The Crooked Silhouette

Chapter 10: The Short Peace

Ten minutes before 9 post meridian, and Takeru manageably took care of Otome while he was recovering from his aching back. The wings have retracted back into his skin, providing much more calmness as he did not have to endure the stinging pain anymore. He could lie on his back and Takeru blanketed him with large leaves he found nearby. He gazed at the sitting Takeru by the campfire. Thanks to The Human’s immense intelligence of survival techniques in the woods, Takeru could provide Otome cosy and warmness, at least for that night. Despite the dissimilarities of even the trees in comparison to The Earth’s, The Dimension’s Forest of Eve still had burnable leaves and twigs so that Takeru empowered to lit up a fire. Otome did not have the right to deny the virtue but he felt a little guilty for not being able to protect Takeru wholly.

            Intertwining music of buzzing insects and purring of wildlife hugely alerted them of their current situation. Otome unwittingly delivered Takeru further into the thick forest, indirectly implied they were getting closer to The Hollow of Cain. The Forest of Eve was already a taboo to The Dimensionals, hence it was positively applicable to The Hollow of Cain as well. Based from the fables the forefathers have been disclosing to the youths, The Hollow of Cain was the scariest place on The Dimension which they should not even conjure its substantial guise.

            “Don’t worry of me. I have weapons and stamina. I don’t fly, but I excel in baseball,” Takeru thumbed up and joyfully demonstrated his big tree branch he discovered.

            Lips curling up in contentment, Otome breathed in relax. At least for that night, he wanted to chill. Apparently, travelling to The Earth consumed a lot of his spiritual energy hence he wished to not do anything for the whole night. Teaching Takeru the actuality of The Dimension was still his main objective, yet he miscalculated of the other Zodiacs showing up in the forest. Five Zodiacs were originally the only ones to get consent, thus Shishi The Leo and Kani The Sagittarius should not be there. He wondered if the other Zodiacs, putting aside the seven of them, were also in the forest, hunting them down.

            In conclusion, he must find the fastest way to return home – The Virgo Valley. Therefore, he could teach Takeru more of The Dimension.

            “Do you mind telling me more of The Dimension?”

            The hoarse voice shattered Otome’s focus on thinking thoroughly. He blinked, concealing his startle and performing as if there was nothing gravely about to occur. While insisting on having Otome lolling on the ground, Takeru put more flammable twigs he snapped from the trees and watched the fire dancing in response to the additional substances.

            “So far, we’ve found five Zodiac. You, Otome The Virgo,” Takeru counted with his fingers, “The Capricorn, The Aquarius, The Leo, and I am so believing my eyes and mind informing me that the one raided us is The Sagittarius, assuming from the bow and arrow.”

            A glimpse Otome gave at Takeru. “You’re a good observer, I must say.”

            “I want to know.”

            It seemed naïve but Otome got insignificant flutter. “What’s it about?”

            “Why don’t all of you give us to that Spirit right after you returned to The Dimension? Why must you attack each other? Wasn’t it safer if you guys surrendered us to The Spirit by now? No blood shed.”

            A bull’s eye. “I want to test on something.”

            Takeru clenched on his shirt as the night wind blew against his free skin, cooling his utmost body temperature. A hand gestured by Otome to invite him sharing the warmness was humbly rejected by him. “I will find my own blanket when I need it. Besides, what something are you talking about?”

            Inhaling a long breath, Otome cleared his throat while his mind busily constructed the best line he could simply explain to Takeru. “For your information, Shishi and Kani are not included in the mission. They’re supposed to be with Tsuya in The Angels’ Valley. Another two Zodiacs which should be sending Humans to Tsuya beside us three are Oushi The Taurus and Ohitsuji The Aries. Well, I don’t really bother of the other Zodiacs’ plot but I just want to try escorting you to my Valley.”

            His eyes ogled at the latter, then he frowned in confusion, “You wanted to escort me to your Valley? For what?”

