Fire Bird

20

Nagisa was lost in thought

Kai: What is it?

Nagisa: It's nothing..

Kai: I know you, it can't be nothing, tell me

Nagisa: It's just that we we're so close.. To be almost there and go all the way back is just..

Kai: But you are doing it for him, right?

Nagisa blushed and he smirked, then he sobered: You know we can't go there not knowing anything, it's best to prepare, if we were blindsided, we might not stand a chance. Who will help the people if we perished?

Nagisa: I'm sure other mystical creatures don't like being treated this way

Kai shook his head: I'm afraid there are not many of the strong ones left. Dragons are far away, they won't interfere unless he threatens their regions, and even then, my kind, or any mystical beings for that matter, don't think of humans the same. They wouldn't care. Ken is one of the strongest left, even he wouldn't stand a chance. You saw how he got up and left

Nagisa was disheartened, he didn't like telling her that, but it was the truth, Akira and himself, they were the only ones amongst the old beings that were willing to fight, and he had to admit, they were only doing so for the sakes of their loved ones
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The top priority was gaining more information about the situation, so they postponed getting recharged, Akira had been fine so far, and the demons and spirits kept away from the places they expelled the ones they haunted from

They had asked multiple priests from several temples, each head priest or priestess only gave them bits and pieces, saying they didn't know the whole prophecy, and none of them was willing to help, if the beast was the one in it

It continued so, till they reached Tokagawa and Nagisa's home town

The head priest there told them he'd known there was such a prophecy, but he didn't know it by heart. He led them to the archives where he drew an ancient scroll, in it, the prophecy was depicted by writings and drawings

There was a crow, a hinotori, and a wadatsume, together with a noble man and a woman in priestess garb

Nagisa gasped and the old priest smiled

He read it for them: Kodamatsu, the great wind crow, was angered by a human. He had entered his domain, stolen from him, and brought his wrath on all of Japan. The beast didn't settle with just killing his offender, he wiped out his family, his village, and all the neighbouring areas. When he finished, he moved even farther. Granted, what the human did was a great affront, and mystical beings where never tolerant, he did have a bit of difficulty wiping out the one who offended him, since he was a crafty man, but even after he did he had it in for all mankind. Priests gathered from all around Japan to stop him. A lot of them died, but they managed to seal him at last. It was all they could do, as he was sealed, he screamed in rage, promissing he would return, thousands of years later. The priests were scared and weary, then an ancient wood spirit told them, when he awoke, an unlikely group will be there, able to defeat him, once and for all, a noble, a priestess, and their mystical guardians

Nagisa and Tokagawa were in awe, Akira went further away to think, and Kai followed

Kai: What are you thinking?

Akira: I don't believe in prophecies, but what he showed us, it does seem like us, doesn't it?

He nodded at her, she continued: It makes me a bit conflicted, if those idiots hadn't bound me, would I even have met Tokagawa, and fell for him? If not, I wouldn't be protecting him now. I'm glad he's protected, but I'm still angry about what they did

Kai: Thinking about what if, won't do any of us any good. The fact is, they did bind you, and you have every right to be angry, but you are here for him, and that's what really matters, not holding a grudge

Akira snorted: You keep trying to get me to agree with you and let the past be, I no longer hold all humans responsible, nor all priests for that matter, but those guys, and people like them, I will never forgive