The Seekers

[Ash224]

Chapter 1: The Promise​

"Will you stay with me forever?" A young girl asked, tears in her eyes.

"Yes, I'll be with you forever." A young boy answered, trying his best to hold back his tears, but in that moment, it simply felt impossible.

A moment of silence fell between them, the only sound around them being that of the raging fire burning behind them.

It was a large fire, as large as the house it was consuming, and the boy knew that by sunrise, nothing would be left of it. Nothing would be left of the house they held so dear in their hearts, nor anything inside of it.

It was all burning away, slowly, yet surely.

"...Do you promise?" The girl raised her pinky, trembling fingers catching the flickering orange glow, her blue eyes sparkling from the firelight reflecting in her tears. For a second, her eyes felt as if they were some beautiful tiny sapphires.

The boy hesitated, his gaze going back and forth between the collapsing roof beams and her outstretched hand, before linking his own soot-streaked finger with hers.

"Yes, I promise. Cross my heart. Until the day I die." He answered, pressing his thumb against hers as if it was some kind of an old sacred ritual, and not just a promise between two kids, each 6 years old.

The girl's breath hitched, whether from the smoke or the weight of the vow, neither could tell.

And so... 6 years passed since that promise was made. Time passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.

...

Dolphin Island.

A small, green little island located in the middle of nowhere, out there in the large blue sea. Just a small green dot in the middle of a clear, crystal blue. The type of island one could easily miss if they weren't looking for it.

Oh, and it had the shape of a Dolphin too, which is how it got its name to begin with.

On this island, a certain brother and sister duo could be found. For better or worse, the twins were a little famous on Dolphin Island, for one reason or another.

They were something of a package deal, where whenever you saw one, the other was sure to be nearby. So it was a strange turn of events that one morning when a certain fishmonger spotted the boy all on his own.

The young boy was in a bad mood, which was obvious from the expression on his face. He wasn't good at hiding his feelings. Some would describe him as being an open book.

"Hmmm? Where is your sister, son?" The fishmonger's voice was raspy, like sandpaper rubbed against driftwood. He wiped his scaled hands on his dirty apron, leaving smears that caught the morning light.

The boy hesitated, just a flicker of hesitation, before kicking at a loose pebble.

"My sister? She's out with some boy somewhere." He rolled his blue eyes, annoyed. "So she can't play with me today, she said."

The brother was called Mika, and though he'd never admit it, his sister's absence gnawed at him worse than the island's crabs gnawed at driftwood. She was the only family he has left, and the vice versa is true.

The fishmonger, old Toru, chuckled. "Ah, I see. I guess your sister is now the age most girls start to think about boys and such. My daughter is the exact same!"

"Is it? And even if that's the case, why would she go out with THAT jerk Ryota?!" Mika could hide his annoyance no longer.

While it's true that the 12 years old boy was reacting like any brother would, disgusted by the idea of his twin sister being interested in anyone else, there was another reason Mika despised Ryota.

That boy had a habit of 'accidentally' bumping into girls near the docks, always grinning afterward like he'd won some prize for getting to touch them for a second or two. The fact it was Ryota who his sister, Maya, was interested in, only annoyed Mika more. It was as if she couldn't have picked a worse guy.

Old Toru sighed, scratching his stubble. "Ah, young Ryota. He's got his father's way with women, that one."

"Ugh, just WHAT does she see in him anyway?!" Mika kicked another pebble, this time sending it flying up the beach where it startled a sandpiper into flight. The bird's squawk mirrored his own frustration perfectly.

"Boy, if I can give you an advice, is that you'll never understand the heart of a woman!" Toru chuckled, wrinkles deepening around his grey eyes.

"But she's my twin sister! If there is anyone's heart I'm suppose to understand, it's hers..." Mika let out a sigh. "Maybe I should just go train with my spear..."

"Oh, I'd love to see you do a trick or two with that spear of yours!" Toru said, leaning against his stall.

"T-They are NOT tricks!" Mika's face burned hot as he stomped away, leaving Toru's laughter echoing behind him.

While Mika was spending his day being annoyed, his twin sister, Maya, was feeling the exact opposite.

"Should we really be here, Ryota?" Maya asked, blushing a little as Ryota held her hand and led her through one of the more forested parts of Dolphin Island.

This area was dense with foliage, making it hard to see the blue sky. It was one of the less safe places on the island.

Maya would normally never come here, but as Ryota suggested it, saying it'll give them the chance to be 'alone' together, the girl couldn't find it in herself to turn him down.

"Don't worry, Maya! I come here ALL the time! There is waterfall nearby, you'll like it I bet!" Ryota grinned, tugging her forward a little too forcefully. She tried her best to keep up.

He was a year older than her, but somehow acted younger in moments such as these. He had a lot of bravado and exaggerated swagger, which Maya found a bit charming for some reason.

"A waterfall? Ohh, I'd love to see it!" Maya giggled, feeling happy.

She was suppose to play with Mika today, just like she does on most of her days here on the island when she doesn't have any training to do with her staff, but when Ryota asked her out, the girl felt as if she was under some kind of spell, a spell called 'love'.

She had liked Ryota for a long time now, despite all of her brother's objections. She could only nod dumbly and follow the older boy when he asked her out. The sound of distant waves faded behind them, replaced by the rustling of leaves overhead and the screech of unseen birds every now and then.

"There it is!" Ryota pointed ahead excitedly, his grin widening as the sound finally reached them clearly over the rustling trees.

Maya's blue eyes widened.

A waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliffside ahead of them, silver-blue water crashing down into a clear pool below. Sunlight came through small gaps in the canopy above them, scattering against the falling water. Mist drifted lazily through the air, cool against her cheeks.

"It's beautiful..." Maya whispered, amazed by the sight.

"Heh, told you." Ryota crossed his arms proudly. He had a scar on one of them from a fight he had gotten into once. "Not many know about this place. Think of it as our little secret from now on!"

The clearing around the waterfall felt hidden away from the rest of Dolphin Island. The sound of the waterfall drowned out almost every other sound. Just for a second, Maya felt as if she and Ryota were the only people left in the world.

"Our little secret?" Maya repeated Ryota's words, feeling warmth bloom in her chest. "I-I do like the sound of that."

What the young girl didn't know, however, is that she wasn't the first, or even fifth girl which Ryota brought to this place. He loved using this waterfall as a way to make girls feel 'special'. Of course, he wasn't planning on telling her any of this.

For now, he simply sat down near the edge of the pool and stretched his arms behind his head, watching Maya with a satisfied expression as she stepped closer to the water.

"Wow!" Maya crouched by the water's edge, dipping her fingers in the pool. She could see her reflection as it trembled across the surface. She could see her blue eyes looking back at her, and the way her adopted father had styled her blonde hair earlier that morning.

If she had known she'd be going on a date with Ryota, she would have made sure to style her hair her own way. It was a small moment of self-appraisal, until Ryota's reflection suddenly loomed behind hers.

"It's really peaceful here, isn't it?" He said softly as he glanced over at her. "Told you it was worth coming."

Maya nodded, feeling a little silly for almost missing out. She couldn't help but think had she listened to her brother and not went with Ryota, she wouldn't have known of this beautiful place, hidden away in a place on Dolphin Island she'd never come too.

"Yeah, it is... Oh, do you also want me to keep this place a secret from Mika?" Maya hesitated as she asked. She felt as if she knew the answer already, but she still wanted to ask.

"I don't want him to start coming here and ruining it!" Ryota answered quickly, leaning a little closer. This was one of this favorite date spots, and he did NOT want a boy he disliked possibly hanging out around here.

