Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Paradox Hearts ❯ Beauty ( Chapter 3 )

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Paradox Hearts

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 3: Beauty

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"Who are you two," the girl looked to Volgore, then back to Suzanna, "why did you just try to kill me? You really scared me." It was bad enough that she was alone, but now she was being attacked by some rogue travelers. Both of them were pretty scary looking. Between the cold woman who lacked color and feeling to the strange man with the weird accent and ripped up clothes she felt pretty intimidated.

Although she couldn't help but think that the man looked a little familiar. Where had she seen his face before?

"Why are you wandering around out here, looking suspicious?" Suzanna questioned. It was odd for a lone girl to be hanging around temple grounds at dusk. She looked just as suspicious as the both of them did.

"I came to get the power at Lafarga's temple," the girl glanced to the side as if she thought that she would be punished for such a thing. She knew that it was against the rules, and that she may very well pay with her life for such a thing. "But…I can't…He's too strong for me," she hung her head in defeat.

"Why do you want a power like that?" The white-haired woman continued to question the frightened girl.

"I…I want to go back to my own home world," she was a little hesitant of her answer. It was the honest truth, despite her fear. The girl had the same story as Volgore. She simply wanted to return to where she came from.

Not another one!

This was getting ridiculous, but perhaps she could use this girl to her advantage.

"Your home world? Where are you from?" Volgore asked. If the Girl of Anai could travel through space and time, could it be possible that another person from Earth would be in this world as well? She looked like a human at least.

It didn't hurt to ask.

"I'm from an island called Japan-" She tried to explain, but didn't get far before Volgore's excitement cut her off.

"I'm from Italy!" The dark-haired man exclaimed, throwing out his arms with a big smile on his face. Finally, someone that was from his world! He was more than overjoyed that the girl was on the same planet, let alone spoke in a language that he understood.

"Really?" The girl asked with a hopeful smile on her face. She was overjoyed to hear the same thing from him. There must not be many people from Earth in this place, or at least that was the conclusion he came to. "I know where that is!"

"It's nice to see someone from my world," the Italian replied. They both were relieved at that fact and found comfort in each other.

"I know! I didn't think I'd find anyone who came from my world. I'm so relieved that I see someone at least from the same world. For a while, I felt like I was from another planet." It was no fun being the only one from another world in Arceaus. Everyone seemed so strange and it made her feel very out of place against the masses. Even if she didn't, the girl felt as if she stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Today is actually my first day here. I fell out of the skies-" Volgore tried to explain but Suzanna cut him off.

"-and nearly killed me," she finished his sentence with little enthusiasm.

"It's not my fault," Volgore whined, being painfully reminded of the situation.

"Somehow, I don't believe you." At those words, the Italian slouched over dramatically.

The long-haired girl pointed to him with an expression on her face that looked as if sudden realization had hit her. "Hey, you're Volgore Chollissnoli, the famous model, singer and actor, aren't you?" If it wasn't him, it was a damned good impersonator.

As if on command, Volgore struck a pose, placing one hand on his hips as he flashed his biggest smile and jerked a thumb to himself. "The one and only!"

"I see your face everywhere. You have quite a large fan base in Japan," she pointed out, and was very excited when she mentioned it. Perhaps she was a fan of his as well?

Flaunting his popularity, he flipped his hair. "It's nice to know I am loved in a place such as that-" His rant was cut short as a sword hilt collided with his head. "Ouch!" He cried out and hunched over, holding his head with both hands.

"We're not here to meet fans; we're here to get that power. You can sign an autograph for her later," Suzanna scolded the flamboyant man with a sigh of irritation. This wasn't the time to act like an idiot; he did enough of that on his own. He didn't need this strange girl helping his ego grow.

"At least tell me you name," the girl requested.

"You first," Suzanna demanded.

"I'm Kagami Koishii," the girl politely bowed.

"I'm Suzanna Taft," the white-haired female gave a respectful bow back to Koishii.

"…And I am Volgore Chollissnoli!" They heard the boisterous voice intone.

