Chereads / Dreamweaver; The Seven Stones Of Virtue / Chapter 9 - EPISODE 8; TRIAL BY NIGHTMARES

Chapter 9 - EPISODE 8; TRIAL BY NIGHTMARES

We stood outside the Tower, Face and I, staring into the Tower through the doorway. We were beginning to catch our breath.

"It is time Face, let‟s go on," I suggested.

"Yeah, I don‟t like Victoria but I don‟t hate her enough to wish for her to be in danger," Face said.

"Okay, so let‟s go," I said. I was feeling scared myself unaware of the dangers I was about to face.

We walked through the doorway and entered the Tower. Almost immediately, the huge doors shut behind us and I didn‟t know this then but the tower disappeared. Meanwhile, in the Hall Of The Knights, there was mayhem. The Atlas Knight had just reported Victoria, Face and I missing.

Our guardians were shocked and worried.

"How did this happen?" Ayumi asked calmly.

"I can‟t explain how it happened but after Lightgazer teamed them up, an unknown force transported them elsewhere. Up until now, we‟ve been monitoring their progress and planning a rescue operation. Apparently, Victoria got separated from Zan and Kenyah but they tracked her and that‟s where things became strange. The three of them just disappeared!" the Atlas Knight said.

"I don‟t understand what you‟re saying. Did they disappear to the Human Realm or were they taken somewhere else?" Ayumi asked.

"No, it‟s more like they disappeared from existence," the Atlas Knight said.

Ayumi frowned and bit her lip worriedly, "This reeks of the Nightmare King!" she said angrily.

We can‟t be too sure. This might actually be beyond the capabilities of the Nightmare King," Fenrir said.

"What do you mean? Ayumi asked worriedly.

"It seems to me like everything significant happens around this Zan character," Fenrir said,

The chancellor walked to the worried knights. "I don‟t think we can wait any longer. It seems like the Nightmare King has anticipated our next move. We must beat him to the chase. Fenrir, Ayumi, Ai, Ryuuji, the second mission commences now. You must journey into the realm of Nightmares and find the woman I spoke of. Her name is Bamané. She knows a lot about the history of dreams. She might know the location of the elemental stones and probably the force that caused the three aspiring Dream Knights to disappear. Here is a map to guide you to her," the chancellor said as he handed a map to Mr Kirisawa.

"We will leave immediately," Ayumi said and the four Dream Knights departed.

Meanwhile, Face and I were walking through the tower.

"We should be searching for stairs. Ayumi said we need to reach the top of the Tower," I reminded Face.

"I don‟t see any stairs," Face said.

"And that‟s what puzzles me. This Tower did not seem so big from the outside but we‟ve been walking for hours and we still haven‟t seen any stairs or doorway," I said.

"Ayumi did say we can‟t leave once we enter the tower," Face reminded me.

We walked on for about fifteen minutes more and soon, we reached the foot of some massive stairs.

"Look Face! We‟ve found the stairs, let‟s go up!" I said excitedly.

"Something bugs me. Ayumi said we‟ll face our weakness in each level. Maybe she meant each floor but we haven‟t faced anything yet. It‟s suspicious" Face said.

"Maybe the first floor is a freebie" I joked.

"Freebie schmebie! If the Dream Knights are slacking off in setting obstacles, I don‟t think the Nightmare King is!" Face said worriedly.

Suddenly, we heard a soft thud.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Face.

"Uh huh" he nodded with a frightened look on his face. Thud! Thud! Thud!

THUD!

"It‟s getting louder" I said.

THUD! THUD! THUD! BAM! GAM! BAGAGAGABRRRRRRRR!!!

"That‟s because…" I said as I stared at Face worriedly.

We looked up the stairs.

"IT‟S COMING DOWN THE STAIRS!!!" we screamed together, for a huge multi-coloured box was rolling down the stairs at high speed.

Face and I dived out of its way as it reached the bottom of the stairs. It rolled for quite a distance before stopping. Face and I stared at the box.

"That box looks familiar to me" Face said as we drew closer to the box, out of curiosity.

"Face, stay back. I don‟t think it‟s wise for both of us to fall into the same trap" I advised.

Face obeyed me. I walked to the box and touched it.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The box began to beep loudly like an alarm bell and before I knew it, words appeared on the box, "WRONG MOVE!" Before I could move, I received a terrible punch from a powerful boxing glove that sent me flying. An hourglass appeared behind me and I fell into it. Before I could recover from my daze, the hourglass began to fill with sand.