            “It’s a very personal goal. But after saying this, I just feel my greediness transpires,” Otome covertly glanced at the sleepy Takeru who sat and casually slammed his face onto his knees, “Once I found a Human at my Valley. He vanished before my eyes, not knowing where he went to, but I don’t think he died. Probably he came back to The Earth. Back to the present, Tsuya said Humans who could enter The Dimension are those who have two-phase of life. Up till today, I never knew what it means.”

            Takeru raised an eyebrow, portraying his perplex. “Two-phase of life?”

Shrugging in bewilderment, Otome continued. “I tried relating it to The Human which I’ve said. I wonder if he actually had two-phase of life. That was why he could quickly got back to The Earth without having any terrible consequences upon his own flesh and blood, if I wasn’t mistaken.”

            “It sounds too fishy,” Takeru crossed his arms as he noted.

            “Telling others about it without disclosing the definition is vicious,” Otome objected, “I must stress this one thing. None of us is aware of Tsuya’s tangible motive, so I must do what I ought to do on you beforehand. I want you to be my resident since you seem just fine despite hours of being here.”

            “And you are telling me this now?” Takeru’s disinclining mimic asserted his repugnance. “Then why were Shishi and The Sagittarius here?”

            “I don’t know. Guess they’re spying on us. Tsuya’s spies, maybe.”

            “Was because he’s a Zodiac too that you refused to fight against him even though he has pointed his arrow right at your nose?”

            A small chuckle escaped from Otome. “You think too much, don’t you realize?”

            “I do. It’s because I must think fast in order to catch up the ordeal here.”

            “You’re very transparent.” Complimenting would not hurt, Otome even murmured.

            The stirred trees swayed at the breeze flow. They remained supressed until Otome broke it. “So, which will be your choice? Staying with me, or giving yourself up to Tsuya?”

            “You ask that for real?” Furrowing eyebrows until entangling each other unknowingly proved Takeru’s boundless qualm. “Surely it’s you. I’ve known you, and I believe you’re not a bad pers- I mean a bad Zodiac. Plus, I don’t have any idea who Tsuya is.”

            Otome’s cute beam enticed Takeru until his cheeks blushed. He had to acknowledge that Otome The Virgo really was the most beautiful Zodiac he had ever seen even though it has only been less than eighteen hours since their arrival. It substantiated as the wings arose from his back, precisely from the scapula, and spread their brilliant feathers elegantly. Even the wings were charming, but Otome seemed to dislike them.

            “Don’t go strolling around, I warn you.”

            Guaranteeing Otome’s recuperating body turned out well, Takeru added more large leaves cloaking him. He did not seem to doze off soon, and Otome had the idea that The Human would roam instead. Obviously he ought to obstruct Takeru to not go anywhere since he might unintentionally bump into The Deity of The Hollow of Cain, and it potentially dispensed grim spectre to him. The worst part was that he might get demolished for breaching whereas it was entirely an accident.

            Takeru sent off a squint, confounded by the edgy Otome.

            “We’re somewhere looming to The Hollow of Cain, so no wander around!” he even gritted to emphasize, “Once you got there, The Deity may castigate you. No one could find you later on. Since you are going to reunite with your friends, don’t ever wish to even peek over there.”

            “All right, all right,” recognizing Otome’s afflicted disposition, he conceded. He chose to settle down at Otome’s side and rested his back on the ground.

            Both stared into the pitched dark sky. There was no stars to be indicated thus intrigued The Human to inquire. “How can there be no star in The Dimension? The sky looks much similar to ours. Oh! Is it because the stars are here?”

            “We basically share the same sky, but not the content though,” Otome, again, offered Takeru his blanket, but the latter softly rejected. He shifted back to the sky. “Stars are massive chunks of rocks, fundamentally. But the constellations are actually diagrams we, The Zodiacs, arrange for showing directions. Ancient Humans relied solely on us since their creation was finite at the moment. Intelligentsias and geniuses did some research and sophisticated technology came up as time flew.”

            It was unknown to Otome whether Takeru has previously prepared the large leaves for himself or he ought to discover some adjacent to his lying spot. As he glimpsed over, Takeru has already covered his own body with leaves of different tree species but still big-sized.

            “Too many information for today. Spare some for tomorrow please,” Takeru grunted.

