The Priestesses' Regeneration Song that Connects the Worlds

by aquagon

Two months later, Inuyasha's group welcomes back Miko and Yasha together with their friends from the alternate Earth. Now, they must fulfill the mission they were given by destiny: become the Seirei to save the world the Dragonia. While many hardships await them, they will also receive the help from a world called Ar Ciel... Sequel to Entwining of Destinies.

11. Seleila and the Maze Gardens

Seleila and the Maze Gardens

Are you truly who you say you are?

Am I truly who I say I am?

Nothing is definite in this world

Like no future is ever certain

{Opening: Eien no Toshie e – Haruka Shimotsuki}

{BGM: LORE – Daisuke Achiwa}

- "Okay, I wasn't expecting we'd have to walk part of the route instead of flying all the way through" – said Henry as he and his friends walked through a narrow mountain passage: to the left they had a brown rock wall, while to the right they had a chasm about 700 meters deep covered in mist. His dragon was flying a short distance away from him, and as it was colder than the flat areas around Soleila, everyone were wearing hooded cloaks that had imprinted the marks of their respective elements and that were colored just like their shoufs, although they had the hoods down.

They had left Soleila about three hours ago and were now making their way through the mountains to the northwest that led to their next destination: Old Capital Seleila.

- "Not like we can do much about it" – said Gerardo as they kept trudging through the passage and Iadla emitted a musical growl – "The weather forecast for the area predicted strong winds for the Seleila region, and having our dragons fly us there would be too dangerous" –

- "You've got a point. Plus, the monarchs would have gotten mad at us if we kept staying at Soleila without doing anything to progress on our quest to beat Tenebross up" – said Miguel wiping some sweat from his forehead as Eolia grumbled a little.

- "And according to this, we're not that far anyway" – said Roger projecting his Dragtemn's map before everyone else to then point at their position, the road and to Seleila's location – "After that slope, we should get a good view of the city" –

- "Then let's hurry up!" – said Kagome enthusiastic – "I want to see what kind of place the old capital is!" –

- "Ahaha, that's what I'd say, onee-san!" – said Miko giggling as she and Neria ran after her and Shia. Yasha smiled while Inuyasha just sighed.

And sure enough, after a couple minutes more, they got up the slope and they found themselves on a tall cliff overlooking a round plateau. While it had been covered in mist when they arrived, after a few moments they saw how the sunlight parted the clouds and unveiled a beautiful walled city behind.

- "That's…!" – said Gerardo as his eyes shone in excitation.

- "Yes, that's Seleila" – said Iadla with pride – "The city that many centuries ago was the royal capital of Dragonia" –

- "It's amazing…" – said Gabriela looking agape at how the city looked from within the mist. The other dragons had given the same explanations to their respective partners as Iadla had done with Gerardo.

- "The way it's framed right now… Man, I'd like to make a drawing or paint from this!" – said Kember hurrying up to take a photo if it with his Dragtemn. Gerardo did the same thing.

- "And it kinda reminds me of when I went to Mérida for a medicine congress…" – said Miguel with a hand on his chin and closing his eyes.

- "Yeah, it's the same place it reminded me of" – said Gerardo nodding.

{End BGM}

But then, they heard something growling behind, and upon turning around, the were faced with a large group of wolves and birds covered in black feathers, all of which were emanating a dark aura.

- "Damn, look at what happens when y'all stick looking at a place for too long!" – said Inuyasha drawing his Tessaiga.

- "Not like anyone could be blamed for getting delighted with a view as pretty as that…" – muttered Miko as she took out her bow and loaded an arrow. The others drew their weapons and prepared to fight.

{BGM: Battle I – Popolocrois 3}

Right away, the birds started their assault with the wolves backing them, but the party's dragons flew in defense of their partners, transformed into their large forms and released their elemental breaths to block the birds.

However, the party were having problems with the wolves: the beasts had swift movements and as the cliff they were at was relatively narrow, if they didn't look where they put their feet, they could find themselves falling into the ravine.

- "Dammit, the terrain is playing against us here!" – said Miguel as he slashed away at one of the wolves to get it away from him, though he ended with a few scratches on the arms.

- "Don't remind me! I'm not in the mood for an over-hundred meters fall now!" – said Roger being forced to draw his short dagger to defend himself, as the wolves and the birds' movements made it hard for him to use his guns.

- "Neither are we!" – said Gerardo as blocked over and over the tackles of the beasts with his shield to protect Gabriela, who herself had problems taking aim at the enemies with her arrows.

- "Everyone, step aside!" – shouted Kagome, so both siblings cleared the way as they could. Kagome and Miko then released at the same time two arrows, which found their target in one of the wolves and exploded in a purple light in contact. The wolf collapsed and dissolved in a puff of black mist.

- "That's one down!" – said Yasha as he slashed at another of the wolves with his Tessaiga.

- "Yeah, nice going Kagome!" – said Carlos as he used his own sword to put some distance between him and the birds that were attacking him.

- "But we're not gonna get anywhere if we just depend on Inuyasha and Kagome to do the heavy lifting for us!" – said Kember pushing away a wolf with his spear in a way that made it crash on the other wolves as they tried charging them.

- "Guys, I've got an idea!" – said Miguel out of nowhere after having looked around at the terrain – "I'm gonna mount on Eolia so we have a better way to deal with these feathered pests! Yasha and Roger, come with me!" –

- "What about the rest of us?" – asked Henry annoyed with his weapon: he couldn't make use of the liquid metal blade's properties because it required him to focus.

