Origin of the 9th

Chapter 7: Hands of Blood

"Chiko." I whispered, reaching my eyes out towards where the hole had been just a few moments ago. It wasn't true; it couldn't be. Chiko could not be dead, yet I had seen Sarah's teeth enter her head.

"Moeiw, she's gone." Pon said, tears still streaming down his face. "What will we do now? It's over."

"It's never over." Neiko said from underneath me. She still seemed to not have fully realized what Chiko's death meant. "As long as we still have the resolve to fight, we are not beaten."

"Don't you realize that Chiko is dead?" I yelled at her. "That means the war is over. We have no chance!"

"There is still a chance." A different voice that could be identified as Kojuo's spoke from somewhere behind me. Its owner stepped in to full view, somehow uninjured. "The Ninja Temple; where the Great Spirit resides." He said darkly as Pon's eyes widened.

"It's real?" Pon gasped in surprise. He hadn't been at the battle for most of the time, and wouldn't have heard its mentioning.

"Yes, and Lady Templar told these two where it was." Kojuo said before turning towards me and Neiko. "Well?"

"11-18. 2.2.O. 2.5.O. XA." I recalled, not really caring all that much. I couldn't even fathom what the message could begin to possibly mean. Somehow it was linked to a location, but these were nothing like coordinates. "It doesn't matter. There is no way to figure out what it means."

"Well, try to get some sleep over it." Neiko piped up, scrambling onto her feet. "We should get back to town and pull ourselves back together. We are the last Ninja warriors left."

"Neiko's right. Chiko believed in us enough to give us this clue." Pon said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them. I didn't respond, but got onto my feet anyways. There was no reason to fight this battle, to fight any battle. They were all lost already.

Almost as if to mock us, the sun began rising as we traveled back towards the settlement. Light shone over the usually darkened forest, signaling the brightness of victory, the triumph of vitality, but not for us. For us, a civilization of the darkness, the sun signaled death, defeat, and loss. I hated it, the sun. Every single time it rose filled me with spite from the orb's mocking. But it had won this time.

We arrived at the now brightly lit settlement, where the civilians were awaiting our return. Chants of "Captain Moeiw, did we win?" or "Lady Templar must be finalizing our victory." came flooding in from all around us. Pon simply hung his head and hid his eyes from view. Neiko seemed a little shaken, but otherwise put together. Kojuo looked relatively unfazed, and I couldn't tell how I looked. Apparently, the civilians weren't able to tell what had happened from our numbers or the blood that coated all of us sans Pon.

"Moeiw, you should go to the families of your squad." Pon suggested, his head still down. I nodded slowly. The three of them had been my responsibility as my squad members, so it was my job as captain to report to their families in the event of their deaths. It had been the first thing Pon had done when Phoebe had died, even before burying her. I decided that I would go from oldest to youngest, just like the final order I had called them for.

Leah had lived with her mother by a creek near the western side of the settlement, so that would be my first destination. Whenever Chiko had moved the settlement, each family had generally retained the same relative living area, so there shouldn't be any complications. Leah's mother would know what my presence meant immediately, so I would be momentarily spared from having to make that report. Arriving at the door, I knocked slowly.

"Hello?" Leah's mother opened the door. Upon seeing me, she gulped and nodded, confirming my suspicions. "Please come in Moeiw. Let us talk." She said, opening the door wider and beckoning me in. I complied to delay my having to explain to both Ryan and Katie's families, who were much less informed about the nature of being a warrior. Leah's mother would probably ask me how her daughter had died and if her death contributed to the mission. Most of her family had been Ninja warriors, so it wasn't that uncommon.