Akir Thorne's Story

How many days had passed since the start of his journey?, The boy watched at the the capital from the distance in the company of his brother dragon, the powerful and ancient creature had agreed to accompany him on his journey to the holy lands and although the ginger-haired boy didn't know where it was that place he knew that at least in the capital could find information, put his hand to the side of the dragon while settled his thoughts, he approached to his dream slowly but to do it he had taken without permission the dragon that his brother considered a friend, sighed and thought that maybe Alaric would forgive him when he returns with the Legendary Dragon inhabitant of the holy lands.
Slowly approached the city on the back of the dragon who was walking instead of using its large wings to cross the skies, when he had decided that the first place would go in the capital it would be the restaurant, the best place to gather information, Kaatanmura stopped a moment, and then make a detour.
When the dragon stopped again, Arik was surprised to find a girl with pale skin and black hair that was lying on the ground, the boy didn't know whether she was asleep or unconscious, but her strange clothes caught his eye so he dismounted the dragon and approached the girl.
Arik put his hand over her forehead and noticed that she didn't had fever had, the shook her slightly and asked, "Are you okay?"

Kimiko slowly came to. Her head was spinning. She groaned and lifted her head to take a look around. She was laying back in the forest, though she did not know how she'd gotten there. The last thing she remembered was falling inside that cave. She was unsure of how long she lay there, though the air no longer smelled of rain, and the sun was shining. Someone was shaking her, and she groggily batted away thier hand.

"Saito, stop it," she mumbled, the way she did when she first woke up in the mornings. She turned to face her waker. She rolled over and sat up in alarm. This wasn't her baby brother, nor was it anyone she knew. This was a Westerner, perhaps a year older than her, dressed in the most outlandish costume. He looked like one of those characters from Saito's computer games, dressed in medeaval European style clothing that was so popular in the fantasy genre. But what was a Western cosplayer doing way out here, in the middle of no where? They were far from Tokyo. The only Westerners that came out here were adventure tourists wanting a unique vacation experience, or the travel writers who gave them those ideas. Kimiko tried to speak, but the words wouldn't quiet come out. Did this guy even speak Japanese? Of course he does. Otherwise, how'd he get way out here. Then again, she thought, he might not understand our accents. I mean, I know English, but I was still confused when we went to New York.

"Um, hi," she said, finally getting a grip on herself. "I'm okay, I think. Thanks." She paused. "You do speak Japanese, right?"

"I'm okay, I think. Thanks." She paused. "You do speak Japanese, right?"

The girl seemed a little confused as she woke up and was as interested in the clothes of Arik as he was in hers "Japanese?, Sorry I don't know what's that" Arik is looked carefully her clothes, those kind of clothes don't provide any protection and it seemed that the girl wasn't carry any kind of weapon to protect herself, what kind of person wanders through these roads without protection?, perhaps the Japanese-thing she mention had to do with that.

Although he couldn't help her with that, he couldn't leave her in the road where sometimes thiefs or worse roamed, he waved at Kaatanmura who had stayed behind while the two were talking and said "I'm going to the capital" as he pointed to the city from that place they could still saw it "Maybe there you can find the 'Japanese' you speak of, we could arrive in minutes flying" then he mounted the green dragon.

During the trip since he left his home had flown a few times, not because he was afraid of fly or anything like that, instead it was because a flying dragon attracted a lot of attention and that was something he didn't want, so he was trying to avoid to getting in the capital flying but if the girl was in some kind a hurry to find her 'Japanese' then there was nothing to do, Kaatanmura opened its mouth and showed its fangs like always did in front of a stranger and after the boy patted calmed. Only then Arik extended his gauntleted right hand to the girl from the scaly creature's back and said "I'm Arik, are you coming?".

Well, for someone who didn't know what Japanese was, this kid sure knew how to speak it. He had no accent, nor did he have to grope for the right word constructions. But my god, was this guy born under a rock? Unless he was the bastard son of a female Buddhist ascetic and an American serviceman, how could he not know the name of the language he was speaking? And why was he dressed like a character from a roleplaying game? She didn't hear what else the boy said, as her attention shifted to the large green dinosaur he had moved to stand next to.

