Zenith, Book 1: Mani Mani; Chapter 5: Winds of Change
Zenith, Book 1: Mani Mani; Chapter 5: Winds of Change


"You can locate him based on his mental abilities?" asked Siris.
"Yup."
"Would someone please tell me who this 'Anthadd' is?" asked Luna, reminding them of her presence.
"Ooops," said Siris.
"Anthadd is a good friend of mine. Whenever I wind up in a new world I've always been right around him. I haven't seen him yet here, so I'm trying to find him."
"Oh."
"Frequencies isolated," said the terminal in the same monotone.
"Ah, good." Cyan removed his device from his belt again and connected it to the terminal. "Terminal. Configure. D-port. Tracker. Isolated frequencies."
"Configuring ... complete. Now, just to locate any sources ..." said Cyan.

Rockwell, who was still in a foul mood, ran through the streets of Fourside, looking furiously for his two swords. Animus was his keyword for today, and may a high authority figurehead have mercy on anyone that cross his path. He ran around the corner, to the front of Fourside's Museum, waiting for someone.
"Blast it! What's taking him so long?!" Rockwell yelled in frustration, as he hits the air in vain.
A mother was passing by, holding her daughter's hand, said, "Take no notice to that boy. You'll find strange people in this sort of city. Mind you that you don't talk to strangers." The girl nodded and said, "Yes, momma."
Rockwell shot evil looks all over the place and someone caught his eyes. The very man that he was looking for. Rockwell picked up a small rock and chucked it. During its flight, it richoted off the side of a tree, and then off a large boulder and directly between the eyes of the hint man. The hint man, who wasn't aware of the stone that just hit him, flew backward and knocked himself outcold. Rockwell? He stood there with a large animated sweat drop at the back of his head. He ran to the hint man and helped him up. Once the hint man regained conciouness, Rockwell grabbed him by the collar and yelled, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
The frightened little man stuttered, "Sorry, sorry. I wasn't sure if you want to meet me behind the Fourside Hotel..."
"Oh do shut up, Herman. It's time for you to repay your debt for getting you this job." Rockwell snarled.
"Wha? Hey, this job blows! I stand out here in the rain, waiting for someone to come and ask me for hints! Nowaday, nobody cares! They're all know it alls now, ever since that player's guide came with the cartridge!" Herman protested.
Rockwell stared at him, blankly, and respond, "What are you talking about?"
Herman giggled and said, "Forget that I said anything."
Rockwell shook his head and placed frightened Herman onto the ground nicely. He snapped his fingers and said, "I want you to tell me something about the location of my two swords."
"That'll be $50!" Herman smiled.
Rockwell glared at him, to which Herman stuttered and said, "Eer... $20! Special discount!"
Rockwell glared at him once more, proving to be unsatsified. Herman sighed, "Okay, okay. Head west from Jackie's Cafe. You'll be sure to find them... if you can't find them, go to the top of the Monotoli Building, which is now named Enrich Flavor Building, due to some inconvenice."
Rockwell nodded and said, "Thanks."
"No problem..." Herman then whispered, "You cheapskate."
Rockwell turned around again and asked, "Sorry, did you say something?"
Herman panicked and said, "No! No! I didn't say anything!"
"Are you sure? I thought YOU just said something..."
"No, I'm postive! Really!"

Mike responded to RG's question. "That's none of your concern. What I want to know is why you left the safety of the cafe to go out and shoot. Why?"
"I'm a gangsta. World renowned, even. The name's RG." He stuck his hand out, but was met instead by a glare. He slowly put his hand down.
"Don't do that again, okay? The random shooting. What if you were to hurt one of those people? They couldn't even shoot to hit the broad side of a mole, for bird's sake. I missed them because, let's face it, they weren't much of a threat." Mike stopped suddenly, and inspected each person's face. "So, since we have such a large group, we can go look for remains of Paula. Then Joe can go him and I could go get my pay back from the cops."
"What do you mean 'get your pay'?" Skulryk started to film.
"Turn that camera off. We're going to look for the remains of Paula now."
"Yes!" Joe started to jump around. "Finally, we can start doing what I want to do." He was met by a random assortment of blinks from Mike, Skulryk, and RG. "Heh heh... sorry."
"Climb down the support structure of the bridge. What we need to find is down at the bottom. Now go."
"Hang on, what's your name?!" Skulryk had pen poised on paper, ready to write.
Mike stole his pen, paper, and camera. "No filming. Now, my name is Mike. That's all that I'm going to say. Get to searching."
Mike climbed down the support, followed by Joe, then by a reluctant Skulryk and RG. They had the rest of the night to find something worth noting.
"This should be easy." RG grinned to himself. Mike only nodded at him.

