Aryu was flabbergasted at the thought that it was just that easy. Aryu had originally hoped the answer was a little more feasible, perhaps something he could use to his advantage later down the road. This one was just too simple.
Now, beyond getting the beast-man off his tail and returning to his friend, he wanted to find Crystal just as badly as Nixon did for the same reason as the phoenix. He wanted answers. If he could master the Power, but limit it, not allow it to get to the levels that had crippled the world, he may have found a weapon powerful enough to use on the mechanical army.
He knew immediately he had to tread carefully from here out. How many had fallen to the Power thinking just what he did right at this moment? Well, he thought to himself as he settled into sleep, at least I'd have one hell of a reason not to go too far. How many of the people Nixon had destroyed would have changed their tune after meeting him? He was a smart young man. He knew the fine line he'd have to walk to make this idea come true. Nixon seemed intent on teaching him enough to survive, but perhaps Crystal could go that one step further.
“Wake up lad...” streamed through his dream state as he was slowly rocked awake. The terrifying visage of the phoenix glared at him through the darkness, the soft glow of his hair and eyes all that could be seen in the shadows of the night beneath the trees.
As he began extending his wings to stretch the muscles he'd been sleeping on, Nixon quickly reached out and grabbed the leathery appendages before he had a chance to do so.
“What’s going…” He was quickly shushed, so he asked in whisper, “What's going on? Is there someone here?”
No answer.
Aryu was about to ask again when Nixon put his large, warm finger to Aryu’s mouth to keep him quiet. Aryu listened, straining to get past the rustle of leaves by the wind, but could hear nothing more than the sounds of the night.
The air here was moist and Aryu had taken to sleeping without a shirt, using only the warmth of his wings at night. His shirt, the last of the special woven canvas shirts his mother had made him before he had left a year ago, was currently his pillow. The dark brown (and now very tattered) top had two long slits cut down from the back of the neck to accommodate his wings and buttons at the top of the slits to make it wearable. Aryu had thought often over the past few days about where to get another when this one gave up the ghost. His mother wasn't around to make him a new one. The thought flashed sadness past his mind, but he quickly dismissed It.
”Get yer sword,” the big man said. Aryu still wasn't terribly confident with the blade, having only the most rudimentary skills to begin with, but if some kind of threat was out there, better to have it than not. He pulled the ancient weapon from its sheath and waited by Nixon’s side.
“I believe we're bein’ watched,” Nixon said eventually. “And watched by somethin’ very strong.”
“Strong how? Animal, person, what? I don't have your ears.”
Nixon shook his head. “It's not ears I'm usin’. This thing, whatever it is, 'as command of tha Power.”
Nixon motioned him to stay where he was as he slowly made his way into the darkness beyond the trees surrounding them. From time-to-time Aryu saw what he believed to be the glow from the beast’s hair float through the underbrush.
A sudden gust of wind came from behind him, quick and unnatural like something had moved past him and disappeared into the trees on the other side. Shi Kaze up and in the ready position, Aryu turned only to encounter the same sensation behind him once more. A crack of a branch snapping came out of the dark from the direction Nixon had gone. In an instant Aryu saw the muted blur of something go after it.
Not hesitating, Aryu charged after the shadow. Ahead of him arose a plume of fire from the trees. It bathed enough light on the area for Aryu to see the soft, flickering sign of something to his left. His adrenalin pumping faster than rational thought, Aryu ran at the tree and brought the sword about as quickly as his arms could do so. The tree he suspected had hidden this secret assailant was cleaved in two with the effort and came crashing down in a thunder that shattered the silent night.
The flame pillar died down, and Aryu heard heavy feet and armor coming towards him. Stealth was unnecessary after his felling of the tree, so Aryu called out to Nixon at the top of his voice. “Nixon! Over here!”
Nixon, eyes wild and darting about, crashed through a series of bushes to his location, the massive sword swinging back and forth just as quickly.
“I saw it, behind the tree, but it escaped before I could get it.”
“No problem, lad. Keep tha’ sword up! Follow yer instincts.”
Without warning, Nixon locked onto an empty space in the trees above Aryu. His arm extended and a shot of white fire blasted over his head. The wave of heat hit the ground a few paces away, lighting the grasses and