A large green dinosaur?!? Kimiko almost fell back down on her back. She straightened herself up again and rubbed her eyes. Sure enough, there was that dinosaur, baring its teeth like a dog - or horse, from the way the kid was patting its snout. Great, he is an RPG character, thought Kimiko. She must still be in that cave, out cold, while her imagination ran wild. That would explain the costume, the absence of a language barrier, and that dino - thing. Dragon! Yes, that was it. If this was some dream based on Saito's video games and anime, then that creature was a domesticated dragon. And that kid rode it. Kimiko felt her stomach sink. The last time she'd ridden any beast of burden was a mule ride down Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. By the time they reached Phantom Ranch, deep inside the canyon, Kimiko was loudly proclaiming how she would rather walk all the way up to the rim than ride the mule again. Besides, he was a teenage boy, and she was a teenage girl with a rather ample bust. Did he really think he could score sharing a saddle with a big chested girl clinging to his back? He wasn't even that cute! This was not the sort of kid Kimiko wanted to be sharing her dream with, even if he was a figment of her imagination (though a nagging voice inside Kimiko's head was convinced this was too vivid to be some sort of dream).

"Um, I'll walk, if that's okay with you," she said, trying to play along with where this "dream" was going. Wait, why am I playing along? It's my dream, everything is only an expression of my subconcious. But if it's a dream, then why do I know it's a dream. Ah! My head's going to explode! Just go with it, Kimiko. If you're dreaming, you'll wake up. If you've gone down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, you can either find your way back like Alice, or if you die, you fell down a hole in a cave anyway, and everyone will assume your body is unrecoverable. In the meantime, pretend you know what he's talking about. "I don't like flying. And I don't like riding either. Had a bad experience on a mule, once. Besides, he might scare people, being all big and - dragon-y."

Weird girl, that was Arik thought when watched the reaction she had to see Kaatanmura it was like the first time she had seen a dragon, no, that was wrong, her reaction was as if the thing that was right before her eyes was something imaginary, He would have understood if she would be scared or something, but react like it was a dream? that was as strange as her clothes.
Arik had a lot things he wanted to ask, things like where she came from?, why she was there? or why she wasn't carrying any weapons to protect herself, but when the girl began to talk something she said annoyed him,

"I don't like flying. And I don't like riding either. Had a bad experience on a mule, once. Besides, he might scare people, being all big and - dragon-y."

"How can you compare a dragon with a mule?, In any case, the decision is yours", the boy couldn't believe how someone even attempt such comparison, the dragons can eat mules whole, beside she had rejected the possibility of flying on a dragon's back when there were many who would pay large sums of gold for an opportunity like this, Did she think that everyone had a dragon on a backyard or something?.

He made Kaatanmura ​​walking more slowly than usual so that the girl wouldn't have to work hard to keep up, but still couldn't help feeling bad when he was only mounting so he stopped and left the dragon's back to walk beside her. He glanced at her in silence, no matter how you see her breasts stood out and the clothes she was wearing only mphasized them even more, that would attract attention in a bad way and he want to warn her but didn't know how to do it, it wasn't something that made him proud but growing while trying to avoid being compared made him spent most of his time without socializing so he wasn't sure how to talk with womens. Even so he took off his green mantle and threw it to her "Cover yourself with that, you attract a lot of attention, much more than Kaatanmura" he said her without looking directly, maybe was exaggerating but didn't found better words to let her know.

Kimiko understood the boy's attitude in regard to his pet dragon. It was like calling a prized racing stallion a kiddie pony. Okay, so maybe flying on a big green dragon was more romantic and exciting than a mule plodding down a trail, but Kimiko had made up her mind. No way was she riding on the back of anything, least of all with some teenage boy sharing the saddle with her - did that thing even have a saddle?

