Shadow within the Darkness
(Day 6 – Part 3)
By: Little Ucchan
"Sage! Sage, wake up!" Kento screamed at the fallen warrior. Placing his arm under Sage's head, Kento gently lifted him up into his lap. He shook him slightly, but there was no response. His shaking became more forceful as each second passed, but Sage still refused to wake up.
"Damn it! Sage c'mon!"
Kneeling besides the two of them, Rowen tried to calm him down. "Take it easy Kento. He'll be fine."
"How can you say that?!" Kento screamed at him. "He was lying here unconscious for God knows how long, and you're saying that he'll be fine!!"
"Hey, don't you think I'm worried too?"
"Well you sure don't look like it!" It was true that Rowen was acting like he was fine, but inside he was trembling at the sight of his best friend lying there unmoving. And there wasn't anything that he could do. But he tried to stay calm in order to keep the group together. He and Cye were the only ones who could possibly think clearly at the moment. Ryo was in a stunned daze where he didn't say a word after seeing what had happened, and Kento was in hysterics.
There was nothing that he could do for Ryo, but Rowen made an attempt to calm Kento. Placing his index and middle finger over Sage's neck, he quickly found a pulse. He gave out a loud sigh when it was beating steadily.
"His pulse is strong," he told Kento. The tension that had built up when Rowen was checking his pulse slowly declined. Kento's worried expression loosened, but Rowen's did not. He noticed the red mark around Sage's neck. Thinking the worse, Rowen placed his finger under Sage's nose.
"He's still breathing too," he spoke. Placing both his hands around Sage's neck, Rowen checked the alignment of the bones. "Nothing broken either."
"He's going to be alright then?"
"Yeah," Rowen replied without any emotion. Something was still bothering him. This feeling wouldn't leave him ever since he saw Sage without his sub armor on. How could he have possibly gotten like this when he had his sub armor on the whole time? Did he take it off? Looking in the direction of Ryo and Cye, Rowen eyed the girl that they were with skeptically. Was it because of her?
***
Standing at the sidewalk were the remaining two Ronins, Ryo and Cye, along with the young girl they found crying only moments ago. Cye had successfully pacified the child with his soothing words. She was now staring off into the general direction of Rowen and Kento, still a bit uneasy but much better off than before.
"But he's not moving," she spoke quietly. Looking up at Cye with big blue eyes she asked, "Why isn't he moving?"
"Don't worry little one. He's just resting right now."
"Resting? Then, he'll be okay, right?"
"Yeah…He'll be fine."
"Then can I go see him?" Cye hesitated in answering this next question. The truth was that they didn't really know how Sage was doing. Rowen and Kento haven't told them anything yet.
"No, not yet." Ryo turned away from the pair when Cye responded to her request. He clenched his fists in anger and defeat. If only he had gotten there sooner then none of this would have happened. What kind of leader am I if I can't protect my own friends!?
"Ryo, it's not your fault." Blinking hard, he turned to face Cye who was kneeling down besides the girl. Ryo wanted to yell at him. Tell him that it was his fault that Sage was like this. But he knew that Cye was only trying to help. He too felt the guilt of not being able to help his friend. But he tried not to dwell on it, and he suggested for Ryo to do the same.
"I know, Cye." Turning his attention back to the others, Ryo watched as Kento scooped Sage's limp body in his arms. Both he and Rowen moved to get up, walking out of the desolate street to the sidewalk. Rowen motioned to the back of Ryo, signaling that that is where they were going to go. Eyeing the store behind him, Ryo smirked. A furniture store. How convenient.
***
Finding the nearest bed around, Kento laid Sage down gently. He watched as Cye pulled the comforters over his body and waited. He didn't know for what he was waiting for. Maybe he was waiting for Sage to open his eyes, or at least move just a little. Even though Rowen had told him that he would be fine, Kento had a hard time believing in that. Seeing one of his friends hurt like this always bothered Kento, regardless if their injuries were minor or not. It unnerved him when Sage didn't move, and this feeling of his could only be relieved when he wakes up.
Kento looked down to his right upon feeling a small hand touch his armored wrist. It was the girl that they had found with Sage when they had arrived. She smiled warmly at him.
"He's going to be okay. You'll see." While a bit stunned that this girl was all of a sudden cheerful, Kento smiled back.
Patting the girl slightly on the head he spoke, "Thanks."
Backing away from the scene, Ryo tapped Rowen on the shoulder so he would follow him. They walked quietly to the other side of the store in order to converse in private.
