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Child of Innocence...

Presented by Lord Overon

Part 7

When they dropped they fell easily on their feet bending their knees to remove any unwanted momentum that could, in theory, shatter their pelvis if they landed badly. For them this was not even an object of contention. Standing to their full height and looking around, the found themselves in a clearing in a field of flowers: T'hania's domain. There, T'hania appeared, as did another. T’hania emerged from a white corona with wisps of red in it. The red marked her, as she was the only one who used that colour fused with her aura. The light red-white aura simmered and disappeared and almost simultaneously another doorway opened into T’hania’s domain to her left. This time instead of something colourful there was only a pitch black hole that seemed to suck into it all the surrounding colour, much like a black hole to matter.

T’hania held her hand to the opening doorway at first seeming to prevent whatever it was that had opened the doorway from entering. On closer inspection though, one would have seen her focusing her aura into the darkness in an attempt to find out what lay hidden behind.

"You may enter," she commanded and slowly an image from within the darkness appeared, growing larger as it entered T’hania’s domain until finally out of the darkness a figure stepped out. The woman who entered showed no courtesy as she strutted out, the tails of cloth that trailed from her clothing sliding onto the ground in her wake. As the cloak of darkness dissolved away from her body, she stood there with a powerful dark aura surrounding her.

She grinned at Sano who, through his adventures, knew better than to engage in conversation with this kind of woman. She wore barely enough to keep her figure hidden: just enough to cover what should be covered leaving just enough to entice a male mind’s imagination. The long strip protruding from her posterior seemed almost to call to him, demanding that his attention be drawn to places on a woman’s body he had no right seeing unless married to the said woman. He called forth a mantra to help take his concentration away from the alluring woman. Though, the glare he had initially received from Nodoka should have frozen his blood- if he was looking at her. It peeved her to no small degree that he had not even looked a bit sheepish or apologetic after watching the scantily clad woman.

"So this is the child," she woman remarked to T'hania while eyeing Nodoka speculatively.

"Yes," T’hania curtly replied.

She approached Nodoka who flinched slightly but did not react. She would not give this woman…no…this demon, the pleasure of knowing she was afraid.

"Hmm…she's not as powerful as I would prefer but…she will do."

"I thought you would say as much," replied T’hania as she tried unsuccessfully to hide her sarcasm.

The woman did not seem to care one way or another about T’hania’s remark and just laughed. Not the sort of laugh that one would expect from a demon, but more like the laugh of a young woman: soft and sultry, able to capture any man’s attention, except Sano, whose mind was currently occupied with the mantra. The woman frowned slightly at the boy’s lack of interest in her, but shrugged it off. She had better things to do at the moment than tempt a little boy.

"Your job my dear little girl, is to find this in that nice little dimension you were in. You know, the one in which your mother was almost killed."

Nodoka clenched her fists, as did Sano at the mention of Tiempara’s death. That really wasn’t the best topic to mention to the two teens as a conversation opener.

The woman held aloft a dull green piece of metal that was bent into the roughly the shape of a horseshoe. They could feel power pulsing from the strangely shaped artefact.

"Get this and bring it back to your dimension," she told them commandingly. "I can find it or, you can kill whoever is in control of it. I like the latter better. What do you think?" she asked and grinned, then a teasing smile appearing across her face, taunting Nodoka to agree to the second option.

Nodoka growled slightly but said nothing. She would not play to this woman’s wishes. She knew the woman was just trying to make her angry. Inwardly she boiled but outwardly, she kept her calm. T'hania approached her and offered some calming words as she whispered into Nodoka’s ear. T’hania then pulled something out of the robe she was wearing and handed it gently to Nodoka. Nodoka cautiously regarded the small marble that had been placed in her palm. "This will carry you to wherever you wish to go. However, it will work only once," warned T’hania. “You will need it later.”

T'hania then drew a small circle in the air with her index finger. A small white orb formed in the air where she had previously created the circle then expanded to form a doorway that was no doubt meant for Nodoka and Sano’s use. The white doorway hovered before them as T’hania placed her hands on their shoulders forcing them to face her. "Tiempara destroyed many of the demons there but there still are many dangers. Remember, your job is to find the artefact and bring it back. This is not a quest for revenge. Sano, keep Nodoka centred on her task. Tiempara brought you into this and I trust her judgement."

Sano nodded.

"Good, then I wish the two of you the best of luck."

"We'll get it," replied Nodoka simply. She has definitely inherited her mother’s confidence rued T’hania.

