I'd like ta thank the guest Sweet Trickster for reminding me that there is still Elwiki and Google in the world :D I was being stupid and didn't realize that =.= Thank yus, Sweet Trickster! And all those that reviewed for me! ^_^
Chapter 2
~ Chaos ~
Eve glanced back, the aquamarine waves still beating on the edge. The sky continued darkening as they stepped out of the grass and onto smooth white marble. Their surrounding buildings were carefully constructed out of white stone, the tops of them painted with a glossy teal. They were laced with intricate golden patterns, and spruce trees the color of lime green stood like sentries, lining the border of the paths that led to the buildings.
To her left, a white arch with a narrowed top housed a blue gem that was imbedded within it. A sudden thought struck her. Is that a fragment of El? She stopped walking for a split second, uncertain of what to do. The dome behind the arch was colored the same as every other building, with dark rectangles where the stone was cut out to create windows. Eve had a sudden impulse to go inside and look into it.
Her system placed a question in her mind. It was asking her for the reasons to enter the dome. She continued moving her feet, but she was immersed within her own thoughts, not paying attention to the rest of her surroundings. Perhaps this is what they call curiosity? But for curiosity to spark within a Nasod's mind, would that not mean the system's pull of collecting more data? It is true that I have lost some files during the fire and I must fill in the gap from the time I have been sleeping, but my calculations tell me that this curiosity may or may not dwell within all-
A ray of light entered her eyes. Strange enough, it was an aberrant color, without a tinge of the yellow that usually resided in it. Instead, the light was violet, with hints of magenta... Eve snapped out of her train of thought and absorbed in every detail her eyes sent her, now convinced that she needed to do so from the unsettling feeling she had. The clouds, almost black now, had created a mini swirling vortex in the middle, slowly rotating. It was located above several beautiful pillars that tapered at the top, with enormous amounts of water gushing down onto the ground below. The air was strangely still, as if it were waiting for something, or someone, to break the silence.
Aisha twirled her purple staff, lightning sparking from her hand to her weapon. A tense aura surrounded the group, with Raven clenching and unclenching his Nasod arm, and Rena plucking her bowstring every now and then. Elsword's red eyes darted around, keeping his hands on the black and red hilt of his sword.
With a sudden rumble, the earth heaved and thunder resounded across the City of Water. The vortex expanded to three times it's original size, and what was after it... Line after line of demons poured through the vortex and onto the city. The tension snapped like a thin string as the dark creatures infiltrated. Eve's eyes widened; were there such beings that existed without her knowing? Several demons with bows advanced on them. Their opponents formed a phalanx as the leader drew his bow back to launch an arrow.
In an instant, Rena nocked an arrow into her own green and white bow and fired it without pause or hesitation. The demon caught it with it's claws as the elf launched an entire volley upon them. Unable to keep up, a couple of them fell down, arrows sprouting from their breastplates. They broke the formation. The remaining demons sent fanning arrows to pierce them, their turquoise eyes glittering with dark intent. Eve was about to deflect the incoming projectiles when Aisha drove the bottom of her staff onto the stone, a blue shield enveloping them. The arrows bounced off of the shield and clattered at their feet. "It's not going to hold for long!" she shouted over the now-howling wind.
Eve searched frantically for a weapon on herself. Moby and Reby were still injured; but she had a restore chip that could help them...even though the risks were that they could break down and deactivate themselves. Without further analyzation in the heat of battle, she swiped open her inventory from her system's storage dimension and swept the restore chips into her delicate hands. As Aisha's shield started cracking, Eve set Reby on the ground and wrenched open the white latch located on it's side. It swung upward to reveal a mass of wires, most of them scratched and twisted. She parted the wires and found the chip Reby had used for over a thousand years. It looked similar to a melted-down lump of metal, damaged beyond repair. With a grim look in her eyes, she pulled the chip out and shoved the restoration chip in it's place. The wires reached for the chip, as if they were plants leaning out for the sun. The moment they connected, blue electricity traveled over the wires, and it repaired itself in a matter of seconds. Eve didn't bother to continue inspecting Reby; she worked on it's black twin next while the white drone programmed to start itself up again. Moby was in better state than Reby, but it was broken down nonetheless. She put the chip into Moby when Reby rose from the ground and levitated next to her left shoulder. No time for relief. Chaos caused by the battle had started; the shield Aisha had conjured already shattered into several shards, fading as she noticed it.
