Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

  16

  “Do you think he will ever wake up,” Kaya’s voice spoke close to my right ear. “He’s been sleeping for ten days now.”

  “He is probably just exhausted,” Ogana belched out loud. “I do hope he wakes up soon though; don’t want to resort to extreme measures to wake him up.”

  I opened my eyes slowly and looked around. Kaya, Dashe, Ogana, and Suzanne were all around me. We appeared to be moving in some sort of big caravan pulled by horses. It was about midnight outside. I couldn’t believe I was back in the real world again. I was glad to see someone else and also other colors other than yellow.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked them getting half up and stretching my stiff neck counter clockwise.

  “Ten days,” Kaya replied quickly.

  They were all puzzled by my sudden deep voice and new depth of my eye color. It appeared my hair had changed to and gotten a bit longer. It felt so good to see all my friends after a decade in that empty yellow world. Even in this world I felt a lot different. Stronger, perceptive, and more assure of myself and my ability. “Ten days really?”

  So, Ebi’s attempt to stop time had somewhat adverse effects. I looked around smiling as I was finally free. I never wanted to return to that place, it was a terrible place to be in.

  “Here eat some,” Susanne said, “I made it especially for you.”

  I was a bit hungry, but not enough to eat this terrible food. I didn’t want to eat it so I had to make up a great excuse before it was too late.

  “You!” I snapped at her, “you tricked us into going to Saza in the first place when you didn’t have a brother there.”

  She laughed nervously and said, “at least you got to save people and you got Kaya.”

  True! Her comeback was smart and well thought of. Kaya’s power had saved us a lot and if we hadn’t met him we would have never made it back alive.

  “Well it was still wrong and it made me so upset that I’m not hungry,” I yelled frowning at her like a little child.

  I wasn’t sure she bought my acting and I had my fingers crossed the whole time. Fortunately, she bought it and stored the food away in another cabin. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, nevertheless my stomach couldn’t take that kind of abuse, I meant food.

  “So where are we?” I asked Ogana who was now in much better condition than before.

  His wounds were still bandaged, but his face showed signs of life and health. I could say the same thing for Dashe, although I had no idea why he looked irritated right now.

  He showed me a map and said, “We are near Dura the city next to Danyen. We will be in Danyen in two days time. More importantly what is up with you? You are somehow different.”

  “I am glad you noticed,” I grinned.

  I took my time and told them everything that had happened to me from Ebi, to my split personality and lastly to the extreme tremendous training. They could hardly believe everything I was saying. True enough if I was in their shoes I would be the same.

  “Show us something,” Dashe said rudely cutting me off. “Everything you are saying right now sounds like a bunch of made up crap.”

  “Ah Dashe!”

  I had forgotten about his terrible attitude. After spending so much time with Ebi it seemed like nothing to me when someone insulted me. Without saying a word, I made my guns appear in my hands and waved them around on their sashes. My inner energy was visible to them as I glowed red and yellow in color, sort of orange.

  “That is amazing,” Suzanne gasped getting closer to look at my guns. “I have only seen those flintlock weapons once. Where are your gunpowder and the bullets?”

  “I don’t need them,” I replied letting her examine them up close. “They use my life energy as bullets.”

  “That is impressive,” Ogana sipped another cup of booze smiling vividly. “You really are something Rid.”

  “Come on Rid! Show us something better because I’m not impressed,” Dashe smirked rudely.

  After saying that, I knew exactly what to show him. I had not tried it out on a real person yet so it was going to be fun, or at least I hoped it would be. Such a powerful incantation was beyond my novice ability yet.

  “Dashe” I whispered and he looked me in the eye. After a short few seconds he fell unconscious instantly. It was a new trick I had learned and it seemed to have worked marvelously.

  “Wow what did you do?” Kaya asked in amazement. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

  I nodded and said, “It’s called mind slipper and Ebi taught it to me. It is not easy to master, but once you get the hang of it, it can be pretty useful.”

  The mind slipper was a move Ebi had perfected himself. It allowed a person to enter another’s mind forcing their thoughts and will into them. It had taken me a whole year to get the grasp of it as it was a difficult technique and required a lot of focus and determination. Only downside was that it didn’t work on stronger willed opponents who could shield their minds instantly.

  “You guys are something else,” Ogana laughed, “you are a Roguean and Dashe is an Iyenkan. Two mortal enemies working together! It’s completely unheard of.”

  “How do you know I am a Roguean?” I asked not remembering ever mentioning it to any of them except for Dashe.

  Oh, that blabber mouth must have run his mouth again while I was sleeping. But did I laugh too at the thought of it. We never got along at all. In fact there were times when I almost thought of beating Dashe up for no reason. I guess it was in our blood to never get along. Rogueans were nice, but short tempered and Iyenkans were rude, but well controlled. When put in the same room, a fight would be the outcome. Somehow Dashe and I had managed to put our different backgrounds aside and work together all thanks to Ken. But the next time I saw him, I would make him eat his ridiculous cloak even if I had to force feed it to him.

  “Don’t worry,” Ogana spoke calmly. “Your secret is safe with us.”