T'hania smiled and softly ushered them through the portal. "I sure hope you do child."

"She has to," replied the other woman when the portal closed, "Or the balance will change and we all know what happens when the balance changes…"

"As if you cared," mocked T’hania.

The woman only laughed as she opened her own doorway. "That…and I will have less power too, though I guess you knew that also."

The woman smiled again. “Tell your friend I send my love…"

T’hania glared at the woman and a small red orb appeared on her fingertip. The other woman made a hastier departure than she would have preferred.

"Be careful…" T’hania muttered before she returned to tending her massive garden.

 

 

 

They landed softly on the desolate wasteland Nodoka recognized as the place she had been trapped before. The ground still oozed helping muffle their landing. From the looks of things though, there didn’t seem to be anything around them for miles. Neither though cared to check with their auras. They both knew that extending their aura or the slightest use of ki could be easily detected in a wasteland where their should not be any detectable ki surges.

"This the place?" asked Sano.

Nodoka nodded.

"Creepy," he replied then he opened his senses to look for what they had been told to search for. He did not need to use his ki to use the other senses he had been gifted with through his travels. He found it easily enough and glancing to Nodoka he knew she had too. They felt that distinctive pulse of energy that could only be emanating from the artefact.

Silently they ran forward checking as they ran for sounds of anything approaching. It was a useful tactic until they ran down a steep incline and Nodoka stood on something that cracked as she rest her weight on it. Sano knew better than to say anything about that though. He knew that women were a bit picky about their weight- as if it really mattered to him. Looking down they both saw the arm of one of those things Nodoka had killed the other day, rotting in the damp oozing soil. Sano recognized it from her earlier description. Slightly alarmed, they studiously gazed at the valley around them and it was only then did they see the destruction that had been wrought.

Bodies littered the area, most mangled beyond recognition. At the centre lay an impressive pile and without saying anything both nodded understandingly at the scene in front of them. They knew now what had taken Tiempara such a long time in this reality and what had caused her many injuries.

Nodoka was almost awed at the destruction wrought by her own mother’s hands. She knew her mother was powerful and capable of inhuman feats but what lay before her told the story on its own. Her mother had almost sacrificed her life in order to let Akane and her escape. To keep the demons from them and to aid in her own escape; her mother had destroyed all in her path.

It was then they both realized that they were standing in a crater. Their minds boggled at the power required to create a ki blast of a magnitude that could cause that crater that big. Nodoka fully appreciated the strength of the blast when she remembered her ki enhanced foot slam being diffused into the foul soil. Armour and limbs protruded from the pile at the centre and from scattered patches in the putrid soil around them. The whole area was one massive graveyard: a graveyard of demonic bodies.

 

They continued following the pulse of the artefact at a much slower pace, watching and waiting, knowing that the softest sound could give their presence away. They had no idea if demons were buried in the soil around them. They did not put it beyond the powers of the demons to set traps for them. Anything was possible in a plane that should not even exist. The ooze had changed to a loamy surface that did not ooze as much, at least not with the black thing. This time it looked more like dampness than anything unnatural.

As the spoke in hushed tones, Nodoka whispered a description of some of the things and traps she had faced. Sano nodded. Demons were the same wherever they came from. He knew that they could handle a few of the monsters but a horde would kill them in a heartbeat. He had no idea how strong his aunt was compared to the power of his dad but he knew that if she could tangle with demons and gods alike, she must have harnessed her potential to the highest degree.

She was not here with them though and he doubted that she could help them in any way at the moment. It was just the two of them. They had a job to do. Sano did not know what the horseshoe shaped thing did but he knew it had to have some importance for them to be there searching for it.

 

Unlike Nodoka, auntie had never sheltered him as she had sheltered Nodoka or did she? He didn't know. He didn't know what a sheltered life was compared to his but he wouldn't have traded it. Okay, maybe a few more friends would have been nice but he got to go around the world exploring places and having adventures. He had more fun on his adventures than he thought most kids had and when dad was there they would train and talk.

He still wondered if he had been set up at the beginning. First he had met auntie and had been with her for awhile until she left him at the temple, then dad, who was the same person, trained him and sent him on missions for the monks or would teach him some tricks. No, he wouldn't have changed his life if he had the chance except for seeing his mother one more time. He never knew his father, his real father, but his mom was a different story. He had missed her and still did miss her but he had auntie to make up for her loss.

