Luc awoke again in his cell hours later to the noise of a thousand screams echoing into his personal abyss. They cut deep into his soul and rattled his essence, the beast danced merrily in his head, they were being PUNISHED. He smelled the air for the sweet smell of blood, thirsting for it, the Beast was free; he would not be shackled any longer. He grabbed the chains with his bound hands and pulled his body level with his arms, closed his eyes and focused on prying his hands apart, tearing his bonds in two. Blood dripped from his wrists as the cuffs began to give way; he grunted with effort, tensed his muscles and redoubled his efforts. Crimson poured freely from his arms, forming a pool in the space once occupied by his feet, the beast smelled this and went crazy. The bonds gave way and he fell to the ground, into his own blood, which now covered him as he rolled and played in it. He stopped suddenly, sniffed the air, and realized the echoes had stopped. He stood up, his wrist stopped bleeding, he needn't require the bloodlust any longer.  The form of a man walked in from the darkness, his skin hung loosely on his face, his eyes sunken into his head, hair white as snow, and armor that was as dark as the night from whence he came, with red veins that pulsated lie a heartbeat. "Hello master, having fun I see?” his voice was deep and almost lion-like, as if once it had belonged to a knight or noble.

 

"Yes, no thanks to you." Came the response from Luc's mouth, with a voice not his own. "This fool of a man has been keeping me at bay for a long time; you haven't kept your end of the bargain. Until now, which is why you will not die today."

 

"Thank you, master. You are too kind to your servants. The hero remains alive though, he has not been separated from the Villain yet. There are still...problems with this body. He still has loyalty."

 

"Do not dwell on it, the Villain knows what he is doing, and we will not need him yet. The Hero though, he is not in the body anymore. Sow has inadvertently let him go. Or should I say her go." He smiled an unpleasant smile. "I believe you have met her."

 

"She is dead, I saw her die myself."

 

"No. Not dead. She doesn't live either. She lives like you and I do. You merely destroyed her body, and you may have even failed at that." Luc's eyes closed. "I am still weak from before...Where's Leah?...This man is winning for now. I shall let him have control for now. Destroy Sow. He has failed me for the last time." He closed his eyes again and collapsed to the floor.

 

The knight walked up to his fallen master, picked him up and slung him over his shoulder again. He still could not kill sow, but perhaps he knew someone that could...

The night was split in two as the blades of the dark knight met the blades of Luc and Leah, the latter of which held two short blades in each hand curved towards the body so that when held outwards from the sides of the body, curved in a circle towards the shoulder blades. The fog parted from the sheer intensity and power of the clash, sparks flew in all directions and continued as the death knight's blades raked across their four blades pushing the two heroes back. Luc tried to dig in his feet but slipped in the dew and fell to one knee, the dark knight’s swords moved so quickly away and arced back before either realized just how swiftly the Kight could move. Luc remained prone as he attempted to rise, and Leah could only barely deflect the blades, the hilt knocked the hapless would-be assassin square on the right temple, knocking him clear out and the knight took two steps backwards keeping his swords at the ready. He smiled at the girl and decided once more to play as he threw down his smaller sword and clasped the large blade with both hands. Leah, following cue, threw both of her blades down and charged the knight head on slicing time into several pieces as she stepped. The ripples hit the undead, tearing their flesh asunder but leaving the skeleton intact, as if their flesh had instantaneously rotted. Surprised, the knight could only get a half assed swing at the charging woman before she reached striking distance, which she casually pushed aside and began releasing punch after punch onto the Fallen One's armor first leaving large dents, then knocking the breastplate clear off the Damned Knight's chest. With each contact the amulet around his neck grew brighter and brighter until when the plate was knocked clear it released a small nova of light in all directions, tossing Leah twenty feet away on her back and the Fallen One to his knees, both blinded by the light. Leah rose first and opened her eyes, allowing for them to tear up, but also knowing that blood flowed freely from the sides, as if she were crying crimson. After several long seconds her vision returned in a bloody haze and she was barely able to make out the massive form of the knight barreling towards her.

