How long had she remained alone? How long ago was it she witnessed the near death of her race? The death of her children? She could not recall. She remained alone, resting upon her dreary throne. The twin throne at her side, forever empty.
She had mourned, mourned until exhaustion prevented her from her search. She knew her descendants had taken precautions to ensure not everyone would be lost. Yet, she still did not have a window to peek into the lives of the last of the flock. She could only wait and have faith she would not be cursed to be nothing more than a lost memory.
Just as she prepared herself for another great slumber, the silence of her realm was pierced. Her heart fluttered as her crimson eyes frantically searched her surroundings. False moonlight shone through the grand window behind her throne. Her eyes traced the illumination to the ancient stone doors of the throne room entrance. The stone doors slowly cracked open as a smile slowly grew on her face.
A lone light slowly bled through the void of the ancient entrance. The sound of a baby wailing filled the quiet throne room. She nearly tripped as she rushed down the steps of the throne towards the light. She reached out and wrapped the light into a soft embrace. It slowly took the form of a newly born child.
Her flock still lived. A new window had been born; a new Pontiff drew breath. She reverently carried the baby to her throne. She cooed at the newborn as she gently rocked him. The light of his soul slowly seeped into her dreary throne room. The moonlight disappeared behind her throne, replaced by the warm glow of sunlight.
"Shh… Mother is here, child. Mother is here…"
She rubbed her thumb against his cheek as she looked down into his amber eyes. She hummed as her hand slowly moved up towards the small tuft of reddish-orange hair on his head. Her new Pontiff was adorable. The eyes of the baby began to close as she gently rocked him. She would soothe his soul, wherever he was.
Large black wings erupted from the back of the woman as she adjusted herself on the throne. She enveloped herself and the soul of the baby into a cocoon protected by her wings. She closed her eyes as she willed a sliver of her soul into her Pontiff. She would no longer be alone.
Time passed for the child as she watched him slowly grow. Gone was the baby she had once had wrapped within her wings. He was now replaced by an inquisitive toddler. Their sister race had granted him a name, the nerve! At least the meaning behind it was something she could accept.
Little Akira, her ever bright sun, stared into her crimson eyes as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. She looked down at him fidgeting upon her lap. He was growing up far too quickly. She feared the day he would no longer fit upon her lap.
"Mama?"
A few tears spilled from her eyes as she squeezed the toddler into a hug, "Yes! Mama! Mama will always be here!"
Seemingly satisfied by her words, the toddler stopped fidgeting. Instead, he leaned his head against her arm and yawned.
"Story?"
She smiled down at the sleepy toddler as she wiped the tears out of her eyes, "Story. I shall tell you a story, my Little Light."
The sight of the toddler had brought back memories. Memories of happier times. Memories of when she still walked among her flock. She knew exactly what story to tell the toddler. The story of the biggest fool she knew, her former husband.
"Long ago, there was a grand kingdom filled with brave knights and powerful wizards. The knights and wizards worked together to stop wicked monsters from preying upon small ones, such as yourself. Monsters donning the face of man roamed the countryside freely. People were terribly afraid."
The toddler fiercely hugged her side, "No!"
"It was very scary! Everyone, from child to elder were afraid of those horrible people. The king tried his best to keep people happy, to keep people hopeful. Sadly, the king was old and tired, so very tired. After a while, he could no longer lead his people against their sworn enemy."
"The knights and mages feared the grand kingdom would crumble without the old man. Their fears were proven wrong when the prince became the king."
The toddler slowly peeled his face away from her clothing and looked up at her gaze, "Prince?"
She smiled down at him, "Prince Sanctus, he became the new king. He had spent most of his life in libraries learning all there was to know about magic. People feared he would be weak, feared he knew nothing of leadership and would not last long on the throne. They urged him to have a child of his own as soon as possible. Sanctus had to find a queen to rule at his side."
"Royal balls were held, events where people from around the kingdom danced among one another at the king's castle. King Sanctus was never satisfied with the events. He always left as soon as he could, seeking to hunt down new books to read. It irritated his retainers to no end," she laughed.
Akira giggled along with her, "Me Books!"
"I wish I had books to share with you. He would have loved you, Little Light… Where was I? Ah, yes. King Sanctus went against the wishes of his advisors when it came to seeking out a queen. Instead, he continued his studies of his unique magic, magic related to the soul."
Akira tilted his head, "Soul?"
