BTN - The Clan

As we neared the border between Canada and the US, I was beginning to wonder how we would get across. Obviously, I can’t hijack a car and kill the lady driving it with four other ninjas in the passenger seats without passports. That wouldn’t fly.

Obviously, Terra could get through easily with her blinding speed… but what would the rest of us do? Nothing we can do but see what happens when we get there.

We were still in the forest, and I eventually started to notice some broken tree branches and footsteps in our path. They were very faint, so I wasn’t able to take notice of them until I actually looked down.

I stopped to inspect them more closely.

“Juliet, can you track down where these footsteps came from?”

She came over to me and knelt down, observing it.

“They went north,” she said.

So we trusted her instinct and headed north.

We eventually came upon a larger clearing in the forest when Juliet stopped. I stepped back a little bit, as did everyone else, to give her some space.

Then, she stepped aside as an arrow, coming from her right, barely missed her. The arrow hit the tree on the opposite side, and Terra screamed from surprise. Alex and I ran over to where the arrow came from, out of the clearing and into the forest as Tommy pulled Juliet back from the clearing.

Alex and I searched around for whoever could have shot that arrow, but there were no signs of anything, no footsteps or misplaced branches. Then we heard a scream and an explosion, and ran back to where the rest were.

Juliet was busy pulling some more explosives out of her bag, Terra had her dagger in one hand and a shuriken in the other, and Tommy had a yellow pentagram formed at his feet. They were all facing opposite of us. One of the bushes was on fire, most likely from Juliet’s explosive.

“What’s going on?!” I yelled at them.

“There’s someone over there…” said Tommy, not taking his eyes off of the burning shrubs.

Then, Terra disappeared, and the bushes began shaking violently due to her speed. I ran in after her, and finally came upon another small clearing, where she was standing in front of two guys, one holding a bow and the other wearing knucklers.

The one holding the bow had short, spiked hair, and wore pretty much the same as Alex. His bow was a deep black, and he had a quiver of arrows on his back like a backpack. The one holding the knucklers was slightly shorter than the other one, though still taller than me, and had darker skin. His hair was shorter, too. His knucklers were a transparent color, most likely made of diamonds. They were staring back at Terra with their arms crossed. Alex, Juliet, and Tommy came running through where I came from and stood behind me.

“Who are you guys?” the archer asked.

“Who are YOU?” asked Terra.

“My name is Richard,” said the archer.

“And my name is Elegiacal,” said the other one.

“Ele-what?” asked Tommy, confused.

“Never mind,” said Elegiacal, “now, who are you guys and why are you blowing up the forest?”

“An arrow almost killed her,” said Tommy, and pointed at Juliet.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Richard apologetically, but there was also a bit of sarcasm in his voice. “I was practicing my shooting.”

“Why are you guys here?” asked Elegiacal.

“We’re on our way to North Dakota,” I said.

“What for?” asked Elegiacal.

“No reason, just traveling,” covered Tommy.

Richard whispered something into Elegiacal’s ear and they both nodded.

“No, you aren’t ‘just traveling’,” said Richard.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Well, for one thing, you guys are holding a bunch of weapons, you blew up a bush, and there’s absolutely no way my arrow could have missed her,” Richard said, pointing his bow at Juliet.

“But didn’t you say you missed?” asked Alex.

“No, I said I was practicing shooting. I’m an pro Arrow Kancho. No ordinary person could dodge an arrow as fast and precise as mine.”

“Why the hell would you try to kill her?!” yelled Tommy, as Juliet was slowly moving her way behind him. Everyone else was eyeing Richard and Elegiacal suspiciously.

“Because you guys could be a potential threat to our goal.” Said Richard.

“What goal?” I asked.

Richard whispered to Elegiacal again and they nodded again.

“You see, the Daimyo told us that we have to find ourselves a pair of sacred weapons. He said that we have complete mastery of our weapons, so he chose us to wield them,” said Elegiacal.

“The Deity Arms?!” blurted Alex. Tommy shot him a look that said ‘shut up, idiot,’ and Alex gasped in regret.

“What are these Deity Arms that you speak of?” asked Elegiacal, raising an eyebrow at Alex.

“Deity Arms? What?” I tried to cover pathetically. “He didn’t say Deity Arms… he said… uhh…”

“Look,” said Richard, “I know when people are lying to me. Tell me what you know about the Deity Arms.”

“No, screw you!” said Alex.

“Shut up, Alex!” said Terra.

“If you don’t want to tell us, then we’re gonna have to take that suspicious piece of paper hanging out of your pocket, there…” said Richard, nonchalantly pulling an arrow from his quiver.

Tommy started to prepare a pentagram while Juliet pulled an explosive from her bag. Terra had disappeared, probably into one of the trees, and Alex had his blades prepared. I reached for my katana.

Then, unexpectedly, Richard shot an arrow into a tree right next to me, completely destroying the trunk, and I ran out of the way as it came crashing down, along with Terra. It all happened so fast. I ran over to Terra who was having a bit of trouble getting up, when I heard an explosion coming from the others.

Juliet had thrown her explosive at Elegiacal who had been closing in on them, but he had simply hit it back with his fist, and the bomb exploded halfway between them. Tommy started to cast lightning bolts at him, while Juliet was preparing another bomb, but Elegiacal’s diamond knucklers seemed to just reflect them into the sky. Alex ran for him with his blades ready, and they started to swing and block their weapons as Tommy prepared a different spell.

That all happened in the course of five seconds, and when I looked back up at Richard, he had three arrows prepared in his bow, and was aiming directly at me. Taking careful timing as he shot them, I took my katana and sliced through two of them, which fell to the ground, but the last one barely grazed my shoulder, ripping my shirt and leaving a thin cut. Terra was then behind Richard, ready to plunge her dagger into his back when he jumped up, higher than I could jump, and equipped himself with another arrow. I noticed he was running low on arrows, he only had about two left. I glanced over at the others, with Juliet trying to stab at Elegiacal with her claws but was being blocked by his knucklers. Alex was also attacking Elegiacal, but was being blocked as well. Elegiacal was just… too fast. Tommy kept trying to hit him with his fire spells, but he kept dodging them or redirecting them elsewhere.

