Mask of Ka-Chiri 4: The Devastated Maiden
By TMS


Racku awoke to the sunlight streaming into his bedroom, he smiled and sat up. It had been a whole year since Odera had last appeared. Everyone assumed they wouldn't have to deal with her for a long time, that she would be nursing her wounds for long after this. Today was a beautiful new dawning day, and Racku intended enjoying it. He gently shook Peach. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
The household stirred to life, as if the light were their source of energy. Maids, guards, and cooks alike rose from sleep, peered out at the light, and then began their duties. The royal family had plans for the day to just take it easy, and these plans included the strange King of Staria. It was no surprise to the staff as they saw Racku, Peach and Ali walking off into the distance with the tall figure who glanced about nervously. What would come next, no one expected.
***
Odera rose and stretched. She blocked her eyes from the light and pulled the shades into place. "Ah... Much better..." she lit a candle. "Today will be a great day..." She smiled. "Ora ni sa wa ni sa coo nasa hami na..." she chanted as she fell to her knees before objects curiously planted at the points of a star. "Ou sa wa ni na ni ka wa si ma ti... Spirit of the dead, arise and resume your form!"
In the middle of the star, he appeared. He was tall with deep blue hair and matching eyes. His face was pale, like that of a Kasara-Chiri. He looked up from where he knelt dressed in the battle armor he had died in. He put a hand where the hole was in the armor. Where was it? Where was the arrow that had pierced his heart and killed him? Why did he once again stand before this wicked woman?
He seemed fourteen, and yet he should be much older than that. "Why have you brought me back?"
"You must do my bidding... A young man wields the sword forged for you... Retrieve the sword... Bring the young man to me... ALIVE..."
"Your wish is my command..." He stood and left in a flash of flame.
***
TMS sat down rigidly. He didn't let down his guard. Something wasn't right and he knew it. He let his hand rest on Hloran, the blade of honor and fire. That was when in a blazing inferno, the strange young man Odera had resurrected appeared. He grabbed TMS with an unforseen strength and drew Hloran from TMS's own scabbard. "I thank you for the return and keeping of my sword."
Racku looked up at the voice. That face... So familiar...
The boy let go of TMS. ‘No... It can't be...' He backed away. ‘Lord Racku...' He had assumed that years ago Odera would have killed off the brave young man with the fire red hair who looked at him as though straining to remember something.
‘No... He mustn't see my face...' Hurriedly he disappeared, forgetting all about TMS.
‘So this is Odera's new plan...' TMS looked up at the blazing sun from his position on the ground. He rubbed his chin, ‘We shall see about this...'
Racku looked more surprised and shocked than horrified. TMS had been left weaponless, and that could only mean one thing. A Kasara-Chiri. Only a Kasara-Chiri would be able to handle Hloran, for it was surely a Kasara-Chiri blade. He didn't know who the boy was, yet that face was so familiar.
***
"Where is he?" Odera yelled at the boy.
"I-I.... I'm sorry..." he muttered. "Lord Racku was there... I panicked..."
"You better start NOT panicking!"
"I'll try again..."
"Just remember... It was I who saved you from banishment to the dark realm by the Ancestorial Speakers for betrayal..."
"I can't betray Racku, don't ask me to do that, woman."
"I didn't ask you to, child..." Odera grabbed the boy by the shoulders. "But,
Eric, I will ask that you bring me that boy named Chimu..."
"Fine... As long as you tell me whatever secrets you have left hidden from me... You once told me that it was you who opposed Racku before I died... Now tell me... What else do you hide, wicked witch?"
"Well, well... Finally ready to take on your full name, Eric... Kasara-Chiri..."
"How dare you mock me... No Kasara-Chiri blood runs through my veins..."
"Oh, but it does... Racku is your half-brother... I am your mother... Aratelen Kasara-Chiri was your father... He shunned you though... Cast you aside... You see, he didn't want a third child in the family... Racku is Ara's son alone..."
"No... No... That can't be..." Eric burst into a furious rage and suddenly found himself in a form quite familiar to TMS and Racku. It was the prince form of a Kasara-Chiri.
He backed away in disbelief from Odera, looking at himself. His outfit sparkled and glittered with the fire magic of a Kasara-Chiri Prince of the embers.
