-1KumiAsura
By: Kiira Kisa
File 1: Asura Strike
The cave was dark and damp, as always. Despite the greenish gray walls that were the color of a bridge after heavily savaged by water after a number of years, there was no water. Only a thinning fog chased the borders of the cave, greeting every visitor with a chill down their spine.
The people of Payon gathered here to train and hone their skills. Those brave enough ventured beyond the first twists and turns of the cave, and into deeper areas with even deadlier monsters to kill. Swordsman; Acolytes; Archers; Thieves; Merchants; Novices, and Mages gathered here to prove themselves. It was an ideal place for the weaker to make themselves stronger. Assassins; Hunters; Dancers; Knights, just to mention a few, only laughed at the sluggish purple zombies that straggled towards them. With a single swift movement or arrowshot, the zombies were dead. The bats that annoyingly chased after them were simply ignored, or taken out with a simple flick of the wrist. But this was not only a place for the weak to train. It was also a place to prove yourself at least somewhat worthy before venturing out into more menacing areas. For the proud Acolytes that belonged to the Prontera church in the ever-populated Prontera city, it was the final test to prove themselves worthy of becoming Priests.
Father Damon stood behind a long line of ready Acolytes. Their dull yellow outfits casted shadows in the darkness of the cave. They stood with maces in hand, waiting for Father Damon's command. One frail looking Acolyte turned to him and said,
"What if the zombies are too strong, Father?"
Father Damon smiled and patted the boy's head reassuringly.
"Don't worry my child. The Lord will protect those that he sees worthy of carrying out His word. And if anything goes wrong, I will protect all of you."
The Acolytes in front of him seemed to release their tension from his words. They breathed a sigh of relief. His words reached all of them, except for one. A single Acolyte sat on the ground, dazed and bored. Her hair was a dark brown and touched the tips of her shoulders. It seemed to be cut unevenly, as stray pieces of her hair randomly dangled just a little past her shoulders, and her long bangs only fell short as two longer parts of her hair went past the front of her ears. She had deep blue eyes whose pupils were oddly shaped, like ripples in an angry ocean. The blue in her eyes expressed a deep yearning for something…..something that could not be found in this cave.
"Kumi!" Father Damon yelled, after seeing her nearly fall asleep on the ground.
"What..?" She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. Her yawn made Father Damon even more furious.
"Kumi Runeshire," he began, his voice was low as he strained to keep it from rising. "Your family, the Runeshires, descend from a long line of famous Priests and Priestesses. It is your duty to carry on that heritage. It would make your parents very proud."
Kumi stood and looked Father Damon in the eye.
"All my parents care about is their reputation. They never give a damn about what I want to do with my life."
"What DO you want to do?" His teeth cringed now.
Kumi did not answer. She slid her mace out of the loop on her belt and swung it around playfully. Father Damon sighed.
"You use that thing so carelessly. In our teachings, that sort of weapon is only for self-defense and should only be used as a last resort."
"Doesn't matter." She let her arm go limp and the end of the mace slammed against the ground. "A Priest can kill just as much as an Assassin, just with the word 'God' at the end of it"
Father Damon had had it.
"How DARE you…"
"Father! Father! It's starting!" The voice of an Acolyte shouted. Father Damon stepped forward.
"Get ready to use your Holy Light, just as we practiced." He turned to Kumi. "I will deal with you later. Get out there."
Kumi sighed and got her mace ready. An Acolyte with neatly cut silver hair that went halfway down her back ran next to her.
"What did you do now, Kumi?" she asked, worried.
"It's not a big deal. I really don't care what happens right now, Ikari." Kumi yawned. "There's nothing I want less than to be a Priestess."
Ikari blinked. "Well, maybe once you turn into a Priestess, you can run away from home! And I can come with you!"
Kumi ignored her daft suggestion and turned her attention to the horizon. Zombies gathered before them, trudging slowly towards the young Acolyte.
"Holy Light!" Acolytes ran forward with their hands in front of them. Flashes of light appeared in the forms of crosses. The lights struck the zombies down until they moved no more. They were taken out easily.
Kumi struggled to use the Holy Light. The light was dim in her hands, and it took more than one Holy Light to kill a Zombie. She often ended up using her mace to make a faster kill. Father Damon frowned upon this. Ikari joined her side.
"Let's double team. It'll be easier that way!" Ikari rose her hands in the air. "Blessing!" Lights circled Kumi in the form of two small angels. She felt her strength and speed rise. She formed Holy Light in her hands again, this time it was far stronger than before.
