Legend of the Holy Sentinels – Night Hunters - 5 OLD MAN JUNI

The three brothers ran hurriedly into the dark wilderness both happy and nervous at the same time. They couldn’t believe what happened at the training field as if lady luck was on their side once again. Kayzar carried his older brother Reus on the arm while Karus tried his best to carry the heavy sack which supposedly carries the messenger’s articles. The owl Stella flew right above them, tailing them as they go.

“Whew! I really thought this would never work out…” exclaimed Karus breathing heavily in excitement. He ran a quick baby-step at a time wearing the gauntlets to carry the large sack on his back which is very cumbersome. “…after all the delay and the imperfect timing, not to mention the blackout thing that I thought would never come… I mean, whew, you gave us a hard time waiting Kuya-Reus…”

Reus, who’s being carried by Kayzar in his left elbow, quickly jumped in agony to match Kayzar’s speed. “…I know, I had a hard time concentrating,” he replied with a hint of pain in his voice, maintaining his pace with his left foot almost touching the ground dripping blood. “Taking out all the light out there is a difficult thing to do if you should know.”

With a sharp groan of pain, the twins were forced to stop for a while immediately finding the closest tree they can rest upon. They haven’t escaped that far ahead but thinking that they have miraculously paralyzed their enemies, they thought that they can steal away some minutes to catch their breaths and clean his wounds first before they can travel any further. The two waved their hands to the sky to signal Stella to fetch Yosh who they thought is waiting at the big tree that they should be at.

“I’ll have to dress you wound so please don’t move?” Kayzar said as he gently puts Reus to a sitting position.

They all sat together beneath a tall slender tree which is very ghastly and scary, not to mention moldy, but they didn’t have time to be so choosy to where they should stop because of Reus’ condition.

“What is that technique, Kuya-Reus?” asked Kayzar while prepping to sit beside him. “I’ve never seen, read, or heard that technique anywhere!”

“Yeah!” said Karus dropping the sack as carefully as possible. “The whole Black-out thing is really unique and new I can tell you that! And oh… did you really transmit your body there? ‘Cause I saw you blinking appearing and reappearing at different locations.”

“Yes! I really did transmit! It’s cool right? Aah… whsss…” replied Reus while Kayzar cuts his pants to see the wound he will treat. “Anyway, I am in the verge of having an epiphany for a name. I don’t really have a name for that yet, but it should be a cool one, right? One that’s catchy and can be remembered by anyone…”

“Yep…” responded Kayzar looking closer at the wound with great effort. “You should find a good name for that! It’s new, unique and quite useful-”

“Not to mention you’re the only one that can use that -” interrupted Karus.

“-You could end up in the books for the generations to study…”

“D’ya want the White Angel mix or the antiseptic?” Kayzar hurriedly asked looking at the deep wound that almost severed the artery on his thigh. The wound is serious enough for him to consider the White Angel which Reus explicitly expressed he dislikes.

“Do you even know me Kayzar?” grinned Reus almost annoyed he even asked. “I told you I don’t want to use that White Angel stuff. I like my wounds to be healed by my body. I don’t want to…”

“Rely on new medicines and Magicks,” Kayzar droned finishing the point he persistently recounts every time he’s lucky enough to get a wound, which is every mission simulation they’ve taken. “Ooops! Look I slipped a drop… I’m sorry, you took your time to reply.”

Reus pushed Kayzar looking directly at his wound and noticed the flesh almost closing up stopping the bleeding but still the injury and pain is still present.

“Why’d you do that?!” Reus groaned looking at him angrily. “I specifically told you not to!”

“Well, I’m preventing you from losing your blood on our way to the nearest village so yeah, thank you very much,” Kayzar snickered pouring his bottle of antiseptic from a clean white cottony cloth. “Now do you want your wound to fester or do you still want your body to clean that wound for you?”

Reus grunted leaning back as if giving him permission to continue with his battle-wound dressing.

“Hey Karus, go check the sack and see what’s inside,” said Reus changing the topic all of a sudden, still with flinching eyes feeling the antiseptic mixture Kayzar is applying, “Apparently, that’s not what you think it is…”

“Oh! Right! Almost forgot this one over here…”

“What do you mean ‘not what he thinks’!?” Kayzar shouted as he looked quickly at the drooping sack.

“PUTEK!” Karus cursed in loud vexation seeing the sack now opened: the sack that he tried to frustratingly carry as gently as possible earlier thinking there might be valuables, even fragile, articles there. Even with the enchanted gauntlet equipped, which gives strength to the arm if worn, the sack was still inconveniently heavy for him and what he saw obviously disturbed him very much. “What is this!? Oh no they didn’t!” he smiled, almost snickering, as he lifted the sack forcefully, “this doesn’t look anything close to the messenger’s articles at all…” He grabs the end of the sack and pulled upwards leading the contents to stumble upon them.

