Gifts

Upon leaving the hyperbolic time chamber, waiting for him was Odin, Leezy and Rachel's little sister…

They all were talking amongst themselves as Reyes approached.

Boom!

Before he could say anything, Leezy swung and punched his brother in the face.

"That was for fucking up my sword you asshole."

Sheepishly, Reyes rubbed his jaw.

"Sorry about that, I have no clue what happened."

Sighing, Leezy stared at his brother.

"You good now man? You had me worried for a second. Things got pretty crazy."

"Yeah i'm good now, so what is the plan Odin?"

"I shall take you all back to the hall so you two can collect your treasure. Just make sure you take care of that dragon for me."

Saying that, he reached his hand down for them to climb onto.

"Hey mister, what dragon is he talking about?"

The little girl tugged at Reyes's sleeve while asking.

"Apparently, there is a dragon called Azel that has broken free of it's seal, using your blood."

Reyes explained, patting her head.

Climbing onto Odin's hand, they were all teleported back to the hall. Once there, Odin placed them down next to the pillars and began urging the brothers to pick a chest.

Together, they walked up to the row of chests, staring at them in curiosity. After a moment of hesitation, Leezy walked up to one and opened it.

From within, a bright green glow could be seen emanating. Reaching inside, he pulled out what looked to be another greatsword that was the same size as the one he used before.

It had a long blade that appeared to be made of a red metal that had archaic runes engraved into it. Lacking a cross-guard, it's golden hilt glinted in the light. The pommel that sat at the end of the hilt was shaped like a diamond, with a green emerald at its center.

Seeing the weapon his brother got, Reyes silently hoped that he himself would be just as lucky.

He approached a chest after his brother and opened it. Inside was a crimson orb that had a number of white lights floating around inside of it.

Frowning, Reyes turned to Odin.

"What is this? How come I didn't get a weapon or armor?"

Leaning forward, Odin looked inside the chest and grinned.

"Looks like you got a Soul Orb, you should be able to connect your Soul with it in order to create a new weapon."

Looking at the orb, Reyes reached out his hand in an effort to pick it up.

Almost instantaneously, the orb began to vibrate and glow with a white light. A crack appeared and the orb split open, causing the white lights inside to spill out and fly into his body.

Reyes cried out as Ki and Mana spilled forth from his body, condensing into numerous black shards before him. Slowly they began to assemble themselves into a pair of black katanas.

The blades of the katanas looked sharper than a doctor's scalpel, with a thin blood line stretching down the middle of the blades. The cross-guards of the katanas were both shaped like a shuriken, with each hilt wrapped in a red cloth and ending with a small black chain. At the end of each chain hung a small red ruby which shone brightly against the black aura that emanated from the katanas.

Reyes looked conflicted as he looked at the katanas. He knew deep down inside that they were imbued with the same aura he was possessed by earlier, making him a little reluctant to take them. After a moment of silent debate with himself, he decided to grab them.

The second his fingers wrapped around their hilts, aura began flowing from the blades, forming 2 black sheaths. One appeared along his back, the other at his waist. After forming the sheaths, the katanas entered what seemed like a dormant state.

Sheathing them, Reyes shrugged and walked over to Odin.

"Thank you, now can you tell us where the exit is so we can get this little one back to her sister and begin hunting this dragon of yours?"

"All i need to do is send you all back to the surface, whenever you two have killed the dragon, place this on the ground and put a drop of its blood on it."

Odin smiled while handing him a golden crystal.

"This will bring you back to this hall along with the dragons corpse. If its materials get into the wrong hands, there is no telling what sort of chaos might be brought into this world."

Nodding, Reyes took the golden crystal from Odin and with a loud snap from his fingers, Odin teleported them out of the hall and back onto the surface. Landing in the sand, the only thing that greeted them was an empty silence. Using mana sense, Reyes couldn't sense anyone besides them in the vicinity, so he began to relax.

"Lets get you back to your sister. What is your name by the way, kid?"

He asked the little girl who stood by his side as he looked down at her.

"Melody."

Nodding, he gestured for them to follow as he began heading toward El Diablo, which was a few miles away from them.

.....

Rachel was still inside her house casually throwing items into a backpack.

She knew there might be a day where it would be required for her to return to Thousand Eyes.

Throwing the pack onto her back, she grabbed a black metal staff that had a large purple crystal floating above it and slid it into the special straps she made for it, which were sewn into the side of her pack. Opening her front door, she was greeted by the vast citadel called Highrock.

The citadel was nestled at the top of a large mountain, which had lead to its name. It had started off as a small city, with a few hundered residents at that time. When Thousand Eyes built their home base there, the many treasures that they brought back quickly brought an ample supply of wealth and growth to it.

