Chapter 39
Sheena did her best to battle the tremor that jolted through her body, invading deep into her bones and waking nerves she was not even aware she had. The closer they got the manor the more she could swear she felt a chill run through her body; that wave of nerves always added another small weight on her heart, making it harder for it to beat normally.
The manor looked bigger, foreboding and tower-like as the both of them stood in the courtyard that belonged to Valemeros. Sheena bit her lip lightly as her brown eyes glanced over to see the rough determination of Lloyd Irving and that alone gave her the strength, taking in a deep breath, the purple ninja exhaled slowly and glanced up the looming structure.
The sight she saw was enough to thin her blood for that one moment, each heart beat she swore she could feel the blood flushing through her veins as she held her breath for a moment; standing on the balcony above, cold lavender eyes staring down at them, hands gripping the railing happened to be the half elven noble Valemeros.
"Lloyd..." Sheena whispered as she kept her eyes locked on the elegant noble.
"I see him." Lloyd replied back in a tone of determination that had that magical hold over Sheena, she noticed that many times about Lloyd...it was a trait of a true leader to be able to fill their allies with strength and resolve when they were at their lowest.
Valemeros seemed to narrow his eyes for a moment as the noble twisted on his heel, his robes floating behind him as he disappeared from sight. Sheena fed off the strength she felt from Lloyd as she slide her fingers gracefully into her tunic before looking over to Lloyd.
"Think you can keep up, Lloyd?" Sheena managed to find the playful arrogance to challenge him as Lloyd blinked once and looked over to her before giving her a determined nod.
A shimmer of light sneaked through the opens of her tunic before Sheena pulled out a white seal, putting her index and middle fingers together she placed her hands in front of her while crossing her fingers, keeping the seal pinched between her fingers before the seal gave away another shimmer of light as it floated to the palm of her hand; the seal seemed to multiply as the seals forced a circle around her, side by side the seals transformed from one to dozens as she held her breath for one moment before uncrossing her fingers as she turned her eyes back to Lloyd.
Lloyd gave her one nod to let her know he was ready as Sheena took a step forward, snatching one of the seals. The world seemed to move in slow motion now as Sheena could feel every heartbeat like a gentle thunder in her mind as her delicate fingers touched along the first seal as she claimed the first seal and pulled it back before tossing the seal into the air, before the seal could reach its destination she grabbed the next and repeated the motion, just tossing the next one at a different location. Sheena repeated this motion and every time she grabbed a seal the others slide over to take its place before she had depleted the entire circle.
"Where...did you learn to do that?" Lloyd marvelled as he stepped in close to a near breathless Sheena.
Sheena reached up to gently brush the hair from her left eye, looking over to Lloyd before looking up to double check where she had throw all her seals. She let out a gentle breath of reassurance to see that every seal was in place. The seals floated there in place, creating a staircase that led up to the balcony that was at the top of the manor; each seal was perfectly spaced so it would be a comfortable jump for the both of them to leap from one seal to the next.
"Igaguri taught me that technique very long ago." Sheena breathed out once before casting Lloyd a side glance. "It does not last long before the energy in the seals fade, we have to be quick." Sheena informed before pulling her glove tighter to her hand. "Which is why I asked if you were ready." Sheena passively challenged; she did not even give the swordsman a chance to respond as she took the initiative by leaping to the first seal and gracefully bounced from that seal to the next in a weightless fashion as she locked eyes on the edge of the balcony that was about eight stories high.
Sparing a split second glance over her shoulder, she confirmed that Lloyd was actually keeping up with her and from the moment she glanced at him she noticed he seemed to do it almost effortlessly. Lloyd possessed a grace that amazed her almost as much as his idealist heart did.
Sheena pushed her right foot off the seal to bounce to the last seal before she reached up with both hands, grabbing the edge of the cold stone as she flipped in the air before landing to a kneel, feeling the light thud of Lloyd landing right beside her as she slowly raised to her feet. Their target, Valemeros, was always walking into the manor with his hands folded casually behind his back and if she did not know any better she could swear that she heard him peacefully humming to himself dispute the fact that the city of his birth was engulfed in the flames of blood and chaos.
The fact that Valemeros was taking the chaos he started with such casual stride infuriated Sheena as she felt her muscles tense for a moment and her teeth pressed together before she slide her fingers into her tunic once more, pulling out three separate seals and pushed off her right foot.
