CHAPTER 6.1: K.I.D.:THE TEMPERING — ZUURI & RENUAQ

CHAPTER 6.1: K.I.D.: THE TEMPERING — ZUURI & RENUAQ 

[08:30] 05.01.2090

City of Haust, 

Country of Bordumond,

Mahabumi Continent,

2300Km to the Northwest of JUSM

One centimeter. The distance between Zuuri and the crashing leg had diminished significantly. If Zuuri wasn't resistant to extreme colds and had to wear multiple layers like others, the leg would have been already in contact with her. But something changed above Zuuri. Something so vast that the shadow underneath Zuuri disappeared.

The sky shone. Suddenly, without any prior signs. A radiance so vast it dispersed the fog on the snowy plains in an instant. Making the rising ashes radiate as golden glitter in the air. And so, like moths drawn to a flame, every living being present tilted their heads towards the vast golden sky. 

Amidst the numerous horrific sounds on the ground a calming hum echoed throughout the whole country. The screams, cries, guns, cannons, machineries and vehicles all lost their distinct noise. They became completely mute. As if they never existed. 

Enchanting and sublime. As if wrapped in a mother’s lullaby, every living creature was soothed instantly. People forgot to escape. Soldiers forgot to fight. Children forgot to cry. Birds forgot to fly, and animals forgot to run. Even the fire forgot to burn.

Yet the giants monsters didn't. Scattered around the world, they still continued on their path. Unbothered and uncaring. 

But that was until they existed. As tearing through water, the sky rippled. The clouds dispersed creating a vast opening in the sky. The humming became louder and louder. The radiance increased as a rising sun. And then, a presence graced the golden skies.

An enormous golden fabric descended. Intrigue patterns circled around it. As if pieces of the universe were stitched upon it. The dress like fabric covered the whole body like shape with two hands. Extended as if waiting for an embrace from any and everyone. Even from the world itself. 

Above the hands and below the palms, two pairs of halo like rings radiated in a golden hue. Like rings supposed to capture and dispel any malice. 

A pair of huge golden wings on the back. Ever so slightly waving as a pair of flabella. Ready to even carry the weight of the world. 

A golden halo on top of the head emitting unmatched radiance. And from it, a pale gold veil flowed down seamlessly. Like water flowing from the fountain of youth. covering the front and back of the face. With the front fabric ending just about where the nose should be, revealing a mortal, human like mouth. 

A gentle and soft smile pasted on it. The perfect polite smile if anything as such existed. As if pacifying the world in its descent.

AN ANGEL LIKE DIVINE BEING DESCENDED.

 The Angel didn't talk. Her smile didn't change. From the halos of her extended arms, multiple radiant light beams shot out. Two from each hand. No humans could see it's path. No machinery could calculate it's trajectory. 

All they could see and comprehend was the starting point and the ending point. Everybody saw the starting point. However they had to look around to see where they landed. Nevertheless it wasn't difficult. 

When suddenly the giants monsters heads were engulfed in a brilliant radiance, even the children could see the destination of those beams. Striking a vivid contrast against the deep gray and blackish coral like body and long necks, the radiance grew rapidly. 

Until there was nothing left there. The radiance slowly moved down. The long coiled necks were gone next. As if burned into nothingness. No trace was left of the monsters parts which were engulfed with the Angel's radiant beam.

Soon the huge oval body and next the tentacles. The radiance split into minor glowing spheres and each ate one away from existence. Gliding through them smoothly. Yet their path too vanished as they passed it. 

After the tentacles were gone, the little radiant spheres targeted the legs. Some started from down while some from the top. Yet they cleared the legs out of existence at the same time and merged together. 

The radiance, visibily condensed. After a little, it exploded without a sound. A golden rain covered every country. One by one. As humans, diumans and other living creatures were soaked in that miraculous, golden rain, their wounds of this horrible day.

The monsters were gone. As if they never existed. Yet the undeniable proof still existed. The damage had already been done. The city, the Country, and all of it were destroyed. The whole world was in flames. Amidst all of it, the angels expression never changed. 

The Angel brought her hands together and offered a silent prayer. They was it. Soon after, the angel slowly ascended back into the sky and vanished. Gradually, the echo of the soothing hum disappeared. So did the radiance that came with it. 

The sky was back to normal. Gloomy and cloudy. With the disappearance of the radiance that the Angel brought, the chilly weather and the despair left behind by the monsters became evident. Yet one thing changed. The hopelessness was eradicated from people's hearts. Although it might have been temporary, in that moment for sure, everybody felt it. 

They felt hope. Hope that the monsters who threatened their existence were in fact not almighty and not unkillable. But most of all, they felt the presence of something greater than them. They saw it. Despite having different religions, all of them who saw the Angel, unknowingly, got their hands together. 

