Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ The arrival of the Black Death ( Chapter 24 )
Chapter 24 - The arrival of the Black Death
The small boat was being rocked back and forth by the large waves. It was clear that it would perish soon in this heavy storm. The three Zora's set out to guard this part of the ocean enjoyed themselves. They were ordered to kill anyone who would try to enter Labrynna from the ocean, but now it appeared the storm would take care of this idiot. With a little luck, it would sink somewhere near them so they could see whoever was on it drown. Suddenly the boat changed course and shot forward, heading to the Zora as it wend down. Two of the three Zora dove under in time but the third one was hit bad and water slowly colored darkblue with Zora blood. As the two other Zora looked for a way to bring their injured comrade to safety, the door of the small cabin on the boat burst open, revealing a black shadow with a large sword that slashed the two Zora's. He grabbed the injured Zora by the throat.
"I… I know you…" the Zora stammered as life seeped away from him.
The shadow let him go and sank to the bottom to start his path of death towards Labrynna.
Goddess, being guardian at the bottom of the ocean was boring. The Zora picked up some stones and started throwing them at passing fishes… again… The other Zora guard lent on his spear and watched his companion annoy the sealife. There wasn't anything else to do. At least those guys at the shore could terrorise the locals, no, not terrorise, they were soldiers, soldiers didn't terrorise. Well, they don't call it like that anymore, the guard thought with a smile.
"Goddess, this is boring, I hope something will happen soon."
Needless to say, that was the last thing he ever said.
Saralah had just picked up her little brother from school where they had taught him the war was good. They lived in peace with the landdwellers for years, and now they say war is good? It wasn't good, it wasn't right, everything was fine until that dark Zora came and told the king how the people of Labrynna took advantage of the Zora and that the Zora should take back what was theirs in the first place. It was proven that the waters of Labrynna were property of the Zora but now they had been driven back to the ocean. The dark Zora could explain it all well, so it made sense what he said, but Saralah knew it didn't make sense, he wasn't right. They had no right to attack and kill all those people. Her thoughts were interrupted by a large vibration in the water. The horn? But it was only sounded when a large threat, mostly a whale or some sharks, came too close to the city. And it wasn't the season for neither, so, what threat could come from the ocean?
The squadron of Zora's looked at the black figure that had just killed the Zora that had sounded the horn. There were three things that prevented them from attacking. The five Zora corpses behind him, the expression on his face that showed pure hate and the fact he was breathing under water. The man slowly reached behind his back and drew his longshot. The hook drove itself deep in the skull of the Zora captain. This woke the other up and they charged. The man just smiled and held up his sword.
"Finally some resistance."
"Did the squadron report back?"
The Zora tried to get away from the gaze of his commander.
"No sir, they've… they've disappeared."
"What do you mean? They were just send there to see why the horn was blown and then come back, so why aren't they back yet?"
"I don't know sir. Mekai is looking with a telescope sir."
"Well, why isn't Mekai not here then to say what he's seen?"
"Death sir."
Mekai came swimming down to his commander as fast as possible.
"Death, and he's coming here…"
"Send in two more squadron!"
They were all gathering at the outside of the city, not sure why they were there. By now rumours were spreading but the truth wasn't known yet.
"Heard a squadron of men are attacking us."
"Under water?"
"Yeah, they breathe under water, killed five of our squadrons."
"We only have five squadrons there…"
"Yeah, and they killed them all!"
"…and three of them are here…"
"Oh."
The crowd grew silent as the Zora general raised to give his orders.
"It appears that a man, who's breathing under water, is attacking from the ocean…"
"One man?" a soldier shouted, "is that why you called all of us?"
"…and has already killed at least a hundred Zora's."
"Wha? A hundred? One man? Who is…"
"We don't know who he is, or what he wants, but he's on his way here, and he must be stopped. He may not enter our city. Understood?"
"Is… Is that him?" a voice suddenly asked.
The entire Zora force turned their heads as if they were one man in the direction of the way the soldier had pointed. A man in black was taking his bow and readying an arrow.
"Doesn't he know he's under water and he can't fire an arrow?" one of the soldiers asked his friend next to him.
"The water slows it down," came the answer, "but if you can generate enough force, you can fire it."
The tip of the arrow started to glow with a blue fire when he let it go. The arrow shot forward in a straight line but slowed down several meters before it reached the vast army of Zora's.
"Oh well, worth a shot," the man shrugged and drew his two handed sword.
He jumped forward at the same time the Zora's attacked. He simply slashed with his sword, just as the first wave of Zora's came before him and took out five of them at once. His second sweep took out another four. The next wave of Zora's saw he had the advantage and that crowding him would only get them killed by the large sword, but they could not return as the ones behind them pressed them forward. Few tried to swim up but the man jumped up a hacked them in half. Through the darkblue blood the Zora warriors could see him reaching for the arrow that still floated around with the glowing tip.
"We are the entire Zora army!" the general shouted, "we can take on one man!"