  “Thanks I guess,” I said scratching my head a little, my eyes turned towards Dashe.

  There was one thing that bothered me above everything else. It was his mist power which had the ability to summon those huge flaming meteors. A truly destructive power befitting of a madman like him. One problem, it was a double edge sword that attacked both ally and foe without prejudice. I doubted that idiot had the ability to truly control it. If nothing else, the white water mist was a curse that threatened our very existence. Just how many people had been affected by these mists? Well except for Ogana, everyone in this carriage had been granted power by the white water mist. Not exactly the normal friends my mother wanted me to get.

  “Hey Ogana,” I spoke in low voice, “Was Dashe acting weird or strange after he woke up? That power of his could spell trouble if he turned on us. I mean did you see how his hand disappeared and opened something into another dimension?”

  There was silence in the carriage as they all thought about it. All we could hear were the hoofs of the horses and the midnight wolves howling under the moon. There was nothing around us except for a forest covered in the pitch of darkness.

  “Well,” Suzanne finally broke the silence. “I know one clear thing for sure, it’s not only meteors he can bring forth, but other more frightening forces of nature when you think about it.”

  Her words echoed in my mind and made me doubt Dashe even more than I already did. Although, when he used his mist acquired power he had saved our lives from all those metal men and injured the metal dog. Suddenly, I felt a loud thump outside. It distracted me from my thoughts as I looked out to see what it was. Without even noticing it, the carriage had been stopped by two guards. They were standing in front of the road with their spears raised at the horses. Why had I not sensed them? It was strange indeed considering how well I had advanced my mist acquired power in the past decade.

  “What is in the carriage?” one of them asked the driver.

  The other guard walked around to the back examining the ca
rriage carefully. Odd, I couldn’t sense their life force at all as if they didn’t exist. The other guard I had been tracking with my eyes walked to the back carriage door like he was about to open it and examine it. Not good!

  We were in trouble if they found us out. Quietly, we remained without making any sudden noises. It worked as the other guard stopped halfway and began to walk back to the driver. Without the slightest warning, Dashe made a soft move that made the floor squeak a little, fortunately they didn’t hear it.

  “Don’t you do it,” I whispered to Dashe silently as he began to snore.

  It only got louder and louder with each second and they noticed it and came back. Was that idiot doing it on purpose? Why did he always do unnecessary stuff at the wrong time? They both looked back and quickly realized there was something or someone in the back.

  “Open the Caravan,” one of the guards yelled to the driver.

  Again Dashe had blown our cover and revealed our position. I was starting to believe he was trying to sabotage our mission. I was almost sure of it.

  “There is nothing, but goods in there,” the driver said sincerely trying to fool them.

  They pushed him out of the way violently and took his keys as they proceeded to open the caravan door. I gently sighed without worrying despite the impending danger.

  “I guess we have no choice, but to fight,” Ogana said holding his spear firmly in one hand.

  In that moment, I stopped him before it was too late. There was a better way than that. Carefully, I focused my energy fiercely into my center and looked at the door. As they opened the door, I looked into their eyes and forced my thoughts onto them using my mind slipper. They were enchanted by my gaze and paused in their boots. Fortunately, these guards were weak willed so controlling their minds was easy.

  “There is nothing in here so be on your way,” one of the guards yelled at the driver kicking him up. “I’m bored let’s mess with the next merchant caravan that comes again because this was fun.”

  They left and went to hide again waiting for the next caravan that would come their way next. I rubbed my forehead for a while trying to ease the tingling sensation in my head. It was not an easy technique a novice like me could do multiple times. I looked outside again and saw no signs of other people present in the vacinity. Had to admit, my mist power came in handy in desperate time as this. We finally began to move after our scary encounter with the guards had left us paranoid and more aware of the dangers ahead of us. My head was aching madly, although it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. As long as I stayed in Okaya, my chances of running into more danger were great. But it truly was a paradise for thieves, murderers, and all kinds of bad people. I had a funny feeling that Jura was going to be even crazier than Saza.

  “Hey Suzanne,” I said looking into her in the eye, “how did Katarina Fox take the news that we wrecked Jafounds and destroyed her metal dog?”

  She laughed as if I had said something funny and said in a serious manner, “she was furious and she is going to kill you. Right now, her minions are looking for you all over Okaya, there is a bounty on your head. That is why we are travelling in stealth, under the cover of darkness.”

  That wasn’t really the answer I wanted to hear, nevertheless, I had suspected it was something along those lines. I could imagine it in my mind, seeing her search all around Okaya for me only to come up empty handed. Worry not, our time of battle was coming sooner than expected, and I was sure she knew it too. With my new found powers, my chance of coming out of this alive and being victorious were favorable. Due to my training with Ebi, I had come to master some very dangerous and destructive powers that at best were to be never used.

  “I will win no matter what,” I whispered to myself and zoned out into sleep.

  17

  1

  Dawn approached as we began to see the giant walls of Jura. It was a massive fortress city built to withstand almost anything.

  “We are stopping in Jura to gather information and stuff,” Ogana said blushing and drooling all over the place.

