"Where...am I?" Moihala muttered as she flinched in shock to hear a blazing horn resound near her as something strange, probably a carriage, sped past in a blur.
"Watch where you’re going, loser!" Stretching his head out of a carriage was a man with a strange tattoo covering one side of his face. As he peeked out, his spiky hair fluttered with the wind. He flashed a middle finger at Moihala, honked loudly a few more times, and went his way.
"A carriage? What’s that?" She stared at the car that had sped past her. She didn’t know what the tattooed man’s actions meant. However, she felt offended somehow and raised her hand, causing it to turn a shade of black.
She stopped herself upon noticing someone standing behind her. She turned around and gasped in surprise, "You...I know you."
Standing before her now was a middle-aged man with hair trimmed at the sides, and slightly greased along the top. He had a slightly wider face, with some baby fat along the cheeks and a thinner chin.
He had loose muscles in his arms, a result of a lack of exercise and proper diet. However, he didn’t have a pot belly, so that meant he was at least fit. Dressed from head to toe in a blazer, he adjusted his coat and smiled at Moihala, "Hello, you know me?"
"Yes...grandfather?" Moihala stated with hesitation, since she had never seen the individual before him in a conscious state, "Where are we?"
"I don’t think there’s a city like this in the Brimgan Empire."
Seeing her address him as grandfather, a complicated expression flashed in his eyes for an instant before curling up into a gentle demeanour, "Right, I am your grandfather."
"And," He patted Moihala on the head gently, "Welcome to Earth."
"This is Earth?" She looked around before coughing, "It’s...polluted."
"Well..." Orakha smiled wryly and pointed behind her, "We are on the road during the morning rush hour."
"What is a morning rush hour?" Moihala asked as she was pulled away from the road by Orakha. She observed the clothes worn by the people and eyed many workers in short skirts, "Does Earth have a lot of poor people?"
"They aren’t poor." Orakha chuckled, "That’s just the dressing fashion here."
"Oh..." She didn’t seem interested in clothes beyond that. She was raised in the Brimgan Empire, in the palace at that. Her common sense was completely different, and even though Orakha said otherwise, seeing most of the populace wear casual, simple clothes, she pitied them for not having enough.
"How am I here, Grandfather?" She asked next.
"You’re in my mind," Orakha smiled as he snapped his finger. A luxurious car stopped next to him immediately, as a chauffeur walked out to open the door for him.
"Your mind? How?" Moihala tilted her head, "Also, how are you fine, Grandfather? Mother always struggled to cure you, but you always remained unresponsive."
"I apologise for that." Orakha led Moihala into the luxurious car and closed the door. He sat next to her and nodded at the chauffeur as the car began to ply the road.
"I...don’t see him using Prana." Moihala commented upon observing for a few seconds, "How is he driving this carriage then?"
"The principle is different. It’ll take me a while to explain everything." Orakha relaxed and picked up a cigar. A second later, he placed it back in a nearby tray upon seeing Moihala stared at him curiously.
"You...look different than from my memory of you." Moihala stared at Orakha from top to bottom, "Your hair is dark brown now, not ivory. Your skin tone is pale, you’re chubbier, you seem a lot older, and most of all..."
A moment’s hesitation later, she commented, "You look weak."
The Orakha before her seemed weaker than the Orakha in a vegetative state she had seen all these years.
"So, I still look somewhat like the Orakha you know?" Orakha’s eyes lit up at her words as he traced his face with his fingers, "That’s...good."
"That’s...good."
"Where are we going now? And most of all," Moihala asked, "How and why am I here?"
"I will explain," Orakha said and grew silent. For hours, the interior of the car was silent. Moihala distracted herself with the scenery outside, mentally thinking about how there were too many people cramped in a small area.
Soon, the car began to head to the outskirts of the city, which is where Moihala started to notice something strange. The city began to grow thin, as sections of it seemed to have gotten lost.
Like a game map where only the explored places were visible while the rest was immersed in darkness, the city stretched before her.
As the car moved farther, the only visible part was the road and a portion of the land alongside the road. Rest was fully immersed in darkness, and as they got to this part, Orakha began to speak, "Only the parts in my memories have been constructed here. The rest are just darkness."
Soon, the car began to climb up a mountain, taking a couple of hours to arrive at a mountain top resort. Orakha escorted Moihala to the terrace of the resort and pointed at the sky, "Look there and tell me what you see."
