Chapter 8: Into Hana Valley
"Oh, man…" Iris frowned as she looked at the area ahead. Only a small portion of the vast field still had grass or road – everything else was coated in a dark smoke that turned the earth black and red.
"This is Shinshu Field…" Issun said as Iris and Amaterasu began walking. "At least it's supposed to be… But ever since that incident, I've been getting a bad vibe."
"That's the understatement of the year," Iris said as they headed closer to the darkened area. "This place… I can practically feel the life draining everywhere." She stopped just before she stepped onto the gray, crouching down and frowning. "It even looks evil."
"Hey, isn't that the Guardian Sapling?" Iris looked up, and turned to were Ammy was looking. A wilted tree stood several yard away, barely warding off the curse zone. "Man, it is not looking good. One little breeze could topple it over. What can we do?"
Amaterasu seemed to know the answer, as she took off down the path. "H-hey, stop that!" Iris scrambled after the wolf, who didn't stop until reaching the entrance of a large cave on the other side of the field. "Whoa!" Iris failed in stopping short behind Ammy, and fell onto her front next to the wolf. Amaterasu simply looked at her and wagged her tail. "You're not going to help me up, are you?"
"Woof!"
"Fine." Iris stood up, dusting off the front of her gown as she did. Ammy waited for all of two seconds before running into the tunnel. Iris caught up a moment later.
It was nightmarish. The river that the road split in two was tainted and brown, the trees were dead, and the sky was filled with poisonous air that Iris found difficult to breathe in. They walked down the road in silence as she used her clasped fingers as an improve gas mask to keep herself from suffocating, until they heard the sound of what seemed to be some kind of flute music.
Great, more imps, Iris thought as they approached the fire that a circle of imps were dancing around. Let's just get this over with.
Red imps were proving to be a nuisance more than anything, as they were even more helpless than their green counterparts once she destroyed their… guitars? They were some sort of stringed instrument. As Iris slashed the last imp in half, the air became clear, and the water burst up from the tainted stream… and as quickly as it started, the taint returned, swallowing everything back up.
"Dang it!" Iris choked, quickly putting her sword away and clasping her hands over her mouth. "Why didn't that work?"
"We need to find a Guardian Sapling and some way to revive it!" Issun said as they continued. "Otherwise, there's no chance of getting the cursed zone cleared!"
"So we gotta fight more of these things? Oh, cheers. Just when I thought this day couldn't-" Iris started choking and hacking. "Get better. Let's find that tree."
The three continued further into Hana Valley, and twisted corruption flourished around them. Trees lunged toxic fruit in their path, which Amaterasu batted away with slashes of the tail, and the waterfall spilled toxic sludge into the river below them as they crossed a drawbridge. Amaterasu knocked two more trees unconscious(?) before they reached a cave, and Iris dashed in to escape the toxic fumes.
Oh, great, Iris thought as the Yellow Imp sprung up from the ground, banging on its drum, more of these knuckleheads.
How stupid could the minions of a demon get? Sneaking up behind them was the easiest thing in the world, and as soon as the two finished them off, a mural on the cave wall, which had been laced with tainted light, was restored. It was only then that Iris realized that Susano was there… failing to push a boulder blocking the path aside.
"Need to get to my training ground…" He muttered as Amaterasu approached the mural, which depicted a tree, a floating sphere, and… an empty spot, where Iris thought something like the sun ought to have been. Amaterasu seemed to be thinking the same thing, and drew a circle in the air over the mural.
How could the sun still blind her when it was on a mural? Iris squeezed her eyes shut as the sun faded, leaving an engraving in its place. As if by magic, the rock blocking the path vanished, and Susano dashed down the path. Amaterasu quickly followed, and Iris took off after her.
Alongside the path ran a river of sludge, which slid slowly down the wall and towards the room with the mural. Iris shuddered as she spotted it trailing down the stone wall. She elected to focus on getting to where this tunnel led, into…
A clearing surrounded by stone walls. Iris frowned as her eyes settled on a small tree sprout, which twitched and squirmed in the ground. Amaterasu's attention settled on another door, blocked by wooden poles. Another Power Slash quickly took care of them, and Ammy and Iris ran down.
A bear on a glass sphere was the last thing Iris expected, nor did she expect Susano to attack it. "Su! Sa! No! SUSANO!" He called as he slashed each dummy in the room, before finally cutting at the large bear. The bear fell to the ground, and continued snoring. Susano laughed, before running off again and leaving Amaterasu and Iris.
"So… that happened." Iris said as Ammy began pushing the ball the bear had been standing on. Iris joined in, using one hand while the other remained firmly over her mouth and nose.
Apparently Amaterasu had done this before, because she knew exactly where to roll it. As the ball fell into place, Amaterasu turned to a hole in the cave, and drew the sun.
Sunlight shot through the hole in the ceiling and into the sphere, which shot the light onto the small sapling. The sapling burst into life, roots spreading and extending its branches and reaching upward, grasping for life. Iris stared at it in disbelief, failing to notice the stars appear in the sky, or the monkey with a winds instrument, speaking to Amaterasu. It wasn't until the creature vanished that Iris glanced at Amaterasu, who simply drew a circle around the tree.