Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 5
Zenith doesn't move as the man's eyes remain fixed to his. A small crooked smile breaks the corner of his mouth and he moves his eyes from Zenith to Sira. Jaimus and Valencia are a few feet away, too scared to move as well. They had all seen the devastation left by this person's incredible strength and malice. Zenith can feel Sira's heart thumping against his back. He closes his eyes and waits; waits for the inevitable death that will be brought down upon them in a flash of that mysterious light. He can feel Sira's grasp tighten, what could he do? Why hasn't the man attacked them? Zenith is angered that he is toying with them.
"Did u enjoy what u saw?" hisses the man.
The voice sends a chill down the assassins back. This fear, these words, seems familiar. "Do you like it … the sight of blood?" he hears in his head. The assassin opens his eyes and grabs for his throwing stars.
"Go," he shouts jumping back.
As his feet hits the ground a few feet
behind, Zenith concentrates and feels an enormous amount of energy
build in his hands. He releases the energy along with 2 Kumbi stars
in an attack his sensei called Critical Blow.
Valencia and Jaimus
hear Zenith and are snapped out of their frightened state. They take
a chance and run as fast as they can.
Zenith watches his stars, but is
shocked when the man disappears. Fast. He hears an explosion from
behind and turns to see the man's back. He looks around the tall
dark figure and sees the wooded area has been cleared and small
flames eat away at some of the remaining trees and bushes. Sira gasps
in his ear as they both see Valencia and Jaimus lying on the ground.
The man turns around and smiles at them.
"What a brave thing for you to do," says the man.
The sinister man holds out his hand and before Zenith can think, he feels a powerful jolt strike his chest. He is knocked to the ground, letting go of Sira. The speargirl tumbles a few feet behind Zenith. He tries to get to his feet, but the man still has his hand's palm towards him and delivers another invisible strike. Sira holds herself up on one knee, pulls out her spear and swings it at the man. As the Zeco comes close to his abdomen, he wraps his pale fingers around the metal sheers sending a jolt down along the pole to Sira's hand. She lets go of her weapon and blurts out a small cry of pain. Sira wonders if he is using thunder magic, or if it is even magic. She had never heard of any magician skills of this kind.
Zenith
jumps to his feet and hastily plunges a steely throwing knife towards
the man. The knives had been a gift and he had not wanted to use
them, but the situation calls for more powerful weapons. The man
catches the knife and Zenith takes another one from his pocket and
tries with the other hand. His attack is once again stopped. The man
cackles and knocks Zenith to the ground with a strong kick and keeps
the steelys in his hands. Siya goes to grab her spear again, but
feels a sharp pain strike her stomach. As the pain hits, her back is
knocked against a tree. She looks at the man not too far away who is
smiling back at her. He is spinning one of Zenith's steelys by the
rope attached to the handle. One steely…. She looks down towards
her stomach. Her tank top and shorts are soaked as blood runs from
her stomach down her leg. She thinks about her armor lying on the
ground where they had fallen. Amidst the pouring blood she sees the
string and the very end of the second Steely dangling from her
stomach. The attack had been fast. Her vision becomes cloudy and she
thinks she will fall to the ground. "Sira…" she thinks
she hears Zenith say. Why doesn't she fall? She feels weak and
wants to lie down. Sira can feel blood run down the back of her leg
as well. She is pinned to the tree, she cannot move.
Zenith goes
to help Sira, but the man already has him knocked to the ground
again.
"Stop playing around!" shouts Zenith. "Why
don't you just kill us?"
"Because out of everyone I've
killed today," says the man. "You are the most fun to
watch. The most scare."
Zenith watches the man's hand rise again and he darts off towards trees near the newly bare forest area. The man follows his movement, every time missing the assassin and knocking down or shattering a new tree.
Sira's entire body is trembling slightly as she tries to keep her eyes open. She goes to fall, but feels the blade glide inside her and steadies herself. She doesn't think she will be able to stand much longer. Soon she will let her body fall and her weight will cause the stealy to try and cut upward. The thought of the blades pressure against her wound makes her tremble more and she hopes for death before more pain. She wants to cry out, but only blurts of sound come out muffled by her sobs. She feels something well up in her throat and thinks she's going to be sick. She coughs and blood runs from her mouth. Her vision becomes blurry from time to time as her head bobs up and down. She sees Valencia and Jaimus lying motionless on the ground. "Papa", she hears. She tries to see where it came from - a child's voice. Had she said that? She looks around for her father. She knows she is hallucinating and shakes her head slightly. "I'm sorry," she hears a man's voice say this time echoing in her mind. She moves her eyes and sees the faint figure of Zenith dodging the murderous man's playful attacks. She can hear the beating of a drum ringing in her ears; a slow, continuous thumping sound. "Live," says the man's voice again. "Papa where are u," she whispers. She can hear him… why can't she see him? She doesn't want to die here - she can't die here. The beating of the drum gets louder in her ears. She feels something run down her face and rest upon her lips - tears or is it blood? Her mother…her brother… She can only taste blood. As the crimson tears run down her cheek, the drum gets louder and the voices in her head become a clutter of mixed whispers. Is this what dying feels like? She wants it to end… she wants the sound in her ears to stop. She is distracted momentarily from the pounding when she hears a loud scream from the distance. No…she must live. It's what her father told her. She remembers the feeling of the spear when she first held it. She remembers the look on her fathers face. "Be strong…live". She can't stop her tears. Why is she crying - the pain? She can't feel the pain anymore - she is numb. She lifts her trembling hand and wipes her cheek. It's not tears; her cheeks are covered in blood. The sound of the thumping becomes erratic… what is this? A scream - She feels something against her chest. The thumping… It isn't a drum; it's her heart - so loud. "Please don't die," she hears a voice say in her mind - It's her own voice. She closes her eyes and let's her head fall forward - her heart is racing fast. The sound of the thumping becomes so loud it drowns out everything else - the whispers are gone. She feels angry suddenly, she wasn't supposed to die like this. Louder. All of those people dead…her teammates. Faster. What about her goal? Louder. "Please don't die," whispers her own voice in her head again. A burning sensation of anger, frustration and strength burst within her as though all her veins had exploded and poured a powerful energy through her entire body. She opens her eyes and the scorched woods of the dungeon are revealed to her suddenly blood red vision.
