G'day! Sister Knights Shorts are here! This time, if you recall the end of Episode 9 where a certain Merman appeared, as well as another much earlier Episode where a little Princess appeared, now combine them and you have this. Confused? Great, that means you probably want to read on to figure out what the hell I'm talking about.
Story I: Rogue Princess and the Merprince
One used to be a spoiled Princess of a Europian Kingdom named Arendelle, the other was supposed to be the Prince of the Merpeople in Atlantica. Both had their lives turned upside-down, one through their own choice, the other out of fear. But when these two meet, one of their lives will change forever…
One-shot: A Fateful Meeting
Third Person:
0 BBY; 2036 Earth Time
Sleep
"That power of seduction that's worked on me so much before has no use now. My darkness is gone, and you can't pull pure light into the dark,"
The British-accented Sith woman seemed annoyed for a second, but then smiled again.
"You might have gotten rid of your darkness, but has your dear little Vestara?" she inquired.
Another woman with long brown hair and a scar on the edge of her mouth reacted awkwardly for a moment, before pushing back against whatever the Sith was doing to her. "No, I am the dark side of our duo. I won't fall to the ways of the Sith though,"
But the Sith only tried harder.
While this was happening though, a young, 6-year-old Princess had snuck away and came back holding a miniature training lightsabre. She snuck up behind the Sith, ignited the mini sabre, and swung at her leg. The lightsabre went straight through the woman's leg but didn't cut it. However, it did hurt her, as she yelped in surprise and jumped away, landing badly and falling.
The Snow Queen of Arendelle froze the Sith in place while she was distracted.
"You little fucking bitch, I should have killed you when I had the chance," the Sith growled to the Princess.
"Don't you dare talk to Ania like that you Sith bastard," retorted the former-Qeian-now-Arendellian Princess.
The Sith shattered the ice she was frozen in and blasted all the present Virtcast members back.
When they recovered, the Sith was gone.
The great kingdom of Arendelle was in ruins, massacred by the one known as Elaine Mills, whose only goal was to destroy the Virtcast.
In her quest for ending their reign, she had murdered the King and Queen. But, much to her frustration, she had not been able to kill their 6-year-old daughter, the Princess of Arendelle: Ania Q'in. Unbeknownst to her, little Ania was protected by a being that would later cause much chaos through the body of another; for Ania was a temporary host of the demonic artefact known as Deathbringer.
It took Ania a few weeks to realise her actions were becoming unusual, and violent. Scared of harming those she cared for, the young Princess ran away from her Kingdom one night.
At first, she ventured to small towns in neighbouring kingdoms to take refuge. But that didn't last long as Deathbringer forced her into a mode of survival. She began stealing food and supplies, and god forbid anyone try to stop her. If there were any fool who attempted to do so, they'd soon be found by the authorities, their throats cut open and a look of pure terror plastered on their faces.
And so Ania was on the run, an outcast and a murderer from the young age of six, surviving only by the will of Deathbringer.
6 ABY; 2043 Earth Time
For seven whole years, Ania remained under Deathbringer's control.
Finally though, in 6 ABY, Deathbringer gave the 13-year-old Ania a command; to find a young girl named Stella Khai.
In the night, Ania snuck her way into the Arendellian town of Inlia and found the young Khai asleep in the house of the people who she remembered had saved her from Elaine Mills.
While Ania was sympathetic for the Khai girl, the idea of being free of the ring pushed her to continue.
From that day on, Ania was free and the only time she ever even heard of Deathbringer again was sixteen years later when Stella Khai and Felix Calnore of the Sleeping Knights temporarily turned to the Dark Side under its influence.
Ania knew though, that despite no longer being under Deathbringer's control, she had spent seven years as a criminal. As such, she kept under the radar, focusing the violent tendencies that had been ingrained in her by the demon on enemies of her Kingdom. She became a vigilante, striking at known criminals threatening Arendelle's people.
Her identity was left undiscovered for many years to come…
Ania Q'in's POV:
39 ABY; 2076 Earth Time
I let out a sigh of relief as the commotion of authorities chasing me vanished into the distance. It had been a close call this time, but it had been worth it.
The people of the small town of Kalgerra had been utterly terrified of this Riley Morgan guy, but because it was such a small town it didn't have much of a police force. So, I stepped up, caught the guy and gave him what he deserved: a bullet to the head.
I checked my handgun, a fairly standard Earthen revolver known as a Korth .357 Magnum, making sure it hadn't been damaged in my struggle with Riley Morgan. Fortunately, the gun was fine, so I holstered it.
I took my mask off, attaching it to my vest under a pouch so it wasn't visible, and left the alleyway.
