Chapter 7: A New Future

In all the years that I sat of the throne in the Magical Kingdom, not once had I questioned any decision I made, any judgement I had passed. Now, in a stranger's body, with my loved ones' lives on the line, I was unsure of everything.

This was a test of my courage, of my will, and of my strength. It would take everything I had to take down Gridori and bring peace back to the Heavens.

This was the thought running through my mind while we all risked ourselves to protect our future.

"What's our next step?" Ichiko whispered to Kazuya, who had been named de facto leader of the operation.

The four members of the rescue party were crouched in some bushes just beyond the entrance to the palace. Guards in white robes lined the walkway to the front doors, not a friendly countenance among them. Night had fallen and only the faint glow from some magical lanterns provided any sort of visibility.

The high-schooler assessed the situation. "We need to head to the dungeons as inconspicuously as possible." He addressed the youngest member of their group. "Are there any hidden or secret passages into the lower levels?"

Toche furrowed his brow, trying to remember any useful information. "I think there are supposed to be escape tunnels that run beneath the palace," he hesitated fearfully, "but those all empty out into the loading docks."

When Kazuya sighed, Ichiko grew impatient. "What's wrong with the loading docks? Can't we just go there and get into the tunnels?"

"No," he shook his head. "If we go to the docks, we'll risk being seen; that is where most of the battle vessels are currently stationed."

Shortly before arriving, the group had seen the amassed fleet, waiting orders on the edge of the Magical Kingdom. Ships in every shape and size were positioned for the attack that Toche promised would come before nightfall the next day. Traveling that route would make it difficult to go unnoticed.

"So, back to my original question - what is our next step?" Ichiko punched her fist into the ground. "This would be so much easier if we could teleport to where we need to go."

Toche and Kazuya looked at each other. "Toche, can you do something like that?"

The little Heavenly Being nodded seriously. "All trained magicians can."

"Could you go to the dungeons and let them out?"

Now he was sheepish. "I could get there, but I would get captured by the guards. I'm not trained in combat."

"Then could you take us with you?" Ichiko had joined in Kazuya's interrogation.

"Maybe the girls," he said and smiled apologetically, "but you are too big, Kazuya-san."

"Then that's it." Kazuya had made up his mind. "We'll do that then."

"What is?" Everyone drew in curiously as he started whispering out the directions.

A few minutes later they were ready to launch their infiltration strategy. Ichiko kneeled next to Toche, grabbing his hand a little too tightly and sweating just a bit. Suzume held onto his other hand, smiling blissfully like an idiot unaware.

"Just remember: when you get to the dungeons, have Louie and the others bring you to the main command ship. If this attack is really happening, we'll need everyone in that ship in order to call off the forces. Try to see if you can get in contact with Munto and Yumemi; tell them the same message. I'll try to scope out the situation ahead of time."

Kazuya bent down and kissed Suzume on the forehead. "You be careful, okay?"

She grinned in return. "Yes! Nyan!"

"Good." He met Toche's gaze and gave him a final nod. "They're in your hands, Toche. Good luck."

The boy closed his eyes and in a brief whirlwind of lightly colored magic, the trio had disappeared. Kazuya set out on his own mission to get closer to the heart of the operation against humanity.

With little more than a whisper on the air, Toche materialized with Suzume and Ichiko in tow.

"Toche-kun!"

"It's the princesses!"

Cries came from just beyond the bars of the cell where Marty and Tail were exclaiming at the sight of the new arrivals. Sheza and Harka both stood and moved towards the front of the prison cell, revealing a few more occupants.

"Ryuely-sama! Leica-sama!" Toche was now the one to exclaim. "You're in here too?"

The lady prophetess smiled serenely while the commander of the Ender army nodded. Apparently Gridori had been extremely thorough in capturing anyone who might have opposed his plans.

"Quiet. We don't have time." Louie commanded. He directed his attention to Toche. "What is the plan?"

