Curseborn Saga - Fade to Black (12 page)

Above her waist the woman was completely naked, and Remi’s eyes traced over the perfect features of the warrior’s body. Her stomach was toned like carved wood with curved shadows underlining her muscles. Remi shivered as she fell upon the woman’s breasts, her nipples only covered by two long strands of her crimson hair. Wraps of bandaged black silk layered her forearms up to the elbow, but the thick scent of blood sifted heavily through the air and the stains were more than apparent, giving Remi the impression that she had dipped her entire forearms in the blood of her last opponent.

“You gonna keep staring at me all day like you want to bed me?” the woman sneered at Remi. She took a long puff on her long, straight wooden pipe. “Why don’t you get up and show some damn respect to your superior. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll take you somewhere dark and damp to take out my frustration and anger on you pathetic excuse for a woman before I toss you off that goddamned cliff over there.” She heaved a strong sigh and arched her neck to the side, revealing her sharply angled face and prominently high cheekbones. “Can’t believe I have to deal with this shit.”

Remi, Maile and Baelie quickly stood and saluted the Vice Captain who towered before them.

“You don’t have to be so rude, Lady Enies! They are the daughters of the Empress after all!” exclaimed Aquas in a fit of astonishment.

Remi cringed. Inwardly she pleaded with Aquas; the last thing she wanted was to further incite the Vice Captain’s anger.

Lady Enies’s eyes flashed toward Aquas, her gaze emanating all the fury and wrathful hate of a creature staring into the eyes of the one thing it had wanted to kill its entire life. “Shut your mouth,” she spat. “You, Number
6
, have no place speaking to me, much less questioning my nature when I deal with my subjects.”

Subjects?
Remi thought.

Enies turned to Remi, taking another long drag of her pipe. “Daughters? Don’t make me laugh. They have no royal blood. They are adopted, and only because the Empress has a soft spot for the young with no guardians.”

Aquas clenched her jaw tightly, her eyes bright and fierce. Yet, she did not speak. Remi could feel her anger rising, but did not dare speak out. Maile was shaking at her side. Baelie’s eyes were to the ground. She watched Enies turn to Arya, who stared at her with an apathetic gaze.

“You don’t have to like the way I am, Arya,” said Lady Enies. “But until one defeats me or I am killed in battle, I am the acting Vice Captain of the Force and you
will
respect my command and the means by which I act. So wipe off that pathetic expression before I drive your face so hard into the stone your closest family member wouldn’t take so much as a second glance at you ever again.”

Reluctantly, Arya averted her eyes from the Vice Captain. Remi shuddered. This girl, this Lady Enies, was so powerful she made Arya dim in comparison.

“That’s what I thought,” said Enies.

Twisting her gaze of deathly contempt back to the three sisters, who were frozen stiff as if encased within tombs of ice, she took a deep breath. She stood watching them, scanning their entire beings as if looking for more reason to hate them. All the while, Remi avoided eye contact by focusing on each strand of Enies’s crimson hair. It was like blood in color, with two long black hairpins that ran through it; each with the head of a dragon. The disdainful voice broke Remi’s concentration again.

“This is absurd. You are the three that are supposed to guard the Relic Room? I don’t know what our Captain is thinking these days but she must be going soft in her old age. What can three children who know nothing of anything do? This is a waste of my time.” She placed a hand on the back of her head, looking around at the Force. All of them averted their eyes.

A thin grin crept across her face and Arya twitched at the cold words directed at their Captain. All around them, the members of the Force Corps had gathered and Remi felt like she was being put on display for all to see her be scolded and terrified.

Remi soon realized that the Force Corps soldiers around them were whispering amongst each other. She could faintly hear them, some agreeing with Lady Enies that the task before them was not meant for such
children.
Hearing a different sound, one that rattled like rapidly clicking armor, Remi noticed Baelie was shaking uncontrollably. Yet she knew it wasn’t the fear of the task or even of Lady Enies. This had been Baelie’s one chance to do something real for the Force Corps, and here she was, her dream before her on a silver platter and now it was about to be snatched away.

“I promise I can succeed in the task!” announced Baelie so suddenly that it took the entire Force by surprise. All went silent as Baelie breathed heavily. She was shivering in fear but she held the Sorian salute so resolutely that Remi felt proud of her younger sister for fighting for her dreams.

“Shut your mouth, brat,” spat Lady Enies. “You could succeed in the task, yes—were it eating a banquet of food and not sharing any of it with your peers. You are pathetic, overweight, and weak beyond the might of a fly. One look at the Liquid Sting and you flew before it, gorging on its delicious beauty as if you had no respect for who it is you now stand before. No, you are not capable of even the simplest task. Why don’t you try losing some weight, you fat little honey ball?”

