Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 10

Another long one! Looks like Lykou and Kuna are in a pretty rough spot. But hope isn’t lost yet!

-Llox

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Lykou groaned faintly as he finally woke up. His body ached and his memory was hazy. At first, the last thing he remembered was the meal the night before- he did remember the ‘hazenectar’ and suspected he might be a bit hungover. As he sat up, he carefully and narrowly opened his eyes, cautious of how much light he was exposing himself to. Fortunately, as it turned out, that wasn’t too much of a concern- the only light to speak of was coming through a narrow window at the top of the wall next to him. “Mmm… hope you’re doing better than I am, Ku,” he mumbled softly and turned to where he expected to find his friend laying next to him. “I thought we had a much nicer room than-….”

He trailed off when noticed two things- first, his companion was nowhere in sight. Second, the room he was in clearly wasn’t a place for welcome guests, seeing as how its only entrance was a solid row of bars apparently made from some kind of thick, reddish-gray material. It was like a cage, but there was no visible latch or hinge for part of it to open up. As alarming as that was, he was even more worried about Kuna’s absence.

With adrenaline pushing away his grogginess, he rushed over to the bars and grabbed hold of them. They were cold and impossible to bend. There was a small gap at the bottom, near the middle, no more than half a foot high. He tried bend down and lift up on the bar at the bottom, but it wouldn’t budge even slightly. He tried peering down the hallway that his cell seemed to be at the end of, but saw no sign of another person. More light came through the windows in the three other cells past his, and there was a door at the end of the hall with what looked like daylight shining under it.

“Hello?!” he cried out, then began trying to tug at the bars some more. “What the hell is going on??” Slowly, his memories started creeping back and he grew more agitated and panicked. He gave up on pulling, and started trying to ram his body against the bars, hoping to jostle them out of position. Fuck, where’s Kuna?! He’s probably in danger! he thought to himself. I’ve got to get out of here!

A few minutes later, the door at the end of the hall swung open and one of the red cloaks came walking down the hall with a bowl and cup in hand. “Shut up and calm down, outsider,” she said briskly.

“Where the hell is my friend?! What’s going on here??!”

“Your ‘friend’ is a demon consort. His corruption has probably clouded your mind from being around him. Now settle down so I can give you your breakfast.”

“Fuck that! Kuna’s not a damn ‘demon consort’, you’ve been lied to!” Lykou insisted, gripping the bars tightly and scowling. “If anything, it’s that damn ‘Speaker’ of yours that’s working with some kind of demon! He attacked us!”

“Mhmm. Riiiight. If you hadn’t spent who-knows-how-long around that demon buddy friend of yours, I’d say you’re a heretic, but you can’t really be entirely blamed for your actions right now.”

“DAMMIT! Kuna isn’t working with any fucking demons! It’s the LAST thing he’d do!” The konuul angrily pounded his fist on the bars, ignoring the subsequent pain. “Where the hell did you take him?! He better not be hurt!”

The guard sighed. “Look, sit down and let me give you your food. Hopefully it’ll help you clear your head.”

“I’m not fucking eating until you bring me to Kuna!!”

“Ugh. Whatever. Starve for all I care,” the guard said, setting the tray down on the ground. “I’ll come back and see if you’re more reasonable later. Hopefully you’ll be a little more rational after he’s purged and the demonic influence over you fades.”

Lykou’s eyes widened and his panic ticked up a notch or two. “P… purged? What does that mean?? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!”

“He’s being taken up to the peak for purification, obviously. If he survives, you two will be taken to the prison camp on the other side of the mountain for a while,” the guard said, turning to walk back down the hall. “If not, well… you will, anyway.”

Lykou froze in place, then let out a loud snarl right before slamming himself against the bars with an intense ferocity that made the guard jump and look back in surprise. “LET ME OUT! LET ME THE FUCK OUT RIGHT NOW!!!” he shouted angrily, with intense desperation in his voice. When the guard turned to continue walking, he started repeatedly slamming into and beating against the bars with every bit of his strength.

“Eesh, you’ve got it bad,” the guard commented, rolling her eyes, as she left, closing the door behind her.

Up on the window sill, a certain colorful bird watched the konuul bruise and bloody his already cut-up and injured body in his increasingly desperate attempts to break out. After a moment of contemplation, the bird flew off.

*****

Kuna awoke in a similar manner. His eyes opened slowly and he winced against the dim light in his holding cell, then he rubbed them and slowly sat up. He yawned a bit, but immediately realized something was wrong. He didn’t remember falling asleep in such a stark, unfriendly-looking room. He looked over and saw that Lykou was missing, and that he was locked up in some kind of cage made from an unfamiliar material, sitting inside a large, round room. Several gaps in the domed ceiling let light in, and the only door looked fairly heavily reinforced, with no handle on the inside.

