Chapter 6: A Wolf in the Fold
Author's Note: I hope everyone is enjoying the story thus far. Be sure to reread the previous chapters once in a while to make sure you are up to speed, as I will be having a few hints of things to come...
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Kneeling behind a tree at the very edge of what was mere seconds ago Ima, Inubaka leaned slightly to stare at the two surviors. When the mass of soldiers began their charge, he had almost lept out himself, given that he owed Terra a Life Dept for when she saved him.
But he had hesitated, and was thanking whatever supreme beings there were for his pause. That strange man next to Terra had promptly wasted almost an entire legion of Tolbibi elite fighters, and had even sent what had looked like the commander fleeing. Of course, he had also wasted the whole village, save for maybe a few stray ruined buildings, the sanctum, and the Statue of Mai.
And, Inubaka thought to himself, had it not been for Terra pleading with him, he would have kept on attacking the soldiers as they fled.
Turning his focus to the two standing figures, he watched as the mysterious being turned to look down at Terra, listening to her. "Why did you kill them all?"
"They wished ill upon us. One must survive." It might have been his imagination, but Inubaka thought that statement rather cold, even compared to the death threats he himself had recieved.
"That doesn't justify killing them all! You could have injured them, confused them, slowed them down... You... Didn't have to kill!" Terra broke out into a fit of tears, and the man just stared at her. Just STARED at her! Had he not seen the power behind that blank look, Inubaka would have charged him for upsetting Terra.
Before he could think of a way to avenge the wrongs inflicted on Terra, Inubaka stared in shock: the man walked over to a pile of what had once been living men. His hands stretched outwards, a light glow engulfed the remains. Slowly, the mass of energy raised the various forms above the ground, and, to Inubaka's shock, the earth opened just below them. Slowly, the bodies and remains were lowered, and the earth closed, looking for all intent and purposes like it had before the battle. No blood, no bodies, not even a scrap of metal or cloth.
Inubaka could only stare, mouth agape in shock.
The man turned to Terra, walked towards her, one arm extended. With a gentleness one would not have expected with the events mere minutes before, he gently aided her to her feet and wispered something that, had it not been for the wolf in him, Inubaka would never have heard it:
"Terra of Clan Mia, would you please forgive my sins and assist these poor souls into the beyond?"
Inubaka could not believe what he was hearing; the damn fool wanted her forgiveness? One look at the remaining bodies alongside the river and near some sort of metal contstruct were still littered about, and he buried a small few and wanted FORGIVENESS?
"By the Clan of Mai, you are forgiven." Even as Terra stood and moved to pray to the Elements, Inubaka could see the man wince as she spoke. Was it because she said "Mai?" As far as he knew, Inubaka did not know of anyone in Ima or Terra's past named Mia that had been famous. Unless the guy had somehow confused Mai, but that couldn't be it.
Just as she knelt down, Terra let out a yelp as part of a collapsed building started to rise, pieces falling off the sides. Inubaka sought to move, but the almost-instantanious movements of the stranger to her side put him in his place. Before anyone knew what was happening, a voice filled the air:
"A little help here?"
Given the looks on Terra and the stranger's face, they shared Inubaka's puzzlement over how anyone would ask for assistance after an army entered town and the whole population was wasted. Or was it?
Noting how Terra placed her hand on the man's chest to keep him from accidentally killing another, the half-wolf watched Terra walk to the ruins, gently raising up a chunk of the building. Shortly after she moved a few more pieces, the man with the eye scar moved to assist her, and the form of a man could be viewed from the ruins.
"Meitei, how did you get stuck in here!"
As the man was aided to his feet, Inubaka observed the individual. An older man, ratted clothes that were obviously worn out before the building collapsed, and stinking of alcohol at even this distance, Inubaka wondered how a drunk, of all people, had managed to survive the devestation.
"I vas sleep'n 'n th' ba'k, whe' I heard the peo'le runn' outta door. I took a ch'ce an' got me a drink in th' cell'r. Nex' I knew, the r'f cam' dwn."
Terra turned to look at her apparent friend, then back at the drunk, a gentle aura of psynergy healing his wounds. He watched as the healer and impossibly powerful man aided a pathetic drunk towards the sanctum, wondering what they would do now. Before he could think any further, he saw the wierd man turn his head. Not much, but enough that Inubaka was able to make eye contact.
And know that he had been spotted.
A short chap, this one was meant as a means to introduce Inubaka and Meitei. In case you couldn't tell, Inubaka is a Japingrish cobbling of the Japanese words "dog" and "idiot," while "meitei" is from the Japanese word "drunk." I'm pretty sure the latter is also a drink, but my dictionary said drunk, and it works. And yes, he's called that for a reason, folks.
At any rate, I'll see about getting to work on chap 7, and expect Part 2 of A Time Forgotten to appear in the near future...
Please read and review!
Mikaa