As Ryuzio walked deeper into the route that he chose, an invisible eeriness was taking shape in the background around him. The quietness of the caves was loud to the point that he could hear his breaths. Each step echoed, the sound bouncing from one wall of smooth rocks to another and then back to his ears.
All this…with an uncomfortable feeling of being followed. Not because he was scared of an ambush from behind, but because he couldn't put a finger if the feeling was rooted in reality or just his imagination.
He'd feel like someone was standing right behind him. He'd turn around. He'd find no one there. He'd repeated this several times by now but the last part never changed. He'd even tried walking backward to catch the one following him red-handed, but after he tumbled on rocks three times in a row doing it, he quit this idea. With no way to confirm if he was the only one walking onward, Ryuzio ignored the unease through the air.
With a couple more steps he reached a cross-section, devoid of any light. Till now, the cave had been dark, but never pitch-black, making it so that Ryuzio had always been able to at least guess where the routes were leading to. That didn't apply here. He couldn't see where even one of these three ways was leading to.
But this would obviously not stop him from getting to the Skybridge.
"Ethersurge," Ryuzio said quietly, as if trying to memorize the name of this Secondary Style by heart. His fiery Ether Surged throughout his body. "And now… Dragon Cloak!" His right shoulder erupted out tens of Scales, each spiraling down to his fist. "Dragon Gauntlet!" They locked around his fist in the form of a spiky glove, red Ether burning brightly. He'd expected the glow to be stronger than this but at least it was something.
The light bursting out from his burning fist lit the cave, showing him the way.
"Okay," Ryuzio said, right fist pointed forward, toward the route head on. "I choose you!" But before he could take more than two steps, a figure immerged from the shadows to the right, holding a lantern, making him pull his Gauntlet to the side. "Were YOU the one following me?"
The figure stepped forward, hands to the front, one open wide, the other holding onto a lantern. "N-Not at all!" he said with a wavering voice "I was just on my way to the southern mines! I'm just a regular miner."
"A miner?" Ryuzio said, curious. "So you must know everything about these caves, yeah?" He stepped closer to the figure, deactivating his Gauntlet, the appearance of the person standing before him becoming clearer.
The figure was a boy who must've been very close to Ryuzio's age. He wore a long, dark green cloak over his lean body, a pair of brown boots, a vest over his shirt, and some plain pants. He had curly green hair and emerald green eyes, freckles on his cheeks, and skin as fair as Joy's, if not more so. And his ears were…really pointy.
Ryuzio poked the pointy ends, scratching his chin with the other hand. "Weird…"
"There's nothing weird about them," he said without too much confidence, batting away Ryuzio's hand. "They are completely normal."
"Okay," Ryuzio said with a smile, pulling back his hand. "Anyway, can you show me the quickest way to the Skybridge to Welkis?"
The green-haired miner fell in thought for a second, but eventually nodded. "I don't wanna know who you are or what you're here for, but just don't cause trouble for anyone, fine?"
Ryuzio looked him in the eyes, confused. "Heh?"
"Follow me," he said, turning back to the right route. "I'll show you the way."
"Okay!" Ryuzio smiled, following behind.
"What was that in your hand?" Curlygreen asked, looking straight on. "The thing you were using for light."
Ryuzio brought his right fist in front of his face. "Oh, that! That was my Etherskill. I call it Dragon Gauntlet! It's awesome, yeah?"
"Etherskill?" Curlygreen said, turning his head toward Ryuzio. "What's that?"
"You don't know?" Ryuzio said with rising eyebrows. "I'd hate to be that dumb."
Curlygreen winced as if caught off guard. "Er…"
"What do you mine, miner?" Ryuzio asked genuinely. "Rocks?"
"Er…" Curlyhead said, breaking eye contact immediately, putting his eyes back onto the route they were walking through. "Lucentums."
"Loose end drums?" Ryuzio said, picking his nose with a pinky. "Oh, yeah, those things."
"You don't know what lucentums are?" Curlygreen said with a hint of a cheeky smile. "I'd hate to be that…" Each word that left his mouth in this last bit was softer than the last.
Ryuzio looked at him and his eyes lingered for a bit, awaiting something… Anything.
"I didn't bring you here, fine?" Curlygreen said, lifting the lantern to shoulder level. "You decided to come here."
"Heh?" Ryuzio said, confused. "Of course. Why're you telling me this?"
With a couple more steps, they reached an open space inside this cave system. There wasn't a single notable thing about the large area…other than the light that was successfully penetrating past the surface—which was the ceiling of this cave—to alight it. Ryuzio had found a way out!
"Awesome!" Ryuzio said to himself, turning around in excitement while at the same time trying to locate a way to reach to the light above. The walls were indeed too slippery to climb, but he couldn't think of any other way—
He crashed into something rigid standing in front of him. Backing away to get a clear picture, Ryuzio found that he'd crashed into…
An Etherbeast—
"Ethersurge—!"
