Guidance
Chapter 3

“Ryo…I have something to ask you…” Eliazar said. Ryo raised his head from the book he was staring it. It was an old book with hand sketches of different plants and fungi that were no longer in existence.
“What is it?” Ryo asked casually, though felt something was wrong. Eliazar’s tone had not been gentle as normal, but instead was serious and concerned. Even Eliazar’s face was furrowed in deep thought and his gaze was distant, focusing on something else.
“Ryo…” Eliazar started with a heavy sigh. “I have been reading to you, and giving you lectures on different things these past few weeks. You seem to be very interested in the stars and fauna, and though those are adequate subjects, there are times in which I feel you are missing something. I mean this without offense, though it has started to concern me. I have gotten that feeling since the first night I spoke with you. Tell me…do you understand all of the words you speak?”
“I know how to talk, yeah…I kind of know what they all mean…” Ryo muttered, looking down at his book again, but he didn’t see the pages anymore.
“Yes…can you point out something green to me, Ryo?”
Ryo, without looking at Eliazar, pointed to his eyes. “I know my eyes are green,” he said dully.
“Very good…but can you tell me what a shade of green is?”
Ryo paused, still staring down. His eyes wandered up a little, but he avoided eye contact with Eliazar, lost in deep thought. The question seemed so simple, yet he couldn’t find an answer he was confident in. Whenever his mind reached for an answer, it evaded him. Eliazar saw Ryo’s inner conflict and sighed, rubbing his weary eyes again.
“Ryo…” exhaled Eliazar. “Can you not come up with an answer for that?”
“…no…” Ryo almost whispered.
“You see, Ryo…I’ve been getting the feeling that you do not understand everything that you are saying. You speak fluently, even correctly, that much is evident. However, I notice that when people speak to you, you often have a look of confusion. Many times, you feign as if you understand and you blindly agree.”
“I guess…” Ryo couldn’t think of anything else to say, though he knew he was blindly agreeing as Eliazar had stated.
“Can I ask you to do something for me?” Eliazar asked, standing up.
Eliazar went to the desk in the study and opened a drawer. He removed a scrap of parchment, a corked bottle of ink and a quill. He then shut the drawer and placed the items in front of Ryo. Ryo’s shoulders stiffened as he stared down at the quill and parchment before him.
“Here,” Eliazar said, opening the bottle of ink. “Now…please, write your name for me.”
Ryo opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. Nothing would come to him. Slowly and uncomfortably, Ryo nodded, still staring at the quill. Without a word he gripped the pen awkwardly in his right hand, trying to make the quill feel natural between his fingers. After a clumsy moment of trying to get it to fit right in his hand, Ryo gave up and dipped the quill in the ink, trying twice to get what he thought was the right amount of ink. Over his shoulder, Eliazar watched closely with one hand loosely over his mouth.
Keeping his head painfully lowered, Ryo hesitantly lowered the quill to the parchment, contemplating on what to write. Then, practically without thinking, Ryo began to scribble on the parchment with an intent gaze. Each stroke was intentional, but Ryo knew nothing about what he was actually writing. The movements he made were similar to those he’d seen Leo do countless times, wishing hopelessly that they were right. When he had completed a full line of scribbling, Ryo placed the quill aside, still not raising his head, too ashamed to do so.
The entire time Eliazar had said nothing. His eyes were darkened with sadness as he watched Ryo scribble nonsense.
“Ryo…” Eliazar finally said, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “…I’m so sorry.”
Ryo said nothing, he knew that he failed to do what Eliazar was asking. It was foolish to think he might’ve written anything.
“Even Dimi can read and write better than I can,” Ryo finally stated in frustration. Eliazar exhaled deeply, turned to his books and then back to Ryo.
“I would like to keep teaching you about astrology and botany as you have been interested in thus far.” Eliazar started, but then paused for a few moments. “But, I need to teach you the basics, Ryo…starting today, I will teach you how to read and write.”