 

 She then realized she was knocked out of her pocket time, she tried slicing again but couldn't, she now had to rely on her speed and intuition. She dropped to her knees as the large blade passed just inches from her head. She released three punches to his knees, knocking the armor from his right leg, before she rose to deflect the next attack. She focused her energy and threw a dragon punch that landed squarely on the Fallen Knight's chest which threw him to his back, his sword landing beside him. She watched as he raised himself from the ground as if nothing happened, the smoking fist-sized hole in his chest smoldered, as he grabbed his fallen weapon. She released her extra set of curved blades she kept hidden in the sleeves of her shirt, they were shorter than her forearms for maximum concealability, but they served their purpose faithfully. The Knight raised the blade in front of his face in a salute to his worthy adversary, some things in a man never die, and he took two slow steps towards Leah and ran, spun around and arced his blade downward to the waiting hero, which she misjudged almost entirely and her block was only effective enough to stop a killing blow, merely the blade ran through her skin across her body. From her left shoulder to her right hip. She stumbled back, clutching her chest, blood running down her arm.

 

"No. It isn't supposed to end like this." She whispered, the haze clouding her vision, making her almost lost in a sea of blood.

 

She was able to see the crimson image of the Fallen One give one last salute before he took two steps forward and swung the massive blade sideways across her midsection, cutting her clean in half. The Knight looked down at the fallen heroine and the fog swooped in from all around and covered the two halves of the body in its thick haze, then dissipated once more leaving nothing of the woman who had once occupied the space. The Fallen One frowned, upset slightly at the fact that he would not have her soul, but contented that she did not undo him, or his Plans. He walked over to the fallen assassin, then to his dismantled armor pieces, frowned at the breast plate  punched it a few times to get it back in place, and replaced the pieces feeling a little bit more whole after doing so. He walked back over to the fallen Luc hoisted him over his right shoulder, then marched to his fallen horse grabbed it by its leg and began dragging it.

 

"Well master, I just wonder why you had to kill my horse?"

 

...

A rage had boiled inside of her like she had never known before, one that had vengeance coursing in its veins and destruction in its heart. They would feel this rage's wrath, and it shall rain upon them like the vengeance of the very Gods themselves; they would feel her pain.

 

She looked up to the Abbot and realized why nobody but those who had been summoned and the Abbot himself could enter the Sacred hall. She had realized the ancient magic's that protected this Dojo also stemmed from the Abbot himself. But they had made a mistake in taking her; they had made the biggest mistake of their lives. She released a dragon punch to the Abbot's diaphragm, the sweet spot as it was so affectionately called. For the quarter of a split second that it took for her fist to traverse the air between the fist and the sweet spot, everything was going well, then about a tenth of an inch away the fist hit air much more solid than she remembered it being able to be, and it ricocheted off this invisible force shield. She switched to a tiger kick to the knees and that bounced as well, then a monkey fist to the face, bounced again. The abbot flicked his wrist away from him, as if shooing a fly, and she flew across the basilica and crumpled into a pile beside the wall she had just intimately met.

 

Intelligence overruled honor in this battle, and she got up and ran from the room, she jumped from the balcony overlooking the main hall, and tumbled out the front door when it suddenly hit her. The Abbot never left the Hall, it was rumored by the other trainees that he was not allowed to, well now was a good time to find out. She sprinted tot he residence, where all the trainees lived, and then rushed inside to their section of the building and called for everyone to enter the fighting mat. This was not entirely uncommon, everyone had done it at least once to show off a new move on someone else, and also get revenge on the one who had shown off on them last. They had entered the mat, which was actually no more than a room with one door, one bench, and the floor was covered by one large mat. The room in itself seemed to deny physics its rights by being larger than the buildings dimensions allowed it to be.

 

The other trainees trickled into the room on their own time, and sat on the bench and waited for her to speak. "Who told me that the Abbot could not leave the Hall of Legends?" she asked.

 

"Is that what this is for, I thought you were going to show us how to slice time before you entered Prayer." This coming from a man who had been here longer than she had.

 

"After someone tells me what I want to know." She replied, staring each one down.

 

"I did, it was part of my Worthiness assignment so I could pass ahead of you. It is written in the ancient texts 'The Abbot can only live if his subjects live, and is given life eternal inside the basilica.'" This coming from the same man who wanted to learn how to slice time. Fine she would Show them.

