Lucky Souls
Chapter 20: Tainted
The beginning of atonement is the sense of its necessity. For Hiyori Tamura, to say she wished dearly for the absolving of her sins was a highly depreciated illusion. In reality she knew that as much as she begged to be forgiven, her prayers would go unanswered. Her cries for a salvation she did not deserve would never come to pass, and yet the borrowed depression within her continued to be pressed aside forcibly, to give up would be to admit she was not capable of forgiveness.
The panting mage looked to the dirt below her, a muddied puddle bearing a semblance to a soul she knew too well. Her mussed hairline was parted with a bothered sigh; she didn't know how long she could keep running. That assassin Nanako Kuroi wasn't the first blade that aimed to cut her throat, and knowing her abysmal luck it certainly wouldn't be the last.
Years of desperate fleeing for her crimes, most days she wished she could just face the killers swords with open arms, but her conscience would not allow it. It just wasn't her time to die, she had so much left to accomplish, so much good she could do for the world. It wasn't a self-absorbed sense of entitlement of a savior that pushed her, but the benevolent and unknown title of a criminal making amends. When and if she found King Allant, she would set things right, even if the world would only remember her as a terrorist and precursor of destruction, she would recall herself as a soul who earned her long awaited amnesty.
Touching upon the subject of her malevolent crimes, the absent-minded girl realized only now that for whatever reason, she was able to be free of her prison cell within the Latrian towers. Unusual, considering she was fairly positive she hadn't forgiven herself for anything, perhaps she was just a bit more selfish than she anticipated.
Once her self-relating thoughts began to border on egocentric, Hiyori knew she had wasted too much time reflecting aimlessly, that knight Yui could only hold off the expert assassin for so long. Making her way out of the depressing shambles of the temple she found herself, she gazed downward to the clouds below for any hope of escape.
Brown and dusty looking temples roosted upon uglier mountains as far as she could manage to see, that certainly wasn't any form of progress. Far beneath the muck and grime though, she noticed an odd looking structure peaking over the smaller churches, it looked more natural than manmade oddly enough. What remained of the daunting tower was completely overgrown with thriving plant life, a distinct contrary feature to the nigh lifeless mountains.
Where there was plant life, there was surely moisture, where there was moisture there was likely running water. Being upon the craggy cliffs and all, she knew the water would have to let out somewhere, downwards definitely, more likely than not there was likely an irrigation system in the vicinity. Even with the watering plant however, it still begged the question of how the flora survived against the harsh conditions beget from the Old One's miasma, there was definitely something magical at work here.
The section of the land that held the grassy tower was completely cut off from the rest of the temple however, the land carved high above the mountains in a tower-like shape all its own. The base of the stone tower below was hanging haplessly from the cliff side, the littered remains of a bridge could be seen in the area, but now there was absolutely no way to trek across the chasm.
An idea to reach the displaced tower came with the cetacean call of a passing flock of young storm beasts, hovering gently despite the harsh winds of the gusty crags. She wondered how heavy the creatures were, likely quite a contrast to their size she figured. Their bones would have to be hollow to allow flight, but the thick muscles and leather hide definitely weighed them down some, some property of the animals must have been unnatural.
Hiyori's padded feet slipped gingerly to the edge of the drop before her, a good fifty foot drop to the circling demons below. She inhaled profusely, removing her spectacles and carefully hitching them to her robe. She held her hands in silent prayer for the gods she didn't even believe in, she'd need all the help she could scrounge up to make this leap of faith, imaginary or no.
"This is so stupid, I am so stupid." Hiyori muttered to herself, instinctively tensing her body and getting a steady hold of her faculties before she catapulted herself to an untimely death. An indistinct bunny hop set the wheels of her jump in motion, her overbearing robe immediately parachuted around her as she tumbled through the air in circles, futilely attempting to maintain a steady hold of her form and momentum.
She passed the first bundle of demons fruitlessly, quickly fixating on their fluttery brethren far below, the target was big enough but the force would probably still kill her. She clenched her wrist to her mouth, holding it in a pipe-like motion and magically blowing a jet stream of a cooling breeze through the curl of her palms.
The slight interference with her perpetual motion offset her velocity; she crushed delicately to a halt, and then with the grace of a feather swayed easily to her new mount below. When her feet touched upon the scaly back of the creature, she underestimated just how slimy they were, the entire hide was covered in some sickly mess of snot-like substances. Her lax footing gave way, slipping under the belly of the creature and to its rodent tail, which she desperately clung to in hopes of staying on the beast.
