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Thanks for reviewing:
Noyesgirl - Lol. Because I could XD I'm so mean like that sometimes. Lol.
bant- Thank you and I've updated relatively quickly, no?
D.D.Z.– XD another one. Lol. I found it horribly fun to just leave you hanging, makes for good suspense :D
BoomKat- Lol. We shall see. Ah, the answer that one is 'yes'.
Chichiri's Wanderer- Oh, gee –points at Lily- go hide in the corner, your not loved by this one. Just kidding! Lol. Hm, is it? Hey, I didn't say that, I just said you don't have as much power as that, meaning you can't just pop in and make everything wonderful again. Lol. –eye twitches at Chichiri- Go sit in the closet –gets a weird look- "But I'm not gay" … O.o I didn't mean it like that! (erm… can you tell I'm sleep deprived? Lol. I mean it's only 1:15 am!)
Sariyu-chan- hmm, what will happen –brings fingers together devilishly-
Painted Angel Wings- Lol. Another one who changed their pen name. That's cool though. It's amazing what people can tolerate when there's a huge weight on their shoulders isn't it O.o
Schectersona- That's what I do best. Lol XD
Chapter 21
As if a bolt of lighting had just stuck him Tasuki felt his body go numb. Something wasn't right. In fact it felt as if something had just gone terribly wrong. Looking about he could see that Chichiri and Hikou were still on their feet fighting, so whatever it was that had triggered the feeling had nothing to do with them…
"Tasuki!" Chichiri yelled, ripping him from his trance in time for the bandit to evade the dangerous claws of a tiger.
Cursing the redhead swatted away a wolf that had quickly followed before it had the chance to bring him any direct harm, but the movement reminded him of just how sore his muscles were. And, as if it wanted to bring further trouble to him, his mind was now in turmoil. What could the numb feeling have meant?
His muscles continued to scream at him as he moved about evading attacks and defending when he could not get out of the way. To his dismay he could see that his reaction time was slower than what it should be and as if to mock him in this state a tiger managed to swipe two of its great clawed fingers across the outside of his thigh, leaving two nice sized gashes to gush angrily.
With another curse one hand shot down to the wound as his body cringed from the pain it caused. Luckily he recovered from the feeling quickly enough to continue defending himself, though the area throbbed and his leg was most unpleased with being moved around.
A cry from his friends brought his attention over to Hikou for a brief moment. The unfortunate man had his left forearm locked between the powerful jaws of a wolf that had snuck up behind him. He struggled with the beast, trying to dislodge his arm from the sharp teeth that were like razors imbedded within his skin before the animal could rip the limb off. It was not an easy feat and he was quickly losing.
Finding a split second to act Hikou summoned a jet of water and used it to pierce through the beast's body, killing it almost instantly. Lacking the time to be careful he wrenched his arm out of the dead wolfs mouth and quickly came to stand firmly on his feet. The damage to his arm was substantial and his blood coated sleeve only aided in proving this fact. Had he the time he would have wrapped the wound tightly to slow the bleeding, but time was not on his side and to do so anyway could cost him his very life.
The unmistakable rattling of Chichiri's staff brought his attention from the battle to his childhood friend, only to see him quickly getting to his feet after being knocked down by a wolf. The staff that had been resting within the monks hands only moments before had been dislodged as he had fallen and slid across the ground for several feet before coming to a rattling halt.
Hikou would have stepped in and offered assistance to the man had a lizard not crept up on him and attempt to take a hearty chunk out of him. Luckily he had kept enough of his guard up to catch this with enough time to evade. But, just as the rest of the battle had proven, removing yourself from one danger only put you in another and he had no chance to try to and aid his friends.
Knowing that he wouldn't have much help Chichiri bolted towards his staff hoping he would reach it before being intersected. His hopes were dashed however when another wolf clamped its jaws tightly around his ankle.
With a cry the monk once again fell to the ground and only prevented his face from contacting first by thrusting his hands forward in pure act of instinct. While his face was saved from a broken nose and other such injuries his hands were cut up by the rough stone beneath them, but this was gone unnoticed for his ankle was being thrashed around violently within the powerful jaw the wolf as the beast tried to rip the limb from its socket.
There was no time for logic in this situation and the monk relied on skills that were more instinct than anything else- he turned onto his side and kicked the creature. The beast yelped and loosened its grip on his ankle, but did not let go. Now Chichiri was in a predicament because from his current position he could not kick the animal again with the force necessary to make it let go.
A loud growl quickly shifted his gaze to another problem, one even greater than the one he was currently in- there was another wolf not at his side staring at him viciously. His eye widened. There was no possible way he was going to get out of this! The wolf opened its jaws and leaned at him and he could only do one thing- cover his head with his arms.
