IMPORTANT: Chapter one was updated January 2015 with new information. I highly suggest reading it again before reading chapter two.

Also, I've been updating my personal website Samurai Reflections and the old message board is now open again for new membership. Links are in my profile. I hope you'll stop by.

Warriors Still

By: Ghost of the Dawn

Chapter Two: Golden Strings

A nasty fever caught Rowen that night. It took him slowly as not to wake him and held him in its clutches as his fevered brain tried to make sense of it all. Trapped in slumber, Rowen dreamed.

He dreamed of castles and skyscrapers hurling large billows of smoke into the sky. Of massive weapons and dragons and portals, and they all fought and bellowed and devoured each other. He dreamed of his friends always in the distance; searching' lost, calling for him. But he was stuck in blackness, hidden from them and unable to move. His dreams and his fever plagued him, forcing his mind into overdrive as it tried to reason out what was happening. It made his body clench and writhe and he earned no rest at all as he slept.

Then something touched him. Something calming and cool and half in, half out of his dreams. All chaos melted away and calmness serenely dripped like a limpid pool. Rowen knew he was still sleeping, but he could almost see what was going on outside his body as he slumbered.

As if he were standing in the doorway, witnessing from afar, he felt more than saw he was not alone. Someone stood at his bedside; a cool, gentle hand on his forehead brushing his bangs. Rowen had no idea who it was, but it felt familiar and safe. He could feel a thumb gently rub the bridge of his nose in a calming gesture. At last, he could rest.

Rowen's eyes popped open. It was morning now, though it was hard to tell in the room. The single window had heavy drapes blocking out the sun, making the bedroom feel more like a cave. The room was empty, but it didn't feel empty. Like the presence of whomever had been in the room was lingering. And Rowen knew there had been someone in the room.

He got up on shaky legs and his stomach growled. That was a good sign. As weird as yesterday had been for him, Rowen was feeling better now. He was ready to get some food in him and face the day.

Making his way over to the window, Rowen threw open the drapes to bring light into the room. The sun was out, but only a weak ray fell on his face. A result of the Inside, he surmised. The heavy influence of that small pocket world in the middle of the city was reaching them, growing bigger each day. Even so much as to suck up the warmth of the sun. Sage would hate it.

At the thought of his friend, Rowen hoped he and the others were okay, wherever they were. Looking back at his surroundings, Rowen decided the room itself seemed as though it wasn't too partial to the window being open, no matter how pathetic the light. This definitely had to be Cale's bedroom.

Rowen found the apartment's owner sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen counter. He was in the same clothes Rowen saw him in the night before; dark clothes, boots and a heavy trench coat, tattered at the edges from over use. Rowen hadn't noticed the previous night, but Cale wore his hair slicked back from his face, only a few stray tendrils dangling over his forehead. The cross-shaped scar on his check now more prominent than ever.

It took quite a while for any of the Ronins to know Cale even had a scar like that. He usually fought them with his battle mask down. Now it was out in the open for all to behold. Cutting into his olive skin, gouging out an arrow shaped chunk of his eyebrow, the flesh still red and angry as if it hadn't happened all that long ago.

Rowen was caught staring as Cale glanced up from his newspaper, steaming mug in his hand. The Ronin quickly shook himself. It was still so weird to be this close to any of them. Warlords in modern clothes, doing normal things- it didn't look right. It felt like he had fallen into a whole other dimension where everything had been turned upside down. In this world it felt possible that rabbits rode bicycles and brooms could sing and dance and warlords from the Nether Realm could live in typical apartments and drink coffee like they were normal people.

"Morning," Cale grated out in his sandpaper voice. "You want some breakfast?"

Rowen's stomach shifted in hunger. "Yes please," he said weakly.

"Have a seat." The warlord stood and went into the kitchen.

Rowen climbed onto a stool, still unable to shake the earlier feeling that he and Cale had not been the only ones in the apartment recently. He wanted to ask, but it was hardly his business. How odd would it sound? "Hey, was someone watching me sleep last night?" That wouldn't fly.

