Chapter Text

♦ ♦ ♦Arc 1♦ ♦ ♦

The Hollow Son

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The mystic orb reveals Baron Draxum holding one of the turtles. He’s a Red-eared slider. Two red stripes run across his eyes. He has a blue shell and three blue patterns of a lighter color on his back. He is small and innocent himself. He looks like a young. Talia can’t leave it like this.

She summons the mystic orb back to normal and leaves the room. Her footsteps echo down the hallway. She passes guards and staff at the castle on her way. She goes to the royal garden and conjures her trident on the way there. The trident lights up and comes to life in her hands. An unholy amount of burgundy red energy flows around it. Once outside, she uses her magic from the trident to create her battle gear.

Her carnation-coloured skin is covered by black armour on her torso. The armor includes a battle skirt. There are shoulder plates on her shoulders and black bandages cover her hands and forearms. Her black armored boots reach almost to her knees. In her hands, she holds a fiendishly glowing trident, brimming with energy and magic.

She spreads her wings and heads for the sky. Once she’s high enough, she uses the trident to create a portal. The portal, alive with dark energy, grows larger as Talia approaches it. She flies through it and finds herself in a whole new place. The climate here is completely different from the nether world. It’s colder here, and it seems like night. The stars are shining in the sky and the moon is bigger than usual. A cold wind hits her face and she just shivers. It’s colder than she expected. She’d better get moving and finish this mission before she freezes over here.

She flies around New York for a while before landing at one of the dumpsters. This should be one of the entrances to the hidden city. She gropes for the lever, and the dumpster opens. The garbage bags float into the blue glowing portal to the hidden city. Talia, already disgusted, overpowers herself and flies in as well. She flies through the portal and is in the hidden city. She shoots her magic in front of her and flies through it.

She should be invisible now and shouldn’t arouse any suspicion. She flies through the buildings until she is at the very edge of the hidden city. From here she can see Baron Draxum’s mansion standing. His laboratory looms tall and a purple bolt of lightning strikes in the background.

Talia flies around the building, trying to find a hidden entrance. Finally, she spots an open window and takes a chance. She cautiously steps inside and looks around to see if she can see Baron Draxum anywhere. She’s in the armory right now. Yeah, it looks like an armory. There are racks of weapons and mystical artifacts all around. She walks past the racks and peeks at the weapons levitating there in the four-color lighting. They look mystical. There are red-lit Tonfas. To the left of them is an orange-lit Kusari-Fundo, and to the right of the Tonfas is a Tech-bo in purple light. And directly above them, Ōdachi is reflected in the blue light.

That’s what she’s most interested in. She steps closer to get a better look at Ōdachi. It has a blue hilt, and the long mystic steel reflects her face. The entire weapon is illuminated in a blue mystical light. The weapon looks dangerous enough on its own, but the blue light it emits calms Talia down. The energy around the sword seems both chaotic and calm, giving a sense of protection and safety. Talia studies Ōdachi for a moment longer before remembering her mission and continuing on. She walks out of the armory and takes the blue crystal as a souvenir. She sneaks through the corridors until she reaches a large laboratory area.

She keeps to the shadows and the walls. She notices that there is a man trapped in the middle of the room by the pillar that holds up this entire lab. It’s a young man, and he’s holding one of the turtles. Draxum is standing across from him, telling the man something. But Talia has to concentrate. She has to save the turtles. She just has to figure out how. It seemed easy at first, but now that she’s here and seeing the situation up close, it’s harder to figure out the right steps to save them.

Suddenly, a loud sound is heard and a green light fills the lab. Everything happened so fast…

The man escaped from Draxum’s cage and started fighting him.

The turtles now looked much more human than turtle-like.

The lab is full of flames and hot pieces of steel.

The first thing Talia manages to register is just the man’s shouts of “HOOOOT SOOOOUP!!!!” filling the room. The man and Draxum were fighting furiously while Talia was trying to do something useful. She focused on the turtles. She had to save them. That’s why she plunges straight into the hot fire and the flames engulf her. Talia, being a devil, doesn’t mind the fire or the high heat. She’s survived worse than this. This is just a small fire. Talia eventually makes it to the turtles unnoticed by Draxum or the man still fighting.

But they’re not turtles anymore. As Talia noticed earlier, they’re not normal turtles. She had been warned of Draxum’s dark plans, but she had no idea how far this mad scientist-alchemist was capable of going. Hurt these turtles and turn them into mutants. The little turtles were still sitting in the radioactive-looking liquid, lounging around like they were on a beach. Like they were toddlers. They were terribly small. They fit in Talia’s palm, and everyone always made jokes about her having small hands. Especially her husband.

