The lasting plains part 3

As soon as the sword headed for his face, Asato knew he had to dodge it or else it would do irreparable damage to his face and some other parts of his body. However, the first instinct in his body had been to counter the strike instead of dodging.

Asato curbed his instincts as he dodged toward the right, the sword embedding itself in the wooden log at his side. The entity from the fire this time had a solid form, a female form that was coming at Asato fast and hard.

While Asato was not afraid of that person at all, it still felt weird to fight with someone who had once saved him a lot of hassle.

“I’m not an enemy here” Asato almost yelled, but his voice was just in enough control for it not to be a yell but rather be a soft expression.

Even this close, he could not make out what the entity was fully for the shadows still covered a good portion of their body. He could only make out the female form due to the obvious curves they supported.

He felt rather than saw the entity tilt their head toward the right as if thinking on his words before they lowered their sword as well, a challenging look in their eyes.

Asato smiled a small smile at the confusion that the entity was expressing.

“I’m the current architect, Asato, the successor of Klien. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance” while Asato had no doubt that the entity had already guessed his affiliation and his mark, it still felt safer by introducing himself.

“Klein's successor? I should have guessed” the voice was still clear and without any flaws. It was soft and melodious and it felt smooth to Asato’s ears. It made him feel fresh as well as gave a sense of belonging at the same time.

Asato felt himself smile at that nostalgic voice all of a sudden.

“I’m Sumeru, the current archive” the voice called out. The archive was a post very much like an architect. It was one of the five posts that were available to their species.

The architect of balance, the archive of peace, the stigma for destruction, the doctor for continuity and the lawyer for the defence. Of course, their position and explanation were rather limited and yet their actual execution was so much vaster in function.

Asato himself had no idea about the true depths that this power allowed one to go forward to. He had, after all only been in control of his own power for a few years now. It would take a long time before he could say he had truly mastered this power in its eternity.

Till then, he still had to play the guessing game with this power.

“I have to give you my thanks Mrs Archive. You helped me out back in the day less city” Asato bowed to the entity who gave him a curious look.

“Ah, the fire back in the forest is it? It was just part of the job for me as it was for you. However, I am curious why you as the architect would allow such a person to travel with you back then?” there was genuine confusion in her voice and Asato felt confused too.

Who was she talking about exactly? Maybe this was the time he should ask her and have the answers to his questions after all.

“I’m sorry but I would ask you to elaborate on your question if you can?” that did not sound the best to even Asato’s own ears but it got the point across so Asato had no problem sounding a little crooked in the meanwhile.

“You had a child with you last time, someone who was like us. However, the child did not feel stable at all so why would you allow such a dangerous creature to exist at all?” so that was what she meant.

Asato was aware of the gawking feeling that Ten gave off. The feeling of him not behind completely being made and hence having virtually no power. That was one of the reasons why Asato had dismissed him so early on.

Since the person looked to have no powers, he would not pose any problem and hence, there was no danger in actually taking him along at all with himself and Erin.

He conveyed the same to Sumeru who had a pair of narrowed eyes focused on him.

“You should be careful, especially with these half-creatures. The times ahead are not looking good at all” her words made Asato wonder about the fire and everything that was happening.

Did she know something about all this she was not talking about? Most likely yes but Asato had no confidence of being able to ask her for her secrets. She was, after all, far older and more experienced than him in the field.

It might come off as insulting which was not something Asato wanted to get into right now. If possible, he would like to never have bad relationships with any of the five in his own field.

“What are you doing here child?” the entity asked, her soft voice breaking the bubble of isolation Asato had around him. Her curious eyes were trained on Asato as soon as he turned his head toward her she looked at him with curiosity.

“I came here for the Ester grass but the rumours of the monster in the area caught my attention so I thought I should look around” Asato could see Sumeru’s interest as clear as day. That told him that she was not aware of things around here at all.

“Monster? Around here? Is that even possible” her words just confirmed his suspensions. Her tone had wonder and even caution in it which Asato understood at one glance. He himself was in disbelief when he had first heard about this topic after all.

“Yes, that’s what the rumours are saying. So either the easter dragon is dead or something weird is going on around here” the other seemed to agree at his words, her eyes having a glint in them they did not have before.

She looked excited and somehow even dangerous over the whole thing. It made Asato wonder if he should not have involved her in all this. It somehow felt as if the stakes have increased all of a sudden and the situation was becoming something more than it should be.

Asato was not sure if this was a good thing or not at all.

“Let’s scout out the perimeter” was the best advice Asato could hope for at the moment and with a nod in agreement he followed Sumeru inside the cave. Since they had met up in the outer portion itself, the real gate of the place still lied far ahead of them.

However, before they could reach there, there was a moment in the ground that shook the whole ground up. It felt different from the earthquake which occurred naturally.

Besides, divine caves were known to be safe from any natural disasters which gave the rumour much more credibility in Asato’s eyes. Looked like there really was a problem here after all.

“So they were not lying after all? Things are not looking that simple from here” Sumeru’s voice was thin and it was filled with disbelief which Asato himself felt. It was one thing for the divine beast to die but for its place to lose its effect was nothing factor which was a tough pill to swallow.

“Sumeru, look” Asato called out softly as something black slithered in the corner of his eyes. He could spy out the shadow that was moving at a normal speed and it was huge in length too.

It’s shadow was casted on the opposite side of the wall where Asato was and was formed from inside the pit that lied a little further away. It truly looked like a monster in the legends, it’s shape terrifyingly large and misgiving.

“Should we kill it? Or should we wait it out?” Sumeru asked, her voice small but quite enough to not attract unwanted attention. Asato passed her a look and then looked back down toward the huge creature that was slithering around.

It was a huge snake, body huge and imposing. Every time it was moving, it managed to drag a few boulders along with itself and it felt terrifying to look at.

However, there was a beauty to its moments too. Its scales shone every kind of blue-green and its eyes had a red light to them which could enchant anyone off of their feet. It's a huge body struggling to move around the place and constantly hitting the walls in the process.

To say it’s a snake would be an insult but it was no divine beast wither. It felt somewhere in between the two, another unnatural abomination no one had any answer for.

“Is that the monster you were talking about? Things just got a lot more interesting all of a sudden” Asato felt as if they got bothersome rather than interesting. This only proves that there was a mastermind behind everything now for everything could be a coincidence but not this.

“So, what should we do now? Keep going or should we deal with this first?” Sumeru asked, one hand gesturing inside the pit.

“The grass first, then we come back for it” Asato decided, for the grass would be the priority. Hopefully, they will not have to hunt the beast once they came back.