- No… No, this can't be! – Kese muttered in shock after hearing the pirate's order. "Burn down the village. Burn down the village..." he unconsciously repeated it in his mind. He didn't know whether he was panting or lacked breathing. The place he called home would be lost soon if he didn't do anything against it.

He didn't want to do nothing. He didn't want to let them do it.

Kese calmed himself a little then put on the mask. Something inside of him whispered to do this, to hide his face, just to be sure. But they were so many; it was one against almost ten with the others away digging. He just wouldn't be able to hold his ground. If he had other men with him or maybe he could create more of himself...

At first he didn't notice his hands moving towards each other, taking up a strange position. It was his scar hurting again which made him look at his own hands. His fingers were bent, well, except his index and middle fingers. They were extended; the right ones pointing upwards, the left ones crossing them. 'It looks familiar... Wait!' Kese's eyes widened. This pose of his fingers resembled to the ones Emiko showed him a long time ago: those so called hand seals...

He will have time for thinking about this later. He had to figure out what he should do now. He had surprised the others in the forest and the abbey, giving him a little advantage, but...

He almost laughed out loud. He had just put on the mask. 'They'll be definitely surprised seeing the Magors' ghost, whom they killed and who've just terrified them hours ago... Especially him.' he looked at the bald one. Kese calmed himself. 'I won't let them do it. I'll protect our village from being burned down. And meanwhile I will deliver Botond's and father's revenge on them.' He felt his fear running away from him. His chest filled with his heart's strong beats, his muscles tensed with anticipation. His mind got clearer as his whole posture, behaviour and thinking changed. Something - which had snapped open inside of him when he had first killed - overwhelmed him, not in a harmful or bad way, but guiding him in his forthcoming actions.

Four of the pirates went to the fire and grabbed sticks of burning wood, then turned towards the village. The thatched roofs would be covered in flames in no time... The blacksmiths' house was the closest to them, so they headed towards it. When they were close enough, Kese jumped to his feet and leapt. He landed on a pirate and immediately stabbed his knife into him. When they reached the ground his enemy was dead.

He looked up and his mask became visible to the pirates. They stepped back in surprise and horror; the bald one even tripped over Tas' chair when he saw the painted grotesque grin. The blonde only had time for another one before they came back to their senses and attacked him. Kese quickly dispatched them; only the bald one remained, swinging his sabre more skilfully. He constantly threw swears and curses at Kese, and sometimes managed to cut him. Their fight took long; in addition the other pirates were drawn back by his shouting, and the blonde had to deal with them as well.

They didn't lessen very fast but they did enjoy they were against only one - now not so fearsome – 'ghost', who was also vulnerable like them. Kese was getting tired, he got more wounds and his scar was still aching. He was affected by these: he couldn't concentrate like he had been able before. Despite of this, he fought like a raving madman, killing them one by one, taking away the pirates' spirit and courage. He suddenly noticed that a few of them had disappeared. Then a few more and more, until he had only one man left. He finished him and headed towards the sea.

It started to rain; the wind got stronger, and more thunder lightened the dark cloudy sky. Kese ran down on the stairs of the coast's rocky wall leading to the docks. He saw the remaining half dozen pirates on their boat, ready to depart any time. They were waiting for the bald one who was a few metres below the blonde on the last stairs, helping his beaten fellow to the boat. The others noticed him and shouted to the two to hurry. The bald one looked up to see him.

And his eyes widened in fear. He had experienced many things, but never thought that their almost routine visit would become a massacre and he had to run for his life. He was ashamed by this but he wanted to live, damn it! He was sure this ghost or what – he didn't care what it was anymore – was protecting the island and its treasure, and no matter how many or how strong they attacked him, he would fight back. Even if it cost his own existence...

The bald pirate limped onwards with the other at his side. He was sure they would get on the boat before the creature could reach them. Suddenly the beaten man pulled him down with a shriek. Kese had thrown himself over the rails and landed on him, silencing him immediately, then quickly jumped out of the sabre's way. He was able stop the next attack with his weapon, but the bald kicked him hard on his abdomen. Kese was sent to the ground, clutching the spot of the hit.

The pirate had kicked his scar. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem; he would just stand up and go on. But he couldn't stand up: the pain was so great, he could barely breathe. He pulled up his shirt and touched his skin under the bandages, to find nothing. When the pain ceased, he tried to stand up, but another wave of agony came over him. Then he got shocked: under his fingers he could feel his scar opening. A part of his wound renewed, and he felt the warmth and sloppiness of his leaking blood. He arranged back his bandages as the pain slowly decreased, then stood up. For a second he saw cobblestone instead planking, and strange, tall houses instead of water and cliffs. He shook his head, then looked around. 'Where is he?'

Then he heard shouting. The pirate was at the end of the docks, waving to his fellows. The others were on boat, and already on their way back to the ship. – Come back you damned stinkers! Don't leave me here! – but the others didn't hear or didn't want to hear him. They thought it was enough to leave behind two of their boats, and he would solve the rest. The bald cursed and swore more, but decided to row after them. He was about to get on one of the boats when he saw a Busó heading towards him. The pirate drew his sabre. – Oh, why haven't I killed you? – he hissed and charged at the blonde. Kese leaned away and cut into the bald's arm, forcing him to drop his weapon; then he stabbed him in the chest.

