CHAPTER 5: SEBASTIAN'S OMEN

"Well then, I'll guess we'll visit the blacksmith first." Star says.

"Fine by me." Ikari says, wanting to get out of the town already.

The girl smiles at him before she begins walking towards the blacksmith. Ikari closely follows.

While following the girl, he looks around the town, a lot of cafes, inns, and other businesses fill the town. Beggars sit on the street holding signs that ask for jobs.

Ikari disregards them and continues to follow Star until they arrive at the blacksmith, which to Ikari's surprise isn't that packed.

He examines the sign above the building.

"Heatwakers." Ikari reads aloud.

"One of the best blacksmith places I know" Star says with a big smile.

Ikari presents an unimpressed look before Star walks into the store. The boy follows suit.

As the door opens, a bell rings, signaling their entrance.

"Give me a minute!" A girl's voice calls out.

Star runs to the back.

"Hina!" She yells happily.

"Star!" The girl yells back.

The two girls hug and smile at each other, Ikari sighs and also walks to the back, revealing himself.

"Oh? Who's this?" Hina smiles smugly at Star.

"This here is Ikari Phoenix." Star says looking at the boy.

Hina eyes widen.

"Phoenix?" She says with surprise.

Star nods her head and Ikari sighs.

"Ikari, this here is Hina Heatwaker, daughter of Lorenz Heatwaker." Star says with a smile.

Ikari examines Hina, a girl who's probably about three years older then him and Star, has jet-black hair and black eyes, nor does she have any powers.

The boy nods at her and Hina smiles back.

"Talking about your father, where is he?" Star asks.

"He's busy with something as of now, so he left me in charge of the shop." The black haired girl replies.

"oh..." Star says sadly.

"Well what do you two need today?" Hina asks with a confident smile.

"I need a new dagger." Ikari says, he unsheathes his dagger and hands it to The blacksmith.

"Hm... Maybe I could forge you a new one." Replies Hina.

"But the thing is... We sort of have no money." Star chuckles awkwardly.

Hina delivers them both an unimpressed look before thinking about something.

"I could construct you a real effective dagger for free, but you would have to get the resources for it." She says examining the old dagger.

Star's eyes lights up.

"Where can we obtain the resources?" She asks.

"Broken Pines." Hina replies, finally looking up at the pair.

"But thats dragon territory." Star says with confusion.

"Relax, dragons shouldn't be out at this time of the year." Hina says.

"Shouldn't?" Ikari asks with concern.

Hina smiles at the pair which concerns them. She then gives them a list on what they need to get.

"Good luck!" She says with the same smile.

"Bye Hina! We'll be back soon!" Star yells before exiting the store. Ikari nods at the girl before also leaving.

"Before leaving, lets just go ahead and visit the pub to see what type of information we can give."

"Lead the way." Ikari replies.

Star begins walking towards another area, and Ikari follows her. The walk is uneventful, and at they finally end up at the pub.

Ikari reads the sign above the pub.

"Chiko's Tavern Special Drinks on Tuesday Nights!" He reads in his head.

"Whats with all these odd names..." He thinks to himself before he follows Star into the tavern.

The tavern has a few patrons and music constantly playing. Ikari looks around a bit before Star approaches the bartender.

"Is the owner here today?" She asks.

"No mam, shes away on an vacation." The bartender replies.

"Dammit..." She says, she turns to Ikari.

"She's usually the one who helps me get some information." She says with a frown.

Ikari disregards her and walks around the tavern, sneaking around and listening in on conversations.

Nothing captures his eye until he sees two drunk guards. He gradually approaches them but stays out of their view and begins to listen in on their conversation.

"D-did they ever find that bastard that killed those three men?" The guard on the left says while mumbling his words.

"No, I think he and a girl ran away..." The other guard hiccups.

"I hope we don't have the same issue like the people that killed the clan three years ago..." The guard says solemnly.

"You know... I actually heard a rumor that the group was recognized at Tranquil not too long ago." The guard continues while the other guard chugs down the alcohol.

Ikari eyes widen at the guards words; he grips his fist in anger before walking towards the exit of the tavern, but before he can Star grabs his shoulder.

"Hey, whats wrong?" The girl asks.

Ikari turns to face her, Star is met with a death stare, even more intense then the one that she saw during him in bloodlust. The girl steps back a bit.

"W-whats with the look?" She stutters.

"Take me to Tranquil." He commands coldly.

"Why?" She asks.

