An Incomplete History

Chapter 5 - With the flow.

Gale sits shocked staring at Ryuma, his words hitting harder than any hit Gale's received before. "Listen Gale, you have 2 choices here, you let Julio kill you to relinquish the power the stones hold over you, or you find a way to suppress the energy for the time being, I truly believe you are strong Gale but with how you are now, you aren't a match for any single person in the army of the arch-demons." Gale, still unable to process what's being said has his attention turned to the door that just opened, Aquila and Tomasi walk in holding a small gift bag but after seeing Ryuma in Gale's apartment his eyes widen and he drops the bag causing the small key-chain to shatter. "What's he doing here?!" Tomasi raises his voice in shock. Aquila notices how Gale's eye is almost completely purple with glowing veins pulsing. "Gale..." Aquila says softly, his face filled with concern. "Listen guys, he's not against me, he saved me." Aquila gives another concerned look at Tomasi and back to Gale then to Ryuma then back to Gale. "This isn't adding up. What do you mean he saved you?" Aquila looks almost panicked. "Your friend here, got into some trouble. I had to pull him out of it, it's nothing more than that." Ryuma's expression remains calm. "Don't hide the truth from them Ryuma, I trust them." Gale's expression softens, his demeanor is somber. "Fine. Since I'm assuming Gale has told you two about the stone he found. Those stones have been used for millennia by arch-demons for a boost in strength, as the role of the arch-demons only goes to the strongest, it's very important to gain as much power as possible, whether it's in numbers, sheer force, cheap tricks or intimidation alone. The stones select certain vessels, the stones aren't sentient though, they act more like viruses, they attack all cells in the body, unless the body can adapt in-time the vessel dies. For the majority of cases, the vessel dies if they are just human, but Gale's body is fighting back, this is something that hasn't been done in thousands of years. Which is why I think Gale may be the key to purging the arch-demons." The room stays silent, but the silence is interrupted by Visci meowing and rubbing the side of her face on Tomasi's leg. "So.. will Gale be okay?" Tomasi asks, trying to remain calm. "I don't know whether it's the stones that kill him, or the arch-demons; the future is still unwritten." Ryuma doesn't make eye contact with anybody. "So.. what will Gale need to do to fight these arch-demons?" Tomasi asks, his expression going from concern to completely serious. Aquila and Gale are both taken aback by the sudden shift in Tomasi's personality.

"I'm thinking right now, I'll teach him what I can, then after that it's up to him to hone his own abilities"

The entire conversation becomes a blur to Gale, all he can feel is the pain from his eye, all he can think is "Why me." "What did I do to deserve this?" Nothing but despair is felt in Gale's head, but a sudden rush of anger envelopes him. "If I help, will my life go back to normal." Gale's voice is monotone. Everybody in the room is surprised by Gale's sudden interruption. "If you can control the flow of energy in your body, and take out the monsters after you.. Your life will go back to normal, yes." Ryuma looks Gale dead in the eye. "But it won't be easy, from what I've gathered, there's an arch-demon in the area already so our time is limited." Ryuma's face is still deadpan. "Is this the one Julio works for?" Gale asks. "No, In Fact the one here is probably the weakest in terms of numbers for an arch-demon, though it would kill us with little to no issue." Ryuma looks back at Aquila and Tomasi, still trying to process all of this. "Is there a way we can help?" Aquila asks. "There's a possibility, but unlike Gale, you two don't have any significant way of helping, with training you two could serve a purpose but it's unlikely for the time being." As Ryuma explains, the world seems to stop for a moment as Gale realizes there isn't any running away from what he has to do now. "I'll do it." Everybody in the room's attention immediately fixates on Gale who's still sitting on his bed. "If the arch-demons are the ones causing my life to be like this, if they are how you say they really are. Then I will kill them." Gale stares at the floor.

"A bit of a high goal given your current state, but if anybody can help, it's you." Ryuma smiles faintly. "So how do we help?" Tomasi is still in his odd state. "There is already an arch-demon near us, I'd say with luck we have 2 weeks before things start to go downhill. Do either of you two have some sort of combat experience that would be useful?" Ryuma and Gale look at Tomasi and Aquila before Tomasi grins. "Well Aquila here has been taking martial arts classes.."

Tomasi says smugly, nudging Aquila. Aquila and Gale seem relieved that Tomasi has gone back to normal. "I mean yeah, I may not be the best but I can still fight," Aquila says, still awkward due to the abrupt situation they've found themselves in. "Alright, what about you Tomasi?" Ryuma asks. "Well if I remember correctly I was pretty good at archery when I was younger! I still have a bow too but it's been a while..." Tomasi makes a playful frown. "Well we take what we can get, there aren't many people who can reject arch-demons but I'm sure with the fact Gale can adapt to the energy from the stones, he will become a valuable weapon against them." Ryuma says his face is not showing any emotion. The room goes silent, Visci lays in the corner licking her paws. "Sooo, what's the plan?" Tomasi says with a snarky grin. "Give me your phone numbers, I'll text you an address, we will meet there in exactly a day." Tomasi and Aquila pass their phones to Ryuma and he types in a number then passes them back. "So... does that mean we're gonna be fighting arch-demons?" Aquila says with traces of anxiety in his voice. "Don't worry, I'll keep you guys safe, you can still back out now, however if you do show up tomorrow i'm afraid turning around might not be that possible." Ryuma stares at the ground. "What do you mean?" Aquila asks. "I mean that if you show up tomorrow, you will need to be fully devoted to the mission we are trying to accomplish. This is a big decision, I'll see you guys there, Gale. I want you to follow me." Ryuma stands up and walks past Tomasi and Aquila like they aren't even there. Gale stands up with a bit of a struggle, his body still weak from the stone and the encounter the night before. Tomasi immediately rushes to his side to help him stand up, Gale uses Tomasi's shoulder to push himself up, They exchange a worried smile and Gale follows Ryuma out the door. "You guys can stay here if you'd like, so you don't gotta walk back home immediately" Gale says while leaving, giving another worried smile to both Aquila and Tomasi before walking out.

"Where are we going?" Gale asks Ryuma as they walk out of the building. "It's hard to explain exactly, you'll see soon enough." Ryuma stares straight forward, Gale looks at him while trying to maintain a calm demeanor, Ryuma leads Gale down to the path they saw Julio the night before but they don't stop and keep walking down the path, taking a hard right and a few twist and turns before reaching a small hatch under some leaves that Ryuma digs up. Ryuma opens the hatch and signals a gale to get in, a long ladder goes deep down as Gale knocks a small rock in that went so far down the noise couldn't even be heard. Gale starts to climb down, it takes about 20 minutes of nonstop climbing to reach the bottom, Gale looks at the stainless steel ground before walking the path in front of him to see two figures waiting in the dark seemingly waiting for Gale's arrival. A Teasing female voice is heard.

"So this is the boy you were telling me about."

[Chapter end]