- "Inuyasha, Henry and Kember, draw these things to the lower path we came from!" – said Miguel – "Kagome, Miko, Gaby and Tiff, all of you get away from the battle's center and provide us cover fire!" –

- "Okay! We'll tank the monsters while you girls support us from there!" – said Gerardo noticing what Miguel was doing. Right away, the boys used their weapons to push the monsters away and hold them at bay, so the girls could get away from the fray, while Miguel, Roger and Yasha took off to the air mounted on their dragons.

Henry and Kember also took the time to taunt them:

- "Hey guys, wanna get a piece of me!? Then come take it!" –

- "These days they make monsters out of even any old wolf or bird!" -

- "Okay, looks like we've got a better vantage point from here, although I can't attack without using magic…" – said Miguel contemplating the battlefield after they had completed the repositioning: a relatively narrow strip of mountain path in which the girls were standing at the top of a slope, all the swordfighters excepting for Henry, Yasha and Inuyasha had formed a wall in front of them, and the three of them were pushing back anyone who tried getting close to them. However, he had to make Eolia move to avoid three birds who tried swooping on him – "Crap!" –

- "I've got one!" – said Roger as he pulled out his guns and fired several energy rounds at them. He managed to land several hits on one, but it wasn't enough to drop it.

- "Looks like Miguel-kun knew what he was doing" – said Kagome looking forward: they had a perfectly clear view of the wolves in front, and there was no one who could attack them with the birds being distracted by the three in the air and the wolves by the rest of the party.

- "Yeah, so it's time to do our part!" – said Miko enthusiastic.

- "We're gonna turn some wolves into pincushions~" – said Gabriela in a sing-song voice.

- "Let's see who gets more!" – said Tiffany. The four girls readied their bows and took aim.

- "Looks like Miguel's plan is working pretty well" – said Henry with satisfaction: he had now reshaped his blade into a long halberd, although the details on the weapon left a lot to be desired.

- "Well, time to get rid of these pests…." – started saying Gerardo, but then he heard the buzzing of an arrow behind him – "No way…!" –

He immediately jumped to the right: an arrow then passed whizzing were his head had been just a couple seconds ago.

- "Sorry Gerar!" – said Gabriela with a worried and sad expression as she started taking aim again. Gerardo's face paled at this and he tried to put some distance between himself and the wolves.

- "Be more careful, Gaby!" – said Miguel from the air with his eyes as wide as saucers.

- "Gaby-chan… Maybe you should calm down a little" – advised Kagome as she readied a second arrow: while from the first volley she and Miko had struck cleanly two wolves, Gabriela missed and almost hit her brother on the head, while Tiffany wasn't even managing to make her arrows fly off.

- "And Tiffa-chan should also pay more attention to when she releases the string…" – said Miko observantly: Tiffany seemed to not be tensing the string properly before aiming and shooting.

Meanwhile…

- "Just a second… Yeah, you compress air like this and then throw it quickly, and so…" – said Miguel closing his eyes. Then a green magic circle drew around him.

- "Ah, looks like he learned a new spell or something!" – said Yasha happy.

- "Yeah, that's gonna help us a lot! …Hopefully" – said Roger a bit doubtful.

- "Watsa ya iolarra litashe iolois tastssaks ika!" – said Miguel opening his eyes violently, which had turned to a green color – "Zephyr Blade!" –

He made an arching, sweeping motion with his right hand, releasing a green wave of wind that followed his movements, which struck a bird. While he didn't manage to drop it, the bird started flying erratically from it.

- "Whoa, not bad!" – said Roger impressed.

- "Thanks, but we're far from finishing this, aren't we?" – smiled Miguel as he prepared to start casting again.

So, Miguel continued casting his newly acquired Zephyr Blade, while Roger kept on shooting at the birds and Yasha launched Kaze no Kizu blasts every time three or more had gathered together.

On the other hand, Gerardo continue blocking the attacks from the wolves with his shield and tried slashing back whenever he had a chance, but he wasn't managing to land many of his attacks due to the wolves' quickness and that he took too long to respond after blocking, while Inuyasha, Kember and Henry continued maintaining them far from the archers. Carlos had been trying to support Gerardo with his sword and attempting to freeze the wolves' paws into the ground, but he had been unsuccessful because his congelation spell needed time to act. Similarly, their dragons kept swooping in to attack with their claws, but they didn't try using their breaths for fear of harming their partners or their friends.

After a few minutes of more fighting, Miguel's magic and Roger's rounds started taking their toll on them: they had started sweating profusely and gasping.

- "Ugh… I need to rest… I can't keep casting like this…" – said after he launched a couple of green colored scythes at the birds, cleanly hitting one and causing it to drop into the ravine.

- "Same here, Mige…" – said Roger gasping. He tried firing a couple of rounds, but nothing came from his guns. Daichi growled worried – "Yeah, I'm fine, partner…. But damn… I don't have more energy to continue powering my guns…" –

- "Ahaha… and we didn't bring anything we could use to restore our MP, or whatever the equivalent is in this world…" – said Miguel laughing bitterly. Eolia flapped her wings violently when two birds flew in front of them, triggering a current that plastered one of the birds into the cliff's face.

- "Stay sharp guys!" – said Yasha as he and Pyrafile flew closer to them. Pyrafile released a fireball to the bird that had escaped Eolia's current, but he didn't manage to hit it.

