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"Mommy, Mommy! Look what I got!" Miyo called, running up to Kari.
Kari smiled and crouched down. "What do you have?"
"A pretty rock," Miyo said, excited. She held out her hand to reveal a blue and white speckled rock with an impression of a flower in it.
"What a beautiful fossil," Kari admired.
Miyo smiled even more. "It's for you, it's a present."
Kari smiled as well as she took the fossil from Miyo and placed it in a pouch at her hip.
"Thank you Miyo, I'll keep it with me always," she told the younger girl, giving her a hug.
"Hey, you two! Come on, hurry!" Hiroki yelled from up ahead.
"Well, he sounds excited," Kari mused. "Come on kid, let's go see what's got him all riled up."
Miyo nodded and ran ahead, Kari followed close behind. When they got to the top of the hill that Hiroki was on, the boy gestured to a city up ahead enthusiastically.
"Look, it's my home city," he told them, practically beaming, "My folks are there. I hadn't realized that we were so close. Come on!"
Kari smiled at his excitement and followed, finding it slightly hard to keep up with his fast pace. It would have been a lot easier if Whisper and Fury could come into the city, but that would only cause unneeded panic.
When they reached the outskirts of town, Hiroki paused, remembering. It had been quite a while since he had last been here. Once he got his bearings, he led them down one of many sidestreets.
"My folks own a small store around here that sells woven clothes and blankets and stuff. They live above the store. It's a great place, you'll both love it. It's got a great view of the sunset behind the trees and there's a stream that runs by it, and it's in a great part of town. Look! There it is!" Hiroki stopped his constant rambling to point out a quaint little building on the corner of a street.
"It's lovely," Kari complemented, meaning it. Of all the towns that she had been in, this one seemed to be the nicest.
"Come on, I'll introduce you. They'll love you, trust me."
Kari smiled and followed him, making sure to keep Miyo in tow.
"Ma! Pa! I'm home!" Hiroki called out as they walked in a back entrance.
"Who's there?" came a surprised elderly woman's voice.
"Ma, it's me, Hiroki."
A kindly looking lady, face wrinkled with age, came down the stairs. Her face was flushed, but in a healthy way.
"Ma!" Hiroki cried out, running over and giving her a hug.
Kari noticed confusion on the old woman's face before the lady returned the hug.
"Oh, yes, Hiroki dear. You've come home." The woman said with little emotion.
"Yeah, and I brought friends. Where's Pa?" he asked, looking around.
"Oh, he's…out," the woman replied, waving a hand towards the door. "Now, tell me who your lovely friends are dear."
"Ma, this is Hikari. And that little girl is Miyo. Girls, this is my Ma."
"Hello," Kari replied politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs…"
"Oh, just call me Bernadette, dear. Come up now, out of the harsh sun."
"Thank you, Bernadette," Kari said, walking up the stairs, pulling Miyo along. Hiroki followed behind.
Bernadette led them upstairs and to the right. Kari noticed that the upstairs was just a large loft with a few doors to either side. They were led through one of these doors into a bedroom.
"Why don't you freshen up, children? My husband will be here soon, and then we'll all eat supper." Suddenly, a tingling bell was heard. "Oh my, someone's in the shop. I'd best get down there. Take care," she said blankly before leaving and closing the door.
"Isn't she great?" Hiroki asked proudly.
Kari smiled politely and nodded. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with Bernadette. Sure, she had never met the woman before, but she didn't seem very excited about Hiroki returning. Actually, she had seemed kind of 'blank' the whole time.
She shrugged it off and headed for the washroom. "I'll be right back," she called over her shoulder. "Keep an eye on Miyo."
"Sure thing," Hiroki replied.
Satisfied, Kari walked back to the loft and through the door next to the bedroom. As she waited for the water-basin to fill, she looked out the small window. Hiroki had been right about the view, it was lovely.
As she watched, she saw something shoot across the sky, near the window.
"What…?" she questioned, forgetting about the water for the moment.
