Toran and Ashara

--- Zena's Village

The moment Jay arrived, he knew he was too late. There were a lot of bloodstains on the ground, the walls of the wooden houses, and a lot of debris. It was as if a beast horde ran through the village.

"Strange. Why aren't there any bodies around?" Hellson immediately spoke as Jay looked around the village.

Just as Jay and Hellson were wondering why, Jay stumbled upon the village temple and saw a very gruesome sight.

The villagers were now a large corpse pile. The hundreds of villagers were now lifeless corpses with their hearts ripped out with some kind of weapon.

"Zena! Talia!"

Jay immediately recognized two of the corpses on the topmost part of the corpse pile. Cubsy immediately jumped off Jay's back and pulled Talia's lifeless body towards him.

~Grrr...

Cubsy growled softly while her tears flowed down her eyes.

"Damn it!"

Jay cursed loudly and punched the ground as he knelt beside Talia and Zena's corpse. Deep within him, he knew he had to do something about this and find a way to make the ones who killed them pay.

"Cubsy, help me line them up while I dig some graves for everyone." Jay said as he patted Cubsy's back and grabbed a shovel that was just lying around, which was probably used as a weapon by one of the villagers before getting killed mercilessly.

Cubsy understood what Jay said and started to dismantle the corpse pile and line the bodies for burying.

...

Meanwhile, inside a house in the village, Toran and Ashara were currently filling their bodies with some bread they found. There was an awkward silence between them as they ate, so Toran decided to speak up.

"My lady, since our home is long gone, what are you going to do?"

"Bide my time and get stronger. After that, I will repay the favor to those Darkkonians and Aexelorians. No matter how long it takes, I will get revenge. For my father, for our plane, and for everyone else." Ashara said with a trace of anger in her voice.

Then suddenly, the both of them heard some shoveling sounds coming nearby.

"They're back?"

Just as the two of them were wondering if the black armored women were back again, they suddenly heard something.

"I should practice using my Spirit Power after this."

~Grrrr...

Toran immediately went out of the house and checked it out. Ashara kept on eating and decided to follow Toran after she was done.

...

--- Village Temple

After around 30 minutes, due to the increased physical capabilities Jay had thanks to his Spirit Power, he managed to dig enough graves for the hundreds of villagers.

"A survivor?" Toran was currently watching Jay and Cubsy fill in the graves.

Then suddenly, Jay picked up the shovel beside him and threw it towards Toran, who was hiding behind a rock.

"Oh shit..."

Toran did not even dare to wait what will happen and jumped away from the rock he was hiding at. Just a split second he did so, the shovel shattered the rock he was hiding at and pierced through the ground, leaving its handle above the ground.

"A Shurymite? Toran?" Jay was surprised when he saw who it was. He was also glad that it wasn't an Ashnakara woman or he is really screwed.

"Oh right, I am currently in a female disguise..." Jay sighed when he remembered this. Just as he was wondering how he will approach Toran, something unexpected happened.

"Please don't kill me. I have a family!"

Toran suddenly knelt on the ground and begged for his life.

"Stand up. Tell me who killed these villagers and I will spare you." Jay said, pretending that he was one of the Ashnakara women.

"There were 11 of them. Women clad in black armor. All of them had a black sword on their backs. I swear upon my life that this is all I know."

After getting the information from Toran, Jay decided to continue burying the villagers first before talking with Toran about why he was here in Ashnakara.

"Demon, help me bury the villagers. Hurry up before I lose my patience." Jay said and attempted to boss Toran around. And it worked like a charm.

...

After a few minutes later, all of the villagers were buried and Jay was currently in front of Zena's grave.

"Don't worry. I will kill the bastards that did this to you." Jay said softly before turning his back and decided to hear out Toran's story.

"My lady, please follow me. I have a companion with me and we are currently resting at one of the houses in the village."

Jay was surprised to know that there was another Shurymite besides Toran who arrived at Ashnakara.

He just agreed to follow Toran since he knew that Toran was powerless right now. It was obviously the same with his companion.

~Grrrr...

"Cubsy, want to tag along?" Jay said as he looked at Cubsy who was still sitting in front of Talia's grave.

~Grrr...

Cubsy just looked at Jay then continued sitting in front of Talia's grave.

"Well, I guess not." Jay told himself and Toran started leading him towards the house he and Ashara were currently hiding at.

...

The moment Jay and Toran arrived, Ashara was sleeping on the floor for some reason.

"My lady, please sit down while I wake her up." Toran said as he scratched his head and bent over towards Ashara. After doing so, he poked her horns, waking her up.

"Huh?"

"So, how many of you Shurymites are in this world?" Jay quickly spoke the moment Ashara woke up.

"What? How does she know about..." Toran and Ashara was surprised when the lady in front of them knew about their race.

"Relax, I am not going to harm the both of you since I know you are powerless right now." Jay said and was wondering what his fake name would be. Just going with his name while on female disguise was just... really uncomfortable.

"My name's Zena. Now, back to the matter at hand, how did the two of you end up here?"

Toran and Ashara quickly regained their composure and sat in front of Jay.

"The Shurym Plane, our home, is long gone. During the final moments before the total destruction happened, my father threw the Shurymites towards the gateway portal. I really do not know where the rest of us are, but only me and Toran are here at this plane." Ashara said and seemed as if she was feeling depressed when she spoke about it.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Jay immediately asked the two.

