BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Thirty-Three |

Thirty-Three |

            The cave was both beautiful and terrifying. Once you got past the initial opening, it led right to darkness—or it would have had there not been thousands of small, bright green glowing mushrooms growing out of the very cracks and cervices of the walls. My eyes soaked in the sight as Barron Rivers led us through the cave system, his little dog seemed to have a light attached to it's collar which made it easier to follow.

            "What are these?" I asked wonderstruck.

            "Panellus stipticus," Cora replied.

            I glanced at her.

"Uh, yes," Barron hummed, "You like mushrooms kid?"

"No."

I snickered at her short tone.

"This way," the man sighed, turning left at a fork in the cave, "So what'd you two come here? I'll assume Erin doesn't know you're here? Is that why she sent out those fancy letters?"

"Letters?" I asked.

In the short distance, I could make out the entrance of the cave, or rather the exit. I squinted in the sudden harsh light, my ears picking up the sudden assault of civilization. I peeled my eyes open and took in the sight: a village in the mountains. There was no other way to explain the place. My eyes moved around the large wooden structures. It seemed like any other thriving village, except these people seemed to be more uniformed. Not that I noticed it, they all wore the same outfits—a pair of loose pants, a long sleeve shirt and some kind of coats made of fur. Around was also a large amount of dogs. It was fucking weird—normally settlements didn't have pets. The island had birds for communication and so Wolf Sanction was the only acceptation but even then, the wolves had a purpose. My eyes slid back to Barron.

"Yeah," he hummed, moving down the path, "Stating if anyone saw you, to haul you back as soon as possible. What are you doing here? Reia's not going to help you."

I grunted, "She will."

"What makes you so sure?"

"She will," I repeated confidently.

The man laughed, "You're your mother's daughter."

And I was tired of hearing that.

"Where is Reia?" Cora demanded suddenly, her tone surprising me.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair, "You know I helped design this place. It used to be a bunch of shitty huts. Like some off brand cowboy camp site."

"What's a cowboy?" I replied.

"Not the point," he led us up a long path of wooden steps that went higher into the mountain, "I grew up in Kyoto you know. Actually, my mom owned one of the trinket shops in Fushimi Inari-taisha. It was weird because the shop spot was like a little town. We'd watch tourists walk by at night too. The shrine was open all hours and it was quite the hike."

"Was that your inspiration?" I asked, understanding slowly what his point was.

He nodded, the ghost of a smile on his face, "We moved here when I was little. My mom got sick and near that time her doctor was Eric Maxwell. When she died, I was seven. The perfect age to be a lab rat."

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

He shook his head, "It doesn't matter now. I'm glad it was helpful—"

"Barron!"

We reached the top of the stairs where a large shine looking building was made. At the entrance was an older man standing with a boy my age. The boy looked a lot like Barron—the same eyes and nose, and the same stern look. Around us were even more dogs but these ones were smaller and honestly, I couldn't see a practical use for them. A few of them wagged their tails before running over to sniff us carefully and I held back from petting them.