“Hahaha! Told you so!” Reus shouted laughing at the disfigured thing that is before them, “I sensed its figure in the void back there. Apparently that black space back there seems to be my – some sort of – spatial territory. It’s weird but I can somewhat vaguely sense every figure there. That’s why I know that that sack doesn’t contain what it’s supposed to contain.”

A poorly made straw mannequin loosely rolled on the ground. They all gasped smiling as the head of the dummy got separated from its barrel-like body right after it rolled to a couple of fist-sized stones. This gave them an impression that it’s created in a hurry along with its face which appeared to have been smudged with ink. One could only assume that whoever fashioned it originally made it smiling and whoever it is, forgot to let the ink dry first before putting it inside because, obviously, its face was scraped by the rough texture of the sack.

Karus found a paper note stickered at the chest of the dummy. He went close to read it aloud as he unequipped the big gauntlets and shaking his hands with extreme frustration: “Please, bring me back to the Palace. Chopped Herbal Leaves inside. Many thanks.” They all went into a deep dazed look. “I’m not going to carry you there! Not now that I know you’re a useless metal thing!”

“Young masters…” suddenly whispered by a deep gloomy voice behind them. A sudden fright aroused from their faces almost giving them a pale look.

“Captain Gab…” murmured Karus with a surprised gasp as he gently picked his weapon that was on the ground. He turned around as he unsheathed his sword quickly to defend his brothers only to find out five Daomagarian soldiers kneeling in front of them bowing. He immediately sheathed it back and hid his weapon behind him. Seeing someone wield a legendary sword which is allegedly stolen can be a big problem, especially if you are of noble descent. That can ruin one’s reputation and honor and they seriously don’t want that. He was just relieved at the moment that no one noticed the legendary short sword.

“We have orders to escort you two to the Palace and rush the first-born to the nearest medical station…” enunciated the soldier with the deep voice at the middle who’s still kneeling on the ground.

“Oh…” he replied as he smiled to ridicule his paranoid brain tricking him to believe that the captain followed them as they escaped. He smirked as to why all guards have this annoyingly deep voice which tone appears to be the same as every military guard he knew.

Karus quickly helped Kayzar to lift Reus and put him in an improvised stretcher made with entangled vines that the two soldiers provided. Karus and Kayzar then picked out all of their weapons and the dummy and placed it all in the sack while their escorts were busy discussing some orders. They saw the two soldiers immediately running after securing their brother Reus to go to the nearest infirmary.

“Young Highness,” said a young soldier with the same deep voice, “may we carry your burden?”

“err… No thanks…” said Karus while looking at Kayzar behind who is carrying the back part of the sack, “ooff… we… we can manage…”

“Yes… this is NOT… HEAVY…” added Kayzar emphasizing on his last words as he looks sharply to Karus. The guards revealed a creased brow on their faces, baffled to their words. Though they knew that the two aren’t capable of carrying the ridiculously heavy sack, they just trusted their orders and walked behind them giving a watchful eye to help as they trip and fell for a couple of times down the road.

The sack which they are carrying contains the stolen artifacts of the Nagozulian history museum. Giving the sack to the soldiers would increase the risk of them finding that out and a scandal to be rumored around which is the last thing that they needed.

The sack that they were carrying is outrageously heavy even though it’s only a doll made of straws. Without the Gauntlet of Deito to help them about, the idea of buffing up their physique in the future lingered in their thoughts so that the next time they are required to rely on their own physical power, they will be rewarded with ease. But all the effort is not for naught, so they ignored the excruciating pain in their shaking scrawny muscles and just visualize looking forward to their sweet prize vacation up north.

——-ooO0Ooo——-

“Master Narra?” asked Tarni with a sharp uneven voice as she sits up to a bed still having a blurry vision, coughing a few times.

“Hahahaha! At last! Good Morning Lieutenant! A bright and sunny day it is today.” said Narra standing in front of the window close to her. He was dressed up in a white robe looking at the skies as happy as a boy waking up to see his weekends.

She looked around and noticed they were inside a rest house somewhere south finding some clues on the ornaments that are placed here and there. The house is a one wide room flat with ten beds around the wall which are made with thick tree logs. There is a cabinet at the far back and numerous chairs lay scattered around. She saw the two commanders sitting at the table in the center of the room weakly drinking their cup of tea – or something that smells like it. She sat at the edge of her bed and immediately put her hands to her forehead as a reaction to the sharp stabbing pain surprising her in her wake. “ahaaa-Ow! My head is still spinning, how long am I asleep?”

“About thirty-two hours give or take…” contemplated Narra now moving close to her giving her a cup of what the others were having. “We don’t know the kind of poison he was using. It’s not a generic one I’ll tell you that. He deviated from the poisons regulated by Nagozulian Protocol on Concoctions that are known by Daomagars and the military. He must’ve concocted it himself. An almost lethal one if you should know.”

