NOVEL WEB Chapter 7 – Journey Starts!
Jayr POV - Greece - 1984
I get up from my bed, have a shower, and for the first time since I was a little 5 years old boy, I wear some normal civilians clothes, a simple white t-shirt, with jeans and shoes, over my shirt I have a simple black leather jacket, all leaving freedom of movement while still looking good, then I once again check my traveling bag, another 2 sets of clothes check, clean training outfit check, toothbrush, and homemade paste plus other toiletries check, 6 clean briefs, passport and other document requested from the Sanctuary's administration check, and of course a pack of condom, you never know when you need them.
Once I put everything in my bag, I went to the kitchen and had breakfast with my sisters, then I took my bag and my Pandora Box, and looking at my sisters I says "Shaina, Geist, I'm going! If everything goes well we'll see each other once again in two years... Be careful! I will write you once I reach one of the others training ground!" then I hugged them.
As we separate, Geist asks "So, where will you go first, Jayr?", and I, pulling out the map and checking it again replies "Well first I'll go to Plaka Village... From there I will move to Rodorio Village another village near the Sanctuary, this one has a passage to the outside world that ends in a florist shop near Athens's Airport, from there I'll take the plane to Somalia buy a ship and voyaging the Indian Ocean I'll visit the Death Queen Island...".
Shaina nods and says "Well, be careful! I'll watch over Geist!" then waving my hand, I walk toward the Plaka Village at the foot of the mountain range that makes up the Sanctuary, once there I'm quickly welcomed by the people, as often in the weekend I came here, to heal everyone that needs it, no matter of light or serious I took care of everyone, from a child scraping his knees, to someone dying of cancer.
Well with Cosmo dealing with cancer is as easy as breathing, there is also a more mundane cure for it, it is a compound that restores the normal function of the cells to send and receive the signal to stop, grow, divide and die, but is a pain in the ass to make and dose, after all, it is made up of more than 100 toxins, if one isn't careful and makes a mistake, you can easily kill anything with it, but yeah it is possible, I gave some simple instruction to some of my former patients on how to take care of themselves so to not have a relapse then I move on.
After passing through the Plaka Village, I calmly walk for 100Km south-east, to keep myself occupied during the journey, I start to refresh my knowledge of the various languages I learned, and after 2 hours, I finally reach the Rodorio Village, a simple and rustic village, thanks to its proximity with the Sanctuary, this village also enjoys Athena's protection since the ancient times, in fact, many times the Saint come here to check on the village and in exchange the village, like Plaka Village, support the Sanctuary with its corps and sending product from the outside world.
Once inside the village I starts looking around for the florist shop that hides the passage to the outside world, after searching for a few minutes, I finally found it, but the next moment I stood rooted on the spot as something else caught my sight, working inside the shop, there are two people, one is a bald old man with a serene face and long bread and a pair of glasses, that is looking over the counter, the other is a young woman with a slim build, her face has a slender demeanor and pale tone, the style of her hair is short reaching above the shoulders and semi wavy, whose color is light brown and has dark brown eyes, and are those eyes that quickly remind me of someone, she is wearing a simple yellowish dress with greek boots, then her identity comes to me like a lightning bolt.
'!!! Hory shiet!!! That girl is Seika! Seiya's sister who disappeared searching for her brother!! How could that little shit of Seiya not find his fucking sister that he will desperately be searching for... When she was just only 100 Km from his position... But why is she here, and not nearer the Sanctuary? I can understand the fact that she can't enter the Sanctuary, but living in Plaka Village should be better for meeting her little brother...'.
(Image Here - Seika)
Unable to hold my curiosity back, I slowly move toward her, and as soon as she notice my presence asks in perfect greek "Yes, How can I help you? Do you need a bouquet?" but before I could reply, the old man, notices the Pandora Box on my back and quickly stands up he says "Welcome, welcome, Lord Saint, please forgive her rude manners, She doesn't know about the Saints, I found her laying on the ground next to a cliff 4 years ago, from which she probably fell, and as result, she lost her memory, we only knows that her name is Seika and that she is probably Asian from her belonging, so please forgive her... Do you need to use the passage?".
Seika POV - Greece - 1984
Today was a day like any other, I was helping grandpa Jonas in his shop, hoping in the chance that one of these days I'll finally recover my memories, but something in my heart tells me that there is something really important that I have to do, sometimes I have a feeling that I know what to do, but as soon as it comes, that feeling disappears.
As I was watering the flowers in the shop, I felt a presence from behind, and as I turn, I see a handsome young man with messy dark blue hair and green eyes, even over his clothes he seems quite fit, and he is also very tall, I think he is about 1,7 m, on his back he carries a big metal box that seems almost made of silver, and he excludes a calm, peaceful, and at the same time full of life aura, in fact, it seems that all the flowers are more lively in his presence.
