Cursed
Yoshi
Chapter 69 = Darkness to the light
Disclaimer: Although all
characters here are of my own invention, the original idea of Yoshies, Birdos,
etcetera, are copyright of Nintendo, and I make no money from writing this.
“First thing’s
first.” Darkmark said firmly. “You won’t try and cash us in to the city guards.
If you do, once they’re dead, you’ll follow immediately thereafter.”
“I’m not human.”
Sira spat. “Nor am I stupid enough to even think about trying to fight someone
like you, even if you were alone.”
It was long after
dark, and both Samintha and Tamaroro had gone to bed long before. They were
trying to keep their voices down in the darkness, with only a candle to light
them, as they talked in the main room of Sira’s flat.
“So much the better.
We’ll be straight with you if you’ll do the same for us. We’ve come back here
to kill Yasei-Yeiko.”
“Join the club.”
Sira muttered. “That’s why I joined the assassin’s guild.”
“You’ll have to
fight us for her in that case. She killed Shiala and my unborn son.”
“She killed Visali
and Dave! I have just as much right to kill her as you do. Not to mention she
killed Tammy’s parents, too…”
“Please, be
sensible.” Skafria interrupted. “We won’t have time to argue who gets to kill
her when the time comes. Just try and slaughter her, and whoever’s luckiest
will get the winning hit in.”
“Good enough for
me.” said Darkmark. “I’m sure she won’t be alone. At the very least we’ll have
that damned Tsi-Lau to get rid of first, but she’s probably got more guards
than that with her wherever she is.”
“The nightclub.”
Skafria suggested in tandem with Sira. The latter continued, “It’s just a front
for the guild. She has a private backroom there, and there’s a rear entrance to
the main part of the guild along with a way in through the nightclub itself.
I’d try her backroom if I were you, since you’re going there at night.”
“Tomorrow, though.”
Darkmark immediately cut in. “I’m too tired right now, and besides, the city
guards are absolutely crawling through the city like rats. I never knew there
were so many humans enlisted in the military here.”
“They got a bunch
more after you pulled off that spectacle of blasting out of the prison. I
assume that was you…”
“Of course.”
Darkmark said, nodding, then suddenly had a thought. “By the way… do you ever know
what happened to everyone who died there?”
“They just left it
as it was for the most part, trying to clear the rubble away. They were too
busy rebuilding the city walls. The bodies were just left there to rot as far
as I know…”
In a sudden roar of
fury, Darkmark clenched his fists and slammed them into the sofa he was resting
on. “Those worthless-… I can’t believe they’d-!”
He was barely able
to form a sentence through his rage, but stopped suddenly and turned to
Skafria, clutching at his arm. “Wait! If Shiala was-”
“It’s too late.”
Skafria told him, shaking his head. “Aside from the fact that she’ll have
probably started to decay by now, she’d be too far gone anyway for the Volzia
to bring her back… she’d just be a zombie if I tried, and probably die again
soon thereafter without a soul or mind. I’d have had to inject her before the
decomposition starts…”
Darkmark gritted his teeth, but sighed and sat back after a moment. I figured as much… I’ll never have her back, and besides, I don’t think I could bear to have her as a vampire…
“Inject her with
what?” Sira asked, and Skafria opened his mouth a little, baring his fangs and
hissing at her. She started, but calmed down quickly and was breathing normally
in almost no time. Apparently she’d already learned one or two things from the
assassin’s guild…
“Be still, be
peaceful… clear your mind of thoughts, allow the chi to flow through your body,
let it take over, let it become one with your soul…”
Tsi-Lau did as
instructed, standing calmly in the large, empty training room. It was only her
and her sensei in there, late at night, as she took the final test to prove her
mastery of all the assassin’s teachings, and show that she was a true Templar;
a powerful, expert chi user, the very best she could possibly be…
“You are aware that
if you fail, you will be destroyed immediately.” Her sensei reminded her. “Even
with your vampiric protection, the magical force holding you together will not
withstand the kind of punishment it will take if this fails…”
“I know.” Tsi-Lau
replied flatly.
She kept her eyes
closed, feeling the flow of chi through her, then keeping it within her,
stopping it escaping, then letting it manifest itself around her body, swirling
just above the surface of her skin…
Somewhere in front
of her, she heard a buzzing sound, and kept her hold on the chi. Yasei-Yeiko
held her special blade ready, giving her student just a few more seconds before
she would give her the test that could determine the fate of the rest of her
life…
Stepping forwards,
the purple anthro Yoshi came closer, closer, until she was almost directly in
front of Tsi-Lau, who had by this time risen a little off the ground by the
force of the chi that had formed a bubble around her, matching the shape of her
body as she remained in the air, arched back a little as though she were
leaning backwards. Holding the sword high, she waited once again, before
swinging directly through Tsi-Lau’s body with a sweep of the blade.
As soon as the metal
cut through the bubble of chi, both it and Tsi-Lau burst apart and dissipated
into nothingness, leaving only the head assassin standing firm, waiting as she
watched the space in front of her. A minute passed, then two, and eventually
five, whereupon little flecks of white energy started to reappear in the air,
appearing faster and faster until they formed the Tsi-Lau shaped bubble, and
with a flash the energy vanished, allowing the silver assassin to fall to the
floor and land gently, bending her knees as she landed to soften the impact.
She opened her eyes
and looked up, before rising to her feet and staring her sensei in the eyes,
then bowing once. Yasei-Yeiko gave a small smile at the corner of her mouth,
before casting the blade aside, putting one hand on Tsi-Lau’s shoulder to find
it solid.
