Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Known Gifted in Naru;
Raiders;
'Gin' Hyuuga- Former Mage of Lesser Shadows.
Sasuke Uchiha- Former Mage of Greater Fire, Unalligned Wraith.
Citizens;
Sakura Haruno- Healer of Corrupted Light.
Hinata Hyuuga- Mage of Greater Sacred Waters.
Namu Hiroki (Deceased)- Summoner of Lesser Shadows, Mage of Corrupted Oceans.
Guards;
Kakashi Hatake- Mage of Greater Earth.
Naruto Uzumaki- Mage of Greater Storms.
Mystics;
Karin Uzumaki- Alchemist of Lesser Light.
Kabuto- Mage of Lesser Decay.
Lords of Naru;
Lord Orochimaru- Mage of Greater Oceans.
Lord Akame- Mage of Greater Light.
Lady Tsunade- Healer of Greater Fire.
Chapter - 14
Domos Miasma the Lord of Death was also known as the neutral God.
Unlike the other Gods whom needed specific requirements to take mortals into their realms- typically a mortal is only sent to another God's realm if the death is caused by one of their Gifts- Death took souls as standard upon their passing.
For this reason Death was sometimes looked upon fondly, it had the patience to wait and didn't seek to speed anyone's passing; a welcome change from other Gods methods and plots, the mystic flames of Inferno that would drag men screaming from this world into Raig's hellfire world, the Wind Squell's razor like gusts that drew the dying into a hurricane world to serve forever more, Hason's lightning bolts that would draw their victims souls into the divine Storm realm.
Rumours persisted that the souls of the Gifted were automatically sentenced to their Gods realm upon death, this has led to more than a few Mystic's abandoning their defences and attempting to connect the God they were doomed to in hopes of making some bargain or deal- to become a loyal servant in life to purchase the same position in death…instead of being condemned to torture in the Gods realm.
If such a bargain could be struck it has never been reported, instead shortly after abandoning their charmed defences Mystics died noisy painful deaths.
"You should cheer up." I commented offhandedly as I walked alongside the Uchiha, we were near the front of the column and had just stepped into view of the gates, Sasuke frowned at the sight with all the displeasure he could muster.
"I don't like it." He muttered, I nodded my agreement but then again when had I ever enjoyed passing through these gates into the open, in the darkness I saw the glint of some watchers eyes flash and reflect my torch light- I supposed that at this hour Raiders made a strange sight.
It was much too late, by the time we reached the edges of the rains we would have only about three hours of darkness left, likely less, it was something of a suicide run all to search out for a missing squad of Guards- we weren't even told what they had been transporting.
"You're just afraid to go south." I teased drawing a snort and a ghost of a smile from the man.
"There's a lot of swampland to the south before you reach the mines, it'd be clever to be scared." Answered Sasuke, I felt a tingle of apprehension at the news, I'd heard rumour of the things that lurked in the swamp- Raiders never entered the swamp.
"So we might get a little wet." I commented with loose bravado, best not to think about getting caught in a swamp during full daylight, behind us a pair of torches were passed up into our hands still unlit; the ones we held alight now were for leading the troops, the longer unlit ones would be for encounters.
"Strange isn't it, how we despise the light but rely of torches and fires so much." I mused aloud without thinking, Sasuke had begun teaching me history and of magic's; in particular I had grown somewhat fond of the Benevolent God Embass Loews, the God of Lesser Fires, apparently it was the arrival of the God that first allowed man control of Fire, to cook, protect and aid us- I wouldn't have minded my Gift had it come from such a supportive God.
"Embass is one of the Raiders few allies." Answered the Uchiha leaning his torch against the damp stone as we awaited the Gates to open, the rhythmic clang of steel filled me with a sense of familiar dread.
"A shame we don't all have as many allies as you, even Death favours you if I recall right." I teased him, I'd come to realise that the words of the old seer woman were still of some embarrassment to the Raider, he frowned and glanced away- not an overt reaction but still more than most could get out of the man.
"As I recall many of them also wanted me dead." Returned Sasuke raising his torch back onto his shoulder as the Gates mechanism groaned a final time before it stood fully open before us, like a gapping mouth ready to swallow us body and soul.
"Most people tend to, why should the Gods break tradition." I supplied, Sasuke glared at me but in a playful manner- well no one else would have been capable of discerning it from his standard glare but I knew better.
"Fortunately I have my meat shield by my side." Remarked Sasuke letting his frown fall away into a small smirk, I threw him a glare of my own; I noticed some of the other Raiders glance at us strangely, it wasn't a stretch to see that they were confused at observing the stoic Uchiha acting so bizarrely human.
