"Time flies when you're having fun!" Tiva said, throwing her legs in the air as she sat herself on a trunk next to Nayavu. Her short dress made of feathers flung and hit the boy over the face when she miscalculated and fell on her back, but the girl got back up quick, dusted herself, and spoke like nothing had happened.
"So, are you ready for your big adult moment?" she asked the smug man.
"You call it that, but it's just a ceremony. I've seen it many times. There's nothing here that could catch me off guard!"
"You say that, but your legs seem pretty restless~"
Looking at the starry sky, Nayavu took a deep breath, letting his thoughts run wild and then settle themselves.
"Must be your imagination," he said as he got up. "Just look at me. I'll be done with it in a minute!"
Slowly, everyone gathered in a circle around a bonfire in the middle of the village. All of the adults there held a torch except for two.
Next to the open fire, the elders of the tribe gathered, starting the ceremony with a traditional dance.
The first to rise from the circle, standing as tall as one and a half Nayavu, was Tatanka—one of the two adults with no torch. His festive facial painting was a distinct grey, unique to only the mentor in the crowd.
With slow yet firm steps, the man headed for the tall bonfire, and with a loud roar, he stuck his hand in it, pulling out a torch of his own. He lifted it above his head and screamed two words in a forgotten language.
The next one to rise was the second person without a torch. Being the second youngest to have completed the pilgrimage—mere months before Nayavu—Tiva got on her feet and walked towards the fire, wearing an uncharacteristic straight face painted in blue lines.
Just seconds after Tiva got up, Nayavu followed. His hands empty, he started walking behind his friend, making sure to stay only one step away from her.
When the two reached the bonfire, Tatanka slowly lowered his torch as the villagers around started singing.
The one to receive the torch with confident eyes was Nayavu, having Tiva cover his hand with her own as they both held on to the burning stick.
Once the torch had been passed, Tatanka lowered his head and backed up next to the elders, joining them in their song.
Nayavu's eyes strayed for a moment, falling on the woman beside him. In return, Tiva showed him her confident smile and gave him a nod when the time came.
Guided by the one who came before him, Nayavu lifted the torch, Tiva's hand slowly letting go. Around them, the song got louder and louder, encouraging the young man to complete the last step of the ceremony.
All he had to do now was turn towards the fire and throw the torch back in.
Before doing so, he took one last look at the man who had been there for him all along. Tatanka glanced back at him, and with a wink, he signaled the boy to complete his journey.
It was also then that rain started falling, as if urging Nayavu to hurry.
He wanted to see the world through a kid's eyes one last time, so as he flung his hand back, he faced the sky that had been with him through his countless lives. Every tragedy, every happy moment, everyone he held dear lived under the same sky. Past, present, and future, the sky was always there to see it all, to cry for 'him', and to shine light on 'his' achievements, no matter how small they felt in comparison with the many years 'he'd' lived. The sky had always been 'his' friend.
That's when it clicked.
"There are no clouds."
Yet the rain got stronger by the second.
The next moment, Nayavu threw the already extinguished torch to the ground and screamed for everyone to hide.
One step ahead of him, Tatanka ran to grab his weapon while Tiva was already busy opening cracks in the land around the village.
"The Remans are here!" a running man screamed from the north as he approached the village. The moment he'd reached the rest, his body went limp, riddled with holes from which he'd bled dry.
"Take cover from the rain!" Nayavu shouted, aware of the war tactics used by the enemy.
Under the cover of rain, water attacks came from left and right. This fake rain created by the invaders served to both wet the battlefield and hide the direction of their piercing strikes.
But who would be crazy enough to allow such an expensive attack for a small village?
As Nayavu pondered how the aggressors gathered enough water in the middle of the plains, a familiar and highly painful noise rang in his ears. That noise gave him the answer to his question.
The underhanded use of sound magic together with the funds to launch such an attack narrowed it down enough for the boy to figure it out.
"Aurelio!" called the attacker's name.
"It's the general! He's coming at us with all he has!"
Nayavu did his best to warn the others, but one look around was enough to make him lose his composure.
Many of the Inyankarans around were barely carrying themselves to cover, but when it comes to water, nothing around could truly be considered safe.
Everything around was already soaking wet, and the artificial rain still wouldn't end. Corpses were piling up everywhere, and by the time Nayavu managed to pinpoint and counter the noise, the blood of half of the villagers painted the ground red.
Before the enemy army even came into view, the battle already seemed lost.
As for Nayavu, he stood motionless, trying to wrap his head around the massacre going on around him.
It was thanks to Tiva, who pulled him away next to a tent, that he wasn't killed on the spot by stray water jets.
"Nayavu! Take this! We're pushing back!" she said as she handed him a stone lance.
Next to the two stood Tatanka together with the survivors they managed to gather. After a short exchange of glances, everyone clad themselves in stone to the best of their ability and ran north towards the attackers.
As the rain finally ran out, the enemy slowly came into view. As expected, standing in front of them was Aurelio Marcelli.
"Oh? Would you look at that! Our old friends came here to welcome us!~"
"You monster!" Tiva screamed, but Yumino put a hand on her shoulder, asking her not to give the general the satisfaction he desired.
