I was worried before, but now my fear spikes. Noriko's legs and feet are disappearing into a second area of warped space as if she's being carried. She's fighting, kicking, but she must have others holding her who found her in her hiding place. As her feet are all I can see, I'm slammed by a fast series of powerful energy attacks because I stopped paying attention to Keimos. He arrived through one of those as well, from above us in the air.
I must get to Noriko and if that space closes I may not be able to. They just took her so far from me I can't feel her. I turn and with the power of my fear, although I try to temper the emotion, I slam Keimos with the hardest attack I have until this time. Until now, I was staying in control. That's sufficient to be able to put him down long enough I can get to the warped space and through it.
I find myself in a strange building. Heavy, the air here hasn't moved in centuries, as if earth has swallowed it up. It will be hard for me to use my skills here. Large roots cover the walls, floor, and ceiling, and have caused them to crack and crumble, but haven't destroyed this place.
Here, I can feel the massive presence of the demon who's been waiting to confront me. Even though it's hiding, and trying to dampen its presence, it's too old, too large to completely hide. I swallow and look around for Noriko. I can feel her again, but faintly, only enough to know she's alive. I don't see her.
Rather, I see another man here. I freeze just briefly. I can sense a strong aura around him. He could be my older brother. Long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, expensive robes but finely tailored, not excessive. He's likely what Noriko would call beautiful, but his pride repels me. That reminds me of Tazasheena. She would come and sell her information to someone like this, someone who she would match. That makes me angry, but because I'm afraid.
"She's gone. We've sent her away," the man says calmly, knowing what I'm searching for. At least he'll tell me Noriko's still alive, for now.
"Where did you send her?" I ask. He refuses to tell me. I move and he makes a sweeping motion with his arm. I slam into a barrier and use the force against me to leap back and land on my feet. I'm even warier now. He's not a warrior, but he can control energy. Likely earth energy given how strong that was and the place we're in. Is it possible he's the one that saved Keimos and made him so much stronger? ...Have I entered the stronghold of my enemy from the beginning?
Speaking of the devil, I feel Keimos arriving behind me through the warped space Noriko and I came through. He finally recovered, then. As he steps through what is a wall in this place, a third man, hunched and old, and every bit a seer does something to make the warped space at the wall disappear. Did they take Noriko through another space like that and remove it? I'll have to find my way out of here by another exit.
The first man I saw in this place chuckles and I turn to look at him again. With cruel delight, he tells me, "Now you're my captive. The long predicted moment has finally arrived, Izark." With quiet conviction he says, "You will transform into the Sky Demon here as you resonate with the power of this place."
"You can't make me become the Sky Demon!" With a glare I send an attack filled with both my sudden burst of fear and all the conviction I hold of the belief that I can make my destiny.
He holds up his hand and my attack slams into another energy barrier he put up. Damage is done to the floor and building, enough I know he's very powerful, but not enough as what should have been done to it. I have the temple in Selina, Guzena, to compare it to. The power in this place has seeped into the structure itself.
"Keimos!" the man orders and I'm defending myself again.
Keimos moves so fast that his first blow hits me and I fly back, but as soon as I land I'm leaping into the air so that his second punch hits the floor only. The power of his blows is even greater here than at the place outside of the flower town where he first confronted me. And, like me, he's transformed physically each time the power he uses increases. I'm confused by that. I don't think he's turned into a demon, nor does a demon control him in the same way I've seen them work before.
Like most prideful men on the edge of gaining what they want, the man in control here cries out to me, as if to weaken my will and convince me to his side, "It's your destiny, Izark! Haven't you noticed the world transforming? The power of this place is causing the changes! You're just a tiny part of the transformation! Accept your destiny, Izark!"
Keimos is after me again. I push him back with an energy attack that includes the sparks that warn me that I'm about to the limit of what I can control. Or what I could. I hold on to the desperation of my soul and the practicing I've been doing. This time, I should be able to control it at least a half-step more. Only I control my destiny!
