An Incomplete History

Chapter 4 - Chosen

"Hey boy. Can I go take a nap now or are you just gonna stand there?" Jay looks at Gale displeased. "Yes sorry, we're just leaving-" Aquila tries to usher Gale out, and Jay goes back to his office "Dude? You're acting weird." Tomasi looks at Gale as Gale stares out the window. "Come on, let's go." Gale walks out of the building following where he saw Ryuma head "Dude don't you think it's weird following somebody we don't know?" Tomasi follows close behind Gale with Aquila right beside Tomasi. "He can probably tell us about that stone I had, he had one too I saw it." Gale picks up the pace and tries to catch up to Ryuma, eventually being able to see him not too far away. Ryuma walks into a cafe and sits down, Gale, Tomasi and Aquila all follow behind him and sit down at his table. Ryuma looks displeased. "Well, you guys followed me, what do you want?" Gale is immediately put off by how forward Ryuma is. "Alright Ryuma, I saw you have a purple like stone, I found one just like it and somebody attacked me, know anything just about that?" Gales' expression is stone cold but his words carry a tone of arrogance, Ryuma reciprocates that same expression, Aquila sits there awkwardly while Tomasi seems careless. "Listen Gale, what you're getting yourself into is a pit so deep you won't be able to crawl out, I'd suggest pulling yourself out while you still can." Ryuma looks at Gale, Gale notices the slight bags under Ryuma's eyes, that same innocence he saw when they first met was gone. "What do you even mean? Don't you understand how weird this all is?.. You said my name.. You shouldn't know my name." Gale straightens up and Tomasi seems more on edge now. Ryuma smirks "I'm not against you Gale, I'd rather you not have to get hurt, or into a situation you don't want to be in, but those stones, the man who attacked you, forget about all of that, all it will do is cause more issues than needed. Now if you'll excuse me I have more interviews to go to." Ryuma stands up and walks away, leaving Gale in shock, a sinking feeling appears, for the first time in so long, Gale has felt fear "Dude you okay?" Tomasi says, while clearly unnerved but attempting to hide it for Gale's sake. "Y-yeah, I'm going to go home and take a shower and clear my mind." Gale stands up and leaves without saying a word to Tomasi and Aquila as he leaves, Aquila stares at Tomasi clearly worried and Tomasi reciprocates the same look.

Midnight on the same day, Gale is laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, he puts his hand over what was once his left eye, sighing. That same sinking feeling is there, he just shuts his eye and tries to deal with it but Ryuma's words left too much to the unknown, Gale wanted to know more but didn't know how to deal with it, suddenly the sinking feeling gets much worse as gale opens his eye and looks out the window but its just his head messing with him, as he lays back down Gale struggles to fall asleep. An abrupt shock of pure pain is felt in Gales left eye, a worse pain than the initial attack felt, Gale tries to get out of bed but the pain is felt through his entire body, as Gale stands up his entire body struggles to move under the pain, Gale makes his way to the bathroom as he puts his hands on the sink and looks up into the mirror, in the wound where his left eye once was, purple like veins are seen slightly illuminating to create an alien sight to Gale, put into immediate shock by the sight on his eye he falls back landing on the bathroom floor, he stares at the sink in front of him in pure shock, the pain persists but Gale moves through it, crawling to his first aid kit he fashions an eye-patch covering his left eye so nobody can see it. Gale looks at the clock beside his bed, seeing it's 1:02 am now, he sighs and grabs his jacket, Visci still being awake is still wary of Gale, not going near him unless necessary.

