by Justin Sloan
“It’s a trap,” Yuko said, her voice a quiet realization.
Brenda had already turned to run, but Allie and Daniel were getting in fighting positions. Troy looked at them nervously, and began moving about to form patterns in the snow at their feet.
“What’re you doing?” Yuko asked.
“Saving your family,” Allie replied. “Gotta start somewhere.”
A group of Strayers emerged from the nearby building, and Brenda doubled back to rejoin the group.
“Looks like the only way out of this is the way we came,” Brenda said.
Daniel shook his head. “We go running that way, we’ll be falling to our deaths. No thanks.”
“You’d prefer your chances against that thing?”
Allie and Daniel shared a look, then both said, “Yes.”
Where the being had only darkness for a face moments before, now red, burning eyes glared down at them. A mouth formed, and its voice rumbled, “Bring me the ring.”
The Strayers charged.
“Keep them off of us,” Allie said to Brenda. “Daniel and Troy, you fight him. I’ll find the sandals, and then we can get out of here.”
Daniel beamed as he placed the helmet on his head. In spite of his shaky legs, he stepped forward and raised the sword. Troy and Brenda began sketching patterns in the dirt, and Allie looked around, bracing herself.
“That’s one of the twelve up there,” she reminded Daniel. “In many ways, just as crazy and powerful as Samyaza. Be careful. Ready? Yuko, you’re with me.”
The Strayers hit the fields of protection Troy and Brenda had set up, falling back. In that moment, Allie and Yuko charged for the building.
“Is there a plan?” Yuko asked, eyes wide with terror.
“Search everywhere,” Allie said, diving through a doorway as a bullet tore through the wooden frame. “And do your best to survive.”
“Great plan.”
Allie slammed the door as best she could, despite the splintered frame. Through the crack, she saw a couple of the Strayers had turned back to follow her and Yuko. Daniel was using his shield to hold off blasts of lava from the being in the sky, while Brenda and Troy furiously worked on patterns of protection and, in case they’d need it, healing patterns as well.
“You take downstairs,” Allie said. “I’ll get this floor.”
Shouting came from the front door as Allie darted into a nearby room. Nothing but a few beds, some flowers in a vase and a bowl of fruit. The décor seemed odd, but not the point at the moment.
The door started to open, and she threw herself into the corner. A sliding shelf was big enough to hide her, and the Strayer seemed to be in too big of a hurry to bother checking it. He hastily scanned the room, then walked out.
Outside, Allie heard the sound of fighting, and Daniel yelling something about hurrying up. Then Allie heard Yuko scream, and dashed out to find two Strayers, one male and one female, pulling at Yuko and trying to drag her down the hall.
“No sign of them,” Yuko said as she stomped on the foot of one Strayer and elbowed the other.
Allie plowed into the female Strayer, knocking her down so that she hit her head against a stone wall.
“Where else can we look?” Allie said, glancing around as the second Strayer started to recover. She took a stone lion from the corner and hit him over the head with it.
Yuko was about to respond when Daniel called out, “Watch out, he’s coming for you!”
Daniel grunted loudly, and then the walls were evaporating, giving way to hot magma.
“We gotta get out of here!” Allie shouted, pulling Yuko back toward the door they had come in. But more Strayers were entering, and it seemed hopeless to try and go that way.
Yuko tugged at Allie and shouted in Japanese while pointing to the side walls.
“What?” Allie yelled, frustration seeping into her voice.
“There are sliding doors over here! The screens!”
Allie and Yuko ran, escaping just as the room behind them collapsed in flames, taking some of the Strayers with it.
“That was close,” Yuko said.
“Next time, English?”
“Gomen.” Yuko blushed. “I mean, sorry. When I’m freaking out, it just happens.”
A light from behind suddenly highlighted her face red.
“Time to freak out now?” Allie asked, and Yuko nodded.
