Warpath
Joined: 01 Jul 2005
Posts: 782
Location: Ascending toward the heavens
|
NOTE: For mature readers only.
ARMEGA
Chapter 1: A Demon and a Magic Stone
Double Feature
*****
"Damn, that guy's freaking strong!"
"He's a fuggin' demon!"
"Run!"
Three boys clad in green blazers and slacks, uniforms of a student at Kamiyama High, scampered off the ground and started to run away, running in seperate directions toward the sleepy horizon.
One teenage boy stood alone on the dusty pavement, fist smoking at his side. He wore a black blazer over a white T-shirt, black pants, and white Reebok sneakers. He had rather shaggy jet black hair that went down to the back of his neck and fell over his face in a casual, nonchalant manner. His eyes were a surprising shade of crimson; this scared many of weak hearts, and his mouth was twisted in an uncaring scowl. His name was Kasato Himeji, and he was 16 years old.
"Heh..." Kasato muttered gruffly. "Frickin' cowards. I could'a trashed them any day. Oh well, maybe next time."
He turned and began to slowly walk home, blazer flowing in the evening wind.
*****
A R M E G A
*****
Kasato looked rather scornfully at the large two-story house in front of him. It was painted a clear white with pale lavender roof tiles that sloped downward toward him. He hated this house. His parents had died there, 10 years ago now. There had been a fire...and screaming...and blood. That was all he remembered until he woke up in the hospital, his 3 year old sister beside him. Both of them had been covered in bandages. And then the inspector had told him of his parents' deaths in a fire.
They lived on their own. They had done so for years now, with Kasato taking care of his sister, providing her with food and comfort. His sister. Yuki Himeji. She was a good kid. Well rounded. Pretty, good at sports, smart, etcetera. The whole package. She was everything he was not. He was a thug, a fighter, and a ruffian.
He sighed. Enough remniscing now. He walked into the house, prepared for whatever hell awaited him.
*****
"You got in another fight?" A pretty girl with shoulder-length brown hair and crystal blue eyes asked angrily as he sauntered in. She stood against the wall, arms crossed. She wore a blue sailor-girl uniform, a standard uniform for girls in most Japanese schools. "I just got a call from old Mrs. Eiri who saw you fighting with those punks in the parking lot! Why the hell do you keep doing this, Kasato?"
"Feh," Kasato muttered. "They're the ones who challenged me in the first place. How can you blame me for kicking their sorry asses?"
"It doesn't change the fact that you fought them!" Yuki Himeji replied indignantly. "Why do you fight? Why do you cause pain? Think about that!"
She delivered a slap to his face that sent him flying across the room, where he smashed into the table, nearly knocking it over.
"Maybe when you're hurt, you'll realize what it feels like to be the poor saps you beat up every day." Yuki scoffed, walking up the stairs.
"biznitch!" Kasato exclaimed, getting up and rubbing his sore cheek. His back also ached like hell. This day was shaping up to be another crappy day in Kasato Himeji's life. He needed to get out of the house for a while...that was exactly what he'd do. He sauntered over to the back door on the other side of their living room and kicked it open. It nearly fell off it's hinges.
What a piece of shit. Kasato thought, scowling. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked out, scowling at the world, not exactly sure where he was going now.
*****
From her window upstairs, Yuki Himeji looked down at Kasato walking away from the house, sorrow in her eyes. She recounted what had happened, and a phrase lept out at her like a loud noise in the middle of complete silence.
"biznitch!"
Kasato had called her that in rage after she had hit him. She was quite used to it by now, but some part of her still felt the need to break down and cry when he said it. Oh, Kasato, why did you turn out like this?
*****
Kasato Himeji walked along the crowded streets of Tokyo, Japan, hair and blazer flowing in the evening wind. He was sorry about what he had done to Yuki. He shouldnt've cursed at her again. She was the only family he had, and it was the right thing to do to stay on good terms with her. He'd apoligize when he got back.
He turned and walked down an alley, heading for the Burger joint ahead. He kicked a trash can in front of him, knocking it down. He was about to step over the contents of it, when something caught his eye. It was a square, wooden slab with letters circling around the words "yes" and "no", the numbers from 1-9, and the words "Good Bye." It was a Ouija Board. Kasato had heard about them; seen many movies and read a bunch of scary stories about the victims of them; but had never actually seen one up close.
He knelt down and inspected it. In the movies he had seen, there had been a 'cursor' of sorts for the spirits to 'talk' with the users. He saw no cursor amongst the garbage. He swore under his breath, then shrugged. What use was a Ouija Board without the cursor? He threw it down, and began to walk away, oblivious of the light that was spewing out of the wooden board now.
