TURNING TIDES III

Daito’s vision was blinded by white light engulfing the whole area. He seemed to have teleported from the forest, yet he could still hear Lora’s voice from afar, calling out to him. Where he was now was nothing like he ever saw. The whole place was gleaming white, with no definite place to call ground or sky, it was as if he was floating on air. The space was stale, no wind blowing, no signs of humidity in the air. It was just blank white, and that was all he could perceive. It was limitless, with no boundaries to define its end and no features to delimit its depth. It was clear this was not the earth, this was someplace else, one that Daito had never been in his whole life. At the corner of his eye, he spotted something moving. A miniature dot warped through the empty space deforming the white blanket covering everything. In a second or two ground materialized and Daito found himself standing dead center on an orchid garden. The flowers already bloomed, painting the ground with a constellate of colors. At the end of the garden, he saw someone, walking by, plucking off a flower and sniffing it with a soft smile on his face. Lora's voice echoed once more, cutting across the air like the wind itself. The man picking the flowers seemed to have also heard it because he too reacted, his smile quickly fading. Could this be a dream? Daito asked himself.

The man had a white toga covering him, with a golden ring clipping the ends of the toga together on his shoulder. Lora's voice surfed over the garden once more, calling out Daito's name. This time the man dropped the flower he had in his hand and started scanning his surroundings. Once he caught sight of Daito standing amongst the flowers his expression quickly changed. He looked utterly stunned. Perhaps it was because an intruder was stepping on his precious flowers. But it was something else.

He began jetting towards Daito, shouting. He called out to him desperately, as if he was his lifeline.

Daito noticed something strange, with every step he took inching closer to him he saw the man getting bigger and bigger. He was far away from him so Daito didn't quite see him clearly to establish his size, but as he got closer and closer Daito could see that he was no normal human being. He grew bigger and bigger, on average he could have been at least twenty feet.

“Alestio! Alestio its me! Little brother it is me Arni!” he shouted at Daito who stood confused as to who Alestio was. Or was someone behind him? He looked back and saw nothing, nothing but wildflowers that faded into the white light forming a horizon of flora. He looked back at the man who was now a few feet away from him and was taken aback. He was gigantic, squashing the flowers under his oversized sandals trying to reach out to Daito. Lora's voice pounded upon his eardrums louder than before and in a flash everything around him melted into the white light and Daito found himself lying on the ground, back in the forest once more.

The sun’s rays were peeping over the twin hills to their east. It was already dawn. Lora threw her hands around him, falling on his chest and crying herself out. Slejj stood beside them, carrying Lisa on his back. Alicia was also beside them.

“Don't you ever do that again!” Lora said, holding back her sobs to let her words be heard. The strong-willed cocky girl Alicia knew was no longer existent. Lora was now crying uncontrollably, showing everyone she too had a soft side, and her cockiness was just an act masking her personality.

“Wha...what, happened?!”

“Kid. I don't know how but….you were dead. For three whole hours!” Slejj said, with a shaken look distorting his face.

“What? What are you saying?”

“The truth kid. The villagers handed over Lisa and chased us away, by then you had lost consciousness, moments later you stopped breathing and you had no pulse, I checked myself. Even your body went cold. Until you started breathing like twelve minutes ago...”

“ But, that’s impossible. I was only out for about five seconds.”

They all went dead silent again, all that could be heard were Lora's unmanageable sobs. Lisa was dead asleep on Slejj’s back. Alicia stood beside them, she had nothing to say, what was there to be said anyway? She had little to no ties with anyone there, her crying would be pointless and awkward. She also felt a little green-eyed. Because she didn't know anyone’s story there. She only knew the parts they wanted her to know, and it was obvious they treated her as an outcast. She also didn't know their relationships with each other. Was Lora Daito’s girlfriend? Was Lisa Slejj's Daughter? All these questions stirred up in her mind. And it was annoying her that she didn't have a single clue. What was she to do next? The delegates meeting was to be held in two weeks' time and she had already found what she was sent to find. But could she bring herself to break up this family and move on?

AT THE SAME TIME IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION

The euphonious bellows of the stallions pulling the cart occasionally fractured the unwieldy silence in the carriage. Tyndale sat on the seat facing behind opposite him sat Lieutenant Deryleen, sharpening his lance. Behind the carriage, the soldiers followed, all on them on their horses. There were about three hundred of them.

“So, can you tell me anything about this Kanchi Asobi guy we are going to meet?”

Deryleen asked Tyndale. Tyndale slightly opened his eyes then closed them once more.

“I suppose I can, since you will be succeeding me it's best you be aware of the threats you might face. The eight heads of the Tomasa Clan!” he began, his hoarse voice intensifying every syllable he says.

“They are neither a religion nor an organization. But they are everywhere, even amongst my villages. Nobody knows when they started, but I started hearing about them six years ago during my conquest. The clan is headed by eight leaders, I only know of five. Kanchi Asobi. From the forgotten temples of south Angus. He used to be their muscle until we clashed three years ago and it didn't end well for him. But he raised his class to a Shoutorin artist so he doesn't fight anymore. Lady Melo, you ever heard of her?”

“Yeah, a few times. The leader of the all-female society in the east.”

“Yes, she is also ahead. But don't take her lightly, when she was a blade of the temple she was known as the fox assassin.

“That's the fox assassin!”

“Yes. Avoid conflict with her at all times. Next, we have Anato Strider, the Shai magician.”

“Are you kidding? The king is the only shai magician in existence...”

“He comes from a long line of bookkeepers. The clan that used to protect the covenant book written by the first dark bender. The same one used in conducting the dark bender ritual. He has knowledge we only wish for. And he uses that knowledge to utilize the gift of shai magic, till today I don't know how he does it. And the fact that he is nineteen makes it even scarier. Another person you should avoid conflict with.”

“Wow. These guys seem like characters out of a scary children's story.”

“Next up we have Dakario, the vurhan whisperer, the right-hand man to the vurhanil king himself. He wields vurhanil magic. He is also able to control vurhans. That's what I can tell you about him for now...”

“Well, what about the other four…”

“In total, they are actually nine, but they are referred to as eight because of Shinsin and Kuro. A survivor of the vurhanil war and the first person to make a contract with a Shinigami, a deity controlling the gates of death. Notice I refer to him as one because he is only one person. A single human soul occupying two bodies. I also don't know much about him. The remaining three are a mystery, mythical like Arekin himself. All I know is that one is the brains of their organization and the remaining two are the master heads. They are able to grant people god magic yet they themselves are not gods.”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“… Because they once asked me to join them!”