Ancestor [1]

Luna gently shoved the small cores she had gathered from the withered husks of the Ipili warriors into the gaping hole in the stomach of the strange man. She tried not to cause him harm further than he already had suffered on her account. But as she retracted her hand she was shocked to see the flesh quiver and convulse.

"Oh no, I didn't mean…!"

<Hush, just watch.>

Again came the strange effeminate voice. Luna watched quietly as the cores turned to dust in front of her eyes. It was much faster than when she tried to absorb the one that she used during her flight, and there were many more. Especially Baofa's, his core had been larger than any 3 of the others combined and had a flicker of red radiance amid the brown.

Luna gasped when she noticed this flash of red radiance. It was an indication of the Ipili awakening as a Primal. Primals were the most ferocious warriors of their respective races and were exceedingly rare, not even one in ten thousand Fera would awaken as a Primal.

If the Ipili knew that they had lost a potential Primal and an entire advanced team just to pursue a single Huli, the leadership would probably curse Baofa to never survive the Clutch again. Not that he would, since his core was being destroyed right in front of her eyes.

An iridescent brown energy flowed all over the mangled body before her. Luna frowned, as this looked like an Ipili who had full control of their Genes using the energy of Conquest at full capacity.

Any other Fera would be unable to completely utilize a core in this fashion, and their own energy would be dominantly visible with a taint of the Conquest on their body. Is this man an Ipili?

Before she could ask, she saw the brown energy of Conquest begin to shudder and became interlaced with a spiderweb of the red Primal energy. Suddenly, she heard the voice again.

<Bring me a corpse, the bigger the better, and be quick about it!>

Luna was confused but none the less dragged the corpse of the big Ipili who was decapitated over to the man's body.

<Hey Cutie, you should turn around and close your eyes. Seriously.>

Luna was confused, but she heeded the effeminate voice. She didn't know why she was doing what this voice commanded her to do, and all these actions seemed strange. But she had a feeling that if she did what it asked her, she could help the man who had saved her.

Luna's ears suddenly quivered. She heard a sickly squelching noise and crunching sounds, intertwined with what sounded like a high pitched whine? What in the world? She steeled herself to not look, as it is rude to pry into another person's secrets.

<Alright, you can turn around now.>

When Luna turned around she was flabbergasted. Where did the body go? The red and brown energy had faded around the man's body and she got a clear view of him for the first time without any distractions.

His body was lean and muscular. It was very muscular. 2…4…6…8… She blushed as she realized exactly what she was counting and where her eyes were going. The man's clothing was in tatters, but fortunately his dignity was preserved.

Wait….her eyes darted back in shock. The man's body was complete again as if he had never had anything wrong with him. There wasn't a sign of an injury anywhere on his body. She looked him all over and looked at his left arm, which had been mangled the worst. Her heart raced like she had never felt before.

On his left arm was an image. It was the World before the Breaking. It had a massive bird sitting on top of it regally with defiance in its eyes and its wings spread wide. There was a ship's anchor behind it. Below it were words written in ancestral 'Semper Fi'. Below it spiraled a bold line down to his wrist.

The shape and color was reminiscent of his blade when the man fought.

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"Always Faithful…" She murmured.

-He shall bear this mark on his body. It means Always Faithful, and he is the one that remained to watch over the world. Only he can prevent the next Breaking. The Last Ancestor.-

Those were the heavy words she received from her Nan as her milky white eyes gazed into the stars of the sky. Blood rushed down her cheeks as she persisted trying to pry into the secrets of the stars for just a little longer. Finally, she let out a deep sigh and lowered her head.

Nan smiled gently despite the blood on her face, and handed Luna a small soft cloth with a picture drawn on it. The pure white in her eyes faded as her pupils slowly returned to their original color and the sky blue of her iris' reappeared.

"Go to find him. You must go alone. Only then can you reach him. In your darkest hour he shall appear. You must convince him to help us. No matter what you try he will say no, and when he does, I want you to say these words to him. They will change his mind."

As Luna left her Nan's home nestled in the branches of a beautiful oak tree, her Nan's last sentence froze the blood in her veins.

"Luna, he is …broken… himself. If you fail, he will go on a path of eternal damnation. Not just for him, but for our entire world. I couldn't see the way to heal him. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough. But I have faith in you."

With those words weighing heavily on her heart and mind, Luna set off on her journey with full trust in her Nan. Everything her Nan had ever predicted had been true, and she would never relay such serious information if she wasn't confident in her scrying.

"I only hope that you can forgive me Little Luna…" whispered her Nan when Luna had left the house.