Kaori steps closer to the altar and stares at the glowing stone on top and sighs. “I don’t suppose you have anything to say to me do you?” She asks disheartened, looking around the room in the silence that was offered. “Don’t be so stupid Kaori... They’ll show themselves if they want to.” She exhales sharply, lowering to her knees. “Why can’t I be as strong as everyone else? If I was such a person to look up to, why aren’t I as strong as I should be? I couldn’t have deliberately tossed away any power I was capable of before.” She clenches her fists in frustration. “Am I even capable of holding such power? Surely I was just as weak in the heavens... What a pathetic ruler I’ve become...”

  “I wouldn’t go that far...” Says an unacquainted strong male voice.

  She rises to her feet quickly, turning behind her to see a tall, tan skinned, muscular man with loose, open robes of a shrine warrior over his upper body and fitted black pants and bamboo shoes with black tabi.

  He fixates his deep brown eyes on Kaori from behind his messy brown hair with a stern expression. “Now I see the kindness that charms those around you.”

  She steps forward once toward the man cautiously. “Are you... The soul?”

  He nods once, keeping eye contact with Kaori, extending his hand out to her. “Use the power I have to its fullest.” He lowers his hand at Kaori’s hesitance to take it, his stern expression unchanging. “Do you reject it?”

  “No. No, of course not,” she replies quickly.

  He sighs a little, and looks away, his hard expression unwavering. “I’ve waited well over a thousand years and the High Goddess rejects power offered to her.”

  “No! It’s not like that, really,” she insists.

  “If I am not needed then there is no need to waste my time,” he turns his back to Kaori, attempting to walk away before Kaori grabbed his sleeve.

  “I never denied you. Please... Don’t leave me. I need you.”

  He looks over his shoulder and down at Kaori with an empty expression before turning and stepping back toward her, placing a hand on her head. “You need yourself more.”

  Her knees give out, falling at his feet, crying silently. “I know...” She shakes her head lightly. “I know I can’t do this, but I also refuse to sacrifice anymore. No one else... Please help me...”

  “May the heavens watch over you all.”

  She closes her eyes, trying her hardest to force the tears back until she heard footsteps. Looking up she sees she is now kneeling on the cool grass in a place she didn’t recognize; a wide-open valley with fallen buildings and rubble scattered across in the distance.

  “What do you mean?” Tai’s desperate voice breaks through the silence.

  “The gods want you to know that you’ve been forgiven in their eyes,” Replies a saddened female voice.

  Kaori rises, seeing Tai standing and talking to a woman with long, dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She notices the woman’s weary, yet serene face as she looked at Tai.

  He shakes his head, his exasperation in his expression and tone. “Then... I can finally leave Noroc?”

  “No... You cannot leave this plane of existence.”

  “You call that forgiveness?!” He yells in frustration. “It’s been five hundred years since then and everything is getting worse no matter how hard I try to fix it. Noroc, my people, everything is falling apart and even though you say I’ve been forgiven I still have to watch it all die before me.”

  The woman smiles slightly, tears falling down her face. “Now I know why she favors you so...”

  “Please... Just let me rest...” He falls to his knees, almost as if he were begging the woman.

  The woman steps toward Tai lightly and looks down at him, about to touch him but stops. “The day will come where a lost soul needs guidance.”

  “Why can’t it be now? I’ve done all I could to repent...”

  “You will know when the day comes. When all is dark, remember everything you’ve fought for... Have faith in the path you walk.”

  He clenches his fists tightly. “All I want is to silence it all... Please just let me leave this place of my own free will. I’m so tired.”

  She kneels down to Tai and places a hand on his face, gently guiding him to look at her, her eyes filled with tears as she smiled kindly. “All she asks for is faith...”

  He winces in pain at the woman’s touch, instinctively moving away.

  She stands, a solemn and pitied look in her eyes. “Until we meet again... Taiichiro.” She turns away from him and toward the ruins, leaving Tai alone on the ground.

