I've read over it, but I still may have missed some mistakes, so just bare with it. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!
Chapter 2: Ambush on the sands…
"I nearly lost him twice. Both times I wasn't strong enough to prevent it… The next time he needs me, I'll be there."
Sograt desert: the embodiment of heat and fatigue. The desert lends no ear to the cries of hungry travelers and no compassion to ill-equipped adventurers. The wasteland is quick to drive many brave travelers into insanity with the constant screeches of the cactus like muka and the persistent thievery of the small blobs, the drops. This barren land of emptiness is no place for the weak. Although passing through the desert is one of the few ways one can reach Prontera, the pinnacle of prosperity.
Under the unwavering power of the sun a crusader and wizard seemed to be the newest victims of the Sograt, hundreds of eyes laid upon their baking bodies in anticipation for a long awaited meal.
The wizard's shoulders were slouched from exhaustion, as a result, her lengthy faded-blue cape dragged in the sand, leaving a long indentation in the sands behind her. Looking up ahead, she could see her crusader friend glimpsing at their map and looking for familiar land marks that would lead them out of the desert as soon as possible.
"Hey, Hikaru?" The wizard's voice carried a hint of serenity and innocence when she spoke…
"What?" A slight indication of annoyance carried the crusader's tone through the unrelenting shrieks of the muka.
"We're lost aren't we?" She said with a cheerful 'just-to-point-out-the-obvious' tone.
"Ummm…No, we're not."
'Hey, Hikaru?"
"What?" His annoyance had become more evident in his speech. The wizard seemed to enjoy tormenting the weary crusader.
"You bought the cheapest map you could, didn't you?" Again, her cheerful voice filled Hikaru's ears as he froze in his tracks, eyes wide open.
"Congratulations on becoming a wizard, Grace!" Hikaru's loud voice resounded through the grand dining room of Grace's home like a gong in the dead of night.
"Well done, Grace." The newly appointed wizard's parents said, handing her a long, delicate, blue, silk cape, made of the finest material money could buy. The top was decorated with seal fur, and along the shoulder guard, the word 'Otohime' was stitched with delicate precision.
Grace's eyes lit with joy as she jumped towards her parents, hugging them as though it was her last chance. After the ecstatic moment, she quickly tried the new cape on. Her long brunette hair fell to the middle of her back, often catching light from the many candles, it radiated like the sun. Her azure eyes also appeared to glow against her pale white skin. That coupled with the elegant cape, Grace seemed to appear like a goddess.
Grace Otohime was the only child of the great Oto legacy and goddess was not all that far from the truth. Although many of her cousins and relatives were alive, Grace was the chosen heir to the great wizarding clan. Despite her heritage, Grace was a very humble and modest girl, welcoming all people from every walk of life with open arms. Although many would call this an incredibly fatal weakness, Hikaru was attracted to her undying kindness and loving nature. He placed the job of watching over this naïve girl onto himself ever since they were children.
As a result of her over protective parents, Grace rarely had the chance to experience a true adventure. Her life was sheltered from the outside and she rarely had the luxury to join Hikaru on his journeys. Even when she had the chance, Hikaru repeatedly shielded her, giving her few chances to gain experience by fighting and overcoming difficulties…
"I'm going to take a shower before I head to bed; goodnight everyone." With her final words, Grace had disappeared into the second floor of the large Oto family estate.
Hikaru had left to purchase a map to Prontera from one the hundreds of merchants that cluttered the streets of Payon like dead leaves in autumn. Having no luck, he decided to sit and rest before making another round through the mob of traders. Sitting on a wooden box, his armor let out a loud clatter, at the same time he exerted a long sigh of relief from the chance to rest.
"Hey, crusader, you're the one lookin' for a map to Prontera right?"
Quickly, Hikaru jumped to his feet and placed his hand ready to draw his saber. Around him people began to eye warily.
"Hey, hey, don't draw so much attention here. So, you want the map or not?" The voice appeared to be that of a young man, no older than thirteen.
