Chapter Eighty-Three: A Man of the Past
Hey there, readers, the second to last chapter for Day 4 is here, it's another long one, hope you enjoy it. Cya.
The last seconds of darkness, where light was just beginning to emerge, those moments were accompanied by total silence, but as it came to an end and the sun began to rise, birds chirped, signaling the true beginning of the next day, but the first rays of the morning didn't find themselves in the room of someone sleeping, or even in a room for that matter. Instead, they were found outside, glaring at a mage in the middle of training.
The mage in question? None other than Arbus.
The typhoon mage breathed deeply, her grimoire out, her breath visible from the natural chill. With a swift motion, a watery wind came forth, shooting three logs she gathered earlier into the air.
"Typhoon Creation Magic: Wavestorm Staff!" she pulled her weapon out and jumped after it, making quick striking motions with the spike part with blinding speed before she landed seconds later, the logs following suit.
Only, no logs touched the ground, instead were piles of sticks.
"Not bad, seems I can still pull it off," she mused.
"Ah, so that's where you are? You're up awfully early," a voice caught her attention, turning her only visible eye to its source, standing at the door of the house she stayed in, was its owner.
"Good morning, Teiko. Did I wake you?"
"Yes, but I don't mind. What are you doing?" the man's tone was playful until he asked his question.
"I was just in the mood for a little training," she replied, wiping some sweat off of her forehead. "Would you like to join me? It's going to get pretty intense,"
"I think I'll pass," he declined before suddenly shivering. "Ooh, it's kinda chilly out here. Are you sure you want to be outside in your sleepwear?"
Arbus stared down at the clothes he had lent her, a simple navy blue t-shirt and black shorts, both that hugged her curves quite well, contrasting the long-sleeved red two-piece pajamas Teiko wore that virtually left everything to the imagination.
"I'll be fine, I got used to stuff like this during Diamond Kingdom training," she answered in a careless tone.
"Alright, if you say so. If you need me, I'll be inside starting breakfast," he walked back inside, closing the door.
"Time to kick things up a notch, Typhoon Magic: Hydro Cyclone!" she declared, summoning the tornado of wind and water, shooting the recently-formed sticks as well as more logs into the air.
Gripping his staff, she smirked. "Let's do this," she muttered, jumping up again.
Fifteen minutes passed, and her training came to an end, signaled by the opening of the door and her walking inside. Teiko acknowledged her presence. "I see you're done, I'm just about finished here as well. Wash up and help me set the table if you'd be so kind,"
"No problem," she obeyed, washing her hands and placing plates of food all around the circular table. A minute later, they were both sitting down, ready to dig in.
"Thanks for the food, Teiko," Arbus said graciously before stuffing her mouth with eggs and warm bread. "So good, food always tastes better after a good training session,"
"I can attest to that, nothing enhances the flavor of food like intensity,"
Arbus sipped her tea. "Odd that you say that, I've never seen you train before, and I've been living with you for almost three weeks," she said before an idea popped into her head. "I know, we should have a spar, it'll be nice to see what you're made of,"
The man made a declining gesture with his hands. "I'll have to refuse your offer," his face adopted an almost melancholic expression. "I haven't had a fight in a very long time,"
"Hm," he heard the woman hum, looking her way, he saw her narrow her eyes in a comedic manner. "What?"
"There you go again, you sound like an old man,"
"Uh!" Teiko exclaimed dramatically, falling out of his chair. "Arbus, why do you insult me so?!"
The woman couldn't help but smile. "You are such a goofball sometimes, you know that?" she scarfed down the rest of her breakfast, burping afterward before she got up. "Thanks again, I'm going to go take a bath,"
Teiko lifted himself up and sat down, finding himself staring at the typhoon mage walking to the shower room. "A goofball, aye?"
"Man, that hit the spot," Arbus sighed in comfort as she walked out of the shower with closed eyes, a towel wrapped around her body, and steam accompanying her exit.
Her eyes opened themselves though at the sound of Teiko whistling, seeing him in his special blue attire. "Where are you off to? Heading to town?"
"Nope, just going for a walk in the woods nearby. You already took a shower, so it's okay if you don't wish to accompany me," he answered. "I should be back in-,"
"Let me stop you right there," the woman held her hand out. "I'm in, a walk will be nice, just let me get dressed,"
She raced to her room and came out fifteen minutes later in her public attire. "Well? What are we waiting for?"
The man couldn't help but giggle at her enthusiasm. "Why don't we start by stepping outside," he joked, the two doing so as he locked the door. "Now, I need you to stay close to me,"
"What for?"
"You'll see," the woman did as she was told, and as she did, Teiko put his hands together, summoning a pool of water under them that quickly condensed to something akin to a board.
At that very moment, Arbus facepalmed. "Ho. Ly. Crap. I feel like such an idiot. How the hell did I never ask what your attribute was?"
"Oh, it's quite alright, but for the record, I have Water Magic," he waved it off.
A warm smile came to her face. "Awesome, I know someone with Water Magic too. She's amazing,"
"She must be a joy. Have you seen her yet?"
"I have, actually, it was her place that I came from when you first found me," she revealed.
"But you didn't look good back then. Did the two of you get into a fight?" he queried.
"Um, not exactly, it's a bit of a long story," she replied uncomfortably. "It isn't really an event I'd like to talk about,"
"Then worry not, I will inquire no further," he told her as he raised his left hand to level with his chest, and once he did, the board suddenly began moving, gliding on the ground, leaving a trail of water behind.
Arbus couldn't help but look in amazement at her companion's mode of transportation. "What a cool way to move around. Is it a spell?"
"Nope, just regular attribute manipulation," he answered simply.
"Just? Such control and complexity," she praised.
Teiko couldn't help but shyly blush a bit at her comment. "Yeah, it took a decent amount of time to learn to do this,"
At last, they had arrived, getting off the water board as it lost its circular board shape and became a puddle. "And we are here?! Don't you just love the view?"
Arbus gasped as she took in the image of their current location. A wide open trail of dirt and rocks as far as the eye could see, and at both sides of the trail were a thick lining of tall green trees, she then looked behind her, seeing a vast meadow about a kilometer away. "This place is beautiful,"
"I couldn't agree more," the water mage said as he started walking down the trail, the typhoon mage behind him, continuing to take in the splendor of the area.
Twenty minutes went on in virtual silence between the two, the only sounds coming from them being either Arbus' audible gasps or Teiko's light humming, but eventually, the former broke it with a question.
"So, how come you've never come here while I've been living with you?"
"I come to this place when I need to clear my head,"
"Really? What's on your mind?"
"...Nothing too important," he answered, turning to face her. "But enough about me, I want to talk about you,"
"What exactly do you want to talk about?" she asked.
"I've noticed something, you've been in such a good mood lately, you seem so much much happier than the first day we met," he pointed out.
"Well duh, it's like I told you, the Clover Kingdom was my home, it feels great being here again," she replied, stretching her arms out happily.
"Was? You don't intend on staying? You'll be returning to the Diamond Kingdom then?"
Arbus paused at the set of questions given to her, shifting from stretched arms to fidgeting hands. "I guess, well, I-," she was promptly cut off by a growl. "What was that?"
The sound returned, the general darting her eyes to the left where it was coming from, but before she could do anything, a huge quadrupedal, boar-like magic beast emerged out of the trees, charging for the two companions.
"Watch out!" she exclaimed, rushing over to Teiko and pushing him out of the way, using her magic to thrust herself into the air, the beast hitting nothing but air.
"Nice moves," the man complimented as she landed.
"Thanks, but I need you to stand behind me," Arbus adopted a serious demeanor, moving quickly to take out her grimoire, and at the same time, the beast repeated its previous action.
"Typhoon Magic: Wavestorm Dispersion!" the woman declared, wind and water shooting in all directions, pushing the animal away, but it was relentless, letting out a loud roar before charging for a third time.
"Ugh, just go down already," her grimoire flipped to another page. "Typhoon Magic: Stormy Impact!" at her call, wind and water surrounded her right hand as it clenched into a fist. With the aid of her magic, she took to the skies again, performing an aerial backflip before reeling her fist back, punching the beast right in the face, and rocketing it through the trees until it was out of sight.
