SORA

"Sora?" Akari calls out to me quietly and I move over more towards her as we walk along the stone pathway, the others moving with us led by Isabella.

"Yeah?" I ask, wondering what she wants.

"Why did you decide to let her come?" Akari asks, her blue eyes searching mine. "I mean, I'm just wondering. You didn't hesitate, so..."

"If you were her, wouldn't you want to do everything you could to help your family, to help your village? She's just a regular human and yet she wanted to do everything she could against creatures of nightmares, creatures much stronger than her. To me, that makes her stronger than them. She didn't care if she risked everything because this place is her everything, they are her everything, and in life if you don't take risks, especially for the ones you love, then you have no life at all," I shrug simply.

"Yeah..." Akari breathes out, something flickering in her eyes as she scans my face.

"Hey, up ahead!" Sander shouts, gaining the attention of Akari and I.

Kit runs up ahead of the group and leaps into the air, her katana glowing bright blue as the spirit of a see-through blue tiger races alongside her blade in the form of energy before she drives her blade through a shadow serpent and the tiger catches another in its jaws before it thrashes it around and it disperses into thin air with a hiss.

"Ike, cleanse!" Kit commands and the tiger immediately pounces into the brush of the jungle off of the pathway, lighting up a streak of blue energy and dissolving black smoke in its wake as it slashes through shadow serpents.

Isabella watches in awe then as Sander runs up to Kit and throws his naginata in a streak of electric blue energy through a serpent that leaps towards her unguarded side. Sander then slides passed Kit and picks up his weapon on the way before he guards her flank.

"I've got it!" Akari shouts and runs up to Sander to take his place. "Go to the springs with Isabella and Sora!"

"Akari and I will handle the serpents. You three go to the spring and purify it," Kit nods in agreement.

"I know I'm not an expert or anything, but shouldn't you two be going to kill the giant beast?" I ask wearily. "You seem the most qualified."

"Sander is the only one who can actually purify the springs," Kit explains. "You can protect Isabella and Sander, I trust. You'll also have to help take down the creature. We'll make sure no other swarms get through to the creature's aid."

"I'm sure there'll be hundreds." Akari says as she swings her scythe around and bends down on one knee before she looks into her scope, "The serpents themselves aren't bad but swarms of them can be troublesome. Go, quickly!"

"Understood," I nod before the three of us take off.

"They're just up ahead!" Isabella shouts as we run up the pathway, almost nearly there to the springs.

Sander slashes through the few serpents that make appearances in our way as we run towards the springs before he leaps off to the left and jumps between tree bases. Once he's further up ahead, he raises his naginata above his head and flies downwards, a giant crash being heard from up ahead. Once Isabella and I catch up, we stop in surprise to see that Sander has landed directly in the center of the spring and is currently on top of a twenty foot tall green and purple serpent with light pink wings that coiled out from underneath the water.

"I thought you said it lived in the cave..." I trail off weakly.

"I-- I thought it did. I guess it also lives in the spring..." Isabella trails off, her eyes wide as she watches Sander grapple with the serpent.

"That would explain the pollution," I reason. "It's polluting the water supply because it lives in it."

"Sora!" Sander shouts from atop the serpent. "I need you to draw its attention!"

"Got it!" I shout back and begin to race towards the serpent. "Hey, you!"

I twirl my staff around before I slam it into the ground before the springs and a giant force field of green energy surrounds the springs, cutting off the outside world. Then, a green energy shield forms in front of me and I point my staff at the serpent.

"Back off!" I shout before I leap up into the air, a platform of green energy forming beneath where I land and my shield moving with me.

I leap from side to side and manage to draw the serpent's attention as I make my way through the air to it, coming closer and closer to its face. As the serpent hisses and goes to strike for me, Sander takes the opportunity to leap off of its head and he unexpectedly grabs ahold of my forearm as he flies by through the air. My eyes widen slightly whenever he swings us around with his momentum and suddenly I'm the one falling off of the platform and into the shallow sea green water as Sander throws his naginata towards the serpent's open mouth.

"Refrain!" Sander shouts and presses the palms of his hands together as he closes his eyes, a wave of electric blue energy swirling around his naginata and a pair of electric blue wings made of energy forming on his back before his eyes fly open and the energy in his wings glows brightly before it bursts and radiates through the entire area while his naginata flies into the Serpent's mouth.

Sander's naginata comes through the backside of the serpent's throat as the serpent dissolves with a loud hiss and the flash of Sander's bright blue energy. Before the naginata falls into the springs, Sander leaps off of the platform and re-summons his wings as he flies towards the naginata, swiping it out of the air with ease before he twirls and flies upwards. Sander then flies back down to where I lay in the water and he grins mischievously as he offers me a hand.

"Sorry about that," Sander laughs and I glare at him as I take his hand and he helps me to my feet.

"No harm done," I shrug and brush down my clothes before I look over to see Isabella smiling gleefully.

"You guys did it!" She shouts happily and jumps up and down.

"Not quite yet," Sander says as he flies over to the edge of the bank with me where he drops me off shortly before he makes his wings disappear. "I still have to purify the water."

"I'll keep guard," I say and Sander nods.

Sander then sits down at the edge of the springs and places down his naginata beside him before he crosses his legs and raises his hands to press his palms together as he closes his eyes. A faint electric blue light radiates around Sander like an aura and I watch with raised eyebrows as the water in the springs begin to glow as well before a white flash goes off and the water seems to almost sparkle crystal clear, the beautiful sea green color no longer hazy.

