Author's Corner

Finally, they've arrived at Namida (only took them about a hundred chapters lol). This chapter introduces a new character that will be very important to the narrative going forward, so I hope you like them. Thanks again for all the reviews! Please keep them coming because they inspire me to keep going!

The title of this chapter is kind of a sneaky nod to the Hidden Land from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games (which are still as brilliant and heart-wrenching as when they first came out so you should definitely play them if you haven't already). I always loved the music of that dungeon and the mystery of travelling through the Sea of Time to reach a mystical floating island, which Namida might be slightly inspired by... What? Don't judge me. It's not like I cried at the end or anything! ;_;

EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 26: The hidden land

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Once upon a time, two children held the power to move the stars.

They were born in a sandcastle on the outskirts of an ancient city, one boy and one girl. Bad people wanted to use their power for evil deeds, so their mother and father tried to take it away from them and send it back to the gods. However, the children were only babes, and the parents were warned that they may be too vulnerable to successfully complete the ritual.

Regardless, they made the attempt, and as predicted, the scheme went horribly wrong.

The boy was lost, leaving the girl all alone.

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Octavia couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago they'd been trapped in sea fret, because the bright sunshine and blue skies made the island look like a whole other place entirely.

Namida was unlike anything she'd ever seen, the leaves on the trees silver and glimmering brilliantly in the sunlight. Diamonds rose up from from the ground in places, sprouting amongst flowers and long grasses, and were also encrusted deep inside the hollows of trees. The tree trunks blinked on and off with purple light, like glow sticks at a concert. She touched the smooth bark as she walked and smiled, feeling the centuries-old power seep into her bones and settle there.

There were the remains of a path that they were walking on, but it looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Weeds and tiny green stalks grew out from the gaps in the cobblestones and honeybees flitted back and forth between the fauna busily. Butterflies frolicked through the air, and as they passed a small millpond, she spied a cluster of dragonflies chasing each other along the water's surface. Their beating wings winked with sunlight and she could hear birds singing in the trees.

The farther they ventured, the stranger the sights became.

Animals began to appear, intrigued by their presence on the island, but along with standard boars and monkeys came other creatures that Octavia hadn't seen before.

There were foxes with curiously human features, kappa, and raccoon dogs whose gazes followed her with a strange kind of sentience. There were huge birds with feathers every colour imaginable, horses with multiple heads, and many more. They all regarded her and Sesshoumaru with interest, and she studied them with an equal fascination.

She felt giddy, like she'd entered a wardrobe and stumbled accidentally into Narnia.

Her heart raced faster as they climbed a golden slope and reached a ledge overlooking a great glittering abyss. Waterfalls spilt over the edges into the ravine below and she was reminded slightly of Niagara Falls, only this place felt different. Magic swelled in the air and the falls gleamed with purple light. Huge chunks of diamond were also visible underwater right at the bottom of the ravine, causing the entire falls to glow.

"Crystal tears," she whispered, awe-struck. "Wow."

Sesshoumaru was similarly spellbound.

"So, where's the city supposed to be?"

"Look," he said, tilting his head towards a set of sparkling spires far beyond the falls. She squinted her eyes and thought they looked a bit like skyscrapers, although those kinds of buildings shouldn't yet exist in this era.

She was about to say something when a scream cut through the air, breaking the mystical atmosphere.

Their heads whipped quickly in the direction of it. A group of children were in a huddle by the cliff at the other side of the ravine, and Octavia gasped when she saw that one had fallen off the edge and was clinging onto the rock for dear life.

"Sesshoumaru!"

He quickly hooked an arm around her waist and leapt across the falls. The speed he flew at winded her and she wobbled when he put her down on the other side where the rest of the children stood. They gawked at them for a few seconds before the child hanging onto the cliff screamed again, and they rediverted their attention back down to him.

Octavia ran to the edge and gasped as she saw the little boy struggling to hold onto the chunk of crystal wedged into the cliffside. He was crying and shaking, and she looked around as if a rope would just manifest magically for her to throw to him.

"Save him!" she yelled at Sesshoumaru, but his eyes were calculative as he stared at the child.

"I cannot."

"Why!"

"Because, in case you haven't noticed, he is trapped between two battering waterfalls and there is nowhere for me to land at the bottom if I were to try and reach him."

"Hold on, can't you fly?"

"Not in this form."

"But you literally just did!"

"That was jumping."

She made a sound of aggravation and stole a glimpse down at the boy. Could he really only jump? To be fair, she hadn't seen that weird floating cloud of his since he'd been transformed. He couldn't use his whip or poison claws, either. It was hardly a stretch that he would have lost his flying abilities too.

Frustration boiled in her chest and she balled her fists.

"Try and use your whip again," she said.

"I cannot."

"You did it once! Just try, for goodness' sake!"

The vigour of her demand seemed to startle him and his eyes slid down to his hand hesitantly.

He wasn't used to taking orders.

