Ghost - Part II
Kai's eyes were filled with determination. His teeth were clenched together. His hand was tightly wrapped around the handle of his sword. He was not going to let Deren lay a finger on anyone he cared about. Deren was a dead man if he does so. The day that Kai would let anyone hurt them is the day when he would forsake them, and he would never forsake them. Kai knew that the smart thing to do would have been to reach for his dagger as well when using his sword so he could dual-wield, but Deren now had new found powers, and Kai had a feeling that a fire would be more useful against lightning than a dagger.
Deren had his back turned and was walking smugly toward the castle doors. Kai knew for a fact that Deren wasn't that blind as to completely ignore Kai's presence. Deren was many things including cunning. Deren was expecting Kai to let out his anger in the charge. In fact, he was counting on it. In battle, Deren knew that if the enemy attacked in fury, their defense and guard would be dramatically lowered. Deren was hoping he could use this to his advantage. But, he also realized that Kai was taught how to fight the same way he was. Kai might be expecting Deren to counter. He would be very stupid if he wasn't.
When Deren heard that Kai was close behind him, he unsheathed his sword which had a black blade like Deren's old dagger, and spun, aiming the hilt so that it would intercept Kai. Kai, however, was smart enough to anticipate this. Before Kai's face made contact with the hilt of the sword by about a foot, Kai dropped and slid on the ground. Kai, as if the world was in slow motion, swung his left arm at Deren's ankles, knocking the lightning user down on the ground, face first.
Kai slid past Deren and ended up a few yards away from the castle doors. Kai jumped back up and spun towards Deren. His legs were slightly crouched in a battle position, and he then swung his sword. His left hand ignited in flames. Kai watched as Deren quickly go this bearings and jumped up off of the ground. Deren's nose stung. He knew that a bruise would eventually form on the bridge of his nose. Deren glared at Kai with murderous eyes. He wanted to badly to just smite Kai then and there. He would have the revenge he longed for for what seemed like an eternity. Deren spun his sword like how Kai would spin his. Kai noticed how slowly Deren spun his sword. There was no way the sword was light. It was for sure lighter than Kai's sword. Kai hoped that factor would go into his advantage. The heavier the sword, the slower you strike.
But, Kai couldn't base his advantage theory from an assumption. Deren knew how to handle swords really well, if not better than Kai. He was probably a master at using his weapon. Kai knew that he shouldn't be too arrogant when fighting Deren. Arrogance was the downfall of countless other people before Kai's time. He knew that he should not make the same mistake as those who proceeded him. But, history does repeat itself.
"You sure you want to do this, Kai?" Deren asked as if he really wanted Kai to just give up.
"I'm through talking." Kai said. He then held his sword up horizontally in front of him. He then put his hand over the tip of the blade and produced a ball of fire. Kai ran the fire down the entire sword up until the handle. By the time the sword was being held, pointing downward, the blade was glowing yellow. Deren, unlike Kai, was not fire or burn proof. If that metal touched his skin, it would not feel good at all. He would be toast... literally. Kai hoped that the heated blade would cut cleanly through Deren's black blade. It was just a hope, though.
"There are two ways on how we finish this." Deren said. "The first option: I beat you until there's almost no breath left on your bloody body and I'll pretty much drag a corpse with me."
"I don't think so." Kai said.
"Second option," Deren continued, "you come with me quietly and this will all be over sooner."
"What about the option where I beat you to a pulp and then warn you to never come close to me and my friends ever again?" Kai suggested.
Deren managed a chuckle as if what Kai said was the funniest thing he heard in a long time.
"Sorry." Deren said. "But that's just not in the cards!" He quickly jabbed his free hand at Kai. A bolt of blue lightning shot it's way towards Kai at the speed of light. Kai was busy trying to decided whether he should dodge or deflect the attack. But, that split second cost him the upper hand. The blast hit him in the chest, and Kai was pushed back a few feet while still on his feet.
While Kai was in pain and trying to recover from Deren's attack, Deren ran at Kai with his sword raised. When he was close enough, Deren launched himself into the air and right at Kai. His sword was raised diagonally to his shoulder. Deren didn't plan on giving Kai a fatal blow, so he would settle with cutting off Kai's arm or something of the sort. But, if he did accidentally kill Kai, then Deren would be just fine about that. Mara would have to continue her plans without the help of Deren or Kai. Deren didn't like Mara enough to keep his alliance with her until the expiration date. Come to think of it, Deren didn't like many people at all. One of the only people he used to like was now his target.