His heart immediately began racing as his situation sank in and his memories came flooding back. He tried prying at the bars, but quickly gave up when he realized how solid and unshakable they were. After taking a few deep breaths to try and calm himself a bit, he tried reaching out with his magical senses. The room was completely devoid of any plantlife he could manipulate- in fact, it was almost completely empty altogether. The floor, walls, and ceiling all appeared to be made from smooth, solid stone with very thin gaps between sections. It was also dry, and slightly cooler than he’d gotten used to on the islands.

“Hello??” he eventually called out. “Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!”

A few moments later, the door opened and a raptuvan individual stepped inside wearing a solid black cloak. “Good morning, wicked one.”

“Wick-… what??”

“My name is Mogni. I have been told you go by ‘Kuna’, yes?”

“Y-yes… w-what’s going on?” Kuna asked anxiously, then furrowed his brows and glared at the stranger. “And where the fuck is Lykou?”

“Your little… companion is in a cell back near the shrine campus. But he is of no concern to you. Right n-”

“Bullshit! Take me to him!”

“You are in no position to make demands, demon collaborator.”

Kuna blanched, then pounded a fist on the bars of his cage. “Oh come on! I’m not a fucking ‘demon collaborator’!”

“Your lies are pointless, vile one,” Mogni said, walking around the cage as he spoke. “You will be taken to be cleansed in Tuimana’s flames as soon as the Speaker is awake and recovered from the injuries you inflicted on him.”

“Infl- HE’S THE-” Kuna sputtered, then grabbed his head and groaned. “Dammit, he’s the one working with a demon! HE attacked US! You’re all being duped!”

“Enough heresy. You attacked him at the ceremony last night, there were many witnesses. I suggest you begin praying to Tuimana for forgiveness now. If you are fortunate, he may be able to separate you from whatever demonic force you’ve bound your soul to.”

“What witnesses?! He killed a bunch of your own people and knocked the rest out with his magic!”

“Silence! Your blasphemy repulses me.”

“You can’t just-”

The door opened up again and a few other individuals in dark cloaks entered- followed by Kairangi himself. At that same moment, unnoticed by anyone else, Sunshine poked his head into one of the skylights, observing the scene intently. Unlike his previous observations, this time was different- he had a faint halo around his body, and after he settled into position, his eyes had a strange, faint yellow glow to them. And somehow, despite being in the path of the sun’s light, he didn’t cast a shadow on the floor below. He watched the scene below him unfold, tracking the Order’s leader with every step he made towards the cage, and otherwise remained perfectly still.

“YOU!” Kuna shouted, gritting his teeth and glaring at the Speaker. He conjured up his magic and began shaking with anger.

“And just what are you going to do with that?” the Speaker demanded, chuckling. “In case you hadn’t noticed this room is pretty barren.”

The sereva seethed and searched around for any root, grass blade, or anything else he could sense, no matter how far outside the building’s walls. Finally, he managed to find and start subtly pouring life energy into weed he sensed growing at the edge of his perception, outside whatever building he was being kept in. He figured if he could just secretly grow it enough, it could slip into the room and expand around the edges before being noticed, and by then he’d have a fighting chance- or so he hoped. However, he needed to buy time. “Great job fooling everyone, asshole. How’d you manage to trick so many people?”

“Such projection. You’re the deceiver here, my friend,” Kairangi said, slowly walking towards the cage. “And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

Kuna did his best to mask his panic and keep up an aggressive front. “What, staring at your ugly face? Believe me, it’s only because I wish I had something to impale it on.”

“I mean trying to draw that weed in. Remember who you’re talking to.”

The sereva froze up for a moment, then scowled deeper. “I don’t know what you’re-”

“Your lies need work, kid,” the Speaker said as he finally came to a stop in front of the cage. “And I suggest you stop… for your friend’s sake.”

Kuna’s eyes widened, then, after a moment, he dismissed his magic as tears poked out of the corners of his eyes. “...what do you mean?”

Kairangi stared at him a moment and rubbed his chin, then waved the others off. “Leave us. I wish to speak to this curse-weaver alone.” Kuna winced and grit his teeth at the term curse-weaver.

“Yes sir,” Mogni said, then led the others out.

Once they were gone, Kairangi grinned at Kuna and lowered his voice. “Sleep well?”

Kuna spat at him, though the surprisingly agile old raptuva managed to dodge it even at such close range.

“I’ll get to the point, then. You’re a potent magic user in your own right. I’ll grant you that you’re quite impressive, even. I have a use for someone with such powers. At the peak of this mountain there is something important that you can use those powers on, which is important to my own goals.”

The sereva arched a brow. “And those are?”

“Suffice to say Tuimana’s hungry and you can help me feed him.”

“Gee, I didn’t know ‘gods’ ate.”

