Chapter 3: Institution of unknown education.

Years ago, Wreckoning god Dais and Kishin Veijka engaged a fierce and savage battle which resulted in the tragic fissuring of Madagascar. It should be noted that only one year after Madagascar's destruction, the two gods negotiated a truce.

The cruel heritage of their battle was daunting and breathtaking unanimously. Madagascar was divided into three new, smaller islands. Each of them measured about one third of the original Madagascar as the great fissuring spawned around the centre of the island. From the countless chasms and splits that ruptured the ground, the three largest pierced through dirt and stone until they ended in the water.

The first chasm tore its way along the east and literally consumed the steep escarpments which lead from the Central Highlands down into a ribbon of rain forest with a narrow coastal further east. Now, the Canal des Pangalanes, a chain of natural and man-made lakes connected by canals that ran parallel to the east coast and wound through about two-thirds of the island, are entirely dried out and had turned into empty trenches.

The easterly Island was now known as "Desertascar", a compound of the word desert since the island was nothing more than a desert landscape and Madagascar, where it originally belonged to. All three island names originated from that idea.

Desertascar was formed by the first and second chasm which unleashed tremendous power with earthquake-like fissuring thus raised the island several hundred meters into the air. The descent from the central highlands toward the west was more gradual, with remnants of deciduous forest and savanna-like plains. The second rift followed along the descent and also opened into the sea.

The central highlands were characterized by terraced, rice-growing valleys lying between barren hills. Here, the red laterite soil that covered much of the island had been exposed by erosion, showing clearly why the country is often referred to as the "Red Island". The island's highest peak, Maromokotro, at 2,876 metres , was found in the Tsaratanana Massif, located in the far north of the country.

Maromokotro itself was the only remaining memento from the original island. The northwestern Island, "Fenascar", had little left of its former glory. It was the largest island and turned into a gargantuan swamp because of the massive flooding.

The great contrast between Desertascar and Fenascar originated from the island-raising incident. While Desertascar was being raised, fed with the ground and bottom of Fenascar, the latter, logically, began to sink. Seawater flooded streams, rivers and lakes, drowned the vegetation and pulled countless animals into the depths of the deep blue sea.

Lastly to be named is the southern island, being the only one with a decent ecology for new settlements and enough flora-fauna capability. Since then, "New Madagascar" had been Notiic's training grounds and now the new home of Nila, Lucian, Draco and their friends.

They left the shady, glass-paned architecture of the botanical-basement section behind and journeyed across the large meadows of the island. Soon they found the valley that led directly to the cove where the herbage of death had left its trails.

Chaos Organize, Zira Extolier, Suzumi, Kenji and Damion followed Sinn through the stone-corridors of the vast dale. Moss covered rocks, gaping chasms and no end in sight gave this valley such a frustrating atmosphere. "I'd rather sit in the kitchen and eat my toast." bickered Zira with a sharp voice.

Chaos laughed. "Then turn around and do us all a favor!"

"Shut up Organize!"

"Just cease your bickering, I can't think with your voice louder than my thoughts."

"Why don't you make a U-turn and go home, ALONE?"

"Watch it you-." Suzumi couldn't bear the sweat drop any longer. "Hey you two, calm down." Damion and Kenji didn't bother to intervene and kept on marching behind Sinn. "Aren't those two demon Weapons?" queried Sinn whilst carefully eyeing Chaos. Kenji looked at Damion, then back to the three girls and finally gazed at Sinn. "We all … are." He muttered.

"Oh-oh. Oooh. Okay!" Sinn nervously laughed. Damion leaned closer to Kenji when Sinn shifted her eyes back towards the direction they walked. "Isn't she acting a bit strange?" queried the young boy.

"Eh? What do you mean?" whispered Kenji back. "It's just … well. She asked you that for the third time now. And I got the feeling that we are walking in circles." Damion's breathy voice barely reached Kenji's ears, but the Weapon could very well imagine his problems given the fact that Sinn in fact behaved in a very strange way.

"I think we are almost there. Are you all prepared and ready?" asked Sinn with a rather excited tone. "Prepared …?" Suzumi shook her had in disapproval. Chaos halted. "Ready and prepared for what?" Sinn's expression changed from happy to utterly terrified. "I-I mean, are you poised to attack?"

Extolier stomped the ground with her boots and began to roar. "We'll kick that piece of ass so hard in the grass! Err… I mean-" Chaos burst into laughter. Suzumi began to chuckle and Kenji only rolled his eyes when Zira was as red as a tomato.

"You think too much about Rickter, get your hormones under control." squeezed Chaos out before laughing tears, again. "WHY YOU!" shouted Zira and she charged at Organize. The latter turned her arm into a long, bloodied blade and deflected Zira's foot that also morphed into a hideous blade form.

