"Ah....!" Abrafo screamed, feeling like there were hundreds of ants crawling on his body, making his whole body itchy. Even though he soaked in the pond, his body still felt itchy. He didn't know how to get rid of the itching on his body. "You sissy!" he screamed angrily. "If I find you and your people, I will tie you up and starve you to death." He raised his hands to rub his face to relieve the itching, buthis hands were held by Michio.
"Do not scratch," Michio said. "U-ri said if you scratch, your skin will break and turn into scars. Your handsome face will be ruined."
Abrafo gasped, "How many days do I have to stay here?"
"You have to stay there until you stop itching," Michio said. Michio took out some of Hajime's hair and placed it on the rock next to Abrafo. "Diverting your attention is the best way to not think about your itch. Let's make hairpins."
Abrafo looked at Michio breathing heavily, trying to suppress the itchiness on his body. "Are you kidding me?" He said looking at the hair on top of the rock.
Michio said, "No... let's do some breathing exercises together. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly." He looked at Abrafo and smiled. "Good, now breathe in slowly and slowly weave the hairs in your hands, one strand at a time, slowly."
Sitting very close to the tree, the tree still brought them light. Yul, Hajime and U-ri are still making hairpins. Yule asked, "So, you said that the person who kidnapped you knew our intentions of wanting to enter No Man's Land, but how did he know? Only a few people know about our journey."
U-ri sighed and said, "At first I thought that person was Lord Lixin, but when I pulled the mask down, that person was not Lord Lixin."
Hajime said, "What I don't understand is that we only enter No Man's land because we need the White Dragon Tail to save Tangzang Kingdom from destruction. Why did the man who kidnapped you want to enter No Man's Land? Does he also want the white dragon tail too?"
Yul said, "Remember what Chun told us back in Skull Forest?"
Hajime looked away and said, "I don't know. I wasn't listening when you were flirting with her."
Yul shook his head and said, "If you enter No Man's Land, you can be granted with one wish."
Hajime said, "No one knows how true this is. She could be lying to us."
Michio turned to him and said, "I agree with Hajime. After all, she did try to kill us but failed."
Abrafo added, "Not to mention, it's because of her that we left the money box full of silver leaves behind." He sighed and looked at the stars. "I can't believe that we noble people, the holy monks in the palace. The king's most trusted advisor, the leader of the palace guard, and the second-in-command of the largest army in Tangzang, will one day have to earn money by weaving hair into hairpin and sleep in the wilderness."
Yul said, "This is not the first time or the last time we will sleep outside or have to work for money to continue our journey."
Abrafo said, "I know. I just feel sorry for us. We noble birth... deserve better than this."
"Those who have gone through hardships and emerged victorious are true champions," Michio said.
Yul said, "At least one of us is still thinking positively."
U-ri said, "Now, except for us... I really don't trust anyone else."
"And it should stay that way," Yul said. "No matter how many difficulties we may encounter; we must remember that there are thousands of people who put their hope in the five of us. Failure is unacceptable. If we fail, everyone back home will perish."
Michio felt guilty after hearing Yul's words. He knows a secret but doesn't share it with his friends. He looked at the men sitting making hairpins and sighed. "I've been hiding something from you." Everyone stopped and stared at Michio.
"Michio..." U-ri said. "What secrets are you hiding from us?"
Michio said, "I would love to share this secret with everyone, but I thought I would not share it until the last minute, but Yul's words made me feel guilty about keeping this secret."
Abrafo said, "If this secret involves us, then we have to know."
Hajime said, "Sharing it with us also makes us feel better and more prepared."
Yul asked, "What's the secret?"
Michio said, "When I was separated from everyone in Magior City, Master Bailong found me. I mentioned to him that we wanted to enter No Man's Land."
Abrafo chuckled, "This is not a secret. Even if you don't tell Master Bailong, Baishui will tell him anyway."
Yul said, "Baishui is our friend and I believe he will not hurt us."
Michio said, "Is not what I told Master Bailong, it was what Master Bailong told me."
Hajime asked, "What did he say?"
Michio said, "Master Bailong said that No Man's Land is the gate between our world and the Land of Chaos, and the Land of Chaos is the prison cell of the legendary Eldrys. The white dragon tail is what prevents Eldrys from escaping from the Land of Chaos into our world. Removing the white dragon tails from No Man's Land means freeing Eldrys, and if Eldrys is free, destruction and loss of life will ensue."
Hajime said, "So, if we take the White Dragon Tail from No Man's Land and save the Tangzang Kingdom, we are bringing destruction to the other kingdoms."
Yul said, "Then we must kill Eldrys first, and then we can take the dragon tail."
