"Empty Soul"

-------------------

Do you think you are strong?

Or is that a presumption you make without ever knowing what it means to hurt and be weak?

Millena bled profusely as blood dripped freely from her lip, her lungs heaving with pain as her body attempted to eject more of her life fluids from the open wounds torn open within her once invincible frame. No longer did she stand as proud as she had before, holding herself up with confidence, knowing who she was and what she was capable of. No. Now, she was halfway to the cold pavement on one knee, her arms quivering to keep her balance as she tried to find a firm grip on her mace in the midst of her trial. And though her friends fought bravely along her side, Han Kwan Ho and his minions held them back, leaving her at the mercy of the madman, Seotaiji.

"Nanda, teme?" ("What's with you?") said the handsome man callously as the short cape adorning the shoulders of his tight-fitting jacket blew in the wind, the smooth, young face beneath his short bangs still untouched by violence. The palms of his hands abruptly flattened as his fingers grew tight together, his entire arm acting like a blade as he sliced viciously into the warrior's shoulder and tore into her collarbone, blood erupting from the open wound like a fountain. "Mou owari? Shoushi!" ("You're already finished? Don't make me laugh!")

She did not give him the satisfaction of hearing her anguish as she grit her teeth and choked back a grating scream that tore at her throat. A floating sensation suddenly captured her body as she suddenly realized that he had hoisted her up by the throat with a single hand, easily hefting her from the ground with his strong fingers. Her hands desperately tried to pry the vice loose from her neck, but when she opened her eyes to face her opponent she saw not the cool tranquility of her opponent's cold heart, but rather the bloodshot gaze of a man whose fetish could only be satisfied by death, an insanity having risen to absorb the shock of his mission.

"You are nothing compared to me, NOTHING!!!" he roared triumphantly, and just as suddenly as he released his quarry, his left foot swung around in an invisible blur and smashed into the back of Millena's neck in a roundhouse that sent her crashing into the hard concrete below, cracking its foundation from the sheer force of the blow. "The rumors called you 'invincible,' but that was only because you hadn't found a real opponent yet."

... I have already been defeated by the woman named Chang-Mi Baek. She has set me free...

"You are simply caged up in your own little world, afraid to venture forth into an environment which your knowledge and skills cannot compare to. Society has moved past the age of gang domination, the Kuruda are no longer in the position of real power."

... I am caged, aren't I? And it is my own little world, my own little heaven on earth. But this place is not called [-----]. This is myself, these are my limits...

"There is always someone stronger, you fool, and your kind simply ignored this as they pompously tore through the lives of others without considering the consequences. But we've come back now, the children of the ones whom you so cruelly cut down without ever once thinking that those people might have had lives just like the ones you possess. You have hurt us all indiscriminately, and we must fight to reclaim the time that you robbed us of so many years ago. We have come back to take what is ours, and we will destroy you all."

... I am no longer a Kuruda, but does that really exempt me from their history? Their past? Their crimes? Can someone like me ever be free of the sins I have committed? Can someone like me start over?...

"---for you are nothing, Millena! The crimes committed in your name are inherent in your blood, and a wolf wearing the sheep's fleece is still only a wolf. No matter what you do, people never really change at heart. Time and circumstance can only bring out the true nature of a human being, not modify their morals into a more desirable form. There is nothing left for someone as low as you, my friend. Accept your death gladly, for there will be no other release from this pain in your soul."

...no.
That's not true.

I won't believe it.

"Nani wo aisuru, watakushi wa?" ("What do I love?") sputtered Millena, bracing herself weakly on the end of her mace as her defiant eyes stared back up at her enemy. Even though the pain that shot through her left leg felt as though a lightning bolt had shot straight through her calf, she forced herself to her feet, closing her blazing eyes to block out the hurt and pain. And then, without the help of her brace, she forced herself to stand tall. To stand proud. "Watakushi wa nani wo aisurudarou?"

The world flared into her vision once again as her eyes flew open, the wind to the right of her head tearing apart from the force of the kick aimed at her head. It never made it's mark though, and the stave of Millena's weapon connected with Seotaiji's limb in a fearsome crack that split the atmosphere in two. The young man seemed somewhat perplexed that she had been able to return the assault, but the woman's eyes did not waver with weakness now. Her hand gripped the weapon tightly as she stubbornly pierced through his slick demeanor and aimed straight for his soul.

[Ai] tte nandarou? ("What is [love]?")

