A/N: All of this is from a dream. This story is broken up into parts so it does seem like it jumps all over the place. But in the end, everything will be tied together. And this is another one of my messed up chapters. Like the previous one it will be more bloody and graphic as possible. Besides, I'm slightly pissed so it all works out.
In other useless news, the password to the Wordpress site is the name of the woman who flashes in the dark and fades away.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: A dark fantasy that will never taste the light within a darkened realm, harbored by black hearted beasts. May she be the one to rise above it for freedom all with a blood stained sacrifice.
Chapter 12: Choices
The young Seeress hummed walking along the forest path listening to the sounds of chirping birds in the trees. With fingers knitted behind her back, Yeul inhaled the fresh air around her. Glancing up she was unable to contain her smile watching a couple of birds nesting together feeding their young. Passing the bird's nest, Yeul arrived at a large clearing. The landscape was decorated with flowers of all sorts, colors exploding into small clusters of yellow, orange, purple, red and the likes. Bending down, Yeul slipped a finger beneath a petal, gazing into its untouched beauty. Before she knew it, she had pinched the stalk of the flower and tore it out of the ground. Oddly, she tore out a rose.
"How fragile..." Yeul mused stroking its crimson petal. "Something as beautiful as this is destined to die."
Crushing the rose with her strength, Yeul smeared fingers with red pigments. She was acting out of selfishness and she knew it. Until now, she was not ready to believe Caius was a wedded man with a woman whom Yeul still knew nothing of. Yeul was confident that woman was going to bring harm to them but how could her actions be justified? Yeul was unable to disregard the fact that woman saved her and she almost paid the ultimate price: being raped. The young girl was conflicted.
"She saved me," Yeul murmured with a pinch of guilt. "If she didn't save me then I would have been on that platform and..."
Then Yeul thought of something she said to her on her wedding day: through twists in the human mind, Yeul's visions could change too.
"Maybe she's not that bad after all." Yeul pressed her hands against her heart. "I should give her a chance to prove me wrong."
Yeul was suddenly interrupted by the sound of rustling grass. Snapping around, she saw shadows weave in and out of the thicket.
"Who's there?"
The shadows continued to slip in and out of trees. Unable to focus on the shadows, Yeul estimated there were possibly two or three shadows lurking out of sight. Yeul was unaware of the hand extending from behind until it was too late.
Odin skidded across the misty floor dodging an attack from Caius. Dashing to the side, the wall beside him crumbled. Launching another attack, Odin deflected Caius's blade with his own holding his ground. Hastily he turned his head around at the mist maiden, urging her to bring Lightning out of the memory before Caius got to her. The mist maiden remained unfazed by the battle; moving her misty hands over Lightning's heart, she felt her heart beat slowly beneath her touch. The mist maiden weakly smiled at Lightning who's eyebrows were knitted in pain. Moving a finger off her beating heart, the mist maiden traced her finger over Lightning's lips.
Not long now. You are the only one who can save me. Then I can truly be free.
Odin's metallic mass slammed into the pillar. Quickly regaining his lost composure, he aimed the sword at Caius. Metal against metal collided forming white sparks between the opponents.
"Are you mad?" Odin hollered. "If Lightning is torn out of the memory she will not be the same!"
"I do not care," Caius pushed Odin back. The sound of Odin's feet scrapped across the floor and the Eidolon held his ground. "My only need is her body."
Even if Odin had no facial expression behind the mechanical mask, the Eidolon was enraged. "She is a living, breathing human! You cannot treat her as if she is a puppet!" The Eidolon bellowed. "Does she mean nothing to you?"
"Lightning means everything to me," Caius replied and narrowed his crimson glowing eyes. "Lightning is a vessel. I need her alive regardless of her mental state. As long as my goals are met with or without her help, I do not care what happens to her mind."
"A vessel?" Odin grunted now pushed down on his knee. "What do you—"
The cruel realization dawned on Odin.
"No... You cannot!"
