Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

  43

  The sky echoed, trembling to the might of our power. Katarina and I were about to do our last bout for survival. The conditions were perfect, this weather symbolized the turmoil inside our hearts. Rushing swiftly, I took the first move and jumped in the air, disappearing out of sight into the wind. Everything was a blur, I was moving so fast that I had no idea where I was. I stopped briefly and realized I was right next to the vixen witch’s (Katarina) left side, close to her stomach. Pulling my arm back, I moved in closer and punched her hard in her animal ribs, sending her flying towards the great wall of the castle. The large vixen fox hit the wall of the castle hard and fell into a pile of debris and dust. As expected, I had unlocked the fifth blast’s power, making me more or less a match for her. Looking towards her position, I heard the vixen fox growl, getting back up to attack again. She launched a counterattack, leaping at me with her jaws open and claws out. Flying up, I dodged her first attack, ascending further up out of her reach. Katarina in her beast state went on a rampage and flew up after me, attacking me wrathfully without mercy. Left and then right, I evaded her as much as I could. True enough, I had gotten strong; however, she seemed a bit stronger and more determined.

  “I got you now,” she growled as she opened her mouth in my face.

  She had me, I was trapped. Instinctively, I made a grey sphere cover my whole body, retracting away her teeth from me. I pushed her further away by increasing the size of the sphere tenfold.

  Her eyes popped wide as rage flashed over all her beast face. You know, it was somewhat tiring to call her Katarina and vixen witch, I mean I wish she could pick one form and stick to it like everyone else, instead of transforming when she wanted.

  “Enough,” she growled heavily in the air. “This has gone too far and it should end right now.”

  The vixen witch opened its mouth greatly as the trident tail began to glow vividly blue. Now what?

  Jaws wide apart, I saw a strange portal start to form around its mouth. Whoa! Within the portal, there was an unusual city, very large and almost ancient. I blinked twice and noticed the buildings turn to ruins and begin to rain down from its mouth.

  “Are you serious?” I asked myself, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  Unusual and big piles of rocks fell towards me, descending faster than Dashe’s meteor storm. I sighed a breath of relief when I noticed that they were vacant of people and animals. Honestly, there was nothing Katarina was not willing to do for victory. Quickly, I flew up towards the setting sun, dodging building rubbles being shot out of her mouth. It seemed like there was no end to them, these large stones were all over the sky. Below me, I noticed that the whole area was completely covered with building rubble, and luckily no one was hurt.

  “Do you want to see something interesting?” the fox giggled taking out the sucano mask from somewhere under its fur. “I will show you the power of the sucano mask.”

  To my amazement, the mask had gotten bigger just like her. Well at least the buildings had stopped coming from her mouth. I stopped moving, floating effortlessly with my eyes at her. By some strange chance, she managed to put on the mask on her face with her left paw. How did she even do that? Staring at her for a moment, I burst out laughing in tears. I had never seen anything so ridiculous before in my life except for its missing fur.

  “What are you supposed to be? A raccoon in a mask?”

  “I dare you to laugh now Riyo,” the fox giggled as it disappeared.

  What the! Now I was definitely not laughing at all. This wasn’t speed or dimensional travelling at all, she had just vanished without any explanation. Looking around, I didn’t see her or even sense her at all.

  “The sucano mask gives its user the power of invincibility to anything,” the vixen fox boasted.

  Not good! As long as she had that mask on, she had the advantage. Descending down, I placed my feet down to the ground, waiting for her to make her move. The air stirred slowly, whistling with the uncertainty. Up above me, huge sphere of flames alongside piles of metal fell from the heavens like rain. I had never seen anything like it before. Her attack was wide, covering every possible direction I could run too. She was moving too fast, hidden up in plain sight. Running quickly, I took hid beneath a large curved wall, waiting out her attack. Sadly, that didn’t work. The metal piles broke through the wall, falling towards me. Rolling left, I made another grey sphere all over my body, deflecting the metal piles roughly. How could she have that much mist power? The white water mist was not a power without price, it had fatal consequences for each user. Although, I was not entirely sure how and what would happen if too much of it was absorbed into the body. For now, all I could do was dodge and hope an opening would appear for me to attack her. It was then, I felt the air get cold, signaling me that she was very close. Knowing that, I took off into the air, out of range to think of another way to combat her. Behind me, there was destruction, not something caused by the piles of metal or the flame spheres, but by her personally. Indeed she truly was tough. Were all the Rainku this dangerous? If they were then I was truly in trouble. Further to my inconvenience, the fifth blast’s power was still too great for me to control. At the very moment, I was only using half of its power poorly if I might add. Hated to say it, but I was in trouble and I only saw one way out of it.

