Chapter 10 - Hope(lessness)

We entered the forest. Eerie silence had enveloped it. The air felt suffocating, and my worries were starting consume me. I refuse to let Kubo or any of the kids die. I won't allow it. We wandered for a few minutes, extremely tense.

"How big is this forest?" I whispered.

"It's very large. We'll probably have to wait for the spirits to find us." Ronan answered.

"You two ducklings lost." Someone behind us giggled.

I turned around and saw what I assumed to be the spirits. They were indeed matching the descriptions of the village chief. There was a blue aura surrounding the couple. Their discerning, maniacal grins were disturbing, causing me to further worry about the children.

"Where are the children!?" I shouted.

"I'm glad you asked. We'd be happy to show you but after that we have something to propose." The woman cackled.

"Take us to them." Ronan said.

I had to be wary of the spirits. From what I remember they are compulsive liars. Whilst following the spirits, I observed them. The man was oddly quiet, but he was emitting waves of bloodlust. He was quite clearly a soldier as he carried a great sword on his back. The woman seemed to be carrying a staff, which is usually associated with magicians despite the fact staffs are merely for cosmetic purposes.

Finally, we arrived at a clearing where all the children were laid on the ground in rows, thankfully asleep. Wait! Where's Kubo? They couldn't have...

"Where's the blond girl!?" I yelled.

"Oh her. She's the main prize for our game." The woman said.

"So where is she?"

"Somewhere safe, I assure you."

"I don't believe a word of that! Where is she!?"

"Jeez fine." She waved her hand and Kubo suddenly appeared laid next to the children.

Just as I went to rush over to Kubo, the spirit man intercepted me and shoved me back.

"Get out of my way!"

"Not so fast. I've shown you they are safe. Now listen to the rules of our little game." The spirit lady demanded.

"Zeke, don't do anything rash." Ronan warned, looking somewhat scared.

"I see the little boy gets it. If you were to force yourself through, I would kill every single child before you could lay even a single finger on them." The woman smiled. "We will do a death match. The rules are simple. It will be one vs one battle to the death. After the first match, the two that didn't participate will then start their death match. If there is one person from each team left then another death match will occur. No interventions from a teammate are permitted but anything else goes."

"You can't possibly be serious!" Ronan exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm dead serious. Pun intended by the way. Whoever wins gets the main prize. How generous of us. We'll play by the rules obviously."

"We don't have much choice here Zeke. They appear much more dangerous than I anticipated. If I knew they were like this, I would've brought Mikel with us." Ronan whispered to me.

"I guess we should accept their challenge. We need to return those kids to their parents and rescue Kubo."

"I'll take the warrior, you deal with the woman."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take the warrior? Your wounds haven't healed yet, and she looks frail."

"She is the opposite of frail. I can tell by her impressive mana aura she is anything but. You can only tell a portion of their strength due to the curse on your memories which dampens your magical senses. Don't take them lightly. They are not normal spirits."'

"What do you mean by that?"

"They are Jikken Seishin. In simple words, experimental spirits. They have been tested and enhanced."

"How do you expect me to fight a magician when I can't use mana!?"

"You'll just have to try for the children and Kubo's sake. I will go first so just prepare yourself."

"Your injuries though..."

"I'll be fine. May Koun be with us."

"Who's that?"

"The Goddess of Luck."

Ronan grabbed his bow from his back and approached the spirit man cautiously. After the fight was decided, we were led to another clearing in the forest. The two competitors faced each other. They stared fiercely at one another.

"You. Will. Die." The man grinned murderously.

"START!" The spirit lady shouted.

Lunging instantly, the spirit man forced Ronan to evade. I could see Ronan was wincing from the pain of his wounds. Ronan grabbed an arrow from his quiver and quickly fired. The spirit man raised his great sword and the arrow shattered.

Seeing that his arrows were ineffective, Ronan threw his bow away and started chanting under his breath. Somehow he kept chanting despite being attacked by a barrage of slashes and piercings which Ronan narrowly avoided them all.

"Now bloom, Dracunculus vulgaris!"

Dozens of black spikes encircled the spirit man. A purple cape bloomed to cover the black spikes. The spirit man started hacking away, but then he started screaming in irritation. Rashes of all shapes and sizes were spreading like wildfire across his body.

