Frucissiere - Part Two: The Rising Falls

(Part One)


-The boy was tall with jet black hair. He had a goatee and wore a black jacket with black jeans. He was walking barefoot through a field of tall grass. Ever since Vergil had gotten his powers from Khil-Sirchade, he hadn't felt like wearing shoes. He first passed through the gate an hour ago and hadn't look back for even a second. He had spotted a town on the horizon almost as soon as he crossed the threshold into the forbidden world and hadn't stopped moving towards it. He reached the town two hours after crossing the threshold. It was a small, Japanese style village just like Vergil had seen in movies and on TV. The ground was concrete bricks with trees growing in seemingly random places. There were small shrines around the place and all the buildings were made of red wood and white screens. Vergil walked into a large building and was greeted by a man in a green suite, but the man had red skin and little horns coming from his head. "Ah, Vergilius, we've been expecting you." The man's voice was rough and unnerving and, as he looked into the man's eyes for the first time he saw that they were pure white except for a small black slit down each eye. "My name is Aeneid and I'll be your guide to this town." 

"Who are you and how do you know my name?"

"When someone passes through the gate, everyone on the other side knows. Now follow me and I will show you to your home." The walked through street after street until they came to a small area with two trees  surrounded by concrete and houses surrounding them. "This is your house." Aeneid said, pointing to to a house on the right. "You will be sharing it with several others. Please try to get along." The door slid open and Vergil saw a woven floor with a table in the middle. There were four people sitting around the table. There was a tall man with straight black hair, a blonde girl in a short pair of shorts and a shirt, and a short girl with dark brown hair and a guitar. "That's Kaleb Haftka. The blonde ones Grace Edmonds and the other girls Jess Baider," he said, pointing at each one as he said their names. "They're in a band called Zarchoniam with their neighbour Tama Tekawa."

"So my room-mates are in a band?"

"Yep. Have fun." Aeneid pushed Vergil into the house and slammed the door shut. The three room-mates stopped what they were doing and looked up at Vergilius.

"Uh, hi. I'm Vergilius, but you can call me Vergil, and I'm your new room-mate?" he asked as if he was unsure of the fact. Their faces were completely emotionless as they stared at him. Then, one by one, then went back to what they were doing. Kaleb started drumming on the table and Jess continued playing her guitar, Grace was the only one that got up and greeted him. 

"Hi! I'm Grace. Sorry about the others, they're focusing on our new song. So you're our new room-mate? Well I don't know if Aeneid told you, but there's also a spirit living here. His name's Huictugaras, he helps us sleep but sometimes he makes us have nightmares as well."

"Ha-ha, yea that's hilarious." A voice said. Vergil looked around for whoever said it and as his eyes settled on the left corner of the room he saw the figure of a man standing a metre up the wall. The transparent man walked towards the door at the back of the room and disappeared through it without it opening.

"Watch out for him. We think he was a murderer when he was alive." Grace whispered in Vergil's ear.

Vergil settled in well with the four of them and became a back-up guitarist in case Jess or Tama got sick. Tama visited every day for practise, and on some days their neighbour from across the street came and watched them practise. Their neighbour was named Connor van der Raaij and his hair was copper with jet black under it. 

One stormy, winters day, while Zarchoniam were out performing a concert, a group of people came to the house claiming to be fans. The group was lead by a small blonde girl who looked 15. She knocked on the door and was answered by Vergilius and Huictugaras, who had been having a conversation. The girl spoke in a high vice, asking where the band was. She didn't get an answer though. Huictugaras grabbed her hand and bit off all five of her fingers, causing blood to squirt everywhere in little streams. She fell to her knees, screaming in pain. Then her face and body became covered in mysterious lumps that moved and slid across her skin. the lumps burst with a pop, spraying blood and black puss everywhere. The small blonde girl collapsed on the floor, dead. Vergil looked down at her in shock, then at Huictugaras who now had his arms spread wide. The spirit stepped in front of Vergilius, careful not to touch him, then he launched himself towards the stunned crowd. He flew through each of them and then flew back into the house. The whole crowd developed the strange lumps, but before they could burst, the spirit slammed the door shut and vanished. 

