Chapter Three – In Shadows of Scarring Memories

“We need to head north,” Hatasuko muttered in his sleep.

[https://imgur.com/Q6MgkJT.jpg]

The sound of his own voice startled him from slumber. His eyes slowly fell open to the world of endless starlight, revealing a wide river which glistened in the pulsing light. Hatasuko took a moment to remember his location, but he quickly realized that he was sitting in the front seat of a sail-rana. The boat drifted quickly with the current as the river charged east, though most of their sails were folded; the wind flowed northwestward as usual. Hatasuko glanced up and saw Lazaro’s boat slightly ahead of his, though Lazaro could still hear him over the sound of the river. Vaida was half-asleep in the seat behind Hatasuko. She covered her face with her dark hair, hiding her eyes from the pulsing starlight.

Lazaro said from a short distance, “We already are, remember? Lumipyla is north of the river. Pretty sure we’ll have to steer to shore in just a couple minutes, so it’s a good thing you’re up.”

“No, that is not what I meant. We have to go to the Catena Islands. An Interfectus is going to attack there,” Hatasuko explained.

As soon as she heard the word Interfectus, Vaida awoke in the backseat of the sail-rana. Her eyes looked bloodshot and tired, but she fought against her exhaustion and straightened out her back. She threw her hands behind her head, unleashed a powerful stretch, and let out a quiet, high-pitched groan.

“And how the hell would you know something like that? Chasing the Interfecti is damn near impossible. It’s an ugly game of mathematics and statistics; I almost always miss the Interfectus. I go to the wrong place, or it attacks when I don’t expect. I’m not gonna listen to some crazy kid’s hunch,” Lazaro retorted.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lazaro pulled out an oar and dipped it into the river on the right side. He flexed his powerful arms, pushed the oar backward, and spun his boat so that it drifted toward the left bank. Hatasuko did the same thing with his own oar, which had been sitting on the floor beneath a small pile of colorful fruit. In less than a minute, both sail-ranae reached the northern shore of the river. Lazaro, Vaida, and Hatasuko all piled out onto the wet dirt of the green meadow.

“I was hoping I would have more time to explain it to you. You see, I always know when and where the Interfectus will attack. I can hear the screams and cries of their victims in my head. I can predict the onset of tragedy. I know this sounds ridiculous, but you have to trust me on this,” Hatasuko explained.

“You kids have the wildest imaginations. Let’s just get moving. We can talk about it on the way,” Lazaro grumbled as he pushed his boat up the riverbank’s slope.

“I’m not really a kid, Lazaro.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not really a man, either.”

Hatasuko sighed and tried to do the same thing with his sail-rana, but he struggled to roll the boat up the slope. The wheels on the bottom of it slightly sank into the wet dirt. Despite her fatigue, Vaida ran up to his side and helped him push the boat until they reached the dry flatland of the meadow.

“As I’m sure you know, the winds in Agrideī are almost always blowing to the northwest. Because the wind is usually very strong, I made a vehicle to take advantage of it,” Lazaro explained.

Though the sail-rana stayed motionless on the hard ground, Lazaro climbed back into his seat and let out a quiet sigh. He reached over to the mast at the forefront of his ship, and then he unfolded it so that the sails could catch the wind. As soon as this happened, the sail-rana started moving due north, though Lazaro had to keep his hands on the wheel so that it would not veer northwest. Before long, he pulled the mast down so as to not roll too far from Hatasuko and Vaida.

[https://imgur.com/J2bcNHY.jpg]

“That’s brilliant! This sail-rana is awesome,” Hatasuko raved as he ran over to the mast.

“It does what it needs to. You can use the sail-rana any time you want, but just make sure you’re sitting in front. I don’t want to run the risk of looking back and seeing her,” Lazaro yelled from up ahead.

Hatasuko shook his head, though he chose to comply. He prepared to lift himself into the front seat of the sail-rana, but Vaida placed her soft hand on his big shoulder.

“I, um, I should be in the front seat. When the wind hits the sail, it’s trying to tip it forward. You’re heavier, so if you sit in the back, we’ll be a lot more stable,” she said sleepily.

“I never thought about it like that. That’s pretty clever!”

