Volume 2: Old Threats

Blood and metal, though different,

They both seek to conquer

Taking advantage of all who are ignorant

To their surprising levels of power.

Both threats may survive, to live for yet longer

Lest the Keys and the Chosen grow ever stronger.

ARC 1 — RELATIONSHIPS OF NIMALIA

Chapter 1: Forced Leave

The Next Day

— Mondia, Aldredath 29, 8054 —

“And this is why I said that joining the fight was a terrible idea!”

“Oh, c’mon, sis,” Sky airily refuted, “it all worked out in the end, right? We’re all alive and fine!”

“You say, while stuck in a cast!” Twy countered irately.

In response, all Sky could do was laugh nervously — and then wince from the pain that shot through her ribs. True enough, the hotheaded Pyrotechnic was bound in tight bandages around her ribcage, while her left arm was encased in a cast. Her fall in the fight the previous night had also left her concussed; it was only thanks to advanced Nimalian first aid that she was able to join her sister, Spike, and Austin in Spike’s room merely a day later.

“Listen, Sky…” Spike commented, sitting at the foot of his bed as he eyed his girlfriend, who herself was laid out on his bed. “Twy’s right on this one. What we did was foolish.”

“So you’re gonna lecture us after joinin’ in yourself, huh?” Austin questioned.

“You came out of that fight just as injured as Sky was!” Twy exclaimed incredulously, “the only reason you’re fine right now is because Danielle was around for you to copy her shapeshifting!”

“…Mm…” Austin grunted, but couldn’t muster any other response. Indeed, while both he and Sky had taken knockout blows during the previous night’s fighting, Austin currently sported none of the casts nor bandages that Sky was wearing. In fact, as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his overall appearance looked identical to how he did before Hunger’s Bane — including a notable lack of his fabricated muscles. As Twy said, Austin had made use of his Simulator powers to copy Danielle’s Transtechnism and shapeshift into an uninjured version of himself, and in the process, he had taken the liberty of removing his ill-gotten muscular gains. To him, they had done little more than get in the way.

“Just goes to show how much we still got to learn, huh?” Spike said as he glanced between Sky and Austin. “Gettin’ knocked out in the middle of a big fight, like that… y’all really are lucky that’s all that happened to you.”

“Don’t act like you aren’t part of the problem, too!” Twy immediately countered. “I heard everything that happened from Mark and Phoenix. When Austin and Sky went down, you lost your head, didn’t you? Even after seeing what carelessness gets you in a fight?!”

“Hey, I wasn’t careless!” Sky refuted.

“Yeah, I mean, c’mon! We were tryin’ our best!” Austin complained.

“No, no… again… Twy’s right,” Spike muttered, and then released a hefty sigh. With a serious expression, he looked Twy in the eye and declared, “I’m sorry, Twy, for bein’ so careless. We all are. Right?”

Sky and Austin both were silent for a second, but after an expectant glance from Spike, they both relented. “Yeah… sorry, sis…” Sky reluctantly said.

“Didn’t mean to make you worry so much…” Austin commented. “But, uh… why are you worryin’ so much? You weren’t even there…”

“Do you really not understand?!” Twy responded incredulously. “Two of my closest friends — one of them my twin sister! — almost died fighting a fight that you shouldn’t have been in! The first time I saw the both of you after the fight last night, you were both unconscious! For a second, I really, honestly thought y’all had died!!”

“O-oh…” Sky replied.

“And I, I just…” Twy took a deep breath, leaning back in the desk chair she was sitting in to collect her thoughts before continuing, “…I’m sorry, I guess I was the one who decided to stay back. Even with everything that happened, the three of you at least rushed to the town’s aid, but I—“

“A’ight, I’mma stop you right there,” Spike interjected, drawing Twy’s surprised attention. “Don’t start with the guilt. You were right from the very start, we had no business involvin’ ourselves in the Compound’s defense. They have a Defense Force for a reason, and, hell, Mark and Relia were already on the Bleeders before even Pierce got there. All we did was get in the way, slow things down, and get injured along the way. So don’t think like this is your fault, Twy. It’s ours.”

“Weren’t you the one who said, ‘if we’re able to help defend the city, then we should help defend the city’?” Sky questioned.

Spike released a frustrated sigh. “…I was wrong,” he admitted. “I thought we were ready to help. Clearly, we weren’t. Our skills ain’t yet up to par, and the Bleeders are more dangerous than I thought.”

