The Magic of Four Eyes Chapter 5- Kronos

Chihiro scrunched her face up as the brightness of the morning sun flooded into the room, brighting up her sleeping face. She cracked an eye open. The morning light had brightened her purple eyes to a bright lilac as she groaned and lifted her right hand to cover her face. She sat up as she rubbed her face with both her hands.
“Hm…..feels too early to be up….and Haku is gone.” She mumbled.
Chihiro stood up from her spot and moved away from the futon. She stretched her arms high into the air as he smiled a bit. She was wearing a tank top and soft pj pants for sleepwear. She quickly got herself put together, changing into her regular uniform, brushing her hair, teeth, and making sure she didn’t smell bad. Once she was done, she slid the door open and smiled as she smelled something good and savory. She stepped out from her room and walked down the hall a bit.
“Morning Menju!” Chihiro called out as she headed over to the tall female who still wore the beautiful kimono she saw last night.
Menju glanced over her shoulder and smiled a bit.
“Good morning Chihiro. I believe you slept well?” She asked as Chihiro nodded her head a bit.
“Good. Now let’s head off to get something to eat.”
The two females walked down the hall together and stopped by two big doors at the end of the hall on the right. Menju opened the big left door and slipped inside. Chihiro followed and looked around. She spotted many different creatures and humans sitting at tables and eating. She walked with Menju as she watched the many different creatures and people.  Most of the people looked like her but seemed to be more familiar to Nyrine. The creatures ranged from familiar animals that had strange anatomies like two tails or other things to human like creatures that were able to sit upright and talk like a human. Chihiro stayed close to Menju as they walked through the long and wide tan and brown room, heading toward the back where a counter stood, blocking a white and black tile kitchen from the brown and tan woody looking eating room. Menju walked up to the gray marble counter as she leaned her hip into it a bit.
“Hey Soran, there’s someone new to meet!” Menju yelled into the kitchen as she smiled.
Chihiro looked past the counter, wondering who this Soran person was. She soon tensed up a bit as she watched a tall figure come over to them from the other side of the counter.
“Hello there Menju!” The figure’s scratchy voice spoke out.
Chihiro watched the figure. Even though she had just seen a bunch of human like animals just a few seconds ago, she didn’t think that one could talk and understand human speech! The figure that stood behind the counter looked to be a six food tall, big bellied, human like wolf. The wolf had cinnamon brown fur while under his chin and down his neck, the fur was a light brown color. He wore a white chef uniform and hat. His honey amber eyes glanced over at Chihiro before they became a bit harsh as he leaned forward. Chihiro leaned back a bit, nervous about the human like wolf.
“Just who are you?” He asked, his scratchy voice growing rough and dangerous.
“My name is Chihiro…..Chihiro Megumi sir.” Chihiro said, watching the wolf with an uncertain look.
“This is my new guest along with the masked man.” Menju enlightened as she placed her hands on Chihiro’s shoulders.
Soran looked up at Menju before looking back at Chihiro. He soon smiled and threw his head back as he laughed. Menju smiled softly as Chihiro blinked her eyes a bit. He put his head down when he was done as he looked at them.
“Why didn’t you say that before?! Well it’s great to meet you Chihiro! How is Menju treating you?” He asked.
“Great. Thank you.” Chihiro said, slowly coming out of her shock.
“That’s great! Don’t let the other guests bother you too much.” He said as he grinned.
“I’m sure they won. May we get two Miso soups?” Menju asked as Soran nodded his head.
“Two Miso soups coming right up and my name is Soran, the main cook here.” He looked over at Chihiro before looking into the kitchen. “Two Miso soups on the double!”
“Alright sir!” Multiple voices sounded out in the kitchen but Chihiro could see inside very well.
After about twelve minutes, the soups were ready and given to the girls.
“Enjoy!” Soran said as the two girls received the soups.
“Thank you Soran.” Menju and Chihiro spoke before they went to sit at a table.
They soon found a fairly empty table that sat a few tables to the left from where they stood before. They say down across from each other and began to eat the soup with chopsticks. As they were eating, Chihiro happened to look around and see that some guests had left while different ones appeared.
“Hey Menju, you said you had a way of knowing guests right? Is the same thing good for information on Nyrine and the astral star?” Chihiro asked after she swallowed.
Menju looked up at her, mouth full of food, as she swallowed as well.
