Betrayed and Outnumbered

Ignacio took a deep breath, and lifted his head to look up at Shun.

“I doubt you’ll be as proficient a Druid as I am,” Shun said, his dark green robe billowing in the wind, its triangular patterns shining.

Ignacio raised a hand. “Me too.”

He stole a glance at the scenery around them. The city was massive, every building made from those same roots. They sprawled across the landscape, some stacked up against massive trees that reached for the heavens, the clouds a light pink against the deep blue sky. Glow-berries, the trees were called. Clusters of the glowing fruit grew all over the giant trees, adding golden flecks to the pale, green-blue leaves. Similar to the buildings, actually. Except their golden flecks came from windows and open door ways that had candles and lanterns burning inside.

Shun held out a hand. “Ready when you are.”

Ignacio flexed his hand, and shook it. His eyes widened as the grass beneath their feet came to life, emitting pale green particles. He lifted his eyes, the trees around them emitting the same particles, the colours varying depending on the leaf shade. He glanced back at the city, and the already vibrant landscape was suddenly on fire, blue, green and golden particles swelling into the air like flames.

“Oh,” Shun said. “He’s telling the truth.”

Ignacio looked around. “You can… see plant gas?”

Shun’s ears drooped. “No, I can control them.”

He crouched, raising a hand and sticking his long, clawed fingers into the ground. Ignacio did the same, except he had to wriggle his fingers into the dirt.

“Now, just reach out with your mind,” Shun said. “Pretend you’re reaching out your hand into your mind, and into the ground. You’ll feel tree roots lying around like toys in a toybox.”

Ignacio frowned, closing his eyes. He imagined himself reaching deep into the earth, and…

His eyes opened. “I think I got one.”

Shun nodded. “Now lift.”

“My hand?”

“No, keep that in the dirt. Lift the root.”

Ignacio closed his eyes. And pulled. He could sense it lifting through the soil, streaming towards his…

He opened his eyes, pulling his head back as a root shot out of the ground, dirt spraying.

Shun’s ears dropped down to his gaping jaw.

“Shun,” Kaito said. “That’s your Aspect, right?”

Shun closed his mouth, ears lifting as he cleared his throat. “Yes, Kaito. That is my Aspect.”

Ignacio pulled his fingers from the dirt, and turned to Kaito. Koharu sat beside him on a moss-covered log, the moss emitting dark green particles. A man crouched on all fours like a dog beside Kaito, wearing an expensive looking red and gold outfit. He stroked his narrow, braided beard.

“That’s impressive,” the bearded man said, looking up at Kaito. “You gotta admit, Kait, that’s impressive.”

Ignacio raised an eyebrow at Kaito.

Kaito wet his lips. “How many Aspects can you absorb?”

Koharu opened her mouth as she sat beside him, but Ignacio shot her a glare and she closed it.

“As many as you need,” Ignacio said.

You’ll die, a voice that sounded like the Doc’s said.

I’m already dead.

Kaito nodded. “Then we’ll give you all our Aspects, and you’ll be more than powerful enough to rescue your sister.”

“If I had your experience, yes,” Ignacio said, folding his arms. “But I don’t. I barely know how to use them. That’s the only reason why I’m asking for your help.”

“What the hell,” the bearded man said, standing with outstretched arms. “I’ll help.”

Kaito shot him a sideward glare. “Dario…”

Dario glanced back at him. “We ain’t livin’ forever Kait. What, you really thought I’d be satisfied killin’ some big ol’ worm? Bah. But saving the First Nexus?” he said, looking up to the sky as he clutched his hands together. “Now that’s something to be remembered for.”

Shun stepped up beside Ignacio, making him wince in pain as he rested a large hand on his shoulder.

“Kaito,” Shun said. “You know I’m not a hot head, unlike some people.”

Dario’s eyebrows lifted as he pointed at himself. “Me? Is he talking about me?”

“But this… this is the chance to take down Cypher Corp,” Shun said.

Kaito grunted. “That’s what Ezequiel said before he went in, right, Koharu?”

She frowned at him, folding her arms as she lowered her head.

“The only reason we failed,” Ignacio said, stepping forward, “is because Kiyomi betrayed us. They knew what we were going to do, when, how, and why.”

“But if you want to help us now,” Koharu said, standing. “They won’t know what hit them.”

“If Kiyomi sent Chey here ahead of time,” Kaito said, raising a finger. “Then that means they know exactly who’s going to hit them.”

Koharu swallowed. “Kai, I just-”

“Dario, Shun,” Kaito said, turning away, “if you want to help these two become martyrs, suit yourselves. There are plenty of bastards lined up to replace you in Specterveil.”

Dario opened his arms as Kaito walked down the flower-laden hill they stood atop.

“Oh, come on, Kait!” Dario shouted. “Don’t tell me you didn’t want to be a martyr when you were young and dumb!”