Michio shook his head and said, I said the same thing back then, but Master Bailong said that thousands of years ago, with the help of Avalokitesvara, the kings of the mortal world, and the Nine dragon Clan leaders merged their powers and created No Man's Land. The leaders of the Nine Dragons clans sacrificed themselves to create the white dragon tail to imprison Eldrys in No Man's Land because they couldn't kill Eldrys."
Abrafo said, "Just because they can't kill Eldrys doesn't mean we can't kill it. Think about it? He turned to look at the people sitting on the land. "The gods couldn't help Tangzang, so we were called to help Tangzang, there are some things in this world that mortals can do but gods cannot. "
U-ri thought Abrafo's comment was funny so he giggled and asked, "And what do you think the things that mortal can do, and the Gods can't do are?"
"Umm..." Abrafo paused because he couldn't think of what to say to U-ri.
Hajime broke the long silence and said, "For example, God is immortal, but we are not, but God cannot fall in love, but we can. We are free to choose who to spend the rest of our lives with, and although it is short, there are many Gods envy us that we can have children and even after we die, we have the ability to leave a part of ourselves to continue our legacy."
U-ri smiled and said, "I remember when you first walked into Tangzang, your thinking was not so rational."
Hajime replied, "I think differently than before because I learned from the experiences we encountered."
U-ri said, "You are the perfect interpretation of the old saying, age does not mean maturity, life experience can turn a boy into a man overnight."
Yul smiled and handed the completed hairpin to Hajime. "You do have a positive outlook on life," he said, grabbing a few more strands of hair.
Hajime said, "I prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown through the way I think." He looked at U-ri. "We can never remain children forever. Sooner or later, we have to grow up."
Yul said, "I like the way you think. We go through dangerous situations, but at the same time, we're building memories."
U-ri said, "We still have time to enjoyed ourselves a little before we meet the almighty Eldrys. I believe the five of us will come up with the best plan to deal with the unkillable Eldrys." He sighed. "What I'm worried about now is..." He looked back at the burning house. "Where are we going to sleep for the next few days?"
Abrafo turned around and asked, "I didn't ask you three, how did you put out the fire?"
Michio said, "We didn't. The fire was too big we couldn't put out, so we grabbed our stuff and chased after the two of you."
Hajime said, "The fire had been put out when we came back. Maybe someone or something put it out. Oh, I forgot to tell you. This tree." He pointed to the magical tree. "I believe it can sense when someone with bad intentions enter its territory."
Yul asked, "How?"
Hajime said, "When we were attacked by those men in black, these transparent berries suddenly turned dark."
Michio looked around and said, "Hey, speaking of those killed men in black. Where are their bodies or body parts?"
Abrafo shook his head mockingly. "Who cares? It's just fine I can't see them," he said, reaching out to grab more hair from the rock. "If what Hajime said is true, then this place must know that we are good people."
Yul said, "Let's find a place to build a temporary shelter. If it rains, we won't be able to sleep at night."
"I wish for a green and beautiful bamboo home. I once saw in a magazine that small houses made of bamboo were so cute," he said. "But that is wishful thinking. There is no bamboo here."
U-ri asked, "What is a magazine?"
Hajime cleared his throat. Hajime said, "It's the same as a book. We mages, sometimes call it a magazine."
Yul said, "Sleep here tonight and we'll see what we can do tomorrow."
"My fingers are numb from all the twisting," U-ri said. "Thank god Michio and I held on to our blankets unless we really had to sleep without one." He looked at Abrafo. "Are you sleeping in that pond? Or do you want to come up and sleep on the ground."
Abrafo said, I didn't want to come up. Even though I was feeling better, I was still itching."
U-ri put his blanket on the ground, looked at Abrafo, he said "Abrafo, I am using your blanket."
"Go ahead," Abrafo replied.
Michio yawned, grabbed his bag, and placed it next to U-ri's. Yul placed Hajime and his backpack next to Michio. Yul lay down and pulled the blanket over him.
Abrafo saw Hajime still making hairpins. He said, "Hajime, go to sleep. I will keep watch in case those people come back. I can't sleep anyway."
Hajime stood up, spread the blanket on the ground, and lay down to sleep.
Yul asked, "You would rather sleep on a blanket than cover yourself?"
Hajime said, "I don't like sleeping on the cold ground."
Yul approached Hajime, pulled Hajime into his arms, and covered him under the same blanket. Hajime tried to free himself from Yul's arms, but Yul tightened his grip on Hajime. "Don't move," Yul whispered.
"Yul..." Hajime turned to face Yul. "Why?"
Yul did not answer Hajime's question, but he kissed on Hajime's forehead and said, "Go to sleep."