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Ogama Dobe

Rope








Since: 11-15-06
From: The Darkness of my Soul

Last post: 6301 days
Last view: 6301 days
Posted on 01-04-07 05:32 PM Link | Quote
I will post the chapters later on. I do not have them with me and my flash drive is not in my possession. So I can't give them to you that way. However I am requesting people's opinion on this draft. Once I get them here I would appreciate it if people read it and give me their feedback. Or if you are just reading it for entertainment, that's cool too.
Silvershield

580








Since: 11-19-05
From: Emerson, New Jersey

Last post: 6313 days
Last view: 6301 days
Posted on 01-04-07 06:00 PM Link | Quote
Out of curiosity, are you looking for feedback just for your personal use, or will your story be used for some sort of assignment?
Ogama Dobe

Rope








Since: 11-15-06
From: The Darkness of my Soul

Last post: 6301 days
Last view: 6301 days
Posted on 01-04-07 06:41 PM Link | Quote
This is for my personal use. I hope to publish it in the future.
Ogama Dobe

Rope








Since: 11-15-06
From: The Darkness of my Soul

Last post: 6301 days
Last view: 6301 days
Posted on 01-08-07 06:01 PM Link | Quote
Here is what I have so far for completed chapters.

Legends of Larathia


















Tome 1


















Chapter 1

A Stranded Warrior

The only sounds that could be heard in Taila Diar’s room was the constant drumming of the rain upon the mansion’s roof and the occasional thunder clap.
Taila Diar was a young woman of 17 with golden hair and blue eyes that shone with her emotions. She still wore her school clothes, a sleeveless blue shirt with a thigh length blue skirt. Taila was curled up in an armchair in front of her window watching the skies for the flashes of lightning that occasionally lit up the sky.
Then there came the sound of breaking glass. A black and sodden form was lying by the feet of the chair. It happened so quickly Taila didn’t have the time to scream. The young woman got down on her knees next to the person and turned them over to see whom it was.
The individual was a teenage boy of 15 with short but thick white hair that was soaked from the rain and hung low over the left side of his face. There was a gash running diagonally across his chest starting from his right shoulder and running down to his left hip.
His black and sodden cloak clung to his body and his short sleeve black shirt which was worn over a long sleeve shirt of the same color, was hanging loosely from his frame as was the shirt under for the gash was wide but not deep enough to be fatal. A leather belt hung lopsidedly and from the belt hanging from strips of leather was sheaths for twin-curved daggers, which lay nearby fallen from his grasp. His pants were made of a black cloth not familiar to Taila, and they hung low over his black leather boots.
“ Ungh, must exact revenge on that foul . . .” the young man began, but his head fell back onto the floor as he fell into unconsciousness.
“ What happened?” came the voice of the butler as he opened the door.
“ We must get this young man to the healer as fast as possible!” Taila said quickly, “ He has a large wound running across his chest,”
The butler nodded and ran off. Taila looked frantically about to find something she could use to wrap around the wound until the healer could look at him, she spotted the drapes hanging from the window he had come through and she quickly tore a large piece from it and began to tie it around his wound.
As Taila tied the knot as tight as she could the white haired young man winced. The young woman pulled him up into a sitting position and then dragged him up into the chair she had been sitting in.
Not long after a man with a thick mop of brown hair and garbed in the white clothes of a priest came rushing in and bent over the young man, uttering prayers to his god for the spells of healing needed to close such a wound.
However, even as the golden light fell over him, nothing happened. Confused the priest looked closer to find the wound covered in some sort of black substance that resisted the holy powers of the priest.
The young man groaned as he came back into consciousness, and he held a hand over the wound and flames poured from his palm into the wound, burning away the unnatural stuff and then he fell back into the chair letting sleep wrap him in its dark embrace.
With the obstructing stuff gone the priest continued his chanting once more and when he spoke the final words the wound closed up.
“ Thank you,” Taila said breathlessly to the priest who only nodded.
“ It is my job to help those in need,” the man said, and with that he left, he was nearly out the door when he turned and said, “ It would be best to keep him in bed for the next day just in case the wound has not fully healed. You will take care of this stranded warrior will you not?”
“ Of course I will,” Taila said turning her gaze back upon the young man.
The young woman brushed the hair away from his face. Then noticing the blood smothered across his chest she took the cloth that she had used to staunch the flow of blood to mop up blood what was left. Taila saw that while his muscles weren’t significant, they were defined.
The white haired youth groaned softly and, before she knew what she was doing she was stroking his hair, her fingers trailed slowly across his face. His eyes began to slowly open and she gasped, blushing furiously Taila looked away.
“ Where am I?” he asked, then the young man tried to pull himself up into a sitting position but Taila’s hand was on his shoulder and she slowly guided him back into the cushions of the chair.
“ Don’t move, you’ve been badly wounded,” she said. The young man grumbled under his breath, something about feeling strong enough to get up, but he made no move to make another attempt.
“ I’m afraid I haven’t introduced myself, I am Taila Diar. What is your name?” she asked, smiling kindly.
“ Toru Zaloc,” he said quietly, looking around the room,
“ When will I be allowed to leave officer?” he added sarcastically.
Deciding to let the remark slide Taila just said, “ When you can move around without that nasty wound reopening,”
Toru frowned and made as if to slump in the chair, but instead, with agility that belied his condition he rolled to the floor and snatched up his weapons, sheathing them as well in a single fluid motion. But as he moved to rise he cried out in pain and fell back to the floor.
“ Are you alright?” she asked, kneeling beside him in an instant.
“ Of course I am!” he said, “ Fooled you didn’t I?”
That statement was made quite untruthful indeed when he tried to rise and he cried out once more and fell to one knee, a hand unconsciously going to the wound.
“ You aren’t alright, not yet anyway,” she said, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders, “ We’ll get you a room across the hall if you like and you can stay here, unless of course you would rather stay with the priests,”
The young man’s face turned into a look loathing at the mentioning of the priests and he said, “ I think I’ll just stay here instead,”
With that said Taila called in one of the butlers and asked him to ready the room directly across from her own for Toru. When the man had left the room Taila said, “ Would you like me to help you into the chair until the room has been prepared? Or would you prefer to lay on the floor?”
Toru offered no answer but he did take a hold of the arm around his shoulders and place it around his waist so that she could better help him. The young woman helped him up into the chair and then she sat upon her bed.
The two of them sat there for a while and Toru shifted uncomfortably in his seat. A few more moments of unease past before Taila spoke, “ How did you get that wound across your chest, and how did you get sent flying through my window?”
“ I was fighting with my father,” Toru said, looking away from her.
“What about?”
“ That scoundrel killed my mother,” he said, his fists were gripping the chair arms so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, and as he sat there his bangs fell back into place over the left side of his face.
“ Why?” Taila asked, tilting her head to the side in question.
“ I don’t know, but any reason short of my mother committing treason would be good enough and I know my mother would never do that, so something must be controlling him. His eyes didn’t look normal, so that is the only other explanation than that he has gone insane,” Toru said, his eyebrows furrowed.
“ Do you have any siblings?” Taila asked trying to change the subject.
“ Yes and no,” he said, and his gaze was now on the door, in the opposite direction Taila.
“ What do you mean?” she asked.
Toru began to tremble; Taila wasn’t sure whether it was out of rage, sorrow or a mixture of both. Then he abruptly turned to her, his eyes were blazing with inner fires.
“ They all died to save me, except for one,” Toru said through his grinding teeth.
“ So is that sibling still alive?” she asked, beginning to feel sorry for this poor soul.
“ No,” Toru began, “ I killed him,”
Taila gasped and said, “ Why?”
“ He killed my pet, not to mention that he generally hated me, and I him,” Toru said,
“ Is that any reason to kill your kin?” she asked.
“ There was more to it than that but I don’t feel like talking about it,” he said.
“ What was your pet?” Taila asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.
“ An arctic wolf, with fur the color of my hair, he died as well to save me,” Toru said, “ I have no family anymore,”
“ I’m sorry,” Taila said, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes.
“ You need not be sorry, it is the one who destroyed my family that will be sorry. I will remember the pain the culprit has caused me, and then return it unto them countless times over, and the perpetrator will beg for me to end their life, but I shall not give them the mercy that they desire. I will dangle above the fool’s head, teasing them like you would a cat or a dog with their favorite toy, but just as it seems death will come, and free them. I will bring them spiraling back to start the torment over again,” he said, by this time the chair was starting to move with his trembling, the young man’s teeth were grinding together so hard Taila thought they would shatter, it also seemed that his hands would need to be amputated for the lack of blood they were receiving.
Taila placed a hand upon his and the fierce grip Toru had on the chair eased up, his teeth were no longer being ground together and his trembling subsided slightly.
“ It’s okay to be angry, but you can’t let your anger and lust for vengeance get the best of you,” she said, unknowingly rising and sitting upon the arm of the chair, then lifting his arm up and placing around her waist.
The touch of her warm flesh seemed to calm him and the young warrior let out a deep sigh, and then said, “ I know, I can still seek vengeance, but I must not let it take control. I am not the first of my kin to have nearly lost themselves to the insatiable need for vengeance,”
Then the door opened and the butler said, “ The young master’s room is ready,”
“ Thank you,” Taila said, nodding her head in thanks. The man left, and wordlessly Toru let Taila help him out of her room into the one directly across the hall.
She was about to help him into the bed when he roughly pulled his arm away from around her waist and then, before he could be overcome by his wound and need to be put into bed by a young woman when he was fifteen was not something that he felt necessary for his pride.
Taila, understanding the show of desperate need for independence as a way to save some measure of pride for himself said nothing about it, and not wanting to make him feel like a child she said nothing on her way out, closing the door silently behind her, enveloping Toru in the darkness, which he welcomed with open arms, for he knew that while anyone entering from a place of light would not be able to see him, but he would be quite able to see them.

The next morning Taila awoke, and she took a deep breath inhaling the fragrance of the outside air after a rainstorm, which reminded her that the window was still broken.
This revelation also bringing to mind once more the white haired young man who had made quite an impression on her last night. When he wasn’t soaked and so anguished by pain she found that she was thinking him to be quite handsome, surprised by these thoughts she brushed them to the corners of her mind.
When she had showered and dressed, Taila walked down the stairs into the dining room. Toru must still be asleep or recovering from his wound.
Remembering this, Taila thought it if she brought him his breakfast and she brought hers as well it would be a great chance for her to get to know him.
About another ten minutes later Taila was knocking on the door to the room that Toru had spent the night in. After a few moments of silence his voice could be heard saying, “ Yes?”
Taking that as an invitation to go in, Taila opened the door, with some difficulty, as she was carrying two breakfast trays. When she entered she could see that Toru had gotten into a sitting position and was leaning against the wall and he had raised one eyebrow, but was saying nothing else.
“ Good morning,” Taila said cheerfully, placing one tray in front of him and then sitting on the other end of the bed, placing the second tray in front of her.
“ Morning,” he said, “ Thanks for bringing my breakfast to me,”
“ Your welcome,” Taila said, beaming.
Toru picked up his fork and knife and began to eat; Taila did the same, and a short time later Taila spoke again, “ Are you feeling any better?”
“ I’m a little slow, but that will pass, I’m not really a morning person,” Toru said, “ I prefer the later hours,”
“ What do you do for fun?” Taila asked curiously.
Toru stopped eating and gazed at the ceiling for a few moments, contemplating this, then said, “ Fun? What is your idea of fun?”
“ My idea of fun is having a good time with the people around me, why?” Taila asked, “ Did you expect something strange?”
“ Never mind,” Toru said, falling back into silence.
It wasn’t long until Taila spoke again, “ What do you do in your spare time?”
“ I wander,” Toru said, gazing out the window as he said this.
“ Could you tell me about some of the places you’ve been?” Taila asked eagerly.
“ Maybe,” Toru said with a smirk.
“ Why are you evading every question I ask you?” Taila asked somewhat frustrated.
“ You want me to tell you about the places I’ve been to?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“ Yes, else I wouldn’t have asked,” the young woman said,
“ Just tell me already,”
“ I’ve been to a lot of places,” Toru began, “ The southern continent, the northern continent, and the eastern and western continents. The south is like a desert, with only a few cities over its entire mass for how difficult it is to get water. The north is a desolate plain covered with snow most of the year and the temperatures and below freezing most of the time, except during the very brief summer. The east isn’t anything so special, nor is the west, they are like the middle continent, and the only difference is the culture and the people. The eastern people put all of their cities near some source of water, and the people of the west live in the rockiest parts of their continent, a continent full of mines and all things that have to do with the earth. Happy now?”
“ No,” Taila said, “ You didn’t tell me what the places looked like in detail or anything,”
“ What do you think I am a story teller?” he asked.
Taila just shook her head and gave up for the moment, returning her attention to her food. Toru finished in another few moments and he quietly waited for her to finish.
Then she took the breakfast trays and placed them on the floor. Taila edged a little closer and folded her legs in front of her then said, “ How are you feeling?”
“ Better than I did last night, at least physically anyway,” Toru said, looking down at the carpet.
“ Where do you go to school?” Taila asked curiously.
“ I’m done with school, I learned everything I need to know and then I focused on perfecting my fighting technique,” Toru said with a shrug, “ Those teachers at the public schools should take a page or two out of the books of my instructors,”
“ Why is that?” Taila asked, inwardly ecstatic that she had gotten him to open up about something.
“ The teachers at schools like yours waste a lot of time teaching you things you’ll most likely never use. My instructors however, taught you the important things,” Toru said, folding his arms across his chest.
After digesting this information, Taila asked, “ Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
“ Not really?” Toru said, “ Most of the girls who came to see if I wanted to marry them were after the money my family has or were only interested in me for my physical exterior, girls like that really aren’t worth my time,”
“ I get that a lot too with the guys that come up to me,” Taila commented absently.
“ Are they not obnoxious?” he inquired.
“ Yes they are,” Taila began, “ But the ones that annoy me the most are the overly pious ones my parents try to set me up with,”
“ I’ve met my share of overly pious people too,” Toru said,
“ My mother was trying to find who she thought would be the right girl for me,”
After he finished the sentence he bit his lip and frowned, which soon turned into a snarl. His shoulders tensed up not to mention his hands becoming fists.
“ What’s wrong?” Taila asked, concern in her tone, “ Was it something I said?”
“ It was something I said,” Toru spoke as he looked down at his legs.
Taila wanted to try and comfort him but she felt like she should let him work it out on his own. Her compassion overruled that feeling and she placed a comforting hand on his. This appeared to relax him as his shoulders eased up and his grip slackened.
“ Is there anyway I can help?” she inquired, biting her lip.
Toru was silent for a while, in deep thought. The young man was taking deep breaths, then, after a while he said, “ Would you really want to help me?”
“ Why would you ask such a question?”
“ Why would anyone other than,” Toru’s voice trailed away.
Taila, without even really thinking about it embraced him. Resting her chin on his shoulder and placing a hand on the back of his head so that his chin was on her shoulder.
“ I want to help you because you look like, no, you are a good person,” Taila whispered into his ear.
“ How can you be so sure?” he asked.
“ Deep down, you are a good person. You’re intentions no doubt, are to help your family, not destroy them. That is probably all you’ve every wanted to do,” Taila said, patting him on the back.
Toru closed his eyes and fell silent. For a minute or so they held that pose until Taila, blushing, pulled away. The young woman edged back a few inches so that she still wasn’t right next to him.
“ I’m feeling good enough to walk,” Toru said, he then began to slide his legs out of the bed and put his feet on the floor. Toru stood on his feet and was about to take a step when his face contorted in a flash of pain and fell to one knee.
Taila made a move to help him back into bed but waited a few moments to see if he could still walk. Toru managed to rise back to his feet and he tried to take another step and fell back down again growling in pain.
“ You still aren’t well enough,” she said.
“ I’ll get through it!” he said stubbornly, “ I haven’t been on my feet since last night so I’ll only need a few more steps to get used to the pain,”
This time Taila was ready, he was about to fall back to one knee but Taila caught him by wrapping her arms around his waist. She helped back to the bed.
“ See? You won’t be ready until tomorrow,” Taila said.
Toru frowned, and then he gazed longingly out the window. A slight breeze came through the room and the young man took a deep breath let it slowly.
“ I guess you’re right,”
Taila smiled, “ See you later,”
With that she left, closing the door behind her. Taila walked away with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. There was an inexplicable joy racing through her.
Taila instructed one of the maids to bring Toru some lunch if she were not there and then left the house after checking her hair and clothes in the bathroom mirror.

Later on that evening after supper, Taila returned to Toru’s room to see how he was doing. The young man was laying down with the sheets pulled up and his eyes closed, she almost left because she thought he was asleep until he said, “ Yes? You desired to speak with me?”
“ I thought you were asleep,” Taila said, “ That is why I was going to leave, but now that you have proven yourself to be awake-“
“ You’ve no need to explain yourself,” Toru said.
Taila didn’t need to be told twice, she closed the door behind her and then pulled up a chair beside the bed. She put her hands in her lap and sat there quietly waiting for Toru to say something.
The young man rose up to a sitting position and said, “ I love the night, the cool of the shadows pressing in around you, and how it feels like you are safe because no one can see you that easily, especially if they were around a light source,”
“ But what if they had a light source with them?” Taila asked,
“ Then you couldn’t hide in the shadows,”
Toru chuckled to himself and said, “ I’m not completely defenseless, even if I can’t walk that easily yet,”
The young woman sat quietly seeing how Toru relished the quiet of the night. Surprisingly, he spoke, “ Taila?”
“ Yes?”
“ Do you like the darkness?” he asked.
“ Why do you ask?”
“ Because I would like to know,”
“ That’s not really a good reason why but,” Taila began, “ I never really thought about it,”
“ I see,” Toru said, falling silent once more.
“ Why don't you like to talk about you’re family?” Taila asked, itching to get some more about him.
“ My family?” he asked, “ My family is in the past? Why talk about what has happened so long ago?”
“ Has it really been that long since you’re family died?” Taila asked.
“ To me, it feels as if it has been a thousand years since I had a true family. You cannot understand how I feel,” Toru said, looking down at the floor.
“ No, I can’t understand how you feel. But I would like to help you through your pain,” Taila said, “ Just shelve your pride and let me help you,”
“I’ve already asked you this question, but why would you want to help someone like me?” Toru asked, looking up at Taila.
“ I want to help you because I feel something when I’m around you something I can’t explain,” Taila said, gazing into his eyes.
“ Indiscernible hatred?” Toru asked raising an eyebrow.
“ No!” Taila said urgently, “ I mean no, I want to help you because I feel a deep affection for you,”
“ You hardly even know me,” Toru said, “ Yet you feel deep affection for me?”
“ Yes,” Taila said, blushing furiously.
“ I’m flattered,” Toru, said, “ You are one of the few people who doesn’t despise me,” Yet, he added to himself.
This only made Taila blush more profusely. Unable to think of anything else to say Taila got up and said, “ Good night,” then she turned to leave and was about to close the door when she heard Toru say, “ Good night,”

