It was late in the afternoon when the group stepped into the clearing where Maxi's, Kilik's and Xianghua's home was situated. When everybody was inside Kenneth put the Taki onto the couch while Wind dropped Mitsurugi onto the floor and immediately moved to stand in the darkest corner of the room. A few hours later both Taki and Mitsurugi awoke to find themselves being stared down by two glowing red eyes in the darkness. If there was any more light, they may have seen the grin plastered on his face.
"Boo," Both Taki and Mitsurugi ran from the room, screaming as soon as they noticed that their weapons were not on them. The red eyes followed relentlessly until all three appeared in a dimly lit room where they found Kilik, Maxi, Xianghua, Cassandra, Sophitia and Kenneth sitting at a table drinking tea.
"Did the evil creature in the house scare you?" asked Kenneth sweetly as Wind stepped into the room.
"I may be evil, but I am no creature. Please don't put me in the same context as an animal," said Wind chuckling a bit as he entered the room, red eyes still gleaming.
Mitsurugi rubbed his temples for a few moments.
"I'm going to have nightmares for a good week now after seeing this…thing," he said, pointing at Wind who was still smiling.
Kenneth took a sip of his tea then cleared his throat
"Just try to spend a week with this guy around and you will then realize what a real nightmare is," said Kenneth. Wind's smile became a frown
"It's not that bad is it?" he asked pretending to sound hurt.
"Yes it is. Now that everyone is awake I'm going to introduce you guys to Kenneth," said Sophitia pointing at him still drinking his tea.
He stopped then said "Hey."
"And the person with the screaming introduction here is Wind," She said pointing to the eyes and barely visible body in the darkness. Wind flashed a brief smile and that was it for him. "Now we only have to wait for Yunsung, Seung Mina, and Talim," finished Sophitia.
"Now let's all head off to sleep."
********
Kenneth was asleep on the bed. He was dreaming again. He however has nightmares. He was seeing his past. A horrible past.
He was ten at that time. His family and friends were at the home, playing with him. He was having a good time. Until some people burst thought the door. He was thrown into the wall. He watched as his family and friends were butchered in front of him. Blood and gore ran all over the place. His mother was covering him protectively but the attackers closed in and ran a knife into her. He sat there petrified. He screamed….
Kenneth bolted up, a shotel in his hand in front of him. He was covered in sweat and was panting loudly. Kenneth noticed the red eyes, and the slight chuckling from the semi-darkness of dawn.
"Do you enjoy other people's suffering?" asked Kenneth to the figure in the darkness.
"It's a way to get my mind off my own suffering," Wind said leaving Kenneth to glare at the space he was just occupying. Kenneth turned over and tried to sleep again. Seeing that sleep will not return, he dressed and picked up his shotels. He walked out and started to meditate near a stream.
********
Wind was walking around outside when he appeared next to Kenneth meditating. Kenneth was muttering verses under his breath. Wind heard the humming of the shotels become steadily louder. The sword side of Wind's crest began to tingle and glow. The shotels on both sides of Kenneth began to glow as well. Soon the humming became unbearable. Wind pushed Kenneth over.
"WHAT?" yelled Kenneth.
"Your shotels are glowing and humming at a very high frequency, and that hurts my ears. Stop meditating and I won't become angry and take out my anger on other people," said Wind sounding very irritated.
"I meditate to clear my mind, just leave me alone," said Kenneth. Wind left grumbling and entered the house. Right at this moment everyone except Kenneth and Wind were greeting the two new guests.
"Hey, who's this guy?" came a male teenage voice from the house. A death like silence followed these words and Kenneth came to greet the group and saw that the third member of the arriving group was missing.
"Please no…" said Kenneth. Everyone looked at him then at the house when a scream of total rage shattered the silence and echoed throughout the forest. Then a high pitched scream soon followed and Yunsung was rushing out of the house. A jet black gun and a pale hand appeared in the doorframe and a bolt of electricity hit Yunsung square in the back. He fell over with a yelp of pain, right by Kenneth's feet. Yunsung was still smoking from the shot. Wind walked out of the house, gun still in hand. He walked towards the forest and promptly disappeared into shadow. Everyone stared towards the forest.
