DISTRICT DARKAlicia locked herself up inside her house. She felt the entire weight of the world on her shoulders and she wasn’t strong enough to bear that burden. She wanted to get stronger, but there was no possible way she could. The heads made sure of that. They took the covenant book, the only thing that could help her master the art of god magic. The last two remaining dark benders were practically erased from the face of the earth, meaning everything she was learning was either by sheer luck or instinct. She tried hard not to cry, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She cried herself to exhaustion. She shed the act she was putting on of being a strong fierce leader and allowed herself to feel vulnerable for once, to be a young adult girl in a cruel world. The rest of her fellow state guards in her living room could hear her crying, but they all put themselves in her shoes and knew deep in their hearts what she was going through. They would have done the same, take a break
FLASHBACK"How is life in the temple.""Well for one thing it's certainly better than digging trenches and planting corn." They all burst out laughing, mostly because the words were directed at Valmon. "Hey! I do that because I volunteer!" "And we all know how great you are at voluntary service" Reene added on, fueling the laughs."But honestly guys I cannot believe that after so long, and after all that has happened we are all still here." Carrs said."Well at least most of us are. Here, I mean." Salron said. They went silent momentarily.Carrs added on, " Oh yeah. How is she?""Well, compared to how you left, worse." Salron said."She's... She's lost in her mind. Even now, she might be planning of other ways to get over the wall. And I'm pretty sure she is forgotten my name." He added on."To be honest she hated your guts since day one." They took time to laugh again but not as intense as the outbursts from before."B
"Enough with the chit chat, you are coming with me you traitor!""Enough chit-chat, you traitor, you're coming with me!"Slejj yawned loudly for a long time. He closed his eyes for a moment to reclaim all of the air he had lost, then returned the sword to Alicia."The sword was one of my prized possessions, so take proper care of it. It belonged to one of my closest friends. I never expected him to hand it over to someone like you.""Don't act sad or something! You are well aware that you are the one who caused my father's demise, and you will be held accountable..."Slejj sprang to his feet and charged straight at Alicia. With his monstrous muscles, he made a huge fist and ignored the sword pointing at his chest. He moved in as if begging to be impaled by it.Alicia was taken aback by his sheer ignorance to the blade, and she wondered what had gotten into him; was it what she said?"Little girl, if you blame me for his death one more time, I swear I'll knock your teeth out one by one
“I can do this all night, but I’m saving the pleasure for later,” Anato remarked, folding his hands and stepping nearer Drom who was coughing up his misery. He sank his fingers deep into the earth and pulled his body towards Anato."It was all fun and games for you my King," Anato grabbed him and hit him, holding him by his hair. But something awful is on your way to your beloved capital tonight. If you don't listen to what I'm about to tell you, then there is no way you and your people are going to make it out alive you hear me!? Do you want to keep continuing like this or do you want to grow a brain and listen to me?!”The king coughed, tried to raise his hands many times, but he couldn't."All right now, good lad... now listen. I want you to take this, pass it over to one of my associates, who has given him the same discussion with the dark bender. And both of you will obey our directions or in a matter of seconds, everybody in this city will drop dead!" he stated, handing over the
Ladzgery Tyndale, Jrue Deryleen, Lady Melo, the Vurhanil king, and Dakario all assembled at the gates of Royal Republic. Kanchi Asobi had stayed behind in the forgotten temples of south Angus, for reasons only known to him. Three hours had passed afternoon, and the night sky was closer to losing its darkness. The vurhans had already surrounded the entire structure enclosing the city. The damned knights aligned at the foot of the gates, ready to march in on Tyndale's orders."It is always a pleasure to meet the fox assassin, and you couldn't be more beautiful!""Conniving as ever I see, you're army has exponentially grown since I saw it last.""Yes it has, over the years I sought to achieve a better life for the people I ruled, and so with my ambitions came their trust. Leaders must be aggressive towards the goal of peace, over the years this kingdom has always been the biggest, but not the most prosperous. My predecessors saw it best to change the leadership intoxicating this nation w
“My power grows limitless by the minute. I am capable of…”“You gain power from human beings. Arekin created human beings, which means you draw power from his creation, and that is just a tiny portion of his power. As a fellow celestial I warn you, only challenge him for the seat of a brother god, but do not challenge him for the seat of heaven! I once had a brother like you, ambitious and overconfident. He thought he could go against him. I warned him but he did not listen. He is now but a mere footnote, his name was Alestio. Ever since he clashed with him, he does not even remember his time in heaven realm, he lost all his memories.”The Great Link looked into Arni’s eyes and saw sincerity staring back. He knew his words carried no bluff.“And why were you banished?”“If I ever reveal the truth about my banishment that would be the day I seize to exist, so I warn you once again. Stop digging into it, it will only make him more aggravated and it will not end well for you.”The Great
