Hello everyone! Piccolo Sky here again! For those of you who enjoyed "The Griever Saga" (all two of you :P), here's the next installment: "The Chaos Legacy"! Watch as the newly independent espers form a new society for themselves, begin to reproduce, and face a host of new evils in the still unfolding world.
Enjoy!
THE SERVANT
The Chaos Legacy
"Try it again, Ogopogo."
"Uh…I don't think I should."
"Just focus on being weightless…and it should work."
"Uh…uh…"
"That's it…good…you're doing it!"
"I am? I am! Huh? AUGH!"
"Oops!"
Leviathan quickly grabbed Ogopogo again as his concentration was broken, managing to keep him from falling before he could get far. As they went along, Bahamut was amazed at Leviathan. It might not be long before the sea serpent surpassed him. His mental ability was astonishing. Already, he had learned a move that, had it not been for the Planet, even Bahamut wouldn't know. And he learned it just by reading his own mind. But as he rejoiced in this, he heard the sigh beside him.
"I don't get it, Bahamut. We could have been their kings. Now no one knows what they'll do."
"I didn't want to be a king." Bahamut simply answered from Odin's side. "They'd never do anything for themselves. They'd always expect us to do everything for them, just like they did under Griever. And if you have that much control over a person…well…you know what I was afraid of. There's always the chance one of us could become the next Griever."
"Speak for yourself." Starlet answered with a turned up nose. "But I do agree that I want them to learn things for themselves." She paused after that, and then grew a bit melancholy. "But it's a pity we had to lose Palad…"
"He'll help them with everything they need to know." Bahamut reassured. "I'll be interested to see what else they can invent."
Wyvern frowned and pouted again, once more expressing his disgust with Bahamut's decisions.
"That's all in the future though." Bahamut returned. "We've got a lot of work to do yet."
"Exactly how much did the Planet teach you?" Ogopogo asked.
"Scads!" Leviathan answered. "Every few minutes I'm picking up something else from your brain, Bahamut. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to learn all I can. I'd love to be on Bahamut's level."
"Does that mean we have to meditate for hours on end again?" Ogopogo groaned.
"I thought it was meditating before…" Bahamut corrected. "But I was wrong. It was talking with the Planet. All of us can do it. But it will take time to get it down. Once we do, however, our new powers will come flowing in. I'm a bit eager to see what the rest of you can do. But first, we need a new place to live."
"Any ideas?" Odin asked.
"Somewhere far away and remote. Like where Crusader was, where no one could get to it. Maybe something with mountains."
"I hate mountains!" Starlet shot back.
"We'll make some changes, of course." Bahamut replied with a knowing tone to his voice. "Just trust me."
For three days this was how it went. Every day, the espers flew with Bahamut's children and tried to find a new home. Every night, when they settled down, they not only tried to teach the drag-ons something, but they also tried to learn their own new abilities. Strangely, they all seemed to be somewhat better at it now, as if Bahamut's revelation had helped them somewhat. Within the three days, Leviathan's power had already doubled. Yet where he and Ogopogo were before, there now seemed to be a gap between them. Ogopogo learned everything much more slowly, and with more difficulty. At last, there was a difference between the twins. Leviathan was growing more bold and eager, while Ogopogo was lagging behind. It wasn't until the third day that Ogopogo risked flying on his own a little, and still he wasn't that good. In addition, Starlet learned two new techniques, but she refused to share them with anyone, only giving them a teasing smile instead.
In addition, the drag-ons learned quickly. They were soon already saying 'no', in response to all the times the espers had told them no to what they were doing. They were hunting food rather like Wyvern and Bahamut did, and they grew more receptive to love. Leviathan could tell that their intelligence was growing fast, and that they were learning more and more every day. Things that had been hard to grip for them were coming easy to the drag-ons. Within a year, they'd be talking aswell as the espers were.
Bahamut continued to eat a lot, particularly meat. He kept running around, and grew sore every new day. However, it was working. His muscles were still strained, but he was growing accustomed to it. He could actually stand somewhat without help. He was a long way from being able to fly, but other than that he was ok. Wyvern seemed to enjoy this, however. He kept teasing Bahamut every day about his weakness, elbowing him a little and making him fall over every time he finished getting up. "Little thing like that wear you out? You're tripping on your own two feet, Big B!" Bahamut took this all with a laugh…but the others were more uneasy. Bahamut was in genuine pain some of the time, and they didn't like what Wyvern was doing.