Richard was still in the air when he was taking aim at Terra, so I took this chance to jump up to meet him, and tried to slice through his quiver, but it was completely unaffected. It must have been made of very thick steel, possibly the same material as the katana. It did, however, make him lose his aim at Terra, who was taking some shurikens out of her case. We fell to the ground at the same moment, and Terra immediately threw a shuriken at Richard. It looked like it was about to penetrate his chest, when he stepped aside at the last second as it barely made a small cut in his shirt. The shuriken went flying by and into a tree on the other side. I took this small distraction to run up behind him and take the arrows out of his quiver, but he turned around and gave me a swift punch in the chest, causing me to fall back.

At this point, Tommy had switched over to his flood spell, causing Elegiacal to slip a little, which gave Juliet and Alex a chance to attack. As they were about to, Elegiacal grabbed Alex by his right arm and swung him with incredible strength at Juliet, and they both were sent flying back, hitting a tree. Tommy ran over to help them up, and Elegiacal just watched Richard take on me and Terra.

I looked over at Terra who was preparing to throw another shuriken. Richard equipped his penultimate arrow with such speed that he was able to shoot it at the same time that Terra threw her shuriken, and as they met, the arrow completely destroyed the shuriken, shredding it to pieces, and went straight through to Terra. It hit her in the stomach, not too deep, because of the momentum it lost when it hit the shuriken.

Tommy noticed this immediately and ran over to her, preparing a healing spell. During the entire time, Elegiacal had been taking on both Alex and Juliet by himself, being able to easily block their slashes and stabs with his tiny knucklers.

Richard was examining Terra with a grin, and I took this chance to run up to him and strike. He turned around, grabbed the map from my pocket and roundhouse kicked me in the neck, knocking me on the ground.

He yelled at Elegiacal to go, and started to run off south towards the border. Elegiacal stopped blocking to run after Richard, and Juliet got a good cut into his arm while he was doing so. He staggered a bit, but kept running. Juliet and Alex ran after him.

“Go get the map!” Tommy shouted at me. “I have to heal Terra!”

I got up quickly, still feeling intense pains in my neck, and ran to catch up with Juliet and Alex to get our map back from Richard and Elegiacal.

Schedule will be changed a bit. Hopefully, this will lead to longer chapters and better development. Hopefully.

• I won’t be posting one every day.
• I will try to do at least four a week.
• Don’t hate if I don’t get four out, I said I’ll try.

I will take questions if you don’t understand something in the story at briantheninja.tumblr.com/ask. Feel free to criticize as well.

It was right there, even though I didn’t want to believe it. A man with a hydra poking out of his back. They both had the same shade of eyes; a dark red. It was creeping me out, and I’m sure Alex and Juliet were creeped out too. He just stood there, smiling.

I knew a thing or two about hydras. When their heads are sliced off, they regenerate, coming back with one more. So, if you cut off one, two came out, if you cut off those two, four came out, and so on. The only way to get rid of the regeneration process is by setting fire to the heads, or so I thought.

As if it read my mind, the hydra-man started running towards us, with his hydras extending forward with their mouths open, full of sharp teeth. I prepared my katana with a flame as Juliet took out some pyro explosives, and Alex cowered behind us, not knowing what to do.

I leaped forward to meet it, and my blade connected cleanly with the hydra head, setting fire to it at the same time. The man started screaming as the hydra head retracted back into his body, and he collapsed onto his knees. I went up to him as Juliet and Alex watched, and was about to plunge my katana into his back when out of it shot two more hydras, each one bigger than the previous one, hitting me in the face and knocking me back.

I got up quickly and ran back to where Juliet and Alex were, staring at the hydra-man with even more horror as he got back up.

I guess we can cross out the option of lighting the heads on fire.

Then, unexpectedly, Alex ran forward and slashed off one of the hydra-man’s arms with the Cronus Claw, and it fell right next to him. Both of the hydras then lunged at him, ready to bite him, when Juliet’s explosive hit the man’s chest, and blew up, sending him flying backwards. Alex was somehow able to avoid it, so he grabbed the arm and ran back to us. I pulled the claw off and handed it to Juliet, who just held it, and didn’t put it on. I didn’t bother asking why.

As the hydra-man approached us, I saw that his arm was back, but only up to the elbow. Alex had cut it off right at the shoulder. Then, I realized something. With both of the Cronus Claws, one is able to regenerate his/her body parts. However, with only one of them, you are only able to partially repair your body. I wonder what happens when you cut off a hydra head now? I decided to find out.

I ran forward with my katana drawn, and the hydras started to lean forward and snap their mouths open and closed, hungrily. The man then started to run at me, ready to plunge his claws and have his hydras feast on me. Unfortunately for him, I jumped up high, and he just looked up at me, with his hydras still stretching out for me, and I came down right onto them, cutting them off of his back. The necks retracted again as the man started screaming and swung his claw at me, which I blocked with my katana. I then kicked him in the stomach, and he was about to fall backwards when four hydras came out of his back. I guess this wasn’t such a great idea.

Juliet ran forward with Alex, and we all made a feeble attempt to cut off his other arm, as that was the only explanation left to how he was still able to regenerate. The hydras kept blocking us, though, and we eventually retreated to think of a plan. The hydra man was wobbling about, unable to keep his balance, because, you know, there were four huge dragon heads poking out of his back.

“Look, you guys,” I said. “I’m gonna try something risky. Back me up if this doesn’t work.”

“What are you gonna do?” Asked Alex.

I didn’t take the time to answer him, I just ran back to the hydra-man, readied my katana like a javelin, and threw it with great power and speed at his arm, which was cut off perfectly. However, my katana went straight through to the other side of the room, where it stuck to the wall. The man started to scream again, which was starting to piss me off.

Then, one of the hydras reached down and ate the man’s arm, claw and all… What?

