"Hey Yoru, may I ask you... do you have a family?" Koku's expression was pretty cold as he looked into her eyes, never breaking contact. His gaze burned straight into Yoru's mind.
"Y-yes. I do have a family." Hearing her tone die down, Koku further asked about them, "My father disowned us because of his job as a high-ranking official, and my mother died due to an illness. My 2 brothers had to go fight a few years ago, and I haven't seen them since… and my elder sister was also captured when I was." Koku pondered for a moment and began speaking, "I have no family, no one to call my own, nothing other than this reputation now... so in a way, we're kind of in the same ship. Although I'm not on this journey for a peaceful life, Yoru; I'm on this journey to become the strongest. That and to wrong all of those who deserve it." Koku nearly seemed emotionless in that moment.
"I've never thought about-" Koku cut her off as she was talking, "Yoru, apart from your siblings, has anyone else been fair, kind, or supportive of you?" Asking this left Yoru silent. Several minutes had passed by, and all they heard was the sticks in the fire crackling away as the fire came slowly closer to its end. "Ummm, I-I don't know," she responded as she looked down at the fire with a frown.
"We should get going; you seem pretty warm and dry now," Koku chuckled with a soft smile, trying to ease the tension he'd created. Yoru didn't say much at all, and they got up; after they did, Koku put the fire out.
As the rain worsened outside, Koku and Yoru went further into the cave, and as they did, Koku noticed something pretty interesting. "The writing keeps getting more complicated the further we go in," Koku's curiosity was piqued, and as they later came to a dead end 12 minutes later, Koku noticed something on the wall right in front of his face.
Yoru was confused as she could see nothing but a rock wall creating the dead end. "She still can't see the writing," Koku told himself as he opened his little bag and pulled out a pretty expensive-looking codex.
Opening this codex, which was the lost codex he'd received from Daen years ago, made Koku realize something instantly about the first page. "A person in front of gates holding a black sphere? That's producing wavy lines..." Koku examined the page's context, and he, like many others, couldn't read the words on the page. However, the pictures seemed to give him an important feeling.
Koku decided to try something, since it honestly couldn't hurt trying; Koku placed his hand on the wall's mark and slightly pushed some of his Void aura into the palm and tip of his hands, and for a second, nothing happened.
"Maybe I'm overthinking this," Koku muttered to himself, and Yoru, who had heard him mutter this, asked what he meant. But just then, the ground began to rumble, and the wall began to separate, revealing a section of the cave that went in deeper. "Well, you staying?" Koku asked Yoru as he began walking in deeper, "Hey, wait up, I'm scared," she panicked as she hurried to his side.
Heading deeper into the dungeon, Koku and Yoru talked for a while, and he learned something pretty interesting about her… she was afraid of the dark. So knowing this, Koku made sure to tease her a bit. But around 30 minutes after the wall had revealed the rest of the cave, Koku and Yoru made it to the end, where there was a rusted gate waiting to fall.
"Stay close to me," Koku demanded as they entered through the opening in the gate. And just as they crossed over, the sound of something ripping through the air sounded, and Koku, seeing and hearing this, quickly moved his arm and caught it, "An arrow.. the place is trapped," Koku alerted Yoru. As Koku and Yoru made their way carefully through the small tunnel the gate led to, a bright light slowly revealed itself to them as they turned the corner.
So as Koku and Yoru walked out of the tunnel completely, they were both shocked at what they were currently seeing, "Woah~ look look it's a big crystal that's illuminating this~forest city?" Yoru paused as she was left puzzled.
Koku was pretty shocked but began walking forward into the forest that looked massive from their perspective. About 12 minutes later, Koku heard a screech and had seen a big monster-like bird soar over the very spacious cave, which replicated the scenery of an ecosystem. This and when Koku traced the bird with his eyes, he'd seen it land on a pointy structure.
Koku began to walk faster than he had been walking to see where the bird-like monster had landed, "A tower?" Koku then walked a little past the trees. Finally, now that they were out of the forest, Koku and Yoru could now see a city… one with lots of bright blue spring-like water, and bridges allowing one to cross over them. They'd seen many buildings that still looked pretty new; and in the center of it all, a massive building that looked like the academy Koku had been in for many years.
Koku could see unique and gorgeous designs all over the big and small buildings alike. Something standing out was the big academy-like building, which he could see from afar. It had this clock tower within it, but instead of a clock, it had a symbol which he had definitely seen somewhere before.
However, Koku's main focus was the city and why it was in such good condition, but abandoned, "All of this and no noise? No one in sight?" Koku questioned as he'd see three different monster birds fly in formation ways away from him. Koku's guard was up and Yoru felt nervous but on edge, "Let's go, Yoru," "Alright, I'll keep my eyes on the lookout for anything dangerous," she told Koku as they began walking into this abandoned lost city.