Pipevine✅

Ch7

a few (Rona) days later...

Juza groaned in pain, finally coming to. He opened his eyes and sat up, finding himself in a different place than what he's seen. The colors of the world continued to fluctuate between dark and bright. He didn't see Kazunari or anyone for that matter. He crawled over to water he assumed was water. He didn't have a reflection. Juza dipped a finger in and found it to be wet like water but rather warm.

"Kazu?" he called out, finally standing up and deciding to look around. "Are you here?"

He walked around, wondering where he ended up. The last thing he remembered was Kazunari flying out of Villa with him. He leapt over fallen trees and avoided high dirt hills in fear of something attacking him. The deathly silence only made him more anxious to be alone.

"Anyone?" he called out in a trembling voice.

He jumped out of his skin at the sound of a low growl. It didn't sound friendly. He quickly ducked behind a rock and kept an eye out for the growling beast.

A small, scaled animal walked out from between the trees. It was god damn adorable. As much as he wanted to baby it, he knew nothing of its diet. It sniffed around before looking in Juza's direction. Did it notice him? The low, bloodthirsty growl came out of the small animal before it charged towards him.

Juza quickly ran, hoping to get to higher ground. Soon his legs were no longer touching the ground and dangling from up above. He looked up and saw who had saved him.

"Kazunari! I've been looking everywhere for you!" he exclaimed, mostly thrilled to have been saved.

"We need to find the key." said Kazunari, his gaze straight ahead.

"The key? Do you remember something?" Juza asked in excitement.

"I remember it all. Let's get somewhere safe though before I tell you." replied Kazunari, picking up his pace.

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Kazunari sat beside Juza who looked at him expectantly.

"First things first, I won't allow any help from anyone other than you and my friends. No one can be trusted." said Kazunari.

"But my friends-" Juza started but was silenced by Kazunari.

"We, meaning my kind, were made to take the blame for their mistakes and wrongdoings. It worked since we already had labels on us. People didn't understand how we operated. We slept during the day and played all night, our magic had wider ranges and had important rituals to perform. They labeled us 'Pipevine'." Kazunari explained, telling Juza all that his mind had suppressed to keep him safe. "The younger generation, mine going down, never understood the purpose of the rituals. Apparently they were important and now without them, the world's become like this."

Juza looked around at the alternating times of day. It started to make sense why Kazunari was able to keep the time of day constant when they first met.

"So, what happens if things continue like this?" asked Juza a bit concerned.

"Dunno... we never really paid our elders attention. You know how the youth are sometimes. And because of that, we the remaining don't know how to fix this." said Kazunari, putting his head in his hands. "And that goes for the key too. They always made sure to remind us but we really took everything for granted. I'm so stupid."

Juza remained silent. He did agree with Kazunari for being too laid back and taking things for granted, but it wasn't completely his fault. He opted for rubbing his back to comfort him.