Oracle shifted into existence in a dark alley. He looked around to take in the style of architecture making up the buildings surrounding him, to discern his location.
“Huh, Walddrache, what a place for my liege to be in.” he muttered to himself. He walked out of the alleyway to behold the sight of the home of the forest dragon. The small town was located around the southern border of Germany. The air was clean as fresh as could be all because of the new forest that mysteriously appeared there, making Germany a much bigger state in the EU. The people called this magical phenomenon, the Forest Dragon’s Blessing. Although no such dragon has this kind of power in their own mythology, some say it’s the work of gods amongst mortals. They wouldn’t be too far off the mark for both suspicions.
Oracle shook out the thoughts of the German town he was in. His current objective was to find Lord Tashiro. When he thought about it, he wasn’t the one to find his lord. Tashiro was always the one to find him. He looked around the street he was on and noticed a cafe across from him.
“I guess having some tea wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe some Blue Mallow Flower, if they have it. But first.” Oracle took a look at his current attire. Messy and stained from his visit at the Union’s headquarters. Guess it’s time for him to change. He sighed and continued walking towards the café. As he was walking, his clothes changed in mere moments without anyone noticing, all thanks to Tashiro’s blessing.
“Guten Tag!” (Good day!) said Oracle in a gracious tone. He was quickly treated with kindness in return.
“Guten Tag! Mochten Sie schon etwas zu trinken bestellen?” (Good Day! Would you like any drinks to start with?) responded the hostess.
“Ja, bitte.” (Yes, please.)
“Ich mochte bitte schon etwas zu trinken bestellen.” (I would like a drink to start with.)
“Was mochten Sie trinken?” (What would you like to drink?)
“Tee, bitte. Und das wirdn alles sein, danke.” (Tea, please. And that will be all, thank you.)
After the two exchanged words, Oracle surveyed the main room of the café. The chairs and tables were organized neatly across the room. The air was filled the scent of brewed tea and coffee. Oracle was quite pleased with the place by only his first visit. Maybe this town could be spared from Tashiro’s rampage.
“Hier ist Ihr Tee, Herr. Vielen Dank fur Ihren Besuch im Adler Café!” (Here is your tea, sir. Thank you for visiting Adler Café!) spoke the hostess as she set the customer’s tea down on the table.
“Danke.” (Thank you.) said Oracle as he took a sip of tea. He glanced out the window, looking around at the small German town and lo and behold, he spots the man he was looking for, his wonderful dear lord Tashiro along with a man and a young child.
Oracle swiftly paid his tab and strutted out of the café but not before complimenting the staff on the wonderful service and café they run. He followed the three, wondering what his liege was up to. Who was this man that walked along side Tashiro? The more he thought, the colder his eyes became.
“So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about, sir?” asked the man.
“Have you ever wanted to be super human?” asked Tashiro.
“I’m sorry?”
“Have you ever dreamed of being like those super heroes you read when you were a child?”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“My bad, I guess I should rephrase my question. Would you and your family like to gain supernatural abilities? And to help establish a new order upon his world?”
The man brought his daughter close to him as pressure was built around the three. The man’s instincts told him to escape but his body would not respond as if it was paralyzed. Moments go by as the immense pressure dissipates, relieving the two pedestrians from their frozen state.
“Hm, that’s too bad. You seem like a good guy I could trust.” Tashiro closed his eyes and sighed in disappointment.
A shadow quickly consumed the three along with Oracle. Next thing, the scientist knew was that he was in a forest along with Tashiro and a family of four, one of them being part of the staff he was at the café just a minutes ago and another teenage girl, possibly the same age if not older than the one the man was holding.
“Now, Mr. Adler, I will ask again, will you and your family not join me in establishing the new world order? And for your information, this isn’t a request, it is an order.” Tashiro spoke.
“W-w-what kind of devil are you?” Mr. Adler stuttered.