Maya fell silent for a second. She understood why Ryota might want this place to stay just between them, but at the same time, the idea of keeping something hidden from Mika made her feel a little uneasy. Her twin brother always got upset when she didn't tell him things, even small things. Truth to be told, she didn't like hiding things from him to begin with.

Still, when she looked back at Ryota, who was watching her with that same confident smile of his, the hesitation slowly faded.

"Okay..." She said quietly. "I won't tell him."

Ryota's expression brightened slightly at that, as if he had successfully secured something important, though he quickly hid it behind a casual shrug.

"Good. Trust me, he wouldn't get it anyway." Ryota smirked, plucking a small fruit from a nearby tree and tossing it into the water, watching the ripples distort Maya's reflection.

Maya smiled faintly at that, though she didn't respond.

The waterfall continued to roar near them, filling the clearing with a kind of calm that made it easy to forget everything else. Maya found herself sitting down fully now, letting her legs rest near the edge of the pool as she watched small fish move beneath the surface.

Every now and then, a drop of water would splash up from the falling stream above and touch her skin, cold and refreshing against the warmth of the day.

For a while, it really did feel like nothing could disturb this moment.

Ryota leaned back on his hands, looking up at the canopy above them. "You know... I come here sometimes when I want to think." He said casually. "No one bothers you here. No annoying villagers. No noise. Just you and the water."

Maya tilted her head slightly. "What do you think about when you're here?"

Ryota paused for a moment, as if the question caught him off guard, before he shrugged.

"Just stuff." He said simply. "The future, I guess. Getting out of this island someday."

Maya blinked, a little surprised by his answer. "Get... Out? You want to leave Dolphin Island?"

"Yeah!" Ryota replied, still looking upward. "This place is fine and all, but it's too small. There's a whole world out there. Bigger islands, towns, places where things actually happen."

Maya listened quietly, unsure what to say.

"What about you? Do you want leave someday? Or do you to stay on this island, Maya?" Ryota turned his gaze back to her.

"…I think I'd be scared." She admitted softly. "The outside world is so big, full of all kinds of people. I find it all so overwhelming."

Ryota chuckled at her answer. "Of course you would. You're too soft!"

Maya puffed her cheeks slightly at that comment. "I am NOT soft!"

Ryota laughed again, clearly pleased with himself, as if the matter had already been decided in his favor. "Yeah, yeah, sure!"

The two of them slipped into the comfortable rhythm of idle conversation, with Maya occasionally glancing at the water and Ryota lazily throwing small pebbles into the pool just to watch the ripples they create.

For a short while, the world around them returned to that same calm feeling the waterfall always seemed to create, where time felt slower and the outside world felt far away.

Maya eventually let herself relax, leaning back slightly on her hands as she watched the falling water. "It really is nice here." She said quietly. "I'm glad you brought me."

Ryota gave a satisfied hum in response, but before he could say anything else, the atmosphere around the clearing shifted, not gradually, but in a way that felt immediately noticeable even without trying to pay attention.

The sound of the waterfall remained unchanged, yet everything around it seemed to lose its softness. The air felt heavier, as if it had thickened without warning, and the breeze that usually moved through the trees above them no longer reached the clearing in the same way.

"...Huh?" Maya felt it. Felt as if something was watching them. She felt her fingers tighten slightly against the ground beside her.

Ryota stopped moving, his hand still resting on a small stone he had been about to throw.

"Ryota…" Maya spoke, her voice quieter than before. "Do you feel it?"

"I feel it." He answered, though his tone had changed completely from earlier. The easy confidence was gone now, replaced with fear.

A silence fell over the clearing, broken only by the distant, guttural growl that came from the shadows beyond the waterfall. Maya's eyes widened, and she instinctively scooted back, her heart pounding fast in her chest.

Ryota's face paled. "What the hell?"

From the darkness, a massive shadow emerged. Its eyes glowed, piercing through the gloom, and the shape of the creature was unmistakable: It was the Shadow Ape.

Its fur was black as ink, which was where it got its name, yet its eyes shone with a cruel intelligence, fixating on the two young people it was staring at.

Maya's breath hitched. "Ryota… What is that?"

The creature stepped closer, its claws scraping against the ground, and it made a low, guttural sound. Its gaze lingered on them. Whatever it wanted from them, it surely couldn't had been good.

Ryota's hands trembled. "I… I don't know! Stay back! STAY BACK!" He grabbed a rock and hurled it at the creature. It bounced harmlessly off its matted fur. The Shadow Ape didn't even flinch.

The Shadow Ape's head tilted slightly, as if studying them. Its gaze was not just threatening but strangely fixated, and it was mostly on Maya.

Maya froze, fear choking her, her mind racing all over the place. Then just as suddenly as the creature showed up, it roared, a loud, guttural sound that shook the very air around them, and lunged forward.

"Run!!" Ryota shouted, dropping his stone. The boy didn't hesitate before he got up and bolted. He didn't want to find out just what this creature had planned for them.

Maya's legs moved before her mind could tell them to.

She scrambled to her feet, stumbling back from the pool's edge as the Shadow Ape crashed through the space where she had been sitting just a heartbeat before. Water exploded upward from the pool, drenching her as one massive clawed hand slammed into the ground beside her.

"Ryota!!" She screamed, spinning around.

But Ryota was already gone. He didn't turn back.

She caught just a glimpse of him, his back, his legs pumping hard, disappearing between the trees without a single look behind him. He had left her.

Maya stood frozen. Her mind told her to run, she knew she also should be running just like Ryota, yet her legs refused.

Slowly, as if afraid that any sudden movement might shatter something, she turned around.

The Shadow Ape had not lunged again. It stood at the edge of the pool, massive and dark, its ink-black fur catching none of the light filtering through the canopy. It simply watched her. Its glowing eyes moved across her face with something that made her skin crawl.

"...Please..." Maya whispered, her voice barely audible over the waterfall. Her hands trembled at her sides. "Please don't..."

The creature took one slow step toward her. Then another. It was as if it knew the girl couldn't possibly escape from him now.

Maya stepped back, only for her heel catch a wet rock at the pool's edge. She gasped, arms pinwheeling, before catching her balance at the very last second.

The Shadow Ape paused at her stumble, its head tilting in that same unsettling, curious way it had before. Her back was now to the waterfall. There was nowhere left to go.

The creature let out a low sound, not quite a growl, not quite anything she had a name for, and began closing the remaining distance between them.

Maya squeezed her eyes shut.

"Mika..."

His name flashed in her mind, the way it always did when things went wrong. She didn't even realize she had whispered it aloud until the word was already gone, swallowed by the sound of the waterfall.

 

[Ash224]

Chapter 2: Saved by the Lightning​

The forest didn't care that Ryota was running for his life.

It offered him no clear path, no mercy, branches whipping at his face and arms as he crashed through them without looking back. Not once. He wouldn't even allow himself to take a second to rest.

"I have to get away!!" Ryota's breath came in ragged gasps. His lungs burned and his legs screamed. He has never been this afraid before. "I have to get away from that thing!!"

He didn't slow down until the trees thinned and the familiar smell of salt air and fish reached him. The smell of the village, of people, of safety. Only then did Ryota let himself stop, doubling over with his hands on his knees, gasping for the air he very much needed.

He stayed like that for a long moment. "...It's not following me, is it?" Ryota whispered to no one in particular, before risking a glance back over his shoulder. The tree line swayed gently. There was no hulking shadow, no glowing eyes, no strange creatures. His heartbeat slowed just slightly, though his fingers still shook.

When he finally straightened up, wiping the sweat from his face, his eyes landed on the last person he wanted to see right now.