"There is only one thing I know of capable of such evil…MR ANGOBIO!" Face screamed in terror and in the next instant, a terrifying Jack-in-the-Box popped out!

"Hehehehe! Are you ready to play…BONIFACE KENYAH!" it said in an eerie tone.

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!" Face screamed in horror.

Meanwhile, Ayumi and the other Dream Knights had entered deep into Nightmare territory. They rode on stallions.

"We‟re almost there!" Ayumi said.

"But isn‟t it a bit strange that so far, we haven‟t encountered any Dream Banes?" Fenrir asked.

No sooner had the words escaped his lips than they heard the sinister bellowing of Dream Banes. You don‟t wanna know what manner of creatures was pursuing them. These creatures were the Dream equivalent of minotaurs. I know you‟ve heard of those creatures, half man, half bull creatures with insane strength, sound familiar? The upgrade to these creatures in the Dream World was that they had long, terrible horns that were shaped like scythes. They were also really fast on hooves.

"You just had to say Dream Banes, didn‟t you?" Ayumi accused Fenrir.

Ayumi suggested that they should try to outrun the minotaurs but it wasn‟t easy at all and when the minotaurs blocked their path, they inevitably had to fight them off. Well, too bad for them and by that, I‟m referring to the minotaurs because Ayumi and her squad were the best and strongest of all the Dream Knights so you can guess what terrible, head splitting migraines the minotaurs suffered. Ayumi and her gallant band of Dream Knights charged on, advancing ever deeper into the realm of Nightmares and battling hordes of monsters that dared to stand in their way.

On the other hand, Face and I weren‟t doing so well. I was up to my waist in sand literally and Face was running around the huge hall trying to evade the bolts of electricity the evil Jack-in-the- box, Mr Angobio was hurling at him. "This is fun! Just like old times eh Boniface?!" the evil Mr Angobio teased. Boniface was screaming and panting tiredly, he had been running non-stop for an hour now and he was beginning to lose stamina.

"FACE! FACE THAT FREAK! TEAR HIM APART! RIP HIM TO

SHREDS!" I screamed from the hourglass but Face was too terrified for any of my words to sink into him. "FACE! REMEMBER WHAT AYUMI SAID!" I screamed desperately. By then I was up to my neck in sand.

Face heard me and sighed. "A nightmare is simply the manifestation of your fears. It cannot defeat you as long as you have courage," Face recalled Ayumi‟s words and stopped running.

"Hey! Why have you stopped running, no fair! Let‟s play!" Mr. Angobio yelled angrily.

"Hmmph," Face smiled. "I honestly don‟t see why I was so afraid of you! If you want to play fine! But we are playing by my rules, a little game called „Can Mr. Angobio escape me in five seconds?‟" Face said with a confident smile.

"Huh?" Mr. Angobio looked mockingly at Face.

"I BONIFACE KENYAH CALL ON THEE SIGILS OF EARTH TO AID ME IN MY TIME OF NEED!" Face roared and the Double Tomahawk appeared in his hands.

"I don‟t think I‟m going to like this game!" Mr Angobio screamed in horror.

"And counting down, 5…4…3…" Face began to countdown.

"NO! I DON‟T LIKE THIS GAME!" Mr Angobio began to cry like a sissy as he hopped away as fast as he could. By then the sand had reached my chin.

"2…1…ZERO! TIME‟S UP MR ANGOBIO ! IT WAS FUN PLAYING WITH YA! SEE YA! WOULDN‟T WANNA BE YA!" Face roared as he

leapt into the air with all his might, stomped on the wall, dived towards Mr Angobio and bisected it with the Double Tomahawk.

Mr Angobio screamed in pain and exploded. No sooner had Mr Angobio exploded than the hourglass shattered and I fell out in a stream of sand. I coughed and gasped for air.

"Mission accomplished! Let‟s move on Zan!" Face said happily as he walked up the stairs.

"You did well Face!" I congratulated my friend.

"It was your encouragement that gave me the courage to face that freak. He‟s been torturing me in my dreams since I was a little kid." Face said angrily.

We climbed the stairs to the very top and arrived on a different Level. No sooner had we entered than the doorway behind us sealed itself. This level was dark.

"Hey, don‟t we get any lights?" Face complained and almost immediately torches began to light everywhere.

We stood at the edge of a deep crevasse that seemed to have no end and the only way to the other side was a thin ram shackled rope bridge.

