Rejected Secrets

Volume 2: Gouging Roars Part 1. 024

"GROWWEEEERAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" Melarchie was trying to tear through the shield with its massive claws, but was unable to do so. The shield slowly morphed into a hemisphere, enclosing us all. The shield was soundproof as we weren't able to hear what Shoyu was screaming at us, but we were able to see his lip movements. However, Melarchie's roars were still somewhat audible. It still tried to tear through this enclosure and was relentless in its pursuit. Its eyes started glowing more. What could've possibly corrupted this beast?

"This is not good at all... not good at all... not good at all..." Makkura didn't have to repeat it three times... it sounded like a broken tape recorder uttering those words in such a sequence. "The two of us cannot hold on forever..."

"Is there anything Carrie and I could do???"

"I-I do not think... it is... possible... thee could try but thy powers aren't perfected enough for this. Best we could do is escape this situation..."

"W-What happened to Zeru, though?"

"Zeru is fine, nyaaarghh. It just needs a little bit of rest. Keiko, thou better double tap on the gem to retrieve it before something bad happens to it." Makkura was unable to answer my question, so NekoKami decided to do it for me instead. I did as it told me to, and Zeru's unconscious figure disappeared from the ground as the gem glowed to assure that it had been retrieved.

"Keiko, what do we do?"

"I don't know... Makkura said we can't do anything as of now. It's better to escape this situation we have gotten ourselves into." I said as I looked up at Makkura and NekoKami. The two of them stayed the same with no change in their posture.

"How do we even escape the situation???"

"What's best to do now is teleport. But, the problem is if the two of us art holding onto this hemisphere, it is nearly impossible to do so..."

"Does Zeru possess the teleportation ability as well???"

"Aye, but it is too tired to use such a power. Teleportation isn't possible with just a snap of the fingers. We need to concentrate on it deeply."

"What if we hold tightly onto the two of you, and would it be possible to combine the two of your teleportation powers and take us out of this place???"

"That might work. Keiko, hold onto me. Carrie, hold onto NekoKami." Makkura commanded as it let out a ground-shaking growl. The growl of a dire wolf...
NekoKami started to do the same. This shook the earth even more vigorously. The noise that NekoKami is making didn't sound like that of a cat at all... although its gags often do sound like one, however, its growls sounded much different from its frequent gags as it speaks. Could it not be just an ordinary cat?

My vision began to get hazy and I felt some sort of pressure rising inside of my eyeballs. I closed my eyes out of reflex.
Upon opening my eyes, I found myself back at home with Makkura. Makkura fell to the floor as I struggled to hold onto it, trying to lift it back up. Its massive body was hard to keep back in position.

"Leave." I heard it say in a faint voice.

"You sure aout that?"

"Graaaahhh, ayeee, let go of me..." I slowly took my hands off it and let it rest on the floor. "Greeehaaahhhhh grahhhhghaaahhhhh... I shall thank thee." It said as it let its tongue out and started panting heavily.

"Wouldn't it be better if you could just go back into the gem?"

"Fine... I wanted to talk to thee face-to-face about something. I guess I'll do it later. Double tap on thy gem."

"What is it about?"

"I shall tell thee later."

"Okay..." I said as I let Makkura go back. I guess Carrie and NekoKami must've spawned back at her house.
My clone was sitting on the chair and... reading a book? That's quite unlikely of me. I don't just read a book on any normal day. I rarely ever read them. I do love collecting some specific kinds of volumes of books and stacking them up on my rack but if you ask me whether I read them or not, I would say yes, but that is only once in a blue moon.
"Hmmm... What to do now..." Could I ask Zeru to get rid of this clone now?
I held the choker in my hand and called out to it. "Hey Zeru, are you doing fine now? Would it be possible for you to make this clone disappear now?"

"Eh? Why do thee want it to disappear?"

"I'm back home, of course! I can take care of things from here on out."

"Art we back to thy place already?"

"Yes? Didn't you notice?" I wasn't able to hold a proper face-to-face conversation with Zeru as it wasn't willing to show itself to me while having a conversation with me.

