Recently
on Fires of the sky, lots of things have changed after 365 days. Almost every
student had to separate and disconnect with each other due to self-anger and
terrible memories of the first two years. As the main students rejoiced, they
find that Jen can mysteriously read books with empty pages as if they did have
text and pictures. It only appears whenever she is reading. Further along the
Reunion, the main group finds that Winny has left to Temple City to start a new
life, but what is her reason? The students follow her into a new prophecy book
that leads into Temple City’s world, much like El Monte’s ‘Arkon’s Magic’. What
surprises will the students experience this time?
Episode 269 – Page Twenty – Meet the Gluttony Bearer
The sky’s weather was very closely
related to Temple City near El Monte on Earth. You see, Temple City is a
neighboring district, so that’s why they were not a part of the challenges. A
little bit closer to El Monte and it would have made it to the same challenges.
Therefore, Temple City had its own elemental challenge with other schools.
Being about a 15-minute driving distance from El Monte, Temple City’s weather
is not that different from El Monte. It was almost 4:30 PM and the sun seemed
to start parting ways with the northern portion of the sky.
Van stood up with a bunch of energy
left in her now. “Alrighty! I’m up and ready to go!”
“About time.” Alex teased her.
“You annoy me already.” She teased
back in a joking manner.
“Not so fast!” A man said in a whiny
voice before the students could even start walking. He yelled loudly enough for
the townspeople to stop and look over.
“Uh… who is this guy?” Shirley said
rudely.
“Which one of you adores food?!”
“Food is good I guess. I’d probably
want to go for Korean.” Alex commented without caring if this man was dangerous
or not.
The man stomped onto the ground.
“Geheheh! Then come with me and show me what your cooking skills are made of!”
“W-What?! I meant I like food,
Korean food. That doesn’t mean I’m going to cook something for you, fatty!”
“What did you call me?!” The giant
man said. He was about 6’5 and he looked about over 250 pounds.
Van stood beside Alex. “We’ll make a
quarter-ton meal out of you before you pick a fight with us, mister!”
“Don’t you mean quarter-pound?” Alex
whispered.
“Be quiet, I’m on a roll here.” Van
said to him without turning her head.
Matt was behind the whole group. He
took a step back. “Wait a minute… food? Why are we suddenly talking about
food?” He quickly turned around to look for Jen, “Hey, read the next pages!”
However, Jen was already gone ahead with Jaime and Nix in order to reach the large
building first. “Crap.”
~~~
During the time when the main group
stayed at the town to rest, Jen, Jaime, and Nix had already made it to the
large building that looked much like the temple. However, they had no idea how
to sneak in as there were many guards in golden armor and helmets guarding the
front door and garden. There were also monks praying to the side where there
were silver stone lions. The three students were hiding behind one of the
pillars off to the side-most part of the building.
“Alright, we’re here. What does the
book say?” Jaime asked.
“Well usually, there are a bunch of
pictures instead of words.” Jen said.
“Those are the best kind of books.”
“Anyways,” Jen said sighed at his
laziness, “The first twenty pages are a bunch of obscure images but there is
this fat guy that keeps blocking up the whole picture. All it says is…
‘Gluttony Bearer’ as the only riddle for these pages.”
Nix pointed at the wolf, “Is that
dog edible?”
“That’s not a dog. That’s a- wolf?!
In this town?!” Jen panicked.
Jaime closed the book for her.
“That’s not just any wolf. It’s the other group and they must be under attack
by whoever holds Gluttony as one of the seven deadly sins.”
“Should we go back?” Jen became
worried.
“I didn’t see us in the pictures.
Maybe it’s better to stay and find a way inside the building.”
Jen turned away. “But… most of the
time, these books only tells us what actually happens, not what is the best
outcome to these situations. Therefore, I think this book showed us a mistake
that we made – leaving the group
behind.”
Nix stayed as his little bird form.
“Well, being here right now… I don’t see how things could get better if we
waste time running back. We have to think of something. Come on, check the next
twenty pages!”
Jen opened the book again to page
21, “Okay. Let’s see… Well there are us looking at the book. That should be the
right path.” She then turned to page 22, “And then the book is now on the
floor.”
