Chapter 9

Tainted Sands

Understand this son, war is never a battle between good and evil. It is the collected emotions of misunderstandings, greed, pride, fear and tragedies. There is no righteousness towards waging a war, for it only prolongs the suffering it itself creates.
"Is something the bothering you my lord?"
"No Daemon, I was just thinking what my father said to me before his demise." Replied Lord Kurosawa.
"The late Lord Ibikisa? What was it about?" Asked Daemon
"Something which I failed to keep as a promise." Kurosawa answered, his eyes looking down.
"Is it about the war with the Migruid?" Kurosawa did not reply. "But my lord, the war was our only choice! The right choice! You freed our people from the tyrannies from Rudifus, and united them under you despite their many differences!" Daemon was agitated that his lord had doubts.
"Only to have them come suffer with me in exile on this piece of forsaken desert."
"But freedom comes at a price lord Kurosawa. Our people were given a chance between comfort and freedom. They chose freedom because they believed in you. You treat your subjects as equals rather than commons, even though we very much want to call you our king." Daemon replied, much more aware of himself.
"Daemon! I have spoken before that I am not your king! I am only here to lead us towards what is our birthright." There was anger in Kurosawa's tone, but the young lord remained collected.
"That is right my lord, our birthright. We deserve freedom, vengeance, peace, justice and much more."
"Sir!" interrupted a man kneeling down by the doorstep.
"Please get up before you speak, and tell everyone to stand as they speak to me. I am only your leader, not your king."
"But...”
“There will be no questions asked. Now what are your reasons for budging in like that?”
“Pardon me my lord, I bring important news." The man calmed down and stood up.
"Then speak, quickly."
"Our scouts have spotted two travellers by our borders. And one of them is wearing a... Strange looking mask. The deserts had slowed them but are by no means barring entry. Right now they are confronting the sand beasts caused by the Migruids."
"There were recent news of towns near the forest borders raided and destroyed. Whoever did all that were highly skilled and merciless in killing. Those two could had been involved. As much as I would love to see the sand beasts turn to dust again, I do not want to risk our town being raided. Do we have any assassins in standby?"
"Sir, most of them are espionages in the capital of Migruid and the respective allied states, but we do have a handful." Answered Daemon.
"Get them geared up. I'll lead them to spy on the intruders." Said Kurosawa, reaching for his spear.
"My lord, you don't have to. I'm sure our assassins can handle two travellers."
"Daemon, while I had no doutbs in they skills and devotion, I rather come along. Unless of course, if you have doubts in my skills." Kurosawa shot back at Daemon, who became speechless.
"But..."
"Hey Anker."
"Y..Yes sir?" answered the man standing by the door, who was shocked that his lord knew him by name.
"Get me a section of our assassins to meet me in my meeting room. Tell the rest to remain prepared."
"Yes sir!" replied Anker who quickly rushed off.

It had been two days since Xiven and Chron entered the desert. These two days, they avoided the boiling afternoons and travelled in the mornings and before sundown.
They hardly spoke and resorted to hand signals for the dry winds in the sands quickly dried up their throats.
Today however, they decided not to waste any time and cover as much distance as possible in hope of reaching the next town soon for their dry stocks were running low. The heat had probably dried up Xiven's keen senses as he failed to notice the many stalking eyes.

Xiven signalled Chron to stop. He had accidentally stepped into a sand pit and had to pull himself out. When he failed to do so, he signalled for Chron's help. Once he got his foot out, his other foot sank into the sand instead. This time he pulled it out effortlessly but his other leg sank in again. Frustrated, Xiven gestured a nasty hand sign.
"Xiven wait." Chron muttered through his dry lips. Chron had noticed something peculiar and kneel down to examine the loose sand. He signalled for Xiven to pull his foot out again. The mask wielder did but his other foot quickly sank in. Chron's eyes widened. He was sure he saw the sand shifting unnaturally. He signalled for Xiven to do it again and this time, he fixed his eyes on the other leg.
Each time he pulled his foot out, the sand would grab hold of his other ankle. All these happened quickly that it seems as though Xiven fell in. Furthermore each time Xiven tried to remove his leg, he sank deeper in. Chron pulled out Xiven's dagger and stabbed it into the ground. It went into surprisingly easy.
The sand rose up, toppling Xiven and Chron and formed into the shape of an ant hill, with Xiven's dagger still stuck on to it.
"Oh shit." Muttered Xiven, as all around them, sand men formed, most becoming like ant hills. And the two were surrounded, by miles and miles.

