Divina wrapped her arm around my waist as if to break
something horrible to me gently. “See, once we set off through the forest,
there will be no food until dinner time on the ship. I figured that we should
have a meal first,” Divina clarified.
“Oh. I want to go with whoever’s getting food,” I
said.
Edward sighed. “Alright, we’ll go, but you will not
step ten feet out of my reach,” Edward told me. Edward and Divina quickly
packed their things and we went up to the deck. Divina’s shirt had become black
again, which I guess meant that she was calm.
It looked like every single passenger was on deck,
either leaving or giving their farewells, so I did everything in my power to
keep my mouth shut and my eyes forward. Edward was delayed by Rhade, supposedly
for a goodbye. Divina stopped prodding me to hurry. Obviously deciding we had
time for pleasantries, she listened patiently until she could jump into their
conversation. Rhade beamed at her. It annoyed me for some reason.
The position of the sun as well as the slight morning chill suggested
it was somewhere around nine in the morning. People were already heading down
the beach in a big group. With a subtle shake of his head, Edward told us to
wait, so we watched the ship leave for Zendii.
The weather was clear, the wind was calm, and the
ocean was the only sound. It was creepy. Far off to one side was a massive
forest and there wasn’t another soul on the beach; all I could see was beach,
ocean, and forest. It felt like something out of a horror movie. To reinforce
my anxiety, Divina’s shirt was turning yellow.
“Let’s go,” Edward said.
Divina wrapped her arm around my waist and we headed
away from the ocean. There was no grass and trekking in sand was not easy, but
at least I didn’t have roots and branches in my way.
We walked for about fifteen minutes before I suddenly
realized with a start that there was a wall ahead of us, ten feet high and made
of large, dark stones that fit together perfectly. It worried me that it had
appeared out of thin air, only a few minutes away. When we reached the wall, I
saw that on each stone was a Sudo word.
Before I could ask him what they meant, Edward
started walking along the wall. We strode in silence for about ten minutes
before we came to a section which Edward studied carefully. “I really don’t
like this,” he said.
He pressed his hand against the wall, closed his
eyes, and pushed hard. After several seconds, a cool blue light lit the
crevices between the rock slabs, quickly spreading to cover the entire wall
while the Sudo words lit yellow like fire. Suddenly the solid stone split in
two perfectly straight, vertical lines, five feet apart and the section between
the splits began to sink into the sand, revealing a doorway. Divina pushed me
forward through the entrance.
I stood on fine-cut grass before many old
Japanese-style houses that made up a decent little neighborhood. Some of the
houses were fairly small, but a few were quite large, with two stories. Nothing
appeared rundown or vandalized, and while there was no apparent danger, the air
was stagnant like the calm before the storm. There were no people or sign of
life anywhere in sight.
There was something wrong here that made my skin
crawl.
Divina and Edward both simultaneously pushed me
forward with obvious discomfort. We passed through an alley between two small
houses and wound up on a stone, five-foot-wide road lined with houses. Between
some of the homes were small dirt roads. Edward led us down one of them, into
another, identical street, and then through three more dirt roads before the
scene finally changed. I didn’t see or hear anyone the entire way.
We came to a canal lined with a stone wall about
three feet high. Heavy grayish-white mist formed over the waterway and
concealed everything across from it. There was a bridge of wood and metal,
thirty feet to the left of us. I really didn’t want to cross the river, but
Edward nudged me towards the bridge. Divina followed behind, her shirt very
slowly changing to match the gray the fog.
Divina wrapped her arm around mine and didn’t force
me, but Edward went ahead. The chill of the fog made me cringe and pause at the
mouth of the bridge. I could smell the water and something like moss. Divina’s
warmth and encouragement wasn’t enough to stop shivers from running down my spine,
but I was determined to convince her I wasn’t a complete wimp.
No, I much preferred to be called “scaredy-cat” than
a wimp.
I stepped forward and she loosened her grip slightly.
We entered the fog.
I was blind, heard nothing, and only smelled water. I
could have been surrounded by monsters and I wouldn’t know until one was
picking me out of his teeth. After a couple of minutes, my anxiety suddenly
rocketed for no apparent reason and Divina stopped dead, forcing me to halt.
She tugged on me to get down and a second later, something very large flew
within a foot above me. It moved slowly but the only part I could see through
the fog was the end, which looked like a giant stingray.
