A World Beyond Redemption: pt 1.

“Kamiri! Kamiri, where are you?” The sound of a girl’s voice snapped the redhead out of her trance.
‘Oh no, not again. Not now…’ She thought with a frown.
The redhead’s name was Kamiri. Her hobby was art, and her specialty was playing video games. She wore a red and gray sweater with a cat on the front and faded blue jeans. In her right hand was a mechanical pencil, and under her left was a piece of white printer paper.
“Kami- Ah! There you are!” Hikaru poked her head around the corner of the beige colored wall.
Hikaru had violet hair that was constantly kept in a braid. Her thin, wire-framed glasses and Inu-Yasha T-shirt made her look like an otaku. She had brown eyes that were always filled with wonder and curiosity.
“Kamiri, I just wanted to tell you that-“ She stopped mid-sentence to stare at what Kamiri was working on. It was a rather detailed drawing of a dragon in glasses and a tie serving tea to an armored knight.
“Kamiri, you have the weirdest imagination I have ever seen.” Hikaru said with a grin.
Kamiri tried her best to cover the picture with her arms; her face quickly turned the same color as her hair. “Never mind my imagination. What was it you wanted to tell me?”
Hikaru grinned broadly. “Inu-Yasha’s on. It’s a new episode.”
Kamiri’s expression turned to surprise. “Aiee! Is it that time already?” She glanced at her digital clock. 11:05 PM.
“Holy crap!” Kamiri burst out of the room like her heels were on fire, scattering her papers in the process. Hikaru followed closely behind. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they saw Katsumi, eyes glued to the TV screen.
Katsumi had short blonde hair that flared out a bit at the bottom. She wore a yellow woven shirt that reminded Hikaru of corn, and Kamiri of buttered grits. She too wore glasses, but looked much less like an otaku than Hikaru. She also had an immense crush on Inu-Yasha.
“Oi, Kat, what have we missed?” Hikaru called to her friend. “Oi! You in there?” She knocked on her head a bit.
Kamiri had on a sly grin and walked up behind Katsumi and tickled her sides, causing the poor girl to shriek and jump into the air.
“Wha?! Are the rabbits attacking again?!” Katsumi looked around frantically, but didn’t see any pink bunnies with machine guns pillaging the room. What she did see was her two friends with amused looks on their faces.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe from the bunnies.” Kamiri said and plopped down on the floor to enjoy the show.
“Heh, you jumped about three feet in the air.” Hikaru sat down on the couch with her friends.

Somewhere far away…

Three figures stood around a large bonfire. One had short blonde hair and appeared to be in his forties. His clothes were colorful and looked like they were made by Indians. The second had brown hair that was rather messy, as if he had just woken up. A decorative feather adorned the left side of his head. He looked around twenty and carried a red staff. His clothes were the same color as his staff. The third had matted black hair and looked around forty or fifty. A black eyepatch covered his right eye. He wore black and silver leather and had a sword strapped to his left side.

“Well, what now?” The blonde started, a little concern in his voice.
“Now we summon a hero to fight with us.” The brunette said, stepping toward the fire a little.
“Will that really help?” The blonde asked again, skepticism apparent.
“I… don’t know,” The brunette turned to face the black haired man. “What do you think, Geddoe?”
The eyepatched man looked at him with thought. “I’m not going to stop you. You’d do it even if I disapproved. That’s just how you are.”
The brunette nodded. “Right.”
He turned to face the fire again and lifted his staff into the air. A fiery design appeared above his hand and the bonfire burst upward into a burning column that reached the clouds.


Hikaru kicked Kamiri in the side to wake her up. The sleeping girl awoke with a start.
“Wha? Did I fall asleep again?” she asked with a dazed look. Hikaru nodded. “Just leave me here.” She mumbled and went back to sleep.
“I’m going to bed. See ya.” Katsumi got up and stretched. She lay down on the couch and fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Hikaru found a comfortable spot on the floor and lay down. In about five minutes, she was out.

