In a lost land…
Saori opened her eyes, her mind clouded and confused. She felt the ground beneath her and looked up at the gray sky presiding over her. All around her, she noticed discarded technology, broken machines, and rusty metal.
"This isn't home anymore…"
A voice answered behind her. "No. It's not."
Saori scrambled back as a woman manifested behind her. Once the shadows cleared, Saori recognized it as her own mom.
"Mommy?"
The "spirit" of Shizuka Nakamura reached out and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "My child…"
"Mom, I've missed you! Is it really you?" Saori blurted out, crying.
Shizuka gripped her daughter's shoulder tightly. "…you have failed me."
"W…what?"
"You sit in your room, dance all day, laugh and joke with these friends of yours, while you should be hunting down every bastard responsible for my death! Including that freak of a boy you call your friend!"
"But Dachii is a nice person!" Saori protested. "He didn't do anything wrong, it was just—-!"
"Those two that attacked the festival?" Shizuka interrupted. "Do you think they were acting alone? No. Not only were they ordered, but they killed me only to get to HIM! And you watched and did nothing. NOTHING! You're a failure, Saori! You can't even handle yourself without someone to hold your hand!"
Saori began to break down. "No, that's not true! You're not Mommy! She would never talk like this!"
"You're right. I'm not. And yet the point remains the same."
The figure shifted from Shizuka's mother into a robed female cultist. "You have FALLEN."
A horrible sound came from beneath the hood of the woman, and Saori instinctively blasted her away, causing her body to jerk in unnatural ways.
"Despairrrr…despairrrr!"
She got up and prepared to charge at Saori, but a large blast of ice sent her flying high into the sky, out of sight.
"Mr. Fujii!" Saori exclaimed, relieved.
Fujii picked her up and put her on his back. "There's my little rainbow warrior! Nice job holding out till I got here."
"Mister…what is this place?" she asked.
"I…don't know," he said, noticing the tears in her eyes. "What did you see?"
"I saw my mom…" she admitted.
Fujii gave her arm a squeeze. "Whatever that thing was, it was NOT your mother."
"I know…"
"Let's keep moving," he insisted. "The rest of the team can't be far."
As Fujii walked through the wasteland, he eyed the junk and broken technology scattered around him. He took another step, and he felt a sharp CRUNCH beneath his feet.
"What is this?" he wondered, noticing a broken watch below him. He picked it up and examined it. All of a sudden, a rush of memories came forth.
"Son, run away!"
"The demons are coming! Take cover!"
"Kenshi…it's all up to you now…"
"My pet…come, serve your Queen! Embrace your Goddess!"
Fujii quickly dropped the watch, wide-eyed, as Saori shook him frantically. "Mister! Are you alright? Mister Fujii!"
Fujii blinked a few times before returning to clarity. "Sorry! I'm fine! Let's get out of this place. It gives me the creeps."
He looked at the watch one more time before putting it in his pocket. Then he and Saori continued moving forward.
Meanwhile…somewhere else…
"Rise."
Akari opened her eyes, feeling her arms bound behind her back. Next to her were Ayana and Marachii, both bound as well, unconscious.
"Where…what is this?"
Her vision cleared and she noticed three were chained to the floor of a building, arms and legs in metal bindings. "What the hell? Guys? Guys, wake up!"
A group of cultists quickly appeared before Akari. She tried to break free of her chains, but they wouldn't budge. One cultist, who appeared to be the leader who attacked them, stepped forward.
"A prized specimen…royal blood…" he mused.
He then shifted his attention to Marachii, lifting his head. "And a human? No. Not an ordinary human…"
Akari tugged violently on her chains. "Leave him alone! Let us go, now!"
Her body began to glow white and she tried to use her power to break free, but the chain glowed a soft gray color before her body returned to its normal color.
"That's impossible!" she thought. "Did it just cancel my power?"
"Don't bother…." the leader remarked. "Elements cannot work on this chain. Nor will magic. It was forged by our leader and founder, La Falasuna."
"Who's Falasuna?" Akari asked.
"A story that will be told when your companions awaken…" he stated. "After all, I sense her power within this one."
He gestured to Marachii, who was stirring, still unconscious. Then, in one motion, he and the other cultists disappeared, leaving the three alone.
Akari sighed. "What could possibly be going on here? Why does this place seem so familiar?"
"Deja vu?" Ayana asked, sitting on the ground.
"Ahh! How long were you watching?" Akari demanded.
"Long enough," Ayana shrugged. "I was only out for a few minutes."
"Whatever," Akari scoffed. "What are these things? Why can't I use my powers? Who's that Falasuna lady that guy was talking about?"
Ayana rubbed her eyes. "Give me a second, my brain is fuzzy."
"We don't have a second! These guys are going to be coming back with who knows WHAT army, so whatever info we can use to escape, we should take it!"
Ayana slowly pushed herself up. "If they wanted to kill us, they'd have done it by now."
"How are you so sure?" Akari questioned.
"Look around," Ayana pointed out. "There's a bunch of strange symbols on the walls. This looks like something ancient, like they want to show us something."
Akari took note of the markings on the wall for the first time, which showed depictions of humanoid white creatures, seemingly in the midst of war. A large shadowy figure was on the center wall, almost demonic in appearance.
"Are those…Voltians?" she wondered. "But what war could this be? I've never read about anything like this!"
"That's what I find myself asking too," Ayana agreed. "It must be something old if not even the history books have it."
A thought suddenly came to Akari's mind. "That Ancient War Book! That has to be what this is! No other recorded event could have taken place this long ago!"
"Ancient War?" Ayana repeated, curious.
