The wagon that carried them moved through the dusty outside of Karuu's West end with all four ready for a battle. Damion was at least more at ease due to Ritta's and Alloy's presence, Tasue was at ease due to Damion's presence, and Alloy was deep in her thoughts. The goal at hand was saving one of her friend's closest connections and while she had no doubts at helping him, she had her other friend, Ivy at the back of her mind. Mostly because they arrived as the sun began setting. A few hours passed with more silence than Damion and Tasue expected, Ritta included. In no time after, the sign that they made it into Gami had shown itself quite openly. The blades of grass gained a consistency, they could see the field expressing itself all the way through this part of the island, and when Ritta expected a reaction from Alloy's impulsive habits, she got nothing, that was when she decided to intervene her thoughts.
"Did Tasue drown your happiness, youngin??" She asked.
"Huh…" She wondered as she noticed the question. She realized that she wasn't alone and nervously, with a fake smile, she replied, "I'm happy!! What do you mean??"
Damion noticed it, so did Ritta, her hesitation, that was when it was clear to them, her goal also might've had something to do with her family or someone close as well. Deciding to leave her be… Ritta pointed next to Alloy's face,
"Well, see those buildings??" She began. The three kids looked outside the wagon to see the multiple brick-made buildings surrounding their view of the other side… or at least the sky. They didn't see much, but they were about to go through it. "We're here!!"
This allowed Alloy to put Ivy on the back of her mind and a somewhat real smile showed up from her face. The town of Gami, like the rest, wasn't that much of an attraction but the only feeling that mattered was the feeling of adventure. Tasue was good to go, Damion got his bow ready.
"Ritta, won't I still need arrows??"
"You might, but I won't give you any. Here," She took his bow and started carving a symbol on the grip of the weapon.
"What's that for??"
"This symbol allows you to create arrows at a draw of the bow. Your other abilities will be your ammunition, that is why the gloves Tasue made for you also have runes etched on them."
"How long will it take before I'm accustomed to it?? Before it accepts me??"
"It accepted you last night, Damion." She smiled. "This symbol should help, it's meant to boost your ability specifically,"
"Why mine specifically??"
"Bring your hand, the one you hold your bow with." He held his left palm out and she pricked it. "It'll get your blood, that's why."
He winced in slight pain.
"Don't be a baby. Now, hold your bow up, like you are aiming." He did so, aiming outside the wagon, but definitely not outside the town's direction.
"Concentrate, like you did last night, form the arrow in your mind, and draw it back, allowing your ability to take over from there."
With the lesson he was forced to repeat the previous night, he wasn't ready to do exactly as Ritta told him, his power level didn't allow for it, however, he was given a helper, the gloves plus the rune carved on to his bow were to help him out. He took a deep breath and tried to let it flow to him, it wasn't hard at all with the new helpers.Instantly, a flaming arrow formed almost immediately on the bow, lighting the wagon's inside, and everyone's faces up.
"Woah…" Tasue gasped with her purple eyes that lit as bright and beautiful as the arrow formed, it lit up the silhouettes of the three people in the wagon. Yes, three, it didn't take long before they realized that the silhouette of Alloy was gone. Tasue was first. She looked at how bright Damion's and Ritta's faces were and when she looked to her right…
"Aniki, where's Alloy??"
"What do you mean??" His concentration set aside as he heard her.
"She's gone." She added.
"Huh…??!!" Damion turned, upon noticing, he lost his concentration on the arrow, it lost some of its power but he let it go and it headed into the town, they were too far to hear anything, like reactions, but luckily, no explosion happened. They all took a deep breath, hoping nothing truly happened.
"Where the hell could she have gone??" Ritta asked.
"She went into the town, she has a spirit of adventure that ignores logic." Damion replied.
"We have to find her, but we also need to find Spire." She added.
"Tasue won't leave your side, go with her and find something on Spire, when you do, send a signal."
"What's the signal??"