"We were saved..... WE WERE SAVED!!!"

"OH SAVIOR UP ABOVE, OH ALMIGHTY GOD... WE OFFER THESE PRAYERS FOR YOU, PLEASE ACCEPT THEM AND KEEP US SAFE!!!"

In a world where religion was slowly dying, a single event changed it. It changed the world entirely. And so the first prayers were offered. Offered to those up above. To those who will use those same prayers against the same ones who offered them. That distant future wasn't so distant. It was already waving at them. But nobody cared. Except a few. 

The giant leg which hovered above Zuuri got erased from existence just a millimeter before it came into contact with her. Yet Zuuri still laid unconscious amidst all that. What remained was the disaster that occurred around her.

*ZRRMMMZZZZ* 

*RRRMMMMZZZZ*

A zooming sound of a vehicle was heard approaching rapidly. Yet the sound was strange for a vehicle. Or even a snowbike. As if driving a wheeled vehicle without wheels. Metal creeking and breaking sound echoes higher and higher as the vehicle got closer and closer. 

"ZUU!!!" Renu shouted at the top of hid lungs. The first thing he saw was Zuuri's body planted face first in the ground. He jumped out of his makeshift snow bike while it was still going. Which led to him face planting into the ice too. But only after been thrown a meters ahead. 

Renu ran frantically, his brain refusing to stop running calculations. The closer he got, the more clearly he could see Zuuri’s body. 'Good, another 18% chance she’s alive... oh, another 14%... which brings the total to 72%... good, she’s fine.'

​Even before Renu reached her side, he had already calculated her survival. A habit forged in similar, terrible circumstances. He refused to let his mind be consumed by dread in those critical seconds; with every percentage point that swung in her favor, his resolve grew stronger.

"ZUU!!!!" Renu approached her and fell on his knees. He turned her around and did a final check of her vitals confirming she was indeed alive. And a quick iris check later, he confirmed she had just lost consciousness. Renu scooped a handful of snow near them and melted it in his hands. Then let the water droplets drip on her face. 

"......HAAAHHHHH!!!"

By making a deep inhale, Zuuri woke up. "Zuu, are you okay? What happened?" Renu asked the two most natural questions yet he didn't get any response. He even made sure to let her catch her breath first, before asking so he was perplexed. Yet he asked again, only to be met with the same silence as before. Zuuri looked at Renu and then at her flattened house. 

"AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

She started crying, out of nowhere. Renu didn't pursue answers further. He silently extended his small arms. Zuuri feel into them. And she cried more. Wailing in Renu's arms. Both on their knees, on the ash filled snow. 

Suddenly, she stood up. Breaking the connection she had with Renu. As if possessed, she started walking towards her house, still crying her eyes out.

"Zuu.... is that your home.....???" Renu whispered to himself. Even though he has never been to her house, by seeing her reaction, he concluded it must be her house. And worst of all, the hightened sense of smell of Demon-kins caught a sniff of burnt blood and flesh amongst the flames. He could think of only one reason why the blood smell overpowered everything else. He blurted out terrified. "Your whole family was in there??!!"

Zuuri fell on her knees near her flattened house. Crying and wailing. Renu looked at her in pain and remembered his own house and grandfather. A fresh memory he forcefully pushed to the back of his brain. But it re-emerged. He started crying two. 

Two children crying all alone near a crushed house yet nobody heard them. Around them all kind of things were happening. Evacuating, searching, saving, and mass burying unrecognizable bodies. Only Renu heard Zuuri and only Zuuri heard Renu, although not fully. 

However the peace was shortlived. A dark shadow approached them. Again. They couldn't even cry in peace. 

*BANG* *BANG*

As thunder raining down, something appeared from the distance. The more it got closer, the more it was clear. Another monster was approaching them. A massive walking mass of pure dread and despair. 

How? Nobody knew. The Angel who appeared in the sky of Bordumond, supposedly exterminated every single one. Or at least it was what the soldiers were screaming. The still working speakers were announcing. Yet another one was approaching them.  

Renu noticed it first. And last too. No matter how close it got Zuuri didn't notice it. She was still crying near her house. After falling to catch her attention by calling her, Renu ran and grabbed her. 

"ZUU!! WE NEED TO RUN..NOW!! ZUU!!!"

Despite all his efforts, Zuuri didn't quite understand what he was saying or noticed the monster that had came very near them. The more near it got, the more the ground shook. The debris and wreck shook too. Some collapsed and some flew off.

"Come on Zuu...let's ge-" Renu's second attempt failed too. However this time, it failed before it was even completed. Over Zuuri's shoulder, he saw a giant tentacle descending right towards them. 

He pushed Zuuri. No luck. Zuuri was a little bigger and being a whole two years older and weighed more than him too. And their diets didn't help either. Zuuri got three meals per day without fail while Renu was lucky to even get one decent meal a day. 