"How long do you think we'll travel in the light?" I asked as we stepped out onto the damp plains, at this point the elder Raider didn't possess much more knowledge than I did about the workings of the Raiders but it was still nice to ask.
"Rex is careful, once the darkness fades he'll find a nice safe hole to hide away in." answered Sasuke with no great confidence; I guessed he had come to the same conclusion as I had, that although Rex would undoubtedly take shelter he may still order us to search for signs of the missing squad- I didn't doubt that they were dead and whatever they had hoped to protect lost but I'd come to realise Rex was something of a moron.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a glint on Sasuke's wrist, with a surge I seized the warriors wrist- I was somewhat surprised that I actually succeeded- and examined the glittering band grasping his wrist, it was a simply black and royal blue band with a shining silver bird attached.
"…" I raised an eyebrow in question as I couldn't quite decide what I wanted to ask first.
"Sakura got it for me, or made it, I'm not sure." Answered the Uchiha brushing the armlet further up his arm and beneath his armour in a strangely self-conscious gesture, I smirked and elbowed him.
"What was the occasion?" I asked prolonging my teasing of the famed Raiders rather girly accessory for a few more moments.
"My birthday was a couple of days ago." I blinked in confusion at the Uchiha and frowned slightly, Sasuke looked away.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked keeping my tone even, of course I hadn't mentioned my own birthday several months earlier but I'd only been part of the Raiders corps less than a month at that point, Sasuke and I were close but not the same as we are now.
"It didn't seem important." he answer I feared honestly, I wanted to say that it was important to me…but that wasn't exactly something one Raider would say to another without attracting more than one unfortunate rumour or theory.
"So why a bird, I would have thought you were more of a wolf guy." I asked, of course assuming we both survived this latest escapade I would get him something of my own…I just had to think of something fitting that wasn't sharp and pointy.
"As a Raider I can fly free from this cage, or so she said." I almost laughed at the thought, clearly Sakura didn't quite understand how our Raids went, birds flying free we were not, mice scurrying through the dark in fear was a much more fitting simile- the thought sent an unintended shiver through me and I pulled my cloak tighter.
"How old are you now?" I asked, mostly out of curiosity, I had recalled hearing Sasuke had been a Raider for five years when I joined, so I guessed at twenty two, maybe twenty three.
"Twenty one." Answered the apparently not so old Raider adjusting his own cloak for some unseen purpose, I blinked in confusion and swore quietly to myself.
"How young did you join the Raiders?" I asked; and more importantly how, I'd had to let on I was a year older but from the sounds of things he'd joined even younger than I had.
"Shortly before my sixteenth birthday." The statement would have seemed ridiculous had it come from anyone else, at that age a former noble with no friends joining the Raiders should have died on his first Raider by all rights.
"Death really must favour you." I quipped in an attempt at humour, the Uchiha smirked slightly and I knew I had succeeded; now if I could rid myself of the impulse to touch him- not kiss, or hold, I wasn't that greedy yet- to ghost his skin and feel it's heat mix with my own, I would be a content little Raider.
He turned slightly and smiled almost excitedly, I felt something tighten and clench my insides beautifully and once more hated myself for allowing this flood gate to open.
"Shall we take point." I swallowed my tongue and nodded playing the mute for fear of what might spill from my lips should I unseal them.
They came upon us earlier than we expected.
About two hours after our departure we were assaulted from all sides by a pack of over a dozen wolf Daemons, fortunately it appeared they were more numerous due to their weaker nature compared to most others.
With a practised hand I slide my long sword free from the creatures ribs with a wet squelch, it was my second kill of the pack and I was once again pleased to see this brand did not possess the same corrosive blood as it's kin- the only difficulty with the creatures was their thickly armoured head and spine.
I glanced around the low light of the nearing dawn happy to note that their appeared to be no casualties among the squad, I saw Sasuke doing the same with a carefully relieved expression.
"Fuck!" I swore soundly accompanied by more than one of my comrades as the beasts we'd just slain burst into flickering pale blue flames, I jumped away from the fire quickly as it made a sickly unnatural wailing noise before subsiding, as I glanced away from the sight I noticed Sasuke standing at my shoulder- he too swore, a rare and ominous event.
"That's a signal, they're alerting anything nearby to us." Spoke the Uchiha before he hastened backward towards Rex.
I didn't like the sound of that, this close to dawn who knew what those crying blue flames could have awoken and sent upon our trail; worse still it was a magical act, for all we knew there may now be some mark- a scent or flavour, or something a Daemon may have a sixth sense to perceive- to reveal us to every predator in the area.
