Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter - 4
The Nobility in Naru is decided on two requirements; the first kind of Nobility are those whom hold power in the citadel, influential merchants and business owners who were granted the title by Naru's ruler Lord Akame, these nobles generally hold their own estates and homes in the City; the second kind of Nobility are those descended or related to the Holy Gifted- the Mages responsible for the protective rain that showers Naru and repells the Daemons- these individuals reside within the central castle of Naru.
As the blood of descended nobles is said to be highly likely of reproducing Holy Gifts and other high level gifts they are as a rule kept from joining more dangerous military orders, the Raiders and the Assassin corps- which other nobles may join albeit with certain extra protections- are completely off limits and the Saints are known for only accepting descended nobles with some form of minor gift.
I didn't really remember getting back to the Living quarters the night before- or morning, I seemed to recall it being bright by the time we had left the pub- I was awoken by the sounds of the whole room buzzing with activity and Captain Rex shouting orders to everyone for gear up.
I sat up slowly, my head feeling both as if it were stuck in a vice and cracked open at the same time, a distinctly uncomfortable combination, through squinted eyes I noticed that many other Raiders were also just rising out of their bunks, of course as I got out of bed and glanced down towards the fire I noticed Sasuke already fully equipped examining the shorter more plain of his two swords carefully- how he had drank trice as much as I had and yet seemed so unaffected was impressive…and utterly unfair.
Groggily I pulled my armour from the chest and began gearing up, the background noise thankfully faded a little as I concentrated on fastening the armours various buckles.
"Here." Grunted the Uchiha having crept up behind me effortlessly, he dropped a small leather pack on my bed and handed me a roll of bread, I gave him a confused look at his odd offerings.
"Breakfast, you've over slept. The bag holds your Rations." He explained, it was a suspiciously kind thing for him to do, I thought about voicing these feelings but Captain Rex beat me to the punch shouting for Sasuke as he made his way towards us.
"Uchiha, where have you been?" growled the Captain causing me to jump slightly at his furious tone…naturally Sasuke simply looked bored.
"What do you want Rex?" asked the older Raider with a sigh, subtly I noticed him draw up to his full height to look down at the Captain.
"It's your lucky day, I've received orders to promote you." Answered Rex a sneer on his face as his tone made his words seem somehow malevolent; personally I was confused at this change in attitude, a few days ago I would have thought Rex had an element of respect - albeit begrudging- for the Uchiha, now Rex seemed to hold a contempt for the other man.
For a brief second the Captains hateful gaze flickered onto my person double fold in its intensity- I guess our fearless Captain was given to superstition, or perhaps he simply didn't care for the public belittling he suffered at the Uchiha's hands a few days previous.
"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke, something almost like apprehension in his tone.
"Oh don't worry nobody's removing you from your precious Raiders, just yet anyway. You'll be taking charge of the Vanguard of the squad." Snarled Rex in response slapping a piece of yellowed paper against the Uchiha's chest plate before storming away.
I took a bite out of my breakfast reclining onto my bed as I watched the Uchiha, his expression darkening as he read the sheet.
"Wha's wong?" I asked around a mouthful of food, I reconsidered my choice of speaking with my mouth full at the vaguely disgusted look the man shot me- he was awful stuck up for a soldier sometimes.
By way of answer the Uchiha handed me the sheet to read…that proved a little tricky, my sister had thought me a little of the symbols of writing and numbers but not nearly enough to make sense of the scribbles on the page, I did recognise my own false name around the middle of the block of writing though.
"Um…yeah, that's bad." I offered somewhat sheepishly handing the paper back to him, he blinked back at me in confusion before his expression shifted into a more apologetic one.
"Of course you can't read, most people can't." He commented with a shake of his head, I decided not to hold my breath for any kind of real apology, I was more intrigued where Sasuke had picked up the skill.
"It's a letter explaining my promotion and orders for this campaign, including who's to make up the Vanguard." Explained Sasuke taking a seat next to me on the bed crumpling the paper.
"I saw my name on there." I mention after I finished the bread, the Uchiha snorted.
"As are the other two recruits, it's a set up." Returned the elder warrior gesturing around the room…I felt a lecture coming on.
"There's thirty five Raiders here; twenty four regular raiders, ten nobles and the Captain. Usually the formation would be ten regulars in the Vanguard with two nobles, instead it's six regulars and one noble." Explained Sasuke a twisted grin spreading over his lips.
"So you think we're going to die then?" I asked, I felt as if I should be nervous after hearing all that but for some reason I didn't; maybe it just hadn't hit me yet.
"No." he answered quickly, and with resolve, I gave him a look and he shrugged.
"It just means someone's trying to kill us." It was probably a good thing I wasn't worried, dispelling someone's fear did not seem to be on the man's list of talents.
