Rise of the Spiritualist: Entry Seven

Rise of the Spiritualist: Entry Seven

Rise of the Spiritualist: The Personal Accounts from the Events of Shiro-Ryu High School from the Memories of Leonardo Yarafen Krilangi

Seventh Entry.

Before launching into this chapter of my endeavors, I believe I can trust you, my dear friends and loyal readers, with a certain story that exists only within the families of the warrior monks. This story speaks of the origins of the warrior monks.

At one time, it was rumored that the warrior monks were a sacred people created from stars that fell to earth. They were blessed with a kind of cosmic energy, which powered their chakra. This, however, is extremely far from the truth, as you can imagine.

As people pondered over our origins, a certain group began to perform research to delve into the heart of the matter. This team dug into the ruins of a fallen city called Lereshrana, where they excavated a cluster of small stones gathered deep below the earth's surface.

Research was performed on the rocks, and to everyone's surprise, trace elements of millenia-old magics were found around them. To add to the shock, these trace elements perfectly matched those produced after the use of a warrior monk's chakra. First, it was infered that perhaps these stones appeared inside of us at birth, but examination of the remains of dead warrior monks (a most dreadful task, as the bodies had to be exhumed from their graves and studied) showed that no such stones were present.

Eventually, another theory was founded: the idea that these stones originally held the power of chakra and had somehow transferred their energy to regular humans, giving them the strength of the warrior monks. This conjecture, however, cannot be proven, due to the lack of an 'active' stone to study. More speculation emerges from the fact that the gift of chakra can be passed on by reproduction.

Many would-be men ventured back into the ruins of Lereshrana to try and find new stones, but the sudden appearance of monsters in the caves dissuaded many people from exploring there.

That is all I know of the story. If Forte really was going into the ruins, he was the first one to try it in several years. What frightened me at first was the knowledge that Forte could kill the wild monsters within and resurrect them to use as pawns. I also began to wonder if the monsters had attacked Evelyn inside the ruins before she could get close enough to Forte. All these thoughts ran through my mind as I made the two-day walk to Lereshrana.

Upon nearing the outskirts of the once-city, I began to notice a change in the air, just like that night when I had run into Forte. I prepared my chakra for immediate use as I slowly approached the fallen buildings, using some of the rubble to hide behind as I examined the nearby area for enemy activity. I cautiously peeked out from my hiding place and was almost immediately tackled by someone wearing a black mask. The masked person pinned me to the ground, covering my mouth and gesturing to keep quiet. After being sure that I wasn't going to make any noise, the mystery person let go of me and started frantically looking around. As I sat up, I got a better idea of who it was that had tackled me. I could easily determine that my attacker was female, and she had long brown hair and a slender figure. After a few minutes, she ducked back behind my hiding place and removed her mask. I flinched as the black mask came away to reveal Evelyn's face.

"(Evelyn...?! What in blazes-)"

"(Shhhh!! Don't be too loud; I might've been followed. Come on, we've got to get back to the village and give Carlo my report.)"

"(Report?! You might want to deal with actually being alive first; we all thought Forte had captured you!!)"

"(Who's Forte...? Look, anyway, let's get out of here; we can talk once we're safely away from here.)"

With that, she and I stole silently away from the ruins, back in the direction of our home. Unbeknownst to me, a dark figure stood atop a massive spire, watching us leave. He grinned, lifted his two-way radio to his mouth and spoke into it.

"Master F----, this is J------. He took the bait."