By Dyaoka
Disclaimer:
Warnings/Notes: Couldn’t find much to add to this…I should have just called this chapter ‘the FLASHBACKS! DUNDUNDUNDUN!!!’ Well, added about 1000 words here…Oh yeah, ff.net’s word count is WACKED! So, I’m going to go by Microsoft Word’s word count. XP
Scroll Three: The Embedded Gem
“Ryoma!” some called. “Oh…where did you go now?” The dark haired girl looked frantically around the embellished room. A movement by the thick and heavy curtains caught the girl’s attention. “Ryoma?” she called out tentatively. She pulled the curtains back to reveal a small boy that was no older than two years old.
His bright golden eyes stared into her eyes before he looked away to the floor. “Mama’s mad?” he asked quietly. The girl crouched onto the floor next to him.
“Yes, she is,” she said. “It was very wrong of you to take her Gem.”
“I wanted to see what everyone kept talking about,” came the reply. There was a small sniff.
“Ryoma, I know that you were curious. But you can’t just do something like that. It’s not right. And you’ve been hiding for almost two hours now. Your mother is very worried” the girl said. “How about we go back and apologize?” The small boy looked up at her and then nodded, lowering his head as she helped him to his feet. “One day, when you’re older, you’ll be able to see what it is everyone speaks of.”
“But I want to see it now” Ryoma pouted as he started to drag his feet. The girl who was leading him towards his mother’s chamber said nothing. She reached towards the brass knob and turned it, opening the heavy wooden door to reveal a majestically beautiful room.
“Ma’am” the girl said. She gave a bow. “Sorry for intruding, but you’re son is back.”
The woman standing on the balcony turned around to face them. “Ryoma!” she exclaimed. The boy shrank back behind the other girl’s skirt. He tentatively peered around to see his furious mother. “Come here!” The boy shook his head.
“Ryoma” the dark haired girl said, pushing the boy out from behind her and towards his mother. Reluctantly, he walked towards his mother. His mother crouched down so that they were eye-level.
“Tell me, son, why did you do that? Why did you steal the Gem?” she asked softly.
“B-because I wanted t-t-to see what you were talking about” the boy stuttered. He was biting down on his bottom lip and it was evident that he was trying his hardest not to cry.
“Ryoma, what you did was wrong” his mother said. She placed a hand on her son’s cheek. “Stealing is something you must never do again, do you understand?” When Ryoma didn’t answer, she spoke the question again, more sternly this time. “Do you understand?” Ryoma nodded quickly. The woman stared at the golden eyed boy for a bit before giving him a hug. “You had me very worried. I’m not talking about the Gem, I’m talking about you, you stupid son.” With that said, Ryoma started to cry as his mother picked him up and tried to soothe him with gentle words of comfort.
~*~
“I wonder…” Eiji said, glancing over to the unconscious Ryoma. “What is he dreaming about?”
The boy had been restless in his sleep for the past half
an hour. He had cried out once or twice in his sleep, but both times it was in
a language unknown to them. When the red head had asked the question to his
companions,
~*~
“Ryoma, have you calmed down?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Then, could you give me back the Gem?” his mother asked. Ryoma blinked at her and dug into his pockets. He found it wasn’t there. He checked his pants pockets and his secret vest pockets and all the pockets he could have put it in. He even checked the secret little place at the heel of his shoes. It wasn’t there. He started to panic again.
“I-I-I had it! I-I…” his lower lip begun to tremble. “I’m sorry, Mama…” His mother looked at the child in her lap.
“Ryoma, were you holding the Gem?” she asked softly. There was an unwavering uncertainty in her voice. She almost sounded scared.
“I…” Ryoma held out his hand. The Gem was there. It was in his hand. Physically. “M-Mama! It’s stuck! Mama!”
“My son…my baby…” she whispered as tears started to flow down her cheeks. She hugged her little boy close to her. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!” she cried, over and over again. Little Ryoma had no idea what was going on. He was frightened. It wasn’t everyday he saw his mother crying. So he started to cry with her.
“I didn’t mean to! It just stuck there by itself! I-I’ll get it off! I promise!” Ryoma said frantically, trying to calm his mother while he was frenzied himself. “So don’t cry…”
“Give me your hand” his mother said softly. Ryoma held out his hand. His mother placed her larger hand over his own and a soft glow emitted from her palm. “There. It’s gone.”
“Is it?” Ryoma peered at his own hand. His tears started to subside. “Is it really gone?”
“This will be a secret between you and me” his mother whispered. “You won’t tell anyone, not even your Father. Ok? No one, you won’t tell anyone…”
“Mama…” The Gem was no longer there in his hand…but for some odd reason, there was a strange tingling there that spoke the Gem was still there. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
It was this instant that Ryoma opened his eyes. His golden eyes met the unfamiliar ceiling of the hut.
“Ryoma!” a familiar voice called. It was Karupin. Ryoma sat up, completely disregarding the cat. His eyes felt wet and tired despite the fact that he had just awoken from slumber. Lifting his hand, he hastily wiped the tears away…and felt something hard embedded into his skin. He looked down to the palm of his hand to find half a jewel to be sticking out of his hand. Clenching his hand into a fist, he decided that he would hide it. However, that movement hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Is something the matter, Ryoma?” Karupin asked. Careful cerulean eyes watched its master’s every movement.
