Maxi started his attack on Astaroth with a high vertical swing to come down on his opponent's head, and then spun his nunchaku to bruise Astaroth's ribs. Astaroth blocked cunningly and counter attacked with his own, sweeping his ax at Maxi's ankles, knocking Maxi's legs out from under him. Astaroth kicked Maxi while he was still on the ground, laughing as he did so. He powered up his ax to cleave Maxi in two, but Maxi rolled away in time to save himself and jumped to his feet, grabbing Astaroth and using his momentum to through him to the ground. Astaroth was back on his feet far faster than Maxi anticipated and sent Maxi flying backwards with an unforeseen kick to the chest. As Maxi tried to regain his focus, several creatures circled him. Astaroth stepped back.
"I grow weary of this little man!"
"Don't worry, you will soon be defeated!" Maxi's brow furrowed as he yelled a battle cry and lunged for Astaroth. One of the monsters kicked dirt into Maxi's eyes. Momentarily blinded, Maxi never saw the ax handle fly towards his head. Maxi fell to the ground in a heap, his head bleeding badly at the site of impact. Astaroth was sure the little man was dead. Everything went black for Maxi.
* * *
The smell of blood and burning wood brought Maxi back to consciousness. He opened his eyes carefully. His nunchaku lay a short distance from him. He slipped Soryuju back into his belt. The sun had nearly set. The fires set upon the town had used up most of their fervor and were now little more than tiny candle flames on glowing coals. Maxi carefully rose to his feet; he tried to walk, but stumbled. His body ached, his head throbbed, but he had to find his crew; his friends.
The fallen bodies littered the streets, the stench of death was overwhelming. He tried without success to spare himself from the stink. Maxi slowly, very slowly, made his way through them. He kneeled to one of the victims. It was Lutan, his first mate. Near him was Ichigo, the quartermaster, and further down, Ooki, the rigger. One by one Maxi found what had happened to his crew; slaughtered. Every single one of them was killed in this senseless massacre along with the town and its residents.
A footstep caught Maxi's attention. He took Soryuju in his hand by reflex. A man staggered out of the shadows carrying a bloody rod in one hand, and his mysterious crystal in the other.
"You!" Maxi shrieked. "You survive while my men perish!?" The man said nothing. When he came into the light of the fires, Maxi was taken aback as he saw tears spilling over the man's face, his mouth, dusty and spattered with dry blood, opened and closed, but no words escaped.
"Who are you!?" Maxi demanded.
"M-my name… is … is Kilik."
The man in the tattered red coat fell to his knees and cried, his tears wetting the dead ground.
* * *
Maxi packed the last bit of dirt on the graves of his companions.
"The ship was destroyed," he explained to them as if they still stood beside him. "I can't bury you at sea. Forgive me…everyone." He placed one of the broken pieces of his ship as the headstone for his loyal crew. Kilik watched without comment. The two of them looked out at the trench refillled with more than just soil that divided the main street almost it's entire length through the town.
It was the best they could do for the citizens of this town. Kilik turned to leave.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!?" Kilik didn't answer and continued walking. Maxi jogged to catch up with him. "You're dangerous man! I saw how that Astaroth guy attacked as soon as he saw you. My men are dead because of you!" Maxi cut in front of Kilik and held his arms out.
"Step aside," Kilik said.
"No, not until you give me some answers!" Kilik's eyes narrowed.
"I am truely sorry for what has happened here. But the more you delay me, the more you place yourself in danger. I'll ask you once more: Step aside."
Maxi pulled out Soryuju, twirling it above, below and around his body. Catching one of the handles under his arm, he mocked Kilik's cool tone of voice.
"And I'll reply a hundred times the same: No." Kilik took fighting stance with his rod, Kali-Yuga.
Maxi tested Kilik's reflexes making a few tauting attacks. After the exhange of teasing blows and counters from Kali-Yuga, Kilik stepped back in disgust.
"After so much death you would challenge me this near to their graves?"
"You expect me to be at peace knowing you had a part in my friends' deaths?!" Maxi advanced, catching Kali-Yuga in Soryuju's chain. Kilik tried to sweep Maxi's feet out from under him with a low kick, but Maxi jumped and brought his heel down to knock Kilik in the back. Kilik twisted himself in a dodge and released one hand from his rod, letting Kali-Yuga slip free of Soryuju's chain. He stepped forward, using his thursting attack series on Maxi. Maxi side stepped and caught Kilik's neck with Soryuju's chain, forcing Kilik to the ground. Maxi planted his foot firmly on Kilik's chest.
"Now are you going to tell me what your part is in all of this?"
"Fine. But we must keep walking." Maxi withdrew his foot and extended a hand to help Kilik to feet. The two young men matched strides. As Kilik began his story, he touched the crystal hanging once again around his neck thoughtfully.
"As you probably are aware of, seven years ago the Evil Seed rained down upon the earth."
Maxi nodded. "Yeah, I'll never forget it. Lutan thought it was doomsday or something with sky lighting up so oddly in the middle of the night."
"Many people thought that..." Kilik said nostagically and went very quiet.
"So the Evil Seed started raining down and...?" Maxi prompted.
"Several pieces landed in the Ling-Sheng Su Temple," Kilik continued stiffly, "where I was raised. A piece of it was embedded in me. This crystal, Dvapara-Yuga, is a sacred treasure of the Temple. It's the only thing that keeps the evil restrained and my sanity in place. Without it, as you witnessed at the massacre, I do nothing but destroy."
Maxi grinned. "So you're a killing machine if you lose your jewelry. Tch. And I thought I had heard it all. But what's with monsters following you around?"
Kilik let go of the crystal, and looked out at the horizon, a sudden bitterness in his tone of voice.
"'Evil attracts evil' my Master used to say. Since the day the Evil Seed entered my body, monsters, creatures of shadow, they are drawn to me." Kilik looked at Maxi. "I am the reason the monsters came to that town. I shall never forgive myself for that. I should know by now that I am risking the lives of any in my company. If you are satisfied with my story, you better take your leave. Your life is in danger even now."
"This big freaky guy, Astaroth... he follows you around a lot?" Maxi asked ignoring the warning.
"The golem? Yes. He kills many for a purpose I don't know of. The monsters gather around me, and he comes to round them up every now and again. They eagerly follow his lead as he promises easy blood to spill."
"How come he hasn't killed you yet?"
"I'm too strong. Why waste time trying to kill me when there are hundreds upon hundreds of people who know nothing of weapons or self-defense?"
Maxi touched his nunchaku lightly thinking of Soryuju's brother that now lied in Tokikou's cold hand. "Makes sense I suppose," he said finally. "Guess Astaroth isn't as stupid as he is ugly, huh?"
Kilik smiled, then laughed out loud. Still smiling he laid a hand on Maxi's shoulder, "I haven't been able to laugh for a long time. Thank you, Maxi."
Maxi smiled back, "If you let me stick around with you, I promise you'll laugh again."
Kilik stopped walking, and looked at Maxi hard in the eyes. "You would travel with me after everything I've told you?"
"My ship is gone, my friends have passed. I have nothing left," Maxi replied.
Kilik smiled warmly at him. "I am very tired of being alone."
"Well don't look at me like that, get yourself a girlfriend, mate."
Birds startled by the sound of laughter flew to quieter sections of the forest. The two young men walked on, unaware of figure that stalked their every step.
~*~*~*~
(Thank you for reading and for the reviews! I really appreciate the honesty, and I'll try hard to make this story worth reading as new chapters come! ^_^
--Xiantau--)