Chapter XII
Encounter the Blaze
Point of View: Riku
Written by: Jayde (12th chapter)
Author's Note: Firstly, I, Jayde, would like to write a quick apology to all of our readers: WE ARE SO SORRY! The impediment wait was respected at first, because we kept coming up with excuses for it. Then it became a little impatient…and then, irritated as it already was, the long holdup became annoying and more than a little impatient. So we two authoresses ask for your forgiveness and beg you deeply to accept our apology. It will never happen again. And now…
We are back in business, people! Finally, Chapter XII of Nihility, the long awaited chapter, is finally posted! No more silence from your two authoresses! We are now working harder then ever on this joint-project, and no longer do we wish to make our reviewers and readers wait forever. We promise – from now on, the most you will have to wait for a new chapter is two weeks. Any longer, and then you can behead us! ^^ So…I hope you guys can forgive us for this extremely major delay – even we have to admit we were getting impatient with ourselves. XD So enjoy the chapter and…uh…please don't kill us, we've got a lot more to write!
"Oh…it's beautiful…" I heard Keiko mumbled from beside me, gazing down at the village. Indeed it was, holding something I hadn't seen nor felt in four years.
But it wasn't just the sun.
"I can't believe this place exists," Kairi whispered, awed by the sight. Caige blushed, but smiled to cover it.
"A tour, shall we?" He descended the last marble step, feet lightly touching the dirt, before he walked onward, Kairi, Keiko, and I following.
Friendly faces smiled kindly and welcomingly at us as we passed through the Village of Mirrors. Some waved at Caige, who'd grin and wave back. Others would come up occasionally, saying hi to the man leading us and greeting us into Cheval.
"That's Paros, the Medical Shop. Charles and Kacee owns it, but it is usually Charles who cares for customers," Caige said, gesturing with one hand toward a shop made entirely of white brick. A sign written in delicate handwriting hung in the window, bearing the shop's name. "And that's the Item Synthesis Shop." Once again, he gestured to another shop, one of blue marble.
"This place seems too friendly…is there even a weaponry here?" Keiko asked, staring in at the amalgamation shop. Caige nodded his head toward a small building a few stores down from the remedial shop.
"Answer your question?" I asked coolly. I doubted any village or city in Nihility didn't carry armaments. Heartless were everywhere, and everywhere needed protection.
I could feel Keiko's obtrusive glare on me, but decided not to meet her icy blue stare, lest we begin yet another fight. Instead, I looked down at the artillery shop, mind going into overdrive.
"We should stock up on items and supplies," I said, turning around to face my companions.
"We're leaving already?" Kairi whispered.
"Well we have to if we want to get off this planet faster." Keiko turned to her, one hand on her hip. "I require a new pair of gloves. The others broke last night." She looked as though she wished to say something else, something that would undoubtedly make me seethe, but decided not to. She was gone without a fleeting look over her shoulder, heading toward the Weaponry.
"Guess that leaves us three?" Caige offered, twisting his head with a semi-cheerful smile.
I walked away from him, Kairi in tow with a small smile of apology at Caige, and entered the store for medical supplies. It seemed almost like a mini-mart placed in an old colonial home. The floor was made of, of course, marble, but of a glossy light blue hue, and the walls and ceilings appeared to be the same color.
To my right, I noticed a marble-glass counter with a short, balding man standing behind it. He nodded courteously and turned to speak at another customer who was asking him for a specific item. Behind him was a tall mirror, which showed no reflection. In front of the counter was a flat rug of a dark blue variety. To my left, there were about ten bookshelves, but instead of holding books, they held medicinal goods and other such things. I observed a few other patrons making purchases, as well as browsing the shop's display of articles.
As Caige entered the shop behind Kairi and I, I moved away from the two to the first shelf. I studied what items they had on the shelves, realizing they had a large array of items, some I'd never even seen before. Potions, Elixirs, Mega-Potions, Mega-Elixirs, plus many, many more were placed neatly on shelf after shelf. I looked over an Ether of a brand I'd never seen as Caige came up beside me.
"Take whatever you need. I talked to Charles," he said quietly before moving away to speak to Kairi down the aisle.
I smirked and took the Ether, as well as a few other things; my stock of items was already fairly high.
As I stuffed them into the bag I had carried, I witnessed as Caige leaned in to whisper something in Kairi's ear. He pulled away a second later, grinning, then bowed his head slightly and left the shop.
I walked over to her as she turned around.
She blushed, nodded once, and pulled an Elixir down. Soon, she, too, had exited the shop.
Bemused, I swiftly departed the shop with a small half-salute to 'Charles', I believe, behind the counter.
Again, I was greeted with the warm rays of the sun. I started down the dirt-cobble street, searching for signs of Caige, Keiko, or Kairi.
In front of what looked like a restaurant, I spotted Keiko speaking with Caige and one of the locals.
For a few seconds, I stared, wondering just what it was that they were speaking of. Then, deciding I'd probably not want to know, I edged into the restaurant.
It's nice enough, I though with a smirk. I walked across the wooden floor, noting that it was more like a bar. However, this particular place was made mostly of wood, unlike all the other buildings I had seen. And it was quite homey too, though, for the atmosphere was quite pleasant, like everywhere else in Cheval, it seemed.
