The Phoenix Empire Pilgrimage: Chapter 2 (Flèche)

“Hey, Láng.”

“Something wrong?” Láng asks, as we continue to walk down the Eastern Phoenix Road.

“You weren't trying to insult Shu back there, were you?”

“What!?” She's completely taken aback. “No! I was just making sure whether he wanted to walk or ride a horse!” She looks at me as if I insulted her by even thinking she would do such a thing. (She would.)

“Truly?” I say, looking closely at her, to see if she might be lying. She nods with no hesitation. “Even still, you may have hurt his pride. No matter the meaning behind them, you must choose your words very carefully around some people.”

“Tch, what are you, my mom?” Ironic, considering Láng is two years older than me. Ah, she's not listening. Why must she be so difficult... “It's not as if the kid has any balls or confidence, to begin with.” She looks back at Grey and Shu, who are starting to catch up with us. “I'm willing to bet--”

“Shh!” Suddenly, I sense something nearby... Something's approaching us. I have heard rumors about something dangerous going on outside town, but what is this presence I sense? Thieves? Some wild beast?

I can hear Grey and Shu coming from behind. “Oh, look!” I look back at Shu, and see he is pointing at someone. “A lost traveler, perhaps?” I take a closer look at the person he's pointing out. They start walking toward us, and I can now sense that something is wrong. My heart speeds up. My mind is screaming... “Hello, there!” Shu walks over to this “person”.

As he comes closer, I see them reach for the sword at their hip. This is bad... “Shu, get back!” I pull him away as fast as I can, then we both lose our balance and fall.

“Are you okay, Shu?”

“Wh... what's happening?” Shu looks back at the pale, shriveled “person” who slashed at him.

“The pain... somebody... please... stop the pain...! uUuuUuUuUuUuuGHgHgHgGGH...” They've started to spasm unnaturally. What kind of nightmarish phenomenon am I bearing witness to? “AAAAAAAAAAH!” It comes running right at us! The “person” raises its blade...!

...the sound of tearing flesh and spilling blood. However, it's not me or Shu that is cut. When I look up, Láng is standing in front of us, sword drawn. I stand up, and notice that this “person”'s sword arm has been detached from the rest of its body. It's become obvious that Láng stood in front of us, drew her blade, and sliced its hand off.

“Be careful, guys. He ain't human.” I guess Láng can sense the same “dangerous feeling” I do. I've never felt a human being give off an aura like this.

“Kill me... kill me... uuuuugh...” The more I observe this “person”, the more I think... ah, that's it!

“Wait, stop!” Shu grabs hold of me as I approach the “person”. “Th-this man might just be sick! You don't have to--”

“Let go of her, Shu!” Láng shouts. “This guy is already dead.” The horror on Shu's face is clear. “A zombie. There's nothing we can do for 'im.”

“He... he's dead?”

“Yes,” I say to Shu, in as gentle a voice I can manage, “he's dead, so at least let me grant him rest.” 

With that, he reluctantly lets me go.

“O poor lost soul who is doomed to wander the mortal plain for eternity...” As I approach the zombie once more, my right hand now glows with a white light. “...let that eternity end for you, now. May you find peace in the next life. Inmortuorum Vertunt.”

I reach out and touch the zombie's heart. He begins to crumble to dust.

As his body begins to fade away, he looks at me one more time, smiling. “Thank you...” and now, even his head has turned to dust.

“What the hell was that?” Grey asks. I don't blame him.

“A zombie,” I say. “They're usually just corpses animated by magic, but there was something different about this one. I've never felt such a terrible aura, not even from magicked zombies...”

“There could be more stuff like this on the way to the forest,” Láng says, looking at the pile of dust.

“In that case, we need to be extra careful.” I turn to Shu. “Is something wrong? You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?”

He shakes his head. “I'm fine. It's just... this was once a human being. I wish we could have saved him somehow. What could have happened that would cause him to end up like this?”

“I hate to say it, but I really haven't the slightest clue.” I hate this. I'm supposed to understand magic, yet I'm stomped by this. Maybe this isn't magic at all?

“It's alright, though. You said we just have to be careful, right? I'll try not to worry about it too much.” Shu forces himself to smile. “Well, we can't stay here forever. Shall we be off?”

After that, we continue east along the path. As we walk, I notice that Grey has been deep in thought ever since we encountered that zombie. “What's wrong, Grey?”

“Nothing, really, but I might as well tell you what I'm thinking about. That presence... the 'aura' we felt from the zombie, I've felt it before.”

