Chapter -147: Clouded Hearts

The following morning in Arc Hurricanos, the sun was high in the sky like always but the city was missing its unique ray of sunshine.

Sarajin was holed up in his room, sitting upright on the bed with his face pressed against his bent knees. He hadn't gotten much sleep but didn't feel like either lying back down or standing up.

He couldn't stop thinking about yesterday, how horrid the state of the world was, and all the hatred in people's hearts. When he thought about one of those things long enough, he just moved on to the other, and then returned to the first subject later.

All that he was repeating in his head was essentially, "What do I do?"

And the answer was that he didn't know...

"Haaaa..." He groaned with a miserable sigh.

He heard someone coming up the stairs but didn't pay them any mind even when they were peeking in through his door.

"Sarajin?" Sounded the soothing voice of his mother, "You've been up here all morning. What's wrong?"

Sarajin plopped down onto the bed and then turned away from his mom, his hands laid limp over the bed, "Nothing mom, can I just be alone right now?"

"Mmm..." But her footsteps did not retreat. She approached the bed and sat down gently at his feet, where her gentle but rather cold touch graced his cheek.

"Please tell your mother what's ailing you, honey," She said, "It's hard to see you being so glum."

Her caring tough was his one weakness, and after lifting himself upright he hung his head and murmured to her, "...Mom, have you ever hated anyone before?"

She closed her eyes and gave a weak smile, "I haven't."

"WOULD you ever hate anyone?"

"Well..." She stroked her hand through the back of his hair and giggled, "If someone hurt you or your dad, I would definitely want to strangle them."

Sarajin nudged her hand away with all the force of a feather and then slowly looked her in the eyes, feeling this to be the most poignant question of them all, "But you wouldn't hate someone...just because they're different?"

"Everyone's different, dear," She said without pause, "Take the old lady around the bend. You know, the one who gave us the extra wool I used to knit your poncho?"

"Yeah?"

"Well between you and me," She smiled mischievously and leaned into Sarajin's ear to whisper, "I don't like that she smokes outside her house."

Sarajin looked at his mom with really puzzled eyes and her smile widened more, "But that's just what makes her unique from us. I don't think it's worth splitting hairs over that."

"...But what if a whole bunch of people shared the same hatred towards other people that are different from them?"

She softly shut her eyes and nodded, "I don't have much to say when it comes to bigotry, Sarajin."

She put a hand square on his shoulder but he could hardly feel it, "You should talk to your dad about this. Or even Mr. Galleo."

The thought of it made Sarajin feel a knot in his stomach, "I-I don't think I should."

"..." Her eyes briefly opened as she withdrew her hand, "I won't force you to then, but I want you to know Sarajin, that your father will always be watching over for you, even if he seems to be out of sight."

"If you don't want to talk to him though, then you do remember where else you can go, right?"

Sarajin perked his brows up and on that note, his mother leaned and kissed him on the cheek, "But first, you should eat something."

"O-Ok, mom," He replied, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and after she stood up he blurted, "But...!"

She paused and looked over her shoulder.

"C-Can we not have any meat for a while?" He felt horrible asking that much when she works so hard but she gave a tender smile.

"Ok, dear."

"And mom?" Sarajin frowned and murmured, "Sorry for being rude yesterday."

"Apology accepted." She whispered back.

Sarajin went down to try and stomach breakfast. His dad was gone, to resupply their milk apparently. After he finished his meal he was ready to head out into the village.

"I'll be back soon, mom." He announced on his way out the door.

Usually he'd use the tower to guide his way around his home. But today, it'd be his destination. Still feeling fatigued from yesterday he decided to take his time getting there though.

The entrance to the tower was close to Lostrom's home. Along the way there though, Sarajin was distracted thinking about what he'd say to their Titan.

"Twinbeak is supposed to be the wisest in all the land," Sarajin echoed what his father had said to him before, "But will they be able to help me?"

He felt like this was a problem too difficult for even them to solve. He had to try though, or it'd never stop bugging him.

"Sqwawk...!" Screeched a bird close by, and the next second Sarajin found them landing atop his head.

He looked up at their beak and identified them immediately, "Moses, what are you doing on my head?"

The bird squawked again and flapped its wings. In its beak was a multi-legged bug it devoured in an instant.

"Oh, just taking a break to eat?" Sarajin smiled and scratched the side of the bird's face with one finger, "Well, thanks for coming to visit, but I need to be alone for a bit, ok?"

