In The End

Isabel Night

Now that the war is over, I guess you could say that I'm lucky to be alive. However, lately, I've been remembering many things: my family, my past, my mother, and, unfortunately, the day Dais, Sekhmet, and I lost Anubis. For some reason that I will never be able to explain, I have much more vivid memories of that day than of any other memory that I once had, or regained after Talpa's defeat. I remember Talpa's Throne Room being very dark. However, back then, it didn't bother me as much as it does now. At the time, I didn't know why Dais, Sekhmet, and I had been summoned to the Throne Room. I knew that a few hours earlier that day, Talpa had sent Anubis out to defeat the Ronin Warriors. I figured that the rest of us had been summoned to hear Anubis give his report.

When all three of us had assembled, Talpa had materialized in front of us. As usual, we bowed as a sign of respect, with our fists over our hearts as proof of our loyalty. After we bowed, Talpa spoke to us in an angry tone of voice, "Blast it!" I remember him yelling, "Anubis has joined forces with that monk. I can do without him, he was weak, but I need his armor back."

I was puzzled; I knew that Anubis was not weak, even now, I still remember all the times he, as the mortals say, "kicked my ass," in our training sessions. Nevertheless, from the tone of Talpa's voice, something wasn't right. Call it instinct or, as the mortals call it, a "gut feeling," I knew that something wasn't right. "Master," I remember saying, "Why aren't we more concerned with Anubis' fate?"

"Yes, why?" Sekhmet had responded, "Anubis fell to the enemy, why are we not more concerned with his fate?"

"DO NOT QUESTION MY DECISIONS!" Talpa had yelled at us, "THERE ARE POWERS IN THAT ARMOR THAT EVEN YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF!"

I now knew something was going on; the only problem was: I didn't know exactly what it was. "Master," Dais had asked, "What is this power?"

I didn't even see the red bolts of electricity shoot out from Talpa's eyes. When bolts hit me, I felt a hot, searing pain surging all through my body. "LEAVE THAT PART TO ME," Talpa's voice had boomed, "GO AND BRING ANUBIS' ARMOR BACK TO ME. I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, JUST BRING ME THAT ARMOR!"

We left in a hurry and quickly summoned our armors. When we found Anubis, he was standing on a small bridge overlooking a small lake. I remember smiling, knowing that if Anubis had wanted to jump into the lake to escape us, all I had to do was freeze the lake.

When he turned to look at us, I remember looking into his eyes. I know this sounds crazy, but there was something different about his eyes that I couldn't place. It wasn't his eye color, because when I looked into his eyes, it was still the same vivid blue-green color, and it wasn't the shape of his eyes either, but I knew that there was something different about his eyes.

Maybe, now that I look back on it, we were too late. By that time, we had lost Anubis to that blasted monk and those five brats. Of course, at that time, I didn't want to believe that we had lost our leader, but now that I look back on it, something in my heart told me that the three of us were too late. When we asked Anubis to come back with us, he refused.

Personally, I can't deal with rejection, so when Anubis refused to come back with us, I got angry. My blind anger caused me to viciously attack my leader and my best friend. In a brief struggle, lasting maybe about five minutes, I had dug my clawed gauntlet into Anubis' side. When he fell to the ground, I watched dispassionately.

Although my face was a blank mask, my heart screamed for answers. Something had happened to my best friend, and I wanted to know why. Of course, the situation didn't get any better when the Ronins showed up. Moreover, when they refused to give me Anubis back, I got even angrier. I was practically seeing crimson when they told me "no." Those hypocritical bastards, they claimed that they were there to save lives and keep people together, and yet, they were ready to pull my family apart as if what we had meant nothing.

To make a long story short, with Talpa's help, we were able to bring Anubis back to the castle. When we brought our leader before Talpa, he defied the demon, and tried to get us to do the same as well. At the time, we thought he was crazy and tried to talk him out of it, but now that I look back on it, if we had listened, then maybe Anubis would still be alive.

When we brought Anubis to the dungeons, Dais and Sekhmet left, leaving Anubis and me alone. I was so angry, that I had called my Black Wolf's Sword. "How could you do this to us?" I screamed, not noticing the tears that were running down my face, and burning my scar. "How could you do this to us? I should kill you right now!"

"Then do it," Anubis had replied, tilting his head back and offering me his throat, "Kill me now, and when I am dead, then you will feel no more pain."

I positioned the tip of my blade to Anubis' throat, but something stopped me. Stuck in a moment that seemed to last forever, I remember shaking, having a vile taste surging up my throat, and feeling more stinging tears running down my face. Then I remember dropping my sword, sinking to my knees, and for the first time in my four hundred years, cried. "WHY?" I had screamed and sobbed at the same time, "WHY CAN'T I KILL YOU? WHY CAN'T I END THIS PAIN IN MY HEART?"

I remember crying, shaking, and feeling like my heart was going to break at any minute. The only comfort I felt was when Anubis put his hand on my shoulders. "There is always a way," he smiled, despite the pain he was in.

"THERE IS NO WAY!" I remember screaming as I teleported to my room. That was it, I was sick to death of the Ronin Warriors, and I vowed that I would kill all five of them. I remember the small smirk that swept across my face when I realized my situation. It was a rocky road at the time, but in the end, when all was said and done, Dais, Sekhmet, and I would have killed the Ronins and brainwashed Anubis back into Talpa's service. At that time, I believed that it would all turn out okay. Now that I look back on it, it didn't turn out okay.

THE END