The tail's oscillating arch was halted with another magical gust of wind from its passenger, and carefully she climbed back upon the demon's back and carefully crawled upon the slick surface, trying her best not to make the same mistake twice.
Hiyori bubbled brightly as she tugged a gross section of the beast's hairline, yanking it in her destined direction towards the tower with the makeshift reigns.
"This is so awesome, I am so awesome." And indeed another hopeless situation made possible by the ever clever Hiyori. Her flying ride obeyed her orders almost as if in a trance, the creature reacted to a pattern it likely had felt before.
Over the years Hiyori had returned to the shadowed temples many times for a number of reasons, never before had she wondered how the mages were able to travel across the dangerous peaks and crevices of the mountains so safely and quickly, she believed she may have just found the answer. The storm beasts were always renowned as very kind spirits, leaving the consumption of souls, their mindless hunger, to the wild fauna in the area instead of the people that lived within it.
Her hypothesis was all but confirmed when the beast landed safely upon the severed island of the green tower, waiting a moment for its rider to dismount even. Hiyori bucked herself off the back of the beast and affectionately rubbed its pressed in face, beaming with glee when the creature reciprocated her tenderness with a cooing rub to her palm.
Waiting until her sky horse was gone before she politely scrubbed the slime from her hand, Hiyori gazed upon the dauntingly tall structure before her, feeling the droplets of water within the air fog her glasses slightly; this was definitely the correct place to be to escape the reaches that transcended the heavens themselves.
She entered hastily, ignoring the overbearing stench of death that imbued the air as best she could. Just as nigh everywhere else, the stone floors were laden with corpses, yet something struck her about these bodies in contrast with the rotten souls she had encountered thus far. They were fresh, leaky blood still spilled from gaping tears upon sliced throats, jagged bones coated with the juices of the body jutted disproportionately at odd angles, crushed in torsos had not yet had their innards fed upon by the feverish crows and mice.
The tower twirled upward and downward with two separate staircases in a double helix, the ground was damp and slick from the clammy environment, covered with dripping puddles heated by many hearths, giving way to a gentle, simmering fog that clouded the area with heavy mist. The crashing sound of running water echoed from far below, this was her escape route. And yet the trail of fresh corpses traveled upward, and while she wished her curiosity deprived, her conscience would not allow her to abandon a potential survivor, as unlikely as that prospect was.
Circumspectly she tread across the piles of shattered bodies, not so much queasily as respectfully. Corpses did not stun her as they did the common folk, she had seen her share, and regrettably had made a few of her own. The smell of blood was strong, coppery and almost as distinctly overbearing as burning rubber in her mind, and yet she did not find it unpleasant. Death as a whole to her, was an entirely tolerable ordeal, it was a natural cycle and she had been desensitized enough by it for the mangled bodies of strangers to not faze her even a little. Hiyori wondered if this in fact made her less human, she wanted to feel for the deceased; she truly did, and yet something within would not allow her sunny mind to falter. Looking upon the brightest aspects of a tragedy was all she could do, perhaps her own sins really had changed her in this way, her own dealings with the spreading ill fortune warped her sense of disaster.
When she was green even the notion of a single person passing away, a tiny, insignificant spec on the glossy window of the cosmos, affected her dearly. And yet she persevered, matured into a young woman that steeled herself bravely in the face of death, both her own and that of others. Life became routine, a cycle, not something to be highly treasured but preserved meagerly for as long as manageable.
A ghoulish moan broke her séance of appreciation; Hiyori carefully glanced in the generator of the unsettling sounds direction, she saw nothing at first, but quickly noticed a figure slumped injured against the tower walls. A steady pool of blood seeped out from the being, but the wails of pain signified life, this had to be the remnant of the battle she sought.
Cautiously the court mage approached the warrior, hands held openly for a quick spell in case they suddenly attacked. Weakly the figure glanced upward, her golden eyes hidden behind a tangled mess of lilac hair. Her torso was completely split down the middle, bearing her gooey insides for all to see, how she remained conscious at all was questionable, and how she still lived was an even more curious query.
"Help…me…" The girl whispered under the dulcet duo of two voices, one a harshly deepened and echoing one, the other the voice of a young woman. Hiyori saw evidence of demonic transformation, glowing golden eyes, filed nails and teeth, her adolescent skin tugged with wrinkles of an age not yet passed upon her body.
Wordlessly Hiyori surveyed the damage, rib cage was crushed inward, puncturing within the heart and lungs, blood was likely filling the niggling cavities within. The injuries upon her torso were self wrought; easily saw by the blade thick with blood sticking from the girl's stomach, where the amateur disemboweling had ended.