“Indeed. Most spirits don’t. Certain ones do, however. When they grow tired of the status quo and seek to expand their power and domain. Something I can… empathize with. A perfectly understandable desire, don’t you think?”

“Not when it involves working with fucking demons and hurting people.”

The Speaker chuckled. “‘Demon’… Such terms are a matter of opinion.”

“My ass. How many people have you killed?”

“Who said anything about killing anyone?” Kairangi said, feigning ignorance, then chuckled again as he stalked around the cage. “Like I said before, spilled blood is a small nibble for him. No, the people of this island are, by and large, better suited as servants than meals. Some may need to be silenced occasionally, but otherwise, why waste potential workers and devout believers? What he really needs can only come from gifted individuals such as yourself. Which is why you’re going to accompany me and my inner circle up there, where we’ll perform a little ritual. And you’re not going to give us any problems. And do you know how I know you’re going to be so cooperative and helpful?”

“Because you’re a deranged, evil lunatic.”

Again, the old raptuva chuckled. “I’m sure you remember last night well, yes?”

“All too well. Fuck you.”

“And I’m sure you remember how I took you two down.”

“Yeah. Dirty trick. What of it?”

Kairangi chuckled. “Let’s just say I make sure even my prisoners are… well fed. Including your little friend. He’s been given a nice, filling breakfast by now that I… made sure to have a special hand in making.”

Kuna stared at him, trembling in a mixture of rage, disgust, and anxiety as tears welled in his eyes. “…don’t you dare...”

“Don’t worry. As long as you cooperate, he’ll be safe and sound. I’ll even let him go when we’re done. Otherwise… well, I’m sure you have a good imagination.”

Kuna ground his teeth and continued glaring at him for a minute, then slumped down to his knees and buried his face in his hands. “F-fine…”

“Excellent! We’ll be leaving shortly. I’ll have some breakfast brought t-”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

Kuna lifted his head again and glared at him with reddened, tearful yet angry eyes. “I’m not eating another damn thing you give me.”

“Suit yourself. It’s a long hike, though,” the Speaker said with a smirk, then turned to leave. “Remember, no funny business! Your powers are impressive, but mine have much farther reach. Blood is powerful like that.” He laughed and walked out, leaving the sereva to stew in misery.

“...s-stay safe Lykou,” Kuna muttered softly to himself a few minutes later, as a few tears painted the dirt underneath him. “Whatever happens to me… you better get the fuck out of here when you get the chance…”

Up above him, the glow faded from Sunshine’s eyes, and he quickly and silently flew off.

*****

“Get up, recruit. You’ve slept enough.”

Kalei jumped in surprise as he was abruptly jerked out of a sound sleep by the Keeper’s loud, commanding voice. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then looked around. She’d taken the blanket off of him and bundled it into a basket, and was in the process of gather up the one from the other bed. He yawned a bit as he got unsteadily to his feet. “R-right, sorry, um… th-thanks for letting m-”

“Yeah yeah, now go on. You’re due to meet up with a new handler, so go get breakfast and pack up.”

“Wh- new handler?” Kalei asked as he was nudged out of the room.

“Yes. You’re to meet them down in the first village down the east yellow trail.”

The recruit was curious what happened to the previous group he was traveling with, but decided against asking- anything to get him away from Tane was a blessing. “Um. C-can I at least visit the outsiders before I leave? I wanted t-”

“No, not now. Maybe you can visit them at the prison camp after the purification rites, assuming they survive. It’s on that side of the mountain anyway, and you have a few days before your new handler is set to arrive.”

Kalei stopped and looked back at her with a confused, still half-awake expression. “W-wait what?” he said, rubbing his head again. “Purification, prison camp?”

“Yes, they were found to be demon collaborators,” the Keeper said, shoving him to continue down the hall. “No surprise really, what with the one’s obvious dark magic and all. Now move!”

Kalei looked somewhat bewildered as he reluctantly continued walking. “Really?? But… they seemed-”

“Enough. This isn’t your place, recruit. Get breakfast, get packed, then scram,” she insisted, then slammed the shrine’s front door behind him after he was pushed out.

With some uncertainty, Kalei slowly walked over to the meal house, letting his thoughts churn in his sleepy mind. He could faintly hear some muffled, angry, and pained cries coming from a building in the distance, past the meal hall. It made him uncomfortable, to say the least. But he knew better than to pry too much, especially given that he wasn’t even supposed to be there at his rank.

After eating breakfast- inside, to avoid hearing the disturbing sounds from the smaller building a short way away- he quickly pulled together enough supplies to make it down to the village in question, then headed out. He didn’t even bother getting tent materials. He figured he’d push through until he got there, and he knew he was reasonably safe on the mountain if he changed his mind. Either way, he didn’t feel like he’d be in the mood for setting up a tent if it came down to it.

