54. Horror Business
Beneath the crowded streets surrounding the Neon Mirage was a sprawling
underground mall filled with restaurants and shops. Two long hallways extended
parallel to each other, connecting up to other buildings and walkways on the sides.
Vance and Eden had been there for the past two hours, but shopping was the farthest
things from their minds.
"They said they would meet us here around twelve," Vance
grumbled. "We've been standing around for twenty minutes now!"
"Well, they went go to meet with the other captains and vice-captains,
so something important must have come up," Eden said calmly. "Can't
you have a little patience?"
Vance frowned. "I just hate waiting on people!"
"We need to relax and conserve our psynergy for tomorrow," Eden
reminded him. "Just calm down."
"I'll be fine!" Vance insisted. "I’m more than ready to kick
some ass."
Eden rolled her eyes. "Vance, I thought you had really matured...but
lines like that make me wonder."
"Just because I disagree with you doesn't make me immature," Vance
shot back. "Maybe you need to chill out?"
"You must not have slept well last night," Eden sighed.
"It's like you're trying to pick fights today."
"I am not." Vance frowned, shifting his eyes over to the spinning
reels of a nearby casino. "I'm just little nervous, I guess."
"We all are, Vance," Eden said. "We're throwing ourselves
into mortal danger now. It's natural, even healthy to feel a little scared about
that."
"I'm not scared." Vance cast her an irritated glance. "I'm...just
worried about my dad."
"You think your stepmother attacked him too?"
"No...if it was only that, I wouldn't need to worry about anything,"
Vance answered. "I know this couldn’t all have been Naomi’s idea. That
thing on her head, the way she seemed so brainwashed...someone did that
to her. They were using her like a puppet, and that's who I need to find."
Should I tell her about my heritage? Vance thought to himself, unable to make up his mind.
Eden kept quiet and watched Vance, pondering to herself. He obviously
has a lot on his mind...then again, so do I. Should I tell him what Azuka told me?
I'm not sure...
Slowly, the deliberation began to wear on Vance's patience. Maybe I
should just tell her. We're teammates, so we should be honest with each other.
I shouldn't keep things hidden from her, right?
"Anyway..." Vance stammered. "The thing is, my–"
Vance was abruptly cut off mid-sentence as a seemingly floating column
of bags and packages fell into him. He stumbled backwards as the goods spilled
to the floor and caught a glimpse of two stocky legs.
"Hey!" he shouted, stumbling backwards. "Watch out!"
Eden spotted a figure behind the mess. "Hey, you're..."
"I'm sorry!" Nathan Marks squeaked, holding his plump hands in
front of his face. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I'm going, it's my
fault! Forgive me!"
"Nathan?" Eden asked. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't
you be back at the Guild?"
"Didn't you know?" Nathan glanced at the two of them. "The
Seneschal is coming to monitor the tournament. And since the rest of the powerful
Knights had to stay back to guard the Guild, he decided to take me with him."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "He’s just here to watch? Why doesn’t he
fight too?"
"I don’t know," Nathan said, lowering his voice. "He got
a message from the Church of Holy Truths. Apparently this tournament is supposed
to get really dangerous...they told him that they were looking for something called
the Daughter, and that the clock was just bait for their targets! Doesn't that
sound weird?"
Vance watched Eden's face grow pale. Her mouth dropped, and a horrified
look crossed her eyes.
"D-did I say something?" Nathan stuttered.
"It's fine," Eden said. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her
head up, and brushed a hand through her bright hair. "Totally fine."
"Yeah right," Vance cut in. "You looked like someone stabbed
you or something."
Eden laughed absently. "Come on, Vance. We should get going."
"I-I should be leaving too," Nathan said, as he gathered his
packages back into his arms. "Take care, Mr. Vance and Miss Eden!"
"That kid is so weird," Vance muttered, as he watched Nathan
scamper away. "Eden, he's gone now. Tell me what's up."
