Lian's Peculiar Journey: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 15
"Goddess Skaadi" Evie
The five finally reached a small town in the middle of an open plain, parched and exhausted from their gruesome journey through the desert savannah.
"Finally, civilization." Zhin spoke as they entered the fringes of the town.
"We desperately need to restock on our supplies." Sarah looked inside her travel bag and saw that it was near empty, "All we have is this loaf of bread… which is now dry and crumbly."
The bread disintegrated in her hand.
"We should make haste to re-stock, then." Lex spoke, "And perhaps get needed rest." He saw that Lian's feet were bleeding from the strain put on them by her high heels.
"Are you alright?"
"I've been to wars in these boots, this is nothing." Lian scoffed as she withstood the pain, "Now where is the inn here?"
"Over there!" Moji said as she pointed to her left but gave her allies a few seconds to turn and look down at her.
"There's the inn!"
"How do you even know how an inn looks like?" Zhin chuckled.
"It says Inn on the front sign." Moji responded and pointed to the large black letters on a white board.
"That backfired." Sarah smirked and elbowed Zhin's flank.
000000000
Sarah yawned as she set herself over the bed in their room.
"Oh… This is sure beats sand." She said and rolled in over in absolute bliss, "I've been dying to finally sleep on a proper bed."
Lian smiled as she took off her boots, then sighed when she saw the dried blood that stained her heels.
"Oh no…." Moji whimpered when she saw the sight, "Lian, will you be ok?"
"I'll be fine." Lian said and set her boots to the side.
Zhin and Lex came out of the bathroom at that time. The swordsman's hair was drenched with water and his face was also wet while the enforcer held a bronze bowl filled with water in his hands and a towel hanging over his shoulder.
"Lian." Lex walked up to the princess and set down the bowl next to her feet, then handed her the towel.
"And I here I thought you were going to do it for me." Lian murmured, but then let out a smile, "I jest. Thank you, Lex."
Zhin let out a huff of air as he fell on the bed by Sarah's curled legs.
"Thank heavens we made it through everything." He said and took a drink from his canteen.
Moji jumped on the bed and sat by Sarah's feet.
"We made it because of our dedication to our team." Lex spoke, "We all stood by each other even in the face of clear and present danger… and in the face of seeing our friends wounded to a great degree." He held his neck.
Sarah held her side.
Zhin looked at his ankle.
"We stick together, always." Lian nodded and looked at Moji, "Even if we fear, we must put our trust in ourselves or our friends."
Moji nodded.
"Thank you, Lian." She said.
"Remember, even if you are afraid." Lex put his hand over Moji's shoulders, "You can still find it within yourself to succeed."
"We're here to help each other, Moji." Sarah added, "And we expect the same from you. We are a team, and we look out for each other."
"I'm just here for the money." Zhin joked, only to get smacked in the head by Sarah.
"Alright alright, we're all friends here, Moji, and together we are strong."
Moji had a look of determination on her face.
"I can do it!" she jumped up with her fist raised.
Lian smiled and stood up, completely clean of any blood, "I am starving." She heard her stomach rumble.
"Perhaps we can go downstairs and eat?" Lex asked, "If anyone else wants to join, please let me know."
"Ooh! I do!" Moji raised her small paw.
"Now now Moji." Sarah chuckled, "I have some stuff for you." She opened her knapsack and pulled out some carrots, "We need to save our coins."
Moji sighed and grabbed the carrots.
"Zhin, Sarah?" Lex asked the others.
"I'll be fine with what I have." Sarah responded, "Plus, I'm too tired to be hungry anyways."
Lex nodded and looked at Lian, who was getting impatient.
"Zhin?"
"I'll be down there in a while… and I do mean a while." Zhin smirked, "Enough to give you guys some private time."
"Let's go." Lian groaned as she grabbed Lex by the arm and stepped out the door, nearly slamming it as the two came out.
"I was just being courteous." Lex mumbled as the two walked down the hallway.
Lian sighed and shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…" she mumbled.
"I'm only thinking of getting some beef jerky." Lex informed her, "So it may cause our lunch to be brief."