He curled his fingers, face twisting with concentration, and then – disappointedly but perhaps unsurprisingly – nothing happened.

She wanted to scream.

The boy wailed again loudly and she turned to the other children. They were hanyou, she noticed then. Some had pointed feline ears, some had fur sprouting in odd patches across their skin, some had scales, and some had fins. She was rather surprised to see those with youkai blood on an island that was supposedly where the first mikos had been born.

"Right!" she addressed them all, making them jump. "Listen up, you lot. I need rope. Lots of it. Get me some if you want your friend to come out of this alive."

They didn't move, seemingly too shocked to respond.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go!"

The shock dissipated and they nodded frantically, then scampered off towards the city. She rushed back to the edge of the waterfall and got down on her knees to lean over. The child hanging there finally noticed her presence and stared up at her with big, terrified eyes.

"Hi!" she shouted, forcing herself to smile, "Can you hear me? You're going to be fine. Your friends have gone to get help, so just hold on until then!"

He managed to nod and she dug her fingers deep into the earth. He wasn't too far down. He was going to be okay. If he just held on and didn't let go, he'd be okay.

But she could see his small hands trembling. He might not be able to hang on for much longer. Who knew how quickly the others would take to find help? They might not get here in time.

The dice was in her hands. The outcome of this was up to her. She had to do something.

Now.

She reached inside herself and felt for her magic, but the damned seal refused to budge. She couldn't draw from herself again. Not after barely surviving the first attempt.

Where was the voice that had spoken to her?

Come on, she called for it. Didn't you promise me power?

No answer came.

She bit down on her tongue and tasted blood. The boy snivelled and she eased herself further over the edge, leaning and trying to reach down for him. The sharp rock dug into her palms and she chewed her lip vigorously, stretching as if she could somehow turn her body into elastic. Sesshoumaru simply watched her, and she felt her anger flare at his passiveness. He didn't move, he didn't speak, he didn't so much as flinch. Why wouldn't he try? She was the human. Wasn't he supposed to be supernatural and without flaw? Storybooks had taught her that he should be able to reach down the cliff without breaking a sweat and rescue the child in danger.

Wasn't he supposed to be able to do anything?

With that thought, the edge she was leaning over suddenly gave way and she felt herself falling. Time slowed and the boy's hands slipped from the edge, meaning that he was falling too. She managed to catch him and yanked him quickly into her chest, hoping to shelter him when they made impact with the ravine's churning waters below.

Please, she willed as they fell, calling behind that invisible door inside her.

She could see the sky as she fell, blue and speckled with clouds, and an air of acceptance nearly befell her at the sight . . . before determination surged through her veins like wildfire.

Something ignited in her and her skin exploded with violet sparks. They called to the crystals in the falls and the gems each flared to life, bright and glowing. The boy screamed and almost slid from out of her grasp, but she held him tight as the crystals twisted and mutated. And then, just before they reached the whirlpool at the bottom, a giant crystal rose up from underneath the water and caught them.

She gasped as her back collided with hard crystal. She sat up quickly, the boy in her lap clinging to her like a limpet. The gem structure that had risen and caught them was rising steadily, and it was glowing just like she was. In fact, every single crystal in the falls was, and her head spun as she looked at them. The platform continued to rise until it was level with the top of the falls where Sesshoumaru stood, eyes much wider than usual.

She met his gaze and felt the light coming from her skin shimmer. It was warm and certain but seeing the look in his eyes made it feel ferocious and jittery. Like a gathering storm, crackling with thunder and lightning.

Before she could even think about how to get across to him, a whir of blue shot out from the trees behind him and landed on the crystal platform in front of her.

It was a woman.

Her eyes were silver and her hair reminded Octavia of blue smoke. The pupils of her eyes were dark thin slits, and Octavia could see fangs tucked behind her grinning lips. Her ears resembled fins more than they did ears, fanned out and smooth, and her hands and feet were webbed. Upon closer inspection, she also noticed faint lines on either side of the demoness's neck which were very reminiscent of gills. Her kimono was a simple white, but what was surprising were the countless curved knives she had fastened to her obi.

Her brows quirked in a very Sesshoumaru-esque way and she said to herself, smirking, "Hmm. How odd."

You don't say.

Suddenly, the boy in her arms turned his head to see her and his face lit up immediately. "Nagi-san!" he squeaked and plummeted into her arms instead.

She caught him and the smirk on her lips lost a little of its sharpness.

"You have quite a knack for trouble, don't you, Haru-chan?" she said, and the weight on Octavia's chest lifted at the sound of her voice. She stroked the boy's hair and then lifted her gaze back to Octavia, studying her carefully. Her skin had stopped shimmering, as had the crystals, but she wasn't foolish enough to think that the demoness would simply dismiss her with no questions asked.

"I have never seen you before," she addressed her, "Who are you? How did you find this place?"

"My name is Octavia. He's Sesshoumaru. We heard about it from a friend so we sailed out and here we are. It's by chance we got here, really. We were lucky. I thought we were going to be stuck in that fog forever."

