Chapter 31: About A Doll, For The Last Time!

“Here!” Bara ordered, storming into the room and planting a bowl of potatoes on the cot. “Peel these! I’ve got things to do in the vegetable cellar! And you’d better not leave any skin on those spuds, either!”

Screw those spuds! “Bara!” She ignored me all the way to the veggie cellar. The old woman hated my guts. Too bad! I wasn’t going anywhere until she listened! “We need to talk! Something’s not right around here!”

“Keep your voice down!” she said, yanking me by the arm and inside the cellar.

“We’re in a time loop. I’ve repeated this day more times than I care to count!”

She looked over my shoulder as if she were expecting company then quickly closed the cellar door. “Finally caught on, I see.”

Huh? Wait, did she know about it too?? “How long have you known?”

“Since day one, which was six months ago!”

“What do you mean six months??”

She stepped out, looked toward her house, then came back inside. “It was six months to the day when time started rewinding, day-by-day, then week-by-week. I figured those bloody Sanskrit were behind it. But when I used a talisman to stop it, the day you left started looping instead, and that's the day we've been stuck on!"

The day I left...? “That’s why she attacked me, because we’re stuck on repeat...?”

“Exactly!”

“Okay, so how do we fix this?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” she said, shaking her head. “Go back inside and keep an eye on Ramla for me.”

And then what? She’s going to attack me with all the abilities I used to have. No, that’s not going to do at all. What if...what if I just left? Right now, while no one was looking?

The road to Ishikawa was more like a river. A crossing where the water wasn’t as high or fast was the break I needed right now.

Last go-around I chose a different route. Maybe doing things differently was the key to breaking the loop? I gotta try.

Bara knew more than she let on; I could feel it. And why didn’t she tell me herself? Man, I don’t want to be stuck in time like this! I need to do something!

Think, Aiden. Think!

Those runes are using Ramla to get to me. All of them are in cahoots, too; that’s not good. I need to find a way to get them out of her and into something else. Something other than me, of course.

Wait a minute! The Pardoning. Why hadn’t I thought about that before? Bara can do the ritual on Ramla like she did me, only this time she could send the runes to a rock instead!

Yes! That had to be the way!

Huh? I thought Ino locked the castle doors before he left Ishikawa. Why were they wide open now?

Maybe he came back? “Ino?”

No one behind the first sliding door, or the second, or the third. Hmm. How come I never noticed how empty this place was before?

What’s happened to all the paintings and statues? Ino didn’t take them. Did he? Maybe I should mind my own business.

“What the Hell are you still doing here?!” said someone from behind.

It was that bandit from before. “I should ask you the same thing,” I said, eyeing the loaded sack he was holding. “You need to put that stuff back.”

Maybe if I sounded confident enough he wouldn't challenge me, otherwise I was screwed.

He dropped his loot and drew a dagger. “You gonna make me??”

“If that’s the way you want it.” Yeah, Aiden, you’re screwed.

His wild, angry swings were easy enough to avoid. It was just a matter of grabbing his wrist and forcing him to drop his weapon. Now that he was declawed, a couple of punches were all it took to knock him off his feet.

Ha! Who needed super abilities for this trash?

And that’s when it hit me; something really hard.

I should have expected Bonko to have a friend. Both of them enjoyed themselves kicking me when I was down. “Not so tough anymore, huh?!’ Bonko bragged. “Teach you not to mess with Bonko!”

The kicking and stomping went on longer than I would consider necessary. And just when I thought they had their fill, one of them ( most likely Bonko ) plunged a blade into my torso.

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I fought to keep my eyes open as their cackling got farther and farther away. Getting back on my feet wasn’t going to happen, but I had to try for some reason.

I can't...lay here and die...

...I can't....

“Goodnight Aiden,” I thought I heard Ramla whisper in my ear. “Damnation will take it from here.”

“...no....”

***

..no..no..!

Somebody..stop her...!

“Wake up!” Bara barked.

...And I...

..woke up?

I threw my eyes open. “I’m alive??”

“Look here, you mule head,” she said, tapping me on the head with a spud. “The next time I tell you to do something, you do it!”

“Stop hitting me!” Where was I? Back in Ramla’s place, in her guest room, and it was still raining outside.

“You got yourself killed that time and if I hadn’t been there to stop Ramla, we’d be in a worse fix than a time loop!”

“I...I died?” I pondered, rubbing myself where I had been stabbed. I could still feel the pain of it. Huh? My shirt was ripped where I was stabbed too.

“Getting another chance to try again is the good thing about this mess. Now don’t do that again. I only have a few talismans of those left!”

“Where’s Ramla?”

“Feeding the horses.”

