ONE FELL SWOOP - CHAPTER 9
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Action
Author's Note: There are some names and terminology used in the following chapter that may look weird, but if you want to actually pronounce them accurately, read them as if they were Japanese names or words. Those who read manga or watch anime will probably understand. If you have any questions about them, feel free to leave me a comment.
Also, I've only fully realized it now, but I listen to the same playlist for every chapter that I write. I find that it really adds to the atmosphere and allows me to write with more passion and drive. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to more subtle errors that I don't catch as part of my edits. For the you readers though, such a drawback does not exist. As such, if you want to try it out, search on YouTube "1-Hour Anime Mix - Most Beautiful & Emotional - Emotional Mix", which is a playlist made by Pandora Heaven.
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Happy Reading!
Chapter 9: Scars of a Forgotten Past
I'll turn into HIM . . .
"Kaleb, the energy in the blade is growing unstable! You have to reveal yourself to Vagus or he'll simply combust!" Zachariah shouted urgently, but Kaleb didn't seem to hear him.
I'll turn into Kassadin.
"Isn't that who you are?" a new voice resonated in his head. It was gentler. "Aren't you Kassadin?"
It was a girl.
"I've been waiting for you all this time," The female voice continued, "I've been patient. Like you've always taught me."
The voice was so soft.
"You must find me, my Master. Find me and you shall remember."
Kaleb blinked and suddenly, he was no longer in his bedroom. Gazing in awe of the view that surrounded him, an endless plain of beautiful pale-yellow stalks of wheat and tallgrass, he laughed with joyous serenity. He smiled just because he could. He felt happy.
Then, his vision suddenly blurred in and out of focus and he was hit with a familiar, nauseating headache. The truth hit him harder than the pain.
This—everything around him. Even the happiness. All of it was not real. This was another vision of the past.
A young girl he didn't recognize stood before him, dressed in a blue modern hanbok that only reached her knees and a white furisode over-top with a plain red obi tied to her waist. She wore white knee-socks to cover up the otherwise bare skin below the skirt-half of her hanbok. The strangest part about the girl was not her clothing but her anatomy. Her white, furry ears appeared over her head like that of fox's and a long, bushy leaf-shaped tail swayed behind her like a nervous cat. She had long white hair, with two locks of hair that were longer than the others resting on either side of her shoulders.
When she looked up at him, he widened his eyes. Her skin was visibly soft and of a warm peachy tone and her vibrant blue eyes shone out at him like sapphires. She had a curious expression on her face and blushed when her eyes met with his. Surprisingly, she held his gaze, as if her curiosity overcame her timidity.
The young girl was no older than twelve but had that face that anyone could tell just by a glance that she was to become a beautiful young woman when she grew up. Kaleb was almost intimidated by the innocence of the beauty that lay behind that face.
"So you're the one they sent to serve me." He stated without thinking.
"Yes."
"I'm Kassadin." He scratched the back of his head, smiling humorously. "Sorry, I know it's a weird name, but that's what my parents decided to name me."
"N-no."
"You don't like it? Ahh, don't worry I'm not offended. Even I think I have a rather ugly name."
"N-no, I meant, no, it's a beautiful name. It speaks of the night and its many wonders. It speaks of the moon and its guiding light to lost travellers. A-anyways, it's a good name and you shouldn't be ashamed of it" the girl insisted, as if she would become angry if Kaleb continued self-deprecating his name.
Kaleb stared at her then burst out laughing.
"I like you. You're different from the other kids in the village."
"O-oh." The girl was caught by surprise at how this boy reacted to her outspoken statement.
"W-what's your name?" Kaleb heard himself ask, but did not consciously do so. The vision was starting to lose focus.
"Kitsune," came the shy reply.
"That's a boring name." Kaleb heard himself laugh good-heartedly. "I know! From now on, I'm going to call you Shirohime. From now on, you'll be my Shirohime. I'll protect you as long as you protect me. That's a promise."
"I-if I get lost, will you find me?" the girl's curious gaze was turning into one of admiration.
