They murdered Allisyn first.
The dark monks who feigned allegiance with Kamoshami took the Sunberry girls to a henge between Tari's home and the Great Tree to sacrifice them.
The henge was once the people's solar calendar. Harvests were planned and festivals were held based on where the sun rose and set between the henge's pillars. This henge was a sacred place of joy.
Now this place has been perverted into a monument of horror. Villagers were compelled to witness as their children were slaughtered in the name of their God.
The High Priest Gaias performed the ritual murders. In his hand he held a serpentine dagger with a dark crystal embedded in its crossbar. Every time he plunged the blade into the heart of a Sunberry girl, Tari could see with Sumitsu's copied vision the horrible truth of the ritual.
At the moment of death, the rainbow hued powers the sunberries gave them were absorbed into the dark crystal of the dagger. Their spirit rings were fractured and drained. Their ghosts appeared gaunt and withered, wraithlike.
Tari could see that the hope Tokimi had in them was being crushed and drained from them. She also saw but could not understand the dome of shadow surrounding them. Perhaps she would never know that Kagunokon was using his power to keep the Gods blind to the actions taking place here, or that this same sphere of evil was also made to keep the ghosts of the Sunberry girls imprisoned.
Goji didn't know which way to go; he only knew which way not to go. The road didn't fork; it led straight to the place where the hooded figures were taking him. Maybe there was someone who could point him to a space port on this folksy little planet. Either way, it wouldn't be long before that elf and that warrior woman would come hunting him down.
As he approached what appeared to be an open-air henge surrounded by multitudes of people, the air was split with the screams of a young girl being violently sacrificed on the central altar. Goji stopped thinking at that precise moment and acted instinctively. He galloped that horse through the crowd, knocking over bystanders and guards with no regard for anyone's safety, even his own, as he barreled straight for the altar.
He was too late to save the girl who had screamed, but another girl was being forced to lie upon the altar, her white dress starting to absorb the still-wet blood of the previous victim. He didn't listen to the incantation the priest was uttering. He didn't care. He leaped off the horse, kicked the priest in the chest with both feet, and came crashing down. He ignored the pain in his still bandaged hands as he punched the faces of the four guards holding down the girl's arms and legs.
The priest got to his feet and held up his serpentine dagger, wet with the blood of other youths sacrificed upon that altar that day. Goji spun around quickly, first kicking the dagger out of the priest's hand, then delivering a bone-crunching kick to his solar plexus. Goji looked around for other opponents who would try to stop him, but when he saw that they were having difficulty wading through the crowd, Goji grabbed the girl from the altar, hoisted her over his horse, then mounted the horse himself.
He looked around for an exit, a road, anywhere away from here. When he saw where he had come from, his eyes met Kyou's beyond the crowd. Then he saw Satori. They were both on horseback. Nevertheless, he had to try to escape. He turned left and galloped through the crowd again, attempting to outrun everyone: the other dark monks, Kyou and Satori, absolutely everyone.
Perhaps if Goji weren't seriously racing to save his life and the life of the young girl with him, he might have found his situation comical. There he was, being chased by Kyou and Satori, who in turn were being chased by a mob of dark monks, who were followed by the townsfolk. He imagined they probably had torches and pitchforks, like in the stories of places like this, but was too busy looking for an exit to look behind him and see.
In his panicked state, he heeded his sudden impulse to head towards the Tree. He didn't know why he felt like he'd be safe there, but he didn't have time to question the idea. He gritted his teeth and bore the pain of the girl gripping his injured arms tightly as they veered right.
What Goji didn't expect was that the young lady he rescued was the one planting the idea in his head. From the moment she was abducted at the spaceport with her friends and brought to the henge to be sacrificed, she had prayed for someone to rescue her. Her prayers reached the ears of the fairies who had once served Kamoshami. There wasn't much they could do until Goji stepped in. Now they were guiding him to the base of the Tree, where they had some power.