“Yes it can give both information on guests and Nyrine but only for a limited time. Do you still want to know?” She asked.
Chihiro nodded her head as Menju sighed a bit to herself.
“Alright, let’s finish eating first.” She spoke and went back to eating as well as Chihiro.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The two finished eating and headed out of the room. They walked down the same tan hall with all the doors and shadows. Menju slipped into a room that sat in the middle of the row on the left side of the hall. Chihiro followed pursuit and looked around the open room. The room was fairly opened spaced and large with the exception of a half hemisphere pool by the right wall. The two females walked over to the pool. As Chihiro looked around the room, trying to figure out what it might be used for, a splashing noise sounded from the pool as Menju glanced over.
“Hey who is the cute human?” A male voice sounded.
“Huh?” Chihiro whispered as she looked behind her.
Menju moved out of the way as Chihiro yelped and fell back on her butt.
“Ah! Mermaids actually exist?!?” She yelped out as Menju and the newcomer both sweat dropped a bit.
“I’m not a mermaid. I’m a merman.” The male in the pool said as Chihiro watched them some more.
Menju sighed as she rubbed her temples a bit with her left hand.
“Maybe you should have come out more prepared Zander.” She said.
The male now named Zander shrugged his shoulders a bit as he looked at them.
“Eh…..It was fun though.” He smirked a bit as he said that. “Besides I got to spook a cute human.”
Zander had slightly pale skin, bright green eyes and short, choppy blonde hair. From what Chihiro could see, he had dark green fins on the side of his head where ears should be and long dark green fins on the outside of his arms running from his wrists to his elbows. He wore a gold necklace with green shells in the middle and to Chihiro, seemed like an average build of a male; not too big and not too skinny. Chihiro blushed a bit once she realized that the male as calling her cute and looked away.
“Stop flirting with the customers, you’ll only scare them away...” Menju spoke out. “Well stop bringing such gorgeous and cute guests...” Zander pouted out.
Chihiro only flushed more as Menju looked at her, ignoring anymore of Zander’s talking.
“Alright….Are you sure you’re ready to know more about this world?” Menju asked.
Chihiro snapped out of her trance and looked at Menju, nodding her head.
“Yeah….I’m sure.” She spoke.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Multiple clicking sounds rang throughout the hall as if someone with high heels or good shoes was walking down the hall with a few people doing the same thing. People and creatures moved out of the way as the one making the sounds walked down the hall.
“Hello sir.” An upright standing toad said as the figure nodded a bit while walking on.
“Good day sir.” An old man said as he and the figure nodded to each other.
The figure walked on and briefly stopped as three tiger cubs with fluffy tails and wings tumbled out of a room to its left. The three kids laughed as they played but settled down as they spotted a looming shadow. They looked up at the figure and grinned happily.
“Hello mister!” They all piped out together as the figure looked down at them.
“Children don’t bother the nice male. Come back into the room now.” A gentle voice said as a female tiger with a long fluffy tail wrapped around her feet and wings folded by her side gave a gentle smile to the four. “And nice to see you, sir. Sorry about my children.”
“Aww….See you later mister!” The three cubs said as they scrambled back into the room.
The figure closed the door for the mother and cubs.
“Thank you sir.” The mother tiger spoke out as he closed the door.
The figure continued on walking until it reached a door in the middle of the hall. The figure could see two figures talking; one familiar and standing while other was on the ground and seemed faintly familiar, and a third figure lay in the water, seeing as though the lower half could not be seen and the smell of water slipped through the room’s paper doors.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Menju stood quietly as she looked over seeing a shadow of a figure standing outside the door. She smiled a bit as Chihiro looked at her confused.
“About time you arrived! Come on in! Our new guest wants to know more about Nyrine and you’re the perfect help!” Menju called out.