Seeing the little magician was still catching his breath, Ichiko answered. "Yumemi has gone to distract the other guy – what's his name – Griddy?"

"Gridori!" Suzume chimed in.

"Yeah. Munto was supposed to meet us here, but I think he's probably gone to fight Grigory."

"Munto is here?" Louie banished any annoyance he felt at the competence of the 'princesses'. "What is his plan?"

Ichiko shrugged, "Like I said, the plan was to meet at the palace, rescue you guys, and then find a way to stop the attack. He's not here, so we're going to get you out and then meet up with Kazuya. He's scouting out the command ships."

"Excellent. Do you have the keys?"

"The what?" She paused.

"Do you have the keys?" He repeated carefully as though saying it slower would make a difference.

"Well, can't you just bust out using magic?"

Her question was met with ridiculing stares from everyone except Ryuely. Their faces clearly communicating the obvious: this is a prison cell, for magicians, who use magic…and you think we can use magic to get ourselves out?

This prompted some choice words on Ichiko's part.

As Louie, Leica, and Ichiko began bickering, with the more good natured folks watching helplessly from the sidelines, the lady Ryuely stood calmly. She gracefully glided over to the door of the prison cell and placed her hand upon the lock.

The arguments dropped off as the door to the prison swung open with a metallic creak. The prophetess extracted her hairpin from the lock and primly placed it back in her hair. She turned to face the group with an ageless tranquility.

"I will stay here with Toche as neither of us have much battle experience. I wish you the best of luck." She went to the back of the cell to sit on the wooden bench.

Not wanting to waste even a precious minute, all of the fighters recovered from the astonishment of having seen what they just seemed and streamed out of the dungeon cell.

"We need to get to the docks – Kazuya is waiting for us there. He's locating the master ship." Ichiko explained.

"Thank you, girls from the Lower World, for your help." Louie made to leave, but there was a tug on his sleeve.

"You're taking us with you." The taller girl insisted.

Louie weighed his options. Fight to the death with this girl whose stubborn attitude only rivaled his own, or drag her and her friend along to a fight that would almost certainly cause their death.

Either way, Munto and Yumemi would kill him.

Across the palace, Munto taunted Gridori as he pushed through the pair of doors he had just slammed open and sauntered into the room.

"You didn't think the great me would come back? You have grossly underestimated my powers."

He quickly peeked over Gridori, trying to see if Yumemi was here. He found her, seated on the floor, an arm held out in front. Arrayed before her was a giant hole in space-time, larger than he had ever seen.

Remembering Gass' warning about the consequences of using space-time magic, he took a second look at her. Her pale skin was an unhealthy pallor, edging closer to gray by the minute. Sweat plastered her limp and bedraggled bangs to her face. The hand held close to the gap was raw and blistered, as if she had been exposed to a great amount of heat.

She was dying.

Frantically, Munto lunged toward her. "Yumemi!"

Gridori fired a blast of red light in his direction, preventing further movement. "You will not interrupt my plans. She won't die, at least, not until she's finished opening my portal."

Fury filled Munto's mind and he let loose a yell. He summoned space-time magic in an instant, whipping off several large blasts in quick succession.

Each was a direct hit on his opponent, but he deflected all the damage with magic blasts of his own. Almost lazily, he swatted away the attacks as one might a small fly.

"Is that the best that you have?" The face of the king chuckled cruelly. "Even Gass had more of an impact than this."

Emotions still raw from his recent good-bye, Munto was unable to keep a calm head as the rage consumed him. Swinging his arms wildly, without purpose, flinging attack after attack.

But something was wrong.

Fire burned in his right arm, shearing and tearing at his flesh and muscles. He bit his tongue, trying to keep a scream from escaping his throat. He dropped to the floor and clutched at his arm as a pressure began to squeeze tightly.

"It seems my initial analysis was wrong - you are exactly like that fool, Gass."

