Alright Chapter 3! But again it's review answering time first. Bane the Mad Demon Slayer: Yes, Rayne is a fighter. One of the reasons Rayne is the way she is is because she is completely contrasting with Colette. I absolutely loathe Colette's submissive attitude, but like Zelos she just kinda grows on you until you can't help but like her. Anyway, yes, there was a bit of a Lloyd reference there because I am a fan of the dual-weapons thing. But that's the extent of it. She's really a reference to another video game (ironically by Namco as well). And thank you! I'm honored to actually be on someone's Favorites list.
MoonCannon: lol. I hope "hear" was somewhere high. Anyway I hope you enjoy this next chappy.
superspork97: lol. Well I can't expect my cleverness to work on everybody. I know about the switching for "u" and such, and I went through the chapters and fixed them with "Find & Replace". If you see any more let me know, cause my crappy computer missed them somehow.
The connection to TOS is something some people may not like. I am referring to the really hardcore TOS fans. The thing is, keep in mind, that this was originally going to be an original story completely, and apon playing Tales of Symphonia I changed the plot around according to my inspiration I got from that game. One of the themes in that game was something I really liked, but I basically just used the theme's basic idea (not anything to do with the theme's usage in TOS) and put it into my story. Resulting from this, I will have to begin to bend the TOS storyline to fit this one. That's why hardcore fans won't like the connection, because I will be putting in things and making connections that aren't in canon. Those of you who are speculative and analyzing will begin to see a similarity between a new character introduced in this chapter and a character from Tales of Symphonia (Kasan Soulblade might know, if she remembers who my favorite TOS character is). That connection is supposed to be there, my new character was secifically designed to mimic thta certain TOS character, and it is through this new character that the TOS connection will come. So bear with me, answers are coming!
Well hell, now that I've told you about the similarity between the two characters you're sure to look for it and see it. I have no doubt you'll be able to tell me the name of the TOS character by the end of this chappy. But then the question is, why IS this new character just like that certain TOS character? Is it just because I like that TOS character, or is it something rooted in the plot? Mwahahahahaha! Questions, questions! REVIEW!
Chapter 3: Shadyn
Deep inside the gargantuan mountains to the west and lining the edge of the Plain of Arsen was a huge cave. Within the tunnel system gouged and stretching deeply into the peaks shadows abounded, creeping around the dim light of the torches lining the rock walls. The flames made strange patters of flickering light, orange and yellow, on the rock walls. They made cracking and popping noises as they illuminated the pitch black cave within the reach of their luminescence. Footsteps echoed through the tunnels of the pirate hideout, ringing above the dim sound of a celebration and cups ringing in drunken toast. The swish of a cape could be heard around the feet of the owner of the footsteps, waving as if in greeting to the shadows of the darkness. The figure made no attempt to conceal himself, but seemed as if he still was one with the night, shadows creeping over his body as a hug of an old friend. The shifting light from the torches formed shafts of brilliance all over his body. They moved through his hair, his torso, legs, and cape.
A man in his late teens moved through the shadows confidently. His body was tall and muscular, yet stealthy and one with the shadows, his black clothes seeming to meld with the blackness. His hair, a wild light brown, was spiky on the top of his head and went to his shoulders. His facial features were strong, handsome, imposing. His eyes were a striking green, appearing to pierce people hearts and minds with a sharp gaze. His expression was calm, yet intimidating to any obstacle. It bore the look of confidence in one's ability, such that nothing would or could stand in his way. A scar in the shape of a large "X" slashed his right cheek, the mark of a sharp blade long ago.
His clothes were jet black, with blood red outline in a ripped edge. Two black long-sword bandoliers crossed each other on his chest, strapping twin swords onto his back, crossed as well, one hilt over each shoulder.. Even covered by the black material his torso was outlined with muscle, toned by years of battle and sculpted to perfection, as was the rest of his body. In the center of his chest was his crest, a sphere that was divided in two, one half Sol, the other half Luna. Two swords were crossed behind the sphere. A black belt separated torso from leg, shiny steel throwing stars attached to the outside, causing any observer to wonder what else it held within. The youth wore no armor, preferring movement and agility to heavy defense. He was, however, wearing an extremely light and flexible, yet tough beyond imagination, magical shirt of diamond mail, something he'd kept from his past.
His pants matched his other clothes, ending in tough boots made of the finest black dragon skin. His sleeves ended in black gauntlets, also of impenetrable dragon skin, for wielding his dual blades. But his most striking feature was the cape. It hung down from his shoulders to just above his ankles. It was jet black like the rest of his outfit and covered in symbols in an ancient language engraved in sparkling silver. In the center was a huge silver eye, so realistic that it appeared to be looking at the observer. The pupil seemed to shift position to pear directly at whoever was peering at the strange design. The eye looked sentient, hiding an intelligence that just could not exist within the unknown material that made it up. The entire cape shimmered magically, giving the impression of hidden power within.
