The Crooked Silhouette

Chapter 3: The Human of The Earth

The five Zodiacs called by Tsuya were indeed not in their best state of mind. Even though it was still early in the morning, they really wished to deny the whole ordeal. Their refusal to go to The Earth as instructed by Tsuya was turned to deaf ear by The Spirit. Tsuya has already waited for the five of them at The Deity’s Gate, arms crossed at his chest with Gabriel and Uriel at his both sides. He grinned ear to ear while welcoming Yagi, Mizugame, Oushi, Ohitsuji, and Otome.

            Even the sun has not risen yet. Yagi scanned the entire situation. He, and another four Zodiacs ought to go to The Forest of Eve on The Earth through The Deity’s Gate. There, they would catch five Humans respectively, and bring them back to The Dimension. During the meeting held a day before, they just discovered that only Humans with two-phase of life could arrive at The Dimension. They had the urge to inquire how Tsuya figured it out, but witnessing Tsuya’s domination on them really intimidating.

            They lined up before the massive arched door of The Deity’s Gate. It appeared without wall – only the door effortlessly floating approximately 2 feet above the ground. It shone against the dim light source around them, proving its magical power which not everyone could handle but The Deity itself.

            “I heard one of you have seen a Human accidentally entered The Dimension,” Tsuya rubbed his palm against the glittering door frame, “What did you see, Otome?”

            The King of The Virgo Valley called Otome startled as his name was mentioned out of nowhere. But he maintained his composure and calmly replied, “Yes, I did. He came alone, and he was practically ranting to go home. Up till today, I don’t know how he could arrive at The Virgo’s Valley, but I think it’s the job of The Deity. He could only remain in my Valley for around three hours.”

            Yagi gulped. It already crept him out. “What happened after that?”

            Otome paused. “He died because of heart attack, I guess. Since there was no injury found on his physical, and he didn’t choke or strangle himself too.”

            “Everything happens for a reason,” Tsuya cut him off with his loud voice. “That man could be coming as a test or challenge we have to endure in The Dimension. Like how I was trapped in the stone for twenty years and got summoned to mend these mess.”

            “Tsuya The Spirit,” Mizugame finally spoke as he fell into silence since the meeting ended yesterday, “What mess were you talking about?”

            Tsuya caught a glimpse at Mizugame’s shivered limbs while talking to him. He softened his gaze, believing The King of The Aquarius Valley was not as brutal as Sasori. He could be the one that avoided war as much as possible, hence that was why The Aquarius did not contribute much on the community. He disliked being targeted too, yet Tsuya was the first one to assign him job.

            He was not powerless. He just lacked of confidence.

            And Tsuya wanted to prove him wrong.

            “I sense that you are afraid of me,” one of his hand landed on Mizugame’s shoulder. Even the body was trembling, “But I don’t sense your ill-intention towards me,” he patted thrice before turning his back towards Mizugame. “Listen this, Mizugame and the others. All of you are capable of doing this. The reason I chose the five of you is solely because I believe in you. You are trustworthy and strong. I would like to add one information to you guys.”

            Gabriel and Uriel, too, focused at Tsuya. Tsuya skimmed over the atmosphere, noticing everyone’s least anticipation towards the journey. But he ignored the evasion.

            “The Humans you are going to capture,” There was a halt, picturing Tsuya’s transformation of emotion from being enthusiastic to melancholic. The eye lids drooped, as the voice toned much lower than seconds ago, “One of them is my biggest weakness.”

            “Your biggest weakness?”

            Yagi could not hear the reply as the door of The Deity’s Gate swung open. Sucking air from within literally pulled the five Zodiacs into it. Yagi has caught a glimpse of pained expression by Tsuya. The kind of face one would show if he was hurt or dove into dark past. The kind of face Yagi never thought Tsuya would have as to them – The Zodiacs – Tsuya was the cruellest. The incident between him and Sasori was a sole proof, and none of them ever wished to mess up with him since then.

