The City of Nadir (2)

Ray and Jiro were now following Tenki through a brownstone hallway with some very out of place led lights on its sides.

"Hey do you ever get off that cloud?" Ray asked, as Tenki floated in front of them.

"hmm" Tenki grunted annoyed.

"Careful Ray, he might bite." said Jiro grinning, Tenki rolled his eyes.They reached a door once again completely made out of stone.Ray and Jiro stood behind Tenki to see how this door would open.Tenki lightly taps the door three times and the door shook before it retracted to to its sides smoothly with no trace if where the stone went.Through the door was a small office completely made of wood.A red carpet was spread across the floor and opposite to the door was a table with a window behind it, to the sides of the tables were huge bookshelves filled with all sorts of books and reading materials.On top of the table was only a feather and ink along with a scale on the opposite side.They entered the office, Ray and Jiro stood aghast at the sight if such an old school office.

Tenki ran his eyes across both sides of the office.The door behind them suddenly shook again and closed, leaving an eerie silence before a gust of wind blew past Ray to which he jumped forward arching his back as a hand went across it nearly grazing him.Ray and Jiro quickly turned behind them to see a man crouching behind them with his arm out, The man got up and straightened himself brushing his brown suit and fixing his monocle, his gray hair was pouring out of his top hat.He twisted his mustache a little.

Ray and Jiro immediately released their Vigor, Jiro began to steam as Ray whiffed up another small gun similar to what he made against Ronald.All of their expressions remained serious not a word coming from anyone.The man slowly raised both hands in the air and smiled.

"Now now let's calm down a little eh?" said The man now scratching the back of his head.

"Hah?" Ray and Jiro sighed confused, dropping their Vigor.The gun in Ray's hand dismantled and flew back into his pocket.

"You crazy old man," said Tenki as he approached in his cloud.The man chuckled.

"Old? He looks quite young.." said Jiro as he gazed upon him.

"Hm hm" said Ray nodding in agreement.Tenki sighed.

"This is Fyren, He's the Nadir army commander and a crazy old bastard." said Tenki pointing at Fyren.

"How cruel," said Fyren, slightly embarrassed.

"So like you're the president of Nadir or something?" Ray asks his hands on his chin looking a little skeptical, making yet again another weird face.

"No no I'm just the one Managing the Army and guards," said Fyren.

"Are you an idiot?" Tenki asks with a genuine expression on his face floating near Ray,Who grabs his face and pushes him away.

"The king of Nadir is Elzyder, He doesn't often meet people.. and when he does it's mostly just me, Tenki and the other 5 monoliths." Fyren explained.

"Monoliths?" Jiro asks curiously along with Ray.

"To put it simply, The strongest of Nadir." said Fyren.

"I see.." said Jiro.

"He's lying, Jiro." said Ray, who was making another weird face staring at Tenki,Who scowled back, beginning a mental face off in their heads.Jiro and Fyren both sighed.

"So who's the strongest?" Jiro asked curiously.

"Ah well.." Fyren began before getting cut off by Tenki.

"Cut the useless talk, get to the point why you brought them." Tenki snapped, as he looked back towards Fyren while simultaneously almost suffocating Ray with his cloud hand.

"Ah yes ahem.." said Fyren."Before you arrived Dyré had already sent word that you may be going after 'The disciples', and we thought rather than you two going alone.. we could use your aid and I think that would be quite the benefit for you as well, since we share the same goal."

"And what would that be?" Jiro asks in a less friendly manner.

"To put an end to the disciples of course" said Fyren as he walked behind the table and sat down, smiling at Ray and Jiro.Tenki observed from near the door."That has always been Nadir's goal."

"The disciples, you mean the ones in the black ship?" Jiro asks.

"Correct" Fyren answers shortly."So will you be joining us?"

"hmm" Jiro sunk into his thoughts until he was snapped out of it by Ray.

"Why not" said Ray as he escaped the grasp of Tenki's cloud."We can't take that silver-haired guy down alone."

"Hmmm Ronald huh.." said Fyren as both him and Tenki's expressions changed.

"hm? That his name?" Ray asks."You guys know anything about them.

"Yeah" said Tenki."The reason we call them 'disciples' is that they seem to be following some sort of.. higher being? We don't know who or what it is, all we know is it's what they use to eliminate cities."

"We got into one underground bunker that belonged to one of the disciples, but the place had been completely cleaned out.All we found was a piece of paper with horrible scribbles on it, we processed its content using a computer and this is what came up.." Fyren explained.

Fyren gave a copy of the summary to Ray:

[1] ?????????

[2] Ronald

[3] He????

[4] ?????

[5] R???e

[6] ????

[7] ?????y

[8] T??a

[9] ???

[10] Harriott

"We only managed to get two names out of the scribbles and information on the paper.All we know is that Harriott is a skilled scientist and that Ronald has white hair and is the 2nd ranked among the disciples." Fyren explained.

"Artificial Intelligence can't pick up human handwriting so easily, especially one as terrible as that."

"The only other thing that was in there was simply the word 'disciples'." said Fyren."Which led us to the name"

"So that mean-" a huge growl is heard before Jiro can finish, he looks back to Ray chuckling.

"All this talking has got me hungry." said Ray rubbing his stomach as he flopped around.

"Hahaha" Fyren laughed."Why don't you two go get some food, you haven't eaten since the battle right?"

"I guess so." said Jiro as Ray put his arm on his shoulders.

"Let's get food!" Ray yelled in excitement as he grabbed Tenki too."Take us to food little guy."

"Hey! get your hands off me!" Tenki squirmed, as he got out of the headlock."Jiro can take you, you crazy pig."

He stretched out his cloud hands and tapped the door three times once again, opening the door.

