Chapter 19

The dream was always the same. He was trapped in the cabin with the smell of smoke wafting from the window. Outside the forest was glowing yellow and orange as if the sun was rising from the hills and trees. The fire, like anger, spilled out from land to envelope the cabin. He tugged on the door handle but it would not turn.

"Mother," he shouted. Jin banged his fist against the door. "Mother, help me. I'm trapped. Please, don't leave me." He kicked at the door but instead of splintering the wood it did nothing but shove him back.

"Jin ... Jin, I'm here. Get back." The door burst open and there was his mother like an angel of grace and redemption to pull him from the fire. She reached out her hand. "Come, Jin. There's no time to lose."

He stretched out his hand, and that's when it appeared behind her. He shrank back.

"Jin, what's wrong? Come on."

"Behind you!"

His mother turned to stare at the Ogre's chest. She threw a punch, but it caught her fist and backhanded her.

"Mother!" Jin shut his eyes - the image burned onto the backs of his eyelids. Her face bloody, disfigured, scarred and scorched from the blow.

"Open your eyes, child!" Ogre roared. Its hand was around his mother's neck. Jun's mouth opened wide but no sound came from it. Her skin cracked like bark on a tree and exploded into flames. Ogre laughed and breathed in the fumes as though it were some sweet aroma instead of an amalgamate of scents akin to burning charcoal and sulfur as Jun's body was consumed by the fire.

With a scream, Jin pushed himself off the wall and at Ogre. Just before his fist connected to Ogre, the face changed to his mother's. The punch shattered her head as though it were made of ice. The ice merged with the fire, melted and extinguished it, leaving Jin alone.

The world was dark. Jin raised his empty hands to his face. "I'm sorry, mother. I was not strong enough."

Someone laughed. Jin wheeled around, squinting into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

A moon appeared above, a thin sliver that became a cruel smile of eroded mountains and dark caverns and a tongue dry as a desert - the valley of death. Ogre stepped out of the shadows. "Kazama. You have spent the last few years well. I see you have built up your body and your mind, but tell me, how has your spirit fared? It must be tough knowing how you've failed - a shame your mother will never see how you've grown into such a disappointment. You're still just a little child, aren't you? Crying in the corner, beating your little fists against pillows. A pathetic mama's boy who crumbles without someone to hold his hand. A hate filled teenager who pushes away those who would help him most."

"Shut up. You know nothing about me."

"I know everything about you. Just as well as mother did. She speaks to me every day, asking ... begging me not to take you. She can't stand the thought of seeing you again. You failed her. Heihachi has corrupted you."

"Lies! She was the one who wanted me to train under Heihachi."

"As a test," Ogre replied. "She wanted to see if your spirit was strong enough. If you could train under the iron first of your grandfather and remain pure and good. She can see as well as I can that in this you have fallen. The stench of Heihachi's corruption has soaked into your very being."

"Powerful men attract powerful enemies - you're trying to trick me with your poisoned words to make me turn against Sufu. It won't work."

Ogre laughed. "Spoken like a true slave. I have told you before that you are a student not yet above your master - a trait you share with your father. Who do you think killed Kazuya?"

"Sufu wouldn't tell me, but he obviously has his scores to settle. The killer is at this tournament, and Sufu said he'd take care of him."

"Ah, yes, if there is one thing Heihachi does well, it is to take good care of himself. Tell me, Kazama, are you blind and stupid? Who else could have defeated Kazuya Mishima in his prime save the one man who taught him and knew his weakness?"

"Enough of this. I won't listen to your lies anymore. You gave me four years to train. Now I will show you how much I have learned." Jin widened his stance and brought his fists up. He could feel the warmth flowing in his chest - a fire that would not be extinguished. This was for mother.

"Not yet, Kazama. Meet me in the temple." Ogre faded from view.

"Coward! Get back here." Jin turned around, but Ogre was nowhere in sight. He was back in his room at the Mishima Compound. He shivered as a draft of air passed over his bare chest. He moved to close the window when he noticed that it was shattered. His gauntlets had taken most of the damage, but there were still peels of skin missing from his knuckles. He watched the blood trace lines down his fingers like tears.

In the glass shards he thought he saw his mother's face, but when he turned to look at them she disappeared - as she always did when he awoke.

* * *

Julia was alone in her room. There was no sound except for her breathing and the beating of her heart. The sweat beaded on her skin and trailed down her face and arms in rivulets. Pressing her body parallel to the floor, she did one last push-up and leaned back against the foot of the bed. Her arms were shaking. She was tired - so tired and numb. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back against the bed for just a moment.

