Raku

Raku

A short man runs through a school hallway and turns the sharp corner. He glances into a classroom, enters, and shouts, “Where is Raku Storms?!” The class stares at him in confusion for a moment.

Finally, the teacher answers, “Sir Derek?! Why the interruption?! I am teaching a class!”

“I’m looking for Raku! Is he here?!”

“No. His father didn’t bring him in today.” Derek balls his fists and grinds his teeth. Sweat dashes down his face as he observes the room. He sees a brown-haired girl and approaches her desk. “What is this about?! You are scaring the children!”

Derek stops at the girl’s desk and asks, “Are you Lapis?”

The girl sinks into her seat and replies, “Y-Yes.”

“Raku is your best friend. Where is he?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“He must’ve told you where he was going.”

“H-He didn’t,” she gazes away.

“Please, he’s not at home and lives are in danger.”

Lapis gasps, “H-How?! Did he do something?!”

“Not yet. I need to stop him before he does.”

“Raku is a good person. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I wasn’t talking about Raku.”

She cringes and replies, “He told me he was going to the waterfall.” Immediately, Derek dashes out of the classroom and out of the school.

Derek stares at the waterfall, but no soul is in sight. The crashing water on the stones drowned out every other sound nearby. Derek recovers his breath and shouts, “Raku, I know you’re here! Show yourself! You’re not in trouble, I promise!” Nothing happens. “She lied.”

“I didn’t lie!” Lapis shouted. Derek turned around to see Lapis with her hands on her knees, trying to recover her breath. “He told me…that he’d…be here…you run too fast!”

“You shouldn’t follow me! It’s too dangerous!"

“What’s going on?! Why are you looking for Raku?!”

“I’m sure you’re aware of his powers!”

“Yes, but he can’t do anything about that! It’s out of his control!”

“Not for long! The King wants to train him, so that he is more in control!”

“Train him?! To be a Knight?!”

“Yeah! The creature inside of him is a dangerous one, but with the right training, it can be tamed!”

“How?! That thing is a killing machine!”

“You’ve seen it?!”

Lapis trembles, casts her face downward, and answers, “I remember…it almost killed me…”

“But?!”

“Raku regained its control before it harmed me!”

“Mizuno the Uncontrolled is a demon-like monster hellbent on the extinction of humanity! It possesses people with strong bodies and uses them to accomplish its will! With the right training, Raku can use Mizuno to his benefit without being overwhelmed by it! I must find him before something bad happens!”

“How are we gonna find him?!”

“I’m gonna find him! You need to return to class!”

Lapis cringes, grabs Derek’s hand, and replies, “I want to help Raku! Please, he’s very important to me!” Derek gazes into her eyes, filled with tears.

“I’m sorry, Lapis, but you’re still just a kid. I cannot risk your life for this mission!"

“You won’t find him without me!"

“And why is that?!”

“He told me another place he was going, and only I know where! I’ll tell you, but I want to come along!”

Derek calmly walks to her and explains, “I am a knight of King Hogarth of Silverwrath! My job is to protect and serve what is important to the King! I am to protect and serve you to the finest degree! I am under oath! I cannot put you in danger, so please just tell me where he is!"

“I understand your oath, sir Derek, but I may be the only person that Raku will listen to!"

“What do you mean?!”

“After Raku lost his parents, he doesn’t listen to strangers well! If I reason with him, I could be of assistance to your cause!”

“Raku isn’t an orphan!”

“He’s not! He’s been adopted by a new family for about seven months, and he barely listens to them!”

“Why do you wanna help me?! You do know that if Raku is approved for training, you’ll never see him again, right?!”

“Raku wants to be a knight! It’s his dream, and if I can help him in any way, I will!” Derek stares at her.

He crosses his arms as he drifts off into thought, ‘If a mission is of concern to a third party, you may accept a compromise for the sake of the mission. However, the party must follow the knight’s lead in accomplishing the mission.’ Service code 112 Appendix B. Derek sighs, looks Lapis in the eyes, and replies, “Do exactly what I say when I say it! Got it?!”

Lapis smiles and answers, “Yes!”

“Where did he say he was going?!”

“Follow me!”

Derek and Lapis arrive at a pond. Lapis tells Derek, “He said he’d be here.” She glances around. Derek walks ahead. “Hey! Where are you going?!” Lapis follows behind.

“I see him,” Derek said as he pointed ahead. Lapis follows his gesture to see a dark figure standing on the water.

