Another quite big chapter. I don't like this one that much though... I dunno why, I just don't... whatever, doesn't matter what the artist thinks about their work
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Chapter VIII: Spar
The blade crashed through the ground, unearthing a number of loose rocks surrounding it. Hoshi fell down several meters behind me on her back. She hadn't even been hit, but the sheer force of the erupting ground had thrown her off balance in her dodge and sent her flying. I turned back to look at the man, he was furious. The woman seemed a bit surprised though.
I let out a cry and ran back to Hoshi. "Wake up! Wake up!" I yelled, starting to tear up. I did the first thing I could think of to get her back up. I pulled my hand back and slapped her in the face. Unfortunately, I was never one to try and hit a friend, and I accidentally left my claws pointed in.
Hoshi sat straight up with an aggravated howl of pain and a few small red cuts down her face. "What the hell Acclue?!" she shouted.
"Sorry! I-I'm sorry! You weren't moving and I didn't want him to hurt me and-and I didn't mean to use my-"
"Forget it!" she said, wiping the single spot I had actually made her bleed in. "You just stay outta trouble, I'll take care of the crazy guy."
Hoshi pulled out her sais and spun them around her wrists once.
The man took a great horizontal swing this time, seeming to cut the air. Hoshi responded by deliberately tripping herself and rolling back in a croutch "<Calm the hell down! Demons are welcome here just as any human would be!>"
"<Not when you are destroying the Port you are not!>" he took another swing back and caught Hoshi off guard, knocking her into the woods with the blunt end of the blade.
"<What do you think you are doing?!>" the human woman shouted.
"<Stopping them from taking us over!>" he yelled back, taking a look at me.
I was on the ground in a stupor. I assumed Hoshi was too hurt to help and I was in a fevered panic. I cried quietly, hoping they would just ignore me.
I heard footsteps. "<For God's sake! That one is just a child!>"
I felt it again. I was conscious this time though. I stopped crying and looked down at myself. From my feet up, my own shadow was consuming me. I stared for a moment, until it reached my waist. I started to move away from it in a backwards crawl, but it came with me.
The man stopped where he stood with a confused look on him.
It went up my arms and I watched my claws grow long again on one hand, then the other. It rushed up my neck and I tried to scream, but it was over my mouth and suffocatting my lungs. I stayed awake, gasping for breath as it went over my eyes and I saw what the shadows saw. Black and white flickers of shapes.
I woke up back in my dark void. I could breath again and I took liberties to do it.
I picked myself up against the anchor and yelled out to it "Please! This is my mind right?!" there ws no answer "Stay out of it! I don't want you in my head!"
"Our mind." it hissed back and I withdrew "When you take over to live your pitiful existance, I suffer the same limitation. I thrive on your emotional tendancies... they make you weak and I can switch our places. Now stay quiet weakling, and I will keep my vessel in safety."
I could feel it leaving my mind, no doubt to kill the humans.
He was right.
I was weak.
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Back in the real world, my shadow awoke and made a sudden charge at the man with both claws thrusting like he was ready to split the his chest like he had before.
Even at such high speeds, the man was able to plant his sword in the way and fling it out at me like a club. I hung on and stood near the end of it as he finished the swing. Our eyes locked, his in surprise, mine in quiet indifference. He regained his composure and swung it out from under me and I just jumped down to the same spot on the ground.
I held up my claws and took a few more swings at him, letting myself hit his blade over and over. I didn't try to hurt him then, but I made it a defensive battle.
I took advantage of this stance and my speed to use the blade as leverage, spinning around behind him and lunging a claw through his stomach.
Everything went silent as I slowly deepened the wound. It was a paralyzing blow, it would immobilize any creature. That's why I was surprised to see his blade swing around his back and hit me to the side. Paralyzing went to crippling for the man as my claws slashed out diagonally from their holes.
The blow was enough to knock out the shadow and my normal form lay deceptively helpless before the man.
"Damnit!" he tried to lift his blade over him again, but he couldn't. He looked back to see the woman holding it down.
"<Stop. This is wrong.>" the woman pleaded.
"<No, it's not!>" he choked out. The blade was thrown over his head once more with too much power for the woman to hold.
The woman acted quickly to pull back on what just seemed like air.
The man fell forward near his would-be prey while the sword stayed in midair, tangled between a number of wires stuck between the trees.
Hoshi had finally managed to free herself from the forest by then. Barely conscious and bleeding in the side, she couldn't do much but crawl out and collapse on the ground.
The woman released her grip and the sword clattered to the ground by her partner's feet. She looked around and saw only three severely injured, even dying people. She sighed "<Perfect.>"
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Something familiar happened. Not my commune with the shadow, but rather a dream. I didn't care if it was about my family. To dream again seemed so wonderful to me that I teared up even in sleep.
