Rangers Endgame

Kiyoshi made his way down a narrow corridor with doors on either side. His steel-toe boots thudded against the tiled floor, echoing through the hall. Once he'd reached a set of double steel doors at the end of the hall, he grabbed the artifact holstered on his chest and placed it against a metallic box embedded in the wall. The box emitted a soft green glow, releasing the mechanical lock with a hiss before he pushed them open.

On the other side of the doors were underutilized shelves that would otherwise be lined with elixirs. Instead, tables and countertops were littered with various artifacts and vials. The relatively spacious room reeked of a combination of chemicals and must.

In the middle of the room was a woman with stringy dark hair sporting a lab coat that used to be white, splotched with grease and an unknown yellow substance, fiddling with a clear spherical device with an elixir vial hovering in its center. Dark bags tugged at her eyes like she hadn't slept for days. It was a common occurrence for her to be so engrossed in her work that she'd either refuse sleep or outright forget to.

"Ah, Sentinel Kiyoshi! You're here." The woman exclaimed.

Kiyoshi approached the unkept woman, bracing his nose as the musty stench worsened the further he ventured into the room.

"I understand your work is of great importance to you, but would it hurt to keep your lab tidy, Aki?"

"Why waste precious time cleaning when I could use that time for more productive matters?"

Kiyoshi shook his head and sighed. It felt like he would pass out at any moment from the lack of fresh air so he got straight to the point.

"What did you need to talk about?"

"I can't believe you had me postpone the development of ARD..."

"ARD?" Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow.

"Atmospheric Radiance Detector. But that's besides the point." She waved dismissively.

Pulling a lever, the spherical device deactivated causing the vial to float down to the bottom. Aki popped open the hatch on the top and snatched the vial.

"I've never seen anything like this. It's highly unstable and, after days of study, I can safely say it's definitely similar to enhancement elixirs except this could boost one's power even further. Additionally, its effects appear to be permanent. Rangers would kill to get their hands on this!"

"I see. So it's merely a stronger enhancement elixir?"

"Yes, but there is a catch." Aki placed the vial on the table.

"Go on?"

The air in the room suddenly shifted as Aki adopted a serious expression.

"You're familiar with what happens when you consume too many enhancement elixirs too quickly, yes?"

"That's right."

Aki fidgeted with the vial, rolling it back and forth with her greasy finger.

"Since it has similar qualities, it functions similarly as well—forcing your channels to work overtime and all. Obviously, that'd be exhausting after a while but that's not even the worst part. Since the effects are permanent, if you have underdeveloped channels, you'd continuously get torn to shreds from the inside unless your channels are developed enough to handle it."

"If that's the case then..."

"Yes. Just one vial of this stuff has the potential to kill you."

Kiyoshi cupped his chin in thought. "So it's similar to overclock syndrome..."

Aki tilted her head with a slightly scrunched face.

"Ehh, kinda. People with overclock syndrome suffer for years longer before death comes for them," she dangled the vial in front of him, the leftover red substance swishing around inside. "This stuff on the other hand can tear your channels apart faster—hours, even. Whoever's manufacturing this stuff has a twisted definition of the phrase 'high risk, high reward'."

This information was quite disturbing. If people were buying this elixir, it was safe to assume they were oblivious to the potential side effects. If that were the case, the manufacturer was willing to leave that piece of crucial information undisclosed in hopes of making more profit.

"I'll have to inform the council of this. I appreciate you for bringing this to my attention."

"You do that. By the way, if you find a vial that's actually full of this stuff, bring it to me. I wanna have enough of it to study further."

"Will do." Kiyoshi finally made his getaway from that musty lab, leaving Aki behind with her devices.

*****

The smell of eggs drifted into Yakeru's room. Though still asleep, his nose twitched, its alluring aroma nearly enough to urge his unconscious body to sleepwalk to the kitchen.

"Hurry up, squirt! Breakfast is almost ready!" Akari's shout was enough to stir him awake.

A long, drawn-out yawn escaped him as he stretched his limbs. Sliding out of the comfort of his bed, he made his way to the dining room, the scent growing stronger.

The sound of sizzling eggs filled the kitchen as Yakeru approached.

"Mornin'." Akari smiled.

"Morning." He sat at the dining table, looking out of the window as he did. The sky was clear and villagers were out and about.

"Beautiful day, right?" She asked, placing a plate of sunny-side-up eggs and toast in front of him. "Now that your leg's all better, you gonna head to the guild?"

"Yep."

"Try to take an easy mission this time. Like helping farmers or gathering berries or something."

Before he could dig into his steaming breakfast, he paused, staring at her with puzzlement in his eyes.

"...Right, because that's totally what you trained me fo—ow!"

His sarcastic remark was cut short by a firm pinch to his cheek. Akari narrowed her eyes at him, threatening to tighten her grip.