"Well I'm getting a full course meal, so I expect you to use that courtesy you had back there for me." Lian crossed her arms, "A gentleman would not leave a woman, especially a princess, eating alone."
Lex sighed as the two made it down the steps and entered the main lobby.
"Hmmm… I do not think this inn has an eatery." He said as he saw no signs of a kitchen.
"No sir." A nearby hostess responded as she mopped the floor, "My husband, the innkeeper, is brother to the restaurant owner next door. You can get a discount if you state you are from the inn and show your key." She kindly informed.
"At least it's next door." Lian shrugged her shoulders as she made her way to the front door, "You have the keys, right?" she asked Lex.
"I'm always five steps ahead." Lex responded as he held up a key with a special engraving on its head, "Have more faith in me, princess."
Lian chuckled as the two walked down the door, then saw a man running away with a wooden box.
"STOP! THIEF!" another man yelled as he pointed at the runner.
Lex's ears perked up.
"You won't get away with this!" the man continued and shook his fist, then turned to see Lex standing there, "You! Aren't you going to do something about this!?"
Lex ran over to the man.
"What is going on here?" he asked.
"That man stole a locket I had at my stand!" the man said, revealing himself to be a merchant, "It's absolutely priceless! There's nothing like it! Go get him!"
Lex turned to see the thief continue sprinting down the road.
"Stop! In the name of the Law!" he called out and started to chase after him.
Zhin came out of the inn and stumbled into Lian.
"Hey, Sarah wants to know where the key to the inn we-" he stopped when he saw Lex sprinting off, "What's going on?"
"Robbery." Lian sighed and shook her head.
"Looks like your date is ruined." Zhin chuckled, "But seriously, do you think we should help him?"
"I don't see why not, maybe I can have lunch with him faster." Lian nodded and the two ran off to catch up to Lex.
Lex had turned a corner to follow the thief, who was now clambering up a stone wall to enter a private property.
"I said stop!" he yelled to the thief and nearly caught his foot before it fell over the wall, "Hrrr." He growled and used his stand to jump over the wall in one leap.
However, when he landed, he found himself cornered by a group of thieves wielding weapons of all types.
"Looks like kitty is stuck in a corner." The thief he was chasing chuckled as he and his allies aimed their weapons at him.
Lex growled and called out his stand, but right when he was about to do something, Power Khan's fist busted through the stone wall behind him and them burst through entirely.
"What the hell!?" the thieves yelled as Lian and Zhin came in.
"Well well well…" Lian clenched her fists, "I guess I gave you some time to set up." She saw that Lex's The Law had manifested itself into ten copies, one for each thief.
"Thank you." Lex said, but then saw the thief he was chasing hand the box over to another thief, who ran off.
"Hey!"
"Go to hell, copper!" the thieves yelled and fired their weapons.
"RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!" Power Khan appeared and started catching and throwing away all the bullets it could.
"ZYAHHH!" Zhin called out Thousand Hands to help Lian out and continued cutting bullets, arrows, and bolts.
"10 Officer Police Shootout!" Lex yelled and caused his stand and its copies to punch and kick all the thieves, disabling them.
"Zhin! Get the one that got away!" he pointed at the thief that clambered over the wall.
"Got it!" Zhin said as he ran through the fallen thieves to chase after the escapee, "You won't get away from me that easily!" he expertly climbed over the wall and saw the thief bust through a hedge.
"Hmph, feeble mistake!" he ran, called out Thousand Hands, and cut the hedge to pieces.
The swordsman stopped when he saw the thief hold a young woman in a chokehold and held what appeared to be a silver star-shaped talisman with a blue crystal in it that had blue leather straps studded with diamonds.
The thief was standing on a bridge with a small river underneath and holding the talisman over the edge.
"Help!" the woman cried out to the civilians nearby.
"One more step and I'll drop it in the water!" the thief yelled.
The merchant appeared, having followed the yells of the thief.
"Oh no!" he gasped and looked at Zhin, who seemed to be the only one intent on doing anything.
"We have to stop him!" he said and pulled out a short sword from his garments.
"I can see why, that looks pretty expensive." Zhin told the man as he looked at the necklace.
