Papuru Star

A little human girl in a frilly pink dress skips happily to a big, polished

wood table, upon which a black cat sat next to a book. She was humming to herself as she jumped into the oversized chair at the head of the table.

Little girl

Ready for storytime, Oscar?

Oscar

I've been waiting on eager paws all day! Make it a good one.

Oscar the cat leaped on top of the girl's straight blond haired head and watched her flip the leather book's broken latch and open to a page near the middle. The girl began to read.

Little girl

"Hey diary, it's me again. Its 1050-001-UC so you know what that means. Coalition Carnage is here and it's my turn to-"

Oscar

No, no. Skip to something exciting.

She skimmed a few paragraphs, humming a catchy tone.

Little girl

Hmmm...ah! Here we go. "They teleport me to the Garden..."

Oscar

Oh yes...

Past

The Dawn took in her surroundings. She was in the Garden, her home planet's choice of geodome. Her smile may have told a casual observer that she was pleased with the pick. She whispered words and rose into the air, surveying the jungle warily. Dense foliage, vines, and lush green fauna prevented any ideas of a casual stroll on the jungle floor. Massive trees covered in green vines provided dark recesses for the illusion of safety, branches stretching like fingers of death. Beneath one such tree, she noticed, was a dead tortoise, its spiked shell overrun with vines that also snaked through every orifice. She made sure to stay above the tree line. The sudden appearance of a hundred foot long eel composed of purple energy surprised her. It moved through the sky like its underwater counterpart, violet colored lightning crackled over its outline. Its jaws opened wide, as if to roar at her, but a steadying increase of white light shone from within. Roxy, floating nearby, hooped in excitement.

Roxy

What is this!? A monstrous energy eel has appeared from nowhere! Is this the work of the rare Soul Style of Papuru Magic?

A beam of light exploded from its maw toward The Dawn. A gray brick wall quickly conjured withheld the assault long enough for her to whisper the incantation that instantly transported her fifty feet behind the energy eel. It made a wide, wriggling turn to pursue her. She began the arm movements for her next spell when the thin tip of a sharp, blue object stuck out of her chest. It was the business end of a sword held by Morihilus, who had attacked her from behind.

Roxy

A sneak attack by Superstar Morihilus has struck home! Superstar The Dawn may have taken her last breath!

The smiling fish man drew his face closer to her ear.

Morihilus

So amateurish.

The Dawn turned her head to peer at him. She didn't seem the least bit fazed by being impaled.

The Dawn

Agreed.

She then disappeared, leaving Morihilus floating alone. When she reappeared, it was with a kick to the back of his head. His burgundy skinned body exploded in water upon contact, raining down on the jungle below. The energy eel was close enough now to open its mouth again so she flew away from it toward the canopy of trees below. As she drew closer, she noticed movement among the tress, something that used Quickening and knew the eel was about to fire. She whispered, left hand outstretched toward the eel, right hand hastily making the necessary signs. The incoming beam was intercepted by a red bordered square portal, sending it through to another open portal, straight into the group of trees where she saw the figure moving. The resulting explosion encompassed nearly an acre of dense jungle, charing the vegetation and animals in its violet radius. She drew the image of a triangle in the air, reddish light flowing from her fingers, as she muttered the incantation. The eel continued its charge toward her and she frowned.

Eel

You can't dispell papuru magic as you can ordinary magic. You must be more creative.

The pompous voice issued from the eel but she knew it was the conjuror. The papuru eel tried to swallow her, but she teleported above it. Arms extended to her sides, she chants and two of the brick walls appear, which she uses to sandwich the eel's head. It dissolved like ash, carried away by the wind. She felt magic building up on the jungle floor, five hundred feet from the edge of the blasted area. She teleports there to see the Klugh create a miniature papuru eel and was attempting to enlarge it. It was growing by the second. He smiled when he saw her.

Morihilus

I have you now.

She kicked him between the legs. His fish eyes bulged even more and the eel vanished. She aimed a right cross at his temple, but he drew his weapon at the last second. His swipe made her stop short on her attack and when her attempted teleport fails, he lunges at her. He was to spear her with his fish head rapier; a common weapon of the Klugh military. She spun to his outside right, delivering an elbow to his head. She felt the Aura Cloak deflect the blow, like elbowing one of the trees surrounding them. Lucky for her, her training involved breaking stone with her extremities. Morihilus lashed out with a kick aimed at her ribs. She brought her leg up to block and tried rolling with the strike, but still felt the pain of blocking a strike from a fish man with ten times his normal strength. A strength that was already double hers without the Soul Style enhancement. She somersaulted what she thought was a safe distance from him, her leg throbbing every time it touched dirt. She halted her flips when she noticed he didn't pursue her but was pointing his weapon her way. She knew she was in a mage trap when her healing winds didn't come when called. He was either outside the trap or mage traps had no effect on papuru magic as he fired a purple beam. She had no choice. She needed the Locket. A glob of tiny pearl-white bead like material appeared in front of her to swallow the beam before vanishing. Morihilus lowered his sword, a slight frown creasing his blood red face.

