Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

Yuta breathed slowly, silently. He was shrouded in darkness, touched on every side by moist stone. If his carefully calculated path had lead him to the same place as it had half a century prior, he should be only inches from breaking the wall into Kazi’s personal lair. Yuta pressed his ear against the moist rock. On the other side, he could faintly make out the gentle clink of talons against the stone floor, back and forth, back and forth. Every several seconds, he would hear an exasperated growl, like the rumble of distant thunder. It had to be Kazi.

Yuta would have to be sneakier and stealthier than he had ever been in his life. In order to stand before Kazi and come away with both an answer and all of his limbs, he would need some kind of leverage, something to keep the beast at bay. There had to be something Kazi had some personal attachment to. All Yuta needed was a window in which Kazi was either asleep or out of his room, just long enough to get a look around and see if anything useful could be borrowed. If nothing could be found, he would have to resort to taking hostages from within the Assembly, which would be considerably more difficult.

Meaning to make a small hole through which he could spy, Yuta waved his hands carefully in front of him. The rock slowly became smooth, malleable like clay, and of its own accord, spread to mirror the motions of Yuta’s skilled hands. He worked slowly, to ensure silence. Sometimes, rocks would grind against each other, or shift other stones out of place so they fell to the floor. He had to keep his work silent.

Yuta started slightly with surprise when the rocks spread to reveal another smooth, hard surface. Yuta touched his fingers to it gingerly, shocked by the smooth, dry texture. .He summoned his powers to try to shape it, felt the familiar energy coursing through his palms and fingertips, but after a long moment of concentration, the surface remained completely unaltered. Without the ability to see, he could only guess that it was either wood or metal, and he only had power over stone and earth.

Yuta swore under his breath. He would have to test it. He cursed himself for having left his pack and flashlight so far behind. He was too far in now, too close to his objective to go all the way back for it.

Yuta kept two fingers on the surface, and drew a line downward. The stone spread and shifted around his fingers as though they were a warm knife parting a slab of butter. When he reached a spot about twelve inches from the floor, his fingers punched through the rock and into open air. Light flooded into the tiny space he was holed up in. He held his breath, listening for a reaction to the slight noise he had created. When all he heard was the same, persistent clinks and growls, he exhaled, relieved. Relieved that he hadn’t been heard, but also relieved at his findings. That the surface stopped a foot off the ground meant that it wasn’t a wall, and be it wood or metal, he would undoubtedly have a way in.

Now that light was leaking in, Yuta could make out the grain work on the mysterious surface. Wood. Another good sign. The structure in front of him wasn’t a wall, but some other tall structure made of wood, most likely a cabinet. Yuta smiled at his good luck. Cabinets held important things, and if Kazi kept anything of personal value in his room, this was as good a place as any to begin searching.

Using his ability, Yuta shifted and spread the stone away from the wood, checking every few moments to hear if Kazi was still pacing on the other side. When he had cleared away an area roughly the length and height of a sheet of notebook paper, he felt satisfied.

The next step would be tricky. He had no knife on him, nothing to cut away a section of the wood. He would have to transform only his hands and use his claws, and then pray that the wood wasn’t too thick or too strong. Yuta waved away some stone overhead and behind him to give himself some room. Then, taking a deep breath, he let the strong familiar energy course through him, concentrating only on his hands from the wrist down. It took no longer than ten seconds for the skin of his hands to turn pale and toughen with diamond-hard scales, for his fingers to grow an extra six inches, claws like sharpened blades erupting from the beds of his nails.

When he exhaled and looked down, he was still human from everything wrist-to-shoulder-to-foot, but with a set of lethal dragon claws. Tentatively, he tested a claw against the wood. He cringed as it made a faint scratching sound, but was pleased to see that it left an indention in the wood deep enough to be worth the minor effort. Slowly, as though performing a life-or-death surgery, Yuta made cut after cut in the wood. Luck had it that the wood had suffered some rot damage, making it easier to cut cleanly through without making too much noise. After he had punched cleanly through the wood, and no excess light entered, Yuta knew his guess had been right. It was a cabinet, meaning that if he succeeded in cutting himself in and made the lines clean and straight enough , he could nose around inside, right in front of Kazi, and then seal it back up without anyone being the wiser. As he continued to saw carefully at the back of the cabinet, Yuta couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t victory yet, but it was a sign that fate wanted to give it to him.