"We know that already," Suzanna pointed out his idiocy.

"I can show you where the temple is, since I just came back from there. I know the way easily," Koishii informed the duo on the information they sought. If it was going to Lafarga's temple, then it would be easy for her to get the two of them to their goal.

"You want to help us?" Suzanna arched her visible eyebrow. It was odd that she offered her help so freely. Maybe it was the fact that she almost took off Koishii's head that intimidated her into giving them the proper directions and offering them up without question.

Koishii nodded happily. "If you guys can get that power, we can probably go back to our own worlds easily." So that was why she wanted to help them. Koishii wanted to get back to her own world as bad as Volgore did.

A small smile crossed the red-eyed woman's face. "It'll take more than that, but it's a nice step in the right direction. Besides, I can always use someone to watch him and make sure that he doesn't get killed," Suzanna pointed to the only man in the group, who frowned upon noticing that he was being made fun of for being weak.

"I can do that!" Koishii raised her hand to volunteer the position. Spending any time with Volgore made her happy, which was why this job was perfect for her.

"You must think I'm weak," Volgore stated, even though his words did hold a ring of truth of them. It was a subtle way of saying how he really felt. So, with Suzanna's yes in response, he slouched over again as a bead of sweat ran down his head.

"That's pretty mean," Koishii stated, finding the situation a little unfair. Whenever she had seen Volgore, he always seemed strong and confident. In her own mind, she had always pictured him as such, and it was only his first day in this strange, new world. Of course, he wouldn't be used to anything there.

"I'll show you! You shouldn't underestimate me! Even if I haven't been here very long, I'm pretty strong." Volgore said with vibrant determination. He would prove himself strong in Suzanna's eyes if it was the last thing he ever did.

"Let's go," obviously, his uplifting speech was ignored as the two walked away from him, headed towards the temple on their own. Volgore fell to the ground as Koishii agreed.

"I'll believe you when you prove it to me," Suzanna said in monotone as Volgore caught up with the group.

"I may not be like you but I am strong. I'll show you! I'll prove to you that I'm strong." It was one promise that he knew he could keep. Volgore didn't want to be known as the extra baggage for the rest of his existence in this strange world. He wanted to have a worth. To him, if you had no worth, you were nothing.

"When you do, I'll respect you a little more. Right now, I just think you're an embarrassing Italian idiot," she commented as he walked up beside of her, but his position was short-lived as he was yanked up towards the heavens with a high-pitched scream and dangled before them by his left foot as Suzanna felt sweat rolling down her head.

Koishii threw her hands up to each side of her face and looked shocked. "It's a trap!" She exclaimed. The brown-haired girl didn't notice anything like that when she went to the temple by herself, so it shocked her that Volgore found something she had skipped over and thankfully so on her end. Since she was by herself, if she had managed to got caught up in the trap then she would still be dangling there.

"Stupid, you're more trouble than you're worth," the white-haired swordsman pulled out her sword. "Dark Edge!" Suzanna summoned her attack as she swung her sword slightly above Volgore's leg; a wave of dark magic flung itself from the blade, cutting the rope as the screaming Italian crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap. Koishii decided that she had better tell them of her findings, and that she had noticed that trap there. She noted that she probably didn't step there when she came through that area.

"We should let him walk ahead," Suzanna suggested as Volgore pulled himself up off of the ground. "If there are any traps, he'll find them."

"I don't want to be your guinea pig," Volgore whined. If that was going to be his new position in the group, he wanted nothing to do with it.

"You whine about everything and you wonder why I think you're weak," Suzanna huffed in irritation.

"I'll keep leading," Koishii decided to get some slack cut off of the superstar. He was being very harshly judged, in her opinion. "Besides, he doesn't know where the temple is, so it makes no sense for him to lead."

Suzanna sighed in begrudged agreement. "I suppose you're right," the stoic woman walked away as Volgore struggled to untie himself from the rope that clung to his leg. After he had gotten the offending piece of material off, he glanced up to notice that Koishii was extending a hand out to him. He let out a noise of confusion at the smiling face before him. It was clear that she was different from Suzanna, who would have simply left him there to catch up.

