By: Rowen of Strata
Hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to send all comments, flames and suggestions to [email protected]. WARNING: I got a little carried away with the cursing in this chapter, so if cursing offends you, don’t read this chapter.
 

Part 3
The Night From Hell
 

As Rowen’s lifeless body lay upon the floor, his ears began to bleed and the blood merged with the spilled milk on the floor. Then something slid beneath the door. The smoke-like substance took a solid form, picked up Rowen and disappeared from sight, taking the Ronin of Life with him. Meanwhile, Mia was sitting in her room becoming very frustrated at the computer.
"THIS DAMNED THING! WHY THE HELL ISN’T IT TRANSLATING THIS STUPID LEGEND! I HATE TECHNOLOGY! UGH!"
Mia’s scream caused Sai to wake up from his pleasant rest on the couch.
‘Can’t a guy get any sleep around here without being woken up either by some type of new evil or a person arguing with themselves, others or machines? Jeez.’ Sai thought as he lifted himself from the couch to see what Mia had her temper all riled up about. As he made his way upstairs to Mia’s room, he decided to check on Sage and saw that he was sleeping quite soundly in his bed. As he walked into Mia’s room, she turned around and Sai saw that her head looked like it was about ready to explode! Sai couldn’t help but laugh at this sight.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT FISH BOY? I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY AND DECIPHER THIS LEGEND!"
"Calm down Mia or else your head is going to explode. You know that I’m not very good at translations, Rowen is though."
"Okay. I’m as calm and serene as the bottom of the ocean." Mia said as she calmed herself down by taking deep breaths. Recently Mia had been going to anger management sessions and that ridiculous phrase was what the doctor told her to recite when she became angry. Just then a scream was heard from Sage’s room followed by a loud thud.
"Sage!" Mia and Sai yelled as they ran to Sage’s room. "Are you okay?" They opened the door to find Sage on the floor, clutching his head while there were small trickles of blood coming from between Sage’s fingers on both hands. He went from a sitting position to rolling around on the floor in anguish. As Sai ran over to Sage, Sage suddenly stopped thrashing. He looked like he was in a trance because his eyes were as blank as the ceiling above him. Sai went behind him and tried to wake him up by shaking him, but he received no response. After a few minutes, Sage snapped out of his trance very suddenly.
"Shit! Rowen! Where are you Rowen!" Sage yelled as he ran out the room and down the stairs. As Mia and Sai walked out of Sage’s door, they saw Sage standing in the middle of the room looking all around him while his blood trickled down both sides of his face. Then Sage frantically turned around and went in the kitchen. He screamed at the sight he found there. Just then, Mia and Sai walked in the kitchen as well. Their reactions were the same as Sage’s. As the two sat and gawked at the mess before them when Sage collapsed on the floor.
"Why does all this freakin’ stuff happen when I’m asleep? What the hell happened to Rowen and why is Sage bleeding from his ears? Damn it! I hate this!" Sai screamed at no one in particular.
"Calm down Sai, your head looks like it’s about ready to explode." Mia stated sarcastically. "We need to calm down and call the others on Kendy’s cell phone and get Sage onto the couch. Would you do that Sai?" Sai could tell that Mia was trying to keep her panic under control while she walked over to the phone. Sai placed Sage on the couch, with a towel beneath his head, and sat down next to him.
"I bet you know what happened to Rowen, Sage. That’s probably why your ears are bleeding. You probably bonded with him when you probed his mind earlier. I just hope that the demon’s prophecy hasn’t come true." Sai said as he decided to sit down as well because of the splitting headache he had. Meanwhile in town, Kendy, Maurette and the others were at a fast food restaurant. Kendy and Maurette were having a tough time eating because of Kento and he had already driven away most of the other customers.
"Where the hell do you put all of that food Kento? I mean, there is only so much room in a person’s stomach and I would think that you already exceeded its limit about a half-hour ago." Maurette asked becoming very amused with Kento’s eating habits.
"Hey! I have a need for a lot of food okay? I can’t help it!" Kento snapped back.
"Jeez, I was just curious." Maurette stated meekly. Then Kendy’s cell phone rang. She picked it up while everyone else was quite curious who it was.
"Hello? What? Calm down Mia, now what is it? Oh my God! We’ll be over there as fast as we can. Bye. We’re leaving, now, and I mean it Kento. Bring the food with you."
"What did Mia want? It sounded important considering your reaction." Ryo asked as everyone headed for the car.
"I’ll tell you on the way there. Hurry up Kento!"
"Hey! I’m trying not to drop my food!"
"We’ll leave you behind if you don’t hurry up! I mean it! We’re needed back at Mia’s!"
"Fine! Jeez, it’s like the return of the PMS avenger being around her." Kento mumbled to himself as he ran to the car.
In the car, Ryo noticed that while Kendy was driving, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Kendy. What did Mia tell you? You can trust me."