“A personal recipe, huh?” she grabbed the cup and drank it hurriedly. It smelt like tea but it’s a black nasty drink leaving her in disgust after finishing it.

“You don’t like it, huh? It’s my own brew of cure. I don’t know the components of his venom, so I created a variety of antidotes instead. Better to be sure than to be sorry, eh?”

“You’re very unlucky Tarni.” said the Captain Gab whose voice appears to be still gloomy but weak. “You got a different dose of their poison.”

“Yes,” said Major Camyl entering the conversation as she took a sip in her cup. “We immediately reacted to the second set of the antidote while you made yourself on your fifteenth. You must’ve done something to make them angry enough.”

“Oh right…” jumped Tarni with a concerned look. “Narra are they…”

“Yes, they’re alright…”

“Is Reus…”

“Yes. He’s ok too, though he might not be able to walk for another week or so because of the big hole you gave him on his thighs.”

“I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t know. I thought…”

“Well it’s alright. He’s a strong man, that Reus. Just apologize to him and he’ll forgive you.” He stood up and went to grab his long coat. “Well, seeing my old students up and about brings joy to this old man! I really am happy that you’re all alright. I will personally mail a replacement on all of your weapons considering they’ve wrecked it all up there. I know you three are very sentimental about your weapons, but I’ll give you one better just to thank you tremendously for what you all done and as reparation for what you have endured. I would love to chat, but I have so many duties to take care of. Too many that now I’m delayed at stocking the supplies to the north.” he grabbed the door and opened it. “Thank you again for doing this for me. I really appreciate you all to find time to travel a long way here for this old dog. Oh! By the way, I’ll appreciate it if you don’t tell anyone about this little thing, we’re having….” He paused for a few seconds and then continued. “Major, please wait for me at the Northern Encampment before returning to the Hishmas,” he then turned around and smiled as he closed the door leaving them in silence.

“So, you really threw your broken halberd to Reus?” said the Major breaking the ice after some time. “If Master Narra didn’t hit you, you would’ve killed Prince Artemus’ heir. That would have been very troublesome for us not to mention yourself…” she smiled and drank the remaining portion of her antidote.

The lieutenant sadly crouched in her bed thinking of the drastic idea of an alternate situation where she might’ve actually killed the future king of Nagozul.

“Don’t worry kid. I’m just joking,” laughed the major almost crying, seeing her take it so seriously. “Master Narra is there at the scene. I’m sure he can prevent you from killing his charge as he did so.” The two commanders laughed as they saw Tarni having a very troubled purple face.

——-ooO0Ooo——-

Kayzar and Karus finally arrived at the city just below the Palace. The morning is beautiful as the clouds opened a big way for the sun to shine almost everywhere. The soft breeze blew in short intervals giving a cool misty comfort to all hectic shoppers and shop keepers who are keeping themselves busy under the warm daylight sun.

The city streets were lined up with stores that never end: From meat products, vegetables and fruits to kitchen wares, accessories, weapons, armors, toys and even small trinkets of jewelry. You can find almost anything that you would ever need at that market area near the gates to the Palace of Nagozul. To the twin brothers, this somewhat bright and sunny day is adding more pain and irritation for them at that time for they’re still carrying the big sack all the way from the Nilad Plains where they were training. The painful prickly sting of the tormenting sun gives them a hot angry feeling lurching deep inside as they lug away their ever-heavy baggage. With their muscles aching, tired with all the lifting, and the busy shoppers who were now staring at them, being filthy and bruised with their disguise as a commoner still intact, the twins tried very hard for a smile and not to look as haggard as they were in reality. They cut through the whole market and town with great haste. The worst thing that they might encounter were the deadly stalkers of Yosh and that would literally make their way to the Palace impossible.

“At LAST! The GREAT DOORS OF NAGOZUL!!!” shouted Karus with great happiness as they stood at a big metal gate of the Palace which would ordinarily take five strong men on each side to open but is only done by two Daomagarian guards who appears to be at ease as they lazily push them while yawning, then they saw Yosh running with his best pals Stella and Luna behind him.

“Ey! Why’re you late! I arrived here YESTERDAY, SHOCKED to FIND OUT that Kuya-Reus had a TERRIBLE ACCIDENT when he FELL from a TREE!!!” he shouted oddly loud for all to hear and winked so obviously that everyone around them gave a puzzled look. “Is THAT the FRUITS you were DESPERATELY PICKING that YOU IRRESPONSIBLY put YOURSELVES in DANGER?” he continued still exclaiming strangely while giving a large wink at his brothers trying hard for the others, guards included, to hear which are either not listening doing something important or just plainly not interested on listening.