Juliet’s expression became incredibly raged, as she watched the hydra swallow her precious Deity Arm. With a yell, a sound that I have never heard before and never thought I would, she threw three explosives at once, each of them exploding in front of the faces of the hydras, ripping them completely off of the man’s back. They flew back to where my katana was, and I was afraid that they would try to eat it, but they were already dead. Good thing.

The man was on his knees, and I waited for eight hydras to come out, but nothing happened. I walked up to him and spoke.

“Who are you?”

No response.

“Hello?”

“I don’t have a name…” He said, with a deep voice.

“But who are you? Why do you have hydras coming out of your back?” Juliet and Alex came up beside me.

“Cronus made me like this…” He responded.

“Cronus? The Greek titan?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you try to kill us?”

“I must protect the Cronus Claws… They are my life.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“As long as I’ve been alive. Cronus sent me down here to protect the claws since he wasn’t allowed to take them up to the heavens.”

Then, out of nowhere, Alex shoved his blade into the hydra-man’s head without a word. He took it out, wiped it on his pants, and took a step back. The hydra-man collapsed.

“What the hell was that for?!” I yelled at Alex.

“He tried to kill us. Why the hell are we having a freaking conversation with him?”

“Because we need information!”

“Why do we need information? The Cronus Claws are right there. Take them and let’s get on with our lives.”

“The hydra swallowed the other claw, idiot,” said Juliet.

“Don’t tell me you can’t just get it out,” said Alex, annoyed.

He walked over to where the hydra heads had been thrown, and started to slash away, sending blood and guts flying all over the place. He saw something, reached into the neck, and pulled out the other claw. He tossed it over to Juliet, then pulled my katana out of the wall and walked back over and handed it to me.

“Thanks, I guess…” Juliet said. She then took off both of her claws and put on the new Cronus Claws, and you can see a look in her eye change. Her eyes went blank for a second, but came back just as fast.

“Let’s go now, shall we?” Said Alex, and motioned towards the hole in the wall in which we came through.

I went first, then Alex, then Juliet, to avoid perversion yet again.

When we reached the debris of rocks, Juliet threw the same explosive as she had before, and this time, it actually broke through the wall and created a passage. We walked through, and we eventually got out of the cave, where Tommy and Terra were napping.

I walked up to them, and shook Tommy’s shoulder. He jumped up with a small shout, which woke Terra up who also jumped up.

They both glared at me.

“About time you guys got back,” said Tommy, rubbing his eyes. “Did you guys get the Deity Arm?”

I motioned towards Juliet, and Tommy and Terra looked with fascination.

“It’s so pretty…” Said Terra.

“I guess,” said Juliet.

“Shall we get moving?” Suggested Alex.

“Yes, let’s,” I said, and pulled the map out. The next closest red dot was in the northern United States, around the state of North Dakota.

“The United States? Ew…” Said Tommy. “Their economy sucks.”

“So what, Tommy?” Said Alex. “They have the next Deity Arm. Let’s get moving.”

“But… Can’t we at least let Juliet test out her weapon?” Tommy asked.

“She can test it on the way. It’s gonna take a while,” I threw in.

Back to the United States I go.

We got to Calgary quite quickly, time sure went by pretty quickly with the five of us talking and laughing. And by quickly, I meant a day. And that’s quite short for walking. It was quite refreshing, actually. I think Alex will really be a big help to all of us. We’ve been keeping an eye out for Erebus as well, but there have been no problems at all during the entire walk to Calgary. We walked around the cities, and only went through the forests.

Juliet then spoke, unexpectedly.

“I think there’s something over there…” She said quietly.

She started walking there, slowly, and the rest of us just watched her, until she disappeared into a mess of trees and bushes. I then ran after her, with the rest following me. When I got through the mess, she was gone. I saw some footsteps, and followed them, with the rest still behind me.

I found her standing at the entrance of a large rock cavern, just staring into it. Her stare seemed really concentrated, so I figured that what she sensed had to be the Deity Arm.

“There’s something in there…” She said.

I stepped closer to the cave, and wasn’t able to see a thing in there.

Alex stepped forward and handed me a pack of matches. I opened it and there was nothing in there. I glared at him.

“Sorry…” He said, apologetically.

Juliet then left her trance, and brought out a sphere that looked like a bomb. She lit it with her fingers, and it immediately lit up. She saw that I was feeling rather uncomfortable, so she reassured me that it was just a light.

She stepped into the cave with her light, and it all lit up. The ceiling was just a little bit bumpy, no stalactites or anything of the sort. I followed her in, and so did Alex. The others followed from a distance. I don’t know what compelled me to believe Juliet, I just trusted her.

We were about ten minutes in, Juliet in the lead, then me, then Alex, then a gap, then Tommy and Terra were at the back. Suddenly, the cave started to rumble; an earthquake was occurring! The ceiling started to drop rocks, smaller, then bigger and bigger. It started piling between Alex and Tommy, until Tommy and Terra were out of sight. The rocks piled all the way to the ceiling, so it was impossible for Tommy and Terra to get through. Juliet pulled out an explosive and put it next to the rocks, and set it off. None of the rocks budged. I didn’t even bother trying; I would just scratch up my katana.

Behind the wall of rocks, I could hear water splashing; Tommy must have used his flood spell, and apparently, it wasn’t working.

“ARE YOU GUYS ALL RIGHT?” I yelled through the wall.

“YEAH, BUT WE’RE STUCK BACK HERE NOW,” Tommy responded.

“I think we should keep going,” said Alex.

“And just leave them back there?” I asked.

“What else are we supposed to do?” He said.

“I agree with Alex…” Said Juliet.

“Okay, then…” I complied. “TOMMY! TERRA! WE’RE GONNA HAVE TO LEAVE YOU GUYS! JUST GO BACK OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR US!”

“OKAY!” I’m not sure who responded, but I heard footsteps running back out.

We continued walking deeper into the cave.

About ten minutes later, we hit a dead end.

“What do we do now?” I asked Juliet.

“It’s behind this wall…” She answered.

“Look, there!” Said Alex, and pointed at the bottom of the wall.

There was a narrow opening there, only accessible on all fours. So I got on my hands and knees and crawled through, then Alex, then Juliet, to avoid perversion. About three minutes in, my back started to kill me, when I saw a bright light up ahead. Juliet turned off her lamp and put it back in her bag, and we got out about after another minute of crawling.

