Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction ❯ Tropicana ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Candles flickered across the room, and all was deadly quiet, save the noises the cars and sirens made far out on the streets. We had all gathered in a circle around the deeply sleeping Sierra. Unfortunately, we had rudely discovered that we could not wake her. Carrot, of course, obliged in moving her to the floor, where we propped her on a few grungy pillows. I watched my Niisan carefully, making sure that he did not violate Sierra in some unspeakable way. To my great relief, he did not try anything too mischievous.

I knew that my spell could not save Sierra, but it would call forth the sorcerer to us. If we breached enough power from Sierra's soul to an alternate one, perhaps the sorcerer would become alarmed that his power source had been bluntly disrupted, and he would come in search of us. I looked at Sierra, her tousled silver hair tangled on the pillows, her mouth puckered in a sad frown, yellow light radiating from her like rays from the sun. My eyes stung to look at her and my fury increased. Her psychic power was very great, for I suddenly could feel her soul speaking through my mind.

Marron. He is very near, now, Marron. He knows what you are doing. Her voice spoke to me as clearly, making the telepathy seemingly as general as a normal conversation. The others seemed to be oblivious to her speech, but in order to enforce the speech I had everyone gently hold hands, so our ring became a tight circle. I listened harder, but her voice seemed farther and farther away. I forced my eyes shut and listened not with my ears but with my mind.

Marron, I can't feel anything..I'm in a void! He's here, Marron! He's here. Tasukete, Marron! Help me! Her frightened voice was abruptly screaming in my mind. I couldn't stop it. Her voice kept screaming violently, and suddenly there was a burst of white light and all I could fathom was her blatant scream.

For a few frantic seconds I couldn't see anything, but I heard the varied outcries of my companions in the dismal background. I tried to focus my eyes, though it felt as if I was crossing them. Abandoning hope in gaining command over my vision, I reached deep inside myself to find an answer. I could feel Sierra crying, her tears washing over my face in tiny branching rivulets. The sorcerer still had her in his control, but where was he? I could not feel his presence very accurately, for it seemed his life force kept shifting.

"Marron? Where are you?" A baritone, somewhat afraid, interrupted my thoughts. "I can't see a damn thing!"

"I'm here, Gateau." I looked in the direction of his voice, but the bright whiteness drowned my sight. The sorcerer obviously was playing with us.

"Show yourself, you fag!" I heard my brother screaming at the sorcerer from somewhere. "Fight like a freaking man, baka!" I shook my head. Leave it to my brother to piss the sorcerer off. As if he wasn't somewhat pissed off already.

And then the milky stillness was suddenly drunk up, as if through some strange portal. We all were back in the living room, somewhat disheveled but fine overall. We were settled around Sierra, as before, but to our immediate dismay, she looked even worse.

"Good evening," came a sinister voice from behind. All of us whirled around to meet our enigmatic visitor, who was keenly watching us from a corner of the dimly lit room. The dark shadows danced on his face, his long cantaloupe-colored hair dipping up and down peacefully as he walked, as if he was underwater. We stood, cautiously; Tira assembled beside Niisan, Chocolate guarding Sierra, and Gateau off to my right side.

Rather suddenly I could feel his spiritual power seeping into my soul, cutting, binding, chilling me from the inside out. I tried to disregard it, but it was as if fingers were pulling violently on my inner being. I stumbled, rasping, and fell to my knees. My peripheral vision told me the others had suffered the same actions as I, for we all lay in chaotic positions, gasping for breath.

"Rather weak ones, you are," the sorcerer laughed, his teeth gleaming with the light that protruded through the window. "I had expected the 'Sorcerer Hunters' to be at least somewhat of a challenge." And with this his eyes glowed a deep red and he advanced.

"Who-who are you?" My brother choked out, his anger deepening. I noted with dismay that the spirit clenching did not activate his zoanthropy. Instead, my strong brother lay feeble and writhing on the floor.

"You haven't figured that out by now? I'm Orange Sorbet," the sorcerer leered. "What a waste of time. You conjure me here, threatening to take back the soul of my pretty Sierra," he complained, and clenched his fist. Immediately the deadened Sierra was floated by way of a verdant light over to the sorcerer's arms. He clutched her, almost lovingly, to him; her frail and now almost skeletal body snaked in his muscular arms. He grinned menacingly at us, as the girl opened her eyes. I choked back a cry of confusion, for Sierra's once beautiful silver eyes were now completely black. Her empty sockets stared at us from her perch in the sorcerer's embrace, and the sorcerer laughed again.

"Why?" I shouted at him, acting on a sudden impulse that sprouted from rage. "Why do need her?"

