Sands of Destiny: Five Lights Appear

Chapter 17: The Freedom Project

"Please everyone, come in and have a seat. I hope you all are hungry!"

Igneous welcomed his new students into his personal dining hall. The table was huge, with a rich purple tablecloth with intricate gold designs embroidered all over it. Igneous sat at the head of the table. On his immediate right sat Frixius, an caramel colored older man that wore long black robes, and whose eyes glowed a bright, radiant purple. Medikus took the seat to his immediate left, and next to him sat Trista. Next to Frixius sat Ash, Dormia, and Kruise in that order. The table was laid out with their diner for the night, a juicy steak drenched in a dark, savory sauce, with mashed potatoes covered in a light, creamy gravy and partnered with a serving of buttery, sweet corn. They each had a chalice filled with a fine merlot wine to the right of their plate.

"Well now that you're all here, it looks like I can finally tell you what brought us all here today."

The five wranglers sat there eating, waiting for Igneous to begin his story.

"First I'd like to introduce you to my teacher and mentor, Frixius. This man not only taught me everything I know, but he did the same for an entire wave of wranglers, raising us since we were children. From Glacio and Natura, to the legendary Miadaco and Aux. And of course I can't leave out Troy and Duke. The seven of us grew up like brothers and a sister, and Frixius here was like the father none of us ever had. Right Frixius?"

Frixius nodded off, snoring softly. Igneous shook his head.

"Well you'll get to hear from him eventually. Anyways to sum up a long story, after we split, hoping to divide and take back the Desert Continent, we found a weakness in our strategy. Alone, none of us could truly accomplish enough to do more than slow the Sheriff's down. We've lost three of our brothers, but they each fought to leave behind a legacy. Troy left us the young beautiful Trista. Duke died winning in an Elixir Brawl, and sent the lovely Dormia here his reward with his last breaths. And the strongest man I've ever had the honor of fighting with, Maniac Midaco left us not one, but two youthful power houses in Ash and Medikus. And if I remember correctly, Kruise's dad was a good friend of Miadco's."

The five young wranglers traded looks with each other.

"You five have already lived lives riddled with unspeakable horrors. For that I apologize on the behalf of both myself and your father's. Our decision to fight forced you into our war. It's because we weren't strong enough to pull it off ourselves that you have been cursed with this burden that even we couldn't bear."

Dormia spoke up.

"So you planned for us to grow up and become a team?"

"Actually, this was all planned out by Midaco himself. In fact I believe the only one of you he never met in person was Trista. But in his knowing about you all, he sent me a letter planning this all out. In his letter, he said it seemed that you all had potential even greater than our own group. He mentioned Kruise's keen eye, Dormia's latent sand abilities, Ash's mastery over fire, and Medikus's blitzing speed and power in hand to hand combat. He even mentioned that he heard that Trista was already stronger than her Dad."

Igneous paused for a second to take a sip from his chalice.

"He was supposed to train you all with me, but it would seem that he couldn't be here. So I'll ring the blood, sweat and tears outta ya myself! At least that's how he would've said it."

Igneous dipped his head as tears began to flow down his face.

"I'm sorry, but he was like my big brother, if it wasn't for him I'd have been dead a long, long time ago. He was our savior."

Igneous excused himself from the table and walked out of the room weeping.

"That crybaby has always been like that. Tough and stoic on the outside, soft on the inside. That's his only weakness."

Frixius woke up and yawned.

"Alright kids, I'll tell you what I'll do. Igneous might seem soft, but he is still my student! He's gonna make you fight him and the remaining of my students, and right now, you don't stand a chance in a team battle. You all need to unlock your trigger abilities. To do that, you'll each fight one of your peers to the death! Trista, you'll fight Dormia! Ash will fight Kruise! And you Medikus are a special case, trained by my two greatest students! You'll be fighting...me!!!"

Medikus cracked his neck.

"Well then you better not let me down, old man!"