“Hi-chan, your foot’s in my face. Why did you wear boots to sleep?” Kamiri said, waking up Hikaru and Katsumi.
“Boots?” Hikaru sat up and noticed that they were no longer in the living room in front of the big screen. In fact, they weren’t in a house at all. Expansive plains stretched out in all directions, occasionally a boulder or tree poked stubbornly out of the long grass. The sky was a crystal clear blue.
“Hikaru, I don’t think we’re in Tokyo anymore.” Katsumi said, turning to face her friend. But Hikaru didn’t look like her normal self.
Her hair was shorter and spiked out at the ends (think Victoria’s hair from Hellsing, only purple). She no longer had glasses either. She had a short-sleeved white T that was covered by thick steel armor that reached her waist, where a steel orange half-skirt that reached her knees began (Like the Zexen knight’s armor, only simplified). She wore tan khaki pants that when they reached her knees were covered by boots. A large sword and small shield were strapped to her back. A green lightning bold shaped symbol adorned the back of her left hand.
“Um…Why doesn’t anyone look like themselves?” Kamiri inquired.
Katsumi had curlier hair and it was pulled back into a short ponytail in the back. Her blue dress was tied with a darker blue sash at her waist and ended just above two thick leather boots. Her top was white and long-sleeved. In her right hand was a rod (like Elk’s only blue). On her forehead was a lavender colored symbol that looked like a flash of light. On her left hand was another symbol, this one a blue teardrop shaped one.
Kamiri didn’t look that much different. Her hair was longer and pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a scarlet robe that was tied at her waist with a silver sash and leather slippers.
“I have no idea…” Hikaru looked down at herself. She and Kamiri jumped when a piercing shriek rang through the air. They both shot surprised looks at Katsumi, who was curled up into a ball in the grass.
“I’m wearing a dress! I don’t know where I am!” Katsumi wailed. Kamiri rolled her eyes.
“Look, I think I know where we are. If I’m correct, we should head northwest.” She pointed to a dirt road. “We should follow it until we reach a town.” Kamiri said knowingly. The other two looked at her skeptically. She noted this.
“It’s just an assumption. This place looks familiar somehow. Trust me.” She finished.
“Huh, now that you mention it, this place DOES look familiar…” Hikaru said and rushed to the path.
“What are you talking about?” Katsumi asked and walked awkwardly onto the path.
Kamiri looked around carefully as if trying to spy something in the grass. Just then, a large blue-green bird jumped out and attacked her, knocking her down.
“Get away from me, you stupid bird!” Kamiri kicked the bird away. “All right, Hikaru, Katsumi, have at!” She said, jumping behind her two friends.
“WHAT?!” Hikaru and Katsumi said at the same time. The bird lunged at Hikaru, missing by mere inches.
“I’m not fit to fight! You’ll have to take it down!” Kamiri yelled, dodging the bird again and jumping into a nearby tree.
Hikaru drew her sword and shield and held the shield in front of herself and Katsumi.
“Katsumi, concentrate! There’s a rift! Find it and open it!” Kamiri yelled from the sidelines.
“Rift?! What are you talking about?!” Kamiri jumped out of the way of the bird.
“Pale Gate magic! Open Gate! Open it now! Visualize horsemen!” Kamiri was practically red it the face.
“What?” Katsumi dropped her guard and was tackled. Hikaru slashed at the bird, causing it to jump off Katsumi.
“Just do it!” Kamiri said again.
“Okay…” Katsumi visualized horsemen and the lavender symbol on her forehead glowed.
All of a sudden, they were transported to a desert canyon. About two hundred armored giant centaurs with javelins rushed at the bird, one leaving a javelin through it. They were back in the plains and the bird disappeared in a purple mist.
“What…was that?” Katsumi said, panting heavily.
“That was the fist major clue as to where we are. You should know, Hikaru.” Kamiri cast a glance at Hikaru.
“I know exactly where we are. The question is: how did we get here.” Hikaru and Kamiri both had grave expressions.
Katsumi looked at Hikaru, then Kamiri, and then back at Hikaru. “What? Where are we?”
“We’ll explain when we get to Iksay.” Hikaru said blandly.
“Iksay?” Katsumi was thoroughly confused.
They headed along the path for what seemed like hours. At last, when the sun began to set, the peaks of tall buildings came into sight. They ran for it and soon ended up in a small town that was just beginning to close its doors for the night. Hikaru led the way to a taller building and entered.
“Excuse me, but do you have any extra rooms?” Hikaru asked the innkeeper kindly.
“Yes, and it’s your lucky night! All the rooms are free on account of the harvest festival tomorrow!” The Lady behind the counter said with a large smile.
Kamiri casually strolled up the stairs to the empty room, Katsumi following close behind.
“Now, I don’t know how to say this, but we’re inside a video game.” Kamiri said simply, sitting down on the bed opposite the one Katsumi was sitting on.
“You just did.” Katsumi said with a grin. Kamiri glared at her.
Hikaru walked in at that moment. “So what have you told her so far?”
“That we’re in a video game. Suikoden three, to be precise. I could tell when she mentioned the harvest festival.” Kamiri explained.
“Which means that tomorrow is when the lizards attack Iksay.” Hikaru finished.
“Right.” Kamiri agreed. “I think we should stay out of the battle at all costs. First thing tomorrow morning we head to Budehuc and pay Thomas a visit. Maybe we can get some answers.”
“Why should we avoid the fight? How are you so smart all of a sudden?” Katsumi asked.
Kamiri grinned broadly. “I’m a support character. My abilities are healing and strategist. Not to mention the fact that I’ve beaten this game before.” Kamiri gloated.
“Oi, baka, don’t act so big just ‘cause you beat the game. It’s unbecoming.” Hikaru had a look of irritation on her face.
“Just ‘cause I’ve beaten it and you haven’t and you’ve had it longer doesn’t mean you’re a bad gamer! It just means that I’m better!” Kamiri stood up to gloat some more.
“No, it just means that you have a lot more free time on your hands.” Hikaru left it at that.
“Anyway, let’s get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us.” Hikaru said. Katsumi and Kamiri nodded and laid down in separate beds to sleep.

