111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRleRSUR70NAs each Spiritan Commander entered the Judgement Hall and found their seats, Raina looked down at her aether link, the wristbands made to access the plexus network. She swiped the screen to display it on her desk, making it easier to navigate through.
She was sifting through news reports from the district in Pneuma City. News of Forgeton being attacked by Aeric had reached everywhere now.
"Parents and even some of the other Crest Heads believe the Klevonian Army is behind the kidnappings," Raina announced to the others as she scrolled.
"They even pissed off the zasshu. This is perfect. This is the best time to strike them while they're distracted and recovering," Kit stood after reading some of the news.
"Heh, I'll lead the charge," Raves stated eagerly, itching for some action.
"I'm normally not one to agree with them, but if the klevonians have the children, perhaps an opportunistic assault is our best option, isn't it?" Hakan said softly.
Meira looked at Raina expectantly. Admittedly, this opportunity was enticing. If the wars were going to occur regardless, they'd take an immediate advantage by attacking right now. They could even locate the lost children.
But Raina sighed as she made her decision.
"No. Things aren't so simple with Aeric involved. I don't know what happened between Forgeton and Aeric, but we're not getting involved," she declared, then looked directly at Kit and Rave. "Let me be clear: any insubordination on the matter will be met with severe punishment. I'm not going to risk war with the Klevonian Army or possibly interfering with whatever feud Aeric has with them when there's no concrete evidence pointing to the klevonians being the responsible party behind the children's disappearance. We can't act arbitrarily."
With her verdict clear, she sat back in her seat as she recalled Viraa's fervent tone of urgency to trust her. Something was amiss...
"So, what are we going to do then?" Kit directed at her. "How are we going to put our people at ease if not by taking action?"
"Instead of using the chaos as an opportunity to attack, we'll fortify our nation," Raina told them. "Prepare in case the Klevonian Army, or as difficult as it is to believe, Aeric, comes to pick a fight with us."
"You want us to just wait to be attacked?" Kit protested, unsatisfied.
"That's precisely what I'm saying," Raina retorted with a warning tone, causing him to stand down. "Should anything happen, some of you and your crests will be on the frontlines, meeting the enemy away from the city, while some will stay behind and serve as the first defense of Pneuma City. Other crests from the reserves will likely be enlisted to help guard as well."
"Either way, I get to kill somebody," Rave was pleased with a grin.
Cindar – Aeric's Manor
Aeric paced confidently as he looked through the data his grandfather gave him. There was an entire army waiting for him. At least that's what he was told. But they were at least a week away. So why hadn't the army been mobilized yet?
What was his grandfather doing?
Slightly aggravated, he strolled past several cages that held children of various species from Pneuma City. They were hidden away in an area beneath his home where he kept them in specially designed cages that dampened and masked their power.
He sensed Fuse return from his reconnaissance.
"Didn't discover anything, I take it?" Aeric noticed his sour expression.
"I found myself waking. I must've collapsed from exhaustion," he replied, ashamed.
"I assumed a simple reconnaissance was within your capabilities despite your battle with Cinder. You're not usually one to disappoint..."
"I never disappoint," Fuse corrected. "I fell asleep, but I didn't say I didn't discover anything. The Ryfi Theos has gathered her Commanders to discuss preparations for war. From what I could gather, they're unaware of our involvement with the children's disappearances."
"So, the girl chose to keep that information to herself then," Aeric paused briefly before continuing to look through the data on his aether link.
"It appears so. In fact, she and most of her team have fled from the planet," Fuse informed him.
Aeric smiled, assuming she was a selfish coward like most, and fled out of fear. It wasn't surprising considering how pathetically weak she was.
Aeric happened to look down at the kid Felix was antagonizing out of boredom. Unlike the other sobbing cretins, this child was abnormally calm and unafraid despite Felix's attempts to intimidate him.
"My dad's gonna kill you...after my mom tortures you," he told Felix coldly.
Felix lost her temper and kicked the cage, cracking it. Fuse's artificial intelligence, F.A.I.S., quickly activated to operate the nearest maintenance bot to repair the damage.
"Are you trying to sabotage us?" Fuse asked her, infuriated. "He's a child. Ignore him."
"Relax, the odds of anyone attacking here are extremely low," Felix disregarded Fuse's warning.
"Yes, but not impossible..."
ACT II – Unfamiliar Worlds
Planet Sona – The Dark Wildlands
Tymon and Naomi stepped through the rift that led to Planet Sona. When they exited, they were in complete darkness and a bitter coldness that burned Tymon's skin.
