Book Two Chapter Four: Saja Awakens

After Nick saved her, Saja finally awakes and informs Nick of a fatal mistake that she made...

Chapter Four Saja Awakens: It's been three days since I found Saja in the cave, she finally woke up. I was sitting beside her bed, waiting for her to come to. Her crimson eyes slowly swam back into focus, and they landed on me. Surprise crossed her features. Her blonde hair was splayed out on the white sheets of the bed. She frowned.

"Nick, you saved me?" Saja's raspy voice came.

Although I wasn't proud of it, I answered honestly.

"Yes, I did." I said.

Saja shook her head, still frowning.

"But...why?" She asked.

I gazed at her, letting her know how serious I was.

"I saved you because I need you to tell me every little thing about the other you that you didn't before. I need to know her potential weaknesses, her description, her abilities, everything." I told her.

Saja nodded, agreeing to tell me what she knew.

"Well, it is about three or four times stronger, faster, smarter, and more powerful than I could ever hope to be." Saja started.

I was shocked. I gasped.

"It looks different, the eyes are violet, and it is surrounded by a thin cloud of smoke. I tried staking it, but the stakes deflected."

I thought I knew what we were up against. Wrong. Saja wasn’t finished.

"I called upon the spirits of the Kerulen, normal vampires, and the spirit of the Black Reqrium herself." Saja said.

Oh my god. This Saja was... I couldn't even find a word for it.

"Did you use your own spirit in the spell?" I asked.

"Well yes. The spell needs a target." Saja said.

I remembered the inscription in the cave. Saja will never die. This new Saja will never die. That must be what Tigiti was writing about, it has to be! He must have found out about the new Saja but died in the cave, using his final drops of blood as ink to write a warning in that cave!

"Where were you when you did this?" I asked.

Saja squinted, trying to remember.

"I was a hundred kilometers away or so." She said.

Saja seemed to be truly ashamed of what she had done. Did Saja truly have a conscience after all? Or was this just a clever plan to earn by trust, and to get me to let my guard down? I looked at Saja again.

"We should go to see the new you, to see what she has been doing. Maybe we can stop her before whatever she is doing gets out of hand." I suggested.

Saja frowned at me.

"Shouldn't you bring your friend, Kaleen?" Saja asked.

I shook my head.

"No, we should leave her be, she needs to sort things out for herself." I said.

Thankfully, Saja did not ask for an explanation. We couldn’t waste any time.

Even though I had no sword, (actually, I had no idea where it was. On Artemis, amid the wreckage of Hemlon, maybe?)

I felt confident that we could at least see what the new Saja was doing, regardless of how strong she may be. I didn't think that I'd need Sangiria anyway. I looked outside, the sun was setting. Saja and I waited until complete nightfall, which wasn't far away, and we ran outside, I didn't keep track of how far we went. We walked through the downtown area and past the lake with the cave that Tigiti died in. I smelled the blood of the people that I passed on the street in the air. My throat burned with thirst and I gritted my teeth, attempting to resist.

“It’s okay, Nick. Just resist the thirst. You can do it. I know you can.” Saja said.

Wow, I didn’t think Saja was capable of compassion.

“Thanks, I will do my best.” I said.

I was starting to question the fact of whether or not Saja could be trusted. Was she just luring me out here so she could kill me easily? We began to walk out of the town and we arrived at the edge of a forest. We walked through the first few trees and continued on.

“Saja, where are we going?” I asked.

Saja kept walking.

“We are going in the direction that I fled from my new self in.” Saja explained.

“You think that your other self will be tracking you in an attempt to kill you?” I asked.

Saja nodded.

“Most likely, yes. I did try to kill her after all.” Saja said.

“In that case, it does sound pretty likely that your other self would be around here.” I said.

“Precisely.” Saja said.

We walked on through the forest for a few more minutes. Every so often Saja would look around or sniff the air, but other than that the walk was uneventful. After a few silent minutes, I spoke to Saja.

“I can’t believe that I’m travelling with you.” I said.

Saja looked to me.

“Should I be offended?” She asked.

I shook my head.

“No, I just find it hard to believe is all. I mean, I spent a few months hating you, fearing you and either running from you or trying to hunt you down. Going from that to, well… This is very strange.” I said.

Saja nodded.

“I understand why you hated me. Perhaps you still do. We are sworn enemies; Saja and the Chosen One. Even though we are enemies, we are enemies with a common interest; killing my other self.” Saja said.

I nodded.

“I agree. We both want to kill your other self. Who knows what she will do if we do not stop her in her early stages of ascension? However after we do stop her, we both want different fates for the world.” I said.

Saja looked me in the eye as she kept walking.

“Yes, I would like to rule the world, and you would like to keep it on its rightful path. I am sure that after we kill my other self, we can make an arrangement.” Saja said.

I shot her a strange look.

“You’ve never been the one to compromise.” I said.

Saja returned my gaze.

“Well, I have made a deal with you in the past, but that only ended up with Luna betraying me and one of your friends ended up dead.” Saja said.