“Nothing” Ryoma said. “Nothing at all…”
“Rest a bit more”
“Che. Whatever. I’m no baby, I don’t need anymore naps than I’ve been having” Ryoma retorted bitterly, still somewhat affected by the dream. The dream that spoke of his past.
“You should listen to him” chided a voice. It was Sakuno. “You’re energy won’t come back if you don’t rest.”
“You can’t win, Ryoma!” Momo joked, patting the younger boy heavily on the back.
“That hurts! Control your strength!” Ryoma said, glaring back at the violet eyed youth.
“See? You’re in pain! Get some rest!” Momo said with a grin. Ryoma ignored him.
“What happened after I passed out?” he asked.
“We left” Eiji answered.
“What happened to Leviathan?”
Eiji and Oishi exchanged looks. Oishi gave a small nod and Eiji tossed something over to the younger boy. “Nya, I’ll tell you what happened…”
Flashback…
“Nya! Ryoma!” Eiji gasped as he saw the golden eyed boy fall. The boy uttered something unintelligible under his breath. Around them, it started to get colder and colder. The temperature dropped rapidly. “Unya?”
“Blizzard…I didn’t think he’d know this
spell”
“The tactics he used were excellent, however, there are spells out there that could possibly rival the current Leviathan” Inui said, readjusting his glasses. “But this is a good way. Ryoma has won.”
“Eh? But…how?”
“Leviathan is still under its seal. It isn’t its full power. If it was, Ryoma wouldn’t still be alive” Inui informed.
“C-c-c-cold…” Eiji stuttered. He had always been much more sensitive than the rest of them to things like these. His breathes came out in puffs that one could visibly see. Oishi had wrapped his arms around the red head, drawing him closer to him and to warmth.
They all looked back at Leviathan, the giant serpent which had finally frozen. The Blizzard spell had stopped, but the temperature remained the same.
He won. I will go with him; my new Master…
Leviathan then whispered something soft, so soft that even with Eiji’s super-sensitive hearing, he could not hear. The form of the giant serpent started to disappear and all that was left of him was just a small crystal. It was crystalline clear, but with a color of the Sea.
End Flashback…
“…and so after that, I took the jewel and we brought
you back here. We didn’t know whether or not we should give it to you, since
we think that you’re not able to control Leviathan’s power. Of course, we
found Kitty there, along the way. ‘
“I want to ask you a question, Ryoma” Oishi said in all seriousness, interrupting the other before he could launch into some really long conversation. His olive green eyes expressed no humor whatsoever. Ryoma said nothing, but didn’t look away either. “Why did you go against Leviathan? It was dangerous. You could have been hurt much more seriously than you were. And your legs just healed too!”
“It was obvious that you had planned to face him, Ryoma,” Inui interrupted. “Would you mind explaining to us about the whole situation?”
Ryoma looked down at his lap when Karupin decided to crawl there and settle himself in it. Scratching Karupin behind the ear, Ryoma looked back up at his companions that were waiting for his explanation. “Well…what could I say?” he began. “The stupid old Seer told me that when we come here, I should go look for Leviathan and obtain its ‘unique powers.’ Of course I did research on Leviathan and the only way that I could find out how to actually meet Leviathan without any of you suspicious would be to pretend Karupin ran away or something so I could go search for him. If I came back with scratches or bruises I could have just blamed it on a shrub or something. Too bad that I didn’t need to put that plan into action.” The golden eyed boy smirked.
The first person to speak was actually Eiji. “You’re stupid” he said. There was a certain tone that didn’t quite reach maliciousness or contempt, but it was there, nonetheless. The red head didn’t look back at Ryoma; he just stared constantly at the floor. After a moment of silence, he stormed from the room.
“Eiji!” Oishi called out, shocked. “I’m so sorry” he apologized for the red head before running after him.
“What was that about?” Momo asked, blinking twice to assure him he wasn’t dreaming. That was so unlike Eiji!
“It’s something you should ask Eiji himself about”
Ryoma shrugged and continued to stroke Karupin behind the ear. The cat gave a low purr of contentment. “I felt intrigued. And if that old Seer told me to do that, I think I should” he had said the last part a bit hesitantly.
“If you say so”
“What?! But you wouldn’t have anywhere to stay! And I’m still preparing dinner!” Sakuno burst out. She had remained silent through the entire conversation, just observing.
“I’m sorry. But I think it would be in our best
interest to leave. I hope you’ll understand…We are pressed very much for
time here”
“Very well then” Sumire said, seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. She smiled at the group. “Nanjirou had requested three things from me. The first, I cannot say. The second is something you have all accomplished so that would also remain nameless, and the third was to help you on your journey. I think it is high time you’ve gotten back on track. Sakuno, could you take the food off of the stove and pack them so they could eat it along the way?”
“A-ah! Yes!” Sakuno immediately rushed to do her grandmother’s bidding.
“And I would like to give you a piece of advice; stay off of the High Road. You don’t know what you’ll find there. And stick to Nanjirou’s warnings too. Don’t do anything rash” Sumire said as Sakuno appeared again, this time with all the food packed and ready. “My, you’re quick.”
