“I expected this but wow, my eyes are starting to hurt… Everywhere is just red.”



She found herself looking again at the twin moons of the night sky. It has been a habit of Prism for as long as she remembers.

“Even here, it looks kind of red.”

This piqued the curiosity of Cherry, who was still interested in her random stories around the world. Being the most comfortable with the stranger, she moved closer to the Pluvian and decided to talk more about it.

“Do you know Ater and Akari?”

“Who?”

Cherry pointed at the moon with a seemingly burnt face next to the bright, white one.

“The dark god and the light goddess, forever bound to the chase. Ever since Ater got his light stolen by the sun, he and his sister kept running in the sky, up to this day. I’ve always found myself inspired by them, like telling us to ‘Never give up!’ or something like that… Don’t you think so, too?”

“Bound to the chase, huh…” With her eyes kept on the stone-paved road, she lets out a small exhale and makes the tiniest smile.

“I suppose so.”

Cherry got mind blocked by Prism's expression, causing her to not be able to think of anymore topics to talk about. She went to Marcus and asked him to go ask the huntress something.

"I knew it, but I'm still scared of her! Can't you say something to her? I thought you liked huntresses or something."

"I-I'm... shy."

"You? Shy? That would never happen in a million years!"

"Tehee." Marcus says with his tongue sticking out, signaling some mysterious nefarious plan in his mind. Cherry gave up for now.

Everyone was silent again, but because of the chirping of the bloodhoppers, the clacking of metals inside their bags and sacks, every little plop and smack of their leather boots, and the occasional howling of the creatures of the night, all while they are sandwiched between the mountain ranges of the land, it was comforting for them. Prism strangely felt like she was home and thought that maybe her blood has something to do with it. She felt like praising the Crimson people.

“I have to commend your Empire with your roadworks. It’s paved and there’s even lamp posts on the sides. Although that one…” Pertaining to one of the posts that is not lit up.

Chroma opened the lamp post and chants, “Art of Red: 1,” to light the combustible material inside up with a tiny flame.

“It’s our duty to light up these whenever we see one unlit.”

“This kind of stuff is only possible because we Crimsons are united by our race and follows our laws,” Celosia adds.

“That’s nice.” Prism says sarcastically, gaining Celosia’s infamous glare.

“They were carved and placed by the Orange slaves though…”

Chroma and was reminded of Apoy and went towards her, who is far behind the group carrying all of the things of the group.

“Hey, are you all right? I can help you carry some of these.” He grabbed one of the sacks and immediately falls to the ground due to its sheer weight.

“Oh, never mind...” Fully ashamed, he went all the way to the front of the group where he can’t see their reactions. He definitely heard a giggle though, and it was definitely Cherry.

“Like a pack mule…and I almost thought this country was civilized.” It seems that Chroma took great pain in those words.

“You don’t have slaves in Pluvia? They’re pretty useful, we have one that washes our dishes!”

“You are just lazy, Marcus! I personally don’t really enjoy having one at home. Thankfully Dad doesn’t want one too.”

“I'm not saying I want one too, but look at her though. She’s well-fed, provided with an excellent home, and is given the honor of serving a prince. I’d say she has a better life here than wherever dump she came from,” defended Celosia.

Not convinced, Prism directly asked straight from the mule’s mouth.

“All I’ve ever known is the life where I serve the Scarlet family. And I’m happy about it!” With such a genuine smile, Prism accepted it as the truth.

“You doesn’t seem to be lying…”

"Yes. I will serve Master Chroma with all of my soul."

Meanwhile, Marcus ignored by everyone, “Hey, does anyone hear that?”

“See, Pluvian. You don’t know anything. That's what you get for being-”

“Rawr!”

“I’m talking, Cherry! Rude!”

“Huh? What did I do?”

They heard the nearby bush berries rustle and everyone was on guard. Celosia made the first move by burning the bush too see better as only a distant lamp post is illuminating the bush. Native creatures of the red lands are usually resistant to fire, so this shouldn’t hurt them at all. The origin of the rustle started to come to view, with its tiny little paws, brown fluffy ears, and black round nose popping out from the leaves.

“Uwaaa~! A bear cub!”

