Batu - Second Vision
There it was again, the pounding sound, but this time it was much louder; metal on wood, wasn’t it? Yes, there it was again. Batu opened his eyes and stared into darkness. Suddenly, everything shook; more precisely, Batu shook and felt the deep penetrating vibration right to the core. Someone or something was pounding on a door – a door Batu did not know existed. It seemed pretty intent on getting in, which Batu seemed to fear.
‘Stay calm, Koruko, we will meet it well today,’ a man’s voice whispered nearby comfortingly.
Adjusting to the dark and focussing more clearly, as if being drawn from a deep sleep, Batu could make out the origin of the whisper. A little distance to his right was a warrior, clad in lamella armour and wearing a steel helm, on top on which was a straight, horizontal bar of gold. His amour appeared to be red, with black ‘wings’ adorning his boots and elbows. The warrior looked at Batu, through a visor, with worried eyes that undermined his words. Again, Batu felt fear and, again, a blow struck wood to his left that resonated through both men. Another monumental crash threatened to spell the demise of the portal, which both men now faced halberd set and battle-axe drawn – ready.
‘They must not get the last one, my friend. We are all that are left…’
Batu did not know how to respond, not that it seemed a response was entirely necessary. Then the ear-splitting crash and accompanying flash of fiery-orange light finally destroyed the iron-clad, wooden door and announced the arrival of ‘they’. Of course, Batu had heard the stories of the Great War, the one that changed everything and took more than 150 years for the land to recover. He had seen the drawings of the creatures that destroyed Khagul Gurung; however, he was unprepared for the sheer horror of what confronted him now. Over fifteen foot tall, the beast stooped as it entered. Coal black from head to toe, and shrouded in smoke, only its eyes had colour - bright, burning crimson. Its hatred of all living things permeated the air, even before it crossed the threshold and Batu desired very much to flee. If that wasn’t enough, the creature screamed, charged and burst into flame as soon as it saw the pair of them. Instinct saved Batu from immediate slaughter: setting the halberd against the outside of his left boot, he angled it perfectly at the beast’s pelvis. Wreathed in fire and fury, the beast took the spear point deeply and Batu could feel the crunching of bone through the weapon’s metal shaft. His companion’s axe smashed down on the beast’s left arm, severing it in two, just above the elbow. Black blood flowed from both wounds; blood Batu somehow knew to be poison.
It was not the end, despite Batu’s desire to be rid of this dream. The demon reached down with his good arm and, stepping back, pulled the point of the halberd from his midriff, lifting Batu slightly off the ground. Wrestling for control over the weapon, just as Batu was in fear of losing his grip, his companion struck again. This time, the blow merely knocked the creature’s hand away from the halberd, freeing Batu to strike again. Swinging his arms like a pendulum, Batu, jabbed the point once again into the demon’s bowels, releasing more putrid black liquid. The beast curled over as the point buried itself deep. The final swing of the axe, which struck its lower back, proved too much and the creature erupted in a burst of fire, flame and brimstone. Knocked backwards, Batu recovered quickly, setting his weapon again to receive the next fiend the abyss convulsed into the room.
Batu lost count of how many they had destroyed or how long he thought they had been fighting, side-by-side in that small room - inside his head. He knew it would come to an end; he knew the evil would win and the World would be changed forever. It was obvious that the last two guardians could not hold on forever. But, just as Batu began to feel some strange hope (against all hope) that they might just do it, his companion was cleaved in two. From head to foot, he was split by a huge scythe; the same weapon had narrowly missed separating Batu’s head from his shoulders just moments before.
Batu then realised, he did not even know what he was protecting – though from whom and why was pretty clear. The ‘last’ what, he wondered. What must I stop these beasts getting hold of? He thought it must be the runestones, but then he was not so sure; perhaps it was the amulets he had to protect, but they did not seem so important really. Was it Fulgar as he knew ‘The Way’? What was it that was so crucial and spelled the end of civilisation? A thought came to him. ‘it was the matter of creation itself – it was Ki’.
‘By Huang Ti!’ Batu said to himself, as a new abomination entered the room, ‘where did that come from?’ All the other important items and artefacts merely helped one follow the path; surely the guardian is meant to be at either end of the path, protecting both the journey’s start and the destination? This must be the beginning as there is nothing here to protect apart from that door…is there? By killing the Guardians they enter the path, ‘the Way – or Tao’, as Fulgar would put it. Was ‘the essence’, therefore, the matter of creation? Was it Ki? If it was, how could it be connected to Garuk?
His question hung in his mind, unanswered and he was quickly distracted fending off the attentions of yet another diabolical abomination. He was here, in this highly stressful dream, to realise his thoughts. It seemed to Batu, and probably all warriors, that these moments produced much-needed clarity. When his life hung in the balance, he could sense his connection with Ki…his breath, his energy, his life force. The answer is close, Batu could feel it, almost taste it, but it alluded him. Again, he was distracted by the next hideous creature’s desire to take his Ki. They struggled momentarily before its apocalyptic mace smashed in his skull, waking him wake with a jolt.