Sunaarashi's Story

But wind held no power over shadow, something Suna aptly demonstrated as shadows coated his body. With a grunt, Suna slammed his fist into Hen Xin's chin, causing the undead warrior's mouth to snap shut.

"You talk too much," Suna said good-naturedly. "Is it more interesting to talk about your powers or simply use them?" Suna smiled again, his eyes as the darkness continued to grow. "Catch me off guard. Surprise me! That's the fun of battle after all!"

Suna swung his sword again, shadows clinging to the blade, making it ripple in a strangely disturbing way. Again it clashed with Hen Xin, but this time, the shadows seemed to cling to Hen Xin's raised arm for just a moment.

The sphere of darkness continued to grow deeper around the two fighters...

"Still boasting, mortals?" Chao Nong cackled with glee. "Still baring your teet- Oh sh-..." he spoke in surprise as Xanth unexpectedly launched the sword right at him, the spinning blade severing his head from his neck.

"The joke's on me this, time admittedly..." his head continued to speak as it rolled around on the ground. To add insult to injury, a horse sped by, it's rider grabbing both Xanth and Ren and pulling them from his clutches. "They can run all they want but they'll never escape this....hey. HEY! What are you doing?" the decapitated Chao Nong shouted at his own body, stupidly fumbling around with a basket full of rotting food.

"I'm over here, STUPID! This way...n-no, no NO, COME ON!" he slammed his forehead derisively into the dirt as his body apparently confused a pineapple for it's cranium.

***

Sunaarashi's punch collided with the jiangshi's face, whose head snapped back slightly, recovering just in time to witness darkness growing around him. "You're fairly chatty yourself, friend." He reacted quickly to the blade descending down against him, moving his arm to block it once again...only to have the shadows dig themselves into his flesh.

"Oh?" Hen Xin noted, glancing as the darkness continued to envelop the area. But even in the shadows, one thing shone brightly. Anyone fighter worth their salt could detect chi, but jiangshi could pinpoint the very soul. Even in the shadows, a soul would always shine bright. "Fu Hu Zhang!"

Locked on to Sunaarashi's life energy, Hen Xin shot a palm forth. Electricity from within not without, unmarred and unafraid of the darkness, it darted out form the jiangshi's palm and pierced into Sunaarashi's abdomen. The attack was two-fold for as the the electricity hit the Sunish warrior, from his wounds he would bleed not blood but his own chi. It was quickly absorbed into Hen Xin's palm, the jiangshi smiling wickedly as he began to convert it into more electricity to begin another attack...

***
Many ghosts had fallen back, repelled by Hakori's holy blade, but the brunt of the tide was relentless in their attempts to enact revenge on her. Like a tidal wave of spectral energy they swopped down, completely honed in on the priestess.

***

"The curse, it's just a part of the curse!" the umbrella squeaked at Samyan, it's bamboo spine being crushed into near splinters. "Keep the curse, the wall stays up! Break, the curse, the wall stays down! Simple, see? But I won't tell you how to break it...no one bothered to let us in on that!"

"Interesting," Sunaarashi said, straightening from the blow. "You can steal chi?" Sunaarashi clicked his tongue. "Daeif."

Sunaarashi lowered his sword and turned away from Hen Xin. "A warrior should use his own strength, Hen Xin Zhao."

The darkness of the sphere was complete now. Pitch blackness surrounded the jiangshi. And within the blackness, the maelstrom began. The shadows struck at every point on Hen Xin's body at once, alternatively slicing and piercing. But although the blows were physical, it was clear now that the shadows were Suna's chi given form.

"Ugghh..." The umbrella croaked, unable to scurry away beneath the Ashura's weight. "Ask the Zhao Brothers, they began all of this! They came to our leaders with an offer! This town seemed like the perfect target!"

"They thought you and your friends would make for some amusement, but as I hear it...they may have more trouble than they realized....can I go now?"

***
Hen Xin Zhao's body was pierced and sliced, spears of shadow emerging from the darkness to impale him in every direction. Hen Xin exhaled deeply, his muscles contracting and drawing in the spears of shadow that were piercing him. The electricity transferred from his chi to Sunaarashi own, dispersing the spears of shadow, allowing a brief window of freedom from the dome of darkness.

