Chapter 7: Confusion
Orez was in an uproar. Almost everybody had seen the hooded figure and those who hadn't had heard of its great power. Uni was on top of the capital building with Miyun, which had many people gathered at the base, shouting up questions. Uni sighed, looking down among the many people. When he began to speak, it was with a booming voice:
"Zeroins, listen! That hooded figure, whoever he was, was not our enemy!"
This, of course, caused a massive response from the crowd. Uni waited until they settled.
"He said we would know who he was when the time came. He will be back and we will have answers!" He said triumphantly. The crowd let out a small cheer as Uni and Miyun left the top of the building, walking into it.
In the other two cities, much different things had happened. Jewel had decided to pursue the hooded figure, who had returned to the city. She was having a hard time, though, even with her dragons. Nonetheless, she caught up with him, a twisted smile on her face.
"And just who the hell do you think you are?" She asked calmly, the smile remaining. The man did not respond. Jewel laughed lightly. "Alrighty. I'll just pull down your hood and see for myself!" She said as she flicked her hand towards him. Her dragon flew at the man with pinpoint accuracy. The figure jumped out of the way with ease, causing the dragon to land face first in the ground, a whole lot of dirt filling its mouth. Jewel's second silver dragon had been waiting, though, and shot a gigantic fireball at the man. He waited, standing in one spot. The fireball hit him directly and Jewel smiled. But when the flames cleared, Jewel saw that the figure was unharmed! The only part of him that had been affected was his hood. It had been burned off a little and Jewel caught a glimpse of him just as he turned to leave. He had... red, silky smooth hair?!?
----------------------------------------------------
The Creator was bored. Cri had left to do whatever he did and Near had been left alone. He had his eyes closed and was looking at Liberius through one of his pawns, which were all the creations that he used to spy and look all throughout Z3R0. These were normal creations.
"Three of them? That's odd... were there three to begin with?" He asked, talking aloud to himself. Cri landed in front of him from the sky. He had been... doing no one knows what. Near didn't even open his eyes.
"So, Near, these creations of yours are really interesting. Sen and his party have gotten further into the temple than I expected." He explained, never blinking. Near opened his brown eyes and looked Cri directly in the face.
"You know what I'm worried about... that other one..." He said, sighing.
"I can't say for sure, but that one hooded figure has an energy similar to someone you may know." Cri said seriously.
"Who?" Near asked, curious now.
"Sayago."
----------------------------------------------------
In S City, Simon had chosen to leave the stranger alone. He, like many others, had witnessed the man's power first hand and decided just to ignore it. He was sitting in a cafe with Val, drinking coffee. Val looked as though something was wrong, looking down into her drink. Silence filled the wooden room, with light streaming in through a large glass window, illuminating Val and Simon. Simon looked at the girl with some concern.
"What's wrong?" He asked, almost mechanically.
Val shook her head. "It's nothing..." She replied, not looking up. Simon sighed.
“I know something’s wrong. You’ve been like this for a few days.” He pointed out, taking a sip of his drink. Val looked up at him, quickly averting her gaze. She looked out the window with an almost dejected face. “You… you’ve been ignoring me for a while now.” She said with a shy and almost scared voice. “Do you find me annoying?”
“Of course not!” Simon replied truthfully, yet hastily. “I’ve only been ignoring you because of what’s been going on… the war… and the Chosen…” He muttered with an obvious tone of guilt in his voice.
“So… you don’t hate me?” Val asked, managing a weak smile as she looked at Simon.
“I could never hate you.” Simon replied, his arms on the table. “Good. Don’t make me feel so bad!” She said, wiping her eyes a bit. “Okay, okay. Now, what shall we do… this hooded stranger has caused a bit of an uproar… twice.” He muttered, sighing. Val hit him on the head lightly.
“Don’t worry about that. Haven’t you considered The Creator is the one sending these things to each of the cities?” She asked him. “Of course. The fact is he’s probably going to shock us all; shock Z3R0.” Simon replied. Val quickly took his hands in hers.
“I’m sure we’ll be ready. We’re pretty smart, aren’t we?” She asked, smiling brightly now. Simon forced a smile onto his face.
----------------------------------------------------
Jewel had ridden back to Liberius. She was a bit angry. “Blade!” She called with a calm yet angry voice. Blade walked up to Jewel, who was scores of feet higher than him in the air. He looked up at her, his eyes glaring. “Where were you?” She asked. “You should have helped me attack that man!” She explained. Blade, with a gigantic sword on his back, kept his gaze focused on Jewel.
“I am not loyal to you. I am loyal to Justice.” He pointed out. Jewel smiled her signature twisted smile.
“I am the leader of The Second. I am the closest one to Justice’s power.” She said.
Blade smiled confidently. “Or so you think.” He said as he walked back into the city.
----------------------------------------------------
“You’re lying.” Near said to Cri, in blatant disbelief. “I’m not.” Cri retorted mindlessly, still staring The Creator in the face. “You… there’s no way…” Near mumbled, seemingly unable to finish his sentences.
“I only said the energy seems like Sayago’s.”
“Yes… but no one else had an energy signal quite like hers!”
“Well, yes…” Cri replied as Near turned away from him. “How do you even know of Sayago? Much less what her energy feels like?” Near questioned, looking through the sky, thinking. “I have my ways. There are still many things you don’t know about The Numbers.” Cri answered, still looking at Near.
“I still don’t know… Sayago was never supposed to come back to Z3R0… the final battle wiped her existence from this dimension. She couldn’t of been able to come back, could she?” Near asked, partially to himself and partially to Cri.