The next morning Taila awoke and went through her daily routine of washing up. She was about to ask the servants to get her some breakfasts trays for herself and Toru when walked into the dining room when she saw Toru sitting at the table wearing a high collared black shirt with long sleeves and dark blue pants of the same cloth as his black ones.
“ Morning,” he said absently.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked, sitting beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. Toru tensed up at her touch and then relaxed a little.
“ I’m fine,” he said, “ I can walk now so I will probably be leaving tonight,”
“ Why?” she asked, “ I still haven’t gotten to know you.
There were a few moments of silence between them when Toru stood and said, “ There is something that I must do. My task is one that cannot be held off,”
“ Surely there is something that you need to do first, isn’t there?” Taila asked, wanting to get to know this enigma a little more.
“ Now that you mention it there is something that I must do before I go. I’ll need some money first, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Toru said, more to himself than to anyone else.
“ If it is money that you need I am sure that I could give you some,” Taila said, after taking his hand in hers she continued, “ If at all possible I would like to help,”
Toru sat back down and said, “ I can’t accept money from you, I know how to get the money I need, but if you could tell me something,” Taila didn’t know why he would not accept the money but she thought it best if she didn’t poke her nose where it didn’t belong.
“ Tell you what?” the young woman asked, curious as to what he wanted to know.
“ Could you tell me if any prominent politicians live in this town?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
“ The only politicians around are my parents and they will be returning tonight,” Taila said, “ Why would you need to know that?”
“ For no particular reason. Just wondering you could say,” With that he slid back in his chair and then continued, “ I guess I shall stay one more day,”
Taila smiled widely and said, “ Wonderful! I don’t have school today so what do you say we go for a walk around the town?”
The young man fell into silent thought, and then coming to his decision he said, “ I guess it couldn’t hurt anything,”
At that moment, breakfast was brought in and after they left Taila and Toru to their food, she began asking all about his life. He just evaded the questions by saying things like, “ If you really knew who I was then you wouldn’t be so keen to know everything about me,” or, “Why do you want to know me all of a sudden? This is our second conversation and you’re talking to me like you would a boyfriend,”
“ You could at least tell me about your family a little more. What were they like?” she asked.
Toru gave an exasperated sigh and said, “ You really want to know about my family?”
She nodded enthusiastically and said, “ C’mon I got your wound healed you’ve at least got to tell me about your family if not about you,”
“ The past is what it is and no amount of talking about it will change what has happened,” Toru said, looking at his food.
“ You’re no fun,” Taila said, poking him.
“ I never said I was trying to be entertaining,” Toru said putting a particularly large bite of food in his mouth so as to avoid talking.
Taila didn’t give up, after a few moments she asked another question, “ How come you wear your hair like that?”
“ It is tradition for the males of my family to cover one side of their face, it doesn’t need to be with your hair, some have worn masks for example,” Toru said.
Toru having finished his food rose and made for the door when Taila rose as well. The young man began to leave and Taila followed, they were just stepping outside the door when he spoke,
“ Why are you following me?”
“ You said we could go for a walk today,” she said, smiling mischievously, “ Did you forget already?”
He shrugged noncommittally and Taila came up beside him, she started to take his hand in hers but she let pulled her hand away. The two of them walked down the hill that led to Taila’s house and when they passed though the square someone cried out, “ Hey look!”
At that Toru dropped down into a crouch and looked about for the signs of an attacker, but rose when he saw a pair of young teenage girls running towards them waving. Taila returned the gesture and said, “ What are you doing here?”
While both of the girls were Taila’s age, the one on the left was slightly taller and had striking red hair the shorter one on the right had brown hair, both of them were wearing long sleeve shirts and knee length skirts of blue. Similar to the sleeveless shirt and thigh length skirt of blue that Taila wore.
“ Who are they?” Toru asked, frowning slightly.
“ These are my friends, Neray and Ari. We go to school together,” Taila explained.
“ I’ve never seen this boy before,” Neray, the red-haired girl said, “ Where did you meet him?”
“ He’s the warrior that the priest’s came by last night to heal,” Taila said, her hand resting upon his shoulder now.
The young man glanced down at Taila’s hand then returned his gaze to the two girls before him. Toru shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“ Is he your boyfriend?” Ari asked, then she and Neray giggled. Taila blushed, and Toru growled under his breath.
“ No, I am not,” Toru was about to say when Taila stammered, “ No – no, he and I only met the other night and we don’t know each other well,”
“ It certainly looks like you two are boyfriend and girlfriend,” Ari said pointing at Taila’s hand on Toru’s shoulder. Taila blushed an even deeper as her hand fell from Toru’s shoulder.
“ I think it’s time we moved on,” Toru whispered to Taila, who nodded.
“ Well then it’s time for us to get going,” Taila said waving to her friends, “ Bye,”
“ Bye,” Ari and Neray said as they walked off giggling.
Taila and Toru walked side by side, each deep within their own thoughts. After a while Taila spoke up, “ What do you want to do?”
He looked up at her, not responding right away. After a few moments of thought he just shrugged and said, “ I don’t care what we do,”
“ Alright then, come with me,” she said.
She took his hand and led him away from the square. The two of them ended up leaving the center of town and going to the outskirts.
The two of them stood atop a hill, overlooking the forests to the east. Toru stared out across the horizon, taking in everything he could see.
“ I come here a lot whenever I want to be alone,” Taila said, gazing out upon the horizon as well, she turned to look at Toru, but didn’t see him right way, Taila looked down to see Toru was laying down in the grass gazing up at the blue sky.
Taila sat down beside him and gazed up at the clear blue sky as well. There was silence between them for a while and then she spoke again, “ What are you thinking?”
“ What am I thinking?” Toru said, almost to himself, “ I’m thinking that I need to get stronger,”
“ Why is that?” Taila asked.
“ I wasn’t strong enough last time, but next time, I will destroy him utterly and completely, whoever saved him won’t get a chance to do it again,” Toru said.
“ What are you talking about?” Taila asked, completely bewildered.
“ I’m going to get my revenge!” Toru said, his teeth grinding together.
Taila could see that rage rising up within him once more, just the way it had when she had first spoken to him. Toru was beginning to vibrate with anger.
“ Calm down,” Taila said, “ No one’s going to hurt you,”
“ You’re right,” Toru began, “ Because they’ll be dead before they get the chance. He leapt to his feet and was looking about, trying to decide where he was going to go next.
Taila rose to her feet as well and took his hands I hers, Toru seemed to calm a bit and she said, “ Toru what is it?”
“ Leave me be,” Toru said, sullen now. The young man broke away and made off or the town.
“ Wait!” Taila called after him.
He stopped, then turned back to regard her, “ What is it that you want?”
“ Would you come to the reception for my parent’s tonight?” she asked, “ I would like it if you came to meet them,”
Toru looked up at the sky and fell silent for a while until he said, “ When is it?”
“ Tonight,” she said.
“ No I mean at what time?” Toru said.
“ Oh! It starts at seven,” Taila said breathlessly.
Toru seemed a lot more lighthearted as he said next, “ We better be getting back then because I know how long it takes for teenage girls and women, wait no, let me rephrase that. I know how long it takes for the female population to get ready for a formal occasion. For well over two hours just won’t do,” he said sarcastically.
“ Shut it,” Taila said, walking over to him and giving him a slight push to emphasize the point.
Then they parted their separate ways to do what they would until the party.





























Chapter 2

Darkness’s Loving Embrace

Later that evening, Toru waited in the living room for Taila to show up. He wore a long-sleeve black shirt with a high collar and the trim was golden. The shirt he wore hung over his black pants a short distance.
Some of the guests were starting to arrive but Taila came down soon after, she was wearing a long blue dress that clung to her legs until a few inches above her knees, then it hung down to her ankles much more loosely than the rest of the dress.
She held out her hand to him, which he took and the two of them went into the large room where the celebration was being held. Many of the young men glared at Toru menacingly. The confident white-haired young man just returned their glares.
The two of them were making their way to a table when a foolish young man with dark hair grabbed Toru’s arm. Toru’s eyes flashed dangerously, and he brought the would-be assailants arm over his shoulder and threw the upstart over his back. The young man’s hand shot up beneath his shirt to retrieve a dagger, Taila caught this movement out of the corner of her eye and quickly grabbed his arm. As such, Toru kicked the fool hard in the ribs instead of killing him.
Taila led Toru over to a corner of the room and said, “ Why were you going to kill him?”
“ He attacked me first, which automatically gives me the right to defend myself,” Toru said.
“ You don’t have to kill the fool, just disable them,” she said, giving him a look of concern, “ You don’t need any unnecessary blood on your hands, no one does,”
Toru just shrugged and began to walk away when Taila placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder at her and asked, “ What is it?”
“ Are you hungry?” she asked him, motioning to the food. Toru cast his eyes over the food and the young man’s eyes lit up at the sight of such delectable victuals.
Taila’s smile returned as she followed him to the food. Toru’s mood seemed to change at the prospect of delicious victuals. He took a plate and loaded it with meat and some bread.
Taila raised an eyebrow as she looked at the veritable mountain of food he had and Toru just shrugged and said, “ What?”
The young woman smiled as the two of them went to sit down at a table. Not long after they began eating someone shouted out,
“ The Diar’s are here!” Taila turned to look with a joyful look upon her face, and Toru looked over his shoulder with an air of disgust.
The two distinguished dignitaries were both dressed in clothing that did not hide their station. Mr. Diar wore a dark blue suit and his wife wore a long flowing gown of dark blue. The pair sat down across from one another at the table where Taila and Toru sat.
“ How is my daughter doing?” the man asked, a big smile plastered on his face.
“ Very well and you?” Taila replied politely.
“ Good,” her father said, running a hand through his dark hair which was slicked back atop his head, “ Who is the young man who is accompanying you?”
“ I am-“ Toru began, but Taila interrupted him and said, “ He is Toru Zaloc. Is there a problem father?”
“ Not at all dear,” her father lied, “ Is there a problem dear?”
“ No there isn’t,” his wife said in a voice like that of a stuck up person.
“ You see, everything is quite all right,” Taila’s father said.
“ You’re lying,” Toru said bluntly.
“ What did you say!” the man said, outraged.
“ Exactly as I said it,” Toru said, not backing down an inch.
“ What nerve,” Taila’s mother said with disdain.
Toru’s eyes narrowed dangerously, Taila, sensing what might happen, placed her hand upon his and said, “ There is nothing bad about Toru,”
The music in the background got louder, and Taila taking that as an excuse to leave, took both of Toru’s hands and led him into the middle of the room where it would be more difficult for her parents to hear what they were saying.
“ Can you dance?” she whispered in his ear.
“ Yes,” he replied flatly.
Without another word the two of them fell into the dance and were moving the same as everyone else who had started dancing.
“ I can’t believe that my father would have a problem with you,” Taila said shaking her head. Toru said nothing he just continued to glare at where her father was until Taila took one hand, placed it on his cheek and directed his face back to hers.
“ I wonder why he doesn’t like me,” Toru said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.
“ I’ve seen you do nothing evil or heard of you doing anything evil. So I cannot believe that my father should have a problem with you?” Taila said half to herself and half to Toru.
“ Does it have anything to do with the fact that I get my money from actual work?” Toru asked, losing control of his mouth for a moment.
“ I don’t know,” Taila said, looking down.
At that moment the young man who tried to accost Toru tried to butt into the dance. Taila held his hand to her waist and quickly took hold of his other hand so he couldn’t kill the upstart. However, Toru glared at him so coldly that Taila thought the fool would be frozen in that spot until someone decided it was worth the time to defrost him.
After a while Toru looked away and the young man ran away in fear. Taila spoke up, “ What did you do to him?”
“ Nothing that will kill him,” Toru said, “ Shame his mind was too simple for me to truly destroy it,”
“ How would you have done that?” Taila asked tilting her head to the side.
“ If I told you, it would take all the fun out of it for me,” Toru said, his smile that resulted twisting into something less than kind.
Taila decided to think of it no more ad just move on. She was amazed at how well Toru had fallen into step with the dance, for to her knowledge, he didn’t dance all that much and yet he was one of the most fluid dancers there.
When the song ended Toru made a move to leave, but a song with a slower tempo came on and Taila quickly caught a hold of his arm and spun him around towards her.
“ Come on,” she said, “ It’s not going to kill you to dance with me,”
Toru sighed and did nothing to resist, he did nothing at all at first, until Taila placed his arms around her neck and then placed hers on his waist. With another reluctant sigh from Toru the two of them fell into step with the other dancers easily.
“ Why don’t you like to dance?” Taila inquired a few moments later, “ You aren’t bad at it, if fact you’re very good at it,”
“ It isn’t very fun for me,” Toru said, “ There’s nothing to get your adrenaline rushing and the sense that if you make even the slightest error you’re as good as dead,”
“ Why would you find that fun?” she asked, thoroughly confused.
“ Like I said the adrenaline. It doesn’t matter though, not many people are skilled enough for me to ever really feel that,” the enigmatic young man said with a sigh.
Lost in thought, Taila pulled Toru a little closer and rested her head on his shoulder. She thought Toru was blushing but she couldn’t be sure.
A while later after going through several more dances, Taila’s parents finally found them. Her father was in an outrage.
“ What do you think you’re dong dancing with this rogue?” he asked, teeth grinding together.
“ It was my choice to invite him to the celebration father and I am old enough to decide who it is I want to spend my time with as such I decided I wanted to spend this evening with Toru,” Taila said, her eyes narrowing.
“ It is nice to see that you are making independent choices dear,” her mother started condescendingly, “ But we believe you are making the wrong choice-“
“ You are not going to be my matchmaker mother!” Taila snapped. The music stopped and all attention was turned on the four of them.
“ How dare you speak to your mother like that!” her father shouted, his face turning deep red.
“ Don’t you speak to your daughter that way you pathetic excuse for a government official! I could do your job better in my sleep!” Toru began, his teeth grinding together as well, “ You have no right to criticize your daughter who is far more kind than you are or ever could be! Instead of leaving me to die or become crippled she got me healed, and as much as I don’t want to admit it I owe her my health! So if you’ve got a problem with her then you will have to face my wrath! You who have lied to her for so long about who she is!”
“ You are the one who must be lying or lied to because she is our biological daughter,” the man said.
“ Then how come she has blond hair and blue eyes when neither of you have them?” Toru asked triumphantly.
Taila was silent, taking in what Toru had just recently said. Why did she have blond hair and blue eyes when her parents did not, or any of her grandparents for that matter?
“ Maybe there was some DNA that skips two generations?” her mother said, her tone making it sound like half a question and half a statement.
Toru just raised an eyebrow and then said sarcastically, “ Yeah, that has to be it,”
“ I will not allow you, a fool mouthed heathen to speak to me or my wife in that manner!” Taila’s father said, his knuckles turning white for lack of blood due to how hard he was clenching them.
“ Father that is enough!” Taila shouted, then she led Toru by the hand out of the room.
At that moment Toru was thinking of killing the politicians, but he decided he would let them live a little longer. Besides, there were too many people around, not that it mattered to him in the way that the law enforcers would know what he looked like, but it was more fun for him when it was just him and his quarry.
Taila led him to the outskirts of town near the northern gate. There was some silence between the two of them when Toru spoke,
“ I think it is time I left,”
“ You don’t have to leave because of my parents,” Taila said,
“ They will be leaving tomorrow,”
“ I have a room at the inn, I got it with some money I got from I job I did before the celebration. I’ll stay there for the night,” he was about to leave when Taila took a hold of his arm.
“ I’ll come with you to keep you company,” she said hopefully.
“ You don’t have to, besides, I’ll be leaving before the sun rises,” Toru said.
“ Then why do you have a room?” Taila asked, not thinking before she spoke.
“ I’m going to sleep in the room seeing how I paid for it but I will be waking up before the sun comes up,” Toru said.
“ Oh,” Taila said, feeling a little stupid.
“ Farewell,” Toru said, turning to leave.
Taila knew that so many people said this to the people they cared about and that it was a line that was said to death but she couldn’t help but say what she said next, “ Will I ever see you again?”
Toru stopped, looked over his shoulder and said, “ Who knows? I certainly don’t,”
With that, he walked away, until the darkness wrapped him up in its embrace. Taila stood there for a while, lost in thought, until a breeze came through the town, which woke her from her reverie.
Sighing quietly to herself, Taila walked back home.

Toru ran to the tavern as soon as he was sure that Taila could not see him. His rage was about to boil over, but he had to control it otherwise the kill wouldn’t be as satisfying in the long run.
He nearly flew up the stairs to his room and he quickly unlocked the door and it was shut in almost the same instant as it was opened.
Toru pulled off his dress clothes quickly and threw on a pair of black pants, a pair of black boots, a long sleeve shirt of black followed by a short sleeve one of a similar color and over that he pulled his cloak around him, wrapping some of it around his face and neck so that all that was visible between his hair and his cloak was his right eye. Then he pulled on his belt from which hung his weapons.
With that done he left as fast as he had come, with open arms welcoming the darkness of the night as he made his way to the Diar estate.

Taila evaded any confrontation with her parents as she snuck up to her room. With a somewhat heavy heart at the departure of the young warrior, she dressed for bed and slid in-between the sheets, closing her eyes and falling into the dark embrace of sleep.

The celebration was soon ended after Taila stormed out with Toru. Taila’s parents, after preparing for bed, slowly clambered into bed. There was no one else around save for the servants, all of the guests had left.
However, no one saw the dark figure slip into the mansion before the butler locked the front door. From shadow to shadow the figure moved, completely hidden by the sheltering embrace of the darkness.
The figure made it easily to the master bedroom. There was no one around to see the door open and close, not that anyone could have for the speed at which the door opened and closed could not have been easily detected this late at night. Nor could they have seen the person slipping through the door.
The moonlight that came in through the window fell upon the figure, to reveal it was Toru, grinning evilly. This job had more benefits than just getting him the money he needed, he got to take his anger out on these two fools, free a member of his race from their presence, and best of all, his quarry could do nothing to stop him from completing his job, awake or not.
He raised his daggers above the two victims, his smile still wide. The blades of the weapons glinted in the moonlight. In a pale moonlight flash the daggers descended to rend the flesh of the two politicians. Their hearts and lungs were torn with the strike; the pain brought them into wakefulness.
“ How did you get in here you mongrel?” Taila’s father asked weakly.
“ The darkness hides me in her loving embrace,” Toru said cryptically, “ And she is more than willing to guide the souls of the dead to their final resting place,”
With that Taila’s father died, and with her last breath, Taila’s mother began to say, “ You will pay for this,” but she only got to “you” before she died.
The assassin smiled as he cleaned his weapons upon the sheets before he left. Instead of going out the way he came in, Toru decided he would climb out of the window, he was only two stories up, besides, it would be more fun that way.
After leaving the mansion grounds, Toru went to the tavern and obtained the other half of his pay. As soon as he had tied the bag of gold to his belt he had went to his room and slid into bed, falling into sleep.

Taila awoke the next morning with the feeling that all was not right. After cleaning up she pulled her clothes out of her closet, choosing a light blue plaited skirt that ended halfway down her thigh, and a light blue sleeveless shirt that revealed her upper back because it was held up by the collar.
The young woman entered the dining room to see that neither of her parents was there, one of the cooking staff was holding her head in her hands and was sobbing softly.
“ What is it?” Taila asked, “ What happened?”
“ You’re parents Miss Taila, they-they’ve-they’ve been murdered,” the woman said in-between sobs.
“ Who could or would do that?” Taila asked, half to herself and half to the servant, beginning to break down into tears.
She took off for her parent’s room tears running freely down her face. “Why?” She thought to herself, “Why would anyone do this to my parents? I know that everyone they meet likes them but would someone really get so angry that they would resort to killing them or having someone else do that for them?”
Taila burst into the room to find there were two priests standing above her parent’s, who hadn’t been moved from their bed yet for the priests were still bent over them trying to see if they could do something for them or at least figure out who had done this.
“ Do either of you two know who did this?” she asked wildly.
“ We know that not a single one of the servants saw anyone come in and it could not have been one of the party guests as every single one of them was not here. So, we have concluded that it must have been a highly trained assassin,” said the taller one, standing to Taila’s left, running a hand through what was left of his brown hair.
“ There have been rumors that the Angel of Darkness has been frequenting the taverns around here,” said the shorter one to Taila’s right.
“ Yes, the wounds definitely look like his work, wounds that look like they were made by a curved dagger,” said the taller one.
“ The precision of the cuts is simply. Pardon for my use of the word, exquisite. The person making the wounds is truly a master with whatever weapon he wields,” said the shorter one. At these last two revelations, Taila began to chew on her lip, and the taller one said, “ Is everything alright my dear?”
“ That depends on whether or not my hunch is wrong,” she said, turning to go.
“ Hunch about what?” asked the taller one.
“ I know someone who could have done this but hwy he would do it I have no idea,” Taila said.
“ Exactly who is this person?” asked the shorter one.
“ Toru Zaloc,” Taila said, turning to look at them, “ Why?”
“ The priest’s of the many different churches can agree on one thing,” began the taller one gravely.
“ That would be?” Taila asked hesitantly.
“ That we all believe that our evidence points to Toru as being the Angel of Darkness,” finished the shorter one.
“ How?” Taila began, “ Why?”
“ He hates to have a debt to someone, and we get the feeling he doesn’t like politicians vary much because the majority of his assassinations have been on politicians,” the short one said, “ Did he tell you about what he was planning to do today or where he was going?”
“ All I know is that he will be heading South at some point soon, I can’t be sure when, but I think he is already gone, because he said that he would be gone before sun rise,” Taila said, she then turned and ran off, determined to find out if he really had been the one to kill her parents.
“ Wait!” the taller priest cried out after her. She did not heed him, so he turned to his colleague, “ If we cannot apprehend him we must alert the other churches upon the other continents that will aid us,”
The shorter priest nodded grimly and the two of them left the mansion.

Taila threw open the doors to the place people had seen Toru leave on his way to the party last night. It was a tavern and was not being used for a place for people to drink at this hour, but people could still get rooms.
Taila strode up to the counter and said to the man polishing glasses behind it, “ Did you happen to have a young man with white hair rent one of your rooms for the night?”
“ Yes I did,” said the man, placing a glass down to pick up another one to polish, “ In fact, some guys paid him some money at one point before he went out in the late afternoon and then some more late last night? Why do you ask?”
“ Just wondering, I’m looking for him,” Taila said, “ Thank you for your help,”
Taila rushed out of the place and to the town square, where she could not hold back the tears any longer. The young woman wept openly in the middle of the town square, no one said or did anything for the news had already spread throughout the town that her parent’s had been assassinated late last night.
Soon she became more angry than sad and was storming off to the mansion when a strange voice spoke to her.
“ Young lady, come over her,” the strange voice said, the voice sounded like it belonged to neither male nor female.
Taila looked down to see a figure sitting cross-legged on the ground, with robes on that were so loose and with so many layers it was impossible to tell the gender of the speaker.
“ What?” Taila asked, trying to contain her rage.
“ I noticed that you are filled with anger, and you need a way to let out that anger, here,” said the figure, handing her a length of chain form, which hung a large diamond.
“ This is going to help me how?” she asked.
“ It can create the weapon ideal to your fighting style and you can adjust it’s appearance with a mere thought,” the voice continued, “ Use it well, for it contains the power of a mighty gem,”
“ I will,” she said, placing the necklace around her neck.
Suddenly, the figure vanished in a flash of light. Not one to question the sudden acquisition of so mighty a weapon, Taila ran off to the stables near her mansion, where she would get a horse and catch up to Toru and find out from him if it really had been him.

