The Death of

Vakusi's movements changed again, no longer pursuit, and no longer analysis. Now he was in complete acceptance. He closed the distance deliberately knowing that Iobi was watching from his vantage point. This was no longer a duel of skill, it was a convergence. Two eras colliding and creating something new, the out come was going to change their world forever. Vakusi struck, and Diyu allowed it to connect. The metal fractured, and then reformed instantly. Diyu's hand closed around Vakusi's arm, not forcefully or violently just completely. Vakusi did not resist immediately, he looked up and for a moment there was understanding between them.

Vakusi spoke softly, "So this is what comes after us."

Diyu did not answer, only pressure remained absolute, unbroken. Vaksui closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and then opened them again. "If I fall as a warrior..." no hesitation, only completion. "... then they will obey." Then diyu moved, not with judgement, only finality.

Even the swamp did not record this moment as violence, only as transition. Vakusi fell without spectacle. No resistance, only distortion, as though the world itself accepted the outcome as already decided. Diyu remained standing over him, unchanged. Ash drifted through the broken air and the pressure that had held everything stillness loosened, and motion returned to natural, and indifferent. The fires burned again without purpose.

From the shadows, Iobi did not move, he did not react, He only observed that Vakusi was truly gone. The storm remained, and his decision point had passed. Now only consequence existed. Somewhere deep in the burning silence of Hadawon something else was beginning to wake. What exactly that was, Iobi was not sure, but there was a definite shift. Now it comes to it, as Iobi stood there replaying those last few moments repeatedly in his head. He could clearly see his master interrogating Diyu's resolve with every attack. Each strike was a test of not only Diyu's fortitude but how willing he was to his cause. Iobi looked around and noticed that the other scouts were looking to him for the next move. He was the obvious choice for next in command, The pressure was too much to bear. The other men want revenge, which was obvious by their faces alone. However, the words of Vakusi were clear, and loyalty to those words hang in the balance with this decision. Iobi was locked on Vakusi lifeless body laying in the swamp, his white hair spread across the mud like pale roots. The master's expression had not changed, even in death. There was no fear in his face, no painic, no unfinished struggle. Only stillness.

Inside Iobi, Something sharp pressed upward and quickly. Anger, it came on sudden, and cleanly. The instinct to move, and strike while the Iron is hot. To vanish through the smoke and shadow and bury his dagger somewhere inside Diyu's throat. His hand tightened around the handle of his blade just for a second. Then Vakusi's Final command echoed in his head. "If I fall as a warrior... Then follow him." Iobi lowered his eyes, even though the emotion did not disappear, but it did settle. He remembered Vakusi had never trained assassins to die recklessly. He trained them to survive, to be patient, and above all else to know the enemy. His head pointed to the sky while his eyes remained closed, and he inhaled deeply. The heat of the fires scraped down his throat, and sent of smoke and burning oil was heavy and thick. Beneath those odors there was another... blood. It wasn't just his master that died this day some of their scouts and some of Diyu's  War Machine army as well. He opened his eyes and looked across the swamp and locked onto Diyu still standing in stillness over his master. The feelings of wanting to kill him where still there, but they did not rule him any longer. 

The massive warlord looked less like a victor than a statue left in the wreckage of war. Firelight rolled across his metallic skin, Steam drifted out of fresh wounds that where still changing even after the fight. Yet Iobi noticed something, something was quiet right. Diyu was not breathing like a warrior after battle, he was too still, and quiet. He noticed he wasn't standing with triumph in his posture or with rage. No, he looked more like someone that had only recently remembered where he was. Iobi studied him carefully and thought to himself. "Master did no die proving Diyu could be killed, he died learning what Diyu truly was. now this burden falls onto me."

One of the nearby scouts leans in shifting uneasily. "We strike now?" he ask.

Iobi did not turn. "No."

The scout hesitated and confused. "But our Elder..."

