---- Recap ----
In the previous chapter.
The Trio, consisting of Allana, Kalev, and Shanthi, traveled to the latter's home island, Birka.
After Shanthi received a message from an old friend, Enel.
On the way, the three met Dame. Shanthi and Enel's adoptive mother. After a warm reunion between the two, Shanthi discovers that Enel is in Yomi. A kind of slum in Birka, where criminals and exiles reside.
With a designated meeting place, the three set off for the Express Lobster and finally arrive in Birka.
---- In Today's Chapter ----
Allana/Kalev: "Wow...!"
Birka was enormous, a junction of several small sky islands that floated at the level of the White Sea, where there were many simple houses made of insular clouds, with few structures similar to simple temples.
This could not be said of the upper islands; the first thing to stand out were the insular clouds that were a golden hue and the Japanese-style temples... they were enormous, easily reaching hundreds of meters in height and were so complex and beautiful to behold. The vibrant colors of the pillars, the way it seemed the temple could observe all of Birka, and the divine "glow" emanating from the construction.
However... even with all this beauty, the attention of this view was drawn to a strange object on an even higher island in the sky; this object was... a giant egg... at least 10 meters high and 5 meters wide.
But due to the action of gravity, the boat began to fall towards the White Sea, causing the attention of the three to be directed to holding onto the boat so as not to fly off (something Allana and Shanthi didn't need to do, but instinct spoke louder).
SPLAAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHH
After the boat collided with the White Sea, it took a few moments for it to stabilize.
Allana: "That... was... quite... a view."
Shanthi: "It certainly is! And you, Kalev, what did you think?"
Kalev: "Indeed... it's quite a view."
And then the three finally reach solid cloud, and as soon as they set foot on Birka...
Shanthi: "I guess this is where we part ways."
Allana: "Huh? Why?"
Shanthi: "The place where my friend is... let's just say they're not the biggest fans of outsiders there."
Allana: "But we promised we'd help you!"
Shanthi: "I know... and you two have already helped. If it weren't for you coming with me... I'm sure I would have messed something up because of the stress."
As he uttered these words, Shanthi turned and began to head towards Yomi, which was to the East of Birka. Allana tried to stop him by reaching for his arm.
Allana: "But..."
However, before she could even raise her arm, Kalev stopped her by placing his hand on the blonde's shoulder.
Kalev: "It's no use, Allana. We don't know this place; it's better for Shanthi to go alone. But if we see he's in danger, we'll be the first to act, okay?"
Allana: "Okay..."
Heading into the city of Nakatsukuni (中つ国 or Middle Land), the two began to observe the main streets, and one thing really caught their attention, and they almost spoke at the same moment.
Allana: "Hmm... what are these decorations? More importantly..."
Kalev: "What's this music? It's... so..."
Allana: "Where is that smell coming from!!"
But this changed when a very old man, 2.80m tall, with wings as large as himself, appeared in front of them. He was wearing a white Shozoku with black and red details. The old man knelt to reach Allana's height.
????????: "Oh... little bird, shouldn't you be at the festival?"
Finding the old man's question strange, Allana looked confused.
Allana: "Festival? What festival?"
Seeing the girl's confusion, the old man observed her for a while longer before his eyes comically widened.
????????: "Oh Gods, how embarrassing! I mistook you for my granddaughter Hatori!!"
As he said this, the old man kept bowing... which wasn't very pleasant to see... or hear, as the old man was so old that every time he bowed, he sounded like a broken robot, both in movement and in the cracking sound of his bones... and seeing this, our two protagonists quickly tried to stop him.
Kalev: "There's no need for that, sir! It was just a slip!"
Allana: "Yeah! You didn't do anything wrong! You just got confused!"
After a few more minutes trying to get the old man to stop apologizing, the two succeeded, and then they resumed their conversation.
Allana: "Oh, right! Sir! This festival... what's it about?"
????????: "Please, little one. Call me Nobumori, and about the festival... it's a religious festival called はじめ の 風ーさい (Arashi no Kami-sai or Festival of the First Wind)."
