The Red Hand

Once Akagi finished enjoying herself at Elariel's expense, she moved to finish their meeting. Further discussions had drawn things out, and it was already getting dark by the time they left the Princess's office.

"Now, do consider what we discussed in private, Princess. I assure you that it's the best option you've got if you want to save your people." Akagi whispered to Rebeckah as they left the office. The two had met together privately to discuss an offer that the Demon had made, and its contents made the Princess give it serious thought, though it would come with a heavy price.

"I will take your offer under consideration, so please give me time to think it over." Rebeckah whispered back while the other girls walked ahead of them.

"That's fine. If you wish to contact me, just break this." Akagi slid a transport crystal into Rebeckah's hands covertly. "You can also use this if you get into a jam, so feel free to use it if needed." Rebeckah didn't say anything but nodded.

"Hey, what are you two doing back there?" Halifax called out to the two slowpokes. "I want to get good seats at Salmires! That place gets packed after dark, so get moving!" She was looking forward to visiting one of her favorite restaurants in the capital.

"It seems that my little party is dying to get something to eat, so I must go now, But thank you for meeting with me, Princess, and I hope to hear from you soon." Akagi smiled as she ran ahead to catch up to the other four, with Rebeckah turning down another hallway a few moments later.

*DEEP EXHALE*

Rebeckah fell to her knees as her entire body shook in fear. "S-So that... That was a Demon Lord..." The Imperial Princess was never one to show fear, but based on her pale white face you'd never know that she was a seasoned adventurer. She'd fought plenty of powerful foes during her many missions, but seeing Akagi completely dominate, not only one of the four Heroes, but a Goddess, made her feel helpless. As she inspected the strange crystal that Akagi had given her with her shaky hands, her blood ran cold as she realized that the fate of her people rested on her shoulders.

{I... Do... Do we even have a choice?} (Rebeckah)

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<Kanato POV>

"Nothing..." Kanato said as he started a campfire in the middle of the abandoned City. "I guess that I should've expected there would be nothing of importance left but..." Most of Zanathon had been put to the torch once the Spirits were driven out, and the vast majority of buildings were little more than ruins.

{I found the room that I think they did their ritual in. There was almost nothing left besides a few spots that showed broken magical circles and some blood stains. I heard that some Spirits were left behind, but I guess it was stupid to hope that I'd find some hiding here...} (Kanato)

"What the fuck am I doing anymore?" Kanato said aloud as he started putting various meats and mushrooms into a pot to that was starting to boil. "Here I am sitting in some abandoned city, one that I caused to be destroyed... Looking for something to prove that what we did was right..." He couldn't remember anything about Akagi due to her seal on his memories but did recall that he was told by someone that the Spirits were innocent victims of the Gods' plan to flee the world.

{Whatever messed with my memory... Did it also lie? Were its words lies? Did the Spirits... Did the Gods really lie to us? Did they really... Use us?} (Kanato)

"Is everyone just liars..." Kanato said quietly as the fire crackled. "Am I really a Hero that Delia could be proud to call her father?" His face grew dark as he sat in complete silence until he detected a small magical signature nearby.

"Who's there?!?" Kanato sprung to his feet just in time to see a small fairy duck behind a half-broken pot on the ground nearby.

{A fairy? What is one of them doing so far from the Whistlewoods?} (Kanato)

"Hey, it's alright." Kanato put his hands up to show that he wasn't armed. "I'm not going to hurt you, so don't be afraid." He could tell that there were two other small magical signatures nearby, most likely other fairies. "My name is Kanato Hiyuki, and I'm..." He hesitated, wanting to say Hero, but his heart couldn't use that word, not when he was so unsure about things. "I'm making some soup. Do you want any? There's gonna be way to much for just me."

"Soup?" One small fairy poked her head over the pot, her short purple hair reminding Kanato of his third wife's.

"It'll be done soon, so why don't you join me? I think I have a few smaller dishes in my inventory for you guys to eat out of." Kanato smiled as he reached into a small pocket dimension that was similar to that of the returnees and pulled out three small clay bowls.

"Soup..." The fairy ducked down and began speaking to somebody else. "Soup! Eat?" The fairy spoke, and Kanato could hear mumbling in return.

"But scary! Human scary!" A black haired male fairy said back.

"But food! Mushrooms tasty!" Another blacked haired male fairy commented spoke, and after a few minutes of bickering, the three fairies floated up and over to Kanato, cautiously.

"Give soup?" The female fairy asked, tilting her head. She was small, maybe only as tall as a pencil. Her outfit consisted of loosely woven leaves and moss, though her most defining features were her shiny wings and purple hair. The other two had similar types of clothing and wings, though their body style was a bit different as they were male.