"Hmm, I don't know…" Hikaru had relaxed, but looking around, he could see no one talking to him…
"Come on, it's brand new, perfect quality, yours for a low price of…" His voice slowly dropped to a whisper until Hikaru was just barely able to hear the amount.
"I'll take it!" Hikaru said ecstatically, again several confused eyes stared at him.
As per the young man's instructions, Hikaru dropped the money in the alley behind the local tool shop, when a hand materialized from the wall handing him the scroll… After taking his map, Hikaru walked back towards the Oto manor, hearing a soft whistling sound in the distance…
"Ah…ahem, no, no I didn't!" He said, with a series of coughs and nervously shaking eyes.
"Hikaru?" Again she spoke with the cheery expression.
"What now?"
"You're an idiot." Simply she stated, without changing her tone. After a long silence between the two, Grace started to walk ahead, muttering to herself. From the distance a soft cracking sound rolled into Hikaru's ears, over the constant screeching. Turning to look behind him, all Hikaru could see was the same old emptiness of the desert's sands… 'It's probably nothing.' He thought.
Turning back around, he began to follow the exquisite dragging cape in front of him. Before he could even get a steady pace, an earsplitting squawk resounded over the cacti followed by the light flutter of wings echoed in the distance… Both of the companions turned quickly to see the cause of the thunderous cry; only to catch a glimpse of something soaring into the clouds…
"W-what was that?" Grace spoke; with a fearful worry in her voice.
"I don't know and I don't want to find out. Hurry, Grace, let's get out of here!" Hastily, the crusader turned and grabbed his partner's hand and started to sprint. Up ahead, trees began to jut out from the horizon, letting out a sigh, he started to pick up pace in hopes of finding somewhere to hide their position.
Abruptly; a shadow of an extremely large bird; at least fifteen feet long, with two long wings spanning longer than the length of its body, swiftly flew over head, completely covering the fleeing duo in its darkness for a split second. Grace's eyes widened as she felt something furry wrap around her face before retreating with the shadow…
Stopping in their tracks, both looked to the skies, only to see the sun staring back down at them…
"H-how can anything be so fast?" Grace looked shocked… any hope she had of defeating the monster had been erased… Dropping to the ground, her eyes widened, she wasn't used to such odds…
Looking her in the eyes, Hikaru suddenly grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her… "Stop it! You've got to be confident; we've been through worse situations than this!" From behind, Hikaru could hear the soft flutter of wings. 'Damnit… fast, huge, quiet…what the hell is that thing?" In one quick motion he pushed Grace to the side and turned around with a shield on arm, catching a glimpse of the monsters head. It was a large eagle with cat like eyes, wrapped in a wonderful array of white feathers. Slamming into his shield, the bird soared back into the sky… out of visibility…
'Damnit… that thing nearly broke through my shield…' Hikaru thought, looking down at his shield… a large crack had formed… Undoing the straps, the shield fell to the ground with a loud thud 'and my arm.' Clutching his arm, he could feel that the attacker had at least fractured his limb from the last attack… Whirling around to see Grace, he didn't have to guess that she was completely terrified; her eyes had gone from a dazzling sapphire to wide, dull, blue pools of fear…
"Damnit Grace, pull yourself together!" He knew that his words wouldn't reach her though… With another shriek from above, Hikaru jumped to her side and placed her on his back, wincing from the pain of his arm… After a few minutes of running with the constant over passing shadows and quick shape of a beast flying by they had nearly reached the green grass…
With one swift motion the beast landed, wind over-lapped its body, throwing sand and small rocks in all directions… Hikaru looked on, straining his eyes to see the shadowy figure of a four legged animal with two large wings protruding from its sides…
Soon the sand began to settle, he could see the wings of an eagle, brilliant and pure white feathers overlapped the powerful muscles in the wing. Next he could see the body of a mythical animal he had read about… the lion; brown fur covered the entirety of its enormous cat like legs and body. Finally the head and front became visible… narrowing his eyes upon the eagle head, and bird like talons he let out two words…
"A Gryphon."
