The Rain Wizard's Staff

Leo continued to be pushed back by Teo’s incredible strength and large frame. Cleo came from Leo’s left side and began to draw her sword, but winced in pain and faltered as she tried to cut Teo who managed to dodge. He glared with a smirk “The metal hilt of your sword hasn’t cooled down yet has it? I don’t know if you were enemies yet, so I didn’t give you the protective gloves that were still in the box on the elevator. Must burn huh? Not that I would know.” Cleo sheathed her sword with a pained but determined expression, before looking at her hand. It was trembling, red, and swollen, with blisters starting to form. Teo smiled knowingly “Mind showing me? I can tell it hurts. I’m curious to see what burned skin looks like from humans.” Theo raised his hand “We aren’t your enemies Teo. We just think there’s more to the Eyeless than originally assumed. If they are some sort of...tortured soul suffering, we shouldn’t just add to it.” Teo grunted. “Your letting your emotions get in the way of your judgment Rain Wizard. If even just ONE less of these things are running around, it’s better for everyone right?” Theo frowned. “Just one less won’t make a diff-” “DON’T BE NAIVE!” Teo yelled. Theo hesitated “From what I can tell they gather in herds. People will keep their distance.” Teo grit his teeth. “And? What if this one doesn’t? What if it breaks off from the herd and goes off on its own? What if it catches some unlucky soul by surprise? What then?!”

Theo clenched his fist. He knew it was illogical to free the Eyeless. He knew that Teo was right, and there was a small chance it could hurt someone, however unlikely. But if that thing was somehow a young tortured soul and not just a trick...would he be able to forgive himself if he kept it here? He knew what is was like to be trapped in an unfair and desperate situation. If the Eyeless is under some sort of curse it can’t do anything about, but is somehow trying to fight, he couldn’t forgive himself. “I’m sorry Teo, but I’ve made up my mind. We’re releasing the Eyeless.” Teo’s glare and rage began to relax. “I’m sorry too.” Teo put his fingers in his mouth and made a loud whistle. His brothers came into the cavern, all glaring and walking towards them. Theo turned to Teo “Wait. What about the Rain Wizard? You said you wanted to see the sky again! The land is currently under a curse, and if you kill me, the sun might not return! The door to the outside could close!” Teo smiled “Don’t worry Rain Wizard. We don’t intend to kill you or your allies. We’re just going to knock you unconscious and throw you out near the entrance. We’ll even have some of our people guard you with torches, giving enough time to retreat if needed. Once we do more experiments on it and find out more about these...Eyeless, we’ll seek you out and tell you if we found anything else. But for now, you’re either leaving on your own, or we’ll drag you out by force.”

While Teo was talking, Theo’s eyes locked onto the bronze rod in the giant’s hand. That was probably the relic. His attention turned back to Teo as he suddenly dashed towards him, holding one hand on the sash of the clothes he was given and one first aimed towards Teo. Teo glared and lunged forwards as well, and aimed his right first towards Theo. Before the collide, Theo pulled the sash off his clothing and threw it in front of Teo’s face, and ducked underneath his fist, heading towards the relic. “GET THEM!” The Titanos raged. Hiro and Jero swung at Leo and Cleo, in which both of them jumped back, as the brothers fists created cracks in the ground. Sero ran past them, to assist Teo capture Theo. Theo had decent Agility, and managed to make it to the bronze rod in time and picked it up. On a second glance, it wasn’t bronze, but copper. It was roughly 6 feet tall, and felt like it weighed around 25 pounds. Theo grunted as he picked it up and pointed the copper rod at Teo and Sero who stopped, hesitating at the staff. Theo noticed a button and pressed it, as three prongs unfolded at the tip of the staff. Wait a second… “This is a lightning rod!” Theo internally groaned. He then gained a system message.

“Congratulations! You acquired the Rain Wizard’s staff! Use it to unlock hidden areas and power machines! It’s not very practical for you right now though.”

“Staff Skill: Lightning Teleportation! Wow! If you find another lightning rod in the world, you can have lightning strike you and your allies to teleport to it when it’s raining! It won’t kill you. Probably.”

“Oh wow. This is completely useless right now.” thought Theo.

Theo brought his attention back to the brothers and kept the rod pointed at them. The brothers looked at each other before back to Theo “...Are you going to do anything with that? Does it even do anything?” Teo asked. Theo kept it pointed at them with a serious look. “...Nope.” The two brothers looked at each other before to Theo again and pulled out their knives and swung them down. Theo grunted again lifting the ‘staff’ and blocking their swings and gets thrown back against the rib cage of the giant’s skeleton. Meanwhile, Leo and Cleo were doing their best to try and fight back Hiro and Sero, but their tall and muscular bodies, along with their extended reach made it difficult. Leo saw Theo get sent back and yelled “Theo!” before getting punched himself. Theo got up, but his neck was grabbed, and Jero pointed his knife at Theo’s throat. “Don’t move.” he said. “THE FIGHT’S OVER! STOP!” Teo yelled. Hiro and Sero silently took a step back as Leo and Cleo got to their feet. “Leo. Cleo. You two will leave first. We’ll bring Theo to you by the entrance.” Theo tried to lift the staff but Teo headbutted him with irritation in his voice. “Stand down Theo. Even if you managed to defeat us, you would still have to deal with our clan. You would have the entirety of the Titanos as your enemies. You would have my family jumping from their caverns, and those in the hallway attack you. This isn’t a situation you can win. You know I’m right. You got the relic, which is what you came here for. The Eyeless stays with us.”

Theo grit his teeth as he choked out “It...might be an innocent...not just a monster...let it go…” he croaked. Teo had a tinge of sadness in his expression. “But it could also just be a monster Theo. It can’t leave. Not right now.” His eyes looked over to Leo and Cleo. “Leave. Theo will be with you shortly. Take your armor and clothes with you. You can hold on to the Lava Boar protection.” Leo and Cleo glanced at each other. Leo looked calm, but Cleo had a pained expression. Still, they silently head back to the entrance. Once they got on the elevator, Teo led Theo to it as well with a knife to his neck. By the time they made it to the entrance, Leo and Cleo had their armor and cloaks back on waiting for them. Teo let go of Theo and shoved him outside the elevator once at the top of the hole, and Teo went back down on his own. Theo trudged towards the exit, and looked at the blue sky. “...Skill...Part The Clouds…” he muttered.

“Would you like to deactivate Part The Clouds?” The system asked. “Yes…” Theo said silently.

At his words, dark clouds began to cover the sky, and rain fell on him and his allies once more.