Sun and Moon

“Leo?” Yusato’s eyes darted back and forth, searching for any sign of Leo.

Nothing. He had just disappeared entirely.

“Where did he go?” Now Yusato was entirely alone. Would he even be able to stall the king long enough before the rest of his friends could get there?

He gulped. This whole situation was starting to bring back bad memories. It reminded him of the day when Tomoki had used him as a decoy and left him to die. Even now, those wound still felt fresh.

His chest felt heavy as it caved in. And with trembling hands, he pushed open the door to the tenth floor.

Yusato found himself in a wide open spacious cavern with several pointed and jagged rocks hanging down from the ceiling. There were a few mines carts lining the walls of the cavern along with some ladders on the tall rocks.

He could see a large nest with a few eggs in it sitting on top of one of the rocks. Those eggs were so large he had to wonder what kind of creature it belonged to. A bunch of precious gems seeped into the rocks shone, illuminating the cavern with their bright gorgeous colors.

Staring down at his long shadow, Yusato walked forward with heavy legs. He hugged his arms as he felt a chill. His teeth chattered as he heard a scream.

He knew that scream.

“Tomoki.”

King Aster had already got to him. But he was close. He had to hurry. Realizing that, Yusato forced himself to run faster, a gust of wind at his back.

Yusato came face to face with the king. He turned up his nose at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

King Aster stood over Tomoki’s unconscious body, holding a pointed staff over him. It was just as Mahina said. Tomoki’s skin had grown more large black spots and his horns were far bigger than Saria’s. He was even further along the transformation than she was.

“This man is about to become a Sirhix,” King Aster said. “If he uses any more magic, he will transform entirely.” He prodded his staff at Tomoki and rolled his body over. “We need to take care of him before he becomes dangerous.”

Yusato turned up his nose at the king. “Let him go.”

His feelings for Tomoki aside, he couldn’t just let him die like this. His heart twisted in pain looking at his old friend’s face and remembering everything he did to him. But he couldn’t bring himself to let him die.

Regardless of everything else, it was wrong. King Aster was planning to kill everyone who could potentially become a Sirhix. Yusato couldn’t allow that to happen. It was wrong to do that, no matter who it was.

Tomoki was no exception. And so loathe as he was to admit it, he had to protect Tomoki.

King Aster cocked an eyebrow and then scoffed at Yusato. “Are you opposing me?”

Narrowing his eyes fiercely at the king, Yusato said, “I am.”

“Careful boy. I’m far more powerful than you realize. You’d have a much easier time if you just minded your own business and completed the tenth floor’s task.”

King Aster didn’t wait any longer and raised his staff, ready to finish Tomoki off.

Yusato dashed forward and swung his blade against the king’s staff. “This is my business.”

Sneering down at Yusato, King Aster brought his staff forward. “Oh, is it now?”

He swung the staff at Yusato and Yusato deflected the attack. He thrust his sword forward but a screen of sunlight appeared right in front of the king.

The screen shot out several rays of light pushing Yusato across the floor. He stopped himself and held his sword up in front of his face.

“To think you would actually waste your life for a creature like this.” King Aster dragged his staff across the ground as he made his way towards Yusato. “How despicable.”

Despicable? That man was calling him despicable? Yusato grinded his teeth and charged forward. He swung his sword at Aster as he ducked out of the way.

More beams of sunlight fired out of his staff, scorching Yusato. He bit his lip through the pain and swung his sword forward. He almost lost his grip as King Aster knocked it back with his staff.

The staff struck Yusato in the stomach, blowing him back several feet. A rock with sun energy swirling around came hurtling at Yusato.

Yusato sidestepped out of the way only to be meet with a dozen more of those same rocks. Aster waved his hand around and more of the sun rocks appeared.

Leaping from side to side, Yusato dodged the oncoming attack. The sun rocks started coming faster. He couldn’t move out of the way in time.

Gripping the hilt of his sword, Yusato shouted and batted away at all of the sun rocks. Some managed to slip past his defenses and skated across his arms and legs. His skin burned as he continued to swing his sword.

Aster appeared right in front of Yusato, knocking his knuckles into Yusato’s face. Yusato fell backwards, still clutching onto his sword. His sword planted into the ground as Yusato held himself up.

“Is this really want you want?” King Aster pulled another staff of his back as moonlight shimmered around it. “It’s not too late you know. I have no interest in killing you, so long as you don’t get in my way.”

Yusato glared at the king. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“So be it,” King Aster said as he swept the moonlight staff down.

Taking his sword out of the ground, Yusato’s sword struck the king’s staff. The two weapons grinded against each other.

A quick swipe of the sun staff knocked Yusato off his feet. He was instantly pelted with a bevy of moonlight and sunlight rays.

Falling to the ground with a thud, blood erupted from Yusato’s mouth. His whole body ached in pain, but he pushed himself up as his muscles creaked.

Streaks of the sunlight and moonlight blasted through the air as Yusato ran through it all. Tightening his grip on his sword, he swung it with all his might.

The sword slashed the king in his abdomen. He looked the down at the wound with a blank expression. Then, he shook his head. He held out his two staffs, aiming them directly at Yusato. “You’re no match for me, boy.”

A white hole formed in between the staffs. Within an instant, Yusato was assaulted by a wave of rocks, wood, metal scraps and all kinds of other debris, along with a powerful blast of hot white energy.

He screamed out in pain as the white blast covered his entire body. He felt like his skin was ripping off in the midst of it all. His own scream got louder, but it was still nothing in comparison to the screeching of the white blast that shattered his eardrums.

Yusato looked over at Tomoki. His knuckles went white as he held his sword. The king was right. He just didn’t have the power to take him on.

Blood gathered at his feet. He could do it again. The Spirit Call. If he did that, then surely he’d have enough to power defeat King Aster.

Suddenly, Yusato found himself in the middle of a golden grassland. Wheats and sunflowers seemed to stretch on endlessly in this place. It was empty and lonesome, yet it felt so warm and inviting.

A women with a white dress and long flowing blond hair stood in front of him. She had kind and gentle green eyes and there seemed to be a calming serene aura about her. “Would you like my power?”

“Who are you?” Yusato asked, staring at the woman.

“I am Francessa, the First Hero of Talria. And the Spirit of Fortune.”

“You’re Francessa?” Yusato looked down at the wheats gently swaying beneath his feet. “Why did you bring me here? I didn’t even do the Spirit Call yet.”

“I stopped you before you could,” she said. “I don’t need any sacrifices. But I sensed your desire to protect that boy and so I wanted to connect with you.”

“You wanted to connect with me?” Yusato asked, his voice choking up. He thought it would be rude to ask her his next question, but he couldn’t help himself. “Why didn’t you ever connect with me before? There were plenty of times when I could’ve used your help to protect someone.”

“I only connect when people have truly selfless desires.” Francessa ran a hand through hair while the wind picked up. The sun shined brightly behind her. “Up until now, you’ve always had wanting to get back at the others by taking the reward of the quest for yourself. Whether or not you want to admit it. You also were using your new to for your own selfish reasons while not truly trusting them.”

Francessa brought her hands together in front of her chest. “This is the first time I’ve sensed you wanting to do something truly selfless and I had to reach out to you. So, would you like my power?”