Enaros stood with his team of draconian warriors in the center of the small village discussing their plan, as Navru rushed to catch him before they left.
"You're making a mistake Enaros! Rushing into this will only bring more suffering. You must think this through." He said, voice full of concern.
Enaros didn't even turn to him.
"I've thought it through. Nara is there. That's all the reason I need." He said bluntly.
"And what of the others? The warriors you'll take with you? Their lives are in your hands. They're families are at risk of being put in the same position as we are. Don't let your grief blind you. My daughter wouldn't—"
"Don't! Don't bring her into this..." Enaros cut him off with.
Despite that, the elder kept trying to reach him with his words.
"You know as well as I do that Nix shouldn't be going! If something happens—"
"Nix is going!" Enaros snapped, finally turning to face him.
"You saw what he did to that boy, his chest wound… His healing abilities are unlike anything we've ever seen, possibly surpassing his own mother. He'll be key to keeping us alive when the fighting starts."
"But–"
"Enough! I've made my decision, and I won't argue with you anymore. Prepare to defend the village while we're gone… father."
With that, he turned and walked toward the gathered warriors. Nix walked with them, staring back at his grandpa with a look of guilt on his face. Once gathered, they vanished to the high treeline, leaping from tree to tree. Enaros led the way with Nix by his side.
"We've got intel from the recon team. The likely location of Nara is a building near the southern coastline. It seems it was recently constructed. The few remaining residents from the nearest village have confirmed that the building was never there until recently." One of the warriors named Tyrek began to say.
"The building only appears to be guarded by two people. One of them being Aqua." He finished with.
The sound of Aqua's name made Nix's chest tightened as memories of his sister's fight with her resurfaced. But before he got lost in his thoughts, Tyrek said something else.
"That's not all. There's another one there. They're masked. No one could get a good read on them. But–"
"It doesn't matter!" Enaros said.
"No matter how strong they are, we'll show them the true strength of the Draconians. Failure is not an option."
The group all shouted in unison.
"YEAH!!"
Later, they arrived at a large clearing where the building was. It was… quiet. The team spread out silently, taking their positions like they planned. Enaros signaled for them to wait as he scanned the area for movement.
"Where are you hiding, Aqua?" He thought to himself.
Then, a rain droplet hit his arm.
"Ow! What was that?" He said before glancing down to where the droplet hit him, only to see blood coming from the spot.
"Blood? But how?"
Another droplet fell. Then another, and another.
"This isn't right." Tyrek muttered, looking up at the cloudless sky.
"It shouldn't be raining now."
Enaros' eyes became wide as they possibly could as he realized what was happening.
"We're under attack! Everyone avoid the rain at all costs!" He screamed to the rest of his team.
But it was too late.
The light drizzle transformed into a monsoon-like downpour. The team scrambled for shelter under the huge trees, but some weren't fortunate enough to make it.
"AAAHHHHH! I CAN'T SEE! IT GOT INTO MY EYES!" One warrior screamed out, blood oozing from his eyes.
"PLEASE STOP! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" One warrior on the ground cried out.
From a distance, Aqua stood on the cliffside holding up a hand sign.
"Rain of Death."
On their ships deep in the forest, Sera sat on a swing that was made out of her strings as she listened to Velzari and Jorak argue over something. Behind her was a stage with a thick red curtain covering it entirely. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"What's taking these idiots so long?" She thought to herself.
Out of the blue, the noise of the other two arguing vanished, replaced by complete silence. Her irritation turned into confusion when she looked around only to see pitch black.
"What in the name of the stars is going on? It's so dark. I can't see or hear Jorak or Velzari anymore. Jorak!? Vel–" She began to say until she felt a slight tug on some of her strings holding the crew for a brief second before going back to normal.
"Wha– did one of them break free? Impossible. They shouldn't be able to move and their essence should be completely suppressed." She thought to herself.
Jorak froze as his eyes darted around.
"This… this is the same as before."
Velzari, however, was seething, his hand glowing faintly with essence.
"That witch again. She cost me my kill before, but this time—" He held up his hand.
"Oblivion Grenade!"
A massive blast of yellow essence erupted from his hand, obliterating half the ship and destroying a section of the forest outside. The darkness vanished allowing in light for them all to see and hear again.
As the dust and debris settled, Sera and the others looked around. To their shock, multiple Kaelines stood around them. One of them threw a kunai at Jorak, who caught it.
"Ouch! What the?!" Jorak yelped out before looking down to his hand where blood dripped out.
"I know I dodged it, but it still cut me… Hey you, spooky shadow lady! What kind of cheap trick is this?!
Before anyone could answer, one of the Kaelines stepped into the shadow of another Kaenline. It was as if she walked into a portal, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Wh–"
Suddenly, the same Kaeline emerged from the shadow of the kunai he's holding. She grabbed Jorak's head, yanking it back ready to slice his throat.
"String Impale!"
Glittering strings shot from Sera's hands, piercing the Kaeline through her chest and limbs. She let out a silent hiss before dissolving into the shadow.
The other Kaelines responded in unison, each pulling out a kunai and throwing it at each of them. Sera deflected all of the kunai with her strings, Velzari blasted them away, and Jorak dodged with a crazed laugh.
"Cowards! Hiding in the dark and throwing toys? Is that all you've got?! You're going to have to bring more than that to handle the Bea–"
Without warning, a cable whipped around the beast's torso. He yelped in surprise as the line yanked him backwards, disappearing into the forest before Sera or Velzari could react.
"What the—?!" Sera began to speak, but stopped as the darkness returned, swallowing her vision and hearing again.
