Episode 8 Exits are Sealed!

Kunai shakes his head slowly. “No. I was stopping Ivy from opening that vial…some old fortuneteller gave it to her. I stopped Ivy in time, but this second person appeared and interfered, and released the vial. Turns out the vial was holding a Paradox, but I took care of it. Then the person arrived, and began talking about the same thing as the old fortuneteller…something about a lost phoneme?”

Arai raises his eyebrows as he hears Kunai speak. “Phoneme?” He frowns slightly.

Kunai nods. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that word before…but I can’t think where…”

Ryuu narrows his eyes. “The Legend of the Lost Phoneme. It’s a ridiculous childhood story. Everybody knows that, the legend doesn’t really exist.”

Kunai opens his mouth suddenly in realization. “The Legend of the Lost Phoneme? Yeah, I definitely remember being read that story once, when I was a little kid…but what does that have to do with anything?”

Ivy stares from Kunai to Ryuu to Arai perplexedly. She furrows her eyebrows trying to understand. “What do you mean? What kind of legend is this?”

Arai shrugs. “I wouldn’t be so sure that the legend’s fake, Ryuu. Anyway, Ivy…the Legend of the Lost Phoneme goes that once upon a time there were three maidens in the world who, when their souls were unlocked, could translate into words all the knowledge of the world. Essentially, they were fountains of knowledge that could be accessed for knowledge of anything in the world, even the meaning of life.

“When the Paradox were created, the legend was brought up and it was a popular subject of debate. You see, the ability of the Paradox to shatter souls caused some to question whether the legend really did exist. At any rate, in the legend, it was said that to protect the world from itself, these powers were sealed inside three maidens and scattered throughout the world so they couldn’t be found. Each time one of the girls died, the power in their souls was reborn in a new vessel.”

Ryuu folds his arms haughtily, gazing down into the depths of the foggy valleys below, still shrouded in darkness. He shakes his head. “The legend’s never been proved true. As far as we know, there’s no such thing.”

“The old fortuneteller said that the Myougun were after the lost phoneme though,” Kunai says suddenly. “What if she’s right, and they really are after Ivy? That would explain why her soul was shattered when we found her. It would mean that they were trying to break apart her soul to obtain the power of the phoneme.”

“Hm…” Arai mumbles, scratching his chin, “that certainly is a feasible possibility. In fact, it makes a lot of sense. It gives the Myougun an excuse to shatter her soul in hopes of finding the phoneme.”

“Incidentally…what happens when Ivy’s soul is unlocked and the phoneme is released?” Kunai asks suddenly.

“We don’t know for sure,” Arai replies slowly, “but judging by what we know of the effects of soul shattering, to unlock the phoneme hidden deep within Ivy’s soul would surely require her to be attacked many, many times by the Paradox. The end result would be a soulless, heartless shell.”

Kunai stares at Ivy worriedly. “So…that was why she was attacked by the Triplicate in the first place. To attract more Paradox to come and attack her.”

“And it also explains why we’ve been attacked by an unusual amount of Paradox thus far,” Ryuu mutters, “because the Paradox usually keep to themselves unless the Myougun order them to attack.”

Arai sighs, glancing around left and right as a soft night breeze blows by, ruffling the group’s hair. He stretches and yawns, staring into the distant mountains. “Well, at any rate, all this won’t be settled in one night. I suggest we get back to bed and head to Sleepywood tomorrow morning to face the first Triplicate.”

Ivy suddenly moans softly, falling forward onto her knees. Kunai gives a cry of surprise and picks her up again, holding her steady. “What’s wrong, Ivy?”

Arai shrugs. “Probably just tired.” He yawns, stretching once again. “And so am I. We really need to get back to the cabin, for Ryuu’s sake as well. We all know he needs his beauty sleep.”

Ryuu glances at Arai briefly, blinking slightly. “I—what?!”

Arai smiles briefly, winking at Ryuu before walking out of sight.

The slightly younger Ryuu than the present day one walks slowly, holding a rucksack just over his right shoulder. On his left cheek is a small battle scar, still bleeding slightly. His deep green eyes roam around the bustling city of Perion as he makes his way toward the marketplace in the center of town.

Suddenly a girl with long purple hair and red eyes leaps into the air from out of nowhere, grabbing him from the front around the waist and holding him tight.

