-28-

Pressing himself flat against the wall, Piffy watched as a city guard came his way. A few guards may not know his identity, but most of them were told by Lord Cranius that this alchemist must be handled the way Cerberus was treated, for he would share the same awful traits of his leader, Cerberus. A false rumour about the alchemist being a person who plunders the city was spread, whipping up disdain from the city for him.

He had followed the knight and snuck into Izlude, at least without a guard noticing him so far. The residents carried on with their tasks instead of making a tumult when he entered. It was about an hour before dawn, as far as he could tell, and the streets of Izlude were deserted. The alchemist watched it all; from the moment Cerberus entered a house, and out came he, four guards dragging his unconscious form away. He had to hide himself when Lord Cranius exited the house, ending up losing sight of his leader.

He knew that the lord of the city had abused his power blithely again, commanding an assault on the knight who harboured no ill intensions, while his only purpose was to visit a friend and his parents' grave. Piffy cursed the inhuman lord under his breath. What baffled him was that, the guards had dragged Cerberus to another section of the city, instead of the main gates where he was usually thrown out.

Piffy tried going down the street where he had last seen the guards. There was nothing unusual; the only structure he saw was the Izlude prison. Then… a disturbing thought crossed his mind. Cerberus captured and thrown into prison!?

-

-

-

An axe slammed down hard on a deskman, knocking him over his chair. Before he ran down the row of cells in search of his leader, Piffy grabbed a ring of keys on the desk. An awakened guard shouted out –and a blow from an axe silenced him instantly. Piffy began striding down the row briskly, holding up a bottle of his own mixture that could glow in the dark, to provide him with better vision.

He stopped at a third cell from the last. There was Cerberus, lying unmoving. He could not tell if he was unconscious or asleep, but the latter seemed to be the case as he heard a faint snore every now and then. Damn! How could he be happily asleep at such a time like this, he thought. Prontera was going to be under attack anytime, and he needed Cerberus back on the battlefield with the knights in the capital city. Yet, he had to be involved in such complications of all times but now.

He tested each key with increasing frustration, hoping that this ring of keys was the right one to this cell. After the last key on the ring failed to open the lock, he cared less for the commotion and struck his axe against the lock, swinging the cell door open. The loud clank had indeed aroused most of the guards. A series of footfalls approached his way as the alchemist went in to check on the knight.

"There! Stop him! He's freeing the prisoner Cranius instructed not to release!" a senior ranked guard yelled.

"Sound the alarm!" another behind yelled.

The group of guards engaged in a fight against the enraged alchemist. Piffy struck a blow to the senior guard's stomach, doubling him over. He concluded it with a fist swung over his face. He held up his axe, the shaft blocking out a baton club, then kicked him in the gut. The guard dropped his baton, crying out in pain. More guards lumbered down the corridor as the alarm rang.

His energy began to dwindle as the number of guards increased, the alchemist feeling overwhelmed by them. Before he managed to fend off another advancing guard, a hard club to the back of his head knocked the lights out of him…

A ringing noise, which sounded like a sword being drawn out of a scabbard, had several guards jumping onto the awakened Cerberus. The guards were somewhat shocked to see a weapon in the knight's possession, for they had stripped him of all his equipments before he was locked up. A dark purple blade sliced through the guards, their eyes closed in an eternal rest.

The remaining guards, about a dozen, came for him. Cerberus felt an invigorating darkness engulf him, renewed strength and power healing him of his injuries Cranius's four armed guards had inflicted. Most of all, he felt omnipotent carrying this Talefing, as told by the swordsman called Doppie. The jagged edge bit deep into the flesh of two front guards, then snaked its way to three more guards' neck. Five of them fell at once.

A few faltered in their charge, suddenly fearing the sword wielded madly by the knight prisoner. They fled the prison, their mind bend on informing Cranius in his castle. Cerberus made a quick work of the remaining guards, but left one in his captivity.

"You have the audacity to strip me of my equipments…" he whispered dangerously as the jagged edge of the purplish blade neared the guard's neck ominously.

