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Kybernan - 7

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Chapter Seven: Chivalry

The main difference between a Conjuror and an ordinary Steersman was not necessarily the amount of power they possessed. A regular steersman could easily beat a conjuror with their one ability and a conjuror could easily beat a physically stronger opponent by dizzying them with several different abilities.
Normal steersman could actually gain extra abilities without becoming conjurors. They were only temporary of course and had to be granted to them by other steersman or humans. That was the main difference between them. A conjuror's powers come from within, but a steersman's come from without.


Peter was now pacing the one clear part of the floor in Roni's messy room. In his hand he held the notebook that contained all of the boy's sketches and drawings. The pictures were very good for someone Roni's age, but the skill in which the pictures were drawn were not nearly as fascinating as the small details that Peter glanced throughout the artwork. The shadowy figure by the pyramid, the floating shapes amid a starry sky, the strangely armored teen walking through a modern city, and a waterfall extending seemingly from the sky. All such familiar oddities to Peter. He felt like he was flipping through a scrapbook of his native world. The power to stop the Shadow's attack and the knowledge of a world he's never seen, Peter thought. How does it connect? What am I missing here?
"Roni, how long have you been seeing this stuff?" Peter asked as he stopped pacing and indicated the notebook. Roni was only a few feet away from where Peter was standing. He sat backwards on a swiveling chair with his arms crossed over the chair's back and his head resting on top of them. He glanced up at Peter with a shrug and then continued to stare at the floor. Peter could tell that the day's revelations were finally starting to catch up to the boy. He wanted nothing more than to leave and let the Ura family take some time to adjust to all that had happened, but he couldn't. The Shadow was still out there and he was more than likely looking for Roni even as they spoke.
"Look, I'm sure you're tired of me asking questions," Peter said grabbing the boys attention. "Is there anything you want to ask me?" Peter hoped that if he could get Roni to talk again, he could get some answers.
Roni lifted his head off of his arms and looked towards the window thoughtfully. "Well, I know that you're a steersman," Roni began. "I know that you don't hate humans like others do, I know that you're a Knight, and that you're over one-hundred-years-old. Is that sword your one attack kinda thing?"
"Its not magic," Peter replied as he slipped a small silver ring from his finger. "The sword is inside of this ring. Its a device that Evan's great grandfather cooked up. Each of the Xiphias Knights has one." The ring was as plain as it could be. Not a single marking or indentation.
The boy hardly seemed to be listening to Peter's explanation. Roni looked his friend in the eye and asked, "What are you doing here on Earth? How long have you been hiding here?"
The steersman hadn't expected that question. It seemed that his entire past was coming back to haunt him today.
"Since the end of the war when the barriers between our worlds were erected," he replied at last. "I traveled between the worlds a lot in efforts to restore the friendship between Kybernân and Earth. When the steersman finally won the war, I..." Peter hadn't thought about what he had left behind in so long. How could it still be so hard to think about? "I had every reason to go back to Kybernân. All steersman were being recalled home, the humans didn't want anything to do with us, but I couldn't just leave like everybody else. I had made a promise. I promised that I'd never give up on the humans or the dream that we'd help each other like in the old days."
Peter noticed that Roni was looking at him with pity in his eyes. The Knight forced himself to smile, but he was sure it came across as halfhearted. "I knew that it wouldn't do anyone any good for me to stay here, but I just couldn't leave."
Peter shook his head and smiled again, trying to laugh off the awkward moment. "Silly of me, I know."
"No!" Roni said quickly. "It was... That was a brave decision."
Peter was taken aback by his friend's comment and before he could think of anything to say in reply, Roni spoke up again.
"How do you know that Shadow guy?" Roni asked while glancing out the window fretfully.
Peter's blood boiled at the mention of the Shadow. "He had once called me his rival," he said with disdain. "We'd never been friends in any way. In fact, he'd tried to destroy me more than once. I can hardly believe that I once felt sorry for him. That Dark Conjuror is nothing more than a cold blooded killer"
Silence fell over the room once again. Peter now realized that he was clenching his fist so hard that it was staring to hurt. He had to stop letting his emotions get the better of him. That had nearly gotten him killed earlier that day.
"Is he coming back?" Roni asked as he sat up in the swiveling chair. "The Shadow could make the same mistake as you and think that I attacked him, right?"
Peter hesitated in answering, but he knew there was no point in side stepping the issue anymore. "Yes, he probably thinks the same thing."
Roni got up from his seat and held up his chin bravely. "So what do we need to do?" he asked with as much determination as he could muster. Peter had actually been wondering the same thing. He had to talk to his friend about their next move, but there was someone else that deserved to be let in on the conversation as well. "First thing's first," Peter said. "We're going to have to tell your parents the truth about everything."
"Everything?" Roni practically squeaked.
"Yes, they deserve to know what's happening," Peter replied as he walked out the door and stepped into the small hallway outside. Roni dashed after him, whether to stop him or join him, Peter never found out because the minute they both reached the staircase that lead to the living room, they were distracted by the sound of the doorbell.

