Chapter 2 - Unveil (Part A)

Chapter 02 – Unveil (Part A)

A rainy evening. A black haired child was in an alley of Gossport. He appeared to be age 5. Alone, yet wide eyed, his stomach growled in dire need of food. The tattered clothes he wore could barely be passed off as clothes, and the absence of any semblance of shoes was truly a pitiful sight. And yet, the child was smiling, without a shred of worry. What for?

As the boy looked up from his small height, he happily counted the number of people who’d pass him by without a single glance. “75…76…77…I wonder if I could break my record of 135 for the week. 78…79…”

A gentleman carrying an umbrella suddenly stopped in front of the alley and turned towards the child, taken aback by his condition. “Why hello there, little one,” the man greeted with a warm smile.

The child gasped in awe and excitement. “Someone stopped! Hello, mister!”

“What are you doing here? This is no place for you to be. Where are your parents?”

“P-par…rents?” Tears slowly began to swell in the child’s eyes.

“I see…” The gentleman understood the unspoken situation, extending his hand towards the child. “Why don’t you come along with me? I bet you’re hungry.” The child nodded softly, placing his hand inside the palm of his savior.

“What’s your name?” the gentleman asked.

***************

Sunri jolted awake, gasping for air. He checked his surroundings. He was in a bed inside a room with wooden walls and flooring. The morning sunlight shone through a window, resting onto a wooden desk against the wall and the center of the room. Sunri held his head into his right palm.

“Ugh…a dream…a memory…” he muttered to himself. He looked at his arms and felt around his chest, confirming that his watch and digital attire were still present. He sighed in relief, looking around the room once more. “Where am I? How’d I arrive in this room?” Suddenly, he became fixated on something…or rather someone. The woman from last night at the tavern was in the same room. He stared at her, usual expression across his face. She smiled back at him warmly, eyes closed. There was silence between the two.

“Good morning,” Liliana greeted, almost as if she were singing. “I cooked you breakfast.”

Sunri simply stared back at her, emotionless. “We…didn’t do anything, did we?” Sunri asked.

“Nope,” she replied, still smiling in the same manner.

“Oh.”

“Yep.”

***************

After the awkward exchange, Sunri freshened himself up and headed downstairs for breakfast. Apparently, he was still in Malt Rose Tavern. Liliana kept him company as he ate: eggs, ham, a bowl of porridge, and a cup of water.

“So, Malt Rose Tavern also serves as your home?” Sunri asked between bites.

“Yes. The Malt Rose is a family-owned business. My family, in fact. I’m the cook of the tavern.”

“The tavern cook. The food you cook are delicious.”

“Why thank you, erm…I’m sorry, I never got your name.”

Sunri paused from chewing his food and became silent, staring into space. “My name was asked for again,” he thought to himself. He swallowed his food. “Sunri. My name is Sunri Aerora.”

“That’s rather a unique name. Sunri Aerora. Nice to meet you! I’m Liliana Sturnsfield!” Liliana seemed to always have a polite, warm smile across her face. Her voice was charming, if not pleasant to hear, almost as if she were always singing.

“Nice to meet you, Liliana. By the way, how did I manage to end up in your…umm…bed?”

“Hmm. From what I recalled, a weirdo goaded you into drinking ale, a couple of cups. Then you and him joined in the festivities happening. Dancing, singing until you passed out drunk. You and him were both out of tune though. Still, it was a pleasant sight to see. You don’t strike me as a social type though, Sunri.”

“I’m not. Not at all…” Sunri said, his voice low-key horrified at his actions.

Liliana laughed, bringing a finger up to her lips. “Finish up breakfast and I’ll show you around Breim Village.”

***************

Sunri finished his breakfast, and the two of them toured around Liliana. They visited the restaurant and shopping districts, the public facilities, and greeted the residents. Everyone whom Sunri saw and greeted were very friendly. Just as he noticed last night, the villagers here seem to be very happy. It was a different happy, one that is quite different from the civilians in Gossport. But how was it different, Sunri thought to himself. Besides the physical differences of the cities, what set the differences between the happiness in Gossport and the happiness of Breim Village?

