23 TRAINING DAY (2/2)

”Alright. So, when can I leave?”

”Now would be a perfect time to leave. But before you go, there is one thing I would like to impart to you.”

Yosh's eyebrows creased with curiosity as Kyrin stepped back and grabbed a fist sized yellow topaz orb. He chanted in a weird language making the orb illuminate an intense yellow blaze much like an Amplifyer being activated.

”Because of your selfless act of protecting the Dwendell people, I, King Kyrin of the Dwendell, will bestow upon you the Eagle Eyes if you so wish it.”

”Really? Wow! Yes, great king! That would be totally awesome! But can I learn that? I mean I am a mortal.”

”Yes, child. Your elemental essence surpasses any Earth Molder in existence so in theory you are viable to attain this skill.”

”Wait. Viable? Then it is a gamble, right?”

”Yes. We have not been able to impart this rare gift to any mortal, so it is a gamble. But we do know that you are one of the chosen one so you will most likely succeed in assimilating this technique with much ease.”

”Whoa, that title again? No disrespect, your highness, but you have been calling me the chosen one for days. And I didn't really ask persistently then but I won't take no for an answer now. What is it that you mean by that?”

”I regret to inform you that you don't have enough time to learn this now. But don't worry. You'll find it out eventually,” he smiled as he steps closer getting near him. ”So, the question is, are you ready to accept the powers of the Dwendell?”

”Yes sir! But know that you owe me an explanation next time!”

Kyrin nodded smiling. ”Well then, close your eyes and prepare yourself mortal prince.”

The orb illuminated bright pulses of light that even with his eyes closed, he can see bright white. Within seconds this continued and then, with the final most powerful pulse, it all turned black.

”Open your eyes, Prince Yosh,” whispered Kyrin which he did follow automatically.

”Hey, I can't see anything. Am I blind?”

”Wait for it...”

”Yeah... I can see a dot of light, going brighter and bri.... Ahhhhhhhh!”

Yosh fell down squirming on the ground, pressing his hands to his face in excruciating pain. The faint dot has become a bright beacon blinding him even more with its suffocating vivid array of wild colors forcing its way into his head causing all of his body to feel pain to spread out in every inch of his body.

”Control the light Prince Yosh. Master the light. The more you panic, the more confusing it will be for your brain to process that much light coming into your eyes.”

Yosh tried opening his eyes and experienced the unbearable pain once more as if all the nerve of his body is calling out for help in sheer terror, stimulating all his senses with sharp torturous stings.

”Focus your eyes Prince Yosh,” instructed Kyrin feeling confident still standing in front of him like nothing is wrong, ”Concentration is the key. Demand control over your vessel. Your vessel is not the master of your soul. Dominate your eyes and force it to your bidding.”

Slowly, Yosh stood up shaking, still in pain, and gently opened his eyes to see the blurry King smiling in front of him. He smiled too as his body gradually returned to normal ridding himself of the pain he is feeling.

”That's some wicked thing you did to me King Kyrin,” he said joking, ”What is that painful bright thing happening in my eyes?”

”See for yourself.”

Kyrin moved his hands and, like magic, a tall mirror appeared behind him revealing Yosh with his eyelids engulfed with black outlines, the same as what Nine had but with sharper edges to the sides. He went near inspecting the tattoo like marking on his eyes running down his fingers to see how it feels. His eye color changed from brown to bright yellow making him smile a bit thinking how it matches the embedded Amplifyer on his forehead.

”I can't believe it! It actually feels as if it's not on. How do I activate its powers?”

”You must only concentrate your eyes to the object you wish to see or the direction you want to inspect.” He pointed at the far corner of his room to a lonely jar of bright colored flowers on top of a wooden desk. ”Try concentrating there. Focus your eyes to magnify that vase.”

Yosh turned around and squinted a little. Within seconds his vision suddenly zoomed forth as if he dashed right in front of the desk and saw the intricate designs of the vase with its contours and texture. He immediately loss all balance and fell down blinking for a couple of seconds returning his eyesight to normal view.