Ryuu’s eyes widen in surprise as the girl squeals with joy. “Ryuu! Ryuu! I haven’t seen you aaaggeess! Where’ve you been? Where did the Four dispatch you to?”

Ryuu quickly pries at the girl off of himself, shaking his head and sighing wearily. “I was sent to Orbis to check out the damage to Myougun have done there. It’s pretty bad; the tower’s been completely wrecked and the city itself is beyond repair. Most of it is gone. The Myougun even destroyed the spell holding it aloft in the sky. Well, at least they made the tower obsolete; the potion shop in Orbis is now neighbors with Alcaster.”

“That’s horrible!” the girl cries out loud, shaking her head. “I wish I could’ve gone with you…but instead, everyone left me here to rot.”

Ryuu shakes his head, smiling slightly to himself. “That’s all right. How’ve you been lately?”

“Not good!” the girl cries out loud suddenly. “You remember that necklace you gave me for my birthday last year? This merchant tricked me into selling it to him! And now he won’t give it back…”

“WHAT?!” Ryuu cries out loud, suddenly. He turns around, staring at the various merchants inside the marketplace, fire blazing in his eyes. “Which one?”

“That one!” the girl cries, pointing to a stand labeled, ‘Bowman Family Wind Chimes!”

Ryuu suddenly storms up to the merchant standing behind the booth, his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging by his side.

As Ryuu approaches, the merchant looks up. “Ah! A customer! How ‘bout it, guy? Wanna buy some wind chimes from my family? We’re a pretty prestigious bowman clan…it’s said that we’re gifted with the power to manipulate wind!”

Ryuu narrows his eyes coldly, drawing his sword and setting it ablaze, causing several nearby pedestrians to scream out loud in fright. Ryuu points to the purple haired girl, gesturing to the merchant. “Give Ayame back her necklace or I’m putting you out of business!”

The merchant yells out loud in surprise at seeing the sword. He panics slightly, and fumbles around inside his booth, finally withdrawing a bright necklace made of sapphire. Ryuu roughly takes the necklace from the merchant, eying him with daggers and gives the necklace back to Ayame.

The real time Ryuu wakes up once more, soaking wet with sweat. He wipes his forehead, shaking his head and reaches to the side of his bed, putting on his headband. He rises from his bed, picking up his sword lying underneath the bed and walks out the door to the cabin in Perion.

Ryuu glances around outside in the cool night air, several clouds of dust and sand playing at his feet. He slaps his forehead with his hand, a look of frustration in his face. “We were inseparable, Ryuu and Ayame. Why, Ayame, why…”

He suddenly glances up as a loud explosion rocks the city, shaking the ground. In the distance, several dark, flying shapes appear, shrieking in high-pitched voices and flying on jagged wings.

Ryuu draws his sword, setting it ablaze just as the cabin door bangs open behind him, and Kunai, Arai, and Ivy exit in their pajamas.

“Ryuu! What the hell is going on?!” Kunai cries out loud, staring at Ryuu’s flaming sword.

Ryuu shakes his head, shrugging slightly. “Beats me. But it looks like we’ve got trouble.”

Arai’s eyes widen as he stares turns around, watching the flying creatures as they shriek and surround the entire city from the air. “They’ve…blocked all the exits…”

“What are they? Paradoxes?” Ivy whispers softly in the night air.

“Not just any Paradoxes. This is the work of Lord Fyx,” Ryuu replies, glancing back at Ivy. He shakes his head, staring up at the flying creatures. “It’s well known that Fyx has his own private army of Paradoxes; after all, he runs the Paradox Plant on Victoria.”

“That bastard…so he’s still after us?” Kunai mutters.

“Of course. Fyx is with the Myougun, and the Myougun want Ivy. As long as these remain true, then Fyx will be after us,” Arai replies. He shakes his head, grabbing his Dark Ritual and leaning on it sleepily. “And I was looking forward to having a nice cookie dream too…”

“Well, can’t we just use the Sleepywood scrolls now?” Kunai cries out loud. “Then we can just escape from these Paradox!”

“But we can’t just leave the city like this!” Ivy cries out loud, turning to Kunai. She points up at the sky, where the flying creatures continue to shriek and circle the city. “They may no longer bother us, but the other people in this city are gonna have a lot of trouble getting rid of them!”

