“Really? I doubt she could be much more powerful. What grandiose ability does she possess now?”
Without eye contact, Sho simply said, “She can hear the Echoes of the Omnis.”
Nixon was on him at once, leaping across the space between with a speed Aryu could barely perceive, his massive hands grabbing the red armor. Aryu could swear he was beginning to trail smoke. “What! You had best be tellin' me yer jokin', Sho. Even then, tha’ is certainly not funny at all!”
Aryu was amazed at the loss of control from the phoenix. He'd seen him angry, but never like this.
Sho was still very calm, clearly not fazed by the sudden violent treatment by the slightly larger man. His eyes casually scanned the ground as he continued. “For almost three centuries now. I would never dare joke with you, Nix. Your temper is something I want no part of. Your sword, even less. Besides, why would I lie about that? I'm as worried about it as you seem to be.”
“Bullshite! If ya knew HALF as much as I do about the Omnis and what it all means you'd have gotten off yer self-pitying arse yerself and stopped her before she even started! Don't ya DARE pretend ya fear for her when ya coulda’ stopped it!”
No doubt about it. There was smoke coming off every inch of Nixon’s body in small, wispy plumes.
“I won't pretend anything. You should know I couldn't stop her if I wanted to. What am I going to do, fight my own mother to the death? I've killed enough of my parents in my life, thank you. And besides, you're one to talk about avoiding the Omnis when you accompany that sword and bearer. I don't have to remind you of what your duty is, sworn to God Himself. You can't really complain right now.”
The smoke plumes were coming off Nixon like he was on fire beneath his armor, but the great hand released Sho and dropped him back to his seat. Nixon’s eyes burned into the stranger, the light within them bright and furious. Still, he took a few steps back and allowed himself a measure of composure.
“You, sir, do not get the right to question me, my God, or the way I conduct my business, I say thank ya.” It was as if Nixon was fighting the battle of his life just to keep from bursting into flames of rage.
Sho just straightened himself and returned to looking nonchalantly at the ground. “You are correct, sir. I apologize. My time in isolation has done me no favors in the area of social niceties.”
Nixon still looked mad enough to explode, but he did return to his spot across the fire. Many tense minutes passed before he spoke again. “Very well then,” he began at last. “Has she shown any effects of the Est Vacuus?”
Sho shook his head. “No, though in truth I fear I may not know what to look for. I hope you may be more attuned to that sort of thing when you meet with her. I rarely see her anymore. She stays in her Haven most of the time. She always insists I come around more, but she only wants to guilt me, just like you. I'd rather not hear it.”
“Bah, given the time I'd tell ya ‘til ya could hear it no more. Ya hold no responsibility at all, Sho. Ya should have reveled in yer victory and died in peace.”
Sho didn't respond. Aryu could read in Sho’s thin face that this topic was one he was very sick of. He decided to be the icebreaker. “While we seem to have a quiet moment here, can someone please explain what that was all about?”
Nixon simply glowered and said nothing, seemingly content to allow Sho the chance to tell this tale.
“Very well,” he began, still looking around at nothing and everything. “The short version is that as you may have guessed, your large friend and I have met before. At that time, the world was still suffering the shock from the loss of those with the Power. Nixon arrived a day later, the carnage of the situation still fresh.” Nixon frowned at the words but said nothing. “At that time I accompanied him and my mother around to assess the damage. When we finished it was agreed that my time of usefulness was past and I should leave this life. Even my mother thought so, having never wanted me to follow the same path as her and my father...”
“So your father was Ryu, the false god?”
A smirk at the title. “I see you've been speaking at length with our friend here. Yes, Tokugawa Ryu was my father. Anyway, after Nixon left and I returned to these lands with my mother, the destruction and lifelessness that seemed to cover here were evident, even after a short time had passed. The amount of the Power here exploded when he purged things and ravaged the land, making it not unlike Nixon’s home.” Aryu signaled his understanding so Sho continued. “The fault lay with two people: Death, whose foolish selfishness had caused the anger of Ryu in the first place, and Ryu himself, who should have never acted as he did without thinking about the possible side effects. Since both were unavailable to answer for what they’d done, for obvious reasons, I took it upon myself, against my mother’s advice and my word to Nixon, to return my homeland to its previous splendor and maintain it until it could sustain itself or I die. As of yet, neither has happened, so I remain, to do what I swore to myself I must.”
“Why you?” Aryu asked right away, intrigued by the story.
Nixon looked over at Sho, clearly interested in the answer himself. “Well,” said Sho after a moment, “I suppose that would be because after those two, I