She walked over to the window, opened it, and poked her head out cautiously. She looked around several times, but could see nothing out of place. People were walking down the street, children were wandering, dogs were following their masters, but that was it. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.
Shaking her head at her paranoia, she started to close the window. A quick, faint breeze blew suddenly just before she got it closed. After securing the latch, Kari turned around. And screamed.
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"Oh, my dear husband, you're home," Bernadette said, again emotionless.
"Yes," the man replied just as blankly. "Has anything happened while I was out?"
"Hiroki came back, and he brought two friends."
"Excellent. Everything is going according to plan then?"
"Yes, everything will work out as is planned."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Kari's scream filled the shop.
The old man tilted his head and a creepy looking smile came over his face. "It seems that the Master's plan has already begun. Let's go."
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Kari screamed again as she fired another wind sphere at the creature in the bathroom. It looked like a large 3 foot long centipede. The ends of its legs narrowed into large, sharp claws. It clicked its 'teeth' together as it advanced.
'It's not even fazing it!' Kari thought as she desperately fired yet again.
She looked over sharply as Hiroki burst through the door. "Hikari!" he cried out, alarmed as he saw the centipede. He quickly fired a fireball at the creature before running over to Hikari.
"Are you alright?" he asked frantically as he reached her.
Kari nodded, trying to figure out how to beat this creature. She fired yet another gust of wind as it tried to advance again. Her wind was followed closely by a burst of fire. Yet, the creature didn't seem fazed at all.
'What now?' she wondered as she and Hiroki were forced farther back into the bathroom. She couldn't call on Whisper, the bird wouldn't be able to get here on time. 'Hit its underside,' her instinct told her.
She hesitated.
'Hit its underside,' her instinct insisted. 'Hit its underside with everything you've got.'
'Well, here goes,' she thought as she drew upon her inner strength.
Raising her hand slowly, she froze, waiting for the right moment. But, the centipede was wriggling, she couldn't lock on its underside. She sighed, frustrated.
"Hiroki, you have to make it be still for a second!" she told him urgently.
Hiroki looked over puzzled, but nodded. Creating a fireball in each hand, he aimed for the floor near the creature's head. It reared up, partially blinded, and froze for a crucial second.
Realizing that the time for action was now, Hikari shot a great wind gust at the centipede's exposed belly. It was a direct hit. The creature cried an ear-peircing shriek before collapsing back onto all of its legs, obviously hurt, and scurrying out of the bathroom in a hurry.
Kari and Hiroki followed just in time to see it escape through one of the windows.
"Oh my, what happened here?"
Kari turned her head and saw Bernadette holding an unsettled Miyo. A man was behind her.
"We were attacked," she answered walking over.
She gently, yet quickly, lifted Miyo out of the older woman's grasp. If she hadn't known better, Kari would have sworn that Bernadette nearly growled at her as she did so. She shook it off and turned to the man, who was currently being hugged by Hiroki.
Hiroki released him and turned to his two companions. "This is my Pa. You can call him Jonas. Pa, these are Hikari and Miyo."
Jonas nodded curtly in their direction. Kari inwardly hmphed and shifted Miyo. She wondered if Jonas was this cold and emotionless to everyone.
"Well, why don't you all come down to the kitchen and we'll eat, hmm?" Bernadette said in a less than cheerful manner, seeming to have instantly forgotten about the attack.
The four other nodded and followed her. Hiroki seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his folks were emotionless. Kari wondered if he was blinded by happiness, or if she really was just being paranoid by thinking that something was wrong.
As she sat at the table and saw the food spread on it, she cast all of her doubts aside for the moment. There was a ham, potatoes, various fruit, and bottles of the delicious punch that was known all over Hiata. Kari's mouth watered just looking at it. It seemed like forever since she had last had a decent meal.
"Thank you," she said graciously as their plates were filled.
She began to eat right away. It was so delicious. She looked over as she saw that Miyo hadn't touched her food.
"Miyo, honey, what's wrong? Aren't you hungry?"
Miyo simply shook her head and crawled into Kari's lap. She curled up and stared mistrustingly at Jonas and Bernadette.