He is aiming to create a rumor about Reus’s accident to hide the fact that they are training in the Nilad Plains in secret, so he is almost shouting the concocted details in the air. He’s almost too proud of this plan but the twins are not as impressed as they are now, turning red in anger for Yosh’s delay in their anticipation for their much-awaited relief inside their quarters.

“Shut up Yosh and help us carry this thing upstairs,” scolded Kayzar with a serious gaze. The twins gave a stern look at Yosh who is still standing and a bit sad as he apparently wanted to give more of the speeches and was shunned.

They carried the great sack upstairs to the fourth floor at the south wing of the Palace. The walls were filled with great paintings depicting the legendary battle at the Elven Rebellion a thousand years ago. The hallways are with soft red carpets and the walls are made with yellow marble. There are antique vases with fresh flowers on top of every long table that are in every corner of the hallways which Karus inspects every morning appreciating their fragrance but today were sadly not that day. Today he doesn’t care about anything but to get to his room as quickly as possible.

“Almost there!” said Karus with servants tailing them behind persistently asking if they may carry the sack instead of them.

They reached a golden twin door twice as big as they are. They hurriedly opened it and asked the servants politely to give them privacy which the servants followed with great haste, mystified as they were to the contents of the brown sack.

They sealed the door to a shut and when they were sure that silence engulfed the hallways outside, they began tossing the sack at the corner and dropped their bodies at the carpeted floor giving a loud bang on impact. They lay there for a few seconds, arms spread wide, giving their very exhausted sighs then smiling in silence with glad eyes shut.

“So… Now that we’re alone… can we please discuss what happened to the three of you?” Yosh asked as he rummaged the sack ignoring the dummy immediately grabbing every single item that belonged to his private loot.

“Shhh… Enjoying…. Silence… peace… happy…” said Kayzar as he immediately fell to slumber together with Karus.

The two of them just laid their arms still widespread and slept peacefully ignoring their brother murmuring as if stopping them in their voyage to dreamland. Yosh, who saw the two having bruises in their palms and obviously filthy filled with dirt all over, left them in peace, ever so grumbling feeling left out. He took the sack with him in spite and glum then helped himself out of the room with his two best friends following him out.

After he secured his precious collection in his room together with the weird looking straw doll, Yosh immediately remembered that he should review for his studies in his primary education. The princes and princesses of nobility that are in direct line with the king are given private tutors instead of them attending school. The tutors who were assigned to noble princes and princesses were no ordinary teachers, they were either high seers or esteemed scholars who gave their best to literally teach everything they know – even the little and unimportant things like how to properly button one’s shirt and what color is appropriate in every occasion – and this gave them the fright. Every second they spend with their personal professors was a living bore that’s why they should study hard in order not to fail and have additional personal bonding time with their beloved private teachers.

“What am I ‘gonna do Luna,” complained Yosh as he steered left running at the halls of the Palace with his best buddies following him. “Kuya-Kayzar and Kuya-Karus were the only ones that gave me the whole lecture and summarization of all topics given by my professor every year.” He dashed through stairs and other hallways treading to the great library, even though it is forbidden to perform the Great Dash in public as per their master’s instructions, keeping only a keen eye for any wandering soul that might see him.

“meow-aerw-mouewriwewow” shouted Luna in reply to what Yosh had said.

“Yeah, yeah I know I should’ve listened to my professor. But he’s so boring and I’ve relied on my brother’s expertise in research for the whole summary. I wish Kuya-Reus was here. He’s the second one on my list. Though he explains the topic longer than anyone alive, still he can prove useful in this direful situation.”

“kuh-kuhh- kuhhh.” whistled Stella in reply who is kind of sleepy as she flew gracefully to follow Yosh.

He stopped for a moment and realized a great idea.

“You’re right Stella! I should go to different Masters of the field of different topics and ask them to explain it to me in summary if they can! Or force them if necessary…” he laughed for about a minute using his diabolical laugh making Luna bow her head in embarrassment. Yosh noticed this so he continued being serious. “That can surely help me with my dilemma, minus the forcing part I know it’s wrong Luna you don’t have to press that thing on me. However though, it would take up time convincing them doing the bit.”

He started running again to the kitchen and grabbed a big slice of chicken, two medium-sized fishes and a tray of different fruits.

“Here you go!”

He grabbed a plate and put the fruits and the meat on separate plates. “Eat up my princesses! Go grab a nap afterwards, this is going to take a long time and you’ll need to restore your energy. Thanks for the tip,” he patted their heads and then strode off leaving the two to feast.

“hmmnn… I have four subjects this year and I really need to pass my primary education. I’m excited to train in conjuring elemental forces.” He walked without realizing he was at the front gate of the Palace talking to himself quietly, sometimes stopping when a servant, a guard, or a seer passes by. “Geography, Nature of Fusions and Amplifyers, Royal Duties and…. Hmnnn, what’s the other one…”

“Hey Yosh.” said a beautiful voice behind him.

