justice

Chapter Nineteen

"Nellie! Nellie, wake up!" said Just, shaking her friend awake. The two had made camp just outside of the Forest, so they could have full sun when navigating through it. Nellie rolled her head from side to side, then opened her eyes and sat up.

"Just, I had the strangest dream..." said Nellie, rubbing her eyes. Just nodded, and said, "Alright, cool, can we talk about this later? We need to move!"

Nellie stood up and looked around them in horror. Perched around their camp were four ibli. Each was silver, with clawed hands folded over their folded knees that ended in talons. Their metallic wings sprouted high from their shoulder blades, with razor sharp feathers that gleamed in the sun. Their horns were the only things maring their otherwise non-monstrous features.

"Nellie, what should we do?" Nellie looked at Just and shrugged. Just shouted, and Lemmy flew into her hand.

"Alirghty then," she said, surveying the ibli, "Looks like we're winging it." Just leaped towards the nearest iblis and thrust Lemmy forwards. The iblis shrieked and flew behind her, from which a tentacle sprouted from its mouth and wound its way towards Just. Just whirled around and shouted, "Api!"

A stream of fire shot forth from Lemmy and burned the tentacle. The iblis shrieked and flew high in the sky, shedding its knife-feathers occasionally. Just lept upon Lemmy and followed them.

Nellie had drawn her sword and was facing off against another iblis. It shrieked, and Nellie thrust the sword forward. The iblis hissed and wrapped itself in its wings, and sparks flew when her sword collided with its shell.

The other iblis launched themselves at Nellie, talons forward, and Nellie sidestepped and brought down the sword, cutting off their talons. The iblis screeched and fell to the ground, black blood leaking out of the wounds.

Hearing his comrades' plight, the first iblis came out of its metal shell and charged at Just, claws forward, hissing. Nellie readied her powers and jumped high in the air, coming down hard with her sword. When Just landed a few minutes later, She saw Nellie pulling her hair up, surrounded by the bodies of the other two ibli.

"Ohmigosh, Nelli! What did you do?" asked Just, her eyes widening.

"Oh, you know me. Buckateer, iblis-slayer, all that. Just a bit of a takedown, you know, the usual." Nellie said, grinning. Gesturing at the all of the blood, she said, "This stuff reeks. It got everywhere, and I can't think of a way to clean it up."

Just shook her head, and said, "That is not our problem, my friend. Our problem consists a lot more of an old geezer. Quite less of a thrill compared to the heat of battle." Nellie chuckled and nodded, and the two satcheled up and headed into the forest.

They had been walking for an hour when Just said, "Oh, Nellie, you said something before the fighting started-something about a dream?" Nellie wrinkled her forehead, then said, "Oh yeah! I remember that! Do you still want to hear about it?"

"Of course! Tell me all about it!" replied Just eagerly.

"OK. So, I was in the middle of a field, and in the distance, there was a forest. I walked away from the forest, and soon reached the ocean. I sat with the water lapping against my toes, and far out to sea, I saw a ship. On it were two girls. One of them was you, Just. You were talking quietly, but the wind told me everything you said."

Just gasped, and said, "Did she have an orange dress?" Nellie glanced up, and said, "Well, yeah..." said Nellie. Justs' eyes shone, and she rapidly said, "She has been in my dreams too! Any...anything else about her?" Just asked shyly.

Nellie giggled and nodded, and continued. "The other girl and you seemed to be talking about something important. Every so often, the girls' hair would catch on fire when she was frustrated. But you seemed calm throughout the whole thing. And towards the end of the dream, I heard one of you say that you guys were forever, and that nothing could ever change that." Nellie looked at Just, who was shaking her head slowly.

"Wow. Thanks for telling me, Nellie. Do you think I will ever meet this girl? She sounds awesome..." Nellie smiled, and said, "I am sure that you will, Just. I think that you are destined to meet her." Just nodded thank you. They walked for another hour before Nellie stopped, and said, "Just, we should be here by now."

"Yeah, we should..." said Just, trailing off and looking around. "Are we...lost?" The two looked around for the telltale money notes on the ground. They saw a few, so they must be close...

"Hello ladies! Need a guide?" Just and Nellie whirled around and started laughing.

"Tee! When did you get here!? You look all better!" exclaimed Nellie, flinging her arms around him. Just came over and clamped her hand on his shoulder saying, "Nice to see you, buddy."

"Where is the Palace?" asked Nellie.

"That's the funny thing. In a feat of spiritual power, the earth and wind spirits worked with us tree spirits and sank the palace underground, to protect the King. There have been more and more monsters, and we thought it the best way to protect the King."

"Cool! Can we go down and see?" asked Just.

"Yes. There have not been many changes, aside from the fact that all of the department stores have shut down to become rooms and the like, and all stores are now carts and stalls in the huge hallways." explained Tee.

Nellie nodded, and the three of them closed their eyes. They opened them and took in the views of the sunken palace.