My awakening was painful. Mostly because I wasn't used to being treated with conventional medicine, but partly because of losing my dream.
My head throbbed with pain. My breathing was heavy for a moment, but it subsided quickly. A forest in my sight, I slowly opened my eyes.
Something smelled strange. Unnatural. I could barely move either. I was getting scared.
My vision cleared and I could hear voices. "... -ake... out he-" it was fading in and out, so I couldn't make out aything intelligible. The human woman stood over me. I was truly panicked now. I felt myself changing, and tried to resist. Then I saw Hoshi, they were looking at me together...
This confused me, but I calmed down and felt the shadow retreating.
Hoshi kneeled down to me. Closer up, I could see that rather than a shirt, she was wearing strange white strips wrapped around her body and over her shoulder.
I could hear her better up close. She smiled "Acclue. I wasn't sure you were gonna make it. You took quite a blow to the head." she sounded very relieved. "Don't worry, you're alright now. It's a minor... uhh, something... human healing is strange, but I like it!" she laughed.
"<Hoshi, I hope you are telling him about his injuries. He is still bleeding some, there is always a chance->"
"<He knows Mantle you know.>" Hoshi interrupted.
"<Oh! Umm... Is that common? I thought it was rare...>" she glanced at me, then led Hoshi away somewhere.
I tried to push on the ground, finding that I was actually on a fabric of some sort, but I couldn't get up.
I was having a hard time thinking. I didn't remember anything after the Demi-human village or before my dream. I felt I knew the woman, but how? Where was I now? And why did my head hurt so much?
"Hoshi!" I cried out in a whine that was much quieter and more forced than I intended.
There was no response for awhile, then the girls both came back at the same time. "Well fine, Miss Ninja over here says you've got a hell of a good chance, but she hates getting people's hopes up."
I laughed a little "What happened?"
"You were possessed again and both of you got your asses kicked." Hoshi smiled.
"Who?" I asked. I was amazed that the shadow's force had finally lost a fight.
"Clad." Hoshi looked to my side. I turned my head to see a man with his body covered with white strips just as Hoshi's was. He was huge.
"I-Is he-"
"Dead? No. But pretty damn close." Hoshi laughed.
"<If you two know Mantle, you should speak it, I cannot understand a word you are saying.>"
"<Do not worry Miss Ninja, we will not talk about you behind your back.>" Hoshi said. She seemed in a very good mood for someone who had just been given such a beating.
"<I told you, my name is Ayaka! Not 'Miss Ninja'.>"
"Hoshi?" I asked. I thought I could feel my strength returning as I pushed again, but when I was wrong, and fell back into place.
"Don't try to move, everything'll work out."
"When can I go home Hoshi?" I asked.
"Soon enough. I'm gonna. try to get these two to help us across the miasma line."
"<Okay, just what are you two talking about?>" Ayaka finally put her foot down.
Hoshi just stayed silent, but I said "<Need to get home.>" Even after all that time in the human village, my audible Mantle was terrible, but at least I knew enough to communicate. "<Please take... North... Euphoria Forest.>" I wanted to apologize for my faulty language, but I was only used to reading it, not speaking it, and I didn't know a proper way to apologize.
"<Yeah...>" Hoshi said "<We came here to find humans to take us over the miasma, but with Oni attacking the city.>"
There it was. The name that immediately struck fear into the hearts of any human or demon. Oni was our world's single greatest manifestation of evil. He was the most powerful demon ever known, and he was hated for it. Humans hated him because of his seemingly reckless attacks on their settlements. Demons hated him for making the humans mix most of our kinds in with him as 'evil'. Regardless to say, we would all benefit if he wasn't there, maybe even end the needless fighting between us. But it was widely rumored that he was immortal. Occasional stories of his death ended when he personally found the surviving storyteller and eliminated them.
"Oni?!" I finally found myself able to speak louder "Oh Gods! Why are we still here?!"
"Calm down, Acclue!" Hoshi said "We're in the forest, a good distance from the Port." she turned her gaze to look into the forest, deliberately speaking in Mantle "<I suppose that we will have to go to the other end of Thryll to find someone to help us now.>"
Ayaka said nothing and just continued examining her unconscious friend.
I was still very confused. A gap of my memory was missing and I wanted to fill it.
I asked Hoshi to help return it and she told me as much as she saw. Ayaka helped fill us in too and she praised my fighting abilities. We had to stop her to tell of my possession.
We were forced to camp there that night, I was barely able to move and Clad, in his zealous rampage, had injured himself into a much deeper sleep. I just had the cloth that Ayaka called 'bandages' around my head, but by his I could tell his wounds were much more severe than mine. He didn't wake until the next morning, when I was just getting back on my feet.
