Chapter 4 – The Despair of the Beast
Despite their best efforts, Kaito and Luka were having difficulty finding any way to free Gakupo before the festival. Not being practitioners of magic, they resorted to physical means to break the items entrapping him, but nothing they did harmed the chain or the collar. After that, they searched fruitlessly in the library of the House of Gifts, looking for something that could counteract the spell, but there was nothing about the arcane there, just books about history, chemistry, biology and other natural subjects.
Hiring another mage to break the enchantment was out of the question. Not only they were exorbitantly expensive (Oto's coffers had truly suffered after Verdirrama received his payment), but it would've alerted the elders to what they were doing.
The pair was discussing the matter one afternoon, while practicing archery in the field behind the tower. Technically speaking, Luka was supposed to be helping out Meiko with a church project, but that was as real as any of the previous times the rose-haired girl used the same excuse.
"We're running out of time," Luka stated while aiming her arrow at the round target. She exhaled and released it, and immediately knew it wasn't a good attempt. She usually was an excellent shot, but this time her projectile barely hit the outer circle painted on the surface.
"Two months left." Kaito examined his arrow, but didn't seem in any hurry to actually do something with it. "By now, I'm seriously considering tearing down the wall of the cell. You know, where the chain is welded?"
Fleetingly, Luka saw the three of them escaping, with herself pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with a chunk of wall still attached to the chain around Gakupo's neck. The ridiculous image made her shake her head. "And how are going to do that without someone noticing it?"
"…Not a clue." Kaito let his gaze wander. Suddenly, he focused on a point behind and to the left of Luka.
Luka turned around and discovered Meiko was approaching them. "Oh no, the inquisition is here," she quipped. Kaito laughed nervously.
"I want to talk to you," Meiko told them without saying hello.
"If this is about me claiming I was with you-" Luka started. But Meiko shook her head.
"I heard about the plans for the Festival of Light. Of what's going to happen to him." She gestured towards the tower, hesitation creeping into her voice.
Now this was interesting. Was Meiko finally going to recognize Gakupo had been her friend, once? It would be good to have an ally besides Kaito and his father. No one else had volunteered any help in saving Gakupo from the coming execution.
"Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry things turned out this way. He was very sweet, he didn't deserve it," Meiko said laboriously and then stared at the ground, cheeks flushed.
"He's very sweet, and he doesn't deserve it," Kaito corrected her.
Meiko looked at him and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times, but no sounds came out.
"I'm happy you admitted that at least," he continued. "But we still have time to save him. So don't use the past tense, please."
"You can't go against the will of the elders!" Meiko shrieked. "The priests agree as well, the awakening of the beast has to be stopped!"
"See, I'm still not really convinced it's even in there." Luka tucked away a strand of hair and grinned. The so-called signs of its awakening hadn't occurred yet, despite the warnings of the mage. "Gakupo looks rather un-beastly to me."
"So you and Kaito think you know better than the famous sage, or the learned disciples of the Lady, or the people that have led Oto for years." Meiko surmised. "The ugliness of pride."
"Or the persistence of hope," Luka shrugged. "Anyway, thank you for your visit."
"Kaito, don't waste yourself in this, please!" Meiko begged, ignoring the other girl.
"You don't understand, Meiko," Kaito said calmly.
"….No, no I don't." Meiko turned around and fled, wiping her eyes.
"I hope she doesn't go to the shop to rat me out," Luka commented. Come to think about it, for all the scorn that was evident in Meiko's eyes when she looked at her, she had never done anything to hinder her. And the dancing enthusiast had ample opportunity to get her into trouble. Luka observed the retreating figure with a smidge of sympathy.
"Well, if she's going to say anything, may the punishment be worthwhile. Let's go up."
"Yeah, let's go see how he's feeling." Gakupo seemed to have caught a serious cold the day before, so a runny nose was the likely scenario waiting for her. For that reason, Kaito and Luka had left him napping after he drank some herbal medicine.
Thankfully, the soldier on duty was a friend of Kaito's, and wasn't about to say anything about a girl traipsing around the tower. So Kaito and Luka entered the ground floor and placed the bows back in the armory, before heading up. The sun was beginning to sink on the horizon.
Before they reached the top floor, they ran into the soldier. He barely muttered: "It's burning!" before pushing past them and continuing his mad dash towards the exit.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Kaito asked him, to no avail. He glanced at Luka and then ran up the stairs, pale. Luka followed closely behind.
