Rupture: Rise of the Demon King (12 page)

12: Separated

21 Rynr, 112 AV: Day 90

“Ah, Seeko! I’ve been looking for you,” Yoshino said. He placed an arm around Seeko’s shoulder. “You’re a hard man to find.”

“Get away from me!” Seeko tried to shrug off the arm but Yoshino held firm.

“Please, is that any way to treat me? Come, now.”

Seeko placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I said get away from me.”

Yoshino backed away and put up his hands in mock surrender. “Whoa now! No need to get violent. I’m here to help.” He pointed in a seemingly random direction. “The girl went up there. I think she’s waiting for you.” He grinned. “You shouldn’t keep a girl waiting.”

Seeko walked past Yoshino, heading upward. “Wait!” Yoshino yelled.

But Seeko continued to move forward, ignoring Yoshino.

“I’ve learned something about you,” Yoshino continued. “About your past, regarding both of us.”

Seeko froze in place.

“That got your attention.” Yoshino materialized in front of Seeko with a loud snap. “I looked into the history of this world and have learned that several decades ago, two people were experimenting with portals to different dimensions. They were trying to get to another world or something. One of them was named Moses. Ring a bell?”

It didn’t, but Seeko betrayed nothing to Yoshino.

“Didn’t think so. The other person, interestingly enough, was a man named Yoshino. He must be familiar?” Yoshino grinned again. “It is strange, then, that I have no memory of this. Anyway, these two men succeeded in their respective missions, for neither exists now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I. But here is the interesting part. Apparently, this Yoshino took a boy with him through one of their portals. I won’t give you all the details, but this boy must have been very important.”

“What?” Seeko said. He gulped and asked, “Who was the boy?”

“Is it not obvious? The boy’s name was Seeko.”

Seeko’s eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. So … he was originally from Kismetia?

Yoshino, though, seemed to have other concerns. “Who from the past claims to be me?” he said. “This just keeps getting more interesting! If I find this imposter, however, I will have to kill him. I can’t have people claiming to be me! There is only one Yoshino, after all.”

Seeko tried to keep his mind from spinning. “Wait. So, someone claiming to be you took me to Earth?”

“Hmm? It appears so. Anyway, I thought you should know that.”

Seeko looked down. “It was you. You took me to Earth.”

“I’m well aware that you think it was me. But I assure you I would remember that. Regardless, I came here for another reason.”

“What?” The more Yoshino talked, the less Seeko understood. None of this made any sense.

Yoshino smiled. “It’s the same reason as last time. I came here to test you in combat.” He laughed. “You didn’t even try last time. Let’s see you do better.” Yoshino summoned a sword out of thin air, like last time.

Thoughts rolled around in Seeko’s head. Who was he? All along, he thought he was a normal boy who had been adopted on Earth. He suspected he might be Physis’s son, but to hear someone actually confirm this …
Why? Why?
Seeko couldn’t contain himself, shouting, “Why?”

And then Yoshino was on him. Seeko barely had time to react he was so fast. Seeko avoided Yoshino’s blow, drawing his blade simultaneously. He swung at Yoshino …

… who dodged it effortlessly. Yoshino raised his sword and struck Seeko’s, pushing back with the strength of a bull. Yoshino swung again and they began exchanging blows. Seeko was clearly outmatched, always on the defensive against Yoshino’s relentless assault. With a roar, Seeko ignited his blade, and a green blaze surrounded the short-sword.

Yoshino hesitated. “Magic? Excellent! Hit me with your strongest spell, then!” He moved away and threw open his arms, inviting an attack. Was it a trick? Regardless, the flame from Seeko’s sword jumped into the air, becoming an emerald snake. The fume of fire plummeted into Yoshino, bathing him in an inferno of light.

But when the light faded, Yoshino stood as if nothing had happened. He was frowning. “How disappointing. You’ll need to become much stronger if you’re going to be the Hero of Endetia.” The sword in his hand disappeared, faded back into the air from whence it came. “I hope that one day you will be powerful enough to actually fight me.”