  He watches her, holding out a hand toward her. “Wait don’t go!! If you go you’ll die!” He yells desperately as he reached out to her. “Stop!!”

  Kaori attempts to take a step forward, the scene fracturing before her and restoring her to the altar room, the image of the man standing before her.

  “Lady Goddess... Will you accept my power?” The man asks strongly as he held out his hand to her once more.

  “Did you show me this?”

  He stares down at her with an unwavering expression of disinterest in her question.

  “Everything... Everything keeps leading back to him... Do you know him as well?”

  “What I know doesn’t matter... It’s what you feel.”

  She holds her hands close to her heart for a moment, before keeping one hand close to her and reaching the other out to hold the man’s hand. “Might I ask who my Guardian is?”

  “Masahiro, Temple Elite.”

  “Sir Masahiro... I entrust my life to you.” She closes her eyes lightly, Masahiro’s image slowly fading away and the door opening slowly a short moment after.

  “Miss Kaori.” Keiji smiles softly.

  She steps out of the altar room. “Was I long?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Stop treating her so nicely.” Tai says bitterly. “It’ll go to her head, and it’ll be Breeze all over again.”

  She pouts faintly. “No it won’t,” she mumbles quietly.

  Keiji laughs lightly. “Even if it does, the high goddess deserves such treatment.”

  She smiles in return as she looked up and nods. “I’m ready to find the last soul.”

  “Then hurry up and let’s get out of here before-” Tai goes silent as he heard a crying child down the end of the cavern.

  “It’s the boy isn’t it?” Kaori asks seriously.

  “We must be careful,” Keiji looks toward Tai, his expression cautious.

  “He’s just a child... I should be able to reach him easily...” She pushes passed Keiji and Tai forcefully, running toward the crying with determination.

  “Kaori wait!” Tai hurries after Kaori with Keiji right behind him. “Stupid girl. Always putting herself in danger for nothing.”

  She continues running as fast as she could, her face as serious as ever. “Where is he?” She hears Keiji and Tai calling out to her in desperation yet chooses to ignore them. She turns the corner quickly, stopping as she saw the boy crying at the center of the exit to the cavern where Vicious and Shomei were on the other side.

  “Kaori stay back!” Yells Vicious seriously.

  “We’ll handle this,” Shomei adds, holding up a hand toward Kaori, signaling her to stop.

  The boy looks up and directly at Kaori. “Looking for me?” His piercing red pupils burning an appalling stare into her.

  Kaori looks at Vicious and Shomei for a moment then looks at the boy. “I was...”

  He stands up slowly, his eyes locked on Kaori’s. “They won’t let you near me, you know that, don’t you?”

  “I do,” she says quietly in response.

  “Don’t you need them to protect you? Aren’t you scared like the rest?”

  “All I want is to help you.”

  He laughs, his grin just as malicious as ever. “Help me? There’s nothing left of me to help.” His gaze wanders behind Kaori as he saw Tai running up toward her. “Maybe you should help yourself first.”

  She turns, taken aback as Tai held onto her protectively with one arm, pulling her tightly against his chest and holds out his other toward the boy, not seeing Shomei and Vicious behind him. “Wait!” She pulls Tai’s arm down suddenly, a dark mass barely missing Vicious and Shomei who had narrowly avoided Tai’s attack.

  Tai looks at the others on the ground, clearly unsure of himself.

  She pushes away hard, about to go to the boy but stops as a forcefield was formed between them.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The boy stares up at Kaori, only inches away from her, yet unable to touch her. “I told you.”

  She hits the barrier lightly before turning around, seeing Keiji walking up.

  “Miss Kaori, we need to get you to the ship as fast as possible.”

  She shakes her head seriously. “No, please let me talk to him.”

  “Stop trying to fight us on everything!” Tai yells, cutting off any explanation Keiji could provide. “You need to get back and you need to do it now!”

