(Reverence 6, 59 / 8:02AM)

  He slowly opened his eyes.

  Unable to move, he looked around every corner, his eyes peering into the familiar metal walls that bound him on his journeys. Being inside the same metal van, he hunched his head forward, but…

  A hard white bandage bnketing him, he trailed his eyes down at the cast that…

  Covered his body like a cartoon character.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Just great…

  Widening his eyes at this predicament, Luke rapidly moved his eyeballs to a young man and woman sitting in front of him, their cheeks puffed out like chipmunks. Like balloons, gusts of air tried to squirt out from their lips, making Luke push down his eyes at the two who were simir to his age.

  Huffing out air, his chest and lungs beat against his broken ribcage.

  (Luke) There’s nothing funny about me…

  (Pacifica) You-you look like some of those Looney Tune characters after a brawl! Ooh, you got done pretty bad!

  (Luke) I know … wait …

  Casting his eyes down at his arms, he took note of the many needles stabbing straight through his hard white cast. Trying to wobble whatever muscles or tissue from both of his arms, Luke wiggled his body like a worm, which was the nail in the coffin for…

  Christian and Pacifica’s ughter.

  Both of them clutching their stomachs, joyful tears wept from the crevices of their eyes, as Luke’s face paled at the line of needles reaching up to his shoulder. Even though the pain was unresponsive, the thought of dozens of needles stabbing him at once was enough to try to jump out of his…

  Well, he couldn’t.

  (Luke) What happened to me!?

  (Christian) Hahaha! How did you not forget your spar with Kenji? You won the fight!

  (Luke) Oh yeah, I did win that. But he forfeits though. Anyway … why are there dozens of needles on me!?

  The pair of siblings wiped away the abundance of tears from their eyes, tainting their brown outdoor jackets with their water. Pcing their hands onto their thighs, they leaned back their upper backs and heads to the metal walls that moved with the wheels.

  Christian moved his right leg up onto his left knee, whilst pcing his hands into his pockets as he made eye contact with the wide-eyed Luke.

  (Christian) You were hurt, really, bad man. I thought you would’ve never gotten up from that, but here you are.

  (Luke) But that doesn’t expin these needles!?

  (David) We injected the maximum doses of that cssified vaccine we found during the Adobe raid. Iris here managed to snag a few samples.

  His voice low, David had his hands on the bck leather wheel, followed by his right foot firm on the gas pedal. To his right, a middle-aged woman with dark purple hair had her feet up on the dashboard, her eyes trailing the red soil that blew against the coarse wind.

  All five of them traveling through the northern desert in the north region of Haxouburg, Luke realized the morning sun's rays glistening against his face.

  If he remembered correctly, the Zirardge Train would leave the Ridgemente port station on the 5th in the evening. And if it was the te morning of the fifth when he dueled Kenji, and it's now early morning … then …

  (Luke) Wait … I slept for almost an entire day. If the train leaves during the same day that I faced Kenji … the train! How is—

  (David) Hold on now Luke. Consider us lucky for what happened in the southern region.

  (Luke) Southern region?

  (David) I guess we have to fill you in on the way there. Also, we have everything cooking up on the burner as well.

  Furrowing his brow, Luke gnced at both Christian and Pacifica who crossed their arms over their chests, their smiles ceasing to fade the more they watched Luke’s full-bodied cast. Giggling, Luke ignored them, averting his eyes and blushing his cheeks.

  But as he stared at the metal floor, a thought came to him.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Well, as long as they aren’t grieving over Chris’s death, then I guess I’ll py the part of a joker too…

  Looking toward the middle hole connecting Luke and the others to David and Iris, it was wide open, as Luke watched some sand blow against the cracked windshield.

  Trying not to look at Luke’s white bondage cast that covered his entire body, David kept his eyes on the road, whilst carrying a can of Vampire in his hand. The tip of the can caress between his lips, he gulped it down before tossing it out the window.

  (David) It’s a simple pn, but with your insight, it could be more than just a pn.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Reverence 6, 59 / 8:10:AM)

  (David) That sums up what happened when you were asleep. So what do you think?

  David told Luke about Kenji's pn, as well as how Iris healed him. And Luke was crippled beyond repair.

  His entire body cast against a white bandage which acted like stone. Unable to move his hands, arms, feet, legs, neck, or even head, the only thing moving was his eyeballs.

  Looking toward the cowboy hat-wearing man, Luke clicked his tongue quietly, his lips one of the few body parts that could move. Ceasing his clicking, a small grunt swiftly wept from his throat.

  (Luke) So… Iris injected dozens of doses of metamorphine into me?

  (Iris) Consider yourself lucky that you’re not in bed. I’ve been instructed to give you many doses that I see fit.

  (Luke) By who?

  (Iris) By—

  (David) That’s not the issue right now. What do you think we should pn, Fenix?

