Episode 23 The Center of the World

The grand royal city of Meridean lies under a sky bathed with the light of an artificial sun, it’s majestic boulevards brimming with hurrying merchants, businessman, travelers, and local residents.

As always, guards armed with Skylars stand in pairs at each entrance into the city. It is here that Kunai, Ryuu, Ivy, Ayame, and Sasha make their way into the grand entrance of Meridean.

Sasha stands at the forefront of the party as she makes her way to the two heavily armored men standing guard on either side of the entryway. “Greetings, my fair men. We’re travelers wishing for entry into the city of Meridean.”

“State your reason and purpose for entry,” the guard on the right replies in a gruff voice.

“We are a traveling party wishing to stay here for some time,” Sasha answers appropriately.

Before the other guard can reply, the guard on the left leans forward, his metal armor creaking noisily. He points at the heavy traveling cloaks of the group. “No Paradox Hunter gear may be worn within the confines of this city. Please remove them before entry.”

“What?” Sasha cries, taken aback. “Use of Hunter Cloaks are usually not restricted in Meridean. Why are they suddenly requiring us to remove them?”

“It is by order of the great King Norman IV,” the left guard answers. “We are merely enforcers of his decree. Please remove your cloaks before entry, otherwise you are forbidden to pass these doors.”

“But why?” Kunai asks, reluctantly following the lead of Sasha by shedding his cloak.

“It seems that the King was notified some weeks ago that there would be unwanted visitors coming to Meridean in search of something known as the Third Phoneme. We’ve been ordered to not let any pass these doors without first correctly identifying them.”

“So in compliance with His Majesty’s orders,” the other guard continues, “please supply us with your correct identification.”

Sasha rummages around in her bags for some moments, before producing an identification card with her name and photo printed on it under the title ‘Paradox Hunter.’

The guard on the right takes the identification card in his hand and inspects it for some time, before turning awkwardly to his partner. The partner nods, before the two turn back to face the group with a grave air.

“Paradox Hunter ID#1663, human name Sasha—you are under arrest for treason.”

Sasha’s mouth drops wide open, as both Ryuu and Kunai turn to her in surprise. “Wh-what?” Sasha stutters, lost for words. “What do you mean I’m under arrest?!”

Both of the guards point their weapons towards Sasha, bearing down on her. “We’ve stated the reasons,” the left guard answers, before turning to the rest of Sasha’s companions. “You others I trust are her companions, named Kunai, Ryuu, Ivy, and Ayame?”

Kunai and Ryuu both glance at each other momentarily, before nodding to each other, agreeing to a silent oath. Together, the two of them draw their weapons in a flash, and strike down the guards.

With a flash, Kunai creates a large shuriken, and knocks down the guard on the left easily with it. Meanwhile, Ryuu takes down the remaining guard with an efficient vertical slash of his sword.

Both guards are immediately felled, and Ryuu and Kunai both jump forward past them, waving to the girls. “Come on, let’s get outta here!” Ryuu shouts frantically.

He waves the girls forward, and together the group hurries madly into the midst of the crowded boulevards, much to the surprise of passing pedestrians.

Kunai dashes past leading Ivy and Sasha, accidentally bumping into an old woman carrying a bamboo hat filled with oranges. The old woman cries in alarm as she scrambles to pick up her fallen goods.

Kunai glances over his shoulder as he realizes his mistake. “Sorry!” he shouts back to the old woman.

Back at the entrance, the guard that had been taken down by Kunai weakly crawls forward, returning back to his station. “Hurry! Call the Palace Guards!”

As the five of them finally pause to catch their breath in the middle of a street filled with merchants sitting behind shaded stands, they glance anxiously at one another, perplexed looks on their faces.

“What was that all about?” Kunai pants.

“This is bad,” Ayame replies, “it seems that they were notified that we were headed this way, and much worse, for some reason they seem to think we’re criminals.”

Ryuu folds his arms meditatively, staring at the ground for several moments. “That seems to be the case,” he finally retorts, rather slowly, “looks like we’re gonna have some trouble moving around here.”

