Chapter 9: The Rainbow Comet

Berus carried Laura on his back as they headed back to the mansion. Once inside, he placed her down on the floor of the front entrance and fell back next to her. The two panted heavily; Laura wiped the waterfall of sweat on her face. A few of the housekeepers took glances at the exhausted siblings, and one of them came over with a plate of sliced oranges and apples. The housekeeper placed the plate right between Laura and Berus.

“Thank…you…” Berus muttered.

The two would grab slices of fruit, not even seeing which they had picked up. The same housekeeper came back, this time carrying a massive jug of ice water. Berus sat up, grabbing the jug and chugging back most of it. It wasn't until Laura smacked his leg that he stopped, and she took it, finishing the rest. Their mother was nowhere to be seen, so the two simply assumed she was doing work. Berus headed up to his room to study while Laura set out again to hang out with Cello. Laura headed to the defense force training grounds. She was still rather sour from the other day, so she decided to surprise Cello with a special entrance.

As the troops trained, General Pierce and Captain Jesse oversaw everything. Suddenly, the sound of a flute caught their attention. They and the rest of the troops all turned to the wall by the entrance, halting all training. Looking up at the top of the wall, they all could see a murder of crows swarming around one specific spot. That spot was where the flute was coming from. The crows began to disperse, revealing the flute player. A beautiful young woman, clad in all black, with a long red ribbon holding down her ponytail. Her music mesmerized the crowd. Cello couldn’t help but watch with a wide grin. Once Laura finished, the crowd roared with applause. She smiled, taking a bow.

Captain Jesse stomped one of her hooves, calling everyone’s attention. “That’s quite enough!” She bellowed. “It was a nice little show, but get back to work!”

The troops reluctantly went back to training, and murmurs about Laura’s music scattered throughout the grounds. General Pierce still kept his attention on Laura, who had sat on the wall, one leg hanging over the side as it swayed.

Captain Jesse joined General Pierce. “That girl,” She sighed.

General Pierce silently flew up to confront Laura. While she sat nonchalantly, he landed on the wall beside her, his talon digging into the wood. “Miss Laura,” General Pierce said, his voice chilling. “I ask, what are you doing here?”

Laura shrugged and said, “You know, just thought I’d help the troops keep high spirits." She fiddled with her flute before slipping it back into her belt. Laura looked up at him with a smile and continued, “Is that so bad?”

Keeping the same icy stare, General Pierce replied, "Distracting our troops is indeed an issue. That is valuable time for them to get stronger wasted.”

Laura snorted, waving off his comment. “Nooooo, c’mon,” She gibed. “That was like, two minutes? How is that going to change anything?”

Choosing not to continue this pointless conversation, General Pierce somewhat changed the subject. He raised an eyebrow and said, “I would’ve assumed you’d be training too. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you again next year. Am I wrong?”

Laura snapped her fingers and pointed at General Pierce. “Right you are,” She said. Laura got up, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. She continued, “And the year after that and the year after that. I’ll keep coming back until I pass.”

General Pierced replied with an emotionless “Mn” and flew back down to the stage. Before Laura left, she took a glance at Cello, who was watching the whole thing. As if their minds were connected, the two smiled at each other and waved, breaking out into light giggles. Laura hopped off the wall, doing one flip in the air before landing perfectly on her feet. She turned and strutted off.

That night, Laura snuck quietly through the hallway. She very gently tapped on Berus’s door. A minute later, he opened the door ajar, peaking his face out.

“Laura?” He asked, his voice groggy. “What happened?”

She smiled and opened his door a little further. “Follow me,” Laura quietly replied, “I’ve got something awesome to show you.”

He was confused at first, but Berus nodded and dragged his feet back to his bed, grabbing a jacket that had draped over his footrest. He followed Laura out of the house, and the two trekked quietly through the sleeping village. They stopped by Cello’s window, and Laura tapped on it. Not getting a response the first time, she tapped it again. Still no reply. Losing patience, Laura began rapidly tapping until eventually Cello threw her body to the side and her bloodshot eyes opened. Upon seeing Laura and Berus, she forced a tired smile. Cello rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a heavy thud. She picked herself up and shuffled over to the window.

Cello rubbed her eyes before opening it. She lifted the window open, her eyes going from half to fully opened. “It’s a little late, isn’t it, Laura?” She mumbled. “My body is so sore from today, can’t this wait till tomorrow?”