“uh-oh…” he thought regretting choosing the wrong hallway to exit. He knew this voice and this time he won’t be spared if he stops and chat, but he can’t run away either. It’s bad for a man to run away from a woman, especially to what everyone believes to be the most beautiful princess in all Nagozul, this can ruin his reputation especially to his twin brothers who regards her as one of their few close friends. “Why, Princess Illyriah… how lovely it is to see you here…” he turned around slowly to her clasping his hands in agitation while forcing a smile on his face.

“Uhmn… Can you tell me where your brother Reus is at?” she asked hopingly with a shyly beautiful smile beaming at him. She was wearing a simple white gown as always, layered with ruffles of silk. This is her favorite color and apparently, she always wore simple designer gowns unlike other princesses who try hard to have their attires as ostentatious as possible. She displays simplicity, modesty and humility even though her parents own half of the Hishma Caves and are one of the richest nobles in Nagozul. She has a long silky golden hair that gently dances with the soft draft coming from the open windows of the hallway. She has a very beautiful angelic face with small innocent round blue eyes that shies away to Yosh’s.

“…why?~” asked Yosh smiling trying to block her question again as always.

Reus strictly instructed them never to reveal his location to this princess. He was so sure that the princess was alive to torment him always trying to impede him reading and disrupting his training just to talk with her. She always gives things like foods, artifacts, or books to Reus which he should like or else she’ll get mad and cry. They don’t know if he realized that she likes him but considering Reus’ reaction with women – being shy, paranoid and clumsy – it’s best for him not to know.

She began to turn red and stammered as she grasps something that looks like a book to her bosom. “I… uh… I was… give… uh… I’m sorry never mind.” She quickly turned around and almost sprinted away. “uhmn…” she stopped midway and slightly turned. “Please forget that I ever asked you, and goodness, please, don’t tell this to your brother…” after this she raced again and disappeared to one of the doors leading to the Great Steps.

“Huh? That’s new. I can’t seem to get rid of her last week but now she seems so jumpy. Heh, Women.” He ran smirking to the weird experience just ignoring to dwell on it further to see his first target. A fusion master named Juni.

The city below the great Palace of Nagozul is pretty much impressive if looked on a higher perspective. The city can be seen divided into three areas. The big houses called Royal Residence: which are located near the Palace with inspiring architectural designs that differ from house to house where the rich people of Nagozul lives; The medium built houses called Silver Lane: made from marbles and gold to silver plated bricks standing tall for about twenty to forty feet which the middle class citizens live; and the irregular houses called the Outer Rim: it stands beside each other and are made with gray to white bricks where the commoners live. It may have looked like the city has been separating the citizens giving them a caste like system but in reality, they have their own roles to play and they get along with each other amazingly fine. Though there are some few incidents of social unfairness that can be seen once in a while because of some pompous nobles, the commoners are surprisingly happy and content on how things go. ‘A truly rare and remarkable feat to follow and improve on if Dad gets the crown,’ he thought, as he strode along now passing the medium built houses of the Silver Lane.

As he walked further to the city, he noticed an owl flying up above. Owls should be sleeping at this time so that must mean it’s Stella. A meow and a scratch from behind his leg caught his attention as he saw Luna purring below.

“Hey, I told you two to get a nap…” he grabbed Luna and placed her inside a pocket at his chest so that now she is clinging like a baby kangaroo. He climbed to the nearest post and saw a clump of people following Stella’s location. “Hahaha, now I get it… That’s very thoughtful of you two. I almost forgot about my stalkers…” he jumped to the nearest roof and made his way around to where Stella is flying. “Decoy! Decoy! Hahahaha!”

In a matter of minutes, he arrived at the old man Juni’s house. He’s a revered Elemental Sage who now lives at an old cottage-like house at the center of the city between the Outer Rim and the Silver Lane. He’s a retired sage of the Kingdom but now and then practices fusions at no cost to the citizens. He’s a kind and eccentric old man with a long beard and a pair of spectacles magnifying his clear shining brown eyes. He ignores his old wrinkly face and totally believes that he’s in his prime shape which they just go along with even though it’s very evident that he’s really old, unhealthily thin and his voice, a little groggy. He’s a great friend of their father Grand Prince Artemus. He treats them normally as if a grandfather treats his grandchildren.

He doesn’t care if you’re royalty. He doesn’t bow or kneel or give names like ‘your highness’ and ‘sirs’. He just refers you to your name as one would address an ordinary commoner. This led him to some trouble with the other royal families and almost led him to imprisonment if not for their father Artemus who protects him and makes him invincible against any royal persecution.