  “This is how it’s always been your highness...” coaxes the boy. “I can’t be helped... Not even by you. No one can be helped... Because you’re just too precious to everyone. Better to be in the gilded cage you’ve grown accustomed to. The heavens, the Temple, the palace, and now a ship. Calculated freedom is all you’ll know.”

  Vicious gets up and takes out the discs from his side holster, about to attack the boy. “Shut up!”

  The boy turns and looks at Vicious, his dark eyes large and hateful, causing Vicious to freeze in place and be sent back into a large bolder nearby. “Do not talk to me!” He steps toward Vicious and raises his hand lightly to his mouth and whistles loudly; the ground starting to shake. “You will never be able to protect anyone long as you live. Even if you could become someone worthy of guarding a goddess, you would not last long against me.”

  Kaori hits the forcefield hard as she watched the boy stare down Vicious. “Vicious get up!!”

  Shomei aims her crossbow at the boy, believing she shot him in the back of the head only to see his image skip and suddenly appear before her.

  “The same goes for you.” The boy ignores the sudden rush of wild boars manifesting around the area as he reached out to touch Shomei. “I can make your suffering stop here... Better me to do it than the master himself.”

  Shomei feels her entire body freeze in fear as she stared up at the boy from the ground, her eyes wandering behind him to Vicious who was getting up weakly and trying to fight off the wild boars.

  “Keiji let it down, please!!!” Kaori yells sadly as she watched from behind the barrier. “Don’t do this!”

  “I’ve called Breeze, she’s on her way,” Tai says toward Keiji in a hurried tone.

  “Don’t touch her!!!!” Kaori screams loudly.

  “Stand back,” Tai says trying to pull Kaori away lightly, pulling back as the pain from her touch was unusually stronger than normal.

  She hits the barrier with her fist hard, causing it to crack slightly.

  “Keiji,” he says seriously, turning around to look at him as Kaori struggled in his arms while he continued to attempt to pull her away.

  Keiji shakes his head lightly. “I’m trying,” he winces a bit as if he had a headache.

  “Vicious!!” Kaori screams loudly as she saw him get rammed in the abdomen by the tusks of a boar and fall to the ground in shock.

  The boy grins hatefully. “We’ll play forever now.” He nearly touches Shomei’s face before a strong and unseen force finally broke Keiji’s barrier, shattering it to pieces. He looks up, completely torn away from Shomei and looks at Kaori who was now free from Tai’s grasp.

  “Kaori keep away from him,” Tai says reaching out to her once more, only to have his hand slapped away.

  Kaori turns and glares at him. “This isn’t your battle to fight!”

  The boy laughs at Kaori’s actions, standing tall as she had turned and walked toward him. “Broken free from your cage? A goddess should never be alone you know. There are demons out.”

  “I will never be alone,” she says quietly. “I can save you, you know... The heavens will still accept you... I’ll accept you.”

  He clenches his teeth, looking angry at the mention of the heavens. “No. No one wants me! They’ve all left and it’s your fault. It’s always been your fault and you can’t back out on it now with empty words. You caused the war; you made them hate me. You’ll only continue to do so while you’re in power. You must be removed from your golden throne,” His image skips back lightly, the wild boars now going toward Kaori who stood strongly.

  Tai looks at Kaori, about to attack the boars himself until Kaori raised a hand up lightly, causing every one of the animals to burn quickly into ash. “The... Hell...”

  Keiji stares at Kaori with serious interest.

  She walks toward the boy and stands in front of him, looking down at him calmly. “You wanted to play didn’t you?” She asks softly. “Let’s play.”

  “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” he says darkly, the entire area around the two of them slowly becoming a pitch black and seeming to distance both him and Kaori from the others.

  Breeze runs up looking around seeing Kaori willingly walking deeper into the dark portal after the small boy. “What the- Kaori?”

  “Kaori, no!” Tai runs passed Breeze and Keiji as fast as he could, about to jump after Kaori, stopping as Breeze grabbed him and pulled him back.

  “Wait!” Breeze yells with worry.

