Orion's Story

Verminous continues to read his copy/version of the legend - since it's so old, there are several translations...

And so the king and his Goddess descended from the Celestial Plain, pleading for the fighting to stop. War and death were not the answer, for life was a miracle - and her children would be ungrateful to destroy that miracle. Realizing the pettiness of their ways, the men of the five continents turned their weapons from each other and towards the destroyer.

But no weapon forged of man could hope to destroy a being of pure unmaking. Countless men fell before its might, and it looked to be as bloody a battle as all of the battles in the Multiverse War combined. Several fled from battle, unwilling to lay down their lives for nothing. But King Concordia himself took up his blades and charged the beast. Where blades alone could do nothing to him, it was his faith that struck a blow against the beast - faith, and the desire to live so that the world would live on, even for one more day. Though the king was struck down, his faith inspired others to rise up and pray for the world to live. Faced with this prayer, the destroyer was locked away, sealed under Unitas.

To keep him sealed, eight keys were created, spread throughout Unitas to lock away the destroyer - one at the fortress Heirophant, three to the moons, one where winter first fell, one in the roots of the world tree, one with the Goddess herself, and one at the heart of Unitas itself...

Verminous closed his book and moved to put it away. He had exactly the information he needed. Plus, it was almost over anyway. All that was left was an appendix and translator's notes.

As Zenmei read on, he became more intrigued...and then he came across a rather...peculiar passage.

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot!" Orion said, having come up to (a very startled) Zenmei.

"Ngaaa - ! I mean...what is it?" Zenmei asked.

"You've grown a bit, haven't you?" Orion said, tapping Zenmei's wings. "It's not just every Yokai that gains the strength to evolve into an Angel, after all."

"(!) Angel - ?"

"Hm, yeah. I think I'm gonna have to nickname you 'Zenmei-Hoshi' from now on~!" Orion mused, a smile on his face. "So! Let's get whatever new skills you have honed! I think there's still a training arena somewhere around here."

With that, Orion tugged Zenmei along to find the arena.

"Right, uh...Orion? Can I ask - ?"

"Ask when we're there!"

-----

Meanwhile, Ekiyu may have found the book she's looking for. The passage in particular reads:

It was many decades after the great war. The Yuyake nation was slowly but surely adapting to its archipelago state. Ruling over it was Ouranos, a great and wise sorcerer, and husband to Gaia, a disciple goddess whom presided over the earth. Their children, sharing the benefits of man and god, would be called the Titans. For a time, it seemed that this royal family would ensure peace and prosperity...

However, Ouranos soon believed that mankind was at a state where it no longer needed aid from the gods or their disciples. He believed that now, man had complete dominion over the "primal" natural world. For that, he promptly pushed Gaia and her familiars back to the Celestial Plain and sealed them off from his realm. Many of the Titans feared to provoke their father's wrath after this, no matter how strongly they disagreed with his actions...

...save for one.

Kronos, a Titan of time, breached the divide between the realms of men and gods to communicate with Gaia, who was grieving over her husband's betrayal. Kronos believed that nature should not be trampled so easily by man's avarice, and sought Gaia's aid in punishing Ouranos. While she was indeed furious with Ouranos, Gaia still loved him and her children too much to take direct action. Still, she relented. Gaia channeled to Kronos enough strength for him to match Ouranos, on the condition that this would be the last time she assists him.

With his newfound strength, Kronos gathered his brothers and sisters, leading a rebellion against Ouranos and his armies. The soldiers have been granted might and sorcery by their king, but they still paled in comparison to the pure talent and experience of the Titans. Controlling time and space, Kronos could tear open rifts, using them for transporting himself and his allies, and for stealing away his enemies. He even freed Gaia's fairy familiars, commanding them to take control of the king's great city.

Ouranos was dethroned, his body and spirit broken and sealed away in a pocket dimension by Kronos. The Titan kept the people of Yuyake under a scrutinous watch, ensuring that they do not even attempt to dominate the natural world. This rule was further enforced by one of Kronos's sisters, a Titan who was previously imprisoned by their father for her appearance alone...

"Man...if this Kronos guy IS the one who made that rift, then we might be in big trouble," Ekiyu muttered to herself.

In rushing towards the arena Zenmei and Orion pass by Verminous, who makes no attempt to stop the, but instead would roll his eyes (if he had eyeballs) as they pass.

"Kids these days..." said Verminous, putting up his book.

But instead of going back to his desk, Verminous enters a darker section of the library, filled with eldritch and forbidden tomes...

"Okay, should be past this medical wing..." Orion said, leading Zenmei toward the arena. As he did, they passed by the doorway to the medical wing - and as they did, someone in there caught Zenmei's eye.