The creature slowly approached the crusader; it walked with a sense of superiority and charisma that suited the legendary beast.
"Don't look down on me you stupid bird!" Hikaru shouted while raising his injured arm… if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was when someone underestimated him. His arm began to glow a pale blue, followed by the sound of a light flutter… Grinning, he watched as his shield suddenly came down upon his unsuspecting foe's head, although he wasn't smirking for long… the shield flew towards his arm and latched itself into place as Hikaru let out a scream of pain… Luckily for him, the gryphon was stunned from the attack and fell to the ground. Taking this chance, he grabbed Grace's arm and ran towards the covering in Prontera's forest, blood trickled down his limbs leaving a trail…
He had run a good distance into the forest when another shriek came from behind him, turning around he took the full blow of the gryphon's attack to his chest… Grace had been thrown a few feet away from the crusader as he watched the gryphon soar high above, looking down upon its toys…
"G-grace… you h-have to…r-run…" He whispered, while coughing blood… 'So…this is it huh?'
Snapping out of her daze, Grace quickly realized what was happening and turned to run…
"I'm Hikaru Moriaka, nice to meet you." The young swordsman spoke to her with a friendly attitude.
"Get some rest Grace, I'll keep watch tonight." The swordsman said, with compassion.
"Here Grace! Happy birthday!" The swordsman said cheerily, handing her a clip.
"Don't worry Grace, I'll protect you." The crusader said, with a smile on his face.
"Grace, if we ever get into trouble, run…I'll be right behind you." Hikaru said…
Her eyes widened, flashbacks of what Hikaru had said to her whizzed by in her mind…she couldn't run…could she? Her eyes narrowed, she knew what she had to do.
Without a second thought Grace rushed by Hikaru's side and placed his head on his lap, a warm light flew past her hands as she rubbed his face gently…she wanted to see his eyes one last time…
"I'm sorry…if I hadn't been such a coward, you wouldn't be so hurt Hikaru…" Tears trickled down her face, and onto the crusaders… Looking up above, she could see the beast diving down towards them; she searched her mind for any spell that could delay the inevitable… She mentally chose one that she had recently learned, charging the spell, a ball of lightning appeared at her finger tips. With the flick of her fingers the ball was sent charging at the beast… As the gryphon flew directly into the ball, an intense light surrounded them, Grace let out a scream as she felt a violent wind push her to the ground in an instant, followed by a deafening explosion…
Looking up at the smoke, she tried to see if the spell had worked. With a loud shriek the gryphon flew out of the smoke and landed with its head down…ready to charge at the wizard. Its body barely singed from the blast… Making her last stand, she stood over Hikaru and stared back at the gryphon defiantly, before it started to charge her…
Closing her eyes, she awaited her death…but instead of the pain coursing through her body she heard the loud clash of metal…
"You okay there, miss?" The voice had come from in front of her…
Quickly opening her eyes, she could see a man in heavy armor, much like Hikaru's. He stood against the gryphon, blocking its attack with his sword. The man was looking at her with a concerned, yet slight annoyance in his eyes…
From the left, a woman tackled her, pushing her to the ground and covered her head…
Glancing back at the man, he released the gryphon and pushed its head towards the ground, moving his huge sword behind him, swiping the air where she previously stood, he quickly delivered a series of slashes along the bird's neck… With a rapid flap of its wings the beast was back in the sky, scanning the new foe. The knight raised his sword arm, closed his eyes and concentrated. His body started radiating a bright yellow aura, the aura started to dissipate and surround his arm as he gripped the hilt of his sword tighter…
From the trees and bushes emerged a cloaked man breathing heavily, immediately he rushed to Hikaru and began to pass his hand over the crusaders wounds…
His eyes began to slowly open…
The gryphon dove towards the knight at full speed, its body appeared to be a spear as the beast straightened its body in preparation for impact… Everything began to slow down for the knight as he sidestepped the dive with ease and quickly hacked away at the monsters side, his arm a blur of movements… Shrieking, the gryphon moved inwards and caught the unsuspecting knight's armor with its powerful claws, tearing away at his plate and flesh. Without so much as a flinch the knight drove his sword into the gryphon's back, before it flew back into the sky…
Smirking, the knight raised his hands towards the beast, closing his eyes in concentration. His palms began to glow blue, in sync his sword began to radiate blue as well, immediately a bright red flame engulfed the monster, scorching its entire body… The light rushed into his eyes as everything grew quiet – the desert sand and green grass turning to dirt and ash...
