Author's Note: I don't own DP.
Thanks to the sleep warrior and darkflame1516 for your reviews. I'd thank the rest of you, but you didn't review (hint hint)!
I don't have much to say, aside from this, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" Sorry it came a bit late, by the way. Anyway, here's chapter 16!
Chapter 16 (Phase Four: Tarnished by the Raven Hand)
"MY RAVEN," the darkness spoke to the small form that stood as far away from the edge of the ravine as its master allowed, "THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO DEAL THE CRITICAL BLOW! MY PLAN HAS WORKED PERFECTLY SO FAR! THE CHILD WOULD THINK AN OUTSIDE ATTACK WILL FINISH HIM, WHEN IN THE END IT SHALL BE THAT WHICH HE NEVER HAD THAT SHALL DESTROY HIM!"
The small form was hooded and cloaked, so that only its eyes were visible. "But master," it said diminutively, "I thought that I was only to infiltrate the Ninja's life, not destroy him."
"FOOLISH CHILD!" the darkness roared, its temper mounting, "I OWN YOU! WITH BUT A THOUGHT I CAN DESTROY YOU! NOW YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, OR OBLIVION SHALL BE THE LEAST OF YOUR WORRIES!"
"Master, since you created me, you know that I fear nothing," the small form said. It stated this not as a boast, but as a solid fact. It could act scared, but it was truly terrified of nothing, not even its master's threats on its own small being.
A warped visage, hidden by the darkness, smiled. "OH REALLY? THEN YOU WOULD BE UNAFRAID, UNCARING IF I MYSELF WENT AND TOLD HIM OF YOU, THEN SNUFFED OUT HIS LIFE!"
The small form experienced something it could never have imagined before: fear. It was afraid, but not for itself. "Don't! Please! I'll do anything you ask!"
The smile in the darkness grew broader as it cooed, "THAT'S BETTER..."
OOOOO
"This is getting old," I groaned as another of the winged beasts met its banishment by my sword. They were small, only up to my knee, with dark blue skin, red eyes, and a small set of talons and a ripping beak each. They had plagued the town over the last couple of weeks or so. It was a good thing that Christmas break had rolled in by that point, or our school year would have been extended well into the summer holidays.
"Enough!" I roared, curling into a ball and unleashing a nova of yureikan. The winged beasts screeched, then disappeared. For the moment, they were gone. Letting out a deep sigh I said, "Who knows, they might give me Christmas off. It's only a day's wait anyway." I then flew off home, hoping not to run into another patrol before I got there.
OOOOO
Let me sum up what's been happening over the last couple of weeks. Mom finally knows I'm a half-ghost, after about three months of concealing it from her. As such she's delved more deeply into her old research than ever before. The big difference is she now budgets the amount of time she goes into research mode. Three hours is her maximum, five if the situation is critical. As it is, she's been a huge help to our cause, as has Colonel Suzuki's nearby military base. We have them as a general line on our earpieces now, so they can contact us for rogue ghosts if need be. Plus we get to try out some of their suits.
Tai and Ronnie are getting to be excellent fighters, though they still can't beat me in the T-07 Specter. Ronnie's suit is called the Bishop, and Tai's is the Judicator, since it was left behind when Mallen was cast out. Hanlin and his tech. boys are even trying to develop a machine with an OS for Umbrus. A lethal weapon in itself.
Kara and myself have gotten progressively closer and closer, although we still haven't kissed on the lips yet. Though with the Christmas season in full blow, it can't be far away. And of course, the fighting just keeps going on. Not just with ghosts either. Mallen wasn't kidding when he said he was going to wreak his vengeance. There are at least four separate military patrols daily, searching for leads, and trying to hunt me down, as well as the whereabouts of the rogue militants.
They've advertised that too, saying that Suzuki and his band of rogue military are violent and highly dangerous to anyone in the area. If they only knew that Suzuki was within twenty miles of town.
OOOOO
"Amazing," Mom said, "Now bend it back." I rolled my eyes, sighed, then bent the bar back into a straight beam.
