"There you are." Kas said as Ralkos walked up to him, she was keeping herself from looking forward. "I almost began to believe that you weren't showing up."
"And miss out on both the festival and ceremony?" Ralkos jokes patting Kas on the shoulder. "Never."
Kas had a confused look as he glanced towards the gathering of people at the grounds. Ralkos frowned for a moment before checking with him. "You do remember right? The ceremony lasts from midnight until night."
"Right, size of the groups and all." Kas answered as he took a deep breath. Ralkos could sense something was off, it was like Kas was searching for an excuse. Bending down she reached out and lightly touched his shoulder causing Kas' eyes to snap towards her. "Kas, are you alright?"
"Tired." Kas answered before patting her shoulder. "You look well rested, a lot better than when you were taking the test."
"That's what happens when people tell me ghost stories." Ralkos replied as she led Kas away from the starting group and towards the festival stalls. The bright colors and lights were always a welcoming sight in the darkness. Kas' eyes were drawn everywhere as if planning the route he was going to take. Ralkos relaxed as he always did this. Perhaps she was tired as well and just seeing things. She was thinking about what Kavis told her, about the Slime being a sign of someone being possessed. Richard stated that he always left her body in order to keep them from being bound permanently. 'Not those words exactly, but close enough.' Ralkos thought, it was like she was hyper aware of everyone around her. 'With all of this evidence it means that there are two Draemons… Demons… whatever.' Ralkos thought as she looked around for anyone acting suspiciously. If Richard was the distraction it meant that there was another one planning something big.
"Food first or games?" Kas asked, snapping Ralkos out of her musings. Ralkos looked around making a quick decision. "Games first."
"First one to one a hundred prizes gets treated to food." Kas said before bolting towards one of the stalls. Feeling the challenge, Ralkos pushed her worries to the side and ran forward to join him. She glanced at her watch once in a while waiting for either their number to come up or her parents to call. Kas had already joined his parents, the contest having been a draw, and was now talking with them. Ralkos frowned before moving to find some skewers to munch on.
"Hey." Siti's voice called out, pausing for a moment. "Ralkos?"
Ralkos turned her head to see Siti approaching her with a rather nervous look on her face. Ralkos glanced around before greeting. "Siti, this is unusual."
"Yeah, thought I'd get away from my family for a bit." Siti replied before sighing. "They just want to sit through the ceremony not wanting to miss a moment to make snide remarks."
"Your family sounds… interesting." Ralkos told her before turning her body to face her. "So why hang out with me? I thought you didn't like me?"
"You stood up for me, a lot, during the exam." Siti told her and this caused Ralkos to close her mouth. Sure that might have been Richard most of the time but she didn't actually expect it to mean something. So she just made up an excuse on the spot. "Well even if we don't get along doesn't mean you're not a bad person. You helped me out a lot."
Siti smiled before looking around. Ralkos glanced towards Kas who seemed happy to be with his parents before offering. "Want to go around the festival with me?"
"Where's your family?" The question was innocent enough but Ralkos wasn't sure how to answer it. She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I guess their assignments are taking longer than they thought or something."
Siti hesitated before nodding her head. "I've actually never been to one of these before. I really don't know what to do."
"Come on, I'll show you around." Ralkos told her before leading the way through the different stalls. She showed her the food and the games that were available. The shops that were open displaying the wide varieties of clothing and toys that were available. Ralkos was looking at the handmade wooden figurines when Siri asked. "Who's this guy?"
Ralkos turned to look at who Siti was referring to, in her hands was a blue mask with four eye holes. In her other hand was a greyish lavender mask with three eyes. Reaching out and tapping the blue mask Ralkos explained. "This is the mask of Tyrus, he's a bit of a legendary figure. Similar to a saint who protected Venorosis during the Dark Times and granted the Crystal of Tyrus when we lost our color."
"Isn't that when the Draemon supposedly ruled over the galaxy or something?" Siti inquired and Ralkos nodded her head. "And someone believes that this is what Tyrus looked like?"
Ralkos touched the mask lightly before jerking her hand away as if it had burned her. "Yeah."
She rubbed her wrist subconsciously, the mask looking like that demon from Richard's memories. She couldn't shake the feeling growing in her. Siti looked at the two masks before handing them back to the stall owner. "They don't really look like good guys."
"It's just a mask." Ralkos chuckled nervously before nudging Siti out of the way watching as the stall owner stared at them. It was starting to creep her out as well. There was a throbbing in her head as she walked away from the tower. She stumbled a bit but felt someone steady her. Glancing down she saw Siti leading her to a bed for her to sit down. "Okay, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure myself." Ralkos admitted as she breathed heavily. "I-I can't remember most of the tests, in fact what I do remember was when my talons were coming and waking up at night a few times."
