The Darkness Returns Once Again
By: Rowen of Strata aka. Strata-chan
Note: In this chapter, there are a few places where I have inserted incantations. These are not real ones. I have used some basic Sanskrit words and garbled them up for my purposes.
Part 6: Unwelcome Remembrances
Sai just looked at his fallen friend with a look of horror written across his face. "
"How could this happen to me at a time like this? Does being the oldest always have this type of drawback?" Sai stated as he tried to lift Rowen from the ground. To his amazement, his hand passed right through. Sure, he was a spirit, but he had always been able to touch others and Rowen before without a problem. Just then, Rowen's kanji appeared and his eyes snapped open.
"Rowen? Oh, thank the gods. I thought you were dead or something." Sai then looked at the blank expression on Rowen's face as he just lied on the ground. "Ro-chan? Are you okay?" Just then, a bright light came from Rowen and blinded Sai while he tried to watch the events that were unfolding before his eyes. Rowen then stood up and said a few words in a language that was incomprehensible and then disappeared, leaving Sai dazed on the ground.
***
Maurette was frantically trying to free herself from the paralysis spell that had been placed upon her, but she was unsuccessful in all of her attempts.
"Darn it! I need to get out of here, but can I? No. Course not. This stuff is just my cup of tea. You hear that! I'm enjoying myself!" Maurette yelled sarcastically into the darkness. 'If I could only see.'
Meanwhile, Kento of Hardrock was sitting in a dank cell on the other side of the dungeon and was wondering the same exact thing. "What the hell happened back there? I mean, one minute I'm at school and the next, I find myself here without my orb. If I'm here, then where are the others and…." Kento was interrupted mid-thought when a voice called for him and his true self was imprisoned within the confines of his mind once again. The guards then opened the cell and he walked out and headed for some unknown destination.
***
"No." A small voice cried out into the darkness. "I don't want to remember. Not anymore." Kendy slumped forward as she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Good. The transformation should take place shortly," stated Diana as she walked away. "Morgana! Place the next incantation on her so the next step of the transformation can take place properly."
"Who are you to boss me around? Hmm? You're of my same rank."
"Just do it. You wouldn't want it to get too messy in there, now would you?"
"Don't even remind me." Morgana snapped back as she walked towards the dungeon. 'Stupid woman. I'll get her back for all of this some day.'
As Morgana walked in the room, she saw Kendy was beginning to glow an eerie black hue. "It's a good thing I got here when I did. It's already starting. Now, for the incantation. What was it? Oh yes. Shri maha swaha ko phat!" The glowing then left Kendy and started to swirl around her. The cloud that formed engulfed her entire body and began to seep into her body in order to awaken her sleeping powers. Maurette turned away and began to walk away when she heard someone clapping.
"Bravo! I couldn't have done better myself."
"You know, you get on my nerves, Diana."
"That's my job, you know. I'm just here to get on your nerves and nothing else." Diana said sarcastically as she waved off Morgana, leaving her to fume alone.
***
Inside of Kendy's mind:
A little girl stopped running after hours of doing so. She leaned against a tree for support, but could not stop for long. It was coming for her. Following her every movement and breath. It was like an inescapable oppression. Fear. Hatred. Yes, hatred was what that monster was. Hatred for her very being in this life. Hatred for being who she was when she was. Hatred….
Just then, a hand grabbed the little girl and dragged her back to its den. The girl wanted to run, but she couldn't. It just kept grabbing her tighter and tighter until she could barely breathe. A few minutes later she was thrown down on to a hardened floor.
"You useless brat! What do we not do for you? Is this house not enough? Ungrateful little thing. That's precisely why you don't deserve a name."
"You are nothing but an accident. Nothing whatsoever. A great pile of nothing! Why should we bother to name you," another person in the room spoke and then threw some type of object at the girl, who was cringing in the corner, terrified. She then stood up, against her own body's will, and spoke.
"If you hate me so much, then why don't you get rid of me?"
"Because no one wants you. Who would want a problem child, such as yourself? You cause nothing but problems."
