Before dawn, the pair said goodbye to Amadeo's family and got back on track. The blonde had to guide both horses, as Johan wasn't awake enough to ride on his own.
There are no barriers on the border between countries, but a monument that represents their alliance. The sculpture has a spiral axis formed by several figures embedded in the stone: Feathers and swords, faces and hands, flowers and fruits, a wolf and a dog. Amadeo marvels as if it were the first time before that. He never ceases to be impressed by the subtle change in the architecture of the houses, as he gets deeper and deeper into another culture.
They arrive at Kesihatan around noon. The medium-sized city, surrounded by an extremely dense tropical forest, does not have a fort, but members of the nearby District have transformed the lobby of an inn into its center of operations.
It didn't take long before they found Katia and only two Ranger Priestesses:
_ Welcome, young ones! _ The taller woman says, getting up from the table _ I'm Nina Rudá and this is Aruane Poti. _ The other makes a greeting _ You can call us by our first names. Until last semester we were also Parvus. You're Johan and Amadeo, right? Katia told us about you. You arrived in a good time!
With smilies, they exchange handshakes. Nina then says:
_ Well, let's get straight to the point: What do you know abou-...
_ AH! _ Suddenly, Katia exclaims; everyone startles _ Johan, y-your hair!!
_ Hah! _ Amadeo laughs _ He was the sacrifice for the Shishiga on the other mission. Looks neat, right?
Johan lowers his face, shyly, and Katia smiles from ear to ear. However, Nina's glaring look interrupts their levity. Finally, the Priestess explains the situation: For about 1 month, some people have been getting sick with high fever, malaise, fogging. Several died. Doctors in the region carried out all the tests, but did not find the cause. Then, healers tried unsuccessfully to help. About 1 week ago, Pixies also started to get sick; same symptoms, same mortality rate. Therefore, the Ecclesia was called in.
_ Our District has already collected a lot of epidemiological data to try to profile this disease, but we'll need to run a statistical analysis. We called the ACU to continue looking for the causes while we work on it. The next step is to see if there's anything abnormal in the Pixie village and the surrounding area. That's on you.
_ Well, it looks more complicated than I expected. _ Amadeo says, loosening his armbands _ Is it okay if we talk to the people first? I learned from a Veneficus in a certain Research Unit that it's good to have non-biased perspectives.
"By the way, there's no harm in sending him a letter...", Amadeo thinks to himself.
Nina and Aruane consent and the Meigdan trio sets out to explore the small town. Johan and Katia identify well with the locals, while Amadeo is like a walking lighthouse for being so pale.
They collect information compatible with what they already knew: "It's a curse! It was like they were draining my life!", "The Pixies started helping us, but now they got sick too. We don't know what to do", "Nonsense! What disease; I've live here my whole life and I never had it!", "The doctors said it isn't poison or infection" and "For now, we're taking care of the sick, but I'm afraid will soon be overwhelmed".
_ It seems to me that it isn't something "organic". _ Katia says _ Also because it is affecting Pixies, of course.
_ I agree. I don't think we're gonna find anything else here. _ Amadeo replies _ Do you know where the entrance to the Pixies' village is, Katia?
YOU ARE READING
Three Spheres
FantasíaAmadeo is 20 years old young man, with a sword attached to his waist and an insatiable desire for freedom... The burden of his title, and the weight of his cape don't let him forget such destiny that he never chose. However, what he doesn't know is...
