Story created and written by Horngryonmain
It was Kai’s very first mission as an official member of GLYPH! An organisation he was not aware of about a month prior to this day, but regardless, he was excited to be a part of something bigger than himself. While the company did not tend to glorify their field agents above anything more than being workers, to Kai, it felt like being a superhero.
Unfortunately, a lot of paperwork and physical tests were involved in the initiation process, which was less than glorious. Though on the bright side, all of the official business work did help introduce Kai to a whole bunch of new people. Dahye did her best to introduce all of her co-workers in the best light she could, but Kai wasn’t judgmental.
The person Kai got on with the most was Hiroto, as they were both about the same age and just kind of clicked. The two bonded over their shared experiences with their spiritual familiars and how much of a nerd they both secretly were. It was a fast friendship, which also helped Kai with something else.
On Hiroto’s request, Kai also got to tour the HONGO Labs and make a request for a weapon to help him on missions. The lead scientist, Hayato, and his digital sister/assistant, HIKARU. While Hayato wasn’t super pleased with having his schedule suddenly changed because of Hiroto bringing in a new friend, he still took the request and began making something for Kai.
There was a lot of travel between the lab in Hawaii and the GLYPH headquarters for Kai at that time, but he wasn’t too bothered. It really felt like his life was finally starting to take some proper structure, and that made him feel safe. The only thing that bothered him was not being able to see his sister, Kalani, much. She would be fine on her own, but he couldn’t help but worry that she would be lonely.
After weeks of paperwork, tests, physical training, answering way too many emails, and finally getting the first edition of his custom weapon from HONGO Labs, Kai was ready to go on his first field mission. Thankfully, this mission wouldn’t stray too far from Kai’s hometown, as a recent FORMA sighting had been reported within the caverns of Kula Kai.
As his first official field mission, Kai was to be escorted and looked after by two of the strongest agents that GLYPH had available at the time. First was Dahye, the woman who introduced Kai to the organization in the first place, and was all around a trustworthy and thoughtful person. Second was Hiroto, another Hawaii native who Kai had gotten to know and became quick friends with after training together. Kai’s worries were non-existent with the comfort of these two by his side to help him through this first mission.
Approaching the entrance to the caverns, the trio of agents looked around the cliffside to see if they could notice anything strange. Well, primarily, Dahye was looking around, as Hiroto was not the most aware person in the world, and Kai generally did the opposite of overthinking whenever he could. Dahye tried her best to take the leadership role in the group, but having spent time in Hawaii on a bit of a mini-vacation during the days leading up to this mission, she wasn’t exactly at her peak performance.
“Alright, just so we’re all on the same page.” Dahye pulled a tablet from a GLYPH-branded holster on her side and began summarizing the mission dossier. “This anomaly was spotted during a commercial caving exploration. Since this was witnessed by completely innocent strangers, we have very little usable information on what exactly the FORMA is or does. However, since no one was injured, it is most likely a low-level threat, as it didn’t seem like there was any person actually using the FORMA. If all goes well, we should be able to find it quickly, contain it, and get the job done.” Dahye finished her briefing before looking up at her two partners. “Any questions?”
Hiroto and Kai kinda just stared blankly for a time. Kai was trying to think of a question to ask, while Hiro was simply not really paying attention.
A lightbulb appeared over Kai’s head as he just thought of something to say. Before he could say it, however, he was cut off by a certain spiritual bird.
“Can we fuck after this?” Hazird said, appearing on Hiroto’s shoulder suddenly.
For once, everyone in the group of GLYPH agents could see and hear these spirits as each person was in possession of one themselves. Dahye was hardly surprised by the question, simply giving the bird a tired look, not dignifying the question with an answer.
“Dude. Cut it out, this is Kai’s first real mission.” Hiroto said sternly to the annoying squawks coming from his familiar.
“What? It was a genuine question.” Hazird said with a smug sense of superiority. Even if all three of the agents could hear him, it didn’t mean they could do much about it.
With a sigh, Dahye looked towards Kai. “Yes, Kai? Did you have a question?” She said with a very patient and understanding tone.
“… Uh, I think I forgot what I was gonna say,” Kai replied.
Dahye closed her eyes only for a moment longer than a blink. Dahye did like these boys quite a bit. Both of them were honest, direct, kind, and reliable in their own ways. However, in a situation such as this, she did not have much patience for their buffoonery.
“Well, if you can remember your question on the way, feel free to ask. Otherwise, let’s get a move on.” Dahye said, holstering her tablet and gesturing for the boys to follow her into the cavern.
So the trio made their way inside, passing by caution tape placed in front of the entrance to prevent any pedestrians from taking a peek inside. Down into the depths of the cave they began to walk. This cavern was quite popular with tourists, so it wasn’t any sort of struggle to simply walk through the hulled out stone. Stalactites hung from the rock ceiling above, the cave walls lit by lantern light, and stray patches of moss grew on all the cave surfaces. To Dahye and Hiroto, it was nothing spectacular in comparison to their other outings, but to Kai, it felt like he was in some kind of adventure movie.