"I'm serious, Yakeru."

"Oh keh! I sowwy!" he begged before she released him. "Don't worry, I'll do something simple."

"Good."

He rubbed his reddened cheek for a moment before tending to his breakfast. For several minutes, the pair conversed, bouncing from one topic to another as they ate.

"Oh, that reminds me. I need to run some errands in the capital so we might as well go together." She pushed around her food, a smile of nostalgia forming. "It'll be just like old times."

"Sure, why not?"

His memory rewound the clock, reminiscing when she'd bring him to the big city. Since he grew up on the outskirts, she'd occasionally take him to go sightseeing. Looking up at the buildings towering proudly over the smaller structures towards the edge of the capital always filled him with awe as a child.

A particular memory came to mind. He was hoisted up on his sister's shoulders, gazing upon a breathtaking view from a balcony made for tourists. The way the tiny figures below weaved between buildings and the endless expanse of green fields and mountain ranges made room for the imagination to speculate what lies beyond the horizon. All of it was etched into his memory.

It'd been ages since he'd gone to the big city with his sister. He also got the sense she was developing some kind of trauma since he'd always manage to land himself in the hospital so he couldn't bring himself to reject her proposal anyway. He owed it to her so he had no objections.

After finishing up breakfast they got themselves together, Akari with her casual wear and Yakeru donning his shabby light armor.

The wind blowing formed rhythmic ripples through the fields as they left. Although Yakeru has been to the capital countless times recently, this time a smile formed on his face. With Akari by his side, a wave of nostalgia washed over him.

After arriving in the capital, he almost immediately regretted accompanying her. He lost count of how many stores they'd been to and displeasure was written all over his face. Fortunately, it was still early so technically he wasn't in a rush to head to the guild.

'I just wish I didn't have to carry all this stuff!'

Although Akari wanted to restock on food and ingredients, most of their time was spent in the fashion district. Like a zombie, Yakeru mindlessly tottered behind his sister, his arms growing increasingly worn out with each store they visited.

He dropped the bags to rest his arms every chance he got. He never thought he'd feel excitement every time he spotted a bench. Surely she'd schemed this as payback for worrying her so much recently. He thought he familiarized himself with her tactics but somehow he still walked right into her trap.

After what felt like hours, she'd finally relented with a, "Okay, I think I'm about done here."

She even had the nerve to shoot him a smug smirk with the sole intention of irritating him further. As they made their way down the street, a shop caught the teen's attention.

"Hm? See something you want?" She asked.

"I just wanna check something quickly."

Unlike the stores that they'd been shopping at, this one seemed to be dedicated to selling artifacts. When they entered, his suspicion was confirmed. Along the walls were shelves filled with various kinds of artifacts. They browsed the different aisles for a few minutes before a peculiar stone caught his eye.

He set the bags down and inspected the strange stone closer. Rotating it, it was no ordinary stone, at least not aesthetically. It was a clear stone that was perfectly spherical which seemed as if it held a raging blue inferno inside, desperate to escape its confinement.

"Ah, a fine choice." A man's voice said from beside him, making Yakeru recoil violently. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

'You mean that wasn't intentional?' He questioned in his head.

The portly man was an inch or two shorter than he was. His grey hair was tied back into a bun and big round glasses rested on his jutting nose. Yakeru regained his composure.

"Oh! Uhh, what kind of stone is this? It doesn't look like any artifact I've seen before."

"Well, that's because it was forged from an artifact," he explained. "That particular stone has the power to absorb and redirect energy. Whether it be kinetic, radiance, whatever."

Yakeru's eyes widened.

"You're claiming that this can essentially make me invincible?"

The man laughed at him as if he should've already known the answer to his own question.

"It's not without its drawbacks, boy. You'd need to destroy the stone so the power within can take effect. That said, it's a one-time use kind of thing. But once it's active, theoretically it can withstand an attack from even the strongest of monsters and would get hit back with the same amount of force."

Yakeru looked down at the stone still resting in his palm. None of the other artifacts appealed to him but this 'get out of jail card' sounded promising, even if he could only use it once. If this was as effective as it was advertised, perhaps it would help him avoid hospital beds.

After some thought, he decided to purchase the stone and stuff it into his satchel for the time being. It was ironic since out of all the stores they'd been to, he'd only bought one item.

"Thank you and come again soon!" The man waved.

Yakeru retrieved his sister's bags and met her outside where she hailed a carriage, loading everything into the back.

"I'm off now," she said, pulling her little brother into a tender embrace. "Please be careful, okay?"

"I will, I promise."

They lingered in each other's arms for a while longer before pulling apart.

"Love you, kid." She smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Yeah, love you too."

She climbed into the carriage, waving at the young ranger as he returned the gesture. Once out of view, Yakeru turned.

"Next stop: The guild."