“What? Why didn't you say something earlier? What is it? Where do you recognize it from?”

“I can't really say. I just know that it felt really familiar. Sorry I can't tell you more.”

“Don't worry about it,” I say, then I continue walking in silence. So Grey recognizes that aura? Perhaps it was something happened to him in his childhood, in Dragon's Cradle. Grey never talks about that horrible disaster, though, so all I can do is wonder... however, rumors had spread all around right after it happened. Some say that the Cradle was torn apart by a dark power...

A power beyond even magic.

The Phoenix Empire Pilgrimage: Chapter 1 (Grey)

“Láng? Hey, wake up, Láng.”

The girl in front of me covers her face as if to hide from the sun shining in from her window.

“Come on, we're gonna be late. We were called to the Great Hall. It's my responsibility to come and gather all of us...”

“...”

“Wake up! I'm the one who gets in trouble if we're late!” I start shaking the bed.

“Okay, stop it... I'm awake...” The black haired, red eyed girl finally comes out from underneath her sheets exposing her near-naked body, which is only covered by a sarashi.

“So, what is it you want?”

“We were called to the Great Hall. They have an assignment for us.”

She makes that same irritated face as always...

“Come on, don't be like that. Flèche is already there, waiting for us.”

“Tch... fine. Let me get dressed.”

...

After a few minutes, Láng is outside, where I stand waiting for her. “Okay? Now let's go.” We walk down the peaceful streets of the city...

“...Láng, you really should take better care of yourself.”

“What's wrong? I'm not sick or anything.”

I shake my head. “No, I mean, you know you'd be stronger if you fed yourself a bit more, right? Plus, it doesn't look very good for you to be so skinny...”

“Bah... I'm not skinny. You're just saying that because you like fat girls.”

“That's not true!”

I feel a little embarrassed when I say this, and it must look like it, too... because Láng starts laughing.

“Th... that's not funny, Láng!” Saying this, I'm actually fighting the urge to laugh, myself...

“It's okay, your secret's safe with me.” Why does it seem like she's happiest when she's picking on me? Ah, whatever. At least she's happy...

We continue to walk to the Great Hall, with a few people greeting us with a “Hello!” or “Good morning, Magic Knight Grey!” The citizens always seem happy to have me and my team around, which is nice.

After some time, we arrive. As I predicted, Flèche, our blonde, blue-eyed archer, is standing outside the Great Hall's main entrance, waiting for us.

“You're late, you two. Everyone else is inside.”

I scratch my head and flash a nervous smile. “Heh, heh, sorry... Remember to beg the Emperor for forgiveness for us later on, would you? You're a better speaker than I am, after all.”

Flèche shakes her head. “I doubt Emperor Ōtori would punish you for only being a few seconds late. He treats you like family, doesn't he?”

I nod. “Yeah, but me showing up late is bad for our reputation... I'd rather not risk that.”

Láng, having remained silent up to this point, says: “Well, we should hurry, then. Come on, let's not make things worse.”

“I agree,” I say, walking toward the guard at the door. “We've been called by the Emperor. Please, let us through.” Perhaps I should have introduced myself, but this guard recognizes us, anyway. With a quick nod, he steps aside and allows us to open the door.

“Ah, thank you for showing up, you three. We've been waiting for you,” Emperor Ōtori says, smiling. As Flèche predicted, he isn't angry with me for being late. Not wanting to draw any more attention to myself, I spot three empty seats at the table, and sit in the one closest to the Emperor, Flèche and Láng taking the other two.

I quickly look around the room. Aside from the usual council members, another person is here with us today. A middle-aged man, unremarkable looking, aside from the priest gown he is wearing. Breaking the silence, the Emperor begins to speak. “This man is the High Priest of the Order of Luna. He has come to ask a favor of you. High Priest, if you would, please...”

With that, the High Priest stands up and speaks. “Greetings, Magic Knights. I am the High Priest of Luna, Jiro. Nice to meet you.” He bows. “I beg of you, could you listen to this one request?”

I look around at the faces of my allies. Flèche and Láng both give an approving nod. “We will hear you, so please, speak.”

“As you may know, the time of the pilgrimage has come.”

“Pilgrimage?” I hear Flèche ask. Ah, that's right. Flèche is from Bevel, and had only come here about two years ago. She doesn't quite know everything about our religious customs.

