Aiko: Rise of The goddess of War

Chapter Four

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Aiko glared at the man whose body had tiny swirls of mist coming off his broad shoulders, arms and dark hair. She felt her heart beats increase at the way he was staring into her eyes and that alone, made her feel chills going up and down her body.

"What are you doing?" Aiko asked when she began to feel extreme cold and goosebumps rise up on her skin. She exhaled and a puff of steam came out of her mouth.

"We've searched for years, Aiko. The people, the few descendants of the people of Shiromizu are in fear and hiding. The Empress has done enough harm because of her hunger and thirst for power! Children hide and cower in fear, men are taken and used against their will as soldiers and women are used as slaves of all kinds. Aiko, we need you," Theodore said in a deep voice and raised his hands in front of him then spread his fingers.

Aiko took a deep breath when a thick fog shot from his hand to her body where it began to wrap around her waist to her head. The young woman raised her hands to her ears when the cries of children and adults were heard from the fog surrounding her head. She shut her eyes tight and whimpered the moment the fog rounded her head in a circular motion.

"Aiko," came a feminine sing sing voice. "Aiko, the blood of the people are on your hands."

"I thought you were my closest friend! Look what you've done to my sister! Because of you, we suffer!" Another voice but a young and masculine voice said.

Aiko felt her heart ache and more goosebumps rose on her skin. She pressed her hands tightly on her ear and squeezed her eyes the more.

"Open your eyes," Theodore said softly and she hesitantly cracked her eyes open and gasped at the sight.

Darkened skies, wooden shacks with smokes coming out of them and a few burning shacks. The ground beneath her feet and beyond were black and muddy and the pungent scent of burning flesh hit her nose and watered her eyes. She clasped her hands over her mouth as she saw people in withered, torn and stained clothing run in every direction around the square she was.

"What is this place?" She asked in a quivering tone as she looked around the burning shack and jerked at the clapping of thunder. "Why am I here?!"

Theodore walked up to her and stood beside her. He clenched his fists and exhaled through his nostrils.

"This is Shiromizu—your home."

Aiko frowned. "This isn't my home. My home is New York with my parents. This cannot be my home. This doesn't make sense. I am an orphan, yes but why would I have such a place as my home. This place, everything. It looks like so many years ago."

Aiko stepped forward and took in the rest of the damaged shacks, the tumbled carts around the place and stopped in the middle of the road. She furrowed her brows when she saw seven cloaked men on horses coming towards her. She was about to move out of their way but failed and they ended up going through her, making her gasp and wrap her arms around her body.

"Halt!" She heard a deep masculine voice holler.

Aiko spun around and watched the men alight from their horses. She slowly walked past Theodore and stopped in front of them.

"The Empress needs us to find where the outcast is. If we don't find her before tomorrow, you all know what's going to happen to us all," one with a bald head and a long goatee said. His body was huge, despite the brown cloak covering him.

Aiko glanced at the only one still on his horse and felt her breath hitch in her throat in recognition. A flash of the dream she had last night came to her mind. The dream where she was in a market square and how the man sitting on the horse pointed his blade at her. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and across his face was a bandage covering his left eye to his jawline. He wore a body armor with his cloak over it.

"They are the Bishamon Brotherhood," said Theodore. "You may not understand what is happening but I'm willing to show you from the beginning."

Aiko raised her head and looked into Theodore's blue eyes and looked down at her feet. She glanced at the men in front of them and looked around the destroyed place.

"What do you want to show me?" She asked cautiously.

"Who you are and to answer the questions in your heart and mind," the tall man said softly and opened his large palm between them. "We don't have any more time because if you do not stop them, your new home will suffer the exact same thing all over again."

Aiko immediately remembered her parents and Troy. She frantically looked back at the men who began to mount their horses then looked at Theodore.

"Take me home, now!" She commanded and glared at the blank expression on Theodore's face. "Are you deaf? Take me home, right now! This is not my place, I don't understand all of these. I don't want any trouble, please."

"Are you sure?"

Aiko nodded. "Yes. Now, take me back."

"Before you do that, I'll show you something. Let's go."

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"Where are we?" Aiko asked as she followed Theodore through the thick forest that had tall and dark trees on every part of the forest. She could only hear the croaks of frogs and the cries of eagles flying in the sky.

Aiko wrapped her arms around her body as she looked side to side in fear. She glanced up into the sky and jogged up to Theodore until she stood beside him.

