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(Chapter is kinda gory when describing a new character so be warned)
Sweat hit the floor, and footprints of shoes formed into the sand.
Slace and Vira were walking towards the Fire Kingdom; the blazing sun cast over the whole desert made Slace feel nauseous, but that was really only because he was covered in clothes.
Vira was too, but she didn't complain.
Slace looked around, his vision blurry and wobbly, the sun shining in his eyes as he lifted his hand up to his forehead to cover the sunlight.
It was all just plain lands of sand; this was the only time Slace wished to be in a Kingdom other than his own.
Why did he wish that? To change clothes, even if he found them ridiculous, they would tremendously help in the heat.
Vira followed behind; she was exhausted and sweating profusely from the heat. It felt sickening, but she didn't know how to complain, as she had never done so before.
The two didn't exchange words as they walked through the scorching desert; it was too hot to even talk. You could tell by how dry their lips already were.
If Slace could talk right now, he would blame himself and Vira for not bringing water.
But there was another reason Slace found getting to the Fire Kingdom quite the necessity.
It wasn't revenge but instead intimidation; even Slace was intimidated by the deserts, a land that has been barely discovered, filled with unknown creatures.
Finally, the two saw a huge shadow cast in the brask of the sunlight, a hope against that raging light. It was the Fire Kingdom.
Slace didn't know what came over him; maybe it was the heat or desperation, but he ran to the Fire Kingdom, Vira only following behind because of Slace.
As the two ran, their sweat, now tears of joy in a sense, looked quite dumb.
At the gate the knights saw them and were rightfully confused; the knights looked at each other as if asking themselves.
("Why would they come to the Fire Kingdom without water or less clothing?")
Well, as Slace was running, his eyes showed desperation, but in stark contrast, he had a neutral look; it was like he lost his smile ever since talking with Drmin.
Both Vira and Slace made it to the gate, but when they got there, they instantly fell to the ground unconscious, their faces and bodies covered with sand.
The knights didn't even get a chance to talk with them.
The two were exhausted from running, but it was actually from walking in the desert for so long.
One of the knights walked up to them, glancing down at the two ever so slightly buried in the sand and groaning before looking over to the other knights.
"Alright, let's take them and get them a new set of clothes…"
"They're going to die in those clothes if we don't."
The rest of the knights followed suit and helped with the whole dumb crisis that was happening.
——————
Slace woke up.
He looked around quickly and sharply, looking at every detail, calm but cautious.
He was in a house, stone-like in design, with a favouritism towards red, orange, yellow, purple, and magenta.
The bed was oddly comfortable, and outside the windows were people walking around everywhere.
And right beside Slace was his sword, and he sighed deeply; that was the only thing he cared about after all, except for his clan and kingdom.
As Slace had his relief, he figured he was in the fire kingdom; the whole aesthetic of the house's colours, fire everywhere, and ancient dragon paintings and inscriptions made it apparent.
That's when Slace also noticed something else: he wasn't overheating? He looked down and saw his clothes…
….
"I look ridiculous."
Slace pulled on his new pants, chiffon pants, baggy but light, with the fabric gathered softly at his ankles. The colour of the pants was a mix of purple, magenta, and pink, appealing yet calm and relaxed. The pants were all held together by an elaborate belt tied together by decorative dark red tassels and brown rope netting.
Slace's top, on the other hand, was quite different; it was an asymmetrical bunch of fabric that draped on his right side (his left side giving way to his slim yet fit upper body) tucked into the belt, the fabric being sheer and layered, making long gauzy panels kind of like a curtain.
Slace's top was also slightly transparent, but it was different because of its colours; instead of purple, the fabric on this was a mix of red, orange, and yellow, with patterns of dragon scales on it mixed in with fire symbols.
Slace let go of his new pants after taking a long look at his new clothes; now he was even regretting coming here. Slace hated clothes like this; they were way too showing for him and way too revealing.
Lucky for Slace, Nao wasn't here; she wouldn't have teased him or laughed at him for his reaction.
But Slace still got up, his feet hitting the ground as he sighed, walking out of the bedroom, taking his sword with him. He wasn't going to forget about his goals just because of some embarrassment.
"Of course, they don't even have the sense to give me shoes, but of course it's the Fire kingdom."
Slace said as if expecting such things from them, he had been here once in his past, and the same thing happened; as such, it was a custom.
