C'mon guys, won't you at least help me with this chapter?
Death Aspect: …
Please… You know how hard this is without you.
Life Aspect: …
(sigh) Alright then. Looks like I'm on my own again. If you want a disclaimer, look at the last 8 chapters. They all have them. I see no reason to put one here as well.
As I said before, this chappy is all Kalas and friends hanging out in the past.
The Past
Although the airship was still forty or so feet from the dock, it only took one flap of Kalas's wings to carry him from ship to shore. He had barely touched down on solid land before leaping again, this time straight up towards the body suspended upon a tower above the grand city of the Imperial Capital. His feet contacted with the side of the tower, and he began running straight up the vertical brass and steel surface aided by his wings and his willpower. One more powerful leap and a single wingbeat, and he was there.
Kalas stood on the roof for a second, looking at the sight before him. He reached out cautiously, as if he were worried that the image before him might disappear if he got too close. In reality, his greatest fear was that the vision was not some trick of the light, but actually the body of Xelha. This fear was confirmed when the tips of his fingers brushed against her lips. Kalas withdrew his hand almost instantly, staring at the few flecks of dried blood that clung to his fingertip. Then he reached forward again, holding his palm a few inches from Xelha's face. There was no breath. No movement. Nothing. This Xelha was most assuredly dead.
Kalas said nothing as he carefully unwound Xelha's arms from the cross-shaped spire around which they had been tangled. He caught the body as it began to fall, and held it gently, cradling the head against his chest. With a lightness that belied the stress of carrying Xelha's weight, Kalas flew slowly to the ground. He laid the corpse gently onto the stone street. As he did so, Kalas reached for and drew out the weapon that was still lodged within Xelha's abdomen. This action produced as fresh flow of blood onto the ground around the body, but Kalas showed no signs that he even noticed or cared.
He held out the weapon, inspecting the blade. It was still sharp, and even slicked with wet and dried blood it gleamed in the dwindling evening light. The hilt was of an unusual design, and the grip had been molded by years of use to fit a very specific hand. His hand. Kalas drew his own weapon, holding one blade in each hand. He stared at them until his eyes became unfocused from the concentration. Or maybe it was tears. Kalas couldn't tell.
"Kalas?" Haru's mental 'voice' was tinged with sorrow, regret, and worry.
Kalas ignored his spirit, continuing to inspect the two weapons. Apart from a few battle scars and the blood that covered one, the swords were identical. Kalas could see the scratches that the battle against Geldoblame had caused. Both showed a small dent near the grip where he had deflected Giacomo's End Slasher during their first fight. His own also had several other markings from battles in the Labyrinth of Dhur and clashes with the Evil God himself. These were battles that were yet to come in this time. If they came at all.
There was movement from a doorway down the street. Something large and dark slowly shambled out of the lightless dwelling. A similar figure moved into view from an alley near where Kalas knelt. Several more appeared, shuffling out of various hiding spots near Kalas. These beings had once been Imperial soldiers under the command of Emperor Geldoblame. Now the emperor was dead, and those of his guard who had not fled became twisted by the dark power of Malpercio. Their bodies were an unnatural collage of scales and chitin, and their flesh had become glossy and black. Where they once had arms, Massive scythed talons now sprouted. Some had only two of these limbs, while others possessed four or even six. Legs had grown large and muscular to support the extra weight. The most horrific feature of these mutated beasts was their faces. They had become a gross mockery of what the soldier formerly looked like, with thin forked tongues or large sharp teeth. The eyes were no more than pools of darkness tinged with hunger and the desire to kill. These were Malpercio's first warriors. Unthinking, unfeeling brutes that could slaughter entire towns in minutes. They shambled through the streets and formed a ring around Kalas.
"Kalas!" Haru said again, this time more urgently.
"I see them…" he replied, sounding far away.
"What are you going to do?"
"We are going to fight."
"I mean after that. What then?"
Kalas placed the bloody sword down next to the body of his beloved. Slowly he stood from his kneeling position. No longer did tears fill his eyes. They had all dried away. Now there was only a dark fire. "I don't know. I really don't know." He turned to face the mass of demonic soldiers, his blade leveled in front of him. He drew a handful of Magnus just as the first enemy roared into the twilight and charged.
From far away, they watched the battle. Actually, battle was not an appropriate word for what they were seeing. It was a massacre. In the first five seconds, Kalas had dropped two of the monsters that he fought and wounded four others. He fought like a man possessed, destroying every beast that neared the body lying on the ground behind him. One of the observers smiled as Kalas decapitated another monster.
"He is quite good at this, you know," said the smiling figure, turning away from the viewing crystal to look at the other who watched. "It doesn't look like he has even broken a sweat yet. They might even reach us before too long."
"Of course," said the other, still watching the fight intently. "If they didn't make it here, we wouldn't be able to have any fun, now would we?"
