Chapter 10: A moments rest
Leo was still in shock from the action he had just committed. It was an accident, but he had taken a life, even if it was in self defense. He stared down at his stained hands and a sick feeling started to develop in the pit of his stomach. Joseph knew all too well the look Leo had on his face.
Joseph: "Leo just breath, listen to me and relax."
Leo: "No! Stay away from me!”
Monica: "He's going to throw up..."
Shana: "Leo listen to me, please calm down."
Leo's world started to spin, his vision worsened and his friends were mere blurs in his path. He stumbled backwards before pulling his hands up to his face. "Hey pull yourself together man!" said Hector as he walked towards Leo slowly. Then just as he predicted, Leo threw up and tried to hold it back with his hands, but to no avail. He leaned forward, walking towards his friends but then started falling, passing out from exhaustion, mental shock and loss of blood. Joseph picked Leo up into his arms, "C'mon we need to get him to a clinic! He's lost a lot of blood!"
Hector: "Where the hell do you expect us to go man?! The nearest clinic is probably 5 hours that way and like 16 this way! Don't you know how to give him basic medical attention?!"
Joseph: "I'm bandaging the wound right now, but this wound is serious! Its cut into one of his main arteries and his tendons have been cut! He'll be lucky if he gets to use his arm again!"
Shana quickly rushed over to Leo's side and noticed how pale he was, "Isn't there anything we can do?!" Joseph finished bandaging the wound and lifted Leo up into his arms, "Yeah I know a place nearby we can go." Hector gave Joseph a doubtful look as he walked off into the woods, "Where?! The map says there's nothing nearby!" Joseph looked back at Hector and said, "Trust me, I know a place..." Everyone uneasily followed Joseph, but what choice did they have if they wanted to save Leo's life. They went deeper into the woods as the bloody red sun disappeared below the horizon.
Leo woke up in an unknown room. He was groggy, but aware of his surroundings. He got out of bed, looked down and noticed the bandages around his body. He tugged them off slowly and noticed that he was healed. He slowly got up and walked towards the door on the far side of the room managing to get halfway when Joseph entered, "Hey, I can see you're feeling better. How'd you sleep?" Leo gave Joseph a suspicious look and puts his hands in his pockets, "Fine, I guess... Where am I? Where are my friends?!"
Joseph: "Still with the questions I see... *sigh* you're in my home and you're friends are outside taking a tour of my hidden village."
Leo: "Hidden village?"
Joseph: "Yes, we're a secret village uncharted on any map and concealed from any kind of satellite. The Imperial Kingdom established this village, and many others like it, in order to protect the capital... we're the last line of defense if the capital were to be attacked. Everyone in this village is a knight in the Imperial kingdom or affiliated with it in some form."
Leo walked back to the bed and planted himself on it. He analyzed his surroundings, his eyes eventually reaching his armor and katana sitting in the corner of the room. A shiver ran down his spine as his mind flashed back to the carnage the day before, "So did I really kill someone? Or did I imagine that?" He looked at Joseph with a worried look in his eyes. Joseph stared back in silence seeing that Leo was looking sick again, "Yeah, you did... You had no other choice though. It was either going to be you or him. Your instincts took over, and you pierced his heart." Leo could only stare at the floor as a knot developed in his stomach. He took in a few breaths and started to speak again, "I can't believe I took that man's life. I know he was bad and he was going to hurt Shana if I didn't do something, but I didn't want to kill him..."
Joseph: "Look, I still remember my first kill... I was only nine at the time. The feeling will never go away and imagine if you're someone like me... I've killed hundreds of people. But you either have to learn to deal with that feeling in your gut, find a way to move past it, or die in
your next battle.”
Leo: "That's easier said than done, but I guess you're right..."
They sat in silence for a few moments before Joseph broke it again, "Can I ask you something?" Leo looked up at Joseph and then back at the floor, "Yeah... sure..." Joseph leaned against the wall maintaining eye contact with Leo, "Do you and your friends really believe you're from Earth?" Leo, angry with the same question Joseph had asked yelled "NO!! We don't believe, we know!! I was born and raised there!!" Joseph remained calm as Leo's voice grew louder, but he wouldn't back down.