"Impressive," Tai admitted. Even with the Ghost Grabbers he couldn't achieve the same feat of raw strength. "Those claws are a blessing to you, friend."
"Yeah, and it drives Kara nuts whenever I try to tickle her with them," I laughed, eyeing her from across the room. She seemed very aloof, very distant, as she had the last week or so. She hadn't even heard my joke. Concerned as I was I walked over to her and sat down by her side.
It took a couple seconds to get her attention, something that didn't happen often. Finally she raised her head and asked, "Yes? What is it?"
"Is there something the matter?" I asked in turn, "You just seem a bit "out of it". Is it something you want to talk about?"
She shifted very uncomfortably in her seat, which was understandable considering it was a cheap plastic lab chair. "Well-"
"Suzuki to Yurei, over," the Colonel's voice called over my earpiece. He sounded in mission mode, so I figured I'd better listen. Ronnie and Tai had tuned their earpieces too, to listen to instructions.
"If it has anything to do with that dead garlic weasel in your office sir, I assure you I had nothing to do with it."
"Cut the theatrics, Ninja Division. This is serious," Suzuki said back, over the obvius chuckling in the background, "We've got two above-average bogies en route to the High School, and we need you to bag 'em. All of our suits are in for upgrades and maintenance, and the local military is useless, so can you get on that?"
"A.S.A.P, sir," I replied.
"Good, now-," he paused, "Wait a minute. What dead garlic weasel in my office?"
"Kkh. Sorry sir, you're kkh, breaking up. I'll kkh, call you back later," I said, switching my earpiece off, lest the Colonel burst the sound barrier, and my ears, with the rant I'd just instigated.
"Show time, ladies and gents. Let's lock an' load," I said, heading for the stairs.
"Are you sure you can handle it, Tir?" Mom asked. Whether I liked it or not I did still show the odd sign of fatigue from my last big outing.
"Sure. And if I can't it would be the perfect opportunity for you guys to give those suits a field test."
"See you tonight, then?" Kara asked as we got up to leave.
"Wouldn't miss it," I grinned. Not many teenage boys get to be alone with their girlfriend around Christmas.
OOOOO
Two large forms, cloaked in black, descended to ground level. To a mortal's eyes they would appear as shades, darkness hooded and cloaked within itself, locked in place by the dull gray belts they wore around their waists. They would appear eyeless and featureless, devoid of any sort of human trait. The pitch black gauntlets and boots they had over their hands and feet concealed their limbs, hiding them from the sunlight reflecting off the powdery snow.
They struck me as impressive and forboding, the perfect picture of evil. Master would be indeed pleased with me. Not that that raised my low spirits. Just as I cannot feel fear, only feign it, I cannot feel any other emotion save sadness, and despair.
OOOOO
"There they are," I hissed into my earpiece. Even from two thousand feet up I could easily pick out the two dark forms below. "Umbrus and I go in first. Ronnie, you and Umbrus take the one on the left. Tai, you and I take the one on the right. You two don't intervene until things look hopeless for your partner, so we pull a distraction manuever. Clear?"
"As mud," Ronnie responded. I looked in her direction for a second before I signalled mine and Umbrus's descent. I don't care how cool some of my other powers are, none of them can rival the single ability of flight.
I felt like the world's biggest falcon, diving at overa hundred miles an hour towards a wayward pigeon below. Okay, bad simile, but you get the idea. Flight good, pigeon bad.
Without my meaning to, once we'd gotten a lot closer, I felt this huge rumble in my chest that swelled up my throat and escaped as a tremendous roar. My entire body reverberated with it as my huge fists slammed into the cloaked figure. Umbrus followed a second later. I hit my target so hard I flipped in midair before my feet struck the ground. As I turned I observed my opponent. Its entire form was black, even where its face should have been.
