Author's Note:
The break went a little longer than expected but I feel pretty ready now. So without any further delay, let us begin Act 2!
It was a time of silence. Of mourning. Not for the many, but for the few.
The land of Obscura, where ebony skies reign supreme, now finds it's pastiche canopy dull and lifeless. For on this night, this cold and silent night, it's reigning mistress of darkness has drawn her last breath...
Ophelia was silent as the moment came to pass. Not even putting out a whimper of pity, or a single teardrop.
She died with a smile, a smile she chose of her own volition for the first time since she was born. Her eyes stayed open, so she gazed upon the moon in envy one last time...Even if it's present paleness was as fake as her courage in the face of death.
When her soul had passed on into the abyss, the shadows caressed her body in a cocoon, so that none could see the disgraceful shape she had let herself end on.
But there was one for whom that image would forever be imprinted on the back of his retinas...The one soul she treasured the most in these final moments, and the only one who stood at her bedside.
From a sprout grew a towering oak of black steel, the pride of Ophelia's grand design. He was an imposing young man, caged in an onyx coated metal armor, with dark red chains wrapped around his grives and arms. His shoulder pauldrons, resembling hollow ash gray skulls.
He was masked in a helmet for whom only the faint glow of his red eyes could breach the shadows, with three thorned protrusions sticking up from the top, a devilish sight.
But though his gaze was concealed, their emotion was painted clearly throughout his demeanor.
Silent, reflective, he forced himself to see this woman, of whom he called mother, in her worst state.
Time had eaten away at her body like a swarm of venomous ants. Her skin was drained of all color while the veins throbbed with a black, gelatinous appearance. Her scars had been forced open and made to mend time and time again, leaving a body with more scar tissue than flesh.
But throughout it all she stood tall, even as her body withered away to a wrinkled heap, a true testament to her strength of will...
And now her son, blessed with a name as mighty and deified as Solomon, would come to inherit this will, just as she had on her day of birth, and her mother before her, and her ancestor before her.
He carried her stiff body through their shared home, the inhumane cold seeping through the cracks of shadow. Onward, never stopping, to a tomb visible within their garden.
The Titan Xiark stood at the entrance, resting on all fours. Fog seeped out from the black gateway sealed behind the stone door.
Solomon stopped and looked down upon the creature who had been at his mother's side all these years, that would now be a burden at his side.
"She finally couldn't take it anymore," Xiark remarked in a passive tone, "But, I suppose it's commendable she lasted five years in that shape..."
"..." Solomon groaned, his eyes beaming with disdain at this creature, of whom he held partially accountable for failing his mother.
Xiark nudged his head back and his jeweled eyes melded their gaze into Solomon's, remarking in a stern but somewhat lax tone, "I take it you are ready to perform The Passing then, scion of Ophelia?"
Solomon craned his head back and murmured in a firm, baritone voice that echoed within the chambers of his helmet, "If I am to be the new King in your game of Darkness, Titan, then you will refer to me as Solomon. Understood?"
Xiark paused, closed his eyes, and with a cat-like crawl towards the door, he twisted his head back crudely and murmured, "First...survive. Then...we can negotiate the terms of your contract, scion of Ophelia."
He led Solomon into the forbidden tomb where musk crawled along the walls and the stench of a thousand dead ancestors filled the air.
Runes, carved into the stone with fingernails, glowed with a faint red light that followed Xiark's presence, guiding the two down the seemingly infinite steps into what would be Ophelia's final resting place...
Two open stone sarcophagus' lay in wait suspended in mid-air, one resting higher, with part of it cut out in the direction of the other.
There was hardly any room left for Solomon to stand around. So he waited, watching, as the Titan made his way behind the floating graves and climbed a small set of stairs to the other side.
Then, four candles made of gray wax spawned from nothingness, and glewed alight with purple flames.
Xiark's eyes now hollowed out, as he nudged his feline head towards the edge of the sarcophagus.
Solomon gazed upon his mother's eyes one more time and then gently closed them, laying her body to rest upon her stony bed.
He withdrew slowly, his fingers upon her face being the last to leave. But for such a warm gesture, he felt a dearth of such feelings in his heart.
Xiark looked his way and muttered coldly, "I'd rather not be troubled but...There CAN always be another."
"Proceed." Remarked Solomon without a second thought.
"...Very well." Xiark murmured.
His neck then began to extend and the skin along it and his face began to stretch back, splitting at the seams with no change to his expression.
The head split into three triangular maws filled with teeth and black ooze, with the scant peek into its innards concealing a more deranged, maddening sight from the eyes of mortals.
The membranes grappled around Ophelia's head and bit down with immense pressure, slurping up her skull clean from the rest of the spine and then dragging it down into the Titan's gullet.
Blood spilled to fill the confines of her body, darkened by the veins of poison still present inside of her body. But now, exposed to the damp air, it began to dissolve.
The blood runneth over the side like a waterfall and into the other sarcophagus.
Xiark's head returned to normal. Solomon could hear the loud crunching of bones and swirling of gray matter inside it's gullet, as it kept still as a statue.
Eventually the blood surrounding the rest of his mother's body began to dissolve her down to the very essence of her being, making the blood violet.
The shadow then squirmed across the surface and fused back into Xiark's skin like a plague of mealy worms.
Xiark then walked two steps down to the other sarcophagus and touched it's nose atop the pool that had formed in it.
A cancerous ripple of dark matter spread across to the other side and then reverbed back, clashing at the center. From there, the blood swirled downward into a lone, glass chalice, managing to fill it completely.
It was the cleanest sight in this entire room, unbefitting such a barbaric ritual.
Solomon finished his silent observations and reached straight for the chalice, holding it atop his palm and staring at a reflection atop the blood.
There he saw his mother's face merge with his own reflection, bringing to mind her final words to him...
"When I pass on, you will be burdened by my experiences, my knowledge...my memories. And in those memories, you will learn about everything I have kept hidden from you. Including...the truth of your birth."
Her reflection seemed to be taunting him with her usual smile in light of this remembered echo.
