Monday, March 22, 2010

Chapter 31
The ogre-demon stops suddenly and the barrier envelopes him. He rolls to the side and Nara has a clear line of sight.

Roswell lets out the breath he was holding in and smiles confidently.

"That's close enough." Roswell says stopping Nara's advance.

Shin and Shingi cross blades and ignore what's going on behind them.

"Where's your bugs and bats?" Ta asks landing another punch on Kogamaru.

"How can you sleep at night? What you did was a horrible tragedy and yet you walk around like it never happened." Shear says to Sessaru.

*****************************

"This can't be good." Koji says.

"Lady Kareen is alive but unconscious. That bitch must be quite strong." Becky says drawing her bow.

Nara's hand goes up and stops her.

"What is he thinking?" Lust asks.

*****************************

"So Roswell what is the next step in the plans?" Nara asks.

Roswell picks Kareen up by the hair and holds her up like a fish.

"Now get on your knees and bow to your new lord and master." Roswell says.

"Not gonna happen." Nara quickly replies.

"Why not? You refer to the others as Lord but not me. Why is that? I am Lord of the Eastern Lands and demand the respect that comes with that title." Roswell says getting upset.

"Being Lord of the Eastern Lands doesn't hold much respect to begin with. It is the only land that does not require an actual Lord to run it. I made sure of that before that fateful day all those years ago." Nara explains.

"You lie." Roswell says.

"They only call me Lord Nara out of respect for my father. The day I killed him is the day they lost all respect for me. I earned their respect back. One at a time." Nara explains.

Roswell slowly takes in the information.

By now the only two still fighting is Shin and Shingi. The other four have stopped and are watching with great interest.

"The book. Hand over the book." Roswell demands.

Nara extends his hand out and the book materializes.

Roswell and everyone else looks on in amazement.

"Materialization is forbidden." Kogamaru says.

Nara looks at him and smirks, "Who's going to arrest me?" Nara asks.

"Good point." Kogamaru says.

"Sephile get the book from him." Roswell orders.

Sephile slowly and cautiously approaches Nara, who holds the book out to her. She takes it and Nara opens the book.

"Nara just gave away his book?" Shear says surprised.

Shingi and Shin stop and look back. A look of complete shock is plastered on their faces.

Sephile holds the book before Roswell as he flips through the blank pages.

"What is the meaning of this? Where are the written pages?" Roswell asks angrily.

"The book hasn't chosen you as its rightful master." Nara answers.

The anger in Roswell overflows and he punches Kareen in the stomach. Everyone else gasps.

Nara steps forward but stops himself.

"What the hell is going through that puny brain of his?" Kogamaru asks.

"A breeze?" Ta answers.

"Good. Just stand there and watch." Roswell says and hits her again.

"Don't......Save me....... My........fault....." Kareen says hoarsely.

Nara stands there silently with his arms behind his back like a soldier at ease.

"Something isn't right?" Shin says looking around.

"I agree. Something is off." Shingi says also looking around.

Roswell continues his assault on Kareen for several minutes. Blood flows from her nose and the cuts as she is hit some more.

"Something is seriously wrong here." Shingi says.

*****************************

"What is Nara doing?" Amelia asks.

"Not sure." Koji says.

"Something isn't right. Lady Kareen doesn't deserve this." Becky says, "Why would Lord Nara allow this?"

*****************************

Roswell continues to let all of his frustrations out on Kareen's battered and broken body while Nara watches.

"What's wrong? Is this too shocking for you to see this?" Roswell asks before slamming Kareen to the ground by her hair.

Nara stands there silently.

"Nara! Do something!" Ta shouts.

"Have you ever seen this before?" Shingi asks.

"No." Shin replies.

Blood pools around Kareen's head from a large gash in the back of her head.

Ta and Sessaru both take a step towards her but Nara raises his hand to them. They stop instantly.

Roswell laughs at Kareen's suffering.

"Cat got your tongue? Why won't you speak?" Roswell asks.

Nara remains silent and Roswell becomes enraged even more. He stomps on Kareen's stomach a few times and an almost black blood erupts from her mouth.

*****************************

"NARA! SAVE HER!" Lust shouts.

Amelia buries her face into Steven's chest.

"Lady Kareen......" Becky says meekly.

*****************************

A large amount of black blood flies out of Kareen's mouth and all over the concrete.

"Farewell..........my...............love..............." Kareen says in barely a whisper.

"Piece of whore trash." Roswell says and kicks Kareen's lifeless body into a nearby telephone pole.

Nara still remains silent.

