The Heartstone Journey

Book 1 | Ch. 12 - To Stand Side By Side

"You don't have to worry about what I said earlier child. You are free to do as you please for as long as you please. Don't let others chain you down and give yourself the flight to soar up into the skies for what you seek. Freedom."

Cloudy opened his eyes not expecting her to comfort him so easily and instead waited for her to push her thoughts onto him. He replied quietly telling her that he would be fine and that Hunter would be by his side just like he would be as well.

"I'll be honest Kuruma I don't think I'll get used to the fact I may be an angel but as long as he is with us we will do fine. Regardless from where I came from or who I came from doesn't matter to me anymore. That's long in the past. What really matters is what's happening now. The past is the past I can't change it and neither can you nor the rest of them."

Cloudy gradually became more confident in his words the more he spoke proceeding to speak words that Hunter definitely could use.

"𝑅𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓌. 𝐼'𝓂 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑒𝓅𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽."

Wide-eyed Kuruma stared at Cloudy wanting to grant him a gift of her own for doing so much for the others.

"What is it then?"

Cloudy asked curiously.

The golden dragon moved its tail deep down the grotto reaching for something inside before bringing it back out and using the tip of her tail putting it to his forehead. The tip shined touching his head and within seconds she brought it back to herself. Cloudy unexpectedly looked right up at the dragon with full eye contact in a concerned way.

"I-Is this~? Why~? Wha-."

He stopped watching her about to speak.

"Keep Hunter safe~."

She hastily turned around and went back into her golden cavern as he stood there still trying to process what he was just showed as a single tear etched down his cheek. Only after a minute he realized that the group was a while ways ahead and sprinted in their direction to catch up to them.

Sun had risen, the group halfway down the massive mountain chose to rest after the encounter with Kuruma. Hunter helped them down the mountain quicker than they went up it only taking two whole hours while before heading up took almost two days. Once they reached the base of the mountain they set up camp as Royal and Nick quickly took a nap tired from the event at the top. The two that were still up chose to do their own things with Hunter training himself for what's to possibly come next. Including Cloudy who still couldn't forget what he was shown and tries to brainstorm on what to do about it. 

He headed over to Hunter after making sure there were no monsters that would roam randomly onto their camp. He stayed away from afar hiding nearby a clump of dead bushes to conceal himself just well enough. The sight of Hunter working vigorously made him want to do more as well. Hunter only had his silver leggings on with a thin shirt on while the rest of his clothes were hung on a nearby tree as to not get them dirty or covered in sweat. He watched him as he picked up a large boulder and threw it a small ways away without breaking a sweat and saw what kind of training he would do. 

His fist would slam into the boulder as it cracked starting to leave a dent into it without any kind of external powers helping him, just his strength and body alone. He struck his knuckles into it repetitively but with a pattern trying to get a rhythm. He took slow and deep breathes allowing his body to bring out the its maximum power. Each time his arm pressed forward going against the boulder he gave out a loud grunt as blood squirted around the rock and his fists. After nonstop punches for two hours that seemed like forever he was completely drenched in sweat with even the shirt he had on turned a much darker color more so than before.