"Poor thing, don't worry it'll be over soon." Hiyori dolefully reassured, something about the sight resonated within her, perhaps it was the girls young age that offset her usual stoic attitude towards death, she couldn't have been much older than herself now that she noticed it. Carefully she reached for a silver necklace upon the girl's breast, clenched within her rigid palm; she gripped the precious jewelry away from the girl and inspected it.
It was a locket crafted in tin plating, formed into the shape of a star, a speckle of golden paint was dabbed into the center, she realized this was a button quickly. Clicking upon it she marveled at the intricately crafted designs within the adornment, lavishly carved in the miniscule shapes of letters within a patterned rosebush. The writing within spelled out the phrase 'My Lucky Stars'. The other half of the necklace's pendant was adorned with three jewels, highly expensive looking, expertly cut and placed within their placeholders with welding. One of them was a deep azure, as dark as the oceans itself. Another was a dainty pink, exquisite and exotic looking. The last was a genial purple, the top of it held a yellow hue blended into the lilac body.
The meanings behind these intricate details eluded Hiyori, but her heart gushed for the poor soul before her, on the brink of death and yet still soberly clinging to her loves, her lucky star. Respectfully she clasped the medallion tightly back within the failing strength of the warrior, hoping she would make peace with herself for her suicidal attempt before the cold hold of death overtook her.
As lax as she was to admit it, the scene pained Hiyori dearly. This was one death she apparently couldn't heartlessly ignore, this child was in pain and she wished only to end the agony. The mage stood silently, carefully placing an open palm over the woman's heart to end her life in an act of mercy, better she die than have to suffer any longer, or worse, surrender to the demonic ailment that plagued her body.
"Find peace, brave soul." She whispered hollowly, beginning to feel the vibrations of concentrated magic at work in her palm. The scratchy feeling lasted for but a moment, interrupted harshly by the twang of a vicious whack to the back of her head, Hiyori nearly exploded in a childish mewling of agony as she fell to the ground in tears.
The assailant proved to be not a demon, but a woman, young and beautiful. Her petite body was blanketed in a snow white gown that clung to her curves snugly, the colorless adornment was offset by her vibrant citrus orange hair, cut long and thin and held in place by a dark hair band clasped over her forehead.
"What did I do to deserve that!" Hiyori cried immaturely, her fuming mind discouraged briefly by the sense of nostalgia that overcame her as she glazed her sights upon the woman, she vaguely resembled a young master of her past, yet she had seen so many faces across the years, this girl must've just had one of those recognizable features that you remembered off-handedly from some unknown town street.
"Sorry!" The woman cried, cresting a wet palm upon Hiyori's burning skull with care. From her hand expunged a radiant lime glow, being a practitioner of the arts herself, she recognized it as healing magic. "But it looked as though you were going to harm this girl, I simply cannot allow this." She warned, more as a suggestive tone than a threat, but her defending of the demonic woman was still odd.
"Uh, you do realize she's…uh, on the fast track to be a shambling husk? Also she's short on…let's see, blood, that's important. And there's a hole the size of a watermelon in her chest." Hiyori reminded hoping to assist in the girl embracing her inner sense of clarity, but her meddling couldn't conform her to the idea of abandoning a soul, no matter how depraved and lost.
"I am aware of her status, but she can still be saved. I am a cleric; I study the healing aspects of magic. I was hiding out here when, well…this girl dropped by." The strangely calm chaplain explained, resting a hand on the grumbling dreg-woman at her feet solemnly. "She quickly told me of her plight, how she had been attacked by a Dregling and caught their dreaded infection. I told her I would assist her, when uh…she told me she had been chased across the bridge by a horde of Dreglings, hot on her trail. She fought very bravely, but ended up cornered and injured. Even after slaying the beasts, the bruises and cuts taxed her terribly, she told me she couldn't handle turning into one of the monstrosities." The clergywoman continued, pressing a finger to the hilt of the blade that scorned the warrior woman's profusely bleeding chest. "Then she impaled herself, I tried desperately to stop her…and since then I've been keeping her steady with my skills, yet this is a short-term cure, she will die very soon without proper medical attention, and of course…the edification of her fractured soul." Her assessment was brisk, and Hiyori had just begun to digest the information before the poor priest began another bubbling tantrum, she really didn't have time for this.
"Look I uh…it's really terrible what happened to this girl but I really have to go. I came here hoping to find an exit from this hell…I actually came to this little island in hopes the water factory would let out down the mountain slopes." Hiyori's selfish words trailed off flatly when the cleric looked to her with drippy puppy dog eyes, the girl was obviously not a fighter, the quest to rid this poor injured woman of her ailment would no doubt kill them both. The more time she frittered away on useless endeavors to save strangers, the more opportunity King Allant had to whisk away on causing destruction and chaos.
