The Cursed Iris

Sprout 61: A New Dragon Emperor

Ayame had awoken finally, and she saw Atsuko and Mona sleeping by her bedside, "Atsu you're here?" she asked.

Atsuko and Mona both woke up; Atsuko began to tear up as she hugged Ayame, "I was so worried about you!" she cried.

"So this is Ayame Akiyama?" Mona asked taking in every detail about her.

Ayame turned to her, and she recognized her from her dream, "Oh, so you're Mona," she smiled. "Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, they went off to execute Asami's plan," Atsuko stated. She then began explaining what Asami's plan was, and she also told Ayame about Katsumi's reluctance to leave her side, not only that she explained the plan for the final day of the festival. She was surprised by everything explained to her.

She rubbed Toru and Kumo's head, "Even after all I've done to get stronger I still feel like I'm on the sidelines. Atsuko, Toru, Kumo, and Mona when we attack that tower again I want us to fight Neikan together. I'm obviously not strong enough now, but I may have found a way to get stronger."

Mona giggled, "I see why you feel the way you do about her Atsuko," she said.

Ayame was confused, but she remembered her conversation with Kaiya. "Atsuko, Mona want to come with me somewhere? I have to go and see the Eighth Dragon Emperor Tenma."

They both looked at her confused. "You want to what!?" they yelled.

Ayame broke down the conversation her and Kaiya had. It seemed to start making sense for them, "Well I haven't met any of the Dragon Emperors yet, but this should be interesting," Atsuko said. "So where is she?"

"She's on an island just east of here called Goberia." Ayame stated.

Atsuko saw the look in Ayame's eyes, "Something is bothering you, isn't it?" she asked.

"No, I'm just fine!" Ayame said in a high-toned voice.

She's lying, but I won't bug her about it.

Ayame grabbed Kumo and Toru, "Atsuko, Mona, we have less than a week to do this; Neikan scares me, but I have no other choice but to do this. For the future of this country and this world," she said.

*****

Katsumi stopped in his tracks as they were heading to the next place, "Ayame woke up," he said.

"That's good now focus on the next task at hand!" Asami yelled at him.

He smiled as he began to run ahead of them, "Guess he finally found his motivation again," Natsume said.

"I have to hurry and get back to her soon." Katsumi was excited because he had been completely worried about her. He knew it should've been him, not her in that situation.

*****

Ayame, Atsuko, Mona all let Katrina know that they were leaving along with Toru and Kumo.

They headed out as the sun began to rise in the distance. The air was salty from the ocean breeze, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. They rode on Ryo as they headed east towards Goberia, "So how do you know that this will work?" Mona asked.

"I don't, but I'll do anything to defeat Neikan. There's another person I need to defeat," Ayame stated. "Atsu, I wasn't truthful about everything. There's this woman named Astraea, there's something about her that feels really familiar but there's also something about her that I'm really afraid of. Then there's the thing about me being an anomaly I don't know anything about."

She began to tear up, but then Atsuko hugged her, "I never know when I'm ready to face any of these. That what scares me the most; I have these so-called amazing abilities, but I can't even control them. I told myself that I wouldn't cry anymore, it's just in front of Neikan and Astraea I feel so powerless," Ayame said.