Iron Sin pt.2

Continuing on with their rampage through the flirtation of woman, Priest and Bishop amazed the women with their tales and flashing their weapons to them.  From the shop behind them, the woman from the night before glare at the two through the window of the store. Her particular sight falls upon Priest holding his sword at hand.

“He’s handsome.”

         She notices the crosses he wore upon his outfit, which made her comprehend that he is the one.

“…A church going man. Those never break innocent women hearts.”

         Before she could approach him, she is paused by the calling of her name.

“…Skyla!!!”

         She turns to face a tall dark toned thin man wearing a dark cloak over his shoulders with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Where are you going?”

“Outside to look at the other clothes they have.”

         She giggles.

“Don’t worry Nate. I’m not going to disappear again.”

         Immediately, his sights fall upon Priest and Bishop standing out in front of the store. Quickly he assumes what Skyla intents were.

“Don’t you dare Skyla.”

         Innocently, she replies.

“What?”

         Nate storms over to her with fury in his eyes. In one moment, he grasps Skyla by her throat and begins to squeeze the life from her lungs. Kneeling down grabbing his wrist as she gasp for air and begging him to let her go, Nate whispers to her quietly.

“You’ve already caused another scene last night by killing yet another fool who you opened your legs for. I am not gonna let you jeopardize our mission because you keep having these flings. Do you understand me?”

         From the front of the store, Priest glances back to catch the image of Nate abuse to Skyla. Feeling uneasy about what he sees, Priest decides to step in before something terrible happens.

“Excuse me ladies.”

         Nate finally let’s go of her, letting Skyla fall to the floor gasping for air finally.

“I’ll kill you.”

         Nate said staring down at Skyla. Priest steps before her and addresses Nate of his actions.

“There’s no reason to put your hands on a woman.”

         Nate angrily replies.

“Stay out of this boy!!! This is none of your business!!”

“You made it my business when you put your hands around her throat.”

         Intimidated, Nate lashes out at Priest, but before he could even take a step.

“Ugh.”

         He was frozen by the blade pressing against his neck before he could realize. Nate’s eyes follow the long blade back to Priest wielding the blade single handedly.

“I can easily take your life…”

         He lowers his blade, still glaring at him with a brutal glare.

“But I didn’t for the sake of the lady.”

         Gazing at Priest from below, Skyla began to think to herself about her savior.

“He defended me.”

         She continues to gaze until her emotions flourished and her cheeks became as red as cherries. Stuck in a bind, Nate could only withdraw from the encounter until another time.

“Fine.”

         He glares down at Skyla upon the floor still.

“You better be home at 7. You hear me.”

         In fear, Skyla nods.

“Yes.”

         Nate charges away. Priest finally sheaths his sword, and then kneels down toward Skyla. With sentimental eyes and a warming smile, Priest asks her.

“Are you alright?”

         Timidly Skyla nods.

“Yes.”

         Priest stands up, and then extends his hand to help her.

“Come on. I’ll take you to get something to eat.”

         Her blush came back once more as she placed her hand upon his. With the sense of touch, Priest feels a demonic vibe from Skyla. To his side, the Cross blade begins to pulsate as Skyla held on to his hand; recognizing the dark aura. Priest begins to think to himself.

“Something is not right about this girl at all”

“What is your name?”

         Skyla asked. Shaking from the sudden thought, Priest comes back to reality.

“Umm Priest. And yours ma’am.”

         She giggles.

“It’s Skyla.”

         He smiles.

“Well Ms. Skyla, are you willing to take me up upon my offer.”

         She smiles.

“That I am good sir.”

         The two walk out of the store side by side, smiling at one another. In Skyla’s mind she thinks.

“He’s the one. A good man.”

         But Priest on the other hand had other deep thoughts that made him more curious about the girl.

“I wonder what the hell is she really. I haven’t felt anything this evil before.”

         Bishop spots the two walking out of the store together smiling brightly at one another. Curious, Bishop asks.

“Hey!!! Where are you going?!!”

         Priest just waves him off and implies.

“Don’t worry about me!! I’ll see you later!!”

         Bishop just shrugs his shoulders and turns his attention back towards the group of ladies attending him.



