Haze and I walked for twenty minutes before reaching a bustling part of the city full of street vendors selling food. The smell of the cooked meats smoking over a pile of coals wafted over me, tickling my nose with their delicious scents. And before long, I heard the familiar exclamation of Cami yelling, “THERE THEY ARE!!”
I looked up from the ground and saw my team running toward us and Cami tackling me with a big hug. I hugged her back, enjoying the sensation of her affection as though she was my big sister. Then I felt the twins hug us from the sides and wrapped my arms around them too. I pulled away after a second and mumbled, “Thanks, you guys. I-I really needed that.”
“No worries! I would’ve done it sooner, but you disappeared after the fight,” Cami said, a little concern in her voice.
“Yeah, are you okay?” Jax asked, “You know you can talk to us about anything, right?”
“I know, I know,” I said, waving my hands, “I’m fine. Really, I am.”
“Well, if there’s anything you need—” Xiao began, but I cut him off.
“Right now, I need food, so let’s do that.”
“Yes! Food!” Cami exclaimed and walked into the crowd, grabbing Xiao and Jax by the arms and dragging them along.
Everyone else soon followed her except for Shiro and I, facing each other in the middle of the walkway. I smiled up at him with the best smile I could muster. He walked up to me and flicked my forehead. “OW! What was that for?!” I exclaimed.
“Tell the truth,” Shiro demanded, “Are you okay? Truly okay?”
I looked down in shame and shook my head, “No, but I’ll be fine in time. I need to eat and get my mind off things. That’s all.”
Shiro didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He just stared at me while I refused to look him in the eye. Then he rubbed my head and said, “Fine. Just let me know if you need anything. I’ll always be there for you.”
Lunging forward, I gave him another hug and rubbed my face in his chest, trying my best not to cry. He patted my head again, and Yuki licked my cheeks. I stepped away and slapped my cheeks, “All right. Time to find some food and feel better about myself,” I said, and Yuki yipped in agreement.
Shiro chuckled and turned to follow our team into the crowd. We wandered around for a while and looked at the food we could get. For the most part, the stalls sold kababs and other easily held foods, like onigiri, nikugiri, and fried chicken. I stopped and got the fried chicken and three onigiri for one gold. Then I needed to sit down cause my hands were full. Shiro was still looking for something he wanted, so I told him I would find somewhere to sit near the main street. He agreed, and I navigated through the crowd, returning to the main street within a few minutes.
I sat at the edge of the street, dangling my feet over the edge and looking down over the city below. As I ate, I decided to talk to my spirits. After all, they’re trapped inside me forever, so I might as well get to know them. ‘So, Apollo, how long have you lived?’ I asked.
I didn’t have to wait long for his reply, “I have lived for many centuries. I stopped counting after five hundred, but I know I’ve lived far longer than that.”
‘Oh, wow. I bet you’ve got some amazing adventures.’
“Not that many were amazing. My millennia of life were spent in solitude, only leaving to take care of my domain in the most dire circumstances, and of those, I remember far too few.”
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‘Well, that’s too bad. I would love to hear some of those stories sometime.’
“Perhaps some other time. When the world is at peace once again,” Apollo chuckled.
“I fail to see how the world is not at peace,” Fengbao interrupted, “I see no wars or any preparation for war.”
“Younger brother, the world’s dangers are always unseen and can only be felt with experience.”
“I still fail to see how you know the world is in danger!” Fengbao boomed.
“And there lies your problem. You are looking, not feeling.”
“What does that mean!?”
‘Anyway,’ I interrupted before Fengbao’s booming voice gave me a headache, ‘What about you, Crucible? How old are you?’
There were a few moments of silence before I heard Crucible’s soft voice, “Six.”
‘Six what? Three centries? Millenia?’
“Days.”
“DAYS!” Fengbao exclaimed, sounding more surprised than me, “It takes centuries for a spirit to form, and even then, it’ll be a long while before they become fully aware!”
“Better.”
“Better what?!”
“I believe she means she’s better than you, Fengbao,” Apollo chortled.
“Yes.”
“WHAT!?!”
‘Fengbao! Stop yelling! You’re giving me a headache.’
“Behind.”
“Are you calling me an ass!?”
“Turn.”
I scowled and turned around to see Katherine standing with a concerned look behind me. She had the white strings on her forearms again and the black blindfold over her eyes. I almost jumped off the walkway in surprise, but I schooled myself and kept my body completely still. “What do you want?” I asked, not unkindly.
“I … I wanted to apologize,” Katherine said, seeming to struggle with the words, “I shouldn’t have gone that far in the fight.”
I shook my head and said, “No, it’s okay. I lost my temper too. For that, I’m sorry.” Looking between her and the crowd, I asked, “Want to join me? I have one more onigiri?” Hesitating momentarily, Katherine nodded and sat next to me, accepting the proffered rice ball. After a few bites, I needed to ask, “Are you a reincarnated person? Like me?”
Katherine stopped eating for a moment and hesitated to answer. Then she nodded before finishing the rice ball. “How did you know?” she asked me.
“Violin Concerto No.2 in B minor, Op. 7, la campanella, three, Rondo by Paganini. I used to listen to it before I died. I found the classical music was always soothing and calmed me down.”
Katherine chuckled a little, “Same. I listened to those songs over and over again. I practically memorized them. So, you’re reincarnated too?”
I nodded, “Yep.”
“How did you die?”
Blowing out a puff of air, I thought, “I was stabbed with a beer bottle, a shard of glass traveled into my heart, and I died on the operating table. How about you?”
Katherine didn’t answer immediately and just looked down at her wrapped forearms. “When you died, you chose to make a new body. A new race. Completely re-invented yourself. In the other world, I cut my wrists. I could deal with anything anymore. I left behind my parents and my sister. I probably hurt them a lot. Far more than I should have,” Katherine said, her voice quivering for a second, “But when I had a chance to reincarnate, I chose to be human again. Cause it was the choice I knew the best. But when I woke up here, I looked down and saw these,” she pulled back a portion of the strings, revealing her scars, “The same scars I made in my past life. The same ones I made when I was at the lowest point in my life. The same ones that killed me.”
I placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “You don’t have to let those define you.”
Katherine chuckled and sniffed, “That’s the same thing my master told me. And now, I have a team that relies on me and people I care for. I won’t let anything happen to them. I just need to come to terms with life now, and I’ll be fine.”
I nodded, “Okay, just one more question.”
“No, I should go,” she said immediately and began to stand.
I grabbed her hand and asked my question anyways, “How did you cast that musical spell? I want to use it sometime.”
Katherine looked slightly surprised by my question and smiled, “That is a spell I made myself. It took a long time to figure out. But to play music is a level four spell.”
“Level four?” I said, confused, “But—”
“The spell I used to fight you,” she interrupted, “Was level nine.” My jaw dropped as she pulled her hand out of my grasp and walked away, “Have fun figuring it out.” She called over her shoulder as she walked away.
I gaped at her as she walked away. She was quick casting in the fight. Which means she was a better spell caster than me. I felt a rush of determination as I stood and scratched behind Yuki’s ears. “Yuki,” I said, “I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the training building for a while,” Yuki whined and nuzzled against my cheek, “After I feed you some proper food, though.”
***
Ding
Blockage 1/3 complete