Chapter 33

Freedom of the cherished

In the pale lit room, the boy was breathing slightly, trying to rest in an uncomfortable position, due to the fact that he was captive. He woke up suddenly hit by what happened. He didn't even have time to comprehend the situation by the time the figure of a young girl with silver hair entered the chamber.

Myako was carrying a plate with little food, giving him a demanding look.

"So finally you woke up, boy. You've been out for 2 days now. Our provisions are running low." She said with a lack of remorse in her voice.

"Your leader hit me to unconsciousness!"

"And you should have woken up in a few minutes if you had the necessary spirit power. You're weak."

The boy sighed a bit disappointed of himself. He knew. He knew that his powers, no matter how harsh the training he got from his master, would never increase to the expectations of his kind.

"I have a name, you know.." he said trying to shake off the previous thought. "It's Aika." He looked at the girl, trying to examine her face more in detail.

"Then tell me, Aika…" Myako stood down next to him, examining him carefully as well. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Ehm…I guess…Why are you suddenly so concerned?"

"Because I've read your thoughts, Aika. My demon spirit blessed…or cursed me with this gift. I know how you are feeling."

"You know nothing!" the boy replied angrily.

Myako stood up.

"You never knew your parents. You were shipped to this temple when you were young, and never received the love of a family. All the others from this temple perished because of the diseases you brought. Only your master survived, because he was also like you. And he know that the only way to make you stay in this temple was to be harsh and indoctrinate you."

"That's a lie! I…I have a purpose! I'll never let you corrupt me! " he said desperately, closing his eyes, pretending she didn't exist anymore.

The chamber door opened once more, this time more violently.

"Are you finished?" Sethim said with an imposing tone, followed by a smirk. "It's time to see your master again"

"No, lady Sati! I will never let some humans even try to put their corrupted hands on our saucer-claustra."

"But father, they have proven themselves at the Shaman Fight! They have defeated the threatening shaman Asakura Hao, they have-"

"Earth's problems are not ours anymore. My answer is final."

The shaman humans watched the old and presumably "wise" leader of the Airikoh's temple denying their attempt to save the world again. No big deal, Yoh thought, they'll find another way.

"I am still confused, " Horohoro said on the way to the back "what a 'saucer-claustra' means."

"It is just their naming for the key. There a three keys to open the gates to Atlantis: one in the north, one in the south, in Antarctica most probably, and one in this very temple we are standing in. It's quite easy if you paid attention to what lady Sati said" said Ana with a straight face.

"Of course I did, but it is all very confused! Horohoro defended himself. "Like for example, if they are just guarding the key and also they don't want us to get our hands on it, then what the heck are they keeping it for?"

"For the chosen one, you idiot. " Ren answered. "It is someone who has both the power of a Traveler and an Errath. Because the Airikos' tangled with us humans, most of them lost the Errath abilities, and nowadays there is only one per generation capable of access to the Magnus Spirit, which was imprisoned by them as well."

"Okay, okay, so we need to find that person and convince him that the Erraths' are after the keys and he should join us in the battle! Easy!"

"We've already met that person. More exactly, we've met her." Ren said. "And she is already accompanied by a dangerous companion."

"What? You mean…"

"But Ren" Yoh interrupted, "Don't you think Hao changed, maybe a little bit since our last encounter?"

"On my last encounter, he seemed to be the same arrogant bastard he was before. I don't care that now he has some sort of feelings for Riliry, I still don't trust his intentions. And he will clearly have some influences on her."

"You wouldn't have found out about this if he didn't tell you anything Ren. He knows who the enemies are now, and he needs our help."

"Right, he needs our help to play his stupid game like always. What do you think he'll do after we exhaust ourselves in defeating the Erraths? He'll take advantage of course. And if you ask me, I think it was all planned. This is why he gave up the Shaman King's position for a while, not because of us trying to convince him of his human nature. He wants a power even greater than the Great Spirit."

"Ren, you can't act based on some assumptions, no matter how worrying they seem to be. We cannot do this by ourselves. We need his help."

"Okay then, let's vote." Ren said tired of the debate. "Who's with me, to get the key and keep it to ourselves until we figure out his intentions, or to just hand it over and fight like puppets for a lost cause? Raise your hands if you're for the first case."

Everyone raised their hands, even Anna. She looked at Yoh a little bit guilty.

"Sorry Yoh, but we can't take any risks right now. Not when we're on foreign grounds."

"Why are we walking sooo much? My feet are noodles." Rilury complained while they both were on a road in the middle of nothingness.

"That's what you asked 10 minutes ago and the answer is still the same. We can't let ourselves be discovered by military aircraft detection. We don't need anymore trouble." Hao replied unmoved by her whining.

