Kaori walks up to a large fountain in the middle of what looked to be a newer, less developed Lotus City. “Huh?” She stares at the fountain for a while until a young man with dark black hair and brown eyes, that seemed to have a hint of gold, walked past her, and sat down near her. She cautiously steps to the side as she realized she was in his path. “I’m sorry,” she says softly as she moved out of his way, then gasps in surprise as two children seemed to run right through her. (“What’s going on?”) She holds her stomach in slight surprise then looks up as the children started speaking to the young man, yet a heavy silence still remaining. (“Why can’t I hear them?”) She turns around quickly as she finally heard an unfamiliar, and mature female voice speaking in a strict tone of voice, obviously scolding the children.

“Clara, Phius,” says the young woman in a kind though stern tone, sounding much like a mother. “How many times have I told you not to run off on me like that!”

The children both look down shamefully. “Sorry, Miss Ayami,” Phius says with his head lowered bashfully.

Kaori looks at the scene before her curiously. (“Ayami?”) She stares at the slightly tall woman who wore a pink apron and had her long blonde hair braided behind her and falling just near her lower back. Her fair skin only seeming brighter against her soft, red lips and gentle brown eyes.

Clara places her hands behind her innocently. “Yeah, sorry.” She looks down as both her and Phius walk to Ayami’s side.

Ayami puts her hands on her hips lightly. “Apologize to this gentleman for bothering him.”

“Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” he says uneasily as he stood up; an embarrassed smile on his face as he scratched his head lightly.

“Hm?” Ayami looks at him curiously for a moment, looking as though her heart skipped a beat as she noticed him staring at her kindly, seeming to notice the golden halo in his eyes before becoming suddenly aware of her actions, causing her to speak nervously. “I- I want to teach them good manners, sir...” her voice trails off, expectant that he would introduce himself to her.

“Hale.” He smiles at her warmly, his charm causing Ayami to blush and avert her eyes down in embarrassment.

The children both look at one another before speaking, catching Ayami’s reaction. “Sorry, Sir Hale!!” blurts Phius.

“Sorry!!” adds Clara as well.

Hale kneels down to their level, looking at the two with his kindhearted smile. “I forgive you. From now on please ensure to follow the instruction of your mother here.” He looks back up at Ayami as she spoke quickly.

“Ah, no,” Ayami waves her hands lightly. “I’m no mother, sir. I am merely a volunteer at the orphanage.”

He stands, meeting her anxious eyes with a calming look of his own. “How honorable, ma’am.” His sensitive and caring gaze seems to pierce Ayami’s initially stern demeanor, causing her to turn away from him hastily.

Kaori looks between the two, somehow feeling a strong sense of longing. (“Hale... Ayami.”) She reaches to touch them, but steps back in surprise as her hand went right through them. (“What’s going on...”) She reaches toward them again, this time everything being absorbed by a bright strong light, causing her to fall to her knees. “Who are these people?” She frowns lightly as she looked down. “Why does it make me feel so sad?” She looks up as she saw a hand reach out to her and an unfamiliar male voice call out to her softly.

“Lady Kaori...” He says desperately, as if trying to reach her.

(“That voice... I’ve heard it call to me before... Who are you?”) Kaori reaches out into the light as she saw a hand reach out to her, taking it in hers gently and standing up slowly.

❀

Kaori opens her eyes in her bed in the ship’s cabin, waking up from her dream, and sits up. “That’s funny. I don’t remember falling asleep,” she says to herself quietly. She looks down at her hand for a moment in deep thought. “I can almost remember my dream… That feeling was so empty,” She looks over at her window, getting up to open it soon after. The cool air and warm sunlight brushes across her face instantly, the memory of her dream fading away just as quickly as it came.

❀

“Then it’s settled right?” Breeze’s voice asks Tai with a raised brow as they stood at the control panel. “If I set course there’s no changing it.”

“You wouldn’t have a choice in the matter if it came up anyway,” Tai replies hatefully.

Breeze makes a small squinted facial gesture toward Tai before speaking childishly. “Says you!” Her attention is captured by the sound of Keiji’s soft sigh from behind them and turns, seeing not only Keiji standing there thoughtfully, but Vicious and Shomei as well.