"So how is he?" Ryo asked when he was sure that the others couldn't hear them.
"He'll be alright. He doesn't have any broken bones, only cuts and bruises. The worse of his injuries is this one across the side of his neck where, I'm assuming, that he got struck with some kind of heavy object," Rowen reported. "And judging by how red his neck is, whoever he was fighting was trying to choke him. I guess he passed out after that."
Ryo allowed his head to drop a bit. "Rowen. When you were searching around the city…did you…hear him?"
"Yeah," Rowen answered. "I think Kento and Cye did too."
Ryo didn't answer back, recalling Sage's cry for help. The sound of his voice was still fresh in Ryo's mind. He remembered how Sage had asked where they were and how he couldn't get there in time. It hurt him so much. They were always able to look out for each other. To be there for each other no matter what happened. But now, for some odd reason, it was different.
"We couldn't do anything Ryo," Rowen said, not being able to stand the silence between them any longer. "So stop blaming yourself."
"Then tell me this Rowen. Why is this happening to us? We killed Talpa. I'm sure of it! Even Kayura said we did! So why? Why must we go through this again?!" Ryo demanded an answer. Rowen didn't reply. Instead, Ryo's question made him remember a conversation he had with Sage earlier that day.
"Talpa's gone. And if there was something going on then Kayura and the others would have told us by now."
"It's not Talpa, Rowen…I know it. If you saw this beast, you wouldn't think that it came from Talpa. More like the pits of hell. It kills everything and everyone. It thrives off of destruction. It's not like Talpa who wanted to rule the mortal realm and enslave humanity. It wants humanity to die, along with everything else in this world."
As Rowen thought about it more, the missing pieces seemed to come together right before his eyes. Their mysterious enemy was no longer mysterious, for it fit the description of the monster Sage had fought in his dreams. But what were these dreams saying? What were they trying to tell Sage?
"A warning," Rowen spoke softly to himself.
"What?"
Rowen stared at Ryo for a few more seconds till he had realizing that he had spaced out for quite some time now. Ryo was still waiting for an answer. "I don't…I don't think it's Talpa."
"What are you talking about?" Rowen hesitated before answering. He remembered having promised Sage that he wouldn't say a word about his dream. But he couldn't keep quiet anymore, knowing that the creatures in his dream affected his friend in real life. He had to do something. Sorry Sage. But this is way too important for us to keep a secret.
"I can better explain this when Sage wakes up, but he's been telling me of these dreams he's been having of a kingdom under assault by some evil force. And I have this feeling that what happened in his dream is somehow connected to what just happened today."
"How do you know?"
"I'm not sure. It's just the similarity between the two that caught my attention. For one thing, Sage said that he didn't have his armor orb with him during his dreams. And just now, he fought a battle without it."
"You know I've been trying to figure that out too. Does he have his orb with him?"
"No. Kento and I checked. We can't find it."
"Why didn't he have it with him? He had his sub armor on the last time I saw him. And that was only an hour ago."
"Well maybe that girl knows." Both of them looked over to the far end of the room. Cye was kneeling next to her, talking away. She seemed delighted in the conversation and continuously smiled. Kento seemed to be happy as well.
"At least she was able to lighten up the mood," Ryo commented. "Let's go see what they're up to."
***
By the time that Ryo and Rowen got back to the others, the girl was poking Cye's armored chest experimentally. Kento was just grinning at her innocence and curiosity. He thought for sure that she would be afraid of them.
"Is it real metal?"
"Yup," Cye replied.
"Then how can you move in it? Is it heavy?"
"Not at all. You see it's a special kind of metal."
"I think you're sub armors are cool." Both Ryo and Rowen nearly collapsed at the girl's sentence.
"Sub armors?" Rowen asked Cye suspiciously.
"You told her about us?" Ryo followed up.
Cye shrugged and pointed at Kento. "Don't look at me. He was the one who said it."
Both Ronins then glared at Kento who was laughing nervously. "Sorry. It kinda slipped."
"So you two have armors too? I though that only Kento and Cye had them," the girl interrupted. A long, heavy silence soon followed.
"You mean…she didn't know that…" Rowen couldn't even finish his sentence at the thought of how stupid he was.
"Had no clue," Cye answered. Ryo just had his head buried in his hands, refusing to say anything.
"Cye, who are they?" she asked.
"Oh, that's Rowen," he said, pointing to the one with the dark blue sub armor on. Then pointing to Ronin beside him in the red sub armor, he continued, "And that's Ryo."
