The Lantern Holder
Chapter Two
By Aryn
Inazuma pushed the metal slab into the wall, concealing yet another murder victim. The locker clanked shut with a loud bang that reverberated around the small medical room.
"Another day's work is done." Inazuma said, wiping her hands on her lab coat.
Nari sat on the examination table lost in thought.
"Earth to Nari."
"Huh?"
"What's wrong sister?" Inazuma asked the brunette. Nari flinched inwardly. She greatly disliked Inazuma and everything the woman stood for. She did not want to be associated with her in any shape or form. But since they were both creations of Javin, Inazuma insisted on referring to Nari as "sister".
"Do you remember your life before this?" Nari asked her.
"Before what? Before I was put into this Gundanium body?"
Nari nodded her head.
"Unfortunately, yes I do remember." Inazuma answered bitterly.
"What do you remember?" Nari asked.
Inazuma was about to tell her it was nothing important, but she could see the genuine interest in Nari's eyes.
"My parent's were massacred in front of my eyes when I was a kid. Rebels came in and just rounded them all up and shot them, along with fifty other people from my colony that were supporting OZ. From that day on, I wanted to avenge those deaths. But once I started killing, I found that I actually enjoyed it. It gave me this kind of thrill that nothing else did. Javin had heard of my escapades and recruited me for his little experiment. And the enjoyment just grew even more. Don't you remember your life before?"
Nari felt chilled to the bone by Inazuma's speech. She could not believe how light Inazuma took taking human life. No matter how often it occurred, it just wasn't right. And no reason she could have given Nari would make it understandable. Nari desperately hoped that she would never become like Inazuma.
"Nari?"
Nari snapped out of her thoughts. "What?"
"Do you remember your life before your transfer?" Inazuma asked.
"No, I can't remember anything."
Inazuma regarded the girl before her. From what Javin had told her, Nari was approximately nineteen years old. But he hadn't told her about Nari's past. However, she did know something that Nari didn't know.
"Hey Nari, come on. I want to show you something." Inazuma said, walking out of the room. Wondering what in the world her crazed partner was up to, she followed the blond down into the subterranean parts of the Peacecraft Palace. Nari knew exactly where they were headed, till Inazuma took an abrupt turn to the left. With a sly smile, Inazuma pushed open a secret door that was hidden in the stone wall. Nari cautiously followed Inazuma into the room and looked around. There were two stasis tubes in the center of the stone room, the only light shone from the vital readout screens. An icy cold feeling gripped Nari. Whatever this was, she didn't want to be here.
"What is this place?" Nari asked quietly.
"This is where our past lives are kept." Inazuma replied. "Look at the one on the left and see if you remember anything."
Nari took hesitant steps towards the stasis tube, afraid of what she was about to see. She cautiously gazed down at the eerily lit tube. A serene, Japanese young girl looked as if she was deep in sleep. She looked like a life-size porcelain doll.
"Who is this?" Nari breathed.
Inazuma walked over to the other side of the tube and gazed down at the youthful face.
"That's you. Before you were transferred into your present body. Don't you remember now?"
"No. I only have more questions."
"Hm. I thought that this might have helped." Inazuma shrugged.
Nari continued to stare down at the body in quiet thoughtfulness. Suddenly, sparks temporarily blinded Nari as she instinctively took a step back from the stasis tube. After the spots had receded from her vision, she saw Inazuma standing next to the stasis tube, her sword sticking out from it.
"You killed..." Nari searched for the right word. It had been her body, so she couldn't refer to the body as "it". But yet, she was alive, just in another body.
"I know. I just killed you," Inazuma stated indifferently.
"Why?" Nari asked, feeling numb inside.
"Because you are no longer that person. In order for you to become what you are now, you have to sever all the ties that bind you to your mere humanity.You have been specially selected to rise above the mundane race of human beings and take control over them. You've wallowed in self-pity and let your emotions get the better part of you long enough."
Inazuma walked over to her stasis tube and looked disgustedly down at the red-haired beauty. She raised her sword again to deal a deathblow. Nari desperately wanted to stop her, but found that she was too much in shock still to even speak.
"Inazuma!" a voice called out from the door just as the sword was about to be brought down. "What do you think you're doing?"
Both women turned to see a man in his mid-thirties with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. He wasn't a powerfully built man, but from one look at his eyes, you would know not to cross him in any way.
"I was just explaining to Nari, Javin, how we must put our human lives behind us and move on with our purpose in our present lives," Inazuma explained.
"And why do you need to put your human life behind you?" Javin asked, standing next to Nari.
"Because all it represents is weakness. And we are weak no longer." She smiled wickedly.
"I want this body kept in stasis," Javin ordered.
"Why?" Inazuma challenged.
"I want it. That's enough," Javin answered.
Inazuma looked down at the body once more before lowering her sword.
"The next group of people waiting for the safety of the Sanc Kingdom will be waiting to the boat at one in the morning. There's seven this time." Javin informed them.
"Any children?" Nari asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"No, no children this time."
Nari breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, I'll meet you on the beach around two thirty then, Nari." Inazuma said before walking out of the room.
Once she was gone, Javin turned to Nari.
"What's wrong my dear?" he asked her.
Nari looked over at the destroyed stasis tube. "I've died."
"Nari, your body has died, that's all. You're still here," he told her. But he noticed an intense look of sadness in her blue eyes. "There's something that you're not telling me."
Nari hung her head and stared at the floor. "I hate what I've become."
Javin had to listen closely to hear her barely audible whisper. "There's nothing wrong with what you've become. You have merely evolved to a higher level. One that most people would die to get to. And just imagine what you will gain once my plan is complete. You do remember the plan, don't you?"
"Yes." Nari responded quietly. "Once you have control of the Sanc Kingdom, you can easily gain control of the Earth. Once Earth is in your control, OZ will be resurrected and the Colonies with be taken over as well," she recited emotionlessly.
"And you will rule it all by my side," Javin promised.
"What about Inazuma?"
Javin's face clouded over. "Inazuma is nothing to me. She's a homicidal psychopath. Once we gain those things, Inazuma will be dealt with."
"Why am I spared from that fate?"
"Because," Javin said, a wide smile coming to his face as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "You're my daughter. Not by blood, but something more important. By spirit."
Nari nodded her head and lowered it again.
"It's almost time for the sun to set." Javin told her, walking out of the room. "I'm sure you'll feel better after you've watched your sun set."
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