Here comes the trauma. Well, more of it anyway.


The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas

Book Two: After the Storm

Chapter Thirteen: Revenge is Everything


"How else does one powerful being dominate another?...An insatiable hunger for battle! For power! The will to mercilessly crush any enemy! To tear them apart! To hack them to pieces! A ravenous bloodlust! The will to rip off the skin! To gouge flesh! To crush bone and mangle sinew! Somewhere carved deep into your primordial unconscious…you have to want to kill!!!" –ikasoruK ogihcI from Tite Kubo's Bleach


"What? I have to what?" I stood upright again, having stumbled backwards to fall across the bed in surprise.

"Run!" Peyton shouted, "Somewhere! Anywhere!"

"Why!?"

"Come on!" Peyton grabbed my arm and started dragging me out the door. I stumbled after him and he began explaining things in a very quick and panicked voice, "MajorT just called me on my Scanner! He got a call from another player who'd been in Kiru City! That player had a message from Maxxor!" He paused at corner, unsure of where to go.

"Left!" I said, pulling my arm out of his grip, "There's nothing but storage back there!"

"Okay!" Peyton took off running and I followed, "Anyway, Maxxor wanted Tom to know that Frafdo's coming after you! I was in the area so Tom sent me!"

"F-Frafdo!? He's coming after me!? Why!?"

"I dunno! But you gotta hide!" There was the sounds of commotions from the front of Garv's house and we both stopped, looking over our shoulders. Peyton swore, something I'd never heard him do.

"Port out." I whispered and he stared at me like I'd told him to push someone off a cliff.

"No way!" He hissed back, scowling, "I'm not leaving you here alone!"

"Don't be stupid!" I replied, "Go get Tom and Sarah! Maybe they can help! I can hide myself just fine Get out! Go!"

Peyton paused for a brief moment, saw the logic, and ported out to get a hold of Tom and Sarah and stay out of harms way. I turned and bolted down the hallway. I was panting for breath before I reached the first corner. I tore past it and dodged into the first door on my left.

"Crap…" I breathed. It was nothing but a room stacked with scrolls and old tomes. I backed out and jumped as I heard Frafdo's screeching cry echo down the hall. That sounded way too close for comfort. I took off running again, flying randomly through doors and taking turns without knowing where I was going. Garv's storage capacity was amazingly huge.

I turned a corner into a hallway full of boxes all stacked on top of one another. This looked like a good place to hide. And I was running out of options. My energy was going way too fast; sweat had already soaked the front of my shirt and my limbs ached and throbbed.

Another screech from Frafdo—much closer than before—raised the hair on the back of my neck and I ducked into an alcove between the wall and a towering stack of wooden boxes that reeked of earthen plants. I sank down as low as I could, curling into a tight ball, and breathed through my nose, trying not to make too much noise. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears that I couldn't hear anything else.

Don't come this way, don't come this way, don't come this way. I prayed, tense against the stone and wood around me, Please, don't come this way! I can't fight! Not like this!

I heard doors slamming and shouted voices.

Too close.

Shouts of anger and surprise.

A moment of silence.

Running footsteps.

More slamming doors.

I heard sharp talons racking across the stone floor and then Frafdo snarled, "Where are you, human scum!? Why don't you come out and fight!? Fight me like you fought and killed my comrades!"

I suppressed a shudder, praying that he would not search this hallway.

My prayers went unanswered.

I heard Frafdo moving down the hall slowly. Every so often, there'd be the sound of a swift motion followed by a pause before he started walking again. He was checking around each pile of boxes.

I was dead meat.

Frafdo would find me and it would all be over.

My mind was screaming at me to move but I couldn't. Where would I go? He'd kill me before I'd gone two steps.

"Found you!" A plasma arrow was suddenly crackling inches from my face. I pressed my back against the boxes behind me, eyes wide, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. Frafdo waved the plasma arrow back and forth, sneering, "Coward! Hiding back here! Hifdan told Maxxor that Ghost was staying with Garv! When I heard that I just had to hunt you down and show you what honor is!"

"I didn't kill them because I wanted to!" I shouted, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation, "Chaor made me!"

"Sure he did!" Frafdo snapped. Then he paused and lowered his bow slightly, looking at me closely, "You…I know you…" I simply swallowed thickly and stared back, wondering when I was going to die, "You! You were one of the humans that convinced Maxxor and I to infiltrate Prince Mudeenu's stronghold! The one who was hit with the Flash Kick! I remember you!" His eyes narrowed and he brought up his bow again, drawing the string tight so that I could feel the heat of the plasma arrow aimed at me once again, "You bring dishonor upon your race…! You killed my comrades and for that I destroy you!"

"FRAFDO STOP!" Screamed a voice and the OverWorlder jerked slightly in surprise. He loosed his arrow at the same time and it flashed towards me. I screamed. It grazed my cheek, raising a stinging burn and smashed into the box behind me. The resulting (if rather small) explosion sent me tumbling into Frafdo. We both crashed to the floor in a heap. Frafdo screamed at me and I jumped up, running down the hall in a complete panic. Another plasma arrow whizzed by me I dug my feet into the ground, spinning around to face the oncoming Creature. Apparently he hadn't really been expecting that because he froze for a second.

A second was all I needed.

I jumped across the space between us and tackled the OverWorlder, knocking the bow from his hands. Then I grabbed the front of his tunic and one of his arms and made to throw him to the floor.