         Standing in the midst of a monstrous store that towered as one of the skyscrapers, Allanah stood dumfounded by the numerous stores with jewelry and clothing surrounding her. Her mouth drops as the flashy objects caught her eye all around her.

“Oh-my-God.”

         With sound of the coin sacks by her side, and evil intent glare creeps upon her face. A smile that brought the greed of her inner desires to the expression on her face.

“Oh yea…”

         She dashes off, heading toward the nearest store.



         At the bar, Kane and Rowen collected a large sum of shot glasses scattered throughout the entire bar. Rowen sitting limped in his chair with his head thrown back in the air, snoring abruptly.  Kane next to Rowen was lying out upon the bar surface drooling from the corner of his mouth as his hair flowed with flames.  The bartender rested against the wall nodding his head in shame at the sight of the two discouraging men at the bar.

“This is sad.”

         He looks down at his watch.

“Rowen’s sister should be here any minute now.”

“…ROWEN!!!!!!”

“Seconds”

         He corrected himself. Olivia marches in with the fury of an angry goddess expressed upon her face.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DITCH WORK AND DRINK YOURSELF TO DEATH.”

         Rowen unconscious, remained asleep. This angered Olivia more, causing her to strike Rowen with a might blow. The force of the punch slams Rowen’s head into the hardwood bar in front of him. Instantly, Rowen awakes, grabbing his face first while his nose bleed.

“God damn it!!!! What the hell is wrong with?!!!”

         Olivia gets directly in his face and yells out.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!!!!! We have a major job to do and you’re out drink!!!!”

         As an innocent child, Rowen begins to twiddle his thumbs and mumbles.

“Well I’ve been under a lot of stress.”

“SO HAVE I!!”

         Rowen slowly grabs a shot glass full of whiskey and presents it to Olivia as an offering.

“Maybe you need a drink?”

         Rowen said with a smile. Olivia’s brow begins to twitch from the idiotic acts of her brother. Yet again she strikes him with a punch as strong as a grown man.

“…You idiot!!!!!”

         Falling to the floor, Rowen falls into a daze from the harsh strikes of his younger sister.

“Ugh…”

         Passing by, Priest suddenly spots Kane asleep on top of the bar counter with his hair on fire.

“HOLY CRAP, KANE!!!”

         He runs over and begins to pound Kane on top of his head with back hands until the flames were deceased.  Kane arises quickly in anger, blurting…

“Why the hell did you hit me?!!!”

         Insulted, Priest retaliates and yells back.

“You were asleep on top of a bar!!!”

“So!!!”

“Your hair was on fire you dimwit!!!”

         Kane then takes a moment to think.

“Oh…”

         Timidly he begins to rub the back of his head and chuckle.

“Sorry.”

         Priest places the palm of his hand to his forehead and takes a deep breath.

“Oh God, help me.”

         Rowen arises from the floor weaving back and forward, slowly recovering from the assault by his dear sister. Coming to, he notices Skyla standing behind Priest as he lectured Kane. Before he could say anything, Olivia grabs him by his ear and begins to drag him off.

“Come on!!! We have a lot of work to do!!!”

         In pain, Rowen cried.

“…Ouch Ouch Ouch!!!”

         Walking out, Olivia catches a sudden glimpse at Skyla that made her curious about her presence. 

“Why does she look so familiar?”

         Olivia thought to herself. Priest turns toward Skyla chuckling from the embarrassing moment. He simply apologizes to her with a gentle smile.

“I’m sorry about my dimwitted friend’s action.”

         Kane mutters under his breath with a grim look on his face.

“You’re the dimwit.”

         Overhearing Kane’s remark, Priest lifts his heel and kicks Kane right in the chin.

“Shut the hell up”

         Kane immediately bursts into flames with his fist trembling in anger.

“Why you son of a…”

         Before he could finish, Priest quickly turns around and manipulates the liquor out of the bottles and consumes Kane; freezing him in a wall of liquor from the bar. He then turns back around and continues to apologize.

“Sorry about that. He’s a bit rowdy.”

         Skyla chuckles. It’s okay.