  I could only imagine what he was thinking and it wasn’t something pure. Clearly, I could have said no and kept going, but I didn’t. Something about Jura caught my attention. It was a city built to keep people out or to keep something valuable in. I had an urging feeling to explore the city and find out what they were hiding. Perhaps there was some kind of monster hidden beneath the burrows of the city like in Saza. Now that was a nightmare I didn’t want to relive again.

  “Let’s get out,” Suzanne warned us as she moved towards the door of the carriage. She beckoned all of us to follow her outside as we neared the outer portions of giant city. “They search all the caravans before entering the city so let’s go and blend in with the crowd.”

  Following closely behind her, we managed to slip out undetected into the crowd. I was forced to carry Dashe since I had been the one who knocked him out. I tried everything to wake him up, but it didn’t work. Perhaps I had gone too far when I used the mind slipper on him.

  “Get next to the wall and hold onto me,’ Suzanne said looking around to spot any guards.

  In my hearts I was the happiest man alive. I quickly moved foward and embraced her with all my might.

  “What are you doing Rid?” she asked looking at me in a strange manner.

  Kaya walked up to me and said. “I believe she meant hold her hand and not embrace her.”

  I blushed as I let go, it was truly humiliating for me to look them in the eye again. Clearly I had taken the message the wrong way and as such I had also acted in an inappropriate manner.

  “Hurry up and hold onto my hand, we don’t have all day to wait for you,” she whispered waving me towards her.

  This time I got the message clearly and held her hand. It was a warm feeling that got cold and shadowy. It felt as if I was getting engulfed by my own shadow as she did something. Within a second, we were on the other side of the wall inside Jura. My body felt weird and out of place for a second. I really didn’t want to do that again if I had a choice.

  “Whoa! What did you do?” Kaya screamed at her, “that felt scary.”

  She attempted to apologize to him, but all the little kid could do was yell and scream at her some more. It did surprise me that he was coming with us to Danyen. I’d have thought he would have gone back to Rigudaya to his family or stayed in Saza awaiting the return of his brother. Sadly to say, he had decided to go with us to Danyen against my better judgment. Danyen was no place for a child, that horrible city could scar him for the rest of his life.

  “Hey Suzanne,” I said still feeling cold and empty, “what did you do right now and how did we end up here?”

  She looked at me and showed me half her hand which had turned into what looked like a dark smoke, “I can become or create shadows which allow me to go anywhere I please except through water.”

  I was impressed; her power was useful unlike that of Dashe and Kaya which put us all at risk. I now knew I could always count on her whenever things went bad. Although, her methods were sketchy and risky, they were still useful when it counted the most. It was only one thing that bothered me and it was about Sam. Something about that incident was feeling out of place. That metal man knew Suzanne all too well like they were indeed siblings.

  As we started to walk inside Jura, I randomly said, “why did that metal man know you and look an awfully lot like you?”

  Perhaps it wasn’t the right time to ask, but it was also too late to take back the question.

  She stopped and looked at me, “I know he did, he used to be my brother a long time ago. He was turned into those shiny pain in the butt and that’s all there is to it.”

  With that, she turned around and proceeded to walk elegantly ahead of us. I could feel her pain when she said that. She wasn’t the type of girl who would drown in her sorrows or ever let her troubles get in her w
ay which was one thing I also liked about her. Ogana nudged me and gave me a signal not to ask her anymore questions. I guess some things were better left in the past and unknown. We all had our own agendas for going to Danyen, except for Dashe. I still had no idea why he was still coming with us. He was sort of a rude closed book, very mysterious and devious.

  “Hey Rid,” Kaya spoke stretching his little arms. “Why do you ask so many personal questions?”

  Now that I didn’t see coming at all. My mouth opened, unable to say reply him. Indeed, my curiosity to knowledge would come off to others as annoying or irritating so I stopped.

  “Halt,” Suzanne spoke raising her hand.

  A few drunken guards walked past us into some building. My muscles tensed as I anticipated an indirect confrontation with them was impending. Not that I was afraid or anything.

  “I’ll be back shortly,” Suzanne finished, “and when I give you the signal, come.”

  After saying that, she took off and vanished using her shadow power into the building where the drunken guards had gone into. I saw it all, she snuck up on them and knocked them out easily. Within a fraction, they were all out cold and completely tied up under what looked like a cellar. She waved her hand in that building like she knew I was watching. As if she knew I could see through the walls.

  “Let’s go,” I said to Ogana and Kaya, “she gave the signal.”

  Quickly we ran and entered the building; Suzanne had already changed into a guard uniform and was waiting on us. The armors looked small, but somehow Ogana and I managed to fit into them.

  “I don’t want to do this,” I mumbled slowly. I didn’t want to put the armor on Dashe’s body and yet everyone wanted me to.

  “We don’t have all day you know?” Suzanne said as she kicked Dashe trying to wake him up. “This is somehow your fault for using your mind slipper on him so you have to do it.”

  She was right again and I hated that. Since I didn’t have the guts to do it I only saw one choice in the matter. I had to use the mind slipper technique on him again to wake him up. Using it three times in a day was going to leave a huge strain on my head and dull my focus roughly.

