Chapter III -
Yuli, Our Savior
"Run!! Run faster!" Sekhmet called to Anubis, who was in front of him as they ran down the street. Dais was bringing up
the rear, checking behind his shoulder every so often. Seth was barely keeping up with the ex-Warlords, who tried to slow down
so as not to leave him behind. A voice echoed through the streets and up to them.
"Where are you going? Come back!"
"He's catching up! Quickly!! Get going!" Dais called ahead to everyone else. Anubis stopped and spotted a back alleyway,
motioning to the others to follow him.
"I know my way to the Ronins' from here! Come on!"
Dais nodded and pulled Seth with him as the voice got closer.
"You guys!! Is something wrong? Why are you running from me?"
Seth huffed and stumbled. Sekhmet stopped and picked him up in his arms, carrying him. He spoke to Seth in a soft tone of
voice that he never knew he had.
"We've got to get through this. Don't give up now."
Rowen looked at his watch again, and then at the clock on the wall above the T.V.
"They're late." he said.
Mia looked at him from her seat on the couch. She frowned.
"Did you give them a time?"
"Well....uh....no, not really."
Mia let out a frustrated sigh. "Then they can't be late!"
Rowen looked at the floor around his feet. He sighed and looked up at the clock again. Sai looked at the street from his
perch near a window. Kento and Ryo were having a staring contest and Yuli was upstairs sleeping. Ryo narrowed his eyes and
Kento blinked.
"I won!" Ryo declared.
Rowen huffed. "That's nice, Ryo..."
Sai gave a small noise of confusion and got up from the windowsill. He started to back up. Kento looked at him and tilted
his head in wonder.
"Sai? Buddy? Whatza matter?"
"Someone's coming..."
"Go! Go! Go!" Anubis skidded around a last corner before running across Mia's front lawn. He stopped in front of the large
oak doors before turning around to wave the others into the stoop. Dais huffed and Seth wheezed as they stood on the stoop to
rest. They heard the voice again.
"I see you!!"
Anubis gasped and started pounding on the door as Sekhmet ran up to them, chased by the head.
"How can it reach THIS far?!"
"I don't care!! Help me out!!"
Mia gasped and ran to the door, hearing yelling and desperate pounding on the other side. She opened it and was nearly
drowned in a sea of bodies that came flying through the threshold. Someone she didn't recognize landed at her feet as the three
remaining ex-Warlords slammed the door shut behind them, panting.
"What....in the world?!"
Dais shushed her with a finger to his lips. Mia and the rest of the Ronins heard a strange voice.
"I still see you!!"
Sekhmet gulped loudly as Anubis turned very pale.
Mia stood up, her hands on her hips. "I demand to know what's going on!"
Anubis pointed up at the arched window above the door. She and the other Ronins looked up at it to see a face that looked
like it had been turned inside out. It grinned its ivory white teeth at them, looking down below it, through the window. It
spoke to them again, in a sing-song voice.
"I see you!! Come out, come out, wherever you are!!"
The three ex-Warlords and the newcomer stilled, barely breathing. The Ronins gasped, backing up from the window. The head
frowned, its flesh around its eyes contorting to try and imitate a blink. It tilted, looking at Sai, then to Kento, and then
lastly, Ryo.
"Let's see...."
Anubis mouthed words quietly to Mia and the others.
'It wants us, not you. Don't make it angry!'
Rowen mouthed back. 'What IS that? Why does it want you?'
Dais answered. 'We don't know. It just...appeared! We can't find Cale, either. Have you seen him?'
Sai shook his head.
Through the armor link, Rowen asked Ryo, 'Do you think this has anything to do with Sage's disappearance?'
'I dunno. You got me.'
Sai's voice broke in unexpectedly as the head began slamming itself against the window in hopes to break it. The slamming
ceased when it almost broke the glass. Sai sounded very nervous.
'Let's figure out how to make that...that THING go away first!'
The head growled, moving away from the window until it was no longer seen. Anubis and the other ex-Warlords breathed a
sigh of relief and walked away from the door. Seth got up from his place on the floor, walking over to the couch. The Ronins
relaxed visibly and sat down in other places as well.
Rowen spoke after a heavy silence. "Is it.....gone?"
Sekhmet shook his head. "I hope so."
"Oh, Sekhmet..." a voice cooed from behind the front door, "you never told me what was wrong, now did you?"
