“It was your father. You’ll see in time. I shall return you now.” A woman’s voice said as the scene went dark like someone turned off the lights. Nathan had returned back to where he was and Tsukiko seemed to have calmed down. The cannon she summoned forth was gone and the flame above her eyebrow was also gone. She panted a bit as she held her hand at her heart. “Who allowed you in my memories?” Tsukiko said defensively as she jumped back away from Nathan not pleased about the fact he saw her memories. She felt like her mind has just been raped and she wanted an explanation why he was inside her mind a moment ago. “I’ll ask again, why were you prying in my mind!? How dare you!!!”


“That’s what I want to know” Nathan answered “all I was trying to do was snap you out of whatever psychotic attack you were having. The next thing I know I was in...that place, with no idea how I got there or even how to leave. As for who allowed me into your memories; I heard the voice of a strange woman there that sounded like she was talking directly to me. So unless I’m suddenly going crazy, I assume that she dragged me there” 


“A woman’s voice?” Tsukiko questioned for a moment pondering that thought. She remembered she heard a woman’s voice earlier. She didn’t remember what it said. She just felt an uneasiness in her body and she wanted it to go away. She had no idea what happened after the moment she allowed this woman to take away that burden. 


“What do you mean psychotic attack?” Tsukiko asked since she was confused what Nathan was talking about. The fact her heard a voice too is where she felt a little more at ease. She was curious where the voice came from and what it exactly wanted. 


“What did she tell you?” Tsukiko asked as she then thought to herself with her mind going quiet so she could develop some thoughts. So he heard a voice too. Something is off here. I don’t understand what is going on here. I don’t trust this person, but I want them to stay close so I can better understand why I feel all this emptiness in my heart.


“You started laughing like a maniac while crying out ‘I’ll annihilate you worthless insects! Writhe in pain and rot in hell!’ All while a powerful wind blow around you” Nathan gestured at the surrounding and the cuts on his body “it was strong enough to to this.” She also wanted to know what the voice told him “she was spouting a bunch of nonsense; like how I had to ‘embrace your loneliness’, although she did tell me I was going to leave seconds before it happened. I try not to listen to strange voices, it tends to end poorly.” He answered her before thinking ‘like with those gauntlets.’


“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I said what!?” Tsukiko said as she got confused and was a bit on edge since she didn’t have any idea what Nathan was talking about. She didn’t remember a thing after the moment that voice said her burden was relieved. It seems that this voice did something while she was in limbo enjoying herself which shut her completely out of what the voice had going through its mind. This certainly wasn’t the first time this had happened. She remembered people called her a monster in a village when she tried to return where she was ran out of the village despite trying to ask what she did. 


“You encountered her then?” The man who rescued Erica earlier said as he dropped in on the scene thinking maybe he might want to intervene before something happens. He had an idea of who it was that Nathan came into contact. He wasn’t going to go into details since it would be too confusing to explain to either. It would be better if they found out for themselves.


“It’s him again…” Tsukiko said as she remembered this figure from earlier. It was the same man who saved her from earlier. Tsukiko didn’t quite understand what he meant by “her”. She thought it must have to do with that voice she heard.


“Seems you are now involved since she contacted you.” He said to Nathan who he wanted to not get involved, but now that he came in contact with her and has that dangerous weapon on his hands, it didn’t matter what he said. The dye had been cast no matter what he desired.


“Right then” Danny clapped “how about we stop playing the pronoun game and start using actual names. I for one have no idea what just happened and would love if someone could explain it to me. Like this strange woman for instance.”


Nathan shrugged “I honestly have no idea. None of this makes any sense to me, and I’m just hoping for it all to end really soon. I don’t like being dragged into people’s minds, so I’m personally hoping that I’ve heard the last of her...whoever she is.”


“This is just the beginning. The red haired girl.” He paused for a moment as he turned his attention and directed it at Danny. He looked at the girl he held in his hands. “You can return the girl to me now.” He said as he requested Danny return the girl he held to him. He wasn’t going to say why he wanted her back and totally ignore what Danny said a moment ago. He chose to remain mysterious and leave the others to think what they wanted about him. He was there for a task and that was completed. Now it was time for him to leave and the girl came with him. He wasn’t about to return without her.


“Oh, good, so you know who she is” Danny wasn’t sure what they were going to do with her, having no idea who she was, but if this man knew her, well that solved that problem. He handed her over to the man “I think she over exerted herself magical. I don’t know any of her medical history so I’m not sure how bad it is, but if she has a history of this, or some other pre-existing condition, then you’re going to want to get her medical help fast.”