"Please." The priest began, clasping her hands in prayer to the busy little magician. "I beg of you, assist me in saving this woman. If you do, I'll lead you to a secret path down the mountains, back on track to whatever it is you need to do before I interrupted…besides, there is no exit here, the wasted water leads to a waterfall down the side of a cliff." The fruitless revelation nearly made Hiyori choke with embarrassment, and her shame was only amplified when she came to an even more obvious epiphany.
"Oh my gosh, why didn't I just ride the stupid storm beast down the mountain? Damn it, son of a sea slug sucking…gah! This is your fault for raising me so nearsightedly mom!" In her not at all forced despair, Hiyori came to with a body heaving sigh, the clergywoman still looked to her for support however despite her foolishness, it was odd she believed so fully in a stranger of indistinguishable competence. "You know what, yeah, I'll help you…if you promise to forget everything you just heard and or saw. And lead me to that secret passage." Hiyori's demands were reasonably fair, the priestess held out a hand for an agreement of hands, meeting her with a slightly mimed smile.
The pleased cleric turned back to the half-dregling on the ground, grasping her hand tightly around the broken handle of the blade in her gut, she was prepared to remove the niggling thing at last. "Once I remove this, she'll be bleeding out indefinitely until…you know. So we'll be on a clock, I'll stay the bleeding as much as I can though." A vicious tug was all it took to remove the weapon, the blade was buried deep but was lubricated enough with the girl's blood to easily slide out, unfortunately along with a grisly splatter of intestinal juices as company.
The two new partners immediately clasped their hands rigorously over the pulsating wound, pressing downwards vainly, Hiyori knew this wasn't going to work for long.
"No choice, I have to cauterize it." She began, feeling the priest brush aside her flaring fingers at the notion.
"No, you can't! She has fractured bones, her lungs are filling up with blood…I still have to heal her but…I just don't have the spell. I came here for uh…well I've been here before, I know they have plenty of magical tomes for this sort of thing; I just need to know the right incantation. Don't worry; the dregling toxin in her veins will keep her from dying too quickly." The cleric reassured once more, concentrating a magical bubble-like shape around the crushed chest cavity, if anything it would keep her ruptured and loose organs from slipping out.
"I've actually been here before too, sort of. I think I know what you're talking about, there used to be this huge library in the center of the temple, probably not there anymore but it's worth a look." Hiyori didn't exactly have the upmost faith in either her own word or the clerical competence of her new ally, or for that matter the status of the temple's library, but she owed both women at least a chance in the matter. Watching as the cleric hoisted the blighted woman upon her shoulders, the recently forgetful mage realized she hadn't even been acquainted with either of her new companions. "The names Hiyori Tamura by the way." Another foolish mistake, day by day she forgot she was a fugitive of just about everyone that held a blade to someone's ideal, another error on her idiotically extensive list.
"M-My name? It's uh…" Hastily the priestess scanned the room for assistance regarding her hidden identity; a basket of assorted and rotten vegetables would have to do. "Carrot." Her voice trembled with erroneousness, lying wasn't her sweet spot obviously.
"Your name is Carrot? Well, nice to meet you…Carrot-Chan. Is that short for something or…?" Hiyori's voice diminished in volume as she trailed off, ambiguous agenda and unknown name, certainly wasn't the best introduction she had ever gone through. Being on the run, and a criminal yourself, you often forget to suspect people Hiyori noticed. Your guilty conscience makes it seem like everyone else is considerate against your own defiled namesake, the condemned can often identify the convicted or those with criminal intent. And while this passively natured, vegetable named individual didn't exactly scream scheming siren, Hiyori couldn't help but shake the feeling of nostalgic mystery about her.
"No…just Carrot." She politely responded with a retracted movement, lifting the downed dreg-woman into her arms and backpacking the girl tightly, innocently ignoring the apprehensive stare she got from the mage and continuing downwards to the aqueducts of the tower.
It seems Hiyori might've been on the right track after all, absence of sense during her Storm Beast drift or no, the basement of the tower was messily infused with a forest of leaky pipes and streams of rushing water that was once processed to be spread across the temple grounds. Hiyori watched as her new companion slinked her body carefully between the pipe works, reaching the other side safely and fiddling with a few unseen buttons, apparently control mechanisms to direct the water flow, which now stopped and allowed the two to cross across several searing hot streams.
