Back on the way to the Menin Gate Bridge to finish the points on the map, I won't lie that my thoughts were only focused on past events. My mind was running wild with questions that were mostly just me self-reflecting;
'was the snake truly just trying to protect its territory? Or was it just a snake sent by these mentors that Kairos keeps mentioning?'
'Maybe I shouldn't had killed it.'
There was too many questions in my head for me to answer myself. If it was protecting its territory, then I obviously wouldn't have harmed it. I was trespassing and that's completely on me.
'I didn't do anything to Gia when she did it—so why did I…'
I kept thinking about it that a few tears rolled down from my face. I wiped them off, placing two of my fingers on my chin to pretend that I'm thinking about something.
I tried to focus on anything else. Phoenix was still unconscious. Her using her ability had taken much of a toll on her. Kairos had to check multiple times to make sure she wasn't dead. (If she was dead, he'll blame me for the consequences.)
Speaking of Kairos, he was walking beside me, testing out the camera I found inside of the bag yesterday. I asked him if he knew what to do with it since I never got to actually use one.
"I'm pretty sure that there was a button to activate these machines.." Kairos muttered. He was staring intensely at the top of the camera, aiming the center of it to his face.
"I think you pressed this button—"
CLICK!
A bright, quick flash went off for a moment. I stared down at Kairos with my expression shaken up as well. Kairos stood frozen; his pupils dilating from the sudden flash. I bent down, gently poking his furry forehead.
"Are you okay?" I asked, continuing to poke his head which became increasingly harder with each tap.
"..y-yeah," he stuttered, handing me the camera with shaky hands.
I chuckled softly. I took the camera, holding it in my hands with curiosity.
"Oh?"
A little piece of paper slides out of the pocket that was connected to the camera. It was a black screen with a white frame around it. I only knew what the object was called: I never truly had the experience to test it or know about further.
My mother forbidden me to do a lot of things, so can you blame me?
'Is this an A-Tier?..'
I thought, now becoming cautious. I couldn't let my guard down just yet. The fight was over with the snake, but there could be another fight just ahead of me. Or perhaps already in my presence.
I pulled out the black piece from the pocket, squinting my eyes at it. I couldn't see anything. What was the purpose of this piece of black paper? I looked down at Kairos. That flash must've blinded him temporarily since I saw him blinking.
'Aw, he looks cute.' From what I saw: Kairos appeared clueless more than I was.
"Mahina, the picture." He pointed out, his speech a bit slurred.
My attention shifted on the piece of blackened paper. My eyebrows raised up, letting out a gasp as I saw the paper lightened up.
The paper was taken at the moment when Kairos pressed the top button. Kairos's face was funny: the way his face backed up against his furry non-existent neck, his left eye was halfway opened and his right eye was widely open.
PFF—
"Ahahaha!" I laughed out loud, knowing that I'm gonna keep this picture with me at all times.
Kairos stared up at me. His expression only made me laugh harder. His eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth in a straight line with his eyes narrowed. He shook his head, continuing to walk ahead as I kept laughing at the lightened up paper.
'Ohhh, is this why my mother didn't want me to experiment with a camera?'
I thought. I let out a soft sigh gazing back at the picture. Although it was funny as heck, I was now thinking about how this camera will hold the memories of my journey. This will be the first memory… titled:
'Mahina's companion; flash bang!'
I caught up with Kairos with a snarky smirk that was slapped across my face. I knew he founded it funny too but he was too much of a loser that he didn't wanna admit it. I saw that smile he was desperately trying to hide.
Oh these were the types of moments. Those type of moments that would distract me from bad ones…
…however, there was still some questions I need answered.
"Hey, Kairos," I called his name. Why did my voice sound like that?
He lets out a soft "hm?"
"Those mentors you mentioned hours ago in that cave," I started off, my eyes flickering down at him. "Can you explain to me what and who they are? You know, phenomenon to phenomenon."
Kairos scoffs. He stopped in his tracks to look up at me, me stopping alongside him.