"Yeah, you can have some. It's just about done, so give me just a minute." Kanato took out a wooden spoon and poured some into a bowl. "I don't have any fairy-sized cutlery, but if I can get a leaf or something.”

"Is okay!" The female fairy said with a smile. "Give soup!" She held out her hands.

Kanato could tell that the three hadn't eaten in a while and the fairy's eyes showed their hunger. "Alright, here you go. Dig in!" He slowly put the bowl on the ground.

“SOUP!" The two male fairies demanded their own bowls, which surprised Kanato.

"Fine." Kanato laughed as each fairy was given its own soup bowl.

"Just be careful, it's hot and-" Kanato's words were ignored as the three fairies dived into the soup.

*SLORP* *SLURP* *MUNCH*

"You should be careful..." Kanato said while shaking its head.

{I've only met a few fairies before, and they definitely didn't go diving into a bowl of hot soup to eat it...} (Kanato)

"SOUP DONE!" The female fairy poked her head out of the completely dry soup bowl. "SOUP GOOD!"

"GOOD SOUP!" The male fairies gave thumbs up.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Kanato laughed as he sat down to eat his own soup. "It's nothing special, but I learned to do a bit of ad-hoc cooking while traveling with my friends." He gave a bitter smile.

"Adventurer?" The female fairy asked as she floated next to Kanato.

"Travel?" One of the male fairies moved onto his shoulder.

"Soup?" The other male fairy stared at him from within the soup bowl, a leaf falling on top of his head.

"I've been all over the continent." Kanato looked around the destroyed city. "I was even here before..."

"Spirits?" The female fairy looked him in the eyes. "Met Spirits?"

"I... Yes... I did." Kanato put on a fake smile. "But now, they're gone..."

{All because of me...} (Kanato)

"Gone?" The male fairy in the soup bowl put too much weight on the lip and tumbled forward, falling out of the bowl. "No more Spirits?"

"Still Spirits." The female fairies' words got Kanato's attention.

"I know they still exist..." Kanato sighed as he put down the soup bowl. "But they've been enslaved."

"Slaved?" The male fairy on his shoulder sat down and started kicking his legs.

"It means they have to do what they're told, or else." Kanato didn't really know how to explain the concept to them.

"Know Spirit! ?Not slaved!" The female fairy said with a smle. "Ref big-scary! No do what told!"

"WHAT?!?" Kanato's scream startled the three of them, who zipped to the other side of the fire. "Ah, sorry for yelling. You just surprised me is all."

"Not mad?" One of the male fairies asked.

"Angry?" The other male fairy said cautiously.

"No, I'm not. Sorry for yelling." Kanato apologized. "But where is this Ref? I thought all Spirits were enslaved, but if one isn't, then I'd like to talk to them."

{Maybe they can give me some useful information.} (Kanato)

"Hmmm, Human bad... but soup..." The female fairy thought for a moment, weighing the desire to repay the soup debt with that of keeping the Spirit safe.

"Soup good! Human... not good..." One of the male fairies said.

"Tell you what. I'll give you the rest of the soup if you agree to take me." Kanato winked, and the three fairies quickly got to work devouring the rest of the soup in the pot.

*SLORP* *SLURP* *MUNCH*

"SOUP!" The three fairies cheered as they finished gorging themselves senseless on the soup.

{Where did it even go?!? They're so small, yet they ate all that!} (Kanato)

"So, will you take me?" Kanato asked the bloated fairies.

"Can't move..." The female fairy groaned.

"Too much soup..." the two male fairies hiccuped.

"I guess we can go in the morning." Kanato looked up, the Sun was going down anyway so traveling at this point would be dangerous.

"Morning!" The three fairies seemed to like that idea.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going?" Kanato asked as he pulled a sleeping bag out of his inventory.

"Big city!" The female fairy answered as she sat up. "Many Humans!"

{A city? But how would a Spirit hide among Humans? Even ones that could shape shift were detected.} (Kanato)

"Do you know the name of that city?" Kanato asked as he threw another log onto the fire.

"Ummmm City?" The female fairy tilted her head, unsure.

"Yeah, I guess fairies wouldn't really know the name of a Human city." Kanato laughed.

"City has Hero!" One of the male fairies spoke. "Priestess! Pretty lady!"

"Bad lady has many Spirits locked away!" The other male fairy puffed out his cheeks. “She bad!”

{WHAT?!? HITOMI?!?} Kanato froze as he took in what the fairies said. If they were to be believed, then that would mean that not only was a Spirit within the Holy City but that Hitomi was keeping other Spirits in captivity for some unknown reason. {Hitomi, what the hell have you been up to?!?}