Upon hearing about the religious act, Kalev looked at Nobumori with a certain mockery.
Kalev: "Arashi no Kami-sai? What do you do? Sacrifice a child so the heavens don't get angry?"
Allana: "Seriously, Kalev?! Already?!"
Nobumori: "Tororo~~ you're a funny young man! A minute ago you were all kind and worried about me, but the moment I uttered the word 'religious' you seemed to change! What are you? One of those people who don't believe in the divine?"
Realizing the insinuation that he was an atheist, Kalev felt a vein pop in his forehead, but he held back.
Kalev: "Me? An atheist? Sir... never say that again!"
Nobumori: "Did I hit a nerve? My bad, young man, it wasn't my intention."
Allana: "Kalev! What did I say?! You have to control yourself, man!"
Kalev: "But..."
Allana: "No buts! You know very well that no one likes it when you do that! It's unbearable!"
Sighing, Allana turned to Nobumori and apologized.
Allana: "I'm sorry for him... it's just that he's a staunch religious person... anything different for him is like a test from his God to prove his religion is the right one... and let's just say he's a bit stubborn about it."
Laughing a little more, Nobumori continued his explanation. He took a small book from his clothes and showed a bunch of illustrations of the festival.
Nobumori: "Tororo~~ what a duo you two are! But moving on, Arashi no Kami-sai is a festival that celebrates the very creation of the clouds we stand on now, as well as the birth of my people. When Fūjin emerged, he released a breath that created our four primal winds, and these winds created the world as we know it today."
Trying to interrupt the explanation again, Kalev looked at Nobumori and tried to speak.
Kalev: "So this is--"
Before he could even finish his first sentence, Allana interrupted him, silencing Kalev.
Allana: "Kalev! What did I say?"
But before the blonde could argue more with Kalev, Nobumori let out a loud laugh.
Nobumori: "Tororororo~~ you really are like Hatori! Even if she's a bit rougher! But let's put that aside, because I don't think the young man would say anything rude this time."
Kalev: "I was just going to say it resembles a concept from my people."
Nobumori: "Toho? And what would that be?"
Kalev: "Ruach (רוח - wind). When YHWH was giving us life, he breathed into the nose of his first creation and a ruach, which would be the soul."
Nobumori: "Ruach... indeed it's a concept similar to ours; I'd say it's more like Shizukaze-no-Kami. Stories say it was this breath of Fūjin that gave form and life to the creatures of the heavens."
As he spoke, Nobumori began to walk further into the city. Allana and Kalev followed him. And as the three walked, Nobumori continued to talk about the festival and the other three primal winds of Fūjin, and during the walk, the decorations became increasingly evident, the music became clearer, and the smell of food permeated their nostrils even more.
Hypnotized by the smell of food, Allana didn't notice how immersed Kalev was in the festival's music. So she didn't pay attention to Kalev and Nobumori.
Kalev: "This music is really good... it seems to come from a... flute, bells, drums, and... what's that last one?"
Nobumori: "What good ears! But it's normal that you haven't recognized the Sora-no-Ito (Threads of the Sky). It's an instrument found only here on the sky islands, as they are made of clouds and can only be played by those who can control the air."
Kalev: "How interesting... my family also liked to play music... I think they would have liked this melody."
Seeing the young man's expression, Nobumori walked up to Kalev and, with his wings, placed one on top of Kalev's head and the other on his chest, which made Kalev a little wary.
Kalev: "What--"
Nobumori: "Shhhhh... just close your eyes and think of them."
Feeling no malice in Nobumori's request, Kalev closed his eyes and began to relive the moments he had with his family.
How he happily played with his younger sister, the pride his father felt for every new technique he learned, and the gentle moments he had with his mother, watching her cook and so on. But this was replaced by that rainy day... the day he lost everything.
However, before these memories could even be brought to light, Kalev felt a warm breeze caress his body, like a long-lost embrace. And then he opened his eyes to see Nobumori watching him with a gentle smile.
Nobumori: "May the wind have carried them to the highest heavens."
Kalev: "What did you do?! What was that breeze?!"