“I watch Leo write sometimes…” Ryo muttered.
“And that shows. What you scribbled down showed very basic understandings on how one is supposed write and move the pen. But you were clumsy when gripping the pen, and need to refine and rebuild your perception on letters. Does you brother, Leo, ever try to teach you how to write?”
“He does,” Ryo admitted. “But normally I wouldn’t pay attention, or just tell him no.”
“That is unfortunate,” Eliazar stated. “I will teach you, but if I die…no, when I die, I want you to accept Leo’s teachings in my stead.”
“Don’t say that!” Ryo surprised himself with his tone. Instantly he regretted it and wiped his eyes. He waited for Eliazar to say something, but the Steward was mute.
“I understand,” Eliazar said once Ryo had finished clearing his eyes. “But you cannot deny that I will die someday. I just want you to understand, Ryo, that when I die, I wish for you to continue learning. Only then, you will have your brother to turn to.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Ryo, please do not act like a child. Upon that day where I must depart from this world, I would hope to leave knowing that all would be well. Do not add worries upon this old soul‘s spirit to where it is so burdened that it cannot find its way to the heavens.” Eliazar’s tone was stern, but a sense of dread lingered in his voice. “Ryo, if you will not attempt to do your best for me, then my trying to raise you here would serve no purpose to either of us. You would learn nothing, but kindness, yet be unable to do anything with the kindness I have shown you…is that what you want?”

“No!”
Ryo jolted awake with his shoulders stiff and his eyes wide in a panic. In a frenzy he tossed around, looking in all directions frantically. Around him the desert was still dim with indigo skies, but to the east was a veil of orange and gold, signs of a near dawn. The ground was cold and dark, only disturbed where Ryo had been laying and tossing in his sleep. The air was still cool from the night and Ryo saw hints of his breath even in the dark.
With no threat in sight, Ryo loosened up and rubbed his face with one hand. The past two nights he had woken up the same, coming out of a dream that had him panicked yet he could remember none of it. Vaguely he wondered how long he had actually slept as he had walked late into the previous night and woken near sunrise. Figuring he might as well continue, Ryo lifted himself up and brushed himself off. With back turned to the coming dawn Ryo began walking again westward.
It wasn’t until waking that Ryo had noticed a particular smell in the air. It was bitter and once the sky had turned gold and red before long, revealing the landscape from night. Far to the west at a slightly downhill slant a stretch of blue spanned the horizon. At first Ryo thought about what it could be, then realized it was the ocean. His eyes grew slightly as he stared harder at it.
The morning sun rose and quickly began to burn, throwing the desert into different violent light. It hardly bothered Ryo as he trekked through the arid scenery. There was a vague silhouette in the distance of towering structures that stretched across the view before him.
“Not much longer now…” Ryo said to himself. “Three days passed by more quickly than I thought…”
Within six hours, Ryo started to notice that there was a transitioning ground of the end of the dessert to the beginning of the city. The outskirts of the Ocean Community were somewhat barren and drab, the desert sand soon became sandstone bricks beneath his feet. There were small pillars of bricks around the area, some complete, some still crumbling, and others dashed to rubble. The more he kept moving forward, the more structures he saw. What started as simple pillars, soon changed to simple small stone buildings the size of small storage sheds to larger lightly painted stone buildings the size of houses where a scarce amount of people could be found. And from there, illustrious mansions vibrantly painted in whites, blues, and gold; each building made out of precious earth complimented with bright brown oak. The streets changed from simple sandstone to a beautiful cobblestone streets and the scarcity of people turned into a tremendous horde of people. Before Ryo knew it, he was in the center of the Ocean Community’s main road.
Ryo focused hard to look beyond the crowd of people around him and examined the buildings at the edges of the large street. He could smell the scent of freshly baked bread from the winds. Shop owners were yelling to the massive crowds to check their wares, some obliging and others going on their way without a second glance. Ryo made his way to one end of the main road in front of a bakery.