Mika was standing not twenty paces away near the edge of the tree line, spear resting across his shoulders, his expression unreadable at first. His blue eyes scanned Ryota's face, confusion painted on his features before realization darkened them.

"Ryota, what's wrong with you? You seem like you've seen a ghost." Mika frowned, lowering his spear slightly as he approached the other boy. For a second, Mika thought Ryota was running from some stupid fight he had gotten himself into. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.

The silence between them stretched. The older boy's face was pale, his breathing ragged, and his usually smug expression had completely vanished. Mika could tell something is wrong here, perhaps more than he originally thought.

"I...Ugh..." Ryota wasn't sure what to say. His mind wasn't exactly in the best state it could be right now.

"...Where is she?" Mika's voice was low. Almost calm, strangely. "Where is my sister? Wasn't she with you?" The spear shifted slightly in his grip.

Ryota opened his mouth. The words didn't come the way he wanted them to. "T-There was this creature, an-and it came out of nowhere, I swear, and it was huge, I've never seen anything like it—"

"Where is Maya, Ryota?!" Mika snapped, his knuckles whitening around the spear shaft. The calm in his voice cracked like ice underfoot, his blue eyes just as cold. He couldn't find it in himself to pretend to be calm anymore.

Ryota's gaze slid sideways involuntarily, back toward the forest. It was just a flicker, half a second at most, but it was enough.

Mika's fist connected with his face before Ryota even saw him move. The impact snapped the older boy's head sideways, sending him staggering back with a choked gasp, his hand flying up to his nose. "What the?!"

"Where is she?! You left her, didn't you?!" Mika's voice cracked again on the last word in a way he would have been embarrassed about under any other circumstances. "You ran and left my sister alone with that creature you're talking about?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Ryota snapped back, anger flaring up through the pain and the shame in equal measure, his hand still pressed against his nose. "What was I supposed to do?! Fight it?! You didn't see the size of it, Mika, it was—"

"I DON'T CARE HOW BIG IT WAS!!" Mika's voice cracked again, louder this time, raw in a way that had nothing to do with anger anymore and everything to do with fear. Fear for the person most dear to him. " How can you leave a girl on her own?! She doesn't know how to fight, she doesn't... You were supposed to—!!!" He stopped. Swallowed hard. His jaw tightened.

Ryota's expression shifted, something defensive and ugly rising to fill the space where guilt had briefly shown through. "Oh, spare me. Like YOU would have done any better against that thing!"

Mika stared at him for one long, trembling second. As much as he really wanted to beat the freaking crap out of Ryota right now, he knew that now wasn't the time. Now was the time to go and find his sister.

"Where did you take her?" Mika asked, feeling stupid for not having asked that earlier. His hands were shaking, his fingers tightening around his spear.

Something in his tone made further argument feel suddenly pointless. Ryota told him. The waterfall, the clearing, the path through the dense part of the forest on the island's eastern side. He had barely finished the last word before Mika was already moving, spear in hand.

"H-Hey! Wait! You can't seriously be going back in there!" Ryota called after him. "That thing will kill you!! We should let the adults know!" His panicked voice cracked halfway through the sentence.

Mika, however didn't answer. He didn't even look back. He simply only ran, fast as his legs could carry him. He couldn't afford to waste one more second on Ryota.

The forest swallowed him whole.

He ran harder than he had ever run in his life, harder than any training session with his adopted father, harder than any race along the beach with Maya when they were small.

Branches tore at his arms and legs, and yet he didn't let that slow down. Even as his lungs burned, he still didn't slow down.

"I should have never let Maya go alone!" Mika thought, his chest tightening with guilt as his feet pounded the earth. "This is all my fault! All my fault, all my fault, all my fault!" He repeated inside his head. His mind raced with all the possible scenarios of what could be happening to Maya right now, each worse than the last.

As much as the young boy's head was a mess right now, Mika knew one thing however, and it's that he can't live without his sister. He knew that they would be either both coming back to the village, or he will be dying in this forest today with her.

Soon enough, the sound of the village fell away behind him, replaced by the dense rustling of the deep forest, and then gradually, by something else. The waterfall.

He smelled it before he saw it. The cool damp air and mist, and then the trees broke apart as he burst into the clearing and skidded to a stop.

"Maya!!" Mika's voice ripped through the place. It was a desperate, guttural cry that felt wrong coming from his throat.

He quickly managed to spot her. Maya was on the ground near the water's edge, slumped against a mossy rock, her eyes closed. Her clothes were disheveled, her blonde hair loose and tangled around her face, and she was so completely, unnervingly still that for one terrible half second the whole world seemed to drop out from under Mika entirely.

"Maya—" Her name tore out of him once more before he could stop it.

Then he saw her chest rise, and then fall. She was breathing. Sadly for him though, the relief lasted exactly as long as it took him to register what was standing over her.

The Shadow Ape was enormous. His ink-black fur which both somehow made him stand out while also blending into the darkness of the forest. It was one of those things once you notice it, you can't unsee it. Once you see the creature, no matter how much you wish for it, you can't unsee him.

"W-What is...that?" Mika didn't understand what it was he was looking at, but he could tell it was dangerous right away.

Mika could see the claws that the creature had gouged deep lines into the earth around where Maya lay, and those horrible glowing eyes of his which were fixed on his sister with an expression that made something primal and furious ignite behind Mika's ribs.

His hands were shaking. He didn't know if it was fear or rage. Probably both. Either way, he knew he couldn't simply leave things like they are right now.

"HEY! YOU!!" Mika's voice ripped through the clearing.

The Shadow Ape's head snapped toward him. Those glowing eyes shifted from Maya to Mika, and for a moment the creature simply regarded him the same way something very large and very dangerous regards something it considers beneath its notice.

Mika planted his feet. His spear came up. He wouldn't claim to be an expert fighter, but he'd trained a lot since the fire 6 years ago. He was confident he knew the basics, at the very least.

"Get away from her!" His voice wobbled slightly on the last word despite himself. He hated that it did. "Get away from Maya!"

The Shadow Ape moved.

What followed was not a fight so much as a brutal, humiliating education.

The 12 years old boy was fast, genuinely fast, and he knew how to use his spear. He drove forward again and again with everything he had, targeting the creature's chest, its sides, the joints of its massive arms. He landed hits. Real hits. He knew he did.

His strategy coming into this fight was "If it's a big target, it would make it easier for me to hit him." Little did he know that hitting him alone won't be enough, as The Shadow Ape barely felt them.

It caught his spear on the fifth lunge, one enormous hand wrapping around the shaft and wrenching. Mika held on, held on far longer than was wise, and got lifted clean off his feet before his grip gave out.

"Gah!" He let out as he hit the ground hard, tasted blood, and was back up before he had fully processed the pain.

His spear was gone, no, the Shadow Ape had it now, was turning it over in its clawed hands like a curious child inspecting a toy.

"Y-You bastard!" Mika lunged forward. He kept fighting. Fists. Feet. A fallen branch snatched from the ground. His elbow driven hard into the creature's knee.

He was relentless and furious and completely outmatched and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it, had probably known it from the moment he saw the thing, and he didn't care even slightly. Even if his best wasn't enough, he would still rather die trying than give up.

"Maya is right there... There is no way I'm stopping!" He thought to himself as the Shadow Ape casually backhanded him mid-lunge.

Mika's vision whited out for half a second, and that was all the time the creature gave him to rest before it caught him by the front of his shirt, ripping it a little while doing so, and threw him like he weighed nothing once more.

He hit the ground near the tree line, his vision turning white again, then grey, then slowly reassembled itself into the familiar shapes of trees and sky and the roaring waterfall.

