could. The safety of the remaining six Seals was foremost on their minds. Both were powerful fighters who were could confidently take out the zombies and their Warlord masters. Then again, the two friends were trained professionals. All the other six had was raw potential which, at that moment, wasn't enough. Furthermore, they were up against 150 mindless minions and their bloodthirsty summoners. If Van and Isaac didn't make it in time, the six teenagers who had been decreed to be the preordained protectors of the world would be killed and all hope would be lost. Spurred on by this thought, they sped up.

Until they suddenly felt the spark of pure electrical energy from Ken who was still about 2 kilometers away. This was an unexpected development. His powers were awakening.

Like before, the six felt the subtle changes that had occurred to them during their previous encounter with the zombies. Once more they could sense, almost predict the movements of their opponents. Kyle was new to this sensation but quickly adapted to it. However, this time the other five could feel something more within them. They could feel the noticeable lack of fatigue despite having fought hard for ten minutes. Granted, only Jake and Ken were the ones who could actually fight well, yet even so, all six of them were not feeling tired one bit and instead felt as if they could keep it up all day.

It was Ken who showed something more first. As he fought, Rachel and Kyle who were the two closest to him noticed that he had begun to glow slightly blue. After a while, they could have sworn they saw blue sparks crackle all over his bare skin. They observed too, that the zombies he was fighting were staying down longer than their own opponents after he had dealt with them. Shortly after, a sudden red flash to their right caught their eye. This time it was Jake who had slowly begun to glow red, a curious warmth emanating from him. The Warlords noticed this and immediately ordered their puppets wordlessly to break off their attack on the other four and overwhelm Jake and Ken.

Half of the zombies converged upon Ken and leaped at him, totally engulfing him within them. The fighting broke off as the other five stared at the swarm of zombies, each hoping frantically that Ken was still alive. For a heart-stopping moment in which time seemed to pass forever, there was no movement. And then suddenly…

"Stop…pissin'…me…off!" bellowed Ken Fanell from within the black mass all over him as the zombies were suddenly blasted away from wave upon wave of pure blue electrical energy, temporarily blinding his friends and the Warlords nearby. They opened their eyes to see Ken standing tall, his eyes glowing a translucent blue, his fists half-clenched. Lightning coursed through his upper torso and head, even reaching his eyes. Through his arms, the blue lightning flowed to manifest itself into two uneven yet dangerous-looking spheres of electricity in his hands. Additionally, only the other five could barely make out the very faint outline of a blue dragon floating protectively above Ken.

The zombies that had tried to swarm Ken lay around him, motionless. They suddenly disintegrated into nothingness. The hooded faces of the Warlords displayed absolute shock at the sight of half their combined forces instantly vaporized.

Ken smiled coldly at the Warlords and the remaining cursed zombies, his expression laced with barely controlled fury.

"Now…where were we again?"

A/N: Finally…Chapter 3 finished. Took me a couple of sleepless nights but I'm happy with the end product. As always, reviews are much welcomed and I hope to have the next chapter up within the next week. Stay tuned for Chapter 4: Awakening.