"I don‟t trust this bridge," I said.

Face removed a stone from his pocket.

"Stones bring me good luck. Stand back Zan. Don‟t fail me…element of hope," Face said as he tossed the stone on the bridge.

No sooner had the stone touched the bridge than the entire bridge collapsed into the crevasse leaving the rope at the other side.

"And to think that could have been us," Face said.

"Great so how are we going to cross? Although we can both jump very high, it will take at least two giant leaps to make it across," I said.

"Well we‟ve gotta find a way" Face said.

I looked at the crevasse, the rope at the other side and then at Face and then a diabolic plan entered my mind.

I smiled, "I‟ve got an idea but it will require a great deal of teamwork and your absolute trust in me," I chuckled evilly.

"Tell me," Face requested.

I whispered my plan into his ears.

"What?! That‟s your plan?! You‟re very wicked Zan! Why do I have to be the sacrificial piece?! Face roared angrily.

"One, I don‟t call it wickedness, I call it „appreciating nature‟ and two, if it works, nobody will have to be a sacrificial piece," I said. Face nodded.

(What Zan means by appreciating nature is that he knows what he is suggesting is a very dangerous and dastardly plan that could seriously injure Face if it goes wrong. It is a term used by his peers in Lower East Side Dream City).

"Fine, let‟s show these Dream Knights and the Nightmare King some amazing teamwork!" Face roared as he took a few steps back.

I took a few steps back as well. We walked backwards till our backs touched the wall.

"Ready?" I asked Face.

"As ready as I‟ll ever be" Face glared at me and ran with all his might towards the edge of the crevasse.

When he reached the edge, he leapt with all his might. I waited till he was halfway across the crevasse, then I ran as fast as I could and jumped with all my strength, mentally calculating the distance it would take for me to reach Face. When I reached him, I stood on his back, crouched and took another high leap. I somersaulted through the air and landed at the other side, and then I quickly threw the rope to Face. He caught it and I pulled with all my strength. He flew towards me and crashed into me and we rolled for quite a distance. We stood up and sighed.

"That was a crazy idea but it really worked" Face said gratefully.

"Of course! It was my idea so it definitely had to work!" I boasted.

"You know what we just did is both mathematically and scientifically impossible right?! That means if this were the real world, I‟d really be dead!

You malevolent jerk! Was that your intention?!" Face roared.

Well duh! Was he realizing this just now? Aloud, I said

"I‟m glad my idea worked or I‟d have your death on my conscience forever".

Face scoffed and said, "Idiot! I won‟t go down so easily"

We walked into the next room and found more stairs. We climbed the stairs to the next floor.

Meanwhile, Ayumi and the Dream Knights had finally reached their destination. It was a hut in the middle of a swampy savannah, sound familiar?

Ayumi looked around in fright.

"I don‟t like this place" she said.

Mr Kirisawa laughed.

"Don‟t tell me Zan‟s ghost story is getting to you" Mr Kirisawa said.

"No! It‟s just that the description Zan gave of the witch‟s location matches this place perfectly" Ayumi said.

Fenrir walked to the hut and knocked on the door.

"Is anyone around?!" he called.

There was a sound like the unlatching of locks and the door opened. An old woman who looked like the definition of the word „ancient‟ stood behind the door.

"Welcome, I‟ve been expecting you. Come in" she invited the Dream Knights in.

"You are Bamané aren‟t you?" Ayumi asked nervously.

"I know why you‟ve come. You want a map that will lead you to the elemental stones however…such a map doesn‟t exist" Bamané said harshly. "What? So this journey was a waste of time?!" Fenrir growled angrily.

"I see that you, Lightning Knight Fenrir, do not think before speaking. You are very quick to judge everyone and everything and might soon become a danger to the Dream World if you do not learn to control yourself" Bamané said.

"TCH! I‟m getting lectured by an old hag" Fenrir muttered under his breath.

"I heard that" Bamané muttered as she gave him a warning glare. Fenrir turned away to avoid eye contact.

"And you Ayumi Kirisawa. You do not trust your heart. Rules and formalities are more important to you than your personal feelings and that could cause you a lifetime of regret. You can learn a thing or two from your sister" Bamané criticized Ayumi.

"O-kay" Ayumi was confused by Bamané‟s sudden reproach.

"We know that you know everything about us but that is not why we came" Mr Kirisawa said seriously.