She appreciated the boy's guesture of throwing her the cloak. She wasn't stupid. She knew he wasn't so much as staring at her figure than he was her overall dress. In a fantasy RPG, women only dressed in skinny jeans and t-shirts if they were some sort of badass, like a rouge, mage, or spunky swordswoman. She was niether. She was just a regular Japanese teenager. But the guy's own cloak? And why was the kid acting like she was topless? Oh, right, he was probably one of those fantasy RPG awkward teenagers having an ackward teenage moment in front of a pretty girl. Good grief, not even Hajimi acts like that, or any other boy in my school for that matter. Then again, in fantasy, chivalry isn't dead. And why is it these fantasy forests are always so dangerous? With my luck, all that's missing is a swordsman and a mage for companions, and either a monster or a gang of bandits to jump out and attack us.

"I suppose the first thing we should do is find me a tailor or something so I can get out of these clothes, right?" Kimiko suggested after a few minutes. "You know: get something a little more fashionable." She paused for a bit before changing the subject. She didn't want to walk all the way to "the capital" with this playing the strong, silent hero type. She wasn't an anime girl, nor was she a rabid anime fan-girl, so she didn't go for that sort of thing. Weather this was a wierd dream or she really was in Wonderland, she wanted something else than the formulaic fantasy teenager. "So, the dragon-thing," she began, trying to make conversation. "Did you choose it, did it choose you, or were you issued it as some sort of professional dragon-rider, like a knight or something?" She hoped that in Wonderland, dragons were a rather uncommon thing, or else people who rode them were even less common. If dragons and dragon-riders were as ubiquitous as horses and horsemen, she was in trouble.

"I suppose the first thing we should do is find me a tailor or something so I can get out of these clothes, right?" the girl suggested after a few minutes. "You know: get something a little more fashionable."

The first thing we should do is find me a tailor? The boy sighed and then said "If you have money you can find one in the city and buy the type of clothes you want" he wasn't a kind soul, it was true that he helped others without asking for anything in return but wasn't as virtuous to buy a set of clothes to a girl you just met and with whom, but not least, thought he couldn't get along, no, Arik plans wouldn't go beyond getting into the city together, once there the he'll recover his mantle and say goodbye, at the most he'll invite her to eat something while he gathered the information he need and then the girl could ride all the mules she want and seek her 'Japanese', after all the cities were safest than the roads, as long as she don't do something dumb that could get her in troubles she'll be fine alone.

"So, the dragon-thing," she began, trying to make conversation. "Did you choose it, did it choose you, or were you issued it as some sort of professional dragon-rider, like a knight or something?"

"It isn't dragon-thing, is called Kaatanmura" said looking at her with some pity, why she was asking things everyone knew about the dragons?, Maybe she hit her head and that would explain her odd behavior, he thought but when he approached before didn't see a blood trail, he wasn't a healer but at least could identify bumps and bruises and she was fine, what if she has lived all her secluded?, anyway he decided to answer her questions, "Those who can control, tame or even breed dragons are called 'Dragon Tamer', there are few who own one, most of them have high positions in the various militias" felt a little depressed when finish his explanation, mainly for the fact that the dragon he was riding was the one that his brother raised and began to doubt he could accomplish his goal, "I borrowed the one of my brother" confessed to avoid misunderstandings, "Traveling with Kaatanmura ensures that no group of thieves or creatures come closer, there are few who would want a direct confrontation with a dragon" is said colloquially that only a dragon could beat another, although there are actually people who specialize in fighting those beings and other creatures that rival the strength of a dragon, but it was almost impossible that coincidentally would be one of those in this path.

"What about you? Have a name? Are you some kind of professional mule rider?" Arik knew it was unnecessary and would regret but he feel the need to return the insult from the time whe she compared Kaatanmura with a mule, she also seemed to want to talk so it was a good way to know more about his weird companion.

