He will know great pain and much suffering
The pain of knowing all suffering
He is destined to bear it all
Cast aside his flesh
And become hope for all
Dragon Tears
I: Age of Man
By: OmegaGear
XIV
~ Monster ~
I sighed as a soft hand held my hair up while another combed it. I looked at myself in the mirror and already missed my light blonde hair. After much convincing, Myn had my hair dyed brown and green contacts put over my eyes to help hide my identity as a wyndian while on imperial soil. I had to admit, it didn't look bad, but it just didn't look right.
"Is something the matter, your highness?" Cassandra asked as she combed more of my hair to make sure all of the dye had dried.
"No…" I said.
I watched her work the comb through my hair and sighed again.
"It's just that… this is so much," I said.
"So much?" Cassandra asked. She finished combing my hair and put the comb away.
"What's so much?" she asked.
"This," I said while pointing at my hair. "Everyone else is just going to wear cloaks, so why do I have to get a complete make over?" I asked.
Cassandra leaned over me and looked down at my face. I looked back up to her and could see her left eye glowing light blue within the shadow of her hood. I didn't know why her left eye glowed like that, but if she wanted to hide it, it was fine with me.
"You're a bit different, your highness," she said.
"Please, call me Nina," I insisted.
Cassandra didn't say anything to acknowledge that she would honor my request, but her next sentence gave me my answer.
"You can't walk around the imperial land looking like the princess of Wyndia, Nina," she said.
"I know that, but did I have to dye my hair?" I asked. I grabbed a lock of hair and tugged it out to show my disapproval.
Cassandra took the lock of hair from my hand and softened it back into place by rubbing it with her hand.
"Nina, please," she said. "You can't direct attention to yourself while on the ground by doing that," she said.
"I know…" I said.
I was excited when Myn asked me to come along, but more and more it seemed like he just wanted to make sure that he could baby sit me.
Myn walked in carrying some clothes and placed them on the table next to me.
"These are for you, Nina," he said.
"Is this what I'm supposed to wear?" I asked.
I looked over to the pile of folded clothes. They looked pretty basic, like the cloaks that everyone else was wearing, except cleaner. They were probably put together better too.
"That is correct," Myn said.
I got up form my chair and picked up the top piece of clothing. It unfolded while I lifted it and held it out to look at it. It was a brown dress with no glamorous features at all. It looked to be made to fit me, and had a simple tie string in the front to secure it once it was on. The skirt of the dress would probably drop just below my knees.
I looked at the rest of the clothes and felt a part of me die as I got to each one. There was a white gown with long sleeves to wear under the dress, a dark brown hooded jacket, and boots that looked like they belonged to a farmer.
"Are they not satisfactory?" Myn asked.
"Hmm? Oh, no, they're just fine," I said. "I was just expecting something a little less… common," I admitted.
"As long as we're traveling you'll have to get used to it," Myn said.
I looked into the mirror and ran a hand through my now auburn hair.
"Even on the airship?" I asked.
Myn watched me from behind, so I could see him in the mirror.
"We won't be on the airship much longer," he said.
I turned around. "Why not?" I asked.
"Nina, I don't think you understand what we're doing," he said. He walked over to me so that I could look up to his face. "We're not just going to find Ryu and go home," he said.
"I know that," I said. "But why do we have to leave the airship?" I asked again.
Myn smiled and let a little chuckle escape his otherwise serious mood. He held up his arms and turned slowly to direct my eyes to the room aorund me with his hands.
"The airship attracts too much attention," he said.
I guess that made sense while we were in imperial land, but we could still use it in Wyndia or Ludia, couldn't we? If time was of the essence, then we would need to cut corners wherever we could.
"We'll still use it when we're in friendly territory, right?" I asked.
Myn shook his head. "You just have to get used to roughing it," he said.
"Hey!" I yelled, insulted. "I've roughed it before," I said. "Let's not forget it was me that went to the front against everyone's wishes and roughed it for over a month," I said.
"We won't be taking the royal tent with us either," Myn said.
"Eh… what?" I asked. "Wait… why not!" I cried.
"Because that attracts too much attention too," he answered.
"Oh, come on!" I begged him to reconsider. "What will we be using then?" I asked.
Myn didn't look the least bit swayed by my puppy dog expression.
"We'll be using a normal tent, your highness," he said. He was starting to sound a little irritated, and it definitely showed in him addressing me as 'your highness.'
"Well, okay, but I still don't see why we're going all out like this," I said, deciding to give up on convincing him to change his mind.
Myn didn't seem to want to go into it any further and started to walk to the door. He stopped at the door and turned around to look at me.
"We'll be arriving at our destination tomorrow morning," he said. "Get some rest."
As Myn shut the door behind him, Cassandra got up form her seat behind me and started to clean up the tools she had used to dye my hair. I watched her a second before turning back to the mirror and playing with my hair again.
It's going to take months to grow this out! I whined to myself.
"Do you not like your hair, Nina?" Cassandra asked.