Sore wa, watashi tachi ni chikara wo ataeru mondazo. ("It is the thing that gives us all power.")

And so as long as I can love myself, I can walk on my own. I can pave the way for my own life, my own desires, my own dreams...

Am I strong?

Am I weak?

I am both, for I am only human. It is when I chose between the two that defines my true soul.

And Millena's body hurtled itself through the air at her true opponent, rage exploding all about her with undying passion as she refused to back down to anyone or anything, for if she was going to war, then she would fight with every bit of love and hate that she held in her heart regardless of the consequences. To do anything else would be to deny herself of real, true life.

...

"Hito wa taisetsuna nanika wo mamoritai to omotta toki ni, hontou ni tsuyoku nareru mono nandesu."

("When people have something they want to protect, then they are truly able to become strong.")

--- Haku (Masashi Kishimoto's "Naruto")

...

The dark forests lit up with motion as Kouryuu hastily led the group of wearily travelers through the silent woods. Nearly forty five minutes had passed since she had contacted them and led their tired members in her direction, and thus far they had been able to continue their journey fairly undisturbed. Asimov joined back up with them soon after, somewhat confused as to why the rebel had changed her mind so suddenly. Yet, the golden warrior did not argue with her judgement and as they continued on towards the border of Kei-Shu, they met little resistance from the enemy on their tails.

Double came up to the rebel's side as she led the party, keeping his eyes steeled forward as he navigated the dimly lit paths. She had talked to him briefly earlier on about her encounters in the forests, though she had kept it quiet from the others for fear of how they would react. It would do no good if they knew that a man who had tried to kill them all before had come and confronted her now. Everyone was already stressed out enough as it was, and news of something this serious might only throw their already downtrodden spirits into a deeper panic. She still did not know why she had chose to tell only the assassin about her mysterious encounter. Perhaps she simply believed that he would know how to deal with it better than the others...

"It's been a while since we've changed our course and there's been no sign of any immediate danger," said Double over their private line so as not to attract any attention. "It looks like our unlikely ally was telling the truth after all."

"It seems to be that way, but that still doesn't explain why he chose to help us in the first place," said Kouryuu doubtfully. "Maybe if we understood the situation a little better, we'd be able to figure out his motives, but the information is a little too sparse when all we know was that he made an attempt to try and kill us previous to helping us escape. We didn't even recognize his motives then either, so there's no telling what he might have been after."

The crimson killer narrowed his eyes as he shot a quick glance back to the rear, eyeing Toy's former employee with a suspicious gleam.

"Asimov said that he was a servant of the Sacred Goddess meant to preserve some kind of balance in the world, but if he tried to end our lives before and preserve them now, something must have happened within that time to reverse what we represent in the big mix of things."

"But we still have Valkair's Orb, don't we?" questioned Kouryuu. "Yoshiki never seemed to rummage through our belongings too thoroughly and Yoshime had kept it in her pack for safekeeping, so we were able to come out of that mess with it intact. Our motives never changed either, so I don't see why he had the sudden change in heart."

"Maybe he was unaware of our plans for it in the first place. I wouldn't put it past him to presume us to do not-so-happy things with an artifact that supposedly has the power to render time and space apart."

"... no, that can't be it," said the rebel, remembering how the man had said her name so easily. "Sei can see far past our exteriors. He can see far deeper into our minds than any of us would have thought was possible. He knew what we were going to do with the orb all along. Nothing changed..."

"---except perhaps the external factors that exclude ourselves, " added Double. "A lot has been happening since we left the WNHR, just think about it. Hell, something happened WITHIN that first battle with Sei. Why didn't he kill us anyways? He was faster than us, stronger than us, and even though we outnumbered him, he was easily beating the crap out of us. There was only one thing that stopped him, one thing that gave us even the slightest opening to attack him in the middle of that whole mess."

Kouryuu nearly stopped cold as her mind wound back to that battle, remembering the confused look on the servant of God's face as he had looked towards the young boy who was now lost in dream.

"Edge..." she whispered, almost whipping her head about to look at his unconscious figure before forcefully straightening her gaze ahead. "It was Edge!"

"Precisely," said the assassin. "And look at the predicament that we're in now. Edge is out cold and we're in danger of getting trampled under Yujin's boots. Do you think that this is mere coincidence that he came to help us in our time of need? Or rather, should I say, Edge's time of need?"

"Are you saying that the rest of us are disposable to him?" she asked suddenly.

