Arkalia

Chapter 4 - The Boat Ride

"We need to collect the pieces for the Yurazaki Sword," Jae answered as he looked into her eyes with a wide smile.

She nodded with determination. She wanted to see her brother again, she wanted to travel around the Earth, she wanted to get married and start a family on Earth. She wasn't going to let the realm traveling stop her.

"Where's your map of the realm?" Lilia asked as she looked around his bookshelf for any scrolls that contained the map.

"I'll get it for you, you can read up more about the pieces and what we're supposed to find," Jae said as he waved his hand with no care and walked up the stairs.

A few seconds later, Jae comes down skipping two of the steps on the stairs. Lilia was too focused on finding the page that contained the information they needed.

"Hey, Relin. Whatcha so focused on?" He asked before continuing to open the map and placed cups or whatever he could find to pin down the curled edges of the map.

"So, the books say that we need to find the metal pieces that were broken and scattered around the realm. There should be one in every kingdom except Daemonia Gehenna." Lilia looked up from her book to see Jae's hazel eyes staring right at her jade ones.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat as she felt the heat rising to her cheeks. She pointed to the Faery Kingdom which was at the South-West part of Arkalia.

"This is the end goal. We need to make an entire round through all the kingdoms and end up there. So I think we should start in the Yukita Forest of Death."

"I think we can already move on from here and head on straight to Ceravios Empire." Jae chuckled.

"And why's that?" Lilia sounded confused. He didn't even know what the Yurazaki sword even was before she had mentioned it to him.

He walked over to his chest in front of the bookshelf and unlocked it with a key around his neck. Inside was only a brown leather satchel. He opened the satchel and took out a piece of broken looking metal. It was glowing purple and it made Lilia feel like she was going under a trance by it.

"Here's the first piece! I was running away from some villagers when I entered a cave in the forest and found this piece glowing purple. It seemed pretty rare so I kept it." He shrugged and placed the piece back in the satchel bag.

Lilia shook her head to refocus on the main point as she mentally slapped herself and said, "Get it together, Relin!"

"Alright, we'll start at the Ceravios Empire then. We will leave at dawn." Lilia pointed onto the Ceravios Empire on the South-East side. She found a small rock on the table and placed it on the map.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Jae threw some clothes with armor towards her. She caught it with a look of surprise. "Here's some clothes I got for you, you're going to need some armor."

"I'll see you in the morning. Get ready for some running. Your room is upstairs, first door on the left." Jae smiled as he went up the stairs and shut the door to his room.

Lilia clutched her new clothes tightly as her eyes trailed Jae until he could not be seen. She smiled softly and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears as she walked up and entered her room.

The next morning, as the sun just started to rise, Lilia awoke to a loud rap on the door before hearing Jae's voice, "Lilia, get ready! We'll be heading out in an hour!" His footsteps recede down the hallway and the stairs.

She changed into a dress with armor and wore some boots and added some gear that Jae had left around in the spare room before heading downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey, I left some bread for you. Get some apples and some food in your pack before we head out. The boat ride to Ceravios Empire is about 3 hours from here."

Lilia grinned and nodded as she gobbled down the remaining bread Jae had left for her on the table.

She grabbed the satchel with gold coins in it that Jae had left on the table, packed bread and apples into a bag and slung it across her shoulders. Jae was waiting for her on the couch.

"Ready?" Jae turned to her as he picked up his dagger and mask.

"Yea." He tossed her a purple mask to match her armor and she smiled back at him.

They went back to the tree that Jae tied the boat to. Jae threw Lilia his satchel as she sat in the boat. He untied the boat and pushed it away from shore. Just as it was about to float away, he hopped in which caused the boat to rock. Thank goodness they didn't capsize.

Jae opened a satchel full of a green powder, stick his hand in it and grabbed just a small palm full before sprinkling it on the oars. Soon, the oars started to magically row by themselves. He shot her a curious look.

"I've been meaning to ask you, how did you even get to Arkalia? I've briefly heard about your realm before from some folklore. Your world isn't supposed to have magic." Jae crossed his arms behind his head and whistled a catchy tune.

"Well, I went to my secret spot on the beach and I opened the door to it, this big purple portal just appeared in the doorway and sucks me into it. I poofed at the top of Linus Port and wanted to go to the mainland and well, you get what happened." Lilia shrugged.

"Then, what is your world like? I've heard from folklore that there are steel horses and carriages, steel castles taller than any castles here in Arkalia! Tell me about your life there." Jae excitedly asked her, like he was a kid on Christmas morning.

"Well... for starters, my parents died in a car crash on my 9th birthday during the red moon. I get bullied in school and I live alone, my brother is in college." Lilia tried to fake a smile but she knew he wouldn't believe her.

"I'm so sorry. If I was with you, I'd protect you no matter what. I'm sorry... we just met. What's a car?" Jae asked, confused.

"A car is one of those steel horses that you were so excited about!" Her mood had instantly changed as Jae listened to Lilia's vivid explanations and stories of strange things he never knew from Earth. She was happy here, and she knew it.

~ To Be Continued ~

A/N: I'm so sorry that this chapter was kind of boring with no action! I wanted to develop their friendship a little bit further so that they'd be comfortable with each other by the next chapter! I promise the next chapter will be more interesting!

Will Lilia's happiness last? Or will something destroy it? Will they be able to safely get a piece of the Yurazaki Sword? Stay tuned to find out!

Follow me on Instagram @chloe.cwrites for sneak peeks and updates! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy this story!