Slace finally left the bedroom, looking around; it was a hallway, and from the looks of it, the house was quite small. Slace assumed it was a house.
That's when Slace walked into the main room of this house and noticed two people; first he noticed Vira, very recognizable, although she was wearing different clothes too now.
flowing chiffon sleeves hanging from her arms, a hip belt kind of the same as Slace's, a high-slit layered skirt, and a bra strap wrapped around her.
The sleeves had white mixed in with a very pale red, as did the skirt and bra strap, and the belt was of a darker red.
Slace saw her clothing as even more ridiculous than his, but she didn't seem to mind; actually, it kind of seemed like she liked them, even if it was very hard to tell.
That made Slace hold a slight grudge.
Slace moved his attention towards the second person, unfamiliar and a possible danger, but he quickly dismissed it; this person would've already killed them if that was the case, Slace thought.
Both Vira and the other person hadn't noticed Slace yet, so Slace decided to announce himself.
He lifted his arm, planting it against the frame of the wall, leaning by the wall as the fabric draped down slightly below his arm.
"Tell me, why did you decide to bring us in?"
Slace asked, looking at the person glaring at them as they turned to look at Slace; it was a female.
"I don't like waiting, so answer," he said impatiently. It seems he was in a really bad mood today.
The person coughed a bit before looking at Slace from her seat, answering his questions with a quaint smile and vibe.
"You see… my son, he brought you to my house after you two fell at the gate, and we decided to let you rest here and change your clothes."
Slace's eyes became revolted slightly by what she saw.
"Don't ever change my clothes again… that's absolutely revolting." He said out loud with hatred in his eyes.
She didn't say anything but didn't seem heartbroken; after all, it was expected someone would be offended if you touched them without permission.
Slace started walking towards her, then past her, walking by Vira, completely ignoring them both as he left. It was pointless for Slace for him to stay in this house any longer.
Vira gave money to the lady before leaving as thanks for the clothes; after that, Vira followed after Slace.
"These people, they're too kind, too generous, too forgiving; I hate it…"
Anyone in any kingdom, Slace could never get attached to them, because his goal required only revenge and nothing else; if he softened, he couldn't handle seeing all the people's lives he ruined after killing the kings.
So he buried it under hate and resentment, his feelings, everything; now he doesn't even know how to go back.
Slace looked down as Vira caught up with him, not really saying anything and just following Slace as they walked through the kingdom.
There were no roads, only soft trails, smooth soft ground, and sand. Obviously, since the Fire Kingdom people didn't wear shoes, they disregarded such things.
So as Slace walked through the trails, he was heading for the guild house, passing by multiple cultural events on the way.
Music playing, yelling in harmonic pitches, and drum hitting
Fire dancing, a spectacle that most people usually gathered around, dancing with your fire magic.
Food stands, cultural foods of the Fire Kingdom, and very burnt or spicy food. Slace once heard they make food more spicy with fire magic.
Storytelling of ancient dragons, usually puppet shows or storybooks played or read by adults that kids usually watched.
And many other things, the Fire Kingdom was a cultural feast ground, filled to the brim with cultural events and entertainment, even despite their war; they didn't let that dry their spirits.
Slace and Vira finally arrived at the guild house within the fire kingdom, the door creaking as they walked in.
Straightaway, Slace walked over to the front counter.
"Could I withdraw some cash?" Slace
"How much?" Receptionist
"How much gold do I have?" Slace
"What's your guild account name?" Receptionist
"Kurai."
The receptionist went to the back to look at papers; finding Slace's, she came back and told him.
"5 bags of gold equates to about eighty two thousand Fiarials."
Slace pondered for a moment, turning his attention to Vira.
"How much do you think we need?"
"500?" Vira tried to answer but sounded just as unsure.
"Whatever, it's fine."
"Convert some of my gold into 500 Fiarials," Slace said to the receptionist.
The receptionist nodded whistling; this was how gold traversed. A receptionist would whistle, and a huge bird would come with the bag of cash or gold, and then they would convert the amount you chose into whatever currency (whatever kingdom you're in).
But of course gold always converted for tons of cash, so basically Slace was rich after winning that tournament. Livia must be having a nice retirement about now with that other half of the money.
The receptionist looked at the two of them, pointing to the seats.
"Please wait until it arrives; the servers will get you food on the house."
