Chapter 7 – City in the Sky
A/N: I'm finally back with a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
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Three men were making their way to the imprisonment area. Two were masked men while the third was a knight carrying a sword.
"Finally, I was wondering when we will get something to do," one of them said.
"What will our master do with the human though?" the second asked gruffly.
He shrugged. "How would I know? But if you want to know what I think-"
"Enough talking!" The knight snapped. "Fetch the child,"
"Alright, alright," the shapeshifter muttered in annoyance. Black mist came out of their backs to form their wings and the two flew down to one of the hanging cages.
"Hey, human! It's time to get-" the man trailed off at the sight of the empty cage.
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Tomi slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around to see he was still in the same place he slept in last night. There was nothing but ash remaining from the fire.
Blinking away the sleepiness, he also saw that Taiko was gone. Memories of last night came back to him and he groaned, throwing himself back onto the grass.
He buried his face in his hands as he recalled the conversation they had. "Ugh! Why did I admit that to him?" he muttered, feeling beyond stupid. The man was probably somewhere laughing at how far the boy fallen for his deception when they were at the village.
Sighing, he pulled himself up again and turned to the wall, suddenly noticing something he didn't recall seeing last night. There were drawings on the wall. They were quite old and he could barely make out some of them. He brushed the dusty surface with his hand and narrowed his eyes to get a better look.
There were people, or at least that's what he assumed the faded black silhouettes were. They were gathered around a person floating in the air and right above him was a-
Tomi frowned and took out the glass eye, briefly glad that Taiko hadn't found it with him. He held out the eye near the shape to see they matched. He lowered the eye and stared at the painting in wonder.
What did this mean? What was so significant about that shape?
Turning away from the painting on the wall, the boy walked out of the narrow pathway and made it to the edge. He stared blankly at the buildings and towers glaring down at him.
What was he supposed to do? Where was he supposed to go? It might take him weeks before he found his way around here, but he didn't have that much time to search the city either.
He had only one day left.
Gulping, he gazed down at the surface far below. Even if he, someway, somehow, managed to find out where they kept his sister, how was he going to get them out of here? Was their village even nearby? For all he knew, they might be thousands of miles away from home.
Tears of frustration began welling up in the boy's eyes as he fought to stay hopeful despite everything.
"Hey, you there!"
Tomi stiffened and turned to see two knights marching toward him. He tried to hide his panic with a strained smile.
"H-hi, is there something I can help you with?" he asked innocently.
"You can drop the act. We know who you are, boy," the knight said and the child paled. "I'm not sure how you got out of your cage, but you've wandered around long enough,"
"The Master wants to see you, so come over and don't make this harder for yourself," the other man added.
Tomi gulped nervously as the two stepped closer. His eyes then widened and he gasped. "Wait, what are you doing here?"
The two knights paused and looked back to see who he was talking to, but saw nobody. They turned just in time to see a blur of white and black disappearing around the corner.
"You little- Come back now!" the knight yelled as they ran after the boy. While they chased him, he placed his hand on his helmet, causing the horns on them to glow.
Tomi meanwhile glanced back and saw the knights weren't really fast, probably because of the heavy armor they were wearing. He almost felt relieved by that only to yelp when a ball of light flew over his shoulder.
Looking back in surprise, he saw the two knights creating signs with their hands and orbs of light formed around them before shooting toward him.
Panicking, he tried to evade it, but couldn't. One of the orbs struck his arm and it went limp on his side, much to his horror.
I can't move it! He thought, terrified as he tried to shake the numbness away. He turned around the corner and saw crowds of people walking about. The boy quickly rushed through them, muttering apologies at every person he pushed past and nearly ran into in his haste. "Excuse me, sorry!"
He reached the city plaza and looked around, paling when he saw more guards were coming after him now. Two tried to grab him and he quickly rolled out of the way, causing them to collide and fall over.
Panting, the child pulled himself up with his still moving hand and started running again as more orbs flew over his head.
He was running by some buildings when a strong hand suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him into a dark alley. Something wrapped around him preventing him from moving and a hand clapped over his mouth. Frightened, he struggled to escape, but the person didn't loosen their grip on him.
"Kid, calm down. It's me," the familiar voice of Taiko came.