Morihilus

How is that possible? You are within my mage trap.

The Dawn

If you win, I will tell you.

Morihilus

Don't play games with me. I have encountered your kind before. Your brand of magic is incomparable to mine.

Copies of him began to appear from thin air with no outward motion from him, building themselves out of the moisture present within the jungle. They were all around her, twelve in total. Some crutched on tree branches to her right, one waved his rapier as he posed on a dead tree to her left, some pointed their swords at her back. The main one stood out from his clones by the way he held his arms out in a welcome gesture. He then points to her and the water clones swarm her. The Dawn's movements fluidly parry every sword thrust she could see and the gray sand stopped those she couldn't. The clones weren't durable either, disintegrating into clear water at a strong enough hit. The dozen clones were puddles in a matter of seconds. Morihilus stood in amazement.

Roxy

Unbelievably, Superstar The Dawn stood her ground and badassedly took out Superstar Morihilus water clones! She is indeed a master battle artist!

Morihilus

Your battle art is exquisite, my lady. It displays many years spent in your chosen discipline, Eight Path it is called, correct? And with a Talent of five million, you are the one to beat in this competition. Which I aim to do.

The Dawn

Plenty have tried. Much better than this.

Morihilus

I've only just started. And with the exception of your mystery sand, you can't use the vast array of magic spells and curses I'm sure is at your disposal.

The Dawn

Don't need it to take care of a fish man with no Talent for magic so he had to resort to fake magic granted by a piece of coal.

Morihilus

Papuru magic is real and simple to use, but no less potent. And operate just fine within mage traps. Like so.

Energy fish materialize around him, swimming through the air on invisible currents. Their rows of sharp teeth marked them as man-eaters. More and more appeared until it seemed to her she was actually in an underwater jungle. A papuru shark took a bite at Roxy's holoform as it swam through which caused her to yelp slightly. They swarmed around the trees and jungle foliage, passing through any obstacles as if they were apparitions. A buldolphin, native to only the planet Aphlis, opened its jaws and a light beam shot toward The Dawn. If the beam had been the size of the one shot by the eel, she would have died in the resulting explosion. She flipped past the blast radius as more blasts followed from the others. The grainy material again negating the close calls. Rolling to avoid another blast, she was able to grab a stick and hurl it like a javelin toward the fish man. He caught it bare handed.

Morihilus

Resorting to sharp sticks? How primitive.

From the tip of the wood, a thin vine slowly wriggled to life and whipped snake like to attach to his cheek. He recoiled in surprise throwing the stick, yet the vine hung from his face growing in size as his skin around it started to lose color. He yanked it free and it latched to his hand, still growing.

Roxy

Uh oh. Superstar Morihilus has made contact with the water starved jalvandoh vine that litter the Garden. The slightest contact with moisture brings even dead vines back to life!

As The Dawn continues dodging sea beast magic blasts, the ground around Morihilus began to writhe and stir.

Roxy

And at last check, Klugh coat themselves with moisture so they can breath out of their native oceans. That means Superstar Morihilus has a new fan base ready to drain him dry!

Morihilus's rapier was hard at work staving off the sudden assault of green foliage, cursing in his native language. The Dawn in the meantime had discovered the source of the mage trap, or more accurately, the Locket did. It was a small cylinder with cloth siding that held the ancient writings of the past. The substance emitting from the Locket carried the trap to her as she tricked a fish to shoot one of its homies.

The Dawn

Don't try to make me grateful having you around.

She ripped the mage trap cloth off the metal cylinder underneath before smashing it against a tree. She immediately felt the tingle of returning power. Reluctant power, but power needed to save her life. She stretched a hand, mumbling the cantation and ice blue frigid air erupts toward several incoming purple sea life. They froze solid and broke to pieces around her. She carefully poured more Talent into the spell then needed as the vines she intentionally awoke were starting to react to the possible meal in her. The cold was slowing them but not enough so she took to the air, noticing her opponent doing the same. Several meters above the canopy, they halted, glaring at each other.

Morihilus

Dreadful world you have here.

The Dawn

You're only visiting. Try living here.

Morihilus

No thanks.

He then tried to stab her.

