Tainted Souls, Tainted Swords
Chapter Sixteen: Old Allies, New Enemies
After another full day's journey, she saw the eerie unnatural fog hovering over the small village before her, hungering for something. Unlike her nights in the mountains, the air here felt warm even as the midnight hour approached, the winds brought the faint smell of burning wood. In her heart, Sophitia knew this part of her journey had come to an end.
Was it her imagination? Or did an ever so faint voice – the voice of the spider in her dreams – drift from the fog? "You've come . . ."
Sophitia said a quick and quiet prayer to Hephaestus, "Guide my sword." She opened her eyes, gripped her sword and shield, and let out a sigh before abandoning her animal to face the demon alone in the fog that seemed to part for her. An invitation? But to what?
Sophi followed the clear path, two walls of fog on either side, and then she saw the blood stains in the dirt. And from the silence arose the sound of a children's choir singing a haunting hymn, underscored by the laughter of the demon.
Breath upon the back of her neck—Sophitia hurled around, sword ready to strike! But she saw no one. However, she did see the fog close in behind her, surrounding her, and swirling as it closed in. And was that a silhouette she saw moving out of the corner of her eye?
". . . I look forward to carving you up, and feasting upon your soul."
The fog closing in, Sophitia called out, "In the name of Hephaestus, I will strike you down foul beast!" The fog on the verge of overtaking her, Sophi held her breath and held her ground, ready to strike. And as it finally flowed around her, swirling around her, a chill ran across her flesh as this fog felt like ice water on her skin – worse yet, it resisted her movements. What was this odd power? What was she getting into? And could she defeat whatever was behind it? "Guide me, Hephaestus."
The laughter echoed from every direction – whispered directly into her ear and called from a distant – cold breath blew across the back of her neck again. And as she spun around yet again, she felt something brush lightly against her clothing to the left and something caressed her hair to the right – just the subtle sensations of someone's touch, without them physically touching her. This was crazy – she was helpless like this! She had to get out!
Taki's soul could only watch helplessly as the demon (in her body) moved effortlessly through the fog, slid behind Sophitia and placed Mekki-maru's blade firmly against the girl's throat. Frozen in place, Sophitia gulped – had her end come so easily? Did she travel all this way to die so swiftly? 'Why Hephaestus!' The God did not answer.
As if reading her mind, the demon leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Your God is dead, little girl."
"I don't believe you!" Sophitia answered defiantly, although the seed of doubt was planted.
"But I won't send you to join him in the grave just yet. No." The blade came away from her throat, and she felt a violent blow to the back of her head. Sophitia stumbled forward clumsily, in what seemed like slow motion due to the nature of the fog, and before she could get her balance a kick to the back assured a collision with the unforgiving earth.
"Your kunoichi friend must see you suffer." Tenebraurum, in Taki's skin, kicked the prone Greek woman in the ribs once for each adjective, "a slow, painful, terrible death awaits you!" Punctuated by yet another kick, that leveled the servant of Hephaestus.
'Stop it!' Taki's soul couldn't stand to watch innocent people die, and now someone she knew suffered. Damn this monster! 'Or so help me . . .'
The fog made Sophitia vulnerable to whatever attack the demon could dream up. The Greek had still not even caught a glimpse of her attacker – virtually blinded by the fog's thickness. And with her crippled reaction time (also compliments of the fog), Tenebraurum could cut her to ribbons at his leisure. That would come later; right now, Mekki-maru can wait in its scabbard. "Is that all you can do?" he taunted, allowing Sophitia to partly rise and try to lash out before—
Crack! A very powerful roundhouse kick struck the poor woman in the face, leaving her on the ground yet again in a dizzy daze, whimpering a plea to her God, "Hephaestus . . . help me!"
"He can't help you," The demon raised its foot to stomp down savagely upon the prone girls' head.
"No!" And as the attack came down, Sophitia expected to suffer another stunning blow – and yet her shield, now glowing blue, miraculously managed to get into position to block.
The demon backed off, unsurprised by the glowing shield. Nor did it seem surprised that the sword gave off a glow as well, and that the fog partly receded from the relics; it snarled bitterly towards the heavens above, "A little late, Hephaestus. No matter. Your errand girl will be dead before you decide to manifest your next miracle, you pitiful, lazy excuse for a deity!"
Rising, a sore Sophitia noticed the fog no longer hindered her. She watched it recede, revealing her attacker: Taki – the Taki with black eyes, and a malicious glare that did not belong to her ally. Sophi's gaze pierced the possessing spirit, and found the honorable warrior trapped within. "I'll help you, friend . . . I promise."
"She's dead," Taki snapped, but the words were not the kunoichi's. "If I leave this body, the only thing left will be a corpse! Your friend is dead! Rotting in hell! Feeding Soul Edge's hunger!"
"That's not true," Sophitia challenged. He said the same of Hephaestus, and the God prove him a liar. "I can see her."
The demon smiled, gestured an invitation with one hand, and with the other drew Mekki-maru, "Then come and get her."
