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“I will not die just yet! I will defend my village from monsters like you!”
General Plaetios hisses amused at her words. “Nothing but wishful thinking.”
The yellow light consumes her. Once she gets her sight fixed on the source of the light, her heart starts pounding and she begins to hesitate. Luntra pulls her arm back.
“A… stone?” Dirt lay on top of it, but Luntra could see that on the ground was a yellow stone glowing intensely.
As she hesitates, she feels a sudden gust of wind that brushes past her cheek. It was as if someone or something was urging her on. She takes a deep breath, realizing that this stone could be her only chance out of this situation.
“No! I will not use this thing. Is this a…. Guardian Stone?” Thoughts of her village being destroyed began to permeate her mind. She did not want anything to do with a strange stone, especially if it was a Guardian Stone.
“Argh, enough of this!” General Plaetios was still trying to get the intense glow of yellow out of his eyes. He takes a step forward not knowing what exactly was causing the light. He looked around. Realizing that the light wasn’t any immediate danger, he takes another step forward toward Luntra. At the corner of his eye, he could see the shiny stone on the ground. However, he didn’t put much thought into it, he was more determined to put an end to Luntra. He raised his arm high, holding his sword above his head.
Noticing General Plaetios getting even closer to her, Luntra looked back at the stone in the ground. The stone glimmers in the sunlight, beckoning to her. She hesitates for a moment. It was clear she was having a difficult time trying to convince herself that the stone could be useful.
General Plaetios takes his final steps toward her. He towers over her menacingly with his sword high in the air. She takes one good look at him and in desperation decides to reach and grab the stone. Suddenly, the wind around her begins to pick up, and she can feel a strange energy emanating from the stone in her hand. It's as if the stone is alive, and it's calling out to her.
As she holds the stone, she begins to feel a connection to it, and she can sense that it's a powerful object. She's never seen anything like it before, and the idea of using it to unleash its powers is both exciting and terrifying. She knows that she's risking everything by using this stone, but she also knows that it might be her only hope of surviving.
Despite her reservations, she can't help but feel drawn to the stone, and she decides to take the risk. With a deep breath, she focuses her mind and closes her eyes. She can feel the stone beginning to glow in her hand, and suddenly a burst of energy rips through her body. She can feel the power of the stone coursing through her veins, giving her an unprecedented strength and clarity that she's never experienced before.
“Hold still. It will all be over soon!” General Plaetios yells out as he positions himself to take the last swing.
As she grasps the stone, she feels the power of a creature quickly heading her way. She can’t explain the feeling, but she immediately realizes that it is not a foe. With a smirk on his face, General Plaetios swings down with his sword. Suddenly a yellow raptor appears from this left and places its body between him and Luntra, protecting her from any harm. General Plaetios stopped his assault halfway noticing the sudden appearance of a ferocious reptile.
She watches as the raptor grunts wildly at General Plaetios. General Plaetios takes a step back frozen from the fear of its sharp claws and teeth. Luntra has no idea what her eyes are witnessing. She is frozen in place perplexed at the strange mutated yellow raptor.
The yellow raptor’s tail wiggled wildly as its bright green eyes are fixed on General Plaetios. Without any warning, the yellow raptor lunges forward toward General Plaetios and slashes him with its sharp claws. The raptor easily rips through his metallic armor wounding General Plaetios across his chest. General Plaetios fumbles back and realizes that it was no longer worth the effort to kill Luntra. His eyes widened, shocked at what suddenly occurred. He placed his hand on his chest and looked at the blood stain on his hand. He gasps for air, trying to regain his balance after the power blow. His hand begins to shake as he becomes furious with anger. But he was wise enough to know that if he proceeded, he wasn’t going to get out of the situation alive.
General Plaetios raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers. His Valpian immediately appears making high-pitched noises. He climbs on with no hesitation and takes off deep into the jungle at great speed. Before he leaves, he gives Luntra one final menacing stare as he rides off into the dense jungle. The stare brought chills down her spine knowing that if he escapes with his life he could come back for revenge. But there was nothing she could do. She was not a match for General Plaetios. His fighting skill caught her by surprise. She owed her life to the yellow Guardian Stone and the mutated yellow raptor that suddenly appeared to help her.