  “Don’t have a choice,” I said to myself taking a stance. “I guess it now or never.”

  My desperation had forced me to reveal and use my final attack against her. Taking a deep sigh, I closed my eyes for a bit to concentrate.

  “What’s wrong Riyo?” the vixen witch laughed from everywhere in the sky. “Are you giving up already? The fun is just getting started.”

  Giving up was far from it. I figured it was time I showed her something new and exciting. I had never used it before so it was going to take time to prepare. I needed a distraction, but what? Hastily, I thought of something and looked up.

  “Katarina,” I began and posed for a moment to think of the right words. “I was just wondering about something. What did you mean by saying this is the true power of the white water mist when you transformed?”

  “I know what you are doing,” the fox growled from somewhere in the sky. “You are trying to buy time; however I will indulge you. The white water mist is not something natural and from this world.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you really believe a power that great comes without a cost? The white water mist is a supernatural vapor that grants its user the power to go after what he or she craves or lust after the most. Unfortunately the price for this power is your body and soul.”

  Whoa! Some things were starting to add up. I had a feeling things were about to take a turn for the worst.

  “But why would you release this dangerous vapor onto world,” I asked her as I took a slow breathe. “I mean if what you say is true, then wouldn’t that create a kink into your plans for world domination? I mean think about, if everyone in the world had powers to go after what they want the most, they can start a revolution and overthrow you all. In my opinion it doesn’t seem like a smart idea to me.

  “You are not seeing the big picture,” it laughed making the sky shake heavily. “What do you think will happen? Come on Riyo, think!”

  What was she trying to say? I thought for a moment, and then it suddenly started to make sense. Everything was now adding up, it was simple and so fiendish. So this was what they were up to?

  “You want to watch the whole world burn to the ground don’t you?” I asked, clenching my teeth in anger.

  “Exactly Riyo,” it giggled in the wind. “Total anarchy and mayhem; imagine a world where everyone does whatever they want. No rules, no morals, and the world thrown into chaos beyond repair.”

  “You monsters,” I hissed barely containing my anger. “We won’t let you have your way with the world.”

  “It’s already too late Riyo, the white water mists have already spread across the entire wo
rld so there is no stopping it now.”

  These savage beasts had gone too far. They were not bent on taking over the world, but destroy it. Wait! I thought of something crucial and important I had to ask. In my opinion it was either now or never to ask her.

  “I have one last question,” I spoke and took a defensive stance. “What happens if you rely on the power of white water mist too much?”

  “You lose your soul completely turning into a beast like me,” it snickered in a comment.

  “You are lying,” I responded, gripped with fear.

  “If I wanted to lie I could have done that from the beginning, but I didn’t did I?” she finished, her coming from somewhere to my west.

  She was right and I hated to admit it. She could have lied to me from the beginning and yet she hadn’t for some unknown reason. I paused for a moment in shock at the thought of all my friends turning into beasts like the Rainku. Was that really true? Was that what would happen to everyone affected by the mists?

  “Enough talk Riyo, I have indulged you long enough,” the fox roared burping out a large fire sphere the size of a small city. “I will put a stop to this now.”

  “What now,” I said to myself repeatedly trying to remember anything that would help.

  Wait! I still had another incantation I had yet to try. I had not used it because it took time to prepare, not accounting for the amount of energy it consumed. I looked left and right and saw that I was the only person here. Chanting out loud, I said a few incantations and touched the ground. The ground beneath me softened up to on top and hardened down at the bottom, good enough to trap the sphere and stop it. I also remembered that Ken had given a smoke canister and said when the time comes I would know what to do. In my opinion, this was the time. As the huge ball of flames raged down, I waited for the right moment to make my move. Large soaring winds blossomed in every direction, awakened by the force of the sphere. Just barely before it touched the ground, I threw the smoke canister into the ground and watched as smoke spread everywhere. I made my way out of harm’s way and hid behind stone slab, concealed inside the smoke. The huge ball of fire crashed into the ground, sending massive chunks of fire flying in all direction. Everything on the ground was blown apart into bits as the earth rattled wildly. I hung onto the slab for dear life, waiting it out until it was safe to get up. While still hidden, I panted heavily and closed my eyes, channeling all my power into my heart. To use the fifth blast final bullet, I needed focus and a pure regret free heart. Well in my case, that was a huge problem. For someone like me, repentance was not something I could just do, not that I ever tried. I didn’t know if I even had it within me to confess or much less forgive myself. I had done a lot of terrible things that sometimes I could barely look at the man I had become. But for the sake of everyone who stood by me, I was willing to try. Within me, I felt the energy gather at my center, becoming more and more visible. Swirling softly, it was almost gold and grey in color. I kept holding onto the slab, while my feet were swept up and down by the uncaring winds. The winds finally stopped, but the destruction had been done. How could she?