I got up, stretched, cracked a few bones, and felt great afterward. The room was a dim orange, which was nice. The light was coming from the sides of the room, where lamps were set up. The floor was a white tile, and the ceiling was still a cave ceiling, all bumpy and stuff.

I turned to Juliet, who was gaping at something, turned to see what it was, and started gaping too. There they were, the Cronus Claws, resting on a small wooden pedestal. They were a bright gold, with a slightly curved blade that was shining from the sharpness. She was very mesmerized.

Juliet began to step forward to grab the claws, when Alex grabbed her by the arm and looked around alarmingly.

“There’s someone else here…” He said, quietly. “Don’t take those claws. Something bad is going to happen.”

I started to think that I can’t trust this guy. Maybe he’s just trying to hold us back while Erebus went on and got all the weapons himself.

My thoughts were wrong. Behind the pedestal was a large wooden table propped up on its side. From behind the table emerged a badly disfigured man, who somewhat resembled a sort of dragon. He walked over to the claws, and put them on. Juliet looked on in horror. Maybe she was seeing something that I wasn’t able to see? I looked over to Alex, who had the same expression as Juliet.

I then took a closer look at him, and achieved the same expression. There was something coming out of his back. It was… the head of a hydra. It’s neck extended from his upper spine, and it seemed to have a mind of its own, as it moved about freely around the man’s head. Juliet and Alex started stepping backwards, and I went along with them. The hydra-man turned to us, and smiled, showing a mouth full of sharp dragon teeth.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Will be up tomorrow. Sorry, had much to do today.

Terra’s Point of View

About an hour after Juliet and I left Brian and Tommy, I started to get a strong sense of it. It was in this direction. I think it’s too late to go get the others, though.

We just kept going, Juliet not saying anything, so it was rather awkward between us. The trees kept getting redder and redder, until eventually, they were the same color as the trees in the dream I had.

I stopped, as did Juliet. We looked around for a second, not following the path. I felt something pulling me towards the right. I looked over, not seeing much, but followed my instinct. Juliet followed me without a word.

Eventually, we came into a clearing with nothing in sight. The only noticeable thing was some muffled grass, as if someone had been in a hurry around here and trampled it. Before I could say something about it, Juliet spoke for the first time during this whole walk.

“I think it’s this way…”

She led me through the left side of the clearing and into the shrubbery again. Then, we came upon another clearing with a milky white marble pedestal with a piece of paper on it. The map.

“That sure was easy,” I mumbled. I stepped forward to get it, but Juliet grabbed my arm.

“Someone’s here,” she whispered.

And I did sense someone in here… I reached for my diamond dagger as Juliet reached for a couple of her explosives.

Then, a man appeared out of the trees on the opposite side of us. His entire face was covered by a mask, except for his eyes, which had some kind of demonic look to them. He wore some kind of black robe. He was carrying a pair of chain-sickles that were as black as a starless night.

“Hello, ladies,” he spoke.

“Who are you?” I shouted back at him.

“My name is Erebus. I’m here for the map.”

“We were here first,” I responded. I was scared of him. He had a certain vibe that made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was his chain-sickles.

“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is who is alive afterward.

He grinned, which made me even more uncomfortable. Without thinking at all, I ran with the intense speed that the diamond dagger grants me, and flung myself at him, only to be blocked by an invisible wall. I crashed into it, hard, and fell onto my back, with pain all over my body.

Those chain-sickles… they must be… Hades’ Kusarigama. I knew I’ve seen them somewhere before… It creates some kind of barrier that shields you from attacks all around. Or was it only in front? I guess I’d better find out.

I got up, and dashed over to his rear, ready to plunge my dagger into his back, only to be blocked again. How are we supposed to beat this guy if we can’t attack him? I got up and ran to the other side of the clearing, with Juliet already there, preparing some bombs.

Then… I felt my mind go completely blank, and lost consciousness for a second. When I came back, dazed, I ran backwards, only to find that I lost my speed. Tommy must have used a nullification spell…

Juliet seemed to know this, as she started throwing explosives at Erebus, which didn’t bounce off, and exploded right in front of his chest. He yelled as he was flung back against the trees. I grabbed the map and Juliet and I started to run, but then I realized something. Erebus is almost useless without the power of his kusarigama. I ran back, and Juliet, confused for a second, followed me back.

Erebus was slowly making his way out of the bushes and runs at us with his sickles in front of him, angrily. Juliet tosses another explosive at his feet, which went off immediately, making him tumble over his own feet. Unfortunately, some of the sparks from the explosion got onto the map, burning some of it. I ran over to it as fast as I could, and started smacking it with my hands until it went out. I then grabbed the map and put it in my pocket as Erebus was getting back up, a few yards away from me.

I grabbed a shuriken and tossed it at him, only to get it blocked by his sickles. Another explosive flew at him, and he knocked it back as if his sickle was a bat and the bomb was a baseball, and it went flying up, and exploded in the air. He ran at me now, and Juliet started pelting him with explosives, as I was throwing my shurikens and running backwards, and he dodged and/or hit every single one of them. We were running in circles around the clearing, and he was gaining on me, somehow. I stopped throwing shurikens, and found that it greatly improved my speed.

Juliet jumped up onto a tree(which I really wouldn’t expect her to do), took out an extra large explosive, about the size of a baseball, lit it, waited for the right moment, and threw it with great precision at Erebus’ feet, who was too concentrated on catching me. He tripped on it, and his feet acted as a catapult and launched it up into the air, and exploded. He fell face first onto the ground. I stopped running, and Juliet got down from the tree, and we ran over to him before he could get up.

I took my dagger and was about to plunge it into his back, when I heard someone behind me. I turned to look, and so did Juliet.

“Terra!” It sounded like Brian.

I turned around, and sure enough, Brian and some kid wearing sunglasses that I’d never seen before were running towards us. I turned back to Erebus, who was now gone. I didn’t see him anywhere; no footprints, no trampled grass, nothing. Juliet looked confused, as he was right in front of her.

