"Hey! Wake up you idiot" Cardinal shouted.

There was a deep dark void deep inside himself . He stumbled backwards as the mist covered him completely. As soon as he touched the cloud the mist evaporated revealing the same place he was standing in seconds ago.

A large shrine with a large beast with three eyes stood in front of his two feet. It had a black and orange skin tone with a yellow head, and three sharp talons extended on each of its hands. It appeared to be alive and glowing white as it watched him silently.

"You again…Siies, so you are the God of the North Gate am I correct?" Cardinal growled.

Siies did not speak as its bright gold eyes bore right through him. Its head swayed lightly like it was amused by Cardinal's reaction. Its lips curled in amusement, showing a row of sharp and sharp looking fangs. Cardinal's heart started beating faster. The feeling of uneasiness was beginning to creep up on him once more.

"Answer me!" He exclaimed angrily.

Siies shook his head and moved closer to Cardinal.

"Stay back!" He cried out

He jumped away, backing away as he clutched onto his chest trying to calm himself. The feeling of terror had grown stronger ever since he first met Siies.

'Take Pilot north…I will give you the strength to take out the teru teru bōzu for you while also fine tuning your gift,' Siies roared.

Cardinal was speechless. He didn't know the God's of the shrines actually spoke and the effect of it was overwhelming.

"Siies?" He mumbled in confusion.

He shook his head and pointed the talon at him.

"Take him north…." Siies repeated sternly.

He was gone. Everything he imagined only happened in television shows and movies Everything he imagined only happened in television shows and movies or in dreams, never reality and always something different. This felt exactly like those nightmares he always had. This wasn't real. This can't be happening. But he knew it was and now he didn't know what else to believe besides what Siies had told him.

He turned his eyes toward the entrance of the shrine. His body shook uncontrollably as he realized what he was going to do. The shrine disappeared leaving him alone in the room, and everything seemed surreal and dreamlike.

Cardinal awoke as he felt the soft warmth of the sun on his face. For a brief moment he remembered where he was. He turned his head slightly in order to open his eyes properly. He looked directly at the sky. His heart sank as he realized that the sky was blue with fluffy clouds floating across it.

He heard snoring on his lap before looking down to find a pink haired girl pressed up against him She was leaning against his arm as she breathed lightly. Her breathing pattern matched perfectly with the rhythm of his own heartbeat. Her delicate pink cheek was resting against the top part of his chest.

'Oh my god. Oh no. NO NO NO NO!' he thought frantically.

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The fiery red head didn't know what to do . Should he try to move her? Should he just sit there and hope someone finds him? Should he leave now and pretend none of this ever happened? No..No, he can't leave.

Looking up he noticed he was in a small closet type building. The walls were made of wood, the roof was supported by large beams holding it together. There was an old rusty iron door behind him which he assumed led outside

.

There was a wooden ladder leading to a door on the wall below him. When he looked down he saw there was a large window with bars running across it.

Her large pink hair antennae tickled his nose. Her face was smushed into the crook of his neck. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks as he began to feel embarrassed by the entire situation.

"Shit… Shit shit shit shitting shit shit…" he panicked.

"You are so fucking loud!" She shouted.

"Fuh!" She grunted as she sat up rubbing her ear "Why the hell are you waking me up early in the morning?!"

"S…Sorry…" he stuttered nervously.

She conveniently pushed the door open like it was nothing annoyed , but she still had some bags under her eyes indicating that maybe she hadn't gotten much sleep. She rubbed her eye lazily before staring at him curiously.

"Huh..?" she asked.

He paused for a moment, sticking his nose to the air while listening patiently for any sounds from the air surrounding him. Hearing none, he turned toward her and said in a hesitant yet hopeful tone.

"You hold your true name?!" Cardinal shouted.

"I am a neutralizer…shut up already!" She yelled.

He was in disbelief of everything happening right now. He felt overwhelmed. He needed to get away before he ended up doing something really stupid.