  Luke cast his eyes downward onto the metallic floor, trailing the dirtied floor reeked with dirt and dried-up mud.

  Unable to scratch his head or cheek, or rub his chin or nose, he slowly nodded his head up and down, just enough for his pain to not fme up again. Despite having the overqualified doses of metamorphine into his system, he didn’t feel the pain cease away like what he heard in many stories.

  Clenching both his teeth shut, he sealed his teeth with his lips still swollen red. Moving whatever muscles along his toes, only his pinkie and thumb toes twitched.

  (Luke) What order did Kenji give to that group of soldiers?

  (David) He wanted them to scout a bridge that the train would pass through. It’s located near the mines, the region that was scratched off for government reasons.

  (Luke) So the Marston Bridge?

  (David) Yeah, that one. Any ideas that spring up with the word ‘bridge’?

  Luke looked at both Pacifica and Christian, their hands clutched firmly on the edge of the seats. Seeing that they avoided eye contact with Luke, Luke lowered his eyes, while he moved his tongue around the bottom yers of his gums.

  Moving his jaw left and right, he continued to stare bnkly at the floor, unwilling to lift up his eyeballs at David nor Christian and Pacifica.

  (Luke) I don’t know … the only idea I could think of is just blowing it up.

  (David) Blowing up a bridge?

  (Luke) Well … if you cut off the train track, then there’s no way the train would continue along its designated path.

  (David) Meaning that their path to Huecas Minas would be severed.

  Whilst staring down at the metallic floor, Luke noticed both Pacifica's and Christian’s boots trembling, as if they tried to squash an imaginary insect below their soles. Letting out a dry cough, spats of his dry saliva didn’t stain the floor, the sun unable to sparkle or glitter the water which cked nutrients.

  His breathing hardening, he stared directly at Christian, who shyly looked at Luke with sealed lips.

  (Luke) If it’s alright with you, would you guys be able to assist the other soldiers at the bridge? I know you guys are dealing with a lot of things…

  Her nails dug deep into her metallic seat.

  Her breathing fastened, her heart beating against her fil chest, and her lower body trembled and twitched. Hissing out hot air from her nostrils, Christian pced his left hand onto her knee, but Pacifica’s blowing steam only worsened more and more.

  Rubbing both of his jaws together, Luke gulped down saliva reeked with iron metal, despite no blood swelling inside his body.

  (Luke) Look, I understand that you want payback, but revenge isn’t going to bring Chris back—

  (Pacifica) You don’t know that. You probably never felt the pain of losing someone.

  (Luke) … I do.

  Pacifica kept her gring eyes toward Luke, who only stared down at the metallic floor with eyes barely holding hot tears. Wanting to wipe them away with his sleeve, the only thing that he could do was shelter underneath his lower eyelids.

  Getting not just her, but Christian’s attention, he hunched his back and perked his ears, while having the bottoms of his feet hover a millimeter from the ground.

  (Luke) I’ve lost my mother and father ever since I turned 12. I’ve lost a couple of good friends, through the years, and we had to fight them all like some sick joke. Me and everyone went through hell trying to save a city that banished us like sinners … and the worst part …

  He hunched his back forward.

  (Luke) I’ve lost another person dear to me; the older sister I never asked for. I already found my second family … and I can’t let them be taken away from me … I can’t …

  One single tear rolled out from Pacifica’s right eye.

  The salty droplet trailing down her cheek, stalled just upon her jawline, lingering on her skin like its life depended on it. Both of her hands balled, her fingers stabbed the wound that she inflicted herself several times over.

  Everyone gasped in surprise from the sudden movement, as the white cast binding him like stone crackled like thunder. Slowly moving his arms onto his knees, a slow-burning sensation began chewing up his nerves like a small current of electricity. Even though it didn’t cause him to hiss or clench his eyes, Luke blinked a couple of times and wiggled his tongue in the back of his mouth.

  Despite her anger unfading, her eyes widened.

  (Pacifica) But…

  (Luke) No buts … no buts … revenge can be served in many ways compared to actual revenge.

  Finally, Pacifica averted her gring eyes away, focusing them on the opened hole. Uncurling her fingers, she let them stand ft on her thighs, her nails glistened with blood that had already sunk deep into her skin. Blood was drawn from her wounded palms.

  The northern wind from outside blew against the front walls of the van, the wind howling through the van’s doors.

  David gnced at the back through the hole, seeing Luke’s hunched back posture. Iris joined in too, a small smirk formed along her left lip, a smirk that reached the halfway point to the bottom of her ear.

  (David) You’re moving bit by bit. Hopefully, you’ll be able to walk again by the time we get there. I take it that both Pacifica and Christian are willing to accompany the soldiers at Marston Bridge.

  (Luke) Are you guys?