Baelie’s eyes filled with tears and Remi made a motion to fight for her sister, but froze. She knew the outcome. There was nothing to be done. Lady Enies had been unnecessarily cruel, but she was right—there was no reason to believe that the three of them were capable of guarding anything. Remi cringed, wishing she had more courage. She dug her fingernails into her palms, cursing her own weakness. To her left, Maile stood with her eyes closed, wishing she were back in her bed, tucked underneath the safety of her warm blankets.

Lady Enies turned to face the gathering soldiers. She gazed at them one by one, as if seriously contemplating something. And then she spoke. “The answer is no. The Captain must be losing her edge to think that a bunch of children should be handling such a task as the guarding of the Relic Room. This time, I’m making the call. Does anybody here have a fucking problem with that?”

Silence spread slowly about the open space like an engulfing plague, and even though some of the Force Corps obviously rejected the idea by the looks of pure anger on their faces, no one spoke. Remi realized in that moment that the Force was truly survival of the fittest. The eerie silence continued.

That was until one voice, one that pierced and shattered the veil of iced silence left by Lady Enies’s words, spoke out defiantly from afar, causing all in the center to turn and stare at the girl who walked bravely toward them.

“I do.”

XI – The Race

S
torm dodged through the trees, moving at a blurring speed. Each time his feet hit the ground, it left cracks from the force of him pushing off to propel himself forward. Even at the speed he was going, navigating through the thick band of trees, branches and vines was simple. He could see as if he were moving in slow motion. Glancing up at the thicket of branches, he already knew Caim’s plan of action. Caim would be taking the aerial route, Flashing through the trees from branch to branch. Although he was sure of his speed against Caim’s, his mind returned to the emerald stone residing in his pocket. He would take no chances in losing it.

Storm Flashed faster and faster through the forest, leaving a trail of wind and cracked earth in his wake. The air was icy cold on his face. His speed was so great that the creatures of the forest remained undisturbed and unaware that something had passed by them at all. The passing of the trees flickered by him like the shuttering of light. At the speed he was moving, it looked as if he were teleporting and reappearing over huge distances.

It won’t be easy to beat Caim, he thought, but at least I’m getting stronger! Focusing his energy within, he felt warmer as his aura coursed through his body, revealing itself like a flame of crimson energy. Might as well use it. He never said we couldn’t use Limit Seals after all. Besides, I need practice sustaining it.

“Sorry Caim, but no way I’m losing to you!” yelled Storm, feeling the aura grow thicker around his body and burning leaves that came too close. Soon his body was burning like an open flame, illuminating his presence in the forest, giving him the appearance of a comet shooting across the earth. A brazen trail was left in his wake that burned and kept the air steaming hot. Storm took one last breath and the aura completely faded from his body, leaving nothing but a silvery mist that rose upwards from him. He winced, pulling his outer energy back into his body, fusing it with his bloodstream and in that instant, a burst of speed and power swelled through him like he had consumed an ambrosia.

“Blood Aura,” whispered Storm. With that he released aura from his body, then drew it back in and fused it with his bloodstream. A cyclone of wind erupted from him as he ripped through the forest at devastating speed. He felt as if his body weighed nothing. His muscles bulged and his sight grew keener. The trees to his sides cracked and indented as he passed them, and the wake of air from his movement was so powerful that it cut down branches and leaves, and before they had time to fall to the ground, he was already long gone.

“I near forgot how good this feels!” he shouted into the forest.

- - - -

“Wahoooo!!!” screamed Caim as he Flashed from tree to tree, landing perfectly on each branch and using the leverage of his landing to send him Flashing to the next. Caim soared through the air, back-flipping and front-flipping from branch to branch. Caim’s eyes fell on the image of the great White Castle, far off in the distance, sitting silently on Risia.

“I’ll see you soon, up close!” he cried out, landing on another branch and launching forward.

With complete ease, Caim Flashed through the treetops at a speed that was uncatchable by sound. He maneuvered the trees like a feral beast of the forest, sometimes landing on his feet and sometimes grabbing onto thick branches with his hands and flipping out from underneath them. He loved this feeling, the feeling of absolute freedom. There was nothing better than landing on a bouncy branch, only to be shot upwards into the air over dozens of trees and landing on another, hundreds of feet away. The wind rushing through his hair, the feeling that nothing could stop him—there was no way he was about to lose to Storm, especially considering what the stakes were.