"Eric... Darling... You must believe me..."
"Wretched woman! How can you keep secrets like that?!" His eyes were glowing red, strangely.
"It was for your own good..."
"Bah, woman! Bah!"
"You must calm down, Eric..."
"You can't command me!" Then suddenly Eric burst into flames.
Odera was delighted. "Well, well... Now who can't control who... You're an ember demon now... Don't say I didn't warn you... When a fire prince feeds off negative energy while under the influence of black magic, mine of course, they become an ember demon and lose their control to the wielder of black magic!"
Eric looked down at his hands. He was indeed an ember demon.
***
Racku looked into the skies. He was lost in thought at that moment.
"I'm getting something...." A childish voice said.
Racku looked down. It was TMS. Racku didn't think it unusual. Whenever TMS wanted to use his powers of vision, he once again became the young boy.
"It's Odera... There's another person there... It's blurry... Uh!" Suddenly TMS collapsed.
"TMS?" Peach dashed over and knelt by the boy. She placed her hands on the boy and began to glow pink.
TMS slowly awoke. "I was booted from the castle... It seems impossible... But it is possible if another fire prince is there..."
"TMS, I think you'd better stay in that form..." Racku stood.
"Call me Zyphon..." TMS smiled.
Racku looked at TMS as if to say ‘Why?'
"Because it's what everyone else calls me... It's what everyone else called me..."
Peach looked at him strangely, "No it isn't... They've always called you TMS..."
"Unless your several thousand years old you wouldn't know..."
"What on Plit are you talking about?!"
"Fine, fine... I'll tell you... I am Zyphon Corosan Kasara-Chiri... I was born in 1800 BC and lived my life in space for 10 years... until I landed on this planet... At age 14 I was married... At age 15 I was widowed... At age 16 I was a war hero... At age 17 I was king of Staria... At age 20 I died... But I promised a resurrection... And here I am..."
"Are you telling us that TMS is dead?!"
"Not dead... Merely less of the whole... He's just a child who's lived 13 years of his life out... As he should be... He's the Osa Kala Ni Chi... He knew it was destiny that when he grew up he would be me... I am thousands of years old...
Therefore I am more of the whole because I have the most memories... He helps me make my decisions... This child form is his... But he's letting me use it right
now..."
"You're saying you're two people?"
"Yes... To put it mildly... But there is..." Zyphon was interrupted by a huge fireball. It crashed down on him, imprisoning him in a red tainted crystal. He turned around angrily to see a strange ember demon. "Rr... I hate being interrupted!" Though there was no wind within the prism, Zyphon's hair flew violent out and it seemed strange that, within the red tinted prism, his hair seeming orange changed to red. In actuality, all color drained from his hair leaving it a beautiful and refined white. His face became a pale shade of almost white. The crystal shattered, something TMS would not have been able to do.
"As I was saying... We have a combined prince form... But we can be taken apart as well..." Zyphon shot a glance  at the Ember Demon. "Begone! You are not for the here and now! I have seen your freedom, and it will pass if you leave!"
The ember demon seemed racked with decisions. It looked at Racku and something oddly human passed through it's face. It disappeared.
Racku suddenly had it. He knew that face, the one of the boy. ‘I owe that boy my life... He took an arrow for me as I marched back from my final battle before my father died...'
Zyphon, his hair still white, extended his hands and ribbons of white formed a vortex. "We must go... Quickly..."
Hesitating, Racku first looked at the vortex, then ran through it. Peach followed as did Ali.
"Are you coming?" Racku's voice sounded strange through the other side of the vortex.
"Yes... But allow me..." He disappeared in a flash, reappearing as the vortex disappeared, at the other end. "To take care of the vortex..."
"White magic and the name of one called Zyphon... Impossible..." Racku shook his head.
"What did I miss?" Zyphon asked.
"You're the son of Rarato?!"
"I am the son of the Mother Guardian... The one Koopas call ‘MOM' but know not to what extent she is thus... I am the purity untouched by the golden god of war whom both races call Father.... The Starians ‘Father Koopa' and the Koopa ‘DAD'... At your service sir, for you are favored by my mother."

