Chapter 10: The Phoenix
"Good morning," Flare said as he walked downstairs to the sound of piano, violin and Dragonstar's voice.
"We need more members," Heruseus sighed.
"Who?" Dragonstar pondered.
"I can play drums," Flare offered.
"You're in!" Dragonstar smiled.
"I can play electric guitar," Titanus offered.
"Double Yahtzee!" Heruseus smirked.
"Uh, ok then," Dragonstar squirmed.
"How are we gonna get better?" Flare asked.
"Training montage," Titanus, Terriblelizard and Heruseus said in perfect unison.
"We can't afford that… Nor is it possible in reality or VR," Dragonstar frowned.
"Buzzkill…" Terriblelizard pouted.
"I heard you need more members!" Grimmjack came downstairs. "I learned bass,"
"Thanks, but-" started Dragonstar.
"Hell yeah! Now everyone is in the band!" Heruseus grinned.
"Except for Diana, Aris, Azerath and I," Talon pointed out.
"Yeah, but you're technically in the band since you taught me, so it's both our skills in one…concerto," Heruseus explained.
"That's…a really good metaphor," Talon nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
"Well, let's get a name," Dragonstar suggested.
"Mewo Knights!" Heruseus and Talon said in unison.
"I don't get what this 'mewo' thing is," Dragonstar sighed.
"You see, back in 5-6th grade, when Heruseus and I hung out more often, we would text each other 'meow', but we typed so fast that 'meow' got scrambled into 'mewo', so the name stuck. It's our gag," Talon explained.
"Cool," Dragonstar murmured.
"I don't think we should be the Mewo Knights…" Titanus complained.
"Aww, c'mon, you're just jealous you didn't come up with it first!" Talon whined.
"No, I'm not," Titanus muttered.
"How about The Phoenix?" asked Dragonstar.
"What's the plural?" asked Titanus.
"Phoenix," Talon said before Heruseus could.
"Then The Phoenix it is!" Dragonstar cheered.
The group practiced for a few hours and then they went to bed. Only Heruseus stayed downstairs. "Aren't you coming up?" asked Dragonstar.
"I will. I'll just clean up first," Heruseus said.
"…Ok," Dragonstar pretended to head upstairs but hid behind the stairs.
Heruseus got up and went through the front down, only after checking no one else was downstairs. Dragonstar watched through the window before chasing after him. He went inside the chapel and Dragonstar jumped up to a window to see him. He sat down at the piano. He stretched his fingers and played a few quick notes that Dragonstar could hear well, so she snuck inside. She heard Heruseus clear his throat before starting a new melody.
"I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are," he sang.
"I'm 22 for a moment
And she feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live
I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm a "they"
A kid on the way, babe
A family on my mind
I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
15 I'm all right with you
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live
Half time goes by
Suddenly you're wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...
I'm 99 for a moment
And dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
15 there's still time for you
22 I feel her too
33 you're on your way
Every day's a new day...
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live," he finished.
He played the last few notes on the piano. Dragonstar start caught herself crying. The song itself was beautiful. She heard clapping. She hadn't noticed that Talon was sitting at the pews. He got up and said, "You've been getting better,"
"I hope it's good enough for the others to let me do a single at the end of our performance in three days," Heruseus sighed.
"Are you kidding? Of course they would!" Talon praised.
"I disagree," Heruseus said.
"It's this song, right?" Talon said quietly.
"Yeah. It's a special song. I remember this song by heart because my brother, father and I used to sing it together. And now… now those days are over. It's my fault. When people noticed my brother was prodigy, I felt like everyone expected too much of me. So I just got heavy into gaming and getting into trouble. Those days ended in a flash. And now I'm here. Living my one true dream. Become one with a video game," Heruseus said with a sad smile.
"Tragic. I warned you about this dumb dream of yours. I knew you wouldn't want to get rid of it all," Talon said coldly.
"And you were right. I admit to that," Heruseus returned.
"I think it's great that you're positive around the others, but you should let this darkness loose more often," Talon warned.
"I can't. I might scare people. I can be dark," Heruseus coughed.
"How goes the sickness?" Talon asked.
"Better," Heruseus returned.
Heruseus has been practicing and having secret conversations with Justin! Dragonstar felt betrayed. Stop it me! Stop acting like Theo can only tell his secrets to me! I wonder if he's barely told me anything. She slapped her cheeks. She turned around and started to leave.
"So, how goes it with you and Steph?" Talon asked.
Both Dragonstar and Heruseus turned bright red. "Uh, g-good I guess. I just think that maybe I might have like a 5% chance!"