"Wha!" I cried, taken by surprise by her question while being lost in my own world. "Erm…" I cleared my throat. "No, my hair looks fine," I said. I smiled at the cloaked woman. "You did a great job, Cassandra," I said.
"Thank you… Nina," she said.
I giggled and turned back to the mirror. I turned my head both ways to look at myself in different angles.
"I was just thinking about how long it was going to take for this to grow out," I said.
"You needn't worry, your highness," Cassandra said.
I sighed at hearing her call me that.
"Sorry… Nina," Cassandra said, picking up on my message. "Back to what you are worried about, you needn't be that way," she said. She walked over and ran her hands down the sides of my head, softly straightening my hair. "The dye will wash out in a matter of weeks, which is why we'll have to redo it every two weeks," she said.
"We have to do this every two weeks?" I asked. I looked at the tools scattered on the table in front of the mirror. "Seems a lot of trouble to be lugging around while roughing it," I said.
"It's no trouble at all," Cassandra said. "Besides, it's easier to restore than it is to start," she added.
Cassandra took her hands away and stepped back so that I could stand.
"You should go get some rest… Nina," she said. "I'll finish here by myself."
I nodded and thanked her one more time before making my way to the door. As I was leaving, Cassandra stopped.
"Nina?" she asked.
"Yes?" I answered.
"Don't forget to take out your contacts before going to sleep," she said.
"Right, of course," I said, a little embarrassed that I had actually forgotten about the colored contacts I had to wear as part of my disguise. I could feel my face get a little flushed as I patted myself down for the contact container.
"Ah… where is it?" I asked myself while searching again.
"It's right here," Cassandra said while holding up a small grey box.
"Ah, thank you," I said as I approached her.
Cassandra held up a hand to tell me to stop, and I did. "I'll bring it to your room with your clothes once I am done," she said. "Please, go get some rest."
"Right… thanks again," I said, feeling my face blush a little more. I don't know why, but I felt embarrassed about the way they were pampering me, since they were talking about roughing it.
"I'll see you later… Nina," Cassandra said. The gap between her sentences and my name were getting a little shorter, which made me smile genuinely.
"See ya!" I exclaimed happily while shutting the door.
Once I had the door closed and my back to it I exhaled sharply and sighed.
"I'm pathetic," I said.
Today had made me realized how unaccustomed I was to doing things for myself, and here I was going on a long journey with who knows what as a goal. More importantly, ths journey took me straight into enemy territory, so friendly faces would be few and far between, if they existed at all.
"Well… tomorrow I'll do my best to show Myn I can handle anything," I declared while looking at my fists. I was determined to say the least.
"What's this about showing Myn?" I heard a man ask.
"Gah!" I spun around and saw Yuri standing with his hands behind his back and chuckling. "Yuri, don't do that!" I scolded him. I put my hand to me chest and felt my heart slowly return to normal while I calmed down.
"Sorry, Nina," Yuri apologized. He walked past and waved. "I was just heading to the viewing deck when I heard you," he said.
"… Whatever," I grunted. I crossed my arms over my chest and walked in the opposite direction. "I'm going to my room," I said.
I didn't hear Yuri say anything else and sighed. "First thing to work on is my guard," I told myself.
"Yes, that certainly would help," Yuri said.
I spun around again with a yelp, but saw no one. I turned back around to continue to my room when Yuri suddenly appeared, upside down and hanging from a light.
"Yo," he said.
I screamed and felt like my bones had just jumped out of my skin.
"Yuri!" I yelled. I tightened my ahnds into fists and tired my best to appear angry, but the shock was still fresh on my nerves, and betrayed my act.
Yuri laughed and dropped down from the light. "Sorry, I thought doing that would help lighten the mood," he said.
I was still trying to catch my breath when I replied. "Whatever you say, Yuri," I said between breaths.
I walked past him again and remained completely silent.
"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you then," Yuri said.
I ignored him completely and just kept walking. I was intent on getting to my room with no further interruptions, but kept my ears sharp for anything Yuri might be trying to pull.
When I got to my room I slipped in and shut my door with a bit of force.
"Oh, that guy… oh!" I shouted. For being a thousand years old, he really was immature. Ever since I could remember, Yuri always did have a thing for being a skirt chaser. "Bleh, he makes me sick," I said while remembering when he was hitting on a maid while she was giving me a bath when I was two.
"Oh my god…" I said. I put my hand up to my mouth and almost felt like I could hurl right there. He's seen me naked! I said to myself in my head.
"No!" I screamed.
I must have rocked the whole ship with that scream, but I didn't care. I looked around the room for something to do; something to take my mind off of what I was thinking. I spotted a sword hanging on the wall over a desk.
"That should do the trick," I said.
I walked over to the sword and got it off of the wall. It was a bit heavier than what I was used to handling, but still lighter than what the soldiers used.
"Looks like a rapier," I said. I pulled out the sword and sure enough, it was a long rapier with carvings in its blade and jewels in its handle.
I held the blade up in the light of the setting sun and took a deep breath. Some practice will do me some good. I thought, and began to practice my stances.
