A Stroll into Town

Cyrus woke up the next morning and saw his daily routine of exercises. Completing them and giving him a single point in his skills bringing him up to a single point. Plus the bonus of a small chest reward. Though it had nothing but additional ammunition for his Wolf's Fang magnum. Additional ammo was good, never knew when you'd need more. His body felt good, wiping the small bead of sweat off his brow he saw people gathering in front of a window.

Being curious, he walked over to join the group of people all standing about. He started to hear a voice over a tv screen, "The reports of the recent Chaos Tear has come in as several members of the Fenrir Operations Group have died yesterday. The outside forces repelled suits of black armor while protecting the surrounding area. The Red Cross offered their protective healers and Evokers to protect the local citizens from danger. We thank the fallen and those that have made it back safely." The screen then shifted to a fuzzy image of what Cyrus knew was him and Visne. "We are currently looking for any sources that can identify this entity here who left the tower. We do not have any record of any individual with a summon like that. Could it be the Japanese branch? Korean? Maybe even the Russian Division who could have stepped in?" The man on the screen slammed down his fist on the desk, "All we know is that this person is unidentifiable and could possibly be a threat as its creature descended from the tower with the corpse of the Fenrir leader in our city. Is it a threat, a warning, we just don't know. If anyone has any details about this mysterious individual let us know at..." Cyrus left the group and continued on.

He knew exactly what the man was talking about. It just felt like a punch in his gut hearing the man say he was a possible threat. But he knew that he couldn't tell the world of his power yet. It just wasn't the right time. Though with the CEO of the Chaos Control Organization, that information could be leaked. But he doubted that old man would do something like that without his consent.

Cyrus sighed and continued to walk down the road, passing by people that crowded the streets of Departure. It had been a mostly quiet day, his run hadn't been interrupted by any rifts opening up or any calls from Fenrir or by Tyson Morris. Everything now seemed almost dull with how eventful his last week had been. Nearly dying, getting the shackle of Fenrir, while going into a Chaos Tear and somehow surviving it. Everything seemed to just fall out of place, when he tried put his mind into something else. He wanted to relax before trying to level up.

He accidentally bumped into a person who yelled at him for doing so. A creature was pitched on the man's shoulder that looked like a three eyed winged-imp. When he started to pay more attention, he noticed that the man was a Delta rank Summoner. His power was weak compared to Cyrus' but it was still a strange creature compared to his own. Cyrus apologized and went on his way still just walking down the road.

Beside him was the road as cars that glided across the asphalt. Hovering a few inches above it, as the world of Earth was more advanced thanks to the Chaos Worlds humans have traveled to. Departure was a very large city and was one of the few cities world wide that connected to the massive orbital space station. This station circled the planet like a giant man-made ring. This allowed for more accurate date for Chaos Rifts to be located, as well as stop the forces of Chaos from leaking out of space. Although those specific rifts only were open for short windows of time. No massive creature could come from them as they could only stay open for half a minute before closing.

Even now, the ring could be seen orbiting the planet even in daylight. The good thing is that the ring never blocked the sun and moon from being being visible. It moved at just the right orbital speed to match the rotation of the earth. When the sun would pass over the ring, it would gather the sun's energy and convert it into a massive amount of useable resource. It made Cyrus happy knowing he probably wouldn't go to space. Though he was curious what kind of creatures came from space.

Returning to Earth as Cyrus continued to walk past a phone booth, city benches, and trash cans. Which Cyrus decided to sit down on the benches and wait. Others seemed to also be joining him, as it was a public transit area. The local bus drove up not too long after which Cyrus got on. Each of the other passengers wore similar outfits to their respective jobs. People who worked in reconstruction of Rift area wore a dark green jacket and pants. Those that worked in resource recovery wore light blue clothing and carried their yellow helmet or wore it. They would go into Rifts to bring back resources and get paid a decent sum of the haul they bring in. They usually go in after the boss is defeated, but sometimes on bigger and more dangerous Rifts, they go with the strike team.

Then you have the average everyday people, they usually wore whatever clothing they wanted or a combination of grey colors for their work. They helped with everyday jobs that didn't involve Rifts. Grocery stores, hospitals, though they worked with the Red Cross in white outfits, and any other job one could think of. The good thing that doesn't exists anymore are gas stations and powered appliances. They got revoked and allowed the world to use solar energy more efficiently and that of using the crystals from Chaos Beasts as an energy source.

The very bus he was on was powered by solar energy, allowing for a longer driving time. Cyrus sat at the back of the bus as he stared out the window. It was a nice quiet day, nothing going on and just peaceful. When he arrived at his destination, he had gotten off the bus to look upon an old house. Crossing the street to get to the house Cyrus took note of the van that sat in its driveway.

Walking up to the door, he knocked and waited for a response. After a few moments a dark skinned woman answered the door. Her hair was a mess, frizzled and poofy like an afro, and wearing comfy sleeping clothes. When she saw who it was her eyes widened and smiled.

"Well if it isn't Cyrus Reinhard, what brings ya to my place?" Cici had asked, leaning on the door. "I could only imagine what kind of request you'd have for me." She waved her hand around in the air as she sounded a little tired.

He looked at her, "You know it's like 2 in the afternoon. Also I don't think you can guess for I wanted to talk to you about something." Cici looked at her phone and sighed. She had been up all night working in on that skull item. It was proving a bigger challenge than she first thought. Whatever made that skull was definitely versed in powerful Chaos Energy manipulation.

