The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Eleven: Anubis' Secret

(Keisha)

My name is Keisha Narrlobi. I'm originally from South California, but I currently live in Boston with my parents and older brother, Evan. I've got four best friends, a nice home, and an incredible history.

We used to be poor until my dad got a very lucky lotto ticket and got us a good house in Boston. Then, he and my mom were in a car crash a year later. They can't walk anymore. But my mom, who wrote as a hobby, got one of her books published she things didn't get too bad again. Evan and I are blessed our parents are alive and making some money, but to see them in the wheelchairs in heart wrenching.

Well, first off, I'm an incredibly fast runner. I hold a lot of the girl's track records that deal with running (with the exception of the hurdle ones- I hate those stupid things) and I desperately want to run the Boston Marathon when I'm older. My coach thinks that if I keep at it, I'll be in the elite class of runners. My speed is something I cherish and thank the Lord for every day, since I've seen for myself what it's like to not even be able to walk. Every step I've run since the accident has been for my parents. Every last medal and trophy I've done for them. If I'm ever asked to give a speech, they're always the first people to come out of my mouth. I love them to death and it pains me every time they have to get on the mini-elevator to get upstairs or can't get to a restaurant or mall because they don't have wheelchair ramps. I know there's nothing I can do for them myself. I can donate to medical research groups all day long or volunteer at charity fund-raisers, but for now, I am only one hand trying to push a boulder that just can't be budged yet.

My second talent is that I'm, so a certain degree, psychic. I sense my friends feelings and sometimes I can even see into the future, but that's a rare occurrence. I've also come in contact with other souls before, but I can never tell who or what it was, or is. I dunno, my powers confuse me a lot. I don't think it's the full extent of my powers, but I haven't seen much beyond what I've already done as of yet. People used to think I was crazy and I didn't have a lot of friends, but I do know, and they accept the fact that I sense things and see things- they don't think I'm crazy at all. If they did, well, they'd have to be hypocrites because guess what? We've seen and dealt with weirder.

I'm one of the Ronin Senshi. I have the earth armor, known as the Hardrock. I'm powered by justice, the earth, and the earth's spirits. But you should know that by now- haven't you been paying attention to anything any of my friends have said?

Anyways, my part of the story begins here.

~

I was on my way to Mike's house during the first weekend of the summer. Ria had called a meeting, telling the rest of us that something very important was going to happen that day. I didn't know what it was, but I DID have a gut feeling that told me it was going to be a big one, whatever it was. So after kissing my mom and dad good-bye, I was off.

As I pulled up in Mike's driveway (yeah, I can drive, and my mom helped me pay for a car so I wouldn't have to keep asking Evan to borrow his car) I saw Rona and her motorcycle pull up behind me. "Hi, Rona."

"Hey, Keish," she said, waving as she strapped her helmet onto the back seat of the bright blue Yamaha. "Wonder why Ria called the meeting?"

"I dunno, but whatever it's for, Sara and Sam already left," I said. "I tried to pick 'em up but Trevor and Ella said they'd gone."

The two of us walked into the house together, where we found Ria, Sara, and Sam already sitting in the living room. Sam was casually flung into a chair, her legs dangling over one of the arms and her upper body over the other, while Sara and Ria on opposite ends of the couch. I plopped down between them while Rona fell onto the love seat, Sam deciding to join her. "So, what's the meeting about?" asked Rona.

"Anubis called me last night and asked me to call it, like I told all of you this morning. He said he had something to tell us," said Ria. "I haven't the slightest clue as to what."

"We all agree that he's hiding something, maybe this is it," said Sam. "It should be interesting, at least."

"It is."

We all looked over to see Anubis approaching us. He looked nervous, absently fingering his straight, auburn hair as he came down the stairs. I looked at him in worry, wondering what was wrong. This wasn't like him at all. "It is a dark secret, and it is all right that you know."

"Oh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why wasn't it okay before?"

"It was forbidden until you finished your first war," he said. "It has to do with the true origins of your armor and how I became the Ancient's student."

I felt like he was seriously nervous. "We won't judge you until you finish the story, if it's that serious- sounds like you did something naughty, Anubis."

