Chapter 24

Kayura looked at the little who hopped along beside her. The oddest girl, but she had met other worlders before and none them had ever settled with her quite right. This one had been a full grown one, back from the dead to only be a child again. She had questions and she hoped the girl could answer them, "Ameno...why did he save you?"

"Like I said, I don't know," she answered as she bounced on feet through the tall green grass. "The human world sure is pretty."

"You probably know about Ameno and Kunito the best, don't you? What is the means to their end?

"Ameno has always been the Creator and Kunito the Destroyer. Always been, always was according to my Lady."

"I see and the Heart of the Armors?"

"I don't know about that," she said with a shrug, "but I once heard a story from Faith."

"One of your fellows?"

"Faith was as old as my Lady was, and she was very wise. She liked to tell stories," she said as she kicked hopped on a rock and held out her arms in the air like she was flying. "She told a story about something from where she lived on Earth. She said she lived in the Valley of the crystals where the two suns had been born. Two armors who were born to destroy each other, now that I think of it, it was probably the Kikoutei. I asked, didn't Ameno create all armors? She said, he does create all but these armors fell from a sky that was not part of any of our skies and were born from a star that was not among any stars we could see."

Kayura nodded like she understood, "it would explain why Hoshi gets sick from the armors..."

"But she absorbed your armors as well. They have not made you sick."

"The ronins then? Dais can help them summon it."

The little girl jumped from the rock and said, "but he, nor you and the other war lords have the same spirit they do. I don't know what it is, but their souls are bright. Perhaps, why the Kikoutei chose them."

"You dont' believe the Ancient One sealed the armor to them?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not but would an armor with such amazing sentience allow a man to bind it without its approval."

"Good point," Kayura replied as they came to the cave. It was surrounded by a stream and a small wood. "I remember this place. Not fondly, but Sekhmet made quite a fool of himself here."

Meep only giggled as she pulled out her orb. It glowed with a brightness as they entered the darkness. Kayura smiled softly, at least they wouldn't be in the dark trying to find Sage. She wondered why his place to recharge was in the dark but light seemed to be the trickier of all the ronins elements. Fire, water, and rock were earthly elements. Sky was trickier, because it Rowen was with the stars and she never understood how that was an elemental. Sage was light. Light was the most powerful as she saw it, without light the world around them wouldn't exist. It complicated matters.

The dark hid things though. She remembered the darkness the nether realm had, but this was an inky blackness she had never felt before. Sure the nether realm had darkness that held evil that could destroy minds. Meep looked at her with her chartreuse eyes that glowed with the light of her transformation orb.

"Faith also told me about the ancient ones," she said softly.

"She did?"

"Said a great wise one came to them thousands of years ago, when humanity was barely old enough to walk," she paused as she looked in the night. "Spoke of the stars from another sky and armors from another place. Said that their people would one day have a single hope left to help guide the souls of the armors to their rightful place. Sounds vague to me, but you're the last one left right?"

Kayura nodded but remained silent as they climbed carefully through the caves. She had spent many nights pondering her fate as the last ancient, pulled from her people and beared a terrible fate of donning an armor. Some nights in the Nether Realm, her mind would stay awake in their long nights, wondering what her mission would be. Her nights in the human realm were not much different, although more pleasant with the company of Mia. She wondered what her life would have been like if she had been allowed to live the short one she had been born with in her village.

She heard a single laugh in the darkness and asked, "meep?"

"Not me," she replied honestly as the giggle echoed through the dark. There was a giggle just in front of them and they could see a soft lantern light up. The small girl in front of them must have been blind, because her eyes were solid white. She was smaller than even Meep, with black and white hair tied in intricate braides that almost reached the ground. She wore a thinner armor that was black and white, but it was still bulkier than Kannon looked with clawed gauntlets on each hand.

"Why, hello," she greated with a smile. She bowed but kept the lantern high in her free hand, "My name is Chiling of the West. I do hope we can be friends, I know where Halo is and I want to bring you to him."

Meep scrunched her nose, "you work for Ameno."

"Of course I do," she paused as she started to walk on. "But I am not the violent one of his group, you want Xuanwu and Yang for that and they are terribly lazy. No need to introduce yourselves, you're Kayura of the Ogre and Meep of Kannon."

Kayura shrugged and followed the girl with Meep in toe. The girl was light on her armored feet and Meep asked, "don't you want to kill, Halo?"

"I do not kill," she answered softly. "I am no warrior, I leave that to Cho Win and the other two. Barbarians they are."

Meep asked, "then what do you want with Halo?"

"All in good time, Kannon," she said a chuckle. "Do you know what the Heart is?"

"We've all been wondering what it is."

Chiling only chuffed like White Blaze would have, "I wonder if you know the same tail of the of the star that fell from a sky that was not part of ours."

"I've heard," Meep answered quietly.

"I was raised in the Himalayas where the great beast White Blaze came from. He has many secrets himself, that creature is mystery to all of us particularly, but we also had a story of an armor not made by any stars or even made by the hand of our Lord Ameno."

"So that heart is an anomaly," Kayura asked.

"The biggest of them all," she smiled a cheshire like smile from ear to ear. "It's odd, because no one knows what it is just that we're scarred of it and scarred of its attraction to the Owari."

Kayura scrunched her brow, "Owari, why is it special?"

