Age of Darkness (37 page)

“So, speak your name. It is common curtsy.
I gave you mine. It’s your turn.” Kuro called to Keimaro.

“Keimaro Hayashi.”

“Ah,” Kuro said with a smile, “and you are
able to control fire, correct? How interesting. From the looks of your power, I
would say that you received natural magic, like me. I didn’t think that there
was anyone in the world who was like me, yet I sense that I’ve come across
someone with only a third of the power that I have. Say, where is the rest of
the power? It must’ve been distributed through two others, correct?” Kuro
raised his eyebrow and then laughed. “Oh, my. Don’t tell me! That girl … the
one who just scampered away with the dog. She has a third of the meteor’s
power, doesn’t she? You know, I could use that power to take on the gods.
Perhaps I should—”

“Don’t you touch her!” Keimaro yelled,
flames roaring in response and smashing against the outer walls of the room,
shaking the entire structure. More rubble dropped from the ceiling, and Kuro
clicked his tongue as he looked up at his dragon.

“Looks like you do have a soft spot for her
then? Young love!” Kuro said, shaking his head with a sigh. “You see, that is
where one finds an easy weakness. The heart is what weakens a human. Perhaps
you’ve heard of this theory as well. I cut out my own heart so that I wouldn’t
have to deal with that particular weakness.” He pointed to his chest where his
heart would normally be as he began to walk around Keimaro slowly, his
footsteps echoing on the marble floor. “What makes demons stronger than humans?
It is their lack of compassion, their absence of social connection. What makes
humans stronger than demons? It is their intelligence. Thus, I took two of the
greatest weaknesses in humanity and demons and cast them away. I created a clan
that derived from only the strengths of both demons and humans. But it seems
that even you managed to use the human part of yourself to grasp at the weakness
of love.

“Why would you welcome such a simplistic
concept of attraction when it will bring you
nothing?
” Kuro boomed, his
eyes suddenly flashing a demonic red. He circled Keimaro, who kept his head
forward as he listened. “You believe that loving this woman will bring you
happiness? You think that a simple idea such as love will change anything? Do
you think it’ll take away your loneliness? No, it will enhance it. But you know
this already, don’t you?” He grinned. “When she is gone, you will feel pain.
All of your love will be transformed into hate, regret, and guilt. And you will
be cast into the shadows of solitude once more, even deeper into the abyss than
you were before. Love is a single path with no benefits at its end. There is
only agony and solitude,” Kuro said, stopping in front of Keimaro. “So, why
risk it? Why form bonds with other humans when you are only going to be hurt in
the end?”

“I don’t know,” Keimaro said with a
straight face, as he looked Kuro solidly in the eye. “For me, it’s because she
reminds me of the past before my village was destroyed and my family was
killed. She reminds me of the happiness that I used to feel four years ago
before all of this. She makes me stronger and she gives me meaning. She gives
me a reason to continue forward on this path.”

“On what path? Revenge?”

“No. No, not revenge. The path to stopping
evil. To stopping you,” Keimaro said. “You said that love is a simple emotion.
Well, Kuro, if you’re such a perfect being, then how would you not understand
that love is the most complex and inexplicable emotion that any human can feel?”

He paused, watching Kuro’s eyes narrow
before he continued, “When I first saw the princess, I didn’t even know what
attracted me to her. I didn’t know why the flow of her silky brunette hair
appealed to me or why my heart thumped whenever I looked into her royal blue
eyes. I can’t explain the feelings that churn up within my stomach when I spend
time with her every day. And I regret nothing. Aika makes me happy, and she has
changed me for the better.”

“You will end up in pain, and you will be
alone when your bond is severed.”

“No one lives forever,” Keimaro said. “I
know that you’d like to contradict that statement, but no one does. The bond
will be severed eventually, but it will be worth it in the end. I would rather
have formed the bond than never have made it at all. No bond lasts forever
because no one lives forever. Not even you,” he said, grasping the hilt of his
sword and sliding it from his sheath with a loud scrape. Gleaming steel flashed
into the midnight air. He whirled the blade and pointed it at Kuro.