The head burst through the oak of the door to track blood and burst veins through the carpeting. It roared, eyes widening
into a look of pure demonic rage. It slithered up to Sekhmet, who had fallen from his place on the couch to back up against the
television. In one fluid movement, it appeared in front of his face.
"Sekhmet? What's wrong?" it asked quietly.
Sekhmet shook violently. He gulped as it growled with impatience.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"Savage beast. Leave here at once! There is no need for you here! Master will come for you later!" another voice was heard
coming down the stairs behind the head. It turned around, facing Yuli.
It tilted, asking a silent question. Yuli huffed, annoyed.
"Leave here at once, I said! Master will come for you later! You WILL get what is coming to you!"
It growled, slithering up to Yuli, challenging him. Yuli smirked, laughing in a high-pitched, boyish laugh, raising his
small hand in the air. Several short squeals and squeaks was heard from behind him, up the stairs. A few small pairs of black
eyes with red irises appeared through the gloom up the stairwell. Shriveled beings of pure black, leathery skin bounded down
the stairs in droves, squealing like savage demons. They were small and hairless, much like shriveled babies. They crawled around
Yuli, writhing in a pile at his feet.
"Leave." Yuli breathed a slow command.
It growled again, its face twisting into an expression of disgust. It wouldn't back away, though. It roared and launched
itself at Yuli. Sekhmet saw and lept to the top of the couch in a standing position, hissing. He shot acidic venom from his fangs
at the back of the head. The sound of sizzling flesh and the roaring of the pained apparition filled the room. It twisted and
contorted on the floor before being sucked out of the door.
Sekhmet sighed heavily and sat down on the couch, watching Yuli. Yuli smirked at him, tilting his head.
"That was very kind of you, demon one. I did not need assistance, though, but your efforts did prove useful in the end."
Sekhmet's eyes rolled and he passed out, in a semi-sitting position, on the couch.
"Sekhmet? Sekhmet! Wake up!!" Anubis shook his comrade's shoulders in an attempt to wake him. Sekhmet grumbled.
"I dun wanna go to school, Mommy...."
Dais smiled. "He's going to be okay."
Rowen breathed a brief sigh of relief. Sai sat back in his armchair and Ryo leaned back against White Blaze, who was
downstairs only because Yuli had been acting so strangely. Kento grumbled and walked away from the group of ex-Warlords to go
sit by his friend. Seth sat next to Sekhmet, who was beginning to wake up. Ryo looked at him curiously.
"So, you the new Warlord-in-training or what?"
Seth scrunched his eyebrows together. "What...?"
Sekhmet shook his head to clear his dizziness. He huffed. "We're not training any new Warlords. It's a long story, you
see. A very long and complicated story..."
Mia looked at her front door and cringed. "This isn't good. Start explaining!"
The newly-formed quartet sighed in unison.
Rowen shook his head. They'd sat through three hours' worth of conversation, each group explaining what had happened to
one member of the group and the consequences of that disappearence. Anubis sighed.
"I must say that this is an interesting predicament..."
Sai nodded in agreement. "And all of this the day before Sage's birthday!"
Dais' eye widened. "You're serious? Tomorrow is Sage's birthday?"
"Yes, why?"
The silver haired ex-Warlord went silent. Sekhmet continued for him. "Tomorrow is Cale's anniversary."
The Ronins looked confused. Ryo asked, "Anniversary of what?"
"Finding his armor."
Ryo quieted. Mia turned from examining her destroyed front door. "Why is all of this happening now?"
Rowen shook his head. "I don't know..."
Sai snapped his head up from intense thinking. He smiled. "Do you think Arthur may be able to help us? Do you guys think
he's still at the church? Should we go check?"
The Ronins and Mia nodded. Sekhmet looked confused.
"Who's Arthur? Where're we going?"
Sai laughed. "Weren't you paying attention? Let's go! I'll explain it on the way!"
Sekhmet grumbled, following Sai and the others out into the driveway.
Yuli peered out of the window in his room, surrounded by the black-and-red-eyed creatures. There were possibly hundreds
of them, all in a large mass towards the back of the room, away from the sunlight. They hissed as they watched the sun go down
in the distance.
Yuli turned to them, the green van pulling out of the driveway below him.
"Hush. Master will come for us soon."
