Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Soul Calibur


Chapter 3: Prisoner to the Spirits

Siegfried opened his eyes slowly, completely lost in a daze. He had no idea what happened after the battle against the spirits and he felt like he had been asleep for a year. But he knew that he wasn't back at the castle, where he is suppose to rest.

Instead, he found himself lying on some hay in a large cavern. Water was dripping from the top onto his face. He tried to get up, but found himself stuck. He looked to his right and spotted a shackle around his wrist on a chain connected to the hard rock floor. He sat up, rubbing his head with his free hand.

"What's going on?" He asked himself groggily. "My head is pounding and I have no idea where I am." The confused knight raised his voice. "Hello? Somebody help!"

"Will you pipe down!?" A voice snapped. "You humans can be so annoying its not even funny."

Siegfried snapped his head to the voice of the direction. It seemed to come from the mouth of the cave. He realized that he was on the bottom floor of the cave.

He looked but he saw no one. Then he felt a hard tap on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and what he saw shocked him. It was the girl in the fox mask who attacked him yesterday. She had on the same outfit as before, but she had her knife on her belt.

"Um…who are you?" Siegfried dared to ask.

"Mind your own business," She retorted.

It didn't take Siegfried time think that this girl was hot tempered. Even with the mask on, he could sense her glaring evilly at him.

The girl walked to the front of him and stood next to the stairs that led up to the cave's mouth. She moved the mask up, so her mouth was visible. She did a quick whistle.

Siegfried cocked his head, confused by what the girl was doing. Suddenly, he saw a figure walk to her side. It was the large white wolf with red marking from yesterday's battle. From the top of the cave, a beautiful eagle, with a snow white head and golden body hovered down to the ground. The eagle was larger than any bird Siegfried has seen. Even in the cave's little light, the golden body glistened.

Another creature was a dragon with a long winding body, as if it was a snake with four legs. It mane, that stretched from its forehead to its tail, was colored red. The two long whiskers, located next to the nose on both sides, was colored black. Its powerful red eyes gazed at Siegfried; half amused, half focused.

Another creature joined from leaping from the cave's mouth to the others next to it. It was a tiger, with beautiful snow-white fur and blue stripes. The tiger's eyes glistened brightly and were carefully focused on Siegfried. One thing unusual about the tiger was its very long tail.

The last creature to join was a horse. The creature walked slowly down the stairs. It fur was colored black and its mane was the same color too. The horse, Siegfried guessed, was probably the oldest of the creatures, but didn't want to show its elderly age. Its deep brown eyes gazed at Siegfried intently, but more focused then the other creatures.

"Siegfried Schtuffen," The girl began speaking, sounding authoritative. "You have been caught by us and have become our prisoner of war. Until the day the humans leave us alone, you will remain here. If you do try to escape, either I or the guardians here-" She moved her hand in front of the creatures. "-Will hunt you down and kill you without mercy."

Siegfried shuttered. The girl smirked and pulled off her mask. Siegfried gazed in shock at how beautiful such a spiteful person could be. Her face looked only about the same age a girl his age would be. Her red eyes sparkled in the cave's light. She had on red paint over her eyes and on her lips. She lowered her hands to her side.

"I…" She began. "Ookami…Protector of the Spirits, vow to protect every last spirit until the day my soul moves on."

Siegfried bit his lip and narrowed his eyes. How dare this girl hold him against his will?

Ookami looked at the wolf and nodded her head. The wolf stepped back and picked something up with its massive jaws. It turned to Siegfried and walked to him. In its mouth was a rabbit. The wolf dropped it in front of Siegfried. Siegfried looked up at the wolf. Its red eyes closed and it bowed its head before stepping back to its spot.

"Well?" Ookami said tapping her foot. "Aren't you going to be polite and show some manners?"

"Um…thanks," Siegfried muttered.

He slowly picked up the rabbit and took a cautionary bite, just in case if it was poison or contaminated.

"Don't worry…We wouldn't poison you. Just eat the rabbit."

Siegfried took more bites out of the rabbit. The girl and her creatures watched him as he ate. Siegfried would feel uncomfortable about all the attention, but he was hungry and continued to eat. When he was full, the girl stepped over to him.

"Since you will be staying here for a while, I guess I can introduce you to the guardians who will keep an eye on you when I'm not here."

The wolf took a step forward. "This is Teranika." Teranika bowed its head before going back to its spot.

The eagle jumped over to stand in front of the group. "This is Kallias." Kallias flared out its beautiful wings and flew back to its spot. The next to walk out was the dragon.

"This is Morag." The dragon dipped its head in greeting and backed up to its position. The tiger trotted to the front. Siegfried guessed that one was probably the youngest of the guardians.

