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The Pure of Heart: Netherworld Journey {I}
The Agate Amulet [Part 1]
-Chapter 3-
Everything had suddenly fell silent as evening approached, there only
came a strong ringing in her ears that sounded and provoked much of the
fear slowly taking over her at that moment. She stared down at him, his
face seemed hauntingly lifeless as it rested over her bundled vest and his
tattered hat. She knew he was alive, though--even if it seemed he was just
barely alright. She helplessly took in another sharp breath and choked out
a muffled cry, intently staring over him. After his eyelids had shut
earlier her tears did not cease since, she tried to stop them, though her
eyes could not fully compromise with her struggling mind.
Her watchful gaze drifted sadly to look upon his wounded shoulder--she had
tightly draped the jacket, that he previously wore, around his shoulder to
create pressure-- and moments later she half-heartedly found contentment in
the gradual end of its bleeding. From the silence, questions that left her
even more gravely depressed were now beckoning her to think logically--more
like him; as a rational leader.
Where could she find help? Was there a safer place to stay overnight? Could
he make it through the night and feel much better in the morning? Her
doubts however, had now consumed her more completely than the logical
thinking.
"Takuya..." she breathed mournfully. "What do I do?"
Her hands shakily held his bent-out-of-shape goggles.
She stood for the first time, though not leaving her alert vigilance
over him. She took a quick glance to her left then to her right. The dark
gloom around them did not help the situation either, she squinted in the
darkness but found no shelter that looked remotely near.
There came a second later, grumbling and muffled voices. She knew she was
in shock but to hear voices, too? She strained her ears a bit more to
listen to the nearby whispers.
"Humans?" the first voice hissed.
"Yes!" the second answered gleefully.
"The other, although--the other child is hurt!" the first hissed
again, though it sounded as if it were concerned.
"Well, what do we do? Do we--?" the second replied more hesitantly.
"Yes...the child may need healing. They both may want our
assistance...we should be able to help, shouldn't we? The other child may
be seriously injured. And if we leave them here...it may be too
late....danger is usually afoot after dark...especially here." the first
knowingly replied.
She thought it best to call out to them, hearing voices in her head
may have not been the case. Perhaps they were real creatures, creatures
that sounded concerned for their timely situation and for Takuya's sake it
might just be a risk worth taking for his survival.
"Is someone out there?!" she desperately called into the darkening
forest, forcefully wiping the tears away. "Please, my friend...he's
hurt...he needs somewhere to rest! A safe place to rest...?"
The creatures that previously whispered freely to each other now
gasped in fear--ending their conversation after hearing her call. She
became anxious as she stared down at Takuya once more, kneeling to his side
stroking his pale, sickly face...it upset her even more to see him poorly
taken care of on her part.
"Please, he's not well." she cried out again. "There's nothing more I
can do to heal his wounds...please, if you can--please do whatever you may
to help him get better!"
The bushes up ahead rustled noisily as the creatures, moments later,
emerged from the darkness; midnight was drawing nearer. The creatures were
clothed in white cloaks, both of them seemed to glow a soft shade of blue.
Their appearance, quite adorable, the two resembled much of Kumamon's
features, Tomoki's spirit. They glided swiftly towards them, they floated
just above the grassy ground.
"Come, child. Before they arrive." one of them promptly spoke and
took her by the hand, pulling her forwards.
"But, what about Taku--" she said quickly turning to Takuya, who, at
the moment, was floating as the creatures had been as well.
"How--but--how--?" she gawked breathlessly after Takuya's floating
form now at her side.
"No time to explain now...explanations and your questions will be
answered later, possibly tomorrow...we need to get to our cavern...midnight
draws closer...it is almost time. Westward on!" the other spoke, now
hurrying her to walk faster.
"Look, full moons." spoke the tiny, teddy-bear-like creature again,
pointing above to sky where there came the three moons which were quite
similar to the ones in the Digital World, where they once had been. "Your
friend, will be saved yet."