The first watcher laughed. "No, I suppose not." She turned back to the image on the viewing crystal. "Looks like the others are still on the boat. Who came with him?"
"Xelha, naturally, and… Lyude."
"Lyude?" asked the first watcher with some surprise. "I figured it would be someone like Gibari. They always seemed to get along better…" They turned back to the battle. Kalas was still fighting aggressively, slaying monster after monster, but reinforcements kept coming.
"I think you angered him with your little gift," observed the second figure as Kalas shattered a Guard's skull with the blunt side of his weapon.
The second figure giggled and tried to look as innocent as possible. "Do you think it was too much? I mean, you know how I love to make a good first impression."
"Ha ha! No of course not. I would say that was just right." The second watcher stretched his wings and wrapped his arm around the other. "We should just enjoy the time until they finally arrive."
"Then the real fun begins." She laughed, and he joined her.
"I love you Melodia," he said as they turned back to watch Kalas finish off the Mutant Guards.
Melodia hugged him tightly. "And I love you, my Angel of Darkness…"
One of the Mutated soldiers got a shot at Kalas's back as he concentrated on finishing off another. He cursed aloud as a talon tore several feathers off of his natural wing. "This is taking forever. Where the hell are all of my finishers?" Kalas took a stab at the beast that had wounded him, and drew another card. It was a defensive Magnus and no good to him at the moment. He was about to cast it aside when the image swirled and changed. What had been a fiery breastplate became a crystal that seemed to be made of pure light, with feathers swirling around it. "Haru?"
"I'm fine… Use it…" came the strained reply as the spirit stretched himself between Kalas and the Magnus. "Go!"
Kalas wasted no time putting this gift from his guardian to use. "I am the Light, dispeller of darkness! Spirit Magic: Shining Sephram!" The area where Kalas stood darkened, as all light was drawn into a large crystal that was rapidly forming over Kalas's Head. The spike of radiance began to spin, and the creatures stopped assaulting Kalas for a moment to look up in wonder. In that moment, Kalas dived between two of the awed beasts and rolled to safety. Then the spinning point of light stopped moving. For an instant it hung in the air before driving itself into the earth. There was an explosion of light, and when Kalas looked back all he could see were a few feathers formed of wispy illumination. The bodies of the Mutated beasts were scattered about, and although they had no visible wounds Kalas knew that their internal organs had most likely been obliterated by the spell.
As he stood and dusted himself off, Xelha and Lyude descended from the ship. Xelha was about to speak, but Kalas cut her off. "Thanks for the help there guys. I sure appreciate it." The words were spat out with more venom than he had intended. Xelha said nothing.
"Kalas! Don't say things like that," said Haru angrily. "We need to trust each other here."
"No…" Xelha said quietly. "No, he's right. I should have helped, but…" Xelha sniffled. "But I…" She stopped, and looked as if she were about to burst into tears again.
"Um…" Lyude spoke up, "Is that really…?"
"I haven't taken a close look yet, but I think so," replied Kalas slowly. "I need to check more thoroughly. Uh, Lyude, would you mind…"
"I'll go look around for any more monsters," said Lyude. Xelha smiled at him slightly as he wandered off. He turned a corner and looked into an open house. The air was still, and hung heavy with the scent of blood. Exploring a little more, Lyude found several large dark stains on the furniture and walls. Whoever had died here did not have a peaceful passing. Lyude continued to wander down the street, peeking into several other houses. All were empty, and many had the same dark feel as the first that he had entered.
Suddenly a cry came from a nearby alley. Lyude stood from where he was inspecting a discarded imperial helm and rushed around the corner. A pair of small children was huddled against a corner. Hovering over them was an insect monster, not nearly as dangerous as the mutated guards that Kalas had faced earlier but still very dangerous, particularly to children. Lyude instinctively loaded one of his sonic Magnus into the chamber of his weapon and fired a warning shot under the creature. The shot achieved Lyude's goal of scaring off the beast, and it quickly flew off into the sky. Lyude rushed over to check on the children.
"Sir Lyude!" one of them called out as he approached. "You made it back! Please…" As Lyude got closer, he could see tears on the child's face. "Please help Amelia! She was trying to protect me from the monster, and it stung her."
Lyude knelt down next to the child to examine his friend. "Hmm… It looks like she was poisoned…" The little boy's face went white at this, but Lyude comforted him as he reached for his Magnus. "Don't worry; I have some antidote with me. She should be just fine if she gets this quickly." Lyude pulled out a Chestnut Truffle Magnus and extracted its contents. He opened the mouth of the unconscious girl and forced her to swallow the small anti-toxin candy. The girl didn't awake, but her breathing almost immediately evened and her muscles became less tense. Lyude sighed in relief. "What is your name?" he asked the boy.
