Triton Prism - 3. Edgar

CHAPTER FOUR: EDGAR

A few days later the five crushers were again on a train, but this was public transport full of ordinary people. They were all in their white travelling cloaks, as customary. Though this wasn't a mission, it was a visit. Douglas thought of it more as reconnaissance. He sat quietly brooding and the others let him be.

Lysander was a strict elemental who insisted his crushers undergo personal training and carry out missions. He didn't take too kindly to Douglas's meltdown after he returned from their group mission. Those hitmen weren't going after someone innocent, but Reburn. If we'd moved to stop them afterwards he may have been killed or weakened by now. The idea that they'd unintentionally aided the killer of their sibling was horrendous. At least now he had the satisfaction of knowing their activities were focused on Titania; currently they were en route to see Edgar in his marble city.

"I've never met anyone Mark 5 before!" Kanra spoke up excitedly "Except for Lysander, of course."

"Doesn't he look like a monster?" Yura asked. "I heard he looks like a monster."

"He's lived for like, hundreds of years without aging. And I don't think he's ever going to age." Zao commented.

Douglas had expected to be ignored due to his attitude lately, but Shari drifted over. Holding the railing as the train swayed on its tracks.

"Don't worry Doug, Edgar's been alive for so long that he's bound to know something useful."

"Let's hope so. Otherwise this trip was a waste of time." He crossed his arms.

"If we could stand up to those three hitmen I'm sure we can all take one Reburn."

"Sure, only problem is he's the leader of a whole gang of Triton clan members. Besides that Gloria woman with the Kurei escaped, the surveillance drones went down before we could find her."

"Okay, okay Mr Cynical." Shari turned away from him with a sigh.

"I'm not focused on crusher stuff, since I don't actually like being a crusher." Zao spoke up. "I like to think about the stuff I'll do after my early retirement."

"Oh yeah?" Kanra arched an eyebrow "What's that?"

"Freedom. Going away, travelling, that sort of stuff. Leaving Haphestus and seeing other planets, older ones. That's what I want most of all." Zao leaned forward and clenched his hands, legs bouncing.

"I like being a crusher." Kanra answered. "I don't want to do anything else. I want to be strong."

"Well I…" Yura twiddled her thumbs and looked down "I'd like to have a family one day."

Douglas looked away from them. He didn't know what he wanted from life and it didn't matter, his primary goal was avenging Elise. As for Shari, she was the first one to notice and point out a luxury car driving by in the city. She stopped to drool over jewelry through glass-fronts. Uncomplicated tastes, but an eye for both luxury and beauty. Douglas could easily see Shari as someone who'd want to have a lot of money in her later life.

Fifteen minutes after they rushed to the windows as Edgar's city came into view. It was the first time any of them had made the commute. Douglas turned in his seat and saw impressive walls bordering it like the whole thing was an enormous defensive fortress. Those great big walls were made out of marble.

"It's a cool power we share." Zao breathed. "Usually I only see marble inside banks and stuff, but to see so much of it."

"Wait till you see inside." A grandmotherly passenger smiled with her purse on her lap.

"Think you'll ever be strong enough to build your own city, Zao?" Kanra joked.

"Not if I lived a hundred years…"

They passed through the tunnel entry and once they were inside it wasn't just the walls. Most of the houses, buildings and even roads were made from marble as well. All of their jaws dropped at the sight of it, like a strange wonderland. Only a two hour journey south from them. As the train came to a stop at the platform they all got off, showing their special passes at the barrier and getting scanned through. People were bustling about. As they climbed the stairs out the indoor space they all looked around at the strangest city they'd ever seen. Nothing on TV could compare.

"The city back home had a lot of black metal around," Kanra commented "But that doesn't compare to this… so much is marble."

"Come on, Lysander would've told him we're coming." Douglas led them toward the castle in the city's center.

Surely enough once they were identified the uniformed guards let them through. The inside of the building wasn't marble, and Douglas wondered if that was because Edgar was sick of seeing it. They were escorted through a high-ceilinged corridor with red tapestries, it eventually led to a circular room with an even higher ceiling, shaped like an upright cylinder. An enormous oak tree dominated this room, hummingbirds flittering about or playing in ceramic birdbaths. Sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling. Edgar sat nestled by the roots and reading a book.

He lowered it at the sight of them and stood, wearing aristocrat robes of red and gold. His appearance was very alien indeed. He had dark-grey skin and light hair, six wings of some kind, oval-shaped like an insect's and a lighter grey than his flesh. As he strolled over to meet them and set his book on a table the teens could only stare with mouths agape.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm surprised Lysander let you come."

"Y-you and Lysander aren't on good terms?" Shari found her voice first.

"I suspect he's wary of how powerful I've become. A handful of people on this world pose a threat to an elemental, I'm one of them." He turned "Come sit with me by the tree."

They followed him over and each climbed up separate roots, easily big enough to seat a person. Edgar sat cross-legged and rested his hands on his knees "Now you'll have to tell me your names, I don't know anything about you five. Me and Lysander don't stay in touch. But us, we're fellow Dranglic crushers, siblings in a sense."

"Pardon our rudeness." Douglas spoke seriously "You and this place, it's just more than we expected. I'm Douglas." The others introduced themselves as well, Edgar listened and a hummingbird chirped and flew over his shoulder and up to join its brethren.