"I guess what they say it's true, the only way to lead a Hiyori to water is with carrots." The mage sounded over the raging crash of the pipes, she could practically feel the awkward feeling oozing from her ally as she approached her. "New deal, you forget I said that too, and anything else I say that's arguably stupid." Carrot hastily agreed to the command, letting out a cheerful chuckle as she did so, she was rather enjoying her new friend.
Hiyori watched as several more knobs and switches were twisted and turned, and with them the very walls around them seemed to collapse backwards, revealing a secret passage descending under the earth. The mages of the shadowed lands certainly wished to protect their darkest secrets fastidiously it seemed, she couldn't exact blame them though, some mysteries are better left as just that.
"Would you stop squirming around! It's hard enough that I have to carry you, and yet you deem it necessary to buck and coo like a hungry newborn?" Although it seemed rather inessential, Misao understood vaguely what was rushing through the anxious mind of Tsukasa, who had regrettably injured her leg during the sudden attack; the perpetrator was unfortunately an inculpable stone.
That massive demon, the Storm Beast, had nearly been the end of them, and it would have been if not for the slave's uncanny reflexes and ability to maintain a cool demeanor in the face of chaos. Misao had reassured her far more sensitive ally that Konata and the others would be alright, in the restless anarchy of the situation the two were only able to displace themselves from the immediate area of catastrophe, and when the smoke cleared they had been dislodged from the expanse of the temples altogether. Instead they found themselves overlooking a broken mountain peak at the shattered remains of the battleground in which they went toe to toe with Umbasa's crusaders, who at the thought of them, Misao noticed were missing as well.
While chronically sarcastic and pessimistic on an average day, the servant couldn't help but be optimistic towards her companions survival, she had seen them survive far worse after all. And while she cared somewhat for their continued existences, the more pressing concern was her assigned task, at which once again she was doing far below acceptable limitations.
She thanked the stars her ever omnipresent master couldn't follow her into the dreaded shadowed lands, whatever magic protected the hidden abbeys were specifically crafted to counter outside intrusions, such as the strange Nexus-binding talismans she and her group used. And while she wasn't being examined for trifling failures by unseen eyes as per usual, she knew this didn't allow her any leeway in protecting her flock, she'd shepherd them up as always and get them back on track to slaying the Storm King, their next demonic target.
"Oh but…what if Yuki-Chan and the others are hurt? I-I mean…we couldn't find them after…oh; I know she wouldn't let anything happen, but I can't help but be worried. And what about Onee-Chan? We still haven't found her…" Tsukasa's grief flooded out in droves, and it didn't appear as though her worrisome behavior would quell any time soon. The grim sky above heralded the inescapable darkness of night that would soon be upon them, made even worse by the consuming fog and blanketed skies, they would be hidden away and bumbling aimlessly within the blackness.
It seemed a good enough time as any to stall their progress for the time being, at least until the safety of the sun beat upon them. It wasn't just the vision issue that worried Misao, she knew that that the darkness held uglier problems, ones with bloodied claws and frothing mouths.
"Yeah, things are certainly looking bleak. But what do you think I'm here for, to spout hilarious, sarcastic quips and look stunning while doing so? Yes, that's exactly why I'm here. But I'm also your guardian, all of yours, and I aim to keep my flock safe and happy, alright?" Misao tenderly began as she set her detached sheep to the ground, waiting until Tsukasa's leg was properly leveraged before she continued. "And I'm not leaving your side until your friends are safe and sound, and you and your kin are consummating in some gross display of sisterly affection, so quit belly achin' and just smile for once in a god dang while alright little Hiiragi? Everything will work out." While her tone was snobby and somewhat overbearing akin to a nagging mother, Tsukasa took her words truly to heart, she knew chronically fearing every moving shadow and obsessively questioning the worst of any given situation wasn't a healthy pass time. Perhaps she did need to learn to lighten up a little, especially if in she'd be spending an extended time in the ever damned kingdom of Boletaria.
Not to mention amongst the group even the craven and indecisive Tsukasa could tell she had her limits, which were even more stunted than her friends, and yet there was no place for taking it slow and easy in Boletaria. The strong adapted and the weak shriveled up and became soul food for the demons, and while she knew where she classified, she surely didn't want to remain in the cowardly category.
Tsukasa watched as the ever stern and strong Misao worked effortlessly, grinding the serrated edge of her spear across the ground in an effort to wrought even the tiniest of flickering flames, she had worked so hard to nurture the group up until this point, and despite her seemingly childish and brazen ways she was wise far beyond her years. Misao was an expert warrior, a tactful survivalist, and a quick thinker, the thoughtful and far less competent Tsukasa envied her greatly for these handy attributes.