"Valemeros!" Sheena called out in unbridled fury, suddenly all her uncertainty and nervous energy transformed into a fiery will of the warrior she was trained to be.
The patter of her footsteps suddenly halted as she felt Valemeros's laughter echo in her mind, melding together with the call from the dark tone of Shadow.
'Daaaarrrrrrkkkkkknnneeesssss.' Shadow whispered, his call entangled with the laughter of the half noble as Sheena pressed her heels into the stone surface of the nobles' balcony.
A curtain of darkness draped down in front of her as the ninja lost complete sight of Valemeros and she did not dare step into black screen. She could feel the cold chill that could only be linked to the energy of Shadow as her head twisted to glanced over her shoulder.
"Llo-" Sheena voiced out before seeing nothing but darkness behind her. All the fire she felt in her chest instantly became snuffed out as her anger and courage faded in that instant when she realized that she was completely engulfed in the shroud of darkness imposed on her by Shadow; she could not even see the floor at her feet anymore.
"Lloyd?" Sheena called out, hoping to hear some form of response.
Daring herself to take a few steps through the unknown, Sheena knew she did not have much of a choice. Her eyes could only see blackness in every direction and the only thing she could see was her own body.
"Lloyd...answer me." Sheena called out.
The muscles in her chest tightened as she felt the urge to cry out suddenly when the feeling of her skin split open at the shoulders as she instinctively grabbed her shoulder, feeling a warm liquid coat her fingers. Observation revealed to her that she had been cut across her shoulder, the fabric of her tunic already torn and blood-soaked from the blood that already spilled from the gash.
Mocking laughter could be heard from the darkness, a laughter that did not sound like Valemeros or Shadow, the darkness altered the laughter but not enough for Sheena to mistake it for the voice to belong to a male as she looked around her as if hoping to see something.
The burning sensation returned, but this time the trial of fire was left across her hip as she felt another gash rip open, this one was deeper than the wound on her shoulder and actually caused Sheena to buckle under her weight as she let out a grunt of agony. The torture of the darkness allowed her to see her own blood spill out from her body and touch against the ground before her blood disappeared from sight.
The voice was now speaking to her, mocking her and taunting her but the darkness made it so she could not even understand what the voice was saying, only that something was being said. Sheena tried to push herself to her own feet as she pulled her hand away from her shoulder, the seals now soaked in her own blood as she lifted them to eye level and focused the seals to glow, trying to at least mount some form of defence.
With a flash of steel showing from the darkness, blood erupted from the back of Sheena's hand as it forced her to drop her seals, her face twisting in agony as she her hand tensed and and her fingers cramped under the disabling wound.
Laughter was the only response she got as the ninja pulled her hand close to her body, letting the blood soak into the stomach of her tunic.
'A foe that attacks under the cloak of darkness...how can I—" Sheena started before her eyes widened as she felt the pressure of a sword being driven into her other shoulder, this was not a swiping cut but actually impaling the blinded ninja as she felt flesh and muscle tear under the brutal edge of the weapon being used to deliver her to her demise. A breathless gasp escaped her parted lips as the weapon slide out of her body and Sheena's knees instantly buckled as she crashed to the ground, putting her wounded hand forward to stop her from completely succumbing to her wounds.
"Hold!" A knight called out before a grunt echoed through his helmet as his body became airborne, flinging through the air before his armoured frame slammed into the stone wall.
Genis glanced over his shoulder as he noticed a small group of four knights rushing to their location, all of them with their weapons drawn as he turned his body and started flipping the ball in the air, although many would consider such an action as a distraction from their spell chants, it actually focused Genis as he closed his eyes for a moment.
The kendama shimmered blue as Genis's eyes opened, a light frost glazing over the handle of the kendama before Genis raised his hand high into the air. The air thickened with a lung freezing chill as the knights stopped their advance the moment that they felt their armour grew a layer of frost.
"Absolute!" Genis called out as the air developed trails of frost for that brief moment before the pillars of ice formed together, freezing the knights on spot; nothing more than a second passed before the pillars cracked and shattered violently. The knights dropped to the ground motionless as Genis spun his kendama once before sliding it into his belt behind him.
