8 Great Spirits

Seeing his bomb flying back to him, Rai felt a bit disappointed.

It was only after a moment of silence that he regained his composure, already determined to test it out as soon as he got the chance.

After that, his mind finally reverted to caring about less important things.

"Who are you?" Bomb at the ready, he watched the sky and waited.

The flashing stopped, but resumed once the speaking continued.

"Can you not see what I am?" Rai's brow raised.

"The sky?" He asked, unsure.

"Precisely."

"Makes sense." He nodded, then started to climb down.

Below him, Rie and Niu were lazing about under the fruit tree.

They were discussing what to do with the fruits that were greenish yellow before the voice startled them.

They struggled to their feet, then rushed over to where Rai was last seen.

After washing their hands and faces in the river, they arrived at what was left of the waterfall.

As they arrived, Rai had just gotten far enough down the tree to see them.

"Hey! Get up here. The sky is talking." Rai then climbed back up, only this time he was followed by Rie and Niu.

"The sky? You sure?" Rie wasn't quick to believe, however Niu was already certain.

"That voice came from everywhere. And the higher up we get, the sweeter the air smells." Niu made an observation, startling Rie.

"So it might be true? The sky can talk?" Rie muttered.

Niu could hear, of course, and responded thusly: "We aren't in Kansas anymore, Dorothy."

Silence followed....

Rie and Rai stopped climbing and looked at each other.

Niu met their gazes and shrugged.

"Don't blame me. Blame the writer."

Before long, they got to the top of the tree.

"Look." Rai pointed toward.

"Nice to see you." The sky spoke and flashed blue again.

"Yes... Nice to see us. Who might you be? Sir? Ma'am? Person-- thing?" Rie bowed his head slightly, showing respect.

"I am not a 'who' Rie. I am that which you see. The sky." The sky chuckled, if that was even possible.If the brothers were being honest, they would say it was just soft thunder.

However, Rie was dumbstruck. The sky knew his name?

"That's pretty crazy, if you ask me." Rai huffed, eying his bomb.

"Forgive them, they're inside kids." Niu cupped his fist in a salute, then smiled warmly at the ...sky.

"Speaking to people on a daily basis is more my thing."

"I can tell. You're a keen and patient observer." The sky seemed to be praising him, but the tone of voice was hard to accurately identify.

"I also saw that you and Rie enjoy mangoes."

Rie and Niu shared a look.

"So that's what they're called!" They smiled, remembering the sweet taste.

"Are you two idiots forgetting something. This poser knew Rie's name." Rai delivered the quick slap that brought them back to reality.

"I know yours as well Rai." The sky laughed again.

"Who might this little one be. Is he a friend of yours?" The sky then got quiet, patiently waiting for their response.

"Friend? He's our brother." Rai frowned. Rie also had a puzzled look on his face.

"My name is Niu. Niu Iste. The youngest." Niu kept his eye on the sky.

He didn't know it, but because of his superior eyesight he saw that there was a brief moment that the sky flashed red.

However, he thought his brothers saw it too, since it wasn't obscured by anything.

"I see." The sky remained silent for some time, then it "cleared it's throat" and spoke again.

"I am the Spirit in the Sky. Chosen to be the first to converse with the Iste Brothers." The sky began to dim, becoming the night sky before long.

"When I sensed you were in danger, I notified the others. They assisted, and now you are here, where it will begin anew."

The brothers remained silent. They knew when someone was being deathly serious, and knew how to act accordingly.

"This place is my Eden-- Sky's Eden. All Great Spirits are bound to certain things and places, and this is where I am bound. Through our Edens, we great spirits can act as one if the need arises. We share our thoughts and converse with all spirits this way."

"Sorry for eating your fruit." Rie apologized immediately.

Rai scoffed, but Rie punched his shoulder. Hard.

"I'm sorry ...for your .... waterfall." Rai was fighting the urge to cry out in pain.

"No need for apologies." The sky then ignored them completely and continued.

"The Spirit in the Sun, The Spirit in the Moon, The Spirit in the Earth, The Spirit in the Water, The Spirit in the Air, The Spirit in Death, The Spirit in Life and The Spirit in the Magic."

