Chapter 15: 13 : Brothers of The Enclave

[Since all my corrector tools are screaming at me for a word, here what it means in advance -> Foley: it's the background noise you can hear in some movies when there's a lot of people. The sort of mumbling sound you can hear but can't identify the words spoken.]

 

As soon as Tsuki woke up, she did her stretches, drank some cold water, and began her long journey. Following the river to reach the fishing village would take her a minimum of ten days of walking. She didn’t like the fact that she was moving in the opposite direction of the town Yuu and the bear told her to go to, but she begrudgingly accepted it since she would put herself in too great of a danger.

Still, her travel wasn’t without any danger as some of the creatures the ‘baby’ - as Yuu called it – had created were still lurking in the forest. But it mattered not the nightmarish creature ready to put a simple girl in eternal slumber when instead, her internal fight was fiercest. Her mind could only think of Alice. The further she walked, the lonelier she was. It wasn’t good for her as every time she would start to be depressed, her senses would become twisted. First was her vision. It began with a few dark lines, which almost looked like microbes, that would crawl over what she saw and give it more life than it ought to have.

There was a time when her mood became so bad that she even began to hear whispers coming from places out of her sight. Luckily, it was just before she slept. Even if her senses were played with, she would sleep like a log and wake up refreshed.

As the days passed by, Tsuki became more used to her predicament. She was able to ignore the small changes and keep her heart steady in most situations. It did worry her how inert her heart really was. It would only beat to nourish her flesh with blood. How nice were the times her heart would dance after simply looking at those blue eyes that were always by her side…

The night sky was starting to be chased in warm red once more. She felt as if she was a vampire who had to hide from the sun to avoid dying. She wouldn’t really die even if she stayed in the sun for a long time, but it would leave marks, marks on Alice’s body of all things. Still, in her travels, she somehow became adept at finding places to safely rest until night came back. It was mostly because she began to look for possible locations as she walked and went back to one of the closest locations before the sun rose.

She did find out how much staying in shade alleviated the sun damage to her skin and wished she could have an umbrella of some sort. A flash of genius came to Tsuki when she realized that a village had to have interesting things to sell. So many colorful walls of fabric she could roll inside until she was covered from head to toe in the finest textile she has ever seen. Baskets of spice, from sweet to spicy or from exotic to discrete, just waiting to be mixed with the best batter that would enrobe the freshest fish which would explode into savory juice with each of her bites.

She wanted to reach this village as soon as she could. That day, she was almost too excited to fall asleep, but she came back from her reveries after realizing she had no money…Her eyes closed to a dreamless sleep.

꙳꙳꙳

 

The cobblestone of a discreet street came to welcome the hurried steps of a young man by making them resonate between the closely built house on either side. He came to a sudden stop in front of a door and rapped his fist against it. The place he struck was the only part lacking any paint and the wood was caved a little bit.

“MAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” He screamed a loud wail filled with sadness and fear which traveled far and wide in this quaint street.

It was the morning bells this street was known for. The boy had screamed and knocked at the same door almost every day for two years. The only moment he wouldn’t do this strange action was when he was stuck in bed, be it because of a sickness or because someone tired of him would beat him up.

“MAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! MAAAAAAAAA!!”

“I’ve had enough of this worthless dog’s barking!” Screamed a man who came out of his house armed with a sword. “I’ll give you a good reason to scream!”

The blade shined as he lifted his burly arms, ready to bring them down on the screaming boy. But just before he did, a squeaking voice filled with panic stopped him.

“STOP! Darling? What in the name of the black moon are you doing?! Have you gone insane?!”

A woman came in between the sword-wielding man and the screaming boy and tried to pacify the enraged man to the best of her ability.

“Did you really just call me insane? Do you want me to “MAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” This! Enough is enough! Every singl- “MAAAAAAAAAA!!” morning! Do you want me to endure that until the day I “MAAAAAAAAAA!!!” ENOUGH!”

The man, after being interrupted multiple times, tried to push his wife out of his way but she clung to his arm and wailed that killing the boy would simply send him to jail.

“Ha!” He expressed himself with a short laugh. “Then I’ll “MAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” be free “MAAHAAAHAAAaaaa!!!!” FROM THE BOTH OF YO- “MAAAAaaaa…”.”

The man managed to push his wife to the ground as she cried in pain. He brought his sword high above his head, but the boy was now gone. He had opened the door and headed into the house which he instantly locked.

The man tried to force his way inside the house, but a group of guards was called, and he was arrested before he could reach his goal. By ten in the morning, the street had returned to its heavy silence with only the foley of other streets to keep company to this lonesome silence.

The boy who had been forgotten in the house was about 18 years old and was quite tall with his short and curly blond hair which stood above many people. His eyes were like pale blue pearls as they often reflected light since they were moist from holding many tears. As charming as his eyes were and as his hair was filled with youthful spirit, they were his only good physical trait. An accident when he was younger had melted his already baggy facial features and left him deformed. His mouth was crooked while his nose lacked any nostrils and what to say about his right cheek which was more muscle than flesh, causing a pit to be created that let air make its way inside his mouth even when his thin lips were closed...