Yuli, Our Savior
"Run!! Run faster!" Sekhmet called to Anubis, who was in front of him as they ran down the street. Dais was bringing up
the rear, checking behind his shoulder every so often. Seth was barely keeping up with the ex-Warlords, who tried to slow down
so as not to leave him behind. A voice echoed through the streets and up to them.
"Where are you going? Come back!"
"He's catching up! Quickly!! Get going!" Dais called ahead to everyone else. Anubis stopped and spotted a back alleyway,
motioning to the others to follow him.
"I know my way to the Ronins' from here! Come on!"
Dais nodded and pulled Seth with him as the voice got closer.
"You guys!! Is something wrong? Why are you running from me?"
Seth huffed and stumbled. Sekhmet stopped and picked him up in his arms, carrying him. He spoke to Seth in a soft tone of
voice that he never knew he had.
"We've got to get through this. Don't give up now."
Rowen looked at his watch again, and then at the clock on the wall above the T.V.
"They're late." he said.
Mia looked at him from her seat on the couch. She frowned.
"Did you give them a time?"
"Well....uh....no, not really."
Mia let out a frustrated sigh. "Then they can't be late!"
Rowen looked at the floor around his feet. He sighed and looked up at the clock again. Sai looked at the street from his
perch near a window. Kento and Ryo were having a staring contest and Yuli was upstairs sleeping. Ryo narrowed his eyes and
Kento blinked.
"I won!" Ryo declared.
Rowen huffed. "That's nice, Ryo..."
Sai gave a small noise of confusion and got up from the windowsill. He started to back up. Kento looked at him and tilted
his head in wonder.
"Sai? Buddy? Whatza matter?"
"Someone's coming..."
"Go! Go! Go!" Anubis skidded around a last corner before running across Mia's front lawn. He stopped in front of the large
oak doors before turning around to wave the others into the stoop. Dais huffed and Seth wheezed as they stood on the stoop to
rest. They heard the voice again.
"I see you!!"
Anubis gasped and started pounding on the door as Sekhmet ran up to them, chased by the head.
"How can it reach THIS far?!"
"I don't care!! Help me out!!"
Mia gasped and ran to the door, hearing yelling and desperate pounding on the other side. She opened it and was nearly
drowned in a sea of bodies that came flying through the threshold. Someone she didn't recognize landed at her feet as the three
remaining ex-Warlords slammed the door shut behind them, panting.
"What....in the world?!"
Dais shushed her with a finger to his lips. Mia and the rest of the Ronins heard a strange voice.
"I still see you!!"
Sekhmet gulped loudly as Anubis turned very pale.
Mia stood up, her hands on her hips. "I demand to know what's going on!"
Anubis pointed up at the arched window above the door. She and the other Ronins looked up at it to see a face that looked
like it had been turned inside out. It grinned its ivory white teeth at them, looking down below it, through the window. It
spoke to them again, in a sing-song voice.
"I see you!! Come out, come out, wherever you are!!"
The three ex-Warlords and the newcomer stilled, barely breathing. The Ronins gasped, backing up from the window. The head
frowned, its flesh around its eyes contorting to try and imitate a blink. It tilted, looking at Sai, then to Kento, and then
lastly, Ryo.
"Let's see...."
Anubis mouthed words quietly to Mia and the others.
'It wants us, not you. Don't make it angry!'
Rowen mouthed back. 'What IS that? Why does it want you?'
Dais answered. 'We don't know. It just...appeared! We can't find Cale, either. Have you seen him?'
Sai shook his head.
Through the armor link, Rowen asked Ryo, 'Do you think this has anything to do with Sage's disappearance?'
'I dunno. You got me.'
Sai's voice broke in unexpectedly as the head began slamming itself against the window in hopes to break it. The slamming
ceased when it almost broke the glass. Sai sounded very nervous.
'Let's figure out how to make that...that THING go away first!'
The head growled, moving away from the window until it was no longer seen. Anubis and the other ex-Warlords breathed a
sigh of relief and walked away from the door. Seth got up from his place on the floor, walking over to the couch. The Ronins
relaxed visibly and sat down in other places as well.
Rowen spoke after a heavy silence. "Is it.....gone?"
Sekhmet shook his head. "I hope so."
"Oh, Sekhmet..." a voice cooed from behind the front door, "you never told me what was wrong, now did you?"