They quickened the pace ever so often as they heard the low grumbling
of other creatures nearby. As she tore much of the attention away from the
lurking danger, she took a couple stolen glances towards Takuya's body
floating nearby. It reminded her of a ghostly corpse, her sorrowful sigh
was followed after seeing this.
"How much farther--" she whispered.
But they did not answer, they had stopped walking completely now. One
of the creatures stepped forward. They had been standing in front of a grey
stone wall, which was situated in the center of a glade flourishing with
faint emerald-glowing trees, ancient rune languages were engraved over each
moss-covered corner of the wall. In the middle of the stone structure was a
protruding figure of a mixed breed of monster, half-lion and half-dragon,
it appeared to be breathing icy flames.
The bear in front of them raised his paws to touch the wings of the
figured monster, the bear muttered a whisper that sounded much like, 'Open
Qitou!'. The surrounding ground below began to ignite flames, blue icy
flames. The fire was not burning to the touch, nor was it harmful. As the
fire began to rise from the ground and swirl over each person--and
creature, the present background faded. Everything began evaporating before
their eyes, evaporating into a different place, a different scenery.
The scenery was dimly-lit but the visible cave-like features stood
out considerably. Torches bore flames for light and nearby holes of the
cave walls looked like openings to other rooms. The room they now resided
in was with two torches, and two beds in the back. Takuya lay in the first
bed. His clothes were tattered and torn, his arms bruised and battered, his
breathing could be faintly heard, and as she reached to feel his forehead
she pulled nervously away. His body was feeling considerably warmer than
before. Was he running a fever? This meant he was infected from his other
open wounds, she dreadfully thought.
"Hmm..." the bear too, reached out to Takuya's forehead. "Akio, call
for Haruki and Chiara."
Akio the bear took his leave from the room and briefly returned with two
other creatures similar to himself, these two wore leafy laurels decorated
their heads.
"This human has a virulent fever, he will be needing bandages for his
shoulder....find the sage leaves...and...bring the Agate Amulet." the bear
that stood by Takuya's bedside directed the others. "We will be performing
the Light Cure Ritual after your return. Now go, hurry."
"What of your name, child?" the bear, still unnamed, now turned to
look up at her.
"Izumi...Izumi Orimato." her voice murmured, her eyes still did not
leave from Takuya.
"And this boy?" he continued to question.
"Takuya Kanbara..."she replied, her voice trailed off again.
"You should not stress for him...he will be quite alright...the night will
be over...and morning will come..." he warmly smiled to her. "Morning will
come with his healed shoulder...his healed bruises...and you will soon find
safety with the Agate Amulet."
"The Agate Amulet?" queried Izumi, creasing her brows.
"Yes, the Agate Amulet is a very sacred heirloom from our ancestors.
It will be used after the Light Cure Ritual to soothe his mind with
pleasant dreams, protect him from danger and endow him with a stronger will
to fight his illness." explained the creature.
"And you're sure this will help him." she worriedly asked.
"You are not to worry...your friend is in good hands." the bear reassured
her.
The white, luminous bears had returned with quite a few objects: each
bear wore a chained crystal necklace (the crystals glowing as they were,
too), one bear held in its hands a meshed-netted blanket of sage leaves and
another held a wooded casket.
"Child, if you may, please stand by the side there." Akio directed
her to a stone boulder to sit on, nearby.
"I can still be able to see what you're doing, right?" she posed her
question almost suspiciously.
"Yes." another bear answered.
"Now, gather round everyone. This one needs special care. Let the light be
shone unto him." the creature in front of the bed spoke. "The Mantra will
be chanted twice as loud."
They all nodded in understanding, holding hands as they gathered around the
bed Takuya still lay silently in. Their chanting was not familiar to Izumi,
not a language she knew of. Their voices however, were soon drowned out by
a high-pitched humming which came from their crystals glowing more
intensely than before. Takuya's body too, began glowing, glowing in an
array of colours. Izumi peered from their backs and stared at the brightly
lit Takuya, her eyes widened to see the most extraordinary miracle being
conjured before her very eyes. His wounds were healing, slowly but surely.
