Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 104: Roots

  During the time Cloud stood in the palm of Kiorra, Cloud gazed at the beast and was filled with fear. However, there was a strong sense of familiarity that left Cloud puzzled. Cloud immediately recalled seeing the beast's face take form in the darkened sky when he was little (Chapter 8).
"You... We've met before, haven't we?" Cloud asked, "What... What are you?"
"I told you. I am your true other half." Kiorra responded.
"True other half? What does that even mean?" Cloud asked, "Other half of what? And earlier you mentioned something about us being the ruler of the end. What does it mean? I've been called that several times and i am hearing it again."
"Hehehe. You are truly lacking in knowledge." Kiorra said with a grin, "Your people did succeed in burying their past."
"My people?" Cloud asked.
"Yes, your people. Many years ago, your people knew of me and worshipped me." Kiorra replied.
"Worshipped you? Like a god?" Cloud asked.
"Yes. A god. I was their god, their founder and their power." Kiorra answered while smiling, "In the glorious days of your people, i was reverenced and your people were feared across the realms of this world.
None could stand before them. None could escape their wrath. The fury of your people was a sight to behold.
It was marvelous."
"What is he talking about? My people worshipped him?" Cloud asked within, "How can it be? It's not possible; no way. But there is something going strange going on here. There is this odd feeling i keep getting and more i stare at him, the stronger these feelings become. It's like i can feel myself becoming a part of him.
  That aside, what is this power? It's so great, so dark... So evil. The amount of kan i am feeling from him is outrageous; it is greater than anyone and anything i have ever felt.
   Is he truly a god? I have never heard of a god possessing kan. Did my people actually worship him? Were they as strong as he says?"
"You doubt my words." Kiorra said, "You wonder in your heart if my words are true or not. Of course, it is only natural since you have no knowledge of the truth.
  Right from the time you were little, you have always wondered and questioned your existence; you've always questioned the things happening to you. You have tried so hard to create your own path and discard the questions that has haunted you, yet you constantly find yourself going back to them, desperately seeking an answer. But in order to answer those questions, we need to go to the root of the past.
  It is time for you to learn..."
   "Who your people were and what you must become." Kiorra said as his eyes glowed brighter.
   All of a sudden, Cloud found himself in a strange land with darkened skies and as Cloud turned, he took notice of the corpses of several human-like monsters laying on the ground; Cloud also took notice numerous men and women killing the human-like monsters with their fists and feet. During the massacre, a man grinned sadistically with glowing eyes as he snapped the neck of a male monster.
   "Those humans you see were your ancestors many centuries ago." Kiorra said, "And what you see them killing was the dreadful race known as Anokites."
   "The Anokites?" Cloud asked.
  "Yes. A race that feeds on fear and their auras carried the same pressure as that of a terror beast." Kiorra replied, "Their strength and speed were like no other mortal races but when your people decided to launch an attack on them, they only sent a hundred and they easily defeated the population."
  "Huh? No way. A hundred against an entire population of Anokites?" Cloud asked in disbelief.
  "Yes. That is how strong your people were." Kiorra replied.
  Cloud became shocked at the moment he noticed a human female bearing white markings on both of her arms which made Cloud remember the time his blue markings turned white (chapter 36). Cloud quickly noticed that it wasn't only the woman that beared the markings but other humans as well."
  "The white markings are proofs that they are part of the tribe and that they are dedicated to me." Kiorra said, "Your people were so strong that they were considered as the only ones that could rival the strongest clan in your human realm."
   "Rival the Dreygars...?" Cloud asked.
   "They were that strong but they chose to throw all that strength away. They chose to revert back to the nothing they once were" Kiorra said.
  Cloud suddenly found himself within the bounds of a small village.
  "Where are we?" Cloud asked.
  "This was once the home of your people, a land they called Ugathir." Kiorra replied.
   "Ugathir? But it was destroyed." Cloud said, "Every member of Ugathir were destroyed... Dead."