Kaleb took her small hands and held it gently in his. "Of course I will, Shirohime. I don't break my promises."
For the first time, he noticed that his hands were only slightly bigger than the girl's. He also noticed that he was only about a half a head taller than her. Kaleb knew this was his younger-self but for some reason, he had no recollection of the memory happening.
"Y-you're so kind, Master."
Kaleb shook his head and smiled. "You don't need to call me Master. Just call me . . . call me Kass!"
. . . What?
Kaleb's subconscious began to surface.
. . . It doesn't make sense.
Kaleb's subconscious continued to surface.
. . . I thought I was now . . . I thought by this time, I was already known as Kaleb. The Old Man gave me that name. So why, now, am I introducing myself as Kassadin?
And why do I feel like this never happened?
. . .
"Do you remember now?" the girl's voice was in his head again.
Time in the vision had frozen still. Kaleb was suddenly observing the scene from a third person perspective, floating above a figure of himself and the girl he was talking to.
"Are you . . . are you the girl down there?" Kaleb asked the voice.
"Yes." She replied. "Or at least, it used to be."
"I feel like—" Kaleb strained his neck to get a better look at the frozen figures' faces but from his position, the shadows obscured them. "I feel like that's us . . . but I don't remember anything of this moment. I don't remember you."
"Naturally," the voice sighed, "This moment was from another life. Another possibility in a world of endless possibilities. What could've been and what would've been."
"I-I don't understand."
"You will once you find me. It will all come back to you. A-a-after all, I promised to protect you too."
"How do I find you?" Kaleb asked, curiosity teasing him to the core. He needed to find out who this girl was.
"That's a silly question, Master. You already have the blade. Once you have the blade, Vagus will always guide you to wherever you seek. Until then, Master Kassadin, until then."
"Wait! I have so many more questions! Like where is this place? Is this a vision? A spirit dimension?"
"You know the answers to all those questions. Goodbye for now, Master."
"Wait!" Kaleb called desperately, but when he blinked, he was back in his room. He was lost again.
A vision of the past within a Diachronika replica, was the first thought that surfaced in Kaleb's mind. But how—why did he suddenly know the answer?
"Your mind is hardwired to prioritize and recognize the imperfections of these re-creations. That way, you can instantly determine between the actual form and its emulation." Zilean's voice reminded him.
What is this feeling though? Kaleb sunk to his knees, still enraptured by the vision. It's filled to the brim with happiness yet—yet there's a hint of sorrow that comes with a lost memory of the past. It's . . . it's . . . it's . . .
Nostalgia.
"Peractorum," Kaleb whispered without thinking.
Immediately, the katana he held began to emit a faint, blue aura that grew thicker by the second. It began to change. The silver metal on the blade melted into an abstract shape, twisting and morphing into a new form. It hummed with power as it took the shape of Peractorum. A blade of broken, longing memories. A blade full of nostalgia.
Zachariah stared speechlessly at Kaleb as the boy lifted the newly formed weapon into the sunlight seeping through the window. The katana had transformed into . . .
"HAHAHAHAHA! YOU AMUSE ME, KASSADIN. OF ALL FORMS TO CHOOSE FROM, YOU HAVE ENDED UP WITH PERACTORUM! AAHH, I HAVEN'T TAKEN THIS FORM IN A VERY LONG TIME." Vagus boomed in their heads again. "INTERESTING CHOICE."
The katana had transformed into a long metal chain with a prisoner's cuff at each end. The chain was long enough to stretch to the ground and back up to Kaleb's hands.
"CHAINED BY THE MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN PAST. HOW FITTING A FORM I HAVE TAKEN. NOW YOU MAY USE ME AS YOU SEE FIT."
"What do I even use you for?" Kaleb sounded empty. "I'm presuming I can't use you on the Field. I must keep you hidden from Amina."
"Hmph. I don't intend on letting you use me in the Arena. First, I will train you and then you will use me when you are ready." Vagus's voice suddenly spoke several volumes lower, almost at a conversational pitch. "For now—hide me."
