The Village Disciples

Imawashiki's cold gaze was unrelenting as flames coated his body horrifically. Throughout the brutal clash between dragons, the fiery abomination gradually lost his humanity—if he had any to wither away in the first place. Imawashiki peered down at his right hand, rubbing his fingers together to gather a sense of his new scales, discovering the rough texture his skin had mutated into. 

Something inside the fiery abomination felt twisted and he could not figure out what. He was rapidly growing in power, becoming less restrained to the universe around him

'Don't do this.' Nozomu thought to himself, clenching his jaw as lightning flashed around his form. 

Imawashiki flexed the muscles in his right arm, swiftly brushing any concerns away. He then lifted his red eyes, returning his gaze to Kaminari Nozomu.

It was instantaneous. Even Nozomu was taken aback as Imawashiki accelerated through space at speeds beyond his previous capacity, his flames effortlessly engulfing the two of them. Nozomu pushed his mind to its limits to keep up with Imawashiki, the two Tansu vessels bouncing around the solar system at staggering rates.

This time, Nozomu could truly feel pain wash over his body every time Imawashiki successfully landed a blow, making the white-haired man tremble unwillingly. It was not long until another planet came into view—a yellow and white sphere idling through space inanimately. 

It was Venus. 

*CRASH!*

Nozomu was the first to crash onto the planet's surface, flattening a fifth of the stony terrain. The wielder of lightning lurched to his feet, partially splitting Venus below him. The air was quite dense, yet it was suitable to allow Nozomu to breathe for a little while.

"You're hurting yourself for nothing, Kaminari," Imawashiki said, drawing closer to Nozomu from the sky. "You can release Kanden further, but the result of our clash will never change. We can destroy as many planets as we need—rupture parts of the solar system, potentially beyond. My future is in motion, while yours continues to fade away."

The white-haired vessel inhaled deeply, looking up at his opponent. "As long as people remember the past… no future is set in stone."

Imawashiki's flames flared at those words, growing louder and brighter. 

"And that is why me and my king will ensure that not a soul has a memory of our dystopian past." 

*FWOOSH!*

*CACKLE!*

Imawashiki threw a wave of fire toward Nozomu, who reacted with a wall of lightning, preventing the flames from spreading further. The two dragons' Aura Senses were extremely potent within their bodies, exuding immensely. 

"This is madness!" Nozomu bellowed, his muscles straining. At this point, it was almost useless to run. "You know what could result from two or more Tansu Beasts fighting!"

"An end to the universe… a start to a realm of beauty." The fiery abomination whispered, the flames coursing out of his body intensifying. 

Within Nozomu's mind, a deep voice rumbled majestically. 'Brother… I can't give you any more power. You both will end up destroying too much.'

'Kanden?' Nozomu questioned mentally, maintaining his wall of lightning. '...Are we calling it here?'

'I'm afraid so.' Kanden's mighty voice rang through the vessel's soul. 

Nozomu's lightning started to dwindle, losing its previous strength. In the back of his mind, he thought about Tanjo—the boy whose presence resembled that of a son. The boy who could smile brighter than anybody around. That same boy was still alive and back on Earth. 

Kaminari Nozomu took one more deep breath. "...Seijun Hotaru!"

Imawashiki's body tightened, and his crimson eyes widened. Seijun Hotaru. The name seemed quite familiar, prompting the fiery abomination to pause for a while. Where had he heard that name? Why was it so important to remember? Why did someone so forgettable become so crucial in Imawashiki's mind?

"If you're still alive, Seijun, then I want to be the one to say it!" Nozomu hollered, his blue eyes glaring through the lightning and fire that flowed between the two dragons. "Your family still loves you!"

Imawashiki grunted, his face twitching in bewilderment. "What are you talking about!?"

Nozomu's lightning was still retracting backward as he forced a few more words out of his mouth, "You were my brother! And even now, you still are, for I know that this isn't you, Seijun!"

A flash of realization struck Imawashiki like a mallet.

XXX

"We should probably start to head back, guys." Asa, the blue-haired girl in the group, suggested wearily. 

Taking their eyes away from the glowing moon in the night sky, the group of kids exchanged glances at one another, nodding. 

"She's right. We need to head back to Tokuni before we get caught." Kami said, brushing his white hair as he sighed. 

The brown-haired girl named Rebbie lifted herself to her feet, stretching. "Come on, Seijun—we still need you to get us past the wall again."

Groaning exasperatedly, the boy with midnight-black hair and brown eyes stood up, wiping the dirt from his clothes. "Fine… we can head back now."

Before the group started moving, the amethyst-haired kid named Heiki spoke aloud. "Seijun, your shirt. If we leave even a speck of dirt on our clothes, Laurence and Rosaline will get suspicious."

Seijun perked up, quickly flicking off the earthen materials from his shirt. "Oh! Thank you!"

