Chapter Four
Kuroi-Ryu smirked as his plan came into motion the second he gave the dying corpse of Rika to Jung-woo. This new form of Joseph he saw no friend and no foe, all he knew was how to take revenge and how to make people ever regret being alive in the first place. Even though he was on his dark side Joseph still loved Morgan dearly and if it came to him having to sacrifice his life energy just to have her be alive again, he would take his life for her a thousand times and he wouldn't care. As the hours passed Kuroi-Ryu rented a hotel room in the town of Kashia, it was only a day's walk away from the Defender's Realm and that satisfied this blood thirsty demon
Alex woke up to the sound of bacon being cooked on the stove. She sat up and blinked. "Lord Jesse what are you doing?"
He smiled at her. "I'm making breakfast this morning, so sit down." he said in a sweet tone as he also made grits, eggs, sausage, and orange juice. " I wanted to thank you for the dinner last night, well actually this morning, it was the best thing I've tasted since my mate died two years ago."
She blinked. "You had a mate Lord Jesse?"
"Yep her name was Amber, she was my whole world. But it was this war that killed her."
"My lord you don't have to tell me, if it hurts you to bring up such a topic then please do not hurt yourself by telling me such a story."
He chuckled at her in amusement, but she was right . . . talking about Amber hurt him dearly but he wasn't about to show her his only weakness. Slowly but surely Alex was growing on him and he didn't like the feeling she was placing on him. He didn't want to lose another female that was so close to him.
FLASH BACK (2 years ago)
"Jesse!" Amber called as she ran up the stairs to tell him the good news. The war prince grabs his queen.
"What is it my princess?"
She giggled. "I have good news my lord."
"Is that so and what could be more good news then you now my mateHe questioned.
"Nope, even better . . . , I'm with pup." she whispered in his ear.
His eyes widen in shock.
"Are you serious?!"
She nodded up at him. "I am dead serious my lord."
With that said Jesse spun her around a smile playing across his face. Hearing that his mate was with pup he knew he'd be a father and he had an heir to the throne of the western castle.
END FLASH BACK
Tears formed in Jesse's eyes as the memories began to hit him like a rock.
Alex hugged him from behind and buried her face into his kimono shirt. She had sensed that he was having memories of her and she wanted to try to make him think about her for a few minutes.
He turned around and hugged her tightly to his chest; the tears came close to falling. "I'm sorry Alex . . . but I lost someone very dear to me and I can't help but let my tears fall."
She held onto his kimono tightly. "It's okay my lord. Everyone needs someone once in a while who will let them have a shoulder to cry on. You always have mine."
For those next ten minutes Jesse held onto her tightly, he didn't want her to ever leave his side. Now he knew, he was falling for Alex and he was sure that she was falling for him too.
Shiro sat at his desk thinking on what Ayame had said to him the day before, he couldn't help but wonder if the pup she was holding was his and the entire story she had said was all about him and their past together. Still he pushed it aside and continued with his normal day business.
A servant went into the study carrying the boy in her arms. "My lord Miss Ayame left this for you, she said to tell you it is the last thing you will ever get from her."
"Where is she?"
The servant lowered her head. "Umm, she gave her life energy to the boy . . . he had a high fever and was about to die when she sacrificed herself to save your son. . . Heero
Shiro's eyes widened in shock as for he now realized that the story Ayame had told him yesterday was about them and his promise he had made to her when they where still young pups themselves. He took the boy and looked down at him with a smile. Shiro now understood that Ayame still loved him with all her heart and would give up the world just to be with him, but now it was too late.
Koji sighed as he looked at Tsuki as she continued to sleep peacefully on the bed that had been set up beside his so she could sleep near him. He was happy that she was still alive and waiting for his return. But he knew that with the way the war was going he wasn't going to last much longer, he could already sense his life energy being drained out of him. He was twenty-three and we knew he would die by the time the war ended. He winced as the poison he had been injected with only a few weeks prior to his return was spreading fast
Tsuki woke up and looked at Koji; he had slit his wrist and was letting the poison drain from him.
She gasped and put a portion of her kimono sleeve over the wound. "What are you doing?! Trying to commit suicide?!"