"There is nothing..." Moihala stared at the dark sky, frowning as she continued to see after being urged by Orakha. Slowly, as she maintained her gaze, a faint silhouette became visible, one that caused her to shriek when it revealed itself, "Kyahhh!"
The monster slammed a violent punch and seemed to have been blocked by a dark barrier. It pressed its face on the barrier, denting the latter, trying to barge inside. "W-What the heck is that?"
Moihala wasn’t even able to perceive the features of the monster. At a glance, her mind was confused, preventing her from remembering what type of existence the other party was.
"You too can’t recognise what it is, huh?" Orakha sighed in response, commenting after a few seconds, "It’s a Cosmic Being,"
"Or at least, the remnants of one built from a Cosmic Being’s influence." He stared at the sky and spoke slowly, "It has been there for a while, trying to barge inside and devour me."
"W-Will it succeed?" Moihala asked in fear.
"What do you mean?" Orakha stared at her and chuckled while tilting his head, "It has already succeeded long ago."
"W-W-What are you saying?" Moihala instinctively stepped back as her hands turned dark. She raised her fists to assume a fighting stance, "You...are you not my grandfather?"
"You think I’ll hurt you?" Orakha chuckled, shrugging upon seeing Moihala tense up further, "Relax, I don’t intend to frighten you."
"I wasn’t lying when I said the Cosmic Being succeeded long ago." Orakha stared at the sky to comment, "When its influence invaded me, whatever existed of me was consumed by it."
"Then...what are you?" Moihala asked next, nervously.
"I am Orakha," Orakha smiled and pointed at himself, "I have been reborn."
"To be more accurate," He pointed at a section of darkness at the foot of the mountain, "Look there."
Moihala did as instructed, exclaiming in surprise, "Wait! Wait! Wait!"
As she observed, the darkness vanished in the spot, replaced by a forest section. "How did that happen?"
"I am being rebuilt, bit by bit, part by part." Orakha said, thinking of a suitable explanation upon seeing Moihala’s confusion as he commented, "Rirenal."
"What?" Moihala was confused, "What does Rirenal have to do with your situation?"
"I created Rirenal." Orakha chuckled, "It’s thanks to me that Boul Brimgan has a Rirenal build. Otherwise, he would have just integrated Sumatra Gold in his Human avatar the traditional way to reach the Mystic Grade."
Compound Mineral—Rirenal!
It had one, extremely valuable property, and that was recovery. Even if Boul Brimgan were to die somewhere, and his Human Avatar were to shatter in the process, the Rirenal forming it would gradually move across Sumatra, carried by wind, water, and land to eventually clump at a spot.
All the Rirenal that was a part of Boul Brimgan’s Human Avatar would congregate in one location. Upon learning of this, he had arranged for it to congregate upon the Brimgan Empire’s throne.
"My Minor Treasure is called Orakha’s Checkpoint," Orakha let out a mild chuckle, "And it is formed using Rirenal."
"It originally wasn’t, but the Minor Treasure already had Rutham and Sumatra Gold in it, for all ten of them." He smiled, "So, I only fused them into Rirenal."
It was Orakha’s method that Boul Brimgan had employed in the Kalahatra Desert during the Third Major Disaster to change the Rutham in two of Harla Brimgan’s Minor Treasure of Kinesis Beyblades into Rirenal by using Sumatra Gold fished from the Celestial Boar.
Minor Treasure—Orakha’s Checkpoint!
"It originally existed to divert the power of my Secondary Nature of Daily Checkpoint into ten checkpoints. However, after I gave that Nature to Yahard Tusk, things changed." Orakha stared at the sky to say, "These ten Minor Treasures no longer had the power of Daily Checkpoint. And instead, they had changed."
"They turned into a checkpoint of my life...or rather, myself." Orakha claimed, "It harnesses the Rirenal’s capability to congregate together and will amass all ten of them in the body of whichever creature has fused with them."
"Then, you’ll reappear on Sumatra soon?" Moihala asked in excitement, growing disappointed upon seeing the latter shake his head.
"Before I do that," Orakha pointed at the existence in the sky, "That needs to be gotten rid of or at least weakened significantly."
"That way," He exhaled softly, "Once all my existence is gathered here, I will be able to fight against it and then walk on Sumatra once again."
"What if...you lose?" Moihala asked, her face paling upon seeing Orakha’s wry smile, "No way..."