The cub doesn’t seem to be intimidated by the humans and approaches them without care. Several other cubs pop out of the same bush and follow their leading brother. Cherry catches one of the cubs and lifts it to the air and hugs it. The others either do the same or pat them in the head.

“So cuddly~!”

“W-What the hell are these dog monsters?!”

“They’re not dogs. They’re cuddly bears! Don’t worry, they are friendly. Some of us even keep them as pets.”

“Ohh… Even that gigantic one bearing its fangs?”

“BRAAAAAAAWWWWR!!!”

"Now is my chance!"

Marcus went to the roaring grizzly bear and like a pouncing tiger, pushed its prey down with all its might. The huntress was caught surprised when she saw the red lad squeezing the monster so hard that it let out squeaks of pain.

“Seriously, what is going on here?”

Marcus grabs meat from one of his pouches and fed it to the bear. With a sigh of relief, he then rode the pacified bear like how Prism rode her quetzodactyl.

“Finally! I don’t have to walk!”

“In every land I visited, the people immediately flee or fight the monsters. I’ve never seen clearly predatory monsters acting so… cute.”

Marcus tried to look cool by slowly turning around, looking directly at Prism's eyes, and brushes his hair up.

“Huntress, you wanna ride with me? It seems to like you.”

"S-sure?"

The weirded-out Prism began to accept the strange events and with Marcus' hands, gets lifted into the back of the beast.

"Amazing... those palms of yours are full of calluses."

"Yeah."

Once again, she looked up to the sky, remembering Ater and Akari.

---

"BRWAAAAWR!"

Prism was petting the furry head of the grizzly bear, who was more than happy to support Prism and Marcus. He found it funny though how Prism now looked like the one commanding the bear instead of him. His plan to impress Prism: failed.

“This bear thing is definitely more comfy to ride than my former mount.”

“M'lady, earlier when-”

“Just call me Prism.”

“Miss Huntress-" 

A small sigh was heard.

"-earlier when you fought that coatl, how come you never said a single word yet still be able to perform arts?”

That question caught the attention of everybody, especially Celosia.

“What? Oh, yeah. You Crimsons are the weirdos chanting before using magic.”

“Master told us that it’s for control. Red arts produce flames which can be wild and dangerous at the hands of amateurs. Is that not how it is on Pluvia?”

Prism held up her hands and silently casts a fireball. Then she tried it a second time. This time, chanting “Art of Red: 12!”

Even though she said the correct phrase, there’s no difference between the two.

"Not just Pluvia..."

“Strange, let me try.”

Marcus also tried to cast a fireball without chanting but a pathetic version, as small as a fingertip, appeared. It did hit another animal in front of them though.

“Oink.”

“It looks like a pig but red with horns and tusks. Heh, how cute!” The Pluvian tried to approach the monster before it started to charge, leaving trails of fire at its every step.

“That’s a hellboar you ignorant Pluvian!”

"Run, Miss Huntress!"

Standing solidly to her ground, she ignored the group and waited for the perfect opportunity. Just before point blank, she cast:

“Art of Red: 1!”

The phrase for the fingertip flame, but she did a roundhouse kick and it produced a flame so hot that it was white. The hellboar was instantly fried to death.

“H-Hey! That’s illegal! Not really but you get what I mean!"

"Pluvian! How the hell did that work?!”

“The three principles of the arts: Intention, Projection, and Circulation. It seems that your teachers just gave you a phrase to have the first two principles easier. Smart, but someday that will bite you in the arse.”

“So… what do we do about the dead hellboar?”

“Bwarrrr!”

“Rawr~!”

They left the grizzly bear family to let them feed on the remains of the boar. With Marcus disappointed, they continued traveling in the middle of the night by foot. More and more tall trees can be seen on the horizon as they walk along the main road until they met a crossing, in which Cherry guides the team to the one going to the left with the unpaved road. It was only a matter of time before they arrived in the village.

And it was empty, understandably as it was midnight. Not able to appreciate the wonders of the village, they head to Cherry’s home. It had Austerian architecture, much like the Cremerian buildings with its large courtyard and rooms, lavishly appointed with mosaic floors depicting the nation's past. There was one large room with nothing on it, usually used for parties and such. Cherry uses this room as their makeshift bedroom for the six of them by placing some flat Minamian cotton beds on the floor.