Raltise nodded to Jackie. "Well, I thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Boruhesu. You have been a great help." He let his hand run through his fine auburn hair, passing over the two red streaks, before he continued. "I do not think it will be very safe to return to your Café just yet...therefore," Raltise reached into his pocket and pulled out $120 in cash. He handed it to Jackie. "I suggest you stay at the..err...Enrich Grand Hotel for the night. Feel free to keep the change." Jackie grabbed the money and jumped up from the table, shook Raltise's hand, and ran out of the Department Store. The last thing Raltise heard was, Im'a get me some pie at the Fourside Bakery!. Raltise shook his head and looked up at the ceiling. Then he began to ponder over the information.
"Mmm hmm...yes...the puzzle pieces fit quite well, no? Let us see...of course...the storeroom, the "sister", the murders...and make no mistake, they couldn't have been anything but murders...and let us not forget the illegal transferance of money...I see, I see...it appears that the puppetmaster is setting the grandest performance yet to be enacted. But why? Revenge? No, no...there is another reason. I am sure of this. We will find this reason out...yes, yes...of course."
His eyes drifted about the department store as these quiet words echoed in his mind. Amidst the bustle of the crowd, something had caught his eye. A girl...she had just left a storage room, and was making a beeline for the toy department. It seemed as if she were attempting to hide something under he dress. After cautiously observing the girl for a moment or two, Raltise left the chair he was sitting on with a jump. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, brushing past his holstered laser gun in the process. He then casually followed Cirra into the toy department, attempting to attract as little notice as his features already gave away.
Hmmm...

Dan and Harsemhin had just gotten off of the escalator. They were now looking for Cirra, having been unable to find anything on the floor below.
"Harsemhin, why exactly do we need to find this guy?"
"He seems to know something about this. I am curious as to what is happening, especially since I have been dormant for a thousand years." Here Harsemhin half-closed his eyes, and his voice became more gruff. "It must be connected. I had been trapped for so long, and only now was I released. There must be a reason.... perhaps it was because of Rita. Besides that, there was also that incident at the café, with the man sealed in that room, and also all of those people gathered together. I don't believe that those are all complete coincidence."
Dan thought about all of this. "Yeah..... and there was a mysterious bus crash awhile ago, which killed a bunch of people. Do y' think that has anything to do with this?"
"Possibly."

Cirra moved throughout the aisles of the toy store, idly keeping an eye out for the strange man as she looked at everything the store held. I wonder what got me caught up in all of this? Just last night my family.... She attempted to hold back the tears that began to form with this memory, but one still managed to slide down her face. Why did this happen? Who could have wanted us dead?
She thought that she saw someone staring out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned, no one was there. Great, I think I'm going insane from all of this, she groaned mentally.

"Mmm. Odd. She was with the others in the café," whispered Raltise to himself. "What is she doing here now? Could they have come here to speak with me? Possibly." Raltise shuffled towards the aisle that Cirra was in.
Cirra looked up just to see who was passing by, but gave a small gasp as she noticed who was standing next to her. "It's you..!"
"You must be wondering who I am, aren't you? I'm sure that you are," spoke the unearthly one smoothly. "I won't trouble you any more than necessary. My name is Raltise. And who might you be?" He broke off at that.
".... ah..... Rita," said Cirra nervously. Raltise smiled, but there was something about the rest of his face that made it seem almost threatening.
"Did you come here alone?"
"No," answered Cirra. "I came here with two people I met earlier today. We were at the café when we saw you."
Raltise bobbed his head, and inhaled through his nose. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "Tell me, what do you know about the events in this area lately?"
"Well.... I haven't been here long... I only saw what happened in the café." She narrowed her eyes. "Why? What do you know about them?"
"That would be telling," chuckled Raltise. ".......... but tell me, did you find anything in the storeroom?" Cirra paled, and backed out of the aisle carefully. "Now, now. There isn't anything wrong, is there?" Cirra quickened.