A knife richocheted off of the black drone's hard armor. She acknowledged the presence of Moby as she dashed forward, swinging both of them towards one of the archers. She caught it by the side of it's head and waved her hand at the ground. A metal spike erupted out of the earth a moment later, spearing the demon. It thudded dully in front of her as black blood poured from the wound she inflicted upon it.
Elsword pushed a gaggle of demons wielding shields away from Aisha as he gasped, "You alright?"
Sweat dotted the mage's forehead. "For now." She straightened her back and held her staff straight out in front of her. Purple lightning shot out of it, electrocuting the demons that were hiding behind their metal shields. Elsword leaned on his sword, his back to Aisha's as he scanned the oncoming tide of enemies.
"What's with these all of a sudden, anyway?" He parried a strike from a demon that was gripping a sword as broad as his. Elsword gritted his teeth and sent a geyser of flame crashing into his opponent as another came to him from the side. Aisha whipped around and shot a ball of concentrated fire at it. It came out, unscalded, and swung it's blade over the head of the exhausted boy.
An arrow pierced the eye of the demon as Rena slid forward to kick it in the shin, backflipping to shoot three more arrows at it's head. It roared in pain as it blindly swung the sword around, then fell flat on it's face when a tall figure slashed past it.
"Elsword, are you unhurt?" Rena's eyes flickered over to him, searching for any signs of wounds.
"I'm-" His response was cut short when an electronball slammed into a demon assassin that approached them on their left. It dropped it's knife, still dripping with poison, and collapsed, dead. Eve wiped ebony blood off of her face, glanced around for more of those creatures, and found none on the blood-slick stones.
She opened her mouth to say something when distant wails caused everyone to look for the source of the sound. "There is another ambush," she said, focusing her lenses into the distance. "There are already people locked in combat there."
A flash of maroon caught her eye. She returned her attention towards the raging battle in the distance. "A Seiker is there."
Elsword got back up, wiping his head on his sleeve. "Come on. Let's get there."
"Are you crazy?" Aisha slapped his side with the flat of her staff. Elsword winced. "You can barely stand as it is. Just because we survived doesn't mean we'll survive completely unscratched the next time. There's a Seiker there anyway. Let's go."
"But-"
Rena gave him a firm stare, another emotion showing within the depths of the gaze. Worry...? Eve considered. Or is it concern...? "Let's head back. Maybe we can get out of here, somehow. I'd rather none of you get hurt..." She tightened her hold on her bow.
Raven started to slide his sword back into it's sheath at his side when he let go of it. He stumbled, holding his Nasod arm as his face contorted with pain. "Stupid...thing..." he muttered.
Eve refocused her lenses, from the battle to him. The arm was flashing a dangerous fiery aura. She gently pushed Aisha aside and crouched next to him. "Please give me your arm."
He managed to glare at her, despite the pain. After a moment of searching for her intents on her emotionless face, he extended his shaking arm towards her. She held it and pressed her thumb on his shoulder.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Raven growled. It was obvious she had pressed upon a sore spot.
"No," she said thoughtfully. "I am inspecting this arm. It is certainly created by Nasods, but...there is a virus within it...how long ago did you obtain this arm?"
"I don't remember," he said. "Hurry up. If another of those things attack us again, we'd be in a tight situation." Eve didn't answer. She pressed several more points on his arm, each causing a jolt of pain for it's host.
"I assume that there is a virus. Whether or not it was placed there for experimental purposes or it is just that the arm obtained it somewhere, I cannot say. I must do further analyzation to find out." She straightened up and almost immediately noticed that the war raging out had disappeared.
All was silent again. Raven crumpled onto the ground, drawing Eve's attention once more. She rummaged within her inventory and came up with a laser. Using it to burn through the steel of his arm, she found...nothing. Aghast at the sight, she scanned the interior of the arm. Not a single wire. She waved her hand and the keyboard came up. Eve connected her eyesight to her system. Her mind whirled for a moment; she couldn't keep up with the amount of data flowing in. She knew she was outdated, but this...
