Someone noticed me through the window, so I backed off and went to my room. Bedtime was finally here, the sun had officially set, and I was tired of talking, traveling, training, and healing for one day.
The next morning, I was awoken by the sound of knocking on my door. I had gotten out of bed, walked downstairs, and opened the door. Manny and Eqihr stood at the door and asked to be let in. I then let them inside, and they told me that war was really bad on the edge of this region. I asked them how they finished so quickly and their reply was that Katon Lunar visited Manny like how Yanu visited me. However, they said that Manny's was much more destructive than mine.
"The townspeople told a tale that the Yang spirit healed some soldiers in a remarkable way," Eqihr said proudly. I implied that I had done such a thing in all my time here. Manny said that he had one ability that allowed him to launch giant meteors far away. Something sparked my curiosity. Why did I run into three scaled swords yesterday? I then asked Eqihr, "What does a scale handle mean for swords?" He revealed to me that there are four types of scaled-handled swords.
He said that the scaled handles meant great importance. I told him that someone here had a lizard handle and Eqihr told me that he'd already met him already. Eqihr also mentioned what all four scaled handles meant. The dragon meant the spirit of flame, the lizard meant truth, the pangolin meant a safe place, and the skink meant hidden. I then thought back to when I saw that one man who claimed to be Katon's descendant. He had a snake-handled sword. Snakes are scaled, so why isn't that included? I had to find out. "Eqihr, what about the snake?" I asked him, "What did you say?" he said then he asked me where I had seen something like that. I told him that some of my friends were being held hostage and the man responsible wielded a snake-handled sword.
Eqihr didn't say much about it afterward, but he definitely looked worried about it. After the conversation ended, Manny told me that he and Eqihir ran into other war parties. He said that they had to fight some of them as well. They even had to stop training for two hours. This can mean only one thing, that the war is even more serious than I had taken account of. "Goshi, I have to tell you something?" I replied, "What is it?" As he was about to talk, knocking sounded on the other side of the door. Eqihr was the closest, so he opened the door. On the outside stood a few men and one woman. The men all wore something like armor or heavy clothing.
The woman, who I assumed was in charge, wore some type of stealth outfit. Her hair was short and black, her eyes were brown, and her lips were rose pink. She walked closer to the door and said, "Is this the residence of the YinYang users?" Eqihr implied that it was and she told us that the head of the town would like to exchange words. Manny and I agreed to it and were escorted to the fanciest building in the town. It had pillars, guards, and the general area was active. When we were escorted inside, Eqihr was asked to stay outside due to privacy reasons.
The man who wanted a word stood on the other side of the entrance on the inside. "What a pleasure to meet both of you... Boys?" Manny then said, "Hello, my name is Manny and my brother here is Goshi. We received word that you wish to speak with us." I could tell that he wasn't impressed by us being on the younger side; he would give us a certain stare indicating so. "Well, this is unexpected. I thought you guys were younger. No matter, I will always respect the great ones." He walked towards a bookshelf and said, "I assume you guys know of the war?" We told him we were fully aware of the war and his reply was, "We... I mean I have one question, you can answer it with all comfort if necessary. "He walked to us and said, "Will you fight with us?"
Honestly, I thought he was going to ask something completely different. That was why we were here. I quickly agreed and right after I was Manny, he was kind of skeptical about it but Eqihr told us to do this. He was glad to hear that, but something was off. In the beginning, he said, we then switched to him. I found that weird. I wondered if there was someone else in charge besides himself. Right after that, we were dismissed. As soon as we exited the building, one of the men from yesterday brought his younger brother. "Hey, uh... I brought him as I said." I smiled and said, "Oh yes, I almost forgot, thanks, so what kind of sickness is it?"
He said the name was "Dragon Death". He also said that this is the deadliest disease in Pansen. I told his brother to come to me and close his eyes. I placed my hand on his head and siphoned more energy. This time the aura was green, and the ground was shaking a little before everything settled down. I asked how we would prove the disease was cured and the man said, "If the growing virus on his back is gone then we'll know." He stood behind his brother and looked for himself. His eyes darted open and he turned to me, and no marks were there.
Manny said, "Incredible." Then out of nowhere, two flashes sparked around us. It was like someone was fighting, then the sparks broke apart. Eqhir was one of them and the other was some unfamiliar face. However, his sword was scaled and it had a pangolin handle. "Who are you and what do you want?" The other individual who wielded the pangolin had a disguise on and was untraceable. "A visitor, you know what that means, Eqihr, the five scales are revived again." The mystery person said aloud.
They began fighting again and became dangerous to be around. For an old man, Eqihr sure could move fast. He did things I didn't think were possible for someone his age. The person in a disguise aimed their sword at Eqihr and a gold beam of energy emitted from it. Then it became rope-like as if it were able to swing around. Then Eqihr aimed his at him and an opposing color of blue copied his ability. The man, his brother, and Manny and I got clear as they swung their beams of energy around.
They then swung at one another, and when they clashed, a bright light blinded us and a wave of energy came in the direction of the little boy. I quickly jumped in front of him, and he jumped in front of me. Manny couldn't heal himself like me, he was going to die. When the wave was about to hit, I pushed him out of the way and was hit by the attack.
The next thing I saw was people running around and screaming with fear. My eyes were fading and I was unable to move for some reason. Then I couldn't see Manny anywhere; he wasn't next to me or in the area. Eqihr wasn't here either, but his sword was on the ground and the tow was under attack. The town had a defense to stand against them, but I didn't know how long it was going to last. Smoke filled the air as the wind had died a while ago, and as I coughed, I crawled until I was on one foot and one knee.
Then from behind me, I hear, "That's him." Then something hard hit me from above and stomped me into the ground, breaking the stone floor below me. Blood spewed from my mouth and my eyes were wide open due to shock. And in front of me was the man I saved Mai's family from was standing next to the person who fought Eqihr. Shortly after, I found that it was a younger man who looked around Manny's age. Katon's descendant pulled his snake sword out and aimed it at me and said, "Goodnight." And black chains wrapped around me. They squeezed me until I began to pass out.
* Chapter 11 Comes to an End *