Chapter 30

Grappling and Golems

Raden had led Gabriel out of the woods, and into his tent, that had reappeared. The inside was the size of a small house, and furnished with a wide area rug, rich furniture and softly lit paper lanterns. He made her sit on a long couch with him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. Raden held her chin in his hand, "Because I am in love with you, I have been since the day I saw you. I just felt I had to make you mine because you are so perfect."

"Why did you abuse me?"

"I wanted dominance, just like every male in Makai." He took her hands in his, "I apologize for causing you pain and I swear to try and make it up to you. I want you to love me as much as I love you."

"I can't, Raden, I just can't."

"Why not? I can provide for you, love you, and make you happy."

"Raden, no. I don't want to be tied down like that; I still want to do a lot on my own. Being in a relationship would only hinder me: having to be around a person all the time, unable to associate with certain people, and constantly making sure I have the love of another. I can't live like that."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You can be as free as you need to and still be my queen. I won't hold you back or hold you down." His arms looped around her back, hugging her tenderly. "What ever would make you happy, I would do for you. I just want you to be mine." He kissed her neck gently. She shuddered slightly, but did not resist. His hands began to wander over her, pushing her down on the couch. She did not fight when he kissed her face, working his way toward her mouth. When she felt his lips on hers, she went into a trance like state. The world faded from her eyes, she was in a flash back.

Fire, smoke, burning flesh, screaming. A young man saw this from a far building. He raced toward the burning building. The young man had dark hair and eyes. He slipped past the guards of the building and ran though the halls, searching for the fire. He found the doors to a room; it was burning hotly. He kicked the door open and ran inside, toward the screams.

He saw a monstrous form in the middle of the floor with blood gushing from its mouth. The young man ran to the creature, kneeling beside it. "My son," it rasped, more blood leaking from its jaws. "You must save me, my work is not done."

"How, father? How can I help you?" the man cried, shielding his face from the fire with his arms. The monster coughed up blood; it spattered across the young man's arms. "Lend me your body; I can live in your body until I find another. While I am in your body, I can make you stronger; increase your life span; make you powerful."

"Hurry father, you are dieing!" the monster then began to chant an incantation between coughing. The fire threatened to swallow them both up. The young man cried out as a spark caught his sleeve on fire. The monster's mouth hung open, and a white cloud came out. Swirling around in the air, the cloud forced its way into the young man's mouth and into his body. He writhed on the floor, twitching and screaming. A beam fell from the ceiling and crushed the dead monster's body. Sitting up, the young man's eyes were changed to an even blacker color. He stood up and ran out of the room, letting it and it's contents burn.

His lips left hers, and began to kiss other places. She felt tears on her cheeks again; she didn't want this, but she had made a deal, and she could not turn back. 'Good-bye, Youko, I hope you live happily with out me.' she thought sadly. She would never see him again; she could still remember his sweet scent. Wait, it was there! Her eyes snapped open, she looked up at the roof of the tent, the lanterns were rather large; at least the size of a person. She looked closer; a shadowy outline was blocking some of the light. As if something was caught inside the lanterns. It was a human form inside of the lamp.

She shoved Raden off her roughly and stood up, "What do you think you are doing?" he snarled, rising from the floor. She backed away from him, and hit a table. She looked down on it and grabbed a knife from it. He advanced on her, eyes burning furiously, "You can't possibly hurt me with a knife." He growled.

"I'm not aiming for you, "she spat back and threw the knife. It flew upwards, and sliced the rope holding up the lanterns. The lights came down and broke, revealing what was inside. The two bandits had not been freed after all, but hidden and a spell was cast on them to make them sleep. "You lied to me Raden!!" she cried.

He shook his head disapprovingly. "You always have to ruin my plans with your love for these fools." He said, raising his hand to cast. Two figures walked into the tent. They were identical to Youko and Koronue. Raden made the originals awake and stand up next to their look-alikes. "If you can tell which is real and which is a golem," he began, spinning them all around in a great circle, "You may have them and return home. But if you fail, you belong to me and they die." The spinning stopped. The four figures stood still as stone. She slowly walked up to the Youkos. She looked into each of their eyes. They were identical in every way. Their scents were a bit different though; she tilted her face up and kissed the one that smelled like earth; no response. She kissed the one that smelled more like a being; he resisted some of Raden's controlling spell and licked her bottom lip seductivley. She smiled inwardly; he was the real one.

Turning to the Koronues, she looked them over care fully. Both were identical, right down to their red pendants. She looked at the hand of the earth smelling one; his fingers were wrapped loosely about the chain to the pendant. The other Koronue had his hand wrapped so tightly about the chain his knuckles were white. "These two are the originals." She declared, pointing to the said bandits.

"Are you sure?" Raden taunted her. His spell broke after he had challenged her, allowing the bandits to break completely free again. "If we were not real," Youko hissed, "would we kick your ass?" his rose whip appeared in his hand. "No, no, no" Raden chided them, wagging his finger. The golems turned to the originals and took a fighting stance. "To get to me, you have to over come your selves." He explained with a grin. The bandits wasted no time in fighting their respective opponents. Youko found it odd to fight himself, his moves were not predictable, but similar to his own.

The Youko golem attacked him viciously, throwing so many punches and kicks, Youko had a hard time dodging and trying to attack with his whip at the same time. "Rose whip lash!" he made an attack that surrounded his opponent and constricted, slicing him into several pieces. Each piece returned to being dirt, from which the golem was made.

Koronue had an easier time killing his enemy; his scythes were fast and came back on their own because of their shape. When his golem wasn't looking behind his back the scythes impaled him. Raden stared in disbelief, "How could defeat your selves so easily?" he cried.

"We are friends, we tell each other our weaknesses, and we just aimed for those weaknesses the golems had and attacked." Youko said. Raden began to back away, shifting to his werewolf form in Arden's body. The bandits tried to attack with their weapons, but Raden had enchanted himself to repel outside attacks. Gabriel ran forward and tried to hit him, but her fist passed through him like a ghost. She reached further into him and yanked on something inside him. Blood gushed from his mouth. "Get away, you wretch!" he snarled. She reached into him again, with both hands, and ripped something completely out of his body. She held a silvery white cloud in her hands, Raden's soul. "Go to hell, you bastard!" she screamed and threw the cloud on the ground. It immediately turned into a puddle of blood and soaked into the rug. It hissed viciously as it evaporated into nothing. The monster before her fell forward, with out a soul to sustain it, and died.

She fell to her knees, sobbing, "It's done. It's finally done." Her eyes went black, and she knew no more.