Taken Horizon Origin, volume 2, Descension

Episode 23 : finding Heresy

Walking through the massive stone archway of the Fecalon's capital city Okaido, Tatsuo looked at my impressed face with a smug grin as he chewed on a single stalk of wheat he stole from the side of the path.

"You ever seen something like this place before in your travel's?" Bumping my side with his shoulder Tatsuo grabbed my attention.

"It's very artistic compared to other cities I've been to." Looking at the ornate features of the wood and stone surfaces of the the clean buildings i found it difficult to see any proper defensive capabilities of them in case of an invasion

Fecalon may have one religion surrounding the god [fiery buddha] with many practices but there are still 7 different nations or 'Chiku' as they are called with their own interests.

Despite being based in a separate Chiku the capital Okaidu, where i am now, is undisputed as a the capital of the whole continent given it's where the god of this world resides.

I'm surprised there aren't isn't a war going on in this world to gain recognition of this god honestly.

"Huh?" Sensing spikes of aether within the city my attention shifted from the buildings in front of me to somewhere underneath the city's roads and the central pagoda tower at the center of the entire city. "That's... new."

"What's the matter?" Returning from his brief venture of purchasing snacks from a stand Tatsuo handed me some sort of caramelized banana dipped in black sauce.

"I sensed something familiar." One of the aether presences spiked briefly and it seemed as if two creatures with aether were fighting somewhere underground. I've never met anything or anyone that could harness aether other than Thorn and myself before so these are things I definitely need to investigate.

"Hey, isn't that the supposed 'puppet' from the bounty board?"

The wind carried sharp edged words into my ear and i froze up. Long since forgotten hatred i had thought buried with my peaceful time at kiyumetsu-dera monastery immediately surfaced to the front of my mind and soon all i could think about was crazed bloodlust.

"How can a puppet move without it's creator around, your imagining things."

"That cursed puppet has been missing for nearly a full year according to the information guild."

"A puppet deserves no sympathy. It's not even human after all."

Aether, being influenced by my turbulent thoughts reverberated inside my blood begging to be released as my desire to rip off these idiotic humans' mouths overwhelmed my mind. It would be so easy! Who would care about some disgusting humans dying in the middle of the street anyway!

The wooden skewer of food i held in my hand snapped in half as aether slowly began to cover my skin in a black and dark-orange hue. I'm no one's puppet! My enslaving creator is dead, and if i get the chance I'll kill him a second time!

A hand patted my shoulder and staring fiercely at who it was i saw Tatsuo's concerned expression looking down at me softly. "You dropped your Kyaramerubanana. You want my mine?"

Calming down i reigned aether back in ceasing it's vengeful whispers to my mind. It almost makes it seem like my rage is my own sometimes, i thought.

Looking down at the floor and at my hand, the amber shine of the splattered caramel sweet amidst the yellow mush of the banana amongst broken splinters on the floor made me curse at myself quietly for my lack of control over aether. Waving my hand i refused Tatsuo's kind gesture. "I'll be fine without it."

"Since you say so." Biting into the caramel shell of his candy Tatsuo crunched down, speaking while he chewed the sugar in his mouth. "What's got you so unfocused? It's rare for you to be absentminded."