Once Goji crossed a massive bridge made entirely of a single root of the Tree, the fairies took action. The root started to ooze sap, making the steep crossing perilous. Satori and Kyou's horses slipped off the bridge and tumbled down the ravine. While falling, Satori managed to wedge her glaive into the side of the tree root and hang from it, and catch Kyou's arm with her other hand.
They watched as dozens of horses and their cloaked riders fell from the bridge into the ravine below. They also saw the townsfolk, who had rushed to follow them, stop at the base of the bridge. They watched many of them murmur amongst themselves and go back. A handful of people remained.
Kyou noticed that those who remained bore a familial resemblance to one another and speculated that they may be related to the girl Goji had impulsively rescued.
Meanwhile, Satori was examining the sap that had so suddenly appeared on the Tree's root. She could smell the presence of the fairy creatures who helped Goji, but she couldn't see them.
While Kyou and Satori were figuring out how to get out of their predicament, Goji himself kept driving his horse further into the Tree. Up he went along winding paths and sharp turns until he realized he had gotten himself lost in a labyrinth of interweaving roots and branches and tunnels throughout the base of the tree. He came into a large cavernous hollow within the Tree and brought his horse to a stop. He helped the young lady down from the horse and followed himself.
The young lady, her white dress still stained in the blood of her friends, looked around in a dreamy state, still in shock at what was happening to her. Then, as if the sound of Goji's feet hitting the floor was what shook her back to waking, she rushed up to him and hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her face. She wanted to say thank you, but her voice wouldn't come amidst the sobs. Goji let her cry and wrapped his bruised and bandaged arms around her to comfort her as well.
As the two of them stood in their embrace, only the horse noticed the room starting to become illuminated by the glow of fairies making their presence known. One of them flew slowly to the girl's dress, and where it touched, a single drop of blood evaporated, leaving no stain. A flurry of fairies followed, and little by little, eventually, the whole of her dress was made clean.
Once they had finished their work, one of the fairies flew near enough to Goji and the girl's faces to be heard.
"Hello, friend Tari," she said to the girl. "You are safe here."
"Thank you," she said between sobs. "Thank you all."
Goji noticed for the first time that they were surrounded by these fairies and staggered back a bit.
"And thank you, noble warrior, for saving her life. We owe you a great debt."
Goji kept glancing all about himself, not sure where to look. The fairies quickly backed away and flew behind Tari so Goji could see them all at once.
"It's okay," Tari said, reassuringly, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "They're my friends. They're keeping us safe."
"Oh, well, that's good," Goji stammered. "I haven't been safe in a while." He took a deep, relaxing breath and immediately fainted.
Kyou and Satori eventually climbed to the landward side of the bridge, where the family of eight was still waiting.
"Who are you?" An older human woman questioned the Templars. She gripped an equally aged human male nervously. Kyou assumed they must be the parents of this familial grouping, which would mean these six adult males were her sons.
"I am Satori Yoshi, High Templar of Yukito, and this is my companion, Kyou, High Templar of Chie. We are visitors to your world."
"What do you want with our sister?" The eldest son spoke. He had the build and the complexion of a blacksmith.
"We are not here for your sister, but for the boy who-" Kyou began, hesitating on the last word, uncertain of the family's intent. It's best to err on the side of caution until they determine whether this family is loyal to the dark monks.
"Rescued her from those monsters?" The youngest son, about nineteen years old, asked with hopeful eagerness. Kyou watched the responses of the rest of the family. They all seemed to agree with his sentiment, but were casting sidelong glances around themselves to see if they were truly alone. Kyou deduced they were happy with Goji's reckless rescue of their kin, but were themselves in danger of retribution from this power.
"He is our traveling companion. We were on our way to Sagesse when a space battle brought us crashing down in the mountains." Kyou gestured to their crash site.
"Aye, we saw you crash. We were forbidden to help you." The father spoke, half apologizing, half lamenting their oppression.