"You guys, this is Sammy," Kento added before she could say anything.
"That was my line," she pouted.
"Sorry kiddo," Kento apologized heartily.
"It's okay Kento. So how do you take them off?" Sammy asked while circling around Cye, inspecting the armored suit. "It looks like you can't."
"That's the cool part about it," Kento cried. "Show her Cye." Getting up from his kneeling position, Cye concentrated on the source of him power. Without much effort at all, his sub armor disappeared and in his hand was the glowing light blue orb of trust.
"Wow!" she exclaimed, looking at the small marble in Cye's hand. "Then Sage-chan has one too, right?"
"What?" all four of them uttered in unison. How did she know about Sage's armor? Rowen and Ryo looked towards the two Ronin for answers. But they only shrugged. They didn't tell her about Sage.
"How did you know about that?" Cye asked, kneeling besides Sammy again.
"Well, I saw him with a marble thing like that," she replied, pointing to Cye's orb. "Only it was green." As if to prove her point, she reached into the pocket of her overalls and pulled out a small green marble she picked up after the fight. She watched as all four of them tensed in shock.
"Why do you have that?" Rowen asked, finding his voice before the others did.
"He dropped it during the fight…Actually, the monster…it…" Sammy didn't want to continue. Looking down at her feet, she clutched the small orb tightly, as if letting go meant having to recall that horrid event again.
"Sammy." Looking up from the floor, she found herself staring into Cye's sea green eyes. Placing both his hands on her shoulders, he asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Um," she mumbled, looking away.
"Please," he begged. "It's important."
After remaining silent for a few more seconds, she look up at Cye and nodded. "Kay."
***
Sammy recounted the battle to the Ronins, trying to be as detailed and accurate as possible at their request. But that was a difficult task to accomplish for a five year old. Already out of their sub armors, the four Ronin warriors listened intently. Even though the tale was brief, it was very informative. They had remained quiet until Sammy had begun to explain what had happened after Sage had passed out. That's where all the questions began.
"Are you serious Sammy?" Kento asked unbelievingly.
"Yeah. Another person came and killed the monster. He went WHAM!" Sammy cried, mimicking a slashing motion. "And he cut the monster in two. Then the monster disappeared. POOF!" Throwing her hands up into the air to animate the 'poof.'
"Who would have though that she would really get into this," Ryo murmured, then got an annoyed nudge in the ribs from Rowen.
"Just lay off of her okay."
"Ooooh. Someone's got a crush," Ryo couldn't help himself from saying it. Rowen shot a deadly glare at him while Ryo remained smiling away.
"You guys knock it off," Cye commanded and the two immediately shut up.
"I think he went to check on Sage-chan after that," Sammy continued.
"What do you mean?" Kento asked.
"Well, he was kneeling beside him. And then he left. Then you guys came," she finished.
They remained silent for a long time. The monster that Sammy had told them about was definitely not the Dynasty type. Or at least, they thought it wasn't. Every adversary they faced modeled after a warrior or ninja, even temple priests. But there wasn't anyone that clearly looked like a hideous beast.
But what had disturbed them even more was the presence of a second being. Where did this guy come from? And why was he here?
"Sammy, how did this guy look like?" Cye inquired.
The little girl shrugged. "I dunno. He was wearing this big black hood and a long black cape that reached to the floor. He also had this weapon that looked like a four pointed star."
"A shuriken," Rowen deduced.
"Sounds like it," Ryo agreed.
"Man this bites! We don't know who are enemy is or who that caped dude was either," Kento cried out.
"A friend, or an enemy," Cye said.
"Looks like we're left in the dust, yet again," Ryo cried.
"We'll just have to wait," Rowen said, seating himself in one of the sofas. "At least till Sage wakes up."
***
He felt hot all over. Sage couldn't explain what was happening to him. He just knew that the atmosphere was hot, and sticky. He wanted to get out. To leave. This sensation that he had reminded him too much of the battle he just fought. It was suffocating him.
Sage struggled to breathe as he unwillingly recalled the battle he fought out in the streets. Then the battles he had in his dreams. All of it merged into one continuous flow of images, blinding him. Then the pictures slowed down, coming to a stop at the image of the six-year-old girl in his dreams. She was smiling at him, all cutesy like she did before.
But then the white background that surrounded him became dark and shady. The girl was still there smiling, oblivious to the darkness that was surrounding her and threatening to consume her.
"No! Run away!" Sage called out to her. He was too late. The image before him splintered into shards of glass. The shattering echoed in his ears, refusing to leave him. He couldn't take it anymore.
