Chp 4 On Death’s Door
I knew finding a recruit was going to be hard because too many people crave power and would want to the destroy the gods. Truth be told I did too because if I had power I could guarantee Maeno would be happy. Having the power of a god would guarantee that I could keep Maeno happy for as long as he lived. The problem with it however was that it was the exact opposite of what Maeno wants. Even so I did want the power of a god to protect him.
The recruit we will find will have to have the same or equal values to Maeno or they wouldn’t be around for long. I can’t have anyone putting him in danger. If anyone were to endanger his life I would kill them unless Maeno told me not to. I love Maeno too much to lose him and since he is that important to me I must make sure that nothing bad happens to him. I look at him and view his face so I can once again calm down and focus on my objective a teammate.
After glancing over his carefree face a few times I decide that before we actually look for a teammate we are going to need to practice our magic in case we run into danger. I myself do not know how my own magic works and I am not about to run into a situation where I can not defend myself or Maeno. I look back at him and ask him if he would like to go into the forest to start practicing magic so we at least can defend ourselves and have something to showcase if we do find a willing member for our guild. Maneo looks up at me with a look of glee and exclaims “Yea lets, go and start training Ritsuko”.
He looks incredibly happy and I’m glad in all honesty for him.I lead him by the hand because I like holding his hand and he doesn’t seem to mind. Knowing him he is probably too excited to start trying out his magic and doesn’t even notice I’m dragging him along. The face he made when I suggested training was very similar to the face when I bought him that stone earlier ;which was complete fascination and happiness. I’m glad he is happy because that is all I want for him in life. We start heading for the main street since now everyone knows of the gate.
As I look around from where all the people are gathered around that fake luming wall I notice a lot of people yelling , shouting and cheering over how they now have magic. From the looks of it none of them have actually started practicing their magic yet so we might end up with a head start. I walk around the crowd so I can head through the wall along with Maeno. I’m mildly concerned as to how so many people found out so quickly, but I realized I hadn’t taken into consideration one very important fact when I made the statement about how the wall was real. The thing I didn’t even think about is that someone must have had doubt the wall was truly real and tried it for themselves.
After they learned it was fake they weren’t the type of person who kept things to themselves. So they shared it with the rest of the crowd and it caused a mass uproar. The crowd was no longer focused on the fact someone had lied about the wall, but were more interested in the fact they could possess magic themselves. After that it spread like wildfire and the few minutes I had left to talk with Maeno it had spread massively. This honestly concerned me a lot. While everyone right now was merely in the starting stages of gaining magic I also viewed everyone of them as a potential enemy. The size of this crowd was huge and it was growing by the minute.
I decided that we needed to start training on the double since if we didn’t get a head start on our magic training that we would fall behind and be consumed by the mass following in our wake as far as power came. I said to Maeno something to spark his resolve for training which was: “Maeno when we go out to train we aren’t going to come back for a while because we are going to be the strongest guild out there”.
Maeno’s bluish green eyes light up and he pumps his fist in the air and yells “Yeah”.
This nets us a bit of attention for a few moments, but afterward people ignore us and keep talking about their experience in the gate.As we are getting closer towards the front I notice person after person trying out their magic in the air. I see fire be thrown up into the air which explodes, strong wind gusts in the air, lightning sparks, swords being summoned and as each person uses their magic I only become more unerved. I’m starting to get anxious because I think about what would happen if right now all of them recognized me as the one who lied and was being selfish about keeping magic to myself. I start shaking a little bit and then I feel Maeno’s hand on my right shoulder.
I turn around and look at him and Maeno looks at me with a smile. Maeno says to me “Ritsuko you have no reason to panic since I’m here and I have your back”.
Even though this is true I’m still uncomfortable with the crowd practicing magic. I look at Maeno right in his eyes for a moment to see if he truly meant what he said. He had no doubt in his eyes at all so I trust him.
