The war raged on around my head as I dodged and struck out at anyone who came near me. In the daze of battle, several times, Himora's blood was almost on my blade.
"Bastion!"
He would yell over the clashing of swords and the battle cries.
"You should really watch where you swing that thing!"
He said, his sword deflecting blow after blow from some attacking soldier.
"My bad!"
I returned after falling a man who dared slash out at me. After about half an hour of unending combat, it started to look hopeless. Dozens of men continued to come through the gate armed with wicked swords and axes, thirsting for blood.
"We can't hold out much longer!"
Himora shouted to me after the horrible scream of a soldier whose arm he had just cut off.
"I...I know! But there isn't much we can do but fight!"
The warriors of our village began to tire too. Their spears hung low, and their arms hurt with the pains of battle, yet never did they fall. Ever.
"We have to find my father, he must have a plan!"
Himora kicked out at another man, falling him to his knees.
"Let's get out of here!
Himora and I braced our weapons and ran forward in the direction I had seen my father run in. Many men opposed us as we made way along the field, yet we wouldn't be stopped. We had a mission, and we weren't dying until we completed it. As we made our way, I thought I caught sight of a young girl in the fray.
Her head and hair were matted with blood, and her skin was as pale as the moon. I grabbed Himora's arm and made him stop at my side.
"We have to help her!"
Himora's face twisted in contemplation.
"...We must hurry."
He said calmly.
"Your dad may need us."
I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, come on.
"What could we do against an enemy that my father couldn't defeat?"
I said to Himora in haste as I turned and ran toward the girl.
"I suppose you're right."
Was his response, although I never heard it.
The little girl was knocked out cold.
Her eyes had deep blue rings, and her right arm was twisted in a way that it shouldn't and couldn't twist.
"Oh my god..."
Was all I could say to myself as I fell to my knees next to her frail frame amongst the chaos.
I broke down in tears.
The girl was less than three years old, and she was my niece...
"Bastion...I'm sorry."
Himora said from behind me as he put his hand on my shoulder.
I didn't hear him.
I couldn't.
"I'll kill them...I'll kill every last one of them!"
Rage swelled within me, and I lost all control of my body and flew into a berserker state.
My spear drank blood and splashed it along my hands as I recklessly ran through the field, attacking every Shicato soldier I saw. As I charged on in a nearly primal rage, Himora raced ahead of me and lashed out at me with his sword in a false diversionary attack.
"Bastion! Stop! Control yourself!"
But I couldn't.
They were evil, and I was going to do whatever I could to kill them, even if it meant me dying in the process. They had taken my village, my niece, and so many countless others back to back with no emotion. Why should I stop? Why should I care? They were heartless...and to kill an evil being, you had to think like one.
"NO!"
I shouted as I continued to attack.
"I will kill them all! They killed my niece!
They are destroying everything!
We can't win!
We can only fight or die!"
Himora reared back, then blocked my attack and skillfully kicked my spear from my hands.
"Bastion, I know this is bad, and we may not be able to win...but you mustn't lose your mind! We can do this! We just have to find yo-"
BANG!
Again, an explosion threw us from our feet and ten feet through the air. I landed on my back, and the wind was blasted from my lungs. For a moment, I was paralyzed with pain. Himora (being his alert self) landed nimbly on his feet and rushed over to me, kneeling at my side.
"Bastion, get up, we must hurry! The village is burning to the ground, we can't stay here!"
Himora's voice rings in my ears.
"What...happened?"
I asked as I rose slowly to my feet, shaking off pieces of dirt and debris that flew onto me.
"You...you don't remember?"
Himora looked at me with a puzzled look in his eyes, but I couldn't recall what happened, no matter what I did. I shook my head, looking over at the hut that had exploded. It was the chemical storage hut that the village doctors used.
"Oh...that's what happened."
I said to no one in particular as I realized how flammable the majority of the medications were.
"Um...yeah...that's it...let's go!"
Himora said, a hint of something in his voice that I couldn't quite pick up on, something that I didn't know was confusion. My sudden berserker state had been just as suddenly undone by (most likely) the blast which had thrown me to the ground with such force.
I regained my posture and took off with Himora at my side. We were on our way to my dad's aid.
We ran up and over men, women, and children...
Some dead, some just barely alive...
As we make our way to my dad's side, we stop and help out wherever we can, whether it's two men on one, a hurt civilian, or someone who was just dying, we do what we could.
As we round the corner of a burned-down hut, we see the one thing we had been looking for all day.
My father.
He is faced with an overwhelmingly powerful opponent: Yatsimoto Shicato.
The massive, armor-clad man spoke just as we made it within earshot.
"Oh, so we meet face to face, do we?"
He says to my father, who looks tired and sore due to fighting his way forward to the point where he was now.
"I...will defeat you, Shicato. You attacked my men!, You destroyed my village! And now you wish to kill me! All of this being true, you will fail at at least one of those missions...prepare yourself!"
I watched in horror as my father charged Yatsimoto with his crystal spear.
The fight was short, but to me it lasted an eternity.