Dragon Tears and Raven Curses - Chapter Fifteen

Ryo searched endlessly for food his second day in the Realm of Chaos. Once outside the plains, he had entered a forested area. The trees were twisted as if they grew in pain and the scent of rancid flesh hung in the air. He stumbled over the roots of one tree that grew low to the ground, its branches curled within itself. It wasn't until the tree stood up and chased after him did he began to pay a very special attention to his surroundings, wary of even the forest's stubby undergrowth.
A week of existing in the Realm of Chaos without a thing to eat or drink, and Ryo died for the first time. He found himself lying where he had fallen on his face amongst tangled bushes, as robust and as healthy as the moment Soul Death had thrust him in the Realm to begin with. Realizing that he didn't want to starve again, his stomach cramping from hunger and driving him almost insane with pain and emptiness, he began to randomly eat plants. If he died from poisoning, he made a mental note not to eat it again.
Dying twelve times over from trying out more than seventy-two plants (and nearly being eaten himself by two others), he believed he found a variety to live off. Worse off none but for the memories of what it was like being poisoned (the symptoms ranging anywhere from frothing at the mouth to vomiting blood until he choked and died to breaking into a fever as his body was wracked with contortions until he died of seizures), at least he now wouldn't have to worry about starving to death.
He wandered aimlessly through the forest, looking for civilization. The weather temperature, at least, was mild during the day and only marginally cool during the night. It rained a few times, but the rain, at least, was not like acid as Ryo believed possible in such a place. On the fourteen day, Ryo tripped over a thick vine which broke easily in half. Some of its sap spilled across the back of his hand and it burned like acid, leaving behind an open sore that refused to heal.
He stumbled across a camp in the darkness in the middle of his third week, but two dogs keeping guard leapt upon him and tore him apart, killing him a fourteenth time. He came to in the camp later; the people and dogs left an undeterminable time ago. He rummaged through the garbage that was left behind, coming up with a tunic and pants that were two sizes too big but in much better shape than his own torn and ragged clothing.
Two days afterward, he was caught unaware by a group of bandits who sent Ryo to a fifteenth death through the means of surprise and very sharp weapons, and left his body stripped in the bushes. After he came to, he sullenly roamed the countryside in his sub armor.
No matter how bad things got and no matter how many times he died, Ryo refused to give Soul Death the satisfaction of giving up and calling the child forward to give up the Tears Morhon entrusted him with. He refused to let himself be overcome by fear and despair. When night feel and he huddled against the sides of trees, he would peer up at the stars. It never ceased to amaze him how alike they were from the stars at home. Some of the constellations were that of home as well, and he took a great hope in realizing thus.
Ryo kept careful track of the days that passed and talked to himself whenever he missed the sound of voices. He avoided acting as if one of his friends sat before him and listened to what he had to say; it hurt too much. Instead, he would verbally act out memories and recite poems and stories he remembered.
Four and a half months after he was thrust into the realm, Ryo stumbled across a random plain in the middle of the forest. Bodies lay in scattered heaps. Many were slashed open or missing body parts. It was not a fresh battle and the stench of decay was so great that even two miles from it made Ryo vomit. He skirted around the edges the best he could, trying to stay way from the scent. He found the bodies of scouts though, slain by arrows.
Feeling slightly guilty, he unburdened the bodies of their clothes and for the first time in more than two months, Ryo dropped his armor. As he pulled a jerkin over his head, a black shape silently descended from the tree tops where it had been watching him. Ryo did not even see the monster that sliced him in half with one swipe of its humongous paw.
When he came to for a seventeenth life, Ryo angrily gritted his teeth and went back to wearing his sub armor. Still feeling naked in it as he wandered the country side, he clad himself within a jerkin that covered his arms up to his elbows and came down to his knees. After a moment's consideration, he divested another body of its pair of short swords and slung the sheathed swords on the cinched belt he wore.