* * *

The sun was beating down on Toru in his black clothes. However, for some reason, it didn’t really affect him. Not bothering to ponder why or how, he continued to move.
The small town was far in the distance and the sun was well on its way to falling behind the horizon.
The wind began to blow against his back, at first he relished the wind moving through his hair, but a refreshing breeze was not all that came upon the winds to him. Toru could faintly hear the sound of hoof beats off in the distance.
Since he couldn’t be sure who it was who was approaching he ran for a nearby hill, while the hill was out in the middle of a plain, it was better than meeting the enemy on level terrain.
When he reached the hilltop, the young man watched and listened for whoever it was that had been coming in his general direction.
The sky was a slightly deeper shade of blue with orange streaks throughout it. Toru smiled as the sun slowly receded from sight and the shadows lengthen.
Now he could barely make out a faint white speck against the now darkening horizon, and it was quickly becoming larger. Not too much longer after that and he could tell who it was.
The rider of the white horse was Taila, and her eyes were narrowed in anger, she dismounted at the bottom of the hill and began to make her way up it determinedly.
The young woman was gripping something that hung from her neck so tightly that her knuckles were turning white from the strength of the grip.
Toru looked up into the distance and saw some more horses coming this way. He growled under his breath and then returned his attention to Taila who was now standing a few feet short from the top of the hill.
“ Did you,” she began, “ Did you kill my parents?”
Now the sun was beginning to set, and Toru smiled as he spoke, “ Yes, I did,”
“ Why?” she cried out, “ Why did you kill them and why are you smiling?”
Toru began to laugh wickedly and after a while he said, “ I killed them for three reasons,”
“ And those would be?” Taila asked, her teeth beginning to grind together.
“ The first reason, they were nothing but worthless politicians who got paid far too much money for the pathetic amount of work they did,” Toru began, “ Second, because I needed the money, and lastly,”
“ Those aren’t very good reasons at all!” Taila shouted, cutting him off.
“ You didn’t let me finish,” Toru said, shaking his finger at her like one would to scold a child, “ Lastly, I did it for you,”
“ What do you mean by that?” Taila asked, her anger temporarily flown, replaced by curiosity.
“ You and I are not of the human race,” Toru began.
“ What are you talking about?” Taila wholly confused.
“ You and I are Zalocs,” Toru said.
“ I’m not your sister!” Taila shouted angrily.
“No, you are not, “ Toru said,” But you are one of the last of the Zalocian kind on this planet,
“ Do you mean the Zalocs that came to this planet before it was torn asunder during the Teesik War?” Taila asked.
“ You’re catching on,” Toru said, “ You see, my surname, isn’t my true surname, it’s just something my parents added onto our name’s and their own to make us fit in easier. Now to continue the explanation of the third reason why I killed you parents, Taila, your parents were lying to you about your true heritage, they hated Zalocs so much that they wanted to make you think that you were human and then eventually try and use you as a weapon against us.
“ Your adoptive parents were going to die sooner or later, by my hand or someone else’s. For you are a Zaloc, not some pitiful human,”
“ How can you know that you have not been lied to?” Taila asked, hoping to throw him off.
“ I have not been lied to because I can see that you are a Zaloc as clear as I can see what color your hair is. Zalocs live far longer than humans do and they generally look a lot better than humans do, not to mention the fact that they are unnaturally gifted in what they do as far as human standards go,” Toru continued.
“ So does that mean I have wings like that Zalocs in all of the old stories?” Taila asked.
At that point a different voice cried out, “ There he is!”
“ Gasp, the priests are here,” Toru said with feigned worry.
There were five priests all of them with dark hair and wearing the flowing robe of their order. The group had just dismounted, and they were now making their way up the slope.
Darkness had settled in now, Toru began to laugh maniacally. Then a pair of delicate hands, like those of a young woman formed out of the darkness, and they held some dark mass in its hands. The hands placed the mask upon Toru’s face and then faded away into the darkness. The mask covered his face save for his right eye.
“ So the rumors are true,” the lead priest began, “ Toru Zaloc is the Angel of Darkness,”
Toru laughed once more, “ Yes, that is true,”
“ Stand down!” Taila shouted to the priests, “ There is more that he must tell me. Then I will do battle with him,”
“ Where was I?” Toru began sarcastically, “ Oh yes! Taila, your parents are dead because they tried to stamp out the Zaloc in you. They have been eliminated for your benefit. You may now do as you please,”
“ Is that all you have to say?” Taila asked.
“ Yes,” Toru said simply, drawing his daggers.
“ Then, now we fight,” she said, and a flash of light occurred and now she held a long spear, with a spearhead at either side. At the base of each spearhead was a tassel and on either of the spearheads there was an ancient rune, also there were two hand guards placed at equal distances along its length, the whole thing was made of diamond as well.
The young woman charged forward taking a mighty vertical slash starting by the ground and ending above her head. Toru leapt up over the strike and as he came down, Taila made a thrust for his midriff.
The young man kicked it out of the way and then as his foot came up to hit her on the chin she took a few steps back. The moment Toru touched down he was in pursuit swinging his daggers in a motion that brought them in like a pincer.
In order to evade the attack Taila had to drop her weapon, thinking the match was over Toru moved in for the finishing blow. However, the weapon she had been using vanished and then another, exactly the same as the last reappeared in her hands in the right place for her to block the attack, which was a diagonal slash aimed at the left side of her neck.
“ You’re better than I thought,” Toru said.
Taila said nothing she just brought the bottom of her spear sweeping up to pierce a hole in Toru’s neck, the more experienced fighter sidestepped the blow and placed the tip of his dagger against her stomach, however, he did not drive it home.
“ Why don’t you kill me?” she asked.
“ You have too much potential,” Toru said, “ Besides, everybody needs someone who they can engage in friendly exercise with,”
That being said, he pushed her down the hill. Before she had been sent tumbling down the hill the priests had been preparing their spells, seeing the battle taking a turn for the worse on Taila’s side.
Now bolts of golden light arced up aiming for Toru. A pair of arms, like those of a woman’s seemed to materialize from the darkness, wrap him in an embrace and then the arms, and Toru receded into the darkness.
“ Are you alright milady?” asked the lead priest, getting down on one knee beside Taila.
“ Yes,” she said, her spear fading away, “ Confused, but physically fine,”
Then the group rode back to the town, their thoughts cluttered with the revelations that Toru had brought to mind.

























Chapter 3

Loose Ends

Dongbako Zaloc had finally recovered from the wounds dealt to him by his son during that battle that he resulted in Toru being blasted away by his master.
Dongbako had white hair, which was slicked over the back of his head, his piercing green eyes matching those of his son. He wore black armor from head to foot. Right now though his helmet lay on the floor beside him. The man wore a metal mask over the right side of his face, with a slit in it for his eye. The man had lived, for as long as the humans knew, for forty years.
The Zaloc knelt in front of a swirling black vortex through which he could see his master, shrouded in the darkness of the realm in which he dwelled.
“ It is unfortunate that your son was driven away,” the figure began, a male voice, clear, powerful, and filled with an underlying rage, “ However, my plan has plenty of room for dealing with loose ends such as that,”
“ How do you plan to do that master?” Dongbako asked, looking intently at the figure.
“ Maybe some of my minions can try their hand at persuading him,” the voice said musingly, “ If you see him again, try to coerce him, the lad is a powerful ally that if we do not attain will have to be destroyed at all costs,”
“ I agree,” Dongbako, said, “ My son is not yet fully aware of the nature of his powers,”
“ We must get him to come over to our side before he does because when he realizes his power, he will sort through his life and then his views will be next to impossible to change through outside influences,” the voice said.
“ Maybe if we could manipulate one of the girls who is fond of him, we could get him to come to our side?” Dongbako suggested.
“ That is a fine idea,” the voice said, “ But are you sure a member of the female population has that kind of persuasion over him?”
“ It is worth a try,” Dongbako said, “ I know a girl who we can trick into aiding us quite easily with the reward for doing so being Toru’s hand in marriage,”
“ And when the time comes we do not give it to her!” the voice finished, cackling with malicious glee.
“ I have a young woman in mind, a Zaloc to be specific,” Dongbako said, “ Would you like me to look into it?”
“ Yes straight away,” the voice said, and then a portal opened behind Dongbako, back to his world, where he had work to do.

When Dongbako reappeared in the throne room of the castle he summoned one of the messengers to him.
“ Send a message to Tesalia that I would like to speak with her about a certain someone she holds so dear to her heart,” Dongbako told the man.
“ I’ll make sure she is notified,” the man said, bowing and leaving the room.
Once there was no one there Dongbako said, “ Relai, where are you?”
“ Yes dear?” a woman’s voice came from a nearby room,
“ What is it?”
Dongbako loved to hear Relai’s voice for it sounded like a cat purring. The woman entered the room, she had striking red hair, and green eyes, she wore a black dress that was tight-fitting and had a high cut on one side of the dress starting at the bottom and not ending until around the upper thigh.
“ Our son will be visiting us sooner or later,” Dongbako began, “ Let us have a wonderful reception for him when he returns,”
“ I like the way you think,” the woman said, now leaning on Dongbako.
He threw an arm around her shoulders and then the two of them walked back to their room and locked the door.



Chapter 4

Dorou

After having left the site of the encounter with Taila and the priests Toru, having let out that he was one of the ancient race of Zalocs, decided it was time he display his wings.
He stopped where he was, in the middle of a wide grassy field under the starry night sky and focused on making his wings appear. Soon, a pair of black wings large enough to fully envelop him and envelop another with metallic sheen was protruding from his back in-between his shoulder blades.
Toru flexed his wings and then took off into the night sky, making his way south for lack of a better plan of action. The young man wasn’t sure how he would make himself stronger without another decade of training, and, while a decade was nothing to him, a Zaloc, he couldn’t allow his father to have free reign over the world for a decade, no matter how much he despised the human race.
He knew of a Zaloc who traveled the southlands, the Zaloc was not much older than he was and he might know of any ancient relics of power.
The young man also needed to know how Taila got one of the gems that were spawned from the Larathia. That one factor made Taila a much more difficult opponent to deal with. While she wasn’t all that accomplished with weapons yet, if she discovered all of the things that those gems could do, and she still held a grudge against him, he would soon find his hands full.
The young Zaloc spent the next hour or so flying south, contemplating what he was going to do there. As well as how he was going to find the person he was searching for if that person didn’t find him.
In another half hour he was a nearby the city of the south that was closest to the middle continent. Deciding that was a good place to start looking, Toru began to descend. He would have to descend far enough away from the city so no one would be able to tell he was a Zaloc, there was not need for the whole continent let alone world to find that out too soon.
His feet had barely touched the ground and hidden his wings before a bolt of light shot over his left shoulder. Toru turned and his daggers were drawn in an instant; there was a group of six priestesses, and each of them locked in the flow of pray to their deity for the power to cast their spells.
He threw his daggers up spinning pommel over point and then catching it by the very tip between his thumb and forefinger.
Smiling, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent the daggers spinning into the hearts of the two foremost priestesses, the cold points sliding easily through the flesh and into the heart.
Toru was about to call upon the powers of the darkness to help him retrieve his daggers when he heard a roar. Then out of nowhere a tall dark haired figure clad in a high collared shirt that was glinting in the moonlight appeared, not only was the figure’s shirt glinting, but its shoulders, knees, elbows, and knuckles as well. The figure’s eyes could not be seen glinting in the moonlight though because he wore his bangs over his eyes, though that didn’t limit his vision in the least.
The young assassin knew who it was Dorou, the Zalocian Berserker of the South. He had a gem that came from the Larathia, but which one of the many different diamonds upon his clothing it was is difficult to tell.
He was a martial artist, this being why he had so many different gems on his clothing, to make his blows hurt all the more. Soon after he had roared, he had leapt up into the air, descending upon the remaining four priestesses with a mighty crash, sending them sprawling to the ground, interrupting their prayers.
Dorou, being somewhat of an honorable fighter, waited for his opponents to get back up but as soon as they had regained their footing he was in motion once more.
He delivered a spinning hook kick with his right foot to the nearest priestess on his left with such force even from the distance Toru was at he could tell the woman’s head was now dislocated from her spine. The martial artist’s next blow was a punch with his right hand to the priestess on his right’s stomach, shattering a rib or two, which pierced her lungs.
The three women remaining where still having a hard time recovering, the moment they had lost the thread that connected them to their deity the battle was over.
Next he spun around holding his fists out wide, dislocating the last two priestess’s heads from their spines with the pure force of the blow. After Dorou stood still, Toru smiled sadistically and began to clap.
“ Your malicious sense of entertainment does not surprise me,” Dorou said simply.
“ Come now!” Toru began, “ You can’t honestly tell me you enjoyed the battle, albeit however brief,”
“ Why have you come here?” Dorou asked.
“ You don’t like to beat around the bush now do you?” Toru asked, tilting his head to one side and smirking.
“ You do though,” Dorou said indifferently.
“ It makes it all the more fun,” Toru said, smiling still, then he continued, “ I’m not here looking for anything material if that is what you want to know. I am looking for some answers, and I thought this a good place to start,”
“ Answers to what?” Dorou asked, now tilting his head to the side.
“ One question I would hope you hold the answer to,” the white-haired Zaloc said, taking a few steps forward.
“ Which would be?”
“ How did you obtain a gem that spawned off of the Larathia? For I know someone who just recently obtained a shard,” Toru said, his eyes narrowing, “ Anything you have to offer on this subject would be helpful indeed,”
“ I received mine from visiting each of the four Shrines, and then after completing the task allotted to me, I found in my hands after a brilliant light came and went, that I had a Seraph Gem they have been called,” Dorou said, “ It is said that only one of the Seraph races can wield them,”
Toru clapped his hands while laughing then said, “ Splendid, simply splendid!” then his façade fell and he said, “ And what happened at the four Shrines, how are you supposed to get in if you cannot command the element required to enter?”
“ You start with a Shrine that you can enter then go down into one of the deepest chambers, there you will have to fight a beast that is magically created in such a way that you will be challenged by fighting it, once you have won a pedestal will rise up, and there will be a pillar of light corresponding to each of the other three elements, there will be a shard of some gem on the pedestal, you can either take the shard or leave. Or, you could enter one of the pillars of light and gain the ability to control the corresponding element, with which you can enter the other Shrines. I will explain to you what you have to do next if or when you get through all of the Shrines,” Dorou explained.
“ Is there anything else?” Toru inquired.
“ You must go through the Shrines alone, and if someone entered the Shrine after you, which is highly unlikely, they will not be able to influence you or your environment in any way,” Dorou said, “ I take it that you will be going to the Shrines then with this newly acquired information?”
“ Yes,” Toru said, smiling, “ And then I will have more power than ever before,”
With that Toru touched his index and middle finger to his forehead, in farewell, Dorou did likewise, and Toru flew off into the sky making his way for the nearest city.
As he flew thoughts were racing through his mind, everything from the betrayal of his father and the acquisition of the information about how to obtain a Seraphim gem. When he reached the city and had gone through all of the necessary pleasantries, he made his way directly to the inn where he slid into bed fell into sleep where a dream that recounted what happened that fateful night came to him.

Toru’s eyes widened in shock as his father’s black sword pierced through her back and protruded from her chest. The young man was having a hard time catching his breath.
His mother did nothing; she just gazed at her son lovingly one last time, and fell into the dark, eternal, embrace of death. A wicked laugh began to come forth from Dongbako’s lips as he withdrew his blade from his wife.
The two of them stood there atop the castle roof, soaked to the bone from the torrential downpour, Dongbako trembling with laughter and his son, trembling with rage.
Then came the crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. Toru raised his head up slowly. His eyes were twin fires of the purest rage. The youth’s rage was so great that he could no let some of it out in an angry yell.
Without any warning Toru charged. Before Dongbako could react his son was leaping up in front of his and Toru kicked his father in the face, sending his helmet clattering across the wet stones. The young man brought his other foot swinging to strike but Dongbako caught the kick in his right hand, held it for a moment and then spun his son in midair with a flick of his wrist.
Before he hit the stone Toru’s hands broke his fall and then he sprung away. The youth drew his daggers as he righted himself, his feet sliding across the slick stones.
“ You did not even ask me why I did it,” Dongbako said with a sneer.
“ I need not know the reason why you did it!” Toru shouted,
“ For I know that any reason you have to say to me will not be good enough. So now comes your punishment!”
With that said the son charged again this time rolling behind his father and cutting the straps that held his father’s chest plate where it was.
In retaliation Dongbako brought his sword swinging down cutting a gash from Toru’s right shoulder down to his left hip. Due to the extra momentum Toru was sent sliding into the parapets that lined the roof.
“ You will never be able to defeat me son, I paid for your education in combat,” Dongbako said, smirking once more.
“ You may have paid for my combat training, but my teacher’s never did tell you everything I knew,” Toru said, still sitting where he had stopped.
“ Is that so?” Dongbako asked sarcastically.
“ It is,” the youth began, “ Because they don’t know the nuances of my fighting style nor do you. Also, I have been studying you fighting style as well. I have been careless so far, but I shan’t make that mistake again,”
“ Really?”
“ Father . . . . no, you are not my father; my father died the moment he lost his soul to whoever it is who compelled him to do this. I will avenge my father and my mother. I shall bring upon you so much pain being sent into the Hell that humans speak so much about will seem a blessing to you. You will now torment beyond imagining,” Toru looked up then, glaring at his father with such an intensity that would strike fear into the hearts of many, “ Are you ready to receive your punishment?”
Dongbako laughed and then began walking towards his son, gripping his sword hilt firmly. Toru rose to his feet and then shook his head then he looked up and gritted his teeth in grim determination.
“ Are you sure you don’t want to join myself and my Master?” Dongbako inquired.
“ You must die now,” Toru said, with that he ran forward.
Dongbako swung his weapon in anticipation hoping to catch Toru in mid-dash. However, Toru leapt back so that the blade of his father just barely missed him and then he leapt up into the air passing over his father in a mid-air somersault making deep cuts along his fathers shoulder down to his lower back.
The man cried out in pain, and before he could retaliate Toru had skittered away. Sliding to a stop a few meters away from his father.
Dongbako roared in pain and rage, then charged forward. Toru had expected this so he rolled to the right making a passing stab into the side of Dongbako’s left leg.
The man howled in pain, and as Toru came to his feet he snickered spitefully. The younger combatant pulled down the cloth around his face so his father could view the triumphant smirk spread across his face.
“ Why don’t you stop playing games and fight me like a real man?” Dongbako asked through gritted teeth.
“ Alright then,” Toru said, and in a heartbeat he was in position to attack once more. His daggers coming across from the let side of his body in a massive slash, which Dongbako parried, but that hadn’t been the true attack, for Toru brought his knee up into his father’s stomach with tremendous force for his thin frame.
The older man doubled over in pain and for lack of breath. The youth brought his fists up above his head and then swinging down into his father’s back, sending him crashing to the floor.
Toru was about to bring his daggers about for the finishing blow when Dongbako rolled over onto his back and initiated a series of wild slashes that were designed not to injure Toru only to push him back long enough to give him a chance to regain his footing.
The ploy worked much to Toru’s dismay, but Toru decided to take advantage of the fact that his father was not as quick as he, so the youth waited until his father let his guard down, while it was only for a moment, am moment was more that enough for Toru to come dashing back into the fray.
Much to his credit Dongbako managed to parry the initial attacks and stumble out of the way of the kicks his son sent his way. However, he was still off balance and unable to make any counterattacks until his son’s relentless barrage of attacks lessened.
Dongbako continued to back peddle while maintaining a fair enough defense to keep him in the fight, but he knew that his son was toying with him. That only made him angry and that lowered his ability to focus.
A wicked smile slowly spread across the youth’s face as he discovered from his father’s posture that he was quickly gaining the upper hand.
Toru had Dongbako backed up against the parapets of the roof, and the two of the stopped momentarily, Toru savoring the moment, and Dongbako trying to figure out how he would get out of this one.
Then, a black aura began to radiate from Dongbako; this was some sort of enchantment from someone who was not there, and watching through some sort of magical scrying device. Dongbako began to feel strength greater than he had ever known flowing into him, nor did he feel the pain from the wounds inflicted upon him.
The magnitude of what the black aura was doing for his father not escaping him. He the growl that came from Toru’s lips was feral, spurred on by the need to attack even more swiftly than he had before. Toru pressed a new onslaught of attacks; these ones were only a blur to the untrained eye.
Dongbako, with the aid of the unseen spellcaster, was able to block every one of these attacks and even offer a few counterattacks of his own.
Toru realized that he needed to switch his method of attack so he began to throw in sweep kicks and roundhouses. Dongbako jumped over the leg sweeps and accepted the roundhouses, while making a few attacks of his own.
Dongbako felt a strange impulse to extend his palm outward to his son and will a gob of black goo to leap from his palm into the wound upon Toru’s chest, as he did this, Toru was in the middle of a jumping kick, so he could only twist out of the way and get grazed by the goo, but that wasn’t good enough. The goo spread across the wound upon Toru’s chest keeping it open despite Toru’s body’s attempts to at least seal the wound so as to keep it from clotting.
After Toru’s feet touched down he skittered away to quickly examine the goo. There was no time to do anything about it because his father was charging, bringing his sword back in the beginnings of a mighty overhead slash.
Toru sidestepped the blow, and due to the magically enhanced strength of his muscles, Dongbako’s blade was stuck in the ground, in a sudden unbidden panic he began to tug upon the blade so as to pull it free so he could defend himself, but it was too late.
Seeing this to most likely be the only chance he would get, Toru took it. He charged forward, his daggers a whirring song of death. Gash after gash appeared upon his father’s body, none of them too serious, but serious enough to keep him off balance.
Toru roared triumphantly as he went for the finishing blow, a cross slash that would remove Dongbako’s head from his body, but a black vortex opened in front of his father and a mighty black sphere came through with great enough force to hurl Toru from the rooftop.
Toru tumbled through the air, fighting to maintain consciousness. It seemed to him that he was tumbling through the air for an hour, but in reality he only tumbled through the air for a few minutes, before he crashed through the window of Taila Diar.
Toru awoke then cold sweat drenched his face. The young assassin turned his gaze to the window. The sun was setting. He rose, wiped his hand over his face, and left. Every moment he was idle, was another moment his father had to recover.

























