"Over here! We have somebody!" I heard a voice shout. I was in a daze the entire time. It looked like it was dark now... I didn't even realize it. I just had an extremely hard time fathoming Daria and Shima both dying like that.
"Anima?!" I heard a voice shout. I turned my head to see Fuki standing behind me.
"Fuki… Joro, he did this... he wiped out Zyphilia entirely... he killed my companion and my friend... and he froze everybody in town..." I told him.
"Are you lying to me?" Fuki asked. I looked at him, completely dumbfounded.
"Excuse me? Why would I lie about that... my friends... the city... they're all dead, and you think I would lie about that?" I asked Fuki. He stood silent.
"I have eyewitness testimony that said you did this after stealing a ton of money. You couldn't pay it back to Zyphilia's town hall... so you killed everybody in it." Fuki told me.
This can't be happening... he really doesn't believe me?
"Fuki… trust me... Joro froze everything after shooting my arm off of my body... what motive would I have to lie about anything like that?!" I got up in his face, grabbing his collar while yelling at him.
"I don't know... I don't want to believe the King, but I have no reason not to! I don't know why you would've! But... you said you wanted to raise your reputation... I didn't think this is what you meant..." Fuki said. I pushed him away and turned my back on him.
"Then... don't believe me. I don't care anymore. Just please... bury Daria somewhere safe... she had a family in Zyphilia somewhere... and if you somehow get to unfreeze it and save everybody in it... tell Lolo I'm sorry." I told Fuki.
"I'll believe you... but you should get out of here now. Before the soldiers get here." Fuki told me.
I ran in the opposite direction, jumping down the hill while running into the forest past the northern mountain.
These trees had orange trunks and blue leaves... I ran as fast as I could while carrying bits of Shima's dissolved body... wondering where I could bury it, or if I could revive her.
I had nowhere to go and no sense of direction after running like this. I was in the middle of the forest with no end in sight... dammit... my entire life flipped around in just one day... I wanted somebody to bond with... but I even lost that when Shima and Daria died.
That was Joro… Lord of Elements... and it sounded like he had contact with Shimeru as well... then those two are alive after all. Just like Lolo told me, the members of Prism aren't a joke. They're dangerous... Joro froze the entire city without reciting the name of the skill as well...
What do I do now? Where do I go? Dorrendale was always an option... along with New Olympia... should I return to Gaia? I learned Alchemy... but I still had no idea how to material craft. Now that I was alone, I didn't have to worry about feeding Shima... but I wanted to...
I tore branches off of trees and piled them all together underneath an overhanging rock in the forest. Using [Bullet 3], I was able to use the smoke from the bullet as it emitted from my staff to create kindling under the fire. Since my left arm was shot off, I could no longer shoot skills out of my hands. I had to have the staff in my right hand for a skill to come out. Not to mention... my staff was badly damaged as well.
The wood had some burn marks within separate pieces, and the bandages wrapped around it were almost all burned off. Now that I had a clear head while sitting by a fire, I needed a new plan...
Sieve wanted to accuse me of freezing Zyphilia... but how would they know it was my fault? Who was their eyewitness...
Was Joro a part of Sieve?!
He talked to Shimeru about the destruction of Zyphilia after it happened... Joro knew my name as well after Daria said it and was able to recognize I was the Magic Hero...
Think Anima, think!
Joro and Shimeru had to have been in the room with Fuki and me when we were summoned together, that's the only way they would've known...
I need to get far away from here and I need to do something about my reputation... it's rapidly falling so long as they spread the word about what I apparently did...
Unless...
No! Stop thinking like that. I can't kill everybody there. I needed some sort of plan...
"You said he went into this forest?" I heard somebody ask. I stomped out my fire and hid within the darkness behind the rock, concealing my staff while keeping my ears open.
"I can't believe we're this deep in Demon Territory... after we reclaimed that city close to the gate, I would've thought they would be extremely fierce... yet they just run?" One of the voices said.
City close to the gate... were they talking about Gaia?!
I needed to get there right now! But it would take me three days... it doesn't matter! I'll run if I have to!
"But can you believe it? Anima was a Demon in disguise all along? He must've timed his summoning really well..." They continued on with their conversation. I was looked at like I was a Demon again... but this time it seemed finalized.
They were so adamant about making me out to be a Demon... what, did they hate me that much?
At the same time, I didn't have time to mourn for my friend's deaths, and I was made out to be some sort of villain... is that what they want out of me? Do they want me to be this 'villain' they keep telling me I am?
I'm in a territory they don't own and seen as the enemy... fine, so be it. I'll head to Gaia now... there's no way Henry went down without a fight, but I'll bring more to Sieve.
To hell with it... if any of Sieve's soldiers get in my way, I'll kill them.
I don't want to, and never wanted to kill anybody, but they're leaving me with no choice. Everything is being pinned on me because Joro had connections to the noble meeting when Fuki and I were summoned... but why does he hate me, of all people? Is Fuki safe in Sieve as long as Joro didn't like Heroes?
There were a ton of questions now... but I had to check on Gaia before I moved onto anything else.