As always, the walled city of Aohouseki was a bastion of tranquillity in the turmoil of the warring states. Nestled within the bright alabaster walls, it perfectly projected its king’s inclusion of all its citizens within his treasured administrative domain. When viewed as integral to the country, the walls of the city became the castle’s walls and the actual palace became the city’s keep, a refuge for all the citizens including the sapphire demons and the sapphire priestess.
Just outside the castle walls, the capital city bustled with its usual activity: market stalls and passerbys, music and conversation, children playing, and its citizens engaging in their daily life. Their bustling became hazy to Nick and Minako as they focused on each other.
Nick smoothed his sapphire tunic with his palms, then tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You look beautiful. They’ll say you look like a real priestess, but I wish you were back in your school uniform. That’s what I’ll always think a priestess wears now.” He laughed, but smiled at her warmly as fiddled with the gold chain at her neck and fingered the solitary sapphire jewel that dangled from it.
“Okay… But you have to change back into your uniform too. A cardinal demon must always look like he won a dangerous fight.” She smirked as she gripped and adjusted the high collar at his neck, then trailed her fingers across the gold clasps at his collarbone and down the seam to the tip of the side vents that ended just below his waist.
He ran his thumb against the gold clasps at her collarbone and the high collar of her sapphire dress, then pulled her closer to him by her waist, his fingers brushing against the bow tied at her back with the gold sash around her waist. He laughed again, but then bit his lip. “That was our mistake for wearing too much white. It draws in death.”
Minako brushed her hand against Nick’s gold pants and sash, then brushed his hair back from his forehead, her bell sleeves pooling around her elbows. The most striking difference about Nick’s clothing, other than the brightness of the gold, was its lack of tears and blood stains. Her eyebrows pinched against her nasal bridge as wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned on his chest.
“Mianko? You’re worried?” He bit his lip again at the sinking feeling in his stomach.
“Just thinking about the last time we were in the capital and attacked. We look cleaned up, but we’re still the same…”
He ran his hand through her hair as he grinned. “No, we’re stronger now. They’ll see our confidence shine.” I hope...
Minako grabbed his hand and smiled. “As long as you think so.”
Nick beamed. “I’ll show you.” He pulled her by the waist, leading her through the busy city streets, though they eventually settled into holding the other’s hand as they walked. As before, their steps stirred up the dirt from the path.
A small child ran closely beside them. Nick glanced at them and gripped Minako’s waist again, pushing her toward the edge of the path. A woman hurried over and picked up the child, then bowed to Minako and Nick quickly before turning away.
Nick inhaled quickly, then began glancing haphazardly at the crowd as they walked. As they neared them while passing by, several other townspeople bowed quickly. He pulled Minako to the end of the path and froze as he stared at the bustle of the city.
“Nick?” Her eyebrows pinched again as she reached her hand to his face.
He swallowed quickly, then exhaled as he ran his thumb on her cheek.
“You’re worrying about me again instead of saying what you’re feeling…”
He chuckled, then chewed his lip. “You see right through me. I was expecting them to ignore or avoid us… Bowing was surprising.”
“Maybe word of our exploits got around? Maybe they’re busy building that statue you were hoping for.” She giggled.
He brushed her hair behind her ear again. “Just like in Rubiihoppou… Are we saviors? Only we are able to live instead of dying?”
She smiled and gripped his cheek. “Look, now you’re a hero. Bet you never thought you’d be that.”
Nick shook his head as he wrapped his fingers around her hand. “I don’t want to be a hero. I only started that journey for me and only finished it for you.”
“Nick.”
His pulse raced in his chest as he pulled her hand from his face and continued to grip it tightly. “I love you.” He pushed his thumb against her knuckles, then released her hand to slide the ring from his own right hand ring finger. “I’ve been meaning to put this back in the right spot.” He smiled as he slid it on to his left ring finger. “That’s better.” He gripped her hand again. “Can I?”