Caius smirked. Delivering a forceful kick onto the Eidolon's chest, Odin momentarily lost his composure opening himself to Caius. Taking the opportunity, Caius severed Odin's hand. The sound of metal scrapped the floor followed by pools of oozing oil. Kicking away the hand and the sword, Caius slammed his foot onto Odin's chest, poising Ragnarok between Odin's eyes. The victory was short lived moving his eyes to his sleeping bride. Lightning's face was twisted expressing the pulsing pain from her right hand. Caius watched with much intrigue his bride rubbing her right wrist. The bond between Eidolon and master remained strong, too strong in fact it was a curse. If the Eidolon was in pain, Lightning would be in pain. Turning back to the Eidolon, his eyes slowly returned to their purple hues.
"Do not interfere with my plans, Eidolon." Caius warned darkly. "I am keeping you alive for the sake of Lightning."
"Then why not kill me?" Odin questioned. "I pose a threat to you, do I not?"
Smirking, Caius retreated returning Ragnarok onto his back. "Your time to die is not upon you, Eidolon."
Caius turned his attention to the mist maiden who no longer had the smirk knitted on her face.
Taking a step forward, the mist maiden tensed. "But you, my bride, your time is coming to an end."
Yeul groaned. Hearing ratting sounds around her, the Seeress slowly opened her eyes, focusing on wobbly walls. Where... Where was she? Breathing, a puff of dust spilled in front of her. Rolling onto her back, the sound of rattling chains caught her attention. Lifting up her wrists, her wrists were bound by iron shackles and so were her legs. Slightly panicked, Yeul darted her eyes around the enclosure. From first appearances it appeared to be a wooden crate with a solid steel iron bars. Suddenly hearing the sounds of men, Yeul quickly closed her eyes and listened.
She listened to them bark in an unfamiliar tongue though it was almost similar to the language spoke by the wild warriors. Yet, the intonations were distinguishably different. Remain frozen as solid rock, the sound of the barred cage opened.
"Yep, she's the one. How much?"
"Two-hundred," Barked a man.
"Two-hundred?"
"Two-hundred thousand Gil."
"Outrageous!" Another barked. "She's just a girl!"
"Oh but that's where you're wrong," The man sneered eyes glimmering with vile intentions. "She's the Seeress."
"I don't believe you!"
"But good sir, why would I lie? You know how difficult it is to catch her on her own without her blasted guardian around?"
Then Yeul heard another voice. It was another man. "She indeed is the Seeress but didn't I ask you to catch the other one as well? You know, that harlot that belongs to Chief Shal?"
Yeul's body was abruptly dragged out of the wooden crate and thrown on the ground. Landing hardly on her side, Yeul snapped her eyes open. The sun's rays spared her eyes no mercy. Yeul slowly moved into a sitting position and coughed. Breathing she moved her legs to her side as she saw the feet of several people in front of her. There was not one, nor two but she was surrounded by tribesmen. They all wore regalia of the wild warriors. Panic stricken, Yeul looked left and right for Caius and his bride. Nothing. They were no where to be seen. Tensing, she watched an elderly man approach her and crouched to her level.
Speaking in a tongue Yeul understood, he spoke, "Are you scared, little girl?"
"No," Yeul replied putting on a mask. "I have nothing to be afraid of."
"Do you think that's a wise choice?" The man questioned. "You are surrounded by people who want you dead."
"I'm sure," Yeul responded. "By the end of this day, it is you all who will be dead, not me."
The man stiffed a laugh. "Such confidence but I'm afraid you're wrong. You see, in the end it is not we who will be dead nor you; it will be your guardian."
"Caius cannot die," Yeul spoke truthfully. "You can try to kill him but your necks will be on wooden spokes when he's done with you."
"Such confidence will get your killed, Seeress," The man pushed from the dusty ground. Glancing down at her he said in a low voice, "But remember Seeress, before these men kill you they will violate you in the worse way possible.
