[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

TATSU

"You are dead Tatsu, this is your hell." The figures words ran through me like a cold blade lodged into my neck. I'm dead? I thought to myself. Impossible, there is no way, it just can't be possible. This must be some sort of joke, an illusion placed on me by the dragon's during my time of weakness.

"There is no way that is true." I say firmly. "There is just no way." The smoke figure smiled again. "Oh yes, it is quite true. You gave what life you had inside of you to that boy. Inferno tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen." I stood in shock. "But I am not aged! I have many years of fighting still left in this body. How could I possibly give my life up? I could have given no more then 16 years. This doesn't make any sense." I try to gather myself and figure out how this could be possible. I can't be dead, there is so much left for me to do. "You don't get it do you? You were fated to die when you reached a certain age. By giving that timespan up, you ended your life right there and then. That was your time of dying." The smoke figure moved forth from behind the altar. "This is your hell Tatsu. Everyone imagines hell differently. Well this is your prison, and I am your devil. You may call me Onijin, for that is the only name you will need yo know in this place." Onijin smiled once more. It was sickening me already, his evil smiles full of self-righteous pleasure. "How can I be in hell, I led a life to protect people from the darkness of the world."

I stand back to try to make sense of things. I should be in Heaven. "You led a life of revenge and hate." said Onijin. "You traveled the world to achieve you own goals. You only protected the weak because it helped you come closer to the dragons. All you cared about was killing and taking the life of those that took everything from you. Well, two wrongs do not make a right, you should have stayed with Shima's memories, and moved on in your life, and found someone new for you to cherish and love. You did, eventually. You found Nozomi, your Shima reborn. But it was too late, the damage had already been done, and by hunting people and dragons for seven years saved you a cozy little spot here in your oblivion. You have no one to blame but yourself Tatsu. Now for all eternity you will be here with me. I will torment you, and show you everything you have done, I will show you all you have killed, and place them all before you on this altar. All you guilt and misery will become visible for all the soul's in hell to see."

The devil's words cut me deep. It is too late now to realize my folly. Everything he has said is true. I was just to blind in my rage to see it. How could I be so careless? How could I make such a crucial mistake that you damn me to this hell? My self-sacrifice should have brought me to heaven. I gave my soul to the demons to save the soul of another. But it was too late it seems....Nozomi.....Ichirin.......Swift......Shima........forgive me now. Please forgive this fool. I wanted to see this through to the end. I wanted to see a new world free of evil, and free of the dragons that were hunting us down like animals. But in the end, I was the first to fall, and the first to let you all down. What am I to do now?