10 Promised By A Team

Looking up at the dark sky above him 'Azu' began to smile. He didn't defeat the Demonic King but he had been able to mortally injure him. "With that kind of injury, it should take him centuries to heal... but..." Looking down at the shattered edge of the sword still in his stomach he looked back up to the sky "Seems like it'll be up to the next one to win that fight..." 'Azu' closed his eyes and accepted his imminent death. All of his teammates landed on the ground next to him and the first to run to him was Seth "Leader!" 'Azu' opened his eyes and looked at his teammates, forcing his last smile.

A: "Didn't I tell you guys to leave? Well... it doesn't matter now... that old demon shouldn't be able to invade the realms for a while..."

Looking back up into the skies his eyes began to grow moist.

A: "I really am sorry, seems like I won't be able to go back with you guys."

The entire team had already been extremely worried on their way over but with this being said they all burst into tears.

S: "You could have dodged that! I know you could've! Why didn't you dodge?!"

'Azu' looked at Seth and the rest of his teammates crying, with that smile still on his face he sighed.

A: "It was the only way to take him down. He wouldn't have let his guard down otherwise..."

X: "It doesn't matter! If you just waited for us to arrive... if..."

A: "Xion. There's no need to think about that now. Just know that it really was the only way."

I: "Leader!"

Iona had run over to him and after realising that his body had been completely been sucked of aura and magic, as well as the shattered edge of the sword in his chest, he could not be healed through any conventional means, after knowing this she had cried even more and was holding his hand. No one had anything to say, their main healer couldn't do anything so they knew there was nothing to be done. 'Azu' began to cough, looking at the situation in front of him he also began to shed a couple of tears, his forced smile slowly becoming genuine - he truly didn't care about his life. Even though he was now crying, it wasn't because he was afraid of dying, it was because his friends were okay, no one except him died today.

D: "You can still smile... even now..."

N: "We really can't do anything?"

Everyone went silent, they all were desperate to save their leader but he just looked at all of them with that same smile on his face.

A: "Don't worry about me. You guys can't do anything."

Hearing this shocked them, they already knew that they couldn't do anything but hearing it directly from their leader was something they were not used to. The leader never told them that they couldn't do anything about something, the most he would do was try and dissuade someone from doing something if he felt they couldn't do it - he would never outright say someone couldn't do anything. Everyone went silent.

S: "We already knew tha-"

A: "Because I've already planned ahead."

S: "Huh?"

N: "What?"

The entire team was even more confused now than they had been before, they were given hope by this statement but it was hard to believe what their leader could have planned, plus they were still overcome by sadness.

A: "Whenever any of you-"

'Azu' grunted and held his chest in pain"

X: "Leader!"

Xion charged forward but he raised his hand to stop her, she calmed down and sat by him. After a deep breath, he continued

A: "Whenever any of you asked about my innate ability. I never responded, because from what I know everyone else who's had it has kept it a secret."

S: "Every- one else?"

D: "What do you mean?"

A: "My innate ability. 'Darkness in Light' or 'Light in Darkness' is an ability that chooses a successor by itself, when the new person reaches the level of power the previous one did they will inherit the memories of the one before them."

X: "What?! Innate abilities like that have never been heard of!"

N: "Then that means?"

All of the team felt an extreme burst of hope. Seeing the looks on his teammate's faces he smiled.

A: "Yep, I'll be back, when this ability chooses someone that person will release both a normal ripple of energy then a secondary ripple of energy similar to the aura held by all the holders of this ability. When the next one is chosen by this ability and they reach my current level of power, they'll regain all my memories."

S: "That's great! So you'll come back?!"

A: "Yep, I will."

The entire team was ecstatic but there was one person who was sceptical.

D: "Um... Leader?"

A: "Yeah?"

D: "I've got two questions about this."

A: "Quickly."

D: "Yes. Um, so the previous holders kept it a secret right? Why tell us now?"

'Azu' looked up into the sky once more. He asked Iona to heal him before the explanation, not to save his life but to prolong it. She quickly agreed as she too was curious. After 'Azu' regained his colour and looked much calmer than before everyone calmed down.

A: "Expected that, well. This power is a strong one and if someone knew of its existence we could run the risk of being killed over and over again. It's highly unlikely but if someone did find out then they could just wait to sense that secondary ripple then kill the current holder when they were just an infant. We can't doubt that some would be evil enough to do that."

D: "But then what if the holder themself is evil?"

A: "It's impossible."

D: "Huh?"

A: "Any wielder of this power will never be evil, this power only chooses people it deems worthy and someone with an evil side will always be ignored. It is extremely biased towards good people."

D: "How do you know all of this is true?"

A: "The one before me was extremely curious about this power and conducted an extreme amount of research into it. After testing for centuries and using the memories of the one before him he wrote down all of his findings. But then he burned them after thinking about how a disaster may be caused through the information getting out, everything he learned I know about. I wouldn't lie to you guys, you should know that..."

