Hexus

~21~ Nether

[12:20AM, August 27, UTC +01:00]

Sakaki wasn’t sure what to make of the dark man; he was never really good at first impressions. He had seen Oliver and his sister fall unconscious from the glowing glassy shell, and common sense dictated that they weren’t asleep. Yuriko’s posture was one he had seen numerous times during their training with the Kazewarashii, she was ready for a fight. Even though he had no instincts to guide him, his logical deduction was that they were in some sort of danger.

“You shouldn’t have come here. You oyibo never seem to fear anything.”

The man chuckled to himself, his dark portal drifting lazily towards Yuriko. Sakaki steadied the platform of air beneath his feet and added a layer beneath Yuriko’s, just in case she lost focus. He knew it wasn’t as easy for her to manage the more precise magic of air-molding, and so he’d assumed the duty of being her lifeline.

As any honorable knight should, he thought, laughing.

“What’s funny?” the man asked with a frown. His approach had made his details clearer. His skin was evenly dark, blemished only by two moles beside his left eye, and his face was pleasant and creased laugh lines, suggesting to Sakaki that he was likely a carefree person. He didn’t look old by Sakaki’s estimation, not more than twenty five, at most thirty. His hair was his most remarkable feature; a large wild mass of curly black hair that seemed unable to support its own size and was pushed by every passing wind. He wore a dark blue polo shirt, his arms slack and hands lazily placed in jeans pockets. Nothing about him, other than the coal-black portal he was floating in, suggested that he was something to be feared.

“You are…Falowo?” Yuriko said slowly.
“I see you’ve heard of me. Who sent you?”
“Why do you assume we were sent?”
“Nobody comes to the Abiku forest without an aim,” he replied coolly. He crossed his arms and cocked his head, as though indicating that they should explain themselves. Yuriko seemed to shiver, but her face maintained a certain calm that belied the tension Sakaki could feel emanating from her. Falowo smiled slowly at their silence.

“What? Too afraid to speak?”
“We needed a scenario for affirming your abilities,” Yuriko said, her voice filled with cold disinterest. Falowo frowned and reeled back.

“My abilities?”

Abilities? Sakaki was confused. Though he did not understand English as much as Yuriko, the spell that relayed the meanings of other languages could not have misinterpreted what was said. He moved his eyes discreetly between Yuriko and the man, whose confusion was evident in his expression.

“Why?” he asked after a deliberate pause.
“A war is coming,” Yuriko said plainly. “We are recruiting allies from all over the world. The children you just defeated were our original choice, but we needed to test their mettle. And our easiest way was to pit them against another candidate. The victor would receive the invitation, as you have proved yourself to be.”

Falowo narrowed his eyes at them.

“I’ve been watching you since you walked into this forest. My eyes are everywhere. You mean to tell me that you aren’t with them?”
“Appearances, in this business of ours, are often deceptive. We only needed them to believe that we were companions. That way, they were more willing to defend us, thus unknowingly entering into the competition. I thought a man of your kind would understand such a simple ploy.”