Twenty minutes passed before a clean rectangle had been carved into the wood. Before making the final clip and pushing away the board, Yuta listened again for Kazi’s rhythmic footsteps. They were still there, steadily pacing from one side of the large cavern to the next, but Yuta could hear that his motions had slowed, perhaps from exhaustion. Holding a grudge was tiring business. Making a precautionary judgment, Yuta waited until Kazi had passed by the cabinet, headed towards the far end of the lair, before he quickly transformed his hands back to match his human body, cringing slightly as he did so. Then, as quietly as he could, he pushed at a corner of rectangle he had carved, sliding his fingers underneath to grasp the edge before pushing the rest all the way through.

The inside of the cabinet was dark, but spacious from what he could tell. Again, he cursed himself for not having brought a flashlight. Ever aware of the pacing Dragon Lord on the other side, Yuta quickly plunged a hand into the cabinet’s interior. His arm brushed silk, clothing hanging from the top. His hand found the bottom, smooth with velvet lining. He paused when his finger brushed something hard, the edge of something. Praying it wasn’t the door, he used a finger and gently nudged. The object moved, but no door opened to reveal an angry Dragon with blood and revenge carved into his features. Feeling it again, Yuta found that it was a box of some kind. Carefully, he grasped it firmly in his hand and lifted it from the floor of the cabinet.

Withdrawing the mystery box back into the wall he was hiding in, Yuta crouched down to the floor and held the box so that light from the outside was shining directly on it. It bore no engravings, had no locks or embellishments, just a cedar box with a slide-away lid. Yuta’s heart raced wildly. He swallowed to ease the sudden dryness in his throat before sliding away the thin cedar lid.

Inside was a pouch. A plain, black, velvet pouch attached to a matching black rope. Again, no embellishments. Yuta lifted the pouch out of the box by its rope and found that it was heavy.

With trembling fingers, he dug at the straps and reached inside. As soon as he had touched the object within, however, he froze. It was as though a sudden wave of nostalgia and centuries-old memories came flooding back to him. He didn’t need to look at it to know exactly what was inside, and the memory of it almost made him want to cry.

It was perfect. It was exactly the thing Yuta had been hoping for, better, even. Never could he have imagined that this would still be in Kazi’s possession. It was Hers, after all. It was Her most valuable possession, and She’d never, not once, mentioned that it had gone astray.

Suppressing his own nostalgia, Yuta untied the pouch’s strings and slid its contents into his open palm. He took only a brief glance at the Stone, with its undecipherable maze of ancient etchings and glyphs, before sliding it carefully into his pants pocket.

Then, he heard a noise. Loud as thunder, the doors to the lair burst open. “Word has arrived, Lord Kazi,” a woman’s prim voice announced. Yuta could see her shadow dancing beneath the cabinet.

Yuta sprang into action. Fast as his hands would work, he summoned his ability and scooped from the stone walls a small ball of clay-turned stone. With the flawless skill of a master craftsman, Yuta quickly shaped in his hands an ovular, slightly flattened stone identical in shape and weight to the one nestled in his pocket. He could hear Kazi reply to the woman, and she gave some retort, but his heart was racing too fast and his hands were too busy for him to properly listen to the words being exchanged. Yuta quickly stuffed the imposter stone into the pouch, tied it, and replaced it all back in the cedar box.

Yuta heard the door slam shut again. No footsteps, no voices, but he could still feel a presence. Kazi was still there. Quickly, silently, Yuta replaced the box to its spot at the bottom of the cabinet, and grabbed the rectangular board that he’d cut away from the back. He withdrew it quickly, making sure the sides didn’t scrape against each other as he did so, and then hastily fitted it against the hole. He smoothed the seams down. Completed, it appeared clean and unnoticeable.

Not five seconds later, Yuta heard the door to the cabinet open from the outside. He stopped breathing. Kazi must have changed into his human Form, as his footsteps were now impossible to detect. He heard the rustling of cloth and then cringed as he imagined Kazi double-taking at the very new rectangle carved into the back of the cabinet, pushing it away, and seeing Yuta there, drawing away like a frightened child. Instead, he next heard the unmistakable sound of a box lid sliding away, and then replaced. He heard the box being set back down on the base of the cabinet, and then, finally, the cabinet door closing.