When he was attacked by a group of wolves twice the size of any other wolf he had ever seen, with red glowing eyes and acid-tinged saliva, Ryo gleefully fell into a slaughtering rage. He took out his frustration of all that had happened to him on the animals. As he stood panting amongst the bodies, a bloodied sword in each hand, the realization of his actions struck him like a ton of rocks. He dropped the swords and dashed away from the scene.
Tears streamed down his face as he ran through the thinning woods. His heart clenched within his chest as he heaved for breath. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be where other people were, eat hot foods, take hot baths, talk to someone in a civilized manner, and not worry about what was going to jump out at him from some unseen spot and kill him again. And again. And again. He wanted to see faces that smiled at him. He wanted to be in a familiar world where he could handle unexpected things like Byakuen playfully pouncing on him from behind a door or the food burned on the stove.
At the thought of his tiger, a sob escaped from his frame. The lonely ache within him grew by leaps and bounds. Ryo tried to remember Seiji, but the blonde hair and delicately structured face did not appear in his mind. He tried to recall the face of Shuu, but all he got was a blur of dark hair and the echo of a hearty laugh.
Ryo stumbled and fell to the forest floor. He did not get up but curled his body into a tight ball. He wrapped his arms around himself and thrust his knees up close to his chest. He could not remember the faces of his friends.
He could not remember the faces of his friends!
Ryo had thought he knew what despair was when Arago had slaughtered the others. He thought he understood what helplessness was when he lost control of his armor and was forced through a portal into Africa.
But those were nothing compared to this soul-wrenching grief that filled him. He felt empty and frightened beyond anything he had ever felt. Anguish became the center of the world and the heavy pain that throbbed each time his heart beat in his chest haunted him as he struggled to remember his friends.
A tear landed on the back of his hand and he opened his eyes to see the pinpricks of light buried within the backs of both hands. Black and red winked at him. Ryo closed his eyes and refused to move. Three days later, and he died the seventeenth time from the soul-eating grief.
His awakening back to life was different from the other times. Originally, he would wake up as if he had been sleeping and was aware of his surroundings before he realized he was alive, but this time, he was asleep and knew he was alive again. It was in this sleep did he dream of his friends. Seiji was sitting in Nasutei's kitchen, drinking a cup of tea. The image was almost real enough for Ryo to mistake it for being the actual thing.
It was followed by an image of Shuu and Shin wrestling over a hamburger, then by child-Jun seated upon Byakuen. Touma was pointing to the night sky and Nasutei tapped away at her computer, peering every now and then at the neat pile of notes that sat at her elbow. The last image he saw before awakening was Shin rising from the depths of the ocean, dressed in his sub armor, to take Ryo into his arms and descend downward.
Ryo opened his eyes. The images remained bright and clear in his mind, burned into sharp clarity. He sat upright and wiped a hand across his face. The anguish, while it still existed, had been blunted. A tiny spark of hope formed within his mind. He could see his friends again. He would see his friends again. He climbed back onto his feet and resumed his walking.


Six months since Ryo was thrust into the Realm of Chaos, he saw beauty for the first time. The forest, dark and twisted as if the trees suffered from nightmares, their branches like claws reaching endlessly for help, ended abruptly at a field of tall golden wheat that grew to his chest. Behind him the forest stretched to border the field, but the field itself extended as far as he could see in the other three directions The sun was setting in the west and the dying rays bathed the golden field in splashes of rosy red shades. Ryo slumped against the rough back of one tree and stared with tears in his eyes until the sun finally set.
The bright colors were so vastly different from that of the forest's. The muted grays and browns and greens were dismal and depressing compared to this show of nature's finest. He felt his heart grow and a heavy weight, something he had noticed before but never realized the immensity of, dropped from his shoulders. As night fell, he collapsed backwards on the ground and stared up at the skies, counting the shooting stars and made wildly amusing wishes, until he fell asleep.
The next morning dawned as bright and as colorful as the sunset had been. Ryo felt as if he had been reborn an eighteenth time (indeed, he would hardly be surprised!) as he strode through the field of wheat. He found himself whistling cheerfully and a slight skip appeared in his steps. His eyes wandered across his surroundings, drinking in all he saw. A bird from somewhere he didn't see sang in happiness.
