Episode 16 Flight After Light

Kunai suddenly rouses from deep unconsciousness, rising to a sitting position. Ivy and Arai immediately look over at him, rising from their seats instantly to rush to his side.

Kunai raises a hand up to the side of his head, rubbing it with a soft sigh. “Ugh…what happened?”

“Oh thank God you’re awake!” Ivy cries out loud, bringing a wet towel of to Kunai’s face and scrubbing his cheek vigorously.

Kunai shakes his head, waving the towel off. He turns to Arai. “What happened? Did…did we defeat the Triplicate? I don’t remember much from after Ivy opened up the Mystic Door…”

Kunai suddenly glances around him as he hears several wild birds chirping overhead. He glances upwards and sees a large net of vines and damp, swampy overhanging tree branches over them. He glances down at the ground, which is grassy, wet, and filled with reeds.

“Are we on the outskirts of Kerning?” Kunai asks, staring around at the swampy surroundings, and batting away a couple flies that had been circling him.

“Yes we are,” Ryuu’s voice suddenly growls irritably, as he emerges onto the campsite with his hair wet, and a damp towel held up to his face. He throws the towel onto the floor, and sits down on a small rock nearby.

“Still mad about our little accident?” Arai asks Ryuu with a beam on his face.

“I know it was dangerous what with the Myougun chasing after us and all, but we didn’t have to go diving headfirst into the swamp!” Ryuu yells, scratching the side of his head.

“You’ve a maggot in your hair,” Arai smiles, reaching forward and pulling out a small worm out of Ryuu’s hair. Ryuu stares as the maggot squirms in Arai’s hand. He reaches forward and snaps the maggot roughly in two.

“Ryuu! You didn’t have to kill the poor thing!” Ivy cries out loud.

“Tch,” Ryuu mutters, turning slightly away, “they’re filthy.”

Kunai blinks several times perplexedly. “All right, that’s great and all, but would someone like to tell me everything that’s happened after we left the Cursed Sanctuary?”

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” Arai replies, “as you well know, we’re in the outskirts of Kerning City right now. Ivy opened the way for us with her Mystic Door, and Ryuu and I shortly regained consciousness not long afterward. Then you appeared through the doorway, driven unconscious.”

“After that, we needed to leave right away, because the Myougun were still on the lookout for us so we couldn’t stay too long in Sleepywood,” Ivy continues.

“In fact, the Myougun chased us all the way out of town until this idiot here dragged us all plummeting headfirst into this pile of sludge and swamp,” Ryuu adds, gesturing violently to Arai.

“But the Triplicate was killed, correct?” Kunai persists.

“Yeah, it was killed all right,” Ryuu replies in a low voice. He shakes his head. “We didn’t even have to check, the impact from killing the damn Paradox burned your Scarab right through.”

“My—what?!” Kunai cries out loud, reaching for his right hand, where his Scarab has been removed.

Ryuu merely holds up a bruised and battered Scarab, a whole burned right through it. “Tough luck. You’re out of a weapon, my friend.”

Kunai’s eyes widen suddenly as he stares at the Scarab. “My…”

Ivy suddenly gasps out loud as she stares at Kunai. The three others turn to her suddenly. “Kunai! You’re right eye, it’s…”

Ryuu immediately reaches toward Kunai, staring into his right eye. “…It’s got two pupils,” he mutters slowly.

Arai stares from Ryuu to Kunai in surprise. “Then that means…”

“Kunai was attacked by the Triplicate?” Ivy cries out loud worriedly. “He had his soul shattered?”

“There’s only one way to tell,” Ryuu growls. He reaches toward Kunai’s right arm and pulls up the sleeves of his Scorpio top, but sees nothing but blank skin. “Strange…no mark. Then it means the Triplicate definitely didn’t attack him. However, if he’s got a second pupil now…then it can only mean he was definitely attacked by a Paradox, at least.”

“This is bad, though…” Arai mutters, glancing at Kunai, “if Kunai’s been attacked, then that means all four of us have now been attacked by a Paradox at least once. None of us are capable of killing the Triplicates any longer.”

“Yeah, that is really bad…” Ryuu mutters. He turns to Kunai. “Do you remember being hit by any of the Paradox inside the dungeon?”

Kunai narrows his eyes, straining his head for several moments. Finally, he shakes his head. “No, not at all. I can’t remember much, but of the things I can remember that happened down there, I definitely wasn’t attacked.”

“This is strange…we should probably have someone look at it,” Ryuu mutters to himself.

Arai glances up at Ryuu. “Someone to look at it? But who can we find who knows enough about Paradoxes to give a diagnosis? We obviously can’t trust the Niora Clinic anymore…”

“Alcaster,” Ryuu mutters under his breath, “he’ll know about this. He did a lot of work with the Joukai several years ago when there were more of us. He did a lot of research on the Paradoxes, if anyone knows anything, it’ll be him.”

“I see,” Arai replies, “then it’s one more reason for us to head to Ossyria right away. But without any ships coming in or out of Victoria Island, how are we gonna get there?”

“That’s the exact problem I’ve been trying to solve…” Ryuu mutters. “The Alpha Platoon has long since ceased operation within Victoria Island, and ships are definitely out of the question with the destruction of Orbis and Ellinia. It’d be impossible for us to walk there ourselves…”

Kunai suddenly snaps his fingers. “Daedalus! He should know something about this?”

“Who the hell is that?” Ryuu asks, turning to Kunai.

“When I was younger, I remember my uncle used to take me with him to business trips sometimes to Kerning. I remember playing with this boy named Daedalus. His great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was Icarus, the inventor of the flying pill! He should be able to come up with a way for us to safely travel to Ossyria!”

Ryuu scratches his head. “Icarus lived a long time ago, and they say he was a bit of a nut. Are you sure we can trust his descendants to be sane?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Daedalus will know what to do,” Kunai replies. “As I recall, the last time I saw him, he was working on this machine he called a hang glider.”

“I suppose it’s worth a try…” Arai mutters, turning to Ryuu and Kunai. “And if he lives in Kerning, then we don’t have far to walk.”

“So it’s settled then! We’re going to Kerning City!” Ivy cries out loud.

Ivy, Arai, and Ryuu suddenly jump to their feet, gathering their things and getting ready to go. However, Kunai remains behind, his brows furrowed in deep thought. He suddenly stands up, turning to Ivy. “Ivy…I just remembered something. Remember what you told me in the Cursed Sanctuary? That you had a dream while you were up there joined with the magic circle? What did you dream about?”

“Oh…yeah, it was a very strange dream,” Ivy mumbles softly. “I dreamed I was playing in this brightly colored garden with this purple-haired girl…and then the dream changed, and I dreamt I was this silver-haired girl walking around in a world full of darkness…”

Ryuu does not turn to face Ivy completely, but narrows his eyes, inclining his head unnoticeably to get a better view of Ivy. He remains silent as he ruffles his jacket, and begins walking forward.

Arai begins walking right next to him as well, mumbling softly to himself. “Purple-haired girl and silver-haired girl. Hm…anyone we know, Ryuu?”

Ryuu does not answer, but merely continues walking on. Arai nods, his face completely serious for once. “I see, so you’re thinking the exact same thing too.”