Kasato looked back, and his eyes widened as some unknown force knocked him flat on his face. He blacked out, tasting blood as he went...
*****
His eyes opened. The first thing he saw was...the color red. He realized it was blood that had seeped into his eye from a wound that had formed on his forehead when he had fallen down. He got up, brushing the blood out of his eye and looking around. He appeared to be in Tokyo, except...everything was all wrong. The sky was a deep bloodred, and the buildings were all smashed and broken. There was a distinct smell of sulfur in the air. A mark of Hell.
"What...the...frick?" Kasato muttered, confused. He covered his nose, disgusted by the smell of the sulfur in the air. It was bizarre. What was this? Hell on Earth?
Kasato's eyes widened as red mist began to appear in the air all around him. He fell down, feeling somewhat heavier then normal, and landed on his knees, looking up with wide eyes.
The mist took human shape...forming a muscular human male torso, bloodred smoke trailing out behind him where a normal male's pelvic area and legs would be. He was faceless.
"Kasato Himeji..." The being said in a light, monotone voice. "I see you have finally arrived."
"Who the hell are you?" Kasato asked angrily, still without the strength to stand up.
"I am a personification of the sorrow of human souls." The being replied calmly. "A living embodiment of the pain experience during the Judgment Day."
"Judgment...Day?" Kasato asked, confused and afraid at the same time. All of the gruff aggressiveness he had displayed before was gone.
"Ah," The being exclaimed airily. "You don't know...that's right..."
Kasato's breath stopped. The anticipation was driving him insane.
"This...this is the future of your Planet Earth." The being said, spreading out his arms as Kasato's eyes widened again as he stared at his surroundings a second time. "In one year, Armageddon will strike and your entire planet will be wiped out. There will be a new Master Race and a new Leader. The human race will be completely extinct. And that's the sad ending of this story."
"No!" Kasato exclaimed. "It can't end like that! There has to be somethin' somebody can do about it! Dammit!"
"That is exactly why I called you here." The being replied calmly. "There will be a savior if all is done right. The savior, Kasato Himeji, is you."
"Me?" Kasato asked naively, as if he could not believe what he was hearing.
"Correct." The red-mist being replied. "I cannot say much, I am out of time. But you shall wake up in your normal every-day world. You shall have the weapon you need to stop Armageddon. Learn to use it in less then a year and save the world. The souls of over 2 billion people depend on you."
"But---"
"Go! Go to Tai Shan!"
Kasato screamed as his vision went black.
*****
Darkness. Pain. Confusion. Heat. Kasato Himeji felt all of these things in the short period of time that he lay face down on the ground, bleeding from the wound on his forehead. Grudgingly, groaning with pain, the ruffian pushed himself up, feeling the rather shallow cut on his forehead.
"Shit..." He swore under his breath. He felt something that burned like hot coals pressing against his right hand. Bewildered, he raised his fist and opened it to see a small, bloodred ruby lying in his hand. As he looked closely, he could see a bright red flame kindling inside it. He felt compelled to throw it away and leave, but part of him, the naive, heroic part of him hidden deep inside, forced him to keep the stone. He tucked it into his jacket pocket as he got up.
"Feh," Kasato muttered. "That was one freaky-ass dream. Must've hit my head too hard on the ground. I think a nice cold Pepsi oughta fix that headache o' mine, then..."
He hopped the fence in the alley, spotting the McDonalds in front of him. A sight for sore eyes. He ran across the street, ignoring the oncoming cars and buses, shoved the door to the restaurant open, and walked in.
"Hey," Kasato croaked. "Get me a---"
He stopped there. A jolt of pain shot through him, and he sank to his knees, coughing. Several people rushed over to help. As they seized him, one phrase was hammered into his head several times. Tai Shan!
OK! Damn! I get it!
The pain stopped abruptly. Kasato noticed he was being held in a Heimlich maneuver hold by a large, muscular man with a shaved head and a curly black moustache.
"H-hey...I'm fine now...let go..." He managed to mutter.
The bald man's eyes widened as he dropped Kasato on his head.
"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?" Kasato asked angrily, bewildered as he rubbed his sore head, atop which a lump was now forming.
"You surprised me..." The man said in a rather kindly, gentle tone.
Kasato muttered some obscenities under his breath as he got up. "Forget the drink." He said shortly, walking out of the restaurant without another look back. He was thinking about what the spirit had said in his 'dream.' About "Tai Shan", whatever that was. He was pretty sure it was Chinese...yes, a Chinese mountain. He had learned that in school on one of the rare occasions he had showed up. He felt an obligation to go there. Part of it was out of fear; fear that he would continue to feel pain if he disregarded his 'dream.' The other part of it was that his heart and soul had seemed to...wander there. He felt an indescribable attachment to the mountain.
