- Aaron -
"Wakey wakey! Rise and shine!"
An energetic voice filled my ears, stirring me from my sleep as my eyes opened wide. I stretched my arms out, letting out an exaggerated yawn as I looked to my right.
Jade was still sleeping peacefully at my side, her arms wrapped around my chest. As I looked closer, I saw a drop of sweat bead on her forehead, her lips closed tightly. I recognised something was wrong, placing the back of my hand on her forehead. Thankfully, it was nothing unusual though I could tell the noirette wasn't having the best of dreams.
"I said wakey-"
"We heard you Ariel." I spoke up quickly, cutting off the rose blonde before she let out those dreaded words again. "Give us a moment in here."
As I called out, I heard a childish giggle from the other side of the shutter door, Ariel leaving the two of us to go bother Death. I turned back to Jade, throwing my arm around her shoulder to pull her closer.
Just then, the samurai's eyes fluttered open, her warm smile returning to her face as she looked up into my eyes. I mirrored her smile, rubbing my hand over her arm.
"Looked like you were having one hell of a dream huh."
Jade sat up slowly, leaning against my shoulder as she let out a sigh. She turned to the half open shutter windows, seeing that the sun was slowly rising over the city walls.
"Yeah, you could say that." At that, she turned to me with a half smile before continuing, "We should get ready."
Before Jade could stand up, I held her by the hand, the noirette looking back to me expectantly. I knew something was up with her but it's not like I could ask her what she was dreaming about because I knew it was for her to deal with.
"Hey, hey, there's no rush. Let's enjoy the morning."
---
- Ariel -
---
As I left Aaron and Jade's door, I turned to the main room, seeing Death sat on a cushion. He was sat on the veranda, sipping a cup of tea as he drank in the morning sun.
I picked up a large cushion, taking my seat beside the cloaked reaper. Death's hood was down, his crimson red hair flowing under the gentle morning breeze.
"Hey there handsome. Beautiful morning huh?"
I opened up a soul mirror, pulling out a piping hot kettle and a tea cup, pouring myself a brew as Death turned to me with a smile.
"And a stunning view to go with it."
My cheeks flushed red as I looked away to hide my face. Death let out a low chuckle at my reaction, sipping his tea as he turned back to the view of the rising sun.
A few moments later, we decided to get ready for the day ahead as I threw the kettle and teacups into a soul mirror. I stood up, making my way to the room Death and I had shared the night before, pulling out an array of clothes as I weighed up my options for an outfit.
Resting by the side of the futon was Death's scythe. Feeling curious, I reached out with my arm but then-
"You don't want to do that."
I jumped at the sudden voice, turning to Death behind me.
"The Wish of Anubis was made only for my hand and I don't want you dying for nothing."
At that, Death turned away to decide on his outfit, taking off his shirt as he threw on a vermilion red cloak, two crossed scythes coloured black on the back of the cape. An engraved silver button held the hooded cloak together at the neck as Death put on some black combat shorts. He slipped into some heavy duty stone grey boots, the cuffs coloured black.
After some deliberation, I settled on my outfit. I threw on a pearl white long sleeve crop top, tying a short onyx black cape to the shoulders. I slipped into a sable black miniskirt, pulling on my obsidian knee high boots, the fur at the cuffs coloured a rose pink, matching my hair.
I looked over to Death who was leaning on the wall beside the shutter door, patiently waiting for me as I flashed him a wink. Now that we were ready, we exited the room, seeing that Aaron and Jade were also ready.
Jade was wearing an amethyst purple kimono, two eastern snow white dragons winding up the dress and down her sleeves. She was wearing her smoky black sandals, Kuraokami's Sorrow tied to her waist by a lavender obi belt.
Stood at her side, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his tan brown khaki shorts, Aaron was wearing an unbuttoned raven black, long sleeve shirt. His messy wine purple hair had been styled into a fade, though his hair was still long at the top. He was wearing some fashionable red and black, ankle high sneakers.
"We ready to hit the city?"
I gave a resounding nod to the purple haired boy as he led the way out of the front door of the place we had stayed the night. As he stepped out into the sunlight, his face caught the morning glow, Jade following behind.
Death and I were two stepd behind, Jade and Aaron making their way down the stairs leading up to the front door. The moment we arrived at the foot of the stairs, we were greeted by some passing monks, each clothed in ash grey robes.
Aaron nodded to them, turning to the main temple as it stood tall at the centre of the sandy fields. Admittedly, I was also curious about this temple, recognising that it didn't fit in with the surrounding dwarven architecture.
The four of us made our way across the fields, crossing over miniature bridges built over the small streams of water that snaked around the area. I drank in the breathtaking view, realising how different the area looked under the sun.
There was a set of stairs leading up to the main building and as we got closer to the temple, one of the larger shutter doors opened. Stood in the doorway was another monk, his long robe draping over his body.
He greeted us with a wave and a wide smile. The monk's skin was dark, his black hair short. He stood at an average height, no taller than six feet though. Just when I thought he was a standard human, I noticed that his ears were long and pointed.
