Chapter Twenty-Two - Hide and Seek

        A World without Misery (Interitus 1: Book 0)

            Chapter Twenty-Two – Hide and Seek

 

            With a mighty stretch and a tired yawn, Vaida awoke on the hard meadow floor. Her eye was still fuzzy and clouded as she tried to look around, so she rubbed it several times until she could see clearly. She lifted her neck slightly and saw that her feet were far from her face; she was still not used to the size of her new body.

            “That’s weird. I thought he was with me,” she mumbled as she felt the ground beside her.

            Despite the powerful winds blowing to the northwest, the ground still felt slightly warm. This confirmed her memory that Hatasuko had been right there beside her, but now he was not. She sleepily sat up and looked at the starlit world around her.

            A faint moisture clung onto every blade of long grass, and every grass blade swayed in the gusty breeze. The grass twinkled because the moisture reflected the starlight, but the stars had not swallowed the whole sky. A layer of clouds slowly crawled in from the southeast, darkening the land beneath its shadow. The meadow was vast; it stretched in all directions. Other than the sail-rana beside her, which stood motionlessly due to the wedges beneath the wheels, there was almost no sign of life for as far as she could see. The only exception was a small family of agili bounding through the tall grass. The mother agilus guided her energetic young as they quickly made their way south. Vaida watched with a smile, though she accidentally startled them when she stood upright. The agilus family ran off, but they darted toward a small grove.

Vaida’s stomach growled and alerted her to a hunger that she had not yet realized. She glanced around one more time for Hatasuko, and then she jogged off toward the grove. As she ran, she muttered, “I hope he didn’t go too far. I miss him already.”

            But before Vaida reached the small forest of fruit trees, she heard something large and clumsy rustle through the brush. The footsteps sounded louder and heavier than those of a human or agilus, so Vaida already began to suspect the culprit.

             “How does she carry so many of these damn things? They fall out from the littlest bump,” Hatasuko groaned as he approached the edge of the forest.

            “You’re just what I needed to see right now!” Vaida exclaimed.

            Before Hatasuko even realized she found him, Vaida tackled him with enough force to knock him on his back. Though he was happy to see her, the impact caused the fruit in his arms to roll away. Vaida gave him a swift and clumsy kiss, and then she grabbed the nearest albapomus and shoved it in her mouth. Even as an Astrodeus, she still could not open her mouth enough to envelope the entire fruit, so she held as much as she could in her teeth. With a big grin, Hatasuko looked up at her and saw a smile form at the corners of her lips.

            “Somehow I think you were talking to the albapomus and not me,” laughed Hatasuko.

            Before she could speak, Vaida took a large bite of her albapomus. This process caused several drops of juicy nectar to fall onto his shirt, slightly staining the material with a yellowish color. Vaida giggled and pulled the fruit out of her mouth with her scarred hand.

            “Of course I was talking to you! All these wonderful little fruits are just a bonus.”

            Vaida glanced away for a moment and looked at the fruit that covered the forest floor around them. She then looked back at him with a shy smile.

            “A really, really good bonus,” she teased.

            Hatasuko grinned again and reached out to grab the nearest albapomus. As Vaida climbed off him and finished eating, Hatasuko sat up and started collecting the fruit. He contemplated eating them, though he knew that this meal should be saved for the journey. After all, the tempest had given him a rude awakening and an insufferable morning; he already knew that another attack was on the way. A grimace appeared on his face as he considered the implications of this, and he failed to hide his apprehension from Vaida. She saw his look of concern when she finished eating her albapomus.

            “Is something wrong?” asked Vaida with a tremor of worry in her little voice.

            “I didn’t want to ruin the morning, but yeah. We should probably get going as soon as possible. The tempest warned me about an attack in Occasa,” Hatasuko admitted as he climbed onto his feet.

            There was a flash of sadness in Vaida’s eyes as she glanced down at the ground. Now that Hatasuko had gathered the white fruit, he began walking toward the edge of the grove. Vaida followed behind him, though she said nothing; the disaster in Bones City had poisoned her sense of hope. As they crossed from the grove to the tall grass of the cold meadow, Hatasuko felt the gusty wind blow through his hair. Though it was not long enough to cover his eyes, his golden hair blew on either side of his face and lightly slapped his cheek like a whip.

