Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 18

The ascent has begun (again)! But will our heroes make it to the shrine to enact their plan? Either way, it won’t be easy.

-Llox

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After eating and doing a bit more preparation, the group all went to bed as early as they could, although it took a while for everyone to get to sleep. The next morning, they all began to pack up and get ready for the journey ahead. Food was packed away into the baskets, alongside the various spearheads and short knives Lykou had crafted from pelenock teeth and obsidian, just in case.

Lykou’s shorts had been repaired, and he ended up wearing Kalei’s cloak for the time being. His knife was sheathed, and he kept a crude spare he’d made handy, just in case. He was once again wearing his bracers as well. Kuna had managed to make a simple bag for him to help carry a few other things as well, including a portion of their food.

Kuna’s shorts had also been repaired as best they could, but he still opted to wear the sareo that Kani had brought over them, setting his poncho aside to be fixed up later. He admitted he quite liked the new outfit- both how it looked, and how flexible it was. He didn’t realize that it made him appear more feminine to the raptuva, but he likely wouldn’t have cared anyway. It allowed for more flexibility and comfort than either his robe or his poncho, and after Kani insisted, it didn’t take much effort to convince him to hang onto it after their adventure was over. She also tried to playfully point out that he didn’t need to wear his shorts under them, but he insisted, blushing as he admitted it’d probably be, well, distracting at times otherwise.

Makani and Kalei opted to carry the baskets holding the rest of their supplies, so that Hoku could more easily focus on her magic when it was necessary. She carried her and Kani’s water jug, strapped around her shoulder, while Kalei held onto his own. When the time came, Hoku led the way out of the cave, through the water-tunnel, with Lykou and Kuna trailing behind.

Once they were on the beach and sure that nobody was around to spy on them, the group hurried to the woods. Sunny flew down to join them soon after they entered the brush, having opted for his own path out of the cave. As they began their journey up the mountain, he occasionally scouted their surrounding area for any signs of trouble. Early on, they had a close scare with a group of Order scouts searching the forest near the beach. Fortunately, once they got farther inland and began ascending the mountain, far from any trails, there were no further signs of patrol groups.

Of course, avoiding the trails made for an arduous climb. Their progress was somewhat slow and exhausting. Luckily, Hoku’s magic helped them to find water when they needed it, without approaching any of the mountain villages. It turned out that a number of streams flowed partly underground, only becoming visible in small segments where the stone channels gave way to the surface.

Despite their slow progress, they pressed on constantly through the day, opting to eat as they went and minimize their rest stops. By the time they made camp with the setting sun, they were all thoroughly worn out. Still, they knew they couldn’t risk a fire, so they set up camp as quickly as they could before they ran out of daylight. Kuna used his magic to set up a framework for a small structure they could shelter in, while the others filled in the gaps with whatever ferns and other materials they could find nearby. The resulting shelter was… cozy, to put it in generous terms. But it served its purpose and gave them each enough room that they would be able to stretch out and sleep for the night without bumping into one another too much.

Luckily, they’d cooked and salted all their fish the night before, so it was ready to be eaten as soon as they settled in. Kuna, for his part, was too fatigued and hungry to properly cut open the fruit he had on hand, and instead tried to bite straight into it. When the skin proved a little too tough, Lykou sliced it open for him and Hoku broke open a coconut for him. The enthusiastic zeal with which he devoured the contents of both startled the raptuva, but the canid just chuckled in amusement.

“S-sorry,” the sereva said with a sheepish expression after settling down some. “Guess the hike and the shelter built up a pretty big appetite, heh…”

“Oh, right, I imagine it did,” Hoku said, smiling sympathetically. “Just let me know if you need any more. We can always go find more along the way tomorrow if we have to.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind climbing some trees,” Kalei volunteered.

“Well, hopefully it won’t come to that. Don’t want to have to patch you up again already,” Kuna pointed out, half-teasingly.

Kalei rolled his eyes a bit. “Hey, I’ll be more careful this time.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t break anything last time.”

“Only my pride, heh.”

“Well we’re almost halfway up now. Guess that means we’ll be getting near the shrine tomorrow, right?” Hoku asked.