Except that I had forgotten something.

I wasn't wearing the IRA anymore.

Without that, I only had normal human strength, not to mention I was severely weakened because of the removal of the armor.

Frafdo realized this a split second after I did. He smacked my hands away, grabbed the front of my shirt, and hoisted me into the air. My feet left the ground. I kicked him in the chest and he laughed at me. Then he swung me to the side and let go, sending me crashing head first into a pile of boxes.

The world spun and little lights exploded into my eyes.

But I could hear people shouting.

"Frafdo, stop it! What're you doing!?"

"You! You were with Maxxor as well! You are this treacherous scumbag's companion!"

"Frafdo, be reasonable—."

"Reasonable! Grav, you traitor! You house a murderer! Traitor!"

"No! Stop! Leave him alone!"

My vision settled just in time for me to see Frafdo pointing another plasma arrow at me. This time at my heart.

"Frafdo!" Tom shouted and I could see Sarah, Peyton, and Garv around him, "Stop this!" He made to move forward but Frafdo let out a screech that made us all wince.

"Anyone takes another step and I'll kill him right now!" He turned to me, "As I am a Creature of honor I will let you say your final words. What say you, human filth!?"

"Go ahead and shoot me then." I muttered, my voice unbelievably steady despite the racket my heart was making.

"What!?" Well, he obviously hadn't been expecting that.

"Kaz, what're you saying!?" Sarah cried. I ignored her.

"Yeah, sure go on and shoot my heart out." I continued. I could feel the splintered wood of the broken boxes digging into my bare arms and there was a piece digging into a particularly painful spot on my back, "But you'd be just as bad as any real murderer."

"I'd be doing Perim a favor!" Frafdo countered hotly, still keeping his weapon aimed at my heart.

"You just keep telling yourself that." I said, "Because what I did was not my fault. No, shut up and listen!" For he'd been about to interrupt with some justification or another, "If I really was a murderer; if I had really been working for Chaor; what was the ash-blasted sense in coming to the OverWorld!? I'm being hunted because I was working for Chaor! Why would come here!?"

"Maybe you're just thick." Frafdo hissed, his bow still taunt.

"Maybe you are!" I snapped back, "Fine! Go ahead and shoot me! End my life! Avenge your comrades! But I never…meant…anyone…to…get…hurt!" I slammed a fist down on the crates around me to emphasize each word.

"Says the UnderWorlder's Assassin!" Frafdo countered.

"I NEVER WANTED TO BE AN ASSASSIN!" I screamed. My chest was on fire and my eyes were burning and my arms were shaking and I couldn't feel my legs but curse it all if I wasn't going to give somebody a piece of my mind!

Frafdo was staring at me curiously, as though he could tell whether what I was saying was the truth or not. I glared back at him. After a moment or two, he released the tension of the bow and drew it back. The plasma arrow remained but the string was no longer taunt, no longer a threat.

"Where did you get the scar on your arm?" Frafdo asked. Behind him, I saw Tom inch forward and I shook my head slightly. Tom stopped moving but his eyes were bright and watching Frafdo.

"Your friend Gespaden gave it to me." I answer him, "I was supposed to kill him. I didn't want to. I told him to run. He didn't and attacked me instead. I didn't mean to hurt him." I closed my eyes, exhausted, "I didn't…mean to hurt anybody. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He still could have been pointing that plasma arrow at me.

He still could be aiming for my heart.

He could still kill me.

But I was too weak to stop him.

"You are not a liar, are you?" Frafdo asked me.

"Stupid question." I muttered wearily, "Why would I lie about…this of all things? Don't you think I'm trying to save my skin?"

"Frafdo, let him go." Garv said soothingly, "If Najarin trusted him so can you."

"Najarin?" Frafdo's voice was full of shock and I would have loved to see his face but my eyelids were so heavy, "Najarin helped him?"

"Yeah, he did." That was Peyton talking now, "Saved his humanity so just back off!"

"That's enough." Garv interjected, "There's been enough fighting. Frafdo, put away your bow." There was clatter and then the click of talons as Frafdo moved away from me, "Kaz, can you walk?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem." But I didn't move.

"Where'd you get this need to protect your pride." Tom muttered. I heard movement and then someone hauled me up and dragged my arm over their shoulder, looping his other arm across my back to try and hold me up.

I chuckled weakly, "I probably picked it up from you."

"Shut up or I'll drop you."

"Suuurrreeeee…" I slurred out.

"Geez, you'd think he was drunk." Sarah said and Peyton laughed.

"Give him to me," I heard Garv say, "I'll take care of him."

"I'm not a friggen' object." I said sleeply. The ground vanished from under my feet but I felt the weight of Garv's arms supporting me. Movement, walking, doors opening and closing. The softness of the bed. It felt so nice after having all those pieces of wood poking into me.

"Hey Kaz," That voice…, "I found out how to get you home."

Home…

My tired body wouldn't say the word but it was the last thing I remember thinking before drifting off to sleep.


Yes! We had action! We had trauma! We had fighting (sort of)!

Now the question remains…who was that at the end?

Guess, guess! Oh PLLLEEEEAAASSSEEEE guess! I'm so happy to be working in this again! I missed this! Yay! The Files are back! The Files are BACK! I'm so excited! (runs around in excited circles)

I hope you are all prepared for the epicness that is…the rest of this fan fiction. XD