Naomi's had some resistance to the cold, but Tymon's body stiffened to keep from shivering as he looked around. The only thing visible was a faint purple hue far in the upper atmosphere of the sky. Other than that, he couldn't see five feet in front of him.
Then a gust of wind hit them. The cold was so harsh that even Naomi complained about feeling it. She and he had to resort to using spirit enhancement and activating some calcite to warm themselves up. But even that wasn't enough.
Naomi manipulated the cold by putting up a vicinity of stillness that warded off as much of the brutal, biting winds as possible.
"Thanks," he said with gratitude. The temperatures on this planet were no joke, even by cindarian standards.
"No problem. Za'Fia would be mad at me if you froze to pseudo-death on my watch," she joked as she stepped closer to him. "Plus, if you freeze, I'd have to protect you while we're on this dark, freezing world and not the other way around."
"And we wouldn't want that," he smirked.
"Nope," she patted his back platonically as if to say, "you go first".
Tymon used his aether link to access Plexus and look up what he could about Planet Sona before they ventured any further. Most of the information was restricted from the public due to the planet's high status, but he was able to get some general data.
Planet Sona was located within a solar system that went by the Night System. It was a solar system of four planets: Pitch, Song, Mute, and Sona, with Planet Sona being the most widely known among them. Its star was a black star with a thin, yellow ring around it, which gave off limited light to its planets, earning the system's name.
Planet Sona itself was home to a native species known as sonans, a crafty species that was capable of surviving in the environments of Sona, but nothing worthwhile was written about them for the public. He'd have to be sure to get the team's clearances upgraded for crest status once they made it back to Cindar.
From what he could see, Planet Sona was the furthest planet from the sun, making it the coldest. Its waters were mostly frozen, but there were multiple semi-active volcanoes underwater and on land that rarely ever erupted but still generated tons of heat that kept portions of the planet's oceans from freezing completely.
Its distance from the sun was also partially why it was the darkest planet in the system, but its constant clouds also helped block out what little sunlight did reach the planet.
There was some other info in there that he noted, even if it wasn't helpful at the moment. Sona's orbit was so long it'd take hundreds of Earth's years to complete one. Luckily, most of the known world unanimously chose to operate by the Universal Standard Time instead of their native time. Sona's gravity density was much lower than Cindar's but still about 5% higher than Earth's, which explained why his body felt lighter. The air density there was about 65% as dense as Earth's, which made it a bit more difficult to breathe, but nothing that really bothered a klevonian.
He shut down his aether link, having gathered all that he could. He looked around with omni-vision for as much visual aid as he could. Naomi followed suit and stated that she'd help keep a lookout by listening too.
"Good," he said as he released his spirit energy. With the lack of astral-e in the atmosphere, it stretched for dozens of miles. A pleasant increase from the restriction on Cindar.
"Why are you doing that?" Naomi asked him nervously. "Won't that get a lot of attention? We don't know what's out here."
"Exactly. We don't have time to search the whole planet. Considering how powerful we are, only the strongest people here will be able to train us. The easiest way to find the strongest is to get their attention and lure them out. If someone powerful suddenly shows up, they'll send someone capable of dealing with that threat to confront them."
"Ohh, that's smart," Naomi agreed cheerfully as she proceeded to release her energy too.
Planet Sona – Eulb City – Night Guardian Base – Planetary Defense Watchtower
The Jonin Commander – a rank given to the leading sonans of a given clan who possess capabilities to be at least a 3.5-star threat – sensed his subordinates goofing around. Chunin Executive – a rank given to the seconds-in-command – was among them, entertaining the Genin's foolishness. They were all part of the Night Guardians, a collective force of 10,000 sonans who were charged with protecting their planet and serving as a planetary military force.
His subordinates were enjoying themselves, passing the time while on watch. They were gathered as they competed, throwing blades at high velocity at one another. The idea was to dodge or catch more than their opponent. He stood very still, slowing his heartbeat and breathing so that they couldn't detect him as he masked his presence. At least they still had two Guardians on lookout for any anomalies.
These knuckleheads never learn, he thought as he pondered what their punishment would be. The younger generations weren't as disciplined as the older generation. They all had a lot more...character to them.
"By the All-Father, I love Nightfall," one Genin leaned out a window of the tower to feel the cold breeze more. "I always hate the warm season when temperatures reach higher than -200 degrees."
"Most of us do," the Chunin Executive laughed. "Three months of total darkness and brutal winter? What sonan wouldn't love that? It's our visitors who hate it."
They all laughed in unison when their planetary sensors suddenly went off.
