Elements: The Ancient Tomb

Chapter 4: A nightmare

In a moment of distraction, Victor was hit by a surprise attack that made him fly away from Amber. Amber looked ahead fearfully. A man with the appearance of a warrior with jet-black armor and a helmet was slowly approaching. Amber suddenly recognized that person and said:

"It's… it's him. The man in my dreams."

"New enemy, Thedus?"- Victor sat up and asked.

That guy pointed at her with a sword in his hand and said:

"Amber Pinwheel, 24 years old, The Pinwheels' 8th generation descendant, granddaughter of Thomas Pinwheel, one of the goddess worshippers. I'm here to take your life today."

"Please forgive me. I have nothing to do with it."- Amber begged.

"Descendant of the person that was one of the Goddess worshippers?" - Victor was surprised.

Suddenly, from behind them, a blue warrior jumped out to attack the guy and said:

"Iron Head! Don't touch her."

Seeing that guy, Iron Head spoke up:

"Don't get in my way, Helius."

Victor realized who that guy was, and exclaimed:

"Is it you, Mic… no, Blue Gunner?"

"Yes, guess what is the cause of the waterlogging?"

"No way! Could it be… you…"

Michael immediately ran to Iron Head and fought him. The two sides fought fiercely. Michael used the Arowana Blaster to shoot at Iron Head and said:

"I won't let you kill another 'elite descendant'."

Iron Head jumped to dodge the blow. Taking advantage of his loophole, Michael used the Elemental Card to put on the weapon, turned on the final mode of the blaster called "Final Wave" and shot at him. Iron Head was surprised and had to take out his sword to cut it. Because the force of the ball was so strong, it made the sword break in half, and he fell to the ground. Michael said:

"You were the first one unscathed from that blow. That is respectable."

Suddenly, an 8-year-old child, holding a bunch of flowers in his hand, ran towards Iron Head from behind. Michael shouted: "Run away, baby" but it was too late. When she saw Iron Head, she showed no fear and gave him the bouquet. He looked at her for a while, reached out his hand to accept the bouquet, and said:

"Scat. You don't smell like them."

The girl refused to go. So he blew the flower branches in his hand, causing the girl to rush them.

"Why..." Michael was surprised.

"Why are you standing there?"

"I thought you were going to use the baby as a tool to escape."

"Hmm, I can get away without doing that. Don't believe it? Try it"

Michael shot repeatedly at him, but he used the "Apparating Technique" to escape. Michael still heard his voice echo:

"Today I only intend to kill Amber, so just take the extra sword. Next time I'll bring my strongest sword to fight you."

Let Iron Head go, but Michael still smiled and thought:

"That guy is so weird and unpredictable. There's no record of him in my books."

Victor now called him back to finish "Tree Monster". The two used a killing blow to destroy the extremely weak monster.

From somewhere, Handaz suddenly appeared, holding a card that sucked the gray auras rising from the burning corpse of the monster, and said:

"Thank you for defeating him today. So I have the spoils for cultivation."

"What?" Michael was surprised.

Ending the short conversation, Handaz disappeared. Victor asked:

"Dammit, he tricked us. After all, what is he intending?"

"Who knows?" Michael replied.

Then he turned to look at Amber and thought:

"Descendants of the Goddess Worshippers? That's interesting."

Victor neutralized the transformation, approached Amber, who was suffering from leg pain after the sudden attack from Iron Head earlier, reached out to support her, and asked:

"Are you okay?"

Amber pushed Victor's hand away and said:

"Unbelievable, your custom is such a weirdo."

"No, this is my battle armor, it's quite useful. Please keep this secret from me."

"Why do you have to help me? Didn't I treat you like shit? And even if you let me die, your secrets won't be revealed."- Amber said while pointing at Michael- "Is that your friend over there?"

"I don't need to do that. Once having put on this armor, I must protect everyone, including you."

"Don't think your words will make me touched, I will never forgive you."

"Just wait until I remember and everything will be clear. Until then, I will continue to protect you."

"No matter what, it's true that you abandoned him. If you can't even protect my brother, who can you protect?"

Then she quietly left. Victor looked toward Amber and said to himself:

"I won't let you suffer the same fate as Andre."

When Amber was far away, Victor hugged his head and cried:

"Damn, I forgot to ask about her identity. What 'descendant'...? Ah! 'Descendants of the Goddess Worshippers'. Amber Pinwheel, that's her name.s"

Michael neutralized the transformation, approached, and said:

"Isn't two slaps enough? Are you going to ask her that?"

"Oh, I feel hurt now. But that made me feel a little better. For his death, I am partly responsible. I will regain my memories quickly and tell her the truth, end the painful days."

Suddenly he remembered something, turned to Michael, and asked:

"By the way, after listening to what you said to that black-armored guy named Iron Head, I realized that you seemed to know something about what he's been doing. Please tell me the truth."

"I can only tell you one thing: 'The Iron Head is trying to track down the descendants of the Goddess believers because they pose a threat to him."

"That guy is dangerous. Hey Thedus, do you know where all those people are?"

Thedus appeared and said:

"I don't know, because I just woke up after 1000 years, plus, now they are scattered all over the world, not only in America."

"This case is difficult. Listen, we should approach Amber first, through her we can find out something. Ah, but I don't have her phone number or home address."

