Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

41

  “Rid wake up,” someone shacked me roughly with unending resilience.

  What now? It had been barely a few moments since I closed my eyes or was it? Every part of my body ached, sending shivers down my spine. To my left, I felt someone, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes at all.

  “Wake me later,” I mumbled beneath my breath turning the other way to get comfortable. “Whatever it is it can wait.”

  “No it can’t,” a familiar voice instantly replied.

  I opened my eyes and noticed the sun start to go down slowly. Just how long had I been asleep for? In the air, we heard a loud ruckus echoing throughout the sky. It was then, I felt Katarina’s presence again, well as a vixen witch that is. She lingered within the clouds, plotting vengeance upon me.

  “Finally you are awake,” Kaya coughed loudly. He appeared hurt as he kept his right hand filmy on his left elbow. “I have been trying to wake you up for awhile without response.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked him, supporting my weight using both of my hands.

  My legs trembled, unable to support my body. I saw my friends along with their allies, standing within the ruins of the castle. They had defeated her minions, leaving her as the only adversary left.

  “Riyo how dare you!” she growled loudly, sending small tremors in the ground beneath me.

  I look upwards and noticed Katarina Fox still in her true form as a large fox. She looked more ridiculous and less menacing than before. Half her fur had been burnt off from her body. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at her or take her seriously. This was bad, I could no longer fight her. I had used everything I had to deflect her suns away from the others and now I was in trouble. Upon closer look, Katarina was acting more out of control than usual. Her trident was ripping apart the wind in every direction like a tycoon. I had to give it to her, she was truly one tough old fox. Even after giving it everything I had plus more it still didn’t stop her at all. But how had she survived that attack? Of course, it was the trident’s power to control time and space, it just had to be. But on the bright side, I had inflicted damage towards her.

  “Don’t worry Rid,” Kaya chuckled moving in front of with his arms raised, full of courage. “I will protect you.”

  “No she is too powerful,” I replied instantly without thinking. “You must hurry and go before it’s too late. Find your brother Kaya and leave this place immediately. I will buy you some time.”

  “No, not this time,” Kaya shook his head as he took a defensive stance in front of me. “You helped me get all the way here. I won’t leave you to die, it would be against my pride and everything I believe in.”

  Pride! A kid like him knew about pride? I was surprised as well as relieved by his words. Now I truly understood why it was worth fighting all the Rainku. It was for people like him whose value towards others I felt I needed to fight for. Even though I had been convicted as a criminal and labeled an outcast, I felt happy that someone found value in my existence.

  “Riyo,” the fox roared fiercely before sending a small sphere of fire towards Kaya and me.

  No, it was too much. Neither Kaya nor I had the power to stop it.

  “Kaya run,” I yelled to him from the top of my voice. “You can’t stop that.”

  Kaya looked at me from the corner of his eye and smiled before running towards it. He leaped in the air with great power and just before contact, he exploded his entire body and stopped it slowly from hitting me too.

  “No Kaya,” I screamed towards him helplessly watching from the ground.

  I had promised him that I would protect him so that he wouldn’t use that power and now I had broken that promise. The two forces cancelled each other out after what appeared to be a great and long draw.

  “Kaya you stupid idiot,” I yelled raising my hand despite the pain towards him. “Please don’t be dead.”

  This was my entire fault, if only I hadn’t made him come along. Gritting my teeth, I tried hard to look away, but I couldn’t. I wanted to know if Kaya was okay. A few yards away from me, I saw his body on the ground. He was still alive fortunately, although not moving. Tears started to drop from my eyes as I watched him lay helplessly on the ground motionless. First it was Suzanne and now Kaya too. It was too much to bear and think about. They had put their lives on the line to fight for what they believed in. Why couldn’t I do the same? Why was I letting my pain stop me?

  “Surround her,” Ogana yelled from somewhere in the sky. “Don’t let her out of your sight.” Everyone from earlier were there including Dien and Glazer. Roughly about a hundred people were fighting her now and giving her a hard time. I could not tell who was winning, but from the looks of things it appeared the vixen version of Katarina had the advantage.

  “Enough of this,” the fox growled stomping the air rapidly with its trident tail. “It is time I ended this.”

  The vixen witch opened its mouth and this time it wasn’t huge fire balls that came out, but a horde of monstrous soldiers. They were bathed in the vapors of the mist, and moved fast like the wind. It couldn’t be! Had she placed these reserve soldiers near the mist to power them up for a time like this? It certainly appeared to be the case and this wasn’t good. The tides began to tip rapidly against my companions as they began to fall out of the sky one after the other. Paul was there too and seemed to be holding out thanks to the power of the gloves of Hoken. Our forces were being dwindled down, falling apart to her might. I wanted to get up, get up and help them. I rattled from the ground unable to do anything to help them at all.