“If it wouldn’t be too much to ask, could you meet me at the Titan fountain right down the road from here at dusk?”

         Skyla blushes as she tries to hide her smile from Priest with her palm.

“That will be fine.”

         Priest smiles and implies.

“…Alright. See you then.”

         Skyla walks away waving and smiling.

“See you later.”

         Unnoticing from behind, the frozen Kane begins to melt from the inside out, until finally Kane was free from the prison.

“You bastard!! I’m going to kill you!!!”

         Suddenly Kane catches the serious glare upon Priest’s face as he watched Skyla walk away.

“Huh?”

         Priest then asks him.

“Kane… Did you sense a dark presence when she arrived?”

         Kane then thinks for a moment with a tense look on his face.

“Now that you mention it, I did get a vague sense of a demonic presence. Like it wasn’t human or something.”

         Priest’s eyes narrow as he continued to think.

“…Just as I thought.”

         He glances over at Kane from over his shoulder and implies.

“Let’s go find the others.”





         Congregating upon the vessel in the middle of the icy north, the Heaven Generals gathered within the conference room to discuss the up coming battle. Circled around a table with a glowing sphere of the earth in the middle, all seven of the generals expressed their opinions and strategies to use against the Shadow nation.  The large broad brunette man with a heavy beard addresses the others with a loud tone of voice.

“We should try and conquer the beach first and establish a central base there.”

         Taya sitting at the far end of the table implies to the elder general.

“That is a good idea, but we have to have the right location to set base. If we set up our base in the peninsula, then we are setting ourselves up for a full onslaught from both sides.”

         She rises from her seat and points toward a small extended piece of land from the continent of the Shadow kingdom.

“…Here, we can set up are forces here.”

         Skeptical about the idea, another elder general asks.

“Why there? That is such a small piece of land.”

         Taya replies.

“Because, we can protect ourselves from all sides and also have the advantage of pushing through any invading force using an old battle strategy from our former king.”

         Aoin becomes curious himself and asks her.

“What strategy do you speak of? He had many that he used in battle.”

         Taya smiles and replies.

“…The Piercing Arrow. Allowing our tank soldiers to tear down the frontline of the enemy’s forces and injecting enough soldiers within the army while a wall of our troops backed them up.”

         Aoin then revises the tactic.

“I see what you are saying. Divide the enemy’s army in two and then surrounding them from the front, middle and back.”

“…Exactly.”

         The others begin to whisper about the strategy under their breath, until finally they agreed upon a decision.

“Alright. That is a well tactic to use.”

“I also have a back up strategy, but I will discuss that with you at another time. It is late now, and we only have twelve hours before we arrive at the Shadow kingdom. And we must gain permission from the Arch Bishop of the Tsunami kingdom and the Typhoon king before enter the Gulf of Tycoon tomorrow afternoon.”

         The generals begin to rise from their seats and say their farewells.

“Very well… We shall discuss other plans tomorrow night then.”

         As the others leave the meeting room, Taya and Aoin remains alone in silence. Aoin approached Taya slow, rubbing his fingers across the table as he gracefully made his way toward her. Taya eyes fall upon Aoin coming towards her from the other end of the table.

“…Impressive work as always.”

         Taya smiles and replies in an arrogant manner.

“…I know it’s impressive. It is never anything less.”

         Aoin chuckles.

“You have convection.”

“It’s called confidence.”

         Aoin leans on the table by Taya and crosses his arms over his chest.

“That can also lead to stubbornness.”

         Taya glances at him with a stern glare. In an instance, she punches him in the arm.

“You are the one to talk.”

         They both begin to chuckle and laugh. Then, Taya walks over and stands next to Aoin’s side. She lays her head next to his shoulder and rests for a moment.

“…Just a couple more days.”

         The joy on Aoin’s face vanishes as the realization of the oncoming battle sets in.

“Yeah I know.”

“Aoin…”

         He glances down at her by his side.

“Yeah.”

“…Are you sure you are ready for this?”

         Aoin hesitates before answer, succumbing to the fact of facing his elder brother yet again.

“I don’t know if I can overcome my anger, my frustration against that man. I hate him with the deepest part of my soul. When I’m around him, I just turn into a beast enraged and fueled with pain.”