"And you, Ryuuji Kirisawa, are absolutely unforgivable! Treating your daughters like boys! They‟re teenage girls for crying out loud! Treat them the way you‟ve been doing and you will have no descendants and you know why?! They‟ll scare off their suitors!" Bamané kept nagging.

"Please Bamané, we need the map to the elemental stones and we need to know something else" Ai butted in.

"I‟ve been waiting to hear you speak young Ai. You are the only one here whose heart has not been tainted by the Dream Knight madness disease! I will respond only to your questions" Bamané said.

"Thank you Bamané. First I need to know about the map to the elemental stones" Ai said.

"The only map to the elemental stones is the Dreamweaver. It seems the souls are attracted to him so they‟ll come after him one after the other. You don‟t need to search for them. They will come to you since the Dreamweaver is quite close to you now" Bamané said.

"Really?" Ai asked.

"Yes" Bamané responded.

"My second question is this. Is the Nightmare King capable of making a person disappear from existence?" Ai asked.

"If you mean, total disappearance and not just death, then the Nightmare king is not capable of such a feat…however…one soul of evil is" Bamané said grimly.

"Really? Which soul of evil is that?" Ai asked.

"The soul sealed by the stone of wind…the soul of Enslavement" Bamané said.

"How can we rescue a person trapped by this soul?" Ai asked.

"You can‟t. They can only be released if Enslavement is defeated" Bamané said.

"Why are the souls of evil attracted to Zan?" Ayumi suddenly asked.

"That is because Zan is…the Dreamweaver" Bamané said.

Her words shocked the three Kirisawas.

"You‟re lying!" Ayumi yelled.

"There are more forces at play than you realize Ayumi. Haven‟t you ever wondered what the evil is, that is trapped within the Eternal Mirror Gate?" Bamané asked Ayumi.

"What is that evil? No one ever speaks of it. Is it in anyway related to Zan?" Ayumi asked worriedly.

"You probably have an idea of what that evil is" Bamané said.

"I always thought it was the combination of the seven souls of evil" Ayumi said.

"It is more than that. That evil is the collection of mankind‟s evil desires. Unlike the human realm where evil is intangible, in the Dream World, evil has a form and that form is the evil sealed within the Mirror Gate. That evil was defeated almost two thousand years ago but it is now almost as strong as it was before. I will tell you nothing more of this evil but I will warn you of one thing. Do not try to harm Zan or the evil you will face will be unlike any nightmare you have ever encountered" Bamané warned.

"Are you telling us the truth? I mean…about Zan being the Dreamweaver?" Ayumi asked, still disturbed by this discovery.

"I am telling you the truth but I can see you‟re still in denial. Your doubts will be erased soon enough…and though I know this will be difficult for you as a Dream Knight not to carry out…I ask you to spare Zan" Bamané requested.

"That is not for us to decide. His sentence has already been declared. At best, it can be postponed" Fenrir said.

"Why are you so concerned about Zan?" Mr Kirisawa asked Bamané.

"That‟s because I promised a boy long ago. I promised to take care of his descendants. I was an evil witch once but he saw goodness in me and changed me. He was the father of Wanye, Zan‟s guardian, and I failed to protect Wanye, so I must now protect Zan. I am the witch that cursed Zan‟s village long ago" Bamané confessed.

"EH?!" Ai and Mr Kirisawa exclaimed in shock.

Ayumi turned as white as a sheet.

"Y-y-y-you are…so Zan‟s story was true after all" she stammered in fear.

"Ayumi, Ai, Fenrir, let us return to the Tower Of Trials. We‟ve learnt all we need to know" Mr Kirisawa suggested.

"Heed my warning. I did not tell you not to harm Zan just because I have to protect him. If you try to harm him…you will awaken the Ultimate Nightmare" Bamané warned.

Fenrir seemed terrified by her warning but he managed to maintain his composure.

"Thank you very much Bamané" Ai said as they left.

Meanwhile, Face and I were on the next floor. It was a dimly lit room with a lot of gigantic blood-red pillars. Neither the walls of this room nor the ceiling could be seen. They seemed to be shrouded in shadow.

"Zan, we faced my nightmare on the ground floor. This might be your nightmare we are about to face" Face deduced.

"TCH! Don‟t worry! I‟m not afraid of anything! I already faced my nightmare!" I boasted.

Suddenly, the lights went off.

"Huh? What‟s going on?" I asked worriedly.