He should have felt vindicated. After all, his initial suspicions had been confirmed. Somehow, that didn’t feel nearly as good as he would have expected, though. In fact, he felt downright depressed, much to his surprise. Sure, he didn’t get credit for anything, but he was more or less used to that. Go figure the first people to really treat me decently in a while turn out to be corrupted.

After hiking down for a while, he was startled as something swooped down right past his head, then flew in a circle around him before finally landing on his head. “Hey, what the-?! Get off, you stupid bird!”

Sunshine pecked at his head a few times, nimbly avoiding his annoyed swats and attempts to dislodge him. The bird hopped off after a moment and landed on the branch of a nearby tree sapling.

Kalei grumbled and went to grab a stick to throw at the bird, but then stopped when he got a better look at his avian assailant. “Oh, it’s… you.” He sighed, then dropped the stick and leaned back against the nearest tree, sipping some water from a container at his side. “Turns I was right about them, y’know.” He picked at his cloak a bit. “For all the good it does me.”

Sunshine squawked angrily and flapped his wings in irritation. “No!”

The raptuva rolled his eyes. “Look, it actually… doesn’t make me happy either. Those guys seemed nice after I got a chance to actually talk to them. But smarter and more experienced people than me saw through that, and that’s all there is to it.”

The bird clicked and whistled a bit, shuffling back and forth on his perch. “Kuna, Lykou, not demon! Squaaawk!”

“Oh what do you know?? You’re just a remnant of a lost god’s tribe,” the raptuva retorted and straightened back up to leave.

But that comment set the bird off. Sunshine swooped over and began viciously pecking and clawing at him. His movement was supernaturally fast, and Kalei’s panicked flailing and shouting did nothing to deter him.

“Alright alright alright! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” the raptuva plead as he hunkered down into a ball on the ground.

Sunshine relented and returned to a perch a short distance away, glaring at him.

Kalei slowly got back to his feet and winced at the scratches covering his body- which were on top of the ones that were still lingering from his fall out of the tree the previous day. “Eesh. Why even bother getting offended at that? Not like my word means shit anyway.”

The bird stared at him with a strange half-lidded, exasperated expression that definitely didn’t fit a mundane animal. After a moment, he spread his wings again and clicked at the raptuva. “Follow.”

“Huh?” Kalei asked, surprised. Before he could think of an objection, though, the bird swooped back over towards him and began flying around him. Fearing another attack, he lifted his hands and winced. “Okay okay, I’ll follow you, just don’t start again…”

The bird led him on a complicated, meandering path through the forest. Being so far off the trail, the terrain was quite difficult, and on multiple occasions he had to climb down dangerous, steep cliffs. He stumbled and hurt himself a few more times along the way, but he didn’t want to risk upsetting the supernatural bird with the surprisingly sharp claws and beak. In any case, he was getting used to more general aches and pains.

Finally, he ended up in a clearing with a strange, flat, disc-shaped stone with a slightly reflective, sparkling surface. It was mostly covered in various vines and moss, and as soon as Sunshine landed, he began picked and tugging at the plants covering it. Surprised and fascinated by the strange sight, Kalei knelt down and began helping him uncover it. When it was completely exposed to the sunlight, the shimmery reflection made him step back and shield his eyes.

Sunshine then flew over to a cliff’s face nearby and began similarly tugging at the vines and such covering a large portion of it. Perplexed, Kalei nonetheless stepped over to help uncover what turned out to be a surprisingly smooth and flat facade of dark grey, almost black stone. Once it was clear, Sunshine zipped back over to the round disc and flapped his wings at Kalei. “Move. Watch.”

“O...kay…?” the raptuva stepped back to the side and watched the bird move center of the disc.

Once in position, Sunshine turned to face the cliff and spread his wings. That’s when things got strange- a beam of sunlight suddenly began to intensify on the disc until the light was almost unbearably bright, causing Kalei to cover his eyes again until it faded. When it did, he looked again and was stunned to see that the bird appeared to be almost entirely made of shimmering, brilliant light. Once he was sure to have the raptuva’s attention, Sunshine turned back to the cliff. A beam of light projected from his eyes, which transformed and twisted in strange ways until it manifested into an image, soon accompanied by sound when the bird opened his mouth.

As the raptuva gawked at the sight, the recent scene that occurred between Kairangi and Kuna played out again right in front of him. By the time the scene ended, his eye was twitching slightly as the light faded away. He slowly turned to stare in disbelief a the bird, who had returned to normal, albeit looking somewhat wobbly and unsteady from the event. “Y-… was-… did that r-really happen??”

Sunshine just gave him a withering look, then brought a wing to his face in an exasperated manner.