Dan scanned the area. "You think she'd just be waiting for us. Maybe she struck up a conversation with the arms dealer." He laughed.
Harsemhin creased his brow as his only response, but then pointed into the distance. "Over there! I think that's her in that store. But.... why is she walking backwards like that?"
Dan looked in the direction that Harsemhin was pointing. "Hey, I think that IS her. Walking backwards?" He noticed that Cirra was indeed moving closer to the department's entrance while facing the other way. "We'd better go over there." Harsemhin agreed, and they both hurried to the toy department.

"I think we'll find him around here." Cyan said, indicating the upper floor of the department store.
"So... let's go find the strange person you keep talking about! Upwards and etc.!" shouted Luna, jogging up the escalator, followed by the others, except for Siris, who had accidently stepped on the wrong escalator due to being engulfed in thinking about other things.
Luna was first to the top, followed closely by Cyan and Siris, looking slightly dazed, and blinking.
"So... now what?" Siris asked Cyan, who pulled out his device again.
"That way," he answered, pointing towards the stores.

"Wow..." Siris muttered.
"What is it, Siris?"
"Uh... what?" Siris looked up. "Oh. I can tell that there are definitely people here. People with strong auras."
"Indeed," Cyan agreed. "Anthadd must be here. The tracking device is picking up strong Sugemo and Stellar energy."
"Hmm... yes," Siris noted. "But something's different. I can't put a finger on it."
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"I don't know," Siris frowned, and scratched his neck.

Rockwell decided not to listen to the hint man, but instead, do the opposite of what he said. He ran east, and smackdab right in front of Fourside Department Store. Eventually, everything has to go to the lost and found. Unfortentuly, the lost and found section was moved upstairs for profit strategy. Along the way, he bumped into someone and fell down to the ground. He looked up and saw a guy wearing jeans and light green/white t-shirt. He immedatily recognized him. Rockwell jumped up and yelled, "YOU!"
Siris turned around and said, "What? Oh... it's you."
Rockwell calmed down and said, "Return my swords to me, and I'll leave you alone. If you refuse, I will personally cause you bodily harm."
Siris chuckled and said, "Yeah right. I wiped the floors with you with my paralyzation spell..."
"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that." Rockwell growled.

Looking around the group he was in, Skulryk got a bit unnerved. "Alright..." he said. "What you're getting into will probably get me killed, or taken hostage... It's pretty obvious that none of you want my camera here, and I can't get a story... I think you'd all be better off if I didn't come along. However, by the time you do something newsworthy, I'll probably be over there in a flash! Don't worry! For now, though, I think I won't go get myself killed and find something else. I'll head to the department store now, and from there... who knows."
"Hold on a second." said Mike. "I think you already know a bit too much." He put his had on a 9mm. "I don't think it would be all too good if you just left."
Skulryk sighed. He supposed this was inevitable. "Listen, I know my word probably isn't worth much to you, but I swear I will not tell anyone a thing until we next meet and can talk this over. I sort of got dragged into this, too... This isn't my kind of thing, though. Sorry, but I'm outta here."
Skulryk clambored up the pole. Mike lifted his 9mm, but, even with a clear shot of Skulryk, sighed and returned his gun to his trenchcoat.
RG stared at him. "You just let him go? How do you know he won't rat us out to the first person he sees? He's a NEWS REPORTER, for god sakes!"
Mike stared into the ocean, grimacing. "Just be quiet and do what I say. We can still look for the remains of Paula like this."

At the top of the bridge, Skulryk stood for a second. "I'm a bit suprised he just let me go... but I'm going to keep my word. Even if this is a huge story, it's not worth getting myself killed for. Besides..." Skulryk slowly smiled. "2 major stories just fell into my lap, why can't a third!" He hefted the camera case on the ground. "Man, it's hard to climb with that thing on... Anyways, I'll head to the department store."
Upon entering the vast department store, Skulryk looked around at the assortment of stores. He did not recognize any of the people there, but it was crowded. Even if someone he knew was here, which was pretty unlikely, knowing the size of fourside, it would be pretty hard to find them. Despite that, Skulryk began looking for the people he had encountered in the cafe earlier.

