Hidden Truths

"Imps of the Flaming Lord. Blast my foes!!!"

*BANG*

"HUH!?" I shrieked as I jolted up from the void I had once been in. The unpleasant stiffness of a concrete floor greeted me with a cold embrace. A bright overhead blinded me as it was the first thing I looked at as I woke up. As I waited for my eyes to focus, I heard a deep, heavy sigh. Once my vision corrected itself, the first thing I noticed was a large open space full of broken machines and scrap parts. The room appeared to be a large hangar, except there was an absence of any flying vehicles. Rather, it was filled with things with and without wheels. So I'm gonna assume this is being used as a garage.

"Rin…" I looked around and found Naval staring down at a young girl wearing oversized blue overalls with a worn, off-white wife beater tank top underneath. While a concerning outfit for a young girl, due to it being stained, it was hard to see through it. She had also long sliver colored hair that reach her hips. Around her waist was a sliver tool belt that had many pouches, varying in size, for tools. Alongside that was a holster that was in the shape of a .44 magnum revolver. With her back turned towards me, she slipped a silver .44 magnum gun, with a glossy finish that shined aggressively into my eyes, into her holster, and faced Naval.

"See, I can use fire magic too." Her voice had a charming tone to it, but it was also bitter. It was as if she wanted to brag about something, but didn't really have the heart to go through with it.

"…" Naval faced palmed as he turned towards me. The girl noticed his gaze and turned around. She had turquoise-colored eyes that felt a tab bit distant. Naval then turned back towards the girl. The girl gave me a cheerful smile that betrayed her eyes. As I tried to smile back, I notice Naval silently stand up with a crooked smile on his face as he slammed his fist into the girl's skull. "I've told you a million times to stop randomly shooting that thing. Bullets are not cheap, you brat."

"OW OW OW OW!!!" The girl let out a cute cry as she held her head in pain. She looked at me with an angry glare, as if this was somehow my fault. "Asshole…" She muttered.

I tilted my head at her statement. How was this my fault? As I tried to walk up to Naval, a familiar voice called out, startling me a little. For some reason, Naval frowned a little as he looked back at me.

"Oh, boy…" I turned to face the woman in question. She was tall with short black hair tied behind her in a ponytail. Her appearance was that of a young woman in her early twenties with amber eyes and matching lipstick. A tight red shirt revealed the size of her large breasts and slim figure. She wore torn jeans with jet black FN Five-Seven holstered on her right thigh. She carried a large item on her back that was wrapped in padded, worn bandages that hid its shape. I watched as she firmly fixed her eyes on Naval, whose strange frown turned into a masochistic one. "Naval, let her off the hook, will ya?" She had a motherly tone to her voice.

This creep… I then stood up and walked up to him with a smile to mimic his own.

"Good mornin, Lad-" Before he said anything else, I slugged him in the face. I felt a small tinge of pain as he stood his ground. As I backed away in shock, I noticed that the ground below him had cracked a little. Blood dripped down my fist, as I could no longer move my fingers. "Hmm… not bad, but you shouldn't do that until you get used to your body again. With your nerves as unresponsive as yours, you will find it quite hard to hold back without damaging yourself."

"What the hell…?" I said out loud. I do not know what happened. As I stood in shock, I heard steps approach from behind me. I turned.

"Water Reversal." The dark-haired woman whispered as the strange characters from before whirled around me with a blue glow. The blood on my hand disappeared, along with the minor pain that I had felt. After the glow had dissipated, I moved my fingers. Speechless of what I had just seen with my own eyes, I turned to confront Naval once again.

"So you do know something?" After I said those words, Naval rested his hands behind his head. His arrogant attitude was really starting to piss me off. But as any good person would, I decided to let it slide. After what I had just witnessed, violence against this geezer would only result in mysterious self-harm.

"I do, but I have a question of my own, if you don't mind." He asked with a peculiar smile on his face. The girl, who was once crying in pain, stood up and ran behind an enormous machine that was in the room's corner. She stuck her tongue out at Naval and he twitched an eye. "You brat." He said under his breath. "Anyway, ignoring that immature child over there, why are you so calm?" As he asked this question, I felt the gaze of the woman behind staring intently.

This situation bothers me. Feeling her gaze filled me with a loss of respect for my own abilities. Getting 'killed' by that girl from earlier kinda hurts my pride in myself. Regardless, I give him an answer: "Deflecting my question with a question of your own, how like you old man. But I'll play along, you know why."