"Yes, it was so beautiful I paid a fortune for it." The merchant said, "A beautiful pale woman came to me as I was packing up for the night and gave me such a great deal…"
"Hmmm." Zhin mumbled, "Can I see your sword?" he asked.
The merchant grumbled but handed it regardless.
Zhin chuckled and passed the sword to Thousand Hands.
"Don't worry, I'll get it for you!" he said and made Thousand Hands throw the sword at the thief.
"AH!" the thief gasped as the sword cut the wrist that was holding the talisman, making him lose grip of it.
"No!" the merchant yelled and sped off to catch it while it was still in the air, "HA!" he said and raised his hands.
The talisman appeared to steer itself towards the thief's head and landed in a position where it placed itself upon the man.
The thief sighed in relief as the necklace hung around his neck.
"Take this you old fool!" he punched the merchant, knocking him out, "And I'm going to kill you!" he yelled and charged towards Zhin.
"You're the fool!" Zhin laughed and called out Thousand Hands.
However, he saw an icy figure appear from the thief's back.
"What!?" Zhin gasped as the figure retracted.
The thief pounced and made claws of ice appear on his hands.
"Agh!" Zhin avoided the attack but was then struck when the thief shot an icicle out of his mouth.
"Argh!" he groaned as the wound on his shoulder started to bleed.
"I'll Killl you! HWAK!" the thief gagged when Thousand Hand's blade had gone through his mouth.
The icy figure appeared out from him and snarled.
It appeared to be a feminine figure made of ice shards wearing a bright blue armor.
The necklace suddenly came off the man and fell to the ground nearby.
Zhin saw as the necklace tumbled across the stone streets, then recalled Thousand Hands.
"Was that an enemy fighting spirit?" he asked himself.
"Hurrr…." The merchant groaned as he woke up, helped by the young woman the thief had placed in a choke hold minutes ago.
"Ugh." He sat up and saw the necklace on the ground.
Zhin picked it up and looked at it.
"Something is off..."
"Not it is not!" the merchant growled, "This is the most beautiful piece of jewelry I've ever seen!" he sighed and rubbed the glowing blue crystal, then turned to the woman who had helped him.
"Miss, would you be interested in this necklace? This beautiful necklace will help your face shine." He walked towards her.
"Uh…" the woman, a short girl with pigtails, mumbled.
"What is your name, miss?" the merchant asked.
"Uh… Evie?" the young woman responded.
"Look how beautiful you'll look, Evie." The merchant said and placed the necklace on her neck.
"Wait- No!" Zhin called out, but too late.
An icicle had already stabbed the merchant in the stomach, causing him to groan and fall to the ground in pain and blood.
"Finally, a good host." Evie spoke in a cackled tone, "Now… I will remove those who dare defy Lady Seris." She walked towards Zhin as ice blades formed in her hands.
"What is your name? I sense you are not of the girl." Zhin called out Thousand Hands.
"Hahahahahaha!" Evie cackled, "You are a perceptive one, Oriental." She pointed at him with one of the blades.
"Very well. I am the stand SKAADI'S SERVICE." She said.
"You must be a part of that cursed talisman." Zhin grumbled as he looked at the necklace on the young woman's face.
"Good eye." Evie mumbled as her once brown hair started to turn a bright blue, "Too bad I'll be gouging them out!" she charged with her ice blades and aimed for his head.
"ZYAH!" Zhin blocked the attacks with his stand.
"We'll see whose swords are the fastest!" Evie cackled and continued her relentless assault with her ice blades.
"Very well! You wish to see speed!" Zhin jumped back, "Thousand Hands, remove your weighted clothing!"
Thousand Hands stepped back and removed the golden armor from its body.
"What is this?" Evie growled, "Nevertheless, you will die!" she continued her attack.
Thousand Hands quickly parried all her attacks and cut her in the upper arm, causing the woman to fall back in pain.
"What speed…" Evie's deeper voice appeared, "It seems I will not win with swordsmanship alone…" the woman opened up her mouth and shot out an icicle.
"Counter!" Zhin yelled and Thousand Hands sent the icicle back.
Evie rolled back to avoid it but was then stabbed by Thousand Hands in the hand, crushing one of the ice blades.
"HAH!" she breathed in an shot out a stream of snow and ice from her mouth.