Cici waved Cyrus in and walked back into her house. It was a little messy with tinkered items, weapons, armor, even little robot creatures cleaning the place up as she walked about. Hopping on the couch she crossed her legs and gestured to the chair in front of her. Cyrus took the seat and clasped his hands together.

"So what is it that ya wanted to talk 'bout?" Cici asked grabbing a hair brush that was on the couch. Desperately trying to gain control of her puffed up hair. Cyrus looked at Cici and looked at her intently.

"Cici, what I am about to show you, could put you in danger." She looked up from brushing and squinted, "Before I returned to active duty when we met at the Chaos Tear. I had entered a Rift that contained a Unique Tier, an Aberrant Chaos Beast that granted me a brand new power. I believe I can trust you to keep this secret from prying eyes and ears as you could have already guessed with my... physical changes." Cyrus gestured to himself and rubbed his face.

Cici sat forward and looked at Cyrus carefully, "So you got a power from defeating a special beast? What of it?" Cici didn't understand exactly what Cyrus was trying to get at. But to tell her that he gained a power from an Aberrant Beast is rare indeed. Though she was hoping he would get to the point shortly.

"I had to lose my arm in order to gain the power as I sacrificed it to kill the creature." He held up his right arm, which confused Cici as she pointed out he still had his arm. "That's the funny thing, before I lost consciousness I had no arm, but when I woke in the hospital I had my arm back, but with the shackle." He rubbed his forearm and sighed, "I think the power replaced it as I gained a special feature whenever I get close to death. Like a desperation move almost."

Cici was now more interested, "Ya say ya lost your arm to da beast? Got power from it and now have some kind of, what, special condition?" Cyrus took out his short blade and stabbed his leg. He grunted in pain as he felt his HP drop. Leaving the dagger in there as he continued to lose HP.

[36/48]

[32/48]

[28/48]

[12/48]

Breaking his Shackle, Cici watched as Cyrus transformed. His right arm emitting a purple glow that traveled up to just below the shoulder joint. Flames licked at the end of his hair as it stood on end. His right eye changed to that of a slit pupil and glowing purple iris. She jumped at how quickly it had appeared then adjusted herself on the couch.

Cici was now curious as to what it may have felt like. "Do ya mind if I touch your arm?" It was a strange thing to ask her friend but it was more out of curiosity than anything else. Cyrus nodded and allowed her to scoot closer. She reached over and extended a finger and gently placed it on his forearm. The moment she did, she felt a sudden warm coming from the surface of the skin. Like a warm flame that didn't hurt. She then started to eyeball his arm and see if there was any radiating aura around it. Feeling it up and down like he was getting a physical exam by a doctor.

"This is interesting indeed, and you said you lost this arm to the Aberrant Chaos Beast? Hmm, my guess is that your arm got replaced by Chaos Energy." She poked his arm again a couple more times. Cici took let her eyes adjust and she could see a self contained aura above the surface of his skin. A layer that kept the energy inside and kept his arm in its shape.

"It looks like the energy is contained and hidden when you're not in dis form. Undetectable by any scanner for Chaos Energy, but while in this form, it gives off a faint trace of it." She then looked up at his face and saw his right iris, "Wow looks pretty, like a pure gem stuck in ya head." She pressed her hand against his forehead as she chuckled.

Cyrus then used another cast of his Heal spell to return him back to full HP. The chains closed the wound and reverted his form back to normal. She blinked and watched the transformation in reverse. The shackle reforming as if paper was burning away, except into existence. It was a very interesting sight to Cici as she continued to ponder what Cyrus wanted from her.

That is when he said, "I came here to show you that I have the form that unlocks my full power. But only when I am damaged to a certain point. I don't know if this might help in your process of investigating the skull or not." He rubbed his wrist a little and looked away from Cici, which she found odd. That's when she realized how close she was to him and quickly backed up. They both looked away from one another, before Cyrus stood and walked towards the door.

"Cici, thank you for sticking with me, and thanks for all your hard work. I wouldn't be here today without you." He smiled and waved, stepping out the door and leaving Cici sitting on the floor. She watched as Cyrus left and finally let out a breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a hammer hitting hot steel.

Cici gently swore under her breath, "That boy has got my emotions in a knot." She clapped her hands against her face and snapped herself out of it. "Okay, now that I've seen that and also felt how the energy flows from Cyrus, I think I have an idea." Cici stood up and grabbed a hair tie and tied her mess of poofy hair back. She got to work on working with the new information she had and something about this was starting to click. It was exactly what she needed, while in the back of her mind she was feeling a little fuzzy with how close she was to Cyrus.

She never expected what just happened between them, nothing major or surprising. Just that being that close sent her emotions into a total retreat. She had never dealt with that situation before and she guess neither has he. But the feeling of it made her more driven to work hard and make it the best piece of armor she could produce.

"For ya Cyrus, ya darn knucklehead." With that she started to drown out all surrounding thoughts and sounds. Focused on her work alone, feeling more pumped than before. While Cyrus went to return home from Cici's house.

On his way back, the bus had stopped abruptly and everyone inside jerked forward. People started asking what was going on and why they stopped, but Cyrus was the first to understand what was going on. Up ahead his improved vision could pick out what exactly was causing the sudden stop. A Chaos Rift had opened in the middle of the road.