"Mother..."
And yet, Solomon gripped the chalice tight and brought it towards his helmet with a powerful gesture, craning his head back as far as he could so the blood would slide right down into his gullet.
In one fell swoop he took in her entire essence and the darkness she laid domain towards, while the cold footsteps of a thousand fallen lords marched inside his brain.
He lurched forward with a gasp of agonizing pain and smashed the chalice against the ground, falling on one knee and digging his sharp nails into the stone sarcophagus.
"Ghh...!" The cold turned to burning as a million years of history ran through his head in a second. He felt his brain begin to crack, his body wanting to follow suit.
Whispers of ancient darknesses long locked away joined in for the fun of it, tormenting his soul with chains of thorns and howls of impish laughter.
He pulled his head back and squeezed the edge of the sarcophagus until it broke, holding his fists against his chest and letting his stare bore into the walls that held him in.
But through many agonizing seconds, Solomon endured this pain and refused to be torn asunder. The puzzle pieces of his fractured psyche reconstructed itself into a new form, glued together by the shadows.
And in that solitary moment...everything was clear to him. Everything.
And for that, silence became a necessity. He ignored the feral beating of his heart and the breaths of the stilled Titan to rise to his feet a titan in his own right.
For as a prize for enduring...he had succeeded his mother as the reigning lord of shadows.
When Xiark and his eyes met, the Titan let out a dry yawn and muttered coldly, "So The Passing has been approved...Try not to die too soon this time if you could, Solomon."
With the ritual a success, Solomon grappled with this newfound power surging inside of his body. He had felt darkness, but now he had just been a child playing with used toys.
It was...terrifying, but in a good way. His first step into adulthood, and the responsibilities that came with it.
For now it was his right to rule over this land and it's people...With all the baggage that came with it.
But that would come later. Now, he commanded the shadows to seal the liquidized remains of his mother inside her sarcophagus and ferry it towards her resting place at the spiral hill fenced off beyond their lodgings.
She would be put at the top, with the spiral hill growing to fit her. There, she could rest and watch over the moon until eternity found its way here...Just like she always wanted.
Then Solomon returned to his home and stared long and hard at the vacant throne.
His mother loved to sit there and groom his hair. It was a rare time where she was vulnerable, and exposed her heart, her human heart, to him.
But now he understood why she combed him the way she did. Why did she look so forlorn whenever the subject of his heritage came up? He understood it all, and so much more than he had ever wanted...
The footprints of a thousand ancestors were imprinted on this pillowed seat, and now, he would just be adding to that number...
A lord of darkness. A ruler over an inconsequential land. Inheritor...of a hollowness in his chest.
He marched towards that throne with one question burning in his skull: "Is this truly my purpose in life?"
His mother had spent the last five years of her training him for the day he inherited her will but now...He was left with doubts, lingering questions that she was no longer around to answer.
He sat upon that throne and leaned his hand against the side of his helmet, scratching away at the metal.
Xiark walked by in front of him towards the front entrance.
Curious, Solomon inquired firmly, "You're leaving?"
Xiark stopped and turned to face him, sounding none too amused with what he was heading out to do, "That troublesome woman left behind a final request for me. I'm sure you're already aware of that."
"...Hmm." Solomon leaned back into his throne with a moan of mild discomfort.
"Anything you wish to say?" Xiark replied.
Solomon thought long and hard about it before answering with a blunt and dismissive, "I do not care."
"...Very well," Xiark muttered, making his way to the front doors, "Then let us return to the status quo."
Alone to tend to his thoughts, Solomon held the arms of his throne, his grip steadily tightening. He could not get these troubling thoughts out of his head.
He had always wanted to know the circumstances of his birth, but now that he knew that knowledge did not liberate, but constrain him further in chains of torment.
And all this agony manifested itself as a name. A name of whom he pondered curiously about, as he craned his head back towards the sky.
"Stratos..."
ACT 2: A LEGEND BEGINS
"Ophelia has fallen."
The dead's last words were spoken throughout the land by the echoes of the Titans, and the aftershocks were felt immediately...
Every Tribe who had valued these precious years of peace would now be thrust back into war.
Each one had their own way of preparing to fight or defend their lands from the other Tribes. They manned their borders, forged their weapons, and reinforced their bodies.
None embodied these preparations greater than the rocky lands of Oreore.
The feet of these miners, men and women alike, ran through the ravine like thunder, hauling ore and metal chunks to their blacksmiths, working them until they sweat from the bone.
They were being rallied with vigor by their strong-willed leader, Lianne Gaia, whose roar could topple a hundred mountains.
"PUT YER BACK INTO IT!" She screamed from the center of the ravine, "We ain't got time for wastin' time! We need to have been ready to fight yesterday! NOW MOVE!"
She thrust her finger to direct a pair of men dragging a diamond boulder along the ground. They quickly fell onto their backs drenched in a thick sweat and panted.
Lianne made them rise with a firm stamp of her foot and imposing lurch forward, "No breaks! Chainmail's the most crucial part of our 'ere arsenals! Ya WANNA see yer guts speared out yer back...?! MOVE!"
They forced themselves up and as they dragged their payload further along, a six foot tall man walked up behind the grumbling, fidgeting woman with an onyx boulder twice as big as himself.
He wore a barely loose brown leather hide vest and hard steel bracelets around his wrists. He had tufts of hair sticking out between his firm pecs and a solid six-pack, with a scruffy beard and messy hair to compliment his rugged looks.
"Go easy on 'em mum," The man said in a respectful tone, "They're only sixteen."
"We can't be lax, boy," She murmured under her breath, "Ya feel it can't ya? The earth moving beneath our feet...It be the march of war."
She then turned back and brushed the back of her hand against his pecs, "And who gave ya permission to stop?! Move boy, before I slap ya with rawhide!"
"S-Sorry mum!" The man started to bolt it when he was forced to a stop by the sound of a bellowing horn.
He dropped the boulder to the ground and turned to the entrance of his home and returned to his mother's side.
