Chapter Thirteen: A Single Tear
Haku was in the prison lying on the ground unconscious. He always was like this after an interrogation. Keiko was slumped against the prison wall, trying to find bits of metal or such that she could use to break out. She considered asking Yoshiro or Natsuko, who were talking about something, to use magic to break out but decided not to. They were probably too weak anyway and she didn't want to make them any weaker.
She wished that Haku hadn't sent Hikari away with that message. Then she could have helped them get away. She screamed as she gingerly touched a cut on her arm, it still hadn't healed and only seemed to be getting larger and bloodier. Natsuko stared at Keiko with great sympathy, wishing that she could do something, but she was too weak to use magic. Haku stirred and his eyes opened suddenly, he was sweating pretty hard and his eyes were fearful. "Just a dream, it was just a dream." He continually told himself. Sighing he looked around, as usual all he found was the prison in which he and his friends were captive.
Yoshiro looked pitifully at his brother. Natsuko finally spoke to break the silence, "I wonder how many spirits are looking for you two? You guys are the sons of the Dragon King, his oldest." The subject had come up when Haku told everyone how his dad had answered that day.
"Knowing father, at least fifty spirits are looking for this place." Yoshiro grumbled unhappily. Keiko looked around, in the dim light the shadows were larger and darker, creating places to hide when you did not want to be seen. Weakly crawling into one of these shadowy places she rested and planned their escape. A single bright flame could be seen moving towards them. Yoshiro and Natsuko grimaced and tried to fall asleep. Voices could be heard in the distance growing louder and louder by the second. The flame flickered and the shadows parted, revealing the things that they hid.
Haku closed his eyes and tried not think about Chihiro, but that was all that he could think about. There were loud shouts as the guards passed by, checking to make sure that they were still there. Keiko shifted to a more comfortable position as she tried to sleep. The many cuts on her face now visible from the light of the torch. Natsuko and Yoshiro both groaned as the light seemed to flood their cells, in the time that had passed their eyes had adjusted to the darkness they were surrounded in.
The guards laughed, and stayed for another twelve minutes before leaving, as the light passed and darkness quickly shrouded them. Another light could be seen headed towards them, Keiko grimaced. A voice that was barely audible reached her ears, "She's sleeping; maybe we should wake her."
"No just carry her he said that the spell would work best if she was asleep." Another voice reached her ears. Haku's eyes immediately opened as he deciphered what the mysterious men where trying to say. He shouted weakly, "Keiko wake up!" Keiko's eyes immediately opened, her eyes flashed angrily as she avoided the grimy hands of the guards. A guard angrily shouted at Haku, and hit him. Alerted by the noise Yoshiro and Natsuko immediately opened their eyes to the horrific scene before them.
Natsuko weakly summoned ice to cover the floor of the prison, she nearly collapsed when the deed was done. The guards slipped whenever the encountered a patch of the silvery ice. Shouting one of them took out a light bluish stone, which was thrown at Natsuko. She screamed in pain when the stone touched her skin and fell to the ground unconscious. He did the same to Haku and Yoshiro, who meet the same fate as their friend. Keiko quickly crawled away from the guards, her eyes fearful.
"No need to fear us," a guard laughed, "we just want to talk to you."
Keiko shouted back, "Oh really, I don't believe you! You will do anything to get what you want, even kill!" The guard smirked and threw a dark indigo stone at her, she nimbly dodged the stone, but it was enchanted and followed her. Keiko, unable to avoid it, was hit by the stone. Screaming as it scorched her skin, she fainted. The guards smiled and picked up her limp form dragging it to the dark room at the end of the hall.
The hooded man looked at Keiko for a second and said, "Bring the dragon, Kohaku. He must also have his memories searched." The guards nodded and dragged the unconscious Haku back with them. The hooded man smiled and started to chant. The blue-grey stone he held in his hands glowed venomously, his own dark red aura surrounding it. Both Keiko and Haku stirred, as the man touched the stone to their skins a strange thing happened. A strand of silky blue essence flew out of Haku and entwined itself on his arm; a stream of ruby blood flew out of Keiko and did the same thing. The man went into a trance.