Yeul remained silent. Tensing her legs, she would rather die than have these men tear off her clothes and expose her, parade her as if she was some captured prize.
"And you know very well what will happen if they violate you, Seeress. Your visions will change mixing with your own fear. Your visions will become worthless and inaccurate. You do realize the gravity of the situation don't you?"
Yeul bit her lip. Without Caius, there was a high possibility her innocence would be stolen from her. What the man spoke of was true; if the Seeress was tainted in any way, her visions would become muddled in her own emotions and fear. She could not allow that; the people depended on her! Yeul had to come up with an escape plan. She had no time to wait for Caius to save her.
"By the way," The man sliced through Yeul's chain of thought. "If you think this Caius can save you, think again,"
"And why is that?" Yeul questioned calmly. "I told you you can't kill him,"
"But over time, the poison will," The man grinned, baring his black teeth. "Right now as we speak, the poison slithers through his veins and there is no antidote for it."
"He won't die!" Yeul raised her voice.
"His death will come excruciatingly slow, Seeress. This poison I developed myself will continue torture him for years to come. Only a well respected healer can reverse the effects of the poison but I highly doubt it. Do keep in mind I tested out the poison on Shaolong Guis, Seeress. Watching them slowly die was a joy to witness."
"You're lying!"
"I'm lying? What interesting choice of words," The man grinned. "The poison will slowly corrupt his mind creating illusions and hallucinations. He will become fixed—obsessed with an idea until the idea consumes his mind."
"You monster!" Yeul shouted thrashing in her bonds. "How could you do this to another human?"
"Because Seeress, Caius murdered my family for the sake of your visions."
Lightning leapt over a moss covered log, eyes scanning the tangled horizon for the missing Seeress. Maybe searching in wet, damp areas was the worse idea she could think of but now was not the time to complain. Ducking under an arched branch, her eyes were fixed upon the rotting tree barks around her. The musky smell bothered her; it was strong enough to make her stomach churn. Sealing her nose with her arm, Lightning pressed on. Carefully treading across moss covered rocks, Lightning cursed at what she wore. If those bloody warriors had not torn off half her gown due to their lust, she would have easily maneuvered through this bloody forest. Luckily she had her shawl which she securely wrapped around her hips.
Emerging out into a clearing, Lightning momentarily took a breather; she deserved it. Clutching the wooden weapon tightly in her grasp, her ears suddenly heard shuffling in the shadowy thickets. She was no fool; she was not alone. Spinning the stick in her grasp, Lightning poised herself as she would always do before battle. If her theory was correct, the mist maiden was not a helpless woman. Suddenly the sound of a scream triggered her reaction to spin around and thrust the sharpened stick into her adversary. The man dodged her attack and retaliate with his own.
Quickly taking a few steps back, Lightning saw the man in full; he wore the same regalia the wild warriors did. "You're one of them?"
The man charged at Lightning stabbing her at any moment with his duel swords. Lightning immediately ducked watching him stumble into the tree. Quickly spinning around, he charged again. Lightning narrowed her eyes waiting for the opened opportunity; once it was just a few feet away from her, she ducked to deliver the hardest punch she mustered into his swollen gut. Stumbling into a moss covered rock, the man landed hard on his head knocking him out.
That was too easy, Lightning tensed. She could feel more of them in the thicket.
"So, the woman knows how to fight,"
The sound of clapping caught her off guard; defending herself with her weapons, Lightning slowly walked scanning every shadow figure she came across. She counted at least fifteen shadows.
"Chief Shal's daughter knows how to fight well, I'm impressed."
"I'll show you how I fight once you reveal yourself!" Lightning barked. "I'm not some helpless woman you think you can take advantage of!"
"Ah, that's where you're wrong, woman. You are outnumbered,"
One by one shadows emerged. Lightning saw men adorned with bird skulls on their heads and feathered garments. Lightning gritted her teeth; she knew she had no chance in taking them all on! But this would be the perfect time to do so. All her life she was constantly underestimated because she was a woman. Each time she was challenged, she stood victorious with blood stains on her knuckles. This was no joke, Lightning reminded herself; this was a life and death situation and she would be damned if she was the defeated one.