“Was that Erebus?” Asked Brian.

“Yeah,” I said. “How did you know it was him?”

“Long story,” he responded.

“Who is this?” I asked, motioning towards the kid wearing sunglasses. “And where’s Tommy?”

“My name’s Alex,” he said.

Brian pulled me aside as Juliet and Alex looked around at each other, awkwardly.

“He used to be Erebus’s apprentice. He’s a very skilled dual blader.” Brian told me. “Tommy was busy casting a nullification spell. We thought you guys were in danger.”

“What?!” I was shocked. “How can you trust him??”

Brian sighed, and said, “just trust me. I know he’ll be helpful. Don’t worry.”

How could I not worry? This kid was trained to be a killer.

Brian seemed to notice my insecurity, so he spoke again.

“Look. If he does anything provoking, let me know, and we’ll all take care of him. Okay? Especially Tommy. He’s willing to kill him anytime.”

I was still rather concerned, but I figured it was fine. As long as I get my Hermes’ Dagger.

We went back to the others, who were still awkwardly standing around.

“Did you guys find anything besides Alex?” I asked.

“We found this piece of the map… looks like you guys got the one on the pedestal.” Brian said.

“Wait, the map is split into pieces??” I was getting distressed with all this collecting.

“No… this piece of the map was just teared off of that one.” Brian said. “Let me see it?”

I showed him, and he took it. He also took the piece of map from Alex and put it on the corner of the larger piece, and they magically fused together, showing no sign of a tear. The map actually showed the entire North American continent. I was never able to actually take a closer look at it. There were a few burn smudges on it, which blocked off a few location names, and Greenland was almost completely gone. There were a several spots on the map with red dots on them, about ten.

“Those must be the locations of the Deity Arms,” I said, and pointed.

“Yeah, I think they are,” said Brian.

“I think we should go to that one first,” I said, and pointed to one that was more or less near Calgary, which was the closest to Vancouver.

“I guess we should,” I said.

Tommy joined us, looking very tired and limping, most likely due to the energy loss from the nullification spell. “Glad to see you guys are still up. Did my spell help you?”

“It sure did,” I answered.

“What’d I miss?” He asked.

We filled him in, and started to Calgary.

Our quest to find the Deity Arms has begun.

As we finally got outside of the castle, I went to the shade of a tree and just collapsed. So did the others. Soon enough, I fell asleep. I dreamt of the Daimyo.

Brian… There exists a map that allows one to view the location of the Deity Arms… You must lead your clan to that map.

I then saw a quick flash of the map. It was resting on a marble pedestal. It is somewhere in the forest… Not sure if it’s this forest or another one. The trees around it were an odd… red color…

“Brian? Brian!”

I was woken up by Tommy, who sounded rather urgent. Juliet and Terra were still taking a snooze.

“Huh?… What? What’s going on?”

“I just had a dream about the Daimyo. He told me that there is this map that tells you where the Deity Arms are! We have to go find it!”

“The Daimyo? He visited me in my dream too…”

“What’d he tell you?”

“He told me the same thing he told you… and I saw where it was. It’s somewhere in a forest, resting on a pedestal. A marble pedestal.”

“What forest?”

“I have no idea… I just saw trees all around it.”

“Hmm…”

Terra then woke with a gasp, and looked around, confused.

“What’s wrong, Terra? Did you have a dream about the Daimyo?” I asked.

“Yeah… How’d you know?”

“Tommy and I dreamt of him too. He showed us where the map was. It was in a forest with red trees…”

“And resting on a pedestal,” added Tommy.

“Yeah… I dreamt of that too.” She said. “Fortunately for you guys, I know just where it is. It’s on the other side of Vancouver.”

“Really? That’s great!” I shouted, waking Juliet up.

She glared at me, mentioned the dream with the Daimyo, and we went through the whole scenario again. Once everyone was filled in, we decided to start walking to Vancouver.

We didn’t actually go into Vancouver, we went around it. You see, walking into the biggest city in Canada isn’t such a great idea when you’ve got katanas, shurikens, and explosives.

So we went around. We reached the clearing for the entrance of the forest, and Terra was right, the trees were slightly red.

We walked in, and in we went, and the trees got redder and redder. It was easy, as there was a path in the forest. But then, we hit a split. Terra had no idea where to go from there, so we used the best idea we had. We split.

Tommy and I went right, Juliet and Terra went left.

We just followed the path all the way down, and it took about an entire hour to reach a dead end. This dead end stopped at this huge, steep mountain-like thing. I looked up, and noticed that it wasn’t very tall, just slightly taller than an average tree, but still very steep.

“Well? Should we go up?” Asked Tommy.

“I guess…” I said.

So we climbed one of the trees closest to the mountain and jumped onto the ledge, and everything was barren afterwards. No trees, no mountains, nothing in sight.

“Should we actually even try to look for it in a place like this?” Asked Tommy. I was wondering the same thing.

“Might as well…” I answered. “There’s nothing much we can do, can we?”

“I suppose not.”

We ran along the barren wasteland, looking for any changes in the landscape, and there was nothing at all.

We decided to go back, when Tommy caught a glimpse of something.

“What’s that?” He yelled. He pointed off to the right, and I saw a tiny piece of paper laying there.

I walked over to it, and right as I was about to kneel down to pick it up, a gust of wind blew it away. I ran after it, but the gust was too strong for me, and I eventually stopped trying. Then, it was caught by a certain someone, who was all too familiar. The wayfarers were all I needed to see. It was Alex, with his blades in one hand and the piece of paper in the other.

“Hi, Brian,” he said. “And Tommy.”

“You…” I was dumbfounded. What was he doing here?

“What the hell are you doing here, Alex?” Asked Tommy, as if he read my mind.

“Oh, nothing,” he answered. “I’ll be going now. Erebus is waiting for me.”

“Just wait a second, Alex,” I said. “You aren’t doing anything suspicious… are you?”

“Of course not, why would you think that?”

“Because you’re taking that piece of paper with you in such a nonchalant way. That’s not very normal. I have a feeling that that piece of paper is important.”

