by Troy Dukart
After we showed them, the guards raised their spears and bowed to us with a hand on their chest like at the ceremony. They both followed us in as we made our way inside.
I was expecting for us to go up but instead the tunnel descended. There were no lights except the torches the guards lit for us as one went in front and the other followed from behind. There were no steps, only sand for us to walk on. The tunnel was about eight feet high and five feet wide, which made it feel kind of claustrophobic.
After going down about three hundred feet, we made it to the bottom and in front of us stood a large room filled with sarcophagi. When I went to touch one, Itust stopped me and told me it was unwise to disturb the dead.
On the far side of the room stood a double-sided stone door and both guards stood across from each other as we got there. They set their torches into place holders and then knelt down and began chanting in a low tone. Itust then stood in front of the door and looked very serious,
“Before you enter, you must swear an oath to our tribe that you will not touch anything except the Folla, or we will take away the gift we have given you and leave the wound open.”
“Of course dude, no problem,” I replied, Rousseau smacked my arm and looked at me sternly. He then said to Itust,
“Yes, my brother, we will honor your request.”
Satisfied, Itust turned around and slid both doors open. I was almost blinded by golden light reflected by the walls of the chamber. There was a platform about six feet high and twenty feet in diameter. Resting on top was a beautifully crafted dual-sarcophagus adorned in gold with blue painting.
“In all my life, I have never seen such a beautiful work of art,” Rousseau awed.
“These are the first Rulers of our islands, dating back over 3,000 years ago. King Katankan and Lady Cleonpatrus,” Itust explained.
Floating above the sarcophagus was an ornament which differed from the one I found back home. This Guardian Key was golden in color. While the one from New Santa Barbara was in the shape of a chalice, this one was more in the shape of a large diamond. Like the pyramid outside, the Guardian Key had a floating haloed ring above it.
We stood back as Itust walked up the ramp to the Guardian Key. I could see he was getting emotional, as tears were rolling down his eyes and he began to weep as he stood in front of the sarcophagus. He looked down and hugged the two faces on the lid and then looked up to the Folla. Reaching slowly with two arms, Itust grabbed the Folla and removed it from its position. It still glowed but not as brightly and it broke my heart to see the natural state of the room changed.
Itust held the Folla in his arms close to his chest as he walked down the winding ramp and then stood in front of us. I began to feel small vibrations and rumbling throughout the pyramid, then Itust said, “We must get off this island soon. Without the Folla to power it, the islands will fall like teardrops from Ren. Let's go.”
The two guardians picked up their torches and led the way out. Sand and small bits of the stone began to fall from the ceiling, as the vibrations kept getting stronger. We made it to the sand tunnel we came down through and had to hustle our way out. Rousseau turned on his aura and made a mad dash out of the tunnel while we ran up.
As we got half way up the tunnel, the base at the bottom began collapsing rapidly. We had to jump out before the last stone came down and crushed us. I pushed myself up with my hands and looked up to see Rousseau with a hand on his gunblade looking around suspiciously.
“Hey,” I said as I brushed the dust off my shorts, “What's up?”
“I don't know mate, I thought I heard somethin',” he replied.
Itust and the two other warriors had all gathered behind us, kneeling down in front of the collapsed entrance. They held their heads down and looked on in shame of what had happened. Itust then stood up and turned around, and said softly, “We must go.”
As we were making our way back, I heard a gunshot. There was a moan behind me and someone collapsed. It was one of the guardians, and he was shot right through the heart. Rousseau drew his gun blade and fired a few shots into the forest.
“I knew it! BASTARDS!” Rousseau screamed.
There was a sound of a loud engine of a ship floating above our position. Over a dozen Senti soldiers came down on ropes and surrounded us, with guns drawn. One other soldier followed them, all too familiar. It was Tiras.
Dressed in an all-white coat with purple dotted buttons, he pointed a Gatling-gun at me, “Strafe, you keep surprising me.”