The beast brought down both its forearms, trying to crush Ryuzio beneath them. He simply jumped back, the Beast's fists slowing down mid-strike. Looking over his shoulder, he warned Curlygreen, "Stay behind me! I'll take care of—"
Curlygreen was swarmed by tens of short creatures with bloodshot eyes, each having four ears.
Ryuzio ran toward him, Ether-enhanced fist pulled back. "Get away from him—!" He broke his run as Curlygreen dropped the lantern, putting both palms to the front of his face. Only now Ryuzio noticed that the little Etherbeasts weren't attacking Curlygreen…they were simply by his side.
But the one behind Ryuzio's back didn't seem like these little ones. It was wild and aggressive, dark red skin with a round gut, massive forearms and tiny hands, almost seeming mismatched.
The Beast was a little over twice the height of Ryuzio, standing on legs that seemed too frail to keep its body from falling, eyes bloodshot like the little ones and just as many ears as them. The more Ryuzio looked at it, the more he found it to be kinda like a scaled-up version of the little Etherbeasts.
"He won't attack you," Curlygreen said, getting behind a wall of short Etherbeasts. "Just don't ever come back to these caves…" He pointed to over Ryuzio's shoulder. "HE'S saying that, not me, obviously."
"You can talk to Etherbeasts?" Ryuzio said, amazed. "That's awesome!"
Curlygreen's eyes widened as he fell silent.
"Can all miners do that?" Ryuzio asked genuinely. "If I stay in these caves for a little bit more, would I be able to talk to them too?"
"I'm not a miner." Curlygreen lowered his head. "I could never be one! They disgust me!"
Ryuzio picked his nose with a pinky. "Heh? Then why did you lie to me?"
Curly reached behind and pulled out a bow hidden underneath his cloak. He straightened the arm holding the bow, giving Ryuzio a pretty good look at it. It was mostly a very dark shade of green and very mechanical—not like anything Ryuzio'd made with Xen to play with in the mountains.
So his eyes lit up from excitement as he slid closer to Curlygreen. "A bow! That's so awesome!" The short Etherbeasts flinched before backing away. The closer Ryuzio got, the farther they backed.
Curlygreen loaded the bow with an arrow, the head of which was very unique. Surprising to Ryuzio, the bow held several arrows on, eliminating the need of a quiver for quick reloading.
Curly gulped before yelling out a warning, "Don't get close—!"
Ryuzio kept getting closer and soon was touching the bow. He felt its smooth texture and even got a closer look at its parts, including the arrow and string.
"You have a bow pointed at you and you're surrounded by Etherbeasts from both sides!" Curlygreen blurted. "How're you not scared?"
Ryuzio looked him dead in the eyes. "What's there to be scared about when I can beat with all of you?"
Curlygreen gulped, his expression tightening. "Er…"
"You didn't tell me," Ryuzio said, poking at his pointy ears. "Why'd you lie about being a miner?"
Curlygreen choked out of air. The short Etherbeasts were still hesitating to come close to Ryuzio, some gathering courage, only to take one step forward and two steps back.
"Heh?" Ryuzio said, tilting his head. "Something wrong?"
"I've never seen these Etherbeasts scared of an outsider before," Curlygreen said, gulping. "Just…who are you?"
Ryuzio smiled, answering as if he'd been waiting for it, "I'm Ryuzio Smyte, the man who's gonna be the Sky King!"
"S-Sky King?" Curlygreen backed away with a short yelp of surprise. "Do you even know what that means?"
"Uh-huh!" Ryuzio said with a nod. "The Sky King is free to fly wherever he wants, whenever he wants, without restrictions. That's who I wanna be!"
"Freedom…" Curlygreen's shoulder's slouched, head lowering. "I've dreamt of it too…"
"Yo!" Ryuzio said with a smile, squatting to look up at the lowered face of Curlygreen. "And what's your name?"
Curlygreen hesitated for a moment, but then finally let out his name, "Arold."
"Just Arold?" Ryuzio said, disappointed. "Are you sure?"
"Er…" said Arold the Curlygreen with a little wince. "Arold Tonidex…?"
Ryuzio laughed. "I was not asking your last name, dummy! I just wanted to know your dream—"
Ryuzio cut himself off, climbing to his feet and taking a step away from the green-haired boy. 'Tonidex…' he thought intensely, scratching his cheek. 'Tonidex…' He'd heard that name somewhere before, he was sure of it. But where…?
Arold gulped. "Something wrong—?"
'You're not a gunslinger!'
'Why would you say that, kid?'
'You don't even have a gun!'
'The only gun I need is right here…' Harold had pointed to his chest.
"Now I remember!" Ryuzio said in loud surprise, pointing a finger at Arold. "YOU'RE HAROLD'S SON!" After all, all the red-haired gunslinger ever talked about was his pretty wife and their brilliant child!