Chapter 30
Back at the mansion, Kuro begins to grow impatient as the Black Cat Pirates had failed to arrive in the village, and leaves for the shore vowing to kill them if they had forgotten. At the shore, Jango hypnotizes the recovering pirates to become stronger than before, however Luffy also falls for the hypnotism and attacks the pirates in a rage, resulting in the destruction of the pirate ship's bow. About to attack with the now separated bow, Jango quickly puts Luffy to sleep who then drops the bow onto himself and several other pirates. Thinking the Black Cat Pirates defeated, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp are proven wrong when Jango reveals they have two remaining fighters. Back in the village, Tamanegi finds it strange to see the butler walking around so early.
Great
On the mansion doors steps, Kuro sits and he says the word "late". He pictures the other servant laying on the floor, injured and the room cut up from his attack. He comments on if Jango and the others are late he would kill them, setting off to find out where they may have gone.
On the slope, Jango stands behind his fallen crew. While Jango is looking on in awe and commenting to his crew about being defeated by a bunch of kids, Zoro, Luffy, Nami, and Usopp argue. Jango hypnotizes the crew into thinking that they are stronger than before, with one demonstrating this new found strength by shattering the nearby cliff wall. Sending them after Luffy and the others however, it is revealed that Jango also hypnotized Luffy at the same time to Zoro's complete disbelief.
Thrown into a hypnotized induced rage, Luffy successfully knocks back the Black Cat Pirates with his Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun. Proceeding to storm past the invading pirates, Luffy grabs the figurehead of their ship and tears it off, turning to face the pirates. Realizing Luffy's intent to whack the entire crew with it, Jango quickly hypnotizes Luffy into falling asleep, causing the latter to drop the bow and crush himself and several pirates with it, the figurehead barely missing Jango himself. With Luffy having defeated the crew, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp begin to celebrate only for Jango to remind his crew that they will face Kuro's wrath if they fail.
While Zoro ensures the others know Luffy is not dead, two new voices suddenly call from on board the ship as somebody notices the stern missing; and Jango identifies them as the Nyaban Brothers.
Back at the village, Kuro heads towards the north coast only for Tamanegi to sight him; wondering why the butler would be walking around that early.
Mission 15
At the Forger home, Anya tells Loid of a rumor she heard from Becky Blackbell that there is a chance to earn a Stella Star in P.E. class. Determined to help Anya do well, Yor and Anya train for the class. On the day of the game, Anya, Becky, and Damian's gang have a bit of an argument before they go line up on the court. Anya then hears Damian's desire to become an Imperial Scholar to get his father's attention. As the Cecile Hall and Wald Hall students line up against each other, Henry Henderson announces that he will be overseeing their interclass dodgeball match as their usual teacher Coach Bobby is out sick.
Damian throws the first ball of the game but it is quickly caught by Bill Watkins, a unusually large and muscular student from Wald Hall. Bill throws the ball back at Cecile's team, eliminating four members. Becky attempts to take him out, but he ends up catching the ball and throwing it right back at her, eliminating her. Bill continues his destruction until the matchup gets to 15-5. Cecile's team now only consists of Anya, Damian, Ewen Egeburg, Emile Elman, and one other unnamed student. Damian, concerned, tries to come up with a plan to take out Bill.
While Damian is lost in thought, Bill fires another ball off towards Damian. Emile jumps in the way, saving Damian from doom. Bill tries to hit Damian again, but this time Ewen jumps in the way. With three players left on Cecile Hall, Bill decides to go after Anya next. He throws a low ball at her, but she reads his mind and jumps to avoid it. He throws three more shots, but they all miss her, with the final one hitting the unnamed student. Damian compliments her dodging skills, while Anya inches closer to out of bounds. Becky notices this and yells at Anya to stay in bounds. Anya is surprised by this and ends up falling over.
