Chapter 3:The Prophet's Last Task

Lily sank to her knees. "I'm not walking another inch!" she exclaimed. Kei felt like agreeing with her. They had been walking for hours, the sun sweltering down on them. No matter how far they walked, they seemed to be met with the same plains and rolling hills. It was enough to drive a guy insane.

Kei sat down on the slope of a hill. "Well, we might as well stop for a while." Kei dug out the lunch his mother had packed him for school that day. He had seen TV shows like this, and he knew that you had to ration out your food if you wanted to survive. Kei hoped that they would find civilization soon, because one lunch only goes so far.

Kei ate a couple of the snacks, and took a sip from his drinking box. "Oh nooo," Lily moaned. "I forgot my lunch at home again. Today of all days."

"Here," Kei said, tossing her some candy. She looked up questionably. "Well, we're never going to get anywhere if you collapse from hunger.

After eating roughly a half of Kei's lunch, the two stood up and mentally prepared themselves to keep walking. Kei consulted his device. The dot they were following seemed to be moving north. He hoped that they moved faster than the dot, but that was unlikely. Maybe the dot was headed for civilization, at least.

They set off again, their course tilting to the north this time. After fifteen minutes or so of walking, they rounded a hill and gasped when they saw what lay below.

There was a large patch of soil here. In it grew several tomato plants. A small pond was also here, filled with crystal-clean water. An apple tree stood tall, delicious red apples hanging from its branches. It suddenly occurred to Kei how thirsty he was. Half a juice box didn't make up for hours walking in the hot sun. Kei rushed down to the pond.

"Something isn't right," Kei heard Lily mutter, but Kei had already dipped his hands into the cool blue pond. He tried to raise them to his lips so he could poor the water down his throat. But his hands were stuck. Alarmed, Kei turned to Lily.

"I can't move my hands!" It was almost as if tiny, invisible tentacles had grabbed his hands and were trying to drag them down to the depths of the pond. He could almost feel the tentacles creeping up his wrists, his arms.

Lily was halfway to reaching Kei when she stopped and glared at him. "Don't do that again," she said, and turned towards the tomato plants.

"Do what?" Kei asked as the invisible tentacles crawled up his arms, but Lily didn't respond. Instead, she reached for a tomato. She pulled on it.

"It's stuck!" Now Kei saw creepers growing from the tomato plant, creeping up her arm as the invisible tentacles had crept up Kei's. Lily shrieked as the creepers began entangling her arms.

"Light of Truth!" a voice boomed from afar. A beam of light came out of nowhere and struck thin air. All of a sudden, the pond, the tree and the tomato plants were gone. Kei realized that it wasn't just invisible tentacles he was feeling. He saw actual tentacles constricting his arms.

When he glanced up, Kei saw an impossible number of hideous tentacles coming down to restrict him. The tentacles connected to a body that would otherwise seem to belong to a furless, four-legged animal. A large head with three eyes stood, looking shocked. Kei saw that the beam of light was hitting the third eye, in the centre of the beast's forehead.

From over the hill came a knight, sunlight gleaming off his armour and off his horse's barding. Kei noticed that the knight was bigger than a normal man; Kei thought he would be nine feet tall if he stood up. The horse was similarly enlarged.

"Lance of Justice!" the knight shouted, and charged the beast. The creature blinked like a deer caught in a car's headlights. Kei felt the tentacles holding his arms loosen. The knight stabbed the creature in its third eye. Blue blood oozed from the wound, and the creature slumped to the ground.

Kei and Lily quickly untangled themselves from the beast's tentacles. "What . . . was that?" Lily asked shakily.

"That was an Oasimon," the knight answered smoothly. "A foul creature. Tempts travelers with images of their desires, and then entangles and eats them." Kei shuddered. He could have been one of those travellers.

"I've never heard of those before," Kei said. "Thanks for rescuing us Mr. . . . I don't think I caught your name."

"You may know me as Paladimon, Defender of Light and Champion of Emporomon," the knight answered. "What are your names, travellers?"

"I'm Lily Sonata," Lily responded.

"I'm Kei Miyamo," Kei answered.

Paladimon paused. "I have never heard of your kind before, Lilymon and Keimon."

"Not Keimon," Kei corrected. He couldn't help but feel a little silly correcting someone like this, who seemed to ooze authority. "Just Kei."

"Just Kei?" Paladimon said, looking puzzled. "You must be from another world."

"That would make a lot of sense," Lily added in.

"You are a mystery." Paladimon said. "I shall take you to my lord. Mount my steed, and we shall ride."

"Well, this beats walking," Lily said as Paladimon helped the two on to the unnaturally large horse. Anything else she said was drowned out by the sound of the horse's gallop.

* * *

Gennai wandered down the halls of the ruins. He had one more thing to do before he died. He could feel the taint inside of him, and knew that he had to do it quickly.

Gennai wondered what the ruins had been originally, or if they had ever been anything but ruins. They had appeared just three days ago, on the edges of the Digital World. One of the few places that had not been claimed by the Digital Overlords. Gennai didn't like the Overlords much. He felt that the Digital World should be a place of nature, the inhabitants working together and against each other at the same time, not divided up into sections like Earth.

