CHAPTER THREE: Dungeon Full of Peaches
-.-.-.-
"What are you doing?"
A twisted gnarled branches creaked with the heavy snow resting themselves upon its ice hardened boughs, powder of frost dusting the crevices.
The boy kicked its trunk petulantly, willing it to start growing peaches that instant, because damn it, he had the best magical braid ever seen in the world. He was an eleven year old who could make ice appear and float above the ground.
He had and did everything the Al Thaman told him to be the best Magi in the world, to surpass everyone else and rise above them. So a stupid tree like that one had better start giving him its peaches.
It didn't.
Growling, he ignored the girl as she asked the same stupid question again. The third time, he turned told her to get lost before he kills her. While he would find her emerging boldness (and complete stupidity) entertaining at times, he wasn't in the mood at that moment.
She blinked lavender eyes that brightened in the frosted air. "You won't kill me."
"And why's that?" He grumbled, still attacking the tree. Why the hell did Falan hide all the peaches in storage for winter just to make him eat his vegatables?
"Because I have peaches."
He froze.
"But I'm making a deal with you," she continued, wrapping her fur covering over her shoulders tighter.
"Just gimme the food."
"Fine. I won't," she puffed out her frost reddend cheeks and turned to leave.
She counted four snow crunching steps with her leather winter boots.
"Wait."
She smiled and turned.
Mounds of snow, black pebbles, woolen cloaks and one cold peach filled their empty winter day.
-.-.-.-
Judar was almost worried as Kougyoku became stiff and cold as they approached the dungeon she was to defeat.
Key word being "almost", because he didn't do worrying.
He said to her, "Hey, Gyoku."
Then, "Hey, you okay hag?"
Finally, he simply looked into her face, annoyed at her lack of response. Her expression was detached and blank, but those pink eyes were swirling with fire and life, as if she was in another demension already.
Judar didn't say more directly to her, knowing that his words will be swept away along with the winds above the sea, grazing next to her ears and tangling in her red hair, never to be heard.
That's when the Magi knew he didn't need to think any longer, because she was a king vessel he had picked.
He's very good at what he does, he knows. Yes, he chose his king vessels very carefully.
-.-.-.-
A man who tried to connect the world.
A genius who just wanted peace.
A young, girly boy who wanted to be respected.
A compassionate heart who became a general before she married.
An invisible, disoriented mess who strove to be strong.
And...
Soon, very soon, Judar will crown a boy who had lost everything.
Just like the Oracle of Kou himself.
-.-.-.-
Pushing out the last of the rocks through the crack with a gasp, Kougyoku stepped into a new room. Wiping her hands with a shiver, a choke in the back of her throat, she decided to go ahead and forget everything that happened in there.
She would tell no one.
The dungeon was sapping her strength with its attacks that touch her spirit's sensitivity, the darkest corners where she had tried to shove all her fears, but they creep back, drawn like moths to a flame when she became weak. Fighting, Kougyoku could deal with. In fact, she rather enjoyed the rush of power, excitement, and purpose that came with a sword.
The princess wouldn't much longer. Twice, she had been saved by sheer luck and fate, and god knew how unreliable that was. But it seemed she could make it. The door with the eight pointed star stood before her then, a square pool standing in the way.
Kougyoku looked into the pool, and could only see darkness. Squinting her eyes at a small flash in the depths, she tilted her head and leaned closer, teetering on the marble edge.
The blue water suddenly rose in tendrils and grabbed her by the shoulders and hands before pulling her swiftly in. At the last surprised second, she took a quick breath, a startled flutter of air.
Darkness. That was the ultimate isolation. Heavy forces pushing from all sides, but no one, nothing at all in sight. She looked behind her, and panicked when there was no surface, no exit fr where she should have come from. Only darkness.
Bubbles and gurgles escaped her mouth as she sobbed into the pitch black water, her heart squeezing and beating in fear. Suddenly, at the corner of the princess's eye, she saw a flash of light.
A perfect, pure pearl sat in the bottom. Glowing with innocent pale gold, iridescent to the eye. Waves of lights echoed around it, fading like ripples of a raindrop.
Kougyoku started swimming towards it quickly, deeper into the dark waters. Her air supply running out, she went faster before reaching in and grasping the pearl. It was smooth, so perfect and beautiful. Looking up, the girl could finally see the surface, a small square of blue in the distance.
But she couldn't make it, she knew she couldn't as her body started moving on its own in desperation. In the soft glow of the pearl in her hand, she saw the remains of others who had made it that far but couldn't make it all the way. And Kougyoku knew she was about to be one of them.
A hand grasped her wrist.
She was pulled up a dark shadow, and started feeling panic and elation as the square of blue became larger and larger. At the last moment, when she had almost given up for no reason except fear that the blueness was just an illusion, air surrounded her, and she could breath again.
Coughing, her shoulders convulsing while bile clawed the back of her throat, she saw what made her happier than she had ever been in her whole life thus far. "Judar-chan! Ka Koubun!"