Keiji’s calm exterior prompts the two to fall silent as if they waited for him to speak. “I’m sure this will do well enough.”

Shomei looks toward Keiji worriedly. “Are you sure of its existence?” She asks quietly. “It’s been legend for hundreds of years.”

Keiji looks out of the large window distantly. “There’s always truth to legends you know,” he says with a thoughtful nod to himself. “Besides, what is a hundred-year-old legend to someone who’s lived to see it unfold?”

“A twisted memory,” Vicious retorts bitterly under his breath.

“You wouldn’t have said that five years ago,” Tai snaps quickly in a dark tone, obviously hearing Vicious.

Keiji turns to look at everyone in the room. “Either way,” he interjects lightly before anyone could say anything further. “We’ve mapped out a relatively safe route for the time being. Though there are some places we must walk in order to get there, such as the gorge in the fields.”

Breeze nods and looks at everyone else as well. “We should be there shortly; it would do best for everyone to be prepared.” She turns as the door had opened and Kaori stepped in.

“Hello,” Kaori says calmly.

“Hi there! Sleep well?” Breeze asks cheerfully.

Kaori nods hesitantly but smiles reassuringly quickly after. “Yes,” she says in an attempt to come across as more self-assured. “Is there something I missed? I feel like I stepped into an important conversation.”

Breeze grins excitedly. “You have actually! We’ll be arriving at the first cavern soon in Devil’s Gorge.”

“Devil’s Gorge?” Kaori asks, looking uncertain.

“It’s a deep gorge the Temple always believed led to hell,” adds Keiji. “and where the demons originate from. It’s nothing more than the adjustment of Noroc’s lands though. A perfect place to hide something from them don’t you think?” Keiji’s tone of voice shifts, almost coming across as cunning.

She smiles at Keiji’s tone and nods in agreement. “Clever I suppose.”

“But first we must set up a party,” says Keiji. “Miss Kaori; Tai will be escorting you into the cavern to retrieve the soul while the rest of us secure the entrance. Breeze will be on standby should something happen on the inside.”

“Wait! How can you be so sure that’s a good idea?” Vicious asks suddenly.

“Well, there are rules on who can enter,” Keiji glances over at Tai expectantly.

“Yeah, being human is a deal breaker you know,” Breeze adds with her hands on her hips.

Vicious raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “Why, because he said so?” he says gesturing toward Tai. “How do you know he isn’t lying?”

Tai shrugs, holding little interest in the conversation. “If you have a death wish then who am I to stop you?” he says carelessly. “Maybe if enough deities die by your hands there will be a rotation where Akiko may come back.”

“What Tai is trying to say...” Keiji says quickly, cutting off Vicious before he could speak. “Is that the caverns are coded with the ancient language and writings of our once great people. One wrong entry into the passageway’s codes could result in Miss Kaori’s unintentional death.” He smiles reassuringly as he noticed Kaori’s eyes widen with worry at his words. “But don’t worry, Tai will most definitely keep you safe.”

“Really?” Kaori asks quietly. “Safe from death, but otherwise I’m not so sure...”

Tai glares at Kaori as he noticed her concern. “Unless you piss me off.”

“As expected.” Kaori smiles faintly, as if she were amused by his response. “I trust you then.”

Tai turns away from Kaori’s gaze quickly, seemingly irritated at her reply toward his cold and uncaring nature.

“Great!” Exclaims Breeze excitedly. “We’ll get as close as possible, but it may be a little walk. It’ll do best for everyone to get ready.” She pats Kaori’s head lightly as she started exiting the room with nearly everyone behind her, leaving only Keiji and Kaori alone in the control room in their absence.

Keiji looks at Kaori calmly. “Something the matter?” he asks, noticing a sense of conflict in Kaori’s eyes.

“Kind of... I wanted to ask you something.”

“I will answer anything you wish of me,” he says with a slight bow.

“Breeze said you can look into people’s minds, right?”

“That is true.”

