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MHO - Chapter 29. Time to bid farewell to Inkari... for now. And did I ever mention how much I love the big showdown scene of The Labyrinth?

-Llox

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Kuna woke up early the next morning. For a little while he remained cuddled up with Lykou, just enjoying the closeness. His mind was racing with thoughts. He was still anxious about the possibility of future life-and-death situations, and couldn't bare the thought of losing his now very dear friend. And he hoped their journey wouldn't be much longer. He also wondered what else they might see on their journey, considering how strange it had already been so far. He also found himself thinking about the proposed life in Lakefire- he had no doubt Lykou would do everything he could to help him fit in, but would the rest of his tribe accept him? He certainly hoped so, and part of him looked forward to getting to know the other people in Lykou's life. It sounded like a wonderful place to live.

But he couldn't shake the worries, either. They were a village full of meat-eaters, after all. He would have to adapt to being around a lot of dead things getting munched on. He'd managed to adapt to Lykou fine, but he was just one individual. Even with the shakonu, he'd only ever been around a small group of them at once. He knew both from distant observations and the descriptions his friend had given him that the village was well-populated. And predators or not, he felt anxious around that many people at once anyway. Even setting aside the cruel, or cold-at-best treatment he got from his own tribe, it was also on the smaller side. He guessed it was probably less than half the population of his friend's village.

Eventually, he sighed and got up. The canid's presence was comforting, but his belly had started to beg for food, and he hoped the fresh air might help clear his head a bit. He grabbed an apple from his bag and slipped outside, sitting down by the secondary fire ring near the shelter's entrance. The fire had long since gone out. A sliver of light was just starting to poke over the horizon, bathing the world in a twilight glow. A slight breeze stirred the grass, but there was no sound of early morning birdsong. Everything felt somewhat still. Somehow, the atmosphere around the campsite felt suited to his contemplative mood.

He didn't take long to eat the apple. His appetite had finally caught up to him, so he'd gobbled it down to its core and picked it clean in no time. Before discarding what was left of the core, he picked the seeds out and looked them over. On a whim, he dug out a little hole in the dirt next to him and buried one of them, then used his magic to hasten its growth into a tiny sapling, smiling a little. Something about the simple act helped calm his mind, if only slightly.

"I like your instincts, kid," a familiar voice said from somewhat behind him, startling him. He turned back to see Inkari lounging on top of one of the stones making up the shelter.

"Oh, good morning Inkari."

"Not quite morning yet, but likewise," the jarzin said, then nodded to the tiny sapling. "Nice of you to contribute to the forest's growth. I'm sure little Koki would approve."

The sereva smiled a little bashfully. "It just felt like a good thing to do. And I guess... well, nevermind."

"Pushes the racing thoughts back, I know," the witch pointed out with a small shrug. "Like I said, good instincts. Magic has a lot of uses. I have a feeling you'll be making the world a better place with it wherever you go."

Kuna blushed a bit. "What, just for growing a little tree sapling?"

"It speaks to your impulses overall. Like when you helped regrow some things around the mudslide. You're a natural healer and nurturer. World could always use more people like you."

The sereva's ears folded down a bit and he rubbed his neck shyly. "Th-thanks," he replied. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, and his gaze turned up to the sky as he leaned back on his arms and eyed the sky. With the dawn's light still barely peeking out, much of the sky was still filled with stars, though the inky blackness between them was already taking on blueish-purple hue.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Inkari eventually said, staring up at the sky as well. She had an unusually serene, if somewhat thoughtful expression that seemed to differ from her usual air of mysterious mischief. "I'm generally more of a night person, but the edges between night and day are special."

"...it is pretty, yeah." Kuna glanced back at her and tilted his head a bit. "Why do I feel like you mean that in more than one way, though?"

"Perceptive," she replied, turning her gaze back down to him with a small smirk. "But yes. Twilight is a special time. Both dawn and dusk. It makes a dividing point, a narrow window between night and day that is neither in itself. More than that, you'll have to learn on your own."

"Oh," Kuna responded, slightly let down that she wouldn't explain further.

"Remember to always be observing things, Kuna. If something feels special, that usually means the world is trying to tell you something. Keep your eyes open, and learn wherever you can," the witch encouraged him. "And that goes double for these moments. If you're observant, you can learn all sorts of things from that window."

