Chapter Two

By Puurr

Landing softly in the area the guards had been talking about, the rulers of the magic island looked around in shock. Confusion. Anger. Munto's brows furrowed sharply. This was beyond what the guards told him. The land wasn't just void of Akuto. It was completely dead.

All the grass and flowers that had been there a week before was slumped over in hues of gray and brown. It crunched under their leather clad boots. If the lands of his kingdom were able to suffer droughts like the lower world Yumemi came from, he would have swore this patch was victim of it. Yet, the ring around the patch was vibrant and healthy.

There were a few ways this could have happened. One, a novice was practicing his skills with Akuto and accidentally absorbed the energies around him. It was a common mistake of young students and it was easily fixed when reported or the land cured itself. He had done it several times when he was younger, but at that time, it was worse with the Akuto shortage.

Another reason behind it could have just the movement of the Akuto itself. At times the magic energy would shift and leave dead patches for short periods of time. The longest reported was a couple hours. It wasn't anything to worry about. Like them, their magic source was buzzing with life and energy, so it's shifts were explainable.

The other way would be if someone intentionally absorbed all of it from this area. Those with practice of dealing with their magic and life source were sometimes taught how to absorb large quantities of it and keep the surrounding sources from rejuvenating it for over a week. Only higher officials who worked with keeping the Akuto crisis contained knew how to do it until recently.

And if this had been done with intent, this would be considered an act of war.

Yumemi held a hand to her mouth. The devoid feeling of the land made her shake violently as soon as her feet touched the ground. It felt awful! Even dead, the land below her struggle to absorb Akuto so it could come back to life. If only she could help, but she didn't really know yet how to harness her powers. And Ryuely had warned her earlier to be careful with carrying a child of the heavens and using her gifts.

"I don't understand," she winced at the crunching of the grass and wilted flowers beneath their feet, "how can the land still be here and not crystallize?"

He shook his head and closed his eyes. With a deep breath, he forced his anger down knowing it wouldn't help anyone right now. It certainly wouldn't figure out what happened to cause this. "The land surrounding it is still plentiful of Akuto and is supplying it's sources to this land to keep it from disappearing. Until this area is healed, it won't be able to hold onto any of it."

A strange shape laying in the dead foliage caught his attention. Bending down to look at it, he frowned and pushed the foliage away from it.

"When exactly did you find this?" He asked the guards, pulling up a strange pendant. It gleamed hues of gold and a hidden ruby color. Obviously someone important had worn this. It looked familiar. Very familiar. Where did he see that before and on who?

"At dawn, your highness," Tormo, the first guard, answered. While heading there, he had introduced himself and his companion, Lest, wanting them to be able to call on them if further questions were required. "When we found it, we searched the area for a source, but couldn't find anything. That's when we decided to inform you of this."

Munto nodded, continuing to stare at the pendant. It was right there, the name of the owner he knew wore something like this, but it wouldn't come the last step to reveal itself. "You did well. An investigation will need to be done and the council will have to be informed..."

Gold eyes snapped up, a strange feeling suddenly coming over him. It felt like they were being watched…He pinned a look on Lest. "Go find Rui and get him out here. I need his advice and presence here, now!"

"Yumemi," turning to his wife, he swore. He knew that look on her face. Sheer determination and stubbornness that equally matched his own. Especially after hey got married.

As soon as he turned to her, she understood what he was able to ask her, and she flat out refused. "Don't even try to send me back with him. After everything we've done, you think I would just sit in the palace?"

His eyebrow ticked. "Yes, I do. You are now pregnant and need to take less risks than you normally would. If this was done by someone on purpose, than it was an act of war and you will be at risk." He took a step towards her, hoping she would see reason. "Let me protect you and the child. Even with the shield around the baby, I cannot keep other elements from hurting him or you."

"But…" Her shoulders slumped. Nodding, she took the last couple steps towards him and laid her head on his chest. "Don't stay out here too long. I don't want to sit at home and worry about you like a mother hen."

"A mother hen?" He furrowed his brows again, confused at what she was talking about. Sometimes she said the strangest things.*

Laughing, she shook her head, kissing his cheek. "It's an earth thing, I guess." Turning to Lest, the guard nodded at her and held his arm out, smiling as he started rambling about odd things and asking her about the underworld.

Munto watched her head back to the palace, glad that she actually was listening to him this time, unlike so many other times when she decided to be hardheaded and do things her way. It was endearing, but at times it frustrated him. Even to this day, she still never called him "Lord Munto."

"Start searching for anything else in the area that might give clues to how this happened," he ordered the other guard. Hand on his hip, his long cape flowing in the wind, he tried to figure out exactly what would drive someone to do this. He looked towards the directions that Yumemi had taken. The hill they went down blocked his vision from seeing her, but he trusted the guard to take her safely home while he waited for Rui to come.

*The mother hen thing, I don't know if they have chickens up there and I wanted to play a bit, so I just put this in. I'm sure someone will tell me otherwise in a rant about the the sky people having chickens and blah blah blah, but until then, the chicken joke stays!

Also, I just got done watching several Zero Punctuation videos, so I feel a bit snaky. I love his videos, his rants are some of the best I have seen about video game reviews and I like how he goes on about things in a seemingly bizarre way, but it all makes sense!

This note is mostly for Ari-chan….I can't find the picture you did for the scene in the last chapter! I was looking through your deviant stuff and couldn't find it anywhere. It makes me so sad ;~; and I don't want to even THINK about going through my favorites cause….I just have too many and I never sort through them .

Another note, if the characters seem really different and the story isn't sounding like it did before, let me know. I have a tendency to revise and revise again for no reason but that I want to.