Legacy of Deceit
Legacy of Deceit: The Sky Knight War
The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.
Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.
Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.
Chapter 2
No longer able to ask the Council for aid and unable to find the Ancients quickly, the Storm Hawks felt they had no option but to try with the Rex Guardians again, although that was a dim hope at best. As they arrived at Terra Rex though, they found their hopes restored and dashed all at the same time. The Ancients were already present on Terra Rex, the only problem was that they were fighting the Rex Guardians rather than negotiating. Likely due to Marrshal, the man was racking up quite a list of offenses here recently and this probably had seemed the perfect opportunity to add to his list.
"Like my handiwork?" Marrshal asked as he appeared at the rear of the Condor's bridge. "The Ancients had come to negotiate a cessation of hostilities with the Rex Guardians since Cyclonia is a much greater threat still, but those silly Rex Guardians tried to assassinate Vespos in retaliation for the lies he was spreading about their history. Such a shame, Vespos was even willing to end the conflict without any form of reparations whatsoever. Not anymore obviously, but he was."
"You creep…"
"Now, now, let us not point fingers and assign blame, those activities are not going to help resolve this situation. Not that I want to, that is your bag of tricks." Marrshal said as he vanished in a flash, likely heading to sow more havoc amongst the Sky Knights fighting outside. However, his departure was not greeted with the usual response of frustration but rather elation.
"Did you get it Piper?" Aerrow asked eagerly as he turned to the navigator.
"Yep! I got everything he said, he's not the only one who can play tricks with message crystals." Piper said happily as she held up a message crystal that she had been concealing on her person. On their way over, the Storm Hawks had decided that Piper should constantly carry around a message crystal since Marrshal had shown a predilection to brag about his accomplishments and that would give them all the evidence they needed to bring an end to this war.
"Great! Now we just have to find Vespos or Harrier." Aerrow said as he led the other Storm Hawks down to the hanger.
It did not take long to find Vespos thankfully, since the Ancients tended to stand out due to their Sky Knight moves. Aerrow drove toward him, shouting out the Ancient's name as he did so, hoping to catch the man's attention. It was not until he drew closer though that his yells were able to pierce the din of battle and reach Vespos.
"Yes, what is it Aerrow?" Vespos asked as soon as he heard the younger Sky Knight, motioning two other Ancients to take his place so that he could devote his full attention to talking with Aerrow.
"You're making a huge mistake." Aerrow said as he pulled out a message crystal, a duplicate of the one Piper had made. As the message played, he could see Vespos's startled expression, his shock at how they had been manipulated. "See? This is all a Cyclonian plot."
"This must not continue then." Vespos said with fierce determination as he pulled out a horn of some kind and blasted a single loud note out across the battlefield. Instantly, every Ancient ceased their fighting and sat at attention, only defending themselves when necessary. This did not last long however as Harrier noticed the sudden decrease in the pitch of the battle and ordered his men to stand down as well before flying over to meet with Aerrow.
"What is the meaning of this?" Harrier asked in confusion.
"Aerrow has convinced us to negotiate a truce with you Rex Guardian." Vespos said gruffly, obviously embarrassed to admit how they had been manipulated.
"Very well, since according to the Loremasters we wronged you, honor demands that we make reparations. What is it you would ask of us?" Harrier said, swallowing his pride for a rare minute of humility.
"You can keep your title as the first Sky Knight squadron; we only want the Crystal of Infinite Skies returned to us so that we may finally stop our endless slumber and rejoin the waking world again."
"The Crystal of Infinite Skies? Never heard of it, otherwise I would happily give it to you." Harrier replied.
"It is the crystal your ancestor stole from us, a crystal of incomparable beauty that looks as though it were crafted of the purest light. It is the crystal that powers our most powerful technologies, connects the infinite skies to each other and allowed us to 'speak' with the crystals to develop our many Sky Knight Moves. If and only if it is returned to us will we stop this conflict." Vespos said in a reverent tone.
"Made of pure light you say? I think I know where it is, it's the main light for the Great Hall of Terra Rex."
"YOU USED IT AS A LAMP?!" Vespos yelled in an uncharacteristic outburst of rage, clearly shocked that a crystal of such power would be relegated to such a menial task.
"We had no idea what it did." Harrier answered honestly as he flinched. "For what it's worth it always was my favorite crystal to contemplate when I was a child…" Harrier suddenly went silent as Vespos glared at him. "I'll just go get it now and we can put this whole unpleasantness behind us."
"Good idea." Finn observed dryly as the Rex Guardian flew off to find the crystal that promised to end this conflict.
Harrier quickly ran into the Great Hall of Terra Rex, immediately spotting the crystal where it sat as the centerpiece of the central chandelier. He could not believe that his ancestors had wronged the Ancients, but the Loremasters did not lie and so he had to set things right. If giving up this crystal would set things right again, then he would happily do so.
"It's not like the crystal was useful anyways except as a light source." Harrier thought aloud as he climbed up to the crystal.
"Incorrect, it is much more useful than you could possibly imagine." A voice said from below. Harrier immediately looked down to see a cloaked figure standing right below the chandelier, his face shrouded in shadows even though he was looking up at Harrier. "Although I must thank you Harrier, without your help I never would have found the Crystal of Infinite Skies."
"Who are you and why do you want this crystal?" Harrier asked sharply, instantly on his guard after hearing what the other man had to say.
"I am Marrshal, spymaster of Cyclonia… Now give me the crystal, my patience wears thin."
"Cyclonian dog, you will not profane this crystal by handing it over to Cyclonis!"
"You misunderstand…" Marrshal said malevolently as he kicked the ladder out from under Harrier. As the Rex Guardian fell, Marrshal leapt up to meet him and punched him in the stomach as the two neared each other. Breathless, Harrier hit the ground and rolled off to one side then moaned in pain as he felt several points of sharp pain in his back.
"Good night Harrier, by the time you awake the bargain you struck with Vespos will be shattered beyond hope of repair."