Sakuno nodded proudly. “It’s all in this pack here. I knew that you’d all be leaving soon…so I kind of already had everything prepared. I also packed some medicinal items in there, just in case. I made them during the afternoon” she flashed them a smile. “I had hoped that you all would stay for dinner though…”
“Ah…thank you” Inui said, taking the rather large
pack from the girl. He suddenly had a vision of earlier that day, when he and
“Well then…it’s Eiji and—”
“What?” the red head blinked incredulously at them. “What about dinner?!”
“Dinner is here” Inui said, motioning to the pack he had slung over his shoulder. “We’ll eat it later.”
“It’s almost dark outside” Momo said, looking out the window. “Well, it’ll be just like camping then! This’ll be fun! Right, Ryoma?” Ryoma muttered something that sounded similar to ‘the crazy people seem to be increasing everyday…’
So, with their good-byes said, the group of six set off on foot. Of course, they had absolutely no idea where they were heading too.
~*~
Momo was yawning very loudly as they sat around their ‘camp-fire.’ Of course, it was also very late at night so everyone else was yawning as well. Karupin and Ryoma had already long fallen asleep—they didn’t even eat their meal. Ryoma succumbing to slumber early was perfectly excusable since he had exerted himself of a lot of magical energy that day.
“What a day!” Momo exclaimed. With Eiji’s help,
they had left the
The sound of whimpering caught their ears. Karupin twitched and woke up. It was his master. “Mrow? Ryoma?” Ryoma was still asleep, his brows furrowed together as if concentrating on something. “Ryoma! Wake up!” the cat called frantically as his master started to thrash around.
“O-oi!” Eiji exclaimed as he was almost kicked by Ryoma.
“Gah!” Ryoma exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. He glanced around wildly, his mind and heart not registering the people that were surrounding him. He did the first thing he thought of—he ran.
“Wah! What the heck?!” Momo exclaimed, seeing the younger boy dash into the darkness.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go find him!” Eiji said, running off after Ryoma with Karupin on his heels.
“W-wait! Crap…” Oishi cursed before dashing off in
the same direction with
“You’re not going?” Inui asked Momo who was just sitting there. The younger boy stared remorsefully at the blazing fire, his violet eyes expressing sadness as it reflected the fire.
“… For some odd reason, it just hurts a lot…” was the incoherent reply the bespectacled boy got.
~*~
“This way!” Karupin said, dashing quickly through the tall grass, his eyes flashing cerulean in the dark. “He’s…”
“Unya! Why did he run off like that?!” Eiji exclaimed, trying his best to stay with the cat. “It seemed like he was scared or something…”
“Because he is!” the cat snapped. “I can smell it…he thinks we’re hunting him! That’s why he’s scared!” Karupin stopped abruptly from his running and looked up to one of the trees. “He’s up there…” With a leap and a bound, Karupin had made it up half way up the tree without climbing.
“That’s one athletic cat”
“Yeah…Apparently the kid’s scared…” Eiji answered.
Up on the tree, Karupin was maneuvering very carefully to get to his master. He wouldn’t want his master to just jump off like that, would he? So, he tried not to scare the golden eyed boy. “Ryoma?” he called out tentatively. There was movement to his right; that was the wind. His master was there, to the left, sitting as still as possible. “It’s me, Karupin. Could you please come down with me? We’re not going to do anything…”
There was a soft sound of movement, of which Ryoma just suddenly seemed to fall off of the tree. “Ryoma!” Karupin exclaimed frantically. “Catch him!”
“
“He’s…asleep”
“Unya? Was that all his unconsciousness?”
“It didn’t seem like it” Oishi said, watching Karupin climb down carefully from the tree. “He was awake, wasn’t he?” Karupin didn’t answer.
“Well, anyways, why don’t we get back to camp? Momo
and Inui are still there waiting for us…”
“So many things are happening today! Right,
Oishi?”
Eiji asked, looking over to the taller one. Oishi nodded in return silently.
The two followed
“Is he alright?” was Momo’s first question when they arrived back at the camp.
“Ah. He’s just asleep though”
“Maybe he’s just had a rough day?” Inui suggested.
“Wasn’t he having a nightmare before? Maybe that was what caused it?” Oishi hypothesized.
“That could have been the reason as well…” Inui agreed. “Well, we’d better turn in. It’s going to be a long day’s walk tomorrow to the next city or town…”
“Nya…good-night!” Eiji said with a yawn before curling up in his own sleeping bag, throwing the covers over his head out of habit.
“Well, why don’t you all go to sleep? I’ll keep watch” Momo offered. “I don’t think I can get any sleep tonight anyways.”
“Eh? Why?” Oishi asked, also climbing into his sleeping bag.
“This is the wilderness. You don’t know what’s out there” Momo answered. He patted the small sword that was swung across his knee. “Don’t worry. I’ll guard you all in you’re sleep. You could sleep safely!”
Someone in the group muttered ‘hopefully.’ As they turned to rest, none of them ever thought about the disappearance of one presence: Karupin.
~*~
“Ryoma, Ryoma, Ryoma…” someone said. Golden eyes looked up at the speaker from the floor where he was playing with building blocks. The speaker walked forward, cape flowing out behind him like a majestic waterfall. “What? You’re not even going greet your own father?”
