The Punishment

Sasuri was squatting behind a rock as he was waiting for any sign of activity nearby. He had his wakizashi in one hand and the other on the rock sensing for vibrations. So far he could only feel the hot gentle wind blow against his face. One of the wind warriors suddenly lurched up from his hiding place some paces away from Sasuri towards one of the enemies. Sasuri swore for himself; he was not supposed to attack before Sasuri was within range!

But it was no turning back now, the ambush was started and the only thing they could do is take advantage of this situation. Sasuri rounded the rock running towards the enemy ready to strike. And his blood froze as he saw their target. The scouts had reported an assault squad of one water, five wind, ten earth and no fire. He had thought they could finally win one battle, but the scouts had been fooled.

In front of him, down the sand dune, was one gigantic sand elephant surrounded by five water and around the elephant was maybe a handful warriors from both Arymbryll and Drothar, but what surprised him was that there was maybe a dozen Kadi and Takfir down there as well, all prepared to strike against them. They were largely outnumbered, five to one, and they had been waiting for them. There was no escape, so the only thing they could do was to fight and die for Mars.

He jumped straight into the mass trying to avoid the arrows from the wind warriors and as he was within range he drew his Katana in one fluid motion and stroke down two earth warriors. He spun around only to face three wind warriors of the highest rank. He knew he would lose this battle, but he was thrilled. This was the greatest battle he’s ever fought, just the kind of battle he wanted to die in. As he fought with the wind warriors he thanked Mars for this.

…this is not right, this is not how it should be…

He slew one of the wind warriors, and the second one fell to a fireball thrown by their water. Sasuri took the opportunity to dash forward to fight two Takfirs instead. He almost chuckled with joy when his blade met theirs. His rival was the famous Takfir Hunter, if he died to these two it would equal to die by his blade. Just the thought of that brought him strength enough to drop the Katana and in the split second of bewilderment of the Takfirs he drew his Wakizashi again and spun around in the deadly Marauder. The both fell to the ground gaping with several deep slashes over their chests. He quickly sheeted his Wakizashi and picked up his Katana as he ran towards the mage straight in front of the elephant.

…this is not how taraians fight, this is not the way of fire…

He shook his head and prepared to face death. Then time seemed to slow, the air seemed like mud and his muscles seemed like frozen. So this was what the last moments were like before death. He had heard something about seeing Mars just before the end, just before the hellfire engulfed his soul. He was sure she would smile at him, say that he had done good. He looked forward to it.

THIS IS NOT THE JUSTICE OF FIRE!

The voice roared in his head and suddenly a shockwave came out of nowhere and threw him backwards. He heard a distant sound from the elephant, it sounded like it was dying or maybe raging. He sat up and then he saw him or maybe it. Everyone was on all fours or trying to stand and in the centre of the shockwave stood a man or something and it was engulfed in flames but somehow it seemed like the flames didn’t touch it even though it came from its body. It was like the bluish light in a candle, only that that person was the blue flame.

I AM SATI, I’VE COME TO PUNISH THOSE WHO ARE NOT FOLLOWING THE HOLY LAW OF MARS.

Suddenly the elephant burst into flames. It was a big roaring fire that burned him even though he was several feet away from the elephant. Then suddenly the water he had tried to attack burst into flame, and then another Shikár burst into flame, and another, and a another. Shikárs and Takfirs burst in flame everywhere on the battlefield and the being was floating in the air pointing at the ones who burst into flames.

Everyone was standing now, looking at the creature, or almost everyone. Takfirs and Kadi were trying to run, escape punishment from Mars, may they all burn! Sasuri shivered and waited, like all Shikárs did, even though he saw warriors of Arymbryll staring with anger at Sati. But they waited, like any real shikár would do. It annoyed him that they didn’t run, annoyed him that Arymbryll stood there like him. They were cowards, sandworms not worthy of living.

Suddenly, it was over. Most of their enemies were dying in fires but not everyone. Only a couple of his men had fallen to the punishment but it was only earth. They surely hadn’t been true to Mars. He looked at Sati as he rose higher and higher into the sky until he was in the middle of the sky and he couldn’t look directly at him.

THIS IS MARS PUNISHMENT, DON’T FAIL HER AGAIN OR YOU WILL ALL BURN IN HER FIRES

And then… Sati was gone.