Chapter two uploaded whee! It's coming slow but...I'm genuinely enjoying writing these chapters. Something about creating your own original work really does just feel good. more so than when writing pure fan fictions. Anyway...

Valnitus Chronicles © Myself

All characters © Myself

Synn and Axel © myself and  miguelsalt

enjoy

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Valnitus Chronicles: 2 - First Day



It was friday morning, the sun shone in Toshiro's bedroom window, waking up up abruptly. He would have welcomed the warmth, but Virtue, who was a Raptor who produced a higher than normal heat source already left him sweating someone. He could see the Raptor squirming in place on the floor staring into the small 20 inch television that he kept on his study table, early morning cartoons as it were. "Nnngh...good morning Virtue. You sure you wouldn't prefer an actual bed to sleep on?"


For a moment, nothing was said, so Toshiro simply wiggled out of bed, stepping around Virtue's tail and making his way towards his closet to pick out an outfit for school. "Hmmm this one won't do..." He tossed a few articles of clothing to the side. "Hmmm...maybe...no Liz would tease me all day at school....Hey Virtue what do you think? ...Virtue?"


When he got no response, he tossed an orange Jacket over the Dino's face, getting quite an amusing reaction as Virtue lifted a clawed hand, and grabbed the fabric, pulling it away from his eyes and shaking his head several times. With a low growl he shoved it to Toshiro's chest. "What? Can't you see I'm looking into this magic box? Weird creatures are pacing around inside...one even flattened the other with an oversized Mallet!"


With a sigh, the brown haired human placed the jacket aside and grabbed a black sleeveless shirt and started squirming into it, only THEN did he slip on the Jacket. While he was fixing the collar he looked over at the television and raised an eyebrow. "You mean the TV? It's not a magic box...It's technology. And those creatures aren't real, they're cartoons. It's a childrens show."


"Tech...no what?" Virtue had a very confused expression on his face as his eyes narrowed. "I don't get it..."


sliding on his Khaki pants, Toshiro sat on the edge of his bed as he began tying his shoes on. "Don't worry about it...Just suffice it to say it's a trivial aspect of human life. And one you seem to have readily gotten a hang of by how intently you were watching it."


Virtue kept his gaze firmly on the television until it shut off unexpectedly. With a saddened expression, the Raptor turned around to note that the human had finished clothing himself. "Before we go to this place called...School...can you tell me why your kind chooses to wear so much armor?"


With a deep breath, Toshiro walked around Virtue until he opened the door leading up to the living room. With what time he had before school, he decided the best course of action was to make a few stacks of pancakes, and choosing to speak on the topic while he cooked. "It's not armor. We wear it to cover ourselves. In our culture it's rude to just run about naked...despite what you might think. And many of our species are too shy to go about in the nude. Unless they're with a signifigant other."


"You humans...such a complicated set of traditions that you uphold. It looks like the fabric would be an inconvenience, no matter how effective it is in covering up your body." Virtue sat on the other end of the kitchen counter. A mouth watering scent permeating his senses, he watched as Toshiro sat, stack ontop of stack of pancakes on a plate infront of him. "What...is this? It's not like any food I recall."


Just as Toshiro was getting the syrup. He let it rain down on the stack of pancakes infront of Virtue. The look on the Raptors face was priceless, eyes lighting up as the syrup dripped down to the pancakes below, and the subtle lick of his lips. He knew it would only be a few moments longer till they vanished. "They're called pancakes. They're not that hard to make and happen to be one of the breakfast meals I enjoy the most. Especially with apple flavored syrup. Go ahead and give it a-" The boy's sentance was cut near the end, as Virtue started shoving the food into his jaws, munching and chewing to get an idea of the Pancakes flavor, only for his mouth to water as he swallowed them down. "Try..."


"Ohh boy that's good! I know it's been a thousand years but I don't recall ANY food tasting this great on my world!" Virtue roared out, stuffing his face with a few more stacks. Munching on them happily, until he found that he cleaned out countertop. "Oh...I guess I kind of ate your share too huh?" A large sweatdrop formed on his left temple, looking apologetic as the raptor began rubbing over his now satisfied stomach.


When the food was gone, Toshiro only looked in wonder. He didn't even get a bite but instead of being angry, he was more surprised than upset. He grabbed each plate and set them in the sink, rolling his sleeves up so he could wash them before setting them back on the counter, in clean prestine condition. "Don't worry about it. You're a large dinosaur! Plus like you said it's been CENTURIES since your last meal. I'll grab a bite at the school cafeteria, so are you ready to go?"