Presea darted down the stairs that led to the dungeons, her eyes locked onto the two guards that noticed her presence instantly as they both reached for the hilts of their swords as Presea started by slamming one axe down to the ground. The axe destroyed the dungeon ground as Presea used the axe as a weight, her dash transferred into the hilt that sent her body airborne as she twirled once towards the two knights, the axe ripping from the ground as Presea slammed both axes in between the two knights causing an explosion of debris, the force throwing the knights back against the wall as the ground shards sliced through their armour, the waves of force also crushed the gate that the two were guarding.
"Whoa." Genis uttered as he bounced down the stairs.
Presea breathed out in a heavy growl as she slowly pulled her frame up from the crouch as her head turned from one side to the other to look at the knights, one laid motionless on the ground with his armour crushed by the sheer force of the pink haired warriors attack as the other knight gave a wet grunt that echoed inside his helmet, a moist cough escaping their mouths with the light sound of a splatter being heard; the knight was obviously bleeding internally as they gently clawed against the ground as if trying to pull themselves away from the infuriated warrior.
The gates crumbled to the ground as Presea pulled both axes from the ground and did not even hesitate as she walked over the debris and disappeared into the dust, ignoring the call that sounded from both Raine and Genis behind her.
Presea did not know what was guiding her, but something told her to ignore the first few dungeon doors as she dashed down the hallway and locked her eyes on one door and one alone as she pushed her foot into the stone floor so she came to a stop at the iron bound door. Presea dropped the axe composed of perfectly polished stone and grabbed the green and golden axe with both hands as she let out a battle cry as she swung with unbridled strength as the axe blasted through the stone frame before shattering the reinforced door.
With a hesitate breath, Presea dropped the axe to the ground as she nervously stepped into the darkened room. Presea could not help but bite into her lip as she saw a rough silhouette that matched her vision exactly as she felt her lips part for a moment and she could not be certain if she whispered out Regal's name or not but she thought she did as she stepped into the room. Tensing one fist closed, Presea slammed her fist into the wall as the crystal spheres burned to life and illuminated the chamber to reveal the horrific sight that Presea had hoped with false.
"R...Regal..." Presea whimpered as she reached out to his limp body before her.
A flash of pain jolted up her legs, it took a moment for Presea to even realize that her knees had buckled as she inched towards the body before she shifted over on her knees, spotting the dagger left in his gut as she desperately grabbed the cold hilt and pulled the bloody edge out of his body as if it had some magical property that would bring Regal back to life if removed. Her heart was disappointed to realize that the body before her did not move as her lips trembled as fear and sorrow dominated her body, making the once ferocious warrior tremble like a little child lost in the winter wastelands.
"Regal...Regal..." Presea's tear-filled voice whimpered as she wrapped around arms around his waist and pulled the hanging noble towards her as she held onto him in a tearful plea for the noble to not leave her...she could not stand losing another father figure in her life.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pressed her cheek against the now cold skin of Regal, her nails digging into his lower back lightly as her eyes shut closed. Every tear that fell from her eyes was like a shard of her heart being torn from her being as she felt herself robbed of the will to even live for that moment in time.
She wasn't fast enough...and that cost her a man that meant everything to her.
Sheena yelped once more as blood spilled from another wound across her leg, this gash was one of now a dozen that were almost perfectly placed throughout her body. This threat did not just want her die; but wanted her to bleed out as her unseen foe inflicted as much agony as possible. Blood started to soak her tunic as she felt herself being robbed of strength as every wound bleed out with every second that passed.
'This is how I am going to die?' Sheena thought fearfully as she tried to push herself up to her feet again, fighting against the agony of the crippling wounds that sliced her legs open. The damaged muscles flared in protest as Sheena trembled in pain to put herself up right.
The voice from the darkness spoke again and this time Sheena could tell it was a form of both mockery and annoyance that Sheena was still able to push herself up. Sheena grunted as she opened one eye through the agony and tried to look in the direction of which the voice was coming from; only to have her lips open in a breathless gasp as a deep cut split open a new wound across one of her hamstring as her weight instantly caused her knee to buckle and this time there was nothing to stop Sheena from crashing to the ground as she fell backwards and hit the floor hard, her head bouncing off the hard surface that instantly caused her mind to blur for a moment and she knew at that moment that her mind was battling going into an unconscious state.
