Rise of the nightmare

****

Screams were resounding all around Omior. He was holding his arms onto his legs in the feeble position one would expect from a baby.

The cracking of fire bursting around him and the intensity of the flames slamming into his back. He felt uncontrollable fear, but he did not know why, just that whatever it was, he would be safe from it if he held his eyes shut and didn’t move.

The clinking of metal was heard just barely over the raging fire. Metal gauntlets and grunts of pain were heard very audibly to Omior, and whatever it was made him mentally cringe in melancholy. The samurai opened his eyes a small amount nervously and immediately regretted it. Shutting them tightly once again, Omior saw an insurmountable amount of blood in the snow of which he had balled up in, a body staring emotionless back at him. The body seemed so familiar with the glance the samurai gave it but at the same time so strange.

The fleeting memory refused to answer the question and he opened his eyes again to see the world turn fuzzy and break in a black sizzle. Behind him, an explosion rung out and a man’s scream was heard before the world turned a deadly black, closing itself off to him.

**********

Omior opened his eyes once again to see a wooden sword heading for a collision with his head. He moved his right arm in front of him instinctively to block it and saw that a second wooden sword blocked the one being swung at him. The samurai saw it was held tightly in his right hand and before he could determine more, the attacker swung again in a wide outward horizontal arc straight for Omior’s ribs. Omior just managed to parry the sword and swing a hit in at the attackers’ leg with, which he yelled out a distinct ‘ow’ that made Omior stop himself from going in for another swing.

“...Ow Omior careful, I still need that leg to walk.” Ahingor said as he hopped on one leg, holding the airborne leg with both hands.

“Sorry.” Omior muttered before Ahingor got back into a ready stance.

A third person stood between them; taller and older he turned his head to the two before saying: “It’s time for dinner. Your aunt wants you inside, Omior. Say goodbye to Ahingor.” After that, he turned and went to the inside of the small home.

Ahingor stretched out his arms and yawned. “Ugh yep. Guess its time I went back.” He laughed a bit nervously. “Guess we lost track of time, huh? Bye.” Ahingor turned to leave and Omior waved him off. After the ranger was gone, Omior turned to look at the small abode supposedly his current home.

He looked contemplatively at the abode and lost himself in thought. ‘Why am I at my aunt’s? What about my parents? Did something happen? No, nothing could have happened, but my memories have been coming back in a rather mixed way; in a specific order. Could it be that that last memory.....’ The sliding door opened again and the same man as before called out. “Hey Omior! Hurry up before your aunt May’s cooking gets cold!” After saying that, he went back in, closing the door as he went back to an inaudible conversation.

The teen samurai sighed as he walked to the front door. Before he could open the sliding door, the world around him seemed to melt. It gooped and dripped down to a black color. This surprised the samurai and he didn’t know what to do as the world around him turned from a colorful world, to a black, to a sickly green, and then slowly changed to a devilish red.

Screams and violent sounds bounced off of invisible walls as they hit Omior’s ears, berating him with death’s innumerable noises. He clasped his ears shut, hoping to alleviate himself of the sudden influxing nightmare, but he lost control of his arms as they fell limply to his sides.

Flashes of random, rather violent memories blinded him as they had no color to them, only black outlines and blood red color.

The violent nightmarish memories all stopped as a voice resounded inside his head that, to him, sounded much like his own.

“Memories,
The past brings them in a tiny trickle of a stream, forever encircling each other,
The circle grows as the present adds more to the past,
Turning the stream into a small river,
The innumerable possibilities the future holds allows us to change how our memories will be Created, and allow a safe refuge, a hope of innumerable expense.

The past is a thing which shall be filled forever with regret,
The stream has been blocked at its source for young Omior,
But the dam is breaking and they shower the young samurai,
Overwhelming him in the great vastness of time.
Time is running short.”

All went quiet as the world around Omior grew color and fine lines again. He was outside, the shade of a tree calmly keeping the sun off of his face. Ahingor was standing above Omior smiling down, by what Omior could guess it was more recent.

“Hey Omior, wake up. The caravan’s ready to go.”

Omior got to his feet slowly, his legs waking from their unhappy sleep. His legs shook slightly before they stood strong. He looked around to see a group of individuals. The few that weren’t packing supplies or fixing the reins on the horses were smiling at him as they relaxed themselves. A small fire in the center of the site still held a small stream of black smoke.

Omior yawned as he muttered out, “yeah, I’m ready.” He paused and turned his head back to Ahingor. “You sure we’re already ready to go?”

Ahingor just chuckled to himself. “No I was just using that as an excuse to have you help make things faster.”

Omior grumbled a bit but laughed to himself. “Hm.. hm.. hm.. so Ahingor likes a bit of lying in his daily routine now hmmm... For once you have outsmarted me it seems.” After a moment of silence, both burst out into a hearty laugh as Ahingor placed an arm on Omior’s back.

He managed words in as he wiped a tear away. “Yes, it seems today is the day pigs fly then, my friend. L-l heheh! Like the Perusian warriors, this is a rare occasion.”

