The God of Gravity part 1: Demigod District

Shizuku Miyamoto is Dead

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It is already dusk when they reached the village of the tribesmen after they went inside a forest. Thirteen traditional huts gathered around a fireplace, and an elderly woman is already starting to light it while praying. She wore a robe with the color of caramel. Her white hair looked like it could fall with only just one touch of a finger because it is so thin that her scalp can be seen. A boy helped to gather firewood and bringing them to the fireplace. They stopped what they are doing when they saw Shizuku and Hiroki escorted by their warriors. The old woman turned around slowly and saw Shizuku. She looked at her with sorrow deep in her eyes, like a deep-frozen lake in the middle of a desert.

"A goddess is right before us, Elder Helki," said their leader.

Helki knelt on the ground and tears came dripping from her eyes, down to her dry cheeks. She bowed on the ground, before Shizuku's feet. "My prayers were answered!" she cried. "Please, my lady, save my grandchildren, my daughters. I beg you, my lady, I will give you anything, even my life, just to save them!"

"Elder Helki!" said the leader while kneeling down to help her stand up. "Don't push yourself. You are not in the good condition to be doing this. Please stand up."

"Myself is the last thing I worry about! My children... save them!"

Instead of being sympathetic to her because she also had her family slaughtered, Shizuku didn't care at all. "Weeping will not save them - that's what I learned." The old lady stopped crying and confused about what she said. "My whole family has been slaughtered, and I am the only one left. Instead of weeping, I swore to kill the man who killed them using this sword. You're lucky, for it just happens that the people who abducted your children are the ones I am after." She looked at the old lady in a piercing gaze. "So stop crying."

The men around her looked in awe, as well as Helki. She nodded, wiped her tears, and stood up with the help of the leader.

"My lady," talked the leader to Shizuku. "Let us give you a place to stay for the night." She nodded.

They took the two of them to the biggest hut they have. The men took out everything that looks uncomfortable for her. What's left of the hut is a huge space, a table in the middle of it, and a bed beside the wall made out of hay. Then they brought freshly cooked meat on the table, along with water in a bamboo. She didn't eat it yet, but sat on a chair beside a window, deep in her thoughts, while Hiroki looked at the embroideries hanging on the walls.

"My name is Mato," said the leader. "If you need anything, please feel free to ask." She just nodded, then he left the hut.

Hiroki looked at the roasted meat, and his stomach growled. He approached Shizuku and said, "My lady, aren't you going to eat?" She was facing the window, so he can't see her face, and didn't mind him. "Do gods and goddesses eat?" She didn't answer. "If that's the case, then can I eat the food?"

She sprang up from the chair and went to the table. She grabbed the roasted meat on the plate and ate it ravenously, showing her back at him. He smiled in disappointment, because of what he thought.

"Well, I will just have to find something to eat then," he said as he went out of the hut, but something collided on his back, so he turned around to see it. It was a hilt of a floating wide sword with a slice of roasted meat on it. "Is this for me, my lady?" he asked, and she nodded while showing her back, eating her own food. "Thank you, Lady Miyamoto."

"Sayuri," she said. "Miyamoto, Shizuku is dead."

He was surprised. "So Shizuku is her name," he thought. "I know it's not my place to ask, my lady," he said. "but can I humbly ask why?"

She looked at him with seriousness and said, "It's better if Shizuku stays dead. I have no right to carry that name until I kill the man who is behind all of this."

He nodded. "Well then, Lady Sayuri." She just continued to eat her food looking like a child being forced to eat. She's got a lot in her mind. "I'll talk to the tribesmen about how to navigate through the forest." So he went outside and found them gathering around the fire.

Mato saw him. "Uh, how may we help you, Lord-"

"No, no, no," he said shaking his head while smiling. "I am not a god, but just a human like you."

"Oh, sorry, then what's your name?"

"Just call me Hiroki," he said while joining them around the fire next to him. "So tell me Chief Mato, how deep is the forest?"

"Very deep, sir. It almost covers this entire continent of the South Columba."

He scratched his head. "So it really is true. I heard about this place from books and saw it from the maps. But still, I can't believe there is such a place in the world."