The next day Aeneid visited the household. The rain had not stopped since the day before, so when the demon came to the house he was covered in water. He was welcomed into the house and given a towel and a warm cup of coffee. "Thank you." He said, taking a seat. "I come here on business. It has come to our attention that there has been a number of murders right here yesterday and appropriate measures must be taken." He was talking to the whole group, but he was looking at Vergil. Kaleb, Jess and the others were all sitting on the opposite side of the table, staring at the demon on the other side. "We have been told to ask you all to leave straight away. You are no longer allowed to stay in this house, and as for Huictugaras, you will be exercised and sent on to the next world." They all sat there, motionless, except for Kaleb, who stood up in outrage. 

"Why us? We weren't even at the house when it happened! You can't blame us for this if weren't there!" He yelled.

"Well no, but you were in command of this spirit, and as such, you are indirectly responsible for the incident. Do not try to argue, your protests are overruled. Now leave, all of you, except Huictugaras." Grace and Jess stood up and pulled Kaleb away to pack up their stuff. Vergil stood up and walked into the pouring rain, leaving the house he had called home.

When he stepped outside he spotted Connor in a black rain jacket. He was hunched over and had a big bag on his back. He walked up to the orange haired man and walked with him. "Hey, why are you out in this rain?" Vergil asked.

"I decided to move. I got sick of the old place, and there's gonna be a lot less girls coming around after that spirit killed those people yesterday."

"True." Vergil looked up at a tree they were passing and saw a crow. He suddenly remembered his quest. "Connor, do you know the way to the Rising Falls?"

"Yea, I do. Why is that?"

"I need to go there, can you take me?"

"Sure."

The two men left the Japanese town and began walking. They walked for an hour in the rain until they came to a river. "They're on the other side of this river," Connor said. "We cant take anything over there, it's sacred ground." He dumped his bag in a bush to his side after he had finished speaking. The river was only 3 metres wide and the banks were solid stone and very strong. Connor took a few steeps back and did a running jump over the river. Vergil, remembering his encounter with the guardian of the gate, yelled across to his friend,

"I'm going to make an earthquake, get ready!" They both crouched down and there was an earthquake. Vergil focused the earthquake and made some of the rocks shoot up out of the ground, forming a bridge across the river. They both stood up and carried on walking. After five minutes they came to a big cliff with a very steep bank next to it. They stood on the cliffs edge, looking down into the unknown. They walked across to the giant grass covered bank and slowly made their way down it. They could hear the would of crashing down around them. Their feet touched flat ground and looked around. They were standing on a poorly constructed wooden platform. I looked like it could break at any moment. The boards were all crooked and overlapping, there were nails sticking up all over the place and big holes in the floor. There was a big leather sofa at the other end of the platform. As they walked towards it, they platform became better constructed; boards were straightened, nails flattened and less holes appearing. The reached the big seat and saw what looked like a big slide in front of them. They looked out and could see that the platform had a join in it where another type of wood was used to create a slide. Beyond the slide were the Rising Falls. Giant pillars of water were climbing up the cliff towards the sky. They looked down and saw a massive lake with rivers surrounding it that flowed from caves in the cliff side. The two men walked up to the slide and looked down it, then at each other. "Race you to the bottom." Vergil said, eagerness rising in his voice.

"You're on." They both launched themselves at the slide. The sides curving up to form half of a tunnel. It was more then five metres wide and even though the slide was made of wood, they slid along it as though it was made out of water and air. They raced down it, neither one able to make past the other. There was a right turn as it approached the cliff near a waterfall. They were lying flat on their backs and weren't ready for what was waiting for them around the corner. There was an abrupt ending in the slide and both of them dropped half a metre to the next part of the slide. They continued racing down, leaning into corners. It seemed like the slide wasn't going to end. They rounded a corner and saw that the slide became a complete tunnel. They launched into the tunnel and saw that the slide split into two paths. "You go left, I'll go right!" Connor called out. Not only did the slide split, it also curved upwards at a steep angle. Vergil leaned into the left side and Connor into the right, and although the were going up, they didn't slow down. The left tunnel curved right, then left, then right again. The tunnel opened back up into a half tunnel. Vergil looked to his right and saw another slide. He turned around and saw that he was ahead of Connor, he was going to win. The leant backwards until he was completely flat. The two slides curved out and away from each other. Vergil looked again, saw that Connor was catching up to him and increased his speed. The slides turned into each other. Vergil thought that they were going to collide, but Connor could see that his slide had gone slightly lower, and was going to go under Vergil's. There was a gap in Vergil's slide and he jumped directly over Connor as he was sliding under up. He landed with a thud on the other side, only just making it. The two sides continued that pattern, each time switching positions on top until they twisted and turned around each other. Both of them looked up and saw the other looked down at them, it was as if they were defying gravity. They stopped twisting around each other and merged back into one slide again. They were still no further ahead of each other then when they began. The slide curved upwards again and at the peak of the curve it closed into a tunnel. The tunnel dropped them straight down, the slide finished, they were falling through a tube. They came out from the tube and continued falling until landing on a big, soft leather sofa, almost identical to the one at the top of the slide. They were on another wooden platform. The platform was rectangular with railings around three of the sides. They looked up at the cliff face on their left but couldn't see the top. In front of them they saw a lake with three jets of water shooting up out of the lake, and behind each waterfall there was a dark cave with a river rushing out of it. On the edge of the water there was a small pier shooting out over the water. There was a man standing on the pier beside a small boat. He was young, but his green eyes were full of wisdom. His clothes were simple, a white t-shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. He was pulling a big net full of fish out of his boat. The two walked up to the man and saw that he had lots of little scars all around his face and hands. 

