Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

The Bringer Of Truth's Light

"Hmm... Are you sure that you want to go with me?" Mana wondered, turning to Ishikeru. The half-mountain, half-man sat in front of Mana in the spherical roller of impressive clockwork operating it that rolled over the space separating the golden inner "worlds" of the Moon. Because of Ishikeru's size, he had to hunch and bend his head. One would have hardly found anyone slim and flexible enough to fit in between the giant Moon ninja and Mana.

"Of course! If you're going to help us get rid of the Chaser, I will do everything in my power to help. Plus, you'll run into other Sky Clan ninja on your way and they need to know that you mean well," Ishikeru said, explaining his decision to just abandon his post.

"Won't your allies be mad at you for leaving the engineers unattended and unprotected?" Mana asked. Somewhere down in her gut, she felt bad about not telling him that the engineers that Ishikeru was supposed to protect had been escaping at this very moment. Then again, it wasn't like he'd have known that even if he stayed behind in his post.

"They may be. But we only need them because of the Chaser. If the Chaser is gone, we might still find happiness here, on the Moon. This place is our home and if we can still protect it, we should do our best to do so," Ishikeru bowed his head respectfully. "In any case, it's not like those engineers would ever bother attempting an escape or anyone or anything would try to break in. They're all the way on the Moon, so far from Earth, and The Chaser is after our chakra. He sucks us dry into lifeless husks and leaves us behind. He'd have no interest in mere Earth Clan civilians."

"I see..." Mana pondered to herself, scratching her chin. By now she had heard plenty of information about this mysterious Chaser, yet she couldn't put her finger on it. She had never heard of a biological weapon that could threaten someone or something as powerful as the Sky Clan ninja. If the Chaser's MO truly was draining chakra, it might have narrowed it down, but his identity was still a mystery.

"So, you know nothing about this Chaser, then?" Ishikeru thrust his proverbial index straight at the point with Mana's sudden solemnness.

"No, I'm sorry. One thing I am sure of–we haven't sent the Chaser here on purpose. Most Earth Clan ninja aren't even aware of your existence. Just like you've said, we're too preoccupied with violence and local warfare to look at the stars. Those of us who don't have any interest in mythology, history, and lore of the world we all share have long since forgotten about the war with the Sky Clan or any covenants we may have made," Mana replied as the transportation orb, clad in gears came to a complete halt. Its golden shine flashed away, leaving just a pearl-colored shell. Mana tried to find a handle to open it up, but Ishikeru just gently guided her away.

With a cracking thud, he punched through the shell and unraveled it from within, walking out and guiding Mana by her hand to make a soft and successful landing on the other golden world. As the two disembarked from the mechanism that brought them here, the cracked shell began emitting radiance and turned ethereal. The construct of pure energy connected together and then settled into a pearl-colored shape again, demanding for travelers to wind the gears up again and power them up to the state of a golden comet that could travel in between the world orbs.

"I'll take it we're still not there," Mana voiced her fears.

"No, we've run out of energy. I can power this thing up again in a few minutes or we can dash across to this dimension's station. It must have an orb that's powered and ready to go," Ishikeru pointed out. "The battleground can't be that much further ahead."

"This place is magnificent!" Mana gasped after turning around and absorbing the welcoming creeks, the cute little bridges arcing over them, and the luscious green providing shade and security to the boundless ancient temples that seemed well-maintained compared even to those on Earth. It was as if they were built just yesterday and being lacquered and swept through every day. "I wonder how all this elegance smells..." Mana pressed her hands to her chest, just trying to recall the pleasant tingles to her nose from her childhood and imagine that multiplied a hundredfold.