Soon, the zombies stopped coming all together. The Acolytes cheered.
"The Lord has accepted all of you!" Father Damon praised. "I'm proud of you."
"Father! What is that?" A distant Acolyte's voice called back, alarmed. Father Damon looked in the distance and saw a dark shadow loom overhead. He creeped closer and saw it in its horrid form. A tall floating figure surrounded by black and purple flame. It was covered in bone armor, its shoulders and forehead resembled skulls. Darkness seemed to surge through its body and veins as it casted a dark circle at its feet while it moved. A menacing laugh emerged from its mouth, and the people in Payon cave scrambled.
"Dark Illusion? That isn't supposed to be here…" 'Some fool must've used a Dead Branch to summon it.' He thought.
Father Damon stepped back, his loyal Acolytes watching his every move, completely oblivious. He quickly turned to them, then scanned his surroundings. The Dark Illusion was blocking the exit out of the cave. The only other way out was the deeper levels of the cave. Both options were deadly and more than he or the other Acolytes could handle. "Everyone stay calm. I will handle this. This is too much for you all!" The Acolytes stepped back behind him. Just as Father Damon rose his Holy Bible, cold and empty pairs of red and green eyes fell upon them. A sinister smile formed on the monster's face, and in a flash, it had teleported before Father Damon's eyes.
"Meteor Storm…" A deep voice rose up from its mouth and the cave was covered in darkness. Clouds formed within the cave and everything began to tremble.
"Kumi!! I'm scared!" Ikari cried. She clinged onto Kumi, who stood undaunted.
The Dark Illusion pointed at Father Damon and an array of giant meteors began flying towards him and the Acolytes. He turned around with his hand in the air and shouted,
"Kyrie Eleison!" Shields appeared over the Acolytes and himself. "Brace yourselves!" The Acolytes ducked and covered their heads as meteors slammed into the ground in bursts of fire all around them. Kumi still stood, her hands turned into fists as she felt helpless.
"Magnum Exorcis-.." Father Damon's attack was interrupted by a strong swipe from the Dark Illusion's hand. He flew back through the mist and into a cave wall. He fell onto the ground, motionless. Screams of terror filled the cave as the Acolytes scattered and ran in fear. Ikari still clinged by Kumi's side. Kumi grabbed her mace and glared at the monster.
"We can't get outta here…UNTIL-IT'S-DEAD!!" She shoved Ikari aside and ran towards the Dark Illusion.
"Kumi!!" Ikari screamed.
Kumi swung her mace with all her strength at the Dark Illusion's leg. It shattered into millions of pieces upon impact. She jumped back and put her hands forward.
"Holy Light!" The bright light hit the Dark Illusion, but barely. It shook it off and laughed. He lifted his hand and crashed it into the ground. Kumi barely dodged it and rolled aside. She stopped and turned to Ikari.
"Go heal Father Damon! I'll hold it off!" She yelled.
"But.."
"JUST GO!!"
Ikari nodded and ran towards Father Damon. She gently put her hands on his chest and closed her eyes.
"Heal!" A bright green light surrounded his body, and slowly his wounds began to heal. She glanced back at Kumi, who was throwing Holy Lights at the Dark Illusion and barely dodging all of his blows. She put her hands in front of her one last time, and out of exhaustion, she was unable to produce a Holy Light.
"Damnit!" She yelled, breathing hard to catch her breath. "Ikari! What are you doing!?"
"I healed him but he's not waking up! My heal isn't strong enough to heal him completely!" Tears swelled in Ikari's eyes and poured down her cheeks. "I dunno what to do!" She rubbed her eyes. "I wish I was a Priestess already!"
The rest of the Acolytes were too scared and confused to even realize what Kumi and Ikari were trying to do.
"DAMNIT!" Kumi yelled and threw a pathetic punch at the Dark Illusion. To her surprise, the tips of her fist's knuckles glowed with a dim light. And at the moment of its impact, the tough bone armor covering the Dark Illusion's leg had cracked just a little. It was a small crack, but it was enough to convince Kumi that she had just done something that other Acolytes could not. But this crack also caught the Dark Illusion's attention. Angrily, he rose his arms in the air and a familiar cloud appeared overhead.
"Meteor Storm!" The cave was in another barrage of meteors. Father Damon's Kyrie Eleison hadn't worn off yet, so it protected Kumi and the others. His own shield had worn off though, and he lay helpless as a meteor came crashing down towards him. Ikari screamed and stood frozen. She covered his body with his, and the meteor clashed against her shield.