The last pirate lurched and fell down. Kese kneeled next to him: he wanted to know something. – Who was it?

- Wha? – the bald moaned. He clutched his wound, breathing hard.

- Who... – he almost forgot the role he had played not so long ago. He took a deep breath and repressed the pain coming from his belly. – ... killed me.

The pirate started to chuckle, but his growing laugh turned into coughing. – Why would I tell you?

- I will ease your pain if you do so.

- ... Is this the price of my soul?... Well... – he thought about it a little. – He looks like a rat... has a scar, uh, on his neck... his name... his... name is... – his gaze pierced into the blonde's; his jaw dropped. He grew still. His killer closed his eyelids.

- Thank you. – he whispered to the dead pirate. Kese realized he didn't even know his name. He slowly stood up and looked towards the boat. It had already left the small bay of the island's 'port'.

He slowly stooped and fell to his knees. He was shivering. Was it because of the storm raging above the island? Or was it because of the storm raging inside his soul and mind?

What had he just done? He had just killed several pirates, strangers. Why did he do it? To protect his village and family, at least he hoped. But was it truly the reason behind this? He wasn't sure, or rather, didn't know. He just did what his instincts whispered to him. And strangely, he accepted it.

But would his family and friends also accept him as a killer? A murderer? The performer of a massacre? Would he be loved again like he had been before? Or would they cast him out of this island, leaving him all alone?

His scar hurt and bled. He was so confused.

The world around him changed. Suddenly a river flowed in front of him, its surface glowing under the beautiful, spring morning sunshine. Now, he was kneeling below a great castle in the middle of a hot desert-like land. Then he saw a steppe with a graceful deer; it was running away from him. Then faces of a hundred and hundred people, men and women, children, animals, brown mane and orange fur, oh, and a giant frog - it was so huge and old! Many, many pictures and events and voices and feelings. So many memories. Memories of him, all of them; or were they not his? Which was his? Which was not? What was this chaos? Where did it come from? Where was the end of it? How could he step out of it? Why wouldn't it stop?!

Why is it overwhelming him? Why can't he move? Why can't he return to reality?! Why does it hurt so much?

In all of a sudden, everything stopped.

He was on the docks again, his hands clutching his head. The rain was pouring on his hair and his body. It was cold, but a spot – his shoulder – was warm. So nice and soft, but firm. He looked there: he saw a hand, a strong, gentle hand. He impatiently looked up to see the face belonging to this hand. A stern and worried face smiled seeing his onyx eyes. - ...Father? – Kese whispered quietly. The man next to him said something, but he couldn't understand it. He didn't care, his mind was off. He was just extremely glad he could see his father before he passed out.

When he next opened his eyes, he saw wooden stairs under his feet. His body was so heavy, every fibre of his muscles were tired; he felt he didn't have any energy at all. He was thirsty and cold. But how was it the stairs under him was moving?

He saw another pair of feet, and felt like someone was holding him up at his side. A big man was his support, carrying him up to the island's ground level. The man noticed when he put down his feet trying to walk. – Don't, son.

He obeyed. Damn, he was so tired! He heard a young, quiet voice, but he couldn't understand anything. Then the man who held him spoke again. – Don't worry about this. I'll take care of them. – the young voice murmured a 'thank you' in response. Just now realized he that it was his own voice; but he didn't mind or care. All he wanted was a good sleep in a nice, soft bed...

Suddenly it wasn't stairs under him, but dark, wet ground. They stopped.

- Karcsa? What are you doing out here? – the man asked; his deep voice was stern but didn't hide his surprise.

- I... I was looking for Kese. Oh my god... – the boy glanced round, at the corpses and at his friend. – What happe-?... Was it...? Oh my...my dear... – he couldn't comprehend the sight. His young mind hadn't seen so much death in one place. Actually, he hadn't even seen death, and not this close to him. It made him feel sick; and to think the perpetrator was the person he considered his brother... He never thought the blonde would be able to do such thing.

He followed Tas into the blacksmith's house. The boy helped him lay down his son, and stayed there after the man left for the cave, to call Lehel, and to gather a few men to... take care of the pirates.

Karcsa was pressing a shirt against his friend's wound; he wanted to reduce the amount of bleeding, at least until the doctor arrived. He was taken aback by the blonde's badly injured, red stained, shivering body. His skin was greyish white, almost the same white as the sheet's he was lying on. Kese opened his eyes a little and asked something Karcsa didn't understand. He leaned to him, but still didn't have a clue what his friend was trying to say - because it was not in Magor, not even in Elemental. The boy got confused, but told Kese he was in his own bed.

The blonde hummed, and before Lehel entered his room, he had already fallen asleep.

You have finished reading Sequence 02. Thank you for reading.
This chapter hasn't been read by my Betas, sorry for any mistake^^'
If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask them. Every review, fav and follow is appreciated ^^