Sphyraena's Requiem

"Naphthien says all WARBLER Centers have been destroyed," Rahim walked back from the cockpit.

"Damn it," Niode sighed. "So Fanghui wants us dead."

"Unfortunate turn of events," Oreic twitched his Vulpi ears. "But at least we get to fight another day."

"Thankfully, mom got the stealth mode working before that shark thing destroyed us," Nashura smiled.

Naphthien winked, holding two fingers in a peace sign. Rahim took out a protein bar to eat as Isrina and Tetsuyin hugged their only children tightly. Isrina leaned her head on Shien's, stroking his face. Tetsuyin hummed a hymn, wiping Mivangeline's face from dust as she adjusted her hair.

"How much stealth do we have left?" Rahim turned to Naphthien.

She gestured with sign language.

"61.7?" Rahim nodded. "Good. Still enough to keep us hidden from those chimaeras."

"Well, that's a relief," Oreic looked out the windows to see the shark-shaped warships swarming through the skies. "Kinda blows my mind that we are running through the streets again like in the Niang Chronicles. It's funny how history tends to repeat itself."

"Anyone got in touch with Cecilius?" Niode asked.

"No," Rahim shook his head. "None of our UICA phones work."

Rahim threw the wrapper at Lansen. The trash buddy jumped up, opening its big mouth to devour the garbage.

"Yum! Yum!" Lansen flapped his wings.

"But non UICA products work!" Niode noted. "Does anyone have something non-UICA?

As everyone except for Oreic shook their heads, Isrina hopelessly looked at her phone. Her phone's screen still portrayed scrambling gray particles.

"Perhaps, my flip phone?" Oreic flicked a small device from his robe onto his hand. "We Vultau masters appreciate the classic."

"That would work!" Isrina exclaimed.

"I can call our wonderful UICA president again," Oreic said. "But last time I gave the good man a buzz, he didn't reply."

The gang waited anxiously for Oreic's old phone to emit Cecilius' voice.

"Ugh. Still, nothing," Oreic closed his phone. "Isn't it strange for Cecilius to-"

The phone vibrated on Oreic's hand.

"Oh! Wait!" Oreic picked up, turning on the speakerphone.

"Is it Cecilius?" Isrina asked.

"Yes! Talk about time and destiny! Hello? President Cecilius?"

"Hi?" A girl's mellow voice replied. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Wait, it's Dorian!" Isrina ran to Oreic. "Dorian! Are you alright?"

"Hi, Dr. Niang," Dorian's voice sounded from the phone. "Oh my gosh. Thank goodness. Are you safe? Sorry if my voice is a bit unclear. I am using an encrypted frequency to contact you via Cecilius' phone. Where are you?"

"Encrypted?" Niode raised an eyebrow.

"I am with the Murhavs, the Shuruukos, and Master Oreic. We're trying to escape from the droid army. Chimaeras are everywhere. What about you? Who are you with? Where are you?"

"Um, I am with Saitori, Magnus, and Arius. I am sending you the coded coordinates to where we are headed."

"Where's Cecilius?" Rahim questioned.

No answer.

"Dorian?" Isrina worried.

The phone was still silent. Soon, everyone heard Dorian sniff. She was crying.

"Dorian? What's wrong?" Isrina asked.

"It's okay, Dorian. I can talk to them," A familiar voice spoke from the phone. "Hi, Dr. Niang? You there?"

"Saitori!" Isrina recognized the voice. "What happened?"

"Is she good?" Rahim scratched his head.

"Guys, um," Saitori hesitated. "You see, Cecilius… well, Cecilius is... dead…"

"Wait, wut?" Nashura exclaimed.

"Um, can you say that again?" Niode blinked.

"Cecilius… he… he's gone…"

Everyone gasped. Even Naphthien violently turned her head to the group as the terrible news was shared.

"No," Isrina shook her head. "No. Cecilius… he can't be…"

"No, no, no!" Niode banged his head on a seat. "This is bad! What happens now? Who will lead us? What's gonna happen to the UICA?"

"He can't be dead!" Rahim punched the wall. "How? Just how? How can it be?"

"I saw, I saw Zentroid Crucifyzoa kill him…"

"Hold on. Did you say Zentroid?" Isrina shouted.

"Wait, wait a minute," Rahim shuddered. "Don't, don't tell me. Wasn't he that damned computer on… on the train…"

"Zentroid? He's alive?" Oreic stammered. "And now he's here? In America?"

Naphthien frantically glanced back with a hand signal.

"I know, Naphthien! I thought we killed him!" Rahim replied.

"If Zentroid Crucifyzoa is here in America, it's going to be a literal meat grind!" Oreic said. "Seriously, this country is gonna end up being an all-you-can-eat buffet for Zentroid!"