A road, cutting directly through the field of wheat, appeared. Ryo had not noticed until he stepped out of the wheat onto the road itself and a few moments passed before it occurred to him that wheat was no longer snagging at his ragged clothes. He stared at the road for a long moment and chose a random direction to follow.
The long months of wearing his armor and wandering the forest had hardened him. He had stamina he had not possessed before and his body moved quickly and easily despite the heat of the day. His senses had sharpened greatly as well. He could hear things more clearer than before and his eyesight seemed somewhat sharper. But he could easily give all that up if it meant he could go back to his old life, having never been in the Realm of Chaos.
He heard voices long before he actually saw anyone. He noticed a pair of figures that stood head to head and argued with one another. He watched them for a while, puzzled. It had been so long since he had seen humans (discounting the bandits who had killed him and those dead bodies that littered the plains). Their hands pointed, gestured, and waved and Ryo guessed that they were arguing about which direction to head in. They stood in the middle of a crossing where the road Ryo was following was cut over by another road. He crept closer and studied the two.
One of the two figures was a man with brilliant mass of red curls. He was dressed in plain black clothes and he moved gracefully. Ryo watched his easy movements. They were not as explosive as the other person's, but rather far more controlled. This was a fighter; he saw that immediately. When the man shifted his weight from one foot to another, he appeared as young as Ryo and his side profile looked as open and as innocent's a child's.
A frown marred Ryo's features as he remembered the innocence Soul Death had possessed. He sternly reminded himself not to be deceived by appearances, and just because these two persons had not noticed him did not mean they would merrily kill him on the spot.
The second person was a woman with hair as dark as the midnight sky which was pulled back into two pigtails on either side of her head. She was shorter than the man, but the resemblance between the two was that of a brother and a sister. She wore a tang top and a flowing pair of pants. What flesh bared on her arms and neck was covered with bronze-colored rune-like tattoos.
As Ryo clasped his hands behind his back, the man and woman suddenly froze. Their heads turned and they eyed Ryo silently. Surprise at seeing him was etched into their features as well as annoyance and anger. The woman snarled something at Ryo. The language she spoke was a harsh mash of sounds that sounded something akin to English. They both raked his armor with scathing looks.
Ryo blinked and spread his arms wide, wondering if this was to be his eighteenth death. After so many others, it didn't seem to matter to him whether or not he died. "I do not understand you," he said, mustering the friendliest tone into his voice as possible and letting his eyes blink with innocence.
"No," said the man suddenly, "but we can." He nodded his head at the woman, who glared at him. "My sister wishes to know who you are staring at. Excuse her behavior, it's that time of the month." The woman must have known about what he was talking about because she suddenly and viciously kicked him in the shin He pouted. Ryo could guess who the older of the two siblings was.
Ryo shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Maybe it is because you are the first people I've seen in so many weeks."
"Where are you from?" The man crossed his arms before his chest and looked thoughtfully at Ryo with jade-green eyes, the exact color of the woman's. Ryo shrugged and looked quickly around before his eyes settled upon the man.
"Certainly not from around here," he said. "Japan, if there is any such place as this."
Eyebrows shot upward in surprise. "Japan?" The man coughed. "Is that the Realm of Reality?"
Ryo shrugged again. "I don't understand. It's on Earth, if that is helpful . . ."
The man shrugged. "You are a very long way from home. How in the name of bloody chaos did you get from there to here?"
"Did you fall through an opening?" the woman asked. She appeared curious now rather than annoyed and angry.
Ryo shook his head, not understanding what they meant by an opening. "Someone put me here because I refused to break a friend's trust. He was quite angry with me." He shrugged again. "He said he would take me back home if I were to give up and give him what he wanted, but I refused to."
"Must be some friend," the woman said. "How long have you been in the Realm of Chaos?"