  “Hold him steady,” I told Ogana, instructing him on what to do with Dashe’s body as I prepared to do a reverse mind slipper.

  In my weakened state, my mind could easily be taken over by Dashe’ thoughts if I wasn’t too careful. However, it was a risk I was willing to take. The thought of changing another man’s clothes was too repulsive for me to even think of. My only option was waking him up the hard way. Focusing intensely, I activated the technique and forced my will into Dashe’s mind. His inner thoughts were shadowed by his past and felt sad and horrible. They were quickly corrupting my thoughts and driving my will out, trying to force me into submission. I clearly understood why Ebi had warned me never to try something like that in the first place. My mind had weakened to a point if felt like it would shatter; however, in the yellow world it hadn’t been this bad. Suddenly I started to see it all, his past, his rage, and his quest for vengeance.

  “Father no I didn’t do it,” young Dashe said speaking to his father, “I didn’t steal the minister’s son’s sword you have to believe me.”

  From inside his mind, I saw everything he went through as an Iyenkan child. You know what; he and I were not so different after all from each other. He went through the same thing I had gone through, well in a way. We were both forced into exile on crimes we never committed. Only difference was that it had been the minister’s son who had tricked Dashe into taking possession of his golden sword. He had taken it thinking that they were friends only to find out he had set it up that way in order to frame him and have him executed for stealing. Young Dashe fled Iyenka with nothing, but his clothes and shoes before he could be arrested and trialed, forever to wonder the world as an outcast. Abruptly, I could no longer see what happened next as Dashe somehow woke up, shielded his mind and forced my will out at the same time.

  “That was a dirty trick,” he sneered with blood lust filled eyes. “You filthy Roguean, you had no right to snoop inside my mind like that.”

  “Sorry,” I replied sincerely looking down.

  I could now understand why he was so rude. He felt like the world was against him, like it was trying to destroy him. There was a time after my banishment I thought that way too. I had incredible rage and insanity, threatening everything around me. If Paul and Tye hadn’t found me I would have been killed or worse killed someone else. Perhaps Ken told Dashe to come with me in order for us to help change each other. That made a lot of sense when I thought about it. I took my mind off the matter and moved around a bit. The building was silent, all we could hear were caravans from merchants coming into the city. The large fortress city housed over a thousand buildings all surrounding a palace or castle. There was strange talk of rebels on the loose headed for Okaya among the merchants close by. I think they were talking about us. Dashe was looking at me coldly, his fist clenched, but controlled.

  “I’m sorry Dashe I didn’t mean to,” I said trying to apologize again and end the awkward silence that now housed the building.

  “Save it Rid,” he interrupted loudly. “Stop apologizing, it’s over already.”

  That had gone much better than I expected. What surprised me was how Dashe had force me out of his mind. Only a few people had the willpower to do that once the mind slipper had been placed on them, and I mean only a few.

  “So what was that all about?” Kaya asked almost trying to laugh hysterically. “It looked like you guys were an old married couple.”

  I resented his comment and didn’t say anything bad to him since he was still just a small kid with a smart mouth and a dangerous explosive power.

  “What’s all this?” a guard walked into the building. The new guard was taller than most of us, and wore a silver and gold armor around his body. His face was hidden beneath a metal helmet, leaving his icy black eyes exposed. The man strode into the building and stopped in the center of us looking at all of us strictly. Luckily enough, Dashe had already changed into his armor.

  “Why are you gathered here instead of patrolling the city?”

  None of us could come up with a good answer for his question. We all fell into a deep silence and just stood there. The man had caught us unprepared and with no solid story to explain ourselves.

  “They were helping me find my brother who got kidnapped by robbers,” Kaya said crying.

  Had to admit, his acting was flawless. It could have fooled me and I wasn’t one so easy to impress. We could now only hope he bought the story which seemed to have a lot of holes in it. At first, he was silent as looked at Kaya intensely. Kaya began to cry even more, a little too much if you ask me.

  “Well carry on, but you with the freaky eyes come with me,” he said pointing to me.

  Freaky eyes! That really bothered me a lot than the fact that I was about to go with him somewhere unknown. I hesitated at first not sure of what to do. It was easier just to knock him out; however, that would only rouse suspicion. As everyone stayed motionless, I followed him a few steps behind, my heart beating mercilessly. This was definitely going to put a kink into our plans.

  Suzanne gave me a nod to go and whispered silently “we’ll find you.”

  It was not too comforting even when it was coming from her lips. I took one last glance at them before walking out of the building with the guard. Just where was he taking me? The air outside had changed completely for some reason. It was thick and scented with the essence of burning wood and rubbish. Something was off, I couldn’t sense the presence of anyone around me. It was like everyone around me was invisible or something. My ability to sense others around me had stopped the moment I put on that armor. “Wait! It couldn’t be?”

  But it explained everything, I mean like not being able to sense those guards who stopped us along the way. Maybe the armor was enchanted to suppress the presence of anyone who wore it.

>   That just had to be the explanation.