It makes you kind of stop and think, like, what the hell is going on? Did I enter another reality or something?
So far, from what I'd seen from Pareja, Nihility was a sunless, somber world.
So how did Cheval, the Village of Mirrors, get like…well, like this?
"Riku?"
My train of thought dwindled away as the caller entered my head. I turned around slowly.
It was Kairi.
And I smiled briefly at her.
"Come on, let's go." Her pale face acquired a small look of bewilderment.
"What about Caige and Keiko?" I nodded shortly and began to leave the bar, Kairi trailing behind.
"They're coming, don't worry."
Once we were outside, Caige saw us, and Keiko walked with him.
"So are we leaving?" asked Caige pleasantly.
I nodded thinly.
"Yes." I paused, searching the small city-like village with just my eyes. "How are we leaving?"
Caige grinned that annoying grin and bowed his head toward Charles's store. "Remember that mirror behind the counter? The one that gives off no reflection? That's the Mirror of Chios. It'll get us out of here faster and easier than the regular way." He frowned a bit and combed his gloved hand through his hair. "But no one ever leaves Cheval, through the regular way or through the Mirror of Chios. That way, no one knows what lays beyond the invisible screens of this village."
"No one wants to," Keiko said quietly, apparently making the inference herself.
Caige sighed and shrugged.
I paid this no heed.
"We take his mirror," I avowed plainly. I took the lead back up the dirt road to Paros, the others following closely behind. Someone had apparently heard us talking about the 'Mirror of Chios' and leaving Cheval, as many of the people of the mirrors began staring, their looks either pleading us not to go or wishing us good luck.
Either way, it was easy to see the fear hidden beneath each face.
Caige was right; no one had ever crossed the border between Cheval and whatever lay beyond it.
No one knew what to expect, and no one wanted to.
I groaned inwardly; apparently this would be harder than I thought. We didn't know what was coming. Quite frankly, I suddenly wished someone could tell us.
Not that I was going to actually ask.
"Riku?" Once more, my trail of thought was lost when Keiko called to me. "You coming, pea brain, or are you too moronic to see the store right in front of you?"
I bit my tongue hard and looked away.
"Not as idiotic as your pea brain, cat." I brushed past her, and it was like I could sense her giving me another of those wannabe-glares. I smirked lightly and faced the counter, where Caige was speaking quietly with Charles and Kacee, I reputed, who had only just come, and Kairi stood, silent as ever, behind him.
"We can't allow you to leave," Kacee, a prim young brunette, apparently Charles's daughter, said to Caige. "Taking Chios is different than taking one of the regular mirrors. Anything could happen–"
"The other mirrors lead to places in this village, and only one leads to Pareja, and we commute there all the time! We just want to get out of Cheval and away from Pareja. Please, you have to let us go."
And, apparently, Caige was having trouble.
Kacee shook her longhaired head. "I'm sorry, but the answer is no." As though that would be the last spoken thought, she bid us goodbye and disappeared into a back room.
Kairi, Keiko, and I stared at Caige's back while Charles gazed helplessly at his bowed head.
"Now what?"
His voice was emaciated, as though he was giving news that they'd lost a great war.
Kairi said nothing.
I said nothing.
But Keiko walked up to him and nodded at Charles. "It's easy."
I snorted.
She probably wanted to kill Kacee and take the mirror anyway.
"We kill Kacee and take the mirror."
I laughed inwardly, only hardly amazed at how right I was.
If it had been on any other situation, I would have laughed out loud.
"It won't work, cat. Why do you have to kill someone every time you don't get what you want?" Though it was meant as an aggravated accusation, Keiko took it as a purely naive query.
She smirked. "Because that's the only way to get what you want in Nihility, especially when asking doesn't work."
I worked to keep from grunting in amusement.
I doubted if she'd ever 'asked' for something, besides with Kairi.
Even as the notion was directed to Caige, Charles bit his lip and looked back at the closed door of the back room. Then he looked at Keiko and shook his head.
"I'll distract her while you get away."
Caige's head went up, and he gazed half in awe and half in appreciation. Kairi's tired face lit up with a smile, and Keiko grinned in content.
Needless to say, I was hardly flabbergasted. But I smirked and nodded.
"Thanks." Charles bowed his head slightly and lifted the delicate glass-marble, allowing us access the behind the counter – and the mirror to our freedom.
When the others had finished their extol of his kindness, the old man turned around, glancing nervously at the closed back door.
"Place yourself directly in front of it," he said quietly. "And clearly enunciate 'open'. Walk through and you'll find yourself…not in Cheval at least."
"You mean, you don't know where this mirror leads?" Keiko suddenly seemed skeptical.
Caige glanced at her. "Be happy he's doing this, that's all." He nodded at me. "You first."
I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Fine, whatever." I stepped promptly before 'Chios', looked at the four figures behind me, then turned back to the mirror and lucidly pronounced, 'open'. An unfolding light, like a shining glacier sunrise, came forth of the magical glass entry. Rays fell one on top of the other, creating a spectacular wave-like affect of a pearl glimmer, and a burst of bright light exploded from within the depths of Chios, inviting me forward.
I accepted the incitement, and stepped within the enchantment.
I stepped forward and my feet nearly sunk in the ground.
Surprised, I looked down.
