I was completely speechless, my mother disappeared in front of my eyes. Without Mom, how am I going to survive, how am I going to continue? It was scary to think about, I didn't have a clue how to live.
As I was pondering about my life, Sekito walked out of the room and headed for the exit. Waving her hand in the air and saying,
"Good luck kiddo, best wishes."
She had left my house. Standing alone in my mother's room. The smell of fried rice lingered. I couldn't live like this, I don't want to live like this. Thus I left my mother, the house, and the fried rice, I ran after Sekito at max speeds, slipping as I turned a corner. Desperately trying to catch up with her, I ran and ran, until I was completely exhausted. As I was catching my breath, I could see a figure with purple cloth. I ran up to it.
As I came closer, I felt heavy, the air around me pressed against me, and I was crushed by the weight of the surrounding air. Chains materialized and chained me, suspending me in the air. The figure turned around.
"You are following me now? The last thing I want is taking care of a kid." She exhaled deeply.
The pressure returned to normal and the chain was unbound.
"Ask someone else to take care of you. I don't wanna," she said, tired.
She continued to walk away to the mountains but I still followed. She was one of my mother's friends, right? So I can probably trust her, I knew my mom wouldn't make wrong choices about her friends.
Sekito didn't look back, she just continue forward without regard that I was behind. When she reached the foot of the mountain, Sekito pulled out a bottle of water and drank it. The bottle suddenly flew in the air and hit my head,
"It has been a long walk, drink up kiddo." She said.
I took the water bottle and unplugged the cork and started drinking. It was water, but it tasted magical, it was like waking up late at night, and getting that cold water to drink but ten times better.
My expression softened and my mind went numb. I asked where the water was from, and Serenity replied that it was from her house.
Now walking up the steps up to the mountain, I see huge arches and old red shrines. The arches were painted red and plated with gold. The shrines had been unattended for a while but still seemed clean and fresh.
"This whole place is my home," Sekito said.
When we finally reached the top, Serenity said to sit down and wait. The first thing I saw when I came up here was a giant oak tree. Its leaves were bright and colorful. It was so big and beautiful, its presence was enough to make my insides tranquil and peaceful.
After arriving there, Sekito would give me food and water and let me sleep in the shrines. Sekito didn't bother talking to me, she only took care of my essential needs.
Aylin rounded up her story and sat there with a smile.
"That's how I met Serenity." She said.
I was still interested in hearing more and tried to poke some more stories out of her.
"Aylin, what happened after? Why did you get your curse of desire?" I asked with gleaming eyes.
Aylin pushed my request away, telling me that she would tell me one day.
"Soo… you remember the old mountain you went to?" I asked nervously.
She reassured me that she knows the location of the mountain. While Aylin was talking about the location, I remembered the custom-made weapon Pikola had made for me.
"It has been like two hours right?" I asked.
Aylin nodded and we started walking back. Pikola's shop was the first thing I needed to check up on. Arriving back in town, we went straight to the shop.
"Yo, are you there?" I called out.
I could still hear banging and the sound of metal scraping behind the counter. Going to the corner of the reception, Pikola is hammering a piece of metal, but it wasn't Carpinite.
I yelled out once more and he turned his head around to face me.
"Yoooo, welcome back, I have been waiting! He said ecstatic.
He opened one of his drawers with a special key and took out a scabbard with a handle.
"Here, this is what I made for you. Enchanted with item soul connection and specially made just for you," he said smiling.
I took the dagger and unsheathed it. Pulling out a medium-long blade with a hue of dark blue. Its hilt is a beautiful pattern that resembles water droplets. The handle was perfectly hand weaved and had a dark color to it.
"Woahh, this is hella cool," I said.
Pikola then suggested I try the item soul connection. You are supposed to focus on the symbol on the sword and try naming it.
Naming it? Like giving the sword a name? Hmm, that is too difficult, let's try something easy.
"Yuna," awaken.
The sword turned black and black mist flowed down from my cheek. Panicked, I looked at Aylin whose mark had also sprouted.
"I wish for stability," she muttered.
The mist stopped and both our flowers dissipated.
"What was that?" Pikola asked.
Trying to avoid suspicion, I blamed Aylin, that she somehow let go of a smoke bomb.
"Is that so?" Looking at us with intense eyes.
After staring at us for a bit, he suddenly sat down satisfied,
"Alright then, try your item soul connection." He said.
"Yuna."
Turning into a black color like last time but this time it didn't emit mist, it impaled my hand. My whole hand is covered by holes and spikes. This oddly gives me a sense of deja vu…
It didn't hurt this time, the wounds didn't hurt. Was it because it was an item soul connection it didn't hurt?
"Are you okay man? Your hands are kinda messed up," Pikola said worried.
"Ye, I'm fine, it is just really uncomfortable, you know, having these spikes in my hand."
The blood covered the whole blade, dying it red. After it turned bright red, the blade mixed with my blood, and the dagger turned into a black, red, and black blade.
