Rintaro kicked the opening of the shell that had grown around the chief, which was protecting everyone from Haizaki and his surgical strike. “LET ME OUT! WHERE IS RAKUTEN? I WANT TO-”
The chief held Rintaro by his shoulder and tried to calm him down, not letting him out of the protective shell.
“Wa-was that Rakuten?” Rintaro asked with disbelief in his eyes. “She was…” he looked around at everyone. “She was flying. Wha-how… When did she lear-''
“She was indeed, Rakuten.” Kaaron said in a soothing tone. “She is in there, somewhere. I could feel that vibe around.”
“But Raki jumped o-” Rintaro paused, “She jumped off the cliff! How-”
This chief looked at Rintaro and signalled him to stop amidst the conversation. “Why did she jump off the cliff?”
Rintaro seemed annoyed by this question. “Wh-You… Are you out of your min-”
Kaaron tried pacifying Rintaro. He asked Rintaro to sit back and follow along with the conversation. “That eagle left us all in a state of entropy. Everything happened in such a short span of time; we were terrified by the speed and the aggression. My entire life flashed before my eyes. I am sure Rakuten felt the same. Who knows what she went through in that split second.” he paused, “She jumped off the cliff in a state of utter chaos.”
He looked around inside the protective shell that the chief had extended around them. Sketa, Kyoto and Momoku appeared to be recovering from the trauma. Fusan seemed unmoved as ever, trying to maintain her composure while she tried to make sense out of the situation. There was a minute of silence among them.
“I wonder what made Raki transform.” Fusan broke the silence, “She has been trying to transform for the last two years, but was never able to. Something seemed strange about her. I could feel that she wasn’t herself, every time I met her.”
“She felt,” Rintaro paused, “Distant. She felt weak. It felt like she had given up. I have known Raki for a long time now, and she has never been so miserable. Initially, I thought that it was the baby growing inside her, playing with her hormones, but it felt as though something was noticeably different in the way she was thinking and reacting.”
“It was the animal instinct inside her. When did she use Idiosyncrasy?” the chief asked.
“It has been two years now.” Rintaro responded.
“And was Rakuten confident that it would have worked for her?” the chief asked.
“When Jizen introduced us to Idiosyncrasy, it felt like a myth. We tried to trust her as much as we could. Watching Jizen transform, made us feel a bit more confident about being able to transform into an animal. Rakuten wanted to fly, so she chose to use an eagle to transform.” Rintaro responded, as he returned to his calmer self.
“I am still unable to wrap my head around the fact that Raki chose to hurt an animal.” Fusan said.
“She did not. One evening, when we were out camping, she spotted an eagle, injured and immobile. Rakuten tried to save it, by giving it some water and some of our food, but it all seemed obsolete.” Rintaro continued, “Using Idiosyncrasy was a favor to the eagle. She gave its soul her body to live in, she gave it hope and she gave it a new life. It was not Raki’s greed that persuaded her to take the eagle’s blood, it was mercy.”
“What has all of this got to do with Rakuten transforming into an eagle today? Why was she unable to do it for the last two years?” Kaaron barged into the conversation, almost frightening everyone.
“Because she tried to transform, desperately.” the chief responded in a heavy tone, almost impatiently. “The ones who are strong at heart would never be able to invoke their animal instincts by trying hard, consciously. The human nature of not giving up, would always take precedence over the animal’s instinct that is fairly foreign to the human body. Only when the human in you gives up completely, the animal instinct awakens.” The chief paused for a brief moment. “Rakuten must be hearing voices in her head, the voices of the eagle in her, trying to set itself free. However, the human brain often disregards those voices as white noise. When Haizaki wreaked havoc, the eagle in her felt a strong urge to unleash itself for the mere sake of survival. The human in Rakuten might have confused this urge to run towards the cliff as an attempt to give up and end her life.”
Rintaro looked at the chief, trying to keep up with the conversation, “And when the human in her was at its weakest self, the eagle was awakened?”
“Correct. When her yearn to live, met its end, Rakuten was successful in invoking her animal instinct. She found a trigger to enter that sacred domain.” the chief said in an authoritative tone.
The conversation was followed by some silent moments.