Kai was able to recover faster than Deren would have hoped. Kai, when he was done being a human electricity conductor, sidestepped Deren's attack, making Deren land on the ground and miss his target. Kai then swung the hilt of his sword towards the back of Deren's neck. Kai hoped that that attack would incapacitate Deren for a while assuming it did hit him. But then, Deren did the most surprising and most extraordinary thing possible; he dodged. Deren fell forward onto the ground, his hands holding him up from landing face first. He then kicked his legs out, hitting Kai in the stomach and pushing him back. While Kai staggered, Deren pushed himself back up and took quick steps towards Kai.
Deren raised his sword up and prepared to swing down at Kai. The hilt of the handle was meant to hit the area between Kai's neck and left shoulder so that Kai would be greatly hurt. But, as Deren swung down, Kai caught Deren's left arm with his left hand. Kai did his best to force Deren's arm away, and Deren did his best to push forward. Kai, whose right hand was free, dropped his sword and reached for his dagger. Kai knew that his next move could very much kill Deren, but it didn't matter to him during his current predicament. Kai was thinking of self defense, and besides, Deren was a pain in Kai's posterior who was much better dead to Kai than alive. But, Kai promised himself that killing was not the way. Kai made sure that he would just stab Deren so that he would avoid any important organs.
Deren's eyes moved towards Kai's right hand. Kai, who noticed that Deren was fully aware of his intentions, grabbed his dagger as quickly as he could and jabbed it to the side of Deren's lower torso. Deren quickly grabbed Kai's hand and the dagger handle and gripped it as hard as he could, trying to keep it away from his body. But, that didn't stop the tip of the blade from impaling Deren slightly. It stung Deren, but it didn't bother him much.
"Stand down!" Deren ordered.
"Oh sure," Kai said, straining, "I'll gladly do it after you do."
Kai then remembered that he had fire powers. Kai ignited his left hand, the one where he was holding Deren's arm back from, on fire. Deren clenched his teeth together so that he wouldn't scream. He wanted to keep their battle quite more than Kai wanted to. Deren couldn't let anyone know about his attack. Then, Deren remembered the powers he had. Deren created electricity which danced over his left hand, which was holding Kai's right hand and dagger. Kai tried to ignore the pain which was being inflicted upon him. But, Kai knew that Deren was in great pain as well. The fabric around Deren's arm started to burn off. Kai thought it was a matter of who would break first.
Deren then kneed Kai in the stomach as hard as he could. Kai bent forward in pain, and his flames died out, leaving most of Deren's right arm completely bare of any clothes. Kai dropped his dagger which fell onto the ground with a "clang" sound. Deren then raised his leg and kicked Kai back hard on his chest. Kai lost his breath and desperately inhaled air in hopes of regaining it. Deren then slashed his sword at Kai's face from Kai's left. Deren knew that from his distance apart form Kai, he wouldn't hurt Kai much, but enough to create a gash.
The tip of Deren's sword left a gash in an area right below Kai's left eye and the left side of his nose. Kai could feel the blood already trickling down his cheek. He knew that that was going to leave a scar. Kai had a enough scars on his body as it was, and Deren just added one to the vast collection. This was probably the first noticeable one on his face, though.
"Great," Kai said, "you ruined my face before my wedding."
"I wouldn't worry about that." Deren said. "I would worry about how you're going to leave that girl standing alone in front of the alter."
Kai found that he had no weapons in his hand. Both his sword and dagger lay on the ground next to Deren's feet. Kai tried to think of a plan to retrieve his weapons as quick and swift as possible. Then, he remembered that plans was not his forté. Improvising was his to-go approach. It did him good so far. He just hoped that it was on his side this time.
Kai ran at Deren directly. Deren rolled his eyes, believing Kai's attempts are futile. But, about eight feet away from Deren, Kai dropped to the ground fairly far from sliding strike distance. Deren raised an eyebrow, knowing that there was no way Kai could slide far from where he was. But, Kai stretched his arms behind him so that his body was flat and extended. He shot two streams of fire from both of his hands. Kai launched himself forward on the ground towards Deren's legs. Deren, who knew not to make the same mistake again, jumped out of the way. But, he allowed Kai to grab his weapons after he stopped the stream. Kai jumped off of the ground with both weapons in hand.
Kai then took a large step, almost a leap, towards Deren and swung his sword down. Deren blocked the attack by holding his sword horizontally in front of him.
"You're a stubborn little bastard, aren't you?!" Deren exclaimed.
"Ask anyone!" Kai agreed.
Kai scraped his sword to the side of Derens', smacking it's hilt. Deren's sword then swung down diagonally, parrying it's user. Deren's heavy sword tapped the ground, but before he could completely hold it up, Kai smacked Deren in the mouth and nose with the hilt of his sword. Deren took a few steps back in great pain, covering his nose and mouth with his free hand. When Deren took it away, he found his hand soaked in blood. Kai could see that both his nostrils were bleeding and that there was a cut on his upper lip.