"This is Jin, my familiar and brother. He looks a bit mean, but he means well, promise!"
"Brother"? This giant, walking construct forged from steel was her brother? First strangely dressed, confused teenagers were popping up around the capital and now he was a sellsword working for a witch who was heading to the Holy Lands and had a golem for a brother. Today was certainly eventful. She had only said she was a water witch, she shouldn't be able to bind a soul to a golem.
"This thing is your brother?" Alaric asked in confusion, "But it's a golem of steel and you're of flesh and blood, there's no way the two of you could be related!"
Alaric walked around Jin, inspecting every little joint in search for anything that might suggest he could be Euterpe's brother, but he could see nothing. There was no blood seal visible, so it was unlikely a human soul was bound to the golem. He decided to stop looking, lest he anger the huge construct. He had almost rapped on the golem to find out whether or not it was hollow, but thought better of it.

"Oh my, it's getting dark... Shall we find an inn to rest for the night? That way, we're all alert and ready for travel and search!"
Alaric hadn't noticed that the sun was beginning to sink into the horizon until Euterpe mentioned it. She was right, they would need to acquire accommodation soon. It would certainly be nice to be sleeping in a bed for once as opposed to on the ground. However, Alaric's thoughts of rest were quickly cut off by the sound of familiar footsteps approaching.
"You lot go and find an inn now, I've got to do something." Alaric told the rest of the group, "Don't worry about me, I'll catch up to you soon."
With that, Alaric turned and left, running quickly towards the approaching footsteps.

There could be no doubt. Those slow, heavy footsteps could be none other than Kaatanmura's. It had been so long, and now Kaatanmura and Arik had finally showed up. As he ran down the road, towards the footsteps, Arik and Kaatanmura came into view, giving Alaric a reason to run even faster. His steel greaves were clanking loudly against the ground, there was no doubt that Arik and Kaatanmura could both hear and see him approaching.
"Arik!" Alaric yelled out angrily, "You're going to have hell to pay!"
Alaric nearly collided with Arik, coming to a halt suddenly in front of him. He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up a couple of inches so their eyes were level before spitting out an angry barrage of words at him.
"What in the name of the gods were you thinking?!" Alaric snapped, "Mother and father think you're dead, and mother probably thinks I am too! You never asked me about taking Kaatanmura and buggering off without telling any of us so you could pursue your crazy dream! You didn't even have the courtesy to leave a bloody note! I would drag your sorry arse back home now if it weren't for the fact you got me entangled in this! I'm now under the employ of some witch whose brother is a golem! I've met people from Japan, wherever that is, who I have to babysit because they're even more clueless than you!"
Taking deep breaths in order to calm himself down, Alaric set Arik back down on the ground and let his hand fall back to his side.
"Anything to say in your defense?" Alaric asked, now having calmed down somewhat.

It was all very strange indeed, she was talking about some friends and then started running around saying that she heard their voices calling, quickly ran into a nearby cave followed closely by Arik and the dragon, that's when the strange thing occurred, the cave was illuminated with a purple glow, a glow that the boy had never seen before and that blinded him for a moment, when the vision came back to his eyes the girl wasn't there anymore.

Arik searched through the cave for a long time, but everything was useless the girl with strange clothes didn't reappeared, Arik was confused but decided to classify everything as a hallucination, but the cold had to lose his cloak reminded him that it was all true.
He walked alongside Kaatanmura towards the city, since the night has come instead of going to a restaurant information he should seek for an inn on which to rest, the boy was still lost in thought when out of nowhere appeared his brother, how had come before him?, for all the gods he was riding a dragon, it was true that he didn't come flying all the way and that he took a more panoramic path, but still he come way too fast, with the luck that Arik had it wouldn't be crazy assuming that his older brother discovered that mysteriously had talent for teleportation magic, that would be the cherry on the cake.

He felt how his brother picked him up and yell things in the face, the word "Japan" caught his attention momentarily but as Alaric released him, he shook his hand and took a couple of step backwards to focus on responding to the cries of his brother, it wasn't that he have much to defend himself or intended to do.