"FROSTBITERS APPROACHING FROM THE WEST! FROSTBITERS APPROACHING FROM THE WEST!" Was the message carried from the scouts up high to the miners all below.
"Shit...!" Lianne grunted, cupping her hands around her mouth and screaming at the top of her lungs, "ALL READY MEN OF OREORE, ARM YOURSELVES AND MAKE WAY FOR THE BORDERS! NOW!"
Her and her son ran for their nearby home and pulled their weapons from beside the door, where the family dog had been laying peacefully before now.
It rose with a quiet whimper and the young man reached down to pet him, "It'll be a'right boy. We'll get through this..."
He then took his meaty hammer, armed with a pick-axe tip on both ends, and hoisted it over his shoulders while his mum braced her thick, leathery gauntlets to her arms with straps of hardened iron.
She then raised a wave of stone from the ground and both her and her son rode atop it, joining alongside a few others on a one-way trip to the entrance.
They were barely armored up and their weapons lacked a proper sleekness. Lianne panned her head around and grit her teeth in disappointment.
"This is all we got?!" She shouted, "Tsk...! We'll have to make do...!"
She charged into the lead and all of them rode straight out of the ravine and into the wasteland beyond. There they could see a cloud of dust towering behind an advancing regiment.
They hopped off their slanted slopes and formed a disorderly line facing the oncoming army, their weapons gripped firmly around their cracked, dirty hands.
Lianne and her son were at the head of the line, with her squinting her eyes to see what they were facing.
"Ten...fifteen...twenty...I count twenty of those cold-furred bastards." She murmured.
"Just a small scouting party?" Her son muttered.
"No, it's a show of force my boy, wants to scare us while we're unprepared!" Lianne grit her teeth together like they were made of sandpaper, "Figures that bastard Colrez would be the first to jump in on the action."
Her son looked around behind him and said confidently, "Well he's gonna be eating dirt if he underestimates the might of Oreore!"
He received a hard slap across the cheek by his mum, who told him bluntly, "You'll be the one in the dirt boy! We only got twelve to our name, that ain't enough to stop all of 'em!"
Her son flashed a smile lacking a tooth and chuckled, "You got yer numbers mixed up, mum, cuz I count thirteen, maybe fourteen men strong."
"Whatcha talkin' about..." Lianne narrowed her eyes and cracked a mild frown, "Oh, right."
She turned towards the advancing regiment, who were closing in faster, just a few minutes from impact. Twenty ferocious frosty bears, led by twenty men in frosted armor.
"...We can't bank our chances on them showing up." She cracked her knuckles and hunched over, unsheathing diamond claws from her gauntlets.
"WE FIGHT TO OUR LAST MAN! JUST MAKE SURE THESE FROSTBITERS ARE REPAID DOUBLE FOR EVERY LOSS!"
Her rallying cries raised a roar from the throats of every man behind her, but her son simply stood there and grit his teeth, hunched over with a hammer in both hands and a tenseness to his posture.
"C'mon brother, where are ya...?"
A shadow flew over them, followed by the shriek of a four-winged bird.
The young man stood tall with a huge grin on his face as a figure fell down before them with the weightlessness of a feather.
He was another young man roughly six feet tall but with a more slender body fit for dynamic movement. He wore a poncho with a red rim and faded vertical green lines, which floated gently against the breeze.
Beneath it was a buttoned shirt as gray as morning clouds, with a pair of leather suspenders strapped over his shoulders, with diamond holes cut into the sides.
At his hip was a sheath with a sky-blue scabbard and thicker, golden paint resembling wisps of clouds. His hands were protected by fingerless light gray gloves, one of which was on the handle protruding the sheath.
His shoulder-length brown hair was combed down, giving him a welcoming, clean appearance.
"Sorry I'm late, Zeke." He said in an uplifting, apologetic tone befitting his age, a smile spread across his face.
"Heh, ya showed up just in time, brother!" The scruffy man named Ezekiel Gaia replied excitedly.
"Good!" The new arrival declared, turning aside and keeping his bright blue eyes facing forward, while twisting his hand around the handle of his sheathed weapon.
He then let out a soft sigh and remarked, "It's Colrez's forces? Why am I not surprised...?"
Lianne waved her hand out and wandered, "Yer help's appreciated boy, but we're outnumbered and out armed. I don't think yer gonna do much to help thin their numbers."
"I can see that, Mrs. Gaia, but don't worry about it!" The stranger's smile widened upward, "I have a plan."
"Oh? What is it then? Speak up boy!" Lianne barked.
"I want you to trust in this promise, Mrs. Gaia..." He looked over his shoulder, revealing that this young man was none other than Sarajin Stratos.
With his smile beaming strongly like the sun's rays above, he said confidently, "I won't let ANYONE die here today!"
Chapter -118: The First Barrier
Sarajin looked out at Colrez's men marching towards them and narrowed his eyes. He carefully gestured his head back and asked, "Zeke, we're on the border of Oreore territory, right?"
"You betcha!" Ezekiel proclaimed.
"Good," Sarajin took a deep breath in and out, motivating himself with a quiet whisper of, "Focus...You've been training for this, Sarajin."
He swung his hand up from the hilt and pointed it at the regiment now just a couple miles away.
"Not too much now..." He told himself, as he focused on the surrounding breeze and began to command it to push forward faster and harder than before.
But it only pushed out from beside him, hitting the army with gale winds fit for a blizzard.
The army momentarily stopped and their mounts buckled down with their claws buried in the ground. Colrez was the first to raise his head and blink his eyes in surprise, "Wind, at this juncture?!"
With an uncaring scoff he bore the pressure of these gales and began to raise his lance skyward, "So, a Windrider has allied themselves with Oreore have they? Bah! It matters not!"
When his lance stood tall as a rallying flag for his men he proclaimed, "Onward! No mere gust of wind will stop us!"
The bears' fur hardened and pressed forward, carrying their riders forward with a slower but still inevitable charge.
