We crunched across the hard dirt path while the evening wind bit right through my jacket, the sharp chill of the encroaching night carrying with it a subtle warning of what was about to co.
We walked until we reached the exact geographic center of the basin, where Mitsuki knelt perfectly straight on a white cloth.
She had no altar, no talismans or protective walls to hide behind. She just sat there in the open with a long-necked, three-stringed shamisen resting across her lap.
As we approached, she set the wooden instrunt aside and stood up, and without a single word, she stepped right up to with a soft golden light illuminating her palm.
She raised her hand, placing it directly onto the top of my head, and the very next second, a brief, warm and incredibly soothing hum enveloped my entire body.
"The mana-severing curse is set," she declared audibly, pulling her hand back as she looked over at Garek with a serious expression on her face.
Garek cracked his knuckles with a deeply satisfied smirk.
He fully believed I was rigged to lose my magic if things went south tonight.
I just rolled my jaw, giving him a dry, unamused stare before turning my attention back to the priestess.
"Please tell you aren’t planning to sing those things to sleep..." I said, pointing at the ’guitar’ sitting in the dirt.
"This is not for the Outsiders, Nico," she said gently. "It is for Lady Amaterasu."
I processed that for a second. "Okay. So what does playing a song for the Goddess actually do for us?"
"It is not just a song I wrote, Nico. It is the most sincere token of my faith that I am offering to my goddess," Mitsuki explained while folding her hands together in front of her pristine robes. "And she has found it worthy of her ti and attention. To ensure she can enjoy the performance in complete peace, she will cast a barrier over the entire basin."
I let out a slow breath. "A giant, soundproof do that’d keep anything that might keep her from enjoying the show out."
"Yes," she nodded. "But this humn belongs strictly to her."
She looked down at the dirt as her smile faded into absolute seriousness.
"If anyone else hears even a single note, the ritual loses its purity," she continued softly. "If my voice wavers, or if I miss a single beat on the strings, the Goddess will stop listening. And the barrier will fall instantly."
[Well, that is... strict to say the least,] I thought as it dawned on exactly why Garek and I had to lock ourselves in a box for the night instead of standing by her in case sothing happened.
And that’s when a glaring loophole snagged at my mind, tilting my head, I couldn’t help but ask, "But how’re you gonna sing throughout the night? You can’t even stop to drink water from what I can see..."
Mitsuki simply smiled and said, "My goddess will provide all I need."
"Okay, so... We’ll leave you to prepare. Good luck." I nodded before turning around and began heading back. After all, the night was just about to begin, and she’d need so ti to steady herself.
I fully expected Garek to follow right behind , but the sound of his footsteps never ca.
Pausing, I turned back and found Garek just standing there in the dirt.
He stared down at his wife like a massive bear.
And my paranoia imdiately spiked at the sight.
[Is he going to do sothing right now? Is he actually a cultist?]
Fingertips of both my hands instantly frosted over, ready to let loose Ice Pebbles the mont he made a sudden move against her.
But Mitsuki giggled before stepping forward and wrapping her arms tightly around his chest, burying her face right into him, and rubbing her cheek against his chest.
Garek stood completely stiff in response with a deep flush creeping up his thick neck, entirely too embarrassed to hug her back in front of .
Mitsuki caught that too as she giggled again and stepped back.
And just as she did, Garek suddenly reached out, catching her hand before pulling her right back into his chest.
His massive, scarred arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders as he pulled her close, looking like he was trying to physically cocoon her from the entire world while he buried his face into the top of her head, almost as if refusing to let go.
Mitsuki blushed as she gently pushed her hands against his chest.
"I will be fine," she giggled softly. "Shoo now, I need to focus."
Squeezing her tight one last ti, Garek finally released his grip around her shoulders and caught both of her hands, giving her a single, firm nod, communicating everything he could not say out loud in that simple gesture before finally letting go and turning away, marching toward the living quarters with heavy steps without looking back, or another word.
Mitsuki watched him go with her eyes full of so much warmth that it could’ve lted just about anything.
She caught watching a second later, and a small, genuine smile touched her lips as we shared a silent nod before I, too, turned around and followed the B-Rank.
Catching up to him, I walked beside him and shot him a huge, shit-eating grin.
"Not a word," Garek grunted before I could even utter a single word while he kept his eyes locked straight ahead and absolutely refused to look at .
-Pfft-Hahaha-!
And I imdiately burst out laughing.
But my laughter faded as we neared the ss hall as I slowed my pace before coming to a complete stop as I looked over my shoulder one last ti.
The sun sat as just a sliver of light on the horizon, allowing the shadows of the massive tree line stretch out, slowly swallowing the camp.
And Mitsuki sat right in the middle of all that creeping darkness, like a small, fragile candle left completely alone.
The sheer weight of her isolation hit my brain like a freight train.
She is going to sit out in the open while pregnant with absolutely no walls, no guards, and zero margin for human error, and the threat of Entropy looming ever closer.
And I had essentially forced her into this position.
[I swear to god, I’m not letting anything happen to her...] I vowed, taking one final shuddering breath before stepping into the ss hall as the cold wind whipped at our backs.
And the second we walked in, Garek grabbed the edge of the reinforced doors and slamd them shut, doing his best to not look at his wife before lifting the massive iron locking bar and dropping it right into the tal brackets with a loud clang.
[It’s done now... don’t think too much...] I sighed as I walked over to a nearby table and pulled out a wooden chair.
Garek, anwhile, made a beeline to the table where he had left his massive shield and halberd. Grabbing them, he carried them over, resting them against the wood right where I sat.
He then walked over to the kitchen counter, grabbed a heavy pitcher, and poured two massive tankards of ale before walking back to our table.
Setting one down directly in front of , he dropped into the chair across from mine and crossed his arms over his chest.
While I just sat slumped, counting the seconds till the darkness fully took over as we both just sat there, not even wanting to breathe too loudly.
I stared at the foam settling on top of my ale while listening to the mountain wind ceasing to even rattle against the reinforced window shutters, until the silence slowly beca suffocating with the exact knowledge of what waited just outside those walls, and the fact that Mitsuki was out there, right in the middle of it.
I slowly noted the complete lack of sound in the room. The howling of the mountain wind had died completely. We heard no roars and definitely no music. The silence grew so absolute and heavy that it physically made my ears ring.
And slowly the environntal anomalies took over right as it all boiled over.
The sheer concentration of the Outsiders’ unnatural presence outside the barrier caused the temperature even inside the ss hall to rapidly plumt.
I watched my own breath turn into a thick white plu of fog floating over the rim of my ale, while a thin layer of unnatural white frost began to slowly creep under the wooden doors.
The ice spread even across the shutters, crawling toward the tal latches. While the air pressure inside the room shifted.
And I couldn’t help but slowly wrap my hand around the grip of my shotgun, squeezing the weapon until my knuckles turned white against the freezing tal.
I was completely blind and completely deaf to the outside world, and the sheer helplessness of sitting in this freezing, silent room while Mitsuki risked it all... Well, it was the kind of agony I wouldn’t even wish upon my enemy.
My mind drifted back to the three healing capsules I gave Mitsuki before the lockdown.
They served as my only bet for her survival out there in the dark should anything happen.
And I could only silently pray that she would rember to bite down on them.
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