Kingdom of Tales

Chapter 9: Spirits Among Us

The time arrived when we to leave Solarus City to continue our voyage. The only question was, where to? "I suggest the Aqua region," Alpine spoke out. "Out of all the issues that were brought up to our attention, the drought seems the easiest to fix at the moment." I scratched my chin thoughtfully. "All of the issues seem difficult to handle though, Alpine."

All three of us stared down at the map laid out in the centre of all of us. The Emerald region was in the very centre of the country while the Aqua region was located just southeast of where we were currently. The Oasis region took up most of the southern end of the country while the Aurora region took up most of the northern end. The west end, however, was blacked out from the rest of the colour-coded regions and landmarks.

"We cannot control the weather, Noire. And nor do we know how. We can get back to these regions once we find a way to take control." I gazed to my right to notice Shiro being completely lost in the situation. "Shiro, this is your first time seeing this map, correct?" I asked calmly while Shiro, on the other hand, seemed confused. "Ah, yes, it is... I didn't even know these regions existed until Alpine mentioned them a couple of days ago." He then pointed to the blacked out area of the country. "Why is this place like this?"

"It's unexplored," explained Alpine. "No one knows what's in that area, but people say that if you ever enter that place, don't expect to come back the same or at all." His cold voice sent a shiver down both of our spines. "They call it the Soul-Stealing Woods." I heard a hard swallow coming from Shiro. "Alpine, you're scaring him." I cleared my throat with Shiro nodding furiously in agreement. "Let's... avoid that place for now." I dipped a pen that was laying on the table into a pot of red ink from Alpine's bag and circled the woods, indicating ignorance from that point. "Y-Yeah, let's do that." A heavy sigh came from Shiro's lungs.

"There's still this region to fix though." I pointed out. "Oh, we could easily fix the Emerald region's problem... if we knew where its main source of magic was." I raised a brow in confusion. "What I mean is that all the regions have their main sources of magic. It usually has to do with the elements, for example, the Aqua region contains fairy tears as their source and usually keeps them contained in a shrine. The Emerald region did not disclose any information about their magic source, so we have no idea where to begin. For all we know, they could be corrupted or missing, leading to the causes of these natural disasters." I processed through the intel dealt to me and finally made up my decision.

"So Aqua region it is, then?" I questioned once more for confirmation. "Of course," Alpine answered with confidence. "Shiro?" We both turned our heads towards the white-haired man as he took a deep breath. "I came along for a reason, so there's no point in turning back now!" We all laughed before heading off with our luggage and supplies.

As we stepped out from the city gates, I couldn't help but feel as if a set of watchful eyes trailing behind. I already felt uneasy as our journey began. Trees ran along our stone path and their branches were noticeably bare underneath a thin coat of leaves. It's still getting worse... I sighed sadly. Shiro took notice of my mood and slowed down to my speed. "You okay, Noire?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked to the right to see Shiro, concerned about my wellbeing. "I'm fine. It's just been the atmosphere lately around the forest." He only smiled.

"There's no use in sulking over it though. We're going to make it better." He patted me on the back suddenly. Sharp pains ran through my back as he did so. It felt as if ice cold arrows were being shot through me. I coughed violently and he immediately put his hands away. Alpine stopped suddenly and rushed back to us. "Noire?! Are you okay? What happened? Did something hurt you?" I quickly placed my hands over my stomach and chest. There were no wounds. This is... not normal... My eyes slowly gazed over to Shiro.