I was standing in sand.
I was still apparently stunned when Keiko, Kairi, and then Caige came into the new area with me; they were as astonished as I.
We had entered a desert. The sweltering heat immediately overtook the shock, and I gazed across the tan-brown sand as tiny grains were hardly picked up by the smallest of winds. Hill after scorching hill could be seen from here to the distance, and the arid wasteland seemed to go on forever, into a never-ending horizon.
"Oh no…" Caige mumbled, overlooking the region. "I thought this place had long since frozen over…"
"What?" Keiko asked loudly, her voice calmly echoing over the barren lands.
Kairi and Keiko and I looked at him, unsure of what exactly was going on.
The man turned to us.
"We're in the Jilt Desert."
I crossed my arms.
"Excuse me?"
"Jilt Desert. I heard about it some long time ago. But that was when the man who told me also said it was going to freeze when the sun over here would give out."
Kairi obviously didn't understand.
"What do you mean?"
Caige sighed, dropped to his knees and fell back in a sitting position.
"If you think Nihility never had a sun at all, you're wrong. It used to have a sun that would shine all over at once and never disappeared. But Nihility is a world of heartless and darkness, and everyone knew the sun wouldn't last forever. Slowly, the sun began to dwindle away from everywhere, vanishing under the weight of the shadows of this new world."
"But how would you know that? I thought no one ever left Cheval, or Pareja. Wouldn't that be impossible to tell?"
Caige nodded.
"Charles told me. I'm not sure how he knew, but he seemed sure enough when he did. So I made a theoretic implication." He stood, wiping the sand off his pants. "Should we go forward or back?"
Kairi cleared her throat.
"There is no going back." She looked at the desolate terrain behind us, the unfertile land before us, and the bleak expanse from side to side, going on and on till the world would end.
"Oh shit…"
"We're stuck here? But…what happened to the mirror?" Caige started forward.
"It's gone. It took us to our destination, and now there's only one direction to go."
Uncertainly, Keiko began to follow him, but kept looking back at the place Kairi and I were as though the mirror would return and bring us back to the village. But nothing happened; nothing came back.
Kairi, too, started following Keiko and Caige. I shrugged inwardly and trailed as well.
Kacee opened the backroom door and walked forward, toward a frightened old man.
"You let them go, didn't you."
It was no question; just a connotation.
Charles said nothing.
"You know what must be done about this."
Again, he was silent.
"Speak, you old fool!" Her hand flew up and slapped him; his neck snapped to the side with the force.
Quickly, he regained his equanimity, doing nothing such as flinching in the process.
"Yes, they are gone." Behind him, the mirror glowed a faint white light, then slowly disintegrated.
Kacee watched it silently. When it was gone, she turned her back on Charles.
"Call him, and make sure they are punished."
"Yes, madam."
"Where are we going?" Keiko moaned again. I glanced at her as she dragged herself by my right, then looked toward the sun, which hung high overhead. The heat was growing unbearable while I was used to the freezing cold. But this was far past anything I knew, or probably used to know, at the very least. Long since had I stripped myself of my long, raven cloak, as did my companions. Two made an effort not to complain, but one let herself freely go.
I'm sure you know of whom I speak of.
I growled, and continued to walk at my unvarying pace, while the others tried hard to keep up.
"I don't know, but hopefully we'll get their soon," Caige panted to her. He wiped at the beads of sweat pouring from his face and squinted to see what lay before us.
I really wanted to yell. I didn't care too much about the heat. I just wanted something to do other than walk on mile after mile of sand, staring at the forever-continuing path to who-knew-where. There was nothing to entertain me, nothing for me to kill, except three others whom I'd rather not (though one was quite tempting at the moment). No heartless, no being would be stupid enough to live in the Jilt Desert, an empty void of the nonentity and heat beyond a snowman's wildest nightmares.
"The day is ebbing away from us," Kairi said quietly, though her voice was layered with tiredness. "We should find somewhere to rest for the night."
Keiko snorted.
"And where would that be? Under a nice big pile of sand, perhaps?" She fell to her knees right then and pulled up a handful of sand. "I haven't seen anything but sand for the last six hours!"
Caige fidgeted slightly. "Seven hours, Keiko."
She glared murder at him.
"Do I care? The only thing I care about right now is getting out of the sun…" she whined aggravatingly.
As I watched, Caige and Kairi sat down, seeming extremely tired.
And I couldn't blame them.
Our animosity of Nihility was growing larger than I ever could imagine.
But I just stared down at them.
"We have to find somewhere to sleep for tonight. I don't wish to be dead in the morning." I flung my cloak over the opposite shoulder it had been previously and let my eyes look into the distance, a cold stare that would never be powerful enough to cool this world.
Kairi rolled her eyes at my statement, losing any cool she had had, or tried to keep. "Why would we be dead Riku? Okay, in case you haven't noticed, there is nothing to kill us out here except the heat. Nothing with even the tiniest sense of a brain would try to live here. And if I should finally be right about one thing, night in a desert is freezing cold." She stood, brushed off her black Capri and began to walk once more.
I suddenly wished I could scream at her, too.
"Hey, guys?" she suddenly called, exhilaration seeping effortlessly into her voice. "Was that there a second ago?"