"Come on, we should go. I don't want to leave you behind." They were words that he was happy to hear. Volgore never felt more relieved to know that someone spoke gently to him during his day of being there. Suzanna wasn't exactly the kindest person in the world and her expectations were way too high for someone who had been there for only a day.

He thanked the girl and took her hand as he was pulled up off of the ground. "Did you hurt yourself? Is your ankle okay?" Koishii looked at him with sympathetic and concerned brown eyes.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up. That really surprised me," he assured. Even if he was hurt, the last thing he wanted to do was show it any more than he already had. Luckily for him, he wasn't injured at all.

"I swear, I didn't see that trap before," Koishii tried to reason with him. Volgore seemed a lot nicer than Suzanna which was strange to her, because most famous people turned their noses up to people like her. Then again, Volgore always had a reputation of being of the few stars that really interacted with his fans. Koishii felt horrible that he had to be the one to find something she skipped over.

"Maybe someone set them up after you left," Suzanna informed. "Did you see anyone around the temple?"

Koishii shook her head. "No, there wasn't anyone at the temple at all. I mean, that old abandon city is around there, but I went right up to the stairs and walked around and everything. I couldn't find the box you guys were talking about though."

"What? Are you saying it isn't true?" A red eye narrowed and the question was asked in such a tone that Koishii was unsure of what response to give. Was it going to make her mad if she gave the wrong answer. Suzanna seemed so easily annoyed, or maybe she didn't like Volgore. Whatever the case was, she felt uneasy around her.

"I don't know," Koishii replied a little hesitantly, "the temple is huge, and I only went into a few rooms." She told them as they began to pass some dilapidated buildings. When they glanced around, they noticed that the sun had already set and the grass was nearly up to their knees in long, dark strands. It had nearly overtaken the path that they walked on.

"These buildings have been empty for a while," Volgore noted. Whoever lived in the area lived there quite a long time ago. He wondered what happened to make them all leave and never return.

"Yeah, I heard that the old city district used to be here but something happened and they moved it away from this place," Koishii informed him vaguely of what she knew about the city.

"I heard that there was a war here and most everyone who was here were swept away by the death god," Suzanna brought about a much darker situation to the matter.

"There weren't any survivors…at all?" Koishii looked as if it was her first time hearing about any of that. She was sad to find out that everyone had pretty much died. Koishii seemed like such a compassionate person. Volgore was glad to see someone who held some emotion around.

"I don't know. I've heard that there wasn't."

"It doesn't look like it was a large village. I wonder how long ago all of this happened," Volgore brought about a time frame question in hopes to get some answers. If there was something wrong with the area, he wanted to be informed about what might happen to him in the process.

If people had died there before, then there was a reason to be hesitant.

"Only the death god would know the answer to that," Suzanna replied. Devastating stories aside, she wanted that power and no horror story of long ago was going to scare her from getting it.

"Maybe it has to do with the Girl of Anai legend," the Italian brought up the fact that there could be a connection between the two, especially if they went with the marking time of death theory.

"You know about that?" Koishii looked to him in surprise. For someone who had only been there one day, he was very informed on one of the biggest mysteries of that world.

"Yes, why? Should I not?" Volgore felt a little uneasy. Did he know something he wasn't supposed to? It made him nervous just thinking about it.

"Have you ever seen her?"

"Yes, have you?" This was beginning to feel a little awkward.

"No, I've only heard of her, and how important she is to this world," the girl explained. She'd been in Arceaus for a while and even she didn't know that much about the Girl of Anai, and yet, this man had actually met her. He could possibly hold several keys to finding out who the Girl of Anai is. Before she could elaborate on what she was saying, an arrow came zooming out of nowhere and nearly cut her face. Koishii shrieked and jumped back as the group began to get showered with arrows. Everyone dodged the oncoming arrows the best they could and Suzanna chopped a few in half with her sword.

