Greetings all! Well, it would appear that I've gotten this chapter up faster than I thought. It was a well earned chapter though seeing as that I sacked a whole night of sleep for it…I guess I just wanted to get as much up before school started as I could. Oh, and I would like to thank maryd and Harry2 for their faithful reviews along with everybody else's thus far. Well, without too much more delay--the tenth edition of what is my second posted fic. Enjoy!
(I don't own any of the characters in this fic—well, the one's that obviously aren't mine that is)
Chapter 10Now far from the ensuing mayhem, Kayura and Soja-no found themselves in a deserted block of the Dynasty complex. The only building there was a small, dilapidated temple. She stopped several paces ahead, not wishing to be near him…
"Well, we're here. What now?" Asked Kayura, her voice both hard and deadpan.
"The ground must be marked." Soja-no replied.
"Do it then." She returned, an edge in the words she threw over her shoulder. Despite the simplicity of the statement, the phrase cut Soja-no more than he had wished it to. He stared for a moment at the raven locks that flowed down the woman's back before responding. "Very well."
He stepped away into the middle of the clearing. After feeling he found it's center, he reached into his robes and pulled from them a small, black velvet pouch. Pulling it open, he quickly examined its contents. Inside was fine red sand. He pinched some of it between his fingers, frowning to himself as he let fall back into the bag.
'This had better work…'
Soja-no then tipped the small pouch to let the sand pour forth. He turned clockwise until he created a small circle around himself. Kayura watched quietly with disinterest. With all the crimson sand expelled, he closed back the pouch and returned it to his robes. Stealing a glance at Kayura, Soja-no took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tilted his head upward and the circle of sand roared into a funnel around him that swept outward furiously. Kayura quickly covered her face as the incredibly powerful gust blew past her, bringing with it the dirt and dust from the ground that pelted her exposed arms.
After the miniature dust storm had ceased, Kayura slowly lowered her arms. Before her now was a large, raised stone cartouche. She walked to its edge, which was shin-high, and looked over its rough finish. It was separated into sixteen sections, which in turn was cut into three rows. Each curved square had its own raised symbol. She looked up to see Soja-no standing in the center hugging his arms. Suddenly he twisted up from the ground on what looked to be a stone pillar. The pillar stopped when it was about a foot and a half up from the cartouche's surface. Finally opening his eyes, he jumped down and walked to her. He leaned slightly and extended his hand. She looked to him, then his offered hand, a deep frown coming to her face. With an angry huff, she raised her kimono and pulled herself onto the cartouche. Kayura straightened then stared at him.
Soja-no supposed he deserved that.
Pushing back any pending thoughts of regret, he ordered her to strip naked.
"I will not!" Kayura retorted. "It's not enough that I must sacrifice myself, but I must humiliate myself as well?"
"Humiliate yourself in front of who? It's not like you have an audience." Soja-no shrugged.
"I am not going to do that! I reveal myself willingly to NO man!" Kayura seethed. Soja-no was beginning to loose patience.
"Kayura, this is not a matter up for debate. You will remove your clothing yourself, or I will rip it off of you. I must mark your body so the necessary magic can find its medium."
Kayura flinched. She was sure by now that Soja-no made good on his intentions. If he were to tear her kimono off of her, she really would be humiliated.
"I just can't have any dignity can I?" She ground out miserably. Slowly she brought her hands up to the many layers of fabric. Piece by piece she removed them until the last layer was all that remained. She looked down, her face glued to the stone beneath her feet.
'I can't do this…' she thought.
"Come along now, we don't have much time." Said Soja-no, his impatience evident.
'He's so cold.'
Soja-no began to reach for her garment after she hadn't.
"OK!"
"Then hurry up!" He barked.
The only thing that held the thin material closed was a loosely tied sash. She pulled it gently and let it fall way. Her face became hot as she held the last piece of clothing on her. Kayura felt tears washing in her eyes, tears of utter and complete humiliation. This was worse than having an audience. At least with that, bravery could have come easer to her. Yet the weight of just a single pair of eyes was enough to crush her composer. Kayura hung her head in shame and began to sob—life was just too cruel.
"Kayura really, the tears aren't necessary. They are not going to save you from your fate." Said Soja-no. This only elected harder sobs from the girl.
With a hiss of annoyance, he whirled her around and yanked the fabric from her hunched shoulders.
"Y-you just don't understand! You'll never be able to understand this! You just DON'T CARE!" Kayura screamed between sobs that were now uncontrollable, her body bent slightly as each one shook her frame.
Soja-no tried to stay as emotionally detached from the situation as he possibly could, but was not having much success. Although he would dare never to admit it, he did care. It was not in his nature to be that heartless a bastard. He had always been trained not to let his emotions interfere his work, but when you were this close to such a sensitive assignment, it was incredibly difficult not to feel anything. However at the moment, time was of the essence--he would have to wage this battle with himself later. Soja-no whipped out what appeared to be a stick of black chalk. He began to scrawl symbols, much like on the cartouche, onto Kayura's back.