They both ran as the being crashed through the collapsed shrine. Daniel appeared, darting in between them with shield at the ready. A blast of lava sent him back, nearly knocking the shield from his hands, but he held tight. Then the being lifted both hands and slammed them into the ground, sending a shock wave that pushed Daniel into the air and sent him flying to crash into a nearby rock wall.
“Daniel!” Allie said, running after him.
Yuko ran too, and Troy and Brenda joined them. Quickly, they started making patterns again, covered in sweat in spite of the cold. Troy moved to a circle with an infinity sign that Brenda had made, then he bowed his head and made the clawed pattern of his spirit animal. A gleaming gold tiger leapt from his outstretched hands, taking down three Strayers and then leaping for the being. But a burst of lava sent the tiger to retreat into the pattern on the ground. Troy fell back, as if he’d just been gut-punched. Brenda moved past Daniel, where he still lay on the ground, and made a new pattern—three wavy lines like a river. When the next siege of Strayers hit them, their fists and knives were swept aside as if by a strong current.
But the patterns weren’t holding.
“We can’t keep this up,” Allie said. “We have to retreat.”
Daniel recovered, his eyes groggy, and then he turned to the crater not far from him.
“The portal he came through,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the crater. “It’s still open, and we can use it.”
“We have no idea where that’ll lead!” Allie said.
“I’m willing to bet it goes either to the streets of the ongoing war, or to Yuko’s family. Maybe both.”
“Fine,” Allie said with a glance behind her. The being was shooting lava into the sky as it rushed towards them. “Go!”
She was the first to jump. The others followed close behind, all of them sliding down the snow in what would have been an amazing sledding adventure, if there hadn’t been a group of Strayers and one of twelve fallen angels determined to kill them so close by.
“Yes!” Daniel was cheering behind her. When she looked at him, he almost laughed. “We did it!”
“We failed!” Allie screamed, the bottom of the crater zooming up to them. “What’re you talking about?”
Daniel winked and, careful not to drop them, held up a glimmering pair of what looked like a cross between sandals and boots. The front part had a sole and straps to slide the feet into, and the top was like a golden shin guard.
“Are those….?”
“When I dove behind that prayer stone up there, the sword fell and cut right through the stone at my side. And voila!”
“Well, I hope we live through this, then, so we can celebrate!” Allie called back.
Daniel looked down, then rolled onto his back so that he could slip the sandals on over his shoes as he slid down the slope. When he rolled back, he gave Allie an adventurous ‘here goes’ smile and leapt up. She wanted to shout at him, ask what in the world he was thinking, but instead she watched with wonder as the sandals gleamed extra bright and Daniel landed on his feet, sliding as if roller skating down the snow.
“I think we’ll be fine!” he said.
“Speak for yourself!” Troy said as he approached the bottom. A sharp rock jutted into his path, looking like a claw ready to tear him to shreds.
Daniel ran on top of the snow and grabbed Troy, rolling with him to narrowly dodge the rock. It tore at the back of Daniel’s shirt, but otherwise they escaped. With a helpful shove, Daniel pointed Troy toward the portal, then looked around to make sure the others were safe.
But Allie saw
what he hadn’t yet. The portal was starting to close!
“We’re losing our chance!” Allie shouted, pointing.
Daniel ran to Yuko, whose slide down the snow had already started to slow. He grabbed her hand and slid next to her, tugging her so that within a second they were beside Allie.
“Give me your hand!” Yuko shouted, and soon they were all holding hands, catching up to Troy.
Lava landed nearby, sizzling through the snow. The portal looked smaller as they approached, but Allie remembered she hadn’t tried everything in her power yet. She aimed her ring at the portal and closed her eyes, feeling the two powers clash—but a moment later she was flying through open space, the portal closing above their heads. They’d made it.
Chapter 6: The Tomb
Falling through empty space was hard on the mind, especially when all you could see was gray mist and the occasional burst of light.