"Oioioioioioioi …." chuckled Kenji. The entire group halted because of Zira's and Chaos' "little" outrage and observed how the two girls furiously clashed. "I love how you just can't take a joke or two." commented Organize. "Shut your hole or I will do it for you!" snarled Zira back and promptly launched another leg-based attack.

With every clash of their Demonpowers, the entire dale began to tremble and quake as the chasms massively magnified the echo of the impacts. Damion watched how a pile of rocks next to him began to shiver and jump before the heap collapsed.

"Umm… I think we should put an end to their quarreling. This place is falling apart!" exclaimed Damion as he shook Kenji's shoulder. Kenji turned and when he looked up to the stony walls, he felt an ice cold shiver running down his spine.

The rocks and stones from the very top were coming down, multiple chasms yawned and they were in the thick of it. "Holy crap! RUN!" Zira and Chaos, now forcefully pressing their foreheads against each other, ceased their hostilities and looked at the others who were running their hearts out.

Immediately joining that trend, the angry duo soon caught up with the rest and the group dashed through a dale that was breaking into fragments and pieces. Massive chunks of rubble hawked down into the depths and the group managed a hairbreadth escape.

They kept running for at least five minutes. Kenji dived into the undergrowth which dwelt at the end of the road. With the dale collapsing in itself, the group didn't hesitate and followed the boy into the thickness of green.

Piercing through the thicket, branches and brushwood relentlessly slapped into their faces. Fortunately the painful Odyssey didn't last long, yet even after they left the undergrowth behind them they kept running.

The dry stomps of their feet soon ceased and where replaced by sound and clear noises as if they were running through a hallway. At some point, Damion and Kenji halted. No one was injured, only pumped out and loaded with so much adrenaline that each and every one of them could hear their hearts pounding in their ribcages. "Is every one okay? *pant* *pant* Are we still alive?" coughed Zira as she kneed in a state of exhaustion.

Damion and Suzumi sat on a bench, the sweat dripped off their foreheads. "Effing … what was THAT for?" panted and gasped Kenji. "Them rocks everywhere …" muttered Zira, her legs were still shaking. "Sinn are you alright?"

Every one paused.

" … "

Damion looked up and tried to detect Sinn. "Eeuhm … S-Sinn?"

Also ceasing her panting, Zira failed to trace her, too. "Sinn?"

"Sinn." muttered Suzumi as she let her head fall back.

Furiously shaking his head, Kenji asked. „Where is Sinn?"

„Wwwhhmmmo? OOH FINN!" Chaos lay on the ground, her face pressed against the flagged floor. Her muffled voice was hardly hearable.

„Oh god …. " The group soon realized that Sinn was indeed missing.

"Okay, relax. She was in front of me, she'll be alright!" exclaimed Kenji when the others begin to whimper and whine.

"Woah … where are we?"

What?

Damion's simple question caught them all off-guard. Sinn was missing, and they stood in what seemed like a university building. "Who … what … how did … sodding …" Zira couldn't put her surprise into words.

The corridor was packed with empty lockers. They were all torn open and loose, semi-mouldy papers lay all across the location. The windows that shed some light were filthy dirty, had cracks spread across them and some were bashed in.

Kenji scratched his head. "When … did we?" Suzumi stood up and picked up one of the many papers, the sheet of paper slightly disaggregated with the touch. Slightly surprised with the horrible condition of the slip, Suzumi muttered as she tried to read it. "Woah … 1987."

Zira thought aloud. "1987 … 13 … 2000 … plus 10 … 2010 …"

Damion shook his head. "The year is 2025, Zira. 1st of October."

Soon the group rallied and began their search for Sinn, who was still missing. The mysterious and somewhat creepy building with its large, empty halls and rooms were the perfect place of concealment. "She could be like everywhere?" moaned Chaos who dangled behind Damion.

"Then we'll just search everywhere." responded Suzumi with a rather neutral tone. She didn't even bother with Chaos' grumbling and nagging noises that served as an answer.

They walked into a paleontology department. Fossils and bones caged in vitrines that spread across the entire department. Into the library, yelling through the empty book corridors and across the stone paved courtyard where the fountain trickled in endless rhythm.

"Bah! We're looking for a needle in a haystack, seriously!" Zira stomped the ground angrily and halted. Every one immediately turned and gazed at the angry girl.

Kenji's wistful expression changed as he looked back at the shadows of vegetation behind the grimy glass of the library they just left. He dragged his eyes forward again and stared at the astronomy observation tower that seemingly dominated the facility, pointing up towards the daylight-obscured stars.

Zira made eyes at the impressive structure. "Wow…" They nodded in unison.

Yours faithfully,

Skadow