She gently poked his nose, "The soul is something inside of everyone. It makes you who you are. Every person is special because of their one of a kind soul," the inquisitive toddler's face scrunched up in concentration, as if trying to parse the meaning of her words.
She decided to continue her story, mentally reminding herself to further lecture her child on the nature of souls in the future.
"Sanctus split his time between his magic and his pursuit for books. His retainers relentlessly urged him to continue his search for a queen. Sanctus had grown so mad at his retainers, he spurned his advisors by answering the summonings of a lone peasant girl on a whim."
"You see, there was a sickly girl. She grew up alone in a village outside of the kingdom. She saw things others did not. She knew things others did not. The magic she knew was unique, much like the magic of the king. Where he studied the nature of the soul, she followed the urging of her heart, of love."
"The silly girl spent years learning to read and write because a part of her knew the one she was destined to be with was out there to be contacted. She followed her heart and eventually received a flash of understanding on who she was meant to seek out. The peasant girl wrote a long letter to the foreign king, pleading with him to meet with her. She never thought he would respond, never thought he would make the journey to her village."
"She was wrong, the foolish king went out of the way to make the journey. He snuck out of his castle and left his duties behind to follow the urging of a peasant girl he did not even know. She was terrified when he appeared before her at her village. Her entire life had led up to that moment, yet she did not expect what she had yearned for to come true."
The toddler happily cheered, "Queen!"
"Indeed, she became the queen. Sanctus found the idea amusing enough to humor her. He took her as his queen, both angering and satisfying his advisors. A sickly peasant girl sat beside him in the throne room. The citizens of the kingdom were outraged, however they accepted it after a while. She loved him dearly, uncontrollably, and eventually he too fell in love with her."
"The queen bore twins for the king. Sanctus was the father of a precious baby girl and a handsome baby boy. Crimson eyes of their mother, the dark purple hair of their father. They were so beautiful…" She trailed off.
"Unfortunately, the queen… became very tired after the birth of her children. Sanctus did not leave her side until the very end," her voice wavered as she did her best to keep her composure.
It took her a few moments to recover before she continued her story.
"When the queen… fell asleep… something miraculous happened. Her soul did not move to the great beyond. The love she held for Sanctus and her children was too strong for her to leave his side. Her soul fused into his body as a separate core. The soul magic he held danced with her power over love."
"A wave of magic unlike any other spread throughout the kingdom. The knights and wizards changed first. They grew wings as the magic granted them new ways to defend their people. The knights grew greatly in their strength. The wizards learned to master unique ways to harness their magic. There was a great price for the gifts provided by the magic the king had unleashed. To fully unleash the potential granted to us by our magic, we had to be with our destined one. To seek the one our heart yearned for the most. The combination of the unique magic of the king and queen created who we are today," she quietly spoke.
The toddler slowly closed his eyes, stumbling his words as sleep claimed him, "Des-one…"
She looked down sadly at the sleeping toddler. He was one of the final remnants of the flock and yet knew so little about his own people. She had peeked through his eyes enough to know how dire the situation was. Not even the sight of a member of her and Sanctus's line had soothed her nerves when she explored the world through Akira's eyes. She would have to do her best to guide her Little Light.
Kamikura Island [1999]
Minaka held his chin high up in the air as he adjusted his glasses with a single finger. His red scarf and raven hair flapped in the sea breeze as he stood at the bow of the ship. He was posing with his leg elevated on the very tip of the front of the ship. He could hear sighing behind him while another one of his companions snickered.
He turned his gaze towards the two as he yelled with certainty, "Wash away your doubts! I can feel success in the air! Our adventure will be well worth it!"
Takehito continued to snicker as he continued to drive the boat down the course Minaka had charted.
Takami rolled her eyes at Minaka's behavior, "You are such a dork."
Minaka turned around and reached for his heart, "Ah, you truly do wound me Takami. I promise you both this trip will be life changing!"
Takehito hummed from the steering wheel, "It better be. You gave us such short notice I had to skip my lab assignment. Poor Miyajima is going to be stuck doing our group lab by herself. What are we out here for again?"
"My dear Takehito! We seek a vision from my dreams. I bore witness to a dream in which we found a special island. The gods wished for us to make a grand journey on the open seas!"
Takami had both of her palms on her face blocking her eyes, "Dear god, are you off your meds again Minaka?"