Panting a little, Judar pulled one of her sagging hair loops feebly, "Old hag. Would have died if I didn't come when I did." Flopping onto his back, he continued, "Now I'm tired. Remind me to never try to save your ass again and just have Glasses do it."
She watched Judar. She realized he did not have the power to save, but only the power to destruct. He could freeze the water, but it would kill her. He could try to raise the water in the air to use gravity magic and pull her out. But the force of using it on someone other than himself would crush Kougyoku with its force.
So she didn't mention it.
"I'm glad your safe, Princess. I didn't see any of the soldiers in the dungeon," Koubun rolled his eyes at Judar's nickname for him and helped the still wheezing girl up.
Kougyoku didn't reply, and instead stared at the pearl in her hand as she slowed her breathing. It fit her palm perfectly, and as she admired its simple beauty, a gnawing started in her chest, like something digging in her heart for space.
It was the most beautiful thing in the world. She would die for it. Kill for it.
"Uh, old hag."
Kougyoku tore her eyes away from the pearl and looked sightlessly at Judar. He raised an eye brow. "You have to open the door with that pearl."
The princess made a move closer to the door, but then halted to a stop when she realized that after the door opened, there was no way of getting the pearl back. It was special. She couldn't let it out of her sight. Kougyoku's hand clutched the pearl and she refused to move. "No, I can't."
Judar gripped her left shoulder slowly, carefully, and touched the pearl once, shattering the enchantment. The princess blinked. It was just an ordinary pearl then. Pretty, but nothing special.
"Idiot, that's how some people died when they decided that they would rather throw their lives away than lose the pearl, and went back into the pool. It's a test of loss." Without another word, Judar took the pearl and inserted it into the dent. Immediately, the door shined gold through the cracks and etchings of rolling oceans and brilliant suns.
The door opened, blinding the princess with light once more.
-.-.-.-
"Why do you like peaches so much?" Kougyoku asked one day. "I mean, that's literally all I have ever seen you eat."
"It is the food of gods," Judar said with a grim, solemn look
"I don't get it though... how do you even survive?"
"Don't be a drama queen," Judar rolled his eyes, clearly overlooking the fact he exaggerated his own words not two seconds ago. "The royal family all eat meals alone, and same goes for me, the Magi. But it's boring as hell." The boy stretched out in a yawn before standing up.
"C'mon."
"What? Where?" Kougyoku asked, startled at his sudden change in mood. Judar was always unpredictable and strange, even more so as he grew older, then sixteen. But she smiled at that thought, since even if he gave up on her, she wouldn't give up on him.
"Getting more stuff to eat from the kitchens. They always let me have my way. You coming?"
Kougyoku stood as well, brushing off her clothes before smiling. Sometimes, he acted nicer than usual. On good days, it seemed natural. "Fruits are good. No vegetables though."
"My thoughts exactly."
-.-.-.-
"I am Vinea, controller of seas and dictator of sorrow. Humans, which of you desires to be king?"
Judar watched silently in midair as Kougyoku stepped forward. She looked worn out, tired. But he could see flames again in the sunken eyes, and he smirked at another victory close at hand.
"I want to," Kougyoku said, head tilted back to see the djinn's face. A large scaly dragon with three blue tails, empty, dead eyes the color of silver moons, marks like tear tracks running down her long face. That was the expression of mourning, a chilling aura that never fades away. A room filled with treasure, but no warm glow, just a cold, damp feeling with the triumph.
"Human girl, why do you wish to be king?"
"I... " Kougyoku stopped before taking a deep breath, "I want to become stronger for my family - and for myself as well!"
The djinn leaned closer, necklaces of simple sea shells clinked together, things that somehow felt comforting to look at, and a sun like crown adornined the serpent like head. Vinea tilted her head, examining Kougyoku with a cold stare before they warmed slightly with understanding.
"I accept you as my king, " she said. Reaching to the princess, she tapped once at the girl's gold hairpin stuck in red hair before whirling through the eight pointed star imprinted on the gold in a hurricane of winds and water. The same sign disappeared from the metal water jug that was the old metal vessel.
Kougyoku, stunned - was that victory? had she finally succeeded in something - started as Koubun grabbed her wrist, shouting over the rumbling of the collapsing dungeon, Judar waved them over to the glowing magic circle Vinea made appear, and once again, the girl, almost woman, broke through the ocean of a sky between the universe and earth.
Kougyoku had to grin again, and it felt as if she was flying, weightless and free. Finally, she had won something and gained a name.
Kougyoku, the eighth princess. Not forgotten, not lowborn. Ren Kougyoku, dungeon capturer and king candidate of the Kou empire.
-.-.-.-
Author's note -
In the Magi fanbook, Judar's favorite food was peaches, and Kougyoku's was fruit in general. Both disliked vegatables. Also an extra mini manga from the backstage that basically shows Judar being bored as hell of eating alone and decided to attack (?) everyone with peaches.
I kid not. Go to youthinkyouknowthings on tumblr. The tag of Magi is full of backstage translations.
Thank you for reading! Please help critic and maybe correct if I missed anything.