' This is so confusing...' Racku focused his deep brown eyes on to the skies. They were a clouded gray with patches of yellow. "Where are we?"

"You must see far with eyes unclouded by hatred and vengeance..." Zyphon carefully placed his hands over Racku's eyes and gently whispered the incantation. "With the powers of Mother Guardian, I grant you the second sight, the painful vision of truth..."

As his eyes were set upon the world once again, Racku looked shocked. "It's Staria... How could this have happened?" The two visions fought each other, the ruins of the First House of Staria were combated by the beautiful vision of the original palace that had once stood there. He turned to look at Zyphon and rubbed at his eyes as his vision was blurred. He saw three people in one spot. He saw TMS, a pale shadow of the cheerful young boy, a young man a few years younger than himself, a grave look painted across his face, his blonde hair tied back into a tight warrior ponytail, his arms crossed, obviously the true Zyphon, and then the white haired being who stood calmly, cooly.

"It's never a pleasant thing or a true gift to have the second sight..." Zyphon turned. "I myself am plagued by it and haunted by the waking images of all evil and good, a constant unseen battle... You have no idea what horrors I have seen within the souls of men and women..."

"What of Odera?"

"Hm?" Zyphon turned back.

"What have you seen within Odera?"

" I have seen a greatness yet to be unveiled... Be ready for anything, Racku..."

"Mm." Racku nodded.

"Racku."

"Yes?"

"You must be careful when wielding the sword of Destiny... I will not be there to help you..."

Racku looked at him questioning. "You won't be there?"

"You'll understand later..."

Racku looked perplexed, but only troubled himself with it a moment. "We better get going..."

Zyphon, both the young man and the astonishing white figure, nodded, but at the words of Racku, TMS wept. Racku blinked, unsure of what he had said wrong.

"What is he crying for?"

"He weeps for the souls to be lost on the journey and he weeps for the trials placed before you... He alone knows the truth about what is to come..." The strange figure motioned to the boy and TMS dried his tears as the figures fused together and Racku's sight restored to normal.

In a ghostly whisper, just before the fusion, TMS spoke. "Hoy sa mi na cou na Racku... So ni ka ni chi ma hoy rasha..."

'Do not give up hope, Racku... As long as there is love, there is hope.' Racku translated within his mind the ancient starian tongue. It was a beautiful tongue twisting language and even now it was slipping through the grasp of scholars to keep alive.

"If you believe that, you are as good as dead... Love will work in no way against me." her face was a strange wash of white within a field of black. Her raven colored hair rested, shining, on her shoulders, her black dress rustled slightly as she walked. In her hand was a wand made of jet and sapphire. "I come to you wielding the wand of Sapphire Tears for the sake of my brother, who I know that one of you killed and I have brought back to aid me..."

Erusu stepped forward, his face that had once been full of life was now pale as death, his black hair fell carelessly, all thoughts of holding it back discarded. His once shining bright green eyes were empty and black as caverns, and yet from within a depthless evil looked out. He pointed at the strange white figure that was many things and then did a frightening thing. He laughed, not the light and cheerful laughter he had when he was living but a low menacing laugh not dissimilar to a dog's growl. He was a soulless creature with only evil and vengeance powering him.

"No, he is not the same as he once was Racku... He does not have the awed respect of a child toward you now... Foolish sciences and arts... Magic and the Dark Arts are what was needed... Still... I could make you a deal..." She stepped forward and placed her delicate white hand under Racku's chin and looked into his eyes, the dark blue of hers chilling his face. "Be mine for eternity and I will spare you... Let the others die and the past be forgotten and you and I can rule the very dark essence of the world... You won't be a prince of light anymore, but a king of darkness... I will be at your side, your faithful queen..."

"I'm spoken for." Racku grabbed her wrist, "Have you no respect for others?"

"Well then..." she smiled, her teeth growing strangely sharper. In a sudden motion their positions were reversed. She held her grip tight on Racku. "Do you know that my brother was atleast 500 years old when he died? We have ways of keeping ourselves alive that you people can't appreciate... Some refuse the life of the dark... I embrace it... You, Racku, shall make a very tasty dinner and add another 100 years to my beauty!"

"No, Azusa..." the empty voice told her. Erusu moved forward and grabbed hold of the strange white form. He threw Zyphon at her. "This is your  meal... Leave Racku alone..."

"I thought I'd dealt with you and your fine sensibilities!" Azusa bared her fangs at her own brother, though he could not weild a drop of blood from his frozen and dead skin.

"Racku is Racku... You cannot touch him."

"Oh really?" Her fingernails hit flesh and left a shallow scrape across Racku's neck. "Too bad, so sad..." she bared her fangs once more and made a move to bite Racku when Erusu tugged her away.

"Do not feast on the forbidden flesh..." Erusu warned.