The man received the girl without saying a word as he took the girl out of Danny’s hands. Even though he did appreciate what Danny told him it wasn’t needed. He was well aware that she wasn’t that badly harmed. Another individual who looked similar to the man appeared out of nowhere. “I trust the situation is under control, brother?” He asked assuming the situation that presented itself earlier was resolved by those who were in the area despite there being those who weren’t accounted for showing up.


“Yes, everything is fine. The problem that presented itself earlier has been dealt with.” He said as he paused and looked over toward Tsukiko’s direction. He looked at Tsukiko first who had been arguing with a boy who stood around her area. “I’m sure you both have many questions. Many of which you want answers to. Those answers I cannot give you.”  He paused for a moment as he moved over toward their direction walking away from Danny without saying much anything to him as he put all his attention on the two. “You there, boy. Where did you find that girl you are standing by?” He questioned with curiosity since he had also seen what she had did earlier. He was very curious about her power and also wanted to know more about her background.


Nathan shrugged “I’m just a bodyguard. I didn’t find her, so much as I was brought to her. To be honest; I barely know anything about her.” Nathan left out the part about them being from offworld. Since he wasn’t sure this planet had working space travel, and if this man was a native, he thought it best to play it safe.


“What do you intend to do, brother?” The man asked the one who was holding the red haired girl. It was rather suspicious how the two were trying to remain as mysterious as possible. Also the fact they would avoid using names around those who they did not want to learn knowledge they did not know.



“Y’know I’m getting really sick of you two talking in mystery. Would it hurt you to at least tell us your names?” Tsukiko replied as she was getting very irritated by condescending nature of the two individuals. She thought it was very suspicious that neither of them would address the other by their name instead choosing to call them “brother”. She was also getting tired of them referring to a female in their presence as “girl”. Why don’t they want us to know their names? She questioned in her mind as she was hoping that the two would at least give them their names so they could talk to them more formally.


“Why are you two letting these two get away with being so suspicious?” She glared at Danny and Nathan not very happy with the two playing along with the other two.


Danny held up his hand defensive “hey, I tried to get them to drop the pronouns, but they just ignored me. I don’t think anything short of violence is going to get anything out of them.”


Nathan nodded “I agree. In fact, I also think we should leave, right now. I don’t know what these people want, but I don’t want any part of it. Besides, we have problems of our own...like our sudden loss of transportation.”


Danny groaned “right, almost forgot about that. Yeah, this forest is clearly dangerous, we should leave fast.” Danny got up and walked over to Nathan and Tsukiko.


“Why are you here?” Requested they answer as she turned her attention away from Danny and Nathan again fixing her attention on the two who showed up. She really wanted to know why exactly they were there and some answers to what they were talking about a moment ago where they kept themselves as mysterious as possible by avoiding to reveal much about their motives.


“YOU BASTARDS!!!” A voice said in the woods as a young man with blonde hair quickly approached the two individuals with a weapon in his hand. “You Mircea Eliade scum! I’ll make you pay for your transgressions!” The young man barked as he jumped up in the air and tried to attack the one who was not holding the red haired girl in his hand, but both immediately disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind him. Neither of them taking any action other than teleporting from one location to another.


“What are you doing!? You almost attacked that defenseless girl!” Tsukiko said in anger as this person just came out of the blue started attacking the two individuals who showed up. She wasn’t sure why he just attacked them so suddenly, but she did not approve of attacking someone who was holding a defenseless person. It was an act only a coward would perform.


“SHUT UP!” The young man said as he pushed Tsukiko into a tree with still fire in his eyes. It was obvious he wasn’t about to be reasoned with. “She’s Mircea Eliade scum! All scum affiliated with that evil organization deserves to die!”


“Ugh..” Tsukiko wailed as she was pushed into a tree hard, but managed to keep her balance. She wanted to know what was this guy’s problem. Not being too pleased with being pushed into a tree like that since it wasn’t gentlemen gesture. It was obvious this person was no gentlemen if he would just carelessly push a girl aside. “What is your problem!”


Danny rushed over to Tsukiko to make sure she was okay “jeez, you really need be careful around crazy people like that.” He brought some water to her back, both to soothe her pain, and fix whatever injury she had.


Nathan, meanwhile, seeing that Tsukiko was being taken care of, walked up to the crazed man, knocked him down onto his stomach, and pinned his arms behind his back. Making sure to reinforce his body with magic.