  “So what was a royal guard like you doing with those lowlife guards in that building?” He asked looking at me while we walked through the crowded streets.

  What bad luck!

  It seemed I had taken the most important guard’s armor from that building. My misfortune seemed to be laughing in my face again as it clanged onto me.

  I couldn’t come up with an original answer so I randomly said, “I was helping them do a good job finding that boy’s brother because they seemed to be misdirected.”

  It hadn’t come out the way I wanted, although it was the only thing I could come up with under pressure. I was rather taken back with the busy streets all over the fortress city. Everyone around here looked peaceful and happy, like this place was paradise.

  “Ah I see! Soldier you are an example to us all,” he chuckled patting me in the back, “now head towards the princess it’s your turn to help her with her war training.”

  War training!

  My neck cracked slightly as I shrugged a little. I didn’t like the sound of that, it felt like I had put myself into boiling water.

  “Training sir?” I pleaded, “But I have to help that young boy find his brother first sir or those.”

  “No you don’t,” he cut me off, “those fools can manage on their own and your duty is to attend to the princess so go now to the palace.”

  I couldn’t argue anymore when he said that, I realized arguing with him would only reveal my true identity. He headed in a different direction as he left me at the steps of the palace by myself. The palace was grand and an amazing sight to behold. It was flooded with tilivan marble brick and a thick roof of silver gold. However, it was awfully quiet. There were no citizens in sight, all too spooky. Two guards with the same uniform as me stood guard at the gate. Carefully, I used my eyes’ power to my advantage to look for the princess while walking towards the palace gates. There were way too many suspicious characters inside and unfortunately I couldn’t sense their presence and detect their energy because of the armor I had on.

  “The answer lay inside,” I said to myself as the guards opened the gates to let me in.

  It was rather suspicious though, I had blended in like it was nothing and infiltrated the palace so easily. Did they already know who I was? It certainly looked that way and the other mystery was why there was a princess in this Jura? It didn’t make sense since this city was a part of Okaya and a part of Katarina Fox’s domain. After a minute of searching through the palace, I spotted a young lady in a large kitchen, she was eating a four day meal by herself. She was beautiful and yet such a gluttony. Judging by the golden crown on her hair she was the princess.

  She managed to finish her meal before I entered the kitchen, “I was afraid you weren’t going to show up guard. So explain to me what took you so long?”

  Her way with words reminded me of how I was when I was still in Rogue. I had the same exact arrogant manner and attitude towards the palace helpers and guards. Thinking back, I truly regretted the way I acted and if I could I would go back in time and change my past.

  “Well talk,” she asked again standing up with right her arm on her waist, “I’m waiting so speak.”

  There was something about women with bad attitudes that I seemed to attract me towards them. It was this magnetic attraction to them I just couldn’t explain.

  “I uh was held up with this kid who was looking for his kidnapped brother,” I said finally breaking the charm her eyes had put on me, “I’m sorry you highness it won’t happen again.”

  I bowed my head as a sign to beg her forgiveness. It was ironical how it was the other way around when I was in Rogue and now the tables had turned.

  “Fine then,” she said and turned her back towards me, “follow me to the training grounds.”

  Her hair was black and very long. It truly puzzled me how she thought she could fight with all that hair. I also noticed her colorful outfit, it had golden emeralds and rubies attached to a very weighted armor on her full chest. She was truly strong and I didn’t need to feel her presence or energy to tell that. We took the back stairs that led to small balcony and headed down a few more steps. The training grounds looked amazing. The grass was green and perfectly cut. There was training equipment all over the place as well as a few horses. It was truly the ideal place for some great exercise accustomed to royalty.

  “Take off your helmet soldier and wear the more protected one over there if you want,” she ordered pointing me towards a table with helmets. “I would advise it, trust me.”

  The princess looked at me with a small grin as she flexed her shoulders smoothly for a warm up. Darn! I couldn’t take off my helmet at all cost as it protected my identity and so I humbly refused her offer. She took off some portions of her armor and started kicking her legs frequently in the air displaying her physique. Her body was truly toned and yet agile meaning she was definitely fast and powerful. From then, I knew I was in serious trouble and had to be careful when sparring with her during training. Plus, it was also in my custom not to hold back against anyone.

  “Don’t hold anything back,” she spoke in a soft maniacal voice, assuming an offensive pose “for I won’t hold back either when I pummel you into the ground.”

  That didn’t sound good, I couldn’t fight her at full power without revealing myself and yet at the same time if I didn’t I would surely be severely injured.

  “Here I come,” she yelled to me grabbing an axe and jumping high into the air ferociously.

  2

  I was rather impressed and bedazzled. I felt like I was watching an angel come down towards me only with an axe and intent to kill. Wait, what am I thinking? Quickly, I ducked away by taking a few steps back out of her reach. The moment her feet touched the ground, she jolted again attacking relentlessly. I motioned back as I took a glance of my surrounding, memorizing everything around me. There was a variety of swords, shields, and crossbows all over the field. Meaning, disarming her was a waste of time on my part. With each of her strike, I learned her attack patterns which were somewhat predictable, but vicious. She suddenly stopped straightening up her posture, with eyes filled with excitement. I lowered my hands as I watched her carefully, something about her had changed.

