Episode 103 Prelude to the Nightmare

The orange glow of the city lights casts strange, unkind shadows across the dismal scene. Silver’s body lays meekly in a pool of crimson blood, dyed almost black by the queerness of the night.

Ryuu and Zack arrive upon the death scene, panting heavily as they cease their frantic rampage through the streets. Upon seeing Silver’s body, Ryuu points ahead, shouting, and the two of them slow to a stop.

Ryuu leaps immediately to Silver’s side, raising her head gently and cradling it in his arms. He feels her damp hair, moist with blood and sweat. “Dammit, looks like the battle’s over,” Ryuu mutters.

Silver tilts her head slightly, and slowly comes to a groggy consciousness. “Ryuu…?” she croaks.

“Yeah,” Ryuu sounds softly, clenching his teeth in a vain attempt to contain his anger. “Silver, who did this?!”

“The Fatalists…” she whispers, a fresh lane of blood racing down her lower lip. “They…she…! They took Ayame…”

Ryuu’s eyes bulge immediately at the ragged phrase. “They…took Ayame…?” he repeats slowly, his voice fighting the urge to waver. At once, blood rushes from Ryuu’s palm, as he clutches it so tightly that it begins to bleed.

“More importantly,” Zack says suddenly in a somber voice, “who did this?”

He nods towards the wall of a crumbling, decrepit building before them, and presents the gruesome scene to Ryuu and Silver’s eyes. Sasha’s limp body rests tight against the wall, one or two stories above the ground, as it is held in place by her own sword.

Her blood is splattered all across the broken wall, and it is smeared across her worn face. Her eyes are closed, and her normally bright blue hair is drained of all color.

“SASHAA!” Ryuu howls in shock, directing his eyes to her fragile body.

‘“As for the blue-haired girl you seek, I have placed her in a safe spot in this city. You may locate and retrieve her, if you wish.”’ The cool words of Ice suddenly ring back loud and clear in Ryuu’s mind.

“He…” Ryuu growls hatefully, “he did this!”

Zack teleports himself up onto the wall next to Sasha, standing magically straight up against the vertical wall. He lowers his arms and grasps the hilt of Sasha’s Berzerker, taking care as he wrenches it out of the wall and her stomach. Blood rains down upon the ground and splashes onto the Priest’s face.

Catching Sasha before she falls back down to the ground from the pull of gravity, Zack briskly disappears in another flash of blue, appearing once again at Ryuu’s side. Still taking great care, he lowers Sasha and places her silently next to Silver’s body.

“They’re both dying,” he comments matter-of-factly.

“Can you save them?” Ryuu asks helplessly, his voice filled with an uncharacteristic sense of hopelessness.

“I can try,” Zack mutters in return, “but it ain’t lookin’ good for them to begin with. I’ll see what I can do.”

As the glow of Zack’s magic transcends the lurking darkness, Ryuu strides over to Shuriken’s limp body, which is lying nearby. “You really intend to bring him with you wherever you go?” Ryuu asks, bending over Shuriken’s pale face.

“I dunno,” Zack says distantly, a hint of mourning in his voice. “I s’ppose I ought to bury him somewhere nice.”

“We’ll find him a nice plot of grass to rest after you finish healing the girls,” Ryuu replies in a low voice. “It’s the least we can do for him.”

Even as Ryuu speaks, a wispy black mist seems to surround Shuriken, and he pulls back slightly in surprise as Phoebe emerges into the cold night air. However, the shadow of the Paradox disappears almost as suddenly as it appeared, and within seconds, there is nothing but cold air hovering over Shuriken.

“It seems as though she follows him everywhere,” Ryuu mutters, “even through death. I hope you two enjoy your train ride…Shuriken.”

Ryuu glances over his shoulder, and watches Zack poring over Silver, basking her in his green light. The various wounds across Silver’s body gradually seal themselves, but the marks and scars remain as a testament to her hardship.

The same applies to Sasha, who already appears better after a long dose of Zack’s Heal. The blood on her face is wiped clean, and most of her wounds are already closing.

