Joey groaned and tried to rub off the sleep from his eyes. He looked up and saw Snipes kneeling by the bed trying to shake him awake, but his broadcasting telepathy must’ve reached the others’ ears too for they were starting to stir as well.
“W…Wat time issit?” Joey muttered as he stretched out his lazy bones, taking care not to stretch too much so as not to strain his back and belly.
“It’s 5.30am, but if we are to catch a steady current today to lessen any possible seasickness you may have, we will have to go early. Please freshen up. Breakfast is ready in the dining hall.”
Joey soon remembered why they were here in Fortuno’s home and remembered where they were supposed to go as soon as his mind cleared off the sleepy fog. He quickly grabbed a pillow and whacked everyone’s butt to wake them up.
“Fuck, Jo!” Tristan growled, still trying to get some more shut-eye. “What the hell are you doing disrupting my beauty sleep?!”
“Wakey wakey, hanky panky, people! We’re gonna go see our darlin’ today! Last one down fer breakfast is a fat ass!”
Though reluctant and wanting to sleep some more, the rest of the gang woke up and made their way to the bathroom to freshen up. The extra toiletries prepared by Charlie and Bickford the night before were still there and they were grateful for the guest bathroom being as big as the one in the boys’ locker room, or else they would’ve had to wait forever for their turn.
As they brushed and washed and did their toilet business, they began to remember what had happened last night before they went to bed. Fortuno, after agreeing to help the five to meet up with their mates, made all the necessary phone calls to their respective parents. It wasn’t easy trying to persuade them, what with them constantly asking questions about what they were doing at the outskirts of the island in the first place, but after much coaxing and reassuring (and a lot of white lies in between), Fortuno managed to convince their worried parents to let them stay at his place and promised them that they’ll back as soon as possible and also convince the midwives that they will be in good hands.
When they got out of the bathroom all decently awake, they were greeted with Charlie and Bickford’s presence, hand in hand as usual, with a few clothes in their hands.
“What are those?” Yugi asked as the lovers placed the clothes onto one of the beds.
“Kimonos,” they replied briefly.
“Ki…Kimonos?!” Malik exclaimed as he took up one of the kimonos and stared at it in horror. “We’re not girls! We should be wearing yukata-s, not girly kimonos!”
“Unfortunately the Ethereal Clan has a very high sexual identity culture,” the two lovers replied in unison, “which means that females in Ethereal Clans are not allowed to wear anything masculine, not even if they are of the soldier hierarchy. Since you guys are preggers and all, and since the existence of hermaphrodites, you guys are gonna be treated just as they would treat a real female, so you’ll have to wear these. Hurry, breakfast is getting cold.”
“But…” Before Joey could complain, Charlie and Bickford disappeared as quickly as they came. Joey groaned as he looked at the kimonos one by one and stuck his tongue out in disgust.
“Ugh! Imma not gonna wanna be caught dead wearin’ dis crap!”
“Yeah,” Tristan agreed as he grimaced at the sight of them. “Who do those love-sick suckers think they are, telling us to do things as if they own us or something?”
“Come on, guys, don’t be that way,” Yugi persuaded as he removed his maternity pajamas. “They may talk like they own the world, but they’re actually very nice people.”
“Nice people my ass,” Malik grumbled.
“Besides, there’s no point complaining,” Ryou said as he made his choice. “They’re gonna help us go meet up with our mates. It’s best if we stay on their good side.”
Grumbling under their breaths, the masculine of the five grudgingly picked one that looked decently less girlish and put it on. Yugi and Ryou wore theirs without complaints and looked as if they were born in them. Soon, they were all downstairs in the big dining hall having their breakfast with the middle men, who were sporting a dark green and white yukata, which was the uniform of all human middle men in Domino Island to wear.
“I have to say, guys, you look rather smashing in your kimonos,” Fortuno complimented, and Yugi thanked them before Joey, Tristan or Malik tried to retaliate with a snide remark.
Yugi was wearing a white kimono that had huge rose and tulip graphics embroidered and printed on both sides of it, and had a kimono belt of dark red to match. Ryou was wearing a light blue kimono with patterns of salmon fish swimming against a stream current designed on it and sporting a whitish pale-blue kimono belt. Malik, on the other hand, was wearing a dark blood-red kimono that had the patterns of green bamboo and its leaves covering most of the right side of it both front and back and had a pinkish-red kimono belt, while Joey wore a reddish-black kimono that had cherry blossom scattered decoratively in design throughout it, with a black kimono belt. Tristan wore the most standard of colours of a kimono, which is dark-blue with red, orange and yellow contrast designs of flower printed on most of his left side both front and back, with a kimono belt of blackish-blue to touch it up. If the other four were to grow their hair as long as Ryou, you could’ve sworn they look like real pregnant women.