Kai was happily taking in the sights around him as the group continued further into the cave. Nothing of note happened for quite some time, only the sounds of footsteps occupied the otherwise silent air. About ten minutes passed before anyone said anything.
“So, am I supposed to be looking out for anything?” Kai finally broke the silence.
“Well, it is pretty intuitive, I guess. If you see anything that might be supernatural, feel free to point it out. But as far as I can tell, everything is as it should be.” Dahye said.
“Oh yeah, and watch out for any sort of mirage-looking things. BUBBLES are bad news. Would probably mean we’d have to fight some guys.” Hiroto said, trying to be helpful.
“Very good, Hiro!” Dahye said like a proud mom. “There was no report of a BUBBLE, but given what little info we have, it is entirely possible there is one.”
Kai had kinda forgotten what a BUBBLE was, but knew he had been told before. Instead of asking, he simply hoped it wouldn’t be too important to ask about it.
After more walking, the group eventually began to stray from the path of the guided tours and ventured into more unknown territory. The cave began to shrink in size, having the group duck and sometimes crawl to get past the narrow corridors. Kai was glad he hadn’t worn anything fancy on this mission, as he was sure he had gotten a tear or two getting past the rocks. As for the other two, Kai figured they were rich or something because they did not seem to mind getting their nice outfits dirty.
The caves continued to get more treacherous as they continued to spelunk. It was nearing a point where Kai was worried he might end up like one of those cave divers he saw on TV when he was younger. Dying a stupid-ass death for little to no reason. Though just before he decided to comment on it, the three finally saw something unusual.
Askew to the left of the narrow path down the cavern was a strangely circular entrance to a separate area of the cave. This fork in the road was clearly unusual, as the rock around the entrance was cut perfectly smooth. The rest of the cave’s craggy rock did not match the almost polished perfection of this deviation in the path.
“I’m guessing that this isn’t normal?” Kai said, pointing to the odd entrance.
“That it isn’t…” Dahye affirmed, attempting to squint her eyes to see better what lay beyond the strange pathway.
The path did not continue for very long, seemingly cutting off in a dead end pretty quickly. What was making it hard to see at first glance was the lava pouring out of the far end of the cave, shining a harsh glow in comparison to the darkness the three had gotten accustomed to. The lava flowed like a slow-mo river, parting near the end of the cavern and leaving an oblong walkway going down the middle. It seemed safe enough, but looks could always be deceiving.
“I think it’s ok? Doesn’t look like anything crazy is going on in there.” Hiroto said.
“I agree. It’s definitely unnatural, but not completely out of the ordinary. Let’s still be careful, alright boys?” Dahye said as she led the way. Unconsciously, Dahye had one hand resting on the hilt of the blade on her side. If anything was going to happen on this little excursion, it was most likely going to happen now.
Hiroto went second, not nearly as antsy as Dahye. Hiroto knew he would potentially need to do something for whatever was coming up, but he figured he would cross that bridge when he came to it… In about 10 seconds.
Kai followed in the back, figuring he’d best let the professionals handle the technical parts so he could watch and learn.
As the trio walked into the strange cavern, Dahye was first to notice something even more suspicious. At the end of the little pathway between the lava rivers lay a small, white piece of paper. No mistaking it, it was a FORMA.
“Looks like we have our FORMA,” Dahye said, slowing her approach towards the magical card on the ground before her. Cautiously, Dahye kneeled down to get a better look at the FORMA in question. The light of the surrounding lava made it easy to see the state of the card. The FORMA was surrounded by nothing, stained by nothing, and seemed completely untouched. Definitely odd.
Dahye looked at her surroundings before speaking up. “Dhara?”
Suddenly appearing from the aether, the massive form of the azure dragon’s spirit apparated into the small cavern.
Both Kai and Hiroto let out a surprised “Woah!” as the massive dragon took up the majority of the space in the cavern. The dragon, however, paid them little mind.
“What is it, Dahye?” Dhara spoke in a booming voice despite her noise level being very standard.
“Do you sense anything off about any of this? This whole scene is really suspicious.” Dahye asked, looking towards the dragon as it craned its snake-like neck.
Dhara fell silent as she sensed the world around her. Though nothing seemed amiss.
“Besides this FORMA card you speak of, nothing is out of the ordinary,” Dhara said plainly, though it is hard to sound plain in any circumstance when you’re a dragon.
“Hm. Well, thank you.” Dahye said. Dhara nodded before disappearing in much the same way she appeared.
“Wow, that felt weird. Sounded like they’re business partners or something.” Kai said under his breath, just so Hiroto could hear.
“Yeah, we all got different relationships with our spirits. Dahye’s just seems to be kinda… Formal?” Hiroto hoped he was using the right word.