“Seasons greetings!” the young woman with brown eyes and chestnut colored hair said to Ryo kindly.
“Hello,” Ryo started, “I was wondering if you could help me find someone…”
“I’ll try and give you the best information I can…” she stated, waiting for Ryo to give her a name.
“I’m looking for the Old Relic.”
“I’m sorry?” The young girl spoke with confusion in her tone.
“Oh, right…sorry. Nathaniel Bryan?”
“Ah! Yes, I know where he is. Just keep going up the main causeway that way and take a right when you get to the rising road that leads up to the lighthouse. He spends a lot of time up there during these hours.” The girl directed Ryo the best she could.
“Thank you.” Ryo stated with a satisfied tone in his voice and then started to dig in his jacket pocket. He pulled out red stone that glistened as brightly as a jewel. “It isn’t much, but take this for your help.” Ryo placed the jewel in her hands and began to walk away, following the route to take she described to him.
The girl looked down at her new jewel, seeing it as precious and without value. Ryo heard the girl scream in joy while he was walking, he smiled and kept moving with the current of the crowd. When he came to a split in the road, he noticed the main road split into three slightly smaller roads. The left descending deeper into the docks of the city, the center heading further into the heart of the city, and the rising right road that lead to a lonely peak that extended further out towards the ocean where the lighthouse was seen. He ran over to the right and weaved his way through the thinning crowd of people coming and going, to and from his direction.
Once he reached the top, he saw sparkling azure waters that swayed in slow moving waves and the sun sparkling off the waters creating a radiant brilliance that only added to the scenery. The strong blowing of northern winds carried the serene scent of the sea breeze. For a several minutes Ryo stood in place and stared at the ocean. Eliazar had told him about the sea several times before, but imagining that much water had seemed unreal until he saw it. The sea seemed unless, spanning the horizon.
Ryo looked to the lighthouse which was made out of a beautiful white marble that was carefully chiseled with ornate designs that resembled the swaying waves and the shining sunlight that reflected off of them. Around it, palm trees grew in several rows moving out from the center and dry grass covered the area.
Near the edge of the lighthouse’s plateau, stood an elder man dressed in white and blue robes along with dark blue boots. His thinning blond hair was slicked back with a few solitary strands that rested on his forehead. His face, although slightly wrinkled, was also firm and gaunt. His sharp blue eyes burned with the same intensity as the sun’s rays that reflected off of the waves. The old man took a deep whiff of the sea breeze that blew his way and let out a satisfactory exhale of relief. The man turned to face Ryo after hearing footsteps. His eyes were solemn, but not yet senile.
“Are you the Old Relic?” Ryo asked bluntly.
The old man gave Ryo an intense look with a furrowed brow. Then he cracked a smile. “Eliazar sent you, didn’t he?”
“I’ll take that as a yes…” Ryo muttered.
“Only that Old Ruin would send somebody looking for me under the title of Old Relic.” Nathaniel said to himself then began laughing robustly. “Ah, it’s been such a long time since he has come out this way! Is he somewhere in town?”
“No, Eliazar sent me in his stead.”
“I see…well me your name, lad. I would like to know who you are since Eliazar trusts you so much to send you all the way out here and address me as Old Relic!”
“My name is Ryo.”
“Ryo, is it? I will do well to remember that name! Come, lad, I want you to follow me back to my home. It is on the other plateau on the opposite side of town, I feel like there is much to discuss and I would rather have a good conversation in the comforts of my own home. There will be a good feast in it for you, lad. I bet you are hungry after such a long journey through the dessert just to see me!” Nathaniel Bryan invited warmly with a wide grin.
“Alright, Old Man, lead the way…”
Nathaniel Bryan let out a loud laugh and place his hand on Ryo’s shoulder as he walked by him, “Ryo, I have a feeling that we are going to get along just fine!”

