Night Falls
Sheba stood shell shocked as her city, the city she was born in, the city her parents lived all their lives in, and the city Sheba had spent the last twenty four years of her life trying to save, crumbled around her. Men and woman who she had traded with, went to festivals with, drank with, her neigbhours, were being cut down around her. The dark ants infected the city like a black hex. Buildings that had stood since before the Great Lighthouses were sealed crumbled before the blind power of the Tuaparang cannons. New menacing evils destroyed ancient institutions.
Sheba, Callen, Rego, and the guards stood atop the hill on which the Dome stood. In front of them was cliff of several stories, and fifty yards away was a long staircase leading down to the city's streets. Callen's face clouded over and her demeanor took on a dark determination. "We have to find the Moon King. I have to end this," she whispered. She wiped white hair away from her sweaty face and wild eyes. Explosions blasted the city as she spoke. She glanced over at Sheba, still in binds, and then glanced at her head guardsman Rego. "You'll all have to come with me. I can't spare any troops."
"What about her?" Rego said motioning at Sheba.
Callen looked outward towards the fight and then back at Sheba. "She'll slow us down. But we can't leave her," for one black moment she paused, "Kill her."
No, Sheba thought hopelessly. Her heart began to quicken. She struggled with her binds. She struggled to cast psynergy. There has to be something. She could feel her head getting lighter, floating into the sky. Then there her mind was, outside her body viewing the scene with indifference. It stopped being real.
Rego looked dumbfounded at Callen. The other guards froze. Callen's face contorted in ugly shades and viscous lines. "Cowards. I'll do it myself," she spat. She threw Yegelos' shield, Darkguard, to the ground and with a shriek she unsheathed her sword. She ran towards Sheba.
"NO!" Rego threw himself at Callen's side, hit his shoulder against hers. Callen's trajectory was thrown off. She used her left foot to steady herself and stood precariously on the weak earth of the cliff's edge.
"You..." she said with venom glaring at Rego. As she attempted to spring forward the earth at the edge of the cliff gave way. She crashed down the hill to her death, sword still in hand.
The guard's stood motionless, unable or unwilling to act. Sheba's mind re-entered her body. She stood, amazed at Rego and the guards. Rego took a dagger for his belt and cut the binds off of Sheba's arms. "Give her her staff," Rego grunted at a guard. The guard stood still. Rego glanced all the guards. "She is Yegelos' heir. We need her."
One of the guards, an older man with a half grey beard, put a firm arm on Rego's shoulder and nodded. "We're with you."
The younger soldier, the one with Sheba's staff, slowly approached and handed the staff to her. Bowing her head slightly she took it. She bent down to pick up the bright violet shield, Darkguard. It was engraved with the falcon of the Anemos. Touching it she felt a burst of psynergy flow through her entire body, stronger than any other relic she had touched in all of her long journeys. She turned to Rego and the soldiers and said,"Let's go."
No more words were needed. She ran to the long stairway that lead down to the city. Together they dashed down the street towards Windport. From there they could get a better look at the Tuaparang fleet which was suspended ominously in the chill night outside the city.
At the bottom of the steps, they were among the narrow streets. On either side of them the buildings were crumbling and ablaze. A lone Tuaparang soldier turned to see them. He threw down a smoke bomb and Sheba's vision was immediately cut. Slowly they waded through the smoke when a howl came from in front of them. Then another. More and more howls filled the air around them.
The hounds were on them before they could react. Large and black with wild mangy hair and eyes dark purple. The largest bounded onto the Rego's leading soldier and bit his throat. Sheba let out a howl from her staff knocking the hound back but not killing it. Just then at least eight more hounds emerged from the smoke and the Anemos' were barely fending them off.
A quick hound leaped at Sheba, but it's teeth were broken against the cold glimmering surface of Darkguard. It escaped, whimpering in pain. Rego cut through three hounds with his long Burgandy crafted blade. Finally he met the leader who charged with vigour at Rego. The Anemos soldier held his ground and thrust the blade into the hound's gaping mouth.
The rest of the hounds fled. Sheba nodded at Rego and the group pushed onward through the streets. They encountered multiple grounds of Tuaparang soldiers and beasts and dealt with them as they came. Only two more of Rego's hardened soldiers fell. Many more Tuaparang were left in their wake.