Kyou smiled, nodded, and put up a hand in a gesture of forgiveness. Satori continued, "We journeyed down the mountain towards a village to find it abandoned."
"The monks make us come to watch their 'cleansing' ritual." The blacksmith spat in disgust to punctuate his statement.
"I am somewhat well-versed in the old traditions of Kamoshami," Kyou began, but was interrupted by the Tree groaning at the mention of the dead god's name. "But these dark monks and their ways are unknown to me."
"They came in the name of our God," the second eldest brother, a carpenter, it seems, began to explain, "but they are false. They killed all the Templars for blasphemy. They claim to perform miracles, but they spread poison. Now they hunt down all children between twelve and sixteen years old and murder them, claiming to be cleansing them."
"That's a very particular age range. Why those children?"
"Sixteen years ago-" the blacksmith started. Kyou and Satori shared a knowing glance and braced for the worst. "So you know."
"Go on." Kyou encouraged.
"The Great Tree entered into its Autumn. The leaves, which had been green for thousands of years, turned yellow and fell to the ground. Everyone across the world made pilgrimages to see the tree for themselves. After four years, the last leaf fell. And now these dark monks are targeting every child who might have made it to the tree as an infant during that time. There's a reason for it, but I don't know why."
"And your sister is one of these children?" Satori confirmed.
"Yes. She and many others. They were just coming home from a school trip to see the Tournament of Templars on Vechnost."
"We were just there," Kyou said.
"They rounded up and killed everyone who went on that trip. They'd barely stepped off the transport."
It was becoming increasingly difficult for Satori to contain her rage. Little in this life infuriated her more than the killing of children. Kyou noticed the darkness on her face. "So your daughter isn't safe here," She concluded darkly, then lightened her tone. "She could come with us."
"With you?" The mother asked.
"I will personally guarantee the safety of your daughter," Satori vowed.
"She's not safe here." Kyou continued. "So long as she's here, she will be hunted by these dark monks. With us, she stands a chance."
"You were shot down." The youngest pointed out.
"We survived." Kyou retorted. "Yes, she will be in danger with us, but she will be in more danger if she stays here. Once we get to Sagesse, she will be completely safe."
"For how long?" The father asked.
"I don't know," Kyou admitted. "We met with Tokimi today."
The whole family's eyes went wide. "You saw the Goddess?"
"We delivered a dark monk to her. Even now, she is working to stop them. But the road is long. Perhaps Tari has a part to play. Perhaps that's why the monks want her dead."
While Goji lay sleeping and recovering, Tari and the fairies were met with the ghosts of the Sunberry girls.
Among them, Allisyn was the first to speak. "Tari," the ghost seemed to struggle to make a sound. Tari turned on her golden eyed vision to see Allisyn more clearly. And in a moment of inspiration she moved some of this perception magic into her ears and could hear Allisyn much more clearly.
"I can hear you, Allisyn." Tari began to cry as she addressed her friend.
"I am so sorry. I am sorry you witnessed our deaths. I'm sorry that the burden of grief and survival has gone to you. You are now Tokimi's only hope."
"I know. I saw what happened. Your rainbows were stolen into that dagger."
Allisyn nodded, understanding dawning on her face. "If you can get that dagger to our Lady Tokimi, perhaps she can make things right."
"How? They're going to try to kill me just like they did with all of you," Tari's voice broke.
Allisyn's gaze fell upon the sleeping Goji. "Do you recognize your rescuer? No? Of course you wouldn't. You were on kitchen duty in the Sky Box.
"That is Goji of Solaris. He is the Champion of the Tournament of Templars. If anyone can help us, he can."
"Why is he here? Why wasn't he on the podium when he was supposed to be?"
"I don't know, but I am glad fate brought him here."
Tari knelt down and rested Goji's head on her lap. She stroked his hair and saw the bandages on his head. They were stained red with fresh blood.
"He's injured," Tari looked over him further. "He's injured everywhere." Her hope began to dwindle.