“You can choose to believe me or not. But the Divine Right of Z3R0 may still very well be wandering these fields…” Cri said before walking away, disappearing among the hills.
“Sayago… the legendary archer with arrows of the utmost purity and power… could she have come back? No, I saw her vanish before my eyes… but some things do change… could she really be back?”
----------------------------------------------------
Back in the temple, Revl was a little confused. He was lost, looking around and trying to see any signs of life in the glass hall that he had been wandering in. “How did I end up here?” He asked himself aloud. He had tried to break the windows but his efforts were useless. He grumbled something incomprehensible to himself and continued to walk on.
“Well… this doesn’t seem like a trap. But I guess I’ll just have to keep going to find out…” He said out loud again. He began to think to himself. “So how many temple guards have we slain so far? If everybody encountered just one of them, then six of them will be gone… leaving four.” He concluded. He continued to walk through the halls, which got distinctively different from each one he passed into. “It still makes me wonder… who was the man that jumped away without a word to us? Come to think of it, did his cloak even have gold lining on it?” He thought to himself.
Revl suddenly felt a very intense and powerful energy. ”What the hell is this?” He questioned, trying to keep calm. A girl with pink hair and blue eyes jumped down from the ceiling and landed in front of him. “Wanna play?” She asked with a light tone in her voice. “Burst? But you’re supposed to be dead!” Revl said, slowly losing his cool.
“But I thought that was unconfirmed?” She said as she attacked.
The demon was lying on the ground, lifeless. “You did it.” Sen said to Amy weakly. She shook her head.
“I shouldn’t’ve killed a living creature.” She mumbled. Sen laughed a tiny before clutching his chest in pain.
“No… you saved my life.” He said before he fell onto his knees. “Are you alright?!?” Amy asked hastily, rushing over to try and support him. “I’ll be fine… but we really do need a healer…” Sen muttered as he collapsed onto the floor. Amy gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.
“Wait, didn’t I tell you that I can heal?” She asked him. Sen turned over onto his back and shook his head. Amy put her staff over Sen’s body and a pink light was emitted from it. “That’s unusual…” Sen managed to say. He felt his body being repaired, although very slowly. Amy fell due to exhaustion on top of Sen’s stomach. Sen looked a bit flushed as Amy breathed gently on top of him, her hands on the top of his chest. She realized what was happening soon enough and turned red in the face.
“I’m sorry!” She apologized, taking herself off of him. Sen shook his head again. “It’s fine. You just used too much energy trying to heal me.” He said as he looked down as where she had been laying. “That actually felt pretty nice…” He thought to himself as he smiled. He stood back up, feeling much better. “Wow! I feel great! Thanks, Amy!” He said with forced enthusiasm.
“N-no, it’s fine. It’s about all I can do!” She said excitedly, managing a smile as well. Sen took her hand and lead her away. “We should get out of here…” He said as the two left the chamber. Amy trailed behind, her heart nearly fluttering.
Miu, like the others, was lost. But she was in a completely different part of the building. She had the same look on her face as the first time she had met Sen. She opened one eye and took notice of her surroundings. She was in a narrow hallway that was lit only by candles. It was made of stone. Every so often, one of the candles would flicker out near her.
“This hallway never ends…” She said, fanning for air. She was still wearing the same outfit she had worn since the journey started. “Disgusting…” She muttered, realizing this fact. She sighed and kept walking, ignoring her tiredness. She sat down for a few minutes before standing back up, dropping a coin that she had been carrying. She continued to walk, looking at the floor and walls, until she saw something.
“Wasn’t that the coin I was carrying with me?” She asked herself, bending over to pick it up. “It is… but what’s it doing here?” She asked herself, inspecting it. A dim light bulb went off over her head. “Maybe if I leave it here I’ll figure something out…” She thought as she put the coin down face up. She kept an eye out for it as she began to walk forward again. She saw the coin and looked happy, going over to pick it up again.
“Wait a second… it’s face down…” She said to herself, a bit upset. “Well, something’s trying to mess with me…” She said, realizing that it was indeed the coin she had put down. She saw the light flicker out next to her.
“That’s it!” She exclaimed happily.
----------------------------------------------------
The three hooded figures hade met up with each other. With dark shadows covering their faces, two of them bowed to the third. With boring, unrecognizable voices they began to speak to each other.
“Stand, you two.” The first one said, raising a hand. The one on the left began to speak as well. “Does Near know of your existence?”
“Of course not. I’m a surprise for him.” The first one said with the same tone. The one standing to the right of the first said nothing as the three departed.
----------------------------------------------------
Sen and Amy had not sensed or seen anything out of the ordinary (Besides the gigantic demon they had just killed). Sen was getting frustrated.
“Aaarrgh! Where is everything?” He asked, looking around quickly. Amy was, yet again, clinging to him. “Amy! Why do you constantly cling to me?” He asked with a nearly angry tone, although it was apparent that he was trying to get himself under control.
“I just… don’t want to get separated from you.” Amy said with some sadness and innocence. A pang of guilt shot through Sen as Amy let go of him. “I’m… sorry.” He said. She didn’t say anything back, only nodded. They kept walking in a hallway exactly like the one Revl had been in. “Strange hallway, isn’t it…” Sen asked with a normal tone. “Where are we, anyway? I don’t sense anything, except…” He began, stopping short. He grabbed Amy’s hand.
“Where are we going?” She asked as Sen lead her.
“That energy… it’s Revl’s. But he’s in danger.”
