Chapter 14 - Time To Make A Change

Everyone was totally shocked by Takumi's request, the biggest narcissist they had ever come across was asking for help.

"Train you say?" Misao rhetorically asked as she killed the insect she was playing with. "I won't say no…but if I train you that means you're in for a lot of pain, are you up for that?"

Takumi's eyes showed no fear and he responded with the highest level of determination. He was going to stop at nothing to gain the power to protect himself along with completing the job he was reincarnated here for.

A high, echoing praise went up for Takumi's change of heart and Misao was pleased, she sprung herself off her back and shook his hand with a sly smile.

"Okay, I'll do it."

The arions were loaded up and they were ready to go through the canyon, with Aiko professionally navigating, they set off once more.

***

"Haaaaam! another one down," Aegis stretched as she returned another mystery book to the magic library.

She had quite a knack for reading endlessly and she felt the need to catch up on all the book time she missed out on while she was held captive.

She picked out another huge novel and began to read, flipping through the pages at a fast paced reading speed completely mesmerized.

"Madam Aegis," a voice called but she was so out of touch with the real world the voice didn't even register.

"miss Aegis!" the voice grew louder startling the little bibliophile, breaking her from the trance.

Taking her attention from reading she saw a young man bowing to her on the floor; requesting her presence in the main building.

"Please raise your head," she said while giggling with the utmost humility.

As she and the fellow exited the library and began to walk down the village roadways, she was greeted with many bows and curtsies from the many villagers that roamed the compound and Aegis greeted each of them with a heartwarming smile.

She was very much used to being treated like royalty, after all, she was next in line to be the queen of the land if it wasn't for the demon uprising.

But what she was really happy about was the mere fact that all the entities in the kingdom of Endolis. From the smallest pixie to the largest giant were so pure of heart that they managed to look past her one horn that constantly reminded them of her demonic blood and treated her as a normal being.

"Hello father," Aegis greeted as she entered the throne room, Lancelot was sitting around a table with clenched fists at his chin, looking at a sheet of paper and gestured for the servant to be dismissed and Aegis to come closer.

"What's that?" She asked as she took a seat next to him.

Lancelot explained that the paper was a missing person's report which just came in, Aegis looked confused as person's going missing was a normal thing and asked for more clarity.

"The person's who went missing are all dragon hosts," he further explained while pointing to the photographs of five humans on the paper, " I don't think just anyone's strong enough to kidnap one… unless…"

This information made Aegis quiver as she thought of a possible suspect, there was no one in all of Endolis who had the power or the motive to kidnap a dragon host…other than the jade demons.

Lancelot agreed with her hypothesis and gave her the directive to write a letter informing Takumi and the others about this matter, then find a dryad; an entity that has the ability to speak to animals to get a bird to deliver it.

She instantly ran out with the report to her living area and frantically wrote the letter, explaining the situation to the best of her ability then quickly found the dryad that lived next door to her which summoned a roc: a large bird with a black feather coat known for tracking person's down by following their energy paths and sent the message on it's way.

***

Meanwhile, the group of travellers were etching closer to the residence of the Gaikotsu clan.

"So when do we begin?" Takumi asked Misao while wiping a sweat, she responded saying that he needed to be patient and they would start as soon as they found an area with a waterfall and a lot of trees.

"Well, you're in luck then," Aiko interjected, "there's one right next to the clan's compound."

She showed them the map to prove it. Ichika, who was jumping from rock to rock in her feline form landed on Takumi's head and pointed to a light in the distance.

"Looks like we're leaving the canyon."

When they made it out they found themselves in a a desert, skeletons and dead plants lined the landscape.

"Are you sure there's a forest here Aiko?" Misao asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sure of it, look at the map, that's the symbol for a waterfall," Aiko responded, she had the highest confidence in her ability to read a map and wasn't about to be shown up.