Sarajin stood still and unshaken, whispering proudly to himself as his hair fluttered at the sides of his face, "Alright..."
He then turned around and Ezekiel shouted to him, "I don't think that's doing much, brother!"
"Zeke!" Sarajin proclaimed with a smile, "Remember how we calmed down those young Argent Heavers a few months back?"
Ezekiel put his hammer into the ground and awkwardly grinned as he gestured out, "Yer gonna have to refresh my memory on that one."
"The legs!" Sarajin shouted quickly, valuing every second they had left.
Ezekiel's eyes shot open and he hastily remarked, "Oh! Ya mean ya want me to-"
"Not just you! I'll need everyone's help! I'll try and hold off Cryofloe's forces in the meantime!"
"By yerself?!" Ezekiel stuttered, watching as Sarajin already had his back turned to them and started walking towards the army.
With a playful scoff Ezekiel shook his head and sighed, "Haaa, nuthin' ever changes..."
He then turned around and shouted, "Alright men! Here's what we're gonna do!"
Sarajin marched slowly towards the army with his eyes locked solely on Colrez. Their first and last encounter still was fresh in his head all these years later, and he could tell that the man hadn't changed his attitude in the slightest.
As he felt he was leaving the sanctity of the Titan's barrier around Oreore, his hand trembled on the katana, but he quieted it down with a steel grip.
"Ophelia..." He whispered, "I hope you're watching, wherever you are."
He bent down part way and twisted back, the vicious chill of ice pressing towards him like a bubble. He grabbed hold of his hilt in one hand and had the other on standby, ready to guide the wind to his aid.
With an iron focus he planned out his attack and knew exactly how Colrez would react. He was a stalwart and powerful man...but he built that image on a predictable style of conquest.
"He's going to attack me head-on," Sarajin told himself, "I don't think I'm still ready to beat him. But that's fine. All I have to do...Is be the wall standing between him and his glory!"
The two's gazes crossed paths when they were a hundred feet apart. The roar of their mounts rattled his heart.
But Sarajin stood there as the dividing line, the one hope these people had to not be trampled over and robbed of all the materials they worked so hard to mine.
Colrez smirked through his helmet, arrogant that victory would be he's...And even if it would be, Sarajin was sure as hell not going to make it easy.
With his eyes thrusting open with intensity rivaling the storm, Sarajin shoved his free hand out to increase the pressure of the winds for a second, just long enough to make the army stop in place.
Save for Colrez, who continued unimpeded towards him.
Sarajin drew a peerless steel katana from his sheath with a clean "Schwing!" and then swung the blade towards the lord of frost. The man stabbed his lance out and the tip hit the center of the blade.
Sarajin felt his legs start to give in backwards as his bare heels upheaved a half foot of stone. He found foundation in these divots, steeling the back of his heels to be harder than the ground.
And with it, he was able to momentary push Colrez's frosted lance back and stand leaning over the head of his bear.
Colrez ruffled his frosted mustache with a wry chuckle, "A sword? What a pleasant surprise!"
He kept pressing down with just his one arm and nothing else moving, declaring in a stern and boisterous tone, "But your strength and skill are nothing compared to mine, boy!"
"I-I can see that...!" Sarajin chuckled, "No wonder you're able to give Mr. Valflame such a hard time. B-But, I'm not going to lose to you again!"
Colrez wiggled his brows and murmured, "You talk as if we've met before."
Sarajin clicked his teeth into a clean grin and said, "You don't recognize me?"
"...Should I?" Colrez remarked.
"Never mind..." Sarajin sighed.
Colrez then nudged left and right and barked his orders at his stunned men, "What're you standing around for?! I can handle a measly Windrider! Trample these miners, and pillage their aquamarines!"
However, Colrez was stunned silent as he found that all the bears now had their legs locked down by stone wrapped around them.
Ezekiel, Lianne, and all the rest of the Oreore miners had their hands held out, using the strength of their fire-burning souls to hold the army at bay.
"W-We're stuck...!" One of the men shouted.
"Oh for winter's sake...!" Colrez rolled his eyes and then looked down at Sarajin, who was sweating from the pressure the man was putting down on him.
"If you turn around and leave back home, I'll tell them to let your bears free."
"You know nothing of war, do you boy?" Colrez pulled his lance back and then swung it out with all his might to repel Sarajin, adding on a wave of frost that applied itself to his skin.
Sarajin used heat to start melting it off, while Colrez raised his lance up high and enveloped it in a thick, wintery mist, "If something blocks your path, you break through it!"
A radial sphere of frost energy expanded out from his lance and brittled the stone binding the bears in place. Sarajin threw up a wall of fire on both sides to reduce the frost to mist but at the cost of taking on the brunt of it himself.
The bears then easily tore their claws free, with their riders cheering their lord on, applause which he absorbed with carefree nods.
Sarajin breathed in and out slowly as the ice melted off his body. Ezekiel was left wondering, "Should we try that again...?!"
"Yeah, just give me a moment, I'll help reinforce it with steel!" Sarajin stood tall and began to pull his sword back. His eyes widened as he saw the army advancing on the spot, with Colrez already mid-thrust.
"Too slow!" Colrez shouted.
Sarajin grit his teeth and prepared for impact. But in the blink of an eye he was elsewhere, watching from the corner of his eye as Colrez stabbed empty air.
"W-What?!" The man stumbled over his words and nearly stumbled off his mount as well.
The rest of his army were readying to trample over the miners when suddenly, a boastful, bouncy, feminine voice stopped them dead in their tracks with a mere taunt.
"Hey Frostlips, look up!"
Colrez slowly joined his men and looked up into the sky where suddenly, spherical pockets of space in the air warped with distorted colors, unveiling dozens upon dozens of light pink arrows pointed down at them.
With the sound of a finger snap and a tiny chuckle, the arrows came raining down upon the Cryofloe army.
All they could do was shield themselves and their mounts with domed ice and watch as the arrows threatened to pierce through.
However, they weren't the arrows' primary target. The majority set course for the bear's claws and pinned them down, creating miniature versions of those distorted spheres before freezing in place.