Puzzled, Kari wrapped an arm around the younger girl while casting a look at the two elders as well. She then looked over at Hiroki, who too was looking confused.
Kari sighed slightly as she took another bite. Then she put her fork down and stood up.
"I think Miyo needs to rest," she said, "I'm going to put her in bed now."
Hiroki nodded and the two adults made no sign that they had even heard her. She sighed again, irritated at their rudeness, and headed upstairs. She sat on the bed, Miyo still in her lap.
"So, do you want to tell me what's wrong?" she asked gently.
Miyo shifted a little. "I don't trust them. Something in them's bad."
"Miyo!" Kari scolded. "That's not a nice thing to say. These are Hiroki's folks, they're not evil."
Miyo nodded. "I know they're not, but something inside of them is."
"You're not making any sense."
"I don't know how to explain. Something bad's gonna happen though, I can feel it. And they're going to be on the bad side, but they won't know it."
"What do you mean they won't know it?"
"They won't know it," Miyo insisted. "They just won't." She yawned and snuggled closer to Hikari.
Kari, realizing that she wasn't going to get anything else out of the girl that night, laid her down and pulled the covers over her. She sat and watched Miyo sleep peacefully. She turned her head as the door opened and closed quietly. It was Hiroki. He walked over to the bed and sat down as well.
"Did you see how she was looking at my folks?" he asked softly and Kari could hear underlying anger.
Kari nodded. "Don't be mad, she's only a child. She goes by her first instinct."
"But she looked as though she thought the food was poisoned or something," he quietly exclaimed.
"Maybe she's not used to being around such solemn people. She probably didn't know what to think."
Hiroki looked at her, slightly surprised. "What do you mean, 'such solemn people?'"
"Haven't you noticed? They haven't really shown any emotion since we arrived. Maybe that's how they normally are, but Miyo and I just aren't used to it, I suppose."
Hiroki sighed and looked down. "I noticed," he admitted quietly. "I just didn't want to believe that they had changed so much. I mean, before I left they were the happiest people in this town, and now…."
Kari leaned over and gave him a brief peck on the cheek. "Don't worry about it for now. Why don't we go to bed? We can talk more in the morning and maybe figure out what the problem is."
Hiroki nodded and climbed under the blankets, pulling Miyo closer protectively. Kari followed suit. It took them only minutes to fall into a deep sleep.
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Downstairs, Jonas and Bernadette sat in front of the glowing fireplace.
"The young Key suspects something, I think," Jonas stated quietly.
Bernadette nodded. "The Wind Elemental subconsciously suspects as well. What shall we do?"
"We cannot wait any longer. While it would have been ideal to gain their trust and take them to Master willingly, that will never happen now. It's best if we strike quickly, while they are sleeping. Master will send help for us."
Bernadette nodded again and stood slowly. "Let us go then. The sooner this is done, the better it will be for all."
Jonas returned her nod and started up the stairs. When he reached the bedroom door, his eyes began to faze into an unnatural red/purple color. He opened the door softly and crept inside, Bernadette close behind. Her eyes had fazed as well.
They approached the bed slowly, not wanting to make any foolish mistakes in haste. Bernadette walked around to the far side where Kari slept, while Jonas stood by Hiroki and Miyo. Looking down at the sleeping figures, they made no movement when two of the 3 foot long centipedes suddenly slithered into the room. They seemed to have slipped in the cracks.
The centipedes reared by the bed and waited for the two humans to make a move. Without looking up from the sleeping children, both adults bent closer and reached out their hands.
In synchronization, they struck. Jonas wrapped one hand around Hiroki's neck and the other around Miyo's. He pinned the groggy Hiroki down as the boy struggled, not fully comprehending what was going on. On the other side of the bed, Bernadette had pinned Kari down in a similar fashion.
Kari struggled while trying to make sense of what was going on. Was she losing it, or was Bernadette trying to kill her?! She clawed at the old woman's hands, trying to get air. However, for an old lady, Bernadette was fairly strong. Out of the corner of her eye, Kari noticed that Hiroki and Miyo were being attacked too. She closed her eyes and prayed that they would escape, continuing her struggle all the while.
