Fight for Life

Chapter 2

Yoru opened his eyes to a world of crimson light. He looked around and saw before him a woman with long, flowing black hair. She stared down at the warrior with dark red eyes and raised her hand, gesticulating for him to come. Yoru stood up and felt his head and neck, still attached; the wounds on his chest were completely healed. The woman cleared her throat as a sign for Yuro to listen and come. He bowed and followed the woman in silence.

"Do you know where you are?" the woman asked. Her long black dress clung her body loosely and waved in the air as she walked. Yoru nodded his head and answered, "I'm in the afterlife, Lord Jashin"

Jashin nodded and turned to face Yoru. She reached into his armor and pulled out his necklaces, the rosary of Jashin and the small wolf tooth gift his daughter, Yuri, made for him.

"Do you remember how you died?" Jashin asked tugging at the wolf tooth necklace; blood dripped from the tip of the tooth as Jashin released it. Yoru nodded again.

"Yes, I was murdered on the battle field" Yoru clenched his fist at the memory of the pain he endured those last seconds before he was truly dead.

"You died because you were foolish enough to let your guard down and leave your scythe on the ground" Jashin snapped. Yuro held his head low in shame.

"I know," he said ashamed of himself. "Now my little Yuri is all alone with no one to protect her. I don't have much money, you know; so I couldn't afford to pay someone to care for her if I was killed"

Jashin looked Yoru up and down and placed a hand under her chin thinking.

"You are so loyal to me Yoru, you and Yuri both. Most people follow and worship Amaterasu, the God of light and heaven" Jashin leaned back against a wall and thought hard "I can give you two choices; let me kill Yuri and keep her here with you as your little girl for all eternity-"

“NO!” Yoru cried out, unwilling to deprive his only child her dream of becoming a woman. He loved his daughter, Yuri, as a little child always following him and willing to do all that he wished.

“Very well. Then if you wish to go back to your daughter, then you must put your skills as a warrior to their very best.” Jashin smiled and took Yoru’s hand, leading him through a maze of halls and finally to a large black door with a skull painted on it.

"This shall be your room" Jashin announced and pushed Yoru into the room, slamming the door behind him. Yoru turned back calling for Jashin to come back. He fell back onto a bed and sat down. He held his head in his hands.

"Oh, dear Jashin, what has become of my Yuri?" Yoru wondered as he shook his head in despair. He placed a hand on his throat remembering the decapitation and the pierced heart.

"My God, I can never return to my little Yuri; I'll never get to see her until she dies" Yoru began sobbing quietly hoping no one, not even Jashin, would see him. "The God of life will never let me go back to the living world, not with the injuries I suffered."

Yoru laid on the bed, shedding his armor, and cried softly, wishing he had never gone into battle......................................