Eventually it became the very technological advanced citadel that it was at that time, which was split up into three districts. Valley district, Third Eye district, and the main district called Skyline.

Her home was teleported to a vacant spot that she had reserved for her home inside of the Third Eye district, just a few meters away from the Thousand Eyes HQ. Closing the door behind her, she began walking toward her old HQ.

Many people were walking through the streets, trading items and conversing. It was a very pleasant place to be, as many rare items were able to be traded for thanks to the Thousand Eye members. They were highly respected in the city, even to the point that a few of its members held seats inside the council that governed Highrock.

"Could i fancy you in some gear that could possibly make you a bonified member of Thousand Eyes?"

"Psst, hey girlie, i have a plug who can get you a fake ID to get into Thousand Eyes, ya interested?"

"Damn who is that? Let me know where you live baby! I can show you a good time!"

"That pretty woman looks like she is in a hurry...."

Many people tried to speak to her, and those that didn't, just muttered to themselves. She didn't have any time to waste though, so she quickened her pace and reached the Thousand Eyes HQ after a few minutes.

Thousand Eyes HQ was a large tower that had multiple floors. At very top floor, it had a large landing pad that was built to house wyverns.

A couple members in Thousand Eyes had been given the authority to tame and ride them on their adventures, which was a very high honor within Thousand Eyes itself.

There were a few wyverns flying around the tower, casting shadows on the ground below as she walked up the steps to the door. A squad of guards armed with rifles stood at the door, halting anyone who tried to enter that wasn't a Thousand Eye member.

"Identification front and center"

The captain of the guards said, glaring at Laura.

"Go and get commander Horus, i need to speak with him as soon as possible. Tell him my name is Laura and he will come."

"Look here missy, the commander is a busy man and i'm not pushin my duty to the side just to please you."

"I highly suggest you do as I said, unless you want your duties as a Thousand Eye member to cease right here and now."

As she said that, all of the guards surrounded her and raised their weapons.

"Stand down, that is an order!"

A deep voice suddenly shouted as the door behind them opened.

A muscular man walked out and stepped in front of the guards. Seeing him, they all quickly lowered their weapons and stood at attention.

The man stood a head taller than everyone around him and looked to be in his late 40's. His muscular face was wrapped by tough tan skin with a pair of deep laugh lines that caressed the corners of his lips, just above his black goatee. His hair was slicked back into a long black braid that was hanging along his shoulder, somehow managing not to get caught in his set of silver pauldrons which had a pair of eyes that were carved into them. Along his back hung a long red cape that stopped just above his ankles as his armor gleamed in the sunlight.

"Do you all not know who this is?"

They all shuddered under the man's gaze that was full of anger.

"I do not, sir!"

"This here is my niece! The next time i see you all, you had better be taking turns reading our guild's history book or you all will be punished!"

"Yes sir!"

"Get back to your duties and move quickly before i decide to make each one of you give me a thousand pushups for each person that walks by!"

Quickly, the guard took their positions in front of the door, sweat gleaming from their foreheads as they tried their best to avoid the man's gaze.

"Uncle Horus, long time no see."

Rachel ran up to the man and gave him a big hug. Relief could be seen coursing through his brown eyes as he hugged Rachel.

"Indeed, it has been a long time. How have you been since your parents passed? You look like you have been doing just fine! And what of your little sister?"

"I have been making ends meet. Unfortunately, Melony was taken hostage by some men in the ruins east of El Diablo. I sent a man who came to my bar there to save her after i found out where she was."

Pausing, tears began to form in her eyes. It took her what felt like a lifetime before she managed to continue saying what she had to tell her uncle.

"Uncle, Azel has been broken from his seal. He attacked and destroyed El Diablo. I was able to escape by making use of the scroll that father gave me. I don't know if that man and my sister were there when the dragon attacked....I don't even know if Melony is alive!"

She exclaimed while tears fell from her eyes.

A look of despair shook Horus's face, making him appear as if his age had finally caught up to him.

"So El Diablo was lost!? And now Azel is free to wreak havoc once again...this is very bad. Not only have we had to deal with thieves attempting to infiltrate the HQ, but now we have to prepare the citadel for an attack. I will need to summon back our generals in preparation."

Wiping the tears from Rachel's eyes, he kneeled down on his knee until he was eye level with her.

"I know this may be hard to believe, but i have a feeling that Melony is safe and sound. My gut instinct that has kept me an arm's reach from death is telling me this. We will find her, don't you worry at all. Come with me inside and get yourself situated while i contact the council along with our generals."

Nodding, Rachel quickly followed her uncle as he ran inside to the elevator…