Wind, Guide Me

The screams of the three travelers echoed as they fell through the strange portal, albeit it was excruciatingly quick. It was as if she fell into a different room. The air changed drastically, momentarily choking her, in fact. Talim let out a soft cry as she painfully landed on top of Mi-na, who emitted a pained holler. Talim had no time to move out of the way before she felt the weight of Dampierre slam onto her back, knocking every little inch of wind out of her tiny body.

        Mi-na was quickly infuriated when Dampierre did not start clamoring off the pile as fast as she would have liked. “Get off me!” she shouted. At first, Talim thought the order was directed towards her, so she proceeded to hurriedly wiggle out from the human sandwich in which she was caught in.

        A few moments later, Dampierre regained his composure and gingerly jumped off of the two girls. With a sneer, he absentmindedly patted the dirt off of his clothes. Somehow, Dampierre had refrained from losing his hat, or even getting a speck of dirt of his perfect mustache. When he ended up noticing both of these observations, he could not help but feel a little bit better.

        Talim and Mi-na were not doing so good. Seconds after Dampierre scampered off of her, she stood up and proceeded to help Mi-na to her feet. “Mi-na, are you okay?” Talim asked her dear friend. However, Mi-na paid her no attention, as her mind was solely focused on Le Bello.

        “What is your deal!? Why did you push us?” Mi-na asked, her voice uncontrollably rising. Talim was right about Mi-na: her and Yun-Seong were alike in more ways than she had originally thought.

        “I did no such thing!” Dampierre admitted, pointing his nose up in the air as if he was offended by her words. “There must have been a freak wind. Le Bello is not too sure himself… how peculiar…” Dampierre said, resting a hand on the bottom of his skinny chin. Mi-na was quickly losing her patience. Talim knew that Dampierre was lying the instant he said that obvious word, however she chose not to call him out on it.

        Mi-na began to reach behind her, an anger-driven grimace on her visage as one hand gripped her Zanbatou. Talim put a hand in front of her as a way to subtly tell her “it’s not worth it”. Now that Talim thought about it, she was lucky that she did not accidentally fall on the blade of Mi-na’s Zanbatou. It was also lucky that Dampierre did not land on the knapsack on Talim’s back, which still contained her bladed tonfa’s. With a small growl, Mi-na let go of her weapon, making sure it was gently returned to its original position on her back.

        Talim took this moment to carefully look at her surroundings when a very small breeze passed by her. It was too quiet to hear, but Talim still used it as a reason to stay hopeful. The tree’s were a sparkling emerald, hesitantly dripping morning dew. The leaves were odd to her, as they jutted out like four leaf clovers. Under her feet was a soil-ridden trail that appeared to follow the sun way out into the distance. Talim could feel it, however, it was hidden from sight at that moment. Other than that, there were various shrubs and bushes that were strewn about the sides of the trail. There was only one thing about it that looked unnatural: the fact that there was a giant, purple, swirling portal in the middle of it.

        “Where...are we?” Talim asked, breaking the ice before Mi-na’s anger had managed to rise. For the first time, Mi-na and Dampierre actually took note of their surroundings. Upon taking a single glance at Dampierre’s face, Talim knew her suspicions were correct. However, she still refused to call him out on it. She did not wish to add gasoline to that pile of hay.

        “Well, Dampierre? Where are we?” Mi-na turned to Dampierre, who snapped to attention. Talim concluded that Mi-na also had her suspicions about the strange man who followed them. The man’s eye twitched, before he aptly raised a finger.

        “I have no clue,” he said, plainly. Mi-na smacked her forehead, and Talim felt a little like sighing.

        “I thought you said you went through the portal earlier?” Mi-na asked, more confused and weary than angry at this point. Both of them looked in his direction as he kicked the dirt.

        “Have no fear! I have an explanation!” Mi-na rolled her eyes, as Talim kept her’s on Dampierre’s. “I did go through the portal. I’ve been here before. Le Bello just did not go through the one in Athens. They’ve been springing up all over the place. When I came through I was in a... mountain.” Talim squinted at him, very disbelieving of what he was preaching. Talim did decide that it makes a little bit of sense. If he went through a certain portal in her world, maybe he came out of another portal in this world? This was another world, correct? Talim was still trying to wrap her head around this, but in all seriousness, she had seen weirder.

        “Yeah... well, come on, Talim. Let’s get out of here,” Mi-na stated, as she abruptly began to walk towards the portal.

        “Right.”

        Before another word could be said, a pained grunt rang out amongst the three of them, and Dampierre could not help but break out into a glorious riffe of laughter as Mi-na smacked head-on into the portal. It was as if it was glass. Talim did not find this to be the least bit funny. If anything, it made her entirely nervous, especially because another loud wind passed by her, gently ruffling her hair in the process.