'No...if I...sleep now...I won't wake up...' Sheena panicked as she focused hard. 'I cannot die here...' Sheena grunted as she found a hidden reserve of strength buried deep inside herself as she placed her bloody hands against the floor and struggled to push herself up.
The sound of her enemy was heard once more but Sheena did her best to push it out of her mind as she tried to figure a way to at least defend herself. She could not die...she could not leave Lloyd now. She had to live...for herself and...for him.
'There will be times when your eyes cannot help you...so never depend on that which has betrayed you.' a familiar voice rang in her mind as Sheena's eyes widened instantly. 'Igaguri?' Sheena thought out loud before realizing it was a memory flashback as she remembered back when she was a young little girl being trained by Igaguri, the vivid memory played through her mind.
'What do you mean? My eyes are always here.' Sheena asked in a tone of an innocent, curious, and inquisitive child.
'Just because they are there does not mean they will always be helpful.' Igaguri replied.
'I never understand what you mean.' Sheena pouted.
'Then let me show you.' Igaguri called as he pulled out a length of cloth to act as a blindfold.
Sheena remembered the weeks it took for her to understand that Igaguri was trying to trying to teach her something and was not just being mean by blindfolding her and lightly striking her with a kendo stick. Her master was teaching her how to defend herself without her eyes and it took her weeks to understand the principle and a couple of years to understand the art.
She remembered back to the day when she first successfully blocked the attacks from Igaguri, the moment when she grabbed the swinging kendo stick with her gloved hand, slowly lifting her blindfold with the opposite hand to look up to Igaguri, that moment she saw him give her that warm smile let her know she was on the right path.
As sudden as the memory struck her was exactly how sudden she was snapped back into the dangerous reality of her situation as she let out one more gasp and then blinked once.
'My eyes...have betrayed me...so forget I even have them. Igaguri...you taught me this.' Sheena thought to herself as she slowly closed her eyes, depending completely on her other senses and hoping her years of being out of practice would not cost her her life.
Sheena managed to push herself to her feet once more, putting most of her weight on her one good leg, being any weight on her damaged leg would cause enough agony to make her knees buckle once more and she could not afford that right now.
'Igaguri...guide me this one time.' Sheena thought to herself as she managed to control her breathing, going from ragged and reckless to a calm and controlled state as she let out a soft breath and eased the muscles in her upper body. The echoed taunting continued to sound around her as Sheena slowly lowered her arms in her meditative state and it was like someone had just opened the door in her ears as she heard the voice clear enough to understand.
"You could never love him as much as I can! I am done toying with you...just going to get rid of you now." the haunting voice spoke, all taunting absent from the tone as it took on a more grave meaning. The voice...Sheena could not help but notice that the voice had a tone of familiarity to it.
"Bye bye, Sheena."
Sheena would not let herself be slain by this enemy clocked in the dark shadows that easily. Keeping her eyes closed she now focused as much as she could, her eyebrow gave a slight twitch when she heard the footsteps advancing towards her, nearing closer as the air parted around the edge of the sword that the foe carried.
'There!' Sheena's mind yelled as she saw a very rough silhouette emerge in her mind and Sheena reacted accordingly as she pulled out a seal, this would be her now or never moment...do or die. Sheena saw the swing of the sword in her mind as she ducked the fatal blow that was meant for her and used the one opening she had of the unseen enemy; slamming her palm into the gut of the womanly figure she heard the shape in her mind grunt out breathlessly as the seal snapped to life and the seal burst in a surge of electricity as the grunt transformed into a scream as the energy filled her form before sending her attacker backwards.
'Now...to part the darkness.' Sheena called out as she pulled out another seal and used a combination of hand gestures, the seal multiplied and floated into the air, Sheena did not even need to have her sight as the seals would place themselves. The seals fell to the ground on all sides of Sheena before each seal shot out a bright light connecting each seal together. The seals erupted in a bright flash as Sheena opened her eyes slowly and she watched as the darkness slowly tore apart, like she was stepping back into the world again and the sight that waited her on the other side was one she was not prepared to see...the face of her enemy.
"Se...Seles?" Sheena uttered out in shock as she staggered to regain her balance on her one good leg.