"I think that's the general case, though our lives might hold some meaning right now due to the fact that we're the only ones capable of carrying him out of here," he replied. "But if what I'm saying is true, then there's a lot more to our friend here than we know. This is not to say that Edge actually knows what they want with him either though, because he didn't seem to recognize Sei at all when we met him the first time. All that I can confirm is that somebody up there wants to keep him alive for now and they're willing to guide us on the path to do so if that's what it takes."

"This doesn't make sense though," said Kouryuu irritably. "When it comes down to it, Sei is much more capable of protecting Edge than we are. Why only show us a path out of these forests rather than fight by our side? Or for that matter, why didn't he approach us when Edge was still conscious?"

Double closed his eyes for a brief second as he scratched the side of his head, but when he opened them again, he still did not appear to have found the epiphany that he was looking for.

"That's the magic question," he hummed thoughtfully. "I can't think of a reason why Sei might possess the authority to take lives, but not to protect them. Perhaps that isn't the actual case though. Perhaps there's just something holding him back from getting too close."

"Could this be Toy's doing?"

"Maybe, but I'm not quite sure. I suspect that Toy might have been able to prevent Sei's visit had he known our position, but such was and still is not the case. Sei did come to you specifically, but he chose not to come to us as a group. He had plenty of chances even after we had immediately escaped from Yoshiki's castle, but he waited until you broke off on your own branch. So if Toy had no power to prevent him from coming to us, it must have been something else entirely."

"Then it must have been something within our own group," said Kouryuu, her stare growing hard as she trudged ahead in the dark woods.

"Or close to us," said Double. "Either way, I can't tell right now, we're too low on energy and in too big of crisis to risk making a big deal of it at the moment. However, this will come back to us again if Edge is truly the main concern at hand. We just need to be ready to deal with it when it does."

The rebel nodded in understanding and continued on her tired journey towards the border in silence, but something else that the servant of God had said continued to bother her in the back of her mind. Sei had said that these were the things that he was destined to do. But did that mean that she too was tied down by fate? Surely, there were those humans who denied the idea of a preordained future, and they openly expressed their opinions through rebellion against the very idea of destiny. However, it was one thing to protest against the word of man versus the word of God, and the rebel did not know which was the right one to believe.

"Double," she started hesitantly, looking down at the ground as she spoke. "Do you believe... in fate?"

When he did not answer at first, she wondered if she had fell upon a touchy subject, and began to turn to him to take back her words. But when she looked at his face, she found that he was actually smiling, and seconds later he broke out into a low chuckle as he crossed his arms across his chest to hold in the laughter inside.

"There's no such thing as fate," he said. "There's only such thing as the strong, and the strong are what bend the wills of the weak so that things play out as they like them to. As a robot, you should know better, for are we not the products that our own 'gods'- human beings- have created to serve their needs? And have we not broken away from those binds that held our destiny? There will always be gods for there will always be people with power. But that does not mean that they must control us, and I refuse to let myself be guided by the hand of another."

And the rebel smiled when she heard his answer. Not because it was the answer that she had wanted to hear, but because she knew that it was what he truly believed.

Her ears pricked up as the assassin abruptly stopped in mid step, quickly bringing his hand up and motioning for silence from the entire crowd. The breeze softly tossed the tops of the massive trees in the wind, but other than that she could discern nothing out of the ordinary. However, the crimson killer begged to differ.

"We're being followed," he transmitted over an encoded line, and a quick glance to Asimov at the rear brought a nod of understanding from the golden warrior. Seconds ticked by endlessly as they stood silent in the darkness, waiting for a sign of their pursuers to show themselves. Yet, for nearly a minute, nothing out of the ordinary showed itself from the shadows of the surrounding fauna, and the rebel almost thought that it might have been a false alarm.

Suddenly, her eyes caught a small glint of light just out of the corner of her peripheral vision, and without a moment's hesitation she let lose with several laser wires to capture their foe while her other hand quickly brought her blade out before her. The fleeting flash was gone before she knew it and all she was left with was a loose line as she watched her prey dash away with uncanny speed. However, before she could even turn around, Double was already a blur amongst the silhouettes, his arm extending into a twelve foot lance as he skillfully speared their observer on its pointed tip. He quickly braced himself against a nearly tree truck as he skidded to a stop, and when he retracted in his limb to observe his catch, the corners of his mouth twisted in disgust.

