Chapter 15: The first

Upon declaring himself as the enemy Lan threw himself into another battle, Akira wasn’t sure if Lan could hold out considering how he had just fought against the giant dragon, but if needed we would step in. Alice tried joining the fight as well but a line of fire kept her and everyone else back, the flames flickered blue, Lan was able to estimate the opponent's level of strength from a small interaction, he determined that the others would get in the way. Adam was evading Lans attacks with ease, it was only when he began duel-wielding runes did Lan start to catch up, he landed a solid blow to Adams's face but in that same instance he had struck back. Again it seemed Lan had taken more damage from Adams one hit, Lan shifted his feet taking stance, the rune patterns on his hand grew much like what Alice did only this time the heat emanating off of him was far more intense, dark storm clouds gathered overhead as thunder rumbled throughout the Desert. A streak of lightning trails behind Lan as the bolts toward Adam, slamming his flame-infused fist into his face followed by a powerful uppercut launching him high into the sky, Lan throws his hand into the air before closing his fist as a thunderbolt strikes Adam midair. Lan had already gone after Adam not waiting for him to touch down, and not giving him the time to make a move. With each strike a powerful burst of wind shoves at the spectators down below, if not for Jimmy they would’ve been thrown across the desert, she had placed herself behind everyone keeping them from flying away. The battle seemed to have been going Lan's way until a strange colored lightning bolt struck Lan, a flash of red burst throughout the cloudy sky, returning it to a cloudless state as Adam remained airborne, a rune pattern of lightning engraved along his right arm, only the pattern looked more complete compared to Lans. The fight was reaching its end, from that one hit alone Lan had already incurred more damage than Adam, Lan staggered to his feet as Adam landed in front of him, Akira could see Adams's mouth move but he was too far to hear what was said, Lan falls face first as Adam walks towards the others. Jimmy stands guard, bearing her fangs at him but it was clear she was in no condition to fight someone like him, once he was within earshot Adam stopped. “ It would be in your best interest to steer clear of the other fragments, once I have the others I’ll come for that one,” He says pointing at Akira, he takes one step back,

“ Tell Harry I’ll be seeing him soon,” His gaze dropped to Alice, who looked shocked upon hearing the name. After having said what was on his mind Adam disappears leaving behind a trail of crackling lightning. “ Who was that,” Akira asked Cleo who had reappeared next to Lan, making sure he was alright, “ First let's head back to the village and get this guy treated, he’ll need to know who Adam is too so we’ll have to wait until he wakes up. Jimmy should be able to carry everyone back,” Cleo dusts herself off as her holo figure shifts onto Lilas's head as she sits. Akira and Lila carry Lan onto Jimmy's back as the others get on. They all sat in silence as Jimmy flew low over the desert towards Helmic village, Taro was relieved to see them once they got there, Akira went back to the room he had been staying at before, so much had happened after he had gotten the fragment. Sleep overtook him.

Surprisingly he had woken early, the sun was still rising when he decided to roam the halls while waiting for the others, he had checked one Lan who was still out, Alice was also there when he dropped by, they observed in silence, Akira decided to leave her be. He managed to relocate the green room where the apple and other fruits grew, despite being inside the place gave off a natural warmth, carved into the center of the ceiling was an alchemical rune, it gave warmth to the plants to grow, four more runes sat diagonal to the sun rune, he assumed these are what they used to water the plants. Akira heads back to check up on Lan, this time he finds Lila, she shifts her head slightly to see who it is before turning her attention back to Lan. They too, observed in silence. Akira hands Lila an apple, carefully she takes it. “...Thank you,” she mutters, Akira takes a seat next to her, the two sit in silence as they eat. “ So…how’d you meet Lan?” Akira asked, breaking the uncomfortably long silence, Lila kept quiet for a bit, she leaned back in her chair before answering, “ I was little, living alone with my sister in Old Frandhenven. Back then it was consumed by strife and fighting, people did whatever to live. My parents were killed during a civil war between two of the groups,” Lila props one knee onto the chair as she clutches it,

