Gentle streams of light poured through the leaves of the giant tree as I opened my eyes. The vision knocked me off my feet, and I must have passed out at some point. I quickly wiped tears from them and sat up. Resting my forearms on my knees, I sat in silence. Holding my palms out, I stared blankly at them. They were clean, at least from the initial glance.

Everything was back. My memories were fully returned. Kiko, the assassin, the kunoichi. Adopted daughter of the clan leader—though the adopted part was buried until just recently. I had killed many from a young age, and working with the emperor was my most important assignment. We had hoped he would be a pawn but expected I would be needed to act eventually. I wish that had not been the case.

“Welcome back!” a voice rang out. It was Mr. Non’s, but it was also:

“Emperor Akimitsu!” I shouted as I spun in the seated position—almost falling into the calm water in the process. He smiled as I stuttered over my words. “How… you…” It was him, right in front of me. Doing well, considering I stabbed him three times. I had no idea how I did not recognize him. Now that I looked again, the few things I recalled should have given it away, but it seemed that memories weren’t the thing that prevented me. A stubbornness in me? A lack of reason? I could not pin an explanation down.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He said with a laugh. Azul, who the emperor still held in his hand, rolled his slitted eyes. I sighed and coughed into my fist. After standing up and brushing myself off, I crossed my arms and stared at the emperor. My foot may have tapped several times, but I didn’t pay any mind to it.

“How long did you intend to let me go without telling me who you were?”

Emperor Akimitsu rubbed his chin with a smirk painted on his face.

“With the state you were in, telling you might have been a problem. You wouldn’t have believed me, correct?” He was being half serious; now that my memories had returned, I was sure of it. I expect the other half was either from a curiosity of how long it would take me or from wanting to see my surprised expression once it dawned on me.

“I suppose….” I turned away. If I was being honest, I might have run away from him had he told me sooner, but I didn’t want to freely admit that to Akimitsu’s face. I did my best not to smile with joy at meeting him again before looking in his direction.

“Kiko, this doesn’t mean this person is who you think he is. It could be a disguise!” Azul warned. The emperor rolled his eyes and tossed the blue dragon to the side. He cursed as he slithered into the bushes; I imagine having to move in such a way was a serious wound to his pride.

The last thing I saw was his blue tail disappear into the woods. Even with the dragon gone, I could still feel his gaze on us. It felt odd having him leave. Was it really okay for him to just depart like that?

“Will he be okay on his own?” I asked.

“Oh, he won’t go too far right away. He’ll probably follow you around for some time, and if you don’t give in, he’ll bother someone else.”

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I wasn’t sure what the emperor meant, but it sounded like he thought the blue dragon was more of a minor nuisance than anything else. Now that my shoulders were free to move, it felt like it had been much more than that. In some small way, I think I had grown used to having Azul around. Now it almost felt like my neck was exposed and bare for all to see. If I was being honest, it felt almost a little uncomfortable.

“Can he latch back on to me?” I asked. Whether I wanted to continue traveling with Azul or not was unknown to me, but I felt I needed to ask the question.

“Certainly, but only if you let him. Just don’t do what he says, and it should be alright.”

The frog hopped past my legs and leaped onto Emperor Akimitsu’s shoulders. He spit the black keys into the emperor’s hand.

“My job is done here,” the frog said. That was it? The green creature didn’t even do anything, but he sure sounded fairly proud of himself.

“Hold up!” Emperor Akimitsu moved his hand to prevent the frog from jumping off. The frog rolled his eyes. Both their heads turned to look at the moat of still water around the tree. I followed suit and watched as the gentle water shook. Distant footsteps—giant ones—became apparent, and I could no longer miss hearing them. “Kiko, we don’t have much time to chat. It seems a friend you brought along has a strong enough desire to kill you, even when we are in this forest.

A friend? Besides Azul and I, the only others who dropped into this world were dead. Then again, I thought the emperor was dead as well. I don’t think the mother of hunger survived; the smaller scions froze after all, but I had no idea about that other thing. Could that clay-like body burst free from a stomach? It sounded possible.

“Are you saying we have to part ways?” Another step echoed in the distance. It was walking slowly, but it was moving in our direction.

“Yes, I will not be able to stay with you much longer. I have my own duties to attend to. We will have to catch up later; you won’t believe some of the stories I have!” He paused and cleared his throat. “Before you go, I wanted to take a moment to ask a request.”

“Is this an order from the emperor?”

He laughed at my words.

“You can’t stay an emperor after you’ve died. This is just a request from your friend, Akimitsu. Our world has been freed of the monsters who invaded but is now ravaged. I would like you to help in restoring it.”

“You’re asking for a big favor; I can’t fix a whole world.”

“Perhaps, but that is why it is a request, not a demand. If you do, there is another potential emperor that I recommend supporting. However, you may do whatever you like, even stay in that grey, as you called it, world if you wish.”

Another footquake reverberated through the woods. It was getting close. Akimitsu waved to me and began to walk off. He tossed the keys in the air and patted the frog on its head as he disappeared into the bushes—leaving me alone. Or, not entirely alone as the eyes of Azul continued to watch from a distance.

I sighed and began to run out of the forest. I ought to have chased after him, but a twist in my stomach told me I didn’t have much time to escape. A large bang shook the forest violently.

Sure enough, as I burst from the woods, my eyes quickly found the thing that was approaching.

It was somewhere between a turtle and a rhino but towered into the sky higher than the ancient tree. Spikes jutted out of its back, and bulky legs were smashing some of the pink cherry blossoms of the forest. As I ran out, its large head turned in my direction.

A familiar clay-like flesh covered the head and spread across the left side. It moved out the mouth and to an ear, where it entered back in. I could only imagine the giant was being assimilated from the inside out. A disturbing thought. The beast roared when it saw me and slowly began to turn my way.

Its huge foot crossed a massive distance, and the whole ground quivered. Though it moved slowly, it was so large that it might catch up to me with several steps. This was not good. Not only had the thing stayed alive, but now it had some vendetta against me. Considering how many times I stabbed it, that made sense. I could not tell why Akimitsu had left me alone here, but I cursed him for it. All I could manage was to sprint as fast as I could away from the giant.