“Well, has everyone eaten their fill? We’ll have to hurry before the steady current changes. I don’t have enough sick bags for all of you, you know.”
Finishing whatever was left in their plate, the five announced that they were good to go. After gathering the things they needed, the middle men led the five towards the jetty where the ferry will take them to the border. The small airport reserved for only middle men to travel was just a few blocks away from the jetty and it was built just in case the ferry is sent for maintenance and service or unavailable at the moment, or just for people who prefer to travel by air. The five assured the middle men and the sailor of the ferry that they were not seasick in any way before they were allowed on the huge ferry. It was going to be a long journey from the island to the border and the five were rather nervous and excited to find out whatever was on the end of the voyage.
Later in the afternoon, as they settled for a lunch of bread and julienne, which was clear soup made out of thinly shredded vegetables (for the purpose of avoiding an upset stomach at sea), they began to ask questions about the border.
“What’s it like at the border, Fortuno? Is it as exciting as everyone imagine it to be?” Yugi asked.
“Not exactly, but then again, I’ve seen enough wonders of the world to be immune to it,” Fortuno replied. “But for you guys, I guess it’ll be rather fascinating.”
In turns, Fortuno and Charlie and Bickford explained life in the border. Basically the border was a community in itself where all middle men of the Ethereal Clan lived throughout their immortal lives. They would be called by their respective rulers to receive messages and assignments to be carried out to the human middle men, but all in all, except middle men from the Night Clans who could only live normally in their own nocturnal environment, the rest would be born, live, get married, start a family and grow old in the border. They live in perfect harmony despite the different species of Outer Beings and have learnt to co-exist together peaceful since the dawn of time. Like humans, they have their own towns, their own living quarters, their own festivals and their own ceremonies and have lived life to the fullest with minimum disputes and disagreements. The border was almost the size of a medium-sized continent and could accommodate the growing number of population on it. There have been known cases of middle men from the human side marrying Ethereal middle men during the olden days, but since the War and the Plague that left the females either dead or barren, they do not practice mixed relationships anymore and preferred their own clan of hermaphrodites rather than fraternizing with the humans, even more so after Maximillion Pegasus struck the ancestral deal with the humans. So now the relationship between humans and Ethereal middle men are strictly business. No more, no less.
“I’ve heard that the Whisperers’ world lies beyond Yami Forest,” Ryou noted. “It’s around Domino Island. Why go through all the trouble sailing to the border where we can just go through Yami Forest?”
“The thing is Yami Forest is more or less a cursed place,” Fortuno replied. “No one knows why it is cursed, but some rumoured that it is possible back then, the Duelist Phantoms used it as their hideout and home during the War and had used massive dark energy to shield it from the eyes of those who wish to hunt them down. No human or Outer Being had ever made it out alive once you set foot into it. There is a portal somewhere within Yami Forest which serves as a shortcut, well, more like a detour, that is, to their World, but it requires powerful magic to break through the cursed defenses of the forest, and it is something only the Night Clan has knowledge of, and they are one of the most powerful clans to actually wield such impressive magic to go through it without harm. For us who has no higher power whatsoever have to go through it the old school way.”
“All da more cool our mates are, aye?” Joey winked at his friends, impressed of the powers of his beloved Whisperers.
“Agreed,” Tristan gave Joey a thumbs-up.
“Not to be pessimistic,” Charlie and Bickford spoke, “but we may suspect untimely events prior to this meeting of yours.”
“What do you mean?” Malik asked.
“It’s just some stupid prediction I had this morning, really, and Charlie and Bickford happened to stumble upon my trance state,” Fortuno said as he gave an accusing glare to his colleagues. “No need to worry.”
“You might as well tell us, since it’s already blabbed by love-sick snoggers over there,” Malik replied, getting two equally murderous looks from them.
“Well, it’s just that I saw darkness and blood and crying,” Fortuno replied reluctantly. “Just that, nothing else. I couldn’t see anything further than that. It may be nothing. My predictions sometimes are not 100 definite, and I have to figure it out by myself what’s the message behind it, so don’t worry. It doesn’t necessary mean you guys, although I do worry for the person this prediction belonged to.”
