Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ In The Shadow Of War ❯ Sage Strikes Back Part Two ( Chapter 7 )

In The Shadow Of War

 

Chapter Seven: Sage Strikes Back Part Two

By: Demon Priestess Saturn

 

Sage ran down the all too familiar path. He was running to get to the red lake at the edge of the forest. As he ran down the path he had some problems with the shadow demons that had killed him so many times before. Accept this time was different. This time he knew if they killed him he would die for sure. That meant he had to get to Rowen before they could get to him. Sage glanced to the side, quickly noticing the shadow demons suddenly attacking him. Sage dodged a lot of their attacks and somehow managed not to get a scratch. Maybe they were getting weaker. Or maybe they just weren't as tough as they appeared. Sage brushed the thought out of his head. He couldn't get distracted, not now; Rowen's life was on the line. Sage also knew that Elveria had probably figured out what his plan was but he didn't care. As Sage ran to the clearing he spotted Rowen. And just as before Rowen was bound to that red panel with ice all around him. Of course the shadows were around him. But that didn't concern Sage. He had gone from being calm and causal to I'm going to kick your ass in less than two seconds. Sage was mad. Sage glared as he approached the shadow demons once again. Sage jumped in the air and flipped over then not even giving them enough reaction time to strike him down. Rowen's whole body was covered in ice. The only thing keeping his sub conscious awake was the fact the ice had not covered the other half of his face.

 

Sage stared back at Rowen, he knew he had to get Rowen out of the ice but he couldn't figure out how. Sage then gasped he remembered how he broke the ice around him when he had fought with Cale at the caves. He had also done it back by the caves to save Kento. Sage stood next to Rowen and put his hands against the ice. Calling on his powers he concentrated his mind on breaking the ice. Sage knew he had to do this quickly he didn't have much time because the demons were catching up to him. Sage kept on concentrating. Deep down he pulled up what power he had left and aimed it on the ice. But what Sage didn't expect was Elveria coming up to him in an attempt to stop his rescue plan. Elveria glared and raised her right hand concentrating her powers she moved her hand slowly to the side. As she moved her hand Sage went flying away from Rowen as if he had been hit by her.

 

“So Halo you've finally come for real to battle.” Elveria's eyes began to glow their icy blue color. Sage pushed himself up trying to figure out what had just happened. He looked at Elveria and glared. He stared at her glowing ice blue eyes and felt cold himself. Sage wondered why he felt cold and got his answer when ice suddenly began to form around his legs. Sage clenched his teeth at the pain in his legs as the ice sent pain surges throughout his body. But he wasn't about to let Elveria get the best of him. Sage started to glow green again and the ice suddenly broke. Sage turned to Rowen with a look of understanding.

 

“Rowen… I promised myself I would save you and I think I know how.” Sage jumped quickly pushed himself off the ground. Turning back to Elveria he gave her a side smile. Elveria stared back at the blonde and wondered what he was up too. She had never seen him act like this before. Perhaps her had a plan? Or maybe he was an idiot. Sage continued to smirk before he jumped at her. Sage concentrated his power into his hand and hit Elveria in the face. Elveria glared and let her angry grow. She gave Sage a cold dead stare trying to look him into her stare.

 

“Come on Sage we can do this the easy way.” Elveria replied coldly.

“And what would that be?” Sage questioned as he stupidly looked into her chilling orbs. Their must have been some hypnotizing power in her eyes because Sage suddenly found himself lost in her eyes. Elveria smiled sadistically she approached Sage casually she had him right where she wanted him.

“You were a powerful opponent Halo. It's too bad I went after your friend instead of you.” Elveria said and pulled him close to her. She bent forward and slightly parted her lips. She closed her eyes and was about to push her lips against his.

“SAGE! SNAP OUT OF IT!” Rowen screamed out in fear for his friend. Sage quickly blinked himself back into reality and jumped back away for her grasp.

“Now look what you did I could've had fun with him.” Elveria looked at Rowen. In truth she wasn't really upset he had stopped her she just seemed to be slightly disappointed in her outward display of no emotion.

“I'm not going to let you harm Sage the way you harmed me.” Rowen yelled. Sage stared at Rowen then to Elveria this would be his only chance. Sage looked at Rowen catching the corner of his eye. Sage nodded slowly and started to walk over to the ronin of strata. Sage stopped right in front of his best friend and Elveria wondered what Sage was doing. With a slight glare Elveria started to approach Sage from behind. However Rowen spotted her.

“She's coming up behind you.” Rowen said staring at Sage in an attempt to understand what Sage was doing.

“I know… But she can't follow me. I'm going to give you the last of my power to break you free Rowen. We'll work together to beat her.” Sage said in a strange tone. “Close your eyes Rowen and relax I'll take it from here.” Rowen did as he was asked. Closing his eyes he relaxed his body and waited for more instruction from Sage. Sage smiled and turned to face Elveria. “The game is over Elveria.”