"I didn't want to mention how strange you were being." Siti told her as she leaned back. "I mean you were like yourself most of the time but there were times when you were off."
Shaking her head, Siti looked up at the sky as she mused. "It was like you were possessed by a parasitic alien or something."
"Not a parasitic alien." Ralkos muttered, there was silence for a moment as Siti turned her gaze to Ralkos. It was as if she was silently asking if Ralkos was kidding or not. After her eyes scanned for any hint she asked.
"A Draemon."
Ralkos hesitated wondering if she should trust Siti with the information she gathered. She knew that Siti was more reliable to give it to her straight. Though there was the chance that Siti would just scoff at her and call her a loon. Steeling herself, Ralkos decided to be truthful. "Okay, not a Draemon exactly, apparently there is a difference. He calls himself a Demon."
"Wait. Wait. Wait." Siti told her, holding up her hand. "A demon, like the one from Earth mythology. Servants of Lucifer, enemies of Heaven. That sort of thing?"
"Maybe?" Ralkos honestly didn't know anything about the religions of Earth. "Anyways… he was possessing me to hide during the day. At night he would leave in order to look for alcohol."
"So there is a demon at the festival right now?" Siti glanced around before moving around in front of her. This shocked Ralkos for a moment, she honestly hadn't expected Siti to believe her. She stared up at her for a moment as if to gauge whether or not the human in front of her was possessed. "Don't look at me like that. Like I said before I thought you were playing host to a parasite. You kind of were in a way. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that demons exist but you getting possessed by some alcoholic demon thing makes a lot of sense."
"Did he say anything that would tip you off that he is an alcoholic?" Ralkos wanted to make sure that it wasn't just what she said. Siti let out a deep breath before looking up at Ralkos. "It was either that or a drug addict. While waiting for the tests to begin or just being around you for the day you kind acted like the father of a friend I had back on Earth."
Leaning forward and clasping her hands together Siti continued. "Despite coming here when I was young I remember him clearly. I remember everything which makes it hard to forgive a lot of people. My friend's father had turned to alcohol and gambling after his mother died. One day… My friend made sure to get rid of all the alcohol and keep his father from going out. I got to see first hand someone suffering from withdrawals when I went to deliver the schoolwork."
"I was in that bad of a state?" Ralkos didn't want to think about what Richard had to suffer through while he was in her body. Siti nodded her head. "It was more like subtle movements. Like you weren't craving it but at the same time you were. Yet when you caught me watching you, you would just settle down."
The watch beeped letting Ralkos know that Kas' group was going to get their colors next. She was shocked about how much time had passed. Between showing Siti around and them just talking her perception of time had been warped. She stood up glancing down at Siti telling her. "I was going to see Kas' ceremony. Did you want to join me?"
Siti hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. "Sure. Nothing better to do."
With that they began to head back to the building. Ralkos was glancing around for any sign of Richard. Yet it seemed like the demon did not wish to be found. 'Not yet anyways.' she thought seeing the crowd of people at the entrance to the exam building. Squeezing through the crowd, Ralkos managed to find a good spot to watch. Siti seemed a little irritated that the only free chair was right by her parents and kept close to Ralkos. Ralkos was wondering if she wanted a better view so she leaned down whispering to her. "Did you want me to lift you up?"
Siti glared up at her before hissing back. "I'm fine."
Nodding her head, Ralkos straightened her back as Lynnoak walked onto the stage. "Thank you for attending the Ceremony of Adulthood. For those who have been here since the beginning I commend your dedication. For those who do not know each of the exam participants will come up and place their hand on the Crystal of Tyrus. The Crystal will then bestow upon them a color that is correlated with their chosen job."
'How does the Crystal of Tyrus know?' Ralkos thought doubt surging forth, something wasn't right. 'Did the Moderators place the data from the tests into the Crystal or was there something else going on?' Ralkos looked down at Siti and saw her own eyes narrow. Ralkos wanted to ask her if she was thinking the same thing or not. She knew the rules though, there needed to be silence during this part of the ceremony. So Ralkos remained as quiet as possible watching as each of the examinees walked up to the crystal and placed their hands on it. The crystal would pulse for a few of them as it did all those years before. Yet this time it felt sinister to Ralkos. 'Perhaps it is because I'm expecting Richard to do something.' She tried to convince herself that it was the only reason.
