After getting more specific directions from Shula, the group split up so that Angel, Akira, and Rashid could head to where the scents were gathered. When they arrive, they see somebody fighting off the Masked Figures. Akira’s face lit up with excitement.
“That’s Lando Obi III, a Pillar of Fawn!”
Angel is surprised to see that he had effortlessly fought off a horde of the masked people.
'So this is what a Pillar of Fawn is capable of eh.'
Lando defeats the last one and throws the corpse to the side. He is concerned about the brewing crisis in Kazahana.
'I’d heard of the rumors but to think that they were true, this could be troublesome. I must report back to Fawn about this.'
Akira rushes to Lando while Angel and Rashid cautiously follow behind him. Rashid looks uncomfortable around the bodies and Angel can tell, though he chooses not to say anything. Lando turns to them and Akira introduces them to him. After getting a closer look, Angel recognizes Lando from the hotel.
'Well that explained his deep pockets.'
Lando notices how empty zero is.
“Did they take everyone?”
Angel answers. “Yes. These creeps took everyone but us three.” He intentionally left out Ren and Shula since he was unsure if he could trust a Fawnian official.
Lando begins to think. "Kidnapping? Were they only keeping me distracted?"
Rashid looks around and begins to shiver. Akira asks him if he is okay to which he responds “these don’t feel like humans.”
Lando and Angel look at Rashid confused. Akira realizes that he never clarified what Rashid was exactly.
“I guess I forgot to mention that Rashid can communicate with spirits.”
Angel snaps at Akira. “That seems like a significant detail to skip over!”
Rashid starts to cry.
“They are happy that they died, they are so loud, it’s almost as if they speak as they are one.”
In one combined voice, all of the corpses begin to speak.
“O F F E R I N G S H A V E B E E N O B T A I N E D.”
The corpses quickly sink into the ground and the group is startled. Lando States that he is going to Terrerium, the Capitol of Fawn, to give a report on everything that transpired in Anti Peak. He apologizes for not being able to save everyone and says that though he is exhausted, he can take the boys with him as an apology. He claims that it’ll probably be safer to be in a big city rather than out in the woods. Akira and Rashid agree to his offer. Angel (with sass) declines saying he has somewhere else to be. Lando’s arms become wings and he tells the boys to get on his back. He assures them that the flames from his wings won't burn them. Akira looks at Angel.
“It’s been nice dilly dallying with you citizen, but it seems that we have to part ways here.”
Akira walked off and hopped on Lando’s back. Rashid walked up to Angel.
“May our paths cross again.”
Angel smirked. “Of course.”
They shook hands and Rashid hopped on Lando’s back as well. The three quickly flew off into the distance and out of sight. Angel sighs.
'Well, this ended sooner than I thought. I may still be able to catch up with Ren if I leave now.'
Suddenly…
“SAHARRR!”
Angel looks over and sees the girl in the suit from earlier, all bloodied and in tattered clothes. She locks eyes with him and approaches him expeditiously with tears in her eyes. Angel is worried that she may press him about the money from earlier. Once up close, she hits Angel’s chest and begins to cry.
“Why...why did she get taken?”
Amani stops crying and asks where Lando is. Angel asks if he’s the man who did this to her and she confirms that it was him. Angel was a bit on edge.
'Why did he fight with them?'
Amani mumbles with the last bit of her energy “I pray that the dragon made it to safety at least,” before fainting in Angel’s arms.
'There goes me catching up with Ren.'
Angel sighs and looks up.
'This is going to be a long trip I suppose.'
------------------------------
Ren is carrying an unconscious Shula through the forest.
'She looks so calm now, I want to ask her so many questions, like where she came from, but first I need a place to sleep. Angel gave me a good amount of supplies so I should set up camp soon.'
