Uncertain Future

Icarth eyed the swirling energies around him numbly. The previous events had left him in shock at this point. From one disaster to another, Icarth and Emmia had been forced to face stronger and stronger beings. Each time, they had been saved by someone else, albeit just barely in some cases. Now Julian had been left behind to help the twins to get to safety.

'Gramps....he stayed behind...' Icarth's thoughts slowly started to form in his mind.

'Why?...'

'...wasn't he injured..?'

'...Why couldn't he come with us....'

'What will happen to him....?'

'...His arm...'

A sequence of jumbled thoughts spiraled through his head. Before Icarth could sink deeper into his thoughts, a voice jerked him out of them.

"So...uh...When I was your guys' age, Venij and I used to cause a lot of trouble... One day we were 'training' in the pride's den and....." Seril started to narrate a story from her childhood.

After observing the twins' state, Seril panicked to try to do something to ease their pain. So she did the first thing that came to her mind, she started narrating a story.

The story worked like a charm. Icarth was pulled out of his thoughts, and Emmia finally found something to focus on to get through the pain that was still assaulting her both emotionally and physically.

'...Seril's voice.....soothing....' Emmia thought, before whimpering as another bout of pain raced throughout her body.

"....and that day Venij and I were banned from practicing in the den...." Seril trailed off suddenly as the story ended. She now started panicking for another reason.

'What if that story was making it worse for them? What if.....'

"....one more..." Emmia whispered through the pain. Luckily Seril's ears picked up Emmia's wish.

Feeling reassured, Seril started another story. Like this, Seril narrated story after story over the course of their journey throughout the spatial layers toward Aster City and their uncertain future...

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Back in Aster City, Morin was sitting in the middle of a small pool of sweat that had formed beneath him. After sending the message to that supreme, Morin had gone back to monitoring the entirety of the human domain. This time he ignored the domain of the supreme who he had messaged earlier. Having a slightly easier time, Morin monitored the universal energy activity around the human domain to see if there was any movement of the polikinnates.

Suddenly a thread of universal energy glowing purple shot towards him and transmitted some information.

'So master has found them...' Morin thought before another thread of universal energy interrupted his thinking. Morin released his technique and stood up quickly. Teetering slightly as he moved his numb legs, Morin thought seriously, 'If 'they' have also come, then something serious has happened.'

Drying himself with a blast of universal energy, Morin opened the window and propelled himself toward the direction where the purple thread had directed him to. Using the universal energy around him to fly, Morin sped towards a certain forest in Nova Academy.

Speeding over the forest, Morin scanned for the hosts' location once more.

'It's closer to the border after all' Morin frowned and sped over the forest. After a few seconds, he reached the boundary of the forest and the academy. Here the forest blended into a dense jungle that shared a boundary with Aster City.

At the edge, a couple of shifting beings could be seen trying to destroy something in front of them.

Without wasting time, Morin appeared in front of the polikinnates and snapped his fingers. All of the polikinnates screeched, "SCKREEEE" and then burst apart with a bang. In their places were a couple of threads that floated silently.

"Come," Morin gestured and the threads obeyed, passing through the barrier without any problems. Holding his palm out, Morin let the threads sink into his hand.

Storing the information for later, Morin turned around and sped into the forest. Arriving in front of an amber-colored tree, he found a yellow-colored lioness with crimson eyes growling at him, her legs shaking, and her fur standing on the edge. Her body was deeply wounded, blood flowing out steadily, yet she held her ground against him. Behind her were two kids, one of them had a pair of rabbit legs, and the other looked like the minerals were infused into her skin. They lay unconscious as the lioness reflexively wrapped her tail around them.

After observing the kids, Morin shifted his attention back to the lioness. Gazing into her glowing crimson eyes, he shrugged off the mental attack thrown at him.

"That was decent," Morin stated after a pause.

After faltering for a second, the lioness growled, "ggrrrrrr"

"Oh, it looks like you still can't speak properly," Morin commented. Manipulating the universal energy around his ears, Morin started to vibrate it akin to a radio.

"grrrrr-r-rr--rww----h---rr--wh---o----a--re----you? I ---asked who-a-re you?"

Finding the right frequency, Morin replied, "The one that my teacher sent you to."

Using universal energy, Morin plucked the coin from the lioness' hands and examined it. Confirming its authenticity, Morin turned and stated, "My name is Morin Esten. What are you called?"

The lioness fell silent before asking, "Are you with that old man from before?"

"Yes, he is my teacher," Morin replied calmly. "Now, it's polite manners to reply with your name when someone else introduces themselves isn't it?"

"...Seril," the lioness replied reluctantly.

"Seril...I see, so the two behind you are?" Morin asked patiently.

Before she could answer, two weak voices rang out.

"Emmia Struze."

"Icarth Struze."

~VOLUME 1 END~