Episode 26: The Wandering Star

It is a bit disconcerting to suddenly know how to use something that you have no idea how it works. It is like suddenly finding yourself a consummate rider without having the slightest clue what a horse was or whether or not it was going to eat you. There were some strange similarities to Mecha piloting actually. Should I ever find myself in one of those again I think I might do much better than I used to.

The... 'flight' I guess is the term... took longer than I would have supposed. Once we left the planet things became interesting: we lost all gravity and everything that was not strapped down started floating about. After several hours we finally reached our destination. It was... immense. It made the Rodan seem a pigeon. We found a docking-hole that was open and I maneuvered the Sennin inside. Unfortunately said hole was open to space and our ancestors had passed down that space was much like the deepest part of the ocean: no air to breathe, deadly cold, and deadly pressure. Thankfully Moses had somehow become equipped to deal with these things and Rei used an old deep sea suit to accompany him into the ship to find a way to close the massive outer doors. It turned out that brute force was the answer as Moses simply pulled them shut. The problem was that there was still no air within the dock so they flailed and cartwheeled around a bit until they finally broke open an inner door letting in air... and Eyeless. Rei teleported them back into the ship (And she had better be telling the truth about that being one of her katas. If I find out she has been using a disLocator and potentially endangering us all...) and I unleashed Sennin's guns upon the Enemy. Easy enough.

That was when the tricky part began. I knew from the vision I had when I touched the Flame that we were looking for a room on level Z. We started in and found ourselves confronting hordes of Eyeless. Most of them were dressed in archaic Allskin clothing. A good many of them even bore the mon of the Silver Phoenix Clan. Some were even more disturbing however: some wore the armor of Hei Shi. How had they gotten here? No, obviously they teleported. The real question was how Katashi Blade found out about this place and what he was sending them here for.

We reached a lift eventually and as Moses started to open the doors he was attacked by giant tentacles of light that reached through the doors themselves, passing through without damaging them. I was not about to let an Enemy attack us with impunity so I cut an opening in the door and we hurtled into the shaft to do battle with... Garandou Oni? Apparently it had not died back in Geneva Prime after all. The fighting was fierce but we had all gained in skill since our last encounter with the demon and things were a lot more one-sided this time around. I decided to summon Tsukuyomi and send him against the Oni figuring that it did not much matter to me which of them killed the other. Despite looking rather impressive as he descended upon Garandou Oni in the form of a roiling maelstrom, he did not manage to do much until after the battle when he returned to me and brought with him a portion of the fallen demon's manna. I felt invigorated, but also, considering the source, nauseated. At least now we could be pretty sure it was dead for good after being eaten by a Kyo Tee Shee.

After licking our wounds we continued along, still wading through an army of Eyeless. After a couple false starts we finally found the correct room, the one that was named to me in my vision. Even if it had not been I would have known it was correct; from the symbol on the door it was a Temple to the First Minds. Not wanting to desecrate the temple doors we tried to find a simple way in. Una summoned Susanoo and he used his mastery of electricity to power the long-defunct keypad which Rei then used her knowledge of electronics to bypass and open the door.

Inside there was a temple where I lit incense and made proper observances. This was also supposed to be a repository of knowledge however so I paid attention to the one thing that seemed out of place: six bells placed equidistantly about the room. Each bell had a First Mind rune for a familiar concept: Freedom, Justice, Peace, Forgiveness, Temperance, Hope. Elder Moon had applied each of these concepts to one of us so I decided to try something similar to what we did at Ben Hamor. We each stood at the appropriate bell and rang them at the same time. Nothing happened. Unfortunately the noise seemed to disturb something as we heard hideous noises outside right after. Rei closed the doors to give us more time and I thought. Each of us was associated with a concept, each with a Kyo Tee Shee, each with a color. I remembered the Hierarchy of Colors and we rang our bells in order of Highest to Lowest Color.

That seemed to do the trick. With a grinding noise the altar moved aside revealing a passage to another room. Meanwhile something huge was pounding on the outer door which was starting to buckle. We quickly ducked into the new room and while someone hit the bells in the reverse order which caused the hidden door to close behind us.

Within we found a strange room. There was a screen on the wall and a keypad like a computer but the keys were all First Mind runes. There were also six small recesses, three in each wall, that seemed to open into darkness. Once again utilizing Susanoo as a battery, much to his annoyance (which made it even more satisfying of course) we managed to get the ancient computer working and from it we learned a horrible tale.

The ancient Cheldrun Empire had been based on the properties of white rock. They used its abilities to draw on seemingly unlimited energy and to transport both energy and matter to create a civilization that spanned across the stars. The Cheldrun who recorded the information was obviously crazed however; he was under the impression that the energy white rock summoned was taken directly from the First Minds themselves and that the Enemy was none other than They come to punish us! I had always thought of the First Minds as more of a metaphor for Cheldrun potential but... perhaps they were physical beings akin to the Dusk Sages. And perhaps the Oni were another version of Kyo Tee Shee created when we siphoned manna from the First Minds... (It had not escaped me that the naming conventions for the Dusk Sages and the Oni were so similar.)

