コネクション

***

     Years ago, when the war had been declared, the Sakurai Family reigned over Hikoku.  Immediately, unknown to the other countries, there was a vast shift of power.  The citizens of Hikoku were angered at the sudden declaration of war and were uprising when the Sakurai family, apart from Erika, was slaughtered.  The citizens were once again flabbergasted at the words they were hearing—the news that the congressmen delivered to them.  The country’s borders were sealed and locked before people could attempt to seek refugee in another country.  The citizens of Hikoku were suddenly in the hands of the new dictator, Nishikido Kezura.  He had only one son who he raised alongside Erika.

     When Kezura passed suddenly, his son Ryo took over the country as dictator.  He was a young dashing man now, but twenty years ago, when he was only five, he had begun his training.  It had been his father’s plan to wait until Ryo took over the reign to begin the war officially.  In the twenty years his father had built up a strong army and subdued the citizens of Hikoku into unawareness of the world around them.  The younger generations grew up with hatred for the other countries and a love for the Hikoku war effort.  With this all in place, it was time for Ryo to start a fight. 

      Ryo was in charge of everything here.  The dictator enjoyed what he did and he was good at it too.  Combined with Erika, with whom his father had declared an engagement with before his death, they were easily feared. 

      First on his plate had been to get rid of the Crown Prince of Mizukoku and agitate Yukiguni—the easiest ones to get rid of first.  Tomohisa was powerful and successful in Mizukoku—two things that were critically dangerous to his plan from here on out.  He needed to be destroyed.  Behind that plan was to abduct a prince from Yukiguni.  Ryo knew King Matsumoto’s temper and Yukiguni had to be the first kingdom to crumble.  It was only natural, in Ryo’s thoughts.  Yukiguni was inferior to the rest of them in his opinion; raising their temper and crushing them would be quickest way to wipe them out. 

***

     Currently Nishikido (i.e. from now on Nishikido refers to Ryo, never his father unless specified otherwise; I prefer to call Ryo by his last name in this story) was sipping on his tea, when a guard came in the room and bowed.  “Your Highness, Erika-sama has returned from her quest.”

      Nishikido smiled and walked to the front gates to greet her.  Erika was as good of a fiancée that anyone could have.  “Welcome back, Erika,” he said, “Did you accomplish what you went for?”

      She flared up a bit, “Only half.”

      “What do you mean?” Nishikido asked.

      “Tomohisa never showed up like he was supposed to.  I don’t even think he’s still in the country anymore.  But I did get the boy,” she laughed, “He was too easy.”

      A slight flicker of anger flashed through him, but he quickly recovered.  He never showed anger—it only revealed another weakness—one that he did not possess.  He was not weak.  Nishikido smiled, “This will be good enough for the time being.”  At least with this they could begin moving towards destroying Yukiguni. 

      “Where is he?” he asked again, his mind in thought.

      “On the boat still,” she said, “What will we do with him now?”

      Nishikido laughed and Erika looked at him in curiosity.  “He doesn’t matter too much,” he said suddenly, “We just have to make sure he can’t contact anyone and is hidden away for the time being.  He’s only the bait, after all.  It would be much more fun to toy with him, no?”

       Erika grinned, “Oh, you sure are fun like that, no?”

       Erika led her fiancé down to the boat, where the boy was still knocked out on the floor of the boat.  “Do you think they’ll really come after him?” she asked, “Don’t you think they might consider this is a trap?”

       “Oh, of course; trap or not, they'll run straight into it,” he snickered, “Hurry up and take him inside before he wakes up,” Nishikido ordered the guard.

       He immediately picked up the boy and carried him inside the castle to the fourteenth and final floor of the castle.  The room was accessed only by the panel on the floor and there were no windows on the top floor.  It was just a big bedroom, filled with fancy things.  Nishikido dismissed the guards and a maid brought a new set of clothes for the boy.

       “You’re going to dress him our country’s cloth?” Erika questioned suspiciously. 

      “Of course,” Nishikido nodded.  “A little hospitality never hurts, huh?”

      Erika only nodded and listened to him as the maids dressed him in traditional Hikoku clothing—she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to play at.  What was giving the boy a nice room and fancy clothes going to do?  It was even the royal cloths.  Nishikido intended to treat him with the best hospitality for what?

