Lian's Peculiar Journey: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 11
The City of Lights
Zhin sighed to himself as he pulled out a silver locket from his chest, then opened it up and looked at it under the moonlight.
It contained an old portrait of a young woman with black hair and a smile on her face.
"Mother, I have avenged you by killing one of your murderers." He told the picture and looked up to the sky, "I am sorry I failed to strike down the other."
He clenched the locket hard in his fist and lowered his head.
"What are you moping about over here?" a voice told him, and Lian walked up next to the man, "Why are you not eating with us?" she asked and pointed to the campfire a small distance away, where Sarah and Lex were eating some squirrels they had caught in the woods.
"I have already eaten." Zhin responded and pointed to the branch next to him.
"A warrior like you can't run on mere berries." Lian said and sat down next to him, "Look. I know our team hasn't been the most connected, but I think we should. After all, Seris is sending too many assassins for us to be all divided amongst ourselves."
"What words of wisdom coming from a princess." Zhin smirked and looked at her.
"I may appear conceited, but I care about people. Trust me, no one cares more about others than I do." Lian flicked back her hair, "Look. Zhin was it? You're a great swordsman and think you got a fire in you."
"Thanks." Zhin nodded.
"What is that in your hand?" Lian asked when she saw the sparkle of the locket.
"Oh… It's a locket." Zhin responded.
"May I see it? It looks quite nice." Lian pointed at it, then opened her hand to get it from Zhin, "Silver with some gold plating. Charming for a commoner, of course."
"It's not about the material, princess." Zhin said, "I doubt someone like you can understand, but there's more to life than wealth and material riches."
Lian opened the locket and saw the picture inside.
"Who is this woman? A girlfriend? Your wife? I never took you for one to be content with one lady." she smirked.
"That was my mother. It's the only portrait I have left of her." Zhin responded, "We were too poor to afford the luxuries of having our faces plastered on statues and murals, but she did have enough for this small painting. I thank her for that."
Lian felt a bitter taste in her mouth.
"You know… I never told anyone in our group this but I'm not actually the heir to House Aico." She murmured.
"What do you mean?" Zhin asked, noticing Lian's face had gained a somber look.
"I was only told this when my parents, the king and queen, died." Lian said, "Two years ago. Well at least I thought they were my parents."
"Pssh. You, an orphan?" Zhin scoffed, "Please, you don't know what it's like to be an orphan."
"Can you please let me finish?" Lian said with a hint of anger and sadness in her tone.
Zhin noticed this was genuine and nodded.
"Apparently it was revealed to me by who was my royal nanny that I was not the child of the king and the queen." Lian told him, "It happened that their child actually died, but I had appeared on the castle's doorstep and in their grief and compassion took me in and raised me as their own. If you look at the portraits of them, they both had black hair, does it look like I can be their child?" she pointed at her wool white hair.
"I suppose not." Zhin chuckled.
"To this day, I still don't know who my parents are, but the king and the queen loved me so much I didn't even bother to care." Lian smiled, "What I'm trying to say is family can be found anywhere if they care for you and you care for them."
Zhin stood silent and looked back at Lex and Sarah, who were still eating by the campfire.
"But I think that's enough bonding." Lian sighed and stood up. "Here's your locket." She handed it to him.
Zhin took it from her and stood up as well.
"Lex came back from scouting and said he spotted a coastal hamlet not too far from here." Lian informed, "He proposed that since it just became night, we could travel to it and reach it before midnight. He wants your thoughts on it."
Zhin pondered as the two walked back to meet their two allies.
"Hey Lex." He called out to the enforcer.
"Has Lian told you about my plan?" Lex asked, "She and Sarah had already agreed with it, but since you're a part of our team, we need your input."
Zhin chuckled.
"It's not like I can disagree with such odds against me." He said, "I think we should give it a try. It's so pitch black in these woods that we are likely to be eaten by a grue." He joked.
Lex nodded.
"It settles it then, we make haste towards the village!" he pointed to the coast in the distance.
"It was so warm here too." Sarah murmured and put out the fire her stand generated.
"Relax, Sarah. We all have to step out of our comfort zone." Lian said and patted Zhin on the back.
"We also desperately need the supplies after we lost it all to that little vermin back there." She growled and started to walk away.
The three walked behind her.
"You sure did lay the beat down on that goblin." Lex chuckled.
