“And what of yer parents?” Nixon asked at one point. “Do ya not wish to find them?”
Aryu looked struck. “More than anything… But I need to pick my fight. The time I spend looking for them is a waste if the monsters of the Old just take everything down. I’ll focus on finding them when we’re done.”
As the early afternoon began, the sun burned off the morning chill while Aryu marveled at the idea that one man could keep everything as lively and beautiful as Sho had, as if a defeater of a god needed any more proof of his abilities. Aryu still didn’t trust Embracers, but it was good to see they weren’t all as terrible as he’d been led to believe.
While Aryu ate a small lunch, Nixon scouted ahead. When he returned, he informed Aryu they weren’t far off. Without asking how he could be so sure, Aryu followed Nixon again until they reached a thick wall of trees.
“On tha other side of this is where we start.”
Aryu looked at the dense brush, unsure at once of his or Nixon’s ability to get through without thrashing and cutting their way, a tactic Aryu wanted to avoid after his meeting with the respectable Sho.
“Can we fly over it?”
“Nah, not this time. If this truly is tha place we seek, on foot is tha only way in or out.”
Aryu trusted Nixon and followed as the big man began to move into the thicket.
“Can anyone just wander into one of these havens like this?” Aryu asked, doubting a place of such power and solitude could be so easily stumbled upon.
Nixon shook his head. “Nah, only one with the Power t' see it and enter its walls. If someone could wander in at will, the sanctity of tha place for the user would be lost, and aged Embracers would 'ave nowhere to 'ide.”
They broke through the woods and entered a large field, lush with grass, a variety of fresh smells, and a collage of different wildflowers, overlaid perfectly with the ring of trees encircling the space and the distant mountains and their snow-capped peaks lining the horizon. Nixon began heading towards the middle of this slice of perfection.
“Nixon, I have no Power. What makes you think I'll be able to enter into this place just like that?”
Nixon began moving through the foliage. “Well, there are a few possibilities, Aryu. The first of which is tha’ simple bein' with me will allow ya in. Sometimes the owners can be fooled, though not often. If ya stay with me, ye can almost piggyback in on my presence. These things aren’t foolproof. The next is tha' Crystal, havin' likely known of our arrival thanks to Sho, will allow ya in, since the creators have some control. The last is tha’ even without any real Power at yer command, tha’ thing on yer back will 'ave more than enough stored up t’ get ya in the door.”
“Well, what if those things don't work? Will I just watch you disappear?”
Nixon smirked. “I’d wager ya got nothing t’ worry about.”
“And what makes you so confident, oh worldly one?”
“Because we've been in Crystal’s Haven since we came through the trees, Aryu.”
Aryu didn't feel any different. Whatever power this was, he couldn't sense it like he could the innate power of his sword.
“Are you sure? Nothing seems different.”
Nixon raised his eyebrow. “Doesn't it? 'Ave we passed through any place as beautiful as this yet today, or any days previously?”
“No, but this land is all new to me. Every new hill brings something I've never seen before.” Nixon relented to this fact.
Aryu followed Nixon as he trekked to the center of the field, marveling at the sounds of birds and smells of wildflowers all around him. A part of his heart ached that his friend couldn't be here to share in the wonder of this place.
“So where is she? There doesn't look to be anyone here but us.”
“Well, this is her home. She's here or somewhere close by, or we'd have never gotten in. It's one of the perks of these places, almost like a natural security system if ya leave for too long.”
At the center of the field was a meandering silver stream. It was no wonder Crystal didn't like to leave. If he was cursed with immortality as she was, what better place to spend it?
“We wait here,” Nixon said. “She'll be about when she wants. I doubt the lure of my being 'ere will be easy for her t’ resist.”
Aryu almost asked why but never got the chance. A voice came from behind them. A part of him, and from his brief experience with it, the part of him that was intimately connected to the Shi Kaze, knew she was there before his natural senses did.
“You flatter yourself, Nixon. I'm not so bored as to pounce on every visitor I get here, even if it is someone as interesting as you.”
The voice Aryu heard was light, youthful, and airy; something more akin to an over-confident child than an all-powerful mystic being from before time was time.
As Aryu turned to meet her, real shock set in.
In the last few weeks, Aryu had learned not to be so surprised by the things he'd seen and the people he'd met. In that brief time, he'd become what he would have
