Chapter 30: Rampage of Beasts

*Ava*

I rushed around, vacuuming all of the crumbs on the carpet. My siblings had thought it wise to eat in the living room.

"Hey, can ya turn that off? I'm tryna listen to the television," Evan grumbled as he moved his head around.

I put a hand on my hips. "The nerve. Ya made the mess and I'm the one stuck cleaning it. The least ya can do is allow me to finish."

Evan waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, 'Mom'."

I grumbled and turned off the machine. "Fine. Clean up after yaself, ungrateful brat! I'm done fixing other people's messes."

"What's with sis?" my little sister asked as I headed for the stairs. She had returned with some pop.

"Ignore her. She's just being cranky, again. Surprised she even has a girlfriend."

I stomped upstairs. Grr. That annoying brat! Why was I always stuck having to play babysitter? Couldn't my parents get someone to watch over them? Like Sou's mom! She clearly had to have patience if she had to raise that hyper kid while juggling a thousand other things. No. I couldn't do that. Zetsuna had enough issues to deal with.

My feet came to a halt as the sound of the doorbell revibrated throughout the house.

"Oh, guests!" my little sister said. She toddled over to the door and jumped, trying her hardest to get the knob.

I took a deep breath and walked back down. "Don't strain yourself, Haviva."

"Ava, it's me, Sou!" Sou called out.

"It's your boyfriend!" Evan said, giggling.

I threw a stream of pink petals at him, causing him to cough.

"Hey, you made a mess!"

I smiled as I unlocked the door. "Clean it then."

Sou blinked. "Clean what?"

"Not you. Evan."

Evan blew some of the petals away.

Sou chuckled. "Ya should be nicer to ya sister. She can be real scary."

I smiled and furrowed my brow. Was he helping me or insulting me?

Evan jumped out of the sofa. "So, what brings ya here? Usually, we're the ones who visit ya."

"If you're here to see my dad, he's not here right now. He's at the shrine," I said.

"I'm actually here for ya."

My cheeks reddened for some reason. "Me?"

"Eh?! Out of all the girls, the one ya choose to fall for is my sis?" Evan asked, eyes wide.

Sou grumbled and turned away. "Not like that! I just need her to help me train."

"Oh! I can help ya out with that too!" Evan gave him a toothy grin.

Sou patted his head. "Thanks for the offer, sport, but your sister has more skill."

Evan jumped back. "Oh, yeah? Take this!" My brother shot several a torrent of petals at Souta.

Sou sidestepped it and smiled. "See?"

Evan stared at his hands and tried lifting the petals from the ground. "Ugh, how do you do this part again?"

I raised the petals from the sofa. Originally, I planned to have them fade once I had enough of bugging my little brother.

"How does that work?" Haviva asked, tilting her head.

"Try to harness the chakra within the petals," I said, moving them around. "Doing so will draw them toward you."

"I see," Evan said. He held his hand toward those outside. The petals dissolved as all of the chakra returned to him. "Eh?"

"You overdid it, little brother."

The boy slumped his shoulders.

"It'll come easier to you with time and age. So, Ava. Want to help me? Pa has a technique he wants to show off, but I need someone with chakra-based attacks to cancel out."

Did I have much choice? I could've said no and gone out with Sayuri, but the world would have been less safe as a result. As the reincarnation of the Citrine sage, training Sou up was vital.

"Alright."

"Can I watch?" Evan asked.

"That might not be the best idea," I said.

He stomped his foot. "Why not?"

"Sou might erase you." I smirked. "Although..."

Evan jumped back. "Ava!"

Souta pouted. "You should be nicer to your brother too."

I crossed my arms. "Easy for you to say. You got nice siblings. I got stuck with this guy!"

Evan grumbled.

"And me and big bro?" Haviva asked.

I smiled and picked her up. "You ended up being nice. Evan's the only one that came out bad."

Evan narrowed his eyes at me. "I'm gonna go back to watching my show!"

I sighed. If only he was more like Zivan, hardworking and caring.

"Speaking of your brother, have you gotten any word back from him?" Sou asked, frowning. Was he worried about his older brother too?

"No, but I'm sure we'll hear from them eventually," I said.

He smiled slightly. "I hope so. I miss Seiya."

It was too bad that they weren't home often, but it was for the safety of our country. If they stopped doing their jobs, chaos could rain down not only on this tiny town but on the various metropolises.

*Seiya*

I panted as Zivan and I cut through the woods. "Think we outran them?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.

My pink-haired companion looked over his shoulders twice, one for each. "It appears so."

I sighed and slumped to the ground.

"You okay?" he asked, hopping over to me.

I gripped my leg. The bleeding from the monster's attack hadn't stopped.

Zivan grimaced as he pulled up my pant leg. My entire lower leg was smeared with blood. He took out a bottle of water and opened it.

"Wait, don't waste your water on me. We're almost out."

"We can find some more in the river later. Right now, taking care of this injury is more important."

I turned away. Why was he like this? River water was best boiled and cooled down. Something we didn't have time to do.

"Ugh, gentle!" I yelped as he poured the cold water on my leg.

He smiled at me. "I didn't know you were such a wuss."

My face reddened. "I don't want to hear that from a pretty boy." I pushed him aside and stood up. "That's enough. Let's get going."

