Break

House of Pitcher was an astounding place filled with small floating landmasses connected by stone bridges. Underneath those hanging isles was a bottomless ocean.

They had been transported to the middlemost island. Standing on it was a two-story house. Serving as a fence were waist-high bushes. Even the trees on that place could not be any taller than the shrubberies.

There was a fountain in the middle of an island. It had a statue that was a few feet taller than the two-story house. The sculpture was that of a woman holding a huge pitcher. She was pouring its content on the fountain. The water that was flowing from the pitcher was flooding the fountain and was streaming to the connecting four shallow canals and through the ocean underneath the floating island.

Four stone bridges were linked to the four corners of that center island.

"Princess Pieffer!!!"

A woman in a lime green gown walked excitedly out of the house and gently took the princess in her arms. She had a pair of eyes that looked like jade crystals. Her olive-green hair was messily braided down to the back of her knees.

"You finally came to visit," the woman had a voice that radiated patience. "It's been a long time."

"Yes. It's been a long time," the princess agreed and put her arms around the woman in green.

"Is he 'our' Aries?" she asked while gazing curiously at Aries.

"Yes," the princess smiled. "Aries, this is Quaria, leader of the House of Pitcher."

Aries was surprised as the house leader warmly locked her arms around his torso.

"Welcome to my house, Aries Del Luna," she said before letting him go. "I heard that you have already reinstated the barriers in the House of Lion and the House of Maiden. And you only needed two weeks. That was great."

"I only helped a little," Aries awkwardly explained, "Leon and Gin-Ren are the ones who reinstated the barriers around their houses.

"They could not have done it without your help," Quaria looked up at the fountain not far from them. "I could barely hold my house together."

"We can help," the princess immediately offered.

"I want to protect my house for as long as I can," the house leader walked gracefully towards the fountain. "But lately there are too many corrupted souls and I am spending the rest of my days warding them off. I could not sit in my room and read books for a long time. I'm too tired to stay awake. I should be helping My Tauren in his creations but those annoying corrupted souls are taking most of my time. I just woke up a few minutes ago and there are too many reports about the corrupted souls wreaking havoc at my borders. I just want… a break. I'm sorry… I should not be thinking this way…"

"It's okay to feel tired," Aries had said. "It's okay to take a break. That's normal. Despite our complicated fate, we are still humans. Take a break. All we can give you is a one-day off."

Quaria stared at Aries with disbelief. Even the royal siblings appeared to have been shocked by his speech.

He cleared his throat and added, "If you don't want then we can head straight to the House of Scale."

"Of course, I want it!" Quaria exclaimed and tightly embraced Aries and Princess Pieffer together. "Thank you so much."

"You have to tell us all the information that we need to know about those areas that need to be checked."

"Yes, Aries! I will tell you everything!"

^#######^

Quaria wasted no time. After informing Aries and the royal siblings about the things they had to investigate, she immediately transported herself to the House of Bull.

Prince Sunrei volunteered to stay at the central island to receive reports from the guards stationed at the border.

Aries and Princess Pieffer checked the safety of the borders. Passing the long stone bridges had not been a problem for them because they can both pass through the shadows. Instead of six hours, they only needed two hours to reach the western border.

"How can Quaria ward the corrupted souls from the borders of her house if passing through the stone bridges took six hours?" Aries curiously asked while they were checking the situation around the area.

"She can fly two feet above the water," Princess Pieffer revealed. "As long as there is water, she will be having no difficulty traveling at a faster speed."

"You cannot learn that skill?"

"Only Quaria can do that," Princess Pieffer smiled.

The Western Border was almost similar to the Central Island but instead of one house, there were a few small houses built around the fountain with a huge statue. The people warmly welcomed them. They were even excited at their arrival. Everyone was eager to help but, for the safety of the villagers, Aries allowed only one guard to accompany them to the area they had to check.

"You may leave," Aries told the guard. "Don't let anyone enter this area."

"Yes, Sir Aries!" the guard gave a short salute before leaving.

"How many?" Princess Pieffer quietly asked.

"Ten," Aries called on Vermillion in the shape of a bow and shot at the corrupted souls. It took him an hour to fully absorb those hovering dark spirits.

Aries sensed something unusually heavy while he was taking the souls inside his body. It was as if each essence carried excess luggage with them. By the time he was done absorbing those souls, he was kneeling on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Princess Pieffer knelt beside him with worry.

"Just tired," he sat on the ground. "I need to rest for a few minutes."

The princess settled right next to him and stared at the closed gate a few meters away from them. They could not properly saw that earlier because the corrupted souls had gathered in front of it.

There was a crest at the middle of the gate and it was similar to the statue on the fountain. Serving as the wall were trees that were only half as tall as the gate yet Aries could not glimpse what was beyond. It was as if there was a thick mist covering everything beyond that gate and wall of trees.

There were guards stationed at that gate but Quaria had to withdraw them because the corrupted souls kept on invading their bodies. She could not risk her guards any further.

"Quaria must have been too occupied that she failed to notice the cracks on the barriers."

"You can see the barriers?" Aries stared at Princess Pieffer with confusion.

"You can only see mist past the trees and the gate, right?"

"That is the barrier?"

"Yes."

"And you can see cracks on the mist?"

"You cannot?"

Aries shook his head.

"Then… I am the only one who can see the cracks?" Princess Pieffer asked with disbelief. "I have an ability that only I can have?"

Aries smiled and said, "I've rested enough. Let's go to the northern border."

"We need to tell the guards about the cracks," the princess eagerly got up on her feet. "I will also ask them to relay the message to my brother."

"Tell them not to mention anything to Quaria," Aries reminded. "We told her that we can give her a one-day break. We should keep our word."

"I know," the princess smiled.

^#########^

Upon checking the Northern Border, they encountered eight corrupted souls. Though the dark essences on that house were heavier than the previous souls Aries had encountered, he managed to remain standing after absorbing the last one.

Princess Pieffer noticed two cracks on the misty barrier but it was not as big as the ones on the Western Border.

After informing the guards, they hurriedly moved on to the Eastern Border.

The situation there was a bit better than the two previous borders. Aries only encountered three corrupted souls and Princess Pieffer discovered only one tiny fissure in the barriers around the area.

They took a short break after notifying the guards of the situation at the nearby gate. Aries could feel the weight of the souls slowly draining his strength and causing his arms to feel numb. He had to rest.

It took him two hours to recover his strength and move his arms without squinting.

"We can rest for another hour," Princess Pieffer was staring at him with concern.

"I've rested enough," Aries reassured the princess. "And the sun had already set. We should already be checking the Southern Border."

"If you say so," Princess Pieffer sighed and they headed straight towards the Southern Border.

^#########^

Two of the four guards stationed at the entrance to the Southern Border had welcomed Aries and Princess Pieffer.

"Can I talk to you in private, Princess?" one of the soldiers timidly asked. "I… I want to ask you something that… that is bothering my family."

"Go on," Aries answered the hesitant look in the eyes of the princess. "I'll go ahead and check at the gate."

"I'll follow as soon as I'm done here," Princess Pieffer promised.

Aries only nodded then told the guard to show him the way.

Like in the previous borders, it took them about an hour to reach the border gate.

"Thank you for leading the way," Aries called Vermillion in the form of dual blades then he quickly turned to stab the guard in the shoulders.

^#########^