  Nothing remained, not even rubble. All I saw was black ash around me for miles. In my right hand, a smaller and heavier flintlock appeared, instead of my regular twin duo. How could this be? Had something gone wrong? What could I do with such a small weapon? Fortunately, the smoke was still covering me from her, giving me a slight advantage. I tried again to sense her presence, but came up empty. Her mask shielded her from all of my powers, making this very difficult. The gun got even heavier when a long sash appeared on its hilt, completely rendering my arm immobile. No, this was an unexpected turn of events. How would I win if I couldn’t even lift my hand to fire the bullet? As I sat there wondering what I would do next, the smoke started to clear up slowly. Soon she was going to be able to see me since I was hiding in an open area. Slowly I stood up supporting all my weight into my left leg and grinded my teeth with anticipation. Quickly I made the fifth blast sphere appear all over my body and looked up into the setting sun thinking.

  “Why was I still willing to fight?”

  A sense of wonder and hopelessness crept into me for a second. It just didn’t make sense to me since I wasn’t strong enough to defeat Katarina Fox. No matter how hard I tried, I kept failing which made me wonder if there was any sense in trying. Realizing my impending demise, I took a gamble and decided to put my life on the line on my final move. Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my jaws and sucked in the grey and gold sphere energy covering my body into myself, condensing it heavily as I could. To my surprise, I wasn’t getting stronger, but heavy and slower. I felt like I had eaten an entire buffalo which wasn’t a good thing. Why was this happening? I looked deep into my own self and saw the reason why all this was happening to me. It was because my heart was still corrupted by my own regrets and past mistakes. Suppressed down within me, there was darkness, corruptions, and so much regret I could barely stand it. I wondered how Dashe felt if he looked inside himself. With all the people he had insulted and beaten up, I doubted he would be happy at all.

  “Alright,” I said to myself finally ready to face my past. “Here goes nothing.”

  “Oh there you are,” the fox growled from somewhere within the sky. “I am still warming up, I wouldn’t want you to die so suddenly.”

  Really! I doubted that very much. After all she had done to me, I would say she wanted me dead quickly.

  “Father and mother, I am truly sorry for everything I put you through” I yelled and I truly meant it from the bottom of my heart. “I know I have done a lot of things that humiliated you and for that I am truly sorry.”

  Sigh! I felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from my shoulder. I had never confessed my feelings before so it felt odd and weird.

  “To everyone else who I hurt in my past,” I continued and stared down for a second. “I am truly sorry, I apologize and regret my mistakes. I know you can’t hear me, but I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me one day.”

  Everything dark within me was slowly coming to the surface. I had way so much turmoil and regrets that it was way too much to remember. Although all of it was true to say the least. My mother used to cry a lot when I didn’t make it home and people found me lying outside sleeping on the roads drunk out of my mind.

  “What nonsense are you blabbering about?” the fox spat out loud. “Have you lost your mind scum?”

  As she spoke to me I felt the weight of my dark past start to grow a little bearable. Yes, it was working. Nevertheless, it was a little too embarrassing to continue. I still had a lot to confess over and so little time to do it. Massive bolts of lightning started to fall down from somewhere in the air. Was she getting desperate or was she still toying with me the whole time? The lightning was fast and powerful and it was everywhere. As I deflected it away, I felt it barely nick my hair a little. My hair caught on fire and I quickly patted it rapidly to put it out.

  “I’m deeply sorry to all the castle servants and soldiers. You put up with me daily despite all the terrible things I did. I am really a terrible person, but I will change if I can.”

  I screamed out again as I got up, ran, and ducked. They were just a few of many people I had hurt in the past. It was probably safe to say the list of bad things I had done was endless. During my time in Rogue, I used to abuse my power and got everyone in trouble just to pass time or entertain myself.