"You got anything to test this on?" I asked.
Pikola shook his head but then I felt a slight tap on my shoulder, Aylin gave me an apple.
"Here, try cutting this," she said.
She positioned herself a little bit back, throwing the apple. It flew through the air, and with my new dagger, I sliced it. After I sliced it, nothing fell to the ground.
"Wut?" 3x
All of us became super confused, trying to figure out where the apple went.
"Aylin, where did the apple go?"
"Ion know."
Pikola stood there super confused and we just backed out of the store, thanking him for the blade.
With blood dripping from my hand, we walked to the inn,
"Marlowlia! Over here!" I yelled out.
She turned her head and Emovi who was standing next to her came running to me. When she saw my hand she backed up a bit, scared.
"Sister, what happened to your hand? Why are you holding a dagger?" She asked confused.
Marlowlia didn't want to take part in any of this and just stayed there. Emerging from behind Marlowlia's feet is Oslovi, it climbed up on my head and sat without regard for the blood.
"What a bliss," I said relaxed.
The spike retracted and the blood stopped. My hand went back to normal and my blade too. Oslovi's mark lit up green and disappeared.
"Thanks, Oslovi," I said while rubbing its head.
Walking up to Marlowlia and introducing her to Aylin. It was hard to convince Marlowlia to talk to some random stranger but Aylin's small talk made it easier.
"Marlowlia, we are going to make a little detour to the mountains of Serenity before we get to the coastal city. Aylin here is going to show us the way there." I said.
"Why though?"
"We going to get some help from the Aeon of Serenity," I elaborated.
"Why?"
"Aylin, you said there were animals on the mountain right? Like goats, sheep, and ducks right? All type of fauna?"
Aylin started to speak about the various animals there was on the mountain and how she got to interact with them. Holding up ducks and hearing them quack, hearing goats bleating and feeling the soft and warm wool of sheep.
After Aylins long story, Marlowlia's eyes lit up, like a child tempted with sweetness. She started to jump up and down in excitement.
"Goats!" She said.
"So you have no problem with going to the mountains of Serenity?" I asked.
Marlowlia nodded in approval. I asked Emovi if it would affect the time of getting to the coastal city. She explained that it wouldn't affect the time that much due to the coastal city being so close to the mountains of Serenity.
"By the way Emovi, what is the name of the coastal city?"
Emovi looked at Marlowlia who is thinking about goats and ducks, Marlowlia snapped back into reality and answered my question.
"It is called Nautilus."
Isn't that a hard fish? Octopus? Snail? Whatever it is. It has a cool name, the coastal city, Nautilus.
We left the city of Mondlicht and headed for the mountains of Serenity.
We had arrived at the thick forest with one single path.
The path meandered through towering trees, their branches forming a natural canopy that filtered the sunlight and created a serene atmosphere. Birds chirped melodiously, their songs echoing through the forest, while gentle streams cascaded down the mountainside, creating a soothing soundtrack to our journey.
As we hiked further, the trees began to thin out, revealing panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. Rocky cliffs and cascading waterfalls adorned the mountainside, their beauty captivating our senses. The vibrant hues of wildflowers painted the meadows, adding a touch of color to the otherwise green landscape.
We paused for a rest near a crystal-clear stream, refreshing ourselves with the cool water and taking in the tranquil surroundings. Aylin shared stories of her encounters with various animals on these mountains—playful squirrels, elusive deer, and even mischievous mountain foxes. Marlowlia listened intently, her eyes widening with every tale.
"Aylin, when the hell are we there? We have been walking for hours," I exclaimed.
"Sister… I think, I think I see the light, the heavens are reaching out for me…"
Emovi's body rolled down the hill and crashed into a tree.
"OWWW, MY HEAD!?!"
Emovi woke up again and started walking up the hill again.
"Come Emovi, just hop on my back," I said.
Emovi jumped onto my back and started napping. She must know that she is extra luggage by this point. While continuing up the trail, Aylin shouted,
"Look! It is the shrines, we are finally here!" She said exhilarated.
It is true, the arches were painted red and covered in gold plating, majestic.
We continued up, taking the last step, I saw the giant tree I heard in Aylin's story. It was beautiful, its leaves radiated and vibrated hundreds of colors. Not only the huge oak tree but the shrines in the surrounding area, they were all properly cleaned and beautiful.
A voice could be heard from a small entrance in the oak tree.
"Well this is a familiar presence, how have you been Aylin?" A female voice called out.
A woman emerged from the tree. Her white hair swayed in the wind and her eyes resembled the coming winter, so white and cold. She had three layers of clothing, the first layer was a black dress, the second was a white smaller dress that hung from her shoulders, and the third one was a purple one that covered everything. She had a few leaves on her head still and around her dress hung golden chains.
"So, are these your friends or your kidnappers? Kiddo?" She threatened.
The surrounding area was turned into a negative point, the pressure increased and it became difficult to breathe, chains materialized and were just about to bind us.
"Stop! They are my friends!"