Ch 7: Fox the Fireflash

Leaving Vitaeris, Grey's group begins the search for a way to Teramis. Catching Grey talking big, a street punk who claims to have information says he'll talk if Grey puts up his dukes.

            Vitaeris Village. Sunday June 24, 520NA. Setting out with Serius and Grey loaded up with supplies in elven traveler’s backpacks, Kel Mathos and the rangers were seeing the three off. Approaching Kel Mathos, Serius said, “You have my thanks Elder. I will look into the matter of the lifeforce contamination as soon as possible.” Nodding at him, the Elder said, “Godspeed my friends. May the light of Origin shine upon your path.” Turning to Grey, Saria asked, “Um… Did the Elder or Serius know about this Seeker person?” Having disregarded the hooded man’s words, Grey said, “I don’t really trust that character’s advice…” Overhearing them, Serius said, “What are you two talking about?” Feeling it really wasn’t worth mentioning, Grey hesitantly muttered, “Well…” Speaking up in his place, Saria said, “A strange hooded man on the road told us to find someone called the Seeker.” Serius looked confused by this, but having overheard as well, Kel Mathos said, “How peculiar…” Turning to him, Serius said, “Do you know of this ‘Seeker’ Elder?” Seeming to hesitate for a moment, Kel Mathos said, “There is an old legend of an ancient being that wielded powerful magic. The Seeker. Allied with the ancient demonfolk, the Seeker launched a great war upon the land. At last the Seeker was defeated by their enemies, and sealed within a tower hidden in some secluded part of the world. It is truly an obscure legend, and I cannot say for certain if it is true or not…”

            Walking the road out of the forest, Grey stared at the map saying, “So we’re headed to Halsa, a big city to the west of here, right?” Nodding, Serius said, “Yes. It is a large trade center on this continent. We should be able to get some information there.” Making small talk along the way, Saria said, “Hey Grey… what’s Teramis like?” Putting away the map, Grey said, “Well aside from the sky and some other little things, it’s not all that different so far.” Looking hesitant to ask, Saria said, “Y-you said you had friends there. What are humans like?” Not having really thought about such things, Grey replied, “They’re like everyone else I guess. Some good, some bad. That’s what my parents taught me.” It was the first time Grey had ever mentioned his parents, and having wondered about this for a while, Saria said, “You were raised on Teramis then? How did you and your parents wind up there?” Grey realized he might have said too much. He had yet to figure out just how he could explain that she was in fact his own sister. Silence filled the air and finally Saria said, “Grey?” Not being his favorite topic regardless, Grey said, “I don’t really feel like talking about this.” Disappointed, Saria actually got a bit pushy, going so far as to say, “You’ve hardly told me anything about yourself you know…” Frustrated, Grey said, “My parents aren’t around anymore, ok?” Grey stormed off ahead, wishing he’d never brought it up. Looking rather ashamed of herself, Saria’s ears drooped as she murmured, “I’m so sorry…” Picking up his pace, Serius caught up with Grey and said, “I know not if it’s my place, but that was rather unkind.” Grey sighed and said, “She’ll overhear you know…” He quickly heard Serius speak through his mind using telepathy, saying, “Not if we do this.” Using his thoughts to reply, Grey said, “I’m not mad at her. I don’t want to lie or keep secrets from her, but telling her the truth also means telling her our real parents are dead. All because I was born He of the Infinite…” After a moment, Serius replied, “Do you truly think her to be so cruel a person as to blame you for what happened? I certainly do not.” Clenching his fists, Grey thought in return, “I don’t think that either, but…” Serius came across sternly as Grey heard his voice say, “Have you forgotten how it felt when Alexander hid the fate of your parents from you? What you’re doing is no different.” As this fact dawned on him, Grey felt shame wash over him. Glancing back at Saria a moment, Grey replied, “Alright… I’ll tell her after we’ve taken a look around Halsa.”