“We must not forget that the fight is not over yet. Rakuten is out there, fighting Haizaki.” Rintaro reminded the chief. “What do you reckon would be happening out there? I want to go out there and protect Rakut-”
“You cannot protect Rakuten. You have tried fighting Haizaki once already, and look where it has gotten you.” the chief pointed towards Rintaro’s chest, which was bruised by Haizaki’s strikes, a miniscule amount of blood still oozing from the wounds. “Rakuten seems strong enough to fight Haizaki. She is faster than Haizaki. I had never seen a hint of fear in his eyes, until today.” the chief responded.
“How could Rakuten be stronger than Haizaki? This is the first time she is flying.” Rintaro snapped, unable to make sense.
“It could be the first time for her, however, Is it really the first time for the eagle in her?” the chief questioned, leaving the others wondering. Everyone went silent for a few moments.
“What about Jizen? Haizaki’s comrades took her along with Mujika and Jinx.” Rintaro asked.
“They are probably captivated in Redundancy V1.0.” the chief said coldly.
“What is Redundancy V1.0?” Rintaro continued his line of questions.
“It is a restraining device which emits waves of a certain frequency, not letting humans transform.” the chief responded. “The rest of my squad members, Sayla and Prassaca are on a mission to release Mujika, Jinx and Jill.” the chief paused.
“Jill?” Rintaro asked, puzzled.
“The secret is obsolete now. Jill had masqueraded as Jizen, because Haizaki has some of his comrades here, on Daikidageda, trying to make inroads for his mission to conquer over the universe and be the most powerful entity. Jill and Haizaki have a history and therefore, keeping her identity secret was absolutely germane for this mission.” the chief responded. “Jill is Jizen.”
“Are you telling me, the singular person we trusted LIED TO US?” Rintaro asked, anger making his face go red.
“Masquerading was necessary.” the chief said, sounding slightly worried.
Suddenly, they heard a muffled screech, which reverberated lightly inside the shell. Feeling impatient, Rintaro made more unsuccessful attempts to kick open the shell and run outside. Kaaron held him back, not letting him escape the protective space, saving them from another strike from Haizaki.
“That sounded like Haizaki. Rakuten is far more fierce than I thought.” the chief said, with hopeful eyes. “She will destroy him soon enou-”
“Will Rakuten really kill Haizaki? She is too soft and kind hearted to take someone’s life.” Fusan interrupted.
Rintaro started feeling restless again. The fact that Rakuten was about to kill someone, sent chills down his spine. “I do not kn-”
“Does not matter. Haizaki has discovered something precious here on Daikidageda; a natural resource which will let him fuse the DNA of multiple animals, thereby strengthening his abilities exponentially. Aisa, one of his most trusted comrades, is aware of this natural resource. If Haizaki cannot, Aisa will. We need to stop both of them. As far stopping Aisa is concerned, well...”
Rintaro looked around at their faces quietly.
“Well, what?” Fusan asked.
“Aisa is the strongest. I am wary of Aisa more than I am wary of Haizaki.” the chief said, sounding deeper. “I hope Prassaca is holding up strong.”
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“Hmm… it stopped raining, what a shame.” Prassaca said, as she was no longer able to absorb oxygen from the shallow water puddles on the ground. She continued playing her violin as she started returning to her human form. Her drenched hair strands were sticking out on her face, making her lose concentration in her playing. She stumbled her way back on her feet, missing a note or two. She looked towards Aisa, who was struggling to move her limbs.
“Hmm… Your heartbeat sounds a bit more composed than what it was before. I think I did not play my melodies right, what a shame.” Prassaca looked towards Aisa, who was glaring back at her, able to move her wrists gradually, with a little amount of effort.
Prassaca glanced towards her violin, water dripping from the fingerboard. The bow appeared slightly hung and slippery due to it being directly exposed to the rain. “Hmm… Why do I feel a little scared?” she wondered. “Emotions are worthless.” She looked towards the battle scene and spotted Sayla and Jill standing close to each other, while Mujika and Jinx were scouting the surroundings, trying to hunt something down.
“You need to be quicker, Mujika… I cannot hold Aisa longer.” she muttered under her breath, as she took a series of deep breaths. “Hmm… It seems like I am scared.” she whispered. “Emotions… They are worthless.”
Being able to breathe easily, Aisa sharpened her glare on Prassaca. She started moving her arm gradually, intimidating her. Prassaca continued playing her dynamic melodies while listening and trying hard to keep up with the pace of Aisa’s heartbeat. She looked towards the battle scene again as she saw Mujika having an animated conversation with Jill.