As Keimos is blown back, this time I look for escape and ignore the man who wants to own me. This room is large and square with central openings above and below as if this was an atrium area. I go up to the next level's balcony. On the way up, the throb of pain that accompanied this level last time strikes me and I gasp.
By the time I'm up on the railing, my bandana is falling behind me, split in the center again. I'm glad I put on one of my older bandanas, not Noriko's embroidered one. I'm just as happy to leave it behind and not face Keimos for a while. I need to find the way out.
I put my clawed hand to my head, but I've only split the bandanna and my forehead. The horn hasn't arrived yet. I can hold it at this level, but the power here must have affected me. I didn't intend to go to this level.
With an explosion, Keimos is back up on his feet again, and he's transformed physically again, to another level higher. My attacks don't do enough damage. He's too strong. How long can he match me? How much power has this place and that person given him...or rather the demon?
That's a strong demon. I'll have to assume Keimos can match me for a long time. Escape is now a requirement. The longer I have to defend myself against him, the weaker I'll become against the Sky Demon inside of me.
As Keimos heads for me again, I leap off the balcony railing and head down a hallway, trying to gather up enough air energy to form a wind that will tell me where an exit to the surface is. It was like this in the cave system when I took Noriko from the Sea of Trees.
I try to reach her again, "Noriko!"
"Izark! ...Izark." I hear her voice, but it's so faint, so distant. She must be as desperate as I am.
I hear my name again, but much louder and from behind me. Keimos demands I face him again; it is his challenge. I keep running, calling the wind to me, as faint as it is. Where is the way out?
-o-o-o-
Noriko came to me this morning, frantic. "Izark, the mayor says that the Source of All Evil has begun to move. She's been with the seer all night. Everyone is concerned."
"We're leaving," I'd just finished tying my second boot on. I grabbed up our bags and we only stopped long enough to thank our hosts and leave. We ran to pick up the horse from the stable and my hands shook as I saddled it. I had to pause to take a deep breath before I helped Noriko onto the horse. Holding her helped me to get back to some level of stability. We'd only made it into the hills above the flower town when Keimos appeared in the sky above us, frightening the horse badly.
To have Noriko name the demon I'd felt increase in power the evening before with that name had shaken me badly. I'd felt a pain in my back that evening and checked it early this morning in front of a mirror when no one else was awake. The scales in the center of my back had returned rather suddenly and painfully - perhaps at the moment the seers knew the Source of All Evil had begun to move.
When Noriko came to me in the temple and saved me from the final form of the Sky Demon, all of the scales on my body disappeared. Even those on my back and arms that I had from childhood. This demon can affect me without me even knowing it. What is it's power?
Noriko says that my changes are brought about by fear and anger. The evil being done all over the world is increasing the fear of the good people of the world by strong emotions of anger and greed in others. Demons feed on those kinds of emotions. Has this demon finally eaten enough from all over the world to believe it now has the strength to defeat me, and through my own anger and fear? I draw in a sharp breath. If I want to live through this, I'll have to control those as much as possible. That will be difficult.
As I leap down another hallway to my right, still seeking the way out, I dodge Keimos' attack at the same time. The attack shatters chunks of marble from the end of the hallway I just left. I take in a deep breath and set my worry for Noriko aside. It doesn't sound like the man wants to kill her just yet. She's strong and has her own skills and courage. I'll trust her to take care of herself for now.
Just that much calms me enough that I attack Keimos to keep him back again. Still, the tear in my forehead opens a little more. I turn and keep moving, but I've run to a dead end. I press my hands against the wall, frustrated, wishing I could push it down like I pushed down the wall in the caves so we could exit them. One more time I reach for the wind and am finally rewarded with the scent of not just dust, ancient dirt, and tree roots, but also wet earth and faintly - fresh air.