After a moment I realized that it had a very faint outline of something, as if the black cloaked figure it projected was merely an illusion.The shadehad no hair on its scalp, and glistening fangs dripped venom from its mouth. Its entire body, including its pointed ears and spined eyebrows, glistened with sweat. Two small holes in the middle of its face marked where its nose should have been. Huge muscles twined across its arms, legs and torso, and its huge red eyes glared venomously at me. This wasn't a ghost. This was a demon.
I glanced momentarily at its partner. A female form of itself, slimmer, nimbler, but no less deadly. She possessed very light, almost transluscent hair, which flickered and sparked as she moved, with a pair of horns marking the beginning of her hairline. Her deep gold eyes glared with no less venom than her partners', and if anything the poison dripping from her fangs seemed more deadly still. A strange sort of energy, almost like wisps of white steam and smoke, radiated from them. The air suddenly grew very still. I didn't even need to try diplomacy on these two. I knew they wouldn't hear it. So I did the only thing I could.
I drew my swords, merged them as one, and with a deafening war cry I lunged.
OOOOO
I could feel the intense energy blasting from him as Tir struck. It looked almost as if he might cleave Amainjir in two right off. But I had long since learned that a demon wouldn't die so easily. Sorrento, Ninjutsa, Inuhi, they had nothing on these Amainjir and Sulnjir. In a split second Amainjir was gone, rematerializing several feet to one side. His cruel red eyes leered at Tir, then he barked harshly and leapt.
Tir narrowly avoided the onslaught, leaning to one side and just as Amainjir went by he dug the claws on his right hand deep into Amainjir's cloak, scalding the flesh beneath. The beast shrieked, then turned and dealt Tir a vicious blow to one side. Tir groaned as he was lifted bodily into the air, then hit the ground a few feet away. He raised himself to his feet, sheathing his sword. Perhaps a wiser choice than one might think.
He and Amainjir circled each other, golden eyes meeting red. They were deadlocked, neither seeing anything aside from his opponent. As suddenly as a shot there was a loud clang as their claws rang off each other. Tir took advantage of the moment to try and claw his opponent's face, or what of it could be seen beneath the cloak. Odd, I thought to myself, It's almost as if he can see what lies beneath Amainjir's shroud of illusion. No one who has ever faced Amainjir lasted this long.
Amainjir locked his claws with Tir's, then copied Tir's tactic. It had the same effect. Then the true test of Tir's worth began.
OOOOO
I had absolutely no doubt that this guy was strong. But then, he wasn't the only ghost blessed with supernatural strength. All things considered we were about even. My claws and his were both beaded with sweat as we both pushed back and forth.
"What do you want?" I groaned as my entire being focused on repelling the creature.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT WHAT I WANT, BUT WHAT MASTER WANTS," he replied, twisting my arms so I was entirely unbalanced, and couldn't push forward without dislocating my arms. At that point I phased through his claws, or tried to. As I phased my arms through each other, I realized that my claws wouldn't phase. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't relieve them from his grasp. Then an idea came to me.
With every last ounce of strength I had I heaved myself backwards, flipping him on top of me, then kicked out my legs and propelled him into the fence surrounding the high school. A huge cloud of snow blew out from where he landed, and just as I drew my sword once more, a huge black, twisting shape emerged from the snow.
Shape-shifting ghosts. Hate 'em! I said to myself as a gigantic wyrm took shape in front of me. He was about as big around as a telephone pole, and a lot longer. Huge glistening green antlers sprouted from his head as a broad, square snout erupted from his face. Enormous fangs, long rows of deadly black spines and barbed whiskers of hair grew and formed all across his body. His arms shrank, replaced by vicious hooked talons. The only part of him that was recognizeable was his pair of fiery red eyes. Oddly enough though, I could still see the cloaked figure. It was as if it were a locked illusion, and yet I could see through it. A ruse to fool humans, perhaps, I thought as he lunged, but not me.
He thrust his head at me with probably enough force to impale an eighteen wheeler. I narrowly avoided his snout, when suddenly what was left of his right arm slammed into my stomach, winding me, and lifted me into the air. After he had me a fair ways up he wrapped his other arm around me, then my skin crawled as his enormous coils of flesh wrapped around my legs.