"That settles it, then," Kasato Himeji mused, looking at the evening sky above him with longing. "I'm goin' to China. Should be a nice field trip.”
*****
Demon World
A throne sits in a dark room with metallic-plated walls and floor. The ceiling appears to be an open, endless dark pit. A dim light is transmitted into the room by blue-flame torches attached to the wall.
A small, slim figure with tall, spiky white hair and pointy ears sat atop a throne. He had venemous looking yellow eyes and a slim, shrewd looking face. He wore a white sleeveless turtleneck-top over baggy white pants and golden boots. He had a golden silk cloth tied around his waist that went down to his ankles, and golden spikes attached to his shoulders. His name was Shin, and he was the youngest Admiral ever to be accepted into the Demon World Army Ranks. He was 15 years old, very young for a demon, but was an extremely skilled fighter with the Kwan Dao and his fists, and also passed the written exams with flying colours.
He smiled as he sensed something in the air. It was a familiar smell, that of an Armega Crystal. They were rather rare, but he knew them well. He decided to take a look in on where the rare, fragrant sulfur smell was coming from.
He walked forward and flicked a switch on the wall. A screen flickered on out of nowhere, depicting a blue surface...water...an ocean. The China Sea, in fact. A useful device, this was. Perfect for monitoring those you don’t trust. Perfect for a pervert, too, but those uses are not to be discussed here.
It was a human. A young, black haired human in a wooden sailboat on his way to the continential landmass ‘China.’
Interesting...a human with an Armega Crystal. Time for some fun, then! Shin thought excitedly, his eyes widening as he bared his fangs in a twisted grin.
*****
“I hear Shin’s targeted a human!”
“Gee, that’s a dumb idea, I mean...why a human? Shin’ll win in an instant!”
“Who cares? Just don’t criticize him! He’ll kill yeh!”
*****
Human boy...I am coming for you! Shin said, baring his fangs in a snide grin as he lept through a swirling portal apparently leading into a black abyss, a gigantic, gleaming silver Kwan Dao carried casually like a bamboo stick in his right hand, blade trailing behind him.
High, cackling laughter was heard, faintly trailing off into the distance as the portal closed.
*****
Kasato Himeji looked up at the night sky. A lot had happened in the past few hours. He had gone home, to find Yuki gone, most likely with her dorky little friends. He left her a long letter, saying he’d be back in a week and to stay with a neighbor until he returned. Then, he had looked up Mount Tai Shan to get the information on it. It'd be tough, but 'tough' was Kasato's middle name. He also included an apology for his actions before he had left.
Then he had packed a week’s worth of food and drinks into a picnic basket, and headed off to the bay, where he had stolen some chump’s First Class Voyage ticket to China. Now, he was sailing on a huge cruise ship bound for the finest hotels and luxury resorts in the Communistic country.
Mount Tai Shan...I'm coming! Kasato thought, determined. He also wondered if he was insane. What sane person would do what he was doing right now?
*****
Half an hour later, Kasato was wandering through the dark night woods, looking for any signs of a huge mountain. The travel guide said that the mountain was in walking distance, but Kasato saw no signs of it anywhere out here.
He sneezed. It was a breezy night. He should've dressed a bit more heavily. Sighing, the delinquent moved on, heading north in hopes of the tall mountain sometime very soon...
*****
In the next hour, Kasato finally reached the bottom of the mountain. It was a small, circular, paved area surrounded by plains of green grass. A stairway, a long, wide stairway, began at the edge of the pavement. It seemed to go on forever. He could not see the top of the mountain; only fog and clouds surrounding the seemingly endless stairs.
Dammit...I spend hours and hours searching for the mountain, and now you're tellin' me I have to go up all these friggin' stairs? What the hell? Kasato thought, rather dejectedly. He sat down, leaning against the bulky base of the mountain. He'd rest for a while, then start his journey.
He looked up at the sky. It was dark and clear, no stars or clouds out tonight, just the moon. The air was crisp and cool, whipping against Kasato's thin black blazer. It was a peaceful sort of night. He liked that, for some odd reason.
As he drifted deep into thought, a sharp, cold voice sliced through the night air like a butcher's knife...or a sharp, gleaming Kwan Dao.
"Oi, human!" Shin called out, cackling madly. "Up here!"
Kasato lept up, raising his head. Crouching on a tree branch about 10 feet above him was a small, youthful looking teenager with pointy ears and spiky white hair. Clad in white and holding a long rod with a huge spear at the end of it, he was a very strange sight.
"Who the hell are you? Some circus freak?" Kasato asked, sniggering at Shin's strange garb.