Roni stared over Peter's shoulder as Evan of all people walked to answer the bell. "That's probably Zee now," he called back towards the other adults in the living room. The man opened the door and stepped aside for whoever was standing outside. "Hey, Zee! Come on in," he greeted.
In stepped a young man no more than 18-years-old, but he didn't look a thing like any other teenager that Roni knew. He was wearing a perfectly ironed blue dress shirt, a plain red tie, black pleated slacks, and black dress shoes. He was also carrying a briefcase at his side and he stood up straight and alert almost like a military man. However, the thing that really struck Roni was that he had slightly long white hair that was neatly combed into place. "Good afternoon, Evan," the young man replied with the slightest hint of annoyance. "I assume that there's a good reason behind you asking me to meet you here rather than at the headquarters."
"Heh, hee, hee, that's funny, Zee," Evan said nervously as he looked back towards Mr. Ura and Kateri who were sitting within earshot around the coffee table. "I don't know if I'd really call your campus an HQ of any sort."
He must be one of the Xiphias Knights, Roni thought. That's why Evan's trying to cover for him.
"Oh look! Its Pete," Evan said as he noticed the boys standing above him for the first time. "Hey! How about if the three of us guys head outside and you can both help me check on something in the van?"
Evan quickly ushered Zee back through the door and gestured for Peter to follow him. Roni was annoyed that he had been ignored, but he didn't let that stop him from following Peter and the others out the door. As soon as they were all outside on the front porch, Evan closed the door behind them and sighed with relief. "Pete, how long are we going to stay here with the civilians before you tell us what's going on?" the man grumbled. "I should be going over things at the lab!"
Roni hadn't realized that Evan and Kateri were clueless about Peter's theory that he had super powers. Peter didn't seem all that interested in explaining things at the moment. "Evan, have you completely forgotten your manners?" Peter scolded. "Aren't you going to introduce me to Zee?"
"Oh good, I'm glad that nickname is catching on," the teenager sighed without looking at either of them.
"Sorry," Evan apologized before introducing them. "Peter, this is Azure Blaze. He's our newest Knight."
Evan made a great show of turning to the young man to give the other half of the introduction. "Zee, this is Peter," he said. "The Peter. The steersman that founded the Xiphias Knights."
"And I'm Roni," the boy interrupted.
"Who invited you outside?" Evan said with annoyance.
Azure's dark blue eyes widened slightly, but otherwise he maintained his calm demeanor. "Peter, its a great honor to meet you, sir," he said bowing his head. Peter bowed back and replied, "Glad to have you on the team."
Peter started to brief both Evan and Azure about what had happened and his theories about Roni's so called super powers. The boy had had quite enough of this talk and decided to take a second to glance down at Evan's right hand. Sure enough, Evan did have a small silver ring like Peter's on his index finger. The thought of Evan wielding a sword made him a little nervous. He seemed more like the kind of man that would chop off your head in an angry fit than a true swordsman.
Roni turned and looked down at Azure's hands, but he didn't see any ring on his fingers. Could that be because he was, too young to carry a sword? Evan had said that he was their newest Knight. Because of the teenager's name, Roni couldn't help, but picture him wielding a magic sword covered in blue flames like an anime character would. It would be called Muramasa, the boy fantasized. And only the bravest samurai could wield it!
"'Roni,' was it?" asked Azure suddenly, snapping the boy out of his imagination.
"Yes, sir," he replied regretting the "sir" part when he realized that Azure was the second youngest person around.
"I suggest that you and your family accompany me to one of my father's houses outside of town," Azure said as if he was addressing an adult rather than an eleven-year-old. "Once we have them apprised them of the situation of course."
"What?" Roni asked confused.
"If you've become a potential target, you're family may be at risk as well. I assure you that there will be more than enough room to accommodate you."
"Can't we stay here?" Roni asked worriedly.
"We have no idea how great the Dark Conjuror's senses are, but we must assume that he can find you anywhere by now. It'd be best if you get as far away as quickly as you can." As Azure spoke, he glanced partway over his shoulder as if he was keeping an eye out for something.
This is the worst day of my life, Roni assessed.