"I- I can't move!" Zhin yelled as he saw Thousand Hand's leg was frozen solid to the ground.
"Die!" Evie screeched and raised her other ice blade.
Thousand Hands parried all the incoming blows despite its immobility.
"Even in this, I do not give up!" Zhin yelled and knocked Evie away, then made his stand strike the ice that held it down and freed itself.
"This ice must be part of its stand… And if it blows it like a blizzard, I cannot stop it." He called back his Thousand Hands to a more advantageous position.
"I must be caref-"
"GRAH!" Evie made the water of the river under the bridge freeze and then shot out thousands of icicles from it.
Thousand Hands raised its sword and cut all the icicles to fragments.
"Fool!" Evie yelled and made all those fragments into snow and ice, then circled the two with it.
"I will freeze you to death!"
Zhin felt the temperature around him plummet, then felt both he and his stand freeze in place.
"AURORA BEAM!" Evie yelled and blasted a beam of absolute zero cold from her hand, which when it struck, froze Zhin entirely.
"Hahahahahahahaa!" she cackled and walked over to him.
"Stop right there, criminal!" three enforcers appeared and pulled out their magnums.
"Fools!" Evie yelled and snapped her fingers, then caused the ice from the frozen river to manifest itself as a blizzard which swooped down and froze them in place.
"Now it is time to end you!" she stood in front of Zhin and raised her ice blade, "You have been a good fight. You even warmed up my cold muscles… But this is where it ends, you insolent bast-"
"RAH!" a fist came out and struck the woman in the side, sending her crashing into a fruit cart.
Lian shifted her tiara side to side and sighed, "What a pain…." She looked at the frozen Zhin, "I always have to come rescue you, huh?" she said and made Power Khan appear and punch the ice that surrounded her ally.
Zhin broke free from the ice, as did the enforcers Lian liberated soon after, but they were all blacked out.
"Who is this!?" Evie stood up and glared at Lian.
"I take it you're the enemy stand user." Lian glared at her, "And you must have the ability to control ice."
"I am Skaadi's Service." Evie spoke, "I am an ancient and invincible stand forged by the dwarves of Mt. Fulgor's Keep." She made a pose, "Have some respect, you wench."
"I am a princess… hold your tongue, commoner!" Lian snarled and walked up to her, "Or I may have to knock you out cold."
"I appreciate the pun, but it will not save you!" Evie shrieked and pounced with two ice blades.
"RAH!" Power Khan appeared and punched her in the jaw faster than she could react.
"AGHHH!" Evie fell back with a thud, "I will end you!" she called out another blizzard that surrounded her enemy.
"Hmph… Just because I don't wear much clothing doesn't mean I am fazed by the cold." Lian grumbled, then caused Power Khan to extend its arms and spin around.
"What?!" Evie said as the stand made a tornado that forced her blizzard to vacate the area and melt in the upper air harmlessly.
"It seems I have to take matters into my own hands." She extended her arm, "Aurora Beam!" she shot out her blast.
Lian gasped and called down Power Khan to punch it away, but the stand froze on impact, causing her to become immobile.
"ERGH!" she groaned.
"It is now over!" Evie slid on ice she had formed on ground and moved behind her.
"Heh… Nothing personnel, kid." She raised an ice blade over the princess's shoulder.
"GRAH!" Power Khan roared and broke free of its bonds.
"WHAT!?" Evie gasped, "It was completely frozen!"
"Power can break through anything." Lian murmured.
"RAH!" Power Khan swooped down and punched Evie in the gut, then across the face so hard that it caused the talisman to fly off her.
Evie immediately regressed back to her normal appearance and fell to the ground.
"Huh?" Lian looked at the woman with confusion.
"Ergh…." Zhin woke up and held his head, "Lian!" he exclaimed, then looked at Evie, "You defeated her! Quick, find that necklace and destroy it!" he looked around.
"What are you talking about?" Lian said and spotted the necklace in a pile of cabbages nearby using Power Khan's vision.
"The enemy stand is in that necklace." Zhin responded, "It is the necklace! Whenever someone puts it one, they get possessed by it."
Lian nodded in understanding and picked up the necklace, then raised Power Khan's fist at it.
