Titans of Ages Current

Part 6: High Tide High Tension

Hmph
I've sat in the same spot for nearly an hour... I don't need to move any further, I've seen what this barrier can do to birds and fish. Honestly, it is not a priority of mine to die by fire. Shit, maybe I can find a dark soul without the help of the oni.
"Haha, that wouldn't be destiny, now would it Levy?"
I rotate my focus behind me.. Nothing. Then I turn back... Where?
"Up here, girl!"
I center my gaze at the wall of fiery light, to find Torpor. He's standing completely vertically in respect to the barrier. More importantly, he's isn't bothered by the cursed wall.
He moves his foot from the wall as he confidently strides from his suspended position. He stops just a foot from my face. Finally, he dismounts in a forward flip before halting his descent to an immediate stop.
"They promised the shini of Kituno village paradise beyond the barrier. All they have to do is bring a soul offering for one of each of the council. What do you notice that's interesting about all this, Nelly?"
"There are no shini... No where. And you can't enter the temple or leave the city."
Torpor had yet look me in the eye for an odd reason. "Precisely. That is because the shini are so comfortable in their new homes. And who wouldn't be. Especially one you can't leave."
He's right. All these buildings are incredible, yet there is neither door nor window on any. Just a black, chrome sword hanging from a chain from reach roof. And some drip with blood. As the puddle next to me shows.
"Nelly, what this is... It's a tempt with honor and with prosperity. Honor derives from the object of working for the council directly. Prosperity is living an immortal life in a city of fabled fortune. Irony of it all... It's completely true."
But how? This city is a ruin scape. I can't begin to imagine what it must be line inside the buildings. But there is a village beyond the barrier. It looks so peaceful, so happy.
"That is Kituno village, Nelly. Everyone there is a shini." For the first time, he looks at me. This must mean his preceding words are of grave importance.
"They know of two barriers. One twenty five kilometers in any direction. And one around the city. But there is a third... Around the temple. These barriers are more than divisions of class.. They are division of race."
"What do you mean?"
"Long ago, a demon named Kiri threatened the Sage of Spirits by creating Zitsu-kato, an oni manifested in solid metal. The legend says that his body was melted and crafted into mine blades. And handed the defected death lords. The power corrupted them, causing then to undergo metamorphosis. The initial touch consumed their souls, rendering then death omens in the form of shinis. Whenever the entire cycle was complete, and the sword consumed it's weilder, both the blade and its weilder were one."
But this still doesn't clarify'a division of race'.
"So what does all this have to do with my destiny?"
Torpor glared at me through his gray shades. "Must you always rush a good legend?"
Embarrassment over took me as I promptly asked for his forgiveness.
"Haha! It's no trouble, you remind me of my son." He looks up as if in reminisce.
"Oh yes! The blades devide his strength. Whenever the two became one, they would share a form. He could make anyone an oni. What's more, touching the blade feeds ones soul to Zitsu-kato, making him stronger."
"So this is where you tell me about what is going on here?"
"Indeed, the barriers are designed by the Sage of Spirits. However they were cursed by the council. Anyone who crosses the first is gifted the power of the Death lord... You become a shinigami. Further more there is no going back."
Does that mean.. "Am I a shini?!"
"That's right! But that's the curse!"
"How could new power become a curse?"
"The second barrier is opened to one who had nine offerings... Recently it has become more because of low harvest. When someone is accepted, they may proceed into the city. At the first dusk of their arrival, the council will come and feed their soul to Zitsu-kato. This kills them, but recreates the body as a a potential future oni if a council member would be slain. This makes the council as strong as it's numbers."
"Let me guess. The third barrier is for oni no?"
"Precisely... But you are here for a different matter entirely."
"Then why tell me all of this, Torpor?"
"You need to understand the risk involved. Failure at this level will assure you that everything I just told you now has applicable meaning. Honestly, I pray it does not come to that."
"Well said. Now how am I supposed to make heads or tails of any of this? Finally, even if I figure out everything I need to know, how will I use that knowledge in a time sensitive fashion?"
"A Sage is here with us, just a distance away if I might add. I must go. Have faith in what you do."
This time, I managed to see him disappear into white light as noise crept up on me.
Humming.
Whatever it is, it's coming closer. Nothing in this place is good news. I better be ready. I reach for my bastard sword, trying to be as inconspicuous as I can while silently planning my defense.
However, this noise is.. Delicate.
"Mortal-"
I bring the sword from my back, and with a mighty effort I hurl it over my head. I feel a stopping force exert on my blade.
The inertia from my swing knocked me back. I could hear the clanging of my sword as it hit the ground, but when went to grab it I glew a rich purple color. Within seconds the mighty sword had been reduced to ash.