"Your powers won't work on me anymore," Sophitia boldly announced, not sure how true it was. "Surrender, or suffer the wrath of Hephaestus."
"I don't doubt it. He always unleashes his wrath upon those who slaughter his servants," the demon within Taki commented, "but he never intervenes for his servants. He won't save you. I've felt his wrath many times, and it has never impressed me. Hephaestus' true domain is apathy. With all of his divine might and power, the world at his fingertips, he still has his worthless, expendable, slaves do everything for him."
"He lets us live our lives." Sophitia answered, "We can't grow unless we live."
"But must he let you suffer so?"
"Yes," she wouldn't let him shake her faith, "We grow stronger from our pain. If he sheltered us we'd be weak, helpless, and useless . . ."
And as she went on with her answer, the demon growled with genuine frustration, "Then prepare to 'grow' a great deal today," This woman did have the power to exorcise him – a different technique than the ninja – but an effective one, none-the-less. And she wasn't falling for the bait. He'd need something else to lure her into his trap – and then the fragment of Soul Edge within Mekk-maru revealed Sophitia's weakness. Someone in her family had handled the fragments . . . someone close to her . . .
'No!' Taki wanted to scream, but could not.
A smile crept across the demon's face, and it interrupted Sophitia's self-righteous monologue with words that turned her flesh pale and cold. "Soul Edge likes your children," the words earned him a hateful glare, a passionate glare, the glare of an enraged mother and not that of a seasoned warrior. Goodbye common sense, goodbye rational strategy. And hello to emotional blindness. "Soul Edge looks forward to drinking their youth."
"Leave my children ALONE!" Sophitia shrieked.
'Sophitia no!' and Taki's heart sank as the woman let her emotions drive this attack into a trap the demon had perfected through countless mortals.
Paying little attention to strategic placement of the shield, and not realizing how badly she telegraphed her attack, Sophitia left herself wide open. Almost nonchalantly, Tenebrarum sidestepped sliced the enraged mother across her abdomen. Reflex made her curl up, dropping her shield and wrapping her that arm around the wound, and before she had recovered Mekki-maru drew a deep line across her back. Sophitia cried out as she fell to her knees, and cursed herself for running into the trap so stupidly.
Circling around the finished prey like a vulture, the demon came to a stop in front of the wounded girl. Bleeding, Sophitia made a weak, but pitiful, attempt at lashing out – but Tenebraraum grabbed hold of Sophi's wrist and forced the Greek woman's sword to her own throat. The demon lay Mekki-maru on top of that sword, effectively scissoring two blades around Sophitia's throat. One quick motion would separate the girl's head from her shoulders, but a slow gradual decapitation would put on a better show for the trapped Taki.
Tenebraraum slowly started sliding the swords together, placing a shallow cut in Sophitia's neck. The Greek let go of her bleeding abdomen, and grabbed hold of Mekki-maru's hilt. Now with one hand on either sword, she fought against the scissored blades.
"Where's your God now?" Tenebraraum taunted as a smile crossed his face. The Greek didn't acknowledge him, but she didn't have to. In this position, as she used all her strength to keep him from slicing her head clean off, those words cut deep. He continued his verbal assault, "and you'll see no Gods in the afterlife, only Soul Edge—"
Sophitia felt him slowly overpowering, the swords cutting just a little bit deeper. Her mind cried out for Hephaestus, while her soul despaired over her failure. Sophi watched as the demon prepared to drive its knee into her. She braced herself for the end . . .
Taki couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let her friend die like this. Summoning every last ounce of her will, of her strength, the true Taki cried out in an attempt to regain herself, "No!"
The eyes of the ninja blinked – not the black void. Now her brown eyes. Sophitia wasted no time in pushing the swords away from her throat just as the blackness returned to the ninja's eyes. Only a second – all she needed. And then Sophitia plunged her sword into the side of possessed Taki's abdomen, running her through (hopefully non-fatally), "Demon," Sophitia commanded, "leave this vessel!"
Her blades' glow intensified and the sound of a monster shrieking in agony blasted from the wound, and then Sophitia ripped the sword free. As she did, a menacing green energy flowed from the wound. It drew in the green fog, and together they spun like a whirlwind into Sophitia's sword. She pointed it to the sky, and the green energy (fog and all) shot up into the heavens into the hands of her God. The village was quiet, not a cloud in the sky, and to the East the warm signs of a coming dawn could be seen.
Breathing heavily, pulse still racing, Sophitia looked over to her ally who at one time saved her life. Taki fell to her knees, and looked back at her with her own brown eyes. Tired eyes as though she'd come back from a long exhaustive journey. And with a simple nod, the ninja conveyed her thanks, her appreciation, and her plea for forgiveness before passing out.
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Author's Note: See! Short chapters mean more frequent updates (sometimes!) As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and the reviews have been very flattering. Thanks everyone. A bit of heads up - Christmas and New Years might cause a little delay. I'm hoping not, but it's a distinct possibility.