Suddenly he smelt something foul coming from ahead and stopped. Nodoka hadn’t. On a whim he tackled her bringing them both to the ground, and clamped his hand over her mouth. Now was not the time for a shouting match. Moments later, a distortion in the air flew past them. He did not know what that was but it had not wasted time in scouting the scenery. As he offered Nodoka a hand, he wondered why her face was all red and why she was trying not to look at him. He shrugged and continued to scout ahead.

He knew they were getting closer to the artefact. The pulses were getting stronger as they advanced. If someone wanted to keep something precious then that the precious thing would be well guarded. He didn’t know if that artefact was precious but if they were sent on a mission to retrieve it then it had to precious. Therefore, it would be well guarded.

So it would be guarded, but would they be expecting an attack? That was another important question.

Auntie had been here and she had attacked and from the wreckage of bodies around the area she had caused a great deal of damage. That meant she had taken out a substantial part of the defensive force. So anything precious would be more tenaciously guarded. Getting this thing was starting to sound more daunting than he had first thought.

So they had to be careful and make sure they did not fall into any traps and speaking of traps, why did he feel that something was up ahead. Apparently something also bothered Nodoka and she stopped just before he did.

"Do you get that feeling that something is out there?" asked Nodoka.

Sano nodded and scratched his chin. Nodoka frowned and then she pulled out the sword from where she had hidden it. Even in the dull light it glowed.

Sano pulled out a flint and ignited a small flame with it. Being careful to cover the flames with his hands so that they would not be seen from a distance, Sano directed the light onto the edge of the sword. From the sword the light was reflected as a single strong beam that suddenly stopped five meters in front of them. So something had been there to warn against them.

"How do we get around that?" he asked Nodoka.

Sano shrugged and scratched his head for a minute. He had no clue how to circumvent the barrier in front of them. There weren't any living things there for him to see how they got through. That’s how he usually got around barriers.

"I guess we wait and see," he supposed.

"No....we should look for some of those demons passing through. If we can see how they do it then we should be able to do it too."

"That's a good idea," remarked Sano.

Nodoka smirked.

Like trained warriors they scoped the area as they hugged the contours of the land. Their eyes roamed looking, peering into the misty light searching for haunting figures passing through the barrier. For hours on end they waited until in the distance they saw something moving.

 

Sano had seen a lot through his adventures but he did not recognize the thing in front of him now. He had trained his eyes to see definitions in the dark and from what he would see, the thing in front of them looked akin to a pincushion. From out of its body, sharp steely points glared out into the open, daring anything to touch them. Sano did not doubt that they were razor sharp and deadly. The thing did not have a face although he did not need to see its face to tell him that it would not have won any beauty contests.

He signalled to Nodoka to follow him and they crouched near the ground. Near, but not close enough to touch the ooze with their skin. They followed it as it marched at an infuriatingly slow pace towards the barrier. At times they had to check their pace to make sure that they did not overstep and pass it.

After almost an hour of tracking, the thing finally made it to the barrier. They waited and watched as the thing passed though the barrier without doing anything. They blinked. It hadn’t done anything to answer their question. Damn.

"A fat lot of good that did us…" muttered Nodoka under her breath and Sano had to agree with her.

 

They hunched their thinking. Well at least Nodoka was thinking. She was replaying everything her mother did in her rescue when it hit her. They had tunnelled under the floor. That was it. That was the way across.

Grabbing Sano she hurried towards the barrier.

"What are you doing?" he barely hissed out.

"I know how to get across…" she whispered, then she smiled and Sano thought he might die from a heart attack. Luckily though she had turned her focus to the barrier in front of them.

Pulling out a shovel after hiding it using that secret technique her mother had showed her, Nodoka threw it to Sano and pulled out another one. Then when she began to dig, so did he. In a matter of minutes they were under the barrier and out to the other side.

Searching they found the signal they were looking for and began their quest for the artefact anew. After walking quietly for a few minutes they were finally able to spy the structure in which, they thought, the artefact would be found. Creeping steadily closer they could just make out the definition of the crumbling castle-like structure in the distance. The area was empty except for the line of demon guards surrounding the structure. It was a meagre line, but enough to settle anything but a large scale attack.

Nodoka placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to look back at her. "I have a plan…"

"What is it?" he asked.

"Do you think you can take them on?" she asked as she flicked her wrist to indicate the guards.

"I can delay them if that’s what you’re thinking, destroy them? I don’t know about that?"

"That’s good enough," she remarked. "All you have to do is keep them out of my hair for a little while and then I’ll be able to get the thing inside."

"So you’re going into the castle by yourself," he summed. She nodded.

"Are you crazy!" he hissed.

