Chapter 32 - Rest In Peace

Zvire impacted onto the rock face hard and felt instant agony as he was struggling for breath on the floor. He began to feel woozy as he strived to his feet and once he got onto his knees they gave way and he collapsed onto his stomach and fell unconscious. Some moments later Zvire’s eyes began to slowly open and he at once winced at the pain he was feeling in his stomach. He stayed still for a moment and waited until his blurred vision returned to normality, then fought his way to his feet. The first thing Zvire saw after he stood up was the smug figure of Orscyar staring back at him. Zvire had to focus his eyes once more as every time he moved his vision became partially blurred once more and when he saw Orscyar, he instantly jumped into a fighting stance and drew his sword. Zvire could not stand up straight as he faced Orscyar and had to hold his stomach which was causing him real distress but Zvire somewhat ignored that when he saw the wicked face of Orscyar. “How the mighty have fallen” said Orscyar smugly as Zvire’s eyes burned with spite for him. “Had your stupid little invasion plan worked we may have let you live but no matter, we instead found someone who was a much better warrior than you‘ll ever be, Shadow” Zvire repeatedly flinched in pain as Orscyar spoke.
“I do not care of your opinions on who is the better warrior. It was you who gave me the idea to do it, you instigated the entire thing. I trusted you and you turned your back on me in the biggest way”.
“I wish I could have seen your body when I had you fight Diabolus, your resilience against the greatest of all the demons surprised me. And then I knew you had to be taken care of”
“So when you couldn't be sure of my death, you had whatever was left of me sent into slavery” Zvire’s voice gave off a pure loathing as he spoke.
“Yes. The slavery camps just outside Kjillak were the best place to keep you out of the way” Orscyar smiled a smile which made Zvire go to attack him with his sword, however the pain in his stomach made him refrain from this action.
“But you never counted on my escape” said Zvire with a smile as he looked into Orscyar’s eyes.
“No matter, it gives me a chance to squash you personally” Orscyar smiled and a split second later Zvire came under attack from a barrage of sword blows. Zvire fought as hard as he could to parry each one of them, but the pain his stomach was causing him made it hard for him to use his speed to react quick enough and for every one he managed to repel he got caught by another. Suddenly a sharp cut to the shoulder made Zvire drop to his knees and release the sword of Chalhor from his grasp. “Time to die” said Orscyar as he advanced on Zvire, but as Orscyar got close a blinding light from nearby made them both look away. Zvire instantly shut his eyes and fell onto his side, he then tried in vain to reach for his sword. As the light faded Zvire felt an arm grab him by the chin and pull him up, the next thing he felt was the cold steel of a dagger pressed against his throat. Orscyar was holding Zvire from behind tight and no matter how much he endeavoured to release himself from Orscyar’s grasp he could not. Orscyar turned Zvire around and Imunzo came into view, who was facing away from them. “Drop it” ordered Orscyar as he saw Imunzo holding his blade high. “Throw the katana away, now!” he repeated his order only this time Imunzo began to turn and now faced them. Zvire began to thrash about in Orscyar’s arms to try and be released but every time he moved the pain in his stomach would come back to him and he was forced to stop. Zvire looked into Imunzo’s eyes and yelled “don‘t do it!. forget about me”.
“I cannot see you die here, you are too valuable to our cause” Imunzo replied, he then withdrew his sword to the side and then threw it into the trunk of a tree some twenty metres away.
“Now let him go!” Imunzo commanded, now that he had complied with Orscyar‘s demands.
“Okay” Orscyar said deviously, he then stabbed Zvire in the top left corner of his chest and dragged it down to the bottom right corner of his stomach, dropping Zvire after this. The pain was incredible as Zvire struggled to breath and even keep his eyes open, he rolled onto his side and saw the sword of Chalhor lying some few feet away. Zvire gritted his teeth and attempted to ignore all the pain which now engulfed him completely and dragged himself across the floor, retrieving his sword. Zvire looked up and saw Orscyar as his eyes began to feel heavy and using all his might he threw the sword spear like into Orscyar's back, the sword going all the way through him. Zvire smiled a little and stretched out on the floor, then darkness overcame him.