"Who are you and what do you want with me?"
"Your life," The man raised his spiked club. "We want the life of Caius's bride. We want your blood stained on our weapons to show him we destroyed the one thing he holds dear,"
"Well, you're not getting it!" Lightning moved into an attack stance. "Dying is not on my agenda today."
"Pitiful fool," The man raised his hand in mid-air. Swiping his arm down, he commanded, "Kill her."
Lightning locked her eyes on two approaching men and quickly ducked allowing them to spear each other. Hastily rolling out of the way, she was met by two more warriors clicking their tongues as battle cries. Pulling out another sharpened wooden stick from her make-shift belt, Lightning fixed her eyes on the approaching warriors. Like the previous two she ducked and immediately stabbed both men in their guts before tearing out the weapon. Lightning was not intending on killing them but if she had to, she would. Four men down, eleven more to go. Another man charged, slightly bulkier than the other two rushed to her swing his massive club. Side stepping the man, Lightning caught her breath as she was almost slammed into the tree. Hearing the sound of the wooden club collide with the tree bark rattled her bones. This man was no joke. Gritting her teeth, she wasted little time waiting for the man trying to pull out the club from the tree. Leaning onto the man, she stabbed the wooden spikes into his back and listened to him roared. Jumping away, Lightning wiped her bloodied hands down her sides.
"Chief Shal trained you well," said the man, unmoved from his stance. "But are you good enough to take down all my men?"
Her cobalt eyes never moved away from the large massed man moving his hands to his back. She watched him remove the two wooden spikes from his back, tossing them to the side. The beast of a man grinned at Lightning who was now defenseless. His eyes were fixed on Lightning's frail form slowly backing up into a tree. With no where to run, he was going to enjoy listening to her scream as he tore off her clothes and wreck her.
Backed into the tree, Lightning remained calm digging her nails into the tree bark. Sweat dripped from the side of her face. The man slammed his foot into a pile of branches crushing them on impact.
Three, two, one—
The man stopped in his tracks. Pressing his palm over his face, he wobbled. Removing his hand from his face, he tried to snap out of it. Taking a clumsy step toward Lightning, she merely observed her handiwork; at the tip of each wooden spike was poison she gathered from the local mushrooms and bugs. The man was now in front of Lightning and slammed both of his hands on either side of her body. She could see him foaming at the mouth and his eyes were just about to roll back into his head. His hand was about to reach for Lightning's waist but he never did; Lightning quickly pulled out another spike from the make-shift belt and stabbed his throat. Quickly slipping under his arm, she watched his large mass collide with the tree. He was dead.
Shooting a glare at the others, Lightning could not celebrate yet. There were ten more men she had to defeat. The other nine men were wary of her while the tenth, their leader crossed his arms.
"You know, instead of being Caius's wife, you should be my wife," he spoke trying to reason with Lightning. "You would make a great wife."
"Like I haven't heard that before! I'm Caius's wife!"
Lightning momentarily thought what she had said; she admittedly announced she was his wife. She gave Caius credit for saving her but this was not the same man prowling the Timeline and Valhalla. Caius saved his bride, the mist maiden and not Lightning.
"Think about it, with me by your side you have nothing to fear. I will never use you as my personal fuck puppet."
"And I'm not intending to be one!" Lightning narrowed her eyes pulling out two more spikes from the belt.
"Aren't you tired of being on your back when all he wants is a son?"
"That's none of your concern!" Lightning shot. Moving into the clearing, Lightning fixed her eyes on the man. "Why don't you shut up and fight me? I'll show you I'm more useful in battle rather than on my back!"
"I rather not. It's a pity; if you had surrendered to me you can live to see another day. I guess death's calling is far too great to ignore."