Kogamaru holds Ta back and Shear grabs Sessaru's wrist.

"Just wait." Shear says watching Shin and Shingi whose eyes are closed.

Sephile suddenly lets out a blood curdling scream as her hands begin being drawn into the cover of the book.

Roswell rushes to her side and tries to rip the book from her hands but can't.

In a matter of seconds the book has devoured her arms and is eating through her body. Her screams stop and a few seconds later only a pool of blood remains.

"You bastard! How dare you kill her!" Roswell says through gritted teeth.

Roswell runs at Nara and punches him in the face. Nara leans back from the force of the punch and Roswell punches him in the chest.

Shin opens his eyes and looks at Nara.

"No heart beat." Shin says.

"Who?" Shingi asks before figuring it out. "What does that mean?"

"Not sure. It has never happened before. That I know of." Shin replies

Roswell continues his savage onslaught against Nara. Nara doesn't even try to defend himself or fight back against Roswell's powerful blows.

Somehow though, Nara remains standing and silent the entire time.

"Is this all the mighty and powerful Nara has to offer? He should not be feared or even respected. He should be pitied for being so weak." Roswell boasts.

"And this is coming from someone who was nearly killed by a severed arm from a false body." Kogamaru says, causing the other lords to laugh.

"Silence!" Roswell shouts, "It seems that seeing his faithful familiar beaten to death at my hands was beyond something he could stand and has given in to my might." Roswell says.

"But she was tied up and unconscious through most of it. Does that even count?" Shear asks.

"I said SILENCE!" Roswell shouts, "I am now the Lord of the entire Demon Realm. All will bow to my might! And if they don't then I will simply crush them." Roswell says.

During his speech, Nara falls backwards and his tattoos start to glow slightly before fading away completely.

*****************************

Throughout the entire Demon Realm the tattoos appear. Marking everything from a building to an animal.

A little boy runs inside his house and takes his shirt off.

"Mommy, look." He says.

His grandfather looks over and recognizes the tattoo immediately.

"Lord Nara has returned." He says surprised.

From every corner of the Demon Realm, cheers are heard.

The guards standing guard at Roswell's castle look around wondering why everyone is cheering.

"Wonder what that was all about." One guard asks.

*****************************

"Look." Steven says and points down the street.

Everyone on the roof looks at where Steven is pointing and sees the street packed with people making their way toward the action.

"What the hell is going on?" Silmeria asks.

Each street leading to the intersection where the Lords are at is packed with humans making their way to the Lords for some unknown reason.

*****************************

Without warning the air becomes suffocatingly dense and the clouds above grow darker and begin to swirl clockwise.

"I suggest we hold off on our fights." Kogamaru says looking at the sky above him.

Ta nods in agreement.

"I agree. If we aren't careful we may end up dying." Sessaru says.

"You cowards! Now is the time to strike your enemy down. Nara is dead and they are too scared to defend themselves against you." Roswell says walking toward Sessaru.

"What the...." Shingi says as the ground begins to slowly spin counter clockwise around Nara's body. The buildings and everything stays in place just he ground begins to spin quicker and quicker. Even the clouds are spinning faster.

"This isn't right. There is something definitely wrong." Shear says backing up.

A powerful demonic presence rises up through the ground that makes the Lords fall to their knees.

*****************************

Koji quickly grabs Steven and Amelia before they walked off the roof.

Lust and Jade help pull Koji back up to the roof.

"They seem comatose." Aurora says checking them.

They struggle to get free and are tied up to prevent them from moving.

"Any ideas?" Silmeria asks.

"Not a one." Becky replies.

*****************************

The presence grows stronger and is centralized at Nara's body.

"I guess he is back for round two." Roswell says walking towards Nara's body.

A large fist comes through Nara's chest and Roswell jumps. Another fist comes through and then a familiar head. Nara emerges from his own body like it was a cocoon.

"Nara?" Everyone says.

It looks just like Nara only a little more evil and a couple feet taller. The tattoos are the same but his horns are now a foot long. His eyes are a deep crimson with white pupils. He grins wickedly at Roswell as large amounts of blood flow out and down his chest.

Shin and Shingi quiver in fear and drop their katanas.

Shear and Sessaru try to back away but can't even get their bodies to move.

Kogamaru wets himself from fear as well as Ta.

Koji, Becky, Silmeria, Lust, Aurora, and Jade all faint in fear. And Ashen loses control of his bowels and bladder while he has a major seizure.

Gok and Soneskin start to peel apart like bananas.

Fortunately for Amelia and Steven, Becky had placed them in a protection circle.

Nara stands fully erect and two powerful dragon type wings burst from his back.

