Chapter -137: The Secret of Strength
Sarajin was being taken for quite a bit of a loop here. This new girl named Temporis had lots and lots of energy and didn't seem intent on stopping to take a breather anytime soon.
And she called him an "Elemental Overlord" too. It sounded powerful, grandiose...A name that while he knew was unbefitting of him, still made him giggle and blush with excitement.
"M-Me...? Famous?" He closed his eyes and relished in the elation, "Heh heh heh...I-I don't know what to say."
"Ahem...!" Coughed Justek, snapping him out of his moment of immature glamor.
Sarajin looked towards his friend as they were eyeing him suspiciously with a smirk. Sarajin then widened his eyes and went, "Oh, sorry..."
As he began to turn back around though Temporis had grabbed hold of his right arm and was holding it up in both hands. Staring longingly at it as she gave it a rub, she had one biting remark to make, "Oh, ok, you're a lot more spindly than I was expecting."
She then stared into his eyes and bobbed her head left and right, "Kind of pale-ish too?"
"Uhhh..." Sarajin stared at her with no way to answer her enthusiasm besides slacking his jaw.
Temporis perked up with a smile and said, "But everything else is in order! ...Except your hair, which is kind of a mess."
Auris grabbed Temporis by the back of her rob and pulled her back to her side still half-drenched, taking on a firm, admonishing tone, "What do you think you're doing, touching one of these savages?!"
"They're fiiiine sis, stop overreacting," Temporis then shoved her palm up into Auris' nose and said, "Take a whiff of his scent! See? Clean!"
"EAUGH!" Auris' tongue sprang out in a deplorable utterance of disgust, upon which she dropped her sister on her hastened retreat into the wall of the pyramid. Upon which, she planted her hands back and it looked like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest.
Her gaze darted around the people in front of her, culminating in her pulling off the wall and coughing into her fist.
She then tried and failed to make herself look good again by correcting her posture and advancing towards the group with the same confident strut she started off with minutes ago.
"I'm sure you've had a good laugh at my expense, my mischievous little sister, but playtime is over. It's time you marched back home and let these two unwelc-"
Temporis was inches away from Sarajin and shifting clockwise and counterclockwise around his stiffened body, "So what else can you do with your elements?! C'mon, show me!"
Auris threw her fists down and puffed up her chest in rage, "Will you LISTEN to me?!"
Temporis nonchalantly brushed the back of her fingertips out and said, "If you keep talking maybe you'll eventually say something worth listening to."
"AH!" Auris gawked, frozen in this perpetual state of anger.
Temporis then grabbed hold of Sarajin's hand between hers and held it up, sparkling in her eyes, "I want to see more of what you can do! Please please pleeeeease?!"
Sarajin slowly looked over his shoulder at Justek, muttering a confused and somewhat pained whisper of, "H-Help...?"
Justek sighed and then took one step forward, putting his hand to Temporis' forehead to gently push her away, "Alright settle down now. We have a few questions we wish to ask first."
Temporis pulled her head aside from his hand and then gasped, "Oh, and you must be Justek! I heard you're Sarajin's friend!"
Justek closed his eyes and muttered, "You'll find that 'companion' is the proper term, though Sarajin will-"
"Aren't you also from the dragon and wyvern Tribes?" Temporis proclaimed with excitement.
"W-Well, yes, I am," Justek shook his head and then gave her a stern look, "Flattery will get you nowhere though. I-"
Temporis started shaking her fists in the air and hopping in place, "And you're really, really smart too!"
Justek paused, a pinkish shade forming in his cheeks as he nudged his glasses up, a huff from his nose causing them to fog up, "Well...It's no exaggeration when I say I am probably one of the smartest people on this planet."
"Hey, do you think you'd be interested in reading some of our books? I'm sure you could get a lot out of them!"
Justek let out a few ragged coughs and then started talking to himself out loud, "A chance to read from Sancturia scriptures? Why, there might never be an opportunity to do this again...!"
"Again?!" Auris shouted, "You're not even going to do it now!"
She marched back over and stood between Justek and Temporis, leaning forward to get eye level with her, "Honestly what are you even doing suggesting such a heinous act? There is a REASON we do not let our knowledge leave these walls, Temporis!"