“Shit… oh, fuck! This is… how did…” Kalei muttered as he slumped to his knees, clutching his head. It briefly occurred to him that the bird might in fact be a demonic agent trying to deceive him, but that wouldn’t make much sense- even by Order doctrine, demons were selfish beings that weren’t likely to go out of their way to help even other demons and their minions. “It’s… the whole thing is a lie…?? The Speaker…”

The bird squawked at him impatiently. “Kuna! Lykou!”

“Oh shit, right! Fuck! Whatever he’s got planned for Kuna can’t be good! But… shit, what can we do?” He groaned and brought his hands to his face. “Nobody’s going to believe me, let alone let me drag them out here so you can do that… that, whatever you just did so they can see for themselves.”

Sunshine squawked and whistled at him urgently. “Lykou! Kuna! Free!”

“Hah! Right. Have we met? I’m a useless fuck-up. What the hell am I supposed to do??”

The bird glared at him for a moment, then looked down and appeared to think for a minute. Then he rolled his eyes and let out some semblance of a sigh. Suddenly, his eyes screwed up awkwardly and he opened his mouth. What came out was more than mere mimicry- it was not only Kuna’s words, but in his voice, albeit sounding like it was coming through a tunnel. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve got more potential than you know. Sometimes it just takes a while to find your chance to shine.” Once the words finished, he closed his mouth and shook his head, again wavering slightly. He looked decidedly uncomfortable for a minute.

Again, Kalei looked up and found himself staring wide-eyed at the bird. “...fuck, are there any other weird tricks you’re hiding?” he asked, then arched a brow and smirked faintly. “And how often do you go around spying on peoples’ conversations anyway?”

The bird stared at him with an exhausted and annoyed expression, making only a single click in response.

Kalei stared off into space for a minute, then took a deep breath and got back to his feet, somewhat shakily. “...fuck it. It’s worth trying, if nobody else is going to do it.” he said, then cracked his neck and straightened up with a frown. “Besides, if I’m just going to be a screw up all my life anyway, I might as well go out big, right? Not like I have much to lose. Sure as hell not worth going on working for a lie.”

*****

Kalei finally arrived back at the edge of the woods near the shrine. He paused there and sank down behind a tree, trying to work out how he was going to approach the situation while he caught his breath. He’d hurried back as fast as he could, and would need a minute to recover anyway. When he was able to stand again, he took a sip of water, then peeked around the tree. Fortunately, there weren’t many guards patrolling the area that he could see. Still, he knew wherever they were keeping Lykou would almost certainly have someone standing watch. And he knew that if he was spotted wearing a recruit’s cloak, it’d mean trouble.

“Shit, I can’t let them see me in this… I need a higher rank’s cloak.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then glanced over at Sunshine, who’d landed nearby. “I remember there were a bunch in that storage room, but there’s no way I’ll get past the Keeper without her spotting me… is there any way you can distract her?”

The bird glanced over at the large structure and seemed to ponder it over for a minute. He then clicked and whistled before taking off and flying over to one of the upper windows.

“Hey wait up- ugh, guess this is it, then,” Kalei muttered, then looked around to make sure the path was clear before he started quickly sneaking across the open space between the treeline and the entrance to the shrine. When he reached the door, he waited for a minute and cracked it open when he started hearing a commotion inside.

Peeking inside, he saw the Keeper having a fit trying to shoo the bird away as he kept swooping down, picking up and then dropping various smaller decorations all over the main chamber. With her back turned, he saw his chance and slipped inside as quietly as possible, then hurried down the side hallway. As soon as he made it to the storage room, he started sifting through a pile of cloaks until he found what he was looking for. Obviously, he didn’t want to go for one too high rank, lest he draw too much attention and get in even more trouble if he was caught. Initiate would still be low enough for potential trouble, so he went for seeker, the next rank up. It’d be enough that he could walk around the shrine without too much attention, and in the off chance someone who knew him better spotted him, he could hopefully pass it off as having been promoted for his part it in finding the outsiders- although skipping a rank was obviously a huge stretch, it was somewhat less of one than skipping three or four.

After he swapped out his cloak, he paused by the spot where he’d placed Lykou and Kuna’s belongings. He wanted to return their things to them, but he knew he couldn’t exactly carry all that by himself, let alone without being highly conspicuous. Still, he thought he should grab something at least, so he dug around quickly. He spotted Lykou’s knife and, after marveling over its appearance and wondering about its material for a moment, he slipped it into his bag. The waterskin and jug were too large, so he left them. He spotted the hatchet and slipped it into his bag as well. He ultimately didn’t see anything else that’d be immediately critical, so he got up to leave- but that’s when he spotted their bracers sitting on a shelf by themselves. He figured it couldn’t hurt, so he packed them away as well. He considered seeing what else might be useful to have from the storage room, but ultimately decided he’d used up more than enough time already.