 

She sliced time in half, then again and again, fraying existence on its ends. After five cuts she looked upon the faces of the trainees and saw shock had just barely been registered and then they were subjected to regular time and not her pocket dimension. Within the blink of an eye they were dead, their bones all broken in the same fashion. She stepped from her pocket of time and dragon punched a pillar, the fire from her fist caught onto the wood and wicker walls and the building began to light up like a Christmas tree. She waited six seconds before the first teacher entered the room, saw the bodies, the fire, and put two and two together. "Why?' he asked.

 

"Because you took everything from me first. My parents need not have died. It didn't have to happen like that." And then she adopted the stance of the bat, and he the stance of the eagle. And they both sliced time as they ran to each other. He had taught many pupils before him how to Slice, and naturally was much faster than her, but she had gotten four slices already before he started and he could only get a maximum of six before time fought back. They both sat in his dimension of six cuts, their sliced time merged together when they were within striking distance. Both used the same techniques, and were equally matched in speed, every punch ed was blocked, every kick returned, neither of which could get the upper hand. Then she cut time again, it almost seemed by accident but she knew she could Slice almost until forever and still survive, however the professor could not. His atoms decided that they no longer wanted to for a human, but wanted to go off and do their own thing, so they dispersed and there was nothing but moist air left in his wake. Time had an interesting way of fighting back.

 

She walked from the mat room the fire had no hope of catching up to her. She Sliced several more times just in case. She walked into the Hall of prayer and merely walked up to those on their knees and let Time do its work. One man's existence decided he would be better suited to be a duck, one a moose, another found it was easier to exist on the sun, and the last just died. She strolled from the hall as the fire crept in behind her. There were only two professors left and she saw them running to the Hall of Legend, she grew her dimension to catch up with them in theirs and they knew the would never reach the hall in time, so they turned around to face their once star pupil. "Two against one, not the best of odds," One said as she reached them, “You will never get away with this." She smiled at their ignorance, she already had. Time was cut twelve times before they reached her, and by then her pocket universe only contained her. Even in their quickened state they only saw her as a blur. She did not like blood, so she did the same as she had done to the trainees, and dislocated every limb and broke every bone. Twice. Even if they lived, they could never fight again. She once again stepped into normal time and their bodies fell to the ground, never to move again. The Abbot had no more followers because when they left the Dojo, they were free from him and him from them.

 

She waited patiently for the fire to reach the Hall of Records and the Hall of Food. These men had no imagination. The entire Dojo burned around her, but her vengeance did not relent, not until the Abbot was dead. There was nothing left but the Hall of Legend and the blackened remains of the rest of the Dojo, for some reason the fire did not want to enter the hall. So she waited, for seven days she waited outside the Hall until she was summoned. She walked into the entryway, up the stairs and into the once Holy Basilica and saw once more the Abbot waiting by the fish Pond. She walked up to him, "It's over, you will pay for your crime against me and my kin and it will all be finished." She said when she got close.

 

"I ask one last time, in the name of all things right and just, will you swear fealty to me?" He said confidently, though he kept his back turned to her.

 

She laughed and laughed at his ignorance, then drew her blade and placed it in front of her. "I challenge you Abbot, in equal combat. No Slicing, no weapons, just you and me and our destinies." He smiled and turned, his face old and haggard now, no longer youthful.

 

"It seems that without my defenders, Time has caught up with me." And his body turned to dust and a convenient breeze took them and scattered them amongst the Hall. She set fire to the Hall of Legend only after reading the ancient Scrolls and destroying them as well. Only after she had read the scrolls, she understood why things were the way they were. The Dojo in itself existed outside of Time, when she would eventually go back home, her parents would have recognized her, even in her aged state. They would have known, parents always know, and they would have asked Questions. Questions can tear the fabric of the universe asunder, they are much worse than the answers that would follow, because the Questions will always remain.

 

After she had reentered regular time she found that she could not Slice anymore. Time outside the dojo was much tougher and did not like being messed with. It took almost a week of practice before she could Slice even once, although once is enough to get most people's attention. It was certainly enough to get the attention of the assassin. She smiled at his weakness, and wondered why she let him live and wondered more why she wanted him with her. She pushed her thoughts aside and continued to her destination. Car Pediem was over the next few horizons, she knew there lay the answers to her questions of her destiny, and if Salvation was possible.

 

...

 

 

For Julz