"UGHHH I CAN'T SEE AGAIN!" She growled.
"Don't worry captain, I'l–" Velzari began to say but stopped out of nowhere.
He felt cold hands gripping his ankle. He looked down to see shadowy hands emerging from his own shadow. Next to it was a kunai, one from the barrage thrown earlier.
"What the—?" Velzari yelped in a panic, trying to pull free, but more hands appeared, crawling up his legs and arms.
"I will not be taken by—" He tried to say before being dragged into the darkness.
Sera stood alone as the darkness disappeared..
"This is ridiculous. Fight me face-to—"
She froze mid sentence after what she saw. Standing amidst the rubble of the building, was Talon.
"And who are you supposed to be?" She yelled out.
But then she blinked, realizing something was wrong.
Her perspective was off.
She wasn't looking at Talon anymore.
She slowly glanced down at her body—and her eyes widened as much as they possibly could.
Her body was facing the wrong direction.
Talon eyes glowed with a smirk on her face.
"Looks like the show's over folks."
Sera's body began to twitch uncontrollably. Talon raised her hand to finish the job until she heard Sera begin to speak again.
"Over… OVER? YOU BROKE MY NECK YOU CRAZY BITCH! Who does that?! And let's not even start on you and your friends jumping in like a bad holo-drama! You think you're so cool with your tricks and your smug little smirk! Ugh, I can't stand it!"
Talon tilted her head, growing more confused by each passing second.
"Wait… why aren't you—"
Before she could finish, Sera's head twisted back into place with a loud crack. She stood up, brushing herself off as if her neck wasn't twisted twenty times more than it should've been a second ago.
"How are you… alive?" Talon asked, baffled.
"Simple my dear… I've been blessed by the Grand Order."
"The grand what now?"
"The Grand Order. The ones destined to overthrow the Accord, claim the Cosmic Heart, and ascend as the true gods of this universe."
"Overthrow the Accord? Claim the Cosmic Heart and become gods? Oh great..." Talon said as she rolled her eyes.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Please tell me this is some sort of joke or a lame plot to one of your scripts."
"Hahahahaha. Oh, you simpleton. It's not for you to understand. You wouldn't know greatness if it stared you in the face." Sera said while unironically staring her dead in her face.
She clapped her hands.
The thick red curtain dropped, revealing the captured crew suspended in mid-air entangled in glowing strings.
"And here they are, your precious crewmates. Each one fitted with an essence bomb—one wrong move and, well… you should know the rest."
"Talon! We're fine. Don't let her get in your head." Elara called out, trying to seem distressed but her acting was atrocious.
Talon swallowed a chuckle that tried to escape her throat. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at her.
"Oh really now? Because you're the ones slacking off while I'm doing all the work."
Finn, who was dangling unconscious for some reason… began to groan something. Rorik was able to understand whatever he said, and spoke in place of him.
"I think he said he has to go to the bathroom."
Sera looked at Finn and looked back to Talon.
"Uhhhh–"
"He's our special child." Talon said dryly.
She shook her head and focused.
"Okay… Rorik, Finn, Elara, Elysia… That's four. Where the hell is that little orange devil?" She thought to herself.
Out of nowhere, a drop of what seemed to be water dripped on her head.
"Huh?" She looked up to see Jinx tied up in A LOT more strings than everyone else.
"Hey you orange idiot, what are you doing up there? And why are you wearing a muzzle?... You know what? I think that look suits you." Talon said, smiling up towards her.
Jinx screamed something through her muzzle as loud as she could. No one was sure what she said but it definitely wasn't family friendly. Sera began to get annoyed watching the crew goof off like nothing out of the ordinary is going on and snapped her fingers, tightening the strings around the captured crew members' mouths.
"Enough of this petty squabbling. Speaking of your little boyfriend, where is he?"
"None of your business." Talon replied dryly.
"You insolent brat! Do you even know who you're dealing with? I am Sera, one of the chosen of the Grand Order, and I—"
"Yeah yeah whatever. I swear everyone around here just likes to hear themselves talk." Talon said as she cleaned out her ear with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
Sera's eye twitched. Suddenly, her light blue and violet essence erupted in a blaze around her. Talon's CPI scanner blinked to life.
Sera: 800,000 CPI
Sera pointed a finger at her.
"What's the point of all this? Do you think you're actually going to win? Was this your big plan!?" She blurted out.
"Plan?" Talon whispered, a small smirk appearing on her face.
Deep in the forest, Viro dragged Jorak through the bushes and whatever poor creature was in the way. Jorak thrashed wildly, shouting the entire time.
"Let me go you piece of scrap metal or you'll regret this! The 'Beast' will take care of you, I swear!"
"Okay!" Viro responded.
"Huh?" Jorak barely had time to process anything before Viro hurled him with monstrous strength. He tumbled through several trees before crashing into a distant river.
Elsewhere, Velzari stumbled into a clearing with a look of panic on his face. He raised a glowing hand as his eyes darted around the heavily wooded area.
"What just happened? Where am I?" He muttered.
A shadow shifted, and Kaeline emerged from the trunk of a nearby tree.
"That should be enough for you… Talon."
Back at the half destroyed ship, Talon's eyes glowed and her hair began floating behind her.
"I am the plan." She said calmly.
She raised her right hand and the ground began to tremble violently beneath them before splitting open.
From a distance, Aqua standing on the same cliffside as before felt the ground shake viciously under her, almost losing her footing.
"The ground… What is going on?"
She looked up and her eyes opened wide as they could. In front of her, three mountain sized rocks were floating in the air in the distance. They ascended into the sky, parting the clouds nearly ten kilometers above the ground.