“I'm not surprised by you at all,” I grunted.
Tiras chuckled,
“I think you know why we're here Yank, so let's make this easy. Drop your weapons and hand over the Guardian Key.”
I nodded to the others and we dropped our weapons to the ground. Itust held the Guardian Key tight as he stood next to his fallen friend.
“Now, give me the…” Tiras said before I interrupted,
“You didn't have to shoot him Tiras. The leaders of this island ordered us to peacefully hand this over to you in exchange for the islander's safety.”
He then turned his back on us and paced back and forth. He then stopped and looked over his shoulder,
“You know, I'm not a devil like you think I am. Neither are the Senti. We are on a quest for dual-world peace, but you don't understand. There are so many things going on here that you just don't understand Strafe.”
“I would beg to differ outsider. You have the blood of our people on your hands, and we will never forget that!” Itust shouted at him.
Itust took a few steps forward, but Rousseau grabbed his shoulder and warned him, “They will kill you if you move again.”
Rousseau was right too, because now all the soldiers had their weapons raised.
“I assure you my friend, my man wasn't aiming at your people,” Tiras told him as he looked into my eyes.
“So you want world peace Tiras? What does that mean? Kill anyone that gets in your way?” I asked.
“Strafe, you're looking at it too simply. History has taught us many lessons we do not learn from, and for the survival of this planet and our planet, we must unite under one banner. As long as there are separate nations, there will always be war,” Tiras explained to me with calm demeanor.
“I can't agree with you Tiras,” Rousseau replied, “Totalitarianism of foreign rule has never been accepted throughout history, and it never will. Even if you do succeed, people will never forgive you. They will never accept your ways.”
“Nothing stays the same my prince, you should know best! Being as it is, your country has pledging allegiance with Sentium. They, along with many others, have accepted our vision and know it's what needs to be done to save this world,” Tiras countered. Rousseau looked away from Tiras' glance in shame, “Now, there is much to do today, and I don't feel like killing anyone else. Hand it over, now.”
It was hard to see Itust like this. His heart was broken, along with his pride. He hesitated before walking over. He stood in front of Tiras before setting the Guardian Key by his feet. Itust then turned around and joined his brother in morning. Tiras picked up the key and signaled the ship above to drop some ropes for his team to grab. A few of the soldiers repelled back up to the ship, along with the key.
Tiras stayed behind, along with around six soldiers as they surrounded us. He then aimed the large cannon directly at me and said, “I was hoping to kill you in front of that demented psycho Barzakh, but I won't let you interfere any longer Strafe!”
Before he pulled the trigger, a flash of light blinded him and chopped his cannon in two. It had been Rousseau's Shatterang he kept hidden. I dove behind a fallen tree as the bullets began to fly around us. My sword got hit by an incoming shot and was knocked out of my hand. Itust and the living warrior had charged at the Senti and managed to take down two of them in the forest. When I looked down at my blade, the orb was glowing red. I held it up to my face and noticed it had an aiming reticule etched on it.
“What the
?!”
Looking over my cover, I aimed the reticule at a group of three soldiers and in a flash, the orb shot out a blast of energy at them, which exploded like dynamite upon impact. They flew through the air and laid unconscious on the ground. When I looked around, I saw Tiras had disappeared. Rousseau ran over to me,
“That bastard scampered off. I'm gonna track that bugger down! See you on the ground!”
And in a flash, he ran off into the forest at full speed. Be careful my friend. He's as slippery as they come.
Itust rushed over to the warrior who was shot and picked him up in his arms, “Strafe-Sah! We must leave the island now!”
I jumped to my feet and we began running. It felt like being on a slowly descending elevator. We were still firm on the ground, but we all knew the island was sinking back to the planet. It started out as a slow fall, but about halfway down the trail, small rocks and animals were being swept up. It began to shake violently and the trees danced and swayed.
