Sacrifice (Chapter 17)

"Hupi, I'll be heading out for a while. Watch the house for me while I'm gone!" Daisy called out leaving for Mimi's house with a tan-colored knapsack. *knock* *knock* opening the door, she was greeted by Mimi with a hug and a smile. "Hey, Miss Daisy! I was just wondering about when you'd come to visit. This place is great! I have everything I need to live comfortably here. I can't thank you enough for doing this. Even if you say it's because of the promise we made, I'm still grateful that you would do this for me." Mimi celebrated. "Ah, let's not get too emotional now. I already have my hands full with Hupi." She sighed, walking over to the table, putting down her knapsack. "What's going on with him? He seemed fine the other day." Mimi inquired. "Well-" Daisy paused, reaching into her bag. "I found this." She revealed the black grimoire, putting it on the table. "Oh, that grimoire, isn't it yours?" Mimi asked in a confused tone of voice. "Mine? No, I found Hupia trying to read it in his room." Daisy rejected. "Hmm, that's strange. I think Hupia might be hiding something." Mimi stated. Daisy looked over with a puzzled look on her face and asked, "What makes you say that?" Mimi momentarily hesitated before explaining, "I saw Hupia walking back with that book when he left from some old shop to get the ingredients you asked him to grab for you. When I asked him about it, he said that you told him to get it for you while he was out." Miss Daisy looked furious, "Oh, really?" Mimi could quickly tell that this made her very angry.

Trying to calm her down, Mimi promptly remarked, "Well, everything should still be fine since one must previously start cultivating for the grimoire to even respond to their source." This did not seem to help the situation. In response, Daisy let out a deep sigh stating, "While that is true by the time I discovered him, he was already In a trance with the grimoire's enchantment." This made Mimi even more confused. "How? His source shouldn't even be active." Mimi probed. "Man, this kid... Here let's sit down first. If you don't mind, could I have some water?" Miss Daisy kindly asked, seeming to have calmed down. "Of course," Mimi answered enthusiastically. Mimi took out two cups from the cupboard and placed them on the table, pouring Miss Daisy's water first, then hers. She closed the cabinet and put the gallon of water back into the fridge before taking a seat at the table.

Taking a sip of water, Miss Daisy started. "Well, the thing is, Hupi's not really my son. My grandson found him passed out on the border of Violet's Graveyard and brought him to me for treatment." Mimi was caught off guard. She didn't expect her to say that. When Mimi realized how intensely she was staring, she quickly composed herself, trying not to be rude. "Sorry, I didn't expect that, but where is this graveyard you speak of? I've never heard of it." She stated. "Right, you're not from around here, so you wouldn't know what it is. You said that you were from Sino. That means you've probably never heard about dead-zones, correct?" She shook her head and replied, "No, I'm not familiar with any dead-zones."

Daisy placed down her cup. "Ok, well, in terms a cultivator would understand, a dead-zone is an area blocked off by a very dense fog composed of ukaro energy. This kind of energy thrives off emotions and feelings of fear and evil intent, which is distinctly abundant in this place. Usually, these energies are more or less balanced, which is why other countries generally do not have to worry about the dead-zone phenomenon occurring. As you surely noticed, Ari is not like other places. Crime runs rampant; almost everyone, including hospital workers are corrupt down to the bone." Daisy paused for a moment to take another drink of water. "Seriously? I didn't know it was that bad." Mimi declared.

"Yup, the problem is that the longer a dead-zone stays around, the more it will continue to feed off of these people and grow stronger. She proceeded. Of course, this affects the people indirectly even if they are not in contact with the fog; it will intensify feelings of hate and lust while suppressing feelings of joy and excitement. Inevitably this starts a cycle, and every day it only gets worse. Even cultivators are not meant to absorb such a dense amount of ukaro energy abruptly and die if they cannot balance ukaro and cuyo energies. If a goeiza doesn't possess their body, that is. (Soul of a dead person). Unless, of course, they have a soul or spirit beast with the ukaro attribute powerful enough to absorb the energy conversely the cuyo attribute will also work to repel ukaro energy. That being said, people with beasts that powerful are few and far between. Those who are incapable of cultivating their soul can forget about leaving entirely. They would die the moment they stepped foot into the graveyard. Hence the reason it's called a dead zone." Daisy explained.