“The kind that God allowed to bless with the opportunity of living.” Tashiro responded.
He approached the family and touched both Mr. Adler and the young girl he held. A dark purple aura surrounded them as the two screamed in agony. One of the little girls tried to drag the other away but the aura burned her hands. The woman grabbed and held the wounded girl close to her as she looked in horror at the two who were screaming in pain. Mr. Adler grabbed Tashiro’s arm, holding on to it for dear life trying to push it off.
“I am Norman Adler, Major of the German military! And I will not allow you to hurt my family!” Norman quickly rose to his feet and sent a straight to Tashiro’s face, stopping whatever he was doing to him and his young daughter. However, things didn’t go the way Norman would want them to. The punch he sent surely would have pushed the man back a couple feet but no. His face halted the punch.
“It would be such a waste to kill a family with so much potential. Unfortunately, I’ll have to make adjustments.” Tashiro grabbed Norman’s face and held him up in the air and a purple void covered the man whole. He dropped Norman, leaving him as he approached the young adult girl.
“No! Don’t hurt my dau-” The woman’s yelling was quickly cut off as she and the girl she was holding was quickly taken away.
The sudden even surprised Oracle as he immediately went after them, leaving Tashiro behind with his victims.
. . .
“Damn. I didn’t grab the other one.” grumbled a young man.
“No! We have to go back! My daughter is back there!” pleaded the mother.
“I’m sorry but that is not an option. At least not with this guy following me.” He looked behind him to see no one following him but he continued to run as quickly as he could.
“Damn, I have to get out of here, stat. WILDCARD!” the man yelled as a shadow surrounded and swallowed the pursued individuals.
Oracle was astonished by what he just witnessed. Someone used an ability that his lord used minutes ago. An evil smirk grew on his face.
“Wildcard, huh? That’s your ability’s name. Quite intriguing. I have to wonder how he found us so quickly.” Oracle wondered as he attempted to retreat back to his lord only to be stopped by him.
“You let him escape?” spoke Tashiro.
“I apologize for my failure, my lord. But I would not be able to track him down as he used an ability you have used.” Oracle bowed in response.
“An ability I used?”
“Yes, I believe you called it Shadow Step if I am not mistaken.”
Tashiro looked up to where the intruder disappeared and gave a light smirk.
“So, he’s finally making his move. Good for him. Let’s be off.”
“Sir?”
“I got what I came for. Let’s be off to Novis.”
“Novis? The Strange Continent? Why there?”
“You’ll see. Just come with me and let’s get these two recruits ready for tomorrow.”
Oracle looked ahead of Tashiro to see Norman and the young teenage girl that was with him. The presence they gave off was completely different to what they were before. Like they were a different person entirely.
“What did you do to them, my lord?” asked Oracle.
“I converted them.” Tashiro answered.
Back in Greece
The man’s adrenaline reached an all-time high. He never felt so much fear to escape from someone like that. The man who was chasing him had a menacing aura, similar to a mass murderer. Thankfully, he managed to escape using the ability that the monster in human skin used to warp from one location to another. When the darkness around him opened up, he found himself in a large, white confined room. He set down the two he was carrying and collapsed to his knees, trying to catch his breath and reclaim his wits of what just happened.
“I need to go back…” whined the woman.
“I need to go back! My daughter and husband are still there with that monster!”
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do that!” he yelled.
“Why not!? Use whatever you used to bring us here to go back to them!” the woman lunged at him, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and shook him back and forth.
“I need to save my daughter from that man… I need to know if they’re all right.” she pleaded.
“Mom, calm down!” yelled the young girl, slapping her mother in the face. She turned while hugging her crying mother and pointed at him.
“Who are you? What is going on!?” she demanded.
“Let’s settle down for a bit before I tell you anything. My name is Ezekiel. Ezekiel Erden. And yours?”
“…Alice. Alice Adler. This is my mother, Akemi. Now, answer my question!” She demanded again.