Nathaniel led Ryo to a gigantic mansion that took up large portion of the plateau. There were palm trees that stretched out from the edge of the plateau to the porch of the fantastic white mansion. The house, unlike all the others, was made from hardwood oak, ivory marble, and hand-blown glass. On the inside, there were multiple rooms with different themes in each of them. There were three rooms that stuck out to Ryo.
The first was a darker and more private living room, which was furnished with a large fireplace that had a wide black mantle with pictures resting upon it; there were two crimson comfortable armchairs that rested upon an onyx floor. There was even a large canopy bed that had was draped in scarlet sheets. In front of the armchairs, were crimson footstools made out of the same material. Between the chairs, was a small pedestal with a jade pipe resting on top of it. Along the walls were bookshelves with a more private collection of hard covered books.
The second room was a brighter and more inviting room, which was completed with white couches on an illuminate hardwood floor with one wall being completely made of glass to enjoy the view and to allow the sunlight to enter the room. The back wall was filled with display cases filled with fossils and bookshelves. Against the center of the shelving wall, was a desk that faced away from the distracting glass wall.
The final room, was the dining hall that would scare Leo. The room was surrounded by an aquarium with sharks and even coelacanths swimming about them, the ground was a large black tiled floor which the tiles became illuminated when stepped on. In the center of the room, was an old oak table furnished with silver plates, red candles resting in silver candleholders, and platinum chalices. Nathaniel Bryan and Ryo spent most of their time within this room.
“You’ll have to forgive the mess, we were not expecting company. If I knew that you were arriving, I would have had the maids shine the floors and silverware and the Water User cleaning the aquarium tanks.” Nathaniel said with a straight face as he seated himself at the head of the table. He motioned for Ryo to sit to his right. “All jokes aside, how is the Old Buzzard? Is he still scouring the dessert for survivors?”
“Buzzard?” Ryo questioned with a stern tone.
“Easy, lad, I do not mean to offend you. That is our way, as ancient as it may be. We insult each other with light hearts and respect the other as much as we could without it being a sin against God for worshipping one as much as an Almighty figure. Everything said is in jest, but with admiration, I can assure you of that much…”
“Oh…okay…” Ryo started, “He began his journey for survivors in the dessert the same day I left to visit you for him. That was three days ago.”
“Ah! Splendid! As I told you before, the Old Coelacanth must have trusted you well to send you out to meet me. Tell me, Ryo, are you perhaps intended for his little girl, Melody?”
“Intended…if by that you mean marry, then yes. Yes, I will.”
“Aren’t you a bit old for her?” Nathaniel asked bluntly, eyeing Ryo with a critical look. “How old is she, twelve?”
“No! She’s twenty-three!” Ryo exclaimed.
“Oh, sweet sea shells sold on the sea shore, it’s been that long?!” Nathaniel shouted in amazement. “I suppose it really was a long time since either of us visited…”
“I guess so, if you thought she was twelve now, then you owe her a lot of birthday presents. I’ll deliver them for you, if you like, gramps,” Ryo said with a snide smirk.
“I have a small music box, but that is something I’ll give you before you leave. So, tell me about yourself Ryo.”
“I’m illiterate…”
“Were your parents not married?”
“No, I can’t read!”
“Oh…my apologies…please continue. Perhaps something a little less depressing.”
“Eliazar has been teaching me for a couple of years now. He thinks I will make a great Steward one day…but I don’t think I could never be anything like him. He’s too great a man for me to live up to.”
“Ryo, you give yourself too little credit…pick a fish you want to eat from the tank and I will tell you a story.”
“Are you going to kill it?”
“Heavens, no! I’m not going to kill it! My Water User servant, Emile will though.”
Not wanting to disappoint Eliazar’s friend, Ryo pointed at the tank without looking. Then a splash was heard followed by distant bludgeoning sounds.