It took a moment for Ryo to calculate the answer. "About a hundred and eighty days." Give or take a few; he wasn't sure how much time passed when he died. Both the woman and the man flinched and cursed in the language they had been speaking earlier.
The woman turned to the man and said something to him. The man shook his head and answered. Words passed between them for a few more moments before the woman turned to Ryo. "Who was it who brought you here to begin with?"
"Well, he doesn't have a name. And actually, he's an it. Morhon called it Soul Death."
The woman frowned. "Who is Morhon?"
"The woman whose trust I refused to break. She's the Black Dragon Queen."
The two figures exchanged puzzled looks. "I assume that if she's a dragon and she's a queen," the woman said softly, "that she must be pretty important."
"Mama would know," the man replied.
"I think it is easier jut to take this guy to the Chief Magistrate and let him take care of the matter."
They looked at Ryo. The man tilted his head to the side and blinked thoughtfully. "I just thought of something," he said suddenly, "is this Black Dragon Queen of any relationship with the Gold Dragon Queen?"
Ryo blinked. "Well, Morhon is the immortal queen of the shadows and the Gold Dragon Queen is the immortal queen of light. I guess that would be a relationship of some sort."
The siblings exchanged looks. The woman looked over her shoulder across the golden fields of wheat. "The Chief Magistrate treads carefully with the neutral immortals," she said. She gave Ryo a "come-hither" motion with her hand and she and the man started to run down the road.
"What?" Ryo hurried after them.
"We're taking you to the Chief Magistrate of Chaos to take care of these matters. He's likely to know what to do," said the man.
"No doubt he'll send you home, but he would want to know how you got here anyway."
Hope exploded within Ryo as it never had before. Home? He would be sent home? He eagerly followed the pair.
"So how many times did you die?" the woman asked. "Oh, my name is Molly."
"My name is Ryo."
"I'm Rufus," the man said over his shoulder.
"Well, I died seventeen times. How did you know that I died?"
"It's a given to anyone in this Realm," said Rufus, "except for the higher level demons and the Lord of Chaos. So you died seventeen times to keep a friend's trust?"
"Well, I broke it once before and I did not cherish the thought of doing it a second time."
"Given the circumstances, I think her majesty would have made you give up the Tears versus staying here."
Ryo shrugged. "I made my decision. If Morhon entrusts something precious to my keeping, something rare and powerful and destructive in the wrong hands, then it is my duty to protect it."
"Ah."
Molly fell to pace beside Ryo as they ran down the road. "You've got no problem keeping up?" she asked. Ryo shook his head. She poked Rufus with an extended hand. "Let's pick the pace up here a bit, will you?"
Their strides lengthened and their speed increased until they were practically flying across the ground. They shot by the wheat, their surroundings becoming a golden, inextinguishable blur. Rufus and Molly did not say a thing about Ryo's ability to keep up, but Ryo saw Molly look pleasantly surprised.
"What's the hurry?" Ryo called.
Molly's arms were spread wide for her to keep her balance as Rufus, bent at an angle, rushed ahead of them by mere steps. One trip-up on either of their parts and they would fall with enough speed and force to break several bones. Ryo knew he could be protected by his armor, but if Rufus ahead of him fell and he tripped over the lad, Rufus would be hurt severely. He edged over to the side.
"It's because-"
"No." Molly's voice cut off Rufus'. "We'll let Grandfather tell him."
"Grandfather?"
Rufus answered. "The Chief Magistrate is our mother's grandfather." His cape fluttered outward behind him like a pair of graceful black wings.
In the distance, the looming black shape slowly became larger until Ryo could see its outline sharply. It was a castle, its property surrounded by a high wall of black granite. They were quickly approaching the castle wall.
"Do you think you can jump the wall?" Rufus called.
Ryo eyed it. "I shouldn't have a problem."
"Good. Follow us." Rufus somehow managed to run faster than what they were already dashing. He quickly pulled away from Ryo. As he reached the walls, he sprang up through the air. The speed he had mustered was enough for him to sail directly to the top. His fingers brushed against the edge of the top and he twisted his body so he landed flat-footed on the top. Molly dropped back a step to be with equal pace as Ryo.
