Spiralling Down - Chapter 2

As the lift rose up, loud, rumbling explosions were thundering on the surface. The retired team were anticipating the chaos that was happening in Haven.

While the lift was slowly rising, Daxen glanced through the retired warriors. He has been working with them for years, but he has never seen them like the way he was.

Echo, his best friend, a squad striker. He was in his party squad for as long as he could remember during his career days. Echo was fast, swift, and his swordsmanship was top of the class.

Remi, a knight who specializes in bombing and demolition. His rounded and soft plated armour allowed him to stay in the bomb blast radius without a scratch or fracture of his bones. He had a whole backpack full of different bombs, each with its own capabilities.

Archilus, a knight who's armour protects him from all elemental damage, making him good at taking down Constructs, a mechanical species created from the Gremlins. His hooded cloak makes him look like a professional assassin.

Sylvin, a knight who's armour protects him from all shadow damage, making him the better choice to take down the enemies of the darkness. With ghostly like helmet, and armour decorated with deadly spikes, many call him Shadow Stalker. Complimenting that nickname is his superb agility and silence.

Jorin, a knight who has mastered the Spiral Knight gear. Guardian and striker mixed into one. With serious knock-back capabilities, he becomes the cover for other knights.

Izola, some say that under his helmet, is an old man. But no one knows for sure as his strength is far beyond a normal knight. A guardian is tough job, slowness and low elemental/shadow damage. But countering that is the fact that whoever gets hit first is him, and whoever does a serious smash first is him.

Zebulon, a knight who strangely wears a chameleon's head as a helmet with its dead tongue sticking out. But it is not just some other chameleon, it is the head of the Chromolist. A chameleon like creature who attacks in different styles, making it able to withstand different situations. Specialists love this armour, making them perfect for any situation.

Walkon, a knight who wears a flabby Jelly mail. Jellies are creatures of slime and annoyance, but yet able to withstand high piercing. Harvesting their goo and smelting it to armour, makes you the most vibrant knight ever, with colours from fluorescent pink to bright blue.

These were the retirees that were once great warriors. Daxen remembered the days of him fighting along side all of them. They were a great team...except Jorin, he was actually quite useless. But the more the merrier.

The lift finally reached the surface. Daxen's eyes filled with disbelief. Haven was destroyed. It was like all hell broke loose. The Garrison was littered with crumbles of buildings, dead knights were spewed on the floor. The retired warriors walked out of the lift. What happened here?

There was a severely injured knight, laid on the floor. He was coughing out blood. Daxen saw the knight and immediately kneeled beside him.

"W..We were un..unprepared," the knight coughed. "Th..there were too many of them."

"Who? Who are they?" Daxen asked.

"Crim...Crim..." the knight coughed. He wheezed and his last breath left him.

"Crim? What is Crim?" Echo asked Daxen.

"I do not know, but I do know that Haven has been attacked critically. The Garrison has been destroyed," Daxen said.

"We need to get to the Town Square, maybe the enemy would still be there," Izola said while unsheathing his Troika, a massive sledgehammer with a sharpened top.

Like the Garrison, the Town Square was torn apart. How could the enemy attack so quickly? The central fountain was lying on its sides, heaps of broken stone was crumpled beside it. The curtains of the Auction House was set ablaze. Whoever the enemies were, they were professionals. The retirees stood in awe, not believing that the peaceful Haven they took for granted is destroyed.

Suddenly, in the corner of Daxen's eyes, a nearby bush shuffled. Everybody saw the bush, and they unsheathed their weapons. Daxen held the Polaris, aiming his sight on the bush.

"Who goes there?!" Daxen shouted. The bush kept still.

Daxen charged up his Polaris, a pistol that shoots an explosive bullet over some distance. The Polaris reached its charged point, producing a slight humming sound. He was about to release the charged bullet when a sword's end was placed on his skin. Everybody was in shock of the quickness of the assailant. At the start of the sword's blade is an enemy no one had expected.

"Kozma?!" Daxen turned around, careful not to cut himself in the process.

"Daxen?!" Kozma exclaimed. She was a female Spiral Knight, in charge of the Supply Depot. "I thought you were the invaders, so I decided to stop you. I did not know you were still alive!" Kozma said.

"I thought you were dead from the attack...just to think that you still up and moving," Daxen said.

"Me? Die? Of course not. I was collecting resources from the Bazaar when I started to hear explosions all over Town Square. I saw them Daxen, I saw them. They were gremlins, no mistake with the familiar laughing. But they were special, they wore hoods like Archilus." Kozma said. "I put the elemental hood from my supply as a disguise and blended in with them. I witnessed them kill the Strangers and everybody, including Brinks. I managed to slip past them and headed towards the Town Square, that's when I saw you guys."

"So you thought we were the gremlins and decided to take all nine of us on?" Daxen said. He was impressed.

"Yap, luckily I saw your cowboy hat, otherwise you would be dead," Kozma said.

"But who are those Gremlins?" Walkon asked.

"We could go to the archives in my favourite place's and look for information about them," Sylvin suggested.

"Favourite place?" Jorin asked.

"Yes, Moorcraft Manor,"