“The climb gets harder the further up you go, so even if we were to get close, I don’t think we’ll reach it by sunset without using the trails,” Kalei pointed out. “Chances are we’ll still be at least a couple hours from the shrine by the end of the day.”

Kuna paused between big bites of fruit to interject, “Not that we should want to be any closer anyway. We want to set things up during the day, remember? If anything, we should camp a bit early tomorrow and prepare to finish the hike the next day.”

“Fair point. Our food should last long enough as long as we moderate ourselves,” Hoku agreed. “We should still try to get an early start tomorrow, though. So lets all get some sleep after we’re done eating.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kani said after swallowing the last of some fish she’d been hungrily devouring. She then flopped back onto her mat and sighed. “I’ve never hiked this much in my life! My aches have their own aches!”

Ordinarily, Hoku would playfully chastise her for being a big baby, but she had to admit she was sore, too. “Oof. Yeah, I’m glad I don’t live up here. Way too much ‘up’ for my liking.”

Kalei chuckled. “You get used to it. Just so you know, it gets cooler up high, too. So be ready for that.”

“Damn…”

Lykou and Kuna shared an amused look as they continued eating. “I for one welcome that,” Lykou commented after swallowing. “That was probably the one good thing about being up there earlier. Almost started to feel slightly more like home.”

“Well yeah, you’re all fuzzy and shit!” Kani pointed out, then sat up and grinned at them. “You guys might just have to help us keep warm at night~”

Hoku rolled her eyes and stuffed Kuna’s poncho in her friend’s face. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Kuna blushed and just focused on eating, while Lykou snickered and shook his head. “You’re something else, Kani.”

“You know, I think I’m starting to get a feel for the water energy in those streams,” Kuna pointed out, trying to change the subject. To pass the time on their hike, Hoku had been occasionally doing her best to describe how water energy felt and trying to compare it to soul energy, now that they had some common ground to work off of. “Still kind of faint, and nowhere near the point where I can figure out how to grasp it, but oddly enough, I think not being able to see the water even though I knew it must be there helped a bit.”

“That’s fantastic!” Hoku replied cheerfully. “Yeah, I guess this area makes a pretty decent training ground for that kind of thing.”

“They’re really strange. I’ve never seen ones that travel so much underground before,” Lykou commented.

Kuna shook his head. “Me either. For all the trees and other plants up here, this mountain has an awful lot of big, solid rocky chunks.”

“I never thought about it before since I always lived down on the coast, but I guess these streams really are kind of unique. Definitely different than down near the sea,” Hoku said.

Kalei shrugged. “Guess I just got used to them. Never realized it wasn’t like that everywhere.”

“I wonder if there are more caves up here? Might help if we can find one to camp out in tomorrow, instead of having to set up another shelter.”

“That’d be nice,” Kuna agreed. “As long as there’s not something else already living there, of course.”

“Not too many big animals around here,” Kalei reminded him. “None that I know of, anyway.”

“Well as long as that’s the case, I guess it’d be worth it to find a decent cave tomorrow, then. Since we were planning to camp a little earlier anyway, we can afford to look around a bit. Plus it could be a good fallback point if we need it,” Lykou said.

Kuna yawned and stretched, having finished eating. “Well, with that in mind, I’m going to get some rest. I suggest you all do the same soon, too.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kani agreed, then flopped back again unceremoniously.

*****

While the setting sun invited others to settle in for the night, it was precisely the fading light that served as an inviting welcome for those at home in the shadows. Zynshal used the familiar cloak of darkness to begin skulking around the shrine once again, taking note of its occupants and their activities. Repairs were still underway on the shrine and a couple of the surrounding buildings, but the workers had largely retired for the night, with some of them sleeping in a makeshift camp in front of the damaged buildings. A few guards were stationed around the perimeter, patrolling around vigilantly with pelenock-teeth-tipped spears that had the added benefit of giving them a little extra light to see by, in addition to the moon and stars overhead. In fact, there were relatively few torches in sight.

Though he’d initially approached the camp as a wisp of shadow and mist, Zyn was eventually forced to manifest into a more mundane form as he got closer. He may have technically been mortal, but his ‘half spirit’ nature was grating up against the aberrant rules twisted into the weave by the demonic pact holding sway over the island, the closer he got to the center of Tuimana’s territory. That meant that some of his abilities were getting harder to use, much to his frustration.