"What are they teaching you?" He looked at me with a bothering look. "You look like this whole thing did not even faze you. You just got killed, witnessed someone get killed, I think, and then got killed again. Then, to top it all off, you just punched me with full force and broke your own hand in the process without even showing a hint of pain. You might be scarier than me." He shivered at his own statement.

"Please tell me that was a joke. There is no way in hell I can be scarier than an old man thinking he's 20."

"Sorry that I have the genes of god." He said with a smug look.

The black-haired woman let out an exasperated sigh. "More like using my magic."

"Hey now, don't sweat the details. Though I am grateful for you to give me the ability to causally still have s-"

"SHUT IT!" The woman then held a wrench in her hand. "FLOW!" The wrench was covered in a watery shell as it zipped through the air, as if it was a pressurized water jet. The wrench bounced off Naval's head and fell straight to the floor, leaving a metallic echo and cracking the ground in the process. "Tsk, you overly confident bastard, keeping your Earth Dragon's Protection on at all times."

"Aye, don't be mad that I married the most beautiful, most wise, most angelic Apostle of the Earth Dragon." He held his arms close as if he was hugging an imaginary person.

I shook my head with embarrassment and disgust. To be related to such a creep had left some deep scars. He has always put my grandmother on the highest pedestal and would never be afraid to speak about her and the things that made him fall in love.

"Wait!" I spoke out loud, causing Naval to look at me with an egotistical face. It was as if he was waiting for me to speak up. Looking for the same reaction, I turned towards the dark-haired woman and she simply shrugged her shoulders as she also knew what I was gonna ask, but was not completely sure about it. I looked down at my hands and found the book that had started all of this resting warmly in my hands. "What Is going on?" I look up from the book and faced Naval. He walked over to me with a big smile and opened his mouth.

"You see lad-"

"A secret society, basically." The woman cut him off with an annoyed tone.

"Sara… so not cute." Naval's tone switched from his over-hyping one to a more serious one. "Anyway, it's as she said. We, minus that sliver-haired brat over there, are Sages of the Old World Order. We hold the wisdom of the old world, the world humanity had abandoned long ago. Our job is to keep the balance to the world to prevent an elemental collapse, which will destroy the world." He took a momentary pause. "However, as with anything that humanity does, we are separated into two dominant factions: Keepers and The Fallen."

Seeing that his explanation may take a while, I sat on the ground. He did the same thing with Sara at his side. Sara spoke softly in a tone I just barely managed to make out.

"Color the Wind with my mind."

After she finished, a large circle appeared on the ground around us and twelve small orbs appeared from the edges of the circle. They spun beautifully around her and moved as Naval spoke, drawing pictures in the air.

"What you had just witnessed was a basic spell." He went on. "We Sages are the only ones able to recite the ancient spells left behind by humanity. Normal humans may read them, however as their souls lack the bonds to the Deities that govern this world, they cannot activate those spells. Now, the book in your hands differs from normal spells. It contains the ancient language of the Old World. Runes are what we call them. Those runes can not be read by anyone besides Apostles or Deities. Which ultimately means that you are an Apostle of the Earth Dragon, after your grandmother."

"However,-" Sara opened her eyes, and the orbs fell onto the ground. "-that book is the Tome of Unity. Not even Sora, my sister, could read it as contained runes older than the Gods themselves."

What she said was in line with what I had heard Sora say… wait, what? "Huh?" I failed to hold back my surprise at hearing that this woman was the sister to Sora. They look nothing alike. But if she was telling the truth, then her appearance was a lie as well. I turned to Naval, who nodded at me as if he was reading my mind. Sara noticed and elbowed him in the gut.

Naval fell to the ground in pain. I felt a small rumble through the ground afterward. Sara rolled her eyes. "Just kidding." He bounced back up and resumed his story. Sara once again closed her eyes, and the orbs floated back up. "It's as she said, the Tome of Unity is a special book that only twelve people, according to legends, at any given time have the ability to read. Which, now thinking about it, means that you are one of the Apostles of Unity." He paused to drink water. "Now that leads me back to what I had said earlier. The Keepers are those who side with the Apostles who keep the balance of the world in check. Our job is to protect the Apostles and rid the world of Elemental Distortions. These are simply anomalies in the elemental balance that consume living creatures."

