Beginning Beyond The Horizon

Early in the morning, Yul woke up to the sound of birds chirping. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while before deciding to sit up. In the small woodshed that originally belonged to Abrafo, Yul noticed that one of the windows was missing a panel. No wonder the room was brighter. 

Yul slept very little last night because he was tossing and turning until his body couldn't stand the fatigue before he finally fell asleep. The intense conversation with Hajime kept him unable to sleep. He was afraid that both of them would be angry, so he didn't go back to the room. He was angry and disappointed that Hajime kept such a big secret from him. He was angry because he felt that Hajime didn't trust him as much as he trusted Hajime. He was disappointed because he felt that he might not be good enough for Hajime to rely on him. Even so, it doesn't mean that he will love Hajime any less. He thought it would be best for him and Hajime to each take a step back, calm down, and then work things out. Generally speaking, when the argument reaches its peak, solving the problem will not bring any good results, so he decided to sleep here last night to give Hajime and himself a chance to calm down. Yul knew that sooner or later he would have to face Hajime and solve their problems, and hiding here couldn't last forever, so Yul walked out of the room when he saw U-ri walking down the stairs.

"Yul?" U-ri walked towards Yul and asked. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping in your room?" He looked around. "You two were going to borrow the Trap Pavilion. So, what happened?" He took three steps towards Yul. "Do you have any conflicts with Hajime?"

Yul sighed and nodded.

U-ri asked, "About what?"

Yul said, "Hajime knows how to kill Eldrys."

"He told us already. He said he would let us know when the time comes," U-ri said, looking at Yul. "Did he tell you how to kill Eldrys?"

Yul nodded.

U-ri asked, "How?"

Yul said, "Pierce Eldrys's heart with the white dragon tail."

U-ri asked, "This shouldn't cause a disagreement between you two. There's more to it, isn't there?"

Yul sighed and said, "Hajime is the fifth key to No Man's Land. U-ri, do you know, the reason why he joined us is because Alvalokitesvara proposed a deal to him." When Yul remembered yesterday When Hajime talked to him in the evening, Yul suddenly felt betrayed and disappointed all over again.

U-ri asked, "What kind of a deal?"

Yul said, "If Hajime succeeds in helping us, Avalokitesvara will fulfill Hajime's wish. Therefore, Hajime plans to kill Eldrys once we enter No Man's Land. After Eldrys dies, we can take the white dragon tail to purify Tanzang."

U-ri said, "I don't see anything wrong with it, so what is the problem?"

"The problem is, he knew all along, he just didn't tell us," Yul said. "We work as a team, and this is valuable information that he was hiding from us."

U-ri said, "So, you feel betrayed and that leads to a disagreement."

Yul said, "It's not a disagreement. I was thinking, since I didn't hide any secrets from him, why would he hide such a big secret from me. What makes me lose my cool is that he knew this all along, he knew he could die, that's why he didn't want Meiji in the first place. I was supposed to be the first person he came to, but he kept these secrets to himself. He could have shared these things with me, but he chose to share them with Kaizen."

U-ri said, "Some things are hard to share with those closest to you." U-ri sighed. "It's the fear of disappointing the people they love. I think Hajime has his own reasons. It's a small problem, nothing that can't be solved." He patted Yul's shoulder gently.

Yul looked at U-ri and he asked, "Do you think this matter is small?"

U-ri smiled and said, "If you live as long as me, this problem is small. You are a reasonable person; you should understand this. Listen to my advice, leaving a disagreement over night and it will be more difficult to solve in the morning." He patted Yul's shoulder gently. "Let's go have breakfast. I want to see Abrafo's sleepless face." He chuckled. "I wonder how Meiji slept last night."

When Yul and U-ri entered the dining area, everyone was already seated, and some had already started eating. Yul looked at the small dining area and found that everyone was there except Hajime. He sighed, knowing that Hajime was probably still sleeping.

U-ri smiled and said, "Go get him."

