"This is the place?" Gilag asked
"Yeah, this is the place," Alit confirmed. He and Gilag stood in front of the ruined house. "Let's go in, the sooner the better. I want to make sure the book guy is okay."
"I get it, but it'd be better if we didn't rush through this," Gilag said, "We want to go back to him with something that'd help."
"Well then, you two had better keep your eyes open." The two barians turned around to see Merag smiling with her arms crossed.
"M- Merag! What are you doing here?" Alit asked.
"Oh, I heard about your little discovery and went to visit you. When I saw you weren't at your palace, I figured you'd be checking out the village some more. So I came by and found you and Gilag talking about helping the cursed John Doe. I have nothing to do, so how about I help out a bit?" Merag smiled.
Alit grinned. "Thanks Merag!"
"No problem, Vector's been acting up and I don't particularly feel like knocking him around all day or dealing with Misael's hissy fits," Merag replied shrugging.
"Wow, am I glad I'm not at the BARian or Barian World, wherever those two are," Gilag whistled.
"Knowing them, Misael's chasing Vector through BOTH worlds," Merag sighed.
"Well, time's a wastin'! Let's get going!" Alit grinned and ran into the house. He felt funny and his breathing was interrupted as he entered but he controlled the minor attack, grimacing. He glanced at Gilag and Merag who had just entered. Neither seemed to be affected by this house the way he was and just looked around at the large living/dining room. Alit walked over to the sword embedded into the wall over the fireplace and ran his and over the hilt.
"He told me he told his family to run then tried to fight that bastard off with this but the sorcerer used energy to throw it into the wall," Alit muttered. Merag frowned and put her hand on Alit's shoulder.
"Hey, we'll find something, alright? We'll help him," Merag comforted.
"Thanks, Merag," Alit said, feeling more down than he felt he probably should be.
"We should look out back. If he told his wife and children to run, they would've gone out the back door and made a break for it. Let's check to see if there's any evidence remaining. Although, to be honest, this is about as cold as any case can get," Merag said.
"Yeah, let's look," Alit shook himself and left with Merag and Gilag in tow. He walked briskly through the house with the other two struggling to keep up. He pushed open an ajar, termite-eaten door all the way open and stepped out.
"Wow Alit, how much did you explore this place? You act like you know it like the back of your hand," Gilag said.
"Um, no, I didn't check out back here," Alit corrected.
"But you went right to the back door..." Gilag trailed off.
Alit blinked a few times. "I guess I did, huh?"
Merag looked concerned. "Alit... what's going on?"
"The truth?" Alit asked, running his fingers through his hair, "I have no idea. I- I know this place, sort of. But... I don't have the foggiest clue why. Anyway, let's get going," he stepped out into the overgrown woods behind the house. The light danced on the grass and leaf covered ground, filtered through the leaves on the trees above. Bushes and other forms of plant life grew abundantly all around.
Merag crouched down on the ground and her hand over the ground, brushing away some leaves and plants. "There's a stone here, but it looks like it was placed to mark something. Maybe there used to be a path here?"
"There was," Alit whispered, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"How do you know that?" Gilag asked.
"Not a damn clue," Alit sighed, beginning to get freaked out. He took a step into the woods, then another, "C'mon, I know the way and don't ask how because I have absolutely no idea." He walked briskly through the forest with his fellow emperors following behind him. He stopped when he came across a large moss-colored boulder that had a large jagged crater in it.
Merag brought out a red crystal that was about the size of a tablet with the largest sides being perfectly flat and unblemished. She set the crystal along the crater and waited while barian runes flashed across the flat side. After a while she stood up again.
"I got an energy signature from it. That human must've been incredibly powerful to leave an energy signature that lasted after all this time. Alit, I don't think we could've found a more dangerous human to mess with," Merag said.
"But we can handle him if he's still alive, right?" Alit asked.
"Yes, humans are not biologically fit to manipulate energy as well as barians or astral beings. And the theory that he's still alive is not too far-fetched. A human with this much power could very well figure out a way to use his powers to prolong his life beyond the average human lifespan of eighty years, or fifty back then," Merag sighed, "Alit, this guy may not be able to match us in raw power, but he used his powers to seal that man into a book. We can overpower his strikes and deflect them. But he has experience with humans and although he could not manipulate our form like he did with your friend, if we were in human form with him, it could be a whole different story. We do not know how similar we are to a normal human in our human forms. If we face him in human form, he could potentially curse us as well."