"Your weapon. An arrow just like the one you shot but upward. Don't use it too much, you're still new to these abilities, and the rune is to help force them when you need them to use the bow, in time your own spark will follow and create its own flame, this is more of a helper… keep that in mind."
"Okay." He said as he dismounted the wagon. Giving Tasue his hand so she could alight as well. "Are you ready??"
"Yeah!!" She answered, her child-like enthusiasm not that far behind in her voice.
"Take care, you two." Ritta said.
"Let's go then."
"Okayyy!!" She said, and the two left the wagon. Entering the town of Gami from the Southern end, and leaving Ritta to look for Alloy.
*****
Meanwhile, Alloy herself had already entered and crossed quite a couple streets into the town of Gami. Unlike the rest, it was only slightly dry. The outskirts, green, some of the streets, green. The air was filled with a similar vibe to Karuu town. Unlike Karuu, there were more vendors in the streets than there were back there, the bustling atmosphere was mostly filled with food, trade and daily life, however, as she walked, the energy around them, within them, seemed to be dimmed.
In one of the stalls, Alloy's sights sent her to a spherical shape. She watched as smoke bellowed upward from its perfection of a food in her eyes. In her excitement, she ran toward it, dumplings, again. However, she found a vendor who was selling other spherical foods, and compared to the dumplings, these were more spherical in shape. That was the deciding factor. The closer she got to the others, she more her nose picked up on the sweet scent of them.
"I want mochi balls!!" Alloy said to a stall owner who was preparing a few of them. The stall was on a corner, as she waited, she leaned her head toward the dark alley ahead of her, as far as she could tell, garbage was what was there abundantly. But it wasn't close enough to get in the way of the vendors on the main streets, or, luckily, their delicious food.
"That'll be 300 Lunars." The owner said.
As she stuffed her mouth with them, she froze when she remembered she had no money whatsoever because she left with adventure in her mind, then she caught the whiff of the delicacy and headed straight for it without a second thought.
"I… I don't have any mo…" she remembered something.
"Wait, 300??!! The previous town sold us so many ingredients for only 60 Lunars!!"
"Well, girl, you aren't in Karuu town. This town has many people suffering from that damn Captain poser."
"Huh?? Do you mean… Spire??" She asked, in a lower tone so as to not catch the attention of other vendors.
"No other poser here but him. He takes what he wants and doesn't pay, so we are forced to raise prices this much, his brute bodyguard keeps anyone from reaching him, and the troops who follow him…"
"What about them??"
"It doesn't matter. Did you say you had no money??"
Reality came back to her. Her mouth was still chewing, but she froze on the spot. Before she could begin looking for an excuse, a flame flew behind the stall to the alley she leaned on to see earlier, the arrow managed to blaze the entire pile on fire. 'So it was garbage…' she figured. While the owner was distracted, Alloy decided to leave with a big smile shouting "Thank you!! They were delicious!!"
"Hey!!" He called out. But that's all he could do. The people around had come flooding to check what happened.
"That was close!! I wonder where that fire came from…" Alloy spoke to herself as she ran blind, however, thanks to her not paying attention, she managed to hit someone on their back.
"Oh! Sorry!! I didn't see where I was going…" her nervous smile took over as she apologized.
"That voice…" The man began.
He turned back and Alloy's face changed from widened eyes of subtle surprise to mere shock. The towering man, still burdened with way fewer bandages than he was originally left with, immediately sparked Alloy's memory.
"OTTO??!! What are you doing here?!?!" She asked, her right hand began emitting tiny sparks of her shadows.
"Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! Calm down!! I was looking for Damion!!" He tried defusing her.
"What for… and how do you know he's here?!?!"
"Well, like I said when we met, Spire is the one who hired me, but after the call to mislead him, he called again later, saying that he got word Damion was on the island. I knew you would head here eventually, so I was told to bring him to Spire. But if you're here… where is he??"
"I don't know…" she said with a shy smile after powering down.
"Okay, why are you here alone??"
"I… it's not important."
"Well… should I take you to him??"
"Who… Spire??"
"Yes."
Her eyes narrowed. "Yes. Let's go."