"I, I am so sorry," Saitori mumbled. "I fought Zentroid, but I still couldn't stop him. This, this is my fault."

Everyone was silent again as Saitori cried. Isrina, Oreic, Rahim, and Naphthien remembered their terrifying experience, running away with Saitori from the monstrous droid that devoured their friends on the train escaping from the Middle Eastern Smite to Europe. Isrina clenched her fist as she recalled. Zentroid pretended to be her husband calling for help in the dark.

Isrina's little chickadee was almost eaten that day. The group had to work together to get Shien away from Zentroid's mouth. They tried to set a trap for Zentroid, rigging a train car with bombs. The group lured him in, the train car was set ablaze. Zentroid was heard making baby screams as he was engulfed in flames. They thought the explosions stopped Saitori's blood-curdling invention, but they were wrong.

"We are all doomed," Rahim shook his head. "Yet, I thought we had him."

"Ugh, still can't believe Zentroid survived that," Oreic drooped his Vulpi ears. "He killed our bright UICA president."

"Sait… Saitori," Isrina took a deep breath, calming down. "We… talked about this, right? Do you remember? I know you still feel guilty about this, but we can't worry about Zentroid now. We need to figure out what to do next. What can we do with Cecilius gone?"

"We have a plan, but it's complicated," Saitori replied. "Cecilius told me about a place before he died. I can't tell you all this directly and that's why Dorian used an encrypted message. Dorian will send encoded coordinates to Niode's runner. We have to keep this secret from non-UICA people."

"Okay? But we are in Naphthien's runner though."

"Alright, shouldn't be a problem. Dorian is sending them to Naphthien."

Rahim ran up to the cockpit beside his wife. The two looked at the central control screen. Sets of letters and numbers lit up on the screen. Naphthien gave a thumbs up.

"We got it!" Rahim shouted.

"Good," Saitori replied. "Remember, you all must keep it secret from anyone that's not part of the UICA! Not even President Forroway nor the politicians may know! It's the only way to make sure Fanghui has no chance to outsmart us again."

"We will," Isrina nodded.

"General! We've been spotted!" Arius's voice was heard.

The phone made muffled noises.

"General?" Oreic listened to the phone. "Saitori? What's happening?"

His phone was cut off.

"Hope they will be okay," Rahim said.

"Knowing our legendary ex Shin-Kaminari, I am sure she will find a way," Oreic slipped his flip phone under his robe. "After all, we have dealt with chimaeras before during the Niang Chronicles."

"Naphthien," Rahim looked at the control panel. "How does it look?"

Naphthien used sign language to communicate with Rahim. They took a moment to examine the map.

"Choro Emplexion? What's that?" Rahim questioned.

Naphthien signaled that she didn't know. Niode, Isrina, and Rahim analyzed the coordinates. Tetsuyin, Oreic, and Nashura chatted as they watched Shien and Mivangeline.

"Do any of you know what that is?" Isrina asked.

"Choro Emplexion?" Niode scratched his head. "Never heard of it. Nashura? Oreic? Have you two heard of Choro Emplexion?"

The two shook their heads.

"Is that where we need to go?" Nashura walked up.

"Pretty much," Rahim placed his hand on his chin. "Only if I can understand the directions. Is this a GPS? I don't recognize this format. I don't see a clear path to the location. The points are all over the place!"

"Wait a second. Not quite. I think I understand how Dorian did this," Niode pointed. "You see the coordinate axes are latitude and longitude, right?"

"Yes."

"They are scattered because Dorian hid the straight path with scrambles of altitude outliers as if the grid was three-dimensional instead of just latitude and longitude," Niode slid his fingers across the messy clusters of red points in a straight line to Choro Emplexion. "The coordinates Dorian sent us are in a geographical worldbuilding format that the Syanic Earth Team uses to build the game! We use altitude to create landscapes and scale the heights of complex 3D objects like buildings."

"Ah, smart," Nashura smiled. "After all, Dorian's got the big brain!"

"Niode," Isrina patted his back. "You are ingenious."

"But I thought you hate math," Rahim said.

"Okay, don't start," Niode crossed his arms. "I am good at math! Especially when it's about Syanic Earth!"

"What if it's not about the game?"

"Don't care."

"Oh yeah? Two times two is what?"

"Don't gimme that! It's four!"

"What's 22 times 53?"

"Wahhhh!"

"That's what you get for depending on your calculation programs to do the math for you!"

The group chuckled as Rahim ridiculed Niode. However, they were interrupted when Naphthien swerved the runner right, sending everyone flying across the vehicle.

"What the?" Niode rolled on the floor.

"Naphthien?" Rahim felt Lansen land on his head.

Naphthien slid the vehicle under a ruined building, making an abrupt stop at the lobby's parking lot full of damaged cars.