She glared at him. "No, but it’s the only idea we have at the moment."

"Then let me go instead," he offered. "I have more battle experience than you do."

"Hey," she defended. "I’ve gone up against gods which is more than I can say for you." Then she turned away from him and stalked forward. He grabbed her arm in a tight grip. "I don’t like this," he told her flatly. "We should be more careful. Who knows what could be in that place."

She wrestled her arm free of his grasp.

"You don’t have to like it. I didn’t ask you to come with me you know," she replied. He could be so stubborn and infuriating sometimes.

She had struck that chord again, but he wasn’t going to let the anger control him again. There was far too much to lose.

"Fine, we’ll do it your way," he told her, defeat etched in his voice.

"Then lets go," she spoke curtly and ran directly to the line of guards in front.

He did not react as quickly as he could and was metres behind her as she finally made it. She however did not engage the demons in front. Instead, she jumped over them and executed a perfect flip over the demons heading directly into the castle. She had no doubt that Sano could handle whatever was outside. After running inside she calmed herself from that adrenaline rush and took stock of her options.

The walls around her were dimly lit by phosphorescent lichen growing on the wall. It was strange to see that eerie glow but she soon became accustomed to it. She steadily made her way closer to the source, climbing staircases and hiding behind walls when she felt the presence of something coming closer towards her. She had felt something passing close to her many times but luckily she had been able to evade it. She crept around as she concentrated on finding the source of those bursts of power. Soon she found herself at the base of a staircase. The pulses of energy were being emanated from up there and she did not sense anything.

She looked around to make sure nothing was watching her, then she began to slowly ascend the stairwell. Her footsteps were soundless as she climbed, wary that any noise might give off her position. Hopefully she would out of there in a few minutes and would meet up with Sano. She knew that they would probably think he was the main focus of the attack and would rally on him. Hopefully, when she stole the artefact, the ensuing chaos would give them enough time to escape.

One by one she climbed the stairs until she came to what she supposed was the anteroom to the main one. She could feel the presence of the artefact close to her as the pulse grew in strength. She still could not see it though. She crept to the doorway that led to the main room and slowly she peeked around the corner. Seeing nothing, she entered and saw the artefact standing suspended in the middle of the room, spinning. It stood there in the centre, spinning, a green glow emanating from it with bursts to light every so often. The room glowed softly in its presence.

"So finally you’ve come," someone spoke from the darkness to her side and as she fell into a combat stance she recognized her captor from before.

"You!"

"Yes," replied the demon and smiled. "I’ve been waiting for you ever since you broke through the barrier."

"What…how do you know that, we tunnelled under."

"Do you take me for a fool!" he thundered. "Your mother did the same the first time. Did you think I was too stupid to fix that first mistake!”

Nodoka stood shocked.

"Why do you think it was so easy to get in here?" he asked. When she did not respond he merely grinned at her. "I will relish killing you but before I do that, let’s have a little entertainment shall we."

She heard the clanging of chains as they scraped against the bare rock. Wondering what that was, she still kept her guard up to the demon in front of her but some of her attention was split to cover the direction the noise was coming from. From the darkness a figure emerged bound in chains, she could make out no distinguishing features until the green glow of the artefact bathed him in light.

"Sano!" she exclaimed.

"Nice to see you too Nodoka," he remarked smartly. He had been captured too many times to warrant this being any different. It was, but he didn’t feel any different. He still felt like crap having lost a fight. It didn’t matter how badly they cheated. He had still lost.

"I give you a little job of handling the guards and you can’t even do that!" she taunted.

"Hey I was doing pretty well."

Nodoka opened her mouth but was stopped by a booming voice.

"Ho yes he was very good entertainment. He killed my most powerful warriors that were left after you mother’s attacks but even he has a limit." The demon grinned then shifted his attention to Sano and walked up to him, cuffing him on the top on the head lightly. Nodoka flinched but did not move as a line of blood streaked down from the crown of his head. It moved slowly winding its way down his forehead to the side of his nose, pooling above his top lip before dripping to the floor. He would have wiped it away but his hands were tied and being held by the only other major demon that was left alive in the plane.

"And you little boy. How does it feel to be brought low by little spiders that can do nothing but spin webs."

Sano growled and the demon laughed: a deep laugh that resembled a growl more than anything else.

"This is so deliciously amusing but it’s not very entertaining."

Then the demon reached into the darkness and pulled out a sword. It was a very large broadsword that glinted in the light from the tip to the handle. The handle itself was pitch black with dark rubies in the inset for the eyes of the dog that was depicted. A dog that was howling, a dog with menacing features. A demon dog.