Roxy

The battle is taken back to the skies! Who has the advantage here, a Human used to land or a Klugh used to the sea?

The Dawn had teleported some distance between them but Morihilus"s Quickening almost instantly kept him in stabbing range, chasing her only a few meters above the jungle canopy. Several teleports later, she catches him off balance by side stepping instead and laying in multiple stikes of her own. He blocks some but many land on target leaving colorful bruises in their wake. The fish man's fury is unleashed then as giant purple crab claws burst from varies sections of his tall frame reaching for where he hoped she would be. She was, in fact, dozens of feet in front of him, arms folded, laughing.

The Dawn

Crab claws?! That's what you came up with?! No flair at all. Either Papuru magic is lame or you are.

He stared at her briefly then closed his eyes, smiled and regained his regal manner.

Morihilus

The white sand, incredible strength and speed. You are a mage of high order. I have not faced one as skilled since that fool, The Truth a decade previous.

The Dawn

I'm better.

Morihilus

That remains to be seen. He won. You must survive me.

He pointed up and she saw bright pinpoints of light against the heliotrope sky at least fifty feet above her.

Morihilus

I call this Purple Rain. As for flair...

Beams shot down at the speed of light, faster then any human could possibly react to. Dozens upon dozens of violet blasts obliterated twenty meters of jungle, leaving nothing but ash. The Dawn, amidst the rain of destruction, held an umbrella composed of the mysterious sandy substance. She smiled and waved.

Morihilus

I must know what that is. I need a closer-

A tentacle of the substance he marveled at had snuck up on him from the jungle trees to wrap around both legs. He was jerked to the ground so fast he left his rapier spinning in the air in his wake. The laser rain ceased and The Dawn teleports to Morihilus who was getting to his feet.

Morihilus

If you think that's enough-

She let him walk the 8 Path. Right straight, left cross, followed by a back elbow to the temple and left elbow to the sternum, which proceeded double knees to the chin. Landing in a crouch, she back sweeps his feet from under him and spinning as gracefully as a ballerina, brings the heel of that same appendage down on the bridge of his flat fish nose just as his head made contact with the ground. The jungle was silent, as if stunned by the brutality of the sequence. Roxy, on the other hand, could barely contain her enthusiasm as she started the count. Morihilus didn't move.

***

The Dawn's omniband brought her back to the ramp of her streamjet as she requested. This precaution allowed her to sense that there were three people onboard instead of two. After reading the Talent, she knew it wasn't the pilot or attendant. Five million. She balled her fist, ready to storm inside, but stops. Eyes closed, she breathes in deep before calmly walking up the ramp. In the main cabin stood her two Syncs, holding hands in clear terror of the man who sat in one of the cabin's gaudy orange chairs. Her diary sat off on a side booth, pen still documenting her current thoughts and actions. She wondered what it was writing now. The man, known on her world as Xenzalin, Wiseman of the Talis, stood and came toward her. He moved slowly, bald head down in thought, then his head snapped up, eyes sharply on her.

Xenzalin

The mage trap had no effect. Did you try to channel magic through it at the time?

The Dawn

Didn't think of it. Would you like it back now?

She reached into her battle garb revealing a blood red oval two inches in length and held by a cheap looking bronze chain around her neck. It had an inscription on its surface that resembled a 'T'.

The Dawn

I'm sure there are more loyal subjects who would gladly hold on to this for you.

Xenzalin

No. And you will utilize it more often.

The Dawn

I don't need this to win.

Xenzalin

Seriously? You would be dead if not for this Locket. And these ridiculous, self imposed restrictions-

The Dawn

Hasn't stopped me yet.

Xenzalin

It nearly did today! Limiting yourself to low Talent cost magics will only led to your defeat.

The Dawn

Look, I don't even want to be here! If you want to learn how this Locket works, I can use it for you doing any number of tests.

Xenzalin

It's rare the Locket awakens enough to be of use, let alone in combat situations. This is not up for debate. Use the Locket or the blind eye I have for your friends activities will suddenly become more watchful.

She heard one of her Syncs squeak softly. Ignoring her, she instead stared hard at him, his pasty white skin not even reflecting the lights of the cabin.

The Dawn

You said if I compete they would come to no harm.

Xenzalin

No, I said if you make the Finals. And that is not possible with your refusal to fight at your full potential.

The Dawn

Aren't you afraid of the consequences?

Xenzalin

No, you are a strong willed woman. Strong enough to keep your senses. Besides, the Locket affords you a million Talent. Utilize that.

The Dawn

Fine, I'll use the Locket for that, at least. Just leave my people alone.