        “Ouch, what the…?” Mi-na called as she peeled her face off of the portal as Dampierre finally managed to catch his breathe. As the realization hit her, she began to pound on the glass, desperate for it to let them pass through. “No, no, no!”

        “We are not worthy enough,” Talim said, repeating exactly what the wind had just told her. She admitted that it was even lucky that she could speak to it in a new place like this. “we must prove our worth before the portal will let us pass.”

        Dampierre had subsequently stopped laughing, as Talim’s words had knocked the grim smile right off of his lips. “W-What!? That’s absurd!” A loud banging could be heard as Mi-na resorted to using her Zanbatou to try and break the portal. Talim did not understand Mi-na’s thinking. It may have looked and felt like glass, but she could tell that even Dampierre knew that it actually was not. “I... I came through last time without much difficulty, uh, honest!” Dampierre stuttered. Talim realized what their situation would entail, and how awkward that this must be for him. Without another thought about it, she turned to the mustachioed man. She pointed to Mi-na.

        “I find it weird that we know your name, but you do not know ours. That is Seong Mi-na, and I am Talim. We must learn to work together, if we are ever going to genuinely get out of this.” Dampierre was slightly caught off guard by her kindness at first. He was not at all used to people talking like that towards him. As Talim reached out her hand, Le Bello firmly grasped it.

        “Well, uh-”

        “You!” Mi-na shouted. A mere millisecond later, Dampierre’s mouth curled back into a frightened, toothy frown. Mi-na held her Zanbatou’s blade just inches away from Dampierre’s adam’s apple. The blade was a shining silver, catching glimpses from the sun when it was positioned correctly. Dampierre held his hands up in the air, as if was just caught red-handed by the police. Talim noticed that he had some sort of green...boxes, on his wrists? Maybe they were some kind of bracelet. “You got us stuck here! You’re a liar! You’ve never been through that portal in your life! You’re just some kind of stupid con-artist, aren’t you?”

        “Mi-na!”

        “Uhm, excuse me? That is no way for a lady such as yourself to speak.” Mi-na gritted her teeth, so Le Bello decided to try another approach. “Look, I understand tensions are high, but I’m sure we can figure this out.”

        “How? Dammit!” Mi-na turned to Talim, her eyes like stone as she pleaded towards the young girl. “Yun-Seong’s probably in Rome right now, and moving farther away as we speak. All because of this idiot!”

        “Wait! Don’t hurt me! I have a wife and ki-”

        “Mi-na stop this!” Talim shouted, interrupting  Dampierre. Chances were he was not going to say anything worthwhile anyways. Something was off, she had never remembered Mi-na being this aggressive before. She was always determined, but they are both very different things. Yun-Seong being on her mind, maybe that could be enough flame, but Talim sincerely doubted it.

        “Why should I? Look, Talim! We’re in some sort of new world, or whatever this is, and there’s no way out!” Mi-na actually stopped to think for a moment. “ By the time we prove our worth, Yun-Seong will be halfway across the country!”

        “If we could just calm-” Dampierre started. Talim’s eyes widened as she looked over at Dampierre, a loud shink was heard as his face was contorted into that of pure malice. “-DOWN!” Talim saw three glints. One was in Dampierre’s eye, while the others game from that small baskets, which was apparently holsters, on both of his wrists. They both protruded two hand-length hidden blades. Talim did not even have time to warn Mi-na before he ducked Mi-na sitting blade and curled his right fist, letting the blade jut out as he swung at her. Talim also felt incredibly stupid after actually believing that the holsters were some kind of baskets.

        Luckily, Mi-na had been paying close attention. With a swift step back, Dampierre’s blade came nowhere close to actually hitting her. With newfound adrenaline in Mi-na’s body, she got ready to swung her Zanbatou back at the con-artist, but Talim jumped infront of her, reluctantly. The last thing she wanted was to get hit by her weapon, it honestly seemed like it would hurt, obviously. Plus, she had seen some of her moves, and did not wish to be on the other end of them.

        “Mi-na! Stop!” Upon seeing the new body in her line of sight, Mi-na stopped her swing, sticking the pointed end of her Zanbatou in the dirt.

        “You saw that! He just attacked me!” She argued, crossing her arms childishly. Talim rolled her eyes. Deep inside she knew that the blame was to be shared equally between them all. After all, Talim could have stepped up a little sooner, or she could have been more assertive in her attempts to stop them.

        “Are you serious? Le Bello is appalled! If I can remember correctly, you drew your blade first.” shrieked the con-man, literally pointing his scrawny finger at the woman. Talim let out a loud groan in frustration. This was not what she had wanted, nor what should be occurring right then.