The sounds of laughter and music awoke them the next morning.
“Ugh… Has it started already? We need to leave before this place burns.” Kamiri stated simply, crawling out of bed.
“Do we have to? I want to see the festival.” Katsumi pleaded, completely oblivious of the battle that would soon take place.
“Oh, come on, let’s go see the festival. We’ll leave before the lizards get here, I promise.” Hikaru practically flew down the stairs, soon followed by Katsumi.
“Oh sure, let’s ruin the story and mess up the time-space continuum!” Kamiri said sarcastically to herself as she trudged down the stairs.

The festival was beautiful. There were balloons and banners everywhere and confetti flew through the air like butterflies. In the Town Square were row after row of tables upon which lay steaming dishes of every kind of food imaginable. Katsumi was nowhere in sight, but it was safe to assume that she was somewhere in the crowd, probably close to the food. Hikaru was sneaking around behind buildings for some reason. Knowing her, she was most likely looking for ninjas. Kamiri headed to the back of town where it was less crowded. The country air smelled sweet and the warm breezes were just like those back home in the spring.

Hikaru stood behind a house and noticed a kid peeking around the side of the wall.
“Hey, what’re you looking at?” She asked simply. The kid turned to look at her.
“It hasn’t moved.” The kid turned back to looking at whatever it was he was looking at. “Oh! I think it just blinked!”
Walking to the corner, Hikaru saw a black and silver haired man wearing black with a katana on his back.
‘Watari! Score!’ Hikaru thought and walked bravely up to him.
“Hey, Watari.” She said to get his attention.
He looked down at her with a look that made Hikaru wish she had a camera. He quickly recovered from the shock from the fact that a strange girl knew his name and changed his expression to his normal one.
“What?” he asked simply, not looking at her.
“You wanna join our group?” She asked, unfaltering.
“…”
“Well?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“So will you?”
“…only if you pay me.”
“Crap…” Hikaru gave up, simply because she knew that there was no way she was going to get enough money to hire him, and she would run out of patience long before he would.”

Katsumi was having the time of her life. She tested many of the dishes and had friendly conversations with the townspeople. Then she noticed someone who stuck out from the crowd.
She had short brown hair and a pink bow and wore a short blue dress. On her right hand was a black and white wolf puppet. Katsumi approached her with curiosity.
“Hey, what are you looking at?” Katsumi fell backwards and landed on the ground in shock that the puppet talked.
The girl looked at the puppet, which in turn looked at her back. “Branky, what have I told you about scaring people like that? Bad puppet!” She got an angry look in her eyes.
“No! I-I didn’t mean to!” The doll screamed frantically. The girl whacked the puppet into the wall several times, leaving a crack.
“There! That’ll teach you to scare people!” The girl resumed her cheery smile. “I’m sorry, Branky is a bad girl sometimes. By the way, I’m Mel.” She said with a bubbly grin. Katsumi stood up and gaped at Mel.
“Um…okay. Well I have to go now, bye!” Katsumi ran as fast as she could away from the crazy girl.

Kamiri leaned on the fence and looked out across the fields. It reminded her of home. The warm breezes calmed her and for a moment she imagined being home again. Footsteps behind her broke her out of her trance. She turned her head lazily to see who it was and nearly fell through the fence. Chris Lightfellow was heading towards the windmills. Kamiri darted back into town to gather her friends.

