Kimunkles believe that they are the Keepers of the Land on this Vast Earth.

[Book 6, Chapter 5 Page 131]

Moss Mountain. Its peak is the highest point on the continent. It is part of a mountain range that divides the continents into East and West. The Eastern country is Asteria, the Western country is Sailand.

[Book 6, Chapter 6 Page 135]

I woke up when something heavy hit the tree. I yelped and instincts took over when I awoke and grabbed for the branch I was sleeping on so that I wouldn’t fall. When I looked down to see what it was, I was surprised. I did not expect a dead bear to sitting at the foot of my tree. Next to the bear was Mukara and a few other Kimukles. When I looked to the clearing, I was surprised and touched by the beautiful scene. Senri was hugging Nana and husky while Cooro was on top of Senri, pearing over his head. I hadn’t register it completely in my mind at the time, but Cooro had black wings which were spread open. After their little scene, they all started picking up scattered pressed flowers. I took my backpack and carefully got off the tree to help.

“Oh, Cassie! Where have you been?” Cooro asked and I pointed my thumb at the tree.

“Sleeping, and I woke up to a dead bear.” Nana laughed nervously before going back to the flowers. I placed me backpack down near a bolder and started to collect all the scattered flowers. I recognized some of them from Sailand. Nana and Husky went to Upas when he stepped into the clearing. After we gathered everything, Cooro decided he should be the one to tell the others.

“Hey! It looks like we got everything that fell out of the book now! Aren’t you glad, Senri?” Cooro asked and Senri nodded.

“Looks like Husky threatening to break the book was the key to Senri’s mind huh…” Nana said, more to herself than anyone.

“Yeah, Husky too had his precious earring taken from him when he was a mermaid princess! He knows what it feels like to own a treasure like that!” Cooro said with a smile. Upas looked dazed.

“Mermaid…princess?” He asked, making Husky go uneasy. I laughed, making everyone turn to me.

“I knew that Husky was a girl!” Everyone laughed, except Senri and Husky of course, but Husky was trying to attack me.

“Who?” I heard and we all stopped to see Senri with a confused expression. I smiled. He wasn’t as scary as I thought.

“I’m Cassie!” He nodded and I smiled. “Anyway, nice meeting all of you! I better get going!” I said, turning around and walked into the forest once more. Another stupid decision on my part. I was walking around for at least an hour before I finally found something. Upas was standing on a peak and an out-breathe Husky was standing in front of him.

“You said…that I had to get the others to come along…to Sairando…. Though I haven’t seen it myself… it must be a dangerous place… But they decided…to return to Asteria!” Husky said, stopping through his entire mini speech to take breathes.

“…is that so?” I heard and looked to see Cooro, Nana and Senri.

“You wanted to go to Sairando, Husky?” Cooro said with a smile.

“How were we supposed to know, if you didn’t say anything?” Nana said/scolded him.

“But doesn’t Sairando fight a lot with Asteria and Kimunkles?” Coora asked, repeating the conversation I had with Nana a few hours before. “So if Husky wants to go to Sairando… he must have a really good reason, right?” Husky looked surprised at Cooro’s words.

“Of course! We all know that Husky’s got brains!” Nana said sarcastically, surprising Husky by placing her hand on his shoulder. They started to have a mini argument but it was cut short bu Upas.

“Even if I show him the way, Husky will not be able to reach Sairando alone…but…with the three of you to help him, I think…that he has a chance. Besides, aren’t you going to go with them Cassie?” I laughed nervously as I stepped out from behind the tree.

“The more the merrier.” I told him with a smile. He nodded and started to show us the path whiel we all followed.

“The way is concealed in the bottom of a ravine. Also, because of the seal…Once you have passed through, it is not easy to return from Sairando.” He informed us. “Is that alright?” We all agreed and then the group of four went to get supplies, while l already have mine on me. Even sooner than I thought, we were all into the cave. We started talking.

“So Cassie?” Nana suddenly brought up.

“Hm?”

“Are you a +Anima?” She asked and everything fell silent, except for our footsteps. I hesitated before answering.

“No, I’m not.” She nodded slowly.

“Oh…ok.” She said and looked away sadly.

“Hey Cassie!” Cooro said and I turned to him.

“You can call me Cas if you want…” I told him but he just went on with his question.

“Do you like apples?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Of course I love apples, why?” He shook his head.

“Just wondering.” I eyed him suspiciously but nodded.