"You cause so much pain and poverty. You are a freak! Who needs the problems that a freak brings? Hmm? Why don't you answer if you are so smart? Oh, I forgot. You can't go to school," stated the other figure while laughing in a cruel manner. "You couldn't control yourself in school even if you wanted to!"
"Did you think we were going to hire a special sensei? Just for you? You certainly have a huge ego."
"Lies! All of those statements are lies! You are both liars! I'm not what you say I am! I'll never be worthless! NEVER!"
The little girl then sniffled after her outburst and then began to glow a strange black color. This gentle radiance began to swirl around her and became larger. She ignored the terrified cries of the people who called themselves her parents and forced the whirling mass to become greater still. The cloud began to swell and she forced it to engulf them, causing her parents to disappear into a great void, never to be seen again. The girl then collapsed, panting and crying as she heard a police car come from outside.
The officers, who had been keeping the house under surveillance for the past few weeks, walked in to discover the inside of the house was in tattered remains, which was totally unfit for the little child who was sobbing in the corner. They walked over to her and discovered that she had several scratches on her back. It looked as if she had been thrown several times before the old scratches could heal, which explained some light scarring that was found as well. The officer that was the closest to her tried to comfort the girl, but stepped back in horror at what he saw.
The girl's eyes had turned completely black. It was like looking into a black hole, which caused a person to not be able to pull away from it. The man and the girl just sat for several minutes, waiting for someone to blink….someone to..
"Michael? Michael! Hello? Earth to Michael," stated another officer as he walked up to his companion. "Are you even in there? What the hell?" The officer saw that his friend's eyes had turned a mysterious hue. A sort of midnight blue hue and he was staring blankly into the girl's eyes. It was like a black hole. It was pulling him in. There was no escape……The man gave himself a mental slap and went to help his friend. He managed to get him away from those mystifying eyes and shook him back into the world of the fully conscious.
"Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing in these ridiculous clothes," the man stated as he pulled at his clothes. "While I'm asking, who am I?" The other officer reeled back and looked at the girl. She still sat in the corner, staring at his companion with her ebony eyes. He thought he saw a grin pass over her face, but it passed before he could make out the expression.
"You….what are you?"
"I am a freak. A freak that no one wants. I am nothing…nothing to concern yourself with…."
"Don't give me that," snapped the officer as he approached the child. "I want some answers and you are going to give them to me!"
"I am stupid. I hold no information that you could possibly want," stated the girl as she turned away from he offender. "I am nothing…Nothing! I will never be something and it's all because of people like you!" Her temper flared and that same eerie black luminance surrounded the girl as she was released from the man's grip. "I can never trust people like you! All you want to do is hurt me and hate me and laugh at me! I am a freak and no one can understand me," wailed the child as the small glow turned into a giant storm once again. The officer ran over to his dazed companion, who was just beginning to regain his memory, and helped out the door.
"I never thought that a monster such as you would ever exist," yelled the man as he shoved his companion and himself into the car and drove off. They left just in time because the house was then destroyed by the child's rage a few seconds later. The little girl collapsed from sheer exhaustion and pain after her outburst and would have been proclaimed dead if it weren't for the streams of tears running down her face and her ragged breathing pattern. Her mind was in turmoil and it seemed that no one could rescue her from this pit of despair. Just then, a light appeared from the forest.
This light was not a normal sunbeam, because it would be several hours before sunrise arrived. It was also too bright to be a normal occurrence because the forest around it was so dense. It filled the entire area with a sense of hope and life. It hovered for a few seconds before floating over towards the fallen form of the child and lifted her up into the air.
"You are too young for this responsibility. Why did the gods give you such abilities at such a young age? No child should have to bear the responsibility of being a descendant of Quasar. No adult either. Shatim guram devitna hri. Child, this barrier can only protect you for so long. Once you reach a certain age, the spell will wear off and an evil called the Dynasty will search for you. You must not allow them to reawaken these powers. It will cause your destruction along with many others. You won't be able to control your own abilities. Please, do not allow this to become your fate. Now, I must erase your memory as well, my child. Then, I cannot do anything more for you. Forgive me."