"How could there be not? The gods are powerful, that nothing is impossible for them."

"Yeah... They definitely are."

"But that's not all," said Mato in a serious tone. "That forest is one of the dangerous places to be on this Earth. Mystic creatures from legends of thousands of years ago rumored to be multiplied in this vast rainforest."

"Creatures like what?" asked Hiroki nervously.

"I don't know for sure, for I haven't been there, but some of the people who wandered a little deep in the forest started to see tracks of a huge snake, huge hooves, and big human footprints. I witnessed to have seen something not human during my foraging in the forest for food. I am not sure that it is what I saw, because it was dark under the thick canopy of the forest, but it was a big human-like creature, but without a head."

"That might be an Acephali."

"What's that?"

"Something from the legends. They say they are a race of giants without a head, but their faces are on their breasts. What's even alarming is that I am told that they like to eat bad boys - this, told by my own mother."

Mato laughed. "Mothers always have many ways to make their children behave, don't they?"

"You said it."

Then Mato's face suddenly went serious as he said, "My mother is one among those who didn't come back after ventured deeper into the forest. There was a drought at that time, so she needed to go deeper into the forest, but then she never came back."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"How about you, where's your mother? Because you clearly are far from home."

"Oh, her? When I was ten, and that's four years ago, my father died from a disease, and she married another guy. I didn't like it so I ran away. Things happened that brought me here right now."

"How did you end up meeting the goddess?"

"Oh, it's quite complicated, but let's just say I found her when I decided to quit the organization that's behind all of this."

"So you were a part of those men," he said threateningly, and the others also overheard them.

"Uh, don't worry, it is just I went with them to find out what is the 'job' they are saying, and when I came across it, I found it unsettling and disturbing, so I ran away."

They looked at him with suspicion. "It's understandable that you are still a kid to be fooled by those evil men, but you have to be careful in your actions, boy. This world is unforgiving, there will come a time when you will realize that, so realize it sooner than later."

"I'm sorry, Chief Mato. I swear I will be careful from now on."

They all calmed down and went back to their businesses as the two of them continued their conversation. "So what's the name of the goddess?"

"Shi-" he stammered. "Uh, Sayuri."

"Sayuri Miyamoto?"

"No, just Sayuri."

Mato looked at him like he knows what this is about. "I am not sure what is the reason for that name, but I guess I am not in the place to question a goddess's word. Don't worry, I'll never ask about it again."

"Thank you, but when someone asks something about her, please don't say that you met her. It is what she decided."

"Very well."

"So, how do you know about the Miyamoto clan? Isn't this village isolated from the rest of the world?"

"Yes, but there was a missionary that traveled through here. He taught us about the gods of Olympus, as well as the other Six Demigod Clans of the world. As the next chief of this village, I have to be open to new ideas that would benefit my people, so I let him educate me. But then, what did she mean about her whole family slaughtered?"

Hiroki looked left to right and whispered, "The entire Miyamoto clan has been wiped out, except her."

Mato's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, because I was there when they said it."

"Who did?"

"I don't know who he really is, but they call him, 'The Golden Mask.'"

"Are you saying that a man with a golden mask destroyed the Miyamoto clan?" Hiroki nodded. "Because he is one of the men who abducted my people!"

"What?" exclaimed Hiroki.

"We were at a dispute with our neighboring tribe, so I brought all of my warriors with me. We returned after a few days, and Elder Helki told us what happened and who did it."

"I thought that they were only part of the recruiters of that organization, but the Golden Mask, himself? This is bad, I thought he went back to Taiyo. There is a navy blockade imposed on that region, and I felt safe because I thought he will be trapped and dealt with by the Olympus forces."

"So he is the one Lady Sayuri is after?"

"Yes."

"Well, it is more the reason to help her. I will offer you my help in navigating through that jungle."

"They went into the jungle?"

"Yes."

"I thought you said that it is dangerous."

"They are gods, and it will be easy for them. As for us, we will proudly die if it is for our people, and for the one who will punish those evil men. We will die for Lady Sayuri." The other men nodded, and Hiroki can't help but be amazed by these brave warriors around him.

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