Minako nodded eagerly, her eyes sparkling as her smile widened.
Nick slid the ring off her finger and picked up her left hand. “I love you.” He slid it down her left ring finger, then cupped the back of her head and kissed her gently. “I love you forever.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Me too, I love you forever too.”
He pressed a second gentle kiss to her lips, then pulled her tightly into his embrace. As he leaned his head on hers, he glanced down the path behind her. “That forest…”
Minako turned to follow his gaze and stepped out of his embrace. “Oh! A forest in the city? I think that’s where the crater is!”
Nick swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth and stared past her. He clenched his fists tightly. “A crater in a forest?”
Minako ran her thumb across the back of his hand, then laced her fingers through his when he opened his hand. “Whatever it is, we’ll see it together.”
Nick gripped her hand tightly and took a hesitant step toward the forest. They trudged through the darkened grove, trees surrounding them on all sides. Nick’s footsteps were punctuated by the snapping of twigs. Why would a crater be back here? What does it have to do with demons? My fingers feel cold and numb in her warm hands… Has she noticed?
Minako brushed tree branches aside from her face as they walked. “There’s a lot of plants here…”
Nick stepped over a large fallen branch, then gripped Minako’s waist to lift her over it as well. “I wonder why there aren’t any houses near here?”
“Isn’t that a house?” Minako pointed away from the path.
Nick glanced that direction. The structure seemed like it may have once been a house, but the crumbled stone and rotted wood only resembled the edge of two outer walls. What would have been the rest of the house had been overrun with trees and foliage.
“Look, there’s another one.”
Nick’s gaze darted in the new direction to see more wood and stone fragments of something that resembled a house in form, but was no longer a house in function. He put his hand to his chest with splayed fingers. I can’t breathe, my chest is too tight. He took several shaky breaths.
Minako pulled his hand and started running toward it, but slipped.
Nick inhaled quickly and pulled her up from the ground, dusting off her hair and dress. He frowned as he cupped her cheek. “Did you trip on a branch?”
She bent down and picked up one of her tall sandals. “No, these shoes are terrible. I should have known better when Howie said it was in a forest. Also the ground was uneven.” She pointed down.
He glanced down. The ground they were standing on seemed to slope away from them and the fragmentary houses. Nick stepped back toward the houses. His heart caught in his throat and he felt a wave of nausea. I can’t… I want to be anywhere else besides this forest. His breath quickened. This sloped ground, these houses, and the crater they came in search of... Are they dangerous? Worse?
Minako gripped his hand at her cheek. “It’s okay, Nick. We can go back.”
He flinched. “What?”
“Your face looks so pale and you’re breathing so quickly.” She pushed back the hair at his forehead. “We don’t have to keep going today, let’s go back. If you’re up to it, we can try again or go back to Rubiihoppou…”
He clenched his free hand into a fist and ran his thumb on her cheek. “I felt the same way with the shell of my Master and that false God… If I’m this afraid, this must be something important… As long as you’re with me...”
Minako frowned, then forced her lips into a smile. “If you’re sure, I’ll go with you.” She turned to walk in the direction they were going, but Nick stayed frozen.
He pulled her back quickly, but steadied her as she stumbled.
“Nick?”
“No, this way.” He brushed aside some foliage and revealed that the ground continued to slope downward into the darkness. He felt his heart drop into his stomach. How did I know that? He held his hand to his chest, trying to force stability into his quick breaths before leading Minako down the slope.
Once she was completely through the foliage, the hole in the path became pitch black. He brushed away more rough edges of branches with his foot and broke more twigs as he walked. His outstretched hands fumbled in the darkness until he brushed another batch of hanging leaves illuminated from the back with a brief patch of light. He loudly exhaled a pent-up breath.
“Nick… Are you forgetting to breathe?”