My gaze lazily wandered into her direction, then locked with a building I hadn't noticed before. Well, conceivably not a 'building', but shelter, nonetheless.
Was it a mirage?
Was I seeing things?
Or was it truly, really, there?
Whatever my thoughts conveyed it as, I found myself walking faster towards it, Caige only two steps behind me, and Keiko hurrying into a full-on dash as Kairi met her pace, but was ahead of her in her alacrity.
As we neared, I realized it was no hallucination. It was no figment of my imagination, no allegation of any delusion I was certain would have taken hold of my already.
It was real.
And it was a sanctuary from the blazing temperature.
The four of us stopped in front of it. It was nothing fancy, not at all. Just a simple shack-like, two-floored home, with a signpost stuck in the sand, slantingly reading 'Jilt Inn'. A putrefying picket fence surrounded it, and on the door, though it was shut tight, hung a small piece of paper, I believe, and on it was written, 'open'.
I would have laughed, if only the door had not opened and both Kairi and Keiko had rushed in. A blast of cool air followed their entrance, and Caige pushed me inside, quickly shutting the door behind him.
I abruptly felt…replenished. The cool air and soundless, steady drumming of an air conditioner or fan blanketed itself around the four of us as though snow had suddenly fallen with amazing momentum and speed. I felt the sweat freeze on my face and back, then either diminish or sink back into my skin.
After a moment, I let my eyes adjust to the small amount of light that came from a ceiling fan, which beat at a quiet, continuous rate. The floor was wooden, but was covered with one large, plush carpet of a violet texture. Two floor-to-ceiling bookcases, one on my right, and one ahead of me, were filled with dusty, weathered books and artifacts of all ages. A beaten wooden door was closed beside the aforementioned bookcase, and on the other side, dusty brown steps, worn with time, led to the second floor. The same assortment of stairs rested beside it, leading down, probably into the basement.
A dusty antique garnet couch sat in front of one bookcase, and a few cushioned, straight-backed chairs of the same color sat on the primeval rug. Crooked paintings and an outdated map of who-knew-what hung on the four walls, and a long, polished wooden table sat firmly on the left wall, where an elderly woman sat, bent over one of her many books.
Caige cleared his throat politely.
"Um, excuse me?"
The lady glanced up, then back down at her readings.
"We're not open. Go away."
Keiko raised an eyebrow, her arms folded in exacerbating stillness.
"Not open, eh? That's not what your crudely drawn sign hanging outside of your door said."
I rolled my eyes at Keiko's back. She was a cat, a moron and a bitch.
The figure stood, placed her book neatly in the corner of her 'desk' and set a glare on the woman who chose to disturb her rather than leave her alone.
"I'm sorry, but that 'crudely drawn sign' out there is not meant for the likes of you…" She paused, her small, pebble-round eyes darting from Keiko to Kairi to Caige to myself. "…Chevalians."
Evidently, Keiko and Caige both took this extremely offensively.
"'Us Chevalians'? Listen here, you little–"
"Cease!" A loud voice boomed over the readying fight, startling and impeding Keiko, Caige, and the woman.
I looked calmly towards the source of the voice, the stairs; after all, this was not my fight, as much as I would have loved to tear anyone's throat out at the very moment.
A very old man, older, it seemed, even than Charles, if not the same age, stood three steps from the bottom, one arm resolutely at his side, the other paused beside his head in an irritated fashion. Unlike Charles, he still had a lot of his hair, which was a mix of black and white at the scalp, all combed back. He wore basically a white t-shirt and black jeans, looking as though he'd just come from a shower.
He offered nothing but a small nod at the female, who turned her nose in repugnance. "Please excuse my sister, she's abhorrently discourteous." He descended the last few steps and looked at me. "Why are you here? No one has been to this place for thirty years."
Kairi finally glanced at me, as did Caige; Keiko said and did nothing.
"We are from Cheval. We are…seeking the nearest city," Caige answered as politely as he could manage.
The woman looked at him. "What for?"
Keiko rolled her eyes, her desire to kill this elder discernible in those dark-blue-light-blue depths. "To live there, wench."
The man shook his head at his sister. "And you seek shelter from the heat? How far have you traveled?"
"Six hours worth, give or take," I said. The gentleman sighed.
"Very well. You may stay here." He bowed his head slightly. "I am Gillus. My sister is Valencia, but we would both rather you called her Val."
Val shrugged, walked out from behind the stilted table, and sauntered a few steps up the staircase. She looked at the four of us expectantly, and I could feel Caige and Keiko's blatant looks of odium returning her gaze.
"Well?" she barked, making Kairi jump. "What are your names?"
"I'm Kairi," the maroon-haired young girl said. "This is Keiko, Caige, and Riku." She motioned her head toward the name's respectable owners. Then she looked at Val.
The white-haired woman nodded. "Fine. Follow me. I'll show you to your rooms." She turned and walked up the stairs, a little too fast, while the rest of us hurried right behind.
Gillus looked at me, a calmly doubtful look that made me want to punch him for setting it on me. But I returned the look with an impertinent stare and continued to pursue Val and the others.
We reached the second floor in only seconds. The hall looked as natural an old colonial hall could be, with its faded carpet covered the creaky wooden boards and discolored paintings stuck in those blank and plain stares for eternity. The limited light came from a net window and thinning light bulb that hung from the ceiling. Three doors led to closet-like rooms on my right, and two others on my left.
