THE WATCHMAN

A New Army

The Oraha got up and packed his things ready to leave. All his efforts to convince Jose Reyna had failed, and time was not on his side. So he had to go on, on his own

As he got to the gate of the monastery, he pushed the gate open to leave the place. To his surprise, standing before him was his friend Jose Reyna with a wide smile on his face and a fully packed bag on his back.

"You didn't think I would let you take down the Murillos all by yourself Bernardo?" Jose Reyna asked.

The Oraha smiled back and said. "I thought you would let me have the glory on this one, but pride would not let you!" They shared a warm hug and both proceeded on their journey.

They returned to Catalunya through the same route which the Oraha was led.

Immediately they arrived in Catalunya everyone was delighted to see Jose Reyna again. There wasn't a soul who didn't know him.

It was then that the Oraha realized that everyone there was a follower of the ways of the of HigaSuki

Every man and woman was a trained fighter and they were all allegiant to the ways of the Higasuki.

He also realized that they all loved Jose Reyna and would lay down their lives for him if it came to it.

"So this is all a setup?" The Oraha said while smiling at Jose Reyna.

"Yes bro, I have my own little army here. So you see I am not as out of touch with this world as you thought I was". Jose Reyna joked

************************************************

"No, it's Antonio de Castillo!" Lord Murillo blurted out in shock and anger.

It was then that Ricardo Pereira looked properly into the mirror and saw that the face of the man with the white scarf was Antonio de Castillo.

"Impossible!" Ricardo screamed. "How can this be? Antonio de Castillo is dead!"

Suddenly the light in Duchess Murillo's turned dark, as some of the candles mysteriously were put out.

For the first time, she turned around and looked at Lord Murillo. The look on her face was one of desperation and tiredness.

"Emil! Help me, Emil!" She cried out

"I can't fight him! He's too strong!" She said and then she let out a scream and stooped to the floor. She then turned back towards the mirror.

For a few seconds there was silence and then suddenly she stood upright, but this time it wasn't her image reflecting in the mirror.

The image in the mirror was a dark cloudy image with long claws on both its hands and feet.

Lord Murillo instantly knew that something was wrong, so he quickly stepped out of the circle to avoid an attack from whatever being who had taken possession of his dead wife's body.

Duchess Murillo turned around, snarling at both Lord Murillo and Ricardo Pereira, both of who still felt safe, as she was still within the boundaries of the circle.

In a bid to put an end to the spell Lord Murillo asked that both try to put out the rest of the candles.

They expected her to drop to the ground when they were done putting out the candles but she was still standing upright and snarling at them.

Then she attempted to step out of the boundaries of the circle. To Lord Murillo's utter disbelief, Duchess Murillo's possessed body stepped outside the boundaries of the circle!

"This can be happening!" Lord Murillo exclaimed in fear and horror.

Duchess Murillo began to walk in the direction of Lord Murillo who tried to teleport, but his powers seemed not to work at that very moment.

"Hahaha! You have forgotten you got your powers from us the being spoke through Duchess Murillo, and in a flash, she was standing right in front of Lord Murillo.

She grabbed him by the neck with one hand and lifted him off his feet choking him in the process.

On seeing this Ricardo Pereira picked up a shotgun that was on the floor and began firing shots at Duchess Murillo's body.

These shots didn't have a single effect on her, so he picked up a baseball baton and charged at her in a bid to wack her down with the baton, but with a swing of her arm from a distance, she sent Ricardo flying back and clattering into the tables and chairs behind him.

At this point, Lord Murillo was hanging on for dear life, and with the little strength, he could muster he called out to Ricardo who was rolling in pain, on the floor. "The mirror Ricardo, the mirror!" He managed to choke out.

Initially, Ricardo didn't understand what Lord Murillo meant by "The mirror", so he tried another attack on duchess Murillo, which ended the same way, with him sprawling on the ground this time his landing brought him within an eyeshot of the mirror.

It was then that Ricardo realized that the cloudy image in the mirror was still reflecting on the mirror standing upright.

He realized that it was the image actually controlling Duchess Murillo's actions from the confines of the mirror, because the image was not a reflection, being that it remained unmoved despite all that Duchess Murillo was doing.

Dutchess Murillo looked in Ricardo's direction unsure of what his intentions were. Ricardo knew that the being would never allow him near the mirror, so he quickly devised a plan in his head.

He picked up one of the broken wooden chairs from the floor and pretended to run towards Duchess Murillo in a bid to attack her.

As expected while still holding Lord Murillo in the air with one hand, she motioned to use the other hand to throw Ricardo Pereira even harder this time.

Just before she made her move, Ricardo stepped in between her and the mirror and she flung him straight in the direction of the mirror.

Immediately this happened, the being realized that it had made a mistake and let out a loud Shrek.

Ricardo Pereira spread his body as wide as he could and he clattered into the mirror breaking it into pieces.