Alice seemed like a strong young woman. Although she wasn’t good at hiding the pain she felt. Her hands felt like they were burning. All because she tried to save her sister. She noticed a weird sensation that came from them. Her attention went down to her hands and saw nothing that looked like human hands, but the hands of a robot. Metal plating, wires and screws went up to her forearms.
“What the hell is this?” she muttered.
“Looks like you’re like me now…” said Ezekiel.
“What?”
“I’m guessing when you tried to save your sister, a Natura was cast on you.”
“Natura? What are you talking about?”
“Natura. It’s what the Union of Vega calls these unusual powers that me and those other two guys use. Looks like you picked one up too. Those two that I saved you from plan on taking over the world. Their main objective right now however, is to kill off half of humanity in a single swoop.”
Alice tried to process the information that Ezekiel told her. It all sounded like some sort of sick joke. But from what she witnessed back in the forest, there was no way he could be lying. Those two were planning on killing off half of humanity? How could someone be able to do that? She couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“Oh, so you arrived back. I told you to come back in the office.” spoke a man.
“Sorry, Ray. I used an ability I had no idea how to use. Luckily it got me here so it’s not too bad.”
“So, who’re the damsels here?”
“This is Akemi and Alice Alder. They were apparently targeted by the man who attacked HQ and what I could guess was their leader. Alice here seems to be another individual like me.”
“Um, excuse me. Where are we exactly?” Alice inquired.
“Union of Vega Headquarters. My name is Ray, Ray King. We are a secret government group that subdues supernatural threats and quell terroristic groups. You’ve heard about how the world has grown in size for some reason, right?”
“Well, yeah, but I thought that was some myth.”
“Unfortunately, it’s true. The continents we live on haven’t really grown much in size except for a few countries such as Germany, Japan, Korea, India, and Cuba. There have even been some new continents that have sprouted because of this development. Strangely enough, the gravity hasn’t changed much. The moon has stayed the same size.
We believe this phenomenon to be the work of the man who attacked your family. We even have a name for the powers and the unnatural events that have been transpiring for the past 3 years. We’re calling these people, Lusus Naturae. Latin for freaks of nature.”
Alice took some more time to process the information she was given. Her mother was silent through the whole ordeal. Both of them were victims of something that is not easy to understand.
“Could you… give us some time alone?” Alice requested.
Ezekiel rose to his feet and stumbled out of the room and met with Ray outside, giving the two woman their time for privacy.
“You think they’ll be okay?” Ezekiel asked.
“Considering what that red-haired bastard did to me? I can only hope. It is up to them with that they do from now on.” Ray sighed as he leaned against the wall, his injuries still very recent from Oracle’s visit.
“What was the leader like?” Ray curiously asked.
“From what you told me about the other guy, I would say at least that the guy you met is like comparing a domesticated kitten to feral tiger. He was like monster in human skin.” Ezekiel answered.
“Damn. His power?”
“He didn’t have only one. He had multiple. Who knows what else he has at his disposal?
“Mother of god.”
“I don’t think any god would allow such a being to exist.”
“Excuse me?” interrupted Alice.
“What do you need, ma’am?” asked Ray.
“I talked to my mother about this, although she did not agree to it, I would like to join you guys to take those people down.” Alice offered her services.
“Are… are you sure about that?” Ezekiel questioned.
“Yes, I want to save my dad and sister from him. I don’t want them to suffer. Hopefully, with what you told me, I can master this power that I was given, and help save the world.”
“I’ll allow it.” spoke an older gentleman.
Ray immediately stood up straight up and saluted.
“Emperor Kabuto, Sir!”
“Settle down. I’m afraid the politic side of this world will not last. With what will happen in at least 20 hours from now. The old world will collapse. We will need all the help we can get to maintain survival of the next one.” spoke the Emperor
“Yeah, we’ll need it.” Ezekiel said.