Finally, we made it to the landing zone. We noticed all of the islands had begun falling towards the ocean. Itust had quickly wrapped the fallen warrior on his back so he could take him back down safely. I looked back for Rousseau, but Itust grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, “We must go brother! You must trust him!”
I nodded my head and walked toward the ledge. We must've still been a mile up and it looked like a hell of a jump. With the way my Tongwa had acted, I was a bit worried. As we stood there, something didn't feel right, like it had been as we exited the pyramid. I turned over my right shoulder and there in the bushes stood Tiras with a rifle in his hand. I went to draw my sword but he fired first. I learned that if the sword wasn't in a battle-state, it wouldn't reflect projectiles. He had a clear shot. Something dashed in front of me as the bullet was about to hit. Lying on the ground, with a pool of blood forming around him, was Itust.
Furious anger swelled through my body and my instincts took over. With a quick draw I aimed my sword at Tiras and fired the beam at him,
”AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”
Tiras shielded himself with his arms. The beam made contact and exploded, shooting him off into the forest. He let out a scream of pain. Shrapnel of metal shards from the rifle flew into the side of his face and his right eye was full of blood. I held my sword with a tight grip, ready to walk over and finish him off. Rousseau surprisingly jumped down from a tree and held me back,
“Mate! We need to leave! There are re-enforcements coming and the island is going to crash any second!”
“No damnit! He can't keep getting away!” I shouted back, but Rousseau stood in front of me and pointed to Itust and replied,
“Itust is shot! Are you going to let him die while you act so selfishly!?”
Those words Rousseau spoke rang true. My conscious knew he was right, but my rage wanted to destroy Tiras for what he had done to me and my family. “SHIT!” I yelled as I brushed off Rousseau's hands.
The unharmed warrior had already attached the fallen one on his back and motioned for me to do the same with Itust. With strong twigs and leaf paste, Rousseau helped fashion Itust on my back. He was breathing deep but shallow breaths; he looked to be lung-shot. With the island in free-fall now, we jumped off the ledge and spread our arms. This time, the Tongwa responded immediately and shot their wings out from underneath my skin. The extra weight didn't seem to bother them, as I was able to glide just fine.
Debris from the falling island dotted the sky, which we constantly had to dodge. Rocks, trees, dirt and even animals were among the obstacles we faced. Rousseau pointed his arms down and began to dive bomb. I stayed close to the shore but near the water in case we fell. I was about two-hundred feet above the ground when a large rock slammed into Itust and we began to spin violently. The Tongwa's wings couldn't hold the lift. With a huge splash, we landed in the water.
Thankfully, I was able to land feet first but Itust's head slammed into the back of mine, which really hurt. I climbed to the surface as fast as I could. When we popped up, I could hear Itust moan; the sea water must've stung his wounds. With all of my strength I began to swim for shore but we were a ways out. I looked over to see the island we were on about to crash down into the ocean. “Oh shit…”
In the blink of an eye a huge tidal wave raced toward us. We were swept up almost instantly. Itust had broken away from me as we were tossed through the blue cascade. It felt like I was in a tornado and nothing more than a rag-doll being played with. With great force, the wave slapped down on the sand and grabbed anything along with it. All of the settlements that the Zindaqean's had established were flooded over as the waves flew right through into the small forest. I was smacked constantly by trees and rocks. As the wave died down, I was tossed in the air before hitting my head on a tree branch, knocking me out cold.
Chapter 14
Zon
As the way it was now, these floating marvels from Zindaqe's past would become only a memory. In a warrior's soul, seeing a respectable aspect of any culture being lost is hard to stomach. Our strength was needed.
Roya and her people led us back to the village and we began the evacuation. I hustled them to the Heaven's Gate to safely return to the sands. Some cried, others looked scared and some could hardly walk knowing their islands were falling. Weak feelings were uncommon in my culture and a warrior had no room for it in his life. A warrior couldn't give in to weakness or he would be slain. Yet, despite this, traveling with this group had opened me up a little. I saw that expressing one's self was a sign of strength, not the opposite.