Before she reached the top, Luka already knew what was going on. She could hear the crackle of flames and smell the smoke. She almost bumped into Kaito, who was observing the inside of the cell paralyzed, and for a moment she felt furious. Gakupo was trapped in a fire and their friend was just standing there? But then she turned towards the cell, and her mouth dropped.
There was a fire, alright. A fire with purple flames, consuming Gakupo's bed. And Gakupo was enveloped by it, tossing and turning in bed like a sleeper in a nightmare, but not getting burned. Luka was still numbly watching the terrifying vision when Kaito pulled up his muffler and entered the open cell. Giving the flames as wide a berth as possible, he took the jug of water and threw the liquid towards Gakupo's face. It was a ridiculously small amount of water to dowse such a fire, but the moment the cold liquid touched his face, it disappeared completely, without leaving any trace beyond the ruined bed. Gakupo opened his eyes and patted the singed remains of the blankets above him with confusion. "What the-?"
Kaito approached him and pulled him out of bed, leaving him prone on the floor. He placed a hand on his forehead. "You're delirious with fever."
"Oh." Gakupo brought the tips of his soot-covered fingers close to his face. "It looks so real."
"It's not. Wait here while I bring cold water and more medicine."
"Alright," Gakupo closed his eyes.
"No, don't fall asleep! Luka, keep talking to him while I bring something to bring the fever down."
"What?!" Luka hadn't moved from the spot, next to the stairs.
Kaito grabbed her and whispered urgently in her ear. "We'll discuss this later, please! Keep him focused!"
"You've seen this before. You've seen this and said nothing!" Luka realized. She pushed Kaito away and ran down the stairs.
Gakupo was the beast. Everyone was right all along. He was going to turn into something horrible, and leave her alone, forever unable to open her heart to the world. It was like a fencer repeatedly tearing at everything she had always believed in, every hope she had for the future. She stumbled and slammed against the walls repeatedly as she descended, but keep going blindly, floor after floor. Finally, she tripped almost at the bottom of the stairs and landed on her bottom. Like a child, she burst out crying.
"I don't care what he is, I'm still going to fight for him," came a voice from above her. Kaito was watching her from the last landing, arms crossed. "I expect the same from you. Come."
"I…I can't go up there," Luka hiccupped. "I need time to think."
"Gakupo needs us right now." Kaito said softly.
"I can't."
"Can you gather the things I need then, while I keep him company? Just yell when they are ready and leave them on the stairs."
Luka nodded. Kaito turned and climbed to the top without a word. She picked herself from the floor and limped into the soldier's quarters. She located the medical supplies and placed everything that seemed even slightly relevant on a tray. She swallowed some painkillers for her ankle and slowly returned upstairs.
She stopped, fearful, almost on the same spot where she first heard Gakupo's voice again, after their long separation. She gritted her teeth, and switched her weight from one foot to the other. Where was her courage? Why was it so hard to console him and hold him while he was still her friend? She looked through one of the slits on the wall, indecisive. It was getting pretty dark outside. In the distance, she heard voices approaching the tower. One of them seemed to be Kaito's father.
"Kaito!" She placed the tray on the ground and quickly descended. Whoever it was that accompanied Captain Fuuga, they couldn't see her there.
Luka ran home, ignoring the pain in her ankle. She easily slipped into the shadows, without being seen by the group of soldiers, and crossed the street. Right now, she wanted nothing but the embrace of her mother. She wanted to be a small child again, ignorant and happy.
Captain Fuuga's next turn to watch Gakupo after the incident came up, but Luka didn't visit the tower as it was her custom.
A week passed after that, and Luka again failed to appear.
The final month of Gakupo's life arrived. By now, it was clear that she wasn't going to return.
There was no point in asking Kaito about it; Gakupo only needed to see his expression to know the truth. Luka had removed herself from his existence, fearful of the beast about to appear. However, he could still see her coming and going from the flower shop sometimes. She never raised her head or even looked at the old construction that dominated that part of town.
Each time, he softly whispered her name, begging her to look his way. I didn't mean to frighten you, he argued to the distant figure. I want to pacify the thing using me as a shell, I just don't know how. Sometimes, Gakupo wanted to shout at her, despite the punishment it could bring him.