"That hurt..." He slowly spoke. His lip was split and bleeding. Every breath sent a sharp protest through his left side. His spear was somewhere across the clearing, far out of reach. Not that it would have helped him much anyway.

He tried to get up, but his arms buckled.

"...No." He gritted his teeth, vision swimming. "No— get up— GET UP!!"

He couldn't. No matter how much he shouted at himself, his body was simply not listening to him anymore.

For the first time in his life, Mika genuinely couldn't get back up. Maya was right there, and the Shadow Ape was already turning away from him, its attention sliding back toward her with horrible, patient certainty, as if he had been nothing more than a minor interruption.

He watched through blurred vision as the creature crouched beside Maya's limp form, one massive hand pressing flat against her stomach.

"MAYA!!" Her name ripped out of him, desperate and cracking and nothing like the voice he wanted to have right now, tears blurring his vision hot and humiliating. His fingers dug into the dirt, arms still shaking uselessly beneath him. "Maya, wake up! Please!"

He felt as if all hope was lost, but then... The sky cracked open.

There was no warning, no gathering clouds. One moment the canopy above was green and gold from the sunlight, and the next, a purple colored bolt of lightning split the air with a sound like the world being torn in two, slamming into the ground between the Shadow Ape and Maya.

The Shadow Ape recoiled with that bone-rattling screech, stumbling back several steps, his composure shattered for the first time.

"H-Huh?! What's happening now?!" Mika's head jerked up, tears still wet on his face.

It was then he realized that someone dropped from the trees.

The someone in question was a woman. She landed in a low crouch between Maya and the Shadow Ape, one hand still extended from the strike, the last wisps of electricity curling from her fingertips like smoke.

She rose slowly and calmly, as if she wasn't staring a creature that had just effortlessly dismantled Mika moments prior.

"Who's that?" Mika blinked rapidly, his vision clearing just enough to take in the woman's silhouette. She was beautiful, he thought, he couldn't help but stare at her.

She had long dark, black hair, which fell loose down her back. She wore travelling clothes on her slender body, worn and practical, and at her hip there was a short blade which she hadn't drawn yet. She looked to be around 27, with the kind of calm in her expression that made it very clear she had done crazy things like this before. Many, many times.

"...She's not a bad sight..." Mika thought, blinking again as his gaze traced the curve of her hips. "Wait, now isn't the time for that!" He became suddenly and acutely aware that he was still lying in the dirt with a split lip, tear tracks on his face, and absolutely no dignity left to speak of.

The woman didn't look at him yet. Her attention was entirely on the Shadow Ape, which had recovered from the lightning strike and was now squaring itself toward her with a low rattling growl, its fur standing on end. The creature can tell this woman is a threat.

"Been tracking you for three days." She said to it, conversationally, like she was commenting on the weather. "You've caused quite a lot of trouble, I hope you know."

The Shadow Ape screamed at her. Mika knew if he wasn't on the ground already, that scream might have just knocked him off his feet. The scream left the leaves nearby shaking.

The woman, however, didn't even flinch. Her dark blue eyes simply stared back at the creature as she drew her short blade.

"It's as they say, The Shadow Apes are as ugly as sin." The woman murmured, unbothered.

Purple lightning started gathering around her blade. She was getting ready to finish this. The Shadow Ape's ink-black fur stood fully on end, also preparing to strike the second the woman steps close.

Little did the Shadow Ape know, however, is that she never needed to get close. Suddenly, Mika saw the woman flick her wrist, short blade in hand. The lightning streaked outward in a whip-like arc, snapping through the air.

The Shadow Ape barely had time to blink before the crackling energy coiled directly into his chest and went out the other side.

"Magic!" Mika thought to himself, watching the scene in front of him with wide eyes. "She can also use magic..."

The sound of the lightning shook the trees. The Shadow Ape crashed to the earth and did not get up.

The clearing went quiet. Just the waterfall and the faint crackle of electricity coming from the woman's fingertips. Mika's ears rang, his pulse still pounding in his throat as he watched the Shadow Ape's unmoving body, its fur smoking where the lightning had struck.

The woman stood over the creature for a moment, watching, making sure it was really dead. Then she straightened, shook the last sparks from her fingers, and finally turned around.

Her dark blue eyes found Maya first, still unconscious, but still breathing.

"Hmm? This girl... She's..." She spoke to herself, a strange expression on her face. Whatever it was, it was gone before Mika could make sense of it.

And then, she looked at him. Mika had no idea who she could possibly be. All he knew was that no way was she someone who lived on Dolphin Island. This was the kind of place where everyone knew of everyone, and something told him a woman who fights with a short sword and lightning magic would easily stand out.

She crossed the clearing and crouched down in front of him, looking him over with a quick, practical assessment. Up close her eyes were dark and sharp.

"M-Maya..." Mika started immediately, his voice still rough. "My sister, is she..."

"Breathing. Unconscious. She'll be alright, you don't have to worry." Her voice was calm, direct, and somewhat soft. "You charged a Shadow Ape with a spear, correct? You should worry more about yourself. You do realize that was reckless, I hope."

Mika wiped his face quickly with the back of his wrist, trying his hardest to find any strength left in his body to push himself upright. "...It was going after her. What other choice did I have?"

The woman remined silent for a second. "I suppose not many. You were brave, that's for sure." She reached out suddenly, pressing two fingers against Mika's forehead, only to flick him before he could react. "Yet also stupid."

"Ouch! D-Don't call me stupid! And.... Just who are you? You aren't from Dolphin Island, are you?" Mika asked the questions he had wanted to voice since she appeared. He had other questions, such as what she's doing here and such, but for now, he thought they could wait.

She glanced once more toward Maya, something hidden behind her gaze.

"Raiko." She answered, looking back at him. "I'm a Seeker."

 

[Ash224]

Chapter 3: The Radiant Girl​

The walk back through the forest was slow.

Raiko carried Maya without complaint, the younger girl's limp form draped across her back, blonde hair falling loose over Raiko's shoulder. She moved through the dense trees carefully, stepping over roots and ducking branches without breaking stride.

Mika walked beside her, spear in his hand. He picked it up once the Shadow Ape was dead for good.

He had offered to carry Maya himself, but Raiko simply said "You are in no condition to do that." And that was that. This was the second time she had helped him now, which was starting to make him feel a little guilty. He didn't like feeling like he owes people anything, even more so if what he owes them is his sister's life.

"It only makes me feel like a burden..." Mika muttered under his breath, glancing at his sister's pale face.

He trailed slightly behind them, doing his best not to limp, which was mostly unsuccessful. Every other step sent a sharp reminder through his left side that his ribs had strong opinions about the Shadow Ape encounter, and his torn shirt hung off one shoulder in a way that he was fairly certain made him look considerably less impressive than he would have liked.

"You don't have to walk so fast." Raiko said, without looking at him. "I can slow down if you'd like." Her voice was just as calm as ever.

"I'm fine!" Mika said immediately. "I can handle this much."

She didn't argue. She also didn't slow down, which he appreciated more than he would ever say out loud. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to treat him like some weak little kid.

For a while the only sounds they heard were the birds in the forest,resettling in the canopy above, the distant fade of the waterfall far behind them, the soft crush of leaves underfoot.

Mika kept glancing at Maya's face over Raiko's shoulder, his blue eyes watching for any sign of movement. Her expression was still, her breathing slow and even, her lips slightly parted.

"She's still unconscious..." He said. It came out more like a question than he intended.

"She is." Raiko confirmed.