“It’s none of your business. Now, I’m gonna go. Bye.”

He put the piece of paper in his pocket and started to walk away, back towards the forest.

Tommy jumped in and grabbed his arm, and as if some kind of instant reflex, put a blade in each hand and jumped back, ready to fight.

“Look, Alex… We’re in a rush, so we don’t really have time to fight. So just tell me what that piece of paper is for, and we’ll let you go,” Tommy tried to cooperate.

“Fine. It’s a map to the locations of the Deity Arms. I doubt you guys know what those are, though. Now will you let me go?”

Tommy and I eyed each other, and I decided we couldn’t let him go.

“We need that map, too. There’s two of us against one of you. Hand it over,” I said.

“You guys are looking for the Deity Arms too?” Alex asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” I said.

Alex started to scratch at his head with his blade, which made me cringe.

“Let me follow you guys.”

“What?” His request was so stunning that I couldn’t even register it.

“I want to find the pair of Helios’ Blades. That’s the only reason I’m with Erebus. I figure that I have a better chance with you guys. After all, he just ditches me when the fight seems to be going the wrong way. I’m lucky to be alive.”

I looked at Tommy, who was inspecting Alex carefully.

The idea was rather exhilarating. It’s like a real ninja clan. Though I still dislike teamwork…

Tommy leaned over to me and started to whisper.

“I don’t think this is such a great idea,” he whispered. “He could be spying for Erebus.”

“Well then, let’s try a test then, shall we?” I whispered back.

Alex was looking rather uncomfortable, as if being judged whether or not he should be sentenced to death.

“What do you know about the map of Deity Arms?” I asked.

“Like I said, this piece of paper is a small bit of the actual map. The map has been split and separated, and the largest piece lies in the forest. Erebus went to go get it.”

“Then why are you here?” Inquired Tommy.

“Well… I had a vision from the Daimyo who told me to look beyond the forest, as it would prove to be worthwhile. Turns out it was. Erebus didn’t believe me, so he let me go off on my own.”

“Why did you want to join us instead of going with Erebus?” I asked.

“Because there’s more of you, and I know you guys are stronger than Erebus. You made him run away, and that doesn’t happen very often. I know you guys can find all the Deity Arms before Erebus can.”

I turned to look to Tommy, who shrugged, as if to say ‘your choice’. I motioned for him to come closer, and whispered to him. “You should strike. See if he fights back.”

“Okay.”

Tommy started breathing deeply, concentrating. I just stared at Alex.

Then, Tommy threw his scroll at Alex, holding one end, which immediately opened up and wrapped itself around Alex’s neck. Alex did not respond after one minute, nor even try to get it off of his neck.

“Why aren’t you retaliating?” I asked him. He couldn’t respond. He was turning blue.

Tommy released his grip, and the scroll fell off of Alex’s neck. Alex glared at him.

“If I would have retaliated, you guys wouldn’t trust me.”

This kid was smart.

“It’s fine if we let him tag along. Why not?” I whispered to Tommy.

“I guess…” Said Tommy.

“Okay, Alex. We’ve decided that it’s fine. You can follow us.”

“Really? Great!” Said Alex, excitedly.

Then… I had a sense of danger… not from Alex, but from the forest.

“I sense that something is happening in the forest… something bad.” I pointed in the direction from which I was getting the sense.

“That’s where Juliet and Terra went. They might be in trouble,” suggested Tommy.

“It must be Erebus!” Yelled Alex.

Anticipating danger, we ran off in the direction of the source of the sense, and not knowing if Terra and Juliet were all right…

There he was, the general. Not even a little bit intimidating. Plain white shirt, blue jeans, and flip flops. What the heck? The only slightly intimidating thing was his eyes… those eyes full of murder and hatred.

I almost laughed, but Tommy went all out. He started guffawing like a madman. The general just sat there and grinned at us. Tommy’s face was turning blue from laughing so hard, so I kicked him and he calmed down.

The general got up; he was also shorter than I expected. He was about my height. He walked up to me, held out his hand, and asked:

“What can I do for you?”

I ignored his hand, and was about to speak when Tommy answered first.

“We want to kill you.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because the Daimyo told us to.”

Now, the general started to laugh at Tommy, but got himself under control quickly. Tommy managed to keep a straight face throughout the entire time.

“You mean that ninja deity?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like you’re going to hell for disobeying your god.”

He walked back to his chair, opened up the seat, and reached inside. He pulled out a small dagger that made Terra gape with desire. It was the diamond dagger. It was very short, but looked incredibly sharp.

Terra slowly reached for something under her skirt, and just as slowly pulled out a shuriken. Tommy was busy forming a pentagram, and Juliet just stood there shuffling her feet. I drew my katana and prepared some lightning.

The next thing I knew, the general was gone and Tommy was on the floor, wriggling with pain. Juliet helped him up, and Terra and I were back to back, looking for the general. I heard a rush of wind next to me; the general. I managed to block the dagger going for my spleen with my katana, which was now fully charged. Terra jumped around, and threw her shuriken, but the general was gone again, and the star hit the wall perfectly.

She ran over to get it, but right as she got there, the general appeared and she froze with intimidation. He plucked the shuriken out of the wall, and put it in his pocket. He noticed that she kept eying his dagger, and chuckled to himself.

“Oh… you want my dagger, huh?”

Terra didn’t respond in any way; she didn’t know what to do or say. The general had the potential to kill her right there. She was about to run when she was knocked to her feet, along with the general. They both got back up, and the general immediately his head to look at Tommy, who was readying another gust of wind. Then the general was behind him, and was about to plunge his dagger into Tommy’s back when Juliet planted an explosive on his back and was about to slash his head off with her claw when he decided to appear in front of me. I somewhat expected it, so I struck him, a bit hastily but surely, and he went sprawling onto the floor towards his chair. The explosive activated, and the chair was blown to pieces, but the general had disappeared. Tommy ran for the door so he could ready his nullification spell to get rid of the general’s insane speed, but he found that it was locked. He shot a bolt of lightning at it, but the jewels on the door didn’t budge.

