NOTHING IS OWNED, AND WE DECLARE IT SO.
A Second Chance
Chapter 3:
The First Night
SS
Slade was woken up by screaming. A look at his alarm told him that it was approaching midnight. Listening closely, his ears told him how far away the screams were coming from.
Sighing, he got up from his bed. Slade threw on his clothes and left his dorm, snagging his hat and bag on the way out.
As he left the building, the moon shone from above and illuminated him, casting a long shadow in front of him. Before his eyes, he watched his shadow start to contort into the shape of a skeleton.
The Rider was stirring. It had been contained for so long, and it hungered.
The screams came from the graveyard. It wasn't that far away, so Slade ran instead of calling his ride. A mist began to form around his feet, obscuring the ground for a few feet ahead of him. He felt that his feet and hands were beginning to heat up.
The first gravestone loomed out of the dark night. Old and weathered, it had undoubtedly stood against the test of time and innumerable atrocities that had been committed past it's setting.
Tonight would add another to that long list.
Slade found the source of the screaming. A girl had been tied up to a stone cross in a standard crucifixion position. She had several scratches and bruises, but nothing quite life threatening.
Slade recognized her from class earlier. She had sat a few rows in front of him. He didn't know her name, but he knew that she was in trouble, and names hadn't stopped him before.
He took in the scene and recognized the scenario. She was a sacrifice.
Then they loomed out of the mist. Strange twisted forms crawled across the ground and around the graves as they approached the cross. Their blackened bodies were gnarled like tree trunks, yet they moved with an supernatural grace.
Jikininki. Corpse-eating ghosts. They didn't have a tangible form until they got close to a living creature, making it so that they were immune to physical damage until it was time to feast on the dead.
Slade had faced one back in Texas that had accidentally gotten shipped to another continent from it's homeland.
That was one.
There were five here, and they were very interested in the girl tied to the cross.
Slade felt the transformation begin. It started in the hands. Before his eyes, they started to steam as the blood within turned to vapor and seeped out.
It had been many years since he had felt like this. Since he was reborn, he had to go through the pain again.
The next sensation began in his feet. Within his boots, his toes ignited and burned away, leaving bone exposed. The hellfire began to spread, climbing his legs like flaming vines.
As his legs withered, his arms were engulfed in flame. The skin melted, leaving his radius and ulna exposed, but leaving his clothing unharmed. The flames from his arms met those from his legs, and his chest combusted, leaving his rib cage for the world to see.
Finally, his head burst into fire. The skin peeled away, and the bleached bone became visible.
And Carter Slade screamed.
The jikininki had noticed him. Their forms became more solid and real as they approached, the proximity of the living fueling their physical forms.
The corpse-eaters drew closer as flame erupted from Slade's eyes.
Reaching into his bag, the transformed Slade pulled out a whip. It was a bull-whip, and it was about 17 feet long. The leather was worn, but in good shape. As the wooden handle rested in Slade's bony hand, it began to glow a fiery red. With a snap, the whip extended to it's full length as it was encased in flame.
The Rider had come forth.
The first jikininki glided towards him with surprising speed. It's face finally solidified enough to make out it's features. It's face was human, but horribly disfigured, as if by some great accident. It's eyes stared at it's opponent with a unblinking gaze. It's mouth was caked with dried human blood, and when it opened so the creature could roar, it's teeth were shown to be yellowed and broken, with slivers of bone stuck between the incisors.
With a roar the sound of violent wind, it reached out at him with pale arms that were unnaturally long and thin.
With a resounding smack, the Rider's fist met the monster's jaw, knocking it off. As the creature recoiled, the flaming whip wrapped around the twisted body.
The Rider smiled a dark and bony grin, then pulled.
The jikininki was enveloped in flames and reduced to ash. With a smooth motion, the Rider retracted it's whip. The cord gathered in his hand as he turned to the others.
With a wind-like roar, two more charged him.
The Rider answered their challenge with a roar of his own, but his was considerably more deadly. A ball of fire burst out of his mouth and set one of the jikininki ablaze. It rolled on the ground, screeching the sound of snapping branches until it ceased.
The other one avoided the fireball and latched it's horrifying jaws onto the Rider's hand. It proceeded to shake it's head back and forth like a pit bull to try and pull his hand off.
The Rider's hand, though made of bones and flame, proved stronger, and ignited inside the thing's mouth. As it's clouded eyes sizzled, he pulled his hand out of the cavernous maw and grimaced. The Rider's hand was now covered in it's saliva. Not only was it disgusting, it had a negative affect on the bones of the hand.
A jikininki's saliva had digestive properties to assist the beast in eating. The bones of the Rider's hand were softened. One good hit could break it.
With a growl, the Rider turned it's attention to the remaining two monsters. One was advancing towards him, but the other one...
Where was the other one?
The Rider found out. A great weight launched itself onto his back. The surprisingly heavy creature drove him onto the ground. It latched onto his shoulder, and the other one started gnawing on his leg.
The Rider was now very annoyed.
Then he started glowing.
His body flared up in a burst of fire, scorching the grass around him and setting the two jikininki alight. In response, they immediately let go in order to scream in pain. The Rider swung his whip around in a wide arch above him.
The flaming cord severed the gnarled legs of the creatures, dropping them onto the ground. The Rider severed one's head, but was forced to drop the whip as the bones in his wrist broke from the saliva.
Growling in anger, he rolled over so he was on top of the last jikininki. The Rider grasped it's head firmly with his remaining hand and channeled hellfire into it. As the monster screamed in unearthly agony, he put all of his weight onto it's head.
The jikininki's skull was crushed like a grape.
For a moment, all was quiet in the graveyard, save for the sobbing of the girl tied to the cross.
Then the Rider stood, but growled in frustration as his leg collapsed from the jikininki's saliva. After lacing his wounds with hellfire to speed up the healing process, the Rider pushed himself to his feet.
He lashed out with his whip and cut the girl's bonds, then whistled.
As the girl got to her feet, he could already hear the hooves.
Out of the fading mist, Shadelight came. A great stallion whose mane was ablaze and ribs were exposed. Fiery eyes locked onto his master.
With a grunt of effort, the Rider slung himself into the black, spike-covered leather saddle. Shadelight neighed in concern and began to walk away, ignoring the calls of the girl to her dark savior.
SS
Slade woke up in bed the next morning. Moving quickly despite having just woken, he downed several cups of water that he had placed on his nightstand before he had transformed back. The events of last night returned to him in the form of phantom pain in his wrist, leg, and shoulder.
Slade had never been more thankful that he had arrived at Yokai Academy on a Friday, giving him the weekend to get settled.
One thing from last night stuck out then.
'The girl didn't tie herself up, and the jikininki wouldn't have done it. They would have just eaten her. No, someone else tied her up and left her. But who?' Slade thought.
The answer would have to wait until after the nurse over his softened bones.
Now if only he could find out where the infirmary is...
SS
AN:
It has Been two Years since I, Z of the Conquerors, have even Thought about this tale. But easy Mind, my Minions, for it is Back.
Amazing, right?
Time this Chapter was completed: 1:54 am, Thursday the 19th, March.
And now I, Z of the Conquerors, am going to play Black Ops 2 Zombies to get inspiration for The Death Lord.