Val nodded at Keiko and Kairi, motioning toward her first door. "You two can sleep in here."
"Why can't I have my own room? Not like you have any other guests in this repulsive place," Keiko complained immediately, making a childish face. Kairi looked a little hurt.
A white-haired Valencia glared at her. "At one hundred Gil a room, it'd be my pleasure."
Keiko huffed, glowering at the senior, then barged into the room the aged lady had told her, Kairi right behind.
Val smirked in her quiet triumph and motioned toward the next, nearest door. "Riku, I believe? You can stay there. And the other one can have this," she opened the entrance after mine, leaving it open so she could walk downstairs. "If you saw the other staircase, it leads to the kitchenette. If you're not there by eight sharp, you starve." As she passed me to leave this level, I could hear her muttering clearly, "…hopefully…"
I snorted at her apathetic manner toward the 'Chevalians', as she so put it, Kairi and myself. Just another wench I'd indisputably kill if given the chance.
Then again, when had I become so lenient with obliterating something – or someone – I loathed?
Of course. When Kairi and Keiko came.
Why was that again?
Kairi didn't want me to kill the bitchy cat.
Ah, how I wished I had met the human Keiko before Kairi ordered me not to kill the wench that, in my opinion, was of less significance than myself.
Wouldn't you think so?
I sighed and entered my 'room', if you could even call it that.
A small bed, looking a lot like a couch without its head, sat on the other side of the door. A tiny pale, a garbage bin, I thought, was in the corner of the room directly in front of me, and a locked and bolted door took up the third corner, near a closed window with no curtains.
"Home sweet home."
Eight o'clock had been only an hour away, and I spent my hour staring at the ceiling, finding nothing amusing at all. Five to eight, I rose, left my room, then left the floor. I found the others had also been stuck in their rooms, and followed me down, apparently quite happy they finally had something to do.
Meeting us at the base of the steps were Valencia and Gillus, Val with her indifferent eyes shut in repulsion, nose pointed in the air, and Gillus with his utter simplicity and quiet manner. He nodded without a word of hello and brought us down into the olden, reeking kitchen-slash-dining room, which was exactly what it was. The stairs came to a concrete floor boarded with ancient, rotting wooden floorboards, and it seemed as though no one had swept down here in years upon waiting years.
The kitchen-and-dining room was small, to say the least. I literally had to crouch slightly so I wouldn't hit my head on the rutted ceiling made of who-knew-what – most likely wood or concrete, like the floor. Everything indicated 'hand-made'. Even the jagged table of scratchy marble was hand-made, with straight-backed chairs and a dim primordial chandelier with things crawling in it, that gave off hardly enough light for any to see what was going on. I strained to make out the other side of the basement room, seeing the machines used to make the food, the sink, and a tub filled with murky green water.
Keiko looked askance, her kitten eyes set on the small tub.
"Whore…she better hope for her life she didn't wash my plate in that," she muttered to herself, probably hoping Val had heard her.
I snorted inaudibly, as Gillus civilly – unlike Val – pointed us toward our seats. We each took ours quietly, save for Keiko, and Val handed out the plates, rather roughly.
Dinner was some unidentifiable red-yellow substance that, as I was the first to try it, tasted like steamed muck – pretty much a delicacy compared to what I was given to eat the first time I arrived in Nihility. Keiko, when she only just glimpsed it, accused Valencia of trying to poison us. After Kairi and Caige finally convinced her it was not poison, she calmed – but only the tiniest bit. I still saw Val giving her a deathly evil smile, and I took Keiko's word to heart – not that I would ever admit it – and excused myself from dinner altogether.
I found nothing to do, and felt lethargic of sheer boredom and the seven-hour trek through the desert – but my insomnia came back to haunt me. Not even my fatigued muscles could coax my head into sleeping.
Finally I decided to sit up in bed and stare at nothing until I would eventually fall asleep.
Of course, sleep never came. I was undeserving of such a gift, and everything around me knew it, forcing me to stay awake. I could not even close my eyes against the black murk of night that mantled the room in which I stayed. I stared and I stared. Though there was nothing that could take my attention, the wall ahead of me did, and it laughed so evocatively in the dimness that I had to look at it, glare at it, until it would ultimately stop.
But it never did. Not until the morning rays of the unfamiliar sun fell into my room did I fall to my pillow, oblige my eyes closed, and fell into the lightest sleep I'd ever slept.
Only an hour or so later, I had awoke once more, but my lack of sleep of the night before did nothing to slow me down – yet Kairi was the only one who thought it did.
"Riku, you look…"
As we sat around the 'living-room/lobby', Keiko dozing on the couch (it seemed she didn't sleep much either), Caige, Kairi, and myself in the only other chairs, Kairi looked at my pale figure, that notorious glint of concern swimming in her eyes.
I knew she wished to say 'tired', but I also realized she knew I didn't want to hear it.
"Did you get any sleep…at all, last night?" she pronounced gradually, softly, as though she only wished myself to hear. Caige, however, overheard as well, and leaned over to listen in.
I glared at him; no matter what, I was still untrusting of this man, for I had only known him for a day – how long have I? – or so. Just as I did not hold faith in Keiko.