"To them if I'm there or not makes no difference, I've been days without going back and they never bothered, but now you are disappeared they're probably crying disconsolately" replied bitterly "Ultimately it comes down to that I came with Kaatanmura otherwise you wouldn't even be here now, as I see you have the same confidence as always" laughed sadly as he approached Kaatanmura and took his bag he had securely attached to the back of the dragon with his bow and arrows, then put it on his back and began to walk towards the city.

"Kaatanmura will be more than happy to travel with you, now you can go with your witch and her golem, don't blame me for your decisions, by the way," he stopped and turned, decided it was best if he asked directly "That 'Japan' thing has something that do with 'Japanese'? because I met a girl who dressed weird and asked obvious questions she was looking for something like that"

"To them if I'm there or not makes no difference, I've been days without going back and they never bothered, but now you are disappeared they're probably crying disconsolately."
Alaric almost slammed the palm of his hand into his face, Arik could say some utterly stupid things when he wanted to, and seemed to want to frequently.
"Mother and Father know exactly where I am, I had enough sense to tell them I was leaving." Alaric responded incredulously, "I told them why you left, Mother tried to stop me from coming after you, but as you can see I came anyway. Our parents care about you Arik, and they're worried about you. The only reason they didn't indulge you as much as they indulged me was because you never showed any promise. Not because you couldn't do anything, it was because you wouldn't try."

"Ultimately it comes down to that I came with Kaatanmura otherwise you wouldn't even be here now, as I see you have the same confidence as always."
Once again, Arik was spewing bilge out of his mouth. Every comment Arik made made Alaric want to slap some sense into him, but refrained from doing so.
"While I did come looking for Kaatanmura, I came looking for you as well." Alaric replied, "While you can be incredibly stupid and constantly drive me up the wall, you're still my little brother and I care about you. I can't just let you fly off on a wild goose chase on your own, can I?"
Alaric then took Kaatanmura's reins from Arik and climbed into the saddle. It would feel good to fly again.
"You're no better than he is though, don't think I overlooked the fact you ran off willingly." Alaric scolded Kaatanmura, causing him to bow his head in shame.

Just as Alaric was about to take off and fly back to the group, Arik turned to him and asked a question.
"That 'Japan' thing has something that do with 'Japanese'? Because I met a girl who dressed weird and asked obvious questions she was looking for something like that."
"I should think so." Alaric answered, "Since that girl was almost certainly Kimiko, the girl Miou and Hajime were looking for, it looks like you're going to have to tell them everything you know about where she is."
Giving Arik no chance to respond in any way, Kaatanmura surged forward and skyward while Alaric grabbed his little brother and hoisted him up into the saddle.

Finding the group didn't take long, since they had a bird's eye view over the city. As soon as Alaric had found the group again, he had Kaatanmura swoop down towards them and land in the street, metres away from them.
"Sorry about that." Alaric told the group as he dismounted Kaatanmura, "I just had to pick up these two idiots. I hope you don't mind them coming with us to the Holy Lands. Oh, and my brother said he met Kimiko, so go ahead and ask him questions about her."

Hajime Suzuki

This is Jin, my familiar and brother. He looks a bit mean, but he means well, promise!"
The first thing that reached Hajime’s ears after he woke up and spoke to Miou startled him slightly. He jerked his gaze over to Jin and stared at the golem, his eyes widening slightly. “That’s…” He looked down again. That thing was huge, and it intimidated him. it had better mean well…. Otherwise we’re toast.