"I told you, everything's alright!" Eden shouted.
"Vance, just let it go already! We all have our uneasy moments."
"Everything's alright?" Vance shook his head. "My dad
said the same thing to me after my mom disappeared. Who do you think you are, huh?
You think you're protecting me by hiding something from me? I deserve to know
the truth!"
Hearing the last of Vance's words made Eden stop in her tracks. Then,
she ran on ahead.
*
The four Dimensional Knight Captains sat around a small table in the back
corner of the Starboard, a popular restaurant within the Enmetropolis mall.
Azuka was just finishing up the last of her grilled salmon, while 2nd
division Captain Kamo Metro was halfway through a plate of sauteed asparagus.
"The Daughter has been among us all this time," 1st
division Captain Ravi Katjagaarda spoke softly. She wore a black-and-brown
embroidered salwar-kameez with black leggings underneath the hem of the dress.
The sleeves had been cut short to improve mobility, revealing her muscular
arms. "We have no choice but to protect her now."
"Preposterous," 3rd division Captain Maximilian
Trujillo murmured. He wore a black-and-gold jacket and pants combo with a black
hat decorated by a red rose. His thin mustache curled down with his lips as he
frowned in indignation. "I saw her at the assembly. Her aura is minuscule!"
"We still aren’t 100% sure, right?" Kamo outstretched his
hands. In contrast to his colleagues’ formal attire, he wore a plain grey sweatsuit.
"Who knows, the Zodiacs could be wrong. Or maybe they're trying to throw us
off on purpose."
"I don't think so," Azuka said. "I didn’t want to believe
that Eden was the one, but it all makes sense, now. Her strange psynergy aura,
its limitless power, as well as her mysterious origins...it should have been obvious
from the start."
"Tao must have known this from the moment she stepped foot in the
Guild," Maximilian said. "Yet he still hasn’t reported it to the Church...
Why?"
Azuka cleared her throat. "Either way, we must be prepared for the
worst possible situation."
Kamo gave his comrades shifty glances. "Y'know, I really don't
wanna ask, but...what is the worst possible situation?"
"You’re right," Azuka replied. "You don’t want to know.
For now, we need to focus on stamping out the Dark Zodiacs – not only within the
tournament, but outside it as well. Vice-Captain Walden is currently meeting with
your vice-captains and discussing a plan for within the tournament boundaries.
We are to secure any external happenings."
"The tournament committee will need to be guarded as well," Ravi
said. "As usual, the Zodiacs are most likely planning to strike from multiple
fronts and cause as much confusion as possible. They’re going to want to
separate us."
Kamo scratched his head. "I’m really not looking forward to having
to fight them in the city."
"They’re criminals, murderers, pirates, and terrorists," Azuka
said, running a finger through her hair. "They’ll do everything they can
to win."
"It’s so hard being a good guy," Kamo said with a frown. "We
have to stick to all the rules, while they get to do whatever they want."
"As it must be." Maximilian stood up from the dinner table and
adjusted his hat. "Serving justice to the cretins of society has never been
a pleasant job, but it is an honorable one."
"One last thing," Azuka added. "Don't mention anything about
the Daughter to your vice-captains."
"Aww..." Kamo stuck out his bottom lip. "But I love spreading
juicy gossip!"
"They do not need to know." Azuka stared into each of
her fellow captains' eyes. "It would only complicate things further."
"I don't know why you would want us to withhold such information,"
Ravi said, "but as this concerns one of your Knights, I will honor your
wishes."
"I appreciate it." Azuka stood and nodded to her comrades.
"What time should we meet tomorrow?"
"I assume five o'clock in the morning shall be sufficient," Ravi
declared. "We have clearance to the indoor observation rooms and the committee
chamber, so we should meet in the lobby of the observation tower."
"The one that overlooks the arena?" Kamo asked. "But I thought
the preliminary round was somewhere else."