We all looked around, carefully, to make sure he wasn’t behind any of us, when Terra screamed. I turned over to her, and the general was in the air, ready to drive his dagger into her head, when Tommy shot another bolt of lightning at him in mid-air. The general was flung against the wall, but right as he was about to hit it, he appeared above Juliet, who held out her claw and braced herself, but the general was hit in the side by three of Terra’s shurikens, and I took this chance to run up and strike.

Right as I brought my blade down on his bloody chest, he was in front of Tommy, who had been preparing his nullification spell, and Juliet ran in to sink her claw into his body, but it was too late. Tommy was unable to run because of the intense concentration needed, and the general thrust his elbow into Tommy’s chest, which destroyed the spell.

As Tommy was trying to recover his breath, the general disappeared. As I looked around, while Juliet was helping Tommy, I heard something up above, and glanced up. The general was up on the chandelier. He was still holding Terra’s shurikens which he had plucked out. He threw them at the unsuspecting Juliet, but Terra and I jumped in. I managed to block two of them with my katana, which had lost its electricity, and Terra took care of the other two with her dagger.

Juliet dragged Tommy over to the corner, where she stood in front of him, so he could cast his nullification. He was taking very deep breaths and his eyes were closed. Meanwhile, the general was busy with me and Terra, Terra with her dagger in one hand and a shuriken in the other and me with my flaming katana.

Then he was gone again, which was really pissing me off. I looked up at the chandelier, and sure enough, he was there. I was starting to get some kind of sense of his location…

He jumped down to strike at Juliet with his dagger, who blocked it with one of her claws, and plunged her other claw into his stomach, which did not go very deep at all. She then headbutted him, which seemed to hurt her more than it did to him. He had no reaction to the claw that was ripping away at his intestines, or even the headbutt. He just used his other hand to start jabbing away at her, with swift punches all over her body. She couldn’t seem to get her claw out of his stomach, nor could she stop blocking the dagger.

Then, Tommy opened his eyes and everything went blank. A second later, everything came back, and the general was on the ground. Juliet’s claw was drenched in blood, and her forehead was bleeding a little bit.

The general stirred a little bit, and pulled himself onto his knee. His white shirt was now a dark red. Terra and I closed in on him, and watched him try to get up. He succeeded, and looked around at us. He tried to do his little dash, but only succeeded in falling back down.

“What… happened?”

“I used a nullification spell. That dagger of yours is useless now,” Tommy answered.

“No… This dagger cannot be useless… it is my entire life…”

“Looks like I’m taking your life from you, then,” said Terra. She reached down and took the dagger.

“Your time’s up, general,” I said. I plunged my katana into his back and felt… nothing. I didn’t feel any energy in his body, nor any flowing into mine. Then I remembered that Tommy was still using his nullification spell.

“Can you turn off the nullify, Tommy? I’m trying to take his energy.” He did, and I felt weight on me again.

I tried again, and still nothing. It’s like everything he ever had was in the dagger. I looked over at Terra, who was looking at it lovingly. We began to walk back out.

“One down, one to go,” she says.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“This diamond dagger is the vessel of Hermes’ Dagger.”

“What?” I was confused.

“You see,” she started to explain. “Long ago, thirteen Deities created the world as we know it. When they ascended to the heavens, they left their weapons behind, knowing they would no longer need them. They are known as the thirteen Deity Arms. These weapons are the strongest creations in the universe. You may not realize it, but that weapon you’re holding right now is one of them. The Ares’ Katana.”

“Ares’ Katana? I don’t think so. This is the Clause Katana.”

“Clause Katana? Nope, never heard of it. The Ares Katana has the ability to absorb the souls of those whom it has slain. It was named after Ares because he was the god of bloodlust.”

“The Clause Katana does that too… I believe you’re mistaken.”

“No, I’m not. Now I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“The katana was stolen by some guy named Lior or something… He goes under many names. Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Santa Clause. He must have stolen it and given it his name.”

I never realized I was holding a weapon of such value… It was incredible to find out.

“So what did you say about that diamond dagger of yours?” I asked.

“The diamond dagger, as I said, is the vessel of the Hermes’ Dagger, another one of the Deity Arms. The Hermes’ Dagger is spiritual, and when infused with the diamond dagger, it has the ability to amplify one’s physical and mental capacities. It was split in half when Hermes decided that he only wanted deserving people to use it. He made one part of it the diamond dagger, and the non-physical part is in a shrine, located somewhere that I don’t know. That’s why the general had such great speed.”

“Do you know of any other kinds of Deity Arms? Like, one for Spell Shinobis to use?”

“Yes, actually. The Rhea Scroll. I’m not sure of what it does or where it is located yet, but I am completely sure it is a Deity Arm. As for Juliet, there is a pair of claws known as Cronus Claws. They allow the bearer to be able to use instant regeneration, which includes being able to recover from any kind of damage that may be done to the body, from minor cuts to a severed arm. Not only that, but gives them a slight increase in agility. I’m not sure where that one is, either. There is a map, however… But that’s just as rare as the actual weapons.”

I could see the desire in Tommy’s face. He looked really excited about all of this. Looks like I’m stuck hunting for Deity Arms, now. Might as well. Maybe I’ll collect a few useful souls along the way.

One chapter every weekday, cliffhanger on Friday, none over the weekend. Just for you, Michael.

As I walked on, I heard an occasional explosion from the other side of the castle, which I figured must have been Juliet blowing stuff up. You really wouldn’t expect a gal like her to be doing that sort of thing.

I kept on walking… and I eventually came to a three-way fork. Then, I got another one of those senses…

Take the middle path…

You can’t ignore a ninja’s intuition, so I went straight on ahead.

I saw a door up ahead, so I sprinted forward, and I came upon a small, regular sized door. I opened it, and was almost blinded by a shuriken that flew in my direction, barely missing me and hitting the side of the door.

I stood there, paralyzed, staring at the shuriken that could have ended me. I then managed to turn my head around, and look at my attacker. She looked… so familiar. And then…

Listen, I know your pride is broken, but I’ll make you a deal. You have a week. One week to go train your Clause Katana, and then come back here and we’ll fight again.

