Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Chai_T3a]

Rufus’s comment illicited a chuckle out of Kairo, who was throwing the last of the yuranga fruit around in his hand. It was fun being a little shit sometimes, he had to admit.

Kairo then turned back to face the two sisters, casually listening into the conversation. Crina’s mention of others leaving perked his interest. Clearly not sure as to who she was referring to. Maybe Darrek? But then again, that would really be a “they.” He continued to listen attentively to the conversation.

 

[Da Doofus]

“Darrek didn’t tell you?” Crina blinked.

“Tell me what?”

The younger sister fumbled. “He’s leaving again after the festival.”

Cräga was silent for a moment, then sighed heavily.
“This have anything to do with you two?” She turned her attention to Kairo.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Ooooh. So it was what Kairo had thought. He wondered where Darrek was right now, maybe nearby, or maybe already in town. Wherever he was, he’d better be ready for Cräga to share a earful with him.

“Oh no no no.” Kairo said, shaking his head in rejection. “He wasn’t planning on staying long in the first place. Still hasn’t found who’s been looking for yet.”

The atmosphere was thick with unease now with the subject out in the open, and Kairo didn’t know what else to say. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
“Gotta feeling you’re gonna chew him out eh?” He asked, trying to add a dash of humour to the otherwise tense situation.

 

[Da Doofus]

“Not him.” Cräga huffed and made herself a shot of the amber drink. “Don’t worry about it.”

A minute of uncomfortable silence passed before Rufus emerged from the back room fully dressed, and drying his light brown hair with a now-dampened cloth.
“Hey Crina.” He greeted. “What’d I miss?”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo could clearly tell the effect the news had on Cräga. It was definitely something hard for the woman to take in, that was for sure. But Darrek needed to do this, even if the chances of finding his parents were slim to none. Kairo wasn’t sure if he should say anything further, and so he didn’t. Instead, he fiddled with the fruit in his hand to occupy himself in the moment.

He was silently grateful when Rufus emerged from the back. “Everything.” Kairo answered, offering him the fruit. “Fruit?” He asked, avoiding the topic at hand. If someone was going to bring it up, he didn’t want to be that person.

 

[Da Doofus]

It was the last yuranga on the twiggy branch, and Rufus gladly accepted it.
“Thanks.” He nodded, peeling away the shell experimentally and biting into it.
“You ‘bout ready?” He asked with his mouth halfway full of succulent fruit.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo gave a nod as a reply. Even though he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready. “Are we going right now?” He asked

 

[Da Doofus]

“I’m already packed and set.” Rufus shrugged and stepped out from behind the counter and slipped the remaining yuranga in his mouth.
“So if you’re set too, then yeah.” He smacked his lips.
“Mmmm . . . Dash good.” He pointed to his mouthful of fruit.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked back at Crina and Cräga for a second instinctually, as if his body subconsciously knew that this was the last time he’d be seeing the two in a while. As to not be awkward, he gave the two a smile before grabbing the bag he left on the floor of the inn.

“Yeah! I’m all packed and ready to go.” Kairo said, slapping the bag now in his hand. He then looked back at the two sisters. “Guess this is goodbye then, eh?”

 

[Da Doofus]

“Bye Kairo.” Crina smiled faintly.

Cräga’s mind was elsewhere, but she gave a small wave. “Good luck to you both.”

Rufus smirked. “How bout a kiss for good luck?”

Cräga reached beneath the counter and steadily set a musket atop the bar with a blank stare at the treasure hunter.

Rufus only chuckled. “You’re all heart, Cräga.” He saluted before making for the door.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Huh.” Kairo said. Staring at the musket that the older sister had just made materialize through the counter. Clearly, she could still be scary as shit when she wanted to be. Rufus must have had a lot of guns pointed his way for it to not faze him at all.

“Yeah....we won’t get ourselves killed. Don’t worry about that.” Kairo heaved the bag onto his back, making his way to catch up with the gunslinger. “Ya know, as long as you don’t pull the trigger.”

 

[Da Doofus]

“Hmph.” Cräga smirked as the two left the Rest and returned to the leaf coated road that led away from Drafisl and eventually faded into the jungles.

