Ch14-7: KoGuRai

Black eyes were fixed on the boy's pale face as if working to bore dark manipulations into LuShi's mind.

KoGuRai..? It can’t really be…

TsuYa felt his throat tighten, struggling to fight down the nausea that was forcing its way upwards, turning his mouth nasty on the inside. His face was damp with sheets of sweat and his eyes stung from the putrid odor that hung heavily over the battlefield. Though he fought back the instinct reactions of his body, his mind was focused on the dark winged figure that stood before him.

KoGuRai had been the youngest member to sit on the Nefolian Council before the fall of the city to Zeromus. Originally, the position had been filled by his father, who had died during a set of battles with outlying tribes. Out of respect and in memory of the strong, good-hearted warrior, the rest of the Council had chosen to allow his son, KoGuRai to step up in his stead.

TsuYa considered it one of the greatest mistakes made in the history of Nefol. KoGuRai proved to be the exact opposite of his father. He was a power hungry, manipulative young man who inspired the division of the Council into restless political factions. The original purpose of the Nefolian Council became tainted as a new driving ambition swayed the minds and hearts of those who once served the people.

And now, KoGuRai stood before him, literally. Though not at all the way that TsuYa had remembered him. His form had been shifted and altered by a familiar darkness that could only speak of the touch of Chaos.

Impossible…

And the words that KoGuRai had just spoken, the twisted hand reaching out to the boy Sygnus, were even more impossible. Something in TsuYa screamed that he should take action. That he should intervene. That should LuShi reach out and embrace the title that he had just been offered, everything would be over.

Don’t do it, kid…

But his limbs were heavy and his mind was clouded. Sound stuck in his throat, catching on the taste of bile.

Don’t let them sweet talk you the way they did me.

LuShi stared at the outstretched hand. His silver eyes flickered up to study the strange, disfigured face. Then with a motion that spoke louder than any words could, the boy shook his head and took a step backwards.

TsuYa felt himself release a breath he didn’t know that he was holding.

A slight pout tugged at the curve of KoGuRai’s lips. The smooth voice came again, seeming to fight to hold on to patience, “Come, now. Lord LuShi. You should know very well… feel it in your essence… that you don’t belong here.”

LuShi’s gaze fell. There was little doubt that the words struck home. The boy had never been welcomed there with Zemi’s people.

“Look. This one doesn’t even have wings yet!” one black nailed finger pointed down towards TsuYa. The smirk on the disfigured face only served to make it all the more gruesome. Cracked lips drew back from blackened teeth, fangs showing quite clearly.

“HEY!” TsuYa spat, suddenly regaining his voice in a fit of irritation.

But KoGuRai was completely ignoring him at this point. Black eyes were fixed on the boy’s pale face as if working to bore dark manipulations into LuShi’s mind. “And neither do you, Lord LuShi. They have stifled you with their fear. Kept you from obtaining your wings.”

The boy’s head jerked up with a quizzical expression.

“That’s right… you should have wings,” the dark voice purred. “Have they ever made fun of you because you didn’t? Have they treated you as if they did not want you here?”

LuShi nodded slowly, peering at KoGuRai in wonderment. As if he was curious how the grisly-faced man could know pain locked in his heart.

“My Master gave me wings. Don’t you think they’re wonderful?” the dark wings unfurled, rising to the sky. “He can give you wings, too.”

The boy gazed up, taking in the gleaming dark feathers with round, interested eyes.

“Don’t fall for it, LuShi. It’s nothing but lies!” TsuYa snarled, pushing himself to his feet. “They’ll tell you anything to get you over there. Trust me… it’s not where you want to be!”

LuShi’s attention snapped away from the wings at the sound of his voice.

“Now, then…” KoGuRai began again, but TsuYa refused to let the sweet talking continue unrivaled.

“It’s just like what they tried to do to me, LuShi. Do you know that story?”

The silver head shook and KoGuRai’s face turned red as TsuYa captured LuShi’s attention and held it raptly.

“Zerom waited until I hit a low in my life and was doubting everything I ever was. Then he came along and made it sound like all my dreams would be answered if I took the gifts that he would give me,” the warrior’s lip curled as the words rushed out between them. “Come to find out, the gift was nothing but turning me Marked! And I’ve been trying to find a cure to it ever since. Is that what you want for yourself, Lucci?”

The boy shook his head again, looking a little alarmed. Out of shame, TsuYa didn’t speak so freely of his situation on normal terms. But this wasn’t normal terms. And to reveal so much to LuShi seemed to have the impact that he hoped it would.

“Ahhhh….” KoGuRai gave a quiet laugh. “Poor TsuYa. So that’s your story… you couldn’t handle it. And now, is that jealousy I hear?”

“What?” the warrior fumed in return. “Jealous? Of you?”

The winged figure took a slow step forward. For the first time, TsuYa realized that KoGuRai was a good head and shoulders taller than he remembered him being. “I have you to thank. You passed up your chance to become the Rhyswyr. So now the position has fallen to me. As has the rule of Nefol — just as it always should have.”

“Is that the sort of mess that Zeromus has been feeding you?” TsuYa sneered back.