He blinked at her sudden appearance and smiled, "I was not trying to kill myself; I was letting the poison drain out of me."
"Idiot that's the way to kill yourself not to drain poison out of you!" she sighed and wrapped a few bandages over his cut and tied it off tightly but not too tight to where it would cut off the e blood circulation.
Once she had finished he hugged her and nuzzles her neck. "Sorry I worried you love, the only thing that will be the end of me is a battle between me and Jung-Woo's forces."
Next morning
Jesse knocked on the door of James his old Elvin friend, they had known each other for a very long time.
Mylin opened the door and smiled, "Good morning Lord Jesse She bowed respectfully.
"Is James here?" he asked as Mylin let him into the room.
She blinked and nodded "He's still sleeping though; I'll go wake him up for you." Mylin headed back into the room and over to James, who you could tell was in a deep sleep and didn't really want to wake up until he was fully rested, She went over to him and gently shook him.
"Lord James, Lord Jesse is here, he wants to talk to you." she whispered in his ear.
He pouted and put the pillow over his head."Tomorrow," James said from underneath the pillow.
Mylin giggled and took the pillow.
"No, you have to go and talk to Jesse; he says it's really important." Mylin grabbed the pillow and threw it across the room. "Come on Lord James. It's passed noon."
He grumbled and sat up yawning, scratching the side of his head and glaring half heartedly at the door where Jesse stood a smirk on his lips as James got up and went over to his friend. "So, what's so important that you had to wake me up at . . . , what time is it?"
"Noon my Lord James." Mylin said as she stood beside James holding up a shirt for him.
He glared at Jesse for waking him up so early and took the shirt from Mylin and put it on. "Alright Jess, you have my attention, what is it that you want?"
Mylin left to go into town to get a few things they would for their dinner that night. Jesse sighed and both he and James sat at the table and talked.
"Are you sure you want me to do this?"
Jesse nodded to his friend, " You're the only elf I know with the best skill on how to assonate."
"You know funny thing is I've never told Mylin about my past life. If I told her she'd be scared of me,"
Jesse just sat there in silence. "So are you up to the job?"
"Of course I'm up to the job James smirked the glint of an assassin laced his eyes as he and Jesse took a shot of sake.
An hour or so later Mylin came back into the room and smiled at the boys as they laughed and joked about how they would dispose of Jung-woo. "Jesse-sama will you be staying for dinner
Jesse stood and shook his head. "Sorry, Mylin not today." he bowed to Mylin and shook hands with James and left.
Zander snarled as Josh staggered over to his throne after being tortured for the past three days. Josh's scent was saying "I will die here."
"Why don't you die?!"
Josh winced in pain as blood trailed behind him, " I-I have a d-deal for y-you Zander . . .,"
"Deal? What kind of deal?"
"If you fight a-along side Jung-Woo . . . I-I'll give you all of Japan o-once I've killed the other three lords. . . "He said as he fell to his hands and knees breathing hard.
"Oh really?"
Josh shaking nodded his head and fell to the ground unconscious from all the blood loss.
Zander smirked and summoned his troops of over twenty thousand men to his throne room and told them to get ready to leave for Jung-Woo's camp. He had explained clearly that they were to leave within the next twenty-four hours.
Shadow went over to Josh and picked him up and placed him on his back and headed away.
Rayne stopped him.
"Get out of my way Rayne Shadow growled.
She shook her head and pointed to Josh's Friesian that had been in the throne room the entire time.
Shadow looked at her and growled, he was not in the mood for her games there was no way he could get Josh onto his stallion alone.
Rayne just walked away and watched as Shadow and the stallion head off with the severely injured warlord.
Rick smiled as Kryn made lunch for the both of them. Over the past weeks she had been with him and his army he deeply enjoyed her company that she gave him most of the day. She had her hair back in a ponytail so that it wouldn't catch on fire, her bangs shadowed her eyes slightly but she didn't mind she could see well enough to make lunch for the entire city of the Defender's Realm and she would make it perfect.
Kryn blinked and looked at Rick, " Did I do something wrong?"
He chuckled. "No, I'm just watching you make lunch my dear." he said a smiling played across his lips.