“Papa” Ryoma said respectfully. But the youth did not get up, nor did he do anything further to acknowledge his father. The golden-eyed child went back to playing with his blocks. After all, the man was practically a stranger to him. Not someone like his mother, who was always there for him. Neither was he one of his friends, like the two children that were almost constantly by his side since they met him. Nor was he like his kind attendant who was always there and supporting him in her gentle ways.
“Really now! Is that a way to treat Papa?”
“Papa was mean to me! Why should I be nice to someone mean to me?” the young Ryoma said, doing his best to glare at his father, but only ended up to look like a chipmunk due to his chubby cheeks. “Papa’s mean to me!”
The man, Ryoma’s father, clicked his tongue. “If I am truly mean to you, I wouldn’t forget what today is. Do you know what today is, Ryoma?”
“Someday” Ryoma said absentmindedly as he knocked over the blocks. He crawled over to retrieve those that rolled the farthest. His father gave a laugh that sounded hallow and dull and picked up his son.
“It’s your birthday, you silly boy!”
“My birthday?” Ryoma asked, bewildered. “But Mama told me it was tomorrow…”
“And when did Mama tell you that?”
“When I went to sleep—”
“Today is tomorrow, Ryoma. Happy birthday!” the man said, interrupting his son while throwing him up in the air and catching him easily. “Come on, you’ve got a party to get to! Everyone was looking for you, wondering where you were! It’s your birthday party after all.”
Ryoma scrunched up his forehead as if in deep thinking. “But today can’t be tomorrow…” Ryoma’s father rolled his eyes and pinched his son’s nose.
“You’re a lot like Mama, you know?”
“I’m not a girl!” Ryoma exclaimed, sending his father another glare that ended up to being him looking like a chipmunk.
“Yes, yes” Ryoma’s father said distractedly, carrying his son down the halls quickly, eyes darting from place to place, as if trying to avoid people. “A party…”
Ryoma was partially gleeful of the fact his father was finally paying attention to him. However, a part of him was screaming that this was wrong, his father shouldn’t be paying attention to him, shouldn’t be treating him with such affection. The King had always been cold and distant, never looking over at Ryoma with anything but disdain. But Ryoma ignored those warnings going through his head and laid his head onto his father’s shoulder and absently started to suck on his thumb while his other hand gripped onto his father’s cape tightly. After traveling down many different corridors, his father finally came to a stop.
The door…it was delicately carved with many inscriptions on it. Made of ivory, the door stood proud and heavy; locked to the many that tried to go through the door. Peering around cautiously, the man carrying the child reached into his pocket—but was stopped abruptly.
“Let the Prince go” said a steely voice. Father and son looked at the speaker. Ryoma immediately started to reach for the person, a friend of his, but his father kept him out of reach.
“What are you going to do, boy?” he sneered, his voice suddenly turned cold and uncaring, scaring Ryoma undoubtedly. “I’m the King, you don’t order me around. Step back in line, servant, or I’ll cut your throat.”
“You don’t want to make him cry, you know. They’ll hear for sure” the youth replied, determined to get the Prince back. The King snorted and pulled out the key from his pocket, ready to open the heavy ivory door. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Watch me, servant. You’ll be coming with me” the king sneered as he inserted the key into the keyhole. He turned it and with a satisfying click, it was unlocked. He roughly seized the youth that was there and threw him into the room and closed the door, snatching the key as well. Ryoma started to whimper at the loud sounds, but otherwise, he kept silent. The youth had hit his head first into a marble pillar that was in the room. The King set Ryoma down onto a chair and walked across the room to an opened book. “A party, indeed…with lots and lots of people…”
The man…more or less…he cackled. He went to the center of the room and pulled back the grand carpet that covered the floor. Nothing, but the pale stone floor. “Deceiving, is it not?” the man said as he lifted the block of stone. Block after block came out of the ground and revealed a cage. Terrible moans and screams emitted from the dark cage. “You have it” The King looked to Ryoma. “You have the thing that I’ve searched so much for…the one thing your mother wouldn’t hand over to me.” Malevolently, he glanced over at his heir. He was completely unlike him, with golden eyes—rare of the rare colors of the world—dark colored hair that opposed his lighter shade, and features that resembled much of his mother’s. But he held no feelings for the woman who was his wife, his queen. The woman was only there because of the insistence of his council. With a snarl, he opened the cage.
Seizing Ryoma by the collar of his shirt, he threw the boy into the now opened pit. “You and that Gem will be separated. I will posses it” he said.
And so the darkness consumed the golden-eyed boy that didn’t scream when it overtook him.
~*~
It was near dawn that day when Ryoma had awoken, drenched in sweat. More and more often, dreams and nightmares alike had plagued him. Ryoma hated those dreams…visions…whatever they were. It made his head hurt whenever he tried to think of them. Whenever he tried to recall a dream, it would never come back—his mind had already forgotten it. He clenched his hands into fists and suddenly remembered the Gem was still there. Who had given it to him again? It was someone…important. Ryoma knew that he had dreamed of it before, but dreams are meant to be forgotten, as always. He stared down at the center of his hand; at the Gem. It had an ashen color to it, looking every bit like his skin. Was it like that before? Ryoma wondered…he seemed to remember that it held a different color…The color of…
“Ryoma?” called a very small voice. That very small voice knocked him out of his thoughts as he looked up to find Karupin staring at him. Wait…how long was the cat there? Ryoma could have sworn that Karupin wasn’t there when he woke up. “Are you ok? Is something wrong with your hand?” he asked in a voice barely above a murmur.