Gale leaves his apartment and locks the door promptly. Gale exits the building completely, he runs around trying to find that spot. Eventually he makes it to the exact spot he found the purple stone initially, a shock is felt through his entire body, as if someone or something is near, panicked he hears footsteps not far away. Gale immediately hides himself in the nearby foliage, seeing a man, the man's face is obscured but a serious demeanor is felt as he takes out his phone and a medium deep voice is heard. "There's traces of its presence nearby, I believe there is somebody who has somehow absorbed some of the energy from the tainted stones, if so they would be a valuable asset to you my lord" Gale is taken aback by the man's words when his eye suddenly pulses creating a mass amount of pain causing Gale to move in the bushes, luckily he only creates a small rustle but it was enough to catch the attention of the man who looks over briefly but it's so dark no discernible features can be seen on his face, other than the 2 seeming horns bulging from his head that reflect a certain amount of light, the man nods. "Alright I'll look into it more my lord, I'll update you the second I hear something." Gale stops himself from moving, as he plays what he's seeing off as nothing more than some weirdos doing weirdo things, the man walks away and when Gale thinks its safe he stands up ready to run home but as he gets on the main path, he feels that same shock, one that feels like a presence so menacing it would scare a hoard of wolves away in an instant. Gale stops moving, not daring to look behind him. "So... you were the noise in the bushes? I feel its presence on you, you were the one Credell got the stone from. I'd ask your motives but you don't seem near strong enough to even know what you're getting yourself into. But as the stones already affected you it seems too late for you to run away now.." The man walks towards Gale as he slowly turns around, the man wearing a mask of ice with no facial features on it but two glowing circles for eyes and crystal like horns coming from his forehead also made of ice, the stranger has slicked back black hair and stands at about 6'1", most of his body is covered by a robe he is wearing. As the stranger walks towards Gale, the air goes from being chilly to freezing in an instant, Gale stares at the man and slowly backs up as the stranger approaches him. "For somebody the stones chose your really quite the wuss" The stranger says mockingly, as the stranger gets closer he pauses and stares at gale. "From the look on your face, you're completely clueless aren't you." The strangers' words sound arrogant and teasing. "Look I have no idea what you're on about but I don't want any part in it okay? I've learnt my lesson now, let me leave." Gale tries to ration with the stranger, but he just gets a blank stare from the mask. "It's too late now, you're a valuable asset now, I'm more than sure my lord would be kind to you if you came with me, I'd rather not make this situation bloody." The strangers' words cut deep into Gale's mind, Why was this happening, What did he do to deserve this. "You let greed get to you.. But it's not a bad thing, Humans are naturally greedy after all, but you.. You're less than human now, what's affecting you now will soon either kill you or lead you down a path of destruction, you have so much potential, you don't want to be weak forever do you?" The stranger walks closer, Gale paralyzed in fear stands there, I'm less than human?.. I'm going to die...? I'm.. Weak? Gale starts to feel light headed as the world starts spinning in front of him. "I don't know what you're talking about... Please let me go home..." Gale's voice is softer than usual. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that." The stranger walks towards Gale and puts his hand on Gale's shoulder, immediately freezing Gales skin causing a shock-wave of pain to go through Gales body forcing him to jolt back, Gale's basic instincts kick in and he throws a right hook right for the stranger hitting the side of his mask but the ice doesn't even crack. "Wow.. look at you, you tried to do something at least." The stranger backhands Gale, knocking him to the ground. Suddenly an abrupt thump is heard and a man appears in front of Gale, dividing the gap between the stranger and Gale.

Gale blacks out and wakes up in his bed he looks around to see a man sitting on a chair beside his bed, the man is sitting with his legs slightly spread and his elbows on each knee leaning over. The man noticing Gale is awake lifts his head up, Ryuma is in Gale's house. The same dead expression on Ryuma's face as he looks at Gale. "What are you doing in my house?! And how did I get here?!" The surprises Gale has had to face seemingly haven't come close to ending "I'm here because you keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong!" Ryuma raises his voice but then dims it. "It's too late now though, Your body somehow leeched some power from the stone you found, and now you've become a pawn in this game as well." Ryuma slightly lowers his chin as he says that, avoiding eye contact with Gale. "W-what do you mean, can you take the power back??" Gale stares at Ryuma with a shocked expression. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Listen, there are beings in this world more powerful than you could even comprehend, and now those beings want you. These stones contain an essence that attaches itself to people "worthy" and the arch-demons want this power, and since you have it, they need you." Ryuma explains but Gale sits there in disbelief. "A-arch-demons?" Gale mutters. "Yes, arch-demons are essentially the strongest creatures to exist on this planet, but they aren't what you should be scared of, the arch-demons have a generally large following, these followings are kept in secret but even some countries align themselves with the arch-demons. The stranger you encountered in the woods is named Julio, He is a direct servant to the Arch-demon of Wrath, what you witnessed Julio do isn't even Impressive for the arch-demons cult following." Gale stares at Ryuma in complete disbelief, Gale can't even begin to comprehend the things Ryuma is saying. "However Gale, I do believe there is a possibility to solve this issue." Gale brightens up. "What is it?" Ryuma looks at Gale with a deathly stare. "Well due to the fact the Arch-demons are incredibly intelligent, there's no faking your death, though I believe with my help and a few more stones you might be able to slowly become somebody who can threaten even the arch-demons."

[Chapter end}