Roswell is speechless and stares wide eyed.

Nara grabs one of his horns and breaks it off at the base. Then continues to do the same thing to the other seven. After he breaks them off the orbit him like moons.

"You claim to be the Ruler of the Demon Realm?" Nara says in a very deep demonic voice.

Roswell can barely swallow, he is so terrified.

"SPEAK!" Nara commands.

"...............yes......." Roswell replies meekly and in almost a whisper.

Nara looks back at Kareen's body and smirks then looks back at Roswell making him jump.

"You haven't killed me. I was only at fifty percent of my full power. Yet you were still unable to even knock me over let alone kill me." Nara says still standing before Roswell.

"Allow me to show you my full power." Nara says as the eight horns that were orbiting around him enter his chest.

*****************************

In the Demon Realm, the clouds in the sky begin to mimic the clouds in the Human Realm. Then the ground follows and spins counter clockwise without disturbing the buildings or the other demons. Even more tattoos have appeared throughout the lands.

*****************************

A large glowing orb exits Kareen's body and enters Nara's.

"Come. Attack me." Nara commands still with blood flowing from his mouth.

Roswell finally swallows and takes a step towards Nara.

Nara raises his hand and all of the humans that had gathered around turned to dust.

"Unbelievable." Shin says completely amazed.

A dark aura radiates off of Nara and drips onto the ground like blood.

The ground and sky continues to spin.

"Where are we?" Shingi asks realizing that the sun and moon are closer then they should be. The sun to the west and the moon to the east.

"Leave it to the samurai to notice." Nara says to him, "We are in my realm. That's the Human Realm above us and the Demon Realm below us. Right now I imagine that the weather is rather chaotic at this very moment." Nara explains.

"That's preposterous. No one can create realms." Roswell says.

Nara gets right in Roswell's face with blood still flowing out of his mouth.

"How would you know? Just a few moments ago, you thought I was dead. So that makes your word worthless." Nara says.

"Your realm?" Kogamaru says trying to understand.

"Yes. To protect both realms from utter destruction I created this realm for the sole purpose of being able to go all out on Roswell." Nara explains.

"What are you?" Shin asks.

"I am beyond an S class demon. The simplest term would be a Demon God. However, I don't see myself like that." Nara says forming an orb of pure energy in the palm of his hand.

He grabs Roswell's wrist and puts the energy orb into his palm. The energy courses through Roswell's body and brings him to his knees.

Kogamaru looks on quizzically.

"Now Roswell, arise and enjoy your new found power as an S class demon." Nara says.

Shear glances at Shingi who glances at Kogamaru.

"Now prepare for your death." Nara says and punches him with so much force that the ground in both the Human and Demon Realm rattle as if a magnitude five point eight earthquake went off.

Minor damage in both realms mostly just scared humans and demons run for cover.

Roswell drops to his knees gasping for air while his ribs regenerate.

"Perfect." Nara says to himself.

He punches Roswell again and the buildings close by crack. Another punch nails Roswell right in the kidney and a large chunk of building falls. Instead of crashing into the streets below it falls into the street and vanishes beneath street.

"This is incredible." Kogamaru says.

"Is that all you have?" Roswell says, "At this rate you'll never kill me." Roswell adds.

"You will die. In fact you will be begging me to take your life." Nara says in that deep demonic voice while blood still flows from his mouth.

"In case you haven't realized, I am a regenerate. I can recover from any injury that you can deliver." Roswell boasts.

Nara simply smiles and delivers a straight punch straight to Roswell's gut making him fly straight into a brick wall. Several buildings in a thousand foot radius crumble from the tremendous force.

Again the other two realms are rocked by multiple earthquakes.

Nara kneels down and puts his hand through the ground and a massive hand comes through the clouds. The other Lords split up and take cover.

The fist smashes into Roswell then picks his battered body up and throws him at Nara. Nara steps to the side and clothes lines Roswell. His head snaps back causing his body to start to flip backwards while moving forward. The back of Roswell's head hits the ground and cracks wide open. Bits of skull scatter and a tiny pink brain flies out.

"Bigger then I thought." Ta says.

Kogamaru agrees before leaping out of the way from Roswell's body.

Roswell lays there for a moment before he starts to move again. The crack in his skull has healed.

"See. I feel no pain. You can't defeat me." Roswell says.

"And what makes you think you will defeat me?" Nara asks and rips his right arm off, then tosses it to the side.

Roswell looks at the arm then back at Nara. His arm has already grown back.

"Let's see you do that." Nara says and before Roswell can react Nara rips his right arm off causing Roswell to scream in pain.