She was a homebody, not a warrior, she didn't wish to survive, she simply wished to live. And as for quick thinking, well, even she could admit she wasn't the sharpest, less because of her intelligence, and more because of her amiable and naïve ways. Tsukasa was the way she was because that was all she knew, how to be kind, how to craft up a tasty meal, it was all she had ever known and she never would have anticipated she'd have to learn much more than that.
"Thank you…for protecting us." Tsukasa sounded from the silence, frowning when she whom she addressed presented a seemingly uninterested face, and yet it stuck only for a moment; she knew Misao meant well whether she put on a tough front or not.
"Yeah, well, I-agh!" Misao's half-forced and ginger reciprocation of sappy feelings was interrupted by the spitting fire before her, which had just burned a nasty, blue bruise into the slave's shivering hand. Tsukasa instinctively reached for the afflicted area, only to watch in wonder as the open wound suddenly closed in upon itself, sealing the girls exposed flesh once more magically.
Tsukasa remembered all too well what she had beheld in the cities of the Dragon God, Misao died. She saw her die, she witnessed her friend get blown to pieces no larger than diced fruit, and yet somehow she reformed herself like scattered pieces to a living puzzle. Something was special about this girl, she clearly wasn't human, and when Misao saw the curious look in those prying eyes, she knew the time for secrets was over.
"Look…" Misao began, ashamedly covering her recovering wrist before she continued. "What you saw, a few days ago. I never really meant for any of you to find out about that." Whatever the servant spoke of, it seemed to pain her, the words that escaped her were heavy, and weighed down by remorse.
"What are you…? What I mean to say is, are you human? You look like us…" Tsukasa started as she innocently pressed a finger to Misao's reddening cheeks. "You feel like us, you talk and walk like us, but…you're different." Her curious words were brushed away with her advancing fingers; Misao could only stew silently for a moment before she amassed as much information as she could.
"To be honest, I don't even know. I think I'm human, but I don't really know anything about who I really am." Misao's solemn words were ended with a sigh as she gazed upon her recovered wound, not even a scar lay in the wake of the healing. "I've always been this way…different. I can run faster, jump higher, and there's the whole not being able to die thing, I don't even know where to begin on that subject. It's a real funny thing, living brashly without a fear of death, and yet it feels so…empty, like life has no meaning without an end." Misao's words reminded her of the golden mask of her master, the omnipresent witch. "A long time ago, somebody saved me from uh...doesn't matter. Somebody saved me from a pretty piss poor life, and I owe her everything. I became indebted to her; I became her…slave, sort of. If I help her, she helps me, she says she can help me discover who…or what, I am." The slave ended foolishly, knowing she had divulged far more information than she needed to, were her master aware the punishment would no doubt be without mercy.
"Is she…your master? The one who asked you to protect us and destroy the arch demons?" Tsukasa's question was met with a simple silent nod, and though she had so many questions she wished feverishly to ask, she knew it was not her place to do so.
Knowing the time for bonding was far passed; Misao clapped her hands to terminate the advancing conversation before it bordered on personal, which she dearly wished to avoid. Misao didn't consider herself the best people person around, which was odd because she also deemed herself one that feeds on attention of others. Somehow she believed these girls could, against all odds, destroy the Old One. And she would be right there with them until the end, when the last breaths escaped their quaking bodies, and when their blades sung one last melody of battle to the tune of victory. Yet something within her told her to be wary, to not get attached to these martyrs, she had a feeling that no matter what conclusion their quest reached, it wouldn't be without pain.
"This is the library of the Shadowed Temples? Cripes, I mean…I've been here my fair share of times, but I never even dreamed of seeing something like this." Hiyori whispered in floundering awe as she beheld the unreal house of knowledge around her.
The place was a boundless sea of books; shelves soaring hundreds of feet upwards, bridges were constructed in every direction piercing from every wall in order to reach the aerial inclined tomes. Here the library stood, under the earth of the temple, hidden away from even the students of the mountains themselves. The overcast moon beget a gentle glow across the masses of books through the partially obstructed hole in the window, it was their only light in the daunting blackness.
The priestess Carrot noticed her companion's wonderment and decided to give a little insight into the stunning beauty of the place. "This is my first time here too, but I've read all about this place. Before they passed, the Monumentals, the original rulers of these lands, deigned to chronicle all the knowledge of the far reaches of the world in its entirety. While they likely never succeeded, this place stands as a testament to that dream." Hiyori was slightly unsettled by the cleric's advanced understanding of the topic, information about the Monumentals or anything regarding them was usually considered foolish myth, or sparse enough to be legendary.