On the other hand, the number of wolves had been reduced greatly: only about four of them remained now, but it became patent that exhaustion was taking its toll on the combatants. They all were sweating and breathing shallowly.

- "Ugh… So annoying, and I'm in such a poor physical condition…" – said Gerardo dropping to his knees as he gasped.

- "Hang in there a little more, bro!" – said Henry, although his halberd had gotten even more formless than it was at the start – "We're almost finished cleaning up!" –

The next instant, an arrow struck the wolf that Henry had been fighting on the head and it exploded in a flash of white light, disintegrating it.

- "Excellent, Gaby-chan!" – applauded Kagome.

- "Yeah, that was a perfect shot!" – said Miko jumping up and down.

- "Thanks!" – said Gabriela smiling.

- "Hey, look, I could do it too!" – said Tiffany as the arrow she had released struck another wolf on a leg and exploded in flames, which quickly enshrouded the wolf and consumed it until it didn't leave even ashes.

- "Whoa, pretty good too!" – said Miko.

- "Congrats, Tiff!" – said Gabriela as they both gave a high-five to each other and smiled.

- 'Ok, the girls have done their part too. I won't just stay down here lamenting myself over being exhausted… I'll also use my own strength to fight to the end!' – thought Gerardo closing his eyes to then raise back to his feet. He then remembered some phrases in Dragonian and movements that went with them…

- "Watsa ya," – he started saying as he put away his shield, drew a circle with his sword and held it over his right shoulder with both hands – "dragyuu raga…" -

The blade briefly shone in blue from its base to its tip.

- "Whoa, looks like Gerar-nii learned a new technique!" – said Yasha excited.

- "Better said, he has remembered one of his old powers!" – said Kagome remembering that pose from the multiple times Gerardo had used this power in their previous journey.

- "Keh! So, at last he's gonna make himself useful!" – said Inuyasha smiling.

- "Everyone in the front lines, fall back!" – said Miguel from the air – "Let Gerar finish what he's doing, and if possible, help him!" –

Having heard this, Henry, Kember, and Carlos stepped back, while Inuyasha put himself to a side and Yasha swooped in.

Gerardo then completed the rest of the casting:

- "torowas tastsaks ika!" – he said as he thrust the sword in front of him, as if he were puncturing the center of the circle he had drawn – "Dragon Wave!" –

- "I knew that's what he was doing! Kaze no Kizu!" – said Inuyasha as he raised his sword aloft with both hands and brought it down.

- "Good thinking, Inuyasha-nii! Kaze no Kizu" – said Yasha as he did the same motions as Inuyasha from Pyrafile's back.

The two golden waves fused with Gerardo's attacks: a bunch of blue-colored energy waves shaped after dragon heads, which combined and formed a large dragon head-shaped green beam that devastated everything in front of them. Not even a single one of the wolves they had been fighting remained afterwards. Kagome and Miko then finished cleaning up the birds.

{End BGM}

- "Phew… at last we won…" – said Gerardo as he sat down exhausted.

- "Yeah… it was hard, but we somehow managed…" – said Miguel as he landed and sat down next to him before patting him on the back, which Roger also did.

- "But you're a pretty good strategist" – said Kagome as the girls walked to them – "You got a feeling for the battlefield's status and how we could use it in our favor quite fast" –

- "Hehe, strategy games were always my forte" – said Miguel smiling satisfied – "Good thing it served for something in the end" –

- "Also, Gerar remembered one of his old techniques!" – said Gaby excited.

- "Yeah, but it was a one-hit kill for these things because Yasha and Inuyasha powered it up greatly" – said Gerardo – "As I'm now, most likely it'd only have made them stagger a little" –

- "But still, it's a pretty cool power" – said Henry after he had returned his blade to its original form and had sheathed it again – "Also, why didn't you guys use the Kaze no Kizu from the start?" –

- "I had thought about it, but felt it wasn't a good idea" – said Inuyasha placing his hands inside his sleeves.

- "Yeah, using it here willy-nilly was a terrible plan" – said Miguel – "As we were packed so tightly at the start, it was highly likely we could have gotten hit by the wave instead of the monsters" –

- "Not to mention we could have made the road collapse or trigger an avalanche" – said Roger looking around to then open an overhead map of the area in his Dragtemn – "An energy blast as potent as that could cause a lot of damage if it wasn't directed properly" –

- "Well, just look at what our "Ryuu no Kizu" did on the rock wall on the other side" – said Gerardo pointing in the direction the beam had gone: it had blasted the surface of a mountain in the distance and left a crater on it. Everyone shuddered upon seeing it.

- "But there's something weird about that technique…" – observed Yasha as he looked at Gerardo – "It doesn't use youki like my or Inuyasha-nii's techniques, but it's not Seirei Magic either because it didn't show any magical circles, emblems or anything like that…" –

- "Yeah… And it didn't show them the last time we traveled together either" – said Kagome putting a hand on her chin.