Over on his side of the bed, Hiroki's mind couldn't seem to process what was happening. His own Pa was attacking him! It didn't make sense. And it wasn't just him that Jonas was attacking, Miyo was being hurt too. Hiroki couldn't understand. His Pa had always been so warm and friendly before. Was this his fault? Was it caused because he left?
He was jerked out of his thoughts by Miyo crying out before going limp. Enraged now, and not caring that the attacker was the man who had raised him, Hiroki began to actually fight. He clawed at the old man's hand and tried to kick and punch him. However, he was at a great disadvantage.
As the lack of air began to seriously affect him, he felt something crawl across his legs. Shifting his vision as best as he could, he saw a giant centipede hovering over him. Another was by Kari.
The centipede reared up to strike, and Hiroki desperately tried to think of something.
'What do I do?! What do I do?! Think Hiroki, think!' suddenly, the answer came to him clear as day. 'My fire powers, duh!'
He hadn't even thought about using his powers before because he had been too confused and panicked. But now he began to draw on his inner strength.
"Oh no you don't," Jonas hissed, realizing what he was planning on doing. The unnatural eyes flashed and Hiroki felt a surge of painful energy rush through him, breaking his concentration. He opened his mouth to scream in agony, but realized that he had no air left with which to scream. He vaguely saw the centipede preparing to strike again, and he waited for the end.
The centipede reared back just a few inches more before starting its lightning fast deadly descent.
Stop now! I command you!
The centipede stopped, its 'fangs' mere inches from the boy. The other centipede was poised in the same position over Hikari.
I want them alive and mostly undamaged. Do all of you understand?
The two centipedes and two adults nodded and the centipedes receeded. Jonas and Bernadette looked down just in time to see the two Guardians go limp from lack of air. They removed their hands from the slender necks and unceremoniously hefted the three children up; Bernadette carrying Hikari, and Jonas carrying the other two.
Without so much as a look or word exchanged, the two started down the stairs and walked out of the shop. They turned down the street and headed for the center building. Behind them, the centipedes followed. And all around, the rest of the town's citizens walked blankly towards the center of the city as well.
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"Oh man, I just had the weirdest dream," Kari groaned as she began to wake up, expecting to be in the guest bed above the shop.
Needless to say, she was shocked when she found herself on a hard concrete floor. Forcing her eyes open, she noticed that she was in a cell of all places. It was small and stone, with the exception of steel bars at the front. There was a slit up near the top on the back wall that allowed her to see the sky. It was still dark.
'I guess it wasn't a dream. But…why would they attack us? I don't understand. Wait…what happened to the others?!'
She quickly sprang to her feet and ran to the front of the cell. Wrapping her fingers around the bars, she tried to look around. The whole room seemed to be comprised of small cells identical to hers. She wondered if they held prisoners as well.
"Hikari, is that you?" came an incredulous voice.
"Hiroki!" she exclaimed, relieved. She saw now that he was in a cell diagonal from her. "Hiroki, have you seen Miyo? Is she with you?"
Hiroki shook his head sadly.
"You won't see her ever again," came a raspy female voice.
"Who are you?" Hiroki demanded. "And where are you?"
"I'm in the cell next to you," was the reply, "And I am called Meersa."
"What did you mean that we won't see Miyo again?" Kari asked.
"She is to be the first sacrifice. By the time you two are taken up, she will be dead."
"We have to save her!" Kari cried.
"We will," Hiroki grunted, trying to knock the bars of his cage loose in vain.
"Oh stop that, you're just going to hurt yourself," Meersa said boredly.
"Well I can't just sit here and let Miyo be killed," he decided to try melting the bars instead. However, his flames didn't make a difference.
"They're flame proof genius," Meersa stated.
Hiroki hmphed. "Well, if you're so high and mighty, how do we get out of here?"
"Easy. You use the keys."
"And how do we do that?"he shot back.
"Use your little wind friend over there."