"It doesn't matter just take me there now!" He yells. The other patrons of the tavern turn to look at the two.

Star looks around, grips Ikari's arm and walks outside of the tavern.

"What happened?" She asks.

Ikari grips his fist in anger.

"They were spotted there." He says, looking away from her.

"Who's they?" The girl continues asking.

Ikari turns to face the girl and suddenly she understands.

"Listen as soon as we complete this quest we can go to Tranquil." The girl says.

"Why can't we go now?" The boy says angrily.

"We're in no condition to fight them all, your dagger is practically in the grave and I don't even have a weapon." Star says casually.

Ikari thinks for a moment.

"Dammit! Fine." He yells in frustration.

Star smiles at him.

"Cmon let's go ahead and get this done." She says with the same smile on her face. The girl begins running towards the exit of the town.

Ikari signs and follows her.

After a minute of silence Ikari breaks it.

"You mentioned that we're heading into dragon territory right?" He asks.

"Yeah, but according to Hina, dragons shouldn't be out at this time." She says a little unconfidently.

"I fought against a dragon before. Well before I got my ass kicked and my dad stepped in." Ikari says.

"I got a couple of hits in before it actually got pissed." He continues sadly.

"Wait, why were you fighting a dragon?" Star asks with concern.

"Its a training method my clan did, its not actually about beating the dragon, its just about keeping your cool whenever your opponent has the height and physical advantage against you." He replies.

"I've never fought a dragon since then, though..." He mutters under his breath.

Star giggles at his words and the two continue making their way to Broken Pines.

The rest of the journey if peaceful and the pair finally arrive at the location.

"Here we are!" Star says.

Ikari looks around.

"Another forest area?" He sighs.

"I've heard that some of the best materials for weapons are discovered here." Star says.

"Lets just get it over with..." Ikari says while stretching.

Star nods and pulls out the list of materials that Hina needs from her satchel. The two begin searching for the materials. It takes hours just to obtain all of the materials. The search is peaceful, other then Ikari's occasional outbreak of frustration.

"I think... Yes! I found it!" Star says.

"Thanks gods..." Ikari yells in relief.

Star holds up the material and smiles widely.

"5 down, 10 more to go!" Star says.

Ikari stares at her in disbelief as he feels his heart drop.

"Just kidding!" Star says with the same smile.

The boy gives her an unimpressed look as she laughs at him.

"Alright then lets go ba-" She is suddenly cut off by a monstrous scream.

Her smile swiftly disappears.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Ikari says.

"Thats a dragon's scream..." He whispers.

Star looks at him, not knowing what to do.

"Just follow me and stay quiet..." He says seriously.

Star nods and Ikari gets low and begins sneaking way.

Another scream is heard, but its closer.

Star stops in her tracks as if she is stunned by the scream.

"Star?" The boy asks.

She doesn't reply, Ikari snatches her arm and stares in her eyes.

"Star! Calm down." He says gently.

Star snaps back into consciousness.

"They can sense fear." He continues.

Star looks at him, still worried.

"I promise, you'll be safe." He finally finishes.

Star vaguely smiles at him. He grips her arm lightly and continues sneaking on. But they don't get far. Suddenly another scream is heard, its so close that a tree snaps out from the ground and flies towards the pair.

Star is stunned as she merely stares at the oncoming tree, Ikari acts quickly by pushing her out of the way as the tree hits him, which causes him to fly backwards from the impact.

"I-Ikari!" Star yells. Suddenly another roar is heard, as the dragon flys above Star.

Ikari grasps his head and sits up, noticing the dragon.

"GO! RUN!" Ikari screams.

Star swiftly begins to run, but she is quickly swooped up as the dragon begins flying away with her.

"Dammit!" Ikari yells, he quickly jumps up and begins to run after the dragon. He jumps onto a tree then another one, keeping up with the dragon.

Star struggles against the dragon.

"Star! Hold on!" Ikari yells, he jumps into another tree and climbs to the top of it, flames surround the boy as he jumps towards the dragon, a fireball forms into his hand and he flings it at the dragon.

The dragon is forced to drop Star to dodge the ball of flame.

The girl looks down, and all she can see is the ground slowly getting closer and closer. She closes her eyes as she gets closer to her death, but she doesn't hit the ground. She reveals her eyes slowly to see Ikari holding her while staring at the dragon which hovers in front of him.

Ikari puts Star back on her feet before unsheathing his dagger and pointing at the beast.

"I guess its time I put this big bastard down." He says in a grave tone.