Moses screeched and then with one hard flap of its wings took off towards the sky. Sarajin waved him goodbye for now and then continued on his way, feeling a little lighter.

A short walk later and he was at the base of the tower. It looked a lot more tall, wide and daunting from this close up.

He stared into the dank innards of the tower and was surprised at how neatly kept it was. The stone staircase to the top was still smoothed out and there was no moss growing on the walls inside.

He began to climb the staircase to the top, a long, winding spiral that tested the people of the city on just how far they'd be willing to go to get the Titan's wisdom. Every floor was a trial in endurance, and there were a hundred of them to climb.

No shortcuts, and no place to take a break. But having traveled across the planet's surface, Sarajin's feet and legs were more than ready for the task.

When he was finally at the top and sunlight poked through the ceiling, he walked out onto something a little more crunchy, the wooden straws that composed the Titan's massive nest.

His ears popped a little and the air felt colder than at night. And once he was off the stairs he felt like he had been shrunken down to the size of a bug.

Because now he stared into the face of an owl that was three times as tall as him, laying down bundled up in its own feathery warmth.

It had most brown feathers and its face had these puffy, permanently arched brows, a stone beak, and dark purple rings around its eyes.

The right wing of this beast had purple feathers on the tips, and blue feathers on the left. White lines divided the individual feathers. The poor thing had a bite mark on its right ear, while three silver wind chimes dangled off the left one.

One step onto the nest and the owl opened its eyes, the pupils swallowing up most of the space until it turned to look at Sarajin. Then the bird rose up high and majestic and ruffled its wings and head. The back of its tail feathers curled inward, and on its legs were these little tied up bells.

Sarajin felt a cold sweat and gulped looking up at the bird, who was trying to make eye contact. It stretched its neck out slightly and let out a hoot, then spoke without opening its beak.

"Ah, the young Sarajin Stratos. What brings you to my nest, child?" They had a deeply stern voice, but weren't without care.

He had been given brief glimpses of the Titan before, when they saved him from falling off the city a couple of times. But this up close and personal the owl had no equal. Not in softness, nor in beauty.

Sarajin bowed to the wise owl and laid his hands by his sides out of respect, "I-Its a pleasure to meet you, Twinbeak."

He then looked them in the eyes and gave a heartfelt plea, "I came seeking your wisdom."

"As do all who scale this tower. Speak. What is it you wish to know?"

"Well..." Sarajin told him everything he had done up until this point, from his initial visit to Tanglefae to learning of the war. When he was through, the Titan bobbed its head.

"So, you have begun to see the bigger picture of our world." Its head then turned clockwise, revealing a second face with hanging brows, permanently shut eyes with blue surrounding them, a bit of it bleeding down like teardrops. Its beak was made of glass.

"And what you've seen has worried you." Theirs was deep in a soothing way.

The other head turned back and raised the tip of its right wing to scratch its beak, "And so you wish for us to tell you what to do?"

Sarajin gave a slow and hesitant nod.

Twinbeak lowered its wing and leaned forward slightly, "Rationally speaking, it would be safer for you to remain living up here for the rest of your days. Let the world move on through the cycle of hatred and war. Do what you must to survive and live out your days in happiness."

"But that's not what your heart thinks, is it?"

"Indeed. You are feeling urged to do something about the hatred of the people, even though it may very well put your life at risk. Tell me, young Sarajin..." The owl suddenly put its face level with Sarajin's entire body, giving him a brief fright, "Can you rationalize this feeling that compels you to disavow hatred?"

Sarajin laid both his hands over where his heart beat and closed his eyes, "I'm...not sure how to describe it."

"You feel heartache when the word 'hatred' is spoken. Why not start from there?"

Twinbeak rose and Sarajin's gaze followed, with his hands resting by his sides once more, "Well, when Johnathan yelled at me, it felt like...He was in pain."

"Oh? Go on."

"I...don't think he wanted to be angry, that's all."

"An interesting proposition, but if you approach it logically, then he is simply stressed and uses heightened states of emotion to cope with it."

"Or do you believe differently?"

"...I don't know. But when I see someone act angry or out of hatred, it just feels...Wrong."

"It is wrong-"

"From a certain point of view, yes. But emotions like hatred and anger have been around long before we have, and shall outlive even the death kneel of the stars."

Sarajin's expression became unsettled from hearing this, "So there's nothing that can be done to stop it?"

"That is wrong. Hatred may appear invincible, but it is as fallible as any other emotion."