“Why do you want to go Sairando?” Husky asked, suspiciously and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Tell me your reason and I’ll you mine.”

“I’m not going to tell someone I just met that!” He yelled at me.

“Well then I won’t tell you either.” I said with a smile, in which he huffed at. I rolled my eyes and looked at Senri.

“And you Senri? You don’t talk much do you?” He shook his head and I nervously laughed.

“I think we should stop here for the night.” Husky suggested and well nodded. After we all got settled in, we fell asleep.

The wakeup call is possibly even worse than the dead bear. It was Nana’s yell. I suddenly sat up, wide awake, while Cooro took his time to sit up and I wasn’t sure about Senri but I know for a fact that it’s Husky and Nana fighting here in darkness. There was suddenly light as Senri lit a lamp, and we saw husky on the ground, rubbing his head. Nana stood over him with a furious expression.

“I accidently touched Nana…” Husky said before getting another beating from Nana.

“Is it morning?” Cooro asked and rubbed his eye.

“How…how should I know…I just woke up…” Husky said, out of breath as he clutched his stomach. Nana was huffed and rubbed her hands together.

“Yes, it’s morning! Eat your breakfasts, and let’s get going!” nana said and we all ate, but seeing as the supplies they had gotten were only nuts and dried fruits, I gave them some of my food. It’s best so, because it’ll rotten before I can eat it all. After we ate we tied a rope around all of our waists, so that we wouldn’t lose each other. I admit I felt like a child but whatever.

The arrangement that it went was Senri at the front with his lantern, then me, Cooro, Nana and finally poor Husky.

“We’ll be on this road for another three days…I can live if it’s hot, but I can’t survive in the cold and dark!” Nana moaned in annoyance. I had to agree with Nana on one thing, I wasn’t expecting it to be this cold.

“An odd thing for a cave dweller to say…” Husky said softly.

“Back then, I could go out into the light at any time! I was safe, away from criminals. But here, it’s always dark…” It was interesting for me to hear. I didn’t know Nana lived in a cave… Well I did hear she was a bat +Anima. I’m not sure what Husky is though… I wasn’t prepared for what Nana said, or rather screamed next.

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I clutched my head as the cave shook.

“…Am I really starting to sound like that?” nana asked sweetly.

“Yeah you are.” Cooro said calmly, which shocked me. We suddenly stopped.

“Nana…” Senri said.

“Ah! Right, right…” nana walked the front of the group and screamed down the cave. Well, this time it wasn’t a scream. It was more of a sound ray or something… You know what? I have absolutely no idea what she’s doing. Nana stopped and listened with her extraordinary long ears which suddenly appeared. I just sighed and looked down at my feet. I knew absolutely nothing about +Anima in truth…     

“Okay! There are no obstacles ahead! Though the road turns a little to the right up ahead…”  She told us.

“Wouldn’t it be better if nana walked in front?” Husky asked, annoyed.

“Nooo! Who knows what sort of weird things might leap out at me! Take pity on a poor girl… Ah, let me walk at the back of the line!” She said, innocently.

“I’m the rear guard! And besides, Cassie is second and she’s a girl!” Husky argued.

“Yeah but she had Senri to protect her!” I sighed at their argument before husky tripped on a rock.

“Don’t do that Husky!” Nana started.

“Are you ok?” Cooro asked but wasn’t heard.

“That rope is like a weapon if you do that!” Nana scolded Husky. We started walking again after they’ve calmed down.

“Wah! It’s a river!” Cooro noticed later. I didn’t know there was a river running through this cave.

“Should we scoop out some water?” Husky suggested and we agreed. We took one of our water bottles and tied a rope to it. After we got water, Senri squeezed it tight.

“Upas-san said that there’s enough spring water to keep us going…” Husky said.

“Yeah.” Cooro agreed. “he also said that we’d be outside sometimes…”

“But we haven’t so far…”We started walking again, and Nana was once again the first one to break the silence.

“So, Husky… are you going to tell us the reason you want to go Sairando? I know you said you wouldn’t tell Cassie because she’s still like a stranger to us but we’ve been travelling together for more than five months! Surely you can tell us.” There was hesitation.

“Ah…that…that’s…” He voice started to fade until I no longer heard him. He probably just dropped the subject.

“Um, Husky…” Nana started but gasped. “What?!” We all turned around to see the rope behind her was snapped. “He ran…” We all gasped.

“Because I asked that…” Nana came to that conclusion. “I’ve got to find him!” She said before flying in the opposite direction we were going. I was dazed only for a second at sight of her long and black bat wings, before I noticed that she too was gone.