“No…nothing’s wrong” Ryoma lied. “It was just a nightmare…”
“If you say so” Karupin said disbelievingly. “You could always talk about it with me.”
“I don’t feel like talking right now. Maybe some other time” Ryoma said. He scratched Karupin affectionately behind the ear. The dusky sky turned into a pinkish shade as the sun begun to rise. One by one, those at rest came to wake.
“Wow! I slept unexpectedly good last night!” Momo exclaimed with a yawn.
“But…I thought you were on watch last night?” Eiji questioned, still snuggled up in the warmth of his sleeping bag. “Unya…Don’t tell me you slacked off!”
“No, I relieved him about half way through the night”
“Well, we might as well look forward to a long day ahead of us” Inui said, already all packed and ready to go.
“We might as well…” Momo said with a defeated sigh.
~*~
“Look! Look! Oishi, look!” Eiji exclaimed, hopping up and down. “Balloons! That must mean there’s a city or something near here!”
Indeed, the group of six (seven, if you count the cat) had been traveling for about a week and they were all weary and bone ached. Tempers had risen high and spirits had fallen down low due to the fact of the raising heat of the Dry Season and the lack of water. Since none of the practitioners of the Arts knew a spell that could generate water out of nowhere, they were also very dehydrated. When the hunted a deer down, Inui transmuted its blood into something filtered and clean and able to drink. Now, at the sight of balloons, their spirits had raised a bit; thoughts of resting on a bed and at a place with comfort all within their minds.
“Eh…That’s a lot of balloons” Ryoma commented, looking up at the sky that was decorated with reds and blues and greens and yellows.
“Hey, we’re in the Alexandria country, right?” Momo asked. Inui nodded an affirmative. “My home’s in Lindbulm! I think it’s the only major city that’s closes to the Alexandria-Lindbulm border! It’s called Nibelheim! This might be home, if we’ve traveled a bit south!”
“Nibelheim, eh…?”
“Didn’t Seer Nanjirou advise you to keep a low profile?” Oishi asked the violet eyed boy.
“It’s ok, it’s ok!” Momo said with a wide grin.
“There’s risk to take in everything!” Eiji added. “Besides, I want to see Nibelheim! It’s famous, especially on the streets...Everyone knows about it! They say the food there is suppose to taste great!”
“That’s not the only thing!” Momo laughed loudly.
“Is food the only thing you have on your minds? Let’s first think of how to get there and then we’ll go look for the food” Ryoma interrupted, actually quite irritated by the ruckus the sight of balloons had caused.
“Touchy…” Eiji muttered before dropping back to
Oishi’s side. He made a face at Ryoma when the younger boy wasn’t looking,
making Momo and
“Actually, I would have to agree with Ryoma. The more we get sidetracked on our journey, the longer this is going to take” Inui reasoned.
“So there is a sensible mind in this crowd” Karupin muttered from where he was next to Ryoma. Already, twice, had Eiji almost stepped on Karupin and once Momo did step on the cat’s tail. Oishi had tried to avoid stepping on Karupin once and ended up falling to the ground and tumbling into Ryoma who in turn fell and tripped Momo. Needless to say, Karupin wasn’t too happy right now. The cat walked off in the direction of which the next city; Nibelheim, which seemed to be sporting a lot of balloons…
There was no comment from Ryoma as he walked off after his cat in silence.
“Geez…what’s eating him?” Momo wondered out loud. “He’s been like that since the morning…”
“Momo…this is the morning…”
“Oh. That’s nice to know.”
Before they entered the city, huge signs speaking of celebration were hung around some of the trees. Then, they came upon the gates of Neibelheim. It was grand and made of iron, twisted in a way that made it into a strange shape. The word ‘Neibelheim’ was carved in on the top in fancy lettering.
“Momo, this is you’re home city, right? What’s going on?”
“It’s the time of the year for celebration!” Momo exclaimed enthusiastically.
“And you’d all better learn to keep hidden” Ryoma said. “The stupid old seer doesn’t give advice for nothing. If he does, you’d best listen to him. I learned that from him the hard way.”
“If you say so”
“Eh? When did you get that?” Momo asked the red head.
“Uh…a year ago or…?”
“Eleven months and four days ago, Eiji”
“Almost a year ago?” Momo said, rather shocked. For a moment there, the spiky haired youth seemed to be lost in thought. ‘Almost a year ago…that’s right, that was when it happened…When I was ‘killed’ by my own King…’
“Momo? Oi, Momo? Anyone home?” Eiji asked, snapping his fingers in front of Momo’s face. The violet eyed one startled out of his trip down memory lane and back to reality. “Nya, where did you go?”
“No where, no where” Momo said with a nervous laugh. “Hey, let’s go to my house! It’s near!” Momo exclaimed. “There, you’ll be able to rest and eat…My family is really nice!”