"I may not have been Lysander's first crusher." Edgar began "But I was one of the first, perhaps his twelfth… it's hard to recall our orders as this was centuries ago. You remind me of the first Triton crushers he created, Douglas. The beginning of your clan. Though the first was a set of twins, a boy and a girl."

"Wow, really?" Shari replied.

"Yes." His dark eyes moved to her "And you look genetically similar to the first Dranglic nature-user, though he was a boy. Now Kanra over here is the easiest to recognize, cloud dragon DNA infusion."

"Edgar," Zao spoke up and touched his chest "Me and Yura are experimentals, Lysander tried to recreate your marble and life bomb power."

"The life bomb is the greatest attack in my arsenal, I'm curious to see how he made that into a power." He eyed Yura.

"You have so many powers…" Zao continued with wide eyes "Like the sacred staff you create. How come… Lysander created you with so many abilities and made you so strong?"

"I'm not fully his design." Edgar explained. "There were prophecies of my coming, it was said I'd be the strongest crusher. Lysander decided he wanted to be the one to make me, and so he co-created with those who had my genetic information. My destiny was always known, but it took time to become stronger. Similarly to how you are all training now."

"Edgar…" Douglas lowered his head, as enthralled as they all were by meeting Edgar he needed to bring them back to the purpose of their meeting "Although I'm the oldest crusher now, there was one before me. Elise. She was killed on a mission by the Titania gang a month and a half ago. By their leader Reburn."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Since you kind of live close, and since you don't talk to Lysander, we were wondering if there was any information you could give us."

Edgar closed his eyes for a moment "I've heard of the Titania gang, but only from the news. They are a group of Triton clan members involved in petty crimes that escalated to bank robberies and other felonies in the past ten months. I've not heard any piece of information to suggest they are anything more than your typical miscreants, as such I've barely given them a thought before this moment."

"Their numbers have grown quite a lot." Shari interjected.

"A troublesome virus. I always thought Lysander would be quick to stamp them out if they ever made proper waves."

"We're in the process of stamping them out now." Douglas assured him. "Reburn is their leader, I saw him do things with our power that I've never seen before."

"They are common criminals who just happen to have powers. They have no grand scheme beyond making a name for themselves and getting money."

"Reburn could make workable guns! Machine guns! I saw it!" Douglas was getting annoyed by Edgar's dismissive attitude.

"I admit that shouldn't be possible." Edgar looked up at the leafy top of the bird-infested tree "The strongest Triton clan member I've ever seen lived hundreds of years ago. Like me he made an entire temple city out of black metal." The crushers' mouths dropped as he continued "He had an army of suits of armor that moved autonomously and defended him, lion statues that came to life. And although the detailing of his power was beautiful, he could never create something as complex as technology. He could do all that, but he could never make guns."

Douglas lowered his head "Then he's either an anomaly or he's something else…"

"I wish I could be more helpful, but this is all that I know."

The group went quiet as Douglas stayed with his thoughts, the birds could be heard chirping, and every now and again one would flutter overhead.

Zao spoke next "Edgar… did you ever activate the Ramei?"

"Of course." His eyes flickered briefly yellow before returning to black. "It's very rare but there were a few of us from Lysander's original batch who awakened the Ramei. Do you all know what it does?"

"Yeah. And the Kurei too." Kanra answered "We fought it for the first time a week ago. The Kurei's genetic but the Ramei can technically be awakened by just about anyone, though we have a higher chance as first generation crushers."

"That's right."

"What about the dragon eye? There's only three eye powers on Haphestus and Lysander's the only one who has it right?"

"Yes, that's true." Edgar smirked "It can do many things. Lysander stole that eye from a real cloud dragon."

"Woah!"

"No way!"

"It's a pity there aren't any dragons on Haphestus." Edgar went on to say.

Their talk continued for a while and they later had something to eat – Edgar calling for his chefs to bring them meals in a dining room by a fireplace. As remarkable as the journey had been, this city, this being from another era who was technically their sibling crusher, Douglas was still scowling as he realized they still had no explanation for what he'd seen Reburn do. Edgar asked about Lysander, his projects and allies before the crushers left. They thanked Edgar for his hospitality and agreed that it was unlikely they'd meet again. Lysander had only allowed it because of Douglas's distress. If Edgar really knew nothing and couldn't point them anywhere, then that was that.

On the train ride back the black-haired teen stared out the glass with an empty expression. He was even more despondent than before. The other crushers shot him pitying glances but left him alone. They were halfway back and travelling through empty plains when the train screeched and lurched. Instantly the crushers became alert, standing up while the other passengers were aflutter with worry. An announcement came through the carriages as the train came to a stop.

"Attention passengers, there appears to be a strange obstruction on the rails. It was necessary for us to perform an immediate stop. Our workers are trying to address the situation now... what the hell..."

Douglas narrowed his eyes in confusion "Obstruction?"

Shari shrugged. Kanra moved to the door and prized it open. The five teens jumped out in their travelers' cloaks. Climbing the slant they looked over and saw a twenty-foot wall of black metal blocking the tracks. Their mouths dropped. Atop the wall stood a hooded man in black knight armour. Even from this distance he looked like a big guy, he yanked down his hood to reveal a bald head when he saw them.

"That's Reburn…"