The Cursed Iris

Sprout 56: The Princess of Shangri-La

Atsuko, Natsume, and Jeanne walked around the town. They marveled at the sheer size of it; they were making their way to the large home in the distance, "So will the princess also be here or no?" Natsume wondered.

"Nah, she shouldn't be," Atsuko shrugged, "but we can find her when we find Asami's contact."

Jeanne tapped Natsume on the shoulder, "Hey, how about we ditch her, and go explore the town on our own?" she said.

Jeanne had a mischievous smile on her face; her smile annoyed Natsume, "Can you be serious about something for once?" she groaned.

"What? If we're looking for that contact they're already here. I had assumed that you already knew that?" Jeanne whined.

Atsuko and Natsume turned around, and they saw that Jeanne was correct. There was a person in a cloak standing behind them, they were so silent that no one noticed. Natsume couldn't sense his energy, and Atsuko didn't hear their approach, "See I told you that they were already here," Jeanne pointed.

Natsume and Atsuko stared at the person, "Uh, Jeanne I don't think that's the person we're looking for," Atsuko said.

The person removed their cloak, and it was a scrawny man. He looked as if he were on the brink of death, his cheeks were sunken, small arms that you could see his bones, his legs were like sticks they wondered how he was even standing.

"The emperor is destroying the country from the inside! The truth shall be reveal!" he yelled as his body glowed.

"He's going to explode," Atsuko yelled as she summoned her Raiya. "We're not going to make it in time."

As soon as the man was about to explode a blast of energy hit him, launching him in the air. The explosion basically covered the entire sky, "What was that?" they all asked.

Another man landed in front of them. He was dark-skinned, tall, with a slightly toned build, he had braided black hair and brown eyes. They stared at him, "Stop gawking," he stated firmly, "the Emperor's cronies will be here soon."

*****

Atsuko and the others followed the man to a desolate building outside of town, "Okay, so who are you?" Natsume asked.

He turned around to them, "I'm the contact Asami has told you all about, my name is Nikita," he stated. They all stared at him. "Any way, I know that you've come here to see the Lucius family, and there's something you must know."

"What is it?" they asked.

"The princess, the last surviving member of the royal family was captured, and now she's being tortured by that family," he explained.

"So now you need our help to rescue her?" Jeanne asked. He nodded, which caused Jeanne to smile in response. "I figured as much, and I already have a plan too."

"You do?" Natsume asked.

"Of course I do my love. I'm an expert in torture, but Atsuko you're the key in this plan," she explained. "But first Nikita I want to know something."

"Yes?"

"I noticed that only the area around that large building the town was well off, but around here there's so much wrong. Is the entire country like this?" Jeanne asked.

Atsuko did notice that the people around here could've definitely been better off. When she was training with Homura, she was exposed to the truth of this world. The ones without power were pushed away, and the ones with power discriminated against those who were different. It was evident in every country except one, the country that Aimi was in charge of. No wonder everyone wanted to follow her, she treated people equally, she wanted a peaceful world. Aimi reminded her of Ayame.