“What do you mean you want us to go back to Soterra, Amelia?

We can get stronger here,”

“Yes, but we can learn more about our new magic there—"

“—Well, I said no.”

“……..”

……..

“What’s wrong with those two?” chief Aki ask, though she doesn’t seem to care at all,

“Twin squabbles I guess,” Apollo shrugs,

“King Apollo, I forgot to ask,

Are you really a ‘king’ of this Soterra like you claim,

If so, why hasn’t your kingdom made preparations against the dragon yet?”

“….

We…

I didn’t want to get the Queen involved, also Soterra just recently went through some ‘major’ events, most of our strongest fighters are either dead or badly injured, some are permanently unconscious,”

“Why?

Was there a war?”

“…...

It was a war to me,

To us.”

“Ok, well tell me,” chief Aki sits herself on a cushion on the floor,

“If we are to be working together even briefly, I still need to have some kind of trust in you,

What’s more, I may even allow you to stay inside during the night,”

“About that—” I start

“—No questions till mine gets answered please,

Who are you people and what happened at Soterra?”

“……”

Lyra looks at Apollo who looks at me, I pass the look on to Karina,

“……

I guess I’ll tell” she sighs,

“Remember how Shiki sir said that the man who made the alliance with the dragons disappeared?

Well he came to Soterra, bided his time integrating himself as a part of our society, using some kind of mind control ability he acquired

Slowly the city became his and the people, extensions of himself,

Murdoc, his name, then started plotting his expansion,

The ones with the most potential he ordered, or more so manipulated, their family, close friends, anything of that sort, to murder each other in front the targets face,

Thence traumatizing them but also making their…

Making our magic stronger.”

……

“What happened next?” Chief Aki fully invested in the story,

Karina gives her look of disgust,

“This is not just some story you know!” Lyra spats,

“No need to get all aggravated by my intrigue,

I sympathize with you all, I really do,

But you can’t just stop there,” Aki replies insincerely

…….

Karina remains quiet looking the chief directly in the eyes with an adamant look of refusal,

“I’ll continue,” Apollo says hurriedly trying to diffuse any potential animosity brewing,

“Murdoc’s plan was to traumatize us then plant one of his devoted followers, whom he knew we would trust, to look over us for ten years,

The former queen, my umm, aunt, was the one he entrusted with that task, she hated my guts, so I never really got manipulated by her,

She pushed Karina—”

“—That’s not a part of the story idiot,” Karina cuts him off,

“Hhhh,” she sighs

“The queen helped us understand our new evolved magic, while she pretended to care about us, the only truth she ever spoke was her honest belief that her son the prince would return one day to ‘save us’,”

Karina motions to me

“Kage isn’t from Soterra like us, he showed up like any other traveler that happened to wander into the city,

Only this time was different, he didn’t get ‘dedicated’ like all the others,

More so than that he happened to know the prince from his, past ‘experiences’

Maybe it was fate that he met Lyra when he did and ‘joined up’ with us.”

“Where are you from Kage?” the chief turns to me

(The million-dollar question)

“I have amnesia,” I lie

(What even is a dollar?)

“Hmm ok, how did you help defeat this Murdoc character?”

“It was really because of Pinoki….”

“Who is Pinoki?”

“He was one of us,” Lyra explains lamentingly

“He didn’t escape Furlheim with us…”

“Well, he sounds like a valiant warrior I would have liked to meet him,” the chief sounds sincere this time,

“Well anyway, it finally became time for Murdoc to ‘acquire’ us” Karina continues

“After a long series of fights kidnaps and more fights, it was the seven of us, excluding the twins, and including Pinoki, the current queen of Soterra and the creator of the requiem sword Apollo has, it was his last….

So, continuing on, Murdoc bashed us around for a while until Kage, in an act of desperation, managed to use his bow’s strange ability to absorb magic to release the magic of a diamond powering the entire city,

It effectively leveled Soterra like an earthquake it went on for an entire night, we survived because of Queen Zinnia’s magic,

A lot of people died that night including all Murdoc’s ‘spare bodies’

The morning after we found Murdoc’s main body and finished him off….

…….

Are you happy now?” Karina finishes,

“You may have skated over some things in that story, but I understand,” the chief approves

“By the way where is this bow of Kage’s now?”