Still, that left him with plenty of other tricks to use. In order to slink around without drawing too much attention, he tapped into his life energy and transformed himself into a raptuva, dressed in one of the higher-ranking cloaks. After watching the patrolling guards from the shadows for a moment, he slipped past one as they passed by and carefully made his way through the encampment of sleeping raptuva outside the shrine. Once he reached the edge of the building, he slowly made his way along the outside wall, posing as another patrolling guard while surreptitiously peeking through the windows, watching for any signs of movement in the rooms beyond them.

When he reached the door, he opened it ever so slightly and paused. He could hear voices coming from inside. He listened for a moment, but decided it’d be easier to get a bit closer. Still, he didn’t want to draw attention by walking straight in through the door, so instead he quickly walked over to one of the windows to the side-rooms and, after making sure nobody could see him, he used his magic to temporarily form a gap in the stone wall, which he slipped through, then sealed back up behind himself. With the increased darkness inside the dimly-lit building, he easily slipped down the hall and found a hiding place near the central chamber so that he could listen in.

“-stay hidden this long before. I’m worried it’ll start to shake the peoples’ faith if they’re not found soon,” one voice said. “The coastal villages are already grumbling.”

“Let them grumble. Examples will be made if necessary,” another voice replied. From his vantage point, Zyn could see the owner of the second voice, and judging from her cloak, she was one of the overseers. He couldn’t tell what else the two were doing, but if he had to guess, they were probably doing some repairs to the shrine itself. “As long as we remain vigilant, we’ll find them and bring them to justice.”

“Of course. I just hope it’s soon. We don’t usually have to deal with two of them at once- let alone with the help of a traitor to the Order. And now there are those rumors about sympathizers on the coast… you don’t suppose this is a precursor to a demonic invasion…?”

“Only time will tell. Either way, Tuimana will protect us.”

There was a brief pause. “Was the rumor about the kikomanu-”

“Of course not. It was just a demonic trick of the light. An attempt to misguide us into thinking a fallen god had returned and turned against us.”

“These outsiders are definitely powerful… I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone using that kind of magic before,” the second individual said, then grunted as he moved something into place.

“Powerful, yes, but the Speaker will see these villains defeated.”

“Has he recovered from his injuries? I haven’t seen him around lately. I hope they didn’t hurt him too badly.”

“He is strong. He’ll be fine. He’s just spending time communing with Tuimana at the peak. I imagine he’ll return within a day or two with insight about where we can find the demonic collaborators. We just have to continue repairs and stay on our toes until then.”

There was another short silence. “Damn, do we have any more of these?”

“In the storage room down at the end of the right hall.”

“Alright, be right b-”

“Be careful where you step. The traitor stashed the outsiders’ belongings in there somewhere and nobody’s had time to go through everything yet. The Speaker assured us that there’s no demonic taint on it, but caution is wise regardless.”

“Ah, thanks for the warning.”

Zyn quickly ducked back into one of the side rooms and waited for the stranger to pass by before following them discretely to the storage room. He moved into the room across from the door and waited. Ten or so minutes passed before the stranger emerged again and went back to the central chamber. Once the path was clear, Zyn slipped into the storage room and rummaged around. Eventually, he found Lykou’s bag and began digging around inside. He’d considered bringing all their things back to them, or at least taking them for safe-keeping, but ultimately decided that might arouse too much suspicion and cause them to heighten their guard even more, which would only cause problems for the boys and their friends when they finally made it up the mountain. Still, he didn’t want to leave empty handed. And finally, at the bottom of the bag, he found what he was looking for. With a faint smirk, he plucked one of the small hand-made ‘spirit charms’ from the bag and looked it over. Cute, he thought to himself. Powerless like this__, but cute.

After looking it over for a moment, he pocketed the charm and tucked the bag back under the other miscellaneous junk he’d found it under. When he got up to leave, he heard the door open behind him.

“What th- who are you??” the high watcher’s voice demanded. “What are you doing here?”

Luckily, the dim lighting and the fact that he had his back turned meant that he could alter his disguise before he turned around. And he’d seen Kairangi the previous night when he’d been skulking around. When he turned, the watcher gasped.

“S-Speaker?? Sorry, I didn’t- when did you get here??”