"Is that... normal? After something like that?" Mika's fingers tightened around his spear, his voice rough with leftover adrenaline and something softer beneath: Helplessness.

Raiko was quiet for a moment. "Her body is protecting itself from shock. It's not uncommon for this to happen when people find themselves facing something overwhelming. I'm sure her strong mag-" She paused briefly all of the sudden. "I'm sure she'll wake on her own."

Mika frowned at Raiko's hesitation, catching the way she stopped herself mid-sentence. He would have asked more, but he simply thought "Now isn't the time..."

Instead, he watched Raiko from the corner of his eye, which he was also doing his best not to make obvious and was also mostly unsuccessful at.

She really was, he thought for approximately the fourth time since the clearing, extremely beauti-

"Ouch!" He let out as he suddenly stubbed his toe on a root, stumbling forward a little. He was a bit too busy admiring Raiko's looks to notice the root.

"Focus on where you're walking." Raiko said without turning, though Mika caught the faintest hint of amusement in her tone.

"Grrr!" He couldn't help but blush a little.

After what felt like forever, the village appeared through the trees in pieces. The smell of cook fires first, then the distant sound of voices, then the familiar weathered rooftops of Dolphin Island.

A few villagers near the tree line noticed them immediately, and the ripple of attention spread fast the way it always did on a small island where anything out of the ordinary became everyone's business within minutes.

"What's wrong?"

"Those are the twins! Did something happen?"

"Is Maya okay? Who's that woman?"

"I don't know, man, but she's sexy!"

"Hey, I saw her first!"

Comment after comment. Raiko didn't pay attention to any of them though, while Mika ignored the stares as much as he could.

He was already scanning ahead for the one person he needed to find, and he spotted him before they'd fully cleared the trees.

"There he is, thank goodness..." Mika muttered under his breath as he spotted the person he had in mind.

A man in his late 40s by the name of Soro was standing outside their house with his arms crossed, which was, Mika reflected, more or less his default position. He was a broad, square-shouldered man with close cropped grey at his temples and a jaw that looked like it had been carved from driftwood and left in the sun too long. He was wearing his usual expression, which could generously be described as unimpressed with the general state of the world.

Oh, and he was also the twins' adopted father, on top of everything.

He took one look at Raiko carrying Maya, and his arms dropped to his sides. He crossed the distance between them in about four long strides. "What happened here?"

"Are you these children's guardian?" Raiko asked, shifting Maya's weight slightly to study Soro's face.

"That I am, now speak!"

"Shadow Ape." Raiko answered simply. "In the eastern forest. She's unharmed, just unconscious. She'll wake soon."

Soro's eyes moved from Maya's face to Mika's, taking in the split lip, the torn shirt, the way Mika was definitely not limping. His expression did something complicated that lasted about half a second before settling back into its usual configuration.

"Let's take this inside, people are starting." Soro's voice cut through the murmurs of the gathering crowd. "All of you."

Their house was modest the way most houses on Dolphin Island were modest. It was made up of two small bedrooms, a main room with a low table and floor cushions, a kitchen that smelled permanently of whatever Soro had most recently burned attempting to cook on days Maya wasn't home to stop or help him.

There were also weapon on the wall, It was a spear considerably older and far more battered than Mika's own. The young boy had grown up looking at it without ever fully thinking about its origins.

Raiko laid Maya carefully on the low cushions near the window, settling her head gently before straightening up and stepping back. She glanced around the room, her dark blue eyes used to checking her surroundings out of habit rather than any particular concern.

Mika quickly ran to Maya's side. "Maya..." He whispered as he held her hand.

Soro came in behind them and slid the door shut. "Take a seat." He said to Raiko, gesturing at the cushions. "You too, Mika. You shouldn't be standing."

The boy nodded, though part of him didn't want to leave his sister's side, but he knew his body needed a little bit of rest right now. His ribs were demanding so of him, actually.

Mika sat. He set his spear against the wall beside him and tried to look like he'd chosen to sit down rather than needed to.

Soro turned to Raiko. "You said 'Shadow Ape', right? You killed it?" Soro almost found it hard to believe. Soro was, for better or worse, assuming Raiko was just a normal woman.

"Yes." Raiko answered, fingertips brushing the hilt of her short blade. "You can ask Mika here if you'd like confirmation." She nodded toward him without looking away from Soro.

Soro didn't do that, instead he looked at her properly for the first time then, taking in the blade at her hip. "You're a Seeker."

Mika didn't have much time to process it, but here was that word again. A 'Seeker'. He knew of them, heck Mika would be shocked if there is anyone in the whole word who doesn't know what a 'Seeker' is.

"Monster Seeker." Raiko confirmed. "I'd been tracking the Shadow Ape for three days. It somehow managed to cross from the mainland to the island, which was unusual enough to follow." She paused. "And I fear it wasn't here by accident."

Soro's eyes moved briefly to Maya, then back to Raiko. "No." He said quietly. "I don't imagine it was."

"...Huh? What do you mean?" Mika asked, confused, and a little worried, only for Soro to ignore his question.

"So you know what she is." Raiko said. Not quite an accusation. More an observation, stated simply the way she seemed to state most things.

"I had a suspicion, but I was never sure." Soro's knuckles whitened where they rested on his knees.

The room was quiet for a moment.

"My name is Soro. Soro Ashren." The man introduced himself finally. "And what's yours? I must thank you for saving them."

Raiko gave a short nod. "Raiko. And you don't need to thank me, I was only doing what that I seek."

Soro was quiet for a second. "Can't say I know the name. Are you a new Seeker?"

At this point, Mika was starting to get frustrated. He felt as if these two were having a conversation on their own as if he wasn't in the room, which only added hurt to his already very hurt body.

"I've been a Seeker for nine years, so I wouldn't say I'm new." Raiko replied, her voice carrying an edge that suggested she'd fielded this question before.

"She's been a Seeker for nine years?! That's so long!" Mika thought to himself a little amazed, but mostly shocked. He knew female Seekers were a thing, sort of, but to meet one in person was still surprising. Even more so when he thinks about what a small place Dolphin Island is.

Something shifted briefly in Soro's expression. He pulled out the chair at the head of the low table and sat down heavily, the way a man sits when he's carrying something he doesn't intend to put down any time soon. He looked at Mika for what like the first time in a long time.

"A Shadow Ape..." He started. "You're hurt. I assume you tried to fight it?"

"Yeah..." Mika responded, his voice a little shadky. "I heard from Ryota some 'creature' attacked them. Once I learned he left Maya behind, I dashed towards her right away, with my spear in hand, and yet I..." The boy didn't want to continue his story, as he didn't like how it ended.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of shame as his adopted father stared him in the face.

Soro looked at him for a long moment. Then he leaned back and let out a slow breath through his nose. "You got your ass handed to you by a monster and then sat on the ground crying until this woman here came to rescue you, right? Is that how this story goes?" His voice was gruff, but Mika caught the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Mika's face went immediately and completely red. "I wasn't — I didn't — I was trying to get back up—"

"Boy." Soro's voice didn't rise, which somehow made it worse. "You got saved by a woman. That's what happened. Own it."

The silence that followed had a particular texture to it. Mika's jaw worked silently for a moment. His face was still red. He looked at the floor, unsure how to defend himself. He knew deep down that Soro wasn't wrong.

Raiko, seated now on the cushion across the table and apparently finding something very interesting about the grain of the wood surface, said absolutely nothing.

"...Yes." Mika said finally, through his teeth. "That's what happened."

"Good." Soro nodded once, as if this was the correct and only acceptable response. "Now." He looked at Raiko. "You said the Shadow Ape wasn't here by accident. Explain."

Raiko turned to look at Maya.

