Chapter XXV: Syforthe’s Hunt Begins ~Sirocco

Sirocco stood in a field outside the cave he had recently moved into. His cloak was back in the cave, and his fists glowed. He had been practicing the 'Bakuretsu-Te' arts for three hours now, without stopping. The field had a number of large rocks in it, apparently from a volcanic eruption long ago. The number had decreased, however, as Sirocco's training had progressed. Now he was left with 5 rocks. He turned to the closest, and leapt forth. "Shatter Lightning!" he cried as his fists flew forth. Upon striking the rock, his fists glowed brighter, and lightning spread through the rock, revealing the crack patterns. More and more lightning criss-crossed the rock until it exploded into a million pieces, pebbles raining from the sky around him, a large hole where the rock once was. He dusted some of the dirt risen by the outburst of power off his clothing, a worn white tunic and a pair of black shorts, and turned in the direction from whence he came. He remembered his battles on the Genesis, and the people he had actually developed some semblance of a friendship with throughout his life. That was all over now, and he was alone on this rock called Zolott, his cruel birthplace. While he held a distinct hatred of the place for how badly it had screwed up his life, yet he felt a strange bond with it. Like him, it was a Patchwork, and also like him, it was out of place. Zolott was purposeless, just like him. Sirocco had acknowledged the fact that Zolott may soon explode, and he didn't care. Two less Patchworks in the universe wouldn't upset anyone.

Syforthe looked around. He was outside, along with the witch, looking around. It was now daytime, and the scouting party he had sent out still hadn't returned. The people of Lidon had yet to figure out what had happened as well. He stroked his chin in thought as he looked out in the direction his scouts had gone. "Hmm...perhaps we were just tossed around a bit, and the witch's 'wormhole' theory is incorrect..." As he thought, his mind suddenly caught wind of a foul new presence on the planet. He growled, and began to float, floating into the air and taking off. After flying for a few minutes, he reached an entirely new landscape. "What in the name of Diablo?!" he cried aloud as he discovered he had gone from flying over a wasteland to a field of grass. He stopped in midair and scratched his head. After pondering this development for a few minutes, his mind returned to the presence...he knew it could only be one person. "It seems 'Dear Brother' followed me," he mumbled with a growl. He turned in the direction of the presence, and discovered a corral. That corral was filled with cattle, and walking past it was his brother, toward him. "Eversor!" his brother cried to him. This made Syforthe snarl, yet he soon found quite a bit of opportunity in this turn of events. He smirked, and answered, "I'll be down there in a minute, brother, wait right there!" He flew down toward his brother, and stopped close enough to him to give him a false sense of being greeted, but far enough away to avoid the havoc he was about to cause. Aelin, Syforthe's brother, then began to walk toward him. "Greetings, Eversor!" He called, waving. Syforthe smirked, and out of nowhere, he teleported, disappearing and re-appearing on the side of the corral opposite from his brother. "Enjoy being trampled, you wretch!" Syforthe cried with a maniacal smile as he created a ball of nether energy and tossed it at the corral. It struck the ground behind the cattle, causing a medium-sized blast. Just as he had intended, the cattle stampeded. Aelin widened his eyes, and shouted, "Glowing Gift!" With those words, a white aura surrounded him, and he tried to take off to the side, but found nether barriers on either side of him. He growled, and took off in the same direction the cows were stampeding, just barely staying ahead of them. Syforthe cackled, and vanished, returning to Lidon much cheerier than before.

As he appeared back at Lidon, he discovered that his scouts had returned...unfortunately, their skeletal bodies had been smashed. Syforthe sighed, and, instead of reviving them, held out a hand to them and let loose a gust of nether wind, sending them back to the Realm of the Dead. The witch looked over at him. "So...what did you learn?" Syforthe looked over at her and replied, "I found a field of green grass not far from here...the terrain just changed without warning. There should have been wasteland there." The witch blinked. "Hmm...perhaps it is..." she mumbled. Syforthe heard her, and asked, "Perhaps it is what?" She looked at him, and answered, "Perhaps there is an Unsoul here...the Planet Made of a Million Pieces is a planet of the Alter-Realms I once heard about in a dream. This may be that planet...and it supposedly has a piece of the Demon Realm, where Unsouls reside, in it." After hearing that, Syforthe smirked, and grabbed the witch by the neck. She gave him a half-surprised, half-horrified glare. "What...are you doing?!" she cried. He smirked, and replied coldly, "Taking what you didn't tell me." Bolts of dark plasma then flowed across the witch's body for a few minutes, draining her of her power and knowledge, both of which went to Syforthe. When she had been completely drained, Syforthe dropped her. She fell straight through the ground, dropped into a nether portal. He then leapt into the air and thrust the Nether Stave upward. "I summon the Wings of Darkness!" he cried as the stave crackled with dark energy. The shadow of a pair of demon wings appeared on his back, and he flapped them a few times. He then took off at twice the speed he could normally fly, beginning his search for the piece of the planet that was the Demon Realm...and the Unsouls within.

Sirocco sat on a decent-sized chunk of rock in the field which he had demolished all the bigger rocks in. While his insides and a good portion of his outsides were robotic, he still maintained sweat glands on the human portions of his body, and wiped some sweat from his brow. His body lacked lungs, and therefore he lacked the typical breathing induced by strenuous exercise. His systems were merely a bit tired. He looked around at the rock chunks and craters littering his training ground, and smiled. These martial arts were quite the ability. With the added plus of being able to use the energy and electricity that flowed through his robot body, they were a perfect ability. As he sat and let his body recover energy, he heard the sound of several hooves off to the east. He turned, and saw a figure with a flickering white aura being tailed by a herd of cattle, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. With a closer look from his magnifiers, he saw the figure seemed to be straining, and the cattle were beginning to catch up to him. After a few seconds of contemplation, he decided to help, and leaped up, his thrusters kicking into gear. He flew in and grabbed the fellow just as the cattle were about to trample him flat, quickly flying upward before they trampled him and his 'cargo'. He saw the cattle closing on his home, and whipped out his gun, aiming a shot in front of the stampede. Energy crackled through his arm as he cried "Cannons of Bismarck!" and began unleashing energy blasts much larger than what it typically fired. As the blasts contacted, they blew large holes in the ground, and those cattle that didn't turn around fast enough slid into the holes. As the cattle turned, Sirocco flew back down, and landed at the entrance to his cave, walking inside and setting the fellow he had rescued down. He walked over and took his cloak from the wall, putting it back on and returning to the man lying on the floor of his home. He was unconscious, apparently from the large power use. Sirocco shrugged and scooped the man up, setting him down on his bed as he constructed a makeshift bed for his guest.