It was coming up to 10 PM Europian Western Standard Time, so the only people out on the streets were usually shady drug dealers or other sorts of lowlife scum. I was nearly tempted to throw my dagger into a guy's skull as he pulled out what was clearly expensive drugs when I walked past, but I restrained myself. I wasn't here to focus on lowlifes like him, I was here to kill actual criminals.
I got a few looks as I navigated through the run-down slum town, but that wasn't unusual. People like these weren't used to visibly strong attractive women walking by at this time wearing the sort of outfit I was; a dark blue short-cut leather vest with lots of straps and pouches for ammo and other equipment with matching dark blue tactical pants which were slightly ripped here and there due to my rugged lifestyle, as well as black leather boots.
Normally, as soon as guys got close to me, they'd realise they shouldn't mess with me and back off. But sometimes they don't, and then I have to teach them a lesson.
One such guy swaggered out of a bar, completely drunk. He spotted me and immediately whistled in a catcall.
"Hey there pretty lady," he smirked, coming up to me.
Now, I wasn't exactly short, I was easily 5"9, but this guy was probably about 6"6 and towered over me.
Even so, I wasn't fazed. I gave him a warning glare, silently telling him to kriff off. He didn't pay any attention though.
"Now what's a pretty little red-head such as yourself doin' here at this time?"
"Business. Nothing that concerns you," I let out a low growl.
"Well, I can think of some business that does concern the two of us, so what do you say?" he reached out to put his hand around my exposed midriff.
The bloke barely had a second to register my kick to his shin before he was forced back by a hard punch to the face. Without letting him recover, I kneed him in the face and forced him down to the ground.
By the time he could comprehend what had happened, he froze at the feeling of a cold votrum blade on his neck.
"Say another word and your head leaves your body," I said.
A couple of seconds passed before I put my dagger back in its sheath.
I paused for a moment, my danger senses tingling. Quickly, I dropped to the ground and rolled away, pulling out my slugthrower as I came back up and pointing it at my attacker.
Where I had been standing now had a katana stabbed into the ground, the dark bluish-green colour indicating it was made from votrum, just like my dagger.
Holding the katana was a man with longish brown hair, yellow eyes and a black jacket with gold trim and red underneath. He wore a white shirt, black pants and a red and gold haidate. His left arm had a dragon tattoo wrapping around it.
I recognised the man instantly.
Elyas Lawson, one of the most notorious criminals on Earth.
"I've been waiting to meet you, Lawson," I noted.
"So, you know who I am, but what about you? The infamous Night Striker of Arendelle, the vigilante who has never revealed her identity. But it seems I've caught you off guard, you don't even have your mask," he smirked.
"Looks like it, but that was a mistake. Because now I have no choice but to kill you,"
"You were going to do so anyway, were you not?"
I simply gave the man a sly smirk. "Of course,"
I pulled the trigger and immediately ducked away. Elyas cut the bullet in half as he dropped down low before dashing at me. I jumped over his blade, pulling my knife back out and swinging it at his throat.
He grabbed my arm and pulled it past, keeping the dagger away from him. He held his katana at my neck, making sure I was unable to escape.
"I'm going to give you a chance, Night Striker. I have a job to do in Allona, and I need a helping hand with getting in. Take the offer, I let you live. Refuse, I kill you right here, right now," he whispered in a low, menacing tone.
Ugh, this guy's too strong. I guess that makes sense, he's survived this long while being hunted by the entire god damn world.
"Why would you need my help," I growled in response.
"Because you can get into the castle without being seen. Don't think I don't know your track record, I've paid close attention to you, Striker,"
Not like I have a choice…I can get him there, lower his guard and kill him when he least expects it. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.
"Fine. I'll get you in the castle, after that you're on your own," I groaned.
He let me go, though his guard was still up. He'd be expecting an attack right now. So I simply put my dagger back in its sheath again, holstering my revolver too.
"What do you need me to do."
Elyas smirked, sheathing his katana. "We go to Allona tonight, sneak into the castle, I get my artefact and scram, you help me and go back to protecting Arendelle, everyone's happy. Well, except for Allona."
"Sneaking in won't be easy. I can only do so much when it comes to stealth, especially when getting into a castle. We will have to eliminate some guards," I said.
"That's easy. It's the vault where the artefact is located that's the problem."
"Security systems? Please, I've also paid a lot of attention to you over the years. You have magic, Kitsune magic to be precise. Security systems in Allona can be taken down easily with that. I won't be any help there."
"You'd be surprised with this vault. I have a plan, it just needs two people. You're the most able-bodied person I know of, so you're the best person to help," he added.
"Fine then. Let's get it over with," I sighed.
