Dark Light

Chapter 13: The time of Genbu

Year 1869

Hands ran over unfamiliar objects once again, lifting every piece of broken wall, looking through every ruined stack of papers, sorting through each old tool and every inch of that place covered in dust and snow. Not even the cold could diminish her resolve to understand everything, not even snow and ice.

Taigen had left a while ago, but Reizei was still there with her, and for that Rina would forever be grateful. He was not only letting her pursue her lost past, but also actively helping her in the process. Everything had been quite hard on her so far, figuring out that her entire home kingdom was now dead and only pieces had been left behind for her to find. She had found her mother's diary at the ruined laboratory - how Reizei called that place - but she hadn't stopped to read the lengthy leather covered book yet. She had been busying herself with understanding what happened in that city, maybe a little afraid of opening the diary for now. Maybe scared of getting only a piece of her mother's memories and being left yearning for more.

Rina never had much hope of finding her original family alive since she knew dragons wouldn't have taken her under their guard for no reason, but to see that there was absolutely no one left, not a single relative, not a single neighbour, no one, it was too much. Only broken machines, photographs and documents had been there waiting for her.

"Child, you need to see this." Rina decided to keep the disheartening thoughts at bay for now and looked beyond the destroyed wall to see Reizei at a distance, standing over some of the ruins. "I reckon I've found your parents' house."

She dropped everything and ran, jumping over stones and feeling her feet freeze in the snow again even with her heavy boots. When she got there, Reizei gestured his head over to the ruins as Rina slowed down her steps. It looked just like the other houses from the outside, a bunch of ruins with hexagonal door and window frames.

As she walked in, she noticed most of the roof was gone but not all of it. The open area she stepped on looked like it was supposed to be the kitchen, but even in its destroyed form it looked strange to her.

Everything in that city looked strange to her from the very beginning. It felt like it didn't even belong in those mountains to begin with.

Year 1872

The sky was already growing orange and pink by the time Haruna finally let herself sit down on a rock and take a long deep breath. The four girls had walked without a single stop for that entire day and now Haruna's feet were really starting to complain. She watched Rina, who rubbed her neck with an exhausted expression, standing in front of the mess of tree branches they had with them now.

They had taken the path through the mountain that Mami said was there, and it had been a long one, but none of them had wanted to stay one more minute inside the Deep Woods so they just followed her. It had been a long silent walk and they were all drained, but it was worth it. Now they found themselves by the riverside, surrounded by rocks where Rina suggested they should improvise a roof in order to spend the night, hence all the branches and big leaves they had collected.

Haruna then shifted her look over to Tomomi, who was kneeled by the river, washing her face. The sun sorcerer still had a lot to explain, but they could have a decent conversation later, once they had fire and a spot to sleep. Mami on the other hand, was just coming back with a few more sticks she found around the sparse trees there were in that area.

- Alright, hands on. - Rina said, and the princess looked at her again. The younger girl climbed on the tall rocks around with great skill, and Haruna wondered where all that energy came from. - I do not feel like falling asleep in such an exposed place, but I need help to actually make our shelter.