I quickly ask if he needs something, but quickly grandpa Jonas stood up and ask the young man to forgive me for my rudeness quickly explaining, the fact that I lost my memories and that I know nothing about Saints then he talk about some kind of passage.
Hearing that word quickly reminds me of the story that grandpa Jonas told me, about the warriors of the Goddess Athena, who protect humanity from the other gods by donning mythical armors, warriors so strong that a punch can break a mountain, and a step crack the earth, I thought he was just telling me some child stories to help me regain my memory, but it seems that they are true, does this mean that this young man is Saint?.
The young man stood in silence for a few seconds, but his gaze was on me all the time, then I see his hand moving slowly toward me, seeing that, he want to do something to me, Jonas yells "Wait! Lord Saint, she is just a young girl!!", preparing myself for the pain to come, I close my eyes and start shaking in fear, but the pain doesn't come, and the only thing I felt, is his warm hand on my head then some kind of warm energy enter into my head making me unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
Then all of the sudden a torrent of memories comes, one after another and I finally remember who I'm and what I was searching for, I'm searching for my little brother Seiya, who, I found out, was sent here to become a Saint of Athena together with the other kids of the orphanage, I was able to arrive in Greece, and luckily find some information about the position of the Sanctuary, but the road to reach it was too hazardous and in the end, I fell from a cliff, luckily I survived the fall but I hit my head somewhere and lost my memories, but grandpa Jonas found me and took care of me saying that I remind him of his late daughter, and so I lived the next four years here, helping grandpa Jonas in his shop.
Jayr POV - Greece - 1984
As I pull my hand off of Saika's head, I see Jonas quickly relax, before looking at Seika with worry in his eyes 'It seems that he misunderstood me... But at least this proves that he is a good man', soon Seika opens her eyes and yells "I remember now! I have to find my little brother Seiya!" but quickly she regains her bearing and she lightly bows and says "Lord Saint, thank you for making me recover my memories, I'll be forever grateful for this grace!" and hearing that Jonas is happy for her too, and gratefully says his thanks then he congratulates with Seika for her recovery.
Then I say "Don't worry about it, that was a little effort on my part..." and as Seika lightly nods, Jonas who is relaxed now that he knows that I'm not like the other Saints he heard about lately, asks "So what are you gonna do now, little Seika?" and with a firm gaze she replies "Now, I'll go to the Sanctuary and search for my brother..." but I interrupt her and says "That won't be possible...".
And before she could ask I continue "...Only the authorized individual can enter the Sanctuary that means soldiers, guard, attendant, trainee, and of course the Saints, and the only ones that have the freedom to move around the Sanctuary are the trainee and the Saint, the others are very limited... so even if you reach the Sanctuary the won't let you inside, not even if you have a family member there, they also won't inform Seiya of your presence... Moreover, Seiya is right now, at the most important phase of his training, if he gets distracted by your presence he could very well lose his life".
Hearing my words, Seika lowers her head, but then notices something, and she asks with a voice full of hope "From the way you are telling this... does it means that you meet him? Know him? Please, tell me mister, how is he? Is he suffering? Does he eat well? What do you mean he could die??" as she walks closer to me with each new question, I quickly raise my hands and says infusing some Cosmo into my voice to help her relax "Stop, calm down, calm down, I will tell you everything, just not here..." then turning to the shop owner Jonas, I ask "Is there a place we can calmly talk?".
The old man quickly nods and leads us inside the shop, once there he opens a trap door behind the counter and says "Down here, is a simple room with a door that can only be opened by a Saint, that door leads to the passage to the outside world, you will find yourself near Athens's port..." quickly I and Seika get down the trap-door, using the metal ladder fixed to the wall, and find ourself into a simple room with a table, some chairs, and a stone door, from the door I quickly sense the presence of Cosmo meaning that only by using Cosmo you can open it.
After a quick glance, I lead Seika to the table, and like a perfect gentleman, I help her sit, then I sit in front of her and start to speak "First of all... I'm not a mister, my name is Jayr, and in fact, I'm 13 years old, so please drop the formalities, it makes me feel old..." hearing that Seika opens her mouth wide and murmur "He is younger than me...".
I ignore her and continue "Second, yes, I know Seiya, in fact when he first came to the Sanctuary, I was the one that taught him the basics, before he became the disciple of a friend of mine..." then I briefly explain her Seiya situation, about the tough training, about the fact that his Master is a strict but gentle person and that she can trust that she will take good care of Seiya and teach him all he needs to know, how he already is destined for a Cloth and will become the Pegasus Saint, and how he will go back to Japan in two years to take part in a tournament so that he can reunite with her, and also that right now she is what is pushing and motivating Seiya to train to the best of his abilities.