The sereva eyed her thoughtfully for a moment, then looked back up at the sky. "I'll... keep that in mind," he replied.

"But most of all, it's just pretty," the jarzin added after a minute, seemingly somewhat lost in thought herself.

The two sat in an extended silence for a while as the sun began slowly creeping up. Eventually, Lykou emerged from the shelter with a big yawn, then sat next to Kuna and took a bite out of a chunk of salted meat he'd brought out with him. "Morning," he said groggily.

"Morning, 'Kou," Kuna said, giving him a brief hug. "Oh and so she doesn't startle you, Inkari's sitting on the rock back there."

"Spoiling my fun are you?" Inkari playfully accused him. "Morning, Lykou."

The konuul looked back briefly and gave her a little wave. "Thanks for watching over us again. I uh... guess the same thing that keeps you from needing food means you don't need sleep either?"

"You got it," the witch replied. "Unless I feel like getting up to some astral shenanigans, of course."

Kuna gave the konuul some time to finish eating and wake up a bit more, idly cuddling up next to him as he did so. Eventually, Inkari climbed down off the shelter and leaned against a tree not far away. A short time later, a pair of dark blurs whisked out of the woods behind her and floated up on either side of her, startling Lykou out of whatever sleepiness he still had left.

"W-what ar-"

"Oh, Chaiko, Baniv, welcome back," the witch said, reaching out to pet the two shadow spirits.

"Oh yeah, those two," Kuna said, clearly a little wary. "I uh... was kind of curious about them and, the, er... you know..."

Lykou glanced between his friend and the spirits for a moment. "Oh... oh, they're the ones that...?"

The sereva nodded. "Y-yeah..."

Inkari chuckled. "Right, I suppose a proper introduction is in order. As you heard, these two are Chaiko and Baniv. They're shadow spirits, and long time friends and assistants of mine. They're already familiar with you, of course."

"Kuna said they, uh..." Lykou began, shifting a little uncomfortably. "...the ravager, um."

"They took the beast to Dalzai-Nar, yes," the witch replied with a mildly bemused look.

"The place where demons come from and stuff, right? And really, really bad people go there, too?" the konuul anxiously asked. "What... do I want to know what happens there?"

"Well for one thing, it was only the surface level. They'll be separated, the demon sent futher down, and the ursaran will spend a while in a kind of frozen state while a special group of powerful spirits determines the best course of action for its soul. Which will almost certainly be reincarnation. Probably into a much weaker form, if I had to guess."

Kuna's eyes widened. "S-so... ravagers are actually-?"

"When an ursaran tries to bond with a demon for a shortcut to power and dominance, but it doesn't work out the way they expect," Inkari clarified, then shrugged. "And it usually doesn't, for most folks. And even for those lucky enough to forge an actual pact with one, they're still breaking rules even I don't support breaking, and risking severe corruption of their soul. Pretty much always guarantees more serious trips to the hells, where they'll have to wander for a long while before getting to reincarnate."

"What happens to someone wandering in... that place?" Kuna asked, shivering a bit.

"And what's that 'reincarnate' thing you keep mentioning?" Lykou added.

"When someone dies, they don't always pass on to the afterlife. In some cases, particularly if their soul is damaged in some way, they will be reborn into a new mortal body, although usually after a delay. That's called reincarnation," the witch explained, then turned to Kuna. "And as for what happens to wanderers in the hells... recall your little initiation, then imagine if it was a lot more intense and lasted a lot longer. That's more or less similar to what mortal souls go through there, with the ordeal being longer and more dramatic the worse they were. Without any kind of help. And they're constantly reminded of the pain they inflicted on others in life, often experiencing it for themselves."

Both Lykou and Kuna shared a look and shivered. "That's-"

"A very unpleasant subject," the witch cut in. "So let's not dwell on it. Time for much more pleasant thoughts. You're about to begin your journey home, after all."

"True," Lykou said, immediately perking up, his tail swishing a bit at the reminder. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll be there in a day or two!"

"Hopefully," Kuna agreed. "We can head out as soon as you're ready."

"And on that note," Inkari said, allowing the shadow spirits to re-form around her arms as sleeves to her outfit before walking back over to the shelter. "I suppose its about time to bid you two farewell. But first, I think I'll restore the area to how we found it. It's good to tidy up after one's self."