The child looked insulted. "I toldja before, it's Aaron. Did you forget already?"
"I'm sorry, before when?" asked Lyude, puzzled.
"Before when you came through with all those weird lookin people. You said you were going up to the Imperial Fortress to do something, and that it would stop all the monsters around here." The boy stopped to catch his breath. "Don'tcha remember?"
Lyude stood slowly. "Aaron, how long ago was this?"
"I dunno…" said Aaron, stretching. "Sometime yesterday. I didn't have a clock."
"It's all right." Said Lyude, still lost in calculations. "Look's like your friend is waking up." The little girl had begun to stir. She opened her eyes and stared up at Lyude. "Hello there." He said as gently as possible. "How are you feeling?"
"I… I hurt…" said the girl timidly.
"Can you stand up?" asked Aaron. The girl struggled to push herself off of the ground. She slowly got to her feet. "Good. We have a safe place that we've been hiding with some other people to escape the monsters" Aaron said to Lyude. "But I thought you said you were gonna take care of them all. Didn't you make it to the Fortress?"
"No… Not yet," answered Lyude slowly. "I need to go there now. Here…" Lyude handed the boy a Magnus with a silhouette of a fleeing man depicted on it. "I need to go, and you need to get back to your safe house. If you run into any more monsters, hold his up and yell 'ESCAPE' as loudly as you can, understand?"
"What if it doesn't work?" asked Amelia timidly.
"Then you can use this," said Lyude, removing a small crystal that had been attached to his belt. It was a part of an alarm system that he had worked out during his first month as Prime Minister. If one crystal was activated, all of the others in a certain radius would show an image of what was happening around the first. The crystals could also chain off of each other, so that if one was activated, all of them would be in a large web. It had proved immensely useful while Monsters still existed, but had seen less and less use since their decline. Lyude's was a special model, however. It would connect to the others regardless of distance. Lyude always wore two of them so that he would always know what was happening if a crisis should arise. "Just squeeze this and say the word 'help,' and I will hear you, ok?"
"T-thank you," said the little girl. She and Aaron turned and quickly ran across the street and disappeared into another alleyway. Lyude watched them go before turning to head back to Kalas and Xelha. They stood next to the ship, speaking in low voices.
"Find anything?" Kalas asked as Lyude approached.
"Not much," replied Lyude. "I figured out that we are about 24 hours behind ourselves, but we pretty well knew that already. What about you? Was that really…"
"Yes…" said Xelha hollowly. "She was me. Every scar, every birthmark. All of it was the same."
Kalas answered Lyude's next question before it was even asked. "We put her in the ship. We'll need to give her a proper burial later."
"She needs to go to the Ice lands…" said Xelha.
"So…" began Lyude, "what now?" No one spoke. "Do we try to figure out what happened, exactly?" Lyude asked. "Can we afford to wait that long? We're on unfamiliar ground here. We really have no idea what would have happened if we had failed…"
"I do," said Kalas, suddenly looking up. "Melodia and I were starting preparations to raise Cor Hydrae, but they became unnecessary once I gave up Malpercio's power. Had I kept it, Melodia and I would have needed another day or so to raise the Dark Castle."
Lyude looked concerned. "So then we have no time. We'll need to act now to stop them from fleeing to Cor Hydrae. If they make it there, we'll have a hard time reaching them."
"Let's go then!" These words were spoken with determination, but they did not come from Lyude or Kalas. They both looked surprised at Xelha. She was no longer shaking, and she stared off into the distance in the direction of the Imperial Fortress with fire in her eyes.
"Xelha, are you sure you…" Kalas began.
"I already died once, Kalas. I'm not afraid. I'm stronger than I was then. We can do this!"
Kalas stood stunned. Lyude almost smiled. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"
"Haru, are you with us?" asked Kalas, glancing upward as if he expected to see his spirit standing next to him.
"Always!" came the reply. Xelha nodded. Kalas Nodded back. Lyude tightened his grip on his weapon. Without another word, they started towards the palace.
Death Aspect: Not enough action.
Life Aspect: And not enough plot.
Well, then help me! Good lord, you expect me to do good work without my creative aspects helping me…
Death Aspect: Fine fine, I'll help with the next chapter.
Life Aspect: Humph! Well, I can't leave you two to screw everything up on your own. I'm in too.
Woo hoo! I got the team back together. I'm so happy that I'll even ask for reviews on my own this time. (Ahem) Please review my little tale. Suggestions to make it better are always appreciated. General comments are also nice. Flames are not nice, but they are your choice if you want to leave some. But please review. It will make me most happy.
Death Aspect: Gah! Enough sap already! Just say "Hey you! Review! Now!"
Life Aspect: The way he did it was rather nice, actually. Could have been a bit more polite, but…
(Sigh) It's nice to have things back to normal…