"Look who is talking, Mr. Police Brutality." Zhin responded with a smile.
"I only use the force necessary to apprehend a suspect." Lex responded and shook his head, "If they resist, then the fault is on them."
"The fault was on him." Lian said, "According to Lex, he was 'Doing 50 in a 15 mile per hour zone. He's leading us on chase. Backup requested'." She imitated Lex's stern voice.
The three (excluding Lex) laughed.
"My job is a serious business." Lex grunted.
"Relax, Lex." Sarah said, "We're only banting."
Lex grinned and gave a small laugh.
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The four arrived at the outskirts of the village and saw that all the lights were still on inside the buildings.
"Strange for anyone to be awake at this hour." Sarah said, "Especially the whole town."
"Must be some kind of fishing festival." Zhin pointed to the pier that stuck out from the village and saw that there was a group of people sitting there with their fishing poles out.
"Ah… I hope so." Sarah murmured, "I'm starving."
"You just ate two squirrels back there." Lex told her with an incredulous look on his face.
Lian sighed and shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…"
"Hold on here." Zhin said and saw that the people of the village walked about its streets very lazily, "What's going on here?" he asked.
The four set foot on the main dirt road and looked at some of the villagers that were lumbering about.
"Look at that." Sarah pointed to the ship docked on the harbor, "They must have some visitors."
"I hope the inn isn't full." Lian pointed at the largest building on the street, "And if it isn't, I hope all the sailors are sleeping on the ship." She grumbled.
"Let's see if we can get some rest." Lex said as he saw the night sky, "It is almost midnight."
"At least we arrived here early." Zhin shrugged his shoulders as they walked towards the inn, "Hmmmm." He noticed the villagers seemed to be actively avoiding them and always had their backs turned.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked as she noticed Zhin looking around uncomfortably.
"Nothing… Must be my tired eyes." Zhin shook off his suspicion and followed his allies to the inn.
The inn's main room was surprisingly empty.
Very empty.
The only person inside was the man on the counter.
The four walked up to the counter and saw the most peculiar thing.
The man had purple skin covered by a scrappy pirate's outfit. He also had some sunglasses covering his eyes.
"Uhhh…" Lian mumbled.
"What can I do ye fer?" the man spoke, "Welcome to Kraken's Inn, we're happy to have yer service." He rubbed his gray beard.
"Can I have a room?" Lex spoke, keeping his eye on the man's actions.
"That'll be two dobloons." The man spoke, "Or fer ye landlubbers, two hundred coins."
"Fine, we'll take it." Lex spoke and pulled out two bags of coins, "What is with the attire?" he asked as the man counted the money.
"Do ye not see?" the man spoke as he pointed to the nautical decorations covering the walls of the lobby, "I do this for an act."
"And the purple skin?" Lian asked.
"Act."
"Oh yeah?" Sarah asked, "Well then who is flickering the lights?" she murmured and saw the lights were dimming and brightening.
"Bad electricity from old crystals." The man sighed, "Are ye landlubbers going to ye room or not?" he took out a key from the desk.
"Hmmm." Lex grumbled and took them.
"Please sign in." the pirate receptionist pulled out a dusty old book and pen.
The four looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and started to sign their names in.
SHERIFF LEX LAWSON, LAPD
HER MAJESTY LIAN AICO THE FIRST OF HOUSE AICO
SARAH K.
ZHIN PAO-PAO
"Really?" the pirate grumbled at the first two names.
"You asked for our names, that is my name. My full title." Lian grunted, "Have some respect, commoner."
The four made their way up the stairs.
"The tavern is open until 2 in the mornin of any of ye wish to drink up." The pirate called out to them, then gave a hearty laugh.
"That is… if ye survive the night…" he murmured and looked at the door.
The villagers from outside lumbered in with glowing purple eyes.
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Lian and Lex lay on the bed as Sarah ate an apple and Zhin looked at a book.
"What a peculiar character, don't you think?" the swordsman spoke up and closed his book and set it on a nightstand.
"A very odd fellow indeed." Lian sighed, "What did you think about him?" she turned to Lex.
"I don't think we can judge men by the color of their skin." Lex responded.
Zhin had a deadpan look on his face.
"But the content of his character is something I would judge." Lex added, "Even if he was playing an act for the sake of this establishment, it seemed too forced in my opinion."
"What are your thoughts, detective?" Zhin leaned on the desk behind him.