Finally after a while it was Kas' turn, Ralkos stood up a bit straighter. She watched as her best friend approached the crystal and placed his hand on it. It pulsed like all the others before a black color crawled up his arm. It meant that he was being placed in Spec Ops. Just as he was about to pull his hand away, clapping was heard echoing around the courtyard. Those that came to observe the ceremony began to look around when two large eyes opened up over the wall behind the crystal. The reaction from the crowd was instant. People tried to run away, while some started to scream, others began to babble nonsense. Ralkos closed her eyes when she felt the urge to run and she placed her hand carefully over Siti's eyes. She felt her reach up to remove the hand but stopped when Ralkos commanded quietly. "Don't look."
"Venorosis, I must say that I am disappointed in all of you." Richard's voice called out and Ralkos cracked her eyes open a little watching the wings slide down. She removed her hand from Siti's face who nearly stumbled back in shock. "You went and made this Alliance and forgot why."
He jumped down on the stage scraping his claws against the crystal and pushing Kas to the side. Kas stumbled back glaring at Richard. Lanus snarled before leaping towards the demon only to get caught up in a silky thread that was produced by the demon. Richard flicked his finger down causing the Ketervan to slam into the ground. "Long before the Humans joined this Alliance you forgot. You turned us into myth and legends forgetting that we are real and we are a threat."
Ralkos felt Siti shift like she was ready to walk forward. One of the eyes on Richard's wings glanced towards her so Ralkos had to stop Siti from moving. She didn't know how the demon would react. So she reached out and placed her hand on Siti's shoulder, halting any movement. She shook her head when Siti looked at her.
"Where was I?" Richard muttered as he paced back and forth, more silk strands flying out. They enveloped anyone in the crowd that moved. So Ralkos had to force herself not to react, she couldn't risk it. Kas was on the stage watching Richard carefully as he continued his speech. "Oh you've forgotten that we are a threat and you forgot who Tyrus really was."
Richard's claws scraped across the crystal as anger grew on his face. "A saint? What a load of shit."
The crystal cracked slightly under his claws before he retracted his hand. "A Draemon… no, A DEMON! That's what he was. You've been practically falling at the feet of the enemy! IT'S HILARIOUS! SOMETHING DARKER AND MORE ANCIENT THAN THOSE IDIOTS THAT YOU COWERED BEFORE!"
Richard started laughing as the building behind him began to crack. "You fools! All of you! But don't worry my dear little sinners guess what… we're back! Demons and those stupid Draemon and this time we're playing for keeps!"
"Then why have you come?" Lynnoak called out and Richard's wings twitched as he turned his attention to her. "You are not attacking us."
"There is too much effort to kill everyone here." Richard admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean the ones who remained are quite brave and smart."
Richard gestured to his wings as he walked up to Kas staring into his eyes. "You didn't run and a lot of you figured out how my wings work."
He moved away from Kas to walk up to Lynnaok, Moderator Altos moving to block him. He was moved to the side with ease. Frowning up at the height difference he turned his attention to Lynnoak. The Moderator was silent before she decided to ask another question. "Why did you tell us about Tyrus? You could have easily presented yourself as an ally in order to trick us."
Richard scoffed as he looked away and into the eyes of Ralkos. In order to avoid people looking at her he scanned the rest of the crowd. Most were staring at him in curiosity as he opened his mouth to speak only to get nailed by a laser in the eye in the middle of his forehead. Ralkos felt a pain in her head as well, almost collapsing to the ground. Siti saw this and grabbed her arm in order to steady her. There were shouts of surprise and a few children crying as Ralkos glanced over to the entrance where security was beginning to gather. They were saying something but Ralkos couldn't hear them. All that she could hear was a high pitched whine. She looked towards Richard, her eyes widening as she watched him sit up and touch his eye. He was about to say something when a large stone fell from the building. Everyone looked towards the large tower seeing lights filling the cracks as it and the crystal exploded outwards. Roars filled the air with chanting coming right behind it. A large shadow flew out of the crystal as thunder rumbled in the distance. Ralkos barely managed to regain herself seeing Richard jump toward Kas pulling him out of the way from the falling debris. She screamed when she saw them get buried rushing to aid them.
"KAS!"
"Lookout!"
Ralkos didn't have any time to react as Siti pushed out of the way. A horned creature that seemed to be made out of redstone approached. Its lion-like face scrunched up in a snarl as it dragged behind it a large bloodied ax. It was followed by a smaller figure with skin a sickly green color. In one hand gripped a whip and in her right was a leash leading up to a thick collar around the creature's neck. She stared down at Siti and Ralkos as something sinister flashed within her red eyes. Her fingers gripped around the whip as she raised it up ready to strike at the pair when shadowy tendrils rose up from the ground grasping both her and the larger creature. The female Draemon looked to the side, her eyes widening. Ralkos glanced around but could get a good look as she gathered Siti into her arms to get her out of there. The feeling of blood on her feathers and skin was making her sick.