Sweat poured from Imunzo as he walked along the track, with Zvire’s dead body in his arms. Imunzo felt that Zvire did not deserve to be buried in the middle of nowhere and decided to carry him to the burial site at Pohzem, where they had buried Raiguarde. Pohzem was the holy ground where soldiers of great honour were buried and Imunzo felt Zvire’s body should be added to these. The trek to Pohzem was an indirect one for Imunzo, which would take him a few hours out of his way but it was something that he felt he needed to do. `With the second and third disciples dead, there is only Kaiazal left` Imunzo thought as he walked, something to take his mind off the great task of carrying the body of the well built Zvire. Ever since Djogun had possessed his body Imunzo had felt different, more powerful. It was as if by stretching Imunzo’s body to limits which Imunzo had never taken it now allowed Imunzo to battle at that breakneck speed himself. There was now a part of Djogun inside Imunzo and he felt confident of going into any battle, even one with Goreoth and come out victorious. The great race of the Djiani had as good as been wiped out by his actions and Imunzo, the last of this race was determined in his resolution to revenge this act. His mind began to recall the events of only a few months ago. He was a great warrior, possibly the greatest ever to come out of the Djiani dojos. Ever since he was old enough to walk he had been schooled in the ways of the Djogun and the spirit of the Djiani. All he had ever wanted was to make his mother and father proud, to honour them by doing the best he could. From initial training came Bishamon, the schools for the exceptionally talented regardless of social status. Imunzo advanced beyond any previous level that had been seen at the school, by the last year of his training he had come to be a better warrior than any of the masters that taught him, only one person had ever defeated Imunzo in his entire stay at Bishamon and the two eventually grew to be close friends. Upon his completion of training he went into work, protecting dignitaries. Imunzo grew to be in great demand among anybody worthy enough to afford him and as such became a great bane for the enemies of these same people. Imunzo grew to be as much of an enemy to those that opposed his employers as his employers themselves were. They would ambush him sometimes in great numbers, those who did not flee died. The leader of the group, Nogashira, was the well feared leader of the most dangerous gang in Djian. After several unsuccessful attacks, the gang began to grow weary of Imunzo, some leaving the land to hoping never to have to face him again. In desperation, Nogashira had Imunzo’s father killed and kidnapped his mother, Imunzo managed to rescue his mother but he never felt the same again. Imunzo went into the mountains to get away from everything and planned to live out the rest of his days there, in perfect harmony with everything that surrounded him. Imunzo had been in the mountains for several years before Kaiazal came. Imunzo never found out what exactly happened the day of the Djogun but he knew the outline of the horrors that occurred. It was supposed to have been the greatest celebration in the history of Djian but it became the biggest massacre. Kaiazal and a hoard of demons killed every politically powerful figure in Djian in one move. Those that did not perish were the samurai’s, the ones that were there to protect the now dead politicians became all that was left of the Djiani. And so the clan of the spirit came to power. It was the first time that rival swordsmen had come together, literally overnight age old grudges were buried and a great alliance was formed. The spirit of the Djiani fought Kaiazal‘s unholy army for months and protected the surviving citizens of Djian from him. One day however they found the clan leader of the spirit dead in his bed, slain by one of Kaiazal’s assassins, it was after this that they came to Imunzo. It took the search party a couple of months to locate him high up in the snowy mountains of Hiraya. They managed to persuade Imunzo to return to Djian and aid them in their war with Kaiazal’s unholy army. With Imunzo the tide began to turn in favour of the Djiani. He came back a better warrior than before due to relentless nine hour a day training sessions in the mountains. It came down to one battle, it was the most intense fight Imunzo had ever experienced. One by one the entire clan of the spirit fell in battle, honourably until all that was left was Imunzo. Imunzo sighed as the memories came to him, failure was an abstract concept