Joseph: "I'm sorry it's just hard to believe your claim when you all speak perfect Avarish, you all know how to wield these weapons with skill, and you! You have this accelerated healing ability and this sword that can disappear and reappear at your command. By the time you arrived here, your wounds were healed as if they never happened. Your body has restored the amounts of blood you lost, and you have this armor that is made of dragon leather! The facts are against you... You have so much of our world, how can you be from a lost one?"
Leo: Joseph for the last and final time I'm not from anywhere around here! My friends and I come from Earth! I can't explain these abilities! Or the armor! I know I definitely can't explain the sword thing." Leo paused for a minute trying to calm down his anger. "Look, Joseph... I just want to find a way to get home. Is there anything you remember from history that could explain the disappearance of Earth?"
Joseph could sense the sincerity in his voice. He closed his eyes and thought hard, trying to remember his lessons in history. "Well let's see... Earth disappeared about a thousand years ago. Before Earth's disappearance, there was the second galactic civil war that lasted for 50 years, more or less, and divided the galaxy into four factions, Imperial, Avari, Argiean, and Varcolian space. The civil war found firearms becoming increasingly dangerous and a treaty was formed to ban them. There were a few rebellions in the other factions, mostly in the Argiean governments, but nothing comes to mind. I'm sorry. Nothing I know points to why it disappeared, and I'm positive there's nothing in the Imperial records. It just vanished."
Leo wasn't about to give up hope. He intended to keep his promise to Shana, but first he was going to have to learn the mysteries about this new world he was in. "So you mentioned earlier there are 7 different species of humans... remind me what they are?" Joseph took Leo's question with some humility. He was starting to believe that Leo was from Earth, or at least he believed that Leo believed he was from Earth.
Joseph: "Yes there are seven in total... if you count Earthlings as one..." Leo gave Joseph a dirty look.
"As I was saying each one has been classified and each one has their own abilities. Starting with Earthlings, they're pretty much normal from what our scientist could tell. Although extensive study showed that Earthlings appeared to have a certain D.N.A. combination of all the species put together allowing them to have a greater ability to survive and adapt. Next we have the Centenarians; we are currently on Centeria, the home planet of both the Imperial Empire and the Neucenian government. Originally known as the Magi and still called Mages to this day,Centenarians are humans who learned to use 95% of their brain functions when they were younger as a species. While most species use about 15-20% these humans can use Magic due to their higher brain functions, but any species of human can learn magic with years of proper training."
Leo: "Wait, magic exists?!"
Joseph: "It does but not in the way you probably think it does... umm... I can't really explain it cuz I never studied it, but it has a lot to do with learning to control the electrons around you and shit... at the capitol you can find historians and books that can explain it better than I can."
Leo: "Oh cool... this place keeps getting more interesting. Ok, so I'm sorry, continue please."
Joseph: "Ok, now let's see where was I... Ah yes. So we've talked about Earthlings and Centenarians. Next would be the Argieans. These humans live on a planet called Arigus. That planet has very intense gravity! The humans that developed there are in a way "stronger" than the other humans. Due to the heavy gravity, they have developed strong bone and muscle structures that allow them to pick up objects that an ordinary human couldn't on other planets. Like me, my mother was Avari, but my father was Argiean.”
“Even though I'm a half breed, my muscle and bone structure allows me to be able to wield my huge blade. Although this race is powerful, they are very war-like. The home planet is constantly emerged in some war and governments are ever changing, but they breed like rabbits and due to the heavy gravity we reach puberty faster allowing us to learn how to fight at an earlier age than most humans.