“Nana!” We all yelled. When Nana was gone, Senri, Cooro and I looked at each other.

“Just us three then…” Cooro said and I nervously laughed. Cooro took a deep breath.

“Ok! At times like this…” He said and sat down, Senri and I following in suit. Senri placed the light in the middle of our little circle. Cooro smiled before he started to sing, surprising Senri and I.

This way!

A little light in the dark night

A faint voice is calling you

This way!

This way!

This flickering, wavering little voice

Like dew, like a bonfire

The voice of insects, the sound of the water

You can never lose them, once you’ve heard them

I was surprised. I never knew Cooro could sing!

“Cooro! Senri! Cassie!” We heard and turned to see Nana and Husky.

“Ahh! You came! Hooray!” Cooro said as he jumped up.

“Cooro…That was pretty carefree of you, just to sign a song…” Husky told him.

“Well, if we had come looking for you, we might have gotten lost, to… And I got lonely from waiting… Huh? Did you guys make peace?” Cooro suddenly interrupted himself. I looked to see it too. Nana and Husky were holding hands! It was adorable! They suddenly let go.

“Cooro! Where’s the rope?!” Husky yelled.

“Husky, you’re cruel!” Nana scolded Husky.

“Husky got embarrassed…” Cooro said with a closed eye smile.

“Rope…” Senri said in which I laughed at. Senri’s voice is always emotionless and foreign and can make the simplest daily words sound hilarious…. Or is that just me?

“Huh? How did you and Nana get ahead of us?” Cooro asked Husky.

“Ahead?”

“Up ahead…it’s light…” Senri said, pointing down the cave where a light came from. I think that’s the most words Senri has ever said together.

“But… Husky and I were just there!”

“Morning light is streaming in!” We didn’t hesitate in making our way outside.

“Wow…! It’s so white!” Nana gasped once we were outside.

“Hey…” Husky told Nana, getting her attention. “…When we really leave the road…”

“It’s okay! I can wait!” I was confused. It was probably something to do with that short while we were separated. 

We were on the side of the mountain, which was even steeper than the White Mountain. The only way to get down was a waterfall… Hm…

Later on, we were all screaming for our lives as we slid down the waterfall together. Oh! I learned what Husky is! He’s a fish +Anima! Meaning whenever he’s entirely wet he grows a silver mermaid tail! Now I finally understand what that Mermaid Princess thing was about… When we got out of the lake the waterfall led to, Senri and I went to get sticks for a fire and logs so that we could create a place we could hang our clothes over while it was drying.

“So…Senri…is there a reason you don’t like talking?” He nodded. “Are you going to tell me?” He shook his head and I sighed.

“Um ok…hmm…what do you like?” He hesitated before actually answering me!

“Small flowers…Cooro…Husky…Nana…” He said and I frowned.

“Don’t you like me?” He hesitated before shaking his head rapidly and I gasped, placing one hand over my heart in a dramatic hurt way.

“Senri…! How could you?! I totally don’t know you for not even two days and you don’t like me! What about all the memories we have together? Where you threw a dead bear against my tree just to wake me up! Where you and I sat together and stared at Cooro who serenated us! And what about the time we went down a waterfall together! I still remember it like it wasn’t even an hour ago… You were screaming so loud that your lips were sealed tight!” I said and through the entire ‘speech’, I made over exaggerated movements. At the end I placed my hands on my hips and stared at Senri. He look surprised and a little hurt. He was about to speak but I cut him off.

“Senri…it’s a joke…” He blinked before continuing to walk. Now I was the one that felt hurt.

“S-Senri!” I stuttered and ran to catch up with him. “I’m sorry! I understand that you don’t like me, and that is perfectly fine! I would never expect someone who barely knows me two days to like me, never mind trust me. It’s also perfectly fine if you never like me, because I know I’m an awful person without realizing it. I also talk way to much sometimes and that annoys almost everyone and I’m doing it again aren’t I?” I asked him and he nodded. I nervously chucked and looked away.

We returned to the lake with the sticks and stomps. The first thing we did was put one long stomp between two tree branches and  place the opposite side of the stomp on another stomp, so that it made a half ‘H’ form. We all took off our clothes and hung it on the stomps, leaving us in our undergarments. Nana lend me one of her many dresses to wear, seeing as I don’t wear dresses so I wouldn’t wear petticoats, but the one Nana wore was more of a dress than only the skirt. Nana was incredibly short, so her dress fitted me like a shirt. So I kept my shorts on and only let my shoes and Kimunkle shirt out to dry. Cooro and Senri had both short brown shorts on while Husky had long black pants on. I guess he wouldn’t be caught dead in shorts.

