Edward and Huey, still transformed, looked at the star covered creature standing in front of them. Edward raised his sword slightly towards the glowing being whose body was still painted like a galaxy. Huey bluntly asked if it was their friend or not.
"Are you really Norvin? Or are you some weird creature possessing him? Some weird anime plot shit or something?"
"A-ha ha ha!"
The sub body answered after laughing. "I am, and I am not. Let me look for an easy way to explain this to you Huey, an analogy from Earth...Those symbiotes from the Spiderman comics you like to read...Its like that but on a much more 'spiritual level'...Also, this is for keeps, I am him and he is me, our egos will remain separate however...Norvin is still very much alive and well..."
After hearing this Edward dropped his guard a little, only a little.
Huey fired off a series of questions.
"How do you know about Spiderman? How do you know my name? What are you exactly? How can we become Kamen Riders? Not that I'm complaining of course...and why are you speaking for Norvin?"
"When Norvin decided to make you his Oracles, he exhausted too much energy at once and passed out more or less, so, to avoid us dying, I took control of our body. I know everything he knows, therefore I'm aware of all the faux heroes from your realm, as well as everything about you, brat. He will be up fairly soon but both of you won't be around to talk to him sadly...this place is not suited for anyone else except curators...You don't really need to know more than that for now."
"Okay, well that isn't going to fly at all. Wake Norvin up, right now!" Edward had raised his sword toward Norvin's glowing body again.
"Relax, you giant dummy...Norvin is fine and I'm not going to hurt you or the kid here...You should have most of the knowledge about Curators and Oracles in those thick heads of yours. So don't ask anymore questions about that. I need you both to go get stronger by heading through that purple-colored door over there..."
As Edward gripped his sword even tighter, the air around them seemed to move with a strange energy. The sub body, still shimmering with starlight, suddenly paused. A change rippled through its form, a flicker of awareness in its cosmic features. "We're not alone," it said, it's voice now full of urgency.
Huey frowned inside his helmet, glancing over his shoulder. The vast trees of the forest surrounding the portals loomed like ancient sentinels, their tangled branches full of secrets. It felt as though a thousand unseen eyes were perched in the shadows, watching their every move. "What do you mean?" he asked, anxiety threading through his tone.
The sub body's glow intensified, casting ethereal light across Huey and Edward's armored forms. "There are powerful meta creatures here. They sense our presence, and they're drawn to it. You two are far weaker than they are. You must go through the purple gate—now!"
Edward's grip on his sword tightened, instinctively feeling the weight of the threat that loomed close. "I'm not leaving without Norvin! We need to wake him up!" He glanced back toward the glowing figure. "There has to be another way."
The sub body shook its head, a shimmering aura flickering as if struggling against an invisible current. "You don't understand! Your safety is paramount. I won't have control over this body for long; soon, those who hunt will come. They can't sense Norvin when he uses his power, but they will, and have, sensed you!"
Many different colored glowing eyes were gathering near the edge of the clearing, around 100 meters away. It was more than just a feeling now.
A peculiar formation of golden-hued clouds began to form in the distance, gradually moving toward the trio as if a pack of celestial wolves were gathering for the hunt.
Huey, filled with disbelief and a bit of fear, shot Edward a look. "I mean, he makes a point. We can't just stand here and wait to be hunted. What's the plan then dude? We can't do anything if we're dead! Also, what the hell are those clouds?"
"Okay, fine!" Edward relented, his voice heavy with resignation. "But we're coming back. You hear me, Norvin? We're coming back!"
With that, the sub body gestured toward the purple gate, which pulsed with an inviting glow—its surface shimmering like liquid amethyst. "He can't hear you...Now hurry! Step through!"
Before Edward could protest further, the sub body's psychic energy surged forward, capturing both him and Huey in a gentle, yet insistent, grasp. "Trust me," it urged, urgency flowing into their connection. "Your path begins beyond that gate. One of the Curators sent its Oracles into our world to try and claim me...I'm not sure why but you need to go to the one realm where there isn't a Curator present..."
"Where the hell does it lead to?" Edward paused and held onto Huey's arm with an armored hand.
"What are those clouds!? Quit ignoring me you fuckers!" Huey was starting to get annoyed with the two others.
The glowing eyes blinked, releasing some more wafts of golden smoke while peering at Edward.
"...How should I know? I only have contact with the record from our side, as well as the pocket realm we are currently standing in...portals normally don't just form out in space so you should at least end up on a planet or something...you can't go back home, there is no way to advance in strength quickly there. Find out the lay of the land over there...It will benefit all of us greatly. Try not to die...for Norvin's sake, it's not like he makes friends easily."
"How do you know there isn't a curator there?"
"Because its here, in God's Garden...now go!'
The glowing face finally looked in Huey's direction. ''...Oh, Huey, those are called 'summersault clouds'...now you know."
"...What are summersault clo-whooooaaaaa!"
With a flick of psychic energy, the duo was pitched through the purple vortex.
The sub body put his hands to his head and stumbled around a bit.