"!"

Zenmei backed up and looked inside...and there he saw Tsan on one of the beds. Seeing his green hair and the bandanna covering his left eye reminded him of the dream he had before waking up with wings. That dream...it showed the one who sniped him that night!

"Him - ?!" Zenmei reacted, his eyes forming a surprised glare.

"(?) Hu - ?" Orion responded, getting a look at Tsan. "...What about him?"

"That's the bastard sniper that rendered me comatose - !!"

"Ah!" Haeru noticed Zenmei and Orion coming in, "You know this person? Please don't wake him up, we need him to keep the portal open!"

"Wait a minute! He did what?" Ed does not know that Tsan committed crimes in his life, but denied the truth, "That's a lie! He wouldn't do anything wrong, would he?"

"Whoa! Heel, buddy!" Orion said, holding Zenmei back from Tsan. "Sounds like something's going on in Dreamland, and they need him for it. And, uh...it seems he's already taken enough of a beating."

"..."

Zenmei wasn't ready to forgive Tsan for what happened, but decided to put his grudge aside for now. He still had to get acquainted with his new form. So, he followed Orion to the arena ahead.

-----

Meanwhile, Ekiyu was reading more about Kronos, from his rule to his absorption of his own children's souls to keep them in check to the one child that escaped and later overthrew him to the sister's change of heart (and following death at Kronos's hands)...

"That's exactly what we're trying to tell you." Ed spoke.

In the arena, Orion was instructing Zenmei on his newfound abilities. They started with a Crystal Beam, which is fired from the crystal "feathers" of his wings, much like a gunshot.

"...Now aim at those targets and try it out!" Orion said as floating magic orbs manifested.

"Right!" Zenmei said, beckoning his crystal wings to his hands. After some somewhat-steady aiming, he fired a shot of chi energy toward one of the targets, blasting it apart.

"Cool! Now do the others!"

Zenmei shot at the rest of the orbs with Crystal Beams, missing just a few times.

"...Right, it took 13 shots to nail 10 targets. That's...77% accuracy."

"Whoops..."

"Hey, don't let it get to you! I think a C is pretty good for a first time, don't you think? Anyhow...I think you should try the Crystal Jet next."

Orion instructed that this involved propelling chi through his wings like a jet pack, allowing for flight.

"Right, I...I tried something like that back in the university crisis," Zenmei replied. "Let's...Let's see if I can get it this time..."

Chi coursed through his wings, then the lower tips began glowing. Taking a deep breath, Zenmei flexed them closer together, firing chi from the tips and propelling himself into the air.

"Whoaoaoaoaoa - !!"

Flashing the wings wide open, he stopped rocketing upward and instead hovered in place.

"Hahaha...! Now you're gettin' it, Zen! Good going!" Orion cheered.

"I...I'm flying? (!) Yeah!! I'm flyi - !!" In the midst of his excitement, Zenmei accidentally stopped channeling chi to his wings. "...Hu - ?"

Before either one knew it, Zen started plummeting down toward the floor.

"Oh no, not NOOOOOW - !"

Surprisingly, a diamond-shaped portal formed at the spot where Zenmei was falling, and another appeared in the ground just next to it.

"What the - ?"

Zenmei fell into one portal and thrust up from the other, losing a lot of momentum as he was launched up from it. The portals vanished as he fell to the ground.

"Owww...The hell was that...?" Zenmei asked in the midst of confusion and an aching backside.

"(!) U-Uh...I-I'm not sure what happened there...but..." Orion wondered. "(!) Wait! Uh...I'll be right back!"

Orion hurried out of the arena to the library to find something.

"Hu - ? There's no more copies left??" Orion lamented as he was speaking to one of the librarians.

"I apologize, but the last volume was checked out weeks ago," the librarian answered. "We really need to get in contact with him about it, though..."

Orion sighed. He was sure he saw a passage at some point about what Zenmei accidentally performed.

Before either him or the librarian could notice, a white silhouette manifested at a nearby table, dropping a certain book down onto the tabletop. The impact sound alerted the two, catching only a glimpse of the white figure before it disappeared.

"Ah - ! How...fortunate!" the librarian said in utter surprise. "Well, I suppose you can - "

"Thank you!!" Orion said quickly as he grabbed the book and hurried back to the arena.

Claire, Soldier, and Khorshid have just emerged from the dream portal, drifting down to the ground from it.

-----

Orion returned to the arena, where Zenmei was fingering the "feathers" of his wings.

"So here it is!" Orion said.

"(!) You found something?" Zenmei responded.