"Something is concerning, but I do not have the ideas nor the evidence to make a conclusion." Lex answered and looked at Lian.
"I didn't see anything with Power Khan, even with its enhanced vision." The princess announced, "I guess we shouldn't be too fidgety or anything about everyone."
"Hard not to be when Seris has sent assassins that have appeared from every nook and cranny." Sarah said and threw away her apple core.
"All this thinking makes me want to get a drink." Zhin sighed and looked at the clock, "Good. The tavern is still open. If the booze is bad, we will know this whole thing is an act." he joked and stood up.
"Anyone care to join me?"
"I'll be with you in a second." Lian responded, "I too need the feel to drink some wine for my soul." she said.
"See you down there. For the rest, I'll try not to barge just in case you fall asleep." Zhin added and stepped out of the room.
He walked down the silent halls and turned left until he reached the stairs, keeping a watchful eye and listening ears on his surroundings.
A door creaked.
The swordsman turned to see a cleaner come out of one of the rooms and turn her body to face away from him.
"Hmph." He grunted and continued onward when he saw her dusting off one of the desks, "Why is this place so damn unsettling?" he asked himself and walked down the stairs until he hit the main lobby.
It was still mostly empty with only three people sitting on the sofas with their faces covered by books.
Zhin shook his head and walked towards the tavern, which was to the right of the lobby.
He made his way inside, quickly waving away the smoke that hit his face when he walked inside.
There was a good quantity of people in the tavern, however, they all had their faces lowered as they drank their alcohol and smoked their cigars.
"Can I have a glass of mead?" Zhin asked as he sat down in front of the counter.
The bartender turned to reveal himself as the pirate receptionist.
"Huh? What are you doing here?" Zhin asked, shocked at the sight.
"I take care of the hotel and the tavern, ye fool." The pirate grumbled, "Now what did ye say ye wanted again?"
"Mead." Zhin grunted.
"Good." The pirate chuckled and poured out some mead into a glass.
Zhin sighed and drank his drink whole but was hit by a sudden pain in his head.
"What is this!?" he groaned.
"What are ye, a wee lad?" The pirate taunted and poured another glass, "The men around ye have drank in the double digits, ye coward."
Zhin grumbled and saw the burly sailors around him.
"Shut up." He said and chugged another glass, "AH! What the hell!?" his vision became blurred and his heart beat rapidly as he fell back to the ground.
"Good job… Now I can kill ye!" the pirate took off his sunglasses and revealed his glowing blue eyes behind them.
The sailors in the tavern all stood up, revealing their deathly faces and their glowing blue eyes as well.
"What… What is going on?" Zhin stumbled to get up, "I… feel poisoned!" he threw up on the ground.
"Call me Admiral Dredge." The receptionist jumped on the counter.
Zhin saw the sailors and patrons come closer to him in a zombie-like trance, "I need to get out of here!" he said and started to run.
"Nowhere to run, landlubber!" Admiral Dredge laughed as the sailors started to pile on the door.
"Thousand Hands!" Zhin yelled and called out his stand, which led sword first and cut through a group of the sailors.
Zhin expertly jumped through this opening and made it to the lobby, where he the villagers that had stormed in from the front door.
"What is going on here!?" he said as he looked at their blue eyes.
"Blow the man down!" Dredge yelled from the tavern, and one of the villagers threw his axe at Zhin.
"Counter!"
Thousand Hands caused the axe to fly back at the villager.
"HWAK!" Zhin was bitten on the right calf by a cat, "What!?" he turned to see the cat with blue eyes gnaw into his leg.
Thousand Hands appeared and cut the cat in two before kicking it away.
"It's too late…" Dredge came out of the Tavern with a purple smoke surrounding him, "It's too late for ye."
"I'm going to cut you to bits!" Zhin pointed at Dredge.
"If ye can!" the admiral chortled and pointed at his injured leg.
Zhin looked down and gasped when he saw a ghostly purple tentacle appear and enter his wound.
"Thousand Hands!"
"Too late!"
Zhin's leg jerked and caused his to fall to the ground.
"Hahahaha!" Dredge laughed as he dragged Zhin back into the tavern, "Now, fer ye friends." He called away the villagers and sailors, returning them back to their original places.
At this time, Lian came down the stairs and saw that the lobby was empty, save for three villagers that were reading books.
"Hmmm…" Lian murmured and walked towards the tavern, "I hope Zhin hasn't started without me." She commented and shook her head.