“Oh? Ah, well, you see,” the priest starts to explain, “this is Luna's Day, the day that the goddess Luna sent her children from the Spirit World to help us humans. Everyday this year, we have someone go on a journey to pray in the forest, at the base of the tree that Luna left for us, as thanks. This year, we are sending my son, Shu, on this pilgrimage. All I ask is that you guard him from any dangers that might be on his way. Can you please do this?”

I turn to the Emperor, who gives me a nod of approval. Now, I smile at Priest Jiro, saying, “Yes, we will watch over your son on his pilgrimage. We will travel with him to the Lunar Forest and back. Thank you for relying on our services.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” Jiro bows again. “Now, I'll bring the boy here. Just a moment, please,” he says, walking away. We wait...

...

“G... greetings, Magic Knights,” the boy says, wearing a similar gown, after coming into the room with us. “My name is Shu. I must say, I'm very excited to go on this journey for the goddess with you all. I'll try not to get in everyone's way, so please, watch over and protect me.” After saying that, he looks around nervously, then bows.

“I'm pleased to meet you, Shu,” I say, extending my hand. He just looks at it for a moment, seemingly unwilling to shake it. Seeing this, I awkwardly retract my hand. “Don't worry, you're in good hands. We will let no harm come to you.”

“You know the way to Lunar Forest, right?” Flèche asks.

As if he had just noticed Flèche was in the room with us, Shu stares at her. I'm not surprised, since there aren't many foreigners here. She is probably the first person he's ever seen that looks like that. “Ah, well, miss, Lunar Forest is miles and miles east of here. We'll have to travel the Eastern Phoenix Road to get there.” He looks back at me. “So, shall we be on our way?”

I nod. “Yes. Let's be off.” I turn around to face the Emperor, and bow. “We shall return to you as soon as possible.” With that, we exit the Great Hall.

“So,” Láng says as we head for the East Gate. “Will we be taking horses to Lunar Forest? It's a pretty long walk, especially for someone who...” She looks at Shu, seemingly doubting that he's willing to walk there.

“No, it's okay. I can walk that far,” Shu says, coming to a stop. “Exercise is good for one's Qi flow, after all. Besides, I'd rather not have you waste money on horses because of me.” He still seems very nervous. Whether the cause is us, this assignment he's been given, or some combination of both, I can't really say for sure.

“Are you sure? If you don't feel like you can handle it, then we don't mind--”

“No, no, I insist. I-I don't want to be a burden.” He starts staring at his shoes... Smooth move, Láng.

“Well, if you say so. We're off!” Láng walks out of the East Gate and starts on the trail. We follow her.

Flèche walks up ahead with Láng, leaving me to talk with Shu. “Hey, Shu, don't be discouraged. Láng is always like this with other people.” As I say this, I find myself wondering why I have to apologize for her behavior...

“It's not a problem, Magic Knight Grey. It's not her fault... I don't have much confidence in myself, to be honest.”

For a moment, I think to myself. Why would they send this boy on this pilgrimage? This boy, who seems so frail and unsure of himself? “Surely they must have chosen you to do this for a reason, right, Shu? Wouldn't they have sent someone else otherwise? Even still, couldn't you have asked them to send another?”

“You're right, I was chosen, but because my family has carried out the pilgrimage every year, for a long time, now. It's supposed to be a great honor to be chosen to go on this journey. I just couldn't bring myself to say no...”

“Hmm... you know, I can see why you had a difficult time with it.” Shu looks surprised that I express sympathy for him. “Let me tell you a story. I wasn't supposed to be a Magic Knight at first. I was just a normal kid living in Dragon's Cradle, but seven years ago, a disaster occurred, and I nearly died. A Stargazer on his way to the Phoenix Empire was there at the time, and, out of compassion, he gave me the power that saved my life.

“I traveled with him to the Heart of the Phoenix, where Emperor Ōtori was waiting for the Stargazer to arrive and choose someone from within the Empire. Imagine his surprise when I, a boy from some island, had already been chosen! Anyway, he asked me if I would be willing to serve him in place of the other person who the Stargazer would have picked.”

“You couldn't say no, could you?” Shu asks, understanding where I was going with the story.

“That's right. I said 'yes', not because I really wanted to, but because I felt I had to. However, look at how I've been rewarded. Sometimes... well, a lot of times, there is a difference between what you want to do and what you must do, but it doesn't always have to be bad or make you unhappy. It hasn't been easy, being a Magic Knight. I have to put my life in danger for others, and there are people who would have tried to kill me to be in the position I'm in... but I feel that it's worth the hardship. I've been blessed with wonderful friends, and I get to make the Empire a better place, little by little. I'm happy I ended up on this path.”

