Chapter 19
::July 25::
"So you have no ideas as to how we're supposed to stop all of this from happening, Leinto?" Rona now asked the charge. She was back in her street clothes, looking nothing like the teenage super heroine she was supposed to be. The blue haired, Lady Ronin of Strata seemed to be running almost on nothing but the sole determination to get her cousin back. Her eyes held dark circles under them, making her look worn and older than her age.
"Not at the moment," he replied and looked over his shoulder to the blond haired demon standing behind him, leaning against the wall with arms crossed listening intently to what the good guys were all talking about. Looking directly at him now he said, "I need you to take me to where they would keep murals or anything of that type. I need to read up on this Goddess of Night."
Tadin nodded his head lightly in his direction while pushing himself off the wall and stood up straight. "We'll have to go back to the temple we were at before. That's where they keep those kinds of things," he replied.
Leinto nodded his head in understanding to him. Keish now stepped up from where she had been sitting silently by Kami. The warrior of Hardrock was, like the others, back in her street clothes. "And just what are we supposed to do while you go off to look at murals about the enemy?" she demanded of her charge, her blue eyes set intently on him.
The charge now turned back to look at all the people who stood behind him. His gaze danced from one person after another as he said, "I want you all to go and try to find this Goddess. We can't let her start to take over the mortal world. Stop her no matter what it takes."
"And by 'no matter what it takes' you're suggesting that we actually hurt Lea to stop her?" Heather's unsure, questioning voice broke into the conversation, surprising everyone around her.
"And like that's really going to be a problem for you, Heather. Don't even try to pretend like you actually care what happens to Lea," Keish retorted angrily in the blond's direction.
"Hey, I do care, ok whether you like to admit it or not, I do! Lea's my friend too and just because we don't always get along the greatest doesn't mean that I'd want to hurt her!" Heather's passionate, almost teary eyed response took them all off guard.
Kami's soft hand came down on her friend's shoulder while her understanding voice said to her, "We know Heather, we all feel that way, but we don't have a choice. Lea's not the same person we know and if we don't hurt her then she'll kill us."
"I know," Heather finally broke down, letting unshed tears roll down her cheeks. "but I don't want to. I don't want to hurt anybody!"
Kami wrapped her arms around her friend, even though she was at least a good half an inch shorter than Heather, and consoled the blond haired girl. Keish's eyes dropped to the floor, feeling bad about what she'd said about her sister in arms now. Restlessly her foot fiddled with the rug on the floor, giving her something else to occupy her mind with.
Rona walked over to where the two stood, putting a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders. "Hey," she started quietly to her, trying to keep her own grief from showing. She had to be strong now, she was expected to, now that Rylea was gone she had to pull up ranks and take over the position of leader. "I know how you feel, Heather, she's my cousin and I love her to death, but....We can't just not do anything because of that. We're not helping Lea out any by refusing to fight this Goddess who has control of her right now. Now come on, pull yourself together Heather, I need you right now. I need all of you guys to stay strong and help me out."
Heather nodded her head weakly as she pulled away from Kami's consoling arms, wiping faintly at the tears that dotted her face and looked up at Rona. Determination now held her light blue eyes as she said, "Alright, Rons, you've got me. Even if I'm not all that much help."
A smile, the first real smile that'd been on her face all day, claimed Rona's face as she hugged Heather saying, "You're a great help to me, Heather and don't ever think differently."
"Yeah," Keish now added into the conversation while she walked over to stand with the rest of her group. "You.... You're always good for a laugh or two here or there."
"Keish," came Kami's reprimanding response as the petite brunette set her hands on her tiny hips. Keish only held her hands up in confusion.
A slight chuckle came from the adults as they watched the girls' conversation take place. With a light smile on his face, Rowen clasped his hands together in front of him and asked, "So... Anyone got any ideas as to where we start looking for our demon Goddess?"
Kento half snorted at his question, "Yeah, we look for where all the running people, screaming at the top of their lungs are coming from. That should lead us right to her."
"As odd as that sounds..." Cye started with a quirky smile on his face, "Kento actually has a good point."
"I do?" came Kento's more than baffled reply as he blinked a few times at Cye's face.