"I will teach you to forbid me of anything, boy!" Azusa hissed, throwing off both her velvet black cape and accessories.

"And what of your lunch, foolish sister?" Erusu grinned.

"Racku! Let's run!" Peach screamed. Racku did not respond, he merely stood where Azusa had left him, not moving aside for taking in shallow breaths. Peach was now angry. She ran full speed and at the last possible moment, cartwheeled, knocking Azusa over in a surprised heap. The dagger was a flash hardly seen as Peach pinned Azusa to the ground. "Take your wretched sister, Erusu. Take her with you to the grave!"

"Thank you Madame, but you know I'll have to avenge her downfall none the less eventually, so I suggest you not do it..." He turned to Racku who had regained the ability to move. "Lord Racku, I remain in your favor I hope... Azusa would not rest without vengeance and this led me back to you... Please... I ask one favor..."

Racku nodded in response. Peach nodded as well.

"Kill me. This earthly plain has no need for science and I'm but a fool amongst the magic users..."

Racku drew his right hand into the air and summoned a razor sharp circular blade of light. Erusu drew back his hair, his face gained color, his eyes became the sparkling green again and he was once again a handsome young man who even through his former wickedness was righteous and good inside and it shined through in his morale. Racku let go of the disc and it slid cleanly, cutting through the flesh starting at Erusu's jugular vein. He was dead within an instance, yet still the blood flowed, it's slow drips bringing forth visions. Racku looked down into the puddle of red. He knew now who would die on the path to Odera's defeat, and he knew that there was the possibility that to end it, he would be a sacrafice himself as well.

"Racku... Let's go before she gets up..." Peach tugged on him.

"No... If there is only one right thing I do in my life, it is this..."

It took several minutes as Racku spoke in a strange winding tongue unfamiliar to Plit. Azusa lay sprawled on her back, pinned by a holy dagger to the ground. Tears rolled down her face as she heard the words of her own people recited so perfectly by the man she had attempted to kill.

"Erusu ha to so narsi hebito elaso car na See po na ti Corubis naka ranis..."

"Erusu son of the stars, may the holy god of sun guide on your way into Corubis's dark domain..." Azusa translated, her voice soft and breaking with tears. She let them leave, keeping her position on the ground, the blood that wasn't hers running down into her hair. "ODERA! YOU TRICKED ME!" her scream echoed .

***

Odera looked up as the scream echoed in her mind. "Rrr... No... They defeated the Vampire Princess... Now she's furious... At me..."

'I hate you, Odera of the Dark. In the end I will see him kill you and I will savor each moment...' Eric's thoughts hissed at her. His actions were still hers to control for the most part, but as her power weakened, so did her hold on him.

"Odera Cara Lonta Masus Kasara-Chiri, Evil witch of dreams and darkling power... I have come for your eternal soul in the long hours of the night as fore told so long ago by a distant prophet..." The doors allowed the entrance of the heroes, but it was not Racku who spoke. It was Zyphon.

"Master Zyphon, Lord of Kasara-Chiri and White God of Magic..." Odera smiled faintly.

"ODERA!" the screech echoed, a howl as bitter as wind on a bone-chilling winter night. In all the rage of her brother's death, Azusa ran at the dark woman. "You led me a stray!"

"I have no need for you now!" Odera waved her hand and Azusa was tossed like a rag doll, her bones breaking and the red tainted life force of her eternal soul seeped out, her pale face looked surprised, her startling blue eyes took on a warm quality and her dress transformed into a white and gold gown. "I was  once... The Princess  of Asomia... You took that from me..." she weeped bitterly. "I was once the most beautiful creature in this solar system... You made me forget... You made me into what I was, but now I die free. Die without honor, Wretched Queen of Darkness." She landed with a dull thud, her neck snapping and her blood seeping through internal injuries and pouring out her unbroken skin.

"Pitiful creature." Odera turned to face Zyphon and Racku.
"I tire of your ways wicked woman for you hold my honored name yet taint it with such evil that it hollows even the bravest of souls... There is only one way for such a wretched creature to die..." Zyphon closed his eyes, allowing a single tear to fall.

Odera's eyes widened. She knew what was about to happen. "NO!"

