Episode 20 A Notch in the Wall

Ryuu suddenly emerges in a dark, dank hallway. He glances behind him and sees a real door leading out from a flight of stairs. He rushes straight up to the door, pulling at the handle, but finding it locked.

Ryuu bares his teeth, turning back and descending the stairs. He glances frustratingly around, and jumps in surprise as he sees a darkly cloaked man standing in front of him. The man removes the hood covering his face, and Ryuu gasps in surprise, his eyes widening as he sees the person in front of him.

“You—You’re!” Ryuu gasps.

Arai dashes to his right, leaping into the air to avoid a flare of fire from the Drake Paradox. He smirks as the Paradox growls in frustration, swinging its tail at him. He dodges the tail as well, sending a retaliatory wave of ice flying into the Paradox.

As the Paradox temporarily freezes in surprise, Arai runs forward, hurling a spear of lightning through it, causing it to shriek out loud.

The Drake Paradox lunges at him suddenly, sending twin blasts of fire into the air after Arai. Arai dodges both balls of fire, hurling another shockwave and thunderbolts into the Drake. It shrieks out loud in pain, but flies into the air once more, chasing after Arai with murder intent in its eyes.

Arai quickly runs as the Paradox flies after him, snapping its jaws at him. Arai falls to the floor, rolling into a small cleft in the ground, hiding underneath it.

The drake sweeps overhead, circling over Arai and shrieking loudly. Arai stares up at the drake, gritting his teeth as the beast continues to circle him from overhead.

Both Kunai and Nash stare up at the solid wall of collapsed rock blocking a large gorge between the volcano wall and another adjacent mountain.

Kunai stares up at the unmoving wall, blinking slightly at its mass. “How are we gonna get this gorge unblocked? It’s practically impossible for us to move all these rocks out of the way ourselves.”

“Hey! Look over there!” one of the men in the group suddenly cries, pointing into the sky.

Kunai and Nash quickly turn their heads to the sky, staring up at the large dark form of the Drake Paradox circling the plains below.

“What is that?!” Nash cries out loud.

“A Paradox…” Kunai mutters.

“What are Paradoxes?” Nash asks, turning to Kunai.

Kunai glances at Nash, momentarily lost for words. “So you guys don’t get Paradoxes out here, huh? Well, it’s kind of hard to explain, but Paradoxes are very dangerous creatures…”

“That’s strange though…why is it circling over that particular field?” Nash asks out loud, staring up at the huge, hulking, leathery dragonish form of the Paradox.

“Could it be…? Arai?” Kunai cries out loud. “Maybe he ran into the Paradox while he was battling the Red Drake!”

“I see…then that drake we’ve been battling fruitlessly all this time must have been that Paradox all along!” Nash cries out loud. “We had already begun wondering how it could defeat so many of us.”

“This is bad, if Arai’s in trouble…” Kunai mutters.

Down in the village, Ivy glances out of the window of one of the larger huts as she cuts several carrots with a short knife. She glances up at the sky, and suddenly sees the large Paradox. Her eyes widen as she drops the knife and carrots, gasping out loud.

One of the village women glances at her worriedly, staring at her in surprise. “Something wrong?”

“I’ve gotta go!” Ivy cries out loud, running out of the room and grabbing her Thorns on the way. She slams the door shut behind her, running out toward the fields outside.

Ivy suddenly emerges on the windswept fields outside, as a strong breeze blows by, rustling the tops of the tall grass. She raises her Thorns, firing several Holy Arrows at the Paradox.

Arai suddenly emerges from his hiding place, crying out loud. “Ivy! What are you doing out here!”

“I saw the Paradox! I thought you guys might be in trouble…” Ivy mutters. She and Arai glance up suddenly as the Drake Paradox shrieks, flying down from the air at them and opening its clawed talons.

Kunai gives a yell from high above on the cliff, as he sees Ivy and Arai emerge on the field, as the Paradox skydives from the air down toward them. He gives another shout, and leaps off the cliff, as Nash jumps forward in surprise, reaching after him futilely. “Kunai! Where do you think you’re going?!”

Kunai flies through the air, the strong headwind whistling through his ears. He flies straight across the path of the Paradox, cutting it off from its direct path to Ivy and Arai.

Kunai raises both his arms, blocking the blow from the drake. He lands in front of the kneeling Ivy and Arai, panting heavily, lowering his scarred and bloody hands. “You guys all right?”

“Kunai! What do you think you’re doing?” Ivy cries out loud, staring up at Kunai.

“Protecting you,” Kunai replies simply, dashing forward and leaping into the air as the Paradox strikes again, sending a ball of flame hurtling towards him.

