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| Part Two: Enter Talon the Lord of Darkness | |||||||||||||||||
| By Richard LeBlanc | |||||||||||||||||
| In the desolated ruins of a long buried place - a lone person staggered up to his feet. He stumbled towards the nearest wall and hesitantly looked around at the desolation and ruin that surrounded him. | |||||||||||||||||
| "How - long have I slept?" he strained as pain from his numerous wounds forced him to his knees. "How long - have I been trapped in this - place?' he asked quietly. He closed his eyes and began to meditate. He breathed in and slowly out. His wounds began to heal. | |||||||||||||||||
| He shook his head and began to remember flashes of images. | |||||||||||||||||
| "I was in a fight?" he said to himself as he looked around. He remembered an explosion - everything falling in on him. "I lost? No - I was tricked- by - my - student?" he asked himself as he remembered seeing a young Happosai. "Happosai - his name was Happosai," he muttered as he carefully made his way through the dark. He accidentally kicked a pillar. "Owe," he strained. The impact felt as though it had broken the bone. "Why am I so weak?" he strained. | |||||||||||||||||
| He staggered over to where a throne was and sat down. On the walls he could see murals carved in marble and stone through the thick veil of darkness that surrounded him. With a wave of his hand - all of the torches on the walls that were still standing lit. | |||||||||||||||||
| The man on the throne - looked slender - his skin smooth yet pale. His shoulder length silver white hair went down to his shoulders. His clothes - consisted of a dirty, burnt ripped robe and numerous tarnished gold bracelets. Aside from the bleeding that was escaping from the wounded broken leg - he seemed to be in perfect looking health. | |||||||||||||||||
| Around him - was a series of ruins that were the size of a small city. Due to the damage - decay - webs and the like - he had to have been trapped in this desolate fallen place for at least a hundred years. | |||||||||||||||||
| "How can this be? How could I have been gone so long?" he strained. He closed his eyes and began to meditate again. As he did - his wounds began to heal. He then almost collapsed on his throne. "He couldn't have hurt me that badly - no one could," he muttered. It was then that he heard voices. | |||||||||||||||||
| His mind flashed back. He remembered being trapped within his fallen temple. An explosion had shocked him - knocking him into the lower region of his inner sanctum. He then remembered dozens of balls being flung at him. He used the power of an ancient technique to humble the student. Dozens of explosions rocked the place - bringing it down around both him and his student. | |||||||||||||||||
| "At least that fool died," he began as he tried to get up - but his strength was gone. "What power binds me like this?" he muttered as he looked around. "Magic - a spell is in place - it is weak - but in tact," he muttered. | |||||||||||||||||
| He got up slowly and staggered around the ruined remnants of his domain. He wandered aimlessly about - trying to pinpoint the source of the spell. It was then that he felt an aura. He had to back away as its power was physically burning him. he glared and could feel an anger rising in him as he looked at a warded Amazon statue. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Those - wenches - are responsible for this?" he asked on the brink of rage. He looked around like a caged animal. | |||||||||||||||||
| His mind flashed back again. He remembered it more clearly now. The explosions caused by his student and his power caused his hidden city to fall deep into the very core of the mountains in China. He remembered being weakened by the fall - the explosions. He then remembered an Amazon elder placing the very statue that was before him now between him and the only viable exit. He remembered her casting a powerful spell that in his weakened stunned state - he was unable to defend against. He remembered watching helplessly as the Amazon left - and how the exit was sealed - and then darkness. | |||||||||||||||||
| "This trinket - kept me docile - for a hundred years!" he growled as his eyes glowed red. As an aura began to pulse around him - he could feel it being drawn away from him and into the statue. "I will not be humbled by some old woman's spell for one moment longer!" he shouted. He focused all of his concentration on the statue. The aura around the statue began to pulse until it finally exploded. An aura escaped from where the statue had been. Slowly with a deep breath - he breathed the power in. "I think - it is time - I made my return to the land of the living," he hissed as he looked up at the mountain of rock that laid between him and freedom. | |||||||||||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||||||||||
| At that instant in the Amazon village - a tournament was underway. The fight came to a pause when the ground began to shake. Slowly - all eyes turned to the distant mountains. The Amazon elders hurried out and looked to the direction of the disturbance. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Talon's Mountain - the ward is broken," one elder stated. | |||||||||||||||||
| "How is that possible?" another elder asked. It was then that they watched as the largest of the mountains caved in on itself - sending a pillar of dust and smoke upwards. | |||||||||||||||||
