Steel Burner

An inner chaos

A/N: one up here that i thought was important to say before you guys begin reading, this chapter is based around what goes through our samurai's head as he visits some old memories again "for the first time" and that's really it, a dream sequence.

**********

“Omior, hey Omior, wake up.”

Jolting awake, the samurai got into a fighting stance. “What?’

He was in a campsite; a fire was burning in the center to keep the ones nearby warm. Omior was able to recognize the one calling for him was Ahingor, the one his memories reminded him was a friend. Ahingor was nearest the fire and using it to warm himself up.

He saw Omior get into a battle ready stance and immediately raised his arms at his sides. “Woah, calm down. Just me waking you up to get dinner. Red and his men are not going to be finding us anytime soon, especially after that ‘gift’ you gave ‘em.” Ahingor chuckled a little bit and motioned for the samurai to sit next to him.

Obliging, Omior sat cross legged at Ahingor’s side by the crackling fire. Ahingor poked the fire to keep it ablaze and a bit of soot jumped into the air, landing harmlessly at his foot. He turned to his side and pulled a stick out of the ground that pointed over the live flame. On the end of it held a simple fish, cooked golden brown, a small strand of steam rising from its head.

Omior took the delicacy of the sea and ate at a fair pace, carefully watching for the bones that always annoyed him.

They both were relatively silent. Ahingor watched the fire and eating at a snails pace, while Omior let his mind wander, trying to remember the fog that filled his memory bank prior to him waking up there.

“So what’s got you bothered, Om’s?” Ahingor asked, not really focusing on the samurai directly.

“Nothing really, just some odd feeling nagging at the back of my head. Don’t worry about it.” Omior just shrugged it off, something was nagging at the back of his head, but for the life of him he couldn’t quite place it.

A small mist was now spilling in slowly around the campsite, avoiding the fire like a person would the plague. The mist was eery and distinct to the nighttime ambience, it swayed and danced about in the cold chill.

Ahingor saw it and just muttered half heartedly to himself. “Huh, weird. Didn’t think mist would be rolling in after the day we had.”

Something strange was going on, but Omior couldn’t put the pieces together, he was wondering why he wasn’t recalling anything from his memory, but nonetheless, had to abide to its strange ways. He watched his surroundings with a nervousness, trying to remember what comes next, or if one of the few regained memories had the answer in them, but none were helpful at all.

A sudden shriek caused Omior to turn rapidly towards Ahingor. He was in the grasp of some kind of dark claw the size of a tree; It didn’t try to kill him, but it kept a firm grip on the agile ranger. Ahingor’s clothes seemed to almost sizzle away, the claw was doing something to him, something that worried the samurai.

Within seconds, Omior was already rushing the giant appendage, weapon drawn and ready to swipe in a wide arc. The samurai jumped straight for the giant thing with intent to sever, only to get swiped back by a smaller black shadow like tentacle appendage.

The dark claw started retracting back into the forest, Ahingor trying to break free the entire time with an arrow of his.

Omior got to his feet as the agile ranger hit a rather soft spot on the creatures claw with the arrow. It pierced the shell and blood as dark as night started to pool in that small area, no doubt an artery was hit in that area. The claw released and Ahingor fell to the ground on his back.

Omior was at Ahingor’s side within a short lapse of a few seconds, ready for the worst.

Much to the samurai’s relief, the mist had started to dissipate and retreat back from whence it came, along with it was that strange creature that roared in defiance, trying with much effort to reach the two warriors. After a minute or so, the fog had fully retreated, leaving no signs but the damage around them that anything had been there at all.

**********

Omior shot open his eyes, it was dark out and he felt different. He looked to the rest of himself to find he was a small child. To his left was a female of sorts that seemed content in just laying there, peering into the endless void of a sky. To the samurai’s right was a familiar, yet so different, child he was just barely able to make out as Ahingor.

Omior stretched his limbs out and got a better look at his surroundings from where he was laying. There was a small pond with catfish swimming rapidly around in circles; some poking their heads out of the rather shallow water at random intervals. He saw that around them was rather tall wild grass growing freely and the samurai assumed some of it even grew past his current height.

The sound of beetles and dragonflies were all around them as the two beside Omior were relaxing. The samurai calmly laid his head back down and let himself relax too, it seemed this was going to be a good memory. He heard the girl to his left begin to speak, happily content with relaxing and keeping her eyes shut.

“You guys ever wonder if there is anything out there for us?” She asked in a happy and content tone.

Ahingor was the next to speak up. “Well, sure there is! There just has to be, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Right?” The ranger sat up and looked to where Omior was laying, whom was now getting back into a sitting position.

“Uhm, yes, there is always something for everyone, always a destiny on the horizon and a future to have.”

“Since when did you get so philosophical, Omi?”

“Just answering a question is all, nothing more, nothing less. Nothing philosophical about it, I’m not an enlightened thinker.”

A rustle in the bushes caught Omior’s ears, it was faint but there was definitely a growl in it that seemed rather far off. Despite this, the samurai mentally prepared himself for what might happen. The other two hadn’t noticed it and kept up the conversation.

“So what do you think, Sherry? Do you agree with what ‘Omi’ says, or do you have your own opinion on this?” Ahingor asked.

“I think he just about sums it up for me. What about you, Ahi?” Ahingor chuckled a bit at the nickname Sherry gave him, it sounded silly and way too feminine for him.

The low growls were getting slightly louder and Omior tensed up in preparation for what might come to pass. The other two still failed to notice the incoming danger and kept their conversation going.

“I don’t really completely agree with him, but why are we talking about this? Let’s go do something fun.”

“Alright, you coming Omi?”

The growls had disappeared along with the rustles which had distracted the samurai so. But before he could respond, the creature that had been making the growls jumped out of the underbrush and in front of the three youngsters.

Before anything could happen Omior started blacking out, fading into whatever his conscious mind would be forced to go through. What memories he had to relive to recover all that he had lost before arriving in this new world.

**********