Promise? Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Saladin was being escorted to his new home: His jail cell. This is where he would be held until his trial the next day. While being escorted, the other prisoners saw his eyes and backed away as far as they could in their cells. Saladin just grinned as he scared them. Without even moving a wrist, Saladin sent a projectile at one of the prisoners. The prisoner squealed in fear while Saladin just laughed. After he was thrown in his cell, a familiar looking man appeared on the opposite side of the bars. The man was dressed in a pinkish robe, and had his katana to his left.
"Well well, I hear you caused a little trouble back in the market." said the man.
"Word traveled that fast? Good. I want the people to know that their demon is back." replied Saladin.
"It's not hard for word to travel when the word is of a demon murdering countless people in the streets."
"Did they get a death count? I want to know how many people who ridiculed me during my childhood I killed today."
"Not exactly helping your cause, the people were right to hate you. Also, 63."
"Now they have the intelligence to fear me. And only 63? I counted at least 70." Saladin said disappointingly.
"7 more are in critical condition. So do you have any reason to justify this massacre?"
"Hmm... let me think. I'm a wounded soul? Nah, they wouldn't buy that. How about, "The demon inside me told to do it, I didn't have any control." Would that work?" asked Saladin sarcastically.
"You think this is funny, don't you?" said the man angrily.
"Why wouldn't I? I killed a few people, and my trial is tomorrow. When my father was butchered, there wasn't even a search party for the murderer. Hell, the only reason he got a funeral was because the emperor made a decree that every man gets a burial. It's all very funny, really."
"Except your father was one person. You murdered 60 people!"
"And what's wrong with that? I'm this way because of them, so if anyone is to blame, it's them."
"I get it. You feel sorry for yourself, so you're trying to justify this through your self-pity."
"Justify? There's no such thing as justice, not in this world at least."
The man just shook his head as he left.
I woke up like usual, jumping upright. This time, however, I had a heavy ass wolf on my chest so I accidently woke her up.
A bit dazed, Ammy said, "Was that...really necessary?"
"Sorry... force of habit."
I stood up and grabbed my gear. When I started to walk, Ammy said, "Uh...Yu? You're crying again, you know."
"Yeah, I tend to do that a lot lately. Just ignore it from now on, ok?"
"Uh...sure..." said Ammy as we began to walk.
That was until I realized we didn't have our next destination set.
"Hey Ammy, Issun is in your fur right?"
"Yeah, want me to wake him up?"
Ammy shook her fur which resulted in one angry microscopic being appearing in front of us.
"Why'd you wake me up?! I was having this amazing dream about Sakuya in her reawakened form and..."
"Issun, focus! What's our next destination?" I asked.
"Huh, what? Oh, right, next place is the city, but we need to make a quick stop to Kamiki village for the festival."
"What festival?" I asked.
"Don't you remember when I told you about Orochi? And the festival?" asked Ammy.
"Oh right, the whole thing with the arrow. Gotcha."
As we returned to Kamiki village, I tried to make contact with that voice again. This time, I actually got something.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hello." replied a young voice.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Who are you?" answered the young voice.
"What's your name?" asked the voice.
"My...name? It's....."
"Yu, you realize that in order to get somewhere you have to walk, right?" said Issun.
In the midst of talking with the voice, I had stopped walking.
"Uh, right. Sorry about that, let's go." I replied.
I tried again to speak with the voice, but I received no reply.
After about an hour of running, we reached the village at around nighttime. People were crowded around someone's house. The village itself was small, but lively. I asked Ammy and Issun if they knew what house the people were crowded around, and they replied with "The biggest idiot who ever lived."
"Susano! Open up! Why did you go and drink all the sacred sake?!" said an old man with an orange on top of his head.
"Because we're all gonna die anyway!" replied a voice from inside the house.
"What are you talking about?!"
"Orochi is returning, and the gods want me to fight him! I went to the moon cave and pulled out Tsukuyomi from its shrine. I didn't expect the legends to be true! All I wanted in life was to live a simple, non-adventurous life." said the voice.
People were aghast, and then suddenly, something lit up in the night sky. Everyone watched as the thing headed towards the village. When it was close enough, we saw that it was an arrow. The arrow landed on a house. If Ammy's story was true, then that meant that Orochi really had returned, and that the woman who lived in that house was supposed to be his sacrifice. Ammy was stunned during this.
"Hey, you ok?" I asked.
She just shook her head and began to walk away from the crowd, and then into a full-on sprint. I followed her immediately while Issun stayed to watch.
When I finally caught up, she was on the coast of Shinshu field, staring off into where the bridge leads too. The bridge seemed to lead to nowhere.
"That's where he is..." said Ammy.
"Who, Orochi?" I asked.
"Yes."
"You ready?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Well, that's good to hear."
"How come you're so calm?" asked Ammy.
"Because I probably don't realize the gravity of the situation, or maybe I'm just ignorant."
"Heh, not a care in the world?"
"Yeap, why bother worrying about something that is unchangeable?"
"Even if that means you die?"
"Especially. Think about it, you're going to die no matter what, so why worry about it?"
"This probably doesn't mean much from an immortal goddess, but I don't agree with that. You should focus to prolong your life as much as possible."
"So then why are you so worried about fighting Orochi?"
That caught her off guard.
"Because I'm not ready." She answered.
"You have the will to survive, don't you? You want to remain in this world to protect it, right? So, fight and win. If you fail, don't stress about it and try again. I say you're more than ready if you have the will to fight."
"The world doesn't work that way, Yu. Things don't happen just because you want them too. Things like this don't automatically work out if you try hard enough." She replied.
"Pfft. It sounds like someone is quitting."
"What?!"
"You're not gonna even try? I really don't get your logic, Ammy. Whenever we fight, you risk your neck to make sure Issun and I am ok. Whenever we'd run into someone in trouble, you're the first one to help. It's obvious you want to help, but now when your help is needed most, you're too afraid to try. You know what? I think I'm going to go pay a visit to this Orochi fellow. Have fun out here!"
I began running towards the bridge. Ammy was too stunned to move. I reached the end of the bridge which leads to the cave Ammy told me about in her story.
She's gonna hate me forever if this plan works. Heh, it BETTER work, or else I'm most likely hosed.
Suddenly, Waka appeared in front of me.
"Hello again, Narukami. Where's Amaterasu?"
"Dunno, hey you know where Orochi is? Being a demon and all, I was looking to sign up."
"Hah, that tongue of yours is going to get you killed one day."
"I'll worry about that when I'm dead."
"Hmm," Waka continued, "so why are you really here?"
"You're not going to believe it, but I actually don't want people to die."
"Hard to believe, considering your past." said Waka.
"Wait, what?!"
"Oh nothing, anyway you'll need these to travel through the gate." Waka said as he used the artifact from Kusa Village. It destroyed the barrier and Waka disappeared.
"Shit...I guess all of that really did happen..." I said to myself.
Looks like I've got a reason to kill Orochi.
I ran up the stairs and into a large crater where I saw a shrine in the center on top of a little hill. A moat surrounded the shrine, which emptied into 8 little ponds.
Turns out, that hill wasn't a hill.
It was Orochi's back.
"Hello, banished prince. Why have you returned?"