Shifting sands surrounded the pair. And though Xiven and Chron both could easily fend off the sand creatures, their versatile nature made it difficult to determine whether they were truly killed.
Chron's flame magic were harmless as the heat was unable to penetrate through the sandy bodies, like creatures which hid under sands to avoid the heat of the desert day. Still, Chron seems unusually skilled with using his sword that Xiven could not had missed it. The mask wielder could not remember the last time he had saw his childhood friend so graceful with a sword, as if he was made for it.
Not that it mattered, with strength of just two of them, they would not be able to hold up for long. Acknowledging that, Xiven reached for his belt, his other hand blocking a lump of sand which just pounded on him. Lucky for him, he picked up a wrist guard before leaving for the sands, otherwise his forearm would at least be cracked by now.
Not wasting time, the mask wielder donned his signature ogre mask. A thousand screams and roars screeched through the afternoon sky and Xiven punched right through the sand man in front of him.
Strange he felt, as if the insides of the sandman were not boiling hot as the sand outside. Carrying on his counter attack, he tore apart several more of the sand creatures and his daggers sliced through them effortlessly.
Not stopping, the mask wielder slipped out of his ogre mask and pressed his second mask against his face. In the bright of day, the red flash was not visible but a layer of coat quickly engulfed Xiven.
Xiven sped off and at the very instances which he stopped and was visible, his bone devil mask was off and his ogre mask was already on. After landing hard hits, he switched masks and again became too fast to be seen.
The mask wielder felt proud of this new technique he mastered. His last encounter taught him something new and with that, the masks offered much less resistance when he tried to put them on. With this, it took the mask wielder only a couple of hours in the night to practice until he was able to perfect this technique. The possibilities of he will be able to do would be endless with any new masks he would get in future.
But the two travellers' fight was not nearly done. As they vanquished more and more of the sand bugs, the ground below them trembled. A loud roar was heard as the sand shifted and a colossus raised up from beneath, with lots of sand still pouring down from it.
It's two forelegs slammed onto the ground while the back part of its body was still buried into the sand. Xiven flinched at the thought of the creature's full size.
At its full height, the creature shadowed Xiven and Chron and had a head similar to a hound. Emerging, it set it's sight on the two before letting out a roar that shifted every grain of sand there was in the desert. Xiven and Chron fell to their knees unable to to cope.

The beast held Xiven to it's eye level. Even with the ogre mask, the mask wielder did minimal damage to it, neither could he break free. Chron's magic on the other hand, simply bounced off it's body. And since the beast was made up of sand, no amount of stabbing and slashes had any effect. Without Xiven as back up, Chron quickly got overwhelmed.
The smaller sand bugs regrouped and surrounded the sand colossus, like minions to an overlord.
Out of no where, a small group of tightly cloaked assassins appeared. Each of them well dressed in combat attire which blend them into the sands. Though there were only a small handful of them, they were coordinated and spread out swiftly into the sand mob.
Each of them were equipped with sophisticated-looking wrist-blades and their attire allowed them to move fluidly and quickly as compared to the rather slow moving sand creatures. Their faces were well protected with face masks and veils against the raging sand storms that might come along their belts were many strange looking cans. Xiven deduced that they were made for these types of battle.
They stabbed, sliced and slashed through most if not all of the smaller sand beasts as quick as a human could do, at occasions they shot large needles from their wrist-blades which pierced through the sandmen easily. Still, despite their attacks being quick and precise, it seem less than harmful to the majority. Moreover, they seem to had completely forgotten Xiven, Chron and the gigantic sand beast.
The sand giant quickly acknowledged the new enemies and moved to strike. As quick as the assassins can be, there was no way they will be able to avoid the beast's gigantic palm. Yet while danger seems inevitable, the assassins carried on with their duty undaunted. They had faith in something.
From behind, a spear torn through the sky and pierced through the back of the beast's head, exiting from its eye. The beast roared. The attack seem not had killed it but at the very least deal some damage.
The sand colossus turned around to find the backstabber, now with its full size out, Xiven felt really really insignificant. From a sand hill, and armored knight slided down and started walking towards the mammoth. His silver hair glistered in the sun, covering his eyes and his expression fearless.
The knight signalled to the assassins, whom promptly retreated.
“Greetings stranger, I am lord Kurosawa Ibikisa. Why have you tread unto these tainted sands?” The knight shouted towards Xiven, who was still held up by the beast.
“I'm... Here to deliver... News to the barbaric deserts” Xiven found it hard to speak, the beast tightened it's grip from the rage.
“Barbaric? Did you just called us barbarians?” Kurosawa sounded slightly pissed off but otherwise, still calmed and controlled. “I'll ask questions later.”
Xiven felt Kurosawa's power, a strange aura which felt somewhat similar to his masks yet drastically different. The desert winds picked up and revealed Kurosawa's eye. Even from the distance, he could as though see flames into them, growing as the knight approached the beast.
The flames burst and an aura of red like those flames covered Kurosawa. The knight channelled his power through his palms and let out a cry. Like a spark to a drum of oil, The entire area exploded and everything in the vicinity become engulfed into flames. The smaller sand creatures blew up from within. The giant sand beast also seem to be knocked down by the explosion but it was far from dying. It got up and became angrier. It no longer had interest in Xiven and raised it's palm against Kurosawa. What was strange was that Xiven and Chron were completely untouched by the flames.
“Kagutsuchi.” Kurosawa muttered as he faced his palm upwards and conjured a flaming spear. The skies darkened and the burning spear illuminated the entire area. With a mighty hurl, Kurosawa launched the spear towards the sand colossus.
The creature tried to block with its palms, but the spear went through it's palms and it's chest and exited as a mega burst of flames.
There was not much sound, the sand giant just went hollow and the large lump of sand that used to be it's body poured down and Xiven. The mask wielder covered himself and standing in front of him was Kurosawa staring with his silver eye pupils.
“Now we talk.”