“Ye warriors must fight on!
‘Cause the night has just begun!”
“Hmmm… this feels like…” I say and look off into the distance.
“Fukai… Fukai, is something the matter?” Anaea asks as she taps me on the shoulder.
“Huh?” I glance at Anaea before my eyes are pulled back towards the distance. “It’s nothing… lost in thought, I guess.”
“Let’s keep looking,” Anaea says and smiles. “‘Kay?”
“Alright! Back at it!” I announce while running up to the first person I see. I tell him of the adventure we had within the Deep Jungle, along with all the horrible things that were happening. “Will you help me in my cause?” I beseech, desperately hoping the answer will be yes.
The stranger just laughs in my face before dismissing me and walking away.
“Dammit!” I growl upon seeing Maka and Anaea fail as well, getting the same response from the people they tell our story to. Just thinking about what King Al’Jun said earlier that evening causes the burning anger coiled in my chest to tighten further. “I need to keep going!”
***
“…I can’t believe this!” Fukai snaps, his frustration boiling over into his voice as he frantically scratches his head because everyone around us continues to ignore what we have to say. “H-How come they don’t understand the situation? It’s serious!”
“Fukai, it’s no good.” Anaea looks around. “No one,” she sniffs, “believes us.” She wipes the tears from her eyes.
“Umm… maybe we should relocate to a different part of town and try our luck there?” I propose to Fukai as I come up beside him, watching the oblivious people that pass us by.
“Dammit…” Fukai says, putting words to our shared frustration. “What does he even know, anyways?” Fukai brushes me aside, storming off towards the outskirts of Coatlicue. “I’ll show him! For sure!” he declares, his grim determination settling into his expression and hardening his gaze.
“Fukai, wait!” I reach out for him, hesitating at the last second. “…Let’s think about this.” I hold my ears tight against my chest, surprised by my previous assertiveness. “I’m sure we can think of something.”
He pauses for a second.
“Maka, let Fukai go.” Anaea puts her hand on my shoulder. “I think he needs his space.” Anaea looks at Fukai. “So, for the time being, let him go.”
“But, Anaea, you don’t understand…” I say as I push Anaea away. “It’s all true! From the jungle turning into living ash, to us meeting the Oki! It’s simply…!” I try to calm myself down, “…all true.”
“Wait, what are you trying to say?” Anaea says, doubt and worry creeping into her tone.
“Look, Anaea, I know you mean well… but I know how you are.” I walk over to a bench and sit down, needing a moment to keep my emotions in check. “…And even if there’s a big part of you that believes, there is always going to be that little part that’s skeptical,” I wave Anaea over to sit next to me, “and that’s fine.”
Anaea walks over and sits. “So it’s all true? Huh.”
“Listen carefully to what I have to say, Anaea, because every part of this is true.” I begin to go into full detail about our adventures within the Deep Jungle. “It all started when Ramsey and I listened to an idiot… again…”
***
“Dammit… Dammit… Dammit!” I growl, frustrated with myself as I quickly turn a corner. Too distracted by my anger to bother looking where I am going, I collide with a stranger and fall to my butt. “Oof!”
“Hey…! Watch where you’re going, you street rat!” The stranger shouts.
My anger decides that this random person is just the right person to unleash upon, and as I jump to my feet and open my mouth to let them have it, a strange sound cuts off my retort. “Huh?” I utter confusedly instead. Completely ignoring the stranger, I begin to pour my eyes over my surroundings, casting my gaze around hastily. “Was that music I just heard?” Without pausing to think on it, I close my eyes to focus.
“Hey… are you ignoring me?!” The stranger roars in my ear.
“Dammit, man! Can’t you hear the music?!” I snap, a little irritated. “People are so rude.”
“Huh?” The stupefied stranger utters, his confusion evident.
As I begin to focus, I realize I can hear a familiar sound. “That same music…” I look off in the distance. “This way, I think,” I say, quickly sprinting off towards the outskirts of Coatlicue.