Chapter 5

Tesalia and the Shrine of Fire

Toru was on his way out of the inn when one of the doors on his way to the stairwell opened. A young woman clad in flowing red robes was standing there, gazing at him intently.
“ It’s been a long time Toru,” she said, tossing her red hair over her shoulder.
“ I had been hoping that I wouldn’t have to see or speak to you for a much longer time than what has already passed,” Toru said, his eyes boring into her green eyes.
“ It wouldn’t hurt you to talk to me for a little while,” she pined.
Toru glared at her and turned. Before he could walk away she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into her room closing the door.
This only made Toru angrier. His daggers were in his hands in a heartbeat. Tesalia smiled at him, as she opened her arms wide.
A score of pike-wielding women in red armor came from their various hiding places. Toru scoffed at them, and then began to laugh maniacally.
“ Do you really think you can overpower me with the help of humans?” he asked condescendingly, “ They will all be lying dead before you can even begin to weave a spell,”
“ They are not just any fighters,” Tesalia began, “ They are the elite fighters of the south. I doubt even you can defeat them fast enough to stop me from completing a spell,”
Toru laughed derisively, “ Then you haven’t a clue of what speed I possess,”
With that said he tossed his daggers into the air and caught them so the dagger’s blades were pointing away from his body if he held his arms by his side with the backs of his hands facing outward in front of him.
He ran over to his left driving his daggers into the stomachs of the two closest fighters then twisted them, eviscerating them. A maniacal laugh upon his lips he leapt over the heads of the next two to his right. And as he passed over them he drove his daggers into their brains. Toru then tossed his daggers into the heads of the next two to his right.
Tesalia and the remaining fourteen of the pike-wielding women had hardly even began to recover their wits before he retrieved his daggers and began to move on to cut down the next two in line.
The remaining fighters had only enough time to get into a semblance of a ready stance by this time, and Tesalia had barely begun the gestures and arcane intonations needed for the spell she had in mind.
Now there was only a dozen of the fighter’s left. The subsequent two pike-wielders managed a coordinated, albeit poorly coordinated stab for each of them, the stabs aimed at his head and lower abdomen respectively.
Toru vaulted over them and drove his daggers into their hearts, then twisting the daggers free he spun to build momentum and power as he brought his daggers in a mighty slash that started from over his right should down to the left, making a deep gash across the two foes who had stepped forward to take the places of the last two.
Feeling lazy he wiped his daggers on his cloak and then extended his hands, palms facing the last six, and flames poured forth from them. Quickly reducing the last of his adversaries to ashes.
In the blink of an eye Toru was standing behind Tesalia, unbeknownst to her for she was caught up in her spell casting. He waited for just the right moment when she was about to finish her spell when he jabbed her in the back with his index finger and said,
“ Boo!”
She nearly jumped out of her skin in fright. All concentration lost, her spell faded, and she felt considerably weakened for not having successfully casted the spell. Tesalia had been hoping that the fodder she had brought with her would be skilled enough to fend him off long enough for her to finish her spell.
Well, she thought, so much for that plan.
“ You failed,” Toru said, with a hint of malicious laughter in his voice.
Tesalia turned to face him and then said, “ I will admit it, I underestimated your speed,”
Toru glared at her with such intensity that she though she heard his voice in her head. It was almost like he was reading her mind like an open book. All of her thoughts, all of her memories.
This was what his voice was saying, you fool, how could you possibly hope to coerce me into doing what you desire?
Tesalia struggled to break free of the grip of his eyes by blinking, but she found that even a mere blink was beyond her at the moment.
Get out of my mind! Tesalia tried to command him to leave, but the glare continued, as did the probing.
So . . . . my father was the one who tricked you into doing this. Do you realize that he will just slay you or have me do it even if I had decided to come with you? Whoever killed my father would not want me to be a married man if I was to help him take over the world or whatever it is he wants me to help him do, there was a pause and then the voice continued, As such, leave me be. I have no use for a wretch such as you.
Then the hateful glare was broken as Toru moved to leave the room. Tesalia dove to throw her arms around his legs before he could get to far and she held his legs in a vice-like grasp.
“ Don’t leave me! Let me come with you!” she begged.
Toru hadn’t even turned his head or looked out of the corner of his eye to see the pitiful sight of Tesalia “sobbing” into his calves. The youth growled as he slowly pulled his foot from the clutching grasp of Tesalia.
Once he got his feet free she got up and tried to throw her arms around his waist this time, but he sidestepped her desperate lunge and turned for one of the large windows.
Tesalia fell to the floor heavily and did not move this time, instead she lay there sobbing and as Toru began to open the window she said in-between her sobs, “ Why don’t you want to be with me?”
“ It’s very simple,” Toru began turning his head slowly and fixing her with a distasteful glare, “ I hate you,”
Her sobs ceased, and Toru dropped from the window skillfully landing on the next windowsill down then jumping over to the next one down, and doing that one more time until he was on the ground.
He made his way for the market and bought himself some food and drink then spread his wings in an alley and flew off into the night sky making his way for the Shrine of Fire, where he would hope to increase his power.
As Toru flew south he ate his rations and contemplated what he would do after he had visited the four Shrines and that power still wasn’t enough.
Numerous ideas floated through his mind during the few hours of flight that was left until he reached the Shrine, when he saw a flash of light come up from the ground. The assassin groaned for he had an idea of who it was.
As he drew closer he found that it was just as he had suspected, it was Tesalia and several other red robed young women. He had a feeling that those were some of her apprentices.
Toru heard a dull chanting and could barely make out that they were moving their arms and some of them their fingers in arcane gestures.
The assassin drew his wings about him and waited for the spells to connect. A large bolt of lightning was the first of the things to hit his wings, His wings absorbed most of the energy and began to do what they did best, multiply the strength of the energy attack and then store it for later or immediate use. The rest of the electrical energy surged through his system, causing him to have a momentary muscle spasm that brought his wings away from his body.
Toru was dropping but that didn’t cause the next spell to miss, a giant fireball which hit him square in the chest and blasted him back and before he could hit the ground two more lightning bolts, not as large as the first but still painful darted through the air and collided with him.
The youth’s wings absorbed as much as they could of the energy and the rest ran through his body causing his muscles to violently twitch and then the last spell another giant fireball exploded into him, spraying more flames over his already burning clothes.
Glad for the fact that he manipulated fire he absorbed the flames into his frame and used that energy to heal himself. All of the energy from the lightning bolts gathered from his wings pulsed visibly. He smiled and extended his right hand and the index finger of that hand and a thin black beam the width of a piece of hair shot out from the tip of his index finger racing through the air towards his attackers with incredible speed.
Tesalia saw the glint in the air that gave away the thin beam of energy and cursed loudly, diving for the ground and rolling as far as she could. As soon as her feet got underneath her once more she got up and ran.
“ Where are you going mistress?” asked one of her robed followers.
“ You fools have to get out of there!” Tesalia began to shout back at them, but it was too late, the beam collided with the ground and made a small hole in the sand.
“ That was pathetic,” one of Tesalia’s followers began, but only got to “was” for the ground began to rumble beneath them and soon there were explosions occurring all around Tesalia’s minions where the beam had penetrated.
Tesalia cursed under her breath and turned her gaze forward, if any of them survived they would catch up to her, but he had to stop Toru from attacking again, especially with that trick, there was no way for her to use that against him for he created it and had never taught anyone else how to do it. So she began to utter the intonations for another lightning bolt when a pair of arms reached out of a black dimensional gateway in front of her and grabbed her.
Next Tesalia knew, she was sprawled on the ground and her mouth was filling with sand, turning the last few intonations die before they passed her lips, one moment later a hand grabbed her hair and pulled her head back and she saw it was Toru standing before her.
His eyes were filled with a rage so pure that she felt like a child who had been caught trying to sneak a cookie before supper. The snarl upon his face contorted his features and the flames that seeped from him made him look like some sort of demon from some other plane of existence.
“ For some reason I am feeling far too merciful he growled in her face and I will let you live one more time, but if you come after me again in the near future I will kill you,” Toru let go and began to fly to the shrine when he stopped and began to laugh maniacally.
“ What is it?” Tesalia asked, not bothering to look up.
“ Your followers must believe you to be some sort of goddess for they march here to save you, however, they only march to their deaths,” Toru said, smiling evilly, how good it felt to let out some of his anger upon these worthless humans, they could not possibly stand against him for Toru was not human.
There were two of Tesalia’s followers left running towards them and shouting the words to incantations. Toru laughed harder as he extended his right hand once more with his index finger pointing toward them.
“ Why must you slaughter humans as if they were animals?” Tesalia asked.
“ Why do you care?” Toru asked but didn’t wait for an answer, “ I’ll tell you one reason why I hate them so much. You must know all about it, I probably told the whole world that I would take revenge on humans for doing what they have done and still do to animals. Humans are no better than dirt the way they treat animals. I will make them pay.”
Tesalia was beginning to astound herself with this kinder side of her, which was revealing itself unto her. She said, “ That is only a small portion,”
“ It doesn’t matter, humanity as a whole must pay! Else they will never stop!” he shouted.
“ They won’t stop if they don’t know what they are being punished for,” Tesalia said quietly.
“ Shut up!” Toru shouted angrily, he unleashed a beam of black energy exactly like the last one, drew one of his daggers with his free hand and placed it against Tesalia’s throat, “ I don’t need to listen to this! Do you have any idea the suffering that I endure? That those poor animals endure? I don’t think so! So I say shut up!” with that, Toru wound up and brought the pommel of his dagger upon Tesalia’s head, knocking her unconscious. In the background he heard the explosion and the death cries of the two young women.
Toru turned away from Tesalia’s prone body, and began to walk toward the Shrine of Fire. There was no other way, he had to be merciless, he had to be cruel; it was the only way for him to get the vengeance he craved so badly.
Yes, he thought to himself, In order to exact the revenge that I lust for I must be a cold, heartless, merciless, soul. If that is the way it must be, then so be it.















Chapter 6

Inside the Shrine of Fire and Old Memories

Toru walked up to the Shrine door, and examined the door. Upon it was etched the worldwide symbol for those who specialized in the wielding of fire without a spark. However, the symbol was not so commonly used anymore for few bothered with that kind of magic anymore. The door seemed to be nonexistent for it was fitted into the wall so perfectly that the seam was practically invisible. Under ordinary circumstances it would be impossible to open, but these were not ordinary circumstances.
The youth placed his hand in the middle of the symbol and concentrated, and flames began to pour from his hand into the lines of the symbol, so the whole carving was traced in flames, slowly the door began to lift into the top of the structure. Toru walked into the Shrine with his hands resting upon the hilts of his daggers.
When he passed through the threshold the door slid shut behind him. Toru didn’t flinch; he was also surprised for there was light within the shrine. It seemed that there was light, since the walls were made of ruby the stone reflected the light from the outside to the interior of the Shrine. Thusly the whole structure was lit, Toru had a feeling that even if it was night on the outside, it would be light on the inside for no doubt there were countless facets in the walls, floors and ceilings of this place so theoretically the light would reflect endlessly.
The youth continued into the depths of the Shrine, not sure what direction he was supposed to be headed in. Toru supposed that so far, because he had not encountered any turns or changes in slope of the floor that it didn’t really matter where it was he was heading. However, his hopes of a simple straightforward trek to wherever the pedestal that he knew was in the center of the Shrine were shattered as he came upon a three way intersection, two paths stood in front of him one going slightly to the left and the other diverging slightly to the right.
With only his daggers, he knew he had no hope of marking the path he took and he hadn’t planned on being lost inside the Shrine, so he didn’t have any food to make a trail with. Besides, he thought, There is most likely a creature in here that would have eaten the food and ended up being led straight to me. As such he stood there for a moment deliberating upon which path he should take. Eventually he shrugged took out a gold coin and thought to himself, Heads, I go left, Tails, I go right. He tossed the coin into the air and caught it. The image of four disembodied, entwined tails looked up at him, emblazoned upon the coin.
“So tails it is,” he said with a noncommittal sigh. Toru began to walk down the right and path when he heard a strange noise. It seemed to be coming from the left path. He looked down the left path now with faint curiosity. Then with a shrug he turned and followed the left path instead.
Out of curiosity he knelt down and passed a hand over the smooth floor, it was not rough, but cut as smooth as if it had been cut a few moments before. He raised an eyebrow slightly then rose. Glancing around, he could see that all of the surfaces would be similar in texture to that of the floor. So he didn’t need to go around checking. With his curiosity sated he walked down the left corridor.
He continued on like in the same direction for how long he didn’t know, for the lighting never changed and neither did the floor, walls or ceilings. So he was left without and guidance. Nothing else that I can really do now, he thought to himself as he slowly trekked through the seemingly endless hall. As he thought this, it seemed to him that there was another fork in the path ahead. He sighed when he came to a stop at the intersection. This time there were three different paths, a left, middle and right path. Growling quietly to himself he waited, hoping for another sign like the sound he had hear earlier at the last intersection, after five or so minutes, he got no lucky clues this time and since there were three he cguldn’t just flip a coin.
With a smile he drew one of his daggers and dropped it on the floor, kneeling beside it he placed gn finger on the pommel and then spun it, smiling all the wider as he watched it spin, eventually it ended pointing to the middle path, with another noncommittal shrug he picked up his dagger, sheathed it and started to walk down the middle path.
To him it seemed that he had been walking for another thirty or more minutes along the hallway he had chosen and just like the rest of the Shrine that he had seen thus far the wall, ceiling and floor were all the same texture and made of the same material. He growled impatiently again, and then thought to himself WHY is this taking so long?! Growling impatiently again he walked for another ten or so minutes, but to him it felt more like an hour.
Toru saw yet another intersection, with a sigh that was slightly combined with a growl, he stopped, it was another set of three paths diverging, yet again there was a left, middle and right path. Then a great blast of heat hit him coming from the right path. The youth took a few steps away, yet he could still feel the heat. It was incredibly strong, now a smile spread across his face, finally! he thought, The end of this long trek is here! He ran down the right path at a speed even he was not used to, Toru hadn’t been this excited since he couldn’t remember when.
As he drew closer and closer to the end of the hall, there was a light at the end getting increasingly bright and the heat was becoming more and more intense. After a few more seconds he finally burst out into a large circular room, and in the center was a column of fire.
After skidding to a stop Toru took the time to examine where he was and the other features of the room. He walked up to the column of fire and heard a growl, and what he thought was the sound of claws on a hard surface.
“Ah!” Toru’s eyes widened with surprise as he rolled to the side and spotted a flaming thing fly past him.
Toru began to tremble with anticipation, drawing his daggers and rising to his feet he watched as the flaming thing turned to face him. It seemed to be in the shape of a wolf; however, it was completely cloaked in flames that were of intensity impossible under ordinary circumstances.
The beast charged, snarling at him. This time Toru leapt above the creature laughing all the while, why he laughed he didn’t know. The young Zaloc plunged his daggers into the creature, scoring two deep wounds somewhere around the thing’s kidneys. However, Toru’s sleeves caught fire, as well as his cloak. With a cry of surprise he fell to the ground and rolled away, not only to put out the flames but also to get away from the creature.
Toru absorbed the flames that were left over into his body, and he took off his cloak, for he knew that with this kind of foe it could only get in the way. After rising to his feet, he focused on the beast. It was already charging again.
This time he ran to greet it; however, he sheathed his daggers and extended his hands, as if he were going to embrace the beast. Toru sidestepped around the thing placed his hands upon its sides, the heat was too great though and he had not steeled himself before hand so he cried out in shock and surprise and pulled his hands away. The flaming thing was beginning to resemble a lupine figure more and more as time passed.
Toru took a few steps away instinctively waving his hands about to cool them off. He caught himself and brought his attention back to see the lupine creature turn and lunge at him again.
This time, prepared for what awaited him, Toru did not step to the side instead he let the beast charge and he lifted his hands to greet it waiting for the right time to strike.
The intensity of the heat sets his sleeves alight and they quickly catch fire, before he can stop the flames, suddenly the lupine creature’s head leaps from the flames and bites his right arm.
With a cry of shock Toru places his hands upon the wolf’s head using all of his willpower to absorb as much of the fire as he could before the beast lets go of his shoulder and skitters away, most of the energy it was made up of is gone, and the heat radiating from it has lessened considerably.
Toru can feel the warm blood running down his arm now and soaking into his clothes. The creature is in a far worse state than he though, for now it was clinging to its existence with what little willpower it has.
The youth manages a weak smile and runs at the beast this time it cannot surprise him. It is too weak to fight back as ferociously as it had before. He clamped his hands around its muzzle, keeping it closed and he focused on absorbing the rest of the flames.
The creature did not just let him draw away the last of its life, the thing thrashed about, trying to break free, but Toru kept his grip tight upon the things muzzle. It almost pried his hands off but the lost of strength was draining it too greatly and he was able to clamp its mouth shut once more. At last the creature was beginning to fade away as he drew in the last of its energy and it whimpered as it vanished from existence.
Toru’s breathing was heavier than he would have liked, Bloody hell! He thought to himself, That shouldn’t have been that difficult. I must get stronger. Or else I won’t be able to take my revenge.
The flames in the center of the room were dying down, he turned and through the dissipating flames a pedestal created from ruby, just like the rest of the shrine. There was something on top of the pedestal, a box perhaps, the youth couldn’t tell for sure because the flames had yet to fully go out.
Regardless of the flames he began to walk towards it, only casting a single glance down at the bite the wolf had given him. He doubted it would get infected the creature had been a metaphysical being and the energy that it was made of had not been corrosive.
By the time he reached the edge of the flames they were nothing more but embers. He stepped over them and walked up to the pedestal. The box was made of ruby as well and it had an intricate latch for a thing made of ruby.
As he went to touch the pedestal the moment his fingertips touched the surface a voice spoke in his head, it was not just one voice but many different voices, it was difficult to pick out any single voice without concentrating.
“You who have come seeking the power of the Guardians of Fire, what is it thou desires?”
“ I would have the power to control water, the element that opposes you,” Toru said, “If you would be so kind as to do so,”
“We shall bestow upon you this power,” the voices said in perfect harmony, “And then we shall take you from this place, faithful follower of the ways of fire,”
“Thanks you for this gift,” Toru said with a bow.
Then a red pillar of light descended upon him from the ceiling bathing him in red light, he looked up with his eyes closed, welcoming the strength flowing though him, some unseen force was lifting him slowly up. The wound on his shoulder was closing.
Toru was breathing in a sweet smell that was just now coming to him; it painfully reminded him of the smell of mother’s hair as well as that of his sister’s. The scent brought back to him memories of when he had been five or six and he would have a nightmare, his mother and sisters took turns comforting him and they always sung the same song, which he heard now, from all of them. It was the most soothing thing he had ever heard, the sound of their voices was soothing his weary and broken heart. The song’s soothing words paired with the smell of their hair let him drift off into a deep sleep. One that he hadn’t known in many years.

When he awoke, the moon was just reaching its peak. He found that he had been lying on the ground in front of the Shrine, and wiped the sand from his clothes with a frown upon his face.
With one last look to the sky he spread his wings and flew off into the night. Reminiscing about the memories that the Guardians of Fire had brought back to him, the memories were opening old wounds that should have stayed closed.

*

Taila sat in front of her window gazing out at the night sky, thinking about the youth who had killed her parents. Then, in her head, she could hear the voice of a woman singing, and for some reason unknown to her the song was familiar. Softly, she began to sing along with the voice she heard, for some reason it seemed like she had heard the song before.
As she sang the song Taila felt calmer, and it seemed to her that her heart was healing. At that point, Toru could hear the song and he became pale and he found it difficult to draw breath. When was the last time he had heard that song?
Once again the memories came back in a swirling torrent, Toru knew that if he didn’t come down from the skies he would fall down, for he could feel the onset of sleep. His feet touched the ground not a moment too soon for the dark embrace of sleep pick him up and cradling him in its dark embrace.

