Legendary Adventurers, Futuristic Saviors

Chapter 33: Evil in the Mountains; Fire and Rock in Shadows pt.1

In the Mountains

Not far from Iron Town, hidden deep within the mountains, the survivors of Lord Asano's invading forces were hiding within the ancient caverns. A long time ago, built within the mountain was a sacred temple forged by the Spirits as a place of peace for both Nature and Man. It was the only place that was still a symbol to show that Man and Beast could live together in harmony. But the place had been abandoned for some time now, and was in a state of ruin. Now, Yashahime had found the place and used it as a sanctioned camp to heal those involved in the battle against Iron Town.

All around the temple, soldiers and warriors were being treated, but none appeared to be doing better. Some soldiers had lost a limb or two, bleeding uncontrollably. Others were dying on the spot, gagging on their own blood from internal bleeding. Others, however were still alive, although they wished they weren't. they were chained to the walls, as they were violently trying to free themselves. Those chained had survived the black ooze from the Night Walker's Death rampage, and were infected becoming demons of sorts. Their bodies were bulging or stretching, shedding off their clothes in the process, forming black ooze branch spikes on their backs, and their faces merging together, erasing any traces of a face, but leaving only the red glowing eyes. If someone said there was a Hell on Earth, this would have been one of the circles.

But at the moment, Yashahime had other dealings to attend to. In her tent, posted within the castle-like temple, she kneeled before a darkened crystal. And emanating from it, a dark aura cloud, with glowing white eyes. It spoke up to her, sounding rather annoyed, "Someisa and Shisha-Gami? Both dead?"

"Yes, my Lord," Yashahime replied, "And their essence has been collected by a human. Nay, a Half-Demon who goes by the name of Alexander Killian. The one the Beasts are calling the Time Walker."

"Time Walker? Then that means…" the voice questioned, but then became more annoyed, "My Twelve Siblings. They actually attempted to bring forth a new Avatar. And from the future no doubt. They must be growing desperate if they've broken their one rule to peer into the future, let alone to pull someone from it."

"And he's a powerful one at that. If this boy is indeed from the future, who knows what other warriors are in that era," Yashahime thought aloud, almost sounding a bit excited.

"Then we shall send for others from different parts of the world," the Voice decided. "My Brothers and Sisters have chosen their champion. Now… I shall build an elite force of such methods. A force powerful enough to crush this boy… and claim the essence of my siblings."

Yashahime seemed rather surprised by that, as she asked, "You can do that, My Lord?"

"Of course I can! I possess that power, Fool!" the voice then calmed down a bit, as he finished, "But… this will deplete a saved reservoir of my strength. I shall be asleep for a week because of this. So it is only more urgent for you to bring me the essence of my siblings much sooner than expected."

Yashahime bowed her head, "I shall carry this out. You shall have your elite warriors ready and loyal to you." The cloud vapor from the crystal dissipated, and the crystal stopped glowing. Yashahime walked out, and headed outward to her camp. She smirked, as she told herself, "And I swear that with this force, Alexander, I shall be the Wolf Princess you shall give your heart to."

Three Weeks Later

Elsewhere

Forest Oasis

Alex's New Home

Deep in the forest, to where San had led Alex to rest, the Oasis, was where Alex had made his past residence. Since he would be staying in the past to find the other Spirit Kings, he decided to make a home for himself there. San insisted that he could stay in the cave, but he didn't want to intrude on her or her brothers. Mostly because of her brothers, seeing as how though Kiba was neutral about him being around, Tsume wasn't as nice. In fact, he had threatened the boy to find a place in Iron Town, or he'd bite his manhood off. But Isaac insisted that instead, he could help the boy find a resident place in the forest. Luckily, Alex had the perfect place in mind.