Finally, the week before the festivities arrived. Ten more days until the third night of the Festival of Lights. The streets were already decorated and ready for the celebrations. The town looked very beautiful from his window, with its wide roads covered in snow and shining like jewelry. He hugged his knees, shivering.
In a sense, it was almost a relief to be almost done. Maybe he would see his parents again, once his head rolled off his shoulders. He needed to apologize to them, for bringing their family so much hardship.
He watched a man wearing a blue coat cross the street and idly wondered when Kaito was going to betray him. That was what the mystic had said, and he had been right so far: Gakupo was a monster, and Luka had turned against him. So far, Kaito was still stubbornly pretending to be on his side, but sooner or later he was going to go away as well, if the omen was correct. The beast was going to die alone. Gakupo didn't want to believe it, but Verdirrama's voice remained in the back of his mind, taunting him.
A figure topped with pink hair exited the flower shop, carrying a big basket. As usual, she walked resolutely forward, without turning her head.
"Luka…" He brought his fingers to his forehead, to the spot where she kissed him once. At times, he was sure he still felt a trace of the smell of flowers around him. More delusions; he had an inexhaustible supply of those, evidently.
"We don't need her," a sudden voice startled him. Kaito was watching from the other side of the bars, with the same glum look he sported ever since the night Luka went away. It didn't suit him at all. Kaito opened the cell and walked towards the window. He leaned over Gakupo and gave the street below an uninterested glance. "It's just the two of us now." He surrounded Gakupo with his arms, possessively.
Gakupo leaned on his friend's shoulder, his eyes now focused on the inside of the cell. It was almost completely bare right now, and had been so since the incident with the bed. Nothing that could start a severe fire was allowed inside, which meant no bed with mattress, no table and no chairs. He still had a few blankets in a corner, and the utensils to clean himself and make waste, but the books and other forms of entertainment were gone as well. The lack of stimuli was affecting his mind, he could feel it. The only source of relief left to him was right by his side, however. He questioned Kaito with a look and received a nod in reply. Since the sill wasn't wide enough for them both, his friend guided him to the corner of the room. They sat together over the blankets, talking in muted voices about what Kaito had learnt in training that day.
That last week, Kaito abandoned every pretense and spent every hour he wasn't at class with him, day and night. His company probably kept Gakupo lucid enough to measure the passage of time, as the festival drew nearer and nearer. Whether that clarity was a good or a bad thing, Gakupo couldn't say.
Finally, the first day of the festival arrived, with an explosion of music and cheer all over town. Even Gakupo's cell was filled with festive music, the echoes of the tunes resonating throughout Oto. There were long lines of musicians and dancers crisscrossing the streets, following the altars of the saints parading around town. Even in the dwindling light of dusk, the central square was extremely lively, pulsing with the inviting glow of bonfires and giant figures of glinting crystal.
"I'll die the day after tomorrow," Gakupo whispered to the distant fires. "I'm going to burn inside of you, and people will dance around us and be merry."
He turned away from the snow and the fire, and sat down in the dark, over the blankets. There were still splotches of light around him, real or imaginary, even after he closed his eyes. He paid them no mind.
Time passed at a glacial pace, until he was aware of a presence close by. He slowly lifted his head. There was a concentrated darkness before him, a tall figure with a long staff.
"Do you hate me?" Verdirrama asked.
"I don't know," Gakupo replied.
"Do you hate them?"
"I don't know."
"Why not?"
Gakupo remained silent.
"You should be burning with hatred right now. This town abandoned you and murdered your parents. They looked at you with fear and hatred, and don't see their own monstrous visage."
"But you told them I was an abomination."
"They could've refused my advice and asked for another opinion."
Again, Gakupo had no answer. Why was the mage here? Where was Captain Fuuga?
"What about the girl? She teased you with her beauty, made you fall in love with her, only to discard you when it turned out it wasn't a game anymore."
"She's just scared."
"And aren't you scared as well? Why should that excuse her selfishness?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm going to die." The words came easily.
"And why is that? Didn't your friend say he was going to save you? That's what he keeps saying, right?"
"But you enchanted the collar and chain. He can't let me out." Gakupo tapped the band of leather around his neck calmly. Perhaps this was yet another dream.