"This young girl is the key to unlocking the souls of the damned. Zaha, you remember, once had that," the sorcerer trailed off, in a reminiscing fashion. "Without this girl, I cannot speak to the great, evil ones that have fallen. With her soul and my overall power, I can conjure even Zaha's element back to this world!" Orange Sorbet smirked. "And I greatly doubt that any of you will be able to stand in my way."

"That's where you're wrong, buddy," Gateau then rushed at the sorcerer, ready to plunge a huge punch into the sorcerer's pale, thin face. Orange Sorbet merely laughed and opened his hand. A burst of white light energy easily knocked Gateau back into the wall, the sheer force of the impact causing the plaster to splinter into millions of pieces.

"Dammit, Gateau!" My brother cried, seeing his newly destroyed living room wall. "I just had that painted, too!" Gateau, sprawled against the wall, gave my brother the finger. Oh well, I thought. He deserves it. I then turned promptly back to the sorcerer.

"We haven't done this in a while, but," Tira and Chocolate ripped off their clothing simultaneously, revealing S&M black leather, complete with whips and garrotes, that never failed to give me a sweatdrop.

"Ohohohohohohoho!" They cried, and succeeded only in cracking their weapons over Orange's head a few times. He sneered, obviously unhurt, and with a powerful backhand slammed them onto the ground, rocking the apartment. Niisan cried out, and tried to help them up.

"That isn't fair! Why don't you take your wrath out on me?" My brother urged once Tira and Chocolate were shakily back on their feet.

"I already know about your little zoanthropy," the sorcerer pulled his hand casually through his soft orange hair. "Not that it would really be a challenge for me." My brother swore, then looked to me, panic in his eyes.

"Marron." It took but that one word.

I closed my eyes with a reverence, and murmured a deep incantation. The words moved effortlessly over my lips; I could feel the words' meaning and destined power. I raised the ofuda above my head, flashed my eyes open, and flung it with all the aggression that was trapped within my being.

The ofuda coursed through the air, and coarsely stuck to the side of the sorcerer's head. He blinked, and dropped Sierra, who, like a flimsy doll, tumbled to the ground. The sorcerer's eyes held the look of confusion, and before he could recover from this sudden shock, Gateau had abruptly crunched his skull under his hard, almost stony knuckles.

"Aghh.." the sorcerer groaned, but his eyes flamed with a renewing light. He stood again, blood flowing from the side of his head, which was almost totally cracked. He noticed the blood, and laughed.

"You think I'm so easy to defeat, ne?" Orange prodded. "This," he motioned toward his flowing blood, "is humanity. I am no longer human. As long as I have this girl," he kicked Sierra in reference, "I am immortal!" He pulled his sopping wet, bloody hair out of his face, and spread his arms out like a bird. "You, who so dare try to kill me, shall now die!"

Out of nowhere formed in his hands a long, dart-like pole, tipped with a sharp, lethal spike. Orange raised it up, the sinister tip shining in the moonlight, and hurled it in our general direction. The world was suddenly in slow motion as I saw the pole meet with my brother's body and in that one brief instant the pointed spike sliced through on the other side. Niisan fell to the ground, his body mutilated, the pole snagged through his body like a spear through a fish. It was like the entire world had ended.

I could feel nothing. Not love, not recognition, not knowledge, not happiness. The only fire burning so hot inside my chest was the essence of pure hate. It tingled angrily inside my mind, and I could comprehend nothing except that my duty was now to fucking kill the sorcerer and send him to a fate less forgiving than even hell. My hair blew back as the force of my bitter hate erupted from my soul, my eyes shining with a dark gleam only demons knew. The others fell back in fright and anticipation, but I paid them no attention in the least. My only attention was on the one who was to die on his painful staircase to hell in the next few seconds. I raised my hand, and I could feel myself gaining spirit energy, as if the very moon had blessed me in her cool and deep radiance. My body grew heavier as I felt metal plates of armor wrap themselves around me, my hair whisking back as if in a sudden wind. A heavy spear appeared in my right hand, and intense spiritual magic radiated from the other.

The sorcerer looked timid, as a mouse does before he is brutally eaten. "Y-y-Yakusha?" The sorcerer's eyes widened as he finally recognized me. I said nothing, my eyes darkening with a feverish hatred.

"You are not justified," I muttered quietly to him. "In anything. You don't deserve this world. In fact, you don't even deserve hell as your final resting place!" With this, I advanced, and rammed the spear into his ugly black, beating heart. "And if this does not kill you," I whispered in his ear as he slowly lost consciousness, "then this will." I opened my left hand, and released the tumultuous magic spell that had been fermenting slowly as my fury increased. The yellow light engulfed him, burning his skin like steaming acid. He screamed once, and only once, before his body was engulfed in flames, and his being was then only a memory. I sank to my knees and the ornate armor and spear disappeared completely, as did my vision as I slowly fell over.