Ryuu stares long and hard at the slow process of Zack’s treatment. ‘Everyone is already so beat and battered up. But, this is only a prelude of things to come…the Fatalists will come again at full strength, that’s for sure. And who knows what else is waiting for us out there… The real battle is yet to come.

‘If only I didn’t have to live through this moment wondering whether I will see all these people ever again.’

Ryuu rises from the ground presently, checking his sword, which is fastened securely to his side. “When you’re done, Zack,” he announces, “we ought to hurry and join with George and the others again. They’re probably very far away now, considering they’ve got those Cargoes.”

“It’ll be a hell o’ a problem catchin’ up to those guys,” Zack retorts absentmindedly.

“I…can help…” Sasha gasps in a hoarse whisper suddenly. She forces both Zack and Ryuu’s nervous attention as she raises herself from the ground, resting weakly on an elbow. “I know of a way…”

She suddenly jerks forward, spurred on by the pain of an internal wound. Blood dampens her already-drenched clothes. “Be careful!” Ryuu cries, rushing over to her side. “Don’t do anything reckless. Your wounds are very severe and you’re lucky to be awake right now.”

“But what’s this of a shortcut, it seems?” Zack inquires curiously from Silver’s side.

“Teleport…rocks…” Sasha struggles, forcing the words out. “If we use teleport scrolls at the rocks, we can catch up to George instantly.”

“There are teleport rocks in the Night World?!” Ryuu gapes in amazement. “You should have told us sooner. But how do we obtain these scrolls?”

“I’ve been…hiding them…” Sasha coughs, “…in my underwear.”

“WHA?!” Ryuu and Zack burst out.

The wind howls in fury, battering what loose particles it can. Ivy and Rill sway wildly as they ascend yet another ridge in the endless expanse of hills. Above them, the moon is sickle-shaped, glowing with an eerie luminescence. A thin, transparent shelf of clouds hovers low over the badlands.

“Whoa!” Ivy gasps, as a particularly strong gust of wind knocks her off balance. Her hand slips and she plummets several inches before Rill reaches quickly forward and grabs her arm. With Rill’s assistance, Ivy gradually regains her footing, and resumes her vigorous ascent of the rock wall.

‘These hills just don’t seem to end,’ Rill comments to himself wearily. With a push, he forces himself over the crest of the hill, and comes to the peak of the platform. Ivy joins him a few seconds later huffing and puffing.

Peering through the darkness, Rill’s eyes suddenly twitch wide open in surprise. “These hills! They’re…ending!”

“They are?” Ivy cries joyfully, as she bounces over to Rill’s side.

Off in the distance, the hills gradually thin out into a barren plain, surrounded on three sides by low, rocky mountains. The moon acts as a silent beacon high above the valley, like a single light bulb in the ceiling of the black sky.

Even further, visible just in the crevice of the horizon, a lightning storm rages furiously onward, seemingly unprovoked. In that distant sky, a huge, hulking mass of shadow engulfs the world, wiping out all signs of life or land beyond the plains.

“What do you suppose that is?” Rill asks breathlessly, watching a bolt of lightning jolt down from the sky and obliterate the rocky cap of a mountain.

“It’s Kunai…” Ivy murmurs softly to herself.

Rill raises an eyebrow, turning to her curiously. “You mean to say that’s Kunai?!”

“No,” Ivy replies absently, “Kunai’s…there…I can feel it.”

Rill watches her pale face silently for a couple moments, and then turns back to the raging storm beyond. He swallows hard, shivering slightly in the cold wind.

The figures of three men shrouded in black sit in a circle around a lit fire. The sky above them roars with ferocious intensity, lit up by fantastic displays of light and exploding with thunderous protests. The hungry yellow eyes of some monstrous beast loom mysteriously in the black canvas. Its voice screams with a longing voracity.

A young man peers over the crown of a ridge overlooking the valley below. Mountains loom high and intimidating around him, yet a seemingly endless expanse of flat, desolate land lies before him. It is in this valley that the cracks of thunder roar endlessly.

The boy watches for some time, the smooth metal plate on his Dark Identity reflecting a sullen, black light every now and again as lightning streaks across the sky. In his hands, he cradles an enormous sword. His darkened face is reflected in its shiny metal blade, which lends his eyes the illusion of powerful malice.