Several seconds later, the large set of double doors slammed again. Yuta exhaled the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding, and slid to the floor. It was over, and it was perfect. Every detail was perfect. Yuta now cradled in his pocket the ultimate bargaining chip and the key to securing the safety of Andria, his Messenger, and ultimately, himself.

 

*          *          *          *          *

Thunder rolled ominously overhead. Andria crouched in the darkness, the fire doused, only the faint glow of the waning moon, strangled by blackened clouds offering any light to see by. Andria bent low over the pool of water and quickly, meticulously washed the last traces of soot from her hands.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, casting eerie shadows on the walls. Seconds later, it was followed by a clap of thunder, and then the splatter of heavy raindrops hitting the floor not far away. How Yuta protected his lair against water damage during the rainy season was a mystery to Andria. A gaping hole in the ceiling wasn’t practical architecture, in her opinion.

Her heart raced wildly. No matter how she tried to mentally prepare herself, fear continued to grip her like cold, firm hands.

Dabbing her wet fingers on the skirt of her sundress, Andria rose and quickly shuffled into the farthest corner of the bathroom. She sat with her back to the corner, head down, so that she was mostly concealed by the basin protruding from the wall in front of her, shielded by the shadows it cast. Yenko had warned her that Crows could only bind creatures they could see, unlike the uniquely gifted Turtle. Their energies could only be focused on something plainly visible, whereas Yenko could read energies to find and lock onto the cognitive awareness of practically anyone or anything.

Rain began to fall faster, heavier, splattering on the stone floor outside until it became a type of eerily soothing white noise. As Andria sat and waited, the minutes dragged on like hours. The lightning began to flash more frequently, and thunder came in threatening claps that shook the mountain.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” The noise came from far away, but still managed to send an icy chill down Andria’s spine. Crows.

Andria shifted uncomfortably. She had difficulty remaining still, not guessing, but knowing without doubt what was coming. Thankfully, Yenko had given her some notion of what to expect through all the occasions he had forcefully invaded her thoughts.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” There were several separate voices now, cawing with triumph as they approached the entrance to the lair.

Fear was beginning to swell within her, echoed in the frantic beating of her heart. She heard the flapping of large, ungraceful wings. Raising her eyes skyward, she saw them, one at a time, ascending from the hole in the ceiling like black, winged demons tossed from Grace. They flew downward, in large circles, swooping high above her head several times before alighting on the dry outskirts of the room. She could hear their feathers ruffle as they each reached the ground and shook the excess rain from their oily backs and wings.

Andria held her breath. From beyond the paper wall, there was silence.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” The cawing split the air and echoed off the high walls as eerily as it had in her nightmares. There was a flutter of motion as all nine Crows began hopping across the lair, their talons tapping lightly against the stone floor. They were searching, for her and for Yenko. Her, they would find, but Yenko was well-hidden, his powers being utilized far away in Edo.

Across the paper door, a large, ghost-like shadow appeared from the far side. The eerie silhouette of one of the Crows, magnified to appear as a six-foot giant, stalked across the outside of the bathroom. As it approached the entrance and stopped beyond the shut doors, Andria was sure that the frantic pounding in her chest would give her away. The Crow paused for a moment, and then, much to Andria’s horror, took flight. With a flourish of feathers, it propelled itself into the air and soared, first away from the bathroom. It headed in the opposite direction, giving Andria just the briefest moment to exhale with relief. Then, it circled back around, swooped over the paper wall and alighted with a loud beating of wings no more than five feet away from Andria.

Like a cat  stalking a hidden mouse, the Crow began to slowly pace the floor. Up close, Andria could see that it stood no less than two feet tall, and its wings were probably able to match the span of her arms. She could see that its eyes, like Yenko’s, were not quite those of an animal. There was something deeper beyond them, intelligence, which frightened her even more.

Then, without warning, the Crow’s intelligent eyes were locked on her. She felt the briefest rush of panic and terror. Then, nothing.

Unable to move, unable to feel, she sat and watched with a blank expression as all nine Crows flitted into the bathroom and began slowly marching towards her, their laughing caws ringing inside her head.

 

*          *          *          *          *         

Kazi swung wide the doors to his private lair, allowing them to slam forcefully against the walls. Had he still been in his human Form, he would no doubt be weeping with rage and disappointment. How could he have been mistaken? He had never been so certain of anything in all his nine hundred years. Her presence had awoken him from a sound sleep the moment she had set foot in Japan weeks ago. It burned within his chest even now. Such was the bond of Mates.