Izumi stood up from her seat to closely inspect his open cuts--from a safe
distance as instructed by the creatures-- and gaped in awe at the
spectacle. Soon all that was of the wounds, formerly profuse in bleeding,
was his very skin--intact and beaming a radiant glow.
"It is done, bring the Amulet from the wooden casket and then the
healing sages, they will be shrouded over him." the bear in front sounded
quietly to the others. "He will need his shirt taken off, the sages will
not absorb properly."
Izumi still stared raptly in wonderment, what they had said did not
process quick enough. When she finally came to, she noticed they began
removing his shirt. Her face began to feel rather heated from this, she
relaxed a bit to know that no one else had seen her face redden this much,
though she quickly turned to her back in awkward embarrassment. "Miss?" Haruki the bear had pulled at her sleeve. "Your friend is
well now, he shall rest easy tonight."
The bear, which Izumi now knew to be somewhat of the creatures' head and
chief leader, came striding towards her. "You will need your rest, too."
Izumi nodded but made another approach to Takuya, now covered in the
sage leaves and the Amulet rested to his front.
"You care for him, do you?" said the bear, looking matter-of-factly
at her.
"He's done as much for me...it's my turn now." she replied, reflectively
smiling down at Takuya.
"Are you sure you are friends with this boy." he asked sceptically.
"What--What is that supposed to mean?" she shook her attention away from
Takuya to look at the bear, she frowned, nearly offended by this statement.
"Solely and simply a friendship? No, there is more than this....that much
is true...friendship maybe so...Soon, child...soon you will know more." he
replied, he sounded as if he had foreseen this psychically.
Izumi's cheeks grew warm, again.
"I--I--we--no. He--He is just a friend...nothing more..." she quickly
answered.
The bear merely ignored this and headed out shaking his head, chuckling to
himself. "I bid you goodnight then, sleep well."
"Oh, please wait. I just--Thank you, for all that you've done. I don't even
want to imagine what might have happened if not for your help. But...er...I
don't even know your name." she said sheepishly.
"My fellow kind respectively call me by Chief Mahonmon. Though I would like
for you to call me by my real name, Galen." the Mahonmon implored casually.
"Of course, thank you, Galen." said Izumi. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." said the yawning bear as it left.
Izumi too, yawned as she made her way to the bed at the back of the
room. This bed had been quite not what she expected of a stone-laden cave,
it was rather comfortable and relaxing to lay upon. Meanwhile in bed she
rolled to her right side, facing towards Takuya's bedside.
"You could have died out there." she began speaking to him, not caring
whether he heard her or not. "...Oh, you frustrate me so...! If you hadn't
fought with me during that battle..."
Izumi stopped herself almost immediately, the sudden image of Takuya
falling from the sky had done enough to strike a nerve. She shivered
repulsively to the memory.
She stood from her bed and slowly stood before him, her frown deepened.
"It frustrates me that I can't be frustrated by you since you're still
healing...you're still hurt..." she trailed off once more to remember
seeing the sickly state of his pale face from before.
"But...You're fine now, you're safe now...at least that doesn't frustrate
me." she felt a stray tear roll down her cheek, a smile crept from
underneath her now struggling frown. "You're safe...and you're having sweet
dreams, I assure you."
Her hand fingered the Agate Amulet that wrung around his neck, "Sweet
dreams, Takuya."
Izumi steadily descended towards his face, she gently rested a kiss to his
forehead.
"Destiny certainly has its ways of saving the world, I guess it chose right
to send a goggle-headed boy to lead us to victory." she turned to slip back
into bed, when she heard the faint whisper of her own name-- "Izumi..."
Izumi abruptly whirled around to see Takuya slightly stir from sleep, a
faint smile slowly broadening at the corners of his lips.
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A/N: AWWW!! Kawaii Takumi! Okay, thus ends Chapter 3 {PART 1} @.@. Remember
this is just PART ONE of the whole chapter 3...Stay tuned to this story for
{PART TWO} of Chapter 3 ^_^ ! Please R&R! Thank you again, for your
reviews!
Note to Erica: I hope you liked it....even though I know you're not into
this sort of stuff anyway...keep reading it, okay?
