• The Eve of Eternity: Chapter 14 - Aegis

    The head councilman spoke up once more. “Our meeting is now adjourned for today.” There was still a large amount of confusion amongst the Magistrates, who were now looking at this strange fox man. Many of them were unable to speak, but finally Firomis stood up and walked over to Sethos. “I see you are still in high spirits, my old friend.” He said as he held out his hand to Sethos. Sethos took his hand with a smile, “Yes and it seems that you are moving up in the world yourself.” Finally, the remainder of the Magistrates stood up and began to shake Sethos’ hands in order to show respect and to greet him properly. “So what is the ordeal we face, being that the council appointed a Kitsune to a Magistrate’s seat?” a young woman named Rita Bridgeport asked.

    Rita was the person appointed to the First district seat, and she was a childhood friend of Firomis. She wore mostly all red, and had long red hair. Her hair fell down below her waist behind her head, but in the front it was short, with the sides neatly and straightly curling around the sides of her face and a series of long, thick strands going down the middle of her face towards the left side of her face. Her clothing was extremely delicate and fancy. She wore pants that were slightly tight in the legs which outlined her thin legs quite well, a red and white shirt with a frilly neck and sleeves, a short red coat that had golden trim on the edges, and lastly there was a long red cape hanging down her back and slightly covering her shoulders. “Well, I wasn’t told much of anything but the council believes that the threat of Toren’s organization of bandits is growing out of control. The royal guard has been strengthened by the addition of Kitsune commanders being added to the ranks. We Kitsune have always had a good standing with the humans of Beythemisia, and we are all proud to call this city our Home. As such, many of us such as me believe that it was time we intervened in this war of our world. Toren and Maximus plan to bring Chaos to this world, this we already know. We don’t know the full extent of what he really plans to do, but the council wanted to be prepared for anything, as this region is the heart of the world.”

    A second girl spoke up, “That is true. We should definitely be prepared for what is to come, and be even more prepared for what we don’t know is coming.” Her name was Karen Myst and she was the person in charge of district 4. By nature she was a very mysterious person, and no one other than Firomis knew her past. Her hair was green and she had long bangs in the front of her head off to the sides, and the back of her hair was tied up in a ponytail that went down to just above her waist. She was a very formal person, and so she was wearing a purple kimono with a design of a blazing fire on it, and for shoes she was wearing a pair of purple sandals. “Karen is right. I’m Celestia Barringer, though I think you already know all our names it may help put a face to a name.” Celestia smiled at Sethos and shook his hand. She was the person in charge of district 3 and she was also the quietest of the group, though very polite and formal when she would speak. Celestia had long orange hair that she let naturally fall down all around her head and down her back, though she would tuck the front under the sides of her head because it would get in her eyes otherwise. She was wearing a black shawl over her shoulders, a blue coat that was longer in the back than the front under the shawl, a knee length black skirt with dark grey leggings and a pair of black dress shoes that had blue ribbons laced around the opening.

    “I’m Damian Manix.” One of the young men finally spoke up. He was in charge of the district 6 and was one of the most formal dressers in the Magistrates. Damian constantly walked around wearing fancy clothing, even for casual events and this day was no different. He was wearing a pair of black dress slacks, a silver vest with a white button up shirt underneath, a black dress coat with a silver handkerchief in the right side pocket, a pair of black dress shoes and around his neck was a red tie. His hair was a light blue, which was close to being silver itself, and it was slightly spiked up in the center and a small portion of the sides, with a series of bangs coming out in front in the center while the rest of the sides and back were slightly spiked outward in various spot while the rest went straight down. “Tarren Baxter.” Another young man said as he shook Sethos’ hand. Tarren was in charge of district 5, and he was one of the more outspoken Magistrates. He was also the most casual dresser, being that he was wearing brown slacks, a green t-shirt, a lavender coat over the shirt and brown dress shoes. He was also the only one who wore glasses, because he claimed they highlighted his orange eyes in order to draw attention away from his medium length purple hair, which was neatly parted and had a series of short bangs in the front. Immediately after introducing himself, he began talking with Marianne Flay, the newest magistrate that was introduced.

    By this time, the remainder of councilmen and magistrates had left the chambers and headed home. “Firomis, I would like for you and the other magistrates to join my organization. I originally founded it several decades ago and it has continued to grow larger. Our original purpose was to capture and detain high profile criminals and bounty targets. However, more recently we’ve gotten into the business of information gathering and the protection of the capital city.” Firomis looked at Sethos for a moment before speaking. “Then I propose we merge our two organizations together, since I am currently leading my own and all the magistrates still here except for Marianne are members of it. Our purpose is the same as yours, with the focus being to find Maximus and Toren.” Marianne walked over quickly. “I heard my name being called, did you need me?” she looked up to Firomis with a bright and innocent smile and eyes of adoration. Firomis blinked for a moment at the sight of this girl, who was obviously flirting with him so much that even a thickheaded guy could tell. “We were talking about merging our organizations together.” Sethos politely spoke up in order to take the spotlight off Firomis. Marianne looked at Sethos for a moment. “Oh, well in that case I suppose I could join in since it looks like everyone else is a member, right? It’ll be a pleasure working with everyone!” Firomis looked at her for a moment. “Well then, the decision is unanimous so what should we call ourselves now? And I’m going to have to pass leadership of this new organization to you Sethos, since I have other things I’ll be busy with. And besides, you’re much more charismatic than me.” Sethos chuckled politely, “As you wish, but I am leaving you in the position of being second in charge. As for a name how about we take on the name of Aegis, the shield which is capable of deflecting all attacks laid against it.”