Vaida climbed into the front seat and retrieved an albapomus from the wooden floor. She took a bite from it, and then she held it in between her teeth in front of her face. Hatasuko climbed into the backseat and watched carefully as she used both hands to deploy the sails. As soon as the sail unfurled and caught the wind, the whole sail-rana started to roll northward across the meadow. Vaida kept one hand on the wheel and another on the white fruit. Hatasuko was impressed by how quickly their vehicle started to gain speed; Lazaro had to redeploy his sail so that they could travel together. It was not long before both sail-ranae rolled northward at the same speed. After a couple minutes of travel, Vaida tossed the core of her albapomus out onto the meadow floor.

“Oh, look! I think it’s an agilus. No, wait, I think it’s a family of them,” Hatasuko exclaimed, pointing out over the left side of the sail-rana.

[https://imgur.com/Lj2AbYd.jpg]

Vaida quickly turned her head and stared at the family of beasts with her good left eye. Since the goat-like creatures were far away and illuminated only by starlight, she had to narrow her eye to look closely, but her face lit up as soon as she saw them.

“Aww, the agili are so cute. Look at them! The little babies look like they’re trying to climb their mama’s legs,” Vaida raved with a heartwarming smile.

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As soon as he saw her smile, Hatasuko completely forgot about the agili in the distance. In the small segment of her face that he could see through her hair, Vaida gazed at the animals with wonder. Her left eye squinted from the surge of happiness.

“I think they see you,” Hatasuko said with a quiet voice as their boat raced through the meadow.

Vaida gave a shy little wave to the agilus family, though they seemed to be curious more than anything. As the sail-rana rolled on, Vaida turned her head so that she could watch the animals until they were eventually too far away to see. When this happened, she faced forward again, but Hatasuko could still sense her smile. She was still happy, and he smiled now that he had seen her not in pain.

“Hatasuko, I need you to tell me why you think you’re qualified to say when and where the next Interfectus attack will be. I have a contact in every major city who spends all day listening to reports and doing the math to try to figure out the next attack. In fact, when we get to Lumipyla, that’s the very first thing I intend to do. Lumipyla is my hometown, and it’s the only place where there are people I even somewhat care about. But before anything else, I need to find out the chances for the next attack. Why do you think you would know something like that? That isn’t something to say lightly, boy,” Lazaro yelled from up ahead.

“I know it sounds crazy, and that’s how it should be, since every detail of this situation is crazy… but I didn’t just say that for no reason. It’s like… I carry the weight of those whom the Interfecti killed. They became a part of me when I touched an Interfectus for the first time; it awakened inside me like a permanent curse. When I close my eyes, all I see is anguish. When the world falls silent, all I hear is screaming. The tempest of screaming souls is generally calm in times of peace, but they create an uproar whenever an Interfectus is near. Their voices whisper to me the location of every attack. I don’t know when it will happen, but it’s usually a matter of days. You have to trust me on this,” Hatasuko explained.

[https://imgur.com/pQYp5vv.jpg]

Lazaro answered with a displeased voice, “We will venture to the Catena Islands, but I am only doing this to prove that you’re an idiot. I cannot have my apprentice listening to voices in his goddamn head. I won’t criticize you for your schizophrenia or whatever the hell you’ve got going on, since we’re all a little insane. No one who chases the Interfectus can have a fully-functioning brain. Vaida does it because she clearly hates herself, and you do it because you’re evidently insane.”

“Why do you always say such awful things about her?” Hatasuko asked.

But Vaida stepped in and answered, “It’s okay, Hatasuko. He doesn’t lie. He insults me because I deserve it.”

As the sail-ranae charged on through the flatland of the starlit meadow, Hatasuko reached his hand around to scratch the back of his head. He continued to scratch as he contemplated the inner pain of the poor girl before him.

Hatasuko whispered inaudibly to himself, “I am a goddamn hypocrite. I swore to annihilate pain and make a world without misery, but there’s misery right in front of me. I see the source of her anguish, but I can’t even bring myself to call him out on it. I can’t even tell if I’m allowing it because he can help me fight the Interfecti, or if it’s just because I am afraid of him. I can’t stand how pathetic I am.”