The others rushed over to me, completely awed. I could feel their eyes staring at me. Strong arms suddenly lifted me, and only then did I remember my brother. "NIIISAAAN!" I screamed, tears welling up and trailing down my face and disappearing into my hair. He was gone. My brother, my only real friend in life, my family..I violently wept. I could see his face smiling down on me as we played as children. I could hear him tiptoeing to our mother's room so very long ago. It was like something so stupid had happened to snatch up really my only loved one, and he was gone forever.

I struggled out of Gateau's arms, and rushed over to my brother. Tira and Chocolate had also advanced over to my brother's limp body, caked in blood. Just seeing my brother's weak staring eyes lit my heart on fire. Tears dropped off my face onto my brother's, mixing with the blood and causing a torrent of red to wash down his deathly pale face. I couldn't stand it, so I turned away, my pain evident on my face as I had almost a permanent grimace etched there. As I turned away, I noticed Sierra.

She was not lying down, as she had been only moments before. Instead, she watched me cruelly, her black eye sockets closing in on my face, a smile at her skeletal lips. I stared at her, alarmed. And then the others saw her.

"You are pretty good, Marron Glace." She said, pacing stealthily towards me like a cougar. She winked, if that is possible when one has no eyes. "And not just good as in looks." She traced a wizened finger over my lips, and smiled sexily, which was gross. "Now that my master's dead, hell, I'm all yours." Her black sockets seemed to deepen. I turned away.

"Hey, Marron, I thought you loved me," she whimpered quietly in my ear. I cringed, and whirled back around to face her.

"You aren't Sierra." Her sockets widened, and a look of surprise went over her bony face.

"Yes I am!" Contempt was obvious in her scratching voice.

"Sierra would not act as you do. She was a timid, beautiful girl. Her soul was ripped from her," I murmured, tears welling in my eyes once more, and my voice came to a dusky whisper. "Just like my brother."

"Do you really care for your brother more than me?" She scoffed. "If that's the case, then just take my soul and give it back to your brother!" Sierra crossed her arms in an indignant manner. My heart leapt suddenly, as a strange ray of hope had shone from this demon that simply called herself Sierra. She saw something in my eyes, for she jumped back.

"What? What are you doing?" She cried, as I advanced towards her, my eyes glittering with something like evil.

"You don't deserve that soul, now," I said slowly, with mystic. "I did love Sierra, but she is not with us any longer. Her spiritual voice I can no longer hear, and if you were Sierra, you would at least have some type of compassion." Confusion spread over her.

"What? What are you talking about?" I shook my head at her, ashamed.

"Sierra would understand what family is. You do not. My brother means more to me than anyone else in the entire world," I shrugged. "So a demon's soul is a small price to pay to revive my brother's life!" I closed my eyes, and uttered the hardest incantation I knew: the Soul Searcher spell. The words, long and indistinct, ran together like water droplets, but my soul burned with longing for my brother's life. I prayed to Sierra, hoping she could hear my voice and help me that I might make my brother live again.

Marron. Her voice, a statement in which she assured me totally that she would help. I could feel her kind heart beating with mine, from somewhere far above the reaches of the universe, perhaps in a place called heaven. She began muttering the incantation simultaneously with me, and I could feel my body levitating.

Chocolate, Tira, and Gateau simply stared, but it was obvious they could also feel the divinity of Sierra's soul in time with mine as we uttered the spell, and they closed their eyes, as a minimal assistance.

In a rush of speed and emotion, I released some magic that truly seemed to come from above. The white stars of glittering light attacked the demon Sierra, and melted into her body. She struggled against the spell, but the magic refused to let go. A single round, yellow ball of light exploded from her body and I rapidly turned in the direction of my brother. The yellow glowing ring of light sank slowly but effortlessly into the form of my dead brother as the demon Sierra quickly died herself. I did not even watch her as she screamed her final bitter outcries of death. Instead, I watched as my brother flicked open his eyes. As he did this, the others and I ran over to him.

"Uggh," Niisan mumbled. "Damn. Did I miss something?" he said, staring up at the worried group around him. As he struggled to get up, his wounds disappeared, every bloody stain evaporating from his body, making it seem like nothing more than a terrible nightmare that fortunately you can wake up from. I wrapped my arms around my brother, and hugged him soundly. To my surprise, he returned the embrace, and then we parted.

"Arigatou, otoutosan." And my heart was relieved once more and forever.