"Hey! Nice job, guys!" Kit shouts as she runs up the pathway with Akari. "We saw Sander's light from back there."

"I can't thank you all enough for saving my village," Isabella smiles joyfully and claps her hands. "Mother will be so proud!"

"Say, Isabella?" Sander starts, his eyes opening as he turns his head to look at her. "Would you mind taking us to meet your mom?"

"Not at all," Isabella nods while Sander climbs to his feet. "She'll be pleased to have visitors."

The rest of us exchange glances and wonder what Sander's up to, but we decide to go along with it because it makes Isabella happy. We decide to follow Isabella back to her house, less on guard this time since the village has now been purified from the nightmare creatures. Before we left, however, Sander snapped a leap off of a nearby plant and he used it to scoop up some water, most likely for Isabella's mom.

"Do you get a lot of visitors around here?" Kit asks as we walk back.

"Not really," Isabella frowns. "We only have traders who come through the village every so often and people have relatives who visit."

"People? Does that not include you?" I ask.

"Nope," Isabella shrugs. "I've never had any family visit, really. The only one who ever visited was my uncle, but that's about it. Well, I called him my uncle anyway. He was best friends with my mom. He's been gone for a while though, just like Dad."

"It's just you and your mom, then?" Sander frowns.

"Yup," Isabella smiles sadly and glances back at us. "But I'm used to it. Dad died in battle when I was five, so I never really got to know him well."

"I'm sorry," Akari frowns. "That must've been hard."

"It was," Isabella nods thoughtfully, "but I had my mom to get me through it. We were there for each other, Uncle too. Ever since she got sick, I've been so worried. I hope that purifying the village will help raise her spirits though, as well as the overall health of the village itself."

"Your mother's sick?" Sander asks.

"She got sick from the water," Isabella sighs. "Most of the village did."

Within a few more minutes, we arrive outside Isabella's house. Isabella slides open the shoji screen door to her front house and takes off her shoes at the entrance. The rest of us follow suit before we follow Isabella off to a room in the right of the small wooden house. Isabella leads us to a room with tatami floor mats with a red and gold futon bed off to the left, a dresser with a mirror, a turned on ceiling fan, a window off to the right, a closet, and a door to a bathroom. There's also a bookshelf near the bed and an end table with a wooden chair and an ink well. In the bed, there's a young middle-aged woman with long and wavy fiery red hair in a kimono lying.

"Mom, look. I brought visitors," Isabella smiles and the woman opens her tired hazel eyes. "What's more, they purified the village! Isn't that amazing!"

"I brought water, Ms..." Sander trails off as he walks over and realizes he doesn't know her last name.

Isabella's mom's eyes widen upon seeing Sander and she sits up slightly as she scans him down, a faint smile forming on her face.

"Lockwood, Ms. Lockwood, but you can call me Rae," she says and gratefully takes the plant leaf from Sander, who kneels beside her.

Before Sander goes to stand back up, Rae reaches out and gently grips his wrist with his cross bracelet, making him furrow his eyebrows.

"He gave it to you, I see," she smiles softly and Sander's breath hitches.

"Then, I was right in thinking that you're..." Sander trails off, his eyes searching hers.

"I was your father's best friend growing up," Rae continues to smile. "I'm glad to see that his child turned out so strong and handsome, just like him. How is your brother? You're Sander, aren't you?"

"Yes," Sander clears his throat, "and Shae is doing well."

"Wait, is that why you having matching bracelets?" Kit asks and looks between Isabella and Sander. "Sander's father gave his to him and your mother gave hers to you, but Sander's father's best friend growing up was Chastity, so that means..."

"That's right," Rae chuckles. "I'm Chastity, and eventually my title and will pass on to my daughter."

"Wait, what?" Isabella's eyes widen. "You're Chastity? And I thought virtues and sins were immortal?"

"Once they have children, they forfeit their immortality," Akari breathes out. "Additionally, they can be killed by other sins, virtues, or nightmare creatures."

"So, you're not old as dirt?" Isabella says and looks at the four of us, doe-eyed.

"No," Sander scowls. "Do we look as old as dirt to you? We're all sixteen."

"And we're just humans," Akari says and motions towards me and her.

"Sweet! You're my age," Isabella gushes.

"Why did you leave?" Sander frowns, his gaze directed back to Rae. "Dad was crushed. He talked about you all the time."

"I left because I couldn't stand to be there any longer," Rae frowns, her smile faltering. "So, I fled and I raised my daughter out here for a safe and peaceful life with my husband before he passed away. I refused to be a part of an establishment that put its pride before its humanity."

"No pun intended," Sander snorts.

"Wait, Mom!" Isabella's eyes widen and she rushes to her mom's bedside. "Please let me join the academy!"

"Did you not hear--" Sander starts.

"I want to become an Aria," Isabella says firmly. "I want to help make Aria Academy a better place and I want to learn to protect people. I promise that I'll abide by my own morals."

"You know that it'll be dangerous, don't you?" Rae frowns and searches her daughter's face. "Not only will it be dangerous to protect the world, but it will be dangerous to stand against the academy."

"I'm okay with that," Isabella nods. "I'll only do what's right and I refuse to do anything but, even if that means stepping on their toes and making them squirm. If I don't do it, then who can I trust to?"

"Us," Sander says and points his thumb at himself as he grins. "We got this, trust me. All five of us do."

"All..." Isabella's eyes light up before she smiles and looks back to her mom, who nods, before Isabella looks back at Sander and nods as well. "Right. All five of us."