The Will of Fire

49. Hazed Vision

Jared grabbed both of his siblings just in time to evade the snake's body slam. As he floated in the water with them, he shouted at them to get them to snap out of it.
"What's wrong with you two?! We have to beat this thing! Snap out of it!" He shouted.
"Right...I'm sorry. Let's do it!" Tristin responded.
Luisa said nothing, still not being able to gain her focus.
Luisa's out of it. After all the training she's had. After the heart she shown to have in the war. She's doubting herself. She's gone back to her old ways...looks like me and Tristin will have to do this alone!
The snake hissed and ducked under the water. Tristin created three boards of rock, levitating himself, Jared, and Luisa.
"Luisa! Stay on this board and get your nerves together! Me and Jared will handle this snake!" Tristin declared.
Without a word, Luisa listened to her brother as she sat on the board of rock, still shaking and shrouded in fear.
"Jared! I'll control both of our boards! You need to overwhelm him somehow as a distraction! I'll try to get close to him to finish him off!" Tristin demanded.
Jared agreed and ignited his fists on flames. The snake emerged once more, thrusting it's body out of the water and going towards Jared with it's mouth open wide.
He'll swallow me in one bite! Gotta think fast!
As Tristin controlled Jared's board to evade the snake, Jared threw a barrage of fireballs at the snake. It seemed to effect him slightly as the fire balls torched its body, but not enough to stop it.
"Something stronger than that, bro!" Tristin shouted as he hovered around trying to find the perfect moment to strike.
Think...think! Something big! There's this one move but...it's taxing.
The snake turned it's attention towards Tristin now, which caught the brothers completely off guard. It then lunged at Tristin and bit down with so much force it crumbled half of his board. Tristin lost a bit of his footing and balanced I'm the board with one foot only.
"Jared! That attack would come in handy right now!" He shouted, still flying around to avoid the snake's wrath.
Luisa still sat in shock as she hovered away from the battle.
"What's gotten into me?" She thought to herself. "I wanna do something but my body won't let me...I don't have Maxi with me to execute Combination attacks. I doubt my long range fire attacks will do much damage. I'm better at close range with my katana sword and my close combat fire infused attacks but, I don't wanna have to get close to this thing...Damn it! I've lost all confidence... we're going to die here..."
Jared had his eyes close shut, concentrating on mustering up enough power energy to precisely execute his next power attack. The snake was on its way towards Jared at rapid succession.
"Damn! Gotta get him out the way!" Tristin shouted.
Quickly controlling Jared's board, Tristin hovered Jared around while he still concentrated.
"If this keeps up any longer, I'll be low on power energy. I won't be able to make a boat of rock to sail to the Kage Sea." Tristin thought to himself.
He looked at Luisa who seemed to be in a worse state of mind than before. The three had never faced an enemy this big before. The biggest enemy they've ever encountered was Makaio. This snake was bigger than Makaio who's 7feet tall.
Okay. Like Hanzo-sensei said. Channel it all into my chest. Keep it there and inhale deeply...then...release!
Jared's eyes shot open and a new look of confidence filled his eyes.
"I'm ready bro!" Jared shouted to Tristin.
Tristin nodded his head and hovered Jared over to where he was as the snake tailed behind him. With one last lunge, the snake was inches away from swallowing Jared.
"Eat this you stupid snake!" Jared shouted.
Suddenly, Jared expelled a stream of fire from his mouth and sent it directly into the mouth of the snake. At the end of the stream, the fire formed a giant orb of fire going into the snake's body. Jared continued to breath the stream into the snake's mouth, forcing the orb of fire to grow larger, embering the now darker sky with flashes of red and orange. The snake stopped in it's tracks, directly in front of the brothers. It hissed and groaned in discomfort but couldn't move away. Jared ceased the attack and immediately began to cough hard. The snake hissed loudly as it wriggled around and splashed the water in a fit of rage.
"Woah...bro, you okay?" Tristin asked in complete shock.
Jared nodded his head yes as he continued to cough a bit.
"Wow... Jared did that." Luisa thought to herself.
"Hey!" She called out to her brothers.
Tristin quickly hovered her over to them.
"Are you okay sis?" Tristin asked
Luisa nodded her head yes.
"For now" She replied. "Jared, I've never seen that attack before. I didn't know you could do something like that. I've only executed the basic fire breathing attack, Flame Breath. Just what in the world did you just do though?"