Rufus checked his pistol once they were on the border of path and forest.
“Alrighty, Kairo. Here we go again.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked into the forest in front of him. The overgrown sea of trees and lush called out for adventure. That adventure set his eyes heavy with both apprehension and excitement. Following the guest, what an amazingly terrible idea! But it was the only idea they had, and he had enough faith in the two of them to be sure nothing would go wrong.

He glanced over at Rufus, heaving his backpack so that it rested more comfortably on his back. “Let’s try not to make this the norm okay?” He joked, continuing his way in. “Let’s go.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus holstered his firearm with limited ammunition, and checked his helmet’s scanners for the tracker he placed on Dracon.
With Kairo on the right track so far, he followed behind him into the jungle’s depths; the Traveler’s Rest and Drafisl slipping further and further behind them as they pressed on.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The two remained in relative silence as they continued their trek through the thick jungle. The now more familiar surroundings still didn’t fail to amaze Kairo with its vibrant wildlife and plantations. It made the trek a bit more bearable when his legs began to grow tired.

Turns out though, that particular distraction wasn’t going to last very long. The difficulty of walking through thick vegetation, pretty quickly overpowered it. He sighed to himself, they were barely an hour or so in.

“How we doing for distance?” He turned back, facng Rufus. “Getting any closer to him?”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus checked his scanners again.
“We’re still a ways away, but he’s definitely that way.” He pointed over Kairo’s head to a gap in the canopy, where the looming mountain towered over the jungle floor.
”Hope you don’t mind rocks, cause that would be a perfect spot for a transmitter.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo’s expressions visibly deflated at the sight of that mountain. He knew that there wasn’t much way of getting around this. But the prospect of climbing uphill for such a long time really didn’t gel well with him. “I mean, if you wanna carry me up there I wouldn’t mind.”

 

[Da Doofus]

“We’ll see if there’s a path or something. Didn’t take Ol’Smiley for a mountaineer.” Rufus joked and continued ahead of Kairo.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo laughed at the Rufus’s last remark. “Man, we’ve been walking for days now.” He said. “Shoulda used that gold to buy us a car.”

With that, he took his spot behind Rufus, following the man up the mountain and towards whatever laid ahead for the two.

 

[Da Doofus]

The two stepped around the rocky base of the great mountain, with Rufus assuring Kairo that there had to be a canyon or something nearby that Dracon used to slip into. He insisted there was no way the Feral climbed the steep cliffs if there was an easier route to wherever he was living.
By the third hour, Rufus’s theory proved true, and an opening presented itself. Vast and almost like a gateway through the rocks itself, a huge gap in the cliffs beheld a surprising sight.
The remaining cobblestones of what had to have once been a road stretching from the jungle to wherever the canyon led.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo has almost lost hope nearing that third hour of walking. He was exhausted, hungry and just generally not in a good mood. So when they found the valley between the cliffs, Kairo couldn’t help but collapse on the floor in joy.

“Leave me here to die.” He mumbled in between intermittent bouts of giggles. “I’ve done everything I’ve wanted in life now.”

 

[Da Doofus]

“You sure? I was set on using you as bait if something came along to eat us.” Rufus patted Kairo’s shoulder and clampered down the ridge and onto the decaying road.
“What do you think this is? Doubt the Kendians built it.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

"Wow! So I'm just bait to you huh?" Kairo fakery mocked. He got off the floor, dusting himself off and following Rufus onto the decaying road. From one look, he could quickly tell that this place was paved ages ago. It remained rather unkempt, completely unlike the other roads he had seen. The fact that it wasn't interconnected with anything else also seemed slightly off.

He had his hands on his hips as he responded to Rufus's question. "Hmmm most likely just an abandoned road. But honestly, if Dracon's been here, I feel like that probably isn't the case."

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus kicked away a stray pebble. “Looks pretty abandoned to me.” He said, and checked his helmet’s scanners again. “Either way, we need to follow it.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo nodded, looking ahead at the road. It continued upwards and on into the horizon, leading to god knows where. The thought of it unnerved him a bit, but also filled him with enough curiosity to overwhelm that nervousness.

“Mmm, good point.” Kairo said, making the first tentative steps onto the road. “Don’t feel like rock climbing today.”