Episode 2 The First Paradox

The girl rises slowly to a sitting position on her bed, staring around with a puzzled expression on her face at Kunai, Ryuu, and Arai. She turns to Arai. “Um…where am I? What happened?”

Arai shakes his head and nods his head over towards Kunai and Ryuu. “I don’t know. Ask them, they saved you inside the Ant Tunnel.”

“My name is Uchida Ryuu,” Ryuu begins, “and I am part of a secret task force known as the Joukai Elite. I and a large army comprised of Kunai’s family here, had been delegated the task of destroying the Cursed Sanctuary Paradox. Unfortunately…we failed, and you happened to be injured passing by. It seems you’ve been attacked by a Paradox.”

“Incidentally, what were you doing that far in the Cursed Sanctuary anyway? Ever since the Jr. Balrog there had been defeated, no travelers have bothered to journey there, what with the Paradox inhabiting it,” Kunai adds.

“I was…well, I don’t remember very well—my memory’s very hazy. But I do remember a large city, floating in a blood red sky…” the girl replies.

“When I was holding off the Taurospears, a portal opened up and she just appeared out of nowhere. I got her out of harm’s way as soon as I could,” Ryuu replies.

“Hm…speaking of Paradoxes, what Paradoxes exist inside the Ant Tunnel, other than…?” Arai questions.

Ryuu’s eyes widen suddenly. “You’re not suggesting…she was attacked by the Cursed Sanctuary Paradox, are you?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Arai answers. “What other Paradox exists in there?”

“But…this is bad…” Ryuu cries out loud.

“Why is it bad? What does it matter if she was attacked by that particular Paradox?” Kunai asks.

Arai turns to Kunai, grinning again. “Well you see, there are different types of Paradoxes, ranging in level and strength. They come in different shapes, sizes, and forms. Some may just seem like a harmless snail, while others take on the form of powerful dragons. They are the Triplicates, these dragons—the most powerful type of Paradox out there.”

“That’s wrong, actually—there’s one other Paradox more powerful than them. But I won’t mention it in front of these two,” Ryuu replies, glancing around briefly at Kunai and the girl.

“Well, yes…there is that one. At any rate, being attacked by one of the Triplicates is worse than death. Like being attacked by any normal Paradox, your soul would be shattered. But they leave an imprint of their themselves upon your soul as well, a trait no other Paradox has. If I am correct…” Arai suddenly strides over to the girl, and pulls up the sleeve of her Dark Anakarune, revealing a blood red tattoo composed of several alternating, curving red and black lines.

“Just as I thought, the mark of the Triplicate,” Arai says.

“What happens when they leave an imprint on you?” Kunai asks.

“Something worse than death,” Ryuu answers. “A curse is placed on you, firstly allowing you never to love, for the soul of a Paradox is complete darkness. Paradoxes are also drawn to you, bringing the risk of you getting attacked again much, much higher. In addition, should another Paradox ever touch your soul again, a certain…mutation will begin to take place.”

“What kind of mutation?” Kunai asks softly.

Ryuu turns to stare directly into Kunai’s eyes, his face emotionless. “You become a Paradox yourself.”

Kunai’s eyes widen suddenly, as he turns to stare at the girl on the bed. “That’s horrible! Then…”

“There’s nothing to worry about…yet,” Ryuu replies gruffly. “Like I said, until a third pupil appears in her right eye, we’ve got nothing too bad to worry about.”

Kunai shakes his head. “But…”

“It’s okay,” the girl suddenly says, making everyone in the room turn their heads toward her. “Kunai’s your name, right? It’s always best to look at the bright side of things. I’m not hurt at all, and that’s what’s important, right? So there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Right…” Kunai mutters, turning to look away from the girl.

Arai turns to the girl. “So…what’s your name?”

“Ivy!” the girl replies with a grin.

[Ivy – approx. 7x Priest]

Arai suddenly grins, clapping his hands together. “Okay! Now that everyone’s settled down and we’re all on the same page, what’re we going to do?”

Ryuu glances up irritably at Arai. “You say it like these two are coming with us. I’m sorry, but I can’t let them tag along, it’s too dangerous. Especially with the girl, Paradoxes are drawn to her.”

“Oh lighten up, Ryuu,” Arai replies with a grin. “Kunai’s proven himself to be a strong ally. He came out of the Cursed Sanctuary without a scratch. Plus, according to Ivy’s story, it seems like…she came out of the Rift World. I don’t know what that means, but it seems like she has some sort of relation to the Myougun Empire. She could be useful.”

“Fine,” Ryuu replies irritably, “do what you like. But I won’t call myself responsible for any of you getting hurt.”

“Okay! So what’s the plan?” Arai asks the room cheerfully.