"Hang on Siti." Ralkos muttered as she got to her feet, her talons carefully wrapping around the injured party. Spreading her wings she took off into the air, despite not getting her job she was still fully grown. 'I'm sure Richard broke a lot more rules in my body.' she thought as she glanced around for Kas on the ground. It was difficult to distinguish who was friend from foe with the sheer mass of bodies. The soldiers were keeping the monsters away from the young ones. Then she spotted the pink of the healers and flew down towards them only to watch them get swarmed. Everything went dark and Ralkos had to look up to see a massive creature flying above them.
Words were lost on Ralkos as she tried to figure out where to flee to when something flew into her. She struggled for a moment before recognizing one of her fellow Akakoan examinees. The one who helped Siti take her to the infirmary. Before she could say anything he looked at Siti before looking at her. "I'll take her to safety, get the other lost ones out of there."
"Wha-?" Ralkos couldn't get a word out as her fellow Akakoan took Siti out of her hands and flew away. Turning around, Ralkos went to get as many of her fellow citizens out of harm's way. Her head was pounding harder and harder the further she moved away from the collapsing tower. Turning around, Ralkos flew towards the base, feeling her head clearing up. A few of the Draemon flew up towards her but she kicked out with her newly taloned feet and slashed at the faces. She pulled her legs back using the wings on her arms to fly a little higher as the large creatures swiped at her.
"Hey! Birdy!" Richard's voice called up, her eyes shot towards the source of the voice. It was coming from under a pile of rubble. She dropped down on top of it, noticing that none of those creatures were coming close. 'I'm guessing because of the demon under the rubble.' Ralkos thought as she gripped one of the heavier stones and did her best to roll it off the pile. It was a struggle as it seemed that something was sticking to it. Once it was gone she noticed what seemed like sticky silk underneath it.
"What is this stuff?" Ralkos asked as she continued to move the rubble with some difficulty. "And why…"
She breathed heavily as she attempted to get off a larger piece of rubble only to duck under it. More of the tower collapsed, the heavy debris almost hitting her.
"... Why aren't those creatures coming closer?" she breathed hearing angry roars from beyond it. Richard was quiet for a moment before answering. "Considering how long they were trapped in there they must still believe that I'm the champion of Sonus."
Ralkos twitched, feeling a sense of familiarity from the name. This must have been who Tyrus was demanding the location of. 'The creature who carried his head under his arm.' she thought to herself as the debris settled around her. 'Did I just trap myself?' she thought in irritation pushing against her shelter only for it to not budge.
"Did… did you get yourself trapped as well?" Richard began to chuckle before letting out a full bodied laugh before it sounded like someone punching him. "Son of a…."
"Thanks Kas." Ralkos interrupted, earning a rather irritated string of sounds from Richard. She smiled slightly as Kas replied. "No problem Ral."
"Not to be the bearer of bad news but you two will run out of air." Richard spoke up, causing Ralkos to twitch. "I can push the debris off but it will take a lot of time and with the tower collapsing it will just keep getting harder and harder."
"Then why did you blow it up?" Ralkos growled as she began to shove against the rocks. Richard took a while to respond. Then it hit Ralkos. "That wasn't the distraction, was it?"
"Could you just shut your mouth?" Ralkos was shocked at Richard's words, normally he acted friendly. "I-I'm trying to focus."
'Something's off.' Ralkos thought before deciding to tear at the threads in front of her as they began to expand outwards. Some began to wrap around her pulling her in as more debris crashed on top of them. Ralkos coughed a bit before looking up. Kas was leaning against the broken remains of the crystal with his leg bound. Richard was standing in the middle weaving more of the threads around them and pushing them further and further away. Ralkos moved next to Kas and knelt down to take a look at the wound. "Are you alright?"
"When he pushed me out of the way from the debris something happened to my leg." Kas said, wincing a bit before his face returned to the usual blank expression. "I didn't expect him to bind it though."
Richard glanced back towards them, his eyes narrowing at Kas. This ticked Ralkos off for a moment but her concern for her friend was overriding the irritation. Richard swore under his breath a few times causing Ralkos to assume that they were buried even more. 'How much time do we have?' she thought before a loud sound echoed around them.