      Despite all, the clothes suited the unconscious boy, she thought.  The bottoms were pure black and baggy which contrasted with his pale skin.  He was given a pair of black boots over the pants and they rose to almost his knee.  The ends of the boots curled and narrowed into a unique Hikoku traditional design.  Overtop of the bottoms came the red robes.  It was long sleeved and the actual length was long too.  It went to his mid-thighs, and was loose.  The sleeves and edges of it were adorned with black velvet and red was made of silk.  On the front, on his chest and around the collarbone, was black, embroidered with golden designs.  Around the stomach a gold rope, which was the symbol for royalty, was tied into a knot and let hang.  The last thing was a crown of gold put into his hair.  It was made to fit to his head, snug to his hair, and the two gold sides came together in the shape of serpents. 

      “There’s only one more thing we have to do now,” Nishikido yawned, as if he were bored of this already.

      “What’s that?” Erika asked, “I already can’t understand why you do all of this already.”

      “Bring the man in,” Nishikido demanded and a man was brought up. 

      “Please,” he begged, “I’ll do anything.  Please spare me.”

      Erika looked at the man and saw that he was not a citizen of Hikoku.  He was a pale and weathered old man wearing traditional shrine clothes from Yukiguni.

       “I hear you, old man,” Nishikido told the Yukiguni citizen.  “If you don’t wish to perish, take away this boy’s magic immediately.  I want it permanently gone, not just a lock.”

       “W-What?” the man looked at Ryosuke, “B-But that is the Prince!  Why is he here!?”

       Erika too was in shock—she may not know much about Yukiguni, but from what she told her, only people of high magical power could destroy someone’s connection.

       “Do it now, or your life is over!” Nishikido demanded.  The man flinched, “It is a difficult spell,” the old man said.

       “But you are capable.  I chose you for a reason, so get to it.”

       The old man went to the Prince hesitantly at first and bowed before him, “Forgive me your highness,” he cried.

       “Hurry up,” Nishikido demanded and kicked the old man in the back, causing him to lose his balance.

       Quickly and in fear, the man placed his hands on top of the Prince’s chest and whispered the spell, using his powerful magic. 

       “What is he doing exactly?” Erika turned to her fiancé. 

       “Inside of Yukiguni citizens, they are born with a connection to the magical world.  If that connection is broken, or snapped, they can never use magic again,” he said as they both turned their eyes back to the man. 

       And after about five minutes of weaving his powerful magic, the old man felt the snap of the young prince’s connection.  He immediately sobbed at the crime he had just committed.  This was one of the princes his people had loved.  A prince he had loved and adored.  And he had been the one to break his connection. 

      “Breaking one’s connection is a serious issue, no old man?  Putting a lock one’s magical connection is one thing.  It just means you can’t use your magic temporarily, but you are still connected to it.  Breaking the connection is much worse.  It means that you can never again use your magic, you can’t communicate through the magical world like the others, and you are an outcast.  It cannot be undone, isn’t that right?” Ryo seemed to tease the man with his words, “The act of breaking one’s connection is death.” 

     The old man continued to cry listening to the cruel words, thinking of his own cruel actions.  He felt regret—how could he have done such a thing?

     “Dispose of him,” Ryo said, “He’s of no use anymore.”

     “But!” the old man cried harder now, “I have done what you said!”

     “And if you were to return to your country now, you would die at the hands of your own loved ones.  You have committed a sin above all sins.  We’re doing you a favor.”

      It was about another hour until Ryosuke came around.  The first thing he realized was the pain in his arms and the dull, heavy feeling in his chest.  He felt odd, but he only figured it was from the impact of the kick the girl delivered and the burning of his own flesh.  He went to feel his arms, but felt something smooth.  He looked at himself and he was dressed in impressive garments made of silk.  Looking in front of himself, he saw he was in a regal room, though with no doors or windows--the only light came from various brightly lit candles around the room.  The room was fancy and held nice items.  In fact, the bed he was currently resting on was very comfortable and filled with pillows and blankets. 

     He lifted his sleeves up to see his arms.  He had worked his magic well back on the boat and his arms were left with large, bright pink scars on each arm.  With a bit more magic, he could perhaps get the scars to fade and stop the pain in them.  He placed his hands on both arms and concentrated but nothing happened.  He closed his eyes and concentrated harder, but absolutely nothing happened.  The spark in his chest when he used magic was dull and the pain in his arms was still there.

     He was so confused.  What was going on?  Then he recalled the whole situation with Emi.  Where was he?  He couldn’t be…in Hikoku?  Why would they have kidnapped a useless son like him?  Why not the others?  Why him?  Why even someone from Yukiguni?  It was a known fact that people from the other countries were respected more by Hikoku than Yukiguni.  They believed them to be an inferior race of people because of their inability to bend an element.  All they could do was use magic.  But that brought the boy back to his current predicament—he couldn’t use his magic.

     “Your magic is gone,” a man suddenly said and Ryosuke looked up at him.  “It’s useless to ever try to use it again.  Just a word of advice.”