Ivy suddenly cries out in alarm. “Look!” she cries, pointing to the wall of a brick building behind Ryuu and Kunai. As a group, they turn to follow her gaze and stare in awkward surprise at a poster taped onto the wall:

WANTED. By order of King Norman IV in cooperation with the Myougun Empire: Five criminals posing as travelers. Wanted for treason including attempting to steal the Third Phoneme. Notify Palace Guards upon meeting. Names are Kunai, Ryuu, Ivy, Ayame, and Sasha.

“So that’s it!” Sasha cries in a hushed whisper, “the Myougun set this up for us too?!”

“Those bastards,” Ryuu growls under his breath, “so they set up a trap for us when we got here. We shouldn’t have taken our time searching. We’re gonna have a hell of a lot of trouble getting around now, with the Monarchy looking for us.”

“But why is the Monarchy working with the Myougun?” Ayame wonders. “Does that mean that the two empires are in cahoots?”

“It doesn’t seem right,” Sasha replies, “the Charemis Monarchy, even though they’ve made foolish decisions in the past, isn’t that foolish. The Myougun had a hand in this, that’s certain. But the extent of their damage seems to be pretty bad.”

“We should probably leave this place as soon as we can,” Kunai mutters, “I mean, if the Monarchy’s out for us…”

“But we can’t forget the original reason why we came here in the first place,” Sasha retorts, “to find news of the Third Phoneme. I mean, if there’s one place we’re gonna find out where she is, it’s here, in the capital city.”

“But how are we gonna do that with all the guards looking for us?” Ivy asks, turning to Sasha.

“We could always disguise ourselves,” Kunai replies. “I mean, we’ve still got our cloaks, right?”

“No good,” Ryuu growls, “we’ll have to dump our cloaks; otherwise, it’s too big of a giveaway if we’re the only ones wearing them.”

“We can still disguise ourselves, though,” Ayame suggests, “like, the regular way. You know, some make-up, fake mustaches…”

Ryuu narrows his eyes irritably. “I am not putting make-up on…I’ve already had to do that once before, and it was not a pleasant experience…”

“Well, at any rate, as long as we’re here, let’s browse some of the shops here and see if we can find anything useful that we can use,” Ayame suggests.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kunai asks, “I mean, what if someone recognizes us?”

“Well, no one knows what we actually look like, except for the two guards we met,” Sasha replies, “so as long as we don’t give out our names, we should be fine. Although, once the word gets out to the rest of the guards we’re in here, then we might have some trouble.”

“All right then,” Kunai replies, “if you say so.”

Kunai, Ryuu, Ivy, Ayame, and Sasha stride idly down the street, stopping here and there to inspect the products of some of the merchants. A disgruntled look manifests itself upon Ryuu, as usual when he encounters merchants.

Ayame glances at Ryuu, smiling slightly to herself. “Ryuu, are you still spiteful about merchants?”

Ryuu does not reply, but continues to ignore the merchants pressing around him, offering him miracle potions colored a sickly green.

“Made with the urine of Yetis to ensure super strength and super stamina!” one of the merchants shouts into Ryuu’s ear. Ryuu’s eye gives an involuntary twitch.

Ayame laughs softly at Ryuu’s reaction. “I guess you still are. I still remember why you hate them. It was because of that time that merchant almost stole my necklace, right, Ryuu?”

Ryuu continues to remain silent, though a very sheepish smile appears on his lips. However, he finally snaps as a woman dressed in rags continually shoves a tray full of stuffed animals under his nose.

Ryuu knocks the tray out of the woman’s hands, blindly grabbing one of the stuffed animals and raising it above his head, as if making to chuck it at the woman. “I SAID I DIDN’T WANT ANY—”

“HEY! STOP SQUEEZING ME YOU—”

Ryuu lets out a loud bellow of surprise as he realizes the stuffed animal is talking. He notices that the animal he is holding in his hands is a Green Snail for the first time. “WHA?! IT’S TALKING?!”

A stunned silence follows, as the Green Snail and Ryuu stare at each other for several very long moments. “OTIS?!” Ryuu shouts.

“REDHEADED GORILLA?!” Otis shouts.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Ryuu and Otis shout at each other simultaneously.

Kunai places his face in his hands. “Well this is certainly an unexpected twist to our day…”

“Otis!” Ivy squeals, snatching Otis out of Ryuu’s hands and hugging him to herself. Kunai sneaks a slightly jealous glance to Otis and Ivy.