Luntra takes a deep breath and lays her head back against the stone wall. She collapses to the ground. A great feeling of relief washes over her. She attempts to calm her heart down as she closes her eyes. She quickly lifts her head and opens her eyes, realizing there was a massive yellow raptor standing in front of her. The yellow raptor turns around to face her as they both lock eyes. It stood there, waiting. It was staring back at her as if it was waiting for a command. The yellow stone kept glowing brightly in her hand.
The raptor let out a bellowing roar, its feathers fluttering in the wind. At first, it was frightening for her to hear. She gripped her dagger tightly, but she knew that the yellow raptor was not there to harm her.
When she looked down, tears were streaming down her face. Her lips began to tremble. She stood up and the yellow raptor’s head followed her eyes, refusing to lose eye contact with her. She held her dagger out with her right hand as the yellow raptor lowered its head down towards her, lowering its tail feathers. The yellow raptor was not scared of her dagger. Luntra gulps as the tears keep rolling down her face. The yellow raptor took a step closer and lowered its head towards her again, making short whimpering noises.
Luntra takes one look at the stone in her hand. She screams realizing just what exactly she's done. The yellow raptor, now confused, takes a few steps back.
Luntra comes to realize that she’s touched and used the very thing she hates. She immediately threw the stone to the ground and looked away. “NO! I was wrong. I would rather be dead than to have used this evil stone. Viktu! Viktu! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Tears fell down her face as the yellow raptor took another step back and sprinted away from her frightened at all her screaming. It disappears into the jungle.
Luntra breaks down and cries. She was close to almost dying. The adrenaline flowing through her entire body begins to fade. The shock of the whole ordeal becomes overwhelming. Thoughts of her village burning to the ground only come to mind. She feels a whole mix of emotions. She feels guilty for using the stone. She hated knowing that she used a stone that made her father go mad with the desire for power. She feels frightened by the fact that General Plaetios has escaped and when he returns, he will kill not only her but her entire village. She was glad to be alive, but she wondered for how long?
She turns her head to look at the stone. The light was gone, and it lay there on the ground. Her eyes were soaked in tears.
Luntra looked down at her wound, she gasped. To her surprise, the cut caused by General Plaetios was healed. “How… How is this possible?” She touched her leg where the deep cut was. No cut and no blood. It was gone. She looked back at the yellow Guardian Stone. “The stone did this?”
Her entire body trembles while she wipes away some tears from her face. "Have I gone mad? There was blood… and a cut here.” She touches her leg again trying to reason with herself what exactly was going on. She wipes her eyes of tears again as she attempts to catch her breath.
Luntra scratches her head confused at the whole situation as she suddenly gets the feeling that someone was watching her. It was the yellow raptor. She could see its glowing green eyes staring back at her from the dense bushes of the jungle. She knew after she touched the stone that the raptor was not a threat. However, she slowly got up from the ground and decided to be extremely cautious around the beast. She kept her focus on it the entire time. She slowly made her way to her spear that was on the ground and backed away from the yellow raptor and the yellow Guardian Stone.
“I’m grateful to be alive. But I want nothing to do with this evil stone. I will not end up like Shintiro!” She turns around and begins to flee from the place where she found the stone. As she sprints through the jungle, she makes her way back to where the conflict all began. She sees the two lifeless crocodile warrior’s bodies lying on the ground. She looked back at them and continued running with everything she had.
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The sun was now rising. Shintiro is on the trail of finding out who shot the arrow near the Great Mizian River. He concludes that it wasn’t someone trying to attack him, but instead, they created a distraction so that they could escape. He holds the stone next to the arrow on the ground.