“Momo,” Ryoma said, stopping the enthusiastic youth.
“You do remember what the old Seer said, right? To keep a low profile? I
don’t think that we should go visit your family. Call it a gut feeling, but
I think that we should stay here for as short as possible and then turn
towards the city of
“I know where Bevelle is!” Momo snapped. “But I don’t see a reason why to keep to ourselves here! It’s perfectly safe!”
“You have a perfectly good mind, think of what could happen” Inui said. “We’ll go to an inn and stay there for a day or so and once we’ve restocked our supplies, we’ll leave this city. I think Ryoma makes sense; we shouldn’t linger here too long. Our presence here is ill news. And as they say, ill news is an ill guest.”
“But…”
“Momo, we should do what Inui says”
“Yeah…I guess so” Momo agreed dejectedly.
“Hey, hey! Cheer up! You could still see your family, but then they just can’t see you!” Eiji said, trying to cheer the violet eyed youth up.
“Eiji!” Oishi scolded. “He doesn’t have the same abilities as you do, being able to come and go without anyone noticing!”
“Still, Oishi! This is his home, right? He should be able to at least see his family; if he’s supposed to be in secrecy, then they don’t have to notice him! It’s perfectly safe!” Eiji protested.
Momo gave a hearty laugh. “Thanks! I’ll show you all to the nearest inn! Since this is the time of year for celebration, I think that we should go quickly! You never know, but all the rooms in the inn might be taken!”
“Finally…we get a move-on” Karupin stated, flicking his tail back and forth impatiently. “Humans…”
“Now, now, we wouldn’t want to get left behind now,
would we?”
The inn that they were led to wasn’t great, but nevertheless, it wasn’t bad either. The décor was a reminiscent of an older style, perhaps from about a century ago. However, it gave off a homely feel of warmth. Not the warmth from the weather of the Dry Season, but warmth that touched the heart. The moment that they had stepped into the room, Ryoma’s first instinct was to cower away from the entrance and into a corner to observe whatever was going on. He sensed that magic had to be going on in order for one to feel so…welcomed at the inn. He also had a distinct feeling that magic was what kept the entire inn so cool while outside was at a rather…sweltering temperature.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” Momo called out and at the same time, he rang the bell on the countertop.
“Coming!” came a muffled voice from the door behind the counter. Suddenly, a boy burst out from behind the door looking very tired and hurried. “Ah! Guests!” he exclaimed, seeing them obviously as travelers. “You should you consider yourselves lucky! We’re down to the last three rooms!"
“Then, we’ll take all three”
“Yes! Right this way!” the boy said, immediately rushing up the stairs to the left. The rest of them followed his lead to the third floor of the inn where he showed them the rooms and gave them the keys. “Here you go! And if you need anything, just pull the string that’s over on the wall next to the door! It’ll ring a bell that’s downstairs and I’ll come right up! I’m Kato Katchiro and if that’s all, so I’ve got to get back to work now, bye!” With that, the dark haired boy left in a rush, running down the stairs and there was a small yelp as it seemed that he tripped at the stairs.
“Wow…they’re quite busy…nya…” Eiji said as he opened the door to one of the rooms. “Nya! Look!” Eiji immediately rushed into the room and started to bounce up and down on the bed; he had taken his shoes off hastily and his cloak was flung across the room. “The room’s nice too!”
“Eiji! The bed’s for sleeping, not for bouncing!” Oishi scolded. Giving a small pout, the red head did a back flip off the bed…and onto the other one. “Eiji! You’re not listening to me, are you?”
“After all that, you’re still so energetic,”
“I’m just going to sleep first…” Inui muttered
before following
“Ryoma! Hurry up! I want to rest too!” Karupin whined from his spot.
“You lazy cat” muttered Ryoma before he opened the door. Karupin immediately dashed into the room and onto the windowsill. He turned around, as if inspecting the place and then, upon decision, laid down to rest. “Che.”
“Look at all those people down there” Momo said softly from his place at the window. His cloak was still on, so if someone looked up, they wouldn’t recognize him. “It’s the time of celebration and here we are, chasing something that we don’t even know exists.”
“I wouldn’t say that if I were you” Ryoma spoke. He was spread eagle on the bed on the far side of the room, leaving Momo with the one nearest the window. “The others have been traveling for a long time; yet they still have hope. What happened to yours?”
“Heh. Whatever” Momo said before sitting down on his bed. He stayed like that for a moment and then he lay down. “I’m going to sleep” he announced. Ryoma said nothing in return. The golden eyed boy waited for his companion’s breath to even out, then, he silently rolled off of the bed and exited the door. There were things in this city that he had to check out.
~*~
“What do you think,
“Magic governs the majority here. I doubt Momo noticed
that since he lived here the majority of his years”
“Ah…” The bespectacled boy gave a yawn. “I’m going to get some rest and then I’ll go and explore the city.”
“You go do that and I’m going to go and take a
bath”
~*~
“Unya…something’s wrong with this place…” Eiji announced. He was in the bath, but the door to the bathroom was slightly ajar to enable a conversation with Oishi. The other boy had already taken a bath and changed into clean clothes, leaving the red head to take one. Oishi, who was looking out the window, replied back in a hesitant tone.