Ray and Jiro exited the room and the door closed back once again.

"Good thing you didn't scare them away with your idiotic dreams." said Tenki as he floated his way behind Fyren near the open window.

"A child like you would never understand,"said Fyren coldly .

"Tch.. I'm not a child" said Tenki grimly as he floated out the window, leaving Fyren alone in his office.

"Judgment should be passed to everyone.. those who sin,"said Fyren as he gazed upon the scale on his desk."and those who watch others sin..."

***

In the cafeteria of the castle, The walls and ceilings were all modern like.There were no lights but huge windows that brought light and warmth through.Tables were set around the huge area, one such table had a huge pile of plates and behind it stuffing his face, was Ray.Next to him, Jiro was quietly eating unbothered by Ray's onslaught of the cafeteria.Opposite to them was Yuriko and Dyré, Their jaws on the floor watching Ray mercilessly chow down.

"H-hey slow down…" said Dyré, as Ray ate a whole turkey leg in one bite.

"He might actually die from eating rather than fighting.." Yuriko added.

"It's fine, it's Ray.." said Jiro rolling his eyes towards Ray."He's an oddball."

"HmF mHnf mMfh!" said Ray looking at Jiro with an annoyed look.

"Finish chewing before you talk." Jiro snapped as he shoved a steak in Ray's face, which he bit into at once.Yuriko giggled, watching the two goof around.Ray swallowed everything in his mouth in one gulp to speak.

"Can't even eat in peace when you people are around huh?" said Ray, making a weird face again.He let out a loud burp and sighed in relief.

"That hit the spot" he said, as he stood up from the table."You two done eating?"

He said, looking towards Yuriko and Dyré.

"y-yeah.." said Dyré speechless."We finished a while ago.."

**

"This is where you'll be staying." said Dyré as Ray and Jiro followed him into a room.

The room had a well decorated bunk bed and in the rest of the space was a fireplace and two chairs.The light in the room was given off by thin lines that were coming from the edges of the ceiling.Ray and Jiro looked around amazed as to how spacious the room was.

"This is amazing…" said Ray speechlessly.

"Isn't this a bit much?" said Jiro, slightly uncomfortable.

"Nah this is what the special ranked soldiers get too so you're all set." said Dyré as he dropped into one of the chairs making it seem tiny as he tried to fit in.

"Special rank?" said Ray with a smug look on his face.

"So we are considered high rank here?" Jiro asked, stunned.

"Hmmm… I guess that's one way to put it since no one in 'special rank' has ever really disappointed." said Dyré."But then again if you have abilities it's hard to actually be lower than a normal guy heh."

Dyré squiggles around trying to get comfortable on the chair.Ray falls flat onto the bed.

"Wait so everyone here doesn't have an ability ?" Ray asked, confused as he stared up underneath the top bunk catching Jiro's attention from what he said.

"Well yeah there's only eleven special ranks and now including you guys.. thirteen I guess…" Dyré explained pausing for a bit.

"Are you one?" Ray asked, making a suspicious face squinting at Dyré making him quite uncomfortable.

"Yeah that's why I'm wearing this." Dyré said, indicating his brown uniform."This is the uniform the male special ranks are supposed to wear."

"Ahh that makes sense." said Ray, hitting his palm with his fist making a weird face."Hey wait I don't wanna wear that."

Rya made a disgusted face, to which Dyré laughed out loud.

"He's not wrong," Jiro chimed in.

"Don't worry they won't force you.." said Dyré calmly."You can always become a nurse here they have comfy uniforms" Dyré chuckled.

"Oh speaking off, where did Yuriko go off to?" Ray asked curiously."She seemed to be in a hurry."

"Oh she's preparing for the memorial for Parser today." Dyré answered glumly."She was basically his daughter after all, blood or not."

"I see," said Ray as the room fell quiet.

"Hmm Parser huh.." Ray stood up from the bed and crossed his legs."was he strong?"

Dyré looked at Ray a little shocked, before chuckling a little.

"hehe… He was the strongest." said Dyré with the biggest smile possible from the large man.

To which both Ray and Jiro were shocked."No one in Nadir could lay a finger on him, not even among the monoliths."

"Was he not a monolith?" Ray asked, confused.

"Well as much as he didn't want to, the King just gave him the title, making him the seventh." Dyré explained, chuckling to himself a little.

"Why didn't he want to become one?" Ray asked.

"Well the monoliths are basically the support of Nadir, and they rarely go on missions and barely show up in public, and for Parser… he really likes talking to people." Dyré began to explain, smiling a little."Parser didn't like the idea of just sitting around doing nothing, and at some point I suppose he realized that there's really no one that can stop him.So he went on frequent missions."

Dyré said laughing.

"So he wasn't supposed to go to Zenshou?" Jiro asked as he sat down in the chair Next to Dyré.

"Yeah…" Dyré replied."His brother, one of the monoliths even tried to stop him.. but he went anyway…"

The room fell quiet all that was heard was the fire crackling.Ray wore a frustrated look.

"But you know in the end, I think he got his point across." said Dyré smiling a little as he got up from the chair, Ray and Jiro giving their undivided attention."If he wasn't there Zenshou would be a giant crater right now.So maybe the monoliths will take everything more seriously now."

"He saved millions.." said Ray quietly.

"You're damn right he did," said Dyré as he reached the door of the room."The memorial service is around dusk tomorrow, swing by if you can."

"We will for sure" said Ray, both of them smiled at each other before Dyré left.

"You going?" Jiro asked, as the door clicked.

"Ofcourse, we both have to go." said Ray as he stood up from the bed."We have to give our thanks from the people of Zenshou right?" Ray smiled from ear to ear.

"Yeah" said Jiro, smiling slightly with some form of enthusiasm.