I wondered why he held me down with both coils and arms, until it hit me. He meant to tear me in half!
My theory was confirmed about a second later as tension gathered around my middle and started to rapidly increase. Unfortunately, I couldn't move, and the pain from his stretching me was starting to grow to the extent that it was breaking my concentration. Even my superhuman strength wasn't enough to break his hold. I could feel my spine cracking, and unfortunately my lasting fatigue from facing Ninjutsa was catching up to me very quickly.
Just as I felt like I really could be in two places at once, a searing blast of green energy flew by my ear, melting the beast's flesh, and causing his dividing hold to slacken ever so slightly. It was all the time I needed. I thrust both arms up as quickly as I could, and thanks to my sword the beast's coils were cut to ribbons. There was a huge, unearthly shriek as I flew free of his spasming coils. My eardrums nearly exploded just hearing it.
As suddenly as the ultrasonic screech began it ended, and the two figures were gone. As soon as I touched the ground my legs buckled, and I found that I could barely move anything below my waist at all. I heard footsteps, and looked up just as Umbrus barreled into me, doing what all dogs do. As I tried to fight him off me Tai walked up and helped me to my feet. He really did make that suit look good.
"Cutting it a little close, aren't we?" I asked as he helped me to my feet. "That blast was inches away from frying me!"
"I'm still trying to figure out the kinks in this thing. Although the modified variant arm in cool," he grinned as he removed his helmet and switched his right hand between a cannon, a laser sword, and a lethal-looking set of claws. "Now I wonder..." Tai murmured to himself. His question was followed a second later as his hand formed a swiss army knife, complete with foldup umbrella.
"Cool!" I exclaimed as his hand shifted back to normal. Straightening my back I turned to Ronnie and Umbrus, who had been taking care of the female of the two ghosts.
"Uh, Tir, what happened to your feet?" Ronnie asked. I looked down, wondering what she meant, and was mildly surprised to see that my feet were each about twice as long as before. I was standing on three large, clawed toes, with a fourth claw in the back. Matching my hands perfectly, they were silvery with white claws.
"I think we may need to talk to Suzuki about this," I said as I flew off into the sky.
OOOOO
"This is bad," Suzuki said over the viewscreen. Actually, it used to be our old TV, but mom tweaked it so it became a two-way communications device. There's a lot about that woman's past that I'm sure she hasn't told anyone. "This may be the beginning of the end for us."
"Colonel," I said, getting up from my seat, "Ghosts have been hunting me for a long time. This "master" some of them have had has been seeking for my head for months. We should be prepared in case the end of the world begins soon, but this may be another false alarm. I'll keep you posted, should something unusual come up, but until then just keep your fingers on your triggers."
"Unusual? You think there isn't anything out of the ordinary here, kiddo? Just look at you!" Suzuki pointed at my obviously inhuman hands and feet, "You're mutating! You're starting to look more Yurei than Ninja! Do even you know what's happening to yourself!"
"Sir," all our heads snapped up and around as mom spoke up, "I would ask that you show him a little more respect. He has saved countless lives, fought innumerable foes, and handed you back a bearable life." For once, we were all silent. No one can ever strike right to the point of a matter like a mom. I appreciated what she had said on my behalf, but at that moment I was asking myself the exact questions Suzuki had been throwing at me.
"You're right of course, ma'am," Suzuki acknowledged, "Sorry about that son, but things are getting pretty hectic around here, and everybody is asking me one question: when. When are we getting reinforcements? When does the fighting start? When's lunch? FOR GOD SAKES NO ONE KNOWS WHEN THE FIGHTING'S GONNA START, I NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT ANY DARNED REINFORCEMENTS, AND LUNCH STARTS AT TWELVE NOON!"
"Colonel," Ronnie spoke up the only way she could: whenever the heck she wanted to. "We're all under a lot of stress right now, and the last thing any of us want to do is lose our heads, be it figuratively or literally. Try and hold a level temper please."