The image kept reappearing in his mind’s eye, the image his Messenger had channeled to him as he had been leaving the Assembly. Blonde, eyes like pools of liquid sapphire, void of expression beneath his Messenger’s hold. It was her, and yet, somehow it wasn’t. Something had changed. Something was different. She seemed younger, as though fifty years had somehow given back five years of her human youth. It wasn’t possible.

He didn’t know what to think. How could it be her, and yet, not her? Kazi had stopped in the center of his lair, panting to contain his fury, his claws digging small rivets into the stone floor. He knew his Mate. He knew her as he knew his own reflection, as he knew his own heartbeat. He knew her presence, and right then, it was emitting from somewhere within this young girl, hundreds of miles to the North.

Kazi gave a heavy, shuttering sigh. She would have to be brought back, as planned. He would question her, find out what was the source of his unrest. At the very worst, he had made a mistake about her identity, but in doing so saved an innocent stranger from the malicious motives of the outlaw, Yuta. Best case scenario, he couldn’t dare to hope. After the evening’s disappointment, he was only barely holding onto the slight chance, which minutes before he had been so certain of, that his Mate, beloved and blessed by the gods, had been returned to him.

Behind him, Kazi heard the door slam. Surprised, his head spun around to find a man, eyes hidden beneath a mane of shaggy black hair, mouth twisted into a smug smile, leaning casually against the closed double doors.

Kazi started to call for the guards, but then stopped himself. This man was familiar, though it was hard to tell exactly how with all that hair hanging in his eyes. “Hello,” said the man, “Lord Kazi.”

Kazi’s eyes went wide. His mouth fell open, and then stretched into a snarl. “Yuta,” Kazi growled, slowly rounding on him. He approached Yuta like a leopard closing in on an injured bird, taking slow, calculated steps, his enraged eyes locked on those of his helpless prey. Kazi towered over him, 20 ft on all fours to Yuta’s 6 standing upright, and yet Yuta stood unwavering, refusing to be intimidated by the protruding fangs hanging from Kazi’s lips or the murder written in his eyes.

Kazi crouched so that his face was a mere foot away from Yuta’s, and whispered, malice dripping from every word, “I swore I would kill you if you ever came back here.”

“Lucky for me,” Yuta retorted, “we both know you’re not a man of your word.”

Kazi growled, making even Yuta flinch. “What do you want with her?” Kazi demanded, his voice coming out half-yell, half growl. “Why have you taken her?”

With the bravery of either a god of war or a village idiot, Yuta pushed past him, taking a few bold strides across the room. Kazi stared in amazement. Every move this traitor, this indignant disgrace to the Race took was a personal insult to Kazi. That he had been allowed to live after his crimes half a century prior was only a testament to the desperation of the times, the unwavering necessity of keeping every possible Dragon alive, excluding murderers.

Yuta turned to face Kazi. He had his hands thrust casually in his pants pockets. “Oddly,” Yuta replied, “I came here to ask you the exact same thing.”

“You know why I want her!” Kazi snapped, summoning every scrap of willpower within him not to tear the b*****d’s head off. His heart was pounding with fury. He wanted Yuta dead where he stood, but he also wanted some straight answers before he alerted the Assembly of his presence. He was sure that this time, they would agree to a death penalty. “She is mine,” he hissed.

Yuta gave him a puzzled look. Kazi looked like an untamed beast, quite contradictory to the usual calm, collected, yet vindictive, air he gave off when he was with the Assembly. Yuta’s eyes lit up with sudden realization. “No,” he mused to the air. “No, surely you’re not thinking that it’s her? Sakura?”

The spines on Kazi’s back were bristling like an angry cat about to lash out with sharpened claws, but he let Yuta continue. He knew something Kazi did not. He had spent time with the girl in question, and he and Sakura had been Lords together all those years ago. “Is that what this is all about?” Yuta half-laughed. “I mean, yeah they have a similar look, blonde hair, blue eyes, but it’s not the first time a pretty foreigner with those traits has set foot in the country since then. She’s a nothing, a nobody. She can barely speak Japanese!”