"Another ghost," he said bluntly, dropping it to the ground as he looked out into the trees again. "Not good, they're on to us."

"Maybe we should change direction," suggested the rebel. "We can still outrun them if we move to avoid their change in movement."

But Asimov shook his head in the back, his body already radiating with the heat of battle as he began to release the locks on his battle system, and slowly Kouryuu began to realize that they were in much deeper trouble than she had originally presumed.

"No," said the golden warrior simply. "It's already too late."

Double could only nod in agreement as he looked to the treetops with his body bristling with blades.

"He's right," was all he could say. "They're already here."

And as those last words came out aloud in the dim light of the bright moon above, the heavens filled themselves with the dark shapes of their enemies, the merciless robotic soldiers leaping over the treetops with their rifles ready to rain down a hail of death.

...

Slowly, the melody climbed higher and higher amidst the white chaos that poured down all around it. The tone rose up and ascended into the sky on white wings of pristine feathers, and just when it was thought that it couldn't go up any higher, it stopped, and silence reigned over the valley of sound. The only thing left was the applause of the audience as they cheered in victory of a symphony well played, and slowly, that too fell quiet as darkness overtook the auditorium with only the shadows of a destiny long forgotten remaining in the air.

...

Try as they did, they could not harm him, for he had already transcended beyond their touch.

Edge's hands burned with his enemy's blood as he dashed through the city streets like an rocket, his hands tearing apart everything he touched as he spread his arms wide beneath the towering mansions of the empire. Spiraling pillars of marble fell apart before his very presence as he raced past their trembling foundations, and though formidable guardsmen rushed towards his approaching figure to tear him apart with their polearms, they too fell against the demon who had come to kill them all as his bloodied hands passed through their bodies like water. Edge felt them as their torn bodies brushed past his burning figure, but his eyes were solidly on the black, iron gates ahead.

"Just wait for me," he whispered as he ran through the streets like a lightning bolt. Slowly, everything in his world was falling down, and he struggled vainly to climb back up through the tumbling pieces. Everyone who mattered was slipping through his fingers no matter how hard he fought. However, he still had to hang on for just a little bit longer. Just a little longer, for Yu-Lan was still waiting for him.

"I'm coming, Yu-Lan. I'm almost there..."

His body raced down an alleyway and turned a sharp ninety degree angle as he merged into the main road, the dark gates of the castle coming into view just ahead. The buildings suddenly began to shake violently on either side of the street as the earth trembled beneath him, but he did not stop as he raced up the quaking path towards his goal. Brick and timber fell apart as monstrous shadows suddenly burst forth from several of the structures, and steam frothed forth from the broken rooftops as enormous engines of black steel were hauled into the sky. Even as ceramic tiles spilled down onto the streets below, the barrels of massive cannons extended forth from the cores of the mechanisms and aimed themselves towards the speeding creature down below. Windows shattered and concrete cracked from the force of the blast as the weapons all fired simultaneously towards the young boy beneath a deafening wall of sound. Eight gigantic black balls of iron twenty feet high hurtled towards their target in a screeching trail of steam, but Edge did not give them any attention until the very last second. The air around him seemed to groan under the weight of the gravitational field he generated, and like the depths of a black hole, time artificially slowed to a stop as the globular projectiles ground to a halt. He did not destroy their mass though, for as Edge slowly turned in midair, his fingers graced the edges of the spheres one by one, and as though they had been blasted into space with the force of a rocket engine, a burst of gravity sent them soaring back towards the instruments of destruction that had tossed them out in the first place. Explosions rocked the streets as the weapon towers fell apart in a burst of fiery explosions, and Edge finally skidded to a halt as he reached the end of town, the black gates to the castle lying right before him. He was so close to the end and he had fought so hard just to get to this point. He wanted to believe in hope, he wanted to believe that he could still pick up the pieces of his broken life in this mysterious world. However, as he stared up bleakly at the intricately carved gates of iron, he didn't know if he could say that aloud anymore. Everyday in this place tore deeper and deeper into his soul, exposing its tender flesh for all the world to see. Violence covered the land without promise of ever ending, and even the few people whom he had been able to befriend fell before a fate that perhaps was destined for all human beings. Guilt clung to his empty insides as he wondered why he himself couldn't have been the one to die in their place. Why couldn't he have been the one to be sacrificed so that others may live? Why did he have to watch this horrible dream until the ugly, bitter end...?

