Overture

No one knew how long it had been since the last lightshad flickeredout. Total blackness was all that existed, with the only assurance that one was still alive being the solidity of the ashen ground below. Occasionally, there would be a flare in the distance, a plume of fire that would arc into the black sky, bathing the night in a deathly red glow before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

If circumstances were normal, the group of people holding hands and making their way through the murky darkness might have been relieved at the fleeting moments of visibility given by those jets of plasma, but with every flash, the travelers cringed in fear. Would they be found out? Were they the only ones even left alive? There was no way of knowing. They could only trust in the skill and wisdom of their leader, a young woman with long flowing locks of navy blue hair dressed in a black robe identical to those of her compatriots.

There were many reasons that they followed her, reasons other than the fact that she was the most powerful survivor of their ranks. She alone remembered the days of civilization, the days of blue skies, and the happy times before the betrayal of Spiritus. In this absolute darkness, however, sight and memory alike clouded over with dread. Each person held on to the hand in front of them to gain hope, and held out the other hand to the person behind to pass on that hope. None dared let go, because if they were the only ones left alive, that could mean only one thing.

The enemy would find them, and soon.

The group came to a halt at the behest of the woman in front. The man directly behind her, a boyish-looking fellow with several braids of black hair and a gaunt, yet tightened form spoke for the first time in what seemed like days, even though the disappearance of the sky had eliminated such concepts as day and night from the world.

"Is this the place?"

The woman kneeled carefully, feeling along the ground for an object she knew to be there. Her hand came in contact with a broken crystal fragment, which responded by illuminating the area in a cascade of bluish light. Several members of the group shielded their eyes from the blast as the light began to trace patterns across the ground, eventually forming a circle of strange, unearthly symbols and words in a language that had long since passed out of understanding.

"Hurry," the leader whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear. "We don't have any time left!"

Though frightened out of their wits and pushed past the point of exhaustion, the group assembled just as they had been taught to do so long ago. They formed two circles within the symbols, linked just as before by their hands. The leader took her place in the center and looked about to make sure that everyone was in position. This was the first time she had gotten a good look at them since the fallout. The woman was somewhat unnerved by their present state; torn clothes fashioned by a savage landscape and protruding ribs caused by near-starvation were all too commonplace among her once-proud brothers and sisters.

Now was not the time for pity or shame, however. The leader as well as everyone in the group knew that the flash of light had given them away. To say that time was of the essence would be an understatement. Time no longer existed for them.

Once again, the boy with black hair chose to speak. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Doesn't matter," the woman responded crisply as she took her final position. "This is what we were born to do. If we can't make this work, than we're as good as dead anyway." Noting the alarmed look that crossed several of the group's faces, she made sure to add, "Just concentrate and everything will be fine."

Fine? Several of the people surrounding the woman would have laughed if they'd possessed the energy. That was a word they could no longer imagine, much less identify with.

At that point, however, all independent thought ceased. Every person focused their concentration onto the leader, and the light began to grow brighter, forming a small white orb above the blue-haired woman in the center. Her lips were moving, but no sound issued forth. After all, the incantation she was reciting was in the same language as the symbols on the ground. The words had no audible meaning, but when simply focused upon, they held the key to a higher power.

As the white orb of light continued to grow larger and brighter, several of the group began to shift nervously. Small rustles could be heard beyond the circle of light. The sounds were infrequent, but were soon joined by muted impacts that caused the very ground beneath to quake in terror. The leader continued with the incantation relentlessly, even as her compatriots fought every survival instinct in their bodies, using the last of their tattered wills to remain where they were. The sounds just kept getting louder, and then . . .

Silence.

The light above the leader continued to grow, and the sounds had completely stopped. Several of the group were about to sigh with relief when a gust of wind passed through them. Every person froze visibly. The sky was not the only thing which had ceased to exist in this world; wind had not been felt for several months. What had rushed through the group was not wind. It was breath.

There was a scream, a loud crunch, and then silence and blackness again. Closing their eyes and hoping fervently that it was all a dream, the group simply continued to focus concentration on the center. There was a second scream, then a third, a fourth and a fifth. The circle of brethren was disappearing into the night, but the woman in the center would stop for nothing. Just a few more passages to go . . .

However, before anyone truly realized it, the outer circle of people had completely vanished. The hunters lurking in the darkness were now forced to come into the light. The bluish-white glow revealed their grotesque faces inch by horrifying inch, passing over each scale of their reptilian muzzles like waves of water over the pebbles of a rocky beachside. Their deathly red eyes glowed with murderous intent, slit-like pupils narrowing before the orb in the center. Even worse, each face was larger than a full-grown elephant, each glistening fang over two human bodies in length.

Just as the enormous predators on all sides reared in for the kill, however, the woman in the center finished her work. The orb of light nearly exploded, casting radiance as clear as the sun at noontide across the entire area. Knowing the spell had entered its final stage and no longer needed their assistance, the inner circle of the group turned outward to face the enemy that had been revealed by the light. The brightness of it had actually driven back the massive reptiles for a moment, but the beasts recovered from their shock quickly. Lashing back toward the circle with their long necks, horned faces, and rows of serrated teeth, the predators assaulted their prey with renewed vigor. Several fell immediately due to their weakened state, but the rest fought doggedly on against the creatures that were easily a hundred times their size, driven on by the fact that the spell needed only a few more precious seconds to reach completion.

The woman in the center was about to join in as well when she was distracted by an incredible plume of fire that jetted from the rear of the enemy's lines. Several of the dragons had just saluted the presence of their own leader, causing the woman to stand ready for his assault. Sure enough, it came.

A new dragon literally vaulted over the heads of his brethren, his seven heads straining forward and bearing their fangs, his forearms stretching outward with claws the size of houses. One of the heads even smiled devilishly, calling out the name of the woman with bluish hair in a terrifying battle cry that echoed throughout the night.

"AMATERASU!"

The woman readied her defense, shouting the beast's own name in retaliation.

"ORTUS!"

The two combatants had nearly collided when the orb suddenly spread outward, encompassing the entire circle of light. Just as suddenly as it had expanded, the ball of light contracted inward, becoming as small as a pellet just before blinking out of existence. Everything that had been inside the circle disappeared along with it, even that which had been directly underground, leaving only a fractured crater in its wake.

(Begin First Reload)

Author's Notes:

This fanfiction is being done with permission by the creator of the Samurai Banzai webcomic as a sort of "alternate take" on the series concept (think like how an anime changes when converted from an OVA to a TV series and vice versa). It's important to remember that although SBR is a based on Samurai Banzai, all of the characters have been reworked and the plot is completely unrelated. None of the events that transpire in this fanfiction have anything to do with events that have, or will take place in the webcomic on which it is based.

The Samurai Banzai webcomic can be found at www. sbanzai. hcmrworld. com.