The fish woman's eyes moved to Sesshoumaru very briefly, before returning to Octavia. "I see," she said, "And why exactly did you come?"

"Um . . ."

She cast a quick glance over at Sesshoumaru. She didn't know whether to tell her the truth or to lie. This woman was a stranger. She could be dangerous. She could even be the very villain that had stripped them of their powers and lured them here. But yet, looking at her holding the little boy so warmly, Octavia sincerely doubted that.

Still, one could never be too careful.

"Did that sentence get away from you, star mage?"

Star mage.

That was new.

Octavia remained tight-lipped and the fish woman's grin stretched at the obvious tension in her features.

"Oh well," she smiled. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me how you came to possess such powerful Shikon magic instead."

"What Shikon magic?" called another voice from the cliff.

Octavia tilted her head as the fish woman did and saw a man approaching the edge where Sesshoumaru was. He was tall and broad, but unlike the being perched opposite her atop the crystal, he looked impeccably ordinary.

"Taro!" she frowned at him, "Aren't you supposed to be taking care of the class right about now?"

"I was," he replied, "But I left them with Ichika as soon as heard about Haru-chan. Now, you didn't answer. What Shikon magic?"

"This beanstalk here didn't grow itself."

Taro looked at the huge crystal structure and scratched his head, baffled. "I don't recall seeing that there yesterday. I say, it's enormous. Wherever did it come from?"

The fish woman caught Octavia's arm suddenly and held it up.

"It was her doing! I saw it with my very own eyes!"

"I did too!" Haru cried, grabbing her other arm. He was remarkably strong for such a little boy. "She saved me from falling with it. You shoulda seen it, Taro-san!"

"I didn't really do anything—" Octavia stammered, but he cut her off with more frantic praise.

"She was shining like a star! And then the whole falls lit up, just like in the stories! I couldn't believe it. It was amazing."

Octavia could feel her cheeks getting hotter the more they all studied at her, but then Taro turned his attention to Sesshoumaru, who had gone unusually quiet.

"And who might you be?" he asked, receiving a bored stare in response.

"Sesshoumaru," the fish woman told him, "And she's Okteviah."

There was that name again. Okteviah True Jewel. Did this stranger know more about her than she was letting on? It was too strange to be a coincidence.

"Actually, it's Octavia. Ok-tay-vee-ah."

"Octavia," she corrected herself, "Apologies. Okteviah is the name of one of our goddesses, you see."

"Really?"

Now that was very interesting.

"Mhmm. I'm Nagisa, by the way. That's my husband, Taro."

"And I'm Haru!" the little boy cried, and Octavia found a smile creeping onto her mouth. She hadn't looked at him properly until now. He was very cute. He had a shiny black bear's nose and round fuzzy ears that twitched in unison.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him.

Nagisa was still eyeing her strangely, and she wondered if she would throw them out for trespassing. Or maybe they'll cook you in a stew, her mind suggested cruelly. Aren't demons meant to eat humans?

She scolded herself for making feeding into the stereotype. Sesshoumaru didn't eat humans. At least she didn't think he did. Well, to be honest, she hadn't actually asked. He'd said to Rin that he didn't eat human food, which could mean he ate them as his food, but still . . .

She shook the obscene thought out of her head.

"Are the two of you alone?" Nagisa asked warily.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's just us."

She seemed to be contemplating something, her starlight eyes flickering as she looked her up and down. "Your accent is very unusual. I cannot place the region. Scratch that, I don't think I've ever met anyone who sounds like you do. Where was it you said you came from?"

"I'm from across the sea. Well, seas I suppose."

"Are you?"

She seemed excited to learn that.

"Yeah. Europe. You probably haven't heard of it."

Her fins twitched and she cocked her head sideways. "I must confess I haven't. An outlander and a star mage as well . . . What an unexpected treat." She turned her head and yelled, "Taro! We're taking them to the city!"

He blinked. "We are?"

"We are?" Haru parroted, only more eagerly.

"But of course. They're guests on the island. We must treat them with the utmost respect. Especially since we stand in the presence of Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands."

Sesshoumaru rose his brows and Octavia's jaw dropped.

"How do you know that?" she asked, but Nagisa only grinned.

"Come on," she said, offering her blue webbed hand, "Let's get off this thing and out of the wilderness. As nice as the falls are, I think you'll like the city even more, Octavia."

Feeling strangely confident in the demoness's integrity, Octavia took her hand and let her help her to her feet. As she stood, she looked down at the see-through surface of the crystal they were standing on and awed at it. Sunlight shone from it harshly and she was forced to look away. She couldn't deny the power fizzing through the structure, though, even though her own continued to fluctuate between being there and not there.

She locked gazes with Sesshoumaru once Nagisa flew her and Haru over and saw the blatant warning in his eyes.

Beware of everyone on this island.

She nodded discretely, then strode alongside him towards the glittering spires in the distance.

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