"<Ugh... What happened?>" I jumped back onto all fours as I heard the voice behind me. Hoshi was at a nearby lake she had found, washing up, but I took liberties to hide behind Ayaka instead when the man awoke.
"<Clad, you are finally awake.>" Ayaka said "<You have been asleep for three days!>" I noted that this meant I was knocked out for two, it was amazing that I could miss so much time.
"<Oh... you are that woman.>" Clad immediately attempted to stand and got as far as sitting before falling back in pain. How the hell could a human be so strong? When I woke up, I could hardly move, but he was readying himself to leave!
"<Your wounds are very serious Clad, I do not want you to move.>" Ayaka kneeled down to him and started to make sure the bleeding hadn't begun again.
"<Alright.>" he relaxed himself, and smiled "<So I guess I missed the siege?>"
Ayaka looked up for a moment "<Err, yes, yes you did.>" it probably wasn't a good idea to let him know about it, considering his harsh actions last time.
"<I'm... sorry about the other day then...>" Clad said "<Demons took... someone close to me a long time ago. I didn't want them to take the city.>"
"<So you are saying that you are sorry for attacking that demon mother and child?>" Ayaka said. I couldn't believe she thought that we were a family, but to argue meant to reveal myself.
"<Yeah... Maybe... If they really were just passing through, that is.>"
"<Well then...>" she suddenly stood and stepped to the side, leaving me open in front of him.
We were both surprised, but he was the first to speak "<What the hell?! How long has he been back there?!>" he shouted. I jumped back behind Ayaka, but now looked out back at him.
"<Son of a bitch!>" Clad said. I braced myself to be verbally beaten "<That kid is a good fighter!>"
"Huh?" Both Ayaka and I were confused. Didn't he want to murder me?
"<Not... me... shadow.>" I said the best I could and very quietly.
"<He can talk?>" Clad asked "<That is amazing! But what does he mean?>"
"<He is possessed, when you frightened him it revealed itself to defend its host.>" Ayaka explained so I wouldn't have to try to piece it together with my limited vocabulary. "<It is actually quite useful for you, if not dangerous to your allies.>"
"Hey!" Hoshi walked into the clearing with only the most vital parts of her torso still covered in bandages. "<Anyone seen my shirt?>"
"<She is alive too!>" Clad even caused Hoshi to jump a little "<But just how many demons know our language?>"
"<More than you would think!>" Hoshi said "<Alright, the bonehead is up, now what do we do?>"
"<We stay until the holes you put through Clad heal up.>" Ayaka said.
"<Whatever, I just want to return to the Port as soon as possible.>" Clad grimaced. I don't think he cared much for the natural world.
"<But it is still under attack.>" Hoshi said casually. Everyone suddenly glared at her "<What?>"
"<Why did you not tell me Ayaka?!>" Clad tried to get up again, making it a little further this time before his collapse.
"<I said not to move!>" Ayaka demanded "<Now look, if you would like to get yourself killed going back to that city, then wait until you are atfull strength! I have to help save some lives that can actually be saved!>"
It went silent at her outcry. Everyone was quiet. Hoshi finally broke it "Wait... what?" she accidentally fell back into Kurs for a moment "<You... You do not mean?>"
"<A medical ninja helps people in dire need of healing their wounds. But wounds are not always physical.>" Ayaka sounded very wise, I was already used to her presence by then.
I guess using people as a shield was a sign of trust for me back then.
"<Hoshi, you told me last night that you and Acclue need to cross the miasma line. I need to go through ther to... return home. I can help you across if you would like me to.>" Ayaka stood and looked down on Clad "<Do you wish to come? I may need help to carry them.>"
"<I need to save the Port.>" Clad said sternly.
"<You are a reckless person, are you not?>" Ayaka almost sounded impressed "<But the siege will be over by the time you are better. If that is the case, will yu follow?"
Clad was hesitant, but I wasn't sure why at that point. He turned his head up and I think he looke at me. I hid again. He gave a sigh, then a half-hearted "<Okay>"
"Alright!" Hoshi shouted "Can you believe it Acclue?! You're going home!"
I didn't understand at the time why she was so excited, but I didn't care. She was right. I had finally made the first step toward home, even though I was geographically as far from it as possible. But somehing in the back of my mind kept me from celebrating. A feeling like something was still wrong. A feeling that just kept eating away at me. A terrible feeling of doom.
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Next Chapter: An Awkward Moment, a Life of Pain
I didn't really do any research, but the "minor something" was a concussion
I just know that one of the symptoms can be loss of memory... tell me if I'm wrong XD
too many primary characters introduced at once! ><