Hiroki looked over at Hikari, a ray of hope in his eyes. "Can you get them Hikari?"
"I don't know," she replied, looking at the keys that were all the way across the room. "I'll try."
She then centered herself, focusing her energy. This was going to be hard. She wasn't destroying with wind now, she was manipulating it. And that was tricky. It had been the one lesson with Shaukaka that had given her difficulty. However, she knew she couldn't fail now.
She closed her eyes and spiraled down into herself, drawing on her energy. She focused intently, on the windball that she had created. Keeping her eyes closed, she stretched it out thin, so that it was more like a continuous gust than a energy sphere.
Opening her eyes for just a second to lock onto the position of the keys, she gently urged the wind in that direction. When the gust reached the keys, she gently wrapped it around them. She then raised the wind so that the keys were lifted off of their hook. Finally, she called the wind back. She caught the keys as they dropped in front of her.
"Alright!" Hiroki cheered as Hikari unlocked her cell and rushed over to his.
When they were both free, they started to leave when they remembered Meersa. Kari quickly went back to the cell that Meersa's voice had been coming from and unlocked it.
Out of the cell emerged a girl only a year or two older than the two Guardians. She had stringy blonde hair, a pale, pinched face, dull grayish eyes, and was wearing nothing but a ragged old dress. She looked half-starved and miserable. But, amazingly, her eyes were still strong.
"This way," she rasped, heading for a door that they hadn't previously seen. "The girl you want is up these stairs."
Kari and Hiroki followed quickly without protest when she mention Miyo, Hiroki creating a small fireball to light the way. The stairway was damp and in disrepair. It seemed to wind up into the darkness infinately. However, it did not take them long to reach a trap door at the top.
Meersa turned around and gestured for them to be silent. Hiroki vanished his fireball. Slowly, Meersa pushed the trap door up about two or three inches and looked around. Deciding that it was safe, she pushed the door the rest of the way and crept up onto the stone floor of the room. The two Guardians followed closely.
"This way," Meersa whispered, leading.
They reached the end of the room and came to another door. Meersa pushed this one open only a few inches as well, and gestured for the other two to look through. What they saw shocked them.
Miyo was up on top of some sort of alter, hands chained to a pole in front of her. A tall man standing next to her was speaking to an immense crowd in a foreign tongue. Every once in a while he would gesture to Miyo with a knife in his hands, causing the girl to shrink away terrified. However, it only made the crowd enthusiastic.
Hiroki had had just about enough and would have burst in there at that second, had Meersa not held him down.
"Wait until the time is right," she hissed.
Hiroki hmphed, but stayed put. Kari placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure both him and herself.
Suddenly, the tall man cried something in a loud voice and the crowd began to move to the opposite side of the large room. A hidden door opened and the villagers started to move inside.
The tall man stood to the side, motioning them through. When the last had gone, he regarded Miyo.
"Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you Precious," he said tauntingly. "As soon as we've feasted, we'll be sure to come back up for your final act."
Miyo gulped, but glared at him. Then, he too walked through the door, closing it behind him. Miyo sighed and sat down cross legged, exhausted, but too scared to even consider sleeping.
"The time is now," Meersa stated, leading them into the hall. "But we must be careful, the centipedes are every where. If they spot us, we are as good as dead."
Hiroki and Kari nodded and slowly followed. When they were about 10 yards away from the alter, Miyo looked up and spotted them. She opened her mouth to cry out happily, but Kari quickly motioned for her to remain quiet. The small girl nodded obediently.
Making sure that they were not being watched, the group of three moved slowly up onto the alter. Meersa walked to the front to look for the centipedes while the two Guardians went straight to Miyo.
"Are you alright?" Kari asked quietly as she hugged Miyo tightly.
Miyo nodded and tried to hold still as Hiroki attempted to melt the shackles around her wrists. She knew her Daddy wouldn't hurt her on purpose, but she was afraid he might accidently burn her.
"I'm almost done," he assured her, "And don't worry, you won't be burned. I promise."