"I forgot that you are not so intelligent about the job you picked, huh?" He says. My eyebrow twitched.
'You brat.'
"The mentors are people that were assigned to you. Since you were a phenomenon from another world, or wherever, there was a contract that you needed to read thoroughly and signed the conditions (which I know you probably didn't do.)"
Yeah, I didn't. I only read the second page. I didn't even sign it either…
"That contract also included on what is a mentor; mentors aren't gods, goddesses or other phenomenons—they are simply people who are assigned to guide you as well."
My eyes sparkled.
"So like a mysterious tutor?" I said, smiling widely at the idea.
"Ew.." Kairos muttered. "Something like that."
'What do you mean "ew" you pig?!'
The idea of having a mentor that doesn't identify as a god, goddess, or another phenomenon, but rather just a guide to help me achieve my goals throughout completing missions, giving me new items and stats.
Calling them a "mysterious mentor" sounded more exciting than just "mentor!"
But, I forgot Kairos forbidden me to have fun.
"Well, whatever. I'm sticking with my title." I said, crossing my arms as I began to walk.
I needed to complete this first before I do anything else. I had a pretty sharp memory, so recalling where the points were jotted down around this area wasn't a problem for me.
The problem was finding where the heck they are.
What a pain!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Huff.."
The amount of times I had to climb up cliffs with these two shoved in the bag…it felt like I was carrying a sack of weights and rocks.
My cheeks were burning up. Losing a few chunks of my clothes due to the fight earlier, I was embarrassed by showing too much of my skin. The rips were mostly located on the sides of my legs and shirt.
My hair was covered in dirt and debris, so my roots were all tangled and frizzy. The small cuts that were caused by the razor-sharp scales from that snake were dried up, leaving small trails of blood to stick onto my skin.
My arm flew over the edge of the cliff I was climbing. I used all of my strength to pull myself up. I flopped down on the grass, huffing with beads of sweat dripping from my forehead to my nose. Kairos climbed out of the bag unfazed.
"That creature has woken up." Kairos said, talking about Phoenix.
"I..I-I knew that.." I couldn't hardly breathe and he was worried about Phoenix…at least check on my heart!
I used the support of my knee to lift myself up. I wiped the sweat of my forehead groaning, noticing Kairos was already ahead of me.
"Do you e-even know where you're going?!" I called out, limping but trying to catch up.
"Yes. Do you forget that you're like a rambling manic?" Kairos shot back, turning around showing his sharp, little fangs. "You kept talking about it the moment you founded me!"
'I wanna deny that, but it was true.'
Droop…
The points that were jotted down on the map was a huge, grassy area with one ditch (circled in red with the word written down.) I'm assuming that ditch was hoarding treasure, jewelry, or another kind of material that could be anything.
'I want it to be jewelry..'
I thought to myself. I really miss my golden bracelets and rings..
"The ditch should be around here." I said, walking down a steep hill.
"Well, where is it?" Kairos said, his head turning to side to side. "I don't see it."
Why does he have this much of an attitude now? Was he THAT mad about me laughing at the picture, or launching him in the air to make him reach Gia's territory?
Well, now hearing it myself, it did sounded bad…
"..Look, Kairos, I'm sorry." I said, sighing. At least I could do was apologize. I didn't wanna break his trust just like that—but what was I supposed to do? He couldn't fly so I helped him! You guys would've done the same, right?
"Aboutttt?" Kairos dragged, waiting for a more detailed apology.
"…about laughing at your picture."
"And?"
"…throwing you up in the air."
"Not forgiven."
I smacked my lips. I never met someone so petty before; besides some gods and goddesses who were known for their pettiness. What I meant is that I never seen the same phenomenon before who had this type of behavior.
And he was the only phenomenon I know.
"Well, whatever. I tried." I gave up.
"Try harder." He shot back.
'This dang brat!'
