CHAPTER TWELVE

~ The Melodious Sentinel ~

The sun, radiant and majestic, reigned supreme in the realms above. Below it, basking in the sun's brilliance and warmth was an ochre colored house topped with a red roof. Greenery surrounded it and gave it a sprightly appearance. Visible through an open window sat three figures in fairly close proximity to each other. The smell of tea blended with the fresh scents outside and the soft sound of tea being sipped was carried by this fragrant air.

"So Kai, how have you been?" asks an orange haired youth.

The two toned haired boy he addressed takes a sip of tea, not really answering at all. The orange head did not take it as an offense however, but merely smiled. He then turns to his other guest, the girl sitting next to Kai who looked at her tea curiously before taking a sip. Delighted with the taste, she drinks some more.

"So who is the beautiful girl you brought with you?" he asks Kai.

"Her name's Lux." Kai answers.

"I see," Brooklyn smiles. "I think it suits her."

Kai and Lux both turn to him.

"Lux…it means light in Latin," Brooklyn explains. "and this fair maiden here is fairer than the sun."

Lux blinks, confused, not knowing the latter was a reference to a twelfth century text. Kai went back to sipping his tea. A fourth figure with silver hair and tanned skin joins them carrying a cake and some plates in his hand. As he spots the guests, his expression turns to surprise.

"Kai," he greets. "Didn't know we'd be having you over today. I guess that's why Brooklyn said to bring out extra plates."

"Actually, I saw them in the nearby fields when I went jogging earlier." Brooklyn informs him.

"Ah, I see." The silver haired individual hands out the plates and places a slice of cake on each of the four plates. Then, he takes a seat.

"Garland, this lovely young lady is Lux." Brooklyn introduces.

"It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Lux returns with an innocent smile.

"You have unusual eyes." Garland comments, taking notice of the glow in her eyes as she takes a bite of the cake.

Lux looks up at him from her cake, still nibbling on the cream that remained on her fork. However, before more could be said, a loud noise reached the ears of the four, catching their immediate attention. Silence follows briefly as the four stopped their activities to listen more closely. A frustrated voice was barely audible above the ticking of the clock. Then Garland stands up and turns in the direction he came.

"I'll go see what that was." He tells them.

"Wait Garland." Brooklyn requests. "I'll go with you."

At that moment, Kai also stands up, causing Lux to look up to him. "In that case, we'll come along too."

Brooklyn and Garland nod in approval and Lux sets down her plate and fork and gets up as well. The four of them walk carefully to the room where the noise had come from to find a lone, cloaked figure standing in front a broken window. He brushes some of the glass shards off and angrily mutters something the four could not make out. He then catches sight of the four and turns his attention to them instead.

"Hey, ever heard of using a door!" Garland calls to him.

The cloaked figure ignores him and turns to Kai. "I'm here for Lux."

"You again…" Kai hisses. "When do you clowns ever quit?"

"Clowns?" he repeats amused. Then he bursts into laughter. "Clowns, huh…"

The cloaked figure takes out a laptop and loads three blades onto it and positions himself to launch them. "Fight me Kai, and if I win, you give Lux to me!"

"Who is he?" asks Brooklyn.

Without answering Brooklyn, Kai confronts him. "And why should I do something like that?"

"Why not?"

"She's not an object so I won't put her on the line like one." Kai returns.

The cloaked youth smirks and shifts his position just a little. "That's too bad…"

Three blades fly forward from his laptop-like launcher and were headed in Lux's direction. She closes her eyes and braces for the impact as Kai's voice called for her to avoid the danger. Though she had expected pain, a loud sound bursts from a source in front of her instead. She reopens her eyes to see that Garland had used his tonfa shaped launcher to redirect the three blades elsewhere. However, his launcher had suffered noticeable damage as a result.

"Hey!" Garland shouts. "Careful where you aim those!"

"Lucky girl…" the hooded figure mutters, ignoring him. "…but not lucky enough!"

The three blades once again head in Lux's direction only to be stopped again, this time by a blue blade. The hooded figure turns to its owner.

Kai's expression was serious; his eyes glowing bright with anger.

"Why you…" the cloaked figure glares at Kai through his hood. "Fine then, fight me."

"Wait," Brooklyn steps up. "three against one isn't fair."

He then turns to Kai, "Do you mind if I join?"

