The Ashes of Passion

I approach a building that looks like it used to be a chapel humans dedicated to Gweiss, Angel of Hunting, or something like that. It is a stone building with pretty stained glass windows at its forefront, as well as a statue of Gweiss herself. I Can tell a lot of care and time went into this building's construction. That, perhaps, is what I admire most about these pathetic beings. They become so enthralled by concepts that they defile nature in spectacular ways. It is an abomination to the natural order of hunting and nature, and yet you cant help but appreciate just how much passion went into this building's construction.

The entrance is around the side, and up some stairs. It's rather awkward and becomes more so once you see the back of the building. One might assume the back half collapsed, but I see it differently. The stones that lead into the "new" woodwork were not displaced or out of alignment. The woodwork and the stones fit together seamlessly. The edges where they've been hewn, although weathered with time, were crisp and straight. The chapel had been half built, one half the beauty of humanity, the other half intentionally left open to the world. Humans could be marvelous when they were put to task.

However, now the beautiful skylight view was covered by wood; worked and cut and beveled into place to turn this holy site into a true abomination. It's a building now, just like any other that houses the vermin and scum of this pathetic race. But this is where I want to be...

I met a man within Klaime, shortly after abandoning Yosho, who had a sword with a similar crossguard as Yosho's. I Asked him about it and he directed me to a boarder merchant. The merchant said he got it from a blacksmith around this area, and the smith allowed me to find this building here, filled with sword's like Yosho's. This building is where Yosho received his sword after pinning me to a tree. It stands to reason he trained here, since he'd been so comfortable acquiring one of their swords. I Want to see what could make a young boy powerful enough to defeat me. I want that power for myself, and then I'm going to murder all of them. Then I'll find Yosho, and make him mine again.

I open the door and step inside. There is a wooden, upper area that looks like a stage that overlooks an area below with sand and wood training platforms. The stage has a lot of met sitting and relaxing and overall looking uselsess. I Can understand the caste system here. The worthless ones sat up here while the ones worth training trained below. I Look down to observe more tables around the fighting pit, several men breathing heavily or sweating or both. A lot of them looked like they'd be worth a good fuck. But strangely...none of them appealed to me.

As I open the door, a bit of scum hops up from a chair and begins to speak to me. It's tone is cocky at first, but he quickly gazes over my curves but somehow seems disappointed? "Geez! Another one." He complained. Another what...?

"I'm looking for Yosho Ki'Sing." I Demand of him. I know Yosho isn't here, but I wont let them know I know that.

"Look, miss. We're not looking for applicants right now..." The scum begins to ramble. That wasn't what I asked, and it pisses me off that he thinks I'd subject myself to his hierarchy. I step forward aggressively. I Certainly do not look threatening. I have a body made for fucking, and I always leave that well displayed. But my intention is clear. I will harm this filth if he doesn't give me what I want!

"Woah, there, girl. Don't hurt yourself now...." He attempts to warn me, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword he wears.

I strike him across the jaw. I feel a tingle run down my spine as my mind registers the bones of her jaw dislodging from his skull through my fist first, then my ears with a satisfying, grotesque crackle. I Can't help but smile. It feels so good.

Several men jump to their feet in response, ready to assault me. I want it. I Want to kill them all. I Want to tear each one of them limb from limb as they flail helplessly against me. I want to feel my claws sink into their soft pathetic skulls.

"What's going on up there?!" A Booming voice calls from the pit below. Commanding, powerful and used to shouting at the shit he keeps under his boots on this stage. It's enough to draw my attention before I pounce on the next unlucky victim, and the clamor of training in the pit stops. The hall goes quiet aside from the little beta male groaning in pain from his shattered jaw, laying at my feet. He was in charge. He's the one I want.

He's old, perhaps forty or more. He wears a well trimmed beard and a stern, demanding face. He has a little girl next to him who has inherited some of those features. When she grows up, she'll have sharp, keen eyes like her father. Those eyes! They're similar to Yosho's. He holds his sword the same way Yosho does! This man must be the one who taught Yosho! This man is the reason for my suffering.

"I'm looking for Yosho Ki'Sing. Who gave him his sword?" I Demand of him. Everyone wants to attack me, but they remain still and uneasy. They are waiting for permission.

He looks at me. He sees...something. My time looking him over gave him time to look me over, and he found something more valuable. "I did. I don't have one for you." He dismissing me and turned around, going back to his instruction.

Fucker! No! I will NOT be denied! I begin to march down the steps. A man gets in my way and I grab his wrist before he can raise his sword, snapping it effortlessly. He cries out, and the brawl begins.

I don't recall how many people tried to block my access to their leader. Anyone who did lost a limb from me breaking, or removing it. As I clawed through his minions, the man gave his daughter a big, warm hug, and directed her over to a nearby table. He was going to let her watch me murder him? It gave me an awkward feeling, somewhere between arousal and respect. That's who I'd want to father my children, if I intended to have any. No reason to shield that child from the truth of combat...not in a place like this.

I finally make my way down the stairs and the man directs his men to back off. The way he looks at me its like he's seeing an old friend. Someone he knows. Do I know this man? Why is he so comfortable with me?! It's making me angry!