            “The wind feels a little stronger than usual, probably because of the coming storm. It might not take us too long to reach Occasa from here, as long as the storm doesn’t blow us off-course. Is the sail-rana ready?” asked Hatasuko.

            “Yep! All I need to do is remove the wedges and unfold the mast. But… I wish we could take the river. I’m cold. I want to hold onto you.”

            Hatasuko smiled when he heard this; her timid friendliness was enough to pierce his trepidation. However, he was still too far away from their vehicle to drop the fruit and embrace her now.

            “Maybe we could both sit in the front! I know it runs the risk of tipping over, but it’s not like we could both sit in the back. This meadow has a lot of rocks and hills. We’ll just run into everything if we can’t steer,” Hatasuko wondered aloud.

            “Yeah, you’re right. But hey, what if I could steer from the back? I’d need some kind of giant lever, but I think, um, I think I have an idea! Hold on!” Vaida said excitedly.

            Vaida enthusiastically ran over to the sail-rana and jumped into the backseat; she landed with so much speed that the vehicle nearly tipped over. She excitedly rummaged through the contents on the floor until she found their whips, and then she climbed over to the front of the ship. She tightly tied the loose end of one whip on the top-right part of the steering wheel, and then she tied the other whip onto the top-left part. She tugged a few times on each whip and verified that they could turn the steering wheel without simply sliding off. She then stepped into the backseat and set the handles of the whips down so that she could steer from the backseat by using these reins.

 Once Vaida confirmed that she could control the steering wheel from the backseat, she turned and faced Hatasuko with a wide smile. He grinned back and began tossing each albapomus to her. When she caught them, she set them down in a sack full of fruit by her feet. When they finished packing, Hatasuko pulled the wedges out from beneath the front wheels. He tossed them into the back of the sail-rana, and then he climbed into the front seat.

            “Let’s see. I gotta unhook the mast, pull it up, and then there’s some kinda string thing,” Hatasuko mumbled as he tried to unfurl the sails.

            As soon as the sails spread into the wind, a jerking motion seized the entire ship. Since the sails were high and the wind blew strong, Hatasuko could feel the instability in the ship beneath him; it truly felt like it would soon tip. He moved into the backseat as the vehicle picked up speed, and as soon as he did, the sail-rana started to stabilize. He sat beside Vaida as she steered the sail-rana northwest with the reins. Since Vaida sat farther back than usual, she could see more of the landscape in the opening between the top of the bow and the bottom of the sail. She managed to easily navigate around the small rocks and ditches in their path, so the vehicle charged on at full speed. She squealed with joy because her new innovation had worked, but it was not long before her smile started to fade.

            “So this attack… you know, the one in Occasa. I guess I just wasn’t expecting that! I thought the Interfecti were chasing us now. That’s why we haven’t been staying in cities anymore. Do you think they gave up on us? I’m just so confused,” Vaida admitted.

            Hatasuko contemplated his response as he slowly ate an albapomus. He leaned forward so that the juice would not drop onto his clothes, but Vaida seemed unconcerned with the leakage.

            “I don’t really know. I’m sorry. I just know that the voices in the tempest are restless. But not just in their usual way; they’re louder and angrier than ever! I wish their screams were more coherent. They’ve never felt so miserable. I’ve spoken to Kurt and Adishina, the two souls that seem to speak to me the most, but they don’t know anything we don’t. They say that it feels like a trap, but they don’t know why. I want to heed their warning, but we really don’t seem to have a choice. This is our job, after all. We chase and fight the Interfecti at the risk of our own lives. Nothing has changed,” he answered.

            And though neither of them would say it, they both knew that this was false. Something had changed. Ever since Hatasuko and Vaida had fallen in love, they both knew that they could not fight as recklessly as before. While they were still risking their lives on this quest, the difference was that they now had something to lose. Death posed a greater threat now, but they could not admit this.

            “Maybe it is a trap, but we have a countermeasure of our own! They don’t know about the burning star,” Vaida said with a look of excitement.