With that statement, the luminance then erased the girl's mind and left her on top of a pile of rubble. The child then awoke and sat among the shards of wood for many moments until she rose from her seat and left the area. She walked through the woods in a trance. Not remembering where she was or who she was or what her purpose in life was. Her blue eyes skipped around the forest, yearning to find a way out. After what seemed like hours of endless walking, a beam of sunlight shone through a patch of trees ahead of her. Like a drowning animal striving for air, she raced toward it and savored the light once she reached it. She found herself staring at an open meadow and was watching the waves of wind play games with the long blades of golden grass.
The girl's eyes lit up with a sparkle of life that had never been seen in them before. She leaped into the glass and she felt as if she was in Heaven. Swimming in an endless sea of hope was what it felt like. 'Why do I feel so happy,' thought the child as she lay in a patch of the golden radiance. 'Is this an experience I never had before,' she pondered as she looked up into the cloudless sky. She sat and just enjoyed letting the hours go by, but soon the sun set and it began to get cold. The child was in no condition to be out in the cold, due to the fact that half of her clothes were in shreds.
She forced herself from her pleasant leisure and started to walk through the meadow, which led to more dense woods. Wandering for a few minutes in the forest was enough to make the girl weary and she strained her eyes in order to find a descent place to sleep. A large tree loomed in front of her and she decided that would be a great place to sleep. She laid herself beside the trunk and made a little bed of leaves for herself before falling into a troubled slumber.
'So many people. Where am I. Who are these people?' The child walked around the area, hoping that she would find a familiar face, but was unsuccessful. Just then, a large explosion occurred somewhere down the street. Everyone around her screamed and started to run away from the blast area in fear. The girl struggled to get herself out of the crowd, but soon found herself on the ground. There were people everywhere! She felt like she was being trampled, even though no feet were touching her. 'Claustrophobia'. She had heard the term once and now she knew what it was like. It was like ten million hammers were pounding away at her body. Slowly pushing her into the ground. The child closed her eyes and hoped for this sensation to just stop. Then, in an instant, the pounding did so. No more screams could be heard and the air was completely silent.
The child opened her eyes and discovered that everyone had just…..gone. All there was left was a lone newspaper that was blown across the street by the wind. 'Strange. What happened? Where'd everybody go?' She got up from the ground and decided to explore a bit. When she walked a few yards, she saw some people fading in and out of existence. It looked like they were battling someone, but the figures were all distorted. Sort of like a television signal that was being transmitted, but was garbled by solar activity. As the girl walked closer, she saw five…no six figures and they were becoming clearer with each step she took. Voices could be heard from them now. Yes. There were definitely six figures now and the previous distortions had vanished.
Sounds of metal clashing against metal and painful agony resounded through the air as she became closer to the ongoing battle. She could also make out that five of the six figures were dressed in some type of weird clothing. Before any other realizations came to the child, she noticed that the sixth figure began to laugh. 'Why is that lady laughing? I don't see anything funny about this.' She then saw the woman emit some type of black glow and it started to spread. As it engulfed the other five, she heard several screams of agony and pain. When the smoke cleared, she saw that the five figures that had been engulfed in the cloud had collapsed to the ground.
'No! Why did that mean lady hurt them,' thought the child as she ran towards one of the fallen figures. She picked the one with blue hair, since he seemed to be the closest to her.
"Hey! Are you alright," yelled the girl, but she received no response. She tried to touch him, but her hands passed right through his body. 'What? Why did that happen?' Before the girl knew what was happening, the woman that had caused all this pain approached the ma she was sitting by. 'Oh no! I have to do something!'
"I won't allow you to hurt him!" The woman still advanced like she hadn't heard those commands. "If you come any closer, I'll have to do something bad to you," stated the girl, nervously. Still, no response. The little child prepared to defend the man by getting into a battle stance that she had created a moment or so ago. The offender still advanced upon the duo, only to pass right through the child and begin torturing her true target.