Haku was in his dragon form, the day that Chihiro first transformed into a dragon. Keiko was below him, squirming to see what was happening. He was surprised that she had been able to use such a powerful defense. Keiko, not knowing that it was her friend, grumbled about all the people in her way.
The next day, while Keiko and Chihiro were at school, Haku and his friends were having a meeting in the forests behind Chihiro's house. Zeniba told them that Chihiro was to be trained, that the council had asked to see her. Haku asked when they asked to meet her; the old witch replied that they would meet her soon. Rin mentioned how his parents would react and giggled, he blushed, saying that hopefully they would be pleased with his decision.
The image swirled, and Haku was instead at the palace of the Dragon King. He was talking to him and his wife, and instead of addressing them as king and queen he addressed them as father and mother. Yoshiro ran towards them, they then asked a question in unison, if they had a sister named Hikari. Their parents hesitated for a moment before telling them they had.
The image swirled again; Haku was with his friends in the forest. They were running towards the school. Keiko was the first to fall unconscious when the Evil One came, the rest fell soon after. Before Haku fainted, he could see Rin and Zeniba running towards him and the others.
The image began to fade; a light could be seen in the distance. A portal, the man climbed through and into Keiko's memory. Keiko was sitting near a river, Hikari in her dragon form was swimming past her. "Hikari," Keiko called, "Hikari, come here." The dragon grinned and slithered towards the bank, her emerald eyes flashing intelligently. Her golden mane seemed dry despite the fact that she had been in the water. Keiko grinned when she saw her friend, she lived near the river ever since she was a newborn baby and had always known about the dragon that lived within. Flicking her tail impatiently Hikari motioned for Keiko to mount her, smiling the young girl did. The dragon dived into the water; she swam quickly as the current would allow her, swimming towards the river of her brother. There was something both Hikari and Keiko had to see. Grinning when she found it Hikari swam towards an underwater cave; it was a portal to the Spirit World.
She swam through and into a peaceful stream, carrying Keiko above the water so that she could breathe. Keiko quickly climbed off and watched as her friend transformed into her human form, that of a thirteen year-old girl, they had been here before and knew what to do. Hikari quickly plucked a berry off of a nearby bush and handed it to her friend to eat. An ancient building could be seen in front of them, they entered. A silvery aura surrounded Hikari and an amber aura surrounded Keiko as they entered the strange building.
A silvery wind seemed to fly around Hikari while an amber one fly around Keiko, protecting them from the protective spells that were put on the building. They entered the central chamber and were greeted by an elderly spirit, "Ah Hikari, you have returned and I see you have brought a friend." Hikari nodded, the elderly spirit smiled.
"I suppose you are Keiko, my granddaughter has told me many things about you." The elderly spirit told Keiko. Keiko nodded, the elderly spirit sighed. Hikari opened her mouth to say something,
"You do not have to ask Hikari, the scrolls are right here." Hikari looked were the spirit pointed; on the table were six scrolls. Smiling she thanked her grandmother, who chuckled and left, Hikari smiled at her friend.
"The information we seek are in these scrolls." Hikari told Keiko. Before they opened the scrolls Hikari murmured a phrase over each of the scrolls, and then the two friends opened them and read. The elderly spirit returned, and smiled when she saw her granddaughter and her friend reading the scrolls so carefully.
"So have you found anything interesting yet?" she asked the two girls.
"Nothing except that the Dragon of Nature only had six children, all of them borne by dragons, not a single one was borne by a human." Keiko muttered.
"I found out the same thing, I also found out that he tested his children to find out which of them would be worthy enough of carrying his powers when he died. None of his children passed, so he didn't pass on his powers." Hikari said. The scroll that she read started to glow a golden light. The same thing happened to Keiko's, except that it flashed four different colors: blue, red, white, and green.
"What's going on?" Keiko shouted.
"I don't believe it, the powers of the Dragon of Nature are being activated and transferred!" Hikari whispered. Her grandmother looked at the scrolls shocked. A milky white opal appeared, Hikari lightly tapped it. It started to glow and a silvery piece of essence flew out of it and towards an unknown place.
