Legacies of light

“And since all the things on Elpída are lost technology when the buildings eventually deteriorated, we aren’t able to rebuild them. No one of the current scientists on Elpída can even come close to fully fixing all these buildings, even if they tried they would fail. According to the lead scientist in Elpída, they are still hundreds of years away from actually figuring most of these things out. Though at the very least we are making progress.”

“You know with how behind this city is on breaking down the technology, I think it would have been better if they took down the research platform.”

“Well, Ichnaea was originally a research platform, so that is the main reason it was the one chosen to be disassembled.”

“But isn’t it weird how they were able to completely tear down one of the platforms, you would think there would be a lot more complaints from the citizens.”

“They sneakily implemented these policies, so most people didn’t realize until it was too late. And by that point the damage done to Ichnaea was irreversible, so all of the people living here had to leave.

Still, lots of them were angry afterwords, but suddenly all those people received generous donations from the ruling class in the 2nd platform Selene, which shut them all up. Due to this Ichnaea continued to deteriorate, and then eventually became a lawless zone; due to how easy it was to get away with crimes here.”

“But wait a second, I have seen people living on this platform.”

“Did any of those people look like they had anywhere else to go.” After taking a second to realize what he said, I hear him say, “Looks like we're here, if you still don’t understand I am sure this will do it for you.”

Iancu enters a strange building with me following close behind him. As we walk through this building, I start to hear lots of sounds, and they increase as we keep going. Eventually, we reach a broken door, which Iancu opens.

As I enter, I see that a bunch of people wearing hoods all jump out of the shadows and attack me. Effortlessly I knock all of them away, but they continue coming at me with weapons in their hands, until I hear Iancu scream, “KNOCK IT OFF, HE IS WITH ME.”

This causes all of them to stop, and one walking up to Iancu says, “Sorry boss we didn’t know.”

Rubbing the person on the head, Iancu says, “Good job defending yourselves, you all attacked from the shadows like I taught you, and even ganged up on him, good job.”

As the people take off their hoods, I see that they are all kids mostly younger than me, but I see some slightly older, they all have scars and bandages around their faces, but the most noticeable thing about these kids is that they all look malnourished.

Iancu says, “Sorry I am late, I got caught up in some nonsense, but I was still able to come in time.”

“No problem, we are just glad you came back,” the little girl who was in front of Iancu says.

“Where are the others?”

“A few kids ran into some trouble with virtuoso, so we decided to hide everyone in a different building, while we lay in wait for them.”

“What happened?”

“We didn’t start anything, I promise, it is just that a few of the kids wanted to play outside and they caught their attention, so we fought back.”

Thonking the dark skinned girl in front of him on the head, Iancu says, “Fionna, don’t engage gangs no matter what, if you have an issue, hid and wait for me to get here, I will deal with it.”

“But.”

“No buts.”

“You guys just need to follow my instructions to stay safe, I need you guys to always choose the decision that will keep you the safest, got it .”

“Got it.”

“Now, I need you to take me to where everyone is.”

“Ok, but who is he.”

“An annoyance.”

“So, he is an enemy, do you want me to get rid of him boss? I will slit his throat.”

“Come at me little girl I will rumble anytime you want.”

As she tries to attack me Iancu stops her, and says, “He might be annoying, but I believe he will also be rather helpful. So don’t go picking fights with him.”

While Iancu says this, I make faces at the girls, behind his back which causes him to turn around and hit me in the stomach saying, “That also goes for you idiot.”

As we are led out of the building, we move rather stealthy through the area, one thing I take note of is how quiet these kids' footsteps are; if I didn’t have my super hearing, no way in hell would I ever be able to pick up on them.

Eventually, we all arrive where all the other people were being kept, and to my unsurprise they are all kids of varying ages, and look just as malnourished the ones with me.

When they see Iancu, they all run towards him happy and say, “You’re back.”

“We missed you.”

“Do you want to hear about what Chrome did?”

“That can all wait you guys, first let's get you all some food,” Iancu says, leaving the bag of food on the floor, seeing this I fully understand what has been going on.

Ichnaea is where all the people who have no were else to go end up. All these kids have no way off of the Elpída without money, and without a ship, they can’t leave the island below, there are all destitute. So, he has been sneaky into Ichnaea to give them food.

Seeing all their happy faces around him as they eat, I feel a fuzzy feeling well up inside me, this is why I love people. Walking up to all of them I see they are all fearful of my presence, so I say, “Listen well kids, I am the shadow that hunts at night, I am the fierce mighty warrior of who has never lost a fight, you will never ever see me in the light since I am the ultimate shinobi ninja man.” While putting on my most flamboyant performance.

With faces of amazement, someone asks, “What’s a ninja.”