There was a screeching sound and the ceiling began to collapse on top of them. A large chunk of ceiling fell right in front of Talia and she barely managed to push the turtles out of the way. The ceiling immediately began to burn and more flames ignited all around her. Suddenly she sees the man running past and right towards the turtles. Talia quickly got up and tried to stop him. She summoned her trident and magic began to flow around him as she was about to strike.

But she stopped herself.

At first she thought the man was trying to hurt them. But instead, the man grabbed them and tried to escape the crumbling lab. That’s when he stopped when he saw Talia in front of him. She looked at him tilting her head to the side. He wasn’t in the least bit frightened. He didn’t even question who or what Talia was. He just looked into her crimson eyes and immediately understood that she was no threat to him.

Their moment was interrupted by a falling column that was rapidly approaching the ground.

They both immediately looked back and Draxum’s screams of anger filled the room. Draxum got out from under the rubble and lunged at the two with his vines. Talia immediately stepped into action sending a large ball of energy towards Draxum and his roots. The roots shattered, leaving only ash. Talia looked back at the man. “Go.” She said calmly and clearly before Draxum appeared in front of her and she sent him with more dark energy to the other end of the room. The man with the turtles in his arms made eye contact with her one more time before running towards the exit of the lab.

But the fire and pieces of the falling ceiling made it many times harder. Talia saw him dodging all the debris that tried to destroy him. Talia was hit by a vine and then not only knocked unconscious, but grabbed her ankle and threw her to the opposite end of the lab. Before she could pick herself up, Draxum was on the man’s heels, and when Talia got up and ran towards them, a giant chunk of the ceiling blocked her path. The flames were slowly becoming unbreathable and the smoke blocked all vision around her.

She could hear many thuds and the sounds of Draxum’s roots as she made her way through the debris and flames. Talia’s field of vision was filled only by the sight of Draxum under the falling debris and the man covered in green radioactive looking slime. The man slides down and reaches the turtles he was forced to put down for a moment. But he is unable to grab them all.

There is another crackle above his head and a massive chunk of the ceiling breaks off and falls on him. The man barely manages to move out of the way. Next, Talia sees him wearily pick himself up and look back at the wreckage that could have killed him in peace. He glances at Talia and the two exchange glances as the lab begins to collapse and threatens to bury them alive.

The man runs off, leaving only a green footprint behind him that looks like a rat’s paw. Talia also intends to leave quickly. She runs past the wreckage, but before she can spread her wings, she spots a small rider with a red ear just beyond the ground next to the giant wreckage. She stops and immediately runs over to save him. She uses her magic to break the falling piece of ceiling, which then shattered into small pieces that covered the floor. She runs on and lands on a small turtle. She grabs it and spreads her wings.

Just then, she heard Draxum’s furious scream behind her, and in that moment, she knew she had to get out of there immediately. She took off, heading for the hole in the ceiling that led outside.

“Devil!” Talia turned around as Draxum called out to her. She made eye contact with him and his orange eyes narrowed as he met her crimson ones. She held eye contact with him for a moment before she took off and disappeared from Draxum in the large cloud of smoke.

Talia flew while looking at the turtle in her arms. He was curled up in a ball, his eyes closed. He’s so small in Talia’s arms. So tiny that if he didn’t hold it tightly, the little turtle might fall. He’s shiverring. It’s too much for him. He’s just been mutated, and he’s not yet fully aware of the world around him.

Talia decides to land in a deserted alley. Once she lands, she tears off a piece of her little hood and wraps the turtle in it. The turtle curls up more into itself and pulls the cloth closer to itself, wrapping itself even more tightly in it.

He still seems to be cold, so Talia sits down on the cold ground next to the garbage can and pulls the turtle closer to her. More warmth begins to build up between them and the little turtle stops shivering from the cold. Tália leans against the wall and sighs. She closes her eyes and takes a breath. She has to process all of this.

Okay, so… she just came out of Draxum’s lab with a little mutant turtle.. plus Draxum and the human saw me…. That’s not the best. No one can know about her. Otherwise, they’ll try to kill her for breaking the convention. And if anyone found out she was here… It would be very bad. She tries to say to herself, but instead of calming her down, it just plunges her further into fear and stress.

She has to move. She can’t stay here long. But she can’t leave this little turtle to its fate. She has no choice but to take it with her and try to find the man who has the other turtles. Talia gets up and looks around the alley and when she sees no one, she takes off. She flies around for a while, searching all the alleys she comes across. No man with small turtles anywhere, trying to get as far away from Draxum’s lab as possible. She tries to find him and return the turtle to him, because she doesn’t want this little turtle to lose his siblings. They have to find him no matter what. What else would she do?

