Φ We have been travelling from Basileia with everyone in carts attached to Willow by rope. Each Cart is connected in a straight line to another one, so there are two long lines of carts with people in them behind Willow the 2nd.
When we got far enough from Basileia, we stopped to reunite everyone with their families. Even Quant got to see his daughter again. I have left him to talk to her without bothering them, but his punishment is still up to me.
Still, we had to decide soon what to do with some of the hostages. They were highly loyal to Morgan, and unlike all those prisoners in the mine, most of them were still kids, so we could one day undo it.
During that time, I was able to introduce Maple to Cyrus properly. Though they also had people to introduce me to a beautiful but very physical woman named Atalanta, and a decrypt man named Sparrow, who was the leader of the people who captured us.
When some of the men from our village saw him, they punched him right in the face, but Orb stopped them, it seems they had already not been feeding him. Now all that man does is cry while unable to speak any words. I almost feel sorry, but I guess that is only justice.
So far, our travels have been peaceful enough, and even if we didn’t have much food, we were only a day away till we were back home. Willow the 2nd had been trying his best. When we met for the first time in a while he jumped on top of me.
But if there is one thing that pains me to no end, this sun is so unnecessarily hot for no reason. Back when I lived in Fimbluwinter, I used to think that I would love to be set on fire to deal with this cold, but now I realise being hot is so much worse than being cold since there is no comfort in this sun, it is just dry and hot, I hate it so much.
Looking around on this hot day, I stare at the weirdo beside me on Willow the 2nd back.
“Cyrus, come on, you don’t need all these limbs. Would you please give me one?” Orb says.
“Bu-t-t-t I need my lim-m-m-mbs.”
“Please, I did save your life, so only one would be needed ok.”
“Well-l-l if you want it.”
“Cyrus, don’t agree to Orb’s stupid requests.”
“Stay out of this, Willow.”
Orb has been codling Cyrus ever since we left Basileia. He has been keeping Cyrus in between his arms the entire time and doing strange things like sniffing his hair.
At first, I thought he had lost his mind, but I soon realised he had been doing this because he saw Cyrus as some scientific discovery. Every day he pressures him more and more to let him rip apart his body, and every day, Cyrus has been getting increasingly ill.
“Orb, Cyrus isn’t some animal. You can’t ask him to do that for you,” Maple says.
“But come on, when I was in my house, I always wanted to have a dragon as a pe- I mean friend. And now I have one right in my arms. All I want to do is figure out how his body works.”
Maple using her legacy, shoots Orb with an arrow.
Orb screams, “MAPLE, PLEASE STOP.”
When the arrow makes contact with Orb, it slows him down, and then Maple says, “No means no, Orb; if you act up again, I will leave you like this until we get back.”
When Maple uses her legacy, she can speed up or slow down her arrows to increase and decrease the damage or make whatever her arrows hit slower or faster for a fixed period. Using this, Willow the 2nd, even with little food, has been moving faster than usual.
Maple then says, “And you Cyrus, Orb is a fool so you don’t have to listen to anything he says.” As Maple says this to Cyrus, he blushes and turns his head away. It turns out he is shy around women. After this happens, Maple reshoots Orb to speed him back up.
“Just so you know Maple, that’s an abuse of power.”
“What was that?” Maple says as she prepares to fire another arrow.
“Nothing.”
Atalanta crawls up behind Orb and says, “Hey Orb, I thought you didn’t like people, but you’re all over Cyrus right now.”
“I am fine when I am doing the touching as long as it is with friends.”
“But we’re friends are we not.”
“Hell no!”
Energetically she says, “But I have been friends with you longer than Cyrus.”
“Maybe that just means you don’t qualify my parameters for a friend,” Orb says while looking away.
“Or maybe your just so shy around a girl as pretty as me.”
Giving her a look of disgust, Orb says, “Not in your wildest dreams. I know a girl called Draga, and she’s a hundred times better than you.”
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“Well, you can lie all you want, but your hair will tell me the truth.” So Atalanta jumps on top of Orb, holding Cyrus, and starts to hug him. I see Maple looking at them with a big smile on her face.
“Maple, what’s making you smile like that>”
“It is just that seeing those three strange people who are unlike everyone in our village is why I wanted to leave our village so bad, they get my heart pounding really fast. That’s probably a selfish thing to say, but it is how I feel.”
I hug Maple and tell her, “You are the cutest person on this planet.”
“Willow stop this,” she says with a red face.
“I will when you stop being so adorable.”
-Break-
“I can’t sleep tonight,” I say as I get up from Willow the 2nd back. When I arise, I see Orb is also awake and sitting on Willow's 2nd head. This would be an excellent chance to spook him, so I walk towards his body slowly.
But Orb says, “Willow, so you’re awake.”
Damn his hearing, “Your no fun; you know that.”
“Sorry about that, but with the number of times Atalanta spooked me, I have become hyper-sensitive to that exact action.”
Sitting beside him, I say, “So what are you doing awake in the middle of the night, Orb?”
“What are you doing awake in the night, Willow?”
“I can't sleep, but with all the energy you and Atalanta expended today, I know you can't use the same excuse. So even if your hair is white, something about this still feels wrong to me.”
