Gazi and Tanaka walked through the dirt road as the gentle breeze shaking the leaves high up in the trees. They stopped here and there to whenever Gazi saw an interesting bird. Unlike Tanaka, Gazi was the type of person who would actually stop to smell the roses. Tanaka struggled to walk properly, limping most of the way, still recovering from the match.
Gazi looked behind him, "You're slower today."
Tanaka scowled. "Gee I wonder why."
"Quit whining, part of battle is learning how to take a punch" Gazi smiled and kept walking.
Tanaka seemed to be lost in thought, something clearly gnawing at him.
"Something wrong, kid?" He looked up, eyes full of curiosity.
"Gazi, what was that thing you did? The palm strike? I've never seen anything like it."
"I was wondering when you'd ask. Remember those blessings I taught you about? Well, I was blessed with chipo by a young ancestor."
"Aren't young ancestors' blessings supposed to be weak?"
"Yeah. Glad you were paying attention," he chuckled as he adjusted his shoulders to comfortably carry the spears.
"I concentrated mine around my hands and wrists, see." Gazi showed Tanaka his wrists as curved patterns like a lion's mane appeared on them and began to glow in a bright red-orange hue.
"Though it's mostly centered in my palm. What you saw was the power of chipo when used right." he continued.
"Woah, that's amazing." Tanaka's eyes widened looking at Gazi, he then crossed his own arms on his chest with a smirk, " But you have to admit, if I had chipo, I would have totally won."
"I'm sure you would have"
"How do I get chipo, anyway?" Tanaka asked.
"You don't. Chipo is given, not taken or earned. The choice of whether or not an ancestor chooses to bless you with it is completely up to them."
He turned to look at the boy. "But you don't have to worry, you're royal blood, so I'm sure you'll be taught the ways of asking for a blessing when you come of... what?"
Gazi's head snapped up. He looked to the sky, seeing a vulture fly in the direction of the village. His eyes followed the vulture, when he turned his head back, there were birds flying in large numbers away from it. Above the area where the Yera Shumba royal home should be, countless other vultures were circling. Gazi froze, staring straight ahead past the bushes and trees Tanaka could not see over. His hands balled into fists and he suddenly jolted off, leaving Tanaka behind. Tanaka followed as quickly as he could, gasping and panting, but Gazi was already far off. Tanaka reached a clearing near the village gates.
"We're under attack!!!"
A deranged villager yelled. Tanaka was now able to see through the gates. People scattered around like ants. Women held on to their children, fleeing towards the gates. He rushed towards the epicenter from which the people were fleeing, guessing that was the source of the chaos. He pushed past the stampeding citizens, getting knocked down a couple of times in the process. As he kept going, his heart thundered in his chest, having realized where he was running towards, his... home — the royal home. With each step, he got closer and the acrid scent of blood and smoke grew stronger and stronger. Clangs of steel clashing became louder, as did the grunts and screams of strife. As he neared the royal home, he quickly realized why Gazi had taken off. He ran faster, tripping and falling on the way, but still getting up. Fighting off the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. He arrived at the gates to the royal home, an odd symbol etched under them, two fangs at the sides with a snake head in the center, glowed as if acknowledging his very presence. Past the gates, he found blood painted across the walls, the guards' homes reduced to smoldering ruins. The air was heavy with the stench of death. A silence, deafening, broken only by the sounds of screams and the caws of scavenging birds.
"What's going on?" Tanaka's eyes widened.
Sweat from the heat flowed non-stop. His heart rate quickened, his breath becoming more and more sharp as he saw the corpses and limbs that were scattered everywhere his eyes scanned. More dead bodies revealed themselves as Tanaka moved deeper inside. He stepped onto the stone path to the entrance. In the trim grass beside him, he saw a familiar face. His heart banged as if it was about to jump out of his chest.
"Miranda." His eyes widened as he whispered the name.
He uniform stained crimson red while an arrow stuck out for her back. A blood stained tear ran down her nose, with a small pool forming directly beneath her eyes. His legs kept moving forward, but his eyes stayed glued onto her lifeless form.
"Who... what... why?"
The guards' bodies laid tattered on the wide-open giant doors, beaten and battered beyond recognition, some with veins tearing through the skin and others with deep dark holes where their eyes should have been. Among the silent crowd of corpses, there two more, on with a spear in hand impaled into the other's torso and the other with a sword piercing his enemy's heart. Both stuck in that position in death.
"No" he whispered as he saw the protruding spear's engraved patterns. He could not recognize the soldier's uniform, but the other one... A large bang in his chest rang. He clutched his heart as his eyes met the body's, stuck in death's eternal stare.
"Kesi." Tanaka muttered. Looking at his brother's pale form, oxygen having long left them. His hand still on his spear, impaled in his assailant. He stood there, unable to look away from his frozen eyes. His words trapped and failing to escape his throat. He wanted to say something, to do something... close his eyelids at least, but no. His body betrayed him, refusing to move at all. His legs trembled, already weak from training and now this. His knees finally buckled. The weight of reality was too much for his young heart to bear. Just as he was about to collapse, Gazi returned, quickly scooping Tanaka onto his shoulders and sprinting away from the royal home, from the village, the massacre. Even from the distance, Tanaka's mind stayed on the picture of Kesi. His home burning to rubble. His eyes filled with void, drained of their bright color. His mind was just blank. His eyes, mirrors of the fire, death, and carnage they were fleeing from as Gazi carried him on his shoulder.
"Kesi, Father," he whispered, his voice too low for even Gazi to hear.
The world around him spun and blurred into the streaks of red and orange as Gazi sprinted through the forest. The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting long shadows that danced like ghosts among the trees. And then, from the distance, he saw it. Through half-lidded eyes, Tanaka caught a glimpse of something at the gates of the village. A sunset silhouette of a being his hazy mind could not comprehend. He saw its piercing red eyes staring back at him, the figure's form seemed to be shifting along with Tanaka's eyes until it was all a blur and then.....darkness