Tundra

There was a trail in a helpless abyss of swamp, we trotted across a mudded trail. Satsu wore thick leather boots with leather and fur armor as I wore the same, we are now in tundra, and the swamp was frozen as snow fell. Satsu and I walked close towards each other, we breathe for warmth. Until we found an open cave, frozen with a fire beckoning from inside. We walk closer, for warmth and air. We go on inside, and there we found a figure, a familiar face.

"You found me." It said. We looked at the figure closely; I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Utma, Satsus mother since the very beginning.

"Mother?" Satsu motions, he leans next to her, and inspects her. She looks cold, yet her eyes look warm.

"How did you come here so quickly?" She asks. Satsu and I look at each other. Was she expecting us? We left her long ago back at the spirit house, saying no more. We looked at her, she looked with helplessness.

"We came here from a large oak tree, following the fields and pathways and soon it became colder and we came into the tundra." Satsu informs. He's holding his mother in his arms now, she looks at him and touches his face lightly.

"I knew you would." She smiled, embracing her son in her arms, as Satsu looked at her in surprise and shock. Utma was so kind; it all seemed unreal. How could she forgive us so easily? This didn't seem like Utma, not that I had known, until perhaps maybe she missed her son. She talks and holds Satsu, as is looked around all over the cave. There was nothing, only a small compact mirror that laid down on the ground. I kneel down to take a closer look, until Utma hissed at me as I had done so.

"Don't touch that!" She cried, pulling it away from our grasp. Suddenly she looked as if she was changing, Satsu and I looked at one another. We noticed Utmas eyes. They were gold, not blue. Satsu takes the compact mirror and looks inside. He could see the reflection of his face of his dragon form. Satsu backs away, and crushes the mirror in his hand. Suddenly Utma changes, and she is now someone who claimed to be not her at all. It was a man in a cloak, Satsu threw it in the fire.

"Why would you lure us into a tundra so suddenly, and in here?" Satsu asks with anger coming from him. The man looked at Satsu, he holds a ball in his hands. He holds the ball closely towards his face, and says words. Satsu tries to take the ball away, until we were somewhere else. It was no longer tundra, we were inside a large room, and two grand chairs waits. The empress sat in one, the one empress we encountered before, the one who granted Satsus powers. And the emperor, the man who was Utma, transformed back to himself and sat there looking down at us.

"Satsu and Erya." The empress called. We walked forward into her presence. She proceeded to speak her words. "I see that the both of you had overcame many obstacles and challenges on your way back to the barrier of the human world. I distinctly remember giving you powers as well." She looks down at Satsus fan and my magatama beads. "And those were given to you by also the spirits of your journey." We nod, the empress waved me away and waved Satsu closer.

"You have been chosen to become a participant to fight for the powerful position of land gods." The empress had said, I looked at Satsu, his eyes widen with surprise; he nearly fell to his knees. "Me? A land god?"

"Yes of course. Your mother Utma just wanted to hide your powers for her own good. Oh here she comes now." Utma walks closer in chains, guards brought her beside Satsu.

"Satsu." Her eyes water, she looks at Satsu fondly for a moment until she looks up at the empress.

"You know he doesn't have the strength to become a land god. My son could die, because of his weakened health. He is part human spirit, and a dragon. How could he be a land god?" Utma cried, the guards jerked her away, as the empress motioned for her to stay away from Satsus choice. "He was part spirit with a human essence. The dragon spirit; whoever, he could fight and win the position against other spirts. This, will cause you to become the largest house of all, and you will be granted devine powers from the highest spirits below us." The empress told Utma, her eyes look down at her feet. Satsu looks up at the empress, and walks forward as Utma reaches for him, yet he insists to take the offer.

"I accept."

The guards take Utma away. "Satsu!" She cries helplessly, I walk forward next to Satsu and I had decided to put my say.

"Satsu is someone special and he does deserve a position like this. Yet, if anything happens to him, I am held responsible."

My words echo in the room, the empress motions forward, she looks pleased. "How so? He is just someone you once met, and he's only helping you." I looked at her, my eyes glisten with hope and meaning.

"Satsu has been the only person that really cared about me through this world. The minute I had walked in, I felt lost and desolate, until Satsu came along and guide me. If it hadn't been for him I would have turned into a lost spirit, perhaps even lower of the ones who stay in houses, and I could have turned into a mindless figure. Yet because of him I am almost home." I hold my magatama beads in my hands; they glow with glistening light. Utma looks at me, her eyes are wide, and she looks at me with fondness. Her expression was emotionless, she mouths to me, "Thank you." I felt as if it was the right thing to help Satsu and Utma, although it was just words. Yet Satsu still accepts the offer.

"If I win, I can save Utma and Erya. Together I can serve them, and Eyra will finally have a place to stay. I can do this; I can win. I know I can."

The empress thinks for a moment, Utma and I had nothing to say. Finally the empress nods, and so she says: "May the challenge begin."

The guards take Utma away; I look around, until I had noticed someone came up to me to escort me. Satsu looks down saying no more, yet once he noticed I was leaving the scene, Satsu comes up to me, takes my hands into his, and says:

"I can save everyone, the land will be marked for us all."

My head bobbed lightly, tears fell as the figure escorted me. Satsu stood there emotionless, like a warrior who had grown silent after accepting the right to war, saying no more only standing with his eyes out looking into space.