Saki smiled at the thought of a monster Jiro. For a moment, she wished she could take its photograph and show it to the real Jiro later. Might be his ancestor of some sorts.
That thought almost sent Saki doubling over in laughter. Jiro has warrior blood! Now THAT is hilarious.
"Hello there, Mr. Ghost," she greeted informally. The creature who looked like Jiro bowed.
"I regret that we have not met under better circumstances, Mistress of the Undying Flame," he intoned formally.
"Undying Flame? He must have mistaken me for another, just like how I thought he looked like Jiro," Saki thought. Then she happened to glance at her hands and got quite a surprise.
They ARE in flames. She curiously raised it higher, turning her hands just to make sure. Even more surprising is that she felt no pain at all.
"This is a place where everything manifests in their true form…" the words echo in her mind and she shuddered inwardly at the implication of that.
More questions, she groaned inwardly. Patience, Saki. The answers will have to come later.
First things first. Let's try stalling it with words.
"What do you REALLY want?" she tried to ask.
"I am a being with no wants. I might have wanted something a long time ago but that is neither here nor there. Now I am hunger manifest," said Ghost Jiro.
"Oh really? Is THAT what you are now? I have heard that this is a place where the truth is absolute. Are you sure you are being honest with yourself?"
"Change is also an undeniable truth," he answered.
"If you are hunger, then why do you stand there talking to me?"
Nice, Saki. The one who wanted to eat you stands there talking instead and you reminded it to eat? REEEEAAAAL smart there, girl.
"Strange," Ghost Jiro pondered. "You might be the first person in a long time with whom I have conversed this long."
"See? Talking is good," she encouraged.
"Maybe because there is no fear in you. Fear calls to hunger and hunger calls to madness."
"For a ghost, you seem awfully profound," she remarked like they are sitting down sipping tea instead of stalking each other in a dance leading to obliteration.
"I've had hundreds of years to gather my thoughts…" he said without a trace of bitterness that Saki found remarkable.
He was alone for hundreds of years. The thought filled Saki with unbearable pity.
"What did you do to warrant such punishment?" she couldn't help but ask.
"I...don't remember..."
He was lying. That much Saki could tell.
She can see that talking to her -- no, exhibiting enough restraint to be able to talk to her -- is causing him considerable pain. The compulsion is beginning to take over so she steeled herself and asked one more question.
"Can you be freed from the curse?"
Before he could answer, the wails of thousands of spirits all across the valley answered for him. They cannot let go.
He snarled and whatever control Ghost Jiro had, it snapped like gossamer thread.
Saki can see the wisps and smoke-like tendrils gather towards the creature. Every step that it took burned the ground and leeched all color around it.
It vanished.
Saki felt the air behind her change and she instinctively lunged forward into a roll. She whirled just in time to parry a slash aimed at her midsection.
When did it get a sword?
A few more deadly slashes and Saki found herself running out of space. She leapt upwards and somersaulted using the creature's shoulder as springboard to launch herself again but the creature turned so fast to slash her in mid air.
She is going to be caught. She calmly waited for the blade to bite into her flesh and aimed at the creature's unprotected face.
CLANG!
The blade hit something metal and as Saki hit the ground, she barely had enough time to recognize Hamarr as he swung a large mace at the Ghost and sent it tumbling back.
"They are awake," he said, as if to answer Saki's silent question. "It is safe where they are."
Saki nodded.
"Match my pace," he said. "I will act as a shield. While you, my lady, can hit it between openings."
Saki nodded and prepared to link her mind to his. What she discovered as they made contact was staggering. What she saw was not an old man -- but a figure of legends. And in his hand was not a mace but a hammer.
A shield of light caught the ghost's blows and as soon as it happened, Saki darted in to hit the creature with her own blade. The light shield disappeared in sync with Saki's sword swings and they caught the creature unprepared.
Ghost Jiro wailed in frustration as defense and offense perfectly alternated to catch it off guard in every step.
Saki and Hamarr both know that all they are doing is ineffectual. They are just buying some time but for how long they will be able to stall, they don't know.
"Are you okay?" Hamarr asked in between blows.
"I am, but I don't know if I can keep this up…" Saki answered doubtfully.
As if sensing these things, the creature's attacks became more ferocious and beads of sweat started forming in Hamarr's forehead. Saki knew she had to do something.
Their backs are on the big rocks where they hid from the assassins. They can no longer dodge out of the way and they can no longer afford to insert an attack.
Hamarr focused on keeping the shield up and endured the blows.
Saki can see the light of the shield getting duller and duller with each blow. In a gesture of desperation, she reached out to Hamarr and as soon as she touched his back, the shield flared brighter than ever.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I don't really know," she replied, confused. "I just wanted to help you hold the shield up somehow."
They were locked in that situation for a long time with Saki recharging the shield as it dulled.
The creature, fuelled by its mindless hunger, is now battering the shield nonstop.
Saki can see the horizon getting brighter.
Dawn is coming.
It was at that very moment that the shield of light shattered.
Saki screamed in alarm. She moved forward to catch the blow, closing her eyes to brace herself.
It didn't come.
Saki opened her eyes.
Hunter was standing there holding a long katana to the creature's back.
The Ghost is locked in stasis, but Saki can see that it still struggles to be free.
The katana shimmered and there suddenly stood a young girl that was looking at the Ghost with sad eyes. The girl looked not a day older than Saki but she can see that her face radiated unfathomable grief and loss and that made her so much older.
The girl touched the Ghost's face gently, then she turned to Hunter.
"I can no longer keep him in place," she said in a voice filled with grief and sadness. "Not as firmly as before. You made sure of that by pulling me out against my will. The same force shall not hold him again. He will be free soon."
"What can we do?" Hunter looked helpless and -- was that a tinge of guilt that Saki was seeing on Hunter?
"The only cure for hunger is nourishment," the girl replied mysteriously. "It cannot get it here."
Meanwhile, the creature begins to move more forcefully.
It looks at them with malevolent hunger and something else. Saki can see that it was crying.
The young girl looked at the exhausted Hamarr.
"Are you up for one more push, old friend?"
Hamarr looked at Hunter and at the young girl and the Ghost. Then he looked at Saki.
"I suppose so," he murmured. "You do have the key. But I am almost spent. I can't send him far enough."
Saki understood what Hamarr meant. She put her palm on the old guy's back and poured out her own energy.
Hunter and the young girl's eyes went wide as Hamarr shined. Mingling with his image is the image of a young warrior with long blond hair and deep blue eyes.
In front of them opened what appeared to be a doorway made of the same light as that of his shield. The young girl held the intricately decorated knob and turned.
Behind the doorway is a darkness that fills Saki's soul with dread. Then it turned into a swirling universe and Saki can see the earth as if from above.
Hunter pushed the Ghost into the doorway and as it went through, the young girl whispered, "Godspeed my love, may you find contentment."
As soon as the doorway was closed, Saki felt her energy drain from her body as her legs gave way. Hunter appeared behind her in an instant, catching her before she fell to the ground.