“I only stick around with this moron because he fucks plenty of hot-” Hazird suddenly appeared and attempted to say before Hiroto used two fingers to shut his beak.
Aside from the idiot patrol in the back talking, Dahye took another proper look at the FORMA on the ground. The only piece of information that she seemed to be missing was what the word on the card actually was. Dahye, without a second thought, reached a gloved hand down and picked up the FORMA off the ground.
As soon as the magical piece of paper left the stone floor beneath it, a pulse of blue energy rang out. All three of the agents perked up suddenly, reaching for their weapons as they looked around to see what had just happened. Dahye stood to attention, looking around frantically at the cave walls.
For a few moments, it seemed as if nothing was happening and the cavern was incredibly quiet. The heat of the lava wasn’t the only reason the whole group began to sweat. Dahye shot her eyes back at the FORMA in her off-hand.
The card read [ Patience ].
Dahye was confused. What would patience have to do with a cavern with a lava river? This explained nothing about this anomaly of a room. Then she wondered if the room had anything to do with the card at all. Then it clicked in her mind, the reason why that pulse rang out as soon as she picked up the FORMA.
Turning on her heel, Dahye began to yell out orders to the two other agents. “Leave this room now! This is a tr-” Dahye began to shout before she was cut off by sudden movement coming from the lava rivers on each side.
Several figures began to rise from the molten rock, short and wiry creatures with wings and horns. Maniacal cackling filled the air as these creatures continued to swarm from the lava. Whatever this small cavern was, it was definitely a trap. But why?
There was no time to answer that question, as these creatures began their assault with no time to spare. Shooting fire from their mouths and stabbing with their spear-like tails, the monsters began assaulting the group with several small attacks.
Dahye acted quickly, unsheathing her blade and cutting one of the little devils in half with one swift stroke. These monsters were clearly not strong on their own, but they had strength in numbers.
Hiroto activated his HYPER HAND on reflex, the robotic gauntlet beginning to equip his body with armor. Before the sequence could even finish, he reached a hand out and was quick enough to grab one of these little freaks right out of the air. With a quick and gruesome SNAP, Hiroto was able to break the wretched thing’s neck.
As Hiroto held the body of the creature, he felt a sudden moment of recognition. He wasn’t sure why or how, but something gave him an impression he would be quick to remember. Something about these things reeked of hellion. This made Hiroto understand the situation much better.
“I’ve dealt with guys like this before! It might look like there’s a lot of them, but don’t worry, they’ll start to run out eventually!” Hiroto said, attempting to grab another hellion.
“Use your fucking ice magic you dumbass.” Hazird appeared again to chastise Hiro.
Kai was the last to take action as he was taken aback by how quickly everything escalated. However, it was clear that he was going to have to help if he wanted to be a true member of GLYPH.
As the other two did their best to hold off the hellions, Kai readied himself as well. Using the bracers he had attached to his arms, Kai pressed his arms together in an X formation, causing the devices to unfold into his newfound weapon of choice. The mechanics of the bracers whirred and clanked, and before long, they had completely transformed into a pair of tonfas. These were the special weapons HONGO Labs, begrudgingly, made for Kai. The weapons came with all sorts of bells and whistles that Kai was eager to try out on some of these low-level enemies.
Just as he prepared himself, Kai saw one of the imps fly towards him with a wild look in its hollow eyes. Kai positioned to defend himself from the monster, tonfas crossed in an X. The weapons easily deflected the claws of the creature, an attack that was comically weak and predictable.
Kai responded quickly, thrusting his arm forward to try and land a body shot against the imp with his weapon. It seemed as if the attack was going to land with no issue, but just before it connected, the imp moved with a sudden burst of speed. Flapping its wings to the side, the flying menace made a sudden move towards Kai’s torso. Kai attempted to move to get the little thing off of him, but he wasn’t quick enough.
Kai braced for the incoming pain, but instead he simply felt a warm sensation. Looking down, Kai saw that the imp was doing the last thing he expected. It was hugging his abdomen. Definitely better than getting stabbed, still very weird.
Kai still hurried to get this thing off his body as soon as possible, but it seemed he had already lost this encounter. Behind Kai, he could hear something else come out of the lava. Looking behind him, he could only make out the silhouette of whatever was sneaking up on him. What appeared to be the figure of a lithe woman with outstretched hands and a devious grin was all Kai saw before he felt his body being dragged backwards.
The figure behind Kai had grabbed onto the hands of the imp, essentially clotheslining the agent as the hellions worked together to yank Kai down into the lava below. It was too late for Kai to react any further; they got him.
Falling down, the last thing Kai saw was Hiroto reaching out a hand to try and pull his friend away from the molten doom below, and Dahye, only noticing the commotion once it was far too late.
What a lame way to go.
But if they really wanted him dead, why didn’t the imp attack at all?
Kai fell into the lava river, disappearing without a trace.
Thx to the homie Horngryonmain for creating and writing this story, as well as creating the character Kai