In his new guise, the jarzin simply narrowed his eyes at the watcher and stepped forward until he was leering down at the raptuva. “Tell no-one you saw me here. Clear?”

“S-sir?” the watcher stammered. “Sh-should I-”

“Not. A word,” Zyn continued in his best gravelly old-raptuva voice. “Tuimana and I must be discrete while we suss out the enemy. They may have more collaborators lurking in our ranks. You did not see me. Understood?”

“Y-yes sir, of course!”

“Good,” Zyn said as he stalked past the watcher and into the hall. “Go about your business, but wait five minutes before you leave this room.”

“Will do s-sir!”

After the door closed behind him, he quickly slipped into one of the side-rooms and transformed back into a more generic-looking raptuva. He peeked out the window and waited until another guard passed by before once again forming a temporary hole to slip out. Once he was again out in the open air, he made his way as quickly and quietly as he could to the treeline. One of the slumbering raptuva that’d elected to sleep under the stars, rather than in a tent, stirred as he passed. Luckily, they only briefly peeked an eye open at him, then seemed to dismiss him as one of the patrolling guards and doze back off.

When he finally reached the forest, he pulled out the charm again and looked it over. Hmm… I know exactly what to do with you after this is all over, he thought with a faint smirk. He then continued down the mountainside and vanished into the shadows as he got farther from the core of the demon’s territory.

*****

The next morning, Hoku again was the first one awake. Ordinarily, she’d start the morning with a swim, but of course, much to her frustration, she didn’t have that option this time. Fortunately, the others began stirring soon afterward, just as she was digging into some breakfast. Kuna and Lykou awoke next. After having a bite to eat, Kuna used his magic to unravel their shelter while the other two took down the non-living parts they’d used to fill the gaps. The sunlight woke Kalei and Makani, the latter of which grumbled and complained briefly in the process. Conversation was fairly light and subdued as everyone continued waking up and had their breakfast. Once everyone had eaten, they packed up and prepared to head out.

Around mid-morning, Sunshine suddenly swooped down and landed on Lykou’s shoulder, clearly somewhat distressed. “Danger! Order coming!”

“Shit!” the konuul swore quietly. “Where??”

“There!” Kuna suddenly interjected, pointing through the brush. It was hard to make out, but some figures could be seen trudging through the forest off in the distance. They didn’t seem to see their group yet, but they were clearly searching for them.

“FuckfuckfuckFUCK!” Kalei said, looking around for decent hiding places. “We can’t let them see us!”

“Everyone stay low and quiet,” Lykou said, hunkering down. “I don’t think they’ve seen us yet.”

“They’re coming right this way,” Hoku pointed out in a low tone, then looked around a bit. “We need to move. They’re going to find us if we stay here.”

“If we move too quickly, they’ll see us anyway,” Kuna pointed out. “This is the thickest brush around for a bit. If we try to dart uphill or fall back, they’ll spot us.”

“How many are there?” Kani asked. “If there aren’t too many, maybe we can take them!”

“Tak- what, just fight them? I don’t want to kill anyone,” Hoku said. “They may be our enemy now, but that’s just because they don’t know the truth. Besides, most of us aren’t exactly warriors here.”

“I… think I have an idea,” Kuna said, looking at the plants around them thoughtfully. “I’d rather avoid them, but I don’t think that’s an option. So… next best thing, we could set a trap.”

“Ooo, it could be like practice for Kairangi!” Kani said, grinning.

“Sort of. Totally different kind of trap, but yeah,” Kuna said, then conjured up the green glow around his hands. A bunch of vines started gathering, thickening, and lengthening around their hiding places. “Just keep them distracted and I’ll trap them.”

“Good thinking!” Lykou said, then set the simple bag he was carrying down. “Alright, everyone set your things down so it doesn’t slow you down or get in the way.”

“Hey Kalei,” Kuna said, taking off his bracers. “Here, use these again.”

Kalei caught the bracers as they were tossed to him. “Oh, uh. You sure?”

“Yeah, don’t want them draining my energy right now. Plus you’ll probably be getting closer to them than I will.”

“Draining y-” Hoku started to ask, then stopped in mid-sentence when she saw Lykou activate his bracers. “...what the-??”

