Legends of Cubarlos

Chapter Twenty-One

Yuuna watched carefully as Yuuki launched herself at her and she parried her blow with her spear in a nick of time, sending white and black sparks shooting in each direction. Yuuna shoved Yuuki back and swung viciously, making Yuuki go defensively. Yuuki, I just can’t seem to get myself to believe that this journey is to be futile, Yuuna thought as they went back and forth between offense and defense, their battle beginning to rise in the air. There have been several Sylphs before me. If Niravarnia wanted a Sylph to be used as a weapon, why didn’t they choose one of them? You’re not telling us enough for us to believe you. You’re telling us the bare minimum! Yuuki swung her lance and connected with Yuuna’s shoulder, but Yuuna didn’t even feel the spear make contact. The only way she knew Yuuki had succeeded in getting a hit off of her was because of the small spray of blood that followed Yuuki’s spear. Yuuna quickly followed Yuuki’s attack with her own, catching Yuuki’s forearm. She could tell that Yuuki didn’t feel it either and that it wasn’t her concern if she was sliced. Looking into Yuuki’s eyes, Yuuna saw desperation, fear, hatred and anxiety dancing across her eyes.

“You’re going to kill each other!” Megumi shouted up into the air as Yuuna and Yuuki continued to dance around each other, landing blow after blow. Yuuna had to agree; it was dangerous because neither of them could tell when they landed a hit. However, Yuuki showed no intention of backing down, so neither did Yuuna. They continued to lash at each other, their eyes starting to glow with power as they continued. A large rumbling sound shook the entire altar room and Yuuki froze in the air and looked towards the door with anger. She clicked her tongue in irritation and released her spear. Yuuna watched her carefully as she flew back down towards Saizo.

“We’re out of time,” Yuuki said angrily. Her black wings disappeared and she looked back up at Yuuna. “Yuuna, understand that you are simply being led on this journey by the higher ups. You’re lucky that Fumito has the upper hand against me. Now that you know, you can guarantee that you won’t be getting off scot free anymore.” Yuuna floated back down to see Yuuki and Saizo disappear through the door and the rumbling ceased. Megumi ran towards Yuuna with Daichi hot on her heels. Daichi immediately picked up Yuuna when her wings vanished and Megumi began wrapping her foot, which was damaged during her fight with the Lugcarion.

“You should have let me treat this before you decided to fight Yuuki,” Megumi growled as she snapped Yuuna’s foot back straight. Yuuna saw Daichi watching her and she raised an eyebrow at him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked and he looked away from her, his eyes glazed over with sadness.

“You really can’t feel anything, can you?” Daichi whispered and Yuuna didn’t answer. “Your foot was broken but you didn’t cry out when Megumi snapped it back to normal. You’re bleeding like crazy but you’re not even flinching when I squeeze the wounds on your arms. Yuuki was right; you can’t feel anything.”

“Daichi its okay,” Yuuna muttered as Megumi finished wrapping her foot. Megumi stood up and Daichi set Yuuna down as the others ran over. “I’m sorry I hid this from you. It’s just that, I figured this is what it meant to become the Sylph. So I wasn’t going to let it get to me. And I wanted this journey to be fun; I’d hate it if you all were constantly worried about me.”

“Yuuna…” Daichi mumbled as he looked away. Yamato was staring at Yuuna, and she could see the disbelief in his eyes. Katsu looked troubled and Takuma looked very uneasy about all that had happened. Yuuna looked down at the ground, unsure of how to ease their minds.

“Well, let’s head back to the village for now,” Yuuna said sadly as she walked by them. All of them turned and followed in silence. The trip through the temple wasn’t as treacherous; the traps were deactivated and the tunnels led straight towards the exit. Yuuna climbed out of the well and looked up into the sky, watching as the clouds started to move in front of the sun. It might start raining, she thought as she looked behind her to see Daichi climb out. No one said a word to Yuuna as they climbed back into the boat and gently sailed to the other side. They reached the docks and Yuuna was the last one to get off, depressed that everyone was now avoiding her. Faint sobs caught Yuuna’s ears and she snapped her head up. Everyone else seemed to hear it too, for they were searching around to see where it was coming from. Yuuna finally picked up the location and ran towards it. She passed some trees that were near the shoreline and she froze in place when she saw Saizo with his back turned, his eyes downcast as he looked at the ground. His eyes wandered up to Yuuna’s and then went back down to the ground. Yuuna looked beyond him and her eyes widened when she saw Yuuki hugging a gigantic wolf, a Gravine, which was soaked in blood. Yuuna could tell that the creature had been sliced to death and its throat had been removed. Yuuna heard Megumi gasp behind her as her group caught up and Yuuna proceeded over to Yuuki, whose front side was soaked in the Gravine’s blood.