Instead, he said, "So, this is your place?"

"Yup," Cale responded automatically, his back turned as he fiddled with the coffee maker.

"You live here alone?" Rowen asked, hoping he didn't sound too nosy.

There was a significant pause.

"Yes," Cale finally responded. He whirled around with a pot before Rowen could hit him with another question. "You a coffee man, Rowen?"

"Sometimes, sure," Rowen blinked. At that point, he would be happy to have just about any kind of sustenance.

Cale poured him a full mug and offered various ingredients to go with it. Rowen made his coffee as he liked it and then drank the warmth thankfully.

"What else would you like?" Cale then asked. "I've got some doughnuts, bagels, and muffins, I think." He poked his head into the refrigerator. "There's fruit... I could make omelets, uh..." He pulled his head out to see Rowen staring at him strangely.

"You sure have a lot of food for living by yourself," Rowen accused.

"Yes, well," Cale replied as he closed the fridge, "the least we could do is feed you after pulling you here to save the world. Just like whatsherface... Mouri..."

"You mean Cye?" Rowen wondered.

"No, not him. Mmm... Koji! Yes! Mia Koji! Sorry, it's been a while. I'm not so good with names."

Rowen nodded for lack of anything to say.

"Truth be told," Cale continued, "we were expecting to be feeding five of you this morning. Just having one is throwing off our plans."

Rowen was now selecting a doughnut from the large box on the counter. "Have you found anything? Do you know where the others are?"

"Not yet, but Sekhmet and Kayura both are pretty dead set on the idea that they'll show up in the city soon, if they're not already here. And they're a bit more technical savvy than I am, so..."

"But you're certain we'll find them, right?" Rowen insisted.

Cale let out a breath to gather his thoughts. He seemed a bit conflicted at the question. "I'm sure Sekhmet's given you his "What was and always will be" talk. The theory goes that we will find all of you and you will return home because that's what happened and there's nothing that can be done to alter time even if we tried."

"But you don't believe that," Rowen ventured.

"I... don't know," Cale admitted. "If time can indeed be altered then we have just opened ourselves to infinite possibilities." He fixed an icy stare on Rowen that made the young man not entirely comfortable. The warlord seemed to drift off and pin Rowen with his gaze at the same time.

"Imagine what I could do– what I could change if I sent you back with certain information. If I told you about specific events, Rowen Hashiba, would you be able to change them or would it just leave you writhing in misery knowing what is to come and not being able to do anything about it?"

Rowen couldn't move. Cale's personality had switched so fast and Rowen was trapped in that gaze. Those cold eyes chilled him to the bone and Rowen was reminded that this man, though allied with him now, was once his enemy and for a reason.

Rowen's mind whirled. What specific event was Cale talking about? Was there something he wanted to change? Why? What had happened in the past? What would happen in Rowen's future? What did he know?

Rowen wasn't sure what to ask, but he knew he had to say something. As he opened his mouth, the apartment door also opened.

"Ah, you're both awake," Kayura greeted. "And it's not even noon yet."

Cale, who apparently wasn't a morning person either, grumbled something and moved further into the kitchen. Kayura approached and appraised the doughnut still in Rowen's hand.

"Eating healthy as always, I see," she commented, but then moved to get one herself. "They might weigh me down, but I love the cream filled kind."

That bit of normal conversation brought Rowen out of his stupor.

"So what are we doing today? Are we going to look for the guys some more?"

Kayura swallowed a large bite. "Leave finding the Ronins to us. YOU are going to train."


Later that morning, Rowen found himself standing on yet another roof top. They were back within the Inside now, skirting its boundaries to remain a safe distance from the epicenter. Kayura insisted this was where they would train, despite it being more dangerous. Though Rowen wasn't sure what she thought they would be doing that would put the ignorant public at risk if they remained Outside.

"How is it exactly that you and I can go In and Out so easily while nobody else can?" Rowen asked as he gazed thoughtfully out at the city. He could practically see the border. One side dark and dilapidated, the other new and inhabited.