"Easy does it," she chirped cheerfully. They launched off the ground together. They didn't have the speed as Rufus had and both scrambled for a hold as they hit the wall. The woman scampered up the side with the ease of one who had done this so many times over. Rufus grabbed Ryo's hand and pulled him to the top. Both siblings started off at an easy jog down the wall. The wall was much higher than Ryo had realized and it was easy as wide as he was tall. Rufus and Molly jogged down the length of the wall as it ran along the side of the castle, separated only by the courtyards. Not a soul stirred.
Ryo hurried to catch up with the two. Their easy jog was immensely slower than the dizzy speed they had been scurrying at earlier. They finally stopped where the wall dipped in and came to the side of the castle. An window was open above their heads. Rufus pointed at it.
"If we were to jump, could you follow?"
Ryo eyed it. It wasn't nearly as tall was the wall. "Yes," he said with certainty.
"Great." Rufus bent his knees. "Saves us from having to march through the castle itself." He leapt through the air and went through the window. They heard the clatter of his hitting the floor. Molly gestured at Ryo to go next. He jumped and grabbed the sill. He pulled his body through and stepped off the side.
Rufus was standing before someone swathed in flowing scarlet robes cinched at the waist with a wide black cloth belt. The person had the whitest skin Ryo had ever seen with hair whiter than driven snow surrounding a face whose expression was open and willing. ". . . the field. He's from the Realm of Reality, brought here by someone who has a grudge against him for not breaking a trust in the Black Dragon Queen," Rufus was saying. Molly landed with a thump beside Ryo as she came through the window.
The person turned from Rufus to look at Ryo. Ryo found himself staring with surprise at the youthful features of someone who couldn't have been older than twelve. At least he did not appear innocent. At his forehead, suspended against his skin against all ration purposes, was a crystal shard so deep and so black the light disappeared into its depths. It rotated in a lazy circle. Ryo felt his very nature balking against the crystal. This is their grandfather? he wondered.
"What was the grudge?" the albino asked, and Ryo jumped. A voice, deep and powerful, flowed from the lithe frame. He quelled the urge to drop at the man's feet and grovel. The man's friendly and open expression helped calm it.
"It . . ." Ryo extended his hands forward. "It's because of these." The Tears glittered in the light. "They're the Black Dragon Queen's Tears. They were entrusted to my keeping and the creature that brought me here tried to take them from me. He said that when I gave them up, he would take me back. Morhon gave me another Tear, and I had already lost that to him and I couldn't bring myself to accept the idea of giving the Tears to Soul Death." He shrugged helplessly as the man took Ryo's left hand into his own and peered at the Tear with eyes as red as Ryo's armor. "I will not give that creature the pleasure of letting him know I gave up in this hellish land."
The Chief Magistrate of the Realm of Chaos looked up from where he had been examining Ryo's hand. A bright smile lit up his features. "It is Hell," he said cheerfully. Ryo blinked at him. "Granted, it may not be the Hell you are accustomed to being told existed, but hell is where misery lives and commands the reality, and so it is that this is hell." The Chief Magistrate waved Rufus and Molly away. "Leave us. I wish to speak with this man in private."
His great-grandchildren nodded and sauntered off to a doorway to their left.
"Oh, and children?" Rufus and Molly stopped. The Chief Magistrate sat down behind a desk that Ryo had not seen earlier. "Don't jump through the windows like that; you'll give this poor old man a heart attack."
Molly snorted and wrinkled her nose at that as Rufus burst out laughing. They left the room. Their voices rose as they began to discuss what to have for lunch, but those soon faded away into the smallest of echoes.
Ryo looked at the Chief Magistrate, who was stroking a white skull that sat on the desk to his right. It was the skull of an animal that had a long snout, powerful jaws, and very sharp teeth. Ryo stared at the skull and the slim fingers before wrenching his gaze away to look at the Chief Magistrate.