"But it's so far away! How do you even know we have time to reach it, before our enemies do?"

"You will know" Hao smiled in Rilury's consternation. "When they get their hands on the first key, you will sense it. And trust me " he said suddenly carrying her. " When that happens we'll fly on the Spirit of Fire and destroy all the army planes in our way!" he said with an amused tone.

Rilury chuckled a bit blushing. Then she regained her pouted face when he put her down and let her walk further. Suddenly, the faded noise of an old engine could be heard in the distance.

"Wait, do you hear that?" her face suddenly lit up. "It's a car! Heeey!" she said waving her hands desperately.

"What are you doing?" Hao asked a bit irritated and confused.

"Hitchhiking!" she answered with a grin.

In the frozen continent of Antartica, under a deep buried underground temple the first beings in more than a thousand years were gazing at the Gate towards the first key to the lost spaceship of Atlantis. The entrance consisted only of light at the first glance, but if one would stare at it he would see lots of different ambiguous images, sometimes even with some familiar voices calling them from within.

"This is your last barrier." The old Airikoh man said, barely keeping himself alive due to the disease. " In order to enter, if you are not one of us, you have to receive our blessing. And this will never happen."

Sethim, instead of being concerned, he just gave the old man a calm and reassuring smile.

"Yes, it is indeed a troubling impediment….if we didn't have your apprentice."

Aika entered, with his hands tied down. He wouldn't even have the power to escape even if he was free.

"Aika!" the man said readopting a rough master attitude, the expression which the boy had known for years. "No matter what, you know how to handle this! Let yourself driven by the visions and voices of madness, lose yourself and let the Gate have its sacrifice."

"Hmm..not even a slight remorse from your own master. Isn't that making you feel a little bit angry? You are not under his control anymore, you have nothing to fear." Sethim said looking down at Aika.

But the boy was just starring into the ground, just wanting it all to be over with. He didn't even need any push, he just walked into the gate by himself, his body slowly disappearing in the light…

"Your battle is lost. Even if he wanted to, he could never defeat the forces of the Gate by himself". The old master said relieved.

"Wait a minute old man…" Myako disrupted him with a consternated glance. "Who said he was going alone?"

She sat in a lotus position, and suddenly entered a trance, while a dark fog enveloped her body. Afterwards, black tentacles emerged and plunged in the Gate, being absorbed by it's light.

"The human consciousness is her medium. I think she does have enough power to help him make it through." Sethim explained calmly and a bit proud of his apprentice.

"She's a fool! " the old man replied agitated. "If Aika cannot succeed, the girl will share the same fate as him!"

Sethim remained unmoved, and by his order, the old man was being taken by Martha and Marla to another chamber. Too much nuisance, he thought.

"For an experienced master like him, it is a bit sad how little he knows his only student..."

"Instead of being stuck in this bumpy old truck with a bunch of nomads, I prefer walking." Hao sais unpleased.

"I'm sorry it's not a limousine." A nomad boy with messy blonde hair and freckles replied. "We wanted to take one on our way but turns out the cops weren't so glad about it, especially when you threaten the great politician who was in it." He said with a grin.

"And you are…?"

"Kaptchka. Nice to meet you!" he gave his hand, waiting for a response. Things started to get a bit awkward when Hao didn't reply at all, just starred at him…

"So Kaptchka, " said Rilury disrupting the tension, " How are you managing on the road?"

"Well, we all have our ways…and sometimes we all gather together and hold a huge fest! And there is one happening right now, just a bit up in the north! Wanna join?"

"Of course, north is also where we're heading, right Hao?"

Hao didn't reply, just gave an arrogant "hmph." instead of admitting that this car trip actually saved them a big deal of time.

One of their stop was a small city, where they gathered people around with one of their usual performance. The nomads were singing, dancing, doing backflips and all sort of entertainment. But their best moment was when they started playing at their unique instruments and formed a huge dance, where Kaptchka was the center of it. Unfortunately, he couldn't to the performance this time, and the public started to yell at them.

"Usually I have a dancing partner, but she is our driver so she stayed by the car to do some fixing, so it won't be so bumpy anymore. As you see, the crowd is a bit agitated because they want to see both of us, we are kind of famous in these parts, hehe." He said to Riliry with a smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, I wish I could help somehow so they won't be so aggressive towards you…"

"You can!" he said and grabbed her hands, bringing her in the middle of the dance center.

The public started cheering again. Even if Rilury was a bit confused about the steps, the crows was pleased to see two vibrating young souls on the stage.