"Finish getting ready, then meet me by the fire." He ordered rising and striding away from my bunk, to gather the rest of the names on the list I imagined.
The streets of Naru were an unpleasant place to be, more than anyone I knew that, the rain roared down in a constant stream, the only sanctuary being the borders of the streets where the vital water drains hung from the roofs over the edges of the streets blocking the rain from above, of course keeping to the edges of the street where you were given cover was tricky as they were usually occupied- other citizens in the busy parts of town, stalls in the market district and of course homeless people, a considerable problem in the over-crowded citadel.
And of course even if the dry sheltered edges where not in use if you were in the Raiders and had an egomaniac Captain he would force you to march through the rain anyway.
My cloak already felt soaked through and heavy, I had originally thought Sasuke had insisted I wore it to keep dry, avoiding illness so to speak for both myself and my armour, the feel of the drenched material rubbing against the bear parts of my skin- the inside of my forearm and most annoyingly my upper arms where none of my armour covered, I grumbled miserably under my breath about my choice to wear my sleeveless shirt beneath my armour.
Sasuke must've hear me as he slowed his pace falling back in his stride from where he'd been talking to another experienced Raider- Tage I think he'd called himself, a monster of a man remarkable for his bulk but brimming with a solid strength like some boisterous bruiser, he'd shown me his war hammer commenting lovingly on its effectiveness and on how I should bulk up and get me one too.
He seemed a strange sight marching along-side my fellow recruit Ander, their heights widely in contrast and their weapons oddly similar.
"You alright?" the Uchiha asked, I almost couldn't hear him over the pounding rain on the cobblestones of the street and the shingles of the roofs about, I supposed he didn't want to be seen as actually caring by everyone.
"The damn cloaks heavy is all." I answered lightly, it was annoying but not hugely, with Sasuke forcing me to wear this armour so much it was a fairly familiar sensation- being barely able to move.
"It won't be long, about eighty yards out the rain stops." While he spoke the Uchiha kept shooting glances discreetly around us, I guess the unsigned letter of recommendation had set him on alert for an assassination of something.
"But why wear the cloaks, I'm already wet anyway." I grumbled in turn, some of my companions paranoia rubbing off as I glance what I'm certain is a pair of eyes watching me from a window, it lasts only a second though and I convince myself that my mind is playing tricks on me.
"Near the border of the rains the corruption mixes in with the spell creating the rain, it makes the rain…let's say unhealthy." Explained Sasuke, I wondered what other little sparks of knowledge he held, all I knew is the rain scared away the Daemons and that Holy mages made it rain, I wondered too if there were things I could teach him that he'd never considered either.
"And the cloaks protect us?" I asked sceptically, I had been under the impression that's why I wore my stinking armour.
"Yeah. I don't know how, they just do." Answered Sasuke with a unusually ineloquent shrug before slowing his pace again to another speak with another Raider, I craned my head once to see who he spoke with out of curiosity.
I couldn't remember the name this one had given, he seemed outwardly unremarkable- average height and weight with curly brown hair- the only unusual thing being his weapon a long iron pike; next to him walked the noble recruit, a bow over his shoulders and for all the world looking hugely out of his depth; the last of out merry Vanguard was a blonde man whom- simply put- frightened me, carrying a broadsword and a shield one eye glowed a ferocious blue while the other was white and I suspected blind- two parallel scars running diagonally across his brow and cheek where in his own words he'd told us recruits…
The bitch caught me by surprise just grazing me 'fore I got my blade in a little deeper and she quit fighting.
I should clarify that this was one of the creatures we refer to as Daemons so killing it was hardly a bad thing, but something cruel shun in his one good eye while he'd spoken, like a man who'd been hollowed out my the monsters he'd fought until eventually something of their evil climbed in to fill that empty spot.
Sasuke returned to my side after his exchange just as we reached the cities gate, the towering walls, many times even the Giant Tage's size had always left me feeling small, inconsequential but at the same time protected and safe…I wondered if I'd feel the same on the other side.
It hadn't escaped my notice the formation Sasuke had us in, it was admirable I thought that he'd ensured each recruit had something in the way of protection, I was new to Raiding but it seemed to me that as Sasuke didn't seem happy with his lofty promotion and hence didn't need to worry about losing it for doing a poor job he could easily have stuck the recruits on their own and kept the experienced warriors near him to ensure his survival.
The first barrier, the inner iron grill, shook as it was raised by some unseen force, the Guards on the tower above I assumed, I shifted my weight from my left side to my right leg to my left and glanced back at the rest of the group approaching.
"So this is a pretty easy job right?" I asked again, my nerves were beginning to act up a little, I noticed Captain Rex kept himself and the other nobles firmly protected by a meat shield of other Raiders.
