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Shintiro leaves the building he was in. He was relieved to finally exit the strange building and leave the ruins once and for all. After experiencing something that frightening, he wanted nothing to do with those ruins. He had no interest in returning. His goal is clear, to find the other Guardian Stones and wield their limitless power and once again become the leader of his village. “Once I become the leader and unite the two tribes, my honor will be restored, and I shall lead my people to a new golden age.”
Shintiro could see something was getting closer in the distance. The air felt different. He stops moving forward. Shintiro takes a deep breath. He noticed the air was thicker than usual. It was becoming difficult to breathe. This was something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He looked up. He noticed the clouds in the sky were odd. From the jungle emerged his green raptor, almost without any warning. He could feel the raptor’s familiar presence, which did not startle him when the green raptor suddenly appeared in front of him. But he knew something was off.
“Rebarr… my friend….. why are you here?” Shintiro reaches out to his green raptor and pets him on the nose. He could tell that the creature was startled and breathing heavily. It was nervous, and Shinitro once again glanced at the distance and realized why.
“You’re frightened, aren’t you? …something big is coming….. A storm.” At that moment Shintiro realizes that a giant fog storm was heading his way. There was nowhere to go. Heading into the jungle would be a big mistake. He turns around and realizes that the ruins are his only means to escape the harsh approaching storm.
Shintiro and Rebarr headed back the way he came, through the jungle, as quickly as they could. They make their way through the green foliage and trees until they make it to the edge of the clearing where a path leads to the ruins. Shintiro began to run with everything he had, and Rebarr followed just a few steps behind. As he turns his head to look over his shoulders, he notices the thick orange fog approaching quickly. The trees began to shake, and the rumbling of thunder could be heard. Dust and dirt began to lift into the air because of the violent winds. The first lightning strike almost made Shintiro lose his balance. He ran toward the entrance of the same building he had entered just an hour ago.
Shintiro could feel the air becoming colder and the fog growing thicker around him as he ran closer to the building. He runs as fast as he can, but it feels like the storm is catching up to him. Just as he reaches the large building he saw before; the storm hits him with full force. The wind whips around him and Rebarr, and he can barely see a few feet in front of him. His raptor cries out for help. He pulls the beast closer to the entrance of the building. He manages to crawl the last few steps forward toward the building and makes it inside with Rebarr before the storm reaches its peak. Shintiro sighs in relief and is grateful that they made it just in time to a safe place. However, the ruins were the last place Shintiro wanted to be. But he felt they had no other choice. It was either this eerie place or outside exposed to the harsh elements of the storm.
Shintiro and Rebarr take shelter in an old, abandoned dusty room full of cobwebs and they wait for the storm to pass. There was very little light coming in from outside. The orange fog storm was so thick that very little light from the sun could be seen.
Shintiro notices ancient hieroglyphs decorated all over the walls around him. A lost forgotten language carved deep within the walls. He walks up to a pile of broken old pottery, jars, and bowls made of clay. He notices a large dark cloth next to it. He picks it up while spiders and other insects walk out from under the old dusty cloth. He walks into the next corridor and shakes the dust off, removing all the dirt from it. He notices that the dark material was an old cloak. He decides to wear it to stay warm. He walks back into the room where Rebarr was in and decides to huddle up close to him for warmth.
As Shintiro waits out the storm with Rebarr, he can't help but feel a strange energy coming from the ancient ruins. He can't quite put his finger on it, but he feels like there's something hidden here, something more than just ancient artifacts and forgotten ruins. But there was very little light. He knew it wouldn’t be wise to just venture deeper into the ruins. If it got darker outside, he would be trapped for hours in the dark trying to get out.
Shintiro decides to stay put and wait out the storm next to Rebarr. He slowly closes his eyes while hearing the constant thundering outside. A humming noise now floods his ears, replacing the sounds of thunder. It was a noise he had heard once before when he first arrived at the ancient ruins. As Shintiro dreams, the world around him shifts from the present to the past. He finds himself in an ornate room, with stone walls and a high ceiling. In the center of the room, a black, glossy obelisk stone floats in place. The stone seems to radiate strange energy as if it's alive. The strange energy pulsates like a beating heart. At the center of the glossy glass-like obelisk was a red light that would expand and contract.