"This sword you see here little girl. This sword," the demon repeated almost affectionately, if there was ever such an emotion in a demon, "I created solely for the purpose of killing humans. It’s very enjoyable because it removes part of you and replaces it with part of me. Then I can enjoy tormenting you for all eternity as I control your soul," again the demon bellowed and the humans cringed at the awful ruckus. “Believe me, human-demon hybrids are more fun to torment than any other kind of creature.”

“I wouldn’t be that confident,” warned Nodoka as she pulled out her sword.

“Oho…what have we here? A little girl with a blade. It’s a nice blade but it won’t help you any… So," it said as it leered at them, "who’s first?"

"Take you best shot!" challenged Sano.

When the demon turned to gauge Nodoka’s reaction, Sano quickly mouthed to her a small plan. She was able to hide her surprise, as she understood what he wanted her to do. Of course this did mean that she would have to get creative.

"Go ahead and kill him," she shrugged. "I don’t care anyway." Inwardly though she smiled. As soon as he made a move to attack Sano, she would have the opportunity to draw her sword and attack him. That’ll show him who was the boss. The revenge she would get for her earlier abduction would also be sweet, plus he had almost killed her mother.

The demon smiled sickly and turned towards Sano with his sword outstretched.

"I hope you like seeing blood boy, because I’m going to make you death slow and painful." It grinned. "Let’s see how you like having only one ear."

The demon raised its hand in the air then whirled around quickly to block Nodoka’s strike from behind. It laughed in her face. "Do you think I would be so foolish as to trust you with my back exposed," it bellowed. "Now little girl. Let’s see what you can do…" It enjoyed hearing Sano’s snarl behind it.

He was powerful and she was fast. He had been trained through thousands of battles; she had been trained by a woman whose life itself was a testament of many battles. The battle raged on evenly at first with speed holding off against boundless strength but the turning of the tide came with endurance and Nodoka had not the abyss of power that the demon could draw. She had during the battle, managed to land some glancing blows, mostly, with her feet as the demon concentrated on the sword.

Finally there was a mistake on his part and she was enticed to go for the goal. She struck for his body where a human would have a spleen. In fact, the demon’s mistake turned out to be a ploy used by an experienced master of the game. Nodoka had just enough time to bring up her guard to block the surprise blow. Unfortunately she could not deflect the power and was knocked slightly off balance. She was unable to regain that precious balance and as she heard the hissing of blade coming through the air towards her, she suddenly knew that she would not be able to parry the blow. It came quickly from the corner of her eye. Miraculously, her sword met it, but the demon angled it so that it would hit her sword, deflecting onto her body.

Nodoka knew she would feel the burning hot sensation of being sliced but staring at the intense seconds as the blade cut through the air effortlessly towards her, she was shocked as it passed through her body harmlessly.

The demon too was surprised then it grinned, as it understood what had happened.

"So that was how they planned to trick me,"

It laughed menacingly at the girl. "They knew I would go for the sword," it cackled. "So they possessed your father before you were conceived. Very clever of them I have to admit. I guess I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way."

Suddenly the claws from the dungeon reappeared on his hand. "Remember this little girl.” It taunted. “I can still taste your blood. It’s very tasty. But before I have my way with you, let’s make this a little more interesting." Then with the flick of its wrist the sword went flying.

Nodoka watched the sword’s graceful arc with a sickening feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She knew the intended target already and as he fell, the immensely long sword sticking from the demon that held him as it pierced them both, she could feel the wet tears form in her eyes. She could see Sano’s prone body. He was moaning on the floor, still alive, dying a slow painful death.

She shook herself to reality. She had to kill this monster now. She had too. She steeled herself. She would kill it quickly, and try to save him.

From training ingrained by her mother combined with the rage, hate and love she felt, her aura exploded, impressing the demon for a scant few micro-seconds before she charged.

The exchange began once again and this time, Nodoka threw herself into the fight letting her emotions and adrenaline run her mind. She could sense the attack before it was made and concentrating during the fight as her mother had told her she began to see age-old patterns in the defensive form being used. With the warrior’s spirit flowing through her body, she met one set of claws directly with her sword, slicing them from the hand, and ducking to avoid the other set. The demon howled then licked its hand.

"Round one to you little girl…"

For the first time during the whole exchange Nodoka smiled.

"You’re wrong, the game’s up…that’s my father’s sword."