  “There’s no waiting now! Let me go,” Tai yells in response as he pulled back away from her hard.

  Keiji hurries toward them and shakes his head. “She’s going on her own, she must have a plan,” he says directly addressing Tai.

  “And if you go there... You know you might never come back...” She says worriedly. “Will you really take that risk?”

  Tai looks at Breeze seriously and shakes his head slightly as he spoke in a tone that reflected his worry even if his face was completely different. “I’m not letting her go again...” He runs from the others and jumps into the dark portal without a second thought.

  Breeze watches the portal close as she ran after Tai and frowns worriedly. “Keiji...”

  He looks at the ground worriedly. “He’s made his choice,” he says quietly.

  She nods hesitantly, then looks at Vicious who was breathing steadily though he was unconscious and Shomei who was still unable to move. “Hey guys, let’s fix you up huh?”

  ?

  Kaori stands in complete darkness, looking around worriedly. “Where am I?” She asks herself softly, turning as she heard a small, scared voice of a young boy calling out.

  “Hello?! Hello!!”

  She steps forward seeing a scared little boy standing in the only bit of light in the darkness. “Hello...”

  He looks around in fear as he heard Kaori’s voice. “Who’s there?!” He asks defensively.

  She turns behind her as she heard Tai’s voice call out to her.

  “Kaori!! Kaori where are you?” Tai’s voice echoes distantly.

  She turns back to the boy worriedly and steps toward him, stopping once she had caught his attention and backed away from her.

  “Go away!” He says in fear.

  “It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you. I promise. I just want to help.”

  He looks at her in tears, making no attempt to become closer to her.

  “My name is Kaori. What’s your name?”

  He shakes his head a little. “I... I don’t know,” he looks at her desperately. “I don’t know my name!!” His voice starts to rise as if he were becoming more fearful and confused with each passing second.

  “O- Okay. It’s fine. You don’t have to know it. Do you know why you’re here?” She asks softly, trying to remain calm.

  He looks down as he placed his hands on his head in pain. “It hurts so much!!”

  She looks at him carefully while taking a single step forward hesitantly. Her eyes filled with concern as she noticed blood slowly streaming from the top of the boys head and down his face.

  He looks up at Kaori suddenly, the blood falling from his head and slowly dropping down his face between his eyes. “Don’t come any closer!!!”

  “Please let me help you.”

  “No!! You... You can’t. You’ll only hurt me more!! You’re just like them!”

  She shakes her head lightly as she stayed in her place. “What?”

  “You’re the high goddess. Ruler of the gods... You’re here only to hurt me! You’ll take me away from them!!”

  “Take you from who?”

  “Kaori!! If you can hear me answer me!!!” Calls out Tai’s voice from the darkness.

  She looks down, barely being able to hear Tai’s voice even though he was speaking loudly.

  The boy looks back watching a memory of Aduro walking toward him and holding out his hand as if to help him stand.

  She stares at Aduro, noticing the broken remnants of what were once white wings on his back were now stained black with blood.

  Aduro stares down at the boy, his face void of all emotion. “You need not see the oppressive ruler of the heavens... Come with me and we can rebuild this earth and create a new world where we answer to no human and no god.”

  He looks at Aduro worriedly. “Did I... Die?”

  Aduro stares at the boy, his cold expression giving him the answer.

  “I’m alone then...”

  “If you choose to follow, you will never be alone.”

  He looks down sadly then nods, standing up and following after Aduro.

  She watches the memory fade into the darkness before turning her attention back to the boy.

  “I don’t want to be alone! They left me before! That’s how I died!” He shakes his head looking confused and hurt. “If I’m alone... I... I don’t know what I’d do...”

  She frowns worriedly and shakes her head. “I won’t leave you alone. If you let me help you, you can go to the heavens and be happy.”

  “You don’t know that!”

  “I do...” She holds out her hand to him with a sad but reassuring smile. “Because I’ll be right there with you every step of the way.”

