| Fan Fiction |
by Aelk
Ladhuls words silenced the other two totally. The light shining on his blade told them that he is serious.
”But…” Lilith broke the silence after some time, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? You could have won the Race!”
“Are you willing to give it up?”
“Of cou… Ah… errr… well…”
She has slapped her face with her own words. Her flute could be something which her parents left her as a final present. There is no way she is going to give it up that easily. Ladhul understood their predicament, and smiled feebly.
“When I saw you two for the first time, you know …when you were seduced by the Dancer… I was trying to snatch the Rose from the two of you. With the gem, I could have made myself a huge fortune,” he turned and back-faced them before continuing, “But when I saw Azure's Mu, I knew I couldn’t win. So I invited you to my house so that I can think of another plan. ”
Azure locked his eyebrows and find the fact hard to swallow. Their first Tartan friend turned out to be someone who was after their most precious possession.
“Ladhul… you…”
“There are two sides to a heart. And masking one of them is easy. Your naivety can only bring you so far…”
Ladhul’s words were being carried on by an alien voice.
”And the two of you shall end here.”
Out of the shadows emerged a group of Tartans who appeared to be fellow contestants for the race as well. There were about five of them, but Azure was unable to clearly make out who they were due to the dimness. Ladhul took a backward jump and joined into their group confidently.
”Azure, Lilith, do you know why I led you to this place?”
In answer to Ladhul’s question, one of his companions raised his hand and on his palm revealed several tiny metallic objects. One by one, the objects then started to move on their own and crept out of their owners’ grasp.
”…Machinas?!”
Azure and Lilith were taken aback. Tartans, a race which hated the Humans greatly, are using Machinas? While he finds the fact hard to accept, Azure knew that they had to deal with the matter at hand first. He had expected the crawling arachnid-liked Machinas to suddenly attack, but he was wrong.
“Don’t be surprised!”
One of the Tartans exclaimed in delight. The Machinas inched on further, and without any warning, self-destructed into thousands of tiny grains of sand. While the small pieces of debris did little to hurt, the sand whipped up a perfect smokescreen which choked Azure and others, and the gas released stung their eyes in pain.
Lilith stood a metre away from Azure. As she struggled with the dusts in vain, she felt something escape from her waistband.
”Goodbye.”
Ladhul whispered to her ears before his presence ebbed away. It happened so fast that it took her a while to notice what has been thieved. The smoke then cleared away the next instant, and when Azure opened his eyes once more, their rivals were gone.
All that was left were a few more Machina cubes with gridlines marked onto them.
“What the….?”
While Azure wondered what exactly happened, Lilith began to scream.
“… My flute?!”
It was stolen. However, before Lilith can even grieve about her loss, the programmed Machina cubes began to speak monotonously.
“Self-destructing in 5…4…”
“?!”
“!”
”3…2…”
“Wha---“
“…1…0”
And then everything was enveloped in a blinding flash of light.
*************************************************************************************
“Gunter, how was the preparation?”
Lady Maya asked in a peaceful manner. Outside of the little house Gunter and she were in, Kazo was busy swinging his axe around to train up his combat skills needed for the upcoming war. More importantly, surrounding him were a large group of Juhnas training together with him.
“As what you’ve seen, Elder, Kazo is now training up our warriors. I have been keeping in contact with Elder Poseidon and Elder Gorgon using their dimension Mu, and it seems that their tribes were not slacking at all either.”
The Juhnan Elder kept her silence for a while before continuing to smile after she saw an accessory belonging to Lilith on top of a rosewood cabinet. Nothing can escape her senses, not even Gunter’s deliberate hiding. She knew the two Juhnas were anxious about hearing from their lost friends and sibling, and that was why she was here.
“Gunter, Kazo…”
Heairng her calling, Kazo stopped his exercises and came into the house, sweaty and drawing his breaths deeply.
”E-elder Maya…”
”Kazo, the objective for this year’s Tartan Race was to find a Desert Rose.”
“!!”
Not only Kazo, but Gunter was shocked too, but for a different reason. With his deep knowledge, it is not hard for him to notice that Lilith had the Rose. Then victory will most likely be theirs, he thought.
“So… have they won?”
“No. But the results will be announced soon.”
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A/N
I believe next chapter will be
much more interesting than this XD.
Err in case there's some confusion, i think
the first machina Ladhul used is a type of tearing gas
and the second is a bomb LOL.
(i'm unsure myself, typed this chap 1 month ago hah)
I can't get rid of the comment box which appeared
eerily in chapter 23.
so then, let's just leave it T_T