Enough speculation. We discovered a few important facts. White rock does indeed attract the Enemy, as does any strong concentration of manna, including ourselves, but only when it is activated. Goshi's recent experiments with the substance must be what drew their attention. More though, the Enemy can use white rock to come here from... wherever they come from and perhaps to go back again. It is a conduit for them. Also, the great flight almost succeeded until the Biomade rebelled and activated the engine of the Wandering Star; an engine made around a gigantic core of white rock. Because of that act the Enemy have been aware of our presence here this entire time.

We did not have time to sit and digest this information as whatever had broken into the Temple was now battering down the secret door. I told the computer to make its information portable and each of the recesses extruded a metallic arm holding a disk. I quickly gathered the disks and tucked them safely in my belt pouch. Just in time too; the wall collapsed to reveal several Eyeless and Asamu Oni. We quickly became embattled but moments later the back wall collapsed to reveal a towering metallic form with giant drills instead of hands. I tried not to make any comparisons to Moses as it boomed "I am Suraisu Oni, the One Who Tears!"

Things got extremely hectic at this point. Moses was enveloped by Asamu Oni and Rei was desperately trying to pull him out. High Dive attacked Suraisu Oni full bore and only managed to scratch its metallic hide. Mokuzai flattened the Eyeless with a clap of thunder and Una blasted Suraisu Oni through dozens of walls with a gigantic kata; something that did not seem to faze it much. Remembering my thoughts during the previous fight that maybe having the Kyo Tee Shee eat them was the only way to finish them off I summoned Tsukuyomi once again and prepared to attack.

All the way from where she had blasted it, more than a hundred meters away, Suraisu Oni somehow launched one of its drill hands at Una, its arms stretching impossibly long to gore her chest. She fell back with a cry, slumping to the floor and clutching her bleeding chest. It then charged back into the room we were in and started spinning like a child's top, its arms stretching out and cutting Highdive, Mokuzai, and myself. All this time I had been studying the demon, watching its movements, and now I was certain precisely where to strike. I did so and felt Keibatsu's keen edge and hunger for the flesh of the Enemy cut deeply. I felt the blade giving me energy to keep fighting its hated foe...

This got Suraisu Oni's attention. It bellowed in rage and pain and turned toward me, staring burning malevolence. "I will deal with you next" it intoned. I had seen what a direct hit from those drills could do to a body; I knew this could be trouble. It started to point its weapons at me and I prepared a desperate defense. At this point it was strangely quiet for a battlefield. Mokuzai had stopped singing when he was hurt and now I thought I heard him mutter something about "fool boy" and "fool promise" and most emphatically "fool old man". Then he did something, a kata I guess, that drew the demon's attention squarely away from me. Based on the rainbow light that burst from it and flowed to him I would say he was stealing its manna, something that seemed to piss it off to no end and it started for him instead.

I quickly moved to cut it off, to keep it from hurting the old Prill who still held it at bay, but just then Moses came hurtling out of the ruined Temple, Asamu-Oni no more than a quivering puddle at this point, and started grappling his demonic counterpart. I looked for an opening to strike but they moved too much! Moses thought he was keeping it away from us, but he had not seen how far its arms could stretch. Indeed, even as it grappled with Moses I saw its gaze remain on Mokuzai. "Steal my manna will you?" it bellowed. And then it struck.

In the last instant things seemed to slow down. Mokuzai gave me a look that seemed exasperated. It seemed to say "Go on boy, get on with it!" Then his expression softened, became one of... peace. And then the drills tore into his fragile old body, shredding it like so much wet paper, tossing blood and viscera in every direction to float eerily about like macabre snowflakes.

I do not know who was louder in the next moment: Suraisu Oni's howl of triumph, Moses' cry of effort and concern for his friend, or my scream of pure rage and hatred. I leaped forward and Moses saw me coming. He wrenched himself into a position that pinned the demon and gave me a clear shot, though I would have to go through him to do so, and gave me a look that somehow mimicked the one Mokuzai had given me moments before. This time I did not hesitate: I drove Keibatsu through Moses' shoulder and deep into Suraisu Oni's face, through its head, into the deck. I felt Keibatsu feeding on its twisted life along with the Kyo Tee Shee and saw its form break apart and fade away. Once it was gone I retracted the blade and floated away from Moses' bleeding form.

And just that suddenly it is over. I take stock of the situation. Una is still, floating in the air, maybe dead. Rei is floating in from the direction of the Temple, a look of satisfaction on her face. Moses looked wounded and woozy, but solid as ever. Highdive looked like... well, like she always does. And Mokuzai... his head floated by, a look of serenity on his wrinkled old face, his ears sticking up and making him look alert. If I had not been within the void I might have vomited or cried or even laughed at the dark irony that we finally found information only to lose our wisdom.

Then I saw her: Kijuuki. Mokuzai's Kyo Tee Shee had escaped and assumed her crane form and was greedily sucking up the last remnants of manna from the fallen Oni. Rage suffused me at the fact that my friend had died and this abomination had benefited. I reached out and grasped the startled spirit around the throat. Staring into its eyes I promised it that its freedom would be short lived. And then my world exploded into pain. Again. I hate it when that happens...