Kyrin laughed hard seeing Yosh fumble down as if he twirled for fifty times in a dizzy spell. ”In time you most certainly can master the Eagle Eye and you could focus your vision to longer distances but before that, you should really train your balance first. Your eyes are magnifying objects too far that your brain gets confused on the horizontal plane making you lose your stance.”

”Yep, didn't see that one coming,” he mumbled looking again at the mirror being conscious about his looks. ”Hey, King Kyrin. How can I disable this skill? I can't just walk around looking like a raccoon everywhere.”

”You have to will it to deactivate much like you willed it to activate. You have to relax your eyes.” He extended his arms helping him to stand up. He smiled as if giving him praise and encouragement - a sense of respect that Yosh felt, feeling proud of what he now has. ”In time you will differentiate the feel of having that skill activated and also the feel of having it without. By then you wouldn't be able to activate it accidentally, say - when you're reading a book or thinking something hard.”

”You ready now, crazy kid?” whispered Iyom behind him appearing out of nowhere. ”I got plans today, Dad, so you better hurry up.”

”Thanks again great King! I will return when I can.” Yosh said after carrying the backpack Iyom threw to him. He then bowed low which Kyrin did too. ”You still owe me that one other technique and I'm going to be here someday to collect.”

”I know you will,” he replied with a beaming jolly face, ”and I'll be looking forward to that day.” And then everything was torn apart as if being dissolved and in just a blink of an eye he was transported back to the sunny fields of the northern regions of the forest.

”Hey, Iyom,” shouted Yosh stopping him from leaving, ”I know we had a rough couple of days, but you are a great friend and I would like to get to know you better someday.”

Iyom got irritated and went near him almost furious, ”Hey! Have I given some sort of signal that confused you, just a teeny bit, making you assume that we are now friends?”

”You didn't... I'm talking about how you are with Nine...”

”Oh!” he mumbled trying to compose himself almost humiliated with his outburst.

”But I would like to...” he said immediately extending his hand for a shake, ”if you want?”

Iyom slapped his hands and went close to him pointing his finger almost three inches near his face. ”I don't trust you one bit, mortal, and I'm willing to eliminate you if you do anything close to hurting Nine or any other Dwendell! And...”

Yosh wrapped his arms around and tried to hug him smiling wide without malice in his eyes. This disturbed Iyom making him jump away being interrupted in his livid speech.

”WHAT THE INFERNAL TEY'ARN ARE YOU DOING!? Sheesh! You mortals and your hugging! You're all weird!” and with this he disappeared leaving Yosh alone with Luna by his side and Stella now arriving at Yosh's right shoulder pad, flapping her wings to comfort, bobbing her head cooing, giving his master a welcome.

”Mrreeaoooow...” whispered Luna looking up to his Master as if complaining.

”What? I didn't go overboard!” shouted Yosh now walking away from the woods which Luna followed almost immediately, ”That kid seriously needs a hug and I'm the only one who can provide it. Look how stiff and stressed he is. He might explode into pieces any minute.”

”Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...”

”Yeah, I know. But I don't regret doing it. Mama said one hug is better than a ton of medicine.”

”Cruuoouuu... hooou... couuu hoo...” entered Stella hooting, tilting her head to almost a hundred twenty degrees to her right.

”You too Stella? Geez guys, enough alright. I only thought hugging him was the only option. He looks like he's going to cry, and I felt sorry for him.”

-------ooO0Ooo-------

”DECOMISSIONED FROM ACTIVE MISSIONS!?” shouted Reus furiously crumpling the letter of notice in front of his grandfather Narra who is sitting behind his father's desk trying to sort all of the paperwork that was left behind. ”WHY!? What have I done wrong!?”

Narra stopped for a moment to attend to the infuriated Reus. He smiled as he removed his spectacles trying to relieve his tension headache for building even more.

”Sit down General Reus. Please. I don't understand how your father can put up with this work. The sun has come down hours ago, the papers seem to have a life of its own growing exponentially by the minute, and then dealing with hysterical soldiers like you? Practically, you're really not helping me out one bit.”