  “Very good guard,” she commented taking the weight restrictors off on her legs and arms. “It has been long since I have found someone worthy of my true strength, finally I can go all out.”

  Seemed my gut feeling had been right all along, she had been holding back all along. I took a few steps back to distance myself from her, anticipating the worst. Now that her weight restrictors were off, this was going to get messy. In one blink, I lost track of her. She manueved somehow behind me striking out over my head with a horizontal kick. Whoa! Her strength and speed were greater than I expected. It was just as mother used to say, “Never underestimate your opponent because of their gender, size, or strength.”

  As I dodged down, I rotated my body with my hands in front of my head in a defensive position. This was not the outcome I had predicted when I agreed to come here. I took a deep long sigh as I weighed in all my options. The princess went on the attack, moving swiftly and attacking wildly.

  “If I don’t do something soon, I am a goner,” I warned myself running out of her way.

  She left me no choice; I took a gamble and summoned my first blast. The yellowish glow didn’t slip out because of the armor I was wearing. As the energy engulfed me, I clenched my fist ready to go on the offense. It was clear to me now, the princess was insane, and she enjoyed this. She was attacking me with an aggression to kill.

  “This is the best,” she sighed smiling, her hands now resonating with black energy. “Mother never lets me have this much fun.”

  I had a gut feeling in my stomach telling me to run, but I was too curious to see what she about to do. Somehow her madness seemed to draw me closer to her.

  “Dodge this if you can,
” she screamed in happiness as she shot a fierce burst of black energy from both her hands.

  “Another white water mist power,” I sighed slowly.

  It was so fast and unlike anything I had ever encountered. It came at a straight trajectory; however my body wasn’t fast enough to evade it. All I could do was watch as it hit me hard in the chest. My body felt hot as if I was being engulfed with fierce flames. The pain was unbearable and incredibly maddening. But it was nothing compared to what I went through training with Ebi. It seemed more and more people around the world were gaining these destructive powers, thanks to the Rainku tempering with the mists. I panted for a minute trying to make sense of what had just hit me. That black energy was somehow dark and impure. The force behind the attack knocked me off my feet towards the ground. Half the armor was turned to dust causing me to quickly suppress all my energy in since the armor no longer shielded it. I lied still pretending to sleep making her think she won. I could not defeat her unless I was using my full strength. This was not good!

  “Get up,” she rattled, “one more round and we call it quits.”

  That sounded terrible, she clearly wasn’t buying my sleeping routine or she was truly a monster who enjoyed tormenting her opponent. Either way I was in trouble, another blast like that spelled serious pain for sure. Seemed that other guard had lied to me, this wasn’t training, it was more like trying to survive from the princess.

  I didn’t get up because in that moment I thought of something and said, “my apologies princess I can’t get up, I’m seriously injured.”

  She looked disgusted as she focused her power and blasted me away off the field into the air. I couldn’t explain it, but I was somehow sent flying up into the air and not horizontally. Fortunately, it wasn’t fatal as I absorbed some of the force in her mist acquired power into myself. Yep, another one of the many powers of the gauntlet.

  This particular ability; however, allowed me to absorb or steal energy from my opponents or allies and use it for myself. Which is how I was able to survive all of her brutal attacks. I fell face first into the ground and moaned in pain. That really hurt a lot, but I had managed to hide my identity a little longer.

  “This is boring,” she complained messing with her hair a little. “I’m going back inside the palace. Get yourself fixed by the palace doctor and be back here tomorrow for another session.” What! No way!

  I wasn’t coming back here definitely. As soon as I could get some new guard armor, I was going to slip out of the palace and rejoin my companions. Everything ached; I examined myself thoroughly while trying to get up. She had really done a number on me with her powerful attacks, I could fill my bones tweaking uncontrollably. The energy I had absorbed from her felt dark and gloomy. It felt like there was a floating empty space inside my stomach. However, it was finally over. Looking up, the sun stood brightly across the middle of the skies. I could hardly believe what had just happened to me through the morning. I wanted to get out of this palace so bad, although not easy in my current condition. I needed a new disguise, a new guard’s full body armor to protect my identity. I looked around and smiled. This place had everything I needed. After a quick glance around, I took one of the extra body uniforms and put in on, discarding the old one away. Once I was done, I moved slowly away from the training grounds retracing my steps back to the palace gates. I couldn’t believe how large the palace was from the inside. It was so great that it even had a hidden underground layer below ground. Suddenly, I noticed a room centered deep below and built on what looked like solid gold.

  “That looks interesting.”

  I couldn’t keep my eyes away from it. There was something hidden inside of priceless value. From then, I knew I had to get to it no matter what. One problem, there was no direct route from here to it. I had to go through the hidden corridors of the palace and then through…..!