Never have and never will.
He caught my look and went a light shade of red, then leaned back in his seat.
I looked back at Kairi. "Don't worry about me, Kai," I answered obstinately. "It's nothing, just lack of sleep."
Insomniac, a part of my mind screamed contemptuously.
I growled outwardly, wanting to punch whoever owned that voice.
Shut. The. Hell. Up.
Make me.
I was silent, staring at the air before me, as Kairi looked on apprehensively.
You're crazy. You know it. Kairi knows it. Even Keiko, asleep over there, knows it.
Get off it.
I strained to relieve myself of my mind, and succeeded. I looked at Kairi and smirked my usual, frozen and isolated smirk she had come to know.
"Come off it, Kai."
"Mmmmrrrmmmmph…" Keiko grunted in her sleep, shifting her body so her back was to us.
I can't wait till she can become a kitten again…then she can die easier.
I inwardly chuckled at this evil thought. I had them quite often.
"She's a heavy sleeper," Kairi said gently, though it was more to herself than anyone else. "When do you think we should wake her?"
Caige glanced at me. "Yeah…when are we going to leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," I said easily, without another thought, and as an atypical finality. "We'll spend one more night, to rest."
"Where do we go from here?" Kairi asked in that same tone of voice. I shrugged, this time looking at Caige.
"Yes, where do we go?"
Caige shook his head.
"I've no idea. We simply head north. Cheval is in the south, and Pareja is isolated somewhere near middle-Nihility, with the only exit being through Cheval. So north is our best bet."
"And you're sure you know which way is north?"
Caige smirked teasingly. "If not, then we'll die anyway, won't we?"
"I have no intention of dying, Caige," I said coolly. "Not here, and not now. Or anytime soon, for that matter." I sat back.
There was a long silence following my statement, a quiet satisfaction that puzzled me from somewhere in the back of my head. But I said nothing more. Kairi, however, still had much to ask.
"Where is the exit to this place anyway?"
Caige was tacit with thought, until Keiko's yawning, ever familiar and bothersome voice echoed through the quiet room and answered her question.
"The center of this world, as the legend says." Her answer was as serene as she seemed right then. "'The seven survivors traveled for years toward their destination, the exit to this world. Three years after they had surfaced of the cities they had lived within, the Guardian of the Depths brought them to the exit." She paused for effect, though I was already bored with the whole thing, and the dramatic point was lost. "No one knows what went on, but only one person escaped it alive. And he still lives in Nihility – he's lived in it for one hundred years."
Caige burst out laughing, and Keiko set a dumbfounded glare on him.
"What?"
"That's the most common of all tales in Cheval. The story of the single survivor? Give me a break, every newborn knows that legend." He coughed to quit laughing. "I'm sorry, but that's probably not even true. There is an exit to this world, but no one's ever tried it. If they did, they either died or succeeded and left."
"But you're very wrong, Caige," said an unruffled, remote masculine voice. Against my will, I turned just my head, as did Kairi and Caige, while Keiko just stared ahead.
Gillus had heard it all.
"You must heed this warning, children." He walked before us, sullenly and mutely, leaning against the bottom of the couch, next to where Keiko's feet rested. "The dangers of this world are far greater than anything you can ever wonder."
Keiko sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, allowing Gillus to sit. He did not.
"There is a horror that lays beyond today, beyond this place, that not even a heartless can imagine. If you should leave Nihility, beware of the challenges, and beware of the danger." He pushed himself away from the sofa, nodding in my direction. "You must make your own story. But in this tale, the heart means nothing…and everything. So don't ignore it."
He walked away, disappearing down into the basement.
The four of us stared after.
And no one could speak. Not for a long time.
The morning bustled with a hectic air, as, just as when we had left Pareja, Keiko and Kairi gathered their things at the last moment. I disregarded it all, and waited as patiently as possible for them to finish. As Caige paid Valencia for the three rooms we had used, Keiko and Kairi rushed down the stairs, bumping into one another while hasting to stop at the door.
"Gillus said to be careful," Valencia said, speaking as though she was asking a stranger for directions. "And to do as he says. Many are given advice, but only the wise profit from it." She looked away nonchalantly, not even bothering to say goodbye or good luck.
I didn't give a damn.
And neither did my companions.
We left the inn without a glance back.
"So, which way is north?" Keiko asked imperturbably, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand.
Caige narrowed his eyes against the sun's powerful rays and looked as best he could.
Then he gasped.
"Someone's coming," he whispered urgently, nodding in the direction he was looking into.
And indeed, someone was.
While Keiko took one step forward and Kairi, one step backward, my face matched Caige's to look at the visitor.
It was a man. Tall and black-haired he was, a too-common attribute among the people I've see along my way. His skin was tanned, apparently colored so by the sun, and his eyes appeared a blood red.
Appearance? Not very comforting. But I never took comfort in the appearance of any others.
There was no point.
Right?
He came closer, a furtively libelous smirk attached to his pink-white lips. His apparel was not of any awareness to myself – a soldier's military uniform. In complete truth, I never knew – nor gave much thought – that Nihility had any form of militia or Special Forces as such. Perhaps he was not of this world?
Then why was he looking at Kairi, Keiko, Caige, and myself in such a way?