Seeko was trembling. “I’m not done yet! You think you can just mess with me like this? I hate you!”

Yoshino placed a hand to his head. “You hate me? After everything I’ve apparently done for you? Come now, be human.” He flashed his teeth.

“You brought me here! This is your fault!” Seeko reached deeper into himself than ever before. The spark reacted to him and soon Seeko was brimming with power. He unleashed an infernal torrent of jade flame into Yoshino at an astonishing speed.

Yoshino’s eyes went wide as Seeko’s magic flew toward him. Then he
shifted
and was at Seeko’s side. The fire flew where he had just been and collided with the ground, extinguishing as it fanned out in all directions.

Seeko fell, his spark fading and his life with it. Yoshino caught him before he hit the ground. “Can’t have that now,” he said. “Maybe you are hero material, what with the ‘win at any cost’ mentality and all. Here …”

Seeko’s spark flared back up and the cuts on his shoulder and arm disappeared. Yoshino was healing him?

“Good luck on your quest, Seeko.” Yoshino stood Seeko back up and turned him toward the peak. “Oh, and when you run into Vishoni, give him my regards.” Then he was gone, teleported away.

Seeko stood for a while, reflecting on what Yoshino had said. Seeko was a Kismetian. He was Physis’s son, then, he knew. Seeko’s thoughts triggered his memory, and before he could react, he was reliving it …

Two people are talking to one another. One of them, a tall man with white hair and red eyes, gestures angrily at a necklace in his hand. The other man runs his hand through his black hair. He glances at me. The white-haired man shouts at the other. He points his palm away from him and a black oval appears opposite. The man smiles and reaches for my hand. Together, we walk into the darkness …

… and appear on the other side. Street lamps glow on a rainy street. Small apartments line the streets, windows alight. The man looks to me and changes appearance, a suit on his body. He pulls me to the closest door and rings the doorbell. It sounds off and he is gone. I am alone at the door, and it opens …

Seeko was pulled out of the memory. The Dris family had found him that day—a poor boy with no home, no memories. Yoshino took him there … and then forgot about him? Or was it really a Yoshino lookalike? But the memory … it looked so like him.

Seeko rose and looked in the direction Mori was said to have gone. He guessed he should go the way Yoshino wanted him to. He had no other choice really; he was still lost. Seeko headed in that direction with a shrug.

Eventually, the ground sloped upward, slowing Seeko down.
Finally, I’m climbing this damn mountain,
Seeko thought. Still no sign of Mori, though. The forest thinned as he climbed higher and soon the sun was once again visible in the sky. Seeko waved at the shimmering star with the passion of seeing a loved one. And then he moved on, climbing ever higher, searching for Mori.

Soon enough, he had to stop, for a cliff rose above him and his surroundings, climbing far to his left and fading on his right. He sat against the cliff wall for a while, catching his breath again, then headed to his right, in order to climb the mountain ever higher.

He reached the end of the cliff face and rounded it. Not long after, he rose above the canopy of the surrounding forest and looked over it. The sinister trees stretched far into the horizon, ending only at the shimmering Lake Mediose. Seeko looked into the sky, seeing the ring faintly between clouds. The radiant sun was beginning its descent, soon to hide behind the mountain at Seeko’s back. If he didn’t find Mori before the sun set, he’d never find her.

He climbed until darkness shrouded his path, trapping him on the mountainside. Above, the planet’s glowing ring arced from the forest into the mountain, silhouetting it in light. The ring and the stars were his only companion in the dark of night. He wanted to use his magic to find Mori, but he also didn’t want to alert any demons. But, as the darkness settled in, Seeko grew more and more worried. He needed to find her.

Seeko called upon his spark and launched a green flare high into the air, where it burst into a bright emerald explosion.
Better be ready for anything,
Seeko thought. He withdrew his bow but kept a grip on the magic. With luck, Mori would see it and investigate. Seeko moved to put a nearby outcropping at his back, scanning the area for movement as he did so. He continued his scan for upwards of five minutes before giving up.
Guess she didn’t see it. The good news is at least nothing else did—

His thoughts stopped as movement invaded his peripherals. He went on guard, ready at a moment’s notice to summon fire from his hands.

