Fritz and Crimson both run full steam ahead, and when they see the man standing in their path, Fritz' hand opens revealing a chain with spikes on it which extend from her arm, and Crimson pulls out Marigold's dagger from his sleeve.
Mysterious Man: Please wait one second, I have--
Right as they reach him, he swiftly steps to the side and leans back, successfully dodging both weapons as they fly passed him and stop.
Fritz: I was sure I hit him, he must be fast..
Crimson: (His outfit is strange.. A brown coat and hat like that almost looks like..)
Mysterious Man: I have a message from princess Lilium, I'm not from this land as you could probably tell, but she meant for me to come here and tell you Crimson at right about...
He pulls a pocket watch from his coat and looks at it closely, and Crimson lowers his blade, letting his guard down a little.
Mysterious Man: Now! So in the past you met a.. Person. They gave you a strange jewel correct?
Crimson: How do you know about that..?
He clutches his black coat, giving away that he is indeed wearing it around his neck.
Mysterious Man: Yes well I can't go over what exactly it means just yet, but I can tell you that there is a creature, that wants it really badly. It is here today, and if you fight it right now, you and Marigold will lose your lives...
Crimson: Marigold? Why her?
Mysterious Man: You both have been placed under a curse. One that you cannot yet control. Marigold has better control over hers currently but if you don't find her, things could end up really bad. So follow me and I'll show you the way out of here..
Fritz: So they have a curse? While we run, please tell us about it..
They begin running once more down the hall.
Man: Well sadly the curse is something for you to both discover on your own, but for now all I can tell you is, you will need to find Lilium in the west when you escape, and she'll tell you the plan going forward. Oh also Marigold may or may not be in danger from her curse as we speak, so hurry!
Crimson: (Marigold.. We have an important conversation ahead of us when we leave...)
While they run, the chaos persists around Marigold as the dust is sliced through by Vander's flames and Fuuten's katana. She holds her necklace up in her hand, and it begins glowing blue.
Marigold: (I'll be useful.. I can feel their movements even if I can't see them... There!)
Water strikes like a serpent and Vander blocks it with his flames, only to be attacked by Fuuten's katana again. Skillfully blocking the attacks, Vander finally jumps backward and stops for a moment, and Fuuten follows suit.
Vander: This isn't good.. The queen is nearby. I'll have to go for now.. But this fight isn't over. Not until one of us lands a hit at least.
he quickly dashes off and Fuuten sheathes his blade before walking over to Marigold.
Fuuten: Your friends are near here now, and they are with someone. If we go now, we'll all meet up at the same time with the queen.
Marigold: R-right.. Why was he even attacking us though...
Fuuten: Not important, we'll find out later. For now there is more pressing matters.
Standing to her feet, Marigold follows close behind Fuuten as he runs toward the others. And finally they meet up in the middle.
Fuuten: Milady!
Fritz: Is that..
Crimson: Yeah the samurai.
Queen: Fuuten, I see you've made a friend.. I can get us all out of here. I've been working on a way to exit.
Man: Hm.. I think its about time I take my leave then.. Remember what I said Crimson...
Marigold: Who's that?
Fritz: Where are you gonna go?
He places his hands in his pockets and calmly starts walking off before vanishing out of thin air.
Queen: He's not a part of our kingdom so let him leave..
She opens a pathway through the wall and steps onto it.
Fuuten: We can relax when we're out of harms way, so lets follow her and then talk.
He steps onto the path after her and everyone else follows suit. Eventually they end up at the entrance to the palace again.
Crimson: Marigold I have a lot to talk to you about..
Fritz: Fuuten was your name? We've come to ask you to travel with us on our journey.
Fuuten: Hm? I don't... I'm the queen's samurai, I can't just leave her..
Fritz: Come on.. We need your help and we made a long journey to get here...
Fuuten: Please lets discuss this a bit more before jumping to conclusions alright? But first let me check up on Milady...
He walks into the palace entrance and Fritz follows him still asking questions.
Marigold: I.. Had something to tell you too Crimson. Its about my past, and this necklace..
Crimson: I know, its a curse. I have one too.. And I'm willing to bet that you mean those strange visions you probably saw when you were younger right?