Xenzalin

That's not enough. You need to understand. We have been in possession of the Traveller's Locket since the beginning of our species and not since the dawn of our current age has it done little more then choose crops of potential Supremes. Until you. You awoke it more fully. That's why it named you The Dawn.

The Dawn

Well, maybe it should have stayed asleep. It's creepy as hell.

Xenzalin

Don't be blasphemous.

The Dawn

Would you just go away now.

Xenzalin

Not until you understand-

The Dawn

I get it, okay! I'll use the damn-

Xenzalin

Not that! What I mean is, Wendnatoh took The X for one of his experiments. I know how close you two were.

The Dawn tried to take his jaw off with her elbow. With no visible effort, he side stepped and used her own momentum to spin her back to where her Syncs stood. One, Fawn she believed, helped keep her on her feet. The Dawn nodded her thanks.

The Dawn

Ladies, help me take this pasty bastard down and we'll skip the rest of this stupid competition.

Pawn (nervously)

What can we do against him? His Talent-

Fawn

Is the same as you and I and we don't have the same drawbacks as her. We can take him. So, what's the plan?

She relayed the plan mentally, a little trick she picked up from a beloved friend, then approached Xenzalin with caution.

Xenzalin

Don't do this. I am much stronger and more intelligent then you could ever be. Just use the Locket in battle and I will record the data.

The Dawn

Record this!

She measured her strikes this time, careful to not be grabbed. He evaded each strike with ease. Fawn approached fast from behind, just as The Dawn herself would. Xenzalin reached a bone white hand toward her, only to have his hand pass right through. The illusion gave The Dawn enough time to lash out at his shin with her right leg. She was thrown off balance when he lifted said leg, then used it to kick her away. At this point, Pawn should have attacked with a spell, but a quick glance revealed the Sync to be standing in stone terror. Fawn came from the front, a hastily spoken portal to deep space sprung to fruition, drawing at Xenzalin with a cold embrace. He pulled from the decompression as the women stood by, unaffected. He raised a hand and the portal was broken into a thousand shards. Those shards became strings zooming toward them, some wrapping around Fawn's hands and stitching her mouth closed. Before The Dawn could do anything, the strings headed for her were intercepted by globs of white beady sand.

Xenzalin

Did it respond to your thoughts or act on its own?

The Dawn's only comment was to send everything in the cabin not bolted to the ship at him in a chaotic storm of furniture. Her diary still sat undisturbed, having been enchanted long ago. In an unbelievable sequence of dodges, some of which his body seemed to defy the laws of physics or bend at impossible angles, Xenzalin avoided all contact with the telekinetic missiles. He rebounds off the steel bulkhead, arms still behind his back, with a kick aimed at her head. She avoids this with a roll and used this advantage to snare him with half a dozen mystery sand coils. She closed the short distance between them in two quick strides, aiming a fist at his nose. She passed right through and for a split second thought she was fooled by an illusion. His hand emerging from the sand to seize her wrist made her realize this was no trick of the senses. Before she could process, he was free of her bound and spun her into a console wall, breaking the monitor showing the picking of the next geodome. Fawn, still cut off from magic by the string, tried an axe kick from above and behind. She met failure yet again as he preformed a standing backflip, Fawn's heel missing his head by millimeters. The toe of his boot connects with her abdomen and his momentum slammed her on her back with him standing on her. Blood and vomit squirt through the stitching of her lips and nose, her eyes bulging. The Dawn sent a stonewall into his face, but it passed through to dent the bulkhead beyond. He retaliated by sending some invisible force from his left hand into her and she hit the bulkhead with almost the same velocity as her stonewall attack. She struggled to her feet, wiping blood from her mouth. Xenzalin calmly regards her then sneers in contempt.

Xenzalin

I have had enough of this. Your friends can join The X. Wendnatoh?

A wave of his hand brought forth the simmering gray haired visage of the Wiseman.

The Dawn

Wait! Please!

Xenzalin threw a glance her way.

The Dawn

I will do as you ask. All of it. Okay? Just don't give them to...to him.

The image before him vanished and his angered frown reversed to a polite smi!e.

Xenzalin

Why thank you.

He vanished in magenta smoke. The Dawn knelt where she landed, breathing hard, eyes on the plush carpeting. A figure crept up to her, gingerly.

Pawn

I'm sorry. I just... I couldn't do anything. I was so scared. I'm sorry.

The Dawn

It's okay. You wouldn't have made a difference anyway. He's a Wiseman after all. Go help Fawn.

Pawn timidly rushed to Fawn, who still hadn't moved, but the strings where gone allowing her to not choke to death on her own vomit. The Dawn stood to her feet, the Locket around her neck swaying slightly with the motion, before walking to her Syncs.

End chapter