"Who am I kidding, he's probably on his fifth glass right now." She said and entered the smoky tavern.
"Ahoy there, matey!" Dredge, posing as the receptionist/bartender, waved at the princess.
"Hmmm?" Lian looked at him, "I suppose since you run the place…" she shrugged her shoulders and walked to the counter.
"Have you seen my friend, Zhin?" she asked as she looked around the tavern.
"The eastern man?" Dredge asked, "With long black hair? He went to the bathroom. These are his drinks." he pointed at the two glasses of mead on the counter.
"At least he hasn't gone all out." Lian sighed, "Do you have any wine?"
"Red or white?" Dredge responded to her question as he walked down behind the counter.
"As long as it's good." Lian said, "Which I doubt there will be in this shanty slum."
Dredge growled and held a small dagger in his free hand.
"Here ye go, lass. The best we have." He said and pulled out a bottle of red wine. He then went to grab a wineglass and placed it in front of her.
Good. Unlike that other fool, which was put into a shock, this wine will slow her down… Alongside that fearsome stand of hers.
Dredge grumbled at his last encounter with Power Khan as Judd Roberts.
"Thank you." Lian nodded and opened the wine bottle, then started pouring it in.
Once ye set that glass down, I'll prick ye with me knife.
Dredge looked at her delicate right hand and clenched his hidden dagger.
"This smells disgusting." Lian stepped back with the wine glass and looked at it, "How terrible." She shook her head, "No wonder Zhin went to the restroom early." She murmured and walked towards it.
Dredge cursed to himself.
"Lassie, please, I'll serve ye another." He said, trying to stop her from entering the restroom.
Behind the restroom doors was Zhin, bound to the ground by an unseen force controlling his body.
"What is this? Is this the power of his stand?" Zhin growled as he tried to move his body, "It feels like something is treating me like a puppet- Hey! LI-" his jaw clenched, preventing him from speaking.
Outside, Lian walked towards the counter where Dredge was holding a bottle of white wine.
This time, I'll just clobber her with it. The admiral thought as the princess neared him.
"Whatever you say." Lian shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the captain.
I can't trust any of my slaves to take care of this girl. I have to do it meself. Dredge's anticipation rose as the woman got nearer and nearer.
"By the way." Lian stopped in her tracks, "Someone dropped this." She picked up a rusty metal headband.
Dredge's eyes widened from behind his sunglasses.
"It looks familiar." Lian inspected it, "I've seen this before. Eh, you can have it." She chucked it at the admiral.
"It's too disgusting for my tastes."
"I do not want it, it brings bad memories." Dredge threw the headband away.
"Of course it does." Lian glared at Dredge, "Because that is Valeria's headband, the one I used against a stupid sea captain to kill him."
Dredge snarled and lost concentration in his anger.
"Lian!" Zhin burst out the door, "Don't let anyone cut you! His stand does some-"
"I WILL KILL YE!" Dredge yelled, and all the sailors in the tavern pounced at Lian with sharp objects in their hands.
"Hmph…" Lian grumbled.
Power Khan appeared from within her.
"RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!" it yelled and punched all those sailors away into the walls around the tavern.
Dredge growled, but then chortled as the sailors stood back up regardless of their injuries, even the ones that had been cleaved by Thousand Hands just prior.
Lian gasped.
"It's his stand!" Zhin yelled as he saw the smoke in the air turn purplish in color, "It must have control over the dead and the living!"
"Silence, seadog!" Dredge made Zhin fall to the ground.
Dredge removed his sunglasses, revealing his glowing blues eyes filled with hatred.
"I finally found ye, princess lass." He snarled and jumped on the counter.
"I don't think we've met." Lian crossed her arms.
"Have ye ever heard the pirate legend of Judd Roberts?"
Lian and Zhin's ears perked up.
"He was a famous Captain who sailed the Eight Seas and all the waters in the Realm." Dredge spoke, "One day, he took an offer from a beautiful woman who promised him great treasures. Unfortunately, that offer led to his death at the bottom of a dark river…. Or so the princess who killed him thought."
He stepped towards Lian.
"The beautiful woman who had given him the offer brought him back to life with power of the Abyss. Now this man was reborn into the terror of the Sea and the Night, into… Admiral Dredge!"
The inn around them started to vanish into vapor, causing Lex and Sarah to fall to the ground a good distance away from them.
