I Guess Nobody Cares

Lorenzo’s forces gathered in less than a day. He laid out a plan for everyone individually in preparation for the invasion. Nobody was allowed to leave or enter in the next 2 days. He brought back Naoki and Souta strictly to ask who it was that killed his sons. ‘Wally Sukero?’ he thought. He did not know who he was as he tried to stay away from the Lands of Toff, but Naoki explained what he looked like. He wasn’t hard to miss, especially since Lorenzo would be targeting The Association.

Lorenzo: “Rondo! Get over here!”

Rondo: “Yes sir? I’m right here.”

Lorenzo: “Oh, I need you to inform all the citizens of a possible evacuation to the tunnels. Do not tell them where it leads, just tell them it is for their safety and to follow instructions and procedures like they have been doing over the years. Take the left path.”

Rondo: “But sir, that leads to–”

Lorenzo: “Did I say to question me? Scurry along now. Everyone here knows what they need to do. Token! Get down here!”

Token headed down the stairs above them. It was a large man similar to what Naoki had described Wally as. His upper half of his body was covered in metal chains while the rest was a brown loose baggy shirt that went all the way to the ground, covering even his shoes. It was like a robe that covered his entire body without showing if he was even wearing pants. His black hair slicked back, but still remained wavy in a sense with it parting in the middle of his forehead. His eyes were threatening. It mixed with a yellow and orange color similar to fire. Scars lined his face with a large welch right below his left eye and earrings. His tight beard accentuated this look and he yawned as if he had just woken up from a slumber. His voice was even deeper and more threatening than his personality that resembled a viking.

Token: “I heard everyone down here already boss. No need to scream my name everytime you need me. Does it do you any harm to just walk up the stairs and get me quietly?”

Lorenzo: “No, I need you now. I want to make sure everyone is on the same page.”

Token: “If we’re getting on the same page, then I’d like to know why there are three strange looking kids upstairs across from my room. They kept me up all freakin night. Was that your choice boss?”

Lorenzo: “Yeah, whatever, forget them for right now. They are probably still sleeping. It was a tiring night last night for them. I need you to pick your selected few to invade The Association. You get 4 people. Pick wisely.”

Token: “You know I don’t want anyone. Nobody here is strong enough to help me. Let me do it by myself.”

Lorenzo: “Oh lovely! That makes my job easier. Your target is a big dude that has a helmet on. You won’t miss him.”

Token: “Boss, not that I’m one to question you, but what are the odds of all of these idiots taking down a bunch of other idiots with swords.”

Lorenzo: “You should know better than anyone else Token. These Links are strong enough to take on swords. They are designed to do that exact thing so that nobody invades us. Look at who has invaded us throughout all this time. Oh wait, nobody! You got the big idiot who killed my sons. I’m expecting a lot out of you. Don’t screw this up. I don’t care if I die. You just better kill this man so I know that I got revenge.”

Lorenzo’s troops continued to gather outside his castle. Over 2500 troops were armed with armor and Links ready to depart. His men loved and feared Lorenzo so much that they listened to his every word. It would be a 9 day journey with breaks, but The Association was one of the first things they would see. It was on the border of the land, so they would see them coming, but they would have the upper edge on them according to Lorenzo’s plan.

Lorenzo would confront Iki even though he was not really a fighter, but that would allow Token to use chaplets to get to Wally. Lorenzo was one of the few that had mana. In fact, only him, Token, and a few of his first soldiers that he gathered from the Lands of Toff had mana, so he wanted to use the Links to their full power.

Lorenzo stepped outside to give a speech to his men. He was confident that they would win, but knew that as a leader, he needed to tell the truth to his soldiers.

Token: “Listen up! I will make this short! To all 2,500 of you, the odds of you surviving this battle is less than 5%! I assume maybe 50 of you will survive, but we will win and show the Lands of Toff that they are no match for us! To those that die, may we meet again in the eyes of God! And to those that live, tell the future generations of this heroic action!”

The men raised their Links in the sky and screamed out in glory of going into battle. They celebrated the day with bonfires and delicious food. Welpen, Ryoko, and Saikou finally were awoken by the screaming and partying outside and they headed downstairs to see Lorenzo walking back and forth.