He peeked out of the storage room door and saw that the Keeper was busy straightening up a mess that Sunshine had made of the area around the statue. Unlit candles and torn up flowers littered the ground, but the bird himself was nowhere to be seen. “Shit… now wh-”

He heard a faint click from the room across the way, whose door was wide open like the rest of the empty guest rooms. Through the open slatted window, he spotted Sunshine sitting on the other side, peering in at him. He glanced back down the hall briefly to make sure it was still clear before hurrying across to the other room. “Can you make another distraction? She’s bound to catch me if I try to sneak past her now,” he pointed out.

Sunshine responded by picking at the slats in the window a bit. “Here. Break.”

“What? No! That’ll make too much noi-” the raptuva began to object, but paused when he noticed what the kikomanu was picking at. Apparently, part of the frame holding the slats in place was loose. The bird’s tugging wasn’t quite strong enough to pull it loose, but he realized it could probably dislodged with much less noise than breaking it. “Huh, good eye…” He reached over and tried helping to pry it loose. It budged a bit, but it was still stiff and he was worried about it loudly snapping if he pushed too hard. “Hang on, let me try something.”

Sunshine released his grip and stepped sideways, watching him curiously. Kalei pulled out Kuna’s hatchet and wedged it under the edge, then used it to start leveraging it bit by bit, breaking up whatever crude substance had been used to apparently glue it in place against the stone wall that surrounded it. Finally, it popped loose and Sunshine jumped off the edge, flapping his way over to another nearby windowsill. Kalei winced as the wooden frame clattered on the ground outside. A quick peek outside assured him that nobody was near enough to have noticed it however, so he quickly climbed through and placed the wooden frame back in place as best he could. A few of the slats had cracked a bit, but they wouldn’t be noticeable from a distance, much to his relief.

After looking around for a moment, he straightened himself up and took a deep breath. “Right… act natural Kalei,” he told himself, then gulped. “And try not to fuck it up.”

He started walking in the direction he’d previously heard Lykou’s muted shouts earlier that morning, only to pause when Sunshine landed on his shoulder. He glanced around anxiously then whispered to the bird, “You better stick to the rooftops for now, er… you’re Sunshine, aren’t you?”

The bird bobbed his head and flapped his wings a bit.

“Well Sunshine, I can’t promise the others will hold the same respect for you, if they even remember what you are at all. So you better try and stay out of sight a bit.”

Sunshine clicked a few times and looked around, then took to the air again. “Follow. To Lykou.”

“Oh, you know where he is? Great!”

The raptuva walked between the large buildings, trying to avoid meeting the gaze of the few Order members he passed. Luckily, none of them paid him any mind, instead focusing on whatever daily task they were involved in. Finally, they arrived at a shorter building with a very bored looking Watcher standing guard out front. He assessed the situation for a moment, then got an idea and slipped away again.

Confused, Sunshine swooped down in front of him, giving him a look. Kalei shushed him and glanced around, then whispered, “I have a plan to distract the guard. Just hang tight and keep on eye on Lykou, I’ll be back in a minute.”

After eyeing him for a moment, the bird flew back off. Kalei made his way to the meal hall and peeked inside. It was a bit early for lunch, so there was only one other raptuva in the building at the time, doing some early meal prep. Luckily, he seemed to be seeker rank, so hopefully he wouldn’t ask any troublesome questions. Without a word, Kalei slipped inside and made his way to one of the storage closets at the back of the kitchen. He dug around a bit and came out with a plate of dried meat and a cup. After making sure the other seeker still wasn’t looking his direction, he slipped around the corner to where some large wax gourds were stored. He uncorked one of them and began pouring some hazenectar into the cup.

He nearly jumped when a voice spoke up behind him. “Uh… what are you doing?”

He looked up to see the seeker had walked up behind him, and was giving him a suspicious look.

Kalei frantically thought for a moment, then quickly straightened up and re-corked the gourd. “Uhh- Th-the Keeper wants lunch early,” he quickly explained, doing his best to maintain a straight face, then shrugged. “Who am I to argue, you know?”

The seeker rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Don’t forget the fruit. She gets grouchy if you forget the pineapple,” he said then gestured to the table around the corner. “Luckily I just finished cutting one up, so feel free to take some of that.”

“Right! Thanks,” Kalei replied with a nervous grin, then quickly went to grab it up.

“I don’t recognize you, you new up here?”

Kalei fidgeted anxiously and avoided meeting the seeker’s gaze as he collected some pineapple to bring with the meat. “Yep. Just promoted in fact.”

“Oh yeah? Heh, congrats. Guess you’re looking for a blessing at tonight’s ceremony huh? Hope it goes better than last night. You hear what happened?”

“Er, n-no, can’t say I have….”