"The question you must ask yourself deep down, young Sarajin, is 'What is there to gain from fighting hatred'?"

"The war on Genestasia started because people started hating the differences between each other, right?"

"It was a factor, yes."

"And, that hatred led to people killing each other..." Sarajin slowly got quiet as the recollection of that pool of blood made him tremble and grit his teeth.

He then relaxed, and looked the owl in the eyes again. He then put his fists up and felt confident saying, "I believe...that it's wrong for people to kill other people, just because they're different."

"And how would you start fixing that?"

"The answer is much closer than you realize."

Sarajin took a deep breath and let not even the subtle winds distract his mind at the moment, "What CAN I do? Justek's right, I'm just one person. Am I even strong enough to do anything about hatred?"

He remembers how he handled Aquamoria, going from being called a thieving bird to being accepted as one of their own. Though not fully ridding the people of Water of their dislike for his people, he was able to show them that he could be a part of their culture just as much as anyone else.

"...!" He widened his eyes suddenly.

"There's the spark."

"Have your clouds begun to part, young Sarajin?"

"F-First I want to know, were all the Tribes once unified?"

"That was a very, very long time ago, but yes. We were all once one people. Even this great city was grounded like all the rest."

"But we took to the skies to prevent our people from being embroiled in war."

"After all these years the people of Genestasia have forgotten what their neighbors are really like," Sarajin said concisely what his mind was thinking, "And the war made them hate one another instead."

He clutched his fists up by his chest and remarked, "B-But if I were to go around and learn from each Tribe's culture, m-maybe I'd be able to show the others that they're not so bad after all!"

"And then what?"

"Then that'd help stop people from killing each other!"

"And then what?"

"M-Maybe we'd be able to work together to stop the Rot?"

"And how exactly do you propose to do that?" Twinbeak's head turned sideways, its other face getting quite cross with him.

"Stop being so insistent on your rationalizing. The boy's heart will become clouded again."

"Hmph, I suppose I was letting myself go a little there."

The purple face stared at the wide-eyed Sarajin and told him, "You have taken a crucial step forward, young Sarajin."

"T-Thanks, Twinbeak," Sarajin bowed his head and remarked, "It's all thanks to your wisdom."

"Is it now?" Twinbeak chuckled with a gruff tone.

"Huh?" Sarajin perked his head up and looked curiously as the owl turned its head sideways.

"We don't recall ever giving you the answer you sought."

"Because as we said, the answer was inside of you all along, behind a veil of clouds."

"We are wise in many ways, but that wisdom is not to curtail the growth of one's mind."

"Our guidance should not be a cure to all ails."

"Indeed. So our wisdom seeks to help nudge our visitors in the right direction on their own merits."

"Our wings whose winds part clouded hearts..."

"And unveil the truth hidden within."

"Now go forth, young Sarajin, and follow the path you have found." They said, gesturing the tips of their wings his way.

"Ok...I will!" Sarajin crossed a fist before his chest and then with another nod he was on his way out of the tower.

Having gotten clarity, he started thinking about what he should do next. And the choice was obvious, "If I want to start mending the relationships between the Tribes, then I need to talk with Johnathan."

It made him remember the cold way he looked at him, rejecting his presence with his gaze. It was a hard memory to focus on, but he felt it giving him the strength to do what needed to be done.

"I'll show him that I can fit in with his people. I just have to!"

He first had to stop by his house and say farewell to his mom, "Bye mom! I'm going to head to Oreore again!"

She looked around the kitchen corner and smiled, "Did Twinbeak help?"

"They sure did! I know what I have to do now!"

"Ok, you just be safe down there like always, you hear me?"

Once he nodded he was on his way off. It was late in the morning but there was still plenty of time to get to Oreore, even after he detoured to pick up Justek.

One flight across the planet later and he landed outside his village and headed inside. Things were starting to look back to normal even though the smell of blood was still lingering. He held his nose through it until he got to Justek's house and went inside, where he found him sitting back by his lonesome reading a book.

"Hey buddy!" Sarajin's sudden shout knocked the glasses right off Justek's face.

He scrambled to catch them then froze when he did, slowly putting them back on while standing, "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

He marked his book with his finger and kept it by his hip as the two met midway into the house. Justek raised his brows and commented on his appearance, "Judging by your eager expression, I assume you've come up with something crazy."

"I talked with our Titan and it helped me realize," Sarajin put his fists up before his chest and had a determined look in his eyes, "The only way to stop the war and hatred from happening again is to reunite all the Tribes. And to do that, I'm going to need to first get through to Johnathan."