     He was seated on a couch and beside him was Emi.  “You!” Ryosuke shouted, “You are a liar!”

     “Calm down,” she giggled, “I did what I had to.  You are the one that made everything so difficult in the end.”

     “Why is my magic gone?” Ryosuke demanded.

     “Your connection is broken,” the man told him and Ryosuke’s heart dropped, but he regained himself quickly.

     “You can’t do that,” he said.

     “No but a Yukiguni citizen could.  And they did on my command.”

     “I don’t believe you!” Ryosuke shouted, trying to concentrate on his connection.  He closed his eyes and tried to find the spark.  Nothing.  He couldn’t feel the radiating warmth from the others in Yukiguni through the connection.  He could no longer feel the strength of his magic pumping through his veins. 

     Ryosuke felt his tears burn down his cheeks in anger.  Now he was really a useless son.  He could do nothing.  He wasn’t even a part of Yukiguni now.  He was the only one who couldn’t use magic now.  He tried again and again, trying to push his tears away and concentrate on putting forth some form of magic.  He tried a simple hearth spell, he tried a simple healing spell—nothing happened each and every time. 

     Almost as if he could read his mind, the man came and sat by him, “You are useless now, huh?”

     Ryosuke glared up at the man in anger, “Why am I here?”  He wiped his tears quickly—there was no way he’d be weak against this man.  “Who do you think I am?”

     “You’re here because that is my command,” the man said, “I’m Nishikido, the current dictator of Hikoku.”

     “Hikoku has a King and Queen,” he fought on.

     “Oh no, that ended twenty years ago.  They’re gone now.  Only one of the royal family remains and that is my fiancée, Erika,” the girl walked forward and Ryosuke understood she was Erika, not Emi.  “You’re here to stay for the time being.  Don’t worry though.  We will never lie to you; we won’t kill you.  We won’t torture you.  You’re only a piece in our game.  And as the most inferior person in the world now, not even worthy of your own inferior race in Yukiguni, we take pity on you.  We will treat you with hospitality here.”

     “I don’t want your hospitality!” he screamed at him in fury.

     Nishikido merely shrugged.

      The nine members of the quest had set out and had been on the sea for a day now.  It wasn’t difficult yet, but they knew once they reached Hikoku, things would be difficult.  Yukiguni and Kazekoku were going to invade Hikoku tomorrow, but their plans didn’t leave time or leeway to save Ryosuke.  The hope was Ryosuke could either escape or they would surrender him.  But this quest was formed, which meant the hope wasn’t strong on either of those options.

      Daiki was a mess currently.  It was a well-known fact in the Matsumoto Family and even among all the royals that Daiki and Ryosuke were the closest siblings.  Constantly Ryosuke had followed his big brother around and Daiki had always made time for Ryosuke.  With Ryosuke in such danger, Daiki was both upset and flared with anger.  Keito sat with Daiki, calming him down. 

     Everyone on the boat had a job to do to keep everything running smoothly.  Hikaru and Kota kept the waters smooth and calm around the boat and helped it run smoothly and as quickly as possible over the water.  Yuma would help the winds guide the boat on its path.  Yuya and Takahisa would remove anything that got in their way on the trip.  Maki would help with things such as food and such, and Yuya and Takahisa usually pitched in with that as well.  Daiki and Keito would do little things to improve everything.  If the food didn’t taste good, they helped with that.  If the boat was too cold or hot, they could help fix that.  If there were mechanical problems, they could also help with that. 

      Over dinner, they started plotting out what they would do when they reached Hikoku.  “What’s the plan?” Hikaru looked to Tomohisa.

      “Well,” he started, “First off, we have to find your brother,” he nodded to Daiki and Keito, “The only other thing we have to worry about is finding out information.”

      “And how are we supposed to do all that?” Takahisa asked.

      “Well, it might be best to disguise ourselves when we enter Hikoku and gather the information before we get Ryosuke.  That seems like the safest way.”

      “I want to get Ryosuke as soon as possible,” Daiki demanded. 

      “I understand,” Tomohisa nodded, “We all do.  So what we have to do is, the day we arrive, we’ll sneak into the town.  We’re going to have to enter at a rural area where we can disguise ourselves and then move to the castle, where we’ll have to figure a way in.  Either that or maybe there’s a way to get Ryosuke out.”

      “How do we know they’re keeping him in the castle?” Maki asked.

      “That is true…” Tomohisa pondered, “We don’t know that.  For all we know, he could be anywhere in Hikoku by now.  But we should still go to the castle first.  If he’s not there, we have to figure out where he is.  And the castle is the best place to find that information.”