Teiko clapped as Arbus landed for the second time. "What an amazing display of skill,"
"Are you okay?"
The man nodded. "Yes, I'm fine,"
"I wasn't expecting something like that to happen. I'm guessing this is the first time you've encountered a magic beast on this trail?"
His voice was chipper as he responded. "Oh no, this has happened before,"
"Excuse me?"
"Yes, this is an occurrence that happens every so often during my strolls here. I normally scare them off, but I haven't seen someone fight them before," he explained.
"Um, I see," Arbus scratched the side of her head in a confused manner. "I take it we should keep moving?"
"A splendid idea," with that, the two continued on their walk, not speaking to each other once more, another twenty minutes passing before they arrived back at the house.
Upon entering, Teiko stretched. "What an eventful morning, I don't know about you, but I am parched," he motioned to the counter and poured himself a cup of water. "Would you like some?"
A few seconds passed and he was met with no response, turning his head back, he saw her sitting by the table, dragging her finger across the surface, clearly in thought.
"Arbus?"
The general jumped. "Yeah?"
"Would you like some water?"
"Oh, sure,"
Teiko poured water into another cup and walked to her, handing it over as he sat on the other side, taking a sip. "Is there something on your mind?"
"There is, I've been thinking about what you asked me,"
"What did I ask you?"
"If I was going to return to the Diamond Kingdom. I've decided that I will, Clover has been great, but my home is another nation now. I can never truly live here with what happened in my past, and there are people I care about in Diamond, people who are like my family,"
"Then you should go, family is a very important thing, even if you aren't related by blood,"
The woman smiled. "Thanks, Teiko, I'll be on my way tomorrow morning. And while we're on the topic of family, I haven't met yours yet. Based on your living circumstances, you don't seem to be married, but I'd love to meet your parents and any siblings you might have. We can visit them today before I leave, so where do they live? Somewhere in the center of the kingdom?"
The water mage's face adopted a saddened expression as he put his cup down. "No, they don't live in the kingdom, in fact, they don't live anywhere,"
Arbus immediately understood what that meant. "Teiko, I-I'm so sorry, I should've asked first before-,"
He put up a hand, silencing her. "You don't need to be sorry, I've already moved on, it just…hurts sometimes to think about it, but enough about all of that. If this is your last day here, I won't let it be an average one, we're going to celebrate at a special spot,"
Arbus finished her drink. "What kind of spot?"
Teiko stood up and winked. "My favorite restaurant of course. We leave in the afternoon,"
"Hey, this place doesn't look so bad,"
Those were the woman's words as the sun was close to setting, her bandana concealing most of her head and face, Teiko standing beside her as they both beheld a large building.
"So, what kind of food does this joint serve?"
"A little bit of everything, not to mention the service is amazing," he replied excitedly. "I know you're going to love this place just as much as I do,"
"I'll take your word for it," Arbus put a hand on her hip before she opened the entrance door, being met with the sound of a ringing bell.
"I'll be right with you!" a woman with green hair appeared in front of them, a smile on her face once she noticed who came in. "Teiko, it's so good to see you!"
The water mage smiled as well. "Likewise, Eon. I take it Rebecca is behind the kitchen today?"
"Yeah, we've had a busy day," she replied, noticing Arbus. "I've never seen her before. Who's this,"
"Oh, her, this is-," Teiko began, about to reveal the general's name.
"Lily!" she cut him off suddenly. "U-Uh, I'm Lily,"
The man looked at her weirdly, and she returned it with an offside glance that told him to go with it. "Yes, that is her name, she's a friend,"
"Then it's nice to meet you, Lily," Eon greeted her. "If you're both together, can I take you to your special table then?"
"Yes," he replied as she led them there.
Arbus was a little surprised. "He has a special table? Is he important around here?"
Eon laughed. "Are you kidding me? Teiko over here is our top patron, the best and most loyal customer we've ever had, he's got a large appetite and is great with the other patrons,"
And her last statement was true as a man sitting at a nearby table called out to him. "Teiko, there you are. How's it going?!"
"My day's been fine, Don, what about you? How are the wife and kid?"
"As good as they usually are. Little Junior is finally starting to form cohesive sentences," Don replied.
"No way, it feels like yesterday he was just learning how to crawl. I swear, the kids grow up so fast, one minute he's your baby, the next he'll be your little man,"
"Amen to that," he took a swig of his beer before noticing the typhoon mage. "Hey, who's your lady friend? Have you finally managed to get lucky, you sly dog?"
Teiko chuckled. "Not yet I haven't, this is just a friend visiting from…out of town,"
"Gotcha. Y'know, if you want, I can have my wife introduce you to some of her friends, you're a total catch, no way you'd get out of it empty-handed," Don proposed.
"I'll consider it, but you know how I am,"
"That I do,"
They continued to follow Eon until they arrived at their table. "And here you go," she let them sit down. "So, what would you and Lily like?"
"We would like the Supreme Platter Meal, if you would be so kind," Teiko requested.
"Woah, the big one? What's the occasion?"
"Tonight is Lily's last night in town, and I wanted to celebrate it with the best food and service I know,"
"You've come to the right place then, it'll be here in a jiffy," Eon gave them a thumbs-up and walked off.
Arbus rested her chin on her hand. "She's nice,"
"Yup, Eon Teru, her friend, Rebecca owns this restaurant. Eon used to live on the street before Rebecca took her in, she's a real ray of sunshine,"
"So she found a new home just like I did, good for her,"
"Speaking of that," Teiko decreased his volume to a whisper. "Lily?"
"Yeah, I had to. Remember when I told you certain circumstances made me move?" she asked in a whisper, being met with a silent nod. "Those circumstances kinda made it dangerous to say my name in public, especially to other people,"
"I see, then I'll refer to you as this alias while away from my home,"
"Thanks,"
Their voices returned to their regular volume. "You told me about Eon, tell me about this Rebecca,"
Teiko glanced in the direction of the kitchen. "She's an incredibly hard worker, but she has to be with all of her siblings she has to care for. When I first met her, I sorta confused them for her kids," he said, the two sharing a quick laugh. "Down to Earth, determined, strong-willed, not to mention she can cook up a storm, it shocks me how she hasn't found anyone yet. Don calls me a catch, but Rebecca's the only catch around here,"
"Order up!" Eon's voice rang through the building as multiple people, each carrying a platter of different foods, came to their table and set it all down.
"Holy crap, this is way too much food!" Arbus comedically screamed. "And how are you going to pay for this?!"
In response, the water mage comedically chuckled and held his chin. "Pay for this? Arbus, you underestimate me, I am the top patron of this restaurant, and what worth would that kind of title have if I didn't have…perks!"
"Perks?"
"Yes, perks. I'm allowed one free meal a week,"
"Wow, that is pretty cool," the woman admitted as she caught a glimpse of their servers: a group of kids, each of different ages, the only similarity being their scarlet red hair. "Why are there kids working here?"
"Oh, these are Rebecca's siblings, they help out," he told her.
"Hi Teiko, can I have a hug?" one of the younger boys requested.
"Of course you can, Marco!" the man got out of his seat and picked the boy up, hugging him as he spun around.
Arbus found her gaze fixed on the boy along with his siblings, she too got up. "If it isn't a problem, could I hold Marco?"
"No problem at all, here you go," Teiko handed him over.
"Hi there," the woman greeted. "I'm Lily,"
"Hello, you're pretty," the kid blurted.
"Aw, how sweet, you're a little cutie yourself," she said back. "Tell me, Marco, what food here do you recommend I start with?"
"Um, Eon's pasta, it's really good,"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Luca butted in. "Unless you're okay with food poisoning,"
"I heard that!" the green-haired yelled from across the room.
"I take it there's a bit of a friendly rivalry between you?" Arbus guessed.
"Yeah, she annoys me a lot, and I annoy her back, but despite all of that, I love her," the girl said. "Don't tell her I said that though,"
"Your secret is safe with me,"
"I must thank you for your service, little ones, but now the time has come to eat, or else the food will get cold," Teiko joined the conversation once more.
Luca was the first to turn around. "Right, we should go, bye Teiko, bye Lily,"
The two companions sat down, Arbus grabbed a fork and took Marco's suggestion, digging into the pasta first. "That is incredible,"
"I know, you should also try some of that chicken in that gravy, I swear, it's the most heavenly thing you've ever tasted," the man advised.