            “That’s true! You’ve been more valuable than me this whole time, and you were just a human! Now that you’re an Astrodeus, the Interfecti don’t stand a chance,” Hatasuko raved.

            When Vaida took another bite of her albapomus, it was so juicy that the pulpy nectar splashed onto her cheeks. She stuck her tongue out and collected the delectable taste with a playful grin. Once she finished the albapomus, she tossed the core overboard and stared at the starry horizon. Once again, her smile started fading.

            “Do you really think it was worth it, though? Killing them, I mean. Even when it’s justified, and actually truly justified like this, um, it still seems like a big step. It’s irreversible. I’m a killer now, and I never wanted to be. I never wanted to be this,” she confessed.

            Hatasuko replied, “I never wanted this, either. Not for either one of us. I mean it seems so simple, since we’re supposed to save people. We aren’t supposed to harm anyone, let alone kill them! But sometimes, I guess that’s just the only way to stop more from dying. It’s awful that it has to be this way, but it’s how we reconcile ideals and reality. It’s the price we must pay for wanting so much from this world. I think there’d be a lot more people like us if they could pay the cost of their conscience.”

            “I think you’re right. But we still have to be very careful now that we’ve stepped on this path. The value of life really isn’t something we can just overlook,” Vaida said with a half-hearted smile.

            Vaida and Hatasuko both took another bite of their respective fruit. Hatasuko finished the albapomus in this bite, so he nibbled off the rest of the pulp and threw the core into the tall meadow grass. When he looked back at Vaida, a small shroud of darkness fell across the starlight and darkened the meadow. The clouds crept farther across the sky.

            “That reminds me, um, of something I’ve been thinking about,” Vaida muttered.

            “Really? What would that be?” asked Hatasuko.

            “Well, I was trying to figure something out. I mean, how come Caelicola didn’t stop Harvey and Spencer when they attacked the village? He can see and hear everything in the universe. He had to know that people were suffering. And we both saw his powers. He could have easily wiped them out and saved all those poor villagers. As I thought about it, um, I remembered back to when we fought those bandits in Ore. Do you remember? The guy with the golden eyes. You were playing with my hair after you stopped them,” Vaida explained with a shy smile.

            “Of course I remember,” Hatasuko answered, slightly smiling at the details of her memory.

            “I’m just trying to figure out why Caelicola didn’t help us. He’s got all the powers of a god, so in a sense, nothing really happens without his approval! He told us he can’t fight the Interfecti because he can’t handle the tempest, but I guess, um, I guess I just didn’t understand. Why doesn’t he stop bad people? Why did he let Harvey kill all those villagers? Why did he let a group of bandits attack Ore? Why did he let someone kill Lazaro’s children?” Vaida asked.

            “Are you trying to suggest that Caelicola’s evil too?” Hatasuko asked.

            She elaborated, “No… not at all. I, um, I think it’s the opposite. I think he’s just like you and me, or at least, I think that he’s like the people that we used to be. Back before we became killers. He said that he was chosen to have his powers, like someone forced them upon him, and maybe this is why. I think, um, I think they maybe believed in his good heart. They thought he would make a good god. But his naivete is his weakness. It’s because he can’t reconcile reality that he just lets the monsters ruin this world! His destruction power just completely erases things; we saw it ourselves! If he used that on someone, then he, um, he would be like us. He would be a killer. A killer with good intentions, just like us. But he hasn’t taken the plunge. He’s useless because of that. Humankind has been helpless because of that! All these cities will collapse because he couldn’t come to terms with his conscience.”

            A low rumble of thunder came from the dark clouds. As the storm opened to unleash a light drizzle onto the meadow, Vaida had to stare very carefully just to peer through the darkness. Hatasuko nudged her with his hands, so she passed the reins over to him, knowing that he could see more clearly with his two working eyes. Just a few seconds after he got the reins, he steered the sail-rana around a small ledge which was hidden by the light rain.