Sparing a glance, the young king watched in horror as the black space-time magic swirled around his white, spindly, arm. His skin and bones unraveled into thin strips and then disappeared into nothing.

He shook from the aftershock of the great waves of pain that rushed over him only minutes ago. Grasping at the space his arm and hand had once occupied, he shuddered and tried to remember how to breathe.

Coughing brought him out of his pain-induced fog and he forced himself to come out of his curled position so he could see Yumemi.

She coughed again, spewing flecks of blood down the front of her torn school uniform, still at the mercy of the spell. "Yumemi…" he whispered, unable to call her name any louder.

Gridori clucked his tongue. "Tsk. That is rather unfortunate. I thought she would last longer than that." He looked at the hole, which was now large enough to fill the entire corner of the room. "Although, just a little bit more and that should be enough."

He walked over to the Munto and delivered a strong kick into the prone man's ribs. He pinned the young king onto the floor and sneered, only inches away from his face. He laughed as Munto feebly struggled against his weight.

Then there was a sharp prick in the back of his head, followed by the sensation of pulling, with a force that matched an ocean current. He watched in surprise and horror as a pale blue spirit began to emerge from his body.

Disengaging himself from the threat, he jumped back and growled. "You honestly thought that you would be able to use my own trick on me? You thought you could switch us back?"

"Not exactly." Munto chuckled, getting to his feet. "But that wasn't my goal to begin with."

He didn't have much time to ponder the meaning of this statement because a huge blast of time-space energy was suddenly lobbed in his direction.

Barely able to clear the blast radius, Gridori stumbled as a great, red gash appeared across his shoulder and chest. He pressed his hand to the wound and glared at Yumemi.

The teenager was standing and glowering at the imposter king, no longer held captive under his spell.

Curses. The fool must have used the spirit transfer as a means to break his concentration. His plan had been to free Yumemi from the start.

But no matter.

The space-time tear was now large enough to fit a significant number of forces. Now all he needed to do was launch an attack against the humans and then bring his army through the portal to do the same to other worlds.

With a sudden burst of speed, he jumped and flew out of the palace room, breaking wood, stone, and glass as he leapt into the night sky.

Yumemi and Munto stood frozen for a minute, simply overwhelmed by the turn of events. Then the spell was broken and they rushed into each other's arms. Both exhausted, they slid to the floor.

"You have to go after him," Yumemi said. "You have to stop the attack."

"I am not leaving you here," her king said, "you are on the verge of death."

"Look at yourself! You're missing an arm!"

"That's not the same thing!"

A few seconds of argumentative glares later, Yumemi released a small smile. "We're being silly, aren't we?"

She reached out and rubbed the alien mask that covered his face. "I believe that everything will be fine. You will stop Gridori. I will fix the space-time rip."

He shook his head. "You are at your limit - if you push yourself anymore, your body will fail."

"But we only reach our true potential when we are pushed beyond our limits. I believe that I will find the power to close the gap." She pushed him away gently. "That is why you must go now and stop Gridori."

"I understand." He got to his feet, carefully pulling her up with him. He paused when she wobbled, but she reclaimed her balance quickly and waved him away.

"Go. I will follow as soon as I am done."

She watched as Munto also took to the air, shooting out after Gridori. Then she turned her focus on the daunting task of repairing the tear in space and time.

Taking a deep breath, she prayed that she had enough left in her to close it.

It had been child's play to transport the expanded rescue party to the docks with magic teleportation, pairing off Ichiko with Louie, Suzume with Sheza, and Leica with Harka. Marty and Tail brought up the rear guard. Even taking down the guards that they accidentally stumbled upon when they appeared had gone without a hitch.

Kazuya had quickly identified the heart of the fleet: a giant, white, metal beast with smooth curves, clearly the prized Horguze flagship.

The ship was filled with Heavenly beings, their heights far exceeding the tallest of humans. However, all of the leaders had congregated on the main deck of the command ship. Sneaking onto the ship and into the hallway just outside the bridge had taken no more than a few minutes.