Kalei activated his as well and grinned. “Magic armor. These two are just full of surprises, aren’t they?”

Kani gawked at him. “Ohmygosh you’re all… woody! That’s so weiiiird!”

“Makes you heal faster, too,” Kuna pointed out.

“Okay shhh, everyone get ready,” Lykou said, peering through the bushes. “Kalei and I will lead, you two-”

Sunshine whistled briefly.

The konuul grinned. “Sorry, I mean you three just help keep them distracted. Let us do the heavy hitting while Kuna ties them up.”

Hoku nodded and grabbed a nearby branch to protect herself with. Kani gave a thumbs-up before hunkering down and grabbing a rock to chuck as soon as the time came. Sunshine flew up into the canopy and watched from above, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. The fifteen to twenty minutes passed in tense silence. Eventually they could hear the crunching of forest debris as the Order members approached.

When they got close enough, Lykou jumped out and tackled the closest red cloaked individual to the ground. A second individual was turning to aim her spear at him, but he quickly spun around and grabbed it. They wrestled around for a moment before Lykou managed to kick her in the gut and separate her from her weapon.

Kalei burst out and headbutted a third red cloak who was rushing over to help his companions, while a fourth caught Kani’s rock on the forehead. Sunshine swooped down and began harassing another in a blur of movement and scratches. Kuna immediately started binding up the first one Lykou had knocked to the ground while the canid advanced on his second opponent.

Overall, the red cloaks slightly outnumbered them. But they’d been surprised, so other than the two that’d been carrying their spears at the ready, the rest had to take a moment to arm themselves. And most of them didn’t have time to do so before someone was upon them.

Hoku launched out to take a swing at another member of the patrol, only to freeze in her tracks when she saw a familiar face. “Anaru?!”

“...Hokulani,” Anaru said with dismay, if not surprise, as he backed up, and began pulling out a weighted net. He still looked at least as exhausted as the last time they’d met. In fact, several of the others looked a bit ragged and fatigued as well, but no less resolute for it. “I had really hoped-”

“Wait, just wait!” Hoku said, snapping out of her shock. “Listen to me, these two-”

“No. The time to talk is over,” Anaru declared, jumping to the side as Lykou knocked one of his comrades past him. His expression was mostly stoic, but he couldn’t hide the disappointment and sadness in his eyes. “Surrender if you’re not totally enthralled by their tricks. We can help you overcome-”

“Dammit, Anaru!” Hoku swore, ducking back again and swinging the branch widely at one of the others as they attempted to tackle her to the ground. It connected very briefly, but not enough to have much effect. Luckily, Kalei quickly intervened and wrestled her assailant away. “I’m not the one being tricked! You-”

“I’m sorry,” Anaru said, slowly stepping towards her. “I promise I’ll do my best to help you.” He suddenly lurched forward towards her.

Shes used her branch to keep him at bay, but suddenly one of the others ambushed her from behind and pinned her arms back. She screamed angrily and kicked at Anaru as he approached her with the net held up.

“LET GO OF HOKU YOU PRICK!” Kani’s voice called out from behind her. In the middle of the shout, a sudden thud and a faint whimper behind her caused her sneak-attacker’s grip to loosen considerably, and she used the opportunity to duck and escape. When she looked back, she could see Kani’s foot withdrawing from the assailant’s crotch area. He slowly slumped over, and from his expression, her leg muscles were clearly in great shape, and he was thoroughly out of the fight even if he hadn’t immediately fainted from the pain.

“Thanks Kani,” Hoku said with a smile, then turned back to face her retreating cousin. She scowled, then barreled after him, tackling him to the ground. He quickly scrabbled out of her grip, and she shrunk back when she saw that he’d drawn a long knife.

But after backing away, he looked around with wide, wary eyes at the scene- he was the last of his group that hadn’t been totally ensnared in vines and roots. Lykou was advancing to Hoku’s side, and Kani was helping Kalei up from where he’d finished wrestling another Order member to the ground- whom Kuna had just finished binding up. “I’m sorry Hoku, I failed you,” he said with a shaky voice, tears shimmering in his eyes. Suddenly, he lifted the blade to his own throat. “But I will not be a thrall.” Before anyone could act, he plunged the blade into his neck and fell over, gushing blood.