         Taya looks up at the content Aoin, becoming enveloped in his own world of sorrow.

“If you wish to defeat that man you hate so much…”

         She gathers her things, and then begins to leave the room.

“You must conquer your hatred of him.”

         Taya pauses at the door, and implies.

“…Or he will use that weakness to kill you. And if that happens, I’ll have to kill him.”

         A grin emerges upon Aoin’s face from the hinted faint of sarcasm.

“Goodnight Aoin.”

         She said before exiting the room.



         The sun began to set upon the massive city of Hephaestus; calming the scenes of the busy streets and summoning the gentle mellow evening of the night. At the Titan fountain, Skyla sat on the edge of the white fountain of a large muscular man lifting the earth above his head with one arm and a hammer in his other hand, twiddling her thumbs nervously. As sparkles of the water faded, Skyla’s patience started to grow short and thin.

“… Ugh. Where is he?”

         Finally night fell and the graceful sun vanished behind the scene of the mountains. With the falling sun, Skyla’s hope also disappeared; feeling that she was abandoned once again.

“He stood me up.”

         Tears begin to form in her eyes.

“…What makes you think I stood you up?”

         Shocked, she quickly turns around to see Priest leaning on the leg of the statue with his hands in his pockets.

“You made it!!”

         Priest smiles.

“Yeah. You didn’t think I was gonna stand you up, did you?”

         Timidly she shrugs her shoulders and replies.

“Well… You were late.”

         Priest leaps down to the surface of the water, and then makes his way over towards her. The sight of Priest walking across water astonished Skyla greatly. Her jaw dropped and her eyes stared strongly at him without a blink.

“How?”

“Don’t worry about that right now.”

         From behind his back, he hands her a blue bouquet with a warm smile.

“This is for you.”

         Skyla begins to blush.

“Thank you.”

         She then gazes into his eyes beyond his shades. Reflecting from the water below, the rising moon created a blue sparkling aura within his eyes. Skyla is mesmerized by the young reverend’s eyes.

“Your eyes are… So…”

         Priest places a slight grin on his face, as he stares directly into Skyla’s eyes.

“Unique?”

“Yea.”

         Skyla begins to fall toward Priest’s lips; closing her eyes and moving gracefully forward towards him.

“Skyla!!”

         A deep trembling voice echoed out. Skyla jolts back from Priest, and immediately turns toward the dark alley way across from them.  From the shadows, Nate appeared with a grim look upon his face.

“What are you doing out this late? You know we have important matters to tend to in the morning.”

         Skyla holds her head down in shame.

“I’m sorry, I just…”

         Nate storms up to her and back hands Skyla to the ground.

“Ugh”

         Priest quickly draws his sword, but Nate swiftly pulls out a long silver and black pistol from his side.

“Oh, I was ready for you kid. That shit won’t work on me twice.”

         The two halt in place as Priest sword rested upon Nate’s throat and Nate’s pistol above Priest’s head. Skyla quickly jumps in between them to break the two apart.

“Stop it!!”

         Nate vulgarly implies.

“Why the hell are you doing this to yourself again, you idiot?!! He’s just like all the others that you tried to be with and you see how that ended every single time!!!”

         Skyla tries to defend Priest in the roaring argument.

“He’s not like that.

         Nate replies.

“…How do you know?!! Huh?”

         Skyla becomes silent for a moment. With the deaf tone, Nate takes the moment as the answer to his question.

“…As I thought. You don’t.”

         Nate turns and walks away. He stops and glances over his shoulder at Skyla.

“Come on!!”

         Obeying with tears running down her checks, she dashes off to Nate’s side.

“I’m sorry.”

         As Skyla took his side, Nate glances over at Priest sheathing his sword and implies.

“You better hope we do not meet again boy?”

         Priest replies.

“…Likewise.”

         The two vanish within the shadows of the alley way which Nate came.  Priest wonders for a moment of the strange relationship between the two, until an elderly lady came strolling by.

“Ma’am”

         She stops and looks up at him.

“Yes.”

“Where is the nearest book store or library?”