Shadyn was troubled. The raiders had really gone too far this time. He understood the raiders' drive to plunder and steal, but the events that had occurred at Pelo were slaughter. They had killed innocent people without mercy and then left their bodies piled in the streets in their own, burning, ruined town. What ashamed him most was that it was partly his doing. He had led the attack. It had been his sword skills that had slain the last two knights guarding the entrance to the lord's house. His men had penetrated it and killed everybody inside, burning it to the ground. They had plundered some, but as it turned out Pelo was not the richest town. They had soon gotten bored and had simply slaughtered. The city was leveled by the time they had left, and they were pretty much empty-handed, except for the real prize, which was what Shadyn had taken.
The girl had been good. Quite good in fact. Shadyn had watched, hidden in the shadows of the night beyond the caress of the light emanating from the flames of Pelo, as the girl had slain two of his men, and it had been two on one. She had done it with the skill and trained perfection of the martial arts. Her shortened samurai swords seemed mere extensions of her body, the mark of a true warrior. Perhaps she had killed even more before Shadyn spotted her. He had snuck up behind her, silent like the night over a windswept plain, as she killed the second pirate and had grabbed her, knocking her out with a very potent sleeping potion. He had then caught her as she fell, carrying her to his horse, Cloudbane, so named because of the beautiful fluffy white pattern on his shiny black coat. His men had run from the smoldering city, and, pirates' laughing and cheering ringing in his ears, Shadyn had led them back to their cave hideout in the mountains. They had arrived just as Sol had risen, painting the horizon with its palette of pinks and reds. As all the men had gone off drinking and celebrating, he had locked her in a cell, still unconscious. He had assigned some idiot to guard her, giving him the keys to the cell, but he doubted the fool could figure out how to hold his ass on right rather than manage to work a lock properly. It had to be done though, but he had thoughtfully placed the worst possible guard there in hopes that whoever the girl was, she could figure out how to escape, and hopefully rid him of that hulk.
Shadyn had done this reluctantly. It was obvious to him that the girl was royalty. That skintight suit….those ruby-hilted short samurai swords…that amazing eagle picture…the silver armor on her shoulders, wrists, and shins….not to mention that the girl was quite fair, facial features with no flaw and that jeweled golden hair…
Shadyn was heading towards their leader's chamber. He would request that the girl be set free. It would not be easy, especially since Maston himself felt sexual attraction towards her, but it had to be done. If the girl was royalty they could not hold their own should the army affiliated with her track them down. They would be helpless. Honestly, Shadyn could not understand why these barbarians allowed their emotions control of them. She was, of course very beautiful, but Shadyn's discipline would not allow that to command his actions.
Shadyn continued through the maze of hallways, now stopping in front of a pair of carved wooden double doors. They were stolen mahogany, still retaining the ornate picture inscribed on them by whoever the artist was. He took a deep breath and knocked, his hard gauntlets making a sharp, deep ring on the carved wood.
"Yes, yes, come in." The voice from within was hoarse and raspy as well as drunk. Shadyn made a mental note to be extra careful, his mind deciding to be on its guard, and should his drunken leader attempt to attack, his hands would be to his long-swords quicker than the flickering flash of fire on the stone walls. Shadyn's muscles tensed in preparation as he pushed the doors open and strode inside.
Rayne awoke, mad. She sat bolt upright in her cot, head twisting and staring around her, but then she felt drowsy again and collapsed back down. As her long, slender arm went to her face and wiped sweat from her brow, brushing dampened golden bangs from her eyes. Rayne heard the metallic clank of chains. The princess gazed, as if stunned, at the iron cuffs in her wrists attached to a chain also made of iron that snaked off the cot. She tried to roll over and see where the chains went, noticing that the cot was abnormally wide, reminding her of a torture board, where victims were pinned to it by chains on their limbs (Rayne looked down at her own chains fearfully) and they were stretched until their limbs pulled out of their sockets, or worse.
Rayne groaned, still suffering from the powerful drug's effects. She gradually managed to pull her legs under her and get to her feet, groggily. One hand went to her forehead as a blinding headache hit her brain like a hurricane, spots flashing before her eyes. Somehow she managed to shakily remain standing, and her symptoms passed slowly.
Rayne reopened her eyes, squinting at first in the torchlight but soon getting used to the dim light. Her cell was small, only about 8 feet square. The only exit was sealed by bars, penetrated only by a locked door. The wall to her left was bedrock, and the other two were metal. She judged that she was probably in a large cave room, full of many more cells like hers. As far as she could tell, however, she was the only one help captive presently. Rayne looked down at herself, seeing that she was still fully clothed in her combat outfit (thankfully, she thought). She hopefully reached for the long-since familiarized position of her sword hilts, but her hands grasped only air. Her heart fell, though she wasn't really expecting to find them there. Even these barbarians wouldn't be that stupid.
