SoH: Sky of Heirs (Chapter 6 - Destiny)

"Where am I? Am I in Limbo? Why are you here Crystal..?" "We need to be careful Reign, I don't understand why we're here." A shadow suddenly emerged from behind Crystal armed with the silhouette of a dagger. "Crystal!!" Before Crystal was able to react, the shadow lunged forward and stabbed her right through the abdomen. Reign dashed towards the shadow instantly materializing Darkest and slashed the shadow in half. "Crystal... are you okay?" "Reign... help me.." The shadow dagger disappeared from her abdomen as blood began to violently splurt out. Crystal was rapidly losing consciousness. Reign materialized his NightStar and aimed it at the bleeding area on Crystal. A blast of icy cold frost covered the affected area. "What!? It's not working!" The blood continued to seethe out of Crystal as her body went cold in Reign's arms. "Crystal....please.." 

~Elsewhere~

"This can't be real..it just can't be." A young girl stood in front of Ashtyn smiling brightly with a young Luna clinging onto her right side. Ashtyn was on the floor crawling towards the two girls with tears flowing down his face. "Luna... please.. don't..." The young girl standing next to Luna began to fade and dissolve, adding to Luna's growth. Tears pouring from Ashtyn. "HARUKAAA!!!!" 

~Elsewhere~

"What is this? Candice?" "I'm sorry Axl... but we aren't working out... goodbye." "Wait... Candice I can change. We can work everything out...please.." Axl slowly fell to the ground as Candice stepped away. 

~Elsewhere~

"Urgh, what's going on here?" Casanova peered into the distance and saw Anne smiling and waving at him. "Anne? What are you doing over there?" As Casanova's eyes cleared up he became aware of his surroundings. "Wait a minute...ANNE GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Anne was waving at Casanova while standing in the middle of a pedestrian crossing and wasn't able to see the truck coming in behind her. "Shit.." Casanova materialized his bow and quickly shot a powerful arrow towards the truck attempting to stop it in its tracks. It was too late. The truck smashed into Anne with Casanova desperately running towards the scene. "ANNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!"

~Elsewhere~

"Get off of me." The men around Richard ignored him and hunched closer. "Damn it where am I!?" As Richard began to get angry, a peculiarly dressed man came and approached him. "Don't you know? You're in Happy Land!" "What? Who are you and what is Happy Land??" "I'm Mel, the organiser of your nightlife activity for the week." "Yeah okay, but what's Happy Land? And why are we in such a confined club? And why is there only men in here? And why are they dressed in such tight clothing? AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY MEN IN HERE MAKING OUT?" "Happy Land is a new island designed by men, for men to meet other men for romantic relationships. That's why on this entire island, only men are allowed to step forth on it." "Wait no... But I'm not interested in other men..." "Richard there's no need to be shy. We're all men here." "No, that can't be right...How do I get of this island?" "There's a flight that comes in and goes out to Sydney every week on Monday afternoon. But only once a week." "Wait... Don't tell me.... What day is it today...?" "It's currently Monday evening sweetie." "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

~Elsewhere~

"Fuck, I ceebs." "You can't do that, Kaiser. You're under contract. And if you fail this project then your contract will be terminated." "What? How many hours of work is this going to take?" "It'll be 100 hours, possibly even more. Better get to it." "Oh my god......" Kaiser looked at the documents on the screen. Lines and lines of text. He let out a sigh and then smacked the keyboard with his face. "This is torture...."

~Elsewhere~

"Oh my god...what happened to my right hand..." Nidus rose from his hospital bed, Yecart resting over the bed from a chair on his left side. "What's happening...?!! I can't continue playing games without my hand..." Yecart's eyes slowly opened from the sudden movements of Nidus. "Nidus, you're awake! The doctors said you might never wake from your coma. Thank god." Yecart inched closer and hugged Nidus tightly. "I don't understand...What happened to me?" "You were in an accident...the doctors had to amputate your right arm." "But my hands are the most important thing in the world to me. Without my right hand, I'll never be able to become a pro-gamer..." "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're alive, Nidus." "It does matter...Without my hands, I'd rather not be alive."

~In reality~

"Just a bit longer, and I'll be able to break them all through their minds." All seven members of the Sky of Heirs were suspended in the air in different locations by an electric current connected to Kei. They were all rendered unconscious by the incantation of Ajisukitakahikone. Kei slowly walked towards the location that Reign had been zapped away to. "Reign, you will be the first to fall." Kei raised his open arm towards Reign's body to focus the electrical energy on him. Reign's body twitched in pain as he remained unconscious inside the nightmarish lightning.

~Inside Reign's Limbo~

"All my life I've trained..and for what. I couldn't even save a single person. Nothing's changed from when i was 5... everything's going to be taken away from me again. It's just like that day!" Reign held onto Crystal's hands as she took her last breaths. "Avenge....me..." Reign gripped onto Darkest as he stood up and Crystal faded away. "I will."