            As the sail-rana rolled on, Hatasuko grumbled, “I don’t care what he calls it; I think he’s selfish. His conscience should be killing him already, since he has the power to intervene but chooses not to use it. In a secondhand way, he’s responsible for all this misery because he doesn’t do anything to stop it. He should be condemned by his conscience no matter what. But with our way, he can kill villains and save innocent lives. In the other way, he just lets evil run rampant in our world. It’s like letting a man drown in mud just so he can keep his own hands clean. It seems like an easy decision to me. I wish someone else had his powers.”

            “It would be for the best. And honestly, um, I’ve actually thought about this. I’ve thought about this a lot. Even though you’re technically a killer, I think you are the one who should have his powers. I really do! You have a purer dream than anyone else. Maybe you can convince him. Caelicola, I mean. Maybe you can convince him to give you his powers. He doesn’t want them anyway, but he has to know that you’d do more good than him. And, um, that way he wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty,” Vaida explained.

            “I don’t know if the powers should be mine, but they really shouldn’t be his. It’s just a waste. After we beat the Interfectus in Occasa, let’s sail out to the Isles of Aether. We can check on our forest islands, and then we’ll pay a visit to Caelicola on the fourth isle! What do you say?” Hatasuko asked.

            A warm smile crept across Vaida’s lips. Instead of speaking, she simply hid her face and wrapped her arms around Hatasuko. Now that she was also an Astrodeus, her arms were long enough to reach around his big body, so she gave him a proper side-hug as she nuzzled the top of her head against the side of his neck. Her dark hair was damp because of the drizzle, but it still felt smooth against his skin. Hatasuko passed the handle of the right whip into his left hand so that he could run his fingers through her hair. Since her head and her hair were bigger than before, it finally felt normal when he combed his big fingers through it.

            Vaida whispered, “I really hope this never ends. I know it’s silly, since everything’s so wrong. The world has all these giant murderous monsters, and everyone’s so afraid of them that the only people… well, you know. The only people who will fight them are the ones who already lost everything. So maybe it’s true. Maybe the world is crumbling around us. But I’m so happy I have you. It doesn’t mean that I’m okay, and it doesn’t mean I’ll ever escape the scars and the memories they bring. But I’m smiling. I’ve never smiled this much before. I’ve never… smiled this much before.”

            A flash of lightning illuminated the clouds that slowly chased them across Agrideī. With a stare of wonder, Hatasuko and Vaida watched as the flash illuminated every drop of falling rain. A low rumble of quiet thunder shook the skies, but the storm was otherwise uneventful. Vaida feared that the rainwater would soften the hard meadow, but the dirt was so dry that it absorbed the water like a sponge. The wheels rolled at the same fast speed as before.

            Hatasuko said, “I feel like ever since I teamed up with you and Lazaro, I’ve been playing hide-and-seek with the person I used to be. It’s like I’ve been on a scavenger hunt for pieces of the Hatasuko that left this world long ago. I’ve been trying to find that childlike happiness. I’ve been desperately clinging to my mother’s words—the words that would make me into the man I want to be.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever find the same simple happiness I used to have. Maybe it hides too well, or maybe I’m just a shitty seeker. Maybe what I’ve been searching for is something different than what I’ve actually needed. I don’t think I’m supposed to get that type of happiness back. A child’s innocence isn’t something that can be found and glued back together; the two of us have both lost it forever. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We’ve found something better. We’ve found something lasting. It’s the flower that rises through the abyss—the light that pierces through the darkness.”

            As Hatasuko used the reins to steer his ship around a small pit filled with rainwater, Vaida tightened her embrace on him. Though her skin was wet, she felt warm to the touch. Her timid eyes glanced up at him with a glimmer in her irises.

            Looking slightly embarrassed, Vaida admitted, “Sometimes I think that you and I are a lot alike. Not, um, not in appearance of course, but our journey. We were both playing the same game! We were both hunting the Interfecti. But at the same time, well, we were both hunting for freedom inside ourselves. You were hunting happiness, not just for yourself, but for everyone in the world, and, well, I was, um, searching for an escape. Wanting to escape this. These scars and these memories. It’s like a game within a game, but now I’m glad I didn’t find what I wanted. And even when I break down, you’ve seen, even when I fall apart… I remember. I remember you saying that there’s nothing wrong with falling down. We all fall down. The important part is standing back up. The world can knock us down, but it cannot hold us down. That’s why I stand back up. Even if sometimes it takes a little while.”

