Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - Intermission (5) Ken's Nightmare

[Adrian Moss]

Ken was hurting all over and he didn’t’ know why. Everywhere the sky was a burning red and the ground was volcanic rock and ash. His feet seemed to sink in with each step and it made his legs ache. There was more to the ground than just rock and ash though. Everywhere bodies lay across the ground, hoisted in the air on spears and naginata, and piled on one another. Everywhere Angels and Oni lay dead, bleeding black or fluorescent blood into the hungry earth.

Everywhere they had fought and died. Everywhere they had failed. Above it all a voice laughed, cruel and sinister. It was His voice. As in Heaven as in Earth, and vice versa. Ken had failed, Lindh had died, and Heaven’s Legions were down the one key element that led to a domino effect that bathed everyone in blood.

And it was his entire fault.

As the Ancient One’s voice whispered to him, he had not been strong enough. He had been the one who failed when everyone else had done their part. He had been the weak link. Kaori had known it and said as much. She had known. Funny, he couldn’t tell were she was now. Did she still fight? What was wrong with his mind?

Ken sat down filled with self-pity and self-loathing.

“Ken,” she cried out his name, making him look up. “Ken, were are you?”

He stood up and looked up and in the direction of the voice. She hovered there in the air, coming around a huge, tooth-like rock. Her eyes had been torn out and blood poured down her cheeks. It was Lindh, mangled and mutilated.

[Justin OOC]

"You were never suited for this war. I should never have been summoned by a weak Master like you." Lindh's voice was filled with loathing and pain.

"You're less than nothing, and I paid the price. It should have been you,it was your stubborness that led to this."

Her eyes were glowing red. "You can never be the sort of Master that's needed, you aren't even a Man. You talked a big game, but had NOHING to back it up. YOU are WORTHLESS!!!"

Her voice built into a crescendo as she heaped insults upon him. It was almost unbearable.

[Adrian Moss]

Ken cried out at the unfairness of it all. What had prepared him for this epic battle? He had lived a good life, a soft life, safe and normal. Nothing had made him ready for this.

"I know," he wept to Lindh. "Let me atone. Let Me ATONE!"

Ken fell to his knees, his vision blurred from tears and the wind and Lindh's workds swirling around him in echoes and shrieks. Above it all, the Oni Lord laughed.

He slammed his head into the ground.

"Let me take it back," he wept. "Let me go back and save you ... save them all."

"NO!" the voice cried out. "All you can do is weep and cry. It's all you've ever been good at. What do you think the demons would make of your tears, Kenobi? Do they lap them up, or does it disgust them as much as it disgusts me?"

[Justin OOC]

On his chest the Amulet burned. "Don't forget our bond Kenobi."

It was Lindh's voice, the same soft comforting voice that had first called to him.

"Call upon me, Master. Bring the Light of truth to this darkness of despair."

Ken's eyes opened and he saw the Command Mantra on his arms blazing brightly. "As long as you have these, You will be a Master, my Master."

He knew what he had to do, and shouted "Valkyrie Lindh, By the Contract of blood and honor between us, I summon you Forth!"

As always happened he felt his energy reserves fade dramatically, and the great Circle of White runes appeared. Lindh Rose from it, in her resplendant silver armor and bow at the ready.

The mutilated corpse in the Sky raged.

"This cannot be!!!! You were destroyed!!"

"A Servant can never truly be destroyed, not while they are still bound to a Master."

She nocks an arrow to her bow and aims at the mutilated shadow above. "Let us bring an end to this darkness, Master." Luminous energy roiled and spiraled around her bow and the shaft, as her own aura of Light bathed the field.

"No Stop!!"

"Fire Lindh!"

"Arrow of Light! Ultimate Bullseye!" She loosed the shaft of radiant sprialling light and it washed away all the darkness of the world as it streaked towards the Shadowcorpse.

"NOOOOOOOOO"

The arrow Struck with blinding fury, totally destroying the shadown. With that Lindh turned back to Kenobi, and threw her arms around him. "Never doubt our combined strength Master. If not for you, I could not exist. You have your own strengths, use them. Do not judge yourselves based on what others can do., Now, wake up, there's much to be done."

The last part was cryptic. Slowly the dream faded as Kenobi opened his eyes. laying upon his bed was the dress-clad form of Lindh, her hands interlaced with his, his Command mantra glowing brightly. Her yellow eyes had a soft affectionate cast, and she smiled. "It's good to be back, Master."