Leyland Adventures Chapter Ten: Part Ten

She stared at the three precious gemstones she collected for him, sighing before placing them back in the bag. While tainting the crystal clear water with the blood of her weapon, her eyes drowned with salty liquids, it seemed like days since the real Tysashi was seen. The noxious gas of the Santo Flowers caused her wings to decay by the minute while decreasing the amount of energy she had to continue onward. Ever since the Piku Liquid was wasted, her wings have severely suffered, it wasn't long before her wings would have completely decayed.

"You'll die alone here."

"Just sit and perish."

"Worthless woman."

The tears soon ceased as a Sprite came to tap her forehead.

"Don't stop now, you're close to finding your friend. You must keep going, crying will only drown you of motivation. My name is Amuel, I was just like you but unlike you, I was weak and a coward. I didn't even have the guts to kill myself...and then everything went dark. Don't be like me, I will guide you to Tysushi."

"Thank you...it's Tysashi."

"Right, please follow me."

Recollecting herself, she followed Amuel through the extensive forest. Many images of her friends and family appeared though she pretended as if they weren't there.

"Can you tell me more about your life before it ended?"

She figured a brief description about his life would be a nice distraction from the darkness that ran wild.

"I used to work multiple jobs to ensure my family didn't have any financial problems. All the money I earned would be saved in a bank account and only used for important things like bills and various payments. I worked day and night, nonstop. My satisfaction came from the income I received and the thought of troubling debt being erased from my mind. I had saved up tens of thousands of dollars, all from my sweat-infested hands. Though my family refused to believe it, I was happy, happy to sacrifice energy for profit that would be used for mandatory things. Life was tolerable...until my wife cheated on me with a much more confident man. She even took my only son and most of my earnings. I wanted to fight for my son back, but fear and weakness sucked me dry. Crying, I fled into Kiyoshi Woods and of course, I continued into Jisastu Forest and the rest is an unfortunate history. I don't remember how I died...but it felt painless...as if my body was numb."

"I cannot express how much sorrow that is drowning my mind. Since Sprites like you only exist once their regrets are vanquished, did you have regrets or were you just turned into a Sprite when you died?"

"My suffering soul wandered the forest for quite some time. I knew the man who stole my wife wouldn't come anywhere near the forest, so I couldn't execute my revenge. I had nightmares of them living life joyfully and dreams of killing them in cold blood, however I thought about my beloved son. Even if my revenge plan was successful, he would have to come here so I can provide for him as I can't leave. In the end, I had no choice but to accept the unfortunate events that occurred. In short, forgive and forget. Don't worry about it now, all that matters is that Sprites such as myself are created to assist hopeful souls, we are attracted to the living."

"It's just...there is no fairy form Sprites can take, you all are stuck as orbs of blinding light."

"Our brightness depends on the personalities we died with."

Before she could ask further questions, the sounds of rustling and chatter echoed through her ear. Preparing her weapon, she awaited the unfortunate victims whose blood would be smeared all over the grass.

"William, I thought you said this was the right way!"

"Annabelle, I'm more than confident this is the right way."

"You've said that eight times already!" She shouted.

"Guys, let's not fight. After all, it'll get us nowhere."

"Walter, do you believe that I'm leading correctly?"

"Well I-"

"See, even Walter doesn't trust you!"

"Hey, you're the one missing an eye, and he's missing an arm! The only thing I've lost is an ear and a thumb! If anything, I'm more fit to lead this te-"

His hazel eyes scanned a dangerous, yet shining figure of a tall woman whose blade stood silent in front of her with a ball of light beside her. Her eyes stared at the three tanned children, each missing a body part.

"Well, talk to her. Maybe she knows where our gems are," Annabelle stated, hiding behind him with a collection of golden locks standing still behind her.

Swallowing regret, he kindly asked the woman if she knew where they could find the Ice, Stone, and Lightning Gemstones as they lost ownership of the gems upon dying.

Without hesitation, she returned the gemstones while also handing them a few questions and placing her sword to her side.

"If these gemstones belong to you three, what about the corpses that surrounded them?"

William chuckled, informing her that whoever touched the gemstones with selfishness would die immediately, the other corpses were either consumed or sunk to the ground.

"Were you three unable to collect the gemstones?"

Before William could open his mouth, Annabelle provided her own explanation with a bratty, yet elegant voice.