For the next few weeks, Ren and Shula traveled south through the forest. They had enough food for the both of them but Shula chose to hunt animals for food instead of eating with Ren. The two didn’t talk very much during their trip at all. Shula was still trying to be weary of Ren out of fear. Ren didn’t know how to approach her feeling that she may go berserk if he goes about it incorrectly. This goes on for most of the trip until one day, they run into trouble. At some point along the way, the two had found a beaten up wagon that was missing a wheel. Ren decided that Shula probably needed more rest to heal her wound then what she had been getting. Shula was quick to refuse his offer but Ren took the wagon with them anyway. Eventually, there was a day where she was too tired to walk, so she finally slept in the wagon while Ren pulled her and the bag of supplies through the woods. After a while they reach a river that they have to cross. Ren puts the wagon down to observe how fast the water is moving. He checks in on Shula to see if she is able bodied enough to cross.
“Hey Shula. You feel up to crossing this river? Or do you wanna find another route?”
Shula did not respond.
Ren turned around to see that the wagon he had set down was empty. Then comes the voice of a stranger.
“Don’t you love it when your patience is rewarded?!”
Ren looks across the river and sees a chubby man holding a sword to Shula’s neck. She was barely conscious enough to struggle.
'She must’ve lost too much blood! I shoulda forced her to rest in the wagon until we got there rather than letting her go hunting.'
Ren spoke up.
“What do you want with the dragon?!”
The stranger grinned.
“OHOHOHO so THAT’S what she is. I bet this would be a good gift to bring back to the boss.”
Ren facepalmed realising that he confirmed the man’s suspicions.
“Just let her go man.”
“I don’t want to.”
Ren sighed. He readied his Black Mamba and cocked his hand back.
The man thought to himself. [What does this guy think he’s doing?]
Then, with tremendous speed and power, Ren threw his bo staff like a spear, landing a blow right in the man’s face leaving him unconscious. Ren then made his way across the river and up to Shula. He knelt down to check on her. “Are you okay?” he asked. She slowly lifted her finger to point just slightly past Ren’s head.
“Be..hind.”
Ren realised what she was trying to say a moment too late. The man had gotten the jump on him and slashed into Ren’s back.
“Don’t get too cocky, kid! I’ve been hit worse than that.”
Ren was struggling to get back up with the huge gash that was put in his back. Once he was finally up he began to wobble.
“It seems like you still want to fight me. You must be a fool if you think you aren’t gonna bleed out before you get near me.”
Ren’s wobbling stopped. He looked up and took a deep breath before dashing at the man. The man swung his sword aiming for Ren’s neck. Ren ducked right before countering with a strong right hook to the face. He followed up with a kick that broke the man’s knee before cartwheeling behind him to get his Mamba. In a desperate attempt to avoid another hit, the man swung his sword at Ren who was now behind him. Unfortunately for him, the former thief was very agile. Ren leaped over the sword and slammed Black Mamba into the man’s skull, shattering it to pieces.
Ren smirks and says, “have you ever been hit worse than THAT?” before losing consciousness and falling to the ground.
------------------------------
Ren wakes up to shula snuggled up on him staring into his eyes.
“Greetings!”
“Good...morning?” Ren says awkwardly. “Where are we?”
“I found this cave near a pond. I don’t think people will come to attack us here.”
“How long was I asleep for?”
“Two days.”
Ren didn’t respond.
They laid together in silence for a minute or two. Ren asked another question.
“What do you plan on doing now? Do you not have anywhere to go?”
Shula looks away from Ren and at the ground.
“Sorry, I should’ve eased into the questions before bombarding you.”
Shula notices a plant in the ground.
“What is that?”
Ren observes the plant for a moment and looks at her.
“Never seen a flower?”
Shula shakes her head.
Ren continues.
“There are plenty of plants like this all over, though it’s hard to find them during winter.”
This excites Shula.
“Show me!”
Ren smiled. “We gotta travel to do that. If you still want to tag along with me and my brother, we can pick as many flowers as you like. We could even start now.”
“Really?!”
Shula gets up and begins to walk around the small pond picking flowers. Ren sits up to stretch and yawn. He turns around to see a goat staring at him. After a moment the goat headbutts Ren.
“What’s the deal with this goat?!”
Suddenly an unknown man appears behind Ren.
“My apologies. Master isn’t very good with new people.”
Ren turns to see a tall, muscular man standing behind him with his eyes closed.
'Who is this freak?'
Comments (0)
See all