“LET ME GO! I SAID LET ME GO! THAT BASTARD KILLED MY FATHER!!!” He screamed off the top of his lungs as he tried to struggle to get free while staring at the one who was not holding the red haired girl in his hands.


“Thanks Danny, I’m fine.” Tsukiko said as she it was just a simple bruise which wasn’t about to hold her back. She heard the young man say that one of these men killed his father, but she didn’t know what he was talking about. If he did kill his father then that’s why he was in such a blind rage at the moment.


The one holding the red haired girl sighed lightly as he looked over in the direction of the boy who tried to assault the two. He was a bit disturbed that he was throwing around an accusation that his brother killed this person’s father since he didn’t know what he was talking about and was just as confused as Tsukiko was about it.


“It’s not important. Such is the price of war, foolish child.” The man with silver hair wearing a black and red duster said toward the boy coldly. It seemed he knew what the boy was talking about, but wasn’t about to say much about it saying it was just a casualty of war which infuriated the young man even more.


“Yeah, be smug you piece of shit. You heartless bastard, you don’t care about those who you affect. You kill people and you don’t care about how those who suffer feel. That’s why they call you Inquisitor #1, Black Death. Because you bring death to all those who stand in the way your path!” The young man pleaded toward the heartless man as he continue to struggle while being restrained by Nathan.


“Black Death? The one of legend?” Tsukiko questioned with curiosity since she had heard about that name before. She had also heard about how vile that person was and showed no mercy to those who stood in his way.


“It seems you have learned some knowledge that would be better off forgotten, foolish child.” The one the young man called Black Death said as he wasn’t about to confirm or deny what the person just said. He rather much prefered to remain mysterious just like his brother who didn’t really such much of a word.


Nathan got off the man and said “shoving an uninvolved girl into a tree like that doesn’t exactly give you the moral high-ground.” Having said his piece, he returned to Danny and Tsukiko. “If she’s okay, then we should leave now.” Nathan more or less ignored what the brothers and the crazed man were saying ‘I really don’t need to get caught up in some fight between nutjobs. Especially when I can’t tell how much any of them are telling the truth.’


“Two on one is hardly a fair fight. Despite how he treated me earlier, I’m not about to leave someone to die.” Tsukiko said as she rejected Nathan’s request to leave and decided to stay and help the young man if there was going to be a fight. It wouldn’t look good on her part if she left someone to die when she knew she could help them. Besides, she wanted to know what was bothering this person so much. It wasn’t like her to be interested in other people’s problems, but something inside her told her she couldn’t just leave this young man to die.


“There won’t be a fight. I will take my leave now. As for a name, just call me Rius.” He said as he was about to leave. He told his other brother he would leave the girl and the situation in his hands for now since it would be best not to get involved and drag this young man into the situation since it was obvious the individual was reckless abandoned strung.


“I won’t let you!” The young man said as he tried to attack the man, but in a the blink of an eye and in a flash he was gone from sight as a light shot up into the sky. “DAMMIT!!!” He dropped to his knees and pounded the ground since his objective got away.


“The name is Sen.” The other brother said as he walked over toward Tsukiko after his brother had left the area in a flash of light that shot straight up into the sky and disappeared out of sight. It seemed he was going to stick around for awhile and he was the quiet one versus his brother who was the one that was being cold toward the person who accused them of killing their father.


“Tsukiko.” Tsukiko said toward Sen as she turned hear attention toward the young man who was upset that his target got away. Perhaps it was for the best that this happened since Tsukiko detected that person had very unusual power readings which meant he was hiding how strong he actually was. Judging by his appearance, it was obvious he was very strong and if he was indeed Black Death as the man had stated earlier then that is someone who they did not want to get into a fight with. She remembered the stories about Black Death and how he killed even the strongest retainers in armies without breaking a sweat.


“Well now we have Rius and Sen. What might be your name?” She asked the young man who was still pounding at the ground in anger. At this point it was pretty pathetic that he had not gotten over the fact Rius who he wanted dead had left. “Come now, no need to be shy.” She said extending her hand out to help him up only to have him slap it away in disgust. 


“I don’t need any help!” The young man said rudely. He was still pouting about the fact he missed his chance to get revenge where Tsukiko only sighed in disgust murmuring the words “the nerve of this guy” under her breath. Not so much as loud so he could hear it though.


 Danny turned to Nathan “so...what now?”


Nathan shrugged “we go on our way and just put this behind us. After all; there’s not much we can do.”


“Leave, just like that? But what about that guy trying to get revenge for his father?”