"My, my, a little jumpy are we?"
The voice was harsh in an awkward fashion. As though it's weilder forced hints of delicacy into it.
The entity itself was almost the same. It was a figure robed tightly in a lavender guise. It's face had no features under the black showl, but runes could be seen shimmering from underneath. At full illumination, they formed an eye.
This must be it! The Sage of Spirits!
"I need your help."
"I know. My ritual was disturbed by a great presence breaking the barrier. You are here not by chance I see. But I could not see your reason for such monumental risk. Tell me what it means to stand before me."
I straighten up as I announced to the being, "I am here to find a soul who is as black as night. A soul that will help me on my quest to resolve the three destinies so I may find by own. Once I do, I will transcend to become the Sage of Triumph!" That should suffice.
However...
Despite all the well planned effort, the Sage needed not any feature to show it's overwhelming confusion.
"I... I do not scratch the surface of understanding these matters... I have not seen this either. You say this is destiny, mortal?"
"Of course it is. I figured you of all people would understand. You're a safe for crying out loud.. Right? You are the Sage of Spirits?... Oh shit."
The seer seems to be taken aback at my remark of the Sage, "so you have sensed it as well?"
"Of course, it is my destiny to become the Sage of Triumph! I need to find the one who's soul is darker than any other though.. I'm sorry to have bothered you."
I turn to walk away, attempting to forget the illusive encounter between us. "Mortal! Did you not desire to find that who you seek? For I know all too well about him. His power has came to me while scrying the universe door Zitsu-kato's next harvest. But alas, he is bound by an even greater presence, and cannot be lured to Kituno."
"Where is he? Who is he?"
Purple light cascades from the sky onto the buildings of the city. The earth shakes as a thunderous voice emanates from the sky. "SEER, HAVE YOU NO LOYALTY TO THE COUNCIL?"
The seer bows to its knees in fear and awe. "I have seen this day before! This is a pivotal point on the universe. What happens today is the fulfillment of your destiny. Your kingdom will fall and the titans shall have the day! The events after this are unfortold, and suggest the day when you return to your glory Zitsu-kato."
"THEN WHY TELL THE GIRL HIS WHEREABOUTS?"
The seer lifts its hands, as it does, the world shakes. The barriers are falling! What is going on?
"That ,oh my overly exalted lord, was for all the souls you've imprisoned. Zitsu-kato would be ashamed at what you've become. Your life ends tonight, but your uses will continue till the Sage's induct another. Now, go mortal! Find the Sage of Spirits! He shall help you find the soul you seek."
The purple light from the buildings erupt, releasing skeletonized shini into the air. Their faces were masked to look like oni, and instead of hair, blue flames kindled in its place.
"Go now, they will punish me first, mortal.. You still have time."
I didn't argue. I ran in fear and never looked back. The shini of the village were coming in to see the spectical. Others choose to flee, in hopes of immediate escape. Who is the Sage? I see nothing out of the ordinary. Except....
A ship? Floating? Made of trash? Well, it's the only lead I have.
I dash to it to find it's only crew to be an old man, clearly not in the most pristine of conditions.
"Are you the Sage of Spirits?" This is hopeless. Even if he is, we need to leave here fast. The earth is shaking more violently.
"Of course I am! I'd over you a drink little girl but I'm afraid it's time to set up shop elsewhere. Tell you what! You tell me where to set up at, and I'll tell you anything you want to know little girl!"
This man is delirious, and he laughs way to much... Not exactly what is expect from a Sage... But then again what do I expect of myself? Let's roll.
I pull out a seal of destiny, and throw it into the air. It breaks open and creates a portal. I can see.... Snow?
"Siberia! Excellent choice! Off we go!"
The boat shakes heavily, and with a mighty heave we are off.
The boat slowly maneuvers into the slightly larger portal entrance. We were almost through until I heard a thunderous CRASH!
I turn around to find the end of the ship is passing through the portal. In addition, a extremely big and terrifying shini is on the bow of the ship. He's escorted by eight others. This doesn't look good.
"Arg! They be pirates! Here to steel me soul collection, and take it as their booty!" This man clearly has some personal issues. However he is right about something. Those guys want whatever is in that jug on his back.
I find a spot to hide in, a barrel, as the nine dangerous people surround the Sage. The biggest one picks him up from his sitting position.
"Alright Hugh! From the way things look, Kituno is collapsing, and the Death Cult Council is drawing out it's last breaths as we speak. We are gonna form our own temple to keep Zitsu-kato from the hands of mortals."
"Cu-sith, don't you know that's what the Kituno temple was for? You can't have that sword. As long as it exist, it will consume more, and never stop. Just drop it. And I know why your here, you want me to remove the curse so you can use the blood of the false god to filel use? Well son, today the curse will be lifted, but I won't do it! You will haha!"