"Yeah, Kento," Sage started with a mocking grin on his handsome face. "For once you actually used that rock head of yours."
"Woooh oh oh!" Kento shouted happily as he began a happy, almost gloating dance around the other guys as the girls laughed at his antics. "Who's good? I'm good! I'm the man! Hey-" he stopped his dancing now, mouth open and pointed a finger at Sage accusingly, "Are you making fun of me?"
Sage fought to keep a straight face as he replied, "No, Kento. Whatever made you think that?"
Before Kento could open his mouth to reply, Ryo intervened by saying, "Come on guys, we need to get moving." Pulling his armor orb from his pocket, the leader of the Ronins put on his subarmor, the others in his group following along with his lead.
"So where do we start looking, uncle Ryo?" Rona asked as she and the other girls walked up to join the adults. Now all were clad once again in subarmor as their fathers were.
"Start looking in largely populated areas," Leinto said to them. "And stay in groups of at least three to four. You'll at least stand a fighting chance then if you meet up with her." Nodding their heads to him all nine subarmored people started to make their way out of the building but Leinto stopped them by saying, "She's a telepath."
"What?" Ryo asked as he turned sharply to look back at Leinto.
The graying charge sighed as he said, "She's a telepath, so be careful. Even though it's one of Rylea's abilities don't think for a second that the Goddess won't use it against you guys. Just, keep your guards up."
Kento chuckled, shaking his head in dismay at the charge. "Man, we need to work on your little problem of with holding information," he grumbled while walking out of the building. A sigh escaped the water Ronin as he followed after his large friend.
The fire Ronin only nodded his head firmly at Leinto saying, "Thanks, we will," before following after the rest of his teammates, leaving Tadin and the charge the only ones now in the building.
Tadin now walked passed the graying old man, on his way to the door himself. "Come on, we need to get moving if we're going to get there in a reasonable amount of time," he said from over his shoulder while walking.
"Wait," Leinto called out to the young man, stopping him in his tracks. When the young hybrid turned around questioningly to look at him, the old man replied, "I have a faster way of getting there then by foot." Walking up to the still baffled looking demon, Leinto laid a hand on his shoulder and both almost orbed from the room, taking the faster way to getting to the portal that lead into the demon realm.
"You think we're going to find her?" Keish asked for probably the fourth time since they had all split up into groups of three to scour the area. Kami, who rarely was ever seen without her hard head friend, walked along side her down the dark alley, heading into the city.
Rona rolled her eyes, but suppressed the urge to yell at her friend. One because she didn't want to alert any one to their presence and secondly because it was close to one in the morning and people were sleeping all around them. The last thing she needed was to have the cops called on them for disturbing the peace. Instead she calmly replied, "I don't know, Keish, why? Do you think we will?"
"Yeah," the ash-blue haired girl replied from over to her right. "That's what always happens in the movies. You ask if you're going to the see the villain or in this case, the evil dude, and bam! They appear out of nowhere."
Kami sighed, "Keish, this isn't one of those stupid horror flicks you always watch though."
"No, but still..... That's how it usually happens," she stubbornly pressed on.
"In the movies, Keish, not real life. This isn't a horror movie," Rona retorted, her voice now rising in agitation as she fought to keep herself from screaming at her.
"This may not be one of those movies you're talking about, but I can surely make it into a real horror for you all."
They froze, as the chilling voice of someone they knew all too well came out of nowhere. Chills ran down their spines as their eyes now searched the dark alleyway for the person they knew the voice had come from. Luminescent yellowish green eyes gleamed at them from the darkness hovering around the mouth of the alleyway, before a form almost seemed to materialize from the shadows and step into the dim light cascading down from the street light over head ---her eyes then changed into the familiar vivid blue ones they all knew, loosing the otherworldly glow to them. A mocking smirk cradled her lips as she placed her hands on her hips and fixed her gaze on them.
"What's that again about this being real life and not a movie, Rona?" Keish now sardonically threw over at her blue haired friend as she tore her eyes off of the form before them.
"Now's not the time, Keish," came Kami's soft reply to her friend, her eyes never once leaving the smiling face of the person standing in front of them.
