Chapter XXXII: Sparks

Origami Canyon, or as it is known today, Valley of Death, was once a battleground where the Humans made a desperate stand against the Demonic scourge. The greatest magic users from the Known Regions were gathered at that time as a countermeasure to the plague. The Human population fell to about half of what it was, and the people in power have gone desperate to save their source of... well... taxes. A couple of smart-a*s statements here and there, and they were able to procure forty-four of the most powerful Human mages that ever lived, and they all “died honourably”- which means they were sent to their doom and gained a title for their group: [1]The Fallen Forty-Four. The people that sent them gained a lot of benefits from the people who kept the Demons from going any further and the next thing you know, they’re living in greed once again. The question there is which of them are unfortunate: The people who died nameless or the people who are going to live to see an even worse downfall.

 

            But we are not going there today, dear reader.

 

            Keeping the main story at bay and delaying it over and over again will definitely make people give-up on this story. That’s good news, then! How about I drag the story way too far from where our main character is? Like Berial Magus!

 

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            Alone in a private guest room lavished with elegant drapes and furnishings, Naiya was seated facing the coffee table with a book on her hand. She was wearing an orange floral pyjama and red striped socks, either because it’s what’s been offered to her while her clothes were being washed or because of the writer’s fetishes. The title on the book reads “Crimson Mage: Origins”, but as awesome as that title may sound, the Void Elemental found it less than entertaining. She couldn’t stop reading, though, because no matter how crappy a book is, you never really stop reading it until you can judge it in the end.

 

            That’s what the writer thinks as to why people will be forced read this story when they start it.

 

            “How distasteful”, Naiya comments quietly on the poor choice of words.

 

            “Hey, Naiya...”, Maria whines from under the table at the feet of her partner.

 

            “What?”

 

            “I’m bored. How long are we going to stay here?”

 

            “Until she arrives.”

 

            “But we’ve been here for hours”, she complains. “I literally observed every square inch of this room out of boredom! I even found a family of mice in the wall over there! I’m sick of waiting for that other Elemental they were talking about!”

 

            “Then you’ll just have to bear with it”, she says after flipping a page.

 

            “’You’re being inconsiderate of your partner’ is what Edith would have said”, she spites her partner with a quote from the person that raised her.

 

            “If it means acquiring one of the keys to save the world I’m sure she wouldn’t say the same.”

 

            Maria made an indifferent expression, but her boredom gave her an idea.

 

            The cat reaches for Naiya’s ankle and grabs the open end of her sock. The girl’s foot was slightly inclined with her toes pointed to the ground so she was able to pull the sock until it was only able to cover her toes.

 

            “What do you think you’re doing?”, said Naiya with a troubled look on her face even though her eyes haven’t moved away from the text.

 

            “Don’t mind me. ‘One should mind one’s own business if it means not to bother someone else who is doing his own.’” She quotes another one from her guardian.

           

            The cat opted to tickle her feet to piss her off, mainly because the soles of her feet are the most sensitive part of her body-also because of the writer’s fetishes- when suddenly-

 

            The glass frame of the window adjacent to their left was shattered to pieces by two bullets as something red came bursting through it with electric energy. Naiya immediately reacts and resummons the orb she had with her and puts up a defensive stance.

 

            It was Yvaine. Seeing Naiya in a threatening pose, she draws both guns and points them at her.

 

            How the hell did she even get there?

 

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            Earlier that day...         

 

            “So what did they say about the king’s guest?”

 

            Yvaine has once again snuck inside Berial Magus’ capital, Borealis City, as she was curious about that guard’s statement earlier, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to be standing in the middle of the market square.

 

            “Well, according to him”, her underling points at the iron smith on the stall behind him, “The king passed out when she came, so they took her to the guest room while awaiting orders from the him.”

 

            “He passed out?”, the Lightning Elemental sceptically questions.

 

            “Yeah, he passed out shortly after giving the order to find you. I don’t know what it means but he says the whole castle heard him scream: ‘Mabuhay ang Panginoon!’, and then he fell on his face.”

 

            “How much did he pay you to tell such a lie...”, her Anima speaks her mind after popping from Yvaine’s breast pocket.

 

            “I’m not lying!”

 

            The crowd around them suddenly started to rustle and focus their attention on them. Yvaine starts to scan the area, and she sees the guard captain approaching from her left. Their eyes meet; his eyes were dead serious; hers were a lot more playful.

 

            “It’s him again”, says the kid while slowly backing away.

 

            “Go ahead; we’ll meet at the same place.”

 

            He immediately complies and hurries away.

 

            As the captain comes closer, more troops come and box into the marketplace.

 

            Instinctively, she winks at him and starts:

 

            “I can tell you miss me a whole lot, Crisostomo-“

 

            “Give yourself up, you wench; you’ve been a nuisance for too long-“

 

            Oh, look she ran off.

 

            “Get back here!”