The typhoon mage did so and was met with an explosion in her mouth. "You weren't lying. Got any other combos for me?"
"Yes I do,"
Many hours passed, the two eating and chatting with each other along with nearby customers, getting refills on platters when they were finished. It was well into the night once the last other patron left. "Man, what a night. Cya around, Teiko," Don stretched as he walked out.
"Same to you," he said, noticing they were now the only ones in.
"Alright you all, time for bed!" Rebecca called to her siblings, who were all currently sitting near Arbus.
"Do we have to? Can't we stay for a few more minutes?" Marco pleaded.
"Yeah, just a few more?" Luca added.
"No," the scarlet was stern.
"You should listen to her, it's important for kids to have a good night's rest," Arbus told them.
"Thank you, now let's go, you don't want to give Sister Theresa a hard time tomorrow,"
The mentioning of that name made the typhoon mage's eyes go suddenly wide. "Wait, who did you just say?"
"Uh, Sister Theresa. She's an old nun who lives near here, she's their educator," Rebecca replied. "Do you know her?"
"...No, but I knew someone with the same name,"
Marco got up from his chair. "Bye Lily, will we ever see you again?"
Arbus gave him a hug. "Tell you what, I promise that I'll visit again if I'm able to, if I can, this will be one of the first places I come to,"
The boy smiled. "Okay, it's a promise," all of the kids waved goodbye and went up the stairs.
As they did, both mages let out a huge burp. "Damn, that food hit the spot, I must've been more hungry than I thought, we scarfed through that like it was nothing," the woman commented.
Rebecca came over to them with the two cups in hand. "And there's nothing better to wash it down than with my special fruit juice,"
The general downed it immediately. "Hm, not bad,"
Rebecca and Eon pulled up two chairs and sat next to them, the latter speaking up. "So Lily, how exactly did you meet Teiko?"
"How? Um, well, it's kind of a short story. You see, it started with me going to visit a friend, and on my way back, I hurt myself, that's when I ran into Teiko, he healed my injury and we hit it off," she mixed lies with the truth.
"That was short. What about your magic? What kind of attribute do you have?" the former asked this time.
"Oh, it's a special case. You see, I have Typhoon Magic, it's a..mix of my parent's magic, they have wind and water magic," she answered now with a complete lie.
"Cool, I've got wind magic too," Eon told her. "I bet your magic is cool,"
Arbus nodded nervously. "Yup, real cool," she absent-mindedly waved a hand, but in her nervousness, the motion accidentally fired wind and water in the direction of Teiko, knocking over his cup, and spilling its contents on his clothes.
"Crap! My bad!" she yelped, Eon running over to give her some napkins as the general closed in on the water mage and began wiping where the juice fell.
"No harm done, I'm okay," Teiko waved it off.
Arbus frowned. "Perhaps, but I feel bad for staining your…your…whatever that is," her frown transformed into a look of pure confusion. "Now that I think about it, what even is that article of clothing? I've never seen anyone wear it before,"
Eon realized the same thing. "She's right, when I first saw you wearing that, I assumed you were a noble, but I've met nobles and even a royal afterward, and they don't wear anything like that,"
Teiko let out a sigh. "No, I suppose they don't. The truth is, I have a secret, and while I trust you three, I must know something: can you keep it?"
"You know I can," Arbus replied.
"As for us," the other two followed up.
"Okay, the truth is…," he began. "...I'm not from this continent,"
Shock overtook the three women. "What?!"
The man was startled by their exclamation, but carried on. "Yes, it's true, none of the four kingdoms were where I was born and raised, instead it was a nation that resides in the Far East, a place called the Land of the Rising Sun,"
"The Land of the Rising Sun?" they repeated.
He nodded. "That's right," he brought attention to his attire. "This is called a kimono, where I came from, it's a casual article of clothing, most people wear them in one way or another,"
"Another continent, different clothes, hold on," Rebecca put a hand up. "I'm in no way claiming that you're lying, but all of this does seem kind of hard to believe. I've never even heard of this land before,"
"It's alright, skepticism is expected, not much is recorded in this kingdom about my country, save for a few books, but they appear to be accessible only to the upper echelon of society. Worry not though, I have something which should prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I say is true," he stood up and reached into his kimono through the open chest area, pulling out an object.
"What are you getting out?"
Teiko slammed the object on the table before answering. "My grimoire," his hand was still on it, concealing the features in the center, but the women were free to observe the rest of it. His tome's base color was a dark fuchsia, with yellow accents around the edge along and yellow water designs around.
"It looks like a regular grimoire to me," Eon casually pointed out.
"Then, my good friends, I advise you to look again," Teiko told them, removing his hand, that motion making all the difference as they now gasped, seeing that at the center of a book, there was no three-leaf clover, or even a clover for that matter, instead there was a circle resembling the sun, and three lines came out from the circle from different sides in the style of an inverted triangle.
"I-It's true," Eon stuttered. "I don't believe it, a grimoire from another continent,"
"I know," Arbus added, her tone just as surprised. "There's even three lines like the three leaves on a Clover grimoire. Do they mean anything?"
Teiko was more than happy to answer. "They do. While the leaves on your grimoires represent faith, hope, and love, the sunbeams on mine are different, they represent," he pointed to the one on the left first. "Discipline," he moved to the bottom one. "Loyalty," he finished on the one to the right. "And Courage,"
"Fascinating," Arbus commented. "I'm curious though, when did you come to Clover?"
The water mage narrowed his eyes at that question, looking away from the group, warranting worry. "Teiko?"
He turned back to them, his face serious. "I trusted you three with this secret, can I trust you with another one?"
They gave their answer with similar seriousness. "You can,"
"Ironically enough, there have only been three people who knew this other thing about myself, but I can now bestow it onto another set of the same number. You see, the thing is, in a way, I'm kind of..,"
"Kind of?"
"Yeah, I'm sort of..,"
"Sort of?"
Teiko gave them one last look before letting it slip. "…Immortal,"
"Immortal?!"
"S-So, you'll live forever?" Rebecca asked in a stutter.
"Not forever exactly, but regardless, I've been around for a very long time. Despite it happening so long ago, I'll never forget a single detail of it,"
[Flashback]
Land of the Rising Sun. Centuries Ago.
"Holy shit, this is going to be incredible!" a teenage boy screamed at the top of his lungs, standing by the shore of a massive ocean, a roar of thunder having sounded a few seconds prior.
"When I was younger, I was a thrill seeker, I sought excitement from every corner. The rush that would enter my heart was like a drug to me,"
"Teiko, language!" a voice called from behind the boy, he turned suddenly, revealing a younger water mage, his pink hair shorter, and his current kimono still on. The one that called him was a beautiful woman who looked to be entering her 40s with short golden hair, clad in a basic red kimono, beside her was a younger teenage girl with the same colored hair who wore a green kimono with star designs.
Teiko addressed the older woman. "Mother, what are you doing here?"
"That's the question I should be asking, young man. Didn't you hear how loud that thunder just was?"
"You bet I did, sounds like a magic storm. Isn't it exciting?" he asked back.
"Exciting is not the word to use, you simpleton!" the teenage girl sharply retorted.
The mother addressed her next. "Mebuki, please, there's no need for such words to your older brother,"
Teiko confidently placed his hands on his hips and laughed. "Yeah Mebuki, where's your sense of adventure? We hardly ever get any magic storms around here, and from what I've heard around, this may be the biggest storm to happen in a while, and it's happening right in Tomomune. Our town will be the home of a phenomenon!"
"Well excuse me if I don't want to be outside for all of that!" Mebuki exclaimed in a mix of annoyance and anger.
"You don't have to be outside, just go with Mother and leave me here,"
His sister ran straight to him, grabbing his arm. "Not a chance, if we leave you out here, you can get hurt, and I'll be stuck being the one to heal you, not to mention I care about you a lot and couldn't handle seeing you injured!" she yelled the entire statement with ferocity.
Their mother joined in. "I'm with her, you aren't staying here," together with her daughter, she dragged her son back home, sighing while on the way. "When will you ever get this nonsense out of your system? You're nineteen years old,"
"Yeah, this stupid attitude of yours has me questioning every day how I'm the younger sibling somehow," Mebuki added.