“Well, well, Yosh… trying to sneak up through the window again I see…” coughed Juni with an old crackling voice but full of spirit. He is sitting at the far end of his room away from the window. He’s fiddling something at his table with a glowing crystal lighting a concentrated portion on his hands. “Try knocking sometimes on my door downstairs – I would be delighted to open it up for you…”

“Whoa~ – how’d you do that Juni!?” asked Yosh who is mystified to Juni’s sharp senses.

“Even if I can’t see you, I certainly can sense you Yoshy boy! I delivered you myself after all!”

“Hey- don’t call me Yoshy boy, I’m not a kid anymore! I’m a MAN!”

“Hmnn – A man you say!” he stopped tinkering and looked behind him to see Yosh. “Let’s see how you’ve grown up, eh?” he stood up to look at Yosh who is now circling around to show his body and standing firm at his spot, stomach in, chest out. “Hahaha, you’ve grown up just a wee bit after I last saw you.”

“Meroounrr…” shouted Luna in Yosh’s pockets.

“Yes, yes, you too Luna… I see that you’re still with your pets as always…”

“They’re not my pets! They’re certainly not just friends, they’re part of our family!” he then sat at Juni’s bed which is soft and bouncy. He pulled Luna from his pocket to put her on the ground to stretch for a while and looked around to see his room. Juni then grabbed a seat and pulled it near Yosh.

“Okay- ‘Family’. So, where’s Stella?”

“She’s flying somewhere outside giving me time to lure out the stalkers that’s hunting me.”

“Hahaha! When will you admit that you are a handsome young man and that many kids respect and appreciate you? Normal infatuations are a part of growing up. So, stop calling those kids ‘stalkers’ – think of them as admirers. They’re just children, for goodness sake. If I were on your age, I would’ve loved jumping here in the city parading myself instead of your usual scurrying.”

“What!? Well, I agree with what you’re saying, that I’m a handsome young man,” Juni interrupted with a burst of laughter but Yosh irritatingly continued. “…but they are NOT my admirers! Admirers don’t stalk you and take up all your time caging you in a single spot for the rest of the day. No sir, no one does that torment to another individual! Not even to a normal citizen! That’s torture!” Juni gave another chain of laughter making Yosh somewhat annoyed for not taking his point seriously. This made him change the subject to get away from that dreadful topic which he thinks he’s losing. “…by the way, why is it always dark in your room. You should open some holes in the walls to make them tiny windows.”

“I like my room dark. It keeps me focused.” he broke his hysterics as Yosh anticipated and got a little bit serious. “So, on to the agenda, why are you here? I believe you wouldn’t risk yourself being caught by your ‘stalkers’ for no reason, eh?”

“Oh right! I just wanted to ask if you could summarize a whole year of tiresome explanation about Nature of Fusions and Amplifyers and such…” he paused for a second. “…that is if you can. No rush here old man I know you’re way too old for this…”

“Hmnn… not focusing on your studies, I see. Well, I have to tell this to your father.” he stood up slapping his thighs in dismay.

“What!? Hey, hey! Don’t do that!” he grabbed his sleeves pulling him to his attention. “I came here because I thought I can trust you!”

He burst out laughing again like a crazy person. “Don’t worry I’m just pulling your leg. Of course, I won’t tell your father – but only if you promise me that you will obediently listen to your instructor’s lectures come next academic year.”

Yosh looked straight in his eyes smiling. “You’re one demented man. You know that, right?…” Juni gave him a striking smile and opened his big round eyes while gently shaking his head. “…Okay! Okay! I promise!”

“Ohohoho! You mischievous prince, you! I see that you’re lying.”

“Okay, Okay! I’m going to listen… but just a little bit. I can’t promise you more than that! Now tell me my summary Old man or you’re going to face the wrath of Luna!” he grabbed Luna from her forelimbs and extended her right in front of his face. Luna created a soft purring meow with her cute shiny round yellow eyes that directly gazed to Juni’s. Juni, seeing this sudden gesture, gave a series of boisterous guffaw that led to Yosh pouting in frustration.

“Okay, okay! ‘Luna’ is SOOO SCARY, Yoshy-boy.” he gave Yosh a pat on the headshaking his hair in all direction.

“Hey! I said don’t call me that, old man!”

“Okay okay. Listen carefully and I will condense your whole year’s worth of ‘agonizing’ lecture.” He grabbed an old book that is painted with thick dust. He blew the dust away and brushed it rigorously with his hands. He sat again on the chair near Yosh and prepared to read the dusty book by scratching his throat and giving some creepy noises. This raised Yosh’s eyebrow, weirded-out by his actions.

“Hey, umn… old man… are you okay?”

“Shut up boy! I said listen” suddenly snapped Juni. “- so, don’t speak until the lecture is over.”