  “I’m sorry Daphne for breaking our promise. I might never come back to Rogue, but we’ll always be friends forever.”

  Now that was something I truly meant from the bottom of my heart. She was better off with someone like James and not me in the end. I hated to admit it to myself, but there were some things in life that were sometimes beyond any of our control. Even though it hurt, we had to learn to move on with our lives and endure through like Ogana was, well sort of without the heavy drinking.

  “She just won’t give up will she?”

 
I looked up again it began to rain fire from the sky. Quickly I took off for the sky slowly to avoid the heavy heat. Where was she getting all these different powers from? Her trident was truly potent and incredible to be able to summon such terrible calamities simultaneously.

  No! Why was the fifth blast energy still too dense? Perhaps I still had more regrets inside me or something else was still holding me back.

  “Oh man! I am in serious trouble now.”

  This time it rained huge poisonous snakes from somewhere in the east towards me. The sky literally went black as they engulfed any signs of light. Truly, I saw no way to evade them as they left me no room to maneuver through. Taking my small dagger out, I slashed my way through them, flying in the between the opening. The creatures loomed over me in massive piles, trying to spit and bite at me with poison. Quickly, I repelled them away with my fifth blast sphere, wiping most of them into nothing. How could she control all these dreadful beasts and where did she even find them? Clearly she had way too much time on her hands. All my hopes lay on getting my heart clean of all regrets and anger. It was all I could bet on right at the moment.

  “I’m sorry my new friends, it’s because of me you got injured and almost killed. You put so much faith in me, and I let you down on so many accounts. I can’t say I am what you expected me to become, but I won’t give up without trying”

  So many responsibilities and duties lay on my lap. I wasn’t sure I could do everything I said I would. There was a loud laugh as I could tell she was enjoying this. Was she laughing at my confessions or the fact that I was running away from snakes? This axion armor really did come in handy.

  “It’s because I am lying, cheating, and weak man that I couldn’t protect you, I know that now.” I said slowly lowering my head. “I never wanted you involved and I regret every choice I have made.”

  Seeing Kaya, Suzanne, Dien, and the others fall to protect me had been one of my biggest regret. I was supposed to protect them and not the other way around. It was I who had led them here and if anyone deserved to sacrifice their life for the others it was me. After saying that, I no longer felt the burden of the fifth level power. Well most of it anyways. Looking up, I finally raised my right hand us with ease, extending the small gun in front of me. “Okay!”

  Even though Katarina was invincible, there was one thing she couldn’t hide away from me. It took me a while to realize it, but whenever she moved, she left fragments of disturbed air behind her. Thanks to my eyes, I was the only person who could see this and possibly find her.

  There, I saw it, across a blurry cloud. Not sure yet, but it appeared that she had stopped moving, about to do something suspicious possibly. The sky was thundering, completely dark grey and with no sun anywhere in sight. There was a highly unusual amount of air disturbance in one point, above me. Best bet, this was her final attack too, and one for the records. Floating lifelessly, I stopped moving, holding my gun tightly. This was it, the moment that counted. Our battle was finally coming to an end. Deep within my heart, I looked for the last time and saw what I truly regretted the most. The one thing in my entire existence I dreaded above anything else. In Rogue, fighting a fellow comrade was not a terrible offense; however, killing a fellow citizen was a punishment far much worse than any crime ever committed. Although I hadn’t committed the crime entirely it still was my fault. After all, James had killed her to frame me. It was my sword after all he had used to commit the crime and that was why they had thought I had done it. If only I had been responsible and lived up to my parents’ expectation then none of this would have happened. Sweat dropped down my neck, I wiped it away and closed my eyes. Focusing on all my sadness, I placed more power into my gun, making the sash behind me longer than it had ever been before.

  “What I truly repent and regret the most is the death of the servant girl by my blade,” I yelled out loudly without thinking too much. “Your death was my entire fault, I am deeply sorry and I won’t let it go unpunished, that is my promise.”

  It had always been a suppressed memory, but I felt glad the moment I yelled it out to the world. However, I did hope that no one heard me especially Dashe. He would use this against me for the rest of my life, knowing him which I did. The weight in my heart that once clouded me in darkness and despair suddenly faded away and as I truly felt free. Amazing, I felt at ease, like peace had finally settled into my heart. So this is what it felt like to repent? The gauntlet’s unrestrained power swirled heavily inside of me, building up even greater into my last bullet.

