The Weaponsmaster

Chapter 21

She looked over at the six shiny, golden objects sitting on the pedestal. They all sparkled with otherworldly brilliance. As she looked, she noted all the objects: a little vest, a small sword, a set of shoulder pads, some golden chain link pants, a set of gloves, and some boots. She’d never seen them before, but there was something about each little object that was familiar. A few of them appeared in the previous Weaponsmasters’ memories even.

That’s when it came to her. There were six objects. The Lori had six out of the seven artifacts and all six were the objects Danny had listed for her. Only one was missing: the shuriken. And with a start, she realized why they looked so familiar. They all looked like they were made of the same brilliant gold her shuriken was made out of. It couldn’t be possible, but there was no other explanation: she possessed the last artifact.  

She closed her eyes and felt the shuriken still resting on her chest. Drea breathed out a sigh of relief. It was possible they didn’t know she had it, but if they did, she was done for. She’d have to fight Alka. She didn’t want it to be taken away for other reasons though. It was her last reminder of Kevin. Yet she had a sinking feeling that they knew what it was. Judging from the way the Lori who had taken her had pulled it out of her shirt, they knew.

Drea looked around the room; a doorway was on the opposite side, but she had no strength to fight her way out. More Lori were probably guarding the door anyway. She couldn’t even contact Zen or feel her own aura. She narrowed her eyes, feeling angry. Helplessness was probably the worst feeling in the world.  

The door across from her opened suddenly, and a slender, tall Lori stepped through. It had eyes that were all black, and it was looking at her with such contempt she felt as though she could melt under its gaze. Then it smiled, displaying long rows of incisors, teeth that could rip through her in a second.

“It seems we’ve found the final pieces to our puzzle.” It walked around the room as if contemplating something, its deep voice reverberating across the walls. “Your kind has prevented us for centuries from giving our true leader new life. But now that we have you,” it lifted her head with one long, shiny black claw, “we can finally take power once again.”

“Not happening,” Drea spoke loudly.

It turned quick as lightning and slashed her cheek. It was a few seconds after that she even felt the sting. The crimson blood dripped down her face and chin, landing like little raindrops on the white tile floor. It smeared the blood on her cheek, and looked at the dark liquid staining its hand. “Your fate is sealed.”

Talk about having an air of finality. “How did you find me?” asserted Drea, a scowl on her face.

 “Do you remember that night when you summoned the golden shuriken?” Drea remembered that like it was yesterday. That Lori was the one who tricked her with the little girl and stabbed her in the thigh. She had used a golden shuriken to get rid of it. She hadn’t known then where the shuriken had come from.

“We tracked the feel of an incredibly powerful weapon, a weapon like that of Alka’s, to your location. Only the Weaponsmaster can make them materialize, so when we found our weapon, we found you.” It smiled terribly, rejoicing at her ignorant mistake. If she hadn’t used that shuriken, they wouldn’t have found her.  

Her necklace started burning against her chest, like it was scared. It hadn’t been burning before, despite the huge amounts of Lori aura surrounding them. The other artifacts began to glow a little brighter then, making Drea wonder if all the artifacts reacted to the dark aura like her shuriken did. The Lori spoke quietly, “Now you can feel the consequences of your foolishness.”

The slender one came up to her and put its hand around her neck. It reached into her shirt and pulled out her golden chain and charm. “Such a powerful weapon that you wear like jewelry,” It lamented. It smiled and yanked her charm off her neck. The shuriken was placed with the other artifacts, the chain still attached to it.

Drea’s tried desperately to break free, but couldn’t. They two of them were too strong. It tore her heart in two to lose that familiar weight around her neck.

“Now we will find our way to your body, Alka, and it will be the Lori who have the power.” It was looking at the sky, as if there long-dead leader was in some demented version of heaven. It looked behind itself after a few moments to see Drea still there with her two guards. “Take her away. We’ll need her later when we discern the location of the body.” They dragged her out of the room as she struggled. She tried to shoot aura out of her hands, but the restraints must’ve prevented it.

As they dragged her down the hallway, she had to stop struggling. Drea hadn’t eaten in she didn’t know how long and it felt like those ropes were draining her energy. Their grips weren’t exactly loosening either.

They went down many winding hallways, dotted with countless doors. After a few minutes, they threw her into a pitch black room like she was some piece of trash. She felt around to find that there were no windows, and the door was made to blend into the wall. She was completely locked in.

Drea just lay on the floor on her side. Her hands were still behind her back and it was getting increasingly uncomfortable. The floor was hard and cold and her shoulder was still wet with blood. The wound was deep and she was in a lot of pain.

Drea could barely sleep that night with everything on her mind, but what bothered her the most was the loss of her precious shuriken. That shuriken was all she had left of her brother, and now she didn’t even have that. The hole in her heart reopened, and it hurt just as much as the day Kevin died. She almost wished it had been her back then instead of him.