Kunai throws a Steely into the air, using it to cut the fireball apart. He then jumps again, flying over the Paradox and quickly weaving and throwing a net of spider webs over it, tying it up.

Kunai lands, staring up at the large, towering Paradox. It wriggles violently, and quickly frees itself from the net, snapping it easily in half. It then flies into the air in a rage, sending fireballs into the ground and watching as the grass erupts in flames.

Kunai bares his teeth, as the Paradox floats into the air above them, just above the cliff where Nash and the others stand. He then rises into the air, conjuring a large shuriken and hurling it into the air towards the drake.

The shuriken glides effortlessly through the air, and flies straight through the neck of one of the Paradox’s heads, slicing it right off. The head shrieks loudly, severing from the body and landing on the pile of rocks caused by the landslide with a crash.

The shuriken suddenly turns in the air, flying back towards Kunai like a boomerang, slicing off the other head of the Paradox as well, causing the second head and the body as well to collapse into the pile of rocks below.

Kunai catches the shuriken as it returns to him, splattered with blood. He pants as his eyes widen as the pile of rocks gives a loud shudder and a rumble, and suddenly a large rush of water pours out from between the gaps in the rocks, exploding into a swift current and creating a large river cutting straight through the fields.

Nash and his men suddenly cheer high above them as the river washes away the rest of the boulders, flowing smoothly back towards the village in a merry rumble.

Kunai joins Nash and the rest of his men up at the top of the cliff once more, clasping hands and cheering with each other just as the sun begins to set on the island, tingeing the sky a deep orange, red, and pink.

Kunai stares at the newly restored running waterfall, as it plummets down the gorge into the valley below, running smoothly as a river through the fields and back into the village.

Kunai then quickly turns, staring at the now fully revealed wall behind the waterfall. He slowly walks up to it as if in a trance, staring up at the smoothness of the wall, yet perplexed by the notches scattered all about it.

“Oh, right, like I said, the wall’s now completely revealed. You can get a perfect look at it now!” Nash cries cheerfully as he notices Kunai straying towards the wall.

Kunai suddenly dashes forward, quickly leaping onto the wall and ascending it, to Nash’s surprise. Nash cries out in alarm, running up to the base of the wall. “Kunai! What do you think you’re doing?”

Ignoring him, Kunai slowly and meditatively ascends the wall, and as he reaches the top, he reaches out and grasps the cold handle of the Steely, giving it a strong pull and jerking it out of the wall.

Kunai falls into the air suddenly, landing agilely on the smooth surface of the rock below, the Steely clutched in his shaking hands. He holds it up to his eye, a strand of long purple hair dangling from the handle.

As dusk settles in, a large bonfire is set in the center of the small village. The Chief smiles as the entire village gathers around him, and several bards begin playing instruments and singing in the background.

“With the Valyara River running once again, and the Red Drake vanquished from our midst, prosperity surely seems to be on its way back to our people once more,” the Chief cries out loud, as applause rings throughout the village. “And it is all thanks to the kindness and help of these three people here.”

The village applauds once more as the Chief salutes Kunai, Arai, and Ivy each in turn. He then turns and hands them each a large sack filled with many fruits and vegetables. “In return for your help, we beg that you allow us to present you with these fruits of our labor.”

Kunai smiles, bowing to the Chief as he takes his sack of fruit. “Thank you, Chief,” he mutters, a smile appearing on his face.

Arai and Ivy both receive their fruits as well, thanking the Chief each in turn. They turn proceed and follow the rest of the village into helping themselves with food for the feast.

Kunai slowly withdraws to the back of the crowd, away from the warmth of the fire. He shivers slightly in the cold of the night air, but stays away from the fire. Instead, he stares on with a cold gleam in his eye, suddenly aloof and alone.

Ivy strides over to him, glancing up at him worriedly. She carries a plate of chicken in her hands as she approaches him. “Kunai? Why are you standing here all by yourself like this?”

“It’s ah…nothing,” Kunai replies, looking away from Ivy.

“Nothing?” Ivy stares at him worriedly.

“Nothing,” Kunai answers.

The sun slowly rises over a glittering sea as Kunai, Arai, and Ivy equip their hang gliders once more, at the peak of a cliff overlooking the wide sea below. The Chief and his men stand not far behind, waving them off.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” the Chief says, walking up to the three. “Thank you for all your help. My people are forever indebted to you.”

“No problem!” Arai replies, retrieving a cookie and taking a bite from it.

“Farewell!” Kunai, Arai, and Ivy cry as they blast into the sky, flying out over the water towards the horizon.