A sudden whistle broke them of their tyrant joking. A large man, very muscled and a fairly dark skin toned warrior that seemed to be extremely happy, spoke up. “Alright you two lovebirds, it’s time to go. We got a long journey ahead of us to the capital and we need to make it before the raiders come through here.”

The two agreed with a nod of their heads and went about helping with the last preparations for leaving.

By the time the group had finished, a small smoke trail was seen in the distance. A scrawny pale man holding the reins to the horses yelled out, “alright, everyone on, or I’m leaving your arse! The raiders are closing in, and we need to get moving!” The man counted to ten in his mind before whipping the reins causing the caravan to move out, heading at a rather speedy pace away from the trail of smoke that fell into the distance behind them.

Later that night, they stopped to allow the horses to rest. The scrawny pale man was unlatching the reins as the rest were sitting around a campfire. Sticks holding various fish and meats were cooking over the fire as they laughed and relaxed.

The scrawny man went into the caravan to look through their supplies to make sure they had everything. The muscled man spoke up from the campfire to him. “Hey crackle, you’re going senile if you think we lost anything already.” The scrawny man Crackle responded with a grunt of annoyance, with which the muscled man just laughed. “Man, hahah, you’re really paranoid.”

None of them noticed as the smoke that had disappeared in the distance had once again reappeared and was drawing ever closer. They laughed and prodded each other with jokes and stories from before they got together. Omior was more enticed than the rest though, hoping for his memory to give him insight. It was only a memory he was reliving, though.

A loud cracking sound was finally heard as the ground where the caravan stood exploded into a fine dust and wooden shrapnel that shot off in random directions. The group of adventurers broke away from the campfire and into cover as the muscled man screamed. “Ambush!”

The whiz of arrows flying through the air was apparent as they landed around the campsite. A few raiders yelled out a war cry as they charged into the site looking for the caravaners. As the raiders searched through the wreck and the camp for bodies, the small group waited cautiously in their hiding spots, each in view of one another.

Crackle pulled out a small hook with a near invisible line of wire attached to it, he carefully swung it and tossed it out where it latched onto a tree across from him. He waited as two of the raiders started walking past him and yanked on the wire, causing them both to trip. He pulled out two throwing knives and tossed them at the tripped raiders landing direct hits on their heads as they were getting up.

The rest of the raiders advanced on where Crackle had popped his head out from and prepared to fight him. Before they got too close though, Crackle called out, “Big man! Time to make the monkeys dance!”

The dark skinned warrior jumped out from his hiding place behind the advancing raiders and tossed small explosives at them. They jumped out of the way, but one of the marauders ended up with a black leg getting away from the big man’s explosives.

An arrow whizzed through the air and landed at big man’s right foot as he was about to laugh. He turned in time to see another arrow that was about to connect to his head. Before it could reach him though, a second arrow shot by Ahingor connected horizontally and knocked the arrow to the ground harmlessly.

Big man made a beeline for cover as arrows followed him. The raiders that had been dazed by the small explosives were now splitting up to take down the group. Omior had yet to be sighted so he readied his sword slowly. Waiting for his chance.

Big man had grabbed a rather large hammer off of his back while crackle pulled out more throwing knives. Ahingor was taking shots at the bowmen from behind cover in order to give his friends a chance to take the raiders out. Big man ran out and swung his hammer at three raiders that had started circling his hiding spot. He hit one of them as it stopped after connecting with the second raider’s shield. The third swung in a wide arc vertically and managed to cut his left arm. Big man backed up before throwing his strength into another swing, again blocked by the raider.

Crackle was dancing around the two raiders that had gone after him and toyed with them using his throwing knives, keeping them from advancing on him very much. He decided enough was enough and attempted to end one of the two raiders’ lives. He missed his target’s vital points and ended up hitting one of them in the shoulder. Omior had decided to jump out then and got the two while their backs were turned, he swung horizontally with the intent of cutting both opponents in half. He managed to get the first one halfway before being forced back by an arrow that grazed his left hand.

Another explosion rang out and hit a tree near where Ahingor was. The tree in question creaked and fell to the left, in the opposite direction of the ranger. He decided now was a good time and went for cover that was less of a target for the raiders on the cannon. He fired off an arrow and it managed to connect with a ranger that wasn’t paying attention to him, but it in turn caused even more of the long ranged enemies to focus their attention on him now.

Big man managed to crush the last raider’s skull, but his arms were pretty torn up from the small battle. It didn’t seem to phase him as he turned his attention on the raiders on the cannon. They had just finished reloading as Big man started his advance. This caused the dark skinned warrior to duck into cover out of their sight. He started to go around them in an attempt to flank them. This backfired as a ranger took notice and started to fire arrows at him.

Crackle had finished dispatching the second raider as Omior got ready to charge the rest of their opponents, but something seemed off. The cannon wasn’t being fired off at them very often, for the most part it wasn’t moving at all despite the obviously armed raiders on it. It clicked in his head what was going on when a second cannon fired from the underbrush at Big man. His body went flying like a ragdoll out into the open. He was covered in black smoldering marks and wood chippings.