Chihiro looked over at the door as it opened. For some reason, her heart raced. She wasn’t sure why it was racing. Wasn’t like the new person or creature was famous or her crush but the thought of knowing even a bit more about Nyrine got her excited. She watched as the door opened more and the sound of clicking could be heard as the figure walked into the room. Chihiro was taken back as she gasped a bit. The figure was an ice blue stag. It was a normal stag height and the antlers which were only three point antlers each were pure white. Instead of hooves, the stag’s feet looked like an upside down point on a cross with a blue upside down point on the side of the feet that trailed about a quarter up the legs. At the top of the shoulders and set in front was a blue gear that took up the front of the shoulders and the same thing occurred on the thighs though the ears were much larger than the ones on the shoulders. His under tail was a bright white like his antlers and his eyes were an opaque lilac purple. Chihiro could see white threads wrapped around the points on each of the stag’s antlers. In the middle of the top points, a gray gem lined with silver plating hovered, attached to the threads on the top points and to another thread that lead to an opal like orb that sat in between the mid-points, attached to them by the threads while a bottom thread ran from the orb down to a white gem lined by silver as well and held on by the thread from the orb and the threads from the third and lowest pointes on the antlers. Around the stag’s neck were multiple while threads. From what Chihiro could see, there were five transparent clear crystals connected to the threads, each holding an opaque purple liquid inside; one crystal sat in the middle of his neck with two on each side of his neck and a clear white bead in the middle of the two crystals. The crystals and bead were about the size of a baseball but the crystals looked a bit larger because of their uncut and naturally sharp shape they maintained. Chihiro thought it looked painful to have the crystals but they didn’t seem to be able to do any damage on the stag. One of the most noticeable features though had to be the stag’s sides. The stag had large diamond like designs that elongated a bit near the end going around his whole side area. They looked to be almost touching each other and took up almost to most of his sides. Chihiro could spot six in all running in a circle on his sides, back, and underbelly. Starting from the closet to the stag’s stomach on the left of him, it went red diamond, ocean blue diamond, gray diamond, green diamond, sky blue diamond, and finally a white diamond on his stomach.
“Hey buddy! Good to see you again!”  Zander said as he smirked happily.
Menju glared back at the merman before looking forward again.
“It is nice to see you again Kronos, even if we just saw each other just yesterday.” She spoke before looking over at Chihiro. “Just what are you doing?”  
Chihiro’s upper body was bowed over.
“I’m bowing to him. He seems like a very important figure Miss Menju!” Chihiro said as she blushed, keeping in her bowed state.
Chihiro heard the sounds of clicking as the stag strode over to her with such grace and power, Chihiro knew she had to keep her bowing up. The stag dipped his head gracefully as he gently placed it close to her own face and hands and brought his head up. Chihiro was surprised as she stood up straight, her hands resting on the stag’s cheeks as the stag looked at her. He smoothly and softly pulled his head up and away from her, standing back in his stance as Chihiro let her hands fall to her sides.
“Chihiro meet Kronos, a xilla stag, better known as the stag of time and sight. Kronos, this is the female I asked about, Chihiro Megumi.” Menju said.
Chihiro and Kronos both kept looking at each other before Kronos nodded his head gently and walked past them, heading to the middle of the room where he now stood, powerful and gracefully.
“He’s so powerful looking…” Chihiro whispered as Menju giggled a bit.
“He may look it but he can only do limited things.” Menju said. “Alright, so you wanted to know more about Nyrine. Well now that Kronos is here we can talk.”
Menju looked over at Kronos and nodded her head. Kronos nodded his head back and stood straight in the middle of the room. Zander, Menju, and Chihiro stayed in their spots as they watched the stag quietly. Kronos seemed to take a breath of air in though it was hard to tell if he really did. Chihiro felt her breath hitch in her throat as the stag “roared”. His head was slightly aligned up as he felt let the breath out, his mouth open. Kronos had a deep and throaty roar.
‘His roar reminds me of a childhood creature I saw on an old show.’ Chihiro thought as she watched.
The whole room turned white but Zander was still in the water and all of them retained their colors. The crystal like pieces on Kronos’s sides lifted up from his sides and became what looked like real stones floating in place around him. Chihiro glance to the floor and gasped a bit before backing up a step. Underneath Kronos, a huge light blue circle appeared on the floor. A fire spit like symbol sat in the middle as circles, skinny and large, curvy lines, triangles, strange letters all surrounded it. At the very outer part of the whole design, there were strange letters followed by short and long diamond/kite like shapes extending away from the letters. Blue steams of air swirled and glided past the group and accumulated together in front of Kronos. By that time, the stag had stopped roaring and now a wide tunnel of blue air sat, swirling in place. The tunnel was about as wide as Kronos was and reached floor to ceiling, even pooling a bit on the floor and ceiling as it moved in place.
“This world just keeps getting cooler by the moment.” Chihiro whispered as she and Menju walked over to the air tunnel.