            At last the three reached Halsa. A bustling trade center lying on the outer reaches of a vast desert, its sand covered streets were crowded with stalls where merchants were selling just about anything and everything. The buildings looked to be made from various materials, most commonly clay and some stone composite similar in appearance to Deus Calx. Some square shaped, some rectangular, some with domed roofs, the architecture all varied and yet still seemed to fit with the theme of a city in the desert. Across town from where they were, they could see an enormous palace which apparently was built there by the founder of the city, an incredibly wealthy merchant. The people who walked Halsa’s streets were catching most of Grey’s attention though. In addition to the already familiar halmans, he spied several other humanoid races he had not yet seen before, beings with horns or wings atop their heads, and others with various animal or insect like characteristics such as ears, eyes, wings, and tails. They all moved about through the streets, going from vendor to vendor, driving hover wagons full of goods to trade, activity was everywhere. Grey felt as though he were being rude, but still could not help but stare. Tugging on his jacket as Grey was staring at a crowd outside what seemed to be the town bar, Saria said, “H-hero…?” Coming back to reality, Grey quickened his pace and thought, “She’s stopped calling me by name again. I really screwed up…” Moving further into the city, they at last found what Serius was looking for. An inn. Stepping through the door next to the sign that said Guru’s Inn, Serius approached the innkeeper sitting behind a long counter by the stairs to the second floor. A middle aged halman man with green eyes and a brown mullet and goatee, he wore a black and white t-shirt with a brown sleeveless vest, ripped brown pants, and sandals. Standing and moving over to lean against the counter, with a grin the innkeeper said, “Welcome to Guru’s Inn, I’m Guru. Now then, assuming there are just three of you, I could set you up with a two person upstairs and a single for the young lady. It’ll run you just twenty-five gold a night.” Nodding, Serius withdrew a fat coin purse from his pocket and said, “That will be more than adequate, thank you.” As Serius placed some gold coins on the counter, Guru handed him a pair of room keys and said, “Thanks for the business. Make sure you lock your doors, the front door stays open round the clock just in case our guests want to enjoy the nightlife.” Grey and Serius dumped their backpacks full of supplies in their rooms, and as the three headed back out the door of the inn, Serius said, “I’ll let you two handle this district. Ask around for any information on the Seeker or any other possibilities. Make sure you’re discreet.” Grey and Saria nodded, and as Grey turned to go, he heard Serius’ voice say in his mind, “I’ll be holding you to your word Grey…”

            After a good while of asking around without any luck, Grey and Saria were once more passing the town bar. Staring over at the crowd again, Grey said, “That place looks rather popular. Maybe we should see if we can find someone who knows something in there.” Scared at the thought of what characters they might get involved with in a bar, Saria nervously said, “Th-this part of town looks kind of dangerous…” With a grin, Grey confidently said, “Who cares? I can handle any trouble these punks give us!” At this careless comment, a voice called out, “Better be careful about shooting your mouth off around these parts hotshot! You might get yourself hurt…” Turning in the direction of the voice, Grey laid eyes on a young man a bit older looking than his friend Scott with yellow eyes and a head of spiky, medium length red hair. He wore a gray jacket and gray pants, and on his right arm he had a red and gray arm guard. He looked human, but as they were in Gaia, Grey could only imagine he had to be a half-halman like himself. The man had a smug grin on his face as he said, “We street punks have our pride after all!” Not intimidated, Grey said, “Who are you supposed to be?” Cracking his knuckles, the street punk said, “Name’s Fox! Fox the Fireflash! So, are you looking for a fight?” Not interested in starting a fight, Grey tried to calm him down, saying, “Look, I’m not looking for trouble. We’re just trying to get some information.” Laughing suddenly, Fox said, “So you’re the ones looking for a way to Teramis huh? Well, I might just know something about that…” Surprised, Saria said, “R-really?” With a big grin, Fox held his hands on his hips and said, “Want to know do you?” As Saria nodded, Fox chuckled and said, “Maybe I’ll tell you, maybe I won’t…” Looking annoyed, Grey said, “What do you want, money?” Slightly insulted, Fox replied, “I don’t want your money hotshot! Lemme spell it out for you…” Dropping into a form of battle stance, Fox said, “You and me, right here, right now. If you win, I tell you all you want to know…” Feeling certain this was a waste of time, Grey turned to go saying, “C’mon Saria, this guy doesn’t know anything…” Reluctantly Saria moved to follow, calling after him, “Hero?” As they left, Fox shouted after them, “Alright then, don’t let me catch you mouthing off again!” They disappeared from his line of sight just as Fox muttered, “See you again, real soon…”

