We arrived in a forest which is on a mountain.
This is where I came on vacation as a child. This country was always my family's vacation destination...
My father... my mother... everyone was still with me.
Even my grandfather was still with us.
He was very wise and was much stronger than my father.
He had taught me everything he could. Only... to a skill I was not yet ready... well how ready could you be as a 7 year old.
I always wanted to learn them but then he died. This loss hit my father very hard. He had changed from the ground up.
He was no longer the loving father as I knew him. He was reserved and introverted. It seemed rather as if all his feelings were simply evaporated.
My father was always the man I respected the most... of course after my grandfather.
Anyway. I'm glad I was able to escape with Rione. It didn't look like we were still being followed.
"Are we safe?" Rione asked worriedly.
"I think so," I said thoughtfully.
Who was the doctor talking to?
Was he perhaps communicating with someone by magic?
I noticed slight magic waves on the wall... strange. I don't know what he was doing, but what I do know is that he was up to no good.
It still feels weird somehow though.
Somehow I feel like I'm being watched... it could just be my imagination.
""
Musashi looked behind him to a tree.
He didn't seem to see a silhouette of a person on a branch, which disappeared as he walked on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why did you let him escape?" said a dark silhouette sitting on a throne.
The voice sounded distorted. The bass was felt so strongly that the walls crumbled as soon as he began to speak.
"I'm sorry... Master... we couldn't stop him. He was too fast..." said the servant in a shaky voice.
He knelt in front of the silhouette with his head down.
"Did he even use his sword?" asked the silhouette.
"N-No.... No, M-Master, he didn't." You could feel the servant's fear.
"And still you have not managed to catch a teenager.... he is nothing more than a stupid child. And you are not even capable of that? You are not worthy to be my servants. You are not even worthy to come near me. Not even to speak to me."
The silhouette made a hand gesture and the servant's blood spurted out of the servant with high pressure.
He screamed in pain and began to cry.
His blood did not stop. All his blood was continuously flowing out of the servant's body.
The screams of pain. The sound of death. The heat of hell... all this could be felt over the entire island.
The clouds turned dark and it began to rain. A storm passed over the island.
"Such a disgrace does not deserve to live. Burn in hell and regret that you were born," he spoke these words and you could feel the anger in his voice.
When he sat down again, he summoned one of his subordinates.
A young boy entered the room. He knelt down in front of the throne on which the silhouette was sitting on and asked:
"What do you need...Master Eron?"
At the moment when the name Eron appeared, a bolt of lightning struck the tree behind Rione and Musashi. But the lightning had a different color. It was colored red. Blood red... it seemed smooth as if the servant's blood had been an offering to heaven.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rione was frightened and asked Musashi in panic:
"What was that?" while instinctively clinging to Musashi's arm.
"I don't know. It looked like lightning... but it was kind of red."
"Oh, by the way, could you let go of me?" asked Musashi embarrassedly.
His face turned red as Rione pushed away from him.
"I'm sorry..." Rione stuttered and looked at the floor.
"It's just... I've never had contact with girls like this before. I'll just take you back to your house... these are my problems and my business. I don't want to drag you into this."
I thought about the safest way to bring her home.
I wondered if she would be recognized if she went alone.
I mean the doctor saw her and... well the doctor's assistants saw her too... I think it would be better if I took her home.
Maybe the situation will calm down when I go to school normally. In the school we should both be safe.
"We have to go back to the city as soon as possible. If we go to school normally, we should be safe."
"If you say so..." Rione sounded disappointed.
I-I wanted to spend some time alone with him... I have to use this chance...
thought Rione.
Me and Rione had a short look at the house in front of us.
It looked like a kind of "temple". We went inside and saw a kind of shrine.
On the left side of the "temple" and on the right side was a shrine.
There were two images set up there.
I looked at the left side and Rione looked at the right side.
What I saw frightened me.
I turned around and Rione turned around at the same moment.
"M-Musas-shi h-here i-is a picture of you?!" she trembled and stuttered, wondering if it was the real Musashi who was accompanying her.
"And here is a picture of my brother?" Musashi said worriedly.
This shrine looked abandoned and run down.
My brother disappeared when I was very young and my clan split into two when something shocking happened.
One half of my clan was led by my mother and her relatives and the other half by my father and his family.
My parents were both at odds when my brother disappeared.
My mother blamed my father and it was the same from my father. He blamed my mother. When our clan disintegrated, so did our family.
My mother and her half of the clan disappeared from our country one day.
I still don't know what happened to her and half of the clan. I think that she died just like my father and so did our clan.
I am the last survivor of my clan.
A stray dog searching for the meaning of his life. I can't even rebuild my clan because I'm not good with women.
Besides, it would take centuries to rebuild this clan properly.
At least I would not be able to do that. Therefore, the history of my clan will die along with me.
I am sorry father. I am sorry mother. But who thought I was "dead" here? Such shrines are built only when a relative has died and you want to honor him and contact him. But then this shrine would have to be very old. My relatives have been dead for a very long time.
"Who are you? What are you doing in this deserted place..." spoke a deep male voice. It sounded like an old man.
I turned around and saw an old man with his walking stick.
"We ehm... well..." stuttered Rione.
"We are just travelers. Why?" spoke Musashi.
"This shrine has been abandoned for a long time... I never thought that anyone would ever come here," the old man said thoughtfully.
I thought about what I could answer. I couldn't think of anything. Maybe we should just-
"We just wanted to take a break," Rione said, smiling.
She surprises me every time... She seems so shy but sometimes speaks as if it's nothing special.
"Hm... a break at a shrine?" the man said thoughtfully
"Sounds believable," said the man.
I didn't think we could get out of such a situation so easily. I really didn't expect this from Rione. I think...
_______________________
"I think we should go on," said Musashi.
"Do you think so? Why? We might be able to-"
"No, we couldn't." Musashi interrupted Rione
"We have to get out of here. No matter what happens. We are still not safe from our enemies..." said Musashi.
"I don't mind... I just think this place is very beautiful..." she looked at the Sakura tree.
"I know we can come back soon..."