"To start with, you do know that girl is able to use magic, correct?" Raiko tilted her head slightly.

Soro nodded. "I do. Heck, I'm the one teaching her for a matter of fact." He leaned forward, elbows on knees. "But she's just barely getting started. Why?"

"...Some people," She began what Mika felt would be a long explanation, but as it had something to do with his sister, he was all ears. "Are different. Their gift runs deeper than the surface. It isn't just that they can use magic, it's that they radiate it, whether they intend to or not. To certain creatures, it reads as something closer to a call, something which attracts them to the source."

Mika had been listening quietly. "And Maya is one of those people?!" He asked, not so quietly.

"Yes, she is."

He was quiet for a moment. "And how do YOU know?" Mika asked, and it was then he remembered the way Raiko had used her lightning magic earlier during her fight with the Shadow Ape. He wasn't sure if her talent for magic had something to do it with or not.

"I can sense magical potential in others." Raiko answered the younger boy's question. "Just like how I can sense some magical potential in you, Mika, and Soro over there, I can also sense just how much of a strong potential is within Maya. It's part of what makes a good Monster Seeker, as you learn to read what creatures are drawn to. When I found the clearing and saw her, I understood immediately why the Shadow Ape had come so far." She paused. "The girl has more potential than I've sensed in a very, very long time."

Mika found all of this hard to take in. The young 12 years old boy turned to look at his sister's still face across the room. Maya, who healed scraped knees with a touch and gentle words. Maya, who carried her staff and begged their adopted dad to teach her how to use it. Maya, the healer, as some people on Dolphin Island call her.

"...A lot of magical potential? A-Are you sure? I mean, yes, Maya DOES know how to use healing magic, heck she's a little famous on the island because of that, but still..." Mika didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe his dear, beloved sister, somehow had something within her which could attract that which is dangerous to her.

"Yes, I'm sure. One doesn't always know just how much potential they truly have." Raiko studied Maya's sleeping face with her dark blue eyes.

"She's been training as a healer since she was a young girl." Soro spoke. His voice was careful in a way it hadn't been before. "Since she was small, she had talent for it. I'm no expert on healing myself, but I have small knowledge on water magic, so I did what I could."

"Healing magic... Yes, with her talent, she'd need a water mage master who can guide her properly." Raiko spoke as she looked at Soro.

"She needs more than what I can offer her, I'll admit that much." Soro said, something in his voice that wasn't quite pride and wasn't quite worry but lived somewhere between the two. "I only know enough to point her in the right direction."

"You mentioned you sensed some magical potential in me too." Mika asked , latching onto that detail before it slipped away. "What does that mean exactly?"

"It means you have some." Raiko said simply. "Less than your sister, but likely similar in nature. That's not unusual for siblings, even twins. You likely are gifted with water magic too." She paused. "Though, given how you fought earlier, I suspect yours manifests differently."

Mika shifted uncomfortably. "Soro tried to teach me some basics. Mostly I just focus on the spear. I knew I had some magic in me, but I always simply thought Maya was the talented one between us when it came to that, so I didn't bother with it..." His voice trailed off as he glanced at his still-unconscious sister, wondering just how she'd react once she learns of all of this.

"The spear is good." Raiko said. "But magic and a spear together is considerably better than either alone." She glanced at Soro. "You'd agree."

Soro made a noncommittal sound that was clearly agreement dressed up as neutrality.

Across the room, Maya stirred.

It was small at first, just a faint crease between her brows, her fingers curling slightly against the cushion beneath her. Then a soft sound, barely audible, and her eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light filtering through the window.

Mika was across the room before she'd fully focused.

"Maya!!" He dropped to his knees beside her, and whatever composure he'd been managing to hold together for the last hour quietly dissolved. "Hey! Hey, I'm here. You're home, you're safe, it's okay."

Maya blinked at him. Her blue eyes moved slowly around the room, the familiar ceiling, the familiar walls, their adoptive father, Soro, at the table, the unfamiliar woman she didn't recognize, before coming back to her brother's face.

"...Mika...?" She let out. For a second, she was wondering if this was all a dream or not. Her voice came out small and rough.

"Yeah." He responded. "It's me."

She looked at him properly then. Really looked at him, the split lip, the bruising already darkening along his jaw, the torn shirt hanging off his shoulder, the careful way he was holding himself that meant his ribs hurt more than he was letting on.

Her expression turned into something more complicated. "You're hurt!!"

"I-I'm fine." The boy lied.

"You're not fine! Look at you! Your shirt is—" She pushed herself upright, and Mika moved to help her without thinking, hands steadying her shoulders. She let him, just for a second, before her eyes found his face again. "What happened? The last thing I remember is the waterfall, and that scary creature, and then—" She stopped. Something moved across her face. "Ryota ran away...."

"Yeah..." Was all Mika could say. His voice was very flat. He wished it wasn't so, but it was the truth. Ryota did run away, and that wasn't something he could or even wanted to hide from his sister.

Maya was quiet for a moment. Whatever she was feeling about that, she kept it behind her eyes. "And then... you came after me? Is that why you're hurt?" She started putting the puzzle together bit by bit.

"Of course I did! I ran to you right away."

She looked at him for a long moment, and Mika watched something tighten and then release in her expression, like a knot slowly coming undone.

"You idiot..." She said softly.

"Yeah." He agreed.

She reached out and touched his jaw very gently, just below the bruising, and he tried not to wince and mostly succeeded. "Take your shirt off." She said, though it was more like a demand. "I'll heal what I can and sew the rest."

"Maya, you just woke up, you don't have to—" He wanted to object, but she quickly cut him off.

"Mika." She gave him a look that was extremely familiar, the particular look that meant the conversation was over and he was going to lose regardless of what he said next. "Shirt. Off."

He wanted to tell her about what Raiko said, but it could wait a bit longer.

With a sigh, he took his shirt off.

 

[Ash224]

Chapter 4: Together​

It became, unexpectedly, the quietest part of the day.

Soro had moved to the kitchen to make tea, which he normally always did badly and without apology. Raiko remained at the table, having taken out a small worn journal from somewhere in her travelling clothes and apparently finding it more interesting than anything else currently happening, though Mika noticed she wasn't actually writing in it, but instead reading it.

Maya sat cross-legged in front of him, her staff across her knees, her hands moving slowly and carefully over the worst of the bruising along his ribs.

The boy sat stiffly, very aware of his own bare skin. He could feel the afternoon light touching the lean lines of his shoulders, the way his ribs moved visibly beneath the bruises whenever he breathed too deeply.

"Ouch!" Mika let out, feeling slight pain.

"It'll feel better soon." The girl responded. Where her fingers passed, a faint warmth followed, a soft blue-white light, the color of shallow water in sunlight. Mika could feel that the sharpest edges of the pain dulled gradually to something more manageable.

Her expression while she worked her magic was focused and quiet. The kind of focused that meant she was thinking about something else entirely.

"You should have told someone, you know!" She said eventually, without looking up. "Before you ran in there. You should have gotten an adult, or—"

"There wasn't time, and you know that!" Mika responded as he rolled his eyes.

"There WAS time. Ryota said to get the adults, didn't he?" Maya wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily.

She's aware her brother did what he did because he cared for her, but that doesn't mean it makes her feel any better to see his body like this.

"Ryota..." Mika said, with considerable restraint, "Can say whatever the hell he likes. He left you there."

Maya went quiet. She was trying her hardest not to think of that. She doesn't need any more pain right now.

"I'm not sorry I came." Mika continued. "I know I lost. I know I couldn't— " He stopped. Swallowed. "I know I wasn't enough. But I'm not sorry I tried! AND I would do it again!"