Dezrin thought about it then nodded.

D: "It's not that I didn't believe you, I just want to know everything before we begin to wait for you."

A: "Wait? For me?"

D: "Yeah, we'll all grow strong enough to extend our lifetimes just to see you again."

A: "What? Don't live your lives like that for me. Live happy, normal ones. Besides you don't have everyone else's opinion on this."

Dezrin smiled.

D: "Living normal lives is no longer an option for us, as for everyone else."

With a firm resolve in all of their eyes.

S: "You don't even have to ask me."

N: "Me neither!"

X: "I'll grow way stronger than any of you!"

I: "Me too!"

All of the team were smiling brightly and 'Azu' lay there, shocked at his friends, the smile on his face was gone and was replaced with one of confusion. But he just smiled and sighed, he knew that just like him, when his team had been this resolved to do something they couldn't be swayed.

I: "Grgh!"

Iona hadn't been paying attention to her tiny supply of magic and had just run out. The aftereffects were instantly felt by 'Azu'.

A: "Agh!"

He instantly crumpled up and slowly regained his control over his body, after he slowly lay down, once more looking at the sky.

I: "Sorry! I wasn't paying attentio-"

A: "Its fine. Iona... you did your best."

Because of the happy moment they had beforehand they were distracted from the fact that their leader was on the verge of death, for a little moment they lost themselves in the hope that their leader wouldn't die. Everyone stopped smiling once again and looked at their dying leader.

A: "Oh come on... you guys were smiling a second ago..."

D: "Leader... what do you want us to do..."

A: "Oh yeah... I can feel it coming now..."

Azu was on the very edge now, one strong gust of wind was enough to push him over.

A: "What do I want you to do? Hmph, you guys already talked about living long lives just to see me again. I don't care what you guys do... just..."

The smile on his face began to slowly drop.

A: "Take care of each other..."

Looking up at the sky with a frown.

A: "My life... is second priority to yours..."

With his last utterance he looked up at the violet moon, in this dark, hellish realm was the place he would die, with his friends there he was happier than ever, but was no longer able to make his lips move to smile, he slowly closed his eyes and let out his last breath. This is where the story of 'Azu' ended. In a realm far from his own, but directly next to the family he had built.

Standing around him the team was silent, everything was silent. Not a single one of them had any tears left to shed.

Seth was the first to move, he turned from his friend and began to walk away.

X: "Where are you going!"

Seth turned around and looked at the team standing around their leader.

N: "Seth?"

S: "We..."

Seth was reluctant at first but after a couple of seconds of silence, he stared at his team with a firm hint of resolve in his eyes.

S: "As we are now... we aren't good enough for the leader. If we were strong enough this never would have happened. I'm... I'm going alone from here on out... don't try to follow me. The place I'm going to... isn't one I want to put any of you through."

Seth once more turned and walked away. Xion stood up to chase after him but her hand was caught by Dezrin's.

X: "Dezrin?! What are you-"

D: "Let him go Miss Xion. He's already chosen his path, we don't have the right to stop him."

N: "Um."

I: "Natu?"

N: "I'm going off on my own too... there are places I need to go to."

D: "You too?"

Natu was looking down at the ground, he nodded slightly before turning and walking away slowly. The three that had been left behind carried their leader out of the Demonic Realm and had buried him atop a mountain peak. This peak would be later visited by Seth and Natu before they went on their own separate adventures. Under the sun in a vast field were 3 people, Xion, Dezrin and Iona.

X: "Where will you two go?"

D: "Well... me and Iona decided that we need to find somewhere underwater to train in, we need a place constantly surrounded by water and the creatures that inhabit it, so we will probably try to construct a home underwater."

I: "Yeah."

X: "Really? Well."

Xion looked into the distance.

X: "I'm going to stay up here, challenge those who are more powerful than myself. It seems like we won't see each other again for a while. Iona."

Xion spread her arms and Iona jumped into them, the relationship between these two was very good so Xion was especially reluctant to part with her.

X: "We'll see each other again. Grow strong by then okay?"

Iona quickly nodded and Xion began to walk further and further away until she could no longer be seen. Dezrin and Iona watched the horizon she had disappeared into before leaving themselves. Now everyone in the team with the exception of the twins was separated, lying in wait for when their leader came back.

Back in the Present.

"'You are all so weak'? 'You are all so weak'?! 'There is nothing you guys can do'..." Seth, saying these words, realised that they could be applied to him back then. There really was nothing he could do in the face of the Demonic King, he couldn't even make it in time to save his leader from making the ultimate sacrifice. He took a deep breath and stared back at the dome covering the village. "We won't let it happen again, we're not losing our leader twice in the same life!" With a firm hint of resolve in his eyes, Seth flew back to the village.