I began to hear soft padding sounds. It sounded like a chorus of padding sounds.

"YA THINK?!" I heard an evil high pitched voice.

"Who said that?!" I roared.

"Hehehehe!" I heard a shrill laugh and suddenly, the lights came on very brightly.

"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BECOME EVERYONE‟S

NIGHTMARE?!" I heard a loud, shrill, eerie chorus and saw my worst nightmare standing in front of me and like I said in episode one, heck, I wasn‟t waiting around to answer them.

I screamed in fear and took to my heels for I was faced with two battalions of human-sized evil bunnies and what was worse was that they had the eyebrows, moustaches and beards of ancient Chinese kung-fu masters! If you wanna know what I mean, watch "Jet Li‟s Evil Cult". To make matters worse, half of them wore red belts and red bandannas. The other half wore black bandannas and black belts and you don‟t wanna know what that

meant. It meant…THESE FREAKING THREE HUNDRED BUNNIES WERE ALL KUNG-FU MASTERS!

I had climbed one of the pillars.

"Hey Zan! Don‟t tell me you‟re scared of a bunch of overgrown bunnies!" Face yelled angrily.

"It‟s not how they look that scares me! It‟s what they say and how they say it!" I screamed.

"Hey Zannie boy, wanna see a live kung-fu show?" the leader of one battalion asked me.

"No thank you! I think I‟ll pass!" I pleaded.

The leader of the bunnies took a giant flying leap.

"HEEYA!" he cried out as he kicked the pillar I was clinging to and well, what can I say? Humpty-dumpty had a great fall!

"Zan! You okay?!" Face called in concern as the fragmented pieces of the pillar narrowly missed me.

"Face! Mind your own business! HYAH!" one of the bunny leaders charged on Face and I tell you, Face received enough beatings to last him a lifetime.

I counted sixty blows and seventy-five kicks. Face collapsed to the ground. The bunny leader raised his leg high into the air.

"EET EES ALL OVER FO YOU FACE!" he teased as he attempted to crush Face‟s head with his feet. Face managed to roll out of the way in time.

"Hey! Don‟t you think that‟s going too far?!" I yelled angrily.

"Well we‟re nightmares, deal with it" the two bunny leaders said eerily.

"Eek! They‟re doing it again!" I began to shiver uncontrollably.

"CAN YOU STOP MY ARMY AND I?" they continued to speak eerily.

"If you are the Dreamweaver, then it‟s different" I heard the same voice that spoke to me when I first encountered Bunnyos Extremos. I stood up and wiped the dust from my clothes.

"You know…if you were facing an ordinary human then you might have an advantage. Your tragedy is…I‟m the Dreamweaver!" I roared and in the next instant I was clothed in white with a belt striped in black and red around my waist.

My eyebrows grew longer till they were touching my chin. I had grown a bushy moustache as well and a long beard too. I performed a quick display of kung-fu moves much to the surprise of everyone!

"Wow Zan! That was cool! But what the heck is with the eyebrows, moustache and beard! They don‟t fit you at all!" Face yelled angrily.

I twitched my nose and sneezed.

"What‟cha talking about! The eyebrows signify foresight, the moustache signifies power and the beard signifies wisdom! A child like you doesn‟t know anything!" I pretended to be angry.

"You just made that up didn‟t you?" Face looked bored. "Besides, who do you think you‟re calling a child!" he roared angrily.

"Just lie there and watch" I grinned at Face.

"Enough talk! Let‟s fight!" the bunnies chorused and charged to attack me.

I blocked the first attack and gave the attacker a terrible punch. Then I unleashed a wave of powerful whirlwind kicks that took out at least fifty of the bunnies. More of them closed in on me. I focused my chi into my lungs and took in a deep breath. Then I blew as hard as I could and succeeded in freezing about two-hundred bunnies. The remaining hundred charged on me but I fought them with skills I never imagined were possible. By the time twenty minutes had passed, they all lay defeated on the ground except for the two bunny leaders. They cracked their necks and knuckles.

"You‟re pretty good Zan but I don‟t think you‟re strong enough to defeat us" they said together.

"CUT THE CREEPY TALK ALREADY!" I roared as I sent both leaders flying with a single punch.

They somersaulted and landed a safe distance away from me.

"Did you really think that would be enough to defeat us?" they chorused again.

They sure never learn do they. Now I was really pissed off!