  “Why do you fight me Riyo when you know you can’t win?” the fox boasted as a giant massive sphere of fire formed. “Do you know how many warriors far greater than you fell to us? The Rainku will rule and destroy this world and there is nothing you can do about it. Soon even the powerful kingdoms like Rogue and Iyenka will fall beneath our feet.”

  So I was right, their next target was going to be Rogue and Iyenka. If those two countries fell then there would a less countries strong enough to fend off the Rainku. I couldn’t let that happen at any cost.

  “I won’t let you Katarina,” I responded back. “Even if I fall, someone else will rise and defeat you all. There will always be hope as long as there is light in our path.”

  That much was certain. I wasn’t going to let them harm my family and everyone else. It was all clear to me now, I was going to lead the rebellion that would revolt against the Rainku and wipe them off the planet. With my mind finally focused, I looked back into the sky at the oncoming danger. This sphere was by far the biggest I had even seen. It was like the real sun, growing hotter and even more powerful as I speak.

  How could she do that? Was it even real? At this rate, the whole country of Okaya was going to be engulfed into flames. If this sphere hit the ground, nothing was going to survive even me.

  “No Katarina,” I yelled towards her. “Stop or you will destroy everything.”

  “That is the point,” the fox growled loudly. “This is the end Riyo, die along with your so called friends.”

  My heartbeat was fast, almost nerve wrecking. Up above me, the biggest sphere I had even seen was falling down towards me. It was too big, there was no way I could stop it like with the other two. To even try was meaningless; all I could do was watch and do nothing. This was the real face of oblivion, and it looked like it was over for me this time. Three wins for her and zero for me, but who is counting right?

  “Believe,” a voice whispered to me. “Believe in your own strength Riyo.”

  I knew this voice; it came from the light I had seen before in that dark place. What did it want now? Had it coming to help me?

  “I can try, but how will that help me?” I responded looking everywhere for the light.

  “Good bye Riyo,” the vixen witch growled, causing me to look up.

  I felt the blistering heat from the sphere as it got even closer to me. Shutting my eyes, I tried to avoid looking at it directly because it was too bright. My mind scrambled all over the place, trying to think of anything to help me stop it.

  “Well if you want to help me now will be the good time,” I said to the strange voice in a panicking manner.

  “Go through it Riyo,” the light whispered in my ear gently.

  “Through it! Are you serious?” I panicked even more upon hearing that ridiculous answer from the light. “That sounds a bit extreme don’t you think?”

  The light didn’t answer back to me and I freaked a little not knowing what to do. Going through something that big sounded a bit insane to me, I would surely die.

  “Have faith and go through it,” it said again, whispering deep in my head.

  “I hope you are right,” I replied instantly and jumped towards it.

  I had to stop it or wait for my demise, there was no other way around it. Straightening my body, I soared directly into the sphere with a slight sense of fear. I mean what was I doing? I was about to fly into a sphere because of some voice in my head? I mean really? />
  “You can do it Rid,” a familiar voice screamed out to me.

  I glanced quickly back and saw Kaya and Suzanne looking up towards me. How had they got here? What were they even doing here? Suzanne! She looked up to me and smiled, her eyes glowing like fireflies. I was glad to see that she was okay and Kaya too. If anything happened to them, I’m not sure I would be able to live myself. Now that I saw them, I had to do whatever it took to stop this blazing inferno. Putting my hands in front, I flew faster and punched with both arms into the sphere. Heat seared me, sending hot pain throughout my body. My heart faltered from hesitation, causing me to slow down a little. It was then, a small light appeared in front of me, guiding me through the sphere. Pushing harder into it, I soared up further into the large sphere, trying to breach it in the middle. I knew exactly where Katarina Fox was and I bet she was not expecting me to come towards her through her sphere. Whoa! It was getting extremely hotter the closer I came to its center. No, this wasn’t her power at all. It was far too raw and pure to be her energy. She had to have summoned this sun from somewhere else on the planet, not sure where though. Sweat poured down rapidly and yet I did not stop. I knew exactly what would happen if I did. Kaya and the others would be killed and that was something I wasn’t willing to have on my consciousness. Upon reaching the center, I stopped in my tracks and released the remaining energy into a blast sphere. I pulled out everything I had into my sphere, making it larger enough to destroy Katarina’s small sun. Clenching my gun firmly, I saw her small sun stop, blowing apart from the inside from my sheer might. In every direction below, small fragments from the sphere dropped to the bottom, setting everything ablaze.