How is that supposed to make me feel better!? Tomi thought frantically, but stopped struggling when the sound of the guards reached his ears. He heard their heavy footsteps get closer to the alley and his heart pounded violently in his chest. Soon enough, their murmurs grew fainter until he could no longer hear them.
Taiko seemed to be listening in case someone was still nearby and let him go once he deemed it safe.
"Phew, you really know how to avoid trouble, you know that?" the man said sarcastically.
The boy ignored him as he inspected his numb arm. The man seemed to notice this and asked. "What happened, kid?"
"The guards attacked me with some kind of…magic and now I can't move it!" the boy said anxiously.
"Oh, then you got nothing to worry about. They use that to keep someone from running away and capture them easily. It will go away soon," Taiko answered.
The boy sighed in relief, but then stepped away from him warily when he remembered who he was standing with. "Why are you here? Are you going to take me away too?"
The man sighed. "Kid, if I that's what I came here for then I wouldn't have saved you in the first place," he said.
"Then why did you do it?"
The man shrugged without giving him an answer. "So, you're still planning on heading to the sleeping chambers?" the man asked offhandedly.
"Of course I am!" Tomi exclaimed to him stubbornly and turned away, not knowing that he was heading in the wrong direction. The man sighed and spoke up.
"I'll help you,"
That got the boy to freeze up and turned to him with wide eyes. "What?"
"I'll show you where the sleeping chambers are," Taiko replied.
"Really!?" Tomi asked, but his excitement died almost immediately and he glared suspiciously at the man. "Why would you do that?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Because I got tired of watching you running around pointlessly like this,"
Tomi glared at him. He really didn't want to accept. Taiko was the last person he wanted help from considering he was the one who got him and his sister into this mess in the first place, but….what choice did have? The more time he wasted, the weaker the chance of saving his sister grew.
"Fine," Tomi said.
"Alright, now let's-"
"But," Tomi cut him off with a cold glare. "If they did anything to my sister, I will never forgive you," he muttered and walked away.
The man stood there for a moment before sighing and walking after him.
What had he got himself into?
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"So, where is that place?" Tomi asked as they walked on a bridge over some gardens.
"They're on the other side of the city in the north. We'll get there in two hours by foot," Taiko answered. Tomi hummed as he absorbed this in formation.
"Though, we need to do something about that," he added.
Tomi stopped and looked at him. "About what?"
"We can't have you walking around like that. All the guards probably know what you look like by now," the man explained.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" the boy muttered.
Taiko thought about it. "Well, I could give you my mask to wear." He reached for his waist and grabbed the mask hanging there, holding it out for the boy.
The boy shuddered at the sight of the horned mask. He still got that odd feeling when staring at it and it made his skin crawl. "No, I don't to wear that,"
"Fine, it wouldn't have worked anyway. Kids aren't allowed to wear these," Taiko shrugged and put it back. "I can't fly you there because that will surely attract attention. You know, if you let me I could transform into my beastly form and fly you to the chambers in my stomach,"
Tomi stared at him for a moment slack jawed before finding his voice. "Eww, NO!" he exclaimed, shuddering.
Taiko sighed in frustration. "Then how about you come up with something instead of shooting down my ideas."
Tomi crossed his arms in thought. "I don't know. How do I stop them from recognizing me?"
"How about you start with your clothes," Taiko said, pointing at his white, orange and black attire. "With all of us wearing grey and black, you really stand out like a sore thumb."
The child frowned. "Okay…..but where will I get new clothes?"
Taiko rubbed his neck and looked around until he saw a laundry line between two buildings with some clothes hanging on them. The man smirked.
"I'll be right back," His wings sprouted on his back and he took off into the air. He hovered close to the line and grabbed a shirt before descending back to the child. "Here,"
Tomi hesitantly took the grey shirt and inspected it, frowning at the big brown stain near the collar. He slowly put it on and grimaced when he saw it was almost reaching his knees, obviously belonging to an older man.
"It looks great on you," Taiko remarked and Tomi glared at him, catching the mirth in his voice.
"It's not so bad I guess," Tomi sighed as he looked at himself. It least now he could blend in with everyone. "Let's go, we don't have time to los-" the boy fell silent when his stomach made loud rumble, causing him to blush.
"It seems someone hadn't had their breakfast yet," Taiko muttered with a smirk. "I'm kind of hungry myself. Let's go find something to eat," he said and began to walk ahead.