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It’s probably been a little over half an hour since Talia checked the whole hidden city. This is about the fifth time she’s encountered this alley, and still no luck. She can’t find him. It’s as if the man has vanished off the face of the earth. She’s searched every alley and the entire neighborhood several times, but still nothing.

Nothing to indicate that a man with an armful of turtles has passed through. Even the yokai weren’t out. Which, of course, she was glad for. But despite that, it’s strange that she’s only met a few of them in her entire trip here. The streets in the hidden city are very quiet. It’s known. It’s not like on the surface, where it’s all noise, all overhead lights, and crowds of people who are always busy.

Talia flew once more past one of the main streets of the hidden city and then landed in the same place as she was in the hidden city. She was still holding the small turtle wrapped in her black hood. The turtle fell asleep on the way and looked cute as he slept. Talia sighs. What was she going to do now? The man is God knows where with the turtles and she’s just standing there with a sleeping turtle in her arms. Desperate. Tired. Pitying this poor little turtle.

He doesn’t deserve to die. He should be with his siblings and his father. That man is their father. After all, Draxum used his DNA to create these turtles. She saw with her own eyes the man struggling and trying to defy Draxum.

Everything that happened in that lab today was quick. There was no time to waste. She had to act fast. But she didn’t know if that could be considered mission accomplished. She saved the turtles and helped the man. Draxum’s lab was destroyed, and he’ll probably never be able to do anything like that again.

He lost all the documents. He probably burned himself in the fire. But… what about this turtle in her arms? She saved him, but he’s not with his family. His siblings and his father. He’s curled up in Talia’s arms, waiting for her next move and what’s next.

But Talia doesn’t know what’s next.

She can’t find the man with the other turtles anywhere. She’s long gone and she was slow enough to help this turtle to his family. She doesn’t know what her options are. There must be some. But she has no idea. She can’t leave this turtle on the street somewhere. He’ll freeze to death. It’s really cold underground this time of year. Besides, if she left the turtle here, someone might hurt it. Or even Draxum, who might have survived, might find it and use it for his evil plans. No. She can’t let that happen. She has to get the turtle into the right hands.

But… actually, she can’t.

She can’t even show up in this town, let alone find someone willing to take care of this turtle. And then there’s Draxum. It’s unlikely, but what if he survived? And he’s looking for turtles? And the man? It’s dangerous to leave this turtle out here in a hidden city. But she can’t give it to humans.

They’re worse than Draxum. Humans are deceitful creatures. They have their own world and it’s still not enough. If they find this turtle, they’ll probably experiment on it. Or worse. Maybe they’d use the turtle the same way they used Draxum.

But what else is she supposed to do? She can’t find the man with the other turtles. He’s gone and she’ll never find him. She has no idea where he is. She’s searched the area several times, but no luck. No hints. She can’t leave the turtle lying around. And she can’t let him die.

If this turtle dies, Talia’s mission will not be accomplished. She’s made it her mission to save the turtles and make sure they have someone to be with and a life to themselves. She’s seen enough alternate realities to tell herself she has to save them at all costs. And… she actually partially succeeded. But not completely. She’s still holding this turtle in her arms, wondering what she’s going to do next. All alone on a deserted, empty street.

Eventually, she returns to the alley and sits down in the exact same spot as before. She leans against the wall and sighs. “Sorry, little one.” She says, pulling the little turtle to her chest. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she puts her head up to get more oxygen into her lungs.

She just sits there breathing for a moment until she hears crying. She looks at the little turtle and all she sees on its face are tears that run down its face and end up in the cloth the turtle is wrapped in.

“Shhhhhh, it’s okay little one.” Talia pulls him more tightly against her. She cradles him and consoles him to calm the little turtle. After a few moments, the little turtle opens his little eyes and looks at Talia with tears in his eyes.

Tália pauses and makes eye contact with the little turtle. She looks into its eyes and sees only sadness and longing. The little tortoise reaches out its little hands to her, still crying.

Then Talia feels a brand new and warm sensation in her chest.

She looks at the little turtle crying in her arms for a few moments before fully embracing him. A flame ignites in Talia’s heart and she feels like she is in another world. And suddenly she feels so… peaceful. She feels some new emotion she can’t fully understand or explain. It takes her a while to understand it herself.

The turtle in her arms stops crying and just stumbles. Soon he closes his eyes and slowly falls asleep in Talia’s arms. When Talia looks at her again, all she sees is a really sleepy and tired turtle. With a finger, Tália wipes away the remaining tears on his face and smiles at the turtle. The little turtle settles in her arms and closes its sleepy eyes.

As the little turtle falls asleep, a small idea is born in Tália’s mind.