I pointed the sword forward, holding it in my right hand and had my left hand on my hip. I began to side step slowly while slowly rotating the blade, keeping it moving to keep my reflexes sharp. I imagined facing an opponent and took a step forward while flicking my blade at him.
A ploy, obviously, but it was meant to get a chance to study my opponent. I saw the man step back in my mind and bat my blade aside with his.
"Not bad," I said to my imaginary opponent.
Now it was my opponents turn. He stepped forward and did the same flicking move I had done, which I also parried with ease, but he wasn't finished. As his sword was batted aside he followed through and brought it down on my blade, striking it down and leaving me open. He took this chance and stepped forward and again while lunging forward with his blade to stab me.
I couldn't hope to block the attack with my sword and quickly thought of what to do. I stumbled back and avoided his charge, but was off balance. Quickly, I leapt into the air and flipped over him. This left us with our backs turned to each other.
By now, I was really getting into my imaginary training exercise and was spun around while taking a step back and pointed my sword at my opponent. I was envisioning him turning around when I heard the wind chime in my room dangle.
I turned to look over at the wind chime and dropped my sword.
"How does it keep doing that?" I asked.
"You should never let your guard down," I heard my opponent say.
"What?" I asked while turning back around. Am I losing my mind now? I asked myself.
My eyes went wide as I peered into Ryu's eyes as he stood before me. He was smiling and glaring at me with malicious intent.
"How did you…" I started to ask while backing away.
Ryu smiled, showing a set of sharp fangs where his teeth should have been. A light wind blew his hair from his eyes and revealed the mark on his forehead that I had seen when he was in Wyndia. It was glowing blood red and made me feel nervous.
The wind chime dangled again and Ryu lifted his sword. I tried to lift mine to challenge him, but my arm felt like lead and refused to move. No, this can't be happening! I thought.
"Now!" Ryu yelled while jumping at me. His sword was raised over his head, and his body was giving off an aura that fell over me like the heat of the sun.
All I could do was scream.
- x -
I don't know what happened after I succumbed to the numbness in my mind, but when I finally awoke I found myself in the trees. My head was pounding, and I was having trouble thinking. I tried to reason how I got myself in the trees, but found myself distracted by every sound I heard.
I roughed my hair with my hands out of frustration and was shocked t what I found. The horns that I had grown before fainting were still there. I thought that it had all been a hallucination since I fainted and had no recollection of climbing the trees, but they were real. In fact, the horns were even longer and much thicker than I remember. Upon this realization I also suddenly noticed how heavy they were on my head.
I cursed silently and looked around. I couldn't see the ground from where I was, and that wasn't good. If I was remembering correctly, the black fog of the forest was pretty tall, so there was no telling how high I was. I observed the tree I was in and scratched it with my claws. The bark chipped off pretty easily, and my claws were able to dig into the dried trunk behind it. Without a second thought, I dug my claws in again and swung off of the branch I was sitting on until I was hanging on the tree's trunk.
Carefully, I clawed my feet into the trunk so that I was better situated and began to climb down the tree like it was a ladder. I was making good progress and almost forgot about my misfortunes as the calm sounds of the upper forest animals continued around me. Up there, the animals sounded a lot more like normal birds and other treetop creatures.
My left foot suddenly hit something and lost its grip in the tree. I tensed my entire body and dug my other foot and both hands into the trunk as hard as possible. I looked down and saw that what I had hit was a branch and let out the breath I had been holding.
I let myself relax a little knowing that I was safe, but that turned out to be a mistake. As I released my hold on the tree, I heard the sound of bark chipping off and felt my weight shift slightly. Before I could even try to figure out what was going on I felt my claws slide from the tree and my body falling. As I fell I looked around for something to grab onto, but none of the passing branches reached far enough. When one finally did, it ended up being right under me.
I hit the branch hard on my back and went spinning down in a different direction slightly dazed. Several smaller branches brushed past me, leaving small scratched over my body and face, but that was the least of my worries. I didn't know how close the ground was at this point, but the panic in my mind told me it had to be close.
Instinctually, I reached out blindly and felt my arm go right through a thick branch with a loud snap. I hissed at my new pain, but fought through it to keep focused on surviving. As I opened my eyes again I found myself heading right for a giant trunk and tried to spin out of the way. My back hit the trunk as I spun and bounced me off with little pain, leaving me aware enough to dig my claws into the tree before opportunity passed.
As my claws sliced through the dead bark and dried wood I looked over and saw another tree not too far away. Not wanting to take a chance on the tree holding under my rapid descent, I planted my feet on its trunk and sprang off of it towards the next tree. This gave me more control over my momentum and slowed my fall substantially.
When I reached the tree I shut my eyes tightly and said a silent prayer to the gods. I reached out with my arms and clenched my fingers as I felt them slam into the bark and dug deep. It felt like my hands were digging into knives as they cut through the bark and wood and the strain on my body threatened to knock me out, but it soon ended. When I came to a stop I let out a deep breath and took several more as I heard the last few ships of bark fall and hit the ground not too much later.