Cyan stopped paying attention to his tracker and turned his attention to Siris and Rockwell.
"Rockwell, what is with you?" he asked, stepping between them.
"He stole my swords and I want them back!" insisted Rockwell.
"Calm down a bit, would you?" suggested Cyan.
"You were going to kill each other," Siris explained. "It... would have been messy."
"There is no better way to stop two people from fighting than disarming them ..." added Cyan.
"Give back my swords and I won't hurt you," growled Rockwell.
"You'll do more harm than good with them. I won't return them."
"Then I'll have to take them. Prepare to die," threatened Rockwell, even though he was unarmed.
Siris began concentrating as Rockwell made the threat. Rockwell immediately recognised that Siris was going to paralyze him again. Cyan knew Siris wouldn't fight in the department store and guessed Rockwell would try to attack Siris, so he drew his sword and used it to stop Rockwell in his tracks for the second Siris needed to cast his spell.
"Do you always handle threats that smoothly?" Luna asked the pair.
"Yeah," said Cyan calmly as he and Siris started walking again.

"Hmm..." Mike started to think to himself. Joe and RG were looking around, trying to find anything that showed that Paula was on the bus. All they could find were random scraps.
"Hey, this looks like a ticket stub. Cool." Joe rummaged through a pile of junk. Mike tossed a rock into the water. To his surprise, the rock floated far downstream.
"Hey, Joe, do you think that, if Paula were here, she could have been swept away by this current? Perhaps you two should look down thataway. I'm going to go get my cash, and my next job, back from the police."
"No, don't go!"
"Sorry, but I believe that I've helped you out to the best of my ability." With that, Mike climbed up the support, leaving the two to continue searching.
"We'll meet up with him again, probably." Joe continued to look around. RG looked up the bridge, debating whether to stay with Joe or to go after Mike.
Up above, Mike was standing off to the side of the bridge deck. Busses and other vehicles were zooming by. He stopped to think for a moment.
Hmm... The police still have that briefcase. I'm going to have to break into the police station and steal it from them. Who would have thought, I get to use all of my abilities on this particular mission just to get paid... He got up and became invisible. Then he started to run towards the police station, knowing that he still had a few hours to work with in order to get his cash and next mission.

Harsemhin and Dan chased Cirra into the toy department.
"Where is Rita?" Harsemhin muttered. "She reminds me of how my girlfriend reacted to my running away to Autumns..."
Dan skidded to a stop.
"Your... girlfriend?"
Harsemhin shrugged his shoulders, clearly a gesticulation he had picked up from the time he had spent in the Foggyland Natural History annex of the Fourside Museum.
"What was her name?"
Harsemhin racked his memories.


Harsemhin's Memories
"Harsemhin..." she beckoned. "Just stay a while... Our children will be coming in a few months."
"I can't, dear." I hugged her warmly. "I have to go to Autumns. Evil is coming to the world."
"But Harse..."
"Shush, Cirra," I warned her. "I promise I'll return for Samhain. Watch the Dragon Armour Medallion for me..."
"I never did..." Harsemhin wiped a tear from his left eye.
"You never did what?" Dan asked, listening to Harsemhin while watching for signs of Cirra.
"Return."
Cirra suddenly popped up from behind a shelf.
She was hugging a Super Plush Bear.
"It's so cute," she mused, then made a nearly inaudible squeal. She then cringed, as if anticipating something.
"Cir... Rita!" Harsemhin waved.
Cirra hesitated. "Wha... what were you going to say first?"
"Oh, nothing," Harsemhin lied. "Just remembering another time."

Mani Mani giggled.
"Perfect!" He rubbed his hands. "Even at this distance, I can sense Ness' fighting spirit growing. Soon, I can become him, and make his power... mine!"

Nath, Nayc, Nual and Eon all milled around a table.
"Hurry up and deal! We'll get called out before any of us gets a canasta!" Nath ordered.
"It's hard to shuffle when you have no arms," Naul countered.
"Remind me again why we're playing a card game," Nayc demanded.
Eon rolled her eyes.

