[ti]quest[/ti] Eyes close, and heartbeats slow

Something about the air was making his skin crawl. The strange hour and the state of ruination around, he could actually deal with—Kazuki was no stranger to quiet hours, and definitely no stranger to off-putting settings.

But traveling through the dunes, with the sky nothing more than a blanket of ash and the sands pooling over his ankles, the distant crash of buildings continuing to crumble—it felt as if nothing was solid. As if everything could be blown adrift, slip through his fingers.

His hand slid over Verai’s back, curling around to pull the man closer—attaching him to his side. He would go nowhere, if he had anything to say about it. The hold worked as much to ground Verai as it was to keep Kazuki in tact.

“A trap?” he mumbled back, head canted close. His eyes slid over to the procession unfolding before them. “Looks like a night festival. Some of them are holding offerings.”

A massive line of strange creatures was moving across the dunes. The joyous, writhing mass followed a rhythm, each hulking step punctuated by sloshing waters and the clink of metal limbs carrying vegetation—or their own kin. They raised these in tandem to their steps. To Kazuki, they didn’t look all that different from the Pokémon back in Asper—damn creatures came in all shapes and sizes. What made them different were the sounds. Nothing could be deciphered from the discordance.

“Come on, we can’t hang back.” The quest had made its instructions clear: Join in. There was likely a limit to how far they could loiter from the line.

It wasn’t easy. The threat of being quashed was constant, Kazuki moving Verai as a bloated creature made of a single huge maw stomped over their path. The behemoth didn’t notice; it continued hobbling after the parade, the eel-like appendages protruding from its tongue dragging about a candy-colored corpse as a school of jellyfish-like beings floated around it, trilling a drowned tune.

“Can you sense them? The floaters.” He knew Verai could see him, at least. Something about the Parasite; the corruption in general. It was reassuring, though it meant he could no longer ambush him as efficiently.

Kazuki looked around. “No. Not at this height.” The parade was packed. Strange creatures had surrounded them despite how slowly they entered the line, as if a fresh entourage had appeared behind them. The sky above was obscured by the massive silhouettes and a canopy of jellyfish floaters.

But through that thicket came just a hint of light. Far brighter than the moon and stars. How to get close?

Kazuki continued walking them along, unable to stop as that would mean contact with the abominations behind them. He kept his grip around Verai secure, finding the idea of the things touching him untenable—but haven’t they already?

“I think I have an idea how to get us a better view.” He didn’t trust any of these creatures except for the ones they already dealt with. “There’s one of those living buildings walking in front of us. We can climb it.”

He clicked his tongue. “But it’s got a ton of these huge jellyfish things floating around it, and if swimming in Australia’s taught me anything, it’s not to touch that shit by any means.” The creatures almost seemed to have bodies, tentacles of different sizes swaying as they orbited around the walking edifice. Like a very pretty electric fence.

His eyes moved back to Verai, contemplating him for a moment. Even in his voice, it was clear he was grinning. “I bet I can carry you.”

“Is that a challenge?” Kazuki huffed. “Get on my back.”

Kazuki was strong, far stronger than average thanks to his line of work and love of fighting. Even lifting a man of his size and bulk was easy enough, but lifting with that man in full-sized armor and while scaling a building? Motherfucker had bitten off more than he could chew.

“I’m going to eat these sons of bitches, I swear to the gods,” Kazuki hissed, maneuvering just in time to evade the tendrils of a massive jellyfish, one arm clutching the brick while the other curled protectively around Verai. “Going to make the world’s biggest mizu shingen mochi out of their heads. Chuka kurage out of their tentacles. All the fucking chili sauce!” The man’s breastplate was chewing into Kazuki’s back, but he was already committed to the bit and would not allow him to switch out. So he climbed, like turtle Sisyphus up the Stakataka hill, constantly threatened by jellyfish harpies and self-destructive hubris.

At the top of the building, Kazuki went splat. He groaned, nudging Verai off his back. “Next time we do that, you’re stripping—and that’s the only ‘but’ I’ll take from you, understand?!” Fresh red lines disrupted the intricate designs of his back tattoos as he got up to stretch, only to stop.

“Holy shit.”

It was incredible. In the distance, at the far, far front of the parade, a massive structure like a shattered moon. Its light bathed the parade of creatures until they shone gold at its feet, and its backdrop—a dark sky of falling stars. He never thought something so beautiful could exist in the cradle of corruption, and yet here it was.

And he was the only one who could enjoy it.

“Ver, give me your hand,” Kazuki said urgently.