Temporis put her hands behind her head and leaned back, "Can't you just let loose for once, sis? No harm no foul, y'know?"
"I am feeling very harmed and very fouled!" Auris proclaimed through gritted teeth, stamping the ground hard enough to make it crack, "Both by your constant need to back talk, and the continued presence of these two savages!"
Sarajin briefly glanced aside at Justek and with this brief reprise was allowed to ask, "Why does she keep calling us that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Justek frowned, "But the word definitely stirs up uncomfortable feelings inside of me..."
Temporis brushed her sister's vocal outrage off with a shrug and then waltzed right past her, paying no heed to her burning glare tracking her.
"Well if it offends you so much, just go back home while I stay here and hang out with these 'savages'." When Temporis said that word, it carried a connotation of mockery to it.
Auris stood upright and following a frustrated grunt remarked, "I am NOT leaving you alone with them."
"Suit yourself!" Temporis proclaimed chipperly, stopping a few inches before Sarajin while leaning out and stretching her hands out from her sides, "Soooo, about your elements?"
"Uhhh..." Sarajin poked her head a little with a question, "What do you want to see?"
Temporis sprang up with her fists by her chest and exclaimed, "Why don't you show me your full power?!"
"F-Full power?!" Sputtered Sarajin in recoil.
"Yeah! Raise a forest, send a tidal wave throughout the city! Just go wild with those elements!" Temporis was getting fired up and her expectations were way, WAY too high in Sarajin's eyes.
"I...don't think I can make anything on that level yet." He said, trying to settle her down gently.
Her face dropped right into a pout and her whole body dropped as well. Then she puffed her cheeks and spat up, "So what CAN you do?"
"Well...I can make flowers-"
"Already saw you do that!" Temporis proclaimed.
"...I can make fruit? Have you ever had fruit?"
Temporis took two steps back and crossed her arms, "Show me what you got."
"Ok!" Sarajin smiled and concentrated long and hard, even when Auris made the minimal effort to try and dissuade what she believed was nonsense.
"How is this in any way impressive, why-"
"Shhhhh!" Went Temporis, giggling as Sarajin went into his Conduit Form and proceeded to put his hands before his chest again.
He wanted to give her something that she'd enjoy, something that would really show her what the food outside of her home could be like.
And what better way to show that then with his go-to favorite fruit for everyone: Grapes.
He made a small bundle of plump green grapes like it was second nature to him now and then pushed them out on his palms.
"Here you go, some grapes!"
"Oooh!" Temporis' eyes shined and she dangled her wiggling fingers in the air beside her face. But before she could take them for herself Auris came in and shoved them out of his hands.
"Ah, sis!" Temporis made a swift turn to the right and grit her teeth, with the grapes on their way to the floor where their juiciness would surely be spoiled.
However, Temporis raised her own stone bracelet before her chest and in the blink of an eye she vanished from sight, a slight breeze pulling to the left of where she stood.
Sarajin and Justek swung their heads around only for a pleasing "MMM!" to direct them to the left, where Temporis not only stood perfectly upright but had already eaten a couple of the grapes.
She started walking back towards them, popping her lips open and letting out a satisfied gasp, "De-licious!"
"How did she...?" Was all Sarajin could come up with, as his eyes were now fixated on her with awe.
"Could this be related to the Aurian's element?" Justek murmured, his mind rushing to come up with many theories to explain what just happened.
But with her magnetic personality Temporis was quick to draw their train of thoughts to another station, where they'd remain parked for the time being, "It's like you plucked these straight out of Tanglefae!"
Sarajin was surprised to hear that place being uttered so nonchalantly, "Y-You know about Tanglefae?"
"My uncle told me stories about that place," Temporis said, her mouth stuffed with the juices of the remaining grapes, "Never been there myself though!"
Auris began marching forward like she was on the warpath, "Young lady you will spit those up this instant or-!"
She swallowed, with a big smile on her face and a long, taunting rub of her belly, "MMMMM!"
Auris stopped, frozen there with this look of horror and pale-faced disgust, "Do you know what you've done? What if those are poisoned?!"
