Even the cicadas that buzzed throughout Chikaryu Village sounded mournful as the bodies of the fallen villagers were lowered into the ground. Jordan felt his father's hand resting on his shoulder, the firm but simultaneously gentle grip giving him comfort as he tried to hold back the tears. He had never been to the town's graveyard other than to visit his long departed great grandfather, and he had certainly never seen it so busy.
It had been 2 weeks since the raid, and his parents had been shielding him from the carnage that had resulted in the village as he recovered from his injuries. However, as the 39th body that he had counted was lowered into their grave, the weight of what the reavers had done became apparent. The lucky ones in the village had only lost their homes, and the vacant stares of the many funeral attendees demonstrated how much of their spirit had been crushed as well. A man dressed in the robes of some church that Jordan did not recognize said some words about luck and fate that went in one ear and out the other, and Jonathan had to give him a gentle shake for him to realize that the funeral was even over.
"Cmon, let's go home bud," Jonathan said doing his best to sound supportive despite the obvious sadness in his own voice. Jordan nodded silently, rising from his seat and walking toward the graveyard's exit.
He had asked his father to attend the funeral, but Jordan regretted his decision from the moment he saw the first body lowered. The devastation that the reavers could cause was something that his parents had mentioned from time to time, but seeing their cruelty for himself made him truly realize how dangerous the world could be. As he began to become lost in these dark thoughts, he saw his father begin to turn the corner toward their home before he stopped suddenly.
"Oh, hey man! How are you feeling?" He asked, and Jordan could see that his father was looking down on someone much shorter than him.
"A little better everyday, thanks for asking Mr. Hamilton," a scratchy voice responded.
Jordan curiously walked behind his father and peeked around him to see that he was speaking with a young boy in a wheelchair. Every inch of his skin except for his right eye was completely covered in bandages, and the strangely deep voice he had for his age was most likely also due to his severe injuries. The boy's eye darted over to Jordan when he appeared from behind his father, and it widened immediately upon recognizing the half elf.
"Hey Jordan, I'm glad to see you're ok," he said, though the coughing fit that followed made it seem like speaking was incredibly painful for him.
"Hey man, do I know you?" Jordan asked, attempting to be polite but failing to recognize the heavily covered boy.
"Jordan, this is Kento," Jonathan said as he pulled out a small water skin from his belt and handed it to the young boy. "He's the young man that you and Derrick helped on the night of the raid," he said as he continued to hold the skin as the boy's hand began to tremble under it's weight.
As he watched the young boy struggle to drink, he thought back to that night, and realized that the bloodshot blue eye he had seen kicked repeatedly by Gorin matched the one he was looking at. He slowly moved toward Kento, his eyes traveling up from the bottom of the wheelchair and analyzing every injury he had. Once Jordan was within a couple of feet, he bent down on one knee, meeting Kento at eye level as Jonathan backed away.
"Hey man, good to see you," Jordan said quietly.
"You too, Jordan. My sister went on and on about how you helped us and I'm so-" he began to say before the violent dry cough returned. Jordan held his hand up to his father who handed him the water skin, and he held it up to Kento's mouth once he was able to drink. Jordan's own hand began to shake as he could see that even the action of the boy drinking water seemed to be causing him immense pain. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to say thank you, and that I think I would have died if it wasn't for you," he said, though every word he said grew gradually weaker.
Jordan opened his mouth, but found that no words would come out of it. As he looked once more at every bandage, the wheelchair, and the bloodshot eye of this boy that was thanking him, the floodgate of emotion that he had been holding back burst open as he began weeping violently.
"I'm so sorry! If I had gotten there sooner, then you-" Jordan said as snot began to leak from his nose. "You're just a kid!" Jordan screamed as he fell onto his backside, his violent cries eliciting tears from both his father and Kento.
After a long group hug between the 3, Jordan and his father escorted Kento home before returning to their own. Other than polite small talk with Kento, the rest of the trip remained been mostly silent, and Jordan opened the sliding door of their home to see his mother leaning on the kitchen counter expectantly.
"You ok, budge?" She asked. Despite all of the emotions he felt, his mother calling him by his childhood nickname was a guaranteed way to make him feel at least slightly at ease.
"You know, I'm not," Jordan said as he walked toward the living room couch and plopped down. "I never knew how dangerous it was out there for you guys," he said as his parents joined him in their respective chairs across the room.
"It's one thing to hear scary stories around the campfire, but it's another to see them in real life," Nikita said as she crossed her arms. "That's why we decided to retire 5 years ago. Being a Jifu Rider is dangerous, and we wanted to make sure that you were safe. We failed to protect the village this time, I don't think anyone expected them to send a fleet, but-" she started to say before Jordan cut her off.
"I want to be a Jifu Rider, please train me," he said firmly, bouncing his eyes between both parents.
"No way, nope, no way in hell-" Nikita loudly responded before Jonathan raised his hand.
"Alright, calm down guys. God, the dynamic between you two was alot more peaceful before someone hit puberty and gained his mother's stubbornness," Jonathan said, standing up and walking over next to Nikita. "Niki, look at his eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who's determined and stubborn as hell. You should recognize it, you see it in the mirror everyday," he said, and she stared silently at Jordan's unblinking stare for several seconds before closing her own and deeply sighing.
"So what, you want to put our kid on an airship next week or is that too long to wait?" She asked with venomous sarcasm.
"Ah, I sure do love the humor of my beautiful bride," Jonathan joked before quickly clearing his throat upon seeing an unforgiving expression looking up at him. "I do actually have a proposition though. Jordan, how much do you know about Iruyori?" He asked as he turned to his son.
"Umm, that's the magic energy that makes your fist glow right?" Jordan asked, tilting his head like a confused dog.