"How did I know this wasn't going to be easy?" Suzanna asked herself as both Koishii and Volgore were yelling and dodging arrows. Koishii put her arms over her head and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off and Volgore was dancing around arrows, trying to keep his precious feet from being punctured.

They both looked ridiculous.

"What are you idiots doing? Run, and not around in circles!" Suzanna scolded the two as they froze and looked at her. Koishii agreed and was the first to take off running, followed by Volgore, who shouted for her to wait for him and took off with his hands in the air.

"We have to get to the temple!" Koishii stated the obvious, occasionally flinching as an arrow came dangerously close to hitting her. With every arrow that crashed to the ground, she felt a piece of her soul shooting out from her body. This was too many heart attacks to deal with in one day.

"Preferably without being shot to pieces!" Volgore shouted, wanting to get away from the situation as much as possible. This was another bout of bad luck that's been planted on him.

The group ran over to a tree as an arrow flew their direction and pierced into the back, causing he and Koishii to skid to a stop and call out in shock.

"Dark Edge!" They heard the familiar voice of their comrade as she cleared some of the arrows out of the way with a single swing of her blade. "The sooner we get there, the better," she made her way down the path, cutting away at any arrows that dared to cross her path.

"I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" Volgore called out hysterically. If he wasn't going to die from being pierced by an arrow, he'd die of exhaustion, lack of sleep or Lafarga would kill him. Any of those options didn't sound like a pleasant death in the slightest.

"Don't think like that. We'll get out of here," Koishii looked determined, despite his outlook on the situation, but she had at least had proper sleep. He swore, if he got out of the situation alive, he was going to sleep for days on end.

"You should have warned us about the traps," the Italian forgot her earlier words, but Koishii was quick to remind him that there weren't any traps and that it had been nothing but peaceful when she came through. Her words were cut short as an explosion blasted the both of them back, throwing their charred forms to the ground as smoke rose from their twitching bodies.

"Ouch…"

"My beautiful face…"

"Come on, idiots!" Suzanna once again commanded them as she dashed past the two. They both glanced at her with tired and stressed expressions. They couldn't believe that she was being such a slave driver. Without wasting any more time, they pulled themselves up off of the ground and followed her.

When they caught up, Suzanna asked Koishii which way they were going now. The tired girl replied with a 'there' as she pointed to a large stone temple in front of them. Purple eyes gazed upon the temple before him. It was absolutely huge and he took no time in mention it in awe.

Before he could take another step, he felt as if he were walking on air for a brief moment and when he looked down, the harsh reality had sank in that he was. The ground had fallen out from under him. The look of realization hit him before he felt himself freefall into darkness.

However, he didn't get too far before his wrist was harshly grabbed by Suzanna who knelt down, digging her shoes into the ground and the tip of her sword with the other hand to steady herself.

Volgore looked up at her with twin rivers running down his face. "Thank you so much!"

"Hurry up and get up here. There are spikes down there," Suzanna warned and following her advice, the Italian pulled himself up after he glanced down to see the deadly spikes at the bottom of the put. That in itself gave him motivation to pull himself out of the hole before he slipped and became skewered on them.

"Here!" Koishii held out her hand for him to grab. "Let me pull you up too!" Together, the two woman pulled him up and onto the ground. Dazed, the black-haired man sat there for a while and placed a hand to his chest.

"Momma Miya! I almost died!" The Italian exclaimed. He dared not to take a second look into the hole, it would only scare him more. He knew that he had been dragging behind but now he was slowly become aware of how dangerous it was getting. Volgore needed to pay more attention to what he was doing.

"You're good at that," Suzanna's comment didn't make him feel any better.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't know," Koishii, on the other hand, seemed very worried about his health. Who knew how many more traps would be lurking around each corner, threatening to end their existence.

"You probably didn't, but that doesn't help us now," Suzanna stated the sheer fact of the situation. They were in danger no matter what they did. In a way, the white-clad woman anticipated this but in another way, she dreaded it. Lafarga was a god and as a god, he had his own tricks of the trade.

