Chp 6 A New Ally

I was walking along the path with Ritsuko and all of a sudden she seemed to start acting frantic. I didn’t know what was going on at the time so I asked her “Ritsuko is something the matter.” She looked at me with pure fear in her eyes. Whatever was going on was something terrible.

She yells at me “Run Maeno.” At first I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave her, but she was very stern in her judgement. I have never doubted her gut on things so I turned to start running away. I hope she is ok, but if I’m not there to slow her down she can go all out. As I am running I don’t look back at whatever is happening, but a thought occurs that makes me slow down. I have familiars I can summon to help her out.

She doesn’t know my magic type yet so she probably didn’t figure I’d be helpful. I slow down almost to a jog while I think. I can summon both Zere and Lucci into the fight and I’m sure they would help Ritsuko considerably. I decide to turn around and go help her. As I slow down something hits me in the back of the neck and I am paralyzed and fall to the ground. Once I hit the ground I fall asleep, but before I am entirely asleep I feel someone pick up my body.

After I fall asleep enter the Gate of Truth. I look around the place and once again see Caroline on the same rock beforehand. I ask her “Caroline what just happened to me in the real world?”

She says “Maeno you were knocked out by a man. Right now Ritsuko is in danger so you need to wake up and help her” Caroline says.

I ask “What do you mean she is danger?”

Caroline responds with a hint of concern “Ritsuko is going to die if you don’t wake up and help her.”

I am shocked beyond belief. I am the reason she is going to die. I shouldn’t have listened to her. I should have just summoned out Lucci and Zere and helped her with whatever she was fighting.

Caroline, almost as if reading my mind say to me “Maeno don’t beat yourself up about Ritsuko. Remember she was the one who told you to leave and you listened to her trying to be respectful of her feelings”

“Yeah, but if I hadn’t left her she would not be in peril right now” I say with anguish.

“If she means that much to you then you need to wake up and help her out” Caroline says. Caroline is completely right about what she said. I need to wake up and help her out.

“Caroline can you wake me up?” I ask her with worry.

Caroline says sullenly “Alas you are the only person who has control over whether you wake up.” I need to wake up as soon as possible. A thought occurs to me that I might be able to use my gate to warp myself back to reality. I would have to ask Caroline about it, but it might actually work if it is my gate.

I look at Caroline in her eyes with determination and ask “Can I use my Gate to go back?”

Caroline smiles at me as if I figured out the answer she was waiting for and says “That is a path back home. Touch your gate and hold it there to go back to the real world.”

I hold my hand on the gate for a few moments. I feel energy pulse through me. The sixteen symbols then flash green and I am facing upward towards the forest canvas. My vision is blurry since I just awoke. I look around the area I am in a daze. My head kind of hurts, but Ritsuko is more important right now. I see a man off to my left about five feet away.

He is wearing a black ragged cloak. He has black hair and skin the color of coconut. He is currently sitting with one leg bent and the other outstretched. He is resting his arm on his bent knee and looking ahead at something. I glance further to my left and see Ritsuko laying on the ground. There is a puddle of blood next to where her face is and she is unconcious.

I hop up off the ground and start running towards Ritsuko. The man stands up abruptly and grabs me by the back of my shirt and keeps me from moving forward anymore. I turn and face him. I look at his face and notice a scar on the side of his face running from the edge of his eye to the middle of his jaw. He looks at me briefly and then pulls me backward away from Ritsuko.

I ask him “Who are you?”

He looks at me and says “I’m an assassin that was paid to protect you. My name is Crow.”

“Why are you keeping me away from Ritsuko? I she dead.”

Crow says to me earnestly “No, but if she doesn’t wake up she will be.”

I say “I might be able to heal her then so get out of my way.”

Crow starts chuckling and looks directly at me. “Maeno I’m going to suggest once and only once for you to take a seat. I’m waiting on Ritsuko to wake up right now. If she does wake up I’ll heal her, but if she doesn’t I’m going to let her die. If you really believe Ritsuko will make it through this than take a seat and patiently wait for her to wake up” he says.

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“Open Gate of Water Fifth Star Lucci come forth” I exclaim. Lucci comes out and hesitantly waits for an order.

“What can I do for you master?” She gurgles.

“Do you have any healing magic?” I ask desperately.

“Yes I do master” Lucci says indignantly.

“Alright I need you to heal Ritsuko for me. Do you think you can do that?” I ask

“Her condition is pretty bad, but I should be able to” Lucci tells me. “It will definitely take me a while to heal her back to her full state assuming I can.”

Crow says “Maeno I’m sure your fish can heal her, but I’m not going to let anyone heal her. This is a test of her strength. If she can’t wake up she is weak and not worth saving. If however she manages to wake up I can heal her completely” Crow says with assurance.

“How did she even get hurt this bad? I’m fairly sure I was only knocked out for a few moments “I say.

“She was attacked by a large shade beast. Most likely she knew it would be attacking and told you to run. It knocked you out and I healed you back to full strength” Crow says.

“Why would you heal me when you are trying to test her?” I ask furiously.

Crow responds “I already know you’re strong, but I’m not so sure about the girl.”

“I’m going to heal her and you better not get in my way” I say with anger. I’m not sure how strong this guy is, but I’m willing to fight him if I can heal Ritsuko. I take two steps forward towards Ritsuko and he stands up.

“Maeno don’t make me do this” Crow says pleadingly.

“Crow get out of my way so I can heal her” I demand.

“Maeno I don’t want to fight you. I’m positive she will wake up from her stasis. I would bet my life on it. However I need to see for myself how strong she truly is” He says with desperation.

“Why do you need to test her strength? Why is it so important that you must test her strength to the point she might die?” I ask angrily.