"Damnit, Hugh! Stop talking in riddles! If you know what's good for you!"
At this point I can see the heavy black tattoos remove from his arm into the shape of a rope. They this out over the mast, and tie it around Hugh's neck. Weird name for a Sage.
They lift up on it. Hugh's face turns red, but his composure remains the same. They finally release the rope as Cu-sith demands him to lift the curse.
I gotta do something!
I reach into my backpack.... Gun... I figured out what happened last time... The safety was on.
I come from behind the barrel as I blast into three shini. Cu-sith looks over in astonishment at the sight of blood misting the air, and his men hitting the floor.
"Well, well..... GET HER!"
The other five come at me weapons drawn. I leap from the barrel onto the upper deck. I fire into the waves of shini but they deflect my bullets with their weapons and reflex. I look below my feet at grate on the floor..
The boats made of trash, so durability isn't really a thing. I stomped on the ground with extreme force, causing the grate to give way. I feel to the storage area.
I shini feel above, unconscious from hitting the mast at full speed.. The mast itself feel over, swatting another from the sky.
The others swoop into the cargo hold looking for me. I cock a grenade and toss it from my position. It landing is followed by a crash proceeded by screaming. I didn't dare look up, because I saw the shadows of the other two.
Shink, shink
Two blades stuck into my arm as I screamed out in pain. They are removed only to be swung down on me. I blocked then with then gun, as it flew out of my hand. They went for it a second time, but I flew back into the wall as their swords stuck into the crate I was hiding behind.
I quickly vaulted over the crate, and threw myself feet forward at them, as they flew back but retained their swords.
They look a little surprised and furthermore one of them looks pretty bloody. Then begins their next wave of attacks.
On
One swings at my head and the other at my feet. I flip into the hall between the blades, catching myself on my hands as I flip forward more. I turn around to find the first swinging from my side. I leap every his strike whilst kicking his jaw. I used his stance to push myself at the other as I flip to build up momentum for a downward strike. He puts his sword up in anticipation of my strike. I quickly reach into my bag and pull out a pistol as I land on his sword. I feel sting in the stopped foot as blood drops from the sole of my shoe. Regardless, he is still more concerned. For now I have him point blank. I quick squeeze off the trigger erased the top half of his head, as assorted biomass spreads along the ground. The shini twitches before finally falling over.
I turn to fire at the other shini. Who deftly blocks the heavy bullet with his sword. The sword shatters, and the bullet is deflected into the gun add we both lose our weapons. I go at him with my hands, and he deflects my initial punch. He responds with a punch of his own, which I block as well. I grab his arm as I hurl him over my body, he grabs my arm on his way down. He uses his weight to flip me over.
We both crash to the ground, but I'm the first up. I hammer at his head with the side of my fist. Even though it hurts him he shrugged it off enough to tackle me. He runs me to the wall where I brace for impact.
It felt like a car hit me, I could feel the wall give out at the force of his second push. I feel my balance give as I hit the ground.
I see his boot over my face as my head gets crushed into the ground. Dull pain is covering my head, along with the blood from the split in my head. The stinging is undeniable, and excruciating.
Before his second stomp, I spin on my back and hook his leg. He falls over, and I advance on him. Straddling him I punch him, beat him, and maim him, until I can't see him move anymore.
I hey up and walk away, trying to get to the aid of the Sage of Spirits.
I peer out the window to find Cu-sith holding a saber made of that ink against the Sage's throat. Time to-
Crash!
That bastard I messed up is still alive! He slammed me through the wall, I feel my ribs break and my skin tear as I slide through the door. Blood and splinters cover my face as I lock my arms around his head. I strangle his neck as he chokes and fights it. Blood dribbles from his lips as I tighten my grip. I feel him giving out, so I put all my energy into one final crushing clamp. With a loud crack the twisted death lord falls to the ground, lifeless. His eyes roll into the back of his head as he breathes his last.
Cu-sith stops his threats on the Sage, and adverts his attention to me. " fair enough. You have no business here little girl! Back off or he gets it! "
I straighten my posture as I announced to him "but you need him. Tell me about this curse!"
Cu-sith throws Hugh to the ground as he proclaims his story.
"Years ago I worked for the IAC. I worked for Torpor until the company changed hands. When Xio-Zher came to power, many things changed. I became Derkeszher Zher's right hand. Him and Xio, they were testing horrible things on innocent people. Xio always wanted to experiment how much a person could be mutated till they explode. Zher was almost thirty times worse. He always studied the spiritual constitution of beings. I lost my mind when he made his breakthrough: he could remove all the essence of a being by taking its soul out. He was about to test it on the Jack kid.... But that boy snapped. Something broke inside of him. "
"Wait Jack?! You know him?"