"Part of it is due to you not being here when the original spell was cast. Most of it is due to your armor's power."

Rowen sighed. "Kayura, I told you before. I don't have Strata any more. You took us back here too late. We've already lost them."

The shorter woman placed a look upon him with eyes full of infinite knowledge. "Strata and you are one. A part of it will always be with you until the day you die."

Rowen was suddenly hit with the thought that Kayura just might know the exact day of his death and all that was in between. Everything he did. Everything he was. The thought was somewhat overwhelming. He tried to remain on topic.

"So you're saying I can still call up Strata if I want?"

"Not the way you're thinking. The armor's physical form will remain in Falnan, its seal in tact. But Strata's power is still yours to call forth as you wish it. Same with the others. The power of the armors is still prominent in this world."

"Is that the reason you needed to get us from the past?" Rowen asked thoughtfully. Things were starting to make sense now. "Even in this future, the physical armors are still locked in Falnan. The armors couldn't chose new bearers here to protect this world."

"We believe that is the case. Even I don't have all the answers. But it seems the most likely reason. Most of you still have bloodlines existing to this day and none of the armors have chosen a successor. We can only conclude the reason they haven't chosen new bearers is because they can't."

Rowen was once again hit by the gravity of Kayura's knowledge. His bloodline. Three hundred years in the future. His children, his children's children, their children have since come and gone and here he was still unable to imagine even having kids in this point in his life.

Most of our bloodlines. That meant not everyone had relatives living in this time. Whose bloodlines had died and whose had lived on?

"Your training begins now," Kayura announced, knocking him once again from the myriad of possibilities besieging his imagination. "I had hoped by the time I found you, you would already be familiar with harnessing your armor's power. I see now that our hopes were an impossibility. We are the ones who are meant to train you in these skills and you warriors, in turn, will then return to your time and train our past selves in the same."

"It comes full circle," Rowen said, remembering Kayura's words from the previous day.

She smiled. "Yes, it does."

"Must it begin now? I don't know how well I can do this. I want to look for the others, not say on this rooftop. Isn't finding the guys more important than this right now?"

"This is just as important," Kayura insisted. "If you can't harness your powers, you're no match for The Hunter's forces."

"Then neither are the others. And I doubt three warlords are an adequate number to comb the whole city."

Kayura paused for a moment. "There are not only three."

"Oh yeah?" Rowen challenged. "Who else?"

Kayura folded her arms, the very picture of fading tolerance. "I've forgotten how obnoxious you can be. Once you get an idea in your head, you don't quit."

Rowen smirked. "Then let me look for my friends."

"I'll tell you what. When you learn what I'm going to teach you, then I'll let you look for them however and where ever you want. Deal?"

Rowen took a moment to consider. He had always been smart and a quick study. Though Sage often picked up anything to do with martial arts better and faster than him, Rowen still wasn't too far behind. He could learn whatever Kayura had up her sleeve in no time flat.

He put his hands on his hips and gave her a knowing grin. "Lady, you've got yourself a deal."

She returned his grin. "Good. Now observe." She raised her hands and Rowen felt a power stirring in the air. It was that same power from the other day when Kayura had jumped off the building with him. That power that slowed them and lowered them to the ground.

"The power of each armor is elemental in nature," Kayura continued. "I inherited the Armor of Cruelty from Anubis, whose Quake With Fear attack contains the element of metal. With the armor's power, I can still produce the chains from the attack to a small degree, but my larger strength is the magnetic power to control metal."

To the side of them was an out of date cooling unit. Rowen balked as it lifted right off the ground, hovering between the two of them in the air. The appliance began to fall apart, as if its components were deconstructed by invisible fingers.

"I can make myself magnetic as well," she added. "It is how I control my rise and descent in the air. I use the magnetic pull from the metal structure of these buildings."

By then, the cooling unit was nothing but a bunch of screws, wires and metal panels. Kayura allowed it all to fall in a heap at their feet. Then she looked at Rowen. "Your element of Strata, of course, is air."