“Yes, there is. There is something…dark that lingers over this city. We’d better move out of here soon and head towards Bevelle, like Ryoma said.”
“…I don’t want to go to Bevelle” Eiji confessed.
“Why is that, Eiji?”
“I heard it’s the place that magic was spawned from” came the soft reply. “They said that Bevelle holds many powerful sorcerers and seers that could see into the past and future. In Bevelle, to measure their power, they have a yearly contest of some sort to determine their strength in magic; black and white. I…don’t want to go there, Oishi. Someone would find out…”
“But think back, Eiji, think back to the time when our King was killed. How was he killed? It wasn’t by any weapons” Oishi said.
“Still…I saw the guy’s face! Shouldn’t that count?” Eiji retorted.
“There are many people in this world, Eiji. We can perhaps look all over the world and not find him. Assassins are people of secrecy” Oishi reasoned. “That is why we must need a much more firm source of information and evidence.”
“Yeah…yeah…” Eiji muttered as he got out of the bath. Quickly toweling himself off and grabbing a large bathrobe, he put it on. “Unya…Oishi, I just get the sense of foreboding…I reaaaaally don’t think we should go to Bevelle.”
“It is not our place to decide and I can’t govern their opinions, you know” Oishi said.
“But you can persuade them, nya! Can’t you?” Eiji pleaded, going to stand next to his partner. Oishi shook his head.
“It is in our best interest to go to Bevelle. As you said before, you’ve seen the man’s face. Perhaps someone in Bevelle could identify him. We could perhaps find help there” Oishi countered.
“And someone could recognize us!”
“From what I heard, the people of Bevelle are generally lazy. If we disguise ourselves, we won’t be recognized. I doubt they use their powers on random people.” Eiji pouted at that fact and flung his arms around Oishi’s neck.
“Nya! Fine, we go to Bevelle, but if anything goes wrong, we’re out that instant, ok?” the red head murmured against the older boy’s neck. Oishi wrapped his arms around the other youth’s waist.
“Of course.” The two stayed like that for a moment when suddenly, Eiji cried out.
“Oishi! Look!” he pointed to a figure outside of the window. “It’s Ryoma!” Indeed, among the crowd outside, Ryoma was there, a cloak of white around his shoulders and his golden eyes looked back at them. He gave them only a subtle nod of acknowledgement before moving along through the crowd. “Unya! Should he be allowed to go by himself?” Eiji asked. He gave little time to think before changing his clothes. Oishi hastily shut the curtains.
“I want to go explore the place too! Nya! No fair! Come on, Oishi!” Eiji exclaimed, fully dressed already. He put on his cloak and grabbed Oishi’s. “Let’s go, let’s go!” He flung the cloak at Oishi and then grabbed the keys and rushed out the door.
“Eiji!” The older youth only gave a sigh of defeat. “And when I thought we could finally rest a bit…”
~*~
Ryoma pulled the hood of the cloak over his head as he walked tough the crowded streets of Neibelheim. There were loud voices of cheering and joy. It was evident that they were celebrating. What, Ryoma didn’t know. He should have asked Momo about it earlier, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk, as they say. He walked pass several shops where it was incredibly crowded. None of them were the kind of shops he was looking for.
“Young man! Yes, you there, in the white!”
Ryoma looked up to see a large burly man gazing down on him.
“What do you want?”
“I have seen you before, have I not?” inquired the man. “I would never forget someone with such a distinct look!”
“No, we’ve never met. If you’d excuse me, I have things to do” Ryoma said, dodging to the side and disappearing into the crowd before the man could speak. ‘Really…city people,’ Ryoma thought to himself. Walking onward, he stuck closer to the shadows this time, not wanting another person to pull him aside. The youth turned a corner and came upon a street that was rather dark with less people on it. Without another thought, the golden eyed boy walked down that street.
Obviously, it was the slums of Neibelheim. Ryoma smirked; perhaps what he sought was near. There were shops here, just not as crowded as those out on the main streets. Entering a shop to his left, Ryoma lowered his hood so it covered the majority of his face. Upon his travels with his old mentor, Nanjirou, he was taught that in the lower classed shops, you could get the same item from the upper classed shops for different prices. What store Ryoma had wandered into was a weapon house.
“Welcome, young sir” said the woman behind the counter. “Is there anything I could help you with?” Ryoma laid down a pure-gold coin onto the counter. He whispered something into the woman’s ear and she practically glared at him with venom. “Very well” she said. “Come with me.” The woman got up from her place at the counter and led him into the back of the shop. She turned on the oil lamps that lit the darkness of the room. “Choose what you want, but the limit is three. When you’re finished, come back and we’ll negotiate the total price.”
Being a Seer or an apprentice-Seer still had its benefits. Ryoma smiled sadistically.
A short while later, after leaving the weapon house, Ryoma wandered down the street. He needed to do something else before he should go to the Rumor Mill and check up on information there. The golden eyed boy suddenly spotted a small shop that was half hidden by another larger one. The one was in the corner and there was no sign up, stating what sort of shop it was. “This is it…” Ryoma muttered as he walked up to the shop. Giving the wooden door a push, he entered the building.
It was a dark and dank place, with an overall mysterious feeling. Items were scattered about and dust covered the floor. There were little footprints in the snow of dust, signifying that rarely anyone set foot in here.