"Guess it wasn't that much further to the ground," I said to myself as I continued to take deep breaths and thanking the gods that I was still alive.
"Did you hear something over there?" I heard someone say in the distance. Unlike the whispers of the spirits from before, this voice sounded like it was actually in the forest and not just in my head.
I became stiff and listened closely as several pairs of feet slowly advanced towards me from below. The sound of clanking metal accompanied the footsteps, making me think that the people approaching were heavily armored. The footsteps stopped and I looked down into the fog. I couldn't see anything but black below me, meaning the ground was at least twenty feet from where I was.
Damn! I cursed in my mind, not wishing to say it and have whoever was down there hear me.
"Do you see anything?" another man asked. There was another moment of silence until another man spoke up.
"I can't see anything in this damn hex!" he yelled.
Hex? My interest was piqued by that word. Is that what this is? I wondered.
"Ah forget it," the first man I had heard said. "It was probably just another of those monsters created by the hex."
Monster created by the hex… I thought. Is that what I've become? I began to feel something inside me burn. Somehow, I was angered by the notion that they were talking about me, even though I knew they weren't.
"The beasts in this cursed forest are something else," a fourth man said.
Whatever was burning in my chest went up a notch at hearing that term, 'beast.' I suddenly remembered that night when Yua called me a beast. She said I was wild, untamed, and uncontrollable. How could she call me that when she turns into a winged demon? I grew angrier as I realized that what I had become looked hauntingly like what Yua had transformed into. I looked back and my wings and stretched them reflexively while listening to the men below me.
"You're telling me," the second man said. "Even with what we were told from the ancient texts that detailed about the affects of the hex, I wasn't prepared for those monsters."
I rotated so that I was facing downwards with my hands now below my feet and saw a faint glow where the men must have been. The glow moved around methodically, obviously searching for any sign of life surrounding them.
"You didn't have to see what I saw," the third man said.
"What was that?" the second man asked.
"Br, just thinking about it gives me chills," the fourth man said.
There was a moment of silence before the conversation continued. "
We saw the remains of a large beast," the third man said.
"So?" the second man asked.
"Well, we didn't think much of it either, except that the forest around it was a smoldering crater," he added.
"Like it was set on fire?" the second man asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"But the monster's flesh looked more like it had been melted," the fourth man said. "It was nothing more than a twisted pile of bones lying in a puddle of blood and liquid flesh."
I heard someone groan like he was going to hurl. The story didn't sound too appealing to me either, but another idea sunk in more than my disgust. I was getting this sick feeling that they were talking about that creature I had fought until I became whatever I had become.
"The smell was disgusting," the third man said. "Whatever did it is probably one of the bigger monsters of this forest."
Again I felt my chest burn hotter and felt my muscles tense as I tried to contain myself. My mind was starting to get hazy, and even though I couldn't think straight, my emotions were speaking volumes to me. Kill them! They screamed in my mind.
"Obviously a savage beast too," the fourth man added.
Burn them to the bone! My mind cried out. I began to struggle with my own body as I felt it begin to move, taking a step down the trunk towards the men.
"What are we supposed to de if we run into this monster?" the second man asked.
Kill them all! My arms moved down and pulled me another foot slower to the group of men. I tried to hold back, but no matter how much I struggled, my body continued to move on its own.
"Kill it, obviously," the first man said. The voice sounded a little familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It sounded like the men were all wearing full helmets made of metal, causing all of their voices to be altered just a little within the facemasks. "Our orders are to examine the progress of the hex," he added. "They didn't say anything about keeping anything we encounter alive."
They want to kill you too! You must kill them to survive! By now I could hear myself growling quietly as I continued to approach the men from above. The glow was much closer now, just barely at the edge of my range of vision where the fog became too thick for me to see anything.
"Do you hear that?" the second man asked. He was really nervous at this point, probably because of the story his companions had told him.
The forest was silent for a few seconds, and I think that even I had become perfectly quiet, although I wasn't really sure. "Hear what?" the third man asked him.
I advanced a little further and could make out some shadows in the glow now. I was also aware of my growling again, but wasn't able to stop my body or my mouth.
"There it is again!" the second man yelled. The glow from their lights moved around quickly as the men searched for what he was talking about, but they didn't seem to see me.
"I don't see anything," the first man said.
"I don't see anything either," the second man agreed nervously," but it's what I'm hearing, that growling!"
"Calm down!" the third man said. "It's not like any of those animals would sneak up on us," he said. "They're nothing but mindless beasts," he added.
We're nothing more than mindless beasts? The voice in my head shouted. I'll show them the true meaning of a mindless beast! I stopped advancing and watched the shadows continue to search for me. The lights were now slowly scanning the trees, but the fog was preventing them from reaching me. I scratched the bark under my right hand and let it fall to the ground, attracting the attention of all four men.
"What was that?" the fourth man asked. All four men moved towards where the bark I had scratched off dropped and stopped roughly right below me by the tree I was hanging from.
"There's nothing here," the third man said, taking one last look around with his light.
