Adventure of ducky Shinazugawa 1

The dark featherlike shape rises from the iron case without leaving its base. Violet light crowns each barb, and within them flickers a laboratory corridor, then the silhouette of a dying scientist reaching toward unseen pursuers.

The roadside priest stretches his gauntleted hand toward the hovering relic. The violet glow bends around his fingers, refusing contact, while rain taps steadily through the broken tower roof.

Elira keeps several paces away, her freed hands held close to her chest. She watches the relic rather than the roadside priest, wary of the memories rippling across its barbs.

The featherlike relic pivots fully toward Ducky. Violet reflections crawl across his red hair and white wings, while the dying scientist's silhouette lifts one hand inside the light, pointing beyond the tower.

The relic opens like a dark flower. Violet memory spills across the tower wall, showing Elira inside a laboratory chamber, standing beside the dying scientist while white-robed figures bind silver cords around her wrists.

The vision shifts. Elira reaches toward the scientist, and a second shadow tears free from her body, feathered and black, before vanishing into the iron case. Her silver scar shines with the same violet light.

The memory races beyond her confession, revealing a brass key hidden beneath a loose laboratory floorstone. Its shape matches the mark now glowing faintly beneath the relic.

The roadside priest lunges for the relic, but violet force throws him back against the watchtower wall. The impact scatters his ritual cord, leaving its iron clasp beside Ducky's feet.

The violet vision steadies. The scientist, a gaunt middle-aged man with a hollow-cheeked face, tousled dark hair, and a bloodstained gray scholar's robe places one trembling hand against the bound young woman's chest, and the black feathered shadow tears free beneath his palm as silver cords tighten around her.

He turns toward the white-robed figures and shields the bound young woman with his own body. The shadow folds around his arm, then plunges into the iron case while the laboratory doors burst open behind him.

The relic answers with a pulse of violet light. For one instant, the scientist's hand covers the bound young woman's scar, and the mark dims instead of spreading.

Ducky steps between the hovering relic and the roadside priest, keeping his wings clear of the violet light. The priest watches him with one hand pressed against his bruised ribs.

The relic contracts at the roadside priest's demand. Its violet memory folds inward, and the brass key beneath the laboratory floorstone disappears behind a closing veil of black feathers.

The relic turns away from the roadside priest and settles nearer Ducky, its violet glow reduced to a narrow pulse. The bargain has yielded no key, but the priest's demand has exposed what controls the memory.

Ducky snatches the scattered ritual cord beside the roadside priest. The cord rasps across his cut palm, but he twists it around the priest’s reaching wrist before the older man can rise.

The roadside priest jerks backward, boots skidding on wet stone. Ducky hauls the cord around a cracked support pillar, then binds both the priest’s wrists tight against the stone.

The knot cinches securely. Violet light flickers over the binding, but the cord holds, leaving the priest immobilized beneath the silent bell.

The bound young woman steps clear of the bound priest, watching the dark featherlike relic settle near Ducky’s shoulder. Its narrow violet pulse steadies, no longer answering the roadside priest’s demands.

Ducky tears a short length from the ritual cord and steps behind the roadside priest. The cord rasps across his cut palm, sending a sharp tingle through his fingers.

Before the roadside priest can twist free, Ducky presses the folded cord across his mouth and knots it firmly behind his head. The priest’s protests vanish into muffled sounds.

The roadside priest strains against the pillar, but the gag holds and the binding remains tight. Violet light brushes his face, then withdraws toward the relic near Ducky’s shoulder.

The relic opens one dark barb toward Ducky. Within its violet edge, the laboratory corridor flickers again, and a faint brass glimmer appears beneath the image.

The relic turns toward Ducky's voice. Its violet pulse enters his cut palm, a sharp tingle, then unfolds into a clear vision rather than pain.

The dying scientist appears within the dark feathers, shielding a small black ember from white-robed figures. The ember bears the same faint mark now glowing beneath the relic.

The vision shifts to Ducky's escape: laboratory doors, pursuing shadows, and the scientist's final gesture directing the ember toward him. The relic's answer settles into one unmistakable truth: it chose him because he survived what the ember was made to preserve.

The relic closes to a single dark feather and rests beside Ducky's shoulder. Behind the pillar, the roadside priest thrashes soundlessly against his gag while the brass glimmer remains plainly visible within the fading memory.