"I know, girl, I know," Suzuki yawned, "But it just felt so good to let that out. I think I'll need a vacation after all this is over. Keep me informed." As the screen went blank, I got up and, despite my battered frame, got up and walked upstairs. I hadn't forgotten I had a date with Kara that evening.
OOOOO
Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly as planned. Snow was roaring down on me in droves by the time I got to Kara's house, so we had to cancel any sort of dinner plans we may have had. I rectified that situation by hastily preparing some garlic bread and soup whilst Kara gave the dining room the perfect lighting. The kind of lighting that was almost created just for cold, stormy nights.
Dinner was eaten in silence. There was no need for words, although I had just the slightest feeling that something was troubling her. After dinner we moved on to a chess game in the den. She chose white, and I black. Several moves into the game and we'd taken as many pieces between us as we'd spoken words that evening.
Finally I broke the silence by asking, "Is there something the matter? You seem a bit distracted."
Just as she captured one of my knights with a pawn she replied kindly, "Nothing you need to worry about."
"If it's something you're worrying about," I countered, capturing her bishop with my queen, "Then you might as well tell me, because then I'm going to start worrying about why you're worried."
A few moments later, after she'd captured three of my pawns, each with her two rooks and a knight, and I her other bishop, a knight, and one of her rooks, I started it up again and asked, "So what are you worrying about?"
She stopped her queen one square short of my king, then replied, "It's nothing. Check."
"If it's nothing then there's no need to hide it," I replied, using my own queen to topple hers, "Checkmate." She looked up at me, and for the tiniest moment I swore that I could see a sharp stab of pain in her eyes. Her eyes flicked up towards the ceiling, then popped open as they landed on the clock.
"It's late," she said rising and helping me to my feet, "You should go." At the door as I was about to put my hat and jacket on she came out onto the porch to say goodbye. Once again there was no need for words as she wrapped her arms behind my neck, almost to the extent of a stranglehold, and clung to me for dear life. I wrapped both arms warmly around her middle and held her for a few moments. It felt like hours until I realized that she was shaking.
I took one hand and raised it ever so slowly to her chin. I raised it until we were staring eye to eye. Her eyes were wet, with tears winding their way down her face. But what caught me most about her at that moment were her eyes. Her normally bright blue eyes, brimming with life, were dull and clouded, as if they'd been contorted by pain. I looked deeply into them, and a split second before I was struck senseless, I understood why.
OOOOO
I was dimly aware of my surroundings. Just when my consciousness resurfaced the pain hit me in full. My head was beating a sledgehammer tattoo and my wrists and ankles felt like they'd been rubbed raw. I groaned as I opened my eyes a crack, then closed them again. It took about a second for what I had seen to register in my brain, and my eyes snapped open. Everything came rushing back.
The two ghosts, Kara's strange ambience, the blow to the back of my head. I felt like I'd been sucker-punched, betrayed, stabbed in the back, baited, hook, line and sinker. After a bit I realized that sitting there moping wasn't going to help my situation at all, so I decided to take stock of my surroundings.
I was hanging about three feet off the floor, with chains binding my wrists and ankles to the wall. If it weren't for the situation I would have thought that the 14th-century dungeon motif was pretty cool.
Dull green, slimy, glowing stones made up the cylindrical chamber's walls, floor, and ceiling. Long steel poles held up the ceiling, and grunge and filth hung from everything. Cobwebs adorned every corner and slime covered everything. Bones and small fragments of rusted metal tried to hide from sight in the corners. Insects and spiders were the only life besides me, seeing as the skeleton hanging beside me wasn't exactly very lively.
In the centre of the chamber was a strange bowl. It stood on top of a bronze pedestal, green with corrosion, and carved to resemble the base of a Greek pillar. The bowl itself was brass, welded to its pedestal by some arcane means. Carved over the rim of the bowl were seven gross claws, each attached to a bony finger carved into the bowl's surface. The liquid within the bowl was blue and stagnant. Circular steps led up to the pedestal, giving it an almost ritualistic air. The thought freaked me out.