Laura shook her head and whispered, “We’ll never get another chance after tonight.” She motioned with her hand for Cello to follow. “Come on, I’ll fill you and Berus in on the way.”

Cello was nearly tempted to say no, but seeing the excitement on Laura’s face only made her sigh and grab her jacket to follow the two. The three made their way through the jungle, Laura walking with a stride while Berus and Cello trudged behind. Still half asleep. After getting somewhat deep into the jungle, Laura jumped into a tree. She extended a hand to help them up. Cello let out a long yawn before grabbing Laura’s hand and climbing up, shortly followed by Berus. They all made their way through the thick canopy, popping their heads out to look at the starry night sky.

“Okay, now what?” Cello asked.

Laura placed a finger over her lips. “Just wait, it’ll be here any second.”

They remained quiet, examining the sky. After a couple of minutes, Laura pointed up, excitedly shaking the branch they all stood on.

“There! Right there! Do you see it?!”

Cello and Berus narrowed their eyes, seeing the white speck slowly trailing along the dark blue sky. It was leaving behind a very faint streak of colors.

Cello’s right eye twitched as she creaked her head at Laura. “A speck?” She asked, irritated. “You dragged me out here…for a speck?”

“It’s a colorful speck,” Berus chimed.

“It’s not just a speck, Cello,” Laura replied. “That’s the Rainbow Comet, and it only comes once every thousand years.”

Cello rolled her eyes and said, “You’re still about that? Well, if this was what that human was so excited about, then I don’t really see the appeal.”

“A human?” Berus asked, “You met with a human, sis?”

Laura looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later.” She turned her attention back to Cello and continued. “And for your information, Anthony said that he and his team would use a telescope to get a really good look at it.”

Cello humphed and looked back at the comet. “Probably just more of his nonsense.” She muttered to herself.

Berus didn’t think too much of it. It was nice to see, even if it was far away. He was only too interested because of how infatuated his sister was with it. Laura marveled at the comet; the colors it left behind filled her eyes. She thought about how Anthony was watching it, the same as her. In a way, the two were watching it together. The very thought made her heart skip a beat. Laura fidgeted with her left hand, still able to feel his touch.

During this same evening, the masked man had descended stealthily on the outskirts of Beijing, China. He hid within the trees, keeping quite a distance away from what is referred to as The Forbidden City. For the most part, the city looked untouched, but many of the buildings had been torn down and replaced by lush trees. The handful of remaining buildings were used to house the military families and Emperor Fenrir himself.

The masked man’s chest puffed out, but before it continued, he removed the gloves on both hands and sliced off the left one. It quickly regrew back, and the masked man took the severed hand and tossed it into his mouth. His chest expanded even further until he hunched over and expelled a large egg. The crimson egg was round, and several veins pulsated on the outside. Soon, the egg began to rip open from the top, and a big, furry claw sprouted out. As the egg opened up more, a fully grown man emerged. He looked nearly identical to the masked man in appearance, but had shorter hair and did not have black sclera or white pupils. His left arm was longer and bigger than his right, and he had two long, bird-like wings as opposed to six.

This newcomer looked at his creator, and the masked man silently pointed in the direction of the city. The newcomer whipped his head around and chuckled gleefully.

He looked back at the masked man and said, “You got it, Daddy-o!” Then took to the sky, flying straight toward the city.

Guards who patrolled on the rooftops saw the approaching enemy, and the ones who could fly charged in to stop this creature. He bellowed a laugh, pulling his left arm back and backhanding one of the guards, blowing his head clean off. More came in, but each one was cut down by this speedy and powerful foe.

The masked man stayed hidden in the forest, forming another egg, this time tearing out one of his eyes and dropping it in his mouth. He spat up the egg, and a burst of root-like tendrils sprouted from the bottom. The egg exploded as a massive blood-red tree grew bigger and bigger, soon towering over the rest of the trees in the air. Several eyes began to open around the trunk of the tree, some gazing at the masked man. He nodded at the tree, and it growled softly. Its branches started sprouting more tendrils until forming several of those red beasts that attacked in Kinshasa. Once fully formed, they fell from the tree and landed on the ground, letting out horrific screams as they charged toward the city.

The tree produced two dozen more of the beasts, each one going to rampage through the city. The screams of people could be heard in their homes as the beasts crashed inside and attacked. The masked man petted the massive tree, then casually began making his way toward the city.