The five sighed in relief, but their concern still lingered despite the reassuring look Fortuno gave them.
After all, from their initial decision about this whole voyage, who knows whether they can be trusted or not?
--:--
After a few more hours of sailing, the sailor called through the intercom to inform everyone that the border was a few more miles ahead. The five soon forgot about the disturbing prediction Fortuno made and got on deck to see how the border looked like and, sure enough, the scenic view from the ferry alone fascinated them to no end as they saw the majestic and surreal surroundings of the Ethereal Clan middle men and how different and incredible it looked compared to the Human World. As they landed their ferry at the border jetty, they went ahead of the middle men to ogle on the beautiful architecture and structure of the place. It was jammed packed with homes of all shapes and sizes and comes in a variety of decors and designs along with it. They even have shop houses, stores, official buildings and infrastructure of all sorts, but somehow, despite the difference in culture, they seem to mesh together harmoniously and complement each other as one. It was almost like they are different and yet similar at the same time. It was hard to describe and harder to imagine the five how their own human world can become just as wondrous as this.
“Come along now, if you’re done going goo-goo eyed over this place,” Charlie and Bickford broke them out of their awed reverie. “We will have to go meet The Grand Middle Man.”
“The Grand Middle Man?” Yugi asked as he followed after Fortuno and his colleagues, his gang following behind him.
“He is the one who calls all the shots as to how the Ethereal middle men runs their place,” the two lovers replied. “It’s he who keeps the peace around here, and it’s he who decides whether we should go through the Ethereal World or not.”
So saying, they took a ride on the border’s main mode of transport called a Beast, which looked like the Chimera of Ancient Greek mythology minus the goat’s head and had a pair of dove-like wings, serving as a tool to get to mountains where the Mountain Dwellers live (a branch of the elves bloodline residing in high altitudes). They rode all the way through thick forests and wide streams, over small hills and a vast field before finding themselves at the other side of the border in the middle of an outstretched desert where there were a number of mole hill-like mounds as tall as two grown men lined together into one big crescent shape. Everyone got off the Beast, paid the driver and moved towards the mounds.
“Um…Not to impose but…” Tristan looked around curiously at the mounds, “what exactly are we doing here in the middle of nowhere?”
“This is where The Grand Middle Men lives,” Charlie and Bickford replied. “This place used to be a sanctuary for survivors and freedom fighters of the War and now has become his personal quarters. He went into seclusion here after the love of his life died and refused to leave, so both us and the Ethereal middle men have to come here personally if there are any issues to talk about.”
Without further ado, Snipes came up to the middle mound and, holding out his hand, pressed against the mound and closed his eyes, as if trying to communicate whatever was within it. Almost immediately, a man materialized in front of the mound, his arms folded across his chest and staring at Snipes in a dark way. He was lean and tall and beat even Joey and Tristan by two feet in height, with pale blue eyes and long bluish-silver hair. He wore dark purplish-black everywhere, from the tip of his pointed hat to the long flowing robes down to the ends of his leather boots, and held a huge staff on his right hand. Both Snipes and the mystery man stared at each other for quite some time, and the tense silence between them looked rather worrying for the five.
“Whodat? Wat are dey doin’ starin’ at each other like dey owe each money or somethin’?” Joey whispered anxiously.
“That is the Obsidian the Dark Magician, the only person whom The Grand Middle Man would allow to be close to him,” Fortuno explained as Snipes and the mystery man continued staring at each other. “He is the trusted bodyguard of the love of his life, and because he swore to protect his Mistress to the end, the Duelist Phantoms who hated females with a passion were angered by his loyalty towards her and pulled his tongue out all the way to the root, leaving him to die. After the War, The Grand Middle Man found him hanging upside down on a tree branch, close to death and his blood running dry. He barely survived and would’ve joined his Mistress in death if it weren’t for his help. He pledged his allegiance to him and been with him since.”
“So, in other words, he’s just as mute as Snipes?” Ryou asked, resulting a nod from Charlie and Bickford.
“They are now communicating telepathically amongst themselves,” the two replied. “One of Obsidian’s specialties is the ability to read minds and communicate through it. Almost like Snipes’ telepathy, but his is more towards a one-on-one conversation, not as projectile as Snipes’.”