  Instead of softly nodding, Christian clutched both of his hands together, his fingers digging into each other. Setting both of his hovering feet back on the floor, he let his butt hover a centimeter on his seat. His body trembling, his eyes unwavering, not even Pacifica’s soft hand woke him up from his shyness.

  While staring at Luke with snted inward eyes.

  (Christian) Ready when you are.

  Luke gave them a casual smile, his face warming up both Christian and Pacifica’s souls like a campfire. As if they could smell the burning smores, melting milk chocote, and hot cocoa, nostalgia struck them like a freight train, despite not having a single memory of it ever happening.

  And yet it felt like it.

  Both willing to accept their destination to the Marston Bridge, Luke turned his head toward the open hole, the cast creaking like a nail scraping against the cobblestone.

  (Luke) Once we reach Ridgemente, you and Iris will have to accompany me in jumping on that train, which will leave Christian and Pacifica to drive the van.

  (David) Noted, but I’m afraid that you’re going to have to jump on the train with Iris.

  (Luke) What? Why?

  (David) Gabriel is somewhere in Ridgemente…

  David’s fingers softly dug deep into the leather fabric of the wheel, his low-bearing nails unable to pierce into the material. Moving his eyes to Iris, both of her jaws cmped shut, followed by her eyes trailing the rge stone buttes reaching the height of most mountains. Since there were no clouds above, the tip of the stone monuments could’ve pierced through them if they fluttered in the sky.

  Turning his eyes back onto the road, metal-scraping red-devil tumbleweeds rolled through the one-ne road, picking and throwing dirt amongst the asphalt. Loosening his grip on the wheel, David paid the scenery no mind once all the tumbleweeds plowed through.

  (David) I’ll try to handle him so you won’t have to. Maybe I can get some long-awaited answers from him…

  Luke pulled his stare out from the open hole, as he looked at both Christian and Pacifica again with a smug smile. Both of them smirking, Luke forced both of his hands and arms onto his knees, his white cast crackling and snapping like a pair of sticks.

  Then came the feeling of fire ants nibbling his body, his blood tingling and thawing every nerve in his system.

  (Luke) I guess we know what we’re doing. I hope that I can enter the train normally…

  (David) With your luck, you’ll get in, but not the way you hoped.

  (Luke) I know… but I have a question…

  (David) What for?

  Cracks and holes began appearing on his white cast, leaving tiny amounts of his bare skin to breathe in the van air. Stretching out both of his feet, his heels pressed firm onto the floor, cracking and softening his joints.

  His feet were accustomed to the metal floor, and Luke pced both of his hands together. Slowly fiddling with his thumbs, the cast softly ripped along his knuckles and fingers, tearing apart the stone fabric that loosened more and more with each movement.

  (Luke) You called Mr. Sumiko The Master of The Art of Togo. Is Togo some sort of martial arts power?

  (David) Wait … you don’t know what Togo is?

  (Luke) I’ve heard Luna talk about it a couple of times.

  (David) Jesus kid…

  David pced the back of his head firmly onto the headrest, his fingers still wrapped around the leather wheel. Swaying his head left and right, David huffed out a rge breath of air tched deep in his lungs, pushing it out through his nostrils by force.

  Grinding against his enamels like stone rubbing against another stone, David straightened his back, as well as his neck. Pulling back his right foot an inch from the pedal, the van drove below the speed limit as desert winds began to blow against the metal walls.

  (David) Togo is a universal martial arts fighting style incorporated by most of the world. Most agents and highly specialized soldiers can acquire the hidden power of it.

  (Luke) Is it like a blessing in which we have to ingest something or…?

  (David) Everyone has Togo.

  Luke raised his right hand onto his cheek, his fingers poking out of the cast as the air dried the tips of his nails. Scratching off white hard patches of bandage from his cheek, some of it tore and ripped off, leaving behind a rge hole that dispyed his right cheek.

  Letting out a hmmm sound, Luke straightened his back and loosened his heels on the floor, along with pcing his left hand onto the seat next to him.

  (Luke) So it’s all about training to harvest it. No wonder Luna always trained to the bone ever since we first met…

  (David) Taught her how to harness it, giving her insights and techniques that led her to being the strongest person in your group. Miles, Benn, and even that boy Stan can hone it well.

  (Luke) How do you know which level they are at?

  (David) Togo comes in stages.

  His eyes squinted into the dark patch of clouds forming along the south, the desert winds blowing straight toward the windshield. As if their rain came early, thousands of grains of sand trickled and pinched the gss and hood, reverberating the sound all across the metal walls and floor.

  Hearing the howling wind, Christian and Pacifica looked toward the open hole, seeing clouds completely cking a shade of white. Streaks of lines flowed out from the bottom of those bck clouds, and both of them gulped down a major hole of saliva down their throats.