Vira went to sit down straight away as Slace stayed where he was, asking for his order.
"Tell them to get me a slice of cheesecake then."
The receptionist nodded as Slace went over to Vira, taking a seat, Vira confused because she never expected Slace to like sweet food.
Slace, with his arms crossed, was looking back at the receptionist table before shifting his attention towards Vira, noticing her expression.
"What?"
"Nothing… just that I never expected you to like cheesecake."
Slace didn't say anything; he didn't know what to say, so he just ignored her as the servers arrived.
They came with his order of cheesecake, the slice on a wooden plate, as they put it down on the table towards Slace. The server then turned their attention to Vira, handing her a menu.
"What would you like?" The server asked with a genuine smile; they must actually like their job.
Vira looked at the menu, ordering the plainest food they have, pancakes. She showed the server the menu and pointed at the pancakes.
"The pancakes"
The server nodded, taking the menu from Vira and leaving.
Slace slouched in his seat eating the slice of cheesecake; his food manners were actually quite good. He even used a fork to eat it instead of his hands.
But it was a lie, as he spoke to Vira with priority first over manners, speaking while eating, technically the equivalent of eating with your mouth open.
"We shouldn't stay here for long."
Slace said, changing his seating position to upright as he put his elbow on the table, his fork in hand with a piece of cheesecake stabbed into it.
"We have two things we need to focus on: finding the other ancient dragons and buying food and supplies for the trip."
Slace seemed focused on only those two things; after all, there was nothing else he wanted to do in this kingdom anyways except for get revenge, but he didn't have his new arms yet.
Vira just simply nodded, not even noticing Slace's sudden change of food manners.
Slace finished his cheesecake quite quickly; he must've really liked it, or maybe he was just really hungry.
Slace's expression changed to annoyance for a split second; he was thinking about Bjornulf.
"The faster we get out of here, the less the chance I run into that big fool."
Soon enough the server arrived with Vira's pancakes, taking Slace's plate.
"Would you like anything else?"
"No."
The server nodded, leaving with Slace's dirty plate.
The two sat there for a few moments doing nothing and saying nothing, just waiting.
That's when the receptionist called Slace from the counter.
"Could the guild user Kurai come to the counter?"
Slace got up, walking over to the counter and waiting for his cash.
"I'm here."
——
While that was happening, Vira got her pancakes, layered with syrup.
She started to eat them, finding the taste pleasing as she watched Slace from a distance.
He was getting given a bag of cash; Fiarials were in it. The bag was the size of a pouch, but you could tell it was a lot of money.
The cash of each kingdom was small in size, and was made of light yet durable material, and was usually carved with the symbol of their kingdom, so Fiarials were in the symbol of fire.
Vira then saw Slace walk back over to the table, already knowing what he was going to say, so she finished her pancakes quickly.
Slace arrived back at the table with the pouched bag of cash, looking down at Vira.
"Let's go; we're done here."
Vira nodded, getting up and letting Slace lead the way.
12.1
They both left the guild house as Vira just followed behind Slace.
"I need to get a wallet for my cash; it'll be easier to carry then."
Sure the pouch was light, but it was awkward to hold, plus you couldn't do much with a pouch in your hand.
Slace saw a stand with the label "wares and other items." Quite bland for a title, but whatever, Slace wasn't a critique on titles after all.
He walked over to the stand, an old yet fashionable man looking up at Slace with a welcoming smile.
"What would you like to buy? I got everything from strange stuff you'll never find to common everyday items."
A line that Slace could tell was practiced and used every day on new customers, Slace took a look at the stand and the items, pointing at a wallet.
"I'll take that."
It was the cheapest wallet there, but Slace didn't care for its quality, as long as it got the job done.
The old man looked disappointed before showing Slace a leather wallet, offering him that one instead.
"Are you sure you want to buy that one? How about this, a smooth leather wallet that has way more compartments than that other one?"
"Stop trying to swindle me and give me what I requested already." He said, irritated, as if to say, Why must shopkeepers make buying stuff hard?
The old man sighed; he lost this battle, and he knew that. In defeat he grabbed the wallet from the back, giving it to Slace.
"That'll be 4 Fiarials. …"
Slace gave the man 4 Fiarials from his bag, took the wallet, and walked away.
Both Slace and Vira went into an alley, putting their cash in the wallet, Vira helping Slace in the process.