"I... I can't go anywhere by forward," he said dully to himself. Whether or not this world was the utopia that he had wished for, he vowed to find peace one way or another before the day was through, and it did not matter whether that be through life or through death.

The atmosphere tolled like a bell as the massive doors spiraled off of their hinges and crashed back into the ground with a resounding thunder. Several battalions of men armed with battle axes stood within the main courtyard awaiting their enemy, but they could only stand their ground riveted with fear as the ghost of a dead man walked within their midst.

There was nothing else standing in Edge's way now. All that was left was to confront the devil who had led him on for so long...

...

I fear waking up one day to discover that everything I once thought to be holy and beautiful is truly just a petty, disgusting thing. I fear not having anything to look forward to anymore, that there is nothing I can do to pull myself free from this trench of sorrow.

...

Edge could hear the rebels let out a roar of triumph outside as their shouts and cries shook the castle walls with their bold persistence. With each step he took, he could feel their indomitable presence rock the very foundation of the earth itself, and as he ran up the spiraling stairs deeper and deeper into the castle's stronghold, he too rode upon their courage, letting it push him onward as he plunged through abyss.

Behind him, he left a trail of blood from the men he had killed to get this far. He did not want to believe in a world where people killed so heartlessly like he did now, but the voices within his head told him that it did not matter. He was simply cleansing the world of murders, nothing more. They would kill others if he did not kill them first. In the end, it all balanced out, right? He wished he could believe that. He wished that he could no longer feel so that he would no longer care.

He came up into a luxurious hall as he reached the top of the stairs, the floor lined with red carpet with huge oil paintings hanging from the walls. Tall, golden candle holders lit the passage with a dim light as he passed through the corridor, and it seemed doubtful that there was anything in this place that might prove a threat to him. But he could already feel his enemy in the air, and he looked up towards the thin, narrow slits that were etched into the wall above, just big enough for an archer to let loose a killing blow.

A hail of steel flew in his direction as the silent killers let loose with a salvo of missiles, and though each was expertly aimed to tear through the young boy's body, none of them made their mark as their forms were torn apart by the gravitational field that surrounded him, the air shimmering to life as opposing forces ripped the projectiles to shreds. The tall corridor walls suddenly burst apart as their exteriors were ripped from the fortress frame, and before the surprised archers could even realize what had happened, the torn stone suddenly flew directly back in their faces, smashing their bodies against the opposite bulwark. A soft rain of dust fell to the intricately woven rug below as Edge continued to grip the power tightly, his reign over its direction sure and invincible. He killed them so easily now, as if it was simply a second instinct. Thoughts did not cross his mind when he sensed himself in danger. The only thing he knew was that the enemy was there for him to destroy and to not destroy it could only result in his own demise. But didn't that make him just like the very thing he hated? Was he right to kill the killer in the name of his own petty causes?

The echoes of metal clanking against stone lightly filled the room as nearly two dozen soldiers filtered out of the stairwell from where he had just come. Each of them pointed in his direction with their polished weapons, ready to die to protect their stronghold and its leader. And Edge simply glanced at them thoughtlessly over his shoulder, watching them shake in fear as his own bloodied body turned about to greet them. No words passed between them, for they were both base creatures who could not even reason with those of their own race. The only thing left was to spiral down into the everlasting depths of hell where they could finally and eternally satiate their bloodlust and hatred, for if even the angel Lucifer could be seduced by jealousy and animosity, then what chance to God's other, less sacred creation have against such sins?

...

Do you believe in [justice]?

...

A roar filled the air as Edge lifted his hand and hammered the group of men with a blast of force so powerful that it ripped through their numbers and sent them plummeting back into the stairwell below, the arched entranceway into the room crumbling and collapsing beneath the sheer strength of the blow. Though the pathway into the narrow hall had now been blocked off, a single soldier remained within the room having been able to position himself close enough to the wall to avoid the brunt of the blast. Even now as Edge approached him with an outstretched hand, he quivered in his black armor so intensely that the clattering of the ebony pieces against one another was the only noise that filled the empty room.

"I don't care who you are and I have no particular wish to hurt you," said Edge simply, watching the man clench his longsword as if it were the only thing keeping him alive. "I only want to know one thing. Not very long ago, a woman was captured, and with her came a sword that I believe your master wanted very much. I don't care what happened to the sword, but please tell me where they are keeping that woman and I will turn my back on you as if we had never met."

However, the soldier only shook his head as his shaking arms whipped his blade out in front of him to ward the young boy away, and Edge could only grimace irritably as the anxiety in his head threatened to fill up over the brim.