Joseph walks over to the window and opens the curtain to let some sunlight into the room. He seems to be lost in his memory for a while before he begins to talk again. "Ok, next we have the Avari. I believe I told you a bit about them already. Avari originate from the planet Volupta. They are an ancient race of human, probably the first ones to appear from what we can tell. They are a bit smaller than most humans, but in the past millenniums they have been cross breeding with other human species to bring their race back. After the Dark Wars they were down to about 30% of their original population. There was not enough to bring back a pure blood race again. So diversity has spread among them, and they are a prosperous and respectful people. The original Avari had pointy ears and a few children are born with this trait, but it's rare and it is happening less and less every generation.
Leo: "So they're the original elves, then?"
Joseph: "Elves? Oh well yes I believe that name stuck with them right around the time they were recruiting other humans for the Dark Wars. Ok so next we have the Razini. Their home planet is Razine and it is the sister planet of Volupta. The planets are literally so close to each other they're more like each other's moons. Now the Razini are a very, how should I put this, native people. They refuse to have any type of technology on their planet. They say it poisons and kills their planet, which they worship as their all powerful mother. They have allowed a few spaceports, but beyond that they live very humble lives. Only killing and taking what they need."
"Now, originally long before the Dark wars the humans there shared the planet with a race of horned sentient beings known as Ranians. They had a few wars over the years, but soon they came to live in peace and harmony. Eventually they began to mate with one another and the modern Razini was born. Humans with large horns and saliva so acidic it can burn through certain light metals from what I hear. My teachings tell me there are almost no pure blood human or pure blood Ranians existing today. The few pure blood tribes left roam the planet Razine, but soon even they will eventually be gone as well."
Leo was still trying to absorb the information he was being given. This new world had excited him, he wanted to see everything there was to see, but with his friends wanting to go back home he wasn't sure he'd be able to. "Do my friends know all this?" Joseph turned around to look at Leo and saw how the information instigated his curiosity even more. "Well, I've told them most of this stuff. They'd rather read it themselves though." Leo got up from the bed and grabbed his armor. He began to put it on when he noticed Joseph wasn't talking. "Well, are you gonna finish? You got two more species of humans right?" Joseph walked over to the bed and leaned against the post. "Yeah I guess I better finish your history lesson. Ok, so finally we have the Morroiigi and Lycans."
Leo: "Wait Lycan?! As in werewolves?! And the Morroiigi are they vampires?!"
Joseph: "Yeah how did you know?" Joseph gave Leo a suspicious look, but Leo quickly shrugged it off as he finished putting on the last of his armor and checking the repairs.
Leo: "Well on Earth, Lycan is another word for werewolf and Morroii is an ancient word for vampire."
Joseph: "Ah, I see, well I told you before humans from other planets had been crash landing on Earth for years before its official discovery, and even after that more humans willingly migrated there. It would make sense why there are already legends on Earth... But the legends are probably false to a certain degree. You see the Lycans and Morroiigi share a single planet called Varcolacan, meaning both Vampire and Lycan. But, because they share the same planet they are constantly at war with each other. The Lycans habitat the western side of the planet, which is formed up of open plains and very few forests."
"The Morroiigi on the other hand live on the eastern side of the planet which is covered in a very dense forest with trees so tall and big they block out the sun. Now the Lycans were the lucky ones because the western side of the planet has an abundant supply of fresh water to drink, but the eastern side unfortunately doesn't. The huge tree canopies absorb most of the water before it reaches through to the ground and the water in the tree trucks are quickly used up. So in order to survive the ancient Morroiigi began to drink the blood of animals. Blood is made up of 70% water so it would make sense. Slowly over the years they completely adapted to drinking blood only.
Leo: "So why do they drink the blood of other humans? And how do the Lycans transform from human to werewolf? And if one were to bite me would I transform into one of them?"
Joseph: "Well you see the Morroiigi don't drink human blood. Most Morroiigi are against drinking another human's blood due to their belief that a human life is sacred, but there are many who go rogue and attack other humans because human blood is the tastiest and it has a certain protein in it that makes it very addicting. Once a Morroiigi drinks the blood of another human it's almost impossible to stop. Now Lycans haven't always been Lycans... the Morroiigi and the Lycans were once one and the same people, from what their history books say. But after years of living only in the dense forest before discovering the western hemisphere, the Morroiigi had adapted to only drinking animal blood. There was one specific animal there that resembled a wolf, but it had hands it could use to climb trees."