Roswell backs away holding where his right arm should be.

Nara looks at him and shakes his head then rips Roswell's left arm off making him scream even more.

"I see you have killed innocent demons just because of the beach. That's not acceptable!" Nara says and rips Roswell's left leg off.

Roswell screams again and falls on his back. He continues to try and back away but that has become almost impossible.

Nara tosses the limbs aside and stands above Roswell.

"I made you an S class demon and you can't even grow your limbs back? I overestimated your abilities." Nara says with blood still flowing down his jaw.

Roswell is at a loss for words. The fear is clearly visible in his eyes and the eyes of everyone watching.

"Go collect your limbs. I'll deal with that demon till your done." Nara adds and turns to the large ogre-demon.

The barrier dissipates leaving the ogre-demon standing there.

Roswell rolls to his limbs and starts attaching them as best as he can.

Nara raises his hand and makes one motion as if he is opening a sliding door. The entire front of the ogre-demon rips off. He makes the motion again and another layer rips off. He does this a few more times and there is nothing left of the ogre-demon.

Roswell gets himself together and runs from Nara.

Nara simply smiles and tugs at the air like a rope. Roswell is running as fast as he can and is being pulled backwards.

"Coward. This is your doing and you are trying to run for it? Allow me to get rid of these pesky buildings so that you may get a better understanding." Nara says before flapping his wings and floating above the city.

He claps his hands and the ground rumbles. Seconds later the buildings dissolve into the still spinning ground.

Koji and everyone else lands safely on the ground.

There is nothing for as far as the eye can see in any direction. Above them the entire sky is spinning clockwise and below them the entire ground spins counter clockwise. To the east is the moon and to the west is the sun. Both of which are so close they can almost be touched. To the north the planets orbit closely and to the south nothing but a violent meteor shower.

"This entire realm is under my control. You running won't solve anything. There is nowhere to hide." Nara shouts down to Roswell before landing softly.

"This is just some horrible nightmare. No way could I lose to a pathetic being like you." Roswell says trying to convince himself.

"Your stupidity knows no bounds. I have grown tired of this. It is time for you to die." Nara says walking towards Roswell.

"You can try but killing a regenerate is impossible. We can only die form old age." Roswell says confidently.

Nara simply smiles and attacks with great power and precision. The shockwaves from the hits knock the other lords to the ground. For over two hours Nara viciously attacks Roswell. His attacks just do enough damage so that Roswell feels the pain but can regenerate quickly. Finally large chunks of Roswell fly and freeze mid air.

In the other realms, they are once again hit by multiple earthquakes for the entire time Nara is attacking Roswell and for a few hours afterwards.

"Now regenerate." Nara says backing away from a completely skinned and gutted Roswell. Every piece of flesh and muscle has been ripped from Roswell leaving only the nerve endings, skeletal structure, and his head in tact.

A look of panic comes over Roswell's face as his body can't regenerate.

"How can this be?" He asks terrified.

"Your body can sense its pieces near by so it won't regenerate. You shall stay like this for the rest of eternity regardless if I am alive or dead." Nara says in that deep demonic voice.

"This is incredible." Kogamaru says.

Shear and Shingi look at Nara in fear.

"You three shall leave the Human Realm and never return." Nara says grabbing Shingi, Shear, and Kogamaru by the shirts.

They nod quickly and Nara throws them aside. They fall through the ground and land in the Demon Realm. Each in their respective castle.

"Take them home." Nara says to Ta and points at Koji and the others.

"What about Jade?" Shin asks picking up a katana. He looks at it and a quick smile crosses his lips.

Nara opens his hand and Jade falls through the ground and through the roof of his house.

Becky is the first to wake and jumps at the sight of Nara standing there.

Koji wakes a few minutes later and his jaw drops at the sight of Nara.

Lust, Silmeria, and Aurora wake about the same time and stare at Nara speechless.

"It has been a real honor to have you all as friends." Nara says in his normal voice as they all walk through a portal to Ashen's house.

"What?" Shin says turning around but the portal closes before he can do anything.

"Now, back to you." Nara says in the deep demonic voice once more.

"So you are trapped in here with me." Roswell says trying to laugh.

"No. I chose to stay behind because this next part I didn't want anyone to see." Nara says smirking.

"What can you possibly do to me?" Roswell asks.

"The worst thing imaginable. Erase you from history." Nara replies.

"That's impossible. Too many people and demons know who I am." Roswell says.

