Anya POV:
After we found the note and read it aloud, I looked at it with a smile. "At least we know everyone's okay... they said they were going to Jibral. That means they'll be taking the Coast Road to get there," I said when we finished the note.
"Maro don't know. Is it far?" Marumaro asked.
"It's about a 3 day's hiking trip to get from here to Jibral from the Coast Road. Maybe we should take a shortcut through the Valley of Murals," Jiro said, Shu looking a bit surprised when he said that.
"What's wrong with going through a valley filled with paintings?" I asked aloud.
"You don't know? There are ancient tales of the murals coming to life and eating people that pass by!" Shu said with worry in his voice.
"Listen, I don't know about you, but I'm sure we can handle anything that awaits us in that valley. After all, we've got magic powers. A few living paintings should go down quite easily with some magical water splashed on their bodies," Kluke smiled.
"I'm in agreement with Kluke. If we go through the Valley of Murals, we'll be able to get through in only a few hours. Then we'll see if anyone walked near the road to Jibral and decide on which way to go from there... I can tell because of a map system Nene gave me in my codes. The coast is much longer of a trek than this Mural Valley," I said with a smile.
"Alright! Then let's go!" Maro exclaimed.
"Yes. We have to find them and protect them from harm. Especially Landon and his family. Their baby girl isn't any older than a month, so who knows what troubles they'll encounter?" Kluke said, me frowning at that.
"Add one more reason to hate Nene into my brain," I frowned at that.
"Let's just go," Jiro said as we then took the note and proceeded out of Talta Village and due to the east. It was there that we would get to the Mural Valley and, upon entering, I saw that it was a valley full of giant chasms and rocky crags. There was barely any space on the solid areas, me noticing that there was a particular drawing on a wall that looked quite spooky. And I sense magic within it.
"I know you're alive and kicking, imbecile! Taste some Waterus Sword on for size!" I exclaimed as I hit the mural with a blast of water magic, the large painting groaning in agony before dissipating into thin air.
"Looks like we need to keep an eye on the walls to prevent any unnecessary attacks," Shu said.
"Yes, let's continue," Jiro said as we proceeded further into the area, crossing bridges and taking out monsters all along the way. And after going for a good hour, we started to get a bit of tired feet.
"Wait... what's that up ahead?" Kluke asked when we happened upon what looked to be a large building of sorts.
"Must be some kind of ancient structure. The Ancients probably built it eons ago... let's be wary of any evil murals within," I said as we went forward some more and into the large area. And when we entered the building, I immediately saw murals... but none of them looked scary in the slightest.
"These murals don't look scary whatsoever... do you suppose they happen to be alive as well?" Jiro asked.
"Some of them look cute," Marumaro smiled. I then looked at a mural that was shaped like a female and sensed that it had magic within it, but no evil intent.
"Hello, there... are you real, like the other murals we've been seeing?" I asked it, the mural then moving at that and spooking the heck out of everyone.
"We are alive as you are, hon. Tell me, what's your name?" the mural said with a smile.
"Anya. Anya Sinda," I smiled at her.
"Anya. What a nice name! Come here, everyone! We have received some visitors for the first time in decades!" the female mural smiled warmly as a bunch of other murals appeared, me seeing some looked like children, some were males, some females, and even little flying cat murals that made the cutest little sounds.
"Well, the reason you don't have many visitors coming here is because of the evil murals that we had to fight on the way here. They've been known to attack others and they did the same to us," Jiro said.
"Do not worry, we are not like those evil murals. They have been tainted by some strange magic that we have protection from so long as we are in this building. And since we cannot move from these walls, we are safe forever," the female mural smiled.
"Well, we're always happy to meet friendly faces... do you know the nearest way out of here and to the road to Jibral? We're trying to meet up with our friends and family," Kluke asked.
"Well, you'll first need to go through the story simulation before the door will open for you in the central hall. Then you must go through the hall and to the east to proceed to the next section of this valley. But beware, for there is a fearsome phoenix that guards the passage to that entrance. It's weak to wind attacks, but it will get angry if you use a wind spell on it. And you will not like an angry phoenix, let me tell you that right off the bat," the male mural smiled.