"In death, I've learned much the opposite!" Hen Xin boasted, leaping into the air with a mighty jump, far above the darkness. "A warrior should fight to win!" What followed was a loud rumbling, projected at the ground.

Ba-dump....ba-dump

Ba-dumpba-dumpba-dump-ba-dumpba-dump!

Rhythmic and increasing in frequency, it soon became obvious it was the sound of a heartbeat. Hen Xin's own undead heart, restarted not with blood but with chi. Not his own, for the dead cannot truly draw upon life energy, but from the chi of countless victims! Each of their lives stolen literally, unfairly!"

The sound's echoes became so intense that nearby glass and pottery began to shatter. The already dilapidated houses near by began to shake and start to crumble into rubble. The true target however, was the Sunish mercenary, Hen Xin targeting him through the darkness as he targeted Sunaarashi's soul.

***
As Chao Nong's body landed in the first, those sensitive to the barriers effects could feel a brief flicker...as if it, for a fraction of a second, dissipated.

His head, meanwhile began to narrow his eyes at Ren's threat. "Oh, put that away, will you?" he sighed in irritation. "The SOURCE of this evil is far greater than you can comprehend. My brother and I are merely tending the garden in preparation for a great darkness. For you see, we....Oh!"

Stopping amidst his rambling explanation, the severed head grinned. Not too far in the distance, Xanth would spot a headless figure. Impaled still with a pitchfork and clutching that ominous lantern, it dashed towards them at an inhuman speed. It's legs moved with a rigid inhuman swiftness before it leaped far into the air to gain momentum over the horse.

"About time!" Chao Nong said, sporting a cheeky grin as his body's foot launched out from his ankle, attached to a massive chain that wrapped around the bodies of Ren and Xanth, yanking them off of Master Wang Chang's back and onto the ground.

***
The rumblings of Hen Xin's heartbeat would have another effect...all around the town, bodies were beginning to rise. They were not dead, though their bodies moved like it. It was the townsfolk who had come back 'different'. Their arms elongated, some of their faces beginning to resemble twisted versions of animals, their souls tainted by the spirits of their angered ancestors had caused their flesh to turn into that of yokai.

Many of these townsfolk swarmed Yuwen, leaping upon him and clawing at him in violent fervor. They seemed not entirely conscious of their actions.

***

At the inn, Suiken eyes opened. "Enemies will be upon us soon. Very soon..." he commented, standing up as he went to glance outside, past the barrier. Indeed a mob of human-yokai were encroaching upon them. Samyan's barrier should hold them at bay, but Suiken had to wonder if this barrier would stand against them if any part of them remained human.

Suiken went on, "If we can pinpoint the source of this curse, I believe I can aid in disrupting it..." He stated. "But, I'll need the help of all of you here. ...Provided you're good with an instrument."

"Curse? Curse...?" The old woman began to ramble, shaking obnoxiously. "The light...THE LIGHT!"

***
The horde of spirits found themselves split and redirected by Hakori's blade, splitting off into an 'm' shaped before encircling around back towards her. But they would soon have assistance...for more villagers appeared on Hakori's opposite side, forming an ominous wall.

These villagers wore ghastly grins, though their bodies appeared normal...until their mass opened up like the mouth of a carp and they ran towards Hakori, claws outstretched and screeching.

"Urrrrggghhh," Sunaarashi grunted in pain as the waves slammed into him. But still he stood firm, refusing to buckle under the onslaught. If anything, the pain inflicted on Suna's soul only seemed to empower the warrior, as the shadows writhed around him like a living beast. Sunaarashi's sword drank from these shadows deeply, becoming a blackness that seemed to suck at the very light around it like a vacuum.

"Tiqniat Alshafrat Almuzalala," Sunaarashi said, the blade ascending upwards. "Thaqib Alqalb." The tip of the blade extended upwards impossibly, drawing a thin line of nothingness that tore directly into the source of the sound waves, Hen Xin Zhao's heart. For just an instant, Hen Xin Zhao was impaled on that black line.

"Our leaders! Well, they probably fled back to Onium to convey with-" the umbrella began to reveal, when suddenly it was kicked violently back into the fog by Yuwen. It flew backwards, finally feeling safe enough to retreat, attempting to hop away. "Whew! I almost didn't...make it?"