He did not say a word to them as he was lost in his own thoughts right now, but they saw Token and were scared. Welpen had never seen a man this big before and he looked fearsome. He grunted at them and they turned and walked the other way to a room with a curtain hanging down. Intrigued, they went inside and saw a lady sitting down on a mat. She introduced herself as Fuyuko.

Welpen: “Uhhh, who are you? Why are you wearing that white flap over your face? What good is a face if nobody can see it?”

Fuyuko began to laugh underneath the white flap and her gold earrings jangled. She was amused by this young boy. She conversed with them, not about anything that was going on at the present moment, but good times of the past. Rondo came barging in to check on Fuyuko and urged Welpen and his friends to leave. Fuyuko allowed them to stay and Rondo apologized profusely as he checked on her illness.

‘Illness?’ Welpen thought. ‘She never said anything about an illness. She looks perfectly fine.’

At this point, Welpen still did not know that she was the wife of Lorenzo. She had not introduced herself as that, so when Rondo politely replied, “My lady,” the pieces clicked for him. He gasped out loud and everyone questioned what the problem was as he replied, “Sorry, I just got a little hungry hehe.”

Rondo looked at the lady’s arms where he could ever so slightly see a small black vein stretching down from her shoulder. She quickly covered it up, but she knew Rondo had seen it.

Rondo insisted that Welpen, Ryoko, and Saikou leave. Although she wanted them to stay, she knew that they were too young to see things like this even though she did not know that they had seen worse.

Fuyuko: “One more thing before you all go please. It is not a request, but I just want to say how lovely all of your outfits and swords are. It is very different from anything I have ever seen. I’m glad I got to witness it.”

They exited through the red curtains on that note to an empty hall. They did not know where everyone went. A few guards stayed behind guarding a couple doors, but Lorenzo and everyone else had left.

They could hear the partying outside, but Welpen did not want to go out there. He didn’t know what was going on, so they all decided to go back upstairs and talk about what to do later on. Night time was still about 6 hours away, but Welpen honestly was so bored and didn’t know what to do.

A small kid with red hair and dressed extremely properly came in through the front door and rushed over to them. He held handfuls of different colored paper and asked them if they wanted to make Origami with them. Welpen excitedly said yes and they all headed upstairs until night fell when they all fell asleep after hours and hours of making interesting designs. They all passed out on the floor of the room while Ezra was still not present and had not spoken to Welpen the whole day.

When they woke up, they all ventured downstairs together including the young boy whose name was Taigo, they learned. They didn’t hear anything going on outside, but the smell of burnt fires went straight to their noses. Welpen rushed to open the door this time, expecting something that had gone wrong with all the celebrating last night. But, when he opened it, the bonfires were extinguished and beer bottles were broken all over the floor.

Nobody was around.

“Hello?!” Welpen yelled out, but he could only see civilians lining the streets. Most people were riding in horses and carriages because of the glass on the streets, but some kids still did not care and got hurt running around, while most were heading towards a large tunnel.

Taigo darted off without saying a word to them.

Welpen looked around once more before asking Ryoko and Saikou what to do. They shrugged their shoulders and did not know what to do either. Welpen went to the nearest guard and asked what was going on. He simply responded, “It’s confidential.”

Welpen: "Confidential to who? I know Lorenzo. He is my friend.”

The guard responded, “If he was your friend, then why did he tell us to only tell you and your group here that it is confidential.”

Welpen: “Huh?! What did I do?! Where are Naoki and Souta?! They will tell me! Let’s go guys.”

They searched all over the place for them, but The Land was so big that it was impossible to find them. They searched the whole day to find absolutely nothing. They even asked around, but nobody had seen anyone like them.

Welpen slapped his head like an idiot.

Instead of asking around for Naoki and Souta, he should’ve just asked the people where Lorenzo and all the guards went. He did so and became frustrated when everybody that he asked wouldn’t tell them. “Why is nobody telling me?!” he screamed out loud.