"Yeah," Rowen shot back, irritated. "I have air. How does that work?" He glanced at the sky around him, arms out. "You say I can make the breeze, so what then? I'll ruin this guy's picnic? Make him lose his kite? What am I supposed to do with air?"

Kayura waited patiently, allowing him time to settle into the idea before extending his mind. "What does the hurricane do with air, Rowen?"

His crystalline blue eyes suddenly lit up as his imagination was ignited with possibilities.

Kayura was pleased he seemed to be getting it. "Alright, now show me your power."

Rowen was excited now. This could be fun. Once he could call forth the armor's power, he could get very creative. But baby steps first. He pictured in his mind just a small, contained gust of wind to start with.

"Alright," he said to himself, tensing. "Here we go. ….Wind!" Nothing happened. Rowen concentrated harder. "Wind! Come on!"

Still nothing. In fact, the air seemed even deader here in the Inside.

"Maybe it's because we're inside the barrier-"

"It has nothing to do with where we are, Rowen," Kayura cut him off. "Feel the power inside you. Strata is there. Just call to it. It will come."

He closed his eyes, he pictured the armor inside him, waiting for him. He willed the power out.

And there was no power to be found.

"Gah!" He shoved his hands in his hair with frustration. "This isn't working!"

"Calm down," Kayura said. She was now sitting in a lotus position on the ground, her eyes closed. How she looked right then reminded him he was talking to the last of the Ancient's bloodline. "I know you're used to getting everything so easily, but this isn't something you're going to master in the first five minutes. You're so used to using Strata's power a certain way, and you can't do it that way anymore."

"Then how am I supposed to do it?" Rowen complained.

She cracked an eye at him. "That is something you will have to discover for yourself."


All Rowen's plans of instant mastery of the air element turned to dust in the wind as the day went on. Hour by hour passed and still no progress. He tried calling Strata's name, he tried mediation, he tried attacking this problem from every side he could think of. Still nothing. Rowen refused lunch, though his stomach wished he hadn't. But it was hard to eat when there was a puzzle to be solved.

Ever present, Kayura continued her own meditation with infinite patience nearby. She responded if Rowen asked her something directly, but otherwise kept to herself. He glared at her now and then as it seemed anything helpful she had to say had long since been said that morning. Now she was merely a silent witness to his failure.

Feeling defeated, Rowen thought back to a dream he had. It was a mere few nights ago in Falnan, but it seemed more like another lifetime. It was more a vision than a dream, a reminder of something he was pretty sure happened, though the memory had a surreal dreamlike quality to it. That time as a child, flying through the air during one of his stupid stunts, when he first met the Strata Armor.

You called me, the armor had said to him. Young Rowen had been confused for he had not called anyone then. Now, here as an adult, he was calling and Strata, it seemed, refused to answer. Was it Strata's fault for the silence, or was it his own? Rowen didn't know what else to do.

Then he remembered, the same principal he used on all his tests and theories. When cannot think of an answer, one needs to stop thinking about the question. So Rowen took a break, moseying over to the meditating Kayura.

"So there's a question I've been dying to ask."

She didn't open an eye to look at him. "I'll do my best to answer."

Rowen plopped down next to her in a more relaxed cross-legged position. "How is it that you and the warlords are still alive? How is it that, even after Talpa's gone, you never age?"

A shadow of a smile crossed her face. "That is a very good question, Rowen. Talpa was a great evil, but he also understood a great many things beyond mortal reasoning. Much like Hariel, he was a being not quite god, but certainly no mortal either. And he had a special power.

"In the ether of the very fabric of a soul's essence, each life, when it comes into this world, is attached to a golden string. This string represents the path one follows from birth to death. The string is Destiny."

Rowen frowned. "Wait. So you're saying from the day I was born, a life was already chosen for me? What if I don't want that path? What if I choose another?"

Kayura opened her eyes at him then, a fond smile on her face. "It doesn't work that way. The path did not tell you where to go. It knows the choices you will make in your life and it knows where you will end based on your choices. It forces nothing on you, you are the one that decides where it goes."