She subconsciously scanned the particles of the red aura. "It seems that this is what is controlling the arm," she murmured, her voice returning.
"Can you take it out?" Elsword asked. "Raven looks like he wants to die."
The Nasod had too much weight on her. Knowing that the battle was mysteriously gone and not knowing how Raven's arm was made, she couldn't prepare for the threatening prescence in the atmosphere while she was fixing this. Dispelling the doubt and, possibly, frustration that grew within herself, she got busy to figuring out how to cast the virus from the arm. Rena's face creased with worry as Aisha withdrew an old leather-bound book, flipping madly through the pages.
Elsword stared at Eve when her fingers flew over the keyboard. The taps seemed extremely loud in the otherwise quiet air. A moment later, she pressed on the last key with her index finger, and the crimson aura vanished from the arm.
Raven manifested signs of relief, right before the blow of the entire battle came.
Pandemonium erupted again. The battle had been...teleported? How was that possible? The brunt of the army was there to assault the defenders; the measly group of four people were thankfully not alone this time. Eve turned and spotted the Seiker in the middle again-he was no longer in maroon armor, and he emanated every aspect of darkness. The large piece of El that was implanted in the center was giving off swirls of evil, violet and deadly. An inferior white shape was clashing with the Seiker, and was clearly losing. What had happened to the Seiker? Perhaps...it had been taken over? Before Eve could attempt to help it, a black dragon soared over her, plummeting downwards to attack. She wasted no time and gathered an electronball into her hands, then tossed it at the wyvern. Just as she was about to look for allies she could fight with, she was swept along by a tide of demons brandishing spears. The tips shredded her clothing and momentarily surprised her. She rolled onto the earth, keeping her face placid. Regaining her stance on solid ground, Eve pulled out her own ivory spears, and sent blue shocks throughout the wave. As they fell stunned onto the ground, she mercilessly stabbed through them all.
Eve found herself almost diagonal from the human she was looking at earlier. It was clad in white armor, with a mask covering it's face and blue mane of hair on the back of it's head. White fire raced along it's body. It swung a cannon that was twice it's height and shot at the Seiker. "Father, resist it!"
A dark knight carrying both a shield and a sword collected the light particles that surrounded it. Eve knew what would happen next. She snatched the human's hand and concentrated. A blue silhouette of her was produced, and she was ejected a few meters away, towing the human along.
A bright, dangerous laser burnt down the whole stretch of land in it's path right after. The knight released the particles, creating a beam of light that would incinerate anything to a mere crisp.
"Thank you," the human breathed. It's voice was of a boy's, but under the mask, she could not affirm if it was one.
"No need," she replied pleasantly, as if there wasn't death dragging out around them. The human took a moment to observe her. She had silver hair and blank, amber eyes. Between her bangs, an orb of blue was revealed. A white drone and a black drone floated defensively over her. Was she what the books would say...a Nasod?
The black drone flashed past his face and bashed the head of the knight. "Please pay attention. I am not a knight in shining armor." He blinked; did she think he was a girl?
"You're right; I'm sorry." His face hardened in resolve, and he faced his father again.
Eve nodded and saw rivulets of blood-crimson blood-running down the Seiker's armor. He had attacked two of the defenders while the knight had kept them occupied. In his hand was a limp body of a female warrior, which he dropped when the human came at him again.
A body shoved against Eve and fell on top of her. Elsword's red eyes were alarmed as they both saw a spear whistle through the air towards them. A purple-haired girl skidded in front of them and raised the blue shield again. "Geez, Elsword! Let me take offensive for once, I keep having to defend you."
He gave a weak grin in response and pushed himself back up. "Sorry, Eve." Then he rushed back into the fray.
Eve's thoughts slowly proposed a carefully constructed plan. "Elsword!" She dove after him. "Elsword, please evacuate everyone."
"Why the hell-?"
"Just do it, please."
"Aisha," he said as he deflected a blow. He rolled over on the other side of his opponent and slashed at it. "Evacuate everyone."