Using my legacy to move around at incredible speeds, I say, “Ninjas are masters of the night, who work in the shadows to protect people. Nothing is hidden from them, nothing can escape their reach, and all who oppose them and their master are killed, without mercy.”

As the kid's excitement builds, they ask, “What else, what else!”

“To think you would be smart enough to know I am hiding something, maybe you’re a ninja in disguise,” I say pointing at the boy who said that.

As the other kids look at him, they ask, “Are you a ninja too?”

While the other kids surround him, he starts getting even more hyped and says, “Maybe I am.”

“Inconceivable to think an enemy ninja almost caught me off, guard.” Laughing a little I say, “Too bad for you, I am no rookie, but enough of that it is time for battle.” I then run at full speed straight towards him, but as I come in close for my pretend attack, lots of other kids come in to attack me, so I dodge all of them and move back.

“To gang up on me, have none of you ever heard of honour.”

“Honour doesn’t exist here.”

“You win or you die.”

“Go shove your rules up your ass.”

“To think you guys, understand the shinobi way so clearly. It seems I underestimated you all once again, you truly have strength.”

“So do you surrender,” the first boy says as all his friends surround me.

“YOU FOOL! Did you really think I had shown all my true power, l haven’t even come close, let me show you the true essence of a shinobi. My ninjutsu.” While weaving random hand signs I say, “Ice style: Eternal blizzard.” Using my legacy, I create a huge amount of snow in the surrounding area to envelope all the kids. “This is the true power of a shinobi.”

“Whoa, can we do that too?”

“Only if you train and become true shinobi.”

“How?”

“First, you must never cause trouble for your master, in this case Iancu. Second, you must always work in the shadow; avoid direct confrontation at all costs. And finally, eat well; you must have energy to undertake missions, which will go on for who knows how long, so be well energized. So you brats, your first step is to eat the food Iancu brought you with joy.”

So inspired by my words they all sit down and eat their fill.

Φ Looking over at Fionna I say, “Do you want to go join Orb and everyone else in their game?”

“No, I shouldn’t, I have a reputation as the responsible one to uphold here.”

Knocking her on her head, I say, “Don’t worry about something so stupid, I brought him here so you guys could have some fun and relax. He is quite easily able to sweep people up in his nonsense. So go get swept along.”

After hesitating for a minute Fionna goes over to Orb.

Φ “Hey do ninjas, have any cool weapons?” Fionna asks me. I start to sweat, I don’t have any weapons on me, I need to make something up right this instant, “We certainly do, but I can’t pull them out unless a serious opponent shows up.”

“Really, but I would love to see it, please.”

“I cannot, because if I unleash my secret weapon, I might lose control of myself and return to being the bloody assassin I was before.”

“Sorry I didn’t know.”

“Don’t fret it is just unfortunate that no one can keep me in check with that weaponed unleashed.” As I say this, one of the babies among the kids comes up to me and presses a button on my leg, which causes something to burst out of my ninja suit.

Looking at what came out, I see a weapon. It is a long crescent moon-shaped blade, with a chain attached to it. One side is also bigger than the other.

Looking at this weapon, I immediately panic, but come myself down and fully commit to this. Picking up the weapon I say, “To think I would be forced to reveal my true self to you all.” The kids all look at me frightened.

I am so sorry, but I need to stay in character. “Now you children be prepared to face my full unrestricted wrath,” I say as I swing my weapon. I plan to let Iancu knock me out when he sees me attacking them, but to my surprize he is just standing there snickering to himself.

You asshole, I need your help, help me. But suddenly I feel myself being wrapped up; it seems the chain I have been swinging around has gotten tangled all around my body. Due to this restricting me, I am brought to a standstill and I fall onto the floor.

Letting out an evil laugh, I say, “It seems fortune is on your si-.” But before I could finish all the kids attack me.

“We need to knock him out and get the evil weapon away from him.”

Φ Leaving the room I go to look for a particular child, after walking around for a while I eventually come across said child, sitting by one of the broken windows in the building. “Morrigan, I heard what you did, you went around picking fights again.”

“I had to, they have really been getting on my nerves recently.”

“MORRIGAN, you know if you pick fights, they will just hound you more.”

“But you do all the time.”

“That is cause I can defend myself, but you can’t, and if you go attracting attention, they will come for everyone here.”

“So, what I am just supposed to live like this, constantly scared whether or not someone is going to attack or kidnap us.”

“No, you just have to wait for me so I can help you.”

“But you won’t always be there for us.”

“I promise you guys I will.”

“Our parents all said the same things, but they dumped us all here and left, we need to learn to take care of ourselves, because no one is here to protect us forever.”

“HAHAHAHA!” I hear. Looking over to the point of origin, I see Orb standing at the top of the building directly across from us. How the hell did he not only escape but also get up there?