“Go after the werewolf and the princess,”
Kuro said to Junko as he stepped forward with a chuckle. “Now this truly is
something. I can see the fire in your eyes, Keimaro. I respect you. Your
bravery is admirable, and your confidence is commendable. However, you made a
single mistake. You threatened me,” he said, clicking his fingers. His dragon
snarled, taking position over Kuro. “Have you ever taken into consideration your
own power? You continue to blabber on and on about how you will be able to
defeat me and destroy evil. But do you really think you’re strong enough to
dream so big? I, the one who dominated the strongest dragon in this world. I,
the first human being to slay the beast that left humans quaking in their
boots. You believe you can threaten me, the strongest being in existence!” He
pointed at Keimaro and grinned. “A god has been awakened. I will rule this
world and make the Hayashi clan the dominant race that walks upon this earth.
And no one will stop me, especially not a commoner boy created by my genes.”

Keimaro’s teeth gritted as Junko vanished
to go after his friends. Aika wouldn’t be able to defend herself, and Yuri
couldn’t take Junko on alone while defending Aika. He had to go after them. From
the looks of things, something must’ve happened at Z’s mansion as well. There
was no backup coming, despite the fact that a giant dragon had just awoken from
underneath the Forbidden Forest. He took several steps backward, ready to
attempt his escape.
This doesn’t look good,
he thought, his eyes on the
dragon.

“Burn him,” Kuro commanded.

Keimaro’s eyes widened as the dragon
roared, releasing a jet of golden flames at him. The radius covered the entire
room in a sphere of fire that blazed before Kuro. Keimaro grunted, swinging his
arms outward. The flames slid around him, leaving an air pocket of safety. As
the flames died down, Keimaro had already begun to run, sprinting through the
door.

The boy’s heart pounded furiously as he
released a jet of flame to increase his speed, forcing his legs to slam against
the ground as he heard the roar of the dragon behind him. The castle shook
furiously as the beast slammed its heavy claws down onto the structure,
attempting to grasp the boy as he sprinted through the empty hallways. Keimaro
finally broke out into the courtyard and couldn’t help but stare as he saw
absolute chaos.

Guards were slamming nobles to the ground
in order to subdue them. They were beating them for discipline. Perhaps it was
discipline—or perhaps it was simply revenge for the many times the nobles had
undermined the guards. Now, in the absence of authority, the guards were simply
seeking to ensure that everyone followed the rule of the new king, from the looks
of it. That was Faar law. The subordinates of the king had to bow down to a new
king even if they didn’t agree with their leadership. The new king would be
Kuro, without a doubt.

Keimaro stared in disbelief at the scorched
grass and obliterated structures that resembled ruins of what had been mansions
of the rich only that morning. Now there was simply flames and debris. The
apple tree Keimaro had seen coming to the castle for the first time was now
burning, its branches crumbling into ashes. Keimaro dashed past the tree as hot
flames ate away at the bark. Corpses began to coat the ground as the nobles and
guards fought each other in a chaotic brawl for dominance, but the boy knew
that he had no time to deal with a troubled kingdom. He had to save his friends.
That was when he remembered Lena, still suffering and locked up in her cell.
Waiting for a savior.

The assassin ran to the side of the castle
and sprinted through the open royal jail, dashing into complete darkness. The
guards had left the criminals to rot in their cells. These men and women beat
on their iron bars like madmen, screaming and yelling for Keimaro to release
them as he ran past their cells. He didn’t have time to save them all. Every
time the earth shook, he knew that they were a moment closer to the castle collapsing
on top of them. He couldn’t leave Lena in such a dangerous place.

He quickly found her cell and saw that her
head was bowed and her arms hung weak at her side. Her body looked limp, and
fear surged through Keimaro’s body. What if she was dead?

Keimaro’s hand roared with heat as he swung
it sideways, slicing through metal with ease. The bars dropped loudly to the
ground, and Keimaro dashed into the cell, slicing the chains that bound Lena
before grabbing her. Her eyes were open, and she blinked a few times, her face
pale as a ghost.

“Huh? Kei?” she murmured, clearly in a
daze. “You came!”

Keimaro stared at Lena for a moment, tears
beginning to form in his eyes. Her face was purple from the many bruises that
she had received. The once-fair skin that she had was now covered in lacerated
cuts and slashes as a part of the torture she had endured. Her body was bony
and skinny due to starvation and her own dried blood was splattered all over
her clothes. Nevertheless, Lena cracked a tiny smile when she saw Keimaro. “Of
course I did,” Tears streamed freely down his cheeks as Lena buried her face
into his shoulder, sobbing out of happiness. “It’s over. I’m sorry. I’m so
sorry. This is all my fault. I should’ve come sooner.” Keimaro cried, hugging
her tightly. They had hurt her so much. Her current state was much worse than
he could’ve even imagined. And this was his fault.