Did he want something?
I stood up straight and held a mockingly placid smirk to my face, daring this man to do anything to my companions or I. Should he try, I'd make him regret setting his snarling garnet eyes on me.
Caige did not follow my movements.
In fact, he fell into a fighter's stance, a unique one that took me by surprise, for I do not believe I've ever seen someone fight as so.
Or maybe I have.
For instance…why did it seem so familiar?
And why, for all that I am and have been my eighteen years of living, did it hurt when he did so?
I never knew why.
For as soon as the red-eyed man fell near, he shouted out.
And anything I had currently been thinking about was drowned in his words.
"What are you doing here?"
His voice was seething, ghastly, yet composed in a horrifying irregularity.
And I suddenly hated this man, no matter who he may be.
Though Caige did nothing, as Kairi, Keiko jumped up and pointed one long, threatening finger at whoever he should be.
"And just who the hell do you think you are?!"
She was fuming.
It suddenly seemed clear she was as adolescent as I had always knew she was.
Yet the argot male's smirk only widened.
He bowed low, an abhorrent gesture some hopeless men used to introduce themselves, and walked forward, his left forearm hidden behind his back. Keiko, the closest to him, glared at his arrogant manner, then nearly bit his head off as he took her right hand in his and kissed it, of all things.
"Good day, my dear. Your kind words are melody to my tired ears, but courteousness an assassin does not make." Keiko pulled her hand away and growled, and James jumped back with a speed I recognized as my own as she pounced forward, kicking up sand in her wake and landing.
He smiled cruelly. "There should be no question of my identity, my precious acquaintances. There is a problem at hand that must be attained to before I may continue my rounds."
I felt my head cock briefly to the side, not in puzzlement, but in pure disbelief at this…this asshole's ways of introduction, not to mention chivalrous manners. And then there was his use of the word 'assassin', which answered the question to what he was. Just not who he is.
He glanced at me conceitedly, as though he had already won an un-played battle. Then his smirking ceased, and was placed with staid, stationary look.
"You four have left your homes. I was just so informed by a close associate of mine, Kacee McGuellan and her father, Charles." He stopped, a teasing twinkle in his eye; Caige stumbled back a step or two. "And under the order of His Mastery, I have been told to bring you all back to where you came from, including the chentil." He looked at Keiko, who stared up, astonished, suddenly, by the assassin's vocabulary. "If you should come quietly, no one will get hurt…at least, not until you are brought back."
I looked at Keiko. "A chentil?" I said under my breath. "What the hell is that?"
She glared back. "Me, I'm a chentil. A human who can change into a specific animal at will."
The stranger coughed to reach our attention, got it, and continued to speak. "Riku, Outer Limits, Pareja; Kairi, Fourth District, Pareja; Caige Cyst, Open Market, Cheval; and Keiko Chinyere, Thirteenth District, Pareja." As he finished stating our former homes, he straightened his tight vest, which appeared to be quite uncomfortable in the rising heat.
Keiko chose then to scream. "You asshole! I didn't travel all this goddamn way just to go all the way back!" She reared back, pulling her arms up in her familiar kittenish position and growled, though it was no longer her voice. Slowly, but surely, she was changing.
Into her un-human self, I was sure.
But no longer did she appear as that dirty little feline I hated as much as her humanoid form.
No, she fell to her knees, screaming like a human and screeching like a cat, but hardly grew as small she had been.
Oh no, she was much bigger. The size, shape, color, and hunger of a white tiger overtook her with an exchange of great pain. But the transformation was done. With a blast of black and white light, any trace of a human's outward appearance vanished, and the only thing left were those haunting two-colored eyes.
Alteration complete, she snarled, and leapt forward, though only far enough so our guest could see what she was going to use to rip him apart.
But he yawned, smiling slightly, as though the whole idea bored him and was utterly pointless. And, apparently, this young woman's makeover would do no good.
So I took my stance, and glared.
"Who are you?" I asked through gritted teeth.
He smiled.
"I thought you'd never ask." He bowed again. "I am James. James Hitachi, Master Assassin."
I snorted, much to 'James Hitachi's' unseen annoyance.
"What a pathetic title." I shook my head mockingly. "What, you're mother think 'shit-head' and 'dip-shit' were too good for you?"
Finally, James's scarlet eyes narrowed icily, and he pulled two ominous-looking weapons – I believe they were called Kama – from the back of his leather belt, a feature I missed with scornful disrespect.
As though those Kama had any respectful attributes among them.
They didn't appear to be stronger than the two short swords I possessed and happened to be a master at.
Oh how I was wrong. So dreadfully, dreadfully wrong.
"You don't know just who you're dealing with, do you, Riku?"
And he shot forward.
No matter the odds, he was powerful.
But I'd prove that wrong, even if it was right.
At that very same moment, Keiko, as a white tiger, roared in anger – and I hinted pleasure as well – and pounced with immense force on his form. But he was fast. Like I said, he had my speed.
He jumped out of the way, and Keiko fell into the sand again, rolling to the side with the force of the impact.
It was my turn, for I could not wait.
I charged forward, and performed one of my special combinations: I jumped an exceeded height and kicked down. He caught my foot, surprising me, and threw me with astonishing strength at least several feet, but only because I punched him in the jaw, throwing his aim off.
