Chapter 13

Crowfire was fully equipped with all of his regalias resting on him in their weapon forms. As he walks through the door of the regalia training hall, Ios Android, the volleyball club adviser entered the hall. He was wearing his usual green jacket and his full frame glasses.

"Good morning Crowfire. Sorry it took so long." Ios Android said as he saw his master.

"Ios Android." Crowfire closed his eyes and looked him straight to his eyes. Crowfire said, "You have been serving your purpose as my new regalia since this game started. I am glad you didn't end up almost assassinated like this bow and arrow here."

Ios Android nodded. He replied, "I'm sorry that you were dragged into this death game of ours. If I didn't exist in your hands you wouldn't be in this mess."

"You don't have anything to apologize for. In fact, if without you, I couldn't predict my opponents' next moves and escape." Crowfire said then gave him a smile. He draws his hand and uttered, "Come Ios Android..."

Blue light glowed on Ios Android's body until he beamed towards Crowfire's hand. He became a cellphone. Crowfire gripped him and started walking.

He whispered, "Ios Android, my future oracle."

It had taken few minutes since Crowfire left his manor and started to walk outside. The midday sun was on its peak as it shines so bright. There are few people walking on the streets. Tom though he was a pack of arrows, can see everything around him. Crowfire was taking the way towards Tom's home, towards back on way to Hometown, he thought.

There was the magazine bookstore where Tom first met his old coach Emberbright's grandson, Grandson Emberbright, who happened to be their advisor right now, and the four way intersection, where he was almost hit by a running bus. And the rest of that day started to flash back on his memory. It was his last day on the world he existed as real. Sadness curdled on his chest before he noticed.

"Ahh." Crowfire jerked and held his nape. He stopped for a while and laid his hand on the street light. While squinting and touching his nape, he said, "Who's that? Is that you Tom?"

Tom was shocked after hearing his name. What Emberbright told them, he and Toby this morning struck on his mind.

"Don't feel guilty Tom. It's alright. We are a team." Crowfire said as the pain slowly fades. He started to walk.

Tom then realized what Emberbright said where all true. In this world, the dead ones are summoned by these mythical beings, giving them names and become their regalia. They tend to serve their master as instruments, with all of their capacities. Masters are like parents and their regalias are their children. Masters and regalias share mind and body, as the common principle applied, but whenever regalias tend to think or do things they thought to be wrong, or even feeling bad or guilty about something, the feeling causes physical damage to the master in form of blights. Blights spread and eventually kill the master in severe cases. And this is just a one-way direction because on the other hand, masters whenever feel bad, the feeling never goes to the regalias. That is why regalias have to maintain and stand to what they think is due.

These masters have their regalias according to the form of their own nature. This is why Crowfire's regalias are all hunting weapons. In the past, he was called an omnivorous crow who tend to venture and adapt anywhere and anyhow wherever he was. He was long before a strong being, but then dark times overtook him and died, but eventually reincarnated. At the time, he was called the flightless crow. In this world, the mythical beings die but eventually reincarnated into the same but young person. Some have never come back to existence because no one actually remembers them since their own dark ages. Crowfire was fortunate enough for the last few years as he got new steady regalias and that he was remarked by few people around him. He strove among the others on their prefecture, here in Acerspire City and last year, he made it into the top 16. Lion King was his mortal rival way back long time ago. But he was stationed on the Capitol region, so both of them rarely meet, only in the yearly tournaments until both of them were overtaken by their own dark ages.

They held tournaments across the whole country to show case their strength in protecting people with the use of their regalias. They act like super heroes against villainous threats. It is ultimately for them to be remembered by most of the people watching them. The least in these tournaments eventually fade to existence, which is worse than dying and not reincarnating back.

And lately, an unfortunate game waved across the whole country. It was only few days when Crowfire knew the queen of Mount Olympus had reincarnated into a strange girl, having pink hair, wearing torn trash bag standing in a huge sphere. She was entirely different from the other incarnations of Hera and she even wanted to be called Psyche. From that day she was introduced, she amended the rules of that tournament and turned into a "battle to death" with a very precious prize, the time core that holds enormous power extending beyond the realm of the void. The heir of the core must win by means of using the future oracles she herself designed. The future oracles are pieces of the time core, to tell the near future based on the current actions of the possessor. The future oracles are pieces of the time core, to tell the near future based on the current actions of the possessor. These oracles can exist in forms depending on the nature of its holder. These devices predict the next actions of the nearest oracle holders it can detect, and the probable fate of all of them.