“Is it Sage? I believe I still have someone important to you.” Elveria smirked.

“You won't soon enough.” Sage said as he jumped backwards and disappeared into Rowen. Elveria seemed puzzled for a moment but then she remembered this same thing happening earlier. Sage had done that to get into Rowen's mind. So did that mean he just jumped into his friends sub conscious? But why? It was a foolish move. He would surely get trapped just like his friend was.

“Are you hiding from me Sage? Or are you just afraid to fight me.” Elveria said in her calm tone. Rowen opened his eyes and stared back at her. Their seemed to be something different about the boy's eyes; they seemed to have a new spark. Like a raging forest fire.

“He's not afraid of you. He's helping me.” Rowen squinted his eyes closed and the ice began to break.

“What? Impossible.” Elveria said in surprised tone and backed away.

“Don't you know anything Elveria? Nothing's impossible.” Rowen said as a dark blue aura surrounded him and the ice shattered. Rowen gritted his teeth and pulled at the binds, which couldn't hold him anymore. They snapped just as easily as the ice shattered. Rowen fell to his knees and looked up at Elveria.

“Well it looks like you've beaten me… How tragic.” Elveria said as if it was no big deal.

“You better believe we've beaten you!” Sage was suddenly standing next to Rowen. Elveria stared at Sage and smiled slightly.

“I see there is still time to correct my mistake.” Elveria said calmly.

“Correct your mistake?” Sage looked at her with a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“When I took over Rowen I expected him to be useful in my mission. But now I see I selected the wrong ronin. You have great power Sage. A beautiful potential and I plan to extort it.” Elveria smiled evilly.

“You aren't getting me without a fight.” Sage sneered.

“Yeah.” Rowen stood and glared at her.

“I'm afraid you have no choice Halo…” Elveria said calmly before she disappeared.

“Where did she go?” Rowen looked around trying to find her. Sage also glanced around the area ready to defend himself whenever she decided to attack. But the attack never came. Then the world around them started to disappear. Everything Elveria had created in Rowen's mind was suddenly gone. When her entire world disappeared and the area in Rowen's mind went blank Sage turned and looked at Rowen. A puzzled look touched Sage's face but quickly disappeared as he became concerned with Rowen's well being. Rowen stared back at Sage and was obviously not thinking of anything.

 

“Rowen are you okay?” Sage asked still worried.

“Yeah I think I'll be okay. My heads not hurting anymore so I assume I'm okay.” Rowen smiled.

“That's good.” Sage smiled. Rowen started walking over to Sage.

“Sage I'm sorry for what I did. I didn't want to hurt you. I…” Sage put a finger over Rowen's mouth.

“I know Rowen… I know. She really did a mind job on you that's why you couldn't resist her.”

“Well she had been making it look like nothing was happening. That's how she did it. The headaches I was having were the result of her trying to weaken my mind so she can control me.” Rowen said.

“Yeah I know that too. But you need to wake up. I'm not the only person you owe an apology to.” Sage smiled.

“You're right let's just hope this time when I wake up I'll be awake and not overly tired.” Rowen looked at the ground.

“She's gone Rowen. You'll be fine.” Sage said calmly. “I'll see you when you wake up.”

“Okay.” Rowen smiled and disappeared. Sage stared at where Rowen was. A frown slipped into his face. In fact he knew he wouldn't be seeing them again. He was stuck in Rowen's mind. Rowen could hear the voices of his friends back at the manor. He heard Cye fretting over something and Ryo yelling at Kento about something. Rowen couldn't quite make it out yet but then everything started to come in nice a clear.

 

“Hey I think Rowen's waking up.” Cye was startled at the sudden twitching on Rowen's face. Rowen slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at the ceiling.

“I'll grab him.” Kento said as he quickly dropped his fight with Ryo about how stupid he was being. Kento was about to grab Rowen when Rowen started laughing.

“What's he laughing about?” Ryo asked, while Cye and Kento looked at Rowen with looks of absolute shock in their faces.

“I'm laugh at you guys.” Rowen replied. “Why the hell are you arguing over the best restaurant in town?”

“Huh? You heard that conversation? Hey! Wait! You're the one who…” Kento stopped in mid sentence as he looked into Rowen's eyes.

“Rowen?” Kento said calmly. Rowen sat up and smiled sincerely at his long time friend.

“Yeah it's me.” Rowen said keeping the smile on his face.

“What's going on?” Ryo said a little confused. Sage was lying on the floor beside Ryo not moving nor had the color come back to his face.

“I'm sorry you guys I did mean to hurt you the way I did. I had no control over my body Elveria just took over.” Rowen said his apology.

“You mean were talking to Rowen again? The Rowen we know and love.” Cye looked as if he was going to cry.

“Yeah.” Rowen smiled. Kento suddenly jumped his friend and gave him a big hug.