Well, I thought to myself, I'm not gonna escape from here unless I make it happen. That decided, I planted the claws on my feet into a crack in between two stones. I took hold of the chain holding my right arm in place with both hands, braced myself, then pulled as hard as I could. It hurt just to twist my wrists and ankles around like that, let alone when I started pulling, but it was either that small discomfort, or my life. I ground my teeth together and heaved.
Planting one foot just above the base of the chain I tried to wrench it loose, but the bolts holding it there wouldn't budge. My whole body grunted and groaned as I tried pulling with a bit more frustration than before.
"I WOULDN'T BOTHER IF I WERE YOU," a very deep, very large voice said from behind me, "THOSE CHAINS HAVE STAYED THERE FOR ALMOST SIX HUNDRED YEARS. YOU'RE NOT GOING TOBE MOVING THEM ANY TIME SOON, ESPECIALLY NOT WITH YOUR POWERS NEUTRALIZED." I turned my head slowly around, and beheld a nightmare. The creature I'd faced earlier that day had returned, as had his companion, though they had been joined by a slightly smaller female figure with icy blue eyes. Unlike the other two she didn't look angry or hate-filled. I could only see despair.
"Can't blame me for trying," I shot back as they descended the stairs, "And it's not exactly like I lost fair and square. Honestly, hitting a guy over the head is not very sportsmanlike."
"YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT MUCH LONGER, MY WHITE, ECTOPLASMIC FRIEND," he replied, "YOU SHALL SPEAK WITH OUR LORD SOON ENOUGH." I got chills when he said that, so I returned to my grappling with the chain. I tried that for a time before I realized that at least one of them was looking at me. I turned around, and was confronted with the small blue-eyed one standing only inches away from me.
Turning myself around until I was staring at her I growled, "What are you staring at?"
To my surprise instead of adopting a look of intense hatred, she looked like she'd had her heart ripped out. Suddenly it hit me. I'd seen that look before, those same eyes.
Whispering as quietly as I could I asked in astonishment, "Kara?"
Her eyes widened, and I could see the hurt in her eyes as she whispered, "Tir, I'm so sorry."
"You did this?" I asked. "But how?"
"It wasn't like that," she replied, tears starting to stream down her face, "When we first came here my assignment was to find out who you were, what your weaknesses were, and where your loyalties lay."
"I'm the one who's strung up on the wall like a criminal by the woman I loved," she jerked back physically as I said that, "And you're questioning my loyalties!"
"I couldn't tell you," she cried, falling to her knees, "He would have told you everything, and then you'd hate me before you died. I couldn't live with that. I wanted you to like me as long as possible." My heart broke entirely as she whispered, "I love you, Tirrell."
Suddenly, everything came together to explain it. The need she'd had almost since the beginning of our relationship to try and tell me something but was conveniently interrupted, how Inuhi and them figured out I was human, and how I was able to see Kara as well as her parents before I'd regained my sight. It all fit perfectly.
"KAMINARA," the male ghost called, "IT IS TIME." With a face full of tears Kara stepped from my side to join the other two around the pedestal. She muttered some words in an arcane tongue, and the contents of the bowl started to glow. Either this is a variation of clap-on lights, or this is really bad news, I thought as the liquid grew brighter and brighter, until its light consumed the entire room.
"WHAT HAVE YOU TO TELL ME, MY RAVEN?" the deepest, darkest voice ever scraped up from the abyss I had ever heard asked. In the tiniest voice I had ever heard come from her mouth Kara answered, "It is done, master."
"EXCELLENT," the voice exclaimed, causing everything in the room to tremble. I could tell that even the two ghosts I had fought earlier were shaken. "NOW LET US SPEAK. BRING MY ALTAR TO HIM."
Without hesitation the female ghost obeyed, lifting the bowl without any sort of strain and walked over to me, holding it inches from my face.
