Legends of Cubarlos

Chapter Twelve

Yuuki ran past bushes and trees as she made her way away from the village where she had met Yuuna. Yuuki continued to run until she finally had to stop to catch her breath. She panted, taking in huge gulps of air as her side screamed in pain. Her hand was sticky from her own blood and she didn’t want to look at the wound on her side. Yuuki leaned against a tree as she finally controlled her breathing. She looked up into the trees and saw Saizo land on a branch above her before falling to the ground in front of her.

“I shouldn’t have left you,” Saizo said angrily as he eyed on the wound on Yuuki’s side but Yuuki shook her head.

“What did you find out?” Yuuki said in between breaths.

“The temple is underneath an island with a shrine on top of it,” Saizo said. “If we head to the city of Arnarl, we should be able to get to it.”

“Good,” Yuuki said as she stood up straighter. “I have a feeling Yuuna already knows where it is. As expected, her power is growing fiercer.”

“What do you mean?” Saizo asked raising an eyebrow. When Yuuki didn’t answer, Saizo exploded. “You met with her?!”

“I ran into her!” Yuuki said defensibly. “There was a village that had been destroyed by Genji and she was there killing the Ronin who were left.”

“Genji was there?” Saizo said as he gritted his teeth together. Yuuki shook her head.

“No, but it had his signature everywhere. The way he had the bodies displayed and how they were murdered; he was definitely behind it. Yuuna’s purification isn’t the type of purification we were thinking. She stripped the life from the Ronin.”

“That’s dangerous,” Saizo whispered as he put his hand to his chin.

“It’s the kind of purification Niravarnia wants though,” Yuuki continued. She looked away, glaring at the bushes. “Slowly stripping us of that as well,” she whispered and Saizo grabbed her shoulders and picked her up a few inches so they were eye to eye.

“What do you mean by that?” he growled and Yuuki glared back at him.

“Nothing at all,” she answered and Saizo tightened his grip.

“Liar,” he said. “I want to know what you mean by that.”

“Yuuna and I are also stripped of something, alright?” Yuuki spat out and Saizo set her down, sadness and anger filling up his eyes.

“This has something to do with you not eating, right?” he said quietly and Yuuki’s eyes widened.

“You knew about that?”

“You can’t really hide things from me, Yuuki,” Saizo sighed as he put his hand to his forehead. “I noticed how you never eat anymore and when I wake up I find you sitting up, wide awake every time.”

“You need to stop being so observant,” Yuuki said sadly. Yuuki hesitated and then sighed. He would find out sooner or later. “Yuuna and I are stripped from our humanity with every guardian that is destroyed.”

“What?!” Saizo said, his voice rising. He clenched his teeth together. “Does Yuuna know?”

“Of course she does,” Yuuki said irritably. “It’s happening to her too. And no, our goal is to not kill Yuuna,” Yuuki said as she saw the expression on Saizo’s face.

“You knew…all along what these temples did to you and you didn’t say anything?” Saizo said dangerously.

“Because you would have reacted like this and probably would’ve tried to kill Yuuna long ago,” Yuuki said matter-of-factly.