"Wake up sleepy head!" The voice was high pitched and extremely feminine.
Ryuma slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with the smiling face of a blonde headed young girl. He rubbed his eyes. Was he really seeing things clearly?
He looked around. This place was familiar.
"Yes, you're still in Rebble silly," The girl said. She smiled ever wider at his response.
"Nuna?" He questioned.
She blinked twice. "Whoa, you're really out of it aren't you? You're such a sleepy head it's funny," She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up from the tree he was sitting next to. "C'mon. I have a cousin graduating from being a cleric. I want to see the graduating class,"
This was… a memory.
Ryuma recognized it as such. Both his and Nuna's size were smaller than the day he was taken off the island. Their height was shorter, she had more baby fat on her face, and the hand that pulled him forward were cute and tiny.
Ryuma looked at the sky. Not a single cloud for miles on end. He could see the sun in all its glory. It wasn't hidden behind any cloud. If it were night, he'd be able to see so much more. Things that he took for granted living up here.
"Nuna wait!" He said.
She stopped and turned towards him. "What's wrong?" She asked.
Ryuma looked around some more and took everything in. The people around them. Even the ones that weren't priest would regularly wear the color clothing that resembled the faction they truly belonged to. As a kid, he never took time to question the behaviors of the people he lived with. It's like they wanted to self-segregate from the other faction so much. Each of them held their own pride.
"Ryuma, we're gonna be late," Nuna chided.
If he remembered correctly, this was the day him and Nuna went to see her cousin Fistre Fischer off. From her personality and the way she acted around him, this had to be a year after they met. They were all junior clerics already, far from that shy, introverted girl he met when they had their first class. She'd take every initiative to spend time with him when she could.
"I know. It's just…" Truth was, he didn't know what he wanted to say. It's like he knew what the future held. What does he say.
"Oh… you want to go back to the surface world huh?" She asked. Her face darkened and her eyes hid behind her hair.
"What?" Ryuma asked. He didn't expect that to come from her. Was this not just a memory?
"You care more about what happens down there, then you do up here. Isn't it?" She asked again.
"Of course I don't. It's just… the people down there are suffering," He said.
"Ryuma… but we're suffering," Once she said that, the sky darkened, the town behind them turned to ruin, and there was a massive dragon, one that resembled Aeragis flying around and destroying everything. "Are they more important than we are?"
"Nuna. You know I don't think that. This world isn't what we thought it was," Ryuma argued.
"THEN WHAT IS IT!?" She yelled.
Ryuma was taken aback. He's never known the girl to yell at him. It was too clear this was a dream at this point. His own psyche working against him. His guilt coming to haunt him.
"You let that thing destroy us, only to go help a little girl have fun. What about us Ryuma? What about me Ryuma?" She pleaded.
Ryuma looked downwards. At its core, it was a good question. What was he doing down here? What can he do? Was he just really wasting his time? Was Maruna just an escape from his life he wanted to forget about?
All these questions ran through his head and jumbled his thoughts.
"RYUMA!" it was no longer the voice of a young girl, but that of a grown man.
Though he was small and just barely getting into puberty, his reactive training was still mentally there. He called his katanas forward and immediately swung at the new assailant. The one who'd just replaced Nuna's spot.
A katana of his opponent appeared and blocked the attack coming from his side. Their swords clang was locked in a clash.
Suddenly the lush green hills and destroyed village faded around him and was replaced with trees and mountains. The assailant blocking his attack was now a young man with rugged hair.
It was all coming back to him. "Kosha…"
"I appreciate the morning greeting," He said.
It took a bit for Ryuma to let it all sink in. He finally pulled his sword down and let it disappear. He rubbed his eyes to get a clear understanding of the world.
"I guess your reaction is passable, but you clearly can't discern friend from foe when you're like that. If I didn't block that attack, you weren't going to stop it,"
Ryuma retracted himself and said nothing.
"I don't think you should guard from your sleep,"
"I'd guard from my sleep whether you were on shift or not, so unless you plan on adding somebody defenseless to the group, I'd advise you drop it," Ryuma said.
Kosha pursed his lips. "I take it you're not a morning person,"
"I'm fine with the mornings. I'm not fine with knowing the whole worlds trying to kill me. Your mindset changes when that happens," Though he answered his questions, Ryuma was getting irritated with Kosha's prodding. If he wanted to tag along, the last thing he was going to do was to change how he does things.
"I get it. I'll let you do you," Kosha held up his hands defensively. He could sense Ryuma's irritation. Something Ryuma picked up himself.
{Whatever. As long as it helps him understand faster.}
He decided to drop it and looked around. His eyes darted in a specific direction, opposite of where they were going. Kosha followed his eyesight. Neither of them saw a thing.
"Something wrong?" Kosha asked.
"I feel like we're being followed," Ryuma said.
Kosha waved his hand away. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. If something were following us, I'd notice it right away. My senses are top notch,"
He held a smug face while he said it. Ryuma looked at him. He indeed was trained by a master swordsman, so he didn't doubt Kosha's ability in the slightest. That's what worried him. It wasn't somebodies' physical presence that he sensed. It was spirit force. Something Kosha had no way of sensing.
If that truly was the case, and his hunch was correct, then they were dealing with a priest who can mask their physical presence as well as their spirit force. An expert on both ends. This isn't what threw him off.
That presence he just felt… it didn't feel like a priest that belonged to The Order. It felt like an apparition. Could that be right? If so, instead of attacking when he sensed it, why did it hide away.
Ryuma's eyes widened. It couldn't be. Did he truly have the devil's luck?
All levels of apparitions possessed various levels of predator, prey animalistic behavior. That could happen even at level two or below. For an apparition to display intelligence, they could be dealing with a level five or above. He could barely handle a level two. Having to deal with an unknown five or above would be suicide at his level. He needed to distance himself from this looming threat. Thing was… how was he going to do that.
"I don't like those facial expressions you're making. Something you aint tellin me?" Kosha asked.
"Don't worry about it," Ryuma nonchalantly said. He turned and continued walking towards Naru.
Kosha walked up to keep pace. "Oh no, no, no. You're not going to leave me out of the loop. You sensed something didn't you?" He said.
"Sure I did. If it's apparition related, then there's no need for you to know," Ryuma said.
"You know, I think you have a skewed idea of how this partnership is supposed to work. I'm not supposed to be your sidekick if you haven't realized by now," Kosha complained.
"I preferred the term assistant. Thought that was more appropriate for you," Ryuma said.
"It's the same thing!" Kosha's eyes went white with anger.
Ryuma looked upwards in thought. "Now that I think about it, that is the same thing isn't it,"
Kosha used his thumb to push out his katana from his sheath. "I'm sorry. Seems I failed to supplant my position into your head," There was a vein popping on Kosha's head.
Ryuma summoned his katana's and smirked. "You really want a round two?" He asked.
"You know what, I do. I know all your tricks now. Your one-trick-pony attacks can only work once,"
"My god. Bold of you to assume that I even showed you all my tricks," Ryuma summoned his blade. The two stood there for a while before both began to smile.
"Fine. I get it. I'm going to go take a whiz for a bit. You can keep going. I'll catch up to you later… unless you want to join," Kosha said.
Ryuma turned around, ignoring his gesture. What was he thinking when he said he could come?