********
Kenneth sighed. "The time when Wind is actually nice is the time Hell freezes over," he thought. He walked over to Yunsung and tapped him on the back of the head. Kenneth was used to electric shock ever since he met up with Wind.
"You'll be OK. Just keep smart comments to yourself and don't look at him wrong," he said reassuringly. Yunsung was about to make a smart comment when a boot landed just short of his face. Kenneth looked at Wind.
"Back already?" he asked.
"Isn't that obvious?" he replied. Kenneth noticed the barrel of the gun smoking.
"Feeling any better?" Kenneth asked. Just then, four trees fell with a loud crash. Everyone just stared at him.
"Yep," Wind said before retreating into the darkest corner of the house.
"What's his problem?" Seung Mina asked, walking to Kenneth.
"Who knows?" Kenneth replied, shrugging his shoulders, "By the way, I'm Kenneth. The guy that hides in the dark is Wind. Who are you?"
"I'm Seung Mina. This is Talim," she said, pointing at the girl behind her.
"And that's Yunsung," she finished, pointing at the boy on the ground. Wind appeared at the door.
"If he bothers me again, his life will become dramatically shorter," he warned, closing the door.
"He's got something against the world doesn't he?" Talim asked.
"Most likely," Kenneth sighed.
********
Wind sat down and leaned back. He was very tired because he had not slept for three days. The darkness he sat in calmed him. He heard footsteps but he ignored them. Soon they came back again and stopped just short of him.
Talim stood in front of Wind. She could feel something wrong about him, the very moment she saw him something seemed out of place. From what she had heard from Kenneth he was very cold towards anyone, friend or foe. Also she sensed something…dark. Every being has a soul, but Wind's soul must be locked in an icy prison. She shivered at the thought. She was about to leave when she felt a familiar dark energy. She turned around to see Wind holding something. He was awake and was toying with a piece of Soul Edge. She, Yunsung and Seung Mina had seen many people go insane at just a touch of the evil shard. She looked into Wind's red eyes. He stood over her looking down at her. As their eyes locked Talim searched for a way to see his soul. His eyes were dark and lifeless. But he was living nonetheless. Talim stepped back as Wind reached for his gun. He looked very angry. He was drawing it when she ran. Talim made it out to everyone else without being shot. Inside there was the sound of things breaking and they saw that Wind had smashed the back door to pieces and left. Kenneth wondered what Talim had done.
She walked up to him.
"You were right. That person, if still can be called one, had no feelings at all, and I feel something dark about him, as if something was missing. But I agree with you he is a cold hearted bastard," Talim looked sad for a moment. "Something bad is going to happen soon, I can feel it in the wind."
Kenneth looked towards the forest wondering what she meant.
********
Kenneth sighed. He walked into the house again and found Wind standing in a corner again.
"Must you shoot everyone just because they're staring at you?" Kenneth asked.
"Yes," Wind replied.
"Hopeless," Kenneth muttered. He walked outside again and stared at the river. He has been thinking a lot since he arrived at this timeline. How a simple piece of metal transported him and Wind to this time. He sighed again, sitting down and started meditating again. He didn't realise the time until the sky started to darken. He opened his eyes and walked into the house. The smell of food floated into his nose and he walked to the dining room. Kilik's, Maxi, Mitsurugi and Taki were sitting at the table, talking about something. He walked into the kitchen. Cassandra, Sophitia, Xianghua and Talim were making dinner. Cassandra turned to him.
"By the way, where's the havoc creating devil?" she asked.
"Dunno, was meditating by the river," Kenneth replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Tell him if he wants something to eat to come to the table," she said before returning to cooking. Kenneth searched the entire house for Wind, but the man was nowhere in sight. He was about to give up when he heard some noise come from the roof. He went outside and jumped with ease onto the roof. Wind was sitting there, one leg out, the other supporting his arm. He carefully walked to him.