Kaleb sighed and laid the chain weapon on the window sill. Immediately, a blue aura enveloped it and within seconds, it had returned back to its bladeless-hilt form.
"Kaleb," Zachariah put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "What did you see in the vision? What did Vagus show you?"
Scrubbing his eyes, Kaleb sat on a chair that had been carelessly placed next to the window.
"He showed me . . ." the boy closed his eyes and relived the image. ". . . a girl with white hair . . . who had the ears and tail of a silver fox. And me—or a boy who looked like me—but with short, dirty white hair. The girl looked around the age of twelve and I, around fourteen."
"I don't recall you having white hair when you were fourteen," Zachariah chuckled.
"Neither do I," Kaleb did not seem to find the statement humorous. "Among other things, the scene was really off. As if . . . it was fabricated from a memory that doesn't belong to me."
The crow prince crossed his arms. "Did the girl have a name?"
"S-Shirohime."
"Hmmm . . ." Zachariah leaned on the wall adjacent to the window, facing Kaleb. "Shirohime, huh? If I recall, it means 'white maiden' in the Hirana dialect. Though it's more of a nickname isn't it?"
"Yeah, I think so. She told me her real name at the start. Uhh, it was Kit . . . Kitsu . . ."
Zachariah grew rigid and stood straighter. "Kitsune?!"
"Yeah, that's it. You know her?"
"Know her? No. But know of her? Of course!" Zachariah exclaimed.
"Is she famous or something?" Kaleb frowned at his own ignorance.
"Well . . . you could say so. She was a deity of the wild who was cursed by the Ancient Watchers for directly communicating with mankind. The curse trapped her in the mortal form of a young human girl who would grow as a human and think as a human. It's a celebrated mythic story that parents tell to their children before bedtime."
"How do I find her? She said if I want answers, I'll have to find her." Kaleb suddenly spoke with vigorous eagerness.
"Eh, how do you find her? There's someone I know of that might give you a clue to the truth behind the myth, but she's quite hard to find. I've never personally met her. But we can try after our promotional matches."
"Oh . . ." Kaleb's dejected look returned.
"Well, good news is," Zachariah clapped his hands together and grinned. "The myth says she lives somewhere in the Ionian South."
"Oh," Kaleb's smile replaced his depressed look, "That's not too far from here."
. . .
"Blue Side Victory!" The announcer declared.
"Tch." A hooded figure scoffed as he walked out of the Mages' chamber and past the opponents' chamber. All five enemy mages were on their hands and knees, panting. He looked back at his ally mages, who were all staring at him as if he were an anomaly.
I presumed as much—that it would end like this. With my enemies at their knees and my allies uncertain of whether to shake with admiration or fear. These were the figure's thoughts. To any other, his statements would appear arrogant but in his case, they weren't simply empty words. There was power deserving of arrogance behind such thoughts.
As he proceeded down the hall to the main lobby of the Arena, the Mages he passed by began to speak in vain whispers.
"Oi, isn't that the new Mage who slaughtered the opponent single handedly?"
"Yeah, I heard he did it with his own Champion."
"I heard he and his Champion cut down their enemies with such cold, heartless eyes that even their teammates didn't dare cross their path."
"What outliers."
"Hmm, what loners."
"What monsters."
When he entered the main lobby, he found his champion already waiting for him.
"You're fast. How did you change so quickly?" he asked.
"It's only because you're slow, Zach." Kaleb smirked. "I only had to take off those annoying shoulder and waist guards.
"Fair enough. I simply took my time as I saw no rush to leave."
"How typical of you." Kaleb said in a mocking tone. When Zachariah refused to satisfy him with a retort, he continued. "Pretty clean victory for us, eh?"
The older of the two sighed, shaking his head as if a parent berating his child. "Remember our principle. Let nothing affect you in the Arena and cut down all enemies mercilessly. This is our job so let us take it seriously."
He leaned closer to Kaleb, whispering in the boy's ears. "Amina must be satisfied with flawless wins or she won't be understanding."