“The floor??” Jaime repeated. The
students paused.
A tall, skinny man picked Jen and
Jaime up, one each with one grip by the back collar. He had straight, long hair
that was banded with a scrunchy. He had a nice mustache too, but let’s not
focus on that. Nix bounced out of Jen’s arms and he began floating in the air
in surprise.
“Why was I ordered to do so much
work… This is so tiresome,” the man complained. “Eh, two is enough. I’ll get
you later, birdie.” He said to Nix as he walked away.
Nix pounced onto the man’s back but
the poor bird was ricochet off of him. “Stop what you’re doing!” He turned
himself into a human being. “I order you to stop!”
“Hey man, nice hair. Guards, take
that boy away, and get that book to the master.” He said, still walking away. He
finally lowered his voice, “See ya, kid.” The golden guards from behind spotted
Phoenix as a human as they started rushing over. “Dear lord, you guys are
extremely heavy.” The man said in conclusion.
“That’s good news!” Jaime said
proudly.
“No it’s not!” Jen blushed as she
covered her face in embarrassment.
One of the guards jumped and hovered
over Phoenix. Phoenix turned back into his bird self as he flew away.
“Get back here!” The guard yelled.
Nix panicked. “Oh no! I have to tell
the others!!”
~~~
Three wolves were in front of the
main group this time where Van stood. Many of the townspeople began to run and
scream for their lives.
“Hey wait, does this mean I can have
your clothes for free?!” Shirley said to one of the men who left his stall.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
The fat man said in a whiny, squealing voice. He sounded like he stuffed a
bunch of bread in his mouth and still bothered to talk. “You’re messing up this
town already and it has only been over an hour.”
Matt stood in front of Van. “We want
to have a talk with Winny. I’m sure you know of her?”
“Ah, yes. The pretty one who always seems to smile! She’s at a
meeting right now. Would you like me to send a message, kid?”
“(Always? Since when?) Yes. The next
time you see them, let them know… that you got beat up by a ‘kid’.” Matt
readied his flames.
Yessenia tapped his shoulder. “Matt,
this does not seem like a good place to fight. People are still running.” But
in time, the whole area would be empty in a few more seconds. Shirley was still
picking out a nice outfit for herself. William dozed off, watching her decide.
Van whispered, “Let the wolves do
the talking. Don’t waste your energy on this fat man.”
“I don’t need to waste energy.” Matt
said with certainty as he ran towards the fat man without listening to
anybody’s warnings – not Yessenia’s, not Van’s.
The fat man called out, “This is the
power of the Gluttony Bearer! Take this!” He made himself inflate into a large
balloon but you could still see his resemblance. He didn’t totally alienate
from his form with a balloon skill.
“Gluttony?” Alex repeated.
Matt tricked the Gluttony Bearer by
flying upward before he got as close as possible. He shot a small, effortless
fireball at the enemy’s hair and he began running in circles, his hair on fire.
Matt jumped behind him and gave him a strong kick to the back. The fat man fell
forward without being able to make a move. “Th-That speed! Why?!” He cried.
If Matt had not trained before, he
would have crashed into the man’s stomach and fell for whatever attack he was
going to do next.
“Where is Winny?” Matt threatened
him with another fireball in his hand.
“I-In that large building over
there!”
“Figures.” Shirley said after
putting on a new outfit. It was a reddish maiden outfit that had a front white
padding and white laces off to the side. She also wore a red triangular cap
that covered her in shade.
The group began heading for the
largest building up ahead. At this point, Van had to recall her wolves. All of
the sudden, their eagerness lost exhaustion from all that walking and they had
a bunch of energy to keep going forward now that they knew exactly where to go.
“I wouldn’t be simple-minded if I
were you though!~” the man squealed again. Matt stopped without turning. “You
see, our strength pool has a big gap in between each of us. They say I’m the
weakest, although I would disagree, but they are far much stronger. And I’m not
talking about one stronger than the other, I’m talking about humongous gaps of
power! There is also more to that building than you see. Geheheheh!”
Van pointed at him, “Psch, you don’t
scare us!”
“He scares me.” Alex whispered to
her.
“I-I know, just play along!”