‘knock, knock, knock… knock, knock’ Someone was at the door where the incident had happened and knocked at it following a pattern. The one outside waited until the door was opened by the blond boy.

“Alphonse, brother,” said the man waiting at the doorstep. “May I come in?”

Alphonse looked at the person who had shown himself in front of his doorstep. The man was in his mid-twenty and was way shorter than his brother. Although they came from the same mother, their father wasn’t the same. The oldest face was rounder with discreet facial features that gave way to a large fluffy beard the same brown as his twirling hair. He wore padded armor with a coat of arms of an owl nesting a flower on his chest.

Alphonse responded to his brother with a simple nod and tried to go back inside the house, thinking his brother would simply follow him.

“Alphonse! Look at me brother,” said the older brother. Alphonse tried to look at him, but his eyes glided to his side. “When you talk to someone, you must be vocal and express yourself clearly.”

“Ommmm blady. Me dee-deecrre Bemonot, ommm in!” said Alphonse with difficulty.

Alphonse was born with a defect that people attributed to being from his father who was a good-for-nothing drunkard that came from the sea one rainy night. Alphonse only saw his father when he was born, he had left the village the next day.

“I thank you brother for your hospitality.”

The two men made their way inside the house. The wood floor groaned under their weight until they sat down at a table. Belmond, the older, took a long breath and placed a bundle of paper on the table.

“I just received news that someone attacked you…Can you tell me what happened?” Belmond slowly spread each sheet of paper he had brought. There were complaints and other cases related to the boy screaming every morning. “I can push them under the rug to help you brother, but when the dust under the rug becomes a mountain, others are bound to notice. If you keep doing this, I won’t be able to protect you for long!”

Alphonse didn’t dare look at his brother or the papers on the table. It wasn’t the first time the brothers had this conversation, and every time Alphonse would keep his mouth shut.

“Alphonse! My superiors are starting to push me out of this case because we got so many complaints! They’re even thinking of putting you in jail! Just tell me once and for all who killed our mother…You could even say that it was the man who just attacked you if you so wish to not tell me the real culprit. It would finally close this case.”

“Sylla…” Alphonse whispered a name with fear in his voice. It wasn’t fear that came from the name, or the memories linked to it. It was fear that his brother wouldn’t accept his answer like every other time.

Scylla. It was the name an oracle uttered when the village was just in its infancy. The oracle had looked and prayed to the sea for weeks after a fishing boat with those manning it was lost at sea. They return the same day the oracle had pronounced this name that would become the local god.

The brothers’ mother was a priestess who grew worried about their local god’s intention. But she died after her neck was cut by someone who broke into their house. A petty thief and not a god. Belmond was working the night it happened. As for Alphonse, he was the one who found his mother dying.

He had a strong alibi. It was the same day an acid was dropped on his face, and he was under the care of a group of doctors. The report from every doctor was that Alphonse was sleeping peacefully until he began screaming for no reason. They thought he was in pain but when they tried to care for him, he escaped. They followed the screaming man in the old cobbled street that led to his mother’s house. Under the cover of the night, he kept knocking at the door until the latch shifted enough to unlock the door…

“ENOUGH!” Screamed Belmond while knocking down the table. “It’s your mother we are talking about. OUR mother. You saw who killed her so why can’t you tell me the truth?”

He tried to grab his brother by his shoulder out of anger, but he escaped and locked himself in another room. Belmond couldn’t believe he tried to hurt his own brother and as he questioned his own action, all he could hear was the muttered crying of his from the other room…

꙳꙳꙳

 

‘knock, knock, knock… knock, knock’ Belmond stood in front of the door his brother had locked himself in and waited for a response.

Nothing but the sobs of his brother which got louder as if trying to push Belmond away.

“Brother, may I get…” started Belmond. But he went silent before ending his question. It was the room their mother died in. Since that day, Alphonse has never allowed anyone inside. He wouldn’t even allow his brother inside… “Sorry…How about I take the rest of the day off and we go see Carlson and Rouhong?”

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The cry became quieter following this proposition. Both those persons had helped the two brothers and their mother. For Alphonse, he considered those two like his own father. He loved to listen to Carlson who was older than the village and Alphonse would often retell the dreams he had at night. He also loved to play with Rouhong who would often throw the young man in the air like a kid or take him to go fishing.

“I have my day off in two days. Why don’t we go into the woods in two days to forage some nuts for your friend…what was it again? Mr. Popoto?”

“Totomo…” said Alphonse in a low voice but not so low that his brother couldn’t hear.

“What? Tomato?”

“TO-TO-MO!”

“Haaaaa right! Totomo. He should arrive tomorrow, and he always stays for a few weeks. I’m sure he would be happy to get some kind of gift, right?”

At this question, Alphonse suddenly opened the door and taking his brother’s hand, led him outside the house where he exclaimed with glee: “Calsoo!”

Belmond smirked at his brother and began to lead him to Carlson’s house which was atop a cliff overlooking the calm blue waves that carried many ships with colorful sails every day.