to him, doubt even more so, but Imunzo felt the two at the back of his head, silently plotting to conquer his mind and render him useless. `No` he thought determinedly `I have been given a task by the divine spirit of Djogun, all those who stand in my path will bow to my sword`. Imunzo continued on his way along the path with the corpse of Zvire in his arms, he then heard something. Imunzo placed Zvire’s body at the side of the road out of sight and hid in one of the trees and waited for whatever it was to come across him. He saw some horses but pulling at the leaves that partially blocked his vision making out the riders would give his position away. Instead he waited until they came alongside where he was hiding and he then made his move, jumping out of the tree and taking down one of the riders from his horse. Imunzo hit the ground with a bump and shook his head clear, he then saw Valandt and Sierra standing over him. “Nice of you to drop in” said Valandt as he reached his hand out, which Imunzo grabbed to help him back up to his feet. “Nice going” said Sierra as she stepped behind Imunzo and Valandt and looked down at Presto, who had been taken down by Imunzo’s attack from the sky. “I think you may have killed him” she said jokingly as Presto’s eyes began to open, she then extended her arm and helped Presto to his feet. “If you‘re here, where‘s Enzaghe?” asked Valandt.
“And where is Zvire?” Sierra put in. Imunzo swallowed hard and prepared to tell them what had been happening in their absence.

Sierra sat with her back against a tree as Imunzo placed Zvire’s body safely secured on one of the horses, which itself had taken some coaxing into allowing Zvire’s corpse on its back. She tried not to think of Zvire but her mind would not allow it. It was because of Zvire that Sierra, then Shadow had gotten herself into the events that led up to where she found herself now. Zvire had indirectly led Sierra to her father’s killer. She looked at Valandt fleetingly and instantly turned away. `Oh how I would like to kill that worm` she thought to herself. Sierra then let her thoughts of vengeance pass as she got to her feet. Sierra’s mind turned to other things as she walked directionless along the path, her brother, Gyraicus came almost instantly to mind. In her determination to seek revenge for her father she had forgotten about Gyraicus and paid the price by repeating the same mistake she had with Golan. `Both of their deaths could have been avoided, had I been there for them` her thoughts were flowing with no real control over them `I’m never there when it matters` she sighed and stopped in her pacing. Sierra drew the sword of Drakahor and looked into the cold steel of the blade. `This is one weapon in a million` she thought, `the only weapon in the entirety of the great continents that can destroy my brother’s killer, and so it shall` she looked away from the blade and to the horizon, in the direction of Legia castle and spun the sword around in her hand, sheathing it at precisely the right moment. Watching the troubled Sierra and feeling her pain was Astral. `Such misery` she thought after Sierra’s mind had shown her its contents. Astral understood what Sierra was going through all too well and the memories she had fought hard to hold back throughout the years came back to her. Astral had grown up the lone daughter of King Arienda and had everything she could have wanted. At her own request, she attended the Royal Legian institute for the gifted, where the best scholars from around the continents would come to teach. It was there that she first met Raiguarde, who had been placed in the school under Gyraicus’ orders. Raiguarde was mastering the world of combat and requested to master the battlefield of intelligence. The two had been friends from the very moment they met. Things were going fine for Astral until one day she received a letter from her father. With Astral gone he had grown older and found the need for companionship, he found a love. Quenna was the name of the one whom Astral’s father had fallen in love with and the letter in question was an invitation to the wedding. Astral was a little disappointed that her father had told her like this but she felt that if he was happy, she would be happy for him too. Astral attended the wedding and it was there that she first met Icsha. Icsha was the daughter of the woman that Astral’s father had married and now Astral’s step sister. The two found an almost dislike to each other and Astral was glad to get away from her and go back to school. A year later, as Astral was getting close to finishing school she heard news of