Now they needed a plan.

"I am against this idea." Kazuya frowned. "I don't think this is an effective way for us to get to the command console."

Much like before, the plan was simple: run out, take the leaders hostage, demand that everyone stand down, and thus preventing anyone from using the console to fire off the attack.

"Everyone in the Heavens are aware of the girls from the Day of the Future – friends of the Great Bringer of Akuto. They will not fire on them." Louie countered.

"Once the girls have the attention of the commanders, myself, Kazuya-san, Marty, Tail, Sheza, Harka, and Leica will arrest the movements of the leaders, thus preventing an attack."

Kazuya tallied all of the leaders in the room. "What about the elders? We have all of the rulers covered, but wouldn't the elder command potentially supersede that of the king?"

Leica rolled her eyes. "The elders won't do anything. They are cowardly men who appreciate battles that are fought from a distance."

"I could take them," Ichiko offered. "The little old guys in the corner shouldn't be too much trouble for me."

Louie shot her a skeptical look. "It is fine if you are merely part of the temporary distraction with Suzume-san."

"Excuse me?" Ichiko flashed him a dark frown.

"We cannot risk failure. Your actions might lead to one of the kings escaping. Even if one of the leaders is free, he can give the command to launch the attack. If that should happen, it would be the end."

"You think that I can't pull my own weight?" She crossed her arms.

"Quite frankly, no." Louie shot back.

"Just watch me!" Ichiko dashed out with a mighty yell. "AHHHHH!"

Suzume followed suit, jumping into the fray. "NYAAAAAAN!"

Kazuya shrugged apologetically at Louie and then raced towards his own target, the others right on his heels.

None of the Heavenly beings were prepared to see two small human girls charging towards them and they were slow to react. As Louie predicted, many stopped in their tracks when they realized that they were the chosen girls, friends of the Bringer of Akuto.

All of the fighters in their small party had no issue reaching their targets and threatening some level of bodily harm.

Louie reached his leader and then addressed the monitors at the command console. "Touch those controls and your leaders' lives are forfeit. Everyone in this room is to immediately stand down."

He looked around the room to verify that all of the leaders were incapacitated. With mild surprise he noted that Ichiko's hostage was a bit roughed up and it looked like a bruise was swelling up on his cheek. Typical non-magician, using excessive and unnecessary violence.

Mission accomplished. They had successfully prevented the attack against the Lower World.

All that remained was for Munto to finish off Gridori, wherever he was.

It was at that moment that the present king of the Magical Kingdom and the former king of Horguze crashed through the glass ceiling, throwing the entire bridge into chaos.

Closing the tear in time-space required much more effort than gouging the original hole. Yumemi struggled to coax the edges of the portal to close, bringing them together, inch by inch. The she had to hold them in place while she carefully tried to fuse, stitch, melt, and bind the raw edges of space and time

Every muscle was tense, straining to complete the impossible. Her body ached, her head pounded, but still pressed on.

The fate of not only her world, but of the other innocent worlds that would be caught in the backlash, were tied to whether she could finish this task.

But then, very gradually, the gap began to shrink. Minutes passed as the hole slowly closed.

Finally, there was only a tiny speck of light remaining. With one last push, Yumemi watched as that tiny light was swallowed by her reality.

She sagged onto the floor in relief; the gate was closed and the worlds were safe.

Then she heard the giant explosion.

"Munto," she whispered, a bit fearfully. She pulled herself off the floor and began a sloppy run, following the sounds of magical battle.

As the dust settled, the outlines of the two kings became clear: 'Munto', scraped and bruised, breathing hard, leaning against the command console and 'Gridori', missing an arm, with inky markings covering his entire body, a clearly exhausted, but standing strong.

"It's Gridori!" Similar exclamations of shock were being voiced across the room.

Except from Louie. He looked upon the monstrous white body, with the cracked brown mask, and red-orange hair. There was no mistaking the pride and honor in the creature's stance.