“Either he’s pinning the blame on his father’s death on someone not responsible and is so consumed with rage that he’ll attack anyone in his way. Or he’s right about that man having killed his father and is so consumed with rage that he’ll attack anyone in his way. One of these is worse than the other, but they’re both still bad.”


“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”


“I am; revenge is never worth it. No matter how justified it is, eventually you’ll find yourself no better than the people who wronged you.”


The other silver haired man dressed in dark purple and black approached the boy with an irritated look on his face. He reached down grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him in the air with a very frightening look in his eye. “You should show some respect. This girl is trying to show you some courtesy and you are acting like a child.”


“Put me down!” The boy demanded as he struggled in the man’s grasp. He wasn’t happy about this guy just walking over and picking him up like that. He didn’t do anything wrong other than look for the one who caused suffering for his entire family. Besides, that girl should learn to mind her own business.


“STOP IT!” Tsukiko yelled as she let off a shockwave from her body that reached everyone. The flame that appeared when she was in a trance reappeared over her eyebrow but this time it seemed like she was in control this time. 


The man sighed deeply as he released his grip on the boy’s shirt returning to him to the ground once again. He didn’t say a word, but you could still notice that one of his eyes were embraced by a purplish dark flame. “You have quite some jolt there. Seems you do know how to control that power of yours somewhat. This is the first time I’ve been able to see you like that without you going berserk.”


“If you guys are going somewhere then I’ll tag along. Not because I want to help you though. Moreover this brother will lead me to the man I want to get my revenge on.” The young man said as he returned his weapon back into his sheathe then noticed another glittering weapon that looked very fancy on the ground. It looked somewhat feminine, but when he reached down pick it up he couldn’t even lift it. It was so heavy it wouldn’t even budge. “What is with this sword?” He asked as he tried his hardest to pick it up, but it was so so heavy that he couldn’t even move it an inch.


“Isn’t that the sword that one girl was using?” Tsukiko looked over toward Danny and Nathan seeing if they saw that girl too who had that sword earlier.


Erica finally started to stir. The wind blast had not only knocked her away but had also knocked her out due to asphyxiation. She opened her eyes to her team carrying an unconscious girl but no sign of the flying beast. Was the beast somehow transformed into a girl? No, that’s only something out of those cartoons that Danny watched. Shaking her head to rid of lingering dizziness, Erica approached them. “What happened? Who dealt with the bird?”


Nathan knelt down to examine the sword “I think so. I didn’t get a very good look at it, but this does look like what I remember.”


Danny turned to address Erica “yeah...things got really weird. Tsukiko went crazy, some woman none of us saw shoved Nathan into her memories...I think, than this guy” he pointed back to the unnamed man “came out of nowhere screaming like a loon. It’s...a lot of things happened, I still need time to mentally process what I saw.”

Erica blinked before immediately rushing towards Tsukiko and put both of her hands around Tsukiko’s face. “Are you alright? Did you hit your head?” Erica blurted, looking at Tsukiko’s face for signs of lingering madness or wounds.


After the fight and meeting some new people, the group parted ways with the other brother who entrusted the unconscious girl’s care to Erica. The group has already left the area and headed for the next town. The sword which was left behind, a group of soldiers saw who were patrolling the area trying to figure out what happened. When they tried to grab the sword it disintegrated and shot up into the air in a blinding light. The two looked at each other trying to figure out what just happened. As if they hadn’t seen enough strange stuff as it was.


Tsukiko and company had finally made it into town. They were accompanied by two new party members. The boy they ran into who tried to attack one of the brothers decided to stick with their group in hopes of meeting the person he said that killed his father. The other, an unconscious girl with red hair who Erica carried in her arms.


The town they had entered had medieval like buildings where numerous large buildings stood on both sides of their view. The buildings were built sparsely apart from one another with large walls and fences to ward off intruders.The area they were in looked like it was the area where the nobles lived since a lot of the buildings were fancy. Up ahead were an area of stores and outside outposts to shop at which most had jewelry or accessories to wear. Others had fancy clothing wear to wear such as luxurious suits and dresses. There were also an array of food courts and restaurants in the area too. There was another shop toward the back of them which wasn’t as fancy looking and was centered around the noble and middle class districts. It was obvious they were in what looked to be the commercial area.


“This place is huge.” Tsukiko said as she ran up ahead while the others walked slowly toward the shops. There were various stores selling all kinds of products. From household items, to tools to armor, defensive wear and weapons. Tsukiko glanced around while the others were behind where she saw one of the shops was selling what looked to be a giant tooth. “That tooth is huge. I wonder what it came from!” She said as she walked over toward the shop. The tooth was ten times of the size of her when she approached. There was a sign right next to the tooth that said it was from a Collosus Dragon.