“Who is there?” called an old voice.
“A customer” Ryoma answered in return.
“And what does the customer need?”
“Why don’t you just come out?” Ryoma called out, now getting irritated. “I can see why you don’t get many customers these days.”
“Be patient, young one!” There was a shuffling of papers as an old feeble man appeared behind the counter with a large smile upon his face. “Here I am! Banji is my name, what do you need?”
Leaning onto the counter, which was surprisingly clean, unlike the rest of the place, Ryoma started to speak very quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “I heard that you are able to remove anything from anything. I want you to remove this from my hand.” Ryoma placed his hand, palm up, onto the table. The old man’s eyes widened when he saw that. He reached for his glasses that hung from his neck.
“Why…dear me!” Banji exclaimed, his smile wavering. “Why is a…crystal…in your hand? Did it get stuck there in an accident?”
“Can you get it out or not?” Ryoma asked, ignoring the old man’s questions. The old man continued to examine Ryoma’s hand carefully.
“It’s not impossible…” Banji said slowly. “But I’d say that it’d be best left alone…”
“Explain” Ryoma demanded.
“Look here, you might not be able to see it with your untrained eyes, but I can see it perfectly clear. The crystal has grown…roots into your hand. If I were to remove it, it’d be terribly painful for you” Banji explained. “May I…?” However, without waiting for an answer, Banji had swept a finger over the crystal embedded into Ryoma’s hand. “The crystal is…hard, just like a regular crystal should be. But it has a pulse…I’d be much afraid to touch it, dear customer, sir!”
“If you couldn’t have done anything, then you should have said so sooner!” Ryoma snapped, letting his hand drop to his side.
“I didn’t say that, now, did I?” Banji spoke with a mysterious smile. “I would remove it if you’d like.”
“Then do so” Ryoma said. “And could you do so quickly?”
Banji chuckled with amusement. “Very well, sir customer! Come with me!” Banji said, leading the way pass the shelves of miscellaneous items. There was a hidden room behind one of the shelves. “Not many people know that I was once famous in my youth! Heehee! You must posses some intelligence there, despite the fact you have a crystal lodged into your hand! Come, come…I shall do this quickly…”
They walked down a flight of stairs and then arrived at a
rather dim-lighted place by torches along the wall. “Well…go stand in the
middle of the room. Yes, there, in the middle of the
“Alright. Just start already” Ryoma said.
“Impatient, impatient…” Banji muttered. He knelt
down onto the floor and placed his hand at the very tip of the
“Sir customer! I am going to strengthen the spell now!” Banji called out.
“Go ahead!” Ryoma gritted out through his teeth.
“Very well” Banji consented. He did indeed strengthen the spell because now, the glow had turned from the electrical blue color into a deep green and then into yellow and then into a fiery red color.
It was that instant when everything changed into the fiery red when Ryoma felt pain coursing through every inch of his body. He had never felt such pain! He wanted to cry out, but something was preventing him to. Before he knew it, he was shuddering. Then, he heard a noise that sounded like the tearing of flesh. Indeed, it was because he just saw the crystal was half torn out of his hand, the other half still embedded. Blood flowed freely from his hand and dripped onto the floor. Using his other hand, he gripped his injured arm tightly. The pain was…quite an overload to his brain. It wasn’t registering anything. Ryoma fell to his knees, still gripping onto his arm. “Ugh…”
“Now!” Banji exclaimed as he unleashed the final amount of power needed to remove the crystal. The crystal tore completely from Ryoma’s hand.
“AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
~*~
“
“Yes there is”
“I don’t feel it” came the reply.
“Well, I do. Let’s go find out—”
“Earthquake?” Inui voiced. Everything then became
still again, leaving the two to wonder what had happened. “Look!
~*~
“Unya!” Eiji exclaimed. Just a moment ago, the street started to shake terribly and the red head was thrown to the ground. “What was that?!”
“I don’t know” Oishi said as he quickly helped the red head to his feet. Suddenly, someone in the crowd pointed upwards and screamed. Instinctively, everyone else looked up as well. Some started to run for it immediately and the noise started to get impossibly loud.
“Nya! What the hell is that?!” Eiji’s eyes became impossibly wide as he sunk to the ground again, still clutching Oishi’s arm. “Unya…I’ve never seen anything like that…”
Floating above the (nearly) destroyed buildings was a creature of fire. Burning bright and still, the bird slowly raised its head and gave a sorrowful call. It flapped its magnificently colored wings and a wave of heat rushed at them; it scorched the top of buildings without burning it. All noise in the city was silenced when it cried out again. Sorrowful…was every sound.
“What…?” Eiji seemed to have regained his legs as he stood up. “It…it wants something…It’s calling for it…”
“I can feel it too” Oishi said, resting a hand upon his heart. “Also…I feel its pain…”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Eiji exclaimed, pulling the older boy with him as they ran through the thinning crowd. “Come on!”
Of course, they were not the only ones headed in that direction.
The two ran down a deserted street and came upon a
building that was completely destroyed. Its walls had fallen away, though, as
if something had come out of it, pushing the walls from falling inward. It was
directly below the crying
--To Be Continued…