  “Riyo,” a strange voice called out to me.

  I looked around and I saw no one. Ignoring it, I concentrated my entire mind on the events that were unfolding right above me. One after another, I watched in tears as everyone who I knew was being beaten mercilessly by her monstrous army. If only I had been stronger and more powerful, I could have helped in some way. Everything that was happening was my fault, my guilt to bear forever. And now, I was far more vulnerable than I had ever been before. Soon, she would set her gaze on me and I would be next. And like I said, Katarina descended to the ground towards me with a gruesome smile on her monster face. She paced herself and stopped on top of me, with her front paws around me. This was the end indeed. I was staring oblivion in the face and I was scared to be honest.

  “You are the first person who has dealt this much pain to me,” the fox snared. “You should feel honored to be killed by me personally.”

  “Well the feeling is not mutual,” I chuckled trying to keep myself from falling in spirit. “I like your new fur. It looks good on you.”

  The moment I spoke, the fox jabbed me hard in the stomach with its left paw sideways, sending me flying into the opposite side of the city. Before I had a chance to crash into the ground, she caught me in the air and struck me in the back with the trident. I felt it, but did not pierce through me. Somehow, the axion armor had responded to my will and hardened in the back, just in the nick of time.

  “Magnificent,” the fox giggled with uncontrolled joy. “Yes this is the power I have been looking for. It is going to give me great pleasure to strip it from your flesh.”

  Yeah for her, but not for me! I twitched from discomfort for a minute unable to think for a while. The pain was maddening and much more horrific than anything I had ever felt before. I just wanted to let her finish me off quickly; however, something told she was going to slowly torture me before killing me.

  “I knew letting you live for a while would benefit me later,” the fox continued as it looked up towards the soldiers still fighting a few of my companion in the sky. “You didn’t really think I didn’t know where you were did you?”

  “What are you talking about you monster?” I rattled at her.

  There was something about her words that aroused my interest. All this time, I knew she was toying with me, playing with my future in the palms of her hands.

  “I knew it would be the three of you who would f
ind the caravan, and merely sent my weakest minions to face you,” she began and grinned menacingly showing off her big sharp teeth. “Everything went according to my plans and you three were just pawns in my little game.”

  “You lie,” I roared in disbelief. “You can’t have predicted what we would do. The paths we choose in life are not written in stone, we make them through the choices we make.”

  “Is that so? Do you really believe that?” she laughed loudly looking me straight into the eye.

  “Your path had already been chosen, and I merely sped up the process. Do you really think the treasure dogs’ appearance was just a mere coincidence? Did you ever wonder why they didn’t try to kill you in the first place?”

  “You seriously expect me to believe that nonsense?” I spat at her, deep down I knew it was true. “What would you benefit from all this?”

  “The secrets I was looking for,” she hissed and placed her paw on my legs. “The ultimate treasures cannot be used by just anyone, only by those who have been deemed worthy.”

  “You had us cornered so why didn’t you just capture us then before we became a threat?”

  “Where is the fun in that?” she laughed and pressed her paw even harder on my legs. “If I did that I wouldn’t have been able to gather enough knowledge on how each weapon worked especially the gauntlet of destiny. I truly wanted to see depths of the gauntlet’s hidden potential and how it picked its bearers out. Although it is strange I would never have imagined you would make it this far and get so strong in such a small time. I did everything within my power to push you here so that you could unlock the axion armor and sucano mask for me since I could not use the power of the gauntlet. I can honestly say these turn of events were not the outcome I predicted to occur. But now, I don’t need you anymore since I have learned important secrets to unlocking the rest of the other hidden treasures. I will slowly and painfully take the axion armor and the gauntlet away from you now.”

  Disgusting! She truly was a sadistic cunning fox to plan everything to play out this far. She was just so brilliant and I couldn’t help, but admire her intellect. I had been played for a fool and I felt like a true idiot. Was anything I had experienced been real? Were my friends even really my friends at all? Did I even have a choice in my life? Nothing felt authentic anymore to me. All I wanted to do now was just die, and just forget everything.

  “You let your guard down Katarina,” someone interrupted us with a rough voice. “I always thought you were smarter than that.”

  I looked towards the fox and noticed Showe and Glazer standing on each side of her. Glazer had his flintlock rifle in his right arm and his left hand placed on his sword’s sheath. Fools, there was no way they could take someone of her caliber on. What were they thinking?