"As opposed to the usual?" Talon asked.
"0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%," Heruseus sighed.
"Don't undermine yourself like that," Talon said with a tsk.
"I'm not. If I were undermining myself I would've said I had a 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance," Heruseus sighed.
Talon laughed and Heruseus joined in. They started towards the exit. Dragonstar flung the door open with haste and ran toward the inn. She made it up the stairs and saw Heruseus leaving the building. He was talking and laughing with Talon about something. She sighed.
Heruseus and Talon opened the doors slowly as not to wake anyone. Dragonstar went up to her. She jumped over the creaky stair and into bed.
Heruseus got home and said goodnight to Talon. Heruseus' room was the only room downstairs. Heruseus stripped down to his underwear and a plain white T-shirt. He laid down in bed and stared at the ceiling. He opened his menu with a sighed. He pulled out Paper Towns. He read for an hour before taking off his glasses and putting away his book. Before long, he was fast asleep, ready for the adventures of the next day.
When Heruseus woke up, Dragonstar, whose room was above his, was singing.
He could quite make out what song it was, but it sounded like Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy.
Heruseus shook his head. He changed into some new armor, a long black coat, like the others, with a hem that reached down to his calves. The coat had black shoulder guards and a blood red, crescent moon over the right breast. He equipped Kuro and walked outside of his room. Outside, Flare, Talon and Terriblelizard were waiting. "Let's go on a hunting party!" Titanus suggested as he came downstairs..
The five nerds walked out to the gothic forest and fought some gargoyle monster until they got to a mini boss, Berra, a large gargoyle that was defeated in under an hour. The team panted. They had only been out for three hours and T.L and Flare already wanted to call quits. "Head back guys. We'll continue," Titanus smirked.
The duo headed off, whilst the trio went on in search of more adventure. Before long it was lunchtime and after the trio had eaten, Titanus and Talon went home. Heruseus stayed and started killing monster as a way to vent. "How dare they?!" he swung at a gargoyle.
"They think that they can just treat me like a child!" he swung again.
"I. Am. A. Teenage. Boy! I. Can. Make. My. Own. Decisions. I. Don't. Need. People. To. Watch. Me!" Heruseus released a feral scream and before he knew it, there was a strange sensation. His sword became twin katanas; his body became black and furry. His hands became claws. His eyes became orange. He grew 6 fox tails and fox ears. His voice had become a feral screech. He had entered into SAO signature ability that only beta-testers unlocked. It was called Berserker. It could only be activated upon extreme emotions. He Heruseus' speed and strength had doubled, as had his agility. Each beta-tester's Berserker looked different. Heruseus' was the only animal-like Berserker known. It was supposed to be a half-fox half-man demon. He shredded through every monster in the forest in under 10 minutes. The only problem with Heruseus' Berserker was that its main ability, Rage Gene, made it so that the more he killed, the longer he stayed in Berserker. But the longer he stayed in Berserker, the longer he would be knocked out. Flare had heard the animal howl and brought the guild to investigate.
"It's gotta be a boss-level monster," Grimmjack whispered.
"It kinda reminds me of Lupis," Dragonstar muttered.
"He must have insane stats because he's only go one HP bar," Flare noted.
"Wait, where is Heruseus?" Titanus asked.
The guild checked for Heruseus' HP bar. Next to it was a fox icon. "What the hell does that mean?" asked Aris.
"I think that fox demon down there is Heruseus," Grimmjack noted.
"Oh shit!" Azerath yelped.
Heruseus' enhanced hearing heard Azerath. He leaped towards him and tore him apart with both claws and katanas. Azerath's tear fell as fast as his HP bar. Before long, he was dead. The others hid in the shadows. Heruseus sniffed the air until a man in ivory armor with a red spear tackled him. The man restrained Heruseus. Heruseus struggled while the man called out, "Boys! Get the chains!" Ten more soldiers came out with chains.
The wrapped the chains around Heruseus, who was gnashing his teeth and trying to swipe at the man. "Knights of the Blood Oath! Take him away!" he commanded.
"Dammit," sighed Grimmjack.
"What's wrong?" Diana asked.
"Well other than the fact that one of our friends just killed another one of our friends, Heruseus has been taken to an extremely powerful guild. They man be small, but they are elite. Their leader Heathcliff and I got off on the wrong foot. Right now, they most likely plan to keep Heruseus captive or to kill him," Grimmjack said grimly.
"Absolutely wonderful," muttered Diana.
"Well then, as leader, I command us to charge!" Grimmjack commanded.