“Ivy’s right,” Arai says, staring up at the sky as well. “It’s best we just get rid of these guys.”

“Well, this is gonna be fun…” Ryuu mutters. He suddenly lunges forward to chase after one of the passing Paradox, but looks back as Arai shakes his head.

“No need,” Arai says abruptly, holding up a cookie in his hands. He throws it skillfully into the air, hitting the passing Paradox directly on the side. It gives a shriek and turns around, headed for Ryuu and the group.

Ryuu leaps into the air, cutting the Paradox directly across the chest with a blow from his flaming sword. The Paradox cries out loud, but merely absorbs the blow, flying straight through Ryuu’s sword.

Ryuu lands roughly, turning around to stare as the Paradox flies away. “Dammit! What gives? My sword didn’t even leave a scratch…”

Arai narrows his eyes, staring intently at the Paradox. “They’re the Winged Demon Paradox…that’s a level 13 Paradox, Ryuu!”

Ryuu’s eyes widen as he turns to stare at Arai. “Level 13?! So…we’ve got a lot more trouble than I thought. Hm…this is the strongest Paradox I’ve faced yet.”

Ryuu suddenly leaps into the air, landing on top of the roof of their cabin as another of the Paradox approaches. He raises his sword into a fighting stance, bracing to make contact. Arai suddenly leaps into the air after him, holding his Dark Ritual aloft.

“Ryuu! Your skills alone are no match. If we charge your sword with my lightning spear…” Arai suddenly waves his staff, creating a bolt of lightning in his left arm. He slams his fist into Ryuu’s sword, and it suddenly glows with a bright electrical charge, fusing with the burning flames.

Ryuu glances at Arai briefly, a sly smirk on his face. “You make me not regret that you’re a Joukai sometimes, Arai,” he mutters. He leaps into the air, meeting the Paradox head on, and brings the sword crashing into the Paradox’s side.

It shrieks loudly as its wing severs from the body, but as the dark matter from the fallen wing disappears, new shadows quickly replace the old, regenerating the wing.

Ryuu’s eyes widen in surprise as he falls from the air. “What?! Damn…how are we supposed to kill these things?!”

The Paradox suddenly turns around, flying straight towards Ryuu again, and lunges. Ryuu turns in the air, missing the Paradox’s claws as they tear past him, but gasps as the Paradox turns around agilely, lunging with its sharp fangs and sinking itself into Ryuu’s shoulder.

Ryuu screams out loud in mortal pain, as a shadow of himself forms in the air briefly, multiplying itself infinite times and slowly disappearing into the darkness. Ryuu cries again as he falls and hits the ground hard, motionless.

Kunai and Ivy cry out loud, running to Ryuu and bending over him. Kunai stares at Ryuu worriedly, clutching his wrist and feeling for a pulse. “There is a pulse…he’s alive…but he doesn’t look too good,” Kunai mutters.

Arai gapes as the Paradox now turns towards him, and leaps off the roof just as it passes by, completely tearing apart the roof of the cabin. Arai looks up as splinters of wood and concrete rain from the sky.

“These Paradoxes are deathly powerful,” Arai mutters, fear in his voice.

The cloaked figure from earlier suddenly reappears in the sky, staring down at Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, and Ivy. It shakes its head, and looks up at the Paradoxes now circling over the city.

“They’ve all still a lot to learn, especially that Ryuu…” it mutters, raising an arm. Suddenly there is a bright flash in the sky, illuminating the city below momentarily. A loud explosion quickly follows, and the light ripples outward with a roar, and disappears.

Shrieks suddenly follow in the sky, as the Paradoxes cry in pain, their shadowy flesh melting away and disappearing into nothingness.

Both Arai and Ivy look up as the Paradox disappear with one final roar. The two of them glance at each other with looks of perplexity.

“What was that?!” Ivy cries out loud.

“I don’t know…” Arai mutters, staring around at the now quiet night sky again, “but it seems like we’ve got a friend somewhere…”

Kunai suddenly cries out loud. “There’s more!” He suddenly opens Ryuu’s right eyelid, which is closed shut, revealing a third pupil in his eye.

Arai opens his mouth in shock, staring at the three pupils. He looks up in the sky once again. “Wherever they are, for whatever reason, we’ve got a friend somewhere…”