“ANARU!” Hoku blurted out, then rushed over to his side, her own eyes tearing up. Her cousin annoyed the shit out of her, but she sure as hell didn’t want to lose him. He tried to push her away, but the combination of pain and rapid blood loss made his efforts easy to overcome. She tossed the blade away and tried to stem the blood flow, but there was little she could do.

Kuna quickly rushed over, his hands still glowing. “Hang on, hold him steady,” he said in an urgent tone. He held his hands down near the wound and began trying to patch the raptuva up as best he could. Fortunately, their anatomy was similar enough in certain important areas that he knew what to do. He remembered all too well his own wound in the same general spot that he’d suffered back in Clovaria, where his bracers had saved his life.

Hoku looked on tearfully as she held her cousin’s body in her arms. “Dammit, you idiot,” she murmured at the unconscious raptuva.

“Is he going to make it?” Lykou asked, kneeling down next to them. Kani and Kalei approached shortly afterward. The other Order members- that were still conscious, anyway- just grunted, grumbled and let out muffled expletives as they strained against their bindings. Fortunately, the sereva had been very thorough, so they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“Not sure… he knew what he was doing,” Kuna said with a frown, shivering slightly from the sight of all the blood. He’d certainly come a long way, but it still made him uncomfortable to think about, so instead he just tried to focus on the task at hand. He managed to stop Anaru’s blood loss and seal the wound, but the raptuva had already lost a fair bit of blood before that point. Out of the corner of his eye, the sereva caught sight of Hoku’s distraught expression. He thought for a moment, then took a deep breath and brought his hand over the sealed wound again. “...someone get me some fruit. And uh… lets hope nobody else gets hurt this bad anytime soon.”

“Wait, Ku, don’t-!” Lykou began to object.

“Not going to just let him die,” Kuna insisted, then closed his eyes as he focused.

“What? What’s he doing??” Hoku asked anxiously.

“The same thing he did for Lykou up on the mountain, I think,” Kalei suggested, arching a brow as he glanced up at the konuul. “Right?”

“Probably,” Lykou replied, frowning. “And he’s already low as it is…”

“Low? On what??” Kani asked.

“Life essence. It’s-”

Suddenly Anaru’s body jerked and he gasped as his eyes flew open. He then coughed and shuddered a bit. “W-wha… where am… who’s…” he sputtered. His vision was blurry and he was clearly disoriented.

“Anaru!” Hoku said, then gave him a gentle squeeze. She had to refrain from following it up with a sharp slap to the face, however. “Why the fuck did you do something like that?!”

Kuna dismissed his magic, then slumped backward, leaning into Lykou’s arms as the canid caught him and held him. He quickly started devouring the fruit Kalei dug out for him.

“Given his distorted beliefs, I can kind of understand,” Lykou chimed in, cradling the sereva. “That was really risky, Ku. You gonna be alright?”

“Yeah. Just… like I said, nobody else get hurt real bad, dammit,” Kuna replied between bites.

Anaru blinked a few times as his vision slowly cleared. He jerked again when he saw who all he was surrounded by, but he clearly didn’t have the energy to do much else about it. “Y… you…”

“Just saved your sorry ass from your own stupidity,” Kalei spat out, frowning. “Don’t get me wrong, I get it, I used t-”

“Re… recruit? Kalei?” Anaru asked confusedly, interrupting him. “Wait… you… you were the traitor??”

Kalei gave him a flat look. “...nice to see you again, too.”

Anaru glanced around at the others and began squirming weakly, frantically trying to get away. “N-no… no, I won’t be a-!”

“Dammit Anaru, will you just fucking listen?!” Hoku blurted out, tightening her hold on him.

“They’re deceiving you, Hoku!” Anaru spat out, clearly terrified. “They’re-”

His words died in his mouth as Sunshine swooped down and landed on Kuna’s shoulder, then whistled at him. “Shut up, fuck!” the bird blurted out, prompting some amused giggles from Kani. “Kairangi deceiver! Not friends!”

Anaru gawked at the bird. “Is… is that…?”

“Yes, for fucksakes!” Hoku said in exasperation. “This is Sunshine. He’s a kikomanu.”

“I know it’s a hard truth to swallow, but you’ve been lied to,” Kalei chimed in. “We all have. Kairangi’s the only one around here actually doing demonic shit. He’s killing people- or worse- for power and to keep his secret.”