Jared coughed a few more times and began to elaborate.
"Its called Great Flamethrower" he said. "Hanzo-sensei can do it with ease and without much concentration to knead power energy in his chest to release it. I need to become stronger so I can do it at the same speed and even faster. Its a Level 5 power attack. To a warrior of my ranking, it just about completely depletes my power energy."
Jared began to cough excessively again.
"Jared? Hey, you okay?" Luisa asked, worried.
"Don't worry about me" he responded. "What time is it? Can you tell?"
Luisa hesitated. She began to put her eyes up in her head to think hardly, trying to calculate.
"It doesn't matter" Tristin cut in. "Look around. Its night now. The snake completely took time away from us. We're screwed."
This made Jared and Luisa a bit tense. Tristin became irritated, but kept a level head to lead them. The snake's lifeless body began to sink under water.
Great Flamethrower melted the snake's insides. Its a goner for sure, but...I think my body's had it. My throat is on fire.
Jared began to cough some more. Luisa worryingly began to check on Jared once more. He waved her off, telling her once again that he's just fine. Tristin told them that hovering on the boards were their only option now which drains his power energy faster. He didn't want to take them higher into the sky though, they would be at risk of hypothermia. The siblings finally passed under the stone arc and began to hover the rest of the distance. Fog began to haze their vision. They knew they had made it to Unagi. The three hovered to the Unagi Docks where they would've stopped the boat. Carefully, Jared and Luisa stepped off their boards and Tristin crumbled them immediately, letting the rock pieces fall into the water. He did the same once stepping off of his own. The fog was a huge disadvantage. They could barely see what was in front of them.
"Where do we go?" Luisa asked.
Tristin looked around for something the best he could. His eyes locked in on small building. He couldn't make out exactly what it was, but he made that their destination.
They began to follow Tristin until they reached the building. Up close now, they can somewhat make out what the building was. They peered into the glass window on the front of it. It was a library. There was a dim light inside, signaling that someone had to be in there. Tristin tried to push the door open but it didn't budge.
"It's locked. Maybe whoever is inside can help us get to Kage Seashore." He said.
Tristin knocked on the glass door, hoping someone could hear him. After waiting hopelessly for about two more minutes, the door opened.
"We're closed, come back again tomorrow at dawn." Said a man's voice.
The fog obscured their vision, making it hard to see the man.
"We're sorry to bother you, we just have one question" said Tristin. "We're from Hakuchō Village. We were heading to Kage Seashore. We just want to know how we can get there."
The man groaned in confusion.
"Hmm. Kage Seashore, eh? Just what do you kids want to go there for when you're all the way from Hakuchō?" He asked. "You three are a long way from home. Us people of Unagi don't usually come out around this time to go out on the Kage Sea. Its when the Sea Snakes come out. Some even have been seen around the stone arc monument a little distance before our village. So I hope you three don't plan on sailing the Kage Sea."
Sea Snakes? That must have been what we just fought. What the hell...you mean to tell me there's more of them in Kage Sea around this time?
"Wait. So you can see us? We can't see you." Luisa said.
"All of the residents of Unagi are used to the fog for the most part" the man answered. "Our eyes adjusted to the fog. What looks hazy to you is clear as day to the majority of us. I can see you three perfectly. But again, just what business do you three have being here and wanting to go to Kage Seashore? The Empress knows you're here?"
The siblings began to get a bit tense.
"Empress Teikuya knows. She's the one who sent us here after all" Tristin said quickly.
Jared and Luisa looked at their big brother anxiously.
"Why would The Empress send you here? That doesn't make sense" the man said sternly. "Just because us people of Unagi Village live the farthest away than the other five villages doesn't mean we don't know the rules. Its prohibited that anyone from Hakuchō Village, Kujaku Village, Tora Village, Saru Village, and Hyō Village sail the seas to come here at this time. When nightfalls, the Sea Snakes voyage these seas. They've been getting a bit out of hand lately, eating up all of the Dolphins. Its been a complaint, especially from Kujaku Village. Kujaku has even lost some of their peackocks! The sea snakes gobble them up when the peacocks go to get a drink from the sea. That's why The Empress is rallying highly ranked warriors to join the Sea Patrol Unit to start killing off the snakes. So don't lie to me!"