"Hey! Stop it," the girl yelled as tears started running down her cheeks. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it," she repeated as she began an assault on the woman by trying to hit her repeatedly. The girl didn't care that her hand went right through her each time. In the middle of the child's assault, another hand grabbed hers, stopping her useless aggression. The child looked away from the event unfolding in front of her and up into the eyes of the most beautiful angel she had ever seen. Her long white hair flowed in the wind and her pale face was a contrast to the world filled with darkness around her. All of the sounds of pain and laughter faded into oblivion as the heavenly spirit stood in place. She spoke with the gentlest voice the child had ever heard and it was like a river of peace had flowed over the entire area.
"My dear child. I have placed this event in your memory for a reason."
"You put this memory here? Why? It's…it's so horrible," the child stated as she looked back upon the woman who was now frozen in place over the blue-haired man.
"That woman, the one with the blue and brown hair like your own, is your future self."
The girl's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked back upon herself and the other warriors surrounding her. A single tear rolled down her face and she looked back upon the angel with a look of pure sorrow. "This can't be right! You have the wrong person. I can't do this. I just can't," the child bawled as she collapsed to the ground with overwhelming sorrow.
The angel bent down so that her face was level with the child's. "You must accept the fact that this will happen. This is your fate. You will be faced with the choice of becoming the destroyer of worlds. I tried to make this as easy on you as possible, but this point remains unchanged. You can change the outcome though."
"Really," he child asked as a glimmer of hope appeared on her face.
"Yes. You can prevent a thing called the Dynasty from taking your heart and corrupting it. You must not let them catch you. That's all you will remember from this dream. I have made it be that way."
"Why?"
The angel got up from the ground and began to leave. "I am not allowed to change the future. No one is. Leaving this memory here would do that. Just remembering that one phrase, but not knowing what the Dynasty is will not change anything."
"But…wait! Come back! I don't want to be alone," the girl yelled as everything faded into white…
"Don't leave me. No. Come back." The girl awoke with a start and accidentally bumped her head on a tree branch in the process. She grumbled a little and rose from her bed of leaves. Noticing that it was still in the middle of the night, the girl decided that she should go back to sleep. A half-hour passed and she could not get her body to relax. Finally, she gave up and started to walk through the forest. 'There has to be some people somewhere around here,' she thought as she pushed some branches out of her way. 'How big can a forest be anyway?' Just then, the child heard something growl in the bushes. 'What was that?'
"Hello? Who…who's out there," the child stuttered as she looked around frantically for whatever thing that was causing the disturbance. The bushes moved again and a wolf pack emerged from them. 'Oh crud,' she thought as she began to run with them hot on her heels. One managed to get a hold on her arm and pulled her down to the ground.
"No," the girl yelled in defiance as well as pain. "Get off me! You're hurting my arm!" She then used her legs to push the wolf off of her and she began to run again. The wolves began to do the same and they were soon upon her heels again. "Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you," she screamed in desperation. Just then, the girl stumbled onto a road, which caused the wolves to cringe in fear. Relieved, the girl picked herself up from the road and directly into the headlights of an on-coming car. Before she knew what was happening, she was on the ground. Everything slowly became black as she saw several eyes appear above her.
"I'm surprised that the amount of damage done to her body was minimal. That impact with the car should have been deadly, but I guess she has a guardian angel watching over her." The child smiled a little at those words, even though she really didn't know why she was doing so, and fell back into unconsciousness.
A couple of weeks later, the girl was released into the hands of……some person that she didn't know. She heard that doctors talking about her being an orphan and that she had to go to some place called an orphanage. The child had no idea of what that was, but she thought it had to be a good place. Once they had reached the "orphanage", the child wasn't sure what to think. 'Maybe it's better on the inside,' she thought as she was led to the doorstep. When she walked inside, her thoughts were answered, but not in the way she had hoped. There were several beds lined up together, which made a single corridor for people to walk through. Some children were studying in one area of the room while others were playing with some very old toys while others were playing with some very old toys. The uniforms they all wore were just awful. They made the older children look immature and the younger ones like chibi Sailor Senshi.
"I'll go get you a uniform and while I'm gone, make sure to make some friends and keep yourself occupied." With that, the woman was gone. The child walked over to a few children and tried to play with them, but was only shunned away. She tried this with several others, but there was always the same result. The girl's eyes began to fill with tears as she walked, dejectedly, over to a corner and sobbed for a long time. There was one child that saw this happen and she felt that she needed to do something. She walked over to the child and comforted her.