"We just want to leave this plane. If not, then we want to find a way to get stronger in order to live here." Toran said and stopped Ashara from saying something unnecessary.

"Oh?" Jay suddenly had a great idea in mind.

"Idiot! What the hell are you thinking off again?!!" Hellson scolded Jay immediately when he understood what Jay was thinking.

"Hey, you two. Why don't we make a deal?" Jay said as he looked at Toran and Ashara.

The two immediately got intrigued and was wondering what it was all about.

"I will help you regain power in this world. In return, I want the both of you to be my followers for 10 years." Jay said, and hoped for the best.

"10 years?" Ashara was the first one to react. Wasn't ten years a bit too long?

Jay immediately released his Spirit Power and looked at Ashara.

"10 years is just a short span of time in this world. What you are seeing now is just the weakest form of power here."

Toran and Ashara were shocked when they heard this. Right now, Jay looked like he can kill the both of them with a slap.

"5 years then. If the both of you are still in doubt after 5 years, then our deal is off. So, what's your choice?" Jay said as he tried his best to speak in a seducing tone.

After a few minutes, Ashara and Toran made their decision.

"Lady Zena, the both of us agree to this deal."

"Alright." Jay stood up and gestured them to follow him.

...

--- Village Temple

Jay brought the two Shurymites over here so that they can go through the same thing he went through and gain their Spirit Power form.

~Grrr...

Jay saw that Cubsy was still in front of Talia's grave and sighed.

"Who wants to go first?" Jay quickly asked the two.

"Please allow me." Ashara quickly replied and wondered what Jay was planning.

"By the way, what are your names? I forgot to ask them earlier." Jay said and tried to act natural.

"Lady Zena, my name's Ashara. And the one over there is Toran."

"Alright then. Ashara, step inside the stone circle and meditate. While doing so, think of a respectful chant that will grab the attention of the four goddesses." Jay said and instructed Ashara to do what he did.

Ashara quickly did what Jay asked and stepped in the stone circle. She quickly knelt down, placed her hands over her chest, and closed her eyes.

She did this for an hour before reciting a chant.

"Dear Goddesses of this world, please guide this lost sheep who stumbled upon this world. Guide me, protect me, shield me..."

Jay did not hear the rest of her words. Then suddenly, a yellow ball of light descended in front of her.

"That quick? To think I actually spent around 4 hours..." Jay thought to himself and watched Ashara grab the yellow ball of light.

Then after a few more moments, Ashara stood up and bowed her head in front one of the statues and thanked it.

"So, how do you feel?" Jay asked Ashara as she exited the stone circle. He also gestured Toran to proceed.

"I feel strange..." Ashara said and was not sure how to put her feelings into words.

"Try to concentrate and release your Spirit Power. You may feel better if you do so for the first time." Jay said and taught Ashara the concentration technique Tania taught him.

Ashara quickly did what Jay taught and the moment she did, a grayish smoke covered her body and a really faint and illusory image of a gigantic snake appeared behind her.

Then suddenly, just as Ashara was going to stop releasing her spirit power, the ground started shaking violently, making her and Jay slip on the ground.

"What the..."

The two of them immediately looked at Toran and saw that the statues and the stone circle was starting to crack.

"Goddesses! Who cares who or what you are!?? My family is dead! My plane is dead! My god is dead! Oh, smite me for all I care! Destroy me just like how your lofty planes destroyed the weaklings in the Great Millennia!"

"What the fuck..." Jay did not know what happened to Toran for him to vent out his anger. Even Ashara was shocked with Toran's attitude right now.

Then suddenly, the four colored women appeared as the four statues crumbled into dust.

"Blind fool! Who do you think you are for you to judge us as murderers?!!" The red colored woman shouted and grabbed Toran by the neck.

"That's what you are. Murderers. If this planar war did not exist because of you and your stupidity, my family wouldn't have died! Just because you are ranked higher within the Great Millennia, you make the planes that are within the 900th rank fight it out and all of you who ranks higher watch for your enjoyment." Toran said before the red woman tightened her grasp on his neck.

"YOU..." The four colored women did not even had a way to reply to Toran since they knew that what he said was mostly true. But even though this was the case, they knew that Ashnakara never took part in the planar wars due to the conflict within their world. For them to be judged by Toran just because they were ranked higher in the Great Millennia, it was just wrong.

The red woman threw Toran back to the ground and the green woman decided to speak.

"Ashnakara never took part in the Great Cleansing and was against this. Our rank within the Great Millennia is the 99th place. If you think the lower ranked planes are the only ones who are suffering, then believe what you want to believe."

Toran cooled down a bit when he heard this. Then, the blue woman spoke up.

"Our time is already up. If you want to know more, meet us at the Sacred Mountain."

After saying this, the four colored women vanished and a red ball of light descended in front of Toran.

"Toran! What was that all about?!!" Ashara quickly ran towards Toran and scolded him.

"I'm sorry my lady. I just..." Before he could even finish apologizing, Jay approached him and tapped his back.

"Don't worry about it. The same thing happened to me, except the venting part. But at least now, both of us have the same goal. To reach the Sacred Mountain."

Toran and Ashara were shocked with what Jay said. Not wasting any more time, Toran grabbed the red ball of light and he only took a few seconds before getting his Spirit Power form.