DISTRICT DARK“A vurhan and the dark bender working together. I never thought I would see the day. One thing I know is that the keepers of the covenant and the Vurhans are sole enemies, and no matter the situation, one would never be willing to work with the other. I am guessing you are not fighting me willingly, are you… dark bender?”Tyndale asked, walking slowly towards the duo. With each step, the mud below his soles boiled. Daito twitched his eyebrows a little. The words seemed to be getting through to him“A vurhan and the dark bender working together. I never thought I would see the day. One thing I know is that the keepers of the covenant and the Vurhans are sole enemies, and no matter the situation, one would never be willing to work with the other. I am guessing you are not fighting me willingly, are you… dark bender?”Tyndale asked, walking slowly towards the duo. With each step, the mud below his soles boiled. Daito
Drom looked into her eyes, they aged well. It was surprising how far she walked despite being her age.“And what about me, I am a man. Why does she help me, you said it yourself, her father made her despise men.”“She has been through a lot my boy. That is one thing you have to understand, and I have lived with her long enough to know that she wants to change, she just didn’t have the right motivation. And I know that when she looks at you, you remind her of someone, someone who used to care for her. You should not let her suffer. You shouldn't close her out like that. Give her the embrace she yearns for. She is looking for comfort that she has missed all these years and she knows in her heart that you can provide it to her, so do it.”Drom thought about those words for long. Even when they were aligned, receiving miracles that would help them survive their short journey through Free state, he recalled their last encounter. Melody promised that she would retrieve the dagger and help h
They rushed into the palace, two awls trailing behind them, holding a huge wooden box. When they were climbing the flight of stairs, one of the awls relaxed his grasp on the case's side handle and it slid off, falling to the ground. The case's housing broke open and objects spewed out, including several scrolls, a large book with a lock restricting the pages, and a fairly long dagger. "Wait, I'm familiar with both the book and the sword. They are normally at my father's place. He's been devoting a lot of time lately to reading that book." "And what is the purpose of the blade?" "It's for, yeah, I read about it in my father's library a long time ago, it's used for the rite when when...no!" Daito's eyes abruptly opened as he realized what the intention of the visit could be. He made a hasty descent down the trunk, losing his balance and slipping off several times. Drom pursued him blindly. "Hey! Dai, what is it tell me!" "Come on Drom! We have to hurry before it's too late." They
Needle-like pain reverberated across her skull. She lost her orientation, the world began spinning. As she tried to straighten to her feet another powerful blow landed across her frame, knocking the air out of her lungs, sending her spinning and spiraling across the floor. She collided with the wall, breaking her momentum. Jrue swung his twin blades with malicious intent. Though it wasn’t him succumbing to all those terrifying blows they were so brutal that he felt the impact of his raw strength. Before his blades could gain momentum he was rudely picked off the ground with an inhumane tackle. He was driven to the wall, the impact so violent it pushed the bricks out of position. Once he was pinned to the wall a flurry of punches started coming his way. The iron-like knuckles dug into his face, he felt like a hammer pounding his cheeks. His mouth filled with blood. The relentless attacks were halted by a deafening sound of a metal bar striking Tyndale’s skull. It seemed to have less
“A paralytic Poison. I see I taught you well my son…” “Don’t you ever dare call me that again!” He picked up his right arm and slit his wrist across, doing the same to his left hand. Jrue wanted him to suffer. He wanted him to bleed to death knowing that he was powerless, unable to do anything about it and save himself. He left him outside and limped back into the house. All the soldiers guarding the house had evacuated, deployed to handle the uprising of the slaves in the mines, giving the two siblings all the time they needed to execute duties assigned to them by Anato Strider as part of their escape plan. He managed to reach the room where the fight had begun. He shook her sister to wake. “Lora, Lora! Wake up, it is done!” All Lora felt was an unrealistically powerful force driving her to the ground. She landed with a thud, her head bouncing off the moldy floor. Needle-like pain reverberated across her skull. She lost her orientation, the world began spinning. As she tried to s