“What now?” Brenda asked, glancing with a grimace at Troy and Daniel holding her hands.
“My family,” Yuko said. “We can use the added magic of the Sandals of Peace, rescue my family, and get the Belt of Truth.”
“They could definitely help,” Daniel said. “It’s like they make my feet light, energized. Maybe I could run super-fast in them?”
Allie nodded, wondering if the other armor items would have their own powers as well. “The helmet, does that do anything?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I definitely felt like I could sense attacks coming. Wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or what, but yeah… now that I think about it.”
“That’s all cool and all,” Troy said, legs kicking as he tried to get used to floating. “So why not focus on the breastplate and go straight for the main battle?”
Yuko stared at him with hurt in her eyes. “My family.”
“Right, but I mean—”
“No, Troy,” Allie interrupted. “Besides, I don’t think it works that way. It’s like a hierarchy, maybe. One item leads to the next. For all we know, we could close our eyes and focus and end up at the breastplate, but then who knows if we’d be ready for that fight without the belt.”
“So it’s decided then,” Daniel said, nodding firmly. “We rescue Yuko’s family and get the belt, first.”
“Everyone, close your eyes,” Allie said.
The falling sensation stopped with a jerk. Even through her closed eyes, Allie saw blasts of light intensify until they were surrounded by white light. Next thing she knew, they were tumbling onto the floor of a train.
They recovered, standing to see two doors in front of and behind them, at either end of the car. A few people were seated in the shiny, leather seats, and trees and houses sped past the small windows.
“Shinkansen,” Yuko said. When the others stared at her in confusion she said, “Bullet train.”
“Okay, then,” Allie said, checking the doors again to make sure no one saw their arrival. “Be alert, you guys.”
One of the doors opened, and an old lady entered with a cart full of Japanese chocolates and some curry plates. She exchanged a few sentences with Yuko, and then continued down the car.
“I coulda used some of that,” Daniel said. “The ramen from Fuji-san was definitely not enough.”
Yuko smiled. “Sorry, no money. But you know to call Mt. Fuji ‘Fuji-san.’ How?”
“I just listened to you enough times,” he said, blushing.
“Wow, calm down you two,” Brenda said. “We should be checking the train, not batting eyelashes at each other.”
Daniel’s face darkened a further red. Yuko turned away shyly, but she couldn’t hide her smile from Allie.
They split up again, Troy with Brenda to cover the front of the train while the rest checked the back. Allie was amazed at how clean it was, everyone in comfortable seats either sleeping or watching videos on their phones or tablets. Two Japanese children were playing a game, and a tanned man that looked to be American stared at Allie and her friends before turning away.
“Are there a lot of Americans here?” Allie whispered to Yuko.
“Many, yes. Why?”
“Probably nothing,” Allie said, not sounding sure at all.
At the end of the car, she turned back to see the man was looking at her again.
“Hang on. I want to just be sure….” Allie whispered to Yuko. She walked back toward the man, but just as an announcement sounded, someone tripped her and she fell hard in the aisle.
She jumped up to look for the man, but she didn’t have to look hard—he and two Japanese women in black were standing over her.
“Take her and the other girl,” the man said, and the two Japanese women lifted her.
A lurch of the train threw Allie off balance before she could prepare for a fight. Someone shoved Yuko against Allie, causing them both to stagger, and then the women lifted their arms and a black shroud fell over the two girls. Allie could see Daniel through the shroud, but even as he raced to get to them, he became darker and seemed to vanish.
When the shroud came off, though, it was clear that Allie and Yuko had been the ones to vanish—Daniel, Troy, and Brenda were apparently still on train, with no way of knowing where she had gone.
“Where have you taken us?” Allie demanded, taking in the stone walls, the cobwebs in the dark corners, and the arched doorway that led to another room. She didn’t have to wait long for an answer, though, because Yuko was running to an old woman who had just appeared in the doorway.