"Can we go now?" Kami asked with a stern voice, staring at the group irritably. 

That was all that the kids needed to begin their frantic journey back to the little village of Tokuni. As they approached the settlement, Seijun took one last look at the moon and exhaled. It wasn't easy to let go of such a magnificent sight and forcefully return to hours of seclusion and experimentation. 

"Seijun, we're here. Do the thing!" Asa informed the boy with urgency, masking her excitement to see a cyclone of fire once again. 

The brown-eyed boy blinked, nodding and walking up to the wall. 

"Huddle up!" Seijun said, stretching his arms toward Kami and Asa.

When the kids were joined by hand—*FWOOSH!*—fire erupted in the air, enveloping the group in seconds and transporting the five of them beyond the wall and into Tokuni. 

"Everybody should still be sleeping, so just be quiet and quick," Kami said, exiting the cyclone of flames and stealthily creeping between two buildings. 

The five children deftly slid along long paths in the village, creeping through alleyways and hiding behind garbage cans. Asa, Rebbie, and Heiki found the scenario unsettling since they had never joined Kami and Seijun on their trip to the Hill before. 

Fortunately, they were all outside the village's laboratory in a matter of minutes, standing at the entrance. Seijun took the opportunity of ambling toward the doors and grasping the handles, pulling on them in the hopes of opening the entryway. 

Shockingly, the doors were locked. 

"Don't move!" A deep voice yelled, scaring the kids. 

Turning around, the five children observed an approaching squad of warriors wielding swords and bows. The soldiers surrounded the kids in seconds, carefully training their weapons on them. 

"Move and we will use lethal force!" Another warrior yelled indignantly, reeling an arrow back with his bow. 

Unknowingly, a warrior marched up to Asa and clutched her right arm tightly. "You are all to be detained—!"

*SHINK!*

In a state of panic, shards of ice emerged from Asa's arm, piercing through the warrior's hand gruesomely. The man shrieked and ripped his hand away, shattering the ice and spilling blood onto the ground.

Seijun was frozen in fear, staring at the blood on the ground. As for Kami, Rebbie, and Heiki, they instantly spotted the warriors drawing their bows and threatening to launch arrows at the blue-haired girl.

Those three lunged toward Asa, surrounding her protectively as the arrows were shot outward.

*FWOOSH!*

Before the arrows could reach the kids, a dome of fire was erected around them. Standing outside the dome was Seijun, who had his hands stretched out to maintain the fire that kept the other children safe. 

"Guys! Huddle!" Seijun ordered fearfully, watching as the warriors' attention was directed toward him. "Hurry!"

With confusion steering their bodies, Kami, Rebbie, Asa, and Heiki huddled together, fear etched onto their faces. 

"I don't know how far you'll go, but you need to run! I'll meet up with you soon—!"

*SWOOSH!*

As Seijun finished speaking, an arrow penetrated through the boy's skull, with the tip protruding from the other side of his head. The other kids' eyes welled up with horror as they screamed—*FWOOSH!*—and were quickly transferred somewhere owing to the fire.

With the four younglings gone, Seijun was left alone, lying limp on the ground with an arrow stuck in his head. 

"Dispatch all of our units and find the other Tansu vessels!" One warrior demanded, raising his hand high to garner his comrades' attention. 

"But, sir, what about this one?" A female warrior spoke up, pointing at the motionless boy a few feet away.

The warrior from before, who appeared to be the Chief, marched toward the female soldier and roared, "He's dead! What we need to do now is find the living ones and bring them back by any means necessary!"

"Sir!" A warrior in the distance yelled. 

The chief turned toward the other warrior. "Speak up!"

*FWOOSH!*

Suddenly, the warrior was no longer alive, crumbling to ash. The chief jumped and shifted his gaze to the boy from earlier, his heart racing. Seijun was alive with fire coating his hands. The chief readied his sword, gritting his teeth. 

"Kill him!" The chief ordered, sprinting toward the boy.

Effortlessly, the boy lifted his right hand and swatted at the warriors—*FWOOSH!*—killing them with a wall of fire instantly. Not even the metal armor the warriors wore was left once the flames dispersed; piles of ashes were now blowing in the wind.

"...Never thought I'd be in control of a child…" Seijun spoke with a terrifyingly deep voice, no longer sounding like a child. "But humans have always been moronic, so leaving me in the body of a kid doesn't surprise me."

Without warning, Seijun keeled over in pain, gripping his neck. Underneath the boy's shirt was a symbol embedded into his skin, which glowed brightly. 

"...What is this? Is he warding me off?" Seijun's alternate mind queried, feeling the pulsing symbol on his neck. "I need to get out of here. I refuse to be silenced any longer."

At that moment, the boy was swallowed by a cyclone of fire, vanishing without a trace. 

XXX

And that concludes this chapter! I have to reflect on how I wish to carry out the next few chapters, so I'm ending this one here. I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned! 

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_