"I agree," the chilling voice of the Goddess cut through the conversation. "You have more important things to worry about. Like how long you three have left to live, before I kill you all." She dropped her hands from her hips and started towards them with calm, almost confident steps; her high heeled boots clicking on the cement ground as she walked and bounced off the brick walls of the buildings on either side of them. A growing, almost cloud, of darkness seemed to surround her; choking out everything else around them under its power.
The three girls took a few faltering steps back from the growing power that was now bearing down on them. It felt as if a great deal of invisible pressure had just been placed down upon them and was now squeezing the life out of them. The grinning face approaching them told the girls that she was doing it to them. "Something wrong Ladies?" the almost acid sweet voice of Goddess Rylea asked of them as she continued to walk towards them. "You don't look so well."
Keish stopped walking backward then, planting her foot firmly down she held her ground, her face showing just how much strain was being put down on her. The rest of the girls now followed Keish's example and stopped backing away from her as well, all now taking their stand against the demonic Goddess that was bearing down on them. She seemed somewhat amused by the girls as she now stopped her pace, a chuckle escaping her as the girl smiled more. "So, you girls do wanna play," a wicked grin crossed her face as she added, "good, I was hoping you would."
Stepping closer to them and out of the dim light coming from the street light behind her, the Goddess' eyes turned luminescent once again, mockingly gleaming at them. She'd pushed them back down the alleyway, back into the darkness, right where she wanted them. Smirking, she raised her left hand and shadows raced from the left side of them, wrapping them selves around Keish's arm's and legs. Raising her right hand now, shadows from the right lashed out and grabbed a hold of Rona's arms and legs, subduing the two girls into submission.
Kami took a startled step back away from the two, unsure of what to do now. She bumped into someone and turned around sharply to be met with the looming luminescent eyes of the Goddess. Before she could scream the cold hand had already grasped her around the neck, cutting off her wind along with her voice in the process and lifted her up into the air. The Lady Ronin of Torrent fought against the hold with all her strength, already starting to see little spots before her eyes.
Grinning more at her prey, the nails on the Goddess' hand lengthened until they were like claws now, digging themselves into the soft exposed flesh of Kami's neck. A croaked sounding scream rose up from her throat, just barely getting out around the hand that was squeezing tightly on her neck. "Alright now Kami of Torrent who's kanji is trust," the sultry voice of the demonic girl holding her up started as a smile began to slide across her face. "I'm trusting you to tell me where the rest of your little friends went."
"Don't tell her anything, Kami!" Keish shouted over to her.
"You stay out of this," the Goddess hissed over in the warrior of Hardrock's direction before another shadow lashed out of the darkness and wrapped its self around Keish's mouth; silencing her. Turning back to her prey at hand, the dark haired Goddess Rylea said to Kami, "If you won't tell me," and then a sly grin formed on her face as she added, "then I'll just have to find out for myself, won't I?"
Before Kami could even try to attempt to say anything back, a clawing, almost pawing sensation filled her head. It felt almost as if someone were manually sifting and searching through all of her thoughts and memories, looking for something in particular. Forcing herself to look into the luminescent eyes that were fixed intently on her now, Kami knew instantly what she was doing. Leinto had told them that Rylea was a telepath and that the Goddess would use her powers whenever she got the chance ---well that's exactly what she was doing now. Kami wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know so the Goddess was searching for it herself.
Almost as soon as the feeling had started then it was gone and left Kami feeling violated and nauseous at the very thought of her being in her mind. Smiling once again she proclaimed, "Thanks for the information, Kami," then dropped the girl from her grasp, watching with a glee of satisfaction as she clutched her neck gasping and coughing for air. Retracting her nails to their normal size, she then brought one finger up to her mouth that still held the girl's blood on it, licking the coppery substance from her finger.
With a frown down at the girl she spat at her, "Your blood reeks of humanity and compassion. Makes me sick just to think about it."
"What," Kami gasped out in-between sharp intakes of air, "have... you....done...with...Lea?"
"Oh she's here," the Goddess replied cheerily and then her yellowish-green eyes flicked upon Rona's dangling form and she walked over to her, a smirk claiming her face as she got right up in Rona's face and added, "Why don't you say hello? Oh yes, that's right, because she can't hear you where she is."