When the rain of arrows came to an end the bears once again couldn't move, but what was different this time was that the feet remained frozen in place despite the rest of their limbs being able to wiggle around.
Sarajin stared at this scene with a sense of awe for a while before cracking a dry smile and saying in a humored tone, "Cutting it kind of close, aren't we?"
Leaning against his back was a young woman half a foot shorter with very long, vibrant pink hair tied into twin ponytails that extended to her rear.
Her hands, resting behind her head, were protected by these pink fingerless gloves with steel plates on the back, which were connected down to a pair of weaponized bracelets with six centimeter wide holes around it.
She was dressed in a draping black leather coat with a stylized pink circle on the back and two purple arrows, the big one pointing straight up, the small one straight down.
Underneath that was a pink bustier holding her small chest up and tied together with black string, still exposing her midriff. Her legs were covered by double-layered pants, the top layer dark pink and the bottom dark brown.
She wore leather slippers and simple white socks which were pulled down at the moment.
"Heh heh!" The young lady smirked, waltzing up and away from Sarajin's backside with her head held high.
"Not like you gave me much time to prepare for my grand entrance, Sarajin!" She then spun around with one foot dangling an extended period in the air, "Also, 'Cutting it kind of close'? Really? That's all you got to say for me, saving your butt again?"
Sarajin turned aside and waved his hand out, saying in a soft, appreciative tone, "Thanks Bunny, you made it just in time."
The young lady, Temporis Aurora, smiled, brushed a finger under her nose, then snapped her fingers in his direction, "I wouldn't be me otherwise!"
The two then turned their attention to the Cryofloe army struggling to get their mounts moving. Lianne and her men were beginning to advance towards them only for Sarajin to swing his arm out and say, "Wait."
"They're at our mercy, boy! Ain't time for waitin'-"
"We're not going to kill them, ok?" Sarajin said softly.
Ezekiel backed him up by whispering to his mother, "We should let this play out, mum. It's what pop would've wanted."
There was an intense groan like creaking steel before the mighty Lianne responded firmly, "...Fine, just git 'em off our land."
Sarajin then looked up at Ezekiel and asked, "Are we still at the border?"
"Just barely." He replied swiftly.
"Alright..." Sarajin nodded to show his thanks and then he and Temporis made their way over to Colrez.
Colrez glared at them and remarked, "What manner of sorcery is this?!"
"Time Arrows," Temporis answered smugly, "If they come in contact with anything it'll freeze whatever's surrounding them. So you ain't going nowhere unless I say so!"
Sarajin then turned his hand around and gestured it at Colrez, "My previous offer still stands, Colrez. I'll tell Temporis to let you go if you return home today."
"Bah!" Colrez readied his lance at his side and began the process of surrounding it in frost, "I'll shatter them like the last binds!"
"Are you stupid, Badstache?" Temporis said bluntly, closing her eyes and pulling her head back, condescending this leader like he was a child, "ANYTHING is frozen, even the air around the arrows. Your frost ain't going to reach them."
She winked one eye and stuck the tip of her tongue out, "Ha ha, sucks to be you!"
"Hmph, well, in that case!" Colrez drew his lance back and Sarajin flinched.
Him and Temporis parted ways with a slide and teleport respectively as Colrez tried to toss his lance at them like a javelin.
He then hopped off with a forward flip and drew both black iced swords from his backside when he landed, pointing one at Temporis.
"I'll get some practice in for my inevitable conquest of Sancturia!"
Sarajin leaped Colrez from behind but all he had to do was spin slightly to get his sword in position to block his slash.
Temporis then warped in and tried to punch him straight up towards the jaw, but he parried that with his other sword.
"I want half my men on those arrows! The other half, take care of those miners! I'll handle these two rapscallions myself!" Colrez boasted.
Temporis narrowed her eyes and murmured, "For an ice guy, you're sure full of hot air..."
"Temporis, focus!" Sarajin and her repelled off his blades and she squeezed her fists, surrounding herself in a thin, wavy pink aura.
"We're not gonna lose to this schmuck, Sarajin! C'mon, let's tag-team him until he's seeing stars!"
Before Sarajin could make his next move he found himself flinching at the sensation of another presence in the area.
"Huh?!" He turned back and felt a thick, icy form moving through the area past the rest of the battling going on, "A-Another person...?! When did they...?!"
"Watch your flank!" Colrez shouted, putting Sarajin on the defensive with a carefree swing of both his swords.
The Oreore men readied their weapons as the Cryofloe soldiers skated towards them, turning the ground to ice.
"Bah, guess it wasn't enough...!" Lianne said despondently.
"Mum wait! We got to trust Sarajin's plan!" Ezekiel shouted.
"We ain't got anymore time!" She shouted, "Men! CHAAAAAAAAARGE!"
She spurned the fire in their souls to charge forward and meet their enemies. Ezekiel grit his teeth and clutched his hammer in both heads, forcing himself to join what could be a bloody battle.
But out of the corner of his eye he saw a lone soldier detached from their platoon. They were heavily armored in dark-blue icy steel to the point their face wasn't visible and yet, could run across the ground faster than any of the other soldiers could skate.
Ezekiel swung back and shouted, "Sarajin! Someone's broken off!"
Sarajin slashed at Colrez's blades to get some space between them and then looked over his shoulder, "I felt that, but there's nothing I can do! It's up to you, Zeke! We just got to hold them off a little...LONGER!"
And then he was back on the defensive, though Colrez poked his head over and wondered, "Hold on...I didn't command that soldier to break off, just who the heck do they think they are?!"
Temporis took this opportunity to send Colrez tumbling across the ground with a diving kick to the face, "TERIYAH!"
"Ghhh...!" Colrez grunted but was back on his feet in quick order, brushing the back of his grieve against the bruise.
Ezekiel grit his teeth and then raised the ground to ride towards the mysterious armored soldier. He made haste and couldn't waste a second, so he had his hammer at the ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"Think yer clever ain't ya?" Ezekiel buckled down and leaped high off his rock, "Let's how smart ye are after a blow to the noggin!"