"So you won‟t stop…will you? Fine then…I‟LL END YOU QUICKLY! I

AM PRINCE AYZAN NIGHTBANE! IN MY TIME OF NEED I SUMMON THEE SIGILS OF LIGHT! HEED MY CALL!!!" I roared and my facial features returned to normal.

On the other hand, my silvery-white armour appeared on me and the Silver Dream rested in my hand.

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" the two bunny masters exclaimed in fear.

"YOU STILL WON‟T STOP?! THEN PREPARE TO MEET YOUR

FATES!" I roared as I flashed past them like a blur of light, baring my sword.

I spun my sword and sheathed it as the bunny leaders collapsed to the ground.

"Next time you try to creep an enemy out with synchronized speech…think about the difference in your abilities!" I said in a rage.

All the fallen bunnies disappeared a moment later.

"You did it Zan" Face congratulated me.

"Yeah, but our challenges aren‟t yet over. We still have to rescue Victoria" I said with a sigh.

Straight, massive stairs appeared in front of us leading to a giant door.

"Great, the stairs appeared. Let‟s keep moving" Face said.

I nodded and we climbed the stairs. We remained silent till we reached the door at the top of the stairs. I sighed.

"Here goes nothing" we said together as we pushed the door open and walked into a dark room.

The door shut itself and the passageway sealed.

"This room is pitch black, I can‟t see anything!" Face complained.

"Zan, Face…is that you? Please help me!" a familiar voice cried for help.

We ran towards the voice. The room became brighter with every step we took till we could finally see clearly. The room looked like a temple and in front of us, chained to the wall…was Victoria.

"Victoria!" Face called out and ran towards her with greater speed.

When we got close enough, Face summoned his Tomahawk.

"Hang on Victoria! We‟ll save you!" he said as he raised his Tomahawk to break her chains.

"Face, Zan, I knew you would come for me. I never doubted that you would rescue me" she said and I began to get suspicious.

"Face, do not release her" I said suddenly.

Face looked at me in surprise.

"What are you talking about?! We came all this way to rescue Victoria and now you‟re telling me not to free her?!" Face yelled angrily.

"Didn‟t you hear what she just said?! You and I both know that Victoria would never say such a thing!" I yelled back.

Face frowned.

I looked closely at Victoria and snarled.

"Who really are you?!" I asked angrily.

"Don‟t joke like that Zan, I‟m Victoria" she said.

"I‟ll ask one more time" I said as I raised the Silver Dream threateningly.

I saw the look of fear in her eyes.

"Zan! Are you going mad?!" Face yelled angrily.

"So then, who are you?" I asked again.

"I-I‟m Victoria" she said.

"I warned you!" I said as I plunged the Silver Dream into her body.

She screamed in pain and a huge current of wind escaped her body.

"ZAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Face yelled angrily.

"SHE IS NOT VICTORIA! SHE IS AN EVIL SOUL!" I declared just as all the wind escaped from Victoria‟s body and took the form of a huge tornado.

We stared in horror as the tornado took the form of a woman. It looked like a woman in a manner of speaking, except for the fact that, she had huge purple wings and the feet of an eagle with wickedly shaped talons.

"Is that…a harpy?" Face asked me.

"Yeah, she kinda looks like Tzenker in Seiken Densetsu 3" I joked but the harpy didn‟t look happy at all.

"HOW DARE YOU ZAN?! HOW DARE YOU BREAK A WOMAN‟S

PURE HEART LIKE THAT?!" the harpy roared angrily and I tell you, I did not like the way she was speaking because she was beginning to remind me of Kangana in Shree.

"Quit the sarcasm! We all know that you don‟t have a heart!" I yelled angrily.

She cackled gleefully. It was rather annoying but I must admit that she had a rather attractive appearance.

"That‟s true, and that is why I‟m going to enjoy punishing you!" she said as she laughed some more.

"Quit that hideous laughter! Are you trying to give me a heart attack or what?" I mocked her.

She frowned angrily.

"I hate you boy. I guess it can‟t be helped since you‟re actually the reincarnation…of him" the harpy said.

"Of who?! What are you talking about?!" I questioned her.

"I‟ll tell you if you can defeat me however…that is most unlikely to happen. Awaken! My servants!" she called out and we noticed dark shadows flashing around the room and before we knew it, we were surrounded by many warriors.

"They are humans! How could you do this you rotten hag?!" I roared angrily.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A HAG?! Servants! Kill him slowly and

make him suffer!" she yelled angrily and the warriors charged to attack us.