I continue to run until I can’t run anymore, long after the music has stopped. “What am I even hoping for?” I query as I fall to my knees, gasping heavily. “Where the hell am I?” I roll onto my back and gaze up at the night sky. “Well… who cares. If nobody’s taking me seriously, then I guess-” I stretch out my hand towards the sky while smiling and abruptly close it to a fist, “-I’ll have to do it myself.”
“An enemy, hidden within,
trying to become their friend.
Ye Warriors, be careful
of the ones that are hidden from men.”
“That music…?” I sit up and look behind me. “Wow!” I find myself on top of a hill overlooking the kingdom of Coatlicue. “It’s the same music that I heard in the jungle.” I look closely at the peak of the next hill over. “It’s her!”
At the top of that hill, the mysterious woman sits playing the shamisen while looking down upon Coatlicue. She is sitting beneath a tree with soft, champagne-pink petals that are dancing in the wind, almost, seemingly, to the music that is playing.
The words of my friends finally sinking in, I try a different tack. “Yo, how’s it hanging?” I say jauntily as I slowly approach her. She continues to play the shamisen. “I don’t remember this tree being here,” I comment upon reaching her. “Huh?” I query, realizing that the air around me has started to get thinner and seems intent upon continuing to get even more so. “What is going on here?”
The mysterious woman stops playing the shamisen for only a brief second, her gaze still upon Coatlicue, then resumes playing.
“Why are you here?” I ask.
“Whenever I visit the kingdom of Coatlicue, I always come to this spot,” the mysterious woman answers, never pausing her playing, “because when the moonlight reflects on the kingdom it feels very… enchanting.”
“Huh?” I say, somewhat befuddled.
“If you don’t stop and take in the beauty… it’s almost like you’re missing out on opportunities in life.”
“I’m not sure I understand you…” I comment while scratching my head.
The mysterious woman continues to play a simple melody. “Don’t worry, young one… it’s lost on most.”
“Oh? …Is that so?” I respond with a small spike of irritation that has me grinding my teeth. “Look… I’ll forget that you just called me an idiot. I just want to know, what were you doing in that ashen jungle? Is all of this your doing? And most of all, …who the heck are you?!” I challenge her, frustration coating my voice.
“Three questions…” The mysterious woman smiles a little. “Hmm… I was pretty sure you would ask more than that.”
“Wait… what?” I say, not sure what is going on.
She starts to play a new, soft melody. “The Deep Jungle is known as a place of healing, so it’s only natural to come here to receive such.” She looks at the night sky. “…But upon arriving, I sensed something sinister, and I, before I knew it, found myself in that ashen jungle. To answer your last question, I represent Death.”
“Huh? …Death?” I respond, wondering what she means.
The mysterious woman stops playing and looks at me with her piercing clear-white eyes. “Tell me, young one, what is your name?”
“I’m Fukai!” I answer brightly.
She smiles, seeming to find my response amusing. “I’m Reaper la Cluse.” Reaper looks back at Coatlicue and resumes playing. “I can sense something inside of you, young Fukai… You have the Gift.”
“A gift? I’m sorry, Reaper, but I’m not falling for that. I’m not an idiot,” I say, still on guard. This mysterious woman that I don’t understand just seems to rub me the wrong way.
Reaper continues to play her simple melody. “A long, long time ago, before this planet even had a name, before the twin moon; this planet was dying.”
“Hey! Are you ignoring me?!” I shout. “And what the damn hell are you talking about?!”
Just then, Reaper’s mood changes; her serene countenance morphing to one of apparent displeasure, completely at odds with the calm music. “Then all of a sudden, The Great Wisdom Tree was born, and once again life began to spring forth onto this planet.” Reaper takes a deep breath. “The planet was soon named Tiesa, and was given twin moons. …And with that a new age was born. An age of savagery. Little is known about this time, except for its name: the Dark Void Age.”