He brought his hammer down hard with a vigorous grunt. The armored warrior came to a sudden stop and turned towards them with their hand raised up, holding the hammer back with just their palm.
The ground fractured into a flower of jagged rock petals a half mile around them, with the cracks at the warrior's feet freezing in with solid frost.
Ezekiel landed on his feet and kept his hammer tight in both hands, looking rather shocked.
His enemy was smaller in stature but made up for it in their general appearance. Their armor was sharp and spiky, made primarily out of a cold silver alloy. Their face was covered by a black helmet with four slits on each side of the visor, and the visage of a bear's upper jaw and face carved above it, with the bottom part of the helmet resembling it's lower jaw, complete with bare fangs.
There were bits of blood painted fur cloth coming out their hips and shoulders.
The only presence of life came from the fog they breathed out the metal mesh before their mouth.
"You're different from the other Frostbiters...Who are ya?" Ezekiel pressed.
The soldier coldly craned their head back and murmured, "This hammer...You must be a descendant of the Gaia lineage."
Their voice was muffled and their gender couldn't be made out. But they wanted to sound otherworldly and powerful and on that end, they succeeded.
"Heh, and what of it?" Ezekiel taunted blindly.
"I expected more..." The soldier drew their other hand down and a short sword made of black frost slid down into their grasp, "But it seems your family's strength died with Johnathan."
Ezekiel grit his teeth and forced his hammer out of the cold grip of the knight's palm, swinging it at the sword attempting to run him through.
The knight slid back in an instant and drew a second sword in their other hand.
Ezekiel used the pick-axe part of his hammer to pull a boulder from the ground, which he spun around and then flung at the knight, who cut it clean in two so both halves flew past, shattering like ice.
Ezekiel kept spinning until he could take a swing at the knight's helmet.
The knight backflipped onto higher ground atop one of the spikes, it's cape fluttering in the breeze.
"Our battle lies in the future, son of Johnathan! For now I, the Arctic Knight of Black Winter, lay claim to your cherished lodes!"
They iced the sloped back side to gain momentum for travel. Ezekiel grit his teeth, threw his head back and then leaped out of the crater with an angry growl.
"Git back 'ere you cocky armored Frostbiter!" He summoned the ground to pursue the knight and managed to keep pace as they were heading straight towards the jewel mines beside the ravine.
Ezekiel rammed towards them but the knight rammed back, brittling the stone on contact for them to smash through. They then left Ezekiel to tumble into the avalanche of stone, unaware he could not be put down so easily.
As he fell Ezekiel smashed the falling boulders towards the knight to block their path, even managing to line up three in an arch.
The knight swung their swords to cut through them cleanly in one stroke and then was on their way, skating around the rest with ease.
But Ezekiel had plenty of time to catch up and kept clenching his fist to raise the ground beneath the knight's feet.
The knight willingly tumbled off perilous heights and created a slope of ice to keep their footing.
"Bloody hell, does anything faze this blighter?" Ezekiel bemoaned. Still, he was slowly gaining ground with all these distractions.
He lunged off his platform and came barreling towards the knight spinning his hammer forward in front of him. This time he tried to just crack the ground instead of sending it up everywhere, which succeeded in tripping up the knight a bit.
The knight nevertheless dashed towards him and swung their swords like they were performing a dance. Such powerful attacks did not deserve the glistening snowflakes that came from every swing. It would be a spectacle to behold, were the two not in the midst of trying to hurt each other.
Ezekiel's hammer was an effective shield against all their attacks, but he couldn't drop this nagging feeling that this warrior was toying with him.
He grit his teeth and dug his toes into the ground, slamming the end of his hammer down beside him, "Let's see how ya handle this!"
He lunged forward with his arm held out aiming for the knight's nape. The knight paused for a brief moment and then pulled back to the right at the last second.
Ezekiel's arm numbed as the knight's two blades connected beneath his notice. But he brushed the frost off with a mere flex of the arm before his chest, grunting in frustration as he did so.
"Yer not taking this seriously at all...!" He said, somewhat disappointed.
"Neither are you..." The knight rebuked, "Is this not war? Why do you pull back on your strikes?"
"Sorry..." Ezekiel pumped his fist against his chest, "Made a vow to a brother to try things his way. So I ain't takin' a life, not even for a sorry excuse for a warrior like you."
"Ha...!" The knight guffawed, "Hearing that reminds me of a foolish young boy I met years ago. I did not think I'd find someone dense enough to follow in his footsteps in Oreore of all places."
The knight brandished a sword at him and asked, "Where is your sense of pride, son of Johnathan?"
"I have my pride!" Ezekiel barked back, a thumb aimed at his chest, "And it burns white-hot inside of me!"
"Hmm," The knight murmured, turning their head slightly ajar, "That's not pride, but arrogance."
They began to walk clockwise, with Ezekiel following suit, both holding their weapons at each other.
"Stone and steel can weather many a storm but against winter, it has no choice but to crumble at our feet." The knight boasted.
"We men of Oreore are more than just the dirt at our feet," Ezekiel clenched his fist against his chest and then gestured it out, "Cause a man's soul...is nothing without the flame of passion burning inside it."
"I see..." The knight stopped and sliced their blades at the ground, instantly whipping up a cylinder of frost around them both.
Ezekiel shivered as the snowflakes whipped against his body relentlessly, but held onto his hammer with all his might.
The knight twirled their swords around twice and then presented one towards Ezekiel with a competitive gesture, "Then put your burning soul to the test against the embodiment of winter's yore!"
Meanwhile, Sarajin and Temporis continued their fight against Colrez while the rest of Oreore's men kept the Cryofloe soldiers at bay.
Sarajin was staying on the defensive with Temporis doing most of the heavy lifting with her temporal trickery. When Sarajin had too much heat on him, Temporis was able to freely bewilder Colrez by stopping and resuming time and landing a couple punches with her sharp gauntlets.