Sasha blinks perplexedly, staring amongst the group. “Who’s Otis, and why is that Green Snail talking?!”

“I’m surprised you guys know Otis too,” Ayame replies.

“Well, ever since I graciously allowed you losers to pass through the portal into the Night World, I got fired from my job as being the key. So, that Lord Kimura oaf dumped me in here to make sure things were doing okay in the kingdom!” Otis answers.

“Tch,” Ryuu smirks, “‘graciously allowed,’ huh? Give me a break.”

“Hey!” Otis cries angrily, “I, Lord Otis, demands respect from a filthy peasant like you, Redheaded Gorilla!”

“STOP CALLING ME REDHEADED GORILLA, YOU RETARDED GREEN INVERTEBRATE!” Ryuu screams back at Otis, spit flying from his mouth.

“Boys, boys,” Ayame sighs, stepping between Otis and Ryuu, “stop fighting!”

“He started it!” Ryuu and Otis cry, pointing at one another.

Kunai sighs, interrupting the flow of their bickering. “Well anyway, we’re not gonna accomplish much just standing around here. The Palace Guards are probably already on the move. What should we do?”

“Well,” Ryuu comments, regaining his dignity, “since we’re at it, I guess we should keep asking around, see if anybody knows something that could be useful to us.”

“The only problem is,” Sasha replies, “if we go around asking, ‘Have you seen the Third Phoneme?’ people are gonna be pretty suspicious in a place that’s already on high alert for supposed criminals searching for her. We’ve gotta find a more discreet way of finding out what we need to know without getting caught by the guards.”

“You losers are after the Third Phoneme?” Otis squeaks, staring up at everybody.

Ayame suddenly rounds on Otis, a glint of light in her eyes inspired by an idea. “Wait a minute…Otis! You work with the Myougun…you’re their messenger after all. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the whereabouts of the Third Phoneme, would you?”

“Yup!” Otis replies, his eyes narrowing into slits of delight, “I know nothing all right!”

The whole group groans aloud as one at Otis’ misleading comment. “Okay, well, ignoring Otis…” Sasha says, turning to the others, “how are we gonna do that?”

“No need,” a gruff voice answers for her.

Ryuu turns his head, only to find a Dark Arund pointed straight at his face. He wrinkles his nose slightly at the unexpected sight, and then realizes the holding of the bow. He smirks, not a smile of apprehension, but of excited adrenaline. “Arayu of the Myougun.”

“You are under arrest,” Arayu replies in a sinisterly low voice, “for treason to the high throne of the Charemis Monarchy.”

“Nice to see you too,” Ryuu replies, turning his back on Arayu. He waves to the others. “Come on, let’s get outta here! We’ll take out all these guys on the way out.”

Ryuu gestures at the dozens of armed guards from the palace surrounding them, each of them pointing a Skylar at the party.

“Not so fast,” Arayu whispers.

Ryuu ignores him, and attempts to run, but finds that his feet are heavily cemented to the ground. Each foot takes an enormous force to lift, as Ryuu struggles to move. “What the…hell?!”

Arayu signals to a Mage standing next to him, nodding in appreciation. The Mage returns the nod and steps back, withdrawing his Dark Ritual. “You may be familiar with the technique Slow.”

“Damn you,” Ryuu curses under his breath, spinning to measure the number of polearms pointed at him. “Guess they really have us this time, huh, Kunai?”

“Yeah,” Kunai growls, his feet glued to the ground as well.

Arayu jerks his head towards one of the nearby guards. “Bind their hands and feet. Take their weapons and deliver them to the armory to be held. Take the prisoners themselves to be detained in the Royal Prison. I shall notify the King that our guests have been accounted for.”

“Yes, sir,” the guard replies.

Arayu lowers his Dark Arund, staring darkly into the face of Ryuu. ‘I’ve got you at last.’

Next Time: Episode 24 Court of the Charemis

Otis: Mwahahaha! No one can compete against the almighty Otis!

Ryuu: What, you gonna break us out of jail with that ‘almighty’ snail shell of yours?

Otis: No making fun!

Ryuu: I didn’t say I was…

Otis: …

Episode 24 Court of the Charemis coming soon!