Tearha: Deck of Clover

Chapter Thirty-Four: King, Part One

It was chaos. Kingston saw the winds around him fade from vision. Butterfly flaps of futures winked in and out of existence as lives were snuffed out one by one by the unspawns. His class had just formed a perimeter around the two courts. They were holding back the attacking unspawn horde when Consort Rubi scrambled towards them, a scarlet rapier in her right hand and a jade coloured buckler in her left.

One of the translucent creatures turned its attention to the coming head of state. Before Kingston could warn her of the oncoming danger, he heard the voice in his head telling him things would be fine. It was the instinct that came with being what he was.

Rubi halted after seeing the attacking monster. With a twirl on her feet, she sidestepped a whip-like tail that slammed down where she stood just seconds before that cracked the land beneath it. Coming out of her spin and using the momentum, she thrust her blade into the appendage of the unspawn.

The creature scrambled and pulled its tail back, but a single ember of flame had already been embedded in its translucent body. The flicker of fire spread, growing like a tree taking roots in the earth. The beast squirmed, desperately doing its utmost to scratch the fire away but to no avail. Within seconds, it was completely engulfed in flames, finally fading away as the minute closed.

The consort continued her rush over to the class, asking aloud, " Does anyone have any enhancing knowledge?"

Lua raised her hand. "I know some theory."

"That's all I need. Come with me and help me connect this machine to the crystals." She gestured to the hard-light hologram crystals which still glowed with expectant power. From her pocket, Rubi took out a tiny, matte black box and a bundle of cryst wires.

Kingston saw a green wind leading from him to the box. A good omen to heed. He made a gesture to Pempe to close his ranks before leaving his position to help. The green wind connected to Shichi and he tapped his friend by the shoulder for attention to follow.

The two boys approached the two ladies and Kingston asked, "Is something wrong?"

Lua held up the black box. "The Consort wants to wire this..." She looked to Ruby for guidance.

"Radio," the lady replied.

"...radio to the crystal for a boosted charge. I've got the wires attached correctly, I think. But it's not receiving the power it needs."

Kingston leaned over. The back of the box had been opened and within the contraption was a otherworldly mess of green, silver, and gold boards and soldering that reminded him of the outlining of magic circuits and the crystal enhancing process. But amongst all of the foreign matter was a familiar gleam.

"That," Kingston pointed. "Looks like a cryst resistor. My dad taught me about them. It's probably dampening the power to prevent an overload."

"What does that mean?" Shichi ask.

"It means that there is probably the limit to the machine. Even if we get enough energy in, it might destroy the thing," Kingston explained. "I'll have to remove the resistor to even try."

Ruby replied, "That's fine. We just need to get the word out and aid will come. Right now, something's dampening our ability to communicate. Messengers I've sent out are turned around by the forest, as if space itself is confused."

"I..." Lua began. "I don't understand."

"There's no need to at this time. We just need this machine to work." Ruby looked to Kingston. "How do we do that?"

Kingston reached over their hands and grabbed the radio. He took some of Ruby's spare cryst wires and instructed Lua, "Disconnect the crystal. Reconnect them when I tell you to."