  "Yes, the story given to every dweller of this world." Kiorra said, "Before your people received my blessings, this is what they were... Insignificant... Nothing... Less than nothing. They were mere fishermen who were on the brink of death because of a plague created by an enemy invasion."
   Cloud noticed a group of men sitting on the ground and coughing while some were staring at the ocean. Cloud also took notice of a group of adults staring down at corpses wrapped in white linen.
   "This was the state of your people before i came into their lives." Kiorra said.
   Cloud immediately remembered the destruction of the Stormwind as he stared down at the corpses of his people but the reminisce was cut short because of a loud wail which made him turn towards the direction of sound and found a woman on her knees, screaming in sorrow.
   "What happened?" Cloud asked.
   "I said it before, didn't i? This was the state of your people when they fell prey to the plague of an enemy invasion." Kiorra replied, "An insignificant race attacked the people of Ugathir because they were part of the kanless humans; they saw them as an easy prey. The han gates of your people were destroyed by that race but what saved your people from annihilation were the three Ripars sojourning there.
   The Ripars repelled the enemy but in their retaliation and determination to destroy Ugathir, they used their plague of Skurge to infect everyone."
   Cloud became short of words as he caught sight of three men carrying three Ripar corpses.
   "They succumbed to their injuries and died. After all, it was three against an entire army." Kiorra said, "With the Ripars gone and your people infected, despair sat upon the emotions of your people; some wondered how long they had left... Was it minutes or days, some even felt the invaders would come back, but one thing was certain: they had all accepted that they were going to die."
  "All except one." Kiorra said as a man with long brown hair was staring at a male corpse while frowning.
   Minutes later, the man was pushing a boat forward as he was about to sail on the ocean only to be held back by a woman with short black hair.
  "Edon, where do you think you are going?" The woman asked.
  "I am going to find a solution. I refuse to let this be our fate." Edon answered.
   Edon shook off her grip and boarded the boat to leave Ugathir.
   "It would seem that fate made us meet." Kiorra said as Edon could later be seen crawling on the shore and wheezing in pain, "On his journey to find a solution, the human encountered a storm that brought to the island; an island where i found myself chained."
   "Chained?" Cloud asked.
  "After my battle with the dragon empress, i awoke and learnt my body was destroyed and my soul chained in the realm of this new world." Kiorra said.
   "Chained? Destroyed? Someone like him? That's not possible." Cloud said in his heart, "And this dragon empress... is she a god like him? What does he mean by new world?"
   "The human wondered the island, unsure of what he was doing and where he was headed, yet he could feel a force drawing him close; he could feel my presence drawing him to me." Kiorra said as Edon was treading on the island, "He kept walking and walking..."
   "Until he met me." Kiorra said at the time Edon gazed up at Kiorra (who at that moment was in a form of a black mist while being tied with glowing blue chains).
     Cloud instantly had a headache and a recollection of the vision he once saw of a man and a giant beast in the shadows (chapter 15) which left him shocked.
   "Wait... I have seen this before. In the tournament when Bee was facing Karma, but why am i remembering it now?" Cloud asked within, "That man..."
   "Was him." Cloud said within as the imagery of Edon's face covered in darkness was unveiled, "It was him all along. But Kiorra also called him his other half."
   "You've seen this before, haven't you?" Kiorra asked, "Of course, you have. As my true other half, you are capable of seeing into some of my memories as i am capable of seeing into yours."
   "You called him your other half." Cloud said.
   "I did. Unfortunately he wasn't." Kiorra replied, "When i first saw him, his presence assured me that he was the one for my completion."
   "Completion?" Cloud asked.
   "As i said before, my body was destroyed, leaving just my soul." Kiorra said.
   "So when you say your other half, it is-"
  "The merging of my soul with the body of the other to create the one being to rule, the one being to destroy... The ruler of the end." Kiorra cuts in.
   Hearing the explanation of Kiorra, Cloud bent his head down with an expression filled with horror.
   "If i am his true other half, then which means i am supposed to be... No!" Cloud said within.