“Hey guys take a look at this!” Tsukiko said as she waved at them as she touched the tooth. One of the shop owners came over with a very unhappy frown on their face where they slapped her hand away. Tsukiko was upset that they were being so rude. “Hey, what’s the big idea!” She screamed at them where they pointed their stick at a “Look But Do Not Touch” sign.


She looked over toward Nathan and ordered him to kick the guy’s ass for being a jerk. “Hey you there, minion. Kick this guy’s ass for me. He has no manners and doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself!” She yelled as she looked over in Nathan’s direction.


Nathan sighed. Walking up to the shopkeeper, he grabbed him and dragged him into the store. Once they were out of sight of the others, he spoke “listen, I’m really sorry about her. Could you just hide out in here for awhile, so she thinks I beat you up? The shopkeeper just nodded. “Thanks, that helps me out alot.” Nathan left the building and returned to the others “We should get going now.”


Erica glared at Tsukiko’s outburst and Nathan enabling her bad habit. She would have attempted to stop them but was unable to due to the unconscious girl on her back. “Really you two? We still haven’t dealt with our current problems and you start yet another one? But yeah sure, let’s get going before whatever law enforcement around get here.” She said with a roll of her eyes and gestured to the murmuring crowd forming around them. The group couldn’t make out what were said, but they could hear “backwater,” “uncultured,” “nobles,” and “Guardia” mentioned. Not soon after, they could hear whistles being blown and the crowd parted as several cuirass wearing men in blue headed towards the shop. “Move along citizens, there’s nothing else to see here. Please keep order and return to what you’re doing,” one of them said as their eyes locked onto the obvious outsiders with judging gaze. 


“Good day, ladies, can you spare a moment to assist our investigation?”


“Oh great, now look what you’ve gotten us into. Fantastic job Disaster Duo.” The young man they ran into earlier said as he could only sigh deeply since he knew Tsukiko just attracted unwanted attention. He was starting to think it was a mistake to accompany the group given that this was not the kind of attention he wanted at the moment.


The crowd dispersed at the soldiers command as they started to walk their merry ways ignoring what was going on. While they were walking away, Tsukiko couldn’t figure out what was going on. She hadn’t done anything wrong. All she did was touch a dragon’s tooth where an uptight man inappropriately touched her. “That man over there!” Tsukiko shouted at the soldier as she paused for a moment lifted her arm and pointed her index finger in his direction. “Inappropriately touched me when all I was doing was feeling the texture of this tooth you have on display. Is there really anything wrong with that?” She then turned her attention toward her sworn sister Erica, “He started it, Erica. Had he not touched me without my permission none of this would have happened.” Tsukiko said as she gave off the hmph express as she locked her arms together against her chest turned her head and closed her eyes in a very selfish manner.


While she was talking to her sworn sister, the young man who accompanied them turned his attention toward Nathan who listened to what that girl said. He wasn’t happy with Nathan’s action earlier and it seemed he was a bit nervous for some reason. “Now look what you’ve done. Couldn’t you have just ignored her or explained to her there was “do not touch sign” instead of grabbing the store owner like a kidnapper and dragging them back into their store? Did it ever occur to you that you aren’t suppose to obey every one of her orders or that’s how she ends up so self-centered like she is now? And you call yourself a bodyguard? What a joke!” The young man chuckled at the end since he couldn’t believe that her bodyguard was dumb enough to violate the law just for her own selfish relief. 


“Hmmm?” An individual dressed in navy blue and white pants and blue boots said as he noticed there was a commotion in the area. This individual had a very large curved katana like sword on his back and two smaller European medieval styled blades in his sheathes that rested on his belt. He had green forest eyes and his hair was regular blue color which stretched down his entire backside. He was sitting at his Bazaar enjoying his drink when he heard the commotion. He didn’t get up from his seat, but he did tilt his head in the direction of all the noise. It sounded like people were arguing and it was over by that store he had passed earlier which had the Collosus Dragon Tooth. “Wonder if vandals are at it again trying to intimidate the store owner into giving him that tooth?” He thought to himself as he couldn’t get a good view of the individuals other than the guards who were brought over there by the ruckus. He knew obviously something had happened over there since there were people pouring out of there by the dozens who had lined up earlier to see what was going on over there.