Rona growled as she leaned back from her face, the Goddess' eyes unnerving her. Goddess Rylea only smiled more, a hypnotic chuckle escaping her as she went on to say, "How does it feel, Rona of Strata, to know that you've lost someone you care about and yet their face is staring you right in the eyes? How do you think you'll feel when this same face kills you without a second thought?"
"I haven't lost anyone yet," Rona replied with growing anger. "My cousin is still alive and I'm going to get her back. You hear me?! I will get Lea back!"
"I'm so sure," came the unaffected reply from the Goddess as she backed away from Rona's form. Smiling happily at the three people before her, she said cheerily while backing away, "Thanks so much for all your help, Ladies. Be seeing you," then melted away into a shadow, leaving them alone in the alleyway once again. As soon as she was gone the shadows let go of Rona and Keish, letting them fall back to the hard ground below them. All three had escaped the Goddess' presence alive, but why?
Leinto followed after the young hybrid down the deserted and dark hallways of the temple. A red, trimmed in gold, running rug laid at his feet and out before him down the long and seemingly endless hallway they walked along. The charge looked around at the walls that ran out along side him, marveling at some of the work that was hung there. Then something caught his eye. Stopping in his tracks, Leinto's gray eyes took in the image in front of him. In the mural samurai who wore the Ronin armors fought fierce, frightening looking creatures.
His eyes then came to rest on one armor in particular. The Wildfire armor. The bearer of the armor stood out in front of the others, bravely fighting off the demons without a single hesitation. "This is a depiction of a battle of the past and future to come," Tadin's voice cut into Leinto's thoughts, startling the old man half to death. Seemingly not seeing this, he went on, "The Supreme seem to think that not only has this battle already occurred once, but that it will also happen again. Only that when it happens again, new and stronger warriors will be fighting in this strange armor, driving our people back into the world in which they came from as they had once before."
Everything finally just clicked in Leinto's mind. Everything made sense to him now. His eyes went wide now, peeling themselves off of the mural for a minute as he thought more on what had just rung in his mind before looking back up at the mural again. "That's it," he proclaimed in a voice loud enough for himself and Tadin to hear.
"That's it, what?"
"That's why they picked her," he said and then looked over at the more than confused looking face of Tadin as he explained in a voice that seemed to pick up speed with each word. "Rylea wasn't just chosen by random as we like to think, she was picked on purpose. Don't you see?"
"No," Tadin drawled out as he curiously eyed the old man. "I'm not seeing what you're getting at Leinto."
"Rylea was chosen to be the carrier for the Goddess not by accident or by random selection, she was picked because she was the next in line to bear the Wildfire armor!" when the frown on the young man's face didn't seem to let up or seem to understand, Leinto went on. "When the Goddess first tried to take over the mortal world, the Ronins of that time drove her back, locking her away in a place where she would never be able to get free on her own again. Hundreds of years go by and up pops Rylea. Now the prophecy that the Supreme for told is going to come true."
The graying man pointed at the mural beside him as he continued, "New and stronger warriors bearing the same strange armor would fight once again. The Goddess was again going to try and be brought back, but what's the point of them doing that if these warriors are just going to send her back again? So they come up with a plan. Pick off the leader, turn her into a hybrid, half demon, she'll carry the Goddess and wipe the rest of the warriors out and at the same time take control of the mortal world."
Understanding was now starting to show on the blond's face as he listened to what the charge was saying to him. Finishing up his speech Leinto said, "Rylea was made into a demon because it was all going to fit into their plans down the road. Her strength was supposed to make the Goddess invincible, but-"
"But they weren't counting on two sets of armors fighting," Tadin finished up for him as he began to follow along in the same thought pattern as the charge. "That's why instead of waiting until this day to turn her into a hybrid, they sent Sirous to do it while she was still young. Then they figured that they would have-"
"Enough time to train and corrupt her mind to the side of evil. That way there would be no turning her back. No matter how many armors there were. The only problem with that is that it didn't work out the way they wanted it to and instead of her turning when they wanted her to, her demonic powers went into hibernation -"
"Until now," Tadin finished once again for him. "Damn, why didn't we see this before. I knew there was a reason behind why Sirous wanted her so badly. Knew there was more to what was going on then what he was telling me, but I was too blind to see it."