"Munto." The right-hand man nodded perfunctorily, waiting for orders.

"Louie." The king returned the gesture before turning back to the task at hand.

"Stand away from the controls!" Munto commanded. "Unless you have a wish to die."

The remaining airmen quickly hustled away from the controls until all that remained was Gridori.

"If you are planning to blow up this command console to prevent the attack, then you'll have to blow me up too." He smiled evilly. "But that's not something that you can do, can you, Munto?"

The young king hesitated.

"You need this body intact, otherwise you'll be trapped in that body forever." It seemed that Gridori had abandoned his need for secrecy. Across the room, people were coming to the realization that the Munto they had been following was actually an imposter.

The real Munto could see in Gridori's eyes that he had every intention of pushing the buttons to launch the attack before the tide of sentiment swung out of his favor. He had moments before a devastating attack would be fired on an unsuspecting world.

That could not be allowed to happen.

"I'm sorry, Yumemi," he murmured under his breath as he raised his arm with lighting speed, calling forth the black rune magic of space-time.

Leaning against a pylon for support, Yumemi staggered onto the bridge, just in time to see Munto fire the final shot against Gridori before crashing to the floor.

Time stopped.

Everyone had seemingly turned to stone, watching in shock and horror as the imposter king was stretched and torn into tiny pieces by the ravenous nature of space-time magic. The pieces became smaller and smaller until nothing remained.

Yumemi was the first to react, sprinting forward to try to catch Munto as he fell. She collapsed under the weight of his body and tumbled to the ground. Pulling herself onto her knees, she dragged his head into her lap, not having the strength to do anything more.

"Munto," she said, softly calling his name.

In only the slightest of movements, he tried to respond, forcibly pushing the air out of his lungs to form the words he wanted to say. But no words came.

Then his body tensed. She noticed the black bonds of space-time magic wrapping tightly around his legs, arm, and torso. Soon the magic would constrict so tightly that his limbs would be fragmented and transported into the void.

She blinked back tears and stroked his head, as though she could reach beyond the mask to his face, his actual face. This was not how it was supposed to end.

A sudden movement broke through her sadness.

Despite the extreme pain, Munto was shakily reaching towards her face. Confused, Yumemi remained still as he carefully grew one of the twig-like fingers toward her collarbone until it was hooked on something around her neck.

Dangling from the golden chain were their rings.

Words from the recent and distant past rang an echoed in her mind.

"Heavenly beings discarded their bodies years ago to make the consumption of akuto easier."
"We absorb akuto and release pieces of akuto. In that way, we support each other."
"The spirit is the force that allows us to take and maintain shape."
"We are born of the Akuto."

She gasped. Munto had already figured out the solution. How could she have not thought of that before?

There were only seconds left before this window would close. Munto's legs were already disappearing under the curse of the space-time magic.

With great haste, she jerked her necklace forward, breaking the chain. Fumbling, she shoved her ring on her left hand.

Next she grabbed his hand, and after only the briefest moment of hesitation, she grabbed one of Munto's claws and carefully slid his ring down to his knuckle.

Instantly, she was flooded with a blend of his emotions – pain, love, agony, relief, determination, courage, and calm.

She closed her eyes and in her mind, her pale blue spirit floated in the dark. Across from her, drifted Munto's golden soul. He radiated warmth and love as his form took her ethereal hand.

"I believe in you, Yumemi." He smiled, an expression that she had sorely missed since their ordeal began. "I have faith in your strength."

His spirit began to fade, but there was nothing to fear. All she needed to do was remember.

She remembered the first time that Munto had reached out to her, while she was walking to school. It had been so surprising to have a strange man in even stranger clothing demand her assistance.

She remembered his subsequent attempts to convince her to aid him: appearing over her bed while she had trouble sleeping, hailing her while on the way to school.

She remembered the day that she made up her mind to help – he had been lying defensively on a rock, on the edge of death as the golden akuto in his body dissolved and disintegrated.