"So does this mean we won't see you again?"

"I wouldn't use the word 'never'- it's such a silly word that's rarely suitable," the witch said, using her life magic to cause the vines and moss bits of the shelter to retract away. "But you'll be on your own now, so do stay vigilant."

"Well, we made it to the mountain alright on our own," Lykou pointed out. "I think we'll be okay. Thanks again for everything, though."

"Oh, I've been keeping an eye on you two since before I introduced myself to Kuna on the mountain," Inkari said, using her magic to begin sliding the boulders back underground, one at a time. A few clouds began forming in the sky.

"Oh? Wait, were you the one that activated those soul-marks on our shoulders?" Kuna asked curiously, turning to watch her work.

"You're welcome," the witch replied simply. "But it's been longer than that, too."

The breeze grew still, yet the air started to cool slightly as a few more clouds started to form overhead. There was a faint charge in the air.

"Wait... were you the one that left the doorway-sign behind those falls?" Lykou asked, starting to suddenly feel a bit uneasy. He knew the witch liked to play up the creep factor sometimes, but something felt different this time.

"Correct. But that's not when I first found you two, either."

Kuna shifted uncomfortably as the jarzin finished moving another stone underground. She seemed to be taking her time, and as she worked, he couldn't help but notice the sky growing more and more overcast. And a dark mist was beginning to form around the witch's feet. "You... it wasn't that... destroyed village, was it??" he asked in a quieter, somewhat worried tone.

"Goodness no, do I look like some kind of bloodthirsty monster?" Inkari asked with a chuckle, moving on to the third stone. "Although I did feel strangely compelled to make sure that any wandering scavengers overlooked one particular body. But then I had to hurry back to continue keeping an eye on you two."

"It... wasn't the gorge, either, was it...?" Lykou asked, a sinking feeling coming over him as the wind started picking up again, only a bit stronger than a breeze.

"Do I look like a fire-belching tortoise?" Inkari asked, looking over her shoulder with a now eerie ominous-looking grin. Her voice had started to distort a bit. Her pipe had vanished and the glowing effect had returned- including the jagged floating grin-outline joining the second set of eyes. "Although I might have spooked a devilhorn while we passed through there. Oopsie~"

Suddenly she transformed into smoke and whipped over to re-manifest next to Kuna, leaning in close. "At least it brought you two-" she began, then similarly whisked around to side of the now extremely unsettled konuul sitting next to him. "-closer together, right?" She then whisked back over to the final stone.

"Th-then..." Kuna started, holding onto Lykou tighter as realization began to dawn on him.

After the last stone was buried again, Inkari suddenly whirled around and faced them, the wind billowing her cape as she stared at them with a creepy, narrow-eyed, toothy smile. Her fur almost seemed to darken further, even despite various brightly-colored glowing streaks appearing on the few parts of her body not covered by her pitch-black outfit. Glowing orange claw-tips shimmered at the ends of her fingers. She was starting to look downright other-worldly. Her tail was wrapped in a pulsing swirl of glowing light that kept gradually changing color. She was starting to look downright other-worldly as she slowly walked towards them. "Tell me, boys..."

Suddenly, she vanished in a burst of smoke, only to reappear behind the two and lean down between their ears, placing her hands on their shoulders. "Do caves migrate?" she whispered, sending an icy chill down their spines.

She finally disappeared completely in a blinding flash of multi-colored lightening, accompanied by a loud clap of an all-too-familiar sounding thunder. They could almost hear the sound of strange laughter within its rumbling. Rain started pouring. The wind began picking up further, forming a cyclone-like effect around them. Yet both the wind and the rain seemed to avoid the campsite, forming a ring of calm amid the chaos.

Shivering with fear and sudden adrenaline, they quickly grabbed their things and looked around for some other place they could shelter. Suddenly, a path opened in the rain, leading into the woods. The two shared a frightened look, then took each other's hand and reluctantly ran towards the path. They continued running through the forest for what seemed like forever, with the rain and wind chasing them along the way. It reminded them of the evening they first met, although at least this time they were running together as friends. The trees and brush came to life, twisting and bending out of their way as they ran, until finally they slipped and went tumbling and sliding down a large, steep hill. Once they reached the bottom, everything suddenly went dark.