“Sorry, Prism and Apoy. I have to put you two on the far side of the room because a certain gal will be angry.”

“No, thank you for the hospitality. I’m used to paying for inns anyways.”

"Thank you, Mistress Cherry."

"Y-yeah. Good night."

The huntress and the servant looked fast asleep and so, the four teenagers chatter about random stuff with Cherry leading the conversation.

"...they eat the feet of dragons! Can't you believe it?!"

*snore*

"Look, even the nerd fell asleep at your boring stories!"

"Isn't it because he ran around with that stupid knife?! He's an archer, after all."

"Or maybe it's because you're talking about un-red things."

"That's just you, Celosia. Why do you hate other colors so much?"

"Hate? It's not like that. I just don't care."

"Really?"

"It's better to just not ask, Cherry."

"You must know. Don't you, Chroma."

"Just go to sleep. It's been a long day."

"Hmph! Good night."

---

They had their beauty sleep. Except for Prism, who randomly woke up in the middle of the night because she had this crawling feeling that something... someone is watching them.

“Freaky.”

She went outside to get fresh air. What the others don’t know is the massive spell vocabulary that Prism has, and one of it is an ultra handy green spell for the current situation. The spells from the tribes of the Green tropical rainforests are the kind of arts that modify a person’s body. The green art transformed the pupils of the huntress to become as large as her iris, allowing her to see in the dark better. She spotted movement on her east, two small creatures near the village well. The creatures flee just as the huntress started to chase them. It seemingly became something of a cat-and-mouse chase, with Prism running to the different parts of the village. Despite her first time in the village, there are obvious parts in every village that she recognized used by the local specialists.

“Ah, so this is the local butcher. And this the bakery, that the lumberjack’s.”

It seemed that the creatures are slowing down, allowing Prism to shorten their distances until…

“Art of Red: 12!”

“Wha!”

Unprepared and unfortunate for Prism, the light from the fireball blinded her (because of the state of her iris, which intensified light) and it perfectly hits her face. She fainted for a while. When she got her senses back, she was already alone. She looked at the positions of the moons and the stars, deciphering the time she spent as exactly around a quarter of half a shadowvial, time measurements unique for hunters and huntresses. Anyways, she figured those are humans as that monsters don’t chant arts.
She returned to Cherry’s house and with that hard hit on her face, she was able to sleep quickly.

---

“So this is the local butcher. And this is the bakery, that the lumberjack’s.”

“데자뷰…”

Cherry was giving a tour of the village because this is the first time any of them went here. Rosilva Village is so minor that only the best of the best maps available displays it. An old woman approached the group, struggling to walk while doing so.

“Ahh. Cherry. You brought your husband, eh?”

“Gran! This is Chroma! We’re friends! I'm not that old!”

“But didn’t you say something like ‘The prince from Cremeria was super handsome and-’”

“Art of Red: 1! Art of Red: 2! Art of Red: 3!”

Despite all of the attacks toward the fragile old woman, she was able to block it all only with her arms.

“My legs are bad, but I’m not chief for nothing!”

The chief bears great resemblance to Cherry, with pink flairs in her snow tinted hair covering the slouch of her aging body. Her woolen stola droops as she guides them to the courtyard of her large villa where long wooden tables took up most of the space, each with plates for food and a single rose placed on a pot in the middle, stylized for celebration as the name Rosilva is derived from the thorny flowering plants.

“Pluvian! How’s the Empire so far?” Because of Celosia’s treatment of her, Prism answered the chief with utmost suspicion.

“Oh, don’t be shy! We’re not like the city people. We like having guests of any color, except for Oranges, for we are all the children of the great Vulcan.”

It was of great interest to Prism despite being a huntress about the different cultures all over the world.

“Vulcan… that must be their main god or something.”

In her home nation, they worshiped only their Goddess and built massive churches all over the world just for her. It was only in this mysterious land of the Crimsons where they failed to bring their religion. Prism doesn’t adhere to her home’s religion though, as being a huntress also means relinquishing her own nation’s identity.

“It’s definitely one of the more unique places on The Ark.”

“Ahh! You Pluvians also call the world The Ark! I’m glad Vulcan’s creation is spreading all over the world!” Not really, as Prism’s understanding of the Ark is it is just another word for “the world”, while the Crimson people believe that Vulcan saved the world from drowning by providing the world with lava, which cooled into the various continents today.