Bill sees his chance and hurls a ball toward Anya while yelling "Die!!!" Damian looks at her pitifully, but ultimately jumps in the way of the ball and tries to catch it. He ends up failing and is eliminated from the game. Damian realizes that he cannot get MVP now, meaning there is no chance he will get a Stella Star, which upsets him. With her class's chance of winning now resting on her, Anya decides to use the "knockout shot" that she learned from Yor in their training.
Anya announces that she will get revenge for Damian's "death," and as she tries to remember the technique Yor taught her, she makes a dramatic throw at Bill. The ball ends up going right toward the ground, though, and Bill quickly throws the ball right back at her and hits her. Bill and his team are excited, thinking he will get a Stella Star. However, Henry informs them that they do not give out Stella Stars for P.E., but he may need to give Bill a Tonitrus Bolt for yelling "Die!!!" at Anya. Damian rushes over to Anya, yelling at her that his sacrifice was all for nothing. Henry Henderson had been contemplating the idea that they deserved a Stella Star for their cooperation but changes his mind after seeing the two arguing once again.
Baron Samedi
Death. If you think that it means the end, then allow me to introduce you to someone.
You thought it was all over, but Baron Samedi is going to change your mind. The only fire here is in the water, so share a drink with him. Let the sights and sounds entrance you. Join the celebration, feel your pulse pounding so hard you've forgotten your heart stopped beating.
Forget what you think you know. There is a life after death, and Baron Samedi will be your guide. So come along and let Baron Samedi show you the wonders of a whole new world, and that even a god of death can be the life of the party.
After all, what have you got to lose?
Traitor King
The former king of Azjol-Nerub, Anub'arak was among the Nerubians slaughtered in the War of the Spider. One of his most loyal commanders was Anub'Rekhan. Ner'zhul the Lich King raised the high lords of the Spider Kingdom, Anub'arak among them, as undead to do his bidding. As a malicious crypt lord, he was forced to use his powers to purge the snow-swept landscape of any remaining resistance to the reign of the Lich King.
Anub'arak was sent south to meet Arthas Menethil when he arrived in Northrend. Anub'arak saved the death knight from an attack by blood elves before he introduced himself and told Arthas of Ner'zhul's plans. Anub'arak helped Arthas establish a base, then masterminded the attack on the blue dragon Sapphiron. Anub'arak told Arthas that it would take too long to fight their way through the forces led by Kael'thas and Vashj. He formulated a plan to go through the underground ruins of Azjol-Nerub to reach Icecrown, but warned that it would be a perilous journey.
Anub'arak led Arthas into the ruined kingdom, negating many perilous traps along the way. All the while he fought against his former subjects, the living nerubians, who called him the "traitor king". They encountered survivors of Muradin's expedition, led by Baelgun, who reported that an ancient evil had been released beneath the kingdom. Anub'arak and Arthas defeated the dwarves and broke into the Inner Kingdom. Soon, they came upon the evil the dwarves had spoken of - the Faceless Ones, strange creatures who had been imprisoned beneath the earth long ago. They even fought against a mighty Forgotten One. Upon entering the Upper Kingdom, an earthquake separated Anub'arak from Arthas. After digging through the rubble and finding the death knight unharmed, Anub'arak realized why Ner'zhul had chosen Arthas as his champion.
Anub'arak ushered Arthas out of Azjol-Nerub and to the surface, where they engaged with Illidan Stormrage and his servants in a battle for the Frozen Throne. Anub'arak defended Arthas as he magically activated the four obelisks surrounding Icecrown's pinnacle, then stood by as Arthas climbed the stairs to his destiny.
Chapter 2
"Surely your survival is a sign, a message from the Light."
"It blesses each of us in its own way. When the time comes, you will find it again."
"I hope that is true, old friend. I just... I do not feel the same. Something within me has changed."
"Nonsense. You are tired and confused, and after all you have been through, you cannot be faulted for either. Get some rest."
Rolc exited the cave. Nobundo laid back and closed his eyes....
Cries. The frantic pleas of the females.