Miyo nodded as he continued. Just a minute or two later, he had succesfully freed her. Sighing in relief, he pulled both Hikari and Miyo into a hug.
"As much as I hate to break up this reunion," Meersa started, "we've got company."
Hiroki and Kari broke the embrace to see what she meant. Their eyes widened as they saw a group of a couple dozen or so centipedes coming straight for them.
"What do we do now?" Hikari asked Meersa.
The older girl wasted no time in taking charge. "Hiroki, create a wall of fire between us and the bugs," she ordered.
Hiroki hesitated, not sure if he could manage that. However, a glare from Meersa caused him to push all of his doubts aside. Spreading his hands and closing his eyes, he created many medium sized fireballs. When he had nearly 50 or 60, he focused on getting them in a straight line in front of the alter. He was able to do so with just some difficulty. As the final step, he allowed all of the energy inside of the fireballs to be released in the form of flames; this succesfully created a tall, controlled wall of fire.
"Come on," Meersa urged in a nononsense tone. "That won't hold them for long."
"What do you mean?" Hiroki asked, puzzled. He didn't see how they could get passed.
"Look," was the exasperated reply.
Hiroki obeyed and saw that some of the centipedes were actually throwing themselves into the flames to create gaps in the fire so that others could crawl through.
"Oh…shit," he cursed.
"No kidding," Meersa said tartly. "Now come on, this way!"
The elder girl immediately turned and rushed to the back of the alter. She jumped the few feet to the ground and sprinted for a back door, not even looking to see if the others were following her or not.
Hikari and Hiroki were following, of course, but they were having trouble keeping up with the fast girl.
"Hey, wait!" Kari called as she struggled to carry Miyo and run at top speed.
Hiroki leaned over and took Miyo so that she could run faster. "I don't think she's going to wait for us," he replied indignantly.
However, they continued forward, trying to see if maybe they could catch up. They had lost sight of her only seconds before in the large, twisting halls of the city building. They had just rounded a corner when the three of them smashed into Meersa. The gilr had been standing completely still in the middle of the hall.
"Oww, warn someone if you're going to stop just like that," Hiroki complained, pushing himself up.
Meersa didn't reply, she just grabbed his chin and forced him to look where she was. He paled considerably as he saw the mass of angry villagers coming towards them from the right. Looking back, he saw the centipedes coming as well. Since the front was blocked off by a locked door, their only option was to go left.
"Come on, move it!" he said, pulling Kari and Meersa up. "This is the only way left to go."
They followed him quickly, trying to ignore the yelling and hissing behind them.
"Give us the girl! Give us back our sacrifice!" the crowd chanted, over and over again.
Kari looked over at the terrified girl in Hiroki's arms. Why did everyone seem to want her for a 'sacrifice?' She was just a small girl, right? Kari could tell that Hiroki was thinking the same thing.
Suddenly, the hall that they were running down abruptly ended in a door. Meersa desperately yanked on it and thankfully it was open. They rushed inside and slammed it shut, locking it from the inside.
Adrenaline still racing through them, they backed away from the door slowly, eyes never leaving the wooden structure. Suddenly, Kari bumped into something cold, wet, and sticky. Surprised, she tore her eyes from the door and looked behind her.
Her eyes widened substantially and she found that she couldn't speak. All she could do was wonder why fate hated them so much. For they had run straight into what looked like a rookery for the centipede creatures.
All of the centipedes in here were suspended in translucent green shells scattered about. Most looked full grown and they were wriggling around. Not a good sign.
She looked back at the door as the timbers began to crack.
'We are gonna die,' she thought fearfully as the door finally gave way at the same time that one of the 'eggs' began to crack. She clutched the fossil that Miyo had given her and prayed that it would be a quick death for all of them.
A/N: I need reviews if you want me to continue! I need to know that somebody's reading it. Justa fewreviews will suffice. Anyway, I've decided only to update the glossary if asked, since it's so much of a hassal to update withevery chapter. Just ask if you want me to put something in. And I'm open to any magical creature or character ideas that you have. Anyway, 'till next time. Ciao.
P.S.: No flames please:)
