Raidos

Mira stood stock still, staring at Yusato…or rather…Raidos. She pressed her hands against her chest, her jaw hanging open.

Raidos looked down at Mira, his eyes dull and hollow. “It’s been a long time Mira.”

“I finally found you,” she threw herself into his chest, but Raidos’ arms remained at his sides.

Azalea and Saria gathered around them, both with confused looks on their faces. “What’s go on here?” Azalea asked.

Mira sniffled as she took her face away from Raidos’ chest. “Guys, this is Raidos, the hero of the Second Crisis of Talria.”

“Wow.” Saria gasped in awe. “The Second Hero, huh?”

Raidos nodded. “That’s me.”

“But then what happened to Yusato?” Saria looked around as she asked that.

Azalea wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t it obvious? He used the Spirit Call. And as a result, he had to give up his body to this guy.” She crossed her arms and turned her head away. “Idiot.”

“That’s right,” Raidos said. “This body now belongs to me.” He stared down at Mira. “Sorry, Mira. But a lot has changed since I last saw you. I’m no longer interested in this world. There’s only one reason why I’m here right now.”

Mira clutched her spellbook, dipping her chin into it. “…What’s that?”

“It’s none of your concern. I’ll be heading to the seventh floor on my own. The rest of you are relieved of your duty. Yusato won’t be coming back.” He didn’t wait for a response and walked off into the shadows.

***

“The heck was that all about?” Yusato asked from inside Raidos’ mind. “That was my team you know?”

They were currently making their way through the seventh floor. A seemingly endless underwater dungeon. They were able to breathe, which Yusato chalked up to being a case of magic water like in Litsuria Lake.

“They used to be your teammates. You are now nothing but a spirit,” Raidos said.

Seaweed and algae danced in the water as they passed by them along with a school of fish. There were some starfish littering the ocean floor as well.

“Still, you didn’t have to do that. This quest is suppose to require four people, remember?”

Raidos shook his head. “I’m not doing this for the quest.”

Yusato grumbled. He heard Raidos say that to Mira as well, so he knew there was no point in asking. Curious as he was about it.

“So, you’re the one who Mira summoned to this world all those years ago? I never would’ve guessed you were the spirit I’ve been talking to this whole time.”

A shark coated in lightning came swerving for Raidos. He nonchalantly swung his sword, knocking the creature down. Yusato was impressed by how easily he took care of the monster.

Raidos used that power even better than he had against Nix. Then again, that made sense considering that power belonged to him in the first place.

“After I saved the world from the dragon attack, I continued to act as a hero for a while. I lived with Mira and took care of her. I did my best to work for the kingdom. But as time went on and I kept failing my quests, I realized I needed more power.”

He sliced through another lightning shark.

“But I had no magic to speak of. And none of the spirits wanted to connect with me. So, I decided to become a spirit myself. Then, I just needed to wait to get someone’s body.”

“Kind of ironic, don’t you think?” Yusato said, as Raidos hopped through the water.

“What do you mean?”

“That Mira ended up summoning both you and me to this world.”

Raidos came to a stop. Another lightning shark swam up behind him, but he quickly swung his blade at it. “No. Mira only summoned me.” He slashed at another shark monster, letting its fins float down in front of him.

“But whenever I touched her hand, that weird glow happened.”

“That happened because you were connected with me,” Raidos informed him. “It was my signal with Mira resonating through you.”

“Then…who summoned me? Because my friends were summoned by Dadilda, but when I shook her hand nothing happened.”

Raidos cocked an eyebrow. “You really don’t know? Didn’t you notice it back on the fifth floor? You were summoned by Azumi.”

“Azumi? But how does that work? Azumi is from Earth, like me.”

“The First Hero, Francessa” Raidos said. “She also became a spirit. The Spirit of Fortune.” Raidos made his way towards the floor’s exit and looked up at the rock pillar. His hollow eyes seemed to gain a bit of life to them as he did so. “Francessa is the only spirit who doesn’t ask for any sacrifices. For some reason, your friend managed to connect with her and summon you here.”

“Azumi summoned me…” Yusato’s thoughts swirled around in his mind over and over again as he thought about that. It was a lot for him to take in all at once.

Raidos walked through the door and entered into the eighth floor of the tower. A wide rock stretched across the floor, sitting atop a bed of molten lava. The rock seemed to split into several different paths and parts of it would drop down into the lava every now and then.

“This floor’s a maze.” Raidos observed the dipping rocks and bubbling lava. “Interesting.”

They made their way through the lava-filled floor. Raidos somehow managed to take the right direction every time, which piqued Yusato’s curiosity.

“How do you know which way to go?” Yusato asked.

Raids tapped his nose. “The scent of the lava gets thinner further down the room.”

As they walked further along, they came across two silhouettes. “Well well. Look who it is.” One of silhouettes chuckled as it came into view. “I was wondering when you’d get here. Sure took you long enough. Yusato.”

“Tomoki…”

***

Mira, Azalea, and Saria stood in front of the entrance to the seventh floor. Saria lightly tapped her knuckles against her pockets. “Guys, should we be doing this? We’re supposed to have four people, right?”

Azalea sighed, resting a hand on her hip. “We are, but what are we supposed to do? Our teammate already went on ahead of us.”

Mira chewed at her fingernails while staring at the door. “I just hope he’s okay.”

Notching her head towards, Mira Azalea had to ask, “Do you mean Yusato or Raidos?”

Her shoulders jerked up at the question and her chin lowered to the floor. “Saria is right. We need to find someone else. The other floors were already hard enough with four of us.”

Folding her arms, Azalea made a thoughtful expression. “Well, this is one of the hub floors. So, I’m sure there are people we could ask. But most of them probably already have their own groups or quests to worry about.”

“If you want, I can help you out.”

Everyone turned at the sound of the voice. And standing there, was Yusato’s childhood friend, Azumi.