But on the morning of the fourth day, the group crossed a rather extensive ocean. After doing so, and coming on the other side, they ran into a new mountain chain. This was on a large island, nearly continent sized. It was far to the south of the Planet, and this far below, even when the sun was shining, it was pretty cool. There was snow on the mountaintops. As the reached the place and looked down, they saw that it was rocky and rough all over. Even if humans had come here, nothing could live here. There was no vegetation or people, even if the land was still good enough to grow things. If one could go to a lower altitude it would be warmer, but as it was it was no good. It was too far above sea level.
As they flew over, something caught Bahamut's eye. One of the mountains rose high above the others. It towered twice as big as the surrounding ones. It was massive and huge...powerful to behold. It had to be the biggest mountain in the world. It looked to be made of solid rock, but was big and broad and took up a lot of volume. On seeing this particular mountain, Bahamut's eyes grew large. He held up a finger and pointed to it.
"That's it. That's our new home."
The espers froze in mid-air. They stared down at it and held a moment. A cold wind blew by, and they saw how barren and lifeless the place was. After a moment, one by one, they began to frown.
"Er…Bahamut?"
"It's a lifeless rock!"
"I'm not sleeping on that!"
"Where's the water?"
"Bahamut, be reasonable." Wyvern finally spoke up. "That thing is a giant boulder. There's no food around it, no water, no anything."
"Oh, there's water all right." Bahamut answered. He pointed a claw at the mountain. "Check it out, an underground river."
The espers looked in response. Sure enough, there were springs and mountain water running off it far below, forming a river that extended behind it. Part of it seemed to be joined by an internal place in the mountain, that could have been an underground lake. But in the end, the espers still frowned. "It's still a miserable place to live."
Bahamut smiled in reply. "Put me down, Odin."
The warrior esper looked to him in response. He was confused for a moment, but in the end shrugged and let him off. Bahamut dipped a little, seeming to almost fall. However, though he couldn't use his wings, he could fly under his own power. And he did at that moment, making himself hover in mid-air, right over the big mountain. He turned to the others, and with some strain spoke to them.
"Everyone get back."
The espers hesitated, but then went back as they were told. Bahamut kept gesturing them back, until they reached what he thought was a safe distance. After that, Bahamut turned his head to the sky. The sun was still shining down, and that was what he wanted. He unfurled his wings, and as before with Griever the solar energy was drawn to himself. He summoned itand soonbuilt up another huge blast. His power sky-rocketed. The energy cloud formed around him again. The sky rumbled and light bolts flashed around him once more. Then, at last, he turned his head straight down and fired off an unmistakable Sol-pyrin. The other espers watched as it sailed straight down…and struck the mountain in the center.
Immediately, they all shielded themselves from the noise and heat. The drag-ons screeched in fear and terror. What looked like a sunburst erupted from the mountain, blasting up a huge upheaval of rock all over thecountryside in a fiery wave. Bahamut himself struggled to shield his body, and the action drained so much power from him that even as the fire went off, he had to fly back over to Odin and let himself be grabbed again. But at last, this latest explosion died down as well. Sizzling debris rained back down on the ground, and the huge smoke that arose from the mountain began to fade on the wind. The espers slowly recovered. The frightened drag-ons flew around and grew nervously close to their parents. Bahamut smiled at what he had done.
"How did you manage to do that!" Wyvern accused after a moment. "I thought you were out of power!"
"Sunlight, remember?" Leviathan replied. "He takes the power for that attack from the sun."
Wyvern still frowned and looked away.
"Ah, much better." Bahamut responded. "Have a look."
The espers paused, but then did what Bahamut said.The smoke cleared a bit more, then revealed Bahamut's wake. A huge tunnel had been blasted into the mountain, more like a wide hole almost the width of the mountain's crown. That was nearly a mile across. It went down deep, deep into the rocky place. The espers hesitated a moment, but then dipped down into it. They slowly began to hover into the mountain.
As they lowered, the sunlight grew dimmer around them.They saw they had a huge amount of room. There was even more available, for the mountain widened dramatically around them in all directions. This was only a small part of it for starters. As they lowered and it grew darker, they felt the air actually change. This deep in the ground of the mountain, away from the high altitude, it seemed to get warm. Apparently, some geothermal heat was doing it. They kept dipping down, until Wyvern was first to touch the dark bottom. It was dim down here, and because the sun hadn't yet gone overhead it was hard to see. But his feet landed right in cold water.
"Ugh!" The esper called in surprise. He immediately flapped a bit more into the air. The other espers looked down on hearing the cry. There was water at the bottom. But as they held there a moment, their eyes began to adjust somewhat. They realized that there was a lake at the bottom of where Bahamut had blasted. But around the rim there was still rocky land. They quickly moved over to the sides of the lake and plopped down.