"Well then I guess Baldy will have to juice the poison out of me." Temporis said her utter lack of care in the face of being oppressed made Sarajin feel a little glee and some sense of satisfaction.
Justek, however, was not about to let himself get distracted by this girl's attempts to lead him astray with her energetic wiles.
"Now hold on just a second," He uttered, waiting for Temporis to look his way, "Are you telling me that your people DO have contact with the outside world?"
Temporis walked past her big sis and began to say, "Of course not! Only the Ten Sages have that privilege."
"Ten Sages?" Sarajin remarked.
"Yeah, they're-" Temporis found both her sister's hands stuffed over her mouth and her head being pulled back into her chest.
Auris was REALLY not happy, with her face so red it was starting to turn purple, and her teeth grit so hard she was bound to break them off if she kept going.
"What. Did I say. About telling them our secrets?!"
Temporis was still chattering away even if she couldn't be understood. Though with how she was punching her big sister in the chest obviously her body language was verbalizing for her.
Auris huffed a heavy sigh through her nostrils and then pulled her hands off, with Temporis faking difficulty breathing overdramatically.
When she was done she immediately threw a glare at Auris and smirked, proceeding to then look back across her shoulder at Sarajin, "Siblings, am I right?"
"Uhhh..." Sarajin stared blankly at the two and really, really didn't have an experience worthy of connecting to this moment.
Temporis then started to march back over to them with her hands comfortably behind her head, "Well anyways, now that I know the stories about you are true, I got a favor to ask."
"W-What is it?" Sarajin said, following her pace until she was leaning towards him with a huge, close-eyed smile.
"Can you take me with you on your adventures?"
With an earnest look in her eyes and a smile that reminded Sarajin a lot of his own, he was more than happy to reciprocate her request by saying, "I don't see why not-"
"Absolutely NOT!" Auris matched him at the same word but she was far more vocal about it, overpowering Sarajin's generosity and then forcing her hand onto Temporis' wrist to pull her away.
"Ow, sis, why do you gotta be so rough?!" Temporis declared, actually in pain this time.
"You're forcing me to act like this!" Auris blurted out with a tone of disbelief, "I should've figured out you were using that letter to bait someone into helping you escape. When will you grow up and realize that there's nothing worthwhile waiting for you outside those walls?!"
"When father stops outlawing FUN," Temporis barked back with a harsh voice, jerking her arm to try and break free, "I'm going to get out of this cage one day, just wait and see!"
"H-How dare you speak out of line like that! Especially to OUR father!" Auris proclaimed.
Temporis grit her teeth in a tall smirk and then hit her with a blunt comeback, "Oh I'm sooooo scared. Like he cares what I have to say."
Sarajin was watching this unfold with this feeling of discomfort growing inside of him.
Temporis was struggling to break free, not just from her sister's grasp, but from a place she felt confined inside of. She wanted freedom, even if it meant turning her back on family.
Out of everyone he could've run across in this world, there was someone just like him standing but a few feet away...Yet all Sarajin could do was stand there and watch.
Auris then glared their way, causing Sarajin to spring up, "You, poncho boy. It's time for you to pick up your feet and leave this place."
Auris then began to drag Temporis away, with her screaming and trying to kick her in the legs, "Ugh, you're such a jerk, sis!"
Sarajin then felt a sting in his heart as he blurted without warning, "W-Wait!"
Auris stopped and looked over her shoulder, her eyes full of contempt as she said, "What?"
Sarajin inched forward and held his arms out wondering, "Why can't she come with us?"
She turned all the way around still holding on to Temporis' wrist, "Do you honestly not understand why?"
"No. I don't." Sarajin said, feeling a growing sense of unease and confusion.
Her head was raised with a smirk, and a glaze over her eyes that left her looking detached from the two before her by a considerable margin, "It's because you're beneath us. You, a savage, think you have the right to compare yourself to an Aurian, let alone one of royal blood such as me and my sister?"
She shook her head and said dismissively, "What a laugh. What a joke. What a complete and utter farce..."
"Why...? Why do you keep calling us 'Savages'?"
"That is what you are," Auris replied, seeming to pleasure in every contemptible word she uttered, "A violent, primitive lifeform that is like cattle waiting to be herded."
