Silent Fall
Sage was the first to feel what Cye had done and he cried out as pain exploded within him. The others Ronins had jumped up, startled by his outburst, before rushing to his aide. Sage held his head in his hands, trying to block out the pain, and was dimly aware of Rowen next to him asking what's the matter.
The pain left so little room in his head for coherent thought that it was next to impossible for Sage to speak.
"Cye…upstairs…hurry!"
Ryo and Kento exchanged worried glances before taking off for the stairs. Rowen stayed behind to reassure Sage and try to get him to lie down. All Sage was aware of now was pain, and blood.
So much blood, it was frightening to see; all over the floor, soaking into the carpet and staining the furniture. Easily in reach of him lay the Torrent dagger, almost completely hidden amid the blood that covered it.
There was one last burst of pain before everything went black. Just black. Cye was unconscious.
So much commotion before and now nothing had left Sage staggering and scrambling for thought. He knew Rowen was next to him but not where he was or how long he had been there.
He realized slowly that he was lying on the couch in the Living Room.
The sound of Kento breaking in one of the upstairs bedroom doors brought him back to himself. Sage opened his eyes and sat up, a little too fast for his head to keep up and it was left behind. It returned causing his vision and thoughts to swim for a moment. He finally found that the pounding in his head was actually Kento running down the stairs with Cye in his arms. Sage jumped up from the couch and grabbed Cye's sanguine wrists.
Without his armor Sage could do little more than stop the bleeding for there was no time to call it, not now. The bleeding obediently came to a stop and Kento raced out the door. Ryo grabbed the keys to Mia's jeep before following in suit.
A darkness so absolute and complete it was staggering. There was no sound, no movement, no light, just an unshakeable darkness as still as death.
Cye took a step, expecting the sound of the footfall to echo across the seemingly endless expanse. It didn't. Had he succeeded? Was he dead?
"Where am I?" He asked absently. The darkness neither moved nor answered.
What was he to do? Cye took a few more cautious steps, fearing each time that whatever solid ground beneath him might disappear and he would fall. How much would that matter now?
So many questions, when would they be answered? Would they even be answered?
"Oh, they will all be answered in due time." Came a soft voice.
Cye jumped, startled. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. He couldn't grasp whether it was male or female either, it wasn't neither and it wasn't both. It just was.
"What do you mean?" Cye asked warily.
"Your questions shall all be answered, but not now, there is too much to discuss."
"Where am I?"
"There is a fine line between life and death, you are walking that line."
"Who are you?"
"You don't know me?" The Voice sounded hurt. "I know everything about you, Cye Mouri."
Cye took a defensive stance. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"Very well, I will show you."
A watery image of his armor appeared before him.
"Torrent?"
"Yes," replied Torrent.
Suddenly, the Torrent dagger materialized in his hand dripping with blood, his blood.
"You made me the cause of your pain." Torrent accused.
Cye abruptly dropped the dagger and it disappeared, blood and all, to appear back in its sheath on the back of the azure armor.
"We are just tools to you, something to call upon to kill you foe. We knew everything that was happening. You used us."
Cye had no response to this. While it was true he never thought about it before, all the same he never expected to be confronted with it either.
"The armors could never harbor that much power without becoming at least slightly sentient. But we were never complete, not without our human counterparts. That's why you five were chosen. We learned so much about you by just listening through your ears or looking through your eyes. For the first time we got a glimpse of the great, varied world outside this prison of ours. You five mean everything to us and then you go and do that."
For the first time since his attempted suicide, Cye felt guilty about what he had done. He hung his head.
"There is something you should know about us. We are missing more than you know. Find out for yourself."
Not sure what to do, Cye walked over and reached out to his armor to touch it. His fingers slid right through the cold, metal chest plate and the armor began to glow faintly. Inside he could feel the strength of a thousand rivers flowing through the armor, it was an indescribable high. There was something missing, though. Something Cye couldn't quite place, like a distant memory that was just out of reach. It taunted him like a matador taunts a bull, challenging him.
"That missing piece is what is causing such madness among you five."
Cye pulled his hand back and noticed it was glowing a faint cyan color that quickly faded away. The incredible feeling of pure, raw, unbridled, power faded as well.
"What am I to do about it?"
"I was hoping you and your friends could help us find our missing pieces."
Cye contemplated this for a moment. The Ronins had been through enough already fighting Talpa and his evil Dynasty, did they really need this? How much more pain and hatred could they take?
In the other hand, these were their armors. This was a possible redemption for using their armors without ever knowing what it meant.
"So where do we start?" He asked.
"I will tell you later." Torrent replied.
Cye scuffed his foot in boredom. The image of his armor dissipated, having spent its usefulness.
"So, am I dead?" Cye inquired.
"Only if you choose to be."
"Well, that's already decided."
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Just because I got all those nice reviews, I put out the second chapter.
Tell me what you think.
Disclaimer: You again? Fine, I don't own the Ronin Warriors.