On the shore, a large purple octopus being appeared from the mist.
"This is my new Stand!" Dredge said, "Granted to me by the Abyss and Lady Seris! DAVY JONE'S SHOCKER!"
The Kraken-like stand laughed alongside Dredge.
"Get away!" Lex yelled as he blasted some of the cursed villagers with his stand.
Davy Jone's Shocker loomed over them as it sat atop Dredge in a purple mist.
"One cut, and the Abyss takes control of your body!" Dredge said and snapped his fingers, causing Zhin to punch himself in the face.
Lian growled.
"That's if it can even survive this!" she said and called out Power Khan, who started punching the stand.
However, each punch only hit the supernatural purple mist.
"You cannot hit a ghost!" Dredge laughed, "And now! Ye die!" he said and threw his hidden dagger at Lian.
"RAH!" Power Khan swooped down and punched it too late, as it ricocheted off its fist and stabbed Lian in the foot.
"Hngh!" Lian gasped and fell to her knees.
"She hungers…" Dredge chuckled as his stand's purple tentacles slithered along the mist towards Lian's wound.
"Lian!" Zhin yelled and tried to cut the tentacles with his sword, but it only hit the mist.
"It's over! I have my revenge!" Dredge cackled, "LIAN IS MY PUPPET!"
However, Lian only stood up straight in the face of danger.
She sighed and shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…."
"Hmmm?" Dredge looked at the completely unafraid Lian, "What are ye rattling about?"
"You will die before you take over my body." Lian grumbled.
"Do not be so foolish, seadog!" Dredge scoffed and pointed at the tentacles nearing her, "Look! It's ov-"
"RAH!" Power Khan appeared, extended its arms, and spun around rapidly, creating a vortex of air that started to suck up all the mist into a tornado.
"What!?" Dredge gasped as his stand was being sucked up by the twister, "Wha-Wha-Wha!?" his body itself started to spin around.
"Sarah! Get rid of this mist!" Lian called out.
Sarah jumped over a zombified dog.
"I sense that Abyss energy from here… Can it be my sister's doing!?" she stood next to Lian, "Lian! We need to keep him alive! Perhaps his connection to the Abyss can give us an insight into the nature of Seris' stand!"
"As long as he doesn't bother us for the rest of the trip." Lian responded.
Sarah nodded.
"Furious Flame!" she called out her stand, "CROSSPYRE HURRICANE SPECIAL!"
The angelic stand shot out a special fire shaped like ancient symbols from its palms and blasted it at the misty stand.
"IT burns! IT BURNS!" Dredge cried out as the Pyre Energy started to burn his Abyssal aura.
The stand vaporized, but Dredge stood still before falling to the ground.
"I didn't kill him." Sarah informed, "I killed the stand, which would mean certain death for anyone, but the Abyss must be keeping him alive."
"Wait, killing a stand can kill you?" Zhin asked.
"Yes. I guess I should have explained that earlier in the story." Sarah mumbled, "But we need to be careful. When a person turns to the abyss, they can die from sunlight. It will be day when this person will wake up."
"Everyone, look!" Lex pointed as the mist started to die around them.
The villagers that were attacking them fell down into bones, and the houses around them vanished in the wind.
"Wow…." Zhin murmured as he saw that it was only a small inlet littered with bones and a shipwreck.
"That stand was very powerful… Making an entire area for us to be around without noticing it." Lain commented, "Is this the power of the Abyss?"
"Yes, but it is not insurmountable." Sarah told her.
"I know." Lian smiled and looked at her allies, "That's because nothing is insurmountable for us."
"I second that." Sarah grinned.
"I third that." Lex nodded.
Zhin chuckled and raised his hand with a bright smile, "I fourth that!"
"We should get going to the real town." Sarah pointed to a soft glow in the distance down the trail, "So we can protect this man from the sun when it comes up." She pointed at Dredge.
"Alright, but I'm not carrying him." Lian crossed her arms and walked over the Admiral's body. "Lex, be a dear and do it for me."
Lex sighed and picked up their enemy.
"Let's go." He huffed a bit of air, and the four continued on their way.
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"From the bottom of my soul, I knew he would fail." A pale woman murmured from the shadows of a dark lair, "But Fate always finds a way to seal itself." She said and looked at a portrait on the wall.
"Let this one not fail…" she turned around and disappeared into the darkness.