  “The next time you do something like that, give us a little warning at least,” Paul yelled, hovering a bit below me. He was moving in quickly, absorbing as much of the fire as his body could. Beneath him, the others were doing fairly well, dodging the fragments from the small sun with careless ease.

  “Sorry,” I responded and took my eyes off him as I searched for the fox.

  I knew where it was, but I didn’t want it to know I did.

  “Impossible,” the fox commented. “How did you do that?”

  Good question! Even I didn’t know how I doing it too. I was being helped by something and that was very clear to me.

  “I eat healthy and run several times in a row,” I said sarcastically with a smile. “Perhaps you should try it too.”

  She growled loudly, sending wind tremors towards me from the east of my direction. As soon as she did, I found her location and charged towards her quickly. She was losing it from what I could tell and that was a good thing for me. The more aggravated she was, the more likely for her to make a mistake. By some chance, I got towards her location and grabbed a portion of her invincible fur tightly. Forcefully, I held on and did not let go at all.

  “Get off me,” the fox yelled trying to shake me off.

  “Way to go Rid you really are hanging on to her,” Dashe yelled out loud to me. “He is so done for guys.”

  “You are so insensitive,” Suzanne screamed at him. “Don’t say that out loud. He might hear you. Give him a chance I’m sure he has a plan or at least I hope he does.”

  “I can still hear you guys,” I whispered although I doubted they heard me.

  Yes, I could hear them. After getting my mist power, my other four senses all increased, although not as fast as my eyesight did. The vixen witch was going wild, trying to shake me off her fur. Releasing my right hand, I held my gun and positioned myself to fire at her. One problem with that, she was moving too hard, making it impossible to aim accurately at her.

  “Hoping this works,” I sighed and began chanting an animation charm on my sash, bringing it forth to life. The sash swerved to my side, wrapping itself tight all around her. She stopped moving and began to struggle to get herself free off my enchantment.

  “What are you doing to me?” she screamed to me. “Unhand me you scum.”

  No! That was something I wasn’t going to do. Once the sash was steadily tightened around her invincible body, I let go of her and ricocheted my body away from her. Finally I had her and this was my chance. I realized I only had a few minutes at the least before she broke free so I had to finish this quickly.

  “Katarina,” I began after I took a deep sigh. “You asked me why I fought right? I don’t fight because I want to, but because I have to. You are a ruthless tyrant who seeks to destroy this once peaceful country. You can crash our hopes and dreams, but you can’t crash our fighting spirit. Your one mistake was that you kidnapped my friends and took what was valuable to me. Oh! What am I saying? I hate this long speech stuff about righteousness. I clear don’t like you at all and I want you to pay for what you did. But since I want to stay on the good path of life, I will give you one last chance to atone for your crimes and give up. What do you say?”

  There was a long silence from her as all I felt were her struggles to free herself.

  “Never,” she roared towards me. “I will never atone or surrender to a scum like you.”

  “It can’t be helped then,” I said to her lowering my head while pointing my gun towards her. “I’m sorry it has come to this. I really didn’t want to destroy you Katarina. I hope you can forgive me when you see the era of your ways in the next world.”

  My gun glowed with a white and golden color as all the energy in my heart transferred towards the body of the small gun. Placing my gun in front, I readied my body to fire my gun at her.

  “This is it Katarina, you leave me no choice. I can’t allow you to go on doing what you want freely anymore. Many people have suffered because of your actions.” I screamed at the fox with eyes for of remorse.

  I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger, “Repenter’s bullet.”

  Vibrating softly, a huge bullet of golden and grey energy shot out of the small gun with great concentration, accelerating towards her. It was so massive and great that it jerked me back terribly a few yards away. Upon contact, the fox screamed and I saw the Sucano mask fall off its face making the body visible again. The power of the fifth blast bullet engulfed her whole, causing the vixen fox to cry out loud in pain. Since the fifth blast was pure energy made from repenting, it was terribly agonizing for someone as evil as Katarina Fox. Falling down towards the ground, I breathed in heavily while my eyes kept watching over her. Hopefully, this time I had done it or at least hoped I did.