  “What do you vermin want?” the fox rattled looking at them like they were pests. “Wait your turn if you want to die so badly.”

  Showe chuckled suddenly without any signs of fear or remorse in his eyes. He looked absolutely confident in his boast and I wondered why? Glazer suddenly moved towards the fox and touched the bare skin with both hands.

  “What are you?” the fox rattled unable to move its enormous body. “What have you done to me?”

  Whoa! It looked like whatever they were doing had rendered the fox immobile. Indeed Showe was truly smart, I could only hope now that whatever he had in mind next would finish her off.

  “I have rendered your body useless,” Glazer smiled while holding onto the fox with his hands. “You are pretty powerful to be resisting me this much Katarina.”

  As Glazer talked I saw sweat drop down his face like he was holding onto something heavy. “Showe now is the time to do it,” Glazer yelled from the top of his voice suddenly. “I can’t hold her back any longer.”

  “Right!” Showe nodded unsheathing his sword quickly in a profound manner. “I will make this quick and as painful as possible Katarina.”

  Just as he finished speaking, he jumped onto the ground and dashed towards the fox with much power in his feet, his sword aimed for her heart. It was hard to say whether it was anger or fear that was written on his face as he leaped into the air for her chest. His bravery and actions were amazing. I wanted to have that kind of power, the strength to revoke fear and jump into oblivion without any regrets and remorse.

  Wait! Something was wrong, I felt another person approach quickly. I had felt it before when we were coming to the castle, but who did it belong to? As I looked back, I saw a fog suddenly clash with Showe’s sword stopping it completely in its tracks.

  “Anrio,” I whispered silently trying to ignore the pain all over my body.

  I should have known it was going to take more than two people to stop a lunatic like him.

  “Sorry mistress I took so long,” he bowed his head after pushing Showe backwards. “I was gone on a treasure hunt.”

  In his hands he had the purple sword I had disposed of earlier. How could he have found it? I had thrown it far away and made sure no one knew which direction I had thrown it and yet. I couldn’t even finish that sentence as I grinded my teeth with loath.

  “You again,” Showe hissed, with heavy anxiety in his words. “I thought we got rid of you earlier. Why are you still alive?”

  Showe’s sword broke from the sheer might of the purple sword, causing him to fall back. Anrio took advantage of this and moved in quickly to deliver the final blow. It was then, Dashe appeared and blocked him off with two swords. Anrio moved back, fighting off the combined force of Dashe and Showe. To my right, I saw Glazer struggling hard to hold her off. His grip was slipping off her.

  “I’m sorry Showe,” Glazer cried letting go off the fox from his grasp.

  Suddenly the fox went wild as it roared and stomped the ground with frightening power. Oh no, I had never seen her pissed before and I doubted if that was a good thing.

  “Worthless fools,” the vixen witch spat with eyes so golden it was horrifying. “I will now show you the true wrath of the Rainku. Anrio take care of those fools and leave these two to me.”

  “Glazer get up and run,” I said instantly as I sensed the danger rapidly growing.

  He looked back with sweat dropping on his face and smiled gently, “it’s too late Rid.”

  Just as he finished speaking, the vixen witch slammed him into the ground with her right paw many times, kicking him finally to the other side of the castle.

  “No Glazer,” I yelled as I lay defenselessly on the ground with my eyes towards his floating body.

  The fox grinned greatly as it looked back at me, “sorry for the sudden interruption. Shall we continue where we left off?”

  I ignored it as tears fell down rapidly on my face. Indeed I had led them to their deaths and I regretted every bit of my decision. Without warning, the vixen witch leaped into the air high and readied itself for its next attack. What now? What was she plotting to do? Struggling to get up, I realized that I couldn’t get out of the way in time. This was the end.

  By impulse, I hardened the axion armor using my willpower, trying to protect myself from the inevitable. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t survive it; however, I had to try. The vixen witch lingered above me, looking down at me with a menacing smile. The sheer anticipation of trying to predict her next move was killing me. Was she going to suck me into another wormhole? Or was it going to be another ball of fire? Oh wait maybe she was going to summon a huge treasure dog. All these attacks truly sounded bad. The more I thought about it the more my body throbbed. Surprisingly the fox didn’t do any of that, instead it started to freefall down towards me with its heels together in its center. On no, she was going to stomp me down flat using the force in her heels. In an instant, her whole weight fell onto me, sending shattering pain straight into my head. I truly felt like I had been run over by the entire world as I screamed in agony. This was it, I had lost. In the end, it had been all a fool’s dream to think I had a chance at all. Without fight it, I closed my eyes
and accepted oblivion, smiling faintly.