         Hard at work within the factory, many broad men in overalls and hard hats worked to finish the massive project at hand. In the process, cranes lifting massive sheets of metal, while sparks flew through the air from the welding. In charge of the massive crew, one short stubby man with a thick beard howled orders and fussed at the crew as he stood and watched.

“Hey, hurry up with the wiring and welding!! We’re already working overtime, and some of us are trying to make it to happy hour!!!”

         From the background, one of the workers retaliated to short bossy man.

“Go to hell Greg!!!”

         Enraged, the stubby man fist and his teeth clinched in anger.

“What the hell did you say to me you son of a bitch!!!”

         From the office, Rowen sat at his desk filling out the stack of paper work on his desk. For a moment, his eye is caught by a picture of another blonde haired man holding two small children smiling with the sense of joy and happiness.  Rowen lifts the picture off his desk and places it in both hands. He gazes at the picture with a sincere expression in his eyes. In his ear, he hears the shout of a small boy.

“Come play big brother!!!”

         Rowen’s mind falls into the images of the past. In the far hills with the city of Hephaestus in the distances, a small Rowen and Olivia played with a bright red ball. Young Rowen turns and calls on his brother; waving him to hurry up.

“Come on Jake!!”

          The tall two toned blonde haired man made his way toward a small shady maple tree at the peak of the hill. Breathing heavily, he kneels over slightly chuckling as he tried to catch his breathe.

“Give me a minute… I’m not as young as you two are and don’t have that much energy like I used to.”

         Olivia giggles, while Rowen provoked him.

“Hurry up old man!!”

“Who you calling old man?!!”

         His brother replied. Suddenly a knock awakes Rowen from the dream. He turns to find Olivia peeking in through the door of his office.

“Brother.”

         He places the picture back on the front end of his desk.

“Yea.”

“It’s almost ten. You think we should let the crew go home?”

         Rowen leans back in his chair and places his hand over his stomach.

“Yeah. Tell them to go home for the night and be back at 6 tomorrow morning. I’m gonna stay a little later and finish up some work.”

         Olivia smiles.

“Alright bro. Make sure you get some sleep. We have to present this thing at four tomorrow.”

         He waves her off.

“Yeah I know. Now go get some rest.”

         She chuckles as she said her farewells

“Alright Rowen… Goodnight”

Rowen watches from his window the crew leaving for the night. After everyone had left, Rowen walks out to the shop and glare at the massive machine that was half tank with the upper body of a humanoid.

“…This monstrosity. I should take apart and discard it.”

         He nods his head.

“But, a treaty is a treaty.”

         He walks over and grabs a mask and a blow torch lying on the ground. On the floor, Rowen grasps a oversize pieces of iron plating and lifts it with one hand. Rowen places the sheet metal in place and starts to weld the piece in place. From the shadows of the shop, Olivia stood astounded by the strength her brother possesses.

“That’s not… humanly possible. Each one of those pieces of sheet metal weigh over 22 thousands pounds.”

         She watches on as her brother continued to work.

“Could he be… A shogun”

______________________________________________________________________________________





         Dwindling with the dark chamber, lit only by the flames of the fire place, Nate and Skyla stood among members of the Shadow Guard all around the room. Nate took to the center of the room to address the others.

“Tomorrow, we will receive the weapon that will change the fate of the Shadow Kingdom. When we arrive tomorrow, Skyla and I will speak with the head of the company to gain his trust. Once we eliminate him, kill the rest of the crew members that are there. Do no leave any witnesses. We will try to leave the country with the machine without anyone else noticing. Do you understand?!!”

         All respond.

“Yes sir!!”

“Now, go get some rest for tomorrow.”

         Everyone starts to clear out the room, while Nate made his way toward the fire place.

“Skyla, wait one moment.”

         He leans against the edge of the fire place and gazes into its flame.

“I know I have been hard on you for the last couple of days. It’s just that I’ve been under a lot of stress, and this mission is vitally important. And you soft gentle heart is a threat to jeopardizing our mission by involving the wrong people.”

         Skyla walks over to the fire places and stands directly in front of the fire place.

“I know, and I apologize for it. Yet again.”