  “Did you really mean it,” a voice spoke from behind me, Katarina’s voice of course. “Were you really willing to let me live if I repented from my crimes?”

  “Yes I was,” I replied without looking back at her. “Anyone can be forgiven if they are willing to repent and atone. I wanted to give you the same chance I was given to look at life anew.”

  “I see now,” Katarina suddenly appeared in front of me in her human form now. “The users of the gauntlet are people not corrupted by the evil of this world. Your heart tells me so in the end. It’s strange I never expected this to be the outcome.”

  How was she still alive after that? Was there no end to her power?

  “You fiend,” I spat out loudly completely worn-out. “Where is Tye? Where is my friend?”

  “My collegue took him,” she replied with a smile. “He is barely alive in the hands one of the most terrifying men alive.”

  “Enough! Where is he?” I growled this time. “Tell me now?”

  “You will have to find him yourself if you dare,” she commented with a menacing grin. “Make no mistake though; things will get worse from here on. I will be seeing you soon in the afterlife.” The moment she finished speaking, her trident broke into small pieces and she began to turn into blue light. Shocked completely, I saw the mists powers of hers start to overcome her, consuming her body whole. In every direction, the broken trident sucked up everything including her soldiers and the majority of the castle into what looked like a huge wind vacuum. In the wind, I also saw the huge Monga beasts being
swept up into the direction of the center where the winds met. What was going on? Why was I not being affected? Perhaps, everything that didn’t belong in this world was being sent back to where they came from. That was the only explanation I could think of at that time.

  “No,” the princess screamed as she was sucked up into the blue worm hole too. “What is going on mother? How could you lose to him?”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Katarina Fox laugh manically before vanishing into blue light alongside her daughter. The majority of Danyen was completely gone and I couldn’t feel anymore strong signs of sinister energy around me. A few moments later after she disappeared, there was a huge blue explosion that erupted in the sky. It was so powerful and terrible that it sent large tremors throughout the ground for a couple of seconds. Massive winds followed and blew everywhere, sending me falling faster to the ground. Was it over finally? Just before my head hit the ground, someone rescued me from the fall and landed gently on the ground with me.

  “You did it Riyo,” a soft voice said.

  Holding onto me was Suzanne, and I was sure glad to see her. Her smile was warm and friendly. To be honest, this was the first time I had ever seen her smile.

  “Yeah I guess did,” I commented staring her straight in her eyes. “Suzanne there is something I want to tell you.”

  “Save it,” she responded quickly. “Thank you for saving me from that dark abyss and I know what you want to say next.”

  Well I felt relieved that she knew what I was about to say so I blushed not knowing what to say next. Now, what would I say first?

  “Kaya bring me the batch of my cooking in the caravan. Rid is starving and he wants to eat now.” she screamed.

  Oh no, she had misinterpreted my words just like the last time at her place. At that moment I felt my stomach tremble and growl terribly. My body was already in a lot of stress and pain, I definitely did not feel like adding stomach aches to that horrible list.

  “Suzanne wait,” I grabbed her arm gently. “That’s not what I meant.”

  She looked back at me curiously with anticipation. “Then what did you mean?”

  This is it! Finally I was going to tell her how I felt about her. As I thought about it for a minute, I hesitated. I realized it was too soon for me to say those words to her. After all, I had just let go of my attachment to Daphne a moment ago. I was not really over her yet and not sure I wanted to.

  “It’s nothing,” I replied slowly. “Forget I even brought it up. Anyway I will eat later. I’m too tired to even stand up let alone eat.”

  As she stared into my eyes for a second I wondered what was going on in her mind.

  She gazed up slowly and said, “I also want to thank you for stopping Sam. He really once was my brother, but I just couldn’t bring myself to killing the last member of my family. You liberated him from that dreadful fateful so once again I am in your debt.”

  “Oh,” I commented not knowing how to respond.

  Truthfully it was Ogana who had delivered the fatal blow, but I saw no reason to bring it up and ruin this great moment.

  “You are welcome,” I patted her soft hand gently and closed my eyes slowly in her warm embrace. “I also owe you for everything you guys have done for me really means a lot to me. Please stay with me for a little while until I sleep.”

  “I will stay by you forever if that’s what you want,” I heard her whisper before I faded into slumber.

 

  45

  I thought that after my greatest enemy had been vanquished I would finally fall asleep peacefully, but I was mistaken. To my disappointment, I found myself back in the yellow world. A world I hated so dearly with a passion. All around me, it was nothing but yellow clouds, yellow stones, yellow everything.