The albino was watching Ryo with eyes filled with a vicious cunning. Ryo felt clumsy and awkward, standing before the man in the room that, for all it's bareness by possessing only a cloak rack, the desk, and a chair, was elegant because of the smooth black granite and curved corners. The Chief Magistrate sighed and leaned back against his chair, folding his fingers before himself.
Ryo's heightened senses felt the vibrant energy of the man. He marveled at the idea of anyone being old enough to be a great-grandfather of two adults and yet still retained what seemed to be a youthful vigor.
The red eyes opened and studied Ryo. "I will not ask how many times you died," the man said suddenly. Ryo blinked at the words. "I see it in your face and in your movements the pain of living and dying and the knowledge of being caught forever in this never-ending cycle." He leaned forward as his hand dropped back to the skull and caressed it. "Come." He beckoned Ryo near. He pointed at a spot on the floor right before him. Ryo walked around the desk and stood before the Chief Magistrate. The man stood up and placed his hands on Ryo's shoulders. "Kneel," he said.
Ryo's eyes fell upon the black crystal shard that floated against the white forehead. It drew his fascination, as if it held secrets he would learn if he watched it for a while. Yet looking at it made him feel dirty and repulsive. He felt pressure against his shoulders, but he ignored that as he continued to stare at the crystal.
The Chief Magistrate leaned against Ryo, his lips brushing against Ryo's ear. "Child," he whispered, "leave off your interest of the Black Orb for now." The voice cut threw the numbness that filled Ryo's mind. He dropped suddenly to his knees and the Chief Magistrate pressed a cool hand against Ryo's forehead.
Every thought, ever action, ever feeling rose to the surface of his conscience. Memories from the time he was in his mother's womb-a dark, warm area where he had lived for nine months, growing from a single cell to a complex life form-the painful birth, his childhood, his teenage years, his adulthood. Every waking and sleeping moment from the very beginning of his existence was relived, things that he had no concept of even experiencing much less happening to him, as the Chief Magistrate ransacked through his mind, gathering what information he needed.
The albino stepped away from Ryo, dropping his hand. Ryo blinked in confusion as he tried to understand what just happened. The Chief Magistrate sighed and sat down. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes in thoughtfulness. One hand dropped to the skull. Ryo rubbed his eyes and peered at the Chief Magistrate.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Hmm?" The Chief Magistrate opened his eyes. They were no longer bright red, but a dark crimson, like the color of blood. The vicious cunning of his eyes merged with a hunger akin to that of a dangerously insane predator. Ryo flinched back from it. The Chief Magistrate picked the skull up and cradled it close to his chest. He gave Ryo a brutal smile. "If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is the kinds crossing borders through unnatural means. I cannot abide it when I am used. I do not allow it."
He stood up suddenly and stepped around Ryo. "Come. We will take you home." Ryo stumbled to his feet and followed after the crimson robes. He weaved drunkenly on his feet, unsteady from the invasion of his mind from end to end.
"Home?" The plaintive note in his voice caused the Chief Magistrate to glance over his shoulder at Ryo. The Trooper smiled. "Really? I will be going home?" He stumbled forward. The Chief Magistrate, without pause, shifted the skull from one hand to the other and, with his free hand, grabbed Ryo around the shoulders to steady him.
"You do not belong here, child of benevolence," the albino said softly, "the Angel Seraph would have a fit if she learned you were in my Realm and I did nothing to resolve the situation." The Chief Magistrate walked swiftly through the hall, half-carrying half-dragging Ryo in pace with him. After a few moments, Ryo gained enough of his balance for the Chief Magistrate to stop helping him.
The Chief Magistrate led Ryo into a room where Molly and Rufus were seated at a table, eating cookies. They froze as the Chief Magistrate and Ryo entered to the room.
"Take him to Ilene," the Chief Magistrate said, "I command that she takes the boy home. I have . . . things to take care of." His last few words, spoken with a deep malice, sent a shiver down Ryo's spine. With the swirl of his crimson robes, the Chief Magistrate left the room. A smoldering weight of disorder followed after him, leaving Ryo with a mind so clear it was as if he was floating in mid-air.