Reign dashed towards the direction that the shadow appeared and ran endlessly to no avail as the planes of existence were truly infinite. "How do I get out of here...What do I do!?" In the distance, Reign heard footsteps. He looked around to see if it was Kei. "Kei? Where are you! Take me on, man to man. Wait a minute...you're not Kei...You're...?" A short man slowly crept towards Reign. In his hand, hovered a burning multicoloured flame. "Reign, it has been awhile." "Grandpa! What are you doing here? Where am I?" "Listen to me closely, Reign. This realm you are in right now is not real. It is a nightmare caused by the astral spell of lightning." "I knew something was up...it must've been that brightness caused by Kei. I need to get out of here and defeat him before he hurts anyone else." "The key to escaping this nightmare lies in your resolve to correct the wrongs that have been committed against you and to accept them wholeheartedly. Kei is not the final enemy you will face." "But I've already accepted my inability to protect people. I've resolved to get vengeance and connect to my Aura." "Your resolve is strong...but it is misplaced. Your anger, it stems from the loss of my own life when I protected you that day against Providence." "Providence disappeared since that day. My house hasn't been able to track him down at all. He left no traces. I'm sorry Grandpa...I haven't been able to avenge you yet." "This is not about avenging me, Reign! This is about the world, about the legacy of Chaser. You must take down Providence to prevent the end of civilization." "But how? How do I stop someone that not even my whole house can find!?" "You will find out in time, Reign. Providence is always the one at hand. For now...take this flame and place it within yourself. And remember, you are not the reason for my passing...vengeance can only get you so far." 

As Reign's grandpa passes on the multicoloured flame to Reign, he walks away and fades into eternity. "GRANDPA WAITTTT!!!!" Reign runs after him to no avail. "Damn it, there's still so much I don't understand." Reign holds up the flame and pushes it into his chest. His body glows as the light permeates the darkness surrounding him. "Kei, I'm coming for you."

~Inside Ashtyn's Limbo~

"Haruka...where have you gone? Why did you leave...? Rrrrgh It's all your fault Luna!" Ashtyn materializes his gauntlet and smashes Luna directly in the solar plexus. Luna's body dissolves into eternity as Ashtyn's tears continue to fall. "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????!!!!" Ashtyn screamed in desperation and fell to the ground. In a few moments, a girl appeared behind him and grabbed his shoulder. "It's okay to be upset, Ashtyn." Ashtyn slowly turned around as he heard a voice that he remembered. "Is that...?" The girl smiled as Ashtyn wiped away his tears. "Yep, it's me."

"Haruka, it's really you!" Ashtyn leapt at Haruka and hugged her. "But how can you appear like this, you disappeared when I was young." "I passed away when I was young, but my spirit continues to age in the realms between dreams and reality. "What? You died? How!? When!?" "My health began deteriorating in the year before we were separated... The doctors were unable to explain my condition and why I was dying.." "What? But you looked perfectly fine..." "The disease I had allowed me to look perfectly normal on the exterior...but on the inside my body was dying." "...But why didn't you tell me?" "I told Luna at first, and then Jinight and Aerius...but I couldn't bare to see your face if I told you too." "What!?Why!?" "Because I love you...even if it was childhood love you were still the most important person to me." "Even more so...you should have told me. But then why did Luna take you away?" "Both Luna's and my household have a long history. I didn't want you to know that I would be passing away so I had Luna's family help to move me to a distant place where you would never find me. You should know, Luna argued with me endlessly on this matter." "Why would Luna argue?" "Because she's always liked you." "What?" "She felt it would be unfair to get your attention without myself there competing against her." "But...I never..." "It was unfair of me to put the burden on Luna and make it look like she was taking me away." "But all this time...I thought she was the reason that our group was torn apart...that she was the reason you disappeared." "I'm sorry I kept all of this from you, Ashtyn, I was too afraid to see you in pain because of me...but Luna...she has had the hardest time from this out of us all." "I can't believe it... all this time I've been an idiot, pushing her away in anger from your disappearance. DAMN ITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!" 

"Luna truly loves you. She has been watching and protecting you all this time from afar. I will never be able to repay her for the debt that I owe to her. But she's in trouble right now. The forces that are aligned with Kei have taken her. Only you can find her and save her, Ashtyn." "What!? She is!? But how do I save her? I'm stuck in this nightmare." "Wake up your mind and accept my passing. Only then can you escape this nightmare." "But when will I know that I've done it?" "You already have." The darkness of eternity withered around Ashtyn as reality began to sink into colour again. Haruka's form faded as she uttered her final words. "Farewell, Ashtyn." Ashtyn clutches the newly formed locket on his chest reminiscing about his childhood one last time before gazing forward. "Luna, I'm on my way."

~In reality~

Kei was fast approaching to Reign's location when suddenly a bullet was fired at him. Kei, hearing the sound in time, dodged it easily. "How did you escape...? It shouldn't be possible." Kei looked up the building as Reign walked into focus. "What can I say..? Except that I'm more talented than you are." "Well it doesn't matter that you escaped, because with the power that I'm draining from the others there's no way you'll compare to me." "We'll see about that." Kei lunged at Reign pushing his sword forth and imbuing it with lightning. Reign's eyes glowed purple as he materialized Darkest and swung a crescent slash sending a flying purple wave at Kei. The wave was powerful enough to push Kei back and prevent his advance. "Yes, this is how I always wanted it to begin. You will be the first of the Heirs to perish by my hand."

"You just don't get it do you?" Reign raised his weapons combining Darkest and NightStar into one, a gunblade. He held the new weapon and aimed it at Kei. "This ends now."

Chapter 6 - Destiny

-END-

Next time:

Chapter 7 - The Power of Reign

[Dialogue Legend]

Ashtyn - Red

Axl - Green

Reign - Purple

Casanova - Orange

Nidus - Dark Blue
Kaiser - Black
Richard - Yellow
Kei - Grey
Candice - Pink
Crystal - Lavender
Mel - Sun Yellow
Kaiser's Boss - Space Grey
Reign's Grandpa - Violet
Haruka - Pale Red
Yecart - Sky Blue