“I missed you man. You don't know how much.” Kento said and tried to hide the tears in his eyes. Cye smiled and gave Rowen a hug too. Ryo smiled to himself. They finally had their friend back and unharmed.

“How did it happen?” Cye stopped hugging Rowen and sat back in his spot. Kento also let go of Rowen and looked at him intently waiting for an answer.

“Elveria weaken my mind down slowly. She made it so I couldn't fight her off anymore and then she took me over.” Rowen said then suddenly winced in pain.

“Are you okay?” Ryo asked in a worried tone.

“Yeah… But just to note; when Sage gets mad get away from him. God damn when he hits he hurts.” Rowen said while holding his side. Ryo smiled. “Speaking of Sage…” Rowen glanced over at Sage. “Sage?”

“Something happened and he seemed to have left his body.” Ryo said with a worried look.

“Yeah we all saw it. It was as if his ghost went into you.” Kento looked nervous.

“He did it to save me.” Rowen said quietly. “He said he was going to wake up with me after we got rid of Elveria. So why hasn't he woken up?”

“We don't know.” Ryo replied.

“Maybe he doesn't know how to come back.” Cye suggested.

“But if he doesn't figure it out he'll die.” Rowen said with fear in his voice.

“That was the risk Sage had to take to save you Rowen.” Ryo said in a sad tone. “Sage will always risk his life for you or he will die trying. He saved you but I think it was at the price of his death.”

“But he said.” Tears came to Rowen's eyes. “It can't be true.”

 

Sage was still in Rowen's mind. He knew that doing something he had never done before would get him into trouble but he didn't know how bad it was going to be. He had saved Rowen but he was beginning to think this was a price for saving his friend. Sage didn't know what to do and he was stuck with a problem. Sage cursed himself for jumping into something too quickly but what choice did he have? He hadn't thought that maybe he wouldn't be able to get back. He sighed as he stared off into nothingness. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

“Doing things you don't understand is stupid.” Sage spun around hearing Elveria's voice but he didn't see her anywhere.

“Where are you? I thought I got rid of you!” Sage shouted.

“You'll never get rid of me Sage. I like you and I will always be here. I will lye in wait for the perfect time to strike back at you and I will do it in the most painful way possible. How dare you release Rowen from my grasp.” Elveria snapped.

“Oh really… Well you won't get the chance because I can't get to my body to have another fight with you.” Sage yelled.

“You just remember Sage you belong to me. I'm going to save your life so I can have my fun torturing you.” Elveria said. “I want to be your undoing… The reason for your death… I will not give you the honor of sacrificing yourself for your friend.” Sage suddenly felt like he had been pushed out a window. He felt himself land on the ground. Somehow his eyes were closed and he opened them slowly. He could see Ryo and Rowen sitting over him but they didn't seem to notice he was awake. His head pounded and he moaned. This got the attention of everyone in the room and soon Sage could hear a blur of noise that wasn't entirely clear to him.

 

“Sage.” Rowen's worried but relieved voice could be heard. Sage moved slightly and stared up at both his friend's worried faces.

“Rowen?” Sage said quietly. Rowen smiled and hugged his friend.

“Oh my god you're okay. I thought I was never going to see you again.” Rowen seemed as if he was going to cry.

“Ouch…” Sage said in pain.

“What?” Rowen pulled away. “What did I do?”

“Nothing you just hit my… Oh never mind I don't what you to feel bad on your first day back to being Rowen.” Sage smiled weakly.

“Sage are you okay?” Ryo asked.

“Yeah I'm fine Ryo… How about you guys?” Sage sat up and looked at each of the other boys.

“Were all good… Except I'm really hungry.” Rowen commented. Ryo and Cye laughed while Kento nodded his head in agreement.

“I'll say. I could use a good meal.” Kento smiled.

“Then let's help Cye make dinner.” Rowen smiled.

“Oh no! Not you Mr. Toxic waste. I'm not letting you cook.” Cye said in a funny tone. Rowen, Kento, Ryo laughed as Cye got to his feet. “Well I'm going to make us something good to eat.” Cye disappeared into the kitchen.

“Wait for me Cye I want to help.” Kento said as he stood up and took after his friend.

“Sage are you okay?” Rowen noticed his friend was a little distant. Not to mention he was being unusually quiet for even him.

“I'm okay. I was just thinking about some things.” Sage smiled. “It's good to have you back Ro.”

“Yeah I missed you guys too.” Rowen hugged Sage again.

“Do you guys mind if I take a nap before we eat. I'm a little tired.” Sage asked.

“Go ahead well wake you up when dinners ready.” Ryo looked slightly worried.

“Thanks.” Sage said as he went and laid down on the couch. Rowen and Ryo looked at each other and then back at Sage. They both had worried expressions on their faces. Sage looked really sick and both Rowen and Ryo watched him for a little while before they too went into the kitchen. As Sage drifted off to sleep there was a tug at the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what it was but the others would soon find out they hadn't solved the last of there problems.

 

The End