Chichiri had expected to feel another set of sharp teeth tearing into his flesh, but instead he feel an extremely warm sensation, so warm in fact that it was almost burning him on one side of his body and a chilling wetness around the ankle that the other wolf was grasping. The next thing he knew he heard the unmistakable clatter of the bandits fan as it hit the ground followed by Hikou's cry of "Tasuki!"
Pulling his arms from his face he found parts of his clothing were singed and the wolf that had attempted to bite him was now lay dead some ways away with all its fur burned away. Looking down to his ankle he found the other wolf lying lifeless on the ground with his ankle still in its jaws. It appeared that this beast had been struck through the neck by something rather sharp and he instantly knew Hikou had been the one behind it, which explained why his leg was cold and wet.
Sitting up the monk removed his ankle from the dead creature's jaws, cringing as the teeth removed themselves from his skin. He was not at all surprised to see the area caked in blood, but he came to the chilling realization that he would not be able to walk, much less put any great amount of weight, if any at all, on it until it was healed.
Glancing up from a brief moment he saw Tasuki on the ground with Hikou standing at his side fending off the crazed beasts as they came at them. The bandit had used what little energy he had left to save him from being killed and for that the consequence was unconsciousness.
He would not let Tasuki's sacrifice be in vain and he would not let Hikou fight all alone. With that in mind the monk crawled to his staff and used it to help climb to his feet. If Hikou could fight with a badly damaged arm he could fight with an ankle in the same condition.
vvv
Something raised Lily to a sitting position and that something wrapped around her shoulders and pained abdomen gingerly, as well as pressed up against her back. Her senses were in far too much turmoil over her badly damaged body to even attempt to decipher what it was or how it had gotten there. All she knew was that the something around her was murmured into her ear, but she did not have a clue what was being said. It sounded as if they should have been words, yet she did not understand any of them. But she did not care what they meant because it seemed that with each one spoken her pain was slowly vanishing.
Even so she still felt outrageous amounts of agony and she was and exhausted- very exhausted. Her eye lids would have felt heavy had her eyes been open, which never helped in stopping her mind from slowly shutting itself down, nor did it help that her breathing was shortening into what could almost be called gasps. The only positive thing to all this was she no longer was choking on her own blood.
Whatever it was pressed against her tightened its grip around her shoulders and began murmuring slightly faster than before. It was almost as if it could sense that she was fading.
"How did you get here?" Fenrir roared angrily. The loud noise was almost defining to Lily's ears, but it had managed to snap her awake before she drifted off into an eternal sleep.
"You don't understand anything do you?" a harsh and powerful voice asked. Despite these factors the voice seemed much more pleasant than Fenrir's. In fact it sounded as pleasant as the voice that continued to murmur in her ear, even if that particular one was gentle but strong. Perhaps their voices held a magical like quality that made them so wondrous to hear, or perhaps she was just go glad to hear other voices for a change.
"You should use your eyes instead of your mouth for once Fenrir," another said, this one's voice sounded just as pleasant as the other two with its smooth but equally powerful voice.
Even in her tortured and exhausted mind Lily found herself wonder what had been meant by that. It was then that she came to realize something and was surprised she had not noticed it before- on the ground before her, within the pool of blood she had created in fact, was a circle made of twenty-seven glowing Chinese characters, none of which she could read, with four characters within the circle itself resting in a way that seemingly made a square. She had no clue what it meant, but knew something important had happened because of it.
"Did you really believe you could defy our will?" yet another unseen person said. His voice was fierce yet strangely pleasant. Something in her mind clicked at hearing it. His tone might have been fierce, but she recognized the voice from somewhere and at a time when it had been gentle but demanding of her attention.
She tried to search her mind for the answer, but found that it was quickly returning to the state it had been in moments ago, a state that made it difficult to stay awake even if she wanted it to.
Once again the one holding her tightened his grip on her with the use of one arm, as she had determined it to be by now, but this time it was the one around her abdominal region. Whether it had been intentionally or accidentally done the act sent hot white flashes of pain surging into her already anguished mind and while it snapped her back awake she wondered if it had been worth the extra trauma.
Apparently in her pain she had whined loudly for the next thing her mind knew, after the white pain began to fade and she reopened her eyes, was that there was someone in front of her. For the first time since she had entered the dreadfully dark palace she could see something more than a glowing object. She could see someone.
They were not bright within her vision, but she could see them none the less. The figure was undeniably male and a very handsome one at that. His face was fair, eyes the purest of gold and the most beautiful silver hair she had ever seen adorned his head.
Lily simply stared at him for a moment, forgetting all about the murmuring in her ear, and he in turn gazed upon her with a worry. She had seen that face before. There was no way she could have forgotten it!
Taking in some much needed air she forced it through her vocal cords so that one simple, shocked name came out, "Byakko."
OMG! Are the guy's going to survive? And what's this! Have the gods really been released! But even if they have they couldn't stop Fenrir last time, will they be able to this time? Will Lily survive?
Find out as the last few chapters emerge!
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Thanks!
