"Why do you think King wants to go to a place like the Capitol of the Dead?" Hawk asked as we walked through the village, attempting to find the entry point the two children had told us about.
"I'm sure we'll find something out once we get there," Meli shrugged.
"What I want to know is why he ran away from us. More specifically- Diane," I said, furrowing my brows in thought. "I mean... that was weird- even for him."
Nobody answered, and we continued walking in silence until we reached the rear of the village, where there was a large clearing surrounded on three side by cliffs. The ground was extremely bare- there didn't seem to be a living thing anywhere near here. I guess that makes sense for an entrance to the afterlife...
"This looks like the place they told us about," Diane said, looking around to make sure it met the description the kids gave us.
"Yeah, but how do we get there? It is the afterlife..." Hawk pointed out.
"How about we kill ourselves?" Meli suggested; Hawk squealed.
"I'm down," I shrugged, looking around for any physical entry point.
"I can't tell whether you two are crazy or stupid!" Hawk shrieked, his ears shooting upward in protest.
"Probably both," I laughed, to which Hawk groaned.
"Well, they also told us a precious memory with someone deceased would open the gate," Ellie chimed in happily. "If so, I would love to meet my mother. She died before I was born- so I never got to meet her."
"Well that won't work," Meli said bluntly. Could you be any more insensitive?
"Oh, right..." Ellie muttered sadly. "I don't have any memories to share with her."
"Huh?" Diane said suddenly. I turned toward her to see what was the matter, but I noticed it almost immediately after turning my head.
The entire, once barren, clearing was now full of light pink roses. They covered every inch of the ground up to the large cliffs and the beginning of the village. It was a beautiful sight- breathtaking, even. This must be the entrance to the Capitol. That must mean someone 'shared a precious memory with the dead'. But who...?
I looked around, almost immediately finding my answer. Ban was standing in the center of where the flowers spread, staring up into the sky, looking as though he was lost in thought.
"Flowers...? But where...?" Ellie asked nobody in particular, staring around in astonishment.
"So what? They're just flowers. No matter how many you eat, they'll never fill you up," Hawk huffed, looking at Ellie. As soon as he released air from his snout, petals flew upward, detaching from flowers and beginning to swirl around us. An unseen source of powerful wind surrounding us, causing what seemed to be a whirlwind of flowers.
It was probably one of the greatest things I had ever experienced.
The wind swiftly began picking up its pace until the world around us went out of sight, and all we could see was unending pastel pink. I covered my face, not wanting to be struck in the eye by one of the petals.
As soon as the flowers had begun swirling around us, they stopped, and disappeared from sight. When they left our vision, however, we were not met by the sight of the forest or the village we were originally in. It's hard to explain what was around us, it was so odd that it seemed to be unreal.
There were large, jagged crystal formations surrounding us- all of them a vibrant, translucent green color. Several of the green objects formed pathways around the foreign area, like the one we were standing on. Yellow particles floated around through the sky, which was a tie-dye of a sickly yellow and green. It was an ethereal plane, clearly not one of earthly origin.
"Captain?" Asked Diane, looking around.
"Yeah, this is it." He replied, "The Capitol of the Dead."
"Is it possible that my longing to see my mother brought us here?" Asked Ellie, as though she was surprised by the idea.
"Naw, it was probably my daydreams about leftovers I had a couple weeks ago." Hawk huffed proudly, looking around.
"I have no idea!" Diane said cutely, smiling.
"Me neither," Meli added nonchalantly, rubbing his nose.
I stared silently at Ban, who was scanning the surrounding crystals, almost as if he were looking for something. His head jerked to the left, and I followed his gaze. For a split second I saw a girl who looked a lot like the one from the village, but was wearing a long, white dress. He launched himself in that direction, not bothering to look back at the group.
"Ban!!" Diane shouted, alarmed by his sudden departure. So it was him who brought us here...
"Stop!" Shouted another familiar voice. King came shooting in from behind us, following Ban. He no longer had his spear, but was holding a green pillow with, what looked to be, leopard print on it.
"King?!" Diane shouted once again, watching the Grizzly Sin fly past us and after the Fox. So King followed us here as well? I wonder how he got in without any of us noticing...
"That's Lord King?" Ellie asked from behind me. Facing the two runaway team members; Meli was in front, I was behind him, then Ellie and Hawk, and Diane in the far back. I turned my head and looked at her, nodding. "He looks nothing like his wanted poster...."
"And what does he mean 'stop'? Are he and Ban fighting? Because he looks like he really wants to catch him...." Hawk added, staring in the direction the two of them disappeared in.
"What should we do, Meli?" I asked, turning toward the captain. He shrugged.
"Chase after them, I guess."
There was a loud crash, and several green crystals shattered in the distance. I smiled, beginning to run with Meli and Diane. Ellie hopped onto Hawk's back, who trailed behind us, keeping a good pace.
"Guess they're not trying being subtle..." I muttered, vaulting over a large chunk of crystal that had fallen onto the path.
We continued to run forward, but after a while, there were no more crashes and we lost Ban and King. We slowed to a walk, looking around and calling out for the pair.
"Baaaaaaaannnn!" Diane called out, looking around. "Kiiiiiiiiiiiiingggg!"
"Lordddd Baaaaan!" Ellie called as well, followed by Hawk who shouted, "Kiiiiiiing?"
"Weeeeirdoooo? Shooorrrtyyyy?" I called out, smiling as Meli let out a snort. My smile quickly turned into a frown as I continued to look around. "Man... where did those guys go?"
"I dunno," Meli shrugged, then called out for Ban. When there was no answer, he continued. "We just have to keep looking."
"And why aren't there any ghosts, or something?" Hawk huffed, spastically looking around. "I mean, this is where dead people go, right?"
"If there were any, I'd be scared..." Ellie responded, instinctively moving closer to the captain. I smiled; those two are practically meant for each other. "By the way, Lord Meliodas, why did Lord King chase after Lord Ban?"
"I'm pretty sure all of us are wondering about that," he responded, looking at her.
"We also have to wonder," I added, knowing the answer to the question, but still asking it anyway. "what Ban was chasing after. I mean, what would make him go all berserk like that?"
I sighed, resting my hands at the back of my neck. I looked around the area again, still not seeing any sign of the two sins. As I was about to suggest we go look on a another path, I felt a new presence near us. A strong magical power- similar to one of a Holy Knight, but with a demonic undertone. It was subtle, but I could definitely sense it.
I stopped dead in my tracks, and so did Meli. I began looking around, seeing if I could find the source of the power. When I glanced behind us, I found it. A woman with long black hair and a pink headband was standing on the path. She had a large rapier and her eyes seemed to be closed.
"Who's that..?" Muttered Diane. I stepped in front of her, becoming the one closest to the woman.
"Hey, there!" I called to the mysterious figure, "How'd you get here?"
She chuckled, giving a closed-eye smile as she began to walk toward us. She flicked her long hair out before saying in a sickly sweet voice; "I got here by dying."