After a few more seconds of staring at each other, Obsidian turned to look at the rest of the middle men and the five, studying from his distance their features and their pregnant condition before turning back to Snipes and nod. Snipes jerked his head at them to come to him and soon, everyone found themselves being surrounded by a force-field created by Obsidian’s staff. They sank through the ground and went lower and deeper into the bowels of the earth until they finally reached in front of a dark, long tunnel. Obsidian materialized some sort of energy mass that worked like a flying carpet and made the five sit on it, so as not to strain themselves during the journey, while the others walked through the tunnel to get to The Grand Middle Man’s home. He led them left and right through the tunnel, going deeper and deeper, passing by many other tunnels that probably wound around in a huge intricate line of massive mazes. The five were not too intrigued whether those tunnels led to the rest of the mounds or not, for all they wish for is to find this Grand Middle Man and give them clearance to go to the Whisperer’s world.
Finally, after almost an hour of walking, they finally saw a bright light ahead. Obsidian dematerialized the energy mass and used eye-contact to tell everyone to wait at the lobby while he went to fetch The Grand Middle Man. Malik asked if he could borrow the toilet and he pointed towards the far end of the lobby. While Malik went off to relieve himself, the rest waited patiently.
“So, I’m curious,” Ryou said. “Who exactly is this Grand Middle Man anyways?”
“His name is Mahad, and he’s a Slayer, the last of his kind,” Fortuno replied. “He used to be part of the Royal Forces of Maximillion Pegasus and his kind is like Spartan people, born to fight and would die fighting no matter what. Everyone of his clan was involved in the War, and all of them died valiantly. Only he survived. But when he came back from war only to discover the love of his life dead by the Plague, he broke down and was never the same since. He found Obsidian at his brink of death, took him in, retired from the Royal Forces and came here to become The Grand Middle Man. The rest is history.”
“Who was the love of his life that affected him so much?” Yugi asked.
“She was…” Charlie and Bickford were about to reply when footsteps were heard coming into the lobby. As they stood up to greet him, the five were quite astounded as they realized Mahad the Grand Middle Man truly lived up to his name. He was a tall bald fellow, about 7 feet, give or take, with skin as dark as fine dark chocolate and eyes that seem to bore into the very soul of a person. One glance at his body told them they have been through a lot of rigorous training and long years of battle. He was half naked, adorned with only a long flowing white cape and a pair of Arabian pants, exposing his well-toned glimmering six packs for everyone to see. He was obviously someone you should not even dare to think of trying to get in a fight with him; he’d probably cream you before the show even started.
“I gather from Obsidian that you wish to see me,” Mahad said not as a question, but more of a statement. Fortuno nodded.
“Your Excellency, they are…”
“The human mates of the Whisperer Clan,” Mahad finished for him and walked towards the slightly trembling five. “What can I do for you, children?”
“Um, forgive our brashness but,” Yugi started, “we’d really need your help and approval to go to the Whisperer’s home. You see…”
He stared at each and every one of the five, making the atmosphere rather tense and awkward that Yugi didn’t know how to continue. Mahad smirked at Yugi and Ryou and said, “Hmm, a Yami and Bakura look-a-like. A descendant from Gozaburo and Shuu Nightwing, no doubt,” he then took Joey’s chin and turned him from side to side, surveying him, before continuing, “I can see why Seto is so infatuated by you. You do look rather…intriguing.”
“Uh…Thanks?” Joey replied, not sure whether he meant it as a compliment or and insult and didn’t know how to respond.
“You know his mate?” Tristan dared himself to ask.
“Of course,” Mahad looked sideways at Tristan before taking Tristan’s chin as well. “In fact, I know all of your mates. We go way back, and I dare say they are rather foolish to be breaking the tradition to meet the likes of you.”
“The…The likes of us?” Joey knew this was definitely an insult. “What does that suppose to mean?”
“To succumb into emotions and get attached with a being not from their world is not the way of the Whisperer,” Mahad replied, his deep, rich voice sounding like it could pierce your heart by just an utter of a sound. “They will only love their kind, and cross marriages between humans and Outer Beings are, as you humans put it, ‘no longer in fashion’. You are, to them, just breeding cattle.”
“That’s not true!” Yugi exclaimed. “Yami loves me! He even gave my babies names! No one who loved their children would give them names, let alone bother to visit them! Don’t you dare say anything like that about Yami!”
“Unfortunately, it is the truth, whether you wish to believe it or not. His Majesty promised you the gift of conception, and in return, you are to bear the Whisperer’s offspring. You are nothing but a tool to repopulate them. This is nothing but a deal, a contract to us. Besides, if you were to ask me, you deserve this.”