"Or maybe he didn't try hard enough. Maybe he'll be glad to get rid of you, before the novelty of having you without any competition wears off."
"Why are you saying all of this?"
"Because you've left me no choice, I'm afraid. I have no need for gentleness." The mage waved his staff in his direction, and suddenly Gakupo's eyelids felt incredibly heavy. He slid to the floor, almost immediately falling asleep.
He woke up to horrifying screams. Close to the open door of the cell, there was a burnt corpse, crumpled on the ground. Next to it was Kaito, crying and shouting. Gakupo rose slowly, watching the scene with complete bafflement.
Kaito suddenly turned his way, his eyes wild and bloodshot. "You killed him! He's always protected you, and you killed him!"
Gakupo eyed the corpse more carefully; it was wearing the remains of an officer's uniform. "Is this real? Kaito, please tell me it isn't!"
But Kaito had already entered the cell, dagger in hand. "I've always cared for you, shielded you as best as I could! And all for this!?"
"It wasn't me! Please, wait!"
With a yell, Kaito swung his weapon in a wide arc and pain exploded across Gakupo's face. He fell to the ground, half-blinded. Kaito jumped on him, ready to sink the blade on his chest. Gakupo grabbed his arms, but Kaito was the stronger one, as always. He only managed to make the dagger miss the center of his chest; instead, it sunk closer to his shoulder.
Gakupo cried out in agony. "It was Verdirrama! I didn't do it!" His voice dissolved in moans of pain, his hand scratching vainly at the dagger still buried in him.
Above him, he heard choked muttering. Kaito stared at him for an instant, with wide, confused eyes. Then the youth backed off and ran towards the exit wordlessly, without even trying to recover his weapon.
Gakupo heard him descend the stairs, almost tripping on the way down. The sound became softer and softer, until he was certain he was alone in the tower. His blood chilled on his skin, as the minutes passed. Gradually, his thoughts became more and more disjointed, until the only thing that remained was his bafflement at the injustice of it all. Verdirrama had used Kaito's father to turn his only remaining friend against him. But Kaito didn't even wait to hear him out before he struck. And Luka ran away from him without a word, before that. For all their promises, neither had truly trusted him in the end.
Like a fool, he had hoped they could put aside his nature and help him touch the world he was no longer a part of. He had never ceased to rely on Kaito and Luka, wishing for their love.
But now the bonds between them were finally cut, the pain of their loss inflaming all the sadness and rage hidden inside of him for so long. Enough of this fake existence, something buried deep inside him said, wear a burial shroud of flames, and be reborn. An undefinable feeling of pressure seized his heart; the part of him that everyone feared so much was rising to the surface. Flames erupted all around him, unbridled. The dagger disappeared, swallowed by a bright light that emanated from his body and grew around him, filling the room.
It was a moment of transformation.
Far away in the central square, Luka sat in a tranquil corner next to a refreshment stand, hiding. She didn't want to sing or dance. She didn't want to meet anyone's eye, or even open her mouth in a greeting. She tried semi-successfully to distract herself by watching the people milling around and the many colorful stands lining the edges of the square.
It was the last festival she was going to experience in Oto. Soon, she was going to travel north to meet her prospective mother-in-law. Ms. Oka was, by all accounts, a very rigid and traditional woman, and had already determined to she was going to domesticate Luka, no matter what. The fact that the two previous marriage attempts with other suitors had resulted in spectacular failures wasn't exactly aiding Luka's reputation.
But Luka didn't intend to give the old woman any good reason to complain. Her indomitable energy was gone, ever since the day she ran from the tower. Every time she ran into Kaito's accusing eyes, she felt another drop of vitality leave her, replaced by more shame. The sight of the tower outside of her bedroom window made her stomach churn, and Gakupo's sad face in her dreams made her wake up drenched in cold sweat.
Luka had never suspected herself to be so weak. But the truth was there for all to see. Her parents observed Luka with worry, less and less convinced that it was just nerves before the wedding. Even the groom seemed unenthusiastic over such a gloomy bride.
Luka didn't encourage nor dissuade him; it wouldn't matter, after the third day of the festival. He could have whatever was left of her, if he wanted. But the most precious part of her was going to die alongside Gakupo, and there was little that she could do about it.
She held the cup in her hands closer to her face, letting its steam warm her. In the distance, the dark silhouette of the tower stood, almost black and featureless in comparison to the lively square. Gakupo was probably sitting by the window, watching the streets.