"The Morroiigi say that once those who drank the blood of this wolf their D.N.A mutated and soon caused them to develop an uncontrollable rage and eventually transform into beasts. Half human, half wolf, a Lycan. They were considered abominations and were hunted down. Those that lived escaped to the western hemisphere out of the trees. As for the species of wolf, the Morroiigi hunted them to extinction out of fear more would become Lycans. Now the Morroiigi have tried to wipe out the Lycans over the years, but they have reproduced to quite a powerful number rivaling the Morroiigi. The Morroiigi don't hunt the Lycans during the daytime because their skin is highly sensitive to ultraviolet rays from their sun since they are accustomed to living in shaded darkness. A Morroiigi could go into the sun, but they will develop a very bad and life threatening sunburn. A few every generation though have learned to live in the sun by trying to live in the western hemisphere from a young age. This way they can be daywalkers as well."
"But, the Morroiigi discovered that attacking a Lycan at night is dangerous because Lycans draw power from the moon. A young Lycan will transform during a full moon against his will, because the moon that orbits their home planet reflects light at a certain wavelength that when a young Lycan sees it, it causes their brains to release hormones that cause them to transform and go on an angry rampage, gaining a tremendous amount of power and speed. As the Lycan grows older, he can control the urge to transform, suppress it and transform at will without the help of the moon.”
“Now on other planets a young Lycan doesn't need to deal with that problem, but if their hormone levels were to spike uncontrollably for some reason then a transformation is inevitable. Now if one were to bite you, I imagine it would hurt like hell. But no you wouldn't transform into a werewolf or a vampire. You would most likely develop a bacterial infection that would kill you. Now I believe I've exhausted my "vast" knowledge of the galaxy for today. I'm afraid if you want to learn more you'll have to read it at the capitol. I didn't exactly pay attention in all my studies at the academy. Now lets go find your friends."
Leo and Joseph exited the house and began to tour the village. Leo noticed how simple and peaceful their life was. Everyone had a job or an assignment and they carried that assignment out to the best of their ability. There didn't seem to be any major advances in technology here. People lived a simple yet happy life, and in a way Leo longed for something like that as he began to think about Shana. Joseph could tell Leo had been lost in thought for some time and so he let him to it. After all a man needs to have some time for meditation. They continued the tour until a woman blocked their path. Her bright green eyes lit up instantly as she recognized them, but Leo had no idea who she was. She walked over to them and her long light brown braided ponytail swayed back and forth around her lower back, bouncing off of her long white dress. Her pink and white high heel boots kicked some of the rocks away from her as began walking over to them. Her long curly bangs bounced with each graceful step following the slight curve of her pointy face, shading her soft white skin from the sun.
She gave Joseph a big kiss and Leo noticed the bright pink choker as she leaned her neck back . "Hey, how's my patient doing?" Joseph grabbed her around her waist, and her belt shifted a little, falling on her side. Leo noticed as she stood next to Joseph she was about 5ft 6 inches. "Why don't you ask him yourself? Leo this is Chizuru, my wife. She's the one who bandaged you up and took care of you." "I really didn't think there was a need though. By the time you got here you looked like you were completely healed. Just the stains of blood over your armor remained. I'm amazed at how fast you can heal." said Chizuru.
Leo: "Oh well thank you, I appreciate... wait, what?! You're his wife?! How old are you two?!"
Joseph: "We're both 18... I know it's crazy, but we do love each other deeply and as a Lion Knight I'm constantly sent on these suicide missions, so we decided that after a year of dating we'd marry."
Chizuru: "Yep, Joseph gets sent away from home a lot, but he's strong and I can always count on him to come back. Which reminds me dear, I'm going to get started on dinner, would you please go find the rest of our guest?"