They soon arrived at their small home, walking inside, they were immediately met by a man with medium-sized pink hair wearing a black and yellow kimono who was laying on a mat, a cover over him.
"Good, you found him," the man said, relieved.
"You don't need to worry about me, Father," Teiko groaned.
"Yeah right, don't believe him," Mebuki butted in. "He was trying to stay out to see a magic storm,"
Their father did his best to sit up. "I've heard about these storms, but just a little, they're as mysterious as they are dangerous. Some say the magic in them grants them special properties, either way, I forbid you from trying to witness it first-hand,"
"But father, it may just be the event of a lifetime," his son pleaded. "We only have one life, we should live it to the fullest,"
"The event of a lifetime is pointless if your life ends because of it, my final answer is no, so don't-," he stopped midway, wincing in pain.
His wife kneeled beside him. "Takeshi, how is it feeling today?" she asked, the man removing the cover to reveal his left leg that was heavily bandaged.
"The pain subsides for the most part, but it still stings every once in a while," Takeshi answered.
"I see, I'll make some more ointment for it after dinner,"
He smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Haruna,"
"No need to thank me, it's my duty as your wife, but try to be more careful next time you work. You're lucky you broke just one of your legs," she lightly scolded him. "Mebuki, come help with the food,"
"Yes, Mother," she got up and began following her to the kitchen, turning to her brother first.
"You can be such a goofball, y'know,"
All the while, Teiko was silent, his father's refusal being the only thing he could think about, even as an hour passed and the family came together for dinner, even though he actively engaged in conversation, the storm was the only thing on his mind, to the point where he'd frequently glance at the window. And he was still looking at once the night had long since arrived and the others were asleep.
"Yes, the rush was like a drug, and like many drugs, it feels great at first…,"
The boy slowly walked to the door, his hand on the knob as he took one last look behind him.
"...But eventually…,"
He then opened the door and ran out.
"...It'll ruin your life,"
Five minutes later, a voice was heard in the house. "What's going on, why did it get so cold all of a sudden?" Mebuki yawned, wearing a simple nightgown, but as soon as she saw the open door, she feared the worst. "Oh no,"
She quickly burst into her parents' room, dressed in her kimono. "Mother! Father! It's Teiko, he's gone!"
"What?!" Takeshi sat up rapidly.
Haruna stood up and got dressed as fast as she could. "We don't have any time to lose,"
The man tried to get up as well. "I'm coming too,"
"Out of the question," his wife protested. "Your leg still isn't any better and the storm outside must be massive,"
Her husband reluctantly sighed. "You're right, I'll just be a liability out there. Just please be careful, and bring him back,"
Haruna nodded and bent down to kiss him. "We will,"
"Don't worry about us, getting him back here will be easy," Mebuki tried to reassure him as the two females left.
Outside, Teiko ran through the streets empty of life, rain pouring heavily, the wind blowing turbulently, lightning cracking, and thunder roaring, but despite it all, he was grinning from ear to ear.
"I can't believe I was able to pull it off, I almost thought I was going to get caught," he thought to himself.
His running continued until he reached the shore, noticing the waves crashing violently around. "Alright, I can't wait to see what happens," he pumped a fist in the air, startled a bit by a stronger burst of wind that came and went. "Cool,"
His gaze then shifted to the horizon beyond the waves as something there caught his attention, the wind that blew over the water began to converge, becoming like a tornado, quickly nearing the shore.
"Now that looks interesting, father did mention the storm had special properties, and that tornado, or typhoon, or whatever it is technically is a product of said storm, meaning it must share those properties, and I for one can't wait to see what they are," Teiko rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"I'm afraid you won't be finding out tonight!"
The teen's head shot back at an almost breakneck speed, his face portraying the greatest amount of shock it ever had when he saw his mother and sister.
"Are you serious?! You snuck out to see the storm, specifically after Father forbade it?" Mebuki pointed at him.
"How did you even know I was gone? Did you check my room?"
"No, it seems you were so excited about your escapade that you forgot to close the door," she replied.
"Teiko, come with us back home!" Haruna called to him. "Your father and I will discuss your punishment, let's be off!"
"You don't understand, I'm fine here, this is what I've been waiting for! Don't try to-," he was cut off as another strong wind blew, but this one was way stronger than the last, so strong that it managed to lift the boy high into the air near the tornado.
"Teiko!"
"Woohoo!" he cheered, doing a multitude of backflips. "What a wondrous experience!"
Haruna was beyond worried now. "We have to get him down. Mebuki, did you bring your grimoire? I forgot mine,"
She shook her head. "I did too, I was in a hurry. Maybe we could try something else,"
"Like what?"
"Like-," she didn't get to finish as she and her mother were also carried up by the tornado.
"Ah!" they screamed in terror.
The screams caught Teiko's attention. "Huh?" he muttered, catching sight of them. "Mother! Mebuki!"
"Help us!" Haruna yelled.
"I'm scared!" Mebuki yelled as well.
The water mage straightened his body. "Hold on, I'll try to get you back on the ground!" he pulled out his grimoire, staring down at its pages. "Okay, what could work?"
"Teiko," he could hear Mebuki call, but he ignored her to keep searching. "This won't work either,"
"Teiko!"
"What?!" he exclaimed back.
"LOOK OUT!"
He lifted his head, but it was too late, he could do nothing as a large piece of debris hit him straight in the face, and everything went dark.
Crashing waves.
That was the first sound Teiko could hear as his eyes slowly opened. "W-What?" was all he could say as he sat up, seeing that he was on the shore of an ocean, the sun shining brightly behind them.
He did his best to get up, once he was on his feet though, his eyes darted around, relief washing over him as they fell on who he was looking for. "Mother! Mebuki!" he ran to where their bodies were lying, in the same fashion as his.
He knelt down and shook them, his sister being the first to open her eyes. "Teiko?"
His mother followed suit. "Son?"
He helped them both up. "I'm glad you're okay,"
"Same with you, but…," Mebuki began before looking at the land. "Where are we? This doesn't look like Tomomune, or anything I've ever seen,"
"Perhaps we're in another town, at most probably another prefecture," Teiko replied with uncertainty. "We just need to ask someone around here where we are, then we can start the journey back home,"
Haruna nodded. "Good idea, and when we get back, you are in so much trouble," just as she said that, footsteps behind them were heard, they turned to see a young man wearing a fancy shirt with frills and cloth pants.
"What strange thing is he wearing?" she thought, but pushed it away as she neared him. "Um, excuse me, could you tell us where we are? We seem to be lost,"
The man opened his mouth and spoke words, but it made the three Kyos raise a brow in confusion.
Mebuki spoke up. "What...is he saying?"
"I, I don't know," Haruna answered, walking closer, but the man ran away in fear.
At that point, Mebuki began to panic. "This isn't good, we couldn't understand what he was saying, all citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun speak the same language, and then there were the clothes he was wearing. I don't think we're in another town or prefecture, we may be in another country, or even another continent for that matter!"
Her mother held her. "Calm down. How do you even know that's the case?"
"The storm," she answered. "Father said the magic storms had special properties. What if the one we were in Tomomune teleported us far away?"
"Far away?" the two females looked to Teiko, whose face had also started to show some panic, but he did his best to conceal it with an expression of confidence. "It's not possible, y-you're just overreacting, that's all,"
His sister growled as she broke from her mother's embrace and tackled him onto the sand. "Overreacting?! This is all your fault! Why couldn't you listen?! Why couldn't you think for once?!" tears welled in her eyes. "We may never see Father again, or our friends and family, and it's all because of you!" she reeled her first back to punch him.
"Mebuki, stop!" Haruna jumped in and held her daughter back, providing a chance for Teiko to stand up. The mother embraced her once more as the girl broke into a crying fit.
Guilt welled up inside the teen at the sound of his sister's sobbing. "Mebuki, I'm-," he tried to motion to her, but his mother stopped him.
"Don't come closer, please, she needs some space," she told him softly.
He held his arm somberly. "I understand," he mumbled, turning away, but that was when he found his face mere centimeters apart from that of a woman's.