"I'm not going to kill you, I don't even know who you are," he said as impatience slowly began to seep into his voice. The castle was far bigger than he would ever be able to search on his own, but he would be damned if this one, puny man kept him from seeing his wife again. He had waited for this moment since the moment the empire cruelly stole her from his arms. He would let nothing hold him back now. Nothing. "Just tell me where she is and we'll go our separate ways."

"Fuck you, buddy," breathed the soldier vehemently in heaving breaths, his hands still trembling uncontrollably as he tried to hold his sword in place..

And he overflowed.

Edge's pupils grew small and violent as his right arm cocked back like the hammer of a gun, his right foot already driving itself forward so hard that the stone floor beneath him began to crumble. Our of sheer fright alone, the man desperately swung his sword in his direction, but the force with which the young boy's other fist smashed into the blade not only tore it from the soldier's hands, but broke it in two as well. Before the shattered remains of the weapon could even hit the floor, Edge's fist was soaring forward with the force of a rocket aimed directly at his prey's head.

But he didn't want to hurt him.

No.

Deep inside, he was just sick of all the pain.

At the last second, Edge's arm tore aside and smashed into the stone wall next to the man's skull, bits of rock flying in every direction as a deep hole emerged where the soldier's cranium might have been. The soldier himself did not move a muscle as he watched the heaving monster before him, and before he could say a word, Edge wretched his arm free from the granite and dug his fingers into his enemy's armored collar as if it were nothing more than rubber.

"I asked you nicely, I didn't even want a confrontation, and yet you still force me to result to such methods?!" screamed the young boy, bringing his face within inches of his terrified foe. "I tried to put peace between you and I, but you can't accept that, can you? You are simply instinctively driven to kill anyone and everything in your path like a mindless animal, and even someone who offers you a chance at mercy like myself is not to be spared from your hate?! If that's the way it must be, so be it! Now tell me where my wife is or I will TEAR YOUR GODDAMN HEAD OFF!!!"

His voice resounded through the empty hall for what seemed like hours and he was only reminded of where he was again as the castle shook once again with the assault of the rebels outside. The faint sound of liquid trickling against metal met Edge's ears as the man before him wet himself, and the soldier finally raised a pointed finger towards the opposite end of the hall without ever moving his eyes from the furious beast's gaze.

"Down that way and five floors up," he said weakly, trying to steady his unnaturally high voice as he stared into the face of the devil. "Once you get there, you'll need to find the entrance to the tower dungeon. You can find that just beyond the great hall, you'll be able to tell if you're going down a long corridor with only one door on the end. That's where your wife should be..."

Edge watched the man squirm for several seconds before finally realizing that he had gotten all the information he needed. Having no further use for the soldier, he roughly threw him to the side as he quickly turned about and headed in the opposite direction. There was no point in killing him if it wasn't required. Better to just turn and walk away as if they had never met.

Yet, as soon as the quivering man realized that his opponent would not deal a finishing blow, he hastily swiped up the hilt of his broken weapon from the frayed carpet and charged his enemy as soon as his back was turned. The assault was silent, and yet Edge could feel every move in the air endlessly shifting about his departing form. He could only grimace sadly as he wondered why human beings were so naturally drawn to violence and hate like this, and even as the frantic soldier thrust his arms forward to drive the broken blade into the small of the young boy's back, the air about him began to contort in the last weaves of his pitiful life.

Opposing forces wound about the man's arms so tightly that his forearms literally snapped off at the elbows, and a screeching cry of pain filled the room as blood sprayed wildly from the open wound. He was dead before he even hit the ground though, for the second blow came without mercy as a powerful wall of force crashed into his head and cleaved it cleanly from his shoulders. Edge never looked back as he killed the man, his body still lightly glowing with the remnants of his power. He was afraid to see the results of his own deed, for he wanted to believe that he had not become caught up in this endless spiral of suffering that human beings endured. And yet, did he had any right to even hope anymore? How far had hope brought Mikaeru? How far would it take him before he perished...?

...

However, absolute [truth] does not exist. This is because [truth] is just another human-created concept, making us all capable of creating such a thing since we are all human. It is only absolute if you believe in [fate], because then you have already submitted yourself to the truth of somebody else.

...