"Ikari!!" Kumi yelled. She waited for the flames and smoke to clear. She saw her friend on the ground. The meteor was destroyed by the shield but the impact itself was too much. "IKA-" Kumi was flung across the cave with one giant swipe. She slammed against the wall and lay motionless for a while. With a groan, she got to her feet.
Her vision was blurry. Everything was unclear.
'Am I going to die?' She wondered. 'Is this how it all ends? Am I really just as weak as everyone around me?'
Just then, the memory of her fist glowing slightly and cracking the Dark Illusion's armor made her stop. All the self doubt had stopped, and there was some hope. Kumi looked around her. People were hurt, some dead. Some of the Acolytes had gone to Ikari and Father Damon's sides, using their underdeveloped magic to heal them. Some Acolytes were nowhere to be seen. All the Swordsman, Archers, Merchants, Thieves….they lay amidst the ruins of the carnage. Some stronger fighters had come to try to help. All the Assassins, Hunters, Dancers, Knights…they were no longer laughing. Now even they were injured and barely able to fight. It all seemed far too grim, far too hopeless for something like a "lucky punch" to finally put a stop to all of the chaos.
Suddenly, she found herself running. Running and screaming…right towards the Dark Illusion. It was busy attacking an array of Knights and Crusaders around it. One Crusader saw the small Acolyte running towards and yelled something. But it was all just a blur. She rose her fist, and with all her might…..
…..punched.
What happened after that was nothing less than a miracle. The air was still; a dark aura formed over Kumi's head. Sparks zipped along her arm, empowering her punch. Symbols appeared in the air; symbols she had never seen before. They seemed to spell out something…
Kumi did not realize it, but she had jumped. She jumped and her fist landed impact upon the Dark Illusion's chest. And with her small 16 year old hands, she had punched Dark Illusion with a punch strong enough to kill it. And it did. It flew into the ground, hollering a dreaded painful scream that people could hear for miles. Its body skidded back towards the darkest parts of the cave, where its floating flaming aura finally went out. Its red and green eyes slowly eyed Kumi, who was on top of it; her fist still firmly planted into its armor. It said nothing, and the light of its eyes finally faded.
Its body disintegrated and in a puff of smoke, it shrank down to nothingness. All that was left was a single Dead Branch; broken in two. Kumi fell and landed roughly on her feet. Before she realized what had just happened, the sounds of cheering echoed throughout the cave. A Knight whistled and clapped his hands, backfisting a random Familiar, making it crash to the ground.
"KUMI!" Ikari ran and threw her arms around her friend. She sobbed.
"IWASSOWORRIEDWHATHAPPENEDHOWDIDYOUDOTHATITHOUGHIWASGOINGTODIEOHMYGOD!!! Mrrphh mmurrppphhh!!" Her sobs became inaudible as she buried her face into Kumi's shirt.
Kumi was frozen with confusion. She looked and saw that Father Damon was on his feet now, but the expression on his face was far different from those around him. While everyone was happy with relief and celebration, he had a look of pure terror still etched deep into his eyes as he stared right at Kumi. She stared at the fist she had used to kill the Dark Illusion. It was unharmed; not a scratch was on it. Only her thin gloves had been shaved away a little, exposing her knuckles. She looked back to Father Damon, who had now started healing the injured around him. The Acolytes emerged out of hiding and followed his example. Without his guidance, they were nothing. On the ground, Father Damon's Holy Bible lay open amidst the rubble.
In the shadows, a tall figure slips away.
A few days had passed since the incident in Payon cave. Out of respect for those who had lost their lives beyond Resurrection, Father Damon had postponed the Job Changing ceremony for the Acolytes. Kumi wasn't complaining. Ikari used this time to hone her skills some more. She practiced her healing techniques on dying plants in her backyard. In just a few day's time, she was now able to heal even the driest and brownest of flowers.
The news from the small village of Payon had spread to the booming city of Prontera. The city was a-buzz from the horrible tragedy. But mostly, people were talking about Kumi. The papers read "A Monk To The Rescue? No! An Acolyte!" Merchants littered the street with their shops, selling the paper at discounted prices. People flocked to them like moths to a light.
Luckily, no one had gotten any pictures of the incident, nor had anyone interviewed Kumi about what she had done. She slipped away at just the right time to avoid all of the attention. She was hoping that the darkness of the cave had aided in her attempt to hide her face. For once, she was thankful for the fog that emanated in the cave.
"That's crazy," Kumi's father, a brash-looking Priest with short graying hair and dark skin sat at the table with the newspaper in his hands. "An Acolyte couldn't have possibly done that. That ability is only granted to Monks."