"Wind, the guys were asking if you wanted something to eat," Kenneth said.
"Eating something already," Wind replied. Kenneth then noticed that the gun was smoking slightly and that there was a blackened turkey next to Wind. Wind took out his knife and sliced off a piece and ate it. Kenneth shook his head before going back to the others. He sat down.
"So Kilik do you have a lead on Soul Edge?" He asked.
Kilik nodded, "In fact I do. After a few rumours and a wild goose chase, we did find out that people in Eastern Europe. Apparently a man clad in Azure armour has been seen. Instantly we assumed it was Nightmare."
Sophitia looked shocked, "Are you sure it's Nightmare? You all saw as his body was turned into inferno, but then again."
Kilik thought for a moment, "Oh ya, any of you here have a shard of Soul Edge?"
Taki and Mitsurugi shook their heads. The Alexandra sisters both pulled out a shard, as did Talim and her group. Kilik looked at Kenneth.
"What about you guys?" He asked
"Hold on a sec," said Kenneth. He walked to the window and stuck his head out "WIND! WHERE ARE YOU? I NEED YOU FOR A MOMENT!" Kenneth shouted. Kenneth let out a slight cry of fear as Wind dropped from the roof just a third of an inch short of Kenneth's face.
"Yes?" asked Wind. Kenneth looked like he was trying to recover from a heart attack.
"He has a shard," said Talim. She had a slight tone of fear and hate in her voice.
Wind pulled out the shard and showed it to the group.
"Satisfied?" He asked.
Everyone then for am hour or so talked in turn about their home, when it came to Wind he stayed silent then left. After that everyone went to sleep. Kilik had suggested they head for Germany the next day. Everyone had agreed except for Wind he left before then.
********
(The Next Day)
Kenneth woke up at daybreak. He quickly dressed and walked out. Most of the people were sitting at the table. He sat down, shaking off the last bit of sleep. Seung Mina looked at him.
"Could you go find Wind?" she asked.
"Alright," Kenneth replied, getting up. He walked around the house, trying to find the demon. He found him asleep in one of the dark corners. He walked up to him.
"Wind…….WIND!!!!" he shouted. Wind cracked one eye open.
"What?" he asked, drowsily.
"Get up, we're leaving now. We should be in Europe in a few days time," he explained. Wind closed his eye.
"Five more minutes," he said, yawning.
"We don't have five minutes," Kenneth replied. Just then, Yunsung showed up with Kali-Yuga and started to poke Wind with it. He grunted before pulling his gun out and stunning Yunsung.
"Now we have five minutes," Wind said before falling asleep again. Kilik walked around the corner.
"Have any of you seen my staff?" he asked. Kenneth simply pointed to the ground where Yunsung was laying. A good 15 minutes later, everyone left the house, Wind grunting about hating forests and squirrels.
A few days later, the group were still tracking through the forest. Every now and then, a gunshot followed by a thud of something hitting the ground can be heard.
"Must you shoot squirrels?" Talim asked, looking at the dead corpses in their wake.
"Yes. By the way, when do we get out of here?" Wind muttered.
"Another day or so," Kilik replied. Wind didn't looked pleased. Kenneth turned around.
"Don't like the forest? Get used to it. We'll be….." Kenneth started. Just then Sophitia shouted.
"LOOK OUT!"
Kenneth turned around as something heavy caught him and threw him against a tree.
********
Wind drew his gun out of instinct everyone else readied their weapons except for Talim who rushed to the fallen Kenneth. Maxi and Kilik were the first to strike. Astaroth easily blocked the strikes. He then swept Kilik and Maxi off their feet by swinging his axe low. Wind fired a few shots at him. Each shot was enough to create small holes in Astaroth's skin. The Golem ran up to Wind and grabbed him. He hung wind upside down by the feet and battering him with his giant axe. Each hit felt like a shockwave on Wind's body. Unfortunately Wind's body took the punishment quite well that's why it hurt even more. He felt himself fly through the air and hit something. Ironically enough it was Yunsung. Wind got up then leaned back on a tree his body hurt like hell only worse. Astaroth had turned his attention to Kenneth and was batting him around a little more. Kenneth was thrown back into a tree. He sat there limp for a few moments before his eyes flashed open and they glowed with a holy white light. His body soon pulsed with white light. When Kenneth grabbed his shotels they started to hum at a higher pitch and soon glowed white too. Wind looked down at the crest. The sword and one half of the circle were glowing white. Kenneth walked towards a very surprised Astaroth.