"Yeah! Look here!"

Orion opened the book and showed Zenmei an article on it.

"It seems with those wings, you picked up a technique that not many earth-bound beings can use," Orion explained. "It's more available to spirit creatures, like Yokai, but even then it's rare. Long story short...you have the ability to manipulate fortune energy."

"(?) Fortune energy?" Zenmei reacted. "You mean...like controlling luck?"

"No, man, I said fortune, not luck."

"What's the difference?"

"Fortune, specifically, is one's ability to affect the future in favorable ways - that is, improving the future with one's own hands. Luck is the concept that the unexpected will happen at random with no real influence."

"...Oh. And...I can manipulate this future-improving power moreso?"

"Pretty much. Fortune is derived from willpower - taking action, being true with yourself, positive attitude, how you connect with others, that and more. And with that power...you can influence your surroundings in many ways!"

The rest of the group emerge from the portal safe and sound.

"Koseki! Hana! Everybody! Are you guys okay?" Haeru is happy to see them come back.

"Did you guys find that Jack jerk?" asked Ed.

"Coward got away. But if we find him, we kill him good." Heavy replied.

"How is Calvin doing? Is he still recovering?" asked Hana.

"Edward, Calvin, when we are ready, we will be heading back to Solum," Claire said.

Tsan's eye started opening at this time. He reached a hand up to his forehead, rubbing the pain out.

"How...bizarre..." he mumbled.

-----

In the arena, Zenmei was practicing the Fortune Power he accidentally performed before - the Subspace Slip. He created a pair of portals each time in a nearby zone, slipping through them. One thing that he and Orion noticed is that this skill is rather taxing on his energy, so it's not recommended to overuse it.

"I'm ready! And I feel a lot better!" Calvin grinned, "Hey, Koseki and Hana? Thanks for saving our lives from there. If it wasn't for you two, we would've been trapped in there forever."

"Hey, it's no problem." Koseki smiled.

"Y-Yeah... Let's go home.... I need more time to... relax." Haeru sighed, "I'm sorry if I'm a burden to you all."

"You, young man!" Soldier said to Tsan. "You've done us proud in there, buddy. Where'd you learn to do all that techno mumbo-jumbo?"

"Errr..." Tsan replied, rubbing his head in puzzlement.

-----

In the arena, Zenmei was practicing another Fortune power - Shadow of Doom. Like Subspace Slip, this required a lot of focus, but with it, Zenmei could make falling objects manifest above his target. He started with one dummy, making some kind of dishpan appear out of thin air and come crashing down on the dummy's head. The dishpan burst into energy after the impact.

With the children rescued from their dreamy demise, the group returns to the orphanage where they are now safe from harm. But there are more thing yet to be discovered in the future... Perhaps something big is happening.

"(?) Hey! When did the kids leave??" Soldier exclaimed, scrambling for the dock.

"Sacre - !" Claire reacted, following.

"Hey, um...You wanna come with?" Khorshid asked Tsan.

"What - ?" Tsan reacted.

"Pretty please?" Khorshid persisted.

"I...I can't even get up in this state..."

"Leave them be. They have long day after adventure." The Heavy picks up Tsan, "But if there is something with, we take him to Medic."

"!" Tsan wasn't really in any state to resist Heavy's gesture.

"Okey then, off we go!" Khorshid said, skipping ahead.

"When we get back, would you mind telling us what happened to you?" Claire asked Tsan, collecting his i-Space pack.

"...Okay," Tsan replied.

The Heavy, Demoman, Pyro, and Soldier leave Taiyomashi to catch up with the children.

In the arena, Zenmei was practicing one more Fortune power - something called Yokai Sense, where he becomes more receptive to his surroundings, as if everything around was in slow-motion. To practice this, Orion started by throwing small balls at Zenmei, who leaned away from them without lifting his feet off the ground.

"Heh...!"

Orion then ran at Zenmei, thrusting punches and kicks at him quickly. Reacting to this through Yokai Sense, Zenmei dodged these without moving his feet.

"Doin' good, man! Now...!"

Orion then jumped back, aiming his bow and firing a fast succession of arrows toward Zenmei. With Yokai Sense, he was able to dodge a few of them...but they were still coming very fast, and he ended up getting struck in the arm by one. Frantic, he jumped away from the rest, fleeing from them...until he tripped, of course.

"That...didn't go well," Zenmei groaned.

"{sigh} Well, don't worry none," Orion said, stowing his bow. "You are just starting out, after all."

"But really, your bow?" Zen continued as he lifted himself off the ground. "You're too good with that! I'd hardly call it a fair Level 3 training tool - more like...like Level 9."