- "Well, it does require a Dragonian spell chant to be used, but…" – said Gerardo remembering the sensations and feelings he had while using it – "I really didn't feel like I was manipulating water, drawing energy from Iadlast or anything like that… It felt more like the same sort of energy I use for the dragon transformation" –

- "Hmm, how strange…" – said Henry looking at Gerardo as he narrowed his eyes – "Pal, looks like that tech is pretty special after all" –

- "Even though it's not that powerful?" – asked Gerardo with a nervous smile. But he then sighed, and after driving his sword into the ground, he fell to his knees gasping – "Plus… I feel like it… took a lot out from me" –

- "A tech that's cast using HP instead of MP?" – rationalized Miguel crossing his arms – "Heh, looks like you'll have to be careful when using it" -

- "Anyway, the wind conditions seem to have improved a little and we're quite near Seleila, so shouldn't we ask our dragons to take us there?" – asked Carlos as Miguel and Henry lent Gerardo their shoulders, so he could stand again – "We're all exhausted from the fight after all" –

There were no disagreements with the proposal, so their dragons allowed their partners to mount them and after a few minutes of preparation, they started their flight to Seleila.

(BGM: The Town's Breath – Akiko Shikata)

- "Well, the place looks identical to Soleila" – said Gerardo looking around as they walked down the bustling main street: although it was hard for them to inspect them with detail, the walls that they had at both sides and the entrance of the city really seemed to be identical to the ones in the capital they had left several hours ago. He, Miguel and Gabriela also were forced to greet back all the people who greeted them and congratulated them for the ceremony from two nights ago.

- "Yeah, looks like they've even got the same structure and architectural style" – said Kember observing how the arch they had passed had the same appearance as the gates in Soleila.

- "Yeah, it's historically because Soleila was based off this city" – explained Miko skipping behind them at the side of Kagome, Yasha and Inuyasha.

- "So, Seleila was built first?" – asked Miguel intrigued.

- "Yeah, it was built around the same time Kingdom of Dragonia was first established about 3500 years ago"– said Yasha – "They told us these things in history class" –

- "Whoa, it really has lasted a long time!" – said Henry opening his eyes wide, like everyone excepting for Yasha and Miko did.

- "Yup, though it had also some horrible times… The Dark Ages… The Great Catastrophe…" – said Yasha shivering a little.

- "Yeah, Feltes also told us about that… About the tyrant Krelios, and about the earthquake that destroyed this city…" – said Gerardo biting his lip.

- "Yeah, in class they went over it lightly, as apparently the teachers think we kids shouldn't be learning about the more horrible details yet" – said Miko with a downcast gaze.

- "But we did learn this: Soleila was originally planned as a resort city and a holiday spot for the Royal Family, due to its warmer weather and more pleasant location" – explained Yasha a bit happier.

- "But they relocated the seat of power because of the Great Catastrophe, right?" – asked Gabriela with a curious gaze.

- "Yeah. Afterwards, the Royal Family and the Dragonians as a whole thought the castle here was cursed due to Krelios' atrocities, and that was why they decided to make a fresh start by relocating the capital to Soleila" – said Miko as they all kept walking.

- "Hmm, all of that really explains the similitude in architecture and structure: it's because Soleila was completely based off this city and they imitated the styles at the time" – nodded Kember.

- "And not only that: they keep the styles synchronized between both cities, so whenever one undergoes major reforms, the other will follow it" – jumped Miko – "They say it's a way to imitate the way the moon reflects the sun's light" –

- "And that's why both cities have the names of Dragonia's moon and sun?" – asked Henry with arms crossed – "Hmm, sounds good to me" –

- "Well, Dragonia's sun is called Soleia, without the second l" – pointed out Yasha.

- "Huh?" – blinked Carlos as he put his hand on his chin – "Why's that?" –

- "Ah, that's because they didn't want to use the same exact spelling for the city's name for fear of it being an affront to the Gods" – said Miko – "The city was originally going to be called "Soleia", but they changed it to Soleila, which means "place colored by the sun", due to that" –

- "And didn't they think of doing the same thing with this city?" – asked Miguel raising an eyebrow, but this caused everyone that was walking around them to look at him outraged or spooked. Everyone sweatdropped at this.

- "Um… what just happened here?" – asked Gabriela in whispers.

- "Erm… apparently the Seleilans don't like that topic being brought up…" – said Carlos bringing up the touristic guide for the city – "Yeah… there once was a movement to remove the second l from the city's name as an inverse of what was done in Soleila by adding the second l, but as that would have changed the name into nonsense, it faced strong opposition and was ultimately dropped" –

- "Ah, so… you just committed a tremendous social faux-pas here, Mige" – said Gerardo sighing and patting him on the back.

- "Agh… shit! I'm sorry for saying something that stupid!" – he said grabbing his head. There were still a few people looking at them, but apparently this was enough for them, as they just started smiling and went about their business.

- "Good point for the Dragonians: they don't hold grudges, it seems" – said Henry after they stopped being the center of attention and they had resumed their walk. By that point, they had already reached a large plaza with eight exits, several stalls and shops around, but unlike the main plaza in Soleila, this one had a fountain with a large rhomboidal crystal floating on a water pillar in the center.

- "This is Seleila's Seirei Plaza?" – asked Carlos raising an eyebrow.

- "Yup, but according to the plate here, this one is called the Crystal Plaza" – said Miko running up to the fountain and reading the nameplate placed in front of it: it had the words "Ityall Xiucelhall" engraved on it in golden letters.

- "So, I guess that while Soleila's plaza honors the dragons and the elements themselves, this plaza honors the crystals that protect the elements then" – said Gerardo pensively, seeing how the crystal floating in the fountain's water pillar had the same shape as the Elemental Crystal of Water they had once seen.