Zander stayed in the water as Kronos stayed in his spot, the crystals still floating around him and the symbol underneath him. The room had even stayed its bright white color.
“You are an outsider of the world. When an outsider gets inside, they either want to explore or get out. You, I am afraid have little choice but to explore and find the Astral Star.” Menju explained as they stopped next to the tunnel.
“Because of the Tyos?” Chihiro questioned as Menju nodded her head.
“Exactly because of that reason.” Menju responded as she looked at the tunnel.
Chihiro looked at the tunnel and jumped a bit as something appeared in the middle.
“Alright, let’s get started.” Menju spoke out as her hair tossed up a bit from the air.
Chihiro’s hair did the same and she was a bit surprised that being as close to the tunnel as they were, they could still hear each other.
“Let’s see. Hopefully our history hasn’t gone out of sync. In the world of Nyrine, the people and creatures live in a mutual life together, even if some don’t want to live alongside others. Most inhabitants live in peace thanks to the astral star and its guardians.”
An image of a closed up rose appeared in the middle. The bud had an ombre look to it as it went from blue at the bottom up to a pure white at the top.
“The guardians are the ones that protect the astral star until the astral carrier comes around and claims the star. The guardians are Hart and Wisteria, Xolti guards of yin and yang. They are also brother and sister, fraternal twins created to protect the star.”
The rose bud disappeared as two cat like creatures now took up the space. They both had little arms with three fingers and small white claws, long legs with four toes, and long tails. They looked to reach up to Chihiro’s mid-calf in height if the two stood straight on their feet. They both even had big eyes and what looked to be a soft oval-rhombus like guard surrounding their eyes. They both had simple diamond shapes that made an outline like design, a big diamond encasing a small one. They each had a diamond on each thigh and foot. On their heads, there was a line of three diamonds going up their heads, a large diamond near the eyes and a medium one above it and the third diamond, a small one near the top of their heads. Their backs had a similar design as the forehead though the big diamond was in the middle of their backs with a medium diamond above and below the big diamond. One of them had white fine fur; the diamonds and guard piece were a ombre of red near the bottom and going to orange while the eyes were a cool blue color. One the tail of the guardian, there were three gold rings with the strange letters on them like the circle below Kronos’s feet. Between each ring, there was a piece of blue transparent ribbon that is held to the ring by a cool blue colored bead. There were pieces of ribbon and beads on either side of the tail, in between the rings though at the last ring near the tip of the tail, the ribbon pieces were longer and extended past the tail a bit.
“That would be Wisteria; the Xolti guard of yang and her brother is Hart, the Xolti guard of yin.” Menju explained as Chihiro glanced at the other guardian.
The one dubbed Hart had a slightly tired or bored look to his eyes. His fine fur was a deep charcoal black color compared to his sister’s bright snow white fur. He still had the same diamonds, location of them, and eye guard as his sister did, though instead he had blue ombre, going from dark blue at the bottom to a soft blue. He had cool blue eyes like his sister. On his arms, he had the same gold ring wrapped around each arm. He had three gold rings on his tail and between each tail on either side was a cross. Each cross was held to the rings by a red bead and three white strings. At the ring near the end of his tail, there was a red bead on either side that had the same white strings appearing and going past his tail a bit. At the end of the strings, a cross held to each three strings on either side of the tail. Each cross was a dark gray color outlined by a light gray on the outside. There was a diamond shaped red gem in the middle of each cross.
“The two together keep the balance of good and bad together. If one were to be taken from their post or falter even just a bit, the balance would be ruined.”
“The balance is ruined isn’t it?” Chihiro asked as she and Menju looked at each other.
Menju had a tired and sad look in her eyes as she sighed and nodded her head.
“Yes. The balance is ruined. It has been like this for about twenty years now.” She spoke before looking at the tunnel.
Chihiro looked at the tunnel and watched as the two Xolti guards started to fly around and play together. She smiled softly as she watched Wisteria take a hold of her brother’s hands and spin them around a bit. Hart didn’t seem to mind the cheerfulness and silly attitude that his sister had.
“The two were the best of friends and family. They never left each other’s sides not because they had posts to take care of but because they are the only ones they knew. They never went away too far from the other or the star.”
Hart and Wisteria continued to fly around and play inside the tunnel.
“But one day twenty years ago, someone or something broke into the room and took Hart away.”