Kai gave no objection and so Brooklyn readies his launcher and his black and red blade. Lux turns to see that Garland's launcher was in no shape for use and so she turns to the stranger in the cloak. Not wanting to see Kai and Brooklyn loose to the hostile stranger, she too reaches for her blade and launcher as it was obvious that Garland won't be blading. Right at that moment however, a heartbeat resounded and the reality she sees bursts into a pure and complete light as a soft singing begins to echo through her mind.

"Where…am I?" Lux asks softly in the pure white realm.

"You are in my realm," a voice replies, leaving an echo behind.

"Your…realm?"

"Yes,"

"Who are you?"

"You already know me."

"I…do?"

Lux looks around for the owner of the voice but finds nothing but pure white. Then, a strong gust of power brushes past Lux.

"Your will shall command me," it whispered.

The world of pure white dissipated as the unseen creature's words continue to echo in Lux's mind. Lux was surprised when she notices that no time seems to have passed at all. She returns to the situation at hand and reaches for her blade and launcher and as if it called to her, one other item. She stares at that item, unsure why she took it out and notices that the depiction of the elf on it wasn't so faded anymore. Then, she switches her blade's current bitchip with it to try it out. Her eyes glow a soft silver as the bitchip made itself at home in her blade. Unknown to her, Kai watched from the corner of his eye while he battled the cloaked stranger.

"Argh!" the hooded figure cries in anger. "Why dont you get out of my way!"

He attacks and in response, Brooklyn launches his blade to help Kai defend against the three blades. Dranzer and Brooklyn's black and red blade push as hard as they can against the two dark violet blades and the green blade but seem to be getting overpowered.

"Zeus!" Brooklyn calls to his blade to support it.

Just then, a silver blade flashes through, and with its momentum, knocks back the green one and damages it a little, allowing Dranzer and Zeus to overpower the two violet ones.

"Ratatosk!" the hooded figure calls in concern to the green one. He turns to Lux. "You'll pay for damaging Remphy's blade, you MONSTER!"

"Lux, watch out!" Garland shouts as the anguished stranger begins his attack.

"Hugin! Munin!" he calls. "Soul Formation!"

The two dark violet blades attack in unison and each of them form a large, dark purple, raven-shaped aura around itself. Lux watches, frozen in her spot as the two neared her. Just then, a soft whisper enters her mind and as if granted new power, she became unfrozen. Her eyes flash azure for a moment and then her entire body radiated with a strong iridescent aura as she stood majestic and elegant.

"Elfe!" she cries, summoning the spirit from the blade

A brilliant burst of light erupts from her and shrouds everything in a pure white. A beautiful melody becomes audible and then the light subsides. Four pairs of eyes watch her, stunned by her sudden release of power. A swirl of light from her blade dances, creating another flash as two voices grow louder, chorusing not only the two attacking blades, but the idle one as well to their fate.

When this light had gone, three blades lay defeated and panting on all fours with his hood blown off by the force of the attack was a youth with red, flowing hair. He looks up at the four, his eyes glowing with rage and angry tears. He scurries to his laptop shaped launcher and loads a black blade onto it and gets up to try to position himself for another launch. However, he is stopped by a voice.

"Nex!" calls a second cloaked figure with spiked periwinkle hair by the window who catches the attention of the four who oppose the first one. "Cut this out and give me back Sleipnir and Ratatosk."

The red head named Nex turns to him in anger. "No way, I won't!"

"What you're doing is pointless!" reasons the second cloaked figure. "Why don't you go back to what Ventus said and think about why Xen and Remphy died!"

"Shut it, Tanor!" Nex cries out. He then raises a hand and points to Lux who is watching the verbal conflict with Brooklyn, Kai and Garland. "The reason why they're gone are all thanks to successful calamities like HER!"

"Quit this!" shouts the one called Tanor. "I know your brother meant a lot to you, but snap out of this madness and think! Just look at how hard Xen and Remphy tried and what happened to them! Think back to what Ventus said! Do you really think you can keep your promise to Xen and Remphy by being Bizmark's most useful tool!"

Nex's eyes widen in shock upon hearing the last sentence. Tears started flowing from his eyes as he falls back onto all fours and sobs.

"Well, do you?" scolds the second figure. "'Cause if you do, you really will never be anything BUT someone who failed to be a human being of his own will and power."

Brooklyn and Garland look to each other, confused as to what is going on while Lux turns to Kai who continues to watch the crying red head and the cloaked stranger who scolded him. Nex then he looks up, sobbing. A loud, angry cry sounds and it is then carried by the wind to the ears of a youth with light blond hair who sits atop a tree with a decorated cellphone in his hand. He looks up to the neverending azure and closes his eyes.