CHAPTER THREE: PROTOCOL ‘OCULAR’

Ryu stood with Reis in the Class Of Honours. Everyone else was quite surprised to see a Deviant in the Class Of Honours, all except for Reis Dragonhaärt.

"You probably already know what's going on by now Reis" Ryu said.

"I can't say for certain that I understand everything going on but I do know that if Protocol 'Limelight' was raised, then it is a very serious matter" Reis said.

"Wait a sec…you understand Protocol Limelight?" Ryu asked.

"Yep, I do. An ancient weapon of warfare currently used to support agriculture through the dispersal and amplification of Light pretty much sums it up" Reis said with a laugh.

"Hmm, he appears to have great understanding. Perhaps telling him a bit more about what's going on might not be such a bad idea after all" Ryu thought.

"Ryu…anything wrong? You appear to be a little lost in thought" Reis said.

"Well there's a little more to the attack on the Farms than we told you before" Ryu said.

"Really? And…wait a minute, why are you telling me this now?" Reis folded his arms with a suspicious grin on his face.

"Believe me, I'm still debating on whether to tell you the rest or not. But you do understand Protocol Limelight implying some great measure of understanding on your part and further implying that to a large extent…you're trustworthy" Ryu said.

"And you're basing this judgement of yours on the fact that I understand Limelight? Makes sense though. It takes a certain special sort of filter to comprehend Limelight" Reis said with a grin.

"Okay, to get to the matter at hand, the Kolmnid Farms were attacked by a group, not only by Galigaos" Ryu said.

"You're not telling me anything new. The moment he called himself the founder of 'The Sanctum Of Decadent Wyverns' was the moment I figured out that the Farms were attacked by a group" Reis said.

"Well, you know what they are after then?" Ryu asked.

"A legacy I suppose is important to your homeworld" Reis said.

"Well, it is a legacy that is important to your homeworld too Reis. In my world, we call it Ryuujinn's Legacy. In yours, I believe you call it 'The One King's Legacy' but on Benedict's Ark, it is known as 'The Legacy Of Life' and it is important to all the worlds" Ryu explained.

Reis assumed a serious look.

"What's even more frightening is the fact that one of the people that attacked the Farms may be the darkness of my homeworld in disguise. You know him as Armageddon in your world" Ryu said.

"Armageddon?!" Reis exclaimed in horror.

Ryu nodded.

"So what do you intend to do about this. Seeing as you've figured all of this out, I suppose you have some sort of a plan don't you?" Reis asked.

"Hmm hmm, just a bit" Ryu said with a smirk. "Before I came here, I paid a little visit to the Academy Director and was granted access to the Protocol Ocular. It is a kind of advanced sight that will allow us to view this entire Academy. We should be able to temporarily eavesdrop on the activities of the group that attacked the Farms and learn a bit of what they are planning" Ryu said.

"Okay then, let's use it now" Reis said.

"Engage Protocol Ocular!" Ryu called out.

His and Reis' eyes slowly changed, turning fiery.

Reis and Ryu could now view the entire Academy in great detail. Hidden within a dark isolated region of the Academy were a group of people with Galigaos in the lead.

"That's Galigaos, the one standing in front of the others and currently speaking" Reis pointed out.

"And that one over there with the fiery crimson hair and eyes is the one I told you about. It is indeed as I feared. Without a certainty…that…is Tristran" Ryu said seriously.

"Why have you gathered us Galigaos?" one of the people gathered there asked. "Depending on what you have to say, I may view you as an ally or foe" the same person said.

He had long dark hair, dark eyes and crimson pupils. He also had two long crimson scars flowing down his eyes to his chin.

"A little patience Zanfar" Galigaos said.

"Zanfar?! That's the darkness of Zan's homeworld!" Ryu exclaimed.

"Gilgamesh, Abaddon, Zanfar, Tristran, I gathered you all because there is something of great importance I wanted to discuss" Galigaos said.

"If it is about the so-called Legacy the people aboard this accursed Ark are protecting, I already know about it. You seem to forget that we were with you during the attack on the Farms" Zanfar said.

"Ever considered the probability that this 'Legacy' is an invented fable the people aboard this Ark have invented to keep us distracted?" Tristran retorted.

"Oh, it's real. You can trust me on that. Jinrai my accursed archnemesis went so far as to abandon his family to protect the heirs to a certain kingdom on my homeworld, and then he risked his life so many times to safeguard this legacy and if there is one thing I know about Jinrai it's that he is not a shallow man. A parchment I snatched from him had imprinted on it three images I believe may be the key to our imminent doom. The images of a princess leading an army…" Galigaos said.

No one reacted.

"A boy with a heart whose image overlapped with the image of a dragon…" Galigaos said.

Tristran frowned slightly. Galigaos noticed this.

"…and a great ship weathering a tremendous storm…" Galigaos said.

Everyone remained silent.

"If this legacy is an invented fable, can you explain what it is we are doing on this Ark now and why it is that Tristran looks so concerned?" Galigaos asked.

"A boy with a heart who overlaps the image of a dragon. An element like that is the reason I failed to dominate Kolmnid" Tristran said with a slight growl.

"And an element like that has been my plague for a long time. A plague that stretches far back into my homeworld's history" Galigaos said.

Zanfar seemed to be paying attention now.

"This 'legacy' as you called it may not be a fable after all. If we could get our hands on it, we could turn the tables on our foes" Zanfar said.

"We cannot allow them to gather around the co-protectors of that legacy. It is quite easy to guess who these co-protectors are. It is most likely the two whose lives form a parallelism with the elements from the second image you described" Tristran said.

"We'll discuss later how best to separate them from one another" Galigaos said.

"Protocol Ocular, disengage" Ryu called and their vision returned to normal.

"They appear to think of the Legacy as some sort of weapon. It's no wonder they keep losing" Ryu laughed.

"Well, they aren't exactly wrong" Reis noted.