"These great spirits require you to visit all of their Edens." The sky sighed.

"What is it?" Niu picked up in something.

"This young one is truly observant."

"The Iste Brothers will receive the essence of the Great Spirits." The sky said no more.

Clouds began to condense in large numbers, thunderous booms already sounding out.

"There is no redemption for us. We know this. Our creation was given too much. Now you brothers must take it all back." They could not hear the spirit's words as it began to pour its essence into the clouds.

Finally, rain started falling.

Saying nothing, the brothers allowed the rain to fall on them.

Rie and Rai unknowingly closed their eyes, but Niu was unfazed.

He seemed curious. As the rain fell on him, each drop would flash either blue or red. Finally, it stopped. The sky remained dark.

No matter how they tried to talk to it, it did not respond. They could only guess that he was dead.

"What do we do now?" Niu asked his brothers, saddened by the death of the sky.

"I don't know." Rie sighed.

However, after looking around, Rai laughed.

"This is what we do now!" Without warning, he tossed the bomb he had been holding for so long. It spun in the air and flew like a stone.

When it knocked against some faraway branches, it was set off. The components came together and caused an explosion that shocked even Rai.

What shocked him more was that the explosion was still happening, getting closer and closer.

"Shit! Run, guys, run!" Rai leapt from where he was and landed on a lower branch, then he continued to fall over and over until he got to the ground.

As soon as his feet hit solid ground, he took off running.

Rie and Niu came right behind him, not bothering to look back.

They knew that not too far behind them, trees larger than they could believe we're being decimated and turned into ash.

They ran even faster than Rai die, catching up to him before long.

They ran and ran and ran through the jungle, not stopping for a second.

When they finally got to a place that wasn't as densely forested, they stopped. However, much to their dismay, the destruction had kept up with them.

It was slowing down, but it was still fast enough. Before they could even resume running, it caught up with them.

Like ragdolls, they were tossed into the air. The broke past branches and leaves, slammed into trees and eventually were taken up into the air. They flew for almost a minute.

Luckily, they had only been struck by the excess force.

In essence, it was like a strong gust of wind.

They finally started to fall, having to grab hold of trees so that they didn't fall to their deaths.

They were separated, but after a few quick shouts they were able to ascertain each other's locations.

"Rai, what the hell!?" Rie raged, rapping his brother on the head.

"Hmph! Don't act like that wasn't awesome." Rai turned away and folded his arms.

"Awesome? What was awesome about that? Do you know what awesome means?" Rie held him by the neck and shook him violently.

"What would have been awesome was you dying. That way you would have paid for your actions immediately. An instant karma. But no, you made us suffer with you." Rie continued shouting and spraying spit. Niu turned around and saw that almost the entire forest was ablaze.

"You destroyed..... Sky's Eden is no more." Niu sighed and bowed his head. He kowtowed to the burning forest a few times.

His brothers noticed him and kept silent.

"Well, no point in leaving the job unfinished. Let's end it once and for all." Rai produced another bomb, even larger than the other one.

This was the one he was most excited about. He had added more of the rock dust to this one.

"Are you insane!? Never again! Just what the hell is wrong with you!? Is your brain okay!?" Rie put his hands over his face, made a show of how much he was disappointed and worried, he even fell to his knees.

"I give up. Rai, the next time you decide to pull a stunt like that, just make sure that me and Niu are no where to be seen. Stay far away."

Rie left, dejected.

Niu looked at Rai, seeing anger in his eyes.

"Fine then!" Rai left in another direction, walking with purpose and conviction.

Niu knew that there was tension between them. He had never attempted to help his brothers out of such a situation, so he was at a temporary loss.

"They're probably used to dealing with things themselves, I guess." Niu left in another direction, leaving the burning forest behind him.

"There's so much to see out here. I'll go exploring a bit. As long as they don't go too far, I should be able to find them." Niu then whistled for a bit and began his stroll.

He even started singing, hearing some birds whistling around him. It seemed like they were mimicking his tune, so he returned to whistling.

His happy tunes were interrupted by all too familiar sound.

In the not-so-distant distance, he heard his brother's voice.

"Shit! Run, guys, run!"