I own Warlady Katie, Warlady Sarah, Kubi, Juru, and the ideas presented here, that's all.
Well, it has been a while. I hope it was worth the wait!
Part V: The Beginning
Sage, Ryo, Kento, Sai, and Mia all sat down in Mia's living room. Sage and Mia sat on the couch, Ryo on the floor, and Kento and Sai on the other sofa. "So, I talked to him…" Sage began. Everyone watched Sage with rapt attention. "I don't think we should bother him about Kayura anymore…"
"That bad?" Sai asked. Sage nodded.
"What happened when I was knocked unconscious?" Ryo asked suddenly. "I mean my power was drained, and the next thing I knew I was waking up on a boat, and Rowen had given up," Ryo explained. "That missing piece, it's critical isn't it?" Sage nodded again.
"Well, you know how each of us feel about certain warlords, with me it's Kale, Sai's is Seckhmet, and Kento has Dais, Kayura is Rowen's personal Hell-Warlord, except the difference is we all eventually beat our adversaries, he never did. After Ryo was knocked out, Kayura tried to keep Ryo in the cave or wherever they were. But Rowen busted a route out, and attacked Kayura so White Blaze could escape with Ryo. This infuriated her, and she made her intentions to kill Rowen quite clear. They fought for a long time, and right before Ryo woke up, he used himself to shield Ryo from one of her attacks. That's why it looked like he'd given up, he did everything he could, even to the point of sacrificing himself, and still could not save Ryo, or defeat her."
The Ronin sat in silence, looking away from each other.
"There's more…" Sage began tentatively. "He has a scar on his chest, in the shape of an X." Ryo looked up when Sage said that. "The impression of her crossed swords… When Rowen decided to distract her so Ryo could get away, she attacked him in the air, sent him flying. He landed on a boat filled with soldiers, and they all attacked him at once… he couldn't get away…"
"Well that certainly explains a lot…" Sai began. "I can see why he wouldn't want to be near her. To be so close to death, so often… it's horrible…"
"There's something else I have to tell you…" Sage began. He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to disclose this to them. "Last night, there was a crash in the kitchen, and when we went in there, there seemed to be no one there… but there was…"
"Another enemy?" Kento asked.
"I hope not…" Sage started. "Because I saw through the invisibility disguise of the person in the kitchen, and it was Kayura…"
"Kayura? Spying on Rowen?" Mia asked.
"Yes, and apparently she's been doing this for a long time… she even showed up at the dojo earlier today…"
"Rowen must've flipped out when he found out!" Kento exclaimed.
"Except that I didn't tell him," Sage said quickly.
"What? Why not!" Ryo demanded.
"He's paranoid enough as it is. Imagine how nervous he would be if he knew Kayura's been making herself invisible and following him around for who knows how long?"
"Well we can't let this go on…" Sai said.
"No, we're going to have to deal with Kayura ourselves. Here's the other thing, she says he's been lying to us, that he's been going somewhere and covering up for it."
-
Kubi stood alone on the roof of a building. He stared intensely at the Dynasty Palace, its cracked and shattered spires; the collapsed roofs. Nether Spirits levitated in the air, surrounding it; the orange tinted spheres which housed them cast a lurid glow on the gold castle. The spirits chanted in a low tone, their words spun around, seemingly interlocking with the gold light they cast. Battamon hovered just above the castle. He captured the power from the spirits and channeled it into the building. Before his eyes, Kubi saw the half-destroyed palace being repaired, slowly, yet with a rhythm so crisp one could imagine a drum behind the chants of the spirits.
-
Kayura huddled in her room, breathing heavily. She felt something akin to an electrical surge pulsing through her body; it was something she had not felt in a very long time. "No…" she whispered. "No please…" She clutched her head as images spun through her mind. She was a young girl, being kidnapped by Dynasty soldiers as they ravaged her village, then as she grew, being taught how to fight, how to use her dark powers, then when Talpa handed her the Starlight Swords, the power that came from them… that electricity that shook her body. Tears fell from Kayura's eyes and spattered against her hands, which were clutching her knees. "I can't go back there… I can't be like that again…" Ever since she had received a bolt of dark energy at the coronation, Kayura was feeling the desire for power again. She felt herself losing control of her mind, and her body, and it terrified her.
She heard a soft knock on the door. It opened and Kale stepped into the room. "Kayura… are you alright?" he asked.
"Yes… I'm fine…" she responded, but her voice shook. "Just leave me alone Kale…"
"Alright…" Kale responded hesitantly. He peered in at Kayura before sliding her door closed.
Kale turned away from the door, and to the two Warlords who were staring at him in expectation. "Something is wrong with her," Kale said.
"What do you mean?" Seckhmet demanded.
"She just seems… off…" Kale said uncertainly.
"Could it have been from that dark energy blast she received?" Dais asked, stepping towards the door. "Because if that is the case, then we need to intervene…"
"Why?" Seckhmet asked.
"Kayura grew up being fed dark energy, it is just as much a part of her as our armor powers are a part of us. For her to feel that again… it would be intense… all it takes is one taste for her to crave it once again."
"But what can we do to stop that?" Sechkmet inquired.
"I'm not sure, but we could talk to the Ronin, they might know," Dais said thoughtfully.