Now Crowfire had his own in form of an android phone. He called him, Ios Android, a name similar to Tom's original club adviser back in high school.

Crowfire was all in focus to his own train of thoughts. He even himself doesn't want to put all his regalias into higher risks like this. But Psyche made him, all of them mythical beings over the edge, leaving them no choice but to play, or he will never reincarnate anymore, not until that Psyche's core started to function in their world. He knows there was nothing that powerful had ever existed in their world. It just occurred when that girl arrived. He realized long ago, that girl, wasn't Hera and the real one vanished from existence.

He knows they are all in danger. Most especially that Psyche rules over Mount Olympus, the center most ruling city in that mythical dimension. Whoever sits on the throne in Mount Olympus was recognized as the current ruler of that whole world.

Crowfire stopped in front of the stairs of the shrine. He looked up above and took a deep breath.

"Here I go. I hope tables will turn this time." he said to himself.

Tom gulped when he realized he is on the sun shrine. He will see Psyche again. When he see her, he promised himself to push her on explaining everything and bring him back to the world where he is on himself, even if it costs him to stand on the brink of life and death on that hospital he was in.

"It is just a night, everything I did so reckless wasn't really because I started it. Nothing here is accurate from the past." he spoke on himself. He thought those hours he stayed in this world took so long, like days or weeks. He clasped his hands and gritted his teeth in his human image inside that pack of arrows.

Crowfire waved his hand slowly in the air. Shattering beams of light shone before him. He walks through it, until he disappeared. Crowfire felt his feet stepping on a flat form, a wavering flat form until he stabled his two feet on it. As his eyes clear, he saw cotton clouds everywhere, around him, almost touching his clothes. The circular flat form, like a plate floated in the sky. The wind blows cool. Below him are the mountains, the city, the whole Acerspire City, which tend to be very small from his point of view.

He traveled his eyes around. About few meters next to him were silhouettes of persons standing in the floating flat forms. Each one has one person standing. Crowfire realized they were all circling a giant thick cloud. In every second pass, the wind blew harder, thrusting, driving the cloud away, revealing a giant sphere floating in their very eyes. There was a girl sitting on it, having a pink hair and her trash bag dress. It was Psyche.

"People of Mount Olympus." Psyche spoke out very loud. Then she laughed. "Do you find pleasure in the game? Do you desire to succeed me in my throne?"

She let out another crazed laughed. Crowfire clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth. The other silhouettes stood on attacking stance.

Tom's eyes bulged out when the picture of Psyche became very clear to him. He has to go after her. He has to talk to her and bring him back to where he really belongs. His urges make him shake, that the quiver vibrates behind his master's back.

"I know you come to see me, Tom Dylan." a reverberating whisper echoed on Tom's ears. It was like Psyche's speaking directly on his ear.

He nailed his eyes on her. She was looking at him, despite how far they were from each other. She had a bad grin and narrowed eyes. Psyche stood from her seat and flew towards Crowfire's direction.

It was when Crowfire stopped moving. Everything stopped moving and every sillhouette paused, having their heads on her.

Tom wobbled his head in his regalia form and suddenly he felt flustered to see everything stopped. Psyche landed on Crowfire's flat form.

She walked slowly towards him. She stopped at Crowfire's front and touched his face. He looked at him straight in his eyes and said, "You have a wonderful master, Tom. Such a handsome young man. Best suited to be your new father."

"This isn't the deal we settled Psyche." Tom said. Despite being a pack of arrows, he was surpirsed he can utter words without being reverted to human form. Tom added as Psyche started to approach the quiver where he was, "I wanted to play volleyball again, not a death game. Where am I?"

Psyche grabbed one of those arrows and studied. It was a piece of Tom after all.

"Oh, you will. And you were, since last night." Psyche chuckled and laughed.

Nervousness started to fill on him.

"You're done with your practice match with Lion King right? And now, you are entering the Inter-High competition." Psyche added.

"What?" Tom said.

"Oh... You will get the hang of it. I am looking forward for your first official kill..." Psyche's voice crackled as it entered on Tom's ears. "Kill Green Lizard and you'll see."

Tom slowly drove his eyes on the nearest silhouette next to Crowfire as it pictures out.

It was a young man, about the age of Crowfire, wearing a light blue and white coat. It was Green Lizard, the first team they defeated in the Inter-High competition.

Tom choked out and said, "Are you insane?"