"Why make me care for you, and then be so out of reach?" She whispered.
There was no answer, of course. Luka finished her drink and left the cup over a nearby table. She continued to watch the tower, despite the dread it sparked in her.
So she was one of the only people in the square that observed the sudden flash of light. The top of the tower simply exploded, sending stones and roof tiles flying in all directions. Open to the skies, the tower now seemed a cauldron filled with purple flame. People around Luka began to scream, even as more chunks of the tower began to rain down on the streets surrounding the structure.
After a few moments, the flames concentrated, forming a ball of flames. It was hard to estimate the sphere's diameter given the distance, but Luka estimated that it was around three meters across. The implications of what she was seeing were only beginning to dawn on her when the luminous sphere jumped into the air and danced in the skies, moving in one direction and then the other, drunk with freedom.
"The beast! The beast is awake!" The townsfolk wept and shouted around Luka. Some ran away from the destroyed tower, but most remained in the square, watching the beautiful ball of flames move in closer. She shakily stood and took a few steps, mesmerized.
Once it was near enough, Luka could distinguish a figure in the middle of the light, a young man garbed in a worn white robe, with long purple hair billowing around him. She was expecting it, yet the sight still robbed her of her breath. She couldn't imagine Gakupo using his powers against the townspeople. But who was to say it was Gakupo still inside of his skin?
The bright sphere descended upon the square and most of the flames dissolved into a glimmering mantle covering the youth's figure, like a gossamer cocoon wrapped around his body, but not quite touching his skin.
Gakupo looked around him innocently and Luka suffocated a scream. His face and the front of this robes were covered in fresh blood. One of his eyes was gone, from what Luka could discern from under his matted hair. But despite his disturbing appearance, Gakupo seemed largely unconcerned, examining the decorations and stands around him as if he was just another tourist.
Go to him, Luka told herself. If he kills you, so be it.
But her feet wouldn't move. She just stared from the relative safety of her shadowy corner, as he moved in closer to the refreshment stand. He barely reacted when the first stone hit his back, or more accurately, his mantle of flames.
"Die already, freak!" Someone shouted.
"Go back to the pit!" Another voice shrieked.
Many stones and even food and plates from the stands impacted his surroundings, as more and more townspeople decided to join in, heckling the youth. A few objects reached his figure, only to be stopped by the flames shielding him. Gakupo finally acknowledged the attack by looking around the square, as if noticing the people nearby for the first time. He took a couple of steps to his right, and the crowd reacted by screaming and scrambling away from that side of the square. A similar thing happened when he wandered towards the left.
And then he saw Luka. His eye gleamed with some unfathomable emotion, and his steps became much more purposeful. People screamed for her to run, but Luka remained rooted to the spot, watching him and trembling. Finally, her legs gave out under her and Luka fell to her knees. She hugged herself and closed her eyes, waiting for a strike or the fire to consume her.
Nothing happened. After a minute, Luka opened her eyes again and searched his face. There was no malice there, none at all. There wasn't any hope left either. For a brief second, she saw clearly how much her cowering had wounded him.
Then, with another flash of light, the flames expanded around his body like a myriad of wings and Gakupo jumped away from her and into the air. He quickly escaped the square, sailing harmlessly above the heads of the crowd. The ball of flames headed for the woods to the north, and quickly disappeared from sight. Only then Luka recovered her wits enough to stand.
"He didn't hurt me. He didn't hurt anyone," she whispered in amazement. Aside from the destruction of the tower, Gakupo showed no signs of the violent nature of the beast. And destroying that hated building was more than a little understandable, as far as she was concerned. Was it possible that he inherited the monster's powers, but not any of its hatred for the world?
"Luka!" Meiko pushed past the circle of onlookers and ran towards her. "Where's Kaito?!"
Luka's eyes widened. "His father, his father was on watch today." She watched the crumbling building with dread. Those wounds Gakupo had, was that Kaito's or his father's attempts to keep him inside his prison? What happened to them?
Meiko gripped her shoulders. "Come on, we need to find him. Come on!" She began to shake Luka, until the rose-haired girl reacted and began running. Meiko followed her, relieved.
Before they could go far, one of the elders nearby shouted loudly, asking where Verdirrama was.
