Chapter 31: Terror Walks Again
Twelve beings sat in a room. Each in a black holocaust cloak with the hood up, covering the face. The room they were in was large, almost too large to be possible. Across the center of the room was a line of twelve summoning circles. At the center of each circle was a vile of blood.
The twelve being sat on the ground before the line of circles, five beings in front, four behind them, and three behind them. They were preparing for some kind of ritual, and were just about to start.
"And we're sure this will work?" one for the four asked.
"The jutsu will most definitely work," one of the five answered.
"That's not were my doubts lie. I was asking if it will actually bring them here. Or if the plan concerning them will succeed," the man replied.
"According to Mulow's research this will be flawless," another of the five answered.
"Let's begin then," the center of the five said.
Silence answered him. He began making hand seals and the other five soon joined in. Almost immediately after that the four started, and soon after them the three did as well. As the twelve proceeded through the hand seals the summoning circles began to glow. Once each was glowing a bright white they began to sizzle and emit smoke. Each of the glass vials broke, spilling their blood onto the circle which immediately absorbed it.
Once the blood was absorbed the smoke thickened. It thickened to the point that visibility through it became impossible. And in almost an instant the hand seals stopped, the smoke vanished, and the circles turned back to normal. But now the room had more occupants. Twelve more beings were sitting there, once in the center of each circle.
"It worked! They have returned! The Twelve Terrors have returned to us and will aid us in-" one of the four started saying but was cut off by the far left of the newcomers words.
"Where the hell are we?" he demanded.
"Allow me to explain," one of the five said standing up.
"And you are?" the center-left on the newcomers asked.
The man pulled back his hood, "Roken, my name is Roken. We are the Alliance, and we have brought you back," the man said.
In the blink of an eye he found himself ten feet in the air and a hand around the neck of his collar. On of the newcomers had grabbed him by the collar of his cloak and lifted Roken in the air as high as his arm extended, "Why? Why are we back? We did what we did at our end for a reason!" the newcomer yelled.
"Put him down! You'll kill hem before he can answer!" the center-left newcomer said.
The newcomer dropped Roken, who barely managed to keep his feel under him. The man then sat back at his circle at the far right. He set his eyes upon Roken, waiting for his explanation.
"I'm guessing you're Dragoon," Roken breathed rubbing his neck.
"Nope," the man replied.
Roken paused a moment but decided to give the newcomers the information they wanted. "We have brought you back because we wish for you're help. Our ultimate goal is world domination, and we would love the help of you, the Twelve Terrors," Roken said.
"It's just a title," the center-right man said.
"What?" Roken asked.
"We were only called that because of the abilities we had in the war that none other had. We taught them to everyone, and I can tell you all are very skilled in them. You are all the second kind of person," the center-right man said.
"But, you decimated an entire country," Roken said.
"Yeah, in a war. Those Feared Most By All, it's just a name," the fifth from the right said.
But, what about…" Roken said.
"Damnit Roken! At least find out which is which!" the center of the five asked.
In response the newcomer on the far left stood. He had brown boots, blue denim pants and a black vest. His chest and arms where bare, and he wore brown fighter gloves. He had grey eyes and short black hair. "I'm Dea."
The one next to him stood up. He had black spiked boots, black denim pants and a black cloth shirt. His hands and arms were bare. He had green eyes and his blond hair reached his shoulders. "Grim."
Next had brown boots, blue cloth pants, and a white short sleeved cloth shirt. He had a black denim vest and grey fighting gloves. Brown eyes and spiky blond hair completed his look. "Frost."
After him was one in full black fighting cloths. Black boots and black fire gloves completed this. His blond hair was short and eyes were blue. Six katana were on his person, one on each hip and four on his back. A claymore was down the center of his back. "My name's Edge," he said with a grin.
Next to him was one in black boots, blue denim pants and a grey cloth shirt with sleeves to the elbows. Brown work gloves covered his hands and twin katana rested on his back. His red hair reached his shoulder blades and his eyes were blue. "Wiseman."
Next to him was no doubt the shortest of the group. The others were around 6 feet tall, while he was only about 5'7. His boots were light grey, his pants were white cloth, as was his long sleeved shirt. His hands were bare and he held a walking staff as tall as him. His hair was white as snow, as was the cloth that covered the empty sockets that once held his eyes. "Sage."
Beside him was a man in brown boots, dark blue cloth pants, and a black sleeveless shirt. His arms and hands were bare, and his eyes were green and brown hair spiky. "Strag."
Next to him was a man in black boots, black cloth pants and a black sleeveless overcoat. His chest and arms were bare, black fighting gloves covered his hands. His eyes were grey and brown hair went to his shoulder blades. A bastard sword was on his back. "Stone."
Next came a man in brown leather boots, deer hide pants, and a bare chest and arms. His hands were covered in deer hide gloves. He had blue eyes and brown hair to his shoulders as well as a beard about an inch off his chin. A spear was on his back. "Nomad."
Beside him stood a man in grey boots, blue denim pants and a black cloth shirt. A grey jacket was over his shirt and his hands were covered by brown work gloves. His eyes were green and had black hair down to the small of his back where he had a battle axe. "Sin."
Next to him was a man with dark plate armor covering his lower half. He had a black cloth long sleeved shirt and bare hands. He had yellow eyes and spiky black hair. A long bladed katana was on his back. "Dragoon."
Last came the one who lifted Roken off the ground. Sage was obviously the shortest, and there was no doubt he was the tallest; his height nearing if not passing seven feet. He had grey boots, black cloth pants, and a dark grey short sleeved cloth shirt. A black vest over his shirt and black fighting gloves over his hands. Yellow eyes and red hair to his shoulders. "Lax."
