Chapter Ten: The Dynasty Returns

That night my dreams were disturbed. It started out normal enough . . .

All I could hear was my own agonizing screaming. All I could feel was pain. It felt like my head was about to explode. The things running through my head were awful. Screw the Dynasty, let me go! I wanted out!

The pain stopped and I was breathing hard. "Cye, Kento, are you two all right?" asked Sage, even though I could tell he was shaken up.

I could hear something I never thought I'd ever hear in my entire life. "Kento?" I asked.

"Wh, wh, what?" he asked between hard breaths. Kento was crying.

"Kento, it's okay," said Sage.

"I, I, know," said Kento. "It, it hurt so much, I, I thought I was gonna d, d, die."

"So did I, just calm down. Ryo and Rowen will come for us, don't worry," said Sage.

"Yeah, they won't leave us hanging- sorry about the bad pun," I said, looking up at the chain that bound me to the gargoyle structure. "They'll get us out of here. I know they will . . ."

That had been one of the many torture sessions Talpa had engaged in while he had Sage, Kento, and me prisoner. Even after five years, I still have nightmares from it. Hard to believe, but it was a very disturbing experience. The next scene that unfolded was even wilder more disturbing. The rape. Only this time is much more aggressive, painful, and longer . . .

"NO! SHELIA, STOP!" I screamed as I fell from my bed. Someone ran into my room and touched my shoulders. "NO! GET AWAY! DON'T-"

"DADDY! What's wrong?" asked Ariel. I stared at her, the worry in her eyes petrifying me. She sat next to me, reaching up to brushed the hair out of my face, which was dripping with cold sweat and tears. "Daddy, what happened?"

I looked at Ariel. "Ariel, I had a really, really bad dream about something that happened to me before you were born. What happened to me was so awful that I can't even tell you what it was. I just hope you never, ever have to go through what I went through," I said. Ariel crawled into my lap and hugged me. I held her back.

"Daddy, I love you and it's okay to cry," she said. "I don't care that you're crying, I cry all the time and you never tell me it's bad, so it must be okay."

I held her tighter. "I love you too, Ariel."

I held her for another hour or so before I found she'd fallen asleep. I put her in her own bed and went back to my own bed. I was shaking as I went back to sleep, but I did.

God, I wish I never had gone back to sleep.

This dream I was in a black void, wearing my armor, only my dagger, yari, and helmet were all missing. I was sort of floating there in the nothingness. "Where am I? What is this dream?" I asked.

'This is no dream."

"Who said that?" I asked. "What do you mean this isn't a dream?"

"It is I, Anubis." I turned to the source of the voice and saw Anubis in the Ancient's robes, holding the Staff of the Ancient. "I've pulled your subconscious mind here. We've been trying to find you for the past four years. Why did you leave? Why did you abandon your responsibility as a-"

"I didn't run away because I was running away form a- aren't you dead?" I asked.

"No longer. I was resurrected by Kayura before she was re-brainwashed by Talpa," said Anubis. "She and the Dark Warlords resurrected me the night you left. Shortly after all four were taken back to Talpa, and a man named Osiris now holds my old armor. I confronted your friends, who were a bit disturbed about your disappearance. I've been trying to help them, but Talpa recently came and has taken them all except for Mia, Yuli, and White Blaze."

"What?! I'm the only free Ronin Warrior left?!" I said.

"No, not quite. There are three additional armors to the first nine. Icefire, Flora, and Chrono are the new armors. Ice, Forest, and Time. A woman wears Flora by the name of Shung Lee, but I have not found Icefire of Chrono. It is up to you to find them, now, I ask, why did you leave? Did you run away form your responsibility?"

"I wasn't running away because of my responsibility of being a Ronin Warrior. Maybe I should start from the beginning. I don't know, did the guys mention I had a girlfriend?"

"They mentioned none," said Anubis.

"Well, she was older than I was and a little, over dominating. One night, she invited me over to the place she was staying, and because I got splashed by a car and was filthy, she let me take a shower. My armor orbe was in my knapsack, so it was a little out of reach."

"What happened?"

"I, I was raped," I said, hanging my head.

"Raped?" asked Anubis. "What is-"

"You didn't have that in the Dynasty or back in the Ancient days, did you?" I asked.

Anubis shook his head. "Not in my clan."

"Well, rape is when one person forces another to have sex with them by means of violence or restraint," I said. "I told her up front that I didn't want to have sex with her. I was a virgin and I wanted to wait until I got married, but she didn't care, and I didn't leave that house a virgin anyways," I said.

"Why does this have to do with your leaving?" asked Anubis.

"That night Shelia didn't count one thing. She left school a month later leaving me and everyone else confused as hell. The night I left I went on a walk with every intention to come back home. I ran into Shelia."

"She paid the price and got pregnant, didn't she?" said Anubis.

I nodded shakily. "I, I was afraid to go back to the guys. She had threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone, and maybe I do have an armor, but it doesn't protect the back of my head from a bullet. Guns, you know-"

"Yes, I understand guns," said Anubis. "What happened to the child?"

"Shelia didn't want her. She was going to put her in the orphanage, but the lady that runs the place is cruel. Shelia didn't care, she just wanted to get rid of the kid, so I took her, but since I was panicked, I skipped town. I've spent the last four years struggling with balancing a job, school, and raising Ariel," I said.

'This Ariel, is she a weak spot of yours?" asked Anubis.

"What do you mean?"

"The Ancient mentioned a weak spot of yours- get up, now!"

I flew out of bed. Oh God, please don't let something have happened to Ariel. I opened the door to her room.

The window was open, her bed was empty. A breeze blew through.

Ariel was gone.