Yul sighed and walked up the stairs and down the corridor to his room. He slowly opened the door and went in, but to his surprise, the bed and everything was untouched. He walked past the screen that separated the bedroom from the bathtub, but there was no one in the bathtub. He rushed out of the room, down the stairwell, out the door of the inn, and into the bustling morning streets.

The warm sunrise in the early morning brings a soft warmth. Hajime opened his eyes and looked at the beautiful horizon where the morning sky and the sea met. He turned to look at the eagle standing next to him.

Hajime smiled and said, "No matter which universe you are in, the morning sun is the most beautiful when it meets the earth." He opened the cross bag on his lap. He took out the white dragon scale. He sighed, placed the white scales on the ground, picked up a stone, and knocked twice on the white scales. The white scales had split into several pieces. "What a loss, but there is no other choice." 

"You know, when a scale breaks, it's no longer usable."

Hajime quickly stood up, turned around and smiled. "Baishui," he said as he walked towards Baishui. Hajime rushed over and hugged Baishui.

Baishui smiled and said, "You human's welcome greeting is too strange. I'm not use to it."

Hajime broke away from Baishui and took a few steps back. "Long time no see," Hajime said with a smile.

Baishui said, "It's been so long, I thought you would never come to Dreake City." He looked around. Where's the others? Usually, the five of you come in groups."

Hajime said, "They are coming. I just came to confirm that you are indeed here."

Baishui asked, "So, what brings you to Dreake City?"

Hajime said, "It was the Zahog Phoenix that brought me to Dreake City."

Baishui's face turned pale. "The Zahog Phoenix? How? She is in Mount Zins?"

Hajime said, "I...I may have released her from Moutnt Zins."

Baishui said, "Impossible? I know you have certain abilities, but your ability cannot rescue Zahog from the cell. The only way for Zahog to be free is for her to choose to escape from prison, but this will lead her to use all her strength to break the fire shackles chained her feet. By breaking the fire shackles, she will be severely injured."

Hajime said, "We were deceived by others. We got Zahog angry, and she did break the shackles. Zahog escaped from Mount Zins resulted in the death of many innocent people. Half of Maka City was destroyed." Hajime looked at Baishui. "Is there a way to defeat Zahog?"

Baishui said, "Lock her to an underwater cell for five hundred years, and the power fire in her body will slowly fade away. After five hundred years, she will be just an ordinary bird without fire."

Hajime asked, "Why didn't the person who put her in prison think of this?"

Baishui said, "All trials must be fair. She did cause huge losses, but she was the reason why the mortal king was able to imprison Eldrys in No Man's Land. Therefore, it is unfair to deprive her of her power."

Hajime said, "She's coming here. That's the main reason I'm here. Maybe you need to prepare for something worse."

Baishui said, "Greed is the evil of human beings." He sighed. "I will send a message to my father."

Hajime said, "I have to go back. I left without telling anyone else. I was worried that Zahog might have arrived."

Baishui said, "If she really escaped from prison, she would not have come to Kinigan Island so early. She needs time to heal her injuries and regain her strength before she can fully attack Kinigan Island. If my prediction is correct, she should be here in ten days or less."

Hajime said, "Then we still have time to prepare."

Baishui nodded. 

Hajime said, "Alright, see you tomorrow morning."

Baishui said, "Come to the city, I'll ask Jiāo to wait for you at the city gate."

Hajime smiled and climbed onto the eagle's back.​

Baishui said, "When you enter the city, walk like everyone else, don't ride on the back of an eagle. I hate explaining to the elders."

Hajime chuckled and said, "Do me a favor and ask your father to allow us to enter Kinigan Island."

Baishui said, "I can't guarantee that father will let you enter Kinigan Island."

Hajime waved to Baishui, and his eagle circled and swooped down from the cliff, leaving Dreake City, and flying toward the majestic green mountains.

After traveling for half of day, Hajime could no longer open his eyes. He ordered the eagle to land under a tree, and Hajime fell asleep. Hajime must be too tired and didn't dream of anything. He didn't know how long he slept. When he woke up, the sun had already set, and the shadows of the trees had covered the forest floor. Hajime jumped back on the eagle's back and continued flying north.