43: Star Child: Dunes of Tolapo VIIII

Tolapo Village, Niger

Present Day

"G-G-Grandma…?" I managed to croak Extending my arm to her. She looked at confused, everyone in the room did. Hell I was confused, it was literally impossible for my grandmother to be here and yes there she was standing in front of. She looked exactly the same as she did the last time I saw her two years ago and yet totally different at the same time.

"Did you just say Grandma stranger?" She asked in Torapos. She even sounded like my grandmother.

I nodded and wiped away the tears that had fallen from my face. The grandma lookalike looked shook for a moment before gaining her composure.

"Tell me…what is your grandmother's name?" Her voice cracked just a little as she spoke.

"Lulu'nala." I said softly. She covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped.

"Elder, what is wrong?" Geryo asked.

She walked over to me and took my right hand in hers. The moment she did my her farm crystal; which was a which was a Prism shaped crystal across her wrist; started to glow as well. Everyone in the barracks gasped as our crystals shimmered through every color and shade in the rainbow before settling on a striking silver. The glow on our crystals dimmed and I felt a wave of warmth was over me.

"What is you name?" The elder asked softly.

"Chase Kingston." I replied. She smiled and placed her hand on my cheek.

"Nice to meet you Chase, I am Luna'lana, Though everyone calls me elder Luna." She said. "Lulu'nala is…was my twin sister."

"So you already know?" I breathed. She nodded and pointed to her heart.

"I felt it here. For two years I have felt the pain of her passing, like a infected wound that never heals. For the first time in two years, the pain in gone." She said tearing up. "Through you Chase, my sister is finally home."

I didn't know what to say. My brain was overwhelmed, I had too many questions, too many things to say. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one.

"Um…Chase. I'd hate to interrupt this oddly touching moment but…what is going on?" Jane asked, reminding me that her and the girls were still in the room.

Elder Luna wiped away her tears and let go of my hand. I stood up and turned to the girls unsure of what to say.

"Um…this woman turns out is my grandmother's twin sister. So I guess that makes her my great aunt, she's also a elder here in the village." I said switching back to universal standard.

Jane, Iris and Astrid all stared at me blankly for several moments as the reality of what I just said sank in.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!" Jane and Iris screeched.

"OWWWW!" I screamed and rubbed my ears. "I swear to the gods you three are going to make me go deaf!"

"That is the appropriate response you someone finds out that the guy that they go to school with is descended from a mythical tribe of Splicers!" Iris snapped. "Do you have any idea how many questions I have right now?"

"Do you have any idea how many questions I have! I just found this shit out literally seconds ago!" I exclaimed. "My entire childhood has now been turned upside-down! Cause now I realize I know next to nothing about my grandmother who is the woman that singlehandedly kept me sane throughout my shitty childhood!"

"Oh shit…" Iris gasped.

"Elder Luna, is what he just said true? Is he is related to you?" Geryo asked in Torapos. I turned and saw he was standing in front of elder Luna looking serious. Elder Luna looked back up at me and smiled before answering.

"Yes, he is my sister's grandchild."

Geryo gasped then smiled brightly.

"This is wonderful news! If he is if the current generation then that means the cycle isn't broken!" He exclaimed.

"The cycle?" I repeated in Torapos. Elder Lana smiled and tapped my cheek.

"There will be for that later, there is so much to tell you. So much to learn." She said then sighed sorrowfully. "But there are more important matters that we must attend to. I originally came here to see the star keeper for myself ask you and your classmates for help."

"Help? This about the Dr'idi'saiyo?" I asked. Elder Lana nodded then looked back at Iris, Jane, and Astrid.

"Can you please translate for me? It's also about your classmates." She asked. I nodded and turned to the girls.

"My great aunt wants to ask for our help. It's about the Dr'idi'saiyo And Damon and Astrid. She asked me to translate." I said.

"Well go ahead…" Jane said then looked at Iris and Astrid then back at me. "...We're listening."

I turned to Elder Luna and nodded at her. She sighed and turned to the girls.