Rayne dropped to her hands and knees again and peered beneath the bed, hoping to find where the chains attached and begin to contemplate on how to escape their captivating grasp. She saw that the four chains disappeared into holes in the floor under the bed, and she pulled on them to see how solid whatever they were attached to was. It didn't give at all, and Rayne soon gave up.
Her muscles flinched and contracted as she was startled by the sudden sound of footsteps coming nearer. She leapt to her feet as a man walked into her view, revealed through the bars in front of her. He was enormously fat, his belly protruding grossly from the bottom of his very tight shirt. A huge key ring swung at his waist, clipped to his belt, strained to the last hole and showing signs of reaching it's limits. Rayne judged he was the jail guard, and that the keys were the keys to the various cells. He was bald and walked in a wobbling fashion, and as he spoke around twelve chins wobbled grotesquely.
"Well, well, well. Look who's finally awake. That potion Shadyn put you out with sure was something." The guard's voice was terrible, like sandpaper to Rayne's ears. His beady eyes looked over the revived Rayne, his chins dancing excitedly as words poured from his primitive throat. Rayne was silent for a moment, then spoke. Her voice was calm, determined, but held the aura of one in captivity, with no real power at all under the circumstances.
"Release me now. You can not hold me hear for long. My father will destroy you and this pathetic outpost! And even if he doesn't find me right away, I will escape these chains and kill you in the process! "
The guard merely laughed and reached out a chubby hand, searching through the bars toward her smooth face. Rayne snarled like a cat and jumped back, hands slapping away the gruesome touch. The guard frowned at this, then reached for a small lever jutting from a slit in the wall behind him.
"Well, we can't have women disrespecting their superior opposite gender, their men, can we? Perhaps a bit of…discipline…is in order."
He pulled the lever down in one sharp motion. At first nothing happened. Then Rayne felt the floor vibrate a bit and the sound of large mechanical gears below the floor starting up. Before she knew what was happening, she felt the four chains on her tug with a mighty pull and her back slammed into the cot, knocking her air out of her in a "whoosh", so that she had to rapidly replace it with short, gasping breaths. Rayne was pinned to the cot by the chains, each pulling downward toward the floor, over the edge of the thin cot. At least she now knew what they were attached to down there. The help her hands and feet so forcefully that she could not budge them even a little, straining with all her strength. Her limbs almost hyper-extended, but still the infernal chains pulled. She remembered her comparison to the torture rack, and now grimly realized that that was in fact what this device was.
The guard casually unlocked the cell door and meandered slowly inside, making his way to Rayne. He got to his knees, face only inches from her raging face, beads of sweat beginning to flow as she continued to fight the chains. His fat fingers gently touched the inside of Rayne's thigh, her muscles flinching away as far as possible. Rayne was incensed, and she screamed in anger and bloodthirsty, murderous rage. She struggled with all her might, but barely managed to twitch her wrists as his hand slowly traveled up her thigh and settled between her legs. As he leaned to kiss her with his rough, hairy lips, Rayne spat, half out of desperation and the other half out of the anger. Consuming her rational thought. The glob struck him in the closing eye, and he immediately released her, shrieking in surprise as his enormous back struck the bars across from the cot. A ripple traveled through his fat like a touch on the surface of a calm pond as the impact forced it's way through his body.
"How dare you, you fucking whore." He stormed over to her and smashed her across the face with the palm of his hand, then brought it back over and backhanded the other cheek. Rayne's anger finally melted into the tears running down her red, swollen features. She tried to show courage, but could no longer stop the hot, anguished liquid pouring down the sides of her face. "Maybe not now, but eventually, oh yes, eventually you will come to appreciate me, and then you will see that I am not at all bad. You will submit, with or against your will. For now, you will remain in those chains until that happy day comes. Sleep, girlie, it is all you have left now."
Rayne's tears increased twofold as the guard left the cell and then heard him storm away across the room and heard the creak of a chair, excruciatingly loud snores soon erupting from the opposite side of the cave and echoing off the walls. Rayne's eyes welled up with tears against her will and she sobbed, for the first time in her life since infancy tears ran down her face and lamentations issued from her mouth. The hot fluid erupted from her eyes and flowed down her aching face, forming tiny streams on her cheeks. She sobbed and shuddered for several minutes, reflecting on the hopelessness of the situation. Her father could not help, because if he came they would kill her. If he didn't they would have their way with her then kill her. She had nothing else to look forward too…
The doors slammed shut behind Shadyn and he gazed around the room. Torches and large candles lit the large room, as they did the whole cave. The walls were lined with various deadly weapons. Axes, spears, maces, swords, rapiers, staffs and more unrecognizable blades obviously not good for personal hygiene almost completely covered all of the walls. Furs from various animals carpeted the floor, Shadyn's boots making no noise on the plush surface. A large carved table sat in the back of the room, an oversized wooden goblet full of rum sitting on it's polished surface and a large barrel undoubtedly holding the same by the side of the table. A large bed also blanketed in fur sat in the corner.