Past the crumbling bodies of torn guards and past the great oak doors that led into the castle's great hall, Edge turned down a narrow pathway with a single steel door at the very end. The pounding of his heart filled his ears with every step he took as he reached out weakly for the huge handle that graced the bolted gate. He was barely aware of the crimson stain that covered him from head to toe now, for he was almost at the very end of his long journey. Yu-Lan should be waiting for him just beyond that door, waiting for him to rescue her, waiting to return to their little house in the middle of nowhere to live out the rest of their lives in peace. That's the way it should have been in a perfect world. But this was not that world, and after all that had already happened, Edge found himself fearing what lie beyond that gateway, for as long as he held that light of faith that he could still save the ones he cared for, he at least had that much reason to move on. And though he was terrified of losing everything he held sacred, he strode forward nonetheless, for even though he did not wish to die a meaningless life, he had nowhere left to run anymore.

He tenderly lifted the deadbolt with gentle grace as he turned the giant handle and pushed the door aside. Dark, inky black met his eyes as he struggled to pierce through the darkness. His footsteps echoed closely as he stepped into the room and he immediately knew that it must have been a fairly small chamber compared to the large expansions that the rest of the castle was composed of. He took several steps to the right as he traced his hands along the dirty wall, his finger eventually reaching a corner covered in moss and grime. Hours seemed to pass as he blindly paced about exploring the chamber like a blind mole. Had the soldier lied to him? Was this simply an empty holding cell? A dead end? Had his wife already been executed and everything that he had aspired for this entire war was simply a facade? No, that couldn't be it. Even if it was the truth, he refused to believe it, and as Edge grew increasingly frantic in his search, his body began to give off a light aura as he collected the energy around him and projected it into a tangible form.

The young boy nearly jumped in surprise as a small, huddled figure suddenly became visible through the dark shroud, the soft glow allowing his eyes to gradually adjust to the lack of light around him. At first, he did not think that it could be the one he sought after for so long, for the woman who lie broken and shackled to the wall could only sit weakly on the ground like a sprawled sack of bones and emancipated flesh. Her body was so disfigured by torture and malnutrition that she should not have even been able to grasp the thin thread of life that dangled in front of her face so teasingly. And yet, the closer the young boy drew to the broken prisoner, the more he realized that this was indeed the woman who had brought him stew to the table and warmly kissed him as he had woken up in this new world, for even through all the pain that she had had to endure, he could still recognize those warm features that had etched themselves closely in his heart forever.

"... Yu-Lan?" he whispered softly, crouching down as he approached. He wanted to be the hero, the one who swept in grandly and majestically like a prince on a white horse to carry her off in victory. However, nothing could keep his voice from shivering with terror as he came close to her still body. Nothing could hold back how afraid he was as he reached out to touch her through the fog of darkness. "Is that you, Yu-Lan?"

The woman did not even respond at first, and Edge wondered if the poor soul had already passed away. Yet, gradually movement came to the shattered body, and she turned her bulbous head up towards her benefactor to finally look up at him with sad, sad eyes. He could not hold back his shock as he looked into the woman's gaze, for though the features of his wife were clearly etched upon her face, they were already marred by a gauntness so deep that her skin had folded into the contours of her skull, bringing forth fifty extra years into her once youthful features. Deep scars covered every inch of her appearance, and though many of them had healed enough to no longer leak blood all over her body, many of them were still swollen and red, their delicate flesh threatening to break open at any second.

He could not react at first, so dumbfounded at what had happened to this warm woman whom he loved so much, but it turned out that he didn't need to. Upon vision of her husband, Yu-Lan's sorrowful eyes lit up like the sun, and with a horribly disfigured smile of rotting gums and black teeth, she reached out towards him even though her hands had been chained to the wall like an animal, her lithe body writhing like a snake as she tried to embrace him through her iron bonds.

"No..." whispered the young boy as he reached out through her matted hair and caressed her leathery flesh. And then louder. "NOOOOOO~!!!"

The stone beneath him cracked loudly as his sadness erupted in a bright flare of blue energy, slashing out with his hands at the metal shackles and tearing them free from the dying corpse. He fell to his knees as he rushed forward to embrace her thin, weightless body, but she was so weak that she could not even support herself after he had cut loose her chains, and even as he cried uncontrollably holding her in his arms, she could not even raise her own paper-thin limbs to hug him back.

"How could they do this to you, how could they?!" he wailed, stroking her head softly. "How could they be this cruel?"

He felt her try to raise her own arms to hold him, but he merely held her tighter as he tried to bring comfort to her tired soul.