"Oh my, it's getting dark... Shall we find an inn to rest for the night? That way, we're all alert and ready for travel and search!"
When Hajime heard this, his countenance fell a bit. It was quite true that it was getting dark, and that being fully rested would be a good thing, but Hajime knew he couldn’t rest easy, especially after that strange dream he had just had. Every minute we waste snoring could take us further and further from Kimiko…
"You lot go and find an inn now, I've got to do something.
Alaric confirming Euterpe’s suggestion cause Hajime to sigh. He was disappointed to give up searching for Kimiko before he even started, but he didn’t want to cause any trouble. He stood with Miou, taking her hand in his own. Sighing a bit, he smiled slightly at Miou. “We’ll find Kimiko in the morning, I guess. Hopefully she has the sense to stay away from trouble, mm?”
Hajime followed the group with Miou somewhat near the back, letting his body go on autopilot while he thought. Would Kimiko actually stay out of trouble? He doubted it, and highly. If he had been attacked by bandits just by walking on the road, who knows what could happen to her, especially if she was lost. And there was no guarantee that anyone had even found her. For all he knew, she could still be unconscious, or even dead. He shuddered. Don’t think about that… think positive. At least he and Miou were alive, and they could search for her, no matter what situation they were in. Maybe she had even be found, and was heading towards the city even as he worried. Even trying to think positive, Hajime was racked with worry by the unknown.
Stumbling over a rock, Hajime jerked back to reality. Looking up he saw a dragon flying overhead, and seeming to come straight for him. His eyes widened and he stopped dead in his tracks until he saw that Alaric was the rider, along with another man.
"Sorry about that." Alaric told the group as he dismounted Kaatanmura, "I just had to pick up these two idiots. I hope you don't mind them coming with us to the Holy Lands. Oh, and my brother said he met Kimiko, so go ahead and ask him questions about her.”
Hajime’s heart started to race. This man knew about Kimiko! A glimmer of hope found its way into his heart as he dashed forward, grabbing Akir by the arms and trying not to shake him. “You’ve seen Kimiko?! Where is she?! How is she?! Is she alright!? Tell me!”

Arik hated those situations where was treated like a rag doll, besides he had already decided that his meeting with the girl was a dream or something like that, he just asked his brother out of curiosity and now turns out that Alaric had known her friend.

The mention of the Holy Lands drew the attention of the boy and depressed him at the same time, Arik passed all his travel time trying to find information about this legendary place and Alaric, who didn't even want to go there find them without any problems, sigh and dismount the dragon without seeing the odd group assembled.

At the mention of Kimiko a boy began to shake him looking for answers, apparently everyone thought they could go and grab him as they please, broke free from the boy's hands and stepped back, sighed and answered.

"In the afternoon I met a girl who was dressed weird, she lacked the common knowledge and seemed to think she was dreaming or something, she was looking for something called 'Japanese' and we decided to come together to the city, in the way she started running and went into a cave but I followed then everything turned purple and when I opened my eyes she was gone, I walked through the cave but found no signs of life"

Arik related the events that had lived before coming to the capital, was the least he could do for her, Arik wasn't interested in traveling with them, especially with his brother, but then he didn't have any information about the Holy Lands, would leave the final decicion for the following morning.

Hajime’s body began to tremble as he waited for Arik’s response. A million different scenarios flashed through his head. What could have happened to her? What if she was killed by robbers? What if she died falling? What if she’s lost? Why didn’t he take her with him? What if-
"In the afternoon I met a girl who was dressed weird, she lacked the common knowledge and seemed to think she was dreaming or something, she was looking for something called 'Japanese' and we decided to come together to the city, in the way she started running and went into a cave but I followed then everything turned purple and when I opened my eyes she was gone, I walked through the cave but found no signs of life"

Arik related the events that had lived before coming to the capital.
Hajime listened, quite spellbound, his heart fairly beating itself out of his chest. Slowly mouthing the words that were most important to him, continued to stare at Arik as he muttered, “Japansese…. A cave… purple… she …. Gone…” The pieces fit themselves together in Hajime’s mind. “The cave where we found our way here was purple!” relief surged through Hajime as he turned to Miou, a relieved smile finding its way across his face. “She made it, Miou! She’s home! And now we know where to go to get home, too!” He went over to her, taking her hands in his. “Isn’t this great?”
Turning to the others, he examined each in turn. “I… guess we can sleep for the night, then we should go to that cave and see if we can get home, too.”