"Hmm, do you think they have any erotica?" Hiyori's repressed question had created an almost unnatural tension, she really had to stop thinking out loud, the cleric nearly gagged at the sentiment.
Carrot detached herself from her ally momentarily, cooling her heated cheeks as she tried her best to ignore any further comments of a synonymous nature coming from the wily mage.
"Heh, can't blame a girl for asking can you?" Sexually charged antics seemed to have a way of attracting danger for the poor Hiyori, a book shelf in the distance toppled like a domino, collapsing into another and another and causing books to clash and explode into fulminations of shredded white snow everywhere.
In the dusty cloud of destroyed knowledge stood a near formless monstrosity, blob like and gluttonous, it held a pair of tiny arms that barely stretched from its expansive, bean-shaped body. The front of the beast suddenly unhinged like a snake's jaw, revealing a massive, puppet like gullet, from which erected a slinky tongue. Its fat belly was caked with the lingering juices of many meals, splattered bestially across its flesh and oddly enough, a bib-like handkerchief around the consuming beast's flabby neck. Crowned upon the demon's head was a royal adornment somewhat resembling a jewel laden tiara, the creature was a lewd personification of a glutton, lavished in the most exquisite foods, dressed in the finest adornments.
Hiyori's mind couldn't help but center on the erotic aspect of the rather phallic looking tongue as it wiggled to and fro, she blushed deeply as she moved herself in front of her less than capable allies.
"Remember when erotic things didn't try to kill you? What is life coming to these days; seriously, if I survive my exploits in Boletaria I swear I'm writing a sultry novel about it when I get back home...ideas for a title?" Hiyori nonchalantly questioned as she clenched her fists with an infusion of radiating magic, thrusting the clingy beams from her form and sending them crushing into the nearby towers of bookshelves, which consecutively fell until they collapsed directly onto the approaching demon. The attack was futile as expected; the blubbery hide of the bean probably took the brunt of the attack anyway.
"Uh…I'm not really good with these types of things, Boletaria Love?" Carrot daintily suggested, it was completely against her moral fibers and character to discuss such deviant topics, but it was also against her to shut someone down for such a childish reason.
"Nah, too simple, a title like that won't sell. How about Lust and Taboo: An Erotica Compendium of a Demonic Nature, no wait, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Hiyori babbled as she answered her own questions before they even formulated, behind her words her body moved robotically, hurling another curling whip of gusting winds in the direction of the bulbous demon, which in her misdirected state of mind were completely off course, destroying more ancient art and forgotten tomes that were no doubt were a king's ransom in money. "How about Lust and Taboo 2: Magical Boogaloo, people love sequels! Why even write the first one when I could advertise for a second one and make bank twice as fast? I'm too smart, I need to copyright everything I just said when I have the chance." Hiyori's irrelevant yakking gave her no time at all to even attempt to dodge the incoming goliath tongue that slithered around her form and lifted her into the air effortlessly.
"Hiyori-Chan!" Carrot squeaked nervously, finally catching the frittering girl's attention, who had only just now realized she was being held upside down by the gluttonous demon at her friend's warning call.
"How the heck did I get here?" Hiyori mumbled with her mind finally coming to grips with the danger this foe presented, the leathery forked tongue of the monster carefully wrapped itself around its preys body, ready to devour the meager sustenance and preserve its insanity.
Unfortunately for the glutton, Hiyori had in no doubt due to her embarrassing behavior, recovered what scraps of mental sobriety she possessed. She curved her body within the gooey flesh of the demon's tongue, easily lubricating herself enough to slide cleanly out of the sticky appendage, plopping to the ground covered from head to toe in saliva.
The snickering mage smeared a glob of the muck from her face and magically encased a small portion of it within a hovering bubble. "I'll need merchandise too, yeah? Souvenirs if you will." She spoke as if she was the most business savvy court magician in the world, which knowing such an obscure title she just may have been.
In her distracted state the glutton took the opportunity to roll its massive body downward in an attempt to annihilate the girl, but she was prepared for it this time. A genuinely childish hop backwards was all it took to sidestep the blubbery pancake of a demon, and here Hiyori noticed a most unusual sight upon the skull of the creature.
Beneath the golden crown, which looking at it more closely she could now tell was constructed of some manner of cheap glass, lay a caved in hole, which shown directly into the creature's brain and even lower, showcasing a surplus of organs and corpses that in no way were naturally supposed to be there.
"Damn, that's one heck of a bald spot. You really should've combed that over before you decided to tango with the best of them." Hiyori's last bit was the harbinger of the word overkill. She clasped her hands onto the mushy hide of the creature, placing them directly over its glaring weak point and discharged a frosty blast of ice magic into the beast's insides, freezing it from within.