At that time, I scratched some more bark off of the tree and let it fall down over the men. As the men all reacted to the bark hitting them, I saw their lights all point upwards directly at me and growled back at them.
"There's something up there!" the second man screamed. I saw one of the lights shake nervously and then disappear as he must have fallen.
"Get a grip on yourself, Kensuke!" the first man barked. One of the lights moved to point at where the fallen one once was and then pointed back up at me. "It's probably nothing to worry about," he said.
Oh, how wrong he is! My mind chuckled. I heard a gun shot and suddenly felt the bark beneath me get torn to shreds. I nearly lost my grip on the tree, but managed to remain up.
"Did you get it?" the fourth man asked.
To answer his question, I leapt down from the tree and spread my wings to glide down slowly. As I descended to the ground I could make out the four men, all wearing giant suits of armor that made them look more like machines. Able to finally locate them, I pointed my wings back and let myself fall into a dive.
The men didn't see my diving at them, and thus I caught them completely by surprise. I crushed one of the men beneath me as I landed and grabbed his chest plate. I was trying to pull it off when the other three men all began to approach me. The man beneath me was still alive, but sounded dazed.
"Help me!" he cried. It was the fourth man.
The other three approached me slowly with their weapons drawn. All of them were carrying large lances, which was understandable with how they were armored. Any other weapons were too small for the type of movement they were performing.
I stopped pulling on the chest plate beneath me and stood up. I felt my wings spread and a hiss escape my lips, but wasn't consciously doing either action. As everything progressed, I felt like I was watching from behind a camera, and could do nothing to affect the events.
I felt my aura radiate from my body and spread into a barrier around me as my wings spread to their full length. The wall of chi energy exploded outward and hit the three men. They struggled against it, and with their added weight from the armor, were able to stand their ground. Seeing this, I released another blast of energy, but used it to propel myself into the air, denting the chest plate of the man below me.
I could tell that the three men were still recovering from the energy wave that had hit them and quickly rushed at them in flight. It was strange, but as I flew at them, I could feel the forest around me, like it was filling me with energy. When I was within striking distance of the closest man I stopped my momentum and spun while floating to build more force into my fist and sent it flying into the man's armor around his torso. I watched as the air around my fist blew away as my aura concentrated into my fist and spread around it like a glove of fire.
I heard the loud sound of solid steel being dented and a cry of pain as inside the suit the metal must have pierced the occupant. He fell backwards from the impact and tried to keep balanced on his left foot while his right shot up. The man failed and went crashing into the muddy ground while one of the remaining two approached me.
This man didn't wait for me to get the first move and charged with his lance. I easily floated over the giant metal lance and grabbed it with my right hand as it passed under me. I supported all of my weight on my right arm and flipped over the man. He stopped running as I passed over him, but was too slow under all of his armor to react to my movements.
I felt the forest around me come to life and fill me with energy again as I spun around out of my flip. Without even thinking, I shot out my leg and kicked the man on the back of his head at the end of my spin, releasing the energy in my body through my foot in an explosion of force.
The man cried out as he fell forwards onto the man that was lying on his back. I finally landed and looked back to see that the first man I had crushed had somehow managed to get up. With him standing again, and one other man still yet to be confronted by me, I now stood in the middle of them. Each man was about ten feet away from me at my sides, staring at me through their face mask helmets. The only sign of them being alive under the metal suits was their breath in the chilly air coming out of the cuts in the face plates.
The two started to slowly approach me slowly as the other two help each other up. With all four of the men standing again, they started to circle me until they were evenly spread out. With each of my sides, front, and back covered, combat would be much more difficult.
I wanted to just fly away with my wings, but no matter how much I willed for something to happen, my body still did not listen. Instead, my body filled with the energy of the surrounding forest again, causing a slight wind to blow around us. The black mist spun around me as the energy entered my body, and I could feel the burning desire to fight, to give in to my instincts and emotions, begin to grow stronger.
I crossed my arms over my chest and held my head down as I collected the energy. I felt the wind die around me and knew that my limits had been reached. With a cry, I spread my arms and released the energy through every cell in my body and outwards like a bomb.
I could see each of the four men all at once. My mind's eye was able to see underneath their steel armor and at the human flesh beneath. I could sense their presences around me as if I was touching them, and it was almost like I was in tune with them. Every breath they took, every beat their hearts made, and the pulsing of their muscles could all be felt as I felt my energy touching all of my nerves. This new acute sense of my surroundings warned me as one of the men prepared to charge, causing a chain reaction in my body without any input from my mind.
A rush of emotion made everything a blur as my body took action. When my senses cleared, I saw one of the men in front of me and quickly spun my fist around into the side of his head to drop him. As my fist connected with the man's helmet I sensed another of the men and everything became a blur again. I felt the wind whipping over my body sharply as I moved, but my eyes only saw a blur of motion until again I stopped in front of someone, and everything was clear.
I had stopped while hunched down on my knees, causing the man to tower over me. The instant I saw him clearly, I jumped up to my feet and slammed my fist into his chest. The man was launched into the air from the force of my punch. Such an impact would shatter bone, but my hand felt no pain as I drove it into the cold steel plating covering his body.
