Soul Chains

Chapter 25: Prince of Fall

After meeting up with the others at the hotel, we traveled to the border of Seikara to find Phoenix waiting there, an open black trench coat covered his bandaged arms and matched his black pants with the black belt and small rectangle silver buckle perfectly.

"Let's go, yeah?" Phoenix sighed and he led us out of Seikara without another word.

The area between Seikara and Orina was full of green trees that slowly turned different colors as we got closer to Orina, highlighting the "fall" portion of the sectors. Eventually, after a few hours, we came to a hill with an oak tree, surrounded by multiple valleys and hills with mountains covered in red, brown, green, orange, gold, and yellow trees in the distance. A giant circular arch made of white columns surrounded what appeared to be the entrance of a city made of white stone walls. Multicolored leaves would blow occasionally with the wind and drift throughout the sky, flittering about until they found their place on the ground.

"You'll find Khalida somewhere in her sanctuary," Phoenix said, pointing a finger to the city, "you'll have to pass through there first in order to get to the mountains. They're blocked off with magical boundaries so that you can't go around to get to her."

"What about the relic holder?" Reine asked.

Phoenix let out a little smirk as he glanced down at the ground and shook his head.

"You'll find the holder where you least expect to," Phoenix said.

"Won't you please take us further?" Ciana pouted her lips and held her hands up in a pleading manner.

"I can't," Phoenix shook his head, crossing his arms against his chest, "sorry. I'm only nineteen. I have no death wish."

"Why would going into Orina be a death wish?" Dimitri questioned, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I've...made quite a name for myself there," Phoenix chuckled, "I'll see you guys back in Seikara sometime, yeah? Well, hopefully. You're all welcome in my shop."

"I knew you'd come around!" Tsukumi shouted as Phoenix turned on his heel and began walking home.

"Not you," Phoenix said, waving a hand in the air as he kept walking, "anyone but you."

"That's biased..." Tsukumi muttered.

And so, that's how we ended up here wandering the streets of Orina, searching for, well...anything to help us. I wanted to ask Phoenix more about himself before he left, but I figured the timing wasn't right. I also didn't want to make him choose to stop helping us, and we need all the help we can get. So, I just kept quiet.

"Do you think we'll find the relic holder?" I ask as I walk alongside Reine.

"Possibly," Reine says, glancing up to look at the clouds, "but I believe that anything is possible if you never give up."

"How sweet," Renee mutters, trudging along with her bag while Renji walks beside her.

"Renee, be nice," Renji sighs and Renee relents with a sigh in return.

"Why couldn't Aislinn take us here?" Nathan asks.

"I am unable to make a gateway to Orina currently," Aislinn says, tilting her head back and raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, "the proper conditions were not cultivated."

"Man," Nathan blinks and sighs, turning to look up at the sky as well, "you're weird."

"Be careful what you say," Aislinn says blankly, "I could slice your matter to ribbons in a matter of mere seconds."