********
Kenneth was in his dreamland again. He dreamed of what happened after he ran from the murderers of his family. He ran deep into the forest. However, he was pursuit by the killers. He ran and ran, never looking back until he tripped and fell into a cave. He crawled and tried to get away, but the mercenaries had blocked the exit. He crawled until he saw a bright light. He quickly ran to it, hoping it was an exit. Instead, a pair of shotels laid there. He quickly picked them up, hoping that they would protect him. Just then a bright flash engulfed him.
He woke up. The power that saved him back then had awakened once again. He quickly stood up and pulled out his shotels which started to glow white. He calmly walked towards Astaroth, not noticing that his crest started to glow white as well. Astaroth quickly swung his axe at him, trying to kill Kenneth. Kenneth calmly blocked the attempt. Astaroth, getting quite furious, swung out with his best efforts to try and kill him. However, Kenneth blocked all the moves with minimal effort. Astaroth tried again, but Kenneth cut the head of the axe off with a quick flick of his wrist. Kenneth smiled a bit; looking at Astaroth's shocked face. He suddenly roared a battle cry before charging him. Kenneth reversed his hold on one of the shotels and did his Sword Dance move. This resulted in six energy blades soaring towards Astaroth. Astaroth who was unprepared by the sudden appearance of the energy, was hit full on. Kenneth jumped and did a double X strike on Astaroth. He backed away. But Kenneth jumped and using a spin attack, cleanly decapitated him.
Kenneth crouched there, panting slightly. Just as the power died from his blades, a steady cracking sound can be heard. He looked at his shotels, just in time to see large cracks appear. The cracks ran though the entire blade and the weapon that saved his life many times before shattered before his eyes.
********
Wind heard more then saw the two blades shatter. A particularly large piece landed at his feet. He picked it up. He was turning it in his hand when he looked to the inside of the blade. The entire shotel was hollow.
"Kenneth, take a look at this," Wind said handing the shard to Kenneth who was kneeling on the ground. Kenneth just looked at the bladed end.
"What about it?" He asked.
Wind turned the shard so that the hollow side could be seen.
"It's hollow," Kenneth could only stare, his most trusted weapon which had protected him for 15 years had finally shattered.
"The force of the attack, the combined energy and the enemy's skin caused your weapons to break. It's not your fault," Kenneth looked even more devastated his only prised possessions were gone.
********
Kenneth just stood there, not believing that the weapons that guarded his life from any harm had shattered. He just stared at the pieces of the shotel. He shed a single tear.
"These things were priceless to me. They saved my lives a number of times and now the only thing that's not broken are the hilts," Kenneth said sadly, still gripping the hilts of his shotels tightly. Everyone could only look at him.
"You know, there might be someone who can help you," Xianghua said, picking up the pieces.
"Who?" Kenneth fairly shouted, turning to face her.
"There's a blacksmith on the mountains near Italy. They say that the weapons he made were…..unusual," Xianghua said.
"Then let's go," Kilik's said, who started to walk in the direction for Italy. Everyone followed him except Kenneth. He stared at the shotel pieces again. Memories of using those weapons flooded back. He stood there before pocketing the hilts and walking off, bidding farewell to the weapons that he trusted most.
********
Mechwarrior21: Kinda sad that his shotels break.
Fasti: I shed tears……NOT
Mechwarrior21:*Narrows eyes, Pulls out Soul Edge*
Fasti: Hey, that's mine
Mechwarrior21: Now, it's mine *Evil laugh*
Fasti: *Glares, Pulls out gun*
Mechwarrior21: Please review *Takes Fasti's soul*