            Still, no one could justify how durable Tsuya was. Supposedly a Spirit who formerly a Human with no feature as a community of The Dimension, Tsuya succeeded battering Sasori with unessential contact. It terrified them as the most bad-tempered Zodiac was defeated mercilessly.

            That expression Tsuya wore when The Zodiacs were sucked into The Deity’s Gate was unbelievably pure. The door shut right before Yagi. Their bodies were physically twisted and squeezed but they did not suffer. They watched how Ohitsuji’s hand flew above Oushi’s head, and Mizugame detached his lower body parts from the abdomen. Yagi’s eyes popped off the sockets and spontaneously slammed onto Otome’s chest. The wall surrounding them was basically infinite as they never met the end until their view was obscured by vast murk.

            The sensation of body parts reattached to the main body did sound painful, but it was not – No one underwent body stitching and major operation. The moment Yagi noticed he appeared as a whole, he could perceive his feet have touched down on an uneven ground. The immense blackness gradually faded and thick fog spread in his encompass. He quivered as he saw no one with him, together with the swift disappearance of The Deity’s Gate behind him. The dim light source limited his sight, but he ought to.

Chilly and creepy, but he braved himself walking through the forest. The deeper he walked, the more confident he was – He has safely arrived at The Forest of Eve of The Earth. The trees there were not as tall as those in The Dimension, but the fog was a no joke.

            The sound of movement in bushes hushed him. He ceased and unavoidably changed course randomly, while his limbs prepared in a defence. He went there unarmed but his big stature hopefully would fright the enemy whoever it would be.

            “Hikari?”

            The voice was obviously a Human. Yagi mended his position and stood straight with a poker face. The owner of the voice came out of the bushes, naïve and bluntly approaching him. The Human Yagi has found was practically a dwarf to them – He only at the level of Yagi’s stomach.

            “Hello, there,” came as an introduction.

            Accosted by a hoarse voice, The Human flinched in fright. He could probably just regain his sightedness that he looked up the creature right before his eyes. He shrieked as he realized he has gotten the wrong one as Hikari, his lost friend. He reversed to distant himself from Yagi.

            “W-Who are you? Where’re my friends?” The Human shouted his stuttering tone out. He should grab anything hard as his protective weapon, but his hand could reach nothing but dried leaves and his mind could not come up with the idea of escapism from the forest. The image of Hikari, Kei, Takeru, and Koichi popped up instead.

            “I’m Yagi, The King of The Capricorn Valley. I’m from The Dimension and I want to take you with me,” since The Human was so clueless, he gave a brief motive.

            “Why should I? I’m looking for my friends! They have gone here earlier! It’s 10 pm already, and I must find them before midnight!” The Human courageously refused to accept Yagi’s invitation.

            “Wow, so heroic of you!” Yagi stretched his arm out to get The Human into his grasp, but he evaded and immediately hoisted a branch his right foot happened to step on. “Well, I’ve been kind enough to you. Please accept the request, or I might use violence against you.”

            “I don’t want to fight you either!” but his hand swiftly swung the branch towards Yagi. Despite the trembling limbs he was having, The Human could hold the branch upright and maintained mid-air.

            The Capricorn has not even budged when The Human suddenly struck his abdomen with the branch. It was indeed painful but to him, as The King of The Capricorn Valley which has undergone brutality, The Human’s fortuitous beating was nothing more than a sheer attack. He was about to counterattack when The Human shoved the jagged tip of the branch into his lower abdomen where the intestines located inside. With his might left, The Human grinded the branch deeper into Yagi’s abdomen and forced him to fall onto his butt.

            The Human released the branch when Yagi did collapse. He hissed as he caressed his own stomach, soothing the soreness. He hunched over, heart pounding as hell. Blood did ooze from the injury which satisfied The Human till the lip curled upward – smiling in contentment.

            “I tried, dear Human, calling you over humbly and comfortably,” a long sigh poured forth Yagi. He posed readying for his own combat style. “All of us are already aware of your weakness, Human. You have no wings, no stored or hidden weapons beneath your clothes, no emergency exit you could summon – None but mortality for you Humans. I pity of you, but you really find ways to kill yourself here.”