Sasuke came striding back into view a furious expression darkening features, he shouted sharp orders to the men before he reached me.
"We're picking up the pace, according to Rex there should be a Ruin two hours south, I want us to be there in one." Explained the Uchiha beginning our forced match as I sped up to keep pace, a moment later it occurred to me to first wipe and then sheathe my blade.
Half an hour later we were once more assaulted by a pack of wolves- only about eight this time- I had a harder time and it took me nearly a dozen strikes as I carefully danced away from the beasts claws and fangs before I brought it down; one of the men- Moros a Raider a little more experienced than I was- fell to the creatures, mangled and torn apart by the beasts.
We lit his body with his torch and moved on swiftly without comment, fifteen minutes later we bordered the swamp lands, we skirted the edges of the drop down to the murky waters; fifteen feet down a steep slope corrupted sludgy brown water swirled around the withered grey trees and I suspected poisonous purple and pale green vegetation- I sneered at the sight in mild disgust.
The next couple of minutes as we ghosted near the ledge I felt an uneasy burn building viciously in my stomach, I imagined the earth shaking beneath my feet and for a couple of minutes I thought I may have been crazy until my companions froze and voiced similar feelings.
There was canopy to our right now, a tree line of towering deathly seeming trees their bark grey, flacking and oozing purple puss in places as the first rays of morning light poked through the leaves.
As one we drew our weapons and raised our defences against the tree line, something monstrous stamped just behind the treeline and I felt my heart flutter and skip a beat; the Raiders on both of my flanks seemed to shake, their weapons barely held in their grasps, I was tempted to glance and weigh Sasuke's own reaction to this new threat.
The thing that burst through the forest edge was like nothing I had ever seen before, the towering Daemon had an almost awkward look to it as it leaned forward putting its weight on its monstrous front limbs- as thick as a normal man's entire body with too many joints, its left arm bent in two places and it's right in three, each joint bore half a dozen spiked bladed protrusions- it's face was even more hideous with twin gapping maws- the low hanging open drooling as the upper mouth gnashed in hungry anticipation- a single diamond shaped eye bordered by yellow crusted sores stared out at us and hair protruded in indiscriminate patches all over; the rest of its grey blue body remained thankfully hidden behind the trees.
For a moment none of us moved, and then the screaming began.
Some of the men charged forward pikes, hammers and blades raised in brave attack, others fled some over the embankment, some into the forest and others back towards the plain; with a sweep of it's devil-made arm the Daemon swathed the first wave to reach it knocking two men away and impaling and tearing open another three with a dreadful squelch as they gave hoarse cries of pain.
I pushed forward as another wave made an attempt in the wake of the monsters clumsy swing, it was slower this time but it still caught the two men who approached with me; as the limb had passed above me I swung my sword skyward as I ducked, purple blood fell onto my shoulder as my blade was almost knocked free from my hands, my success was short lived though as a shorter grey limb- the beasts leg most likely- struck out from the bushes toward me, I managed to raise my shield but it was like little more than paper before a hammer; my own shield hammered back into my chest sending me careening backward into a roll, between the blinding pain and the disorientating twists of my roll I saw the edge of the drop approach but couldn't stop myself.
As I rolled down the steep decline I felt the sharp pain of my own blade slice open my right arm as I passed over it, at the bottom I hit the sludgy water with a painful clap and began to sink beneath the surface as I felt a slick scaled limb wrap around my chest to aid in my decent.
I struggled and kicked weakly to no avail, my lungs began to burn and before long the slimy water entered my nose as my bodies need to breath overtook my self-control, my kicking grew fainter and my body numb as whatever held me squeezed tighter.
I shut my eyes.
Suddenly there was a new sensation, of something clamping over my mouth and forcing my lips apart; and then air was forced into my body and I felt something pulling me upward.
I opened my eyes to see a fiery red pair glittering back through the muddy water and instinctively I begun to kick again forcing more and more strength into my burning numb legs, together we fought the suddenly weakened pull, still we struggled and I despaired, my lungs were beginning to burn once more and I felt Sasuke's hands upon me pulling at the straps of my armour.
It fell from my body and with it whatever held me, a final kick broke our heads free and I took a greedy mouthful of the foul yet glorious air as we pushed our way up onto the muddy banks of a nearby key, again I gasped hungry mouthfuls of air before with a tremor I spluttered and retched heaving out the filthy swamp water I'd been forced to swallow; coughing I glanced to my right expecting to see my saviour.