Bahamut let himself off of Odin and went to the floor of the mountain. "Better?" He asked with cheerfulness. "Now we have a warm place with pure water. When the sun gets higher it will fill this place with light. And we're the only ones who can get into it." Here, he gestured back up at the deep crater they had just come in, with its sheer walls. "It's like our own new Ultima Nexus."
Starlet frowned. "But it's a rock…" She moaned.
"Not for long." Bahamut reassured. "I obliterated some rocks so much they became soil-like." Here, he turned to the ground and looked a bit more. After a moment, he found a pile of fine rock pebbles that were almost dirt, near the inner lake of the mountain. He immediately brushed away some, placed his seed from Ultima Nexus on it, and then covered it up. "The seeds from Ultima Nexus are very hardy. Soon, it will grow and its roots will start breaking up the rock into soil. We can bring some too from outside as well. Not just soil, but plants too."
The espers paused at that, and looked around. Some of them still had their doubts. But overall, this place did seem to have possibilities. They also trusted Bahamut's judgment. He was clearly the smartest one out of them all, after all. For a moment, no one said anything. But then, at length, they voiced their new complaints.
"We're going to want a place to sun ourselves."
"And I want a new room."
"I'll need a place to train."
"And I need a place to get away from these whiners."
"And a place to put the kids!"
Bahamut grinned in reply. "No problem. First, Starlet, I'm going to need you to give me some more power. Next, Wyvern, could you come over here? I think you'll need to help."
Starlet nodded, then gave Bahamut some more energy. Wyvern himself walked over with some confusion. But Bahamut knew this would cheer him up. He was sure his brother had wanted to do something with him for some time, and now was finally their chance.Once he was at his side, he leaned over to his head and whispered something in his ear. Wyvern looked back in surprise at that. Bahamut grinned at him in response, and after a moment Wyvern began to grin as well. Both knowing what was in mind, they both turned and walked to opposite sides of the group. They both stood and hesitated for a moment. Then, together, both of them opened their mouths and fired off Pyrons.
The espers shrank back in response, and guarded the drag-ons as this happened. Then, they both watched as the blasts impacted the rock walls around the floor one after the other. The blasts tore into the granite, sending boulders and debris flying everywhere. A few moments went by of these explosions and flames. But in the end, they both died down. The group slowly looked up from where they were, and looked to see what had happened with some anxiety. They saw that two fifty foot tunnels had just been blasted into the mountain on either side. Immediately, Bahamut and Wyvern both inhaled and blasted into them again.
The rest of the day was a blast, literally. Bahamut and Wyvern moved deeper and deeper into the mountain with each Pyron, blasting out tunnels in the place. They soon blasted out rooms on the edges as well, creating small openings for windows and light as well. They branched off from several tunnels, but blasted all day long. Bahamut grew tired frequently and had to eat, but Wyvern worked tirelessly. And between Bahamut's superior overall power, the two managed to stay pretty even. Luckily, Odin found it easy to find food. Not far from the barren mountain range, the river came onto fertile land, where there was plenty of game to eat. Leviathan and Ogopogo both jumped into the river, where after enjoying the water for a few minutes, they came up and began to spit a new type of water attack. This one acted as more of a blasting type, and it blasted away at the rocks and broke them down into more usable soil. They also blasted huge holes in the ground. Starlet responded by leaving and getting things for them. She came back with true soil and filled the holes with them, then continued with saplings or young flowers. Bahamut was right. Most of the day, sun did pour in down the hole. Because of that, the plants would live. Soon, their little mountain was beginning to have the makings of a real home.
"What should we call it?" Starlet asked after some hours had passed, while she was tending to the bored "drag-ons".
"How about Ultima Nexus II?" Ogopogo ventured.
"Nah, we should name it something ourselves." Leviathan answered. "How about…Terratopolis? It's a human word. It means 'city of earth'."
No one had any dispute with that. Some liked it. And so, the name was adopted.
By late afternoon, both Wyvern and Bahamut were tired. And so, the entire group retired to an upper chamber. It was rough cut, but it did have a skylight that was beaming down sun into the area. And it was large and open. Because the rock that made this place up was white, Bahamut had thought it would make a good meeting chamber. A small dip was in the ground in the center of the room where the light was. When the group had all arrived, the four Crystal pieces were put into the center. After doing so, Leviathan explained something.
"The Crystals have been changing, Bahamut. They feel different. One of them shimmers like fire in the light. One of them shines like a crystal sea. One of them looks like the sky inside. And the last one has a deep color like rich earth."
"Figures." Bahamut simply answered.
Again, all of the espers looked to him with puzzled appearances. They wondered how he thought of that.
