Descent Into Madness

14, Seeking Warfare

I woke up in a cold sweat. Nothing seemed to make sense for a moment except for a gentle, shocked voice. "NextGen...?!" I heard Eden's voice echoing in a tone of terror. I tried to lift up my hand that wasn't torn off to try and grab her face. She was right in front of me, but it turned out I missed. My eyes were back and giving me my power to see again. I looked up and remembered.

"The ship..." My voice sounded surplringly okay. "Ugh...my head, what's...happened?" I murmured in a slur. "Sit down, you quick idiot! You're gonna make me break the healing spell on you."

"How did you even find me?" I asked in a weak murmur again. I was okay, it's just that my body wasn't used to being awake again. "Inari put a tracker thingy...I don't know; earth's technology on you to find you immediately. Now stop making me talk, let me help you."

I turned to my side and saw that my arm was replaced. "Did Inari Sensei build that...?" I asked quietly when I noticed the metallic structure; the wires coming off of it and the sevral unorganized nooks and crannies it had. "Yeah, he said it even has that purple sword of yours inside it, you just have to do a certain hand gesture. Now please, actually shut up." She almost grumbled.

Damn she must really care about me. Does she? She might think I'm annoying. "Okay." I said in a slur.

Before long, I was okay, and I actually felt quite normal. Except for my new arm. It felt...

Wrong in some sense, it wasn't natural yet it acted natural enough to be my new arm. I was sat in the cockpit of my ship, simply contemplating my mistakes. I definitely should never go out of here on my own again. Then, I'd hear the sound of metal clanking against something, until I turned around and Inari was there. Staring at me with a slightly invasive glare. It was like he was trying to tell me I messed up without even opening his mouth. "The shark that attacked you was a Blacklite drone." He abruptly said before taking a seat on top of the console by the cockpit seat. Shit...this. This is. This is not good, it's all my fault. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"None of this is your fault, apart from the fact that you attacked the shark. If you hadn't, they wouldn't have retrived a stable sample of your DNA." He would explain, surprisingly calmly as he cut me off. Can I even get Eden back to her own planet? Is it even possible now? I sat there, looking at my arm and thinking about everything. Just. Everything. That mind scarring clip of the shark attack replayed itself again and again. Over and over. In my mind. "Let's cut the rough news. That arm has the ability to turn your upper forearm into the Dawn blade. The blade is now retractable, allowing you to travel from far places; essentially a zip wire and it still has the same abilities as the regular Dawn. I also enhanced the steel and added two new abilities to aid you." Inari suddenly tumbled all that on my head. Although I was excited to use my new arm in combat now. I also hated the fact that my mind was a complete hailstorm of thoughts, dark ends and never ending guilt.

"Thank you." I managed to murmur before I flipped the switch to my right and everything began to power on. "Before you leave NextGen, I have some...other news."

The way he said that made me almost shudder, I turned around and he was looking at me as if what he was about to say is a life and death situation. I returned a fearful gaze and then gulped it back down. "I'm all ears sir." I managed to only stammer.

"The galaxy has been shaken. Recently, I picked up magical signatures of a warrior defeating one of the galaxies most notorious dictators. Deadlocked has been slain in battle by a teenager called Fodor Senko and that same teenager apparently has called the entire galaxy to aid him." My eyes widened, I felt my ears perk up. Deadlocked was a man I knew very well. And his actual name is not Deadlocked. Genji 'Deadlocked' Okami was my fool of a great grandfather who decided long ago to tarnish my bloodlines reputation. He killed so many, invaded so many civilisations and caused mass destruction all for the purpose of power. He wanted to achieve one hundred percent immortality by making his brain almost indestructible using a form of chimera he created himself.

"No kidding."

"I'm not, you must join the Galactic Rebellion. I see a spark in you; the shape of a great leader. Now here's your last mission from me:

"Bring the elven woman back to Gaia without disruption. Then, come back to me and we will master your abilities and finally, you will depart from my care and you must join the Galactic Rebellion. It is crucial for the sustainability of the galaxy. If you don't, there'll be a near high chance you will watch the galaxy fall in the next coming decades." It was like a warning and a call...at the same time...

"Now go! Blacklite are almost here. The Forbidden Kenchi Blade is here on this ship and I will depart this planet my own way. We shall meet once more, Okami."

"Indeed we will meet once more sensei."