"Sometimes it takes losing your mind just to stay sane."
-Genesis
XI. Foreigner
"Let's try this once more," he grumbled while gripping an arrow firmly in his hand, "You three were looking for me. Why?"
He lowered a vicious gaze down at Gaijin who was pinned flat on his stomach, his body bound to the cold floor by two arrows that tore through his hands and deep into the ground. He rose like a tower the way he stood over Gaijin, a demented look swaying about his slightly bruised face.
With a look of apprehension, he glared coldly at the man, not a word escaping past his lips.
Becoming impatient, he hurled yet another question. "You are not all the way human..." He said while stepping upon his two wings. "What are you are?" He paused suddenly. "Do you not speak?" It was clear in his voice that he was becoming vexed.
Again, Gaijin endured in silence aside from the few grunts he would mutter. Whenever he tried moving, he felt the cool shaft of the bow shoving deeper into his hands. The vibrant crackling of bones and ligaments left him numb around the knuckles.
The man sighed as a wearisome expression to his face. "So be it..."
He crouched his body down low while squeezing tight on the arrow in his hand. He still had his foot pressed upon Gaijin's ruffled wings, his foot crushing heavy on his back. He then raised his hand high, almost like he was trying to reach for the sun and crammed it down hard.
The pain shot through like a grand thunder erupting through him. Down into the joint of his elbow, the arrow rammed deep. Blood gushed thick from his wound like sap leaking from an aged tree, the bones at his joint snapped like twigs, and his nerves soured tight, leaking a numb feeling coursing to his feet.
In the midst of the pain, he looked up at the man who was crouching beside him. There was this cold gleam beaming past his eyes as he looked down at him. He noticed how he glared at his wings with two curious eyes. He grunted in distress but withheld from expressing his anguish too much in the face of his foe. He looked at the man as he began to stand up and walk some few feet away. He stowed his bow gently on the snowy ground behind him and let it rest there. The bow did not break away into those black, little particles as it had in the past whenever it was relinquished from his grasp.
A sinister half-smirk seized his face as he held up four fingers. "I counted four times you should have died...you truly are not ordinary. The normal ones tend to stay down when I shoot my arrows into their chests. We may take interest in your abilities," he said with a domineering tone. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around his torso almost like a hug, and said with a menacing smirk, "But before that..." he crept lower, his voice softening in a hushed whisper that glided into Gaijin's ears, "let's test this immortality of yours."
Surprised by those words, Gaijin's face became gripped by a spiraling sensation of horror. Bound to the ground, he fearfully awed at the wrinkles that began forming around his eyes and lips as they stretched into a sneer. He wrapped his arms as much as he could manage around his body; he flexed and tightened his muscles until the veins on his upper body appeared as snakes confined under hot flesh.
Grunting and muttering, he tried wriggling the arrows out from his hands but these arrows were especially stern and robust and so after some struggling seconds, he gave up the effort and then averted his attention to the sinister enigma who stood so menacingly before him.
The man's body gradually beginning to quiver agitatedly. A small swirl of wind rose high, bringing small patches of snow with them.
He stared down at Gaijin in the manner similar to a predator staring down its prey. He could feel it; that cold sensuous touch of darkness creeping onto the surface of his body, its black glow obscure and its touch persuasive. He had done well to suppress it but now his fears had gripped onto him hard.
Gaijin, things are looking bad, aren't they? Prometheus admitted, a nervous cackle rushing down his throat. I'm going to release the first threshold.
A cold look of uncertainty permeated his face. Prometheus! Are you sure? He asked the god woefully.
Yes, he spoke too with a doleful tone as he replied.
Are you ready? The god asked.
With his eyelids pressed tight, Gaijin let silence serve as his answer and with a mild nod of the head a sudden rush of black particles rose from his body. His skin turned dense and hard. The roots of his hair rusted brown like copper. It was an uncomfortable feeling, all those strange and livid adjustments of his body but with the gruesome pain came a power that rushed outwardly, strong enough that the arrows shattered like glass in his wounds.
His chest buckled and his fingers scraped and furled against the messy heap of snow beneath him. He grunted as he forced his body from off the ground in one furious movement. His heart fluttered and danced as he rushed against the pelts of wind. Feeling the vivid sensations rush and sway about him, he could feel the surface of his skin frothing and ripening dark grey like the storm clouds that once blanketed the sky overhead. He was still the same winged enigma, but there was an unusual look in his eyes. The corners of his eyes were stained black.
He watched the man's face as he smiled a menacing a smirk so deep that dimples formed like craters in the center of his cheeks.
"Those arrows were harder than iron..." A subtle smile fell on his face as he said this. He pulled in a deep breath and with a reason known only to him, he dropped his arms and allowed them to fall at his side, the massive blood vessels and muscles settled and relaxed.
"That is all I need to see," he said before clapping his hands together. The bow on the floor broke away into those familiar black particles and appeared suddenly back into the folds of his palms.
He raised his bow and Gaijin who was charging furiously in his direction. A bow materialized in the string of his bow and he aimed carefully for Gaijin's knee. He let go.