A waiter came over to take his almost empty glass and asked him if he wanted a refill. The blue haired fellow shook his head and said to the waiter that he was fine. He was about to leave anyway as soon as he was finished taking in the sights in the area. “According to my contacts, the two brothers met with a group of individuals. One of the individuals they said was a Mathua. Said she had blonde like platinum hair and wore black attire. A fancy looking black outfit like the one detailed in the report would certainly make her stand out.” He said to himself as he continued to take in the sights around him as he paid the waiter and told him to disregard his ramblings then sent them away.


“I don’t understand what I did wrong?” Tsukiko said she was becoming a bit frustrated where a flame appeared above her eyebrow. She had no idea that the flame just appeared above her eyebrow and she didn’t know if anyone else saw the sight of it either. She unlocked her arms and returned them to her side as she stared back over in Erica’s direction. She was holding that girl from earlier. They both look somewhat similar. She was curious if it was a lost sister that Erica had found. Now wasn’t the time for that Tsukiko knew since she had to clear up the misunderstanding in the area.


“Whoa, whoa!” The young man said to Tsukiko as he just noticed the flame that appeared above her eyebrow. He immediately rushed over toward her direction then signaled toward her that she needed to turn the thermostat a bit. “You just need to calm yourself there, Princess. No need to go into I’m going to kick your ass mode on these guys. All they are doing is trying to inquire what was going on. Please extinguish that flame above your eyebrow. I don’t know what it is for, but it’s obvious that it is some kind of mechanism for power.” After that statement toward Tsukiko, he turned his attention toward Nathan waiting to see what he had to say.


“Huh, what do you mean?” Tsukiko looked at him all confused. She wasn’t sure what he meant. Flame above my eyebrow? She thought to herself as she was still feeling tense over all the commotion that had been caused in the area. In her mind a voice asked her if she wanted obstacle removed where she shook her head without answering the voice.


Nathan chose to say nothing, sighing instead. He had done what he thought was the right thing, something that could defuse Tsukiko without actually attacking anyone. He had no idea if telling her off for her behaviour would have made her throw a bigger fit and cause more trouble. He was, however, questioning Tsukiko qualifications, since someone with this kind of attitude wasn’t fit to be in charge of anything.


Danny simply face palmed “great...just great.”


The guard looked between the suspects before shaking his head in frustration and mumbled what sounded like ‘noble tourist.’ He faced Tsukiko with a smile painted on and when he spoke, it was with obvious disdain. “I see, well my lady, let me elaborate. As you can read, the sign says that the item in display is not to be touched. While the shopkeeper did overreach his boundary, you are also in the wrong for touching it. It is unfortunate for us to interrupt your vacation, but we must insist that you pay the fine.” 


Erica worriedly looked at Tsukiko who acted out of character. The girl had brushed off any concern of wound or madness before, but it seemed that that was more true than Erica had liked. Finding a doctor or healer just went up a priority on their concern table. Her concerned look also extended to the boy that Tsukiko picked up. “Kid, I’ve been with her for years and I don’t know what the hell are you talking about. If you’re hit on the head, say so, hallucination is [i]not[/i] healthy.”

The guards now also shared a look of concern with the group. “If you’d allow us, we can accompany you to your lodgings,” the lead guard said with a tone that suggest no refusal.


“Well aren’t you stupid?” A voice said behind Tsukiko which she had no idea where it came from. It sounded like it came over from where Erica was standing, but there’s no way it could be that girl she was carrying. Just as she was about to turn around she was confronted by some soldiers. It seemed that she had gotten their attention through her stunt. Though it was probably Nathan who was the one who was really responsible for why they were over there. She turned attention away from the soldier for a second and noticed the girl who Erica was holding had her eyes open. She couldn’t believe she was actually awake now.


“I can walk on my own.” She said as she jumped down out of Erica’s arms as she walked over toward a wall and leaned against it. She abruptly though in a very cold manner said “Thanks.” But that wasn’t until after she leaned up against the wall and then turned her attention toward Erica saying thanks toward her.


Turning her attention back toward Tsukiko she continued with what she was going to say after she was back on her own two feet. “I don’t know who put you in charge. But they were a fool to do so. More like they put you in charge just because they needed excuse to corral that power you have.” She then turned away with a very unsatisfied look on her face and a bit annoyed with what Nathan just did a moment ago. “And you!” She said as she stared directly at him with those eyes that you did something wrong. “Are you too stupid to refuse one of her commands? Surely, you are more intelligent than this dumb girl. Or are you just so obedient that you’ve become her lapdog?” She then looked away from Nathan and over toward Danny sensing that he looked more intelligent than the lousy duo as she saw them in her eyes. “You’re smarter than these two are. Why did you just stand there and do nothing while she and her lapdog caused problems? Am I the only one with common courtesy and decency to respect the laws of society?” She started off with a more gentle tone with Danny at first, but when she looked away her tone got more cold and really nasty.