Nick clutched her hand and held it to his heart. “My heart is beating so fast. This seems almost familiar, but I don’t know why…”
Minako squeezed his hand. “It’s okay to be worried. I’ll do whatever you want. Whatever you’re okay with…”
Nick inhaled and exhaled deeply and tightened his grip on her hand. “If we’re here, let’s just see this crater.” He drew back the vines and stepped into the sunlight.
Bathed in brightness, the huge crater burst with wildflowers and tall patches of grass that stretched across the entire field and sloped up to meet more trees on each side. The sun illuminated it on all sides like a hauntingly beautiful spotlight on nature.
Minako whirled around, staring at the grove in wonder. “It’s pretty, do you think there were houses here before? What’s that?” She started walking toward a barren patch at the bottom of the slope.
Nick gaped at the overgrown grove. It is beautiful when it’s lit up in the sun, but why are there only remnants of demons or people? His stomach continued to sink. Why am I so terrified of this place? He put his hand to his neck and brushed back the hairs that bristled on it.
“Nick!” Minako waved at him as she stood next to the barren patch at the center.
Nick began walking toward her, his heart and stomach sinking with each step. Once he reached her, he glanced at the barren spot. It’s small, like a large tree stump. Did something lay down and die here? Did all that lingering death poison the grass and soil? He bit his lip and looked up at the edge of the crater then trudged forward a few more feet and sat in the grass.
“Nick?”
I can barely hear her... He hunched his shoulders and his whole body shook as tears streamed down his face. This crater, this cavernous hill is ripping my heart from inside my chest. He gripped his chest again. Why does it feel like I’m being stabbed? Everything… Everything is pain and sadness. His hand trembled. Trapped in the suffocating darkness and surrounded by dying maidens... Abandoned in that castle of death by my Master and God... Stalked and injured by the emerald general... Losing Minako… I can handle those other things… But this feels like that same loneliness and grief as losing Minako… It’s utter sadness... Why? This is a wild field of plants. Why am I heartbroken by plants and holes?
“It was a mistake to come here, I’m sorry…” She wrapped her arms around him as she sat beside him.
He threw his arms around her waist. Please, that’s all I want… Just surround me in your warmth and brightness… In all the pain and sadness, you and our friends are all I have! Nick crumpled into her lap and pulled his knees to his chest. He continued to sob until he was only a quiet and motionless shell with eyes clenched shut, though a few tears still streamed down his cheeks.
Minako shook him, but his eyes remained closed. She cradled his body and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m so sorry…” Is it weakness? Fatigue? Sadness? Some combination of all three? Nick had grown so strong since then, it almost seemed impossible for his heart to waiver or break.
“This is much more vast than Howie indicated.”
Minako’s shoulders jumped at the gruff voice and looked up to meet Kevin’s green eyes.
Kevin scanned the clearing before glancing back down at Minako. “Howie also wanted you to change?” He indicated his upper thigh length white tunic tied with a sapphire sash, gold pants, and sapphire shoes.
Minako lowered her gaze back to Nick and held him tightly against her chest. “I wanted to blend in more and Nick’s clothing was still bloody.”
“You were tired of looking foreign?”
She brushed the tears from his cheeks. “I told Nick that I wanted to be here with him, but if I’m wearing my old clothing, it seems like I’m trying to be half here and half elsewhere. I really do want to be wherever he is, so I wanted to make sure that I look that way.”
Kevin kneeled beside her, his hand glowing sapphire. “Is Nick injured?”
Minako shook her head and brushed his hair at his forehead. “Nothing I think we can heal. He’s been silent and distant since we got here. Something about this place is… broken...”
Kevin closed his hand and the glow disappeared. “That’s understandable. This entire clearing reeks of demonic energy.”
Minako glanced around the cavernous pit filled with wildflowers. “But all the pretty flowers…” She pointed to the barren spot at the center. “That’s the only place that seems poisoned…”
Kevin followed her gaze and nodded. “That’s where the demonic energy stank the worst.”
Minako cradled Nick. “I can’t smell it at all. A demon really did this?”
“Aside from the stench, it certainly seems like a side effect of demonic power…”
“Did you follow us here?”