| "I don't know. Something must have stirred it from its slumber," the council leader stated as they watched a path of destruction heading outward from the fallen mountain - a path that was leading towards the heart of the Amazon village. "To arms! The Lord of Darkness comes!" she called out. Alarms sounded as all of the men and women of the village gathered their weapons. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Beware of when he wakes - for only the soul of the living and the dead - can turn back the darkness," the council leader muttered as she watched all of her people rallying. "and return the world - back into the light," she continued - reciting a prophecy from a time long forgotten. It was then - that the forest before them exploded - when the smoke cleared - they saw a lone man standing amidst the desolate path he had carved. "Talon," the council leader said - almost spitting having said his name. | |||||||||||||||||
| "As I live - and breathe," Talon began with a low laugh. "The years have been unkind to me - but they have been far less merciful to you and your line! Is this all that is left of the once feared Amazon empire?" he mocked. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Say what you will. You will go no further," the council leader retorted. | |||||||||||||||||
| "You fools - you never stood a chance back then - that was why your elders were wise - to stay out of my affairs. But then - your foolish elders - being the opportunists that they were - chose to change their minds," he hissed as a flaming aura pulsed around him. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Our elders - couldn't stand to live in a world tainted by your stench," she rebutted. | |||||||||||||||||
| "That - I can live with. Pity - that they forgot to finish what they started. Now - it is too late. Now - I wake - I look - I see - a world - that has forgotten - me. Now - in the spirit of amusement - I will overlook - the transgressions of your insipidly foolish elders - if - you tell me where my temple is!" he hissed. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Your temple is long destroyed - the grounds ravaged by time. You will never stand before your altar and the age of darkness that you represent will never come to pass! Return back to the shadows of your fallen empire - for that is all you will ever have!" the council elder shouted as she and the Amazons charged the lone standing foe. A smile crept across his face as he moved his neck in a slow arching motion causing several of the bones to crack. | |||||||||||||||||
| "My dear - I was - so - hoping - you would say that," he mused. The first wave of Amazon warriors drew closer. "Behold - the power of the true - master!" he hissed. His battle aura shot up around him as though he was standing over a geyser. "Fist of the Falling Star!" his voice echoed as he exploded towards the warriors. An explosion of power and moves of a fighter of legend sent everyone near him away in large arching motions. | |||||||||||||||||
| "He is too powerful," one elder stated. | |||||||||||||||||
| "We have no choice but to fight. He will not relent until he reaches his goal - his destination. If he does - all is lost," the council leader stated seriously. | |||||||||||||||||
| "You wretched old crones! Can't you tell? All is already lost to you and your miserable kind!" Talon retorted as he leaped up spun around and kicked away two Amazons that were about to strike him. "Don't you understand just how futile it is to fight me? Half of your most potent techniques were learned from me - behold! The true breaking point!" he mocked as he leaped over and used the true form of the construction technique. The elders gasped as they heard every bone shatter in the body of the Amazon he touched. | |||||||||||||||||
| "You may know many - but you do not know all," the council leader rebutted as she and the other elders leaped at him. | |||||||||||||||||
| The battle - the war between the Amazon tribe and Talon - lasted for almost fifteen hours. No matter what they tried - no matter the technique - the power - he seemed to know its secret and use it against them. To make matters worse - the longer the fight dragged out - the more powerful he seemed to get. | |||||||||||||||||
| Almost five hours later - the village was in flaming ruins. Talon looked around at the broken bodies of every one of the Amazons that sought to oppose him. he quietly laughed for a few moments as he used a forbidden technique to drain their chi completely - drinking in their very souls. | |||||||||||||||||
| Then he found himself alone within a sea of death. | |||||||||||||||||
| "Therapeutic though this was. It defeated the purpose," he muttered as he looked around - hoping that he overlooked at least one of the foolish Amazons that had hoped to stop him. Unfortunately - he was too thorough. He had killed them all. It was then that he slowly got up. "Hold - I feel," he began as breathed in and slowly looked around. "Some were not here," he stated as he moved his finger around as though it was the needle on a compass. He smiled as he pointed his finger in the direction of Japan. "Your foolish sisters - ignored my warning - if you do the same - your kind - will become extinct," he hissed as he began to walk. | |||||||||||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||||||||||
| At that moment - back in Japan in the Cat Cafe, Cologne dropped the dishes in her hands. All of the customers present looked over and could see that something was deeply troubling her. | |||||||||||||||||
| "There is something terrible afoot," she began. | |||||||||||||||||
| "What is?" Mousse asked hesitantly. | |||||||||||||||||
| "I don't know. All I know is that - it is old - and it is heading this way," she concluded. | |||||||||||||||||
| To Be Continued... | |||||||||||||||||