Shintiro feels drawn to the stone as if it's calling out to him. He approaches the stone, reaching out to touch it. He was curious. He had never seen anything like that before in his life. However, he didn’t feel like he was in control of his actions. His body just acted on its own as he reached to touch the stone with his fingertips. As he does, he feels a rush of power course through his body. The room begins to shake and rumble. He felt as if the very earth beneath him is shifting. Suddenly, the stone begins to spin faster and faster, until it becomes a blur of black and red.
Shintiro falls to the ground, the room around him spinning and twisting. The energy from the stone seems to envelop him, and he feels as if he's being transported to a different place and time. He can hear voices in the distance, but he can't make out what they're saying. The world around him begins to fade, and he feels himself slipping away. The humming noise still invades his ears, not wanting to go away.
Shintiro once again hears the same inhuman voice. It spoke the same language Shintiro did not understand. But this time it was different. “Ancefuls… Green. Strahes….. Red. Rencilnox… Yellow. Untypistv….. Have awaken. Shintiro… these stones are active…….” The voice echoed in his mind.
Shintiro opened his mouth to speak but a feeling of doubt and fear came over him, as if the obelisk was watching him maliciously. He felt as if he could not trust it.
Shintiro listens intently to the voice, realizing the meaning of the words meant the color for each Guardian Stone. But what did it mean by active? He knew about the red Guardian Stone, and he had his green Guardian Stone, but…. Shintiro did not know about a third, the yellow Guardian Stone. He felt a sense of fear come over him. He felt that these stones were somehow unleashed into the world with unimaginable consequences. But he was also intrigued by the possibility of the stone's power and the idea that he could control it. He was torn between the responsibility to protect his people and the desire to wield the power of the stones for himself. The thoughts and visions of the obelisk fade away slowly in his dreams.
Shintiro dreams of his past. Shintiro sees himself walking up to King Soren to confront him, who has his ape soldiers standing single file behind him, swords and spears at the ready. King Soren looked extremely furious with him. “What is the meaning of this Shintiro?” King Soren yells out.
“What are you talking about?” Shintiro looked at him confused. “Why do your soldiers have their swords drawn?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Do NOT play games with me. Our Helx flower! It’s all gone, every single one of our sacred flowers. LEAVE at once. Your people are no longer welcome on our land. Shintiro… you betrayed my trust.”
“This is an outrage! We have nowhere else to go that is stable. You cannot do that to us. I thought we were allies… friends!” Shintiro was upset and could not believe that his people were being blamed for something they didn’t do. King Soren grunts in response to his choice of words, friends. Shintiro tries to reason with King Soren and explain that his people were not responsible for the disappearance of the Helx flowers. King Soren, however, is not convinced and demands that Shintiro's people leave the ape’s land immediately. Shintiro is devastated by this news and knows that his people have nowhere else that is safe enough to live in. “We will not leave this place. You gave us this land. We will stay!” Shintiro and his men stand their ground in defiance.
The air is thick with tension as the two sides hold their weapons at the ready, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Suddenly, King Soren screams at the top of his lungs and raises his fist to command his soldiers to attack. The ape soldiers began beating their chests and raising their weapons trying to intimidate the tribal humans. “We are allies no more.” King Soren clenches his fist, squeezing a dead Helx flower in his hand. “If you will not leave, then the only solution is WAR!” King Soren yells, throws the dead Helx flower onto the ground, and beats his chest with his fists. He screams out with a primal ape call.
The two armies squared off against each other in a tense standoff. The apes stared at Shintiro and his men with their beady, dark eyes. Shintiro, seeing that war is now inevitable, draws his dagger and prepares to defend himself and his people. His men follow suit, readying their weapons for the battle to come. The battle begins with the two armies charging at each other, the sound of steel-on steel echoing through the jungle. Their combat screams could be heard throughout the whole village, prompting the civilians to evacuate as quickly as possible.
Luntra, who was in her early teens at the time, could be seen trying to get her bag ready to flee the village, the place she called home. Once she scrambles to get her things ready, she grabs her little brother's hand and exits the straw hut. A large crowd of villagers stampedes outside the hut pushing Luntra forward like a boat in the path of a rogue wave. The crowd of frightened villagers pushed and shoved, making her break her tight grip on her little brother’s hand. “Kosiu! Someone, please get my brother!” she yells out in vain, the crowd separates them from each other. She turns her body around to try and push herself forward back to where she last saw her brother but it was no use, she would risk getting trampled.