“What does that suppose to mean?” Even Ryou, who was always the peacemaker, was getting on his nerves hearing Mahad’s words.
“Don’t think for a minute that I do not know what the real cause of the War was!” Mahad said bitterly. “It was you humans who were ignorant and stubborn as to defy our warnings and trespass into the Shadow Realm. It was you humans who have such insatiable curiosity towards the Dark to a fault that led the Duelist Phantoms to break through our age-old defenses and escape from our well-built prison. It was you humans who brought this upon yourself! And this is your punishment for your sin you have caused on both the Outer Beings and yourselves. You have no one to blame but yourselves!”
“Please, please,” Fortuno tried to break up the fight, only to be cut off by Joey’s yell at Mahad.
“Dat’s insane! Ev’n if wat ya said is true, why must we be blamed fer somethin’ people in da past did? It’s not our fault ya couldn’t keep yer prisoners well enuff! We can’t pay fer watever things dat happened ‘fore we’re even born! We’re juz ‘ere tuh ask ya fer a lil’ help tuh go tuh see our mates! Is dat so much tuh ask?!”
“Like I would help you bring in more trouble to our world by allowing…”
“What’s all this racket? Has that Grand Middle Man guy showed up already or not?”
Everyone stopped their bickering at the sound of Malik’s voice coming out of the toilet. Mahad spun round and almost gasped in shock at the sight of Malik. His eyes widen in horror and his serious bitter mask broke at upon seeing Malik in his kimono walking towards the gang staring at Mahad in curiosity.
“Ma…Marik? Wh…What are you doing here?” Mahad said, his voice trembling, catching everyone by surprise at his sudden change in attitude.
“Huh? What?” Malik was rather taken aback to be recognized as his mate. ”You that Grand Middle Man Fortuno’s been talking about?”
“Marik, do you not recognize me?” Mahad was clearly not listening to Malik as he advanced towards him. “It is me, Mahad. I was promised to your sister Isis, remember? You and I used to be really close friends, and it was you who encouraged me to court Isis, remember?”
“Look, pal. I never had a sister. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“But you’re wearing the choker I gave you for your birthday. Surely you would not deny that.”
“Err…you didn’t give me this. My mate gave me this.”
“Of course, you do not wish to acknowledge me. I wasn’t there for your sister after all. I wasn’t there to protect her, and she died because of me…I know you are angry of me because of that…I could only hope that you could forgive me and treat me like a brother again like we used to…”
“Uuh…Fortuno? Is he outta his bonkers or something?” Malik asked as he tried to move away from Mahad who was standing there unmoving in front of him, looking rather remorsefully.
“That’s Mahad,” Fortuno introduced Mahad to him, with Mahad still in his one little self-pity world. “And for your information, the love of his life that we’ve been raving about was Isis, Marik’s sister. She died from the Plague and Marik’s brother Odion died during the War, and this guy has been melancholic ever since. You spoke of Marik being your mate last night, right? Maybe it’s because you both look exactly alike, thus the mistake.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Malik nodded, then turned to Mahad and snapped his fingers in front of his face, knocking him out of his illusions, “Look, Mahad or whoever you are, I am not Marik. I’m Malik. Marik is my mate, so whatever you wanna say to him, you say it to his face, not me. Besides, if I were Marik, I’d be sporting bat wings and wouldn’t be preggers right now.”
“He is right, Your Excellency,” Charlie and Bickford replied. “This is Malik Ishtar, son of hermaphrodite Mayana Loki and magician Kansumi Ishtar, who are part of our middle men force. The Marik you speak of is his mate and father of his child. Please look carefully, Your Excellency.”
Mahad stared long and hard at Malik, unable to drink in whatever Malik just said, but slowly, he began to notice the slight difference between the Marik he was raving about and the Malik standing before him. He slowly but steadily regained his composure as the truth sank in. Still, he ran his fingers along Malik’s cheek, as someone would to a dear brother, and murmured, “You look so much like him, and it is such coincidence that he should be your mate. I suppose you could be descended from that Egyptian young lad Hassan, could you not?”
Malik nodded, seemingly taking over the entire discussion while the four and the human middle men watched, “To my knowledge, after the deal was made, Hassan, my Egyptian ancestor was one of the first to accept the gift of conception and gave birth to the first Halfling in my family.”