"So if we attempt to strike him, we need to find a way to be into our true forms?" Gilag asked.
"Or if he finds us first, we need to run and get away from him," Merag said, "The meeting has to be on our own terms."
"I don't know about you guys, but I do NOT want to meet him unless it's seven on one," Gilag whistled. The other two murmured agreements.
"Alit, we should go back," Merag said, "Dumon should be finished scanning and analyzing the book's energy signature by now."
"But we haven't found enough!" Alit protested.
Merag sighed, "Alit, we've done all we can for now. We can always come back later. Listen, this is a cold case. There is not much evidence still around, heck, we were lucky we found anything at all. With this energy signature, we may be able to track him down since no two energy signatures are the same. And since he's so strong, we can just scan the earth for the most powerful energy signatures, which should be easy since it's a low energy world and any higher than normal energy signatures would stand out. Besides, if we come back later, Dumon can come with us and we both know if there's anything left, he'll find it."
Alit nodded and slumped, "All right. Let's go back to Barian World."
"Don't worry, Alit. You're trying your best, he'll understand that. He probably didn't even expect you to go to this much trouble for him," Merag assured him.
"I know, let's go," Alit opened a portal and dissolved into it with his comrades following behind him.
... (^0^) ...
Alit sat curled up on his throne with the old book in his hands. Dumon thought it best that Alit should take care of him because the book man was used to him.
Hey there, feeling all right?
Definitely! Remember how you warned me I may feel tingly when Dumon did an energy scan on me? Well, I did!
...so?
I haven't felt ANYTHING in ages! I really can't feel at all, but I was able to feel that! It may seem like a little thing to get excited about, but after so long of not moving or feeling at all, I'll take what I can get.
Oh, well, putting it that way, it is a good thing to get excited about! By the way, I went back to your house with Gilag and-
Wait. DON'T tell me any more names, okay?
Why?
If that sorcerer is still alive and he ever gets his hands on me again, he might have a way to reveal all our conversations and he could just read everything you've ever told me. I don't you to put yourself or others in potential jeopardy.
Oh, well, he's not too big of a threat to us but yeah, he is dangerous. How about after he's defeated and hopefully reversed what he did to you, or we manage to turn you human again, we finally tell each other our names, deal?
Deal.
So anyway, me and two of my comrades went back to your house and looked around a bit for anything that could help us track that sorcerer down.
Didn't you say that my village was classified as ancient? What evidence would still be around?
I had to try. All I was able to find was a rock with a crater in it along the path your family would've run away on. We were able to get an energy signature from that bastard off of it. I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else, though.
Sorry?! SORRY?! I never expected you to be able to get anything on him! Hell, I didn't even think you'd work on tracking that bastard down so soon! Thank you so much... I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you.
I wasn't able to find out whether or not your family escaped though...
I never expected you to be able to find that out. Honestly, you've exceeded my expectations by simply trying. I'll probably be forever in your debt.
Come over to my and the other barians' house on earth sometimes once all this is over and we'll call it square.
That's not exactly what I'd call fulfilling a debt...
Hey, I don't like it when people screw with people's lives and especially when there were children involved in the crossfire. I just want to help you and turn you back to normal.
Thank you very much again. Say, if so much time has passed, I assume I've missed a lot. Mind teaching me some things I need to know to get by on earth?
I do not mind at all! Okay so nowadays there's something called the internet that you access on human electronic devices-
Electric?
Oh boy, this is going to take a while.
Alit spent the next five hours explaining all about modern appliances and what society was like now. Afterward, his hand was incredibly sore from all the writing. He flexed his hand and sighed.
Are you alright?
My hand's sore.
Ah, um, sorry about making you write so much.
No problem.
I need some time to think and you need some time to rest your hand. We'll talk later, okay?
Okay!
Alit 'smiled' softly at the book as he closed it. Poor guy... but he was really nice and a good person. Now if he could only figure out what was up with that house...