Nobundo's eyes snapped open. He had been here for several days now, in one of the few camps occupied by those who had gone into hiding before the battle. Yet he could not escape the heartrending screams of the women he had left to die. They called out to him every time he closed his eyes, imploring him to help them, to save them.
You had no choice.
But was that really the truth of it? He was not so sure. Recently Nobundo found it increasingly difficult to think clearly. His thoughts were muddy, disjointed. He sighed heavily and got up from his blanket on the stone floor, groaning as his sore joints protested.
He stepped out into the misty marshland air and worked his way through a sodden reed bed. Zangarmarsh was an inhospitable territory, but for the time being at least, it was home.
The wetlands had always been largely avoided by the orcs, and for good reason. The entire region was covered with shallow, brackish water; many of the flora and fauna were poisonous if not properly prepared; and many of the larger wetland creatures would eat anything that did not eat them first.
As Nobundo navigated several towering giant mushrooms, he heard raised voices: a commotion near the edge of camp.
He hurried to see what was happening. Three battered draenei, two male and one female, were being assisted by camp members past the perimeter guards. Another, unconscious, was carried behind them.
Nobundo shot a questioning glance to one of the guards, who responded to the unspoken enquiry: "Survivors from Shattrath."
Galvanized, Nobundo followed the party back to the caves, where the survivors were carefully laid down on blankets. Rolc laid his hands on the unconscious one first, but was unable to awaken him.
The female, seemingly in a daze, was muttering, "Where are we? What has happened? I do not feel--something is..."
Rolc came and shushed her. "Just relax. You are among friends now. Everything is going to be fine."
Nobundo wondered. Would everything be fine? Orcish hunting parties had already discovered one camp and wiped it out. And these four, how had they survived? What horrors had the female witnessed? What had driven the unconscious one to his catatonic state? Even more, the way they looked and behaved... Nobundo wondered if their injuries went beyond the physical: they appeared drained, dispirited.
They looked the way he felt.
Several days later the survivors had recovered sufficiently for Nobundo to feel comfortable asking them about Shattrath.
The female, Korin, spoke first. Her voice broke as she recounted the experience. "We were lucky. We stayed deep in the mountain, in one of the few hiding places that remained undiscovered... at least for the most part."
Nobundo looked puzzled.
"At one point a band of the green-skinned monsters found us. The battle that followed was... I have never seen such things. Four of the men who had volunteered to defend our group were slaughtered, but they killed many of the orcs as well. Finally only Herac and Estes were left. They killed the brutal creatures that remained. They were savage beasts. And those eyes, those terrible eyes..." Korin shuddered at the memory.
Estes spoke: "There was an explosion. Moments later a putrid gas filtered into our hiding place, choking us, causing a sickness such as none of us had ever felt before."
Nobundo thought of the unnatural red mist and quickly forced the memory away. Herac broke in. "It felt as if we were dying. Most of us blacked out. When we awoke, it was morning. The upper levels were deserted. We made our way into the Barrier Hills, and from there journeyed into Nagrand, where we were found many days later."
"How many of you were there?"
Herac answered: "Twenty, maybe more. Mostly women, some children. Others trickled in days later, like the one who lies unconscious in the cave... Akama, they said his name is. We were told he caught a larger dose of the gas than any of the other survivors. Rolc is still unsure if he will ever..." Herac broke off and fell silent.
Estes continued, "Later we were split up and sent to different camps throughout Zangarmarsh and Nagrand. A precaution, so that if one of the camps were discovered by the orcs, we would not all be killed."
"Were any of you priests or Vindicators--wielders of the Light?"
All three shook their heads. "I cannot speak for Akama, but Estes and I were simple craftsmen, unaccustomed to wielding a weapon of any kind. That was why we were assigned to the caves: to be a last line of defense."
Korin asked Nobundo, "When you escaped, did any others make it with you? Were there more survivors? We heard the orcs in the lower levels, but we did not want to risk discovery, so we fled."
Nobundo thought of the piled bodies in Lower City... heard the pleas from Aldor Rise, tried to force the tortured screams from his mind.