"Hyoo Hyoo..."

A wicked sound briefly filled the fog near Samyan and Yuwen. And a pair of eyes shone in the darkness, silhouetting a figure that stood on four legs, glaring down at the broken umbrella.

"No...NO PLEASE I REVEALED NOTHING, I-" the umbrella gasped before being quickly silenced and the glowing eyes in the fog disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

***

On one end of the road between the town's houses, Hen Xin was briefly impaled through his heart in midair thanks to Sunaarashi's shadow spear. Once it dissipated, he fell to the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees as he chuckled in amusement. "What a surprise...To find foes worthy of us in this town, of all places!"

On the other end of the road, his brother Chao Nong was held in place, twofold. His body frozen in place by Yamato's telekichisis and his head over lapping flames by Xanth. His body, struggled greatly, fighting against the mental force weighing against it. With much effort, it got up to one knee and took a single step forward. A compartment in Chao Nong's knee opened up like a sliding door across his flesh and bone ejected itself from it.

At the end of the bone, was a pristine but ancient jian blade. The bone acting as a hilt, Chao Nong's body reached out to catch the blade, which flashed with the sickly dark green dark green necromantic chi. Suddenly for a second, all the chi within a small radius dissipated, allowing Chao Nong's body to spring free as well as his head....which promptly fell into the fire.

"AGGGHH! Quickly! Get me out! Get me out!" Chao Nong pleaded. His body complied, rushing over with inhuman speed to kick it's head out of the flames. It soared through the air, the sheer wind pressure enough to douse the crackling fire burning the jiangshi's cranium.

Chao Nong's head was about to plummet to the ground if not for his brother leaping up, away from his own battle, to catch it. "This is disgraceful big brother, truly. You took your opponent's too lightly!" he spoke as he landed next to his older brother's body.

"Such wisdom, you've imparted little brother. Certainly, I'd be lost without you now PUT ME BACK TOGETHER!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Hen Xin grumbled, dunking his brother's head violently back onto his neck and beginning to spin it to tighten it back into place.

"No, you absolute moron! Wrong way!" Chao Nong chided as his head spun around rapidly like top.

"Alright, just shaddup..." Hen Xin shot back, adjusting to spin in the opposite direction. Once Chao Nong was properly situated, one last crack in his neck, securing his head in place, the two brothers glanced around to their right and left. Both sides they were outnumbered and surrounded.

"They seem like worthy foes. We should give it our all," Hen Xin noted.

"No, you were right before...they are far more trouble than we had first anticipated," Chao Nong retorted. "We should fight together to finish them and continue our work."

"Hmm. Well, alright...we can settle our contest again later!" Hen Xin reluctantly agreed.

With a swift motion, Chao Nong backflipped into the air, tossing his sword and the lantern held in his other hand high in the sky. His foot that was attached to the long chain hidden in one of his legs shot forth once more as he landed on his hands and his sword landed perfectly in a holster on his heel while he hooked the lantern around the ankle of his other foot. Utilizing techniques borrowed from a warrior from a distant land he had faced long ago, he began to maintain balance on his hands, while whipping his legs around and by extension the chained blade.

Hen Xin leaped into the air, expertly avoiding each swipe of his brothers sword before grace fully landing on the flat of the blade with one foot, able to maintain balance. He folded his arms as he surfed on the blade, not moving until his brother aimed fore one of the houses and he leaped up high.

In one swift circle of the blade, all of the surround homes had their upper halves sliced clean off and propelled into the air. The still human townspeople hiding within, ducked to their floors and screamed as Hen Xin raised a fist back and PUNCHED one of the destroyed lodgings, sending it hurtling towards Xanth, Ren and Yamato. He spun around and kicked another which was sent spiraling towards Sunaarashi.

***

Suiken glared at Lo-Muna with immense disappointment, refusing to answer her until the old woman spoke once more.

"The Lantern! That accursed lantern!" the old woman screamed, clutching the lavender Lo-Muna gave her tightly in her hand. The old woman struggled to remain still as her form began to shift and change. The boy present wanted to cry out for his grandmother but he was too afraid to even move.

