Three Of Them

A wide city street washed in a layer of ancient grey stretched out in view. Metallic plating covering buildings that seemed to tilt under the weight of the raining sky. The smog in the air like a thick palpable layer of tension.

Kerosene lanterns hung up in street stalls and building fronts. Their orange glow casting a melancholic vibe among the bustling crowds of men and women. Ages ranging from as young as thirteen to as old as forty.

The many different bouts of clothing covered by layers of light nimble plates of armor.

Voices from all different backgrounds bargaining, gossiping, catching up. They all seemed content.

Then the voice of a man in his twenties resounded. His locks of bright pink hair brushing against his lifting cheeks as an unconscious grin covered his face.

"He's back! Dian and Theron are back!"

The short bulky man flamboyantly pranced along the street. His hot pink feathered shawl wrapping around his neck while the hanafuda earings danced as he spoke.

"Jamie, darling what's new?"

Soon a crowd grew around the two of them. Their celebratory voices drowning out any conversation that could be had.

Their faces reminiscent of genuine love as each had their own question towards Dian and Theron. Parading around him as they offered food and drinks, inviting the duo to outings and parties.

Until one specific question stood out.

"Dian! How'd you're job go! I'm sure it was easy!"

Dian calmed the crowd, his eyes straining as if to remember something.

"Oh honey, I'm exhausted. You won't believe it. I snuck a glance before leaving. Three of them, three pain in the asses...That stain of Musashi's and Janus' eye!...And...There was one more if I recall."

The crowd waited eagerly waiting for the man to finish his thought. The fact that he named two Aspirants who'd already had epithets was already something worth the attention of the king. But the last name kept them on the tips of their toes.

"Who? Don't tell me it was the Child of The Seventh Wish?!"

The voices began consoling themselves.

"No way! Not that monster!"

"There's no way he'd understand the king!"

"I hope not!"

Then Dian shushed them once more.

"...I can't remember...But he had a scarf..."

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"Heeelllp! Pleasseee!"

Naren wrestled with himself, tangled in a tree he had tried to climb for fruits. The perilous vines in it moving on their own as they wrapped themselves around the red-haired boy.

No matter how much he ripped off, they just continued replacing themselves continuously.

"Cairo! Yuna! Please!"

But their was no human response. Only heavy footsteps growing closer. Circling him in the dark.

Why did he have to doze off like that and get left behind by them.

He was regretting his actions more and more by the moment as the vines continued slithering over his body in a myriad of knots. Squeezing tighter in the stillness of night. It wouldn't be long until he was completely suffocated.

But then it stopped.

Just like that, the vines stopped right in their tracks.

Naren sighed in relief, not bothering to wonder why they stopped. Just happy that they did as he mindlessly ripped them off in. Until he felt a slight warm breeze beside him.

In the dead of night, he was already shivering from the cold which only seemed to get more intense. But now there was a moment of respite. Though it smelled horrible.

Naren turned his head towards the source of the warm breeze, his eyes squinting to make out what he was looking at through the pitch-darkness of night.

Suddenly, the ground shook slightly as Naren strained his eyes...Then he went stiff. Completely still as his eyes widened.

Before him, there was an eye stare back at him. An eye that spanned at least ten meters. Blinking slowly as it dilated and focused on him.

He slowly placed his hands over his mouth. Hoping, praying that the beast that the eye belonged to hadn't noticed him.

"Yo! Piss-eyes!"

"Cairo shut up. We're going to attract beasts."

Naren flicked his head behind him as a dim illumination continued through the maze of pillars and foliage. Creeping around the corner, closer and closer to him.

The red-haired boy didn't respond. Instead he let a impish smile crawl onto his face.

' Perfect. I'm so grateful to you two for being a diversion. I swear I'll probably pay you back somehow.'

The footsteps got closer along with the subtle bickering until, a bright light shined directly onto Naren in the trees.

The flames highlighting the scowl on Cairo's face as it slowly broke into a smile and then a continuous stream of laughter that tripped him onto the grass floor.

"This dumbass got himself stuck in a tree! Fucking monkey brain HAHAH!"

Yuna by his side trying her hardest to hold her own laughter in.

"Pfft...Come on soldier..."

Naren scowled.

"Just wait till you both get swallowed whole."

Naren covered his mouth in a panic as soon as his voice escaped. Scared that the beast might've heard him.

Yuna tilted her head at the comment as Cairo continued laughing even harder.

"He's lost it HAHA! He's gone ape-shit HAHAH!"

Wait. It was word. How come, there was still no movement from behind him. Not only did Cairo's burning finger provide a light, but he was being as loud as can be.

Naren slowly turned his head behind him. His hands quivering over his mouth...But when he finally looked. There was nothing.

Nothing but the stone maze and the flora the latched onto it's walls crawling around and making itself abundant.

"Hey piss-eyes what're you staring at! Come down here!"

Naren carefully pulled the remaining vines off him, their previous vigor seemingly evaporated into thin air. Climbing down, he made sure to keep his golden eyes locked on where the eye had once been.

Accidently breaking off a branch and falling the rest of the way down. Which was odd because he didn't remember the tree being so brittle.

But in reality, there really was nothing different in front of him. Nothing had changed nor moved.

Did he really just imagine it?

Naren's stomach grumbled as he pulled out an orange fruit that he'd ripped off the tree and stuffed in his backsack. Actually, it was Yuna's backsack.

With Cairo in charge of their light, Naren had been rendered a pack mule. Holding all the groups supplies in several oversized bags he sat at the base of the tree.

Picking it up Naren almost peeled over backwards before setting his footing straight.

Well whatever it was, it wasn't his problem anymore. Those are the problems he liked the most. The ones that disappeared without his intervention.

Naren finsihed his last bite, waddling behind the two aspirants he'd been forced into a party with.

"Yuna...So how sure are you that this is the right way?"

Yuna stopped in front of him, past a couple trees blocking his view. He hadn't seen her necessarily stop, but he heard her footsteps halt.

"You find it?"

Stepping out of the swamp of vines and shrubs Naren tilted his head in confusion as Yuna spoke up.

"It should be here...According to the journal..."

In front of them was the fleeting edge of a cliff. The very edge of an island with nothing but an open ocean of obsidian waves crashing along rough edges.

There was no City of Witches in sight.