Hao was starring with anger and jealously. One time he keeps his eyes off her and that nomad steals her away. However, there was indeed a peculiar reason he was distracted. In the dense crowd, there were some little boys stealing some wallets from random men, as much as they could. Apparently the money thrown on stage wasn't the nomads' only source of income…

The spectacle ended in a bundle of cheers. Hao came to Rilury and took her hand.

"Come on, we're leaving."

"Wait- what? I haven't even made my reverence yet!"

"Why are you hurrying so suddenly? We are all heading north, remember?" Kaptchka said with a light smile, his face quite red from the effort he made the whole show.

"Not with us. How can we trust you, when you are already deceiving and stealing from strangers?" Hao said promptly.

"Look, we do what we can to survive." Kaptchka answered, with a lost smile. "If you don't like us, then we won't keep you by force. However, I am curious to hear the lady's opinion."

"She doesn't -…"

"I would think it would be a good idea to stay. Both of us. I don't think there is any reason to accuse you of something, as long as you did nothing to us." Rilury answered, rebelliously taking Hao's hand off her.

"Hmph. Fine, we'll stay. It's not like we cannot defend ourselves is something happens anyway." Hao replied a little bit irritated. "I'll wait by the truck."

The night has fallen. A younger Aika was in the middle of the ocean, on a ship being transported to Antartica. He has a great purpose, they said. So great that they even had to spare all the resources for him, even when it came to treating his mother's wounds after his birth…

Aika was staring in the dark water of the ocean, with the pale light of the moon reflecting upon his sad look. No one was on the board to monitor him, because no one expected him to sneak past the sleeping guardian in his room

He had a vision. He knew what was going to happen, and right now he woke up again in the present. All this for nothing. He will die anyway in the Gate, thrown in by the enemies. He will die because in the end, that was the end of his purpose. Deceiving the enemies. What a hero.

The waves were calm, but the water was freezing cold. If someone would throw himself in the water, it wouldn't last more than a few minutes. If someone, if he…

But before his body would splash the water, a black net formed out of nowhere, caught him and threw him back in the air, so high that he was already in the pitch black sky. So black…Somehow floating in mid air, he tried to go towards the nearest light source of a star. The closer he came, the more he realized that it was a figure of a woman gently starring at him…his mother, perhaps?

"My sweet son…" she caressed him gently on his cheeks. "The time has come."

She handed him a knife. So sharp, one cut would be enough to end everything…

"Don't listen to her."

A familiar voice! Suddenly, black tentacles ripped out the woman's face, and what he thought to be his mother actually gained a demonic figure.

"My son! Do it already!"

The knife started to move by itself in Aika's hands, he was trying to keep it away from his throat, but it was so hard…

"You're stronger than that." the familiar voice said again.

A tentacle plunged into the demonic woman's heart, making it scream while it disappeared in a beam of light, along with the weapon in Aika's hands. He suddenly saw the source of the voice, behind the demonic figure.

"Don't worry, we're going to make it together." Myako said, giving him an assuring smile.

Standing by the old truck, Hao was trying to deal with the bugging thoughts. He shouldn't have left her with that nomad. But he cannot come back either, it would be a sign of weakness. How could she disobey his judgement in the first place?

"Hey, if you don't mind, can you pass me the gasoline can?"

Hao remarked very surprised that the voice came from under the truck.

"Okay, I'll do it myself…"

Suddenly, a little girl revealed herself, with her face full of grease.

"Aren't you a little too young to be a mechanic?" Hao asked ironically.

The girl with dark hair looked at him with a plain expression.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Kitcha." the girl said, plainly ignoring his ironic remark. A bison spirit suddenly appearing behind her back. Hao sensed a shamanic presence even when they firstly went in the truck. It was also a reason for his increasing doubts.

"You have a bison as a spirit, and you use this old truck as a vessel? Isn't that a bit odd?" he asked plainly.

"Well you're not the one talking about what's odd. You seem like a powerful shaman, but quite mischievous as well. You're lucky I even let you in my truck. If it weren't for that girl…"

"Well I bet you also have a reason why you took us in the first place."

"Well, as Kaptchka said, there are some authorities after us. I wanted my people a little bit more protection. "

"Why are you even travelling with them? Judging by your looks and way of speaking, you are fairly different from them."

"On the contrary, we are fairly alike. We are the ones who do not fit in this society. No one cares for us, because we couldn't adapt to the new capitalistic conditions. So we have take care of each other. Stay around and you'll see that a lot of people have different backgrounds."

"Worry not, I will. But, as you've said, if it weren't for that girl…"

"How long are you planning to stay here?" Myako asked. "You know, time here isn't the same as back in the real world."

Aika was laying on a grass field full of flowers, trees, and everything he never has the chance to see in his life. It was a serene relaxing place for him to rest.