Kumi's interest was caught.
"Why…can't an Acolyte do something like that?" she asked, trying to make it sound casual. She stirred at the cereal in front of her, wondering why she was doing such a thing in a place like this instead of trying out her new found power.
"Well it's simple." Kumi's mother walked into the room. She was a tall beautiful woman with long red hair and overly large red lips. She sat down at the table. A black cat with a red bow tied around its back hopped up onto her lap. She scratched it behind its large ears. "Every class is limited to a certain amount of skills they can use. For example, a Swordsman can't just all of a sudden use a skill like Grand Cross, which is a skill only a Crusader is able to use. Or, a Thief cannot use Poison React." She paused to chuckle a little to herself. "When one changes their Job, they gain a magical ability that allows them to use skills they never could before. And, since there is no such thing as un-Job Changing, then there is just no way for an Acolyte to have used an Asura Strike."
"Asura what?" Kumi raised an eyebrow.
"Asura Strike." Kumi's father answered as he turned the page in his newspaper and flicked it roughly to straighten its pages."Only very strong Monks are able to use it."
"Being a Monk is such a horrid existence!" Her mother exclaimed. "They are hypocrites. They claim to do God's will, but killing others is NOT God's will. They go around killing and claim it to be for the better good." she made quotations in the air with her fingers. "Aren't you glad to be Job Changing into a Priestess, dear?" She turned to Kumi and smiled. Kumi sank into her chair and said nothing. She only silently mouthed the word "Asura" over and over to herself.
She escaped the awkwardness of her own home and walked the streets outside. She passed the church where her Acolyte comrades practiced their prayers in the sunlight. Father Damon was nowhere to be seen. She walked down past the hundreds of Merchants, Alchemists, and Blacksmiths who populated the streets with their shops. She passed a small fish cart, where a large group of Alchemists were laughing and talking about their Homunculi. Finally, she reached the outskirts of town.
Even the outside areas of Prontera were heavily populated. People sat upon the grass outside, having intellectual and un-intellectual conversations. But mostly un-intellectual. An Assassin with a large purple feathered helmet on his head ran about harassing others and making fun of them. A Novice annoyingly tugged at a Priest's sleeve, asking for a Heal. A lowly Knight by the name of Kenki went up to random people asking them to duel him. He bragged on and on about how strong he was. Kumi ignored the activity around her and continued walking.
She walked until there was no one else in sight. She searched the horizon for an easy monster to kill. A "plip plip plop" sound was heard. She looked and saw a Drops hopping innocently around her. Its gelatinous body was transparent and was a pale tan color that resembled the color of sand. She took a step back and closed her eyes.
"Asura Strike!" Her turned her hand into a fist, and a familiar light emanated from it. The same dark aura appeared above her head along with the un-readable symbols. Sparks flowed through her arm and trailed behind her as she ran towards the Drops. She pounded her fist into its soft gooey body and it burst in an instant. She went flying from the sheer power of her punch and skid across the ground. Her fist made a groove in the ground and she tripped and landed on her back.
Kumi lay on the ground for a few moments, just staring up at the sky. She felt alienated, like the world had suddenly become something she was unaware of. It was as if she no longer knew herself, or those around her. Could her parents be wrong? Could Acolytes really use Asura Strike? And why did she of all people possess such a skill?
She squinted in the warm light of the sun. Then, a round shadow eclipsed the sun and peered down at her. A teenage boy's face looked back at her, smiling.
"Gah!" She got up, startled. She dusted herself off and looked at the boy. He was an Assassin, tall and skinny; almost skinny to the point where it almost made him look scrawny and weak. Underneath his skin-tight clothes were slender muscles built for speed instead of power. Two small and strangely shaped daggers sat on both sides of his belt. A short cape draped down from his belt and covered his back end. Bandages weaved in and out across his chest, arms, and legs. The only real piece of armor on this boy were two small yellow shoulder pads. Despite Assassins having their dark and cruel reputations, this boy's wide smile said otherwise. His blue hair was short, but one side draped lazily over his left eye, hiding it almost completely. He had bright yellow eyes, which contrasted with his blue hair in an oddly stylish way. On his head was a single, thin, dull yellow headband with a white triangle pointing up in the middle.
"What do you want?" Kumi huffed. The boy grabbed her by the wrist, a little too roughly.
"Pardon." He said, his voice sounding deeper and slightly older than how he looked. "But I'm here to kidnap you. Is that alright?"
"What..?" A quick hit to the back of Kumi's neck sent her whole world into darkness.