Justek stared at him for quite a while in dead silence before raising his right brow. Sarajin's enthusiasm lowered a bit as he wondered, "What?"

"Oh nothing." Justek shook his head.

"You think its a bad idea?"

"I don't think labeling anything you do a good or bad idea will make a difference," Justek laid his hand up beside his face and shook his head some more, "You've made your decision and regardless of any complaints I may have I'll probably wind up being dragged into them anyways."

"But there's one thing I must know first...What will you do if you fail?"

"I-I don't know..." Sarajin's fists loosened a little, only to firm back up, cracking his knuckles, "But I have to try! No one should have to live in a world where blood is spilled over hate!"

After a long pause to let Sarajin's confidence stay, Justek closed his eyes and waved his hand up once more, "I won't disagree with that, at least. Fine, if you believe there's another path forward for this world, then give it a try. Just don't be surprised if you're the only one who thinks this way."

He then gestured towards the door, "Shall we go then?"

"Right!" Sarajin proclaimed, holding his head up high.

The two began another long walk over to Oreore, though this time it felt a little easier on their feet.

When they finally arrived in front of the ravine, it was just as noisy and energetic as it was the prior day, if not moreso.

Sarajin was getting cold feet staring inside, but Justek pressed on and briefly nudged him in the shoulder. He stopped and looked back with his smirk and remarked, "Well? Didn't you say you were going to talk with that loud old man?"

Sarajin perked his head up and shouted, "I-I'm ready, don't worry!"

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find him," Justek scoffed before making a smarmy remark, "Even among these scruffy folk his beard will stand out like a sore thumb."

As the two headed into the ravine Sarajin was preparing himself for the inevitable talk with Johnathan. He imagined Johnathan's cold gaze and pretended he was staring at it every step he took. It was a frightening experience, but it steeled his nerves as best they could.

His thought process was jolted by the thunderous sound of one of those Argent Heavers stamping their foot down dangerously close to where he was.

He leaped aside and the man sitting on top and leaned over, shouting, "Whoops, sorry!"

But nothing sounded genuine about it, especially when they laughed afterwards. Sarajin had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut moving forward after that.

Then the ground trembled and a boulder dislodged from higher on up, quickly descending upon him. Sarajin dove forward and skidded along the dirt, just barely getting out of the boulder's path.

All he could make out from on up was a man near the indent where the boulder once was, glaring over his shoulder before he got back to work.

The roar of the ravine carried a different vibe. It now felt like an engine of war.

Still, Sarajin endured the laughter of the other miners and kept moving onward, focusing so deeply on his talk with Johnathan that he didn't hear them call him names.

"What a bunch of prudes," Justek spoke in his place, "Honestly, like they have any place to talk with how dirty they are."

Sarajin raised his head slightly because he found a familiar face. It was Ezekiel, carrying a load of ore in his arms with his hammer strapped to his back.

"Ezekiel!" Sarajin perked up and ran forward with a hearty shout.

But the moment he caught Ezekiel's attention, the strong boy widened his eyes and then ran towards the ravine wall.

Sarajin looked confused and then followed, shouting, "Hey, wait a minute!"

Ezekiel stopped against the wall and just dropped what he was loading onto the ground, scrambling to pull his hammer out and start loudly banging it against a wall.

But Sarajin was just a few feet behind him, able to keep talking with him, "Why did you run away? Listen, I need to have a talk with your dad, can you tell me where he is?"

"S-Sorry stranger, I'm busy!" He proclaimed.

"Huh?" Sarajin tried to reach out to him, "Ezekiel it's me, Sarajin! I know I got my poncho on but I don't look that different, do I?"

Ezekiel smashed his hammer into the wall and it caused a weird spread of cracks to go up it, "Pop said I shouldn't talk to nasty sky people, so could you please run along?"

"...Ezekiel, aren't we supposed to be friends?" Sarajin paused and then put his hand on Ezekiel's shoulder, causing him to freeze up and then rear his head back.

"POP!" He screamed in panic.

There was an intense rumbling in the air and before Sarajin knew it Johnathan was speeding on over to their destination, riding atop an elevated stone hill.

He jumped off a few feet away and crushed the ground where he landed, walking forward nonchalantly with his arms crossed, "What's aching ya, son?"

It only took a second for him to be glaring at Sarajin, who felt a far more powerful hostility to his gaze than he had prepared himself for.