"No!" Kale shouted. The other two turned to him in surprise. "We cannot involve the Ronin, don't you see, they are part of this! She has been acting strange for a while, and she continually locks herself in her room. I was getting suspicious, so yesterday, after I heard her teleport out, I went into the room and saw she still had a Dynasty screen running."
"What had she been looking at?" Seckhmet asked.
"The Ronin Warriors." The two stared at him silently once more. "Well two of them anyway, Rowen of the Strata, and Sage of the Halo."
"Why would she be watching them?" Dais said.
"It does not matter. Either way, Kubi is currently having the Nether Spirits re-build the palace. We need her to stop him," Dais said urgently.
"Kayura is not in a good enough state of mind to fight him, and he would just go back to it as soon as her back was turned," Kale said. "So we'll have to go without her."
"That's a death sentence!" Dais exclaimed. "As much as I hate to rely on Kayura for power, we can't face anyone in this Dynasty without her. If we attack Kubi now, he'll kill us, or worse…" Dais ended darkly.
"What do you mean worse?" Kale asked.
"Do you not know what lies in the foulest reaches of the Palace, aside from the pools of Nether Spirits?" Dais asked. They shook their heads.
"Torture chambers. Dark stone rooms with only one door, which securely locks, sealing the chamber until it is airtight. In the center of the room lie the chains, the shackles, the metal cuffs. These can restrain any man, no matter how much "power" he may have. Then there are the instruments of pain. The whips with metal talons, the spears, the torches…" Dais paused, letting his words sink in. Seckhmet and Kale stared blindly back at him, their expressions grim, as they imagined what it would be like to be confined to a torture chamber. Dais, the illusionist worked his powers with his words. Darkness seemed to swell around Seckhmet and Kale, and they could hear the door slam shut – airtight… they heard the screams of men, the cracking of whips… they smelled the blood, the rotting flesh, disease, and death. Dais began to speak again. "The worst part of all, are the torturers themselves… Women most of them, they are beautiful to the eye, but evil and sadistic to their cores. The most infamous is Lady Kize… she feeds on the pain of others, their screams; their blood is her sustenance… Once someone has been subjected to her, they are never the same again…" Dais waited for the words to wash over his fellow warlords, then the illusion disappeared. Seckhmet and Kale blinked, and then turned their attention to Dais again.
"How do you know all of this?" Kale marveled.
"I have been here a very long time Kale, surely not much longer than you, but I have explored the Dynasty for all that it is. I actually met Lady Kize once, I will never forget that image… her body armor covered in someone else's blood… the smirk on her face…"
"I do not understand," Seckhmet interrupted. "What use would Talpa have for that sort of torture? Why not just utilize the spirits as he usually does?"
Dais shrugged. "In all of our years here, can any of us say that we truly were able to understand Talpa, and why he does what he does? Although I do know that while the spirits coax warriors to turn back to the dark side, only Lady Kize can entirely destroy a man's will. And by doing that, she can destroy a man entirely."
"I bet Kubi would just love to do that to us," Seckhmet fumed. "If only we were stronger than him, strong enough to defeat him and his warlords too! At least before all we had to fear was Talpa, now we cannot walk around the Dynasty without fear of an ambush! Sometimes I wonder why we ever changed sides…"
"Well either way, with Kayura weakened, there is no way to stop Kubi. At this rate, he will soon have dominion over this realm," Dais said. "And when that happens, we will have to make a choice…" The three stared at the ground in grave silence.
-
Warlady Sarah appeared beside Kubi. "You called for me?" she said, turning to him, her brown hair moving in the slight wind, the red jewel on her tiara catching the sun.
His eyes still fixed on the palace, Kubi responded, "Is it not marvelous, the way the Nether Spirits can repair something so damaged?" Sarah turned to the palace, and watched in silence as the last spire was repaired. "What happened to Talpa was a shame, it really was. He could have won, he could have defeated the Ronin Warriors. I could never understand him."
"Are you saying that you do not wish to be emperor?" Sarah inquired, her eyebrows raised.
"No, just that this is not what I originally desired. When Talpa launched his assault on the Mortal Realm, I begged him to let me fight the Ronin Warriors. I had long tried to usurp Anubis' role as his right hand. He would not allow it, even though I was stronger than Anubis. Then when I tried to secure a place in the throne room before him, he refused again, only admitting the four Warlords with the armor like the Ronin to join him there. I know now why he kept those Warlords: Anubis, Kale, Seckhmet, and Dais close – he desired their armor… However, he should not have depended on them so heavily. I should have been one of his chosen warriors, if I was at his side, those Ronin brats would not have stood a chance." Kubi sighed.
"So you would have been happy being second in command to Talpa? You did not desire the throne?" Sarah asked, stunned. She stared at him with her bluish-purple eyes wide.
"No, being in charge is not everything Warlady Sarah," Kubi sighed. "I have never been the best at making plans…"
Warlady Sarah laughed. "I suppose we will soon see whether you can lead or not."
Kayura's really not having that great of a time.
Note on the use of "Ronin" rather than "Ronins": In Japanese there is no plural form, so I have been leaving Japanese words as-is, however if itgetsconfusing, "Ronins" may appear in the story.
Hope you liked the latest installment!
