Scar Chapter: 1 Sympathy for the Devil --------------------------------------------------------------- On that day five years ago the world changed..... "Everyone MOVE GO GO GO!" screams one man dressed in a tattered Millitary officer's uniform as sirens sound and people dressed for combat flood a narrow hallway. .....as if one man had split open the gates of Hell..... "There's no time to waste get out of here now. EVACUATE NOW!" As the millitary dressed man directed the flow of humanity he noticed one of his soldiers calmly leaned against a wall contemplating the contents of a book. He pushed his way through the crowd to confront this man much younger than he. "DAMMIT CHRISTIAN MOVE OUT!" The man identified as Cristian calmly dog eared his page, closed his book and put it into his shirt pocket before even turning his attention to the officer. ....his power left the world in chaos. In search of the greatest strength his fists crushed nations and his feet trampled entire civilizations.... Christian spoke up. "Go ahead. I have no intention of fleeing. I'll stay behind and fight my way through." "Christian I don't give a fuck if you're the master of the HikariSen or whatever the hell else and I don't care if you once beat him in battle. That's an army out there with guns. If you get shot you die." The officer yelled into Christian's face. "Your logic isn't flawed sir. But then again. We all know that my abillities tend to deffy logic." "Christian you were never an official soldier so I can't order you to go but I don't want you to get killed." "Death is fleeting sir. You shouldn't worry about me. Either way we knew the day would come when I would leave. You probably won't see me again no matter what the outcome." ....Kagesenin emerged from the shadows and turned the world to ash... The coridoors of a base in the middle of a place once called Germany were now empty save for one man in white. Christians walk was slow and steady. He stepped out of a steel door surrounded in concrete which protruded from otherwise flat and baren ground. Christians boots stuck in the mud as he walked forward. A black line on the horizon was all the indication he needed that a battle was coming. The cold wind blew hard as he waited patiently for an entire batallion to approach him. "This is my entrance back into the world. I dropped from existance five years ago. Like a coward I hid thinking Malus would forget his vendeta. My refusing to settle the battle I am as much responsible for this as he is if not more so. Now I will send my signal. The time has come for Malus to find me. It's unfortunate that I'll have to use these people fighting for soem cause I do not know as my pawns." Christan closed his eyes. The distance between himself and the oncoming soldiers had halved. Now it was clear. Most were on foot. A few ancient barely functional tanks were also among the ranks. Christian extended his palm and made a fist. He drew back his fist by only an inch and then thrust it forward shouting the same words that he blamed for throwing the world into turmoil. "HIKARISENPO!" When christian opened his eyes he saw the destruction he had set fourth. Dismembered bodies still flung through the air along with clumps of soil and pieces of exploded machines. Even from Christans position he could hear the splat of human insides slapping the ground and spraying on the companions closer to the flanks whom had been spared the full brunt of the attack. No doubt among the dead and the living there were now the half dead, who's limbs were torn off and organs spilled but still clinging to the horrific last moments of life. Christians keen hearing heard the conversation of two uninjured soldiers among the screams of pain and horror. "MINES IT'S MINED!" One soldier shouted. Christian next knew that one among them had seen his burning aura. "NO LOOK! IT....IT'S HIM. KAGESENIN IS HERE! WE'RE ALL DEAD WE'RE ALL DEAD!" It took only the word Kagesenin to send the soldiers into a full retreat. And once agian the field was silent. Christian stepped back through the doorway to gether his possessions before taking his leave. Christan back in his quarters reached for a picture. It contained himself and Malus. The picture must have been six years old. THe day before the day they saw each other last. Both were smiling cheerfully. "Malus....Why can't we have those days back. I can forget what you did five years ago if you can forget what I did the year before." Christian said with a sigh. Christian filled his pack with provisions and threw a heavy cloak around himself for the long cold journey ahead. Passing by the door he picked up the wooden sword leaning against the wall leaving the gun issued him and nothing else behind. Christians wanderings took him to the nearest town on the map. Of course his map was rather dated considering that no satelites have been available to make accurate maps for five years. The streets were empty and no lights were on. The power lines were mostly broken except for a few jury rigged lines most likely made by the last survivors. "This place stinks of blood and rotting flesh." Said Christian pulling his scarf over his face. Christians eye cought movement and light in the distance. "A survivor?" He said to himself as he wandered down the street toward the light. When he found its source he looked to the ground to see a flashlight. "Hmmmm" Christian mumbled as he picked it up feeling it was still warm from a hand having held it. "Without manufacturers something like this would be valuable. A person wouldn't just drop it without good reason." Christian thought as he switched it off to save battery power and relied on the moonlight for his sight. Christian stepped down a side road following his intuition and the feeling that someone had recently been there. What Christian saw horrified him. A crowd of humanity. No not humanity but a mockery there of. Rotting corpses still wandering about and lurching at varying speeds depeinding on how intact they were were all converging on one point and at that point was one normal human. A boy clad in a pair of baggy shorts a Tshirt and light jacket all of which were ragged, torn and dirty lay Unconcious on the street. The crowd of undead had him surrounded. Christian made his move throwing his cloak on the ground and rushing into the fray with his wooden sword gripped tightly in both hands. He started by laying his boken (1) into the skull of one zombie splitting it open spilling its contents on the pavement returning the zombie to a state of non animation. Cristian continued his assault turning the Undead crowd's attention to him and away from the boy he was