August 31, 2016

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Dust II: Elysian Kingdom

Chapter 11 Mountains


"It's just been the usual business, y'know how it is," an older teen said as she sat reclining with her legs crossed and arms behind her head, conversing with the other ferry passengers. The rabbit had a reddish-brown coat with an off-white muzzle, eye markings, and front neck fur which presumably went down to her thighs, while her voluminous, peach pink hair split into several large strands and one larger ponytail that went down to her small, bushy tail. She wore dark blue, short-legged overalls with a tan tank top underneath, plus brown gloves, no shoes, and a gold-trimmed white scarf.

Sitting next to her, eating assorted pieces of food from a plate, was a shorter and chubbier young boy, assumed to be the girl's brother. His hair was the same color as hers, though styled in lazy, downward bangs with one short strand arcing forward and upwards in the front. He wore similar overalls to his sister, but short-legged and with a regular long-sleeve shirt underneath. His fur, however, was a lighter brown than his sister's, and contained no differently colored patches.

As the teenage girl continued speaking to her group of fellow travelers, Dust walked into the ferry's cabin where they were sitting, Fidget flying next to him. The Nimbat's gaze immediately shifted towards the remaining food on the table against the side wall, and she darted towards it to begin stuffing her face. No one noticed Dust's presence at first, but as one passenger turned back from talking with his peers, he instantly recognized him.

"Dust?!"

That name rang through the ears of everyone aboard the ferry, and a crowd formed around him very quickly, with excited comments about his return erupting right away. Shortly after, the people haphazardly parted to let the one rabbit girl through.

With a shocked look on her face, she lightly let out, "Oh my.."

The next instant, she thrust herself forward to hug her old friend as tight as she could, trying to fight back her tears.

"Haley," he said quietly, embracing her as she sobbed from the mere sound of his voice. "I missed you."

"I.. We missed you too," she began, sniffling. "W-We heard the news you were back, but I had a feeling it wouldn't.. hit me like this until I saw you again, with my own eyes, haha.."

Laughing nervously, Haley buried her face in Dust's chest again, and he slowly rubbed her back to comfort her. There were a few aww's and sighs of relief from the rest of the ferry passengers before they resumed their previous conversations. The girl's brother stepped forward holding his food plate and poked her on the side of her leg, causing her to slowly retract from Dust's arms.

She looked down at him briefly then back at Dust, gesturing towards the boy. "Oh, and of course Matti's here too!"

"..Hi, Dust," he greeted with a slightly hushed and detached inflection.

"Wow, five years later and you're finally talking to me."

Matti simply grumbled under his breath in response. Even though he didn't say much and just devolved to his usual expression, Dust smiled as he could feel the humility in the boy's strange form of communication; just like before.

Haley's tone shifted back to her positive attitude. "C'mon, let's go sit down."

The both of them nodded and walked back with Haley to relax where she and her brother were sitting earlier. A preoccupied Fidget looked around for Dust after finishing her food table scouting mission, flying towards the group and immediately announcing her happiness at seeing Haley on the same boat as them.

"Ohmigosh Haley, you're here!" the Nimbat exclaimed, hugging the rabbit girl's head somewhat awkwardly, but she and Dust both smiled and laughed regardless.

"Haha, good to see you again, ya little fuzzball!"

"You too!" Fidget responded, still clinging on. "So, what're ya doin' takin' this ferry at the exact same time as us?"

After she let go, Haley explained, "Well, we're on a business trip to a small village in the Everdawn area. What about you guys?"

Dust leaned in and spoke up. "Long story short.. we're trying to recover the remaining Blades of Elysium, and we have a lead in Alcaeus Village."

"Wait, so.. the other Blades are actually still around?! That's amazing! Man, I'd love to get a good look at all of them."

"You and I both, Haley," Dust agreed. "There's a problem though. We did find one of them and it's with Elder Gray Eyes at the moment, but.. somehow, she's been corrupted. There's no consciousness emanating from her, like with Ahrah."

The girl looked concerned. "Do you think it's gone forever..?"

"I'm not really sure, the Elder's going to see what he can do. But I.. I hope not."

Fidget broke the tension. "Everything's gonna be okay guys.. Let's just enjoy the view!"

The group looked outside to see a gorgeous orange and purple sky created by the clouds and the sun as it made its way just beyond the horizon. The surface of Lake Nadir glistened magnificently with similar colors that the sunset portrayed.

Dust looked to the other side of the ferry, the sight of intimidating mountains eerily illuminated by the farthest reaches of the sun's light greeting his gaze. "So those are the Zenith Mountains, huh..?"

"Yeah, kinda creepy right?" Haley responded as she looked over as well. "They create a pretty annoying barrier for us travelers. It's pretty much you take this ferry or extend your travel time to like, three days if you wanna go all the way around the lake, haha."

"Is there even anything up there?" Dust continued with his questions.

Her mind drew a blank. "Nothing I've ever heard of.. I'm not sure if anyone has ever tried to scale them, to be honest."

"Wow.."

Fidget glared at Dust. "You better not be thinking WE should climb those things!"

"No, no," he consoled. "I mean, unless we have to."

"..If that happens, I'm staying with HALEY."

The group laughed together, even though Dust certainly knew there were unknown trials waiting for them just on the other side of the lake.