“Oh, I get it... So, you think I'll be glad I went on this journey, even if I didn't really want to?”

“That's what I think, yeah,” I say, smiling. “Even if you lose heart, you've got good people guiding you. We'll help you do this.”

Shu smiles and nods. “I understand, now. Thank you, Magic Knight. I'm happy I had this talk with you.”

I look ahead. Láng and Flèche have gotten quite far from us. “We better hurry, or we'll be left behind. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Shu says. “Let's go.”

The Phoenix Empire Pilgrimage: Prologue (Láng: Four Years Ago)

Is it normal to dream only nightmares?

Because I can't remember the last pleasant dream I had. Every time I try to sleep, I see something bad, or something bad happens to me. Being hurt, being killed, being violated... These are the things I see and feel when I close my eyes. The nightmares keep coming, and it's getting harder to tell one dream from the other. I just try to sleep, and something scares me...

Then I wake up. I wake up in a cave in this forest, like I do every other morning. It's cold... I had nearly forgotten that it was around wintertime. As I allow my body to wake up, I watch as the snow falls from the heavens and covers the green forest in white. After a while, I stand up, and bring my blade with me. I might as well see if there's something I can kill for food nearby...

"!?"

I hear something. Moving as fast as I can without making a sound, I move in the direction of the sound. I conceal myself behind some bushes and continue to listen. Something is walking in this direction. From what I can tell, there's only one of them. The moment I see the source of the sound, I pounce.

“Whoa! What the hell!?”

My mind freezes. A person... a grey-haired, grey-eyed boy, twelve or thirteen, around my age. I haven't seen another human being in years. What is he doing here?

“Who are you?” The boy doesn't answer my question, but he continues to stare at me... “What?”

“Sorry. I'm not gonna hurt you, so please put the weapon down...”

He has a bag with him...

“What are you—”

“Stay there.”

“...”

I open it. It's full of scrolls.

“What are these for?”

“Hm... I won't lie to you. Those are magical scrolls for summoning weapons.” I look at him with suspicion. He says he won't hurt me, yet he has all this... “Oh, come on, don't be like that. I'm one of the good guys!” I sigh. He insists on being trusted.

“Fine. Just... who are you?”

He looks up at me, smiling, proud. “My name is Grey. I'm a magical warrior... I'm the Emperor's Magic Knight.”

Magic Knight Legends: The Phoenix Empire Pilgrimage

Hello again.

Now, the time has come to add another chapter to the Magic Knight Saga. However, I feel like I should explain something before I start.

See, Young Magic Knight didn't have a very satisfying ending, did it? I left a lot of loose ends dangling, and it's pretty obvious I was building up to some kind of continuation. Not only that, but there are ton of things that never got properly explained. What's the deal with CORE? Who was that girl who showed up in Chapter 12? Are we gonna see the confrontation with the Dragon anytime soon?

...well, I want you to forget about that stuff because it doesn't matter, right now!

Right. This story is set about 1000 years before the events of Young Magic Knight, in the Phoenix Empire, to the east of the Central Continent. 10 years after Emperor Ōtori united the land at the end of the Thirteen Houses War, an orphan he took in after a mysterious disaster at Dragon's Cradle and one of the first Magic Knights performs various services in order to help the citizens of Phoenix Empire. This young man's name is Grey.

This is a story of one of many tasks he and his friends have been trusted with by the Emperor: taking a young priest on a pilgrimage to the Lunar Forest to offer thanks to the goddess of the moon.

I certainly hope that sounds interesting enough to get your attention, and I hope you enjoy it!

How to Proceed: Continue This Arc ASAP or Not?

Alright, here it is.

Now, I've finally managed to finish another book. It's short, like, not even novella length, but I've looked it over a couple times and I think it's fit for human consumption. So things should be okay and I can post it, right?

Well, here's the thing. If you're reading this, you might have already read Young Magic Knight, and if you read all of it, you would know that the story isn't over. There are still story events I foreshadowed that need to happen, some vaguely alluded to character backstories that I feel a need to elaborate on, and other important things going on in the world at/around the same time that have to be explained.

However, the story I have finished has nothing to do with any of that.