“In Sairando, it’s like springtime…” Cooro said later on when we checked to see if our clothes were dry.

“They need to dry a little more…” Nana told Husky.

“Unknown plants…” Senri said as he was kneeled down in front of some flowers.

“That’s an Anemone.” I said silently so only he could hear. He turned to me with interest. “They’re poisonous in all parts, but only toxic if you eat a large amounts of them, so it’s fine. But I must say, they are incredibly beautiful.” Senri blinked before turning back to the flowers and picking up a blue Anemone. I expected him to flatten it in his book, but instead he placed it in my hair.

“Suites you.” He said before walking off. I smiled at him. The Anemone is one of my favourite flowers. I know a little about flowers because my mother is a florist and when normal kids would get bed time stories, I would get the meaning of flowers. The story of the Anemone is a fascinating one. My mother said that if we were to look to Greek mythology, the Anemone sprang from Aphrodite’s tears as she mourns the death of Adonis. That is why it was thought that Anemones bring luck and protect against evil. It also said that if the Anemone’s petals close, rain is coming. My mother also told me that other mythologies connects the Anemone to fairies, which are told to sleep under the petals. Anemones represent anticipation.

“The daytime temperature in Sairando I much higher than in Asteria. The plants and animals are completely different. Watch out for poisonous plants!” Husky told us, matter-of-factly.

“But…hey…Husky…” Nana said, making husky turn to her and gulp. Nana stood there with her hands on her hips on fists, looking quite angry. “Tell us your reason for coming to Sairando! Now!” Nana demanded.

“Uh… W-wait, I’ll tell you…In order to…meet my mother…” Husky told us, Cooro and Nana looking confused. “When I became a +Anima, I had to leave without telling anyone… My mother probably thinks I’m dead… I want to let her know I’m still alive…I don’t want her to worry.” He finished, looking down, then back at the smiling Nana and Cooro.

“You’re mother?” Then they started to chuckle.

“Don’t laugh at me!!” Husky said, waving his arms dramatically around.

“No, we’re not laughing! We’re not laughing!” Nana told him, reassuringly.

“So…where’s your mother?” Cooro asked. Husky looked over the trees.

“In Sairando’s Royal Capital…Stella. It’s far to the west of here… First, I’ve got to find out where we are…”

“I can fly up and look for a town!” Cooro suggested.

“Ah! I’ll go, too!”

“I’ll make a fire…” Senri said.

“And we’ll see the smoke and find our way back!” Cooro said, catching on. Cooro and Nana suddenly grew their black wings and took off into the air.

“Seeya later!” They said before disappearing. I wondered for a moment.

“Ha…Nana’s a bat, Husky’s a fish, Cooro’s a crow, and Senri’s a bear…How on Earth do you get along? I mean crow eat fish and bear eat crow…and bat? Bat’s a herbivore. Or maybe she’s a vampire bat? Do you get carnivorous bats? Wait, it still wouldn’t matter. Ha…” I started mumbling to myself, Husky looking at me with curiosity. After a while I sighed.

“All in all, Senri’s the strongest and Husky’s the weakest link.” I shouldn’t have said that. I made Husky angry.

“I am not weak! This staff is proof my strength!”

“What, a stick?! How’s a stick proof of strength?!” And so we went bickering back and forth until Husky stopped and yelled in surprise, scaring Senri as he was busy with the fire and dropped the sticks. Husky looked in the direction Cooro and Nana flew in.

“Sairando’s law… I forgot about that. What should I do…?” I tried asking Husky what he was talking about but gave up and sat next to Senri at the fire who was busy with some plants he found around, seeing which are edible. Later on Hsuky gave up and came sat down at the fire, but the opposite side Senri and I was. I was keeping the fire alive by throwing sticks in. I picked up a leaf from a branch that lay on the dirt. Senri picked up a leaf from the same branch. We both smelled the leaf before tasting it.

“Hm…” I hummed.

“Sweet…” Senri said softly. Suddenly my arm and Senri’s whipped out with the leaves in our fingers.

“Husky… This is good…” Senri and I said at eh exact time, which made me chuckle.

