Chapter 3 : The Gate of Memories
"Alright, I bet by now your silly friends are concerned why this is taking so long," The revealed Criundae smirked, "How should this end?"
By now Tao Ren had calmed himself down, "Well, me being the victor no matter what."
"Hmm, fine." Makena shrugged, laughing on the inside. 'He needs to be knocked off his high horse.'
Those were the last words spoken, not long before the two shaman clashed weapons. Ren was giving his all, giving the newcomer no doubts of not holding back. They fought for several minutes before Makena thought it was enough.
"I hope this works right for once," She growled in her head.
She clasped her hands together, rolling her ring fingers over each other, crossed the middle and index to 'V's, and her thumbs to an 'X'. Makena whispered a prepation chant. She thought of how dumb dispells worked, but had to do it anyways.
"Daspeiraii Korsen - incalia!(1)" she shouted as Ren leaped toward her, a white glow surrounded her hand seal as she kicked him hard enough to boot him from the void. Makena decided the darkness served its purpose and sent it to collasping, grabbing her mask and jumping out after the Tao.
"You served your purpose, thank you..." The Criundae told the Dark spirits inside of her. Fixing the mask quickly and putting it on, she held the grounded Tao with her sword close to his neck.
"Hah, you got me."
"Don't quote me."
"But it's true."
"No matter.."
Ren sighed, realizing he had been defeated but was more concerned with this stranger killing him after being so nice. 'The dream, the voice changed... to a bark?'
Silva hesitantly ended their match, leaving the group a bit stunned.
"Big-hair lost?" Horo Horo couldn't believe his eyes. Sure, they saw him be flung from the mini-arena with a lot of force, but didn't think that could have been the end.
While everyone was still recovering from the shock, the white haired shaman helped her new friend up. Ren couldn't help his blushing, and he hadn't a clue what was going on, but he liked it. Makena leaned her head close to his ear, and her heartbeat began to speed up to a school girl's and she held back her blushes. The whole time she hated the feeling, and believed so hard she didn't have any interest to Ren.
"There's something you need to know, it's uh.." She didn't feel right coming out of her safe shell.
"What is it?"
"I uh... I'm not a shaman. No where even near it."
"Wait what? But how can this be? You coul-..."
She cut him off, "That doesn't mean I'm not something.. Ren.. have you had any odd nightmares involving white wolves?"
Ren couldn't believe his ears, thinking over how she could have known. Suddenly he felt sick, simply nodding, fearing the girl's truth. 'She can't be that, can she?'
Makena held her breath and bit her lip, wishing it hadn't been so long since then.
"That was me," She paused, not wanting to do this.
'Just tell him already, sheesh Makena.'
'Grr, shut up Marukaique! I don't need backseat thoughts.'
"I'm a demon..."
Ren's sickness seemed to get worse all at once, bringing the Tao to his knees and making him almost cry. Makena kneeled in front of him, shook her head and wiped away his small tears.
'Damnit.. why did I have to be so late to stop this?'
'This is your fault, you know.'
'Shut up already!'
'At least you got rid of some of the curse... you know? Calm down Makena, some things happen.'
'I know that, but I feel weak for not being able to cure it all... especially the effects.'
'That's not the whole story is it?'
"Tao Ren," She stood up, feeling unsafe. Green eyes that had been following her for over 7 years now appeared again, seeing through her disguise. "I have to leave, I'm sorry." She took off her mask and kissed Ren on the cheek before jumping off only leaving her mask behind.
As Makena ran through the treetops trying to flee from her preditors, she had only one thing at all on her mind.
"Ren...", Speaking aloud, the one think she regretted the most.
Her thoughts forced her off guard, where one of the green eyes pounced from the shadows, snagging her to the ground instantly. In that moment, she went unconscious and was trapped in a dreaded memory which she refused to ever sleep because of.
Flashback-
"Makena, you've been so ignorant for so long, we can't allow you any longer to do so. Look even at what you've done to your poor Marukaique, his fur is gray and bloody with your sins. What happened to the beautiful white one we used to see all the time?"
"Feran... no."
5 years after the icident with the Tao family, many other families were raided and slaughtered. Each time it was the same, a huge white wolf demon by the name of Marukaique was the cause. The council of High Demons decided to put her back into her place and sent Feran, the only demon of Nature to have a direct connection with every possible natural being alive or even dead.
"You can't..."
"Yes, I can." a smiling gleam with teeth each as large as miniature van shown. "Think about it, you'll have 50 years to straighten yourself out."
"You can't Feran... because I won't let you," A pair of blood red eyes shining brightly jumped out of the shade. "I might as well die trying to defend myself, that's the honorable way, isn't it?" a canine smirk appeared across the much smaller demon's face.
"Foolish, but still honorable. Why can't you just accept death with open arms?" the dragon roared, flying toward the Marukai(2) claws bearing and slashed the wolf out of comission. However, Makena wasn't the type to give up so easily and pushed her best and only friend, Marukaique not to as well. They were both injured very badly though.
Feran simply sighed, "Why must you pretend to be so strong? This could be say, a present for you."
The gravely injured Criundae was puzzled, "What in the world do you mean, 'present'?"
(1) - Literally, "Dispell Curse: Enslavement"
(2) - The term to combine both Makena and Marukaique into one person! Also used in Jatiskan history (which is gonna be asplained in meh manga) as a hero, oddly long before Makena was even born.