Alit narrowed his eyes as he thought. What was wrong with him?! He kept freaking out and having a probable panic attack every time he entered that house! There was something strange going on, aside from the obvious. Alit sighed and leaned back on his throne, closing his eyes. Damn, things were getting weird again, but then again, when had his life ever been normal?
… (^0^) ...
"Big brother!"
"Come play ball with me, big brother!"
"Let's go swimming, big brother!" An image of a little girl with light brown skin and brown hair a shade lighter than Alit's own flashed before his eyes.
"Take care of your siblings while I'm gone, Alit."
"Big brother, do you want to climb trees with me?"
"Big brother! Bryan pulled my hair!"
"Alit, can you go to the market and buy some more flour?" A woman with pale skin and long dark brown hair that curved upwards at the end glanced over at him.
"Hey sport, do you want to play catch with your little siblings and your old man?"
"Big brother, I love you!"
"Maple spilled soup on me, big brother!"
Then Alit's own voice, "Hey kiddos! Wanna race me home? Last one there is a rotten egg!"
"We're coming, big brother!"
"Big brother!"
Alit's eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath, a cold sweat coating his body. He hadn't even noticed when he drifted off to sleep.
Tears pricked at his eyes and he buried his head into his cloak. He knew perfectly well what that was: memories. All of the emperors were often troubled with dreams of their past life. But this time... Alit had always dreamed before of his fights and friendship with Koutei. Never his family. Big brother... Alit had to choke back a sob. He had siblings, two younger siblings if he remembered right. And their names were... he couldn't remember. The dream was already slipping away from him. He wanted to scream. Why couldn't he remember his damn family?! Why couldn't he have the luxury of at least having memories of them?!
He cried and curled into a ball. Damn it... At this point, he just wanted to talk to someone who knew anything about his past life, specifically his family.
He jumped up suddenly and grabbed the book. He knew exactly who to talk to. Opening an overlay network, he stepped into it and headed to earth. He arrived at a house right behind someone with long blond hair with the ends of his bangs a crimson red. "Hey, Koutei!"
The boy jumped and whirled around. "Damn it, Alit! How many times have I told you not to do that?!"
"About a million," Alit said, forcing a grin. Koutei frowned as he looked at Alit's expression.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I had a dream, and I ran into a little interesting incident that I kinda got involved in," Alit replied.
Koutei blinked. "As much as I really want to ask about the second one, I think the first is more important at the moment. What was it about?"
Alit sighed, "Koutei, did I ever mention my family with you?"
Koutei nodded. "Yeah, a bit. And by a bit, I mean at least once a month. Once a day during the solstice festival. You didn't like to talk too much about them because you missed them so much, at least that was my impression."
"Oh, well, could you tell me what you know about them?" Alit asked.
"From what I remember, you had two younger siblings. Bryan and Maple I think were their names," Alit nodded slightly, that sounded right, "Maple was a year older than Bryan and you were five years older than Maple. Your dad's name was Antonius and I think your mom's was Nerisa. I don't remember much else, but you always talked fondly about them. Does that help?"
"Yeah, a bit. I dreamed about them and just wanted to know more," Alit said, shrugging while smiling ruefully.
"Believe it or not, I figured that one out on my own," Koutei commented, "Now mind explaining about the second thing you mentioned?"
"Let's sit on the couch, it's a bit of a long story," Alit replied.
"It always is with you," Koutei sighed, "Honestly, Alit, you're like a trouble magnet. You always find something and get neck deep in it before you can say 'Maybe this isn't the best idea'."
"Hey, this one is definitely worth any trouble I may get into," Alit warned.
"Heh, probably is. Let me guess, it involves helping someone," Koutei asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Alit asked.
"Whenever you say it'd be worth any trouble you get into, that generally means you found someone in trouble and are trying to help them out," Koutei replied.
"Okay, okay, you got me," Alit said as he plopped down on the couch.
"So what's going on?" Koutei asked as he sat down next to Alit.
"Get comfy, it's a really long story," Alit sighed then proceeded to tell Koutei everything.
Okay, for people who haven't read 'Texts', Koutei is my name for Alit's emperor friend. This takes place in the same universe as that fic.