"Shit!" he cursed, startled by the proximity, falling on his rear, but the woman glared down at him, her face only had indifference on it. He quickly noted her features, fair skin, light blue hair in a bowl cut, and a white cloak covering the rest of her body.
"What the?" he muttered, but he had no time to do anything else as nine other women emerged, all wearing the same white cloak, all having the same haircut, and all looking at him with the same glare.
"How bizarre, and unsettling," he thought as the group of women then turned their heads in the direction of his family members, and in an instant, their glares became smiles as they rushed over to them.
"Are you feeling better now?" Haruna asked her daughter, whose cries devolved into sniffles.
"Yeah, I'm doing better," she replied before the two of them were taken aback like Teiko was as the women were now right next to them.
"U-Um, hello there," Haruna greeted.
Like the man from earlier, the women began speaking, but she was unable to decipher a single thing they said, but the smiles on their faces told her it was at least something positive. "Are you here to help?" she asked, knowing they couldn't understand her, but doing so anyway.
But to her surprise, a response came. "Yes, we have come to assist you,"
The Kyos turned to the sound of a voice from a decent distance away, seeing a woman with flowing purple hair wearing the same cloak, but there was a notable difference as the bottom half of her face was concealed.
Mebuki wiped her tears, realizing something. "Wait, we understood you,"
The woman chuckled. "Of course you did, I am skilled in many tongues. You may call me Rosemary, you don't look to be from here, welcome to the Clover Kingdom,"
Teiko stood up. "The Clover Kingdom? I've never heard of such a place,"
"Then I'm guessing you come from a very faraway land," Rosemary assumed.
"We are," Haruna confirmed. "Who are all of you?"
"Just a small sorority, we usually come by the shore, but we weren't expecting something like this to happen. If you want, you can stay with us, I wouldn't feel right leaving you in this predicament, we have plenty of food and room for you,"
The mother couldn't help but give a relieved smile. "We would really appreciate that,"
"Great, our home isn't too far from here," Rosemary said as she led them to a well-sized stone building.
"What interesting architecture," Mebuki commented.
"Trust me, it's more beautiful on the inside," the woman said as they entered, and she was right as many beautiful items adorned the interior. "Follow us into the dining room, you're lucky, we were planning to have breakfast after our stroll,"
The woman smiled. "Breakfast would be great,"
In a few minutes, they were in the dining room, sitting at a pretty large rectangular table, Rosemary sitting at the head of it while Teiko sat next to Haruna and Mebuki, or at least, he would have if the other sorority members weren't so fixated on his mother and sister, forcing him many chairs away.
But on the bright side, they were all enjoying their meal. "The Clover Kingdom has such wonderful food," the mother praised. "The way you prepare your eggs is very different from ours, but it's still very tasty. And this useful utensil, what did you call it again?"
"A fork," Rosemary informed her. "It's part of the trio we use, along with spoons and knives,"
"There are spoons and knives where we come from, but no forks, we use something called chopsticks," Mebuki said as one of the women poked her shoulder before handing her a pastry.
"You want me to try this?" she bit into it, her eyes going wide.
"So good!"
The woman at the head chuckled. "I'm glad you think so, and this land you come from sounds fascinating. Tell me, how did you get here?"
Mebuki wasted no time shooting her brother a glare, which he caught and looked away. "I'd rather not talk about it,"
"Of course, I didn't mean to pry. Do you have any questions for me?"
"I do," Teiko spoke up, pointing at something. "From the moment we got here, it caught my attention. "What's the deal with it?"
Rosemary turned her head around, seeing that the boy was pointing at a door at the end of the room with a strange symbol on it.
"Oh, that? It's a door that leads to a special area. You see, we're also what you'd call a religious group, and that area is where we go to praise the deity we worship. I hope you don't mind?"
Haruna waved it away. "It's perfectly fine, we all have things we believe in," she said, finishing her breakfast. "Thank you for the food,"
"You're welcome. Y'know, since you'll be staying with us, perhaps we could get you accustomed to the kingdom, a good place to start would be learning the language and changing your clothes," Rosemary offered.
"Learning the language will be fine, but I'll have to decline the clothes," Teiko said. "I prefer to stay in my kimono,"
The woman raised a brow. "Kimono?"
"It's what the three of us are wearing, a staple of our land's fashion," Haruna replied. "I'll have to agree with my son though, we can wear native clothes when we sleep, but we'd prefer to stay in what we're wearing now, we will wash them consistently, of course,"
Rosemary stood up. "I'm okay with that, if you're all done with your breakfast, why don't we get started now? There's a saying we have here: no better time than the present,"
Mebuki nodded. "That works for me,"
Teiko made the same motion, standing up, his voice serious. "Yes, let's get to it,"
"From that point, the sorority spent three months teaching us how to read and write in the Clover language, or rather, they spent that much time teaching my mother and sister. I was different, I was determined and picked it up in half the time,"
The scene cut to a session taught by Rosemary, the water mage motioning to his sister to practice, but she rudely turned away from him, opting to practice with her mother instead.
"Why you may ask? The answer is simple: I wanted to find a solution,"
Teiko was now walking through a hallway, seeing two of the women exiting a room and strolling right past him, not even bothering to wave or acknowledge his presence, but he didn't mind, his attention on the room they left.
"A library?"
"I spent all of my free time reading every relevant book I could find on magical phenomena, but my findings bore no fruit, the Clover Kingdom apparently had very little information on magic storms. Regardless, I had no intention of stopping, I was going to bring us back,"
The three months had come to an end, but instead of being inside, the young Kyo was taking a stroll by the shore they had washed up from, a book in his hand, the early sun shining on him.
"But in due time, I eventually found something that could work,"
His eyes widened in a mix of disbelief and relief, triple-checking the page he was reading. "Yes, this is it, this is it! This could very well be the answer to our problems!" he laughed. "If the three of us along with the sorority combine our magic power, we might be able to pull it off. I have to tell everyone,"
With that, he ran as fast as he could, bursting through the entrance. "Guess what I found out?!"
His question was met with nothing but silence for the space was empty, not a person in sight. "Hm, strange, there's always usually someone here at this time. Perhaps they're somewhere else," he spent ten minutes searching the entire building, stopping by the library, their rooms, and the place they had their daily lessons, he came up short each time as he found himself in the dining room.
"How bizarre, they aren't anywhere. Well, Mother and Mebuki have been polishing their linguistic skills, maybe they're taking their first venture into town? No, I would've been informed, so where could they-,"
Just as he was about to finish asking himself the question, he suddenly heard a faint sound. "Is someone…humming?" he did his best to track where the sound was coming from, but finding it didn't take long.
The door at the end of the room.
"Are they on the other side? Can't say I pictured my family being into other religions, oh well, guess I should go and tell them my findings," he attempted to open it, but to no avail. "It's locked? What for?"
He backed up and took aim, shooting a single magic bullet, breaking the knob, the door creaking open as a result, but as he stepped forward, he was shocked to see a set of stairs going down for quite a few feet. "Holy shit," he muttered, immediately descending the steps, but instead of finding the ladies, he only found a straight hallway, the humming from before growing considerably louder, without a second thought, he broke into a sprint, emerging at the end in no time.
"Good morning everyone, sorry for interrupting, but do I have some news…for…you," he couldn't help but be stunned by what his eyes beheld. Within the empty medium-sized space, the 10 women were standing at the sides, except for 2 that were closer to the middle on opposite sides, standing next to a bound and gagged Haruna and Mebuki, the humming coming to an end.
"W-What's going on?" was the last thing he could mutter before he found himself restrained by two other women.
"Damn, and here I thought you would still be outside," a voice captured his attention, said voice belonging to Rosemary who stood about seven meters away. "I guess the gags are pointless now too," she snapped her fingers, the women obeying her and removing them.
Teiko found his voice. "What the hell is going on?!" he tried to break free, but his struggles led to nothing.
"We were having breakfast after our last lesson, but just as we finished, they invited us down here, but by the time we figured something was off, they jumped us," Mebuki quickly explained, an underlying tone of panic noticeable. "These people are crazy!"
"How rude, Mebuki, we're not crazy at all," Rosemary retorted, laughing maniacally. "We're just giving praise to our deity,"
"You mentioned a deity when we first came here," the water mage recalled. "Just who is that supposed to be?!"
