One of a Kind
A Novel by George Douglas
And edited by Zachary B.
-
Jamal wept, salt tears dripping down from his face. He held Ryo’s lifeless body in his arms, with the world collapsing around them.
“I’m so sorry Ryo,” Jamal told Ryo, hesitantly laying Ryo’s body on the rigid, rock floor. “Good bye,” Jamal said moments after.
He sprinted away, away from the core, away from the corrupt power and away from his best friend. The world tore itself apart; soon nothing would remain as debris shattered the floor.
It’s horrible, Jamal thought, I never would have thought this was how it would end, it shouldn’t have ended like this!
Jamal’s chain of angered thoughts was broken, when a rock smashed into the floor right in front of him, shaking him to the ground.
I
“She’s so, damn, hot!” James said, staring at the new girl, Gina. She had long, amber hair with sparkling blue eyes. James had taken an instant liking to her, along with his friend Ryo.
“Yeah, she is pretty attractive,” Ryo replied, not having so much a tone of enthusiasm as James.
“Come on man, I like her more than you!” James snapped.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright…how about I ask her out, and if she refuses, you can have her,” Ryo coaxed him, setting both hands on James’ shoulders and lightly shaking him.
“No way,” James replied, nudging Ryo off. “She might accept!”
“I doubt it, and even if she does, you can impress her or something,” Ryo suggested. “Ok?” James nodded, hesitant at first.
“Alright then, jerk...” Ryo muttered, strolling over to Gina. That was easier than I expected, Ryo thought.
“Hey,” Ryo greeted to her, stopping just in front of her. She looked ten times more attractive up close; you could really notice her eyes literally gleaming.
“Oh, hi,” she responded, shifting one of her bangs behind her ear. “Do you want something?”
“Well, I was stood other there,” Ryo said, indicating where he was standing. “And I saw you and wondered whether you would like to go on a date with me?” said Ryo looking slightly nervous, "Aww that’s really cute and sweet but, I think we should get to know each other a bit more first" she replied, "Oh yeah sure... my names Ryo by the way, and I was just thinking the same thing, well maybe I should introduce you to my best friend." he said as he signalled James to come over.
"Sure, I’m Gina." She said, James approached constantly staring at Gina; Gina noticed that James was looking at her and she smiled.
Ryo said to James "James this is Gina, Gina this is James."
"Hi Gina, wow you’re very attractive..." Said slowly and amazed by Gina's good looks.
"Thanks, you have quite the handsome look yourself." she replied
James winked at her
"Ryo, James! What are you doing out of your seats!?" shouted there class teacher, Gina giggled.
"Just because she’s new doesn’t mean there has to be a fuss!" The teacher added.
"Yes miss." They both walked back to their seats.
The day slowly came to an end, it was fifteen minutes past three and the school bell went to signal the pupils the day was over, James and Ryo looked at each other and there face's brightened up they grabbed there bags and were about to run out of the class room but James stopped and whispered to Ryo "Gina... maybe we could walk her home?" then Ryo whispered back "I don’t know... ah go on then", they turned round and called Gina's name, she heard them and came over.
"Yeah?" she asked
"Would we be able to walk you home today?" asked James as Ryo was about to speak.
"Well that’s the thing you see, I was gonna get Ryo to walk me home." replied Gina, biting the corner of her lip with guilt.
"Oh...I guess, maybe I can walk you some other time?" James said, with a hint of sadness.
"I’ll speak to you later then James." said Ryo, waving casually. James was angered, and walked off without a comment. "I did that wrong didn’t i?" asked Gina
Ryo thought frantically, not wanting Gina to feel guilty for brushing James off.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s because he lost a bet the other day.”
II
James swung his katana in an arc, clashing with Ryo’s blade. The sound of steel ricocheted around the dojo as the blades continuously struck against each other.
“Whoa, ease up James!” Ryo chuckled, staggering backwards to regain his focus. “Are you trying to break my sword, on purpose?”
James didn’t answer, and kept slashing wildly at Ryo.
“Oh. Does this have something to do with a certain girl with blonde hair called Gina…?” Ryo smirked, ducking under a quick slash by James. He raised his blade in a swift movement to block an oncoming flurry. “Is that a yes then?”
