The Horn of Monoceros [Imai's C-Rank Exam Thread]

The dirt was quite level at the other side. A beam of light was reflected from the green surface that Imai found himself on at the moment. “Ouch… what the hell was that?” he complained, looking behind him; apparently, he felt this pull from his home at Crocus and decided to follow it. It was by mere instincts that he did that, and he had no idea of this pull and its origin, not to mention why it only seemed to affect him. It felt very unusual, overwhelming… he couldn’t ignore the feeling. Before he realized it, he found himself far away from his home, standing before a giant portal. He had no knowledge of it, but its very existence overwhelmed him. It was so ethereal, so fascinating that he needed to find out more about it. That was when a sudden voice told him to bring something otherworldly back to him. Imai couldn’t react in time, before he was shoved into the portal, leaving this world’s platform for now…

“Hmpf… who was that guy?” he asked himself, slowly standing up of the clean ground, “Bring something otherworldly… seriously?” He couldn’t really understand it; some stranger just pushed him into a completely different place, and expected him to bring something back. Was this a joke? Imai kept sulking, thinking about this situation, when he walked across the emerald floor; the entire world around him was far from just different than his, it was marvelous. His eyes were all shiny, watching the purple sky and all those beautiful stars moving across the sky. Somehow, it moved faster than usual, but Imai didn’t notice that as he was all distracted by searching for star constellations; with such a good view, he couldn’t let go the chance. “Woah, those stars… wait, where am I? This isn’t Fiore,” he suddenly spoke up to himself, realizing that their positions were altered a lot, compared to the positions of the stars above Fiore…

His constant look at the sky was suddenly interrupted by a familiar appearance; Sei, the alien-like being that still followed him everywhere soared above him, covering his view. “Oh, Sei!” he spoke up in surprise, holding a hand to its cute, little head, “I didn’t know that you made it through the portal too… I guess we’re lucky, huh.” The red-haired boy took a quick look around him and spotted that this world was bigger than he imagined; towers in the distance and giant castles, along with floating platforms of giant gems filled most of the area around here, which was quite breathtaking for Imai. “No way..!” he spoke out loud, having his eyes shining again, “This place is awesome!” Even Sei was quite fascinated by the surroundings, although not as much as the otherworld-loving mage here.

His feet couldn’t keep him at the same position for any longer as he charged across the emerald floor, having Sei holding his back as usual. A giant smile covered his face, while his big eyes took a look at every corner of this world. “Woah, what is this? Some kind of kingdom?” he asked himself, while jumping over green rocks and finding himself soaring a little easier than on Earth. Surprisingly, he made it to one of the castles quite quickly, finding himself before its gate. “Well, if I need to bring anything from here, then I might as well search around,” he said to himself as he pushed the gate open. Inside the castle was literally nothing, it was just an empty hallway. Imai walked inside to look around, but didn’t notice the figure that appeared beside him; only moments after, his eyes took a sidelong glance at it. It was breathtaking as well; this world seemed to surprise him every second. It was a unicorn. A real one.

Its majestic appearance muted Imai for a long moment. It was light-green in color and had the most amazing horn on its forehead. Its body was bright and shined out a greenish beam, catching all of Imai’s attention. “…” He tried to stay quiet in order to keep the being around, but the sudden movement of Sei made it begin to neigh and whinny in seemingly wildness. “Oh, wait, don’t be scared..!” Imai nervously spoke back to it, but with no effect. The wild horse balanced on its two back legs and snorted, before galloping around Imai and Sei, leaving a green light on its track. “Wait, what’re you doing..?” he curiously asked the horse, not sure if it could even understand his language. The horse kept galloping around them, until a bright light erupted from the ground beneath them and blinded the two visitors for a brief moment, before leaving them all alone again.

A green track was apparent, though. Resembling a kind of bridge, or a rainbow, it lead towards the outside; Imai concluded that it was the track of the unicorn. Without hesitating, he decided to follow the track and, hopefully, find the horse again. “Why’d it run away from me… Sei, did you scare it away?” he asked the resting alien that was stuck on his back. Without getting any answers, the red-haired boy sighed and pushed the gate open, before leaving the castle. “I wonder… that horse was the same as my zodiac,” Imai suddenly reminded himself, leaving even more questions than before. Did that horse have something to do with him? If so, then what? He felt completely strange to this world, but the mere thought of the presence of a unicorn was enough to keep him searching; he might never get this chance again…

Moving his feet across the emerald floors once more, the red-haired mage was eager to find the unicorn again. It’s not something that you see every day; perhaps he might not ever see it again. Despite having seen it once already, he felt the need to feel its presence a little more. He charged across the lands of green rocks before a background of the purple sky with all its shiny stars apparent. The track of the unicorn was still visible for him, leading him into the depths of this mysterious world without the usual, worldly limits.