“Congratulations,
you have passed.” She said happily. “You are now both a ninth-level assassin
and a Templar, a master of chi. Should the unthinkable happen to me, you are
now in line to take over the guild in my place, and all but I shall speak up to
you from here on.”
Tsi-Lau nodded once.
“Thank you, sensei.”
“I have never had an
undead Templar among my ranks, and I doubt it has ever happened before. I would
like to see your potential, and what you can manage with these combined powers
of yours. I shall watch you as you take your path, and even if my body
perishes, I shall forever keep my eyes on you…”
It seemed like the
right time. Sira had gone into her bedroom, and Skafria had turned into a bat,
before flying up to the curtain rail over the window and hanging from it. He
was probably asleep now, and Darkmark waited just another few moments, lying on
his back with his wings carefully folded up beneath him. Gingerly, he reached
into his saddlebags and took out the red gem Karlo-Shin had given him, and
after listening intently for a minute or two for any signs of life, he touched
it to his nose and felt it grow hot in his hands…
The scene around him
disappeared in a flash, and he found himself tumbling in spirit through Chaos
for only a moment before appearing upon the altar within the Church of Death.
It was as he had seen it before, only a little hazier this time, perhaps
because of the gem, but he could still make out the six in front of him, with
their hoods taken down, perhaps expecting his visit…
Furthest to the left
was Karlo-Shin, smiling to himself and watching Darkmark intently with his
shining red eyes. Next to him was a female Yoshi, bearing a large set of wings
just like the ones Darkmark had had when he had eaten the blue Koopa shell. Her
skin was a shade of dark blue that was even darker than Manny’s, and she had a
set of short eyelashes over the blazing red lights of her eyes. Beside her was
a male Yoshi with dark green skin, but his cloak was raised just enough for
Darkmark to see a charred stump of a wing fixed to his back, and assumed there
was one on the other side as well. The fourth one was a feral with dark orange
skin, in strange contrast to his light orange chest, and the fifth was a teal,
anthro female, her head partly covered by her rough, tousled grey hair. The
sixth one, from what Darkmark could see, looked like a half-lizard, half-Yoshi;
he had a set of wings quite like Darkmark’s, only they appeared to be thinner
and bonier than his, and he had claws on the tips of his fingers, as well as scales
covering parts of his body…
As if to explain,
Karlo-Shin spoke up. “The dark gods have a different sort of balance than the
light gods do… whereas they tried to show different strengths and beliefs, we
show the unity of the different types of Yoshies, not all of which still live
on today…”
Indicating each of
them in turn, starting with himself, he carried on, “The saviours, the winged
ones, the fallen angels, the ferals, the anthros, and the dragon Yoshies…
Klashkna is one of the ‘normal’ Yoshies, and you… you are the first in another
breed, the Cursed Yoshies…”
Darkmark didn’t know
what to say, and remained silent as Karlo-Shin chuckled again and continued.
“More damage than you think has been done by what Foryo did to you in his
castle. It may not be apparent by looking at you, but deeper scarring has been
made than your wings and disfigurations…”
Holding out a hand to the space on his right, he cast an illusion similar to the one Darkmark had done, making an image of a Yoshi-like creature come into focus. It was quite disconcerting; its skin was extremely dark grey, similar to Karlo-Shin’s, but unlike it should have done, the skin looked lighter where it should have been dark, and darker where it should have been light. It had claws on its fingers, and larger, steelier talons on its feet than was normal, and it had an overbite produced by enlarged canine teeth different from the fangs that Skafria bore. It had eyebrows just like Darkmark did, but the eyes themselves were bright white with grey outlines, and dark grey eye whites to go with them. Although it was but an unmoving illusion, those eyes seemed to stare into Darkmark’s very soul, and a chilling thought crossed his mind. Is that-…?
Karlo-Shin abruptly
dispelled the illusion and chuckled again. “When the time comes, it is we eight
dark gods who shall unite all the different races of Yoshies and crush all
opposition. When the seal on the underworld is undone, we shall escape, and
though it will be a bloody, death-ridden day, we shall emerge victorious… it is
only we who can truly unite all our brethren, or what remains of them by that
point… already the dragon Yoshies have been wiped out, and the anthros are
almost gone. The winged ones have been forced into the mountains and are also
nearly dead, and the humans are working on the ferals… before any more are
lost, we must unite and push back harder, and fulfil the legend in our own
little way…”
He smirked, and gave
yet another chuckle, something he seemed to have gotten into the habit of
doing. “They call us the dark gods… but only we can bring the light to the
lands that we so desperately need. The light gods are too weak now that the
Sword of Eirsir is shattered, but seven of the eight dark ones have other
power, and with it, we shall rule. We are not gods yet… but… well, do you not
feel it, Darkmark? Do you not feel it within you… the feeling… of destiny…”
“Yes…” Darkmark
answered, speaking at last. “I feel it… that I can do great things… that I will do great things…”
The others joined in
and matched him as though they were reciting a mantra. “That I can shape the
future, and save the Yoshies… that I can take great matters into my own hands
and control them… that I can control chaos itself… that I can become a master
of all time and space… that I… am a god…”
“You see…”
Karlo-Shin said, “We all share this same vision… and we shall make it happen
one day. And until that day, we can wait here in the underworld, where nobody
dies and ‘death’ is only temporary… we can wait until the day we escape, and
make our collective dreams come true.”
Darkmark gave an
evil smile, showing his teeth as he did so, and Karlo-Shin did the same.
“You’re not a dark god yet, however…” the black Yoshi warned. “When you come
here from the psychic’s temple, you will become one of us, and look like we do
when you leave… after that, all we need to do is wait until the day of
reckoning…”
Darkmark nodded.
“The day the seal is undone… we need to wait for Sévar…”
To
be continued…