"That one next!" Kavis' voice echoed around them causing Ralkos to jump. The appearance of the Cheldrasi was one she did not expect. She thought that Kavis would be out fighting against the Draemon not helping those trapped. There was another deafening crash causing everyone who could hear to cover their auditory receptors. One by one Richard retracted his threads as they fell to the ground. Ralkos was about to say something in protest when she realized that the debris was being blasted away. Standing there in front of them was a small humanoid figure with no discernible features at all. The creature was wearing layers of heavy robes and a strange crystal hanging around its neck. Kavis ran past Richard to help up Kas and Ralkos. The strange newcomer was just staring at Richard before stating. "You do know you're coming with us, right?"
"What do you mean he's coming with us?!" both Ralkos and Kavis protested to the creature. The humanoid turned to look at both of them with pale eyes responding. "Tall Birdy should know the effects of staying far away from him for any amount of time."
Kavis gave Ralkos a deep look of disappointment and Ralkos managed to speak. "Hey! I had no choice in the matter. It's not like I invited him in."
"When did that happen?" Kavis hissed back but Ralkos rolled her eyes, ignoring that as she asked her own question. "Who's your friend?"
"He's… ummm, a Changeling?" this confused Ralkos, the Cheldrasi were the only known shapeshifters in the known universe. So the uncertain way that Kavis used to present that statement didn't sit well with her. Another thing that caught her attention was that Kavis referred to this being as 'He'. Cheldrasi never chose a gender until it was time to breed. Ralkos looked at the being as she swept Kas into her arms asking. "What's your name?"
"Hmm?" the Changeling tilted his head to the side for a moment. "My name?"
He was silent once more before answering. "Oh that! I can't remember what I once was called. So I go by names that others give me."
A wide smile grew upon his face.
"Here I went by two names, Kels is the one I'm quite used to."
"We should get going then, Kels." Ralkos didn't trust him but he seemed to be helping them out for the time being. Kels nodded his head enthusiastically showing the way out. As a Draemon charged towards them swinging with a large weapon wildly, Kels merely lifted his hand. A strange beam energy left his hand slamming into the creature leaving a hole in its chest. The massive creature fell down, everytime it tried to get up or get away more beams of energy slammed into it. Kavis reached out gripping Kels' shoulder shouting. "That's enough!"
Ralkos watched as Kels snapped out of whatever trance he was in before looking at Kavis like nothing had happened. "Right, we need to find that Elken friend of yours."
"Why?" Ralkos asked and Kels turned his attention towards her. "Elken are peaceful."
"Oh, you don't know." Kels just laughed before moving through the bodies of Draemon that Ralkos was starting to believe was his doing. Quite a few of them sporting holes in their deceased form. Rearranging her grip on Kas Ralkos followed, keeping her wings ready for flight. Glancing back she noticed Richard following them. Taking a deep breath she asked under her breath. "Who is he?"
"Kels?" Richard seemed to catch on quick. "You saw into my memories."
"Sure, I don't remember a lot but I don't remember seeing him around." Ralkos retorted. "Not even a servant."
Richard just shrugged his shoulders, earning an angry click from Ralkos. Kas reached up and touched her shoulder causing Richard's eyes to snap towards him. Pulling himself up Kas whispered. "Just ignore him Ral, why should he tell us things we want to know so easily?"
Sighing, Ralkos moved to catch up with the others. Richard glaring back at Kas signalling that he heard him. Kels was just standing still watching as Larial attacked the Draemon surrounding her with ferocity that had never been displayed before. It was almost like Larial was a completely different person. Most of the giant Draemons seemed to be focused on her and ignoring all of the fleeing civilians despite the protests of the smaller Draemons. The leashes getting yanked from the hands and without their protection fell to Kels attacks when they got too close. Kavis ran forward to yank their friend out of the fray only to get grabbed by a large alien. This, unlike the Draemon, was a species that Ralkos had heard of and seen a few before. A massive humanoid bear-like species that was rarely seen off their homeworld. 'An Imatti.' Ralkos was amazed at the being who held Kavis to her chest. The Imatti were well known for their massive size and stature, with ears and tail like that of an Earth grizzly. From their forehead down their back the species sports a row of horns. The Imatti, like most humanoid species, had opposable thumbs on their massive paws and proved to be a quite dextrous species. Their hindlegs worked in a similar way to a bear's hindlegs giving them the ability to walk on all fours as well as standing. Their coarse fur coated their head, back, arms, and legs leaving only the chest exposed. From the neck down to where the fur was, it was rumored that it was scaled hence why they didn't need it. 'Focus Ralkos!'