Breeze sighs restlessly as she and Keiji stood at a large stone cave entrance. “When are they coming out?”

Keiji smiles to himself. “They fell into a trap to the sub level of the tunnels. Tai is hurt, Kaori is fine.”

“Should we go after them?”

“Tai is more than capable of handling this himself.”

“And the others?”

“If Vicious finds out that there’s even the slightest possibility Kaori may be injured he will try to interfere. It’s best to keep him happy for the time being.”

“Easier said than done.”

❀

Tai stares down the tunnel, seeing a dim light in the distance, Kaori staying close at his side.

She remains near him as he began walking faster and they finally reach a small area where an exit came into view a few feet above them. “How are we going to ge—” she stops as Tai grabbed her by her waist and pulled her close to him tightly. “Wait. I don’t think you should—”

“Shut up and hold on,” he says firmly, trying his hardest to disregard the pain he felt from touching her along with the pain from what felt, to him, like a broken rib.

She puts her arms around Tai’s broad shoulders securely as Tai suddenly took out a gold sphere from his side pouch and threw it on the ground causing it to shake below them before propelling them up to the upper level. She hurriedly moves away from him watching him fall to his knees in pain, resisting taking a step toward him in concern.

Tai gets up with a painful look on his face for a moment before brushing it off and looking ahead. “The exit’s right down the tunnel, let’s go.”

She frowns worriedly yet hurries after him, seeing Breeze turn and look down at them with a smile.

“Hey!!” Breeze waves lightly as she shouted down the tunnel.

Kaori starts to run past Tai, feeling grateful to be out of the tunnel until a large boulder fell, blocking the exit securely between them. “No!!” She hits the boulder hard, trying to move it herself.

Tai forces Kaori to the ground unexpectedly as he falls down with her, shielding her from a large explosion that caused a small pathway for them to exit the tunnels. “Hurry up!” He gets up quickly despite the pain he was in and pulls Kaori with him, just exiting as the explosion had caused a complete cave-in of the tunnel.

Breeze moves Kaori behind her and turns to look at her worriedly. “Are you alright?”

Kaori nods a little, her eyes wandering from Breeze to Tai. “Yes but—”

“I’m fine,” he says cutting off Kaori’s sentence.

Breeze looks over at Tai who was clearly in pain. “You’re too reckless,” she says carelessly as she tossed him a small vial.

He catches it reluctantly, ignoring Breeze’s comment.

Keiji looks at Kaori, speaking gently. “What did you find?”

Kaori takes out the orb from her pocket and holds it out to Keiji. “We found this.”

Keiji smiles lightly and puts his hands on Kaori’s after having her make a fist around the orb. “Hold it tightly.”

Kaori grips the orb as instructed, intrigued at the prospect of what she was to do.

“Now just close your eyes and imagine yourself asking the soul to protect you,” Keiji says simply. “Ensure that you do so with your entirety.”

“Um... Okay...” Kaori replies with uncertainty, eventually closing her eyes tightly trying her best to do what Keiji had asked. “Okay soul... If you can hear me? I would really appreciate it if you could help protect me? I can’t do this on my own and I’d really like some help here.”

Keiji steps back lightly away from Kaori as her body started to glow with a soft red aura before dimming down.

Tai turns away from them with disinterest as he drank the contents of the vial Breeze had given to him.

Kaori opens her eyes slowly and looks down at her hand seeing the orb had turned into a sparkling red dust in her palm before slowly disappearing as if it had absorbed into her. “What just happened?” she asks in bewilderment.

“You attained the power of that soul; consider them your guardian,” Keiji says with a pleased smile.

Kaori stares at her hand for a moment in disbelief. “I did?”

“You’ll learn how to use that soon enough. For the time being, it’s imperative that you allow your body to adjust to the task,” Keiji says kindly. “On that note, we must hurry to the top so you can get back to the ship and rest. The fire soul was rumored to have been a bit stubborn so there’s no telling what consequence may be in store for you.”

Breeze takes Kaori’s hand gently, interrupting her concern toward Keiji’s remark. “Watch this, it’s pretty cool,” she says excitedly as she took out a grappling gun from her side holster and shot it upwards toward the edge of the cavern. “Ready?”

Kaori nods as she saw Breeze’s mischievous smile, surprised as Breeze held onto her waist tightly just before the gun had clicked loudly and started pulling them upward quickly. She lets go of Breeze after they reached the top, instantly finding themselves surrounded by at least ten men wearing clothes similar to Vicious, the colors however, an iridescent white with golden silk wrists and waistband. “Huh?”

