The Glass Dagger (Afterlife Chronicles Book 1)

by Stephanie Hudson

  Everyone gasped expecting it to make contact, but that’s not what happened. Takeshi, knowing Zagan’s old tricks, was more than ready for him. He simply raised his staff up in time to counteract the move, filling the large space with the echoing sounds of wood clashing against wood.

  “Wow! Did you see that?” Janie said, amazed that they could move objects with their minds.

  “Well, Zane’s mouth is still hanging open, so I am going with a yes on that one,” Ena replied making her laugh.

  Then the fighting really began.

  Zagan spun back round so that they faced each other once more.

  “Let’s see what you’ve got, Samurai.” Zagan said with an amused glint in his pale eyes and a grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Takeshi nodded his head, silently telling him that he was ready after taking another stance. Zagan did the same, first spinning his own staff and in doing so, showing off his own unique set skills.

  Only Zagan didn’t move like Takeshi, in what seemed like a more traditional way. Because as Takeshi came at him with hit after hit, each was blocked in the most unusual way. Zagan’s style was definitely his own, as he and the staff seemed to move as one with each other. In fact, he moved so fast that he looked as though he was actually bending the wood as it flipped around his torso, passing it back around his body and to the front again.

  Each time he did this it would end up blocking Takeshi’s hits, no matter where he tried to land them on his body. Zagan’s strange technique seemed to place the long staff wherever the next hit came from and protected him in a way that wouldn’t have been possible had he been human. To begin with, the speed in which he did this would have made it impossible to be effective as it was all so quick it sounded as though the wood was clapping whenever it hit Takeshi’s.

  Then Zagan suddenly lashed out, throwing kick after kick his way but Takeshi was just as quick and stepped back one, two, three and on the fourth kick he changed tactics and caught Zagan’s bare foot. Then he flipped it over with his hands and Zagan’s body followed, spinning six times in the air. The teens all thought this was it, he was going nowhere but landing hard on the floor but they were wrong. Instead Zagan used his staff, hammering it into the ground at a right angle and in doing so propelled his body back upright to a standing position just before he fell.

  “Nice,” Zagan complimented and Takeshi smirked and bowed his head in thanks before going at him once more. The two hit out at each other in such a way that it was almost dizzying to watch. It was almost like watching a well-choreographed dance on fast forward. They broke away from each other one last time and Zagan looked to the group of teens all watching in awe.

  He thought of what his enchanting wife had showed them earlier that morning and now knowing that their limits had been pushed, he decided to push them just a little bit more…alright, so maybe a lot more. Zagan looked back to Takeshi to see him nod, as he must have also been thinking the same thing, that it was time to step it up a notch. And what was the best way for two Supernaturals battling it out to step things up a notch…

  Supernatural powers.

  Zagan smirked, thinking this was going to be good and from the look of his cool, calm, collected friend, that tiny glint in his eyes told him that he thought the same. So, he spun his staff around and felt the release of a dark power trying to rise up from deep within him as it too wanted its turn and he would let it, giving it the go ahead when he suggested to Takeshi…

  “Let’s make this more interesting, shall we?”

  24

  Fire and Thorn

  “Let’s make this more interesting, shall we?”

  The group all looked at each other, wide eyed and wondering what Zagan meant by making things more interesting? As far as they were concerned, you couldn’t exactly have made things any more interesting than they already were…or so they thought.

  “Very well, General,” Takeshi said with respect and then ran his hand up his weapon, igniting it in a distinctive white flame that looked deadly against the dark red wood of his weapon.

  The collective gasp from the group confirmed that they had been wrong, round two was like taking the impossible into the realms of incredibly possible.

  “General?” Zane mouthed the word to Theo, receiving a shrug of his shoulders in return, as he too had no clue what it meant.

  “My turn,” Zagan said and then looked up at the ceiling, twisting his neck to the side in what looked a painful way. Then his eyes started to fill up with a white liquid, almost as though paint was filling his irises. He then held out his staff straight ahead of him with one hand and started to twitch his head, as though he was allowing something to happen and was trying to help it along.

  “Oh…my…G…”

  “I think the last word you’re looking for doesn’t apply to this,” Zane said interrupting Ena and then started shaking his thumb down towards Hell. In this, she couldn’t disagree with him as there was only one word for what was happening to their teacher right now and it was far from Heavenly…It was truly,

  Demonic.

  “I think something is trying to come out of him,” Theo whispered to the others, unable to keep the awe out of his voice, whilst watching Zagan twist his neck side to side, as if readying himself for something, until doing it one last time before it started to happen.

  Bumps suddenly appeared under his skin and started rippling along in waves, as though whatever was emerging was using his veins as a passageway. It continued to do this, travelling up his neck until it reached the black, barbed, tribal tattoo that ran down one side of his face. As soon as it got there, the ripples stopped and instead the black ink started to break away from the long, mean looking scar that marred his face, one it had been entwined with.

  Then it came alive!