“Oof…” Austin exhaled deeply in resignation. “After what happened last night, that’s sure hard to argue…”

“Just… promise me you all won’t needlessly endanger yourselves, again?” Twy glanced first at Sky, and then Spike, and then Austin, where her gaze lingered for a second before she turned to look down at her own hands. “I know that, one day, we’ll be expected to fight against… something. But until then…”

“Yeah… I guess this all got really serious, really suddenly, huh?” Sky commented with an uneasy chuckle — only to quickly stop and wince. “…We’ve been in a few fights before,” she eventually continued, “but, uh… this time really did seem different, somehow…”

“It’s the first time we had to fight on home turf, against opponents who actually wanted us dead,” Spike pointed out. “EA never seemed to actually wanna kill us, and when there was that infection outbreak in Relédiaka, we at least had energy shields. The only other time we fought Bleeders was at that one deserted Compound, but that was in a place we’d never been to. Defending there didn’t have the same kinda desperation that you feel when your home is attacked, like it was last night…”

“Home, huh?” Austin echoed with a bitter smile. “I guess this place is our home now, isn’t it?”

A moment of tense silence filled the air of Spike’s room, as each of the four friends mulled over their words. It was Sky who eventually broke the silence with a frustrated sigh.

“Man, I just wanted to see all the sights Nimalia has,” she complained, “there’s still a lot of cool stuff we haven’t seen, like the mountains in Nimaliaka, or that massive inland sea in East Nimaliaka, but instead we have to deal with all of this attack stuff… I wish we could just have a normal vacation…”

“You ain’t goin’ anywhere soon with those casts,” Spike countered.

“They said that Kaoné’s supposed to be coming back in a day or two to shore up the defenses here, and that she’s bringing some medical equipment with her. With that, I’ll be as good as new and ready to travel in no time!” Sky remarked.

“In no time? Really?” Spike responded incredulously.

“I actually wouldn’t be surprised,” Twy replied. “I know firsthand just how effective Nimalian medical technology is. You’ll still need to take it easy afterward, Sky, but traveling might not be out of the question.”

“Yeah, but then the question is whether or not Luke or the Deans will let us travel,” Austin pointed out. “After that attack… I’d bet travel in and out of the Compound is locked down.”

“You’d be surprised.”

The four friends turned to look at the door to Spike’s room, through which Luke had just poked his head. He offered a casual wave before nodding toward Sky. “You feeling okay?” he asked.

“As okay as someone in a bunch of casts can be,” she replied.

“You need somethin’ from me?” Spike questioned, his attention directed toward Luke.

“Not… ‘need’, per se, but it does have to do what what y’all were just talking about,” Luke replied, opening the door enough to properly step in — only to then stop himself and pass Spike a sheepish glance. “Ah, sorry. Mind if I come in?”

“You already have,” Austin deadpanned.

“If it’s about travel, then give us what you got!” Sky exclaimed, using her good arm to prop herself up against the wall at the head of Spike’s bed. “…It is about travel, right?”

“That it is,” Luke replied as he shut the bedroom door behind him. “Going back to what you just said, Austin — well, most travel in and out of the Compound has indeed been locked down, but the Deans are making exceptions for important guests. And the Colonel managed to include you guys on that list.”

“What? How?” Twy questioned incredulously.

“Probably leveraged last night’s attack,” Luke responded candidly. “SERRCom sent you guys here to train — not to get gravely wounded or die, after all. I think the Colonel wants you guys to leave the Compound until Dean Wrikax can be sure it’s secure again.”

“…How long will that take?” Austin asked.

“According to the Dean, no longer than a week,” Luke answered. “…Honestly, I’m a little skeptical of that, but if Dean Densalin is coming back like everyone’s saying she is, then it might work out.”

“Everyone at the med center was really looking forward to her coming back, too,” Sky said. “Is she really that powerful?”

“Well, she can make literally anything she wants out of fuckin’ thin air, practically, so I guess so,” Austin pointed out.

“Either way, going back to my point,” Luke commented, “y’all have the rest of the week to travel wherever on Nimalia you’d like. Assuming it’s a safe place, that is.”

“And with chaperones tagging along…” Austin muttered.

“Actually, that’s the best part,” Luke replied with a smirk. “I convinced the Colonel to let you guys go on vacation without any of CSF-1 or the Eximius Vir breathing down your necks.”

“Whoa… really?!” Sky exclaimed excitedly.

“How did you convince him?” Twy questioned in disbelief.