*****

They both awoke simultaneously with a jolt and looked around in a mild panic. They started to calm down when they realized they were unharmed, though they were still scared and confused. They were sitting in a clearing, with a large hill behind them. There was no sign of rain or wind, and the sky was fairly clear, with only a few small, white puffy clouds scattered around.

They both quickly embraced as they tried to make sense of the situation. "Did... any of that happen? Was any of that real?" Kuna wondered aloud. "The last day or two, I mean?"

"I... I think so, look," Lykou replied, pointing to the gourd-canteen sitting next to the sereva.

Kuna looked, then gulped. "Then... then sh-she... she was..."

"Yeah," the canid responded, rubbing the sereva's back softly. The two sat and held each other in silence for a short while, as they came to grips with the situation.

"Fuck, she's powerful," Kuna said eventually, shivering a bit. "And just... why??"

"Who knows. The bigger question is, what now?"

The sereva thought for a moment, then pulled back just enough to grasp the energy flowing through his soul, and see the mark appear on the back of his hand. "Well... the magic she taught me still works, at least."

"Yeah, but can we trust anything she said? She's the whole reason we're here in the first place!"

"I have no idea. But we have nothing else to go off of right now, do we?" Kuna replied, then sighed.

Lykou sat in silence for a moment, then shook his head. "I guess not. Still, how much of what she said was even true?"

"...technically, everything she said might still be true, even if she tricked us," Kuna said after a moment.

"What do you mean?" the canid asked, arching a brow.

"She never told us she met us on the mountain. She just let us make assumptions. She's sneaky, but she doesn't have to tell overt lies to deceive us. And that'd fit with the old stories, or at least the ones I've heard."

"...true. I wonder if she's really done with us now, or if we're still caught up in her... 'schemes'. And I'm really starting to question that whole thing about her being born mortal. I've never heard of 'jarzin' before, and everything about her makes me think she's still a powerful trickster spirit after all."

Kuna shivered at the thought. "Somehow, I don't think it matters."

They both sat in silence for a minute, before finally getting up and looking towards the nearby treeline. "Well... no idea if it's a trap or something, but I guess we might as well get walking."

"Yeah. Guess we'll find out the truth about those 'arches' she mentioned," the sereva replied, looking down at the glowing mark on his hand again.

With lingering apprehension, they set off into the woods, following the direction given by Kuna's magic.

*****

They walked for about half the day before finally arriving at a large, open field. In the middle was a collection of stone ruins. This set looked different from the ones they saw before, though. There was a different style to the architecture, and there was no plant life growing over any of it. It was also all made of uniform gray-colored stone. Most bizarre of all, however, was that most of the ruins consisted of broken chunks of floor, stairs, and walls floating in different angles in the air. It was like a tower of broken building pieces defying gravity. And as they looked up, they eventually saw what looked like an archway at the very top.

"What the fuck?" Kuna wondered aloud, giving voice to what they were both thinking as they stared in bewilderment.

"I don't see any glowy bits, how is that even possible?" Lykou asked, scratching his head.

"Well... if Inkari wasn't lying about them, this was left by the Syltheans," the sereva replied. "And supposedly they had their own weird kinds of magic, too. That's my best guess."

They cautiously approached the ruins, keeping an eye out for any sudden danger. Fortunately, none seemed forthcoming. The outside walls were devoid of any lines or decorations. There was a single entrance to the ruins, which led into a hallway that ran the length of the front wall, but seemed to dead-end at either side. The only notable feature was a straight, thin line that ran down the middle of the floor.

Lykou stood back and stared up at the bits of stone architecture hanging at odd angles in the air, while Kuna stepped into the hallway and looked around. The sereva was careful not to touch the walls, for fear of triggering another revolving wall section like their previous adventure. As he neared one end of the hallway, he suddenly found himself standing on a wall-free section of floor. As he looked around, he realized he was standing at a steep angle, almost completely flipped upside down. He looked down- or up, from his perspective, to see an equally startled canid looking back up at him.

"The fuck?!" they both exclaimed at the same time.

"Kuna, how did you get up there?!" Lykou asked. "And how are you not falling??"