"Lantern..." Suiken put a hand to his chin and looked at the other Guild members gathered. "If none of you know how to play an instrument, I'll teach you quickly! And Takai! We'll be in need of your bow! We must join Hakori by the graveyard...and pray that she still lives. I believe I know of a way we can weaken this curse!"

Suiken knelt down next to the boy. "Can you take us to the graveyard? do you know a quick route?" he asked. The boy reluctantly nodded and Suiken turned to the others. "Then we had best make haste! Things will only get worse the longer we linger!"

***
Surrounded by specters and cursed villagers, the towns people began to encircle the shrine maiden on all sides while the spirits present once again merged into a singular mass. A ghastly shape, resembling something of a giant fish as it snaked it's way towards Hakori, opening it's maw wide as if to devour her, body and spirit.

"Hey that's pretty neat," Sunaarashi said to Samyan, looking with interest as he seemed to melt out of the mist like a ghost. Which maybe he was at this point, having had a house dropped on top of him.

"Fishing isn't really something I'm too familiar with," Sunaarashi said, folding his arms. "Never really had the time to learn, but my wife, she used to..." Suna paused. "Well. Just let me know if you need a hand."

Samyan jumped at the sudden appearance of the Sunish man, fumbling the stick between several of her hands before regaining her grip. She would need to keep this particular magic trick in mind. "We're all fine here, thank you," she replied with a smile, her eyebrow twitching.

A thought grabbed her. "Actually," she started, looking down at the man beneath her. "The surviving villagers should be brought to the inn. I need them all gathered in one pl- I would like to be assured of their safety."

Xanth gawked in complete bewilderment as a house came hurtling down at her. Very quickly she made peace with what she was witnessing, her survival instincts not caring whether she could believe what she was seeing or not, it was about to KILL HER, and she sprinted and dived out the way. She somersaulted through an explosion of splinters and tumbled over the ground, jerking her head back up just in time to see Sunaarashi - Suna, what are you doing - SUNA, MOVE!

Xanth was unable to scream for him to look out and Sunaarashi was flattened beneath a house.

Ren looked up into the air to see the house plummeting towards him, then Xanth dashing away to the side to try and avoid the destruction. At this point, the swordsman had concluded he'd witnessed more than what he'd ever thought he could experience in his life, and was very much hoping this was the worst he would encounter or the rest of it. He pressed his feet firmly into the dirt beneath him, and then pushed up into the air, quickly meeting the abode, grabbing onto it, and scrambling up to its highest point.

The Swordsman took only a few mere seconds to assess the area around, and that green light caught his eye again. The lantern from that zombie man. Ren leapt from the roof of the building, higher into the air, the world seemingly moving in a fast, rapid blur. But he managed to stay concentrated, and reached into his armor to produce a second miniature bow. Both hands now equipped, he took aim at the green light and let loose.

One arrow pierced through Chao Nong's wrist, severing the hand from his arm. The second arrow pierced through the lantern, sending it cascading down to the ground in various pieces, and shattering into even more when it landed.

For his part, Ren managed to fumbled his way back down onto the pile of house rubble below him, skidding off a roof and onto solid Earth once more. Xanth was still standing, which brought a sense of relief. But what of the others? And their enemies...

When the lantern shattered upon the ground and a wave a of green flame erupted from it, blasting all in front of it back, it was as if the town stood completely still for the moment. In the graveyard the mass of spirits quickly dissipated and retreated back. The forms of the spirits became rapidly less monstrous. The changed townspeople also took a step back, spasming on the ground.

The Yokai littered throughout the village began to shirk back into the shadows, unseen, for the barrier around the village had finally dissipated. The Zhao brothers now stood back on the ground in the center of the village, hovering over the shattered lantern, a ghastly look on their faces. "The Lantern..." Chao Nong breathed, unconcerned with his severed hand, which crawled up onto his shoulder. "The Master will not be happy..." he breathed terrified sigh.

Hen Xin's hands balled into fists as he gritted his teeth. His eyes hatefully glaring at the group assembled before him. "We've been fools, brother. Deterred far too long playing with these wretched vermin."

"Indeed...we should've stopped fooling with them far earlier. It's too late to rectify our mistake," Chao Nong agreed, placing his unsevered hand in the air, a dark aura of necromantic chi swirling about it. "Xiù tiě de zu zhòu..." he mumbled, a series of jagged Yunish characters, extending from his arm and slithering like a snake towards Ren. The words went through his armor and grafted themselves onto his skin. "Be cursed 'til your dying breath.,."