It didn't surprise Slace that they all fit into this small wallet; after all, Fiarials were very small, smaller than a 10-cent coin even.
Fiarials were the paper cash of the fire kingdom, basically. Well, they had another currency, which was Sunials (the cents of the fire kingdom); they were lesser than Fiarials, only converting to one Fiarial when you had a certain amount of Sunials.
It seems gold just gave you Fiarials and not Sunials.
They finished putting all the Fiarials into the wallet as the two got ready to leave the alleyway.
But a silhouette of a person blocked their way; their silhouette was odd… a human? Hard to tell.
"Who are you, and what do you want? To rob us?"
Slace asked, looking at the dark figure, assuming the worst right away, and demanding answers.
Finally the sun changed its course, and the light beamed on the person, a horrific sight.
The thing wasn't wearing a shirt, only black chiffon pants, somewhat the same as lace but not transparent to an extent. Its skin showed that it was a natural grey but rotting, as if its skin was actively decaying, with indents of worms actively squirming in its skin at its ribs. The worst part was its face; the top right side of its face had clumps of pulsating flesh, a mass of flesh that seemed alive, like a heart, with an eye in the middle of it looking at Slace and Vira. Its eyes were yellow, but its right eye was hanging out of its eye socket like egg yolk. Its teeth were yellow and black but not decaying. The only redeeming quality was its body shape being quite slim and fit and its white hair and greyish-white horns at the top of its head.
A truly horrific sight to most people, but Vira and Slace didn't seem all that moved, although Slace did comment on the appearance.
"Ugly—how can such a disgusting creature even exist?"
The thing looked at Slace; it didn't answer Slace's earlier question but seemed to become frustrated at the insult as it twitched its head, scratching its neck profusely, digging its nails into its skin only for it to regenerate as quickly as it was damaged.
Suddenly and without warning, its arm came flying at Slace, the flesh twisting and bleeding, scratching itself out to reach Slace and attack him.
Slace quickly took out his blade out unsheathing it and swiftly sliced the arm off before it could touch him, only for the arm to regenerate back onto the thing.
Slace asked again, not intimidated or scared.
"Tell me or die, what do you want, and what the hell are you?"
The thing now was talking to itself, or was it talking to another person? Slace couldn't even figure it out, but this guy was deranged.
The man seemed annoyed; whether it was talking to itself or another person, it didn't like it, that's for sure.
The thing then looked over to Slace, lifting its head up and looking at him agitated before speaking loudly and demanding answers.
"Name…? Ki… sei… Kisei."
It continued.
"Who are you?! WHY DO YOU HAVE ENDLAND'S MAGIC?! Why?! WHY?! Who, who… Who? WHO ARE YOU?!"
The thing was repeating words, like it couldn't organize its words properly; the thing even seemed confused.
Slace immediately sensed the thing as a danger, getting his blade ready; as per usual, anyone knowing anything about Slace made him get on edge.
"How do you know Endland's magic…?"
The Thing spoke again, its tone constantly shifting as it now shifted to a more calm tone, twitching its head again and digging its finger into its mass of flesh, only for it to regenerate after.
"Sense… sense it… I… we… sense… sense it… Endland's magic. …"
That's when Slace finally noticed it, its magical presence. It wasn't one person but two; two beings inhabited this body, one being the original, that being Kisei, who seemed to have control but was warped in some way due to circumstances. Slace didn't know of.
And the other… The other was of Endland's origin; that's how Slace figured out what was going on.
"The Endland's… a creature of it is inside you."
Vira was even surprised, but for now she was just staying behind, ready for any unexpected attacks.
Kisei nodded multiple times rapidly; it broke its neck doing so but somehow just twisted it back into place.
"Yes… yes… creature… parasite… inhabit… inhabit me… body… yes. …"
"You? Could… help? Help? You? Rid… parasite?"
Slace seemed confused but tried to assume what Kisei was saying.
"You want help getting rid of the parasite?"
Kisei nodded; compared to the other things, this action was quite normal.
Slace thought for a moment; the Endlands, learning more about them could help him gain better control of them and get his original flames back instead of it always being Endland's fire.
Slace sighed, running his hand down his face. Why did he always have to accept these people? First was a clone, and now was a person with a parasitic relationship with an Endland's creature.
"Fine… just wear a cloak when going out."