"It… its… argh! I can't breathe…its stashed at the de… desk. Ugh –"

The purplish blade severed the head off the neck. Cerberus looked at the knocked out alchemist in his cell emotionlessly, then stalked off to the front desk. As he drew near the entrance, noise from a small commotion drifted into the prison. He guessed that it must be the fleeing guards warning of this disastrous event happening within the prison.

The knight secured the last strap of his full plate, and a fresh surge of ecstasy never felt before erupted within him, his determination and confidence to retrieve the two swords boiled over him. Whatever was in his memories were washed away as if by a flood, and replaced his blank mind with an aim of mass massacre. Cerberus sheathed his new prized possession, the blade forming back to that of a broadsword. The alarm in the prison still rang out as he left the building.

He bashed his way through street guards, littering the streets with limb bodies and blood. He followed a path, where a sign with an arrow pointing east from where he stood read "Castle of the Lord". More guards fell upon his potent attack, the knight saving the use of his sword for his brother, if his blank mind still remembered him as one. A certain darkness was clouding his mind, tainting his blood, yet he remained oblivious to everything else…

The ornate double doors of Lord Cranius's castle were forced open, and four guards with lances outstretched came running to the encroacher. Cerberus itched for the Talefing, his temptation getting the better of him. His sight blurred, then became focused again, but whatever he saw was in black and white. He pulled out the "broadsword", and the blade shifted into a jagged edge with a strong purplish glow. The chain strung at the tip of the hilt clanked with a deadly rhythm.

The knight waved the dark sword, and a wave of darkness assailed the guards squarely in their chest. With this minor obstacle easily cleared, Cerberus shouted out a challenge to Cranius or any other guards who dared cross his path. He did not remember having so much enthusiasm back when he wielded the two swords. The Talefing actually satisfied his battling needs!

"Cranius! Come on out this moment!"

As he mentioned the lord of the city's name, Cerberus was reminded of the female crusader, Kera. The vision of her being mistreated by her would-be husband, and the way the guards handled him al these while fuelled his undying rage that would not diminish until Cranius was killed by his hands.

"Stop hiding and return what's rightfully mine! I shall not wait till dawn before the fight begins!"

A slice of the jagged blade quickly concluded a couple more guards' bold challenge. Cerberus climbed the posh, red carpeted stairs, combing the castle grounds for Cranius. However, only more guards came for him. There was no sign of his brother even after he headed for the larger and elaborately decorated chambers located on the highest storey.

"Come out! Stop hiding like a coward!"

He ran down to the end of the hallway towards the only chamber with ornate double doors. This significant chamber must be the bedroom of the lord…

The moment the double doors were flung wide open, a small platoon of the armed guards who assaulted him earlier charged out of the room with a deafening war cry. The ecstasy spurred him into wild spins and cleaves of the Talefing which left the front men screaming for mercy, some jerking spasmodically in an agonizing death. Impatience to reach for Cranius dominated him. Another wave of darkness struck through the front, and all the way to the rear, creating more screams and moans.

Cerberus leaped over the personal armed guards of the lord, inspecting the cavernous chamber which was indeed the bedroom of Cranius. The bed was empty and left untouched, everything was in order. There was no trail of Cranius's presence in the room…

Bolts of flame and hoarfrost pierced his body from behind, the inertia of the magical force sending him crashing through the bed, the dark sword clattering onto the floor. Cranius stepped out of the double doors with a smirk, a Fireblend and a Ice Falchion in each hand. The lord of the city made a swirling motion of both swords, and another series of elemental bolts crashed the china near Cerberus.

Snarling out at his brother's trickery, he grabbed his sword in defiance to the spell ejected from the two swords. He jabbed the purplish blade –and another series of magical bolts streamed out towards him. Cranius, still dressed in the simple mail he wore earlier, smashed the flat of the Fireblend against the side of the knight's head. A freezing, yet searing sensation coursed through Cerberus's body, his skin seemed to peel off him. The feeling of both chill and heat was too much to bear…

The dark powers flatered, the ecstasy within him evaporated out of him abruptly. The darkness and corruption of the Talefing tormented his brain, his mind. It felt like a destructive thunderstorm striking his brain, hardly stopping. He clutched at his skull, tearing away at his damp hair. The knight screamed as he felt himself melting by the raging flames of a conflagration.