            “I don’t know who you are, why or how you are here. I just want to find my friends!” The Human gave another strike upon the recovering Yagi. He swivelled his branch and launched practically a fatal blow onto The Capricorn. Every limbs, every open space, he struggled hard to lift the branch and smack it anywhere he could extend to, “I know you know where they are! Give me back my friends!”

            Despite having small stature compared to Yagi, The Human for sure never surrendered. He still gracefully elevated his one and only weapon he could obtain and passionately smashed the unknown creature he first encountered to. Bruises were observable and broken small bones was audible which established The Human’s positive brawn.

            “You sure know nothing about submitting yourself,” refusing to succumb, Yagi stretched his arm out again as to intimidate the opponent. Abandoning how hard The Human beat the crap out of him, he clasped his finger thus caused the trace of vein spotted on the hand. “Just stop struggling and follow me already.”

            “I don’t want to!” The Human swung his branch into the air.

            The time moved so fast as in split seconds, the branch burst shattered to small pieces of wood and projected at various direction until some of them grazed over The Human’s face. There must be a few splinter manageably wounded him that he whimpered painfully while bowing and covering half of his face. Yagi panted as if he was just granted a chance to breathe in relief again after running laps.

            “Enough with the conflicting and give in already,” Yagi’s nape produced a crack sound as he bent his head to the left and right. “I have other things need to be done in The Dimension. I don’t have much time to be spent here. I only ‘borrow’ you for a while and once everything has settled down, I will bring you home.”

            “I won’t leave this place until I found my friends!” The Human stated with eyes ogled directly at Yagi.

            “I don’t know where your friends are, but I believe my friends have taken them as hostages in The Dimension.”

            “Return them to me!” The Human rushed to Yagi to get him taste his kick. However, Yagi was still capable in dodging The Human’s aimless attack.

            Physically Yagi had bruises all over his body and there might be broken fingers or loosened tooth as the result. But Yagi The Capricorn was standing in pink – looking unharmed and healthy. He stabilized his own breath.

            “Dear Human, I don’t know where your friends are – I’ve mentioned this for nth time already,” Yagi shrugged, “But, since you’ve not seen any of your friends, I think my friends have already taken them to The Dimension, like how I’m going to do with you.”

            “I refuse to follow you! You go back to your Dimension and bring them back to me!”

            Yagi sighed, disbelieving The Human’s determination to oppose him. Intentionally he drew himself nearer to The Human to pressurize him as how he desired his height would. The dismal moon light in the sky penetrated in between trees and leaves, hence befell onto both of them. To Yagi’s surprise, he halted and gasped – mind spinning of finding excuses to flee. He stepped backward – being the one applying gaps between him and The Human.

            Right above Yagi’s left palm, an aura ball formed gathering the air particle in the atmosphere. Bluish luminosity emanated from it thus supplied another lamp source other than the moon light. It was a lighter Yagi able to produce by the help of his Zodiac ability. The lighter somehow illuminated the compound much better thus disclosing the face of The Human he was going to capture transparently.

            “T-Tsuya!”

            Branches and twigs of trees swayed as the breeze blew the aura ball on Yagi’s hand away. The aura ball distinguished, but Yagi was standing in tremble of fear. How can Tsuya be here? He was the one dispatching them to The Earth from The Deity’s Gate. He even saw Tsuya’s rare expression for the last time before the door was shut tightly and he with another four Zodiacs warped to The Earth.

            The wheezing Tsuya before his eyes had much pleasant expression and dressed in colourful attire if he was to equate the Tsuya a few minutes ago. Wait – Tsuya was hypothesized to be dead and became The Spirit of The Dimension.

            Then, who was the Tsuya confronting him on The Earth?

            “Who’s Tsuya?” The Human turned around, skimming the milieu. “There’re only two of us, and my friends’ names are Hikari, Kei, Takeru, and Koichi!”

