Exodus Files: Gates of Hell.

Chapter 9: Caught In The Summer Rain.

"This rain is starting to scare me." Sora sighed as she glance outside the window "Sensei, thanks again for letting me stay here, do not worry I'll make a way to repay you." The wizard chuckled as he try to clean his cluttered store "It's my pleasure to help my former student, in fact, I am happy to see you." Sora turned to face the wizard, and bowed" ARIGATOGOZAIMASU!" the wizard laughed out loud "Silly child, stand up straight. You can stay in that vacant room in the corner, just turn left..." she was about to bow again but the wise monster stopped her. Sora smiled and proceeded to her room. The room was unlike the shop, it is spotless and smelled fresh. Before entering, she pulled out a locket, inside is a picture of her 'sister' "I'll save you from them, Shilu."

A radiant blue light shone in a small alleyway in Dao Lung City. One by one, the guild members started to arrive "Whew, I feel like my guts' all scrambled" Shahvi grumbled, Kaito glared at him "Is there anything else that you know aside from mumbling and complaining about everything?" The two assassins took their Katars out, Doer stopped the two before they fight; both assassins has short fuses and gets annoyed easily. The last one to arrive was Niv.

Niv peeked out the streets and observed how the people behaved. As he joins his party he started to give out instructions "Remember, we should work discreetly. Doer and Kaito, you guys watch the eastern part of the city, Hoffelton, you with Shahvi, guard the west wing and Mitsu, will be joined by Orange to keep the north safe. I'll be joined by..." Everyone was waiting for a reply "Me. Of course, unlike you guys, you cannot make clones, I'm okay to work alone." again, Mitsu punched the Oni. Niv rubbed his aching cheeks, he then commanded "Okay, disperse." like flashes of light, the members of the party moved swiftly to their assigned locations. 

The prince was about to leave when he noticed that the east party was still there. Mitsu approached Niv and asked "You're hiding something from me. Is this about your little side mission in Del Haviz?" For a moment Niv was silent, he stared at the Knight and replied "Yes." Mitsu nodded, easily understands his friend's concern and beckoned to Orange to started moving. 

The strong wind banged the windows of the old wizard's store. Sora came out her room to talk to her master "That crystal appears to be the key to open a portal to Earth" the old elf said, while fixing his potion display. The maiden was surprised, he was not able to reveal this fact to his mentor, but she assumed that the elder one 'knows a lot' and this should come as no surprise. Sora pulled out the crystal and explained "Shilu gave it to me when we met the other day." Sora handed the crystal to the wizard, who immediately studied the item. He noticed something, and started scanning the pages of an artifact book "I see. So you found Shilu after all." asked the elf as he continues his research. Sora was nodded to acknowledge "Sensei, what are you reading?" The mage asked the elf as she grabbed a chair. The elf was silent, ignoring the curious human girl. 

Sora got uninterested of what her master was doing, she started to wander off. She checked out what the store offered. Potions and spell books, wands and staffs and rare magic materials. A small bottle caught her attention, as she checked what's inside it she detected something bizarre, it looked like a man asking for help. She looked at closer, the man inside wants her to open up the lead of the bottle, begging for it's freedom.

Curious, Sora was about to open the lead when her master called "SORA! NOW I KNOW HOW WE COULD GET THE KEY!" Sora almost dropped the bottle, she placed the bottle back in the rack and asked "What do you mean, Sensei?" The elder wizard hasted and grabbed his things "No time to explain, I'll be back in an hour" without further adieu, the wizard left. 

"Where could she be?" Niv murmured while walking, trying to check every single girl he came across. "She will be in a small potion shop named 'La Magia Y Pociones' in the northern parts of Dao Lung City, please keep her safe from Gates. Here, give this to her when you see her. I owe you big time." those are the words of Aki when Niv talked to her back in Del Haviz. Niv stared at the locket. Out of curiosity, he opened it and found a picture of a girl with sky blue hair and cute purple eyes. "So you are Sora." he whispered. 

Out of nowhere, an elderly monster bumped into the Pinkdevil. Although Niv was shocked, he was able to keep is balance. Niv asked the person as he secured the locket "Are you okay, Sir?" The monster just ignored him and walked away. "Now, that's really polite, Sir." the Oni said, and as he turned to proceed his search, a girl collided with him, they stumbled to the ground. Niv lie flat on the ground while the girl was on top of him, she turned red when she realized it and got off Niv immediately. "Gomene..." The girl apologized as she sat on the floor. Niv was still dizzy after hitting the floor "That hurts, you know... They should start calling this place 'Bumpsville'." He said to the girl while rubbing his head.

"I'm really, really sorry...I was trying catch up with my master...gomenasai." the girl still rueful, Niv replied "Don't worry, kid, I'm still in one piece" and as he looked at the girl, his eyes widened, shocked of who he was talking to. "SORA! You're Sora right?" The prince asked the young girl excitedly "I was looking for you all over the place!" 

Sora was puzzled "You're looking for me...wait, ARE YOU WITH THE MERGERS?" she then prepares herself for a fight, to which Niv smiled and laughed "No, I'm actually the one who's fighting them." surprised, Sora questioned Niv, wondering who is this guy crazy enough to look for the Mergers "Fighting? Are you serious?" He replied with a nod, and responded "Yes. Uhm. Can we look for a place where we can talk? We're both soaked in the rain" 

The young mage gave Niv a towel "I'm sorry, to be honest, I am also a guest here...My master owns this place, and he is a bit the messy type" Niv smiled and shook his head, his eyes examines the place "It's okay, don't worry. Anyway, it's the people I have business with the ones I'm here for, not the place." Niv then remembered, he then gave the locket to Sora "Your sister sent me here to locate you." Sora then started to cry, realizing that her sister was able to find a way to survive and is safe, she thanked Niv and was about to bow but Niv stopped her "If it's gonna be fine with you, you should come with me. We will make sure that you'll see Aki again." Niv said. Sora stopped sobbing "Who?" she was confused. "Who's Aki? My sister's name is Shilu." She then showed the Demon her locket "This ain't Aki." he said while suspicion started to build up. 

All of sudden, the shop's door opened, the elderly wizard entered, Niv immediately recognized the monster he ran into earlier. Both spoke at the same time "It was you who I bumped into earlier!" Niv then continued "I'm sorry about that, uhm, anyway I'm Nivrae Lacronite, it is a pleasure to meet you" the wizard replied "It IS my pleasure to meet the notorious Oni. I am Arlaz." Niv's jaw dropped "THE Arlaz Winslogg? The legendary Storm Lionheart?" Arlaz acknowledged. Niv was ecstatic and asked the wizard immediately "Will you help us fight the Mergers?" Arlas answered without hesitation "No."