"Think about it." Bahamut replied. "The Four Fiends were spawned from the dark side of the Crystal. Four of them, and they represented four elements. Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. So it only makes sense that when the Crystal is broken, they form corresponding Crystals. It looks like we now have a Fire Crystal, Water Crystal, Wind Crystal, and Earth Crystal."
"So what do we do with them?" Ogopogo asked.
"We'll hang onto them for now." Bahamut answered. "But they also have the power to give a lot of life to this world. We'll find places that need it and put them there. A cold place will be warmed by the Fire Crystal, a desert place will get life from the Water Crystal, a stagnant place will get breezes by the Wind Crystal, and a wasteland will become fertile from the Earth Crystal."
The others took this in for a moment. But in the end, they gave their nods of approval. It seemed like a good idea.
"Alright. Let's all try to get in touch with the Planet again. Tomorrow we'll do some more decorating."
As Bahamut said this, however, he heard a dragging sound. The other espers did too, and turned to the source. They saw that Leviathan was grunting and groaning and pushing forward a large boulder toward Starlet. It seemed to vaguely be flat on the top, providing a place to sit down. After he had pushed it close enough to her, he backed off and panted for a moment.
"Here, Starlet." He spoke, a bit nervously…as if it made him nervous to talk to her. "You can sit on this."
Starlet looked at it a moment, blinking in response. But then, abruptly, she formed a smile. At that, she faced the stone and closed her eyes. She held up one finger in front of her and seemed to concentrate. The others looked at her in puzzlement, wondering what this meant. Then, abruptly, she opened her eyes and made a cutting motion in the air. As she did, to the shock of the espers, the stone broke apart on sides. Large strips and chunks suddenly were thrown off of it. Curved pieces of rock were blown aside. Each new blast matched Starlet's finger. However, she was soon done, and put her hand down. To the amazement of the espers, an elegant-looking four legged chair made of stone now was before them. It matched the style of Starlet's old bed, and she smiled as she looked at it.
"That's how I decorate." She confidently answered.
"How…how did you do that!" Ogopogo exclaimed. The others were justly surprised, staring at the thing the whole time.
"It's not hard." Starlet simply answered. "It's one of my latest tricks. I found that we have the power to manipulate things like this from a distance, to convert raw material into things. I'd prefer wood, but for now this will do fine." With that, she calmly walked over to her new chair, spread out her gown below her, and sat down. The others still stared in surprise. Even Bahamut was amazed. Leviathan blinked a bit as well…ignoring the fact that his attempted kindness had just been wasted. They were all truly amazed at this ability.
However, Leviathan licked his own lips, thought for a moment, then turned over to the place where the Crystal's hovered. He closed his own eyes. He focused, and his whiskers hovered in front of his face. Abruptly, they did the same kind of movements Starlet had done. Immediately, to the shock of all present, the center crater suddenly blasted out the rough edges of its rock floor, immediately making a perfect smooth sphere in the ground. A small dias rose up next made of rock, and it too was soon carved to become a geometrically perfect platform. Once that was done, Leviathan exhaled and opened his eyes. He looked around for approval.
"Not bad for a first timer, eh?"
The espers were doubly amazed. Starlet especially. "Leviathan," Bahamut spoke up. "You just learned Starlet's power in seconds!"
The sea serpant grinned and innocently shrugged. "Well, like she said…it wasn't that hard."
Starlet crossed his arms, looked away, and pouted. "I was being sarcastic…"
"Anyway, now that that's over." Bahamut went on, getting back on topic. "Let's see how many other abilities we can awaken."
However, on hearing that, Starlet suddenly turned back to the esper. "Hey, Bahamut." She interceded. "I had something else in mind. I think we all did."
Bahamut perked up to that, and looked to her. The espers did as well, wondering what she was thinking. "Yes?"
"Now that Palad's gone…I want to know how to reproduce." Starlet responded straightforwardly. "Teach me how."
"Yeah." Leviathan instantly chimed in, eager at the thought. "It'd be cool to have our own children for a change. And your little drag-ons aren't really that neat… I'd like to make a real esper."
"I am interested myself…" Odin spoke grimly…his voice covering a hidden air.
"Not me." Wyvern huffed. "The last thing we need is more little runts running around."
"Oh, quit being such a stick in the mud!" Starlet shot back immediately, fearing Bahamut wouldn't if Wyvern said anything. She immediately turned to Bahamut again, and her eyes grew large and pleading. "Please? I'd really like a child."
"Yeah! Come on. Please?"
"Show us how, Bahamut."
"Yeah."
Soon, all of the espers were pressing in on Bahamut. He sighed and put up his hands in a stopping gesture, trying to halt all of their voices. He didn't like all this clamor, but he didn't know what else to do. "Alright, alright…" He spoke up, halting them. "Ok, I'll tell you. Just all of you be quiet."