"Can't hit me!" She peppered in some taunts for good measure.
Colrez swung his swords around wildly at some points, desperate to make her high-pitched noises cease, "Stand STILL darn you!"
Temporis appeared in front of him with her thumbs in her ears, wiggling her fingers around as she blew him a raspberry.
When he took a swing at her she disappeared and reappeared behind him, walking away with her eyes closed and her hands comfortably behind her head.
"How much longer Sarajin? I'm getting kinda bored."
Colrez tried and failed to hit her again, leaving Sarajin to charge in and lock his katana down between Colrez's crossed blades, where the man pushed back with a furious look in his eyes.
"J-Just a little longer...!"
Temporis whipped her leg into Colrez's head out of nowhere and toppled him onto his side.
Colrez stood right back up and all Temporis could do was roll her eyes and groan, "C'mon...!"
She then ran forward, disappearing and reappearing behind him in the middle of a spinning axe-kick to the back of his head, "Just go down already, Badstache!"
Colrez staggered forward and his face started to turn red. While he was stunned Sarajin ran up and thrust his elbow into his gut to wind him further.
As Colrez spat up in frustration he remarked, "T-This is war...! Stop treating this like a game...!"
Sarajin pulled back with his hand on his sword, vowing then and now with determination, "We'll never treat this like a game."
Temporis dropped down behind Colrez and cracked her knuckles, "You should've just surrendered while you still had your pride, Frostlips."
Sarajin bent down at the knees and saw the man, flustered and dazed, struggling to decide who to swing his empty blades at.
And while his mind was fraught with confusion, Sarajin was clear of any clouds. He dashed forward without hesitation and drew his katana with one clean stroke against the back of Colrez's hands, forcing his disarmament.
Temporis then jumped at Colrez's back and with her eyes and Sarajin's meeting in their unified piercing of Colrez's soul they shouted, "We won't let you conquer as you please!"
Temporis grappled Colrez around the waist and then hoisted him off the ground with ease, "You want the earth so badly...THEN HERE YA GO!"
She suplexed his skull into the ground behind her and then fell onto her back, with him sliding along and then collapsing onto his stomach, his blades neatly impaling into the ground by his sides a second later.
Sarajin then sheathed his sword and the mood in the battlefield shifted right away, as the men of Cryofloe and Oreore saw the fallen leader and were struck silent.
"C-Commander Colrez!" One of the soldiers shouted.
Temporis stood up and rubbed her head while muttering to herself in pain, "O-Ow...!"
She then forcibly swung her hand at Colrez and shouted, "S-Showed you...! Loser!"
Sarajin awkwardly turned to face her and murmured, "There's no need to kick him while he's down, Bunny..."
Colrez snatched his blades by the handles and began to stand, declaring with a feverish and bitter tone, "I-It's not over yet you upstart...brats!"
He stood up with shaking knees and a sense of unease in his bobbing movements. He stood tall and with a solid foundation, but his eyes now looked a little deranged.
However, the biggest source of unease in the air did not come from his inhuman stubbornness to yield...The air was twisting, churning, with the stench of rot...
Everyone looked to the south and saw a small gathering of Rot Walkers approaching the battlefield.
Sarajin remained calm and crossed his arms against his chest, looking Colrez in the eyes even if the man could not do the same.
"Looks like all our fighting attracted the Rot Walkers to our location," Sarajin said in a more mature tone, "This is your last chance Colrez. Take your men and go home. This isn't worth dying over."
Colrez grit his teeth and trembled with an indescribable rage. But the only thing that could win out over all his pride and anger...Was his selfish fear.
"RETREAT! All men, fall back at once!" He shouted with an intense reverb.
Temporis slyly stuck her hand out and snapped her fingers, shattering the arrows at the bear's feet as the men of Cryofloe made a hasty retreat.
Sarajin, her and the men of Oreore pulled back into the sanctity of the Titan's barrier as the Cryofloe soldiers rode off with the Rot Walkers trying to pursue.
The only one left was the Arctic Knight, still locked in combat with Ezekiel amidst the winter storm. With his skin bitten all over with frost, he found himself on his knees against the knight's relentless blade dance.
But then, the knight went silent, slowly stiffening upright and backing up to the edge of the snowstorm.
"Our forces are retreating..." They remarked, barely perturbed.
"O-Oh really?" Ezekiel smiled pridefully, "Sounds like Sarajin beat ya at yer own game."
"Wrong." The knight put it's swords on it's back and then extended their hand out. Layers upon layers of ice pulled back, with a small bundle of glistening aquamarines emerging from within.
"I-Impossible...!" Ezekiel exclaimed, "I was fighting you this entire time, how...?!"
The knight curled the precious gemstones within their grasp and clutched them against their chest, "You may see this as a shameful retreat...And yet, who shall leave these lands victorious?"
The winter winds dispelled and Ezekiel was shaking from how hard he was left gritting his teeth.
The knight turned to the west and took one last glance at the kneeling warrior to taunt them "Farewell, son of Johnathan. Next time...I hope you'll prove to be worthy of being more than a footnote in my legend."
They skated off towards the horizon and all Ezekiel could was hold his hand out, then hammer it into the ground as a fist.
Back over with Sarajin, he oversaw the warriors of Oreore sweating, cut and bruised but otherwise, there had been no deaths.
He walked on up to the closest warrior and bent down, radiating nature's energy over the wound on their leg.
"Here, this'll help dull the pain until it heals." He said gently, applying a light coat of aloe vera over the wound.
"Ghhh...!" The man grunted in surprise, "Wind, Fire, Nature...? Whoin the heck are ya, lad?"
"Heh, I guess I've never introduced myself to you," Sarajin stood up and respectfully put a hand a over his chest, "I am-"
"The Elemental Overlord!" Shouted Temporis, causing Sarajin's face to immediately turn beet red as she waltzed on up and started selling the title's grandiose nature with her hasty manner of speech, "Go on, spread the word to all your friends. Tell 'em there's a new protector going around and his name is-"
"T-Temporis...!" Sarajin grunted through gritted teeth, "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that around other people, it's embarrassing!"