“And with his descendants, they continue to bring more land to this day. That’s why the volcanoes erupt every time Ater and Akari are together. They signal them that the world is once flooding again. Praise Vulcan!”

“Y-yeah… Another thing, why are all the houses here relatively empty?” Cherry’s house could accommodate for around 10 people, yet it was only her that lives there. Even as they strolled around the village, the number of people there can be counted by one’s fingers.

“It’s because of those Oranges. They brought their worst people, those sick bastards with those swellings in their bodies, some as big as an apple. It was the cause of the death of millions in our old capital in the Minamian east. We told them to send back their people but they won’t. We had no choice but to fight back when the brother of the former emperor died. After two generations, the war is still going on, with most of the able-bodied adults in the far fringes of the Empire, conquering lands and killing those bastards for revenge.”

Every single Crimson in that table face started to show signs of grief and anger. Everyone there lost someone to the war.

“Uncle…”

“Disgusting scabies.”

The chief adds, “The plague did have a side effect of everyone trying to have as many children as possible. These four are a product of that.”

“I see. No wonder you are isolationists... Anyways, what Oranges? The Apelsin Kingdom? The Kahelian Confederancy? The Republic O maybe?”

This seemed to happen a lot, but the Crimsons once again said in chorus, “Oranges!”

“I- okay.”

To the amusement of Prism, the Crimson people, united by their pure blood, had a hard time understanding that other races may not even be allied with one another of their own. Apoy who was just far enough to hear the conversation didn’t seem affected at all. Chroma, being a prince, has some knowledge that pertains about the Oranges.

“I think it’s the Kahelians. Most of our slaves, from what I know, speak Kahel.”

“I see. Thanks.” Prism turns around and talks to Apoy.

“Hoy! Tama ba yung sinabi ng pula na ‘to?”

No response. She just laughed at her own failed attempt, thinking that of course a slave wouldn’t understand as Apoy must be brainwashed or something.

“How pitiful.”

---

After waiting for an hour, Cherry wondered why there are plates prepared but there are no food.

“It was supposed to be for your farewell party…”

The chief looked at the trembling man, who just arrived at the villa, sitting in one of the tables and shouts at him.

“Hey! Redus! Where is the food?! You were in charge of it!”

“I-I saw i-it! A-a-a r-rainbow wyvern! It a-ate all the hellboars!”

“!”

The huntress swiftly stood up and quickly grabbed the man by the shoulders and looked at him in the eyes with intensity the group has never seen before. For a brief moment, a rainbow glow covered her entire body, as if telling them that she is desperate for an answer.

“Where. Did. You. See. It?”

“I-In the Redwood Forest! It was the place with the tall trees earlier if you took the crossing’s right road from Cremeria.”

In a split second, the huntress turned around very aggressively and halts just before the hilt of her tooth dagger smashed the skulls of the two children.

“A-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa~!”

They ran away from Prism as far as the eye can see.

“Ahhh, it’s just dumb kids... Anyways, I’ll go check out the Redwood Forest. Will you newbies come with me?”

“Of course!”

“Sure, Prism.”

“I want to see the wyvern!”

“Tch. If they’ll go, I’ll will too.”

“Thank you so much, Pluvian, Cherry and friends! Bring home the bacon!”

And so the eight of them started their quest into the Redwood forest. Yes, eight, for the two children are sneakily following them behind, hiding in each bush and tree every time they moved. Well, at least the children thought so. It was super obvious for the master-trained students and more so for the monster hunter, who had to deal with the venomous snakes of the Apelsin sand deserts and the frost-stinging scorpions of the Azul snowy mountains. Chroma started to be concerned for the kids because as the quest scroll put it, lots hunters were killed. He turned around and bashed his sword at his shield, creating a tune resembling that of childhood lullabies.

“Oyyy! I know you children are there!”

“A-wa~!”

“We’ve been caught! Run!!!”

“Don’t worry, we just want to talk to you.”

The children reluctantly went near their seniors. Both are male, with the composed one with the jet-black hair older than the pink-haired one who can’t speak properly yet. With a very calming voice, Chroma explains properly to the children the dangers of following them, using the well-known story of “The Cub and the Salamander”, which in short gives the lesson “Don’t follow your inner ‘cub’ or you will end up looking like an ugly, slimy’ salamander’.” The huntress was smiling, listening at the ridiculous fable, for she finds reptiles quite charming.