  The entrance towards it was linked to a large room built for someone of royal descent, the princess no doubt. I had hoped I would avoid seeing her again, but apparently that wasn’t for me to decide. With my mind determined, I went inside the palace a little nervous and also frightened to the core. I had no idea what I was walking into, so my reaction was to be expected. Dressed as a royal guard, I managed to fool a lot of people, it was too easy, but then again I looked and acted the part nicely. Another guard approached me like he wanted to talk to me. He was in a different armor and walked like he was superior to everyone else. His outfit consisted of a large crimson red cape and a large axe on his back.

  “Uh Jisembo! I heard the princess suggested you for training again,” a strange guard murmured patting me on the back. “I would’ve have never thought you would last three seconds with her. You are usually the first one to run off with your buddies on duty and get drunk. Why the sudden change?”

  Jisembo! His mother must have run out of names to call him. I could now explain why he was hanging with the other drunken guards in that building. He must have really hated that name, I know I would. It also seemed this Jisembo character was a lazy drunk idiot royal guard and I had not been playing his part well.

  “I stopped drinking sir and made a promise to fulfill my duty,” I said in a goofy manner, “only this once sir and consider it my gift to the palace.”

  “That’s my boy,” the man said with a loud chuckle. “You are finally learning something for a change. Keep this up and you’ll be promoted to head guard for sure.”

  With that said, he left and headed outside. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn’t at the moment. I had to go investigate what was in the golden room first before going to look for my friends. With no one else to get in my way, I headed downstairs towards the princess’ room. She didn’t appear to be there so I felt at ease. The walls towards her room utterly disgusted me out dearly. They seemed to be moving and breathing. I couldn’t help, but shake this uneasy feeling that the palace was alive or something was inside the walls. They even echoed slightly as a gush of wind blew up. What lied ahead seemed to be my first task. It was the princess’ room, slightly tilted to the left and yet perfectly designed on a larger grand scale. Staring at it made my stomach turn. I looked and noticed that the door was open. I could tell that no one dared to go in there except her. As I kept walking, I noticed the light inside getting dimmer with each second. A growling sound stirred up the whole room, it seemed like I was alone, but I really wasn’t. Surprisingly, her room looked bigger than I had originally imagined. The amount of space inside didn’t match with the palace design. There were creepy leafless trees all over the room. To be truthful, the design of the whole room made me truly less attracted to her. I mean I would seriously run away from her if she designed our palace like this. Marrying someone with such a horrible creepy taste in design was a no-no for me. Well, it was all in my head and less likely to happen. However, it wasn’t bad to dream about something right?

  “So you couldn’t wait for round two?” a voice spoke coming from all over the room. “I like men like that.”

  That voice was all too familiar with me now. I turned my head around and saw the princess. Frightened by her sudden appearance I didn’t answer. I had hoped not to see her again, but unfortunately our paths had been intertwined. She was way beyond freaky, she was on another level beyond creepy and weird.

  “I came to apologize, I can’t train tomorrow because my ribs are broken,” I said instinctively like lying was my second nature. I wasn’t proud of it, although it was the best I could do. By her facial expression it looked like she wasn’t buying it at all or just didn’t care.

  “Silence guard,” she stopped me, “don’t speak let’s continue where we left off.”

  She completely ignored my words and picked up a spear from somewhere beneath the floor. I watched utterly shocked at the lengths at which she was willing to sink to satisfy her fighting urges. Her first moves were predictable as usual, but due to my damaged body I could barely avoid most of them. I weaved my body left and right, ducking the
most fatal of her spear thrusts.

  “Please princess! Have mercy,” I pleaded with her bowing on the floor.

  That was a mistake on my part. The heel of her shoe connected with my helmet and sent me crashing head first into the black swamp like floor. She screamed and laughed like a maniac as she swung her spear down towards my head. I sensed the danger and sprung loose from her foot, getting up quickly. A tinge of sweat dropped down into my eyes. I wiped it away alongside the dirty water, trying to stay calm. I knew I couldn’t fight her without attracting attention of the other guards in the palace. My best chance lay in taking her out with a surprise move, my mind slipper. Forth time’s the charm right? I had no idea what would come about if I used it again considering what had happened when I used it on Dashe.

  “Come on foot soldier,” she bellowed signaling me to come close. Her breath smelled like a whole buffet of food. “This training is to help me become a leader. Who will miss a single guard like you if I kill you right now?”

  She was right, not a whole lot of people would as it stands. The look in her eyes changed completely, she was looking at me with a serious intent to kill me. I felt my heart beat rise with each passing second. One wrong move on my part and it was over. For a moment, she stood still looking at me with her green mesmerizing eyes, enchanting me deeply. If I had a wish before I die, it would be to drown in her vast green sea like eyes and forget all my distant troubles. I had no idea why I was thinking that, I just couldn’t control my wild imagination any longer.

  “Oh what am I thinking?”

  I took control over my thoughts and put my mind onto something more useful like evading the princess. In the midst of agonizing struggle, I noticed a secret door beneath the floor I doubted she even knew was there. It was the way down and I had found it in such difficult position which was pretty impressive even for me. Now all that was left was to get rid of her, and I was finding it not easy to do. I swerved out of the way as a spear attacks intensified, coming at me without a pattern. I quickly weighed down my remaining options while ducking away from the thrust of her spear. No doubt, the longer this continued, the more likely it was for me to be fatally wounded. Out of the blue, her movements began to diminish as the look in her eyes became less apparent. I think she was getting bored completely, a good sign for me. The princess adjusted her long hair to one side and while clenching her spear tightly. She looked at me dashingly like a vibrant angel of doom, sent to destroy me.

