The Challenge of the Masters

⊱⊰ 31: Lunara [Revised] ⊱⊰

The carriage's wheels touched the ground as the griffons landed. Arisa exhaled, relief calming her heart. Although she had succeeded in keeping herself calm throughout the trip, deep inside, she couldn't wait to finally land.

Kazuya gazed at her. "I wonder when you'll surpass that fear; it surely isn't helping you in our journeys."

Arisa didn't reply, instead, she curled her fingers and lost herself in her thoughts. Despite telling herself that they would reach their destination safely, negative thoughts always kept bothering her.

"You'd better overcome that fear soon," teased Thelma. "Who knows? Maybe we could fight a Master that can fly."

Realization struck Arisa as she tried to imagine an air battle against the scarlet dragon that she guessed was the Master of Fire. She could see herself dragging down the team during that fight. She clenched her fists even more as she thought of that.

Kazuya patted her back. "Don't stress out. I'm sure you'll overcome that fear before we meet the flying Master."

He winked and she smiled. A brief silence fell as the carriage slowed its pace.

"Kazu?" Arisa called, her tone quiet.

Kazuya gazed at her. "Hm?"

"Thank you," she said.

Kazuya raised his brows. "For?"

Arisa finally focused her gaze on him, smiling warmly.

"For always doing your best to cheer me up and encourage me," she said. "Despite being full of yourself most of the time, you can actually be really sweet."

Kazuya folded his arms, tilting his head. "And here I thought I was receiving a rare thank you from you."

Arisa chuckled, looking away. She tried to distract herself by admiring the scenery outside the window. Through the spacious environment, she saw different kinds of buildings that had curious-looking roofs. Her eyes widened, spotting beast-like creatures filling the area several steps away from them.

Their transportation took almost a minute to finally stop. Soon after that, the trio quickly hopped off the carriage.

Chatter filled the atmosphere in a foreign language as Arisa admired her surroundings. With her heart pumping amazement at the sight of the people of Lunara, she continually glanced around. Despite most of the people having a human appearance with a few animal features, Arisa spotted several creatures who looked more like anthropomorphic animals in oriental clothing.

"This is as far as I can take you," said a soothing voice behind them. "I hope you'll succeed in finding your friend."

Arisa turned around and saw the old avian man still sitting on the front part of the carriage.

Arisa approached him. "Thank you; we'll certainly find him. You saved us a lot of trouble to reach here."

"Yeah," said Kazuya, joining in the conversation. "Please thank Princess Nafisa on our behalf."

The old man nodded, guiding the griffons. "I'll deliver that message. I'll be leaving now, these two might be needed to bring the Royal Family here."

The trio moved several steps away as the griffons flapped their wings, forming a speck of light dust. As the two animals slowly took flight along with the carriage, the trio waved at the old man. A minute passed before the transportation completely disappeared through the fluffy white clouds.

"Well," said Thelma as they walked around the street, "we'll soon meet Garoh; we just have to find a castle."

"It's great that he's a prince," said Kazuya. "It'll save a lot of time to find him; we spent days just looking for you. I hope Eklipta will communicate with us once we reunite with him. I have a feeling we'll spend more days looking for the other member."