"Would you bone up for a second so I can write this legibly?" He growled.
Kayura had somehow managed to comply by bringing her sobs down to a whimper. He turned her around to face him. "Drop your arms so I can finish this—and stand up straight!" Doing as she was told, Soja-no continued to write the foreign scripts on her chest.
'Please, for all this I'm going through, just let it be worth it.' Kayura begged inside of her mind.
After a few more symbols were drawn, he backed away to admire his work. "Alright, that's good enough. Now, are your tears done, or must I be forced to endure more of that hideousness?"
With that, Kayura was prepared to scream her lungs out at him, but the look in his eyes made her stop. As icy and aloof as Soja-no sounded, his eyes told her otherwise. Curious to know more, but oddly satisfied, she answered him. "Yes, I suppose they are, despite the fact that my death awaits me on that alter."
"Fine then, go kneel upon it."
Turning to the pillar, a sudden dread crept over her. But in lieu of her fear, she strolled up to the structure and made her way to the top of it. Soja-no followed her to the base. Upon reaching it, he held out his hand—a dark porcelain cup forming in it.
"Drink this." He ordered, handing the cup to her. Kayura took it without complaint. Looking into the cup, she noted the deep red liquid. Subduing the question that played on her tongue, she placed the cup to her lips and drank. The fluid had a metallic taste, much like blood.
"I know this is an irrelevant question," she began, "…but what was this?"
"Essence of the Grand Overlord, mixed with your own blood and other herbs."
"My--? But how?"
"I took it from you the day we first met."
"Oh."
"Give it back to me." Said Soja-no reaching for the cup. Once back in his possession, Soja-no tipped the cup and let the liquid pour into the crevices that separated the symbols on the cartouche.
"…How is that possible? I drank everything from the cup!" Kayura asked with a degree of surprise. Don't question how these things work was all that he stated. However, Kayura continued to watch with aw as the little cup continued to pour its contents long after it should have been empty. When the liquid had housed itself in every crevice, Soja-no looked to her.
"Are you ready?"
Kayura only lowered her head in response. What did it matter? It was obviously too late to turn back now.
With one last look, Soja-no walked off of the altar, letting the cup disappear. He raised his hands for a moment, then brought them down across his chest. With this, he began to say allowed some sort of ancient incantation. His words echoed hollowly around her as another gust of wind picked up. Suddenly her stomach began to hurt. His words must have been activating the concoction she had ingested. If this worked, not only would the Dynasty and the Mortal World be saved from this 'Grand Overlord', Soja-no would have his throne and no one from his world would never be able to return. Everyone would be happy—except for Kayura—who'd be dead. But in light of all that had to be gained, she figured it be a small price to pay. But still it was frightening. She was about to die, and there was nothing she was able to do about it. Up until now, Kayura was unafraid of death—she never even had to consider it. But now that it was upon her, it brought to life in her a dormant, instinctive fear. She would have wept at this point, but had decided that she had shed enough tears. If she had to die, she wasn't going out like some pathetic blubbering damsel in distress.
As Soja-no furthered his ritual, the symbols on the cartouche began to glow, and the liquid from the crevices began to rise up and circle about her. It began to spin faster and faster, closing in on her body with every second. Soon she could feel the warm liquid flow over her body. At this point Kayura didn't know what to expect, she only figured now, with Soja-no's chant becoming feverish, that it was almost over. She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt an incredibly powerful tingling sensation envelop her body—she couldn't breathe.
'Oh god, this is it…' She thought with horrifying consciousness.
Soja-no, howling the last words of the spell, watched as Kayura's body electrified. Then all at once, a gigantic bolt of lightning shot from the sky down to the pillar. The entire altar exploded with the force of the impact throwing huge chunks of stone into the air. The blast sent Soja-no flying as well. He hit the ground with a hard thud, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Quickly he rolled onto his side to try and regain his breath without inhaling the large amounts of dust that had been flung into the air.
After several minutes had passed, with the dust settling and his coughing episode subsiding, he looked to see the damage. In the center of the alter, where the pillar should have been, was now a large smoking crater--Kayura was nowhere to be seen.
***
Out of nowhere, a horrible pain filled roar erupted from the solid black sky. Soja-no's mouth twisted into a feral grin. "Ha, ha. That's right you bastard—suffer and die." He jeered lowly. He watched with great pleasure as he saw the thick black clouds quickly pull back to its source—the massive abyss that hovered just above the castle. Soon the only thing left in the sky was the abyss, however, it seemed to still be giving the Nether Realm's emperor a very hard time.
A frown quickly came to Soja-no's face. "That's…odd…" Then something happened that froze Soja-no's blood—a voice in the very back of his mind spoke quietly to him, sounding almost sad despite its obvious malevolence.
"Is there something that I should be knowing about…Soja-no?"
AN: *gasps* I can already hear maryd's scream of bloody murder. Don't hate me just yet! The story isn't done!!!^^