As the Japanese government discovers a mysterious artifact with 4 hidden worlds in it, they send a criminal, anti-social hacker against his will with an additional operation team into the worlds to obtain the 4 keys to decrypt the artifact. Discove...
I sat on the stone stairs of the Forest Temple and thought about my conversations with Hiretsuna yesterday. Who was the 'Son' who instructed him? Was it the 'Son of heaven' who freed the kingdom of Oritsu, or as the original name was, Kurayami from the Demon God? Were all the legends about this world true? And what did he mean by the 'trauma' I apparently had?
Yesterday I woke up the rest of the group and told them what had happened. I had led them through the secret passage into the chamber with the altar, where the dead Hiretsuna was still lying. There they wanted to discuss everything else, but I did not attend because I had to wallow in my mind.
How did he manage to speak to me in my mind? Sure, he had only half a face left, so he couldn't possibly have spoken, which is why he used this path. But how?
Aima came out of the temple complex, then the rest followed.
"We have decided to bury him at the Lonely Tree", she said sadly. "He may have been evil, but we have to accord him this final honor, and we can also use the opportunity to check whether there is really anything at the Lonely Tree except its fruits, of one which apparently made him immortal"
Not a bad idea, and I felt a little sorry for the old hermit anyway.
"I still can't believe these crazy stories are apparently true", Boryōku muttered.
"After all this crap, I can't be surprised anymore", Mukanshin said. "First giant lizards, then 'zombies' and now also an insane grandpa who has lived for millennia .."
I laughed in my mind, even though I didn't really feel like it. But I never felt like laughing.
"Well, let's walk to the Lonely Tree now, it shouldn't be too far",Shōkyū then said.
...
A while later we had reached the second place for the possible location of the first key. The Lonely Tree was a large, magnificent and regal tree, it was so majestic and yet piercing to the heart, just like the land of Oritsu.
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And he was ... alone. As the name implies, but for hundreds of meters there was not a single tree to be seen next to it, which made it stand out from the land mass and made it even more special.
Strangely enough, I felt more secure at this one place than ever before. Well ... like almost never before ...
I looked up at the sky. As is so often the case in Oritsu, it was light blue and cloudless, and only the two hot suns could be seen on the 'sea'.
He was alone, just like me..
I immediately repressed that thought. I had nothing against being alone, I got along well on my own. I didn't have to be told anything and could do my work as I wanted. I wouldn't have to make disgusting compromises and push my ideas off because of someone else's opinion. Disgusting, this teamwork. I preferred to do everything by myself, but then also one hundred percent perfect.
Boryōku and his soldiers had meanwhile dug a pit and were now lifting Hiretsuna's lifeless and limp body into it. Then they shoveled the earth back with the help of shovels they had found in the second house of the forest temple.
Mukanshin, Shōkyū, Don'yoku and Aima had at the same time searched the area for the key with the help of the natives, but hadn't found anything. "There's nothing here", they reported comvicted.
"Well, we're done here then," said Captain Boryōku. "Then the key must be at the Moon Mountain. So, let's go! The last stage of our first trip is imminent!"
So we hiked back to the direction of the Forest Temple, but this time we wouldn't enter it again. We'd only seen the inside of it once, and that was enough.