Gaijin grunted as the sharp arrow tip crushed into his left knee. He stumbled a bit but still, he tried his best to press on. With an arrow hanging loosely from his knee, he resolved his mind and kept the darkness from spreading too much.
Whoosh.
Another arrow came bolting from his bow as he tugged back and let go. It tore clean into his right thigh. He was impressed. His enemy had yet to fall to his knees, and so with a gentle smirk he tugged back on the bow a bit harder, black particles rose from the tips of his bowstring finger as he aimed for Gaijin's chest.
Crack. Crack.
Two vicious arrows blasted clean through his chest and out his back. They came like zaps of lightning. Gaijin could hardly react. He was utterly overwhelmed by this unruly man, and finally, he dropped to his knees.
Gaijin? Gaijin! Prometheus tried calling out in the empty abyss of his mind. His eyes became dark and lifeless, his body fell limp, and his heart pulsated to a crawl. He crashed against the snow, dead and unmoving.
He walked slowly back to Gaijin and looked upon his work. He was satisfied. But, still, he was unsure.
"This power you possess is truly bizarre?" He lowered his bow and studied Gaijin as he drew nearer. "It is truly unique I must admit...no matter how many times I shot you down, you somehow managed to defy not just me but death itself. But, if your intent was to use this talent to eventually overcome me then you were truly naive." He paused suddenly and looked down at the lifeless individual. He pulled in a deal of nippy air into his body.
He sighed suddenly.
He aimed another arrow and blasted two more powerful arrows into both of his shoulders. His vision was sharp and his precision was sharper. He shot a final arrow into his head before placing his bow around his own head and onto his broad shoulders.
He crouched and lifted him into his arms. He looked around hurriedly, looking for ways to escape with Gaijin who lied lifeless in his arms.
But, at that moment, he perceived a figure whose passion seared the earth. The man stopped and held onto Gaijin tighter. He then made out the figure who unearthed itself from the shroud of obscurations cast by the crowd of trees. Their eyes locked and burned with such intensity. No words needed to be exchanged between them. The figure he perceived was holding onto the handles of two dazzling swords and a mask over his face. His clothes torn, his body damaged and bruised, his eyes stolid, he advanced viciously.
XII. Poet
"Unhand him," He roared mightily!
He burned with a storming intensity as he sped closer and closer. The man, who was now drained and disinterested, suddenly became infused with a bombardment of excitement. Was this a hallucination or was the soldier who he was sure he had put down some time ago trudging furiously towards him with bloodlust in his eyes. These were his thoughts as he stopped and gripped harder onto Gaijin. Through the holes of his mask, he looked at the man with two focused eyes.
The soldier rushed and rushed as he saw an opportunity before him. He finally managed to reach him. He jabbed his swords in the man's direction. But he dodged. Unwilling to release Gaijin, he eyed different regions in which he could escape to. But he would not allow that. He sliced and drove his sword in all directions, hoping to slice any part of his body. Finally, the man released Gaijin and seized the bow from around his neck, ready to battle. The soldier swung the sword in his left hand and shattered the bow that was around his neck. It erupted into a small storm of spiraling black particles.
He twisted his body around several times with his swords outstretched, mimicking a whirlwind. He hurriedly slashed his swords down at the arrows that were lodged in Gaijin's body, breaking them too into several black particles. He then returned his attention back to the large individual who began to press his hands together. He sliced his swords in every direction. He tried all types of ways to cut down his foe, but truly he was just biding time for Gaijin to revive.
He fought for several seconds. Finally, Gaijin's body began repairing itself again. Several more seconds passed and he was now conscious. He pressed his torso from the ground and browsed his surroundings. To his surprise, he saw the soldier fighting off the large bullish man. The soldier caught a glimpse of Gaijin moving through his peripheral.
Whilst sparring, he shouted with a commanding tone that would not go easily challenged, "Gaijin, go!"
Surprised, Gaijin attempted to speak, "We need to-"
Prometheus interrupted Gaijin, urging him to leave. "Believe in my humans, or at the very least, let him wear down this wretch, then you can claim help claim his life if it comes down to it. For now, check on the other human and see how he is doing. You don't want to lose both of them, finding Pandora then would be difficult."
Dissatisfied, Gaijin looked down and shook his head with sadness. Prometheus was taken more by Gaijin's genuine interest and zeal.
Gaijin sighed. Stealing one last look at the soldier, who was locked dangerously with the man, Gaijin retreated into the cluster of trees that the soldier had emerged from.
But, before he delved into the wide expanse of trees, Gaijin told the soldier something that helped soothe his nerves a bit, "Maddard is alive. Try to be the same."
Gaijin stood up and trudged into the distance. He then thought of Maddard and where he could be. The soldier's choleric eyes lit up with relief and other ethereal emotions after hearing the news of Maddard's fate.
Fully aware of what could become of himself, he reflected on what Gaijin said to him.
Try to be the same...if it were only so simple, he thought.
All he could do, in the end, was to try. But to try against such a foe who bolstered unparalleled power and aggression was a phantasmagorical task; rather, than something founded on reality. But he would be damned if he did not. He took a deep breath and thought of what would become of himself. His swords locked tightly in the folds of his hands, he stared his foe down determinedly.