"Of course! Riddle me this Takami, how am I supposed to hear the gods if my mind is clouded? Nay, I have forsaken my medications in favor of following the will of the gods!"
"He's got you there, Takami. How can you refute such logical reasoning?" Takehito reached for a bottle of water by the wheel as she glared at him.
"Ugh, this was a mistake. We should have gone to class instead or at least studied somewhere," she reached for her own bottle of water.
"Was it now? Then explain… THIS!" Minaka suddenly did a twirl before reaching for a pair of binoculars resting on his belt.
"You two have doubted me, doubted the gods. Yet, I can say with certainty. Land, ho!"
Takehito sighed, "Come on. We've already done this skit like six times now."
Minaka was frozen at the bow of the ship, unmoving.
"Minaka?" Takehito reached for a pair of binoculars in a nearby supply bag by the wheel.
"Holy shit! There really is an island out here. How? I don't see any on the map for our course," Takehito's face gave away his utter shock.
Takami jumped to her feet and headed to Minaka's side. She ripped the binoculars out of his hands.
Her mouth hung open slightly as she lowered the binoculars. Minaka met her gaze with a shit eating grin.
"Told you~!" Minaka sang as the boat headed in the direction of the mystery island.
Minaka was the first to step foot on the island as his two companions followed him. He happily sang as he looked around the island with his binoculars.
"Rocks~! Rocks~! My dear rocks~! Tell me the secrets you hold~!"
Takehito was mumbling to himself as he crouched down to touch the stone ground of the island, "Weird, the elevation is off. A new island shouldn't be this elevated yet. Underwater volcanic activity? No, maybe artificial?"
Takami tapped Takehito on his shoulder, causing him to stand back up.
"Artificial is my guess. We might be trespassing on government property. I don't recall reading any ongoing projects of such a scale recently."
Takehito frowned as he looked towards Minaka, "How did you discover this island again?"
Minaka stopped his singing, "Divine intervention! I threw a dart on a map! The dart pointed us here."
Takehito sighed, "I thought you said you found it through a vision?"
"Well…I did have a dream where we all went on a glorious adventure on the open seas. There were islands, many islands, to be fair!"
Takami strode forward and yanked on Minaka's scarf, "Damnit, Minaka! You're lucky your insanity actually got us somewhere."
"Not luck! Divine intervention~!"
Minaka skipped away from the woman he very well knew was about to throttle him. He paused for just a brief moment to stick his tongue out at both of his companions before dashing off into the distance. His arms were held out horizontally behind him to maximize his speed. He had become the wind!
Takehito and Takami could hardly keep up with him as he giddily explored the island. He jumped over loose rocks without any hesitation. His fun came to an abrupt end when one of his hops failed. Minaka fell on the floor as he tripped on an elevated part of the ground.
He tumbled for a few moments before jumping back onto his feet with a flourish. He heard unenthusiastic clapping behind him as the two finally caught up.
"Wow. Amazing. The gold medal goes to Minaka. Yay," Takami cheered him on emotionlessly.
"You alright, Minaka?" Takehito went over to his side just as a wide grin split Minaka's face.
"Am I alright? I have never felt more excited! Look at what we have stumbled upon!"
Minaka brushed the top of the strange elevated ground with his boot, exposing what appeared to be a metallic hatch.
"Come my fellows! We have discovered a dungeon! What loot may it hold? Perhaps, we may find the legendary Deck of Many Things!?"
Takehito and Takami appeared apprehensive about the discovery. Minaka gave them no choice, but to follow as he opened the metallic hatch and practically jumped down the hole. As the hatch opened, a strange robotic tone came from the dark interior of the hatch.
Takehito pulled out a flashlight from his supply bag. He flicked it on as he followed right behind Minaka and Takami. The illumination exposed white walls composed of some metallic material. They slowly walked through what appeared to be a corridor of some sort before a large metal door sealed the path forwards.
MInaka approached the door with zero hesitation. Takehito shined the flashlight around the door to outline how large it was.
"Looks like blast doors or something. We might actually be somewhere we really shouldn't," Takami was glancing around nervously.
Minaka stepped up to her and put his hands on her shoulder, "Have no fear! There appears to be a security lock! If we are not allowed to be here, it will not open. Simple!"
Takehito pointed the flashlight towards a rectangular red screen next to the door. The red screen appeared to have the outline of a hand on it.