And most of all he couldn't just push her carelessly which would trip her and make the whole situation worse. He needed to push her away from the disaster approaching them, carefully. 

He grabbed both her hands and ran around her. In a matter of seconds, her body began to spin on its own. By timing the right moment, he pulled her towards him. All he had left to do was to jump out of the danger line. Yet he was a millisecond too late. 

*THUUDDGG*

The tentacle came crushing down. Something that happened shook Zuuri out of her disassociation. Maybe it was the sound or the Shockwave of the tentacle. Or maybe it was the impact received from falling to the ground. 

She got up, opened her eyes and looked around her. Renu was on the ground. Near him a giant tentacle. And a big deep red stain connecting the two. 

"Renu...." She called him. Before she could call again he got up. Zuuri froze. "Renu..." Her terrified face called him again. "Your arm....", she whispered trembling. 

Renu raised his arm to look. He felt it didn't do anything. He felt light on his left side. Thinking the fall messed with his sensory nerves, he turned his head to look at his arm. It wasn't there. The problem hasn't been a bug in the software but a missing piece of hardware. 

"Ha.... looks like that adrenaline stuff in our body really works huh...ha ha.." He let out a small laugh. Mostly to relieve Zuuri of her distress but he was genuinely intrigued by how well the adrenaline worked because he felt little to no pain. However Zuuri on the other hand didn't take it that well. 

"Renu.... you arm..." She yet again lost her reason. No matter how much Renu tried to tell her anything, she couldn't comprehend it. However this time, she wasn't crying. She was angry. She didn't know what happened to the monster who had crushed her house but something identical was near her. At least a part of it. 

Her frenzied self ran over to the tentacle. Ignoring the worried screams from Renu. She grabbed the giant tentacle with those small hands and started pulling. She pulled with her little hands in opposite directions.

The sound of heavy breathing and rough exhaling was masked out by the cracking and tearing of the tentacle. The monster felt it. It suddenly raised the tentacle. Zuuri still attached to it. However, before it could begin rising, the tearing sound stopped. With a huge bang a piece of the tentacle crashed into the ground. 

*GHRRRGHHH* 

*AAAHHHHHH*

The monster screamed. Zuuri screamed too. As an ant on an elephant, Zuuri rode the tentacle into the sky. Unlike the previous shooting and bombardments sounds which echoed in the sky, this battle was silent. Yet it was the most raw. 

Zuuri took off into the sky and came crashing towards it. She unconsciously yet instinctively charged right to a head. She dashed right through it. As looking through a scope, a tiny hole was formed on it. 

Zuuri on the other hand was covered in darkish red blood from head to toe. Her clothes was soaking and dripping. And her eyes were blurry in a reddish hue. So obviously she didn't see the heads coming for an attack with open mouths. Sword like teeth charging right at her small body. 

The middle head caught her lower body and closed it's mouth. Trapping Zuuri between those gigantic, blade like teeth. Slowly the teeth were sinking into her. Tearing through her bloodied tracksuit as needles. If it were anybody or anything else, it would be split in two right when it got trapped in between those death sentences. 

Zuuri made a little fist and started punching the nearest tooth she could reach. She punched and punched until her fist was bleeding. Yet she Countinued. Gritting her teeth and with those frenzied electric blue eyes, she punched. As a hammer striking metal, those punches echoed in the sky. 

Until a small crack appeared. It got bigger. Bigger and bigger until blackened brittle pieces started falling off. More and more pieces fell off. Smaller and smaller until they got bigger. Bigger and bigger until the tooth shattered completely. Zuuri was free.

As she took off, she noticed vaguely that the hole she made, had already started growing back. Multiple tentacles came towards her tearing through the sky. She flew past them, around them, above and below them and finally Zuuri managed to evade all of them. 

However she was tired. Her breathing heavy and short. Her eyes became blurry but not became of excess blood on them. But instead due to lack of blood reaching her brain so that the eyes can function properly. 

She had to end it soon. So she had to find a target easily accessible and highly lethal. Yet she couldn't. Not in the state she was currently in. Even if she was completely sane and healthy, she couldn't. She didn't have the brains or the experience to do so.

Afterall, this was her first battle ever. And fate wanted it to be against a monster who could wipe a city clean. Or maybe fate had nothing to do with it because she's the one who attacked it first, voluntarily. 

"NECK!!! BASE OF THE NECK!!!!" Zuuri heard a tiny voice from below. It was Renu shouting at the top of his lungs. She didn't need to hear anything else. For their trust allowed communication without uncertainty. Zuuri saw that the base of the necks were neatly intertwined and easily accessible. 

She flew higher and higher until she no longer physically could. The monster had no eyes so it relied on the movements it sensed nearby. Without that advantage, Zuuri successfully escaped it. 