Keiji arrives out of the gorge with Tai right behind him, his eyes narrow at the sight of the men around them.

Breeze glares at the men around them. “What’s this now?” she asks irritably, seeming to know exactly who these people were.

“The Yaban,” says one of the men in a disapproving whisper.

“So, it is true,” says another quietly.

“Is that Taiichiro?” whispers a man in the back to another man near him, everyone starting to speak quietly at the sight of Tai, Keiji, and Breeze with Kaori.

Keiji scans the area, seeing Vicious and Shomei standing off to the side silently. “I assume you’re here for Akiko as well. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that she’s passed away about five years ago.”

What seems to be the highest ranking of all the men around them steps forward, standing directly in front of Keiji. “Leader of the Sky Bandits, Yaban, Keiji; we are here on behalf of Grand Master Valo from the Temple of Light, requesting the presence of Empress immediately,” he says with professionalism in his voice.

“What could have possibly warranted Valo to feel honored enough to be in the presence of the Empress, I wonder,” Keiji says thoughtfully, prompting Breeze to giggle silently from behind him.

“What if she refuses?” Breeze asks after clearing her throat lightly.

“We are ordered not to leave until she has accepted his request,” replies the man with pride.

Tai crosses his arms, looking just as hateful as ever.

Keiji nods understandingly before letting out a small chuckle. “Amusing how you’ve come to ask me as if I have power to force her to do something,” he says with a calm smile, then looks at Kaori. “My lady,” he bows ever so slightly and gestures toward her, as if making a joke.

Kaori looks at the men before them seriously. “Please tell Grand Master Valo that...” Her voice trails off, unsure of what she wanted to say.

“Be strong okay? We’ll back you up,” Breeze whispers encouragingly from behind Kaori.

Shomei watches Kaori with concern from behind the men, as if trying to encourage her to speak up as well.

Kaori clenches her fists at her side, resolving to look directly at the man who spoke. “Tell him I’m busy now. I’ll go if I have free time later,” she says louder than what she had wanted to but still remaining determined to get her point across.

The man looks at her with confusion. “Uh, but my lady, one shouldn’t deny the request of the Grand Master.”

Kaori looks down, not knowing how to respond. “I... Uh...”

Tai sighs impatiently and steps forward in front of Kaori, a few of the men stepping back in preparation for an attack. “The Grand Master is only head of the Shrines and Temple. He holds no political power over the Empress and is nothing but a worthless human in the presence of a deity. What gives him the right to demand something from someone who is literally from the heavens herself? Valo is a servant of the gods, not the other way around. So go back home and tell him what she’s said.”

The man looks at his men behind him, who were all mumbling incoherently. He sighs in disappointment and looks at Tai seriously. “Very well. We will return to him with your reply.” He and the others all turn to Kaori and bow deeply in respect. “My lady, I hope we meet again at your true home.” They all hurry off toward the field quickly, everyone silent until they disappeared into the distance.

Vicious turns to Tai seriously. “Of all people, you shouldn’t be the one to disrespect the Temple like that.”

Tai turns his irritation onto Vicious directly. “It’s true, isn’t it? If Valo wanted to see her, he should come here himself instead of thinking he could demand things from her. If he wants the world to be at peace, then he should follow the will of a deity, not the other way around. She has no obligation toward him. She doesn’t even have to help the world if she doesn’t want to, and every follower of the Temple should understand that instead of assuming she’ll be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of ungrateful people,” he says angrily. “If anything, everyone in this world should be bowing down to her, worshiping the very ground she walks on.”

Kaori looks down as she listened to Tai speak firmly, her face slightly flushed in embarrassment at the thought of his remark.

Vicious steps forward toward Tai with indignation. “She was sent down from the heavens for us! The Temple is trying to avoid any more pain to the people, it’s her responsibility—”

“She owes you nothing,” Tai says with a dangerously calm and quiet voice, his anger seeming to be reaching its limit.

“Anyway,” Keiji interjects before anything else could be said. “We are grateful for what she is doing now,” he smiles gratefully toward Kaori. “You do know that, don’t you?”

Kaori nods once with a weak smile. “Yes.”

“If at any time you wish to stop this journey, we will be more than happy to take you back to the Palace,” Keiji says comfortingly.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I’ll keep going,” Kaori says softly. “I feel like that’s the least I can do.”

