The Chronicles of Oaska: The Story of Karase (Chapter 5)
Chapter 5
Karase quickly caught himself before he went into a state of deeper panic. His next thought was trying to calm Myste down; the last thing he wanted was for her to panic. What he didn’t know was that she was thinking the exact same thing about him. They stared into each other’s eyes wondering what the other is thinking, and what was going to them right now. With every passing moment they drew closer and closer. They were finally embraced in each other’s arms; suddenly the burning sensation in Karase’s arm became unbearable. He began to scream in pain, it felt as if his arm would burst into flames at any moment. “What’s happening?!” Myste screamed. “Don’t take one step closer; give me space, I need to breathe.” Karase said. Neither of them knew what was going on. Then Karase heard a voice in his head. It was a beautiful voice, a voice more beautiful than his beloved Myste. However her beautiful voice did not give a beautiful message. The woman’s voice said, “Ye shall be put the test. Your soul will be cast in blood; and ye shall be guilty of many things” just repeated in his head. Now Karase was beginning to believe that he was insane. Soon, a calming sensation just came over him; in an instant he was calm, he thought it was Myste that brought this feeling of peace to him. He forgot where he was, his mind went completely blank; in a weird kind of way Karase went into a state of pure bliss.
When Karase finally returned from his blissful mind state, he realized the burning sensation and the markings on his arms were gone. He looked over at Myste and the same was true for her too. Karase began to worry what was happening and he knew that Myste was too. He couldn’t figure out what the words in his head were. Now he was saying them to himself over and over again. He kept trying to find a meaning behind those words; however none could come to him.
Finally, they decided to leave and go home. On the way out another thought popped into Karase’s head. “The Senate, whatever happened to them?” he thought to himself. He immediately dismissed the thought when he saw Myste in front of him. His mind began to wander. He was thinking how beautiful she was and how great a fighter she was. The phrase “Looks can kill” came to mind when he thought of this. He laughed to himself.
Soon enough they were out of the medical ward and on their way home. Myste was oddly silent on the way back home. Karase simply thought it was because she was scared from what just happened. He looked into her eyes; he was trying to figure out what she was thinking. If it had been anyone else he would have been able to figure it out; strangely Myste was good at hiding her thoughts from him. It made Karase feel alone; she was always closed off to him and he could never figure out why. Constantly she did this to him, it always frustrated him. From what he could tell, she did not appear scared; in fact she seemed more annoyed than anything else. Like many of his thoughts lately, he simply dismissed it and thought nothing more of it. “Karase, what are you thinking?” Myste asked him. “Me? Not much, just how beautiful you are.” He replied. “What about you?” he said. “I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Karase, you do know you’re basically all that I have now. All my family is gone now. Please, Karase, don’t ever let me go.” She told him, she began to weep. “Don’t cry. You know I’ll never leave your side. I’m with you always.” Karase told her while embracing her.
They finally arrived at Karase’s home. He had assumed that Myste wanted to stay with him again that night, so he turned to invite her in, but she was gone. He merely thought that she went home and that was it. So he just turned and went inside alone.
Again he started to think about what had happened that day. He went over to his bed and lied down. He looked out his window, it was getting dark. He had not bothered to turn on any lights on in his home; he liked the dark. He just lied on his bed, thinking. Slowly he’d drift into sleep, yet wake up an hour or so later. He repeated this process several times over. He couldn’t get any sleep whatsoever. Karase was still lying in bed when the sun came up, it was morning. Karase didn’t feel tired at all; though not being tired was never before a reason not to sleep. Karase learned early on to take any chance he had to sleep. He was about to regret not getting any sleep. Moments later an alarm sounded. “Damn It!” he shouted. He got up and got ready for battle just as he had many, many times before.
Karase marched into battle with his soldiers. Karase could tell that his soldiers were getting tired of this; he couldn’t blame them, he was too. It hadn’t even been a full 24 hours since their last attack. From where he was he could see the oncoming enemy attack. At this point, there was no chain of command; everyone just listened to Karase’s orders and followed them accordingly. He was the only person in the Oaskan military who knew the enemy well enough to think up a strategy against them. He was running now shouting orders left and right. Shooting every enemy he saw. The battle was intense. “No one dies today do you understand me!” he told his soldiers. Then he saw him. Karase caught sight of Healin. Almost immediately, Karase began to run after him. While he was running Karase entered into another state of emptiness and almost total bliss. It was as if he was sleeping but awake; dreaming yet lucid. He again heard the voice that spoke to him the previous day. This time the woman’s voice said, “Your Venus Angel is watching you. Be wary of the truths you follow. Soon you will have to make a decision, chose wisely.” He returned to the battlefield. “My Venus Angel?” he said to himself, “Keskinia? No it can’t be, can it?” He immediately realized he was back on the battlefield and quickly chased after Healin. “Here we go again, huh?” Healin said. “Oh you know it!” Karase shouted. Karase pulled out his sword, the Hiragisha, strangely he could actually understand what the writing on the blade said this time. It said, “Cast in blood; ye are guilty.” Karase had no time to wonder what it meant at the moment, so he did not. He instead focused all his energy on fighting Healin. Strike after strike, Karase blocked attempt. Karase lunged forward for a strike barely missed and was caught off guard from the side. Healin just nicked the top of Karase’s arm. Karase quickly turned around and swung his sword at Healin’s head; he dodged the blade at the last second. Healin then sung upward with his sword completely missing Karase. Karase, getting tired of the sword play, quickly drew his pistol from its holster and fired a barrage of bullets in Healin’s direction. Unfortunately Healin had already moved from his position dodging the bullets. Karase turned and found the Healin behind him. Healin had already matched Karase, in which he already had his pistol aimed at Karase. He fired. Karase already knew what was going to happen.
“Wake up! Karase, wake up!” said a woman’s voice. “Keskinia?” he said. “What? No! It’s Myste, wake up!” she shouted. Karase opened his eyes, and sure enough Myste was standing above him.
He couldn’t quite figure out where he was. He wasn’t sure if he was at home, in the middle of the battleground, or even if he was in the medical ward. To him the only thing that mattered at the moment was that Myste was with him. He looked around and he saw that he was on the ground where he was fighting Healin. He looked at himself and found that he was not injured at all. “What happened?” he asked Myste. “Not sure,” she said, “No one saw you come up here. It wasn’t until we noticed you weren’t fighting with the rest of us that we realized you were missing.” Karase looked himself over again. This time he saw something on his arm, a mark. It was a mark of angel’s wings. “Keskinia,” he said under his breath, “why are you doing this?” He couldn’t figure out what was happening or why. All he knew was that he was alive because of her and he is indebted to her. Karase got up from the ground at last. He was beginning to question whether or not that fight with Healin actually happened. He noticed that everything was quiet. “What happened? Where is everyone?” he asked. “They returned to base. We successfully made the incoming Cyran insurgents retreat.” Myste said. “Good work!” Karase replied.
To my Venus Angel:
Soon we will be together.
