Manifest War: The Weapons Within

The late night hours came in the southern edge of Olun territory, signaling those in that region to turn in for the evening and get much needed rest. However, there was an entity that was very much awake and quickly making its way through the empty skies.

A great wyvern, with a massive wingspan was covering a tremendous distance with record speed. This beast was all black with various golden colored features covering its horns, claws, and scales. Its size was extraordinary, easily dwarfing a viscounts manor when fully extended and strands of electricity skated in the sky after each wingbeat.

However, despite its size, the wyvern’s flight was incredibly quiet. Not a single soul below could hear this monstrosity gliding up above, its shadow draping along in pure silence. It flew for a bit longer until it curiously found itself above the Boundless ruins, making its descent just outside of the once sprawling city.

The wyvern landed, shaking the ground as its heavy body connected with the solid dirt. Moments later, the wyvern curiously lowered its head as three individuals stepped down to the ground below. The first was a middle aged man with spiky reddish hair, wearing a sleeveless shirt to show off his muscles. He had green eyes and a scar across his cheek, showing that he was no stranger to combat.

The second to jump off was a short girl with long pink pigtails. She seemed to be about twenty years old, but her short stature could easily have her mistaken for a kid. She also had two different colored eyes, one gray and the other a light purple.

The final individual to step down was a woman, roughly age forty. She had shoulder length, jet black hair that was fairly messy. Her bangs were long and her eyes were a bright golden color, matching that of the gold on the wyvern. She was fairly tall and her presence was significantly more powerful than the other two. The woman gently rubbed the wyverns jaw, telling it to rest there for a while. She started to walk towards the ruins and the other two followed her closely.

“Soooo, why are we here again, Arkesia?” The man asked, looking around the dilapidated landscape, wondering what the heck happened to this place.

“I already told you, Kayron. I want to retrieve something for my collection..” Arkesia sharply replied, not wanting to discuss her reasonings for their trip. Her voice was fairly soft and quiet, but each word exuded great authority. The girl noticed a pile of bones and felt shivers go down her spine.

“Ewwww, you didn’t say anything about there being dead bodies though. You know I hate that kind of stuff.” She said, feeling disgusted by the clear amount of death that occurred in this place.

“Shut up, Roxy! You know Arkesia hates idle chatter..” Kayron said as he noticed Arkesia’s patience wearing thin. Roxy quieted down with a soft groan and after walking through the completely destroyed streets, they found themselves in front of a massive pile of rocks and fallen buildings. It was the original location of the Boundless Palace before it fell after Azhane Belouis’s genocide.

Arkesia looked back at her companions and motioned for them to touch her shoulders. They nodded and quickly grabbed on, holding tightly. Arkesia began to lift off of the ground, flying upwards and over towards the center of the rubble. They landed after a brief flight and Arkesia looked around, as though trying to find something. She sniffed the air before pointing her finger at a specific area of the ruins.

Roxy stepped up as she aimed her palm at the rubble, lifting them up effortlessly with her telekinetic abilities. She moved them off to the side and then used her other palm to shrink them down, revealing that she was a dual type Vesta.

Roxy cleared out the area and the group went down into the now open hole, finding a dead and decayed body in the process. Roxy freaked out and vomited at the sight of the body, completely grossed out by what she saw.

“Kayron, this is what I came for. Revive it..” Arkesia softly requested, staring deeply at the corpse. Kayron was confused by her demand, but ultimately didn’t question it. He sighed and aimed his palm at the body, exerting his Core Energy outwards. A glove appeared on his hand and glowed a bright red color, showing runic symbols racing across the back side of it. The sound of a clock ticking started decorating the airwaves, speeding up with each passing second.

Moments later, the dead body began to shift and warp, growing flesh and skin again. It looked as though he were reversing time for the corpse, restoring it back to a prior moment in time.

The body grew long red hair, two horns protruded through its bangs, and the color came back to its pale skin. However, the most interesting thing about the body was that its stomach grew incredibly large, revealing that it was pregnant.

Once his ability finished and his Manifest stopped glowing, a fully grown woman was lying on the ground in perfect condition. It was Homura. She slowly opened her eyes and immediately sat up, gripping her belly as she looked around with a fearful expression. Her confusion was more than justified as the last thing she remembered was getting stabbed by a foreign object and falling down a long flight of steps while her city fell into ruin.

Homura looked forward and saw the three individuals standing before her, scared that they were the ones responsible for this madness.

“FILTHY HUMANS!!” She yelled out in a frenzy, now starting to build up her Core Energy. Suddenly a massive strike of black lighting came down from the sky, taking aim at Arkesia.

It connected, making a loud zapping sound while kicking up dust everywhere. Homura panted heavily, already growing tired from using a single attack. The dust cleared and Arkesia stood there without a single scratch on her, looking perplexed as to why this woman attacked her just now. The electricity danced around her body, as though she had just absorbed it internally.

“Human? Do I look human to you?” Arkesia asked, stepping closer to Homura. Homura stared Arkesia in the eyes and noticed her golden eyes shift from pupils to slits, matching that of a wyvern.

“W-What.. What do you want?” Homura muttered, not understanding anything that was going on. Arkesia got even closer and crouched down, now sitting at the same level as Homura.

“You are the one I want.. And the one growing inside you right now.. You see, I’m a bit of a collector of rare things and I think the last surviving pure blood Boundless qualifies as such. I want the most unique individuals within my ranks and I’ll do whatever it takes to have them. So what do you say, would you like to join me?” Arkesia said with a not so warm tone, holding out her hand to Homura.

Even though Arkesia was offering something quite interesting, her face showed very little emotion. The lack of expression made Homura question the authenticity of this strange woman, causing her to slide back slightly with great hesitation.

“But.. Why revive me specifically?” Homura questioned, not fully understanding the situation.

“Because, I think it’s a shame that your race was done away with so callously. I would like to be the one to preserve it.” Arkesia replied, still not showing any kind of facial emotions. Homura, still looking incredibly bewildered, glared at Arkesia’s extended hand with caution.

“You might as well take us up on that offer. We spent all this time bringing you back to life and I can’t imagine anyone else in this world would look fondly upon you being alive… You know, with you being a Boundless and all..” Kayron said, crossing his arms and giving her a smile.

“Yeah! Plus, Arkesia is super nice! She gave us a home when no one else would accept us. Come on, join us!” Roxy added with a playful grin.

She looked back to Arkesia, who was still holding out her hand, and after a brief thought, she slowly took it. The moment their hands connected, Homura felt a massive jolt of Core Energy race through her body, sensing the absolutely unfathomable amount of power this woman held. Homura was on the verge of vomiting as her Boundless senses were raging, completely overloading her.

“Just who is this woman?!? She makes the Boundless Queen look like a child in comparison.” She wondered, having never felt anyone with that much Core Energy coursing throughout their body.

Arkesia helped her stand and then she made a sharp whistle sound, as though calling something. Seconds later, that massive wyvern from before glided over to their location and landed. Homura stumbled backwards with a fearful expression, terrified by the electrified beast standing before them.

“It’s okay, this is my Manifest, Cicero. He will bring you no harm.” Arkesia remarked, reassuring her new companion that there was no danger. Cicero glared at Homura and to her surprise, he began to speak.

“Hello miss, it is a pleasure to meet you.” His voice was deep and guttural, shaking the ground with each grumble. Homura had no words as Kayron helped lift her up onto the wyverns' back. Once everyone was on, Cicero flew upwards with a single powerful wingbeat. Within a few seconds, they burst through the clouds above and the group headed off towards the mountains of Melspire with blinding speed, disappearing silently into the night sky.