Toru could faintly hear a young woman’s voice, and it sounded all too familiar, like that of his sister, Kielle. However, Kielle was dead. This has to be a dream, my sisters are dead.
“So then little brother, ready to get your butt kicked in a sparring match?” she said with a smile.
Kielle’s white hair was whipping about in the wind and her fierce green eyes studied him carefully, her clothing consisted of a pair of long white cloth pants and a shirt of red cloth that was open in a V, beneath it was cloth wrappings around her upper-body.
“ Are you still so sure of your skills sister? Remember the last time we fought?” he asked teasingly.
“ Yes, and I beat you. By a landslide,” Kielle said, smiling.
Toru scoffed as he removed his cloak and then said, “ We shall see if you are so confident afterwards,”
The two of them stood there, staring each other down intently, waiting to see which one would make the first move. The two siblings smiled at each other, remembering the time that they had spent together sparring.
Toru ran forward straight towards Kielle, leaning over dangerously close to the ground, who tensed up preparing to lash out and strike her brother by lifting her foot up quickly so as to catch him under the chin and send him sprawling onto his back.
However he had remembered her disposition towards counter-attacks and decided against a straight-forward assault and leapt up in the air, Kielle was expecting him to attack from the air, but realized that he was too high up to strike at her and his intention had been to get behind her, this came to her too late though because Toru had already landed and his right foot shot out, Kielle only had enough time to turn away enough so the blow only grazed her shoulder, but there was more speed to the attack than she was used to, thus she was sent spiraling to the ground but he did not continue the attack, only stood there smiling at her.
“So?” he began with a wide smile, “What do you think now?”
“ I think . . . that this is going to be more fun that last time,” she said, smiling as well.
Kielle got to her feet, impressed with how greatly her brother had improved, and then the two of them stood there, in yet another standoff, this one shorter lived though, because the anticipation of a good battle was starting to get to the both of them.
The two of them ran at each other, their arms and legs becoming blurs with the speeds at which the moved, never did their limbs stay still for more than a moment or two. During this, they had a conversation.
“What have you been up to brother?” Kielle asked with a smirk, “Hanging all over Tesalia?”
“ Actually, that would be incorrect. As she has fallen into disfavor with me,” Toru said, glaring.
“How did that happen?” Kielle asked incredulously.
“Well, how could she stay in good favor with me when she was doing so many foolish things?” he replied.
“Like what?” Kielle asked.
“She became far too possessive of me, for one thing. No other female besides my family members could look at me without her glaring at them,” Toru said, scowling now.
“I never noticed,” Kielle said off-handedly.
“It started after your time,” Toru said, “Then she started to threaten anyone who she thought was smitten with me,”
“Ah, I see,” Kielle interjected.
“She even tried to kill one of the female merchants because she was trying to sell me something,” Toru said, “It’s one thing to destroy someone because they are annoying you, it is another to destroy someone because they are talking to the one you love and they happen to be of the opposite gender,”
“What was she trying to sell you?” Kielle asked.
Toru grumbled out, “It doesn’t matter,” his face returned to its normal color, “The point is that I don’t want to be treated as someone’s item,”
“Why can’t you ever be the one that people help?” Kielle asked, “Pride is ever the downfall of the male Zalocs. You still feel bad about my choice to sacrifice myself to save you?”
The two of them stopped their sparring match, and Toru hung his head as he spoke, “I was too weak . . . the weak shouldn’t be allowed to live . . . I’m weak. I shouldn’t be alive,”
“NO!” Kielle shouted, “You are strong, don’t ever think differently,”
“How can I be strong? When I watched all of the ones I care about die right before my eyes, and I could do nothing about it. How?”
“ Sometimes, things happen that we have no control over,” Kielle said,
“Maybe it was meant to be this way,”
“No! It was my weakness that led to this! What happens is not predetermined by some power greater than you or I! What happens is a result of how weak or strong the people who are involved in the situation are, or how the decided to go about it. Destiny . . . does not exist, nor does fate,” Toru cried at the top of his lungs, he then descended into sobs, and fell to his knees, “It was MY weakness that caused you to die, MY weakness that caused Tsoru, Xevu, and Ceria to die! MY weakness is why mother is dead. MY WEAKNESS!”
Kielle, not the most affectionate of the family, knew she had to comfort her brother. How to do it though, she had no idea. She embraced him though wrapping her arms around him tightly and whispering softly into his ear,
“Come now, you can’t just blame yourself for everything that happens and doesn’t go your way,”
“If I hadn’t of been so weak-“ he began, but she cut him off by pressing his head into her shoulder.
Kielle whispered into his ear, “I’m sorry that I acted without thinking if anything it was my fault because I jumped in the way. You probably could’ve gotten yourself out of that on your own,”
She softly stroked the back of his neck, this calmed him slightly, and enough that he was no longer sobbing, only shedding silent tears. Toru wrapped his arms weakly around her, but it did little to comfort him, the embrace of his sister.
Kielle rose and left; drawn away by the coming presence of another entity in Toru’s dream, however Toru was oblivious to this in his sorrow. What he did notice was the light pressure upon his back. The youth turned to see a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes, she was wearing a long, flowing black dress with billowing sleeves. Beside her was a young man with white hair and piercing green eyes. He wore a metal plate over his upper left chest area so as to protect his heart, but he didn’t bother wearing armor anywhere else. Beneath his armor, he wore a long sleeved white shirt and a broad leather belt from which hung his broadsword. His pants were made of a cloth similar to that of Toru’s save they were white and he wore similar boots as well.
“Tsoru?” Toru asked incredulously.
“What’s going on little brother?” the young man asked with a smile, “So? Have you met my wife?”
“Not that I recall,” Toru said, hanging his head.
“Hey, it’s okay don’t feel bad kid,” Tsoru said.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to show emotion? Weren’t you the one who would never stop saying that to me?” Toru asked still not looking up.
“I convinced him that even the greatest of warriors needs to let out their sorrow every once in a while,” the young woman said, kneeling beside Toru and smiling benignly.
“So buck up kid. I know that you’ve been through a lot, so . . . this is one of those times when it’s all right,” Tsoru said, ruffling Toru’s hair affectionately.
The youth shook his head to straighten his hair out, and then rose to his feet slowly. He bowed and said, “Greetings, I am Toru Zaloc,” with this he took the young woman’s hand and kissed the back of it, “It’s an honor to meet you,”
She bowed in return and was about to introduce herself when the two of them began to fade away. But another two were quickly replacing them; Ceria and Xevu were walking slowly towards him.
Ceria was tall, and wore her hair low but tied off by the base of her neck. Her hair and eyes were the same color of Toru’s. Xevu’s long, shaggy coat of white fur blew about in the wind, and his golden eyes hinted at intelligence far beyond that of a normal wolf.
“Are you going to be alright dearest brother?” she asked him, a concerned look upon her face. Xevu walked over and sat beside his brother-in-arms, for many a good romp together out in the wilderness.
Whereas Ceria had been almost like his secondary mother, for he and his true mother had rarely been home at the same time and when they had it was only for brief times, and Ceria had been there for him all of the times before hand. She had been the last one he lost. The one he depended most on.
“I’ll be fine my dearest sister,” he replied, looking down, wiping away the last of his tears.
She wrapped him tightly in a hug and whispered into his ear, “Why do you blame yourself? You needn’t do such things,”
“I know,” he answered, returning her embrace, “However, I just get this feeling that if I hadn’t been as weak as I had been then that you would still be alive, as well as the others,”
“Don’t focus on the past,” she said, “Looking back all the time and wondering will get you nowhere, and it will only bring you more pain. You don’t deserve any more pain, so please. Stop looking back, instead look forward to the future that our blood has granted you,”
Toru pulled away and spoke, his tone was firm once more, yet grim, “ I know . . . but . . . sometimes it is just hard to let go of the past. To forgive yourself, is harder than it is to forgive others . . . at least, that is how it is for me,”
“As long as you stop punishing yourself, you won’t feel so bad all the time. Maybe if you find someone to care for then that hole in your heart will be filled,” she said, more to herself than to Toru as she and the white wolf faded away.
From afar, Taila stood, trying to contain herself. She had witnessed everything. Standing beside her was a woman that appeared to be an older version of her, but it was Toru’s mother Laralia instead, and she wore a white, flowing dress.
“Now do you see what has made him into what he is today?” she asked Taila, “The pain that he has suffered. I find it astounding that he hasn’t gone on a killing spree yet,”
“Didn’t you know he was an assassin?” Taila asked, meeting Laralia’s eyes.
“Yes. I knew. In fact, it was I who got him those daggers.” Laralia said,
“ We got the best teachers for him from around the world. By the age of seven he was on his own. For he learned quickly enough that his teachers were never needed for more then a year or so,”
“Why did you turn him into a merciless killing machine?” Taila asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, “Why would you destroy his chance at a normal childhood?”
“He needed to become merciless, otherwise he would not survive through the later years of his life. And for most Zalocian children this is a normal childhood. If their parents do not instruct them in the ways of battle, then an instructor is hired to do so. That is our way of life,” Laralia explained, turning her gaze upon Taila.
“Is the Zalocian way of life that tough?” Taila asked.
“It can be,” Laralia began, “But it all depends on how the individual chooses to live their life,”
“Do you think Toru’s life will be difficult?” Taila inquired.
“Yes,” Laralia said.
“Do you have a guess as to what might happen?” the young Zalocian woman asked.
“No,” Laralia started, looking deep into Taila’s eyes as she spoke, “There is too much that is uncertain with his life. Too many factors that cannot be counted,”
“Has he ever had someone to . . . I mean . . . has there ever been a girl in his life who was special to him?” Taila asked, looking down. Blushing slightly.
“There was one girl . . .” Laralia’s voice trailed away as she reminisced, then she shook her head and continued, “Whose name was Tesalia. The two of them went nearly everywhere together. Then, she began to get too possessive of him. She didn’t want any other girl talking to him, let alone looking at him. She then tried to tell him what to do far too often for his liking. Toru left her, for he could not stand it anymore. At that point, all of his siblings had died; she had been his only source of comfort. That was only a year ago.”
Taila started to walk to Toru, to tell him that she no longer hated him. Even though he had killed her parents. She could see that, maybe he had only been trying to win her affection.
What a lonely and painful life he’s led, Taila thought to herself, his parents hardly had anytime to spend with him. All of his siblings that he spent time with and cared about have died. Loneliness is one of the worst things in the world. I’ve always had friends, but . . . he has only had his family because of who he is.
“Why do people despise him?” Taila asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
“It is because he is different, and because they do not understand what he is. It is also because he has killed many of their politicians and they know that they cannot catch him without a miracle,” Laralia explained.
At this point Toru rose, and began to walk away, disappearing from the dream. Taila tried to call out to him, but he didn’t respond vocally, he just turned his head and smiled, his eyes were closed. For he thought it was one of his family members. Then continued to walk away without looking back.
“How come he didn’t even speak to us?” Taila inquired.
“He said nothing because even if he had his eyes open, he would not have seen us most likely. You forget that just because we can see his dream, does not mean he can see us observing. However, he may have seen use already. I cannot tell though for there was little to denote that he had,” Laralia said, shrugging, “We’ve seen enough for now. Do you know now that Toru is not completely evil and that he did not lie to you?”
“Yes, I know that now,” Taila, said, “I now see that my problems are not anywhere near as bad as his. I need to suck it up. Now that I look at things, I can see that he did me a huge favor. Now I can do as I please, whereas before I was restricted greatly by my parents. I want to help him Laralia,”
“It will be difficult for you to follow him if you do not get those priest to stay away from you and if you do not accept that fact that you are indeed a Zaloc and spread your wings. You would never have had this dream had you not sung the lullaby that I sang to Toru when he was a child, his sister Ceria would also sing it to him” Laralia told her grimly.

*

Taila awoke from her dream with the sun in her eyes and tears coming forth from her eyes. The sorrow was still lodged in her heart, but she shook it away. There was a lesson in that dream for her as well, she shouldn’t hang onto the past forever.
With that done she closed her window, which had been repaired since that night when Toru came crashing through it. Then set about getting ready for this new day in which she would make the best of her new revelation.

*

When Toru awoke, he found himself in a clearing in the middle of a forest, lying in the middle of a ray of sunlight. After a quick inventory of his things to make sure they were all there, he let out a sigh of relief as he found that every last piece of equipment was where it belonged. Next he decided to look at his surroundings to determine where this forest was exactly.
His eyes fell upon a spring, with a tall rock standing in the middle, with four names engraved upon it. Toru let out a gasp of surprise, how could he have managed to get into a forest, and of all the different ones on the face of the planet, the one where he had buried those who had died to save him.
The youth slowly walked over to the spring, and took a few steps in. He knelt down before the stone that stood there. Toru passed his hand across the smooth stone, and then slowly over the engravings of his brethren’s names. With a sigh, a rose and climbed the nearest tree. With one last look down at the spring and the stone, he began to leap through the trees, not looking back once more.













Chapter 7

The East

Toru had gained the power to manipulate water; he now knew where he must go next in his search for more power. The Shrine of Water was located in the East, however he had to pass through the town where Taila lived because he needed to restock on food, for when he had taken inventory in the forest, he found that all of his meat was gone and there was little else, just some bread and a few berries and herbs.
The youth frowned at the thought of having to deal with Taila and her entourage of priests. It was such a bother to have to swat away such pesky and weak flies, and he didn’t really feel like fighting off hordes of weaklings.
With a shrug he shook these thoughts away so as to stay focused on the terrain around him. He saw that the plains before the town were coming into view and that would mean either jumping down from the near top of the trees or descending and continuing.
Deciding to make things a little more interesting he descended down to the forest floor, branch by branch. Until his feet touched down then he was off again, but walking, because he would be far too easy to detect if he ran across the plains leading up to the town.
Despite his want to get to the Shrine of Water as quickly as possible, Toru knew that it would take less time in the long run if he got in and out of the town as quickly as possible.

*

Taila was walking through the town square having just told the officials and the priests that they needn’t continue the search for Toru on her behalf any longer. This day she wore a long sleeved white shirt and a long, light blue skirt the stopped just above the knee.
Something was nagging at her, pulling her along down the cobblestone roads of the town. Towards the southern gate, she had a feeling that Toru would make his entrance there for the market was in the southern part of town.
Wordlessly she made her way through the town, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. However it was a little difficult for her to do, for there was always people watching her for some young fool always wanted her hand in marriage or something of the sort.
A shadow flickered in an alley out of the corner of her eye. There was a chance that it was Toru, in fact it was highly likely, for the same force in her mind that had told her he would probably come in from the south gate, and she was reasonably close to the south gate to make it seem more like a possibility, and if it wasn’t, she had a weapon to surprise the foe with.
Taila made her way over to the alley where she had seen the flicker of a shadow as quickly as she could, while still looking nonchalant.
A triumphant feeling began to well up inside of her for she saw him, Toru, standing there. Though he was glaring at her, with ferocity that one could label that look a death stare. This put her of a little, but she knew that he did not know how she had found him.
His fingers rested against the pommels of his daggers, he continued to glare at her with those piercing eyes, and she could’ve sworn that he could see right through her.
Taila raised her hands slowly and said, “I didn’t come for revenge,”
“Sure,” came the youth’s reply, he then began to feign relaxing by raising his hands up with his shrug, and saying sarcastically, “You just love me don’t you?”
Taila looked down, “I came to tell you that . . .”
“That what?” he asked, “That you’ve got bounty hunters after me?”
Taila shook her head as he said, “No, not that. I came to tell you that I’ve . . .”
“You’ve what?” Toru demanded, wanting to be on with his business.
“I’ve come to tell you that I’ve forgiven you,” she said.
Toru’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief, “You are leading me on! There’s no way! Not unless . . .”
“Yes, your mother showed me that dream you had, I saw every last bit of it,” Taila said, “She told me of your childhood and your loneliness,”
“How is that possible? How could you have been the one to sing that song?” Toru asked, half to himself and half to Taila.
“I don’t know, I heard the song in my head and decided to sing it. It felt . . . right, and familiar to sing that song,” she said, looking down, “I don’t really know how to explain it,”
“All that matters is that you can sing it and it isn’t just meaningless words. Well, at least they have the magic in them, however, I don’t think the knowledge of what they say was imparted to you,” Toru said.
“No, I didn’t understand any of the words,” Taila agreed, shaking her head to emphasize her point, “Do you know what they mean?”
“I think I do, however, I’m not entirely sure, I’ve understood the most of it that I’ve ever before,” Toru said.
“Could you tell me?” she asked.
“I don’t want to give you the wrong information. You could have only heard that song if . . .” Toru’s voice trailed away and he looked to the side, biting his lip.
“If what?”
“Never mind,” Toru said, shaking his head, “I have somewhere that I must go,”
“May I go with you?” she inquired.
“I’m restocking my supplies and then leaving immediately,” Toru said.
“To the East?”
Toru’s eyes widened in surprise, “Did you learn that in your dream?”
“Yes,”
“Then . . . could it be possible that . . .” Toru’s voice trailed off as he sunk into thought.
“What?”
“Nothing, for now. I need more proof to make the claim that has formulated in my mind possible. I’ll be leaving now,”
“No! Please don’t leave yet, I have a favor to ask of you,” Taila inquired, blushing slightly.
“Which would be?”
“Could I come with you?” Taila asked.
“Why do you want to come with me so badly?” he asked, an eyebrow rising in question.
“So that way you aren’t so lonely,” the young woman said simply.
This statement took Toru by surprise, his eyes widened briefly, and then he regained his composure. He considered her carefully for a few moments, trying to see if she had any ulterior motives or not, then shrugged.
“Why not? But you are bringing your own things,” Toru said firmly, “I will not supply for the both of us, for two reasons, one, I have limited funds as it is, and two, I did not come up with the idea that you should come with me,” Toru said matter-of-factly.
“Alright,” she then produced a bag and opened it slightly to show that she had her own food.
With that taken care of Toru began to walk by her when she suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around him.
“You should never have to be alone again, loneliness is one of the worst things in life. I want to be able to be there for you,” Taila said, burying her face in his shoulder. Toru shifted uncomfortably, and she let him go.
“I’ve made it through life this far, I think I can make it by myself, don’t you?” he asked, somewhat irked.
“Yes but, you’ve lost all the ones you love. They all died to save you, right before your eyes. I can’t imagine how that feels,” Taila said.
“You don’t want to even try. Now, may we go now? I still have to go through the market and get my things,” he said somewhat impatiently.
“Let’s go, I know where all the best food is,” Taila said, taking him by the hand.
“But do you know where all the best food for travel is?” he asked, looking at her questioningly.
“I can’t say that I do,” the young woman admitted.
“Come then, you can follow me then,” Toru said, reluctantly letting her hold onto his hand.
The two of them weaved their way through the busy streets, Toru leading them to different vendors and placing his purchases into a pouch attached to the back of his belt, which never seemed to get any fuller.
Taila caught on to this and asked him about it. The youth grinned mischievously and told her that it had been a gift from his family one time for his birthday, they had all chipped in to get him the wonderful thing.
They managed to get out of the town without incident and Toru began to guide them to a forest nearby. Taila followed without question knowing that he must have a good reason for leading them off towards the woods. Out of curiosity though, she couldn’t help but ask why.
“Why is it exactly that we are going to that forest?” she asked.
“Two reasons, one of which being that I need to see if you can use your wings to fly, the second being that we will wait for the cover of night,” Toru said.
“Is it because you don’t want to be followed by priests and bounty hunters from the town?” she inquired.
“You catch on quickly. This is so, not that I couldn’t fight them off but I don’t feel like wasting time on them. They are all to weak,” Toru said, frowning, “There are few things worse than an unworthy foe,”
There wasn’t another exchange of words between them for quite some time. They walked together in silence, Taila didn’t want to engage Toru in a conversation unless he wanted to be, she could tell that he had to get used to traveling with someone again.
They stepped through the foremost line of trees which seemed to be oddly placed, in uniform lines, the next line being placed just right to block the viewer from seeing any further into the forest. However, as they walked on a little longer the trees began to be a little more naturally, Taila spotted this and spoke, “Why are those trees we just passed grown in that manner? And how did they get that way?”
“They were grown that way during the war that split this planet apart. Because the armies led by Zalocs were almost always outnumbered so they needed guerilla warfare tactics to survive the battles. They used magic mostly to speed the tress growth and to place them in just the right spot necessary,” Toru elaborated, “This forest is the site of one of the major battles of that war,”
“Did Rathel do this? Or take some part in this?” Taila inquired, tilting her head to the side slightly.
“Yes he did. I’m surprised that you know whom the first member of the Royal Zalocian line to have set foot upon this planet. Where did you learn that?” now it was Toru’s turn to tilt his head slightly.
“I read it in a book about the Teesik Wars,” Taila said, smiling, “Did I surprise you in a good way?”
“You did actually, I had feared you knew nothing of our people’s heritage,” Toru said, smiling slightly, “It does my heart good to see that you have some knowledge of where we came from,”
“I’m glad that I made you feel at least a little bit happier,”
After that, silence followed, and an awkward one at that. Neither of them quite knew what to say, until they reached a clearing and Toru stopped.
“Right. Were you told how to bring forth your wings in your dream?” the young assassin questioned.
“Uhhh. I can’t remember,” Taila admitted sheepishly.
“It’s a dream I didn’t expect you to remember everything even a dream such as that. So, it’s very simple all you do is will them to appear,” Toru explained as if it were as easy as breathing.
“Ummmmm. Toru, pardon my saying this, but what exactly do you mean? Do you want me to think them into being?” Taila asked uncertainly.
“Exactly, it is very simple, I’m surprised you’ve never done it before on accident,” Toru said with a shrug, then his eyes widened in realization. His hand shot out and the youth’s fingers came to a rest upon her forehead.
“What are you doing?” Taila asked, biting her lip.
Toru held up his other hand, and closed his eyes. Veins began to become more pronounced upon his head, and upon the hand, which he was using to connect to Taila’s mind with. His eyes were scrunched together as well with his concentration.
The youth’s eyes snapped open, and they were filled with hatred, his lips curled back in hatred as he snarled feral, growling out, “Those scum! They dared to put a block on your mind! If they were not already dead I would make them pay!”
“Who? My parents?” Taila asked, beginning to fear this side of Toru she had not yet seen.
The assassin’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “Yes, when you were young. I will break that flimsy thing in so many pieces the ancestors of the ones who did this will feel pain!”
His hand fastened frighteningly tight upon her forehead, the hatred in his eyes was so great, and one could almost feel the heat of it wafting off of him. Taila cried out in pain, but that did little to stop him in his anger. A primal roar issued from his lips and veins once again began to surface upon his head, and arm, now his neck.
“Raaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!” with one final shout from Toru’s mouth there was a sound like shattering glass. Taila’s hands had been rising up to take hold of his arm to try and stop him, but before she could his grip had already lessened.
“What happened?” Taila asked, bewildered.
“I broke that seal they put on your mind,” Toru explained, his usual calm returned once more, “However, its effects will linger a little while longer. Until then, I’ll just have you ride on my back,”
Taila blushed furiously, “Are you sure? Will you be hurt by it?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” Toru said, “Just try every now and then to spread your wings,”
With that decided Toru’s black wings spread, pushing his cloak between them. The youth took off and then came back around with his arms held down for her to grasp.
The young woman reached up and as he passed by he grasped onto her forearms, she then grasped onto his. Toru then began a swinging motion with his arms to sling her up onto his back.
“You don’t have to, I can hang on until we get there,” Taila said.
“If you think you can hand on for an hour than be my guest, but, I don’t think you are able to do that, so it’ll be safer for you to just ride on my back,” Toru said, and then he flung her into the air and adjusted his flight so that she would land atop his back.
“Where should I put my legs?” She asked, feeling uncomfortable.
“If you have to just shift back a little to put them behind my wings then go ahead. Another word of advice, try not to grip my hair, as tempting as it may seem, I won’t let you fall,” Toru said, looking over his shoulder.
Taila nodded feebly, she didn’t feel right sitting atop him like this. Still, she could she that he would not be persuaded so there was little purpose in trying to. Just as any normal teenage boy, Toru was just as stubborn as most of them.
They passed over the forest gazing down at its canopies, which were replaced with sprawling plains of grass with hills scattered here and there, as well as the beginnings of the coast.
Eventually a network of small rivers came upon them. As well as numerous huts placed all about them. Several craft could be seen on the waters, albeit they were quite small from the height at which they were flying. Which was only high enough to be difficult for those on the ground to see them easily.
Every now and then the clusters of huts on the rivers would cease, as with the network of rivers. Time seemed to flow on smoothly, the sun rising overhead, well past its zenith.
The two of them passed by two different towns each of them with a wall surrounding them. After they passed the second one, Taila raised a question, “Why is it that those two towns have walls and those other gatherings of huts don’t?”
“It is because the gatherings of huts are those who are too poor to be able to pay the immense taxes that the citizens of the walled towns pay, they only have a enough to go there to do shopping and feed themselves when they cannot catch enough food to feed themselves,” Toru explained, “While it may look like an ideal place to live, this place has many hardships that its people must suffer,”
“Such as?”
“The many insects that plague them with the diseases they carry,” Toru began, “The common floods during the rain seasons. These are just the two major things that bother them, but many smaller things that are unique to each area bother them,”
“Oh, so it depends on where you go,” Taila said, “So, maybe one town has a problem with crime and the other has a problem with keeping the markets stocked all of the time?”
“Yes, those are the kinds of things that make this part of our world seem dismal, but the positives about this place, while they are few, they are appealing enough to make people move here, and make those that already do, stay,” Toru began, “The lifestyle is very laidback and easy going, never is there a lot of things to do, not even in winter for they manage to easily make the transition from the seasons, especially from autumn to winter. For the most part, the people here a friendly, they will take you in and feed you if you desperately need it, even if they can barely feed themselves at the time of your arrival,”
Taila just nodded, thinking of what it would be like to be treated so nicely by complete and total strangers, she thought, If only more people could be like that, then we wouldn’t have so many wars.
There was silence between the two of them from that point on until the white walls of another town began to come into view. Toru’s frown was accompanied by a sigh as he saw that the sun was nearing its time of sinking into the horizon.
“We’ll have to descend and walk the rest of the distance, we can’t risk being seen flying, because I’ve kept my true heritage secret this long, it would be a shame to reveal it to the populace at this point,” Toru said.
“Didn’t you show your wings to those priests when I tried to kill you?” Taila asked.
“They won’t be able to prove that it was me, because they are fanatics, and will do anything to try and get more support for their church, even if it means accusing one of the greater powers of the world,” Toru said.
As he neared the ground Taila slid off his back, he in turn pulled in his wings and landed softly upon the ground. The youth mumbled something under his breath, and then groaned softly.
“Are you alright?” the young woman asked tilting her head to the side.
“I guess I shouldn’t have had you ride up there the whole way, I knew I should have said something when my back was starting to bother me,” Toru said.
“Am I too heavy?” Taila asked, in fear of being indirectly called fat.
“No, my back isn’t use to it. I thought I could handle it because my sister Kielle used to make me do pushups with her sitting on my back. I haven’t done those in a long time, so I’m a little out of shape,” Toru said.
“Then let me help you,” Taila said, “It’s the least I can do,”
“There is no need,” Toru said, “I’ll be fine,” He then stumbled as he tried to take a step and ended up falling onto one knee, cursing under his breath.
Taila knelt down and slung one of his arms over her shoulder and he reluctantly allowed her help him walk for a short ways more for their pace was slow.
When the sun began to sink behind the horizon Toru stopped moving and he sat down, frowning. Taila knelt down beside him in an instant, “Are you alright?”
“Yes, but, I think it would be best if we stopped here for the night,” he said, “We’ll get there tomorrow, settle in,”
“Aren’t we going to make a fire?” Taila asked, looking around at the empty landscape.
“If you want to dig around in the pouch on the back of my belt and you feel like getting a visit from the night guard of that town then you should probably hold on the fire,” Toru said.
Taila didn’t argue, for she had a feeling that getting woken up in the middle of the night, dragged to the town and questioned, or on the other hand getting dragged into a fight with those same people who would want to question them wasn’t something she wanted to do. So she took a few steps away from the young man and lay down, settling in for the night.