"Ryo, she told me that there was blood all over the kitchen floor, and Sage is unconscious and bleeding from the ears."
"There has to be something else Kendy, otherwise you wouldn’t be crying."
"Yea. There is. Rowen’s," Kendy stalled while swallowing the lump in her throat, "Rowen’s gone. It was his blood on the kitchen floor. I know it is. Mia said it was horrible." Ryo continued to comfort Kendy as they pulled into the driveway. When they walked into the house, they saw Sage’s form on the couch with two streams of blood coming from his ears and landing on a crimson towel beneath his head. Some of his hair had turned red due to the streams. Then next to him was Sai, clutching his head and groaning in pain. Mia was sitting next to him trying to comfort him, hoping that he was going to be okay.
"Holy shit! Sai! Are you okay?" Maurette said, but she received no response as she sat down next to him. She saw that his eyes were tightly shut and he was rocking back and forth. "Oh God Sai. Please answer me." Maurette passed her hands through Sai’s wet hair as she said this.
"He’s been like this ever since I hung up the phone with Kendy. I can’t get him to snap out of it." Mia said. Then Sai suddenly stood up and he was no longer clutching his head.
"I know where Rowen is." After he said this, Sai collapsed on the floor, his last bit of energy spent.
Rowen awoke to a splitting headache. He tried to raise his hands up to massage his temples to relieve the migraine, but he realized that he was chained to a hard surface. He opened his eyes to discover that he was in the same room that he was in before, except this time he was alone. Sage’s soul wasn’t there, which relieved Rowen of some of his anxiety.
‘Thank the Gods! At least Sage isn’t in danger, but what am I doing here? No! It can’t be! The prophecy! Damn! I gotta get out of here before….’ The slamming of a heavy metal door followed by an eerie silence interrupted Rowen's thoughts. Then a bright purple light filled the room and blinded the helpless Ronin.
"What do you want demon?" Rowen screamed out as his eyes stared blankly onward.
"You know perfectly well what I wish to have, Rowen of the Strata. Your body is nearly perfect since I bonded your armor to your soul. I need to possess it so I can re-enter the mortal world and fish-boy will be my servant. His already being turned to my side as we speak."
"You lie! If you harm Sai, I’ll.."
"What’ll you do? You can’t even free yourself, let alone save your friend. Now be still, for this is an extremely painful process."
"Thanks for the warning. I kinda guessed that." Rowen’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. Then it entered through Rowen’s ears and Rowen unleashed a scream that wouldn’t be possible for any lesser man to achieve. Rowen opened his eyes as the demon possessed the last section of his mind. His eyes changed from their normal stormy blue color to a shade of bright purple that made his eyes look like ice. The chains were lifted from his arms and Rowen dropped to the floor and landed on his feet. Then he teleported back to the woods surrounding Mia’s house.
After walking for several minutes, Rowen came upon Mia’s house. As he walked towards the door, he could hear the sounds of bickering through the door.
"I’m telling you Kento that we need to go and rescue Rowen!"
"I’m with you on this one, but for one thing, Sage and Sai are out cold, which means our strength in numbers is gone. Also, we don’t even know where the hell Rowen is! Sai said he knows where Rowen is, which means we should wait until he wakes up to leave."
Meanwhile, Kendy was sitting in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. Mia saw this and decided to leave Ryo and Kento to argue amongst themselves while she comforted Kendy.
"Kendy, Rowen will be fine. You’ll see. He’ll come back as strong as ever, and just as curious and intelligent."
"I’d love to believe you Mia, but I have the worst feeling about him and my feelings are never wrong. I’d give anything to be able to help him right now." Kendy sighed and looked out the window at the stars. "Aren’t the stars beautiful? No wonder Ro loved them so much."
Mia left Kendy to go and check on Maurette. She was holding Sai like there was not going to be a tomorrow. Maurette was cradling his head in her lap while she was staring blankly into space. Mia knew she wouldn’t receive any response from her, so she continued on into the other room to try and stop all of the arguing. Then it would be her job to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Just thinking about it gave her the chills. Mia had always hated blood. She had tried to convince either Kento or Ryo to do it, but being the lazy people they are, they refused. Also, Mia didn’t dare ask Maurette or Kendy because that might send them into shock, so she was stuck with it. As she walked towards the kitchen, Rowen was standing outside of the closed door, waiting for the right moment to enter.
‘Pathetic fools. This disguise will trick them all. Wait! If I go in like this, they will think I got out way too easily.’ Then he started to rip his clothes apart until they were nothing more than shreds of cloth. Claws appeared out of his fingertips and he started to scratch his skin. He made several cuts on his legs and arms and one very large gash across his temple and above his eyes. ‘There. Now it will look like I had to battle someone to leave my prison. Now I have to pretend to pass out when those two fools open the door.’