“L… lies!” Anaru retorted, furrowing his brow. “You will not deceive me! I will not fall, I-!”

“Shut the FUCK up already!” Hoku said, then smacked him as harshly across the face as she felt safe doing so. “Kuna just saved your fucking life, the least you can do is hear our side of things!”

Anaru just blinked a few times, wavering and stunned. “...w-what?”

“Easy, Hoku, he probably can’t take much right now,” Kuna warned, then took a huge sip of water.

“...sorry,” Hoku replied weakly after a moment.

“Listen, Anaru, look around, alright? We’ve got a kikomanu helping us. Nobody’s dead here. Just bound up. And Kuna just saved your life,” Kalei tried to reason with him. “Does that sound like how a demon would handle things?”

Anaru weakly glanced around as his bound-up brethren. After a moment, he just grumbled in frustration and shook his head slightly. “It’s just… deception…” he weakly replied.

“Fucking-” Hoku began, but then stopped when Kuna held up a slightly shaky hand.

“Give him a break. Sure, it’s frustrating for us, but try and think about it from his perspective.”

Lykou sighed. “Ku’s right. We just ambushed him and his friends, and he’s been told by the people he’s put his full faith in that we’re dangerous demon-buddy outsiders looking to cause trouble.”

“Yeah, but he’s wrong!” Kani interjected.

“True, but he doesn’t have any reason to believe that,” the canid replied, then turned back to their weak captive. “Anaru, I know there’s probably nothing we can say that can fully sway you. But please consider what Kalei said. We’re not your enemy. Can you at least just think about it before you try reporting back about us or trying to follow after us? You know, after you find the energy to free your friends?”

“AND don’t try and kill yourself again,” Hoku urged, frowning down at him. “That was… I mean, really, Anaru??”

Anaru just stared back at Lykou for a moment, then glanced between him and Kuna. “...what, you’re… just leaving us...?”

“Well it’s not like we can carry you all back to one of the villages,” Kalei pointed out. “And as much as you don’t want to believe it, we’re not interested in killing anyone.”

“We didn’t even want to fight you, but we knew you were going to attack as soon as you saw us,” Lykou added. “We just wanted to make sure you couldn’t follow us until we were well away from here.”

Anaru was silent for a minute, then looked up at Hoku. “...none of this makes sense,” he said, then closed his eyes with a sigh. “Fine, I’ll listen. Say what you will. Tell me your… ‘side’.”

“There’s too much detail to go into, but the short version is that Kairangi’s been fooling everyone all this time,” Kalei explained. “Tuimana’s a demon and Kairangi’s been using the order to feed him and help them both grow more powerful, basically.”

“Don’t you find it odd that so many random people, including every other magic user on the island, just ‘happens’ to be found guilty of demon shit?” Hoku interjected. “Can you really, honestly tell me you think every single one of those people was secretly some horrible person despite never showing signs of it before?”

“Where else did they get their power from?” Anaru asked, opening his eyes again to shoot her a look. “People don’t just-”

“You mean like this?” Hoku said, suddenly conjuring up a blue glow and drawing some water over from the nearest water jug- which just so happened to be one Anaru himself had dropped.

He stared wide-eyed at the floating water. “...Hoku, y-”

“It’s not demon shit, dammit!” Hoku insisted, her eyes tearing up again. She suddenly dropped the water on his face. “Plenty of our ancestors had these abilities, it was a tradition even! You know the stories! Fucksakes, Anaru! They’re sacrificing people to that monster! The ‘purification’ thing is just a cover for something horrible!”

Anaru sputtered and weakly rubbed his face with a shaky hand. “...then where does it come from??”

“Mystical energies are all around us all the time,” Kuna chimed in. “Some people learn to sense them better and manipulate them, in different ways. It gets a lot more complicated, but that’s basically what it comes down to. Yeah, some get more power from demons, but even in those cases they were probably already figuring it out even before that, since demons are more likely to seek out people with some power of their own to make a deal with.”

“Then… how…?”

“It’s a long story. Look, we don’t have all day to talk about this,” Lykou pointed out. “Point is, Kairangi is a terrible guy and Tuimana is an awful monster posing as a god. And they’ve tricked a bunch of people into thinking they’re the good guys. We’re going to try and put an end to it. Whether you believe us is up to you.”