“The Dark Void Age?” I repeat, unsure.
“Yes, a complete void of history. The Dark Void Age. But one thing that was set in stone at the birth of the next age, the Age Of Wisdom, was the twelve tribes gathering together under one banner. With the creation of B…” Reaper smiles. “With the creation of this mystical art as the catalyst driving the Age Of Wisdom to thrive.”
“Huh? Mystical arts?! Twelve kingdoms under one banner? The Age Of Wisdom? …And what is this… gift?!” I ask, more confused than ever.
“I see… they chose to forget, rather than to remember.” Reaper appears like she’s talking to herself rather than addressing me. “This mystical art sprang from The Great Wisdom Tree, giving life to this planet.”
I walk past Reaper, looking at Coatlicue, the jungle, the creatures flying around. “How…?”
“Compound. Mood Melody.” As Reaper says this, she briefly stops playing as her hands move in a quick blur, the soft resonance of her instrument still ringing out. As she resumes playing, she begins changing how she’s playing from softly to a more energetic sound. “You have a great disbelief in this dark history… but at the same time, you know something isn’t right.”
“Huh?” I look at her, confused and wondering how she seems to know what’s in my heart.
“I can sense your confusion,” Reaper observes of me as she smiles. “You see, this is just one of many things one can do with this mystical art: the ability to read someone’s emotions through the vibrations of music.”
I perk up with excitement. “Wow! Awesome! Are you saying I can learn something like that, too?!” I exclaim, jumping up and down with excitement.
“Yes, with enough discipline you can do anything you can imagine,” she states.
“Alright! It seems like hard work, but I’m up for it!” I announce while pumping my fist.
“Listen carefully, young Fukai.” Reaper stops playing her shamisen. “This history is forbidden and has been kept from young generations for a reason… because this mystical art is powerful and can help people when in the right hands, or destroy them when in the wrong hands.”
I nod my head obediently. “Hmmm… you seem to know a lot about what’s going on. I was wondering if-”
“I’m sorry, young Fukai, I’m an outsider to your planet, and as such, cannot intervene with your people’s conflicts.” Reaper looks at me and smiles. “But I can offer you a helpful hint to what you need to do. Listen carefully.” She leans in and starts whispering into my ear.
“Huh?” I nod my head, a little hesitant and uncertain.
“Remember what I told you, young Fukai. If the Deep Jungle has any hope to survive, one must be willing to go the distance,” Reaper says with a smile.
I look towards the ground while smirking. “‘To go the distance,’ you say?” I look at Reaper with a big smirk and put my fists on my hips. “There’s one thing I’m known for and that’s going the distance! Kekekeke!” I declare, laughing.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Reaper smiles.
I look towards the starry night and put my hands behind my head. “Why are you helping me, Reaper?” I ask casually with a smile plastered on my face.
She closes her eyes, smiling. There is now something calming about her that I didn’t see before. “I guess you remind me of someone I know. Someone with great ambition. Someone who follows their dreams, who knows what needs to be done.”
“Sounds like someone I can relate to!” I respond exuberantly.
“Yes, The Boss is something else…” Reaper glances over at Coatlicue. “Until we meet again, young Fukai.” Reaper la Cluse smiles as she changes back to her original style of playing the shamisen and sings,
“Seek out the hidden truth young warriors,
you must not wait until all is lost.
This evil seeks to destroy all it consumes.
Be afraid there might be nothing left:
save thy kingdom before it’s gone.”
I turn back towards the kingdom of Coatlicue. “Wow, I could never get tired of this sight! This is amazing!” I shout from the top of the hill.
Reaper smirks as she plays one last note, disappearing with the tree and its soft champagne pink petals that dance with the wind.
“Young Fukai, you must fight on.”
“Alright!” I turn around and look at the place where the tree was. “Huh? Did I…?” I shake my head. “I’m too tired to think… I– I’m going to bed.” I yawn and begin the long trek home.