Maya's hands stilled against his ribs, her fingers brushing the lines of muscles.

"You could have died..." She said, her voice very quiet, as if she was afraid to even say it out loud.

"So could had you!" Mika's voice cracked slightly, the raw honesty of it catching them both off guard.

She looked up at him then. Her blue eyes were bright in a way that had nothing to do with magic. "..That's different."

"No it's not!"

Raiko, just for a second, took a glance at the twins. "These two sure are loud." She thought to herself before she went back to reading her journal.

"Maya, listen..." He held her gaze. "You're my sister. Did you honestly think I was going to stand outside the forest and wait? Did you think for one second that was something I was capable of doing?"

She looked at him for a long moment. Then she looked back down at her hands, resuming her work, and didn't answer.

Which was, Mika understood, her way of saying 'No. I didn't think that. I never thought that.' He thought it was cute how she always refused to outright admit he was right in moments like these.

"Thank you." She said finally, so quietly, he almost missed it beneath the sound of Soro clattering something in the kitchen.

"You don't have to thank me." Mika muttered, shifting slightly where he sat.

"I know I don't have to." She smoothed her fingers one last time over his ribs, the light fading gently. "I want to."

She set her staff aside and reached for her sewing kit, which she'd retrieved from her room at some point between waking and now, because Maya was the kind of person who always knew where her sewing kit was. Mika can't count the amount of times she fixed his torn clothes before.

"...Can she really fix the damage that creature did though?" Mika wondered to himself, unsure.

Maya shook out his torn shirt and examined the damage with the same focused expression she'd given his injuries, as if a ripped shirt was a problem with the same weight and deserving of the same care.

"I remember buying him this shirt..." Maya murmured to herself, fingers tracing the edges of the claw marks.

Mika watched her thread the needle. It was then he realized now maybe was a good time to talk about some important things.

"Raiko told us something." He began. "While you were sleeping. About you."

Maya's hands paused for just a fraction of a second. "About me? What do you mean?" The young girl was a little confused. Why would a woman she only met today know something about her? She couldn't begin to guess.

"Yeah, about you." Mika nodded, unsure how his sister will react. "About your magic, to be more exact." He hesitated, glancing towards Raiko, who at this point was only pretending to read.

Despite finding this strange, Maya's hands resumed their movement, needle pulling thread through the torn fabric in small careful stitches. "My magic? What did she say?"

"That your gift runs deeper than you know. That what you radiate — Just naturally, without trying — Is what drew that monster, the Shadow Ape, here." He paused. "That it's going to keep drawing things, Maya. It won't be the last time."

He really didn't want to have to tell her that last part, but he knew if she had to hear it from anyone, it had to be him.

The sewing slowed slightly. The room was quiet enough that the sound of thread pulling through fabric was almost audible.

"...How much deeper?" She asked.

"She said she hasn't sensed potential like yours in a very long time."

Maya wasn't sure how to react for the first few seconds. It almost didn't sound real. She knew she had a talent for water magic, but she never expected to hear any of this.

"So I'm... I'm dangerous to be around?" Maya concluded, feeling her hands tremble as she knotted the thread.

"That's not what I said!" Mika quickly objected, grabbing her trembling hands.

"It's what it means..." Maya whispered, staring at her hands still held in Mika's. The needle slipped from her fingers, landing soundlessly on the wooden floorboards. She glanced up briefly. "It means Ryota bringing me into that part of the Island didn't matter after all... It means anywhere I go, I'm—"

"We." Mika corrected.

She looked at him, a little confused.

"Anywhere we go." He said, this time making sure she understood him. "You're not doing anything alone. That's not changing."

Maya looked at him for a moment, something flickering behind her eyes. She was trying her best to hold back her tears.

Few minutes later, she handed him back his shirt without a word. The tears were nearly invisible.

And just as soon after, the tea appeared.

It was not good tea, but it was hot, and nobody said anything about its quality because Soro was the one who had made it and certain battles were just not worth fighting.

They each sat around the low table, the four of them, cups in hand.

"So...." Soro looked at Raiko over his tea. "A Monster Seeker for nine years you say? How old were you when you became a Seeker?" Soro asked, not caring about the fact he should never ask a lady her age.

"...Since I was 18." Raiko answered, sipping her tea without flinching despite its bitterness. The steam slowly touched her face, softening the sharp lines of her cheekbones for just a moment.

"Hmmm." He leaned back, arms crossed. "And you passed the Seeker exam at such an age? That's young."

"It's been done younger." Raiko said simply.

Mika listened with both elbows on the table and what he was fairly sure was a completely neutral expression, which, based on the single sideways glance Maya gave him, was probably not as neutral as he thought.

"And you've always been a Monster Seeker?" He asked. "Since the beginning?"

"Since the beginning." Raiko confirmed. She turned her tea cup slowly in both hands. "Some Seekers change their seeking over time. I haven't felt the need."

Mika was trying his best to hold himself back, to not start asking the woman question after question, but the truth is it felt nearly impossible.

"Wait, there's an exam? Like, anyone can take it? At any age?" Mika leaned forward, his tea forgotten, fingers twitching like he was already imagining holding the pen.

"Technically, yes." Raiko answered yet again. "The exam has no age requirement. Only a survival one."

"A survival one?!" Mika's blue eyes went wide. He knew about Seekers, but he didn't know anything about this exam of theires.

"It means you have to survive it, genius." Soro said flatly, giving him the look. "Use your head!"

"I KNOW what it means!" Mika snapped, going red.

Maya, quietly sipping her tea, stared at Raiko. She wasn't sure what to think of the woman. On one hand, she did save her and her brother's life, so for that, she was thankful, but on the other hand, there was a part of her that wished Raiko wasn't a Seeker.

She knows her brother, and heck, nearly every boy she knows on this island, has at some point dreamed of becoming a Seeker, something she couldn't relate too at all. "What a boyish dream that is..." She whispered to to nobody in particular.

Mika looked at her. She wasn't looking back, just watching the steam curl up from her cup with an expression he couldn't quite pin down.

Soro turned his attention back to Raiko once more. "The Shadow Ape wasn't here by coincidence, as you said earlier. Does that mean more creatures might show up here on the island?"

Raiko set her cup down. "I can't deny that possibility. The girl's power will only grow as she gets older. The stronger it becomes, the further it reaches. Dolphin Island is small, which has helped so far. But it won't keep helping. What found her once will find her again." She looked at Soro with a serious stare. "I imagine you know what this means, correct?"

Soro said nothing, which was its own kind of answer.

"She needs real training." Raiko continued. "More than just healing. She needs to learn to pull it inward rather than let it radiate outward unchecked. That kind of guidance doesn't exist on this island, as far as I know."

The room went quiet.

Mika was staring at the table. He could hear the sea outside, the ordinary sounds of the village going about its late afternoon, the same sounds he'd heard every day of his life, and for the first time they sounded like something slipping away, instead of something which he thought would always be there.

Maya, on the other hand, had gone very still.

"Maya..." Mika let out, unsure what to say. He could feel the weight pressing down on her shoulders, and the worst part was that there was no way he could take some of it off of her.

"If I stay here..." Maya began after a moment, looking at Raiko directly. "What you're saying is that something else will likely come here, eventually, right? Something just as scary as that... Thing."

"Yes." Raiko said. Simply, without apology.

"And if I leave. If I train. If I learn to..." Maya searched for the word. "Pull it in. Like you said. It gets safer?"

"It becomes more manageable." Raiko corrected. "I won't promise you'll be safe for all time, but controlled is better than uncontrolled, as in most things."