            Approaching yet another merchant, a short disfigured looking humanoid with a wrinkly face and missing teeth who wore a turban, Grey said, “Hey, uh, how’s it going? You mind if I ask you something?” The merchant squinted at him a moment from behind his stand, which was stocked with all sorts of junk that ranged from valuable to worthless looking. Then, to Grey’s surprise, the merchant said, “Ugoya mugabu!” After a short pause, Grey responded, “Huh…?” Tugging at Grey’s sleeve, Saria said, “He’s a pygmy. It’s rare for them to come to towns, I don’t think he speaks our language…” Looking back and forth from the pygmy merchant and Saria a moment, Grey said, “Then how the hell does he know if anyone wants to buy something?!” Saria just shrugged, and with an exasperated look, Grey turned back to the pygmy merchant and said, “Nevermind…” As Grey and Saria walked off, the pygmy shouted after them, “Ugubaba!” Grey let out a sigh, clearly displaying his frustration at having come up with no leads. Discouraged as well, Saria said, “You might have to fight that guy after all…” With a groan that expressed his less than enthusiastic feeling towards this idea, Grey muttered, “What was his problem anyways?” Stopping to look at the wares in a fruit stand, Saria said, “Maybe he could tell you were a strong fighter and wanted to test his strength against you in a friendly competition?” Thinking this was an odd conclusion to reach, Grey said, “Where’d you get that idea?” Turning away from the fruit stand, Saria hesitantly said, “I read about something like that… in one of the fantasy books I used to borrow from my neighbor…” Unable to suppress a slight laugh, Grey said, “I prefer to base my assumptions on reality. Not that much of what’s been going on isn’t stranger than fiction…” Just then a young halman boy bolted past him, laughing as he ran, followed quickly by a young halman girl shouting, “Big brother, give that back!” Watching them run off down the street, Grey remembered he was supposed to tell Saria they were brother and sister. Watching Saria as she looked at the wares in another stall that had drawn her interest, Grey thought, “Well… Let’s get this over with…” Yet just as he opened his mouth, Grey thought he sensed something. Whirling around to look down the alley on the left where he sensed it, he saw nothing. Still feeling uneasy, Grey said, “Saria, let’s head back for now…” As they walked off, up on top of one of the buildings along the side of the street, a hooded figure looked down at them and muttered, “Found you…”

            Night fell as Serius, Grey, and Saria returned to the inn. Tired from wandering the town, Saria slept in her room as Grey and Serius talked in theirs. Grey stared out the window of their room as Serius was saying to him from where he sat on his bed, “We should follow any lead we can get. Tomorrow we shall search for this Fox person.” Grey turned away from the window and flopped on his bed, replying, “Alright, alright…” Turning out the light on the nightstand beside his bed, Grey rolled over to lie upon on the bed properly. However he found himself unable to sleep, as thoughts of what might be happening on Teramis filled his head. After some time had passed and Serius had gone to bed as well, Grey heard some kind of knocking sound. Sitting up, he looked over at the window, nearly falling out of bed as he saw Fox waving at him with a big grin from outside. Quietly, he moved to the window and opened it, keeping his voice as low as possible as he said, “It’s past midnight! What the hell do you want?!” Not only was it past midnight, but their room was on the second floor. Fox had climbed up onto the roof of the larger first floor to get to their window, which made Grey wonder how he even knew which room they were in. With a smug laugh, Fox said, “Oh I just thought you’d like to know something I heard on the old grapevine…” Though he wondered why Fox was so talkative now, Grey didn’t really think this was the time or place for such a discussion, and he muttered, “Couldn’t you at least wait till tomorrow?!” Shrugging, Fox simply said, “Suit yourself. Don’t come crying to me if you get killed…” Grinding his teeth in irritation a moment, Grey said, “Just what exactly did you hear?” Glancing off into the distance at something, Fox said, “Well, this info might’ve been more useful earlier… Take a look down there.” He pointed at the desert outside the gates of the city. Following his finger, Grey thought he could see movement, like he was staring out at a dark rippling mass of water. Unsure what it was, Grey said, “Ok, what am I looking at?” Pulling a small pair of binoculars from his pocket, Fox handed them to Grey. Raising them up to his eyes, Grey adjusted the focus and looked out at the movement he’d seen before. He nearly dropped the binoculars as he laid eyes on the gathering army of anomalies.

            Shaking Saria awake, Grey exclaimed, “C’mon Saria, we gotta go!” Coming around, she rubbed her eyes and yawned, saying, “Huh?” Behind Grey, Fox said, “You aren’t gonna be getting out of here without a fight at this point. They know you’re here.” Glaring back at him, Grey said, “Well if you’d warned us a bit sooner!” Waving his complaint away, Fox said, “You’re the one who said I didn’t know anything.” Greatly suspicious about the situation, Serius said, “How could you have known they were coming? For that matter, how did you know we were their target?” Smugly, Fox crossed his arms and replied, “Unlike some people, I’ve got connections!” Beginning to think she was just having a dream, Saria said, “Did something happen?” Just as Grey was about to explain to her, Fox simply said, “Altera Veritas is here, and they’re looking for you.” Suddenly looking terrified, Saria exclaimed, “W-what?!” As she jumped out of bed, they hurried out the door of her room, down the stairs, and out the door of the inn. Then as he sensed the strange fluctuations of EDE, Grey could tell Fox was right. They weren’t getting out without a fight. From the shadows all around them appeared anomalies, and quickly the few townspeople walking the streets fled in terror. As Grey and Serius readied themselves for battle, Fox exclaimed, “Oh yeah! It’s time to show you just what I’m made of!” Gathering EDE, Fox formed a mass of EDE around each of his hands that formed into metal gloves, which in turn quickly began to glow as intense heat radiated from them.