“Luntra! Help!” In the confusion, Kosiu yells out to his sister but eventually with all the noise Kosiu could no longer see or hear her.
Shintiro's troops begin to advance, their daggers held out in front of them. They were not fully prepared for an all-out war. Shintiro knew this, so they had to collect as many weapons available around the village as possible and get the innocent civilians out of the area before they were attacked by the fierce ape soldiers.
Shintiro’s soldiers had no choice but to retreat. The humans were no match for King Soren’s fierce soldiers who were expertly dueling with their weapons. One by one, human soldiers fell, their chests pierced by ape soldiers’ arrows. The human commanders are thrown down and beaten by King Soren’s soldiers, their chests stabbed with their weapons, and their bodies fall to the ground and die. Shintiro's men were being pushed back, and soon most of the human soldiers were defeated, lying motionless on the ground, dead, or dying.
“Father!” Shintiro suddenly hears a familiar voice. A green light suddenly catches his eye from a distance, in the same direction as the familiar voice. People are running in every direction. Arrows consumed by fire zipped wildly in the air. People scream as the huts are set on fire. Ape soldiers mounted on their Valpians hack and slash innocent people as they ride past them. They instantly fall to the ground. Shintiro sees everything all happening at once. His heart begins to pound uncontrollably. In the confusion, he blurts out something, a command but there was no one left to give commands to. Everyone on his side had either fled or was killed.
The strong green light gets his attention again and suddenly he sees a familiar face. The voice that screamed out ‘father’ was his son. Shintiro’s heart drops as his son tries to reach him. Shintiro’s eyes changed to focus on the ape soldier that was riding a Valpian a few feet away with a sword in his hand. It all felt like it was happening slowly in his mind. He held his breath; his body frozen in place as if he had no control over his movements anymore. The soldier was making his way toward Shintiro’s son. All Shintiro could do was scream at the top of his lungs to his son. “Noooooo! Kosiu!” The boy could not see the impending doom rushing behind him, then looming over him. Shintiro could only hear his own heart pounding in his chest, his son's voice no longer registered in his ears. The soldier raised his sword high and slashed Shintiro’s son’s back once and took off with great speed toward another area of the village. Shintiro ran to his son with everything he had, almost stumbling over himself from the pain he felt inside.
“Kosiu, Kosiu…. Talk to me. My son. Nooooo!” Tears fell from his eyes once Shintiro collapsed onto the ground and held his son in his arms. He gently tapped his face to get him to wake up but to no avail. Shintiro screams in pain. His son didn’t say a word. He was gone. Shintiro’s hands trembled wildly as he held his son. His hands were now covered in his son’s blood. His sons’ eyes remained open but no movement from his body.
The intense green light began to glow from under Shintiro. A bright green stone was under his foot. He saw the light and wondered what exactly was happening. His eyes were now filled with tears. His heart was consumed by anger. His emotions were all over the place as he heard people running and screaming, some begging for their lives. Flames burnt brightly as all the huts were set on fire by the apes. The green light consumed Shintiro at that moment as his heart sank from the realization that his son was gone.
Shintiro snaps out of his trance and quickly grabs the strange green stone and places the stone in his animal-skinned bag and carries his son away from all the chaos. The fight is brutal, with both sides taking heavy losses before finally, one side emerges victorious. King Soren’s apes can be seen screaming out victoriously as the battlefield was covered in many human casualties.
As the apes scream out in victory, Shintiro can be seen fleeing from the battlefield that was once his home. Shintiro feels hopeless while carrying his dead son in his arms running into the dense cover of the jungle. With his people defeated, Shintiro knew he had failed in his duty to protect his people.
Shintiro takes a moment to hold his son’s body tight, then decides to dig up a grave for him. He leans back on a tree to rest and then decides to look at the strange green stone he found. When he touched it, a power he had never felt before began to flow throughout his body. His confidence grows and he feels he now has the power to face the apes. He remembers stories of his youth when the wise elders of his village would speak about strange legendary stones known as the Guardian Stones.
He makes his way through the jungle by using the strange power of the mysterious stone. With it, he was able to track down the people from his village that survived.
“Father! Father!” Immediately Luntra runs up to her father. She hugs him with everything she has. Tears are in her eyes. ”I… I thought you were gone.”