"I told you I want to go home," she complained and pursed her lips when the dark haired young man stopped with shoulders tensed.

"This was the exact same attitude that ruined your village seventeen years ago. You were supposed to be our savior but you were a coward and let the dark spirits take over! You were supposed to fulfill the prophecy but you chose to be weak!" Theodore growled, fog coming out of his body and eyes darkening in anger.

"Again, I do not understand what you mean!" Aiko retorted. "I don't know who you are, where these are coming from, what the heck this village is and who the Bishamon Brotherhood are! Don't blame me!"

"How about you see it for yourself!"

Theodore grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him through the bushes until they ended up on the opposite side of the forest which was a beach with a wooden house a few feet away with a few canoes around.

"This is the beginning of everything," he said and pointed at the dark figure bending down on the sandy ground. Theodore yanked her arm and pulled her with him again till they were a few feet away from the groaning masculine figure.

The figure had his body covered in a cloak from his head to his bare and dirt covered feet. His hands dug into the wet ground as he groaned and whimpered like he was wounded. He slowly took off his cloak after kneeling straight and Aiko gasped when she saw the tattoos marked on his muscled back. Tattoos similar to what she had on her lower back.

"Wha-"

"Ssh. Look," he said and pointed his finger behind her.

Aiko slowly turned around and saw a young English looking woman with a basket filled with vegetables heading towards them but with her attention on the content of her basket. The woman with a round face stained with a few dirt marks on her porcelain skin and a few shrubs attached to her wavy shoulder length dark locks, walked past them and froze with a gasp.

"Is she seeing us?" Aiko asked and he shook his head. "Who are they?"

Aiko watched as the woman rushed to the man's side and cautiously touched his body while she looked at every part of his exposed skin.

"What happened to you? Where are you from?" The lady asked the whimpering man in a soft voice which made Aiko feel at peace with. "You are injured."

Aiko rushed to the river bank and finally saw the face of the man. He was a muscular Japanese man, long black hair flowing around his face and blood on his bottom lip that reached his sharp jawline. His arched brows were pinched together as he gripped his waist that had a small gash.

"No," he stressed out and grabbed her slender arm. "I-I can handle it. Go back to your home and leave me be."

"No, I cannot leave you here. I am a healer in my village. I take care of wounds from battles and yours looks like one. Permit me to ask, who are you? I have never seen you in this town before?" The woman asked as she tore the hem of her dress and dipped it into the water.

"I am no one, you need to leave and-"

A loud explosion went off in the distance, somewhere in the thick forest, causing all of them except Theodore to shake in fear. Aiko turned around the moment the woman did and her eyes widened in shock at the thick red smoke floating out of the thick trees to their direction.

"You need to run!" The man shouted in an angry voice while Aiko's eyes were glued to the red smoke floating towards them with a few flashes of lightning within it.

"What is that?" Aiko whispered to Theodore after he stood beside her.

"That is the beginning of the suffering of your people. That man on the ground is your father," he said and Aiko spun around quickly and stared into his blank eyes.

"How? It's not possible. This looks like thousands or hundreds of years ago. It's not true, it can't be true," she said while shaking her head with her heart beating extra fast.

Theodore pointed his chin towards the smoke and Aiko turned back around. A group of red armoured samurais, covered from face to their feet marched out of the smoke with weapons of all kinds in their hands. She glanced down at the wounded man and saw him standing with a small bend towards the direction of his wound. Behind him was the young woman, who was gripping his strong arm with fear evident on her round face.

"Hachiman-Shin," a masculine voice said and Aiko looked back at the men in red armours. There was a tall man in a snowy white robe, long white beards and arched brows framing his strong face.

"A white spirit," Hachiman-Shin said to her hearing and exhaled in relief. "Who sent you?"

The man smirked. "After your exile from the spirit realm during the War of spirits, I and a few other gods and goddesses followed you here and have come with a promise."

"What promise?" Aiko whispered the same time Hachiman asked.

"A war is coming, a war that will divide the realms and put a destruction between the humans and spirits. There has been a breach and nothing can be done to close it. What the gods did to banish you was uncalled for and all was because of Hama-Noshima. She's power hungry and will do nothing until she takes the title of the strongest Shinto clan head. This is a warning from me, brother. Stay away and prepare yourself because war is coming and she will stop at nothing to destroy your heir from becoming the next god of war."

"I do not even have a home. All because of a dark spirit, I have to become a homeless man," Hachiman said and groaned.

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