This is one of his bad habits. He doesn’t want to be interrupted and no one ever wanted to cross that line again after his great debate with the royal council. The debate ended so bad that this led to his early retirement, so Yosh’s twin brothers say. Rumor has it that he actually conjured the mythical white fire in his furious irritation to the stubborn council.

“Uh… Yes sir!” Yosh snappily replied.

“Well let’s see…” he flipped some pages and ended somewhere in the middle of the ancient-like book. “…aha! Now – Nature of Amplifyers and fusions…” his eyes turned white and gave a radiance of warm light. He flipped his pages with great speed as if reading it all at a fascinating rate. He then closed it with a single hand giving a breaking sound that echoed in the room.

“Whoa… what’d you do!?”

“Hmmnn… I need to review some topics so excuse me for taking my time…” he placed the book away and clasped his hands to start. He gave a stern look at Yosh giving him a warning, anticipating him on pursuing to give another question. Yosh, who saw this, duly noted and after having his silence he continued on. “Now, we’ll start with elements. There are four known elements that our forefathers wrote about: Fire, wind, earth and water. Each of these elements has different effects on the person innate to it. Fire innate individuals are strong willed and are full of energy that they can last days without sleeping – they are called the Fire Starters; Water innates are calm and resilient – which are somehow almost immune to disease or poison – they are called the Water Casters; Wind innates, on the other hand, are focused and understanding with the capacity to anticipate what others would do – they are called the Wind Blowers; while the Earth conjurers are great thinkers and master tacticians – they are dubbed as the Earth Molders. We are called Elementals collectively by our brothers – the Yagisivians and the Daomagarians.

“We are all great and magnificent living with nature in our own way but after much generation passed, these elements created a flux of complicated proportions. It seemed that the elemental innate of our ancestors were somehow blended to their blood reaching their brain therefore altering their bodily chemistry, creating a change in their behavior when using their elemental powers more and more. Fire elementals grew lustful for blood and are violent; Water innates became apathetic; Wind inherent turned paranoid and lost their short-term memory; and Earth conjurers were reduced to become dementedly crazy. At that time, our people prayed for Bathala’s blessings. We mortals cannot possibly contain this power within and only a selected few can concentrate their energy properly to be able to conjure them without it controlling their behavior. Bathala answered our prayers and delivered our people to mine in the Hishma Caves, south west from the Palace of Nagozul. He then instructed us to grant the gems located there to be given to the people. Red rubies were distributed to the fire; blue sapphires to the water; green emeralds to the wind; and yellow topazes to the earth.”

Yosh raised his hand to pose a question clearly interrupting the old man in his running speech.

“NO! Questions are later… So anyway, that was the decree of Bathala that was passed on to the great council of the ancient times. Since then, people were given elemental gems to restrain their energies within. These were primary called ‘Binds’ because it shackles one’s elemental powers. People with binds at their proximity cannot conjure their powers to the maximum which was great because it helped to protect them from themselves.

“A few years later, a brilliant sage created some experiments to these gems to create a much more effective and convenient way to carry them- ’cause at that time it were only given to them to carry in their pockets or fiddled to be necklaces or bracers. He accidently discovered a way to fuse the elements to the people causing them to amplify their powers to twice or as much as thrice. Thus, the name ‘Binds’ were changed to ‘Amplifyers’. His soul is fused with the Amplifyer, so it becomes a part of him, like an arm or a foot.

“These Amplifyers were fused to individuals by sages only. Wrong fusions can result to an erratic chain of disasters to the person. It consists of a variety of bad things but to be short, it could lead to death.”

“OH~” Yosh interrupted with a slight smile and with much effort in raising his hand persistently trying to ask for a permission to ask.

“Shhh! I’m nearing the end so keep quiet now! Hmn… Where was I? Oh right! So anyhow, these Amplifyers magnify the elemental energy so it drastically changed the whole people of Nagozul but the Nagozulians have different views about this rare find. Because the technology that we have presently today hinders us to move forward, it seems that it led us to have a stale and imperfect fusion on our brothers, the Fire Starters. Because of this, these Amplifyers apparently have limits. The chances of successful fusions to fire elementals are drastically slim to none. Some fire elementals that were fused with these Amplifyers unsuccessfully magnified either their bloodlust or their power to ten or twenty times making them very destructive and a danger to society. There was once a time that children who were born to the will of the fire were even executed or imprisoned depending on their essence.” he saw Yosh slightly having confused so he stopped to think. “Oh! Right? I’m a blundering fool. Essence is the elemental quality that the seers search for in infants. The higher the essence of the child, the greater their Bathala-given Power is enabling them to have a greater chance of success and to become one of those promising Elementals in the future. That’s why they check those things very carefully. This essence selection tends to shift the Nagozulians apart if you don’t mind me saying. This created a somewhat caste system to our society which is totally seen around at the city or even outside the Palace.”

He saw Yosh’s face furrowing then he realized that he’s branching out on another topic, so he immediately changed his tone and returned.