“You don’t seem to be from Breim Village,” Liliana said, interrupting Sunri’s thoughts, as if she was reading his mind. They were still walking from their morning tour of the village, heading towards the village park for a moment’s rest.

“Does it?” Sunri asked.

“Your manner of speaking, the way you act, and in a way, your clothes seems a bit weird.”

“Oh, does it?” On the surface, Sunri was his usual emotionless self. However, his mind began to race. “This woman is very perceptive,” he thought to himself. “My identity cannot be found out, no matter what. It’s imperative that Crux, as well as this mission, remain a secret.”

“You must be from a nearby village,” Sunri said.

“Yes, I’m from a nearby village. Just visiting, on my way to visit relatives of another village.”

“I see. Isn’t that exciting?” Liliana smiled, her eyes closed. “I’ve never stepped foot outside Breim Village before.” She opened her eyes, her trademark smile softening. “No one from the village has ever seen stepped outside the village in their life.”

Sunri, with piqued curiosity, asked, “Why not?”

Liliana grew silent for a moment. “…I don’t know.”

As if on cue to break the encroaching silence, a familiar voice rang out. “Heyyy! Sunri!” Sunri and Liliana directed their attention to the young man ahead of them. Liliana recognized the person.

“You’re that weirdo from the tavern last night,” she said, as if it were an everyday occurrence.

“You say that as if there are other weirdos in the village,” Sunri commented.

“Madam, your words wound my self-consciousness,” the young man said jokingly.

“Please call me Liliana,” she said curtly with a polite smile.

“Hey, Sunri, I see you’re standing on your two feet today,” the young man joked.

“Excuse me, do I know you?”

“Oh c’mon! The ale couldn’t have been that strong! It’s me: Rauna. Rauna Hernz!”

“No, you never once said your name.”

“Oh so you do remember me!”

“Yeah, you’re that weirdo from the tavern last night,” Sunri said matter-of-factly.

“I have a name; try using it! Say it with me: Rauna Hernz.”

“Weirdo.”

“Rauna!”

“Pushy weirdo.”

“Pushy weirdo!”

“So you admit to it.”

“Says the guy who can barely handle a few cups of ale!”

“I have no recollection of such an occurrence.”

“Exactly what I mean!”

Liliana observed their interaction. Her expression changed from curiosity to her usual laughter. Whatever perturbed her mind was now replaced of a happy moment.

After their banter, the trio continued their walk towards the village park.

“So what brings you two out and about this morning?” Rauna asked.

“I was showing Sunri here around Breim Village,” Liliana replied. “He’s visiting from another village, on his way visit relatives in another village.”

“Another village, huh? So, awesome! I’ve always wanted to see the world beyond this village!”

“Are you always this easily excitable?” Sunri quipped.

“So what’s it like, your village? Is it the same as Breim? Different? What kinds of things your village have that we don’t?”

“Settle down now, Rauna,” Liliana said. “Let him answer, one question at a time.”

A sensation surged through Sunri, a sensation he was too familiar with. “It’s here! The distortion!” He thought to himself. Immediately afterwards, a loud scream was heard, followed by others.

“Those screams…” Liliana said worriedly.

“It must be coming from the park,” Rauna stated. Not wasting another second, Sunri sprinted towards the direction of the screams. “Sunri, wait! It could be dangerous!”

***************

At the location of the park, the villagers ran away in fear, stumbling onto the ground, scrambling on their feet and hands. The source of their fear: a large black and purple dragon, an URO. The villagers’ plead for help grew increasingly louder and frantic. “Please! Someone help us!” someone yelled. The ground shook with each step from the dragon as it destroyed any object it saw, swinging its large, long tail widely, swiping and roaring at any body that moved. A child fell to the ground in his attempt to get away from the raging beast. No one was around to save him. The child turned to look back at the dragon, frozen in fear.