The shattering of the mirror cause the being to lose control of Duchess Murillos' body, which made her release her hold on Lord Murillo's neck, and he dropped to the ground gasping for air. And then Duchess Murillo's lifeless body also dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Lord Murillo took a while to regain his breath before calling out. Ricardo! Ricardo!! Are you there?"

There was no response nor movement from Ricardo, so Lord Murillo managed to drag himself to the spot where Ricardo lay.

"Ricardo!" He called out again, as he tried to shake him to wake him up. Suddenly Ricardo opened his eyes which had turned pitch black and grabbed hold of Lord Murillos' neck and began to strangle him.

**************************************************

Antonio De Castillo and Susan Boyle wandered about for a few hours because they had no idea how to go about what they wanted to do.

Susan Boyle was ready to lay down her life, but Antonio could not kill her and he had no idea how to get out of that place.

After wandering for a while, they got to a body of water. Neither of them was feeling thirsty and it was a shock to see such in such a dead land, so they decided to bypass the body of water.

As they were about to leave, they heard movement inside the body of water. Suddenly a big anaconda emerged from the water and slithered towards them.

Instinctively Antonio stood between Susan and the snake and readied himself to fight the serpent, but Susan touched him tenderly from behind and whispered. "Not this time, Anton". He was shocked by this act of tenderness, especially in this particular situation.

"What is the meaning of this?" He said, looking confused.

She smiled lovingly at him and said... "Antonio, this is the way..." "The way of what exactly?" He asked, still confused about what she was talking about.

"The way for you to let me repay your debt". She replied as she quickly pushed him out of the way, and walked towards the large serpent.

The snake curled itself around her, looked her in the eyes, and began to squeeze her. Susan let out a cry of pain. Antonio on seeing this tried to attack the snake with his wooden spear but before he could reach them, the serpent flung him off with its tail and continued squeezing Susan even more tightly.

Antonio landed far away, in between some rocks he struggled to get back onto his feet. He could hear Susan's screams of anguish and he began to run towards the sound of her cries. But the more he ran in their direction, the more the distance between where he was and where they were widened.

After a while, they were out of his sight and everything began to swivel all around him and he dropped to the ground and passed out.

***************************************************

"Ricardo, what the hell are you doing?" Lord Murillo asked as he was being strangled to death by Ricardo who now had superhuman strength.

Ricardo paid him no attention and instead rolled over and sat on him while still strangling him. Lord Murillo was now struggling for dear life.

Luckily for him, he got his hands on one of the broken legs from the wooden chairs and hit Ricardo in the head which knocked him out instantly.

Lord Murillo sat up against the wall to regain his breath. After resting a big he hot to his fit and went to fetch himself a cup of water to drink. After he had drunk enough, he poured more water into the cup and walked up to Ricardo who was still passed out on the floor, and poured it out on Ricardo's face. Immediately Ricardo jerked back to life.

Ricardo woke up and immediately held the spot on his head which Lord Murillo hit with the stick. Then he looked up and saw Lord Murillo staring down at him.

"My lord, are you ok?" he asked. "Did we do it?"

"Yes we did, you did great Ricardo. Although after it all, you still almost strangled me to death!" Lord Murillo said and let out a laugh as he said so.

Ricardo Pereira was confused so he asked. "My lord. Me? strangle you? I have no recollection of this Sir, and never in a million years would I do that!" He said trying to justify himself for fear of what Lord Murillo might do to him if it was actually true that he tried to murder the Baron General.

"Yes my boy, I know you wouldn't do that". Lord Murillo replied. "You were not in your right senses at that time. That is why I had to hit you in the head with a stick to knock you out". He said gesturing in the direction where Ricardo Pereira was holding his head.

"That explains this mysterious pain in my head". Ricardo said. "But why would I strangle you my Lord?" Ricardo asked still unsure of what transpired between them.

"Because you were possessed by the same being a possessed my wife". Lord Murillo replied. "And it probably happened immediately your body came in contact with the mirror. I believe that was when the being quickly took possession of your body, but he could not stay because you were not dead, so all I needed to do was knock you out so don't worry, everything is fine". Lord Murillo said in a reassuring tone

Ricardo Pereira let out a sigh of relief, at hearing Lord Murillos' explanation.

************************************************

"We will follow you anywhere you go! Even to the ends of the Earth!" The people in the Catalunya region replied Jose Reyna as he detailed his plans to them.

The Oraha took a seat at the corner and quietly watched in amazement at the events that were transpiring in front of him.

It had been a while since he had seen such loyalty and devotion to one another by a group of people and it was a joy to behold.

" All the able-bodied men and women should prepare for battle, some of you will stay back to take care of the kids and protect the aged as well entrance to the monastery Jose Reyna said as he gave instructions. They all nodded in agreement.

Jose Reyna motioned to the Oraha to come and stand on the elevated platform on which he stood. When the Oraha got to his side, Jose Reina put one arm around him and stretched the other in the direction of the people.

"Here Bernardo here's your new army..." He said.