“Well, now that Grendel’s been taken care of, the Myougun are gonna be concentrating on getting rid of us. Kunai and the girl are hardly safe either, considering what they know and who they’re connected with…” Ryuu replies. “I’m thinking it might be best if we lay low for a while…”

“Then it’s probably not a good idea to head back to the Ant Tunnel straightaway. It might be a better idea to infiltrate Haven, the base the Myougun have set up just outside of Ellinia. We could learn some valuable information there about the Triplicates. We can also stop by and check out the damage done at Ellinia on the way,” Arai answers.

“Hm…I’m all for it,” Ryuu replies. “We still don’t know too much about defeating the Paradoxes, much less defeating the Triplicates. Let’s head to Ellinia then.” He suddenly rises, clutching the hilt of his sword at his side.

“Wait, we’re going now?” Kunai cries out loud.

Ryuu glances briefly back at him at the doorway. “Of course. If we stay out here like this, the Myougun are gonna send their assassins after us. We’ve gotta lay low.”

“If we’re laying low, it doesn’t make much sense to go waltzing straight into the enemy’s headquarters,” Kunai replies.

“Heh. Then you obviously don’t know the Joukai very well,” Ryuu mutters, “we’re stupid as hell.”

[Ellinia, City of Mages]
Many tangled branches and fallen trees sit on the floor of Ellinia, some lying over the roofs of crushed buildings. Myriads of leaves are scattered over the burnt forest floor, some at the foot of dead, scorched tree trunks.

The tower hall at the top of Ellinia once belonging to Grendel lies fallen on top of many other structures, cracked and broken, sitting over the rest of the city in ruins.

Kunai picks up a sign labeled, ‘Ellinia.’ “This is horrible…the Myougun did all this? But what for?”

“It must be to stop all communication on Victoria from the outside. There’s no way of travel between Victoria Island and Ossyria anymore, not with Ellinia gone. No safe way, at any rate,” Ryuu replies. He glances around and kicks a small boulder on the floor. “Those bastards!”

Arai suddenly appears behind Ryuu with a cookie in his hand. He takes an absentminded bite from it, then turns to look around at the ruined city. As he is chewing, he says, “Hm…it certainly is horrible what the Myougun have done.”

Ryuu suddenly turns to Arai irritably. “Why are you eating that cookie?!”

Arai shrugs, smiling to himself. “What’s the matter? You want one too? Here, have one!” He then sticks a cookie into Ryuu’s mouth, who spits it out.

“I DON’T WANT A COOKIE DAMMIT!” He heaves a great sigh. “You’re getting crumbs all over the place!”

Arai shrugs again, looking down at the forest floor, which is covered with many leaves. “The leaves will hide the crumbs.”

Ryuu sighs again. “Of all the Joukai there once were, I have to get stuck with you.”

Arai breaks into a grin suddenly. He then reaches out and grabs Ryuu, pulling him into a strong one-armed hug. “Yeah! Best friends forever!”

Kunai stares at the two with an exasperated expression on his face. ‘They must have a long history together…’

Suddenly, the three of them turn as a squeal erupts in the air. They stare at Ivy as she kneels down on the floor over a small, slightly crushed Green Snail. She picks it up and shows it to the other three. “Aww, isn’t it just adorable?”

Ryuu’s eyes widen suddenly. He immediately draws his sword and knocks the Green Snail out of Ivy’s hands, which suddenly transforms into a large, round beast, apparently made of a shadowy material similar to plasma. At the center of the creature is a single, large yellow eye, with a red pupil. Many tentacles protrude from all around the beast.

“A Paradox!” Arai cries out loud, raising his Dark Ritual.

Ryuu runs forward, shoving his sword straight through the Paradox. It automatically wraps its tentacles around the sword, pulling Ryuu closer. “Ugh! Get off my sword, you bastard!”

“Ryuu!” Kunai cries out loud. He throws a Steely at one of the tentacles, which immediately splinters and falls apart. However, another one soon regenerates, taking the place of the former tentacle.

Kunai takes a small gasp in surprise. “It can…regenerate itself?”

Arai suddenly runs forward, waving his staff and showering a barrage of icicles over the Paradox. It freezes temporarily, as Ryuu sets his sword on fire again, burning off the rest of the tentacles.

Ivy then runs forward, casting Holy Arrow upon the Paradox. The wispy white arrow flies straight into the Paradox’s eye, stunning it temporarily.

Ryuu then pulls back his sword, bringing it back down with a crash straight through the Paradox. It shrieks in pain and then falls to a floor in a heap of shadowy plasma.

Ryuu bends over slightly, panting over the dead Paradox. “Damn…that thing’s strong, especially for one so weak.”

Arai shakes his head, staring down at the dead Paradox. He suddenly throws a cookie into the air, hitting something with a soft thud. The thud is followed by a shriek, as three more Paradoxes appear around them.

“Crap! There’s more?!” Kunai cries out loud.

Ryuu shakes his head, raising his sword. “We’ve gotta get out of here. I’m sure the Myougun have left a lot more than four Paradoxes in Ellinia!”