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Chapter Ten They had only been walking for a few minutes when they heard noises behind them. The five of them, Brigitte, Kali, Gary, Sophia and Zale all turned to see what it was. None of them saw anything, so they turned and continued their path. But Zale stood his ground, still listening. "Yo, water boy, it's nothing! Let's go!" Sophia exclaimed, finally excepting the idea that she was traveling with magical beings. Zale simply put his finger to his lips, in a trance-like state, almost. "Shh…" he whispered. Sophia continued on anyway, while Brigitte followed close behind. Kali and Gary waited for Zale, and a grin slowly split his face. His eyes lit up with joy as he realized just what was making the sound. "What is it?" Kali asked uncertainly, crossing her arms. Gary looked at the boy for a moment, and turned to go. Zale whispered something, still dazed. Gary glanced at him over his shoulder. "Excuse me?" The wind blew his long hair across his face. He did some sort of chant or prayer, and grinned back at them. "Unicorn." "Unicorn?" Kali and Gary asked in utter disbelief simultaneously. "Shh…She's coming…" They waited for another moment, and then Zale turned around and peered through the forest. "Come this way." He led the two to a clearing in the forest. Sunlight shined through the leaves of the trees, casting the clearing with a mysterious green light. There was a glassy pond in the center, and drinking out of the pond was a large, mystical white being with a pearly white horn spiraling out of its forehead. She looked up at the three travelers and cocked her head to one side. She blinked as Zale inched towards her calmly. When he reached her, he put his hand on her cheek and rubbed it, soothing the slightly frightened creature. Tension eased out of her face, and Gary and Kali exchanged looks. "Who is he?" Gary whispered to Kali. "I…I don't think I know." "He didn't tell you anything?" Kali sighed. "I don't…he'll have to tell you himself." Kali looked down at her feet. "Oh." Gary turned and looked out across the small pond before him. The moonlight was reflected in the surface of the midnight-blue water, lighting the small clearing. "Kali! Gary!" Zale called to them. They both turned to see what he wanted. "Come here." Exchanging looks once again, the two headed over to Zale and the unicorn. "What is it?" Kali asked. "The unicorn told me that her baby is wounded." The two gave him skeptical looks. "Really, I'm not joking." The unicorn beside him stamped her foot on the ground and looked into the forest. "Right, then," Gary commented. "Follow me." Zale turned and headed to the spot where the unicorn had been watching. She immediately followed Zale, and Kali followed her hesitantly. Gary looked back at the moonlight shining down on the clearing, and back at the unicorn. He decided to follow them. ***** After traveling a short distance, the group found a baby unicorn lying against a tree trunk. There were three gashes in its flank; it looked like something had slashed at it. The unicorn lay in his own silver blood. Its eyes were wide with fear, the white face a frightened, creamy color. Sweat dripped from its forehead and it struggled to breathe. Kali knelt beside it and stroked its wet mane. He looked up at her with tearful eyes. He knew he was going to die, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The mother unicorn lay down beside her dying baby. Gary just stood, not knowing what to do, while Zale knelt down next to Kali and examined the unicorn's wounds. "What did this to him?" Kali whispered, sympathy for the baby echoing in her voice. Zale hesitated, then said simply, "Demons." Kali held her breath and looked around. "Most likely Eclipse and her recruits. They've been patrolling this area for a few days now." A breeze blew by and Gary stiffened. He looked in the direction the wind blew, his hair flying behind him. "What is it?" Kali asked for the third time that day. "The wind said that . . . that the demons are still here." Zale returned Gary's skeptical look. "You can talk to the wind?" "If you can talk to unicorns." "Are you sure?" Kali asked, glancing around. "The wind never lies." "You're right. It doesn't!" a voice hissed behind them. They turned to see Eclipse emerging from the bushes. In the daylight her body was pale, it seemed to be transparent. Kali stood up in a defensive stance, guarding the unicorns as best she could. "Ready for another fight?" "It's going to be a short one," Kali exclaimed, lightning flashing in her eyes. Eclipse slashed at her, claws outstretched. Kali jumped back, confidence evident in her expression. Eclipse didn't give up so easily though, and followed Kali, slashing at her. Kali jumped to the side, ducking a little. The two guys stood, ready to fight. It was at this time when Eclipse's recruits emerged from the bushes. There were about twelve of them, and among these were the two Kali had met personally, Ganralf and the midnight blue demon. "Mayonaka, Ganralf, get them!" Eclipse commanded, gesturing towards the two guys. Gary and Zale held their stance, but they weren't ready for what happened next. Mayonaka, the blue demon Kali had met before, launched towards Zale and landed on top of him. The two went sprawling, Zale under the enormous demon, who spat in his face. Zale winced, and desperately tried to push the demon off of him. While Zale struggled with Mayonaka, Ganralf made an attack towards Gary. A beam of fire shot out of Ganralf's outstretched arms, but Gary jumped out of the way just in time. "Kali! Gary!" Brigitte and Sophia ran into the clearing to find chaos. Through the fighting demons they didn't even notice the unicorns. Sophia quickly rushed to Gary's aid. In the meantime, Kali desperately tried to