The movement of the mystery creature stopped, most likely when it detected Seeko near it. Seeko froze and squinted in the darkness to get a better view. Still no movement. Seeko crouched down, trying to hide himself in the background.
Please don’t be a demon please don’t be a demon please don’t be a demon …
He continued to scan, eyes moving like wildfire. Finally, Seeko caught motion, a slight shifting of weight. It was hunched, hiding in the grass, but Seeko smiled at his awareness. He fired a single fireball at his foe. The mound caught fire, emerald flames licking the night sky.

Then the fire went out, replaced by steam and smoke. Seeko readied himself for another assault, but paused, waiting for the figure to become clear in the smoke.

“Seeko, stop!” It was Mori. She came out of the smoke unharmed.

“How did you know it was me?”

By now, Mori was at his side. “Who else uses green fire? I saw your flare earlier.”

Seeko looked down. “Sorry for attacking you.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know for sure that it was me. I would have done the same thing if our roles were reversed.” She placed a hand in his and squeezed.

Seeko smiled, squeezed back, and then released her hand. “You won’t believe who I ran into,” Seeko said after a moment.

Mori waved him away. “Yoshino, right? I ran into him earlier. He said that the portal is at the top of this smaller peak, so at least we don’t have to climb all the way to the top.”

Seeko looked up toward the mountain. “You trust him?”

“He led you to me, didn’t he?” Mori frowned. “I don’t think he’d lie about this. And besides, it’s the only thing we have. I don’t want to have to climb this entire mountain, do you?”

“I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“Okay. This looks like a good place to camp. We’ll head out in the morning. You take first watch this time, Seeko.”

Seeko made a face, but its meaning was lost in the darkness. “Fine.”

/ / / / /

The next morning came quickly. During the night, Mori had replaced him as watchman and he fell asleep instantly. Now she was waking him and he felt as if he had gotten no sleep at all.

“Wake up. You don’t want me to pour water on your head, do you?”

Seeko was out of the blanket in an instant. “Never!”

“Calm down, fool. I wasn’t going to splash you.”

He looked to Mori, who was not amused. He cleared his throat. “We better get going, right?” As he said that, a shade covered his body. He looked up, looking for the source of the darkness, and his eyes grew wide.

A giant balloon of water hung overhead, suspended by magic. It fell to the ground as he noticed it, drenching Seeko in frigid water. “Ha-ha. Very funny, Mori.” He shivered and looked around, but couldn’t find her. “Mori?”

Seeko looked farther up the mountain and saw her red clothing. “Let’s go!” she shouted back. “What are you waiting for?”

She was so lucky that fire couldn’t be easily used for pranks. “Coming!” he shouted back, trying to scheme up a way to prank her anyway.

“Hurry up. I think I found something.”

Seeko was at her side again before long. She laughed at his wet clothes, then dried him off and returned the water to her water-skin.

“What did you find?” Seeko asked.

“Footprints. Human, fresh.” She pointed to the ground. “Someone else was here lately.”

Seeko stared at the footprints. “Does it matter?”

“If it’s someone like Yoshino, yes.”

“So we’ll just be on our guard, then?” He walked up the mountain again, leaving Mori facing down the slope.

Mori let out a whimper. “Too late, Seeko.”

“What?”

He found her facing the cause of the footprints. A man stood not five feet from Mori, strong and tall. The man cocked his head.

“Hello. My name is Vishoni.”

/ / / / /

He was a tall man with wise eyes, showing age beyond his young years. His face was more pointed than most, and his long black hair was done in a ponytail. He wore strange garb that revealed more than Seeko would have liked: he only wore pauldrons and a chain connecting them, and nothing more than a long loincloth covered his lower half. In addition, the top of his ears were pointed.