I spin around, looking for the opening. I find it - a small square in the wall as if a vent to a roof or other surface - behind Keimos. His look is triumphant and mocking. So are his words. He gathers energy, more than ever before.
Without me wanting it, my body throbs again and it wants to change. I'm able to hold it like I held the painful transformations before, but the Sky Demon is straining to be let out. I'll have to fight myself as much as Keimos, and it would be far better to simply defend myself from Keimos than actually fight him. Then I'll be able to focus my energy on fighting the Sky Demon.
As his attack comes at me, I'm up on the wall, and running along it above the energy fireball that slams into the wall at the dead end with a great crashing. I'm unable to get through the hole to the surface then. Keimos is already waiting for me.
Our energy shields clash as he uses his to attack me and mine. I hold it, needing him to stay at a distance, while I run down the wall of the hallway. I'll have to break free and double back, but in these hallways it may not be possible. Still, I look for the path to take to save myself, and save the world.
-o-o-o-
Once again I have no choice but to attack Keimos to get him to back off, to give myself time to breathe, to give my body time to heal. His attacks are doing damage now, and he broke my arm when he got his hands on me.
The horn rips through almost as soon as the attack has left my hands. It's as painful as always when I'm not in control of it because it's too sudden. That blinds me temporarily, but we're almost to the large atrium again - really not where I wanted to be herded back to. Can I find another hallway on the other side and go around again?
I hear Keimos chuckling behind me, but ignore it. There's a low rumble, and then Keimos is laughing. As his laughter increases into a full exultant sound, I can hear things around me ripping and the heavy air in this place is being stirred, but not by wind.
I leap down a broad staircase and find I'm in a different atrium than the one I was in originally. I don't know where this is. I hope I can find the exit again. There's motion around me and I stare in surprise as the roots that cover this place rip out from the wall and ceiling and move as if living things. There's a plant energy? I hadn't thought there was one. Or is it part of earth energy?
The large roots, as large as the roots in the Sea of Trees and larger because of their age, begin to attack me. They have a lot of power as well, and there are so many that I have a hard time dodging the attacks that want to slam me to the ground and pin me down. I'm tiring, having to dodge them, and having fought so hard already. Everything I have is focused on not turning into the Sky Demon now.
Keimos yells at me, telling me I have no hope, but his voice barely registers. I head for space where the roots are smaller, trying to hold on to the one thought that there is an escape, but I can barely remember what that escape is or where. I only know I'm searching for it. The Sky Demon will take control soon.
Pain shoots through me as a tapered tree root slams into me, spearing me, and my body is frozen in shock. To draw in a breath is excruciating. The root lifts me into the air and slams into a root large enough to be a narrow bed for me, pinning me. Keimos' cry of triumph is followed by more smaller tree roots slamming into me to pin me more closely to the large root behind me. Both shoulders, an arm, a leg, my core yet again.
I try to draw on my strength to destroy the roots and instead Keimos' energy attack, as great as the one I used against the woman who told me that Noriko would be sacrificed for her blood, slams into me. I'm able to hold the shield for a time, then my energy is too sapped and his attack breaks through.
I scream as blood sprays out of the wounds and then is expelled out of my mouth. The total overwhelming pain adds to the almost lost state I was already in, but I can no longer draw on any strength or energy. I have nothing left. Slowly the physical changes on me fade and I'm again only human in form. The body gives up, but inside there is still me, I still cannot die.
Keimos is no longer worried and approaches me to grab me by the hair and gloat in my face. "You don't look so good, Izark. I'm impressed that you're still alive, though. You are a real monster. Now you know that you were born only to be used by humans. You don't deserve to have free will, monster."
To go along with the rumble of the enlivened roots, there is now a calling sound. "Hey, you hear that?" Keimos points it out, "It's calling you. Ready? From now on, you serve us." The roots begin to move, to take us from here to where they want me to be.
