Crimson Twilight: Dusk

Chapter 8: A Gathering of Companions

'They're in trouble already.' This was the first thought that crossed Silmeia Cafilence's mind when the cavalier from Eliarainne's division first arrived asking for reinforcements. She was focusing on a bit of meditation by the chapel near the infirmary when a messenger told her that someone from the First Knight Division requested her back up. Eliarainne took pride in her division's ability to survive in combat without asking for healing. To call for reinforcements meant a dangerous battle. It was standard procedure for the Second Priest Division to provide back up for Eliarainne's troops whenever needed. This occasion was no different. She had called for her second-in-command and already detailed a squad of priests to go with her to Alberta. Along with an extra squad of cavaliers from the First Knight Division and a squad of wizards picked from the Second and Third Wizard Division, frost and fire casters respectively. Silmeia watched as the door to the chapel opened.

"Ten priests, ten knights and ten wizards. That's a lot of firepower even for Drake." someone said.

Silmeia quickly recognized the man who seated himself by the last pew. His status as a wizard was obvious from the way he wore his flowing gray cloak to the way he took off the green, pointed, magic instructor's hat on his head. Unkempt, green hair covered his scalp; peeking down his eyes and covering the nape of his neck and the tips of his ears. He was notorious for his lack of combing habits though he was clean-shaved as if to add that it wasn't out of laziness. He brushed a few locks from his face and looked at her. Bright and strangely golden eyes stared at Silmeia with the familiarity. He had a long, thin nose, almost vulpine in appearance, a sharp jawline and a pointed chin. His cheeks had sunken a bit, enough to bring a twinge of worry to Silmeia. Perhaps he had not been sleeping well for the last couple of months. Nevertheless, his presence brought a slight smile to her lips. Here was another companion who had often traveled with her, Eliarainne and Makaelthos. One who had been absent for a few months to take care of business in his home city of Geffen. "I can never be too sure, can I?" she answered him. "Still, it's good to see you again, Trenzein. Is Seihanine with you?"

Trenzein shook his head. He hid a slight hint of annoyance at the radiant's hinting with a confident smile. "No, of course not." he answered. "She's on duty at the new colony over at the orc lands along with her brother, remember?"

Silmeia nodded and stepped out of the chapel. Trenzein walked beside her as they went over to inspect the reinforcing troops.

"Changing the subject." he continued. "I hear you found some black-armored knight out in the forest nearby. What did you find out about him?"

Silmeia looked over the assembled priests, knights and wizards. "Sir Agranias?" she answered. "Very little. He would not mention anything about his former group or why he was attacked by them. He said that revealing them would bring further danger to Prontera. It's strange really, he's hiding something and I think it has something to do with my sister."

Trenzein looked at Silmeia with concern. "Lystra? I didn't hear anything about a knight among those who were slain." he said softly.

Silmeia's expression grew serious. "That's what I thought too. Yet, he looked surprised when he saw her portrait and said something about her being familiar." she replied.

Trenzein watched the priestess worriedly. 'Great. he thought. 'I just said that to stop talking about Sei.' While he was not emphatic like Eliarainne or Makaelthos, he did not like the way Silmeia's mood darkened whenever the topic of her sister's death was brought up. It had been a silent agreement among him and his companions to avoid mentioning Lystra. He decided to change to the topic again; he had not expected that the subject on Agranias would lead to talking about Silmeia's younger sister. "So are Makaelthos and Eliarainne ahead of us or are we waiting for them here?" he asked.

Silmeia's mood lightened slightly. This was classic Trenzein. Deciding things by himself without bothering with protocol. He was a generalist; not truly part of any wizard division, as they were classified depending on their magical focus. Trenzein was often "on call" in the army; filling in for what was missing. To join the Second and Third Wizard Divisions he had to be summoned by Grand Wizard Commander Hakien Hyou but Silmeia doubted if the old wizard even knew that Trenzein was back from Geffen. Makaelthos would normally disapprove of such corner-cutting but she wasn't a stickler for rules like the lightbearer and there was no harm in letting Trenzein come this time. "Us, Trenzein?" she asked with a smile. "I didn't know you were coming."

Trenzein grinned and winked conspiratorially at the priestess. "It was just decided a moment ago" he replied." Besides, that knight said something about Drake, Moonlight Flower and Eddga. I've been itching for some frantic spell casting since my stay in Geffen!"

