Sun & Purity Vs. Darkness - A new Legend (Marissonshipping) [Wattys 2016]

Chapter 3: Task of a goddess

When they arrived Shinshu field they were shocked to see, that the once beautiful landscape had turned into a Cursed Zone. A Cursed Zone was a sign, that evil spreads across Nippon.

''What happened here?'' Manon asked horrified while looking around.

Most of the nature seemed dead and was covered in black spots, which were surrounded with red. Manon got curious what those were and approached one of them.

She lifted her right foot and wanted to go in the spot in front of her, but stopped immediately, when she heard Issun, who had seen what she was trying to do from the corner of his eyes and screamed:

''STOP!! Don't go any further! You will turn into stone if you enter a Cursed Zone!''

Scared she took a few steps back and ran to Alan's side.

''Geez. I understand, that all of this is new for you and that you're curious, but you must be careful. In this world there are many things, that are dangerous, so you should keep a better eye on your girl, Alan.'' Issun said advising.

Hearing that Manon blushed and looked embarrassed to the side, while Alan countered protesting:

''She isn't ...''

''Yeah. I know. You're just friends.'' Issun interrupted while rolling his eyes.

The group continued to walk to the Guardian Sapling by using the parts of the land, which weren't covered in those spots.

When they arrived at a big, dead looking tree in the center of the Shinshu field, they stopped and Issun began to explain:

''That's one of the Guardian Saplings Sakuya talked about. Guardian Saplings are sacred trees, which are spread around Nippon to protect the land. They are powerful and divine offshoots of the roots of Konohana and their well-being affects Sakuya.''

''But how can we revive it, Issun-san?'' Manon asked.

''Leave it to Ammy. You know what to do furball. Use the Celestial Brush Technique Bloom.'' Issun ordered.

''What's a Celestial Brush Technique?'' Manon asked curiously.

''Just watch and be amazed.'' Issun answered proudly.

Time froze for a few milliseconds and a circle was drawn magically with black ink around the treetop. Then the Guardian Sapling began to bloom and a green energy, which was followed by flowers and chased the Cursed Zone away, spread around the field. It turned into the beautiful landscape it was before the darkness had reached out.

''Wow! What was that?'' Manon asked fascinated.

''That was a Great Divine Intervention. It happens when a Guardian Sapling is revived.'' Issun explained.

''But how did that happen? In one second the tree looks dead and in the other, it is alive again.'' Manon asked amazed.

''Like I said, Ammy used a Celestial Brush Technique. These are special techniques, which she can use and where she freezes time and draws with her Celestial Brush, which is actually the tip of her tail coated in ink. Only a few can use those techniques and I am one of them. They are really hard to master, but that goes just for mortals.'' Issun explained like a teacher.

''Wow! That's amazing! Are there many of those techniques?'' Manon asked fascinated.

''Yeah. There are 13 Brush Gods, from which Ammy learned those techniques. And the most of them have extensions.'' Issun elucidated.

''But enough of that we must check the Guardian Sapling in Hana Valley, which lies northwestern from here.'' Issun stated.

''Then let's go.'' Alan said serious and walked ahead.

The group hurried to him and headed to Hana Valley.

When they reached it they noticed, that it wasn't that bad as the Shinshu field. There weren't those black spots, so they could explore it. But there were signs, that showed, that even the Hana Valley was cursed. Even if it wasn't a Cursed Zone it looked horrible and sad. The river was toxic, the huge waterfall had disappeared and the trees were either wilted or had transformed into so called Cursed Trees.

They followed the path, which formed the Hana Valley until Issun raised his tiny voice:

''Stop!''

The group did what he wanted.

''What's the matter?'' Alan asked slightly annoyed, that they had stopped.

''You see this tree?'' Issun asked and pointed at a different looking tree.

''Yeah, I do. But what's with this tree?'' Alan answered not understanding the sense of this question.

''That's a Cursed Tree. When we approach them they'll throw projectiles at us from afar or if we are too close to them they'll hit us with their branches, so be careful and stay behind furball.'' Issun explained warning.

Alan and Manon nodded understanding and stayed behind Amaterasu.

When they entered the vision field of the Cursed Tree, even if it had no eyes to see them, it threw a round, red fruit, which was surrounded by a purple aura, at the group. Then time froze and Amaterasu drew a straight line through the fruit. Time went on and the fruit was sent back to the tree. This stunned it, so the group could move on.

''Which technique was that? And why didn't Amaterasu-san bloom this tree or the wilted ones?'' Manon asked curiously.

''That was Power Slash. With that technique, you can cut anything. If Ammy had used Bloom nothing had happened because Hana Valley is still cursed. Only if the Guardian Sapling is revived it will show effect. But don't worry we'll take care of them when we have lifted the curse. After all, Hana Valley leads to a dead-end, so we'll revive them on our way back to Shinshu field.'' Issun explained friendly.

Manon smiled hearing that. The group moved on until they reached the entrance of a cave, on which right wall was a mural.

This mural had a sun in the top right-hand corner. Beneath it was a round object, which seemed to reflect the sunlight to a sapling, which was painted on the left side of the object. Further on the left side, the mural showed a full grown tree.

''Issun-san? Do you know the meaning of this mural?'' Manon asked politely.

''Yeah. You know, this valley has a crystal, which allows plants to grow at rapid speed. But to do that this crystal needs the sunlight, which it reflects to the plant. And this mural shows the process of it. Two years ago, me and Ammy had to take it from Sleepy to let the Guardian Sapling grow, which had shrunk to a little sapling, because of the curse.'' Issun explained smiling at the memory.

''Sleepy? Who's that?'' Manon asked curiously.

''It is a brown bear, who wears a leaf on his head and likes to sleep while balancing on a big, round object. He had slept on the crystal.'' Issun answered still smiling.

''That's a funny bear.'' Manon said laughing.

The group walked further and arrived a cavern, which was normally beautiful and houses the Guardian Sapling. But before Ammy could use Bloom on it, the ground underneath their feet quivered. Cracks were caused by this and spread on it. Manon grabbed scared one of Alan's arms. Suddenly the ground caved in and the group fell. Alan pulled Manon closer to him to protect her from the impact when they would hit the ground.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would be glad to hear your feedback about it :)