Mystic Quest

Chapter 13

While Lyria and Emerys back to sleep, reassured ; Yuna and Solarys exchanged some more kisses before lying down in the grass. Yuna laid on on his back as Solarys cuddled against his side. She rest her head on his chest and Yuna wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

They stayed like this for some minutes, contemplating the sky. Then; they fell asleep. The night passed without trouble for the group; and they managed to rest.

The first rays on sunlight only awakened Lyria. And one hour later, Yuna opened his eyes. He closed them again with a groan under the sun. He heard a chuckle; and made the effort of looking at Solarys. He smiled fondly in front of her peaceful face.

He took some seconds to realize that if Solarys was sleeping; someone else had laughed. He raised his eyes and met the amused gazes of his two other companions. Still half sleeping, the swordsman only had one reaction.

He screamed.

The magician and the whip user put their fingers in their ears with a wince in front of this quite high pitched yell; and the archer startled awake. She blinked several times, trying to understand.

“Ah! My ears! You idiot!” grumbled Emerys.

Lyria shook her head. “Be careful, he just woke up.” She said while sending a smirk at the magician.

Said magician scowled. “And why this ironic tone?”

“Oh, it's just that we are used to it now!”

“Oï! It's you who is an early riser!”

For all answer: Lyria stuck out her tongue at Emerys. The eyes and mouth of the brunet twitched. Some seconds later; Lyria only had the time to register the blue glow coming from the magician before being hit by water coming from the river.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out as she closed her eyes. Then, her eyes opened to send a dark glare to her friend. The magician smirked, raising an eyebrow and taunting her to retaliate.

Lyria offered a feral grin and calmly said, “Oh, you won't know when and how I'll take revenge, my dear friend.”

Emerys paled. Suddenly, he regretted his action. Yuna and Solarys, better awake now, laughed. Lyria and Emerys looked at them. The teasing smile of the magician appeared then.

“So, good sleep?”

“Oh, shut up!” retorted Yuna, as red as a tomato.

Solarys and Lyria exchanged an amused glance. Then Solarys looked at the ground with shyness and a small smile when Lyria raised an eyebrow in question. The reaction of the archer was a clear answer for the whip user.

The couple was finally a couple; and happy. Their two friends were joyful for them.

Emerys pressed his foot against Yuna's leg, telling him to get up. The swordsman groaned, but him and Solarys stood up. They returned to the camp, where Noriran welcomed them, and had a breakfast.

Then they started their journey again. Yuna couldn't help walking side by side with his love, an arm around her shoulders. Emerys and Lyria were each on one side of the couple. They could have kept teasing them, but the poor joy in the couple's eyes made them melt.

An hour passed where the group stayed silent, awakening slowly. Then, Emerys was the one to ask the question that everyone had but never voiced.

“Say, we're following the wind, but anyone know what await us? Not that I'm thinking of stopping this quest, because if a prophecy says we have to do this journey I know it's important; however seeing what we already battled I'm wondering what we will meet...”

His three friends looked at him, thoughtful. Lyria answered first. “It's very likely we will meet other powerful demons.”

“But isn't it strange? This demons and monsters appeared around twenty years ago, right? Before, the only danger that existed was wild animals, yeah? So where do they come from?”

Solarys' question made the group stop. Like everyone, they never really questioned this. Towns and villages simply changed their way of living, cutting all exterior exchanges after many deaths. The four friends were born one or two years after the apparition of the monsters; and they had learned to live like the rest of the world. You stay in your village, you learn one way of fighting so you can defend yourself if something attack you; and after you stay your whole life somewhere. Some decided to leave and search another town as their home; but many resigned to end their life in their town of birth.

However, our heroes knew it was now different for them. They travelled with a precise goal, and they could guess all of this had a link with the demons. They knew they had to know more.

“Maybe the prophecy can help us?” Yuna ended up suggesting.

Lyria looked at the earth, thoughtful. She frowned before speaking. “The two first lines... They talk of a demon returning and misfortune falling...”

Solarys widened her eyes in understanding. “You think twenty years ago, a demon came back from somewhere?”

The whip user nodded. “There always was legends of other races... Maybe the demons were sleeping or hiding; and twenty years ago, a special demon came back on our world and it's why we are invaded since then?”

“It sounds... logical. Should we understand we have to kill this demon?” Emerys wondered aloud.

“Probably.” Yuna confirmed. “But I wonder what the rest mean?”

“We already know why it's talking of friendship and love!” Emerys winked at Yuna and Solarys.

The couple blushed but said nothing. Lyria smiled, then added, “And about magic which guide us and change our life; we already have a magician-”

“I'm going to change our lives?”

Lyria chuckled. “Maybe. But I think it's magic in general. It is inside you who is a magician; but also in the demons. They already changed our lives. And maybe... maybe other races exist? Magical races?”

Solarys and Emerys smiled then. Yes, this sounded plausible. They wondered if they would meet some. As for Yuna, he thought the same; but what hit him was the memory of this mysterious discussion in the back alley.

Hidden identity... Other races... Was it the answer of his questions? And what should he understand that the comment came from Lyria? Did she simply made a good comment...

Or did she know other races existed because she wasn't human herself?

Lyria saw him staring at her, and she blinked in surprise. Yuna shook his head and smiled, acting as if he had thought of something else. Gratefully, something did come into his head. “We know why the prophecy talks of the wind. What is left talks of coming back as heroes or dying together in waters. Should we understand two endings exist from this quest?”

His friends blanched. The answer felt obvious. And it scared them. Because they understood what these two endings were.

Either they could beat this demon; or they would die.

“... Let's do everything to succeed.” Yuna announced firmly out loud.

As his friends were going to answer affirmatively, a sound surprised them. It sounded like... A violent blow into the air. A second sound made them jump. Was it... a falling tree?

Eyes widened when a shadow fell above them. Oh yes, a tree was falling! STRAIGHT ON THEM!

The group threw themselves to the left; and Noriran was the first to stand back and turn. His half-whine half-growl made them know right away they wouldn't like at all when they would stand up and see the threat.

Some seconds after, the group was up and facing the threat. And indeed, they didn't like it at all.

“Not again! Another superior demon?” Emerys yelled.

“Always complaining!” Lyria teased, her whip already in hand. Her teasing way didn't hide her worry.

Because a new superior demon blocked their path. The praying mantis high of some meters, and the snakes of human size, hissed in their direction. The mantis walked left and right on her four legs, ready to attack. Ready to slice them with the two giant blades it had as arms. The snakes undulated in the same way, fast and circling them in a half-circle.

The group of fighters got ready; knowing already the battle would be hard. They prayed for everyone to stay in one piece.

Then, the fight started.

To be continued...