Chapter 6 – Ghost Town
After the shishitora had finished its meal, it waited for the rest of the group to pack up their belongings. Then it led us northwest, just like Yakko had thought. We walked for a few hours until we came to a wide valley. We took in the amazing view for a time and luckily Dot had brought disposable camera with her. She had planned on taking plenty of photos of the animals at the zoo, but had forgotten that she even had it there. She noticed it when she was placing Ace and I in her back pack to carry us, however briefly.
After a little sightseeing, the creature continued guiding us toward the "Silver Palace". During the next few days we saw mountains, interesting rock formations that resembled Stone Henge and moai statues, and even saw the ruins of a village or town. The houses in the village/town were nearly hexagonal shape and approximately as large as any modern day suburban home on Earth, each home looking similar, yet different from the one next to it. There were even markets and shops nearby for different sales and items.
We all stopped for a bit inside one of the abandoned homes in order to get ourselves something to eat from Wakko's new favorite refrigerator. We put together our own sub sandwiches for that meal. Afterward, we rested for a bit and looked around town. It was only then that we had realized how lonely and sad it was here. I looked at all of the houses imagining all of the hustle and bustle. I tried to imagine all of the children playing in a nearby park with parents close by conversing with one another, people walking their pets and some even hurrying to work. The town looked similar to anything you would see on earth other than the lack of vehicles and asphalt roads. (They probably levitated to work or something.)
Now I was simply looking at a ghost town, not a living thing in sight. I decided to wander into another nearby house, with a front window smashed in, it was fairly easy. I hadn't wandered far when I discovered the body of a female lying on the ground in what seemed to be the living quarters of the home. I knew it was female by the long blond hair lying in a mess on the ground. I walked closer to the body to see exactly what she looked like, the pit of my stomach twisting and ill. The smell of death was potent and rancid. As I rounded the corner to get a better look at her face, I notice that she looked a lot like Mira. She was beautiful, with fare skin. I didn't know what color her eyes were because they were closed.
Examining the body more, I notice that her clothes were different from anything seen in Earth's fashions. She wore a violate dress that extended down to the middle of her shins, attached to the back of the dress was what seemed to be some sort of reverse apron that was shaped similar to the tales of a tuxedo. They were a velvet color with golden lace trim. The belt that wrapped around the woman's waist was made of cloth and was of velvet color as well, and it had a silver ring buckle over to the woman's right side. (I noticed that she was lying on her left side.) On the shoulders of the dress was a cape shaped in a similar fashion to the reverse apron that extended down to the woman's behind. The dress sleeves ran down to the woman's elbows and draped off of her skin after that, almost like the sleeves you would see on a maidens dress from the medieval times. It was rather beautiful in a sort of foreign kind of manner. The woman seemed to have died from a stab wound in the abdomen that ran through her completely.
The jewelry she was wearing looked similar to a wedding ring you would see on earth, so I figured that she was probably engaged or married. She was also wearing earrings made of silver with sapphire jewels embedded in them, as well as silver and sapphire bracelets. Judging by the way she was dressed and such, she was probably on her way out for a special occasion. She was probably well off too. Her furniture was elegant and lovely. The entry way led straight into the living room, which was decked out with fuchsias, lilacs, and other violet colors. She as well kept wood furniture that was darker in color to match her scheme.
The smell was starting to really get too me so I decided to leap back out the window before I lost my still-digesting-lunch. I bounded over back to the windowsill, took a moment to look back to the woman to pay respects for a small while and jumped to the ground, took a whiff of the fresh air, and solemnly walked back to the rest of the group. Even the Warners came back in a solemn mood when they met back with the group. "I never wanna see this much death ever again." Dot said nearly in tears. "I wanna go home." Wakko added. Yakko for once didn't say anything. He simply stared at the ground and kept to himself with a few tears escaping from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.
"What happened here?" Ace asked the shishitora. At first the creature didn't say anything to him. Then Ace asked the question in Valkyrian. The shishitora began talking to Ace in the same language it seemed like it was a long story because it continued talking for another 10 minutes. When it was finished talking, Ace pulled his ears back, lowered his head and shed some tears. "What did he say?" I asked him gently. "He said that this was the work of the 'Crimson Lightning'." Ace answered. Dot and I understood what he meant completely. "Coluv did all of this?" I asked. Ace nodded his head. "He destroyed his entire race of people." He then added. "Using the Armageddon Blade, no doubt." Dot added in frustration. "Take it easy Dot. Remember you took him out. He can't hurt anyone else." Yakko reminded her. Seeing them so sad, it was like talking to and looking at completely different people. We all stood there silent for around 50 seconds. You could hear the wind blow from the east.
"Perhaps it's best if we move on." A deep soothing voice came from behind the group. Everyone was startled out of their slump when they heard this voice speak. At first, we thought it was the shishitora, until an even larger feline creature walked out of the rubble and approached our little group. "Greetings little ones, I am called Zouriinkusu, or 'elephant lynx'." It said in fluent English. Looking at it closely, it was a silver colored lynx of enormous size. It looked like it could carry around 10 grown human men on its back with ease. We were still in fright at the enormous size of the creature, and didn't know what to think when it moved closer up to Ace's face to have a better look at him. At first I thought it would make an attempt to eat Ace like the dragon did, then it spoke again. "So you are the new sage." It said to the little blue kitten. "Ace looked at me like he was asking permission to answer the giant feline. Noticing that Ace was looking at me for support, the creature turned to me and examined me close up. His nose was almost as big as my head and his eyes seemed to pierce right through my mind. "I...I'm..." was all I could spit out at the moment. Ace finished the line for me. "That's my mom." He said getting ready to defend my life if need be. "The huge creature looked at me in slight shock then regained his composure and began to chuckle a little. "Please excuse my rudeness, madam. I was merely curious." He finally said. "Might I meet you all outside of this dreary place? I have a message for the sage." He added then slowly turned around and walked away from our group and out of the town's limits.