He looked up into the jungle and noticed his loyal green raptor keeping an eye on him. With the power of the stone and the protection of his green raptor, he felt safer wandering around the jungle. He smiled confidently, determined to find out who exactly was watching him from a distance.
The stone instantly reacts. He can see blurred images in his mind. He closes his eyes so that he can focus and see if the power of the stone can give him any more clues. The stone was able to give him clues as to where exactly the two mysterious figures went. He could not figure out who they were, but it was clear that the two mysterious figures were using the cover of a tree to hide.
“One larger than the other.” Shintiro scans the area where Alaska and Ruog were standing with his green Guardian Stone. “Who are you?” Shintiro rubs his chin as he ponders about the two mysterious figures.
“With the power of this stone, I can track them down.” Shintiro, along with his green raptor, set off to track down the two mysterious figures. The stone gives Shintiro the ability to track someone down. Even though he had not fully mastered its power yet, he knew exactly what to do to track a person down using the power of his green Guardian Stone. It’s a slow and strenuous process but he was a master at looking for signs in the jungle of where people have been.
Shintiro looked for footprints, broken branches, and anything dropped by someone moving through the jungle. Suddenly Shintiro hears a familiar noise. It echoed throughout the jungle. The sounds bounced off the trees. At first, it seemed like the sound was coming in all directions. Shintiro quickly scans his surrounding area.
“Valpians…” He knew it was the sound of Valpians. He also knew that wild Valpians did not live in that part of the jungle. Shintiro acts quickly and dashes near a thick jungle bush and hides behind it. He knew that someone was coming. His green raptor also waits and hides in the distance.
“A Valpian’s high-pitched call can only mean one thing. Someone is riding one and using it to search for something.”
Out of nowhere, a group of three reptilian warriors steps out of the jungle. Shintiro can see them riding the Valpians trying to track something down.
General Plaetios can be seen riding his Valpian with his head held high. He was trailing behind the two crocodile warriors. The crocodile warrior in the front was leading the small group using his Valpian to track something down.
“It has been several days. Has your Valpian found anything yet?” General Plaetios demanded to know as they all regrouped to discuss the matter. Both crocodile warriors were intimidated by the aggressive authoritative voice of General Plaetios. The crocodile warrior taking the lead lowers his head trying to avoid eye contact.
The crocodile warrior hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up. He grunts and answers. “Sir, the Valpian hasn't found anything of significance, but I have a feeling we're closing in on something. We… we just need more time.”
General Plaetios let out an exasperated sigh. “I don't care about your gut feelings, I want results! I am beginning to lose my patience with you,” He hisses with aggression in his voice as his tongue wiggles around. “We're running low on supplies and our king is growing restless. We cannot afford to waste any more time. If your Valpian cannot find anything soon, I'll replace it with one that can.” He turned his Valpian to the side and went around them and began to ride off, leaving the two crocodile warriors behind. The first crocodile warrior gulps and shakes his head.
The crocodile warrior let out a frustrated grunt and watched as General Plaetios rode off into the distance. Once General Plaetios was a good distance away, the first crocodile warrior let out his frustration. He turned to his companion and spoke in a low voice, “I cannot believe we’re out here wasting our time. Each day that goes by is another day he becomes even more agitated than before, especially when we do not find anything.”
The other crocodile warrior responded to the first. “Keep your voice down, you imbecile. If you think General Plaetios is ruthless, think again. If we do not get results soon, we’re going to have to answer to King Psuno himself. And he’s a thousand times worse than General Plaetios.”
The two warriors quickly mounted their Valpians and set off in pursuit of the general. They were frustrated and tired searching for something day after day.
Shintiro overheard their conversation. He wonders what exactly they are searching for. He wonders if they are looking for Guardian Stones. “It would not be out of the ordinary if a king showed interest in finding the Guardian Stones.” Shintiro thought to himself.
Shintiro didn’t want to bump into them as he searched for the two mysterious figures. However, it was unfortunate for him because the stone was trying to lead him in the same general direction as the reptilian warriors. His wound just finished healing and he couldn’t afford to start a pointless fight with reptilian warriors that were armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry. Shintiro was cautious. The entire reptilian army could be nearby.