Crow looks down at the ground and says “Maeno listen to me for a moment. I know how much she means to you I really do. You don’t want her to die. I don’t want her to die either because Ritsuko's blood would be on my hands. As much as I want to save her right now I can’t. I need strong allies for my cause and I want to train you both. She will go through much worse than this in later periods so I have to test her now” He looks down at the ground briefly as he says.

“Screw your cause. You would let a innocent girl die just to see if she is strong enough to wake up from her injuries” I say fiercely. “I’m tired of talking with you because it is clearly not going to get me anywhere.” Right now I’m really pissed off and I don’t want to hear another word from his mouth. Lucci remains silent off to my side.

“You want to save the gods right?” Crow asks expectantly.

I drop my guard for a second and ask “How do you know about that?”

“My god Agate told me that in my future I’d meet a boy with white hair and fierce determination. That kid would be the one to save the world and I should not be his enemy, but instead join his cause. That boy is you Maeno. You are trying to save the gods from being killed right?” Crow asks me.

“I’m supposed to be some prophesied hero? Well if that is the case I still need Ritsuko by my side” I say.

Crow looks as though he is about to open his mouth and then he shuts it again. He just nods his head and walks over to Ritsuko. He pulls out a bottle and lets one drop fall on her. Immediately her breathing gets better and she seems to be sleeping peacefully. I sit up against a tree and start waiting for Ritsuko to wake up. Crow walks over to me and kneels down.

Crow says “Sorry about not healing Ritsuko. I was being selfish” He says apologetically. I look over and see Ritsuko starting to wake up. He asks me “Where are you guys headed out to train?”

“A lake nearby” I respond. I look over at Lucci and say “You can go back if you want Lucci.”

Lucci shakes her head and says “No, I’ve got to protect you if anything comes back up.”

This makes me happy and I say “Alright then Lucci I am in your hands.” She seems happy about this.

I look to Crow. He nods his head at me and says “I’ll give you some time alone with her. I’m going to head to the lake and wait for you guys there. We will have a talk about Ritsuko at a different time.”

I see him dissipate into shadows. I know he was lying about Ritsuko and how she got hurt, but I am honestly curious as to why he didn’t heal her. He had a potion for her to drink if she did wake up. I’m sure he did want to test her strength, but I’m sure there was another reason for it as well. I walk over towards Ritsuko and sit down next to her. I hear Lucci say “He is kind of an asshole” and I start laughing.

She finally opens her eyes and looks at me. She rolls onto her back and reaches up for my face. She starts crying tears of joy while looking up at me. I tell her “You were exhausted from the trip and fell asleep here.”

Ritsuko says “Maeno I had a terrible dream. I fought a monster while trying to protect you and it broke my ribs and arm and I wanted to see you. The monster left, but I fell asleep before I could see you again” She says sadly.

I look down at her and smile warmly. I tell her “Ritsuko it was just a dream nothing bad would ever happen to me.” She seems comforted by this notion and lays still. It is about night time in the forest and I don’t want to risk getting into any more danger so I decide that I will camo here with Ritsuko. “Open Light Gate Third Star Zere come forth.”

Zere asks “What can I do for you today Master Maeno?”

“Do you know how to start a fire?” I ask curiously.

“Of course let me get to it.” He turns into a shadow figure and walks off into the forest to start gathering wood.

Ritsuko sees Lucci and says “Aww your so cute”

Lucci makes a sound similar to a grrr from a dog and says “I’m not not cute” I start laughing at this. I get the feeling Lucci will be a great familiar. At least for comic relief I suppose. I keep this thought to myself and wait while Zere makes our fire.

I ask him “If it’s not too much trouble could you also make a tent for us?”

Zere responds “That is not an issue Master Maeno.” He goes off once again to gather materials for our tent. He returns in about five minutes with a lot of leaves about fifteen branches. He sets the branches up in a tent format. He then walks over to the leaves and chants something in a different language. He rests his hand on the branches and the leaves fly over and start applying themselves to the branches until they make a full tent cover.

“That’s amazing” I remark to Zere.

He laughs and says “It was nothing Master you don’t need to flatter me.”

He is nice, humble and willing to serve. He reminds me of a butler. I honestly want to see him where a suit now. This makes me chuckle out loud. Zere asks me “What do you find humorous may I ask Master?”

I retort “I just think you’d look nice in a suit.”

Zere says “I can if you’d like”

“Really!?” I exclaim.

He snaps his finger and is wearing a full set of butler attire. He has a black overcoat with white buttons all the way down the inner folds along with a white dress shirt underneath. He is also wearing slacks and a bow tie around his neck. Other than the fact he has no face he looks nice. I tell him “You look nice.”

“Thank you Master Maeno” he says unflustered.

I look over at Ritsuko and say “I’m heading to bed.” I crawl in the tent and lie down on the left. Zere had also made makeshift pillows out of twine and leaves. He really does pull all the stops. Well I’m just glad he is a good butler for me. I look up at the top of the tent and start reminiscing about days when I use to play with Ritsuko. I had a lot of fun with her back in the day, but I’m past the age of playing around.

What happened earlier in the day with Crow I’m not going to tell her. I don’t want her to panic about it. I really just told her I was going to bed because I don’t want her asking questions about what happened earlier in the day. I continue to lie in the tent looking up at the top. She starts walking closer to the tent and I shut my eyes. She pops her head in the tent and asks me “Maeno are you still awake?”

I don’t answer her. I just lay still and keep my eyes closed. She says “Sleep tight dear” and then pulls back out of the tent. She walks a couple feet away and sits down. I want to talk with her, but it would be too hard to explain what happened today. I’ll try talking with her tomorrow. I slowly fall asleep in the tent.