Michael knew in advance that Victor would say that, and replied:

"Idiot, why not ask the people in your Institute directly? They must have information about Andre. Plus, you also had Andre's number."

"Ah, yeah. You're right."- Victor took out his phone to find Andre's number- "Ah, I see. So let's go back to the shop. Tomorrow I will go to the Institute again."

Meanwhile, in an unknown place, when Handaz was doing some experiment, he was suddenly attacked. Fortunately, he dodged. He stood still for a moment and then said:

"Is it you, Iron Head? I can feel your aura."

"The senses are still as sharp as ever. Did you do that stupid experiment again?"

"Watch your mouth, what I'm doing is just for 'Him'. Long time no see, I almost forgot your existence, still an uneasy guy as before. Tell me, what are you here for?"

"Try to guess."

"If you just come to fight, then sorry, I don't have time. "

"I didn't come here to fight."

"So for what?"

"I came because I wanted to tell you something very important."

"Oh, are you here to tell me about the whereabouts of the Red Elemental Card?"

"This is more important than that."

Handaz made a serious face and stood up:

"Really? Before you start, I want to ask why you did that."

Iron Head smiled and replied:

"You may not remember, but you once helped me eliminate a descendant of one of the Goddess worshipers, so I want to repay you."

"Did I do that? Hmm... Whatever. I can't remember someone that I killed. "

"It's alright. Can I start to say the main subject now?"

"Say it."

"After being freed, the Elemental Gods were unable to use their power due to it being sealed by the Goddess' spell."

"Oh, this is the first time I heard about it."

"Currently, they are cooperating with humans to defeat their enemies and fulfill their ultimate goal, as well. Is this enough to interest you?"

Handaz was quite surprised by that, stroked his chin, and said:

"That's interesting. I have never believed anything from your mouth before, but this time I have. That has solved the mystery in me. When I think about that, I find it quite reasonable. How do you know?"

"I have seen one of them use special equipment in conjunction with an Elemental Card to transform. So now you know what to do next?"

"I know, we have to get 'our prey' out of 'the cave'. So you didn't come here just to say that, did you?"

Iron Head covered his mouth and smiled, said:

"You are so observant. Yes, I would like to make an offer of cooperation with you, which is mutually beneficial. You know it's not easy to make them reveal their identity, because they are not the humans that we've known before. I'll make it short based on what you just said: 'A burning house causes rats to find their way out.'"

"That's a good idea."

Ironhead threw a picture at Handaz and said:

"To implement the plan, it is necessary to have good preparation. Remember, do it smoothly and carefully. Count on you, brother."

Handaz looked at the photo, laughed, and said:

"Okay, I accept the offer. Just in time for our experiment to be completed. It's time to verify its strength. I hope it won't disappoint my expectations."

As soon as he finished speaking, he could no longer see Iron Head. He exclaimed:

"Still not forgetting to use honorifics towards me, this guy…"

The next morning, when Mr. Karatini had just opened the door of the shop, Victor ran down in a hurry and said:

"You prepare breakfast for me. I need to get out soon."

"Okay, just go over there and read the newspaper first. I've almost done."- Mr. Karatini pointed at the table in the corner.

Victor saw the headline: "The mystery of the cave collapse has not been solved" in the newspaper and immediately brushed it aside. Mr. Karatini was surprised and asked:

"Why don't you read the newspaper today?"

"After working late at night, my eyes are a bit tired."

Victor drove to the Institute to find information about Andre's family. After 15 minutes with the director, he got the home address. Driving about an hour to the countryside in Pennsylvania, he finally found Amber's house. After a few knocks on the door, a girl opened the door. It was Amber. She was so surprised and asked:

"You! How did you know my house?"

"Through help from acquaintances."

"I don't want to see you, please come back."

Then she was about to close the door, but Victor tried to pull it back and said:

"Let's talk for a bit."

"Hands off, I have nothing to say."

An old woman appeared from inside while they were arguing, and asked:

"What's so noisy?"

"Mom!" Amber exclaimed.

When Victor saw her, he said:

"Hello aunt, I'm Andre's friend. Tell her to let me in."

"Is it Victor?"- Amber's mother said without showing surprise.

"Yes, it's me."

"Amber, let him in."

"Hey, mom?"

"He's a guest. I don't know what happened to you two, but you should be fair."

Amber had to open the door for Victor to come in. Amber's mother waved her hand and said:

"You come in. It's been a while since I've seen you."

After coming into the house, the old woman and Victor sat at the table to drink water while Amber was preparing fruit. Victor retold his situation. Amber's mother said:

"Poor you. But luckily you are still alive. So what did you remember?"

"I only have a few memories, including the moment your son died."

Suddenly, from the kitchen, Amber grabbed a fruit plate and put it on the table with anger, looking at Victor with bullet-shaped eyes. The mother saw this and said:

"Why do you do that in front of our guest, Amber? You are my daughter and Andre's sister, so you should be gentle and humble with your brother's friends, at least to keep up appearances for our family. Also, what's with that look?"

"He was the one who left my brother in the cave without saving his life. Why should I be kind to him?"

Those words made Victor feel a little sad. The mother told her daughter to come inside and said to him:

"Her words hurt your pride, right? I'm sorry, please forgive her attitude just now."

"No, she's right. I should have been able to save Andre from that pile of rocks." - Victor confessed in a heartbreaking heartbreak.

As for the mother, she was silent for a while, her face a little sad, as if she was about to shed tears...