Hikaru was leaning against a wall, half asleep.
“Hi-chan! We have to go now!” Kamiri grabbed her friend by the arm.
“Hey! What’s the big idea?” Hikaru pulled her arm back. Kamiri had a serious look on her face.
“The part where Nash meet Chris is about to start. We have to go!” Kamiri blurted out. “Where’s Katsumi?”
“I don’t know!” Hikaru said. “You go that way, and I’ll go this way. Meet back here in five.”
“Got it.” They split in different directions.

“Katsumi!” Hikaru shouted over the crowd, but it sounded like a whisper. She spotted Mel by a wall and decided to interrogate.
“Hey, have you seen a blonde girl in a blue dress around?” Hikaru asked quickly.
Mel looked at Branky. “I don’t know. Have you seen anyone like that, Branky?”
“Yeah. You don’t remember? Jeez…” Branky had crossed the line.
“Are you calling me stupid?” Mel slammed the demon doll into the wall again. She turned to Hikaru again. “Now that you mention it, I remember someone like that. Branky scared her off though.” Mel laughed.
“Well, did you see which way she went?”
“I think she went that way.” Mel pointed Branky toward the item shop.
“Uh, thanks!” Hikaru sped towards the item shop, avoiding people.
Hikaru burst through the door of the item shop, practically knocking it off its hinges.
“Katsumi?” The scene before her was a smiling Katsumi having a friendly chat with Gordon, the shop owner. Katsumi turned around at the sound of her name being called.
“Hikaru! What’s up?” Katsumi said with her cheery grin.
“Your little friend is quite the lady.” Gordon commented as Katsumi walked over to meet her friend.
“Uh, thanks. But we really must be going now.” Hikaru said more to Katsumi than Gordon.
“Why? Where are we going?” She was completely oblivious.
Hikaru was about to tell her when a crash from outside was heard.
“What on earth…” Gordon walked out from behind the counter to look out the window. The two followed him to see what was going on. The girls gasped at the sight.
Lizards were attacking innocent villagers and setting fire to houses. A few Karayan fighters were assisting in the attacking.
“We’re too late!” Hikaru ran out the door and Katsumi followed out of fear. “We have to find Kamiri and fast!”
They saw her being attacked by a large lizard. Surprisingly, she was holding her own despite being unfit to battle. She rolled under the lizard’s legs to escape and met up with Hikaru and Katsumi.
“We have to get out of here before they block the exit.” Kamiri stated quickly. The others nodded and made a mad dash to the exit. Two lizards and four Karayan fighters intercepted them.
Hikaru drew her sword and shield and took a fighting stance. Katsumi started concentrating and lavender balls of light floated around her. Hikaru did the same, except green balls of light floated around her.
“Soaring Bolt!” Hikaru lifted her left hand toward the sky, and an orb of blue electric energy gathered above her. The orb split and hit all of the enemies, incapacitating three of the Karayan fighters. One of the lizard fighters swung its spear at Katsumi, who jumped out of the way.
“Open gate!” Katsumi opened the portal, and the horsemen finished the job.
Hikaru looted one of the Karayan fighters and found a small money pouch before running to the exit to follow Katsumi and Kamiri out of the burning town. They ended up on a path again.
“Let’s go on to Budehuc. It’s the closest place with people.” Hikaru commented. They all nodded and headed northwest again.
When the reached the gate to the castle, they saw a blonde girl in armor and a plaid skirt holding a spear. She noticed them and got into a fighting stance.
“Halt, villains!” She said forcefully.
“Hey, who’re you calling villains? We’re just simple travelers passing through.” Kamiri tried to reason with the girl.
“Cecile? Are you scaring away the merchants again?” A boy no more than sixteen with short brown hair and brown eyes wearing a yellow vest and blue jeans asked kindly. The girl calmed down when she saw him.
“Master Thomas! I was…uh…They looked dangerous!” Cecile stuttered with her words.
Thomas turned to face his guests. “I apologize. Are you here to open shop?”
“No, but we could use a place to stay. We’ll pay you and everything.” Kamiri chimed.
“Of course. How long will you be staying?” Thomas asked sincerely.
“Well, we’re not sure yet.” Said Hikaru with concern.
“Yeah, we’re kinda homeless at the moment.” Katsumi blurted out without thinking. The other two girls slapped their hands over her mouth to keep her from saying anything else.
“Oh really? Is that so?” Thomas’s face suddenly had a thoughtful expression. He nodded. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I’m sure there’s an empty room in the castle somewhere.” He walked back toward the mansion. Cecile watched him go and turned back to the three.
“Welcome to Budehuc! I’m Cecile, captain of the castle guards.” She paused. “Um, wasn’t there another one with you?”
Kamiri and Hikaru looked behind them to find that Katsumi had wandered off sometime during the conversation.
“Katsumi?” They said simultaneously.