The espers soon calmed down afterward. However, Starlet leapt and clapped her hands for joy. "Yay! I'm going to be a mother too!"
"But you guys better think this through for a moment." Bahamut warned. "We're still learning about our powers as well. We're not even fully grown. We've got a lot of work to do on our home. We're going to have a lot of work to do with the drag-ons as well. I don't know if we have time to devote to children."
"Aw, come on, Bahamut!" Starlet whined. "I really want a baby!"
"And I'd like one too." Leviathan chimed in.
Bahamut sighed. He realized there was no reasoning with him. Had he had a choice, he wouldn't have made his own offspring. But now he was stuck with them. And he knew the others wouldn't be satisfied until they had their own too. He saw no way out of it. At last, he caved in. "Fine, Ok, I'll explain. First…"
Suddenly, Leviathan waved his tail in the air.
Bahamut blinked for a moment, but then called on him. "Um, Leviathan?"
"Hey, can I tell how?" Leviathan asked earnestly.
Bahamut was more amazed than ever. He had his instincts telling him how to reproduce for a while. But the split reproduction and fusion birth had just been revealed to him by the Planet. Surely, Leviathan couldn't mean that he knew how to do that too. Bahamut had just learned it himself. However, he gave a nod to Leviathan, earnest to see what he would say.
Immediately, Leviathan turned to the others and began. "Ok. Here's how it works. First, we can do what Bahamut did. We can take a part of ourselves and split it off into another person. If we do it correctly, we should get an esper out of it rather than just these drag-ons. But if we do, we'll permanently lose a part of ourselves to make the new esper. You have to use either your good side, your evil side, your power, your courage, or your wisdom. This is called a 'split reproduction'."
Bahamut's eyes widened.
"The next kind of reproduction is…" Leviathan trailed off a moment, and blushed a little. "Well…you know…when a man and a woman get together. But seeing as Starlet's the only one that could do that, it might be a little hard. This is basic sexual reproduction.
"The last kind is a special type of reproduction as well. We can take the energy from one of us, male or female, combine it with another, male or female, and that will make a new type of infant. This is called a 'fusion birth'."
Bahamut was amazed. He couldn't believe it. Leviathan's new knowledge was increasing rapidly. Had they had even so much as one more week before the fight with Griever, Leviathan might have been on par with him and Wyvern. He might have even surpassed them. But then again, Bahamut wondered if that was right. This new change and drive to improve in Leviathan had come about only recently. Before then, he was stuck to his brother like glue. They did everything together, and grew together or not at all. Only recently was Leviathan trying to be more and making a more heroic figure of himself. Not long ago, Leviathan was an uncaring, self-important weakling. But he had grown tremendously in the past few days. The esper had new respect for him.
"Right…" Bahamut finally answered. "However, there are a few things Leviathan forgot. All of us have some mixture of elements inside ourselves as well. We can make the widest variety of espers if we combine different elements together. What more…" Here, Bahamut gestured to Starlet's hand, which was still guarding the Phoenix magicite. "Because Phoenix still has her magicite, we can still combine her energy with one of us to make a fusion birth."
Starlet beamed in joy. "You mean, we can still have Phoenix's children with us?" She spoke in hope. "It's not Phoenix, but it's still a part of her. That's wonderful!"
"Let's do that first, Bahamut." Leviathan immediately chimed in. "We should make some offspring from Phoenix. That way, we'll still have her powers and her with us in a way."
"Alright, sounds good." Bahamut responded. "But there's a problem. One of us will have to do the fusion. Which one of us wants to be the father…or mother?"
The espers all paused in reply for a moment. They stopped and looked to each other for a few moments, trying to see if anyone volunteered. At last, Odin spoke up. "You know, if you want opposites to produce the greatest variety, then we had better have it be either Leviathan or Ogopogo."
Immediately, all of the espers looked to the two of them. Both of them turned a shade white, and looked around a bit nervously, at all the eyes turned to them. Finally, Ogopogo jumped out of the way and back to the crowd, where he turned and looked at Leviathan like the others. Leviathan turned a bit more pale, and looked to Ogopogo in shock. He turned around a bit, but in the end swallowed and shrugged.
"I…guess it's me."
Minutes later, the group had reassembled in another room, which was to henceforth be the "fusion" room. Starlet immediately started reshaping the floor to form an intricate pair of tiles next to each other. What separated them was a larger raised tile dias. The others assembled and eagerly awaited the result. As for Leviathan, having been drafted into fatherhood, he looked nervous and only slowly made his way forward to the tiles. He swallowed and sweat like any parent-to-be would be expected. Then he stood there nervously and looked from side to side.