I say “You’re right Maeno” and I relax. Maeno nods his head at me and we continue around the outside of the crowd until we get to where the wall was.
A few people turn towards us and notice we are heading towards the wall. At first they must think we haven’t gained our abilities yet because they wait in anticipation, but when we actually walk through the wall the people go ballistic. The thing is they know the wall is an illusion and yet they hadn’t tried to go through it. I figure nothing should happen to us provided we stick together. People start following us and trying to also go through the wall.
I need to think of something quick. If people know they aren’t limited to the city we can’t get a head start on training. Maeno looks over at me almost as if he read my thoughts and says to me “Ritsuko there is no reason for you to worry about them if we really do go out and train for as long as you say we will then we will already be ahead of them in magic talent.”
Maeno is right I have no reason to freak out about this and so I decide to ignore them and proceed with Maeno outside of Barui. The people give suit of course to see where we are going, but it makes no difference because even if they do follow us we can still do training. Before we entirely cross the wall I have one last thought about Maeno. It is nothing but a fleeting thought which is that I realize even though I know Maeno very well, I still don’t know what he thinks about or what keeps him going. I glance in his direction and his face has a smile across and I also notice a firm determination.
After I step past the wall I notice something entirely different about the Cestor Forest this time I entered it. It feels far more lively and on top of that it also seems to be brighter than usual. The trees normally are just green and lush, but right now they were glowing a faint green aura and seemed to reflect a lot more light. I did not see any animals however I knew they were there. The whole atmosphere of Crestor Forest had changed and I had the feeling that it was due to the magic outburst from the gods.
The people who had followed us outside of the wall remarked about this as well. “Let’s go and show everyone the outside world now” a man said to the rest of the twenty or so people who had followed us.
The people asked us if we knew anything about the change to the forest. Maeno looks back at them and says “Sorry, but we don’t know anything.We are going to go explore it right now however” he says. The people then ask if they can join us in our exploration efforts. Ritsuko completely turns around and looks at all of them. Maeno says, “Sorry, but I think it would be better just me and her.” Maeno points over at me to indicate he is talking about me and then turns around and starts walking off.
I join up beside him and wait til we are out of distance before I speak. I say to Maeno “We need to hurry and go find a place to start training”
He nods his head at me and says “I’m going to have fun training with you Rits.”
He has a pet name for me now.I like the name and I’m glad he gave me one so I will have to make one up for him. I love him so much and I want to tell him, but I don’t want it to get in the way of training with him. I smile at Maeno and say “I will also have fun training with you as well Eno.” I wonder if Eno is a good pet name for him. He is adorable so it kind of fits him. Maeno looks over at me and starts laughing.
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I ask him what he finds funny and he retorts your pet name for me sounds ridiculous. I pout and say “Well it’s hard to come up with a good pet form of your name since its so weird”.
This makes him laugh even harder and he says “Don’t take everything I say too seriously Ritsuko”. He puts his hands behind his head and continues walking along side me. I take note of our environment so that we don’t get lost walking in the forest. At the moment we are still following the path.
The path is just a simple dirt path with the occasional rock here and there. It is partially overgrown because the plants have started growing faster. This is guess is probably from the magic they are intaking. I pull out the map from earlier to see where we are on the map. If we continue about five miles we can branch off and there is a lake nearby that we could train at. Since the lake is formed by a waterfall we could also do some training there.
I tell Maeno about this and he exclaims “That sounds fine with me I can’t wait to show you Zere and Lucci!”
“You mean you already summoned them?!”I ask since I’m shocked about it.
Maeno gives me a sly grin and says “Yea I already have summoned them out.”
I look at him with fascination and say “I want to start training as soon as possible!” He also appears to be excited and I can tell he is itching to summon them out.
