A Tamia's Tale

Chapter 10: Failure

Just after the attack at Ryuuji...

Kenshin Ryuuji was swallowing his pride, having been beaten by the goddess once again. He was almost there, he had him in sight and cornered. But she had to ruin everything.

"It's been a while, young man," she said, her eyes piercing his. Even with all of his strength, he barely moved her. With a single motion of her hand, he was swatted away like a fly, unable to fight back even once. Just like that, the fight and his mission was over.

The sun started showing itself as he walked back into the forest near the capital. They already had left the place and it would be near impossible to track them down in the desert. Besides, he was already bored. He had hoped for a bloodbath and he ended up disappointed in his enemies.

Except Kanami. For once in his life, he felt like he had encountered his soulmate, someone who could understand him. She was still naïve about the world but he could—no, he will show her!

"Kekeke," a shrill and piercing laugh woke him up from his thoughts. "You failed, Kenshin."

"Shut up, you damn goblin," Kenshin spat, annoyed to see him.

The creature stood silent, a creepy smile plastered on its grey face. It was holding a cane to support its arched back, its skin was wrinkled and scaly from the lack of sunlight and its height was ridiculously small. In short, it was a demon.

"Why are you here anyway?" Kenshin asked, furrowing his brow. Even though he was irritated by the demon's presence, he was curious.

The small creature chuckled back with an annoying gritty sound. "Because. I was curious to see what this otherworlder had to propose. Though that Araël's spawn too was interesting, I must say."

Upon hearing about the otherworlder, Kenshin was fuming. "That kid won't be living for long. They're going to get ambushed at Kaathal anyway. I really hope they don't mess this up."

"Did you at least destroy the water?" the creature asked, cutting him short in his rant.

"Yeah, at least I think. I blew up the bottle in his hand."

"Let's hope they don't have any more of these. It would be bad if the king survived."

Kenshin rolled his eyes. "As if that would stop you guys. You're just being overly cautious," he brandished his spear while making a slicing motion with it mockingly. "You could just run Sora over with brute strength, you know?"

"You fool!" the creature shot back, taping its cane on the floor. "Let the people with a brain deal with strategy, you deal with violence."

"I don't get it. Why are you guys so scared of Sora anyway?"

It sighed, remembering dark times of a long distant past. "The last time we overlooked Sora, it meant our downfall. Our lord lost in Sora, remember? They are the most powerful country by far, even if they were isolated for hundreds of years from the rest of the world."

"Ah! You're taking them too seriously," Kenshin laughed and sat on a tree trunk. "Their strongest warrior, Kanami, is a joke. Like I said, you're overly cautious. I bet I could take them on all by myself."

The small and old creature laughed, amused by the foolishness of Kenshin. "Pride comes before the fall, Kenshin. But I'm willing to witness it myself."

Kenshin growled, but the creature had already disappeared, its job done. He knew he shouldn't underestimate it, but he couldn't help but feel angry whenever that thing was around.

The warrior stood up from the trunk and sighed. "Guess I should go back to make a report, huh?" he said to himself.

It was a long way back, but he knew he could pull it off in a few days. He had to be back for the 'party', after all.