- "Sounds like a reasonable conclusion" – said Roger looking at it – "Not like we actually we've seen the crystals ourselves though" –

- "Well, Gerar, me, Inuyasha and Kagome all saw it when we went to their world: the Elemental Crystal of Water was in a sacred cave in that world" – said Gabriela with a smile.

- "What!? But what could something as important to Dragonia as the Crystal be doing in another world!?" – asked Miguel shocked.

- "That's something we've been wondering ourselves" – said Kagome with a pensive expression – "Not to mention the other stuff that was definitely Dragonian in origin, but we don't know how it got to our world" –

- "Well, no use in dwelling on it now" – said Kember shrugging his shoulders after he had finished taking a photo of the plaza – "So, we're supposed to go to Seleila Castle and read the Epitaph hidden in it, right?" –

- "Yeah, but I think we should first go eat something, and stock up on medicines and provisions" – said Miguel as he sat down on the fountain's border – "We've still gotta recover our strength, and our item stocks are pretty much zero since we haven't bought anything" –

- "Agreed. Let's go to one of the restaurants around to eat something, and afterwards we'll split up to go buy whatever we need in the stores nearby. We can explore Seleila in more detail at another time" – said Gerardo nodding.

They went to a nearby restaurant called "Geahydra dat Azelt", and enjoyed a lunch composed by some steamed Rizzole and greens that had been cultivated in the fields located further below in the valley, as well as some roasted beef and mashed Bieltats, while each one accompanied it with a different kind of juice or just plain water.

After they had finished and had paid for their meal, the group split off to go to different stores to buy supplies for their upcoming journeys: half of them went to buy food, while the others went to drugstores and pharmacies to buy medicine.

- "Well, at the least the market is pretty well stocked" – said Gerardo looking around while Miko and Gabriela were next to him. Rather than go to a supermarket, they went to the town market located in what in Soleila would have been the Kiols District.

- "Yeah, apparently the farmers and herders are busy every single day getting food ready to ship off here, and to Soleila too" – said Miko as they looked at a box of fresh Skilars and next to them, a pack of aquamarine fruits that resembled raspberries in shape.

- "But they've got a lot of competition when it comes to feeding the capital, it seems" – said Miguel looking at the fruits stall, to then turn around and check a cart that had several pieces and cuts of different kinds of meat served in plastic trays covered by a thin plastic film.

- "Yeah, three farming centers around must make it pretty difficult to pick where to buy from" – commented Carlos.

- "But that also lowers prices for crops that are common to all of them. Exclusive crops do tend to get higher priced" – said Miko with a smile.

- "Well, that's just how economy works wherever you go" – said Gerardo adjusting his glasses.

- "Meh, talk about boring…" – said Inuyasha snorting – "Why don't we just buy a bit of everything and leave already?" –

- "Well, we don't have exactly limitless funds" – said Miguel – "Plus, we need to try the ingredients here before we know what exactly works for us" –

- "In that case, why don't we buy the ingredients we know that are used for the dishes we've eaten already?" – suggested Gabriela smiling – "And we can buy a few other things to try them out too" –

- "I know you've been eyeing some of the sweets too, my dearest sister" – said Gerardo between bouts of laughter – "Not like I blame you" –

- "But that's a good idea" – nodded Carlos while Gabriela pouted – "So we're buying some meat, Baltiats, Rizzole, a few greens… Some of these fruits… And let's add a couple of cookie packs and two cakes, right?" –

- "Yeah, that sounds good for me. Now, let's set the amount we'd need to feed 12 people in a month's time…" – said Gerardo as he started inputting the prices into his Dragtemn's calculator.

- "Ah, Gerar-nii, it's half a month" – jumped Miko – "Remember a month in Dragonia is two months in our worlds" –

- "Ah, thanks for that Miko" – replied Gerardo with a smile as he made the adjustments – "Okay then… the total would be… oh man! 1300 dracks…!" –

- "Well, it's not unexpected due to the large number of people we've got here…" – said Miguel sighing, although they all were shocked from the total.

- "But that's really a lot of money…" – said Gabriela taking her hands to her mouth.

- "And… what's the budget we've got for each half-month?" – asked Carlos nervously.

- "Fortunately, we've got 4000 dracks as our budget, but that means we're going to be spending over a quarter of it in food alone…" – said Gerardo sighing.

- "Looks like we've got no other choice but go to the Request Centers and get jobs when we can" – suggested Miko with a saddened smile.

- "Yeah, we'll look into that after we've finished sorting out the business with the Epitaph" – said Gerardo as they went back to each stall and started paying the clerks the money for the goods they were going to purchase. The clerks were overjoyed to have their prince and princess buying, and so they gave them small discounts on each item, reducing their total expenses to a total of 1100 dracks.

- "Man, why y'all gotta worry so much 'bout money?" – snorted Inuyasha as he followed them.

Meanwhile, the other half of the group was going through a pharmacy and looking at the medicines that were in stock.

- "Ahaha… this is like paradise!" – said Henry with a nervous laughter, who was doing a preparatory course to be a laboratory assistant and bioanalyst as he waited for his time to enter university – "These pharmacies are stupidly well-stocked in medicine and in ingredients!" –

- "You said it!" – said Roger, who was in a similar ecstasy because they were doing the same sort of studies – "And with the supply problems we've been having over at Venezuela, this is like a sight for sore eyes!" –

- "Ahaha, well, pharmacies in Japan are always like this too" – commented Kagome a bit embarrassed – "But it looks Venezuela has been in some problems since I was over there, right?" –

- "Yeah, we've had all sorts of problems over there these last few years…" – commented Kember.