   "Disappointed, i told him to leave but he wouldn't. He begged and explained the peril of his people. Not that it meant anything to me, but there was an offer he made: that if i save his people, if i grant them power to stand against their enemies then i will become their god, and i will be given tributes and sacrifices as they once gave to their gods of old." Kiorra said, "That was a nice offering, but a covenant between me and him to become a god over his people wasn't enough. If i was going to be their god, then all members of Ugathir must be involved."
   "They agreed. I cured them of the plague and granted them strength which in my eyes were nothing more than crumbs but in the eyes of the mortals was a power to behold." Kiorra said as Cloud watched a streak of light flowing out of the mouth and eyes of every member of Ugathir.
   "And within a year, the mere tribe of fishermen was transformed into a fierce tribe of destroyers." Kiorra said as Edon who happened to be wearing a blue sleeveless coat with black stripes and black trousers while bearing white markings on his chest, arms and the left side of his face, stood in front of a crowd who happened to be bearing the same white markings as well.
   "My people, my other half and our god has given a message: For too long you have stayed in the shadows, now is the time to emerge and destroy all that stand in your way!"Edon said.
   "YAH!" The people said as they raised their fists.
"The fishermen of Ugathir are no more! Now is the birth of new warriors! Warriors who with every step shall fill the land with blood and crumble the realms to dust!" Edon said.
    "YAH!" The people said again as they raised their fists.
   Cloud's eyes widened in unbelief as he was horrified by the behavior of his ancestors.
   "Your first act of conquest shall be of the race that placed the plague of Skurge upon you!" Edon said, "Destroy them all! Leave none alive! Destroy them and their realm!"
     "YAH!" The people said again as they raised their fists.
   "Once you have destroyed them, present yourselves to your home Agaroth and let them know a new tribe is born; one that fills the graves of the enemies!" Edon said.
      "YAH!!!!" The people said again as they raised their fists.
    "Come my brothers and sisters! As my other half and our god has said: Victory awaits!" Edon said with a grin while exuding his aura as his irises glowed.
   "Victory awaited and they seized it by the throat." Kiorra said as Edon and the former Ugathirs were brutally killing a race of purple elvish creatures with blue markings on their faces.
     "What the hell...?" Cloud said as he was shocked by the brutality of what he was seeing.
  "It was beautiful." Kiorra said, "Your people presented themselves to Agaroth and though they were considered as a second-birthed high ranking clan, their power was more feared than the Dreygars."
  "Second birthed?" Cloud asked.
  "Yes, second birthed. Higher ranked tribes that didn't receive power from the founders of your nation were considered as second birthed tribes." Kiorra said.
  "Like the Ski-Kipars and Bi'krus?" Cloud asked.
  "Yes, like those two. Your people along with the other second birthed created the iron era of the nine tribes of Agaroth." Kiorra replied.
  "Nine tribes?" Cloud asked.
  "Is your lack of knowledge this bad?" Kiorra asked, "Tell me, how many second birthed tribes do you know existed?"
  "I only knew of two which were the Ski-Kipars and the Bi'krus until you told me my people were once part of the second birthed tribes." Cloud answered.
  "There were four." Kiorra said,"The first were Ski-Kipars: a tribe of warriors that beared two elements of the sky... Wind and lightning. The second were Bi'krus: a tribe of beastmen warriors with uncanny strength and speed even for mortals with kan; their strength and speed were greater than that of the average mortal. Some debated that the average strength and speed of those people rivaled that of the average Dreygar and their appearances were like that of a human with animals tails at their rear and ears on their head.
   The third were the Xohalis: a tribe of warriors that beared opposite powers of the heavens, one the shadow of the moon and the other the light of the sun. The Ski-Kipars once requested that the Xohalis become a part of them, making one half the eastern and other half the western but they refused.
   And finally, your people: destroyers capable of creating a tempest of any element."
   "Tempest?" Cloud asked.
  "Yes, tempest." Kiorra answered, "The beings of the tempest, the blood reavers as other mortals would say. Yes, the Tageiras, the name your people were once known by."
  Hearing the words of Kiorra, Cloud's eyes widened in shock.