"Our elder gave me a command..." The words came quielty, but they carried enough certainty to silence the scout and everyone nearby. "... I plan on honoring our Elder, my master." Iobi's gaze never left Diyu. "He did no die in confusion."

The scout lowered his eyes in realization his mistake. Iobi leaped down from the tree and stepped forward from the shadows of the trees. His movement drew attention as scout weapons shifted along with war machine soldiers. 

Several soldiers turned toward him, spears lowered and ready, swords drawn in preparation of charge by the Ophidian Clan. Iobi ignored all of it, and walked until the distance felt correct. Close enough to be seen, yet far enough to remain alive. With a brief pause he lowered himself onto one knee. No fear, no awe inspiring feelings. Just acknowledgment.

His voice loud and clear and could be heard across the bruning marsh. "Our Elder Vakusi fell. He fell as a warrior." No one interrupted and no one moved on either side. Iobi bowed his head. "By his final command, the Ophidian Clan will obey." The Statement settled over the battlefield like the ash falling from the sky. Some of the Ophidians lowered their weapons while others just remained frozen over what just transpired. Vakusi's orders did not end with death and ever Ophidian carried great honor for him. 

Iobi lifted his eyes again and squarely looked to Diyu. For the moment neither moved. Then Iobi noticed and understood something that unsettled him more than Vakusi's death. Diyu looked lost. 

Diyu did not remember waking, one moment there had been motion, and heat. A build up of pressure, and voice somewhere behind his thoughts. Then stillness. Now Vakusi lay dead at his feet and the swamp burned around him. The world felt distant and out of his control. Diyu's only response was to flex his hand as metal shifted cross his skin with the faint grinding sound. The large wounds had become small fractures at this point and those to began to seal. his torn flesh, no longer torn, yet he did not remember receiving such wounds. Slowly fragments began to return in pieces. A flash of white hair, the glimmer of a blade, and movement too fast to follow. then all he could remember was pain. Wait then something else, a sentence, and voice. 

"Everything dies." Diyu frowned as he was clearly upset about this memory. This didn't feel like himself. He looked toward Vakusi, even Diyu noticed that his body rested in an unnatural calm. This calm disturbed Diyu, Vakusi resisted him, fought against him.. Faught against, and killed Emo. A pause in Diyu's thoughts as the realization struck harder than expected.

Emo.

The Named carried weight, and Diyu's chest tightened. He only remembered standing bside him before the fires, the warnings Emo gave him, and "Patience." The grief came quickly, sharp, and heavy. It rose through him like something desperate to survive. Like something was trying to regain control over him. Then external pressure settled over top those feelings, it was forced or commanded. Just its presence. His emotions did not did not vanish, they were pushed downward, and buried. 

Diyu inhaled sharply. "No.."" the words escaped quietly, and not directed at anyone. The smoke drifted around him and the battlefield remained silent. Then something moved inside his thoughts, but different. It wasn't a sound or a voice. It was just a knowing. "You are becoming what survival requires." Diyu's jaw tightened as his eyes shifted across the swamp searching for certainty. Instead he only found distance and a feeling of unfulfillment. Vaksui should have meant something, A warrior, a leader like that. A death earned through struggle. Yet what he felt was wrong. 

Diyu understood the facts, and understood the victory. He could not reach the emotion beneath it. He knew Vakusi mattered, he just could not feel why. The struggle with this emotion frightened him and he tightened his fist once more.

The mud beneath his feet slushed as shifted "Why do I not feel it?"

No one answered at least that he could see, but the answer creeped into his head. "Because feeling slows destruction." He closed his eyes briefly, and the thought lingered too long. When he opened them again, movement caught his attention. One figure approached through smoke. He was lean and controlled even in the swampy ground. Dark hair and dark skin. A member of the Ophidian clan and by the looks a higher ranked one. He paused and was silent for a movement. The scout dropped to one knee, and Diyu watched without expression. 