“I was wondering if... Maybe you could do that for me?” she asks hesitantly. “I keep having dreams of people, and feeling their emotions and I don’t know why or who they are. I even start to forget the details soon after waking up... I was wondering if you could figure out who...” Her voice trails off, unable to finish her thought for a moment.

He smiles, a sadness still seeming to linger in his eyes. “There are conditions on my abilities, I’m afraid. Most Yaban in fact. I am very much able to look into the minds of others but morally do not do so unless I have permission or out of necessity. Unfortunately, though even with your consent I am not able to see anything directly from you or any goddess that has graced Noroc, past or present. If I or anyone with the same ability could, we would go mad indefinitely as our mind’s eye cannot handle the burden they carry.”

“Oh... I see...” her tone coming across just as dejected as her expression.

“But I can give you some information I’ve been told before by leaders of the past if you’d like. It may be of help.”

“Really?” Her eyes light up slightly with hope. “Yes please.”

“It is possible that you are dreaming of those deities before you. Those who have sacrificed their lives to try and save this world and failed in an attempt to keep you from doing the same. Maybe because you have not grown in this world, the gods are giving you the ability to see into the past to better understand your future.”

“That does kind of makes sense.”

“It could also be just a dream. No one really knows.” He smiles kindly. “I would say that if it isn’t much of a problem for you now then it’s best not to make it as such.”

She nods once. “Right. Just... Don’t tell Vicious I said anything. I don’t want to give him hope that I’ve seen Akiko when I can’t remember.”

Keiji smiles and nods. “On my honor.”

Kaori returns the expression, slightly relieved as she did so, then follows Keiji out of the control room quietly.

❀

Shomei sighs hopelessly as she heard Breeze and Tai argue. “I don’t understand how anyone could put up with this,” she mumbles in frustration as they all stood outside in a large grassy field with an enormous canyon in the distance.

“They say they’re more civilized,” Vicious mutters to himself.

“Can’t you ever just listen to me!” Breeze yells loudly toward Tai.

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“You never have anything interesting to say, and for once can you stop yelling? It’s a miracle that I haven’t lost my hearing in the past five years,” he responds irritably.

“You’re a horrible person, you know that,” Breeze snaps just as angrily.

“I don’t care,” Tai says waving her off as he turned away.

Breeze starts to say something but stops as Keiji jumped down gracefully from the air with Kaori in his arms. “Ah!” She smiles happily, forgetting all about Tai.

Kaori adjusts her balance just as Keiji gently let her down. “Sorry I took so long.”

“No problem,” Breeze says happily, her attitude completely changing.

“Hurry this up, we don’t have all day,” Tai says with exasperation and impatience tinged throughout his tone.

Breeze shoots Tai a dangerous look. “Like you don’t have all the time in the world?”

Tai opens his mouth to say something but falls silent in half a breath as Kaori interjected.

“It’s over there, right?” Kaori asks pointing at the canyon. “It’s a lot closer that I thought it would be.”

“Luckily the wind was just right so we could be this close,” Breeze says with pride.

“Tai is right though; we must hurry before it becomes dark,” Shomei warns softly, as not to cause Kaori any uneasiness.

“What happens after dark?” Kaori asks curiously.

“The Loyal Four are able to move around better under cover of dark,” Vicious responds in a grave tone. “I’ve heard that the man of blindness was last seen frequenting this area.”

Kaori tilts her head to the side curiously. “You’ve all mentioned them before. What are they exactly?” she asks while they all started walking toward the canyon.

Shomei speaks with sensitivity as she walked at Kaori’s side. “It’s four of Aduro’s followers: The Woman of Deceit; who has the power to make people hallucinate and manipulate reality around them; The Child of Sorrows, who summons demons from the underworld; The Man of Blindness, who has his face encased in the metal made in hell, possessing unparalleled strength; and The Outcast; a man speaking in a dead language, said to be wielding death’s saith with ease. They are the strongest of Aduro’s followers who do his bidding by providing him with souls to turn against Noroc.”

“The Temple says they’re the manifestations of the sins people on Noroc continue to commit,” Vicious says with his head down.

“If people continue to commit sins then doesn’t that mean...” Kaori falls silent, realizing the weight of her assumption and, as a consequence, feeling the shift in atmosphere that caused her to feel uncomfortable with regret.