"Look..we gotta go," He tried to explain.

"Yeah…Yeah…I was contacted by that stupid three eyed thingy too," She sighed.

"How the hell are you so nonchalant about this?" Cardinal asked.

.

Elsie gave him a mean hard stare . As if she wasn't concerned about what happened and if someone is really here.

"Look..let's go somewhere less crowded and talk about this, okay?," Elsie offered.

"Were in a damn closet!" He huffed.

"Maybe I wanna stay in the closet because of all the loonies out there!" Elsie yelled.

"Freeland needs our help and you have the capabilities to save him!" Cardinal begged.

He hesitated a moment. He noticed the feeling of stones in his pockets. He was filled with them this time making him feel happier than before he removed them and placed them inside of his pocket. He smiled as he looked at her.

She looked confused but nodded, "Okay…But you owe me," Elsie warned.

"Sure, sure, whatever," He agreed.

Cardinal gawked down at the ground unsure whether to laugh or cry. This is how you deal with a situation. Deal with the situation, then think about the solution. That was usually how he dealt with every problem and that worked for all his problems. The problem with dealing with a problem was not that he couldn't figure it out but rather that there was no solution.

His mind was filled with so many different solutions, but all the possible outcomes were either too far fetched for him or too cruel. He knew he should stop thinking and start acting immediately.

"Are you coming or are you staying?" She shouted.

'Runes can only get you so far though…I need the sword back…' He thought.

"Let's go" He replied.

They pushed out of the closet sneaking through the halls with a slight smile on his face. He was more scared of running into the teru teru.

'This is crazy…. Why am I even scared?!' He thought to himself. 'I've faced dragons before...And I am still alive!'

Elsie pulled Cardinal along with her as she kept watch around her as he followed behind. He walked carefully looking around every corner and checking behind each door to see if anything was watching him, but he found nothing. They made their way through the hallways and came to an end with a large set of doors.They both walked quietly towards the doors.

"So… What's the plan?" He asked.

She looked at him with a strange look on her face, and then answered, "It'll depend on where you want to go" She paused "Where did you want to go?"

He shrugged.

A cold silence fell between them.

"Hey… You can't blame yourself for this, y'know," She stated.

"I know…" he replied.

The double doors opened to have Freeland right in his face staring down at him on crouched knees almost in shock.

"Heat Flash!" He yelled.

An explosive light flashed causing him to flinch. The room exploded when the light went off. Freeland landed in front of him, landing flat on his stomach, and groaning loudly.

"I am not going through all this again!" He growled as he slowly pushed himself up from the floor glaring at Heat Flash with a burning glare.

"Fuck!" Cardinal shouted.

"Way to go idiot!" Elsie laughed.

Pulling out the next run stone he took stance calmly breathing before mimicking as though he was pulling a blade from a sheath.

"Melting Lance!" Cardinal said quickly.

"Not so fast!" Freeland boasted.

His whole arm molded into a sword to catch his attack. He swung his weapon forward striking Cardinal across the shoulders before he rolled to dodge it once more. Melting Lance swung forward and hit Freeland inbetween the legs causing him to fall backward landing on the ground.

Freeland laughed mockingly as he got closer to Cardinal's Melty Lance. "You're weak! You won't last another minute!!" He sneered.

The magick quickly disintegrated his weapon causing Cardinal to think fast on his feet reaching for a rusted metal pipe to parry Freeland. But before he could grab it, Freeland grabbed him by the wrist and held him in midair. The fire wielder struggled to pull free and Freeland smirked cruelly as he held him tight with one hand before tossing him violently to the side knocking the wind out of him.

"Get up!" Freeland ordered.

With shaky legs he rose to his feet ready for battle. Freeland stood beside him grinning smugly. . He charged at him swinging with his sword only to be blocked by another flaming attack rune

from Cardinal.

'I am going to run out if I keep going," Cardinal winced.