“It’s her!” Kazi barked. “You will never understand, because no self-respecting female would ever choose you as a Mate! I know it’s her, and I know you’re lying to try to keep her from me! But mark my words,” he snarled, “I will kill you to get her back, if I have to, just as I would have killed you the last time you kidnapped her!”

“It’s not her,” Yuta tried again. “And if it was, why would you have your little pet try to kill her?”

This caught Kazi’s attention. “I would never have anyone try to harm her,” he hissed defensively.

“That’s strange, because the first time I saw this run-of-the-mill human, Miroshi was half-way to drowning her.”

Kazi’s eyes betrayed him. He knew about this already, at least parts. “It wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” he reasoned. “He was only supposed to cause a distraction and sink the fairy while my Messenger took care of the rest.”

“Poor choice of minions,” Yuta noted.

“Don’t pretend to be some sort of hero,” Kazi spat. “As soon as you saw it was her, you snatched her away and that damn Turtle of yours kept our Messengers from finding her.”

“No,” Yuta rebutted calmly, “I rescued a drowning human from a mentally inept monster, and from a questionable fate that seems to befall most humans you ever take in for questioning.”

“Lies,” Kazi hissed. “You’re a kidnapper and a murderer, and I will see you dead this very night!”

With that, Kazi pounced, his enormous claws, like brandishing swords, flying straight for Yuta’s throat. He would justify himself to the Assembly later, make up a convincing story that it had been self defense or a matter of security. No one would deny him his revenge after all the years he had suffered because of something Yuta had helped to bring about.

 Without a second to spare, Yuta rolled. Kazi missed by inches, his large body skidding across the floor to slam into the neighboring wall. While he was regaining his balance, Yuta reached into his pocket and withdrew the stone. He held it in front of him, panting, so that it was the first thing Kazi saw when he refocused his eyes.

The result was instantaneous. Kazi’s eyes went wide with surprise and horror, as though Yuta were holding a child of his over a pool of boiling lava. Then, as quickly as it had come, the vulnerable look was replaced by one of suspicion and personal confidence. He chuckled softly, “What’s that, Yuta?”

“You know what this is,” Yuta whispered.

Having had a thought, Kazi snatched the tight, black rope from around his own neck. The pouch was small, like a marble between two of his claws, but that it wasn’t empty gave him all the assurance he needed.

“Fake,” Yuta said flatly. “Go on, check it.”

Kazi gave him a curious, calculating look, but then carefully tipped the tiny pouch’s contents into an open palm. Immediately, Kazi’s face split into a horrifying snarl, the kind that most people only ever witnessed in their final seconds of life, before death came with swift vengeance. “Give it back,” he sneered, “or I will rip it from your lifeless hands!” Kazi raised up on his hind legs, the spines of his back grazing the ceiling while his ferocious head leered down at him from a height of nearly 60 ft.

“Stop, or I’ll destroy it!” Yuta blurted, loud enough for Kazi to hear from so high up.

“Fool!” Kazi spat. “Even if you threw if from 100 ft up, it wouldn’t break. But go on. Try!” he mused.

As Kazi was raising one of his enormous feet, Yuta’s free hand shot skyward, outstretched toward the hand in which Kazi held his imposter pebble. With a look of mild bemusement, Kazi glanced first from Yuta, to the stone in his hand that hand suddenly melted into warm ash.

Yuta gave a smirk of satisfaction as Kazi slowly realized something he clearly found both terrifying and appalling. “No,” he breathed, his eyes growing wide, fixed on Yuta as if he were seeing him as a completely different person, a completely different species, even. “You?” His voice betrayed an ounce of vulnerability Yuta was sure Kazi hadn’t meant to reveal.

It happened quickly, quicker than Yuta had yet been able to manage. In a matter of three short seconds, Kazi had completely Transformed from the lumbering, 60 ft, blood red beast, into his stately, though very naked, human Form. His fist was still clenched stubbornly around the ashes that had been a stone moments before, and his eyes scrutinized Yuta with no less malice than they had when he had been seconds from killing him. But there was also a trace of hurt etched into his expression, something that rang of defeat.

Yuta quickly lumbered away from the unmoving man to the cabinet he had defaced less than an hour earlier. He flung the cabinet doors wide, snatched out one of twenty or so identical robes, and flung it at Kazi, still keeping a hand clenched tight around the stone.