- "But it's not like we can openly talk about them here, right?" – asked Yasha with a nervous smile – "Plus, aren't you guys supposed to act like you're from Dragonia too?" –

- "Ah… yeah, sorry about that" – said Henry scratching his head – "It's just… it's hard to contain ourselves since we're studying medicine-related careers and all" –

- "Well, I was planning on studying medicine myself after I had graduated from high school" – said Kagome placing her hand on her chin – "But after I started going to the Warring States Era… I'm not sure about what to do with myself…" –

- "Well, only you can decide what you want to do with your future" – said Roger nodding, as if trying to encourage her – "Plus, it's up to you if you'll stay there or in your original time" –

- "Yeah, that's true" – said Kagome smiling – "Besides, we have to defeat Naraku and Tenebross before everything else, so I have until then to make up my mind" –

- "In any case, did you guys check up the alchemy recipes to make medicine?" – asked Yasha pointed them to the recipe books that were exhibited on an aisle.

- "Ah, thanks for that, Yasha!" – said Henry as he rushed off to them followed by Roger. After a few minutes, they came back carrying each one a heavy volume: Henry brought back a green leather-bound one that had read "Moslya Colhus dat Juschemele" and Roger a blue leather-bound one that read "Shuxzafis Colhus dat Juschemele".

- "Looks like we're ready to start learning alchemy then" – said Yasha laughing at how they looked like kids in a toy store from the faces they had as they carried the volumes around.

- "Hehe, but it's good to be so passionate about something they want to do" – said Kagome smiling.

- "We've also gone and bought three kits of basic alchemy ingredients and tools for you guys and Miguel" – said Tiffany as she went to them with a large bag.

- "So, we're only missing the medicine for emergencies, right?" – asked Henry as he and Roger carried the books to the cashier.

- "We took care of that already" – said Kember smiling and showing them a bag that had a few pill boxes, several reinforced glass vials, syringes, cotton, several bottles of isopropyl alcohol and a couple of sealed flasks – "There we've got painkillers, antipyretics, vaccines for non-Dragonians, mental restorers and wound healers" –

- "Whoa, you really hurried up buying the stuff!" – said Henry impressed.

- "But between the medicines and the alchemy kits…" – said Tiffany totaling their expenses – "Umm, that was about 700 dracks in total…" –

- "Agh, expensive!" – said Henry crestfallen – "And the books are 100 dracks each too…" –

- "Well, at the least we didn't hit the halfway point for our budget" – said Kagome – "Didn't Gerardo-kun say we had 2000 dracks available for buying medicine?"-

- "Yeah, but it's still a lot of money. Well, not like we can do anything about it" – said Roger shrugging.

- "Yeah, so let's go pay the books and call the others so we can join up again" – said Henry smiling as they went and paid for both volumes. The clerks also gave them discounts upon recognizing Kagome as one of the current Assistant Priestesses, so they ended up paying 800 dracks in total.

After about 15 minutes, the whole party had gathered again at the Crystal Plaza and were commenting about how their purchases were. However, the weather seemed to have taken a turn for the worse: while there had been a blue sky when they arrived, it started clouding up and the mountains that could be seen at the distance were now shrouded in a thick mist. A lighter mist had also started seeping into the streets of the city.

- "Okay, so are we done stocking up?" - asked Gerardo after they had met up again.

- "Yeah, I think so. We've finished buying the medicines, and we also bought a couple alchemy kits for Roger, Miguel and myself" - said Henry as he took out an alchemy kit and handed it to Miguel.

- "Ah, thanks for that! I'm dying to start learning alchemy too!" – said Miguel excited as he stored the kit in his Dragtemn.

- "Though it looks like we'll have to lend you our books" – said Roger laughing.

- "So, how much money did you spend on it?" – asked Carlos interested.

- "800 dracks altogether" – replied Kember, eliciting blank stares from everyone who wasn't in the pharmacy with them – "Yeah, buying medicine is pretty expensive over here, even with the discounts we got thanks to Kagome" –

- "Well, it's not like we can't say we didn't spend a lot either: the food was 1100 dracks in total, including the discounts the people at the market gave me, Gerar-nii and Gaby-nee" – said Miko a bit nervous.

- "Ack… that means we've spent almost the half our budget already…" – said Gerardo blinking – "We'll really have to look up the jobs we were suggested by Miko, Yasha, Elaer and Fileia" -

- "But that can wait until later" – said Kagome as she helped in the redistribution of the groceries and stored part of them in her Dragtemn.

- "Yeah, we gotta do more important stuff first" – said Inuyasha. Unlike the others, he didn't bother storing any of the purchases into his Dragtemn.

Once they had finished the redistribution and had everything secured in their Dragtemns, Gerardo spoke up:

- "Okay then, so we're ready now?" – he asked to the others.

- "Yeah, I think we can head to the Caaaa... aaaaah!" - said Yasha turning around to face the street that led to the castle as he tried finishing the phrase, but all that came out was a scared scream as he pointed in the direction he was facing.

Everyone else turned to see what had startled him so much, and right away they couldn't help but let their jaw drops or scream themselves. Before them, there was a girl that looked exactly like Gabriela in all aspects, but there was a major difference: she was transparent and seemed to be floating a few centimeters above the ground.

- "Gaby!? No, you can't be... You are...!" - said Gerardo shocked.