“It is simply the truth.”

“Truth? I’ll tell you the truth,” the warrior balled one fist and held it upright. “You think you’re really something. But you’re nothing but one of Zeromus’ playthings… no better than any of the other Marked.”

LuShi’s head snapped around incredulously.

Seeing that he had the boy’s attention again, TsuYa continued, “Pretty fitting – you’ve always been rotten through and through if you ask me.”

TsuYa hadn’t forgotten how upon Father’s disappearance, things only continued to decline in the School – mostly thanks to KoGuRai’s sway in the Council. SoYa had not been viewed to be of the age to succeed his father as the High Guide and the pressure within the Council had become immense. KoGuRai had stood, in TsuYa’s mind, as one of the more dangerous rivals to SoYa’s position. And for threatening his brother, KoGuRai also stood as his own rival.

KoGuRai’s mouth thinned into a pressed line of disapproval. Though it was obvious that he was angry, he did not move to strike. It seemed to have something to do with the fact that LuShi was there. “TsuYa… you are still the same childish, spoiled brat as ever.”

The Apprentice simply smirked in return, letting the insult run off of him. It was always a pleasure to ruffle KoGuRai’s attempts to remain calm and unmoved. It never took much… and TsuYa never tried hard. Even the most base of insults, pointed in the right direction, could set him off.

The winged creature fell back upon ignore tactics, turning his attention once more towards LuShi, “The company you keep leaves a lot to be desired, Lord LuShi. Come with me and I’ll see to it that you will be given the respect and position that you deserve.”

Again, the boy only shook his head. This time, his response was far faster than before.

“You cannot mean that you don’t want to be fighting on the side that’s winning?” KoGuRai frowned sharply.

LuShi’s soft voice came, the first words he had spoken since the winged creature had appeared, “I already am.”

So much determination. So much belief in the three simple words. KoGuRai’s brow wrinkled with a hint of frustration, seeing that his efforts had fallen short and all that he had offered remained undesired.

The kid’s got more guts that I gave him credit for…

Black eyes glittered maliciously from under the swaths of dark hair. One lip curled as KoGuRai’s smooth, coaxing voice grew hissing and spiteful, “I see. I was warned that Zemi Dreigiau may have worked his twisting powers on your mind, Young Lord. I had no idea that it would be this far gone.”

TsuYa felt a chill spread over his skin. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end, once again signaling danger that he could not pinpoint yet.

One dark-gloved hand reached up. A signal to something just out of sight, over the hill. A low moan carried on the wind as a terrible sight rose before the warrior’s eyes. There was a group of Marked scuffling towards them, black eyes cowering away from both the boy Sygnus and KoGuRai. It was only the single command that kept them moving forward.

Between them they held the slumped and battered body of one of the Awakened soldiers. His wings were now shredded streams of flesh and feathers, his face mauled beyond recognition. Where his sword hand had once been, there was nothing but a gristly stump that frothed a flow of blood that clotted black along the side of his robe. The suffering moan indicated that he was still alive.

Is he taking a hostage or something?

A cold smile touched KoGuRai’s lips as the broken Cyngan was thrown at his feet. “One of yours, yes?”

Is he trying to make some kind of exchange?

TsuYa ground his teeth.

I don’t get this.

LuShi watched the grim procession with unblinking eyes.

A sharp flash of metal shown suddenly in the hazy sunlight. KoGuRai had drawn a long-hafted naginata, the wicked serrated blade pointed down towards the bloodstained grass.

“What are you doing?” the words rushed out of TsuYa’s mouth as he leaned forward. His own hands gripped more tightly around the black bladed scythe.

“I’m giving Lord LuShi his wings,” KoGuRai’s voice was low but triumphant.

It happened so quickly that it was hard to comprehend until it was too late. The rise of the blade, only seconds before it plunged straight through the Cyngan’s back, exploding in a crimson flow down through his chest. The body arched backwards writhing as it hung upon the cruel blade.

A shout broke from TsuYa’s mouth and he felt himself surge forward. His scythe swung up, over his head, gaze locked upon the monstrosity that stood before him. The dark winged creature that smiled silently down at the pool of demise that spread around his feet.

From behind him, he could hear LuShi’s voice crack in a sudden hoarse cry. The sound was chilling, like the wailing of the dead. More ghastly than even the shrieks of the Marked. It was the sound of one fated as the Bane.

TsuYa felt his feet ripped out from under him as a flash of chilling silvery-white filled his vision. Knocked back against the side of the hill, he fought to clear his vision and find his wits. The scene that unfolded before him was haunting and unreal.

LuShi was hovering a foot off of the ground, a thick pulsating mist swirling and condensing around his form. His head was thrown back, eyes clamped shut, mouth wide open in a soundless scream. He looked like he was in great pain. A slender tendril of silvery-white rose from the sprawled body of the slain Cyngan, streaming directly into the mists that surrounded the boy. As if LuShi was feeding and gaining power from death itself.

Hedd-ynad!

Terror froze every inch of TsuYa’s body, eyes wide and locked upon the deadly awakening that was playing out before him. There was nothing that he could do to stop it.

Is… it…  the Sygnus….?