My body effortlessly moved to the third man as it had the first two, landing a spin kick to his stomach that threw him backwards into a tree. By now the fourth man was standing in complete shock. I could sense his fear through my whole body and relished in it. Without so much as a thought, I found myself snapping his knee with a quick kick and then jumping up as he feel. My feet landed against his chest plate and kicked up so that I launched into a back flip. I could see the man I had thrown into the air with my fist, still falling down, and flipped into a downwards kick that struck him on the top of his head.
The man went crashing down into the ground without a sound, and I could feel a sudden loss of energy around me. A small spot of warmth no longer beat, and I realized that he was dead. I felt ashamed of what I had done, but another side of me was overjoyed at what was accomplished. Whether or not this was truly a side of me, I didn't know, but I was quickly taking a permanent backseat to its control over me as time progressed.
The three men that were still alive were all moving again. I could feel their pain, but bore no pity for them. At least, the side of me that was in control didn't. The man whose knee I had broken called out to the others.
"Get out of here!" he shouted.
I heard the other two stand up and sensed their tentativeness as they teetered on the edge of fighting and running. I disregarded the two and turned to the man that was lying on his back with his right knee bent unnaturally. The man seemed to glare back at me, and shouted out to his comrades once more.
"There's no sense in trying to kill this monster!" he cried. "You guys have to run!"
"But what about you?" the pair called out together.
Before the man could answer I began to slowly walk forward. I am no monster! I cried out deep down inside. I once again struggled to regain control, and for a split second, I could have sworn that my body hesitated in mid step. I, however, failed to fully grasp control, and my body continued on its path as if nothing had happened.
The man on the ground flinched as I approached him and started to crawl backwards, away from me. He kicked with his left leg and pulled with his arms while dragging his useless right leg, but with all of that heavy armor on, he wasn't moving nearly quick enough to outrun even my slow march.
"Forget about me!" the man shouted back. He was no longer able to hide his fear from coming out in his voice, and I could sense him shaking within the confines of his armor. "There's no way I can escape with my leg like this," he said, just a little more under control. Perhaps he was starting to resign himself to his fate.
As I neared the man, he backed into a tree and looked back and forth for a way to run, but didn't move. He slowly looked back at me and stopped struggling underneath his armor. I saw his body settle down and the metal plating slowly rise and fall as he breathed long, controlled breaths.
"Just go," he said.
I heard someone step away to retreat, but the other did not follow him. I had reached the man by now, and reached down with my hands. He visibly flinched as my hands reached for his neck, but the man did not try to fend me off. I wrapped my hands around the thin plating around his neck and pressed tightly until it dented and conformed to their shape. With a firm grip, I effortlessly lifted the man up and hung him over my head so I could stare up at him while he struggled under my hold.
The man began to choke and cough as his lungs took in less and less air through his closing wind pipe. Killing him like this would have been easy to do. Just a simple squeeze with both hands and he's die from his neck being crushed, but something inside told me to do something else. Instead, I released one of my hands from his neck and moved it up to his face. I felt the thin cuts in the face plate that allowed the man to see as well as take in air with my fingers.
I could sense the man's fear flowing through my nerves as my fingers ran over the cold steel, and without warning, crushed the face plate in my palm. As my fingers dug into the small plate, the man screamed and began to struggle, but the hold I had on his neck kept him from getting free. When I had a firm grip on the plate, I pulled it off and allowed the black mist of the forest to slowly seep into the man's suit of armor. As I had thought, the heavy suit was somehow able to block it out.
"No!" one of the other men shouted. I didn't look back to acknowledge that I had heard them, and kept my eyes fixed on the man I was holding over me. I could just barely see his face as the black mist started to fill his armor through his open helmet. It was twisted and contorted most unnaturally, letting me know just how much pain he was in.
The man's body started to whip around and spasm violently, but I held him in place with my hand around his neck. His armor began to rattle as his body shook. I could feel his body changing as the vibrations went through my arms. His body began to smoke, and the scent of burning flesh filled my nose.
The man's cries and screams were muffled now. It sounded like he was drowning in water, but I couldn't tell what was really going on with him. As blood began to leak from his mouth, I learned that the reason was that his lungs had filled with blood. As he continued to cough, the man's grunting turned to inhuman growls and hisses.
"Come on, let's go!" one of the other men shouted.
I moved my right hand back to the man's neck and resumed strangling him. His beastly cries became more urgent as his air was nearly completely cut off, and the cracking of bone could be heard as his body spasm and bent in ways it was not meant to.
"No!" the other of the two men shouted. I could sense his aura growing stronger as he succumbed to desperation. He was teetering towards a blind rage.
"Damn it, Kai!" the other man yelled. I could sense them struggling, but suddenly lost my train of thought.
Kai? I wondered. The name sounded familiar, but with the way my mind and emotions were, I couldn't remember clearly. I slackened my grip on the man's neck and let him fall limp to the ground. The heat that had consumed my body quickly cooled as my aura calmed from its recent rage.