She flew backwards and descended, successfully gaining distance between the two. Coming to a halt, she started charging forward. Hands straightened above her head and legs attached together. As a bullet, she dashed forward. Her speed kept increasing until she passed mach one. And still, she kept going. 

*BOOMMM*

*BAAMMM*

A sonic boom was heard. Soon followed by a devastating bang. Zuuri crashed and went through the necks at mach two speed. The initial tiny hole she created, was enlarged as she moved forward. By the air pressure that was generated. 

Zuuri came out from the otherside and saw the devastating hole she had created in the monster. Yet it wasn't enough. The monster wasn't dead. It started trashing around. A glimpse of Renu still below the monster was flashed in Zuuri's mind. 

She dashed again for the hole previously created but didn't have enough time to reach high speeds. Instead she started punching and kicking from within the hole. Her frenzy had reached maximum capacity. 

Exhausted all the way through, Zuuri started biting. Tearing pieces of flesh. Biting away into the monster's neck. Like a rabid dog in a frenzy. But she was still human. Or at least she looked human. An image definitely not akin to the future hero. But finally, the neck gave up. 

 *BAAAANNNNGGG*

With an enormous crashing sound, the long intertwined necks and the dragon like heads fell on the ground. A pool of dark blood formed on the snowy ground. 

*DHHAAANGGG*

Soon after, the huge body and legs came crushing down too. The force made the ground shake violently. The battle was over. Zuuri had won. Drenched in blood from top to bottom, she stood on top of the monster's carcass. The sun rising behind her. The shadow casted on the ground made Zuuri much bigger than her actual size. People watched in shock. Renu watched in awe.

Zuuri jumped down and made her way to Renu. Yet her frenzied state was still there. Even though she instinctively recognized it was Renu, her mind didn't process it. 

"Zuu....Zuu, are you alright? Are you hurt?" With a worried expression Renu asked yet he didn't receive an answer. She just looked over her flattened and burned house. And soon she switched her gaze towards the blood dripping from Renu's arm. Mouth open with saliva dripping down, eyes rolled back and hunched forward. 

"Zuu....." Renu called her in a soft, calming voice and hugged Zuuri from behind. With one hand going infront and stopping in her head. The other hand absent. Zuuri froze. He eyes lit up. She turned back and hugged him. "Renu....wahhh" and she started crying again. 

"What is that thing???"

"How did it defeat that monster??"

"Ewww, it's covered in a strange liquid.... is that a monster too??"

People started talking. They saw the fight. But they couldn't understand it. Yet what they clearly saw was a small child on top of the giant monster. And the monster fell while the child stood. That's all they needed to make their own conclusions. 

"I'm...a....mons...ter...." Zuuri heard them. Even from far away. Afterall, she had hightened hearing. Zuuri slowly tilted her head down at her dark red hands and whispered. "I'm a monster!!!" Suddenly she pushed Renu and turned around to run. Yet she couldn't. Renu grabbed her hand. 

She turned around crying. "Let me go... don't look at me.... my face is covered in blood... don't look at me... I'm a monster... please...don't look at me..." Zuuri begged to not look at her. 

However, due to Renu's silence, she glanced upwards. Only to met with the warmest smile she ever received from him until now. A smile saying, "You are not a monster.... You are Zuuri Vezyne.....and .....You are perfect..."

"Zuu... you're not a monster... you defeated that thing and saved us all... you are a....hero" Renu held her hand and spoke softly. "And you know what a hero needs??!! That's right...a Mask!!" 

He looked around and found a round piece of plastic. With a leg he kept it in place and with his remaining hand he attached a thing wire he found on the ground.

The plastic piece had no mouth, nose or eyes openings, but it had an unique form. Two horn like pieces extended from the top. In a V shape.

Renu gave the mask to Zuuri and smiled. "Believe me..... after all, I'm the future greatest inventor in the world".

Zuuri took the mask. Before she could put it completely, Renu called her name. Looked into her eyes and smiled softly.

"ZUU.... NOW AND FOREVER, YOU WILL BE MY ONE AND ONLY HERO!!!"

Zuuri’s crying stopped. In that moment she understood herself. She understood what she needed to be. As if a vow were forged deep within her heart, Zuuri put on the mask. And somewhere underneath it, without either of them knowing, Zuuri Vezyne began to disappear.

Fortunately, the makeshift mask Renu made served as physical protection against the world. Unfortunately, that same mask became the first layer of emotional armor she didn't know she was putting on. An impenetrable armor where inside it, your heart disappears.

Until, a soft, enchanting and soothing voice calls her from the outside. And a kiss shared with closed eyes and tears overflowing from within. 

In the epicenter of the burning world, the mask completely slipped from Zuuri Vezyne's grasp for it to never be worn again.