"I don't know, I-... wait a minute," the sereva said, then took a few steps backwards. Suddenly, he was back in the hallway. He looked back and forth between the hall and the apparently false dead-end. Lykou was soon by his side, embracing him with a bewildered look. "What the fuck was that?? One moment you were standing upside-down on one of the chunks hanging up there, then you suddenly vanished when you walked towards the edge!"

"Yeah, this place is... here, let me show you," Kuna said, taking his hand and leading him through the strange spacial anomaly.

The konuul looked around a moment later as they stood upside-down on the floating floor section. "This is the weirdest shit yet..."

"No kidding..." Kuna replied. "...I wonder if it continues?"

"Be careful," the canid warned, as his friend slowly walked to the edge of the floor segment.

At the end, he vanished again, and reappeared on another section a little over a dozen yards away, this time standing at a ninety-degree angle to the ground. He looked over and waved at the konuul with a somewhat amused, if still perplexed expression. "Over here!"

Lykou looked over, then quickly followed suit and joined him. When he arrived, he realized the floor section they were on was larger and more square-shaped, like a room without walls. "Which way now?"

Kuna looked around for a minute, then down at the floor. "Hang on, let me try something," he said, then summoned up the green aura on his hand. He then bent down and tried to pour energy into the line on the floor. Unfortunately, he met resistance and nothing happened. "Damn. I guess just... pick one?"

The konuul thought for a moment, then led the way off to the left, towards the ground, with his friend following behind him. They found themselves at what looked like a t-intersection, tilted horizontally in the air. "Ugh, this is making me dizzy..."

"Let's be careful not to forget the way back, just in case," the sereva pointed out.

"Good point. Although... I wonder if we could jump down from here?" the canid wondered aloud.

"I wouldn't risk it. The way directions seem to keep changing, there's no telling what would happen."

"Hmm," Lykou rubbed his chin, then pulled one of the golzog knives out of his bag and carefully moved it out into the air past the edge of the floor. His eyes went wide in surprise when the tip of the knife vanished, only to appear a few inches above, pointed back at him. "What the-"

"Fucked up doesn't even begin to describe that," Kuna said, his eye twitching.

"No kidding," Lykou agreed. "I guess hopping down is definitely out of the question."

"We didn't inhale any of that shit in Inkari's damn pipe, did we?"

"I don't think so," the canid said, then thought for a moment and shivered. "At least I hope not."

"Hmm... before we keep going, let me see that knife."

"Okay?" the konuul replied, handing the black stone blade to his friend.

Kuna bent down and scratched a mark in the floor behind him, marking the direction they'd come from. "Be right back," he said, walking back to the previous section to mark it as well. But suddenly he felt disoriented. "Wait, which way did we come through from the first hall?" he called over to the canid.

"Uhh... left I think?" Lykou replied.

Kuna walked off to the left, then suddenly yelped as he found himself teetering on the edge of an especially narrow stone walkway further up in the air. "Nope!"

"Shit! Right, sorry, I was thinking backwards!" the canid said, turning to join the sereva. But the moment he arrived on the narrow path, he suddenly slipped and fell off the side. Unexpectedly, he neither inverted as the knife did in the previous section, nor did he fall all of the way down. Instead, he spun around partway down and landed on another platform, at an angle. "Fuck!"

"Are you alright?!" Kuna called over to him.

"Yeah, just..." Lykou slowly stood upright and looked around. There was a wall behind him on one side, but other than that he appeared to be at another junction. "Shit, now what do I do?"

"Wait there, I'll join-" the sereva began to say, then slipped and fell the other way- and ended up falling a short distance upwards. He landed with a soft thud and a groan on a landing at the base of some upside-down stairs. "Shit..."

"Are YOU alright?!" Lykou called up to him.

"Yeah... yeah," Kuna replied with a small grunt as he got up. "Just a little sore."

They both looked around with growing frustration and some mild panic at being separated. "Alright, just... hang tight, I'll see if I can find my way to you!"

"Alright," the sereva replied.

Lykou tried to walk to one side and yelped as he suddenly started falling off the edge, only to rotate around and end up on the bottom side of the piece he was just walking on. On the other side, there was a wall in front of him, forming another junction. He picked a direction at random and found himself standing on a long straight section, looking across at his friend, albeit at yet another odd angle.