Inside the house, Kateri sat on the couch in the living room with her hands folded on her lap. Roni's father, Lot, was sitting across from her and his wife had gone off to see to whatever she'd been cooking earlier before this entire ordeal began.
"So 'Zee' is another friend of yours?" Lot asked skeptically. "I don't mean to sound rude, but he doesn't even seem old enough to be in college yet, let alone be hanging out with you and Evan."
"Well, Azure's father used to work with us," the woman replied. "After he retired, the boy just kinda took over for him."
"What exactly is it that you three do?" Lot asked curiously.
"I guess you could kind of call us storm chasers, but we chase specific kinds of storms," Kateri explained. "We look for otherworldly phenomenon. Anything that could be related to Kybernân."
"Is that why you were there where the so called attack happened?" Lot asked through a sideways glance.
"Yes actually," Kateri admitted. She may not have been able to tell the whole truth, but she refused to lie about anything.
"You guys probably never had anything quite as drastic happen to you before, huh?"
Melody came walking back into the room that moment saying, "I beg to differ, Lot." She sat down on a chair to the right of her husband and looked at him with a very serious expression. "I'd be willing to bet that they see all sorts of amazing things everyday."
"What makes you say that?" Kateri asked intrigued.
"Well, Kybernân and Earth were so closely connected," she began, addressing both her guest and her husband. "People like to think that they're two different worlds, but they're really just different parts of the same world. They have a direct effect on one another. I doubt that that connection was broken just because a shield was put between them."
Kateri wished Evan would come back inside. He could explain all the technical aspects of the connection between the worlds and how right Melody was about the subject. "We actually do find lots of links like that even today," Kateri said. "The two worlds do indeed still bleed into each other. The only connection that's been truly lost is the one between the steersman and us. And to think that that used to be the strongest connection of all."
The front door opened and Evan, Azure, Peter, and Roni all came back into the small house. Roni and Evan looked uncomfortable for some reason. Azure didn't register any emotion, but than again, he hardly ever did. Kateri guessed that whatever business Peter had here was up and that they'd be leaving now. Peter stepped forward determinedly and turned to face both Roni's parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Ura," he began steadily. "I'm afraid that I haven't been completely honest with you and I'd like to rectify that."
Lot looked at the boy tentatively, but Melody nodded patiently and replied, "Go on, Peter."
Kateri was now staring at her old friend with concern because she knew that if Peter was going to tell them the truth, it probably meant the whole truth.
"The reason Roni was at the attack sight was because of me," he began evenly. "I rushed right into the area because I knew that I could help stop it. I was sure that I could help because I sensed that the attacker was another steersman. Another steersman like me."
Kateri felt bad about staring at Lot and Melody to see their reactions, but they honestly didn't seem to notice her. Lot was clearly shaken and Melody's expression was blank yet pensive.
"I'm not human like I led you to believe," Peter continued, showing a hint of guilt on his face. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble and I certainly didn't mean to drag your son into trouble either."
"So how did Roni end up there?!" Lot asked with a mix of worry and anger in his voice.
Peter turned his head aside sharply at Lot's question as if he had been slapped in the face.
"I didn't know who the other steersman was and he turned out to be a very powerful Dark Conjuror," Peter continued. "I tried to stop him, but he ended up winning the fight. He probably would have killed me if it hadn't been for your son."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lot interrupted in a calmer voice than before, but Kateri could tell that he was still upset.
"Roni put himself between me and the Conjuror's final attack," Peter said glancing at Kateri who he knew hadn't heard this part of the story. "And I don't know how, but Roni was able to stop it. He didn't have a weapon or any kind of device, but he sent the attack rolling harmlessly behind us and then spinning back at the other steersman. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I could sense that it was all Roni's doing. I could sense that he willed the attack to turn around."
"What happened to the conjuror?" asked Melody in a calm tone of voice.
"He was hit, but I doubt it did anything more than bruise his ego," Peter replied. "He's still out there and I'm worried that he might come looking for payback."
A brief silence fell over the room. Melody seemed to be looking passed everyone at her son who was still standing beside Evan and Azure. Lot was shaking his head slowly while pressing his hand against his face.
"Mr. and Mrs. Ura," Peter spoke up at last. "I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to protect your son."
"I think you've done enough!" Lot almost shouted. "Is that nut coming here? Do we need to pack up and leave the city or something?!"
At this, Azure stepped forward and said, "My father has a house just outside of town. He'd be more than happy to take you in if need be."
Wrong thing to say right now, Azure, Kateri thought helplessly.
Melody stood up from her chair and went to put a hand on her husband's shoulder, which made him sigh with frustration, but also seemed to calm his nerves. She reached out with her other hand to Roni, who slowly made his way over to her side. She wrapped her free arm around her son's shoulders and then turned to look at Kateri, Evan, Azure, and Peter with a serious, but gentle face. "Thank you, Peter," she said at last. "For telling us everything. If you'll all excuse us now, I think Lot and I have a decision to make."
And the fourth Knight is seen at last! He's gotta be one of my favorite characters in this story thus far.

Any feedback you have for this chapter would be greatly appreciated. :aww:

A couple of these characters and elements are (C) somebody else
Other characters (C) SuperheroGeek13

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eightcrows's avatar
An interesting turn! I like how we're getting more on Peter, and he's not as simple personality-wise as he seemed earlier. And Zee! He seems cool. Hope to get more on him soon. Keep up the good work!