Sarajin's eyes narrowed, his heart thumping hard against his chest, making itself the only sound he could hear at that moment.
When Auris put herself further from Sarajin's line of sight, he stepped forward and shouted once more, "W-Wait!"
She did, but did not bother looking him in the eyes.
"H-How can you say that...when you've never been outside this city?"
His words made Auris' whole body twitch, and his continued persistence was done without any interruption on her part.
He moved towards her, extending his hand out as a gesture of good faith in what he had to say, "I just...think it's wrong to judge people you've never met before."
"If you let me-"
"Enough." This sole, mood shifting word was spoken not by Auris, but by a man with a serene and baritone voice.
Emerging behind the corner of the pyramid and slowly advancing towards them was a towering figure wearing a blue and green kimono, with beige, baggy pants that had cherry blossom petals scattered over it.
His head appeared chiseled out of stone in a similar way as a man of Oreore. Except he was completely calm, unable to be detected despite the biggest thing that stood out about him...His skin was green as a leaf, except it didn't look like he had painted himself that way.
It was as natural to his body as the short cut black beard and hair tied into a ponytail knot at the back of his head.
At his side was a hilt like what Lulu held her knife in, only much longer and more refined with a metallic sheen. At the end was a handle made of silver.
There was a staggering difference between him and the way any other man on this planet presented themselves. Like he was a figure ripped straight from legends.
If the tide tried to swallow him up, it would split in two in his presence. If the ground attempted to swallow him whole, he would pull himself free through the mere act of walking.
Yet behind this legend appeared to be a gentle eye and calm demeanor...Neither of which Sarajin had the fortune of being the target of at this moment.
No, instead the big burly man stood between him and the Aurora sisters and then crossed his arms against his chest, forcing Sarajin to crane his head back to look him in the eyes.
Temporis looked at her sister and shouted, "You actually dragged Gabriel into this?"
"I-I was handling this just fine, Gabriel!" Auris shouted.
"I know you tried your best, Lady Auris," Replied Gabriel with sincere praise, "But no amount of reason will ever soothe the savage soul."
"Y-Yes, that's right...! I tried my very best to be reasonable with these...primitive life forms!"
Justek and Temporis would've been shocked if they discovered that they thought "She did?" with the same dry sarcasm at that exact moment.
"And Lady Temporis..." Gabriel sighed, still trying to sound positive even though he came off sounding very tired overall, "I can't keep being expected to bring you back home every time you try to leave here..."
Gabriel then raised his brows and glanced to his side at Sarajin, his gaze becoming a little like the bitter cold that washes over Arc Hurricanos once in a blue moon.
"Now, I believe Lady Auris has made her authority clear," Gabriel was stern and carried a little contempt in his voice, but otherwise kept his calm throughout, "You can either leave this city willingly, or I will carry you out myself."
Justek was the one to step in and say, "I'd like to see you try and lay a finger on us, green man."
Gabriel furrowed his brow and sighed, "I should've expected you'd make things difficult for yourselves. It's in your nature, after all."
"H-Hold on now...!" Sarajin's sudden proclamation got Gabriel looking at him from the corner of his eye.
Even though his knees shook and he felt his heart sinking to his chest, Sarajin looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Is there really no way I can convince you to let Temporis come with us? Maybe if you let me talk to her father, then-"
"Heh...!" Gabriel closed his eyes and smiled, "Are you seriously requesting an audience with Lord Borealis himself?"
Sarajin nodded as a little bit of tension trickled into the air.
Gabriel then opened his eyes and uttered with a calm bluntness, "You are worth that one laugh, I will grant you that much. But it's not simply a matter of what you want, but what you lack."
Gabriel lowered his hands to his side and took a couple steps back, "Look me dead in the eyes, denizen of the sky, and tell me...Do you sincerely believe that you have what it takes to guard Lady Temporis?"
"Y-Yes!" Sarajin blurted out, failing to stop and think about the implications of what he was answering.
But he would learn, for the atmosphere in the air began to tighten in sync with Gabriel clenching his hands into fists, a shrill crack of the bones resounding both his age and his experience to those around him.
"Then prove it to me by defeating me in battle," Gabriel closed his eyes and asserted right after, "But I already know you cannot win."