Thankfully, Kazi stooped to pick up the black garment as it skidded to his feet, and finally let fall the ashes in hand in order to throw the robe around his shoulders. As he adjusted his garment, Yuta could see Kazi slowly regaining his sense of composure and self-confidence. The vulnerability in his eyes vanished as though it had never been.

“My Messengers have her bound,” Kazi stated flatly.

Yuta’s expression remained unchanged. Kazi didn’t look at him, but spoke more to the air than to an actual person, as though Yuta wasn’t worth a direct address. In reality, avoiding eye contact was the only way Kazi believed he could keep the urge to murder Yuta at bay, now that he knew the little b*****d firmly had the upper hand over him. “Do not be fooled, Yuta,” Kazi warned indignantly. “Before I entered this very room, I saw her. All of the Lords did. Our Messengers are in your lair this very moment. It appears that your Turtle’s defenses weren’t built to last, after all. You should have predicted that.”

To this, Yuta made no response. After a moment, Kazi sighed and continued. “What is it you’re expecting, Yuta?” he whispered ominously. “That stone you’re holding is important to me. You clearly know that. I keep it because it was hers; however, you should also know that I would never trade a chance to have Sakura back for a trinket that only serves to remind me of her.” More forcefully, he added, “But if you give it back to me now, I will see that you go free. Apparently, I cannot kill you, so return my stone to me and once the Dragons I have posted near your lair have delivered Sakura to me, you may leave. I’ll lift the bounty.”

Yuta looked down at his bare feet, and then to the roughly engraved, egg-sized stone he held in his hand. “Unfortunately,” Yuta said quietly, catching Kazi’s gaze once more, “I wasn’t planning on negotiating.”

As Kazi’s expression went from one of confusion, to surprise, to outrage over the short span of five seconds, Yuta reached into the recesses of his mind and quickly, urgently tugged on the link his Messenger had formed. Now! Yuta screamed inside his head.

Then, as quick as if he’d been struck by lightning, Kazi fell to the ground.

           

*          *          *          *          *

Yuta sprinted through the dark, cool tunnel, the stone walls parting and opening up before him as though he were running through mist, rather than solid rock. Yuta channeled his Messenger. How long can you hold them? he asked urgently.

There was a long pause where Yenko struggled to respond. Yuta knew it must be taking unheard of amounts of the Turtle’s energy to bind all nine members of the Assembly from 400 kilometers north. He was grateful to his trusted friend.

After a long moment of silence, a faint, scattered, broken thought reached him. Twenty minutes, Yenko responded.

And the Crows? Yuta enquired.

Another long pause. Bound.

Andria?

Yuta’s heart beat wildly as he waited for the reply. If what Kazi had said was true about having Dragons on standby waiting to retrieve Andria, then Yuta could only hope that none of the Lords had had time to alert them.

Safe, the Turtle replied.

Yuta burst through one final layer of stone and into the cool night air. With a final, hurried wave of his hand, the large hole sealed itself.

The Stone was safe in his pocket. The air around him whistled, biting at him like cold needles through his thin long-sleeved shirt. The landscape was shrouded in a thick, eerie mist. He could barely see ten feet in front of him. It was perfect. He laughed to himself at his own good fortune. Fifty years had changed a lot, but not the weather. He had designed his system of entry and exit long ago so that the outlets were directly in the cloud-line, making for a seamless, perfectly disguised getaway, assuming that the weather cooperated. Lucky for Yuta, the weather had been foul all day, with only brief breaks in the rain. Hopefully, that would mean consistent, thick cloud cover for most of his journey.

Not wasting another moment, Yuta discarded his human clothes and began the painful transformation process. His body was beginning to feel like a paper clip that had been bent and unbent too many times. He was admittedly unused to changing Forms more than once every few months, much less every day.

Once restored to his full, powerful 50ft form, Yuta secured the pair of pants containing the Stone in one of his claws, and then took to the air. He would need all the bulk he could muster if somehow Yenko’s hold on the Lords faltered and he suddenly had on open-air fight on his hands.

Yuta navigated carefully through the mist until he was sure he was clear of mountainside tree-tops. For the first half hour, he flew within the clouds. His vision was limited by the thick, cream-like mist until he felt he was far enough away to fly above the clouds without fear of being spotted by hikers lingering near Fuji’s summit. He was relieved to find a seemingly-endless blanket of clouds, and the moon only half-risen. He was free to fly as fast as his wings would carry him home.