Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 81: Decisions

   In the white leafed forest, several humans dwelt within a cave filled with blue glowing crystals, and among the humans, a Tenplar female with a pale yellow braided pigtails hair gently placed an unconscious Dunen on the ground.
   A few seconds after she was placed on the ground, Dunen began to vibrate and moan in pain, prompting the female Tenplar to hastily place her hands above Dunen's chest and emit light from her palms.
   "She is becoming worse." The female Tenplar said.
   "Is there nothing you can do to heal her?" A Kenar male with a gold wavy hair asked as he stood beside the Tenplar female.
   "I did heal the belly injury she got from a hiveling attack, remember?" The Tenplar female said while still emitting light over Dunen, "Dunen said she had an aggressive luideinia, that's why she couldn't participate in the tournament, but yet she was still able to put up a fight despite her condition."
  "Yes and in the process she made things worse for herself." The golden haired Tenplar male said.
   "Except one with an aggressive won't be able to move or do the things she did out there." The Tenplar female said.
   "What are you talking about, Lylin?" The Tenplar male asked in while frowning in puzzlement.
   "It's simple, Korul. She doesn't have luideinia" Lylin replied, "I have seen luideinia before and i have seen how it affects the victims. My father is a healer, so i know a couple of things when it comes to diseases.
  Luideinia cripples the host, preventing them from walking until it is cured. Dunen admitted she was in pain when she was walking but if she truly had luideinia then she would have been slaughtered. 
   An aggressive luideinia kills the host by decaying the spine but according to Dunen, she said the healers were able to save her before it could do that… Another bull. If the healers were able to save her quickly, then a piece of her spine would have suffered a decay infection and kan users bodies don't decay; our kan energy keeps our body from rotting even after death."
   "Lylin… What exactly are you-?"
   "She doesn't have luideinia!" Lylin cuts in as she swiftly tore off the cloth on Dunen's left arm, exposing the purple colored forearm which made Korul step back.
   "She has been poisoned." Lylin said.
  "But this doesn't make any sense." Korul said, "The healers would have been able to identify it. Grei would have noticed the poison."
   "Yes, the healers would have. This could only mean either the healers were incompetent or they had a hand in it." Lylin replied, "As for Grei not noticing, that i cannot explain but if the healers did have a hand in it, then i feel fear for the people in Keigra."
   "No…" Korul said with widened eyes.
   "You asked me earlier if i could heal her?" Lylin asked, "No, I can't heal her. This poison is so strong and different from the other poisons i have dealt with; to cure Dunen would take others with a skill like Karma, Ernia, Pit, Leorona. 
   But! I can stall the poison for a long time."
   "How long?" Korul asked.
   "Hopefully until the sand runs out. Hopefully." Lylin replied.
   "Then do it." Korul said, "We have lost a lot of comrades, we cannot afford to lose more."
   Lylin nods her head and stretched forth her arms towards Dunen's purple forearm.
  "Dammit!" A masculine voice said, causing Korul to glance back and see the person to be a Tenplar male with a messy brownish red hair and amber irises, who happened to be sitting on the ground carrying a frustrated demeanor.
   "What is it, Kagi?" Korul asked.
  "We're screwed." Kagi said.
   "Hm?" Korul said as he slightly bent his head in confusion.
   "We need to talk and we need to talk about this, now." Kagi said as he stood on his feet.
  Kagi walks towards Korul and stood eye to eye with him.
  "What do you want to talk about?" Korul asked.
   "This." Kagi said as he brought out an amber glowing stone from his pouch.
   "The Regalan han stone?" Korul asked with a raised eyebrow, "What about it?"
 "I used this stone to get us out of the mess we were in and bring us to this cave." Kagi said as he gazed at the stone, "This stone is similar to the d'muresh stone but it's inferior. Unlike the d'muresh stone that can take one into any realm and carry a large amount of people, from hundred to thousands, this stone can only carry a small number of people from ten to twenty.
   Back there, Izaiya's voice encouraged us and we fought as hard as we could, but some of the hivelings were just too strong for us to handle. The worst was him…"
   Kagi instantly recalls the image of Oni holding a deceased Graundar male by the neck.
  "That thing, i'm not sure if i could call it a hiveling." Kagi said after the recollection, "It was so strong. So fast. So vicious and powerful. And from my fight with one of those hivelings, i learnt something more terrifying about that thing."
  A flashback occurs as Kagi was holding the collar of a defeated female hiveling with a dual color of purple and yellow, who at that time was smiling at Kagi with widened eyes.
  "It's over for you. You cannot stop Oni!" The female hiveling said, "None of you are even human enough to harm him and even if you are, damage only makes him stronger!"
  After the remembrance, Kagi shifts his gaze to Korul.
  "I've seen a lot of things that made me frightened for my life but seeing that thing fight was on a new level. It was as if i was watching Onak massacring our comrades." Kagi said, "We cannot harm it but even if we could, it will only get stronger. So tell me, how do we fight something like that? How do we deal with something so strong and powerful?"