"She goes by many titles, but we mere disciples are not worthy to utter any of them, much less her actual name, so we only call her one thing: The Mother of Curses,"
"The Mother of Curses?" the Kyos said together.
"Yes, she has granted us great power for our loyalty, for example," Rosemary pulled down the cloth covering her lower face and stuck her tongue out, revealing it to be pitch black. "She is the reason I could communicate with you when you first arrived, the curse she gave me allows me to understand and speak the tongue of any human or beast, and I'm not the only one,"
On cue, the other members except for the two restraining him took off their cloaks, revealing various parts of their body that were pitch black as well.
Terror could be seen in Teiko's eyes, but he did his best to hide it. "So what are you, some kind of cult?"
"I suppose that's an appropriate word. This cult has been granted great powers, but it pales in comparison to what we desire next: to bring the Mother of Curses to our plane!"
Haruna was in as much disbelief as her children. "What?"
Rosemary raised her arms to the sky, her face being one of blissful sadism. "We will perform a ritual and bring her here, and I shall have the highest honor of being her vessel!"
"What does any of that have to do with my family though?!" Teiko yelled defiantly.
"Isn't it obvious? They are to be sacrifices,"
"Sacrifices?!"
"Exactly. Teiko, if you'd be so kind, would you look at the ground," the woman in charge ordered.
"The ground?" Teiko was confused, but upon looking down, he noticed something he didn't before, a large circle with strange markings around it, and outside of it were three smaller circles arranged in a triangle, lines connecting them, and standing in them were the female Kyos and Rosemary.
"They are to be offered up, their blood will be the catalyst for this ritual for they fit the criteria, having not been affected by our deity's power," she explained, her speech slowly devolving into a sick laugh.
Mebuki struggled to not sound scared. "W-What's so funny?"
"What's so funny, you ask? It's just how easy it was to do this. If I may share a moment of honesty with you, the only reason we were by the shore the day we met was that we were contemplating the option of just kidnapping our victims from town, but we weren't too sure about it, there would have to be a plan, practice to execute the plan, not to mention trying to cover up their disappearing," Rosemary confessed. "But on that day, there you were, people with no connection to a single person in this entire kingdom, ripe for the picking. You never did tell me how you got here, but whatever reason it was, I can't thank it enough!"
Teiko's face became overwhelmed with dread. "I-It can't be. No, no, I-I brought us here, this…this is all my fault," he told himself, repeating those last three words over and over again, despite that, he managed to yell something out to their captor.
"Take me instead!"
Rosemary plainly raised a brow. "Pardon me?"
"I'll take their place and be your sacrifice, just let them go, please!"
"No, I won't let you!" Haruna protested, her voice frightened, but attempting to remain strong.
"A noble proposition. With the situation you're in, there's no way all of you will make it out alive, but I must agree with your mother, I won't allow it, you don't fit the criteria, the sacrifices must be female, no males," he was refused.
"T-Then I'll do anything you ask of me, anything at all, I can be of use to you, just spare them!"
"Can be of use to me? Your desperate pleas fall on deaf ears, and if I may share another moment of honesty with you specifically, your presence here has been more or less an inconvenience to us. If I could, I'd leave you to die on the shore, but then your family would never give us a chance to earn their trust," Rosemary told him. "Now that we're all on the same page, we have a ritual to continue," she then began humming again, the other women following suit.
Teiko could no longer hold back his tears as he continued to struggle. "Mother, Mebuki! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that I put us in this mess. I found a solution, but I don't think it's going to work anymore, I couldn't make up for my mistake!"
"Wait, you found a way?" his sister asked with surprise.
"Yes, I spent every single day searching for a way, to bring us back, so you and Mom could finally forgive me and not hate me anymore,"
"You goofball…we don't hate you,"
"Y-You don't? Aren't you mad at me though?"
"Yes, I was mad at you, and even now, I'm still mad, but I could never hate you, you're my brother, and I care about you,"
Haruna was in agreement. "Yes, no matter what happens here, know we've already forgiven you,"
Rosemary slowly closed her eyes and raised her hand, the women standing next to the female Kyos each brandished a knife, bringing it to their necks.
"No, don't do it, I beg you!" the water mage screamed.
Tears weren't just falling down his face, but down the faces of them as well. "This appears to be the end," Haruna said somberly. "Teiko, if you manage to survive and see your father again, tell him we love him,"
"And that we loved being a part of this family," the girl added.
"No, please don't leave me, I love you!" he yelled, hearing their last words.
"I love you too,"
With a swift motion, the women slashed their necks, killing them instantly, letting them hit the ground, blood seeping out of their wounds and onto the circles around them, causing them and the one around Rosemary to glow.
"NOOOOOO!" Teiko was filled with so many emotions, adrenaline like no other was pumping through him. "YOU. WILL. PAY!"
He channeled all of his strength and broke free, not even taking out his grimoire, instead creating long blades of water around his hands as he turned and stabbed the women that restrained him right through their necks.
The remaining eight women mobilized. "Move in, we mustn't let that piece of filth approach Rosemary!"
Teiko said nothing back as he faced them, but he didn't need to, a serious look that desired murder and revenge spoke enough on his behalf.
They charged at each other, but even though the cult outnumbered the lone Kyo by a large margin, they stood no chance. Stabbing, slashing, cutting off an arm or a leg, the method didn't matter as he plowed through them, never once getting struck himself.
There were now only two people left alive in the room, and Teiko was determined to make it one, running at full speed. "Even if you don't appear conscious, don't expect me to hold back, you bitch, I'll make you suffer the most!" he jumped, bringing his hands together. "Time to-,"
His vengeful cry was cut off by Rosemary extending her hand, holding him in place mid-air with some kind of black rope. The blades disappeared and he pulled on the rope, struggling to breathe.
"Greetings," a voice came from her lips, but it was drastically different, her hair also began to change, turning from dark purple to snow white, and as she opened her eyes, they were a bright red. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, young man,"
"That doesn't sound like Rosemary, nor does it look like her, she doesn't even seem to know my name. Could it be?" he thought, voicing them. "Are you…the Mother of Curses?"
"That is a title I go by. By the looks of it, someone performed the Ritual of the Vessel,"
"Yeah, those followers of yours," Teiko defiantly told her.
"My followers?" she pointed at her chin. "Ah yes, them, impressive work. Humans are inferior creatures, but even I must admit they have their uses, granted, I can't do much with this weak body without a contract,"
"A…contract?" the teen croaked.
"Nothing you need concern yourself with," the Mother of Curses replied before taking a look around the room, noting the dead bodies. "What a bloodbath. You're the only other person alive, I take it you're responsible?"
"I am!" he exclaimed to the best of his ability. "That cult of yours sacrificed my mother and little sister for the ritual,"
"Is that so? Then they should be honored, being a part of something greater isn't something that happens to a human every day," she said.
"Honored? Don't give me that crap! They were people with lives! I'll make every single one of you regret what you did!"
"Tough words, you may have handled these others, but you'll find me to be a more difficult adversary. Even in this woman's body, the best you have won't be anywhere near enough,"
The water mage continued to struggle against the rope choking him. "Maybe I can't beat you, but mark my words, Mother of Curses, for as long as I live, I will hate you, and I will never forgive you!"
Instead of looking even the least bit threatened, she rubbed her chin, intrigued by part of what he said. "As long as you live? What a fascinating idea that gives me. You very likely don't know this, young man, but I'm not the only one of my kind, we have been around for a very long time. I've often wondered how a human would fare living for even a fraction of the time I did, some told me they'd go insane, but I wish to see for myself,"
She took both of her hands and put them together, the rope around his neck turning into a mark with strange symbols. "My words are absolute, and they shall be followed, until the end of your days, let this curse remain constant. When the year reaches its hundredth beat, only then will you take a single step," she changed before releasing him, the mark fading from sight.
Teiko coughed. "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing much, just that, you'll be around for a lot longer than you should," she told him. "If we ever cross paths again in the future, I'll see how you turn out, until then, young man,"
With that, the Mother of Curses left Rosemary's body, her appearance returning to normal as she regained consciousness. "What an..amazing feeling!" she yelled. "I felt it, just a snippet of her power, but I felt it, and it was wonderful. Sisters, I must tell you about-," she was so distracted by the experience, she only now just realized the other cult members were dead.