Breeze smiles pleasantly. “Great! Let’s get back to the ship and map out a course to the next location,” she says brightly, taking Kaori’s hand in hers and pulling her back toward the airship that loomed in the sky in the short distance.

Keiji turns his attention toward Vicious. “We understand your undying faith toward the Temple, but please try to see it from our perspective, Kaori isn’t someone we should force into a life of servitude without having her understand the world around her. Thinking we should is purely unethical and nothing more than a death sentence for another god. Besides, if the Temple was so honest and caring, why would they refuse to let followers know of the Guardian Souls?”

“Because even if it were true, it is a gift from hell. She should never use it,” Vicious replies.

Tai stares down Vicious as he spoke. “If you’re so unsure, maybe you should ask your fellow brethren why such knowledge is torn from their own record,” he says hatefully, turning around and walking away toward the ship with an irritated expression.

“What?” Vicious asks in disbelief, his eyes wandering to Shomei, who remained stoic at Tai’s accusation.

Shomei steps to Vicious’s side worriedly as Keiji had walked off as well. “Vicious...”

“It can’t be true,” Vicious says to himself, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Sometimes we need to accept that the teachings don’t tell us everything,” Shomei says quietly.

“Is that why you left the Temple?” he asks her suddenly.

“I left the Temple for a lot of reasons, you know that...”

“They’re only doing this for him, you know,” he says, suddenly shifting the subject just as quickly as he directed the blame toward Tai.

“I don’t think so. Taiichiro has given up on chasing death. He’s accepted his fate and wants to atone for his indiscretions in his own way, not the way of the gods. I believe that he only wants her alive and to follow her own will.”

“When it turns out he is the reason this whole time, you all will wish you listened to me in the first place.”

❀

Breeze walks toward the entrance of the control room, stopping as Kaori’s soft voice spoke up.

“Breeze?”

“Hm? What’s up?” she asks curiously as she turned to look at Kaori, noticing sweat starting to form on Kaori’s brow and the color in her face draining while simultaneously gaining a pink glow.

“I’m feeling a little tired now. Do you think it would be okay if I went to my room?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” she says with a nod. “You must be exhausted after absorbing the soul’s power. Get as much rest as you can alright?”

“Thank you,” she says gratefully as she bowed lightly then hurries off to her room down the other hall.

She smiles happily and enters the control room, going straight to the panel in the corner of the room, looking at a holographic map until Keiji and Tai walked in.

“What a wonderful turn of events. Thank you so much for you efforts Tai,” Keiji says with a grateful smile. “It would have been much more difficult without you around.”

“I’m sure it would have,” Tai replies tonelessly, his gaze turning toward Breeze who was grinning at the controls. “What’s with you?” Tai asks with growing suspicion.

“Nothing~,” she sings happily. “Where are we going next?”

Keiji looks at Tai lightly. “Well?”

“Summit of Tear’s Mountain,” Tai replies with very little interest or thought.

“What? Really? There’s no way we can take the ship near there,” she says with a frown. “We’ll have to stop at the Crystal forest. Vicious will want to stop at Chrystallium on the way up for sure.”

“Then so be it,” says Keiji suddenly. “We can stop by and miss Kaori can come to her own conclusion of it.”

“Are you sure?” Breeze asks worriedly.

Keiji nods once. “He wants to push the teachings on her, so let him. When she fights back, he will, and should, learn and understand that Deities are no longer the property of the Temple.”

“Do what you want,” Tai says with a tired shrug. “Just call me when you’re ready.” He starts to walk out waving his hand carelessly behind him.

Breeze steps forward lightly, stopping Tai as she spoke. “Oh! Check on Kaori before you leave, will you? She said she was tired but I’m a bit worried about her. She looked like she was sick.”

“Whatever,” Tai responds as he left; the door closing behind him. He walks down the hall with his hands in his pockets until he had reached Kaori’s room door, about to knock until he heard what sounded like an explosion of fireworks. “What the...” He opens the door and sees Kaori on her hands and knees, breathing heavily and looking to be in pain, smoke coming from her bed. He hurries to her side and kneels down next to her. “What’s going on in here?”

She looks up at Tai, her face tired and flushed as she tried her hardest to sit up and shakes her head. “Nothing. I just...” She manages to stand tiredly, Tai moving to stand at her side as well. “I think I have a fever. I need some fresh air.” She takes a step forward, her body finally giving up as she started to collapse.

He catches her in his arms before she could hit the floor and picks her up with ease.