"Why should I listen to you again?" she called.
"Because you're shorter than me."
"That's nothing. I'm older than you!"
"Shortie!"
"Treat your elders with respect!" The mage sent a wave of flame through the line of demons.
"Like-" Eve, impatient, backhanded him across his face. Elsword grew silent as he finished off the demon with a red hand print plastered onto his cheek.
"Nevermind!" he shouted. "I'll evacuate the people!" She heard Aisha 'hmph.'
On the far left of the battlefield, an elf warned all the defenders to move out of the way. She drew back her bowstring, closed her eyes, and breathed in slowly before letting it go. The arrow was set ablaze, then flared into the shape of a phoenix. It spread it's wings of fire and burnt all the demons within it's scorching path. A black shadow darted from demon to demon, bringing each down with a flash of a sword.
Rena brought her legs up and kicked the demon thrice before sliding under it to shoot an arrow. Another demon came up behind her, with it's knife raised. Raven was at her back in an instant, and let loose several quick slashes. The demon, crimson and rocky, arched its back. Raven dove to the ground as Rena dropped to the other side. The demon released spikes from it's body, thrusting into the empty area where they were both standing seconds ago. Rena kicked the other demon away and shot an emerald arrow that had air bundled around it at the one that had almost killed them.
A boy's voice, tired but familiar, was heard. "Rena! Raven! Get the people out of here!"
She turned around. "Elsword!"
"Eve told me to." He pointed at the fading mark on his face. "I got everyone else out of the way."
Rena nodded. "We'll finish it up. Go get some rest with the others." Elsword dodged a demon's attack and was out of her sight.
Eve avoided getting injuries as much as she could, but it was getting increasingly difficult. With no distractions left on the battlefield but her, all the demons were aiming for the Nasod. She hoped that Elsword was done with the assignment she gave him and skidded around to meet her chasers. She was almost impaled by another spear and ducked just in time to feel it fly over her. I must get to another area. It is too close here. She swung over a boulder that had once been a part of a building and saw the open ocean ahead. Eve floated down the hill and checked to see if she had enough strength left to pull this.
She summoned two silver spears of steel. They arranged themselves in front of her as she imagined a force strong enough to pull every demon surrounding her. A rip in space tore open and a black hole emerged. One by one, the demons piled up inside and was thrown around. The spears drew back towards her, letting the black hole explode. Black blood rained for a short while as remnants of their opponents were scattered.
I did not see a human in there...it seems like Elsword listened to me after all. Eve poked her cheek to fight down the rising urge to...smile? She could not describe the feeling, but she successfully kept her mouth straight.
The wind blew past her ear, bringing voices. She amplified the sound to hear more properly. "Get the citizens out. We have to take care of the rest." Eve flinched; even that was not enough to banish all of them? She went up the dirt path and stood in front of Hamel again.
Demons ravaged the place. Even some victims from her previous black hole were standing and fighting. This is...this is absurd... She spotted an entire troop of people in red battling the demons. They were clearly more experienced than the defenders from before; a woman with a red braid was using her sword to bring down a large demon wolf.
Someone put a hand on her shoulder. The Nasod whirled around, and Aisha instantly found a threatening Reby in her face. "Woah!" Reby was at Eve's shoulder once more, staring like it hadn't tried to attack her moments before.
"Hello, Aisha."
Aisha sighed. "Elsword collapsed when he got to us. He was mumbling something about no more slaps, and we found out that he'd been poisoned. Right before he fainted, he said it didn't hurt. What an idiot." Even though her voice was meant to be offensive towards the boy, she detected signs of worry etched upon the girl's face.
"Does that-"
"Eve, watch out!" The mage grasped her hand and teleported out of the way as a wolf snapped at the air. "We have to get away from here!"
"I apologize, my plan did not work out as well as I thought. I had-"
"Don't say sorry." Aisha held her hand again and teleported a few meters ahead. "Tell us whatever you need to spit out after we reach a place where we can sit without being on guard every second, 'kay?"
Despite Aisha's teleporting, their dark enemies continued to attack them as they went by. The magician was so tired just from teleporting that Eve had to fend off every slash. They continued like that until they landed in the middle of the crowd of people.