A cold sweat trickled down Sarajin's face as he nervously clenched his teeth, watching as Gabriel waved his hand towards himself.
"I will allow you one chance to hit me with your strongest effort...And then I will defeat you in only three moves, without ever needing to draw my sword."
"Gabriel!" Shouted Temporis.
"Hush!" Went Auris, letting go of Temporis' hand as the two of them slowly edged towards the Pyramid, "And pay close attention...Gabriel is the kind of Aurian you should be aspiring to be."
"Uuugh...!" Temporis rubbed her sore wrist, but in doing so covered the smirk on her face as she whispered, "Oooooh, I'll be paying attention alright..."
Sarajin was staring at this towering wall standing in front of him, with Justek at his side whispering in his ear, "I know you'll hate to hear this, but this is probably the point where we need to leave."
"No," Went Sarajin, shaking his head, "I'm not leaving without Temporis."
Justek pulled back and remarked, "You can't beat him, Sarajin."
"..." Sarajin's expression tensed up as he struggled to look Gabriel straight on, finding that there was this sensation of overwhelming power covering him like a cloak.
Yet he bravely looked aside at Temporis being guarded by her big sister, and found his eyes slanting in determination.
He then looked back at Gabriel, his own heart thumping loudly against his chest.
He had never fought a battle before. But the word felt like it was related to 'war'...Just as 'war' is connected to 'violence'.
And when he drew upon that word, that horrible, awful word, he remembered the sheer throbbing pain of being slapped across the face...He recalled the girth of Johnathan's fist, breaking rock above his head...He remembered the rising, burning feeling inside of him as he shaped his own hands into fists for the first time.
And in that moment, his body replicated that feeling and made his fists taut. His muscles throbbed, as he felt the heat of his heart spreading throughout his body.
With a single-focused desire to grant Temporis her freedom, Sarajin charged forth and swung his fist back, blinded by this raw emotion of frustration inside of him.
But when his fist struck it's hardest into Gabriel's gut, it didn't even move.
All that effort and he couldn't dent the skin of this man, or even make him let out a gasp of air. Slowly, this realization of how colossal the gap between him and this man dawned on him, as he steadily stepped back and looked up into Gabriel's eyes, and felt half as small as he once was.
Gabriel closed his eyes and sighed, "I knew it..."
And though he breathed with great reluctance, he brought his knee right up into Sarajin's gut with all his strength.
Sarajin felt gravity and the air he breathed leave him in that brief moment, as he flickered in and out of consciousness.
It was an attack that felt like it had struck his entire body, leaving him numb, and unaware of his position on this world any longer.
But his ears still worked, forced to take in the words Gabriel mocked him with, "Your kind are all the same."
After leaving Sarajin to stagger around in place gasping for air, Gabriel raised his foot and pressed it against his chest to pin him to the ground, "When faced with an obstacle you resort to violence as your only solution."
He only held down for a second yet Sarajin felt his ribs begin to crack. Gabriel then reached for the hilt of his weapon, "The ability to wage war is not strength! Empty boasts and false promises mean nothing! True strength..."
With a gentle stroke Gabriel drew his sword cleanly from the sheath and pointed it's tip right into Sarajin's neck, leaving him frozen all over.
"Comes from the desire to protect and help those who cannot fend for themselves. And if we had met on the battlefield with these separated ideals of strength..." Gabriel flipped his sword around and slowly slid it back into the sheath, punctuating his point coldly to the wide-eyed Sarajin, "You would be dead."
Sarajin slowly put a hand to his chest as his heart was trying to break free. But even though he quivered in fear, and his skin felt cold, he focused solely on the words Gabriel had spoken.
"True strength...comes from the desire to protect and help others?" He whispered.
He had thought all this time that strength was something gained over time. Like how all of Lulu's swimming and fishing made her tough, or Johnathan's hard work made him strong, or even Valic and Justek's experiences made them smart, a strength in itself...
But the secret lay much deeper than that.
As he struggled to stand, he closed his eyes and took a deep look inside of himself.
"Strength doesn't have to just be used for violence...? It can...help people too?"
When he stood up all the way he had Justek by his side trying to keep him from staggering around, "Sarajin, are you hurt?"