“Bwut, we wan’a see da wainbow girl fight!”

“We are sick of Gran and the boomers!”

Before Chroma gave up, Cherry approached her young village mates with a sweet, maiden’s smile.

“I will kill you.”

“AWAWA!!!”

Finally convinced, the frightened children ran back towards their village.

“Wow, Cherry! That was brash!”

“Wha- You’re not telling me that, Celosia!”

“Hahahahaha! Just kidding! You showed those brats!”

Chroma just can’t with the two and distracted himself by striking a conversation with Prism.

“So… why are you here? And by here, I mean in the Empire. Why… save us?”

They were just crossing the bridge to the forest by the time he asked that. The huntress contemplated for a while as they fell under the umbrella of the crimson leaves of the gigantic Redwood trees that could scrape the sky. The smell of the forest was unlike the grassy meadows of the Blood Range, as their noses complain from the fetid, mixed with a sprinkle of woody scent because of decaying logs with strange fungi feeding from its watery nutrients. Marcus tells them that those mushrooms might have healing properties, so Prism puts some at her pouch.

The deeper they went through the woods, the more pungent the smell became. Clouds of black insects buzz arrhythmically more and more until they stumble swathes of hellboar corpses, confirming the man’s testimony. All of a sudden, an explosive, deafening roar causing booming winds pushed all of the flies away and almost shattered their eardrums. Only Prism was standing, and it was then that she answered Chroma.

“I just had to.”

Lights of rainbow wrapped her entire figure as she bolted where the wind blows, ignoring every pile of rotting flesh she steps on, making their blood splatter on her face. Chroma and the others followed her as fast as they can. When they started to see her flowing prismatic hair, she was in the presence of a terrifying reptilian beast with massive head and jaws attached on its long, snakelike neck, back covered in crystalline-like shards extending up to the tip of its tail, standing on all fours with its forelimbs resembling evolved coatl wings, also creating pools of grotesque slime at its wake. It had its gaze fixed on the Pluvian, and then decided to ignore it and continued feeding on a freshly slain hellboar. Prism faced the group, looking rather incredibly bored after yawning.

“You can deal with this.”

“Miss Prism?! Y-you’re telling us to fight that… that monster of death?!”

“Oh, hahahaha! That’s just the juvenile form! It’s impossible that that is the quest monster…”

“That’s just the baby?!”

“It’s refreshing to look at, don’t you think?”

“No, the mixture of colors hurts my eyes.”

It was unbelievably large, around twice their height and quadruple their length. The prospect of fighting such a massive beast is unknown to them, as they’ve been training to fight against fellow people. Even the baby coatls they had a hard time! But Celosia saw this as a chance to prove that she can be better than the Pluvian, and proceeded to rally her friends to go to battle.

“Everyone, on your formations!”

Prism watched as they try to evade the attacks of the monster she called a Papiliorm, from the Pluvian word meaning butterfly-dragon. She saw the moment as an opportunity to train the group on how she performs her arts.

“Incantation: The mental. Where and when will you cast your spell?”

They first resort purely to their own weapons with the same formation as before. But after the troubling attacks from the enemy, like back-flipping to pulverize them with its back and charging so fast that one of them almost got bitten, Marcus and Cherry resorted back to chanting the arts.

“Art of Red: 12!”

“O’oh… those two have their brains hardwired. I guess it’s fine.” She said to Apoy, who was watching at the sidelines with her.

“How about you? Why don’t you help them with your Orange arts?”

“I-I don’t know how to fight.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

With the extreme tirelessness from the Papiliorm, they all go fighting back as if there wasn’t a formation at all. It led to some of them bumping to each other while trying to dodge or reaching for an attack.

“What the hell, Chroma! Your bloody large shield blocked my wheeler!”

“Why are you blaming me?! Your eyes are so focused on that monster!”

Prism continued to recite the rules of the arts.

“Projection: The physical aspect. How will you cast your spell?”