Marigold: H-how do you know?
Crimson: I've seen some too.. I saw... You, when you were younger. I couldn't quite make out what you were doing, but I saw you doing different things..
Marigold: And I saw you, carrying logs once, and then another time, you were listening to your parents lecturing you...
Crimson: I think what was happening in these memories is unimportant, but the fact that we were seeing visions of each other must mean something right?
They both sit down and exchange what their interpretations are, and eventually Fritz and Fuuten step back outside.
Fritz: Hey, guys...
Fuuten: I've come back with some news.. Mm?
Marigold: What is it?
Marigold and Crimson stand up and notice Fuuten and Fritz looking to the side intently. The world seems to slow down when they both look over as well, and they see a person who is out of place. Wearing a black cloak rather than the usual white ones the rest of the townspeople have.
Crimson: (What is this, and why does my heart feel strange..?)
The world still feeling sluggish also dims around that person as they slowly walk toward them methodically. The person pulls out a blade with black flames surrounding it and Crimson grabs Marigold's arm, pulling her and running.
Fuuten: Be careful, that sword isn't normal!
Fritz: I can't analyze it...
The person begins running as well, and Fuuten blocks a swipe from their sword with his katana before the person swiftly steps passed him.
Fuuten: (Their target is.. Crimson and Marigold!?)
The two jump onto rooftops, parkouring away from the person who seems to still move slowly while somehow keeping up with them. Fuuten and Fritz jump onto a separate roof to get a better view of where that person is. Once she sees them in a clearing away from the townspeople, Fritz opens her mouth, a rifle barrel shifting out of it and pointing toward the cloaked adversary.
Fuuten: What the, my ears must be mistaken, you don't have a gun in your mouth right?
The rifle blasts a small beam of fire at the person that instantly releases energy, turning itself into a large bomb. When the smoke clears up, Fuuten and Fritz can see the person unphased, standing in the middle of a mini crater, covering their face.
Fritz: Attacker has black short hair, and an unknown uniform that almost looks like it could be from the defense academy in the south...
The person looks up at them before putting away the sword, and dispersing into shadows, vanishing instantly. Fritz and Fuuten quickly run to meet up with Crimson and Marigold, who are now outside the kingdom.
Marigold: Wh-what was that!?
Crimson: That man told us we would run into someone like that soon... I could tell instantly that if that sword so much as touched us, we wouldn't be here right now...
Fuuten: Who was the man might I ask?
Crimson: He's a traveler apparently, who happens to know a woman that has nearly all knowledge. She told him to come here and explain me and Marigold's situation..
Marigold: Yes we were talking about it before that person attacked actually...
Fuuten: Well we should get to somewhere safe while we talk in case we're attacked a third time..
Crimson: We? You're coming with us?
Fuuten: That's what I was coming out to say before you got attacked... The queen has decided she has a mission for me that is quite similar to your mission, and so I will be working with you at least for now... In case you were wondering by the way, my mission is to weaken the kingdom of golds since according to the queen, it's been in power for far too long.
Crimson: I have a feeling a lot of people have grudges against that place...
Marigold: Let's get going. I know a place we could stay... It'll be quite the journey though so pack whatever you need Fuuten...
Fuuten: Right..
Crimson: I think I know where you plan on taking us, but it would be just an educated guess.. It isn't important I suppose, so we should just prepare.
Fritz: So far we haven't done much fighting...
Marigold: I definitely have.. My curse amplified my senses and it made me stronger... But our opponent was.. Playing with us.
Crimson: From what you've described, he's Vander of the assassination corp. They were created by a man named Karuka. He's a monster who ravages lands and takes everything, leaving no life behind.
Marigold: So we have to prepare to fight those guys...?
Fritz: I know them, a rogue doll from my home went there and is quite the opponent.. Where we stand now, she would wipe us out even with the samurai on our team, and even if we had Maila on our side... She has grown into a living nightmare..
Fuuten walks back with a small bag packed and he bows toward the people of the kingdom.
Marigold: You're just bringing that?
Fuuten: Yes, I won't need much.. I don't own much anyway.
Crimson: Enough small talk, let's head out now.
Fritz: Off we go then...
*End Of Chapter 5*