As Naval was speaking, I felt something tug at my left shoulder. As I turned, something heavy fell on my lap. I turned back and found Rin sitting on my lap. Her clothes were covered in scoot and she had a scent mixed with oil, metal, and vanilla. She shifted herself comfortably in my lap without consent. I pulled my arms out from under her and rested them on her lap.

"Hmm…" Naval let out a strange sound as Sara's face turned to a light shade of red. "They aren't related so it has my approval."

"He doesn't have mine, you old man. She's twelve, he's seventeen. NOT HAPPENING!"

"Sigh." He spoke the words sigh instead of actually sighing. "Looks like you'll have to wait a while lad."

"What are we talking about?" I spoke up. Although playing stupid, I already knew what he was insinuating

Rin looked up at me and spoke. "Don't worry about it. Just that pervert saying perverted things."

"He's the offspring of a pervert's daughter, so by nature, he's gonna be one too." Naval shrugged his shoulders. For some reason, I felt a tad bit of anger at those words.

"At least he doesn't get hard while a young girl sits in his lap." Rin barked back.

I awkwardly laugh as try everything in my power to stop myself. After hearing how harshly she treats Naval, I rather not be on the same boat as him. Nevertheless, this is an unfair situation.

"Whoa-!!!!" Sara smacked Naval in the back of the head. "Look, that was a misunderstanding. When that happened, I was thinking about what toy I wanted to use later that night with Sora."

"Ew."

"…"

"Grandpa…"

The three of us stared at Naval. He was not embarrassed by what he had just said. In fact, the old geezer looked at me and pointed.

"You'll understand one day, lad. Just be faithful to one person." He looked at Rin and she gave him a nasty look in return. "I will not tolerate polygamy. You can flirt with whoever, however, just stay by the side of one person."

"That makes little sense." I said.

"Whatever Naval." Rin muttered.

Sara looked at her, then me, before closing her eyes again. "Back to the major topic at hand. The Fallen is the other faction that opposes us. While they also fight Elemental Distortions, they also wish to kill the Deities that hold the true balance of the world."

As she said that last part, something felt off. "May I ask why?" I asked.

"To reset the world, I suppose." Blood dripped down the side of Naval's mouth as if he bit his lip. He had a slightly irritated look on his face. "But now then, since that history lesson is done, it's time for you to learn how to fight." He clutched his fists. "Sora can only do so much by herself."

"Then why are you here with me, rather than by her side?" I glared at him.

His eyes met with mine with a menacing look. Seeing this, I backed down. He would not leave the one he loved for no reason. After a few moments of silence, Sara spoke up.

"Just what do you plan to teach him within a few hours that can prevent him from getting killed?" Sara stared at Naval. "Don't you realize how difficult of a challenge that will be?" Sora gripped the large item on her back. "Why do you insist on always tossing people into the deep end all the time? For Earth Dragon's sake, Sora saved him for a reason."

Naval smirked, causing Sara to take a step back. I tilted my head at his complete change In attitude and Rin grabbed my hand and spoke up to Naval.

"If you worried about him being hurt, mother, don't be. He's immortal, right?"

Sara clenched her fists at Naval, who was feigning innocence. Naval chuckles at Sara, provoking her to pointlessly punch him in the face. She turned back to face Rin. "Rin-"

"If his soul is bound to the book, then I'll help him in battle. I may not be able to use magic like the rest of you, but I have more than enough tools to help me out." She then stood up and reached into her tool belt and grabbed a small circular device.

While Naval still keep his annoying act up, Sara backed away a little and took a deep breath.

"How did you get that?" Sara spoke in a deep voice, but was shaking. Naval stood up and placed his hand on her head. Sara blushed a little, but didn't fight him off. "That… relic…"

"The Orb of the Void." Naval said with a confident voice. "When you run a shop where people tend to sell a lot of unwanted junk, you'll come across a few masterpieces like this. And since your daughter is such a brilliant prodigy with machines, it's no wonder she could buy it off me."

"Prodigy?" I muttered.

"Mmhmm." Rin responded to me with a smile, despite her eyes not really caring.

"But that-" Sara tried to speak.

"Mother, I have decided to help. Besides, I'm bored without a client right now, so I have time to kill." As Rin said this, she placed the object back into her tool belt and ran towards the garage door.

Sara then looked at Naval. "You better reap what you sow." With those parting words, she followed Rin.