I also briefly told her, about my limited capacity to see into the future, how the world will need the Saint that Seiya will become, and the threat that everyone will face two years from now, then dejected Seika asks "Then... what should I do?", I think about it for a few seconds and says "Well... If you want you can come with me on my journey, my last stop is in Japan, and Seiya will go there too in two years to take part in the tournament organized by the Graad Foundation I told you about before, so you can meet him there... I can also teach you some medicine if you want so that you can take care of him better, trust me we Saint get hurt... A lot!".
Seika seems struggling for a few minutes before she accepts my suggestion and says "Very well, I'll join you... Just can I have some time to prepare what I need, thank Jonas-ojisan for everything he has done for me, and say goodbye?" and I reply "Sure, I have no problem with it... Take your time..." and as I look at her figure raising the ladder leaving me alone in the room thinking 'Really, to think that Seiya's sister, he was searching for was all along, just a 100 Km from him for more than 4 years and he never found her... In fact, from what I remember, he never found her in the original story...'.
Then I let out a sigh and says "Ahh... My bad habit is resurfacing once again... If I see a beautiful woman in distress, I can't help it but want to help her... of course not only help... I may be a Saint now, but not that kind of Saint, maybe in this life I can finally find a girl to settle down... Or two... Or more, after all, now I'm a Man of Culture... Literally... Now, should I aim at girls with big ones? small ones? or both? A big harem like playing a pokemon game? Or a small one with only the girls I love?".
As I was in deep thought, getting my priorities straight, after an hour, Seika returns with her own traveling bag, wearing now, normal civilians clothes, a peach skirt with a white shirt and shoes and says "Jayr, I'm ready to go!", I nod and standing up from the chair, I pick up my Pandora Box and bag then ask if she wants to give me her bag but she simply shakes her head, then moving toward the stone door, I say "Then let's go, we have to visit some Saint Training Grounds before, we reach Japan...", and by lightly burning my Cosmo, I open the door "...Ladies first".
Seika passes through the door, and I quickly follow after her, and as the door automatically closes itself, we both find ourselves in a long stone tunnel, lit up by Cosmo enchanted torchs attached to the wall, and I calmly start walking forward saying "Follow behind me... I do not know if they put some kind of traps down here...".
While we walk through the tunnel, Seika asks about me, so I calmly told her "Well, as I already told you before, my name is Jayr, Jayr Pucci a Saint of the Goddess Athena, my father is Italian, my mother Greek, both are normal people, but my grandfather, was also a strong Saint of Athena, and listening to my mother stories about Saints, I and my sisters choose to become Saint too, to fight for love and justice, and also to protect our loved ones".
Then I started to briefly explain to her about Saint, Cosmo, and the Gods, and just as I was talking about my life in the Sanctuary, we finally reached the end of the tunnel, where we find another stone door, that can only be open by Cosmo, after opening the door, we find another waiting room similar to the one in Rodorio Village.
As soon as we walk inside, the trap-door opens and an old woman shows her face and says "Lord Saint?... Welcome to the Flower Shop 'Athena's Gifts' the road is clean, you and your attendant can come up..." and after we move up the ladder she asks "So... how is Old Jonas holding up? It is quite a while since I've heard of him... or anyone else... I almost thought that the Sanctuary forgot about this passage, you are the first in years...".
I quickly reply "Mister Jonas is well... And I do not know about the others, but the location of this passage is still recorded in the Library... but enough chit chat, we have to move on with our schedule..." then after saying goodbye, I and Seika walk out of the shop, and Seika looking around asks "So what now, Jayr? What is our next destination?".
I look around the busy street and say "Our next stop is in Somalia first, then the Death Queen Island that is somewhere in the Indian Ocean, that is where another Saint Training Groud is hidden, we just have to... buy... a boat..." and as I quickly realize that I forgot something, I stop talking, and Seika who notice something asks "Jayr, what is wrong?" and I say frustrated and with a strong urge of punching myself "I forgot that I have no money... In the Sanctuary I didn't need it, so after a while I forgot about it... now what should I do?".
Seeing this scene, Seika let out a small laugh, but then she quickly cover her mouth and says "Sorry, sorry, it just that until now you seemed so confident, like everything was under your control, so mature that you seemed much older than me, you seemed almost scary, but now I find out that you too make mistakes... It relieves me... now about money... I have some with me, but I do not think are enough for our journey...".
At the same time, my brain is quickly thinking about a solution 'God... How could I forget about something as basic as money... Now what should I do to gather quickly money?', then looking around I notice a postal office, and the publicity about the Greek State Lottery and I have an epiphany 'Eureka! I can cheat using the precognition given by Cosmo... Yes, it isn't very ethical, but I'm practically cheating a hidden tax set by the government... And luckily I still have time to play, and the result will come out in 2-3 hours!'.