It was her… the elf. Except that instead of wearing her regular elf costume and hat, she was wearing a short dress that resembled a flowing kimono that only went down to her thighs, like a skirt. She was wearing a belt made of cloth that held a dagger. There was some sort of small case that was poking out of her skirt, but I really don’t know what it really was. At her feet lay an dozens of unconscious men, most likely guards. They were bleeding profusely. The room was rather large, with two more hallways opening up on the left and right walls.

“I thought I finished you!” I yelled at her.

“What?” She asked.

“It’s me, the ninja who destroyed you with the Clause Katana!”

“Clause Katana?…” She looked at my blade.

“Well, looks like it’s time to finish you for sure this time…” And I drew my katana.

I started to generate lightning as I ran after her, and she reached for her dagger. I swung the blade down on her… and she was gone? I quickly turned around, and there she was, throwing a dart at me. I brought up the blade to block it, but it somehow curved and hit me in the left shoulder. It didn’t go very deep, but it still hurt quite a bit. I bit back a yell, and yanked the dart out. While doing this, I looked up and she was gone again, and as I was about to turn around, she grabbed my neck in a choke-hold and I could feel the coolness of her dagger against my skin. I was about to elbow her in the stomach when I heard Juliet speak in her quiet voice.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

I turned my head slightly, and I could see Juliet holding a set of claws against the Elf’s head. The Elf let go of me and ran for the left hallway. She was…so agile.

“Are you okay, Brian?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine… What are you guys doing here?”

“Juliet said she sensed that what we’re searching for is somewhere around here.”

“I told you so,” I gloated.

“The target kept moving…” Juliet murmured. “It was over in the right side of the castle when we got to the fork.”

“Good thing we got here in time, too. Terra would have killed you if she had the chance,” said Tommy.

“Who?” I asked.

“You don’t know who Terra is? She’s one of the most famous thieves in Vancouver. Everyone’s heard of her.”

“I haven’t…”

“Well, she’s probably here just to steal some gold from -“

“Wait, you guys. I think Terra is who the Daimyo wanted us to meet,” said Juliet. “When I had my claw at her head, my tracking sense went insane…”

“Why would the Daimyo want us to meet a thief?” I wondered aloud.

“We can’t deny the Daimyo,” said Tommy. “Let’s see what her part of the story is.”

Carefully, we walked over to the left hallway where Terra had gone.

We eventually started to hear men screaming, and we started to sprint forward. We came upon another door, and this time, I opened the door slowly and carefully. As soon as it was wide enough, I poked my head through to take a peek and saw bodies laying around. Then I saw Terra reaching into their pockets and taking their money and other valuable belongings. The room was identical to the other one, with two hallways on either side.

“She’s here,” I whispered to the others. “And she killed a bunch of guards.”

Tommy opened the door all the way and stepped through.

“Terra!” He yelled at her.

Terra turned around, and put her hand on her dagger, which was on her belt.

“Look, Terra,” Tommy said calmly. “We got a message from the Daimyo telling us to look for you. Did you by any chance get anything from him, too?”

“Yeah, I did. He just told me that during one of my burglary rounds, I would run into a small group of ninjas. You guys don’t look like ninjas, though. That’s why I tried to kill your friend over there.” She pointed at me.

“Well, we are the group of ninjas that the Daimyo was talking about. I’m Tommy, this is Juliet, and that’s Brian. We are just following the orders of the Daimyo. He seems to be preparing us for something big.”

“Okay,” was her response. “So, now what?”

At that moment, my mind went completely blank, and I was numb to everything around me. I could see the Daimyo clearly in front of me, but the others just kept talking as if they couldn’t see him. They couldn’t see him…

Brian… You and your clan must defeat the general of the castle… You should know what to do after that.

Clan? What clan? All I see is my mentor, his friend, and a thief. I don’t see a clan.

“Brian? Brian?” Tommy was shaking my shoulder.

I blinked a few times, and came back to reality.

“Yeah…?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… Just got a message from the Daimyo. Said we have to kill the general or something…”

Terra cringed.

“Are you serious? Does he really expect us to kill the general? What an insane guy the Daimyo is…”

“What?” Asked Tommy. “What’s so bad about the general?”

“Well… To name one thing, he single-handedly took on the entire law enforcement group of Vancouver when they tried to get him to take down his castle due to property violations. Some of them decided to become his guards just to keep their lives.”

“Wait, what are you doing here anyway, Terra?” I asked.

“I’m here because of the diamond dagger.”

“The diamond dagger?” I inquired.

“Yes. The diamond dagger is the strongest dagger known to any being, except for of course, Hermes’ Dagger. I’ve seen the general holding it in some of the few pictures of him. I want it.”

“Why would you want it if you’re petrified of the general?” Tommy asked.

“The Daimyo told me that the group of ninjas that I met would help me with my goal of obtaining the diamond dagger.”

“Well, if the Daimyo said we would help you, then I guess we have to.” I said.

“Do you have anything that might belong to him, so I can track him down?” Juliet asked for the first time in the entire conversation.

Terra shook her head. “Nope. I’ve never even seen him in person. I always get lost.”

“What about the guards?” I suggested. “One of them must have made contact with him.”

Juliet walked over to the dead guards and closed her eyes. “I think… that the general is in the right corridor.”

“We’re gonna have to trust your thoughts, then. It’s our best bet,” said Tommy.

The four of us headed down the right hallway, Juliet in front, then Tom, then Terra, with me at the tail. We came upon a few forks, which Juliet considered with deep thought. We finally came upon a large double-door, covered in diamonds and rubies and whatnot, with a pearl handle. Terra went up to the door, took her dagger, and started to pry a few of the diamonds off and hide them in a camouflaging pocket in her kimono top.

“Well… Looks like it’s time…” I said. I put my hand on the bright white handle, and pushed. It didn’t budge.

“No, Brian. It says pull. See?” Tommy pointed to the word PULL right above the handle. I didn’t see that.

I PULLED the door this time, and in we went. There, sitting like a king on a throne, was the General.