Virtue didn't answer. He instead let out a loud burp and started glowing a bright yellow as his body started shrinking down, wrapping itself around the yellow stone that was the Sunstone pendant before he himself solidified into the same metal. Grasping it with his claws. With a smile, Toshiro grabbed ahold of the pendant and placed it around his neck. Unlike last time, he could now feel Virtue's presence, the Dinosaur wide awake in his trinket form. [Alright kid! Let's get to this 'School' place!] The voice wasn't VOCAL so much as...thought. Though it made as much sense as a talking Pendant could.


Deciding not to linger, Toshiro grabbed his backpack from table in the living room as well as the set of keys hanging infront of the door and quickly set out for school. Halfway through first corner, he was met with Liz, who was wearing a new set of earings to school. Both looked as if they came directly from a chess board because they were styled in the appearence of the Knight piece. "Hello Liz. where'd you get those? Trying to make a fashion statement by wearing those tacky earpieces?"


"Hey! they at least go with my clothes...YOu're wearing that bulky pendant of yours." Her cheeks puffed out as if she were about to explode. But she decided to change the subject. "Are you ready for the test today? You realize your pendant might be a part of it."


Their conversation went on for a few minutes longer, until their school came into view. When Lizzie paced forward, that was when Virtue's thoughts came into Toshiro's mind once again. "There's a beast imprisoned in the decoration she has hanging from her ears."


"Wait...you can tell just by looking at the earrings?" Toshiro asked with astonishment. When he turned to look at Liz's back he could see the faint glow in her right earring. "IT's...glowing. But how did you know that it was there in the first place?"


"I could feel a strange energy swirling around the female. It was as if something were shielding her presence from me. If I had to guess, she doesn't even realize the beast is feeding off of her." Virtue calmly replied, though his frustration was steadily growing.


The prospect worried Toshiro, of that he was definitely sure of. But he didn't want to reveal Virtue's presence and start an outroar, so he instead marched forward, positioning himself infront of her as they walked into school. "Say...when you put on those earrings, do you ever feel...I dunno. Like you're being watched or followed?"


The question to her seemed out of the blue. Toshiro never asked her a question about her taste in fashion But she pushed it aside for now. "Followed? I mean I guess there MIGHT be a few boys that would find me attractive wearing these pieces. But I only decided to wear them for my report today."


"But...don't you feel anything when you're wearing them?" He pressed on. From Virtue, he could sense a hint of amusement from the Dinosaur's presence.


With her cheeks puffing out, Liz brought up a hand and tapped her friend's forehead, knocking him away. "I feel these questions starting to grind on my nerves. now comeon...class starts in five minutes!"


Looking dumbfounded, Toshiro simply followed behind, rubbing his pendant closely. "I guess she really doesn't know."


"Did you really expect her to?" A voice sounded behind Toshiro. When he turned to look who it was. He saw a young boy around his age. He wore a blue beret on his head, and a grey scarf around his neck. Just below it was a short sleeved shirt with a crescent moon design etched into the left chest area. Just around his waist he wore a yellow belt wrapped around himself, with a pair of blue jeans and red sneakers, the bottoms being a charcoal grey. Looking towards the boy's wrist, he spotted a glowing trinket around it just below his white gloved hands. As the boy turned his wrist around he could see the glowing form of a bat biting into a glowing blue gem. "Meet me in the school gym after classes. I might be able to help solve your problem."


The boy's eyes had a dull glow to them, but when he caught sight of the gem on his wrist he knew right away. [Get to class kid. Ignore the creep and focus on your girlfriend.]


"S-she's not my girlfriend!" Toshiro cried out, looking in the direction of the boy but found he had already left the hallway. When the bell sounded, he immediately charged forward. "Ah crap! I'm late!!"


[And THAT'S Why you should heed my advice. Ugh...that sound is so irritating.] Virtue muttered to himself, though his thoughts leaked their way into Toshiro's as the human stepped into class. Mr.Hiroshi tossed a soft eraser at the boy's head, leaving him baffled as it bounced off his forehead.


"You're late...Take a seat Toshiro." The teacher spoke quietly, but with authority. Once all of his class were properly seated, he took a deep breath. "The principle...Mr. Morikawa will be out of the country for a few weeks. As such the assistant principle Ms.Glade will be taking his post until further notice. With that announcement out of the way, I'd like to introduce everyone to a new transfer student. He and his family moved here from Shibuya last week. I hope that you'll all give him a warm welcome."


It took only a moment for Toshiro to get properly situated, then his eyes settled on the new student that Hiroshi was addressing. It was the same boy that had spoke to him on his way to class. "Out of all the classes in school he ends up being set in ours..." He whispered to himself as much to Virtue. The only response he got out of the dinosaur however was [It is what it is.]