Reus grabbed a chair in front of his table and grumpily sat almost with a loud thump in protest. ”Now! Can you please reconsider to repeal this order? I was doing great at the North! There are so many things still left to do there, and...”

Narra extended his palms stopping him to go any further. He is so stressed he wants to conserve what little energy he has left on completing the mountains of paperwork that was due yesterday. ”It's not me, it's your father. I don't know why but he has explicitly stated that if, in some twist of fate, he falls incapacitated - like now - you all will be collected here in this fortress until we can figure things out.”

”What!? That's absurd gramps! What are we? Children?”

”Practically you are!” he shouted now getting annoyed, ”You are basically acting like one! Your father is gravely ill and what you want is for you to be assigned to some far away regions of the north!?”

Reus stopped for a second and mumbled shakingly, ”It's just... I-I don't want to see him like that. I-I don't want to be held here helpless. I want to be occupied for just a while, at least until he's better. Even the greatest casters around can't figure out why he's in a deep sleep state. What am I supposed to do?”

”This isn't meant to happen,” he whispered trying to massage his face with his hands sitting back.

”Beg your pardon?”

”Nothing,” he smiled dodging the idea, smiling to his developing trait of uncontrolled mumblings, ”All I want is for you to be here for your father; be here for your mother; most especially for your brothers. You are the eldest; it's your duty to keep them all safe. If you're not here, then who's going to take care of them? Yosh is still missing. Your twin brothers are missing. With all these problems with the rebels acting up again at the North, we have to keep a united front here at the encampment. This is the Citadel. We need to maintain a certain level of morale to keep our soldier's spirits alive. You can do a ton of things just by being here. You're helping me, your family, the army and, most specifically, your father.”

”Well, if you put it that way.” He grabbed a file folder and started reading reports. He pulled a pen inside his vest and began writing on it helping his grandfather with the work. Narra smiled as he wore his glasses and continued reading the opened four-inch file in front of him.

”But really?” Reus interrupted after a minute or two, ”The twins are missing? That's rather a usual topic, right? It'll be a miraculous day seeing them supervised and located at all times.”

”I believe they managed to lose their shadow guardians while they were traversing south of Kulog Pass. They were last seen at the Cotton Villages but, knowing their potential, they are most certainly not in danger so that'll escape our worry for a bit.”

”I'll be surprised if they aren't,” laughed Reus, ”They're always in danger, in fact, they try ways to be in it which surprises me even more. It's amazing how they can enjoy living in their world of extensive pain and torture.”

Narra stopped for a while removing his reading spectacles once more, ”What troubles me is Yosh, he's nowhere to be found and it's been a month.”

”Nah, he'll be here in about a week or two.”

”Really? How'd you know?”

”My falcon tracks his owl. I know where he's been and seeing the direction he's taking now. It won't take long till he comes home.”

”What!? You've been wasting your mother's time searching for your brother!? You should've told us!”

”You know, I originally thought he's going to be found early on his runaway tantrums, but I guess I was wrong to underestimate his hunting skills. The twins didn't call him the greased monkey for nothing after all. I bet I was at the wrong there.”

”You bet!? You are totally in the wrong there! You should've at least told somebody about that!”

”And make my falcon forget me? No thanks gramps. He's weird with animals. He's wired my falcon to turn on me, twice, just to teach me a lesson meddling with his affairs. And I'm not going to go through with that with my new Peregrine Falcon. It's hard to train one of them you know and I'm not going to waste my time again training for my fifth!”

”I'm just going to have to tell this to your mother!” he stood up disappointed shaking his head in dismay.

”No! Gramps!” he pulled his sleeves stopping him from storming out the door, ”Please, don't tell on me... Please?” he forced a smile trying to charm his grandfather, but it didn't work.

”No, I'll summon your mother back, alright. I would give you a favor and tell Anagea to keep this a secret. It'll be hard for her and will be rather a pain for you seeing how furious your mother will get but at least Piks wouldn't be replaced with a sixth version.”

Reus nodded sad removing his grip on his grandfather's sleeves, but he turned back and continued.