A dark silhouette was visible in the liquid. The only other thing was a pair of evil golden eyes. Words alone cannot describe those eyes, so just imagine the most vile set of gold eyes you can. The ghastly sound of ravening wolves blasted into my face as he began to speak.
"SO, YOU ARE ROBED IN WHITE," he pointed out obviously, "IRONIC THAT I AM BLACK TO MY VERY CORE."
I was silent a moment, then replied, much to the three's blatant discomfort, "I don't see much irony in that, black one. So why don't we drop any sort of pretense and cut right to the point!"
"BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE A HEADLESS CORPSE ROTTING IN MY DUNGEON IF I WERE TO DO SO. ANYTHING ELSE?" I was mildly shocked by his outright threat, so he continued, "BESIDES, I HAVE AN OFFER TO MAKE YOU."
"What kind of offer, do I dare ask?" I hissed, straining ever so slightly against my chains.
"SWEAR FEALTY TO ME, AND I SHALL DEMOLISH ALL THOUGHTS OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. I SHALL MAKE YOU MY RIGHT HAND, MY VIZIER. FEW CAN EVEN IMAGINE SUCH A PROPOSAL, LET ALONE BE OFFERED IT." To many the deal would have been tempting, but by that point I was far past temptation.
"And what of my friends and family?" I asked after the world's shortest second, "And my home? What will become of them?"
"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD ASK SUCH A QUESTION, THOUGH I DON'T SEE THE NECESSITY," the voice sighed. Taking in a breath it said, "MY WARRIORS SHALL RAVAGE AND DESTROY ALL YOU HOLD DEAR. ALL THOSE WHOM HAVE DEFIED ME IN THE PAST SHALL BE TORTURED FOR AN ETERNITY BEFORE THEY DIE. THAT INCLUDES THOSE WHOM YOU HAVE MADE ALLIANCES WITH, AS WELL AS THE OTHER MEMBERS OF YOUR TEAM. YOUR WORLD SHALL FALL BENEATH MY MALEVOLENT SWAY, AND ALL SHALL CURSE MY NAME, AND THE MOTHERS THAT BORE THEM. EARTH, YUREI, SHALL BE A WORLD OF THE DAMNED."
"And if I refuse!" I asked indignantly. The three were in slack-jawed silence, astonished that anyone could even think of refusing their master.
"THEN YOU SHALL JOIN THEM," he answered indifferently. I was appalled and infuriated by his blatant disregard for innocent lives. Then I did the bravest thing I think I'd ever done in my life. I removed my mask, then spat, outright spat, into the bowl.
As the image wavered I yelled, "Oh yeah! Well you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it!"
"I HAVE A NAME TOO, YUREI NINJA," he said, though his voice was so thickly laden with hatred and malice that I almost flinched, "IN THE ANCIENT SPEECH IT MEANS "KING OF DEMONS". YOU SHOULD KNOW IT BEFORE YOU DIE. I... AM... SASSAMASHIN."
The name itself snapped something in me. I was filled with an insane wrath. I bunched my claws into rock-hard fists, then pulled. A roar unlike anything ever heard by human ears ripped from my throat. A huge blast of energy erupted from my spine, and the chains binding me to the wall felt like paper links as I snapped them.
With three sweeps of my wrathful claws I clove the bowl in half, and disabled both of the two larger ghosts. I was dimly aware of a small thump behind me, and I turned and saw Kara on the ground. She was on her knees, clutching her hands to her face.
For a second I pierced the cloud of rage, and ran.
OOOOO
"PURSUE HIM, OR MASTER WILL EAT US ALIVE!" Amainjir bellowed with rage.
Out of nowhere Lord Sassamashin's voice said, "NO. DO NOT PURSUE HIM. LET US SEE WHAT HE DOES NEXT."
XXXXX
Well people, here it is. The world's days from ending, billions of people may die, and Tir just got the worst Christmas present imagineable.
Tune in next time for Chapter 17!