            Hatasuko smiled and said, “I’m glad that means as much to you as it does to me. As it did for her. I know my mother would have loved you. This probably sounds strange, or maybe it’s just strange that these kinds of thoughts even appear in my head to begin with, but I think that’s why the tempest is quiet when I’m with you. Even though I can’t find her voice, I know she’s in there. Even if she couldn’t piece herself together like some others, I know she’s in there. I believe that she forces the tempest to fall quiet when I hold you in my arms. It’s her motherly way of sending her approval. I wonder if she’s known from the very start that I would fall for you. She always seemed to know everything.”

            Thunder rumbled in the dark sky. Though Vaida smiled as she clung to his body and processed his words, Hatasuko could not stop his mind from wandering. The drizzle remained light, but the howling wind grew gusty with time; the sail-rana jerked back and forth from this inconsistent motion. Hatasuko started to wonder if the storm was the sky’s way of warning him about the upcoming battle, but he discarded the idea. He decided that the storm was not meant to be ominous; it was merely there to decorate their journey with a downpour of shining raindrops. Every time the lightning flashed in the clouds above, a breathtaking glow illuminated every falling drop.

The entire sky was overcast. It did not look like the storm would pass any time soon.

            “That’s a beautiful way to say it, Hatasuko. I hope it’s true. I always wondered, um, I never knew why I could quiet your mind. I could make the tempest fall silent, like an antidote to that curse in your head. But I never knew why. If it’s a reaction, if it’s your mother’s influence… I would be so happy,” she said.

            A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky to the northwest horizon. The flashing light illuminated the outline of homes and buildings in the distance. Every wet blade of meadow grass glistened from the glow of lightning. Having not realized that they were close to the city of Occasa, Vaida pulled her hands off Hatasuko and started searching for her weapons. She had hardly upgraded since she evolved into an Astrodeus, but this was not because they tried to avoid cities. Now that she possessed fuel for the burning star, Vaida knew that no weapon in the world could compare to her destructive power. Her rocks and her short swords were inconsequential. She chose to equip herself with all of them just in case, but the Interfectus shield was the only thing that mattered.

            “I can’t believe this. We’re racing into battle like we always have, but we’re stronger now than ever before, and yet I’m still shaking. I must be letting my nerves get the best of me. I’m afraid, damn it,” Hatasuko admitted.

            A rumble of thunder shook the glowing clouds overhead. The rain began to fall slightly harder than before, but the wind accelerated the raindrops to a painful speed. The windblown rain struck their boat as they sailed on through the storm. Every drop felt like a tiny liquid knife pelting their skin.

            “I’m scared too, but we’re supposed to be! This monster is the most horrifying thing in existence. It’s like an avatar of terror—a nightmare entity. Every living thing is haunted by the Interfecti. We can’t forget that! We can’t underestimate it. All we can do is face it in battle and rip it down from the sky. We’re not playing hide-and-seek anymore. We won’t let it get away! This time, it dies. Tonight, we will kill the Interfectus,” Vaida said with an artificial tone of triumph.

            Once she had equipped her armaments, Vaida looked around for Hatasuko’s weapons. His newest sword was in its sheath on the wet floor, just behind their feet. It was tilted at an angle so that it could fit in the sail-rana. After this, she located his sack of rocks and his black shield. Once all this was gathered, Hatasuko passed the reins to Vaida and started to equip himself with these weapons. His shield was the last weapon he grabbed, and he used its shoulder clips to attach it to his back. They were both now ready to run into battle.

            Hatasuko suggested, “Maybe we’re reacting a little too quickly. The tempest rarely tells me when the attack will be, so we probably shouldn’t assume we’ve got an Interfectus waiting for us. It might not even show up at all! I can’t really predict the Interfecti anymore; I think it’s found a way to deceive the tempest.”

            A web of purple lightning shot through the clouds over Occasa. The lightning illuminated every distant building, but the silhouettes looked closer than before. Hatasuko and Vaida quickly closed in on the city and prepared to confront their ultimate enemy. With a mixture of anticipation and apprehension, Vaida stared at the glowing city as the lightning faded away. Thunder shook the ground beneath them.