“Ah, a fine choice!” Nathaniel exclaimed. “That’s quite an expensive taste you got, that one wasn’t even quite an adult yet. Did you know that its bones could be used as toothpicks and its scales are harder than diamonds? Hence the violent bludgeoning, if it were any other fish, it‘d be quieter.”
“What have I done?!” Ryo said in a near mortified voice.
“You killed a pregnant fish! Caviar for all!” Nathaniel yelled with a cheeky smile.
“Pregnant?” Ryo questioned.
“Ah, good to see the Ruin kept you in the dark about anatomy. If I told you, he’d have my hide in the same way you’re getting that fish.”
“Didn’t you have a story you were going to tell me?!” Ryo interrupted, trying to desperately change the topic off of the fish.
“Ah…quite…” Nathaniel sighed, and shifted himself more comfortably in his chair. “As I was saying, you give yourself too little credit, lad. I thought like you did a very long time ago, back when Eliazar and I were around your age. Even back then, Eliazar was an extraordinarily brilliant man, always striving to help the people in need. He was also quite the ladies man, but I was the better looking of the two of us! I recall this one time, we had just got thrown out of a barroom over something stupid that I did. I caused a bar fight because I slept with the owner’s daughter, and was not craft enough to avoid a fight…after the skirmish, we were sitting outside the bar victorious, but I a bit bruised and he unscathed. He said something to me that I could never forget…

“’Nathaniel…’ He said to me, ‘why do you do the things you do?’
“I remember looking him with honest uncertainty and responded, ‘Eliazar,’ I said, ‘in all honesty, I really don’t know. I have no reason to live the way I do, but I never had a reason to change.’
“He looked at me and said, ‘Nate, you are smarter than you act, you can be doing so much good for this world if you tried, instead of stirring up trouble for the people around you. Use your gift of influence to do more than mischief and you will see how blessed it can be to use your abilities for good…’
“With his guidance, he helped me become the youngest Steward in the history of the Ocean Community‘s existence. I rebuilt this city from what started like the outskirts of the town to what the heart is now and expanded along the coast. Now, after many years, the people are happy and it is thanks to me, which in my regards, it is all thanks to Eliazar.”

“Eliazar was in a bar fight?!” Ryo said sticking his fork in a big piece of fish meat with his mouth hanging open.
“Yep, but he never started any of them. I was always the one causing trouble and he was always the one helping me out. Let me tell you though, he had some acrobatic prowess back in those times. He kept a cool head when fighting, dodged and weaved past any punches thrown at him, and was able to incapacitate his targets with a smile and an apology. He always had my back. Ah, yes…those were the days…”
“I can’t imagine Eliazar in a bar fight,” Ryo confessed, chewing.
“Probably because I haven’t been around,” Nathaniel said again, deflating as he finished his laugh. “It really has been too long…when did you say you were going to marry his girl?”
“When we get back to Hollow. Maybe in a week or so.”
“Sounds as fine of time as any to give the old scarab a visit.” Nathaniel smiled. “You said you would be leaving day after tomorrow, right lad? When you leave, I shall embark for Hollow as well. When you return with the Old Ruin, I’ll be waiting there for you. But mind you, don’t go telling him about this plan, all right?”
“Right,” Ryo agreed.
From that, Nathaniel broke out a bottle of wine and continued telling stories from his younger days. Many of them involved Eliazar and Ryo listened with enough attention and found himself surprised and curious of Eliazar’s youthful expeditions. Nathaniel told many stories, and after a time they became half-drunken rambles that were often interrupted by his own laughter. It took several hours of this before Nathaniel retired himself to bed and left Ryo alone with directions to his own guest room, promising that he would attend the wedding.
