Tales of a Lost Sword 17

Episode 17 Wanderer II
Zack, Hyacinth, Mira, and Ophelia look up as the flakes of snow begin to fall around them. The sun continues to shine brightly and the sky remains a clear blue color, despite the sudden change in weather.

“Strange…it’s snowing but the sun is out?” Mira mutters, catching some of the flecks of snow in her palm.

Zack gazes up at the sky wordlessly, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Inside the Kimura mansion, Kunai is standing alone in a room, gazing outward through a window at the outside world. Sunshine splashes on his face, yet snow continues to gradually blanket the ground. He stares at the scene with a frown on his face.

Behind him, his futon and blanket are laid on the ground in a disheveled and messy heap. With a click, Kunai replaces his claw around his right hand.

In another part of the mansion, Hiraku too stares out the window at the falling snow. He stands in a darkened room, where behind him sits an elderly woman on a throne-like chair, her face shrouded in shadows.

“Snow falling in the midst of a sun-filled day…that is not a good sign, Hiraku,” the woman speaks in an aged voice.

The snow continues to fall. Zack grabs his staff, as the others watch him intently. He turns to Hyacinth, Mira, and Ophelia. “S’probably time to go. Go get Kunai.”

“I’m here,” Kunai responds immediately, emerging into the courtyard with a grave look in his eyes. His claw is equipped, and a bag of Steelys jangle by his side.

“Hello, Kunai,” Hyacinth says, stepping forward and bowing. “I wish to aid you by—”

“Yeah,” Kunai interrupts briskly. “I’ll be happy to work with you. We don’t have much time. I sense danger ahead.” Hyacinth stares at Kunai uncertainly, having been welcomed so unceremoniously.

“Is it Takuya?” Ophelia asks, watching as the snow gathers on the ground all around them.

“Most likely, yes,” Kunai answers in a low voice.

“Seems like he saved us the trouble of havin’ to look for him then,” Zack says brightly. “Looks like he’s pretty close by.”

“He’s that close…?” Mira murmurs to herself.

“Everybody make preparations to fight in formation,” Kunai orders, checking his own equipment.

Hyacinth turns to Kunai. “What can I do to help?”

“Fight as you please,” Kunai replies without looking at her, “we’ll need your help as much as possible.”

Hyacinth glares at Kunai with a stupefied look. Meanwhile, Zack waves to the others. “All right, time t’head out!”

From his room within the Kimura manor, Hiraku watches as Kunai’s group departs down the road and out of sight, headed towards the source of the falling snow. His expression is grave as the group disappears from his view.

“Takuya Kimura…he is the only known person in the world currently in possession of an Anti-Paradox, even if it is an extremely unreliable Anti-Paradox. Even so, it will not be easy to wrest it from his hands. They are up against a difficult opponent.”

A knock suddenly sounds at the door into the room. Hiraku turns silently to face the door. “Come in,” he says in a booming voice.

A male servant enters the room, bowing low to his master. “Sir, there is a transmission request from Gijiduny Tohief Nolat Xolawora.”

“Him?” Hiraku mutters with a slight hint of surprise. “Very well. Connect me with him immediately.”

One of the walls of the room suddenly slides open, revealing a large television screen behind it. The screen flashes on, and a wizened old dwarf with a long white beard appears on the screen.

“Gijiduny, it has been some time,” Hiraku mutters, staring into the face of the dwarf before him.

Kunai leads the way as he, Zack, Hyacinth, Mira, and Ophelia make their way out of town back towards the forest of the Mushroom Shrine. The snow grows progressively thicker in the air as they approach the depths of the forest. Still, the sun remains bright and shining high above them.

“There’s so much snow…” Hyacinth mutters, taking care not to slip on the thickening snow on the ground.

“He must be an ice-element user,” Kunai notes, not taking his eyes off the path ahead. “We’ll have to be careful.”

“If he’s an ice-element user, then it’ll be easy,” Mira says, “Ophelia and I can both use fire-element attacks, so we’ll have the advantage right off the bat.”

“No,” Kunai answers sternly, “we can’t assume that it’ll be an easy battle. Even if the Anti-Paradox he used was faulty, he has still merged the separated parts of his soul into one. That means…we have to be prepared to fight a Fatalist level opponent.”

“Fatalist level?!” Mira gasps. Next to her, Zack remains silent, though his eyes narrow very slightly.

“Yeah,” Kunai replies. He clenches his fists, furrowing his eyebrows. ‘If something were to go wrong…I can’t let them get in danger. Will we be able to defeat this guy?’

In the halls of a castle rising high over the city below, a woman with long green hair walks alone. Sunshine streaming into the castle through its windowless arches flickers over her slim figure as she walks down the passageway.

Eventually she comes upon a man with his hair tied back in a ponytail, his arms folded, a sour expression on his face as he leans against the wall of one of the arches. A scar runs across his right eye. He opens his eyes as the footsteps of the approaching woman come to a stop.

“Midori,” he smirks.

“Recelo,” the woman replies expressionlessly.

Recelo walks up to Midori in the middle of the hall, and stares into her bright green eyes. “I saw ya just come out of a meeting with the King. What did he want?”

“None of your business, Recelo,” Midori answers coldly.

“Come on now,” Recelo cries, gesticulating wildly with his arms, “we’re all Fatalists. We’re in this together. I wanna know what you were talking about too.”

“Recelo,” Midori says suddenly and sharply, prompting Recelo to glance at her stupidly. “Will we be able to win this war? We’ve brought misery upon a people and now they seek retribution, even though our causes are justified.”

“That’s not like you, Midori,” Recelo growls. He follows Midori’s gaze, as she turns to look outside the castle’s arches into the sunlit valley below. “Of course we will win. The King is the one person who understands the situation best. That’s why we will not fail under his leadership.”

The snow continues to fall upon the ground. The dark-haired individual saunters slowly towards the edges of Showa Town. Several people emerge from within the nearby buildings to gaze at the strange weather.

One of them turns towards the approaching individual, staring at him with suspicion. “Hey! You!” he shouts, pointing at him. “What’s going on here?”

The man’s red eyes glow brightly. A stream of frozen stalagmites erupts from the ground and blasts the man, encasing him in a prison of ice. The ice suddenly shatters, killing the man. The other people gathered to watch the scene suddenly scream out loud, running desperately away from the individual.

However, a boy of about ten lags behind. Foolishly, he picks up a stone from the ground and hurls it at the man. The pebble hits him on the side. The man turns towards the boy, his eyes glowing menacingly. The boy freezes, his eyes widening, as the man moves to aim an attack at him.

Suddenly, an arrow of white light flies through the air headed directly towards the man’s back. A wall of ice appears at the last second, swallowing the arrow and absorbing it. The white light dissipates into nothingness, as the dark-haired individual turns to glare at his latest assailants. Meanwhile, the boy takes the opportunity to run away.

Zack lowers his Kage, an amused expression on his face. Next to him, Kunai clenches an Avenger in his right hand, while Hyacinth, Mira, and Ophelia each have their weapons raised.

Kunai’s eyes widen as they fall upon the man in front of him. “This…is Takuya Kimura?!”
—END SEVENTEEN—
TuesFri updates every week, that's the goal. Originally I wanted to do MWF updates, but school kinda prevented me from keeping up that pace. Regardless, here's a new chapter, full of non-action and non-plot development.