Caim’s mind traced back to the emerald stone that he would soon have in his possession. He had thought up only one possible explanation for the stone, which was perfectly flat on both sides. He grinned imagining what Storm would think when he told him he had discovered the stone’s true purpose. It was then he saw it, the ending line of trees.

“Wahoo! I made it!” yelled Caim, dashing forward. “I thought it would be a little further than this, though …” He pondered his undeniable speed.

After jumping from the last tree, Caim came to a sliding stop on the ground until his toes were just peeking over the edge of a cliff. In the distance the White Castle glowed vividly, but there was no lake in sight, nor the Great Tree that rose from the center of it. He wondered why he was standing on a cliff, overlooking the side of Falia, and where the lake named Senyria had been moved to. He suddenly realized, undeniably, that he had definitely, without a doubt …

“Storm … YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THE RIGHT WAY TO GO!!!” His echo screamed back at him several times as dozens of birds took flight from the trees behind him. He spun around and pointed his finger at them, “STOP DOING THAT!”

It was then that Caim heard it. He had been so distracted by Storm’s trick and the birds that he failed to notice the presence of a creature, much greater than himself, descending upon him from above. The last thing Caim saw was the shadow of two wings silhouetted before the moon.

- - - -

Storm’s sword sliced through the air in a crimson arc, cutting down a massive tree that stood in his path. He found it was easier to remove the obstacle than simply move around it. Far behind him and what seemed like minutes later, he heard the incredible force of the tree crashing into the ground. He smiled from his soul; competing with his brother was in ways the most fun he ever had.

Chink, the katana slid smoothly back into its sheath. Storm’s breathing was heavy and the silvery mist that once rose so steadily from his body was quickly fading. The technique of fusing his aura into his bloodstream was his Limit Seal, an ability gifted to each Sorian that was unique only to them. For the most part, each had only one. He had named his Blood Aura, a fitting name.

Blood Aura, he thought. It wouldn’t be any fun if I mastered you right away!

The shade passed quickly as Storm sliced and diced his way through the forest until he came upon a clearing illuminated by glowing moonlight. The silvery mist rising from him had grown quite thin and he felt a sudden spike of fatigue as the last of it dissipated. Blood Aura had faded. He felt his breathing grow heavier, and his body felt as if it weighed two or three times as much as usual. “It seems I’m still far from mastering you after all,” he muttered. Looking around, he recognized the clearing he was standing in as the final marker before coming upon the lake Senyria, Keeper of the Great Tree.

Storm looked up to the sky and closed his eyes, sensing for Caim. For some reason, Caim’s aura was undetectable to him, as if it were cloaked. His suspicion arose but he pushed it aside, for there was no way Caim could have kept up with him while using a Limit Seal.

Storm decided to rest for a few minutes and recover his energy. He sat down in a patch of soft grass. Reaching into the pockets of his black sweater, he found nothing but a hole in the bottom. No! With a sudden rise in his heartbeat, he realized he had put it in his other pocket, and upon checking, he found it.

That was close.

Storm held the cold gem between his fingers, taking notice of its surprisingly smooth edges. Deep within it he could see what looked like a living stream, with crystalline particles swimming around inside. It gave him the feeling that he held something of deep significance. Storm wondered why he had given it to them in the first place. He wondered where it came from, and most of all, the secret it held. He mentioned it being given to him by an old friend. But in all the time he had spent with the old man, he had never known him to have any friends or family. For a second, he felt saddened at the thought.

His friend must have passed, thought Storm. Maybe that’s why his Inner Depths is so dark. I wonder if he has any family at all anymore. Storm sighed heavily. We really don’t know him at all, do we?

Holding the stone between his fingers, he gazed deeper at it, as if looking for something more.

“What the?” said Storm suddenly. The stone’s inner river had begun swirling around like a tornado. Had his thoughts triggered this drastic change? “What is this?” he said, lifting it closer to his face. His thoughts were suddenly broken by a loud yell and he nearly dropped the stone in surprise. He froze, trying to reassure himself that Caim couldn’t have possibly caught up yet. A second yell brought him to his feet quickly.

“I’m the Dragon King!!!” It came from the edges of the trees just behind him.

Storm whipped around and stared at the edge of the treetops, only to feel a surge of wind rush past his body like a hurricane. Storm shielded his eyes, trying to focus on the dark figure that was moving fast in his direction. A thick serpentine body seemed to rise from the darkness, guided by two enormous wings and followed by a long winding tail that slithered over the air like a serpent’s. Storm’s eyes grew wide in disbelief as the entire creature came into view.

“Oi, Storm! Look what I found!!!”