“That’s him, Mizuno.”

“Go hide.”

“But-”

“Go! Now!” Lapis submissively obeys.

Derek checks Lapis’ position and takes a breath. He unsheathes his sword and shouts, “Mizuno!” The figure orients his body to Derek. The creature was far, but its expression was clear. It stares with a blank expression, then walks to Derek. Derek clenches his teeth as a bullet of sweat races down his face. He readily positions himself defensively. He blinks and Mizuno disappears.

Derek cringes as a deep voice says, “You dare raise your sword to me.” Mizuno stands over him from behind and continues, “I’ll give you a choice: you or the girl?” Derek tightens his grip on his sword. “Move and I kill you both, so which one will it be?”

“Me.”

Mizuno laughs and states, “Of course! What a courageous man! I think both of you should die, but I’ll give you what you want. You wanna die for that girl, so I’ll kill her and leave you alive!” Derek clenches his harder teeth and swings his sword behind himself, but it was gone. Mizuno then reappears, above Derek, and pushes his head into the ground. It then dashes to the tree, where Lapis was hiding behind, and punches through it. It ejects its fist and says, “It’s not enough.”

Derek raises his head, gazes at the tree, and screams, “LAPIS!”

Mizuno turns to Derek and says, “Pathetic humans! Your weakness disgusts me!” Derek stands with his sword ready for an attack. Something’s different about this human. His strength is increasing. Rapidly. I must stop it. Mizuno appears before Derek and attacks with a punch, but its attack doesn’t strike him. It seemed like there was an invisible shield around Derek, protecting him from the attack. “What?!”

“There!” Derek thrusts through Mizuno in his left side with his sword. Mizuno grunts, stabilizes the blade with his left hand, and kicks Derek in the chest. Derek tumbles through the water and lies in it. He coughs as he stares at the sky. “Crap!” He stands and realizes. “The water is shallow. Weird.” Mizuno approaches Derek and drives his fist to his face, but Derek blocks with his arms.

“I should’ve known the King wouldn’t have sent a normal knight to capture me. Your Nebula is an aggressive type just like Raku’s.”

“I won’t allow you to take his body! You don’t deserve it!” Derek quickly drops his right hand in a counterclockwise motion, grabs the hilt of his sword, and vigorously tugs it out from its body. He flips his sword and swings it at Mizuno, who dodges the attack.

Mizuno backs up and says, “It’s only a matter of time before I have full control of Raku’s body. I will plunge humanity into extinction. I vow it!”

“Raku!” Mizuno and Derek wince as they both gaze at where the voice was coming from. Lapis, at the riverbank, shouts, “Don’t give in! I still need you!”

Mizuno stares in shock and says, “How?! I-I killed her!”

“Sir Derek wants to make you a knight! I know how much you want that!” Mizuno begins to shake as he kneels to the ground.

“No! That girl!” A right hand bursts out of Mizuno’s body. Lapis rushes to Mizuno.

“No!” Derek shouted. “Stay back!” Lapis continues to it, so Derek runs to her. “It’s not safe!”

Lapis exclaims, “Don’t give up, Raku! Fight it!” Lapis approaches Mizuno and grabs Raku’s hand. She pulls his arm as Mizuno’s dark body reattaches itself with Raku’s limb. “It’s me, Raku! Come to me!” Derek runs faster with his blade ready to dash into Mizuno. Lapis continues pulling until a human boy emerges from Mizuno’s. As he breaks free, Derek goes for the finishing blow, missing Raku. Mizuno’s hollow shell dissipates as Raku lands on top of Lapis in the water.

Derek reaches them and asks worriedly, “Are you okay?!”

Lapis replies, “Yeah, we’re good! He’s just asleep.” Raku lightly snores, lying on Lapis’ body.

The end.

Author's note: It's been so long since I entered in a contest. My creativity is literally at a stand still and I can't break it for some reason. I used the ABDCE format for this short story. It's honestly how I got this far. I make things so complicated, but using this format has helped me A TON! If you have any constructive criticism, please let me know in the comments below. This is the only way people get to see my work and having the pros and cons of my work will help me in my writing journey. If you don't have any constructive criticism, then I have a few questions:

How did the conversations feel? Were they weird or did they feel real enough?

I left the ages of the characters unknown, but based on the dialogue, how old would you say they are?

Is there anything I could have done to make the characters feel more alive?

Are you satisfied with the ending?

Thanks for reading as always and I hope you can read my next story soon.