“Ragh! Ryo, you know how much I liked her! But you still couldn’t resist having her for yourself could you?!” James ceased attacking and sneered at Ryo.
“James, it’s not like she is to be automatically taken. I like her too and just walked her home, jeez!” Ryo replied, sheathing his katana.
“…Fine. Every man for himself…I’m walking her home next though…got it?” James put his sword away, and stormed out into the streets. Ryo sighed and shook his head.
“He really needs to chill…”
It was half past nine and Ryo was meditating in his home, when abruptly someone pounded on the front doors. Ryo opened his eyes and peered over at the door on the other side of the room.
“Who at this hour…?” He got off his ass and walked cautiously over to the door. “Hello? Who’s there?” He gripped the handle and awaited a response.
“It’s me. J-James!” The voice answered.
Ryo yanked on the handles and the double doors opened. James eagerly shuffled inside.
III
"That’s how it all happened…” said Ryo as he scratched his head.
Jamal looked horrified. “That’s sick…he loved her that much?”
"Apparently so..." replied Ryo
"So basically she left him and now he’s gone missing, where the hell could he have gone? he could have turned evil you know... like all those other power grabbing idiots that like to go searching for the core and what it does, it probably will lead him to his death you know, so if your his friend or he's your friend... you may want to help find him." said Jamal all at once
"Your right actually, we should leave no--" he said being interrupted half way through his speech
"First! We must eat...." Shouted Jamal
"No.... we just ate 15 minutes ago!" Ryo shouted back
"Oh fine, well when James lashes out at you again and you have no food in your stomach then don’t come crying to me" Jamal said proudly
"Fine whatever lets just get out there and start looking... but you do realise we will have to search the uninhabited land." Ryo said as if he was tired of Jamal
"Come on, I’m up for it, lets do this thing!" shouted Jamal, full of himself.
Ryo and Jamal walked down the stairs, there was a tall wooden cupboard at the bottom of the stairs and it looked as if it was made of oak. Jamal went ahead of Ryo opening the large doors of Ryo’s house, "your not thinking of going without weapons are you?"
"Oh yeah..." he looked silly.
Ryo opened the tall cupboard doors and inside stood a samurai sword made of a blue metal and glowed as if it held some sort of majestic power; Jamal looked at the sword in astonishment and said "My god... where did you get that beauty?"
"Well as you know my father kinda left when I was young and left some old stuff behind." replied Ryo.
"Why the hell would anyone leave this behind!?" He said in amazement
"Well maybe he left it as a gift, or maybe he’s coming back..." Replied Ryo
"Maybe he’s dead..." Said Jamal quietly.
"Thanks you’re a real pal." Ryo said with a hint of sadness
"Sorry Ryo, I didn’t mean to... please accept my apology."
"It’s ok lets just go...."
Ryo retrieved the Samurai Sword and a Dao for Jamal. They opened the large doors and left the house, They walked down the street they soon came to a large wall and a gate, the authorities were there stationed at the gate, on a long day of guard duty.
"So boys, what brings you here? Not thinking of going out are you?" Said the tall, rough looking guard.
"Yeah, we are 'thinking' of going out." Said Jamal as if he was offended, Ryo nodded.
"Ill have to see your licences boys, well you don’t look old enough to have one..." Said the guard, Ryo quickly replied
"No, it’s just that your new to the job and don’t know us, we are regulars. By the way, you didn’t happen to see a man come through here today, he uh, has long hair... brown eyes... kinda dark clothes... and he may have had a weapon?"
"No I didn’t meet him in person but one of the other unlucky guards stationed at Gate B met him, and it was the last thing he met, the crazy man slashed the guard in the face and used some kind of dark creepy spell or something to smash a gaping hole in the wall, we have been told to be extra careful on people going in and out of the city." explained the guard
"Mhm, James always thought he was strong." said Jamal
They both pulled out there licences and flashed them at the guard, the guard nodded and added as he started to open the large gate
"Very well, you guys be careful out there, good luck."
"I don’t need any luck I was born lucky." said Ryo as he grinned.