"Uh…this is going to produce espers, won't it?"
"Four of them, actually." Bahamut responded calmly, bringing the magicite forward. He held it over to the tile in the air, and then released it. The magicite, like the Crystals, balanced on the air, and hovered there. "I see Phoenix's magicite has enough energy in it to make four."
Leviathan swallowed and looked on the brink of fainting. "Four kids…?"
"Yay! Four babies!" Starlet cheered.
"Man, I can't believe it…we're going to be real parents." Ogopogo mused. "We're actually going to make new espers."
Bahamut backed up and stood at a distance. Leviathan, now on the spot, swallowed and looked nervously around. However, Bahamut gestured to him and tried to coach him through this.
"Ok… Leviathan, you with me?"
"Huh?"
"You ready?"
"What?"
"Leviathan, you're too nervous. Breathe. No, too fast. Breathe slower and deeper. Shake your hands. That's it. Now you're calming down. Now just focus."
"Ok…"
"Are you focused?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Now, first thing you have to do is focus inwardly. Feel your own aura."
Leviathan inhaled sharply, and closed his eyes. He focused for a few moments in silence.
"Feel it yet?"
"No…"
"How about now?"
"No…"
"…Now?"
"You keep interrupting me, I'll never find it."
"Sorry."
"…Now."
"Ok. The next step, is to take a bit of it off. It's kind of like what Starlet did earlier. Only you need to grasp within yourself a ball of it. Imagine a piece of your energy forming a distinct sphere. Grab it. Hold onto it."
Leviathan inhaled sharply. He raised his head, and probed within for a moment. As he concentrated on this, Wyvern leaned forward to Bahamut with a frown. "Even if he does this, it won't work with the magicite."
"No, it'll be fine." Bahamut reassured. "Phoenix's spirit will resonate with Leviathan's. The power will come out of the magicite."
"Ok, I feel it. I've got it." Leviathan announced.
"Good. Now, here's the hard part." Bahamut warned in a dropping voice. "Holding onto it…I want you to move it out of your body and over your head. Can you do that?"
"I…I think…" Leviathan answered. He focused harder than before. Sweat began to form on his brow. His skin wrinkled. He grit his teeth. But he kept focusing. Finally, his head began to glow a blue color. As it did, the espers noticed that the top of the magicite began to glow as well. Leviathan kept focusing, and kept pushing up. Nothing came for a while, but the glow kept building. It grew bigger and bigger…until finally it came. Abruptly, the energy pulled out of Leviathan, and formed a small, shining sphere over his head. Immediately, Phoenix's magicite did the same, only forming a small red orb over it, hovering at the same height.
"Look!" Starlet beamed.
"Don't interrupt!" Bahamut shushed, then went back to Leviathan. "Ok. Leviathan? Can you feel the other orb? The one over Phoenix?"
"Y…Yeah…"
"Bring your orb over to it, and put them together. Keep a grasp on them. When you feel them mix, let them go, and then wait."
Leviathan continued to drip sweat. His body quivered with tension. But he did as he was told. The orb slowly began to move over to the red one. As it did, the red one also came out to meet with the blue one. He focused and moved, bringing it closer and closer. At last, Bahamut began to step backward. The other espers looked at this in surprise, but then turned back to the sight. They were captivated, eager to see what was going to happen next. At last, the two of them touched. They did so for a fraction of a second, before they both suddenly seemed to be absorbed into one another. They shot together and formed one purple orb. At that, the reaction happened.
A brilliant white flash erupted in the middle of the room. The espers were nearly thrown back as a shockwave ripped out over them all. They brought up their hands and shielded themselves, but still the gale force winds blew debris and dust to them. The white flash continued to burn before them, and brilliant, dazzling golden objects moved around within it. But none could look. None could see anything. They all had to look away or be blinded.
At last, as fast as the flash had happened, it dissipated. The air returned to normal again. Everything was normal again. But the espers still cringed, still covering their eyes from the blinding. They held and waited for a long time, unable to turn back to the sight. Even Leviathan was cringing, putting his coils in front of his eyes and not looking at his result. Then, at last, a sound called them back…the sound of babies crying.
The group opened their eyes. Starlet was first, but the others soon followed. They turned and looked back at the result. Immediately, Starlet cupped her hands to her mouth with joy and ran up to them. Leviathan blinked in astonishment. He turned a bit whiter, and with a sigh nearly fell backward. He had done it, but was amazed at what he had done. He felt on the brink of passing out after what he had pulled off. Just as Bahamut predicted, four babies were now laying on the dias.
