Hidden Town of the Depths, Risunitia [1]

There are different styles of fighting. Swordsmanship, magic, martial arts, movement... So on so forth. Everyone has their own unique fight style, especially Zion. Since he relies on instinct and intuition.

This style is called "Instinct Movement". Practitioners just follows their instinct and trusts it, which is handy for last-second decision-making. Which saves a matter of seconds, and very few people have mastered this style.

The polar opposite is what we call "Prediction Movement". Those who adopt in this way of fighting carefully ponders before they act. It is vulnerable to delays in last-second decisions, as their thinking takes up most of the time before they act.

Luckily for them, the wolfman's style was "Prediction Movement."

As the wolfman misses its hit, he jumped backwards to maintain a certain distance after a short pause.

"Zion! He's attacking again!"

Talia attempts to slow down the wolf by grabbing a pile of sand on her hands and threw some at him in attempt to blind the wolfman, which succeeded in slowing it down and backed up a little bit.

The wolfman quickly got back at its feet and dashed to them. Zion's eyes could see every movement of the wolf and was faster. But as he tried to kick the wolf's red crystal, he unconsciously neglected his defenses. He successfully hit the wolf and did an amount of damage, but didn't think about the wolfman's attack. A defensive magic barrier protected Zion's face at the last second which made both Zion and the wolfman flinch.

A magic barrier? I didn't know those existed... Zion thought.

At Zion and Talia's left, they could see a crack in air. The crack getting larger every second, until a boy emerged from the crack in space itself. Both Zion and Talia thought of the same thing.

What was that? They both think at the same time.

The boy looked 14, he had short silky hair and delicate eyes that resembled the clear blue sky, wearing a white uniform and gray pants.

He raised his hand against the wolf, closed his eyes in focus and concentration as he mumbled a magic spell.

"O great tree of Risutin. Grant us magic for eternal protection, Ventus Sagitta."

A soaring wind gathered around the hands of the boy. The wind's form quickly changed into an arrow, his stance changed as he was aiming for the wolf, and the boy widened his eyes as he shouted a final word.

Magic? I thought it was just a rumor in our town!

"Release!"

The wind arrow shot from his hands and soared through the air, which instantly hit the wolf's weak point, the red crystal on the middle of its chest.

The wolfman in unbearable pain, tries to outthink the boy but it was too late. His thinking took too long.

Impossible! In one shot..? How powerful is this kid..! How do I counterattack- Huh?

The wolfman finds himself penetrated by the wind arrow and finds the red crystal on his chest broken. He instantly got caught in turquoise colored flames, he burned until nothing remained but a shining purple crystal, which was untouched by the inferno.

Seeing this, the other wolfman was scared out of its wits, and retreated back to the rainforest.

"Hey, are you kids alright? You did a good job defending against those wolfmen."

Zion tried to get his breath back, which Talia interacts first.

"We're alright, thanks for saving us.."

The boy notices that the two of them didn't have a place to sleep at night, which then he made an offer to them.

"Do you guys want to stay at our town for now? The sun is going to set." The boy says.

Zion and Talia were confused by this. Zion regained his breath back and asks a question out of the blue.

"What town? I don't see anything but a forest and this giant mountain. How did you even make that crack in the air in the first place?" 

"That's.. a family secret." The boy replies, smirking.

"Anyways, let's go to the town now."

Zion thinks for a bit, which his instinct told him that it was fine, and nothing was suspicious.

There's no reason to decline... We don't have a place to sleep since the cave would be infiltrated since one wolfman retreated..

"Alright, show us the way, sir." Zion tells him.

"Why are you suddenly becoming formal now?" Talia asks.

After a few seconds of walking, the boy stops. He slowly closed his eyes and mumbled something.

"Κρυφή πόλη, ανοιχτή."

A small crack formed in the air similar to earlier, which started to enlarge. The boy opens his eyes and reassures them that this was the entrance. Zion and Talia were stunned by this, and Zion deeply thinks about something.

What? This is the 99th floor. Something as stunning as this in the lower floors, I can't imagine what sorcery they have in the upper floors. I need to learn more about the abyss.

The 3 of them went inside the crack, and in a split-second, the rainforest turned into a bustling town.

"Welcome to the Hidden Town of the Depths, Risunitia!"

Talia and Zion's eyes widen as a turquoise flame covers Zion's left eye, and a pink flame covers Talia's right eye.

"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Hayashi Kaiser, you can call me Kai for short. I live inside that 2-storey house over there, the wooden sign with a sword symbol."

In the bustling town, numerous people can be seen walking down the streets, murmurs can be heard, the screams of vendors, and a large water fountain is present in the center.

Zion, Talia, and Kai can be seen walking on the streets. Zion was mesmerized by the lively sight of the town, while Talia grabbing on his hands and dragging him with them.

"Zion, snap out of it! We need to follow Kai, or else we'll get lost." Talia says while pouting.

"Alright.. I get it. I get it!"

They reach the house of Kai after a few minutes of walking, and the 2 kids silently looked at the wooden sign.

"I'm home!" Kai says while he opens the door with the 2 kids behind his back. An elderly woman greeted Kai.

"Kai, welcome home! What toook you so long, the food is going to be cold- "

The woman stops her words on its track when she sees the two children behind his back. Curiosity starts to get the best of her.

"Hey Kai, who are these cuties? I've never seen their faces around here before!"

Kai smiles warmheartedly and replies, while the two children say nothing.

"Oh, I found them when I was taking a walk outside the town, and I noticed them getting attacked by a wolfman. They held on well I can say, my intuition tells me that they're not a threat whatsoever."

"Ah- good morning..." Talia greets the elder.

"No need to be nervous! You can call me Aunt Miori." The elder replies.

"Hey grandma, you don't really know the difference between an aunt and a grandma huh?" Kai asks, in an attempt to tease her.

"Shut up Kai, I raised you. I know everything!" Grandma Miori says, while chuckling.

"Oh, hey cuties! Make yourselves at home! You both can sleep upstairs since we have an extra room..."

"Hey Kai, you two! Let's eat dinner now!" Grandma Miori says.

"Zion! Let's eat, I'm hungry. What are you doing there?"

Zion looks at this sight and his eyes broaden. He imagines him, Talia, and his mom Hannah laughing and talking together. He had forgotten what it felt like being with family, since he could adapt in any situation in a short time.

Talia runs up to Grandma Miori, and asks her about stuff. While Zion stood there in the entrance, relieving a special memory imbedded into him that he would never forget.

Zion slightly smiles. His smile was bittersweet as he felt nostalgia and reminisced about the old days behind the wall, with memories flooding back in his mind.

Maybe.. this isn't so bad at all.

He walks inside the house, while Kai and Miori instantly accepts their presence the first time they met, he truly was grateful.

Zion and Talia move their gears upstairs, and places it in the extra bedroom.

They both stood up and walked outside, in the balcony. They leaned on the railing and feel a sense of familiarity as they viewed the scene of the crowded town.

A spirit appeared behind both of them, and whispered in their ears.

"Zion.. Talia.. Thank you for shining light in my dark world." Says the spirit of their mom.

"What?" Zion and Talia asks.

They were both familiar about how the spirit sounded like, and after realizing who it was, they both cried in tears of joy.

After the spirit disintegrated into beautiful golden light particles, they replied:

"Yeah."