Smiling, Silmeia pulled out one of the blue gemstones she carried from her pocket. She closed her eyes and put her palms together with the gemstone between them. Then, she whispered a swift prayer for quick and safe travel, imagining the forest just outside Alberta. When she opened her eyes, a small pool of swirling light had appeared in front of her, no wider than the opening of a manhole and the gemstone was gone. The swirling lights slowly formed and image of the desired location. "Makaelthos and Eliarainne are already there, Trenzein." she answered. "We're supposed to be reinforcements."

Trenzein nodded and stepped into the image. A moment later, he found himself stepping out of another pool of swirling light. This time, it was among the knights of the First Knight Division. He smiled as he noticed Eliarainne grinning at the sight of him. "Trenzein Zaisen!" she called out. "You just had to be part of the reinforcements had you?" he laughed and walked towards his friends.

Makaelthos frowned slightly before nodding to acknowledge Trenzein's presence. He then checked to see who else was arriving.

A few more moments and Silmeia stepped through her portal. Makaelthos walked over to the priestess. "Good to see you, Silmeia." he greeted her.

Silmeia smiled at the sight of Makaelthos. She did not get the chance to greet him when he arrived at Prontera after his mission. "Good to see you too, Makaelthos." she replied. "How's the situation?"

Makaelthos's expression grew grim. "Not too good." he said. "We've lost two knights already from a sudden attack by Moonlight and Eddga. The rest are in need of healing. I've provided what I can but I must conserve some energy for the encounter with Drake."

Silmeia nodded. She assigned several priests to tend to the wounded while she discussed the plan with Eliarainne, Makaelthos and Trenzein. She was also quick to notice the presence of the strange, cloaked figure in the background as well as the young blond swordsman beside it. Before the healing could commence, Makaelthos led them to an abandoned warehouse near the gates. The streets were not safe, apparently. Drake's minions roamed Alberta, forcing everyone into hiding.

"So how do we go about this?" Silmeia whispered while she watched another patrol of skeletal pirates move past their hideout. Some of the knights held their breath as the horrid figure of a wraith floated behind the patrol. Even a battle-hardened knight would pause at the sight of the shroud-wrapped skeleton. The most frightening aspect of the creature was the fang-filled mouth that took up where the creature's stomach should be. It was horribly over-sized and constantly smacked its lips or ground its teeth. A wraith could float by silently and then take off a man's head with a single bite from its abdominal mouth.

Trenzein tapped his fingers on the table impatiently. He had destroyed wraiths before and the idea of facing one only made him eager to show what he can do. "You've got your reinforcements, Makaelthos. Why don't we just storm his ship already?" he prodded the lightbearer.

Makaelthos glanced at the cloaked figure behind them. He kept his voice low when he spoke and the tone of his voice said that the others should do the same. "We have other problems besides that, Trenzein." he answered.

Makaelthos explained the situation with Osiris and the doppelganger to his companions. Silmeia looked thoughtfully at Osiris while Trenzein's eyes widened in slight surprise. He knew enough of the situation to not raise his voice though. "Osiris and the doppelganger? You've picked up some strange allies, Makaelthos. But still, that makes us even more capable of defeating Drake head on." he insisted.

Makaelthos stared at the map before them. "We could, Trenzein, but we have to make sure that we are the ones to destroy Drake, not Osiris nor the doppelganger." he answered. He related Osiris's words to his companions. He did not bother hiding his intention to make sure that Osiris does not gain from Drake's destruction. He had made it clear to the mummy that he was going to make sure that no immortal would dominate the war. In return, the immortal told him that the challenge was accepted. He turned to inspect the rest of their troops. All of the remaining knights were restored to fighting form again and all they were waiting for now was for the priests to recover their mental reserves.

"So we destroy Drake before Osiris and the doppelganger do. How do we make sure of that?" Trenzein smiled slightly as he asked Makaelthos. Competing with regards to who gets to destroy the great monster first...he remembered how he had done that several times already with his companions. "I wish Seihanine and Kreizen were here. It would be just like old times." he added.

Makaelthos's expression grew serious. Trenzein's casual comment reminded him of two things; One was that he could never get used to how casual Trenzein could be in grave matters; the other was that he was worried for Seihanine and Kreizen Xalascent was well. The siblings were stationed in Orcville. If Osiris was right then the colony was in danger from an attack. "I must remind you that it will be different from old times, Trenzein." he chided the wizard. "Whatever happened to these immortals; it has made them much stronger than before. Don't underestimate them."