"We should leave now; we came to do what we were meant to do." Hikari told her friend, Keiko nodded and they left the building. The image swirled and faded into darkness.
The hooded man opened his eyes, the blood and essence had since returned to their owners. "Take them back," he told the guards, "I have finished searching." He left, smirking; Keiko's memories had told him much about the Dragon of Nature's powers.
Keiko winced in pain as they threw her back into her cell. The memories swirled around her mind as a dream, but there was another part to that memory a part that she had kept from the hooded man, even when unconscious. It was that part that she was dreaming about.
Hikari lightly touched the opal and it glowed. A silvery essence flew out of it; two scrolls were illuminated by the essence's light. Hikari and Keiko grinned and read those two scrolls. They told about one of the Dragon's children, a girl named Sakura, how she was her father's favorite. How shocked he was when she chose to marry a human. She received a gift from her father, an opal pendent. It was to be given to her daughter and passed on from generation to generation, from mother to daughter.
Sakura had a daughter who received the opal pendent, but one day an evil demon approached her. He tried the steal the opal pendent from her, but she was threw the pendent into a nearby stream. The pendent slowly sank to the bottom, but not before being carried away by the current. The demon tired to get the pendent out of the stream, but she cast a spell on the stream, freezing it and making it impossible to get the pendent out.
The last passage of the scroll the Keiko was reading revealed important information. It said that one of Sakura's descendents would inherit the pendent along with the powers of the Dragon of Nature, becoming the second one. They would find the frozen stream, protected by many magical charms and spells, and release the pendent from its icy slumber. The last thing it said was that the dragon would be a human but once they had released the pendent they could use its powers to become a normal spirit.
Keiko quickly told Hikari what she read and the silvery essence started to glow. The opal started to rock from side to side and was lifted into the air by unseen forces. Strange markings appeared on it, and it flashed red then blue then green then white. Repeating the same pattern over and over again, releasing more of the silvery essence it fell back to the ground, a normal opal. Hikari looked at it curiously and took it, thinking that it could be of great use in the future. The silvery essence swirled around the room, glowing and flashing a brilliant golden light. It then flew out of the room and to an unknown place, flying towards its rightful owner, flying towards the next Dragon of Nature. "We should leave now; we have come to do what we were meant to do." Hikari told her friend, Keiko nodded and they left. Though they didn't know it, as soon as they left the building a spell was cast on them that would make them forget what they saw.
"Hikari." Keiko shouted when she woke up from her dream.
"What about her?" Yoshiro grumbled. He too had just woken up.
"No, I know her when I was very young. I lived near her river, when it still existed."
"You knew Hikari? Then how come you didn't recognize her when she came here." Yoshiro was puzzled greatly.
"It was when I was very young, we moved away when I was six years old. I hadn't seen her in more than five weeks by then; I thought that she was dead. After that I forgot about her."
"Then what was it that made you remember today?"
"A dream, when I was four years old Hikari and I would go places. One of the places we often went to was the Spirit World."
Yoshiro looked at her in shock, "She took you to the Spirit World? She could have gotten into trouble if someone found out. How did she get you there?"
"Only her grandmother knew, but she never revealed my existence." Keiko told him. "In her river there was a portal that would lead to the Spirit World."
"Then what was the dream about?"
"It was about some scrolls, it had important information in it about the first Dragon of Nature. It also said some things about Chihiro."
Yoshiro looked around, "Don't say such things out loud, I'll tell Haku when he wakes up." Keiko nodded, and looked at Haku with great sympathy.
He was having nightmares about Chihiro as usual, in one dream Chihiro was killed by the Evil One who then took all of her powers. He woke up and screamed, "Chihiro!" Looking around he realized it was a dream. Still breathing quite hard he realized how much he missed her; his ruby bracelet was on the floor. He sighed and gently stroked it, thinking about Chihiro a single tear fell out of his eyes as hoped that she would be okay. Ignoring the shouts that came from his brother, he contacted Chihiro in hopes that she would respond.