Breeze notices the tense silence from Shomei and Vicious then speaks cheerfully in an attempt to change the mood. “That’s why you’re here,” she says, her eyes bright and full of hope. “The legend of these souls wasn’t passed down through the Temple in an effort to make our people look bad. But we have continued to hold onto what information we could throughout our own history in the hopes of ending the cycle of the Temple sending out deities in the hopes it’ll work someday.” Breeze gives Kaori a thumbs up with a reassuring smile as she noticed her look down with concern. “We won’t let you become another sacrifice; we promise,” she reassures, eliciting expressions of remorse from both Shomei and Vicious.

Kaori nods timidly and continues following until they reached the now clearly visible deep canyon that darkened into a deep void. “It’s bigger than what I had expected it to be. The place is down there, right?”

“Sure is,” Breeze says hurrying to the edge.

Kaori walks over to Breeze’s side cautiously. “How are we supposed to get down? And it’s dark too... Will we be able to find anything down there?”

Breeze takes a white glowing sphere and tosses it down the gorge casually. “This will activate once we get down there. As for getting down it’ll take a bit more of a cautious effort.”

Kaori lets her gaze wander down to the darkness deep in the canyon, staring down intently as she started hearing voices whispering from inside. “Huh?” She takes a hesitant step forward toward the edge, her feet dangerously close to the threshold, the others talking seriously behind her.

“Do you hear that?” echoes the voice of a young male from the darkened depths of the canyon. “We’ve got to hurry, we can’t let them find us!”

Kaori glances back at the others curiously as she heard the voice speak, noticing that the others around her couldn’t hear the same as they continued on with their own conversations. “Are there people already down there?” She turns her attention back to the gorge, her eyes in a trance.

“And you think you’ll get her through the cavern safely?” Breeze asks Vicious, her hands on her hips.

“I’m not saying that it’s just...” Vicious cuts off his sentence short, still looking hesitant to say anything else.

“He still doesn’t trust us,” Tai says coldly. “What else is new with the likes of people like him, though?”

“Shame on you after all we’ve done for you,” Breeze says accusingly.

Keiji shrugs dismissively, appearing neutral on the subject. “We can’t blame him entirely. But, nonetheless, Tai must be the one to go with her whether you like it or not.”

Kaori blinks slowly as her vision started to blur and her body began to sway, feeling dizzy as she did so. “I don’t feel well all of a sudden.” She rubs her eyes in an attempt to regain her composure, hearing the voice speak again from inside the canyon below much louder and closer than the others around her.

“Hurry up!!” calls out the male voice angrily as if forcing someone with him to do as he said against their will.

Kaori steps back trying to maintain her balance only to lose her footing and falls off the side of the cliff and into the gorge while she lost consciousness.

Tai’s attention suddenly jerks toward Kaori, seeing her fall into the canyon before any of the others could. “Kaori!” He runs after her, reaching for her hand but failing to grab her in time. He instinctively jumps off the cliff after with complete disregard for himself.

“Kaori!!” Breeze yells after them as she saw Tai jump into the gorge.

Keiji and the others hurry to the cliff’s edge, seeing no sign of either of them. “New plan,” declares Keiji.

❀

Only darkness surrounds the area, accompanying the heavy silence until it was broken by the sound of two male voices, one being the one Kaori had heard above the gorge.

“How long until we get there?” asks the familiar male voice.

“The end isn’t too far off now. Once we place it on the altar we’ll need to start setting up the traps behind us,” responds another young man’s voice.

(“The people from the cavern...”)

“You sure the right people will be able to find it?” he asks skeptically.

“Leader said when the time is right. The temple can’t keep hiding behind false hope forever.”

“Did you hear that?”

“Don’t lag behind! It’s already hard enough carrying dead weight with me,” he complains with exhaustion clearly conveyed in his voice.

“What if it’s a demon?” he mumbles in fear.

“You don’t believe in that do you?”

“The Temple was right about the heavens. It’s only natural to believe there could be something else they’re right about.”

(“What’s happening? Why can’t I see anything...”)

“Stop for a second...” he says seriously.

“See I told you!”