They watched as different scenes showed the two playing and sleeping together before another part came up. The two were playing and flying around but soon a mechanical claw appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Hart. He started to cry out and try to get away but nothing was happening as he was pulled back. Wisteria tried to free him but another claw came toward her and the star. Wisteria cried out to her brother as she did her best to keep the claw away from the star. Chihiro watched as a transparent blue bubble formed around the star as Wisteria was able to take out the claw with some strange looking attack. The claw disappeared as the sound of Hart’s crying out and the sound of footsteps walked away. Chihiro watched, broken heartily, as Wisteria let the orb down and laid on the ground.
“From then on, the balance has been out of place. Even though the cities and world look good, we have had people change to Owl’s and other enemies’ side. The number of enemies appearing is becoming hard on the people and creatures that still live for the good. Now that the balance is out of order and Hart is gone, the astral star and Wisteria are in more danger than ever before. It’s important that the astral carrier brings Hart and accepts the fate that the astral star bestows upon them. The only problem is no one knows who is the astral carrier and no one can get even close to the area of the astral star. Wisteria has put up a spell so only the purest of hearts, the astral carrier, and the Tyos may get through.”
“What is the fate and wouldn’t I be the astral carrier? The Tyos are with me.” Chihiro said as she peeled her eyes away from the tunnel and looked over at Menju.
“I can’t say that you are the astral carrier. I do not know why the Tyos were set next to you. You may just be delivering the Tyos to the carrier for all we know.” Menju sighed a bit before she started talking again. “The fate, if the astral carrier takes it, is they must ensure the balance of yin and yang is at a good level in Nyrine though they have very limited amount of times they may come back to this world and they must carry a piece of something to ensure their connection to the astral star as a carrier is a verified piece. It does not seem as hard as it looks but the big thing is, the carrier has to keep the information about Nyrine and anything in it to themselves, only to discuss about it with any Nyrine dwellers and the Tyos themselves.”
“Sounds like a hard and stressful life...” Chihiro whispered.
“For the Tyos, carrier, and us Nyrine residents it is. Mostly for the carrier and Tyos if the carrier lives in another world. The Tyos don’t usually live well in other worlds. They’re very accustomed to Nyrine. The only times they may even serve is if the carrier is around.” Zander spoke as Menju and Chihiro looked over at him.
Chihiro swallowed as she looked at the tunnel.
“I think that is enough history for today.” Menju spoke as Zander nodded his head.
“Let’s give the old man and pretty kitty a rest.” He said.
Menju glanced over at Kronos.
“Alright, Kronos, you may stop, thank you for your services.” She spoke as the stag broke his concentration.
The tunnel disappeared immediately as the stones went back to the stag and converted back to the design around his torso as the circle under his feet disappeared and the room turned back to its original color. He faltered in his step a bit but got back together quickly.
“We cut it a bit close. Go rest up. You deserve it Kronos. Thank you for your services.” Menju spoke out as Kronos nodded his head.
Chihiro watched as Kronos strode out of the room, his hooves making clicking sounds as he exited the room.
“Well now you know more about Nyrine. Think you can handle remembering it?” Menju asked as she glanced at Chihiro.
Chihiro looked over at her and nodded her head.
“Yeah. I’m sure I can remember it!” She chirped out.
“Awwwww look at that~. Cute little Chihiro chirps like a little birdy~.” Zander said as he smiled.
Menju glanced at him with a death glare while Chihiro blushed and looked away.
“Zander!” Menju barked as the merman jumped a bit.
“Well looks like that’s my que to go! See you Menju! And see you later Chihiro~ Bye!” He said before disappearing into the water.
Menju released a frustrated sigh as she rubbed her temples while Chihiro stood there with a blush across her cheeks.
“Just ignore him…” Menju spoke out as Chihiro nodded her head a little, feeling her blush die down slowly.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chihiro walked down the hall, heading toward Ashton’s room. She wanted to see if he was awake and feeling better. When she got to the room, she opened the door. Her smile faltered a bit as she saw that he was still in ball form. Her smile came back as she walked up to the futon and kneeled down.
‘I hope you get better Ashton. There’s so much to talk about and so many people to meet. I think you would like knowing the chef.’ She thought as she gently touched the swampy green ball. ‘Sleep tight and get better Ashton.’
She stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her gently.

(holy mama mia X.x another huge chapter but there was a lot going on so I hope you still enjoy it! Comment and favorite as you please! ^^)