A Cynical Shadow's Return

Chapter 4

     Minutes passed by as the sun was slowly leaving from Tasaloo. All diurnal animals have gone to rest to be full of energy for the next day to come. Kinsa and Reko have been traveling for about two hours now with Kinsa flying at full speed, and with the way his speed was drastically lowering, Reko knew that it was about time to call it a day. Reko sighed, and started looking for a cave to sleep in, but no luck for all he could see was tree after tree like he was in a field of giant broccoli. Just as he was about to give up on searching, Reko spotted a small village ahead of them that laid in a spot that was surrounded by trees.
        “Alright, Kinsa,” Reko said, loud enough for Kinsa to hear, “you’ve worked yourself enough. Head down to the village ahead. We’ll see if we can stay the night there, and then be out by morning.” Kinsa looked ahead and was relieved to see the small village, so he pushed himself to fly down towards the village.
     Once the two Tasoolians reached the village, some of the people that lived in the village came out of their homes, and were very delighted to see Reko as he dropped down from Kinsa’s back. Reko could hear them whispering to one another, wondering why him and Kinsa were in their village, and as Reko adjusted his headband, a Wolf Tasoolian approached him. He wore no shirt, but wore white pants with a few stains on them. He seemed exhausted, like he just got through with doing some strenuous work.
        “Welcome to the Deer Village, Captain Reko,” he said with a salute. Kinsa turned back to his human self and stood behind Reko.
        “Elias,” Reko said as he examined the man, “you were that kid who stood up to Darzay, and almost got yourself killed by Savage.”
        “He’s also one of the rookies that Rai and I trained,” Kinsa included.
        “Yes, sir,” Elias said, “and it’s an honor to be speaking with you again. Are you here just for a friendly visit?”
        “That would be nice,” Reko answered, “but Kinsa and I are on an important mission. We need somewhere to stay the night, because Kinsa’s exhausted. Do you have any room for us?”
        “Oh, yes! There’s always room for you! Follow me! You can sleep in my house!”
        “Hmm...Alright. Let’s go Kinsa.” Elias smiled and led the two of them to where he lived. The house was small with a little garden in front of it, and a few windows. As they grew closer to Elias’ house, Reko caught a whiff of an iron-like scent, and he began sniffing to catch more of the scent. Elias noticed this and immediately stopped walking, then turned to Reko and Kinsa.
        “How rude of me,” he said, only half disappointed in himself, “I didn’t even ask if you both were hungry after your travels.”
        “Some water for Kinsa would be nice,” Reko answered, then took a brief look at the house ahead of them before looking back at Elias, “and I think I’ll be fine with sleeping in a tree.”
        “Huh? Are you sure? There’s a lovely bed inside that was made from Tasaloo’s best wool.”
        “That’s nice of you, but I’ll pass.”
        “Then would you like to come with me to get the water for Kinsa?”
        “I don’t see why not. Kinsa wait here. I’ll be back soon.” Kinsa nodded and watched as the two of them left from the village, then sighed. He looked up at the night sky, wondering how everyone back home were holding up. There were stars out tonight, and each one of them glistened in the night sky. The moon shined bright amongst Tasaloo, which made Kinsa smile a bit.
        “They’re fine,” he said to himself. “I know for sure that everything’s fine. Agnus won’t let anything bad happen. It’s kinda weird, though, now that I think about it. Tasaloo is beautiful, but a lot of dark things happen here. That’s irony for you.”
     Reko and Elias walked around in the forest for longer than ten minutes, and Reko showed no sign of getting impatient while Elias continued leading him to wherever he planned on taking them. Instead, Reko took the time to analyze the shirtless man. There were cut wounds on him that appeared to be fresh, and Reko could see that the stains on his pants weren’t regular dirt stains. It was obvious to Reko that Elias was doing some strenuous work, but it was not the type of work anyone would suspect. Reko took this into account as he decided to break the silence between the two of them.
        “So Elias,” he said calmly and did not take his eyes off of Elias, “it seems that you’ve been quite busy. What exactly have you been doing?”
        “I’ve been out training,” Elias answered, sounding as though the life in his voice has died out.
        “Oh really? From what I see, it looks like you and your partner were trying to kill each other.”
        “We tend to get carried away in our training, sir.”
        “When I gave the order that every village would have two Wolf Tasoolian guards, that didn’t mean that you guys could have deathmatches. We’ve already had enough of that.”
        “It’s okay, Captain Reko. We weren’t trying to kill each other.”
        “Tell me this, when did you two train with each other, and where did it happen?”
        “We trained yesterday out here in the forest.”
        “Then how do you explain the bloodstains and the scratches on your body?” Elias abruptly stopped walking, and Reko did as well at the same moment. The two stood a fair distance from each other with Elias looking down at the ground and with his long, black hair covering his face, while Reko attentively watched every move that Elias made. Elias started to chuckle, then burst out into an insane maniacal laughter, which took Reko by surprise. 
        “I’VE FOLLOWED YOUR INSTRUCTIONS MASTER,” Elias shouted out at the sky. “GRANT ME YOUR GIFT AS MY REWARD!!!” Reko watched in astonishment as Elias’ body pulsed heavily and blood spewed from his mouth. He growled in agonizing pain, falling down to one knee and coughing out more and more blood. It was just like how Kinsa described the Gorilla Tasoolian he had encountered with Red and Rai. Elias’ skin turned a glowing purple, and black markings formed all over his body as he turned to Reko with red, glowing eyes.
        “Huh,” Reko said then paused for a moment, “well that was really something.” Elias put on a twisted grin and charged at Reko, beginning to wildly throw punches at him, but Reko was able to easily dodge every single attack. Elias then swiftly snuck out a dagger, and went forward to stab Reko, but he was intercepted by an elbow to the face which made him stumble back.
        “This is a waste of time,” Reko said to the possessed man. “If Agnus can’t beat me in combat, then no Tasoolian can.” Elias grinned again then ran at Reko again, but in doing so, Reko heard a hissing sound close by which lead him to jump onto a tree as a large snake dived down and collided with the ground. That was close, Reko thought to himself as he looked down upon the snake with a slightly confused look on his face. With a snake that big, Reko knew for a fact that he should have caught wind of the snake’s approach long before it came that close to him, and he could not shake off the feeling that the snake looked oddly familiar to him. The snake turned its head up to Reko, staring at him with its vicious viper eyes, then it began shrinking down as it formed into Chordon. Upon seeing him, Reko gasped and jolted backward, which nearly made him fall out of the tree. Chordon put on a dead grin, and before Elias could move forward to attack, he was stopped by Chordon.
        “Ahh, time sure doesss passs doesn’t it?” Chordon said, licking his lips sadistically. “The lassst time we met, you were jussst a little boy. Don’t you remember?” Reko definitely remembered Chordon’s face, and for once, a chill trickled down his spine though he would never admit it.
        “You must have me mistaken,” Reko said to Chordon, trying to stay as calm as possible as he jumped down from the tree.
        “Oh, you want to play that game? Hehehe, no matter how hard the prey triesss to run, it will never be able to essscape from itsss predator.” That talk of prey and predator took Reko back to when he was just six years old, and met Chordon for the first time.