"No," he answered. "There were no more that I know of."
Seasons passed.
Velen, their prophet leader, had visited them two days ago... or was it four? Lately Nobundo found it harder to remember some things. Velen had come from one of the neighboring camps. His exact location remained a closely guarded secret, in case one of their number was taken alive and tortured. The draenei could not give up information they did not possess. At any rate, Velen had spoken to them about their future, about how they would have to lie low for quite a long time, possibly years, to watch and wait and see how events concerning the orcs would play out.
According to Velen, the greenskins had begun construction on something that seemed to be monopolizing their time and resources. The project had apparently diverted their attention from hunting down the surviving draenei, at least for the time being. What the orcs were building, not far from their base citadel in the scorched lands, appeared to be some kind of gateway.
Velen seemed to know a great deal more that he did not say, but he was after all a prophet, a seer. Nobundo thought the noble sage must know many things, things he and others were simply not wise enough to understand.
Nobundo watched now as Korin waded into the water with her fishing spear. Something about her appeared different. It seemed to him that her physique had changed in the past several weeks. Her forearms had grown slightly larger; her face looked drawn; and her posture had deteriorated. As improbable as it sounded, her tail seemed to have actually shrunk.
Herac and Estes approached, and Nobundo could have sworn he saw similar transformations in them. He looked down at his own forearms. Was it his imagination, or did they appear swollen? He had not felt right ever since... ever since that night. But he had assumed he would recover in time. Now he was becoming increasingly worried.
Korin approached. "I am finished for today. I need to go lie down." She handed Nobundo her spear.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Korin attempted a smile that lacked conviction. "Just tired," she replied.
Nobundo sat atop the mountains overlooking Zangarmarsh, eyes closed. He felt tired, tired to his very bones. He had come here to be alone. He had not seen Korin in several days. She and the other two had holed up in one of the caves, and when he enquired as to their condition, his enquiries were answered with unknowing shrugs. As for the one called Akama, he was still unresponsive, barely hanging on despite Rolc’s continued efforts.
Something was drastically wrong. Nobundo knew it: he had seen the changes in himself and in the other survivors, Akama included. The rest of the camp knew it as well. They seemed to speak to him less and less, even Rolc. And just the other day, when Nobundo had returned to camp with a few small fish, he was told that they had plenty, that he should eat the fish himself... as if whatever malady was plaguing him and the others could be spread by touching the same food he had handled.
Nobundo was disgusted. Had his service meant nothing? He had taken to spending long hours here among the hilltops, quietly contemplating, forcing his mind to focus, trying desperately to achieve what still remained unattainable: access to the Light. It was if a door had been closed to him, as if the part of his mind that had been able to make contact simply no longer functioned, or worse yet, no longer existed.
Even simple musings such as these made his head ache. Lately it was becoming more and more difficult to articulate his thoughts. His arms had continued to swell, a swelling that would not go away, and his hooves had begun to splinter. Pieces of them had actually fallen away and not grown back. And all the while, the nightmares... the nightmares persisted.
At least the patrolling orcish war parties had grown less frequent. Reports had come in that whatever the orcs were constructing was nearing completion. And it did appear to be some kind of gateway, just as Velen had predicted.
Good, Nobundo thought. I hope they go through it, and I hope it carries them straight to their doom.
He arose and slowly, deliberately made his way back toward camp, grateful for the support of the hammer, which had grown so heavy in recent weeks that he carried it head down, using it more often than not as a walking stick.
Hours later he reached his destination and decided to see Rolc. Together they could call a meeting to address the issue of the increasing intolerance displayed by--
Nobundo stopped at the entrance to Rolc's cave. Korin was there, lying on a blanket. She had now transformed so that she almost looked no longer like a draenei, but rather like some parody of their race. She was sickly and emaciated. Her eyes were milky, and her lower arms had swollen to a massive size. Her hooves had sloughed away to twin bony protuberances, and her tail was nothing more than a small nub. Despite her frail condition, she was struggling in Rolc's arms.