Unable to hold back the claws of the rainbow beast, Chroma resorted back to using his sword enchanted with flames by casting an art as master taught him how. It seemed that only Celosia is left using only her trusty wheeler. She’s also looking considerably tired compared to the rest of them. Chroma and the others tell her that it’s okay to not try Prism’s way but she vehemently refused. The huntress saw the hot-headed Celosia in a new light. The monster once again screamed with all of its might, then its crystals started to slowly light up, as if charging for some massive attack. With only Celosia standing because the others were temporarily incapacitated, Prism tells her the third rule.

“Circulation,” the wyvern focuses at Celosia.

“The spiritual aspect.”

And in an instant, opened its jaw double its size and ran towards her, deforming the soil as it used all of its strength for its charge.

“What is the source of your art?!”

Celosia closed her eyes from a brief moment and saw her pool of energy from within.

“My heart!”

Prism was proud of her answer, only with her inner thoughts and feeling the energy of her body, she was able to deduce that the heart was the source of all arts. Celosia lets the energy flow, her entire body glowed red (normal for when casting an art) and used her wheeler to vault into the air.

“HYAAAA!”

She landed on its back and with all of her adrenaline, stabs the wyvern with all of her might, causing it to flinch! Then, pyrotechnic firework of flames bursts from its wounds. Everyone was at awe at the new Celosia that was born from the flame with her newfound ability. But because she doesn’t really know how strong the wyvern is, after a second, it flings her off its back.

“You did a good job, brat.”

The wyvern sniffs for a little and just like a flash of light, it charged towards a random tree, or so they thought.

“A-wa-wa-wa?!”

Cherry was the first to realize why, and used her own body to block the tree before casting an art, using an explosion art at point blank. It wasn’t without cost, as the wyvern was able to strike her arms, causing it to bleed like hell. Prism rushed towards Cherry and used an orange art that blocked Cherry with raised earth.

“M-Miss Prism! I’m bleeding! I-I’m losing so much blood! I’m going to die!”

“Fucking damn it! Don’t panic, kid!”

She used one of her pouches again and applied a liquid to the laceration at her right forearm. Because it was only bought at the Crimson capital, it was not as effective as what she normally carries. She told her to stay there and rest for a while. Celosia looked behind the tree only to see the two children that was following them earlier.

“Look what you fucking retards did! You did this to Cherry!”

“W-we’re sorry!”

The older kid looks at the Papiliorm and casts, “Art of Red: 12!” and it hits its face. He grabbed his younger brother and ran back to the village. Before the wyvern was able to chase the children, the huntress slashed its tail with a dagger. It screamed in pain and finally flied away as it is sensed its impending death, making the group safe once again.

“This is also your fault, Pluvian! If you just fucking helped from the start she wouldn’t be hurt!”

“It’s okay, Celosia. This is *ack* fine.”

“If not for me, you wouldn’t learn how to cast silently.”

“Shut up!”

She swipes her hand and flames came out, solidifying her ability to fully able to cast like Prism. In a rare moment, Prism did apologize to Celosia.

“If only I noticed those kids…”

Once Chroma and Marcus were back to their senses, they all rushed to the wounded Cherry. She is recovering and able to stand now, but due to the ointment being ineffective, it seems that she has to live with a scar on her forearm.

“When we get back to the village, I’m going t-to scold those kids.”

Just as she said that, she almost fainted but Marcus catched her.

“You’re hurt. You protected the children. Rest, you idiot.”

He, with the help of Chroma, assisted her walk all the way to the village.

---

All of the villagers were waiting for them at the village center with the well. They all did a round of applause for the returning adventures and praises them for saving the village and the forest. The lady chief, noticing Chroma and Marcus carrying Cherry, approached them and asked what happened to her.

“Nothing… Gran. Don’t worry about me. I’m just tired.”

The chief forcefully went closer to Cherry and inspected every part of her body, revealing the wound on her arm and prompting the chief to raise her voice out of concern to the Pluvian.

“What happened?!”

“It’s okay, Gran. This is… nothing.”

“How could this happen? The monster must be so tough!”

“Y-”

Celosia swiftly cuts the Pluvian from talking and told them what happened.

“The Pluvian just watched while we fought the rainbow wyvern. Cherry got hurt because I made a mistake.”

Chroma stared at Celosia with no visible emotion and remained silent. Cherry had utter disdain written at her face. Marcus was just shocked. Everyone in the village went into a frenzy.