“What…your father?” The demon asked, not impressed in the least. She could delay this all she wanted. She could try to trick him all she wanted. He knew in the end, he would get her.

“Yes,” she responded. “You might know him by another name. It’s a nice little name that you gave him. He told me once that your people named him because you could never tell what could happen when he was around. A cute little name called Chaos.”

The demon panicked for the first time as its eyes opened with understanding when it stared at its severed claw. Wasting no time, it charged her.

"Chaos Consume!" she shouted before he could reach her and suddenly the hand that was cut erupted in flames which spread all over the creature’s body. The noxious odour rising from the demon’s body smelt faintly of sulphur. As the magic of her father’s attack drained away the energy of the demon converting it to flames, a large portal opened to the demon’s side.

"You have failed!" boomed a dark commanding voice. "Now receive your punishment.”

 The demon tried vainly to run away until a large red hand with pointed nails that was large enough to fill half the room, reached in and held it by the neck, pulling the demon into the portal. With a guttural cry and a flash of light the portal closed.

Nodoka wasted no time in rushing over to Sano who was still fighting for life as he lay on the floor.

Carefully she turned him over onto her lap and removed the sword from his abdomen in one swift movement, her eyesight blurred from her tears. With the release of the sword, his blood began to pour from the wound. Quickly her hands moved to the wound trying to put enough pressure to hold back the flow of blood. Her attempts unsuccessful, she ripped her shirt off and pressed it into his abdomen with better results. Her tears mixed with the blood on her hands and she faintly felt Sano’s hand grasp hers.

"Nodoka…" he whispered strenuously.

"Shh…" she told him through her tears. "Don’t talk…we get you back to mom and she’ll be able to help," she replied, trying to give him hope. He smiled at her. Then somehow he was able to force her hands away from his abdomen and he held them in is.

"You are beautiful…" he whispered punctuating every word as if he needed to say each and every syllable.

She blushed. "You can tell me that the next time we go out," she responded and waited for an answer. The answer never came however as she felt his breath give way as she held him tenderly against her body. She kissed him on the lips softly without  even thinking and tightened her grip on him as she wept. Then, as she held him, she felt him slip through her hands, and through her blurred eyes she saw him disappear from sight.

"No..!" she cried as she tried vainly to holds onto his body as it slowly faded away, then the whole world seemed to turn around on itself. She was still weeping bitterly at her loss and the injustice of having his body stolen from her when she felt a soft hand touch her face. She looked up to find the kind eyes of T’hania. "Oh auntie!" she cried and buried herself in the woman’s robes.

T’hania comforted her the best she could but Nodoka’s grief was not to be quenched quickly. Unlike her mother, Nodoka knew her chances of seeing Sano again were near impossible. For a few moments she had him within her clutches. She had known it from the first time they had faced off. She had seen it in his eyes. At first she didn’t want to believe it and wanted to stay away from him but being with him, even for that small amount of time sparring and dancing, had endeared him to her heart in ways she still could not comprehend fully. She knew he had felt the same way, or at least she hoped. Now she would never know. She should have done something, said something earlier, but now he was gone. She would never see him again; she would never be able to tell him that maybe she… that he made her feel…  that maybe she had fallen in lo… She could not finish the thought she buried herself in T’hania’s robes once again.

 

 

After Nodoka regained her composure she looked at the small stone she had in her hand that would grant her enough energy to open a small gateway to her home.

"Are you sure you want to go home?" asked T’hania.

Nodoka nodded. "There’s nowhere else to go now. And…I…I need mom…" she replied as she shivered lightly without her shirt. She really could do with a good hug.

"I think you do," comforted T’hania. "But someone else needs your help. I know that you are not well versed in the intricacies of bubble planes but if someone is not given power by a god and dies within a bubble plane of existence then their body reverts to their home plane until woken up."

"Huh…what are you talking about?" asked Nodoka wearily. She just wanted to go home and have her mother comfort her.

"Take a look and see…"

T’hania waved her fingers and a glossy image floated down from the skies above. In it laid the figure of someone covered by flowers and leaves. The figure was totally covered by the blossoms until a zephyr gently nudged a few of the blossoms into the air uncovering one side of the face.

"It’s…it’s Sano!" she gasped.

"Yes," smiled T’hania. "And he’s in the last place he was previously in his home-world before he popped into yours. Too bad there’s no one to wake him up there…"

Before T’hania finished what she was trying to say, Nodoka had already disappeared into a doorway. T’hania shook her head with a chuckle. The young were so impetuous. Now onto her next task… She had to relay some news to one of her best friends.

 

 

 

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