As always, the things that caught Shadyn's eye most sat crossed on the wall over the table. They were the most magnificent swords Shadyn had ever seen. They seemed to shine with their own luminescence as the youth watched. One was a strange red and yellow, the colors seeming to flicker like fire over the sleek blade. The gorgeous hilt was made of rubies and yellow-tinted diamonds, a very dark, blood-red stone was set at the base of the blade, pulsing slightly with color.
It's counterpart was of the same design, but with different colors. It shone silver, the platinum hues flicking over it's smooth edge. The ornate hilt was composed of strange silver stones and sapphires, pulsing platinum stone where the red one existed on the other.
"Aren't they beautiful?" The figure sitting behind the table's voice rang out, loud and booming, throughout the room. The large chair the man sat in was coated in animal fur, and the legs were horn. Protruding from the top of the chair were two enormous horns, animal source unknown. The man sitting in the chair was huge, not as tall as Shadyn but much more burly, hairy and muscular arms emerging from a sleeveless leather breastplate. His face was enshrouded in shadows, but one could make out a beard and black eyes with an intelligent glint in them. He wore leather boots, ending short but thick legs wrapped in more tough leather. The figure exuded power from all angles. He was the leader of the pirates, Maston.
"Yes, sir, they are quite beautiful." Shadyn looked the man in the eyes, pools of infinite black that seemed too intelligent to lead just a band of pirates. They reminded him vaguely of the first time he had looked into the eye inscribed on his cape and donned it, feeling mysterious power. Shadyn did not know where Maston had found those two works of art, for Maston never revealed their origin, but Shadyn knew that there was something Maston didn't know about them, and that was what exactly those swords were and what damage they could do.
"But that's not why you are here now is it?" Maston's deep commanding voice implied that the youth should reveal his motives right then. The man had never been much of a conversationalist and merely wanted to get to the point so he could resume drinking and making merry. This was evident in his next words, "Get to the point Shadyn. You know I dislike men in my chamber in times such as this."
"The girl. It is dangerous to keep her here. We must release her. The female is obviously royalty and it is dangerous to us to hold her any longer. I suggest—"
Maston cut Shadyn off. "No. She stays. Do you not think I do not know she is royalty? The dame is none other then Princess Rayne Arasyn!"
Shadyn's eyes widened. King Arasyn ruled all of Lucenia, and if what Maston said was true, then it was no doubt that they were in bigger trouble than Shadyn had imagined. "She must be freed! It is more than likely that he father is searching for her frantically right this moment and if he finds us, which he will inevitably, then you and I and all the men here will be crushed and killed. It is too much of a danger to hold her in this cave!"
Maston's eyes hardened at this. He leaned forward in his cushioned chair and brought his bearded face into the light, rough with hair and scars. "Shadyn, if I remember you personally captured her in the first place. What's with this sudden change of heart? Ahhhh…I see. You are bothered by the destruction your men sowed at Pelo. You hope to make amends by freeing the girl. Yes, I can see it in those striking blue eyes of yours, you fool. Well, let me remind you that I am in control and I say no. The king will offer Sol knows how much money to regain his daughter, and in the meantime, perhaps we can…make use of her…in some way…" He let out a cold laugh as he said this. "Be gone, Shadyn. Join your men in the eating hall. We shall never speak of this again."
Shadyn pursed his lips angrily as he abruptly turned and strode from the room. He had expected Maston's irritation, and had known that the conversation would not last long, but he had been kicked out within only a moment or two. The doors slammed shut just behind the hem of his cape, swishing free of the wooden jaws at the last moment. His fists, concealed by dragon skin gauntlets, tightened. His eyes closed and he stood motionless, thoughts flooding his intelligent mind as he considered the circumstances. The princess had to be released…this…Rayne, or whoever she was, and he was the only one who would do it. He made his decision and his eyes snapped open, intensely gazing down the flickeringly lighted hallways. His toes dug into the bottoms of his boots and then his legs moved, carrying him down the tunnel quickly. Then he broke into a run, cape flapping behind him like the wings of an angel, spreading out and shimmering like feathers. Shadyn decided that his relationship with these barbarians had reached it's extent. It would be permanently severed, Rayne would be set free, and he would get revenge for the murder at Pelo. Maston would pay for his insolence, as would the rest of this pack of idiotic animals. Maston would feel the deadly judgment from heaven itself.