"That is true however my symbols have appeared everywhere in the Demon Realm. Not to signify my return but to erase the memories of your existence. In a few hours every living being in the Demon Realm will of forgotten about you. You shall completely disappear from all records and it will be as if you never existed." Nara says walking around Roswell.

Roswell stares off into space as it sinks in.

"You are telling me that my legacy will be forgotten. That it was I that made you go all out? Everything I did was for nothing?" Roswell says stunned.

"Yes. Since I know that none of these plans have been yours in the first place. Sephile was the one that came up with the idea of my false body and to kidnap Kareen. She was the true brains behind your brawn. And it will be her that will go down in history as the Lady of the Easter Lands in my absence." Nara says.

Roswell stands there dumbfounded.

"Not only will you stay here in this realm alone but now you know no one even knows you existed. That is truly a fate worse then death." Nara says and walks over to Kareen's body. He picks her up and grabs his book as well.

"Before I go there is a couple things," Nara says standing in front of a portal, "You won't die from what I did to you, you shall spend the rest of eternity in eternal agony." Nara adds and walks out of the portal into his room at Ashen's house. He lays Kareen down on his bed and covers her up. In his hand an orb forms before entering Kareen's body.

The portal closes and Roswell's screams of agony echo loudly.

She suddenly takes a deep breath and her heartbeat slowly returns to normal.

"Farewell." Nara says and kisses her as he turns to dust.

*****************************

A few days go by and everything has returned back to normal.

"There is still no word on what caused the string of global earthquakes a few days ago. Amazingly there were no deaths reported and only a few buildings collapsed. Scientists believe it may be just a freak accident or something bigger. The religious community believes it is a warning from God that we must change our ways. Whatever it may be it was certainly terrifying." The news reporter says.

"What do you think happened?" Koji asks.

"I have no clue." Sessaru says.

"I remember a tall winged demon with blood flowing from its mouth staring at me." Becky says and shudders from the thought.

"And where did Kareen and Nara disappear to?" Shin asks.

*****************************

"Milord, news from the Eastern Lands." A messenger says.

"Go on." Shear says.

"Apparently the civilians of the Eastern Lands have taken up arms and taken Lady Sephile's castle back in her absence. Her guards have split up and a small group is headed to you." The messenger says and bows before leaving.

"What the hell happened? I can't remember anything but the fear flowing through me." Shear says.

*****************************

Kogamaru and Shingi both have the same problems remembering what happened in Nara's realm.

In fact everyone that was in Nara's realm is having troubles remembering anything but the fear and a tremendously powerful aura.

*****************************

A few more days pass and everyone is sitting around the house on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

"I remember Nara was fighting. But he didn't look quite like Nara." Shin says.

"I know what you mean. I remember some ogre-demon and some mercenaries dying and Kareen laying in a pool of her own blood." Ta says.

"I remember that. But after that everything goes blank." Sessaru adds.

"I felt as if something was calling out to me." Steven says scratching his head.

*****************************

Upstairs, Kareen awakes with a jolt and looks around nervously.

"What the...." She says getting out of bed.

She cleans herself up and is greeted at the bathroom door by Becky who has her daggers drawn.

"Lady Kareen?" She says shocked.

"Becky." She replies.

Becky leads her downstairs and they join the others.

"Where have you been?" Silmeria asks kneeling next to Sessaru.

"Sleeping. How long have I been out?" She asks.

"Well, a best guess would be about a week or so." Ta says sitting down with a sandwich.

"Nara still sleeping?" Lust asks.

"I don't know. I woke up in his bed but there were no signs that he had slept in the bed." Kareen says confused.

"Really?" Aurora asks.

Kareen closes her eyes and is silent for awhile.

She opens her eyes and a look of sadness overcomes her.

"What's wrong?" Becky asks.

"It's Nara. I can't sense his aura anywhere." Kareen replies.

"Maybe he is in the Demon Realm." Koji says.

"No. He isn't in either realm. I would be able to sense him. I am getting nothing." Kareen says.

Shin leaves and investigates Nara's room. He returns a little while later and kneels before Kareen. He bows and holds up eight one inch horns like Nara's.

Kareen gasps and a second later the others do as well. She takes them and holds them close to her heart as she fights the emotions raging inside her.

"Excuse me." She says and runs to her room with the horns.

"I also found what appeared to be a strange dust that was emitting a very weak aura but when I picked up the horns it vanished." Shin explains.

"Does this mean..." Sessaru says.

"I'm afraid it does." Ta says.

"Going on what all of us have described it seems that Nara created a realm and went all out on someone. The question is who and why?" Koji explains.

Everyone sits there silently and ponders the question Koji brought up.