"Everything's going to be okay. You'll really like it here after a while. By the way, my name's Maurette. What's yours?"
"My name? What's a name? I've never heard of that word before. What is it?"
"You mean, you never received a name? Did you ever have parents at all? I don't remember mine since I was two when they died."
The child's eyes began to flood with tears once again at this point. "I don't know. I just don't know! I don't remember anything before the meadow and the wolves and the hospital and…." She could tell no more as soon as her emotions took over. She took a hold of Maurette and sobbed into her shoulder.
"It's okay. Go ahead and cry. It's gonna be okay." Maurette thought for a moment. "Why don't we name you Kendy? I heard some people talking one day about my parents and they said that my mother's name was Kendy. I think it's a really pretty name, which is a really good name for someone as pretty as you are." Maurette smiled as the child looked up and smiled at her.
"I love it. Kendy it is then!" That's when the entire scene went black.
***
Kendy awoke in a world of darkness. She didn't have the slightest clue as to where she was or how she got there, but one thing was for sure. This was reality.
"Wondering where you are, Quasar," a voice questioned from the darkness. Then Diana appeared, or more like faded in. "You're part of us now. Sure, your soul cannot be corrupted, but we can corrupt your mind, which was precisely what we did. The funny part is that we did it with your own power." Diana then started to laugh at the entire predicament that Kendy was in, but stopped as she avoided a futile attack from her opponent. "Tisk tisk. Such bad aim."
Kendy rose from the floor and prepared for another attack when she realized that there was nothing she could do. "I'll get you later for this, Diana. I'll get that bastard that you call your master too."
"You must have forgotten that he has YOUR boyfriend's body. Are you calling him a bastard? That isn't very lady-like of you."
"How would you know what it lady-like and what isn't. Also, that THING is not my boyfriend. MY boyfriend is out there and away from this place and your master. He will never be that demon. NEVER! I'LL MAKE SURE OF THAT TOO!"
"Oh, really? Well, you can't really do much when you are confined within your own mind, now can you?" Diana then left Kendy to herself, laughing as she went.
"When I regain control of my mind, I'll make sure you are the first to pay, Diana. You will pay dearly too," Kendy vowed as she stared into the darkness.
***
'Almost there,' Sai thought as he approached the doorstep of the Koji household. 'I'm actually going to make it!' It had seemed like an eternity ever since he had been forced to carry both Sage and Ryo back to the house.
"Man, you two really need to lose some weight," Sai said as he removed the two from his back. "So do I," he thought as he removed his own body from his back. He also noticed how pale and gaunt he was looking as well. 'I really need to figure out how to get back into my body, or I'm going to end up staying this way forever. Sai shuddered at the thought and proceeded to carry everyone into the house.
"Hello? Mia? Yuli? Whiteblaze? Hmm….I wonder where everyone is. I guess I'll have to wonder later. Now, to get everyone inside and up the stairs somehow." As Sai lifted up his own body, he felt a surge of pain course through himself. 'What? I don't have a body, so how can I feel pain unless…it's not mine. It has to be…' Sai trailed off as the pain subsided. "Well," Sai stated, trying to put some humor into the situation, "at least we had an exciting day at school, for once."
***
In the Dynasty throne-room, there were three figures sitting and waiting. One held a staff and wore a dark orange armor. Another had blue hair and looked like he was a prisoner of the one sitting above him. The last has the same exact look at the first, only more solid in form. His features looked gaunt and cadaverous, which would have made people assume he had not eaten in weeks. His red eyes would have bore straight through your soul and made it tremble in fear.
"Quasar is almost done with her transformation. Hardrock, please prepare the other subject for her transformation. Diana and Morgana will join you shortly after that."
"Yes Master." With that, Kento left the room and headed for Maurette's cell.
"As for you, Strata. I need to find some way to reconnect you with this body. I would have had you earlier this evening, but your distance made it impossible to complete the process. I will have this body whole soon enough though. Just you wait. I will control this world." Opanaroth chuckled condescendingly as he watched the events in his dungeon unfold.