Mimi was stunned that such a thing could even exist. Mimi then questioned, "You found Hupia in there? No way, he seems like such a nice guy. That means...I don't even want to begin to think of what kind of monstrosity is locked in his soul." She shuddered at the thought of it. "That is the exact reason I must not allow him to continue cultivating. As I'm sure you are aware, if someone tries to progress their cultivation and cannot control it, their soul beast will try to take over their consciousness. This is especially so when dealing with a beast of ukara. However, it seems this beast is kept at bay either because of him losing his memory or for some reason even I don't understand. That is precisely why after I bridged our realms. I decided to give him the name Hupia and claim him as my own child. Even if we are not related by blood, the love I have for him is indifferent. You see, I have an illness that prevents me from ever having children of my own, so he was a blessing in disguise for me."

Mimi felt sorry for her but there was still something that didn't add up. She then asked out of curiosity, "didn't you say your grandson was the one that brought him here?" Miss Daisy smiled, "I did. Vido's real parents died when he was still young, and he was left on the streets to fend for himself, so I took him in and raised him to be the strong man he is now." Mimi was reminded once again of just how terrible this place truly was. She could only respond saying, "Oh, I see." Daisy took another drink of water finishing it. Daisy stood up and said enthusiastically. "yea, so that's that. Now then, that wasn't the only reason I came by, remember." She reached into her bag and pulled out a glass vial. "I'm here to get you in fighting shape so that you can protect my dear son, so get ready. This is going to be a long day."

Lucy had been driving through the dead zone for a little over an hour, and she wanted to speed up a bit so they could get through the dead zone faster. All of a sudden the silhouette of a man appeared in front of the car seemingly out of nowhere. She slammed on the brakes and tried to veer off to the right and avoid him. The turn was too sharp, and the car flipped several times over, landing on its right side. She immediately realized she couldn't move. She was paralyzed and had no way to get over to Cero. "Shit! Cero, wake up!" she cried with blood and tears streaming down her face. In a flash, his eyes flared open, releasing a powerful gust of energy shattering the windows and ripping the door right off its hinges. In rapid succession, he grabbed Lucy and leaped out of the car several feet in the air sprouting his wings; flying off faster than the speed of sound. He made it out of the mist and landed on the ground in a hurry to ensure Lucy's safety. "Lucy, can you hear me! Open your eyes!" He commanded as her consciousness slowly began to fade away. "FUCK! she breathed in the ukaro energy." He laid her out flat out on the floor and placed his hand at the center of her chest. Gradually one of his wings faded from black and was replaced by a snow-white color. *COUGH* *COUGH* Lucy was gasping for air upon waking back up. "Calm down, breathe. You're going to be fine. I won't let you die on me." Cero tried to comfort her when his hand began glowing intensely. After a few seconds, Lucy passed out again. Immediately Cero took her and flew to the mountains, somewhere she could rest and recover.

As Miss Daisy prepared to head back home, she told Mimi, "Since you already have some Restless Fruit, try to meditate for at least three days consecutively. Once you reach your next breakthrough, drink the elixir I prescribed for you and resume meditating. Next week you should be on the cusp of reaching the mastery stage. Don't worry about Hupi. I'll look after him while you're cultivating." Mimi thanked her and began cultivating as soon as Daisy left. On the way back home, Daisy ran into an old friend on the street. An older strong-looking man with a charred grey-beard and a raspy voice shouted across the street. "Ayy...Daisy, is that you? I haven't seen ya in ages, hahaha. How ya' been?" She turned her head, recognizing the voice. She seemed taken aback but promptly returned asking. "Baji, what are you doing in Guata? Isn't your smithy over in Yaud?" Baji let out a hardy laugh. "Yea, my smithy is still in Yaud. I just came out here to get some unique ingots for one of my clients. Anyway, this is where you live now, huh? I guess It's a bit quieter than Kyodi, but as long as you're in Ari, trouble will find its way over to you." Daisy rolled her eyes and responded, "Yea ain't that the truth. I moved out here to take care of my grandson years ago."