"I will now explain why I had Geryo write to Baset and ask her come here." Elder Luna said. I translated her words as she spoke. "About two weeks ago the Dr'idi'saiyo started appearing in the desert around for village. We didn't think much about it at the time but soon they started attacking warriors when they left the village at night for patrols in large numbers. We lost ten warriors in the first few days from injuries and poison. We've lost more than thirty warriors from them since then. We've stopped travel to and from the collage at night and since we can't leave during the day we've been stuck. In the last week we've tried a few times to try and find the cause for this massive outbreak but we've had no luck."

"This has been going on for two weeks? Why wasn't Baset warned there were so many?" Astrid asked. I translated her words and Elder Luna shook her head.

"With in the last few days their numbers have grown rapidly. We went from a few thousand to millions. There sadly was no way to communicate as we believed she was already on her way to us."

"So basically Baset thought she was coming into a entirely different situation." I said. Elder Luna nodded.

"What is going on with Damon and Alberto?" Jane asked.

"The Dr'idi'saiyo are a evo that is only created here in the village. However these ones are…different. More powerful and venomous. It's why we've lost so many warriors. The one called Damon suffered massive internal injuries, normally injuries like that could be easily healed but our healers are already overworked Baset us working with them to heal him.. The one called Alberto…his organs are shutting down the venom is slowly shutting down his organs and we are working on a anti-venom but…their venom is strong."

"No…" Astrid gasped and shook her head.

"There is still time and hope for both of them so don't frett." Elder Luna added quickly. Astrid nodded but looked like her mind was elsewhere.

"What do you need us to do?" Jane asked.

"The village needs…"

A deafening boom rocked the stone barrack's foundation and made everything shake. I grabbed onto Elder Luna to keep the both of us from falling, her attendants tried to make it over to us but ended up crashing into each other and knocking themselves out. The sound of screaming could be heard outside along with loud concussion beats.

"What the fuck is going on?!" I shouted in universal standard.

"I don't know!" Jane and Iris exclaimed. Geryo wobbled over to the barracks door and managed to fling them open. A Dr'idi'saiyo flew into the barracks and crashed into the far wall. Iris and Jane ducked behind a couch and Iris grabbed Astrid by the coller and pulled her behind the couch with them. Geryo started casting defensive sigil as the Dr'idi'saiyo slithered across the floor.

I started cycling mana into my hand and changed the attribute into shocking. I shot a lightning bolt at it and just barely missed. Elder Luna flung her arm out and a wave of fire flew from her fingertips, without a spell sigil.

'What the….?' I thought.

The Dr'idi'saiyo flapped it's wings and flew towards the ceiling dodging the wave of fire then spitting a wad of venom at Elder Luna and I. Geryo jumped in front of us and a wall of stone flew up in front of him blocking the venom. Elder Luna stepped around the stone wall and a her left hand erupted into flames. The flames condensed and lengthen into a long whip shape.

Elder Luna swung her arm over head and cracked the whip hitting the Dr'idi'saiyo dead center in its head. The Dr'idi'saiyo flew back crashing into another couch and them bursting into flames. It let out a pained screech and writhed on the ground before the flames consumed it completely.

"Is it dead?" Jane asked as she stick her head out from behind the couch. I walked over to where the Dr'idi'saiyo landed and saw only ash remained.

"It's dead!" I called out. Elder Luna extinguished her flame whip then hurried over to her two attendants to check on them.

"I thought they couldn't make it into the village?!" Iris exclaimed as she stoop up.

"They shouldn't be able too!" Geryo said in universal standard. "The field that protects the village prevents them from entering the vicinity."

I walked over to Elder Luna and knelt down next to her. She checked both of the women's pulses then let out a soft sigh of relief.

"They are just unconscious." She said in Torapos. I nodded then stood and poked my head out the barracks door. I wish I hadn't. The sky above was blackened by a massive swarm of Dr'idi'saiyo circling above. The swarm was big that the sunlight above just barley shined through. In the streets people were panicking and trying to run into the first building that they could reach. A few warriors were casting spells either trying to block the evos spitting venom or sonic screeches.

"FUCK!" I screamed.

"What?!" Iris demanded.

"The village is under attack!" I exclaimed as I turned back to everyone. "There's thousands of those things outside just randomly attacking people!"

"That's impossible! The barrier should have stopped them from getting in!" Geryo exclaimed in Torapos.

"Well obviously they got in somehow!" I said switching to Torapos. I turned to Elder Luna. "Auntie what do we do?"