I knew what she was talking about. She was talking about the exchange that she proposed in Sven on Artemis. She wanted to exchange the shards of the Essence of Life that I had for Kai’s life. Speaking of the shards of the Essence of Life, should I tell Saja that I have them? I still had them in my pocket, but would Saja only betray me if she knew that I had them? I decided that it was best not to risk it. I kept my mouth shut about the shards.

“I’m just curious, and you don’t need to answer if you don’t want to, but I want to know how much you feared me on Ectoclis when I first captured you.” Saja said.

That was an odd question. She knew how much she terrified me back then. Why did she want to know now? Did she just want me to say it aloud so she could have the satisfaction of knowing that she terrified me?

“I was terrified by you, to put it bluntly. That’s also why us being on the same side for once, regardless of the reason, is so strange.” I told her.

Saja nodded. She didn’t smile or anything like I thought she would have.

“I see. What did you find so terrifying about me?” Saja asked.

“Excuse me? What kind of question is that?” I asked.

“I’m just making conversation. In case you haven’t noticed there is nothing else to do. We can talk about something else if you want.” Saja offered.

“Well, now that we’re on the subject I suppose I should tell you. The fact that you could have killed me back on Ectoclis and Artemis numerous times scared me. The fact that you didn’t confused me.” I said.

“Well, like I said. My master plan to rule Ectoclis was falling behind schedule and you were advancing upon me and gathering rebels faster than I thought you would have, so I sent Luna after you numerous times to stall you. I didn’t kill you on Hemlon when I had the chance because we are sworn enemies, and as insane as this sounds, I thought that you were a very worthy adversary. I liked having the opportunity to match wits with someone who was as smart as me. The truth is, I just wasn’t ready to kill you yet.” Saja explained.

“I’m not sure how to feel about that…” I trailed off.

“Well, I suppose you should be grateful. A ‘thank you’ wouldn’t hurt you know.” Saja teased.

“Well, thanks for not killing me.” I said with a laugh.

Saja laughed. It wasn’t the arrogant laugh that I grew to know, it was a genuine laugh. Was Saja really turning good again? Or is it all an act, so that when we kill her other self she can try to take over the world?

“Stop.” Saja commanded.

I did what I was told. Saja stopped walking after I did. Saja was looking out into the forest. I followed her gaze and that’s when I saw her; the new Saja. She was wearing simple Earth cloths consisting of a red T-shirt and blue denim jeans. The new Saja had a wooden stake in her hands. She had a mist of violet around her, it was faint, and her eyes were violet rather than crimson, and she looked more like, well, a killer. She looked intelligent, though... Innocent? I couldn't tell. I wondered how we were going to do this. She was just walking along, just then, without warning, she was on top of me! Fear shot through me so fast that I don't even know how I didn't die of shock. How did she go from being way over there to on top of me that quickly!? The new, violet eyed Saja had a stake raised over my heart, and the good (well, depending on how you look at it.) Saja was knocked against a tree. The bad (and I mean really bad, as I later found out.) Saja smashed the stake down on me, I caught it in my hands, careful not to touch the point.

            She pushed the point so that it was pushing towards my heart slowly, but as my strength decreased with each passing second, the stake came down harder and harder. It was now a centimeter away from my chest. My arms were straining. Just then, the real Saja (yeah, I like that better than 'good' Saja) was in the air, tackling her other self off of me. They rolled, and the new Saja ended up on top. Oi, this was confusing. I got up to push the new Saja off of the old Saja, but the new Saja bit me on the shoulder. The familiar twin needle points of sharp pain appeared on my shoulder, but instead of falling weak, I felt unrelenting pain. My wound seeped violet mist, much like the stuff that surrounded the new Saja. I screamed. I felt the new Saja's spirit inside me. She was taking over my body. I fell to the ground, I thought I was dead.

Author's Note

Here is chapter four! In this chapter, the battle for humanity plays out, can Nick win?Please tell me what you think :)

Reviews

[John Mcnab]

... This was... Amazing! I cannot wait to see what happens next! Nick lost in the fight against Saja! What will she do next????? Awesome detail, exhilarating fight scenes, and suspenseful moments that had me on the edge of my seat! I love your writing style! Keep writing!

[Coyote Poetry]

You are a very good writer. A intense story. You are making the story stronger. I like the locations, character and struggles in the story. This chapter you gave enough.
"She added the shards one by one, the energy from the sword locked them into place. Before her stood the two relics: The blade of faith and the essence of life. She had not managed to retreive the subspace corruptor from the vampire council, but that was fine. With the essence of life, she didn't need it. "
The above lines stood out. Thank you for the amazing chapter.
Coyote

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for reviewing! I have to admit, I was a little stuck when it came time for Saja to join the two relics, I wanted to create a descriptive passage that was dramatic, hard hitting, but not overwhelming or over-doing it. I'm glad that you like my writing, if you like it so much, I should post the first chapter of book three......... :P