Corruption

Fuji helping Natan made things much easier, and they managed to find the pendant in the gap next to a rock covered in snow. He picked it up while Fuji rushed into conversation immediately. "You got the pendant, now leave. I don't need to waste any more time with you, bounty hunter."

Natan observed the pendant and received thoughts. "No," he pointed out, "not yet." That made Fuji stand still, and didn't want to continue accepting requests for him. "You've gotta be kidding me! I helped you search for the pendant, didn't I? It's time you leave me alone and continue on your own."

Natan placed the pendant in his pocket. "You're an assassin, and I've been hunting down an assassin named Silvio Steyer, who was most likely the thief of our weapons. If you know him or know where he is... you'll answer." Natan realized that Fuji's eyes shook, that she knew something. "Yeah, I am an assassin, but that doesn't mean I know a guy named "Silvio Steyer", he's probably an assassin from a different group, not the one I'm from."

Natan observed every move that Fuji made but didn't let up, at least not until he'd received some sort of information about locating Silvio. "The assassins always have some sort of communication at all times. You cannot deny that you don't know him, not to mention that you both wear the same style of cloaks."

That was enough to persuade Fuji into showing a reaction. "So what? Even if I do know him, I wouldn't-!" she finished until a feminine voice called out from behind Natan. "What in the world's going on?" Natan and Fuji turned about, noticing Ayuka and Ralphie.

Ayuka seemed a bit intimidating but confused while holding her hands on her hips. Fuji froze and tried to escape. She had already turned around until snow suddenly wrapped itself around her ankles. "Huh?!"

Ayuka seemed to have been holding her index finger forward and then flicked it upwards, transforming the snow around Fuji's ankles into ice. "Stay right there. You both have some explaining to do." Claimed Ayuka as she stepped forward with Ralphie. "Thanks." Spoke Natan.

"Yeah, you better be grateful because you have a lot of explaining to do yourself. I'm not leaving until you explain every single detail of what happened earlier." Natan turned to face them, sighing, and proceeded. "I'd like to know why you've followed me?" he questioned, allowing Ralphie to explain.

"We didn't follow you. We were searching for Tim, but he wasn't in town. That's why we decided to go out and go up the slopes when we heard a loud noise as if something exploded, and now we're here, and it just so happens that we ran into you."

Natan inhaled and exhaled. "I was afraid that would've happened..." He tried to avoid explaining but noticed that Ayuka or Ralphie weren't planning on leaving any time soon.

...

...

...

Darkness prevailing over the leafless woods poured down red. The weather was a storm that never stopped rushing through. It was grim and had no colors. Its surroundings were a pure mess of white and black hue, not a single green leaf or grass.

And stranded in the colorless world, Tim woke up and heard a feminine voice calling out to him. It was calling out his name, and its softness and gentleness reminded him of just one person.

After standing up, looking around in the lost world, he followed the voice, "Hello! Anyone there?" calling out and weaving through it as he came into the middle of the woods opening.

"Hello? Please, if anyone's there, answer me!" but no one appeared, "Ayuka? Yumiko?" neither of them came out, "Kou? Ralphie, is it you?" but they hadn't shown themselves.

Tim continued walking deeper into the woods until coming to a pitfall. But there stood a girl who looked familiar. "T-Tomomi?" he couldn't resist but felt relieved until everything turned around. Tomomi's body had been gazing down at the pitfall, but then she slowly turned her head around.

"Why didn't you save me, Tim? Why didn't you come when I needed you the most?" Tim's eyes shook, but he didn't feel well. "What? N-No! You don't understand! I tried!" but Tomomi remained careless. "Am I just a puppet to you? An item to be used to fight?" Tim denied. "No! That's not it! Why are you saying that?" her voice remained neutral. "I thought I finally found a friend."

Tim's heart started beating faster. "But I am your friend! Please, just listen to me!"

She didn't...

"You say that, but you don't really understand who I am. Respond, Tim. If you're not there for me when I need you the most, what good are friends between us? Know what it's like to rot? All by yourself in a cell, with no freedom while you wait to be killed... You were the friend I was looking for—someone I could trust—but the promise you made later vanished like a flutter in the wind. I suppose everyone just wants me removed. If that's what my life is all about, I'll be happy to complete it on my own."

Then the most horrifying aspect of the moment hit Tim. He noticed Tomomi stepping forward when he understood what was about to happen. "Wait! Tomomi! Stop!" he ran forward. "Don't go! Tomomi!" he jumped but was too late. All he could see was Tomomi jumping to her death.

With his arm reaching past the cliff, he could only see darkness below. "Tomomi!!!" his tears spurted out when suddenly he jumped out from his bed, screaming out loud, holding his chest.

He was breathing heavily, sweating, and didn't realize where he was. He tapped his chest knowing that his pendant was gone, and he could only hear his heartbeat.

He looked around the room, learning that he was inside an ice room. The only thing that wasn't ice was the furniture and the blanket he was covered with. He looked at his hands, finding out that he was bandaged up and that his right arm still wasn't healed. "Tim!" she called, noticing Kyora next to him and another woman standing close by.

"Kyora? W-What's going on?" he asked, breathless. "You're inside Etuna's palace. She attended to your wounds." She explained. He then looked at Etuna who remained still, closing her eyes. "Etuna? But..." he was interrupted by Kyora. "It's not important. Are you, all right? I think you were dreaming about something, and it didn't look like a nice dream either."