"Noted. Let's go have a story told to us," Shu smiled as we then proceeded down the hall and to the story hall, the walls covered in full mural displays that didn't move at all and a central mechanism in the middle.
"Welcome, intrepid travelers. Allow me to regale you of a tale from long ago. The origin of magic and its eventual downfall," the machine said, obviously having a cpu chip inside of it to give it awareness.
"When the world was created, it was ruled by a kind and just king whose magic far exceeded that of all others... In these times, there were heavy restrictions based on magical prowess. Those who had little or no magic would be persecuted horribly by those with greater magic... Angered by the mistreatment of his weaker subjects, the king ordered that machines be created to assist those with little or no magical talent. Many mechs were made for this reason alone, to be servants to the weak... and thus, the ultimate invention, mixing technology and magic, the Eternal Engine was created. But with their creation, cost the lives of many..." the voice said as we then looked at the final mural and I gasped.
"That looks like the great war that Nene mentioned... he said that he and his servant were the last survivors in an all-out war where those with more magic created a frightful bio-genetic weapon that was created specifically for the destruction of the weaker magics... and that same weapon was said to have turned on its creators as well... but he has no memory of what it looked like... this giant lizard-looking thing looks like that weapon in question... am I right on any of that, storyteller?" I asked.
"You say you know of Master Nene? Do you not know that he was, in fact, the king mentioned in this story?" the storyteller asked, all of us gasping at that.
"You say that Nene was once a kind and just ruler? Then why is he hurting all of us now?" Maro asked loudly.
"It is because of a dreadful illness that has taken a hold of our king once the bio-genetic weapon was sealed away. He had exuded and used too much magic and, as a result, he developed a dreadful disease that ate away at his sanity and his soul. The one thing he had left in this world was the one thing he always kept in his heart. The hope that, one day, he may see his beloved servant once more... unfortunately, that is all that I know of the story. The answers will reveal themselves in due time. I shall now open the way to the central hallway. Be wary, young mages, for the road ahead shall not be easy," the storyteller said as we then heard a door opening nearby.
"Okay... now we have some more information on Nene that we haven't heard of before... this weapon... what could it be? And where could it have been sealed? Nene never mentioned anything about a bio-genetic weapon that looked like this, so maybe this disease made him forget where it was kept and what it was," I said.
"What puzzles me even more is this servant that the storyteller mentioned. Do you think that, maybe, just maybe, this servant could still be out there somewhere? And what was the servant's name?" Jiro asked.
"We'll leave the thinking work to you two. But we should really get moving," Kluke said.
"Wow, I was thinking the same thing, Kluke," Shu smiled.
"He's being honest," I smiled as we then proceeded out of the place and towards the way to the next part of Mural Valley.
Shu POV:
We managed to handle the Phoenix with ease, but once defeated, Anya moved us along extremely fast to the next areas of the Mural Valley with no haste whatsoever.
"What's the rush?" I asked her when we went down a fallen bridge to a lower level of the valley.
"Phoenixes can never die truly. They may die at some point, but they always resurrect themselves without fail in roughly one to two hours. I'm just trying to save time and prevent us from fighting it again," she said.
"I think I remember reading about that once. Apparently Phoenixes are gods among birds, so she's right about them resurrecting themselves. No wonder their talons and wings are used to resurrect fallen allies," Jiro smiled.
"You know, I think that you two could make a very cute couple when our adventures are done," Kluke smiled, Jiro and Anya blushing at that.
"By the way... um... Kluke... about um... what Anya told you," I said, trying to finally break the ice with her.
"When we get a chance to rest, we'll talk," Kluke said.
"Okay... that's good," I said as we continued down another fallen bridge and proceeded through the valley some more until, finally, we arrived at the exit of the valley.
"There's the road to Jibral! We've made it!" Kluke smiled.