When it had passed, Divina motioned for me to get up
and we hurried across the river. The mist disappeared suddenly and Edward was
there. “Are you alright?” he asked me.
Divina let me go, unfortunately.
“Shiny. Can we go so somewhere else now?” I asked. I
peered passed him. We were now in an area filled with very large and very small
structures that looked similar to Japanese temples. The configurations were
mostly red and gold, and each one was unique. “This really is a Japanese world.
You should have found a Japanese Guardian. What are these?”
“The large ones are graves, and the smaller ones are
spiritual symbols. The philosophy here and in most of Mijii is that every
object, even inanimate ones, has a spirit. These are representative of that.
People use them as reminders to be good to nature, as well as many other
things. Maybe I’ve lived too long, but they frustrate me,” Edward said.
“It’s an immortal thing,” Divina said. Her shirt was
dark gray, which I hoped was a good sign, since the atmosphere was much less
creepy here.
The structures were surrounded by beautiful Japanese
gardens with perfectly cut grass, the occasional small pond, and unbelievable
flowers that surrounded the ponds. There were flowers with colors I couldn’t
even comprehend, flowers that changed colors, and flowers that changed shape!
As we were passing a particularly large blossom, about a meter wide with long,
thin, spike-tipped, blood colored petals, it suddenly shook and then reached
for us.
Divina snapped off a petal that almost touched me.
The rest of the petals snapped together in a ball, as if to protect itself. It
seemed sad, as if the flower was just reaching for us because it was curious.
As we walked, Divina pulled a small jar out of her bag, folded the petal, and
slid it inside the bottle before returning the bottle. Then she stopped for a
second to pet a translucent blue flower that opened wide and exposed its petals
for her.
After passing a large grave, we came upon another
river. This one was shallow and wide with crystal clear water and a rock bed,
which created many tiny waterfalls. There was a natural bridge of rocks across
it.
Across the river was beautiful; it was a market
district. There were buildings and stalls, selling everything from food to
toys. As far down as I could see was markets and by the looks of it, the entire
town was a huge maze. There were people everywhere. The sound of the
German-like language was loud and dominant and the smell of all kinds of food
made my mouth water.
“Tell us if you smell any food that seems good,”
Divina said very quietly.
I nodded. The people on the market were mostly
dressed in sand-colored uniforms of tunics and loose pants with odd moccasin
boots. There were only a few children, but it was pretty equal between men and
women.
Divina seemed almost as excited as I was to see
everything as we explored. Her shirt was now dark blue. We kept pointing things
out to each other and stopping too long to spectate. There were jewelry stores,
clothing stores, candy stores, rock stores… everything I could imagine.
Unfortunately, Edward seemed to be in a hurry and rushed us. Divina convinced
him to stop at a tiny candy store, so cramped with sweet things there was
barely room for two people to pass each other. For most of the brightly colored
sweets, there was a little clear box of samples. The majority of the treats
were an unusual texture between gooey and gummy.
Everything tasted awesome, except for what I thought
to be cherry gummy bears. No, they were wax, for one thing, and they weren’t cherry
flavored. I avoided everything red from then on, for that particular flavor was
something akin to tomato and cayenne peppers. Divina laughed until she drew
every customer’s attention, which didn’t help matters.
“Can I get some?” I asked Edward. I knew it was
childish, but I had a sweet tooth and this was a new world full of new things
to try.
“It’s not good for you,” he frowned.
“It’ll keep me from complaining about food all the
time,” I offered.
“Then by all means, if you like it, get as much as you
want. These kinds of sweets are limited to Mijii,” Edward said.
I got a lot. When we left the shop, Edward regained
his former unease.
“Kiro,” Divina said with a childish tone, clearly
wanting something. He didn’t bother to look at her. “Can I take Dylan to have
some fun?”
My eyes went wide and my heart started racing. The
idea of running around alone with Divina was too much to hope for. Sure I was
safer with Edward and Divina had already used magic against me at least once,
but rationalism went out the door when Divina walked in.
Edward sighed and thought about it for a moment.
“Alright, but you cannot let him out of your sight. You will protect him like a
new baby.”