“What do you mean?” The young man questioned toward Erica as he was getting confused what was going on. First the platinum haired girl touched something she wasn’t supposed to. Now that girl who was asleep was widely awake.


“Are you serious!?” Tsukiko said frustrated as she tried ignore the snotty remarks from the red haired girl who had just woken up and acknowledged the guard. “A fine!? Nuts, this just plain sucks!” She said as she complained about the fact she had to pay a fine for the commotion that was caused earlier. She turned her attention toward Nathan and stared at him. “You caused this so you’re going to pay the fine.” She said toward Nathan with a cold stare.


“You really are spoiled brat. Having other people having to answer for your mistakes. How pathetic. Live in denial, spoiled rotten brat princess.” The red haired girl added who scoffed at the idea of making Nathan pay for the troublemaker princess like attitude girl’s fine.


“What was that!? You know, you’ve really starting to get on my nerves, you stupid ice queen airhead!” Tsukiko snapped back at red haired girl’s snobbish remark she made a moment ago. She was about to punch some sense into the cold hearted bitch that stood right in her sights.


“I didn’t actually beat him up” Nathan explained “I just dragged him inside and asked him to hide there while I tried to get everyone to leave. I was worried if I told Tsukiko no to her face, she’d make an even bigger scene. I thought it was a good way to end this quickly without actually having to attack someone.” The shopkeeper poked his head outside the door “see? He’s just fine”


Danny sighed in relief “oh good. I really hoped it was something like that.”


The guards shared a varying look of pity and contempt towards Nathan before the lead spoke once more. “Be that as it may, you all still violated Her Majesty’s laws and we all have our jobs to do. Would you pay the fine in your lodging or would you prefer to stay in the dungeon?”


Before Nathan could reply, an airy voice interrupted them. Turning to face the owner of the voice would have them meet with a black haired maid. “Was there a problem with my master’s esteemed guests, honored guards?” The maid asked with a barely audible whisper that somehow everyone nearby could hear.


The guard raised an eyebrow at the maid. “Your guests vandalized a store display, we require them to pay the fine as mandated by Her Majesty’s laws or serve the sentences.”

The maid turned her blue eyes to gaze at the group momentarily and they could see a flash of emotion that seemingly insulted them before the maid nodded to herself and produced a wallet from her skirt. “The esteemed guests’ presence are being asked for research purposes, as such, on my master’s behalf, we shall pay the fine,” she stated as she unceremoniously handed the wallet over to the guard. He nodded and gave one last look at the group. 


“Very well, your fine has been resolved, you may leave and I [i]hope[/i] you have a pleasant and [i]quiet[/i] stay,” the guard said with certain emphasized words and waved the group to leave with the maid as they turned their attention to the store.


The maid curtsied at the group and offered them a piece of paper, “Greeting esteemed guests, I have a message from my master.” Opening the paper, they would see what appear to be a hand drawn image of a very familiar flag to them. “Now, if you would please follow me.”

Erica glared at the girl that she had been carrying. The girl’s first words upon awakening was to insult them all, be unhelpful and generally making things worse. The muscular woman had almost resigned herself to an inevitable fight and whatever problem raised from it when a maid, of all things, bailed them out. She moved over to Tsukiko and wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulder. 


“Alright, calm down and let’s follow braid over there,” she said. “I don’t like her word choices, but if her master know about our flag, they can likely answer things for us...” That she also hoped they might have a ship to get them home as well remained unmentioned.


A long deep sigh came from Tsukiko’s mouth which filled the air with a bit of uneasiness as people could feel by the sigh she gave off the uneasiness inside her at the moment. They were just hoping she was simply just frustrated and nothing would come of it. They had their fair share of trouble from the girl for the day. They wouldn’t forget her face either since they would need to keep her in mind in case something else similar happened down the road. 


“Fine!” Tsukiko said with frustration at her sister. The tension in her voice could felt, but she knew her sister knew best and probably wiser to do what she suggested rather than start a fight with some stranger she didn’t even know. That girl was certainly a cold hearted bitch, but Tsukiko knew she had no reason to complain. She was just acting as bad as that girl did a moment ago. Even if she didn’t want to admit to herself and finally realize it.


“So you’re taking us to our rooms then?” The young blonde haired man said as he nodded at the maid and accompanied the others toward wherever they were going. 