"Theoretically, it's a mistake," she snickered, "but never has Ameno felt the Heart stir before until she had the armor. Not even Seiza or her father made the Heart stir. It once stirred when Ryo first summoned Kikoutei, so it must be some sort of fate that the girl is trying to take that blasted thing out of existence."

"Why are you talking to us," Kayura asked, "isn't that strategically traitorous?"

"I suppose, but as an ancient one, I want you to see it my way," she paused and glanced at meep, "and I hope Kannon can too. You believe we are evil like Talpa but alas the armors decide their own fates despite our best attempts. We are the guardians of the gates and it is our job to protect our lord, and the humans around the girl seemed to have created an unforseen variable by summoning the kuroi in such a terrible manner. It's disrupted the heart and our lord thinks the key is to keep the armors asleep. That's all I want is to keep them asleep, not kill or harm or maim, just a peaceful sleep. Without shiroi, kuroi will fall back asleep as well."

Meep looked concerned, "your asking them to give up their lives in a different way."

"We all give up our lives, Kannon, you should know that as well as I do," she replied and kayura saw Meep's ears lowered in fear.

Meep asked, "how am I alive? I died in the Red Kingdom."

"How indeed," she answered. "Even Ameno won't tell me that much."

Mep nodded, "why...are you helping us instead of letting your barbarians get to us?"

"Cho Win wants to believe that her way works best, I can already feel her loss, Xuanwu is a mindless beast even Hardrock is more brilliant than he is, and Yang won't bother to have his armor scratched. That my friend is a conclusion for failure," she laughed and Kayura shivered. She didn't know her end game but was fairly certain they were walking into a trap.

Meep could see a soft green glow in the deep dark cave. Kayura ran past the both of them to the pillar of quartz and she could see a form sealed deep within it. She placed a hand to it, and felt a buzz of electricity run through it. She stepped back and looked at the little tiger girl, "you want us to leave him asleep."

"I do," she paused, "I am not a battle armor, like I have said. I am cursed with visions of the future and there is a very slippery road we are going down. The Red Kingdom has been sealed off and Kunito sleeps, his dreams create the monsters. Imagine if he were awake. I put him to sleep so many years ago, and Ameno was to keep the world of the awake safe from the two suns."

Kayura asked, "so if we defeat Ameno, Kunito stays asleep. I don't really see a problem."

"But Owari will stir the Heart then, and its beat will wake him, The Owari cannot defeat him in any form."

Meep raised her eyes to the rock, "Sage is too nice to be subjected to prison for eternity. Besides we have Izanagi!"

"And who says Izanagi will make anything with an owner who doesn't even know how to control it."

Meep didn't like that answer, "no! Sage is too good! He helped me when all Ameno wanted to do was lock me away!"

"Fond of him," she giggled as she walked to the wall and placed a hand on it. A black spot appeared where her hand laid, "if you won't let him sleep, i'll make sure he never wakes."

Kayura tackled the girl in armor who broke away as Meep summoned hers, she summoned her daggers, "undo your spell!"

"I won't," Chiling smiled as she nimbly avoided her daggers. "Mercy? Why can't you see that he needs mercy!"

Kayura saw Meep focus on the tiger girl and turned her attention to Sage and slammed her hands against the black spot that started growing. She leaned her head against the wall of stone, she heard the sounds of battle between the small girls. She drowned out the sounds of knives and whispered, "Halo...no...I'm better than that. Sage of the Halo. I remember when Kale brought you into the darkness of the castle, and you had fought so hard. You didn't let that darkness keep you though it had beat you..."

She could hear a soft heart beat as the blackness began to spread more quickly. She slammed her hands against the stone, "Sage of Halo, hear me!"

She started to sob as the blackness over took the pillar and she heard the sounds of the fight behind her and never had she felt more useless. She slammed her hands down again, making the bleed from her nails, "Halo!"

She felt her virtue light up, Loyalty and felt the rock break under her hands and a bright light blinded her. Sage grabbed her hand, the symbol for Grace lit up on his forehead. Even without her armors, she could still feel the connection. It was like it had momentarily been forgotten, but she could feel Sekh, Kale, and Dais as well. And something new...and she realized it was Hoshi.

Sage grabbed her hand and it healed instantly, "don't hurt yourself for me, Kayura."

Chiling slid to a stop and glarred with blind eyes and snarled, "no one's ever broke my spell!"

Sage's armor glowed in the darkness, even brighter than Kannon's. He pulled up his sword from his back, "Thunderbolt cut!"

The lightning bolt cut through the darkness and the girl vanished with a curse. Meep beamed and hugged him with tears falling down her face, He patted her head as his armor vanished, leaving her the only light. He looked at Kayura with a soft smile, "thank you."

"For what?"

"Loyalty," he shrugged and then said, "we need to get to Rowen."

Kayura nodded, "I agree. As smart as the warlords are, I doubt any of them can fly."

Meep grabbed both of their hands and pulled them along, "let's get out of here!"

Chiling growled as she appeared in the palace, Cho Win laughed immediately, "smarts doesn't it?"

"No bother, we still have time to get Strata out of the way."

Cho smiled softly, "I already working on it."

I am aware that Chiling's story of the armors differs than Hoshi's previous reasoning. That'll be figured out in following chapters, so I hope i didn't lose you! :) Thanks again~