"Rita," Harsemhin, who had been staring at the Super Plush Bear, at last looked directly into her face. "Why were you running like that?" Cirra cringed.
"Oh...it was nothing, really. I just saw that guy again, that's all." She squeezed the Bear in a death-grip. Dan frowned.
"That guy again? You mean the weird guy from the Café?" Cirra nodded. Yes, the one they had been looking for. He had found her before they had found him. She glanced back at the aisle where she had encountered him. Harsemhin followed her line of sight.
"Is he in that aisle?" He asked. Cirra nodded. Harsemhin motioned to Dan in such a way as to say, Let us go take a look.. The two proceeded towards the aisle, with Cirra trailing close behind. Strangely enough, the aisle was completely empty, devoid even of shoppers. Not a thing was in it, save a few toys scattered across the floor. Harsemhin took a few steps inside. "Odd..."
The three proceeded down the aisle, carefully stepping over those toys which had found a resting place on the floor, attempting to make as little sound as possible. Harsemhin stopped about halfway down the aisle, and the others did as well. Dan looked to Cirra. "Are you sure it was this aisle?" He asked.
Cirra nodded. "Yes, he was here. I dunno where he went though. He gave me the creeps...especially that smile, it seemed like he was going to do something horrible..."
Harsemhin interrupted. "Although he is not here, we should attempt to find him nevertheless. He seems to know something about all this that has clearly evaded the rest of us." Dan and Cirra nodded in agreement.
"Hello sir, may I help you with something?"
The three turned, half expecting to see a store clerk, who would probably be wondering why the three of them were standing alone in a toy store aisle. However, as they met the figure, Cirra's face grew noticeably pale.
Framed within the aisle exit stood that unearthly man. His black jumpsuit contrasted with the bright lights of the department store. He simply stood their, arms folded across his chest. His deep red eyes seemed to burn with a fiery ferocity, a menacing glow. A cocky half-grin encased his face, briefly revealing his deeply yellow teeth. The apparition's chalk-white skin seemed to merely accentuate the deep contrast of light and darkness which his clothing had already presented.
"Now, now...were you looking for me?" Raltise quirked an eyebrow.
Cirra ground her teeth together before she responded. "Yes! Why are you following me?”
Raltise grinned slyly. "Because you know more then you let on...this intrigues me..."
Cirra shifted uncomfortably as Harsenhim and Dan looked at her oddly.
"What did you say your name was again? Rita?"
Cirra bit her lip, and then nodded. Raltise curled his lip. "Fine, I’ll go with that for now."

He spoke softly to himself. "Yes...she knows something...but what does the puppet master want with her? She is connected-"
Raltise looked up sharply to stare down at the end of a gun.
"That's what she was hiding...interesting." He turned to Cirra. "Put the gun down, miss. You know you won't fire it anyway."
However, Cirra held the trigger steadfast. "What do you know about Altus?" She said, in a dangerously low tone.
Raltise tapped Cirra on the chin, surprising her. "Did I say anything about Altus?" Cirra silently cursed herself, realizing her fatal mistake "A mere child such as yourself could not understand the many thing si have observed...but i know nothing of Altus..."
Cirra and Raltise stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Her blue eyes locked into his red, and she tightened her hand on the gun. Finally, Raltise spoke again. "Truly, i have no business with you that is of immediate concern." He turned on his heel, and began to walk away. "And if i were you, I’d watch your back! The puppet master could try to kill you again!"
With that, he left, leaving a very bewildered Harsenhim.
"Altus...I can't help but remember the place...what IS it?"

"Yo, I'm going to follow Mike on this one. He is a person who seems just like me. I never thought anyone was like me in any way." said RG as he climbed the supports and ran after the invisible Mike, who he knew would be heading to the police station.
"So, what do I do? Go and try to find Paula?" inquired Joe to no one in particular.
Joe silently answered himself as he started down stream in a boat. He still wondered how he had gotten involved in this whole situation.
RG was stilling running hard towards the police station. He knew he had to catch Mike soon, before he left. When he finally arrived, he noticed Mike hiding behind a small trashcan.
"Mike! Psst! Mike!" whispered RG.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you I was going alone!" yelled Mike as silently as he could.
"Ya, well, what can I say? I like your style! I used to do things like you do, so I'm going to hang with you for a little while, okay?"
"Fine. Just don't screw anything up!" hissed Mike.
"So what are we going to do now?"

