Hellfire on the Other Side Book 3

Chapter 16: Shun

   Shun arrives in New Orleans, his next step to find Shane. He searches far and wide, asking anyone he comes across if they've seen Shane. Almost everyone gives him an undesired answer. All but a little boy who tells Shun that he saw him in the bayou with a couple of people. Shun gives the little boy a lollipop as thanks, then makes his way toward the bayou. Upon arrival, the bayou is barren with no one to be seen. "They must have left before I got here," Shun says to himself. "How unfortunate." He notices the nearby bench and smiles. "I suppose a moment to myself wouldn't hurt," he says as he walks towards the bench. However, before he can sit down, a male voice quietly calls out to him: "Halt! You! What business have you in the Sacred Bayou?" Shun looks around to find out where the voice came from. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he commands. Another voice speaks, a female one: "Begone or face our wrath, young man!" "I said show yourself! Face me like a warrior!" Just then, a large pillar of water shoots out from the bayou, landing in front of Shun. As the water disappears, two armored figures stand where the pillar once stood. Unphased by the figures' intimidation, Shun draws his weapon of choice: a katana which he dubbed Warrior's Spirit in memory of his father. "If a fight is what you want, then so be it," he says.

   The armored figures remove their helmets, revealing themselves to be Sully and Allara. "Don't worry about it, man. We were just messing around," Sully laughs. "Yeah. We'd just finished sparring with a friend before you got here," says Allara. Shun sheaths Warrior's Spirit, both relieved and disappointed at the false threats in front of him. He wastes no time to get into interrogation mode. "Sparring, you say?" he asks. Sully and Allara's armor disappears as they make their way to the bench. "Yeah," says Sully, "with one of our friends. He asked if we could train him underwater so he could practice fighting with any kind of resistance going against him." "Of course, we agreed. And it was pretty beneficial to our fighting skills, too," says Allara. Shun looks to the side, already having an idea of who they might have been sparring with. So Shane's training, huh? Interesting. Maybe he can sense threats. If so, then he had better train a lot harder.

   Sully and Allara sit on the bench. "Is there any reason you came to the bayou, of all the wonderful places in New Orleans that you could have visited?" asks Allara. "Allara, we don't even know the guy's name yet and you're already asking questions," says Sully. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sully." "And I'm Allara." Knowing that Shane is in cahoots with Klunk and Zelda, as well as Allara and Sully, Shun's next move could be risky. Under the assumption that Zelda, Klunk, Allara, and Sully are all close, chances are that the latter two are aware of him. However, seeing as how they haven't made any remarks on his appearance, it's not likely. Shun clears his throat and simply says, "My name is Shun." Sully and Allara are silent for a moment before speaking again. "Well," says Allara with hesitation, "nice to meet you, Shun." Shun furrows his brows. They already knew. Of course they did. I should get out of here while I can. He continues the conversation normally. "Well, to answer your question from earlier, I heard that the bayou was exceptionally quiet, which is a great place for me to regain my serenity," he lies. "Ah, I see," says Sully. "Well, in that case, we should get going. Wouldn't want to disturb the peace." He grabs Allara's hand and slowly rises from the bench. "We'll be one our way," says Allara. A pillar of water engulfs them both, sending them away. Shun scoffs. "Sooner or later, I will find you, Shane. We will fight, and I will emerge victorious," he says. He throws down a smoke bomb and vanishes.

   A few minutes later, Sully and Allara arrive at Shane and Charlene's house. Sully knocks on the door. "Are you sure Shane's here?" asks Allara. "Charlene definitely is. If he isn't, then she can tell him, as long as Shane finds out he's being hunted," Sully answers. "What's that guy's beef with Shane, anyway? There's no way they have any kind of history, right?" asks Allara. "No idea, but whatever it is, Shane might be in trouble." The door opens, followed by Charlene's voice: "Come in. But try not to be too loud. Shika's asleep." Sully and Allara enter the house and close the door behind them. Charlene is sprawled out on the couch under a blanket. "Sully! Allara! It's so great to see you!" she exclaims. "Hey, Char! You look really good for a woman who just gave birth a couple weeks ago," says Allara. Charlene chuckles. "Hey, I can't help it if I'm always gorgeous," she jokes. "But thanks. Good to know that someone other than Shane thinks so. So what brings you here?" Allara kneels next to the couch and looks at Charlene. "Is Shane here?" she asks her. "Yeah! He's in the backyard, in fact. I'll call him," says Charlene. She cups a hand around her mouth and calls out, "Shane! Can you come here, please? Sully and Allara are here!" Shane appears right next to Sully, startling him. "Shane, couldn't you have just walked in?" he asks. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" says Shane. "Anyway, you want to talk about something?" "Yeah," says Sully. "We think you might be in danger."

   Meanwhile, in Scotland, Shun arrives at Midas and Eris's hut. He knocks on the door and waits. After a minute of waiting, there's no response from the other side of the door. "Hmm. They must be out." Shun sits on the log next to the hut and exhales deeply. "Well, there goes my element of surprise," he says, taking out a sheet of paper and a pen. On the sheet of paper is a list of the names of the people closest to Shane. Emilio, Stefani, Zelda, Klunk, Sully, and Allara's names are all crossed out. Only Clara and Charlene's names remain. "But at least I'm one step closer to finding him. Who's next?" "Oi, Shun. Whatcha got there?" says Midas from behind him. "Sorry we weren't here," says Eris. "Someone wanted to take candy from a baby." She glares at Midas, who simply shrugs. "You cannae blame me for wanting to see if it's as easy as it sounds," he says. Midas snatches the sheet of paper from Shun with one swift movement. He reads it over and grins. "Ah. I see you're trying to get to Shaney, eh? You've made some good progress. If I were you, I'd avoid going after Charlene. She's got fire in her spirit," he says. "I heard that she had a baby recently, so that's another good reason." Eris sits next to Shun. "Which leaves Clara, who lives in Paris. I should warn you, though. She's a tough one," she says, taking the sheet from Midas and handing it back to Shun. "And I doubt she'll give you any information if you come off as a threat. She's seen a thing or two, so she'll be able to tell that you're a villain if your not discreet enough." Shun smirks. "Then I guess I'll have to really put my skill of deceit to good use," he says. He circles Clara's name on the sheet of paper. "You're next, Frollo."