Kaleb nodded lazily. "Honestly it's all so boring at this stage. I can read all their movements in an instant. I wish we could simply skip the first three leagues."
"You can complain later. We're going home.
"Hmmm, and where do you think you're going?"
A large man stood in their way with a giant sword in his hand. He rested the sword on his shoulder and glared menacingly at the two young men.
"You think you can just impress all these people and walk away without consequences?"
Zachariah didn't even spare him a glance, keeping his face hidden underneath his hood. "I'll leave you to your self-glorifying and envious fantasies, big guy. If you have a problem with us, you may fight us in the Arena. This is no place to start a conflict."
"You scared of publicly losing?" the man waved his sword in a threatening manner.
"You really should sheathe your weapons when you aren't using them." Zachariah said in a dismissive tone. "It would be uncivilized to simply wave that giant stick around like a toy."
"Huh? Who do you think you are? Just because you won your first promotional match in the lowest league, you think you can act all high and mighty?" the man looked down on them. "I can pulverize you right here if I wanted to, you piece of Bronze trash."
"Oh? And how, might I ask, would you plan on doing so?" Zachariah couldn't help but sneer a little in return.
"Haha, uhh, Zach I thought you said we were going—" Kaleb laughed nervously, not wanting to cause a commotion. The large man retorted, as if Kaleb had not spoken at all.
"Get it through your thick head you Bronzie scum. I'm a top-tier B-class Champion and my Mage is ranked 2nd in the Silver league right now. You're no match for me."
Zachariah's smile only got deadlier. "That's what they all say—before they kneel before me."
"Zach—!" Kaleb warned, but it was beyond him. His partner took his hood off and tensed his entire body.
"Aura!" Zachariah whispered and in an instant, everyone in the lobby except Kaleb collapsed, overwhelmed by the mere emittance of the Crow Prince's spirit energy.
What is THIS?! What intense mana density! The large man felt as if all the air around him had escaped into the atmosphere. He stumbled about before dropping to his knees and succumbing to unconsciousness.
"Zach!" Kaleb's call brought Zachariah back from his offensive state.
"Ahh, I might have gone too far." He looked around, wincing at the damage he had caused. Indeed, there was not one Mage or Champion in sight that was unaffected by the sudden outburst of Zachariah's aura.
"Let's leave before anyone determines the culprit." Kaleb said cheerfully, practically, skipping out of the Arena lobby.
As the two left towards the sunset, a man of average stature peaked from behind one of the pillars in the main lobby.
More monsters among us, huh, he licked his lips. That's two pairs of amateurs in the past two days that possess abilities far beyond their current competition. The Ionian girl and the Zaunite boy the other day . . . displayed almost equally monstrous power.
"I can't wait to face this generation's prodigies." He whispered to no one in particular before melting back into the shadows behind the pillar.
. . .
A few days later . . .
"Our intel has informed us of a change in your match schedule." Karma started as Rosalyn opened the door to her small town-house.
"We don't need you to consistently update us on our match schedule. We check it regularly." Rosalyn said bluntly.
"You never listen to the end, do you? The change affects you in which as long as you and Ekko and the Black Phantom as his mage continuing winning your promotional matches, you won't cross swords just yet. Apparently, the system that manages the organization of the matches malfunctioned and thus, the current status quo."
"Why does it matter that we fight against the Black Phantom or not? Why do you seem so fixated on our matchup with this Champion?"
Karma gave the girl a subtle smile. "I heard he and his mage are quite new, like you and Ekko. He's quite strong too."
"And that's supposed to interest me?" Rosalyn closed the door as Karma stepped in.
"No, it's simply my way of reminding you to be cautious. After all, you want to fulfill this dream of yours in Kaleb's place and honor don't you?"
"Kaleb was a former member of our team that I drastically overestimated. He was a mistake and a failure that brings shame to me in having ever thought of allowing him to join my side. I'm fighting for the top rank for my own sake and Ekko has agreed to help me as my Champion. There is no'Kaleb' in this equation." Rosalyn locked the front door as soon as she shut it. "Now let me ask you again—why are you helping us even though I'm pretty sure you're aware of this fact?"