"NOOOO!!!!" Sage screamed, the girl already lost in the midst of broken glass.
Shooting up from his laid back position, gasping for air, Sage recoiled back in pain. Inhaling sharp breaths, he grabbed his left shoulder blade. Not being able to stand this pain any longer, he fell back helplessly into what seemed like a bed.
Sage opened his eyes as the pain was relieved from him slightly. The first thing he noticed was the whiteness of the ceiling. Then he caught sight of all four of his friends surrounding him with worried looks. The last thing he noticed was that he was in a bed with blankets over him.
He blinked a couple of times before finally speaking. "Am I in a hospital?"
"Try a furniture store," Rowen said.
"I wish I was in a hospital," he murmured as he felt more pain coming from his shoulder. It hurt so badly. Must have been from when he kept landing on it during the fight. "How long have I been out?"
"About a couple of hours," Kento replied. "How do you feel?"
"Like sh—"
"Sage!" Cye yelled at him before he could finish.
"Huh?" Turning his head slightly, Sage finally noticed the little girl that was standing in front of Cye, who had his hands on her shoulders.
"Oh," he cried in realization, glad that Cye had caught him in time. "Sammy, you're still here?"
The girl nodded, then asked, "Are you alright Sage-chan?"
Smiling a bit, he answered, "Yeah. I'll be fine…so don't worry about me okay?"
"Kay." She then lit up as something just dawned on her. "Oh that's right! I almost forgot." Reaching into her pockets, Sammy took out Sage's armor orb.
"Here. You dropped this," she said, handing it to him.
"Thanks Sammy." Then looking towards Cye he asked, "Cye, do you think you can take Sammy to where the barricade is and help her find her sister?"
"But I thought that you were going to take me?" she protested.
"It's alright Sammy. Sage needs his rest right now," Cye explained to her. Addressing Sage, he added, "I'll take her there. No problem."
"Thanks Cye."
"Will I ever see you again?" the little girl asked.
"Sure you will. You can come over to my house whenever you like. Just ask Cye for my address."
"Great! Then you can meet my sister!" Filled with new hope she smiled really wide at him and waved good-bye.
"C'mon Sammy. Let's go," Cye told her, urging her out of the door. Turning back to face the others he spoke. "It'd be safe for me to assume that you guys won't be here by the time I get back."
Ryo nodded. "We'll clue you in once we find anything, okay Cye?"
"It's fine with me."
***
Sitting up in his bed as best he could, Sage waited for the others to get comfortable. Kento had pulled up a wooden chair and was sitting in it backwards, resting his arms on the backrest. Rowen was sitting down on one of the armchairs while Ryo was standing near the edge of Sage's bed. Once everyone was settled in, they began their conversation.
"So what happened to the monster?" Sage asked.
"We really don't know," Kento answered back. Sage looked at him hard. To him, none of this made sense.
"Someone else was on the battlefield. Right after you blacked out, he came and killed the monster. He then checked to see if you were still alive and left. That's what Sammy told us," Ryo informed him.
"There was someone else?" Sage questioned. Rowen nodded.
"But we can't do anything about him right now," he said, then hesitated in saying his next sentence. " Sage, I told them…about the dreams."
Looking down at his blankets, Sage sighed to himself. He couldn't run away from this any longer. "They were the same."
Seeing that none of them wished to interrupt him, he continued. "The beast I fought today and the one I fought in my dreams were the same, right down to the smallest of details…I was stupid you know. That thing caught me completely off guard. I guess I was still in shock."
"In shock?" Kento asked. Sage nodded.
"Having a monster kill you in your dreams, and then seeing that monster in real life kinda has that effect on you," he explained.
"Do you have any idea on what we're dealing with here?" Ryo questioned.
"No…I don't. I haven't been able to make out anything so far. But it's not Talpa. I'm pretty sure of that."
"It's not Talpa's style to attack so blindly like that monster did today," Rowen interrupted. Sage nodded in agreement, then doubled over in pain.
"Sage!" all three of them cried out to him. He didn't know why, but his whole body seemed to scream at him. He could feel the pain from all of his wounds, demanding his attention. He just felt so weak. He wanted to sleep.
"Sage! Are you alright?" Ryo asked, already by his side. Rowen and Kento were on their feet as well. He nodded weakly, his eyes growing heavier by the minute. Hoisting Sage's left arm around his neck while Kento took the right, Ryo helped him slowly get out of bed. "C'mon. Let's get you home."