"I want to die! I just want to die; I want the pain gone!"
Rolc held her firmly. Nobundo quickly approached, leaning close.
"Don't be foolish!" He looked at Rolc. "Can you not cure her?"
The priest frowned at his friend. "I have tried!"
"Let me go! Let me die!"
A glow emanated from Rolc's hands then, soothing Korin, subduing her gently until her exertions lessened and finally stopped completely. She broke down into racking sobs and curled into a fetal position. Rolc motioned with his head for them to leave the cave.
Once outside, Rolc fixed a stern gaze on Nobundo. "I have done all I know. It's as if her body, like her will, has been broken."
"There must be something that can--some way to--" Nobundo struggled to properly communicate his thoughts. "We have to do something!" he finally blurted.
Rolc was silent for a moment. "I worry for them, for you. We have received reports that Shattrath survivors in the other camps are undergoing similar changes. Whatever this is, it is not responding to any kind of treatment, and it is not going away. Our people are afraid that if measures are not taken, we will all be lost."
"What are you saying? What has happened?"
Rolc sighed. "Just talk. For now. I have tried to be the voice of reason, but even I cannot defend you and the others for very long. And, truth be told, I am not sure that I should."
Nobundo felt bitter disappointment in his friend, in the one person he thought he could trust, who was now succumbing to the same narrow-minded paranoia as the others.
At a loss for words, Nobundo turned and walked away.
Korin's condition worsened, and the decision that Nobundo dreaded, that Rolc had spoken of, was finally rendered a few days later.
Nobundo, Korin, Estes, and Herac were gathered before the camp members. Some wore grim expressions; some appeared sad; others were unreadable. Rolc, for his part, simply appeared conflicted but resolved, like a hunter who prefers not to kill, but knows he must eat and is preparing to deal his prey a mortal blow.
As it turned out, it was Rolc the camp had chosen as their spokesperson. "This is not easy for me, for any of us...." He indicated the stoic assembly behind him. "But we have spoken with representatives from the other camps, and together we have come to a decision. We believe it would be in the best interests of everyone involved if those of you who have been... afflicted commune together, but... separate from those of us who remain in good health."
Korin, looking particularly forlorn, spoke in a harsh rasp: "We are being banished?"
Before Rolc could demur, Nobundo broke in: "That is exactly what this is! They cannot solve our problems, so they... they hope to ignore us! They just want us to go away!"
"We cannot help you!" Rolc blurted. "We have no idea whether or not your condition is contagious, and your decreased physical abilities, your diminished mental faculties are a liability that we cannot afford. There are not enough of us left to take chances!"
"What of the other, Akama?" Korin asked.
"He will stay here in my care until he awakens," Rolc responded, and then added, "if he awakens."
"How kind of you," Nobundo muttered, his words laced with sarcasm.
Rolc strode forward to stand defiantly before Nobundo. Despite his failing health, Nobundo straightened and looked Rolc squarely in the eyes.
Rolc said, "You have said that you wonder if perhaps the Light is punishing you with its silence, for your failure at Shattrath."
"I gave everything at Shattrath! I was prepared to die so that you, all of you could live!"
"Yes, but you did not die."
"What are you--are you saying I deserted?"
"I think that if the Light has abandoned you, it has done so with reason. Who are we to question the ways of the Light?" Rolc looked back at the others for support. Some of them looked away, but many did not. "Whatever the case, I think it is time you accepted your new place in the order of things. I think it is time you took the welfare of others into account...."
Rolc reached down and snatched the hammer from Nobundo's hand.
"And I think it is time you stopped trying to be something you are not."
Oda Eiichiro
FAIL!! I woke up the same time I went to sleep. I SLEPT OVER 24 HOURS!! This week's manuscripts are probably gonna be hell.
不覚っ!!寝て起きたら寝た時間。24時間も眠ってしまった!!今週の原稿はえらい事になりそうだ。
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