"Y-Yeah, but I'm fine..." Sarajin coughed hard and then started to look Gabriel up in the eyes.
"Now you understand why Aurians have been, and always shall be superior to your kind." He said, rubbing one last bit of salt into Sarajin's shapeless wound.
"..." Sarajin hung his head, steadying himself with a few more long, quiet breaths. Then all was quiet, broken by one tense gulp on his part.
"...Sir Gabriel."
"Hmm?" He replied, brows raised in intrigue.
Clutching a fist over his still beating heart, Sarajin raised his head and did not show even a glimpse of fear in his eyes as he stared the towering man in the face and said, "If I can prove to you that I have the strength to protect and help others...Would you consider letting me talk to Temporis and Auris' father into letting them leave Sancturia?"
Gabriel winced, quick to raise a smirk and remark, "What you're suggesting is an impossible feat..."
Sarajin's expression didn't change in the slightest. Surprisingly though, Gabriel did, becoming calmer and even cracking a smile, "But if somehow you manage to find true strength, then yes, I will consider letting you meet Lord Borealis."
"For now though, it's time for you to leave. I suspect you remember how to get out?"
"Yeah..." Said Sarajin.
He looked over his shoulder at Auris and forced himself to smile. She still looked at him scornfully, but had pulled back on the intensity.
"I want you both to see what it's like out there. The Tribes aren't all savages, trust me."
With that last word, he began a slow, quiet retreat alongside Justek.
Auris was left curling her hair around her finger and looking both exhausted and confused. Gabriel approached her and let out a sigh, "How am I supposed to explain this to your father..."
Auris closed her eyes and remarked, "I'm still wondering how they managed to slip past the Arrow Wasps."
"Yes, that will definitely be a key topic in the next meeting of the Ten Sages. I can only hope Lady Temporis will try to be cooperative in explaining..." Gabriel started shifting his head around, his pupils shrinking as he muttered, "Where...is Lady Temporis?"
"...What do you mean 'Where?' she's right..." Auris panned over to her left and was met with nothing but empty space, "Here..."
Gabriel closed his eyes and let out a deep, disgruntled sigh, while Auris' face began to turn beet red, with her biting down on the hair in her finger, "That troublemaking little SHREW!"
"I should've been keeping a closer eye on her," Gabriel remarked, "But it seems she played us all for fools yet again."
Auris pulled off the wall and started to quicken her pace away from the pyramid, "Leave the search to me, Gabriel! I will not let her make a huge mistake!"
"It's already too late," Gabriel said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "We've given her more than enough time to escape the city. Now...she's out there."
Auris had a pale look in her eyes as she turned around, "O-Out there...?!"
She swung her hands down in a frantic manner, "T-Then it's imperative that I go after her before she runs into one of those foul rotting beasts!"
"Calm yourself, Lady Auris," Gabriel replied, "I will bear both your mistakes and tell your father that this was my fault. Then he'll be able to get the other Ten Sages to search for her."
"...Ok." Auris said, her fists taut at her side.
Gabriel left her be for now and rounded the pyramid. By her lonesome, she didn't have to worry about anyone catching on to the fact that her heart had been fluttering for some time now.
Gently reaching into her robe, she pulled the rose free from her chest and though roughed up and shedding petals, it had maintained it's full, vibrant color.
She held it in both her palms and stared at it, where all she could see in the reflections of the dew drops was his face...
She quickly shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, throwing the rose to the ground and stepping on it, her cheeks colored the same as it was before she smeared it underfoot.
"H-He's nothing more than a...savage little peasant boy...!" She declared, grinding the petals down to bits before slowly taking her foot off.
Yet her heart remained astir, the image of that boy's smile permanently grafted to it. She laid a hand upon her chest and trembled, "So why...does my heart feel so...tender?"
She looked in the direction he had gone, her brows arching into a forlorn stare, then quickly to one of anger, "...Sarajin Stratos. I will not forget your name anytime soon."
She marched off in a temper-filled huff, awaiting the news of her sister's safety...
Meanwhile, Sarajin and Justek were on their way out of Sancturia with little fanfare from the populace.