"I don't know about this, Minaka. We should tread carefully," Takehito kept the light on the screen as he spoke.
Minaka didn't even spare him a glance as he placed his hand on the red screen. The door hissed, lights flickered on, and some unknown robotic voice filled the area around them.
Minaka posed heroically as the doors slowly opened, "Told you! We must be allowed to be here."
The three continued forwards into the unknown. Lights illuminated strange writings on certain parts of the white walls. None of the three recognized the writings or the repetitive message some robotic voice kept repeating as they moved deeper into their discovery.
After some wondering, they opened another doorway. As the door hissed open, it exposed a spacious circular room. The three wordlessly stared at the utterly alien sight before them. A teenage girl was suspended in a glowing blue glass tank. Her hair was an unnatural purple.
The three wordlessly stared at the figure floating in the cold liquid filled tank before Minaka spoke up.
"The gods have granted us something even I didn't expect! I think we found our very own Saiyan!"
Takehito lightly tapped his arm, "Not funny. We either just found some secret government project breaking every ethical boundary known to man or an alien. What in the actual fuck?"
Takami looked around the tank before she nervously spoke, "I think there is a release lever back here. Do we…?"
Minaka dashed to her side, giving her no time to finish her question. His hands forced the lever down. The tank slowly began to drain of the cold liquid as the three shifted to stand in front of it. No words needed to be said as they patiently waited.
Minaka pressed his face against the glass. He silently watched as the purple haired teenager spasmed for a few moments in the drained tank. Suddenly, her eyes opened. Her crimson gaze met his own. Minaka laughed, laughed harder than he ever had before.
Kamikura Island [2000]
It was another sleepless night. Takami deeply regretted not taking a course on Child Development. Raising children was so far out of her expertise that it wasn't even funny. Yet, here she was raising alien children under the watchful gaze of their teenage guardian, 001.
When did the world stop making sense? One year ago. She deeply regretted following Minaka to Kamikura Island. The amount of knowledge they obtained by discovering the crashed alien ship was staggering, but it came at an absurd cost.
Crying, more crying. Takami sighed as she hurried over to check on 006. After quickly checking him over, she determined there was nothing wrong with him. She was going to go insane.
Takami glared at the back of 001 as the teenage guardian of the aliens paced by the cribs again. 001 or Miya, as Takehito had taken to calling her, irritated Takami. Miya had been the only alien on board the ship, not counting the few embryos and a near hundred fertilized eggs of the other Sekirei.
What annoyed Takami most about Miya was the alien having the answer to all their problems, but refusing to do what needed to be done. When they had woken Miya from her cryptosleep, she immediately went to work doing something to the embryos on board the ship. The exact science behind the procedures Miya did was not something Takami fully understood, which annoyed her to no end. What made the situation more insufferable was the results.
Miya took those four embryos from their stasis, put them through some type of artificial birthing machine, and then sped up their development. 002 through 005 were toddlers at this point of time while the other ten Sekirei they put through the birthing process were still babies.
When they questioned Miya as to why she refused to do the same process to speed up the aging of the others, she told them it was simply because she only needed a few extra guardians to assist her with raising the rest of the "flock" of children. Takami wanted to throttle Miya, she really did.
Miya was so distracted with the ten other Sekirei babies that Takami wasn't even sure if 002 through 005 were going to be stable with their rapid development. She hoped with every fiber of her being that Miyajima and Takehito would be enough to raise those toddlers to be even somewhat normal.
Takami couldn't help but worry though. Miyajima spent a little too much time focusing on understanding the medical technology on the ship compared to raising the children. Takehito spent a concerning amount of time with the teenage guardian of the aliens. Said alien who split boulders with a single swing of a sword for training. She honestly had no idea what Takehito was thinking.
They were all just college students drowning in absolute madness. She was in far too deep though, especially since she co-signed the founding of a new company with Minaka to create new technology based on some of their discoveries on the ship.
God, she was so stressed out.
The door to the nursery opened behind her. Takami turned around to see Takehito standing there with a clipboard. He had a slight grimace on his face as he nodded towards Takami.
He quietly asked, "Hey, Takami? Is it normal for toddlers to mutter at nothing for over an hour? 005 has been talking to himself for a while now…"
Takami closed her eyes as she took a deep, deep breath. How was she supposed to know that?
TAKEHITO WAS THE ONE WHO TOOK CHILD DEVELOPMENT!
