A bleak battleground stretched in front of the four warriors, each of them bloody, bruised and burnt. They picked their way over weapons and fallen bodies that were already rusting and turning to dust. A young American woman stomped angrily towards a regal Asian man, crushing the skulls of the defeated undead as she went, whereas he was carefully picking his way through the chaos, not wanting to dirty his suit any further.
"You get back here!" The woman yelled, her intense sea blue eyes boring into the back of his head.
"Or what? You'll kill me? Rather ironic I suppose, considering the situation" he turned, not surprised to see the woman's ornate cutlass in his face.
"Your stunt could've gotten us all killed!" she waved her cutlass around some more, shaking in rage and slowly draining adrenaline.
"Luckily for us, we calculated that risk before we took it. The others were compliant with the plan, yes." he waved a listless hand towards the other two teammates, both of whom were watching from a distance. The woman dropped her cutlass along with her jaw as she turned to them "You knew?"
"Of course we did Kate! We had to." A short, yet stocky african man stepped forwards "And-"
"And anyways," an older woman, beautiful despite her age, interrupted the man pointing a cane at Kate "We knew you wouldn't approve" Her french accent heavy in her words.
"Tau? Oriane?" Kate looked between the three others "You were all just gonna sacrifice yourselves?" her voice choked with rage as the Asian man stepped forwards, placing a hand on her shoulder
"The strongest has to survive. At any cost" he turned her towards him
"That means I could take them Souma!" she swatted his hand off her shoulder and turned to walk away.
"Kate we are in a desert against his personal army!" Tau stepped forward, his body blocking her path as he stared desperately up at her
"You are powerless in this domain. You could never survive a widespread battle, like this one, here" Oriane stood tall, knuckles white as she gripped her cane "we did the only thing we could" her words as strict and defiant as her storm grey eyes.
Kate gritted her teeth and spat, right into the eye socket of an undead "You don't know the extent of my powers. If only you had trusted me!" the blood that rolled from her countless cuts started to defy gravity, rising up as ribbons of red into the sky.
"No. That's not possible. Blood? You went as far as blood?" The two blocking her way stepped backwards, stunned and utterly terrified.
She glared at them, unable to control her anger.
"This is what I can do! What I found in those texts taught me how and now none of you can stand in my-" her voice petered out as she felt a hand softly gripping her shoulder.
"Please Kate. you don't have to hurt yourself like this. Both you and I know this isn't right!" Soumas voice was quiet and tense with fear, his eyes searching to find a link with hers.
He didn't find it.
Kate took a shaky breath as the blood began to fall again, staining the sand in red droplets. She broke out of his grip and whispered just loud enough for him to hear
"To think I ever could've loved you." she spat, voice filled with nothing but spite as she walked away, shaking the tears out of her eyes as she went
"No, you don't get to play that card Kate. You know I would do anything for my family. That's not fair! Kate!" He stepped forwards, gripping the handle of his sheathed katana wanting to stop her from leaving, make her apologize. But instead he found the end of a cane jabbing into his side.
"Let her go Souma. She needs to come to terms with this. She needs to go home" Oriane watched with tired eyes as Kate grew smaller in the distance "I think we all need to go home"
"Oriane's right Souma. We need time with family." Tau nodded, agreeing to his own words. "Especially you, with your wife expecting and all. Whats the kids name gonna be?" There was no sense of happiness in his words, despite his attempt of a smile
"Sylvia. I have to honor her memory somehow." Souma bowed his head before setting off with a heavy sigh.
"We will all meet up someday, before we pass on our burden, won't we?" He called over his shoulder
"Of course, in one way or another, we will."
"Here?"
"May as well" Called Tau, Oriane giving Souma a wrinkled smile as he crossed the sands of the desert.
For the very last time.
YOU ARE READING
0.NE (Book one of the Null series)
Adventure"One way or another the metal will rust, the water will turn stagnant, the air acidic and the fires of hope doused and everything will come to an end." "Well aren't you a pessimistic piece of sunshine!" ======================================== Four...