“It actually wasn’t that hard, but don’t worry about it. It’s ultimately my job,” Luke commented.

“Well, I guess travel really is on the table, then,” Spike remarked as he passed Sky a glance. “You got a specific place in mind?”

“Oh boy, do I!” Sky replied with a grin. “Too many places! We need to visit them all while we can!!”

“Hold on, now, remember that you’ll need to take it easy, even if you get all fixed up tomorrow…”

“Ah ha ha, this is about the response I expected,” Luke said with a chuckle. He then nodded toward Austin and Twy before opening the room’s door to leave. “Anyways, I gotta go tell the others this news, too. If there’s somewhere you want to go, be sure to be ready by tomorrow or the day after, since that’s when all the transports are leaving. Otherwise…” He offered a casual wave in parting as he finally stepped through the door. “Go have some proper fun on this Spring Break!”

*

“Well… a lot’s happened, huh?”

“Shut up,” Pierce grumbled, throwing Conrad an annoyed glance as the two aimlessly wandered the streets of Compound Tresnon. “What are you even complaining about?” Pierce continued, “you didn’t even help with the fight last night!”

“Not like I would’ve helped much, anyways,” Conrad replied, his hands slotted into his pockets and his posture relaxed. “All I can do is turn invisible and mute sounds, you know? Or make really loud sounds, I guess, but it’s hard to stop that from affecting both friend and foe.”

“I know from experience that you can turn other people invisible, too. That would’ve been hella useful.”

“…Mm. Guess so. Still, you guys really didn’t have any business getting involved. Ralak told you to stay put, and look what ignoring her got us? Austin and Sky, knocked out…”

“That’s on them, not me. I’m fine,” Pierce insisted, though he conspicuously avoided making eye contact with Conrad. “Plus,” Pierce added, “Ralak’s a former Bleeder, too. Maybe she was in on this all along.”

“That’s funny to hear, from the guy who defended her in front of Liask just a few days ago.”

“…Hmph.”

“I’m just saying, man. You’ve been a little out of it ever since last night’s fight, and learning that Minilas, well, uh…”

“What are you trying to say?”

Conrad shrugged. “I dunno. I guess I’m saying that you really need that vacation that we were just told to go on.”

Pierce didn’t respond, his gaze idly sweeping across the surrounding streets — the streets that were abnormally thin of people.

Conrad watched his friend for a second, and then released a lofty sigh. “…You know Minilas getting kidnapped wasn’t your fault, right?”

“When did I ever say that it was?” Pierce shot back.

“Look, man, something’s clearly bothering you—“

“There isn’t,” Pierce insisted. “And if there was, I wouldn’t want to talk about it right now, anyways.”

“…Fair enough,” Conrad relented. “What about the vacation, then? Are you thinking of going anywhere?”

“I’m not sure where I want to go, exactly…” Pierce replied, and then shot Conrad a knowing glance. “But don’t act like I’m going to let you stay here on your own. You’re coming with me, you lazy fuck.”

“I don’t suppose there’s anything I can say to change your mind.”

“Not if your plan is to stay here and nap for a whole week.”

“What if it was just to nap for half the week?”

“Sorry, pal. Someone has to make sure you have an exciting college life, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be you,” Pierce replied with a smirk. “But seriously, man. There has to be somewhere you want to see.”

“Hmm…” Conrad turned his gaze upwards, staring up at the cloudless blue skies above. After a couple seconds of pondering, he said, “well, Phoenix and Kestrel said they want to go to Relédiaka…”

“That’s a ‘no’ from me,” Pierce interjected. “That whole city-in-the-trees thing is cool in concept, but in the end, it just feels like you’re living in a massive cavern. I hate that. I need to see the sky.”

“I guess I see where you’re coming from. Phoenix said something about wanting to learn more about the ‘metallic infection’, anyways, which just sounds like a bunch of lectures or research…”

“Figures that’s the reason you wouldn’t go with them.”

“Well, it’s one place that’s off the list, at least,” Conrad commented.

“Yeah, one continent of, what, six?” Pierce retorted. “We can take Treséd off the list, too, so I guess we’re down to four. Four entire continents. …Well, we’ve already been to two of them, so I guess—“

“Hey…” Conrad interrupted, waiting for Pierce to glance his way before nodding toward a group of three people down the block. “Isn’t that Liask…?”

“Huh…?” Pierce squinted in the direction Conrad had indicated, only for a scowl to quickly cross his face. “Yeah… and it looks like she’s with Obra and Ralak.”