"Roshu, cou wa hi ti! Hep ta ni ca!" Zyphon was engulfed in a white light. It was a self-sacrafice attack. 'Goddess of Death, take away your gift! Destroy Magic now!' his words seemed to echo in translated form. " Return to me, Magic! Light..." From Racku a beam of intense light came, and then it was gone. Racku felt empty. " Darkness.." Odera screamed as her dark magic was torn from her. It came forth in a dark cloud. " Fire... Eric's  form suddenly reappeared in the flames as they dispersed into a cloud. There were now two of them. One walked as if human, the other floated. One was TMS. " Ice...

' Goodbye, Sweetheart...' Yuku whispered as her icy form appeared then disapated..

" Water..." Nathan appeared covered in water at Zyphon's words, and then disappeared. "Earth..." Peach collapsed, relinquishing the powers she had gained from her marriage into the family. " It is done! Goddess of Death, embrace in love the God of Magic, allow my return from whence I came!"

She appeared in all her black glory, her raven hair was far blacker than Azusa's and her skin far paler. Her eyes were deep, black, soul less, yet she was thin, frail and not so old. " You have called  Roshu to return you to your mother, Zyphon... Be wary of the consequences, for I am she..." Her voice was a whisper that echoed through the halls.

"Return this battered white form to the heavens! It has suffered too much!"

" The boy is not ready, Zyphon!"

" Return him to his rightful family. "

" Yes, that shall work... Come with me into the depths of darkness. Embrace your death with glory and honor, Zyphon! she held her hand out.

Zyphon moved forward, " One last magic trick... He waved a single hand, then embraced Roshu as one would an old flame. " Atlast, the eternal opposites are together..."

Racku looked at the ground before him and slowly in a sparkle of white magic, the sword previously spoken of appeared. The Sword of Destiny was a sleek 7 foot blade, it's handle made of white gold, it's steel blade plated in yellow gold. As Racku picked it up from the ground, he too was engulfed in magic. White ribbons engulfed him and slowly dispersed to reveal he now wore a gold and white battle outfit with a wing decal on the back.

"You did not save him Zyphon... I have one last trick!" Odera covered herself in dark magic and slowly she too transformed. Two black sai appeared in her hands. She was draped in a black velvet battle outfit and sported upon her head were two horns.

Racku looked up. "I will not be afraid and I will not bow down. I will not give in and I will not accept defeat... You will die today!" Racku rushed into battle with Odera.

"No!" Eric raced in as he saw Odera's intention of leaving Racku helpless by stripping him of his weapon. Hloran glowed with a fiery rage as Eric brought one of the sai crashing to the floor.

In rage, Odera held Racku off with one hand and grabbed Eric around the neck with the other. She pulled him up off the ground and choked off the air until his lifeless body hung limp in her deadly grip. She threw  the corpse away and continued her attempts to hold off Racku, but the end was the same. The sword of Destiny came down, splitting her in half.

Tears welled in Racku's eyes, for as he destroyed her, he saw her. She was beautiful, radiant, a true angel trapped within the body of a demon. He gently cupped his hands as the white light sat in his palms. It whispered in his ear of how it became a demon. when it was finished, Racku released it in it's new form, a form new to Plit. A dove.

He walked away, dropping the sword behind him. "The Savior of Plit is no longer me... It has been passed to someone with a stronger will and a stronger stomache for the violence of it all. The one with wings who traveled with TMS long ago... He is now the holder of the fate of the world... A man named Smash Sumashi... May he do better than I, for in my blindness I saved the world from it's self by destroying all the good within it..."

"Racku, you're speaking nonsense!" Peach exclaimed.

"Her hatred and rage poisoned her, and in the end it killed her..."

"It's not your fault, Racku... Nothing was..." Her sleek golden form gently glided to him and ran her hand through his red hair. "I am Rarato, Goddess of Peace, Mother of Kasara-Chiri... I came to explain to you what you have heard..." She gently slid over and embraced Peach. Her gently touche rested on Peach's stomache, "Will you take good care of the child? Zyphon has returned him to you as a gift."'

"I will..." Peach wiped away the tears from her face.

"Racku..." Rarato gently kissed him on the forehead. "I love you as much as I love my own son... I want you to know that what you did today was the right thing... Odera wanted to be set free from her hate and rage brought on by the death of all her loved ones... You granted her wish."

"Will you stay?" Racku wiped away his tears as Peach had done before him.

"No... I must go..." the golden goddess responded, slowly fading away. "I love you..."

"She really was just a devestated maiden lost within the battlefields of Plit..." Racku knelt beside the split body of Odera. "May the gods have mercy on her soul."








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