Even as Makaelthos spoke his warning though, Trenzein's remark had caused him to think back to the times when he fought the great monsters of Rune-Midgard with his companions. They were of lower ranking then thus they were not saddled with the responsibilities of commanding troops or leading Prontera's forces in battle. The memories almost brought a smile to him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts; he focused on their attack plan. Still, he wished that Kreizen and Seihanine Xalascent were with him. Their familiar presence would further assure him of success.

The sun had begun to set when Makaelthos and the others finally set out towards Drake's ship. After careful discussion, they had decided that the best way to combat the pirate captain would be head on, after all. More complicated tactics would delay them further and would allow Moonlight and Eddga to get ahead of them.

Osiris approached the ship from a different direction. He did not bother explaining the reason to Makaelthos though he guessed that the crusader probably knew why. The doppelganger on the other hand was a different matter. Osiris had to explain his motives to his "partner". "We've already set most of the knights against Moonlight, Eddga and Drake. They'll keep our rivals busy while being apart from them would allow us to summon our minions without revealing our cover." he had told the shadowy immortal.

The doppelganger raised an eyebrow. "Won't they recognize us if we attack?" he asked.

Osiris removed his cloak; revealing a powerful and bandage-covered physique. Where his eyes should be there were two points of red light. They gleamed underneath the bandages that covered his face. "As I said, they'll be too busy. Osiris and the doppelganger will only appear later after they have destroyed most of Drake's crew. I have no doubt that Moonlight will grow impatient and join the fray with his minions. With them busy we can eliminate Drake at our leisure." He answered.

The doppelganger grinned; he was clearly impressed by Osiris's careful planning. "What if he doesn't?" he asked.

Osiris' eyes flickered with anticipation. "Then Joe Buck and Seiros will have to ask for help." he replied. "These mortals are strong; if Moonlight does not engage them then they will dispatch Drake's forces faster. We'll engage Moonlight and Eddga's minions with ours as well, just to add to the chaos."

The doppelganger's eyes gleamed with anticipation. Osiris had thought of everything; allowing him to do what he enjoyed the most.

"We've made it in time."

From a different part of Alberta, Moonlight and Eddga watched as the troop of humans moved towards the pirate ship. As Moonlight expected, Drake rallied his forces to engage the mortals head on. He grinned; for a moment he thought that he would not recover from Osiris' surprise attack in time to beat the humans to killing Drake first. Around the him was his personal retinue of nine tails; flaming, fox-like creatures each possessing nine tails that looked more like tongues of flame than fur. Their faces were twisted with feral anticipation, rows of sharp canines glistening against the setting sun. He turned to watch his partner. Eddga was surrounded by his Leib Olmai, purple-furred bears that served as his minions. They stood on their hind legs, upright like humans did. Their arms were massive bundles of muscle and fur, each tipped with five claws. Moonlight began to move towards the pirate ship; his retinue following him closely. He knew that Osiris and the doppelganger were waiting somewhere with their own minions and, between the warring immortals and mortals, he could only expect chaos, one that he would have to rise above from. "Ready yourself, Eddga!" he called behind him. "This will be the first major skirmish in our war and I expect only victory for the two of us!"

The tiger beast roared in reply. Moonlight could already feel the intense tension that came before a great battle. The sun would have set by that time. Their fighting will be lit, not with sunlight but the lurid fire of battle.

World notes

Magical specialty - A student in the Geffen Magic Academy is required to choose an element of magic to be his specialty and another one to serve as a sub school. A graduating wizard is known by his specialty element regardless of sub school. Fire casters specialize in fire, Frost casters specialize in cold and Lightning casters specialize in electrical magic. Spells such as Soul Strike and Palm beat, both not classified under any element, are considered free electives, useful if learned but not necessary to graduate.

Generalists - A generalist is a rare sort of wizard, having no specific magical specialty but able to cast spells from any element. Only extremely gifted students have the mental capacity to become generalists. Usually they are unable to gain the power to cast the strongest spells in a specific element, making up for it by variety. When the nature of an enemy is unsure, generalists are often sent for. Since they are too few, they do not make up divisions of their own, instead serving as "standing troops" in case of emergencies.

Wizard divisions -Wizard divisions in the pronteran regular army are classified depending on the magical specialties of their members. The First Wizard Division, for example is made up of frost casters. Their formation and hierarchy are similar to Knight and Priest Divisions.