"It's what Kaleb would've wanted. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Kaleb. If you are that insistent on pushing me away, then I'll leave you alone for good. But make your desire explicit instead of asking me questions because if you keep making an inquiry of my actions, you sound like you're not so sure whether you want my help or not."
Ekko walked out of the kitchen into the front foyer and glanced disappointingly at Rosalyn.
"Just suck up your pride and let her say what she has to say Rose." Ekko grumbled.
"Fine," Rosalyn turned and walked past Karma, who stayed put. "Just one thing. You keep warning us about this Black Phantom persona so are you implying that he's strong enough to beat Ekko and I?"
Karma chose her words carefully. "I believe . . . I believe he and his mage are competent enough to rival or at least, pose a threat to your combined power with Ekko."
"I'll take note of him then," Rosalyn walked into the kitchen and walked back out with a glass of water. "But until I've fought him, I will only acknowledge him as a mediocre obstacle in the way of my goals."
"Then that's all I need to hear." Karma turned and unlocked the door. She put her hand on the doorknob but before opening the door, she stopped and turned around to say one last word. "I think you should listen to your Champion more often. Learn from his humility and do not underestimate anyone."
"I'm well aware of mine and Ekko's strengths and weaknesses."
Karma walked out of the town-house into the rain—which seemed to be a constant in the weather for the past few days—without looking back and said, "I pray that you do."
She stepped onto the uneven stone road and kneeled down, tapping her boots lightly. She whispered, "Homeguard," and the boots began giving off golden sparks at the heel. As she did so, a two hooded figures walked past her, in the direction of the Rail-car Station. The shorter one, caught up in a secretive conversation with the other, accidently brushed past her and almost knocked her aside, but immediately bowed apologetically.
"Sorry!" he repeated three more times, as if a child were apologizing to its parent, begging for forgiveness. To Karma's surprise, his voice was slightly boyish.
"Oh don't worry about it, I shouldn't have been blocking the road." Karma smiled at the hooded individual's manners and for a second, their eyes met. Perhaps it was simply her imagination or the shadow of the hood's disfiguration, but she thought she saw the young man's eyes widen, then drop his gaze to the ground. The taller figure pulled him away by the arm and dragged him towards their original destination.
"Hey!" Karma called after them over the rain. "Have we met?"
The two figures seemed to have a small struggle with the taller one appearing to grapple at the shorter one's face before the latter pushed his partner away and turned to face Karma.
"No." his voice had suddenly changed to a deep rasp, scraping at Karma's ears. Alarmed, Karma, took long, quick strides towards him. The man was trying to hide something.
"Show me your face." Karma demanded, but the taller figure had recovered from his scuffle with the shorter man. He thrust his right, gloved hand out at Karma, clawing at the air.
"Stay back!" his voice was a deep rasp as well. As soon as the man made the gesture, a wave of aura burst forth without warning, forcing Karma back a few steps.
This aura—his mana pool—it's insane! Karma felt fear creep up her back for the first time in years. It's almost as strong as my father's. Who is this man?
Before Karma could recover from the overwhelming release of spirit energy, the taller figure grabbed his shorter counterpart by the arms yet again and dragged him into a nearby alleyway. Karma rushed forward, using the Homeguard spell she cast on her boots to almost instantaneously reach the entrance to the alleyway.
I've got you—Wha—?!
Karma stood dumbfounded at the sight before her.
The two mysterious figures had already disappeared.
Aaaand that's Chapter 9! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter as it marks the point where we can finally begin to gauge each of the major characters' abilities and compare them to one another. It also marks the point where we start to see the point of convergence of all the main characters in the near future!
I'm starting to put more effort into editing each chapter instead of writing them and then rushing to upload them onto FanFiction in order to get chapters out as soon as possible. However, if you catch anything that you want me to add or improve, whether it be character development, plot development, action sequences, atmospheric imagery, character backstories or other miscellaneous aspects of the story, leave a comment in the review section below.
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Peace!
~Nightrous