            With great speed, Fox shot forward, flames trailing from his fists as he closed in on the anomalies’ front line. With a single punch, Fox engulfed a good number of anomalies in a concentrated blast of fire. In awe, Saria uttered, “W-wow…” Glancing back at Grey with a grin as the anomalies he’d blasted fell to the ground as charred corpses and began to disintegrate, Fox said, “Better hurry up if you want in on the fun!” Quite surprised to find out he wasn’t all talk, Grey quickly rushed forward saying, “This isn’t a game here you know! Anyway, let’s cut our way out of here!” With that they began fighting their way through the streets towards the east city gate, Fox and Grey leading the charge as Serius defended Saria. Arriving at the city gate at last, they stopped as once more a legion of dark vortexes formed before them. Gathering searing flames within his hands, Fox leaped into the air in a preemptive strike and came down on the emerging anomalies with a pair of explosive punches. Grey quickly began to help him clean up the rest, unleashing light spheres and sword slashes. Then they quickly made a break for it, rushing out the east gate into the desert. Just as they seemed in the clear though, from the sands of the desert chains shot out around Grey, tying him up so tightly he couldn’t breathe. A voice called out, “Not bad for a bunch of brats…” Rising up out of the sand behind them, a hooded figure appeared. Weighted chains draped over his body, he wore black clothes with steel armguards and shin guards. A tattered cloak around his neck fluttered in the breeze. Pulling on the chains in his hand powerfully, he swung Grey around and slammed him hard into the wall of the city, and with a sickening thud Grey fell to the ground, unconscious. Then as Fox charged at him, the figure raised a hand and wave of sand rose up in Fox’s path and buried him. Saria moved to rush to Grey’s side, but grabbing her by the arm, Serius simply shook his head. Calmly facing the hooded figure, Serius called out, “A Revenant of Altera Veritas I presume?” The chains withdrawing into his sleeves like snakes slithering into a hole in the ground, the figure said, “Grave, Revenant of the Black Sand.”

            Raising a gloved hand at Serius, Grave said, “Step away from my prize mautauian.” Forming his full Basilisk Armor, Serius said, “I’m afraid not.” Not intimidated in the least, Grave simply replied, “That wasn’t a request.” Bursting out of the sand around Serius shot multiple chains, and as Serius tried to block them, they simply wrapped around his arms. Serius struggled against the chains as they began to pull him along with them, retracting back into the sand, and Grave called out, “I’ll put you to rest in the depths of the desert!” Suddenly a great explosion erupted out of the sands. Leaping from out of the hole he’d made in the sand with a mighty blast of fire, Fox rushed at Grave as he shouted, “Don’t even think you’re gonna brush ME aside like that!” Grave raised a hand once more and a wave of sand rose up to stop Fox again, but as Fox punched straight into it, an intense blast of heat turned the sand into glass, which quickly shattered as Fox charged through it. Grave raised an arm before him and a long weighted chain slithered out. Using it as a weapon, Grave lashed out at Fox with his chain, but Fox simply raised a hand and grabbed hold of it, intensifying the heat from his glove and melting it. Retracting the damaged chain and dodging as Fox hurled the melted piece of chain at him, Grave paused, seeming to stare at Fox as he said, “Wait, aren’t you…?” Fox grinned smugly and said, “That’s right pal! I’m Fox the Fireflash!” As more chains slithered from his sleeve, Grave said, “But why? You’re-” Interrupting as he cracked his knuckles, Fox said, “What I do is none of your business, friend…” Clenching his chains in anger, Grave said, “You’ll regret this!” Shrugging, Fox said, “Maybe, maybe not!” Channeling EDE into one of his burning hands, Fox defiantly shouted, “To be honest, I don’t really care!” Grave leaped aside as Fox shot a blazing ball of fire at him, and then whipped his chains through the air. Detaching from the chains as he swung them, small throwing knives shot out at Fox. Charging through the knives at Grave using his armguard to shield himself, Fox channeled EDE into his metal fists and threw a powerful punch that connected with Grave, who disappeared in a powerful explosion of flames. Then as the smoke cleared, a burning piece of paper floated to the ground, and Fox muttered, “So it was just a substitution after all. That’s just like him…” Walking over to the others, who were now grouped around where Grey laid unconscious, Fox said, “He ok?” Picking Grey up, Serius said, “He’s merely been knocked out. We should get him to a bed.” As they returned to the inn, Serius and Saria headed inside with Grey as Fox cheerily said, “Alrighty, I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow!” With that, he left before they could object. Wondering aloud, Saria said, “Is he coming with us?” Staring after Fox suspiciously, Serius thought, “There’s something very wrong about him…”