Taila awoke to see Toru sitting up and staring off in the direction of the town. The sun was already beginning to near the halfway point to its zenith. She was not sure why he let her sleep so long.
“How long have you been up?” she inquired.
“Since dawn,” came the simple reply.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
This drew a silence from Toru and he answered, “I don’t know, for some reason I couldn’t bear to wake you,”
“Will you be alright today?” Taila asked, coming over to sit beside him.
“I should be,” Toru slowly rose up, but there were no problems, “Good, we’ll definitely be able to get there by at least sun down,”
“Why didn’t you fly a little longer then if we would only get there by sundown?” Taila inquired.
“Because, someone who was looking through a telescope may have seen us, and that would not have gone well in the end. Chance always favors the better prepared,” Toru with a shrug.
Taila stood up beside him and studied his face, which was nothing but a mask, one that showed only calm, cool, collectedness. Taila knew deep inside that he was still in sorrow beneath that mask the wounds were too fresh.
“Are you okay?” Taila inquired.
“Yes,”
“No, I meant, are you okay?” this time when she asked this question she stepped in front of him to look into his eyes.
“My well-being does not matter to the world, nor any individual for that matter,” Toru said, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“It does to me,”
Toru looked up, a surprised look crossing his face for a moment and then his eyes narrowed again, “You are just saying that to try and lure me into a false sense of security,”
“Must something always be something that will eventually lead to that person killing you?” Taila asked, “I don’t lie about what is important to me. It would seem rather useless for me to try and lie to you. What purpose could it possibly serve, because I don’t think that I am that skilled that I could defeat you,”
Toru frowned momentarily, and then his face became neutral once more as he spoke, “If you do care about my life, and my well-being, then, you will stop me from killing myself,”
He drew one of his daggers, not at the usual speed for he knew that she would not be able to keep up with him if he did that so he moved at a pace that she could match if she was going to. Bringing the dagger closer and closer to his neck. The double-ended spear appeared and stopped the dagger from opening the youth’s neck.
“I know that you have no intention of killing yourself, because you are so driven, to avenge your family, and right the wrongs that your father committed, so there was not real need for me to step in and stop you from taking your life. Yet, seeing how you were so determined to make me prove to you that I would stop you if I could. I figured that I might as well,” Taila said, as coolly as she could.
“I get this feeling that you are putting on a calmer face than what is showing in your heart and soul,” Toru said with a grin.
“That may be true,” Taila said, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.
“You don’t have to try and hide what you really feel in front of me, because, with the life that I have lived from since I finished my training as an assassin I’ve had to be able to discern people’s true feelings, I couldn’t afford to put my faith in trust. Because in the life of an assassin, trusting everyone you meet is liable to get you killed,” Toru said, “I never learned to trust anyone outside of my family,”
“Not even that girl you cared about at one point?” Taila inquired.
“I trusted her for a time, until she started to try and control who I did jobs for, and who I spoke with, sometimes in the life of an assassin you have to do things that you don’t want to,” Toru began, “Sometimes you are forced to lower yourself to levels that you don’t want to so you can survive. She thought she could control how I went about my jobs, because sometimes, I had to deal with certain sorts she didn’t think she could trust me with,”
“Why do you always have to be in control Toru? Why not let others be the leaders for once?”
“Taila, do you want someone to control who you can talk to? Who you can see? What you can do? All of the time?” Toru asked, extending his arms for no real reason it seemed.
“Was it really that bad?” she asked.
Toru shifted his arms a little so that his sleeves would fall to display his forearms, which had many different wounds upon them that were still healing.
“This is the result, I am still healing from the wounds given to me by that one’s weapon,” Toru said, “We got into many fights near the end, and at that point our skill levels were about the same. Now though, I am much, much stronger. Next I meet her, if she is foolish enough to continue attempting to finish the task that my father appointed her then it will be the end of her life,”
Taila could say nothing as to that, so Toru decided is was time to leave, without saying another word, Toru turned and began to walk off.
“Hey, where do you think you are going?”
“We wasted enough time,” Toru said, “It would be nice if we could get there today, spend the night there, and get far enough in the next day so we can fly the rest of the way. Unless you want to spend another few days out in the wilderness because all you want to do is maximal talking and sleeping and minimal walking. If you really must talk then do it while walking,”
“Why are you being so pushy?” Taila asked.
“Why are you procrastinating?” Toru snipped.
Taila sighed, figuring that there was no real point in trying to argue with him when he was so determined to keep going. No that he had interrupted her train of thought, she really couldn’t think of anything to say. Which left her with no other option than to follow him.
When the sun was past its zenith Toru stopped suddenly, sighed and then sat down, rummaging in that pouch of his.
“What are you doing? Aren’t we going to continue on to the city?” Taila asked.
“Not yet, we are going to eat lunch first. Albeit a very light one,” Toru said, “Here,”
Taila just barely caught the apple, which he had thrown at her. The young woman sat down slowly, folding her legs beneath her and beginning to eat the apple.
Toru had already finished one apple and tossed away the core and was reaching for the next. Taila was still only halfway though with hers at that point, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Did you just take one huge bite off the first one?” Taila asked incredulously.
“No,” came the simple reply.
Taila just shook her head in amazement at how fast Toru ate. She finished hers, tossed the core away and asked him for another one, being too lazy to get her own, he tossed it to her, and continued to eat.
“How can you eat so much so quickly?” Taila asked.
“I happen to have a fast metabolism. I would prefer it wasn’t so fast though,” Toru said offhandedly in-between bites, “That and, male Zalocs have to eat more just to sustain themselves let alone get themselves fat. There are no overweight Zalocs as far as to my knowledge though, even the scholarly ones and the cooks,”
“How can that be? Aren’t there gluttons?” Taila asked.
“Yes, there are. Yet, the Zalocian people just aren’t inclined to become overweight, it is one of our traits, as well as being immune to acne and such. There are few things that ail humans that ail Zalocs. It is because when Zalocs evolved from humans, they outgrew the human ailments. There are not many diseases that can hurt us, and it depends on how healthy the Zaloc is. However, there are a few things that we are vulnerable to. But I have not come across them yet,” Toru said, glancing at Taila.
“How can Zalocs be so advanced compared to humans?” Taila asked.
“We did not originate on this planet, we came to it, along with the Teesiks another Seraph race the evolved about the same time we did. While you and I were born on this planet, our race did not originate from this one,” Toru began, “On the planet we originated on, we were humans, but we were attacked time and time again with diseases and other adversities to such an extent that our bodies had to do something to keep up with the planet, eventually, what we are today is the end result. Not exactly though, for each Zaloc can obtain three different traits, depending on how their life has gone. Because you’ve lived such a soft life Taila, you will probably get defensive powers or ones that concentrate on healing others. As for myself, my abilities will be ones that help me in the forms of combat I end up in more frequently,”
“How will I know when I get them?” Taila asked.
“You’ll have to actually get out and do something, not hang around a town for the whole of your life. That is the only way to find out if you get any powers, or you could just experiment. I doubt that you have developed any yet though, because it shows in the wings of a Zaloc. With each new trait, the wings change, even though you have not spread your wings yet, I get the feeling that they will look like the ones of a child, no offense, but that is what happens when you’ve never even spread them before, or been in a real combat situation,” Toru said, with a shrug, finally done with his eating, “Come. Let’s go, enough time was wasted today,”
Toru then stood up and began to walk off, letting his cloak close about him. Taila rose and followed after him, more questions she had now than she had answered with that chat.
“Now I only have more questions,” Taila said quietly to herself.
“That is the way of life,” Toru remarked, looking back at her surprised expression, “Don’t be so surprised, I was trained to be able to hear such murmurs,”
“Can you read thoughts?” Taila inquired.
“Only if they are obvious ones, or if I know the person really well,” Toru said, “Don’t worry, I will probably not learn how to do that,”
“It is possible for a Zaloc to learn such a skill?” Taila asked.
“Yes, however, it is such an easily countered thing these days that few take the time to learn how anymore. Humans think it is so great, but learning how to do so is just a waste of time,” Toru commented.
“Is there a limit to how strong a Zaloc can become?” Taila asked.
“If we knew there was a limit then wouldn’t the people be more discouraged to try and become the best they can? The way I see it, the only limitations that a Zaloc has, are the ones that they make for themselves,” Toru said, “However, we cannot achieve infinite power, but compared to the human race it must seem like it,” By this time the city walls were well within view. However, the sun was beginning it descent behind the horizon.
“Will we make it?” Taila asked.
“We should be able to, we can get there for sure if we go just a little faster than we are now,” Toru said, then turning to look at her he continued, “Think you can handle it?”
Taila nodded, “I’m not that weak,”
Toru began to pick up the pace a little and Taila follow right behind him, never falling too far behind. Sure enough an hour or so later, they had reached the gates, and were let in without a quarrel with no questions asked.
“We might as well find lodging Taila, there really is no point in trying to get things from the markets and such. Does it really matter to you how great the inn is? Because, my supply of money is not limitless,” Toru pointed out as they reached the town square.
“Not really, as long as the place isn’t molding or falling apart,” Taila said, not wanting to seem too needy.
Toru said nothing else and just kept walking, looking at all of the different signs for the inns, and keeping in mind her request, immediately eliminating any of the choices that looked like they were beginning to mold and or break apart.
The youth began to walk towards one that had a sign out over the door depicting a moon in a bed. Taila followed slowly, not sure what to expect from an inn of another land.
Toru opened the door and waited, watching Taila quietly. His eyes asking her if she was going to come in or not. Deciding that if Toru was going to be in the same room or same vicinity of her, she would probably be safe, and began to walk in.
The young man waited for her to enter first and closed the door behind him. While Taila stood and looked around the place, Toru walked up to the counter behind which there stood a tall, burly man with tanned skin and short, scraggly, dark hair.
“Are there any rooms that have two beds?” Toru asked.
“Sure, we’ve got some. From your question it would seem that you are asking for one of those right?” the man asked.
“That would be so,” Toru commented arbitrarily, “How much for one night?”
“One gold piece,”
Toru took out the coin and laid it on the desk and took the key from the man when he it was handed to him. With a motion to Taila the two of them walked upstairs to find their room.
Toru unlocked the door and stepped inside, looking around the room checking for any potential dangers. Taila followed him in to take a look for herself, and heard Toru groan.
“Those morons. I told them a room with two beds. They give me one big one,” he moaned.
Taila looked over by the window to find out what he said was true. She really didn’t mind, and she didn’t think Toru really cared either; her theory was that he was complaining because he asked for two beds not one and they had messed up.
Toru turned to her, “I’m too lazy to go down and ask for a different room, which side do you want?”
Taila shrugged and said, “It doesn’t really matter to me,”
Toru pulled out a gold coin and flipped it, “Tails, alright. I’ve got the outside,”
He waited for her to climb in and he reluctantly got in after, just laying there quietly and staring up at the ceiling with a certain measure of sorrow in them.
“Are you okay?” Taila asked, giving him a concerned look.
“Yes,”
Taila gazed into his eyes as he turned his head to regard her, then said, “No. You aren’t okay. Will you tell me what is wrong? I think your eyes have been that way every time I’ve seen you. Will you tell me what it is?”
Toru sighed and then said, “From the moment I saw you I thought that you looked uncannily like my mother. So I’ve always been reminded vividly of her blood pooling beneath her. With that image in mind, it is hard for me to not be a little sorrowful when I see you,”
Taila said nothing; she just slowly wrapped her arms around him pulled him in close. Stroking his hair slowly, whispering soothing words into his ear.
“What are you doing?” Toru asked, eyebrows raised.
“I’m trying to comfort you. Show you sympathy, but it seems that it isn’t doing anything,”
“It is just that I wasn’t expecting anyone to try and show me sympathy. I didn’t expect to ever get any sympathy ever again now that my family is all dead,” Toru said.
“Why must you torment yourself this way on the inside?” Taila asked.
“It is because, I cannot let my emotions out, they will destroy me in combat because I won’t be able to focus on what it is that I’m doing, a wandering mind can be a dangerous thing in combat,” Toru explained, “So I was taught to keep my emotions on the inside as much as I could and not think about them,”
“That is just terrible, shutting away your emotions is like shutting down what you really are. How could they teach people to do such a thing?” Taila asked.
“If you let your softer side show, then the opponent who do not care what they have to do will do what they have to so they can succeed at whatever it is they are doing, and if that means taking advantage of your feelings then so be it. For they will have no quarrels over it I can assure you that Taila,” Toru said, closing his eyes, “Now, got to sleep we can discuss this tomorrow,”
Taila reluctantly heeded his advice and slowly drifted asleep, and not too long after she let him be, she could feel him relax in her arms, also falling asleep.










The next morning Taila awoke to find Toru already awake and doing push ups a few feet away from the bed. The young woman slowly got out of bed and slid down. Toru stopped for a moment to regard her then continued to do his pushups.
“So, are we leaving soon?” Taila asked.
“Yes, eat breakfast, I already have. When you are finished we will continue on,” Toru said, looking over at her, not bothering to stop for a moment to regard her.
She got up and went to fetch her pack that was lying on the floor. Picking out a loaf of bread and tearing off a piece of it and beginning to eat. Letting her eyes wander they settle upon a bowl with some fruit in it.
“Did you know that they gave us fruit?” Taila asked.
“Yes, I already had some, take whatever you want that is left,” Toru, said glancing over at her once more.
With a shrug Taila selected an apple and on orange and then continued her eating quietly, she couldn’t really think of anything to say to the young man who was a short ways from her. It seemed that whenever she learned something about him, it only made her feel more sorry for the poor lad.
When she had finished eating her breakfast Toru rose to his feet and began to walk out Taila picked up the pace so she could fall into step behind him.
They were accosted multiple times by various street venders who found it necessary to hide their wares beneath their cloaks. Toru tried not to completely lose it with the frequent annoyances but it seemed to Taila that he was about ready to explode so she gently took a hold of his arm in hers and gripped his hand with her free one and told all of the would be merchants that came across their path to go away, and Toru seemed considerably more relaxed once Taila held onto his arm.
When they finally got out of sight of the town the town Taila thought it was safe to let go of Toru’s arm and the two of them picked up the pace. After a while, when the sun had reached its peak Toru stopped, declaring it was time for lunch.
While they were eating Toru said, “We’ll have to trudge through some marshes before we get to the point where we can fly. But as soon as we can, I’ll let you know. Try to spread your wings this time, so as to save my back some unnecessary use,”
“Are you saying I’m fat?” Taila asked jokingly.
Toru frowned, “Don’t start that crap with me, please. I didn’t say you were fat. But does my back look like it is capable of carrying anybody our weight for extended periods of time?”
“You do know that I was joking with you right?” Taila asked.
Toru growled quietly beneath his breath and continued walking. Taila pushed him slightly and complained that he was not very entertaining to be around. The young man just kept on walking.
“Hey! C’mon! Why can’t you just loosen up?” Taila asked.
“Why do you have to annoy me so much?” Toru shot back, “I didn’t decide to go on this trip for fun. Got that? I’m here for a very specific purpose, one that does not include flirting or goofing off got it?”
Taila shrunk back, and looked down ashamed. With a sigh she said, “I’m sorry, but just tell me this. How come you can’t seem to enjoy yourself?”
“It is a little hard to enjoy yourself when you know that the person who killed your family is out there and you can do nothing about it,” Toru said, his eyes narrowing into a glare.
“Do you know who it is?” Taila asked.
“Yes, I do know. I had a dream last night which explained everything,” Toru said.
“It was only a dream how could you possibly tell if what happened is the truth?” Taila inquired.
“It was all too real to be just a dream not only that but the sad thing is that I can see it being possible in real life even if it is fake,” Toru said, looking down.
“Who is it?” Taila asked, stepping closer to Toru and placing a hand on his shoulder.
“It was Tesalia,” Toru said, his hands beginning to quiver in anger.
“But how could that be?” Taila asked, “I know that you said she was possessive of you but . . . that possessive?”
“I really don’t feel like discussing it right now, so please. Let us continue on without any further questions, we’ll fly through the night if we have to,” Toru said, turning away and shrugging off Taila’s hand.
“When will we sleep?” Taila asked him.
“We will sleep in the day, or I will just continue and you can sleep while I carry you. I want to get there as soon as possible,” Toru said glancing back at her.
“I get it. I’m coming,” Taila said exasperatedly, throwing up her hands in defeat.
The terrain began to become a marsh just as Toru said earlier. They had to slowly trudge through, with the mud sucking at their feet, trying to hold them in place, and the myriad insects trying to bite them.
The whole time Toru grumbled about the insects and continuously looked back over his shoulder to see if they were far enough away to fly.
Toru slapped at the air around him and slapped at different parts of his body to get the insects away until he finally deemed it was far enough to safely fly he spread his wings and took off without another word. Taila just stood there, unsure of what to do, then she remembered what he said and then focused, trying to will her wings to spread.
Sure enough they did, a pair of white feathery wings spread out behind her and with a cry of joy she began to fly off into the sky, following Toru straight up into the sky and away from the foot gripping mud and the pesky insects.
“Good,” Toru commented half to himself, “Now things will be a lot easier. Come, let us go as fast as we possibly can so as to make up for lost time,”
“How do I do that?” came Taila’s question.
“The same way you got up here, now let’s go.” Toru said beating his wings furiously to speed on ahead. Taila followed suit and the two of them were off on a mad dash through the air to try and make up for lost time.
Taila had a little trouble staying steady at the pace she was going at for a little while but she soon got oriented, and was able to keep level with Toru whose black wing’s metallic sheen made it a little difficult for Taila to see.
“How come your wings are metallic?” Taila asked.
“It is because that is one of the abilities that my body developed. I find myself hailed so much by projectiles that I need an easy way to defend myself if there are too many projectiles for me to dodge,” Toru said, “It is an example of how a Zaloc’s body can adapt to the circumstances that if finds itself encountering a lot.”
“So could my wings become like that?” Taila inquired.
“Maybe, but at this point. Judging from your disposition, style of combat. Among other things, I don’t see you getting into situations that would call for your wings to have to adapt in that manner. As I said earlier, you will probably develop healing abilities, if you develop any offensive abilities, I will be surprised. Also, most of the time, when your body adapts such a power, it is multifaceted, so your body won’t adapt new powers quickly,” Toru explained.
“This may sound like a repeat of my question before but is there any limit to a Zaloc’s power is there any way that a non-Zaloc could win against a Zaloc who has reached their full potential?” Taila asked.
“Well, for one ting, most Zalocs never reach that stage in life, because they die in battle against a Zaloc raid at some point or other. I think that there is a civil war going on among the Zalocs, and my family and the other Zalocs sent here, were sent here so they could grow in strength away from the battle and come back and fight for the side that sent them there. And most likely, each side has Zalocs that they sent to other planets where they could become stronger. However, only one side has royal Zalocs. I am a royal Zaloc. Our abilities develop more quickly and they are far more powerful. I don’t know much about the civil war, so I have no way of knowing if my family is on the right side. By the by, you can tell a Zaloc has royal blood in them when they have white hair and green eyes,” Toru began, “However, I have not yet seen a non-Zaloc with the power to be able to defeat a Zaloc. Not on their own anyway, only with the help of a special artifact that has been known to Zalocian kind for some time now. I am not 100% sure if it is on this planet or not, because the prerequisites for a planet having one are a somewhat hard to tell whether they have been met seeing how not all of the lore is as accurate is it should be. I have gone on long enough, my mouth has not run this much in I don’t know how long.”
“Maybe, I’ll get you to change your ways yet,” Taila, said with a mischievous smile.
Toru just regarded her dryly as they continued on. The youth remained silent for the rest of their flight despite Taila’s prodding. She had only been joking, Taila wouldn’t want Toru to act any other way than he wanted to as long as he didn’t decide to go on an out of control killing spree.
She tried to tell him this, but it did her little good. For he didn’t answer her, not with words, he only looked back over his shoulder and then returned his gaze back to the flight path.
Eventually she managed to say, “Toru, I was only trying to have a conversation with you. I don’t want to actually change who you are, because then you wouldn’t be Toru. You would be someone else who I didn’t know,”
“The old ‘ Be yourself thing ’, eh?” Toru asked, “ ‘ Because I wouldn’t want it any other way? ’ ”
“Yeah,” Taila said quietly.
Toru said nothing for a while longer then he spoke eventually, “You are used to hanging around with other teenagers and joking around with them. Out here, joking around when there aren’t others to guard you could end up costing you your life. This is no time for joking Taila. Nor flirting. I came out here for business. Not fun and games. If you care about me as you so claim, then prove it to me in battle. For that is where respect is earned and lost,”
“Why must you revolve your life around violence? Violence does not solve anything,” Taila said.
Toru sighed and then said, “That was a great divergence in topic but I will humor you Taila. You must be thinking along the lines of a pacifist, that you can get a war to stop just by talking. In most cases, you will not be able to solve your conflicts with words. No matter what they teach you in school. Sometimes you have to fight and spill blood to make an example to the people to make them want peace. You cannot just thrust it into the hands of the people, for they soon will start another war. Only with bloodshed can you earn peace sometimes,”
“Still why do you always reach for your daggers before you open your mouth to talk?” Taila asked, reluctant to give up the argument that easily.
“Sometimes you have to kill first and ask questions later Taila, it is just the way I live and it is also the way I have been brought up. Maybe you’ll understand better why this is later on in this journey if you want to stay with me until its conclusion,” Toru said, “Now will you please leave me alone about this? I’ve had enough of your pacifist ways,”
“What is so bad about wanted to save lives rather than take them?” Taila asked.
“You have been brought up in a soft environment, so I really don’t see any point in trying to explain this to you, I have already tried and is hasn’t seemed to work, so why don’t you back off?” Toru asked.
Taila crossed her arms, for his stubbornness in this issue was really too much of a hassle for her to try and persuade him to try and take a more conservative approach when it came to dealing with his enemies.
The two of them remained in silence, somewhat annoyed with each other. Toru glared ahead at the golden skies, and the sun, continuing its descent behind the horizon.
A flash of blue in the distance caught Toru’s eyes and his attention turned immediately towards it. And as they continued on, closing the distance between them and the origin of the blue flash, Toru’s lips spread into a grim smile.
“What is it?” Taila asked, for she had not noticed it for she had been to busy fuming.
“We are very close now to the Shrine,” Toru said smiling, with malicious satisfaction, “We should be there within a half hour if we move as fast as we possibly can,”
“I’m not very used to flying,” Taila began, “I don’t think I can go much faster right now,”
“Then take my hand,” Toru said, “Don’t try and keep up or it will be all the more difficult for me to hang onto you. Just let me pull you,”
Taila held out her hand and Toru grasped it firmly, “Don’t let go,” he said, and then he took off, beating his wings as fast as he could possibly manage. Occasionally he would do something with his dagger that she could not she because of the angle she was at.
Taila knew inside her that this was not his speed, but whatever he was going with that dagger had something to do with it. She wanted to ask him what it was that he was doing to get them to go this fast but the wind was beating her lungs so she could only breath and not speak.
Before she knew it, they were standing in front of the Shrine door on the dais in front of it, and after Toru feel to one knee, and his breathing was more shallow than it had been, and he was trying to hide his left leg from her with his other arm.
“What’s wrong?” she inquired, “What did you do to your leg?”
“Nothing Taila, don’t worry about it. I’m fine,” Toru said through gritted teeth.
“If you were fine then you would have already let go of my hand and you wouldn’t be on one knee trying to cover the top of your leg,” Taila said, “Can you even move?”
Toru looked down and bit his lip. She had seen through his attempt at trying to hide his leg wound and the fact that his body couldn’t move after using that little trick.
“No, I can’t move. Even a Zalocian body can’t go at that kind of speed. Not without the proper training, while I can go fast for a Zaloc, I cannot go that fast, I have no need yet. So I have not trained to go that fast. If you want to see what I have done to my leg, take a look for yourself,” Toru said, glancing back at her.
Taila let go of his hand by gently prying his fingers apart and then moved his arm away from his leg, to see that there were numerous cuts.
“Did you do this to yourself?” Taila asked.
“Yes,” Toru began, “I used my dagger to open wounds and use the blood that came out to make my body go faster, it is a type of spell casting. And when your body is not used to such speeds, your muscles need a while to rest. So we will be here for a while. Possible the night, because I need to get the wounds dressed,”
“Let me help you then,” Taila said.
“No, you don’t have to do that. I can manage on my own,” Toru said.
“Don’t be ridiculous you said it yourself that you wouldn’t be able to move your body for a while, so I’ll have to dress the wound for you. Just let me help you, it won’t hurt you any to depend on someone for once. Or do you not trust me?” Taila asked.
“There is no one I can trust anymore, but seeing how you are the only one here I’ll have to for now,” Toru said, closing his eyes and sighing.
Taila rummaged through her belongings and couldn’t find anything to use as a bandage, and she didn’t feel comfortable with the thought of digging through the pouch that Toru wore because she had no idea what he had in there. So, with no other choice she took the bottom of her shirt and ripped a strip off.
“I’m going to have to move you so that I can wrap the bandage around your leg,” Taila said, as she placed the bandage over her shoulder and then placed one hand on his chest and the other on his back and slowly eased him so he was laying down, and pushed his foot back a little so it would be easier to put on the bandage.
Then she took the bandage from its resting place upon her shoulder and wrapped it around his leg, but she hadn’t taken enough cloth from her shirt. There were still some wounds that were not bandaged. Taila ripped another piece from the bottom of her shirt, completely exposing her midriff, but it really didn’t matter she thought. Toru being a teenager, would not mind, -- at least she thought that – and she thought it looked good.
After tying that piece around his leg Taila made sure that the knots would hold. Satisfied with the work she had done she spoke up, “Will that do?”
“Yes,” Toru said, and then added a reluctant, “Thank you,”
“Your welcome,” Taila said with a smile, “Do you want me to keep watch?”
“I can do that. Toru said, “I’ll have to wake you if there is something, though I doubt there will be anything but you can never be too careful,”
“I’ll take the first watch so you can rest,” Taila said while tousling Toru’s hair.
“Fine then, but be sure to wake me when the night is half through so I can take the second watch,” Toru said and then closed his eyes, quickly falling into sleep.
Taila watched him with a smile and then laid down beside him. If she heard something she could easily sit back up and look around if there was anything, and if she really wasn’t sure she could wake Toru and ask him if he saw anything. The young woman smiled once again, but this time at the thought that when she had said she would take the first watch, she would be taking the first and only watch. She knew that he got hardly any sleep. Toru had let her sleep far too much on this trip and had not trusted her with enough responsibilities so that he could actually learn to trust her.
Thoughts of various things swirled through her mind and with the dullness of the night she began to drift off into sleep. Taila managed to snap back a few times, but eventually, she fell into sleep as well. Turning towards Toru who just happened to have turned in her direction in his sleep and she took one of his hands in her own, wishing he wouldn’t be so hard on himself.