The siblings grew even more tense. The fear of being had was now on the forefront. But in natural Tristin fashion, he got it together rather quickly.
"Yes, of course. The Sea Patrol Unit. We know already" said Tristin. "Like I said, Empress Teikuya sent us here. On a mission. We are some of her strongest warriors. I'm Tristin Dorahatō. These two are my brother and sister. Jared Dorahatō and Luisa Dorahatō."
The man became surprised as he made a sound of astonishment.
"Dorahatō? No way! You three were in the war! You were geniuses! We've heard of your succession! Please, forgive me!" The man exclaimed. "Please, come on in!"
The three looked at each other and smiled. They walked into the library. They could finally see clearly. The man was a frail old man who wore glasses, a button up shirt, pleated slacks, and strapped sandals.
"Wow. The three Dorahatō kids. You kids would never believe, I know your parents." The old man said.
"We believe it. Everyone does." Luisa said with a soft smile.
"Your father, Kaeneki. Well he used to run around with my son back in their youth. Wait until I tell him that I was with the children of the great Kaeneki and Rosana Dorahatō" The old man cheered. "My grandson contributed to the war too. He was...decent."
Tristin's lie was of course wrong, but it got the old man to let his guard down.
"We were sent here by Empress Teikuya to examine the Kage Sea and make sure the tactics needed for the Sea Patrol Unit can be executed when the time comes" Tristin lied. "She isn't concerned with us against Sea Snakes. In fact, we just defeated one with ease before passing under the Stone Arc Monument."
The old man smiled and praised them. He was estatic.
"That's great! Well since it's The Empress' orders, I'll tell you how to get to Kage Seashore to then do your work" the old man said. "Kage Seashore isn't far from this building at all. If you go behind this building, there's a long road that will lead you directly to Kage Seashore. That road is called Nagaidesu Road. Once you reach the end, make a left and that is the entrance way to Kage Seashore. Do NOT make a right. That is where the Black Panthers rest. Kage Seashore is reachable that route as well, but I don't suggest it if you have nothing to give them. They're okay with humans, they just don't like humans passing through their territory without any collateral."
"Collateral? Meaning something for them to eat?" Tristin asked.
The old man nodded his head.
"If you enter the Black Panthers Resting Grounds without giving them food to eat, you will soon become the food." He replied.
Jared began to cough again.
"Bad cough you have there son. You okay?" The old man asked.
"I'm fine, thank you" Jared quickly answered. "Tristin. Luisa. Let's head out."
They both agreed instantly.
"Thank you for your time, mister." Luisa said.
"Anytime, of course" he replied with a smile. "The name is Genma Fukiru is my name. Please, let you parents know you met with me."
The siblings assured Genma that they would, and headed out back into the fog.
Genma Fukiru. That's got to be the grandfather if the guy that was in my squad during the war. Soho Fukiru.
With every direction given, the siblings headed behind the building and began to walk down Nagaidesu Road. Five minutes passed and they had finally came to the end of the road Genma told them about.
"The left. Not the right. We don't wanna run into those Black Panthers with nothing to give them." Tristin said.
Jared and Luisa followed Tristin as they made the left turn. Crickets filled the air with their songs, and an owl even hooted from a distance. Luisa looked around, a bit creeped out not being able to see much still. Something made a rustling noise around them, causing them to look around.
"I don't like this. Let's just hurry to Kage Seashore." Luisa said.
"Don't worry. We'll get there." Said Tristin.
Jared squinted his eyes and pointed.
"What's that? Coming up in front of us." He said.
Tristin and Luisa tried to focus but couldn't make out what it was. A figure was approaching them, getting closer and closer.
"A villager maybe?" Tristin said, unsure.
Luisa stopped in her tracks, causing Jared to stop too.
"Why'd you do that? What's wrong?" He asked her.
Luisa's eyes darted all around.
"Jared...look around us." She said, voice shaky.
Jared did so and noticed more figures around and above them. Still, hard to tell exactly what they were because of the fog. Tristin stopped as well after hearing what Luisa said. He now saw them too. The three huddled together with Luisa in the middle.
"What the hell's going on here?" Jared asked.
The figure that was approaching them finally emerged from the fog. The three siblings tensed up.
"What the hell? That can't be" said Tristin. "Its...a black panther..."