   "So strong and powerful, its like we were born into the world to die." A masculine voice said.
  Korul and Kagi turn to their right and sees the person to be a Ripar male sitting on the ground and shivering with fear.
   "That thing is no hiveling. That thing is a demon." The male Ripar said with a fearful voice, "It slaughtered our own like chickens. It took out forty with two punches. It crushed the head of my close friend like it was a grapefruit."
   The Ripar male had a quick recollection of Oni holding up a Ripar female by the throat with one hand and was choking her; in the middle of Oni choking the female, Oni clamps his hand round her head and crushed it swiftly and easily.
   After the remembrance, the Ripar male reluctantly placed his hand on his own face.
  "We cannot stop that thing." The Ripar male said fearfully, "That thing is the embodiment of f**kery. We are all going to die."
   After the Ripar male had finished, Kagi's eyes rolls towards Korul.
   "As i was saying, the number of people the regalan stone could carry are limited and right now, so are our options." Kagi said.
   "Huh?" Korul said as he looked at Kagi with a puzzled visage.
   "I was able to use the stone to get us out but it wasn't in one piece. Look." Kagi said as he turns the back of regalan stone and showed Korul the cracked parts of it, leaving him shocked.
   "How did this happen?" Korul asked.
  "I don't know." Kagi replied, "What i suspect is that before we could teleport out of there, a hiveling must have made an attack that created the cracks.
   Korul, a single crack on this stone is bad news; we are lucky nothing bad happened to us during the teleportation, but you and i both know we cannot stay in this cave forever. Eventually they or that thing will find us and we'll be forced to fight and with the way we are now, we will definitely lose and be killed."
    "So, what do you suggest we do?" Korul asked.
   "I have experience with the regalan stone and i can use it to take us to numerous hiveling-free sections in this pocket realm, therefore allowing us to survive long enough until the sand runs out but with the situation of the stone, that's not possible unless we let go of a baggage or two."
   "And by baggage, you mean…?" Korul asked with a raised brow.
   "A comrade." Kagi answered.
   "What?!" Korul said in shock along with his irises glowing, "Kagi, have you gone mad?!"
  "The regalan stone can only carry a small amount of people and with the way it is now, it won't be able to function like before, so in order for us to be able to still teleport, we need to leave a comrade behind." Kagi said, "It's not a decision one would like to take but it is what has been presented before us. If i may suggest a person, i'd say Grei's little sister, Dunen."
   "No." Korul said with a glare, "We are not leaving anyone behind."
  "We have to leave someone or we are all going to die." Kagi said.
   "We'll figure something out, until then nobody gets left behind." Korul replied.
  "You don't seem to get it." Kagi said with a scowl, "There is nothing to figure out. We don't have much of a choice. We have to pick one person to stay behind and i think Dunen is the perfect one."
  "We don't get to choose who goes and who dies." Korul said as his angered visage grew, "We all came together in order to help one another survive, so deciding who will stay behind is nothing but betrayal. Dunen isn't staying behind and neither is anyone, understand?"
  "Korul, look at her!!!" Kagi said in anger as his irises glowed, "She is f**king worthless!!!!"
  The outburst of Kagi attracted the attention of Lylin and the other humans in the cave.
  "She is a leech and a disaster. You cannot tell me she has any worth as she is. You cannot tell me she is worth the lives of others here!!" Kagi said.
   "We're not doing this, Kagi! We are not leaving anyone behind!!" Korul replied in anger.
  "Someone has to be left behind and i am going for the obvious choice!" Kagi said, "Many of us in this cave are injured and the ones capable of healing are working on them. If they are healed, they could put up a good fight but Dunen, what is she going to do? She is a failure. She is worthless. She is a f**king B- candidate and the only reason she even got to that rank is because of her brother; without her brother, she would have been a C!! 
   And here you are, telling me that she is worth the lives of others here?!"
   "It's not about her worth. A pilgrim never leaves a comrade behind!" Korul said.
  "Open you eyes!" Kagi said as he grasped Korul's shoulders, "This isn't about pilgrimage! It's about survival! What is one life compared to the lives of others, huh?! Tell me!!"
   "Kagi, you little-!"
  "The way you're going around things makes you sound like Karma." A feminine voice cuts in before Korul could take action.
  Kagi and Korul turns and sees the person to be Lylin who was walking towards them with a bland demeanor.
    "Don't compare me to that Dreygar." Kagi said as he removed his arm from Korul's shoulders.
  "Why?" Lylin asked, "You're saying we should leave Dunen behind because you deem her worthless. How is that any different from what Karma would do?"
    "Karma is an egotistical, cold-blooded psychopath who sees everyone as lessers. I am not doing this for my good, i am doing this for the good of everyone." Kagi said.
   "Then there has to be a way." Lylin said.
  "Are you two hearing yourselves at all? Are the both of you mentally brick?" Kagi asked.
 "You said the stone cant carry the amount of people it used to carry because it has been damaged, right? If that's the case then why can't you teleport the number of people it can carry, then come back for the remaining as quick you can?" Lylin asked.