Azulongmon had said that the ruins held Gennai's final test. He had to summon the Fifth, whatever that was supposed to mean. Azulongmon had said that he would know what he had to do when he got there, but so far all he had found were seemingly endless hallways.

As if by chance, Gennai stumbled upon a long room, probably a hall. The room could have been mistaken for another seemingly meaningless room, if not for the wall of glowing blue stone. Inscribed on the stone were runes, written in old Digi-Code. With a little effort, Gennai could read them, and what was written was very interesting.

The First shall return to his past

Fighting against the night with a candle

The Second shall go to his future

Pursued by nightmares all the way

The Third shall find his soul

And open the doorway of dreams

The Fourth shall leave his home

A mighty weapon with a terrible curse

The Fifth shall take his first soul

Waking on the First Day

It all seemed to make little sense. But prophecy seldom did. Gennai set his lantern down as he moved through the hall. The blue light of the wall was illumination enough.

All of a sudden, a wave of chills came over Gennai. His fists clenched, as the strength seemed to drain out of his body. I have to fight the taint. I can't let the taint overcome me. I still have one last task.

Shivering, Gennai walked down the hall. He saw the familiar runes of an incantation on one of the slabs of blue stone. Gennai pressed his hands to the stone and recited a string of syllables. The meaning of those, even he did not know. "I, Gennai, the Prophet of the Digital World, summons the being known as the Fifth to these ruins as my final act."

The glow of the stone heightened, and Gennai felt the energy gathering nearby. After a minute, he lifted his hands from the stone and turned around.

He blinked. The Fifth was not who he had expected. He hadn't really expected anyone in particular, of course, but…not this one.

With that, Gennai let the Fifth lie sleeping, and shuffled down the corridor. It was said that when a Prophet has committed his final act, he shall find the Well of Fire. When he was young, Gennai had found it infuriating that there had been a place that he had no idea where it was, but in his old age he knew that you would find things when they were ready to be found.

And so he found himself in front of a fire pit with no bottom. Down into the fire pit he could see a raging inferno. All of a sudden the taint grasped at him desperately. Gennai trembled, feeling the Dark Sphere inside of him reaching out to take control of him. He had fought off its influence for many years, thanks to Azulongmon's blessing, but this was spawned of an evil so great that even the gods couldn't cure it.

"I, the Prophet Gennai," Gennai said as he stepped onto the rim of the Well. "Thank the Digital Gods for my life. In reverence, I shall be engulfed in the final flames, and from these flames shall be born the new Prophet. And so my life shall end and that of the new Prophet's shall begin."

And with that, Gennai cast himself into the inferno of the Well of Fire.

* * *

Reile paced around the park, waiting for the others to arrive. The appearance of the Gigadramon, and the WarGreymon that destroyed it, had set everyone on edge. The barriers were weakening. Kou had said so himself.

Reile glanced over the full members who had already arrived. There was Miyako, whose Digimon was a bird named Hawkmon. Reile thought she might be in a relationship with Kou. Then there were the Raono twins, Ryushi and Ryan. Their Digimon were a SnowAgumon and a ToyAgumon, respectively. It was funny, Reile thought, they were twins but they couldn't be more different. Ryan was lanky and short, and always seemed to be playing a portable video game. Ryushi was muscular and loved to play sports.

Aera was a laid-back blond girl whose partner was a Salamon. Toby was a teenager-younger than almost anyone else in the organization, but he was always so solemn. He and his Floramon laid back against a tree, talking to each other in quiet whispers.

Kou walked up to the group, dressed in his usual dark blue robe that was only given to a leader of a chapter. "We have to go. Now."

"But what about the others?" Aera protested.

"No time," Kou said. "Portals are opening up all over the place in the sky, and I saw a couple of Sabirdramon flying the city. Scouting probably."

"Nightdramon," Miyako breathed.

"She's planning something big," Kou said. "And we don't want to be here when it goes down, I don't think. It should be easy to open a Digiport from here, with all the activity. We shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves either."

Kou took out his laptop and began typing quickly. Reile wondered about Kou. He was higher in rank in the organization than any of them, but he didn't seem to have a Digimon partner. Maybe chapter leaders didn't. Still, it seemed a little odd. The Grandmaster who had participated in Reile's bonding ceremony had one, a Digimon who stayed in Champion form at that.

"If you're going," a familiar voice said from the bushes. "I'm coming with you." Noriko stepped out from the foliage, looking as if she was prepared for a week of camping and not just a brief journey into the Digital World.

"What?" Reile said. "Noriko, this is dangerous. You can't go with us!"

"Hey, the Grandmasters said I had to get experience," Noriko said. "Besides, I'll have six Digimon to protect me, not to mention all of you guys. And I can defend myself."

Kou sighed. "Well, if you're going you'd better go now. The Digiports are growing, connecting with each other. Nightdramon's turning the sky into one gigantic Digiport." Reile noticed a swirling patch of air that was the Digiport just behind the bench Kou sat on.

"Well in that case I'm definitely going," Noriko said. "Where's this Digiport."

Kou pointed it out, and Noriko nodded. Then, without a word, Kou shut his laptop, got up, and stepped through the portal. Miyako, Kou's second-in-command followed. Then Reile. Then Aera, followed by Ryushi and Ryan. Toby stepped through, and Noriko was last.

As Kou closed the Digiport, Reile could hear the sound of wings beating.