“I’m fine,” she says weakly, fighting the immense feeling of tiredness surrounding her as she felt her body temperature rise.

He glances over at Kaori’s scorched bed and sighs to himself. “C’mon, you can stay in my room for now.”

She groans lightly in protest, her head leaning on Tai’s chest as she winces lightly.

He walks out of Kaori’s room with her in his arms and opens the door to his room with difficulty, trying to keep her from falling as he turned the handle and pushed open the heavy door with a steady kick. The dark room lights up as he entered, showing a plain bed with only a pillow, and blanket resting on top neatly, with an old wooden nightstand in the corner where a glowing dark blue sphere was placed next to a long, blood-stained and time faded ribbon that at one point was a deep dark pink judging from the inconsistent coloring. He gently places Kaori on his bed, the pain he usually feels from her touch steady, but not deterring him from touching her forehead in an attempt to check her temperature. “Wait here, alright?”

“No. I’m really okay...” she replies quietly, her voice determined to get up but her body unable to do so, even as Tai walked out of the room for a moment. “It’s so hot in here.” She opens her eyes weakly, scanning the room absentmindedly. “I thought he didn’t come in here often... But even so, it feels as if I’m encroaching upon his space.” She blinks slowly, her vision slowly fading. “I need to get up... I shouldn’t even be in here in the first place.” She blinks once more, her vision darkening but still able to see the silhouette of what she assumed was Tai. She moans softly, finally closing her eyes as she felt a hand touch her forehead gently, at the same time hearing an unfamiliar male voice, that she’s hear call out to her several times before, speaking softly as if he were trying to get her attention while simultaneously establishing that he meant no harm.

“Can you hear me, my lady?” asks the unfamiliar male voice.

“This voice... Who are you?” Kaori winces in pain, feeling the presence around her lean in closer as his soft voice spoke near her ear.

“This is the start of many trials that you must overcome on your journey here, but do not be afraid, and take solace in the fact that this is something of your own design.”

Kaori gradually passes out, unable to hold on to consciousness any longer, the voice fading away just as Tai entered back into the room where only Kaori lay peacefully on his bed.

He walks over to her, looking down at her blankly. He lowers his gaze slightly at the sight of her, turning as he heard a soft knock and Breeze entered.

Breeze hurries in with a bowl of water and a towel, Keiji entering calmly behind her. “What’s going on? Why is she in here?” She asks worriedly.

Tai puts whatever he had gotten from the drawer in his pocket, speaking quietly. “Looks like she’s having trouble fully accepting the guardian soul. She set her bed on fire when I went to check on her and started gaining a fever.”

“We can move her to my chambers if you’d like until we repair her room,” Keiji says understandably.

“It’s fine,” Tai mumbles quietly, avoiding direct eye contact with anyone.

Breeze’s eyes widen in surprise, failing to hide her expression as she went to Kaori’s side and places a cool wet towel on her forehead. “I guess if that’s okay with you. She looks peaceful here anyway,” she says quietly, kneeling down and looking at Kaori with a pleasant smile.

“Just hurry up and fix it so she can get out of here,” Tai adds harshly.

She nods lightly. “Think she’ll be okay?”

“She should be,” says Keiji “But it must be painful. Let her rest for now.” He turns a casual gaze toward Tai. “Breeze and I need to complete the course to Crystal Forest. Please stay here and make sure she’s as comfortable as possible. There won’t be much we can do to ease the process other than be there for her.”

“Can’t you get Vicious to do it? I’ve got somewhere to be,” Tai replies impatiently.

Breeze stands lightly. “No, you don’t, besides do you really want him in your space? He might go through your stuff,” she says mischievously.

Tai sighs hopelessly. “Fine.”

“Be nice while we’re gone. Let us know if something comes up,” Breeze says brightly as she walked out.

Keiji smiles and looks at Tai. “Strange isn’t it?”

“What?”

“How things turn out.”

“She tries hard for the dumbest things,” he says reluctantly. “She needs to have a stronger voice.”

“Maybe take the time to teach her,” his calm response weighing on Tai. “Good night,” he turns away, walking out of the room.

Tai looks over at his nightstand silently after a while, his eyes showing he was holding some sort of regret.

❀

Kaori runs down a dark forest, falling over as she tripped on a broken log, looking up at the sound of Tai’s voice near her.

Tai runs to her side, helping her up carefully. “C’mon.” He takes her hand in his and runs down the dimly lit forest until they reached a dead end of a stone wall. “Shit.”

