The Dream Shifter

Chapter 179

Eusebios cleared enough room leaping back to leave him room away from Yuki's furious strikes. He caught his breath trying to analyze Yuki's power. It still left him uncertain with only pieces coming to him. 'He breaks my weapon with no effort. And even tries to make use of them against me. His fighting is so unorthodox. Who trained him?' He wanted to know more about the short tempered boy that challenged him. "Why are you here? What's your purpose in Atlantis?"

Yuki narrowed his eyes bothered by the interruption. "My reasons aren't something you need to be concerned with. You should be more focused on the fight!" Charging onward, Yuki sought to keep the words to a minimum.

Not taking a misstep, the Atlantean kept on his feet seeing how much Yuki resisted the conversation. The lack of answer only made him more curious. He kept his distanced measured to stay out of reach. "Purpose is important. You're here for a reason. I must know why I'm fighting a countryman."

Set off by the word, Yuki broke into a burst of speed closing their distance rapidly. "This isn't my country! And I'm not your countryman!" His fist came out for Eusebios' face, but crushed the spear that got in his way. He barely missed his target. Eusebios recovered from a safe distance.

A flicker of Eusebios' eye gave away his deepening interest in Yuki. He saw that he struck a nerve with his last comment. The reaction was strong, but nothing like the venom in his words when speaking of his Master. 'What was that about? He just got faster for a moment…' Eusebios questioned the wisdom of furthering his conversation. Further unknown triggers could be fatal for him. "You have the Meso Presecho. What else could you be?"

Yuki ground his teeth against each other. He broke out from his idle spot running for the soldier. Spears began to materialize again out of the ground attempting to divert him from his target. Yuki burst through without a thought to the danger. Accompany the ground attacks, Eusebios flung spears through the air at him that simply gazed off his body unable to harm him. In the last stretch, Yuki mounted one of the spears breaking through the earth to run up it using it as a ramp. He leapt into the air sailing through to Eusebios, surprised by the move. Yuki rammed his fist into Eusebios' chest.

Eusebios staggered back from the attack coughing feeling blood erupting from his throat. He collapsed to one knee in shock. 'A single punch!? He's still just a boy! How could he injury me so deeply?' The pained and ragged breathing exercised the striking pain he felt. Each movement felt as though crushing his ribs. Blood dripped down his mouth tracing around his jaw.

Still defiant, Yuki stood over Eusebios. "I'm Japanese!" he shouted as though trying to convince someone other than just Eusebios.

A cough spat out more blood from Eusebios' mouth. He managed to form a spear in his hand. Resolve to fight until his last breath was the only thing keeping him focused. Eusebios took the perfect opportunity to thrust his spear in at Yuki's unguarded stomach. The spear broke off against Yuki shattering. Even through everything he saw Eusebios managed a look of disbelief.

"This in ends now!" Yuki released his armor from around fist and rammed it through the man's face knocking him out. Eusebios laid unconscious on the ground in silence. The dirt field disappeared and soon Yuki's grass field. He stared down at the man pensive.

The night over Atlantis wore on with all of the sounds of battle coming to a close. All that remained in the air were panicked cries from the villagers. Yuki returned back to the village solemn, but pleased that they saved the village. The damage had already been done he knew. He just hoped that they saved enough.

As Yuki entered the village familiar shouts pulled his head up towards the village center. "Yuki! We've got trouble!" yelled Seiji.

More trouble spurred his feet into a sprint to meet Seiji to learn of the new problem they faced. "What's wrong, Seiji?"

"It's the villagers."

"What about them?"

"They've captured those brother and sister couple!"

'Yumi?!' Every muscle came to a halt in his body. He glared at Seiji for more of an explanation. "Why?!"

"They're saying that we've brought destruction on them or something! They're planning on handing them over to those military guys!"   

Seiji threw his arm back towards the center of the village while he spoke. "They're saying that we've brought destruction on them or something! They're planning on handing them over to those military guys!" The confusion and frustration in his voice came through clearly. He looked like he wanted to do something, but forced himself otherwise. Even Seiji understood.

Questions piled up for Yuki trying to figure out what happened in the short time that he left. Once the fighting ended he thought that everything would end. He did not expect anything from the villagers. Protecting them was all he wished for then. After he finished he planned on leaving so they did not befall any more trouble because of his presence. He hoped the patrol would follow him away.

Yet the villagers captured Yumi and her brother. He no longer understood what they wanted. Ending the sacking of their village seemed to be their plea. 'What are they thinking? We helped them!' Yuki stared at the ground feeling the heavy weight of confusion pressing down on him. It seemed so simple.

Further questions had to wait he knew. Yuki looked forward and ran down the street. He could not let them turn Yumi over to the soldiers. He caused them all too much trouble. 'Don't worry Yumi…I'll protect you!'

Ever since the fighting, the village changed into chaos from the ordered one that existed before. That chaos started to settle down with the ending of the fighting. However, the villagers all remained on edge. Yuki got a few stares as he sprinted past, but most of the noise came from the center of the village. 'I won't let anything happen to you, Yumi!'

Out of the corner of his eye Yuki caught the ruin amongst the village. They might have stopped what happened, but for many the damage was already done. Those focused on putting the pieces of their lives back together began the clean up even at the late hour. Sleep seemed like something of a luxury for everyone.