Pressing his temple with his fingers, his head ached from energy depletion and muscle contraction. They have undergone quite tremendous trial only in less than one day, hence they deserved a good rest. Neither of them were aware of what they would confront on the next day, plus the mystery of Shishi and Kani was still agitating – there was if only they were around, putting aside the five Zodiacs of the Human abduction mission.

            Was Tsuya really setting up spies to inspect their progression, or was it just a coincidental encounter? The other Zodiacs, as said by Otome, should not come there since consent was granted only for them. For who actually The Deity agreed to allow in the first place? The more they braved the woods, he believed the more enigma they would learn. The only thing he mattered was the so-called necessity to fight – He absolutely denied any clash especially between The Zodiacs. He could reconsider if it was about opposing against The Demon though they, The Zodiacs, never won. But to battle against Yagi The Capricorn? He must be preposterous.

            From the commencement, he must find out first why those Zodiacs were there? Only then he could execute his next plan to flee to his Valley.

            The Virgo and The Human he has kidnapped from The Earth have fallen to deep sleep. Soft snores could be heard and they stayed close to each other in order to reserve warmness whelming their respective bodies. The air never wafted the large leaves covering their bodies away which supplied cosiness in their slumber. One thing that The Human inadvertently overlooked, or he might not go through it yet. The truth was he would not, for good, witness how the raining season on The Dimension was.

            The Dimension would not rain. Even drought, hurricane, or any other catastrophes The Earthlings have withstood. It had only sunny and night time. The Weather was a part of The Dimensionals which only surfaced when needed. A world without cataclysm was always demanded by The Humans, hence The Dimension was device without natural disasters.

            Too many questions, unfortunately most of them were still dwelled as cliff-hangers. The upcoming days would not warrant them elation and bliss, judging from their first day of mission. While they contemplated on aborting the instruction or implementing it, another group of creatures schemed a different plan, most likely. It seemingly would save The Dimensionals in comparison to the five Zodiacs which perhaps induced space instability in between The Dimension and The Earth. One of the question was why? If those five Zodiacs could erupt calamity towards The Dimension, why Tsuya stressed on accomplishing Human-napped? Was he about to worsen the aftereffect, or was he restoring something The Dimensionals did not have the knowledge of?

            “Everything just like you’ve predicted, Tsuya.”

            Flapping wings reverted as Raphael landed. The room was spacey yet it choked the one living in there. Gabriel and Uriel were sitting at both of Tsuya’s sides. Uriel wiped the beads of sweats excreted on Tsuya’s forehead, while Gabriel lent some of his power by providing arm support for him.

            Tsuya huffed. The dizziness hit him even harder than earlier. He could barely stand on his own two feet, thus Gabriel was his pillar of strength. His remainder strength was only for waddling, and he could not retain upright any longer.

            “Tsuya, you can rest on the bed. It is night already,” Gabriel coaxed as softly as he thought he could. And he was.

            The bed Gabriel has mentioned was empty. It was readied only for Tsuya. The whole room was for him through his days of accommodation in The Angels. Selaphiel and Raquel strived excellently in preparing the most comfortable margin for him.

            “Thank you very much,” his stuttering voice notified The Angels that he has drained most of his potency. Gabriel assisted him reposing on the bed. The bouncy pillow drugged his drowsiness.

            “You are so persistent, Tsuya.”

            Tugging the blanket up to his chin, Tsuya gazed at the puzzled Raphael.

            “I’m responsible for this since day one,” he replied while recomposing his unstably pounding heart. “As long as I could repay your kindness, I’m willing to do anything, even if it costs my temporary life here.”

            Raphael exchanged looks with Gabriel and Uriel. Gabriel has been silencing, meanwhile Uriel frowned in disagreement. Tsuya has dissipated his courage for the task he adjudicated to do. It was crucial – abandoning it was a big no.

            “You’re dying, Tsuya. And I’m so certain that you are aware of that,” Uriel evaded from meeting anyone’s glance towards him.

            It was a big fat lie if The Angels refused to take care of Tsuya as he was the only hope they had to encounter their foe – Hebi The Ophiuchus.

            A small beam curved on Tsuya’s pallid expression. “Yes, I know.”