her father’s ill condition and instantly went to see him. That would turn out to be the last time she ever saw her father. Astral tried hard not to cry as she thought of her fathers death, it came at the time where he was supposed to be proudest of her. The throne of Palestar was then to be passed onto Quenna but she never made it to the throne, having killed herself on the day of the coronation due to the loss of Arienda. It was then that Icsha ushered herself into the title of queen. Astral returned to Palestar once more to protest this but there was nothing she could do. Astral confronted a smug Icsha who then went onto confess to Astral that she had slowly poisoned her father and killed her mother to get to the throne. Icsha was to have Astral killed as well, but Raiguarde came into the throne room just as a scuffle between the two broke out, during which Icsha got stabbed by the very dagger she was to use on Astral. The word of Raiguarde, who had due to his academic acchievments became a high commander of the Legian army was valued enough for the Palestar court, and so Astral became queen. For years Astral felt somewhat guilty for her fathers death, just as Sierra felt. `If I'd been around at the time, I could have done something. I could have saved them, both my father and Quenna` Astral wiped a tear from her eye and banished the thoughts from her mind as Valandt rode up alongside her. “We‘re just about to ride out... Are you alright?” he said, changing his sentence mid way through it after he noticed the tear in Astral’s eyes.
“Yes im fine” she said, partially lying “I‘m just a little nervous about having to fight”
“Don‘t worry, you’ll be fine. And I won’t let anything happen to you” he said, leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek, which cheered her up instantly.
“Now that Imunzo is here, do you think I could ride with you? I’d feel a lot safer” she said, needing to have Valandt close as when he was near, she felt safe.
“Sure” said Valandt and with that Astral dismounted and Valandt helped her up onto his horse, holding his body tight for comfort, warmth and security. Valandt then led the now spare horse up to where Presto and Imunzo were and Imunzo mounted it as Presto got atop his. “Come on” shouted Presto to Sierra, who was in a world of her own. Sierra looked up and saw they were ready to leave and sprinted to her horse which had Zvire’s body secured on the back and mounted it, they then began to ride off. the burial ground, Pohzem was a mere half an hour away on horseback, no words being exchanged by any of the five as they rode on to Pohzem. As they reached the site, they saw the magnificent tombstones that had been especially embroidered to act as a reminder of their actions. Imunzo was the first to dismount, closely followed by Sierra who with the help of Imunzo began to untie Zvire’s body. Presto was the next to arrive, jumping off his horse swiftly and landing cleanly on the soft grass below. Then came Valandt and Astral, who both dismounted significantly slower than the others, Valandt stopping to help Astral in the process. The mood was grave as Sierra and Imunzo found a spot where they could bury Zvire, Presto then came across and began to use his powers to dig up the earth for the grave. Astral held Valandt tight still and they both watched as Presto finished the grave and Imunzo and Sierra carefully lowered Zvire’s body into it. Valandt left Astral to watch as the four replaced the earth in the hole, and so it was finished. Astral walked up beside Valandt and he put his arms around her as the five stood around the grave. Imunzo opened his mouth to say something but something in front of everyone made him stop. The sound of a small explosion could be heard and a black hole formed in the scenery, from it came Kaiazal. Sierra instantly went to attack him but he drew a sword from nowhere and slashed her wrist, she then fell to the floor. “You fools have plagued me for long enough” said Kaiazal with a anger in his voice that chilled Astral, he then enclosed the four around the grave inside a red ball of energy. “You have about ten minutes to live fools, then the air in there will be gone” Kaiazal said smugly as Presto, Valandt and Imunzo vainly tried to escape. “Five minutes, enough for me to kill you” came Sierra’s voice, from behind Kaiazal as she swung at him. “I don‘t think so” Kaiazal said, the other side of Sierra now as he drew a sword. Sierra furiously swung the sword of Drakahor at Kaiazal and he was caught off guard by her blistering pace. She continued to thrust and cut her sword through the air, making sure Kaiazal was