We continue along the path and nothing eventful happens for a while. We travel about four miles talking about various parts of our experience while inside our gates of truth. I tell him about my time in my gate and Maeno says “Yours is entirely different from what happened in mine”
He then started talking about how he met Caroline and she talked about the summoners gate. He also mentioned how he summoned Zere and Lucci. He tells me Lucci is like a fish in a water bubble and Zere is some form of reflective grey liquid. I don’t exactly understand all of what he is talking about however he seems rather enthusiastic about it.
I say “We are getting close to our destination we should almost be at the break off point on the path.”
He looks up at me excitedly and says “We are really close to being able to train.”
I agree with him and say “If we can wait about twenty minutes we should be there”
He stays silent, but I know is he is really anxious right now. I take a glance around the forest. The plants are still glowing green I still see no animals. Actually I don’t hear animals either. This is unsettling to me as I know for a fact I haven’t heard any on the trip here. I didn’t really think about the animals not being seen or making any noise since I was excited about the trip out into the forest to train.
Maeno appears to have noticed my unease and asks me what is wrong. I tell him that I haven’t heard any animals or seen any since we entered the forest. He says “Yea I’ve noticed that as well , but I am still excited about the training we are suppose to be doing.” Nothing ever seems to really bother Maeno all that much. He has always been really courageous and almost nothing upsets him.
I only remember one time I’ve ever seen Maeno get upset and that was the time I broke my arm while in a creek. I saw a shiny coin in the creek and I went out to get it. The water was only to the bottom of my shins so I didn’t really think much about it. I walked out into the creek to get the coin and on my way back I slipped on one of the rocks and fractured my arm when it hit the stones. I was bleeding really bad and Maeno picked me up and started running for the village.
After we got there my arm was treated and after a month it healed. Maeno was really upset that he let me get hurt even though it wasn’t his fault. At that point in time we were only around twelve years old. I know Maeno hasn’t forgotten it, but nonetheless it's the only time I have seen him get upset. I think he was just upset for my sake at the time. That is one of the many traits I like about him.
I need to get Maeno to safety! I have a gut feeling and he is in danger. I need to act on it. I yell at Maeno “Run now!” He gives me a confused look and then starts running ahead of me. I tell him to stay on the path. I pull out my sword and start listening for where the danger is coming from. About half a mile away I hear rustling that is steadily closing the distance between where it is an I am. It appears to be moving in a straight line and should be here in about thirty seconds.
I take one last look back to make sure Maeno is running away and he is. I’m glad he listened to me, but I don’t want to die until I tell Maeno how I feel about him. I ready my sword and backup a little bit on the path so I have enough time to dodge whatever is coming. It is almost here and so I raise my sword into a fighting stance and position myself in a manner that I can slide to the left or right with relative ease. Finally it reaches me and comes diving out of the bush.
It looks like a snake, but it has legs underneath its body. It dives straight forward towards me and I roll to the right and keep my sword up and at the ready. It runs past a tree and then coils its body around the tree so that it can turn around. I get a better look at the creature while it is stationary. It has rounded black scales, six legs all with rather sharp talons, red eyes that have a thousand yard stare and don’t seem to be focused on anything in particular. It also has a jaw big enough to bite me in half. The creature from tip to tail is probably thirty feet long or so and it is around eight foot tall.
I have not seen anything like it before however I think I know what it is. There had been a sighting of a rather large lizard type monster in the forest that was said to move so fast nobody could get an accurate description on it. What doesn’t make sense is why I am able to see it if it really does move that fast.
I had already backed up against a tree to prepare myself for its next attack. It remains coiled around the tree looking around the area. I continue to wait for it to move, but it does not. The creature must have poor eyesight if it can’t see me I thought to myself. I grab a rock from the ground and throw it across the path at a tree in front of me. The rock bounces off of it and before it hits the ground the creature had already swallowed it. It’s speed was nothing to scoff at and I am in some serious danger right now. If Maeno comes back it will be on him in a second so I need to kill it before that happens.
