Journal- January 30th
A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. I have finally been able to write it all down. Though I'm wondering how my journal has survived this. Maybe it's a sign from the Gods of Gaia that my story still needs to be written and read.
When we were still at sea, a fierce storm had hit. Our ship was being tossed back and forth through the waves, water coming over us and wave after wave filling the boat. "This storm is taking us down." Mina shouted out over the wind. "We need to get out of here." In moments, the small snow fox had changed her size. The boat cracked and moaned under the added weight. "Come on. We'll fly above the clouds." I was really hoping things wouldn't come to this. Unlike her days protecting her own artifact, Mina didn't usually take on her full form. And now since she was so use to traveling around in her small packaged size, her true form ended up taking a lot of energy out of her.
I quickly climbed on the large winter fox's back and we took to the skies as the boat broke apart and sunk into the violent sea below, leaving a few planks on the water. The supplies we left behind bobbing on top. We thought it would be smooth sailing from there. All we had to do was soar above the cloud and out of the storm till we got to island. However, the storm was stronger than we thought. A great wind blew against us, the closer we got to the clouds, the harder the rain poured. The finally, just when thought the worse of the storm was happening, the sky decided to prove us wrong. There was a load crack and seconds later the clouds around us lit up. "Oh no....." I mumbled, my eyes growing wide as I turned my head to look behind us. "Lightning." Mina's speed picked up. It was now a race, us against the weather. Who would win? Would we pass through the clouds to safety? Or would the lightning strike us down? Higher and higher we soared, though it seemed that every inch we flew towards our destination, it just inched itself farther away.
"We're almost there. Usagi." Mina called, her voice deeper now. I clung to her back as we neared the clouds. Just when we thought we were home free, it happened. A large bolt of lightning struck down from the sky and hit us. We both howled in pain, though the lightning mainly hit poor Mina. Faster than we flew up, we were plummeting to the waters below. "Mina! Mina wake up!" I commanded the fox, holding onto her as we fell. "Mina come on, you got to wake up!" But it was no use, she was out cold. On her side, I could see a large burn. I could feel my own searing with pain. And upon hitting the water, it pain grew, exploding the feeling through my arm and the upper left side of my body. But I couldn't let this stop me. We had to survive. we couldn't let this storm defeat us.
"Mina?" I searched around and found her, her white fur bobbing in the water. She was now small again, but the burn was still large. Her body was twitching, probably from feeling the same pain I felt. I swam over to her as fast as I could, grabbing a board of our fallen boat. Carefully, I picked her up and placed her on the wood. It was a small board, so there was only room for her to lay. I began looking for another board for me to hold onto, but a wave washed over me, dragging me down into the dark water. Up to the surface I went, gasping for breath. Mina was no where in sight when I returned. "Mina! Mina!" There was no answer. What happened to her? Was she ok? Or did the wave pull her under too. This process repeated several times. Wave pulls me down, I swim up for air and call for Mina, and then I'm pulled under again. Finally, my body just gives up and I sink below the water. My life passed before my eyes. The Kitsune Village, my bond forming with Mina, Akari and me meeting and becoming friends, going on adventures, our enemies fall, along with Demons, and Kazuya confessing to me and just the highlights of the many events. Then everything goes black.
As I dreamed, I came to the pearly white gates of what I could only assume was heaven. So this was it. I was dead. There were so may regrets I had. Not being able to say goodbye to everyone or finding Kazuya again. As I ascended to the top, closing in on the gates of Heaven, I was greeted by a familiar face. Demon, dressed in white and not looking a day over what he was when he died those years again, stared at me as I approached. "Hello." I said, finally coming to a stop. Demon smiled lightly. He seemed like he was at peace, but there was something that still bothered him. "Hello Usagi." He replied, stepping forward. "Though it is good to see a friend again, you can't stay here." I gave him a confused look. What did he mean? Did he mean I was to go to Hell and I was only here to be judged by the Highest before I was thrown into the fire. Demon began to laugh. "No, you are not going to Hell, Usagi." It was like he could read my mind. "You have a place here, however, it is not your time to take it. You still have a long life a head of you to live." I see, so I was only here for a few moments. On Gaia, my body was probably floating to the closest island. "You need to go back now, Usagi. You time here is up for now." The white land of Heaven began to fade away.
"Wait! Are you ok here? Is there no way you can come back?" I asked frantically. We all missed him so much and I would do anything to bring a smile back to Akari's face. Demon shook his head. "No, I am to stay here. But I'll be watching over all of you from here." He began to back away into the pearly gates and now was disappearing too. "But I want you to deliver a message for me." He smiled again and finally was gone, but his voice remained, echoing around me. "Tell Akari that I'm ok. And that she can move on and love again."
There was something new under me. I was no longer surrounded by water, that was clear. My eyes opened to find a clear and bright blue sky. So the storm had ended. I sat up in my still damp clothes and looked around. I was on land. The storm must have washed me up on shore during the night. But to my displeasure, Mina was no where to be seen. I was shipwrecked and alone. The only things familiar to me were a few of our bags. One held half our food supply, another contained some tools, though, due to water damage, there were only a few items I could use. Lastly, I found my satchel, which contained my map and journal. Both were somehow perfectly protected.
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