With that, the Atlantican led me to a ship on the outskirts of Kalgerra.
We boarded and flew to Allona.
!=-{+}-=!
It was a silent flight, neither of us had much to say to each other.
We landed outside the main city of Allona at 11:30 PM local time, 11 PM EWST.
I put my mask on, disembarking and fading into the shadows. I silently sprinted through the city gates, keeping myself hidden.
When I got to the castle, I stopped and looked behind me. To my surprise, Elyas was right there.
"Guards up ahead," he warned in a low voice.
I quickly scanned the front of the castle for other ways in. A building nearby caught my attention, as its roof was easily close enough for me to jump onto a ledge where I could scale the castle walls and get in a window. Where Elyas could get in was another thing entirely, but I ran on the assumption that he wouldn't have become such a notorious criminal without the skills required for this job.
Making sure no one was watching, I snuck across the road and into an alleyway, jumping up the ledges on the building and getting to the roof in no time.
I heard the slight thud of Elyas landing behind me. I then proceeded to sprint at the gap and jump, grabbing the ledge and pulling myself up. I got to the window with a little struggle. Using my dagger, I pried it open and crawled in.
A guard was right in front of me, but before he was able to raise any alarm, his throat split open and blood gushed out.
I wiped the blood-stained votrum dagger against his clothes, cleaning the cold metal.
"Pretty messy for someone like you," Elyas commented from the window.
"If you really think that then clearly you don't know who I am. Now shut up," I hissed.
"Oh, I know you better than just about anyone else," he smirked. Before I could retort, he quietly ran past and down a hallway.
The hell does that mean?
I followed the man anyway. Whenever a guard was about to catch us, either he'd do a quick cut with his katana across their chest or I'd slice their throat.
He's not worried about being seen. I was brought along for a different reason.
We finally reached the throne room. Whatever this artefact was, it was important. If the vault was in the throne room, there would be a lot more security than I originally assumed.
Sure enough, despite being the middle of the night, there was an unusual concentration of guards towards the back of the large room.
Whispered words from a foreign language caught my ear, and I glanced to my side to see Elyas chanting some sort of spell. He then charged forward. All the guards saw him and drew their weapons, but Elyas' katana erupted in flames. He swung and a wave of fire filled the room, burning all the guards to a crisp.
"The vault is back here."
I made my way behind the throne where he overrode a high-tech lock. We entered a small room with a device that looked like another lock.
"This is where you come in. Just put your hand on this, I'll do the rest."
I was hesitant, suspicious of this being a trap, but put my hand on the pad anyway.
Elyas started speaking the same foreign language as the device scanned my hand. A small prick on my finger caused me to retract my hand, and I noticed the device had taken a blood sample.
That can't be good.
But, to my surprise, the vault door opened.
Just like that.
"That's not possible…" came an elderly voice. I turned and, well, I could only assume the guy standing in front of us was the King.
"It's perfectly possible, all you need is a bit of magic," Elyas smirked, drawing his weapon.
The King stared at Elyas. "Except you know full well that's not true, Ely. I wouldn't be surprised if you had been the one to open it, because you are my son, but she should not have been able to."
Elyas froze. I glanced at him.
"So, you could have opened it yourself without any tricks. Bringing me along is making less and less sense by the minute, Lawson. As for why I shouldn't have been able to open it, pray tell old man," I stated.
The King sighed. "That lock is connected to a database that contains the IDs of royals around the world, both past and present. You'd have to be a part of a royal family to access it,"
Now I froze.
He knew. Elyas kriffing knew who I was. There was no magic involved, he was mumbling nonsense hoping I wouldn't understand and think it was a spell!
Elyas seemed to finally get his voice back now. "And our little Night Striker here used to go by another title. That's why I knew it would work, because the database still has the identification of Princess Ania of Arendelle. Though if I had known you were the king of Allona, none of this would have been necessary."
Immediately, my dagger was in my hand and I slashed at Elyas. He reacted quickly, but I put a massive cut on his arm.
He swung his katana at me, and I ducked, using the blade of my dagger to push it away. My gun was quickly in my other hand and I shot Elyas' leg.
He tripped backwards and I went in for the kill but was stopped by the sword of the King.
"He may be a criminal, but he's my son…"
"All due respect, your majesty, he was about to steal whatever is so important in that vault and he's responsible for hundreds of crimes around the world ranging from petty theft to rape and murder. Elyas Lawson doesn't deserve to live, even if he's your son," I scowled.
In this distraction, Elyas managed to slip into the vault. I shot at him, but he took cover.
Rushing into the vault, I made a slash at him, but he hit me with the hilt of the katana and ran out again. I saw an unusually shaped artefact in his left hand.
