a/n: Wow…I sure took my sweet time updating x.x sorry guys! I've had a pretty bad case of dreaded writer's block.
Disclaimer: Tekken belongs solely to Bandai Namco Games!
Chapter 5: Death Games
Perched once again atop the high limbs of an enormous tree, Jaez looked below to the establishment before her. The silvery moonlight cast countless ragged shadows and gave everything a brighter hue. Reflecting the pale light of the sky, the snow glittered and formed an undisturbed blanket that enveloped all of the buildings. Atop several of these generally two-story structures were several men. They all sat silently, waiting for the next shift of guards to come relieve them of their duties out in the bitter cold. No one had ever discovered their location and so they showed no signs of worry. No one had ever broken in, and only one person had ever broken out; pretty good odds for such an unconventional organization.
Jaez studied the men closely and saw that they were all armed with high-caliber pistols, and a good number of lucky ones had semi-automatic rifles. She frowned. They had never had such security around here before. When she had resided here most of the night guard had simpler weapons, namely swords and the like. They had taught the use of all weapons, modern weaponry included, but they had been an assassination sect that favored the olden-day arms; but now it seemed as if they had gone through a revitalization of ideals.
She sat down to form some sort of plan that would not involve the alerting of the entire facility. As she pondered her next move a thought struck her. Aside from a few unfortunate forest guards, she had seen almost no one in the surrounding area. There was something wrong here. In the past, when she had come "visiting," several sentries had always seemed to catch sight of her. But now, there was little opposition.
"Death?" she whispered; hoping that he was still around.
"yes, my dear," came the spectral response.
"I don't suppose you know why everyone seems to have gone AWOL?" her eyes glanced around for signs of an ambush.
"it is going to be a busy night," he said rather half-heartedly.
"What?"
"it seems the soul takers have chosen tonight as the night for their…. games…"
"Games?"
"it has been tradition out here for several years now. they pick individuals from the lower ranks that have proven to be rather ineffective, and then play death games. usually the people are used in trials of archery… i assume that the sentinels meant to watch the forest have decided that they will instead enjoy the bloody games…"
"Games?" Jaez repeated in disbelief, "They've really digressed out here; I don't remember games like that being considered tradition." She huffed, "I feel like I'm in Roman times waiting for the gladiators to duke it out."
"they began their new event after you left, so naturally you don't know what it is like."
"Well then enlighten me old friend," she continued to observe the half-frozen individuals patrolling the roofs.
"it is a rather simple affair. i could tell you all about it, but then what fun would that be? perhaps you should go take a look for yourself."
Jaez thought about it for a few moments. The guards were not really paying much attention, so she figured it would not be too hard to infiltrate the inner buildings. She nodded once and she felt the shadowy being leave. After another look around, she decided to sneak in through one of the buildings so that the sentries wouldn't notice her darting from shadow to shadow.
From her vantage point she noticed that an outward looking window had been left partially open. She found it rather odd, but decided to take opportunity from it. Jaez quickly jumped from the branch she was on and landed on the branch of tree a few yards away. In this fashion she made her way to the window and landed silently on the frosty exterior windowsill while taking hold of the iron bar that was place horizontally above it. With the toe of her boot she slowly pushed the window open all of the way and swung herself in.
The cold room was nearly empty; only a few rickety, half-broken chairs were lying abandoned in the corner. The snow had found itself pushed inside by the icy winds and now coated most of the room in a silvery sheen. Jaez frowned and looked down at her feet. Her boots had left clear imprints in the ice.
Great. Now I just hope that this room doesn't get much attention, at least for tonight.
Deciding not give it much thought, Jaez made her way to the door and stealthily snuck into the compound.
***
The arena was larger than she remembered it but it still held that same aura of malice and the iron smell of blood was in the air.
Jaez settled down in the rafters of the enormous building and looked down at the madness. On the left side of the oval-shaped arena were several people, all lined up and with powerful compound bows strung across their backs. On the right side, were about a dozen kids, barely teenagers. They all wore the same masks of confusion and disbelief of their faces. Each one held a Japanese-style sword that was clearly too large for them and light armor protected their bodies.
Jaez shook her head in disgust as the archers prepped their bows and pulled back the strings. Before she could see the outcome of the children's fates, she looked away and jumped down from the rafters. There was nothing she could do for them; if she revealed herself she would lose all chances of finding what she sought. The end results would no doubt be grisly and the law of survival-of-the-fittest would reign freely here, unhindered by any feelings of remorse. Those that survived would be able to keep their positions as well as their lives; they will have proven that they were strong and would never again be contested.
Before her heart could betray her by forcing her to jump into the arena herself, Jaez dashed out of the building and headed for the main structure in the center of the compound. The hallways were empty and she found it with relative ease. She gave up on being stealthy and simply walked down the empty corridors.
Memories began flooding back as she lay eyes upon the deserted passages that lead to the chambers of the doyenne. She could see herself as a child, wandering the compound idly while she pondered upon the purpose of her life in this solitary mountain crag. Suddenly Jaez heard a sound and snapped out of her past.
In front of her stood a small girl with silver eyes and reddish hair. Jaez stopped and narrowed her eyes. Guess this place isn't empty after all - she thought in annoyance.
"No. It's not," the girl said in an authoritative voice.
She read my mind, Jaez' eyes opened wide. A cold glint in the girl's eyes gave Jaez shivers as she realized that this was the bodyguard that was feared so much around here.
"Psyche." Jaez grimaced. Great.