Kevin shook his head as he sat down next to her. “Not intentionally. Howie mentioned that you wanted to see it and pointed to its area on the map. His description seemed vaguely familiar, so I wanted to see it for myself. And here you are.”
“You’ve been here?”
He smiled. “Not recently. But when I was younger and an apprentice, my Master often healed demons, being a demon himself.”
“Your teacher was a demon?”
“There were far more demons in our youths than there are now. The siege Howie mentioned when we were first in Rubiihoppou… In addition to killing several nobles, Emeradotohou massacred most of the demon population in Safaiananpou, if not all the countries.”
“How did you manage to survive? Is that why you became the gate guardian?”
“During the siege, my Master hid me away with a close friend of his who was an accepting human. Though he intended to reunite, he perished. So, I continued to practice, but was sworn to secrecy on my powers and trained to use only human methods of medicine. I was inevitably discovered, but His Majesty had me placed at the gate, sight unseen. Looking back, it makes sense that Howie would have spared me, but at the time it seemed like a miracle.”
“Kevin…”
Kevin smiled, “It’s okay. Death is a sad, but natural part of life. And it seems my Master knew I was destined for something greater than his practice and needed to survive the siege.”
Minako brushed Nick’s hair from his face again, then turned back to Kevin. “ I’m glad you did.” She bit her lip. “But you’ve been here?”
“Ah yes, we got off topic. As I was saying, this area seemed familiar, so I walked through the woods, passed the devastated houses where I knew there had once been houses, and came to a spot where I remember taking a hidden path through some vines and appearing on the other side of a second set of vines into a clearing… And there’s still a clearing, but no more houses…”
“There were houses here?”
“Just one house. As I said, my Master often had demons for patients because demons typically like to keep to their own kind.”
A house with demons?
Kevin placed his hands in his lap. “I remember that day very well… It was pitch black during the day, ominously dark because the moon blocked the sun. We went under the cover of pseudo night to a house with a rotten door. I remember thinking it must have been abandoned, but inside was a demon ready to give birth."
I wonder what Kevin looked like when he was younger… How did the door work if it was rotten? I wonder where the house was in this clearing?
"My Master and I helped her and at the moment the earth was darkest, her baby was born. And I remember that even though it was dark, a sparkling ring formed around the sun."
"It seems hauntingly beautiful, just like this place. A dark sun with a sparkling ring around it..."
Kevin frowned. "I remember thinking it was an ill omen for that child, that family, maybe me or my Master, maybe all of Safaiananpou… But here we are… Alive."
Minako brushed Nick’s hair back from his forehead again. I wonder why he collapsed here…
"I thought that I would see if the house survived the crater, maybe check on the child, but there really is nothing here anymore." Kevin glanced at the clearing around them again.
Minako frowned. "If it was that long ago, is there a child anymore?"
Kevin ran his hand on his chin. "I suppose if the child survived that first year and survived through the siege, then it would be an adult now."
"What demon do you think made the crater?"
"Not an Emeradotouhou demon, we know all their powers… It could be a demon from Rubiihoppou or Topazuseihou… I can only begin to guess their powers from the shells we faced." Kevin looked down at Nick and frowned. "And I suppose, we can never rule out the possibility that it was Nick."
"But Nick--"
"I know we don't know his powers. But Nick also has only fragments of his memory. And who was more likely to be in Safaiananpou?" Kevin paused and frowned as he removed his hand from his chin. "I wonder…"
"Kevin…"
"Perhaps that baby was Nick and he is familiar with this area… But then, what happened to him in the siege? And is his family still looking for him or were they casualties of the siege themselves?"