I skidded to a halt and ran back, evaded a kicking-and-punching combo, and hit him in the stomach with a knee, hard. But his vest, it seemed, was meant to either absorb or null the attack. James smirked and attacked back. With amazing speed, he unleashed a deadly combo of blows, clouts, punts, and slashes with his kama.
It didn't feel like much, but when he kicked me away, I tasted salty-and-sour blood pouring out of something in my mouth. I licked whatever reached my lips and swallowed everything in my throat.
But I could not get up.
Caige was up.
He jumped up, grabbed the kama from James's hands and pulled them back, landing flawlessly behind the murderer. His hands pulled out, the kama facing to the side, and he grinned, settled on one knee, his other leg thrust out, as if he were to trip someone.
James grinned back, much to Caige's surprise. He ran forward, eluded the double-kick trip he somehow knew Caige was planning, kneed him in the chin and grabbed the precious weapons from Caige's shocked hands.
He rolled to the side as the man improved, wiping blood away from his mouth, and leapt to his feet, just as James was about to shoot the kama at him.
He threw it forward like a Frisbee, but missed when he fell back, holding himself up with his hands and feet.
He threw himself up and accidentally dodged the last kama thrown, bounded forward, and gave one blow after the other to the weapon-defenseless killer.
Keiko had quickly recovered from her ordeal, and, after Caige had dealt his damage – even if he wasn't finished with this guy – she lunged at his back with her colossal, glass-knife teeth, and bit into the tender human flesh, through the heavy vest which was his only protection. She pulled away, taking with her a large chunk of skin with blood splattered about her face.
James screamed in pain.
Our victory was assured as he fell to the sand.
Behind him, Keiko spit up blood and whatever else she'd taken with her. I heard footsteps, and Kairi was soon beside me, pulling me into a sitting position, then gasping with literal horror.
"Oh Riku…your face…" She looked politely away, let go of my arms, and lost whatever food she'd recently accumulated.
I tried to smirk, but my face was painful.
Caige had run over, looking over my features with a quiet intensity.
"He did a number to you, Riku," was all he said. He looked at Kairi, who had just finished gulping down a small bottle of water, and motioned with his head for her to come over. She did, followed his quiet directions, and pulled out a potion from the pouch hanging from a broken leather cord on my side.
"Drink this," she murmured quietly. Caige left us alone, but nearly stumbled back when he realized Keiko was unconscious in her human form, and James was nowhere to be found.
I guzzled the potion quickly and sat up, feeling dizzy. Caige looked back at Kairi and I.
"What is it?" she whispered; then she saw Keiko. "Oh God…"
Her head darted in every direction.
"Where'd he go?" Her voice was unnerved, even fearful.
Caige shook his head, then walked over to Keiko and gently revived her. Once awake, she stared up at Caige until she remembered everything that had gone on.
"He'll be back," she said sorely. "He'll be stronger. And until he's completed his…his mission," she coughed, "he'll be relentless in his pursuit."
She quieted, coughing more, apparently from whatever had knocked her out when James disappeared.
But that overwhelming silence consumed the scene.
Only minutes later, Caige silently declared we get going. I stood, yet still needed a support to lean on. Kairi volunteered, but still hesitated when looking at my face; apparently the potion given to me merely revived some of my lost strength, but not all, and did nothing to heal the cuts and bruises delivered to my face.
No matter. I could live with that.
"There has to be a faster way to travel," Kairi murmured none too loudly, leaning against the rotted picket fence surrounding the Jilt Inn. "What if he comes back faster? We know nothing of what he's capable of…for all we do know, he could be a White Mage or something."
The three of us agreed.
"Maybe we should ask…" I paused, absorbing the pain talking inflicted upon my swollen visage, "if Gillus has a way."
Caige sighed. "I doubt it."
"Wasn't there a pen in the back of this inn?" Keiko suddenly said. "I slept by the window last night and something kept clucking."
I set a painful stare on the female.
"It was probably your snoring."
Keiko narrowed her eyes, and stated something extremely obscene; something I also found was extremely amusing.
"Quit it, you idiots," Caige interrupted, already irritated with our bickering. "Let's go inside and see if there's another way to travel."
We reentered the Jilt Inn, a place I had hoped to never enter again. Gillus sat at the stilted table Valencia had sat upon, and Valencia had just been coming down the stairs.
He looked up. "I thought you've long since been gone, friends." His voice was a little alarmed, as was his face, as his gaze settled upon our appearances.
"Is there any way to cut through this place faster?" Keiko then blurted out, not caring about explanations.
Gillus's head cocked to the side in thought as he looked on at us. Then he looked at Valencia, who still had not moved from her position on the stairs. He nodded at her; she nodded at him.
"Follow me," she said quietly. She turned around, and walked up the stairs once more.
We reached the hall, then she opened my former room door. The old woman soon opened the bolted door I had seen before, and she led us down a dark path of gray concrete steps. A few seconds passed, then Valencia opened a locked wooden door.
The pen greeted us.
She turned with a tiny smile.
"These are fast. Ride them across the desert, then, at the deserts end, give them to Udo. He'll take them and you can continue your journey."
Kairi glanced up at the sun. "What are they called?"
Val's smile grew a fraction. "Desert Chocobos."