Then I quickly explain my plan to Seika and ask her to lend me a banknote of ₯1 (1 Drachma), then I use my Cosmo to predict the number that will come out, note them, and after that, I buy the lottery ticket to play them, done with the misdeed, I turn to Saika and says "Now we just have to wait for the result I will give half of the money to you, after all, you paid for it..." and before she could refuse I continue "Don't worry about it money aren't so important to me, now why don't we go and relax at some park while we wait for the result to come?".
And so we both go to a nearby park and is a quite lively one, with kids playing around at various games, with grandparents or parents watching over them, some old couple walking together, and various groups of old men playing some card games, me and Seika, quickly find a quiet place and sit there, then Seika asks "By the way, why are we going to this Death Queen Island, if our destination is Japan?".
Moving my gaze away from the peaceful scene and looking at Seika I reply "Well, not only that island, but also Andromeda Island, Jamir, Lushan, West Siberia, and then Japan are on my schedule... my main objective is to check on your half-siblings and warn, and gather the support of other Saint about the coming storm..." but then I notice something strange and ask "Saika, is everything ok?".
And Looking at me she asks "Half-sibling...?" and realizing my mistake, I let out a sigh and deciding to be direct with it, I say "Yeah... You know as Mitsumasa Kido learned about the Saints, Athena, and the coming evil from the dying Gold Saint Aiolos, he decided to do something to help protect the world... In the worst way possible... he gathered together all the various kids he had with a multitude of different women, that in some way or other ended up as orphans, and put them under his care in the Graad Orphanage, then he forced them to train and after some time sent them to the various Saint Training Ground, hoping that some of them would return with the title of Saint and a Cloth".
To say that Seika was shocked by my answer is an understatement, and after a few minutes of silence she asks "How... How are they now?" shaking my head I reply "From what my vision showed me, around 10 of the kids became Saint, the others could have three results, give up and left the training ground, became guard, soldier or attendant, or died...".
And for the rest of the time, Seika remained silent until the time to check the result of the lottery, and of course, we won, we only have to wait for the money to be transferred to my bank account 'To think that the bank account that my grandpa created for me would be useful so soon... And for what I know the rewards from the lottery take 15 days to be paid out... but it seems that Anime Logic rules over everything in this world'.
After we got the money for the prize, we quickly booked a flight to Somalia, that will luckily depart in around 1 hour, after a quick check-in where no one dares to make an objection about the Pandora Box I'm carrying, in fact, they almost treated me like royalty, even the price for the flight was waived to my surprise, it seems that after both world wars, the various government became aware of the existence of Saints and their duty to protect humanity, that is why we got various privileges, and soon after we are ready to take the flight that departs at 23:00.
Seika POV - Greece - 1984
Today was really a crazy day, first I recover my memories, then I find out that my little brother is well and is training hard to become a Saint, not only that, but Jayr says that he will be essential in protecting the whole world, from evil Gods, but also that I can't meet him in the Sanctuary as it is forbidden for outsiders the enter and also I could disturb Seiya training and that could cost his life, then the handsome young Saint Jayr, who I found out is younger than me, proposed to join him in his travel as he would end up in Japan where I'll be able to meet Seiya a few years from now.
At first, I was intimidated and wary of him, but under grandpa Jonas's encouragement, I choose to brace myself and go with him, in the tunnel as he told me more about himself, the Saints, and other info my wariness receded, and all it left, is awe at what he endured to become a Saint, and worry about my brother who is doing the same, and as soon as we got back to Athens all my tensions left me as I realized that Jayr still is a normal young man, and I was finally able to relax in his presence, especially when he explained that he forgot to plan his expenses for the journey, that made me laugh as he seemed almost too perfect to me, but it was only an impression, then he quickly found a solution to our problem.
But then he dropped the bomb, to think that all the kids in the Graad Orphanage are my half-siblings, and that bad old man Mitsumasa Kido, who forced me away from Seiya, is, in reality, my and Seiya's father, left me dumbstruck not nowing how to react at the new, should I be angry at him for how he treated us? Should I be happy that I and Seiya have other family members still alive and well? Worried about then that are going through the same trials as Seiya?
With all these things swirling inside my mind, we finally reach the airport, where I once again see the power and respect that the Saint command, both me and Jayr can travel without paying anything, they don't even check our bags, it was all smooth and easy, and I notice that even Jayr is surprised by this treatment, and soon we both enter the plane and take our seat in first class, Jayr asks me where I want to sit, and I take the seat next to the window, then he sits next to me, and as the plane lift off, the weariness from all the shocking revelations got the better of me and I fell asleep.