And so with Isaac's help, the people of Iron Town supplying materials left over from the war and shipment of wood, not to mention the blessing of the kodama, the outlander had fashioned himself a pretty good home. He had taken residence in one of the tallest and biggest trees at the Oasis. With a little planning, lots of work with just a Fox Squirrel and a coming and going Fire Spirit, and a butt load of patience, in two weeks-time with no breaks and only four hours of rest, Alex had fashioned himself a nice three-level tree house.

The tree house was something else to say the least, considering it was built by someone who had wilderness training. The house stretched over from two trees; one being the biggest, and the other leading ot the other side. The two trees were connected by a rope bridge, over the waterfall and the oasis lake. Where the rope bridge led to was where the main house was at, as it led to a small boat tied on a pulley system, which acted as an elevator. That was the first level of the house. The second level was the main house. It was a two story structure, with the noses of three boats to act as the front of the house, a sort of balcony with a tent on top, perfect for eating outdoors. On the side was mainly walls, but on one side, a cylinder structure was made, probably a small stairway to lead to the second floor, which was the bedroom living quarters and such, while the first floor was a living room and kitchen area. And the third part was built atop the house, in the shape of a saucer of sorts. Whatever part that this was of the house, only Alex knew of it.

And speaking of such, he was currently on the second floor, preparing for the journey ahead of him.

Inside

Second Floor

Alex was packing up as much as he could, which was a backpack he had brought from his time. In it, he had a few essential stuff needed: a med pack, a survival buoy knife his dad had given him from his uncle, some instant food stuff Anju had given him, which he packed in a duffle bag he made for Isaac's true form, which was a must, a pair of extra sneakers, in case his old ones were wearing out. He even placed his wolf skin cloak and Amishi machete on as practice attire now.

Isaac looked at the satchel bag for himself, and frowned, "I hope you don't expect me to drag that with me?"

"Nope," Alex stated, as he finished packing, "I expect you to carry that while I'm riding."

Isaac scowled, as he hopped on the boy's shoulder, "Hey, my true form may be easier to travel on. But make no mistake, we need a better less eye-catching means of transportation."

Alex slipped on a holster strap made for his back to hold the machete. He then sheathed the machete in, as he replied, "Believe me, if there was, I wouldn't have forced you into this position."

Isaac sighed deeply, as he hopped off, and pointed out, "Well, the further we get on this journey, the more transportation we'll have."

As Alex slipped his backpack on, he asked, "So, where's our first stop going to be at?"

"At…"

"At the Toxic Jungle," Rukia answered, as she suddenly appeared, walking up the stairway to the second floor. She entered the room, and looked to Isaac, "That is where we're going next, aren't we, Isaaku?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT," Isaac comically shouted out in anger.

Letting the two fight verbally and comically, Alex asked, as he grabbed the cloak, "The Toxic Jungle? I don't think I've ever heard of that place."

"It's located east of Japan," Rukia answered, and hesitated to answer the rest of the sentence. It was only then that Isaac gave her a stern look, that she finally sighed, and answered, "In the middle of Asia."

Alex's eyes widened with surprise, as he protested, "But that means I have to cover half the globe to find these Spirit Kings?" And then sighed, as he sarcastically asked, "And let me guess: After Asia, Iceland, maybe even the New World, all North, South, and Middle?"

Rukia shrugged, as she confessed, "You must understand, Alex: the Spirit Kings have spread all over the world, and ensured that the lands and seas would be equally distributed. Ensuring that the balance of Life of our world was kept equal." She bowed her head in respect of this, as she apologized, "I humbly apologize for keeping this information from you at the last second."

Alex sighed, as he crossed his arms, and calmed a bit, "I don't mind at the idea that I'm gonna be doing a lot of traveling. It's just gonna be hard to explain this all to San. As well as her brothers, considering that means she and I will be alone with you guys."

"I'll try to talk to them about it," San suddenly answered, getting everyone's attention to the open window.

Alex looked at her deadpanned, as he asked, "Couldn't you use the door, like any normal person?"