“No, it’s okay,” Lena sniffed, her face
still in Keimaro’s shoulder. “The fact that you came is enough. I always had
hope while sitting in this dark cell that someone would come and save me. I
dreamed about it and now that it’s happened, I can’t complain,” There was a
loud rumbling as the ceiling shook, dust cascading from the ceiling. “What’s that
sound?” Lena asked, her voice fading. Her eyes closed slowly and she dozed off
before she even heard his answer.

Keimaro picked Lena up into his arms,
watching her rest. “That’s the beginning of the end.”

The city smoldered as if hell itself had
taken over. Fires flickered on the rooftops of buildings, slowly devouring the
structures as it spread. Civilians left their homes with their belongings
packed into bags, screaming as they ran about, unsure of what to do. Guards had
left their posts and were attempting to douse the flames, but the closer that
Keimaro got to Z’s mansion, the more deserted the areas were. He felt a surge
of hope, but then he turned onto the last street and saw that the entire block
had been lit aflame.

The building across the street from Z’s
mansion had been reduced to nothing but rubble. The tiled streets were cracked
from the force of supernatural combat. Keimaro slowly lowered Lena onto the
ground, pressing her unconscious body against a solidified, stable stone wall. “I’ll
be right back,” Keimaro said, even though he knew Lena couldn’t hear him.

He strode toward Z’s mansion and gulped
when he saw that the gate had literally been torn apart. Part of the walls
around the mansion had been smashed and cracked, but what shocked Keimaro the
most was the building itself.

The mansion was like a torch in the night.
Roaring flames ate away at the foundation of the building. The entire structure
creaked loudly as Keimaro stepped onto the burnt grass, and the mansion began
to fall apart. The once-mystical castle was now crumbling rubble, leaving
debris everywhere with tiny flames licking at the earth. Keimaro’s widened eyes
stared, and his lips quivered as he stared at the flickering fires.
This is
just like the same fire. Four years ago.
Images of his burning home flashed
into his mind. His mother. Mai. His father. Z’s mansion collapsed, sending a
wave of dust flying in all directions, engulfing Keimaro in its cloud. Keimaro’s
hair blew back from the force of the collapse, and he saw corpses lying on the
ground—fellow assassins with pools of blood spreading around their bodies.

The Bakaara massacre….

Images of the corpses of his village people
began to flash into his mind as he witnessed his comrades dead before his eyes.
He even recognized one of them—a young girl lying on her back was the same one
that Keimaro had seen in the arena fighting against Buu only days ago. Now she
was dead. He also saw that girl, Mika, who had led him to his bath. Her eyes
were fixated on the sky, her body sprawled in an unnatural position. “What
happened here…?”

As the dust began to clear, Keimaro’s eyes widened,
and he stared with disbelief at what he saw. Ashes blew around in the air as
silence dragged out. All sound was muffled in Keimaro’s ears when he saw the
dying body of his first and best friend, Yata. Blood was splattered across the
ground, and his diamond form was generated around a large wound in his chest.
He lay on his back, staring up at the sky, his face pale as a ghost.

“Yata…,” Keimaro whispered, stumbling over
to his friend and falling to his knees beside the body. “What happened?” he gasped,
staring at the bleeding wound in his friend’s chest. “Who did this? I’m getting
you out of here, okay?”

“No,” Yata groaned, closing his eyes in
pain. His skin was changing rapidly between metal and flesh as if he were
completely losing control over his own power. He coughed, and a white mist
began to leave his lips, entering the air. “It’s fine, Kei. It’s fine….”

“No,” Keimaro growled, holding his friend’s
wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. “I won’t let you die on me! Not
after everything that we’ve been through! We came here to Bassada to stop these
guys! The journey has just begun, right? We spent four years preparing for this.
You can’t leave me now!”

“Hey,” Yata said, grasping Keimaro’s wrist
with a firm grip, using up the remains of his strength. He gave Keimaro the
first real smile in what seemed like years. “It’s okay. I believe that you’ll
finish what we started. Make sure Gavin stays out of trouble. And make sure you
protect Aika, too,” he said, sniffing. “It feels a bit early for me to go,
doesn’t it? There was a lot that I wanted to do. So, make sure you live on,
okay? For me.”