IV
As the gate was raised, it clonked and clanked, Jamal took one look back to the large city and said "I’ll miss you."
Both of the young men walked through and as they cleared the gate it came crashing down to a close, "This is it then, I guess the hunt is on." Ryo said as they both giggled to each other.
Ok so... first we should check out the old harbour which is the nearest. "What? That place is haunted... your really not thinking of..." Jamal said while looking and Ryo’s face indicated that he was 100% serious.
"Ok so I guess we are then..."
"Yup that’s right, there’s no turning back now." said Ryo
Ryo was startled by something in the distance, he looked closer and it looked like a dark figure, being chased by some sort of small creatures that flew like bats, and had the sharpest teeth. They could hear him screaming for help while fleeing, but when all hope was lost he tripped over a rock and landed on his back, the largest of the flying creatures made a roar as if to communicate with the others indicating that this helpless human is mine. The creature landed on the floor and its wings folded up onto its back and it started to run towards this man as he crawled back.
"I've got to save him!" Ryo shouted as his pulled his sword off his back and took it at a firm grip, Ryo started to race towards the creature trying to out run it to get to the man before creature could harm him. The creature jumped at the man and was about to crunch the man with its powerful jaws, but just before the creature could get close enough Ryo did a flip through the air over the man and lunged at the beast with his samurai sword that was glowing blue, the beast was no longer together, it had been slashed in half.
All of the other creatures looked at each other in confusion, and all the smaller beasts fled leaving just two of quite larger ones, they growled and charged at Ryo, Ryo was ready for anything, the first creature to reach Ryo was quickly slashed into pieces but Ryo was not ready to make another defensive move and the other creature smashed Ryo to the floor. They were wrestling on the floor; the creature was trying to bite at Ryo’s face while Ryo was pushing it back using his sword as a barrier. But the beasts jaws were getting closer and closer to Ryo’s face and as Ryo was about to be bitten Jamal finally reached them and muttered to himself quickly some kind of spell and his Dao light up gold and then Jamal threw the Dao towards the creature and it landed in its back, so accurate... it had killed the beast instantly.
Ryo knocked the beast away to the side and flipped to his feet while looking around him for signs of more creatures of darkness, it was clear. The others had fled; Ryo said "Jamal.... where the hell was you?"
"I had a stitch.... but at least no one is hurt." Replied Jamal
The man was dressed like some kind of holy monk and he had a long white beard, he climbed to his feet while rubbing his head and he said "Thank you for saving me, if you hadn’t of shown up id be Yurekai meat... here I have some money.... or if you prefer it you can have this powerful sword I obtained from a demon..." he said as he showed the sword to them, the sword gleamed with power, it shined a faint red and it was as if the sword had been possessed. The sword had changed from what it once was; this sword was now truly evil.
"That is James’s sword... but... it glows red, where did you obtain this sword?" Said Ryo
The old man said "The core... he killed us all... he asked us for power... he said he wanted the... the descendant, my master refused to give it to him and he went out of control and killed them all... but he let me go... he said I must give this sword to someone called... erm…give me a minute,” the monk itched infuriatingly at his scalp. “…Ryo"
Ryo looked surprised, and reached out for the sword’s hilt. As he touched it the smooth metal, a vision flashed before his eyes. Ryo was standing in a field, filled to the rims with wheat. It was so peaceful. Suddenly, a shroud of darkness loomed in the distance and as it came closer to Ryo, the wheat in its presence was gone.
Ryo whizzed around and began running. It was catching up with him. He began to pant and beads of sweat dribbled down his forehead. It wrapped around him, and as it did he began to evaporate into nothingness.
Now images of an ancient temple appeared, with the bodies of monks scattered everywhere in pools of blood. A cloaked figure stood in the middle of an altar. An amber haired woman came up behind the figure, and kneeled before him.
The figure slowly turned around. It was James.
“Gah!” Ryo collapsed to his knees, and the sword melted to ashes.
“Ryo!” Jamal rushed over to his friend. "Are you alright, what happened?”
"Urgh...I…I’m fine Jamal…” Ryo blinked and looked about at his surroundings. “I had some kind of…vision…”
"Vision? About what?”
