Heroes

Chapter 21: One of the Warlord's Many Tactics

We were 8 days into the journey from Muhabad to Pradaria de Joias which was in the country of Lembrar according to Sagira. Most people there spoke Portuguese which is also known to the people as Almas. We were all asleep as it was midnight. I was curled up next to Lou. It took me a while to get to sleep because the thought of Kuragari getting the Mind Gem nagged at me endlessly. I had finally gotten to sleep 5 minutes earlier. As I slept, all was calm. However, I was woken up by heavy footsteps in the boat's boiler room. At least it sounded like footsteps, but it could've been the furnace or AC. Either way, I wanted to check. I got up and walked through the eerily quiet boat. Usually, when I slept or did stuff at night back home, I wasn't ever unnerved because I could hear the cars go by or cicadas buzz, but out on the ocean, it was different because the only noise in the dark abyss we were drifting across was the small rustling of the water. I stood at the bottom of the boiler room stairs. I couldn't hear the footsteps so I began to look around. Everything seemed normal but I felt cold, real cold. I was so cold I could see my breath. I was about to head back upstairs, uneasy, but felt something grip my ankle. I turned around and looked down in shock. No one was there, yet the grip around my ankle stayed tight until I was pulled down. I screamed as I got dragged away and forced into unconsciousness. "I must applaud you, Kira Dmitriov. You got the first gem. However, that'll be the only one you get and the one you will lose. I'm going to put you in pain that you could not imagine," a raspy yet deep voice sneered.

I went unconscious. The perpetrator was Kage Kuragari, as I should've guessed.

Somewhere in the Fluindo Channel
Aboard the Remembrance
8:20 A.M.

Scratching his head, Lou groaned in concern and frustration as he exclaimed, "¿Dónde diablos podría estar Kira?"

That was Spanish for "Where the hell could Kira be"

Everyone was frantic. No one could find me at all. "She couldn't have gone far," Hinata whimpered with fright, "We're on the water after all."

"But we've looked everywhere," Rue pointed out.

Mom was on the couch, trying to keep her composure as she spoke, "I don't know where she could be. I can't lose her. Not after I just got her back."

Shiro rubbed her back to keep her calm. "It's ok, Isi, we'll find her," he comforted, trying to keep himself under composure, "It'll be ok."

No one knew where to look. They had looked in every nook and cranny of the ship. Zay was thinking at the kitchen table when he heard something coming from below the boat. It was almost like a crumbling noise and then it sounded like something thudding. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Briar questioned.

Standing up, Zay explained, "I heard something coming from below the ship."

Arianna had bitten her nails short. "We need to go down there now," she said, "She could be in the basement."

"But we've already looked down there," Dahlia replied.

Stomping her foot, Arianna yelled, "Then check again! We could've missed something! I'm not losing my best friend!"

Maddie stepped forward. "She's right," she commented, "We might just have to double-check. This boat is so small we may be avoiding what's under our noses."

Everyone nodded and headed down into the basement. Their eyes widened what they saw. The drywall was crumbled with my unconscious body on the floor, coming out of it. I looked awful. My prosthetic arm had been broken, my clothes and eyepatch had been torn to shreds, my hair had been cut, my eyes were glazed over, and I was twitching badly. Suzume noticed my eyes and twitching. She froze like she had been encased in ice. Briar scrambled to get a cot and lifted me up with help from Sagira. "God, she's as cold as ice," Sagira commented.

        That sent another wave of fear through Suzume's body. Shiro noticed this and questioned, "Suzume, what's wrong? What's going on?

        It's him!" she exclaimed, becoming somewhat hysterical, "This is Kuragari's doing! I've seen this before when he was alive! He knocks his victims out and uses magic to go inside them and dispatch them painfully. I've seen it happen to my friends and no one has survived it."

       Shiro held her shoulders firmly. "You know what he's doing so, can you try to cast him out?" he inquired with urgency.

        Suzume nodded and told him, "I know a way, but it has never worked. I don't know if I can do this."

           Shiro grabbed both of her hands and looked straight into her eyes. "Suzume," he began, "you have to try. Kira's life and the life of every person on the planet is on the line here. Please, try."

          Suzume was shaking but she nodded her head and crouched next to me. She placed a hand on my forehead. My convulsions got worse as I seemingly gasped for air or tried screaming for help. I kid you not, it was like having the worst seizure of your life. I've helped a kid who had a seizure in 4th grade, I know what they look like. "Kuragari, I will make you leave this girl if it's the last thing I do! You have no power here!" Suzume yelled.

           I wasn't conscious but my insides felt like they were being shredded by a cheese grater. I couldn't see or hear anyone, not even Kuragari taunting me by saying, "Just die. Give up clinging to your futile life! You have nothing to hope for! Your friends will never save you now!"

         All I could do was try to gasp or croak for help to no avail. Suzume looked around. "I need something to write with," she said, "Anything will do."

         Hinata took off her small backpack and rummaged through it before taking out a yellow highlighter. "Here," she offered, handing it to Suzume.

       Suzume took it and drew a circle around the cot and a smaller circle inside the one around the cot. She then drew lines in between the circles. Setting the highlighter down, Suzume explained, "These are the threads connecting us to the real world. If I get this right, they'll disconnect and Kuragari will be cast out and will never be allowed to enter her body ever again."

       Suzume placed both hands on the circle and the circle began to glow as black and red string-like lines appeared out of thin air. "Let's see," Suzume muttered, "If Kira is a fire Astral, the red threads are her and that means the black threads must be Kuragari."

     Suzume grabbed the black threads and started to tug them off. As she started to rip them away, the threads grabbed her wrist and neck. Kuragari was fighting back. It was plain as day to see that he wouldn't let anyone stop him from killing me. However, Suzume was persistent in succeeding this time, and she bit her wrist free. She grabbed and tugged the strings with all her might, tearing them away. Finally, only one black string remained, and Suzume grabbed a tanto knife out of a leather strap around her leg. With one slice, the last string fell to the ground and decayed. With a flash of light, a black orb exited my body and disappeared into thin air. I stopped convulsing and sunk into the cot, motionless. My eyes went back to normal and my good eye shut. Everyone went back upstairs as Mom lay me in mine and Lou's bed. I woke up 2 hours later. "Wh-What's going on? Where am I?" I asked, more drowsy than a narcoleptic on anesthesia.

     Mom and Lou were next to me. Kneeling to my level, Mom explained, "That Kuragari man entered your body to cause you trouble, but Suzume got him out and banished him from doing it again, so don't worry. You're in your and Lou's room."

      I remembered the mission at that moment. "Guys," I began to question, "How far are we from Padaria de Joias?"

     "It's the 8th day. You have today and tomorrow so please, mi Amor. Just rest," Lou told me.

      I nodded and stayed in bed the rest of the day. I wasn't afraid of Kuragari after that. Why? Well, because I knew that no matter what happened, my friends and family would always have my back.

((man, that was intense))