Ignacio’s nose wrinkled, wincing as Shun squeezed his shoulder.

“He’s a good man, Ace,” Shun said, his ears drooping. “He’s just… scared.”

Ignacio nodded, glancing at Koharu as she looked away. “We’re all scared, Shun.”

Shun nodded. “Aye. But a man who’s seen his fears come true is no longer the man he was. And when we fought that Psywyrm, he saw his fears come true. His best friends died in that fight, Ace. Malena was the only one who really survived in his eyes.”

And now you’re taking the only two he has left away from him.

Ignacio shook his head. “Just wait until he sees how much he fears Cypher Corp with a Nexus on their side.”

Shun grunted. “Good point.”

“So,” Dario said, stretching his arms overhead, then his legs. “I sure hope you lovebirds have a better plan than your first time trying?”

Ignacio and Koharu exchanged a glance. She blushed, and looked away, her hair whisking into her face as a breeze drifted by.

“We have another member of our crew who will help,” Ignacio said. “But other than that, we’re on our own.”

“How many were you last time?” Shun asked, tugging at his ear.

“Five,” Ignacio said, pausing. “No, four. Kiyomi turned on us from the outset.”

“And how many were fighting for Cypher Corp?”

“Six, including Kiyomi.”

Dario nodded, stretching side to side. “Okay, okay. How many of em’ did you kill?”

Ignacio glanced at Koharu as she rubbed the back of her head. “Two.”

Shun’s ears sagged. “Two?”

“We were betrayed, Shun,” Ignacio said. “And we were outnumbered.”

“What Aspects were you up against?” Dario asked, doing jumping jacks.

“A Thunder Warlock, an Ice Jotunn, a Tower Sentinel, a Hallowed Titan,” Ignacio said, pausing as he counted on his fingers. “And a Red Archmage.”

“Good berries,” Shun said, “that’s a dangerous squad.”

“Please tell me you killed the Titan and the Warlock,” Dario said, doing backflips.

Koharu grimaced. “We got the Warlock and the Jotunn.”

Dario landed from a backflip, arms swinging as he grinned. “That means I can kill a Hallowed Titan, and save the First Nexus? This is a dream come true, I love you guys.”

Shun raised a knuckle to his broad chin, rubbing the bristles of black fur. “They’re going to have reinforcements to replace the ones you killed.”

“Or more,” Koharu said.

“What are your Aspects?” Ignacio asked.

Shun raised a furry arm. “I’m a Forest Aspect Druid.”

“And I,” Dario said, flipping and throwing a kick mid air, fire streaking behind his foot. He landed, on one hand, and started doing push-ups with his feet off the ground. “Am an asshole.”

Ignacio’s jaw clenched. “You’re a Fire Aspect… Weaver?”

Koharu cleared her throat. “Weavers only have light aspects.”

Dario stared at him. “No, you diplodocus. I’m a Fire Oracle.”

“An Oracle?” Ignacio said. “Surely-”

“-that would be someone more mature?” Dario said before he could.

Ignacio’s eyes widened. “What-”

“The hell?” Dario said, grinning. An orange ring glowed around his iris, slowly twirling like a vortex. He blinked, and the orange disappeared. “I’ll stop.”

“That’s really useful, though,” Ignacio said, stroking his chin.

Shun grunted. “And annoying. None of us here have Aspects that can block him from seeing the future.”

“How far into the future can you see?” Ignacio asked.

Dario shrugged. “Depends on how much time I spend thinking about it. The future in my mind is like a tree; the roots are the past, the trunk the present, and the branches are the future. It takes me time to prune the tree and determine which branch is going to happen, y’know? So the longer I spend meditating on the future, the greater my predictions. But it’s inversely exponential.”

Ignacio blinked. “Which means?”

“The temporal value of a meditation does not have a proportional relationship to the temporal value of the future seen.”

Shun sighed. “Stupid terms, Dario.”

“Ah yes, thank you for reminding me,” Dario said, tipping an invisible hat. “More time think does not mean more time see. A second’s meditation gives me two seconds of foresight. But a year’s meditation doesn’t mean two years of foresight. More like fourteen, fifteen months. Ten years might only give five years ahead, and so on.”

“So you’re practically unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat?” Koharu asked.

Dario nodded. “Pretty much, yeah. Though I only get up to half-an-hour to use it at a time, so it’s not very useful for strategic purposes. It resets after exiting the Ethergeist.”

But tactically… Ignacio thought.

The fight with the Hallowed Titan would have been over in minutes if he had Dario’s foresight. A smile spread across his face.

“Alright, let’s go inside,” Shun said. “We’ll exit for the next two hours and when we come back, we can head for the trail.”

Ignacio nodded, following the giant ape-man as he walked after Dario, who slid down the hill with a whoop.

“Don’t slide on the grass,” Shun growled. “They hate it!”