"This is Sappho." Sappho trotted over to Siegfried and sniffed his head. She sneezed and let out a small trill before trotting back to her spot in the group. The group parted and let the horse walk through. The horse walked slowly till it was in front of Siegfried.

"This is Delano, the elder of the guardians." The horse stood still, longer than the other guardians, and gazed at Siegfried. Siegfried looked back at the horse. The horse bowed its head and walked away.

"As I said before, I am Ookami," The girl said as she went back to the center. "Now, since you are our prisoner, let us give you some rules. You must always listen to either me or the other guardians. Never listen to other forces besides us. We will feed you three times a day and we will give you water when you need it. You will be allowed out of the cave, but I must accompany you. Those are easy rules, right?"

Siegfried hesitated before nodding his head. Ookami smiled and walked away up the steps.

"I will return shortly," She said as she walked up the steps. "Don't cause any trouble."

"Wait, where are you going?" Siegfried called out.

"I'll return at least before nightfall," She said calmly as she slipped her fox mask on. "The guardians will watch you while I'm gone."

"But wait, I-"

But he missed her. The girl slipped out of there quickly and disappeared. Siegfried sighed and lay down. He rest his head on the hay and closed his eyes. Then, he heard something step over to him. He ignored it and shut his eyes tighter. A massive paw was on his chest and his eyes shot open. He saw Sappho and jumped in surprise.

The tiger purred. "Gee…master was right. You humans are weird!"

"I'm not! -Hey…who said that?"

"I did!" Siegfried looked at Sappho.

"Are you sure? Last time I check, animals don't talk."

"Well, I'm no animal dummy!" Sappho growled. Siegfried could tell her voice was a young adult female voice, indicating that she was pretty young for a spirit.

Sappho sat down and licked her paws. Siegfried was speechless; something that wasn't human can actually speak!

"Sappho! Quiet down!" Another voice called out. This one was also a woman's voice, but it sounded older than Sappho's voice.

"Oh, Teranika. Can you at least try to be social?" Sappho called out.

The white wolf waked out of the shadows and growled at Sappho. "There's only one spot for being the annoying one and that's you."

Sappho pinned her ears at Teranika. Siegfried was now even more confused. Can all the guardians here talk?

"Teranika, Sappho…must you always argue?" A different voice called out. This one sounded like a adult man's voice.

The dragon, Morag steps out of his little cave with the cavern and looks at the two arguing guardians.

"Morag, Teranika started it. I was just bugging the human."

"Sappho, you know that you shouldn't do that," A voice called out. This one was a woman's, about the same as Teranika, but more calmer.

The golden eagle, Kallias, flew down to the ground from her little cave in the cavern's ceiling. Kallias landed perfectly on the ground, her golden wings sparkling.

"Why can't you two just get along?" Kallias asked, her golden eyes looking intently at the wolf and tiger.

"Because Teranika is no fun!" Sappho whined.

"Humph…I know fun," Teranika growled.

"Um…excuse me." Siegfried said shyly.

The four guardians looked at him.

"Yes…what is it?" Kallias tilted her head.

"Spit it out, human," Teranika said coldly.

"So…you can all talk?" Siegfried asked quietly.

"Yes we can," Morag answered. "We usually don't talk to humans. But since you are here, we can, I guess."

Sappho pricks her ears and purrs. "We usually only talk to Mistress Ookami or just argue with each other."

"Mistress…Ookami?" Siegfried repeated.

"You know, the person who brought you here as a prisoner?" Sappho said, interrupting her purring momentarily. "Don't worry, she'll get nicer once you get to know her."

Siegfried sighed, guessing that the tiger was probably lying.

Then, he saw the elderly horse guardian walk out of the shadows. His deep drown were shining with amusement.

"Merry meet to you all," Delano said politely. His voice was older than all the others. He walked slowly over to Siegfried and sniffed him. Siegfried could tell that the old horse was very wise and must've been very strong when he was younger.

"You are a most unusual boy," Delano said quietly. "And…I sense a great power from you. But I still question…why did Mistress Ookami bring you as prisoner? Surely, she could've easily kidnapped the king of that wretched kingdom."

The horse was right. If she could defeat an entire army with only herself and a guardian, she could without a doubt easily kidnap the king of an entire kingdom. Delano walked back.

"Come guardians," He said. "We must have a meeting."

The dark horse walked into the shadows. Morag, Kallias, and Teranika followed after him. Sappho stayed and looked at Siegfried.

"We'll be back shortly," She meowed. "Don't cause any trouble."

Siegfried nodded curtly and the tiger smirked at him. Sappho turned, hitting Siegfried with her long tail, and ran into the shadows. Now, Siegfried was alone. He punched ground, angry that he, a person like him, was supposed to be taken care by a girl and her "pets".

He laid his head down onto his hay bedding and closed his eyes, drifting off into a slumber that he hoped would never end.