"Hah. To think that you would challenge me, dear brother. Do to my bidding now, you've lost terribly," Cranius said triumphantly as he grabbed Cerberus's jaws. "Shouldn't you die already, for causing the deaths of the innocent!?"

Cranius wrapped his hands around the "broadsword", closing his eyes to concentrate on the transformation into the purplish jagged blade that he witnessed just now. An eerie light flared. The blunt broadsword shifted into that of a jagged blade, the black hilt hung with a chain. A purplish glow clouded the blade as the lord of the city admired the sword…

"Taste your own medicine!" Cranius spoke in a demonic tongue.

The lord of the city himself was surprised at what he just said. He did not expected it, it just came out by itself. He lifted the Talefing, the dark powers began corrupting his mind with greed for power and gains. Heavy footfalls began thumping the floor into the chamber. Cranius turned around, irritated at the interruption. Cerberus was about to die by his own sword!

Piffy raised his axe for an overhead smash, but the Talefing left a long cut on his left arm. The alchemist faltered, but he proceeded nonetheless, out of determination to safe the knight leader and to rid of this despicable lord. The axe missed its target as Cranius sidestepped, the Talefing quickly lashing out at Piffy's chest. Remembering that he was not wearing any armour, he leaped backward –and tripped over a dead guard.

Cranius drove the dark sword downwards but an acid bottle flew at him just in time to stop the killing blow. Cranius dropped the sword, wiping his face in a desperate attempt to nullify the searing feeling of the acid. Piffy slammed the flat of his axe against the lord's knee, causing him to buckle under the massive blow. A brief flare of an illumination blinded Cranius for a second when Piffy waved his glow-in-the-dark mixture. The alchemist smashed the glass bottle over the lord's head, the chemical splattering in all directions.

He had no many tricks up his sleeve, and so he went into the chamber to sober the knight leader up. He had to leave quickly, for Cranius was not going to be lying there past dawn.

"Damn it! Have you been putting on weight…" he groaned as he spent his efforts trying to lift the knight up.

Cranius moaned painfully and scrambled to his feet, the Izlude lord scanning the area for the Talefing. He scooped the dark sword up when he found it among the dead guards, taunting for Piffy to challenge him again. While Cranius walked unsteadily into the chamber, the alchemist fumbled furiously for a wing, since he did not wish to battle him any further.

The purplish blade came down for the stout alchemist, only to bounce off the shaft of his axe. Shouting an unknown command in a demonic tongue, the Talefing's purple glow flared a brighter light. Cranius's eyes hollowed, turning completely white. His skin paled as he delved in the power of the dark sword which was corrupting him, erasing his mind of everything, ordering him to kill whoever was in sight.

Piffy could no longer hold out to the lord for the Talefing imbued in Cranius a demonic strength. Feeling overwhelmed, the alchemist kicked the lord in the injured knee in order to save himself from being cleaved to death. Apparently the injury from the axe blow was healed by the dark powers of the sword, for he did not buckle under the kick.

He swore under his breath, reluctantly embracing the fact that he was doomed. The partially corrupted Cranius stepped over him, the jagged edge hovering over him ominously. The purple blade rose, and rushed down the highway of death.

Piffy found himself rolling out of the way at the last moment, the Talefing planted deep into the ground. Cranius pulled it out and went for another killing blow, this one was unavoidable. Death was inevitable for the alchemist now…

A stream of fire and ice sent Cranius crashing into the wall, the portraits hung on the wall fell off the hook, clattering onto the lord's head. Shouting another command, Cerberus ejected another stream of fire and ice bolts that pierced his brother's body.

"Piffy!"

The alchemist crawled to him as the knight pulled out a butterfly wing from a tight pocket.

"Hurry!" he croaked with effort. The dark powers of the sword continued to haunt him.

His body was completely numbed, probably from the withdrawal symptom. He could not move at all, he had to ask his alchemist friend to come to him, so they could be in physical contact. Cerberus reached out a weak hand, while Piffy's hand grabbed it, and the two began to feel a dizzy sensation.