"Our Elder Vakusi fell. He fell as a warrior." The words carried clearly, yet Diyu stood unphased emotionless, and just observing. 

"By his final command, the Ophidian Clan will obey." Diyu stared at him, but he noticed something. He should have felt some kind of satisfaction from this. Instead he felt only emptiness. Then, deep beneath that emptiness, something else stirred. It was Cold, ever watching, patient and approving. 

Yorlee had watched everything from several lines behind Diyu's forward party. He stayed partially hidden near the supply machinery as smoke and ash drifted around him and gathered across his armor. His yes remained fixed on Diyu and Vakusi engaged in combat. At first Vakusi had controlled the battle, Yorlee could clearly see this even if he would never speak it aloud. Vakusi had not dominated Diyu with power he didn't even attempt to fight him the same way he fought Emo. No Vakusi had Distance, timing and a relentless pressure about his attacks. it dawned on Yorlee Vakusi knew what he was getting into before the fight ever took place. He had information on Diyu. This is something that would have helped himself had he known back when he was still chief of the Anoxe clan. He put the matter behind him to come back to, for now he was witnessing the assassin had forced Diyu to react for a time. Diyu had looked uncertain, and then suddenly everything changed. Yorlee replayed the moment repeatedly in his mind. Diyu's movements shifted, he wasn't faster or stronger just different then what they usually were. Even the rage seemed to disappear, and this was something Yorlee was very familiar with. He had learned to anticipate and play on Diyu's anger. He seemed Empty and not in control when Diyu suddenly spoke.

" Everything Dies. Destruction is inevitable." Yorlee felt the hairs rise along his arms. the voice had come from Diyu's mouth, yet it had not sounded fully like him. Yorlee had seen powerful leaders before, but this was different. Something had changed inside Diyu. The realization should have frightened him, instead Yorlee found himself fascinated by it. Power without clarity could still be guided, and perhaps even more easily now. Yorlee studied Diyu now even closer. The warlord stood surrounded by victory, yet there was no triumph in his expression. Only fracture, and Yorlee noticed it all including the hesitation. The distance behind Diyu's eyes looked like a Kreeegan searching for missing pieces. Emo would have noticed this too, and Emo would have stepped closer. He would have spoken carefully. He would have tried to anchor Diyu.

Yorlee smiled thinly and remember "Emo was gone, and he had his own mother killed." 

the voices capable of slowing Diyu had disappeared. That realization alone settled warmly inside Yorlee.

He stepped forward slowly, and respectfully. the way a loyal servant would approach a ruler. "My lord." Yorlee said. 

Diyu did not look at him immediately. Yorlee waited, then Diyu's eyes shifted toward him. Diyu's eyes were unfocused for a half a second, and Yorlee notice and stored the detail away with all the others this day exposed. "My lord," Yorlee said again, lowerin his head slightly. "The Ophidian Clan understand now."

Diyu said nothing.

Yorlee chose his next words carefully. "They followed strength. Their Elder died with honor." he paused searching for words. "But honor did not save him. The old ways cannot surviv what is coming."

Diyu still remanded silent.

Yorlee continued. "They obey because they understand what the others will soon learn." 

Diyu's voice came in low. "And what is that?"

Yorlee eyes lifted slightly. "That resistance only changes the manner of death, my lord." The words lingered in the smoke as Diyu looked back toward the burning swamp. The flames crawled slowly through the marsh with oil ignited beneath he surface, and roots burned even beneath the water. The Land of the Ophidian clan disappeared piece by piece. All while Yorlee and watched Diyu carefully, noticing something settling inside of him. It wasn't emotion, it was direction and Yorlee could feel it. Diyu was no longer simply a ruler trying to save his people. Something else had his hooks inside him, changing him and shaping him into something else. Yorlee understood his place now, he doesn't need to defeat Diyu. He only needs to encourage what Diyu is becoming.