“Then Irukh’mai’s seed had not gone to waste. Irukh’mai was at the age where he was supposed to leave to the White Horizon, but after the death of Isis and Odion, leaving behind his last of kin Marik, he wanted to do something for the human world before leaving to the White Horizon in hope that his legacy would be passed down his next generation. Tell me, child, is Marik the nice, kind and loving Whisperer as I’ve remembered him to be? It’s been centuries since I seen him after Isis’s death.”
“He’s nice, kind and loving…well…in a sadistic sort of way. I dunno what his job is in Whisperer land, but he definitely has a lot of Dark Magic up his sleeves, and I’ve got the scars to prove it, not that I mind though.”
“Just as I feared,” Mahad sighed. “I have heard rumours about him being even crueler in his executions since the death of his family. He probably had lost all his mercy since the War, but what I heard from Obsidian about his latest news was that he had been slightly less malevolent now. I can only imagine the changes you have given him.”
“You give me too much credit, Your Excellency. So, are we good to go to the Whisperer world?”
At this, Mahad hesitated, “I still cannot allow it, unfortunately. Even if I want to, I can’t. You see, your mates are now, as you humans call it, under ‘house arrest’.”
“What?!” the five exclaimed. “Why?! How?!”
Mahad then told him what he learnt from the Outer Beings middle men about the verdict and punishment made by Maximillion Pegasus about them sneaking out of their posts and shirking responsibilities, leaving the part out about the aftershocks of war their Ethereal World was currently facing. The five listened in horror at the part where they were given the curse of the Forbidden Blue and their leaving Sky City or going within the five’s proximity without direct orders from Seth or Katz was punishable in death. Ryou and Yugi broke into pools of tears at the thought of their mates being bitten by a huge white dragon with blue eyes and the pain they might have endured. Joey, Tristan and Malik looked like they want to murder someone with an axe or a chainsaw or something at the thought of Maximillion Pegasus issuing the order and Seth and Katz executing the order. All in all, their responses were more than just unhappy.
“We gotta go there!” Joey insisted. “We gotta try n speak tuh dat head honcho n tell ‘im he’s makin’ a big mistake!”
“Yeah!” Tristan agreed. “They shouldn’t be punished for loving us! It’s just not fair!”
“Please, we have to go see them! We must! I can’t bear to think of them being confined like this!” Yugi grabbed Mahad by the cape, begging in pools of tears. Ryou didn’t say anything; he just continued to sob and sob and didn’t think he could stop.
“Please, please do not be upset,” Mahad said as he tried to console the hysterical five. “Think of the children in you. It is not wise to be in such emotional state.”
“Then will you help us?” Malik asked.
Seeing that there is no other way to console the five otherwise, Mahad sighed, “Alright, I shall help you. But I have made a vow never to leave this place in my eternal mourning for Isis. In my stead, Obsidian shall take you to the Whisperer Clan. You will need these.”
As if on cue, Obsidian came up to them with a huge goatskin. He unwrapped it and revealed the special bangle Fortuno spoke about. One by one, Obsidian quietly wore the bangle across the five’s foreheads and activated the pearl in the middle of the bangle to release some sort of protective layer around them.
“This will protect you from the atmosphere of the Ethereal World. Now go, and Malik, please send my regards to Marik for me, and look after him well.”
Malik nodded without a word. He wasn’t much into sentiments, but when he agreed to something, he would usually fulfill it.
Again, Obsidian created the energy mass for the five and went back through the tunnel all the way up back in the mounds. Fortuno called for a Beast and they rode on it, but this time, instead of heading towards the jetty, they headed towards the other direction where there were more thick forests, wide streams and had to fly by a mountain to get to the other side of the border. After a few long hours of traveling, they soon reached to a place where stone monuments and ruins stood in the midst of a vast meadow of lavender flowers and greens.
“This is where we separate, guys,” Fortuno said. “From here on, you’re on your own with Obsidian as your guide. Take care, guys, and do look after them well, Obsidian.”
Obsidian nodded without a word and helped the five get off the Beast. The five thanked Fortuno and his colleagues and waved goodbye, watching them until they disappeared completely.
“Well then,” Joey broke the silence after seeing Fortuno and his gang off. “Shall we get started?”
--:--
“Your predictions have never been wrong so far,” Snipes agreed. “You do realize you are sending them to their graves.”
Fortuno refused to reply, only watching the disappearing border with eyes flushed with worry and guilt.
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