The glutton continued squirming devilishly as it succumbed to the ice coursing through its body, systematically shutting down function after function until it could no longer thrash mindlessly, it grew silent suddenly. A shell of ice crusted over the monster, sealing it in a cocoon of icy death while its enduring meals looked on with glee.
Hiyori sneered boisterously as she continued her journey into the ancient library, as though she hadn't just been in mortal danger, Carrot followed suit nervously, still desperately clinging to the dregling on her back.
"Right." Hiyori started as she surveyed the categories of books, shown in signs across their wooden broad ends. "So no time for erotic pursuits, we have to do our part to save this girl, how's she doing by the way?" She asked as she spotted what appeared to be a template directing to tomes of a more magical nature, this seemed an applicable spot to begin their frantic search.
The hall of books they found themselves in by following the simple directions seemed a tad more archaic, it was almost as if it was hidden in the library, for no one to find. A majority of the books were scorched and or rotten, slicked with dusty cobwebs, this did not bode well. Hiyori remained optimistic, shoveling through a few piles of books before she came upon something promising, a golden and white book, stapled with the image of an enigmatic looking tree of thorns.
She pressed through a few of the crusty pages, grumbling when most of them nearly disintegrated at her touch. They detailed a great many things concerning biological, mental, and even spiritual deficiencies and selective cures for them. Common colds, deadly disease and plague, madness beget by any number of instances, it was all written here, and if there was a cure for the dregling disease this was definitely the place to be looking.
"Here it is." Hiyori started, roosting her glasses to the bridge of her nose to erase the gleam of the moonlight within. "Dregling, taken from the word dreg, signifying something without a will. A plague discovered early in the first era of known mankind, wrought from the Old One's miasma, placed upon those who had lost their souls to the spawn of the great one. The carriers of the progenitor illness were unable to spread the disease; it was not contagious back then. Over time it mutated, becoming a contractible virus and became easily spread through simple means like bites or scratches." Hiyori's rambling somewhat set off Carrot, who groaned in despair behind her, it was time to get to the point. "Ah cures, cures…over time the study for a cure has been a main focus of top scientists and mages studying aspects of the Old One and its spawn. After extensive research studies proved that…there is no direct cure, complete termination of the virus is impossible." Hiyori's tone became painful; she could practically feel Carrot's grief resonate behind her.
"So there's nothing we can do? This girl is doomed to die?" Carrot asked in disbelief, pressing next to Hiyori to ensure she had read the text correctly, only to notice the passage continued after where she had stopped. "However, it was found that consuming the soul of another settles the virus to a level where the antibodies are able to maintain it, however this process requires that said host be sacrificed to save the infected one." She finished as she turned to Hiyori with a discouraging glance of assistance, and yet the mage could offer none, it wasn't as if she had any souls to spare aside from her own.
However, to say she knew nothing of the soul arts was false. On the contrary she likely knew far more than anyone in the waking world, having literally written the book on the subject. All hope was not lost, if anybody could assist this woman, she could.
Hiyori considerately took the dregling's hand in her own, cradling it until the girl focused enough energy to meet the magician's gaze.
"What's your name?" She asked quietly as to not force more of a response than was needed. The dregling gasped twice for any breath she could, her consciousness was beginning to fail her once more.
"K…Kagami…" The demon heaved out forcibly, clenching her eyes harshly with pain as she snuggled her face within Carrot's overcoat once more, she felt so cold all of a sudden, she intuitively craved warmth.
"Kagami." Hiyori began as she hatched a most clever idea. Souls were a fascinating aspect as she had discovered in her research, so easily transmutable, and far simpler to manipulate. "You aren't going to die, I've got a plan." The body only needed the life essence of a soul for so long before it began to deteriorate, in that time the host could easily use the prosthetic until a real one came along. It was a short term plan, but it would have to do until a better opportunity presented itself.
If anybody could save this girl, if anybody could show her the ways of the soul arts first hand, it was Hiyori Tamura, the woman accused of crimes beyond her own understanding. After all, everyone deserves a chance at redemption.
Author's Note: I've finally gotten used to typing on this crappy laptop, but good news! I finally ordered the replacement parts I needed for my computer, so I'll be back to writing chapters normally in no time. Oh, and sorry if I tend to jerk around the POV a lot, I'm trying to create the feeling of an ensemble cast, many different paths and stories interweaving until they all reach the same conclusion. Plus it really helps to break up the pacing a little, and easily transport characters to a destination. And if any of you have been romance deprived in this story thus far, stick around; I think you'll be pleased in the near future.