"Who's Ilene?" Ryo asked as Rufus and Molly stood up.
"Have a cookie?" Molly offered Ryo. He accepted it and delicately nibbled at the edge. It tasted like oatmeal. "Ilene is our great-grandmother. Grandfather seduced her."
Rufus placed his hand at the base of Ryo's back and steered him to a door on the other side of the room. "Ilene is the Eternal Phoenix. She is the counter-part to the Lord of Chaos. She travels effortlessly through the Realms if she so desires and will know where to take you to bring you home."
"Yes." Ryo's heart sang at the idea of seeing his friends at last. They entered another hallway. Ryo was led through twisting halls and rooms until they finally reached a mirror sat against a wall in a small room bare of anything else. Rufus turned to Ryo.
"I'm only going to say this once," he said in a near-whisper, "and I do so because you are a creature of order and this is the Realm of Chaos. We left you in that room with the Chief of Magistrate. You came out of it with the Lord of Chaos. Whatever you did to provoke him past the form created from the Angel Seraph's split, I do not care to know. The Chief Magistrate by and of himself is a person you should dance carefully with. But the beast of disorder, you do not ever want to fight against him. He will destroy you on a single whim." Rufus' eyes bore into Ryo's. "Beware he who wears a dragon skull for a helmet. The Lord of Chaos is an ancient, necessary evil you cannot hope to defeat or even escape."
Rufus turned from Ryo then and pressed a hand against the mirror. He spoke something in the language he and Molly had been arguing in when Ryo first met them. The mirror shimmered and Rufus' hand melted through it.
Rufus clamped a hand on Ryo's arm and Molly shoved Ryo from behind. They pulled and pushed him through the mirror. On the other side of it they stood in a hallway of a wooden building. There was a small table to the side of the mirror they came through, a white vase of tulips sitting in the middle on a round piece of lace.
As Rufus and Molly, still pulling and pushing, led Ryo down the hallway to the room that opened outward at the end, Ryo could see the feminine touch that brightened the place up. It was filled with a matronly warmth that beckoned Ryo into a lulled state of relaxation. The walls were covered with pictures, most of which were childish drawings addressed to, "Mama," and "Gramma." Flowers and quaint little colleges with curly trails of smoke and stick figures decorated the white paper.
They entered the room at the very end of the hallway. A woman with a head of short fuzzy red hair clad in a cream-white vest tucked into a pair of loose pants two shades darker than the vest had her back to them. Her hands, slim and graceful, were arranging flowers in a vase that stood before her.
"Grandmother?" Molly asked softly as she stopped at the woman's back. The woman tilted her head to the side, but other than that movement, she gave no indication of being aware of their presence. "We bring a command from Grandfather." The woman turned then and gazed at her great-granddaughter.
Her bearing was regal and her wide blue eyes over a slightly upturned nose were set in the most delicately beautiful face Ryo had ever seen. He gulped and thought he could see why the Chief Magistrate would seduce the woman.
"The Chief Magistrate commands you to take this man to where he lives in the Realm of Reality," Molly said, pointing at Ryo. The woman blinked her long eyelashes at Ryo. "He has been in the Realm of Chaos for half a year."
"Ah. Pity." Her voice was musical and lilting. She walked over to Ryo. As she drew close, Ryo realized that her hair was not hair, but soft feather down. The vest was the only thing that covered the upper part of her body. It dipped low to show a generous amount of cleavage even as Ryo could clearly see the gentle swell of her breasts to the sides of the vest where the material did not cover. Her movements were definite and seductive, and Ryo wondered suddenly who had seduced who.
After all, it took two people to tangle, did it not? As Ilene circled Ryo and then dropped caressing hands to his armor-clad shoulders, Ryo looked at Rufus and Molly. He saw the delicateness of their own frames and features and the beauty behind them and knew where they had gotten their fine looks from.