“Shh!!! Right, we need to hurry up.”

“We can’t let them find us...”

Everything falls silent and the darkness absorbs what little light was around the area leaving only Tai’s familiar and distant voice calling out to Kaori.

“Kaori can you hear me? Shit...” Tai’s voice fades into the far distance, leaving nothing but a deafening darkness behind.

❀

Tai walks down a narrow, dirt pathway of the cavern quietly until he reached a slightly wider area where the path split into three possible directions, holding a limp and unconscious Kaori on his back with her arms falling over his shoulders. He adjusts Kaori lightly and continues down the far-left path until it became wide enough to move a bit more freely.

Kaori opens her eyes slowly, strangely causing the earthed walls of the cave to glow a soft mix of blue and purple. “Where am I?”

Tai stops suddenly as he felt Kaori move. “You awake?”

“Yeah...” she says in a confused tone.

“Good,” he responds curtly, dropping her on the ground carelessly as he released her from his grasp. “Walk on your own.”

She hits the ground hard as she fell flat. “Hey!” She stands up slowly, rubbing her lower back with a grimace of discomfort. “That was mean,” she says with a slight groan. “Where are we? Where’s everyone else?” she asks while her eyes scanned the area around them curiously, noticing it was just the two of them.

“It’s the cavern in the gorge, Breeze and Keiji are keeping guard at the entrance and the others are up top doing the same.” He turns and looks at her with annoyance reflected in his gaze. “Any more questions?”

“Why did you drop me?” she complains with a frown.

“Hurry up,” he replies, ignoring her question as he started to walk ahead without any intention on answering her, leaving Kaori to furrow her brow in silent protest, and following close behind him, the walls all lighting up and dimming down as she walked by.

She looks around for a moment then ahead at Tai. “I blacked out, didn’t I?” she asks softly after a tense moment of silence between them. “I’m sorry for being a burden already. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You should feel sorry. You’re such an inconvenience,” he says harshly, glancing back as he noticed Kaori’s silence and sees her walking with her head down and her hands fumbling nervously in front of her. “You should at least tell someone if you’re not feeling well. It could have saved me the trouble of having to jump off a cliff after you.”

She looks up at him curiously. “You jumped down after me?” she asks softly, her voice resonating a kind and gentle gratitude.

He looks ahead with his usual emotionless expression and shrugs carelessly. “Not much use to anyone if you’re dead, are you?” he replies indifferently.

“I guess...” she says with a hint of disappointment in her voice that also echoed in her eyes.

He stops as they came to a large bolder with symbols carved into the stone. “Come here,” he says seriously as he kept his eyes locked on the bolder, only turning to Kaori as she stepped to his side. He grabs her wrist gently, his gaze turning to her as he felt her pull away and shake her head. “Stop messing around.”

“It’s just—” she stops as Tai’s aggravated tone cut her off.

“It’s fine. I’ve been through worse.” He grabs her hand once more and forces her to touch three different symbols in what looked to be a particular order, each one continuing to glow brightly after she had touched it.

She slowly moves her hand from Tai as he let her go, the bolder moving loudly to the side as a result. She squints lightly as the bolder revealed a well sized dim lit room. She starts to step forward but stops a giant lizard-like animal jumped in front of her, its black eyes piercing into hers just before it let out an earsplitting screech.

Tai moves in front of her, sword out, ready to attack the demon. “Stay behind me,” he says seriously.

She nods lightly, moving a small distance behind Tai watching him jump up to avoid the lizard’s attack and quickly slash the front of its body.

He jumps up as high as he could and stabs his sword through the lizard’s head; jumping off before he it hit the ground near them.

She watches Tai turn around and look at her, his body language seeming to be frustrated but his face showing otherwise. “Thanks,” she says gratefully.

“Let’s go.” He turns away and continues his way into the small room while he put his sword away back into its sheath beside him.

She hurries into the room after him, being careful to avoid the dead lizard on the ground and looks up as the room brightened up as she walked in. She quickly notices the same symbols as before on the farthest wall, the steady glow captivating her interest. “What is that writing?”