"This is given the nickname 'Dracula's Plant' and it only grows in darkness which, thankfully, you guys operate at night. Every part of it is poisonous when ingested and can cause severe allergic reactions." Ronan confidently explained.

"Light arrow!" The spirit lady screamed. A beam of light pierced Ronan's shoulder. Blood started pouring out at a worrying rate plus his other wounds had started to open up due to his rigorous evasions.

"That's against the rules!" I shouted.

"Sorry. My hand slipped." She giggled.

She was starting to really get under my skin. First she abducts Kubo and the village children for unknown reasons, and now she's interfering with this. If I don't do something now, things will get severely worse. Observing the plant prison, it seemed the spirit man would only be held for a couple of minutes so if I could take her out now then it would solve half the problem.

I drew my blades and lunged towards her, only to be flung straight into Ronan, toppling him and causing him further damage. This is bad. Ronan's not going to last long and because Mira lost the transportation device when she went to face the dragon, we can't retreat.

The only option is to fight but how? I can't possibly beat her if she can use mana so quickly with such force. I have to try though otherwise Kubo will be taken from me and Ronan will die for nothing.

"You know. If you became my pet then I could consider letting everyone go." The spirit lady started walking towards me.

"I highly doubt you'd honour your end of the bargain so screw off!"

"How disappointing! Oh well, my Lady did want you dead after all."

"Who is this lady you're talking about!?"

"Someone far above and greater than you. You couldn't even fathom her divine grace."

"So a Goddess?"

"Not a Goddess. The Goddess. Now be a good little bunny and let me kill you." She said, then muttered something under her breath.

A pillar of light obliterated Ronan's plant prison and the spirit man was freed and enraged. Crap! Maybe I should attempt using mana, but last time I busted my entire arm. What am I going to do? There's no way I can take these two on. If I fail then they'll take Kubo. I'd break my promise just like that nightmare. I'm trembling so much. I'm scared. No! I must do this. I'll have to rely on my instincts.

Sheathing one of my swords, I equipped my shield and prepared myself. If I can take out the magician then I can focus on the warrior afterwards. I decided to edge away from Ronan to try to keep him out of danger because if he took on anymore damage, he would die. The warrior charged recklessly, allowing me to sidestep him and stab my sword into him. This only served to fuel his anger unfortunately.

Somehow predicting it, I raised my shield and deflected the magician's light arrow. That wouldn't usually be stopped by a simple shield. Kassandra really is great at blacksmithing. Tearing my sword out of the warrior, I started charging the magician. Before I could reach her, she clicked her fingers and somehow she'd substituted herself with the warrior, bringing his great sword down on top of me.

Attempting to use my shield to block, I raised it, only for the force of the attack to send shock waves violently throughout my body. I felt numb all over and I collapsed under the pressure. Such immense raw power! Before I could even try to evade, the warrior started pummelling my shield with powerful strikes. The ground underneath me cracked and my shield chipped away with each ferocious blow.

My shield shattered.

The great sword embedded deep into my shoulder. This can't be it! I tried but willpower alone can't beat experience. Why must it end like this!? Blood contaminated my clothes, escaping desperately. I've been bested. I don't want to die! I finally see the good in this world and then my life is extinguished. How cruel fate can be.

What of Kubo? I can't die yet! I have promises to fulfil. I want to give her a good childhood. Can anyone hear me!? Of course they can't, I've lost the function to talk. I'm too shocked to speak, to beg for mercy. I can't let her be taken by these murderers!

"But aren't you a murderer?" A voice appeared similar to the boy I spoke with in Mira's nightmare.

"No I'm not!"

"You heard the boy. You killed someone. You forcibly took someone's life."

"That was the old me. How do I know this isn't just some hallucination and all this crap about me killing someone is utterly fake?"

"You can't possibly be serious. You don't even believe that so how are you going to fool yourself. You killed someone, no ifs, no buts. You are merely a mistake smearing the perfection of this world. If you did everyone a favour and die, you would be doing everyone a great service, especially my Lady."

"You want me to take my own life all for the sake of your Goddess!?"

"Don't take that tone with me mors-" He was cut off and vanished instantly.

What the hell is going on!? It's becoming so dark, so cold. What's this uneasy feeling? Am I about to die? I'm sorry Kubo, Mira, everyone. I failed you all. I guess I'm just not allowed to be happy at all.