My emotions retreated from my heart, and I could feel my mind clearing like water out of a bucket. I wiggled my fingers like I was awake for the first time in my life and then clenched my hands into fists as I realized I was in control again. I slowly turned around to look at the two men struggling to go in opposite directions. I concentrated on the man radiating the stronger aura, the one that wanted to keep fighting.
His aura burned brightly in my minds eye as I sensed its power. Even though it spilled forth with contempt for me, I felt a sense of familiarity to it that kept me from feeling threatened, but why? Who is he? I wondered.
"Kai?" I asked. I put my hand to my throat, shocked by the sound of my voice. It sounded demonic, despite still carrying my normal voice in it.
"Did you hear that?" the man wanting to retreat whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. "It can talk!" he cried, sounding hysterical. He must have thought that the gases in the forest were driving him to insanity.
The angry man's aura calmed slightly, but remained vibrant to my senses. He stopped trying to struggle out of his friend's hold, but still prevented him from dragging him away.
"Me?" he asked.
I tilted my head to one side to contemplate his question. I dug deep into my mind, searching for answers, but my memory was still a mess even though I could control my body again. Kai… why does it sound so familiar… Why can't I remember? I grabbed my head with one hand and rubbed it firmly as if it would help make things clear, like wiping a window.
Kai stepped forward, his aura now giving off a feeling of apprehension. "That's my name that you said," he told me. His voice sent a mixture of signals to me. He sounded angry, yet curious. The sound of his voice also caused more reactions inside of my head.
I suddenly saw a vision; a flash of a memory. In it I saw myself as a young boy. I was crying, and behind me was a group of kids, all within a year of my age, laughing and pointing at me. Suddenly, someone called out from behind them and the group turned around. I also looked, and saw a boy with short white hair breathing hard with his hands trembling into fists. He was also my age.
"Leave Ryu alone," the boy shouted.
Ryu? The memory faded away and I felt my body become weak as I was suddenly completely in reality again.
"Ryu…" I said.
Kai's aura now grew curious at what I had said. "What was that?" he asked. "What did you just say?"
Hearing his voice caused more flashes of my life to come out. I saw more and more memories involving a boy named Kai, varying from my days a small boy to a teenager. As the memories progressed through time, the boy aged, and his hair grew longer while developing a slight shimmer of silver. His voice also matured, and it matched that of the man speaking to me now. Kai… was my friend… and I… My name is… The puzzle still wasn't complete.
"Kai…" I said again. I was still struggling with myself, and wasn't really aware of what I was saying.
"Answer me, monster!" Kai yelled.
The sound of contempt in his voice and the words he spoke caused a whole new batch of memories to come to me. While the first batch was of happier times, these showed several instances of prejudice and ridicule towards me and Kai. Yet, no matter what the circumstance, Kai was always by my side, and always defended me, as I did him.
"I am no monster…" I struggled to say. I found it hard to speak as my mind continued to build itself back together, and the words came to me one at a time as more and more memories filled me. "I am…" I started to say, but stopped as that last piece kept out of reach.
"You're a monster," he accused me again. He pointed at the two men that I had killed. "You murdered my two friends like a savage beast!" he yelled. "Only a monster would do something like that!"
"No!" I yelled back. I remembered more memories.
Now I watched as I stood up for Kai and the last piece finally fit in.
"I am no monster!" I yelled at Kai. I spread my wings and arched my back so that I was shouting out to the forest. "I am Ryu!" I cried. My words echoed loudly through the forest, causing the trees to blow like a great wind was passing by. Numerous animals called back to me, roaring their own pride in what they were.
An unsettling silence fell on us as my cry died in the distance. The rest of the forest around us also fell silent, but the air around us was anything but calm. Our auras were so tense I could have sworn I was seeing them with my eyes and not my senses.
"R-Ryu?" Kai asked. His voice betrayed his uncertainty and surprise.
I wanted to answer him, to try to make sense of what was going on, but more memories flooded my mind at hearing him say my name. I grabbed my head with both hands and rubbed my temples furiously as I cried in agony. It felt like my head was going to split in half from the memories filling it too quickly.
As my memories all came flooding back, I could sense the presence of hundreds of beings around me. The feeling felt alien, yet familiar at the same time, and the flash of a dragon made of purple light made me realize what was happening. I had thought it was a dream, but the spirits of the forest were real.
"Kai…" I called out to my friend as I fell to my knees. I dropped my head to the ground and dug my fingers into my hair. I could barely control my breathing, and felt my body spasm from being tense for too long.
"Ryu?" he asked. From the sound of his voice, I could tell he wasn't asking if I was alright. He was asking if it was really me. I couldn't blame him, because the form I was in looked nothing like the me he would be remembering. No, he was right. I was a monster.
"No…" I gasped as I struggled to keep my mind from giving in to the thought that I was a monster.
No matter what my form, no matter what my actions, giving in and accepting being a monster was the worst thing that could happen. I had to keep fighting. I had to keep my humanity. The vision of a black dragon setting a white city ablaze appeared in my mind. A vision that the spirits of the forest had shown me and that Yua had spoken about.