“Now what?” she asks quietly, her eyes showing she feared for her life.

He looks around carefully. “I know another way.” He holds her hand securely in his and pulls her back with him stopping suddenly as Aduro appeared from a thick cloud of black smoke in front of them, his emotionless eyes staring at them hard. “Stay back,” he says cautiously toward Kaori as he moved in front of her protectively.

“It would do you well to your distance from him, my lady,” Aduro says darkly in Kaori’s direction as she looked at him in fear, not seeming to care as Tai drew his sword.

Tai steps forward about to attack but stops and falls back toward the wall hard as Aduro held up his hand with ease, seeming as though the simple action caused a great force to crush his body.

“No! Don’t!!” Kaori yells pleadingly toward Aduro.

“Pity... It seems I may have been too late to inform you,” Aduro says quietly, watching Kaori run toward Tai until a heavy force seemed to stop her and pull her body up and away from him. “For the sake of cleansing this world of its gravest sin... I’ll have no choice but to ensure that no one comes back.” He walks toward her calmly, looking at her with empty eyes before going toward Tai and grabbing his hair forcefully. “Luckily you are here to witness the very last bit of hope you will ever have die before you for the final time.”

Tai groans painfully, wanting to go after Kaori yet is unable to move despite all his efforts.

Kaori feels an unseen force tightening around her neck until she was unable to breath.

“Nostalgic... Isn’t it? I want you to live with something you can never forget.” He thinks for a moment as his eyes scanned the area before conjuring a large spear-shaped stick and sending it through Kaori’s body, his eyes gaining no emotion as he saw it pierce through her chest.

Tai’s eyes widen in shock as he saw Kaori’s body stay motionless for a moment then fall to the ground, lifeless, her dark red blood quickly draining from her body and onto the cool grass under her. “No...” he whispers in disbelief.

Kaori’s eyes remain open as a single tear falls from her eyes her lifeless stare seeming to be directed toward Tai with a sense of despair.

Aduro stares at Kaori’s lifeless body, hearing Tai’s breathing become erratic as he took in the sight of her. “You could almost see the belief she held toward you in her eyes,” he says calmly. “The hopes and dreams she once upheld in such high regard. How easily they were stripped away... All because of you.”

A tear falls down his stunned face as he stared at Kaori, still unable to do anything else other than watch the life drain from her eyes, leaving her only to stare blankly at him. “Kaori!” he screams desperately.

❀

Kaori sits up suddenly, gasping for air, and placing her hands on her chest as if she had felt something go through her.

Tai stares at her from the foot of the bed where he sat silently, looking uncomfortable at her sudden outburst.

She catches her breath after a moment, her gaze wandering up to look at Tai, worry in her eyes.

“You alright?” He asks quietly.

“I... I died...”

“It was only a dream,” he says while standing up.

She looks down at her chest lightly. “I can feel it...” She looks up at him slowly, her expression worried even as he spoke.

“We won’t let you die, okay?” he says quietly. “As long as you remember that, there’s no reason to be scared of any dream you have.”

“Promise?” she asks softly.

“We’re here to keep you safe,” he replies with a shrug of his shoulder then feels a heaviness in the room between them and sighs a bit in response to her saddened eyes. “You’re not going to like this, but the next place we’re going to is the Crystal Forest. When we get there, you’ll be going to visit the shrine.”

Her eyes widen as she moved to stand up. “What? I don’t want to!” she protests suddenly, the overwhelming sensation of mixed emotions causing her voice to grow louder out of her control.

“Keiji wants you to show Vicious you have no interest in following the way of the Temple. It’ll help him realize there’s no use forcing you.”

She shakes her head in defiance. “That’s not nice.”

“It can’t be helped,” he starts to walk out but stops as he remembered something. “You’ll be staying here until your room is fixed. Don’t touch anything while you’re here.”

“What’s wrong with my room?” she asks curiously.

“You set your stuff on fire, you idiot.”

“Huh?”

He sighs hopelessly. “You’re really the best the heavens had...” he mumbles as he shook his head.

“That’s a mean thing to say,” she shakes the thought from her head. “Wait don’t you need to sleep here?”

“No.”

“I’m not tired though.”

“Don’t care.”

“What I mean to say is... I...” she says looking nervous. “I’d like to do something productive as long as I can’t sleep.”

He stares at the door for a while in thought before speaking monotonously. “Come with me.”

She tilts her head a little curiously.