Ryo felt himself fall backwards and he flung his arms outward for balance. Molly and Rufus cheerfully waved farewell. Ilene wrapped her arms around Ryo and pulled him down through a swirl of scarlet and violet. They floated through it for a moment and a cry, clear and as beautiful as that of a glass bell's ring, rang outward. The arms slid away. Something lifted between Ryo's legs and a magnificent bird with feathers of gold and magenta appeared. He looked behind himself and saw the tail feathers streaming outward, leaving behind a rainbow of colors. The phoenix, splendid and magnificent, was longer than two of Byakuen's size from tip to tail, not including her own tail feathers.
The swirl of scarlet and violet disappeared and Ryo was hit in the face by the rushing wind as the phoenix dipped in the air.
"Where to, child of benevolence?" Ilene inquired in her musical voice.
"Uh, Japan!" Ryo clutched at the feathers at her neck as he tightened his legs where he sat at the crook of her shoulders. Wait, did she even know what he meant by that?
She must have, as Ilene angled her directions and flew onward. They were high over the ocean, the sky stretching around them sunny and beautiful. Ryo breathed the salty air as tears of relief stung at his eyes.
Home. He was finally coming home. It seemed that he had roamed the forest in the Realm of Chaos for years, though it had only actually been but half of a year. He felt his heart lighten and pound in happiness as sight came into land. He felt dizzy with relief and excitement.
"Where in Japan?" Ilene inquired as they flew to it.
Ryo was about to tell her about the district he lived in, then changed his mind. "Do you know where Morhon, the Black Dragon Queen, lives?"
"I do."
"Head there. Uh, please." Ilene's wings pumped and she lifted higher in the air. The ground beneath them swept by as a blur. After what might have been an hour, Ilene swooped downward and opened her wings to slow her descent. They were above a forest, its emerald green leaves a stunning vision that melted Ryo's heart as he compared it with the forest of the Realm of Chaos he had roamed in. These trees entwined like lovers with one another, proud and straight. A clearing, stark brown compared to its surroundings, appeared below them just as a brown lump took the shape of a building.
Ryo recognized his cabin. As Ilene landed, her wings beating to keep balance and sweeping up cloud of death, he noticed a clothes line someone had erected beside the cabin. Skirts and blouses hung drying from it. His eyes drank in everything both familiar and unfamiliar as he slid from Ilene's back and peered around.
A white blur dashed out of the shadows of the cabin with a roar and knocked Ryo over. Byakuen slathered sloppy kisses across Ryo's face even as the tiger's roars, translated by the Dragon Tears, were blathers of joy.
Morhon, wearing a tank top and a pair of jean cut offs, appeared directly behind Byakuen. She danced with joy and giggled like an excited child but stopped when she suddenly realized who was standing in her midst. The Black Dragon Queen and the Eternal Phoenix critically observed one another for a moment, and then bowed to each other. Ilene flapped her wings and lifted up into the air. She flew off into the distance, leaving behind a rainbow of colors.
Ryo finally pushed Byakuen off of him and stood up. He smiled affectionately at Morhon, who smiled back at him. "You're a sight to see," he said finally. Morhon blushed and giggled.
"Good or bad?" she asked.
"Good. Definitely." He looked around. "Oh, you can't imagine how wonderful it feels to be back after so long."
Morhon nodded and grabbed his hand. "I think I can," she said as she pulled him to the cabin. Ryo froze when a young woman with dark hair appeared in the doorway. Were it not for the starburst-like scar on her cheek, he would have thought her to be a stranger. He squinted at her. Itsue had grown into a young woman of her prime with her brown hair cropped at her chin and her eyes wide with uncertainly. As he stared at her, she turned and fled into the depths of the cabin.
Ryo looked down at Morhon who solemnly gazed up at him. "I've been gone six and a half months in the Realm of Chaos," he said. Something cold grew within him. "How long is that compared to here?"
"For us," Morhon said gently, "it has been little more than twelve years."


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