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“You have not told them yet, eh?” Mujika snapped. “This woman,” Mujika said pointing towards Jill, “She will bring about the end of humanity on Earth. She is the one who brought Haizaki here. She has always stood beside Haizaki, her beloved.”
“Haizaki? Beloved? What are you talking about?” Jinx asked, astonishment apparent in his tone.
Everyone turned around looking towards Jill, horrified upon learning this secret. Jill looked down towards the ground, feeling isolated.
“Jill? What is this about?” Sayla asked with confusion strewn in her voice.
Jill closed her eyes, as memories from her darker past started flashing before her eyes. She could sense Mujika and Jinx crouch defensively.
“Ten years ago,” Jill paused, as she saw the world around her dissolve into blurred visions. She could hear chaotic voices screaming in her head. “I was with Haizaki.”
“With Haizaki?” Sayla asked, arching her eyebrows.
“I often heard stories from my grandparents about how the world was a much better place to live in, where one human cared for another. Society was a desirable place to thrive in. Haizaki was one of the few men I knew, who sometimes felt the emotions that were on their way out from the human world. He was the partner I chose for myself." Jill said, looking up at the faces of her fellow squad members, as their expressions changed from pity to resentment.
"Haizaki dreamt of creating a new world. He always said that a perfect individual is of no use to the world, as compared to a society of semi-perfect individuals thriving to seek perfection. His ideology for constructing this new world was backed by the strengths offered by Idiosyncrasy. However, he lacked something important," Jill paused, "Courage." she looked at their anxious faces. "He often failed miserably at executing his plans, scared about being accepted by his peers. His desire for acceptance made him choose Idiosyncrasy. He used it to fill his voids by borrowing the traits of animals. He used Idiosyncrasy with an eagle, which allowed him to be fearless and strong. However,” Jill started trembling, “I remember his eyes that night, when he killed that eagle; there was a brazen sense of greed apparent in his eyes. I realized something that night…” Jill paused, as a drop of tear rolled down her cheek. “He never aimed at creating a perfect society; rather he aimed at creating a society that was perfect for humans.”
Jinx and Sayla continued staring at Jill, not knowing how to react. Mujika continued shaking her head in disgust.
“To achieve this degree of perfection, he set up a team of comrades who would explore means to be able to use Idiosyncrasy with multiple animals, bolstering the extent of this technology by high margins. The chief had discovered an element from a planet far away from Earth. It was Daikidageda. It was necessary to not let this secret out in the hands of Haizaki, else the commencement of the demise of Earth was imminent. When Haizaki learnt that I had learnt about this secret, he started torturing me. He broke me emotionally and physically. He killed my family, to torture me further and threathened to kill the chief and rest of the squad members. I was broken, I was terrified, and I gave up; I told him about Daikidageda.”
“YOU WHAT?” Sayla snapped, fully transforming into an octopus, stretching her tentacles towards Jill. “YOU BETRAYED US, JILL. WE TRUSTED YOU.”
Jill hopped around, trying to dodge Sayla’s tentacles, as she saw a couple of quills being shot her way.
“He always felt like you all were the biggest roadblocks in his path to achieve his dream of creating a new perfect society for humans. Haizaki wants you all dead.” saying so, Jill completely transformed into a dog and tackled Sayla with her head, sending her flying a few steps backwards.
Mujika and Jinx crouched down towards the ground, trying to transform to protect themselves from a sudden wild Jill charging towards them. Mujika continued glaring at Jill as she approached closer by every passing moment.
Mujika felt something slither behind her. Terrified, she glanced around to spot and lost the color on her face. The slender man who was missing from the battle scene earlier, had fully transformed into a cobra. He was crawling rather swiftly, maintaining his stealth. He arched his head backwards aiming his venomous fangs at Mujika, about to pounce on her.
Mujika felt Jill jump towards her voraciously. Taken aback by the sudden situation of panic, Mujika bent low towards the ground, outstretching a thick cluster of quills around her. Jill leaped past Mujika and jumped on the cobra, going for its neck. The slender man who had transformed into a cobra, faked a dunk and retracted quickly, causing Jill to lose her balance as she fell down on the ground. The cobra buried its fangs deep into Jill’s legs, as she let out a loud agonized scream.
“Haizaki wants you all dead. His avidity has put him on a path that oozes lust for power.” Jill stuttered, in pain. “However, this is not the end of humanity. I need to speak with Rakuten, there is a way.”
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