Just on that time, the black assassin grabbed the arrow and threw it down. It exploded in a blue light and froze over twenty Zora's in a huge iceblock as it hit their ranks. He maneuvered so that he landed on the ice and held his sword high. It started to glow red as the Zora soldiers swam up to swarm him again. Just as they charged the landdweller glowed blue and thrust his sword in the ice, releasing the energy charged in the sword. The iceblock exploded, sending shards of ice all around, killing over thirty Zora's and wounding about a hundred. The attacker was surprisingly unharmed. While the Zora's tried to regroup, he just slashed and hacked around with his sword, killing several Zora's with each swipe.
"We can do it!" the general shouted as a dozen Zora's started to flee, "we still can wi-"
The man in black withdrew his longshot and started to shoot the Zora's who started to flee in the open ocean. With each shot there was one Zora less but that didn't seem to satisfy him as he drew another longshot. Suddenly the Zora's realised he only shot the ones who fled away from the city, so they decided to hide there, thinking he wouldn't follow him as there were more troops in the city. Well, more troops then there were now. One of the last to flee in the city (one of the last still alive on the battlefield as he could see now) saw how the attacker stuck an arrow in his longshot and it glowed with a yellow light.
A huge explosion send another shockwave through the city. Saralah now completely didn't know what was going on. Practically the entire army had gathered outside the city, about fifteen hundred soldiers, and now some of them were back in the city, seemingly panicking. Something was happening. She just hoped that she could protect her little brother.
"Tell me young man, what's going on?"
The soldier stopped and turned around. He stared blankly at the old Zora couple who had addressed him.
"You should run," he shrieked, "he's coming! You should go and hide!"
"Who's coming, dear?" the woman asked.
"The Black Death…"
His eyes went wide as the heads of the couple floated by. Before him stood the Black Death with his sword ready.
"But they were just…"
The Black Death didn't flinch as he hacked the Zora in half.
"What the hell is going on?"
The large figure stood on top of the stairs of the Zora palace.
"There's an intruder, your highness," one of the soldiers came swimming.
"Well, deal with him!" the king shouted, "is that so hard?"
"It is, your highness," the soldier apologised, "from what I can gather, he has fought about fifteen hundred of our soldiers outside the city and only a couple hundred has made it back into the city."
"What?"
"And he has been killing Zora's ever since he entered the city."
"He hunts down the soldiers and kills them?"
"No, your highness, he kills every Zora in sight. Even civilians."
"What? This goes too far. Ask Lord Jabu Jabu for help. Let's see him fight a giant fish."
The king had just given the order as a black figure smashed through a shell wall. He aimed his longshot with a yellow glowing tip in. The messenger barely made it out alive.
Lord Jabu Jabu must know what to do, thought Saralah as he carried her brother to the fish deity. Four soldiers stood guard, looking at explosions in the city with fear in their eyes. A large crack behind them made them turn however. The messenger was thrown against a wall as the large deity smashed through the gate and swam towards the city to destroy this menace. Saralah felt pain in her heart as she saw the giant fish swim away and if a Zora could cry, she would have done it now.
Meanwhile, the Black Death was easily dismissing of any resistance in the city, of any Zora at all actually. A squadron of yet unharmed soldiers tried to attack him, but he jumped out of the way, killing two of them in the process. A subtle vibration in the water made him look up and he saw Lord Jabu Jabu coming closer. He took one of his arrows and charged the tip. He threw it down to the squadron, freezing everyone who wasn't fast enough to dodge. Once again, he landed on the iceblock and charged his sword.
"Everybody get out!" one of the survivors of the previous battle shouted as he recognised the maneuver, but is was too late.
The man glowed in a blue light and thrust his sword deep in the ice. Shards flew around once more, piercing any building in the vicinity, killing over forty Zora's, among which twenty people who thought they would be safe in their home. Lord Jabu Jabu was also hurt badly by the ice shards but this only infuriated him more. He dove down, opened his mouth and swallowed the murderer. The creatures dwelling inside would finish him off.
"Yes, he did it," one of the survivors shouted, while trying to close the wound on his arm, "the king should see this!"
"The king is dead," another one said, pulling a shard out of his gut, along with his intestines, "the Black Death killed him a few moments ago, that's why we attacked again."
"Oh well," the first one said after some thought, "the most imported thing is that the murderer is gone no…"
Lord Jabu Jabu crashed down one a previous undamaged block, killing about a hundred people. A sword tip could be seen sticking out between its eyes. It glowed up red and the head of the fish exploded in a red and blue light. As the water settled the Black Death stood there with his two longshots, each armed with a yellow shining arrow.
Saralah sat down at the stairs of the destroyed palace with her brother. Everywhere in the city were bodies scattered and floating around. What ever was left of the army, they had fled ashore, in search of reinforcements. She looked up as she heard a noise and then she saw him, a man in a black tunic, with a large two handed sword in his left hand, his blond hair swaying before his blue eyes that showed pure hate. Not hate towards the Zora's but towards anything. As he came closer, she blinked.
"I know you," she said.
"No you don't," he answered as he raised his sword, "not anymore."
"Why do we have to die?" she pleaded, "we don't deserve to die!"
"No, you don't, but then again, ain't life a bitch?"
With that he let his sword come down, killing the last two Zora left in the city. He sighed and started to walk towards his original goal, Labrynna. Maybe, he thought, it would have been better if he taken another route, then he would have gotten there faster.
"Oh well, what's done is done."