  Unbelievably, it slithered down his face and out of sight for a moment as it travelled down his neck, shoulder, and arm. The group had only a second to wait before they watched it remerging from under his sleeve. It started to branch out, attaching itself onto the staff and re-forming it, effectively covering it in some kind of deadly looking black vine. It quickly grew up the length of the pole he held until it consumed it all, leaving only a part untouched where his fingers were still grasping it.

  Then it finished. It was done. And his weapon was ready.

  And to prove this he spun it once and when it came to rest he made a slight twisting motion, releasing a string of deadly and wicked looking thorns all over the vine like demonic barbed wire. In fact, it almost mirrored what his tattoo had been, only now it was three dimensional and had been given life.

  “Mm.” Takeshi made the slightly impressed sound, whilst cocking his head to one side as if this was something new. Then, after a brief exchange of respect in the way of just a look, they went at it again, this time though…

  Supernatural style.

  However, now their weapons barely even made contact and the teens quickly assumed that this was the whole point. Unlike before it had all been about hitting and blocking an attack, but this was obviously all about how to avoid contact, which made the group wonder what would happen exactly if they did manage to make a connection. They didn’t have to wait long to find out.

  Both their bodies bent, swayed, swooped, and crouched low to the ground every time their unearthly weapons came close to hitting one another. It looked to Theo as though they were both biding their time for the right moment in which to strike. But what was most unexpected was that the right time came for them both simultaneously as they finally made contact. Their Hellish staffs clashed with a boom, echoing in the room like the sound of Thor’s hammer hitting an anvil. It caused a wave of static to vibrate throughout the room as their supernatural sides took over.

  The deadly vines tried to invade Takeshi’s staff by gripping onto it and climbing up and over the flames. Takeshi saw this and slammed his second hand over his weapon, causing the white flames to transform into a more lethal and traditional looking red hot fire. This in turn
started to burn and scorch the vines enough to cause damage and they quickly backed off for fear of complete destruction. Zagan retaliated by backing off also, spinning on one foot and coming to rest on the ball of his other foot behind him.

  They gave each other a moment and once more there was a silent and respectful nod between them before they began their attack once more. This time their hits became that little bit faster, that little bit more powerful. Something the teens witnessed when Zagan hit downwards with such force it not only cracked the floor again, but it also made the vines branch out along it. It was as if to test for the possible threat, leaving scored marks on the floor in their wake. Of course, Takeshi was too quick and side stepped away from the hit. But with Zagan’s staff momentarily positioned the way it was, it gave Takeshi the upper hand…or so he thought.

  Takeshi swung his pole around his head with both hands and raised higher, gaining more momentum with each spin until it was travelling around at a blurring speed. It looked as though a helicopter’s propeller was on fire but still rotating.

  Then when it had reached the right energy level, he hammered it down, hitting the ground with devastating effect. The flames erupted from the end of the staff and were quickly heading towards Zagan in a direct line of destruction. But this happened just as Zagan was raising his own weapon from where it had momentarily been trapped, due to the cracks he had made in the floor.

  He managed to dislodge it just in time before he was engulfed in Takeshi’s firing inferno but instead of moving his body, the vines on his weapon did it for him. Black tentacles shot out from the staff as if also sensing the danger and attached themselves to one of the beams above, propelling Zagan’s body upwards. He too used this to his advantage as the vine spun him round, so that he could then kick himself off the wall and swing towards Takeshi’s body.

  Zagan was just coming down on him ready to deliver a kick to the head, when Takeshi folded his body backwards, so that Zagan had no other option that to continue his descent over him. Takeshi flipped his body back up and faced Zagan where he had landed gracefully behind.

  Then came the last round.

  They both held out their weapons straight and suddenly charged at each other, reminding Ena of two knights about to joust on horseback. Janie winced, looking away as she couldn’t watch, but the rest seemed fixated and held their breaths waiting to see who would be classed as the victor.

  The two poles hit each other head on, which was nearly an impossible task. But what was more amazing to watch was the way they both crumbled on impact. Zagan’s deadly vine quickly retreated into his body as the wood splintered back towards Zagan’s hand. On the opposite side, Takeshi’s flames extinguished themselves as that too was crushed, bowing in on itself from the pressure just as Zagan’s staff was doing the same. In the end, the fight finished with each of them holding the small piece that was left of the staffs. Their gazes fell to all that remained and they looked up at one another then both smiled at the same time.

  The group collectively breathed deep after holding their breath for so long and Janie who was still looking at the wall said,

  “What…what is it? Who won? No one is bleeding, are they?”

  “Fighting is dusted. Winner there is not,” Ivan said getting his sayings mixed up.

  The two men bowed to each other for the last time, signifying to the rest of them that Ivan was right, the fight was finally over. However, they were quickly reminded that this hadn’t been a fight at all.

  Zagan turned to face the group and by the time he reached them his facial tattoo had made its way back up his cheek and was resting once more where it belonged, nestled amongst his long scar.