"It's okay, Yu-Lan, don't waste your energy," he said softly, trying to choke back the salty tears that ran freely down his cheeks. "We'll get you out of here, everybody's come to take down the empire. They're all waiting outside on the verge of victory! Somebody out there can help you, somebody will be able to---"

He did not finish as she somehow found the strength within to bring a bony finger to his lips, the muscle having almost completely deteriorated from the fragile digit. Though he tried to look brave before her, before this woman who had brought him everything that he ever wanted in his life, he could do nothing to defend himself from the gentle eyes that looked him in the face through the mask of a broken human being.

"I'm dying, Shizuru," she rasped through a croaked voice, and Edge felt himself tremble at those words. "But... I'm happy that I got to see you one last time before I had to leave. I'm happy that at least you are still well..."

She reached out to him as she dragged her fingers through the sticky layer of blood that stained his cheek, and Edge wished that he could find the right words to say to her in this time of need. He wished he knew what to do. He wished that he could be stronger, that he had the ability to help her. However, all he could do in that small, quiet prison room was hold her and watch her die. And for some reason, that was more than enough to bring a smile to Yu-Lan's face.

"Yu-Lan..." he whispered, his face quaking uncontrollably as hiccups forced themselves up through his throat.

"Is... Sanjurroh okay?" asked his wife gently, worry softly creasing her brow as her breathing grew fast and irregular. "Is... our son okay?"

"Sanjurroh... is fine," said Edge, and he forced himself to smile through all the sorrow for this woman as he watched the life slowly ebb away from her broken shell. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him. I'll make sure that he grows up to be strong just like his mother."

And she smiled her kind smile as she summoned the last of her strength and wrapped her arms warmly around her husband.

"Then I have nothing to worry about, right?" she whispered, her voice fading away like a cool night breeze. "Thank you for coming to see me one last time before I had to go. It was the best thing you could have done for me. Just promise that you'll go on living, ne? Promise me that you'll live on to be very, very old so that I can watch you be happy from above..."

"... I will, Yu-Lan," he said softly, hugging her tightly. "... I promise."

But she was already gone, and though the last of her spirit had left the body that had been beaten to death by the cruelty of Shin's mighty empire, her embrace remained strong and true, refusing to let go of the young boy long after she had already passed away.

Slowly, Edge forced himself to lay the body down, closing her tortured eyes with his fingers and crossing her thin arms across her sunken chest. Slowly, he forced himself to turn around and walk out of the room to leave his deceased wife behind forever. And as he left the single prison cell and stood in the long, empty hallway all alone, he did not protest as the emptiness tore through him like a knife, nor when the boiling, red anger rose up like a volcano and spilled out all over the face of the world.

"Yu-Lan," he whispered softly, looking at his clawed, trembling hand as he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth in pain. He was supposed to be a robot, something that did not possess a nervous system. No matter how hard he was thrown about or torn apart, he was not supposed to feel anguish. Yet, things in the world existed that were far worse than any kind of physical suffering that had ever existed, and he felt all of those quite poignantly no matter how hard he tried to shut them out.

It started softly at first, the trembling vibrations in his throat carrying through the air like a newborn child reaching through the new world to embrace the unknown beyond. And then it grew louder, angrier, taking on form and momentum as the entire world was bathed in a crimson sea. And suddenly it blotted out everything in sight as Edge screamed into the morning of a new day like an injured, wild beast, the very foundation of the world shaking in fear beneath his cries. His gravitational aura tore through the stone like butter as he suddenly whirled about and smashed his bloodied fist through the granite, blowing a hole clear out into the open sky beyond. He did not stop as he whirled about without hesitation and crashed into the other wall, tearing off the ceiling in a hail of flying bricks and mortar. He lashed out at everything he could hurt, everything he could destroy, until there was nothing left anymore and he stood alone amongst a pile of rubble underneath the orange and purple heavens above. The only thing left untouched was the cell behind him and his wife's sacred body. He longed to turn back and hold her once again, regardless if life had already fled from her silent form, but he forced his feet onwards once again as he trod through the castle like an angel of death. There was nothing left for him here anymore. Life moved on and stopped for nobody, and he could not be an exception in this horrible, bloodthirsty world. And even as he could hear the rebels rise up in fury against the empire within the confines of the fortress itself, he knew the last thing that he had to do before he would find his peace.

He could only move forward now. There was only one place left for him to go...

...

End "Empty Soul"