fend herself against Eclipse, but she found herself retreating more often. Dodging another one of Eclipse's deadly claws, she backed up into a tree. "Kali!" Gary breathed, dodging another fire beam. A nearby tree blew up into flames, and Gary moved away as far as he could. "Use your powers!" "Right." Kali glared at the demon, who was bringing her arm back to punch Kali. The demon was fast, and she threw her arm at Kali, who moved the right just in time. "Agh!" the demon exclaimed. Kali hurried around the demon, who was trying to get her claws dislodged from the tree trunk. She closed her eyes and concentrated on a bolt of lightning. Hands pressed together, she called upon the lightning powers. A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, and Kali was hit. The chaos in the clearing slowed down and all was silent. Kali opened her eyes, which were glowing bright yellow. Ganralf held Gary at the throat, and Sophia was ready to pounce a top the demon. Mayonaka held Zale down, arm raised to hit him in the jaw. "Let us go, Eclipse." Kali demanded. "Leave us be." "I'm afraid I can't do that," the evil demon stated, a grin on her face. "You think you're powerful, but you have a long way until you can really use your powers. Let me show you what Her Royal Highness, Queen Gaiaku did for me." "Gaiaku?" Kali questioned, confused. "Why yes. I believe the skanky, born-demon term for her is Nwon-Knu Setsrim." Kali simply glared at the demon before her. "Watch and learn." The demon closed her eyes and raised her hands before her. In her hands, she held a pale yellow beam sword, which she held vertically. "Emit weropof, mandcom uoy. Thiw eth thigr sa Gesshoku, emot opts orf," the demon chanted. White light shot up from the point of the sword and out into the night air. It stopped a few miles above the forest to spread out over the emerald green trees. Everything, living and non-living, froze except for Kali and Eclipse. Kali stared in awe at the demon. She blinked, and in this time Eclipse mumbled another chant. Hoping that this chant would start time up again, Kali readied herself to attack the evil creature in front of her. She raised her arm to hit her, already starting to intensify the amount of electricity in her arm. About to hit her, Kali slumped down to the ground, enveloped in a world of darkness. Eclipse smiled an evil, cat-like grin. She picked up Kali's unconscious body and carried her away from the clearing. ***** Kali opened her eyes to total darkness. The first thing she felt was pain, utter pain. It was all over her, and so intense she let out a long, eerie cry, which hurt her even more. She gasped at the pain in her lungs. It was the first time in her life when she wished she could just crawl somewhere and die. She felt a hot, liquid substance at the back of her throat and coughed. Dark red blood trickled down her chin and she fought the urge to cry. With a defeated sigh, she gave up and let the tears flood down her face. Her body collapsed and she sat back helplessly against a cold stone wall. There was a faraway creak, which was really much closer to Kali than it seemed. Light flooded into the room, and Kali cried out in the sudden blinding light. The door was shut immediately, but there was still an orange light coming from near the door. Kali slowly opened her eyes and blinked. The door was only ten feet away, and beside it hung a torch-holder, with a blazing torch inside. A figure moved towards her, face shadowed by the eerie light. "So, you finally woke," a familiar voice said quietly. Kali gasped, and along with this movement came a sharp pain in her chest. "Don't move; it will make you hurt more." Kali would have complained or whined, or done something had this person not told her that it would hurt worse. "You're probably wondering what happened to you." The person raised her head a bit higher and Kali saw blazing blue eyes. They were filled with hatred, laughing, putrid hatred that filled Kali's soul with great fear and pain. And she remembered. With a startling jolt, she remembered her past few weeks of torture and pain, something she had been trying to forget. She almost had. Oh, how she wished that her friends would come and save her. She begged for prescience of Gary, prayed every night that he would come to save her. The past month, Nwon-Knu, or Gaiaku, had tortured her beyond human tolerance. Kali assumed it was either some sort of training that would make her "stronger", as Eclipse had been saying, or that there was something she really wanted from her. Her life was on the line, and all you can think about is Gary? Her conscious teased her. She closed her eyes in pain and took a deep, painful breath. "Good. You remember. I was worried that you wouldn't. Now I have something to ask you." Kali looked back up and met Nwon-Knu's gaze. She glared into her eyes with an intense fierceness and said, "No. I won't join your team. I won't help you. I won't help you at all!" She shook her head defiantly, despite the pain. "I see your tolerance for pain has certainly increased," was the response she received. "You don't understand. This is meaningless, keeping me here. I will never change my mind; you can't sway me to the dark force! Let me go!" Kali was almost begging. She would have tried to defy Nwon-Knu, but she was too weak. She didn't even have to be chained. "What are you going to do about it?" her 'mother' countered. Again, tears rolled down Kali's face. She looked up at her again, not with hatred, but with a pained expression of betrayal. But she couldn't say anything. "I thought so." She grinned maliciously. "Since you still refuse to come to the right side, then I have no choice but to continue your torture-" "NO! It's too much. I can't take it anymore!" Kali suddenly exclaimed, surprising