“ My sister, Lilial, found Lan passed out on the beach one day, she brought him in and he helped us from then on. From then he went on to unite the scattered groups into one, the Godless Faction, if not for him the Union would’ve pinned Old Fran under its rule by now,” Lila sighed as she finished telling her story, Akira had heard stories about the infamous "Anti-god", " It must've been easy for him to unite the people," Akira says, staring at the lightning rune, Lila lets out a laugh, " He had to go around and beat each village chief in a fight, it took him 5 weeks to beat Draven villages chief, the others were around 2-3 weeks each," She says smiling, another pause of silence occurred, “ What about you, what's your story?” She asked turning to look at him, resting her head on her knee, Akira thought about, trying to recall as much of his past as he could before diving into his origin. It was rather simple compared to Lilas, he doesn’t have any memories prior to his time in New Frandhenven, other than going to school there, “ From what I can recall I was raised by a maid, I think? Honestly, I’m not sure I was pretty young when I was in that person's care, at around 16 I started taking odd jobs from my friend Callen, there wasn’t much else to it,” Akira recalls, “ Somewhere in the past that I can’t remember is a link that connects me to the heart, whatever it is,” Akira knew for sure that there was a greater connection between him and what had happened with the heart, he’d just need more time to figure out what. The two continued to converse well into the evening, “ Is this the only available room or are you just embarrassed to be alone?” Lan asked sitting up, Lila tackled him in a hug while Akira went to gather everyone so that Cleo could finally explain what happened then, also to avoid the question he had asked. Once everyone was here Cleo materialized on top of Lans head, taking a seat before explaining.

“ In order to explain what happened that day I need to explain some other stuff first. Ethernamhall. Dr. Suzuki and her partner, Harry, were given permission from the government to experiment with artificial life, Adam was the successful result, he was made to serve the Union which yes, did exist all the way back then as well. Suzuki and Harry had a falling out when Adam was used as a weapon of mass destruction, Suzuki was making the heart in secret at the time, and what neither of them expected was that Adams A.I continued to grow and learn, eventually singling all of humanity as its enemy. Suzuki made me to help Akira find the heart again, the fall of Ethernamhall came about because of Adam who was contained and sealed away by Suzuki herself,” Cleo casually dropped a bomb on everyone, revealing a century-long mystery. One thing didn’t really make sense to Akira, “ Why me? Why were you made to help ME specifically and not anyone or someone else, how did Suzuki know?” After the question was brought up everyone else seemed to notice what he had, Cleo scratches her holographic face as she answers, “ It’s pretty obvious if you think about it, Suzuki is your mom, the heart and I were made specifically so that you can wield it fully,” Akira, end everyone else, was left dumbfounded.

“ During the fall of Ethernamhall, you were around 8 or 9? I don’t really remember that but you were sent away in a cryo pod that held you in place for years, until one day it opened and your memories, Suzuki had obviously thought ahead and made sure you were taken care of by assigning a robotic maid to look after you for as long as necessary,” Cleo clarifies, which aligns with what Akira can remember, but I guess it all made sense now. Another big question lingered on Akiras mind, " If Harry lived back when Ethrernamhall was still around, which was hundreds of years ago, why did Adam leave a message for him?" Akira thought back to what Adam had said to Alice, how he had asked her to pass on his greeting to Harry, who should be long dead. Cleo turns her attention to Alice, and so does everybody else. It seemed Cleo had no idea about this, but someone from the Union might know. Alice looked flustered at all the staring happening but she managed to speak up, " I've only met him once, During the latest Seraphim meeting, he was there alongside the head. From what I could tell his body was robotic, like Adams," Alice explains, but it makes sense. He had worked on Adam, he used that knowledge to make himself a new body so he could cheat time. Lan shifts around in his bed, “ It appears that your memories are back, do you happen to know where the other fragments are?” He had asked the big question sitting on everyone's mind, everyone but Akira. Cleo waves her hand and a holo map appears hovering above Lans bed, everyone gathers around to get a better look, “ That, is that what I think it is?” Lilial asked pointing to the land mass in between Old and New Fran, the only possible answer to what it could be was Ethernamhall, the golden age city had returned.

“ Yup, Ethernamhall reacted to the sudden surge of energy when I interfaced with the fragment, but this is good cause two of the fragments are somewhere in the capital, but we should focus on getting the one in old Frandhenven first,” Cleo explains, Lan looked rather annoyed upon learning that a fragment was sitting on his land this entire time, before anyone could say anything else someone else barges in, he looked rather panicked. “ You can relax Ren, I’m not dead,” Lan says jokingly, Ren didn’t find it amusing. After regaining composure he hands Lilial a tablet, whatever was on it left her bewildered, she turns to Lan before revealing what it was, “ Now that the gap between our two countries is gone the Union has launched a full-scale invasion, this is now a full-scale war,” Lilial says, Lan takes a few seconds to process the information without saying anything he looks to his younger sister, who was just as surprised. A few seconds of silence filled the room as the siblings held a staring contest. Alice pulls the Union badge off her uniform and looks at it before placing it on the nightstand next to Lans bed,

“ You won’t be getting rid of me anytime soon,” Alice smiles, with that everything was settled. Akira would stay and help push the Union back before continuing his search for the other fragments, and continue to unearth the mysteries surrounding it.