"Give me some time... I need to relax a bit before getting rid of it."

"Okay..." I muttered to myself. I wonder whether Zeru heard it or not. Zeru's massive hooves emerged out of the gem as it twisted them around in an organized manner and crushed the clone out of existence. Now, that was a brutal way to get rid of a clone...

"All good now?"

"Yes." The hooves were about to slip back into the gem, but "Hold on!"

"Hm? What?"

"Could we... have a little talk?" What? Why do I even bother to ask?

"About?"

"About you. I'd like to get to know you better."

"Hm, for real now?"

"Yeah. Just for a little while."

"Fine. What is it that thou want to know about me?" Zeru's entire figure emerged out of the gem and took a seat on my table and rested its genie-like tail onto the table.

"Well. First of all, what exactly are you? I know you're an entity but judging by the way you fought with Melarchie... the way you changed your form... they all looked much different from a regular deer, elk, moose or any kind that falls under this category."

"I am not sure about whether thee heard about it or not, but I am one with the Irish Elk. I consider myself an Irish Elk. I am an Irish Elk. "

"Isn't that an extinct species...?"

"I guess thou could say that? Is it extinct now?"

"Yes, it is. It doesn't roam the earth anymore. It went extinct quite long back."

"Ah. No wonder,.."

"Why?"

"The kind of deer thee have in thy world art not the same as what I am."

"Well, we have different kinds, but the closest one that fits you would be a regular elk. But you displayed a rather different figure during that time."

"Of course, because I am an Irish Elk. My age in thy world is different from how old I actually am."

"Didn't you say you were nearly 800 years old?"

"Aye, but that is only if thee count them in thy earth's years."

"How old would you be if it is not in Earth years?"

"Our ages have been diminished to such small numbers. I would be 72,000."

"Would it be in years?"

"Guess thou could say that..."

"Hmm... also, do you think Shoyu would be hunting down for us right now?"

"Nay, that boy has his limits. He would probably wait till he gets another chance to strike. He knows when to give up for the day."

"So... how do I go out into this town if I have to keep a watch for him with every step I take?"

"Tsk. He may appear in front of thee in various forms, Marion."

"What do you mean..." Come to think of it, I did see an elderly man on that park bench, which later appeared to be Shoyu himself... or could it just have been my imagination?

"He may deceive thee in the form of an elderly woman, a middle-aged woman, or maybe a mere infant, a toddler, or even perhaps thy friend who is with NekoKami, or why not... it could even be thy mother, or... thy father. It could even be thy teacher, thy classmate... it could be anyone thou meet in thy daily life."

"How do I stay cautious if it could be anyone...? How would I know?!"

"Well, if thee know thy family and friends well enough, then it wouldn't be hard for thee to find out whether it is Shoyu in disguise or not."

"Carrie and I aren't that close to each other as you could think of us to be. I don't want to call anyone else a friend other than Carrie... not even Lana. Lana is just an acquaintance. We don't talk much unless and until it has something to do with our classroom projects or anything else related to that..."

"Thou shan't overthink about it. Take some rest. We shall talk again tomorrow. Until then, goodbye!" Zeru said as it slowly vanished into thin air, leaving no sign of its presence.

Oh well... I guess I'll have to be extra careful from now on. My mom, however, wouldn't want me to go out anywhere here after, not even school. She was planning on putting me up for homeschooling. I guess that'll probably be the case. Anyways, I will have to sneak out of my house from time to time to resolve similar issues, so that's probably when I'll have to keep my guard up better.

I placed the choker back in the black box it was given to me in. "Mr. Fritz... I couldn't ask for a better math teacher... You were the only teacher I actually liked." Teachers are pretty dislikable creatures, I have to say. There are a few exceptions in this case as well, and Mr. Fritz was one of them.

I threw myself onto my bed with my face buried in my pillow as I decided to doze off. Now that I think about it, Makkura wanted to talk to me about something. Eh, I guess I'll talk to it later. I said as I fell asleep within seconds...