  "It doesn't work that way." Kagi replied, "Once the stone is used, it needs to cool down and plus, lets say something like this doesn't happen, what if i decided to come back to rescue what remains and they kill me in the act, huh? That way, you will lose me, the stone and the one you are trying to save!
  This isn't a sacrifice i'd like to make but it is of necessity!!"
   "Since you think of it as necessity, then why you stay behind and let us have the stone?" Lylin asked with crossed arms.
  "Huh?" Korul said in a quizzical manner.
  "Do you know how to use the stone?" Kagi asked, "No, you don't. I know how to use it because i have experience with it. I know it's abilities and it's faults."
  "We're not leaving anyone behind!" Korul said.
  "You got eels in your ears or something?!" Kagi asked, "Are you still sticking with 'We don't get to decide who lives or dies'?"
  "I understand where you are coming from, Kagi, but saying Dunen should stay behind because she is worthless is wrong." Lylin said, "She has shown to be strong especially with how she performed earlier and plus, let's not forget she earned her way to the tournament before her situation."
  "Wrong! Dunen didn't earn scrap! Grei gave his flag cloth to her on a golden platter!" Kagi replied.
   "Huh?" Lylin said in confusion.
  "I was there. I should have been the one to collect the flag and use the regalan stone to escape but i was knocked down by her brother!"
  A flashback takes place in the grey leafed as Kagi (who was laying face-flat on the ground) lifts his head and sights Grei handing over a purple flag cloth to Dunen and after witnessing this, Kagi loses consciousness and falls flat on his face again.
  After remembering that time, Kagi glared the ground with glowing irises.
   "It should have been me." Kagi said, "It should have been me...! It should have been me!!
   I have no problem with her brother taking the flag and heading for the tournament, after all, he is Grei, one of the strongest in the academy."
   "Where i have problem is Grei handing over the flag to his sister who didn't earn it and in the end, not showing up, leaving his efforts to go to waste!" Kagi said as he lifts his head, "Grei has sacrificed so much for her in tasks and training, even down to the tournament but she continues to prove she is nothing but dead weight!!
   And i'm saying leave the dead weight behind and let others survive and you are standing for her?!!"
   "WE ARE NOT LEAVING ANYONE BEHIND!!!" Korul said in fury as he discharged his aura along with his irises glowing.
   "UGH! IS THERE COTTON IN YOUR BRAIN?!!!" Kagi asked fury as he discharged his aura along with his irises glowing as well, "YOU WANT TO STILL STICK TO THAT?! YOU DON'T GET TO PLAY NOBLE WHEN YOU DID SOMETHING LIKE THIS, EARLIER!!!"
   "Huh?" Korul said in a puzzled manner.
   The outburst of Kagi also brought confusion to the other humans in the cave, filling it with mutterings.
  "What are you talking about?" Lylin asked with a scowl.
  "As i said before, the regalan stone can only take a limited number of people. During our fight with those hivelings, how do you think we were able to escape?" Kagi asked, "Do you believe this was all that was left in that section? No, it wasn't.
   I made a tough decision in saving those i could. Get it?!"
   "Kagi..." Lylin said in disbelief.
   "I am not proud of what I've done. I was never proud of it." Kagi said as everyone was looking at him in shock, "But i will do it again if it means survival!"
  "All those people..." Lylin said.
  "I'm not proud of it but i don't regret my decision!" Kagi said.
  "So, Korul...!" Kagi said as he glanced at him, "Don't you dare stand before me and act like a hero when you have the same blood on your hands, you guttered-brained, two-faced, hypocritical-!"
   Kagi was instantly cut short with a strong punch to his face by Korul which sent him sliding on his back, catching Lylin and the others off guard.
   "KAGI, YOU BASTARD!" Korul said  with glowing irises as he prepared himself to attack, but was quickly restrained by other humans, "I WILL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU!!"
   "LET GO OF ME!!!" Kagi said with glowing irises as he too was prepared to attack but was quickly restrained by other humans, "LET GO OF ME!!!!"
   "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA?!!!" Korul asked, "YOU MADE PEOPLE ABANDON THEIR BROTHERS, SISTERS, COUSINS AND CLOSEST FRIENDS WITH THE BELIEF THEY WERE ALL DEAD WHEN THEY WEREN'T!!!"
   As Korul was still shouting, Lylin averts her face with a saddened demeanor while clutching her left arm.
  "I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!" Kagi said, "I DID WHAT WAS NECESSARY!! AND I AM STILL TRYING TO DO WHAT IS NECESSARY!!!"
   "YOU'RE STILL GOING ON ABOUT THAT?! YOU'RE STILL GOING ON ABOUT THAT?!!" Korul asked, "IF THAT'S THE CASE THEN I'M STAYING, BUT NOT BEFORE I-!!!"
  "ENOUGH!!" A feminine voice shouted, prompting all the humans to turn at the direction the voice came from which turned out to be an exhausted Dunen standing on her feet and clutching her poisoned arm.
   "I am staying, and nobody is going to stay because of me." Dunen said, "No one gets to die because of me."