The Blue Rock And I Adventures In The Red Rock Arc Part Two

 The Quest

"So this quest, what is it?" Uncle Haru asked.

"It is a quest to help you find a map of this world. Although none have ever succeeded or returned. Yet there was one boy who tried and we have not seen him in years!"

"What boy? What was his name?" Asked Yukio.

"His name was Alexander Hitler. Although, he admitted that he was not proud of his surname. He never said why just 'you do not want to know'."

Uncle Haru's eyes narrowed.

"Alright, so will you return to the quest?"

"Yes! It is to find the lost item of the Witch Of The Tower."

"And that is?"

"No one knows. The only thing that is known is that it is found here." He said, pulling out a small map. "I know that this is hardly much."

"Why is it off the town?" Asked Charly.

"Because all we have to go on is this. We once tried to make a world map of our own but all that tried died of spontaneous combustion."

"So there's a curse on doing that?"

We all looked at him shocked.

"Yes…it seems so."

I nodded.

"Thank you. We should be on our way now."

"Why so?"

"We don't know that the passage of time is in our world compared to this one." I pointed out. "After all, you should know I was born before the war."

"And?"

"Haven't you ever wondered how I'm still a teenager despite it being clearly the seventies?"

They all became pale.

"You're right. Tell me, how much is the map?"

He curled the map up and plonked it right into his eyes.

"Take it! It's free."

"How come?"

"Maps are bad luck. I've been meaning to throw it out."

"Oh, thank you!"

We left the inn. We were soon back on the road. We put Yukio in charge of navigation, which was a job he did well. It reminded me of when I was young and Dad would paint his beautiful sculptures of many fantasy animals from his home country. He would make sure that he did them well and did not tolerate anything that could have been called incompetence. Even when he made a mistake, he would always throw away the sculpture or painting.

I looked down, I could feel myself smiling again. Although I could not place why. I wondered whether or not I had become so accustomed to these things that I started to enjoy them? No, that was not the reason. No, it was more like I always enjoyed these things. After all, I always got into fights when I went to school and some of them were on purpose! Yet despite one leaving those white streaks in my hair, I still challenged the one that put them there.

Wonder if there's something wrong with me?

That was when I looked up to see a crimson desert in front of me. 

"Does the map say anything about this desert?"

Yukio looked down.

"Yes it does. 'Beware of leaving the cobbles for the desert likes to whisper sweet nothings'."

I nodded as I looked down, trying to hide my smile. That was when I noticed that we were all on a cobbled road. I then looked at the crimson same of the desert. Then as I followed the path of cobbles with my eyes I spotted that the wind brushed the same over the cobbles. This would make it difficult for us to see the cobbles if the wind continued booking like this. Which meant we could have had a problem on our hands.

I then looked around and spotted a group of fallen branches with leaves on the floor of the forest. I quickly ran to collect them and have them all one.

"What's this for?" Asked Mara.

"The sand is covering the cobbles. I think that the corner at go, the more sand that could have covered them. This way we will be able to sweep the same aside and expose the cobbles beneath them."

Uncle Haru then hugged me! I was both confused and shocked. I just could not believe it, not could I know what to do or make of it.

"You are definitely Natsu's daughter!"

"Urm…"

Cho chuckled.

"Looks like you modified her!"

I looked aside feeling both concerned and uncomfortable. Yet I could not help but feel nostalgic for my Dad and his games that we used to play. In fact we would spend hours pretending to be in the old times, he would be the hero and my Mum and me were his companions. Mum would always be captured by the evil creature that Dad sculpted and it was always up to us to save her. The one part I loved the most was that there would always be a specific way to defeat the creature, such as bow to one, which would cause water to fall out. 

Yet I had to remind myself that, regardless of how much he looked and acted like my Dad he was not him but his killer. Then as I looked down, I spotted that there was a shade of sorrow in his eyes as he let me go.

What was all that about?

"Aqua, I would like you to-"

"No! I will go ahead. The girl will go behind me." Uncle Haru said sternly.

He swept in front of us as we all walked ahead, making sure that we tailed him well." That was when Mara lost her footing and landed upon the sand. They all looked at her as she then looked up at the sun. She became pale as she started to walk away from the group. Yet as she walked on her body became lower and lower. She then fell and did not get up. Then we saw her waist, sticking out of the sand like the roots of a tree.

What did I just see?

I soon felt creeped out. As I walked on I just could not get what I had just seen out of my head. What disturbed me the most was the fact that she did not scream or cry out! Yet I was even more disobeyed at the fact that I did nothing to save her!

What's wrong with me?

We continued walking until the cobbles branded out in a semi circle. This led to a wall with two doors. In between was a ruby plaque.

One door,

Leads to what you are looking for,

One door,

Traps you here now forever more,

Follow the direction of your heart,

Choose wisely and from here depart!

"Like that tells us anything!"

"Actually it tells us more than you think!" Both me and Uncle Haru said.

We looked at each other like someone had stepped on our grave.

"Never do that again!"

"Agreed!"

We gave each other a puzzled look.

"Anyway! Back on track, why does it give more than we think?" Yukio asked.

"Well-"

"Mr Aoshiné!"

I rolled my eyes as I looked back at Uncle Haru.

"Well let's analyse the riddle shall we? 'One door leads to what we're looking for. What does that mean?"

"It will lead to the object of the quest."

"Now the second, 'one door, traps you here now forever more.'"

"We will all be trapped here if we should pick it?"

"Exactly. Aqua, do the other lines!" He said, grinning like a child.

"'Follow the direction of your heart.'"

"Now that is the give away. What direction is the heart?"

"To the left. Oh!"

"See!" They both said.

"I told you to stop that!"

"Right."

That was when Uncle Haru did something that took me completely off guard, he burst out laughing! Yet it was a laugh that was filled with both sorrow and nostalgia. He covered his face to hide himself wiping his eyes.

"Ahhh! That takes me back!" He said with a bitter sweet tone.

"Anyway, we need to go!"

What was that all about?

Then he looked at me and looked away, making me feel even more confused. If I did not know any better I would have easily mistaken the look in his eyes as guilt and grief.

We opened the door, ahead of us was an orb in the shape of an egg. It was purple with blue and red stars in it. It was so beautiful that I almost fell in love with it instantly.

"Is that it?"

"I believe so!"

I then took it. I could feel that it was tingly in my fingers. Yet I could almost sense where we were to go next. Then I even saw the direction as clear as day in my mind. In fact it was so clear that I would have thought that I was somehow being dragged through the image. Yet I could not feel it's ground.

"I know where to go!"