Shadow Rider

Nina's appearance has remained unknown since Codey and Ayuka successfully dispatched the attackers that Nina had unwittingly unleashed a few minutes ago.

Codey grasped his wrist, easing the pain from his final attack, and stood up straight to face Ayuka's exhausted body.

"Hey, Ayuka! Is it all clear up there?" She straightened up from her crouching and returned the favor by nodding or affirming. "Yes, it's clear! But we need to go after Nina! We need to go look for her as she slid down into that hole!"

"But how do you get to the town? Dinny must get there before things worsen."

"While we're on the subject of Dinny, where is he?"

When Ayuka questioned, he peered out from behind one of the bones, terrified and amazed at how strong they were. "There you are..."

"Dinny, don't be scared! You're free to come out now that it's safe!" Dinny observed Ayuka jump down from the top of the cave after changing his mood from terror to calm.

"Thank you so much. I had no idea I'd get you into trouble..." Dinny appeared shy and knotted his own fingertips, clearly ashamed of his deeds.

"Don't be troubled about it. Dinny, would you mind accompanying Ayuka to the town where you stated people lived? I'm going to go search for Nina, hoping she hasn't been gravely hurt."

"Shouldn't I join you, Codey?"

Codey gazed at her with a serious expression on his face, and sensing her exhaustion from exerting so much energy, he gripped the side of his ear and exhaled irritably.

"You should not fight any longer. You've expended too much strength; if you keep going like this, you'll pass out on the floor. Dinny still needs to go home safely, so you could assist him if something goes wrong. I'm confident he wouldn't be able to reach the bottom of the pit safely, and even if he could, there's no way of knowing what else is beneath the cliff."

"I suppose a little relaxation wouldn't bother me. Okay, Codey, I'll do it, but please make sure Nina arrives safely. If she's harmed, take her to town right away so I can treat her wounds, which I'm sure she has. You shouldn't have any trouble finding your way to town; after all, you were assigned the duty of navigator for a reason."

"Ayuka, don't worry about anything. I'll make certain Nina is secure when she returns to us. Okay, I'll let you know if I discover anything else down there."

"That would be fantastic. We need to see if there's any useful information at the bottom of this hole, cliff, or whatever it is."

"All right, it's time for me to go!"

Codey took a step to the edge of the pit Nina had fallen into and descended it quickly, yelling one more syllable.

"Make sure Tim and the others know where I am if I haven't returned by the time you get to town!"

Ayuka nodded as she looked over the pit. "Of course, Codey, best of luck down there!"

While Ayuka gripped Dinny's hand, the top of Codey's hair slowly faded into the darkness of the pit. "All right, Dinny. Please show me directions to the town. We'll get there as soon as we can."

She grabbed him and sprang to the top of the looping road, where she gently dropped him so he could safely direct her to the town.

Nina had continued on her way through the tunnel until she came to a door. She was exhausted from the wounds, but she pushed through the discomfort and walked through them.

"I can't believe I was able to find some light at all! Please tell me that this is indeed the exit!" She took one final step through the tunnel and was met with insanity. There was a large hole at the top of the cave that she could escape through, but getting up there would be impossible.

But, unlike anything else she'd seen, the most grotesque object she saw was a pile of human bones, which reeked horribly.

"Come on! You've got to be kidding! I was sure I'd be able to finally get out of this stupid hole!"

She stomped her foot into one of the rocks in front of her, enraged. When she did that, she felt pain in her toes and nearly shouted. "Damn it!" She moved forward, right to the front of the bone pile, holding her nose to avoid inhaling the stench.

"All I have to do now is to climb up there and I'll be out," She summoned bravery and, despite her distaste at the spectacle, began ascending the mound of bones. However, each time she ascended, she risked falling due to the cracked and fragile bones.

Finally, one of the skulls rolled beneath her leg, and she slipped. It made her slide and tumble back, slamming her into the ground and causing her additional pain.

She bled from behind her head, her eyes pallid as she looked up at the hole. She felt stuck, immovable, and unable to detect sounds easily as if she was deaf. "This is painful... I'm helpless in the face of these wounds. I'm so close but still so far away..."

Her vision began to fade, and the last thing she saw was a shadow peering down from the top of the hole at her. "Please... help me..."

Then, everything went dark.

It took Ayuka and Dinny a few minutes to reach the town, but they did so without mishap. "We're here!" He yelled, pointing forward, and dashed up the steps that led to the town's entrance.