Rena rushed over. "Are you two okay?"
Aisha grinned. "No...proble..." Her eyes closed as she fainted onto the elf's lap.
Rena laughed quietly as she picked her up in her arms. "Eve," she said. Eve looked up questioningly. "Please don't try to put yourself in danger again."
"I must ask your reasons for that command so I can verify it."
"The experience of living is something that you can enjoy only once in your lifetime. Once you...pass away...it's gone. Not all things are enjoyable, like today, but..." Rena looked up at the peeking sun, the warm light bathing her entire body. "Just don't do that again, alright?~"
Eve nodded. "We must leave now. The demons are still running amok."
Raven took Aisha from Rena's arms and disappeared. Rena turned her deep golden eyes to glance at her. "How are we going to get out? This is a land surrounded by miles of open ocean. The others told me that as well." She motioned with her head towards the defenders.
"The Shadow Forest is here right...now." As the Nasod said that, a low mist obscured the sun and the elf seemed almost depressed by the sight of the looming forest again.
"I-I see, I hope we can get out again...I'll tell the others to start getting up."
All of the defenders refused to leave their city. Elsword and Aisha were carried by Raven and Rena. Eve waited patiently, checking her system and her drones as they took their time.
The forest seemed shorter this time. In five minutes, they were out on the other end. The emotionless girl picked the dead leaves and twigs out of her hair and saw a land of green splayed out in front of her. "Is this Ruben?"
Rena scowled, which was unusual for the kind elf. "Yes, this is Ruben."
A motion caught Eve's eye as the undergrowth of the fading forest moved. The human clad in white armor stumbled out, it's mask now gone. It's dusty blond hair was short and it framed it's light-skinned face. Two coffee brown tips jutted out of it's hair, having a strange resemblance of ears. Underneath the bolt-cut bangs, aqua blue eyes blinked.
"Oh...um...hi..." The voice was the exact same as the one Eve had remembered hearing over the din of chaos. It sounded like a boy, yet the physical features of it was almost feminine... She could not determine whether it was male or female.
"Would you like me to check your gender for you?"
Ever - I'm so sorry guys, I didn't update for a week TT-TT I had to base this whole chapter on three blurry pictures, and I chose Hamel Gate. And then I didn't know what mobs there were in Hamel and Google didn't tell me . The mobs in this chapter were based on Feita and the Demon Invasion (proxies, rage golems, archers, assassins, Durahan knights, etc.) And then I had SCIENCE HOMEWORK. Burn down the school already! I'm so sorry that this chapter was so dragged out and boring and horrible and all that! So I got stuck-
Elsword - Done working your mouth off yet?
~ One minute later ~
Ever - *pinning Elsword to the ground with a knife in hand and growling* What did you say?
Elsword - I, ah...said you were, er...very nice, Mistress Yume.
Ever - Ah. Thanks. *lets Elsword up*
Rena - *comes into living room* What's going on here-
Elsword - *runs to Rena* YUME TRIED TO KILL ME
Rena - I'm sorry, Elsword, but...you probably deserved it.
Elsword - OAO How could you...how could you betray me, Rena!
Rena - *dramatic voice* I did not betray anyone. YOU betrayed YOURSELF.
Ever - *ruins drama moment* COME HERE ELSWORD I STILL NEED TO STAB YOU!
Elsword - NUU DX *runs out of living room*
Raven - *comes in*
Rena - Why, good morning, Raven.
Elsword - *comes back in* SAVE ME! TTwTT
Ever - *spots Aisha* AISHA! HELP ME BIND HIM.
Aisha - Got it! *winks*
Elsword - NOO
Ever - Stand still! I need to stab you!
Elsword - HELL NO
Aisha - *casts Angkor into room to catch Elsword*
Angkor - *looks around and sees Raven before attacking Raven's head*
Ever - COME BACK ELSWORD!
Elsword - NEVAR
Aisha - *runs after Elsword* I'M GOING TO USE BINDING CIRCLE ON YOU!
Eve - *sips tea*
Raven - ...Good morning to you too.