Elyas hit the door control and the vault closed. The last thing I saw before it fully closed was Elyas running his blade through his father's heart.
He really killed his own kriffing father…
Elyas had gotten away, but I had more pressing matters.
Like escaping this vault.
One of the main problems was the lack of light. It was pitch black.
Not to worry though, this Night Striker comes prepared.
I pulled out a torch from one of my pockets and turned it on.
The room was small, various treasures and things were strewn around the place making it hard to navigate. I didn't have the Force, nor did I have any magical knowledge, so utilising that wasn't an option.
There had to be a way out, some secret exit in-case the King got trapped in here, right?
I analysed everything I could see, and something did stand out to me. There were grooves along the ground that would indicate a secret door.
I started scanning walls and suspiciously placed objects. Finally, I found what appeared to be a hidden button. I pressed on the wall and sure enough, the ground slid open.
Easy.
It was a simple slide down and I came out in the lower levels of the castle. From there it was easy to sneak my way to an exit and escape.
I cursed to myself as I saw the HWK-290 light freighter we came in on leaving in the distance.
"Elyas Lawson is going to pay for all of this…I'll make sure of that," I whispered to myself, before hijacking a speeder and putting as much distance between me and Allona as possible.
Third Person:
A cloaked man watched the HWK-290 land near the abandoned Kaedilarian Weapons factory.
The Earthling known as Elyas Lawson made his way to where the ominous figure was standing after powering down the freighter. The man took notice of the Merman's limp but didn't give it much thought. He didn't care about this murderer.
"Just as promised, the Eternity Shard," the criminal said in a hushed voice.
"Very good. Your payment is right through here," the cloaked man motioned, taking the artefact from Elyas' hand.
The man let Elyas pass and began walking back to his own ship.
"This should lead us straight to Sleeping Knight Klal's true identity, and the reason it's so important to my mission…"
The man pulled his hood back as he closed the boarding ramp to his ship to reveal brown hair and similarly brown eyes.
Jacen Solo had seen a new vision, this time involving a Sleeping Knight he knew thanks to his good friend, Stella Khai. Something about Lyla Klal's true identity appeared to be related to the vision he had seen during his time with the Mind Walkers.
The 30-year-old Solo used the Force to unlock the artefact. Sure enough, as he expected, a map leading straight to a system labelled as 'Remnant' appeared.
"Time to find out who your former Sith friend really is, Stella."
Lara Pendoberg's POV:
"So, you really think this was an assassin from Kaedilar?" I asked my husband as we stood in the crime scene that the kingdom of Allona had allowed us to view after Kaedilar's council hired us to prove to Allona that they didn't kill the king.
The political situation was a mess between the two kingdoms right now, so it was unlikely our presence would do anything. But we were at least curious as to who killed the King.
"No, it's unlikely. The way the guards were killed was the same nearly every time, only the Night Striker of Arendelle is that consistent, and since the other slashes are clearly sword or katana-induced, Striker had a friend. Plus, the throne room back there has scorch marks, indicating the use of fire magic," Matt stated.
I looked at him, surprised.
"And here I thought you were hopeless in this sort of situation," I joked.
He pouted, but chuckled.
"Sir, we have the security footage you requested," said an officer.
"Good, let's see it," I nodded.
A small hologram projector showed the room we were currently standing in. Two people entered.
"That guy is clearly Elyas Lawson. I feel sorry for Ariel; her son isn't doing much good for himself here. The girl though… hard to tell, though she matches the description of Night Striker. The guards that followed the King in said she had an Arendellian accent, right?" I analysed.
"Yes, but since the assassin's ship went to Kaedilar, we have strong reason to believe they are behind this," the officer noted.
"I doubt it but okay. There's no audio?" Matt asked. The officer shook his head. "Damn… Wait, she's opening the vault with that scanner…I wonder."
Matthew played with the scanner and brought up the last identified individual to open the door.
We both froze in shock.
"N-No way… There's no way… Princess Ania Q'in?! She went missing 40 years ago. She's supposed to be dead!" Matt said, startled at the find of a supposedly dead girl's DNA at a crime scene from only a few days prior.
"There has to be some other explanation. Ania was a spoilt brat whose only combat experience was slightly burning Elaine Mills' leg. The first reports that match Night Striker's killing methods were admittedly when she went missing, but she was six. There's no way a six-year-old was responsible for those murders. Something's up here," I groaned.
"This is going to be a long investigation…"
Woo! That's that. So, Ania from Episode IV is still alive and Ariel Lear's son is causing trouble…still… Figured a little lead-in to the next main stories would be nice, hope you enjoyed it.
-Night Fury Warrior
Caster's Network 2019