They reached the market. Many Tuaparang men with long spears were surrounding a few hundred Anemos. Most of them citizens but on the outside of their group were armed men and women protecting the more frail elders and children in the center. They were unarmoured and armed only with notched swords and hunting bows. It was a standoff, but the Tuaparang were gradually rounding up and pushing the Anemos' inwards. All around them the market was ablaze and smoke filled their lungs.
Sheba looked around at her soldiers. They were strong enough to fight off the Tuaparang that surrounded her people. Turning to Rego she said, "We can draw them away. Give our people a chance to escape."
Rego shook his head. "I'll draw them away. You need to find the Empyror. You need to end this."
The oldest of the soldiers, the one with the half grey beard, spoke up, "We're staying with you Rego."
Sheba was speechless. She couldn't leave them. But I may have to. "Go!" Rego's voice cut her thoughts short. Drawing his sword the black bearded Anemos warrior shouted a war cry and ran towards the market where the Tuaparang soldiers were encircling the citizens. The Tuaparang took notice and broke off the encirclement to chase down Rego and his troops. They drew their enemies away from the market.
Conflicted Sheba watched for a moment, wanting to join them. Then they were out of sight. She looked around and noticed that the bombardment had stopped. The Turparang cannons were silent now that their ant-like soldiers had infested the entire city. The Empyror must want something left of the city to rule over. She walked over towards the now freed citizens. She addressed a few of the armed citizens, "Go to the Dome. The bombardment seems to have stopped, and the inner quarter is still defensible." The citizens agreed and Sheba dashed towards Windport. There I will find the Empyror. Rego will survive on his own. He must.
The market was close to the port and so she arrived quickly. There docked were a few Tuaparang ships, and burning were the wooden Anemos frigates. Then she heard voices. Sheba hid behind shipping carts. A large Tuaparang soldier with a colossal black axe surveyed the port. Palos, Sheba remembered the description of the man from Matthew's story of his encounter at Sol Sanctum. I will find the Empyror through Palos.
Palos and his guards approached what looked like another leader of the Tuaparang. A slender woman with jet black hair who stood surrounded by her own guards. "Good evening captain. I'll hold the port. Join the others further into town. We'll join you later," Palos said to her.
The captain sneered. "Only the Empyror," she motioned towards the fleet hovering outside the city, "gives me orders, lieutenant."
The Empyror is here. Aboard one of the ships, thought Sheba. Looking outwards she saw one ship larger and further back than the other. The flag ship. Surely he's watching the battle from there.
"It's Admiral now," Palos said. His troops outnumbered the captain's. They put their hands on their sword hilts. Scoffing the captain motioned to her guards and the group went off jogging towards the city. To his troops he said, "Search the docks. Make sure there's no stragglers."
Sheba looked around wildly for a new hiding spot. Or better yet for a ship. For some way to get to the Empyror. Palos paced off, away from her hiding spot, but his troops began kicking over barrels and crates. They tumbled off the floating docks, down to Weyard below. The Anemos took careful care to never dropped anything off their floating island. Sheba wondered what the citizens of Weyard would think of barrels flying from the sky.
One soldier was systematically kicking crates off the dock, one by one in the row they stood. He slowly approached Sheba's crate. He was three crates away. Suddenly, she heard a psst coming from below her. Wildly she swiveled and pointed her staff towards the source of the noise. Just before she let out a blast of electricity she noticed who her target was, Ezio!
He perched on a floating mast, his cap wet with sweat. Bewildered Sheba peered off the edge of the dock to see how Ezio could possibly be suspended there. Beneath her she saw the Canary unscathed floating just beneath the dock. It was out of sight from the Tuaparang. For now.
Ezio silently motioned for her to join him. She leaped onto the mast of the ship and climbed down to it's deck. Just as she touched down a crate from the dock above, the one which Sheba had been hiding behind, crashed beside her. It splintered into a thousand pieces and the grains it contained spread across the deck in a massive star.
Above the sound reverberated and the soldier stopped suddenly before kicking the next crate over the edge. Suspiciously he meandered back and peeked over the edge. Sheba caught his gaze as he saw the Canary. "A ship! A ship!" the soldier shouted wildly and ran across the dock to find his admiral.