As they began to bicker about whether or not they were led into the right area, Luna walked forward slowly and Takumi followed asking where she was going.

"You'll see soon enough," she responded as she stopped at an area with a symbol in the sand; resembling sandstone it was circular in shape and held the character for 'Gaikotsu' in the center and four small, deep holes around it.

At this point everyone was next to her watching attentively as she stared at the symbol, a few seconds later she took up a sharp rock from the ground and sliced her finger.

She put a single drop of blood into each of the holes which let out a high pitched ring with every drip and when each hole was filled, Luna burned them in with her fire dragon force making the symbol shine with a bright light and ring even louder.

When everyone regained their eyesight, there was almost no desert, but instead a lush green oasis where they stood, a spacial rift appeared a short while later and Luna bellowed everyone to enter and they did.

"I read the map wrong," Aiko said close to tears, "that was the symbol for a dimensional gate."

As they led the arions inside and entered the gate they found themselves inside a wide open space filled with little children, teens and a meager number of adolescents roaming, which were Luna's clan mates. They greeted her with hugs and kisses as it seemed she had left for a long time, four dirt roads led out of the village, with wooden buildings oriented in a circle around a massive rock of meteoric resemblance in the centre.

"This place is making my dragon force go off the charts." Ichika said with a gaping mouth and as they walked closer and they could agree with her as their dragon marks began to glow.

Luna explained that the sudden rise in power came from the rock in the middle of the village which was explained to have come from the collision of a piece of the sun and moon, sent down from the celestial dragon to give humans dragon force. The dragons spoke to each of them saying that it went exactly as Luna told it.

After leaving the arions in a safe place, Luna brought them to her former house to unpack then she led them down the road to the north towards a larger structure.

"This is where the clan leader is, just keep quiet and let me do the talking" they followed their orders and going through the door they entered a room of medieval decor where they saw a tall adult with trimmed, green hair doing push ups on the wooden floor.

Luna cleared her throat loudly which startled the man .

"Oh well look who's back, my long lost daughter." his raspy voice bounced off the walls as he got up wiping the sweat off his small face, his squinting eyes hid his joy as he ran towards Luna with open armsm

She shifted to the side and he collided with Aiko, felling both of them.

"Aw, man just when I thought my curse of klutz was over!" She exclaimed as they got off the floor.

Luna stated the reason for visiting and he got up and introduced himself as Arata.

Getting a kettle of tea from the small stove in the corner he invited them to sit on a rug while he told them everything they needed to know.

The short explanation was basically a repeat of everything they already knew, the way to defeat the jade demons was still unclear and for some odd reason…the dragons who were said to be the ones to defeat them at the price of losing their bodies didn't remember how it was done, this left them with more questions rather than answers.

Why couldn't the dragons remember? Were their memories wiped when they lost their bodies?

The answer wouldn't come and it had begun to frustrate everyone in the room.

"I sincerely apologize for not being of much help," said Arata as he took a sip of his tea, "I can at least lead you to the waterfall so this young man's training can get under way."

Misao was shocked as to how he knew that Takumi needed training but all that was dispelled when he explained that he could sense that his dragon force was weak. Misao and Takumi, along with Aiko were lead down the eastern road and came upon a wide area with an abundance of trees and a majestic waterfall, Takumi's training would begin here.

***

While across Endolis inside the demon kingdom, a diabolical plan was being hatched.

"We are fifty percent ready for the raid, my queen," a male demon said on one knee in front of Urusla, who was eating a bowl of berries, she seemed pleased with the progress and asked about the 'experiment'.

The demon looked up with fear in his eyes.

"My apologies madam, it seems we have had another failure." Urusla's smile turned upside down as she threw the bowl across the room in rage, she chased the servant out of the throne room before she lost her temper.

"Dammit, we can't do this without that girl," she huffed as she got up and began pacing around the room, coming to a stop in the middle.

"Sit tight my little Aegis, mother's coming to get you,"