"What do you wish for?" A voice echoed within the infinite void of the darkness.

"I... I want power. Power to be able to preserve my happiness. Power to keep my promises. Power to stop those that stand in the way of my ideals."

"What are your ideals?"

"My ideals... I want to create a world where everyone is treated fairly and aren't subjected to pain. A world where one isn't shackled by thoughts. A world where everyone is happy. I understand that this goal is unobtainable due to the destructive nature of mankind but if no-one tries then the possibility is 0%. If at least one person tries then there will always be a possibility."

"What if not everyone wants to be happy? Will you force your ideals on them and infringe their free will?"

"I... I don't know how to answer that. I've always assumed that someone always yearned for happiness in some form or another. Why wouldn't they want to be happy?"

"If someone close to you died, would you want to be happy straight away? Or would you like to feel the pain of suffering and fight through it to reform yourself?"

"So what your saying is pain must be present to improve a person both mentally and physically? Interesting... Say, who are you?"

"You will know in due time. For now, my final question is, do you want to live?"

"Yes. Before I met Mira and the others I had no purpose. No will to live. Saw no point in fighting an endless cycle of greed and war. I owe my life to them no matter what they say."

"This will be the only time I can grant you a portion of your power. It took me years to gather enough mana to converse like this with you due to the curse. Until you release the curse, you will stay incomplete."

"Wait! Grant me my power? Who are you?"

"You will find out soon. Be patient. Don't die until we meet again. Also say hi to my sister, would you?"

"Do you me-" I was cut off.

My mind became clearer. My vision was restored. Both spirits were stood over Ronan, the warrior raising his great sword above his head. Waves of almost overwhelming power burst through my veins. It was practically unbearable. I couldn't hold control over it as it pumped faster and harder.

Suddenly, darkness engulfed the left side of my body. Catching their attention, the spirits turned and their faces became contorted with anguish and worry. Slowly getting to my feet, a black misty wing sprouted behind my left shoulder. I pointed my finger at the magician.

A beam of darkness pierced her. To her horror the darkness started spreading across her body, swallowing her. The warrior charged me and swung his sword towards my head. I raised my left hand and caught the great sword. As soon as I touched it, darkness infected the blade, shattering it. I pointed again and another beam of darkness started submerging the warrior in despair. The entirety of my left body became incredibly heavy and my mana started going out of control fully.

How do I stop this? At this rate the entire forest will be tainted and consumed by darkness. Think, Zeke, think! I have to get this mana under control. Would meditation help? I immediately sat in the meditation stance and started focussing. Find the core of my mana flow and slow it to a point where the curse seals it again. This is wrong! Why do I have several cores for my mana flow? I was told everyone had only one.

Slowly, but surely, I slowed the mana flow and my curse snatched away my temporary power. I kind of felt a bit disappointed that it was taken so soon. That power was nothing I'd ever felt before. It was a driving, raging force that couldn't be quelled unless you focussed intently. Now it's back to mana failure but at least I kept everyone safe. Or that's what I thought.

Despite the half of my body that had been consumed by the darkness a couple of minutes before, I was still able to walk. So I stumbled over to Ronan to see how he was doing. I dreaded the answer but thankfully he was still breathing and alive. He had lost a lot of blood though. After dressing his wounds from whatever material I could find, I carried him on my back with great difficulty due to the heaviness of my body.

The spirits had seemingly dissolved so there was no worry about seeing them. Stumbling, I arrived at where the children should've been, except there was nothing but a faint trail of blood leading somewhere. That magician cast an illusion! Damn her! 

Exhausted, I anxiously followed the trail. Dread, worry, guilt. All three of these fought to the forefront of my mind. After five minutes I arrived.

I fell to the floor, clutching my mouth in shock. There... there was... I couldn't process it and started throwing up. No! How was I too late!? The children... they... they were slaughtered like lambs. Please don't tell me Kubo is in that pile! Please! Mortified and horrified, I gradually sorted through the bodies. Each face petrified with tears and blood. I wish I'd got here sooner. Maybe if I was quicker I could've prevented this tragedy.

Kubo wasn't here. Where is she? Where is my little girl!?

There were footprints heading to right and heading further into the forest. Shakily, clutching to the miniscule hope of Kubo being alive, I grabbed Ronan and headed deeper into this wretched, cursed forest.