She remembered the sadness and overwhelming loneliness as she witnessed visions of his youth, growing into a young king.

The memories flew hard and fast.

Falling into his arms for the first time that winter day at the amusement park. Walking up the leafy stairs in the palace. Being held against his chest as he confessed the sins of the heavens. Standing before him as he struggled to keep the tiny threads of light connecting their worlds open. Holding hands and creating a new future together.

The more she recalled, the stronger the emotions she felt through the ring. Akuto swirled around her, creating a comfortable warmth as she cast the magic. She could hear and feel the body in front of her shifting, but she didn't dare open her eyes.

She recalled the sensation of meeting him in the palace courtyard, the awkwardness of introducing him to her parents, the thrill of hearing the rap of his knuckles against her window before she was transported into the sky, the warmth of sharing their first kiss.

"Yumemi, look at me." Munto's voice coaxed her from the pool of feelings that were still running through her heart.

Carefully, as though waking from a dream, she opened her eyes.

Munto stood in front of her, perfectly healthy, perfectly normal. His red hair popped against his red jacket and tan skin, his golden eyes shining. He smiled and held up his hand, where his father's ring was situated snuggly around his finger.

"You did it, Yu-"

He was interrupted as she jumped up to trap him in a tight hug and brought her lips to meet his.

EPILOGUE - The Future They Opened

It was just as the fall started in of my last year in middle school that the world was spared from a war that would have destroyed everything. That was when I came to know love and learned of the power that loving someone can grant you. Whether the love is for your family, your friends, or someone special just to you, that love can allow you to overcome even the impossible.

In the aftermath of Gridori's plot, there was much work to be done.

Munto brought the Heavenly countries that sought the ruin of humanity under rein. He worked with Louie and the others to continue reconciling with the human representatives. Over time, he began to forge alliances with some of the politicians and military commanders, with the dissenters becoming fewer by the day.

For myself there was a different sort of challenge - facing my high school entrance exams with Suzume and Ichiko. After months of studying and mock tests, we finally sat the exams and soon thereafter, safely made it into high school.

Some days were hard, when neither Munto nor I were able to accomplish our goals. Those days were dark and frustrating. Entire weeks passed by where we were not able to see each other, but we endured, each trying our best to reach for our dreams.

We let our love and hope carry us forward.

"Are you ready, Yumemi?" Munto stood resplendent in a black outfit, a white cape swirling around his shoulders, he red hair tossed around by the wind.

The young girl by his side looked up at him with a bit of an amused expression. She gestured to her own ornate clothing: a pale gown with a blue panel on the bodice and skirt, surrounded by a white cape of her. The wind tugged at the large white and gold cap on her head, threatening to fly away.

"Are you sure this was necessary?"

"You always should look your best when going into battle – even if that foe is nothing more than your own fear and uncertainty."

Munto reached down to clasp her hand tightly. His gold ring shone in the reddish light of the dawn. The matching ring on her hand also sparkled and reflected the sun's rays as the day slowly began.

"Then yes, I am ready."

The king's eyes glinted with determination and he looked behind them, to the slight and impish form of Irita, who stood anxiously with clasped hands. She gave a hopeful smile as he nodded to her. "I think it's time to bring him home."

Yumemi and Munto looked forward to the sky, clouds swirling between them and the still sleeping human world below. On the edge of the Magical Kingdom, they raised their entwined hands as one.

The familiar black swirl of space-time magic flowed around their arms, curling in the air with the fluidity of water, continuing the path on the future they opened.

THE END.

UPDATE 12/13/16: This story continues with the one-shot "The Future They Explored".

A/N: This story was an absolute pleasure to write and I am so glad that I was able to bring the characters of Munto to life once again.

I want to thank all of you who took the time to write reviews, which encouraged me so much during this process. Thank you for sticking with me until the end of this short story!

Update: This chapter has been edited with minor corrections since the initial release.