Shadows and Grudges

Ears ringing, Soriko tumbled amidst shattered stone bricks and dirt.

Whatever the impact had been, it had completely decimated their miniature refuge in the sky, sending them tumbling hundreds of feet towards the ground. Her stomach dropped as the debris cleared, and the city sprawled out fully beneath them.

But in a moment, Hikara was there.

The instant he grabbed her arm the wind mostly stopped, although it didn’t seem he had actually stopped their fall. Just created a cushion of air around them? Whatever it was, she could hear him clearly when he spoke.

“Curious, I didn’t detect that until it was too late. It must be a… curse like yours,”

Well that was scary.

“What if we get hit again?”

She tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

“Oh, I’ll still detect it fast enough this time,” he narrowed his eyes, “I might not be able to stop it with conventional means, but we'll probably be fine either way,”

His comforting skills could use improvement, but she did her best to relax as the city rose beneath them.

Although… they weren’t showing any signs of slowing down.

“Are… we going anywhere in particular?”

He was staring down with a concentrated expression on his face.

“The source of the attack,”

Oh. Of course. Silly her.

Still falling at full speed, Hikara reached downwards, hand outstretched towards the warehouse beneath them. A moment later, its roof burst open, metal sheets tearing to leave a hole just big enough for the two to fall through.

Soriko winced, squeezing her eyes shut, as they shot through the gap, flying straight into the ground. And… she somehow found herself standing on the concrete, completely unharmed. Once again, she tried to remind herself not to be surprised.

“Ha…” a voice echoed in the wide space, “exactly like I foretold,”

Soriko opened her eyes to find the two of them completely surrounded. They were standing in a column of light, hooded figures all around them. And although the rest of the warehouse was shrouded in darkness, she could make out their sinister grins.

She did her best to avoid looking at them directly as the voice came again.

“The Great and Holy Hikara, Patron Saint of Combat, here to see us, who could believe it?”

A trace of hysteria laced the words.

“How clever must I be to have set this all up,”

A snap echoed through the wide open space, and countless candles burst into flame, illuminating everything in a reddish glow. The speaker was revealed to be a thin man, wearing the same cloak as the others but with the hood down, grinning with eyes wide.

“And now, you will die. Any last words?”

His followers’ eyes were hidden beneath their hoods, but their mouths matched his grin.

“What was the attack you used to destroy our platform?” Hikara said without hesitation, “Can you show me again?”

The man smiled knowingly.

“Of course that's what you ask. Okuto, please,”

Another hooded man stepped up to his side. This one was bulky, and his arms and hands were consumed by black streaks. A similar curse to hers, most likely.

He brought a hand up to point at Hikara, and the candles around the room flickered. A moment later a shockwave rocketed across the room, a lance of distorted air.

Hikara raised a hand, and the projectile slowed to a creep, an inch away from his palm.

“Very interesting,” he noted, “I think I get the idea,”

He made a fist, and the lance of air vanished in a burst of wind, sending candle flames flickering and knocking many of the mysterious figures' hoods off. With their eyes now visible, their fear was obvious. It would take someone extraordinary to remain confident in the face of Hikara’s icy poise and effortless power.

Apparently, however, the man at their head was such a person.

“Worry not,” he said, “I foresaw all of this,”

Hikara tilted his head, taking note of the confidence.

“So who are you?”

The man got an eerie look in his eyes.

“I… I…” he burst into laughter, “I am Mirai Saki the forty-fifth, High Judge of the Cult of Vengeance! You killed my ancestor, Mirai Saki the first, lord of time and rightful ruler of the world! And I am the one who will avenge him,”

Hikara paused, looking at Soriko with unsure eyes.

“Did I do that?”

“Maybe…?” she said hesitantly, “I haven’t heard of him, but it’s probably based on something. Either way you can ignore him. Most people are kind of crazy, especially anyone that calls themselves a cult. They’ll make up whatever motives they want, unless they can threaten you you should just ignore them,”

Mirai scoffed, indignant.

“Really?” Hikara said, “What kind of world is this?”

Had it not always been that way? She supposed people did have way too much free time nowadays.

Before she could respond, Mirai addressed her.

“‘Unless they can threaten you’, is that right?”

Even with Hikara by her side, perhaps insulting the insane cult leader to his face was a bad idea.

“Threaten you?” he burst into hysterical laughter once again, “Have you noticed anything about the ground you’re standing on?”

Soriko looked down at the ground, but she didn’t see anything. Until she moved a foot, and found her exact footprint traced in chalk. She stepped back, along with Hikara, and found that all four of their footprints were traced.

“I’ve known where you would land days ago,” Mirai continued, “what you would say, what you would do, everything! You seemed quite fascinated by Okuto’s curse, Holy Saint, but what about mine?”

He met their eyes with confidence, and his cultists took a step forward.

“Well,” Hikara said matter-of-factly, “I already sort of figured that one out. I have no idea how I’d read or reproduce it, but I can clearly see it working, if I just interfere a bit everything you saw from here should collapse,”

“It’s all around–” Mirai’s eyes widened mid sentence, “Wh– You– You… how? That’s not…”

“Not what you predicted?” Hikara asked plainly.

Mirai floundered, eyes wide. His cultists were looking at him in disbelief. He set his jaw.

“Impressive, I’ll admit. Th– then you must know that you’re doomed! Kill them now!”

He was probably bluffing, trying to keep his followers under control, but there was no way to know. He must have had some plan.

The cultists raised their arms, although many of them failed to materialize anything. It seemed Hikara could suppress most simple magic with barely a thought. That still left a sizable volley of projectiles hurtling towards them, but as Soriko ducked down Hikara stood tall.

Mirai had been edging away, but as he saw the entire volley come to a halt in a ring around the Saint, he started fleeing in earnest. Hikara considered for a moment, then dashed after him.

And while most of the cultists looked after him, one moved his focus to Soriko. It was just like last time. And this time no sword came flying to save her. She panicked.

It was Okuto, the one from earlier. In an adrenaline fueled slow motion, she watched him raise his hand. Oh Saints. What could she do?

Her eyes? She… she should be able to stop this. She was supposed to possess legendary power.

But she had never wanted this. All she’d ever done was practice avoiding using her power. She had no idea what to do.

His finger came to a point, and Soriko squeezed her eyes shut. A breeze washed over her. And… she wasn’t dead?

She looked up to see Hikara back by her side, one hand locked around the lance of air pulsing inches from her face and the other holding Mirai by the collar.

Even as she breathed out in relief, she gritted her teeth and balled her fists. What was she doing here?

“Sorry,” Hikara said, still blank faced. He squeezed the lance into nothing, and examined his hand. It was bleeding, badly.

Soriko gasped, No, I’m sorry,”

He shrugged, unconcerned, and turned to the cultists. With their leader like this, they were hesitating.

“Leave,” Hikara’s voice was icy cold.

Hesitant steps spiralled into a stampede, and before long everyone was gone but Mirai.

“Wh– What are you going to do to me?” he demanded, “Will you not rest until our bloodline is gone?”

“Oh,” Hikara said, “About that, I just wanted to ask you what you know about me. I don’t remember anything at all, so I’d really appreciate it,”

Mirai fumbled over his words.

“H– What?”

He’d get used to it.