Ryo spent a few moments sitting at the table after Nathaniel left, staring at the aquarium that surrounded him. He groaned at the thought of living along with the specimens then killing them for food after raising them, but he watched the multiple fish, sharks, and coelacanths swim around. All of the fish, though impossible to live in such a space under normal circumstances, were brought here together and were able to coexist by Water Users. Ryo did not touch the wine that Nathaniel poured in his chalice, but was tempted to do so at the moment. Ryo had a lot to think about now. About the wedding with Melody, about becoming the successor of Hollow, and learning all that Eliazar would teach him to become a great Steward as Eliazar knew he could be. Ryo hung his head down low, contemplating everything with an occasion moan of frustration and consuming a mouthful of the wine in his chalice. Although Ryo did not care for the taste, somehow everything felt better the more he ingested.
After an hour of thought, Ryo crept through the manor, doing his best to not make a sound as he carefully followed the directions to get to his room. He created a small wisp of fire to guide him through the darkness of the halls, up a long winding staircase, three stories high and taking the sixth door to the right. There, Ryo found a room that was monotone with shades of green, ranging from forest green to the blackest shades of green. A dimly lit lantern hung near the door and on the opposite side of the door was a small cage containing two crickets that chirped occasionally. Ryo used some of made use of his fire abilities to add more light in the lantern to brighten up the room.
The bed was covered in black sheets and the pillow cases were a dark forest green. The carpets were as green as dark grass and made sounds that imitated grass when stepped on. Ryo looked up and noticed that there where trees looming overhead and took another look at the four corners of the room, realizing that there were large canopy trees that hung over him. More breathtaking still, was that the roof of this room was made of glass, as the black clouds shifted away, pale moonlight bled through and illuminated the room. Ryo fell onto his bed and stared up at the stars and moon through the glass ceiling. He started to mutter and point out the numerous constellations, testing his memory and desiring to check the results when he returned to Hollow - after being married, of course.
Within the hour of stargazing and listening to the crickets’ melody, he willed the fire in the lantern to extinguish and proceeded to fall asleep shortly after.

“Look,” Eliazar said, pointing directly north. “There are mountains there. Far, far to the north.”
Ryo saw them as well. Faraway, going completely east and west, were mountains, miniscule in size due to their distance. The atmosphere gave them a faded white and grey look with white snow covering all the peaks Ryo could see. From the distance they seemed much smaller than he remembered.
Ryo and Eliazar, along with a small band of soldiers had traveled outside of Hollow, heading directly north for a full day. Only because of this were the mountains to the north even visible to them, only suddenly visible when they were turning south to return to Hollow.
“Perhaps that is where your homeland is?” Eliazar commented, still staring off at the mountains. Without looking, Ryo shrugged.
“Maybe. I can’t tell from here.”
“You said you grew up in a place with mountains and fields, but was there a desert near your home?”
“No.”
“I suspect that your homeland is far to the north then, somewhere deep within the heart of the mountains.”
“I guess so,” Ryo shifted awkwardly, having no desire to return or even think about that wretched place again. Standing in place he grew tense and Eliazar noticed.
“I sense uneasiness in your presence, Ryo…” Eliazar mentioned as he remained looking at the horizon. “You had a rough life there, Ryo. I can feel the disdain you have for your home radiating in your spirit and I cannot blame you for bearing such hatred.”
“I suffered everyday…I was beaten everyday…and I was hungry everyday…I’m just glad I’m gone,” Ryo said with a spiteful tone.
“Quite, Ryo. I, too, am glad you have left and were sent here to Mel and myself. There is something that I know you will have a hard time acknowledging though. Going through the pain you endured on a daily basis has made you strong, Ryo. Stronger than most people could ever hope to be, especially spiritually. Ryo, I sense something else within you. A great thing that many people are unaware of, because they have no incentive to feel that part of themselves anymore. They have no need to. A light that defines the darkest of voids. Something you must protect and keep alive at all costs…”
“What is that, Eliazar?” Ryo asked naively.
“Ryo…that is endurance and hope.”

Fiction: 07/29/11 | Posted By: Ryo or Demon | 0 comments | Original Anime and Manga | Tags: 3, bahd, chapter, demon, guidance, ryo