"I don't know, I'm quite happy here. And what am I supposed to do anyway? Help you destroy the world?"

Instead of getting angry at his answer, Mywako simply chuckled.

"Not really" she said, " We are just going to change the world. Perhaps a little bit upside down at first, but in the end something new will be created. I am also not sure about the results, but tell me, what did this real world give you so far? Anything to be happy about?"

Aika sighed. "And what promise do I have that you won't kill me instantly?"

"We won't. As long as you won't be standing in our way."

"And I will just be left there, all by myself again… "

"Or you can experience everything you weren't allowed to. You can play with reality as much as you want, disobey the rules and all the masters. You can truly discover what it means to live: create or destroy, whatever you please. You should come along with us."

Myako stood up and offered her hand. Aika accepted and raised up again.

"That sounds fun." He said with the most genuine smile he ever had. Even if he might be doing something wrong, even if it was an immoral decision, it was a decision for his own self, which brought an amazing feeling of excitement. He already wanted more of it.

"Can't you go faster, Kitcha? They're catching us up!" Kaptchka said while rolling barrels over the street, trying to slow down the cars chasing them.

"I'm trying." Kitcha said trying to control her oversoul, which gave the truck an incredible speed.

"Hmm, so it seems that this way of survival of yours turned against you? What a surprise" Hao said to Kaptchka with a winning glance.

"I don't see you doing anything here. Maybe we should throw you out of the truck, as a bait!"

"Stop arguing, both of you!" Rilury interrupted the visual arrow throwing between the two boys. "I know we can get rid of them!"

"It has to be in a subtle, realistic way though. If we use any supernatural force, they'll bring reinforcements, which means even more complications." Hao added. "Kitcha, is there still anymore gasoline left?"

"Quite a bunch. When I am using my oversoul, I don't need any of it."

"Alright, you can fill the barrels with it!"

"Wait a minute! How are you planning to light them up, we have no fire source!" Kaptchka asked confused.

"Don't worry about fire while I'm around." Hao replyed with a smirk.

Already one week has passed while they were travelling with the nomads. Hao and Rilury got to know a lot of the people there, some of them even activists banished from their own countries for going against the government.

"There is too much consumerism in this world. In most of the cases we have the technology to not cause so much damage to the Earth, but most companies would rather keep their cheap and toxic way of producing." One of them said, while they were all gathered on a spectacular campfire.

"You know, I've always been curious about the latest discoveries! Have you heard that now they have some touch screen devices?" Rilury said enthusiastic.

"How do you know about that?"

"Well, I had a loot of time back at home, let's just say that, he-he."

"Even if they've reached the cosmos and did some improvements, this Planet is in danger due to other insignificant products humans need. They've lost their spiritual connection long time ago, so they are trying to fill this emptiness with material possessions. So ridiculous." Hao said.

Silence. Hao knew that his words are often displeasing for most of the people.¨

"I agree! " the man said. "We are all struggling to find something to be at peace with, but we are never pleased. Maybe this spiritual bond you are talking about might be a solution. Could you please explain us what that means?"

"Oh. " Hao reacted a bit surprised. "Well, it all started with the Great Spirit…"

"Uhm, I think we need to go to sleep now. We are very tired, ahaha…" Rilury said taking Hao by her hand.

"Why did you interrupt me? I was in the middle of a discussion." Hao said after they've gained some distance from the camp fire.

"Hao, I don't think humanity is yet ready to comprehend situations like this…Before we explain them how things are, I think we should make a bit of order ourselves. Things are a little messy right now, and I am not so sure about the outcome..."

"Don't worry" Hao said with an assuring smile. "Once I become the Shaman King again, I will settle a proper order."

"Wait, do you still want to-….. AARGH!" Rilury screamed painfully.

"What's wrong?!" Hao caught her in his arms while she was collapsing due to the pressure.

"They've already got it Hao! They have the key!"

The black tentacles emerged out of the Gate, and Myako woke out from the trance. Aika stepped out, holding a small key card, with the form of translucent green hexagon embalmed with circuits.

"Well done, Aika." Sethim said while holding to boy who collapsed exhausted in his arms. "Myako, you should also get some rest."

"Sethim, there is no exit!" Marta and Marla came agitated. "Before he died, that old man locked all the circuits so we cannot get out!"

"Oh don't worry my girls, now we have a truly important ally, who has the Traveller's blood in him. You see, the Airkohs have everything though through. They masters even put on their apprentices a sigil so they won't escape from the isolated temples.

But now the boy is free. The boy can open portals now, portals which can reach as far as the Tibetan mountains…"

End of chapter

I'm back, after so many years! wazzup?!