Sasuke however was on the move, in one hand he held his gleaming curved blade loosely and with the other he grabbed at handful of my shirt and pulled me fully from the waters and further away keeping us low; as we moved I heard a vicious lash of something above us and glanced to my left to see a pale pink appendage smack one of the bent crooked swamp trees shattering the wood and snapping it in two.
We froze and Sasuke signalled me to be quiet, I spotted two more tentacles weaving their way around the woods from the water; the Daemons body was thankfully invisible, submerged beneath the murky depts it couldn't see us.
We crept further keeping low enough to kiss the glass we plodded through until Sasuke pulled me to a halt beneath the shelter of a large tree and without explanation began to pull off his armour and then mine.
"Where're going to have to swim again, quickly." He whispered frantically, I nodded and assisted him tearing my gauntlets from my hands, once we were down to nothing more than our clothe shirts, pants and our weapon belts we moved along again weapons drawn, Sasuke had taken a pair of gauntlets but I didn't know for what purpose.
I discovered as much once we reached the water line, tying the straps of both gauntlets together the Uchiha swung them in a wide arc a couple of times before releasing his grip and allowing them to sail noisily through the air to land with a clang on another island.
The reaction was instantaneous as tentacles erupted from the waters striking and combing the small island the gauntlets had struck, we didn't watch for more than a split second however as Sasuke pulled me onward through the water in the opposite direction; we made it onto land again before with a grunt we were forced to throw ourselves painfully onto our stomachs and crawl as monstrous appendages rampaged in the air above.
For twenty minutes we crawled and scrapped our way across the marsh floor until the thumping and whipping dyed away, I picked myself up and took stock of myself and the Uchiha.
We had both suffered a multitude of scraps and small cuts along out forearms and knees and Sasuke also bore a larger gash just above his left brow, I felt an ache from my chest and suspected that either the strike from the forest Daemon or the constricting by the swamp Daemon- perhaps both- had damaged something internal and the wound upon my right shoulder wept blood freely.
"What now?" I asked barely above a whisper, from what I saw there were only two options; we could seek shelter and wait until nightfall to attempt our return to Naru or simply try it now in full daylight- while the night was safer for a Raiding party it wasn't the same for two individuals, the larger Daemons of the day would have larger territories possibly allowing such a small group to slip around unnoticed- besides I'd been disorientated by my fall, unless the Uchiha had retained his senses throughout the chaos we were lost, the light would make navigating easier.
"Shelter, those clothes need to come off." For a moment I was quite unsure how to respond and just blinked at the other warrior in confusion.
"The swamp waters corrupted, it'll infect you if you stay in those soaked clothes for too long, firstly though your wounds." He elaborated gripping my forearm and pulling me closer, he undid his water hide from his belt and carefully washed my wounds taking the time to tear a strip from his shirt risnse it and wrap my shoulder; once he finished I undone my water and returned the favour.
"That's not necessary, Wraiths aren't susceptible." He protested, I snorted and continued in my task, he may be immune to magical illness but there was no magic in the consequences of a filthy wounds.
We moved on for another hour before I felt my skin begin to burn and another hour still before we came to a usable shelter; the building we stumbled upon seemed to be the remains of an ancient guard house abandoned but still very much intact; we made our approach carefully despite the burning sensations my still wet clothes gave my flesh but found the house truly empty, dust covered everything but there was a potentially salvageable stove in the corner and half a dozen bunks spread around the room.
I gathered whatever dry wood I could get my hands on as Sasuke scouted the area and minutes later we had the beginnings of a fire within the stove and Sasuke had begun to strip off- he glanced at me curiously.
"You need to take those off." He mentioned again now bared except for his under garments, I blushed and he sighed.
"I didn't realise you were so body conscious, I'll scout the area further." The elder Raider spoke pulling back on his still wet clothes and leaving me alone, I was still hesitant but finally pulled my shirt free from my skin.
Glancing downward I was horrified to see my skin had taken a red hue and small itchy raised bumps dotted my body in places, I didn't hesitate to pull the rest of my clothing free until I stood nude before the flickering flames my clothing hanging nearby to dry swifter, hopefully quick enough to avoid any awkward questions once Sasuke returned.
I heard a noise and jumped shielding myself awkwardly as I looked for a place to hide before I realised it was nothing more than the wind.
I shivered and moved closer to the flames, despite myself I wished Sasuke were still here, anybody to relieve this horrible loneliness and paranoia that held me.
That's it for this chapter folks.
As ever any and all opinions are greatly appreciated and of course any questions you may have will be readily and happily answered.
R&R