“I should be thankful for his criticism,” Vaida added as she faced him. As she said this, Vaida forced a smile and kept her eyes closed. A starlit tear rolled down the scar on the right side of her face. Hatasuko glanced away with his gold eyes and stared at the bag of rocks inside the sail-rana.

“Look all around yourselves. Do you see that the ground is getting harder? There is a lot less grass than before. We are getting into the desert land, so it won’t be much longer to the canyon nation of Lumipyla. My old home is along the west edge of the canyon, so the two of you will not have to enter. I can handle everything there on my own, so you can relax or train or talk to your head voices. I don’t give a shit. I’ll be gone for many hours once we arrive, so Hatasuko, don’t go far. I won’t have time to look for you,” Lazaro said with a gruff tone as he steered the sail-rana around a boulder.

“Yes, sir. I will practice. If I can find a target, I will try to work on my rock aim.”

“Hatasuko, I know, um, I know it’s none of my business… but do you really think you hear the voices of the dead?” Vaida quietly asked.

Because the dusty wind howled across the plain, the gusts shrouded her voice from Lazaro’s ears. Nevertheless, Lazaro sailed far in front of them since he was lighter than their combined weight.

Hatasuko nodded slowly and answered, “Yes. Their screams have tormented me for years. I know it sounds like this isn’t real, but I know it is. The Interfectus cursed me with this destiny when we first touched. And now, whenever I fight the Interfectus, I can hear their miserable souls screaming in my head. They’re louder than anything else, but also silent. I know it sounds crazy.”

“It does sound crazy, but I believe you. I guess, I mean, I can’t really explain it, but I think something about you feels really special. Normally I wouldn’t say anything… since I never really say anything at all. But I think your voices are real,” she said with a half-smile.

“Thank you, Vaida. I really appreciate it. Honestly, I never told anyone else about this. I never even tried to make a friend until I met the two of you.”

“I, um, I know how that goes. Except for someone I haven’t seen in a very long time, I haven’t ever had a friend. I don’t know if it’s because I get so nervous, or if it’s just because I know no one would want to be my friend anyway,” Vaida confessed as she stared at the steering wheel in her hands.

“I can see why you don’t call him your friend. How long have you and Lazaro been fighting together?” Hatasuko asked.

“A little under two years. He found me the same way he found you, except he never invited me to learn from him. He never let me be his apprentice. But when I tried to fight the monster, um, he saved my life. So I just clung onto him and followed him everywhere since he’s so strong. Saving me was probably the worst mistake of his life,” she answered with a forced, nervous, quiet laugh.

[https://imgur.com/6XiQDCo.jpg]

Though he wanted to convince her otherwise, Hatasuko became distracted when he saw a beautiful white light up ahead. The glow looked like it shone from the underground, but then he saw a cluster of tiny floating lights in the air. These lights were far beneath the pulsing stars, though their illumination speckled the horizon; these floating lights manifested the horizon. Hatasuko looked over at Lazaro as he now charged toward the captivating glow at full speed.

“It’s the fireflies of Lumipyla! They’re like the little stars that fell from the sky,” Hatasuko raved with a look of amazement.

“Aren’t they the most wonderful thing in the world?” Vaida asked.

“I first came to this place at a time when I thought the whole world was ending. I suppose that in a lot of ways, it truly is ending, but the fireflies gave me hope. They’re like little messengers of light,” Hatasuko whispered.

When the sail-rana finally came close enough to the shining light that appeared to shine from underground, Hatasuko looked over the right side of the vehicle and saw that the glow emanated from a canyon. The canyon walls and floor were all completely white, and so they reflected the light of the pulsing stars in the sky. Because of the reflections, the canyon looked like it was actually alive in the form of white flashes. Up ahead, Vaida slightly turned the steering wheel, and then the sail-rana veered closer to the west edge of the canyon. They both stared over the threshold at the massive canyon and the countless homes on the valley floor. Hatasuko could see a labyrinth of shining walls and glistening valleys; there were many other cliffs and ravines for as far as he could see. Lumipyla was a series of chasms filled with towns and villages.

[Note that this chapter is not over; there are still two more parts. They will be uploaded soon. For information concerning the AI artwork including its usage and canonicity, please consult the blog listed in my profile. You can also find the rest of the chapter there.]