"You don't have to apologize. I believe you. It's just that I'm new and-" The Italian tried to explain but Koishii cut him off.

"So am I. Don't feel so bad." No matter how she tried to quell his thoughts on the subject, it didn't really help him. Volgore felt so out of place and useless that he decided that whatever he said would just be an excuse in Suzanna's eyes. Without a word more, he just got up and advanced towards the temple stairs.

The white-haired woman seemed tense. "We have to stay on guard. There could be more traps around."

"In the ground, on the ground, in the trees…" Koishii's list of places seemed to have no end. They were clearly surrounded. Volgore told her that they were clearly outnumbered and slouched over again, exhausted. He knew that if he got past Lafarga he was more resilient than he thought. His body had begun to break down, and he didn't know how much more he could take.

"I don't know how to defend myself," the brown-haired girl stated her own weakness. Like Volgore, she had no weapons, nor did she look like the fighting type.

"Me either, I'm just a weak, vulnerable human being. I'm not invincible. I'm not even that lucky," Volgore agreed.

"Maybe if you two didn't whine so much and had some kind of faith in yourselves, then you'd get somewhere." There she went again, complaining about how much they whined. The Italian supposed that the both of them were a major inconvenience to her, but she didn't have to be so hard on them.

"You can't blame us. We haven't been here as long as you," Volgore tried to kindly explain to her that she expected too much out of the two of them.

Suzanna turned around and leveled him with a glare. "How do you know how long I've been here?"

"I don't, really," the black-haired superstar backed off a little. Her response was icy and her stare was worse. He silently wished Koishii would help him out on this dispute and sure enough, the kind girl answered his silent plea.

"You do seem like you have a lot more experience than we do," Koishii agreed with her idol. Suzanna had no right to be so stern with them. It was bad enough that they were both new to this and they had no weapons, but they were being slammed for everything that was more of a concern than a complaint.

"We don't even have weapons or anything," Volgore knew he'd be shot down for that excuse but he decided to go for it anyway.

"We'd probably feel better if we had weapons. Right now, I feel like a big, fat target," Koishii replied as she threw her arms out to the side. She was pretty sure that Volgore felt the same way. Sure, Suzanna could criticize them but she couldn't expect them to go out there and kick a god's butt with nothing in their hands.

It was illogical to expect that much from them.

"We'll worry about that after we get to the temple and face Lafarga." Was she serious? She actually expected them to go into the lion's den with no weapons? They would surely die!

"You mean you plan on fighting Lafarga?" This brought about a whole new expression on the girl's face. She had no idea that she was going to be involved in such an adventure. It only made her more nervous than before.

"Yes, I've fought quite a few gods here. Just stand back and watch me, and you'll be alright," Suzanna commanded, still set in her ways. How could put them out on the battlefield to die like this? It was hardly fair to either of them.

"You can't expect us to be able to fight so soon," Koishii was still trying to defend whatever was left of their honor. She could tell how beaten and tired Volgore was. If not for her, at least she could defend him. Sending them into that temple was suicide.

"Then you'll have to learn. If we don't do something we'll never make it out of here," Suzanna glanced at the temple. "So, this is it?"

"Yes," Koishii's gaze hit the stone floor as she sadly replied. She dreaded this moment, more than anything else in the world. If the power that Suzanna talked about so much wasn't in the temple, then they will have done all of this for nothing.

"It's time to face Lafarga and get that power." Was that truly the only thing on her mind? Why was she so hell bent on getting this power?

"Oh dear, this isn't going to be fun," an Italian accent rang out and Koishii looked over to see the run down Volgore.

"We'll make it through somehow," still trying to comfort him, seeing as he needed it far more than she did, the girl gently took his wrist and smiled tenderly. "Come on!" The two finished going up the stairs and entered the building.

"I've waited for this day." A determined smile crossed the woman's red lips as she made her way into the depths of the temple. Her pace sped up as she lost all track of those following her, leaving them to struggle and catch up.