“Around somewhere,” I reply vaguely

“If it’s any consolation, I shall allow you stay inside my home as long as you are in the city,” Chief Aki declares

“Now its your turn to tell us why we weren’t allowed in the first place,” I softly demand,

“I don’t really know, I was still young back then you may have to ask my advisor,” she briskly walks away,

(I feel scammed)

…….

*****

“Now that we’ve got the help of the Bakufu people, should we go back to Soterra and begin preparations there?” Karina proposes,

“I’m sure there are more places we can go to for now,” Apollo replies reluctantly,

“We still have this map; it would be a shame—

—Where is the map?” Apollo checks himself,

“Did you take it from me Kage?”

“No, maybe Amelia has it, I’ll ask her when she gets here, her and Claude have been going around asking to be trained,

Though I think it’s more Claude than her,”

…….

As I say his name Claude comes huffing into the quarters

“She really left,” he says frustratedly

“Amelia? what do you mean left?” Lyra questions,

“I ‘told’ her we we’re staying here to train, but she wanted to go back to Soterra,”

“She went alone?” Lyra shows a bit of worry, getting up

“I sent some of our people to see this ‘Soterra’, she went with them,” a voice from behind speaks, making us all jump

“Shiki sir?

How long have you been in here?” Apollo had reflexively risen his sword,

“Long enough to be disgusted in how you handle requiems,” he motions the weapon

“I saw that girl who left had Takeroumu’s requiem, I took it from her, she wasn’t even utilizing it to it’s full potential, same with how you use that sword,”

“I know I’m not the best at sword fighting, but this sword is heavy,” Apollo replies dejectedly

“I’m not talking about how you swing it,” Shiki sir sighs,

“You don’t just use requiems, you feel them,”

“…….”

“Look, here,” the old man reveals the map he took back,

We gather around the old man watching the map’s display that portrays an overhead view of our current location…

The view then begins to zoom outward, expanding the area we can see,

“How did you do that?

I didn’t see you move or use any magic?” Apollo asks, his voice leaks of intrigue,

“Keep watching,” the old man directs,

As the image continues to zoom outward the small dots that highlight individual people begin to disappear, traded for a more terrain-esc view, the image portrays a large landmass stretching from each corner of the map,

Though not in color we can still see the vast amount of greenery that covers the ring,

A majority of it is all nature as a matter of fact,

The bottom half of the map has more rocky flatlands than the rest,

What intrigues me the most is the fact that there is indeed no ocean , though smaller pockets of water can be identified there is no sea, one could essentially traverse the entire ring on foot,

The upper area is all gray, most likely the mountains range that stretches across the entire earth,

(Something does not feel right about this)

“Do you understand now?” the old man closes the map,

Apollo makes an indiscernible sound,

“I am keeping this by the way,” Shiki sir says,

“This is our property after all,”

“……”

(Was that really the entire ring?)

………

“Well, I have to go run through the halls a hundred times now,” Claude turns to leave the room,

“Why?” Lyra asks him

“I asked that guy we saw arguing, Bane was his name,

I asked him to train me, he said he would if I could run though the winding halls a hundred times,”

……

(We just got here, why is he already this involved?)

“That boy is getting consumed by revenge,” Shiki sir shakes his head,

(That reminds me)

“Umm Shiki sir, the chief wouldn’t tell us earlier,

But why is it that strangers aren’t given inhouse-hospitality?”

“Hmm,

If I can remember correctly………

A couple years ago, two travelers visited Tonbo, they stayed for the night in the former inn,

But during the night they murdered the owner in his sleep, stole his requiems and escaped to the Silver mountains,

After that the people have never allowed outsiders into their homes,”

“I assume you never caught the two?”

“Well since they ran up to the mountains and never came back

We assumed they died,”

“Hmmm,”

“One had magic that allowed for him to teleport so even though they might be dead there are still people who look out for them,” Shiki continues

“Do you know who they were?” I inquire getting more and more interested,

“I do not, but I can tell you how they looked,

If my memory serves me right:

One was of shorter height medium build, light brown skin with straight matted black hair and brown beady eyes, he was the one with the teleport magic,

The other:

He had pale blue hair similar to your friend,” Shiki points at Lyra

“His eyes were cold and blue as well, he wielded both ice magic and evolved fire magic.”