Chapter 40: The Temple of the Rakshas!

Christopher had traced the van that had gone missing right into the woods. I still don’t know how deep this forest is…..There is an entrance from every sect…It’s like a magical ,never ending maze. We didn’t want to attempt a rescue with just us both, but we couldn’t afford to take out more people. The Blood Sect’s tactic to attack the shrines had already split us up.

“Chris…the van….” I said when I spotted the white van ahead packed in the cover of tall bushes. He stopped , then took out his binoculars and aimed it at the rusty building in front of us. It looked like an abandoned building which immediately led me to wonder who in their right minds would want to build an apartment in the middle of the woods….It was a three storied building right at the edge of the cliffs, behind the waterfalls. One slip up and you would be plunging to your death into the enormous waterfalls....the waterfalls were my father had trained me.....God! I hope I never meet him in battle.....I have no idea what I will do if I do meet him....Would I be able to fight against him?

“Four men in each floor. The civilians are in the top floor.” He said, shoving his binoculars back into his coat.
So total of twelve men against us two? Sounds just peachy….This is a suicide mission.

“I will distract the men….you have to sneak in to the top..” he said and I nodded. Then before I could say another word he took off. I looked at the creepers crawling along the wall of the building and sighed.
I made a run for it just as I heard loud shrieks and bangs. Not looking back, I carefully started climbing the lush creepers. Don’t look down…..Don’t look down….One slip and I will be tossing in the waterfalls.

I heaved myself up just as an astounded face came into view. Damn it…So much for sneaking in. I planted my feet firmly into the building cement….But I was still standing too much at the edge. The guy came at me rushing with his hammer raised. I waited till the last minute, then promptly moved in the nick of time, tripping him over…..He let out a yelp as he fell to his doom.

I unleashed my gold and crystal dagger again as I pranced inside. Two men ahead….I didn’t know the tricks or uses of the dagger…But something told me that the dagger would come back to its owner. The big, rugged man came at me just as I flung my dagger right into his chest….I placed my left foot behind and raised my right hand high and I saw the dagger now brimming with blood, remove itself from the man and it flew right into my extended hand….Cool! Now this I could work with…

The man stumbled with deafening pain as I saw his shirt , then his skin melting from where my dagger had been plunged…..He spurted blood then rolled over…

The other guy stared in shock as he took down what just happened, then started circling me when he realized that I was dangerous. He watched my movements intently, his one eye on my dagger.He is going to avoid my right side….cause I had held the dagger in my right hand. He is going to attack from the left, I am sure….And just as I expected, he raised his sword and attacked from the left. But the idiot thought that the dagger was my only weapon. I ducked as the sword flung above my head. He still stayed on my left side…..What did he think? That I couldn’t move my dagger into my left hand? Stupid idiot. In the blink of a second, I tossed my dagger into my left hand and plunged into his stomach….Training with Stephanno had increased my speed….His eyes bulged as my knife went in.

I rushed inside as he fell down with a thud…..Women..children…the elderly….everyone was thrown into the middle of the room. The children immediately leapt as they saw me enter. The grown ups however etched towards the corner, wary of me.

I raised my arms as I said in a soft tone, “I am here to rescue you…I am the Mistress of the Fire Sect, Jessica Rupin Valdemiere. My enforcer is down there taking them down as we speak…”
They let a sigh of relief. Something tugged at my heart when I said his name after mine….I won’t be the Mistress of the Fire Sect for long…

Children took a step back, their eyes widening with fear…Just as I was about to turn and look, I felt a hammer hit on my head…Ugh! Again with the hammer…and that same spot too…

I spurt out blood as I gripped my head, hard. I felt like my head was split open. I raised my trembling hands and was about to plunge the dagger into him when he gripped my hand tightly blocking it. He was careful not to touch the dagger. He simply touched my hand…He had clearly caught on with the fact that even one touch of the dagger would have him writhing in pain. He shook my hand with full force making me drop the dagger, then threw me to the floor. I hit the walls with full force and winced.

My vision was clearing already as my body started healing. I watched the man with newfound interest…He was stronger…faster…more experienced than me. I think he is the leader. He was a huge mountain of a man, with huge arms and a bald head.

When he approached me, I immediately shot out hellfire from my arms. The children shrieked and the elders immediately took them and moved towards the far corner. I was blazing the man full on with hellfire but I couldn’t even hear a scream come out from him. I stopped and looked at him confused. He smirked and shot hellfire of his own at me….Oh so he was a bender….No wonder my hellfire didn’t work on him just as his didn’t hurt me…

I got back up on wobbly legs and stared him down. He titled his head , smirking at me.
Just then Christopher entered, took in the scene and immediately started parrying with the bald guy. I can’t believe Christopher had already took down all the men in the first and second floor by the time it took for me to take down two men…No wonder he was the Head Enforcer…
Christopher was soon thrown to the floor and he took in the place I had just landed a few seconds ago. I held back a smile.

He winced, then got back up and looked at me, raising his eyebrows..
He nodded towards the bald man, motioning for me to go first..Huh! No way in hell was that happening. I held back a giggle as I mimicked his actions, motioning him to go first. He sighed then went at him. The bald man took Christopher by his shirt and dangled him up in the air…Oh! Not good..

I saw my dagger on the floor. Okay! This is a risky thing…I don’t know if it will work. But the dagger seems to be doing whatever I willed it with my mind. I concentrated firmly on the dagger on the floor beside them and willed it to rise up. It immediately shot up in the air.

Christopher widened his eyes as he saw the dagger rise up from behind the bald man then looked at me and winked as he thrusted his elbows up , loosening the bald man’s grip on him. Just as Christopher landed firmly on his feet, I made the dagger go in deep into his bald head. I paused for a second….This was not the scene for the children but I saw that the elders were already covering them. The dagger plunged into his head from behind, cracking his skull into two. His bones turning into dust just like his skin had melted were my dagger had touched him. I know this was a cowardly move…attacking him from behind….one which Stephanno would defiantly frown upon…but I wasn’t Stephanno…I wasn’t straightforward and righteous.

The bald men fell to the ground with a loud thud and I removed the dagger from his head and wiling it to return back to my hands. When my hands firmly closed around the dagger, I quietly rubbed off the blood onto my clothes and twirled my fingers. At my twirling the dagger twirled itself and placed itself back onto my arm as the bracelet. Christopher raised an eyebrow when he saw the dagger turn into a bracelet while the civilians stared at it in wonder.

“So that’s why you were always wearing that bracelet. It seemed odd to me because you weren’t really rubies and emeralds kinda girl” He said then came and hugged me tightly. I smiled at him as I hugged him tightly.

Then it hit me with full force that I had just killed three men....Me...kill...This didn't affect me that much because of all the adrenaline but I knew once the battle is over this is going to come back to haunt me........
But I didn't even hesitate to kill them...Were they all right? Was I after all a monster?

Then suddenly an awful sound wailed into the air just as bells started ringing frantically. I felt Christopher stiffening. I let go of him and looked at him anxiously. He looked scared out of his damn mind at the sound…It wasn’t like him….He was always confident…

The bells started ringing more and more frantically throughout the woods. Even the elders looked panic stricken while the children seemed oblivious..
“What is it?” I asked him, a nervous knot in my throat.
“The temple of the Rakshas…..the barriers have been breached.....” he muttered….