"You...!" Johnathan grit his teeth and then shouted, "Didn't I tell ya to get the hell outta my village?!"

Sarajin's knees trembled as he struggled to stand tall and look him in the eyes. He was scared out of his wits but that wasn't going to stop him from showing respect, "I-I know, sir, but-"

"BUT nothing! The only sound I wanna be hearin' out of ya is yer footsteps skedaddling out of here!"

The pressure of his voice was astounding but not enough to shake the determination Sarajin had gained to get back here. He flared his eyes open and for a moment, watched as Johnathan was baffled by his refusal to turn tail and run.

"Can we PLEASE talk?"

Johnathan arched his brows and growled, "You can talk but I ain't listenin'"

"That's fine with me," Sarajin gestured his hand out and said, "But I don't want there to be any bad blood between us, Johnathan."

"Oh, because you're 'different' from the rest of yer kind, yah?" Johnathan remarked.

"Y-Yeah." Sarajin was a little surprised by that.

"And lemme guess, ya thought you could worm your way back by tryin' to take part in our culture?"

Sarajin's eyes widened, "H-How did he know...?"

Johnathan grit his teeth into a scowl and brutally tore into his vulnerable state of mind at the moment, "Forget it, ya daft Buzzard. All yer years looking down on us hard-working folk, picking off what ya want with yer birds and leaving us with nothing but tiny specks ain't left ya with a bone or muscle worth a damn."

"If ya want to take part in our culture that badly, then just go home and ask one of yer feather-brained rats to steal our ore."

He then brushed his hand out from his arms and remarked, "Now git outta my sight."

He started to turn away but it was all out of a vain hope then when he finished, Sarajin would have left the other way.

"I seriously want to try and live life the Oreore way though!" He shouted, causing Johnathan to flinch in anger. He then turned around and glared harder, leaving Sarajin feeling tougher just to try and stand against his rage.

"Does all yer flyin' leave ya deaf in the ears, boy? I can make ya leave, if yer hungry for pain."

"I-I'm not scared of you!" Sarajin shouted, his voice cracking midway through, "And I'm going to learn your culture, with or without your help!"

"You what?!" Johnathan screamed, stamping one foot forward and putting his hand tightly onto Sarajin's abdomen to raise him.

It hurt internally but through grunts and groans, Sarajin still kept looking Johnathan in the eyes, "What makes ya think yer entitled to be in our land? Eh?! Speak up, boy!"

"I-I know about the hatred between all the Tribes, a-and the war..."

"Oh!" Johnathan faked looking surprised, "So that just makes ya an expert I suppose."

Johnathan dragged Sarajin down to eye level and rammed his face against his, whispering bitterly into his ears, "Ya don't know the first damn thing about war. Spilling blood on the battlefield, spilling tears for the fallen...! Yer kind's just been content to stick up high in the sky and do nothin' as the rest of us bury the dead in the ground, if we're lucky to even have a body to bury!"

"Ye ever even looked a man in the eyes, watchin' as their life leaves them for the final time?"

"I-I haven't, and...and I don't want to!" Sarajin declared, setting Johnathan off so fiercely that his grip began to dig into his skin.

"B-Because I want to prevent another war by-by stopping all the hatred between the Tribes. T-Then nobody will have to die ever again!"

"And ya think learnin' our culture will help that?"

"YES!" Sarajin's exclamation was squeezed out of his lungs, and upon doing so, Johnathan's grip began to loosen.

He smirked and then tossed Sarajin to the ground like a rag doll, "Fine. We'll see how much yer windy bluster holds up against the might of our Three Trials."

"T-The Three Trials?!" Ezekiel blurted out in shock, "Those haven't been used on an outsider for centuries!"

"It'll be the perfect way to test yer mettle, boy," Johnathan crossed his arms and grinned, "Either ya come out of 'em a man of the mines, or yer gonna be flyin' home with broken wings carryin' a broken body."

Sarajin stood and dust his pants off before looking him square in the eyes and declaring, "I'll do it!"

"Fine, then we'll get started right away with yer first trial!" Johnathan began to turn while Sarajin gasped.

"R-Right away?!" When this caused Johnathan to glare over his shoulder, Sarajin perked his head up and proclaimed, "O-Ok! Let's do this!"

"Heh, yer bones are gonna be dust before nightfall, boy." His word filled Sarajin's heart with ominous dread but after a tight swallow he followed the man close behind, with Ezekiel and Justek coming along too.

Thus began the Three Trials of Oreore...

Next Time: Surviving the Barren Lands