“Obra? And Ralak?” Conrad echoed warily, “…what’s Ralak doing with the two of them?”

“Aren’t you the one with the sound powers?” Pierce questioned, “can’t you just eavesdrop on them?”

“How do you know I can do that?”

“Phoenix told me.”

“How—?”

“Kestrel told her, duh.”

“…Right.” Conrad sighed. “…Starting to wish I hadn’t done that. But even then, eavesdropping on people who can easily see us is a little, uh…”

“Figures you’d chicken out. Let’s just go over there, then.”

“What? But that’s—!” Conrad began to protest, but Pierce had already begun walking toward the trio. With another wary sigh, Conrad resigned himself to Pierce’s whims and soon followed along. I hope this isn’t a mistake… judging by the faces Liask and Obra are making, it doesn’t exactly look like they’re having a fun conversation…

By the time Conrad had finished the thought, he and Pierce had reached earshot of the trio down the street — just in time for Ralak to give a curt nod and turn away, walking off down the street in the direction opposite from where Pierce and Conrad were approaching. Liask and Obra turned to watch her leave, a conversational silence overtaking them.

“Hey, Liask.”

It was Pierce’s words that broke the silence, and turned both Liask and Obra’s attentions around. As soon as they saw Pierce, Liask smiled, and Obra scowled — though both of their expressions seemed muted compared to before, as if they were tired, or otherwise distracted.

“It’s you…” Obra muttered as Pierce and Conrad stopped just in front of the two Tresédians. “What’re you doin’ here?”

“Relax, we’re just taking a walk. We only saw you guys by chance.” Pierce replied, and then passed Liask a glance. “…Including Ralak.”

“Ah… yeah…” Liask responded weakly; she still maintained her smile, but just barely, as her gaze dropped to stare at the ground.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool,” Conrad quickly said.

“No… it’s fine. It… kinda involves you, too…”

“Liask,” Obra muttered warningly, “ain’t no need to involve these outsiders.”

“They might be outsiders, but they still came to our defense last night!” Liask countered, turning to look Obra in the eye. “That’s more than either of us can say!”

“Uh, well, technically, it’s more than I can say, too…” Conrad pointed out.

“What was Ralak talking to you guys about?” Pierce questioned.

“She… apologized,” Liask answered. “She said that she’s the reason the Bleeders got inside the Compound…”

“Fuckin’ Bleeders…” Obra muttered under his breath. “Still don’t know why she’s walkin’ around free. Apology my ass, for all we know, Ralak could’ve intentionally—!”

“Obra, stop,” Liask interrupted. “If Ralak was bad… she wouldn’t be here. And I don’t see why she’d apologize to us.”

“…Hmph.” Obra crossed his arms and scowled. “…What’s any of this got to do with these outsiders, though, huh? Minilas is our friend. And they aren’t the ones who took her.”

“No, but…” Liask trailed off as she turned to look at Pierce, and then Conrad.

“…I don’t like where this is going,” Conrad deadpanned.

“But I think I can guess,” Pierce declared. “You guys want to go get Minilas back. Right?”

Liask and Obra exchanged a glance; Obra followed with an exasperated sigh and throwing his hands up in resignation. “Fine, whatever. Do what you want,” he muttered.

“…Right. So,” Liask turned back to Pierce and Conrad. “You’re right. Obra and I want to go get Minilas back. But we got a couple problems doin’ that.”

“For one, we ain’t even supposed to leave the Compound,” Obra stated. “The Dean told all us students that we’re supposed to stay put. And me or Liask don’t have abilities that would let us sneak out.”

“Uh oh…” Conrad muttered, all while Pierce passed him a knowing look.

“See, I knew your powers would come in handy sometime,” Pierce commented.

“But there’s still another problem,” Liask quickly pointed out. “Which is… we don’t even know where to look.”

“What? The Bleeders brought a whole fucking army with them last night,” Pierce countered. “There has to be plenty of trails we can follow.”

“The Bleeders are smarter than to leave trails behind,” Obra replied. “And what few are left behind, the Defense Force is already lookin’ at. If we go after those, then we’ll get caught.”

“If the Bleeders are already being tracked, then maybe we should all just sit back and let the professionals do their jobs,” Conrad suggested.

“Sometimes that’s smart, but other times, you just need to take things into your own hands,” Pierce declared.

“But isn’t that exactly what got you and everyone else into trouble last night?”