"Wait, you're Lax?" Roken asked pointing at Lax.
"Roken, shut up," the center of the five said.
Roken flinched slightly and went silent.
"What's on your right arms?" the center of the five asked.
Instantly all of the twelve newcomers looked at their right forearms. On each one near the elbow was a very general curve. And in the middle of their arms was a roman numeral, each facing a different direction. Wiseman was I. Frost was II. Grim was III. Lax was IV. Dragoon was V. Nomad was VI. Strag was VII. Edge was VIII. Dea was IX. Sage was X. Sin was XI. Stone was XII.
"A connecting bond between us," Wiseman said.
"I've always wondered the cause of your name Wiseman," the center of the five said.
"A man is only as strong as his soldiers, only as wise as his advisors," Wiseman said.
"Alright, so here's our plan," Roken said taking a step towards the twelve.
"Wait, who said we would help you?" Dragoon asked.
"We summoned you, you have to do our bidding," Roken said.
"No, this is a specialized case. We were summoned against our will, against the protection we instilled to keep us dead. We do owe you something for bringing us back, but because our moral values are against yours, it is not to do your bidding," Strag said.
"What is it then?" Roken asked.
"A free walk away. The next time we meet in a situation that we would be on opposite sides of the fight we will walk away, avoiding the conflict. However, you are forced to do so as well. We are bound by a whole day of avoidance, you can return after about an hour," Strag said.
"That's bull," Roken said.
"He forgot to mention that we give you a one day grace now too. Plus we can't hunt you down with intent upon destroying all of you," Wiseman said.
"But this… this isn't fair…we brought you back," Roken said.
"Against our wishes. And your plans are against our moral values. Lucky for you if we team up with your enemies, we don't really know that much of your plan, only the final goal," Strag said.
"You're serious…" Roken said.
"No doubt," Wiseman said as he began to leave the room, the other eleven following him.
The twelve left the room and building they were resurrected in. They looked around at where they were, the country borders they knew were gone and changed. According to Sage, the new fighting style, the one they had designed, was the main one. All others were nearly nonexistent now. The put some distance between themselves and the Alliance as a precaution.
"Sage, were any of the ones who brought us back the third kind of people?" Frost asked once they hand stopped moving.
"Possibly, I didn't look that hard, my sight in that aspect has dwindled greatly with the loss of my eyes," Sage said.
"There's bound to be some," Grim said.
"Yes, our descendants," Strag said.
"No, that was one of our guards against coming back, the absence of offspring," Sin said.
"It's how we did comeback. Each of our special abilities assigned itself to a bloodline. Everyone with that blood would have one of our abilities to a degree. They used a sample of each of those bloodlines to bring us back," Strag said.
"How do you know?" Wiseman asked.
"The scroll that was in front of what seemed to be the head man, I read what was there and pieced the rest together from that," Strag said.
"You read it from where you were, upside down," Dragoon said.
"Are you seriously asking that?" Frost asked.
Dragoon paused a moment, lost in thought, "no, sorry, you're right," he said with a nod.
"So what's the game plan now?" Nomad asked.
"Well, we can either seek out our descendants, or get off the hook we're stuck on," Wiseman said.
"You said we were bound not to follow them," Frost said.
"Not to follow them with intent upon stopping them. We don't intend that, only to alleviate ourselves," Strag said.
"How do we do it?" Dea asked.
Wiseman turned to Nomad, "let's see those eyes," he said.
In response Nomad's blue eyes turned a milky white, both iris and pupil. He looked in the direction the Alliance was and watched as they argued about something, "I see them," he said.
x-X-x
A man was lying wounded in the middle of a road, the injuries he had very minor, the fight just begun. His opponent, Roken, approached him, drawing his katana and preparing for the kill. He ran at the man and brought the katana down, but it was suddenly stopped. In its path was another katana which forced his away and him back.
Once he was a few steps away from the new blade he got a good look at the owner, "Wiseman? What the hell?" Roken asked.
"Damnit Roken! I didn't know it was you, can't recognize you without the holocaust cloak," Wiseman said sheathing his blade.
"So what happens?" Roken asked.
"This is the free pass. When I see the others again I'll tell them, and when you see the Alliance again you tell them," Wiseman said turning and walking away.
"But what about here, now? Is this the free pass for everyone?" Roken asked.
"Yeah, this is the one for everyone. Now I have to leave and avoid this conflict for a day, you for an hour," Wiseman said vanishing.
A few moments later Wiseman appeared in a small clearing where the other eleven waited, "all done, we're freed of that," he said.
"Good, now what do we do?" Dea asked.
"Find our descendants. Don't say who you really are, just find the village they're in. In a month we'll all meet back here, if the village seems like one that we could all live in, bring a representative for the rest of us to meet. If not, then just show up," Wiseman said.
"Meet back here?" Frost said looking around.
"It's as good a place as any," Grim said.
"We all ready to go?" Sin asked.
"Hey Edge," Dragoon said.
"I know, I'll be careful," Edge said quietly.
"No, I was wondering if you wanted to keep me company," Dragoon said.
Edge's face lit up, "sure, it'll be fun," he said.
The others held in their smiles, Edge didn't like being alone. but he was too kind to burden others with his presence, as he saw it. But if Dragoon asked for his own sake, it wasn't a burden.
"Alright, see you all in a month," Wiseman said and all twelve vanished.
x-X-x
AN: well, now you have the title action. Yes, bringing back the Twelve Terrors was a 'Resurrection of Honor' on the part of Roken. And if you hadn't noticed, the little explanatory gap thing was only two chapters, we're back at Naruto's time, and next chapter starts part three. This can be considered part of the explanatory gap.