"The name's Shin!" The white-haired being replied. He scowled, leaping down from the tree and swinging his Kwan Dao in a full horizontal sweep. Kasato lept back, but the blade still caught his shoulder, drawing a good-sized amount of blood and tearing the juvenile delinquent's jacket and T-shirt. Kasato winced, holding his injured shoulder.
"Shit! That's gonna hurt in the morning!" Kasato exclaimed, wanting to bite his tongue to stop the pain.
"Oh, quit whining!" Shin barked, swinging the Kwan Dao this time in a veritcal movement. Kasato lept out of the way in time, coming out unscathed. He darted forward with the agility of a hardened fighter and delivered a crushing uppercut punch to Shin's head, sending him flying back and into the rocky wall of the mountain.
The white-haired demon admiral coughed up a bit of blood, feeling the bruise forming on his neck and chin and grimacing. This would be more of a challenge then he thought.
"This is what a real fight should be like," Kasato exclaimed vigorously, pumping his fist. "Bring it on, Shin!"
"You got it, human boy!" Shin replied eagerly, grinning and baring his fangs as he rushed forward, Kwan Dao held at his side, eyes wild with fury and anticipation for battle. Kasato met his challenge, rushing forward, fists nearly screaming for battle.
The white-haired demon swung the Kwan Dao vertically again. Kasato lept over it, intending to deliver a blow to Shin's head. The elven demon smirked as he drove the blade of the Kwan Dao into his opponent's shoulderblade. Kasato Himeji screamed in pain as Shin removed the spear blade from his shoulder with a sickeningly wet sound. Blood rained to the floor as the black haired delinquent fell.
He could barely breathe. Blood seeped out of two large wounds, one on each shoulder. Had he finally lost a fight? He didn't want to lose! He didn't want to be killed by this little freak and die unknown! He was gonna save the world!
He felt the bloodred ruby burn like searing flames in his pocket. It began to glow bright red...something was happening. Shin noticed the glow, too, and took a step back, eyes widening.
Kasato's wounds began to close. Cool air brushed his tattered clothing and tender shoulders. He sighed peacefully, glad he could breathe again without feeling pain. He stood up in less then a second, startling the white-haired Kwan Dao weilder he was facing. And with a smirk, Kasato fished the Armega Crystal out of his pocket, buried it within the flesh of his right hand, balled it into a fist, and pointed it straight at Shin.
In that moment, Shin realized he was fighting a losing battle.
Kasato sprinted forward, right hand extended and glowing with radiant bright red energy, and delivered a bone-crushing blow to Shin's stomach. The demon's eyes widened and he coughed up a bucketfull of blood as a flame exploded from Kasato's hand, taking the shape of a phoenix as it carried Shin at lightning speed up, smashing him with tremendous force into the side of the mountain.
The pointy-eared hellion fell down, hitting the ground with a dusty thud. Kasato sighed, and started to walk away when he heard his fallen opponent moving. He turned to see Shin getting up, quite battered with bruises and small scratches now. His forehead was bleeding profusely. He was scowling angrily.
"We'll meet again...you know that, right?" Shin asked in a hissing, quiet tone. "And next time...I'll kill you and take that damn stone!"
Before the black-clad delinquent could reply, the demon lept from the ground to the tree branch he had been residing in before, then lept up to higher levels of the mountain that couldn't be seen from the ground.
Kasato sank to his knees, and sat down on the ground. He sighed, tired. What the hell just happened? It all went by so quickly... He wondered dully, his thoughts blurred and drunken. Puzzled, he looked at the ruby red stone in his hand. It had ceased the burning sensation it emitted before. The 'flames' he had seen inside it had also stopped burning almost completely. The small stone apparently held many mysteries. Kasato knew he'd eventually find all of them, whether he wanted to or not. It was best to wait.
He got up. "Better get goin', then," He mused. Then, he laughed, raising his head to the sky. "Heh, I'm goin' frickin' crazy here..."
Kasato Himeji began to walk toward the stairway. Deep inside him, he knew that he was destined to make it to the top of Mount Kai Shan, the Stairway to Heaven. He knew he was destined to do something incredible. And that was why he'd keep on going.
------
NEXT: The Fallen Angel
*****
NOTES
* Mount Tai Shan is a real mountain in China. However, the original page I used to get info for it is not working, so I leave you with this one.
* The Ouija Board described comes from this pic.
* A Kwan Dao is this, if you did not know. That one looks like what I based Shin's weapon on.
* I apoligize if this chapter moved too fast. I didn't like that either. I'll do better on the following ones.
* Things will be explained.
* BE HONEST, TELL ME WHAT'S GOOD/BAD ABOUT THE FIC. |
|