Suddenly exhausted from the overflow of emotions, Miou didn't bother trying to follow the conversation. She wasn't even sure what half of the things that they were talking about meant, so she allowed herself to fall in and out of sleep. Her eyelids would droop and she'd doze off, but her attention would get caught by something that she somewhat understood, then she'd slowly fall asleep again.

"...Lands myself, mostly for the book of spells..." If all of this didn't seem so realistic, Miou would have rolled her eyes at the notion of a journey to find a book of spells. She opened one of her eyes a bit to look quizzically at the young witch before closing it again to try to find sleep once more. She began to be pulled into the arms of sleep when Hajime spazzed and brought her back to the marketplace.

“Kimiko!! We have to find Kimiko now.” Miou, jerked forward, shouting in surprise. She whirled around to look at Hajime, thinking that maybe he saw their lost friend or something. Alas, Hajime looked wide awake and scared, however Miou recognized the heavy bags under his eyes and his slight bed head from leaning against the building and put two and two together.

"Goddamn it Hajime, calm down." She muttered, turning over so that she was leaning on her side, her back to her friend. "We'll find Kimiko tomorrow maybe." Miou closed her eyes, irritable from being interrupted when sleep had been so close to claiming her. She assumed that Hajime understood her, because he didn't say anything else.

Slowly but surely, she began to nod off, once more.

"Oh my, it's getting dark... Shall we find an inn to rest for the night? That way, we're all alert and ready for travel and search!" The witch said and Alaric seemed to agree. She frowned, not wanting to put fourth the effort it would take to stand up.

"C'mon, can't we just all sleep here for tonight, it's more comfortable than it looks." She yawned, but the others were all on board with Euterpe's plan, so she stood up on wobbly legs, and hopped around, trying to shake the pin-prickly feeling from her feet.

“We’ll find Kimiko in the morning, I guess. Hopefully she has the sense to stay away from trouble, mm?”

Miou stopped her jumping about and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "What? Oh yeah, hopefully. I mean, she's Kimi, I'm sure she'll be fine." She followed the rest of the group, staying in the back with Hajime, walking groggily along. Hajime looked as if he was in a whole other world, thinking about god knows what. Meanwhile, the only thing that Miou was thinking about was staying on her feet and staying awake until they reached the inn.

There was an unnatural gust of wind and a strange flapping sound, and Miou was suddenly wide awake, however she did need to grab Hajime's arm to keep herself from falling over. It was a freaking dragon! With wings and scales! Not only that, but it was flying! If Miou could puke rainbows, she would have.

"Holy f- Hajime, do you see this?" She squealed, "is this some sort of whacked up animatronic or something? Please don't tell me it's real!" The dragon landed and Alaric hopped off, along with someone who looked a lot like him, but younger. She assumed he was Alaric's brother.

"Sorry about that." Alaric told the group as he dismounted the mutant lizard, "I just had to pick up these two idiots. I hope you don't mind them coming with us to the Holy Lands. Oh, and my brother said he met Kimiko, so go ahead and ask him questions about her.”

She stopped, stunned. Hajime had gained his senses quicker than she had because he ran at Arik and demanded to know everything that he knew about Kimiko. "Hajime, calm down." She muttered, walking up behind her friend and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"In the afternoon I met a girl who was dressed weird, she lacked the common knowledge and seemed to think she was dreaming or something, she was looking for something called 'Japanese' and we decided to come together to the city, in the way she started running and went into a cave but I followed then everything turned purple and when I opened my eyes she was gone, I walked through the cave but found no signs of life"

Miou was struck speechless. She simply stood there, "so...Kimi was here...but she disappeared again...?"

“The cave where we found our way here was purple!” Hajime turned to Miou, a relieved smile finding its way across his face. “She made it, Miou! She’s home! And now we know where to go to get home, too!” He went over to her, taking her hands in his. “Isn’t this great?”