            Silence overwhelmed them hence triggered The Human to frown in bewilderment. The one claiming himself The King of The Capricorn Valley chose to not respond to him. The Human flipped his fringe over his forehead, divulging more of his face – it was just that he had blood dripped from the wound on his face due to the explosion of the branch.

            “Tsuya,” repetition of Tsuya’s name was the only thing Yagi could do. He has injured the boss of their mission quite bad though it did not break any of his bones like how Tsuya has beaten him. “Tsuya, I don’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry for my wrongdoing. Please give me another chance. I will bring The Human to you soon.”

            The Human furrowed till his eyebrows entangled with each other while Yagi knelt on the ground, pleading either for his life or his Valley. Ashamed of himself, Yagi could not bring himself to meet head-on with Tsuya.

            “Please. Don’t beg to me like this. It’s so embarrassing,” The Human panicked as he saw Yagi’s shoulders stiffened, “I’m not Tsuya, and I don’t know anyone named Tsuya in my circle of friends. Stop this already.”

            Yagi gradually lifted up his face to see the Tsuya he just accidentally hurt by smashing the branch – Almost the same method of counterattack Tsuya applied when Sasori ambushed him yesterday. The Tsuya who coaxed him to cease sounded nicer and was sensed as kind-hearted Human – Yagi has never detected any ill intention from The Human even though he has laid a branch on him.

            “What’s your name, by the way?” only after gulping to clear his throat, Yagi was encouraged to investigate.

            “My name is Tatsu. I’m entering here because I saw my friends coming here,” The Human plainly defined, “We are having a camp by the forest. We are forbidden to go into the forest, but I saw them earlier from the outside. That was why I came here.”

            A puzzled look pictured on Yagi’s face. All right, it was the same information as the one Tsuya foretold them during the meeting. Was that Tsuya actually mustering mind reading ability?

            Tatsu’s one hand was about to pat Yagi’s shoulder when he flinched and jumped away from The Human. He distanced himself from The Human he happened to encounter. It might be a very shocking news to the other Zodiacs when he bragged about meeting someone as Tsuya’s doppelganger. It was so uncanny that Tatsu looked so alike to Tsuya.

            “Do you, by all means, have a twin before this?”

            Out of the blue the question surfaced. Tatsu blinked in perplex.

            “I’m the only son. I don’t have sister or brother, let alone having twins.”

            Even the face verified the truth coming as Tatsu’s response. It was Yagi’s turn to raise an eyebrow, confused by the similarity on both Tatsu and Tsuya. Coincidence was not the answer, frankly, since it was too absurd to have a Spirit of the same facial features while you live happily ever after as a Human on The Earth. No matter how close a pair of twin was, they might have similar face in a glimpse but they still had difference in comparison. Tsuya has just arrived at The Zodiacs yesterday, but to acknowledge the existence of Tatsu The Human on The Earth was surreal.

            “Tatsu of The Earth, my name is Yagi. I’m The King of The Capricorn Valley,” Finally due to too much thinking, Yagi decided to restart over. He could probably dig out the secret of Tatsu and Tsuya in the future by becoming his companion, “We – five out of twelve Kings of Valleys – were assigned to capture five Humans in The Forest of Eve and bring them back to The Dimension. The Dimension is our world,” he paused as he saw the confusion displayed on Tatsu, “Well, we are not getting it too. But all I could say is, I think your friends have been abducted by my Zodiac friends as well.”

            The chilly wind blew brushing their hair. Tatsu ducked his head, eyelids drooping as a sign of frustration and unuttered anxiety. “Then,” he mumbled, “How can I bring them back here? We haven’t finished our camp, and they are my best friends. Losing them means I lose a part of my life too.”

            The atmosphere has become as calm as how it should be in contrast of their pre-matured rendezvous. Yagi scratched the back of his head, having no idea of persuading a Human.

            “Let’s follow me to The Dimension,” Yagi attempted on inviting again in much proper manner, “I will help you find them there.”