The head burst through the oak of the door to track blood and burst veins through the carpeting. It roared, eyes widening
into a look of pure demonic rage. It slithered up to Sekhmet, who had fallen from his place on the couch to back up against the
television. In one fluid movement, it appeared in front of his face.
"Sekhmet? What's wrong?" it asked quietly.
Sekhmet shook violently. He gulped as it growled with impatience.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"Savage beast. Leave here at once! There is no need for you here! Master will come for you later!" another voice was heard
coming down the stairs behind the head. It turned around, facing Yuli.
It tilted, asking a silent question. Yuli huffed, annoyed.
"Leave here at once, I said! Master will come for you later! You WILL get what is coming to you!"
It growled, slithering up to Yuli, challenging him. Yuli smirked, laughing in a high-pitched, boyish laugh, raising his
small hand in the air. Several short squeals and squeaks was heard from behind him, up the stairs. A few small pairs of black
eyes with red irises appeared through the gloom up the stairwell. Shriveled beings of pure black, leathery skin bounded down
the stairs in droves, squealing like savage demons. They were small and hairless, much like shriveled babies. They crawled around
Yuli, writhing in a pile at his feet.
"Leave." Yuli breathed a slow command.
It growled again, its face twisting into an expression of disgust. It wouldn't back away, though. It roared and launched
itself at Yuli. Sekhmet saw and lept to the top of the couch in a standing position, hissing. He shot acidic venom from his fangs
at the back of the head. The sound of sizzling flesh and the roaring of the pained apparition filled the room. It twisted and
contorted on the floor before being sucked out of the door.
Sekhmet sighed heavily and sat down on the couch, watching Yuli. Yuli smirked at him, tilting his head.
"That was very kind of you, demon one. I did not need assistance, though, but your efforts did prove useful in the end."
Sekhmet's eyes rolled and he passed out, in a semi-sitting position, on the couch.
"Sekhmet? Sekhmet! Wake up!!" Anubis shook his comrade's shoulders in an attempt to wake him. Sekhmet grumbled.
"I dun wanna go to school, Mommy...."
Dais smiled. "He's going to be okay."
Rowen breathed a brief sigh of relief. Sai sat back in his armchair and Ryo leaned back against White Blaze, who was
downstairs only because Yuli had been acting so strangely. Kento grumbled and walked away from the group of ex-Warlords to go
sit by his friend. Seth sat next to Sekhmet, who was beginning to wake up. Ryo looked at him curiously.
"So, you the new Warlord-in-training or what?"
Seth scrunched his eyebrows together. "What...?"
Sekhmet shook his head to clear his dizziness. He huffed. "We're not training any new Warlords. It's a long story, you
see. A very long and complicated story..."
Mia looked at her front door and cringed. "This isn't good. Start explaining!"
The newly-formed quartet sighed in unison.
Rowen shook his head. They'd sat through three hours' worth of conversation, each group explaining what had happened to
one member of the group and the consequences of that disappearence. Anubis sighed.
"I must say that this is an interesting predicament..."
Sai nodded in agreement. "And all of this the day before Sage's birthday!"
Dais' eye widened. "You're serious? Tomorrow is Sage's birthday?"
"Yes, why?"
The silver haired ex-Warlord went silent. Sekhmet continued for him. "Tomorrow is Cale's anniversary."
The Ronins looked confused. Ryo asked, "Anniversary of what?"
"Finding his armor."
Ryo quieted. Mia turned from examining her destroyed front door. "Why is all of this happening now?"
Rowen shook his head. "I don't know..."
Sai snapped his head up from intense thinking. He smiled. "Do you think Arthur may be able to help us? Do you guys think
he's still at the church? Should we go check?"
The Ronins and Mia nodded. Sekhmet looked confused.
"Who's Arthur? Where're we going?"
Sai laughed. "Weren't you paying attention? Let's go! I'll explain it on the way!"
Sekhmet grumbled, following Sai and the others out into the driveway.
Yuli peered out of the window in his room, surrounded by the black-and-red-eyed creatures. There were possibly hundreds
of them, all in a large mass towards the back of the room, away from the sunlight. They hissed as they watched the sun go down
in the distance.
Yuli turned to them, the green van pulling out of the driveway below him.
"Hush. Master will come for us soon."