"Mom! Wut happened?" Nashura hit her head on the seats.

She frantically showed the group sign language. Naphthien looked like she was trying to show a big machine.

"You heard a sphyraena?" Rahim exclaimed.

"Is that bad?" Niode blinked.

"Very," Isrina worried.

The group heard gritty electronic horns echoing from afar.

"It's coming!" Oreic felt his Vulpi ears twitch in rhythm to the eerie noises becoming louder. "We need to be quiet!"

"Wut? Why?" Nashura asked.

"Someone tell me what that sound was!" Niode panicked. "Why did Naphthien drive like that? Did a chimaera find us?"

"Shhh!" Rahim demanded. " We need to talk very quietly. It's a barracuda hovertank. Naphthien quickly hid us here so it doesn't find us."

"But we have stealth, right? We can't be seen."

"It doesn't matter for the sphyraena," Isrina whispered. "It uses echolocation."

"What's that?"

"Like dolphins and bats, the sphyraena can detect objects and other sounds based on the reflection of their tone frequencies. With the rubble around us, we have a chance to hide from the barracuda."

"Um, okay? May I ask what's the difference between sphere whatever and barracuda?"

"Sphyraena is the scientific name for barracuda fish," Rahim said.

"Guys," Oreic placed a finger on his mouth.

The gang stopped talking, listening to the blaring noises becoming louder and louder. They soon heard a booming vibration that irritated their ears. They looked through the windows to see an enormous floating tank with two large wings armed with rotating ball turrets. As the flying tank hovered about the street, its blue repulsorlift power continued to pulsate the ground. The tank's huge warhead launcher and main double-barreled tank cannon emitted a discord of trilling anodic modulation. The sphyraena hovertank made a series of electronic howls with bending pitches as it hovered across the street.

"I hate this," Tetsuyin covered her ears, feeling dizzy. "Make it stop."

"We will make it, Tetsuyin," Nashura assured her.

Tetsuyin shook her aching head from the pain, trying to hold herself from moaning. As she began to wince, Lansen saw a protein bar fall off Rahim's coat pocket.

"More yum yum for Lansen!" Lansen blurted out, waddling towards the bar.

"Lansen, shhh," Niode grabbed Lansen, covering his beak.

Everyone glared at the bird-shaped trash can as Niode convinced Lansen to ignore the bar. The group looked outside, seeing the barracuda hovertank make an abrupt stop.

"Great, your trash buddy seemed to catch its attention," Rahim took his protein bar back.

The tank bellowed deafening buzzes.

"Get on the floor," Isrina murmured. "Away from the windows. It has 20 eyes. Don't let it see you."

"20 eyes?" Niode sweated.

Isrina helped Tetsuyin sit Shien and Mivangeline on the floor. Everyone sat. The group could see glaring red lights shine through their windows. They held their breath, watching the red lights swivel about the windows. As the windows flickered with red light, the gang could hear the tank blasting out rapidly beeping dissonance.

"Stop this," Tetsuyin groaned, unable to hold herself back any longer. "It hurts. I hate it."

"What's wrong with her?" Rahim quietly asked. "She's gonna lead the tank here."

"Mrs. Shuruuko?" Nashura worried.

"Oh no," Isrina realized. "Tetsuyin has 'musician's ears.' She's sensitive to certain sounds."

"It's okay, dear," Niode sat beside his wife, placing his hands on top of hers, helping her cover her ears. "I got you."

Tetsuyin moaned in agony as the red lights flickered along with the wicked cadence of bending outcries. Everyone felt their skin hairs standing on end, fearing that the tank would find them.

"Just hang in there," Oreic felt his Vulpi ears tremble. "Please. The barracuda will find us."

Tetsuyin was whining louder and louder, squirming her head in different directions.

"So sorry, Tetsuyin," Rahim covered her mouth. "So sorry you had to go through this."

Tetsuyin cried, flailing her body as Niode did his best to cover her ears. Isrina tried to help, pressuring her hands on top of Niode's. The group could feel their sweat trickle down their faces in tempo with the repulsorlift booming. It was louder than ever. The sphyraena sounded as if it was slowly coming towards them. The redness was becoming more intense, blinding their eyes in a single color.

"Come on, please hang on," Rahim struggled to hold Tetsuyin's mouth from screaming.

"Rahim, don't be so rough on her," Niode pressed Tetsuyin's hands harder on her ears. "It's going to be fine, my dear. God is with us. God is with us."

The group huddled together as the entire vehicle rumbled along with the sphyraena hovertank's vicious clamor. Niode whispered the Lord's Prayer to everyone.

"Rhu Makiyu Eta, please help us. Let the Archkaos guide us," Oreic prayed along. "Please."