The kid made a short bow to the teacher, then towards the class as a whole. "Nice to meet all of you! My name is Axel Shade...It's an honor to be a part of your classroom." With a bright smile, he strode over to the closest available seat and set his bag down. Relaxing once he sank into the chair. He gave a shifty glance towards Toshiro, lasting only a second before turning his attention back towards Hiroshi's lesson.

---

Once all of their classes ended, Toshiro only spoke with Liz for a few short moments and let her go on her way. After which he made sure the coast was clear as he stepped foot into the Gym. It was a spacious room, about the size of a standard high school basketball court, which was what it mostly was. He could see Axel already sitting on the bleachers, waiting for him to show up. "So what is it that you wanted to talk about? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you DON'T want the tour of the school."


"Everyone in class kept saying you were the smartest kid in the 10th grade! I find that amusing considering you kept pestering your friend about something she's better off not knowing." Axel taunted. Lifting his hand up to point the bracelet around his arm at Toshiro. "Synn...Mind coming out to play for a moment? I think our friend here needs to be enlightened."


"If I must!" Came a scratching voice around Axel's wrist. With the same bright light that had overtaken Toshiro's bedroom, a large anthro Black bat formed infront of him. Being nearly equal in height to Virtue. And the shimmering grey velvety wings left the boy staring in both fear and wonder. A jewel lay around the Bat's neck, and another embedded at the end of his umbrella shaped tail tip. With bright green eyes, he stared down at Toshiro, laughing in a way that sent chills down Tosh's spine. "I guess you're the one to go to in this school! But you look like you've seen a ghost! The name's Synn." He lowered his bottom right hand infront of Toshiro, as if offering to shake his hand.


The pendant around Toshiro's neck bounced and swung like a pendulum, as if begging to be released. For a time, Toshiro ignored the feeling of the Pendant bouncing against his chest and shook Synn's hand, ready to jump away at a moments notice but so far, nothing happened to him. "U-uh...I guess I should return the favor...it's nice to meet you Synn. My name is Toshiro." He tapped on the Pendant and smiled. "Come on out Virtue!"


[About time kid!!] With a flash, the pendant transformed in a blaze of fire into the massive Dinosaur that he knew to be Virtue. Both creatures locked their eyes in place, as if trying to anticipate what one another was going to do. "What clan are you from?"


Synn stood up striaght, careful not to avert his gaze from the Raptor standing before him. "I come from clan of Necros. And you?"


"Ignus." He let his flames burst forth from his body, careful not to touch anything flammible. "I was under the assumption those from Necros favored the dark. So why reveal yourself during so much daylight?"


Synn snorted, releasing a plume of smoke. "We favor the night because that is when we're strongest. Had we intended to attack you we would have waited much later to reveal ourselves. But the sun on this world is so refreshing...and I'd rather not cause a scene that would leave me unable to enjoy it!"


Both Virtue and Toshiro looked at one another, then to Axel and Synn. "So why this sudden reveal?"


"Synn told me he sensed two warped energies inside of this school. One of them came from that friend of yours, and the other from you. He told me yours was more active than hers, so naturally I assumed you were able to call upon the beast within your heirloom. The jewel that Synn comes out of is called the Moonstone Heirloom. I found it when my parents sent me out to live with my uncle." With a kind smile, Axel walked over and shook Virtue's claws, obviously not too intimidated by the massive flaming dinosaur that stood before him.


Toshiro only watched quietly, the scene was too funny. While Virtue was trying to look at least slightly intimidating to the new guy, all he did was laugh it off. But his attention was taken back to Synn who crouched down to meet him at eye level. "So then, if you're from Necros and Virtue is from Ignus, does that mean you AREN'T from the same world?"


Blinking twice, Synn thought about how best to answer the boy's question before laughing. "We are. Both Necros and Ignus are regions from a world far off. It's name is Valnitus."


"Valnitus..." Toshiro repeated. "Wait...you REMEMBER your homeworld? Virtue doesn't even remember THAT much."


Shaking his head, Synn simply smiled. "I don't remember a whole lot either. But every day the fog lifts ever so slightly. When I first awoke, I could only remember my name! It took me about a week to remember the name of my clan."


"How strange...but it makes sense. I'd figure that sleeping for so long would play games with your memories. Just as you yourself woke, your brain must need time to register past events. I mean you're quite litterally...catching up with time."