"He's at the temple!" Meiko shouted, without stopping.
"Then go fetch him!"
"Yes, sir," the girl answered, surprising Luka, especially when she made no attempt to change course.
"What are you doing?" Luka asked as they ran down the street towards the tower.
"Kaito comes first!" Meiko exclaimed simply. "Everything else can wait!"
As they drew closer to the tower, they began to see the effects of the explosion on the streets and buildings around them. Luka's heart jumped when she saw her own building, the upper floors partially collapsed due to the damage received. Thankfully, she knew everyone was out enjoying the festival, as far as she knew. Nevertheless, she looked upwards, fearful. What if the tower kept crumbling? Despite the possible danger, she didn't slow down, and neither did Meiko.
They circled the ruined tower to enter from the back, but that allowed them to spot a familiar figure sitting on the practice field. They were several fragments of the walls and roof on the grassy surface, but the area around Kaito was pristine, something surprising even to Luka's distressed mind. "What in the world…?" she questioned with a murmur and stopped.
Meiko overtook her and dropped to her knees before the dazed youth, trying to coax him into answering her.
Luka approached the pair slowly, feeling as if was trapped inside some nonsensical dream. But it was clear to her: Kaito was too close to the explosion to have escaped unscathed, unless it was due to some unnatural means. Could it be possible…?
Kaito's confused mind threatened to crumble as soundly as the tower itself. Like a thick snowfall, images piled up before his eyes, intensifying the pain in his chest. The sight of his father on the ground, his own blade drawing Gakupo's blood and their short struggle. Then the mad dash down the stairs, even as a part of Kaito screamed at him: Save him, protect him, you promised!
Kaito furrowed his brow slightly, his thought process oddly foggy. He barely even registered the two girls next to him, lost as he was in his broken recollections. Before, he had descended the tower completely engulfed by confusion and anguish; with every step, a strange feeling grew, making his body tingle. He reached the bottom of the stairs somehow, and stood on the field as a light shone overhead. Kaito lifted his head and saw his death descending quickly on top of him, in the form of falling stone and masonry. He lifted one arm, and the tingling sensation concentrated on his hand. But then…?
"Kaito! Please answer me, are you hurt?!" Meiko screamed worriedly and cupped his face with her hands. Kaito slowly realized that she had been trying to get his attention for a while.
"What happened?" Luka crouched down next to them.
"My father was up there…" He spoke slowly, then his eyes turned towards the tower looming above them.
"I'm sorry," Luka said quietly.
"All day, I've been having these thoughts," Kaito muttered incongruously. "'Don't trust Gakupo, he's unbalanced. He's dangerous, don't trust him'. But it makes no sense." He rubbed his forehead, a gesture that made him look very similar to Captain Fuuga. "Since this morning…" His eyes filled with realization. "He came by this morning."
"What are you talking about?"
"Luka…the mage, he killed my father!" Kaito covered his face with his hands. "And Verdirrama made me think Gakupo did it!"
"No! Why?!" Meiko asked, horrified.
"Who knows? Maybe he wanted all of this, so he could slay Gakupo and be branded a hero," Luka gestured to the top of the tower. "But Gakupo didn't hurt anyone in town before escaping!" She continued, relief evident in her tone.
Who cares about any of them! Kaito thought, barely managing to fight back tears. His father was gone, would any of them grieve about that? A life of service to Oto, and he was dead because he had dared to be kinder than most of its inhabitants. And that wasn't enough for the mage. No, Verdirrama had made Kaito into another one of his instruments, just another weapon against Gakupo.
Anger was something that Kaito usually watched from the outside, with amused detachment. But now it was boiling inside of him, blinding him to anything that wasn't revenge.
"We should speak to Verdirrama before making any assumptions," Meiko stated cautiously. "He's meditating at the temple, I-"
"I'll kill him!" Kaito jumped to his feet and ran.
"Wait, Kaito!" The girls took off after him.
The temple was relatively near, since it was part of the oldest section of Oto, along with the tower. The streets between the two sites were deserted: everyone else had escaped into the woods or towards the east. Along the way, Kaito furiously explained his confrontation with Gakupo.
"I should've listened to him!" He lamented several times. "Why couldn't I stop?"
The temple was the same as always, unattractive and grey. It had a sign at the front doors, warning pilgrims that it was closed due to the festival, but Kaito pushed the side door angrily and it opened with ease. Meiko and Luka followed him inside and all three headed towards the central nave.