Despite the pain at the time, Sarajin could feel his gut recovering quickly from Gabriel's attack. He rubbed it, letting out a sigh that got Justek's attention.
"This feels rather anti-climatic, wouldn't you say?" He remarked in a dry tone. He certainly had to let out a sigh of his own along with his gripes, "I was hoping we'd learn more about these 'Aurians' but it feels like we're leaving with more questions than we got answers."
He didn't go at it for long though, as by the time they were at the barrier he turned to Sarajin and asked, "...Do you want to go somewhere else today? It feels like you need to take your mind off things."
"Uhhh..." Sarajin hesitated for a moment to think about it before deciding on, "How about Pulsa Minoria? I'd like to take another look at the shrine."
"Again?" Justek nudged his glasses up, the two then passing through the barrier, "Well, I suppose if that's what you want to do on your birthday, I won't complain. Let's go to Pulsa Minoria."
"Pulsa Minoria? Sounds like fun! Count me in!"
Sarajin and Justek were stuck in place when they heard what shouldn't have been Temporis closed by.
And yet, there she was, just standing there leaning up against the nearby tower with her hands behind her head. Then she walked on up to them with a chipper air surrounding her and a big goofy smile on her face.
"Heh heh, surprised to see me?" She said, totally underselling the wide-eyed look Sarajin and Justek were giving one another.
"H-How in the world did you..." Justek began to say.
"Oh, I just snuck out while Gabriel was distracted with you two," Temporis said without hesitation, "Thanks a lot for that by the way!"
"Uhhhh..." Sarajin rubbed the back of his head and gestured the other hand out, "You're welcome?"
She then clapped her hands together and perked up, "So, we going to head out or what?"
"...Why do I get this feeling we're going to be in trouble soon?" Justek said, nudging his glasses back into place.
"Oh relax!" Temporis waved her hand his way, "If we hurry up and get a move on we'll be far enough away before dad or Gabriel can do anything to stop us!"
"Mmmm, I'm not sure about this." Justek muttered.
"Well we can't just send her back in now," Sarajin replied, "She really wants to explore the other Tribes and worked hard to make that dream possible. I'd feel bad now if we told her to head home."
"Someone is going to notice her odd appearance, Sarajin." Justek pointed out.
"Oh, you mean my robe? No problem!" Temporis went right for her sash and tugged it off, beginning to open the robe proper, "I've been ready to ditch this dumb thing for years now!"
Justek recoiled and threw his arms out in disbelief, "D-Don't declothe yourself in front of us you dumb-"
Underneath her robe, as it turned out, was a pair of satin white pants and a cute pink cloth top with short sleeves and exposed midriff. She then put the sash in her mouth, freeing up her hands to tie the robe around her waist via the sleeves.
"What're you panicking about? Never seen a cute girl undress before?" Temporis teased him with a wink, leaving Justek more flustered than attracted.
"...Hmph, never mind." Justek put his glasses back into their rightful place.
Temporis then stuffed the sash into her pocket and dusted her hands off, propping her fists against her hips, "That feels much better!"
"You were really prepared to leave, weren't you Temporis?" Sarajin said with an endearing smile.
"Yeah so c'mon, enough loitering around! Let's go go go!" She pumped her fist into the air and began to march forward ahead of the two, "The adventures of Temporis Aurora and the Elemental Overlord begin now!"
Sarajin's smile wiggled with a blush in his cheeks, him and Justek proceeding to keep pace with her. She lagged behind a little, looking over her shoulder at the city she was leaving behind.
She then glanced back at Sarajin and Justek, grinning with a wide sneer as she planted her fingertips over her lips, "Heheheh, suckers...Just gotta play along a little longer and I'll be free to do whatever I want by myself."
She then hastened back between them, leaping to wrap her arm around each of their shoulders and pull them closer to her level, "Thanks soooo much again for accepting my invitation guys!"
"Y-You're welcome, I'm glad we could help a fellow adventurer get their start!" Sarajin patted her on the back in earnest, the two exchanging close-eyed grins and chuckles.
However, Justek was eyeing Temporis suspiciously now, for she had no idea of just how sensitive Justek's senses, especially his hearing, were...
Next Time: A New Perspective