Old Rivalries
Act 9: Whispers
Chapter 29
Irkye paced around his cell in frustration. His ears pricked up at the sound of keys jangling. "You only have a limited time general," he heard the guard say.
"Generals, you've got to convince them I've been framed." He looked them in the eyes. "We believe you Irkye, it's just there's no evidence to say otherwise," Infinite said. Avalon leaned forwards.
"We can get you out, we just need you to follow through with the trial," he whispered. Irkye nodded. "Your time is up generals, the trial starts soon," another official entered. They nodded towards Irkye and left.
"Former Captain Irkye Alzulith, you are charged with murder of an innocent civilian, conspiring with an extremist group, razing a city and the massacare of two hundred and thirteen men on our side and a total of three hundred ninety three soldiers total, not accounting for civilians," the judge announced.
"I plead not guilty." He said as the crowd behind booed him. Some even threw fruit at his head. "Order! Order!" The judge banged his hammer loudly. After the crowd had finally settled down and Irkye was covered in different pigments from the fruit, he gave the verdict.
"We the jury hereby declare you guilty, and will be executed tomorrow," he declared. The crowd cheered and went wild. "We don't believe it!" A voice cut through the masses. All heads swiveled to see who dared to interject.
The 21st legion had come forward. "Captain Irkye would never do such a thing, he's been framed!" One shouted. "Look, it's the rejects!" A member of the crowd countered "And they support their murderer of a captain," another. The tent erupted in chaos as a brawl went off.
"Silence!" Infinite yelled, his voice shocking everyone into silence. They all sat down neatly, afraid of their general. "Proceed," he looked at the judge who had fallen out of his chair. "Uh W-We will still stand by our decision," he gulped.
"'Preiciate ya boys helping me out, but I'll follow through with this," he turned towards them. "Alsoith, lead the boys for me yeah? Good chap," he patted the shoulder of the new leader. "Captain… it's been an honor," he saluted and the rest followed. He laughed. "There's no need to get sad lads. Besides…" he leaned forwards. "Do ya really think these cunts got what it takes to put me down," he winked.
Two soldiers roughly pushed him back to his cell. He spat at them as they slammed his cell door loudly and locked it. The camera in the corner flickered and died as Infinite and Avalon appeared through the wall. "Knew you'd come through," he stood up. "Keep your voice down, we've got a plan, here's how it goes…".
In the morning, Irkye was dressed in a simple white cloth and was escorted to the stone platform. Hundreds of men were there to watch, the 21st nervously waited for their captain to do something. He winked at them as they forced him to kneel.
A rifle was pointed at the back of his head, and when the call was given, they pulled the trigger. His body slumped on the platform, being dragged away shortly after. The 21st held back their tears for their beloved captain. "There will never be another like him," one muttered and the rest agreed silently.
"You alright?" Avalon helped Irkye out the door. "Yeah thanks chaps, the doll worked like a charm." He said. "Leo was a genius, that's the same type of doll he used to fake his death before he went to Erimos and became paranoid," Infinite explained.
"Well you know I ain't going paranoid anytime soon, take care generals," he bade them goodbye before he disappeared into the night. He took one last look at the barracks the 21st lived in and caught a glimpse of Alsoith. He gave a wave before slinging his baggage on his shoulder and melted into the shoulders, leaving the new captain speechless.
"So what have you been up to?" Hazel asked Azreal. "Just helping with the others, made friends with this big guy here," he patted Rampage, who licked him back furiously. "Well maybe I was wrong about the doctor's plan." She inspected the brown scaly beast.
He had a large flat head for ramming, with two large horns for spearing anyone. His tough thick legs shook the ground as he walked and his large mace-like tail could crush anything with ease. Despite this, he still had the playfulness of a child, and was often looked down for it but he didn't mind.
"Hey, you mind sparring with me?" She got up and offered him a hand. "Sure, why not? Hey, what's that?" Azreal pointed at Hazel's weapon. "This? It's the staff I've been given," she showed him the long wooden rod. It was a simpler white rod with gold caps on its ends.
"So you're not using your sword?" He asked. "No, he told me to train with this instead of my blades," she readied her weapon. "Alright then, but don't expect me to go easy on you," he smirked. "Getting cocky are we?".
Azreal held his hand out and ,with a flash of lightning, his magical staff appeared. The pure white wooden rod was topped with a blue crystal that crackled blue lightning. "Ooh, flashy weapons, I like flashy weapons," she jokingly said.
Azreal struck first, firing bolts of lightning from the sky. Hazel closed the distance with him, ducking and weaving as she got closer. Hazel was about to swing the staff but a burst of fire sent her back. "Well that's new," she extinguished the bit of blue flame on her stick. "Can't keep living life boring," he plunged his staff into the ground and roots began heading towards Hazel.
She vaulted over them using her pole and slammed it to his side. He absorbed the blow and rolled to the side with its momentum. "Prometheus!" He yelled. Hazel stopped as she watched him raise his hand and a ball of blue flame slowly expanded.
Just as it was about to explode, it started to shrink and collapse into itself. "You are definitely NOT doing that," Astraeus glared as he stepped out of nowhere. "Aw man." He sulked. "Do you not remember the last time you did it? You-".