Flying over the great canyons, Chaos Bahamut scanned the dried crevasses for any signs of Yeul. He had been flying for a couple of hours now but nothing was found. Lowering himself onto the top of the canyon, Chaos Bahamut transformed back to his human self. Kneeling, Caius fixed his gaze upon smoke rings in the distance. He knew there were other tribes in these areas, especially renegade tribesmen belonging to the Ta'khal tribe. Narrowing his eyes, he suddenly lurched forward clutching his chest. Caius felt a strange sting from his heart. As quickly as it appeared, it faded. Shaking his head, he once again focused on the smoke rings.
The smoke rings were a message to neighboring tribes. Glancing to the east, it was the Unzi tribes. To the north it was the rest of the Ta'khal tribes folk. To the west resided the Okmakesh tribes. To the very south was the Skha'llal tribe.
"A prisoner has been captured," Caius observed the signals. "A war prisoner? No."
Reading the signs more intently, Caius deducted it was a slave trade. There was a possibility Yeul was there. Reaching for Ragnarok, the eye pulsed ready to be drenched in blood. Glancing off the edge of the cliff, Caius lept down, transforming into Chaos Bahamut. The dragon screeched, beating his wings as loudly as he could instilling fear into the humans below. Yeul snapped her eyes open at the sound of the dragon; tilting her head up, she spot a large winged creature approaching the camp.
"C-Caius...?" Yeul muttered through her cracked lips. Yeul felt her spirits lifted.
"What... What is that monstrosity?" A man shouted firing fire arrows which did not reach the beast.
"Eidolon!" Another shouted. "It's Bahamut!"
"No you fools, it's Chaos Bahamut!" Shouted another. "Well don't just stand there, destroy it!"
Primitive weapons did not lay a scratch on Chaos Bahamut's impenetrable armor. With a swipe of his claws, humans were sent airborne. The swipe did not kill them but the fall did. On the ground, human skulls were cracked open oozing out blood and brain matter. Burning down tents with magic, Chaos Bahamut wrecked havoc on the camp. Quickly transforming back into his human self, Caius dashed forward with Ragnarok in hand slicing any person he saw. Slicing a man's legs, disconnecting his thighs from his hips, Caius grabbed another man by his throat and crushed it with his bare strength. Throwing the corpse at an approaching group, Caius stabbed Ragnarok into the torn earth sending out powerful red waves. The bodies of men continued to exploded upon impact. Whipping Ragnarok to the side, Caius marched to Yeul, tied to a thick wooden column set on fire.
His march was suddenly interrupted when the sound of arrows echoed from behind. Hastily, Caius spun around deflecting all the arrows with Ragnarok. As the men reloaded their arrows, Caius burst forward and grabbed onto an unfortunate warrior who now served as a human shield. The rain of arrows continued to fall from the sky piercing through human flesh. The smell of fire and blood excited the beast inside him; he was going to give them the death they deserve. Reaching the archers, Caius threw his human shield at them followed by Inferno, burning the humans alive. Snapping around, he heard the sound of Yeul screaming.
Rushing to Yeul, Caius stopped dead in his tracks; his eyes were fixed on Yeul restrained by two tribesmen. An elderly man emerged out of the curtain of smoke; it was the same man whom spoke with Yeul earlier.
"Release her," Caius demanded.
"Should we let her go? Or should it be this one instead?"
A stray voice echoed behind him. He turned around and saw his bride restrained by thorn twine. Lightning had a string of red blood slipping down the left side of her face. Her eyes fixed on Caius and Yeul.
"C-Caius..." Yeul muttered. "Help... me..."
Lightning was suddenly yanked by one of her captors. This was the man who bested her in battle. He watched intently as Caius looked from Yeul to Lightning and Lightning to Yeul. Stroking the side of Lightning's face, the man abruptly yanked Lightning's hair back and kissed her. She thrashed before spitting blood in his face.
"Don't touch me!" Lightning hissed. Turning to Caius, Lightning shot, "Go! Save Yeul!"