"There's nothing wrong with entering an open area," she answered as she hopped in. She stood there smirking, "And as for my brothers, they may be aggressive at times, but they'll understand if I tell them." However, the faces she got, from Rukia and Isaac to Alex, were kinda mixed at the moment, as she blinked in confusion, and finally asked, "What?"

Finally, Alex pointed out, "Um, San? Your outfit…"

In truth, San had changed her wardrobe, perhaps in preparation for this journey. She was now wearing a skin tight blue one piece spandex bathing suit piece, with a zipper going from her neck and bellybutton, and a turtleneck collar zipped down to her collar bone, and had no sleeves on it, exposing her shoulders as well as her slim yet fine toned muscled arms. She had fashioned for herself a brown sash belt with pouches on it, holding her now white skirt, and had even cut up the jean pants, making them into toeless moccasins. All in all, this was a pretty good look for her.

San looked at herself to examine what he meant, and blinked for a moment. She then turned to him, and looked rather angry, as she spat, "What? You don't like it? You can just go ahead and say…"

"Looks pretty great," Alex smiled to her, as he bashfully explained, "The shoes would make it easy for you to climb a little. And the spandex one piece makes it easy for you to move without anything loose."

San blushed a little, as she smiled, "Thank you, Alex."

"Though, you're gonna have to do with changing it from summer to winter eventually," Isaac pointed out. "The places we're going, you'll have to wear something warmer than that."

San huffed a little, as she crossed her arms, as she proudly stated, "I've lived in these woods all my life. My brothers and I have endured winter after winter. And that was when I wore that usual attire."

"But My Princess," Rukia bowed respectfully, as she explained, "The lands we are traveling to, their weathers will change drastically. They'll be unlike anything that this forest has ever thrown at you."

Then Alex looked around, as he grabbed San's cloak and bag. "Here you go," he graciously handed her bag to her, as she graciously took it from him. "You got everything you need in there?"

She pulled her cloak on, and slipped her bag's strap on her right shoulder. She then pulled her cloak's hood on her head, hiding her face, as only her mouth was shown. "I'm ready."

Alex did the same as he slipped his wolf skin cloak on, and nodded, "Alright then, let's go."

"HELP!" somebody called out, catching the group's attention. They rushed out of the cave, looking around to see who had called out, and spotted someone at the top of Moro's cave. From the looks of it, it was one of Lady Eboshi's guards; it was easy to see considering that he was wearing an orange getup.

Alex blinked, "It's one of Eboshi's men."

San snarled, although the war was over between the forest and Iron Town, she still had sore feelings around the Gun Woman. "What do you want," San shouted, almost on the urge to sheath out her blade, "Answer quickly!"

"Forgive my intrusion, Princess," the guard bowed respectfully, not wanting to fight, "But My Lady's requested that you two come to Iron Town. Right away."

Alex placed a hand on San's shoulder, slowly calming her, as he asked, "What's the problem?"

"A Half-Demon's appeared in town," the guard replied.

This earned the two, plus Rukia and Isaac, a pause in silent concern. The only half-demons that the group was aware of were Alex, San, and Takemaru. They had not heard or seen of the former samurai warlord after the Night Walker's rampage. It would seem rather foolish that Takemaru would try and go back to Iron Town after that little destructive display he showed off, when he and Alex brawled last. There was something that they had to figure out before they left, and now was the only time to investigate such a mystery.

Iron Town

Doctor's Hut

Once they arrived in Iron Town, they were greeted by Toki, as well as a reluctant Gonza. Alex didn't have any ill feelings about the former, but San… she just felt out of place. In fact, being in the town she had been at war at just made her feel a little less at ease. Or rather, she just didn't know how to interact with everyone around the entire town. In truth, she just felt rather awkward, as did most of the villagers. However, the only ones to seem to be at ease around the Princess of Beasts and Ghouls was Toki, and surprisingly the other Work House girls. Of course, the last time they interacted with one another was when they gave San a bath. After the ordeal, she ranted to Alex on how a horrible experience it was, and all that did was earn a laugh or two from him and Isaac. He commented that between both their experiences, he felt that he got violated, while she had the pleasure service. She got her revenge with a punch to the head.