She smiled. “So I can sacrifice him to the---”
“No! If you can’t keep your eyes on him, hold his
hand. If he so much as has to go to the bathroom, you will stand right outside
the door. If he gets a scratch, I’m going to blame you.”
He looked like he could go on indefinitely, but
Divina interrupted him with her beautiful Sudo. After her argument, he looked
at me, nodded, turned, and walked away. Divina beamed at me. “What do you want
to do first?” she asked.
“Eat,” I answered.
“I figured as much. How about we get something from a
restaurant instead of the street market? Then we can try all kinds of snacks
and buy all kinds of souvenirs. Edward probably won’t want to take you
traveling until you learn Sudo well and have more training, so I think you
should have a fun experience now.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Someone who wanted me to
do nothing but have fun was entirely new to me. She laughed at my uncertainty
and went over to one of the stalls. I tried to stay out of everyone’s way, but
I wasn’t doing a good job; I ended up tripping over someone’s bag and then
people started to trip over me. I should have asked Edward how to apologize.
There were various comments, some with an offensive attitude, and some with an
apologetic manner.
Divina grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the crowd
before taking a minute to read a book she’d just bought at the stall. It was a
glossy paperback with picture on the front of a huge blood and gold colored
temple/castle-shaped building.
“Is that a travel guide?” I asked.
Divina laughed. “This may be an entirely different
world than Earth, but every good idea humans come up with, sago can come up
with. We have schools, pets, homes, entertainment, so we have to come up with
ways to make our jobs easier. Also, Earth is divided up in regions like Asia
and North America, which are very different from each other. On Duran the lands
are quite different, but each of the main islands are very consistent. Most all
of Shomodii is exactly like Kiro’s territory. There are a few small cities and
villages, but that’s it. Because everyone lives the same and the same kinds of
food grows and runs throughout the entire island, the culture throughout is
very similar.
“On the other hand, there are the lands like Mijii.
West Mijii is street markets, easy money, and incredible, cheap inventions.
East Mijii is beautiful hot springs, small, old-style villages, amazing food,
and scenery to die for. North, south, and central Mijii are a decent mixture.
“Zendii is an island devoted to pleasure. The entire
place is gorgeous and the weather is wonderful. Whatever your preferred type of
scenery is, there’s a place on Zendii like it. It’s too expensive to live there
forever and there are so many people visiting for only one reason, thus there’s
very little distinguishable culture.
“Anoshii is a huge cultural stew. The entire land is
used for living conveniently, for shopping, and for vacation. Different
cultures, food, and products from all over the world are brought into Anoshii.”
“So where do you like?” I asked.
Divina shrugged her bare shoulders. “I love where I
live, but I really like to travel; I like diversity. Kiro does, too, the
problem is that he’s seen it all. What about you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen many different
environments. I always wanted to go to England, Japan, and Cairo. Not much for
the Hawaii beaches or five-hundred dollar per person meals.”
“How about when you learn a bit of Sudo and defensive
magic, you and I go traveling?”
“That would be awesome… do you think you would want
to visit Earth, too? Duran sounds so much more interesting, but there are still
places and cultures on Earth I would like to see,” I said.
“After Duran. We don’t want to dig Kiro a grave too
early. Let’s go to a little restaurant, a few fun markets, get a few souvenirs,
then go to West Mijii?” she asked.
It sounded perfect. “Do we have the time?” I asked.
She smiled. “Of course. Did you hear me tell Kiro I
would return you? I plan to keep you all night and he knows it. We’ll meet up
with Kiro in the morning.”
“But it sounds expensive,” I said, against my better
judgment. I really wanted to go with her all night. Her smile never faltered,
though, and she wrapped her arm around me.
“Alright. I’ll pay for everything we do together,
like lunch and dinner, and I’ll give you a little play money to buy stuff you
want.” She pulled out a handful of solid black coins, about the size of
quarters, from her pocket. When she tried to hand them to me, I wouldn’t take
them. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing much. Besides, I have a lot of money. I never
spend money on Shomodii, and I have a very good job.” She took my hand, placed
the coins in my palm, and closed my fingers over them.
As uncomfortable as it made me, I knew it would be
rude to refuse her. Besides, I could somehow accumulate money and then pay the
next time we went somewhere together. “Okay. Thank you. What is your job?” I
asked, clutching the coins awkwardly and not sure where to put them.