Nearing the town center, Yuki came to a stop. For Seiji, he took the break a little surprisingly expecting Yuki to go charging into the mass. Seiji managed to halt himself before being seen by the locals. Using the corner of a home for cover, Yuki leaned around to give a view of the situation. Much as Seiji had told him, a large gathering of villagers amassed in the square lead by an aged man, likely the elder or mayor. From his position it proved difficult to know if the old man was working the crowd or against it. He needed someone on his side in the village. 'Wish Ayumi was here. She'd know what to do. But I can't risk losing anymore time. I'll just have to solve this on my own.'

Yuki looked over at Seiji. "I can't see Yori and Yumi from here. Have you seen anyone else?" He wanted to know where all of his friends safe or located at least.

"Just the giant. But I left her with the rest back at the inn. It should just be us."

"So they haven't been found in the inn?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"That's good. I can't imagine how they'd react knowing that there were more than two foreigners in their village." Unfortunately, Yuki had a pretty good idea on their reaction just based off of finding two. The picture he had acted like acid in his stomach. He swallowed poorly trying to put the thought further out of his mind.

Yuki leaned out from the home. He started to make his way out towards the crowd. However, Seiji grabbed him at the shoulder before he got too far. "What's the plan?" Seiji gave him a deep stare expecting orders.

Suddenly being relied upon made Yuki take a step back, but more out of the response that Yuki gave Seiji. "I don't know. I'm just making this up as I go along."

"What?! You're going to get those two killed!" Seiji threw out his hand pointing into the crowd to whenever the siblings rested.

Shaking his head, Yuki glanced towards the elderly man. "They may be afraid of us, but they're also wanting to stay hidden from the world. Considering their policy of dropping intruders back outside. While we're only kids, they don't know that we aren't from the research bases. So they can't risk that. They just want to turn us over. I doubt they'll kill them intentionally. My concern is what their fear will make them do. There's too many chances for mistakes to wait."

A narrowed skeptical look stared back at Yuki from Seiji. "How can you be so certain?"

"If you were listen to Ayumi half of the time and not sleeping or tuning her out you'd understand."

Seiji leaned in closer to Yuki turning his stare into a scowl. "If this wasn't more important I'd deck you right now!"

"Regardless, I'm going out there. I can't wait until I figure out something smart to do." Yuki broke free from Seiji's hold and started marching out towards the square. In front of him the dozens of villagers mobbed together too distracted in fear to notice him. Lacking a plan left him a little uncertain, but he fortified himself. Strength and conviction had to stand firm for him, if he had any chance in making the villagers convinced of their intentions.

Yuki strode out amongst the crowd already working his field in so that the language barrier came down. Anyone in the area of effect sounded like a native speaker to the person listening. He knew that to be the first wall that had to crumble. Fear came next, but he still did not understand them fully. Answers had to come first, reasons for their reaction. Capturing Yumi and Yori went against their past reactions, which filled with panic and fleeing. Pushing through the angry mob Yuki managed to still be ignored. Everyone became transfixed by their emotions. Pieces of the blanks filled in as he listened to the yelling around him.

"We have to turn them over!"

"They'll be back again!"

"They think we're hiding Northers!"

"They tried to burn down the village!"

"They attacked the soldiers!"

"We'll get attacked by them next!"

"Get them out of here!"

Similar shouts repeated as Yuki pressed on. It gave him enough to get an idea of what had the villagers so upset. He still only had fragments of the truth, but he had a start. Only a few meters remained before he breached the space between the mob and the elderly man. 'I wonder how they'll react to me…' Glancing around the gather, he tried to find Yumi among them. He had searched repeatedly as he forced his way in, but he made one last check. 'She must be in the front…'

Breaking through finally, Yuki stood out feeling the freshness of non-stifled air around him. It cooled his face a little that built with anxiety. 'Yumi!' He suppressed his immediate urge to rush to her. Bound at the hands and legs with her arms restrained as well, Yumi slumped next to her brother against the well. She appeared exhausted and drained of all strength. Even sleeping seemed to be taxing for her, but still the only thing that helped her recover. 'What happened to her? Did they already do something to her? Why didn't Yori protect her? He's her brother!' The sight of Yumi made countless questions fly through his mind.

Before Yuki had a chance for even an introduction to attempt a smooth opening, the old man in front of him took notice of Yuki not being one of the villagers. "Who are you?!" he exclaimed with a voice that bordered on unease. As expected, all of the villagers in the front took a step back or attempted to do so. The mob grew thick as they realized that a third foreigner stood in their presence. Screams and cries of panic like during the fighting renewed as strong as before.

Yuki planned for such a reaction, but it still left him unsettled by the massive amount of hate that poured out into him. 'Such a thick aura…even high school never felt like this…' He took a step forward towards the old man acting like the leader. He forced his own uncertainties down so not to show weakness to the man. "I haven't come to harm anyone. I was only trying to protect you from the harm being caused by the soldiers." Direct intentions, Yuki hoped that cutting straight to the reasons would simplify the discussions. He still had to calm the unrest, but he needed more from them.

Confusion came from them not expecting him to speak perfect Atlantean Greek. It managed to break through the fear. "I can understand him?"

"Isn't he a foreigner?"

"He speaks so perfectly?"

"Is he actually one of us?"

The rumbling of the crowd grew that Yuki remained silent to let it subdue before continuing. Noticing the delay, the old man raised a hand up to the villagers to lower their voices. "You appear to know our tongue well. You wear our clothes, but your face is that of an outsider. Who are you?"

"My name is Yuki Hayashi and I am as you see, an outsider." Confirming their fears sent a new wave through the crowd. A calculated risk, he knew admitting to it would change them to be against him again, but lying solved nothing in his situation.

Measuring out his words with the crowd, the old man replied back to Yuki. "I'm Paramonos, the head of the village. What's your purpose here?"