"Yeahhh," Jonathan said, rubbing his bald head as he seemed to realize how in depth his explanation would need to be. "That's basically it, but I'll give you a few more details. Iruyori is the manifestation of two things: spiritual willpower and creativity, essentially allowing any living being that possesses a soul to be able to harness this energy into a variety of super powered abilities, like my emerald fist or your mother's purple lightning. However, we haven't always known how to do that. Your obachan can make a mean stir fry, but what she's most famous for is that she is one of Genzai's foremost experts on Iruyori, and your mother and I both trained under her for 5 years before we sailed anywhere," Jonathan said as Nikita nodded beside him.
"I always knew she was too spry for someone over 120 years old," Jordan said as he recalled his visit to her home the previous year where she challenged him to a push-up contest that he lost.
"Oh trust me, it was terrifying when I first met her after your mom and I started dating. But as usual, my charm won her over," he said, eliciting an eye roll from Nikita.
"Even if you send him to train with mom, it'll still be dangerous. We sailed together after training for 5 years and ran into plenty of trouble, even after Derrick's parents joined the crew," Nikita said with an unconvinced tone as she turned her gaze back to Jordan. "Are you going to go out on your own?" she asked.
"Well-" Jordan began to say before his father interrupted him.
"How about we let him worry about his crew after he becomes capable enough to be on a crew himself?" He asked, and Nikita gave a small shrug of agreement. "But your mom has a point, budge. I've been sailing on the skies of Genzai for most of my life, and I don't want you go up there at all, since your my kid and I'd rather you not put your life in danger. But I also know our family, and I know that you would probably end up trying to do it anyway. So as long as it's ok with your mom, I'll give you a deal: we will give you our blessing and the promise of support in the future as your fellow Jifu Riders, but only after you trained with obachan for 10 years," he said, heavily emphasizing the number and immediately looking toward his wife. "Only if that's ok with you, though," he said. Nikita sat silently in her chair as she continued to stare at Jordan, and he could see the gears turning in her head.
"I spoke with that girl you saved," she said, causing Jordan's eyes to widen in surprise. "She seems like she even has a little crush on you now," she teased, and Jordan could feel his green face turn red from embarrassment. "It's too bad she won't see you for awhile, though. I'll make sure to give her any letters you send though," she said with a smile, and Jordan matched it with his own as he realized what she meant.
"So I can go?" Jordan asked excitedly.
"Obachan only lives a couple of hours away, so I don't think it's that big of a deal since we can visit you whenever we want," Jonathan said as he sat back down in his chair. "But it's up to her to keep training you. If you piss her off and she sends you home, the deal is off," he said sternly.
"Agreed, my mother is a loving grandma but a brutal teacher. Honestly, good luck," she said with a tone that gave Jordan a momentary second thought about what he had just signed up for.
While his agreement with his parents was now finalized, the next few days involved several tearful goodbyes and many reminders about packing. Though despite both of his parents trepidations, a week later he was standing outside of their freshly repaired airship, The Foggy Goat.
The lacquered sentai wood that the frame was constructed from glistened brightly as the morning sun reflected off of its surface, and the spider silk cloth that the pair of massive wings had been fabricated from was most likely the reason that the gifts from his last birthday had been so sparse. The gleaming iron bands that held the rest of the ship together were brand new, and Jordan couldn't remember another time in his life that it had looked so pristine. Having been home for his first 9 years, Jordan found it surreal that it was now simply transportation to the most important journey he had ever taken.
"You ready, budge?!" Jonathan shouted, poking his head out from an open hatch above Jordan.
"Yes father, time for uppies," Jordan joked, simply receiving a head shake from his father as he tossed down a rope ladder.
"Just be a gentleman and let our guest go first," Jonathan yelled, and Jordan turned around in confusion as he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Did you actually think I wouldn't say goodbye to you?" Derrick asked with a wide smile.
"I just thought you were incredibly rude, which made perfect sense to me," Jordan said sarcastically, though he couldn't prevent the smile from overtaking his face. "Well thanks for proving you have some manners and seeing me off," he said, though he realized as he did so that Derrick was carrying a large bag over his shoulder.
"I'm coming with you man," he said with a grin as he slapped Jordan on the back. "I'm sure the conversation with my folks had a lot less tears, but I told them I was going to be a Jifu Rider too, and they said I could come with you to train under your obachan."
Jordan immediately looked up at his father, and Jonathan's smile told him that this had clearly been planned, and he simply shook his head as he begin walking toward the rope ladder. "Hurry up, you're not going to make me late on my first day," Jordan said, looking down to avoid showing his obvious smile.
As he climbed up the ladder and felt his best friend climbing behind him, the hopeless and powerless feelings he had during that had been lingering finally began to fade. He grabbed his fathers hand as he neared the hatch, and felt himself easily pulled up onto the deck of the ship. While Derrick finished climbing up behind him, Jordan looked out of the small round window to his left, taking in the sight of Chikaryu village as he heard the hatch close behind him. He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, and smiled as it gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"You can always come back and visit," Jonathan said.
"I know," Jordan said quietly as he caught a glimpse of his house for the final time. Despite so many of his instincts telling him to do the opposite, he turned away from the window and started to make his way toward the cockpit. No matter what age he was, Jordan was confident that he would never feel like he was too old to watch an airship rise into the sky. His father smiled and took his place at the wheel, and as the airship began to lift off from the ground, Jordan and Derrick each stared at the endless sea of clouds that they began beelining toward. The familiar gentle buzzing of the cicadas grew quieter the further away they flew, and eventually Jordan could hear nothing but the rumble of the ship as they sailed through the midday sky.
10 years later