“It’s instructions,” he replies emptily, glancing at the wall carefully for a moment before touching the symbols himself slowly. “Some allow only a Deity to open it and others a full blooded Yaban. If the wrong person does it, it leads to a trap.” He touches the last glowing symbol causing the stone wall to move forward a few inches before splitting in two revealing a small altar holding a good sized glowing red orb on top. He picks up the orb and throws it at Kaori lightly. “That’s yours.”

She catches it close to her chest and looks down at it, its glow seeming to be brighter as she touched it. “What do I do with this?”

“Ask Keiji,” he says after stepping away from the altar and walking toward the exit.

“But don’t you know more about these things? Wouldn’t you be able to tell me?” she asks as she examined the orb while he walked past her.

“It’s something he wants to do. Who am I to take that from him,” he says tonelessly. “Besides, it doesn’t kill you to wait for an explanation for things.”

Kaori shrugs dismissively and walks after him, carefully holding the orb in her hands, remaining silent as they walked and ignoring the large bolder as it moved shut behind her.

He walks down the tunnels with Kaori silently walking behind him until he stopped suddenly.

“Hm?” She stops behind him, motionless and wide eyed as Tai slowly held up his hand to stop her in her place.

“Stay close,” he warns in a cautious whisper.

She does as she was told carefully, now hearing a deep growling sound within the tunnels. She slowly moves to put the orb away in a small pouch she had behind her while scanning the area with concern.

He slowly looks around, backing up with Kaori behind him.

She takes a step back, not realizing the ground gave way until it was too late. “No!!” She reaches out for stable ground, catching a rock that was sticking out before she could fall too far down.

He reaches out a hand to grab her as he lay on the ground to get closer. “Give me your hand.”

She looks up at him for a moment then shakes her head. “I can get up myself,” she says with determination as she tried to do so, failing miserably.

“Stop being so stubborn and give me your hand damn it,” he yells impatiently, inconveniently feeling ground shake from a great force somewhere within the cavern. “Shit!” He feels the ground under him give way as well, finally causing him to fall into the pit after Kaori, hearing her scream in fear as a result. He reaches for her and forcefully pulls her toward him after grabbing her hand as they fell and forces her to position herself on top of him just as his back hit the hard stone ground. “Damn it...” he says to himself with a pained groan.

She pushes herself up on her arms, still on top of Tai. “I’m so sorry,” she says with genuine concern in her eyes as she stared down at him, her disheveled hair brushing across her face.

He opens his eyes, catching her expression for a brief second before suddenly rolls over on top of Kaori, shielding her protectively from a bolder that fell hard right where they were, the cloud of dirt that rose from the fall brushing across them both.

She looks over in slight shock as the bolder fell then at Tai who was now barely supporting himself on his arms, trying to move off of her. “Th- thank you...” she says in shock as she sat up slowly.

He pulls away from her hard and forces himself to stand, backing up into the stone wall in pain as he held his side.

“Are you alright?” she asks worriedly, her expression giving insight to her emotions.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says seriously, disregarding her concern. “Let’s just get out of here.” He pushes himself up, knowing he had been hurt badly from the fall.

She looks down at her hand as Tai passed her and walked down the dark tunnel that no longer lit up just as the walls had before. “I can’t let him walk around hurt...” She hurries after Tai, trying to see how badly he was hurt while she spoke. “Where are we at?”

“The sub level.”

“Can we still get out?”

“I don’t know,” he says looking irritated as his eyes continued looking ahead sternly.

She looks at him worriedly as she suddenly stopped. “Umm...”

“What?” He asks with an ill-tempered, impatient tone in his voice, not realizing that Kaori’s voice sounded a little distant from him.

“Can we stop?” She says in a shaky voice.

“What now-” He turns and looks at her, seeing she stood still in fear as a dark black bony hand rested on her shoulder. “Don’t move,” he slowly draws his sword, his focus on the black skeleton like creature moving into the dim light around them.

She closes her eyes tightly, feeling it breathing heavily near her ear.

He slashes the creature’s head off, kicking the head away from Kaori quickly.

She hurries behind him in fear. “I want to get out of here!”

“Just keep going and don’t leave from my sight,” he says in frustration as he pushed her in front of him.