 

            Yvaine flashed out and up the high rooftops of the city. Sparks of lightning pulsated around her, making her one of the fastest of all Elementals just like her father. She’d usually get away from the guards like this since she habitually enters the city and steals food from the king’s pantry. But this new captain is different from the last ones she had encountered before. This one is one of the trained elite soldiers known as Darkslayers. They were able to bend or rather “manipulate” lightwaves and dance around the intercepted light; a speed which is on par with that of a Lightning Elemental’s.

 

            Her heels clacked on the tiled roofs, but then she hears two more from behind her. Without stopping, she turns toward Crisostomo and blew a playful kiss at him, annoying him even more.

 

            He chased her for a while, leaping off roof tops, landing on the next platform, and dodging chimneys and fences until they make it to a dead-end where there’s nowhere else to run. The only option Yvaine had was to land on the tapestry house below her, but she had other plans...

 

            Yvaine has this powerful, powerful trick up her sleeve that she’s been mastering for many years now. Using this power, she developed a new technique to oppose this new guard captain. She made a promise to herself that she’ll only ever use it on someone as fast as her, and he was the first person to ever match her in that area.

 

            She started by gazing upon his eyes passionately. Changing the expression of her face into something more innocent, she grabbed both guns from behind her. Crisostomo was ready to dodge the electrified bullet that he expected to come at him, but surprisingly, Yvaine did nothing but drop them to the floor. Slowly, she paced toward him as the honest look in her eyes irked him a little.

 

            “I’m sorry...”, she said with the tone of her voice seeming so regretful with what she’s done.

 

            I don’t think the guard captain bought it, though. Instead of feeling somewhat sorry because of how she’s being so honest with him "his emotional stability notwithstanding, he took a pair of cuffs from his belt and approached her for her arrest.

 

            “You’re always causing me trouble”, he said with a tiny shade of red on his face.

 

            “I get it.”

 

            He was about to lock the cuffs to bind her wrists, but there was something soft pressing against his lips; something sweeter than he could ever imagine. Yvaine was three inches shorter than him if it weren’t for the heels on her boots, but she found it convenient to kiss him in such a way. His eyes were wide open from this remarkable feeling. Crisostomo succumbed to the perplexity and the pleasurable sensation that melted his heart. Her eyes were closed and her palms were pressing against his and-

 

            Oh, my God! SHE JUST THREW HIS SORRY A*S OFF THE FLIPPIN’ ROOF! I can’t believe this idiot fell for it the second time around! Look at him falling on that dusty carpet like a dork!  

 

            What’s she up to now... Holy crap! SHE STUCK UP HER MIDDLE FINGER AT HIM! That poor bas**rd just got himself thrown off the roof and got the bird flipped on him! I can’t believe it!

 

            [2]“Try and catch me, sucker!”

 

            “You lose again, lover boy!”, her Anima adds insult to the injury.

 

            Yvaine runs off, effectively demonstrating her superior ability on him. She’s done this before, and yet again he fell for it. As he lays there on his back, a sense of befuddlement echoed throughout his mind. Poor guy must’ve cut his own heart cut again. In his rage, he sat up and beat the crap out of the carpet he landed on.

 

            “Damn it, Yvaine!!!”

 

            Um... Calm down, man. Wouldn’t it be better if you stood up and tried to catch up to her? No? Okay... Have fun punishing the carpet that saved-

 

            Wait a sec- She pushed him off there so he could land safely, didn’t she? I wonder why Yvaine would give a damn about his safety...

 

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            “You’re an Elemental?”, Naiya assumes with the orb ready to phase out anti-matter and Maria ready to erect a force field(Yep, that’s her real power).

 

            “So are you”, Yvaine replies holding both guns against her.

 

            “I have no intention of conflict”, Naiya slowly lowers her hand.

 

            “Likewise”.

 

            Yvaine flips her guns backward and puts them back in her pocket.

 

            “Yvaine”, she stretches out her arm.

 

            “Naiya”, they shake hands.  “Did the king send you?”, she follows up.

 

            “I guess you could say that”, she shrugs.

 

            “Did he speak of the plan?”

 

            “What plan?”

 

            The glass window that she broke suddenly started to reform itself, much like [3]Nerubian Weaver’s ultimate, and the shades went down by themselves and the door locked itself up.

 

            “That’s some power you got there...”

 

            “Listen closely”, Naiya begins to explain.

 

            Actually, let’s end the chapter here. Whether or not this is going to convince you to stop reading this story, I’m still gonna be writing the next chapter anyway.

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1. In honor of the Fallen Forty-Four of the PNP-SAF.: http://asianjournal.com/editorial/the-charge-of-the-fallen-forty-four/

2. Quoted by Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls, by Alex Hirsch

3. Hero from DotA, by Ice Frog

Reviews

[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

A normal person would have still chased Yvaine even after falling down which means Mr.Cossy is not normal