"No!" I screamed.
I jumped to my feet and spread my arms in defiance. I spread my wings and gathered air in them before flapping with as much force as I could, throwing myself into the air while sending a cloud of dust and dirt towards Kai and the other man. As I began to stop ascending, I flapped again, and again, and again, trying desperately to escape. Before long, I broke the top of the black mist and was finally above the forest. The night sky spread around me and the cool air gave me a sense of freedom I hadn't felt in a long time.
I looked up at the moon and saw it was in its three quartered stage as it began to set towards the end of its cycle. "Has it really been that long?" I wondered, remembering that the last time I had gazed at the moon it hadn't even reached the halfway point of its cycle.
I looked all around me for a direction to go, but had no idea of what course of action to take. I was finally free, but what would I do? What could I do in this body? Only one thought came to my mind as I tried to think of who I could trust.
Mother and father, they'll understand. I thought to myself. I looked up at the stars and made a general guess on which direction was west. It was a long journey home on foot, but I noticed that I could fly much faster than I could run, so maybe it wasn't too far off. Even at my current speed, it was a trip that would take weeks, but that wasn't important to me now. I had to remain focused and worry about the details later. For now, I just had to get away from the forest.
- x -
"Mmm…" I mumbled as I slowly came to.
I could tell that it was night time as my eyes slowly opened and my vision cleared. The pale light of the moon dimly lit my room through the open window curtains.
"Nina?" I heard a man ask. It was Myn.
"Myn?" I asked back. I sat up but couldn't see him in the darkness of the room. "Myn, where are you?" I asked.
"I am right here Nina," he answered.
I could hear him more clearly now and looked right beside me to my right to see him sitting in a chair next to the bed I was in. He was looking at my face, obviously concerned for my well being. His eyes looked sad and slightly afriad on his otherwise emotionless face.
"What happened?" I asked as I began to feel soreness and a slight dizziness in my head. I
put my hand to my forehead and wiped the cool sweat from it before rubbing my temples to try to get some relief. Nothing seemed to work, so I flopped back down onto my pillow and sighed.
"I'm not sure, but Yuri, Cassandra, and I all felt something suddenly and came rushing here to find you collapsed on the floor over there," he said.
I noticed that he was pointing towards the windows and sat up again to take a look. Over by the center window was the sword I had been using to practice. That's when I remembered what had happened, or vaguely at least.
"I fainted?" I asked, although I already knew the answer. That was what had happened, but I couldn't remember why. What caused me to collapse?
Myn stood up and walked around my bed to where the sword was lying on the ground.
"We're not sure what happened, Nina, and from the sounds of it, you don't either," he said. He bent down and pick up the sword, examining it for a second before returning it to its sheath. "Hmm… this sword…" he pondered to himself.
"What about it?" I asked. I had been watching him, and he seemed to really be studying the sword.
Myn flinched when he heard my question and quickly addressed me. "N-nothing," he said. "I was just wondering why it was out of its sheath next to you when you had collapsed," he said, almost well enough to convince me that was the real reason.
I wanted to get the real facts out of Myn, but with my dizziness spinning towards a headache, I decided against it, since the effort would probably only make it worse.
"I was practicing," I said.
"Ah, of course," Myn said.
He had recovered by now, and his tone was once again serious. He placed the sheathed weapon on the table by the windows and walked back to the side of my bed, although he was to my left now.
"Please, get some rest, Nina," he said. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me onto my back before pulling the covers up to my neck. "We can discuss what happened later," he said.
"I guess so" I said while feeling my body's need for rest. I yawned softly and shifted slightly under the covers so that I was more comfortable. "Goodnight, Myn" I said.
"Goodnight, Nina," he said softly.
I closed my eyes and breathed calmly as I listened to Myn walking across my room. Once I heard the door close I opened my eyes and sighed. I sat up again and looked out the windows at the passing clouds in the night sky. The moon was level with us on the horizon, starting to descend towards the end of another lunar cycle.
The wind chime by the window furthest to the left dangled back and forth as an invisible force moved it like the wind. I glanced at it in wonder as usual. Why does it keep doing that? I wondered. Even Myn thought it was weird that the chime blew on its own, but the look on his face and his responses hinted to me that he knew something about it. Maybe he'll tell me when we discuss what happened when I fainted. I pondered while remembering that before everything became blurry, the chime had moved just like it had now.
I looked over to the table where Myn had placed my brother's sword and sighed. As I looked at the sheathed sword under the silver moonlight, it suddenly hit me that my brother was gone. In all of the confusion and frantic events, I had actually forgotten, and it had happened just days ago.
I laid back down on my side and hugged some of the blanket to my chest as I began to think back to the times I spent with my elder brother. I smiled warmly as I remembered him, and slowly drifted to sleep.
- x -
A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this rather long chapter. I didn't expect to spend three chapters in the forest, but I hope no one thought things dragged on too much. Please leave any comments or reviews.