Virtuality: Magic Island

Chapter 14: His Name Was Lontari

The day had come to Neros, but it was far from a beautiful one. The sky was gray with occasional rumbling of thunder. Occidifu and his crew took their toll on the borough.

All of the buildings were filled with cracks and steaming holes. The merchant stands were heavily bent out of shape, and sat in large water puddles surrounded by soiled fruit, fish, and vegetables. There were even dead bodies in the street, soaked in a puddle of blood. They thought they could take Occidifu head on.

However, the Neros people refused to quit. They thrusted their palms, launching roaring blasts of water. Occidifu just stared at them with a smirk, and giggled at them. The fact that these people really tried to fight him, let alone despite the fact that he had rock-hard armor, put joy in his heart. 

He simply swung his sword, and all of the water came racing back at the people. It washed them all away like stains from a dish and catapulted them into the nearby ocean.

Declan looked to his left and saw an angry woman formed a large, spiraling tornado of water. It raced towards him, and his heart shattered as he heard the woman cursing and screaming at him. He worked up all of his courage, though, and swung his sword at the tornado. It resultantly turned into a large wave of water that pushed the woman away.

"Great job, son!" Occidifu barked happily. "I'm fully convinced that you will be my successor one day!"

Declan shivered as a lump appeared in his throat. "God... touch my father's heart."

Occidifu stared around at the damage he caused. The dead bodies, the scent of fishiness and charcoal, and the cries of the survivors brought nothing but joy to his soul. He proudly looked at his men, who cheered at their success at destroying those that dared to challenge them.

However, it didn't take long for things to come to ruin. A soldier walked up to Occidifu, with a nervous face. Immediately noticing him and knowing he is a real world player, he clomped over to him and gave a fearful look.

"What's with the face?" he demanded. "What happened?!"

The soldier gulped and shivered, then responded. "Lontari... and his friends. T-They're here... in Nero."

Occidifu's joy faded to bitterness. He shook and clenched his fists before letting out a roar of anger and stomping his feet. It was enough force to sent dust into the air.

"Ugh...! Damn it!" he barked. "Doesn't that little brat know when to quit?!!"

Declan stared at his father, watching in fear as he calmed down to think. He prayed deep down inside that he wouldn't turn to look at him. In fact, to decrease chances of that happening, he simply turned to look at the ocean. But, his fear tensed up as he heard his father's thunderous clomping. It got louder, and louder. Declan felt his heart beat so hard he thought it was going to burst out of his chest.

Then he heard his father's voice. "Declan!"

Declan's heart skipped a beat. He sighed and turned to look at his father with sunken eyes. "Yes... father? Do you want me to defeat Lontari again?"

"Defeat?" Occidifu said. He burst out laughing at the top of his lungs. "No, my son! Who said anything about defeating him?"

Declan released a long sigh of relief. "Okay... For a second, I thought-"

"You're going to kill him!" Occidifu demanded.

Declan gasped and stumbled backwards. The lump returned to his throat. Now, his father had gone to far. His soul flooded with shock, anger, sadness, and bitterness all at once. He didn't even know if he wanted to stay alive anymore. He wanted to be with his mother.