Maya nodded slowly. She looked back at the table for a moment. Then she looked at Mika.

He was already looking at her, but the words simply won't come out. He couldn't figure out what he should say to make his beloved sister feel better. He wasn't sure if such words even existed.

Soro looked at the two of them. Then he picked up his tea, took a long sip, and set it back down. "Well..." He said. "This has been a wonderful afternoon."

"Huh?! How can you say that, old man?!" Mika snapped.

"I'm being sincere."

"No you're not!!" Mika snapped, hands slamming flat against the table. His tea sloshed violently but didn't spill.

"Finish your tea." Soro said, unfazed by Mika's outburst.

Raiko, for her part, said nothing. But Mika caught it, the small barely-there curve at the corner of her mouth that she didn't quite manage to suppress in time.

He decided that was enough for him.

...

Raiko left as the sun began lowering toward the water.

She gathered her things without ceremony, the way she seemed to do everything. Soro walked her to the door and said something low that Mika didn't catch, and Raiko answered just as quietly. Then Soro went back inside without further comment, leaving the door open behind him.

Mika followed her outside. He's not sure why, but some part of him simply wanted to see her off, even though he barely knew her.

They walked a few steps down the path together before she stopped and turned slightly, adjusting the strap of her pack.

"About the Seeker Exam..." She said, without preamble. "Port Calden to the north. It starts in three months." She glanced at him with those sharp dark blue eyes of hers. "I'm not telling you what to do with that information."

Mika was quiet for a second. "...You're telling me anyway though."

"I'm telling you it exists." She said. "And that the exam takes candidates of any age. And that three months is not much time." She looked at him steadily. "What you do with that is your own business."

He nodded slowly, filing every word away somewhere careful.

"You fought well today." She continued in the same unhurried tone she used for everything. Mika was a caught off guard for a second. He didn't think she would compliment him. "For what you had and what you knew."

"Soro, the old man, said I got saved by a woman." Mika muttered, toeing the dirt with his sandal.

"Does that bother you?" Raiko asked, tilting her head slightly.

"....A little, yeah." Mika admitted. "But—" His fingers curled into loose fists at his sides, then relaxed again. He hesitated before adding, softer. "Thanks.... For saving us, I mean." He couldn't help but blush. Just as he didn't like feeling he owed people anything, he also wasn't used to thanking them. "Without you, my sister and I wouldn't still be here."

Raiko almost smiled. He caught it this time, just barely, before it disappeared. He couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Then she turned and walked away down the path, her long dark hair catching the last of the afternoon light, in the direction of wherever she was going next.

"See you around, Mika." Raiko tossed the words over her shoulder like spare change, already halfway down the path.

Mika stood and watched until the path curved and took her from view. "I'm sure she has the prettiest smile... What a shame I couldn't see it." He thought to himself, kicking at a pebble and missing completely. "Damn, I should have asked her if she has a lover out there or not!" He inwardly kicked himself, though his face burned at the mere thought of being so forward.

Behind him, Maya's voice drifted from the doorway, quiet and dry: "Mika, are you coming inside? You'll catch a cold."

"Coming!" He responded as he went back inside.

That night, after Soro had retired and the house had gone quiet, Mika lay on his back in the dark of his room and stared at the ceiling.

Dolphin Island at night sounded like waves and wind and the occasional distant cry of a seabird, the same sounds he had fallen asleep to for as long as he could remember. They were good sounds. Comfortable sounds. The sounds of a life that fit around him the way an old worn thing fits.

He and Maya had shared this room for as long as he could remember. Two small beds pushed against opposite walls, close enough that they could talk without raising their voices, which they had done more nights than he could count. Tonight though, Maya's bed was empty. She was lying beside him instead, the way she sometimes did when something had frightened her, staring up at the same ceiling with her hands folded over her stomach.

Neither of them had suggested it. She had simply come in, looked at her own bed, and climbed into his instead. He had moved over without a word.

"You're not sleeping." Maya said quietly. "Am I bothering you?"

"Nah, never." Mika responded. "And neither are you."

She conceded this with a small tilt of her head.

"That woman... She told you something, didn't she?" Maya spoke, her voice soft. "When she was leaving. I saw your face when you came back inside."

Mika was quiet for a second. Then: "She told me about the Seeker Exam. Port Calden to the north. Three months from now."

Maya absorbed this. "Three months from now isn't very long..."

"No." Mika's fingers brushed against Maya's wrist. "Not long at all."

"We'd have to to train like crazy then, so that when it's time to leave the island, we'll be ready." Maya whispered, shifting slightly so her shoulder brushed against Mika's in the dark.

Mika looked at her, confused. "We?"

Maya met his gaze evenly. "Did you think I was going to let you go alone? I always knew becoming a Seeker was one of your dreams."

"Maya—" Mika began, only to be shut down.

"I heard everything Raiko said today." She said quietly. "About what I am. About what stays here if I stay here." She paused. "I've been thinking about it since she said it and I can't stop thinking about it and I think—" She stopped, taking a breath. "I think staying is the scarier choice, actually. When I think about it that way. I don't want the people I love here to possibly get hurt because of me, just like you did today..."

Mika looked at his sister for a long moment. At the way she was holding herself carefully, the way she always did when something cost her more than she wanted to show.

"Even so, you don't have to!" He began to object. "Just because I want—"

"I know I don't have to!" She looked at him. "But I want to." She paused for a second, trying to gather her thoughts. "Also you would absolutely get yourself in trouble without me there to keep an eye on you. You are hopeless without your sister." She teased him lightly.

"That is genuinely offensive..." He spoke. "But not totally wrong..." He whispered this last part, avoiding eye contact.

"It's also true." Maya murmured, shifting closer under the thin blanket.

He looked at the ceiling again. Then back at her. Something was sitting in his chest that he didn't have a clean word for. It felt too large and too warm and slightly terrifying in the way that things you've wanted for a very long time become terrifying the moment they start to feel real.

"...I was ready to throw away the idea of ever becoming a Seeker, for our promise." Mika began. "But if you're going with me then..."

Maya didn't hesitate as she raised her pinky in the dark.

"We go together." She said. "We stay together." A beat. "Until the day you die. Which, just so you know, I intend to make sure is a very long time from now."

Mika laughed. It came out rough and quiet and real.

Then he linked his finger with hers, the same way he had once before, when they were 6 years old and the world was burning behind them. In a way, that fire changed everything, but Mika doesn't regret it, not once.

Her skin was warm against his. He could feel the soft press of her thigh where it brushed his, the way her breath hitched when he didn't let go right away. Neither of them moved to pull apart.

"Cross my heart. Until the day I die." He agreed, repeating the words he had once spoken when they were just children.

Maya smiled at that — A small, genuine thing — And settled back against the pillow. "Let's sleep." She said. "Today was a very long day... We also have a lot to figure out tomorrow."

"Yeah." Mika agreed as he nodded, feeling his eyes grow heavy.

A comfortable silence settled over the room. Outside the sea did what it always did, indifferent and endless.

Mika stared at the ceiling. He thought about Port Calden, wherever it was. He thought about Raiko walking away like she always had somewhere worth going.

He thought about Maya at the waterfall, her reflection trembling in the pool, and the creature that had crossed an entire sea for her without her knowing.

He thought, briefly and carefully, about the fire from his childhood. In a way, that day was a dark day, and yet, despite it being a tragedy, he was pretty sure he wouldn't change a thing about it, even if he could go back in time.

Beside him, Maya's breathing had slowed into sleep.

He closed his eyes, both his mind and his body were exhausted.

And as the twins rested, outside, the sea went on being the sea.