"Since we're technically ghosts, we couldn't gain possession of the gemstones as only living fairies can grasp them. We had to rely on a living person to obtain them and give it to us. If they wouldn't, we'd kill them. We originally just sat near the gemstones until someone came but William wanted to explore the forest because of boredom."

"Hey, even Walter was bored, that guy plays chess and felt waiting was boring so don't make it seem as if I'm impatient! Anyway...thank you for holding our gemstones and returning them. As such, we'd like to return the favor. Walter, give up the key and the blue liquid."

"Piku Liquid," Annabelle reminded, still refusing to believe his forgetfulness.

Walter nodded, reaching into the back pocket of his brown jean shorts. A golden key and a small glass bottle of Piku Liquid emerged with a radiant smile on a chubby face.

Her eyes expanded at the unnatural luster of the key and the relief of the liquid, thanking them. With that, the children ascended into the gloomy clouds with a trail of heavenly light accompanying them.

With the liquid now in her system, her wings were restored to their natural beauty.

"If you're wondering why they didn't turn into Sprites, they didn't exactly want to stay. Relieved souls can choose to be a spirit or ascend to the kingdom above. As for that key, there are three treasure chests here, I don't know the locations but very useful items are stuffed within the chests."

"I am aware of the treasures due to a disturbing interaction with a-"

A distant shout of distress blew through the trees as leaves rocketed above the forest, automatically placing her in a state of frantic curiosity. The voice was immediately identified as Tysashi's.

"Your partner is dueling with Flora. I can feel she is preparing a finishing attack, you must follow me before it is too late."

Firmly holding her sword, she rushed to the site of the shout with Amuel, destroying the crumbling walls of anxiety that stood in front of her. Terrible sounds were picked up which only made her increase her speed.

Amuel led her to a circle of building-sized trees where the battle is currently taking place. Aradressa, fueled with concern, slashed through the trees only to witness Tysashi. Kneeled down, a deep wound could be seen on his chest and various cuts throughout his body. With blurred vision, he glanced at her while viewing the despair in her eyes. Suddenly, a speeding fist was detected and with her instincts, she rushed to hold back the fist with eyes reflecting boiling rage.

"You will not torture him any longer."

Her voice adopted an unusual tone that was much different from the average one, she kept a defensive stance while holding her pupils still.

Flora set down the trees that surrounded them.

"So the princess came to protect the short man, how adorable! By the look of your eyes, I can tell you want to kill me for him! You look fun to battle but since the sky-blue haired boy challenged me alone, he has to be the one to defeat me. Since you care so much about him, I'll allow you to take off with him and visit me again for a rematch! Oh yeah, he's currently injected with Otomo Poison. You'll have three days to obtain a specific item to cure him or else he'll die! Good luck!"

With that statement, Flora granted her a pathway out of the forest.

Amuel received a rushed departure as Aradressa took his slumbering body and hurriedly pushed herself to escape the hellscape of suicide.

⊱⋅ ────── ⋆★⋆────── ⋅⊰

She arrived to the castle with Alfred somehow being the only resident awake at 3:22 in the morning with a Lumi Mushroom in hand.

"My princess, please bring him to room two hundred and eighty-one on Floor B, we'll provide for him there."

She followed his request, gently stationing him on the bed over a silver feathered cover which felt like placing him in his grave.

Alfred proceeded to rub the contents of the mushroom over his wounds, successfully healing him but the poison still remains.

"Otomo Poison...yes it is a very powerful substance that can wipe out entire populations. Master Aradressa, the cure can be found in a shop in Orchtune by the name of Blessings from the Gods. Don't worry about Tysashi; I'll attend to him while you obtain the cure. For now he just needs to rest as the poison is damaging him."

"I'll head out first thing tomorrow morning, this quest shouldn't be too troublesome."

"Let's hope not. I'll stay with him while you enter an enchanted land of dreams."

"Good night, Alfred."

"Good night, princess."

⊱⋅ ────── ⋆★⋆────── ⋅⊰

After washing the sweat and spiraling emotions off her body, she fell into her bed. The desire to write an entry was neglected as she was much too exhausted to do so. Instead, gathered herself within her covers as a thought zoomed into her mind. The ring he wore, would it prevent the poison from killing him? Even so, it'd be a waste of the unique ability of the item. Despite the lack of feeling in her body, visions of Tysashi kept her awake. She continued fighting her own body before directing her attention towards his journal and finding a clear page as the pen clicked.

"This is what he would've wanted. I won't let you down, Tysashi, nothing will obviate me from vanquishing the lingering poison...not even my own morals."