“Aren't you stupid. I guess that’s why you’re all just a bunch of clueless morons who have no idea about the world around you.” The red haired girl said as she thought he was a complete idiot for assuming that she was taking them to their rooms. She never said anything about taking them to their rooms yet the group has this delusional fool who needs to pay more attention rather than ask stupid questions that are none of his business.


“You’re that snotty girl from earlier. Why are you such a bitch? Also, she’s a maid. It’s normal for a noble to think that they are taking you to your lodging.” The young man answered because he was not very pleased at all with her poor attitude. 


Unfortunately, the bitch statement was more of a compliment toward the girl where she didn’t really care he said that. It wasn’t her job to be a social butterfly or Mistress Nice. Her orders were to do as what the paper instructed her to do. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She replied completely unaffected by his comment.


“Damn…” The young man muttered under his breath. He had never seen such a strong girl before. At that, one that wasn’t aroused by being called a bunch. “There’s more to her than meets the eye.” 


He saw two individuals from a distance that were following them and one of them looked like she was dressed like a ninja. As soon as he saw her she disappeared from sight and conked the other one on the head before pulling them into the alleyway she hid in. Strange things do indeed happen in this city. He was right. The young man said to himself as he continued to follow the others to the room. He then noticed the red haired girl hadn’t budged at all.


“Aren’t you coming?” He said to her as he turned his head around for a second to get her attention. He didn’t really care if she came since she didn’t give him the impression that she was very friendly to begin with. He’d rather have  someone like her not around, because they could tend to be a headache. As anticipated, she didn’t say a word and he sighed to himself since he thought he had just been ignored by her.


The red haired girl was still leaning against the wall while the others were being lead to their wherever the maid was taking them. While she watched them walk away a smirk appeared on her face as she felt an energy around her. “So you’re back? Even worlds apart, we are still connected to one another.” She said quietly to herself as a sword appeared in her hand where she absorbed the energy into her body then it disappeared into thin air like it wasn’t even there and like it was just you seeing things if you saw it to begin with.


“Finally some peace and quiet.” The red haired girl said to herself as she was finally free of the group. A note had been given to her by Erica as she was getting back onto her feet when she had woke up, but she didn’t take the time to read it. She thought she would take the time now to read it. It was addressed to her by one of the brothers the others had met earlier. It detailed her new mission. She read for a moment then said to herself okay as she pocketed it the note for safe keeping.


The cold hearted girl was ignoring everyone around her until she got a close glimpse at Nathan’s face. A warmness inside her heart glimmered for a moment where she shook her head. “No…” She refused to acknowledge what her heart was trying to tell her a moment ago. It was trying to relay the message to her that she had run into someone she met in the past, but she didn’t really remember much about the moment. She dismissed the thought as her mind playing tricks on her. She didn’t know any boys like her sister who had a stronger animosity toward them than her sister. Their friend had the strongest antipathy toward boys than the two combined. She shrugged the thought off. She had to focus on what she was sent to accomplish and stop letting petty attachments like emotions try to sway her away from her mission. “I think I’ll go take in the sights then go keep an eye on them when I return.” 


By now, Danny was starting to regret coming along on this trip. The entire thing had been one long headache, and it was only getting worse as time went on. Glancing over at Nathan, he saw that the look in his eyes seemed to match what Danny was feeling right then ‘well at least it’s not just me’


Like Danny, Nathan chose to remain quiet. Unwilling to draw any of the girl’s aggression to him. ‘This is going to be a very long day, I just know it’ he tried to ignore all of the arguing, but it was too distracting for him to do it. ‘I just want to get to a bed and wait for tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll be better’

The group was taken to a sizeable house on the outskirt of the town. It contrasted its neighbor in comparison as it looked a fair bit older and dilapidated. The interior was better maintained if a bit sparse, although they could detect faint magic infused within. Meanwhile, Danny could see that there were some runes written here and there but they’re too far apart for him to determine what their function are without a closer look. The maid guided them into a study where a young man sit behind a desk looking at them with a polite curiosity. 


“Master, I’ve brought the outsiders,” the maid said after they all entered the study. 


“Thank you, Windy,” he said to the now named maid before addressing the group. “Welcome to my humble abode, I guess. I’m sure you have questions, but fortunately, that’s something we share. So we can trade, I ask, you answer, then vice versa. You can go first,” he jovially said as if it’s a game. 

Erica looked at the blond haired man before glancing to her group. He seemed friendly to them, but something felt off. Nevertheless, it was a chance for the group to secure some assistance at the moment. 

“Anyone got any idea what to ask first?” she whispered.