”Just promise me to tell every detail regarding your brothers in the future.”

”Yes, I will,” he promptly replied, ”I will tell you all of the things that they are doing.”

”Not all of them. I only want to know important things regarding their safety!”

”Yep,” he promised almost delighted, ”That'll be the deal!”

-------ooO0Ooo-------

”Ulrihis!” shouted the furious Shihiku circling around in some deep cavern, ”I have waited for a day for you!”

Grog is sitting on the corner looking gloomy with his head down. They have been mourning for Bakunawa for a day now. The death of their brother, a fellow immortal, ripped their hearts out and robbed them of any feeling of emotion except anger and fury. They have been trying to reach Ulrihis at the deep caverns underneath the seas of Nagozul where he usually lays to slumber, but they haven't been able to see him which troubled the outraged Shihiku being more impatient by the second.

Finally, an echoing hiss grabbed their attention giving them the spirit to stand up awaiting the giant poisonous serpentine. Ulrihis entered slowly, with his tongue unusually being kept inside his mouth without being flickered with short intervals as if he already knows the bad news and too has been robbed with emotions.

”Why are you bothering me now Sshihiku...”

”Where have you been? We have been waiting for you since Bakunawa called upon the Sea Titan!”

”The Nanreben? It'sss dead.”

”Yes, we know,” entered Grog, ”I have commanded Shihiku to stop thinking about retaliating, but he wants to have a second opinion from one of the elders thus we have been gathered here.”

”YES! THANK YOU OH GREAT GROG! THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING FOR MY BEHALF AS IF I CANNOT RELAY MY OWN THOUGHTS!”

Grog just shuddered unresponsive. He doesn't really have enough energy to pick a fight with the childish Shihiku, so he just sat again, head down.

”Isss that true?”

”Indeed Ulrihis. We must strike the mortals for killing one of our own and annihilating one of the last remaining titans...”

”Ssstop,” said Ulrihis being lethargic and unsympathetic to his thought, ”Being immortal comesss with great cossst. We are not sssavagesss, we have been primed by age to have wisssdom. We must not act hassstily on every sssingle wicked action perpetrated by the mortalsss. We are better than that.”

”But what about Bakunawa's honor!? Are we going to leave his memory in vain? Do you think we would honor him by just sitting here and watch them eliminate us one by one!?”

”Ssshihiku, is the fountain of life safe?”

”Y-yes?” he replied almost wary of his question.

”Then Ssshihiku, for the last time, stand down and do not disssturb me with your petty grievanssses!” Shihiku was taken aback with these cold shoutings. He was assuming that Ulrihis will now see the light of his idea now that this tragedy has surfaced the Holy Lands, but he did not. ”Toying with the deathsss of thousssandsss of sssoulsss isss not going to be my role here in the Holy Landsss. Bakunawa hasss sssacrifisssed himssself not to do what you have been ssso eagerly sssuggesssting ssso why can't you sssee that? Why can't you sssee what he hasss done!? If he wissshesss to dessstroy all mortalsss, he could've sssunken the Holy Landsss to the depthsss of the osssean floor, but he did not! He hasss ressspect for the livesss of every being created by Bathala. Ssso you have two choissses! Either ssstart learning from that exsssample and contemplate on your juvenile tantrumsss or end yourssself! It'sss that sssimple!”

After saying this, Shihiku gurgled up some courage to spit some words but he couldn't. Ulrihis, with his disappointed eyes still mellowing with tears, turned back and slithered away making Shihiku and Grog to turn looking at each other in surprise. Ulrihis normally doesn't speak in this tone. He's usually calm and receptive to anyone's idea but today, after all that's been happening, especially the death of one of his most treasured friends, he just flipped. He changed. His eyes told everything about how he now closed himself away for caring about mortals. He's abiding still with his oath on protecting life, but his eyes tell it differently. His eyes want revenge, revenge that can never happen.

”Don't say another word,” mumbled Grog now standing up, ”Don't speak or I swear to Bathala I will lash my wrath upon you.”

And with this threat he disappeared blinking like a star leaving Shihiku to ponder about what happened.