I jumped to my feet and followed Bara as she left the room. “You need to have her do the Pardoning! That’s the only way!”

“Not going to work.”

“Why not? Have you tried it??”

Bara shuffled to her room and opened her wardrobe. “These are Ramlas!” she said, pointing to the dolls. “I made these dolls myself a long, long time ago specifically for the Pardoning.”

Ramla’s a doll? “But how...?”

“In the beginning that’s all I intended to use them for, but, ” Bara grabbed one of the dolls and held it like it was a gem. “I always wanted a girl,” she said with a sentimental tone. “Anyway, all of these have been used for Pardoning. If I do the ritual on Ramla, where will I send the evil inside of her?”

“Can’t you make another doll?”

Before she could respond Bara turned her attention to the door, where Ramla stood. And before I knew it my body was hurling through the air, a wall, then I came to a stop on soaking wet ground.

A crazy amount of energy pulsated from Bara’s house, like a beating heart. I staggered to my feet and started back to the house, but that energy was like an invisible wall. It was a challenge to move forward. When I finally overcame it, I spotted Bara surrounded by that same energy.

She and Ramla were defending themselves from each other’s power. It felt too intense to stand! Ramla’s eyes were completely engulfed with bright light! She was possessed! I hope we can save her!

This...this was all my fault.

“Aiden!” yelled Bara. She snatched a parchment from her belt and let it sail towards me. “Hold onto that!”

“Okay!” I said, snatching it from the sky. As soon as I had, the place exploded. The last thing I felt was a strong impact, then everything went quiet.

So quiet....

...so cold...

***

I gasped, clutching my chest.

Time restarted, yet again. I don’t know how much longer I could stand this...!

“Ramla!” I spotted her on the ceiling above my cot! She was watching me like a spider, grinning like a cat that had cornered her prey. She wasted no time dropping down on me.

But she stopped, or should I say, she froze in mid fall. I scurried out of the bed, then realized I was holding that talisman Bara gave me.

How?!?

That same energy from before preceded Bara as she walked into the room. “I’ve decided to end this.”

A bunch of talismans appeared out of nowhere and orbited around Ramla, increasing speed by the second. “What are you doing, Bara?”

Ramla’s body jerked and shifted. She ( or the runes; I don’t know ) pleaded in agony, but Bara’s mind was made up. “You’re going to end her life?!”

“She’s just a doll,” Bara said, without emotion. The sadness in her eyes spoke louder than her voice, though. “You asked me why I couldn’t make another doll. The trees that I used for wood don’t grow in Nihon anymore. The Sanskrit saw to that. Ramla was my last doll.”

Ramla. Isuko would be devastated without you, doll or not.

This wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t come here; if I hadn’t come here with my problems. My birthright was my responsibility. I needed to accept that reality. I needed to be stronger than them.

“Bara, let her go.”

“You're crazy!”

“I’m serious! She’s not dying because of me! I’ll take my runes back!”

“What about Damnation???”

“Let her go, okay? I’ll deal with the consequences.”

“You’d better!” Bara said, snatching the talisman from my hand. Ramla fell gracefully to the floor and quickly set her sights on the old woman.

“Rebirths!” I insisted, stepping in between them. “I’m done running from you! Come..come back to me.”

I couldn’t believe what I was saying or doing, but it had to be done. It stung like Hell at first and then...then my body tingled..then the voices were back.

♪Hehe...Did you miss us..?♫

***

I should have warped to Khalm immediately, instead of staying up all night waiting for a new day. The clouds parted just as the sun rose. How relieved I was when it was actually turned out to be a new day! Ramla had no memory of what happened, or so she said. Bara thought it was best to let it stay that way. She was alive; that's all that mattered.

I hope she and Isuko have a long life together.

Now to go home and sleep in my own bed. Yes! Yes! Yes!!

After sharing my goodbyes with the ladies ( and hoping I never pester them with my problems again ) it was time to leave Nihon behind.

Goodbye Nihon! Hello Khalm!

“Jaff!” I exclaimed before my body had fully materialized. When it did, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Khalm was...was gone! Homes were burned; fires were raging; those ghouls...they were back! And feasting on the dead!!

“JAFF??!!” How could this have happened?! Where was Jaff?! Mister Laul?!

Laul’s shop was ashes! Nothing was left! “UNCLE JAFF?! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

I spotted movement behind me and spun around, expecting to see Jaff alive and well. But it wasn’t! It wasn’t him!

It was her!

That woman that got into my head back in Nihon! Those ghouls were behind her, as if they were waiting on her command.

“Well, well, well,” she grinned. "Look who's here. I was growing tired of waiting on you, Aiden."

To be concluded