“We had a couple strangers here! From outside the islands!” the seeker excitedly explained. “They went to the ceremony, but then they attacked the Speaker! Turns out they were demon collaborators. Luckily the Speaker took care of them. They’re up for purification today.”

“Ehehe… wow,” Kalei said uncomfortably. “That’s pretty crazy…”

“Yeah. Just goes to show what a messed up world it is out there, y’know?”

“S-sure does… er, I better get going before the Keeper gets irritated though.”

“Oh yeah, good point. See you around, er- what was your name by the way?”

“Errr,” Kalei panicked and struggled to think of a made up name. He ultimately gave up- at this point, it was only a matter of time before he was considered an enemy of the Order anyway. “K-Kalei.”

The seeker walked over and opened the door for him. “I’m Shennui, nice to meet ya Kalei. I’ll see you at lunch, yeah?”

“R-right, see you then,” Kalei responded with a nervous grin as he started towards the shrine. “Thanks again!”

“Sure thing.”

After the door closed, Kalei quickly changed direction and bolted back for the building where Lykou was being held. He spotted the guard leaning against the wall by the door, half nodding off, then mentally braced himself. “Well, here goes…” He walked over next to her, then cleared his throat, startling her.

“Shit w-” she started, then sighed a bit as she eyed the false seeker. “Oh. Hi? What do you want? Bit early for lunch, isn’t it?”

“Yyyeah but you seemed like you could use it, to be honest,” he said with a smile. “Dull job, huh?”

“At the moment, yeah,” she replied, sizing him up. She seemed a bit suspicious at first, but then she spotted the hazewine. “How the heck did you get that before din- actually you know what, I don’t care.” She quickly took the food and drink, then took a big gulp of the latter. “Ohhh fuck yeah. Thanks, you’re a life-saver. I won’t ask where you got it if you promise to tell people this is water.”

“Obviously,” Kalei said with a light chuckle. He fidgeted a bit awkwardly for a moment as she hungrily dug into her food. He could hear an occasional faint thump coming from inside the building, though there wasn’t nearly as much noise as before. “So, uh… are you not worried about being tainted by that demon collaborator in there?”

“Nah. That one’s just a minion or something. The real threat is the other guy, and they just left a little while ago to take him to the peak for purification,” she explained between bites of dried meat. “This guy’s more a danger to himself than anyone else where he is right now.”

“Oh?” Kalei asked, somewhat anxiously.

“Yeah. Dumb bastard’s trying to both starve himself and beat himself to death trying to break out. No chance against those bars though.”

“Damn. Umm… maybe I can talk some sense into him…”

“Hah. I tried that earlier and he was having none of it,” she said, then sighed. “Guy’s totally twisted by the demon’s magic.”

“Mm… kinda feel bad for him though, you know?”

“Eh. Sure. But don’t feel too bad. He let himself get in the other guy’s clutches in the first place, after all.”

“Still… you think I could try talking to him?”

“Suit yourself if you want to try. Just don’t get too close or he might try and grab you. And I’m not saving your ass if he does.”

“R-right, heh… thanks,” Kalei said, then opened the door and entered the building. He stared down the dimly-lit hall and waited for the door to shut solidly behind him before slowly making his way down to where he heard the occasional thumps. When he finally arrived, he was shocked at what he saw. The konuul was leaning up against the bars and occasionally mustered the strength to step back and ram into them in a desperate attempt to knock them loose. However, they hadn’t budged at all.

Lykou looked like he’d been beaten to a pulp- on top of the cuts he’d sustained the previous night, he was covered in serious bruises and bloody spots from repeated attempts to break the bars or otherwise claw his way out of his cell. His fur was covered in bloody patches, and despite his persistence, it was clear he was growing weak. His head was hung after his latest ramming attempt, as he panted and struggled to dredge up the energy for another attempt.

“I… told you… I’m not… giving up…,” the konuul said when he saw the shadow fall over him. “Keep… your damn food… and LET ME OU-” he continued, but stopped when he lifted his head and saw who was standing in front of him. “...-YOU!”

“Shhh!” Kalei quickly hushed him, nervously glancing back down the hall for a moment, worried about the regular guard coming to check on them. “I’m really, really not supposed to be here! We’re both fucked if they catch me posing as a seeker!” he said urgently.

“Y-… wait, huh??”

Kalei smiled a bit awkwardly. “I’m trying to help you, dammit,” he said, then frowned. “Fuck, you look like shit though. Did you do this all to yourself?”

Lykou rubbed some tears from his eyes, then gripped the bars tightly. “N… not all of it, but a lot I guess. But that doesn’t matter!” he insisted as more tears replaced the ones he’d wiped away. “They’re gonna kill Kuna! I know you don’t want to hear it but that Speaker bastard is the real d-”

“I know,” Kalei said, then sighed and rubbed his head. “Believe me, I’m still coming to grips with everything I thought I believed falling apart before my eyes, but I’ll save the existential crisis for later.”