herself. Nwon-Knu looked at her expectantly, and Kali muttered reluctantly, "I'll go." "Excuse me? I'm afraid I didn't hear." "I said I'll go," Kali gritted. Raising her voice, she repeated herself, "I'll go, I'll go, I'll join your petty team! Just let me live!" "It's amazing what people do when influenced by pain. But who am I to complain? I just won. The fate of the world belongs to me now!" Kali looked down at her lap, a deep sadness on her face. She closed her eyes in pain. "Just let me live…" The evil sorceress in front of her clapped her hands and the huge iron door opened once again. Eclipse entered the room and stood in a military-like stance as she waited for her master's orders. "Take her to the quarters I have prepared for her." She turned to go, then added hastily, with an amused grin on her face, "And don't forget her Advil." Kali spat after the retreating figure in disgust then let Eclipse drag her through the corridors inside Nwon-Knu's mountain castle. The castle she had grown up in almost all her life. ***** After a small dinner of bread and foul tasting soup, Kali lay in a feather bed in a stone room. Her head rested on an equivalent feather pillow, and though she appeared calm and relaxed, her mind was going a mile a minute. It was the first real chance she had to think. Her mind was reeling as she tried to sort out the past events. Eclipse had purposely overdosed her with painkillers, and it wasn't helping, either. Okay, so Eclipse kidnapped you and brought you here, she explained to herself. You've spent the last month being tortured because Nwon-Knu wants you on her side. The circle is complete now that you have agreed to join her and as soon as you're energy is back she will most likely start to train you. And then her doom will spread across the universe like a virus. A plague of evil will seep into the far corners of the universe. And all because one little girl could not take the pain of torture. She should have just let Nwon-Knu kill her. But then she would find someone else. And it will continue on. You have to try to stop her… for some reason her conscious sounded like Gary, and she realized how much she missed him. Sure, she missed Brigitte, and perhaps Zale and Sophia, but Gary had been with her straight from the start. He probably knew more about her than she herself knew. He could have been watching her from that cliff when he held her captive. Captive. She was always held captive. Why couldn't she ever be the captor? She felt her fists clench. "I have to try to stop her," Kali whispered. "And to do that, I have to regain my energy. To do that I have to…" she hesitated, trying to remember what Gary had told her when he was trying to teach her to use her powers. The event came back to her, and she basked under the glory and excitement she had felt then. In bed, Kali was glowing with electricity. An amazing thing had happened. Reliving the scene had brought back some of her energy, and she felt her small headache drift away. Taking a deep, painless breath, Kali raised her head as if to show off to Nwon-Knu that she was better, okay. This time, pain would not influence her reasoning. Now she would have to escape. There was no way to call upon electricity inside a mountain. Lightning came from the sky, which was where her main energy came from. The rock above her deprived this source from her, and she would soon feel claustrophobic. She stood up, the blanket falling to the floor, and walked to the door. Locked, of course. But no problem. As soon as someone came to give her something, she would take them out while the door was still open, and sneak out. ***** Gary glared at the stone in front of him. For a month, he, Zale, Brigitte, and even Sophia had searched for a way into the mountain. Well, actually, it had taken them two weeks to return to the mountain, so it wasn't a whole month. They had searched everywhere, accept for one place. They stood in front of the carved stairway in the side of the cliff. A few rocks rested at the bottom from when Kali had blindly tumbled down the few steps and gone into the woods. He remembered her pacing in a small circle, and how peaceful she looked when she fell into his arms after she bumped into the tree branch. He glared up the stairway. I'm coming, Kali. Just hold on. I will find a way to save you. He was only slightly surprised at his thinking. He knew he had always admired Kali, and now it was coming out and blooming into a different kind of liking. Sophia narrowed her eyes, a jealous fire raging. She knew what he was thinking. Gary glanced at her, sensing her jealousy. He could almost hear her thoughts. They stared at each other in confusion, while Zale and Brigitte looked thoughtfully at them. Zale hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were brother and sister?" "Brother and sister?!" they said at the same time. Zale looked up at the cliff face, then around the group. "Yes. Of course. It was in the prophecies," he said slowly. "Prophecies?" "Gabrielle--a sorceress who helped train me--specialized in Divination and Prophecy. She once told me something." And he recited her prophecy: On the day of the dead Two are related They shall stand before the sacred steps He looked at the rest of the group, which was enveloped in silence. Zale said quietly, "I believe that today is All Hallows Eve, the day of the dead. And it is a new moon tonight. Haven't you been traveling for about four months now?" No one answered him. Gary had been traveling for about four months. The number in the prophecy was four. Four moons shall come/before their journey's done. The words echoed in his head. The journey was almost over. Tonight there would be total darkness, a perfect night for world invasion, or whatever Nwon-Knu was planning. Tonight would be a long night. |