'I've been through a lot already. Who knows what's waiting for me in here. I've had no sleep for days and I went through hell. Between traps and fighting that snake god. I should be dead and now I have to face who knows what is in that temple.' Volgore thought to himself with a sigh. "Momma miya…"

Suzanna stopped before she got to the top of the stairs and looked down at her two stragglers, who were a good ten steps behind. "What are you two waiting for?" She urged them to keep up with her. If they got separated, who knows what would happen?

Koishii shouted that they were coming and ran after her, pulling the Italian behind her.

"I guess I have to go. There's no way around it," Volgore reasoned with himself as he was drug along. When everyone got into the darkened temple room, they glanced around at the many pillars and old stone walls, littered with carved symbols of a forgotten, ancient language and large pictures of what looked like several gods.

At one point in time, the temple was a very elaborate place and even had a built in waterfall and stream that traveled through it. Suzanna glanced over her shoulder at Koishii, who looked around the familiar setting.

"Which direction did you go, Koishii?" She asked. There were many paths that led to different places, and if this was like any other temple, there were rooms with traps. If they ended up in any of them, it would end all of their lives instantly.

"I kept going straight until I came to those two pillars," the girl pointed at two highly decorated and carved pillars. On his way over to his destination, Volgore walked past a wall with a picture of a long, gray serpent with a white stomach, yellow band around its head and what looked like fins that were not attached to its body. It looked almost like a hooded lizard with no legs and free floating fins. Next to it was a crude drawing of a lightning bolt.

"Is this Lafarga?" He asked as the two girls walked over to him, gazing up at the picture.

"No, that's Ex-Mechanica, the industrial god. He's said to be a cyborg of sorts, with a machine's body but the soul of a god who was slain in battle," the white-haired woman explained to the both of them the identity of the mysterious god.

"But why would Ex-Mechanica's picture be on this wall?" Koishii found that a little weird. Ex-Mechanica wasn't even the residing god of that area.

"Ex-Mechanica and Lafarga are friends. They have a partnership and work together in many ways."

"Then Ex-Mechanica probably guards the temple with Lafarga, right?" Koishii hoped that her assumption wasn't true, but this did present a whole new problem if it was, and more than ever, it ensured their death. Suzanna might be a god slayer, but there was no way that she could take on two at once. Not to mention one wasn't even made of flesh.

"If that's the case, then we'll probably run into both gods," Suzanna was unaffected by this, nonetheless. What kind of woman was she?

"You've got to be kidding, eh," Volgore couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'I am barely running on any energy. I'll die if I have to keep fighting like this.' There was no way in heaven, hell or this world that he could battle two gods and not just pass out in the middle of it all. He did all that he could just to keep himself conscious.

"We should go to Lafarga first. Since he's the main god who rules this temple, he should be the one who has the box, right?" Koishii knew that there was no way she was going to get out of the situation, so making it easier by going the direct route was her only other option.

"Unless he put it under Ex-Mechanica's care, which could be the case." Did Suzanna really have to say that? The girl didn't even like the thought being in her head. Any way she looked at it, they were screwed.

"I say we try Lafarga first," Volgore spoke up as all sights were turned to him. "I've been awake for three days, and I'm run down from fighting Vocal. I don't know how much more I can take."

This was news to Koishii. "You guys fought Vocal too?" It would explain why Volgore already looked like he'd been through a war.

"We had to, Vocal stood in my way of coming here," again with the simple answers. Suzanna was truly amazing.

"All I did was ask Vocal if I could pass and he let me," Koishii replied. If you had the right reason for going, Vocal was very kind and normally didn't start any trouble. Why did he give Volgore and Suzanna such a hard time?

"There's no way that he would have let me."

"Why?"

"I stole something from him as well," Suzanna admitted the truth of the situation.

"What?" Volgore asked. This deserved an explanation. Things kept getting more and more complicated with this woman, whether it came to her attitude or her private way of going about business.

Who was Suzanna really?

…To Be Continued