Verdirrama stood next to the altar, examining the war bow in his hands.
"You're stealing the relics!?" Meiko cried out with disbelief.
It had been a while since the last time he was inside the temple, but a part of Kaito's mind noted that the sword and shield were gone from their respective cushions, not that it mattered all that much to him.
"Murderer!" Kaito spat, running towards the mage. Before he could touch him, he was stopped by something invisible and fell to the ground. Meiko and Luka rushed to help him, clearly dismayed by the display of power. Kaito extended a hand and his fingers scraped some kind of barrier surrounding the mage. It was unlike anything he had ever touched; the skin on his fingertips barely seemed to register something was there, and he found himself unable to recall what it felt like after he pulled his hand away.
Verdirrama gave the group a look of contempt, and returned the bow to its place. "After all the trouble I went through, that boy wasn't even capable of razing this place." He made an arc in the air with his staff, and all three were pushed back by an unseen force, its strength blowing them past the pews facing the altar, and all the way across the nave, until they were pressed against the big doors of the entrance, like insects pinned by needles. "At the very least, he should've killed you three."
"Why are doing this?" Luka managed to say between moans of pain.
"I guess it doesn't matter now. Innocent blood was freely spilt by this city," mused Verdirrama, and began to squeeze his hand, a gleeful smile in his face.
All three screamed, as their bodies were twisted and pulled; it felt like thousands of invisible hands brutally toying with them. Kaito felt his consciousness waver; his mind would've happily embraced oblivion, if it wasn't for Meiko's and Luka's cries at both sides of him. Protect them! Even more than his own agony and thirst for revenge, it was their voices that kept him from fainting. The tingling feeling returned, concentrated on his hand. Fighting the pull of Verdirrama's magic, he extended it before him. Light and fire poured out of his fingertips, but Kaito felt no fear or hesitation. It felt right, like a mechanism finally locking into place. Simply by willing it, he turned the blue flames into a bubble that enveloped him and the girls, and they floated inside of it next to the entrance doors, free from the mystic's cruel magic.
Verdirrama took a step back, his grin replaced by a hateful expression. Then, he made a sweeping motion with his staff, and the invisible force returned, pushing the ball of flames against the door like a huge hand trying to squash a fruit. The hinges began to whine, as the mage applied more and more pressure, until the doors gave away and the ball of light was shot out of the building. Cobblestones were sent flying as the ball was dragged across the street by Verdirrama's powers, but it didn't falter, even when it impacted the building opposite the temple. Despite the mage's efforts, the trio inside was completely unharmed.
Verdirrama walked outside, frowning. "I don't have time for this." He leaned on his staff, debating with himself. "I still have the sword… and he'll be trained, unlike these maggots." He smiled, a mockery of the kind persona he adopted during his first visit to the town. "I'll allow you to live for now, dear children." He motioned with his staff, and Kaito's vision clouded. When he recovered, the mage was gone.
With a sigh, Kaito finally let the ball of fire dissolve, and the trio fell to the ground, rather harshly. It had taken all he had to hold on until the attack stopped.
Luka rolled on her side, cringing, and crawled towards Kaito. "How did you do that?!"
"I…I don't know," Kaito muttered, without moving. "I'm so tired." The fire had been utterly draining; a moment longer, and Verdirrama would've crushed them completely.
"You're a beast too?" Meiko asked, staring at Kaito fearfully.
"Don't be stupid," Luka chastised her. "There's something else going on here, Verdirrama tricked us!" She sat next to Kaito's prone form with a pensive expression. "We need to get Kaito home and tell the elders what happened."
Meiko looked away from Luka, still very nervous. But the brown-haired girl only nodded and helped Kaito sit up. "Can you walk?" She asked tenderly.
"I'm ok…" Despite his words, he leaned heavily on Meiko as he struggled to stand.
"I think we should keep quiet about your powers for now," Luka blurted out. "The elders might get antsy about your running around Oto unchecked."
"I'm not staying here." Kaito began to cautiously walk towards his home, with Meiko's help. "I'm going to hunt that bastard down."
"I'll go with you," Luka replied automatically. Meiko gaped at them. "We'll avenge your father and find Gakupo."
For once, the path forward was clear.