- "W-Who are you!?" - screamed Gabriela as one of her hands reflexively headed to the bow she was carrying on her back.

- "Hehe, surprised, aren't we? This is the second time we meet, Other Gerar... And pleased to meet you, other me!" – said the transparent girl smiling at them as she placed her hands behind herself.

- "Answer! Who are you!? Why are you here!?" - shouted Tiffany as she took a step forward with her shaking feet.

- "If you all want to know that... then follow me!" - said the girl giggling as she floated in direction to the road leading to the castle.

(BGM: First Time Outside - Zbigniew Preisner)

- "Wait...!" - said Gerardo trying in vain to stop her. He looked around at his friends scared and confused, and without even bothering to make plans or anything, they all rushed after the girl.

After going through the unguarded street and crossing the castle's open gates, they saw a large fountain in front of them and found themselves before a multi-way split amongst several high hedges that had many different flowers of several colors growing from them, with one way leading to the castle's front gate. However, the girl obviously hadn't gone inside, so, after looking at each other's faces and nodding in agreement, their group split up, with each of them taking a different path through the evident maze.

They continued running through the overgrown labyrinth, difficult task given the mist that had settled in the area during the afternoon, with the echoes of the ghostly girl's laughter resounding throughout the place. After some of them found themselves at a dead end in different parts of the maze, they started paying a closer attention to the sounds, and realized that the laughter only became distant the closer they got to its source.

- "Is… she supposed to be leading us somewhere…?" – asked Gerardo to himself as he leaned on a hedge to catch his breath after about five minutes of running around while Iadla kept herself flying next to him. He also noticed that the hedges he had been walking through had several white flowers with blue hues on their petals growing from them, but before he got the chance to examine them more closely, he heard the ghostly girl laughing a bit ahead from where he was, so after he and Iadla looked at each other with the same bewildered look, he took a deep breath and continued.

Inuyasha and Yasha had tried using their noses to find the ghost and whatever she was leading them to, but it was useless: they couldn't perceive anything beyond the moist scent of the mist and the aromas of the plants and flowers that were found around the garden. Their dragons just sighed when their noses proved ineffective.

Similarly, Miko and Kagome had tried to use their miko powers to sense auras or paranormal power sources, but they couldn't feel anything beyond their companions and the countless auras in the city they had left behind. While both Neria and Shia were initially impressed at the fact they could do this without the Dragtemns' radar, they got downhearted when the attempt failed.

After a while, Miguel had the idea of sending Eolia to scout ahead of him, but his small friend was stopped by an invisible ceiling before she could get above the hedges.

- "Sorry, Mige… There is a barrier of some sort that prevents flying inside this place…" – said Eolia to his mind as she returned to his side.

- "Damn… Looks like we're forced to keep going on foot then…" – said Miguel biting his lip, and he continued running following the echoes after Eolia landed on his shoulder.

As for Gabriela, she was frustrated about the ghost looking and sounding like her, and after a while of running around, she tried opening a hole through the hedges using her hands and her bow, but she barely managed to make an opening that allowed her to see that there was what seemed to be a clearing with something made from stone at the other side, but it wasn't accessible from where she was.

- "I only got my hands hurt…" – muttered her containing some tears as she looked at the bright red scratches her hands had now.

She started admiring the flowers in the hedges, which were the same ones Gerardo had seen, but she then heard the ghost laughing a little behind her, and after turning around, she ran off in that direction.

{Stop BGM}

{BGM: Showing Dickon the Garden - Zbigniew Preisner}

Meanwhile, Tiffany had tried taking more direct measures to go through, but her magic fizzled out whenever she tried singing it, and Flameck's fire breath was reduced to puffs of smoke whenever he tried spitting it.

- "Sorry, Tiff" – said Flameck shaking his head – "Apparently the hedges are protected by anti-fire magic, so burning them is impossible" –

- "And you can't be useful when I need you the most, huh?" – said her. But before they could start quarrelling, they heard the ghost girl laughing a few meters away from them, and thus, they followed the sound.

As for Roger, he asked Daichi to fly above the hedges, with the same result as Miguel and Eolia, and then he asked his dragon to try digging to go under them, but he got stopped immediately by the hedges' thick roots. Roger just sighed and decided to keep going as they had been up to that point.

Carlos for his part tried a similar approach to Gabriela by freezing over a small part of the hedges to then punch a hole through them, but unlike her, he couldn't do that: the leaves didn't seem to have been gotten more than a bit of water splashed over them.

Kember tried using his spear to make an opening through the hedges too, but he couldn't see beyond some of the castle's inner walls when he did so. He then tried using his power over plants to make them retract and open a path, but the hedges refused to obey all his commands.

After a few minutes running around, the party ended up reuniting in a point in which all the exits converged.

- "Looks like we all ended up having to take the long way" – said Gerardo noticing how Tiffany, Roger and Miguel seemed particularly frustrated due to having tired and annoyed faces. Still, they all were sweating, their faces had gotten red and they were gasping for breath.

- "And we had to do a good lot of workout" – said Kember shrugging his shoulders.

- "But… what kind of place could this be?" - asked Carlos pointing to the place before them.

{End BGM}

When the others looked, they noticed it was an opening leading to a large clearing preceded by a wooden bridge that spanned a small stream.

- "Ah, that's the place I saw through the hole!" – said Gabriela jumping up and down.

- "Wait a second… You really opened a hole through the hedges!?" – asked Tiffany scandalized while everyone else looked at her shocked.