"No, we have to keep moving!" Tomi protested as he ran after him.
"You say that, but that's not what your stomach wants," the man teased.
"What my stomach wants doesn't matter," Tomi grumbled and his stomach made another noise causing him to groan. "Alright, fine. Let's just hurry,"
The two made their way through the city until they reached a place where many colorful stands were set. Taiko made his way to one of them and greeted the old man there.
"Oh, hello! You haven't came by in a while," he said with smile.
"I was just on long mission," Taiko shrugged, grinning. "Two buns, please," he asked, while Tomi waited behind him with his arms crossed.
"Here you go," the old man offered him the food and then noticed the boy wearing the oversized shirt. "Well, aren't you a cute little guy," he said. Tomi's face burned and he looked away immediately. "Who is he?"
Taiko paused and exchanged a look with Tomi before turning to the old man. "Uh….he's my little brother!" he answered, ruffling the boy's hair. Tomi glared at him, but didn't move away while the man was grinning widely. "Anyway, we should be going now,"
"Oh, right. I hope you have a good day," the old man smiled and the two hurried away.
Tomi looked down at the bun in his hands. It seemed to be bread with something sweet and sticky covering it. He looked up to see the shapeshifter already munching on his own and frowned. He still had no idea if the food in this place could be harmful for him. It wasn't made for humans after all. Hesitating, the boy took a bite and swallowed.
It…wasn't really that bad. A little too chewy for his liking, but he found himself taking another bite. Glancing around while eating, Tomi noticed something that made him stop.
"What are those two doing up there?" he asked, pointing at the two people standing on the edge of the large building.
Taiko followed his gaze and hummed. "They're sentinels. They are stationed there to keep watch,"
Tomi frowned. "But what about the armored men? Isn't that what they do?"
"Well, it is in a way, but my kind are much more powerful. We deal with whatever that can put the city in great danger,"
"You're not doing that," the child pointed out.
"Because I'm not a sentinel," Taiko shrugged and bit into his bun. "When we reach a certain age, we are given a certain role that we're expected to fulfill. Guarding the towers and temples in the city is one of them. There are also the scouts who search the surface and bring supplies to the Nest, and finally there are the seekers, which is what I am. We are sent to infiltrate human settlements without being discovered and bring….you know," the man trailed, leaving his words hanging in the air.
Tomi's eyes widened. So this wasn't the only instance where a shapeshifter snuck into a village to kidnap someone. It had occurred many times before. He gulped, not knowing what to do with the information he just learned.
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Taiko noticed the boy distancing himself from him and the man wanted to kick himself. Why did he tell him that? Wasn't he trying to get the kid to trust him?
"Stop!"
The man and child jerked back at the voice and turned to see a knight marching over to them.
"Um…hello there. How can I help you?" Taiko asked tensely.
"There is a human child hiding in the city. I was given the task to search among every child to find him," the knight said, his voice cold and detached. It sent a shiver down their spines.
"Well, you don't have to worry. My little brother here is no way a human!" Taiko laughed nervously.
"Then prove it,"
"What?" Taiko sputtered, his fake smile falling.
"Prove that he is not a human. It shouldn't be difficult since you are telling the truth, correct? Just know that the punishment for harboring a human is quite severe,"
Taiko felt his blood run cold and his heart hammered against his chest. What we're they going to do? How was he supposed to prove the kid was a shapeshifter?
"I go to school here,"
The two looked down at the boy who was grinning innocently at them. "It's quite crowded and the lady who teaches there kind of scares me, but I like it because we get to learn about the surface!"
Taiko stood there stiffly as the kid continued rambling about the school that he shouldn't know about.
"Hmm, alright. That's enough," the knight said and began walking away.
Taiko rubbed his head as he tried to process what just happened. "I can't believe you randomly lied your way out of that,"
"Actually….it wasn't completely a lie. Yesterday before you found me, I got taken to the school," Tomi shrugged.
"What!?" Taiko gaped.
"Come on, we need to hurry!" Tomi muttered and ran on ahead without so much as an explanation.
"Wait, hold on!" Taiko called out, but the boy made no sign of hearing him. Sighing in defeat, the shapeshifter walked after him.
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A/N: Thanks for reading. These two are so snarky and I love it!