Although Shintiro wanted to find the two mysterious figures, he decided to play it safe and stop following the trail and the signs that the green Guardian Stone was giving him. Shintiro finds a place to stay near a large tree and decides to rest. With the protection of his green Guardian Stone, Shintiro can feel his green raptor watch over him at night. He was able to finally close his eyes and get a full night’s rest.
In the morning, Shintiro gets up and slowly makes his way away from the area where he last saw the reptilian warriors. In the distance, a strange extremely bright yellow light catches his eye. The light flickered for a long moment then died. He wonders for a short moment what it could be. He was on a high slope on a hill until suddenly he lost his footing and rolled down the long hill.
As he tumbled down the hill, Shintiro's mind was racing with fear and confusion. He tried to grab onto any branches and tree limbs, anything that could slow his fall but to no avail. Everything he would grab onto would only slip out of his moist hands. He was rolling down the hill with great speed with no signs of stopping. When he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, he let out a groan of pain. He lay there for a moment on the ground, catching his breath and trying to remember where he was and how he got there.
Then he remembered the bright yellow light he had seen in the distance. Was it some kind of signal from the reptilian warriors? Or was it something else entirely?
Despite the pain in his body, he slowly got to his feet and began to make his way toward something large in the distance in front of him. As he got closer, he began to hear strange noises, a low humming sound. As he made his way through the foliage, he looked up to see a large ancient structure. Old destroyed ruins that he’d never seen before left him in awe.
His stone calls out to him with a bright glimmering green light. Shintiro did not hesitate to grab the stone from his animal-skinned bag.
Shintiro steps into a clearing where the ruins lay. The Guardian Stone glows brightly in his hand. He is drawn to a particular structure in the center of the ruins, a large, imposing tower that dominates the surrounding landscape. As he draws closer, the Guardian Stone begins to pulsate in his hand. He immediately feels a sense of unease wash over him.
As Shintiro enters the tower, he is struck by a powerful, otherworldly energy. The air grows thick and ominous, and the darkness seems to close in around him. He can sense that he is not alone. An eerie noise began to ring in his ear. He feels a sense of dread washing over him, and he feels as if he must escape this place.
Suddenly, the eerie noise grows louder, and Shintiro sees a human figure emerge from the shadows. It was as if the figure was standing right in front of him but at the same time was transparent. It is a tall, brooding figure, draped in black robes, with a hood that obscures its face. Shintiro could see the walls right through the figure. It was a holographic image, something Shintiro had never seen before in his life. It was frightening and left him frozen in place. He rubbed his eyes thinking it was an illusion. Shintiro grips his Guardian Stone tight, but the stone begins to float out of his hand. It glows with the same green light as before. It floats to the wall and embeds itself into a small hole in the wall where the stone fits. Other holes in the wall can be seen as well. Shintiro did not have any time to count the number of holes. He was completely fixated on the strange figure staring straight at him.
Shintiro hears an inhuman voice speaking another language. “Ancefuls… Strahes….. Rencilnox… Untypistv….. Shintiro…….” Shintiro did not understand any of the words spoken, but when the mysterious voice called out his name his eyes widened.
“Who are you? Friend or foe?” Shintiro grabs his dagger from his waist, prepared to defend himself. “How do you know my… my name…? What is this place?” Shintiro shifts his head from left to right.
“The stone has chosen you. You only possess one stone……. Bring the rest.” The ominous voice trails off.
“For what purpose?” Shintiro tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was clear that the figure in front of him was not the one speaking to him.
The Guardian Stone’s glowing stopped, and the voice did not respond. The figure disappears into the darkness, leaving Shintiro alone in the ruins. The green Guardian Stone falls out of the hole and drops to the ground. Shintiro rushes to the stone. He placed his hand on the stone and realized it was extremely hot to the touch. He pulls his hand back from the stone trying to figure out what exactly he just witnessed.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
