Chapter 76: Black Rose Mountains

Luna Rosalina

Black Rose Mountains

1 Day

 

Before us stood the towering peaks of the Black Rose Mountain range, the tops of which were hidden by looming, dark clouds. Below us was a series of bottomless chasms and cliffs zigzagging throughout the rugged, dark grey landscape, dark as the clouds that hid the mountain’s peaks. The only signs of life nearby were a few trees here and there that had been robbed of their leaves, giving the area a haunting landscape…one that I absolutely loved. It was cold, too; even though we hadn’t begun to climb the mountains yet, we were shivering, and a small breeze that blew past us didn’t help. The entire landscape was mesmerizing, and I stopped in my tracks, completely enamored.

“This place…is so beautiful!” I exclaimed. “The darkness…This bleak, lifeless landscape…Oh, I love it!”

“Yeah, it’s…quaint, I suppose,” Zelda said, looking rather frightened.

“How are you feeling, sweetie?” I asked.

“Well…I’m a bit scared…I’ve never seen the sky look so dark in the morning before…”

“I meant the whole headache, nausea, and self-doubt thing,” I said. 

“…I’m feeling better,” Zelda said. “We should get going; whoever wrote that note said that they’d be waiting for us just up ahead.” For a split second, I smiled at her as she led us deeper into the mountain range, and I was becoming more and more excited the longer we walked. Every now and then, I would spot a blood stain in the dirt, the only thing left from either a Human or Digimon that had been messily devoured.

“Oh, this one looks fresh!” I bent down next to a still-wet puddle of blood and dipped my fingers in it.

“You’re not actually going to…drink that…are you?” Zelda asked. I ignored her, and slowly lapped the blood off my fingers.

“Definitely a Digimon,” I said, wiping up more blood to drink. “Their blood…it tastes more…irony…than Human blood. Trust me; I know.”

“Luna, why…do you drink blood?” Zelda asked. “I’m sure I might not want to know the answer, but I really am quite curious.”

“I’m absolutely captivated by its flavor!” I began to wipe up the blood and drink it at a much faster rate. “It’s got a different texture, too…from water…I love the way it feels…on my tongue…sliding down my throat…and into my belly…Here, do you want to try?” I held out my blood- and saliva-stained fingers.

“…Uh…no…No, my belly is…perfectly…happy without any blood,” Zelda said. “But…uh…thank you for your offer…”

“You’re welcome!” I finished lapping up the blood puddle and stood back up. “I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t eat anything without getting sick if it lacks any blood, either mixed inside of it or slathered on top of it. It’s the same with what I drink; it simply must have blood in it, or my stomach completely rejects it, and I get sick. Not that I would actually try to eat or drink something that didn’t have blood…”

“…Luna…there’s a fork in the road,” Zelda said.

“Oh, dear; what should we do? The note didn’t give us directions…”

“…We go our separate ways,” Zelda said.

“What?!”

“It’s just a feeling that I have, but—”

“No! Absolutely not!” I raised my voice. “Thomas trusted me to look after you, and I can’t do that if I’m not with you!”

“I know, Luna…But I will be fine,” Zelda said firmly. “I’m a Summoner, remember? I’ve been one for as long as I can remember…and I am able to sense the presence of Digimon Spirits. And right now…I sense one down the right fork.”

“Then let me go with you! You don’t have to go alone, you know!”

“…Yes…I do,” she replied. “Whoever left us that note…they know where we live. They knew that, based on where we live, we would end up at this fork. They wanted us…to go our separate ways, Luna.”

“But what if it’s a trap?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine. The Digimon Spirit I sense…it is a familiar one. Luna…we need to go our separate ways,” Zelda insisted. “Both for the Horcruxes…and for the Digimon I sense…”

“The Digimon you sense…? Is there something wrong with it?”

“Digimon Spirits can be considered to be nothing more than a physical form of the soul of the Digimon they used to be…And I sense anguish,” Zelda said. “Luna…that Digimon Spirit is in pain…I have to help it! But I can’t ask you to come with me. We need to get those Horcruxes before the Bio Hybrids do, because if we don’t—”

“Okay, I get it,” I sighed. I gave the younger girl a reassuring smile when her expression grew crestfallen. “We…we’ll go our separate ways for now. Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“I’m fine, Luna,” Zelda said, smiling back at me. “I’ll be careful…and I’ll come back.”

“Just…be careful, sweetie.” I pulled Zelda into a hug. “I don’t want to tell Thomas something’s happened to you…He cares so much about you…And so do I…”

“Okay…But you have to be careful too. I don’t want to tell Chrissy something’s happened to her mother…” We pulled apart a moment later and went our separate ways. Every now and then, I would turn around to make sure she was still walking.

“I’m just going to have to trust her,” I kept telling myself. “She’ll be okay…She will be.”

“Ah, that’s the spirit!” I froze as an unknown voice spoke from somewhere above me. “Just have faith in your friend…and everything’ll turn out okay! Well, that’s the theory, at any rate.”

“Who are you? Who’s there?!” I asked. My heart was beating faster than it should have; there was no reason for me to feel so scared…and yet, it felt as though I knew that voice.

“Aww…forgotten me so soon, have ya? Tsk tsk…You know, Bellaluna, it really would pay to remember the sound of the voices of your allies!”

Bellaluna…? He knows my…real name? The only people who know it are my family at Lachesis…them and… “Who are you?!” I asked again.

“Come now, Bellaluna…surely, you can use that bottomless pit for knowledge you call a brain to figure it out,” the voice said. It was so familiar…

“…Asuramon? Asuramon…is that you?!”

“Ah, now you’ve got it!” a tall, large Digimon jumped down from a cliff higher up and landed in front of me.

“Asuramon…It really is you…” His left head, the yellow face of blessings, was the one that was speaking.

“Bellaluna Rosalina…it certainly has been a while,” Asuramon said.

Zelda

 

After a few moments of walking alone, I sat down on a flat-surfaced rock to rest. “That Digimon Spirit…it’s getting closer,” I said, breathing heavily. “It feels so…familiar…as if I know the Digimon…But its presence isn’t one that I’ve actually met, so it can’t be…him…” My heart sank when I thought about him. “I must be…more tired than I thought…Haven’t quite recovered yet…But I have to keep going! That Digimon that’s in pain…I will help you, whoever you are!”

Suddenly I heard a familiar voice from the distance. “You?! What…what are you doing here?!”

“Who…? Who said that? That voice…”

“You shouldn’t be here! Leave now!” The voice sounded rather panicked.

“Wait! Who are you? Your voice…are you—”

“Shut up! Just shut your mouth and get out of here right now!”

“It is you, isn’t it? Gallantmon?” The voice gasped, and after a few moments, I heard the footsteps of someone walking out from a narrow cave nearby. “Gallantmon! Gallantmon, it really is you!” I ran up to the Digimon Spirit, my eyes filled with tears of happiness, and I threw my arms around his leg.

“Zelda, I—”

“Gallantmon…Oh, Gallantmon, I’ve missed you…so much…” I looked up at the rather tall Exalted Knight. “Have you…been well? You…”

“Zelda…I am not Gallantmon…anymore.”

“…What?” I gave him a puzzled look.

“I am no longer the Gallantmon you remember. My name…is ChaosGallantmon.”