The other espers quickly ran up to them and began to look at them. Bahamut scanned them over for a moment, but then nodded. "These are definitely full espers. They don't have the same pre-set knowledge of facts we do, but they have the connection to the Planet and hidden powers as well. I can sense it."
Starlet scooped up the first two babies in either arm. The first had yellow-brown skin. Two small horns were growing out of the top of his head. His eyes were red, and he had nails and a bit of a dog-like face. Fur seemed to be growing out in a mane shape. But for now, he only cried due to hunger. He fussed and kicked a lot, but overall seemed to enjoy the warmth of being in Starlet's arm. That was odd, for he felt warm to the touch. The other was much quieter. She looked rather humanoid, except her skin and hair were pale blue. She sucked her thumb quietly and lay in Starlet's arm peacefully, only occasionally giving out a small whine. She, on the other hand, felt cold to the touch. The former was male, the latter was female. "Oh…" Starlet cooed. "Leviathan, come look at your children."
Leviathan wavered a bit, but managed to slide forward. He looked at the babies in Starlet's arms as she turned to him. He brightened for a moment, but then let out a sigh and did pass out, falling to the ground in a scaly heap.
"He'll get used to them." Starlet reasoned, smiling at the two babies.
The others were focusing on the other two. The next looked humanoid in build and skin, but his eyebrows were strange. They were bushy and white, sticking off of his head, which was bald as an egg. He was male as well. He cried a bit at first. Ogopogo looked at him, and extended his tail to comfort him. But as he touched the baby, the esper received a small shock. Ogopogo yelped and quickly drew his tail back, and the baby, seeing this, laughed a bit in reply.
The last one was fussy at first, but once he had attention he quickly quieted down. He too was somewhat humanoid. But he was the chubbiest baby any of them had ever seen. His skin was a dark, clay-like color, and his skin, far from being soft, already seemed rough and hard when Odin touched him. He also was male. Only one female had come out of them all. But none of them seemed to care that much. They seemed to be preoccupied with the babies at the moment.
"Hmph…I should have known they'd not look the same." Odin murmured.
"Oh hush. They're all perfect." Starlet responded. She turned away to another part of the room, and saw another rock. Immediately, she performed her technique again. Rocks flew off from it, until it turned into a giant stone rocking cradle. After that, she went over to Odin, and somehow while supporting both babies in her arms, she seized his cape and tore it off his back with one mighty pull. The warrior esper immediately turned to her in a mixture of surprise and fury.
"Hey!"
"Oh, be quiet. They need bedding. I'll get something soft for them later. It'll only be a few hours." With that, Starlet turned and walked over to the crib. After folding Odin's cape and placing it inside, she lowered both of the babies into it as well. Odin scowled and crossed his arms angrily, turning back to the other two. Starlet immediately turned back and moved to go take them up as well.
"They need names." Ogopogo mentioned.
"Certainly." Bahamut responded. "And this time, I think we should name them things after the Planet's language." He turned to Leviathan at that. "What do you think, big daddy?"
On hearing "daddy", the recovering Leviathan immediately rolled his eyes back and passed out again.
"Oh, forget him. He'll hear their names later." Starlet waved off. She reached the next two, bent down, and picked them up. She beamed at these two as well, looking down and over them. She turned to one and the other, looking at the chubby and the skinny one. Finally, she turned to the chubby one. "Why don't we call this one 'Titan', immovable?"
"Why that?" Ogopogo asked.
"Well, he's big and rough." Starlet answered. Then she bent her head down and shook her hair over the baby, who cooed and reached up and tried to grab it. "And won't you grow up to be a big strong guy? Won't you? Little cutie…"
"Ok, Titan." Bahamut answered. "What about the other?"
"He shocked me…" Ogopogo whined.
"Then let's call him 'Ramuh', amazing." Starlet answered matter-of-factly, setting the two new babies into the crib with their siblings. After leaning back up, she looked back down over the last two. She held a moment, and thought about them. "These last two are strange. This one looks like a wolf, so let's name him 'Fenrir', wolf."
But Bahamut shook his head. "Nah. I think what's better is that they're fire and ice. And the two words for that are 'Ifrit' and 'Shiva'."
Starlet pouted. "I like Fenrir…" She spoke aloud. But then, she paused. "But Ifrit and Shiva go so nice together… I guess you're right. Ifrit and Shiva would go best together."
At that time, Leviathan groaned and slowly raised himself off the ground. "Did I…miss anything…?" He asked uneasily.
"Yes." Starlet immediately responded. "Your children are named Titan, Ramuh, Ifrit, and Shiva."
Leviathan blinked and shook his head. "Uh…which one's which?"