Just at that very same moment, Ryo opened the door saying, "Well I’m going to save Rowen myself then!" When he turned around, Rowen decided to pass out right into his arms.
"Crap! Where the hell did you come from Rowen? From the looks of it, you certainly had a struggle with someone." Ryo laid Rowen down. "KENTO, KENDY, MAURETTE, MIA! Rowen’s back, but he’s pretty scratched up! Somebody come help me!"
At those words Kendy looked up and ran to where Ryo was. "I’ll help ya! God I’m so glad that he’s back!" With that statement, Kendy lifted Rowen up like it was nothing at all and ran up the stairs with him in her arms.
"Talk about over enthusiasm. I’ve never seen anyone so riled up before." Ryo stated, pointing out the obvious.
"No kidding. The only time I get that enthusiastic about something is when Sai’s cooking dinner." Kento responded. Then, as if the mention of his name called him back, Sai started to wake up.
"Come on Sai. That’s it." Maurette said as Sai awoke and looked into her eyes.
"Hi love. Oh my Gods! We need to go find Rowen! He might be hurt really bad and who knows what…." Sai was interrupted by Kendy’s yell.
"He’s waking up!" Kendy watched as Rowen opened his eyes and looked at her. She expected to see the normal blue eyes, but instead she received a shade of purple that showed no emotion whatsoever. "Oh my God! Rowen! What happened to your eyes?"
"My eyes? What’s wrong with my eyes?" Rowen said as he cast a spell on her that would make her believe whatever he told her.
"Nothing’s wrong with your eyes. I think they’re beautiful, that’s all."
"Better. Now let’s go downstairs and show the guys how good I feel."
Rowen walked downstairs with Kendy following behind him. He made sure he had a slight limp to make the effect he wanted. He walked into the kitchen to see Mia cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.
"Sorry Mia. I didn’t mean to make such a big mess."
"Rowen! You’re awake! That’s good and don’t worry about the mess. You’re hurt too badly to be doing any work anyway." Mia responded. Sai also walked into the kitchen and decided to help Mia clean up the spilled milk as Rowen walked into the next room
‘That puny little boy will be under my control by this time tomorrow and my plan will be put into action. With this body and brain I’ll be able to rule the world!’ Rowen thought to himself. Meanwhile, deep inside of his mind, the actual Rowen was cowering in the only corner of his brain that wasn’t affected by the darkness.
‘I’ve got to get out of this place and warn the guys that the thing they are seeing isn’t me, but how is the question. My telepathic abilities are blocked off and if I leave this corner I risk being erased completely. Gods I wish I knew what to do!’
Sage had awoken as well that night and he seemed to be the only one that wasn’t affected by Rowen’s spell. Sage knew that something evil was hiding within Rowen, but no one believed him. For one thing, he tried to tell the others that Rowen’s eye color had changed, but no one seemed to notice. Also, Rowen’s voice had become deeper as well. All noticeable changes but no one cared.
Everyone went to bed at around 11:00pm, even though there was school tomorrow. Sage tried to sleep, but the evil essence he felt from Rowen was too strong to ignore. So Sage decided to sleep on the couch for the rest of the night.
Everyone was up early the next morning. Rowen wasn’t at the breakfast table, but that was expected from him since he considered a descent hour to get up at was 1:00pm. Then everyone heard the door slam and Rowen walked in the door wearing a pair of running shorts and a shirt.
"Good morning everyone!" With that, Rowen left the room and went upstairs to change into school clothing.
Everyone had a look of shock on their faces as they watched who they thought was Rowen walk up the stairs.
"Now I’ve seen everything. Rowen was up before everybody for once." Ryo said as he slapped his palm against his forehead.
"This is actually quite strange guys. The day that Rowen and I came here, he still slept like the living dead. He couldn’t have changed that fast unless here was some type of interference from someone or something. Also, did any of you notice that his eye color has changed, or is that just me?" Sai stated.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU ALL LAST NIGHT?" Sage yelled as his face started to turn red.
"Shut up, Sage. Sai’s right. There’s something wrong and we’re going to find out sooner or later what that is." Kendy stated. (If you’re wondering why everyone is questioning why Rowen’s acting the way he is and about his unusual eye color is because Rowen’s spell only lasts for about 8 hours, but Rowen doesn’t know that.)
"Well anyway, we need to get to school early for the introduction assembly." Maurette stated breaking the silence. As everyone left the table, Kento decided to stay for a minute.
"Hey! Are you guys going to finish your breakfasts’?"
"Get your butt in the car, Kento! We’re leaving now!" Kendy yelled from her position in the driver’s seat. As Kento came walking out the door, Rowen sprinted past him.
"Ha! I got to the car before you did!" Rowen taunted in a singsong type of voice.
"Oh shut up you blue-haired goon!" Kento grumbled as he got into the back seat because the front was reserved for Rowen. Then they all drove off to school, never suspecting what a hectic day it was going to be.