Once when reaching a wide area near another giant building, Imai spotted the unicorn again; although, this time, it wasn’t alone. It took him as a surprise; chains were surrounding the struggling horse as it neighed and whinnied in fear. “Wait, there it is!” Imai spoke up, quickly approaching it, “Hey, what’s happening to you?!” The star mage arrived before the chained horse, attempting to free it from the chains, but his actions were interrupted by a shot on his back. It launched him forwards as he landed on the hard floor, apparently getting engulfed in a greenish layer of liquid gems. “Hey!” Imai shouted in confusion, “Who did that?!” Sei managed to dodge in time, luckily, and soared around the unicorn that was being approached by shadows of some new strangers. When Imai succeeded in moving his body around to get a look at the happening, he spotted three wild beasts walking towards the trapped unicorn. With their large arms, they literally pulled up the poor horse and left the area with it, while the neighs could be heard fading away. “Hey, leave it alone!!!” he roared towards them, catching their attention at the intruder. One of the beastly beings would walk towards him and take him up with one hand, walking away with their second prey. Apparently, they hadn’t spotted Sei, who tried its best to stay discreet and follow the nasty-looking monsters’ route…

Imai struggled to break out of the emerald-looking liquid that was holding him, wondering of its origin. Was it saliva? Or perhaps something else? Well, he didn’t have time to think about that; right now, he had to find out how to flee from these bastards, who seemingly saw the red-haired mage and the unicorn as prey for dinner. He was quite frightened, but as time passed, his eyes focused on a small hunting tent town that the monsters were approaching. “Huh…” came out of his troubled mouth. He didn’t want to know what these guys wanted to do with him and the unicorn, but he couldn’t help being so curious about all this. What were these guys, and what did they usually do? Were they hunters? Questions surrounded his confused head, adding more struggle to think clearly as they were laid into one of the tents by the monsters.

A moment went, until he realized that he could actually do something. He was surrounded by some weird substance, so all he had to do was blowing it off his body. He took a quick look outside to see, if the wild beasts were nearby, before he concentrated magic energy around his body. In an instant, the substance was suddenly surrounded by a weird light; although, this light didn't explode like it should've done. "... Wait, what?" he asked the phenomenon; what happened to his explosive spell? All it did now was making some kind of shield, which was not what he wanted right now. "What's going on with my magic..?" He began shaking his body around, while trying plan B to escape the substance, which actually wasn't that hard. It broke quite easily; leaving him unharmed and free after a while. After getting comfortable again, he nodded to the unicorn, which began rubbing the gem-like substance off its body as well. He hoped that it would trust him now and help him flee. As a response, the horse suddenly pulled Imai up to its bag and let him ride it as it charged right out of the tent in a majestic way, surprising some of the monsters that were resting a few meters away. “Woah..!” Imai expressed in shock, “I’m actually riding a unicorn! Awesome!!!”

Spell Used:

They charged around the camp, trying to spot an exit somewhere. The camp was quite well-build; over 5 meters’ tall walls of the same green substance from earlier, plus a few towers to have a look at the area. That combined with the tents made an average hunting camp. Now, Imai and the unicorn galloped across the small roads, meanwhile tipping some passing monsters down. “Yeah! Get out of the way, monsters!” he roared in excitement, while riding the horse. His eyes travelled around the camp, and eventually found an entrance near a river. Having nowhere else to exit from, he chose that to be their way out. “That way, buddy..!” he spoke to the unicorn, not really sure if it could understand him. Well, guess what? The unicorn actually rode EXACTLY the way that he wished, charging through the exit and crushing the gate with its long horn, escaping the camp and landing its feet on the green, fresh-looking water.

Their speed was decreased by the rushing water, while the monsters approached them. “Oh, hurry! Their coming!” Imai cheered the unicorn, which galloped with all its might through the heavy liquid. Appearing as a scene taken out from a cowboy film, it looked rather dramatic; a rider struggling against a river, while enemies were rushing to catch you from behind. Eventually, the unicorn made it half-way, but the monsters were faster and came closer to them. In the middle of the struggle, where Imai found it obvious that they would be caught again if they didn’t do anything else, Sei arrived. Jumping straight into action, it held tight on the unicorn’s back; the result was a sudden increase in speed of their gallop. Eventually, they made it out of the river before the monsters could catch them. “Hah! We did it!” Imai spoke up in happiness, “Thanks a lot, Sei! That was close!” Although, he speculated in why the alien's abilities weren't affected like his. Perhaps it didn't use magic to do whatever it did to them..?