❀

 

It was the eighth day of Tsuki’s adventure, and she believed she would soon reach the village. She had seen the sea far in the distance when the river broke into a waterfall. The surprising elevation amazed her as the ground was filled with autumn leaves. The strange and mystical trees that used to be everywhere had long disappeared with new wildlife.

Her travel was for the most part safe. There was the occasional danger and strange occurrence such as a random tree catching fire for no apparent reason or creatures fighting one another. In one of the fights for which she managed to get first class sitting by hiding in a bush, she saw a strange blue squirrel, a fur that was too visible in the wood, fight one of the abominations with the help of a strange animal standing on two feet. The strange creature looked to be a bear standing upward at first sight but on closer inspection was more like a giant beaver who had its iconic teeth replaced by a beard of whiskers. It wasn’t that it fought like a human by easily suplexing the abomination that scared her, but that this creature looked more like a comical and detailed animatronic or mascot.

The duo looked like a good team with the squirrel acting like an annoying distraction by sending high-velocity rock with some kind of magic which the larger beast used as timing to deal damage to its foe.

There was also a strange ghost that she saw floating above the river. It would rip part of its flesh and drop it in the water…Tsuki had no idea why it was doing this but after seeing it, she refused to drink any water for the entire night.

There was also Yuu who taught her a few things in her weekly class which replaced Tsuki’s dreamless sleep. It wasn’t much, things like how money worked, things she shouldn’t eat, and things like dangerous things that existed. Yuu did understand that Tsuki knew nothing of the world. Usually, kids learn slowly about their surroundings from the people around them. From small things like politeness to more important things like what is a crime, are all absorbed by them as they grow.

Yuu tried to talk about the cultures of this world, but she herself wasn’t too familiar with them. Instead, the conversation devolved into the races of this world. After all, the only person Tsuki could talk with had inhuman characteristics.

“Say say Yuu. Are people in this world like you?” asked Tsuki who was still trying to put order into the other girl’s long hair.

“Nah. Most are like you…I don’t think you’ll see others like me.”

“Why’s that? I saw a mummy become a bear, the sky became weird, a mole-bird that I hate did…”

“Ha right, don’t eat that bird. It’s filled with worms.”

“…”

“OY! You better not have!”

“I tried to kill one, but it got away”

“…Those things are blind…Girl, you’re either really lucky or really unlucky.”

“So, what are you that makes you so rare?”

“I hate how you put it like that…I’m what you can call a spirit…I guess.”

“Like a ghost? I saw one the other day. Didn’t look like you…”

“No. More like an element of some kind. Like fire. In the story you told me about the bear, there was a spirit of wind that helped you. Well, it might have just been a wisp if you couldn’t see it, but it’s almost the same thing.”

“Sorry but I don’t get it. I think I understand what you mean by a spirit. Something like a gnome made of fire or a flying fish made from water?”

Yuu laughed a bit at the example Tsuki gave and said: “I guess some spirits could turn themselves into burning gnomes if they wanted.”

“Then, why do you look like that?”

“…”

“Sorry if it was rude to ask!”

“It’s fine. Every spirit has an elemental core. We need it to live. It’s like our heart. We survive by keeping our core in close proximity to its element. Doing so, we end up producing more of said elements strangely enough. For a spirit of fire, it needs to live close to some kind of fire, and doing so, will produce a bit more of it that will become its body…”

“So you’re a spirit of flesh? That’s…”

“NO!... MY elemental core can’t be reached normally. It’s weird, but my core is my soul. I need to combust a large number of materials to basically feed myself…It’s what my tail does…If I don’t, my core will consume my flesh until I disappear…I use this body since I can have many organs that let me live. I might look human, but my inside surely isn’t.”

“…Sorry. Was that why you wanted me to collect materials for you?”

“…It would have helped. But it’s not like I need it. I survived for way too long to let myself simply die like that. I’m basically immortal now! And honestly, I don’t just have one element, so that helps a lot.”

“Is it wrong to ask what your elements are? I could try to collect…‘food’ for you.”

“Hell no! I’m not telling anyyyyone. And if you somehow guess my main element,” said Yuu while showing an evil smirk to Tsuki. “I’ll have to make you dis-ap-pear.”

“Is it ‘flowers’?”

“OY! I’m serious about what I said! What if you accidentally guessed it? What would have happened to your dear Alice then?”

“As if it would be.” Tsuki was laughing at how Yuu reacted but became white when she saw how serious she looked.

“It’s one of my elements…” said Yuu as she lifted herself and looked down at Tsuki. Tsuki was starting to feel fear swelling in her mind and was unable to move from her spot. “But it’s not my main one!” Yuu broke out laughing at the prank she played on the girl which was returned with some complaints from Tsuki.

The two girls kept talking in a friendly manner in the peaceful dream world until it was night.

“Alright!” exclaimed Yuu. “I found where the villagers were taken. The issue is that a monster came down from the mountain when most aberrations were gone and made its nest in a camp where the villagers are locked up. I already prepared for next week’s training. Depending on how the fight goes, I might not be able to respond to you. Anyway, I need to go, and you’ll see when the time comes. Be careful and don’t die. See ya.”

And with that, Tsuki woke up. She only had a few more days of walking left to reach her destination.

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