Temporis threw her hands down and tried to sell him on it too, "C'moooon Sarajin, get with the times. The people need a big name to inspire them with hope. Do you really want people shouting out your real name instead of something cool and heroic sounding?"
"...Sarajin's cool and heroic sounding." He rebuked in a grumpy tone, crossing his arms.
"Heh," Uttered Lianne, standing between them both with a big, soft smile on her face, "Sarajin, Elemental Overlord, it don't matter to me. If it weren't for you boy, we might've lost someone today."
She put a hand atop his shoulder and looked him square in the eyes, "Thanks, from me and Johnathan both. And...sorry I ever doubted your aid."
Sarajin smiled back and gently pulled her hand off as he admitted in a humble tone, "This was our victory, Mrs. Gaia."
He then clutched his hand before his chest and stared at it with a solemn look in his eyes, reflecting on his mistakes, as numerous as they were today, "I still got a long way to go..."
There was a permeating sense of melancholy in the air for a brief while that was broken by Ezekiel reuniting with them.
"Ah this ain't the time for moping, brother! C'mere!" Ezekiel ran on up to Sarajin and wrestled him into a hug that hoisted him off the ground.
"Ha ha ha, e-easy Zeke!" Sarajin smiled brightly with his bones making a slight crunching sound.
"C'mon, ya gotta lift yer head up and be proud once and a while!" Ezekiel dropped him down like a stone and declared, "Ya did great! Pop would've been proud, I betcha."
Sarajin wiggled the pain out of his system and then gave a brief nod, "Yeah. I bet he would..."
Temporis tilted her head and remarked, "So uhhhh, what happened to that weird armored knight?"
"Uhhh...!" Ezekiel sputtered and chuckled nervously, "L-Let's just forget about 'em a'right?"
"Boy," Lianne spoke with a firm, manly voice, "What. Happened?"
Ezekiel tensed up into a ball and then tried to compose himself, taking a deep, deep breath as he struggled to maintain eye contact.
"W-Well ya see mum...That warrior might...or mightnothavestolensomeaquamarines!"
He wasn't going to make this go by quicker by speeding up his words, for his mum's rage rose swifter and more intensely than a volcano set to burst.
"Booooooooy...! How in the bloody hell did one MEASLY Frostbiter overwhelm ya...?!" She said unrelenting, as Sarajin and Temporis shook their heads and felt nothing but pity for Ezekiel's predicament.
"I-I don't know mum, they were just...built differently from all the others!" He hastily excused.
"I-In fairness to Zeke, Mrs. Gaia..." Sarajin stepped in between them politely, "Even Colrez seemed surprised by that warrior's appearance...I think we should just count ourselves lucky they only ran off with a few gems."
Sarajin then confidently nodded his head and said, "Next time, we'll be better prepared for them."
Lianne beamed at her son from out of the corner of her eyes and then fiddled her fingers atop her arms, "Hmph, no son of mine should be losing to a warrior from another Tribe. So ya better bet yer brisket I'll be workin' ya to the bone to get your body in shape for a rematch with that warrior."
"...Can I take the beating instead?" Ezekiel said meekly.
Lianne then shook her head and looked at Sarajin and Temporis, "The next time Colrez strikes, he'll be bringing a bigger army. Can we still count on yer aid?"
"I'll do whatever I can to help," Sarajin said confidently, sprinkling in a little realism to not groom lofty expectations, "But I can't be everywhere at once, Mrs. Gaia. I have to check on the other Tribes too."
"Fine, fine..." Lianne smiled, "That's good 'nuff for me."
She then brushed the back of her hand against his chest and had a melting warmth in her gaze, "Look at ya, all grown up now. Hard to believe you were once that little boy who couldn't lift a boulder."
Sarajin blushed and scratched the side of his face with a dry chuckle.
"Well...We best be going now. Got plenty of work ahead of us. Lord knows when the Metal Boxes will start flying in again..."
Lianne gestured her hand towards the ravine and most of her men followed her on a long march back. Ezekiel stayed behind, extending his hand towards Sarajin.
The two gripped their hands tight and Ezekiel grinned, "Don't be a stranger now, brother, ya hear me? Yer always welcome in our home."
"Maybe I'll stop by for dinner next week, alright?"
When the two let go, Ezekiel then turned to Temporis and said in a more sincere tone, "And Temporis?"
"Hmm?" She responded.
"The offer still stands, if yer interested."
"Thanks, but pass!" She replied bluntly.
"A'right..." Ezekiel sighed fondly and then turned away to catch up with his kin.
Sarajin saw them off for a while and then let out a long, winded sigh. Temporis leaned her head out and looked up at his face.
"Tired?" She wondered.
Sarajin rubbed the side of his face and faked a grin, "That obvious?"
"If there was any more sweat under your shirt it'd be a different shade of gray." She said with honesty.
"...Yeah, I wish I could go home and rest but the day's only just begun," Sarajin looked towards the wasteland and had a solemn expression on his face, "It's just like Nimus warned me five years ago...The moment Ophelia died, the war started all over again."
"I can't believe it took her that long to die from being poisoned..." Temporis said, more impressed than scared.
"I kind of have to wonder if she endured because..." Sarajin pressed his lips together and went silent.
"Becaaaause?" Temporis tried to urge him on but he just turned to her with a smile and a faint chuckle.
"No...I'm probably overthinking things."
Temporis put her hands behind her head and shrugged, "So what now? Wait, you know what...I can already tell what you're thinking."
Sarajin nodded and then confirmed her suspicions following a gentle gesture of the hand, "Let's go to Obscura so I can pay my respects to Ophelia."
"...Alright. I'll tag along, just in case there's any danger."
Sarajin started to walk past her and ruffled her hair playfully, "Thanks, Bunny."
"Heeey...!" She groaned, patting her hair back down, and wearing a giddy smile as she walked on up beside him.
They could afford to take their time for now, after all...
Next Time: The First Meeting