The two walked into the courtyard in front of the mansion.
“Sheesh! She has a shorter attention span than me!” Kamiri said exasperatedly.
“Well, she has to be around here somewhere. She couldn’t have gone too far.” Hikaru and Kamiri looked at each other and their faces had the same expression of horror.
“You look inside, and I’ll look outside. Meet back here in an hour.” Hikaru said quickly and they split up again.

Hikaru went back to the gates to check the inn. When she entered, she saw the chubby innkeeper and butler, Sebastian. He put on a smile.
“Hello, will you be staying the night?” He asked.
“No, I’m actually looking for a friend of mine. Have you seen a blonde girl in a blue dress come in?”
“I’m afraid not. Sorry.”
Hikaru cursed under her breath and left the inn. For a brief moment she saw a figure in red dash down the stairs to the lower courtyard.
“What the…” She followed it curiously.

Kamiri was having no luck as she looked feverishly through the rooms. The library was the first place she looked, but when she got there she immediately left because if Katsumi had been there at any point, Eike would have scared her off. She wasn’t in the gallery or the infirmary either. Kamiri was beginning to lose her patience.
“Arg! Where could she have gone?!” She yelled out loud. She walked in front of the large staircase and saw someone looking at her from around the corner closest to the basement. The instant she caught a glimpse of it, it was gone.
“Hey, wait a minute!” She said before chasing it.

The figure clad in red led Hikaru into the dungeons and disappeared. Hikaru almost ran strait into Kamiri, who was coming down the stairs.
“Wah! Oh, it’s just you, Hikaru.” Kamiri said with a sigh. “What are you doing here? I thought you were looking outside.”
Hikaru let out a breath. “I was, until I saw someone run down here.” Kamiri considered this for a moment.
“Were they wearing a red outfit?” She asked.
“Yeah…why?”
“I saw someone in red come down here too.”
They both turned their heads when they caught a glimpse of something move swiftly toward the elevator and disappear through it.
“They did say this place was haunted, didn’t they?” Hikaru looked warily at Kamiri.
“Yeah, they did.” Kamiri said before running to the elevator and forcing its doors open.
The elevator was out of service, so all that was there was the empty shaft. There was a ladder on the left side.
“After you.” Kamiri said, extending her hand toward the ladder.
Hikaru jumped onto it and began to descend. “Of course.”
Kamiri climbed carefully onto the ladder after Hikaru and climbed down. When they reached the bottom, they both had to pry the door open, it was harder from the inside. They emerged into the dark caverns under the castle.
“Better be well equipped. Arr, thar be monsters in them thar caves.” Kamiri faked a pirate accent just to be silly.
Something you should know about Kamiri: When she’s nervous, she cracks lame jokes. And Kamiri was definitely nervous. The giant dinosaur skeleton stuck in the wall didn’t help.
Hikaru rolled her eyes and began walking. A strange blue light guided them through the caves, as if tempting them to chase it.
“Katsumi!” They shouted in unison.
Katsumi was crouched over the source of the light: a small shining stone with a symbol inside of it that resembled an icy frost wrapping around something unseen.
Katsumi looked up at them. “What do you think it is?”
Kamiri had a puzzled look. “What I want to know is how you got down here.”
Katsumi’s expression was unreadable. “I followed someone to that broken door, and suddenly I was here.” She looked back at the stone. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s pretty. Can I keep it?”
Hikaru had an exasperated expression. “Sure, go ahead. Whatever, let’s just get out of here.” She began to walk back to the entrance and stopped. “Well? Are you coming?”
Katsumi nodded and reached forward to pick up the stone. As soon as her fingertips touched the cold surface, she let out a cry of pain.
“Kat? Hey, Kat, are you okay?” Kamiri asked quickly.
Katsumi was holding her right hand gingerly. Steam was coming off of the back of it.
“I…I think I’m okay. But my hand really hurts.”
Hikaru came over and Katsumi held her hand up for her to see. The symbol that was inside the stone had engraved itself into the back of her right hand, and the stone had disappeared. The symbol on her hand flashed and the room was filled with blinding light. The light faded and a man had appeared in front of Katsumi.
He looked around his early twenties. He had short, messy brown hair that was held out of his eyes by an orange headband with a feather on the left side. He wore a red vest and had green pants and boots that came up to mid-shin. He had a white long-sleeved shirt on under his vest and in his left hand he held a red staff.
“The Flame Champion?! How? You’re supposed to be dead!” Kamiri exclaimed.
He looked at her with sorrowful brown eyes. “I am.”