Miou didn't say anything, still stunned by the strange thing that had happened to their friend. It didn't seem to add up, it seemed too easy, though for the time being, she allowed herself to accept Hajime's theory, and a smile slowly crept it's way across her face. "Yeah, Hajime, it is great." Her hands were beginning to get a bit clammy and she pulled them from Hajime's grasp. Maybe he was right, maybe they would get home and find Kimiko. "Come on, guys, lets find that inn, I'm getting cold." She wrapped her cloak tightly around her and urged the group forward, pushing her friend's strange disappearance from her mind.

There were more pressing things to worry about at the moment, like room arrangements.

Arik was on the roof of the inn very early in the morning, all he wanted was to get some information and start his journey preferably alone, the idea of ​​going with his brother and the others didn't pleased him very much especially since the last thing he was expected was traveling in the shadow of his brother, that was mainly the reason left without saying any word taking the dragon to ensure a safe trip.
The high places were good, no one looked down on him, the golems were good they don't compare you with another person and even if they did you couldn't understand them, the animals also were good, Arik especially loved animals and apparently animals also loved him, in the roof were several birds gathered around the boy who shared the bread he had gotten before going up with the help of his underdeveloped magic.

The friends of the strange girl he met a few days ago were as rare as she and their lack of knowledge commonly handled didn't stopped to surprise the young Dragon Tamer that's why more than the initial interaction the boy had tried to avoid being found by them and being forced to repeat the story over and over again, so he spent the last days visiting Kaatanmura when Alaric wasn't there or hiding on rooftops, he returned to the room when everyone was asleep and went out before they wake up, the boy was just waiting, waiting for the information he needed.

Euterpe's head eventually began to loll to the side, causing her to lift her hand up to support it. She was going to fall asleep any minute now, Alaric put more concentration into his playing and singing as to ensure that Euterpe would fall asleep. She pushed away her research materials in Alaric's direction before slumping backwards onto her bed, her head resting on her arms. Alaric gently removed her arms from under her head so that she would not wake up with horrible pins and needles. He tucked Euterpe's books and mirror under his right arm, he didn't bother taking her quill and ink pot since he had his own. He held his lute by the neck in his left hand and began to leave the room. Jin stopped him before rummaging around in Euterpe's bag and handing Alaric a small, silver pendant. Alaric smiled at Jin before putting it over his head and letting it dangle around his neck. What happened next seemed very peculiar. He was now certain that Jin was talking, and thanking him for looking after Euterpe over the past two days.
"No - problem?" Alaric replied in confusion before leaving the room, "I think I need sleep more badly than Euterpe does."

Alaric plonked Euterpe's research material down on his desk before returning his lute to its case. He looked around the room, Arik wasn't in his bed, he was probably out perching on the roof, talking to the birds and gargoyles. What Arik was doing right now didn't matter though, Alaric still had work to do. He plonked himself down in his chair, opened up the original book on the page Euterpe had been on, positioned the mirror so that he could read the whole double page spread, opened Euterpe's copy book and began to write.

With every page Alaric turned over, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. The candle burning away slowly on his desk seemed to represent his will to stay awake, decreasing gradually with time.

Finally, Alaric had finished the whole book, and felt as if he was going to collapse there and then. He would have loved to fall asleep like that, but what if he knocked the candle over and burned the books, what if he knocked the inkwell over and made them unreadable? He needed to find Arik, too, he still hadn't returned. Alaric pulled off his armour and set it in a messy pile by his bed before dragging himself over to the window and lifting it open. He stuck out his head and looked upwards, Arik was there alright.
"Arik, come down and go to bed." Alaric called drowsily, his speech slurred, but not slurred enough to make it unintelligible, "You'll fall asleep up there and fall off the roof, you can talk to the gargoyles in the morning."
Alaric then pulled the window shut and slumped onto his bed, wrapping the quilt around himself as he did so. It would usually have taken him some time to get to sleep, but he was now completely knackered, causing him to fall into a deep sleep instantly.