Minako looked down at Nick’s still form curled into itself. Whatever demon made this crater was either a merciless creature on the attack or a frightened demon being attacked. Can Nick be merciless? In the beginning, he was always so angry and always jumped into anything. Was that because he had nothing? If you really have nothing, would you attack anything in your path? When first got to Aohouseki and its citizens attacked us, I distinctly remember that Nick flinched, faltered, and shrank into himself. Was his bravado all a ruse? Even when he was quick to anger, was it instead that he was only scared? He really had been like a small child back then, lashing out and bristling. If he was that baby... Is his family looking for him? Or is he really the last of his kind?
Minako frowned and lightly balled one of her hands. “Kevin, what do you think we should do next? I promised Nick that we would always decide together, but I want a few ideas first… It was my idea to come here and it only made him worried. We were deciding whether to go to Rubiihoppou to figure out his powers…”
Kevin shifted his weight between his legs and put his hands back in his lap. “When you both left, Howie pulled out the remaining maps and documented our journey from the gate and your original journey from meeting Brian. He is hoping to retrace our steps and suspects that if we are reborn here, the other nations’ demons may be reborn as well.”
“Do you think the other priestesses are here too?”
Kevin lowered his head and put his hand to her shoulder. “You’re worried about Renee. I know that we lost her originally, so she’s probably still with Justin…”
“We have to rescue her. She hasn’t been herself as much since we went back. I think that being here made her afraid to go anywhere except places she already knew.” Minako growled and tightened her fist. “And if she’s with Justin, then he’s probably preying on that fear again.”
“Howie wants to form an alliance with the other nation’s demons.”
“The emperor of the heavens wanted the priestesses to combine their powers originally, so if we were able to meet, then we might be able to truly save this world from the threat of Emeradotouhou once and for all.”
“And Nick?”
She unclenched her fist and ran her hand on Nick’s cheek. “I won’t guess at what he wants. When he’s back to himself, I’ll talk to him and we’ll make a plan then.” She put her hand on Kevin’s knee. “Do you agree with Howie? Does Brian? Does AJ?”
“I promised you in Rubiihoppou, that I would fight with you until my end. If you want to find the other priestesses, then I will find them with you and anything else you ask. I think that Brian and AJ feel the same.”
Minako lowered her head and hunched her shoulders. “But we’re not searching for the box anymore, I can’t ask you to keep that promise if it’s only for me. What are we working for together? I don’t want you to follow me blindly because of past alliances…”
Kevin cupped her shoulder. “You’re always thinking of us, Minako. We’re fighting for the right to choose our existence. Demon or human, this world or the other world. And by defeating Justin, we’re ensuring that no one can take that from us again.”
Minako embraced Nick. More than me and us, that’s what you want most. The right to choose how and where and why you exist. Demons and priestesses were tied by the box and now that those ties are severed, are we truly free? People without chains can walk the earth and see or do anything they wish. Now that our chains are broken, do we have the same possibilities? And now that we’re not bound, do we have the same connection to each other as we did before? Or is it stronger because we are choosing it? What am I willing to sacrifice for them? What would I sacrifice for you?
Kevin stood. “We should go back. Howie will worry. Would you like help carrying Nick?”
Minako looked up at him and nodded.
Kevin kneeled and scooped Nick into his arms as he stood back up. “He feels so small this way.”
Minako stood and put her hand to Nick’s head. “I worry about him… Now that he’s not able to focus on the box, he’s having a harder time confronting himself… who he is now, who he used to be, and who he might become…”
Kevin tightened his grip on Nick. “I think we’re all worried about that. What do we do now that we can’t depend on the box for answers or change? In Justin’s hands, whatever it is now is a perversion of what it was before. But I think that as long as we’re together, we’ll find the right answer.”
Minako’s gaze remained fixed on Kevin as she gripped the sleeve of his tunic and nodded. The power of friendship really is stronger than the chains of the box, stronger than this world, stronger than the other world, and stronger than death. Together, we’ll create that last miracle.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chapters 36-40 of PBox were edited/updated this week.
Chapter End Notes:
If you would like to remind yourself about Howie's story mentioning the crater and the siege, may I direct you to PBox ch. 24 "The Endless Ice of Rubiihoppou."