"Sisters?" she muttered her last words as Teiko moved in and cut off her head.
Sunset was close to arriving, Teiko stood outside, miles away from the building, in a grassy field, looking down at a pair of graves along with two gravestones with Haruna and Mebuki's names engraved in their native language. His hands were soiled by dirt and blood, his eyes red from hours of crying.
The boy put his hands together and bowed his head in reverence. "May you find peace in the afterlife, and I'm sorry,"
"The two of them may have forgiven me, but I had not yet forgiven myself,"
He looked up at the sky, but as he did, something big caught his attention, a large building not too far away, it appeared to be larger than every other building in the area.
Breaking into a sprint, he arrived at the base of the building five minutes later, and using his magic, he scaled up the outside, arriving at the top in three minutes. If someone else was in his place, the first thing they would've noticed was the beautiful view of the kingdom from the top, but for Teiko, the first thing he noticed was how far he was from the ground.
"If anyone were to fall from this high up, there's no doubt they wouldn't survive," he mused emotionlessly, slowly walking as close as he could to the edge. "Mother, Mebuki, please wait for me, there's no point in going back to Tomomune if you won't be with me, and as for you, Mother of Curses, I won't entertain this sick experiment of yours," he said what he thought would be his final words, but then…
"Hey, what are you doing?!" a voice yelled, but Teiko didn't turn, from the sound of it, the person in question was pretty far away, they would be unable to interfere.
Or so he thought.
As he made a motion to jump, a hand grabbed his kimono and pulled him back, the Kyo seeing that the hand belonged to a man with blonde hair. "How did he get to me so quickly? I could've sworn he was further out. I'm not in the best mindset right now, perhaps my hearing is playing tricks on me,"
He didn't have a chance to think about it further as the man continued talking. "Don't you know that being near the edge is dangerous, you could die if you fall,"
Teiko sat down. "That was the idea,"
The man was shocked. "What? But why would you want to do that? Life is such a precious thing," he said, sitting down next to him.
"I used to think so too, but then I saw how fragile it can also be, how it can be normal one second, and just end in the next,"
"I take it you lost someone important to you?"
"My mother and sister,"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, it must be hard, I couldn't imagine losing my little sister, she means the world to me. They must've meant the world to you too?"
"They did," he answered. "I spent my youth believing life was supposed to be thrilling and full of adventure, but…that way of thinking ended up ruining everything, and now, I just don't want it anymore,"
"You can't just give up so easily. Is this what they would want you to do? Throw away your life?"
Teiko clenched his fists. "I guess not. But what's the point anymore?"
"Well, did you ever have any goals?" the man asked.
"Goals?"
"Yeah, when it comes to my own viewpoints, I believe that life should be spent trying to accomplish goals, goals that can make a difference," he explained.
"I see, what kind of goal are you striving to achieve?"
"My goal? That's simple, I want to make life easier for people. There are a lot of people that suffer in this world, and in this country, I want to help them and ease that suffering,"
"That's a pretty bold goal. Do you really think you can pull it off?"
"I'll try to the best of my ability, even if it takes my entire life. If it's for the sake of another, it's worth it," the man said, raising his hand to the sky.
Teiko looked up as well. "For another person's sake, aye?" he turned to the man. "Y'know, if you want…why don't I help you with this goal?"
The blonde was almost dumbfounded by the offer. "Really? But, we hardly know each other,"
"I don't mind, I've spent my life trying to please myself, doing some good for others wouldn't hurt, besides, I have quite a lot of time on my hands,"
"Awesome!" the man jumped for joy. "It's going to be nice working with you. So, what's your name?" he asked, extending a hand.
The water mage took it, standing up as they shook. "Teiko,"
"What a strange name, you have quite strange clothes as well now I get a good look at them," he pointed.
"Let's just say I'm not from here. What's your name?"
"You can call me...Lumiere,"
[End Flashback]
"And that's how it happened," he finished.
The women were stunned in silence for a while, Arbus being the one to say something. "Wow, what a story,"
"I am a bit confused about one part though," Eon spoke up. "What kind of affliction did the Mother of Curses exactly put on you?"
"She never told me, but based on the words and my own experience through the years, the curse made it that my body would physically age by one year every hundred years. I came to this kingdom five hundred years ago when I was 19, and though I may be way older, my body is as if I was 24, I will eventually die, but not for a very long time,"
"That must be rough, I could never imagine living like that," Rebecca said.
"Neither could I at first, but I suppose I've gotten used to it," Teiko said back before getting up from his seat. "This has been a good talk, it was nice to get this off my chest after so long, but Lily and I must be on our way. Good night,"
"Um, goodnight, and just so you know, we're here if you ever need to talk about something regarding the subject," Eon offered.
"I appreciate it, thank you," he said as the two exited the restaurant.
Arbus stared uneasily at her companion. "What's it like, y'know, living for so long?"
"Life feels slow, but at the same time, it feels fast. It isn't very easy forming friendships or relationships when I have to keep it a secret, I'd outlive everyone I'd ever know, even you," he replied.
"How do you manage it though? Wouldn't people eventually find out?"
"Not if I vanished from their lives once my secret was close to being compromised,"
The typhoon mage crossed her arms and gave him a sympathetic look. "Have you ever considered telling anyone beyond the three of us?"
"It's not exactly easy to tell a friend that you've been around for over five centuries,"
"Yeah, I guess that's true. Does it ever make you sad that you can't really enjoy them?"
Teiko sighed. "Of course it does. The Mother of Curses did this to me to see how I'd end up, and I can't deny that part of my longevity is something I'm not very fond of, but…even though I do wish I could know them for longer, I like the fact that I got to know everyone I've met in the first place. Don, Rebecca, Eon, and you,"
The woman smiled. "I'm glad to have known you as well,"
The man finally smiled back. "You sure asked a bunch of questions. Is that all you want to know?"
"Not yet, there is still one last thing," she said, pausing for a short while before inquiring.
"Did you ever come to forgive yourself?"
The semi-immortal lost his smile, his serious face returning as he looked straight ahead and gave his answer.
"No,"
The next day soon came, the sun rising over Teiko's house as Arbus walked out, outfitted in her Shining General uniform.
"Looks like it's finally time for me to leave," she said to herself.
"Yes, it seems like it does," a new voice startled her, she turned to see the Kyo standing a decent distance away, holding his hands together behind him.
She walked over to him. "I must be off now, thank you very much for having me. When I came here to visit Lily, I wasn't planning for any of this to happen, but I'm very happy that it did,"
The man smiled. "As was I, and because of that, I'm not letting you leave here empty-handed,"
Arbus raised a brow, perplexed. "What do you mean?"
"Yesterday, you said you wished for a spar, so a spar you will have," he clarified.
"Really?!" the general was ecstatic.
"Yes, but nothing too intense, just a short bout, you'll need a sufficient amount of mana and strength if you want to get back to the Diamond Kingdom safely,"
"You're right, I won't go overboard," she said, backing up and taking out her grimoire.
"Hold on, I can't fight like this, the battle could damage my kimono. It's been with me since I got to this continent,"
"How the hell has it lasted so long?!" she exclaimed comedically.
"I'm not really too sure, who knows, probably it was cursed along with me," he chuckled, taking it off to reveal his bare chest.
Although, the second he completed the action, Arbus' attention was no longer on the article of clothing, but instead on what it was covering. "Dang, not bad," contrary to how he looked with it on, Teiko had a very good build and well-developed muscles, nothing overly impressive, but nothing to scoff at either.
"Hey, when you've lived for as long as I have, you find that you have a lot of time to do things," he walked to the foot of his house, neatly folding his kimono and placing it there before walking back. "Now I'm ready,"
"Then let us commence! Typhoon Creation Magic: Wavestorm Staff!" she called for the weapon, assuming a stance. "A melee fight should suffice, way less mana usage. Got any close-quarter spells?"
Teiko revealed and opened his own grimoire. "I do, in fact, it's my main spell," he flipped to the page. "Water Creation Magic: Waterwhip Conqueror!" he declared, creating two cylindrical objects that floated by the seams of his pants, and with the motion of his hands, a tentacle-like whip spawned out of each one.