    “Then we shall be known to all as Aegis from now on.” Firomis nodded and looked around to make sure the others approved of the new organization change. Celestia walked over to Firomis and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Does this mean you will not be leading us anymore?” He looked at her with a smile. “That is how it will be, yes. Sethos will be the leader, but from time to time I will step in and take action myself, should I see fit. I have always firmly believed that the ones with more experience, and more power should be the ones leading while the others who are better off planning tactics and advising the leaders stay in the back. Though I don’t doubt your ability to plan or advise, Sethos.” He chuckled a bit after he finished. Sethos grinned for a moment, but nodded as well. “Sethos is more powerful than you are Firomis? How is that possible? You’re even stronger that Rita!” Karen questioned the situation. “Why don’t you give them a brief display of what an 8 tailed Kitsune can do, Sethos?” Sethos nodded as Firomis spoke, and motioned for everyone to follow him outside. From there, they headed for the Coliseum that was nearby Firomis’ mansion in the 2nd district. “Here, there won’t be any disturbances, though it seems our audience will be larger.” Sethos looked around at several of the members of Silver as they were talking in the center.

    “The meeting is over already?” a young blonde man walked over with the rest of the group in the center. Firomis explained the situation quickly about what went on during the meeting and what went on with the formation of Aegis and then left the floor to the new group of people. “I am Artemis Falamir, at your service.” The young man said as he bowed. His hair was blonde and he had one red eye and one light blue eye, which was an oddity to see. For clothing he was wearing a long blue and black coat with white trim and white outlining for some of the patterns on it. He also had on a pair of black shoes and black pants. “We are the Kyamoto siblings, Hayato Ayane and Natalia, descendants of a Samurai clan.” A middle aged man with black hair spoke up after Artemis was done. Standing next to him were two girls, one with long straight pink hair and the other with curly red hair placed into two ponytails on the side. They were each wearing traditional Japanese clothing, but the pink haired one was wearing an outfit that was modified from the garb that a ninja would likely wear. “Lydia Rosenbourgh…” a shy young girl with short green hair said before hiding behind Damian. She was wear a long grey cowboy duster, short brown shorts with two belts placed diagonally opposite directions, a brown shirt and a pair of brown shoes.

    “I’m Kevin Moraine, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Another young man with messy blonde hair spoke up. He was wearing a traditional formal uniform worn by the city Army, but it was slightly tailored and dyed to a different color. “Hayate Mitsugi and Hiroko Mitsugi also at your service.” Two twins spoke up in almost complete unison. The only noticeable distinctive feature between the two was that Hayate had purple hair and Hiroko had blue hair. Both of them wore all black, pants, shoes, shirt, and a long black scarf. On each of their backs, there were two long katana sheathed in their scabbards.

    “Well then, now that everyone is introduced, let’s have Sethos prove his strength. We don’t need to fight him, after seeing a display of his power you might be a bit frightened to fight him anyway.” Firomis rubbed his chin a bit with a grin. Sethos closed his eyes and extended his arms to his sides as he began floating a foot off the ground. His clothing started to sway violently in the wind as a slightly translucent tail started to form. Immediately after the tail was fully formed, there was a feeling of heavy pressure, as if gravity had just been increased in the nearby area. “Amazing… I’ve heard about this sensation in stories, but I’ve never come across anyone other than Firomis and Kaneas who could make me feel it…” Artemis began to sweat a bit. By this time, Kevin and Lydia were already starting to become fearful of the power Sethos had within him. A second tail slowly began to form, just as the first one did, and the pressure that was placed on the weaker members was increased dramatically. Kevin, being the weakest of the group since he came from an ordinary common family with regular magic lineage, had now fallen down on his knees. Lydia, Ayane and Hayato, were also shaking from the pressure and having a harder time standing than before. The immense pressure increased once more as a third tail started to form, causing everyone except for Celestia, Rita and Firomis to fall to their knees and causing Kevin to completely pass out. As the fourth tail began to form, Rita and Celestia started to finally feel the difficulty of standing and slowly dropped down to their knees as well.

    “All right, I think this is good enough.” Firomis walked over to Sethos motioned for him to cease. “Very well.” Sethos said as the tails disappeared, along with the heavy pressure everyone was feeling. Rita climbed to her feet slowly. “If that’s what four tails is like, I can’t even imagine what eight would be like…” Sethos and Firomis began helping everyone to their feet and then they carried Kevin over to a cot in the corner of the Coliseum. “The transition of power from tail to tail increases slowly for the first four tails. Upon releasing the fifth tail, the gained power is tremendous. From there, the power gained is exponentially increased even further, until reaching the ninth and final tail. In the history of our race, there has only been one person to achieve releasing a ninth tail transition. And that would be the current Emperor.”