Sunlight on Toru’s eyelids woke him form his slumber and he was instantly hit with an adrenaline rush that enabled him to jump up. His head turned one way and then the other rapidly and his eyes darted about searching every last bit of environment they could take in. Nothing had changed, they were still at the Shrine of Water where they had been when they went to sleep.
The youth looked down at Taila shaking his head, for she too had fallen asleep. As the effects of adrenaline faded away he fell in a heap. A sudden feeling of weakness overtook him and he let his head fall down, it so happened that it landed on Taila’s stomach, who awoke to this sudden pressure and glance about nervous as well for she realized that she had fallen asleep.
The young woman looked down at Toru and saw that his eyes were closed and that it had been him who caused the pressure on his stomach. Taila ruffled his hair and relaxed, nothing had happened during the night.
“You didn’t wake me,” Toru said, “I knew I should’ve taken the first watch, most likely both of them considering what could’ve happened. We were lucky that some creature did not come in the middle of the night and snack upon us. Or some people who would not be so friendly towards us,”
“If you are so displeased with me then why are you resting your head on my stomach?” Taila asked somewhat triumphantly.
“My muscles still aren’t strong enough to let me walk. When I awoke adrenaline gave me the strength to stand. When it faded I fell and that is how my head came to be where it is. If you would be so kind could you help me up?” Toru asked, blushing because he was asking help from some girl who had not even proved herself on the battlefield yet. His thoughts were along the lines of, I will most likely end up dead because of this girl either that or I’ll have to escape from wherever it is I am taken and fly all the way back here.
Taila helped him over to the door where he could prop his back up against something so he didn’t have to lie around all day. The young woman sat down beside him and asked, “How long do you think it will take for your body to recover enough so you can move?”
“It shouldn’t be too much longer, it takes about twenty four hours to completely heal but soon I’ll be able to at least walk,” Toru said, “Fighting is something that will be a little difficult. Hand-to-hand anyway, so I’ll have to use more blood to fight,”
“No, don’t do that,” Taila said, “You’ll only hurt yourself more,”
“I have to. There is almost nothing I would not do to gain the power I need to get the vengeance I seek,” Toru said.
“But if you die from loss of blood you will never get to live to do that,” Taila said.
“If I die in my quest for power, then that only means I am nowhere near strong enough to deserve life,” Toru said bluntly.
“No! That’s not true!” Taila cried placing her hands on his shoulders and turning him to face her, “I care about you! I don’t want to see you die for something like this! Hate only begets hate!”
“The world already spirals downward in a circle of hate. There is nothing anyone can say or do to stop it,” Toru said.
“Yes there is,” Taila began, “If people stop letting out their hatred on one another then the cycle will eventually end,” Taila said.
“Always will there be hate,” Toru said, “Nothing will change that. Even if you eliminate one problem. Another will arise. That is life, or the hell that is called life,”
“Why must you always be this way?” Taila asked/
“Because there is nothing left for me to live for! Except revenge!” Toru shouted in her face.
Taila had no reply for that one right away; did he really think that there was nothing left for him in this world? What kind of suffering had he gone through to get like this? Were the vents of his past really that terrible?
“Is the pain of loss that you feel for your family really that great?” Taila asked.
Toru said nothing. He just let his shoulders fall and his gaze slipped to the ground. The youth’s muscles became slack as the memories began to assault him again. He closed his eyes and his face began to twist into a snarl.
He growled out, “They were all killed because I wasn’t strong enough. It is my fault and only my fault. I was too weak, and the weak don’t deserve to live,”
“Toru, it isn’t your fault. You were young; you can’t blame everything on yourself. Not everything is your fault,” Taila said, placing her hand beneath his chin and lifting it so she could look into his eyes.
Toru said naught a single word; he knew that she was right. He couldn’t blame himself for everything. But that didn’t mean he would not.
“It doesn’t matter if I blame myself. Because some moronic, yellow-bellied coward can’t stand the thought of fighting me face to face. When I find him,” Toru looked up at this point and his eyes were filled with hate, and bloodlust, “I’ll make them wish their parents had ever thought of conceiving them,”
Taila’s eyes widened in shock and fear from the sudden intensity from Toru. As well as the abrupt shift from sorrow to bloodlust. Never before had the young woman seen such a thing. She was terrified of those piercing eyes, because even though she knew it was not her who had killed his family members. It seemed to her, that he would kill her too, just to demonstrate his hatred and want to see the blood of the one who did this to him spill upon the floor.
In her fear she began to shrink back from him. The young woman brought a trembling hand up in front of her face, in a futile effort to try and hid from the piercing gaze of the assassin who sat with his back propped up against the wall before her.
Toru’s lip curled up in a snarl, his entire face following suit and twisting up into an expression of sheer rage. His body beginning to quiver and a feral growl slipping form between his lips.
“I will not let anything stop me, not you. Nor anyone else. Not even a deity could persuade me to sway from my path. Anyone who gets in my way, will find themselves dead before they can even try to beg for their pathetic lives,” Toru began to rise, slowly. Struggling to get up onto his feet, resting on hand upon the wall and breathing heavily.
“Toru you need to rest so that you don’t have to wait even longer for your muscles to heal,” Taila said, concernedly.
He fixed her with a stare that robbed her of anything she had to say. She could only watch for those eyes robbed her body of the power do anything else but that.
Toru was getting closer to his goal of rising to his feet and standing on his own. When he finally stood on his feet the youth let his hand drop away from the wall and he glared off into the distance as if he could see the one who had wronged him and his family there watching him.
“Nothing will stop me from getting the power that I seek,” Toru said, starting to sound like a broken record.
He turned to the door and placed his hand upon the seal, and began to concentrate, willing water to flow form his hands and enter the lines of the seal, creating a blue glow wherever it went throughout the symbol of a wave etched upon the sapphire door.
When the entire seal was glowing a rumbling began and a seal appeared upon the floor mirroring the one that was etched upon what was actually just a fake door.
“Move from where you are standing unless you want to take a plunge,” Toru said coldly, his anger still had a grip upon him as he looked over his shoulder at Taila to see if she would follow what he had said.
Taila didn’t need to be told twice and moved off of the seal, and the floor upon which the seal had etched itself began to sink a ways and then slide away into some nook. Thus revealing a stairwell descending into sapphire tunnels filled with the refracted light of the sun.
The young assassin wordlessly descended down the stairwell into the depths of the Shrine. Letting his cloak fall down around his shoulders as he went on his way.
“Am I to stay here?” Taila asked.
“Come if you like,” came the reply.
Not feeling it really necessary to stand there out in the open by herself in unfamiliar lands Taila descended that stairs right behind Toru.
“Are you sure you know which way we are going?” she inquired when they came to a split in the hallway, a path going left and the other going right.
Toru replied, “I don’t need to know where I am going for sure, because there is an age old way of determining whether you have been down a path or not.”
With that he reached into the pouch that hung on the back of his belt and rummaged around. Upon finding what he had been looking for he drew it out. Revealing a piece of white chalk.
“Will we be able to see it? Will it even last long enough?” she asked worriedly.
“This isn’t normal chalk. It was designed for such purposes as this. It will be visible and it will last so don’t worry.” With that said Toru took the chalk and marked the left path, then began to proceed down it.
“Did you just decide on that using some other “age old” trick?” Taila asked, raising her hands and moving her index and middle fingers up and down on the words “age old” to hint at quotations marks questioning his choice.
“No,” Toru said with a shrug.
“Then how did you decide?”
“I closed my eyes and chose at random, how else?” Toru asked with a chuckle, “If you don’t know which way to go, don’t you normally choose which way to go at random for lack of a better idea?”
Taila really couldn’t say anything to argue her case so she just followed behind him, trusting that Toru would get them out of here. For she had the feeling that like all other places of power, the door leading out had already closed on the two of them.























Chapter 8

Terai

Terai sat in the large ornate chair somewhat uncomfortably. She had never been comfortable in the lap of luxury. Yet she could understand why these wealthy politicians were looking to her despite her high prices. They were worried for their safety and they wanted that which threatened their lives to be gone and out of the way.
Terai was a young woman of nineteen with long black hair and dark eyes. Her clothes consisted of a green vest with the collar folded down and gold trim around the edges. Held together with golden tassels. Upon a black choker she wore were two gemstones, the source of her weapons. A pair of green cloth pants that had been cut off roughly at the mid thigh as well as a pair of leather boots that went up to her mid calf and were turned down.
“Let me get this straight,” Terai began, “You are willing to pay me enough gold to put me through three life times to have the Angel of Darkness killed?”
“Of course,” said an old, short and wiry old man who’s forehead jutted over his face enough so that his eyes were overshadowed and had gone completely bald in his age.
“What do I need to bring back for proof?” Terai asked, knowing that they would want some part of the corpse.
“His head,” said tall man with dark hair and eyes, wearing the robes of a judge.
“Do you even know who he is? Because I could just bring the head of some other person who you would not be able to tell if it was him or not and then you would pay me the money for doing something else,” Terai said slyly.
“Yes we do know as a matter of fact. Toru Zaloc,” said the short wiry man triumphantly.
“Then I’ll go find him and deliver him to his just desserts,” Terai said, rising and leaving at once.
The men began to grin at each other a laugh, congratulating each other and pouring glasses of wine and other liquors. Toasting to their good fortune in finding someone who was confident in their ability to defeat the Angel of Darkness.
Terai shook her head as she walked down the hall. Such pathetic worms disgusted her. While getting paid such a large sum was all well and good. Doing for people like that made her start to feel sick. She knew the Angel of Darkness’s reasons for taking all of those types of jobs where he was assassinating politicians.
She also knew that he wouldn’t have let people see his face and survive unless it didn’t matter to him anymore. She was surprised the government hadn’t gone after him with their armies after they find out who he really was. Then again, they probably figured he would go into hiding the second her heard of armies on the move. Besides even if it was only Toru and his father left, it wouldn’t be too good of an idea to go and fight those two because if motivated they could unleash devastating power upon the world. For it was no secret that they were Zalocs.
However, Terai had kept it a secret that she was a Zaloc. The people who had found out, where dead. For her it was different she was not a member of the Royal Family of the Zalocs, so she could not traipse about displaying her heritage, though most Zalocs hardly did royal or not for among Zalocs it was considered rude and arrogant to strut about with your wings displayed unless of course you were a messenger and had to be flying just about nonstop but on this world, there was no need for a Zalocian messenger se there was no Zaloc left fool enough to strut about with wings displayed.
There had been one, Toru’s eldest brother. That fool was dead killed by his own brother. No one had done anything about it for they all hated him.
When she had finally gotten out of that place she spread her wings and flew off. She needn’t worry, those fools were on the other side of the building getting drunk. And no one would believe anybody else on the premises if they said she had flown away.

Terai had heard rumors that Toru Zaloc was going to the four Shrines in order to gain more power for another battle with his father. It was also common knowledge that he was naturally aligned with fire. So she would ask around on the central continent to see if he had come back from the south. However, he could’ve skipped by the cities on the central continent. So it was a toss-up between checking each Shrine in order starting from Fire and checking around in the taverns.
Terai decided it would be a better idea to check for information before looking around because he may come to the city while she was there or she may see him on the way there.
Terai doubted that it would be that easy though. Especially if he could catch wind of her mission to take his life. She had her work cut out for her, and when she looked at in sometimes during her musings it just looked more and more disgusting. The minute that those politicians brought it to her, she had seen this, and gladly embraced the challenge. For if she only took easy missions, such as killing politicians, then where would she be? Sure she would have money, but that didn’t matter as much as trying to be the best that you can possibly be.
The young mercenary decided that she would take a risk and ask around for him in town. Even if that would mean leaving a trail for him to follow to her. Then again, Terai thought, It wouldn’t be so bad if he came after me after finding out. He knows that I am a Zaloc so he may want to know all about why I took up this mission. So he could be sure of it by finding out through his own ears.
Still that didn’t seem too likely either, the youth had not lasted this long in the life of an assassin for so long by running around on his assignments in the middle of broad daylight. So there must have been some reason to the slip.
This was something she could not really decipher on her own until she could ask him herself, then again. When you are trying to kill someone, it is generally a good idea not to let them know you are there by shouting out that you have come to kill them. Especially when your target is a Zaloc, whose name happens to be Toru.

Upon reaching the point where she could just barely see a town she wanted to check in the distance, Terai landed and hid her wings. Not feeling like taking such a large risk in revealing her heritage and giving away the shock and surprise when she chose to reveal it.
It was well known, at some point, a Zaloc had to announce their heritage. Sometime around when they reach the point in life that is for human’s middle age.
Terai had some time before then so she didn’t need to worry about it just yet. However, like Toru in times of impending crisis, or crisis that has already descended upon us, you need to reveal one of your secrets in order to keep the foe off balance. It works only once so it is best to try and keep up the suspense as long as possible.
It was known that humans had tried to bluff that they were Zalocs. That didn’t really work because they couldn’t demonstrate the powers of a Zaloc. In a sort of vice-versa way, a Zaloc cannot try and bluff that they are really human without displaying human weaknesses. Or as they would rather it be said, Zaloc strengths. Simply meaning being unable to use Zalocian powers to save yourself, a few idiotic Zalocs have gotten themselves killed trying to protect that secret.
It is best to just give up trying to keep a secret that has been found out. One Zaloc death is equivalent to that of a few thousands humans. For what one human could do in a lifetime, can be done by a Zaloc at least a thousand times over.
Whenever a Zaloc was killed even if it was out of some act of stupidity the other Zalocs would come and avenge their death taking more lives than that Zaloc was actually worth usually but it didn’t matter to them because humans had a tendency to breed far too much and far too often. They also had an annoying habit of popping out triplets, or sometimes quartets. Occasionally they had even more babies at once.
Terai laughed to think of how many times the humans have thought that some deity had caused the deaths. Yet in reality it had been the Zalocs trying to lessen the human population count for it was a Zalocs duty to try and give the lesser races a hand.
It was no secret that the royal family often led such escapades and had no doubt that Toru would participate in one soon enough. Once the humans began to expand over the years, they eventually ended up being like rabbits, if you leave them together they’ll multiply. You have to keep them separated otherwise they’ll just keep coming. Not that the human race could defeat the Zalocs.
While they did once have an alliance that was in desperate times and the Zalocs only befriended the humans for their few good traits but the Zalocs quickly saw all of the darker things about humanity. They simply didn’t know any better. The humans were too afraid of the unknown. If those overly obtuse and pathetic beings could learn to just accept that not everything is supposed to be known then the two races could get along better.
What had finally destroyed the two races tentative good relations was when the humans had helped with a Zalocian baby’s birth and when the weary parents had gone to bed the foolish humans took the baby and then tried to dissect the poor thing.
The father had come down to check on the infant as well as get himself something to drink and put on the bedside table and heard the child’s squeals. Following the squeals he found the infant before they could begin. Those humans had been slaughtered by a bare handed Zaloc. Never again did the Zalocs let a human know that they were having a child.
Terai thought of how amusing the result of this decision was because now they could have no idea of how many Zalocs there were. The ones, who were seeking to destroy them, were pulling their hair out. Not only did those foolish humans not know how many Zalocs there really was they also did not know what to look for unless they had white hair and green eyes. They only had a vague idea what to look for since Toru revealed his heritage, but they didn’t know that royal Zalocs always had white hair and green eyes.
By this time she was near enough to the city to distinguish it’s wooden gates and see the small forms of the guards walking along the top of the wall.
Another smile was brought to her lips at this pitiful defense. Two guards at each gate might be able to spot Toru, if he was walking straight at them in broad daylight. Nor would they have a chance of hearing them unless he wanted to be heard because even with those boots that he wears on the youth has learned how to make his footsteps silent. Well, silent enough that most humans couldn’t hope to hear until it was too late.
When Terai had entered the city it hit her. Toru must have been here recently if they were trying to up their guard, either that or someone or something was taken away. If she was lucky whatever it was, had to do with Toru and would lead her straight to him.
Terai asked one of the roaming guards if they would tell her what was going on, he told her, “It would seem that Miss Taila was seen leaving the city and heading east. She left with a young man fitting the description of Toru Zaloc. We’re gathering people to go and find them and bring Taila back, for she has no business with that criminal,”
The young woman nodded, needing no explanation of why Toru was considered a criminal now, because they had found out about who he was at night, the Angel of Darkness. The authorities knew that he had done all of those assassinations done by the Angel of Darkness.
She had to struggle to hold in her laughter, thinking about the chances that the group in question had of actually catching Toru and bringing back that Taila girl. Terai knew that Toru would not waste time kidnapping someone unless it was for a mission. No news in the world of sell swords had hinted at him taking such a mission, but also wasn’t his style so the girl probably was following him because she had a thing for him.
Out of curiosity she asked, “Who is in the party?”
“Some of the highest priests of our residential temple,” Terai’s amusement greatened at this, “The finest of the city guard,” at this Terai was starting to crack up, “And some martial artist that came buy looking for a job, believe his name was Dorou,”
At the mention of Dorou’s name Terai’s amusement flew away. For last she had heard that legendary martial artist among the Zalocs of this planet had been training in the desert. He might have encountered Toru and had taken up this job in the hopes of getting a chance to fight the famed Angel of Darkness.
“Have they left yet?” Terai asked, completely in control of herself now.
“Now they haven’t. If you would like to join them please meet them at the town square. There your name will be put on a list to be paid a sum depending on what is the outcome and what amount of work you do on the mission,” the man said, “The square is that way,” a hand extended west indicated the direction in which the town square was, “I hope you intend to add your strength to theirs and make the mission all the more possible,”
Terai raised an eyebrow in question and then turned to go after saying, “Sure buddy, I’ll do that,”
With Dorou in this group, gathered together for the purpose of defeating Toru and bringing back this Taila girl. It would be all the more interesting and it should be easier taking Toru down.
Still, with or without Dorou’s help Terai knew that this would be a long an arduous task. There was a very likely chance that Toru would use the Zalocian Code to make her and Dorou give up on the task of trying to kill him. With this revelation, she realized that she was going against the Code just by trying to kill another Zaloc when it was for something like this.
Zalocs tried to avoid killing each other unless it was absolutely necessary for their future or the future of the world that the conflict was taking place upon.
Upon reaching the square she immediately spotted Dorou, his dark hair hanging low over his eyes. She had always wanted to meet him. For it wasn’t often one could meet someone who did not rely on weapons.
“Would you happen to be Dorou?” Terai asked slyly.
He turned his face to regard her and said, “Yes. Why is it important to you?”
“Because I know who you really are,” she whispered into his ear, “And I have a feeling that I know why you are really here,”
“Is that so?” he asked with a smirk, “Then tell me. Who am I?”
Terai smiled, for he was speaking of an old Zalocian riddle trick to determine if the person really knew they were. If this person were to prove it, they were to recite the riddle that was assigned to them and told to the other Zalocs. These riddles were written on a scroll and hidden away somewhere by that Zaloc’s family. So, if a Zaloc forgot the riddle of another, then they would have to seek out the scroll with it written upon it. Memorize it, and recite it to that Zaloc after they asked the question, “Who am I?”
“Must we really play this game?” Terai asked, “You know who I am, I know who you are. For we know of the gems. That is the only proof we need. The riddles are for Zalocs who know nothing of the gems,”
“Don’t you mean, have none?” Dorou asked, “Yes I see your point. There is not much purpose for this silly little game when we both know who each other is. Also, it seems that the person we seek has no intention of hiding behind a mask any longer,”
“Well, not a mask of who he is. But I’m sure he will not reveal his feelings,” Terai said.
“That is for sure,” Dorou, commented, “He was never one to like the limelight,”
“If that is the case then why has he gone about things the way he has?” Terai asked.
“It is simple. He doesn’t care about those petty things anymore. He doesn’t want the people he cares about to worry about him,”
“But he doesn’t care if people are organizing search parties to try and hunt him down and kill him,” Terai said, “What a kid,”
“He’s pretty special that one. He’s got some guts,” Dorou said.
Then the command for the search party to move out was made. The two of them stopped their conversation for now and moved out with the rest of the members of the search party.