I Charge at him and he does exactly what I expect him to do. The step-to-the-side thing Yosho did the second time we met. I am ready for it and I whip around to face him, deflecting his blade with my arm. He's good, though, and brings his guard up in time to block my attempted claw for his chest. It wasn't as crisp and fluid as Yosho's. He must have been tred from training the next generation of Yoshos.

I Dive for his legs, in an attempt to take him down and he pivots, bringing his sword down toward my head. I dont want to risk a head injury so I roll to the side. He kicks me as I do and it puts my landing slightly off balance, opening the way for a follow-up strike....or it should have? He didn't follow through. He waited for my attack again? I understood Yosho did a lot of standing and waiting for me to mess up when we fought...but once we were fighting he didn't just...stop.

I straighten myself. I'll punish him for his mistake! I let loose a forceful bolt of fire. I aim for his feet since I dont want to cause too much damage to this building yet. He dodges out of the way of the first, then second bolt as I follow-up behind the magical assault, prepares to meet the blade that would be ready for me. But when the fire parts from my vision, he isn't ready with a sword pointed toward me. My hands are forward, ready to grab the blade, but its not there. They collide with his chest in a double-fisted punch I wasn't prepared to perform, so it doesn't harm him nearly as much as it should.

He staggers back, trying to remain in his guard as his daughter calls out in distress. Of course she doesn't want to see him die. Why would she? He turns and lets her know he'll be alright, and then I realize....Yosho never stopped looking at me. Even when he really did look away, it always felt like there was an oppressive stare directed at me, like a wolf watching its prey. This man looked away. He stopped caring about the fight.

This man wasn't Yosho's trainer. The finely tuned principles of combat I saw in Yosho are not present in this man. He isn't as adaptive, his footwork is different. This man definitely fought Yosho, and was impressed with his skill, just like me. Now he was mimicking Yosho to try and capture that power...just like me. I don't know why, but I find it insulting. Yosho belongs to me, not him.

I Leap from my spot, setting off an explosion behind myself that propels me like a rocket into the man. He topples over, the wind knocked out of him. He cant focus and fails to defend himself from the demon straddling him. He tries to grapple, but can't see his target. I strike him in the face several times, but he refuses to look at me. I break his ribs, but he refuses to look at me! I Grab him by the collar of his garments, raising him close to me, but he refuses to look at me! I Slam him into the sand, raising him again and slaming him back down. He looks everywhere, randomly, tossing his head about like he has no control over it, BUT HE REFUSES TO LOOK AT ME!

"You're not him!!" I heard someone the sounds like me scream as I slamed him into the ground repeatedly. Perhaps she said it more than once. I am going to continue slamming this imposter into the ground until he is paste! I Will make him a puddle of lies and drown the rest of these pretenders in it.

A sharp pain in my back breaks my rage momentarily. Something broke my flesh. Its not very deep, almost negligible, but it had the potential to become worse if I let the threat keep stabbing me. I whirl around and grab the person's chest and throw them with all my force at the window....and then I feel my heart stop as the shrill cry of a little girl rings out as it travels across the room and through the window. I had grabbed the girl by the head and thrown her. I'm frozen in horror of what I had done, but the humans react quickly. I simply must die now. Beating up or even killing a mercenary leader is one thing, but killing a child is not forgivable.

I am ready to surrender to them. Let them slowly pierce and chop me until I loose my pointless life. The first sword collides with my stomach, failing to pierce it. The second bashes me across the skull from behind, cutting the yellow ribbon holding my hair back, but not my hair or my flesh. Regardless, I fall over in dismay, my hair covering my face as the sword strikes pierce me bit by bit as they realize what they're dealing with.

I close my eyes, and as I do, I hear the pained sobbing and gasps for air of the man next to me, the clamor of the guildhall as they looked for better things to kill me with, and the wheezing of a child. Wait? Child? It's like electricity through my body. I Can hear her labored breathing for just a moment, her sobs. As I get up I loose the sound to the room filled with battle. A mace bashes me in the back of the head, forcing me to the ground again. That one really hurt. But I can't let them stop me. That girl will die if I don't get to her! I Bring myself up again and a man tackles me off balance into the ground. NO! I break his shoulder. He will never use that arm again, but I don't care.

I get back up and a sword lodges firmly in my gut, eliciting a scream from me, but I refuse to stop. I grab that man's collar bone, digging my fingers into the shoulder and ripping the bones free of their host. I claw, kick and fight my way to an opening. I need space. I don't care how many I have to kill, as long as I don't kill that child.

Finally I'm free of their struggles enough to leap out the window with all my strength, landing on the ground directly over top the horrified girl. She's cut up horribly and I've bruised her beautiful face. She's wheezing and gasping and trying to cry. I cry for her as I begin to heal her with my magic, removing all the physical scars I've caused her. I stand, looking down at the now healthy girl who looks at me like I am a monster. Why does this hurt?

The sound of men comng down the stairs and guards coming to the rescue breaks me free of my moment of horror, and I begin to run into the streets as fast as I can.