This can’t … be happening. Storm blinked in utter disbelief.

Caim wasn’t jumping between the trees. He wasn’t even running along the ground. He was riding on top of an enormous creature that looked Dragon-like … and then a sudden change in the creature’s color brought the answer Storm was searching for.

A Chameleoth! Storm watched in astonishment as the creature came into the light. It had a long snout with pointed silver teeth and keen orange eyes glaring down at Storm as it passed above. Its body was incredibly long, with short forearms and legs that clung to its serpentine form as it swam through the sky. Just as it passed over the clearing, the creature’s scales, which were originally a shade of darkened silver, changed suddenly to match the metallic glow of the moons. And just as quickly, they magically flickered back to the color of the treetops.

Storm’s eyes widened as he realized he hadn’t sensed it coming, and that he’d lost track of Caim’s energy. Was the Chameleoth somehow cloaking Caim’s energy?

“I’m the Dragon King and I’m riding on Day!” cried Caim in glee.

“No you’re not!” cried Storm shaking his fist at his brother.

For a second, Storm gazed up in awe as Caim stood on the creature’s head, holding on tightly to two long feathers that stretched out from its ears. They continued past Caim’s body and streamed backwards across the powerful shoulders of the beast, flowing with its movement. Storm watched as the Chameleoth’s looming figure swept over the clearing, its great shadowed wings sending huge gusts of wind down toward him. For a second, the entire moon was blocked out by the creature and all was dark. And then just as it had come, it went, and Storm heard a voice taunting back to him …

“I’m gonna win, Storm!”

“You … have got to be kidding me,” said Storm, thrusting the stone back in his pocket and turning to the edge of the clearing. Why do the weirdest things always happen to him!?

The tension in his body had risen significantly in the last few seconds and his energy spiked in response to his sudden rush of adrenaline. Storm shook the onslaught of questions from his mind, trying to focus on the most important thing—beating Caim to the finish line. He ripped up the sleeves of his faded sweater and lowered his balance, focusing his energy. Only recently did I learn that Blood Aura has different levels. I don’t know the full effects of using the second level, but there’s no time to worry about that now. I can recover in Senyria! A crimson flame rippled outwards from him and his eyes grew a deeper shade of green. With a long breath, the energy returned from whence it came and was replaced with rising wisps of silvery mist.

“Blood Aura times two!”

Storm felt a sudden surge of pain shoot through his body as he forced his Limit Seal open once more and unlocked its second level. Ignoring the pleas of his muscles and his body’s fatigue, Storm vanished into the forest, leaving only trails of crimson energy in his wake.

There’s no way I’m letting him win. He’ll never shut up about it.

Storm Flashed through the forest, moving almost twice as fast as before. Everything was a blur around him, and he could hardly keep himself from smashing into branches. His heart was a hammer in his chest. The evaporated aura in his bloodstream left him with a heavy burden, and he knew that using it risked incapacitated him afterwards, depending on how long he kept the Limit Seal active. He suddenly felt angered by his own weakness and pushed himself harder.

“What use is my body if it fails me so easily!?” he cried, ignoring the pain that seized his arms, legs and mind with terrifying force. Strongest swordsman!? His thoughts raced. You’re a 100 cycles too young!

He could feel the rippling gusts of wind from ahead and knew that he was gaining on Caim. Just as he picked up his pace, a slight opening in the trees revealed something other than Caim and the Chameleoth. As he focused his eyes a shadow came to life before him. It was there and it was real, racing underneath the Chameleoth like a predator hunting its prey. Whatever it was it was fast, faster than him.

A sudden feeling of fear etched its way into Storm’s mind. He didn’t know what was racing ahead of him, but whatever it was, it was huge and wasn’t good. That better not be what I think it is. Storm’s fist clenched tightly over the sheath of his katana. He glanced up the trees and launched himself up through the branches, Flashing atop them as Caim had done earlier.

“CAIM!” he roared, but he knew his brother wouldn’t hear him over the heavy gusts of wind from the wings of the Chameleoth. His face grew paler than before, no doubt due to his extreme fatigue. His hands had grown numb, his muscles were heavy and his thoughts began to grow clouded.

I have a bad feeling about this. He felt his anger rising over his lack of speed. Looking down he could now feel the presence of the beast, ripping through the forest beneath. And then just like that, the presence of the shadow creature vanished.

- - - -

A little farther ahead, Caim stood on the head of the creature, holding tightly to its ear feathers. The Chameleoth was much bigger than anything he had ever seen. Both he and Storm could have easily ridden on top of the creature’s head with room to spare. As he looked up, the destination of their race came into view.