Now, Deren was mad. This was harder than Deren thought it was. He originally thought that he was going to kidnap Kai when he was sleeping, but Kai was already up. Deren had never officially beaten Kai in the past, so he hoped that his training would be worth his while. He had hoped that Kai would be more weak and rusty, but it seemed that that was just not the case at all. Deren knew one thing for sure; never underestimate Kai.
Deren then lunged at Kai with full force. Deren didn't care much if he accidentally killed Kai at this point. Kai had inflicted so much harm upon him already, so he figured that it didn't matter what he did in retaliation. But, if he could, he would spare Kai's life. He was just now less careful about it.
Deren swung his sword at Kai who easily blocked it with his blade. Kai then decided that it was his turn to attack, so he swung the sword at Deren. Deren, instinctively, dodged the attack. The two of them now had both hands on their sword handles. Both usually fought with only one hand on the blade to be swift, but two hands allowed more powers. They both knew that neither of them could access use to their powers when fighting that way. It was a risk both were willing to take in order to win.
Furiously, the two swung and blocked attacks at each other. The blades seemed like they were moving at the speed of light. From afar, the swords looked like silver and black whips just clashing against each other. It was miraculous how both were able to see the others' attack and manage to block it in under a second. That was probably thanks to the fact that the two were trained under the Bandits, with King Lyre teaching them all he knew.
As a young man, King Lyre of Teranhall was a ferocious warrior who no one was equal to. But, as he grew older and his hair turned white, his body started to weaken, not allowing him to wield a blade like he used to be able to. But, he was still able to teach Kai everything he knew, and Deren, who was known as Strife at the time, was able to shadow Kai's techniques from afar. Though the two knew the same general moves, Deren relied much on power while Kai on speed.
After a few seconds of blade clashing, one clash forced the two to slide back a few feet. Each let out a battle cry as they stepped forward and swung their blades as hard as they possibly could. When their blades clashed once again, Kai proved to be the more superior during that little scuffle. Kai's sword smacked Deren's' right out of his hand, sending it flying and sticking onto the ground.
Deren tried to reach another weapon only to find that there was none. Now, it was getting personal for Kai. Kai dropped his sword on the ground and stepped closer to Deren. Kai punched Deren hard in the gut, forcing Deren to lean forward and let out the saliva inside his mouth. Kai then punched Deren's face, following it by another steel punch in the stomach.
"Back on the ship," Kai said, punching Deren's right jaw with his left hand," you made me lose three months of my life!" Kai followed that by punching Deren's left jaw with his right hand. Deren's face was completely bruised and swollen. Blood ran down his nostrils more forcefully. Kai punched Deren's stomach once again, and this time, blood spat out of Deren's mouth and onto Kai's arm.
Deren, before Kai could manage another hit, grabbed Kai by the shoulders and head butted him. Kai staggered back in pain, holding his hands over his forehead. Deren, while Kai's arms were up, jabbed Kai in the rib cage twice, one on each side. Deren then raised his leg to kick Kai, but when he pushed out, Kai grabbed Deren's leg and held it in front of him.
Kai raised his elbow and threw it down over Deren's knee, Deren howled in pain, but people around them would still not stir awake. Kai then dropped Deren's leg onto the ground. Deren would've fallen if Kai hadn't grabbed him by the collar. Kai then punched Deren twice in the face with his right arm. For the third attack, Kai uppercutted Deren's chin, and he flew back onto the ground.
Kai looked down at Deren's face to find it swollen, bruised, and bloody. Kai looked at his own hands and found them covered in blood. If he landed a few more hits, he very well might've killed Deren out of rage. He knew that Elsa would never approve of what he has done to Deren.
"What have I become?" Kai asked himself, quitely.
Deren wiped some of the blood away from his face by using his sleeve. He then spit out blood on the ground below.
"How does it feel, huh?" Deren asked. "Being the top dog. Being the top of the food chain."
"Deren," Kai said, "I-"
Deren raised his hands out at Kai. Electricity shot out of both hands and all over Kai, Kai then fell to his knees in pain. Not a single place in his body was not suffering from Deren's strike. All over, sparks of electricity danced. Kai's skeleton was flashing every few seconds. Kai resisted the urge to scream. Actually, he wasn't able to scream. The pain was all that he focused on.
Deren made sure that he was using enough to make Kai suffer, but not kill him. When he felt that Kai had endured enough pain, he stopped the lightning streams. Kai's entire body was smoking. His clothes were slightly tattered. His eyes were having trouble opening. Then, Kai blacked out and fell forward, face first.
Deren smiled, proud of himself. He then struggled to get up. His knee was in pain, but it wasn't broken. He limped over to Kai's body and heard small, slow, and weak breaths. Kai was alive, but very much incapacitated.
"So much for top of the food chain." Deren said.