No wonder why he didn't wanna take this job, look at him! Do you hear what he's saying?! He can be the most nicest person or the absolute devil. I will never know what personality he'll choose!…
…but, right now, he's valid for his feelings.
Though it's annoying dealing with this, someone launching another person in the air wasn't a thing you typically hear. I think he must've been more mad at that than at the picture.
I've spent too much of my life understanding both sides of someone's story, studying on how brains react differently when facing conflict or emotional turmoil.
A person or thing arguing with another person or thing. You hear person's A story to understand how they feel and what they think, then you hear person's B story on how they feel and what they think.
'My story is that I had to launch Kairos in the air in order for Gia to help me tame the snake.'
'Kairos's story is that there could've been an easier way to execute that, instead of putting Phoenix AND him in danger more than they already were.'
Both of our feelings are not in the wrong because they both have a reason behind them. However, both parties still need to understand that side of their story. No matter how small or big the issue is, or how small or big the reason is.
'Yet, but then again, it's not an excuse to act petty and not at least try to talk it out. I think having a mature and honest discussion would've worked.'
I shrugged. This was mostly my personal opinion and pulling from what I've learned…if Kairos thinks otherwise, I wouldn't care that much. Besides, I think I understand his character. He showed me his vulnerable side once but now he'll probably won't in a couple of weeks.
'Such a complicated person…I like that.'
Ding!
-AN UNIDENTIFIED PERSON IS IMPRESSED BY YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND AGREES WITH EVERYTHING YOU STATED.-
-YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE HAS INCREASED TO 8%.-
'Years of emotional studying for situations like this. 8% is quite a huge number, in my opinion.'
So, no, I'm not mad at Kairos for acting this (maybe a little.) he is a child after all, I think.
'Wait, how did my mentor know I was talking about this?'
"Hey!" Kairos pointed at something. "A ditch!"
My thoughts were interrupted, shifting my focus to the ditch. I ran down to the hill quickly.
The ditch wasn't that big as I thought it would be, but I knew that it just had to be something. I didn't have anything to dig up the dirt, I'm not using my hands because my hands are sore from climbing up rocky surfaces.
"We need to find something to dig up the dirt." I muttered.
Obviously, there was no shovels. We needed to improvise. I whipped my head around to find a rock. I reached out to it, placing the side of the rock to dig it.
Since Kairos was being useless, I had to dig and do the work. My hands were aching but I had to push through it. The soil was sweeping between my fingers, going underneath my fingernails. I can feel my palm itching and aching.
'Already completed my 3.1 mission…I haven't even unlocked 3.2.'
My eyes started to water. Not out of frustration, but out of pain.
'And I'm already looking so beaten up. Like I was mauled by a huge hare or something..'
CRUMBLE…
?
I finished by digging the small amount of dirt by using my hands.
"Are you serious."
"NOW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
All for this…for one paper that says "what are you doing…"
"Oh my stars…." I mumbled, covering my face with my dirty hands.
"WHAT?!" Kairos exclaimed. He grabbed the paper, ripping it to shreds. "ALL FOR THIS FOR SOME TINY, INSIGNIFICANT PAPER?!"
Kairos was in rage more than I was. Instead, I was in disbelief. It is what it is. I removed my hands away from my face, the soil stuck onto my cheeks. Kairos groaned and cursed under his breath.
"Wherever you found that map from, get rid of it!" Kairos demanded, frustratedly walking up to my bag.
Phoenix was just minding her business. How are you so calm, you baby Ailouros?
"Ouuu, I swear! Whoever wrote this shit, they'll meet my—"
"HEY! YOU WITH THE FURRY FRIEND OVER THERE?"
Kairos stopped. Both of our heads turned to where the voice was coming from.
It was a girl. Her hand was holding the hilt of a what seem to be a Claymore. The sun was causing her front-side to appear shadowy…
But, I can see her brown eyes shine this type of golden hue.
The girl slowly aimed the tip of her claymore down at us, tilting her head with her golden-brown eyes locked on us.
"What are you?"