“Yata, I can’t…,” Keimaro whimpered, tears
beginning to form in his eyes. “I can’t do this. I’m so sorry. About that fight
that we had. About everything. I trust you more than anyone else in the whole
world, and … and you can’t just go. We’ve been together the longest, and you’re
my first friend, my best friend. So please … don’t….”

Yata reached up and touched his cheek
gently. “It’s okay, Kei. I know. I’ll see you on the other side. Don’t rush
after me. Tell Aika that I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see her. And tell that
old idiot Gavin … to get stronger and to keep pushing forward. I see potential in
him.” He leaned back and fixed his eyes on the night sky. He smiled. “It
reminds me of four years ago, ya know? A terrible memory. But a beautiful
night.” His eyes fixed onto the gleaming stars. And they never closed.

Keimaro shook Yata a few times, trying to
shake the life back into his old friend. “Oi, Yata! You can’t give up yet, you
damn idiot!” he yelled, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks. “Weren’t we
going to see the world together? Wasn’t that our dream? We promised….” He
sobbed, burying his face into his best friend’s bloody shirt. Squeezing his
friend tightly, he whimpered. “Don’t leave me here alone…,” but there was no
response except for silence. And just like that, it began to rain.

Gentle drops of fresh tears descended from
the night sky, blanketing the city in water and dousing the flames that ate
away at the buildings. Within minutes, the fire consuming Z’s mansion fizzled
out. Smoke rose into the air, and all that Keimaro could see was rubble,
debris, and corpses sprawled across the grounds, surrounding the destruction of
the building. A small sphere of white light left Yata’s lips and drifted off
into the air.

Keimaro brought his eyes up from Yata’s
shirt, the rain streaking down his face. The light reflected onto Keimaro’s
face before surging forward and seeping into his skin, fusing into his chest. A
burning heat surged through his body, making it feel as though his insides were
literally on fire. He gasped, grasping his head as images began to form in his mind.
Then memories.

Yata?

***

Yata couldn’t believe that Tobimaru had
survived such a blow and walked away unscathed. In fact, he looked angrier than
ever. Buu was unconscious at the Bount’s feet, but Tobimaru didn’t even seem
interested in killing him. Instead, he whirled his sword and advanced on Yata,
eager to finish off the job. The boy’s arm morphed into a massive sharp blade
of diamond that gleamed a bright, glittering turquoise as he pointed it at
Tobimaru, his heart pounding. Never had he imagined that he would face off against
Tobimaru alone. Was he truly ready for such a fight?

“Out of the way!” Aladdin’s voice boomed.
He punched outward, releasing a surge of bright lightning that streaked and
crackled through the air. The lightning hissed, slamming Tobimaru in the chest
and sending the Bount flying onto his back, sliding across the floor. “Yata,
everyone else is evacuating. Something is happening. We should get out of here,
too!” Aladdin grabbed Buu and began to drag the unconscious boy towards the
teleportation pad.

With a rumbling roar, the entire mansion
began to shake furiously. It felt as if the structure were going to collapse
entirely. Yata grunted, falling onto his knees while trying to maintain
balance. “What is this? An earthquake?”

“That…,” Tobimaru chuckled, slowly pushing
himself to his feet, “was a dragon, tin-man. The end of this world and its
pitiful humans has finally come. Junko was able to get his hands on the key
after all. Looks like your friend Keimaro had it all along. I figured he wouldn’t
leave it in such an obvious place as his room, but to be so cocky that he
believed he could defend the key alone … now, that is stupid enough to get the
world destroyed. Kuro has awakened, and you are all doomed!”

“Not yet!” Gavin yelled, sprinting straight
past Aladdin and Yata. In his hands was the gleaming Bloodthirster, which he
gripped tightly. He was staggering, clearly being weakened the longer he held
the weapon. He swung the blade with both hands at Tobimaru, who raised his own
blade in defense.

“Gavin, you idiot!” Yata boomed while
Aladdin dragged Buu onto the teleportation pad.

Gavin’s eyes widened as Bloodthirster met
the metal of Tobimaru’s blade, shattering it into a million glittering pieces
in a single swing. The soldier had the satisfaction of seeing Tobimaru stare
incredulously at his shattered blade. He stood there powerlessly, watching as
Gavin’s blade slashed across his shoulder. Hayashi blood was spilled as the
Bloodthirster cut deep, splattering crimson droplets onto the floor.