always on the defensive and giving him no time at all to mount any sort of attack. Sierra’s muscles began to ache after a relentless torrent of offensive attacks gave her no lead, coupled with the fact that the cut on her left arm was bleeding freely and hurting almost to the point of agony began to give Kaiazal the advantage. Kaiazal smiled victoriously as he gained the advantage on Sierra now, pushing her back until one of the graves tripped her up. Sierra hit the floor with a bump and managed to roll out of the way of Kaiazal’s blade with not a moment to spare. She came back up to her feet with an elbow to the side of Kaiazal’s face, followed by a swift uppercut which floored him. “Not so smug now are we?” Sierra said as she went to finish Kaiazal off with one swift thrust of her sword. This did not go to plan however as in the blink of an eye Kaiazal was back on his feet and kicked Sierra in the head, which was followed by Kaiazal cutting through the air sharply which Sierra jumped out of the way to avoid serious injury but had sustained more cuts to her forearms. Inside the red bubble, Valandt and Imunzo continued to bang on the walls of it with no real effect while Presto was trying in vain to break it magically. All four of them were starting to struggle with their breathing. Outside, Sierra was attempting to ignore the pain that the lacerations in her arms and now stomach were causing her but it was becoming increasingly difficult, she was losing blood, fast. She kept her mind strong and her attacks as powerful as her body would allow them. Every little movement in her body was agonising for her but she gritted her teeth and concentrated on attacking Kaiazal, and began to get a slight advantage. Kaiazal grew tiresome of fooling with Sierra, he felt that keeping her alive now would be too much of a risk so he summoned three Zaokum and demons began to reign down over her. Sierra reacted with lightning speed, jumping high into the air, taking down any demons that were around her and spinning, severing two Zaokum heads as she spun and removing the other as she landed behind it. Sierra turned to parry some more of Kaiazal’s attacks and then had to react fast as some demons came at her. She ripped her blade across three demons and stabbed the other as she began to spin around once more, catching the final one as she stopped. Sierra stood for a moment and started to catch her breath, Kaiazal then out of nowhere cut her in the stomach. Sierra groaned in agony and fell to the ground, not before Kaiazal kicked the sword of Drakahor out of her hand, he then stood over her and smiled evilly. Sierra felt like she had nothing more to give as Kaiazal looked down over her, “Time to die” he said as he went to thrust the sword into her stomach. She roared with pain as Kaiazal’s sword cut open her stomach more and put her hands on the sword, gripping it tight and stopping it from going any deeper inside her. Out of nowhere Sierra began to find the strength to repel the sword and Kaiazal away from her. She struggled to her feet as she engaged Kaiazal in a tug of war on his sword, she then let go of the sword with one hand and used it to punch Kaiazal hard in the face, which caused Kaiazal to fall and Sierra after him as so much strength was used in the punch that her legs could not support her any more. Sierra began to crawl along the floor toward the sword of Drakahor and managed to get a finger on it as inside the bubble Valandt and Presto began to lose consciousness. Kaiazal had by now regained his footing and approached Sierra, he then plunged his sword down toward her body. Kaiazal’s sword stopped when it was gently touching Sierra’s body, in the instant it had taken Kaiazal to thrust his sword down on her, she had rolled over and thrust the sword of Drakahor deep into his stomach. Green blood began to flow from Kaiazal’s mouth and Sierra added extra power to pull the sword up his body, tearing his insides apart. “This is for my brother” she yelled as she pulled the sword clear. Kaiazal then began to look at his hands which were stained from the blood pouring from his mouth and a bright light then came from him, when it was gone all that was left was his skeleton, which crumbled into dust and disappeared. Imunzo opened his eyes as he found the bubble had gone and began to regain consciousness, the ability to breath again also came back. He then instantly ran over to Sierra who was in serious need of medical attention. “What happened ?” he said as he put his arm around the weak Sierra and lifted her up.
“I avenged my brother” she replied, somewhat weakly “I killed Kaiazal”.