Chapter 5: Dreaming of the Dead

Rei opened his eyes to see the sun streaming through the trees. He pulled himself to his feet looking around, Where am I? These were not the trees he had entered the night before, these trees were larger and darker, more foreboding. This forest was cold he felt no life in any of the trees. The clash of steel on steel caught his attention and he took off into the trees to find its source. He felt warmth and took off in its direction. As he moved closer the heat grew, a fight. One of the heat sources was particularly warm and somehow familiar but he couldn't quite place were he had felt it before. The trees thinned and he came to a small clearing at the base of a cliff, what he saw stopped him dead in his track. Set into the base of the cliff was a large gate made of bones and skulls; it was an arched gate ten feet wide at the base. It radiated cold, a creeping chill that sank into the bones an all-together inhuman feeling. From this gate came an almost constant stream of sword welding suits of hallow armor. The suits were compositions of old discarded armor many appeared rusted and useless. What ever propelled them, however, was lethal it moved with lightening quickness that only came pure bloodlust and deadly cunning. They were all cold, the same unnatural draining cold that the gate gave off. They charge one after another at a single man. It took Rei a few seconds to realize who this man was but Rei knew him, after all one can never forget the face of their father. He was in bad shape his armor had been torn to shreds; the chest plate lay on the ground a few feet away covered in a green bubbling slime that could only be acid. His bare chest sported several long red lines of blood but the massive blood loss seem to have little effect and the samurai. Rei eyes could not track the speed of his strikes; his sword just hovered in front of him as armor after armor fell. What the hell is going on? That can't be dad he is dead, but if he is here, then mom…Rei turned his attention to the now massive heat source he had felt before, his mother always gave off an exceptional amount of heat but it was never like this. He remembered gentle warmth but what stood before him resembled a raging forest fire. She stood twenty or so feet across form a, for lack of a better term, a monster. It was a giant formless blob as big as a house; it was covered in lashing tentacles and gnashing teeth. Her flaming aura easily matched the monster in size and the heat was enough to hold back the dark tentacles. The fight had, however, taken its toll of her, her left arm hung limply at her side and blood trickled from some unseen wound in her abdomen. Fortunately the monster didn't look much better. It was covered with massive burn marks and it bled profusely from several large sword wounds. This must have been their fight at the Demon Gate, their last fight. Rei's mom flashed a number of one-handed seal, (Flame Rod Prison) a dozen rods of fire about two feet long hit the monster from a number of different direction binding it in place. "Time to send you back to Hell!" His mom cried pulling a white kunai from her hip holster and dragging it across her dead shoulder. She then hurled it at the gate; it sunk in to the dark part the made up the gateway. (Seal of Sol) the gateway faltered and began to shrink sucking the monster and the armors back inside. In a matter of seconds its surface returned to that of the cliff face and the white kunai exploded with a loud pop. The raging inferno that surrounded his mother faded and the warmth that Rei remembered returned. His parents turned to each other letting each other's smile and presence comfort one another after the long grueling battle. Rei's father took a step toward his mother then the smile faded from his face and he fell to the ground in a heap. The kunai still remained lodged in his back. Simultaneously Rei and his mother stepped towards the body. Rei stopped himself; he was letting his emotion get the best of him. He knew this was just a memory and he could do nothing to change any of this. His mother too had stopped but for another reason, a kunai was now pressed against her throat. The hand that held it belonged to dark figure clad in a black cloak. Rei could see little of the man's true form; his cloak flowed around him keeping it hidden. Rei did feel him, he boasted the same cold it swallowed the warmth his mother gave off. "You'll pay for ruining my plans," hissed a voice from deep within the hood.

"Do your worst, demon," said Rei's mother her resolution set in stone. The dark voice laughed, an evil cackle that chilled the blood.

"Brave little Phoenix, I will. I'm going to trap your soul for all time. Tear you from the cycle of life your line loves so much, not quite dead but never truly alive, tortured forever, how dose that sound." The voice muttered some strange words. Pain wracked Rei's mother's body and she let out a blood-curdling scream. Rei watched before his very eyes as his mother's soul, still screaming, was torn from her body. The clocked figure crushed the soul into a small orb and held it up to his face. "And I'm going to do the same to your son," he sneered placing the orb in the folds of his robe. The empty shell that was her body rapidly decayed to dust.

"No you won't," said a low voice. Rei's father had pulled himself to a knee blood flowed like water from the wound in his back. The heat of life was rapidly leaving him. His right hand still held his sword, but the blade rested firmly on the ground.

"How are you going to stop me, samurai? You can't even lift your sword."

Kenji struggled to pull himself to his feet, coughing blood. "I swear by my sword that my son will strike you down," he said through red teeth.

"You fool, that useless little heirloom you gave him could never hope to even scratch me!" The shadow howled. Kenji summoned all the strength he had left and lifted his sword high above his head. The blade caught the sunlight for a brief second then shattered into a million tiny pieces.

"Now he does…" were the words on the last breath of Rei's father. The demon let out a small sigh as Kenji's body fell to the ground once again this time turning into dust to be carried away on the wind. The demon barely gave the fallen foes a second thought instead he turned his attention to the gate. Rei's blood boiled in his veins he hated this thing in front of him, he wanted it dead but now was neither the time nor the place. With out warning the shadow leaped at the gate moving to fast for Rei's eyes to track. He had landed on the face of the cliff and now stood parallel to he ground. Rei was glad he could attack or be attacked by this thing it was way out of his league.The shadow knelt down running his hand across the smooth inactive gate surface. He muttered another set of words but was only answered with a painful shock. The shadow leaped off the cliff and landed neatly in front of the gate giving it another examination. Rei decided to get closer so he left the safety of the tree line and move toward the cloaked demon. The demon tried another incantation and received another shock. "That bitch, who knew she knew the seal of the sun?" he said to himself."This will-" He paused and looked over his shoulder in Rei's general direction, Rei froze in place. The hood turned from side to side searching but apparently finding nothing. The demon turned back to continue his rant, "This will take me years to dispel, fucking layered seals." He spun on heel and marched into the woods muttering about blood and light. Rei fallowed him into the trees but the voice quickly faded till only the wind in the trees could be heard. Rei dropped to his knees his head swimming with thoughts and emotions that decided to hit him all at once. He couldn't take it, there was too much, he black out.

Rei didn't lay in the darkness for long instead he was bombarded by a number of strange images. Their floating in the blackness was a small ebony box filled with blood the box snapped closed and strange white markings covered it. The marks faded till they were blacker than the dark box they covered. The box sat on a great dark web it sat among more recognizable boxes longer boxes big enough to put people in. The coffins sent chills down Rei's spine but he could not take his eyes off them. It didn't take long for him to see plants growing out of the grim boxes. The plants grew into tall trees the trees blossomed then died taking all light with them. Then like the cold hands of death it hit him nothingness and he slept.