  Their new teacher was just about to speak, opening his mouth to do so when an enthusiastic Ena couldn’t help herself,

  “Wow…just wow! That was amazing…no, no, that was epic!” she said bursting with excitement, as though she had been suddenly transformed into a demon fighter, champion groupie. Zagan looked taken aback and for a minute didn’t know what to do with himself other than say,

  “Thank you, Ena. And the rest of you, did you enjoy the demonstration?” They all nodded but Janie, who was looking everywhere else but at him, just did so at the wall.

  “That was totally sick!” Zane said granting him a raised eyebrow from his teacher.

  “Sick? You were revolted?”

  “He means that we all thought it was cool,” Theo added, clarifying Zane’s slang for someone who was probably older than the Oxford dictionary, let alone the urban one.

  “Ah, I see. But I also see that not everyone was a fan of the show,” Zagan said nodding to Janie who blushed scarlet.

  “I uh…well, it’s not that it wasn’t…you know…okay.” Zagan burst out laughing and said,

  “Well my fighting skills have never been referred to as just ‘Okay’ before but don’t worry, I will try not take it personally. Although my wife is sure to get a kick of out hearing about this later.” This made Ena chuckle and Janie feel guilty.

  “But, regarding the fight, I understand that not everyone who walks into this Dojo is drawn to violence and they don’t have to be as that is not what I teach here or what Takeshi will teach you either.”

  “But that was…?” Janie started to argue that what they had been doing looked very violent but her teacher got there first.

  “That was nothing more than a demonstration showing you how to try and anticipate your opponent’s moves and skill level, which in this case Takeshi’s was evenly matched to my own. It is about keeping good balance, blocking what comes at you and counteracting it if you can. It was also about showing you how to use your powers, incorporating them, not only your weaponry as we did, but also in your environment. It is about using your own unique skills to your advantage… when the time comes in discovering them of course.”

  “And when might that be?” Zane asked as, like Theo, he hadn’t seen anything resembling supernatural coming out of his body, not unless you classed the mammoth offering he made to the toilet God that morning which was the size of Tyson’s leg…gross, he knew but he was proud all the same. Of course, Zane blamed it on the amount of pizza he’d consumed!

  “It is hard to say, as I know for some of you it has already seen the light of day but has yet to develop further. That is where Rue will come in. She will help you learn how to control it, until eventually it will become second nature,” he said purposely making the tattoo on his face move and slither around for a few seconds.

  “But for today we will start off light. First do you have any questions for me before we begin?”

  “What’s a Dojo?” Janie asked wanting to know thanks to the answer he gave her about violence.

  “A Dojo is a Japanese term which means ‘place of the way’. But in the Western world the term primarily refers to a training place specifically for Japanese martial arts such as aikido, judo, karate, or even Samurai.”

  “What about Kung Fu?” Ena asked, thinking they were all the same.

  “Kung Fu is Chinese and did not refer to the martial arts as it is known today. It’s simply a name given in reference to any study or practice that requires great patience, energy, and time to master such a skill.”

  “And will we be learning to fight with those staffs today?” Zane asked crossing his fingers behind his back.

  “They are known as a Bō and are typically used in Japanese martial arts. However, they started life very differently and were originally used to balance buckets or baskets either side of the shoulder.”

  “So how did they become weapons?” Ena asked truly curious and surprising herself that she actually cared to learn the history of a weapon.

  “It started in 1477 when Emperor Sho Shin came into power. He was determined to enforce his philosophical and ethical ideas, so introduced a ban on weapons in an attempt to prevent an uprising. It became a crime to carry or own weapons such as swords, so the people became more inventive, giving birth to a new fighting style,” Zagan sai
d giving them a brief history into Japanese weaponry, one he was surprised to see they all looked very interested in.

  “What else did they use?” Theo asked, looking to the mass of weapons at the end of the room and seeing if he could spot anything that looked like it could be classed in that same category.

  “The people of Okinawa looked to simple farming tools as new methods of defence, ones which the samurai warriors would not be able to confiscate. This use of weapons developed into Kobudo, or "Ancient martial way" as is known today.” He paused for a moment and looked back to the far wall, where traditionally most weapons were kept in a Dojo. It was a little off topic and not how he expected his lesson to start but they were here to learn after all. And who was he to stand in the way of their enthusiasm when an opportunity for them to learn presented itself.

  He knew he had made the right choice when their eyes lit up after he asked the question they all wanted to hear…

  “Would you like to learn more about these weapons?”

  25

  Golden Age of the

  Dagger

  “Would you like to learn more about these weapons?”

  “Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?” Zane said receiving strange, confused looks his way.

  “Dude, did you just say that?” Theo asked smirking and Zane shrugged his shoulders and replied,

  “What? I was gonna go with the whole ‘is the Pope catholic?’ thing but I didn’t want to rock the God boat and find out that the Pope is actually a demon.” The teens all burst out laughing and Zagan had to try and keep a straight face, as he knew exactly what the Pope was. But that was something they definitely weren’t ready for.

  “Follow me,” Zagan said motioning with a nod of his head for them to join him.

  “These here are called a Sai.” Zagan said pointing to a set of three-pronged weapons that they all recognised.