“Going back to the topic at hand, the unlawful and inhumane decree of containing fire elementals was abolished by your loving great grandfather, whom I owe my life to. Anyway, the elemental fusions were developed to reach this age of improvements where the elemental stone will follow you wherever you go, floating in the air or wherever you want it to float – like mine.” He stopped for a moment to show his red ruby floating around Yosh. Yosh tried to grab it quickly but it managed to evade him every time which made the old man laugh a bit.

“As for royalty,” Juni continued grabbing his Amplifyers back. “Which are you and all of your brothers, the decree was to fuse your Amplifyers to the forehead near the brain to enhance the intensity of its effect. That concludes the lecture…” he paused to see Yosh trying hard to remember everything he just said. “Any other question?”

“First question!” he said with his eyes lingering to the ceiling. “What about my brother, Reus? What’s with the diamond?”

“Oh! He’s of Life element. They found that out two thousand years ago. Apparently, it was first called ‘non-element’ or ‘elemental-void’ because the individual having that innate cannot conjure any element and his skills were unknown – it disappointed their parents though at that time seeing that it first appeared in a royal family not so far to the Royal Nagozul lineage. They are found to be great thinkers with magnificent logical minds that are rumored to read minds or even the future. They control light and they are immune to any elemental attack there is. There are only two known living Life elementals around: your Father, Artemus and your brother, Reus. There is a total of – I think – twenty or so that has this element to date. Their amplifier is the white stone in the Hishma that are called diamonds, though there is also a black one in contrast which is called the black diamond – worn only by people blessed with all four elements. Only one person in history was able to use this and fuse it to himself – the wicked King Dogal who reigned Nagozul a thousand years ago. His amplifier is the black diamond which can magnify all elemental powers to five to ten times normal. This is maybe why he became so mad.”

“Wait a minute, Dogal the Liberator of Evil? The one who created ‘everlasting peace’ throughout Nagozul?”

“Heh, that’s what they say in the books now eh? Well, I think you don’t know what that is but it’s a long story I would glad to tell you next time – now isn’t the time to dwell on such topic. Just to help you out, he was known as the Supreme Elemental Harbinger, or as they call him the Elemental Incarnate, for he has an innate of four different elements in one. Just a little bit like your Aunt Prodea who has three which they like to call as one of the rare Elemental Entities. Two elemental innates can grant you the title of being an Elemental Prodigy. All of these two or more elemental combinations can be seen practically rare, so they are celebrated when they are born. Festivities are grandiose in honor of the birth of the child granted by Bathala with magical prowess which makes them a luminary star their whole life being carefully watched over by the Nagozulian Kingdom’s seers, nobles and sometimes the kings themselves. The most notable ostentatious display of celebration is the birth of your Aunt Prodea. The party lasted for months! And… Oh, what the heck! I’ll just narrate you that next time. It’ll be hard for me to stop once I start story-telling”

“Okay – second pool of questions! What about Kuya-Karus’ condition? What will happen to him and what’s the remedy? Who’s the one who fused him?”

He hesitated to answer this. It seems that his face changed immediately to a serious one after the question was given.

“Uh – what’s with Karus?”

“You know? The blood-shot teary eyes, the squirming pain and such? You know the thing, him being a prodigy and all and having his fire essence greater than of the wind?”

“Oh, uhm… well he’ll live, there’s no remedy and… I… uh… don’t know who gave the fuse – but I can tell you that he’ll probably be ok.” he gave his reassuring smile after seeing Yosh’s reaction having his doubts about what was explained. “So, he’s having headaches now? At his age?”

“He told me he was misdiagnosed and was fused with the wrong Amplifyer! He was fused with an emerald instead of a ruby or something. Is there any danger to that whatsoever?”

“Oh – yeah, well technically no. I mean NO! Heh, he’ll probably outgrow that when he reaches his twenties.”

“Oh, great! Whew, glad that I have that worry out in my system! Well for the third question,” he paused for a couple of seconds scratching his head, “is that it?”

“What?” Juni asked with confused eyes.

“I’ve been listening to my tutor for long hours with his weird eccentric lecture about this subject and you’ve condensed it to this short, ten minutes or so, lecture?”

“I believe so, yes… minus the other small details but you’ll learn that yourself once you go about your Princely duties”

“Tey’Arn!” he murmured cursing thinking about his old persistent professor. “Okay that’s it for now Old man!” he hurriedly ran towards the window and braced himself to jump. “So sorry Juni, gotta run! I got three more lectures to gather so I’ll just visit you when I can. Thanks for giving me your time!”

“Always a pleasure – Oh! Don’t forget your promise now Yoshy-boy!” he replied as Yosh vanished into the bright city, running on rooftops, scurrying to avoid the rushing girls he dubbed as ‘stalkers’.