I glare at him. With my lungs not functional, there's no talking. I'm not dead, so I still haven't given in to them yet. I don't know what they can do to me. Perhaps the demon can take over my body, but as long as there is me in here, I will not become the Sky Demon. I've decided it.
I close my eyes. What can I do? Holding still is resting. The roots still in me make it difficult to heal, but the energy damage done after that is healing already. If all I can do is heal, then that's what I'll do.
"Izark! Izark!" It's Noriko and she sounds closer, clearer. Then I'm seeing her. She's kneeling next to a man flat on his stomach, holding his hand and crying. He has two of the animals sitting on his back that can transport people through space.
Did she escape? The thought she's coming here frightens me again. Don't. Don't come here. Here is too dangerous. Stay free. Run and flee. I hurt, though. Never has she done that once. Always she's come to me anyway, regardless of the danger to her. It's always been to my blessing. Why? Why does she come? Why does she love me, a monster?
As I watch Noriko, she looks up from the man and into the air above her. It looks like she's talking to someone. Is there another spirit helping her? With a nod, she lets go of the man and he sits up, then rises to his feet. Noriko stands and they hold hands again, then are gone. Then I see her again. This time above a hole in the ground and I can feel she's very close. That man and the spirit have brought her here.
As she thanks them and then prepares to enter the hole, I cry out, "No, Noriko! Don't come. Stay free!" But she doesn't hear me.
This time I hear her. "It's okay, I won't be alone because I'll be with Izark." Her smile radiates her warmth and love. She enters the hole and I lose the vision. But I remember her. I remember her love, her faith in my goodness, her tender warmth.
What does she see when she looks at me? What does she love? I try to see it, what she sees, and deep inside of me I discover something I hadn't looked at before.
I've never honestly looked at myself. I've believed what people have told me and run from it. I've hated and feared what I am, but I am what I am. I have love for my friends and the beauty of nature. Noriko healed my lonely soul and I was able to smile and laugh again.
If I'm only a demon of destruction, then where do these emotions come from? If I'm a monster, how can I have any human emotions at all? In my eyes as a child, I understood I was as human as everyone around me. Why did I believe their words to the contrary? What am I?
The hand of my unpinned arm flinches as muscles are repaired. I only need to have the roots gone and I'll be able to be whole again. "Drop him, Keimos! Drop him from the tree. He will be taken by that great power and he'll become the Sky Demon! He will make us the rulers of the whole planet!"
Not. Not even that man can make that choice for me. Yes, do drop me. I'll finish healing and fight even the Source of All Evil to not become what it wants me to become. I can love and I do love. I choose to protect this planet. I am not the Sky Demon of the prophecy!
The very words well up as a strong force from within my core and I can feel that power healing me, as if it's the source of my healing. The demon below me is suddenly disturbed, but I don't care. It should be.
"Izark!" My eyes snap open and Noriko is above me. Sigh. She's jumped again without thought, her only thought that she must be with me.
The power that's within me surges out, powerful but gentle. I reach out my arms and catch Noriko, holding her closely to me, glad she's finally in my arms again. I look upward and with a thought we're flying upward with great speed. My shield is strong and punches through the building we're in until it's gone, far below us.
I look around and find a place far enough away to reach and hide in, although it's still in the woods around the buried building. I haven't much time. The healing is quick and I need to be on the ground.
I settle us gently to the ground, making sure Noriko is stable on her feet, then my body is collapsing, coughing up the blood that pooled in my lungs and stomach. Once that's out, then the final rebuilding of my body can happen.
"Izark! Izark! Don't die, Izark!" Noriko is panicked. She falls to her knees next to me.
I grasp hold of her wrist. "I won't," I manage to gasp out, air finally being available to my lungs. She's trembling. I wish to comfort her, but my body has other ideas, and is too weak to move.
"Izark," Noriko moans miserably.
"I'm okay," I say, and then the world goes dark.