Their conversation lasted a good ten minutes. The four deciding it would be better to sit on the bleachers and talk it off rather than stay standing. For Virtue this turned out to be quite a chore, his massive frame made it hard for him to get anywhere near comfortable so he decided he'd just sit on the gym's floor


"So the chances are that she can't even call out the beast sleeping in her earring." Spoke Axel who held up a finger as if to emphesize his point. "It would only wake up and respond to someone who shares it's wavelength. And the only person that can read their names on the artifacts are the very same. For this reason, I cannot call Virtue and you wouldn't be able to call Synn. So for the moment, your friend Liz is safe."


That was a relief to Toshiro who was holding in his breath. Once his nervousness faded, he started scratching the collar of his jacket. "Well whoever is sleeping in that earring I hope that they aren't villianous."


"Don't worry too much on it kid..." Virtue grumbled, scratching the back of his head. "I hate that I was called out before dinner. Hey Synn...how about at least demonstrating to me what kind of power you have."


Axel and Toshiro stared at each other, then the latter responded to Virtue's challenge. "Let's go to the soccer field for that you two. If you guys duke it out in this closed space you're liable to break something. Besides...giant fighting monsters sounds like something you'd see from a cheesy old science fiction movie."


"Well at least one of us had the courage to say it." Commented Axel who stood at the door, looking through he realized that most of the kids and staff had gone home. "OK let's get going..."


The four of them started sneaking through campus. Occasionally hiding behind a wall whenever they spotted a teacher passing by. But eventually, they found their way to the school's soccer field, thankfully the team had no practice today so they managed to get into the field without too much fuss. "Alright. Let's try to make this fast guys. My uncle is waiting for me to get home. He and his daughter are expecting me home in a half hour."


When Toshiro and Axel walked to the sidelines, it was only then that Synn and Virtue surged forward. Their claws grasping onto one another as they tried to gain ground over the other. It wasn't a long tug of war, as Virtue managed to grab the Bat by his wrists and tossed him into the air. With a low growl, flames started pouring from the corners of his mouth and nostrils before he parted his jaws to release a torrent of flames towards the Monster Bat. "Heh gotcha!"


As the flames engulfed Synn, Virtue's smug face lasted but a moment longer until the flames dissapated, the bat nowhere to be seen. Taking a few steps, Virtue tried to locate his target, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a chilling laugh. When he did, he looked down to see a bed of spikes forming from the ground, immediately he took off, running on the opposite side of the field. "Annoying Necros trick..." He grumbled, as soon as he couldn't see the spikes he opened his jaws and bit his arm, with a muffled yelp he pulled back and groaned. He stared into the sky as he spotted Synn laughing and rolling in the air. "I forgot that beings from your clan love to play mind tricks."


The laughter lasted for a couple minutes longer until the Bat got his bearings. He stared down at Virtue and grinned. "And Ignus is all about aggressive combat. Physically I couldn't match your power but I can outfly you. And you fell into my trap so easily."


"Your mind tricks won't fool me twice. But now we can really get started." Virtue growled out, his claws outstretched as if ready to go in for another round.


Both Axel and Toshiro clapped their hands, stepping in between the duo. "No that's enough guys. We need to get home, besides...we should really treat that bite wound." Toshiro suggested, looking concerned.


"Same with you Synn. You aren't in true fighting shape until nightfall so it's best we get going. Uncle will be tiiicked if we stay past curfew..." Axel had a nervous expression on his face, but regardless Synn seemed to respond to his request and transformed into the moonstone heirloom that wrapped around Axel's wrist.


Virtue looked more than a little dissapointed, but following Synn's example he shrunk back down into pendant form, which Toshiro promptly set around his neck. [Fine but I hope you make some more of those...pan...cakes...]


"No pancakes tonight. Tonight I'm going to be making curry. Just be ready for the kick..." Toshiro replied verbally. He quickly turned to Axel and held a hand out to shake. "I'll see you tomorrow ok? Meet me at my locker. It's locker 207."


With a short nod, Axel shook Toshiro's hand and smiled wide. "I'll remember! Maybe you can help me study for next week's test? Anyway I have to get going."


Waving, Toshiro and Axel both left on their seperate ways. With a soft smirk, Axel rubbed over the bracelet on his wrist and smiled. "So Synn...what do you think?"


[I think Virtue can be a bit too eager for battle. But despite the gaps in his memory, he still understands the strength and weaknesses of our clan.]


"And Toshiro?" Axel asked innocently.


The jewel on his bracelet shimmered for a second, then started taking on it's normal shine. [I don't know. But I think he might be a good friend to you. You really need someone else to talk to besides me.]


The comment caught Axel by surprise. But instead of reacting to it as Synn expected, he just increased his pace. "Let's hurry home..."


(End of Chapter)