  He looks up at her and stands, the sadness and pain in his eyes fading to worry.

  She starts to step toward him as she continued to hold out her hand. “Let me help you okay?”

  He looks at Kaori sadly, his eyes showing the pain he was in.

  “Kaori!!!” Tai runs toward her as soon as he saw her through the darkness desperately reaching out to her.

  She reaches out her hand to the boy, not acknowledging Tai as her full focus laid on the boy.

  “I’m so scared... I can’t leave his side... What if they come looking for me here?” The boy says timidly.

  “No... No you’ll be fine I promise... Trust me.”

  He looks at Kaori for a moment before turning behind him, suddenly seeing Aduro extending a hand out, his emotionless expression stagnant.

  She shakes her head as she saw Aduro. “No... No come with me, please.” She starts to go forward but stops once she felt her body jerk back.

  Tai takes Kaori’s hand in his once he reached her and pulls her back away from the boy and Aduro with difficulty as Kaori tried to push away.

  “Let me go!!” She yells at Tai while reaching out to the boy as she saw his heartbroken expression with his hand outstretched to her.

  Tai picks up Kaori in his arms, the pain of her touch absorbing his body completely, yet still finds the strength to keep running toward the light with her.

  The boy lowers his hand as he saw Kaori disappear into the light, the last image of him turning around and following Aduro back into the darkness.

  Tai falls on top of Kaori, holding on to her safely, both of them landing on the soft ground of a dark wooded area. “Shit...” He gets up as Kaori pushed him off of her and got up as well.

  She looks around desperately, trying to find where they had come from. “No!!” She starts running into the woods, stopping as Tai grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his arms. “Let me go! I can’t leave him!!! He needed my help!” She yells in tears. “I could have reached him! It’s all your fault!!! Why did you stop me?!” She hits Tai’s chest weakly as she cried, not caring he was embracing her tightly with his head down.

  He holds Kaori securely, his entire body in pain as he did so.

  “He needed me!”

  “I know...” He says lowly in response.

  “I hate you!” She yells through tears.

  He holds her a little tighter as he closed his eyes. “I know...”

  She cries in his arms as she felt her entire self-break down. “I needed to save him... And I couldn’t...” She whispers in pain. “It hurts so much...”

  “It’s okay...” He feels Kaori finally stop resisting him and cry silently in his arms. “Cry as much as you need to...” He sighs silently as he held her, his face in pain yet still able to hold onto her gently while closing his eyes and resting his forehead lightly on Kaori’s lowered head.

  ?

  “Sometimes... I wonder what it would have been like to just be normal you know,” Akiko’s voice says hesitantly in the darkness.

  “We can leave it all behind if you want,” Vicious’s voice replies in a light hearted tone.

  She laughs softly. “I could never find it in my heart to do that... But... Maybe I could ask, once I meet the High Goddess again, if there is a possibility to return to Noroc after the fight with Aduro... That way maybe...” Her voice trails off lightly, leaving a short silence. “Maybe we can live together near Tinder.”

  “Uh- Really?”

  “I would understand if you didn’t want that though. I know it’s a little sudden but-,”

  “No! No, not at all! I would really like that one day. I’m sure the High Goddess would be more than happy to grant that wish to someone like you.”

  (“Akiko only wanted to be with Vicious... Another person I let down...”)

  A heavy silence fills the darkness before Akiko could be heard speaking again, yet directly to Kaori rather than to someone else.

  “I don’t see it that way my lady... We fought as hard as we could for you and though I failed, I was happy to do what I could. I was happy while on Noroc, even in the hardest of times coping with the fate given to me.”

  (“I don’t want blind followers.”)

  “No one is blind your majesty. We all watched from the heavens just as you had and only wanted exactly what you did; a peaceful place for everyone... The paradise Taiichiro has seen without sacrificing you. You are the treasure of the heavens.”

  (“I... I failed you all though”)

  She laughs lightly. “It’s not over yet. You have such wonderful support at your side. Always follow it.”