Earthbound: Champions of the Future

Chapter Fourty Four

~ Syo's POV ~

All of us followed Abbess Mizu through the halls of the palace, coming across a couple of acolytes along the way. A few of them tried to make conversation with the abbess, but grumbles from Emi sent them shivering away.

"Is that really necessary?" Naoma asked, staring up at Emi with a raised eyebrow. "You keep scaring them."

"They keep getting in our way." Emi answered. "I want to get this thing done so we can go find Laurent. Someone like him can't keep himself out of trouble."

"Oh yeah?" Naoma replied. "So you do know each other, then?"

"I never said we knew each other." Emi snapped.

Naoma pouted. "Come on! You seem way too concerned about him, and you're never worried about anyone! Are you sure you're not-"

"Enough with your pestering." S'yan demanded, his tone as sharp as usual. Naoma huffed and crossed her arms in response, unable to retort.

"He's always on her side..." the girl muttered.

"Don't worry, Naoma." I whispered, keeping myself snug in her scarf. "Maybe Emi just has a secret protective side. Don't tell her I said that, though."

Naoma nodded as we reached the end of a long corridor, a big wooden door blocking our path. It was framed with shiny silver, although some of it had corroded away with age. Abbess Mizu pushed it open, the large creak echoing through the building.

The room we looked into was small. There was also very little inside it; the majority of the room had been taken up by the huge ring of water in the center. With the room as dark as it was, the only light was the turquoise hue of the water. Flowers were placed in vases in spots around the room.

"It's, uh, a little dark in here." Gaius commented, brushing away a stray leaf that had tickled his shoulder. "Do you think we could get some lights?"

"Lighting would make the image unclear," Azura explained.

"Image?" Akuro echoed. "You mean that water's going to show something?!"

Azura nodded. "That's right, although as of now my mother is the only person capable of seeing it. It's known as hydromancy."

"That's so cool!" Akuro grinned, although I'm fairly certain she didn't really understand anything that Azura had said.

Abbess Mizu made her way to the other side of the room. "It will take me some time to decipher where your friends are." She explained. "I apologise for the inconvenience, but I must ask you to wait for a while."

Emi rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Sure, okay." She said. "As long as it gets done."

The room fell silent as Abbess Mizu placed her hands together, folded them over each other, and closed her eyes. She seemed to be concentrating on something, her brow furrowed. Naoma and Akuro were watching with fascination, while their seniors appeared to be growing somewhat agitated with the waiting.

Eventually, the abbess opened her eyes and gazed down towards the pool in front of her. Her forest green irises moved back and forth, as if she was observing something. Whatever she was watching seemed to distress her; I noticed a slouch in her shoulders and she bit her lip lightly.

After more silence, the abbess finally sighed, her arms falling by her side once again. "Your assumptions were correct," she said. "Your friend is in the company of your enemy."

"What exactly did you see?" Azura questioned.

"I saw... an isolated place," the abbess began. "A large building, a mansion, surrounded by barren area. It is one that you have visited once before in the past, although under different circumstances."

"A mansion that we've already been to?" Naoma gasped. "That sounds like where you were taken hostage by that one guy, Azura! But what would Laurent be doing there?"

"He appeared to be in conversation with another person." Abbess Mizu continued. "Another male. Light hair, blue eyes, a scarf..."

"Ciar." Emi growled. "We need to go to that place. Now. Gaius, do your teleport thing."

"Will you chill out for a sec?" Gaius replied. "We can't do it here. This room is way too tiny."

"Then let's go somewhere that isn't 'way too tiny." Emi answered.

"Before you go..." Azura began. "Would you mind terribly if I accompanied you? Me being safe here while all of you continue to risk your lives... it feels wrong."

"Sure!" Naoma exclaimed. "Let's go! See you later, Ms. Mizu!"

Abbess Mizu waved as we left the room, her smile somewhat upset. Her eyes showed something, an emotion I couldn't quite place my finger on. I didn't get enough time to question it as I heard the familiar click of Gaius' fingers...

~ ~ ~

... and we were right back in Siton. It had hardly changed since we were last here an hour or so ago. "I don't see any big mansions around here!" Akuro cried. "Where do we go now?"

"Our destination is on the outskirts of the town." Azura explained. "The last time we were there, it belonged to a wealthy but awful man. I didn't think we'd have to visit it once more..."

"Hopefully there'll be no giant man-eating spiders waiting for us this time!" I exclaimed.

"G-Giant... man eating... spiders?" Gaius repeated, the colour instantly draining from his face. "Wh-When you say giant... exactly how giant are we talking?"

"Oh, like... almost as big as that mountain from ages ago." Naoma responded. "What was it called... Mt. Itoi? Yeah, that one."

Gaius whimpered, shivering at the mere thought of the eight-legged terrors. Naoma was laughing hysterically at his fear. "Now, now, Naoma, don't tease him." Azura reprimanded, although she herself was giggling. "It's not fair."

"Okay, okay, just give me a second..." Naoma replied, her laughter calming down. She removed her glasses and used her shirt sleeve to rub the tears away from her eyes. With a sigh, she replaced the glasses onto her face. "Okay, I'm alright now."

"I swear these people love seeing me suffer..." Gaius mumbled, rubbing his arm self-consciously. He turned towards Kireina, who had been mostly ignoring him this whole time. "But at least you're on my side, right?"

Kireina didn't respond immediately, but when she did, her voice was as monotone as usual. "I believe you said earlier that you would be the one doing the protecting." She said. "If your words were true, then you should be able to manage without me perfectly fine."

Gaius was left speechless as Kireina walked straight past him, following Azura in the direction of the mansion. Akuro giggled and bounced after the older girl. "That must sting." I commented.

"Wh-Whatever..." Gaius replied as he jogged to catch up with the others. I rolled my eyes as I also followed after them. As ridiculous as this whole thing was, this event of light-heartedness was welcome before whatever was waiting for us at that stately home.

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trying to finish this at chapter fifty so yeah not long to go

AceAttorneyFan over and out!