"It is. But we needn't concern ourselves with the preliminaries.
We need to keep our eye on the prize, and make sure that no one 'tampers' with
anything in the calm of the storm."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Maximilian said as he walked
out of the restaurant.
"In that case, meeting adjourned." Ravi gave a quick nod to
Kamo and then sped out.
"What the – hey!" Kamo shouted, looking down at the cluttered
table and the bill that still sat in the center. "You jerks! Acting all
professional, and then...you owe me for this!"
*
"Twelve o'clock!" Vance shouted into Cliff's face. "You
told us to meet you here at twelve, and now it's one! Or are we just so unimportant
that you forgot all about us?!"
Cliff sighed, adjusted his cowboy hat, and looked down at Vance.
"Sorry, Vance. The others and I got kind of held up talking about our
plans for tomorrow. All the vice-captains are entering the tournament with us,
you know."
"It's alright, Cliff, we understand." Eden smiled.
"Captain Azuka still hasn't even returned yet, so you're actually early."
"That is so not fair!" Vance shouted. "If I was this
late, you people would be all over me!"
Eden rolled her eyes. "I've had to deal with this all day. I think
the tournament is really getting to him."
Cliff raised an eyebrow. "Looks like she has you all figured out,
Vance."
"Maybe." Vance stared at Eden intently. "I just wish
she’d give me a chance to figure her out."
Cliff gave both teenagers a suspicious glance. "Well, did you eat
lunch?"
"Yeah, we had sandwiches," Eden said. "Although Vance threw
half of his away."
"It had corn and mayonnaise in it. It tasted horrible," Vance
grumbled.
"Wow, you're even more agitated than usual," Cliff said with a
snicker. "What's eating you?"
"Can we go home yet?" Vance asked. "Captain Azuka knows
her way back to the hotel, right? I don't know about you guys, but I
really need to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow."
"I agree, we all need to prepare." Cliff smiled. "And
that's exactly what I've been doing for the past few hours. Psynergy training
alone isn't going to cut it, you know. We're not going to be fighting the whole
time."
"What?" Vance swerved. "What do you mean?"
"The real one-on-one fights won't even begin until the finals,"
Cliff explained. "Because of the huge number of people who signed up this
year, there will be several preliminary 'sudden death' matches early on to eliminate
as many weaklings as possible."
"Sudden death?" Vance's eyes widened. "You can't mean..."
"Relax, it's just a figure of speech," Cliff joked.
"It's not like they're actually going to try and kill thousands of people
right off the bat...I hope. I'm sure they have some system installed to protect
people's lives. The point is, we’ll need teamwork if we want to make it to the
end."
"We may be able to single out the Dark Zodiacs early on, then,"
Eden said.
"True!" Cliff agreed. "We know what they look like now,
too. We just need to make sure we stick together."
"Well said, Vice-Captain," Azuka's voice called out from
behind the group. "Vance, Eden, how was your morning?"
"Twelve o'clock," Vance growled between gritted teeth.
"What was that?" Azuka bent in close to her student's face.
"I said around twelve. I'd say that that constitutes at least a six-hour
grace period either before or after the time."
Vance stared at her, stupefied. "What?!"
"It was a test of patience, one that you failed miserably,
Vance," Azuka said with a smirk. "It seems like you still need more
self-control, even after your training with Averyl."
"Self-control isn't exactly that guy's strong point..." Vance
murmured.
"Anyway, let’s head back," Azuka said. "It won’t be long
now before the festivities begin."
Azuka watched her three students walk toward the exit and let out a
long sigh. I shouldn't have kept them waiting...but Zeigfried rang...
As Vance, Eden, and Cliff climbed the stairs to the surface, they gradually
grew smaller, disappearing into the light. After this tournament, nothing
will be the same. I can feel it. But if there's one thing I want to protect,
it's them...no matter what I have to sacrifice.
Next: Necrophagy Elegy