She blushed slightly and smiled as she turned back to the lunch and continued until it was all finished.
"Rick, how did the entire war even start? We were allies with China and now we're fighting against them?"
He sighed and shook his head, "It's a war that has been going on ever since Jesse was a pup. See Jesse's mother was Jung-Woo's father's sister, he hated that his sister had chosen a Japanese lord to mate with and not a Chinese lord. So in order to repay Jesse's father the war started. Rizu, Jung-Woo's father, told Kavin to hand over his sister and the war would end, and since Mayu was already pregnant with Jesse both of them refused to part. . ."
" . . . after ten years of the war raging both Rizu and Kavin were assassinated, the weird thing is we don't know who killed Rizu. . .all we know is that he died by the hands of some unknown demon. A boy too. . . And well Jesse's dad was murdered by his right hand in command because of their ruthless ways of dealing with the war. Jesse's mother Mayu was devastated and took care of Jesse until he was sixteen and that's when she had come down with a high fever. She had the fever for over two weeks before she passed away. If you thought Jesse was a stuck up little brat you need to get you story straight because he has been through so much I couldn't leave him alone in this war. . ."
Kryn just stands there completely shocked that Jesse is taking after his father and continuing with the war that his father started over twenty-four years ago.
Kuroi-Ryu winced as he fell into a deep sleep, his mind was being trapped in the land of dreams and he tried with all he had to escape the nightmare it was producing. The darkness that dwelled in his body was trying to take over completely, but the good side of Kuroi-Ryu would not allow that to happen to him. "No . . . , n-not this time. . . "He tossed and turned as the darkness continued to take control over his body. He cried out in pain as he flared with black magic energy, he was sitting up now and is holding his head in pain as the true Kuroi-Ryu tried to break through Joseph's defenses.
Jesse went to the window and looked in the direction of where the black aura was coming from. "So, it has begun has it Joseph?"
Alex went over to Jesse and smiled at him," What's wrong?"
He shook his head and kissed her cheek. "Nothing you need to worry about my dear,"
She tilted her head to the side and looked out the window. She shrugged and shut the window before going to bed.
Jesse on the other hand stayed awake and sat at the table lost in a deep thought on how now to get Joseph back. For now he just thought it over and soon fell asleep in the chair.
Kavon and his men reached the border between the Defender's Realm and the Eastern Pass.
"My lord when do you want to attack?"
"At sunrise when the Japanese lords are all awake; just be ready." Kavon said as he watched the guards at the gates. "To bad you men won't be seeing the light of tomorrow." He led his Friesian back over to the troops and told them not to make any movements or make any type of fire and just to sleep on the ground. By the time it was time to attack Kavon had killed the guards, giving them easier entrance to the city.
Jesse, rick, and Kyo all came out of the gates and stood between Kavon and his men. Kavon growled and gave the order to his men to attack.
"Attack!" Jesse shouted as thousands of arrows came flying out of the city and struck the men that had been to close to the wall. Kavon's eyes widen.
"You were expecting us were you Jess?"
"Of course, you have to remember Kavon I've known Jung-woo a long time I know when he's going to have a sneak attack by one of his troops."
Kavon cursed and the men that had survived all retreated back towards Jung-Woo's camp.
Jesse smirked and all three men go back into the gates.
"Damn, we didn't get to play." Rick said as he stretched.
Kyo laughed along with Jesse.
Koji went over to Jesse and bowed. "It has been a while hasn't it Lord Jesse?"
"Indeed it has Koji, are you ready to be apart of my army again?"
"Of course."
Jesse nodded. "How many troops do you have?'
"Twelve thousand but more than half of them are in training; I have been gone for five years keeping the dark elves at bay. Un fortunately I lost a lot of my best men."
" As long as you have men and they are willing to fight under my command, and you are ready to join my forces again I will have some of my best men train yours to be at the top of their game."
Koji nodded and walked away after bowing again.
Zander led his troops through the winding pathways of the cave of Chaos.
Rayne had stayed behind to make sure that all the servants kept up with their chores that needed to be done each and everyday.
Once Zander and his men reached Jung-Woo's head quarters; Jung-woo smirked evilly and greets the black fox. "Now Jesse the war is just beginning. . . "