Rockwell stood there, watching the group walk off with his two beloved swords. Anger by how they treated him, he punched the closest wall that he could find and held his fist in agony, once he found out that he punched concrete. He jumped around, yelling profound language and leaned back against the evil wall, trying to find another way to get his swords back. He need another weapon... and fast. Ironically, a man who had witnessed the situation, walked up to him.
"*psst* Hey. I saw what happened. You want them back really bad, don't you?" the curious looking man asked.
Rockwell nodded. The man chuckled and said, "Well, this is your lucky day. I'm giving you a discount for any automatic that you buy from moi..."
Rockwell cocked his head and asked, "Automatic? Are you talking about firearms?"
The man chuckled once more again and let his head down, low enough to see his eyes over the pitch black sunglasses. He answered, "Yeah. Firearms... but I don't like that sound... I prefer... alternative to fist fights."
"Alternative to fist fights, my arse. I'll find another way to get them back." Rockwell looked away.
"Well, here's my card. Come see me when you change your mind, okay?" The man hitched up his trenchcoat and walked away, admist through the crowd.
Rockwell stared at the card for a few moment and then put it in his back pocket of his jeans. Alternative to fist fights... yeah right. Guns are for weaklings. He looked around and went to a sports shop and browsed through sporting goods. While browsing, he came upon a baseball bat enclosed in a glass case.
"Hmm, a baseball bat is like a sword, except it doesn't have blades on them..." Rockwell murmured to himself.

He slowly reached out with his hand and touched the glass. Millions of thoughts race through his head. Many of them involved the embrassment that he suffered so far...

Come on, you know you want it... take it...
No! Don't touch it!
HA! You don't have a choice! It's either take the bat or lose your swords for good!
Rockwell! You don't know what you're doing! This is wrong!
Rockwell, remember what happened to you in Jackie's Cafe...
No! They had a good reason for doing so! Rockwell, all you have to do is take it...
NO! Please, don't do it! It's against the law!
Rockwell... come on. Don't worry about it, people shoplift everyday and they get away with it...
Rockwell, please don't! You'll get into trouble!
Come on, Rockwell... it'll be really fast. Nobody will notice.

"SHUT UP!" Rockwell yelled out loud, "BOTH OF YOU! SHUT UP!"
The customers looked at him, uneasily, and kept their distance from him. Another voice popped up in his head, but was unknown to him. He never heard this voice before... it sounds so... commanding and... evil.
DO IT.
Rockwell's eyes went blank and he took a step backward, then he slowly raised his left fist. In an instant, the glass shattered and rippled across the floor, blood splattered across the clean tile. In his fist, he clenched the baseball bat, then everything went back to normal. The alarm started to blare and on the PA, it screamed, "SECURITY! HEAD FOR THE SPORTING GOODS ON 2ND FLOOR! SHOPLIFTER, PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE!"
Rockwell, unawared of what he had done, ran down the esclator that was going in the opposite direction and jumped off the side, to the 1st floor. His foot hit the ground and a shock went through his body like electricity. In an instant, he rammed into two security guards, out of the door, and as far away as he possibly could go. When he reached the bus stop, convinced that he lost them, he recollected his thoughts.
What possessed me to do that? Rockwell thought to himself, And what in the world was that voice?

Mani Mani chuckled to himself and said, "Hmm, ironic. A puppet's string is pulled by the puppetmaster, commanding his every thought. More will follow... one by one... each puppets will have their mind shattered, once I rip the strings apart..." "Now... where are those bumbling fools?"

Luna stopped and asked, "What was that all about?"
Siris sighed, "Shoplifters. I got word that he got away."
Cyan frowned and said, "Idiots. They're the drudge of the society..."

Mike shook his head. "So if I send you away, you won't go, huh?"
RG sat still, then responded. "No. Of course not."
Mike sighed. "Fiiine. I'm trying to break in to get my briefcase filled with money and my next mission."
"Mission?"
"Yes, mission. You see, I'm a mercenary. You know, a soldier of fortune."
"I see. If I help you get your bag back, will you let me come along with you?"
"Perhaps. Just don't expect a cut of the money."