"Hi, we're looking for a way through here, can you help?" Vergil asked as they approached the man. The man did not speak, he only pointed to a cave behind one of the rising waterfalls. They walked around the other side of the lake and entered the cave. They weren't walking for very long when a strong gust of wind and rain forced them off their feet. They got back up and continued walking, thinking it was a natural breeze. The wind came again and they were pushed back down. Vergil used his powers to bring a wall up from the earth and push it forward. They could feel and see the wind as they pushed through it. The wind stopped and Vergil dropped the rocky barrier. Before them stood a tall man. His eyes were the deepest blue, his skin was a light blue and made him look like he was made of ice. His hair was a light shade of yellow mixed with white and curled at unusual angles. His hands were covered in blue scales and his nails were long black like claws made out of the darkest storm clouds. He spoke in a soft voice that had a sharpness to it that sent a chill down the boys backs.

"Who are you and what are you doing here." He spoke it as if informing himself of the situation, and not as a question.

"My name is Vergilius Tenebrae, and this is Connor van der Raaij. We're looking for a way through the canyon so we can find-"

"Frucissiere, I heard. News still reaches me, even in this cave. My name is Bechaud, and I have heard of your promise Vergilius."

"Umm, ok. Can we get through?"

"Not this way. The human outside, Nathan Russell, he sends people to me in this cave so I can judge them. If they pass then they can travel through the valley."

"Do we pass?" Connor asked.

"You do. Tell Nathan to ferry you across the lake, the path is clear from there. Be careful though, he may not speak, but he is dangerous."

"Thank-you." Vergil said, turning to leave.

"Before you go, let me pass something on to you."  The cave filled with a soft hissing and croaking, wind spun all around them. The sound of a million storms sounded over the animals. Rain and water poured down on them, yet they never got wet. The wind died down, the storms ceased and there was complete silence. Both men felt a strange tingling in their bodies. 

"What did you do to us?" Connor asked the spirit.

"I have passed on my abilities to the both of you, as I do with all that I have judged worthy. You now have power over winds, storms, lightning, hail and rain. You also have control over all reptiles. Use these powers wisely."

They emerged from the cave into the bright light of the sun. They walked over to Nathan who was sitting on a chair de-scaling a fish with a big knife. He looked up at them as they approached. "Bechaud said to tell you to take us across the lake." Vergil told the man. Nathan smiled, revealing a mouth full of sharp, serrated teeth. He invited him onto his small row boat and as they all stepped in, he took them to the middle of the lake. He stared at them with hungry eyes. They looked back at him, discomfort becoming stronger the more they sat there. All of a sudden, Nathan jumped at them, his teeth gnashing. Both men jumped out of the boat just in time and swam to the opposite shore. They climbed up onto a thin path and hugged the cliff wall, breathing hard. They sat against the wall, catching their breath. "So, I guess you'll be going then?" Vergil asked when he had caught his breath.

"Well, I guess I've done what I came here to do."

"Yea."

"But..."

"But?"

"I could always come with you. Just in case you meet anyone you can't beat in a fight or something."

"Yea, you could back me up, even though I won't need it."

"You never know, you might have to fight someone that isn't as weak as you are."

"Yea, we might have to fight someone even weaker, like you." The two friends laughed together, thinking of the adventure ahead. They stood up, used their newly found abilities to dry themselves off, and walked off into the distance.