“Luntra, thank goodness you are safe.” Shintiro smiles but there is sadness in his eyes.
“I lost track of… Kosiu. Father, everything happened so quickly….”
“Luntra, please, listen to me carefully. Kosiu, he is… Kosiu is de… dead.” Shintiro began to choke on his words when he said that.
Luntra took a step back shaking her head in disbelief. “No….. I saw him today. He’s fine. Kosiu is …..” Tears began to form in her eyes once again.
“Luntra, I’m so sorry. I know it’s hard to accept, but …” Shintiro paused, searching for the right words. “… Kosiu is gone. I saw him…. fall. I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.” He rested his hand on her shoulder, trying to offer some comfort.
Luntra’s tears began to fall, and she collapsed into her father’s arms, her sobs shaking her body. Shintiro held her close, feeling a knot form in his chest. He had lost so much today: his home, his friends, and now his son. It felt like the world was closing in on him, and he couldn’t escape the darkness that had descended upon him.
“You killed us all!” An upset tribal man suddenly appears and makes his way through the survivors as Luntra steps away frightened. A tribal woman takes Luntra away as the man points at Shintiro in aggression. The muscular man had tattoos and a fierce face.
“Because of you, almost all our people are dead. We never trusted those apes and never will! How could you make a pact with them?”
“My brother, please, do NOT fight me now.” The man lunged at Shintiro and punched him in the face but two other men rushed in and held both of them back and urged them to calm down. Shintiro felt so much anger in his heart for what the apes did to his people. “It was all a misunderstanding! And I fought those monsters with you, with all of you.” Shintiro shakes his head, with anguish in his eyes.
“Do not call me brother, for you have disgraced your people.” The angry tribal man gets close to Shintiro’s face. The other two men that held them back step in to make sure they do not kill each other. He points his index finger and places it firmly on Shintiro’s chest. “This one misunderstanding cost us so many lives. You are no longer fit to lead us, NOT ANYMORE! I have watched you make decision after decision, for what? For this? We were ruthlessly attacked. Your son is dead! Your people have no land. You should be banished! Maza-tri, ton-ma!” In their native language tongue, the tribal man screamed repeatedly out loud. He was saying “Banish the killer”. He accused Shintiro of not making the right decisions and killing the people he was supposed to protect.
Shintiro stood silent and motionless, his eyes fixed on the tribal man who had accused him of destroying his people. He felt a surge of anger and guilt within him, but he held it in. Shintiro gulps as he looks around at the faces of the people that survived. Some were injured, others were afraid, and others trembled with anger. He knew that arguing with the man would only make things worse.
“Very well,” he said softly. “If that is what you believe, then I accept my fate. However, know that I never meant for any of this to happen. I only wanted what was best for our people, and I will always bear the weight of my mistakes.” As Shintiro spoke out loud to the man he looked around and locked eyes with his young daughter, “Please, take care of our people and lead them to a better future. I have failed in my duty as a leader, and I will carry that shame with me always.” With that, Shintiro turned his back and walked away, his head hanging low. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he walked away slowly as all the survivors looked on.
“Fa… Father!” His daughter cries out, but Shintiro walks away without hesitation. Luntra is held back by a tribal woman, who tells her that everything will be alright. Shintiro walked into the dense jungle never to be seen by his village again.
The next morning, Shintiro wakes up in a bright and sunny lit room. Rebarr was keeping watch roaming around the room making sure Shintiro was safe. The orange fog storm was gone. The air was breathable again and the thunder and thick orange clouds were nowhere to be seen.
Shintiro stepped out of the ancient building. He shields his eyes from the bright sun. He suddenly feels like someone was watching him. An uneasy feeling washes over him. He couldn’t quite explain it, but he felt like someone was out there in the jungle looking at him. He feared that maybe the reptilians had tracked him down. He calms himself down and does not hear any strange noises or footsteps. He decides to ignore the feelings and move on but as he makes his way out of the ruins with Rebarr, he discovers an underground chamber outside the ruins that the storm’s powerful winds must have uncovered. “That’s strange. I did not see this here before the storm had arrived.” Shintiro thought.
Shintiro stares long and hard at the underground chamber. Something odd was calling out to him. He takes a step forward and decides to see what exactly was in the mysterious underground chamber. 172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMcW3uN3Po