"GO!" Ezio shouted and the Canary zoomed away from its hiding place and into the dark night. The Tuarapang ships immediately caught wind of it but none fired. Suddenly Sheba realized the true reason they stopped the bombardment of the city.
"They've run out of ammo!" Ezio shouted jubilantly. "Turn the ship back around to the conquered part of the island. We'll land and fight them from there."
"No! We can't," Sheba said. Quickly she explained the prophecy, and all that had happened in the Dome and outside. She told him of Darkguard and the need to confront the Empyror. Ezio shouted new orders at his crew. The Canary was fast enough to make it through the holes in the Tuarapang fleet without being boarded by the dark soldiers. The plan was to approach the flag ship and board it to confront the Empyror.
So the ship sped through the fleet avoiding collisions with the Tuaparang bombardiers. The enemy soldiers let loose a flurry of crossbow fire which mostly stuck harmlessly into the Canary's hull. The adepts on board let loose Jupiter psynergy to put out any fires that started from the enemy flame archers.
Sheba fired back at the attackers with lightning and djinn. Ezio stood beside her and the two felled many troops as their ship whizzed recklessly through the night. Darkguard broke the steel arrowheads of the dark crossbowman. Ezio shouted encouragement to his troops, "To the Empyror! To end this war! To save the Anemos!"
The ship's crew whispered of legends and darkguard. and Yegelos' heir as they fought off attacks and powered their ship forward.
Finally they reached the flag ship. At it's bow a tall man stood staring at the Canary. Sheba's keen Anemos eyesight could make out his face. It was old and severely wrinkled, but his hair remained black without a smudge of grey. His mouth bent into a ruthless smile. He was clothed black armour and held a black sword at his waist. On his shoulders rested a fur coat of dark greys and purples. He was crownless, but Sheba knew without a doubt this was the Tuaparang High Empyror. The Moon King reborn. His eyes met hers. Without breaking eye contact she raised Darkguard for him to behold. His eyes never faltered and remained completely motionless. Finally he made a motion to his crew and turned his back to Sheba. The massive flag ship's engines reversed and it inched backwards slowly. It's heading northwest. That's also where the attack came from. Perhaps I've finally found the location of their nation.
"The Empyror flees!" Ezio laughed merrily. "But the Canary will catch him! Onward!" he encouraged the ship forwards. And he was right, the Canary quickly made ground on it's over-sized enemy.
Just then a third ship cut in between the Canary and the Tuaparang capital ship. It was a Tuaparang interceptor, faster even than the Canary. At its bow was Palos who laughed mercilessly. The ship approached from slightly above and Palos, followed by fifty troops, lept down unto the Canary's deck. Ezio's entire crew were forced to stop powering the ship forwards and meet the Tuaparang in vicious battle.
Ezio and Sheba remained close and bashed their way through inferior opponents. Sheba sent three dark soldiers off the ship's deck with a violent blast of air from the edge of her staff. She was already exhausted from the fight on the island, but now her adrenaline pushed her through enemies.
Meanwhile Palos' axe heaved Anemos troops aside. He splintered arms and skulls. From behind Ezio he came and sent his axe in a massive arc down towards the smaller man. Before the blow landed Sheba unleashed her last active djinn, Blitz. The spirit threw itself into the Umbra admiral and his axe fell from his hands.
Enraged Sheba moved in to finish him off. Palos leaped to his feet and forgetting his axe he threw a dark stone to the floor. It burst open in a small vortex. A psynergy vortex, thought Sheba. It expanded to the size of a melon and consumed the deck around it. Sheba felt her power falter. Cruelly Palos smiled and lept back on to his interceptor. The rest of the Tuaparang followed and the ship cruised away.
The vortex damaged the Canary irreversibly and the ship began to descend slowly. Madly Ezio tried to repair but it was no use. The Canary was headed for Weyard. It was all the crew could do to cast floating Jupiter psynergy on the hull to lessen the inevitable impact.
The proximity to the vortex Palos created started to scramble Sheba's mind. The doings of the crew and Ezio and their voices faded into whispers for her. Events of the day began to fog into dreamlike visions. Cutting through the noise she heard her aunt's voice. She tried to reach out but couldn't establish a connection. She could only her aunt's words, Go to Imil. Matthew must meet you there.
