The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XLIII: The Interloper

Ashanti ran towards Carey at full speed with an evil grin on her face. She had powered up ever since their last encounter and now she was sure that this was Carey’s last day on earth. Meanwhile Carey could feel a dark presence approaching very fast- he closed his eyes and calmed himself down. Somewhere in his heart he knew that he had done this before and he felt confident that he could take on whatever comes next. Deep in his mind, he could see how he trained in the ancient martial arts in his previous life. He was not only an avid scholar but an elite warrior too- it all started to come back to him- how to use weapons and how to fight close hand to hand combat. Seconds later, he felt that his mind was completely in sync with his body. But Ashanti was already there- she jumped at him from a distance raising her sword at him. Carey suddenly opened his eyes and moved sideways…

He turned around and saw the Black Witch- Ashanti and suddenly it him- all those dreams where he was being chased by the soldiers and at the last moment a black hooded figure stood in between and killed him, it all seemed so familiar. Was that same person standing in front of him? Could the black witch be the cause of his death in his previous life? If so then it would mean that even his enemy has been reincarnated and this was all fate!

But Ashanti was already moving in towards him. She wanted him dead and revenge for the humiliating defeat. She yelled and swung her sword at him from the right and then again from the left but each time Carey managed to escape. She then stopped and put her sword back. Carey was confused, his adrenaline was rushing.

“I shall not be unfair to you, huh, after all it’s the first time in my life that I’ve faced a worthy opponent!” she said and raised her fist and took a fighting stance.

Carey’s hands moved accordingly and he too took a fighting stance, even though he had never learned how to fight- it was in his blood. Ashanti grinned and grunted as she landed punches upon powerful punches at him. But Carey blocked them with such agility that it even surprised her. They came to a standstill after a moment as she tried grabbing his throat and he caught her hands. She came in with her full force and her long nails almost scratched his throat. But somehow he managed to push her back.

“Listen to me, whoever you are, I do not have any quarrel with you, let us pass, we don’t have to do this,” said Carey catching his breath.

“You bastard, you dare undermine me? You think just because I’m a woman, you can pity me?” she replied and kicked at his face.

Carey blocked her kick but a sharp blade came out from the tip of her shoe and tore his left cheek. He let her go and touched his cheek and understood that there was no reasoning with this woman, he had to defeat her or else she will never let him go. With blood still flowing down his cheek, he took a powerful fighting stance and taunted her to come at him. She jumped at him and flipped in the air trying to land a surprise high kick. Something came over Carey, he knew exactly how to defend that. As she was in mid- air, he ran and slid underneath her to the other side. She failed to hurt him and this was making her mad. She yelled in fury and took out the pointed stars and threw at them. Carey could already feel the stars flying towards him, and he acrobatically jumped into the air as the stars flew underneath him.

He realized that it was a waste of time trying to be defensive, he decided to attack now. But Ashanti had other tricks too, she summoned her dark powers and opened her palms. Black smoke started to emanate from them, she clenched her fist and threw a punch in the air- a wave of dark energy flew towards Carey and hit him in the chest and threw him back. Carey simply rubbed it off and walked towards her. She increased the intensity of the punch and threw it again. It hit him on the face but again, he paused for a moment and walked towards her. The dark powers were not enough for him and it was starting to scare her.

“Impossible- how did you- nobody has ever,” she said but before she could say another word Carey grabbed her neck and choked her hard.

“This is your last warning you evil witch, leave or die,” he said and suddenly he started to have a vision.

As his hands were choking her and she was running out of breath, Carey saw something within five seconds. He saw a vision where he was in a similar stand of with an evil witch when he was being chased after by the soldiers. They fought and he ultimately defeated her but he could not take her life because he was a priest. Right then, she begged for mercy and he took pity on her and let her go. But she immediately took out her dagger and stabbed him in the chest and killed him instantly. This was the same thing that had occurred thousands of years ago- it was a repeat of the previous incident…which means this evil witch was reincarnated too?

He came to his senses, the vision was over and he saw that the woman was turning pale due to lack of oxygen. He felt sorry for her and let her go and without any warning, she took out her dagger. Carey instinctively knew that she would try such a thing and so he managed to get out of the way at the last second. The dagger missed his chest but it sliced through his arm, gravely injuring him. He stumbled down and grabbed his right arm. She took this chance to strike again but out of nowhere a gunshot echoed in the distance. A bullet came flying out of nowhere and barely missed her wrist. She was shocked- she knew that this was enough for now and ran away into the forest…

Carey was surprised too. Who fired at her? Was this the same person that shot down the Thugs? Is someone looking out for him? This would mean that the Princess was right- the League had sent someone to spy on him.

It was the Dutchman who was observing Carey from a distance. He saw him fight and waited till they were finished. But he decided to interfere because she was about to kill Carey which would ruin the entire mission. If Carey was supposed to die then it was meant to be at the hands of Dutchman not anyone else. He saved his life only to kill him later…