"Well you're not the only one. I should have seen this before hand as well, I am her charge after all, and I did not. We all have played a part into what is happening now," he said glumly and with weighted guilt. "But we can not dwell on things that we can not change. What we need to do now is find a way to free Rylea from the Goddess' control."
Tadin nodded and began to lead the old man back down the hallway, farther into the temple in a search for the murals of the Goddess of Night. They were the only things they hoped would help them now.
A thick, humid, muggy air seemed to cling to everything around it. It hung in the air like a thick blanket, making it difficult for them to breath and especially in armor. A breeze would have been nice but in this alleyway, it seemed like there was none. Our second group of people walked along this deserted back pathway into the city. Trash littered it, rats scurried across the path here or there from time to time, busily looking for their next meal. It didn't seem to bother any of them though, either they didn't see them or had too many other things on their minds to pay them any attention.
"Here Goddess, Goddess, Goddess," Kento called out as if her were calling for his cat, disrupting the silence that had once claimed them all.
"Bloody hell, Kento, would you stop that already," came Cye's less than amused, annoyed, British accented voice.
"Yeah, please uncle," Heather piped up now, almost clinging to the arms of her uncles who she walked in-between of while her eyes nervously scanned the alleyway they walked down.
"Oh come on, stop being sissies, you two," Kento grumbled out at them and then shouted out to the deserted walkway they were moving down, "Come on, Lady! Stop avoiding me and come out and fight!"
A sigh escaped the Brit as he shook his head, figuring that letting Kento go on with his shouting out to nothing was better than trying to reason with him logically. The warrior of Hardrock may have wanted to fight with the Goddess, but himself and Heather didn't want to nor felt that if they had to, would be able to fight her and survive. If you see or happen to meet up with the Goddess, don't hesitate to fight her. Do not hold back on her. Forget the fact that she wears Rylea's face, just fight her like you would if she didn't.
Ryo's voice cut into Cye's thoughts, he remembered the order their leader had given them before they had split up into groups. Even though Ryo sounded like he had meant what he had said to them, his face said otherwise. The poor guy looked so torn up about what he was actually saying to them, that no one had the heart to argue with him. Just nodded their heads to him in understanding and went off in different directions. Poor Ryo, he's hurting over all of this more than he's letting on. I don't know if he'll even actually be able to bring himself to fight his own daughter, even though he knows it's not really her. Cye thought to himself, a deep frown settling its self over his features.
A tingling, cold feeling ran down his spine then. Something was pawing its way through his mind, reading his thoughts. He froze mid step, already bringing up a shield to block whoever it was out of his mind and from his thoughts, but it was already too late. Whoever it was had already heard what they wanted to. He heard Kento's concerned voice from beside him, but Cye couldn't respond.
A frown settled over Kento's features as he reached out and laid his subarmored hand on Cye's shoulder, "Yo man, you ok?"
Hypnotic chuckling seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the walls that surrounded them and almost seemed to be echoing in their own minds. Kento growled, swirling around to find the owner of the voice. Nothing but darkness from every angle greeted him in return. Heather cowered in fear, clutching onto her uncle Cye's arm as if that some how would protect her from the person the chuckling belonged to. "The poor dear," the chuckling had now turned into a mocking, sultry voice. A form materialized from the shadows in front of them, the smile on the face of the person matching the luminescent eyes. "If he's hurting then maybe I should make that all stop for him? What do you think?"
"It's her," Cye gasped as he unknowingly took a faltering step back from not only the fierceness of her eyes but the sheer power radiating from her small form. "The Goddess!"
"Well," she chuckled out, placing one hand on her hip and a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I'm so glad you remembered me. Makes me feel all warm and tingly all over."
"Oh I'll make you feel tingly Lady, once I'm through pounding the hell out of you that is," Kento threatened while cracking his knuckles, his eyes never once leaving her own.