“S-s-someone…anyone…p-please help me!” he pleaded, beginning to wail. Alas, neither his pleading nor wail was not heard among the chaos. No one heard except…

A rapid slash echoed through the air, and the dragon let out a deafening roar of pain. Sunri landed between the dragon and the child, scooping the child into his left arm while holding his Quasar scythe in his right hand.

“Don’t worry, kid! You’re going to be okay.” Sunri smiled at the child, assuring him that everything will, indeed, be okay. The child stared in awe at the emotionless, weirdly dressed man with a bizarre scythe who had just saved his life.

“Hurry, get to safety!”

“O-okay!”

The beast roared loudly, preparing for its next attack as Sunri had his back towards it. As he watched the child run to safety, the dragon tore through the air with its large, right claws. Immediately, Sunri raised his weapon to block the attack without a single glance. He parried the attack and turned his focus towards his prey. Proceeding to further engage the target, Sunri high jumped towards it, releasing a single slash from his scythe between the dragon’s eyes, landing beside it. That single slash finished the job, at least it should have. The dragon promptly side-swiped its claws.

“What the?!” Sunri raised the snath of his scythe to parry the attack and quickly rolled out of attack range. “That slash should have eliminated it. Why didn’t it? Moreover, how - ”

The dragon swung its tail at breakneck speed towards Sunri, not giving him a moment to think nor to catch his breath. It felt as if time had frozen while simultaneously moving at a speed that could not be comprehended. Before the tail impacted, Sunri recalled a conversation he heard during his days at Crux Academy.

“Hey, isn’t that Operative 01 Sirius?” Student A asked.

“It sure is. He has the nickname ‘Sirius the Undamaged’!” Student B replied. “He got the nickname because he’s never been injured during training nor his mission!”

“He must be a god or a super being, or something!”

Before he could process the weight of the impact, Sunri was already flying backwards into the air. His digital common medieval disguise became undone, unveiling his typical outfit of black robed parka, unhooded. The force of the attack muted all sound and dulled all of his senses until he came crashing onto the unpaved cobble stoned ground. The dragon’s attack didn’t leave Sunri unconscious, but he was now bleeding from his head, trickling down to his left eye. Sunri winced painfully, covering his wound in an attempt to prevent any further bleeding.

“Darn it. This URO is strong! Nothing like I’ve ever faced before. I have to end this, before he ends me.”

The dragon redirected his attention to Sunri, who was struggling to stand up. Immediately, he began to prepare for its next attack, raising both of its deadly, fiercely sharpened claws. The dragon lunged forward, Sunri high jumped to his left to avoid the attack as he began to think to himself. “Think, Sunri! Two of my previous slashes had no effect.” While mid-air, the dragon began slashing relentlessly at Sunri. With each forward slash of its claws, Sunri parried one-handedly, his face still applying pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding. After the onslaught of slashes, he landed feet first on the ground and proceeded to run around the dragon to avoid any further slashes. “None of my attacks had any effect! Quasars should be able to damage or eliminate UROs. I’ve never seen this type before!”

What felt like one lengthy minute or two actually happened within a matter of seconds. The dragon swung his tail once again, sending Sunri into the air. Sunri felt the impact of the strike, more powerful than previously, sustaining more injuries and struggling to maintain consciousness. However, there wasn’t any time to begin to counter. It happened before it could be mentally processed. Sunri was eaten.

The dragon swallowed its prey. And swallowed. And swallowed. And swallowed. Its snack wasn’t going down its throat. The dragon’s eyes widened. Sunri was spat out and then, the dragon created a large implosion, its particles covering the air in the park, slowly dispersing into nothingness. Upon the debris settling, Rauna and Liliana arrived onto the scene, only to find Sunri badly injured and unconscious on the ground, dressed in his normal attire and snath in hand without the blade of the scythe.

“Sunri!” they both cried out.