The Story of Tata Chapter 11
Destined to Fight
By The Man
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!" screamed Tata as he hurled himself at Len. He drew his sword in mid-jump. "You bastard!! I'll kill you!!"
"No, you won't." Len snickered even as Tata came dangerously close to his target. Len nodded slightly and a black lightning bolt struck from the sky, delivering a blow that knocked Tata clean out of the air. He hit the ground hard, a large burn mark smoking on his shoulder.
Glenn drew the Masamune, beckoning for Len to duel. "Do not delude yourself into thinking you will survive, Len." He growled.
"I don't delude myself." Responded Len. "I know I will."
With that, he pulled out a black blade that resembled Crono's Rainbow in shape and size. Marle drew the Valkreye and fired a quarrel at Len, but in a quick move, he shattered it with his blade. But this was enough of a distraction as Glenn and Crono leapt through the air at him. He was quick to react and shot another black bolt at Crono while at the same time, parrying the Masamune with his own sword. Crono plowed into the ground as Glenn struck again with his great blade. Len dodged it and sliced upward, aiming for his head. But another sword stopped it, the two blades creating a shower of sparks. It was Tata. The two held their blades in a death grip, until Len punched the youth in the face, sending him back a step. Len followed up with another black bolt that slammed Tata in the chest and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Glenn stabbed at Len's chest, but the attack was parried by the black blade. Len drew back his fist and punched Glenn in the stomach. Originally, the powerful armor would have taken the blow, but Len's punch hit hard on Glenn's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Crono charged him, his sword pointed right at Len's heart. But Len easily sidestepped the blade and shot another black bolt into his back, causing Crono to fall to the ground in a heap. Marle fired a icicle that was as big as herself at him. He waved his hand in a dismissive manner and it sort of faded away a few feet in front of him. He returned the attack with a fireball, which Marle easily dodged. But Len had anticipated the move and jumped straight at her, his sword pointed right at her. She couldn't stop her momentum, and the black blade went strait through her heart just as Tata regained consciousness. She screamed once before her breath was gone, and then her body went limp.
"Marle!! Nooooooo!!" yelled Tata.
Len continued to hold the blade in her, its point scraping the ground. Her body began to slide down the blade as he mumbled a few words. Then, a black glow covered her body, electricity flowing out of the blanket of darkness. This gave Tata time to get back on his feet and begin to charge Len. Then, the darkness was gone. So was Marle.
"You murdering bastard!!" screeched Tata as he plowed into his foe. The two struggled on the ground for a minute punches and kicks flying about, before Tata's sword was knocked free. Len grabbed him by the throat and stood up, holding the youth a few inches above the ground. Tata struggled for a little bit, but finally gave that up.
"You still don't know who I really am, do you?" he inquired.
"Huh?" uttered Tata.
Len shook his head dismissively and flung Tata to the ground. Instantly, Tata was up and charged forward again, but a black, yet transparent block was encased around him.
"Lemme outta here, dammit!" he shouted, pounding on the block to no avail.
"Oh, but don't you want to know why I'm here?" he asked, grinning.
"I don't care why!" shouted Tata. "I want to know how you managed to follow me!"
"Very well." Answered Len. "You may want to make yourself comfortable. This is gonna take a while."
Len chuckled to himself, then continued. "When that trial was over, I knew you and that bitch Minka would show up again. But I once said that beating up on you was indeed enjoyable to me, but that I may one day get bored of it and dispose of you. Well, that day was the day I did get bored of it. I decided to eliminate of you, but to first make you suffer, just for on last laugh. I tried to think of how to hurt you as much as possible, but with all your family dead, I didn't have a lot of options. But then I found the perfect candidate. I knew where she lived and everything. It was perfect."
"You…" growled Tata.
"Yes, Tata." Len answered Tata's unspoken question. "I wouldn't have had it any other way. She was totally unsuspecting. I climbed up to her window and killed her. It was almost too easy; she hardly had the chance to put up a fight. I gutted her, making sure to make it very messy."
Len breathed in and smiled as Tata's expression turned to one of extreme fury. He continued. "But then her mother came up, alarmed by the noise, I suppose. She was a much more accomplished fighter than her weakling daughter, and gave me a good beating. But before she could finish me off, a fat, green Mystic sliced her up. He, like me, made quite a mess. When he was done, he congratulated me on a fine kill. He rewarded me by giving me a little liquid called 'Hinn,' as he called it, saying it would make me all-powerful."
He held up his hands in front of Tata. "As you can see, it was advertised suitably. But there was one little detail that no one, not even myself had counted on."
"What, you finally realized you were a gutless son of a bitch that without courage or honor?" inquired Tata cynically.
Len's smile broadened. "No, Tata. Not at all. You see, you and I play an integral role in the big scheme of things. There are nine different parallel earths, each one different. When a person dies, his soul walks by these gates toward the afterlife, but he can choose to enter one of the dimensions, thus being born again. He loses all memory of his past lives each time he does this, and thus, lives out his newest lifetime. But if the soul chooses not to enter any of these gates, he will enter the afterlife, which is separated into three parts: Ji'groo, which is for the nefarious. Oske', for the common folk. And then there's Eimla, for the heroes. Well, many millennia ago, the ruler of Ji'groo tricked a hero named Kane to enter his realm, when the man should've gone to Eimla. The ruler of Ji'groo then set about turning Kane into an all-powerful sorcerer to serve his will. He still is, I do believe. But this trickery enraged the ruler of Eimla, and soon a heated dispute occurred between the two. It got so out of hand that one of the dimensions, the ninth one, became a poisonous, evil world.
Neither leader profited from this, rather it made them severely weaker. They realized that they couldn't conflict with each other directly, so they created fighters to fight their battles, like knights on a chess board. Once they were finished creating these two perfect fighters, they sent them out into the realms to battle. Those perfect fighters are us. You from Eimla, myself from Ji'groo. We were exiled from the afterlife because we are destined to fight. We have fought for many lifetimes, over and over again, always coming back, always finding one another, but neither of us ever winning."
Len began to hover above Tata. He extended his arm towards him. "And now we must fight again the forever battle. It is our destiny. Yours and mine."
Then, a white light streamed from Len's arm, connecting with the block that encased Tata. It shone brilliantly, like sunshine on a hot summer day. Then, a burst of the light surged through the stream and struck Tata. He writhed, but not in pain. The feeling almost mad him tickle on the insides. Finally, it ended and Tata rose from the ground, his eyes set in a firm look of anger.
"Grendel." He uttered.
"Beowulf." Responded 'Grendel.' "It's been a while."
"Not long enough." Responded 'Beowulf.' With that, he slammed the sides of his chamber, which gave away under the impact. He drew his sword.
"Now we must fight." Said Grendel.
"Indeed." Answered Beowulf. "Forever."
.
End of Chapter 11
.