Chapter 9

No One is Invincible



Toru and Taila stood halted at the end of a hallway before a large room. That seemed to be a circle with a depression in the middle filled with water.
Toru frowned, “Dammit,”
“What?” Taila asked.
“There is something here, so we won’t be able to just pass through after reaping our reward for finding this place. Well, where would the fun in that be though?” Toru said with a shrug, “No matter, it unfortunately looks like an underwater battle,”
“Last I checked, neither of us could breathe underwater,” Taila commented.
“I never said that it would be an underwater battle the entire time Taila,” Toru said, sighing afterward, “We will have to surface once in a while, or I will anyway. You can join in on the fun if you like, but I would prefer that you did not.”
“I want to help, even if you think that only males are supposed to fight,” Taila said.
“On the contrary that is not what I believe at all. I believe that there are some women who fight better than men, however it depends on who is doing the fighting. It doesn’t matter what race or sex each of the fighters are, one of them is better,” Toru said, “In this case, I think a better role for you would be support,”
“I’m not just going to stand here and watch if that is what you want,” Taila said.
“No, I mean, use magic to help me. I won’t be teaching you anything that has to do with lighting though, because that will only get the creature and myself fried. While there is a chance I might survive, there is a possibility it would too,” Toru said.
“Why can’t we just hit it with lightning magic from here?” Taila asked.
“Because the person who is going to receive whatever it is has to fight it head on, that is the way these Shrines work, if you just blast the thing from afar in this manner, you won’t get anything and you’ll have to wait a year for the Shrine to create a new guardian,” Toru said somewhat crossly, “Besides, hiding and sniping isn’t fun. Watching the light leave their eyes is,”
“I’m just using common sense,” Taila said huffily.
“Ah, but Taila. You need to learn how to have a little fun. When your life is on the line, doesn’t that make a victory all the more sweet?” Toru asked rhetorically.
Taila began to answer her but he cut her off with an upraised hand. “I’m going to teach you a basic healing spell, but your are going to need something to draw blood with,”
So the youth reached into the pouch on the back of his belt and drew out a small knife, handing it to her he said, “Use this to draw blood, be careful where you draw it from. Also be careful how much force you use to draw the blood, because if you are foolish you could end up incapacitating yourself, possibly even killing yourself. Don’t worry about using the healing spells though until after the battle, because if you are shooting off healing spells at a target that you can’t clearly see, you may end up healing the enemy,”
“Then what was the point of giving this to me now?” Taila asked, “If you don’t want me to cast spells in the middle of the battle?”
“Because I don’t want you rummaging through there while it is still on me,” Toru said, “Besides you may need it if I die down there,”
“What for? Wouldn’t my lance be better?” Taila asked, “It is a lot more durable than this knife,”
“That may be so Taila, but there is a problem with your logic. Using such a thing to try and draw blood when you are not experienced with the amounts of blood that it takes to cast spells is not a good idea. It is better to use a smaller tool for blood drawing until you get used to it,” Toru explained, “I don’t feel like lose any chances for happiness,”
Taila’s eyes widened in surprise, and she inhaled sharply as well. Was that his way of saying that he felt affection for her? The way that Toru was, she couldn’t be sure, but it was a start at least.
“I’ll teach you how to cast healing spells after,” Toru said, “For now though, let us deal with the problem at hand,”
“Fine,” Taila said with a nod.
“Now, stand back. For I have no idea what kind of beast they’ll have me fight this time,” Toru said with a grin, “I hope this time it’ll last a little bit longer,”
Taila rolled her eyes, “Boys and violence,”
“It isn’t my fault that it is easier that way sometimes,” Toru said with a smile.
Taila decided that it wasn’t the time to be trying and change the boy’s views on the world right now. For that was the way he was most likely brought up. It isn’t possible to change something taught from childhood in a few moments of conversation.
“Now,” Toru began, “It’s time.”
With that said the youth ran off and leapt up into the air, reaching down with his fingers and tossing his daggers up into the air, catching them as they fell down so that the blades were facing the opposite direction of his thumb, plunging into the water.
“Be careful!” Taila cried out, doubting though that he had heard her, but nevertheless she called out to him.
Toru came up frowning, “What the!?!?! There isn’t a beast in here! Grrrrrrr!”
He turned around a few times in the water searching for the beast. Growling to softly once in a while. Taila sat down with her legs folded beneath her watching Toru.
Bubbles began to rise up behind Toru and he grinned, “Finally! I found you!”
The youth disappeared beneath the surface with his daggers at the ready. The water began to rise up out of the half sphere that was carved into the floor and was soon suspended in the air shifting its shape to make a sphere.
Taila rose up to her feet and walked back until she hit the wall of the room.
“What? What is that?” Taila asked, mostly to herself, but to Toru as well.
Almost as if he came forth because of her call the youth came out of the side of the sphere spitting out water. He slid back on his wet boots, slipped and fell at the base of the wall a few feet from Taila.
She ran to his side and placed her arm behind his back and placed her other hand on his shoulder, propping him up.
“Are you okay?”
“Argh, dammit. I should’ve seen that coming. Tricky little snot, the creature is the water. Well,” he said with a downward glance at his daggers these won’t be much use as they are. Time to add a little heat to them,”
Toru took his daggers and cut his legs and placed his hands together in front of him with the daggers held there in-between them.
A tentacle of water shot out at the boy who leapt up to avoid it. The blades of the daggers began to glow with a red heat. The tentacle changed course and wrapped itself around him.
He would have cried out in shock but the force of the tentacle wrapping around him had forced all of the air out of his lungs. The creature had a surprise of its own though, for the magical heat of the daggers was started to turn the tentacle of water to steam, some strange, ethereal wail came forth from the beast as it let go of the boy, letting him fall to the ground, the magically heated daggers clattering away from his immediate reach.
“No!” he growled scrabbling to get them before the creature was ready to attack once more. Taila could only stand there, with her back pressed against the wall, watching in fear. For now as she looked back on the time they spent together discussing the power of the Zalocs, was Toru just blowing hot smoke? Or was this just a particularly tough enemy? Could it be that Toru wasn’t strong enough? Taila wanted to believe that it was the second thought that went through her mind, but she couldn’t be so sure now.
Toru leapt straight towards the thing with his heated daggers before him yelling at the top of his lungs several different obscenities, which Taila couldn’t quite make out. When the boy began to slash at the creature wherever he slashed turned to steam and his slashes where wild. That didn’t matter though because there really wasn’t anything for him to target at the moment so if he could slash as wildly as he pleased.
The creature’s howling continued and it sprouted more tentacles, which turned it into a small sphere with a multitude of tentacles of water protruding from it.
Toru smiled, suspended in midair by some power of the Zalocian race, waiting for the creature to make the next move. The thing did just as he had expected, its multiple tentacles came down upon him.
Now with a target his slashes were more focused, and also more devastating. For not only did his blades have a target, but the heat of the blades as well.
When the tentacles fell away, he targeted them with the heat, turning them into steam. The creature realized what was happening a little too late.
Now the creature was only a sphere about the size of an average teenage boy’s torso. Toru began to laugh evilly and said, “This is just too easy! When will they give me a challenge?”
Almost as if answering his question the creature began to glow and it was expanding. Toru’s eyes opened wide in shock and he growled in anger.
The youth then started to spin in midair his daggers extended with each pass the heat of his daggers was intensified. He then started to focus the heat on the creature, and an ethereal wail came forth.
Taila began to worry, could Toru’s stomach take that kind of rotation? Would his concentration be thrown off thus causing him to leave himself vulnerable? She nearly cried out, but then she realized that during that spin it could result in his death.
The creature couldn’t create enough water fast enough to keep up with the heat that Toru was generating. It was soon completely destroyed.
Toru suddenly stopped spinning and fell down groaning softly. He grunted when he hit the bottom of the bowl, and then rolled onto his side with his arms wrapped around his stomach.
“Are you alright?” Taila called out, attempting to slide down to where he lay, but ended up falling onto her aft end and sliding down that way. When she was at the bottom she knelt beside Toru and turned him onto his back.
“As fun as that was and as seemingly unscathed I came out of it,” Toru began weakly, “That would not be the case, that thing when it grabbed me the first time it did something but I’m not entirely sure what. All I know right now, is that whatever it did hurts. For now I’ll be fine. Could you just stand outside of the bowl for now. There is one more thing I have to do.”
Taila nodded and willed her wings forth so she could fly up and stand at the edge of the bowl. Gazing down at Toru who struggled to rise and stand at the center of the seal of water, which was forming in the middle of the floor.
Water began to pour from Toru’s fingers as he stood there, filling the lines of the seal. As the water filled it the lines began to glow. When the whole seal was glowing, bathing Toru in the light making his skin look like the color of the light. A pedestal began to rise from the floor where he was standing, it started as water, nearly causing Toru to trip and fall, yet he managed to keep his balance and stagger back a few steps, waiting for the pedestal to rise up fully.
Toru placed his hand upon the pedestal and the light that was hovering around his feet rose up to become a column of light, completely encasing him.
Voices with an ebbing quality spoke to him through the pedestal. It said: We the Guardians of Water ask what it is that you seek from us? Is it the fragment of the Larathia, which you seek? Or is it the power to control wind?
“Give me the power to command the winds that command where the clouds, thus the rain go,” Toru said, starting to breath heavily.
The voices did not respond instead Toru was lifted up into the middle of the column and the light began to grow brighter, his hair was knocked about by the unseen wind.
The light became too bright for Taila to see, it forced her to close her eyes or risk being permanently blind. Still though, the light permeated through her eyelids.
Slowly did the glare fade, and when she opened her eyes, Toru was lying prone upon the floor, coughing continuously, and sweat glistening upon his forehead.
With no more ethereal light in the room Taila deemed it safe to go down to be by his side. Placing a hand upon his forehead to see if he had gotten some sort of sickness, indeed it seemed he had. For Taila could feel a considerate amount of heat beneath her hand.
“No,” the boy uttered quietly, “How could I be so foolish? I’m too weak . . . need more power . . . more . . . more . . . more,”
“Toru, you are plenty strong. You must be delusional. How do I get out of here?” Taila added frantically.
“Light,” he grumbled, clutching his sides.
“What?” Taila asked, somewhat bewildered. Her question was answered though when a pillar of light appeared.
Taila looked down at Toru, and started to lift Toru up by taking one of his arms and slinging it over her shoulders and placing her other arm around his waist. Starting to fly up to the pillar of light, which had appeared in the middle of the walkway around the bowl.
“Is it really alright to be stepping into just any old pillar of light?” Taila asked with her eyebrows raised.
“Just do it,” the boy muttered, “For whatever happens, happens,”
“How can you be like that?” Taila asked, don’t you want to live?”
“I want to live, but there is no way out of the Shrine other than that pillar,” Toru began groggily, “So, wherever this pillar of light transports us is where we start the next leg of our journey,”
“I thought you weren’t one for faith in others Toru,” Taila said.
“Think what you wanna think,” he mumbled.
Taila smiled; at least there was some hope for the boy. It would seem that he could still trust. You had to start somewhere; hopefully she could build on the foundation of Toru’s heart that was miraculously still standing.
Toru’s head hung low, his breathing wasn’t steady though, and it had the quickened to the pace similar to that of someone who was just barely recovering from strenuous work of some sort. The youth faded into a very light sleep, and his breathing occasionally became irregular.
When they had entered the pillar of light, blue light slowly became brighter until it was blinding, forcing Taila to shut her eyes. When the light faded, they were standing outside of the Shrine, an hour or so before noon somehow, and a group of people could be seen on the horizon.
Taila had no idea what to do, it was going to be hard for her to fly away with Toru to carry as well, she also had no idea of where she should be going to get Toru treated where he wouldn’t be sought after by the government. It seemed she would just have to stand and fight.
As such Taila put Toru down upon the ground and then sat and waited, watching them carefully, the sun was at its highest point when they were close enough to see individual forms.
Taila rose to her feet and let her spear materialize. As much as she didn’t want to, she would defend Toru. Even if it meant taking the lives of others.
“We came to fight Toru Zaloc, not you Taila,” came the voice of the priest at the head of the group.
“Toru isn’t as bad as you might think,” Taila began, “He has a good heart beneath the cold exterior, I just know it,”
“People like him, know nothing of being kind to others,” the priest began, “He has brainwashed you. I will personally help you break free of whatever enchantment he has placed upon you,”
“You fool,” Dorou muttered.
“What did you say?!” asked the priest incredulously.
“You heard me, I only joined to fight him, not to bring him in. As a matter of fact, I was planning on killing you all when we found him. So that I may be the one to fight him,” Dorou said.
“Those are my reasons as well, however, I cannot kill a fellow Zaloc. So we might as well take turns fighting Toru,” Terai added in.
“You are all going to face divine judgment,” the priest began, “I will be the conduit through which it comes through!”
The other members of the group shouted with glee at the thought of more enemies. Terai and Dorou separated themselves from the group. Terai produced a double-headed battle-ax in each hand, which were connected with a length of chain. Dorou rolled his head in a circle to loosen up his neck, then raised his fists.
“Whoever takes down more gets to fight Toru first when he recovers,” Dorou challenged.
“Sounds good to me. Prepare to get pasted,” Terai said, grinning with anticipation.
“Don’t underestimate the powers of the righteous!” the priest cried out.
“Righteous? Pah, you know nothing of protecting that which is precious to you,” Toru grumbled.
“What? Of course I do,” the priest stammered.
Toru drew a dagger slowly, and painstakingly. Seeing his intent, Terai called out, “Taila stop him. He is only going to weaken himself by using a blood spell,”
Taila turned to see Toru was smiling, and ready to plunge the dagger into his arm. She grabbed his wrist, and gazed into his half-closed eyes.
“Why would you hurt yourself like that?” Taila asked concernedly.
“It is nothing more than a way to attack,” Toru said, “So why do you-“ the youth coughed blood, then lay there weakly. Taila knelt beside him and placed a hand on his forehead.
“Are you alright?” she inquired.
“I guess,” he murmured, “There’s more than one way to kill a man,”
“Huh?” Taila was confused, “What are you talking about?”
“Just watch,” he said quietly. Then Toru brushed his hand across the parts of his clothes where the blood had ended up then began to trace something in blood upon the ground beside him.
“What are you doing?” Taila asked.
“Why do you have to steal all of the fun?” Terai called.
“Seal of . . . “ Toru coughed in the middle coughing a little more blood, “Suffocation!”
“What? A seal?” the priest cried, “Since when could an infidel like him use seals?”
“For your information, it was a Zaloc that created seals. Somehow, a human learned how. And that human took all of the credit because the Zaloc didn’t want to be bothered. However if you read the scroll teaching the first seals, you’ll be able to tell that the hand writing is not of that humans when compared with writings known to be his,” Toru said, raising up the hand he traced the seal with so the palm was facing the group of foes he continued, “Humans could never do anything on their own, so . . . DIE!”
A circle appeared on the ground beneath the men the other lines of the circle couldn’t be seen beneath them, and they all froze. Unable to draw breath they clutched at their throats. The priest tried to leave the circle but Toru had been drawing another on the ground beside him while the other was starting to take effect.
“Five-Pointed Star of Sealing Body!” he announced, and another seal appeared beneath the men as well, binding them within the original seal. Now they could neither move nor breathe.
“That is one of my favorite combinations,” Toru said quietly with a grin. Taila could only watch in awe.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“It is a very simple concept once you think about it,” Terai began, “Once you can draw the seal as it is shown in the carious scrolls where they can be found, you draw it in your blood to make it work. For example, the seal that Toru just created when you draw a seal in blood that same way he did, then the person or persons within the seal will be unable to move. This seal is extremely common when the use of a much more complicated seal cannot be done with the enemy walking free,”
“Are there ones to increase your speed as well?” Taila asked looking down at Toru who had propped himself up on his elbows to be sure his seals were doing their job.
“Yes. There are, Toru, Dorou and I use them when it really isn’t worth drawing enough blood for a teleportation seal.” Terai explained.
“How much then does it take for one of those?” Taila asked.
“Approximately how much blood goes through your any one of your limbs. It also depends on how far and how long you want it to last. However, you can also take a little blood each day to save up for more powerful seals that if you took the blood for all at once you probably wouldn’t be able to do much afterward,” Dorou explained, “I however, am not one for any sort of magic I prefer relying on my own strength,”
Terai grinned and called over to him, “Rather, you can’t use them because you don’t have the skill,”
Dorou spat on the ground and said, “That’s what I think of you and your handicaps that are seals,”
“You know Toru wouldn’t of used those seals though unless he really needed to. Things are going down the drain and going down quickly if he used seals,” Terai commented, “Not much news gets around in the Zaloc community because we are so isolated here. The only time news gets around is one of us gets together with the one who the incident has happened to and talk,”
“I know what is happening,” Taila said quietly, “I know because Toru told me all about it over that first day we met,”
“Please tell us later,” Dorou said moving forward ignoring the suffocating men.
“What are we going to do with them?” Terai asked.
“Leave them, they will die by the time you get over here,” Toru mumbled.
“What did he say?” Dorou asked, “I could barely hear him this time,”
“Leave them,” Taila called out looking down at the youth, “Just come over here,”
Without another word Terai and Dorou walked over to where Taila and Toru were. By this time the men held in place exactly in the position they had been in when Toru enacted the second seal were close to die still trying to breathe but they could not for some invisible hand closed the passages to their lungs.
“We’ll need to take him to a hospital,” Terai said.
“Won’t they try and hurt him there?” Taila asked concernedly.
“Not at the hospital we are going to. For they only care about healing the sick and wounded who people are matters not to them,” Dorou said to Taila, then to Toru, “The North is alright with you?”
Toru nodded and then closed his eyes, let out a deep breath then fell asleep without another word. Taila let her spear vanish and knelt down beside him and placed a hand on his stomach to make sure he was still breathing.
“He’s alright, just extremely tired. Toru is well known for his stubbornness. Once he gets an idea into his head and it gets lodged there with some sort of fortification such as hate then it will never leave until he has seen that idea through to its fruition,” Terai said, “That is one of the reasons why people fear him because of his determination even in the face of utter failure. He will keep going, even at the cost of his own life. Thus no one really argues with him. He’s got the idea of avenging his family lodged in that mind of his and it isn’t coming out until he has done what he thinks he needs to do,”
“Why do things have to be this way? Why must the truly good hearted suffer?” Taila asked, almost out of the blue.
The other two thought about it and shrugged for they had no answer other than, “Because bad things happen to the good,”
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