“Please! Stop fighting!” Talim said, calmly. Almost immediately, Seong Mi-na let out a deep breathe. She had temporarily forgotten who else was with them. To be honest, she wanted to be a good role model for the young girl, whether she needed one or not. With a sigh, Mi-na picked up her Zanbatou and placed it back on her back.

        “You’re right. Sorry, Dampierre.” Mi-na deadpanned. Talim shot her a dirty glare, causing the woman to rethink herself. “I am truly sorry.” Mi-na was wondering to herself why she was letting why a fifteen year old girl completely guilt trip her. In the end she decided that it was just for the best.

“Le Bello accepts this apology. It was not my wish for this to happen, you know.” Dampierre lifted off his top hat in order to dust it off, revealing shining, dark chestnut hair. He patted his hat a few times, frowning at the amount of dust he extracted from it before placing it back on the top of his head. Talim noticed that his blades had been removed, and slunk back into his holsters. Such a very weird and tricky weapon, Talim thought to herself, it fit him rather well.

At that very second, a crisp wind straddled through the three of them, prompting Mi-na to turn towards Talim. Dampierre followed her gaze, and raised an eyebrow. Talim looked at the ground, dejectedly.

“What? Why are we staring at the young miss here?” Dampierre asked. Talim was about to speak, but Mi-na spoke up instead.

“Talim can read the wind.” Mi-na explained. “She’s a priestess from the Village of the Wind Deity.” Mi-na was about to say more, but from Dampierre’s quizzical stare, she decided against it.

“Hm, I believe I’ve heard of that place. I’ve visited that area for one of my business trips. Such lovely scenery!” Le Bello admitted, giving Talim an amused grin. “What did the wind just say?”

The edges of Talim’s mouth turned downwards, and her eyes grew as soft as berries. “I...I cannot understand them. They are too quiet.”

“Oh.” Mi-na and Dampierre spoke simultaneously. Dampierre, however, was the one to raise a finger. “Well, how come?”

“How should she know? She can understand weather, not control it.” Talim was about to point out to Mi-na that that was incorrect. She actually could control the wind to a small degree, but not very much. It helped her out in battle, occasionally. Many people have commented stating how unusual her fighting style actually was, as well as her weapons. She actually named each of her bladed tonfa’s, Syi Salika and Loka Luha. She did not know why, but she felt it was necessary.

“I see...well, anyways, what should we do now?” Dampierre quickly changed the subject. “I propose that we head down the trail and see what we find.” Since nobody had already requested to be leader, Dampierre took this moment to step up. Mi-na, however, had other things on her mind.

“Are you kidding? Who knows what lives out here?”

“Well, what do you suppose we do?”

“Well, uh, I don’t know! Definitely not that!”

“Hah! Since Le Bello is the only one here with a plan, the decision is unanimous!”

Talim slunk her shoulders, excessively tired at the fact that they have only been together for a total of fifteen minutes, and already those two were mortal enemies.

She was scared. a little bit because of the situation that they were in. They only had a limited amount of food, and she knew that Dampierre had nothing on him besides the blingy clothes on his back. Not only that, but she had technically lied. She did not hear the wind, however, she did feel something else. It was exceedingly difficult to keep from physically showing it, but that feeling passed over he again. The very same feeling that she felt in her own world, the one that prompted her to start this journey in the first place. Every time she felt it, it was like a heated dagger piercing her heart, and she hated it. However, she managed to keep silent about it.

As she looked at the ground, something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. It was a slight rustling in the bushes. She jerked her head over to the area, only to see a flash of dull yellow scramble away, deeper into the forest. "We are being watched." Talim did not even hear it make a single sound. That was, until, it managed to trip. Whatever it was let out a shrill, yet soft, cry as it fell on a few sticks, creating just enough noise to catch the attention of Mi-na and Dampierre, who watched it writhe in pain on the floor.

"There's something there." She said, however, the rest of her team was already on it. They sombered away from the trail, deeper into the woods to catch a glimpse of whatever it was following them. Whatever it was was crawling, desperate to get away from Talim, Mi-na and Dampierre, but it was in vain.

A few feet later, the yellow blur was starting to take shape. It was some sort of pale yellow horse, gifted with magnificent wings that hugged its body tenderly. Its pink mane was strewn about, most likely from its recent fall, as Talim could tell from the inane amount of sticks and leaves caught inside of it. Talim looked into its teal eyes as it held up two hooves, unable to stand due to a visible cut on her back leg. "No! P-Please, don't hurt me! Just s-stay away, please!".

Talim was not at all surprised at the sight she was seeing, if anything, she was enthused. She did not lie when she said that she has seen, as well as fought, weirder. "Calm down, please! We are not going to hurt you!"

"What are you...?" Mi-na asked.