He sighed as he stood up and pushed me back down. "Not until we have that bandaged up. Or do you want to lose a leg?"

I didn't, but more than a leg was at stake if we continued taking more time to rest.

Shivers ran up my back as the ground shook. Walking at us was a dragon-like creature with a tail that split into two. A lash from one of them was the cause of my bleeding and that was despite me absorbing most of the kinetic energy. If Zivan were to get hit by it, he would surely die.

"Don't make a sound," Zivan said, holding me closely.

My face reddened. Ugh, my stupid heart! Now wasn't the time to beat loudly!

The oversized reptile turned its head and rushed at us.

I pushed Zivan and rose to my feet, pushing away all chakra from around me.

"Oh, no you don't!" Zivan yelled. A blast of crystal petals struck the lizard's tails, pushing them away from me. 

I kept my guard up and cupped my hands, forming a sphere of white energy. 

"What are you doing? We got to run!"

"No. If we run more, we'll just get attacked again."

He stepped away and focused his chakra into his hands. "Good point."

I smiled at him. "We got to time this right, ya hear?"

He laughed. "No need to tell me twice!"

The lizard got up and slammed its forked tail against the ground. My feet absorbed most of the kinetic energy, causing only a few rocks to be shot a few inches into the air. Zivan though got sent flying.

"Ziv!" I yelled.

"Pay attention!" Zivan yelled, unleashing his pink crystal barrage just before hitting the ground.

The lizard swatted them away and swung its twin-tail at me.

I gritted my teeth and threw the sphere at it, erasing its split tail.

The lizard roared as blood oozed out from where its tail used to be.

I smirked and jumped back. "Want more, eh, lizard breath?"

The beast roared and charged at me. I sidestepped it as I charged up another attack. If only I were faster at this.

My eyes widened as it continued running. It went straight for Ziv.

I stopped my attack and brandished my white iron sword. "No you don't!" I yelled, throwing it at its bleeding tail stump.

The beast growled and trashed, causing several trees to fall. My powers kept my immediate surroundings fine, but all around Ziv, trees started tilting.

"Hey, get out of there!" I yelled.

Ziv pushed himself up and held his hands out, covering the trees in pink energy. "Thanks, I needed this." He threw the loose trees at the beast, sending crashing to the floor. Once he stopped, the beast lay on the ground, motionless.

I punctured the beast's chest, extracting a fleshy organ from it. The beast core.

Ziv caught his breath. "Let's get out of here before its body starts to rot."

"No need. I'll clean it up entirely," I said, pulling my sword out of its tail. I put it back into its sheath and cupped my hands again.

More trembles shook the forest.

"There's more?" I asked, eyes wide.

Ziv gritted his teeth and threw his sword. "I'll hold them off. You charge your attacks."

We both gasped as the forest grew eerie quiet. Even the leaves stopped rustling.

"Did you do that?" Ziv asked.

I shook my head. "It would take me a lot of stamina to do that."

He glanced around. "Then who did?"

"Phew, made it just in time," a girl with dark blue hair said.

"I-it's you!" I said, running over to her. "Davina! My idol!" I said, grabbing her hands.

She stared at the organ now in her hands.

"Ahh, sorry!" I said, stepping back.

Ziv slapped my back. "Careful. Don't want to slip on all of that blood."

I looked down and noticed I was standing on a puddle of the stuff. Ugh. Why did I have to meet Davina like this?

"Say, who are you?" Ziv asked, glancing at her.

"Eh? You don't know who she is? But I told you about her!" I said.

"Not that celebrity stuff! I mean who is she really."

She smiled warmly. "I'm Davina Diamond. I'm the heir of the Diamond clan. Me and a friend were passing by on our way to the capital for a concert of mine. That's when I heard those disturbing sounds." She stared at the dead beast. "To think they're drawing this close to our homes."

"You have the same issue?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. Something is causing everything from beasts to spirits to act up throughout the continent. I theorize it's heralding the coming of the Dark Lord."

The color drained from Ziv's face.

"The Dark Lord? Isn't that from a story your dad told us as kids?"

Ziv nodded. "Yeah, the legend. But, to our knowledge, no Ethereal Stones have been born."

"It appears this is but a prelude," Davina said, turning around as the leaves started to rustle once more. The roars from earlier were still gone.

A muscular man drenched in blood stepped out from the forest. "They're all taken care of, Lady Davina."

Davina nodded. "Thanks, Dean. And sorry for making you take up such a messy task."

He sighed. "There's nothing to be sorry about. It's my job after all."

Was he the friend she mentioned? He sounded more like a bodyguard.

"Seems I wasn't needed here," a voice called out. We all glanced up and saw a boy dressed in white donning a pheasant mask. The only non-white part of him was his deep black hair.

"Your Highness," Ziv said, bowing.

The boy removed his mask and smiled. "Thanks for coming upon my request, Zivan, Seiya."

I took out the letter from my pants pocket. "Is this what you meant by things were starting to pick up at home?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes." He glanced at Davina and Dean. "It appears it even drew the attention of Her Highness."

Davina smiled slightly. "Didn't think we would meet until the concert."

"Nor did I." He tapped his sword. "But it seems the time is nearing." His green eyes glanced at the partially cloudy sky. "For darkness to descend upon this world."