"It's routine, another group cleared out the ruins but there's still resources to be moved." Answered Sasuke, the iron gates finally let out one last almost pained rattle before it locked in place, out of the corner of my eye I saw Sasuke give a miniscule nod to the other Raiders, the other four second file Raiders pushed the wooden doors open.
It was quite a sight all that green.
Within the citadel every other sight was a dull lifeless grey, there were brakes in the pattern but the grey always overwhelmed and surrounded everything. We stepped out onto the grassy plains and for the first time I felt free…of a cage I hadn't even realised was there.
"It's not far but, they'll find us at some point." I glanced at the Uchiha curiously, honestly I hadn't really thought how my first encounter with a Daemon would go, I hadn't even considered what the creatures might look like.
"A pack, six to eight of them, two or three of them will charge us straight on, the others will flank us." Continued Sasuke darkly, a stray gust of wind almost pulled my hood off and felt the rain splash against my face before I readjusted my cover.
"When it happens, stay close to me." He gave me a significant look as he spoke, around us the weather suddenly seemed to shift, the winds died down but the icy rain seemed to become heavier, beating onto my back like lead weights.
After another few moments of our march the rain thinned and eventually came to a complete stop, I paused mid-step as I cast my gaze upward and saw for the first time a blue sky peeking out from behind the angry grey storm clouds, I looked to Sasuke as I felt his eyes lock onto me; a single eyebrow raised questioningly and I suspected was asking why I had stopped.
"I've never seen it before." I explained, I knew 'it' was called the sky, but that word hardly seemed appropriate to the sight before me; so little dark dull grey around us, if I kept walking would the grey disappear completely.
The Uchiha just grunted, his eyes leaving mine to study the plains around us, I saw an extra edge to his gaze that hadn't been there before now and that was enough to destroy my surreal childlike moment.
We continued marching northward, the tension in the air thick and suffocating, I contented myself with the idea that even if I would soon have to fight I would at least see the Daemons coming.
I guessed it must have been an hour later maybe two that I noticed the waning light, it helped that Sasuke brought us to a halt and after talking to Rex for a few moments returned and handed each of us a long torch with a spiked bottom.
"Drive it into the ground before you fight." Ordered Sasuke to the entire group pushing forward and leading the group Tage by his side, I hung back slightly walking next to Ander behind the two veterans.
"Why are we out here at night." Grumbled the other recruit under his breath, accompanied by a curse or two at the apparent stupidity of the act, I couldn't do much more than shrug, I didn't really know but I was certain there must be some reason.
I didn't notice him move at all, my first knowledge that something was wrong was Tage shoving both myself and Ander back and driving his torch into the ground, drawing his weapon with a guttural shout, Sasuke had disappeared and to my growing horror I couldn't see him anywhere in the surrounding darkness.
Ander had stumbled away and in some sort of demented bravado had bumbled off into the dark driving his own torch into the ground too and drawing his weapon, I followed suit but without the same initiative, I was still searching for Sasuke, had something happened to him.
I saw a flicker of something just at the edge of the light, he said they would flank us, how many of them were moving around us now waiting for an opening, I heard a shout from behind us, the other members of the Vanguard.
Toxic green seemed to mingle in with the dancing darkness of our surroundings, I steadied my guard waiting for the first clash I'd face with these monsters.
I heard a grunt and a thump from behind me and spun to the source.
Ander was pinned by a monstrous creature, shaped like a large but hairless, it's back gleamed with green scales and bony protrusions, the lower portion was fleshy pink with a visible network of purple and red pulsing veins spread around it.
The thing scarlet red eyes watched me for a second before in snapped it's elongated jaw around Ander's neck plate, he had dropped his axe when the creature had tackled him and he beat his fist furiously against the beasts head.
I swung my own weapon to little effect, cutting into the creatures back only lightly, I swung again as I heard the neck plate of Anders armour groan under the strain, he'd started sobbing and crying out for me to kill the creature.
I managed only one last ineffective slash before with a final creak the iron gave way.
Blood splashed the front of my armour and Anders head rolled across the grass to stare up at me lifelessly.
I think I might have screamed.
In my panic I turned to run and tried to block out the grotesque sounds of the Daemon feeding on Ander's corpse, Tage had disappeared from sight and after seeing what the Daemons truly were I had no doubt that he too was now dead.
Everyone was dead.
The writhing darkness of black struck and I found myself pinned on my back, both of my arms caught underneath the creatures powerful legs it's claws digging into my flesh and it's obnoxious foul breath washing over my face.
I screamed loudly and shrilly as the monsters jaws clamped down on my neck plate, I began kicking and striking at anything I could but the Daemon didn't move, the image of Ander's head rolling from his body, the lifeless eyes looking up at me…seven seconds and that was my fate.
Sorry about the wait, been down to one non-broken hand after an accident, my next update for Cherubim should be up in a week or so but progress is slow unfortunately.
R&R