"Let's see if anyone has been by recently," Anya said as we went to the road and she and Jiro inspected the ground for tracks. There were no tracks and no wheel marks anywhere.
"They must not have come through yet. If we proceed south down the Coast Road, we may be able to meet up with them," Jiro said.
"Let's hurry. This road can be quite dangerous. I've heard from Nene that this road has recently become overrun with giant steel-eating tigers. Just the name alone makes me have goosebumps..." Anya said.
"Because you're part metal?" Maro asked.
"I guess so," Anya admitted as we proceeded down the road and, only after one turn, we saw the villagers. And they were being blocked by a duo of giant tigers!
"Let's go!" I exclaimed as we rushed in to attack the giant tigers and, just before one of them could lunge at my grandpa, Anya swooped in and smacked her fist directly into the creature's mouth, knocking out two of its four fangs in the process!
"What the... Shu! Jiro! Kluke!" Fushira gasped when he saw our group.
"Don't worry, we'll take it from here," I said as we then let out our shadows and everyone looked shocked at that. But none more so than Jiro's parents.
"Jiro! Your shadow!" his mom exclaimed in shock.
"It's fine, don't worry about it!" Jiro said as we then looked at our foes with a smile.
"Time to make some flame broiled tiger!" Anya smiled as she pointed her fingertips at the giant cats and shot a bullet at each of their skulls, the sound of the gunfire shocking the villagers before they noticed that the tigers got killed from one bullet each. But then we heard some galloping sounds coming from the north.
"Get ready, guys! It's the big one!" Maro exclaimed as we then saw a gigantic headless centaur covered in armor and wielding the largest great sword I'd ever seen in my entire life!
"You think size will help you out? Let's end this quickly! I'm getting hungry!" I exclaimed as I then tried to attack it with a physical attack, but the monster looked barely fazed!
"Looks like we'll need to lower his defenses! Take this! Groundus!" Anya exclaimed, a giant eruption of rock and stone jetting out of the ground and knocking the giant monster off balance before the rocks disappeared like her water spells. "Now you can attack it! Watch out for the sword!" Anya exclaimed.
"Gladly! Flara!" Kluke exclaimed.
"Winda!" Jiro exclaimed as well.
"Shina Sword!" Marumaro exclaimed, all of them using their moves at the same time. The giant monster got blown back and against the other side of the road's cliffs from the force of all that power! It then dissipated into thin air soon after.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Anya smiled... before we turned around and saw that the whole village was at a loss for words.
"Um... sorry if we surprised you. We got your message, Mister Fushira. We took the shortcut through Mural Valley to get here," Kluke smiled.
"You made it... I'm proud of you, guys!... And who are your friends? This woman certainly isn't your average everyday girl to have that kind of power and guns in her fingertips," grandpa smiled at me.
"We have a lot to explain, so how about we take a rest here? We can make it to Jibral Castle Town by midday tomorrow if we leave first thing in the morning," Anya stated.
"She's right... besides, we kind of do need a bit of an explanation here. Especially from you, Jiro," Jiro's mom said to him.
"You needn't worry about your son, ma'am. With my assistance, all of these guys' magical prowess will fell even the toughest of foes. Besides, we just saved your hides from death by steel eating tiger... all in a day's work for being a guardian, I assume," Anya smiled as she then looked at her arm and frowned. I looked at it too and saw that a part of her skin was missing, revealing the metal alloy underneath.
"Y-Your arm... what are you?" Jiro's dad asked.
"I'll tell you when we set up camp. And don't worry about any interference with your sleep tonight. I'm always on guard, even in sleep mode, so any monsters coming this way will be handled by me," Anya said.
"Please, tell us everything that happened. Everyone start pitching up the tents and start a fire. I think we deserve some kind of meal for our heroic youngsters," grandpa smiled.
"No food for me, though. I don't need it... or water... or sleep... or anything really," Anya frowned, me seeing that her skin was actually repairing itself all on its own. She would probably explain everything once camp was set up. And she was right to tell them to set up camp. I could see the sky was turning red, so that meant it was nearing dusk.