Albert was unconcerned about her feelings. He spread the crinkled letter out on the table and began reading it aloud. "The official report. On the second day of the third week of the sixth moon of the year, the commander of the independent states arrived at Defectors State headquarters, where honorary State guard, Lora Deryleen, provided information on the whereabouts of the fugitive, ex-commander, and traitor to the States, Slejj. In the evening, the commander gathered an army to go over to make a stand. "What are you babbling about, is it a fantasy scenario you've been dreaming about?" "Come on...you of all people should know the report never lies," "You seriously can't be considering something this low Albert!," "I made a deal with fugitives Lora, fugitives you wanted to protect. now it seems like their crimes have caught up to them, and there is no way I can delay the inevitable," "You're not going to be able to accomplish it, Albert. We struck a deal!" "Lora...dear Lora, I
The kick was aimed at the shield. Tyndale pushed out the shield with his kick so violently that it broke the teeth submerged into the metal. As the shield rolled on the mud with the teeth sticking out of it, Jericho shrieked in pain. Daito finally came to, getting to his feet just in time before the blast shot the Vurhan's entire face off. He charged forward with a blast of his own. Tyndale reverted his attention towards him which left him exposed to the mercy of the beast. Another swipe of the claws ripped up a shred of his skin, allowing blood to run over his chest. His muscular arms pushed Daito back onto the ground once more. He kicked the vurhan and took out its left knee with a blast of energy, rendering it immobile, momentarily. As the vurhan stumbled to the ground he grabbed its arm and pulled it back up, directing its head towards his punch. The two targets collided, leaving a bloody green stain on the Vurhan's face as it slid across the mud. Tyndale felt a severe force pus
"I made a deal with fugitives Lora, fugitives you wanted to protect. now it seems like their crimes have caught up to them, and there is no way I can delay the inevitable," "You're not going to be able to accomplish it, Albert. We struck a deal!" "Lora...dear Lora, I mean, come on, you knew what you were up to. We all knew this make-believe family you built wasn't going to last." "Albert, you're a jerk!" "Let's not talk about that princess. I'm aware of your darkest secrets!" "Wait... What secret?" He moved closer to her face, leaning in. Her stomach turned at the smell of his alcoholic breath. "You think I don't know about your little secret, Deryleen... you're not from around here, are you?" "You're not selling it Albert...get out of here." Lora bumped shoulders with him as she walked into her quarters. "Get out of my quarters now!!!" "... According to the second official report, Lora Deryleen and Alicia Iko captured the previous commander of the independent nations and we
Alicia dazed in a similar trance. She looked on as her apparently dead little brother reaped his swords and whirled them, chopping off delegates arms and legs. At one point he arced his head and caught sight of her, but ventured on with his slaughter as if she wasn't even there, as if he had no clue who she was. Reene and the others tapped them out of their stupor as they pulled out their swords. Alicia began galloping straight towards Drom, and Lora headed for Deryleen. Before they could both reach their intended targets the rest of the faction popped up under the teleportation circle and dropped to the arena, jumping straight into the action. Outside the castle, the intense battle raged on. The army of undead knights fought relentlessly like they had nothing to lose, mostly because they didn't. They overpowered the knights trying to secure the castle and fell to their blades, most of them cowardly retreating. The vurhans continued their orchestra, by then the whole city had awoken
"You know the truth is I was never your brother you simpleton! I was never your brother!" "... Wha... What did I ever do to you brother?" "NOTHING! And that is why I despise you. You never did anything for anyone, only cared about yourself. Using others to get what you wanted... Using me to become the commander!" Slejj coughed up a couple of times before speaking. "What in the hell are you talking about?" "I do not need to explain myself to you! Have you ever heard of Enkai, the forest deity who supposedly guarded the gates against crossers? Protected the Independent States from the world outside, especially vurhans." Slejj stared back in discomfort as a response. "Well, do you remember the day we were on the battlefield, fighting off the hoards of vurhans? I was the one who called on to him. I corrupted him with the help of some new friends I made. Using the power I made it turn against us... It killed and devoured those soldiers, and it was also to devour you! But I didn't pla
Fear was creeping in and Jrue was re-evaluating his options. A retreat would seem reasonable at that point. Lora had been completely taken out of the equation. “Well! I am Waiting!” Tyndale barked, his voice full of excitement. Jrue charged towards him. He wasn’t that good of a fighter in tight spaces but give him an open field and he would perform his acrobatic stunts that surprisingly packed a punch. He sought to tilt the odds to his advantage by taking him to an open field, and there was only one way he saw how. Running full steam ahead he tackled Tyndale and they both burst through the window, shattering the glass and falling three from a height three stories high. There was no object below to cushion their landing, so they sprawled to the hard ground. Jrue landed on his chest, breaking a bone or two. Tyndale landed on the shards of glass. They dug into his back, yet he seemed not to feel irritated by the pain. Before he could get up Jrue rushed over to him and impaled his leg w