“You… wait, you know? That’s… good, but how? You’re the first person to listen to me here.”

“A certain… mutual friend of ours shed some light on the situation,” Kalei explained as he examined the bars, looking around for any weaknesses or signs of how they were meant to be moved. “Heh, pun not intended.”

Lykou gave him a bewildered look. “Pun? Mutual friend? What are you talking about??”

Before the raptuva could reply, a whistle came from up on the windowsill, where Sunshine was poking his head in. Kalei glanced up and smirked. “That’d be him.”

Lykou looked up in mild disbelief. “W- huh?? Sunshine??”

“Remember what I told you guys last night? Yeah, there’s even more to those little guys than I thought. Heh, if I’m not going to serve Tuimana, I guess it’s good to know there’s a real alternative out there.”

The konuul stared at the bird in fascination. “So… you’re really smarter than you let on, huh? I was wondering about you…”

Kalei grunted as he tugged at the bars. “Man, what even is this stuff? And how the hell does it open? There’s no hinge or anything… I’m sure they didn’t just build this shit up around you over night…”

“That’s what I was wondering. Looks like some kind of metal, so I don’t think we can just break it.” He winced and rubbed his sore arm. “Believe me, I’ve been trying.”

“Metal?” Kalei asked curiously, then narrowed his eyes as he spotted something. “Huh… there’s something etched into this one flat bit. Some weird symbol…”

Lykou facepalmed. “Shit. It must be some kind of rune or something.”

“Rune?”

“Magical symbol. Only someone with magical powers can activate it.”

“Magic huh?” Kalei said, then glanced up at their avian friend. “Think you could take a look at it?”

“Wait,” Lykou said as the bird flew down through the bars and landed on the raptuva’s shoulder. “He can do magic??”

“Mhmm, some kind anyway.”

Sunshine eyed the symbol for a minute, then flapped his wings. “No magic. Key!”

“Key?”

“Magic stone. Squawwk!”

“Magic stone?” Lykou wondered out loud. “Great, I’m guessing it’s the wrong kind of rune for whatever magic he can do.”

Kalei rubbed his chin. “I seem to remember that the Speaker and the Overseers wear some kind of necklace with a funny looking stone on it. I think they had some kind of symbol on them, but never got a close look.”

“Hey yeah, you’re right! I remember catching a glimpse of it last night at…” he said, then scowled. “At that damn ambush of a ceremony.”

“Shit. That’s… not going to be easy to get. I’ll have to see if I can sneak up on one of them when they’re resting or-”

“No time!” Lykou said, gripping the bars again. “Kalei, listen. Worry about getting me out later. You’re out right now, and someone’s gotta help Kuna! He’s running out of time!”

“B-”

The konuul reached through and grabbed his hand, with a pleading look. “Please. Save him. I don’t care what happens to me, but you can’t let them…” he trailed off, then clenched his eyes shut, fighting back more tears. “Just don’t let them…”

Kalei frowned, then grabbed the canid’s hand back and nodded. “I’ll… do what I can, Lykou,” he said, then turned to Sunshine. “Can you try and get one of those stones? As fast as you are, you might have a lot better luck than me anyway.”

The bird shuffled around for a moment, then looked at Lykou. “...magic stone. Okay,” he said, then flapped his wings and flew back up and out of the window.

“Well, hopefully he won’t be long,” The raptuva looked back to the konuul and squeezed his hand gently. “And you stop beating the crap out of yourself on these bars, got it? If the guard comes back in, tell them you had a change of heart and feel the… ‘demonic influence’ fading. Just play along for now until we can get you out.”

Lykou smirked faintly. “Sure… I’m exhausted anyway. Still not trusting any food they give me after last night, though.”

“Why? You should eat something, get your strength b-”

“No way. That’s how he got us last night,” the konuul explained. “He sneaks blood into peoples’ food and drinks so he can use his damned twisted magic on them more easily.”

“Woah, shit, really? Damn…”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine for now. Just go save Kuna!”

“R-right. Oh, uh, here,” he said and dug through his bag, then produced the knife and hatchet. “I snuck these out of the storage room, in case you might have a use for them.”

Lykou eyed them for a moment, then waved them off. “I appreciate it, but they won’t do me any good here. Hang onto them for now, maybe give them to Kuna when you get to him.”

“Alright,” the raptuva said as he put the tools away again. “Hang tight. And remember what I said, just play along in the meantime.”

“Right. Good luck, and hurry!”

“Will do!” the raptuva said as he turned to head for the door. I just hope that bird gets one of those stones quickly, he mentally added. B_ecause I’m bound to fuck up sooner or later, knowing my luck._