Deren then looked around the entire courtyard. He was able to see small drops of blood here and there all around the place. It didn't take long for Deren to get to them and smear them off of the ground with his sleeve. By the end of it, his sleeve was soaked dark red. The two shed blood more than he would've thought. He then noticed that Kai's sword was laying on the ground. Deren limped over and picked it up. He noticed tons of scratches all around the blade. The sword was obviously used many times. It almost looked like it was used daily.
Deren limped over to Kai's body and strapped the sword to his side. Deren then pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small black marble given to him by Mara, she instructed him to throw it, and wherever it landed, a way to Mara he would find, or a way for Mara to reach him she would find. Deren threw the marble a few feet in front of him, and a large, black, void like doorway appeared. Deren couldn't see what was on the other side. All that was visible was the black nothing. Deren then picked up Kai's body and held him in front of him.
Deren took a step closer to the portal with Kai in his arms.
"All right, Kai." Deren said. "Say hello to the world's reckoning. Let's hope this works."
With that, Deren stepped through the portal which instantly disappeared when he was completely through.
The courtyard, under the moonlight, showed no signs of any battle that had taken place there. For Arendelle Castle, the rest of the night was spent in peace. But, everyone who resided in there had no idea what had just happened, nor did they know how they would be affected. They had all lost a great ally, and an even greater friend.
Kai was taken by the enemy.
To be continued in the next chapter...
Important: If you're a fan of the series, please read throughout the entire author's note and I implore you do not skim it.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Hope you guys liked the chapter, as always. Please write a review/comment to let me know what you think! Also, I need your guys' honest opinion for something. I just had a crazy idea for another Frozen story in my head which may act as a prequel to Phoenix Fire. That was heavily inspired by the plot of Assassin's Creed: Rogue. I feel the need to write it down as a fanfiction for you guys, but I feel like my Frozen series should be finalized with this story. But, this idea of mine is really interesting. I'll explain it in further detail below. I really, however, want to retire writing Frozen fanfiction and focus on other things such as Percy Jackson fanfiction. I just want to move on to different things. What should I do?
This prequel Frozen story of mine will be a prequel to Phoenix Fire but a sequel to Frozen, taking place in the one year gap between the two. What if Kai wasn't the first one to betray the Bandits? This story's main protagonist will be a completely new character who is a Bandit, and a colleague to Kai. Kai will make an appearance in the story, but not as a protagonist at all. He will, instead, play the part of the main antagonist as he was still siding with the Bandits. This story will show a completely different point of view on the characters, especially Kai. Strife/Deren, King Lyre, Elsa and Anna will also make an appearance in the story. This story will also have the most OCs I have ever created.
I only tell you guys this much information now because it's an idea which may not fly. At this point in time, I feel like I'm forcing myself to write Frozen stories, and I loved writing Phoenix Fire because it was fun, but now, it's become less a hobby and more of a job. It's not my greatest wish to write this, but if you guys really want it, I'll do it for you. If I do write it, my Percy Jackson fic will be up in June or May 2015 for sure, and that'll be finished early 2016 since it's going to be long.
But, hey, it's up to you guys.
Pros of writing it:
It will be a great untold chapter in my series
Ties in perfectly with Phoenix Fire and will explain how Lyre got the Conduit
It'll make you see the characters in a different way
It'll explain in further detail why it was so easy for Kai to choose to leave the Bandits
It'll be the darkest, most emotionally sad and an exciting installment in the series
It'll be shorter than The Coming Storm because I'll probably just have one exposition chapter and the rest will be the main plot.
It'll show the friends Kai had as a Bandit
It'll probably be from a first person POV (a first for the series)
It'll show themes such as betrayal, sorrow, regret, honor, debts, loyalty, and hurting the ones you love so you can do the rigth thing. Some of these are themes never before seen in my stories.
Cons of writing it:
I'm really tired of writing Frozen fanfiction
I imagine that it won't be as fun for me to write as Phoenix Fire was
If you like Kai the way he is, you won't want to see him as an antagonist
It delays the other fic which I really want to write
Although Kai and Elsa both make an appearance, they won't have any interaction with each other
There will be no romance whatsoever
Some people may think the series is as good as it is and should be left alone after this story.
It won't be much of a Frozen fanfic since it almost has no story elements related to Frozen
It'll pretty much be Frozen meets Assassin's Creed: Rogue, so I hope that gets people excited. So, please, in the reviews, tell me what I should do or PM me. That pretty much is the QOTD. Vote yes or no!
QOTD: Should I write the Frozen fic detailed above or should I move onto other projects?
If I don't write the full story, I will undoubtedly put up a very long, elaborate synopsis for the story including long epic dialogue and conversations. Do I want to write this story? I definitely want the story out there, but it's not my greatest wish to actually write it. Plus, only super fans of my fics will read it, and I want more readers than that if I'm going to spend my free time writing it.
Ciao.