And then, with a sudden lurch, both undead brothers crumpled over, their flesh burning with green fire. "MASTER!" Hen Xin cried out, speaking in a tone he had not used in a very long time. One of hurt. One of pain. "Forgive us! There were interlopers! Unexpected intruders!"

"Give us another chance! We've always served you well!" Chao Nong pleaded as he crumpled to the ground. Within seconds, the green fire had vanished, leaving the two pained jiangshi brothers to pick themselves off of the ground.

Gathering the remains of the lantern, Hen Xin bellowed forth. "Great Guild Fortune.... We will remember this name."

Suddenly, Hen Xin and Chao Nong leaped into the air, reaching heights far higher than any regular human. They hopped from one of the still intact rooftops, to a tree, to another tree and were soon out of sight...

***

"The spirits...they've calmed," Suiken noted, glancing around as the once haunting specters now took the forms they had attained upon death. That of humans bathed in a calming light. They looked on in both confusion and concern upon some of their living descendants, who lay groaning upon the ground. "These people, they're still cursed..."the snow oni continued. "They'll eventually recover, thankfully. We may not have been able to finish the warding song, but what we did sing should be enough to alleviate the curses' affects in a few months," he sighed.

"Ah," Sunaarashi said, glancing up as the mist cleared. "You can see the stars now."

"Mm," Samyan confirmed, looking up at the night sky. She dropped down from the tree with a sigh, joining the Sunish warrior back on the ground.

"What an anticlimax," she bemoaned, tossing the stick aside. "Utterly unsuitable for the stage. Did the grand architect of this little performance even make an introduction? Do you know?"

"It appears not," Sunaarashi frowned. "I'm troubled. One of them survived my blade. I've never had that happen before."

Sunaarashi paused, then cleared his throat. "I'll go check on the others."

The desert warrior stepped back on to the street and with some surprise found Xanth digging through the rubble. The girl hadn't noticed him yet, and Sunaarashi paused for a moment. Before Xanth had a chance to see him, he vanished into shadow.

A few moments later, Xanth moved a piece of wood to find Sunaarashi pinned under a board.

"Ah," Suna said, with a small smile. "I was hoping someone would find me. Thank you, lass."

Xanth burst into a relieved, somewhat bewildered grin at the sight of the man she unearthed, completely unscathed. She knocked on his tough noggin' in amazement then got down to excavating him with the dog, who was more a hindrance, spraying Suna's head with dirt.

Fellow desert soldier saved and brushed off, she tugged him back towards Yamato and the hero of the hour and launched congratulatory fists into the pair's arms. Her dancing hands showered them in silent compliments.

Suiken glanced over his shoulder as he spotted Yuwen shoving Lo-Muna into a grave and subsequently getting shot with multiple beams of light, before turning back around. "Anyway, if there's anything we can do for you people now that things have settled down, please let it be known to us. We didn't finish lifting this curse so it's the least we can do," he shrugged, speaking to some of the normal villagers as they warily approached the graveyard.

"I don't know how we can thank you enough," one villager cried, teary eyed. The boy from earlier ran to her, hugging her knees.

"Mom!" he shouted, crying as well.

"How can we ever repay you?" the boy's mother continued.

"WHAT?!" Suiken shouted over the light rays blasting into Yuwen's hide.

"I SAID....HOW CAN WE EVER REPAY YOU?" the woman shouted, the rays of light not ceasing just yet.

"WE WERE PROMISED SOMETHING BUT I THINK IT'S OKAY IF...." Suiken tried to shout, the blasts only growing louder. "I THINK IT'S OKAY IF..."

Both turned around to see if the assault had stopped.

"..." the group of spirits stated, as they silently watched the saviors of town continuously assault eachother for five minutes.

After Ren had reached the ground, the lantern soon met it as well, and the swordsman felt a wave of heat, accompanied by blinding green light, slam into him like a boulder and sent him flying back. He landed hard on his back, but managed to roll onto his front to avoid any licks of flame from causing serious damage.

That was about everything Ren had not expected to happen.