"Yeah, I read that the Elements were created in that battle, but I never got to finish it! My leader, he was there!"
"Correct…" a voice praised. "Very insightful…"
Ayana and Akari jumped back, shaking the chains and waking Marachii up. "Ehh…?"
A cultist with his hands raised arose from the ground. "The Head wanted me to explain everything to you when everyone had awoken. I believe it is now time."
"Time for what?" Marachii asked, looking at his chains.
"The truth."
Meanwhile, back in Voltiana…
Kia was busy hyperventilating on her couch, while Nakada was busy trying to calm her down. "Hey, everything will be okay. Your sons will be safe. Kenshi is on the case."
"That means nothing!" Kia exclaimed. "Why can't my family ever get a moment of peace? What does your Queen want with my children?"
"Well, after the events in Batango," Nakada explained. "With the knowledge of such powerful enemies, she and her husband would prefer we harness the abilities under our control as best we can, in preparation for another attack."
"So my kids are TOOLS to you? What is Dachii, a pawn?"
"Not necessary, no!" Nakada quickly shot down. "I think Dachii and Marachii are wonderful children! They take after their Grandfather well."
Kia looked at a picture of Morino. "Yes, that's for sure. If you weren't so close to him, you wouldn't be allowed in my home."
She stood up. "I still don't want you here."
"I understand," Nakada emphasized. "But I want you to know, not all of us are the way you think. Many of us want to do the right thing, even if it doesn't look like that from the outside."
"Six months with no attack," Kia remarked. "And this woman suddenly thinks one is going to happen now?"
"A lot of the major events this year have had unforeseen conflicts," Nakada noted. "The Asuka Festival, the Umego Expo, even the General Training we put your son through. It's only natural to assume they'd make a move at the Royal Masquerade as well."
"I hope not," Kia worried. "After seeing what one of those Elites can do, I want none of my children near them ever again."
"On a side note," Nakada inquired. "Could I talk to you about your heritage? Nishiyama, as mouthy as she is, has told me some very…interesting things."
"It's nothing," Kia shot down. "A past I would LOVE to get rid of."
Nakada looked at the picture of a young Kia, Morino, and her mother, Astari. "Really? I'm very, very curious about it."
Nakada stood up and better examined the picture. "Very."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Hallow…
Marachii tugged on the chains he was bound in, but Akari stopped him. "It's no point, Marachii. They cancel out everything we can do."
"That's just great," he moaned.
The cultist in front of them took a bow. "An honor to be in front of a Princess. I am called The Mage."
"Why do they call you that?" Marachii asked. "Magic?"
The Mage chuckled and snapped his fingers. A dark book popped out of thin air and landed in his hands. "Let me take you on a tour. Everything you think you know, you don't know."
Many years ago…
"Elements are a wonderful gift. One from our Queen. But they are also a curse."
The Mage disappeared, and the three were surrounded by a chaotic battlefield in the middle of a ruined city. People closely resembling Voltians were running, while shadowy soldiers chased after them.
"They both help…"
The scene transitioned into a hospital, where a young Voltian girl with long black hair was using her power to heal wounded soldiers.
"…and harm…"
The scene then transitioned to one where a fire user was annihilating entire Voltian cities, driving hoards of scared civilians out.
"They are the highest form of power on the planet…"
A group of Voltians using Water, Air, and Earth easily cleared out a horde of Orcs from a settlement.
"But by the conclusion of the Voltian-Zharian War, only a handful of Elements are still within Voltian Territory. Kenshi is the only Voltian Elemental that is still alive from the Ancient War."
"But that doesn't explain how Elements were made!" Akari called out.
"Patience. They were made when a powerful blast of light and shadow came together, stripping a god of his power."
"A…god?"
"Yes. In the battle that shaped the world together, a god was dethroned. The 30 elements you see today are remnants of that god's power, scattered across the world by Falasuna."
The Mage suddenly shifted in demeanor. "But the Destroyer still remains, and one Element embodies his power so greatly, it cannot be ignored."
The room shifted into a different scene, one where it showed Dachii using the chaotic power in Batango.
"Deity."
The Mage waved his hand and groups of orcs, dwarves, and Zharians appeared all around. "Now, after centuries it's reared its ugly head, and its user, Dachii Jones, is being sought after by many factions, due to your King and Queen's actions. But greatest of them all…"
The scene finally shifted into a fiery battlefield, where one armored shadow man, great-sword in hand, stood tall over all the corpses on the field, his shadow army standing tall behind him.
"Titan. If he gains access to that power, all will be lost, and the Voltian Race will expire."
Akari's eyes immediately widened, and she started sweating. Marachii just looked confused. "Who?"
Ayana continued watching closely, curious. "So, what does this have to do with Dachii? Why take him?"
The Mage returned the room to normal. "Simple. The goal is to kill him and destroy his power before Titan or anyone else can get their hands on it."
"But Dachii hasn't done anything!" Akari protested. "How can you kill someone for simply possessing a power he didn't ask for?"
"But he did…" The Mage refuted, showing a scene of Dachii touching the shadowy crown. "He IS the embodiment of the Destroyer, and he WILL be destroyed before his destructive destiny comes to fruition."
Marachii just sat there, unable to speak. Ayana tapped her chin, curious about what was going on. Akari took a deep breath and looked right at The Mage.
"Why do you care so much about Voltiana? Who are you?"
"Good question," he answered. "The reason I care so much about your homeland…"
He pulled back his hood, stunning Akari. What greeted her was a heavily scarred face, empty black eyes, and pale white glowing skin.
"…is because it's mine too."
—-