"Why have you come? Wasn't the last beating we gave you enough?" Nayavu intervened in an attempt to intimidate the man.
"You call that a beating? You've merely destroyed my vacation home. Don't pride yourself with such lowly achievements."
"Ha! You seem awfully mad at me for my 'lowly achievement.' Mad enough to follow me here with your whole army, at least."
Though he spoke with confidence, Nayavu's hands were shaking. It was not fear that made him tremble; it was anger—the same anger that lit up the eyes of every remaining villager. It was futile to try and keep up the tough act. They were playing with the cards facing up. Aurelio had the clear advantage both on the field and in their heads.
"Don't kid yourself! You don't really think I came all the way out here in the bushes for petty revenge, do you?"
"Don't tell me, did you get lost?"
The general gave back a displeased look. Even with the clear difference in strength, it was obvious that Nayavu's cocky attitude was getting to him.
"The jokes of the savage are as depressing as one would think. But I feel kind tonight, so I'll give you the choice to become my little helpers rather than corpses on this field. You have to answer one question," the General said.
"We're not into army people, sorry!" said Tiva, joining Nayavu in the battle to decide whose tongue is sharper.
"Filthy! Don't worry, I wouldn't lay a finger on any of you even if my position was at play!"
As he said that, Aurelio took a step forward, stretching his hand towards the Inyankarans.
"The Sacred Waters of the Serpent. Tell me where they are."
*****
The story of the wolves had been told for generations. The elders told it to the youngsters; the youngsters learnt it by heart and told it further, and the cycle continues.
Generation after generation, searching for the wolf became the goal of many young adventurers. They would go on their pilgrimage and bother their mentors with their wild goose chases, but nobody ever found the wolf.
Why didn't they find it? Because the story had been made up.
There was no pack of wolves. There was no tragic death. There was no hateful individual who would spend eternity looking for permanence. The story was meant to keep children from wandering too far, and it didn't even manage to do that. Overall, it was a bad story.
Or so it should have been.
"The 'Sacred Waters of the Serpent'? What are you talking about?" Tiva asked, her eyes shooting daggers at the invader in front of them.
"Oh? You're the one asking me? Aren't you savages supposed to be in touch with the nature around you? I'm the one who came to you for answers."
"And I'm telling you, we know nothing about any such waters!"
"I see…" Aurelio said. "Then I guess I must have been mistaken. I guess this means we have nothing to search for around here. Excuse us."
As those words left his mouth, a nearby basil readied his rifle, and with no warning, he shot at the white-haired girl. It was thanks to Nayavu being on guard that the shot didn't reach its target. With his quick thinking, he managed to block the bullet with a stone, but that was not his initial intention.
I guess time magic is out of the books right now…
He remembered being able to use it back in Tsukide, but Nayavu's memories were now jumbled up. Anything past raiding the castle became a blur in his mind. The price of trying to forget—the price of hiding his trauma—was not cheap. In fact, it cost the boy an awful lot of potential.
"How silly of him! His hand must have slipped…" Aurelio said, having not budged from the spot he was in.
"But if our negotiations fell through, I wouldn't want to leave you all here to cry over your loved ones' bodies. I guess this is as far as you go."
"Don't act like you ever thought about giving us a choice!" Nayavu intervened, pointing at a man right next next to the general. The man in question had bloodshot eyes and foam at the corner of his mouth. He was barely keeping himself together—no, his mind was long gone. Something else kept him standing.
"You've had that guy try and do us in with sound magic multiple times already!"
"Oh? I almost forgot about your little tricks. So the reason you are still standing is not his incompetence. Then, he is forgiven. You may let him go."
After Aurelio spoke, the lifeless body of the soldier fell next to him, splashing mud around and dirtying his clothes.
"Well then, I figure we can be on our way now. Arms ready—"
"It is here! The water is here!" the voice of an elder resounded suddenly.
"Mother!" Tatanka called to her, but the woman ignored him.
"The Sacred Waters are indeed within this country. They can be here or far away. It depends solely on the wishes of the Horned Serpent."
"I see. Do continue, woman."
Despite Tatanka trying to catch her by the arm, the elder stepped forward, continuing her explanation.
"But the likes of you may never get your hands on the waters! The serpent will make sure of it!"
The general was not impressed by the woman's courage nor by her defiance. He looked behind, calling for a man from the crowd.
As the man stepped next to the general, it was Nayavu whose whole body stiffened.
"Hm? I was going to present my lieutenant to you, but from the looks of the youngster, I figure you already know him?"
Everyone's gazes turned on Nayavu. The boy tried to say something, but words wouldn't come out.
"Gi…"
"But that would be very strange… I remember him being pretty stealthy. That hit over your head should have left you unconscious long before you saw his face…" the general continued, taunting the trembling Inyankaran.
"Gi…"
"Do you know him?" Aurelio asked the lieutenant next to him.
"No, Sir! That fight out in the plains was the first time I've seen this man."
"Well, it certainly seems like he knows you."
It was then that Nayavu finally found his voice. Through a scream, he blurted out the name of the lieutenant.
"Giovanniiii!!!"