  They continued to watch the thousand-year storm heading north to their location.

  (David) There are four stages to the martial arts system, with everyone that I just mentioned being in the first stage.

  (Luke) What about Luna?

  (David) Judging her, she’s on the border on the second stage, the stage in which Jenny and Iris are at. And judging from Kenichi’s movements, he’s on the border of being on the third stage.

  His eyes darkened, his cheeks pushing downward while another coarse breath of air blew out from his mouth.

  David dealt with Kenichi twice, once during the surprise ambush and a second when everyone dealt with the Bringer of Death. His right finger twitching once, he arched his pointer finger, having it tapped viciously onto the leather wheel.

  All the while Luke slowly stood up, both soles of his feet pressing firm on the metallic floor. Hunching his back so that his head wouldn’t hit the ceiling, his cast crumbled like paper being torn apart while pcing his eyes onto the rge open hole.

  (Luke) And what about Gwen and you? She was always fast when she used her power.

  (David) That was just her power kid. She completely cked any combat experience. As for me, however…

  David turned around to gnce at the standing Luke, noticing many spots of his bare skin in which the cast was torn, making him look like a mummy. Without chuckling, David pushed his right lip to the halfway point of his ear and jaw, his dry chuckle chained by his vocals.

  (David) I’m in the third stage, a stage where realistic fighting turns into fiction.

  (Luke) … And what about Kenji?

  (David) Why do you think he’s called The Master Of The Art of Togo?

  Luke gulped down whatever dry saliva was situated in between his gums and teeth, swallowing it down his dried throat.

  Vaguely remembering the fight, if Luke called it that, his movements weren’t realistic nor avoidable. As if he teleported and glided through the air at light speed, Luke couldn’t dodge his kicks or fists, no matter how fast his blessing rang him.

  All of his nerves bring at him like a firestorm, Luke clicked his tongue.

  (Luke’s thoughts) How am I still alive?

  (Luke) My blessing didn’t even work against him. If there’s a chance to evolve or improve the speed or accuracy of a blessing, then does it work the same as—

  (David) Blessings and curses are vastly different from Togo, son.

  Luke bit his lower lip, letting out a trail of blood to run down his jaw. Since his face had already healed, a new wound formed on the area in which he bit down, the liquid coursing through his veins still dwelling within him.

  In the snap of a finger, a hard scab already formed on his lip, his tongue softly caressing the old wound. Ignoring it, Luke walked toward the open hole, with some of the cast finally crumbling off to the floor from the knees down.

  Pressing his palms onto the metal wall, his bare legs dispyed themselves to both Christian and Pacifica.

  (Luke) H-How are blessings, and curses different? Do they have simir stages to Togo?

  (David) Blessings have acts, not stages, and Curses have parts. Blessings have three separate acts throughout the user’s fighting life, and Curses have two distinct parts. Simir to Togo, Blessings gives the user more power, and more fighting styles or uses the more it evolves.

  (Luke) Oh…

  (David) Unlike Togo, Blessings can’t evolve by just training. It activates by something else, but I forgot what.

  More of Luke’s white bandages tumbled down to the floor, his shoulders and arms bared free to glisten in the air. No pants and shirt covering his legs or arms, not even a simple tank top was seen as more stone cloth rippled from his chest.

  Only his thighs, crotch, and stomach, were still covered, yet even the simplest of tearings gave way to his skin to breathe.

  (Luke) C-Can you judge us alone by what acts our blessing is in?

  (David) You’ll figure out when you evolve, but I guarantee you that you and everyone else are stuck on the first act.

  (Luke) Great…

  His cast was now gone.

  And he was now bare.

  Since his nerves were still fmed from the day prior, they couldn’t pick up whether or not Luke was dressed or not. Gncing at Christian and Pacifica, Christian stared at him with a deadpan look, while Pacifica covered her eyes with blushing red cheeks.

  (Luke) What happened?

  (Christian) Look down.

  Luke gnced down at his…

  He didn’t even wear boxers!

  (Luke) AH!

  Pcing both of his hands over his crotch, he humbled himself into a corner, his face burning a crimson red that rivaled his blood. Rapidly looking around the van, he noticed a bag of clothes just on the other side of the van.

  Pacifica, who had her eyes closed shut by her palms, peeked a tiny bit before pcing her palm back.

  (Luke) D-Don’t peek!

  (Pacifica) I-I-I-I’m not!

  (Christian) No wonder Luna and Hope fight over you …

  (Luke) It’s not that big!

  As the van traversed the bck asphalt below its wheels, the wind howled the more South David drove. Both of his hands still clinging onto the wheel, David squinted his eyes into the bck clouds, encapsuting a single bolt of blue lightning into his wrinkled eyes.

  (David’s thoughts) I guess another person watches over him… who knew she would go to such lengths…