Anaru glanced around at the group surrounding him, then sighed. “...If you’re lying, they will stop you. Either way, it’s obvious that fate is well out of my hands at this point.” He looked at Kuna. “Whether your motive is twisted or pure, I suppose I should thank you for saving my life.”

“Hey, there’s been enough fucking death on this island already,” Kuna replied tiredly.

“Plus, you generally seem like a good guy, even if we’re at odds right now. The truth is going to come out, and people will need folks like you to help them deal with that,” Lykou pointed out.

“...why don’t you come with us?” Hoku suddenly suggested, shooting the others a hopeful look.

Kalei immediately blanched at the suggestion. “That… seems like a terrible idea,” he said, then glanced back at Anaru. “No offense. But we can’t just-”

“He’s just one person. We’ll be able to keep an eye on him. And I want him to see the truth first hand,” Hoku insisted.

“We can’t afford t-”

“No, leave me. The truth will make its way back to me, I’m sure, it it’s like you say,” Anaru said. “Anyway, I have to free the others. I know you won’t do it while they’re still conscious, and they can’t just be left here bound up in the wilderness.”

“He has a point,” Lykou agreed. “There’s no telling how long they’d be stuck there with nobody around to cut them free. Kuna did a good job binding them up, so I doubt they’d get out on their own.”

“And in my current condition, it’ll take me a while to free them anyway.” Anaru glanced past Lykou and looked over his squirming, bound-up compatriots, then lowered his voice. “It should give you a fair head start getting away from here. Whatever will happen, will happen.” He looked back at his cousin and took a deep breath, wincing at the soreness in his throat. “...if you really are telling the truth, just be careful, alright? And come let me know you’re safe when it’s all over. Otherwise… well, I hope Tuimana has mercy on you.”

Hoku sighed, then smirked faintly. “Oh you better believe I’m going to come rub it in your face.”

“I hope so,” Anaru replied with a slight smirk of his own. “Well go on then. You’ve got a mountain to climb, distance to make.”

“Yeah, we do,” Lykou said, then turned to Kuna, still reclining in his arms a bit. “You alright to go?”

With a slight grunt, Kuna shifted position and started getting up. “Yeah… like I said though, nobody else go getting badly injured, alright?” he half-joked. He wavered slightly and Lykou quickly caught him.

“You just save your strength as much as you can, alright? Lean on me if you have to,” the konuul urged him.

“Why’s he so weak all of the sudden?” Kani asked, getting up as well, alongside Kalei. “Something to do with that ‘life essence’ thing?”

“Yeah. It’s this stuff everyone builds up over time, and your body usually uses it to help heal bad injuries and such” Kuna explained. “But with life magic, you can transfer some to someone else. Just… takes a lot out of you.”

“Is that so?” Anaru asked, giving Kuna a dubious look. “Sounds like something pretty precious to just… give to an enemy.”

“I don’t want to think of you as an enemy,” the sereva replied with a weak shrug.

“...likewise. I was very surprised when I was told what happened at the ceremony. But…”

“I know. Like I said, I get it. Our word against the word of the people you really trust.”

“...may the truth win out with as little bloodshed and suffering as possible, regardless,” Anaru said, then grunted as he slowly tried to prop himself up on his shaky arms. “I’ll just… see if I can reach my bag first, and get some food. Should give you all… some extra time.”

Hoku fidgeted uncomfortably, feeling torn, but eventually got up and joined the others as they went to grab their things. After some hesitation, she used her magic to draw some water up from the nearest mostly-hidden stream and refill his jug, then brought it over to him. “Here. You’ll need plenty of this, I’m sure.”

He blinked a few times, then took the jug with a slightly trembling hand. “...you know the whole idea is to give you guys some plausible extra time. Helping me somewhat counters that.”

“Yeah well, we’re still family, dammit,” she replied. After another moment’s hesitation, she gave him a quick, brief hug. “And I think deep down you suspect more than you let on.”

After a moment, her gently embraced her with his free arm, then reclined back after they separated. “I suppose it’ll be a while regardless. Be safe, Hoku.”

“You too, Anaru.”