Joseph: "As you wish, my love not a problem." Joseph kissed Chizuru goodbye and stared at her ass as she walked away.
Leo, still staring at Joseph, couldn’t believe that he was married at such a young age. "Stop staring at me like that! You should think about getting married to Shana you know." Leo quickly turned red as the thought crosses his mind. "What no way!! I can't marry her... I mean I can but... just shut up ok!!." Leo suddenly went quiet clearly embarrassed and looked at the floor for a minute thinking about the moment Joseph saved Shana's life when he couldn't. "I never thanked you properly for saving Shana's life... I really appreciate what you did... and for that you have my trust... to a certain point..." Leo smiled at Joseph and he could see the sincerity in his eyes as he nodded. But then Joseph headlocked Leo and put him in a choke-hold, giving him a hard time. "Oh c'mon don't start going soft on me now, Leo! I still want a rematch!" He pushed Leo behind him and ran off. Leo chased after him and soon they started to playfully shove and pull each other while running around the village looking for Leo's friends.
Joseph
“This Leo kid isn’t so bad. He’s a bit clueless, but a good kid. Still I can’t trust anything about him. This nonsense that he’s from Earth is ridiculous. The evidence is completely against him. Still he has a few things going for him, even if his loused up act of idiocy does confirm that his blood isn’t found in any of the records. I’m still waiting to hear from the hematologist at high command. Those blood doctors are never wrong.” Joseph and Leo run into the others and they all begin talking about the village. “I’d rather not stay near him for as long as possible. Since our fight I haven’t been the same. The nightmares, randomly breaking out into cold sweats, and the paranoia that something is about to kill me everytime I turn off a lightsource. Being this close to him is intoxicating. I’ve got to remember my training is all. They trained me to deal with this kind of psychological problem. So why is it that I can’t relax!?” Joseph starts to lead the group back to the house and makes sure he’s the last one in keeping an eye on Leo. “Well whatever this I just have to follow my orders and soon as I can I’m going to distance myself from this kid and try and forget that living nightmare he put me in.”
Later, as the sun set over the horizon, Leo and his companions gathered around a campfire. Their weapons were nearby leaning against a boulder. They had just finished eating dinner and were getting ready to relax for the night. Leo leaned on his arm as Shana sat next to him; Hector was holding Monica close to his chest keeping her warm, and Joseph and Chizuru were cuddled up together watching the fire burn.
Shana: "Chizuru, I have to admit that was an awesome dinner. You have to teach me the recipe."
Leo: "Shana's an amazing cook. Some of the best meals of my life have been made by her."
Chizuru: "Hahaha You're welcome. I'd love to teach you it someday. How long do you plan on staying around?"
Hector: "We're actually on our way to the Capitol, but we can delay that trip for a few more days, right guys?"
Joseph: "Of course, you guys are welcome in my village for as long as you like. You four are my guests after all."
Everyone relaxed around the campfire in silence, enjoying the rest and peace they didn’t have in the past few days. "A lot seems to have happened already", thought Leo as he stared into the fire. He felt Shana grab his hand and he looked up at her nervously. He could only stare at her hypnotized by her beauty before he decided to sit behind her and hold her close. For once the world felt right to Leo and he could tell he was making Shana very happy, and that was enough for him. Monica eventually broke the silence when her curiosity got the better of her.
Monica: "So Joseph how did you and Chizuru meet?"
Joseph and Chizuru could only smile at each other as they remembered that fateful day, But Joseph's smile completely faded as he started to recall everything from his past. Everyone could see the serious look on his face as he thought deeply about it. He stayed silent but, eventually Joseph began to say what he was thinking. "To understand that story I have to tell you everything from the beginning." As he closed his eyes remembering everyone stared at him and kept silence awaiting his next word. He opened his eyes and began to stare into the fire with intensity. The fire wood began to crackle and pop even louder and the flames looked as if they grew brighter. "It all began one fateful night when I was still only a child..."
Fin