"Neat spell," the woman complimented.
"Thanks,"
"Don't thank me yet!" she ran at him, reeling her staff back.
Teiko was faster though, taking a quick step back, using his right hand to command the corresponding whip to perform a horizontal lash, the general boosting herself up with magic, opting for an aerial attack of the same type instead.
"An attack from above wasn't a bad way to recover, but you're left wide open, it's not too hard to take advantage of," the man fired a pair of magic bullets, but the woman merely rotated, destroying them, repositioning her weapon for the attack.
To her dismay, however, Teiko easily dodged it, creating some distance between them, but she wasn't giving up. "Some space isn't going to save you. Typhoon Magic: Wavestorm Dispersion!" she launched her omnidirectional spell.
The water mage was about to move when he noticed something strange. "Hold on, her attack is moving a decent few places slower than when she used against that beast yesterday," he thought, crisscrossing his arms above his head and bringing them down, his whips doing the same, hitting against the force to keep him untouched. "It's almost as if…,"
In the split second there was between Teiko stopping the attack and thinking of his next move, Arbus planted her foot firmly on the ground, the earth beneath it giving way as she blitzed forward, planning to use one strike to finish.
Unfortunately for her, despite how close she was to him, despite how fast she was moving, a smirk came to the semi-immortal's face as he stepped to the side, dodging it entirely.
"What the?" Arbus couldn't believe it. "You reacted so quickly, yet so calmly, as if you knew what was coming,"
"Silly Lily, of course I knew, I just had to read your Ki,"
"Ki?" she asked while going back on the offensive. "I assume it's something from your homeland?"
Teiko, though, was effortlessly dodging everything as he explained. "That it is. Ki lets me read one's movements and their intentions by taking into account things about them, movement of their eyes, their body language, and their breathing. In a sense, it's almost the greatest form of sensory in the world,"
"I see, that's neat, your people must be proud of it," Arbus said, raising her staff for a vertical strike.
"They are, or maybe they were, regardless, when it comes to the capabilities of Ki, mere detection…," he paused, using his whips to grip the staff, stopping it dead in its tracks.
"...Is only the tip of the iceberg," taking command of his whips once again, he flung the opponent's weapon far away, leaving her unarmed, but that wasn't it as he blasted her away with water.
She hit the ground with a thud, but recovered quickly. Taking a quick glance behind her, she deduced that her staff was at least 15 meters away, a distance she could cover, but not before the water mage could attack her again, and making a new came with the risk of repeating the predicament all over again. "Time to change my choice of weapon," she muttered to herself, charging forward.
"Her staff isn't with her. What is she planning?" Teiko wondered quietly.
The general commanded her grimoire to flip to a new page. "Typhoon Magic: Stormy Impact!" her fist swirled with wind and water.
"That's what you're going with? It's not a bad plan, I can't really disarm you from your own hand, however…," he began, running her way as well, seemingly without a course of action as his whips were withdrawn.
But that simple fact meant nothing.
Once the space between the two mages became mere inches, that was when the semi-immortal made his move with graceful speed and skill. Only five seconds had passed, but he already had Arbus in a losing position as he was behind her, one hand occupied controlling a whip that wrapped around her charged fist, bending it and the arm to prevent movement, with the other hand cloaked in a familiar blade of water, centimeters from her neck.
Contrary to the situation they were in, both adults were chipper. "Looks like this one is mine," the man spoke.
"Looks like it, I hardly lasted any time at all. You're good, then again, you must've had a lot of time to increase your skill. Kinda makes me wonder how strong I'd be after all those years," the woman followed up as she was released.
Teiko pointed a thumb at himself. "That's right, this 'old man' knows a thing or two, but that's not it," he gazed at her intently. "This 'old man' is going to miss you when you're gone,"
He opened his arms out, Arbus doing the same as they hugged. "I'm going to miss you too. I already promised the kids I'd visit them when I'm able to, and the same goes for you. The house will still be here, right?"
They slowly broke the hug. "It has been for five hundred years,"
"Then I know where to come to find you," she backed up, letting magic surround her as she took, waving to him one last time before going on her way.
Teiko continued to wave until he could no longer see her, once out of sight, he smiled melancholically. "Mother, Mebuki, I really wish you could've met that woman, she reminds me of you two,"
The time in Clover ended on a somber note as a mage left its borders, not to be seen for who knows how long. Meanwhile, in the Diamond Kingdom, the mood was a bit…different.
"Oh no, this is bad!" two people comedically screamed.
Very different.
The two in question were none other than Lotus and Anna of all people, standing in a large public, circling around the main hallway in complete hysterical panic.
The golden eye mage clutched her head. "It's been almost three weeks since Arbus left, and she hasn't come back, there hasn't been any word from her either. Where could she have gone?!"
"She's from Clover, perhaps she went there," her husband deduced, but then he feared the worst. "What if she was captured?!"
Anna grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "I told you we should've gone looking for her the first week she didn't return, but no, you just had to be against it,"
"You can't blame me, she's a capable fighter, I thought she'd be fine at first," Lotus said in his defense.
"I know she's capable, but she's still just one woman," his wife said back. "Behavior like that must be punished. As much as it pains me to do this…no nightly bedtime activities for a week,"
"H-Hold on, let's not do anything drastic, dear, you don't want to do something you'll regret," he pleaded.
The general suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm starting to regret it already,"
The smoke mage hugged her back. "I'm happy to hear that," he said before they returned to their comedic cries.
"Arbus, where are you?!"
All the while, standing just a few yards away, was Mars, a deadpan look on his face, a single thought on his mind.
"Why must I be subjected to this?"
"Yo, Mars, what goes on?" another general greeted him, said general being Ladros, the two bumping fists. "They're still at it?"
"Yes,"
"Damn, the way they're acting, you'd think Arbus is one of their daughters. I'll say what I said before, there's nothing to worry about,"
"Lotus said that there's a possibility she can be in Clover," Mars informed him.
The basic mage held his chin. "Okay, that can change things,"
"I know what we're going to do!" Lotus exclaimed, catching their attention. "We're going to Clover this instant!"
"Uh, no we're not," Ladros shot down the idea immediately. "We may be on our way to being a more peaceful nation now, but the people there don't know that yet. If we're spotted, they'll think it's an attack,"
Anna had a rebuttal. "Ah, but you forget, we're friends with some of the Black Bulls, once we explain what's going on, all will be fine,"
"Perhaps, but what's to guarantee they'll be the first ones we encounter?" Mars countered. "The last time Diamond invaded Clover, the first ones on the scene were the Golden Dawn,"
Anna stared at her two disagreeing allies, pulling her husband in for a huddle. "Mars and Ladros are of no help. I say we sneak out when we have the chance and cross over,"
"I don't know. Should we really keep it from the others, won't a few more numbers be useful?"
"The two of us should be enough," she answered.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," the typhoon mage added.
Anna nodded. "See, Arbus agrees with me, now let's…,"
The married couple quickly broke the huddle, seeing that the fourth general was really with them. "Miss me?"
"Arbus!" they both embraced her.
"I'll take that a yes,"
"I'm so happy that you're safe," Lotus said in relief.
"That makes two of us," Brosnan added. "How did you get so close to us? We didn't even see you,"
The brown-haired woman winked. "I'll never tell," she said, but the other woman's glowing eyes got her to change her tune. "Okay, I arrived about three minutes outside the building and saw you two, so I tip-toed in and signaled for Mars and Ladros to not alert you,"
"What?!" the Whomalts turned to their younger friends, who were currently sharing a chuckle.
"I guess I was right not to worry," Ladros crossed his arms. "So, why were you gone for so long?"
"I was visiting a friend over in Clover and some stuff happened, I then met this really cool guy and stayed with him for a while. I just wanted to enjoy my home country for a while, sorry for worrying you all," she explained.
"It's alright, just make sure you don't do it again, you're still a Shining General," the golden eye mage said.
"I won't, promise,"
"Good, now, tell me, how was your time over there?"
When asked that question, the image of two water mages appeared in Arbus' head, along with everything regarding them, and it made her smile.
"It was amazing,"