“Ah…Nah… I’m good…” Husky said, looking a little bit down. Scratch that. He suddenly jumped up and started yelling, surprising me and made Senri look at him wide eyed.

“Where are Cooro and Nana?! Hurry up and come back!” I don’t know what Senri heard or felt, but he suddenly whipped his head around.

“Senri?” Husky questioned. Suddenly, two arrows whipped towards them, but they both managed to dodge by moving their heads. Un fortunately they were headed for me now. I would’ve been hit if it wasn’t for Senri pulling me out of the way. Husky grabbed his staff and started to run.

“Run!” He yelled. We started to run through the forest, Senri still had a tight grip on my arm as we ran. Husky was slightly behind us. We suddenly heard the hooves of horses and I turned to see two horses with men on them, but they wore cloaks that hid their faces. They also had bows in their arms. We stopped sharp when another man appeared in front of us from the bushed with another bow, threatening to shoot the arrow at us. Which he did. Senri pushed me behind him and activated his right arm and destroyed the arrow with his bear claws. Unfortunatly it was too late to remember the men behind us, and an arrow was shot into Senri’s back.

“SENRI!” I gasped and Husky stood there wide eyed and wide mouthed. Husky took his staff and held it in front of him like he was ready to attack. Suddenly, Senri fell to the ground, unconscious. I heard a whoosh sound and turned to see more arrows coming. Husky and I couldn’t dodge, so an arrow landed in my left thigh. I then felt dizzy and everything faded. Then it was all just…black.     

I woke up with annoying voices surrounding me.

“A Kimunkle bear +Anima… About 17 years old. But he sure sleeps a lot…” One voice said.

“He’s ferocious… It took a ton to get him to sleep…” Another voice said.

“He’s make a good boxer or soldier… He’s been injured, but we can ship him out to the city tomorrow.” The first voice said.

“And over here…” I suddenly heard a large ruckus and a groan.

“Ha! What a pretty girl!” The first voice said.

“He looks like a fish +Anima…Also, it’s a boy…” The second voice said.

“Really? Well, either way he’s worth a bit… Hey, what’s your name?” The first asked, but got no response. “Doesn’t matter anyway, you’ll be getting a new name soon. Hm?” The first said before I heard shuffling.

“Wow, these are nice! You an aristocrat’s kid or something?” I heard a whoosh. “So you became a +Anima? There’s still plenty of things you can do… You’ll be fine, don’t worry…”

“Are you trying to be comforting?! You make a living by stuffing people in sacks!” I heard Husky’s voice. It’s reassuring to hear a voice you know, seeing as Senri’s asleep…

“It’s better to just keep quiet.” The second voice said.

“Yeah.” The first agreed. “I’ll leave your piercings alone… you’ll sell for more that way.” I wanted to punch that guy in the face.

“And then this one…” The second voice said, before opening the bag I was in and forcefully throwing me out.

“Hey! What was that for! That hurt you know!” I yelled at the man that’s face was covered.

“She looks like a Kimunkle, but she isn’t a +Anima…” The old wandered.. I grinded my teeth at him, giving him the coldest glare I could manage.

“She has some muscles, and beauty. We could sell her as a maid?” The man with the covered face suggested but the old man shook his head.

“No. Send her along with this fish boy to Stella.”  I frowned at them, but continued to glare.

“Of course.”

Later on they took Senri off somewhere, leaving me and Husky alone.

“Where are we going?” I asked Husky.

“Stella, the royal city in Sairando…” I nodded and stayed quiet, until Husky broke the silence.

“We made a deal, right?” I looked up at him, confused. “If I told my reasoning for coming to Sairando, you’ll tell yours.” I smiled and nodded.

“I guess we did make a deal. I’m here for the same reason as you, I want to see my parents. They probably think I’m also dead, but I ran away from home.” He frowned.

“Why’d you run away?” I hesitated.

“Because I didn’t like the life I was living.” I mumbled, but her probably heard. He didn’t push any further, though I could see that he was curious. A few hours later, I realized that Husky looked familiar, and I knew why.

“Marein.” I said and he turned to me, wide eyed.

“What?”

“The twelve queen of Sairando, Marein. She’s your mother, right?” His eyes were wide and he hesitated before nodding.

“Yeah…she’s my mother…” I smiled.

“So you’re Prince Myrrh that so called, drowned himself?” He snorted and nodded.   

“Yeah….” He faded off, making me wonder whether I should tell him or not. I decided against it, deciding it’s too soon. He’ll find our eventually…