It's still set in the same world, and you might recognize some of the characters/remember hearing their names from Young Magic Knight, but the story itself is almost completely unrelated, focuses on something else entirely, and it does nothing to progress the plot. It's just a side story, and I wonder if any of you three would really be interested in that, even though my progressing the main story might not happen for a very long time.

I mean, yeah, I have begun work on something that does have to do with the arc introduced in Young Magic Knight, but like I said, it's gonna take a loooooong time to finish, so in that case I can either finish it and put it all up in maybe a year, or I can just write it chapter by chapter, putting each one up in an incomplete form. (I might talk more about that later)

I dunno... right now, what I do next depends on what you want to see. If you're interested in reading the side story, I can put it up. Otherwise, I'll just save it for later.

Words About Another: Roberto Pinchas (The Magnificent Third Rail: A Retrospective)

Yep, I'm still just procrastinating, right now. I know all three of you are waiting oh-so-anxiously for me to get on with the show, but don't worry, I actually have been doing a bit of writing. I hope to have the next book finished in a reasonable amount of time. 

But anyway, let me tell you about one of the many things that have been distracting me.

Again, if you're reading this, chances are you're from Anime and Manga: Other Titles or #otchat. Anyway, today's subject is Roberto Pinchas (in all likelihood, an alias). You may also know him as SRXmkII, but if you don't know anything about him, Roberto is... ah, how do I say it without sounding rude...

You see, Roberto Pinchas is a weird guy.

I don't know how to explain it. Yes, everyone on that message board and in that chat is a weirdo in some way or another (myself included) but Roberto stands out as such even amongst the rest of us. It's crazy.

As one might expect, that weirdness is seen all over his works of fiction, as well, which brings me to The Magnificent Third Rail: A Retrospective. Now, I think I might know what some of you are thinking. "You and that other guy put your crappy books up on blogs for free! Why would I pay $4 to read one!?" Trust me on this. I'm about a quarter of the way through and I'd say Third Rail is worth the money.

So far, at least, it basically follows a sequence of events following an unfortunate accident that took a young man's life. However, me just describing the plot to you is worthless. The voices of the characters, the bizarre sense of humor, those are the kinds of things that set the story apart. I can certainly say that I've never read a story like it. I mean, would you expect to read a book and end up laughing at the comments written on a character's Facebook Memorial page?

And that's just one example of the kind of crazy stuff in this book. Basically, if you want to read something funny, different, and weird, I recommend you give Third Rail a look. You should probably look through it a little bit before deciding to purchase it, though, because it probably isn't for everyone.

Words About Another: WasabiLinus (Forerunner's Odyssey)

Well, seeing as it's been a second since I've posted anything up here and I'm procrastinating, anyway, I figure I should tell you, all three of you, about something I've been doing to pass the time.

See, as someone who writes stories, like the one you see on this very blog, part of me has become more and more eager to see what other people on the Internet are writing. Yes, I'm fully aware of the stigma that written web works carry. A lot of them are really bad, by just about anyone's standards, and in general, people tend to treat the "medium", for want of a better word, as one big joke.

However, I want to take a moment to talk about one of these that I like so far.

If you're a visitor from Anime and Manga: Other Titles on GameFAQs, you may already know him, but in case you don't, the writer I'm talking about is WasabiLinus. His book is called Forerunner's Odyssey. Basically, what started as a Choose Your Own Adventure (which was a lot of fun to be a part of and follow until... well, I won't get into that) had become something he put a lot of thought into, and he decided he would take his original idea and rewrite it, refining it and taking the story in the direction he wanted without the chaos brought about by us goofballs screwing around in his world, going waaaaaaaay off the rails.

It's basically a story about a man who finds himself in a fantasy world after being sealed away somewhere for a very long time. I know it doesn't sound like anything special, but he's four chapters in as of this writing, and it's shaping up to be pretty good. You see, what I liked about the CYOA is how real he managed to make his world feel, with the amount of care he put into every detail of it; even if the audience didn't know about it, yet, events going on in the world, the history of the world, relationships between people, etc. had an effect on what was happening right in front of us, and what we were able to do during the CYOA.

From what I can tell so far, this seems to be in play in the linear story, as well; the main character will no doubt be very important in this setting, but I still get the feeling that he's part of a world that lives and breathes with or without him. It's probably more than I can say about my work, at least...

But yeah, if you're reading this, and you're looking for something else to kill time with, I think you should go ahead and give Forerunner's Odyssey a look. I like it, so far, and as WasabiLinus gains EXP as a writer, I'm sure it'll only get better.