With the darkness of the night overcoming the entire area, the ferry had finally docked at the northern end of Lake Nadir—its final stop for the day—and immediately began letting the passengers off. Haley said farewell to her traveler friends and walked to the side with Dust, Fidget, and Matti afterwards.

"..So I guess this is goodbye for now, huh?" Haley asked somberly.

Dust sighed but smiled. "Hey, we'll see each other again soon. Right, Fidget?"

"YEAH!" The Nimbat joyfully shouted. "Come visit us in Aurora after your business stuff, okay?"

"Haha, I'll try.. but just 'cuz I missed Dust so much!" Haley responded, as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, then transitioned into a hug. He casually blushed before wrapping his arms around her in return. Fidget silently squealed to herself, while Matti grumbled nonchalantly.

The girl let go of Dust, now looking at him with concern. "Listen.. Be careful in Alcaeus, you guys. It hasn't been the same since that prison was built there."

"..Was it really that different?" Dust wondered.

Haley nodded. "I've heard stuff about it from my dad; never been there myself, but apparently the prison warden kinda runs the show there, since they have no mayor or other leader. Before that, it was just a really relaxed place."

"Interesting.. Try not to worry about us too much, Haley, we'll be fine."

"Okay, I believe in you. Good luck, guys!" Haley confided in the heroes, before turning around and traveling with her brother to the east. Dust took her words to heart and turned the opposite way, seeing the village in the distance and starting the on-foot journey there.

As soon as Haley and Matti were out of earshot, Fidget jumped right on Dust about his uncertain feelings.

"Sooooo.. whatcha think about Haley now?"

"Ugh, Fidget, this again?!"

"YES. She so obviously likes you!"

Dust held the palm of his hand to his head. "Even if she does, things are still too complicated to do anything about it right now. The Blades of Elysium are in danger, the Life Thread is in danger.. I'm in danger."

"Wha?" Fidget questioned at his last statement.

His expression became sorrowful. "..Lady Tethys and the Elder said that if the Life Thread gets too corrupted, then the souls of Jin and Cassius could be separated from me, and I wouldn't exist anymore."

"Th-That's not possible!"

"It IS possible, Fidget. I'm not invincible!"

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I.. I couldn't have you overthinking it!"

"Well that's great cuz now I'm gonna!"

"Calm down, both of you!" Ahrah roared over their voices, breaking his prolonged silence.

"Did you know about this too, Ahrah? Why am I the last to know?!"

"Fidget, this is a very sensitive subject. Dust wanted to tell you, but wasn't sure how. No one else other than Lady Tethys and Elder Gray Eyes know about this; Dust hasn't even told Ginger. Can't you understand how hard this is for all of us?" Ahrah's words pried at the Nimbat.

"Exactly.. It's hard for me to think that I might not have Dust again," she replied.

"The chances of that happening are incredibly diminutive, Fidget. I'm confident we can succeed in eliminating this threat as long as we persevere. Arguing will do us no good."

She sighed heavily and folded her arms. "Alright, I'm sorry.."

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," Dust admitted. "I should've told you right away. I guess I just didn't wanna think about it too much myself."

"..Apology accepted, doofus," Fidget playfully responded as she landed on her usual spot on his shoulder.

Dust smiled and looked towards the village that came closer into view. There was no decorative sign above the entrance declaring its name like in Aura Village, but the words Alcaeus Prison inscribed over the front doors of the grandiose building in the rear of the settlement pierced through enough to be seen by anyone who came close. All the other haphazardly laid-out buildings in the village were heavily contrasted in both size and design from the prison. Clearly, whoever ordered it to be built desired it to impose a threat upon all who caught a glimpse of it, and they wanted it to be noticed. The Zenith Mountains lying to the south of the town and the Everdawn Volcano in the distance to the north created two huge visual barriers that didn't help the atmosphere of the village at all. Fidget slightly cowered, and Dust felt a chill rise throughout his body. Observing some more, a few residents were roaming the streets, mostly around the market he noticed further in.

Trying to ignore the unsettling aura, Dust walked into the town, being aware of his surroundings as he thought about what Haley said. No one seemed to notice him right away, even though he was famous in Falana and stuck out more than anyone else there.

"Have they all forgotten about me too..?"

Just then, Dust was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a scream come from an alley between two of the buildings. He reflexively dashed towards the sound, and saw two soldiers clad in twisted armor like the one he and Fidget encountered at Archer's Pass. They were cornering a group of a few villagers for an unknown reason.

"Get away from them!" Dust shouted, holding Ahrah forward.

The soldiers didn't even respond as they turned their spears from their original targets towards Dust and Fidget. But before either of them could make their next move, two shadowed figures jumped down from the buildings' roofs, one of them stealthily trapping Fidget inside a thick bag and another hitting Dust savagely in the head, knocking him out instantly.


[Here it is, (finally) the next chapter c: I'm so sorry it took this long, I won't make any promises for new chapters anymore lol. I am glad to get this one out though, because the next chapter is where a ton of ideas that originally inspired this entire fanfic are going to come in, and that's really exciting for me :D I also wanted to say thank you all for the reviews, every time I get a new one I feel so happy that people are actually interested in this fic, it means a lot ;_; Enjoy~]