As Kalev's voice burst out, Allana immediately stopped looking for food and turned her head towards her friend.
Allana: "Kalev! Are you okay?!"
Seeing Allana's reaction, Nobumori continued with his gentle smile, but now he had raised his hands in surrender.
Nobumori: "I didn't do anything, young ones. The breeze was just some of your worries blowing away."
Allana: "Oh? So what happened?"
Still confused about what had just happened, Kalev looked at his own hands, still feeling the warmth of the breeze.
Kalev: "I see... but what did you do before?"
Allana: "Before...?"
Nobumori: "It's just a way to pay homage to those who are gone. The wings on the head and chest are to guide the breaths through bad emotions and memories and carry them away."
Still not understanding what had happened, Allana jumped between the two.
Allana: "What are you two talking about!?"
Seeing Allana jump in front of him, Kalev looked at her with a light expression.
Kalev: "Nothing important, don't worry. Now, shall we continue? I want to see more of this pagan festival."
Allana: "Finally you said something worthwhile, Kalev! Let's go!"
Nobumori: "Tororo~~ then let's go! Who knows, we might even find my granddaughter on the way! At least she should be around."
So the three headed towards the epicenter of the festival. Where there was a huge concentration of Birkans in chiton-like clothes, but also some in casual clothes walking through food stalls and games.
And in the air, there was only a small group of Birkans in religious attire (a navy blue cloak with white cloud designs. Dark blue pants and black shoes. And in their hair, they had feathers braided with cloud threads).
While looking at the sky, Allana's gaze was drawn to the giant egg they had seen when they arrived in Birka.
Allana: "Oh, right! There's something I've been curious about since we arrived..."
Slowly turning his body towards Allana, Nobumori looked at the blonde girl with curiosity.
Nobumori: "What is it, little one?"
Allana pointed to the island where the strange egg was.
Allana: "That thing there... what is that egg?"
Looking in the direction Allana pointed, Nobumori stroked his chin.
Nobumori: "The egg, huh...? Well... I'm not sure either."
With his attention drawn by the mention of the strange giant egg, Kalev joined the conversation.
Kalev: "What do you mean?"
Nobumori: "Tororo~~ that egg has been there since before Birka's oldest documents were written, so I'd guess it's about 800 years old."
Both Allana's and Kalev's expressions changed slightly at the mention of the egg's 800-year age.
Allana: "800... years...?"
"Isn't that around the time of the lost century?"
Kalev: "How is that possible? An egg can't stay that long without hatching or rotting..."
Seeing their doubtful faces, Nobumori pulled a small book from his robes and opened it to a page with amateur drawings of the creation of the 4 Primal Winds, but with the addition of an extra Wind.
Nobumori: "Well... there are some theories from the oldest documents. Some say the egg is the Fifth Primal Wind, 風崩 (Kuzukaze – Collapsing Wind)."
Allana: "But why would it be in an egg?"
Then Nobumori turned another page of his book, revealing a drawing of Fūjin near Kuzukaze.
Nobumori: "Some say Fūjin felt pity for his last creation and decided to keep it imprisoned until it gave up its destructive nature. Others believe Fūjin imprisoned it on purpose so that when the world needed a reset... he would free Kuzukaze to play its role as a destroyer."
Allana: "Seriously? Sounds a bit lonely, doesn't it?"
Nobumori: "Indeed, little one. That's why I like another theory, even if it's not as appreciated as these two."
Kalev: "What is it?"
And finally, Nobumori showed the page where a bunch of Birkans were around the egg, and inside it was a child.
Nobumori: "Inside the egg is a child who was placed there by their parents to protect them from something of their time... but something went wrong, and the egg hasn't hatched to this day... perhaps it's waiting for something to wake it up."
Allana: "I'd like to go there... after all... no matter which theory is right... no one should be alone for so long."
Nobumori: "Tororo~~ you're strange, little one! But not in a bad way. I'll see if I can get you a visit there. But only after the festival, okay?"
So the three returned to their path towards the festival to enjoy it, at least... while it lasted...
To be continued