"Hold on there!" an enforcer appeared and snatched the talisman from Lian's hand, "This is not your property!" he scolded her.
"You need to give that back!" Zhin yelled and tackled the lawman.
"Get off of me!" the enforcer yelled, and the two entered a scuffle.
"Give me that necklace!" Zhin punched the officer in the face and reached for the necklace.
"Quick, Zhin!" Lian extended her hand as she looked at the two fight, "Hand it to me!"
"Give-" Zhin gasped when the necklace looped its leather strap around and landed directly on his shoulders.
"Z-Zhin…" Lian stammered as an icicle appeared through the enforcer's head.
Zhin chuckled lowly as he stood up, his once black hair turning into a dark shade of blue.
"Zhin! Fight it!" Lian said as ice started to form around the swordsman's hands.
"It's too late… No one can fight Skaadi's Service." Zhin spoke and glared at her as the ice disappeared from his hands.
However, his stand appeared and had its arms covered in ice.
"Zhin! Stop this!" Lian yelled as she took out Power Khan.
"Hahahaahahaa!" Zhin cackled, "DIE!" he yelled.
Thousand Hands formed an ice blade around its left hand, and combined with the sword on its right, charged with relentless fury.
Lian made Power Khan block all the blows with its fists.
"Zhin, you imbecile!" she yelled as her stand parried the two blades, "You want to fight!? Well then, let's see who truly is the fastest!"
"RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!" Power Khan yelled as it punched with fury.
"ZYAHH!" Thousand Hands returned with two swords to meet each fist perfectly.
"This stand… it's so nimble, so quick!" Zhin chuckled, "Those other two were worthless as they were mere people! But you! Oh this stand! To have it in my power! I will slay all of you and bring honor to Seris!"
Lian growled and managed to sneak a punch into Zhin's flank.
"Hrrr… Cheap trick." Zhin growled and regained his composure, "But can you react to this!?" he said and struck back faster than ever before.
"Hrrr…" Lian panted, "Whatever got to his head must be learning how to use his stand more and more effectively…" she said.
"RAH!" Power Khan tried to catch one of the swords but missed.
"Too slow!" Zhin yelled and made his stand sprint to the side, but to mere observation it appeared like it had warped there.
Lian grunted and moved Power Khan too.
"RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!" the stand punched.
"ZYAHHHH!" its enemy cut and stabbed.
The two went at it with such speed that it started to make drafts of wind shoot out which were noticeable to the trembling civilians nearby.
"The more I'm in this fool, the more power I get from the knowledge!" Zhin laughed as he parried a punch.
"It is only a matter of time before I kill you!"
Lian growled.
"Power Khan!" she yelled.
"RAH!" Power Khan caught one of the blades, but had its hand cut in the process, momentarily stunning Lian.
"I have you now!" Zhin laughed and made Thousand Hands stab Lian in the stomach with its ice blade.
"Hwah…" Lian gasped when she felt the blade enter her.
"As I speak, this ice blade is slowly freezing your innards." Zhin murmured evilly, "So even if you pull it out through some miraculous reason, you will still die."
Lian panted as she felt the zero cold freeze her insides.
"It seems that I am the master." Zhin taunted and saw Power Khan retreat back into Lian's body, "Now to end this blight on Lady Seris' plans!" he raised Thousand Hand's blade into the sky.
Lian groaned and then kissed Zhin, forcing her body to be further pierced by the blade.
A bit of Zhin's humanity came out from the possession, causing both him and his stand to become stunned for a few seconds before Skaadi's Service re-took control.
"Hrah!" he yelled, "How dare you do th-" the enemy stand stopped speaking.
Lian fell back to the ground, holding the necklace in her hand.
"Ha… Ha…. Now… you're through…" she growled.
Power Khan came out and punched the talisman so hard that it shattered into pieces.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Skaadi's Service gave out one last shriek before it vanished into the nothingness.
Lian slowly stood up and then walked over to Zhin, who was also recuperating from the possession.
"Lian?" Zhin looked up to see her, then saw the black blood pouring from her frostbitten wound.
"Lian!"
Zhin's yells were the last thing she heard before blacking out.