“You have become sharper, Willow.”
“Had to so I could survive. Now tell me what’s bothering you.”
“It is just something Morgan told me. I don’t know the validity of it, but I will still tell you,” Orb tells me all the things mother Morgan told him about Basileia, her husband’s murder, about the crystal’s worldwide importance.
“So, Willow, how truthful do you think this all is?”
“If I am being honest, I would say it probably it all is. While working there, I noticed that she takes good care of her employees and has never harmed any hostages, she even spends time with them. And she at least keeps the slaves alive as long as possible. They were never harmed outside of the crystal toxins and the labour. Even the food she feeds them, despite tasting horrible, is probably the most nutritious food I have ever eaten.”
“Huh, all she said was true. Just from the look in her eyes and the determination she had, I would have guessed that,” Orbs says with a sad look.
“Orb, instead of sitting there sad, tell me your best friend all that is bothering you. I am here with my arms wide open,” I say while hugging him.
“You know you have given lots of hugs lately.”
“It was an essential part of my job back in Basileia, so I got used to it.”
“Well, I just feel like my head is about to split open.”
“Split open?”
“It is just that the more I think about everything, the more my head hurts. How many people would have my actions here hurt? If I had been more proactive, would nothing like this happen? Even that woman Morgan died, and I was unable to do anything. I am unsure if any of the guards survived or what about the prisoners in the mine as Cyrus left. If any of those people died, it would have been on me.
Are my actions truly just or good in any sense? The ripple of destroying Basileia might ruin countless people’s lives, but does it matter since I don’t know them? You guys, whom I love so much were strangers to me also, so is the only thing stopping me from caring about them fate?
The more I think about it, the more my head hurts. At this point, I won’t be able to keep my promise to Capti because I don’t feel fulfilled, just regret. Maybe it would have been better if I never left my house since none of this would have happened.” As Orb has been ranting about this, he has had tears falling down his eyes.
While Orb is crying, I am dumbfounded. Orb has always been a pillar of strength to me, but right now, I see a panicking kid.
While in shock, I hear, “Don’t say that.” Looking at the voice, I see it is Maple, hugging Orb from behind.
“When you lived in my house with my father and me, I felt like my family had just increased. You’re an irreplaceable older brother, so never say anything like that because no matter what happens, I will never regret saving you, so don’t regret coming to us. And if the older sibling goes around crying, so will the younger one,” she says with tears about to form in her eyes.
This time, Orb has been wondering if his actions have been hurting people unintentionally, and even in his victory, he can’t forget about them. I know how hard it is to feel like your actions bring destruction to people. So, I hug him and say, “You are irreplaceable to me too, so don’t worry about such things, you big idiot. You’re dumber than you think, so don’t dwell on it too much.”
Willow the 2nd lets out a mini roar as well.
Wiping the tears off his face Orb says, “Ok then, I won’t say such things, but Willow, can you do me a favour.”
“What would that be, Orb.”
“I would like you to inform me of all the things you learned about how Basileia operates and what you think might happen to the rest of the guards there due to my actions.”
“Why do you want to know.”
“Because one day I might have to face the consequences of my actions, and when that day comes, I want to be informed of everything.”
“But with how you’re currently feeling, I don’t know how you will take it.”
“Please, Willow.”
“Ok then,” so I tell him everything I know, from the fact that the aristocracy won’t let this go without punishment to the things Mia told me.”
During that night, Maple and eventually I went to sleep, but one thing I am almost sure of is that Orb didn’t.
-Break-
“The entrance is there,” Orb says, pointing to the entrance of the tunnels. Orbs then tell Willow the direction he must head in the Saviour’s song.
As Willow starts to move into the tunnels, Maple says, “I would love to speak the saviour’s song. It would make life easier.”
Orb says in response, “That isn’t exactly true on the continent of Terrafide the most spoken language is the heroes. Mainly isolationist nations speak the saviours, and the heavens. So, you can already speak to most people on our big bright planet of Theophilia.”
“Orb, there is a monster ahead,” I say, pointing into the tunnels.
“Oh, a Wonder beast, but it’s just an Ignamole. Let’s feed it to Willow on the 2nd. Boy, you can eat that all you want.” Willow the 2nd speeds up and brutally devour it.
While we travel back, Orb says, “You nervous, Willow.”
“Well, a bit. All the other reunions we had just made me miss everyone more.”
“Don’t worry. I am sure they miss you guys just as much.”
So, Willow, the 2nd, continues until we reach the main cave within these tunnels and see a whole lot of people hard at work.
Upon seeing Willow, the 2nd, they immediately stop and run over to us, shouting, “ORB IS BACK.”
They run over to us they say, “We have been waiting.”
“What took you guys so long? We have missed you.”
“It has been four and a half months.”
Seeing this, Orb gets up on Willows’s head and shouts, “EVERYONE IS SAFE.”
Soon after he says that, all the people come off of the carts, and the ones from our village finally have their reunion. As I look at Orb, his hair turns bright pink for the first time in a while, which causes me to do nothing but smile. Thank you, mom and dad, for birthing me into this world. Thanks to you, I can feel all this happiness.