The soldier took several steps back,
satisfied with his attack. “We’re getting out of here!” he declared to Yata and
Aladdin. “There’s nothing else we can do if Kuro has awakened. We’re all going
to get killed if we stay.” The soldier turned to run.

“You’re not going anywhere!” a familiar
voice snapped, and Hidan appeared behind Gavin, appearing out of thin air as he
reached out, trying to grab the soldier’s collar. Yata’s fist cracked the Bount’s
face, sending the man sliding away.

“Go,” Yata said, sucking in a deep breath as
the mansion began to collapse from the fighting. Parts of the top floor fell
and smashed heavily into the ground beside him, cracking the ground. “I’ll hold
them off.”

“No, we’re all going together,” Gavin
snapped, turning to face Yata. “When I first met you, I understand, you didn’t
like me. But I’ve grown to respect you, Yata. You’re extremely brave and, I
dare say, an honorable man. There’s no reason to throw everything away! We can
fight them and kill them all together. There’s three of us and two of—”

“That won’t be enough to defeat them both,”
Yata said with a sigh. “Keimaro isn’t here. We can’t beat them!”

“Then let me stay!”

“Don’t try and be the hero! It has to be
me!” Yata yelled, his hands shaking at his side. “These guys were the ones who
broke into my village four years ago and killed everyone I’d ever known. I have
to stay back and fight them. I don’t care if I die. At least you’ll live to
fight another day. Just promise me you won’t be wimpy in the future,” he said, walking
toward Hidan and Tobimaru. “Aladdin, take him!”

Aladdin grabbed Gavin and began to yank him
away from the scene, pulling the soldier toward the teleporter across the room.
Gavin glanced back reluctantly and watched as his new friend began to encounter
the two dangerous terrorists. He called out to Yata as tears glistened in the
corners of his eyes. Yata was going to sacrifice himself. And, as Gavin was
whisked away, he knew that he was powerless to stop Yata from his duty.

***

Yata was on the ground, his ears ringing
from the blows that he had taken for what seemed like hours. His metallic skin
was beginning to vanish as his body weakened, and the pain was no longer numb
as it always had been. Now he felt excruciating pain from the Bounts’ blows.
And it was agonizing. He was on his knees in front of the mansion, weakened,
hardly able to keep his eyes open. He saw that other assassins who hadn’t been
able to escape were lined up beside him as well. His heart was beating rapidly
as Tobimaru and Hidan stood before the group of young assassins, their weapons bared.
Yata was forced to kneel along with the other captured assassins.

Blood dripped from his lips, gathering at
his chin before it fell to the ground. He looked past Tobimaru and saw Hidan
walking to a young girl. Mai. His eyes met with the young girl’s, and he gave
her a small smile, despite his situation. Her dark eyes stared back at him as
if in a daze.

“Mai!” Yata called out to the young girl,
his throat filled with his own blood from a broken ribcage. “Tell Keimaro when
you see him that I’m sorry, will you?”

“Keimaro?” Mai said with a tilt of her
head. “Who’s that?”

Yata’s face paled when he heard the young
girl’s response.
She doesn’t remember her own brother? What is going on?
He
looked up and saw Tobimaru swing his sword across the bodies of Yata’s
defenseless comrades. Blood splattered across the ground, soaking into the
earth as screams of agony echoed out. Yata closed his eyes, trying to drown out
the sound of the assassins being killed, but their cries filled his head.

“My, my, what is going on here?” a familiar
voice said. Yata’s eyes opened to see Junko walking through a hole in the
destroyed walls around them. The boy’s eyes followed the Bount as he sauntered
over to where Yata was kneeling, his hands behind his back in a gentleman-like
fashion. The man smiled. “Ah, yes, I remember you. You were the boy in the
Bakaara massacre. To think that you’ve lived four years without a home. Without
a family. That’s quite a feat, you know. Ah, you look like you’re in pain,” he
said, tapping Yata on the chest. “Let me help you with that.”

Pain bloomed in Yata’s chest before he grew
numb. Blood splattered onto his neck, and his eyes stared blankly at Junko,
gasping. He looked down and saw that Junko had driven a dagger into his heart.
Tears filled his eyes as he fell onto his back, metal beginning to solidify
around his wound. He felt cold, as if he were being left alone underneath
layers of snow. He smiled at the very thought of snow as the tears streaked his
face.