- "You WHAT!?" – shouted Gerardo with a horrified face.

- "Yeah… But it was barely large enough to peek through it, and well… Look at how my hands got…" – said her showing her hands to the others.

- "Whoa, looks like you got too rowdy with them!" – said Henry as Gerardo rushed right away to see what had happened to her, but before he could take out any of the first aid kits they had bought, Miko just went to her and sang her Healing Sounds of Light to heal her.

- "Thanks, Miko" – said Gabriela looking at how the song had made effect: all her cuts and scratches had disappeared without even leaving scars.

- "But try to not be so reckless again, okay? Gaby-chan?" – said Kagome as both sisters and Gerardo checked her hands. The latter sighed relieved upon seeing she was okay again.

- "But in any case… What could be that Gaby lookalike be leading us to?" – wondered Tiffany after she sighed about not being able to heal Gabriela herself.

- "Looks like we're about to find out" – said Miguel as he took a step ahead.

- "Shouldn't we be more careful? There's the possibility this could be a trap, you know?" – said Yasha looking around themselves, but there was nothing around them.

- "But… we haven't detected any odd spiritual auras, elemental distortions or anything like that" – said Kagome.

- "Yeah, neither Yasha or me got any weird scents in this place" – snorted Inuyasha – "But damn… there's so much moist and flower scents that we couldn't perceive anything…!" –

- "Hmm, you've just given me an idea" – said Gerardo walking in front of them. He extended his hands, concentrated and closed his eyes – "Saf sieral cezchimara geahydra yst vaspiara mior pinacrut sossaks gixfe!" –

Although the magical circles drew themselves under him, there were no changes in the mist or the weather around them.

- "Huh? What didja try?" - asked Inuyasha leaning his head.

- "Like the spell said, I was trying to condense the mist into water, so we could see what we've got ahead" - said Gerardo sighing - "But apparently even the mist itself is magic-proofed" -

- "In other words, dispelling it using wind currents, raising the temperature to induce natural condensation or other stuff won't work" - said Miguel examining the situation - "Yeah, I was thinking about using a wind blast to sweep it away, but it won't work either" -

- "So, we've got no other choice than to walk in like this, right?" - said Gabriela as she inched closer toward Gerardo.

- "Yeah, looks like it, Gaby" - said Gerardo embracing her with a hand - "Looks like we'll have to be alert as we keep going further inside" -

- "But you've got to admit it's real weird" – said Carlos crossing his arms – "I mean, a ghost Gaby leading us around this whole maze? Who's she, and why is she taking us all the way here?" –

- "I think we've all got our suspicions of who she is" – said Kagome looking to the ground – "And… I don't think she has the best intentions for us" –

- "Because she seems like an evil spirit, right? Onee-san?" – asked Miko as she showed her older sister a worried expression.

- "Yeah, you've gotta admit she seems like that ghost girl… What was her name… Mayu?" – asked Yasha remembering the ghost girl Kagome had helped reach the eternal rest.

- "But there's a difference here… The ghost Gabriela has only been laughing and leading us here" – said Kagome – "While Mayu was hostile and repeatedly tried to kill her own family, as well as myself" –

- "Yeah… now ya mention it… maybe she's not an evil spirit?" – asked Inuyasha looking at Kagome – "I mean, that brat isn't even emitting any youki or anything like that" –

- "Does youki even exist in this world, Inuyasha?" – asked Gabriela in a bemused voice, which made everyone laugh a little.

- "Why you…!" – said Inuyasha pouting as he hid his hands into his sleeves.

- "Ahaha, I don't think so…" – said Kagome, but she then looked at Inuyasha with a more serious gaze – "But she wasn't emitting an evil aura of any sort. In fact, the aura she was emitting was very similar to the one Gaby-chan has" -

- "But in any case, I don't think we'll know anything until we get there" – said Henry walking in front of them.

- "Yeah, you've got a point. Let's proceed and see what that ghost wants to show us" – said Gerardo as he placed himself at the lead of the group. They then noticed the hedges before them had more of the white-bluish flowers they had seen during their run through the maze, but they didn't pay much more attention to them.

They crossed the bridge and walked into the mist-filled courtyard. The only sounds they could hear were the stream's water flowing, the wind and their own footsteps.

They kept walking, but after a few more steps, the mist started clearing up and…

Everyone in the group stopped dead in their tracks, having seen something that chilled them to the bone.

- "No… this can't be…!" – said Gerardo with widened eyes as he fell to his knees.

- "Tell me this is a lie… or a joke, or something…!" – said Gabriela falling on her behind from the shock.

- "Is this for real…!? – said Miguel as he left his arms limp in front of him.

- "No way… is this place… are they…?" – asked Kagome looking alternative in front of herself and to her friends.

- "What is this!?" – screamed Roger.

All of the party's dragons were perched on their respective partners' shoulders, while everyone kept looking in front of them, unable to pronounce word, until…

(Ending: Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru – See-Saw)

- "These statues look just like us! – said Henry as they saw what they had in front of them: there were several large stone pedestals with a tablet in front of them, and crowned by statues that seemed to be patterned after almost everyone that had come from their Earth: there was one of Gerardo, next to him there was one of Gabriela, and at the sides there were statues identical to Miguel, Henry, and Roger. However, there were also statues of three girls that didn't look like Tiffany, Kagome or anyone else.

- "What… the hell is the meaning of this!?" – shouted Gerardo.

{End of Chapter}