Reaper's Crown

Ch. 19

"Let's continue," he announced.

***

With the last of the houses, shrines and alike ending, the road marked a difference in terrain. No longer were there cobbled streets or lamposts next to lush trees literally going inside houses or carving out roads with leaves. Such amenities were replaced with open, visible terrain, and even the clouds that freely stormed into Omer Narrows disappeared with the passing of time.

Looking down, they saw the city once more, but that wasn't the goal of their journey in the first place. Assuming that they didn't have much time to spare with Jyuzou's twelve-minute shower, Ingo angrily reminded everyone to focus on the task at hand.

The mountainous regions mentioned earlier were rather barren and opposed the thick and booming nature of the town. Overlooking the extremely distant volcano, the Morians followed up the green hill and down into various valleys, with Jyuzou eagerly looking out for flowers and alike, with his ideas only catching the interest of Genni. Still, he was the one with directions, so when he stood back, so did everyone.

There were a few open fields, with small lakes or pools of water with these long vines growing out and flailing in the wind, right next to clumps of rocks with a yellowish tint. Morio scoffed to the right, trying to avoid even passing by that part of the land but Ingo furiously threw him towards the next steps, consisting of open grey caves passing through bigger mountains with the same emerald tint.

Now, when everything was flat at first, mountains started sporadically appearing here and there the further they stepped away from the volcano and Omer Narrows. Dried-out grass wrapped around their feet and Morio solemnly refused to look down, having a clear idea of what its colour would entail, instead staring forward and towards the distant peaks with a smirk. Do you remember that Morians were well-versed climbers?

At least, that rule concerned Morio and Jyuzou, since Genni and Ingo greatly struggled during the smallest of tilts.

"What's the hold-up?" Morio asked with genuine curiosity while Ingo swore to snap his neck in the moment. It seemed that Jyuzou's shower problems didn't even come close to how much time they were to waste with such simple exercises. The steeper the hill, the longer it took.

There weren't any notable bushes or interesting trees for Jyuzou to mention, so he simply trailed, sometimes creating distance between himself and the others. At those quiet moments, the image of the masks would come back to his mind. What story could that possibly entail? He had no answer, and his plans mainly consisted of reaching Mount Yosei and asking Koyote, but deep inside he felt great fear concerning the question.

Morio, on the other hand, used the spare minutes of Ingo and Genni's struggle to ponder over the surroundings. It was finally the prime time to take up the shrivelled map and extend it far along the edge to draw more of the varying terrain. He scribbled the caves they passed through, the hills where Jyuzou tripped and Genni laughed and valleys where Ingo threatened to end his life. He ended his reports with a sigh, as the others reached the peak, with exhausted and heavy breaths.

"Ha..." Genni breathed out, putting her hands on her knees. "How long until we get there, Jyuzou?"

"The book says that we should be seeing it in a few, then, supposedly, we'll know where to go."

Ingo breathed in, harshily, his eyes analysing the landscapes. "Thank Shin that we don't have to climb that mountain!" he pointed to the rocky and uneven steps, changing into dried-out yellow grass with flowers growing down near a waterfall which bounced in and out of the lakes, further spiralling into rivers that flowed by the hilltop.

Jyuzou looked up, then at the book again. "Shit," he muttered.

"Jyuzou?" Genni asked.

"Oh! I get it!" Morio put his hands together. "See that at the top? It's a small shrine!"