A hypnotic chuckle escaped the girl, making her shoulders shake in mirth as she simply laughed at Kento's less than intimidating threat. Her laughter only fueled Kento's anger more though. A growl emitted from deep in his throat as he snapped at her, "Shut up!"
The laughter stopped immediately. Now with a sly smirk on her face, the Goddess set her luminescent eyes on Kento and asked sweetly, "What's the matter? You don't like being laughed at?" She chuckled in almost a tsking manner before continuing with, "And you're supposed to be the joker of the group.....That's really too bad."
"Cye, let's take her out right now, you and me. We can take her," the warrior of Hardrock said over to his brother in arms without looking away from his enemy. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, getting ready to be used when necessary.
"Kento I'm not so sure about that," Cye retorted as he eyed the girl standing before them. He could see the dark power radiating from her in dark pools, surrounding her whole form in its grasp. "She's too strong for just us two."
"It's not just us two, there's three of us Cye."
"Heather isn't as battle familiar as we are. We'd risk getting her hurt or worse by making her fight with us," Cye argued back.
"Look, Ryo told us to fight the witch if we saw her and I see her so that means we fight her," Kento shot back, finally peeling his eyes off of the Goddess standing in front of him to throw an angered glance over at his partner. That was his biggest mistake ever.
Before either of them could register what had happened, the Goddess had seemed to almost have melted back into the shadows before reappearing out of them behind Kento so fast that neither of them had known it had happened until it was too late. Shadows wrapped themselves tightly around Kento's arms, waist and legs, binding him together so tightly that he couldn't budge them loose an inch. Her grinning face now gleamed out at them from around his struggling form. "Well that was rather easy," she told them in a conversational way. "Not much fun when you don't put up a fight."
"What the hell?!" Kento shouted as he struggled to free himself from whatever had a hold of him. It was no use even for the warrior of strength.
"Heather get behind me," Cye ordered, already grasping the young warrior around the arm and forcing her behind him. Standing protectively in front of the blond girl now, he forced himself to stand up straighter, staring the Goddess down as if she wasn't getting to him in the least.
"That won't help her," was all she replied in return, a feral grin already spreading its way over her pouty lips. Before the Ronin of Torrent had time to react, shadows were lashing out from the darkness that incased the alleyway, wrapping themselves around the Lady Ronin's body and pulling her from behind him. Heather screamed in fear as she was yanked away from her uncle, the things grasping her only tightening their hold on her in response.
"Heather!" Cye shouted to her helplessly as he watched her being pulled away from him, stopping a good five feet away from him with arms bound at her sides by whatever had come from the shadows surrounding them. Amused chuckling brought his attention back onto the now approaching girl, her dress swaying as she walked and heels clicking on the pavement.
A gleeful smile had now captured her face and her looming yellowish green eyes stared him down like a cat did its prey. Her body moved in graceful, almost not touching the ground kind of steps as she walked on towards him. Before Cye could even make an attempt to move, something had already lashed out and wrapped its self around him just like it had the others. Now unable to move, the water Ronin simply watched his enemy come towards him with that sadistic smile on her face.
Goddess Rylea stopped just in front of Cye, her unearthly eyes just wavering over him for a silent moment or two, unnerving him to no end. Her hand then came up from her side, gently running through his hair as her smile widened more and she leaned her face in closer to his. "I can hear your heart beating, Ronin," she said to him, her words caressing and hypnotizing to a certain point. She traced one sharp fingernail down the side of his face and to where his heart would be, the nail scraping over the metal of his subarmor, "It goes thump thump thump, thump thump thump."
Smirking she backed away from Cye now, her eyes still staring him down as she did. The Goddess licked her lips and flicked her gaze over to Heather's silent form, a grin slipping onto her face at the fear she could feel rolling off the girl. She sucked it all in, relishing in her torment, it fueled her even more. Chuckling sweetly she said, "I hope you're not afraid to be alone in the dark, Heather of Halo." As if to show her what she was getting at, the things that held the two Ronins in their grasp pulled them into the shadows and made them disappear from sight. The two melted into the shadows and left as if they had never even been there.