deffending. He swung his Boken hard laying three zombies in half at the waist with one swipe. Unfortuantely that did little to hald their advance. Realizing the optimum means of dissabling his enemies threw a sweeping kick at the head of one of the three creeping torsos sending its head smashing into the one next to it "killing" both of them. The third animate corpse Christian decapitated with an upward kick sending the head into the sky then kicking it again with a high roundhouse much like it were a soccer ball and crashing it into the face of an aproaching zombie with a sickening crunch. Christian counted five remaining zombies one of which he split in half vertically with his boken as it lunged. With there remaining none in the boy's direction and two on each of christians sides he held out his hands shouting "HIKARIHA!" then crossing his hands fired off two white balls of force one asailant on each side to cindars. Christian rolled forward as the two remaining zombies lunged at him allowing them to collide. The stronger of the two soul less abominations quickly tore its partner assunder before turning to christian whom with a horizontal swipe tore halfway inot the creatures skull across the eyes. The zombie slumped forward letting the contents of its brainpan spill out before falling backward dead once more. Christian stood still for a moment scanning the area for any more assailants before he stood up stright and whipped his boken to the side letting teh blood that clung to it splatter off onto the ground. Christian then went to check on the boy whom he had just fought to save. He first checked for a pulse finding the boy cold and shivering but still alive. Christian rolled him over onto his back to check for any further injuries and found none other than that the child's skin was completely grey from the dirt clinging to him. Christian retrieved his cloak and wrapped the boy in it carrying him a few paces trying to think of a safe place. "This place isn't safe.... ...hmmm....It's a long journey. But it is warm and there's still ample suplies there. I suppose if I've made the trek once today I can make it again. I'd best hurry. It will be even colder once the sun sets." Said Christian to himself as he walked away carrying his young passenger. ....is there any hope for our world now? Or has my cowardice doomed us all..... Hours had passed and the sun was setting. Inside the underground bunker Christian had not too long ago thought he'd seen the last of the child was beginning to stir. His aisan eyes opened slowly to find Christian sitting over him. After mumbling incoherently he looked to Christian and asked. "Are you an angel?" Christian smiled and giggled a bit. "No I'm just someone who's trying to help." he replied. "Where am I?" the boy asked "I took you to an empty bunker some distance from the town I found you in. It's safe here and there's food and clean water." Christian answered. The boy's eyes lit up with gratitude. "OH THANK YOU I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE THERE!" He said with joy in his voice. "It was nothing. I do my best to help my fellow human being." Said Christian. "Thank you si...." The boy was saying as his stomach rumbled. "Oh sorry about that. I just haven't eaten in a few days." "Come on you need to eat something. I'm getting rather hungry myself. We can finnish our conversation over dinner. I hope you like MREs" Christian said turning to the door. The boy climbed out of bed and felt the cool floor on his bare feet then looked down to find himself dressed in a shirt far too large for him. So much that it touched the floor. "Hey where's my stuff?" the boy asked. "Sorry but you were filthy. Your clothes are being washed. I'll try to patch them up later. You could use a bath yourself." "But I'm hungry" Christian laughed a bit. "Relax you can eat first kid." Not much later Christian and the boy sat at the end of a long empty table. "So instead of calling you kid all the time why don't you tell me your name." Christian asked. "Oh my name's Ryomaru." "I thought so. So you're japanese. What were you doing in Germany?" "Well I don't remember it too well but I think we were on vacation and got stuck a long time ago." "All air traffic was grounded five years ago after Washington was destroyed. So you've been in Germany for five years." Ryomaru looked to his fingers and started counting. "Hey that makes me eight years old thanks I've been wondering about that for awhile." "So you were only three when the end of the world started? What happened to your parents?" Ryomaru looked down at his plate stirring his food a bit. "They said for me to stay right there and they would come back. But some people took me out of the city saying something about a bomb." "The bombing of Berlin. That was during the mass nuclear response an hour after the destruction of washington. You're very fortunate to have survived." "I don't feel very lucky. After that everyone started dying and they came back as zombies. I'm the only one left now." Christian reached into his pocket pulling out the flashlight he had found earlier. "I think this is yours. It's good quallity a metal body five hundred candle power halogen bulb and..." "MAMA!" Ryomaru exclaimed grapping the light away. "Mama?" Christian said confused. "Mama gave this to me and said to never ever lose it. Thank you for finding it mister uhm..." "Christian. My name is Christian." "Thank you Mister Christian." (2) "Oh no just Christian. I don't like formal titles. And I'll do my best not to call you little Ryomaru. Deal?" (3) "Heheh deal Christian." "Well finnish your meal. We can stay here for the night but I need to keep moving. It looks like you'll be traveling with me for awhile so I hope you have strong legs." Time passed. Christians new friend, the young Ryomaru enjoyed a hot bath and slept in a warm bed for the first time in who knows how long. Christian found however that sleep would not come to him. In the bunker inhabited by only two souls Christian paced down the hallway. "It looks like I have a new friend. A friend.... ...not since that day six years ago. I've had allies but no friends. This changes everything. I'll have to change my plans now. God deffinately has a sense of humor. Just when i thought I had it all figured out he went and gave me something to live for." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnotes: 1. Boken: a wooden sword resembling a katana. 2. A refference to japanese name suffixes. Christian San or "mister Christian" which would be a semi formal means of reffering to someone. 3. Japanese name suffix Chancommonly used to reffer to a child "little Ryomaru"