Illusions of the Mind
Chapter 6
"Home is where the heart is."
Omega reached up quickly and grabbed the arrow right behind the
arrowhead. His eyes scanned the area for his attacker as he snapped the
arrow in half with his thumb and the butt of his palm. He saw nothing.
Eclipse feel back into his battle stance, his attention drawn to the
impending attack, while his brother gripped his arm tightly, his teeth
gritted through the pain and rage.
Mirage saw shadowy figures moving in the trees, and he immeditly
knew that his father's assassins had found them. He pushed the pain in his
arm into the back of his mind. As he did, one of the figures launched a jump
kick at him, aimed at Mirage's throat.
In mid-kick, without even the slightest decrease in speed, the ninja
was suddunly hurled in the opposite direction, screaming, until he was
rammed into the closest tree and knocked out cold.
Mirage turned around and recognized a tall male ninja, clad in black
and blue Lin Kuei armor, with handsome features and blue eyes.
Vertigo? Mirage thought, and after the ninja had read his thoughts,
he nodded.
Knowing he had no time to speak to his cousin, Mirage backed up next
to him, followed by his brother and Omega.
Behind and next to Vertigo were more ninjas, and Mirage recognized
most, if not all of them.
It was the Alin Kuei.
All the figures in the trees that had been quietly hunting the
renagades jumped from their hiding places at once, at total of fifteen to
twenty of them.
At that time, the Alin Kuei, Mirage, Eclipse, and Omega attacked.
One of the Lin Kuei assassins landed after jumping out of the trees,
and had no time to make a move before a giant leather whip was wrapped
around his ankle. The whip suddunly grew taunt, and the ninja was yanked off
of his feet. He landed hard on his back, and started to feel himself moving.
He found himself lying in front of a tall, beautiful woman, clad in dark
gray. She stared down at him as if he were inferior to her. He watched he
oddly, and saw a mist-like vapor begin to emit from her palms. As he took in
a breath, the vapors entered his lungs. It was the last breath he took as he
gaged, staring up at Knightshade, terrified.
Sydney saw the battle and the Lin Kuei ninjas, and the memories of
her family came flooding back to her. Suddunly enraged, she unsheathed her
sword and charged into battle. A Lin Kuei saw her coming, and he stood as
she ran at him, wating for her to reach him. As she ran, Sydney began to
phase out of sight, slowly, until she was gone. Surprised, the ninja looked
around, and then noticed something above him. He looked up, and Sydney's
heels slammed into his face. He fell hard to the ground, and looked up at
Sydney standing over him. A tranformation began to take place as Sydney
morphed into a giant black panther. The cat let out a roar, then leaped upon
the ninja, slashing violently at his chest and throat. He screamed, for a
short time, until the panther's claws got to his vocal cords, and the
shrieking stopped.
With fresh adrealine pumping through his veins, Mirage was able to
forget the stinging pain in his arm and concentrate on fighting. Avoiding a
kick from one of the ninjas, he pulled his sword and swung it at his
opponent's stomach, slicing his abdomen open, allowing what was inside to
come out. He turned to another ninja, who was charging him, and stuck his
hand out toward him. Flames shot from his palms, directly toward his foe,
and tore through his flesh, bones, and organs, forming a circle in his
chest.
The battle ended, with seventeen dead Lin Kuei ninjas and Mirage the
only injured rebel. Viper, two bloody swords in hand, led the clan back to
their lair, taking Mirage, Eclipse, and Omega with them. Upon arriving at
the base, Viper sat Mirage down and inspected his wound.
"I'll get Raven to take care of that," he said absently, staring at
the arrow, still embedded in his shoulder. He then patted Mirage on his good
shoulder, turned around, and left.
Mirage poked at his shoulder and sighed. This had to be, without a
doubt, the worst week of his life. His brother sat down next to him, but his
focus was kept in front of him. His face was sincere, which was not a normal
look for the humorous Eclipse.
"I needed to thank you, Shane," he said distantly.
Mirage ed an eyebrow. "Thank me? For what?"
"For saving my hide, that's what," Eclipse smiled, glancing at
Mirage's wounded shoulder before looking into his face.
"That wasn't me, Eric, you should be thanking eNIX and Omega for
that one. If they hadn't shown up when they did, we'd both be dead."
Eclipse smiled. "I still wanna thank you. For being my brother and
all that shit," He hugged his brother gently, being mindfull of his injured
arm.
"You know what's gonna hafta happen to that arrow, dontcha?" Eclipse
continued, regarding the arrow still deeply embedded in Mirage's shoulder.
Mirage glared at the arrow. "Yeah, I know." he said, grasping the
arrown tightly with his free arm.
Eclipse winced. "You want me to do that?" he said, sensing what his
brother was about to do.
Mirage shook his head, gritting his teeth, and forced the arrow the
rest of the way through his shoulder in one, painful, thrust. Excess blood
seeped through the wound on the other side as the arrow popped through.
"Aw, f***!" Mirage yelled, as softly as he could. His brother
flinched. As the pain slowly subsided, Mirage grasped the arrow and broke it
in half where it still stuck out of his arm. Then he proceeded to gingerly
slipped both ends from his shoulder. The blood really began to flow then.
Eclipse jumped to his feet and and rushed to his brother's side, putting
presure on on side of the wound while Mirage did on the other. It was then
that Raven arrived; with Omega, Viper, and Vertigo.
Viper laughed, seeing the blood slowly seep from in-between Mirage's
fingers as his held onto his injury. "I see you got that arrow out," he said
matter-of-factly, nodding at Mirage's hand.
Mirage frowned, and Vertigo snickered. Raven stepped forward and
removed Mirage and Eclipse's hands from the wound. She placed her hands on
top of Mirage's shoulder. A white aura began to pulse around her hands, and
it grew larger and larger. Mirage felt a strange tingling sensation, and
watched surprised as the wound slowly began to heal. When she was finished,
she removed her hands and Mirage examined his shoulder. The pain was
completly gone and the wound was also completly mended, without even a scar
left.
Mirage looked up at Raven, astonished. "Girl, you got the magic
touch," he said, smiling.
She smiled back, smacked him hard on the shoulder, and turned and
walked away. There was no pain in his arm except for the spot where she
slapped him, and he flexed his shoulder, examining it in surprise. The three
remaining ninjas sat down next to him, Viper the closest.
"I hope to see you join us." he said, regarding Mirage, Eclipse, and
Omega.
"Me too." Vertigo continued. "We have a lot of catching up to do.
It's been what?....... five years since we've seen each other?"
Omega nodded. "Yeah, almost five damn years. Where HAVE you been,
uncle?"
Vertigo looked at him oddly, as if he was surprised he asked. "I'll
explain it later, Nick, it's a long story." With the tone of his voice and
the look in his eyes, Omega knew the discussion was over.
"I don't know about you two," Mirage said, nodding at Omega and his
brother. "but I'm staying here."
"I don't have anywhere else to go," Eclipse said simply. "And I have
a certain urge for revenge. I'm staying."
"That makes three of us," Omega finished, smiling. "This is the only
way I'll be able to find my father."
"Then it's settled," Viper said, and extended his hand to Mirage,
who shook it firmly.
A cloud was lifted from his mind. With his new membership in this
infant clan, Mirage found a place he really felt like he belonged. The
illusion, that he had been seeing and believing for his entire life, had
finally vanished, and it was a tremendous relief.
T H E E N D
(
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