"I…I saw... a temple, the core... and there were dead monks everywhere. And…James was standing in some sort of, altar and was saying something…bu-but it was muffled. He…his skin was dark grey and his eyes were blood red. Someone was there with him…it…” Ryo paused and stared at Jamal. “No…”
"What? Who was it?"
Ryo looked mortified and grabbed Jamal by his collars, staring hard into his eyes.
"Jamal.... it was her...he’s resurrected her, he has ruptured the natural boundaries of life and death..."
"Who was it Ryo? Who are you talking about?” Jamal had a stern look expressed on his face. “Who Ryo, who?”
"She’s alive... Gina... she’s alive Jamal…”
Night slowly covered the uninhabited lands and everything slowly fell into darkness as the gleaming sun set on the Horizon.
"We need to make a camp, we must find somewhere to rest for the night and then we will continue our quest in the morning" Said Jamal
"No, we have to stop this before it gets any worse" Ryo said as his staggered to his feet,
"Rest tonight, fight tomorrow, look Ryo we need our full strength if we are going to try and fight against these dark forces."
"Alright... alright" said Ryo quietly
"What in god name happened to James sword?" Jamal said, riddled by what had happened to it
"It was a warning to us... a warning to tell us... James is strong, much stronger than he once was. And he means business." Ryo said worried, Ryo then turned around to find the monk had disappeared...
“Where the... Oh well... lets settle down.
V
As Ryo slept, he rolled about violently in his sleep as if he was having a nightmare. All Ryo could think about was Gina, her beautiful smile... he pictured her sitting on her own and then suddenly the once good and pure James sat next to her holding her hand, James then faded and Gina was left on her own... her face then turned dead and worn and spoke “I shall serve... I shall serve.” Just twice and then Gina got up from her place and attacked Ryo. Ryo then woke up sweating rapidly and breathing heavily.
“Whoa...” Ryo said to himself after he woke up, he could see the sun rising on the horizon and the camp fire had burnt out. He got up and walked towards the dead Yurekai’s corpse and dragged it towards the burnt out fire, surprisingly it wasn’t rotten. Ryo then re-lit the fire and started cooking the Yurekai and Jamal was soon woken by the smell of delicious meat.
“Morning... Ryo...” Jamal said as he rubbed his eyes and looked at Ryo curiously.
“Good morning Jamal... I’ve got something cooking for us, won’t want to go hungry now will we?” Replied Ryo, Jamal nodded to him after that he sat by the fire and waited for the meat.
After they had eaten they were suddenly on the move again on another long two hour walk to the old harbour, which was apparently haunted... though Ryo didn’t believe the story’s... he was about to be surprised, when they arrived there, there wasn’t much left. It was more like a ruin but it suddenly gone slightly windy, which was unusual. Ryo shivered and said “Is it me or has it gone really cold?” Jamal replied instantly “Shush! Listen... can you hear it?” Ryo listened and he could suddenly hear whispering, They looked around and suddenly saw a green mist surround them, with surprise Ryo raised his sword and looked around curiously, the whispering gradually got louder and Ryo could make out what was being said... ‘This is our land! Our home! Stay out... or become one of us!” Ryo shouted back into the mist “We come in peace... we have only come to look for someone...” The soft voice then said “You give me no choice... you shall become one of us... try to resist... but it will not help...” Figures within the mist start to become visible and as they came closer to Ryo and Jamal they’re appearance became more clear, They appeared dead and some where limbless, they moved like zombies and carried jagged, rusty and worn cleaves and spears. Ryo and Jamal raised their weapons and prepared for battle. The first living dead man approached Ryo and took a slow but powerful swing at him, Ryo dodged it and wiped the sword straight across its torso separating its legs from its upper body, then another living dead attacked Jamal, in an instant reaction Jamal used a quick attack by repeatedly stabbing the dead man in the chest, in a result the dead man fell into pieces. Ryo's blade spiralled in a ferocious kata, dismembering the undead figure at the neck and waist. He didn't get a chance to examine the figure, as he was charged by another, this one wielding a heavy sickle. It swung wildly, missed and had it's head loped by Jamal's flying sword.
Subject: One Of A Kind 
Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:43 am