Yuko grabbed the old woman in a hug and then explained to Allie, “This is my grandmother.” The two exchanged quick sentences in Japanese, and then Yuko said, “My family, they’re still safe. We have to get them out of here.”
“Lucky for these guys,” Allie said with a glare at the people who had brought them there. It was only then that she noticed they hadn’t moved. They were standing at attention, as if awaiting someone.
Footsteps echoed in the chamber. The shadows darkened.
A robed figure stepped in, ducking under the arch. When he looked at Allie, she saw no face, only pitch black and glowing red eyes.
“You’ve brought me what I ask?” a deep voice said from within the darkness.
One of the women nudged Allie and said, “Right here.”
“Where?”
The woman looked at Allie, waiting.
“You want the armor?” Allie asked.
The robed figure’s breathing grew louder, filling the room. Yuko huddled against her grandmother, trembling with fear.
“Where?” the deep voice bellowed, its eyes flaring with red. “You will give it to me!”
“He’s a demon, a dark angel,” Yuko said. “Don’t do it!”
Allie nodded grimly at Yuko, already aware of the danger they were in. She cautiously slipped the ring into her back pocket, for once glad that Daniel wasn’t there with them. The magical armor and weapons had made Daniel stronger, but she wasn’t sure he was strong enough to defeat this foe.
“Allie!”
It took Allie a moment believe what she was hearing. She spun to see Daniel appearing through a portal in the wall, the shield and sword held high and the sandals and helmet glowing gold and bright in the dim room.
“Come on!”
It wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t have known… but she wanted to punch him for bringing the armor right into their hands.
The dark angel made a pleased sound, then reached out a robed hand and pulled Daniel toward him. With each step closer, the armor begun to rise off of Daniel.
“Allie!” Daniel shouted with worry. “We gotta go, now!”
She shook her head with a glance toward Yuko. They couldn’t just leave her family here like this, captives of the Strayers.
“No retreat,” she said as she pulled the ring back onto her finger and ran. She propelled herself into the air and spun, using the magic of the ring to pull the floating armor onto herself. The helmet landed on her head with a dull thud, the shield came to her ringed hand, and the sword flew i
nto her other hand. When she landed, the sandals were in place on her feet.
Daniel stared in amazement.
“That was—” the dark angel started, but Daniel finished by saying—
“Amazing!”
“No. It was foolish.” The being reached up and pulled back its hood, then cast the entire cloak to the floor. Its skin was cracked like a dry lakebed. In places where there was no skin, fire burned bright.
The dark angel looked at Allie like it was about to attack, but then tilted its head and smirked instead, showing pointed teeth. It reached for her and began a chant.
Allie felt the familiar pattern etched in her arm stinging, and then the shadows around her arms began to swirl. With a command from the dark angel in an ancient language, Allie spun and struck at Daniel!
“What’re you doing?” he screamed, diving back and barely dodging her blow.
“I don’t know!” she said. Her sword arm struck again, but she still had control of her other arm. She threw the shield to Daniel, which he caught and held in place to block her blade. “He’s controlling me somehow.”
“Make him stop!”
The chanting grew in volume, and Allie was pulled forward by the sword, its point aimed straight at Daniel’s chest. He dove out of the way, blocking as best he could, but the strike hit his shoulder and drew blood.
“Fight it!” he shouted.
She felt her arm pulling back, ready for the slash that she was sure would end Daniel’s life. If only she’d told someone about the marks on her arm, if only she had found some way to get rid of them before now. Closing her eyes, she focused on Daniel, their friendship, and on the ring that had once been part of a necklace that had belonged to her mom.
Her mom—what would she do if she were here? Not let her friend be killed, that was for sure.
Allie put everything she had into her ring, focusing on its positive energy instead of the negative energy flowing from the black marks on her arm.
With a blast of bright light, she pushed back on the force that was controlling her. She felt like a strong wind had been blowing over her, and then suddenly stopped.