The creature continues looking around. It appears to be waiting for its prey to make the first move. I know I need to get a fatal blow on it, but it's going to be hard to hit something that fast. It looks towards the ground and licks it with its tongue. Unlike a typical snake it has a spear shaped tongue and it is not parted in the center. I make a slow step forward to see if it notices.
It notices some form of vibration and looks directly at me, but it doesn’t move. Instead it slowly opens its mouth revealing three rows of sharp teeth. As I look into the center of its mouth I notice that it is entirely pitch black in its mouth and no light seems to get in. I see some shadow start pouring out of its mouth onto the ground. I don’t know what it is, but I know that it is not good. The shadow continues to pour out of its mouth slowly moving towards me. I can no longer stay still because if I do the shadows will consume me.
I run forward two steps and then turn to guard against its attack. It turns around and whips its tail at where I am. I’m not fast enough to get out of the way and it hits me at least thirty foot into a bush which catches my fall. My ribs are broken and my left arm is fractured. The creature then rushes forward to finish me off while I am laying in the bush. I weakly put my sword pointing forward where its open mouth is coming from and close my eyes. It gets approximately to where I fell at and then stops. It knows where I am at laying on the ground and yet it doesn’t pursue me for the kill.
It lowers its head to where I am at and once again opens its mouth. It pulls back up and starts looking around the area almost as to make sure nobody sees it. It looks down at me and then it runs off. I don’t know why it didn’t finish me off, but if I don’t get any healing soon I’m going to die. I think my lung got punctured by part of my rib because I am finding it hard to breathe.
I try and get up to move, but my ribs hurt too much and my arm got a beating as well. The second I move upward to try getting out of the bush a rush of pain goes through my chest like lightning and I am in utter agony. I need to get out of this bush however because if I don’t, chances are nobody will see me. I don’t have enough energy to get up by normal means right now. I lay there for a few moments thinking about a way out of the bush and finally come up with and idea. I move my legs downward through the bush which sends another rush of pain through my chest.
I grab for my sword which is lying right next to me. It’s just out of my grasp. I slide a little to the left and grab ahold of it. I stab it into the ground and then with all of the strength from my sword arm I throw myself forward. I get out of the bush but the pain from my ribs causes me to topple over. I end up landing on my left arm which causes me to gasp and I am now laying on the ground trying to regain my breath.
I desperately want to call Maeno’s name, but I can’t retain enough breath to actually call out for him. While I am suffocating on the ground I start crying thinking about how I won’t get to hold his hand again. I am in agony and I can barely breath, but all of this would be worth it to see Maeno just one more time. I’d love more than anything to see that smile on his face and his white hair. I haven’t even had the chance to see his familiars yet. I can’t die yet because Maeno needs me to protect him.
I reach my hand out and start trying to pull myself forward to where he was running away. My ribs are burning up and the pain is hell, but I need to see him one last time. I continue crawling forward through the pain and my ribs start to go deeper into my lungs. I start choking on my blood because I’m making the wounds worse. I spit up a puddle of blood and continue clawing the ground. I get another few inches forward and my eyes start to blank out. I slam my hand onto the ground as hard as I can which wakes me up a little bit.
Since I can only crawl with one arm it makes moving harder than I could have ever imagined. I move one more inch forward and then start crying harder. My face touches the dirt soaking it and my face is now covered with wet dirt. I slam my hand down a few more times out of anger. I can’t believe I was so careless in my fight with the serpent that I would let myself die. I lay there trying to choke out enough air to call for Maeno’s name, but I can only gasp. I cough up a little bit more blood and my head starts becoming very dizzy. My mind is cluttered with thoughts about Maeno and my body is starting to become numb.
I try my best to stay awake, but the haze is slowly envelopes me. I need to stay awake right now no matter the cost. If I black out its over because I won’t probably wake back up. I try and hold them open, but they are so heavy. My vision starts to black out and I think I am asleep. The last thing I remember is Morte’s voice saying “Are you really going to give up on Maeno?” After I hear that everything is still and I no longer have consciousness.