            The two friends watched in silence as they sailed toward the city. Every couple of minutes, Vaida pulled the reins and steered the sail-rana around some unimportant obstacle, but she always realigned herself with the direction of the wind. The windblown rain plastered her hair to her skin.

            “The rain is going to hurt more when we stop moving. We’re moving in the same direction as the storm. When we stop, the gusts will probably sting twice as much as they do now,” Vaida mentioned.

            “Is the rain hurting your scars at all? I know you said they can act kinda like a rash.”

            “Sort of, but it’s nice and cool so it actually feels soothing. In a way, it-”

            Another blinding bolt of lightning interrupted their conversation. Once again, the flash of this tremendous bolt illuminated every raindrop and the outline of the city, but this time it revealed a transformation in the space between the rooftops and the clouds. There was a thin layer of transparent blackness, and it spread now across the sky in all directions. Hatasuko knew that this was the portal to the tempest of which Caelicola had spoken; this was the layer of blackness that fueled the Interfectus. Even as the glow of lightning faded, Hatasuko could see the dark outline of the Interfectus beginning to form. It was fading into existence as if it had woken from a daydream. Though he rapidly approached the edge of Occasa, Hatasuko could not see anyone from the city running away.

            “It’s here. I think it was waiting for us,” Vaida muttered with a quiet voice.

            With a flicker of lightning in the clouds above, Hatasuko realized that he could now see the details of the city’s edge. He could see the flash illuminate several homes and streets that bordered the large city. No one had emerged from their homes. The streets were silent except for the patter of rain hitting the rooftops. Many buildings were already dark, but some windows glowed from the light of a weak candle. The sail-rana shook and shuddered as it rolled over the rough terrain outside the city, so Vaida jumped over the front seat and collapsed the sail with her hands. She folded the mast down, disconnected her whips from the steering wheel, and tossed one back to Hatasuko. They both rolled up their whips and clipped them to the back of their shirts. Due to the mud and the pouring rain, the sail-rana quickly decelerated; it came to a total stop just outside the city.

            Hatasuko and Vaida both jumped out of the sail-rana on opposite sides. They both set a wedge down under the front tires as the rain fell upon them, and then they took off running toward the city. At first, Hatasuko reached for his whip so that he could drag Vaida along, but then he realized that she did not need his assistance anymore; she ran at the same pace as him. They dashed together into the quiet streets as the layer of blackness spread across the sky. The clouds flickered with lightning and rumbled with thunder as the storm intensified. Even in the city, the howling wind transformed the raindrops into tiny daggers.

            “Why isn’t anyone running away? There’s a giant Interfectus in the middle of the city!” Vaida yelled, forcing her voice to overpower the thunder.

            Kurt said to Hatasuko from the edge of the tempest, “The city of Occasa is built on underground tunnels! Almost every house has a basement path that leads to it. Most of the citizens are probably underground, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe. The tunnels will flood if this storm continues.”

            “They’re all in underground tunnels! We have to beat the Interfectus before the tunnels flood. Though… why isn’t the Interfectus attacking? It’s totally motionless,” Hatasuko replied.

            “I don’t know. But the closer we get, the more easily we can fight it! We’ll be able to knock down the scattershot without even aiming.”

            Hatasuko nodded and ran on. Vaida was right. If he could get close enough to actually strike the monster’s body, his Astrodeus power could possibly end the fight with one hit. If Vaida could get close enough to transform into the burning star, then she would have the same opportunity. Proximity was a great ambition, even if it felt like a trap.

            “Kurt, do you know why the tempest is so distraught? Every soul in the abyss is screaming. I don’t understand what they’re afraid of!” Hatasuko said.

            But Hatasuko was shaken from the depths of his mind when a blinding bolt of lightning shot down from the sky. In a massive flash of light which both burned his eyes and illuminated the city, Hatasuko saw the outline of something that sent shivers down his spine. In another part of the large city, a few dozen blocks away from the Interfectus that had not moved at all, stood the giant silhouette of a second Interfectus.

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