"I'll tell you later." Starlet simply answered. "Right now, I want to be next."
"That sounds good to me." Odin responded, stepping forward afterward. On hearing that, Starlet turned to Odin in sudden surprise. All of the espers did. As they looked at him, they saw that he was suddenly resolute and changed. His harshness from a moment earlier had vanished. "Let's have a child together then."
This really surprised the others. Odin didn't look like the type for doing this. However, the biggest reaction came from Leviathan. He actually looked struck by this statement, and he looked from Starlet to Odin and back after hearing it.
"Excuse me?" Starlet heard.
"You heard me." Odin answered sharply. "Let's have a child. We can reproduce tonight. We don't need this fusion technique. You can have a baby the natural way."
Leviathan looked really taken at this. In fact…he looked almost hurt. He turned to them both, seeming to hope that Starlet would say no to this. Bahamut himself was concerned. Why did Odin suddenly want a child? And why in this way? He didn't seem to care anything for Starlet. He was his same dark persona as always. But in the end, however, it seemed as if Starlet didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. She brightened up and smiled. Her only real concern was having a baby. "Alright, let's do it. It'll be fun."
"Starlet…" Leviathan started to say.
Odin turned around and glared at the sea serpent darkly at that. Leviathan cringed a bit and went quiet. However, Starlet, not seeing, looked to Leviathan in puzzlement. "What is it, Leviathan?"
The esper swallowed hard. He looked down and dejected. He looked up to Odin, who continued to glare darkly at him. In the end, he backed down. "Nothing."
Starlet seemed puzzled at this, but oblivious to anything else. She turned back to Odin with a smile. "I'll be happy to do it, Odin. But I really want a child tonight. So I hope you don't mind if I do the fusion technique as well."
Odin frowned and snorted. "Fine. Just hurry it up."
Starlet, so happy with children that she ignored this, turned back to the others. Leviathan masked a frown at Odin, and kept his head lowered. "Well, who wants to go with me?" Starlet asked merrily.
Leviathan began to raise his head, when suddenly Ogopogo spoke up. "Well…er…" Her nervously replied. "I guess…I'm next and all. I suppose I should give it a shot. I'm sure Leviathan isn't that eager to go again after what happened." He turned to his younger brother at this. "Are you?"
"…No." Leviathan answered at length. He bowed his head and said nothing more. He looked rather down and dejected this time.
"Well, alright then." Bahamut answered. "Step right up."
Both Starlet and Ogopogo stepped to the different pads. Then, they began to process as well. It was harder this time. Both of them lacked the focus that Leviathan had, and it took them numerous tries to bring out their auras. After that, it took even longer to get them balanced right, and then to move them to each other at the exact same time. The whole process took two hours, and most of the espers were bored at that point. But in the end, the two balls met, and another flash of light exploded from the middle chamber. The espers again looked away and waited for it to die down. But at long last, it did die. They all turned back, and saw the result.
This time, a small cheeping baby bird-like esper was in the center. It waddled around on its wings, and held open its mouth to be fed.
Starlet was ecstatic. "I don't believe it! Another bird! It's like I have Phoenix back all over again!"
Ogopogo wrinkled his eyebrow. "I gave birth to that? It doesn't even have any scales."
"Oh, hush up!" Starlet snapped, getting angry at the male responses. She scooped up the bird and held it close to her breast, while it continued to cheep for food. "I'm sure you'll look beautiful when you grow up. I'm going to call you 'Palidor', the return."
"Hurry up and put the damn thing down." Odin snapped at Starlet, who was making her way over to the crib with the others. "You wasted all day doing that. I want to get this over with."
Starlet turned to Odin, and for a moment looked hurt. She had never been spoken so roughly to before by him…at least not regarding such a thing she regarded as so important. Palidor was precious to her. But Odin was dismissing it so readily. He seemed impatient and almost violent to do what he had planned to do. At last, she put her in the crib. After that was done, she turned and walked somewhat hesitantly back to Odin. Once in range, the esper immediately shot out a hand and seized her somewhat painfully by the wrist. Starlet winced in reply, but Odin immediately turned and began to drag her out of the room. She turned back to the others as she left, and managed to hold up her hand to wave…as her face looked uneasy about what was going to happen.
"Look after Palidor, everyone. I'll be back in an hour."
Now we're getting more espers. A brief note, however. You may be wondering why the espers are so nonchalant about the whole process of reproduction, and especially sex. Well, at this point, the espers are still extremely immature. Even having a baby to them is like having a "new pet". As far as sex goes, they have no interests in pleasure or meaningful relationships with each other...at least, not all of them... At this point, espers mostly only look to the act for the sake of producing another child. That may change in the future...
To be continued...