  “I am impressed,” Ebi smiled at me sitting on his usual rock. “Somehow I knew you would defeat her although I had my doubts for a second.”

  I stared at him for a slight second and chuckled to myself. Did he ever leave that rock? Well it was the one large rock in this entire world so I didn’t blame him.

  “Can’t you just let me dream in peace this once?” I mumbled trying to get some leniency out of the old geezer.

  “You can, but it was your own desire to come here,” he replied as he adjusted the angle of his position.

  His eyes sparkled with joy and were as bright as the sun. Had he been crying? He got off the rock and stood next to me with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Just how did you manage to unlock the secret of the fifth blast?” Ebi asked in a gentle high voice. “I would never have guessed an idiot like you could unlock such a power by yourself.” Hurtful, but true all in all!

  The old geezer was right, I had received help from someone far much stronger than Ebi and I.

  “A strange light spoke to me,” I replied him without looking him in the eye. “Would you believe me if I told you that it might have been a real angel? Call me crazy, but for a moment I think I saw wings on it.”

  “Oh,” Ebi was startled back a little. “You finally heard the voice within the dark. You are not crazy Riyo, I believe you. I think it is time I told you the real truth behind our world.”

  “No! Not now,” I cut him off quickly.

  I hated knowing the truth because it only made things more complicated than ever. I mean I wanted to know, but no at that moment. All I wanted to do was rest and reflect on everything that had happened to me.

  “I see,” Ebi responded with a sigh. “I will respect your wishes for now, but you can’t hide from the truth forever Riyo.”

  Yeah! That much I knew already without him telling me that. Katarina was gone and Tye was still nowhere to be found. What was I going to do next? There were more than eight Rainku left scattered all over the world. Did that mean I had to go through every country searching for him? It certainly appeared to be the case and I dreaded on that idea.

  “What’s next after this Ebi?” I asked him sighing heavily in anticipation to his straight forward answer. “I mean it’s not going to go easy after this you know. The Rainku won’t take this matter lightly, they are probably angry with what happened to Katarina Fox.”

  “I know Riyo,” Ebi replied instantly without as much a moving. “Your next journey will probably be to Anzad the country of dreams, the domain of Zarza Gingerdragon,”

  “No don’t say that name,” I cut him off quickly realizing who his was talking about. Why had it to be Anzad? And why was it Zarza that I had to face next? My day was now completely ruined just at the thought of his name. Why did to have to be him next? He was a legendary villain warrior who mastered all the six primary Galohan kicks all in a year. It usually took others more than ten years to achieve. Zarza was truly a monster compared to Katarina and that saying something.

  “You probably need to start training to ascend to the next levels if you are to stand a chance,” Ebi finished and took out his enchanted mirror to see what was going on in the real world. “Just to let you know, he is probably coming for you as we speak because he was actually Katarina’s former husband.”

  “What are you serious?” I asked quickly. “That is something you should have told me first before anything.”

  “Well now I did,” he responded in one quick glare at me. “I think it’s time I taught you how to use the Kaizer force.”

  “What’s that?” I asked sitting next to him on the rock.

  “It is the only thing that can defeat a dragon of Rainku caliber,” he said and took out his mirror. “But tell me though, why did you choose to stay, instead of going home? You finally had the opportunity you longed for and yet you chose not to take it.”

  I had hoped he wouldn’t ask that question. Deep down I wished I had taken that deal. But as I thought of my friends and what they had done and sacrificed, I realized the true value of courage and sacrifice. Besides what was I going to do when I saw her? She was now married to James after all with me out of the picture. She
had moved on so why couldn’t I do the same?

  “I have my reasons,” I replied him tilting my head up to look at the sky. “I made my choice and I will stick by it.”

  “You are a brave soul Riyo, not a lot of people could’ve resisted that deal.”

  For some reason I didn’t regret my choice at all, it was the first sacrifice I had truly made from the bottom of my heart. I gave up on what I loved to be where I was needed the most. Seriously though what was I thinking? The path I had chosen was going to be difficult and filled with great obstacles. I knew that everything I had done up till now was real, I was in control of my own future. The best part was I wasn’t alone. I had my friends beside me and the help of someone from above to guide me through the darkness. I wasn’t still sure who had sent the light to help me, but something told me I would soon. To be honest I was looking forward to it.