"Caius!" Yeul shrieked feeling dragged away. Snapping her head back, she fixed her eyes on the wooden crate. Reaching out to Caius, Yeul screamed again. "CAIUS!"
The elderly man took a step forward, "You can only save one, brave warrior. You can either save the Seeress, Paddra's hope or your bride, the woman who will birth you sons."
Conflicted, Caius needed to make the decision. Logic dictates he was to save Yeul has he sworn an oath to the Seeress.
The elderly man grinned, "Who is most important to you?"
"Fool," Caius grinned. "You believe this will work on me? Forcing me to choose between the Seeress and my bride?"
"The decision is yours, warrior," The elderly man looked at Yeul. "We have enough men here to wreck your little Seeress to the point she no longer can predict accurate visions. Instead she will produce bastard children. Or I can merely sell her as a slave."
"And you have this lovely lady here," Caius heard the voice from behind. It was the man who had his wife in his embrace. "Save the Seeress and leave this fine woman to me. I'll fuck her every night until she falls into a pit of insanity."
Lightning's eyes widened. Without thinking, she reached to her leg pulling out a spike tied onto twine. Shoving the poison laced spike into the man's leg, he bellowed in agony. The spike punctured his artery. Shoving him away, she rushed to Caius. It only took a moment's distraction for him to warp behind Yeul's captors digging his bare hands into their spines. Tearing them out, Caius cradled Yeul warping them both back to Lightning. Pushing Yeul into Lightning, the Seeress quickly untied Lightning's bounds. Lightning reached out for the last spike she had with her, giving it to Yeul. The hands of the young girl shook holding onto the spike drenched in poison.
The girls fixed their attention to the approaching group of men and Caius fixed his attention to the elderly man and his followers. Caius took a step forward at the elderly man who now armed himself with poisonous spikes of his own. Caius paid no attention to the spikes but his eyes were fixed on his followers. Pushing off the bloodied ground, Caius reached out to a man's face, digging his fingers into his eyes before throwing him at another. Some men fired arrows but none of them pierced Caius.
"Your primitive weapons do me no harm."
Warping behind men after men, Caius twisted their necks. Every so often he glanced over to his bride and Yeul who stood their ground surrounded by four men. Lastly it was the elderly man, trembling before Caius's red eyes. The man merely fell onto his knees. Caius snatched the spoke away from the man before slamming it into the man's chest. A cry burst out from his frail lips feeling his head yanked back. Slowly Caius slid Ragnarok across the man's throat listening to his garbled cries. Stabbing the sword into the dirt, Caius dug his fingers into the exposed opening tearing out the tongue. Twisting his neck, Caius kicked the bloodied corpse onto the ground along with the rest.
The men surrounding the girls slowly backed away once they saw death. Caius was fixed on making more corpses. Walking past Lightning, she placed a hand on his bicep.
"Stop," Lightning said quietly. "They're beat."
"Those men were going to take you from me," Caius spoke harshly eyes never leaving the remaining warriors. "They need to pay."
"Enough. No more. There's already a lot of blood spilled here." Lightning shook her head. "You've done enough, Caius."
Caius turned around. "My bride..."
For a moment, Lightning thought Caius was going to embrace her but he instead walked right past her and knelt before Yeul. Lowering his head, he asked the Seeress for forgiveness. Lightning dropped her hands to the side and walked away. Though, Lightning glanced over her shoulder slightly and watched Yeul hug Caius. She listened to the girl sob explaining to her guardian what those monsters said to her.
Walking away from them, Lightning reached the edge of the fire filled camp and stared at the sky. The sky was a mix of colors blue and black, intertwined together. Squinting, Lightning took notice of how the clouds were shaped like claw marks tearing through the sky.
Strange, it seems like the sky's tearing apart...
Lightning never knew what she thought was too true; the sky was tearing apart but for she was the only one who could see it. The dream was soon coming to an end.