{Anomalies detected. Two high-energy readings have been confirmed in the Dark Wildlands.}
Everyone immediately became wary and stopped goofing off as the Junin Commander rushed to the sensor slab. He touched it gently, allowing the system to give him feedback.
"Those aren't sonans."
"Why are non sonans here during Nightfall!? Are they suicidal? Who permitted their entry!?" the Chunin Executive exclaimed.
"No one. They just...appeared, sir," one of the Genin who were on watch reported.
The Jonin Commander focused his senses out toward the Dark Wildlands and was hit with an incredible sensation from the presence of the two foreigners. These two were twice as formidable as any Genin.
"Sub-Clan 7, you're being dispatched with me!" The Jonin commanded as he turned toward the open window. "Watch, notify the Capitol immediately."
"Sir!" the Chunin knelt in solute as the Jonin and six Genin somersaulted through the window.
They each nosedived from dozens of stories up but landed with grace and silence on some rooftops below. They then began to run through the city, using their agility to flip across rooftops and blur through the darkness, remaining undetected by the untrained sonan civilians.
Once they were outside the city limits, they kicked it into high gear, using their special arts to move even faster. Some could even fly with wings of the abyss or by riding shade ice.
"Whoever you are, you chose the wrong planet to invade," the Jonin muttered as they raced toward the enemy.
Back to the Dark Wildlands
Tymon and Naomi continued to wander in the dark. At some point, Tymon had remembered they had some glemit and used it to generate light as they walked.
Scarce had also jumped from Tymon's shadow to walk with them. He was a bit bigger now, which took Tymon by surprise.
Naomi had immediately fallen in love with him. The two of them played fetch with one another, with Naomi forming snowballs Scarce going to catch them. Eventually, they grew bored, though.
Not long after that, they detected the presence of two nearby creatures and flew over to see a sea creature swimming in the water. It looked similar to a sting ray except it was dark colored, had two tails, and was easily much larger than a blue whale in size. Strangely enough, its body gave off incredible heat that melted and cut through the ice effortlessly.
Then there was the second creature hidden above. It flew, no stalked within the dark clouds over the sea creature, but Tymon and Naomi could see the faint red glow of its hungry eyes. Then with surprising speed, the creature swooped down from the clouds. It looked like something akin to a giant bat-dragon hybrid as it went in for the kill.
The sea creature was caught off guard, but one of its tails was able to whip the beast, wounding it. However, it wasn't enough to save its life. The bat-like creature screeched as it clamped its talons into the back of the creature before it could escape and began to flap its wings, raising higher and higher until they both disappeared into the darkness again, leaving them alone in the cold wilderness once again.
"It's been 40 minutes. What's taking them so long?" Noami complained. "Should we just fly to wherever we sense some life?"
"No. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about us. I'm guessing sonans can't fly. Or if they can, they can't fly as fast as we can. We just have to be patient."
Suddenly, Naomi's head tilted.
"I-I think I hear someone. No, multiple people? I can't tell..."
Tymon looked out in the distance, detecting several individuals rapidly approaching through his released energy. Oddly, he couldn't actually sense their presence, and apparently Naomi was having trouble hearing them.
Whoever they were, they were good at masking themselves.
Once they were close enough, Scarce was finally able to pick up their presence and growled fiercely as he went on alert.
Tymon glanced down at him. He could tell Scarce was ready to kill, but that's not what they were there for.
"Scarce. Go back." He ordered
Scarce looked out at the distance one last time before obediently jumping back into Tymon's shadow.
When the individuals finally arrived. They stopped outside the glemit's light, but Tymon was able to get a good look at them. They were all pale, with rough, dry, grey-skinned, and wore light, black clothes that flapped in the wind. Some wore black hooded robes. Some wielded daggers. Some wore black blindfolds across their eyes.
So, these are sonans.
The center sonan – the one clearly in charge – was calm and alert, but several of the other six seemed afraid of the volume of power coming from Tymon and Naomi.
The air was thick with tension as both sides waited for the other to make the first move.
Tymon raised his hands halfway to suggest he wasn't a threat.
"We're not here t–"was all he could get out before the sonans leapt to attack him and Naomi.
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The Primordials: Death's Fury (Volume 01 - Chapters 1-30)
The Primordials: A Joyless Joy & Life (Volume 02 - Chapters 31-50)
The Primordials: Lustless Prides (Volume 03 - Chapters 51-78)
The Primordials: Retribution (Volume 04 - Chapters 79-110)
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The Primordials: New World (Volume 05 - Chapters 111-165)
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