Falling Kindom

Their Tavern

"You idiot," hissed Camus.

"I hadn't noticed," said Tokiya, nonchalantly pulling his sleeve down with a shaking hand.

"Yeah, right," said Syo, grabbing Tokiya by the arm and pulling him away.

"Hajime," said Tokiya, holding his ground against Syo. "Lunox is in trouble too, right? Would you visit Ai and see what he has to say about this?"

Hajime nodded, and Syo succeeded in pulling Tokiya away, with Camus, Cecil, Masato and Otoya in tow, leaving only Natsuki behind. Hajime could still hear Otoya's worried stuttering from past the door.

"I'll take you there," said Natsuki, walking away. Natsuki pointed out areas of interest to them, much like a tour guide would: the park, his toy store, his favorite bakery.

"And this is Ai and Ranmaru's tavern," said Natsuki, gesturing to a door. Hajime looked up to see a worn-down sign, the letters faded beyond recognition. "It's probably out of business though."

Hajime, Arata, Aoi and Haru walked in, as Natsuki waved a goodbye.

A man with stunning heterochromic eyes greeted them, one eye silver and the other purple. "Here for a drink?" he asked, leaning on the counter.

"Ye—ow!"

"Apologies," said Hajime, one hand on Arata's head. "These two are underage."

"Ranmaru!" called a cyan-blue hair boy, walking in from the back of the shop. He looked at Hajime and the rest, his expression unchanging. "You have guests."

"We came in search of someone called Ai, actually," said Haru, adjusting his glasses.

"What do you want with me?" asked Ai, not even a shadow of surprise on his face. Hajime wondered who would win if Ai and Arata played a game of poker.

"Tokiya said you might know something about Caelitis."

Ranmaru and Ai shared a look, as Ranmaru shrugged. "Your call."

Ai gestured to them, before heading to the back of the shop. He pulled out a map and spread it over the table, as Hajime and the rest gathered on the other side. "Most people are under the assumption that it has to do with the appearance of this kingdom—" he pointed to the area past Spiravit Forest "—And while I agree the timing is off, they've apparently ignored something else that's popped up."

"And what's that?" asked Haru.

"The mountains behind that kingdom." Ai moved his hand, tracing a path to the mountains. "Apparently a cave opened up, and a river started mixing with our River Kyral. It's a long shot, but it's more likely."

Hajime watched as he traced a path from the mountains into River Kyral, and his eyes moved to the way the river snaked through both Hyra and Lunox, before ending in a lake at the south of Lunox.

"Do you know how it's spreading?" asked Aoi.

Ai shook his head. "I know it's not spreading from person to person, so there's actually no point issuing a quarantine. Our healers are doing their best to lower the symptoms and bring a person's body temperature up, but there's still no cure."

Haru looked at the map. "What do you say, Hajime?"

"We might as well continue on to the mountains, crossing past that kingdom," said Hajime, as Haru traced their route and committed it to memory.

"I wish you luck on your journey," said Ai, rolling up the map after Haru was satisfied. "Be careful in the forest," he added as an afterthought.

"Are there monsters there?" asked Arata, posing with his sword. "We'll take them down."