"I know all the seven! They came to Zher one way or another.. And most of them don't even remember it."
"How?"
"Zher had a master plan of sorts. I never figured it out. But it involves those people, and the runes. Those marks on their body that represent a diety sin. I did learn one thing about the sins though. They were trapped... Trapped in Zher's chambers. I remember him complaining about how they escaped. And how he had to find them.... But then the next day it's like he couldn't care less. That's when they shot the inhibitor in the air. They needed humanity for something. I couldn't figure out what though. But then there came a day. Jack came back and destroyed the building.. Or tried to, he did a pretty good job of it. I tried to stop him at the gate. But he put his hand to my face and suddenly it was like I had teleported into the wall. Something like gravity manipulation, he could alter the force of it and accelerate things or just make them so heavy they crush themselves. Anyways I died. I woke up in an incubator. They ran test on me, and injected me with hormones so I could survive more experiments. But what they didn't know is through it all... I could hear them speak about me. And about Jack, about how Jack's blood contained tainted ink that could alter reality. That's what this is made of. "
His tattoo peels itself off his arm and shifts around as to validate his point. "Now your wondering, how is this a curse? Well... I'm not in control. It's that damn Zher... He can control me using Jack's blood. And I know why now. He's not just a scientist... He's a priest... Of.......... Alrach."
His body contorts violently as the tattoo shines with white and purple fire.
A voice that wasn't his own kicked in from his throat. "I don't know who you are girl, or what you have over Cu-sith to make him spill his guts to you. That cannot be tolerated, my superior would not allow it."
"Your superior? You mean Alrach right?"
The fire rises as the voice howls in amusement. "Alrach is a means to an end... An end we share together. It is destiny that he comes back but this time as a tool. My superior overtakes Alrach in every way. Now ... I shall overtake you... Farewell."
Cu-sith screams in demonic rage as the tattoo verges into a mini gun... Time to run...
Cu-sith fires in a line downwards to me... Each round putting a hole in the hull two meters on diameter. I flip backwards on the higher deck where he hovers down continually firing to get a hit on me.
I manage to avoid the barrage and jump through a window into the captains quarters.
I need to catch my breath... Think Nelly! Think.
I hear a thick humming... Then a ripping sound... It can't be... A chainsaw?
Bbbuuuuuzzzzzzrrrriijippppbuuuzzzzchinkvhink.
White light plows through the wall. I immediately fall forward and crawl away from the blazing saw that replaced his arm.
Light shimmers as the attachment shifts. This time a large barrel protrudes from his wrist. A white flame below from a second barrel. I jump just behind a dresser as white fire fills the room. It's hotter than anything I've experienced before. The entire back wall crumbled from the heat revealing the sky from the back of the ship.
This thing is gonna fall out of the sky at this rate. I sprint for the open air as I jump off the back of the wreckage as a white object flashes last me. A large explosion seconds later helped me realize just what that first barrel was for. I pull myself from the side and find the anchor. I grab on and climb up as another explosion takes the bottom of the ship.
The ship lunges forward, heading for a crash landing. Cu-sith floats from the back of the ship where he spots me once again.
This is it... I have one idea that might just save my ass. I pull out a destiny rune. Cu-sith aims right at me. I throw the rune behind me. His gaze breaks as he fires at my motion.
I roll out of the way, as the rocket flies through the portal. ...
Did it work?
Sure enough a strong blue light flashes behind Cu-sith right before he is engulfed in a court of fire.
He crashed into me from the blast as we skid across the deck to the stern of the ship.
I catch myself on the edge as I feel a hand on my ankle. I look down to see Cu-sith, latched onto me like a beast of prey.
His focus is ruined. He can't use his tattoo now. He's reaching for my throat. I pull my self halfway up but I can sense he is trying to pull is both to it deaths.
I pull the knife from my belt... I jam it into his arm. The pain causes him to loosen enough for me to break his grip with a punch to his face.
I pull myself back on deck while I notice the mountain we are about to crash into.
Looking down I no longer saw the possessed maniac I just fought. This was a terrified man... Who knew he was about to die.
I had to leave his side as I run to meet with the Sage. High seems unphased by the recent events."prepare for impact little girl!"
Cu-sith... I'm sure you were an alright guy... Maybe.
Cccccccrrrrraaassssssshhhhhhh!
The boats turns into a sled as the impact to the mountain causes us to side downwards. I couldn't make it out... But I could see light in the distance.
A town! We're gonna crash!
To my amazement we slowed just enough to stop at the first set of houses. We are at the end of the road of a small village... One that was a few dozen houses big.
I reviewed the damage to the ship... It was bad.. I'm fact, only the wooden planks we sat on were still with us.