"Set fire to half of the valley, I know I know," he rolled his eyes. "You two are like a bickering family," Hazel smiled a little. "No we are certainly not." Astraeus turned to get mad at her this time. "Relax Astra, I'm just messing with you," she leaned on her staff.
"Did you just give me a nickname?" He asked, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I did. Problem?" She raised her eyebrows. "Huh, no one has given me one since forever," he pondered. "Really? Well after four and a half thousand years no one ever gave you one?" Hazel became intrigued.
"Not like I got close to anyone in particular," he stroked his short beard. "I guess even ancient people can learn something every day," she patted him on the shoulder as she passed him. "Don't forget you have training in a few hours." He opened another portal and disappeared.
"Are you finding him hard?" Azreal asked. "Well, I wouldn't say he's a bad teacher. More like unorthodox." She watched the last of the portal fizzle out. "So where'd you learn a trick like that?" She asked him as they walked around the valley.
"Turns out I'm good at that kinda stuff. Y'know, magic," he waved his arms around. "Did you find out where you came from?" Hazel said. He stopped dead. "You all right?" She began thinking of it as a bad subject.
"Yeah… it's just I've been three here for three weeks and I didn't bother to ask." He scratched his head. "It's just… blank. Like I know I had a life before this but I don't know what," he said, frustrated. "Hey." She put her hand on his shoulder.
"We'll help you find yourself, promise." She looked him straight in the eyes. "Mk," he murmured. "So how's the gang?" She thanked a local who handed her and Azreal some bread.
"They've being doing missions as usual, everyone's fine except Irkye." He munched on the bread. "What!? What happened to him?" She was shocked. "He got framed, the Saviorites made him look like he bombed a town and killed a lot of people, and now he's dead," he sighed.
"Wh- What!?" She couldn't think straight. "Yeah, Infinite and Avalon had a plan, though they didn't tell me, I don't think it worked. I saw him get executed." He told her. She was enraged.
"I'm going back." She burst into Astraeus' room. "Could you at least knock?" He waved his incense sticks in the air before putting them in a pot. "Give me my powers back, I'll need it." She demanded.
"And now you see why you still need training." The smoke acted like a mirror and she could see herself, anything but calm and collected. "But I can't just let a friend get framed and be called a criminal," she protested. "There is no use crying over spilt milk, he's dead anyways," he still did not turn around to face her.
"What is your problem?" She got heated again. "Oftentimes I make decisions many consider to be wrong, but it has to be this way," he got up. "You still can't control your emotions, your rage still consumes you," he looked down on her.
Hazel battled with her thoughts and instincts before agreeing. "Fine." She frowned and headed back to her hut. She lay down on the very thin straw mat that served as her bed. Just as she was about to relax and drift off, a large bell rang.
The air was soon filled with the frantic ringing and panicked screams. Hazel burst out of her hut and found Azreal outside. "What the hell is happening!?" She yelled. "We're under attack!" He fired a ball of fire into the distance.
Hazel saw them. Great mechanical beasts smashed through the wooden buildings. "Saviorites," she growled. "Come on!" She brought Azreal with her. She charged forward, swinging her stick with determination and care.
"How on earth did you not break your staff?" Azreal asked. She looked back at the trail of destruction left behind her and looked at her stick with new respect. "Huh, I guess this must be some really good wood," she held it up to the sky. "No time to lose, the big ones are over there," Azreal said.
Azreal shot lightning at it while Hazel vaulted upwards before plunging her stick into their large red eyes. It stampeded around and she held on for dear life. Roots surged out of the ground and wrapped around its legs before pulling it down.
Crimson jumped just as it tumbled and struck its chest with the stick, which had turned black and had red cracks in it. The strike dislodged a panel and she ripped out its core and crushed it, savoring the feeling. "Woah! Don't kill me please!" Azreal cowered behind his staff.
Crimson rolled her eyes and tossed him the remains of the crushed core. "Come on, there's still more," she ran off. Azreal refreshed himself and ran after her. She had cut a path of carnage heading to the larger Artifice's. Crumpled robots lay left and right, large parts of their body destroyed yet Crimson had taken great care to not damage the human soldiers as much.
Astraeus announced his presence. His doors burst open and he stormed out. "Who dares to defile the sacred valley!" His voice rolled over the valley. He waved his hands and a large circle above the sky appeared. It's rings rotated in alternating directions as bolts of light rained down on the Saviorites.
Almost immediately, all their forces began to ascend the hill to his cabin. "Hey! Get back here! I'm not done with you!" Crimson was offended they decided to ignore her and chased after them. In addition to the light striking then down as they climbed towards Astraeus, he controlled two large holographic dragons that melted anyone who dared get close.
The monks also joined in the battle, most of them using staffs. They whacked any bots close enough to them, some used hand to hand combat and were able to punch through the metal bodies of the robotic soldiers.
Eventually they started to retreat, heading for the exit through the mountains. Astraeus knelt on the ground and held up his arms. Just as most of their forces had entered the gap, he slammed his hands together. The walls of the exit mimicked his hands, crushing most of them.
He let the now tiny force run for their lives, watching them from afar. He groaned as he laid on his back, tired from channeling the ether's energy. "This is going to be very annoying to fix." He sighed, looking at the burnt forestry and smashed houses and temples.
"It's almost time.".
"I know, they still know nothing.".
"Our years of work, finally coming to fruition.".
"Stay cautious, we're not quite there.".