Heather's light blue eyes went wide with fear as she watched her uncles disappear before her eyes. Chuckling then brought her attention back onto the person still standing in front of her. Smiling sweetly at her now, the Goddess told her pleasantly, "Hope you're not afraid of the dark," before the girl then stepped back into the shadows and left just in the same manner as her uncles had, simply almost melding into the darkness and leaving.
As soon as the Goddess had left then the things that bound Heather disappeared as well, letting her drop to the hard ground below her. Heather winced and picked herself up. Wearily she glanced around the shadows as if not totally sure that they were all gone. Turning quickly, she fled from the alleyway in search of her other teammates or just anyone she knew could help her.
"None of this is any help at all," Leinto grumbled out as he finally tore his eyes away from the mural of the Goddess of Night that he had been studying for the past twenty minutes and had found nothing resembling how to kill her. Time was steadily running out for all of them and still they had found nothing that was at least remotely helpful. The graying charge sighed and rubbed at his wrinkled face before once again turning his gaze back upon the mural before him. He was determined to find something.
Tadin ignored the charge as he looked around the large room. Somehow he had the feeling that that wasn't the only mural about the Goddess of Night. There had to be another one, the one that told of how she was stopped the first time, somewhere around here ---hidden somewhere out of sight so that no one would know about it. The hybrid's steely blue eyes came upon something, it was a sliver of what looked to be old parchment, hidden beside the enormous fireplace.
Bending down, the young man grabbed a hold of the end of the paper that was visible and pulled the rest of it out from its hiding place. Unrolling it, his eyes quickly scanned over it before they became wide and shouted over his shoulder to the old man behind him, "Hey, Leinto, I think I found what you're looking for!"
"What?" the old man replied as he turned from the mural he had been studying and quickly ambled his way over to the young man. As the boy stood, he took the old and faded parchment from his hands, his own eyes now looking over it. A smile of triumph began to spread over his face as he read it over again and again. "This is it," he finally said and looked up sharply to the blond boy, "this is what we need."
The paper looked to almost be a type of scroll, a very old and weathered scroll. Detailed pictures of the Ronin armors fighting the Goddess of Night were depicted on it. In one scene, the one scene that told Leinto all that he needed to know, it showed the Ronins calling upon a white armor and then the owner of that armor somehow willing it onto the Goddess. The scene below that showed the Goddess being dispelled back into her world, becoming locked away for all time.
Tadin looked up at the old man, a frown now consuming his face as he watched him reading over the pictures. "So how do we stop her?" he asked him.
"Well in this, the Ronins stopped her by using the power of the Inferno armor to send her back into her own world, inevitably trapping her there as well. Rylea is the only one who can forth the armor of Inferno, but as long as the Goddess has control of that, she can't on her own free will," the charge began to explain to the blond boy beside him.
"So, if she can't call on the Inferno armor, doesn't that mean that we're basically screwed?"
"Not exactly," Leinto replied as he rolled up the scroll. "I have an idea that just might work. Rylea is not dead, not able to control her own body, but she is not dead. That means the armor will still react to her. I just hope that what I have planned will actually work. It might be our only chance."
"What's your plan?" the hybrid now asked while following along behind the charge as they left the room they had once been standing in. Now they were headed back out of the temple, back towards the mortal world where they needed to be.
"You will see," was all Leinto replied as he and the hybrid Tadin walked from the temple and headed back for the portal into the mortal world. Time was running out fast along with any hope of stopping the Goddess before her plans for the mortal world became true. A frown settled over the aging man's face as he thought. Even if we stop this Goddess, Rylea will always be evil. Getting rid of the Goddess will not rid her of that demonic side of her. Rylea will always be a hybrid, a half demon. He sighed heavily at his musing while himself and the blond boy walked through the portal and back into the mortal world.
A/N:Ok, well we're nearly there. And for once, I don't really have a whole lot to say. Big shocker. Anywho, thanks go out this time to MorganRay, a very good writer who I recommend all of you to read her stories. And my new reviewer, LG! Thanks so much chica for your review and all the nice things that you have said not only bout sif and mines site but my stories as well. Muchos gracias, mi amigas! Last but not least, thanks to Rogue who graciously agreed to help me with the Latin. You're the coolest Rogue! Anywho, another exciting chap to come soon.