"Wait, wait," Kuna said, looking around for a moment. Something had been tugging at the back of his mind and finally came to the forefront. "Something about this seems... strangely familiar, somehow."

Lykou looked around with a dubious expression. "Really?"

Kuna nodded. "Yeah. It's not exactly the same, but... remember my 'initiation' thing? The part I told you about where I was running on that shimmery path, and it kept vanishing behind me?"

"Oh yeah, you said it kept going at odd angles and stuff too, right?"

"Exactly. I wonder if I just didn't try the right energy," the sereva wondered, summoning up the pale blue aura before leaning over to try and feed energy into the line on the floor. Almost instantly, the lines all over the ruins lit up. But after a moment, most of them faded- except for a single path in each section.

"That's it!" Lykou cried out excitedly. "Good going!"

"Right, hang on, I'll meet you there!" Kuna said, then got up and started following the dizzying path going from section to section until at last he ended up on the same stretch as the canid. They quickly embraced as he caught his breath.

"Good thinking, Ku," the canid said, squeezing him gently. "I guess if we just keep following this line, it'll hopefully take us to the arch. Or at least back out of this mess."

"Yeah, I just can't believe I didn't think to try it sooner," the sereva said, rubbing his neck sheepishly after pulling back from the hug. "Still getting used to having more than one kind of magic to work with, I guess."

Lykou chuckled a bit. "That's understandable, don't beat yourself up over it. You just learned about It yesterday. Guess you should practice some with it next chance you get, too, huh?"

"Not sure how. All I've used it for so far is navigating, and that doesn't take much effort."

"Well, you could always experiment with things. Like the whole dream thing," the canid suggested. "Although you should be careful, it is connected to your soul, after all."

"Right... for now though, let's focus on getting out of here."

"Definitely."

The two followed the glowing line on the floor through another, much longer disorienting path through the floating, shattered ruins. They had to pause on several occasions to steady themselves and keep from getting nauseous. Finally, they ended up on a sideways platform near the top. The problem was that the line dead-ended at a plain glowing circle, and the final platform with the archway was at least ten yards above them.

"Well this is great. Now what?" the konuul wondered, looking up at the arch.

"...I have an idea. I just really, really hope I'm right," Kuna said, then took a breath and jumped off the side before his friend could stop him.

"KUNA!" Lykou called out after him in shock.

The sereva started falling, but after a moment, his body turned and his direction shifted. He was still moving at a worrying speed, but suddenly slowed down when he reached the bottom of the archway's platform. At the last moment, he was brought up around to the other side, where he landed gently in front of the arch. "I'm okay!" he called out over the edge, looking down at the canid.

Lykou braced himself, then took a running start and leaped after him. In a few moments, he landed next to the sereva. He grabbed him into a tight hug as soon as he arrived. "Fuck, you scared me!" he said, then gave him a look after pulling back. "I thought the crazy ideas were_my_ thing."

Kuna hugged him back, then grinned. "I figured if the path thing was similar to my dream, that jump might be, too."

"Good thing you were right. What happened to not taking unnecessary risks?"

"Well, given the way this place has worked up to this point, it seemed like the only logical way to get to the arch."

"I still shudder to think what would have happened if you were wrong."

"Me too, believe me," Kuna said, rubbing his arm. "But we weren't going to get anywhere just standing there."

"I guess..."

They both turned to look up at the large stone archway next to them. On the top there was a familiar spirit-sign that they knew to denote some kind of doorway. It was connected by a line to two other unfamiliar symbols on either side.

"Well... I guess this is it," Kuna said, examining the symbol on one side.

"I guess so," Lykou said, sticking close by.

They exchanged a look, then held hands as Kuna held a glowing hand up to the symbol and pushed another small bit of soul energy into the symbol. The whole thing lit up, and after a moment, the air within the archway began to ripple and distort like rippling water. Suddenly a vortext of swirling, shimmering light appeared inside it, accompanied by a flowing, steady wind and a faint whooshing sound.

"This is it," Kuna said, squeezing his friend's hand. "I guess we just... walk through?"

Lykou tightened his grip on his spear in his other hand and nodded. "Here goes... everything."

"Right."

They both stepped into the light and vanished as the portal closed behind them.