As he turned over and sat up once more, he saw the damage that had been wrought, and the darkness that was now receding... Had the lantern been some sort of source of power? A conduit? He had assumed it was tied to the powers of the two Zhao brothers, but were they really the cause of all of this?

Speaking of them, they seemed stunned by what had happened, and as they began to talk, Ren became more aware of what might be the real cause behind this village's woes. Some unnamed 'master'...

Before he could react in any way, he heard them speaking in a way he wasn't overly familiar with, and as they did so, he was suddenly assailed by jagged looking Yunish characters, slithering through the openings in his armor, seeping past cloth, and oozing onto his skin where they quickly formed to him.

Ren screamed in pure pain, screamed so loud it began to make his throat raw. He fell to his knees, still weeping as every inch of his body burned with an all encompassing pain that mimicked fire itself. The swordsman tried to lift his hands up to help himself, but they shook violently like dead autumn leaves in a windstorm.

As the pain coursed through his body, he heaved deep breaths, eyes wide and becoming bloodshot, thin streams of tears making their way from his eyes. After the two Zhao brothers left, the pain began to subside a little, but it was still seething. He began to make his way to his feet, looking around as his mind tried to right itself, tried to think through the pain.

From some direction behind him, he felt a gentle nudge that sent waves of pain washing over him. He let out another scream of pain as he turned in time to see Xanth shift from a cheerful, celebratory jolliness, to shock and confusion at what was happening to Ren.

He bared his teeth from the pain, mouth frothing as he quickly pulled the armor from his body. How many days had it been since he joined Yuwen Fortune's group? Two? Three? He felt a fury rising in him, something teetering on hatred for the Guild Leader. But, in a moment of rational clarity, Ren's mind churned up the reality that Yuwen almost definitely had nothing to do with what happened today, that this town's woes were all their own, and that truly nothing could have been done to spare Ren his current pain.

As his emotions began to settle, and a sense of forgiveness set in, he finally took a moment to observe the skin of his arms and chest. It was covered in horrific looking black marks, around the edges of which thin trickles of blood had formed. The hatred welled up inside him again.

The Zhao brothers, their mysterious master... Not since Ren's time as a slave to the Oni's had he felt this level of contempt. If he ever saw those two again, or their master...

He would kill them all himself.

Xanth's excitement plummeted straight through the earth's core. Her hands clasped over her mouth as Ren stripped the armor away, revealing black marks glistening with wetness in the moonlight. A slight char and hint of rot hit her nose. She hesitantly reached a hand out for the seething man, just barely brushing her fingers over the marks and flinching back at his reaction. She looked at the blood staining her fingertips and back to him, brow wrought with deep concern. She swept a comforting hand over his forehead then tossed away, releasing a piercing whistle.

The dog dropped the yokai ball. She leapt on as he shot past, galloping to the graveyard, which was easy to find now, with all the dazzling green lights blasting into the sky. She rode until she caught the big blue silhouette of Suiken and whistled to get his attention. She waved him over urgently, mouthed Ren's name, and took back off, watching over her shoulder to make sure Suiken was following as fast as he could to Ren's aid.

Yamato's eyes snapped open as he gasped for air. He raised a hand to his head in an effort to control the throbbing. The metallic taste of blood coated his tongue. What happened? He couldn't remember anything after Fortune had rescued him from the Yokai. Blurry images of the Headless assailant filled his mind but nothing more. He felt around him for his sword, quickly sheathing it.

Picking himself up off the ground proved a difficult task. Had he been run over by a horse-drawn carriage? His wings ached, his legs shook, and each breath was more labored than the one before it. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he could see Suna and Ren, yet something was off. As he grew closer, the stench of death filled his nose, and the dark decaying patches on Ren were clearly the source. "S-sorry..." Yamato muttered, unable to look the two powerful men in the eye. He looked up to see Xanth and Suiken running their way, but it didn't seem like they brought good news for the cursed swordsman.

Xanth went stiff at the mention of Samyan. She nervously paced the dog at Ren's side as Suiken went to fetch her, her teeth gnawing at her thumb.

The dog shivered as Samyan leisurely wandered over with no concern for anything. Xanth lowered her chin to his head, staring pointedly at the knives tucked in Samyan's bindings. The traitor was taunting her.