Matt continued to run ahead and
William did the same, knowing what’s most important – heading for that large
building.
“There
is also more to that building than you see.” Matt repeated in his mind.
What does that mean?
~~~
As the group continued to run,
Shirley began laughing. “Ahahah! I know this is supposed to be frightening, but
I don’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun getting in trouble with
the friends I care about most!”
“Are you being serious right now?!
We’re in danger and that’s all you can think about?!” Alex began fumbling
around while running.
There was nobody on the street now.
The news of infiltrators has spread really quickly, so by now many people were
hiding or running towards the opposite end of the town. How far does this town
go anyway? Well, the town and the large building is all there is. Of course,
there are a few unclaimed lands on the western and eastern portions, but that
is because this town is not fully developed yet. Like most books, only the most
important places are mentioned and the rest of the world is left obscured. In
this book, the rest of the world outside this island is in obscurity.
After a while, the students came to a stop to
rest a little. Everyone was tired of running after reaching the third mile. Nix
arrived and he accidentally bounced off of Matt’s shoulder with a boing! sound. A large cloud dust
appeared and Nix accidentally transformed into Phoenix.
Matt turned around. “Hey, watch
where you’re going!”
“Matt! You’re all okay!” Phoenix
said, hugging him. “Jen and Jaime were caught by the guards and this creepy
man. We have to save them!”
“That is perfect,” Yessenia said,
“we were heading there right now.”
“And um… there is something I need
to mention. The book was taken by the guards and is being sent to their
‘master’, whoever that is!”
“That doesn’t sound too good. This
time we really do need to hurry. No time for rests!” Shirley said as she held
her dress up while running as if she was a troubled princess.
“She’s not very smart for wearing
that at a time like this, huh?” Phoenix questioned. Alex and Van only shrugged
and William watched in confusion.
~~~
Jen and Jaime were in the large
building now. The first room was like a castle. It was about as big as a
football field. There were large glass mirrors as high as three to four stories
with old Greek mythologies, something Jaime could recall from a long time ago
back in Olympia. To the side where the mirrors stood were six doors: three on
the left and three on the right. These led to hallways that were typically for
royalty.
Jaime yawned. “Man, don’t you guys
get tired of walking this far just to reach those giant chairs?”
“It’s called a throne!” The tall man
said.
“Lopher! Please, calm yourself.” One
man stood in front of the throne. Next to him was a young woman with green hair
and light skin. She had a frowning look on her face that Jen could recognize
really well.
“That girl… she’s…” Jen stared at
her. Lopher removed Jen’s backpack away from her which made her struggle to
fight back. “Wait! That’s my…!”
“Ah, ah, ah~ You will not be getting
this back. My, it’s quite heavy but when I squeeze your backpack, it doesn’t
form into a shape of books. What’s inside here?” He asked in a teasing manner.
Jen was silent. He unzipped the backpack and then he started shaking it
upside-down until the steel, leathered nunchuck fell. Jen watched it, hoping it
would react on its own but it fell with a clank!
just like any ordinary object made of steel. Jen sighed, knowing that it
purposely did nothing as a result of a lack of connection.
“A weapon?” Said the man on the
throne. “Take them to prison down below. I will deal with them later.”
Jaime watched Jen’s expression.
“Hey…” He said quietly, “When I said you had a choice to improve, you decided
to take on physical strength?”
“I needed to protect myself some
way. But, I can’t even do that with a weapon…” She began to cry. “It’s… too
late for us. I’m useless, again.”
“Jen…” Jaime said as they were taken
to prison.
~~~
- Preview to the next episode! -
Matt:
On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…
Shirley:
The next episode seems like big plot advancement! I can’t wait!
Nix:
Sorry for accusing you of betraying us, Van…
Van: Awwww!!
You’re such a cute, little bird!!!
Jen:
This is not good. We don’t have the book and we can’t read the next fortunes.
Jaime:
Things are better unspoiled, right?
Jen:
But… I guess…
Matt:
We’re finally here. Where is Winny?
Alex:
There she i- What is she wearing?!
Shirley:
And who the heck is that?!
Matt:
We’re taking her back! Next time on episode 270, The Seven-Split Road of
Personality!
Winny:
Everyone? I…
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