He looked away with a sad face, having a calm expression. "It's nothing... Thanks a lot for treating me, but I better be on my way." He uncovered his blanket and prepared to leave the bed, but Etuna stopped him. "Tim, am I correct?" he nodded. "What is it that you want? You have arrived at Winterpeak Island for a purpose, did you not?" she spoke to him as if she knew him.

He nodded, slowly. "I came here to help Kyora find Flare." He made sure to hide his other intentions from Etuna. "Is that right? Why would you search for it up here? That fox could never have climbed to the top, but I must admit... I am impressed by your actions. Managing to climb to the top in that horrible weather is not an easy task." Tim and Etuna exchanged looks. "I'm willing to find out for myself. That fox... we have to find it. We need her powers to help a certain someone." Etuna kept her eyes locked on him.

"She can't figure out that we need to find that fox because of her..." He thought for himself, but Etuna flinched at that moment and began thinking in silence. "He wishes to find that fox because of me? That girl must have told him about the illness, but everyone does know about it by now." She thought, continuing, "I suppose Zero lied not. He is willing to help anyone in need. However, if he has arrived, that must mean that Zero's daughter is someplace on this island as well." These were her final thoughts.

"You seem to be in better condition. I believe it is time for the two of you to leave. I do not wish to babysit the two of you." After she spoke, another headache played inside her head. "Urgh." This time it was worse than the last time, and Tim and Kyora noticed it too. "Etuna. Y-Your illness. It's-!" before Kyora finished, Etuna grabbed her head with both heads. "Leave! This instant! You should not be here!" she shouted, and her reaction was not something you would see from a god.

"But-!" Kyora wanted to continue. "If you do not leave right now, you will not survive!" Tim noticed blue electricity rapidly zap around Etuna and started going berserk. They could see flashes of corruption surging around her, paining her to no bitter end.

She was struggling, shaking, and trying to hold back the corruption, but the longer it went on, the faster it started to act. Tim and Kyora realized that Etuna's right arm started getting lifted in front of her, but she didn't want to let it act.

"H-Hurry... up! You... You are in danger!" and that's when Tim was reminded of Etuna's illness.

~ "It's nothing like that. Her illness is the cause of lives lost, and that "corruption" forces her to slaughter. I've seen how sorrowful she became after killing two citizens she tried to protect.

"You might not believe me, but even if it's only two lives, the goddess cried for those, and she still lets her heart cry nowadays. We've been trying to help her out, but every time somebody approached her, they ended up dying because her powers broke out. Her powers might not be possible to control, but her heart is still the same, and she cares for other people." ~

The blue lightning started zapping around and started breaking out. "L-Leave... I... I beg... you!" Kyora started backing away, while Tim seemed shocked that a god begged for them to leave. "I... I do not... want to... slaughter... any... any more-!" but her voice screamed out in high pitch as the pain continued.

"Tim! We gotta go! Now!" Kyora yelled, trying to stay away from the electricity. Despite sweating, Tim couldn't back away and instead came up with a different plan. "Etuna. You can still hear me, right? Please, tell me where we can find Flare! You can see everything, right?" Etuna struggled to speak or answer. "S-She... she's... not... not far... from here..." but that was all she could tell them, and that's when Tim tried to ask her one more time. "Etuna! Where! We need to know where, precisely!"

"I... I cannot... it is... b-breaking... argh!" when suddenly a blue bolt flew toward Tim, shocking him. "Watch out!" Kyora shouted for Tim to jump out of the way. But even after doing so, that bolt caused a tremor below him that exploded and instantly it sent Tim barging through the icy walls out into the snowy weather.

"Tim!" Kyora shouted, holding onto the edge of the ice wall. Etuna's right arm continued being stretched in front of her, while her other arm tried to hold it back.

Kyora was terrified, looking at Etuna's pain. Tim brought himself up from the snow, standing up, and then looked at the top of the broken ice wall, holding his arm. "Damn it... There's no way we can get to Flare while she's gone insane." Tim came to a deduction that he didn't expect to do before. "Kyora! Can you hear me?!"

She nodded, holding the top of her head while being dangerously close to Etuna's volts. "Yeah, I can hear you!" she called. "Hurry up and go find Flare! I'll stay here and keep Etuna occupied!" that astonished her. "What?! You're insane! She's a god! You don't stand a chance!" but Tim couldn't care less. "You're right! I fought some powerful opponents in the past, and I never faced a god other than Ayuka! But right now that doesn't matter! If you don't go we'll never be able to get to Flare! Try to look around the mountain's top! Etuna told you she's close. If you can find her, bring her here while I do the heavy work! Please, listen to me!"

Kyora needed to think for a while when a bolt zapped close to her face. "All right! You got it! Just stay safe, captain!" Kyora shouted, surprising Tim, but he grinned confidently. "Sorry, Etuna. But we can't leave you like this." Kyora vaulted over the hole in the wall and dropped down into the snow and quickly ran in the opposite direction.

Tim waited patiently and then noticed a blue thunder ramming the snow in front of him. It tossed the snow away like an avalanche and kicked up a powerful whirlwind.

The next second he noticed Etuna standing in front who still tried to restrain herself. "W-What are you doing?! L-Leave you... fool!" but Tim became serious, spread his arms, and quickly became serious. "I'm afraid you'll have to try harder than that." He claimed as blue flames instantly burst out around his fists and seared upward.

"Sorry, Ayuka. But I'm afraid you'll have to attend to my wounds later on again."

To be continued...