She paused for a deep breath. "Talpa had the power to see these golden strings. With it, he set out to find very specific people to become his followers. People like the warlords and I. People with short strings."

"Short strings?" Rowen wondered. "Meaning that you..."

She nodded. "Meaning that we were all meant to die young. Talpa watched us and waited. On the cusp of our last breaths, he cut our strings and set us free from Destiny. Thus, our lives are in limbo. We have no strings, no path. So we do not age, we do not change; and will not die unless killed by our own hands or in battle."

Rowen leaned back on his palms, blinking at the pale, sickly sky as he soaked that all in. He couldn't decide if that was amazing or incredibly sad. And he did not know how to reply as the sun began to set on the horizon. Even through the murk of the Inside, the day star's evening show thrust red and purples into the clouds.

"So how's it going?" Dais called as he climbed the fire escape to the roof. "Not really seeing much action up here."

Rowen frowned in disappointment, but Kayura seemed less concerned. "About as much progress as we enjoyed our time around. He'll get it."

Dais huffed. "Better get it soon. No telling when shit's gonna hit the fan and we'll need all the power we can get."

"What about you?" Rowen shot back. "Any sign of my friends? You don't look like you've been looking too hard."

The Warlord of Illusion gave him a mirthless grin. "Trust me kid, we've got eyes and ears all over this place. If so much as a spider farts we catch wind of it. All is quiet out there, both with our guys and theirs. The world is waiting with baited breath."

Kayura made a sound of agreement as she rose to her feet. "It feels like everything is coiled, just waiting to pounce."

Dais let out a heavy breath. "Well, nothing else to do, then, but give it another try. What do you say, Hashiba? How about you give Kay a break and let me be the teacher this time?"

Rowen stood, dusting off his pants. "Uh, sure. I'll try anything once."

"Good." The white haired main pulled a handgun from the holster at his hip. He checked the clip before slamming it back in place. Then he aimed at Rowen. "Dance, Strata."

"Excuse me?" Rowen demanded, his voice rising a bit as the gun's barrel stared him down.

"Boy, you better run or I'm going to put a bullet between your eyes. I'm not joking."

Rowen took off like a startled deer as the first shot whizzed past his bangs. Three more rounds followed in quick succession as Rowen dodged and flipped around each one.

"Kid's pretty quick," Dais commented.

"Those better be rubber bullets," Kayura informed him.

"Ryoushi's goons ain't using rubber bullets," he replied as he fired off the rest of his clip.

Rowen's quick reflexes kept him just a hair away from disaster each time. But that last bullet, it snuck up on him. His instincts felt it aiming for him; he knew he couldn't move fast enough. It was coming for him and he had no hope of getting out of the way.

Something took over. Something new, yet familiar surged through him. His arm flew forward defensively as the rest of him tried to roll out of harm's way. The air around him gathered and exploded, meeting the bullet inches from his skin and causing it to veer off wildly out into the distance.

Rowen stumbled to a stop, realizing he was no longer being shot at. He looked back to see both Kayura and Dais staring at him and his body trembled with adrenaline.

"Yeah! YEAH!" He thrust his fists in the air in victory. "Did you see that? Who can do it in a day? Rowen can!"

Dais' startled look settled back into his sarcastic smirk. "Still the genius after all, huh Kay?"

Kayura just shook her head, a smile on her face.

Then, power erupted at their backs. It hit like a shock wave, reverberating into their bones and rattling all the windows in the buildings around them. The three turned to face the source as the sky suddenly darkened. A bright pillar of light rumbled and coruscated in the distance, announcing to the world the source of the disturbance.

Rowen stared at the tower of light, his scalp and arms tingling. This feeling was so very familiar, he didn't even have to guess about what or who this power was coming from.

"And here we were excited about a little burst of air," Dais marveled.

"You know that power," Kayura said knowingly to Rowen. "Tell me, which one of your brothers have revealed themselves?"

Rowen couldn't tear his eyes away. Just as he knew who it was, he knew he had to get there to help his friend, now.

"It's Cye."