But that was gonna have to wait, as they approached the Doctor's hut, where Lady Eboshi awaited for them. Once they had approached it close enough, Eboshi calmly smiled to them, as always, and greeted, "It's good to see you've arrived, Alexander." And although her calm demeanor showed, Eboshi was secretly surprised to see not just the fox squirrel spirit on the boy's shoulder, but the Wolf Princess and the Fire Spirit accompanying him. However, she nodded in respect to the two, "And I see you've brought the princess and her vassal along as well."

San silently growled at the Gun Woman, but Alex stepped in, with a nervous smile on his face, "They were sort of worried that this may have been a trap. Old time grudges, you know; they're hard to let go in times of peace." He then cleared his throat, as he asked, "Uh, your messenger said something about a half-demon. In the village?"

"Yes, a male… from what we can determine," Eboshi answered, sounding rather confused.

Alex blinked, "From what you could determine? What do you mean?"

"I think you should see for yourself," Eboshi replied, as she led them to the patient's hut.

She pulled the screen blind away, and all that Alex or the others could do was look in horror at the condition of the fellow. He was a young man, about Alex's age, or at least that's what he could tell about him. His entire right arm had been torn off, the lower part of his right leg was barely holding on by thin threads of his flesh, his left eye missing, and a huge gaping hole in his abdomen. And all that while, cursed black ooze film was covering the broken and torn areas, barely keeping him alive. But that wasn't even helping at all, since the ooze was melting off faster, becoming grayish black. Even if this boy was cursed, it wasn't healing him, as his curse was dying.

San cupped her mouth, as she whispered, "By Shishi-Gami, what the hell happened to him?"

Alex knelt down, and examined him carefully, and spoke aloud, "His entire right arm was torn off from the seams, and his eye's shown that it was gouched out… by being clawed out." As he looked at him closely, he made a discovery. From the black ooze covering him, he saw small yet hard to notice puncture marks, made by an iron pole of sorts. "It looks like he was skewered several times." He looked to the others, as he concluded, "This guy was tortured."

In a split second, the dying Hanyo grabbed Alex by the collar of his shirt, yanking him back to him. Everyone was startled to see the half-dead half-demon spring back to life, as they readied their weapons. San took this as an attack and a threat to Alex's life, as she pulled out her dagger, "You Demon! If you kill him, i…!"

"San! Everybody, wait," the young outlander told them. They stopped as they saw that the half-demon was struggling to move. Alex steadied the boy in his arms, as he looked at him, straight in the eye, "What happened to you? Who or what did this to you?"

The young man was struggling to speak; his every word was a struggle just to breathe. However, the boy was able to speak, but choked on every word, "The… The others… they're being tortured…"

"Others? You mean there are more like you," Alex asked, realizing there were more than just one of him going through this.

The boy weakly nodded, "They're… they're trying to find… strong ones… I… I didn't pass…" He then grasped Alex tightly, begging him, "Please… in the mountain… help them… but beware… there's… strong enemies… th…" But then, he finally gave in, as he let go of Alex, falling back to the bed.

And then much to everyone's horror, the boy's body began to bubble and melt, as all that was left was a puddle of ooze, and the boy's skeletal remains. Alex got up as he and San looked to one another, both knowing that their journey would have to take a slight detour before the main road.

Next Chapter: Evil in the Mountains; Fire and Rock in Shadows pt.1

Some of you wanted to know why I named the main character Alex. Well, in name meanings, the name means 'Defender, protector of Man'. And in this case, Alex is a Protector. And for Killian, which was my ancestor's name, means 'Strife' in Ireland.