 

“What?! She just watched?!”

“Isn’t she supposed to be a huntress?”

”Lazy Pluvian.”

 

The chief pushes Prism away from Cherry and hugged her.

“Don’t worry, Cherry. We’re here for you. We will protect you from the motley.”

 

 

“THAT IS ENOUGH!”

A wall of flame surrounds the group, creating a barrier up to the pathway towards her home. Cherry broke free from Marcus and Chroma and the old woman received a powerful kick, causing her to fly far away from them and outside the wall. Cherry ran and tried to take Prism’s hands but Prism insisted that she can stand herself. Cherry angrily marched to her home, returning with all of their stuff they need for the journey after some back and forth.

“WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE! I AM SICK BEING TREATED LIKE A CHILD!”

"Hey! How about the chie-"

"SHE'LL BE FINE!"

She declared it with wrath so loudly that everyone in the village were speechless. The huntress was genuinely surprised that she was able to perform the arts her way, especially at that wounded state. Cherry led the way to leave the village without any proper farewell for anyone there.

---

Going far enough from the village that nobody can see them anymore, Prism offered her congratulations.

“I- uhhh… nice job, lass. You can cast silently now.”

“I won’t them insult you again! I’m sorry for-”

She fainted to the ground. Chroma and Marcus carried her again.

“Stupid Cherry. You pushed yourself too hard. You're quite heavy, you know that?”

"...S-shut up."

"Oh, she's conscious."

"I'm glad. Cherry," Chroma signals Apoy to come near him and grabs some food from one of the sacks she's carrying,  "Here. You need these after casting that huge fire-wall."

"Thank you." 

She took her time eating the pig meat Chroma gave to her. She remained smiling despite being carried by the boys, but Celosia noticed that she was avoiding her gaze, so she tried to talk to her.

“Cherry, I-”

“Shut it.”

“I did that for-”

“For what? The children? Well, thank you for that! *COUGH*”

"Cherry! Why are you screaming!" Marcus covered the mouth of the pissed Cherry, which soothed her down.

"Don't worry, kid. It was noth-"

“...it was the best thing I could think of.” cuts Celosia.

Cherry's smile disappeared, ignored her words, and kept eating. Prism just scratched her head and thought that this is just some Crimsonian talk. At that moment, Celosia had this heavy feeling in heart as her mind kept on thinking:

 

“I did the right thing, didn’t I?”

Before she can look at Chroma's reaction, it was then that they heard a rustle from the bushes, definitely the two children again.

“Ouch!”

It was a rose bush, feeling like they were caught, they come out and went towards Celosia.

“You didn’t snitch us… why?”

She hid her unexplained sorrow by closing her eyes for a while, and spoke with sincere words and a tone of forgiveness.

“You see… I am also a troublemaker, sometimes. That's why I understand what you did. I’m sorry too for calling you retards.”

She pats his head and returned to her usual demeanor.

"You did a good job at burning that monster's face too!"

The older brother had a large grin in his mouth and tells his younger brother to come out. The younger brother was hiding a rose he picked from the bush and gave it to Celosia.

"UWU~"

"Thank you."

He grabbed his brother and they immediately ran back to the village after a customary bow.

“This is… a rose.”

A rose is a flower with thorns on its stem. It usually symbolizes the beauty within fighting in a battle, the honor in war, and the challenges for a wonderful journey. But, Celosia felt differently as she touched the thorns ever so slightly that it almost made her bleed. The first thing she saw when the brothers gave her the rose is not its deep red flower, but the parts that can hurt.

“I wonder what are my own thorns…”

“Celosia…” Chroma heard her whisper and went in front of her and said:

“Thank you for thinking of them.”

There was a proud smile in his face, but all that Celosia saw was a rose.

And so, everyone was silent again. The chirping of the bloodhoppers, the clacking of metals inside their bags and sacks, every little plop and smack of their leather boots, and the occasional howling of the creatures of the night, all while they are sandwiched between the mountain ranges of the land, was supposed to be comforting for them, but the voices in their heads were too loud.
__________________________________________________

“So you disobeyed your Father and went there? Hahahaha! I’m so proud of you!”
“Don’t let our child learn bad stuff!”
“What do you mean? It’s a great thing! Fight for what you believe in, okay?"