Baji looked surprised pointing out what she said. "Grandson? You had a son this whole time? That stings a bit." Daisy smirked, "Yea, well, everyone has their own little secrets don't they?" Baji agreed with this statement; you can never be too careful. In Ari, you never know who's out to get you. "Alright, well, it's been nice catchin' up with ya' I gotta get to the shop. See ya' round, take care." Baji said politely. "Thanks, you do the same," Daisy said back sincerely.

Opening the door to the house, Daisy announced, "Hupi, I'm back. You still up?" Taking off her shoes, she walked down the steps to check on Hupia and saw that he was already in a deep sleep. She smiled and thought to herself, 'So this is the life of a real parent. When I was taking care of Vido, he was always out and about, only coming back in the middle of the night to sleep. He didn't want to feel like a burden, so he was constantly finding new ways to make money in the street. Now that Hupia sees me as his mother, I guess this feels like home to him by now; that's great.' Walking back up the stairs, she took a quick shower and went to bed.

Unbeknownst to Miss Daisy, Hupia wasn't asleep. He was unconscious, yes, but when he tried to go to sleep, he was transported back to his inner realm. This time around, he was used to coming here unexpectedly. He concluded that his soul was trying to communicate with him in some way. Why else would he be taken to this space where everything was stagnant. Thinking about what Ido told him about cultivation. If this was a chance to understand himself on a deeper level, he had to attempt to make something of it. He couldn't just waste this opportunity like he was doing before.

While inside his inner realm, Hupia tried to grasp the concept of this mysterious abyss. As he was focusing on himself, searching for answers within his soul. Suddenly he could hear the familiar sound of chains in the distance echoing throughout the abyss. This time the chain links did not sound like they were approaching. It seemed as if something was chained down and attempting to break free. After a while, it stopped resisting. As the noise began to fade, he heard a thunderous voice that was all-present in this space. Being careful not to be overtaken by his emotions, Hupia kept his focus on the search for understanding within himself as he listened. "Goeiza guali ab arocoel hi ugasesdi ab ita saas tu makao ke-" As he listened to the voice speaking in a strange foreign language, shining symbols of gold appeared in his mind.

ᚷᛟᛖᛁᛉᚨ ᚷᚢᚨᛚᛁ ᚨᛒ ᚨᚱᛟᚲᛟᛖᛚ ᚺᛁ ᚢᚷᚨᛋᛖᛋᛞᛁ ᚨᛒ ᛁᛏᚨ ᛋᚨᚨᛋ ᛏᚢ ᛗᚨᚲᚨᛟ ᚲᛖ Now he was intrigued, wondering what these symbols could be? He tried to burn the marks into his mind by focusing all of his attention on them. Once they faded away entirely, he felt a strange sensation. It felt as if his brain stopped working. He couldn't form a single thought, and suddenly he jolted awake. This did not feel normal at all. His body had an abrupt spasm that concerned him. 'What just happened?' He thought to himself in bewilderment. Hupia came to a conclusion that was enough cultivation for the time being. He didn't want to overexert himself since he has no way of knowing what would typically occur when cultivating the mind.

Back at Blood Mountain, Cero had already flown up to his home he inherited from his grandfather. Inside an empty room, Lucy laid out on a bed as Cero waited for her to recover at her side. As she began to wake up, Cero stood up and grasped her and telling her, "Don't try to get up, for now, lie down and get some rest. When you are feeling better, look within yourself, and imagine a bright light of warmth." He could no longer use healing spells to try and help her recover. When they encountered the man in the mist, he had to transfer half of his spirit beast to her so that the Ukaro mist didn't kill her. This was the spirit beast that allowed him to wield the law of Cuyo. Once he confirmed that she was in stable condition, Cero walked over to another room and returned with some cream jar. He applied it to her face, back, and torso. After this, he sat back down, waiting for her once again.