  “I am getting bored stiff, get serious already,” she spoke tilting her spear horizontally. “I know Jisembo and he would never last a second with me. That idiot would never volunteer to train with me. So talk! Who are you?”

  Oh! She had found me out at last; I just didn’t think it would take that long to do so. There was no longer any use in hiding my identity. I really would have wanted to play the part a little longer, nevertheless it couldn’t be help. Silently, I watched her carefully while sighing slowly from relief and frustration. At this point, there was no longer any need to hold back against someone of her caliber. She took off another set of weighted plates on her arms, legs, and waist which I had not noticed. You know what, she kind of reminded me of Suzanne a little except without the craziness. It was that craziness of hers that seemed to attract me even more to her.

  “We haven’t gone out on a first date so don’t be pushy,” I said playing around, my mind out of it. Yes, I had a tendency of letting my imagination get the best of me.

  “What!” she growled, “what are you talking about you impostor?”

  My mind tricks seemed to be getting the best of her as she started to let her anger control her. That was a mistake on my part. With her anger flared, she was blitzed and attacked harder and fiercer than ever. I could now explain the saying, “awakening a sleeping dragon.”

  “Why are you so angry?” I asked backing away instantly from one of her brutal slash.

  The princess bore a face filled with pure rage and madness against me which shook me up a bit.

  She stopped for a minute and thought about it, this was the perfect chance to escape.

  “Well,” she finally spoke, “because you haven’t asked me out yet Jiyembo.”

  My jaw dropped, I thought she said I was an impostor? Was she really serious right now? This was bad, she had mistaken me for Jiyembo, the guy we had tied in the building next to the outer city walls. As it seemed, Jisembo and her had something going on and I just happened to be caught in the middle. Just what was her end game? Not too long ago, she was about to kill me and now this?

  “It’s that girl isn’t it Jisembo,” she yelled in a rude way, “I have been stalking you while you walked with her. Jisembo! When I’m done with you she is next.”

  I was stuck in a love triangle of some sort. The princess had lost her mind it seemed. Without warning, she shot a black vile of energy with her right hand, almost destroying my substitute armor. Fortunately, I ducked in time to watch her stand gazing curiously in amazement.

  “You are not Jisembo are you?” she said biting her lip.

  Now what! What on earth was she thinking now? I had wasted enough time messing around with her. Clearly it was time to end this charade permanently. I took a huge gamble and fired energy bullets at her with one of my guns. She intentionally stayed still and smacked my energy shots with her free hand like it was nothing.

  “What incredible power!”

  Even though it was a second level attack, I was surprised by how well she deflected them like they were leaves. The princess was an astounding warrior and it seemed she had been just playing around too with me. Her power and strength amazed me completely. On the other hand, it frightened me to the very core. If she was this powerful, I honestly did not want to know how strong her mother was. At least, my head had settled down a little from all the constant throbbing it had been doing all day allowing me to focus rationally. My next attempt at the mind slipper technique was not a guaranteed gamble. I had to distract her somehow before trying to use it because she seemed like the type who could shield her mind involuntarily.

  “Are you done or do you want to see my real power?” she boasted hitting her chest several times, “I’m the most powerful person in Jura aside from my mother of course.”

  Indeed she was, but she also had a weakness which was distraction. I had noticed it when I asked her why she was attacking me. Her lack of complete focus was her only weakness, and definitely an advantage I would surely take. Time to start lying, one of my greatest gifts.

  “I’m Jisembo’s cousin,” I began my plan. “I’m just covering for Jisembo, he is outside the city in Rigudaya finding you an engagement ring. He is going to propose tomorrow, but don’t tell anyone it’s a secret.”

  As I said those words, I felt sorry for Jisembo. If he did ever managed to break free and come back it was going to be a nightmare for him definitely. The princess gripped her spear firmly staring me in the eye with a blank expression, blushing lightly. I could tell that my lie had worked its wonders.

  She giggled and said, “really this is so exciting, tell me all the details?”

  In that moment she was distracted, I activated the mind slipper and easily penetrated her mind forcing her to sleep. The princess fell gently backwards and closed her eyes to sleep. She may have been extremely powerful, but everyone has a weakness. My body ached badly as my head began to throb again. Forcing a powerful technique like the mind slipper the forth time had dire consequences. It was good fortune that I had not lost consciousness because of it. With the princess asleep, I took the spear she was holding and used it to carve out the floor above the secret door. It wasn’t difficult to open the secret door although it was an extremely complex combination of locks that took me a few minutes to figure out. The floor beneath the door was illuminated with wax candles that seemed as if they had been lit a minute before I got there. The passage beneath was so dark and gloomy, even my eyes could barely see anything at the bottom. What was I doing?
Was any treasure worth this? Conquering all my fears, I climbed down the stairs and headed down towards the secret golden room.