'Where did you send Edward and Huey!?' Norvin had come to his senses right as the two had been flung through the purple gateway.
Norvin's current cosmic look was starting to reverse.
'You couldn't have picked a worse time to wake back up kid...I'm going to syphon the rest of our energy back into the Holodex.'
'You feel like catching me up a bit here or what?'
'We can talk later, after we hide somewhere in the forest...at least until the stronger metas forget about all the Oracles that were just here.'
At this point, Norvin was more-or-less back to his normal self. The cosmic glow was gone, Norvin looked nearly the same as he had when he first entered the bar and now had control over his body again.
'Pick our next form well, those things stirring at the edge of the clearing are all D to B grade level creatures. Most of them are just hungry beasts but several have a small amount of wits about them. I would suggest using something fast, just breeze by them...we only need to make it to the edge of the clearing.'
The final vestiges of golden energy headed down Norvin's arm and into the holodex.
Just chatting in his own mind wasn't enough for Norvin anymore.
"DUDE...What the hell is going on here?!"
The sub body still answered in Norvin's mind.
'Shut up! You shouldn't have yelled, you dummy!'
A handful of strange looking creatures stepped out into the open, out of the shadow of the woods. The creatures that were nearby them parted way and started to retreat themselves, intimidated by the ones who had stepped forward.
There were four solidary creatures and a small pack of beasts that had stepped out into the clearing. The rest of the eyes slowly disappeared and left, back into where they had come from.
'Use your 'cosmic catalogue'...You'll see what kind of mess we're in Norvin. This is way worse than I figured. Why is there a 'Stormchaser' with those lousy mutts?'
The sub body was referring to the four-meter-tall beast that was leading a small group of wolf-like creatures. As soon as the hulking creature had come forth, all of the 'summersault clouds' that had been approaching seemed to dissipate into nothingness again. As soon as they did, darker clouds started to take their place. Wind started to blow, and the air crackled with a strange static electricity-like quality.
'Holy shit, that thing is huge...' If Norvin wasn't now naturally calm, due to his awakened psychic abilities, he would have been a lot more afraid of what was standing out front. He thought about activating his scanning ability and that personal heads-up display appeared in front of his eyes again.
He focused on the 'Stormchaser' and a golden outline appeared around it from his perspective. He was able to see a close up of the creature in his vision as well.
The creature looked like a mix between a wolf and an eagle, featuring feathers that crackled with electricity and a tail that swirled around like a thundercloud. The poof of fur on the end of it's tail really looked like a storm cloud.
"This thing can 'Summon storms and manipulate lightning, channeling powerful electrical currents through its body.'...I guess the name is pretty fitting huh."
'Yea kid, they're born from chaotic weather patterns, their essence tied to the very fabric of elemental storms.'
"They're an 'Exclusive Nexus Race'...What is that supposed to mean? There's more of these things?"
As Norvin wondered that, more detailed information about the creature popped up in front of him.
"Huh...seems like there are only three 'Stormchasers' in total...I guess that makes sense as they don't reproduce normally."
Norvin turned his attention to the small pack members standing directly behind the Stormchaser. They really did look like a bunch of wolves.
'Gale Howlers...' Norvin started reading their description to himself.
'Their fur appears windblown and is interlocked with leaves and other debris. Each specimen has an aura of air currents flowing around it... The Gale Howler can summon powerful gusts of wind to knock back opponents or create protective barriers. It can also use wind currents to enhance its speed, becoming a blur in motion.'
'No wonder that their boss is that Stormchaser bird thing, those guys are similar in attributes to each other.'
'You may want to look behind you as well, kid.'
Norvin spun around and peered at a ten-foot insectoid creature that was preoccupied with gnawing on the carcass of another meta-creature it had slain for obstructing its path.
He squinted at it and a golden outline appeared around the feasting fiend while new information popped up.
'This thing is called an 'Umbrantiss', man...its ugly as hell.'
Norvin wrinkled his nose as he took a closer look at it. It was predominantly black, with a shell that seemed to ebb and flow, as though it were crafted from solidified shadows. The space surrounding it appeared darker than the rest of the area in the clearing, giving the impression that the creature was absorbing the light around it.
"Shadow manipulation and shadow teleportation? Sunless, is that you?"
'What are you babbling about Vin? Still forgetting to keep your thoughts in your head?'
"Who cares if they can hear us or not? Those things are already starting to approach us anyways."
'Yeah, because you're yapping! Curators don't need to talk to survive here, excessive energy and noises are the only things that can really attract any attention to you here...Who is Sunless?'
Norvin decided to listen to the sub body's advice and answered in his mind.
'I thought you knew everything I know? He's the protagonist from a top tier book called 'Shadow Slave'. I'm way more concerned about that shadow-based bug than I am the thunder buddies over there.'
'I do know everything you know...I just need to look things up in your memory bank to recall them. It's sort of like you searching up things on the internet back on Earth...Its all there for the understanding, but you need to look it up.'
'That was a terrible analogy.'