“It wasn’t me who got injured. Or Phoenix, or Kestrel.”

“I dunno…”

“Look, Conrad, think of it this way,” Pierce asserted as he threw his arm around Conrad’s shoulders. “You can turn people invisible, and make them completely silent. However you think about it, that makes you basically impossible to catch. As long as you’re around, trouble just won’t find us.”

“As much as I hate to admit it…” Obra commented with a scowl, “…your abilities would help us out. A lot.”

“But we still can’t really go anywhere if we don’t know where to go,” Liask pointed out. “We still need some kinda lead… something, anything…”

“There’s one I can think of,” Pierce declared. “It’s a place I wanted to check out, anyways. Rokres.”

“Rokres?” Liask echoed incredulously.

“You wanna go to Rokres?!” Obra exclaimed, “are you crazy? You’re outsiders! Rokres hates outsiders!”

“So does most of Treséd, it seems,” Pierce pointed out.

“Maybe, but Rokres is on a whole different level. Even Liask and me would be outsiders, to them. Why do you wanna go there?!”

“Two reasons. One, Minilas is originally from there, right? I know she said they wouldn’t want her back, but there’s still a chance — however slim — that they might know something about her.”

“That doesn’t seem very likely…” Liask muttered.

“Maybe, but that’s not the most important reason I’m interested in Rokres,” Pierce replied. “You said that they’re denser and more advanced than Tresnon, right? If that’s the case, then they might have some way to track Bleeders that people here don’t have access to.”

“If they’re denser and more advanced, then that means it’ll be harder to sneak in, too,” Conrad interjected.

“Well, they’re only denser and more advanced compared to Compound Tresnon,” Liask commented. “They’re still behind the rest of Nimalia. So I hear, anyways…”

“Still, though. Rokres?” Obra shook his head in disbelief. “…You sure about this?”

“Absolutely,” Pierce declared. “Your incredulous reactions just make me want to go even more! Besides, do you have any other suggestions for tracking down Minilas?”

Liask and Obra exchanged a wary glance. “…Well, it’s better than nothin’, I guess,” Liask conceded. “And if we got Conrad’s invisibility with us… should make things a lot easier.”

“You’re, uh… really making me the center point of this plan, huh…” Conrad observed uneasily.

“Hey, I told you I wouldn’t let you be a lazy ass this week,” Pierce pointed out. “If you’re really worried, then we can grab some personal shields from the Defense Force. It’s not like we’ll need to be gone for long, so the shields would hardly be missed.”

“Eh…”

“And if you’re worried about a fight, then, well, don’t be. Between me, Liask, and Obra, we could totally cover you.” Pierce turned to look at each of Liask and Obra. “Right?”

“I haven’t really been in many fights… but I am confident in my strength,” Liask replied.

“And my barriers are pretty strong,” Obra declared.

“See? You’re good,” Pierce insisted, while patting Conrad on the shoulder. “C’mon, man. If anything, do it for Minilas. You seemed to like her.”

Conrad shot Pierce an annoyed glance, only to release a resigned sigh a second later. “…Fine,” he conceded. “Hard to say ‘no’ to that. But at least, let’s… get this over with before I can change my mind.”

“We can leave tomorrow evening,” Liask suggested. “Most of the Compound will be busy with the transports coming and going. We can take advantage of that to leave without anyone noticing us.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Pierce replied with a firm nod. “Tomorrow evening, then!”

“We’re actually doin’ this, huh…” Obra muttered while shaking his head in disbelief. “Hope I don’t regret this…”

“Thanks a ton for helping us out, though!” Liask remarked, and then glanced down the street. “…Ah, there’s a couple things we need to take care of before tomorrow, huh. Let’s go, Obra. I’ll see you later, Pierce!”

“Same to you!” Pierce shouted after Liask and Obra as the duo walked off. He then turned to Conrad and offered a wink. “C’mon! It’ll be great!”

“Urgh… can’t believe I let you talk me into this, after what happened last night…” Conrad muttered as he and Pierce began walking off in the other direction, leaving behind only the quiet streets and alleys of Compound Tresnon… and a short, tan-skinned woman with puffy black hair who carefully peeked out onto the main street. Her steely eyes watched Pierce and Conrad leave, and then shifted in the direction of Liask and Obra, at which point she took a deep, weary breath.

“Those fools…” she muttered to herself, only to shake her head in resignation and utter under her breath “Chaos Teleport.” In the next instant, she was gone, leaving the street well and truly empty.