Ability Used By Pet:

Now, riding towards the majestic world’s sunset, the three guys had seemingly escaped the wild monsters; with a relieved smile on his face, Imai enjoyed the view before him. He couldn’t really understand that he was riding a unicorn, but his eyes didn’t lie. “Hey… buddy,” he spoke to the unicorn with a calmer voice than before, “Thanks for helping me ride out of here…” He would rest his head on the unicorn’s neck, while it rode away sheltered by the beams of light that descended from the heaven…

The light faded away and left the travelers in night; the stars were even more apparent on the sky now. The unicorn decided to stay in a certain place for the night and let Imai and Sei slide down its back. When hitting the ground, Imai woke up in shock and looked around. Finding out that he wasn’t in trouble, he sighed and looked up at the sky; his eyes were almost pouring tears. The stars were so beautiful and the background was completely black, giving the lights an even brighter contour. It was surely a marvelous view; the boy could easily find rest in the view of the stars above him. Laying his head on the cold ground, he watched the stars with Sei on his side, while they felt the need to rest. The unicorn, though, didn’t rest; it stood in its wonderful position and looked up to the sky, while its horn began to crumble a little from the impact back at the camp…

The sharp beam of light woke up the red-haired mage as he rubbed his eyes. The air was fresh and the surroundings were as peaceful as before. Everything seemed fine, until he spotted the disappearance of the unicorn. All it left was a piece of its horn, and a track that lead up to the stars that shone down upon him earlier…

The curious boy slowly moved his hand towards the horn, grabbing it and holding it close to his face. What he could imagine with this horn on its hand; what happened to the unicorn, and how did it lose a piece of its horn? He couldn’t stop questioning himself, while Sei slowly woke up as well. “Hey, Sei…” he spoke to it, “See. The horse left…” Honestly, it was a huge letdown to let such a marvelous, mythic creature disappear; although, he’d seen enough. He aws happy to experience such a presence in this world… wait, why was he here, again? He tried remembering the main purpose of him being in this platform, eventually remembering that he was supposed to bring something otherworldly back. As if a horn from a unicorn wasn’t otherworldly; he rolled with it and stood up, preparing to head back to the portal… wherever it was, now.

He walked towards the same view as he spotted earlier; the giant castles in the distance. Apparently, no one lived there, which confused him a lot, judging by the greatness of those buildings and their beautiful looks. Maybe some of the monsters from earlier lived there, or another, unknown creature. Whatever lived there, it wouldn’t show itself for Imai, who’d been in the castles and seen nothing but the unicorn, which was now gone. He sighed, remembering the unicorn and beginning to miss it, already. It was way beyond his imaginations of unicorns back at Earth; it was way more mind-blowing, way more… ethereal. He kept thinking, until he finally arrived at the same castles as back then, where he tried to remember the way to he took when following the horse earlier. It was quite difficult, now that a lot had happened and that he didn’t had time to remember the way back again.

It took a while for him to find the right way through the castle; he had to face empty halls, doors that lead into nothing and completely pale dead ends. When finally meeting the gate that lead to the other side again, he pushed it open with his shoulder as it was quite heavier than before. Perhaps an effect of all the struggle that he’d been through today; although that he didn’t regret any of it, not even being caught by monster hunters. He found all of this as a wonderful adventure of his and Sei’s, and if possible, he would definitely go back to this place again.

The path all the way to the portal was longer than before; or it must’ve been his imagination. Somehow, it seemed to be miles further away from his present position. “Huh… no way, are there so far away back home?” he complained, letting out another sigh of letdown, "Seriously!!!" Not wanting to waste any second, he began walking towards the small dot of light in the distance that was the portal, not looking back again even once. Yes, it was nice to be here, but right now, he was so tired and exhausted that all he wanted in this world right now was a bottle of soda. He should’ve taken one with him… wait, didn’t he always have one on him? He began checking all his pockets, until finally finding what he lusted for; a bottle of pale soda. “Oh, yes, soda!” he spoke up in relief and opened the bottle with his hands, before moving its throat up to his mouth. He took giant slurps of it, refreshing his mind and body by the fizz of the drink. He also let Sei drink some as well; honestly, he didn’t really care if the alien was even capable of drinking soda. He was so tired…

His body got back its power and energy as he didn’t feel so tired anymore. Now, he was all fired up and ready to walk all the miles back to the portal, which seemed to get closer and closer by time. He even began to run a little, wanting to reach to the exit as soon as possible, while Sei was holding his back tightly. “Hehe!” he let out, “Just wait, stranger! I got something for you..!” His feet would feel like rubber, but he wouldn’t mind it and kept charging forward, until he finally reached the giant arcade.

Before jumping into the portal, he took a look behind him. Something within him wanted to see the unicorn just once more; it grew to being his heart wanting to see it, until his entire body wanted to see it. He was stuck at the exit, and considered not going back, until he saw it again. However, Sei was pulling Imai towards the exit as it didn’t want to stay out here anymore, which was quite reasonable; its friend was caught by weird monsters and was close to either drown in the river or get caught again. Seriously, Imai was careless back there, but perhaps it was due to the presence of a freaking unicorn. “… I know, Sei,” he replied to the alien’s pulling, “Just, give me a minute… just a minute.” The red-haired boy would focus his eyes on the heavens above him, where the stars were yet visible. Although, despite their weird positions, he could actually skim the constellation Monoceros; just as he spotted it, the horn on his hand began to glow. He moved his gaze towards it and then back at the sky, where he could clearly hear the neigh of the horse above the heavens, even while walking back to his own dimension. “I'll be back, Monoceros,” he spoke back with a smile and a trickling tear, before travelling through time and space again…