Crackle screamed out “no!” as Big man lay motionless on the ground. Blindly, he charged for the raiders in sight and started giving them everything he got. Omior followed suit to make sure Crackle didn’t get himself killed. Ahingor had as well decided to take the initiative and gave them cover with his quickly draining supply of arrows.

This time the cannon more readily aimed down at the charging opponents and fired off a shot. Crackle dodged the explosion to the left as Omior took to the right. The explosion left a crater, but that did little to hinder their charge. The second cannon came into sight attatched to a raider cart and the enemies arming it were sloppy in trying to get it to fire again.

Crackle tossed a few of his daggers that connected with the distracted raiders and the results were quick in killing them. Ahingor kept trying to distract the archers from their attempt at picking his friends off but it was little use. The ranger had but a mere three arrows left in his quiver. He took one out and started an advancement from cover to get a better shot, hoping he didn’t miss again.

The cannon fired again and this time it hit right in front of Crackle, tossing remnants of an arrow into the air that lodged itself within his left shoulder. He tripped and fell into the hole as soon as the fragmented arrowhead entered his arm and Omior stopped to make sure Crackle was alright.

Jumping into the hole the samurai carefully looked at the wound. It’s in too deep to get it out now. Damn.

“Stay strong.” Omior said as he ripped a piece of cloth off of his arm, he tied it tightly to Crackle’s shoulder and added, “I’ll be back as soon as I deal with the raiders to get that wound fixed up.”

An arrow went towards Omior as he got out of the hole and out of instinct, he attempted to catch it. He shut his eyes and waited for the arrow to hit him and no doubt kill him. After a moment he opened his eyes to see that the arrow was no longer on a collision course for his head and instead sat frozen in front of him, in the middle of the air. Omior’s eyes got wide as the arrow began to melt itself in front of Omior’s eyes, turning from a solid to a liquid in seconds.

He had no time to contemplate what had just occurred before more arrows started heading for him. He went on the move in a zig zagging motion as he closed the distance with the raiders.

Meanwhile, Ahingor had used up his arrows ending the two raiders on the cannon. He had pulled out a small knife and began to fight in close quarters combat with the rangers, doing his best to avoid their attacks. At that range though, they managed to get the ranger in his right arm which fell limp from the nerve damage caused by a stray arrow from the bowmen raiders. Ahingor was surrounded as the three rangers cornered him and started to toy with him, attacking one at a time randomly swapping out every few swings. One of them turned around to see Omior standing right in front of him. With a quick stab from the samurai’s sword the raider fell onto the ground, dead with a gash in the center of his chest.

The other two were caught off guard as they turned their attention to Omior. Ahingor took the chance to stab the one on the left in the neck as Omior removed the head of the last raider.

The battle was over now as the two looked at each other with worry. It was clear as day Big man wasn’t alive anymore and Crackle was bleeding out badly. They quickly went through the supplies of the raiders to find nothing in the area of medical supplies. They had to make due with a few rags, a sharp knife, and a sewing kit to serve as a temporary fix.

They got back to the hole where Omior had let Crackle rest to see a stray arrow from earlier on in the battle had made contact with the poor man’s head.

Ahingor looked downtrodden as Omior’s anger bubbled. The samurai kicked a rock as a tear streamed down his face. “Dammit. Why did this have to happen.” Omior punched a nearby tree in frustration. “It’s all my fault, I should have done something.”

“What could you have done Omior? No one could have predicted this.” Ahingor said as he sat down, looking between the two friends that met their fate at this battle.

“Yes I could have. I-I could have moved him farther from the battlefield. He could’ve lived and you know it’s my fault.” Tears started streaming more down his face. He laughed sadly as he spoke up again, “Big man wanted to say his goodbyes to us at the capital where he was going to start his new life, and I had to screw it up. I should have seen it sooner that they had that second group with them.....That second cannon.”

Ahingor was silent. Tears were flowing from both of the warriors as they just sat there, silently honoring their fallen comrades. After a while, it started to get dark. Ahingor decided to break the silence as he stood up. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he spoke up. “C’mon, we need to head to the capital while we have the chance.” Omior just silently walked behind Ahingor as they continued on the path, depression filling the air.

_____________

Omior’s eyes shot open as he screamed out in a blind panic. “Noooooooooooo!!” His head swiveled left and right as his sweat covered face reflected the amount of melancholy that rang through him. The samurai could barely see anything as the room was only lit by a single torch above a strange door at the exit of the room. He was in a cage made of some sort of sickly metallic bones of sorts.

The memories were fresh in his mind and questions swerved through his skull. He was so dejected and cut off from the waking world that he nearly didn’t see Vigil unconscious in the corner of the cell. Then he remembered what had happened before he was knocked out.

“Monsters!” He whispered to himself as he had no other name to call them by. He looked over to Vigil and sighed as a tear fell down his face. “What’s going to happen now?” He muttered to himself.

Author's Note

so things are getting dicy now, lets see how much this affects our darling samurai now that his memory has started to return more rapidly.