"I would appreciate that, because yes, I did something, as you put it, 'naughty', which I've regretted ever since I saw the light," said Anubis. Once he said "saw the light", we knew that he'd done something REALLY bad. "One thousand years ago, a hundred years before Trulpa, there was another invasion from the Nether Realm. This was her brother, Talpa. He was as evil as Trulpa, but his armor was much more based apon attack magic. The Ancient battled him and was successful. He then created the original nine armors."

"Original?" asked Sara. "Are you trying to tell us there are MORE armors?"

"Yes. When Trulpa attacked, he based your armors off of the original nine. They're identical, only different because the original armors are mostly meant for men, although a female can wear it as sort of a holding space for a short amount of time," he said.

"What does this have to do with you?" asked Ria.

"My part of the story begins four hundred years ago. I was a brave samurai warrior in ancient Japan. I became power hungry, liking the feel of conquering smaller villages. It was like a drug, sort of. Compared to my poor youth I enthralled in it. Then, I was visited by what was left of Talpa."

"Is he as ugly as Trulpa?" asked Ria.

"More so, I'd say. He told me that I was one of the bearers of the nine armors. The spring armor. The seasonal male armors, like the female, we also seduced to the Dynasty."

"You used to work for the Dynasty!?" asked Sam, standing up. She looked MAD. I think we were all on our feet for that one. "But, but, why?! The Dynasty is bad! They want to destroy this realm! How could you possibly want to hurt everything you grew up with?!"

"So how did you get the Staff?" I asked, trying to end Sam's rant. "If you were truly still with the Dynasty, the Staff wouldn't accept you, would it?"

That calmed the others down, and Anubis looked relieved. "Well, for many centuries, I was one of the four Dark Warlords. My comrades were Dais, Dark Warlord of Illusion, Cale, Dark Warlord of Darkness and Corruption, and Sehkment, Dark Warlord of Venom. Then, about a year ago, we were sent to attack again. As we expected there were five young Ronin Warriors waiting for us."

"Ronin Warriors, they must be the bearers of the male elemental armors," said Sara.

"Yes. They, like you, were teenagers. We thought this was pathetic. We'd faced fully trained samurai in the past who had the same training we did. How could five youths in a world where the code of the samurai has faded into history possibly defeat us? We watched as a single soldier toyed with them as your first soldier did with you until the Wildfire boy let loose a strong Flare Up Now."

"Huh? What's that?" asked Ria.

"Oh! I forgot something, shoot," said Anubis. "When he made your armors, he gave them links to their respective armors. For some reason he erected barriers between the links preventing the males from using your elemental magic and keeping you from using their attack magic, known as sure kills. In other words, the attacks Sara, Keisha, and Sam can use. I haven't the slightest clue as to how you three got those powers but you aren't supposed to have them."

"Great," said Sara. "So what happened after that?"

"About half way through that war, I started to question Talpa. Eventually had had me brainwashed after Strata used his sure kill to break my helmet. The Ancient saved me and showed me the true path. That's when I bowed down to him. He sacrificed himself to help the Ronins soon afterwards. But even with him gone, the lessons he taught me remained. I fought against Talpa while he tried to reclaim his armor alongside Wildfire. I lost, leaving him to fight Talpa alone. Luckily for him and the Mortal Realm, he, too, discovered a White Armor was able to defeat Talpa and save his friends. After that battle, I began to train with the Staff and helped the Ronins in the second war. During that time Talpa unleashed Lady Kayura, one of the last living descendants of the Ancient's clan and the true heir to the Staff. I sacrificed my life to save her. I'm here today because I was somehow resurrected from the grave to train you girls," he said. "Why Kayura isn't here is a mystery to me. I know something dreadful must have happened to her, but I don't know what."

We were all in shock. Sam stood up. "I'm sorry Anubis, I can't trust you to not turn against us."

"I can't either," said Rona, joining her.

"What are you all talking about?!" I asked. "Anubis made some serious sacrifices for our world. So he made a mistake, big whoop!"

"Until I see one of these Ronin Warriors say he's forgiven him, I won't trust him," said Rona. With that, Strata and Halo left.