Seles was shot down by the force of the lightning seal, sending the young and beautiful Wilder against the railing of the balcony, the woman was in pain as she slowly tried to push herself back to her feet and Sheena knew that the aliment that was afflicting her also lowered her pain thresh-hold, making Sheena feel guilty for striking the maiden down.
"How...how did you see me beyond Shadow's darkness?" Seles uttered out in both shock and suppressed pain. She slowly recovered, pushing herself back to her feet while tightening her hold on her deceptively board edged sword.
Seeing the width of the sword made Sheena instinctively look down at her shoulder as she realized just how big the stab wound actually was and looking down at her shoulder also allowed her to glance at the ground and she was horrified to see how much of her blood was spilled on the ground below.
"Seles...don't do this." Sheena pleaded with the misguided woman.
"Silence! You have taken my brother away from me for too long...you don't even love him and you never could...not as much as I do!" Seles screamed out suddenly.
"Seles...please listen to me." Sheena urged.
"The time for talk has long passed...I stood by silent for too long as you stole my brother from me...well today I get him back!" Seles confronted as she twisted her grip on her sword. "With your death."
Before Sheena could respond and try and calm the enraged woman down, Seles went on the attack once more, launching herself in a driven yet very open charge at the ninja. Seles was counting on the fact that Sheena was too wounded and lost too much blood to be able to effectively defend herself from the finishing blow. Sheena staggered once as she felt her nerves shatter at being able to do anything to take the offence against Seles. Sheena however could not just stand there and allow herself to be killed by Seles, she had to find someway of disabling the angered woman and spare her life so both Lloyd and her could try and bring Seles back to her senses.
Seles picked up her pace as Sheena glanced to the ground, the seals were still there and it was then she had an idea as Sheena clapped both her hands together, forcing through the pain of her bloodied and battered body as the seals at the ground burst in another flash of bright light. Sheena had closed her eyes and when she heard the yelp of protest from her aggressor she opened her eyes once more, only to see Seles emerge from the bright light in a blind charge.
The sight surprised Sheena as her eyes widened and her survival instinct kicked in as Sheena quickly shoved her hand into her tunic and pulled out another seal, shoving her palm forward as she slammed it right into the charging Seles. The woman grunted in shock before she tried to swing her sword, using Sheena's palm as a locator of where the ninja was standing. The seal shimmered to life as the glow that peaked out from Sheena's hand revealed it to be red and Sheena could not help but feel that slight panic enter her heart once more; a pyre seal would hurt the woman way too much with how volatile and violent the blast was.
With a eruption of embers, the seal tore into pieces as Seles screamed while her body was shot back into the blinding white light that Sheena's seals had caused. Sheena watched as Seles's sword flung from her hands thanks to the force of the blast.
The white curtain ended the moment Seles disappeared from sight and Sheena watched as Seles was thrown back; but yet the woman somehow managed to land on her feet as she stumbled back in her futile attempt to stop her body from being flung. It was like watching a person trying to stop themselves from being tossed in hurricane winds. Sheena's heart thundered once in her chest as she realized that Seles would not be able to stop herself in time before reaching the end of the balcony. Sheena stepped forward as she tried to reach out for Seles before her knees buckled thanks to her grievous wounds and Sheena fell face first to the stone floor. Widened eyes watched as Seles battled hard before her legs hit the balcony railing and everything slowed down as the look of horror on Seles's face was burned into Sheena's mind before the young maiden dropped out of Sheena's sight...the scream of terror echoed in Sheena's mind before the scream was suddenly silenced.
Sheena's nerves trembled in a mix of agony and horror as she dragged her nails across the stone before slowly and painfully pushing herself to at least support herself on all fours.
She feared the sight she would see as she crawled towards the edge of the balcony, pulling herself up the railing as she regretfully peaked over the edge and there she saw the motionless Seles, laying on the stairs below, a small stream of blood already spilling from the once beautiful form as Sheena's eyes widened in horror, tears welling up quickly as all strength and resolve bleed out of her body...just like the liquid of life that spilled out of her deep wounds.
"Se...Seles..." Sheena squeezed out before closing her eyes in emotional torment before sliding away from the railing, unable to take the gruesome sight anymore. Curling up in a ball as she rested her forehead against her forearms.
Down below, the lights in Seles's eyes faded.