"My lady, it is a pleasure to meet you. Please join me inside."
Without waiting for a response, the dark elf turned through the doorway leaving it open for us to follow. Jade looked to the rest of us as we simply shrugged.
As we stepped through the shutter door, I saw that the monk was sat on a cushion, his legs crossed. Both of his eyes were closed and he was facing toward a large bronze great Buddha statue.
Once he realised the four of us had stepped into the large open room, he turned to face us at once. He invited us to sit and we were happy to oblige.
Death sat down first, placing his scythe at his side as Jade sat next to him. Aaron sat to the noirette's right as I took my seat at the edge of the group.
"My lady, it is an hounour to meet you." The monk bowed his head toward the samurai.
As he did, I noticed that Aaron had been watching him closely the entire time. It wasn't obivous and the only reason I could tell that he was, was because I had been around Aaron for so long now.
The wine haired boy noticed I was staring at him from the side, shaking his head slowly as he turned to me. I could see that something was on his mind but it must not have been a big deal.
"I, uh, thanks. But we're here to find more information about something..."
"My lady, you do not need to concern yourself with my name. I am only a lowly monk, seeing a samurai in person is enough for me to pass to the other side peacefully."
"Right." Aaron spoke up, cutting the monk off before he went on a silique, "As the lady said, we're here to learn about something. So if you would, get to the story."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'm sure you're here to know more about what happened to the samurai many years ago."
At that, the monk's face became a little more serious. He turned to face the great Buddha once more, looking back to us with a half smile as he started the story;
"Hinode no Tochi was once a realm of great prosperity. It stood parallel to this realm as one of the three Central Realms of the nine. The realm was home to the samurai, the most resourceful and fiercest warriors of all the nine realms."
"The samurai were great allies to the dwarves, both people working together to build two magnificent kingdoms, Ironforge and the Eikoo kingdom. True to its name, it was one of the most glorious in all of the nine realms. The two kingdoms were separated by a passageway beneath Ironforge Volcano that connected the two realms."
"Since records started, the Kami and the samurai were great allies. The samurai's strength was pivotal in keeping the Kami in power against the threatening powers and in turn, the Kami blessed future generations of samurai with inhuman strength and grace."
"But one day, the Eikoo kingdom came under attack by a powerful foe, one that they have never faced before. The Kami were bound to Takamagahara, caught up in their own battles. Without the aid of their strongest allies, even the mighty samurai could not face the strength of the Shinigami."
"Very few samurai managed to escape through the Ironforge Volcano passage. The dwarves couldn't keep the door open for long, with no choice but to close it from this side to stop the Shinigami from invading into this realm."
"Since then, the remaining samurai leant the dwarves their strength and in return, the dwarves repaid them as they deserved. This kingdom will never forget how much the samurai helped them out in their times of need."
As the monk concluded his story, I looked over to Jade who had been listening intently the whole time. She didn't interject so I guessed the story was in line with what she had been through all those years ago. The noirette only nodded to the monk as he turned away to resume his prayers.
Aaron stood up from his cushion, shoving both hands into his pockets. He didn't say a word, exiting the room, leaving the three of us and the praying monk.
Just as I was about to follow after him, Death's voice caught my ear.
"Jade, I can help with your inquest. I know a thing or two about the Shinigami."
The noirette turned to the cloaked reaper, an appreciative smile on her face. At that, the three of us followed after Aaron, exiting the room through the shutter doors.
I stepped outside first, seeing the wine haired boy leaning against the red wooden railing. Both hands were shoved into his pockets and his face was unusually serious.
"Aaron? Is everything alright? I saw you were-"
"Jade, was that monk telling the truth?" He spoke up quickly, cutting me off before I could finish. His icy black eyes glowed intensely, telling me that I was right to pick up on his unusual behaviour back then.
"Yeah, I didn't see much wrong with his story but I still need to know why the Shinigami attacked us back then."
Aaron nodded in understanding, turning to Death, "Looks like we'll be crashing at your old place for a while then. The answer's still a ways away but we'll help you with your investigation Jade. I'm curious myself now."
Feeling a little left out of the conversation, I spoke up, "We don't have to leave so soon right? There's still a lot to see here."
"Yeah, that's right." Aaron pushed off the railing, looking to the three of us, "The forge and weapons district is to the north. I'm sure you two will find something interesting there. Ariel, we're gonna head to the adventurer's guild for that bounty. We'll meet up at sunset."
At that, the plan for the day was decided. Jade and Death set out to the city's north side, Aaron and I heading to the southeast side.
"So are you gonna tell me what that was all about Aaron?"
As we made our way through the wide, busy streets of Ironforge, Aaron looked over to me, "I thought it was something but if that monk was telling the truth like Jade said, there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
That didn't settle my feelings. If anything, I was more on edge now that Aaron said that something was off earlier. But I trusted him enough to know when the coast was clear.
With that, the two of us made our way toward the city's adventurer's guild, ready to spend all the money we were about to earn from our bounty.