It was so easy to believe that this room, closed to the world, was like the caves back home in Arizona. It would be easy to stay here where everything was black and white. Freedom from obligation. It would be nice and so easy - for someone else. What was she if she was not of service to others? How could she, an orphan left to die in the wilderness, abandon the very people who had rescued her and given her a chance at life?

Pin pricks tapped along her arms as a spider traced silk lines around her heavy limbs. "And what message do you bring?" she asked it, bringing it to her face as she got to her feet. "Have you seen mother?"

The spider centered itself in her palm. Deliberately, it moved away from her and to the right. At the edge of her palm it did a mad little dance as though it was attempting to dig into Julia's flesh and then moved around to the back of Julia's hand and descended from a thin strand. Somewhere below ground to the north east. Before the spider could finish its descent, the room shook, nearly knocking her flat. The spider fell off into the darkness and disappeared.

"Wait, don't go." Julia grasped at the strands that bore away her guardian. She stood alone. Alone ... she staggered back, her chest constricting. The warmth radiating from her body to leave her cold like undug earth, like an undisturbed graveyard at night. Her breathing was loud in her ears as though the whole world was nothing but an empty seashell pressed against her ears.

A hollow rattling filled the room. It was the sound of darkness shivering, of bones clattering. The figure approached. Thick veins crossing over its body - muscles threatening to burst from the stretched skin. Its aqua green skin seemed to glow. It reached out one hand towards her, a large gnarled thing shaped from pulling hearts from chests and holding them high to the sun. As Ogre approached, the pendant emitted a blinding light.

"Back!" Julia shouted as she held the pendant in her fist and stepped forward. She couldn't give up now. Michelle was depending on her to rescue her - the Hopi tribe needed her to come back with the jar. There was too much riding on her to turn away. She had faced the Ogres before.

A voice spoke in her mind. "You didn't face them - it was Michelle who pushed you forward, who had baked the piki bread to offer them in exchange for your life. It was she who saved you all those times. Not once did you do it by yourself."

The light from the pendant dimmed. "No." Julia shook it, trying to bring it back to life.

Ogre smiled and brought its hand down from its eyes. "What's the matter, warrior? Has your courage abandoned you like your mother?"

"You are not worthy to even speak about my mother."

Ogre grinned. "Apparently neither are you. You don't even know your mother's name."

"Her name is Michelle."

"That name is a lie upon your lips. You have no mother. You are a spider, a small, insignificant creature, born and abandoned in a dark crevice. I will enjoy crushing you."

Julia let go of the pendant and rushed Ogre. It made no move to block her punch, and her fist slammed into Ogre solar plexus. A hand wrapped around her throat and she felt her feet lifted off the floor. The air thinned - there was not enough of it to get into her lungs. Julia kicked out, catching Ogre full in the face, but it didn't faze Ogre at all. It merely smiled and tightened its grip.

"Without the eagle bowl, you are helpless. This ... trinket will do you no good. Your spirit is nowhere near strong enough to command me. Do you know why?"

Julia grabbed Ogre's wrist and struck the elbow in an attempt to break it, but without the leverage her fist bounced off Ogre's massive arm. She was pulled to Ogre. Julia's eyes rolled back into her head until nothing but white showed.

"You are no use to anybody. No fight can be won without sacrifices. What sacrifices have you made for anybody? When were you interested in anything other than how you appeared to others? You've built a sandstone house that is crumbling. Even this trip to save your homeland is just an excursion. It's all an act to save Michelle because you're not strong enough to live without her."

The hand squeezed harder and the white filled her vision. It had become like a film that covered her eyes and when it finally lifted she was back home in Arizona. She was kneeling in the dust, coughing. She rubbed her throat - the pendant was gone and the village was empty. Puzzled, Julia called out. "Hello? Michelle?"

There was no answer. The sun baked sand was hard and cracked. All around were water jars whose throats had long parched and turned back to sand and dust, garden hoes whose wood had split, and a deep emptiness. One of the windows had an aged branch hanging out like a vine that had broken free of its pot but withered and died once it discovered there was no water outside. As Julia approached the branch, it stirred in the desert wind - the arm moved as if to grab her and then collapsed back down.

Stifling a cry, Julia circled around through the door way to look at the body. The skeleton had not been stripped completely of the skin. What skin remained hung loosely on the figure's frame as if the blood and muscles had been sucked from the body. The eyes had sunken like pits made of loose sand. Its face remained twisted in the act of screaming. The white once again filled Julia's vision as the body of her dead mother reached out for her.