When they arrived, the town appeared to be rather crowded, and people were already staring at their unexpected presence. There were cobblestone walls and wooden roofs on most of the dwellings, as well as a blacksmith building and many more.

People didn't appear to be afraid of them, but they didn't seem to trust them either, as they all kept silent and ignored Ayuka as she attempted to converse with some of them.

"Could you just direct me to someone who will listen to me, Dinny? These people don't appear to have any faith in me, so if at all possible-"

Dinny verified it with a nod, and she followed Dinny to the town's farthest building, which was built at the very rear of it, with no objections and only appreciation.

They didn't take long to come, and when she knocked on the door, they opened without hesitation, with a man walking outside with a very serene expression on his face.

The man instantly recognized Dinny standing next to Ayuka, and since she wasn't an adversary, he greeted her and invited her in without hesitation.

"Please come in..."

The man introduced himself as Hiro, and he was dressed in regular clothes with a tatoo on his left shoulder. He sat behind the table with Ayuka and Dinny, sipping coffee.

"Since Dinny accompanied you, I'm guessing you have something to say to me."

Ayuka was staring at Dinny, who seemed to have finally calmed down, but she flinched when she heard Hiro's voice. "Yeah, that's right..."

"Okay, now it's your turn to speak up. What exactly do you need from us?"

"First and foremost, let me introduce myself: my name is Ayuka, and I'm a member of the Blue Phoenix Crew. But please, before you start tossing your hands, pay attention to what I'm saying. We're not here to harm anyone, and we're not even pirates in official sense."

"We just came here to help after hearing that this island has had problems with people being kidnapped and that there is a fighter roaming the island."

"You're probably thinking of Natan. He is, indeed, a mysterious figure. He turns up now and again, but he's typically after bounties while simultaneously trying to track down our people's kidnappers. We refer to him as the 'Shadow Rider' because he is rarely visible to our sight. He showed up at random and without a formal introduction one time. He said that he had come to the Grim Isle in pursuit of a man named 'Clawford.' He'd identified him as a pirate with a $35 million bounty on his head, and he'd been attempting to track him down for months. Clawford, on the other hand, is never seen; he only operates at night to kidnap our people and bring us trouble. We don't know why he does it, but others believe he's forming a pirate gang and forcing men to work for him. As if they were slaves."

"I suppose this 'Shadow Rider' you refer to, plans to eliminate Clawford. Have you tried talking to him or ask him for his help?"

"We've done it before, and we've done it multiple times. When we asked him about it, he usually stayed silent or indicated he preferred to work alone."

"So, a lone wolf? Is there a particular time or day when he comes to town?"

"He usually comes in for food and drink and then leaves. It'll be difficult for you to meet him. However, he does appear every two weeks, so you might catch him tomorrow or even today if you're lucky."

"I see..."

"What about you, though? You call yourself Ayuka, correct? Why have you decided to help us at such a random time? Furthermore, you mentioned a crew, yet you were the only one that showed up?"

"We're on our way to the 'Outer-Sea Barrier,' so we'll obviously assist since we'll be going past this island. My team was split up into two groups, with one falling into the hole and being pursued by our navigator."

"So, there's a total of six of you, huh? But what happened to separate you?"

"Three of them became disoriented while walking through the cemetery. We were confident that those three would make it to town, so we weren't concerned about their disappearance."

"Are you sure Clawford didn't kidnap them?"

"No, they're skilled fighters who wouldn't be kidnapped so easily; I'm confident they'll show up shortly. Dinny, who was with our group, discovered the tunnel after one of our crewmates unintentionally set off a trap. The skeletal army surrounded us, with one of them being a giant with a big club. Our navigator accompanied our crewmate into the hole after we defeated them; however, I was directed to accompany Dinny to the town as soon as possible."

"I believe you've gained my confidence. Thank you for your assistance to Dinny. If not today, I expect 'Shadow Rider' to appear tomorrow. For the time being, you are welcome to spend the night at our house."

"Huh? But, because this island is constantly dark, how can you know when to sleep?"

"We just set an alarm for both morning and night. As a result, we can readily identify when it's day or when it's night."

"That's logical. Again, thank you for inviting me in."

Hiro nodded and drank the last of his coffee. "I'll make it clear to this island that you are not our adversary."

"Thank you so much, Hiro,"

To be continued...