All around him houses burned while the stench of smoldering human flesh overflowed the air, intruding his senses. The knight walked through the flames looking for more blood to spill, his sword and armor already soaked in it…
He came across two children cowering in a hidden cellar, no doubt hidden there by their parents. Chuckling, the knight approached the two with a large grin on his face… Boldly, the older of the two, a girl stood over her younger brother, telling him to run… The girl had something about her… her eyes glowed with an untapped power, while her face was enveloped in dirt and dried tears it appeared to be emitting an atmosphere of power…
Without as so much as a flinch the knight slashed at the girl, disgusted that she would try and stand before him…but truly he began to fear the constant stare from her powerful eyes…
The boy however was just like every other child he slaughtered…why did such a powerful girl choose to protect him…?
"Why do you protect this scum, little girl?" The knight demanded, his voice cracking…
The girl stood, clutching her chest, her words echoed through the room… "Because, I love him!" She screamed, running towards the knight… With a flick of his hand he sent the girl across the room, knocking her unconscious…
"Foolish girl…" Reaching down, he picked the boy up in one hand by his head… Slowly, he began to crush the boys head with his metal gloves. The sound of bone cracking and the child's scream rang through the knight's ears as he began to laugh… The child's head collapsed, blood pouring from the stump of what remained while bones littered the cold cement floor.
He slowly approached the girl, his sword emitting a fierce red aura. Raising his sword arm, the knight prepared to slay the girl… Before he could bring his sword down, a cloaked figure appeared in front of the girl…
"Stop." The figure's bright crimson shroud shook when he spoke. He stood no taller than the knight, but the man was quick to lower his sword in the presence of this stranger…
"Let her live…let her feel the pain of losing a loved one…make her suffer for all her life…" The shrouded man commanded, his voice was deep and cracking…
A large grin spread over the knight's face as he obeyed, walking out of the cellar… All around him cries and screams of horror mixed with the carnage of slaughter brought a sense of twisted happiness to his face…
The knight fell to one knee, grasping his head, eyes widened from what he had just seen…
"Hiro!" Haruko screamed, running to his side, looking at him worriedly.
"I-it's nothing…" He said, putting on a fake smile. "It's just the wound…the gryphon is going to get away… " He didn't want to worry Haruko; he wasn't even sure what just happened…
Nodding with a slight concern, Haruko stood and grasped her long bow. Picking an arrow from her quiver she stood straight, facing the fleeing beast. Her long, flowing hair trailed behind her as the wind picked up, the sun shone down carefully illuminating her entire body. Carefully placing the arrow she aimed towards the gryphon, pulling the bowstring back. With the simple snap, the arrow shot from her bow, before reaching the gryphon, the arrow split in two. The first arrow pierced the massive wing, pinning it against the gryphon's body. The second, without even slowing down, ripped through the gryphon's neck and unfailingly severing its spine.
The beast began to shrivel into a small twig, leaving Hiro's sword behind… With a whistle a falcon descended and grasped the sword…
Grace and Hikaru watched in awe at the power of the two… They had fought so hard just to stay alive when these two disposed of the monster in an instant. Slamming his fist into the ground, Hikaru snorted, while beside him Alphonse chuckled with a slight curiosity.
Hiro still shaken from what images had passed through his mind stared blankly at his gauntlets; they appeared to be soaked in a red fluid…
A fair distance back in the Sograt, a lone hunter twirled an intricately decorated knife in her fingers…
"You've become considerably stronger…Haruko." A cold malice rung in her voice as the hunter walked off into the desert, the symbol of Payon imprinted on her back…