Sometimes I would want to talk openly with my Grandfather, about my parents that were slain or of life's struggles. He always told me to be stronger, and that the enemy would devour weakness if they saw it. This was not to say we Shinjins weren't welcoming or grateful. We always make sure to make up for hospitality, and these villagers welcomed us with open arms. I would defend them.
I peered up to the island Rousseau and Strafe should've been on to see it falling toward the ocean. It wasn't directly above us, but close enough I feared would still cause damage. I helped all of the villagers to the gate until I came across a small child with only a ragged pale shirt on and ripped shorts. They were crying in a small hay shack and holding a home-made teddy bear. Nobody else was around and debris was beginning to sprinkle on the island, first small rocks and then bigger boulders. I ran forward and grabbed the child who was scared out of their mind. I held them over my shoulder at first but he moved down so he could put his face into my shoulder. I had never been close to a person like this, let alone a child before in my life.
The Shinjin Warrior Creed, which I had abided by in blood when I was 17, was to protect my people at all cost. Usually I ended up slaying others to do so. Something, maybe where my heart used to be, began to feel warm. It hurt at first because it had been cold for so long. This child, maybe five years old, looked into my eyes crying, and I knew then that being a warrior meant more than killing, but standing up for people in need. Seeing how much this child was depending on me to save him brought the greatest battlefield epiphany I had ever experienced. War costs all sides dearly, but no child should watch this much blood spill. I would now fight to end this unendurable human suffering.
I held the child close as we waited our turn to return to the sands. Huge boulders had fallen down and some crashed down on the shacks and homes of the villagers. One man next to me was crushed into a bloody puddle as I jumped out of the way to dodge it.
It was raining death.
Lady Nefertiti and Roya stood strong and helped evacuate as many as they could until it was me and the child only left.
“Yoichi, hand me the child! I will take him down!” Roya commanded.
I nodded and began to hand him over but he began to scream and fuss. He wanted to stay with me but I knew statistically he faired 79% better at surviving with Roya so I pushed him into her arms. Roya held him like a mother holding a child but he still reached an arm out towards me and cried. I s
tood there before turning around and looking at Lady Nefertiti but my heart, my weakened heart, spoke and said this child needed to be calmed. I turned back and walked over to him and patted the side of his head, and then pulled out one of my bandanas to wrap around his neck. Written on the bandana, it read, “Ichigo, Ichi-e,” and it meant to treat each encounter as once in a lifetime.
He smiled and hugged me, which caught me off-guard. Instinctually I had reached for my dagger, but I was too late. I was slower than a child now.
“You have done an unforgettable good deed for us Yoichi, I will see you by the ocean,” Roya said.
Roya and the child used the Heaven's Gate to jump down safely to the ground and waved to us. These gates didn't require Tongwa wings to navigate. The Gate would transport us down safely. I looked down but felt my instincts kick in and saw a boulder flying straight toward where I was standing. Before I even had time to teleport out of the way, Lady Nefertiti pushed me safely out of the way. I was knocked down but rolled over onto my hands and knees. Sand clouded the impact zone and I had to wait momentarily before seeing something that made my heartache. Lady Nefertiti's legs had been crushed and she was pinned beneath the boulder.
The Heaven's Gate had been destroyed, eliminating my escape. I felt a large shift in the island as it began to rock and roll upon its descent. I tried to use my Kusarigama to secure myself from falling but landed right in front of Lady Nefertiti. With my sword I sliced at the rock, but couldn't shatter it. I would soon be graved in the islands my grandfather had dreamed about visiting his whole life. There was some peace to this ending. To my surprise, in fluent Shinjin, I heard a voice say, “Yoichi-Sah, there is still a chance.”
I looked down and saw Lady Nefertiti looking into my eyes with her last bits of remaining strength. She could hardly move. “How do you know my language?” I said in shock.
