Eternity
Part 8
By Mieren
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"Neris," a voice prompted gently. A single finger poked the tiny elf's shoulder. "Wake up, Neris."
"What?" an unhappy four-year-old complained, squinting up at the strangely blue figure above him. He edged back in his bed, moving away from the unknown man. "Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of your father and of you in the future," the blue-haired man explained. He stuffed a small leather satchel into the edgy boy's pudgy hands. "Hide this somewhere only you know. Tell no one, not your family, not your friends, not even me. When the time comes, you'll know what to do with them."
"B-but," the little elf stammered. "I don't understand."
"One day, you will," the tall man promised. "For now, I must go. I shouldn't be here."
"Wait! What do you mean you shouldn't be here?"
"There are rules," the older man said quickly. "Right now, you must trust me."
In a blast of sapphire light, the man was gone, leaving behind nothing but wisps of energy and the bloodstained bag in the elfin boy's hands. Gingerly, he pulled open the bag, confused by the seven crimson streaked globes in the small satchel. Not understanding what was happening but afraid to disobey, the little elf used the cover of night to move to the furthest part of his house, prying up part of the floor with a screwdriver and digging a small hole in the compressed dirt. Settling the bag into the fresh opening, he repaired the floor and snuck back to bed, careful not to wake the strange guests that his father had staying at their house. In passing, he noted that many of them had similar, or even identical, orbs set in the back of their wrists.
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Neris ran, not certain where he was going, but he remembered the man with blue hair, one that he was certain he had encountered again after their first meeting. In the distance, he could sense his roommate following him doggedly and he pumped his legs for more speed. Grasping the bag in his hands, he allowed the resonance to run through his veins, telling him where the other armors were located. He could sense two and had another seven, but one was missing. Where was the armor of water?
Flashes of blue filtered through the elf's mind. Torrent. A child had the orb. A boy with green eyes and black hair, resembling many of the Eternity Bound. The second of the first had it. Neris narrowed his eyes, knowing that he would have to remove the orb from the boy's arm himself, assuming that the boy didn't kill him for trying. That particular bloodline had a tendency towards violence.
Contemplating as he ran, he decided to wait to remove the last of the ten. Kenji was strong, but not that strong. Nine would probably kill him. Ten would definitely finish him off until he was ready, and Neris was certain that he was not.
A flash of violet in the back of his mind informed him that Siellon had regained consciousness and had done his best to follow him. Scowling, he ran faster towards the group he could scarcely sense, their power and auras pressed down to almost nothing as they sought to hide, not that he could blame them. Neris could only sense them since he had known many of them since he was just a baby. He had followed two of them many years ago, knowing who they were if only vaguely. The woman had been exactly who he had known, but the blond was different and yet the same. He had been sure that they were related back then, now he knew more. The blond he had helped was the father of the one he had endeared as a friend when he was so small, the two almost identical in appearance.
With his meager abilities, Neris once again probed the seven orbs with his mind, waiting for an echoing resonance in the distance. He nearly tripped when the three missing spheres flashed back their location, amazingly close to where he was. He spun sharply to the left, vanishing into a small opening in the earth.
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Shin and Kenji both jerked in shock when their armor orbs pulsed sharply, sending out a small burst of energy through them and out of the cave. The two exchanged horrified expressions and dove for the nearest sharp objects they could find, namely Shin's claws. The onyx-haired boy was almost ripping the back of his arm off as he struggled to remove the armor orb with his left hand while simultaneously curling the claws on his right hand into Kenji's left wrist. Everyone else just stared at them as though they had lost their minds, minus Cye who had yet to regain consciousness.
"Exactly what are you doing?" Sage asked, the first to voice the bafflement of the observing group.
"We're being tracked!" Shin said, almost in hysterics. "Someone is hunting us through these things!" He nearly lost his right hand and ripped of Kenji's left when somebody barreled into their small hiding place. Weapons and spells were readied instantly, the sudden interloper nearly losing his head to one of Mouri's runes before he was recognized.
"NERIS?" came the collective booming voices.
Named elf only gave them a weary smile before hurling a bloodied leather satchel at Kenji's head, too winded from running to speak immediately. The bag bounced off the blue-haired man's skull and landed in Shin's lap, causing the boy to stop the dual mutilation of their arms and pick up the mystery gift, yanking the drawstring open. Black eyebrows rose almost to his hairline.
"For… Kenji…" Neris panted, silvery eyes glinting almost evilly. The named sorcerer looked spooked, but cupped his palms to allow the boy to pour the contents of the frightening satchel into his hands. Seven blood-caked orbs rolled into his hands and blue eyes became almost comically huge.
"Oh, HELL no!" Kenji cried out. "Two of the damn things were bad enough! Attempting nine is just flat out of the question."
"Where did you get those?" Shin asked, eyes fixed on the bloody orbs.
Silver eyes met green as Neris uttered a single name that caused everyone to freeze in shock. "Rowen."
"Rowen?" Sage asked almost desperately. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," Neris admitted. "He gave those to me when I was four."
"What was he thinking?" Kento muttered.
"I'm not sure, but your friends still had them in their arms when he gave them to me," he said, earning himself several baffled stares. "They had them for years before Rowen came to claim them and give them to me."
"That's where he took everyone?" Kento queried only to be ignored.
"Why would he go to the trouble of going into the past to give them to you?" Cale murmured. "Why not just bring them to us?"
"Because," Cye groaned, nearly giving everyone coronaries. "He's not allowed to fight any longer."
"Wait, wait, wait," Kenji said. "What do you mean 'not allowed'?"
"I mean Zairian," Cye muttered. He looked up, shocking the assembled group for a second time in so many minutes. The black, white and silver streaking his hair faded back to a perfect auburn as his eyes briefly glowed a vibrant sea blue. The scars and wrinkles on his face faded away to a flawless twenty-year-old face. He shook his head slowly. "While I was asleep, he explained… everything. Rowen is no longer allowed to fight. And now… neither am I." In a burst of turquoise light, he vanished. The remaining group exchanged horrified looks.
"What's going on?" Sage demanded.
"We're screwed," Kenji summed up. "With both Mieren and those two out of the battle, we don't stand a chance."
"We do stand a chance," Neris objected. "Rowen said that he wasn't supposed to be helping, but he did. The armor orbs…"
"NO!" Kenji interjected forcefully. "Two almost killed me. Nine is out of the question!"
"It might not be necessary," Anubis interjected before an argument could begin. Kenji looked at him almost desperately. "Tell me Neris… what did you see when you were young?"
"What?"
"You said that the others were with you when you were a child," Anubis elaborated. All eyes turned away from him to Neris. "When did they leave?"
"They came when I was a baby," he said slowly. "Rowen gave me the armor orbs when I was four."
"When did they leave?" Cale asked, catching up with his friend's thoughts.
"When I was six. Right after they lost the orbs in their wrists."
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To Be Continued…
Just wait till you see what I have planned. It will blow your mind. To be honest, it's blowing MY mind and I'm the one that thought it up. The finale will kill us all. R&R!