A small child maybe 5 years old pointed to the large front entrance, which they had journeyed away from at this point. “They left?” Welpen asked the kid, but he couldn’t talk. He just pointed again, so Ryoko and Saikou followed Welpen to the entrance that took them nearly an hour to get back to.

When they tried to leave, they stopped them and told them that leaving is off limits at this point. “It will reopen in 9 days,” the guard told them.

Welpen: “9 days! Are you nuts? I want to go see Isara and Astro. Let me through!”

He didn’t say a word nor did he step aside.

Saikou pulled Welpen back from losing his temper and they walked another 30 minutes to get to the side of the wall. He had not given up that easily. He made sure he was far out of sight from anyone. It was a perfect spot to blow a hole in the wall. The nearest house was close, but it was over a small grassy hill. They would definitely hear it, but Welpen hoped that they wouldn’t report them. They would have to venture straight out for a little while before turning and going straight. It would only put them a few hours back, but that was fine for now.

Welpen raised his sword to the wall and the gold shard lit up slowly ready to go. Before he could do this, a woman’s voice questioned them. “And what do you boys think you are doing?”

Welpen turned, rubbing the back of his head and claiming that they were just testing out the sturdiness of their swords. The lady told them her name, but it didn’t really matter to them. They had no idea who she was.

Sophia: “I’m just kidding boys. You wouldn’t know who Sophia Rina is. After all, it isn’t my real name, but shh, don’t tell anyone that. You all are from the Lands of Toff? What are you doing out here?”

Welpen: “Those idiots captured us after we came back from the Infinite Library and didn’t even tell us why. They have been very nice, but they won’t tell me anything now.”

Sophia: “You’re a little too honest kid. You shouldn’t just go blurting out that you made it to the Infinite Library. That’s something that I have not even done. Although, I haven’t really tried. Maybe I should give it a shot. Nah, Peony is going to have a fit and ask to come.”

Welpen: “You’re from the Lands of Toff too? Can you get us back? We really don’t have enough food for the journey, but we were hoping to kill some animals on the way back. My buddy Saikou here can take a bear down with no problems. He’s strong.”

Sophia: “I wouldn’t bank too much on animals boys. Haven’t you noticed? I don’t know when you got here, but have you seen any pet or animal at all?”

Welpen: “I-I guess not. Not since Acer.”

Sophia: “It’s not only here. From what we can tell, 80% of animals have disappeared from peoples eyes. You would’ve starved out there if you decided to do that little plan. To answer your question, yeah I can get you guys back, but I don’t do things for free. I do like to help people, but what do I get in return?”

Welpen: “Umm, you get the satisfaction of helping us?”

Sophia: “Hmm, not enough. How about that sword? It looks very intriguing.”

Sophia grabbed Welpen’s sword out of his hand, admiring the design and the shard wrapped around the blade. It began to pull away from her on its own back into Welpen’s hands. She didn’t know what to think. ‘Has this boy already formed a covenant with his sword? At such a young age?’

Welpen didn’t really know what just happened either, but he ignored it and continued to ask for help. Sophia reminded them that people usually do not just help others for free and she began to walk away.

Welpen: “Wait–No, I don’t even know you. I’m doing this my own way. Go find someone else to pick on if you aren't going to help us. Nobody is going to hear the blast.”

Sophia smirked and turned into a ghostly figure right in front of them, phasing through the walls away from them. “How did she do that?!” Welpen screamed out loud.

The shard on Welpen’s sword lit up and blasted a decent size hole in the wall, but it was silent. The only sound was from the bricks falling that would’ve been almost impossible to hear from so far away.

Ryoko questioned what they would do about the food situation. Welpen had taken a decent amount of leftovers from what Lorenzo gave them. They had about 6 days worth of rationing. They would have to go 3 days without food. It was hard, but they were all willing to do it to get back.

Welpen wasn’t too familiar with The Land, but he remembered Clara saying something years ago about this place. He didn’t realize what it was when he first got here, but she said to him, “If you are ever in trouble, pack enough food for 9 days and head north to get back.”

He did not know of course what he was going to encounter on the way or where he was going to end up, but it was the only choice he had. Ryoko and Saikou followed Welpen, trusting him with every step he took forward.