Lian's Peculiar Journey: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 29
THE CHILD OF HIGH PRAISE, SERENO
The rider dismounted his horse after grabbing another belt from his saddle and dusted off his clothes.
He took a spit on the ground and stepped into the light of a nearby crystal lamp, revealing his true form.
He was a man around the height a Zhin. He had dark black hair, a charcoal black that blended in with the night sky. It was wavy at the front with its bangs, but the bangs were split in two and only reached to his thick angled eyebrows as they were raised a few centimeters from his hairline. His eyes were a steely grayish green that lacked luster but still showed a dignified standing above his firm cheeks and beside stiff nose.
He had a chestplate with rows of purple crystals along the base where it ended above his diaphragm. He was wearing a chainmail shirt underneath that covered a part of his purple long-sleeve tunic.
His pants where stiff and covered with thick leather chaps which in turn covered armored boots.
"Before you all die, I will introduce myself." The man bowed, but unlike his sister, this was a bow of respect.
"My name is Sereno, the first born of Seris." He put his hand to his chest and looked up to the heavens, "I have been sent by my beloved father and mother to rid of the stain that threatens the great tapestry that is the destiny of our glorious family. I will give it my all to get rid by the threat posed by you, my dear Aunt." He pointed at Sarah.
"What a gentleman you are." Sarah responded as she stepped up towards the man, "Perhaps I can reason with you, unlike your demented sister."
"There will be no reasoning with traitors." Sereno responded as he swiped his arm across his body, "Mother offered you a place in destiny, yet you rejected her offer."
"Did she ever tell you what she did to get that response?" Sarah growled, "Did she ever tell you that once she reached her so-called destiny, she used it to kill the only man I've ever loved?"
"I was told quite differently." Sereno shook his head, "I do not suffer usurpers. My mother had been real kind and had much longsuffering with you, Aunt Sarah."
"Your mother was the one who usurped my love!" Sarah yelled, "She was the one who sacrificed it all to destroy what was pure between us! This all out spite! Out of hate! Out of… envy…" she seethed as dark memories came before her.
There she was, in the rain atop a ruined mountain.
In her arms was a young man. Handsome, glowing, radiant- but dying.
He had long white hair and glowing eyes. He seemed to have something like the Pyre causing a glow in his body, but this glow was a light blue that was fading.
Sarah could only look and weep as the man slowly died in her arms. This weeping and sorrow was interrupted when she looked at the huge opening in his chest, all corrupted by abyssal energy.
And on the top of a rock on the ruined mountain was her….
"I will never forgive her!" Sarah yelled as she held back tears, "She took everything from me!" she clenched her fists, "A-A-A-Almost everything…." She mumbled and looked at her belly.
"If it is battle you want with her, then you have made an enemy with us!" Zhin stepped up and called out Thousand Hands.
"Damn right!" Lian did the same and called out Power Khan, "Sarah, let us take care of this stupid blowhard. Listen here, Sereno. Since you're acting like a prince, I think you need a princess to bring you back down to earth."
"I will be a prince." Sereno responded, "Once my mother takes control of this world and its destiny."
"Your only destiny will be beaten to a bloody pulp." Lian grunted, "Now come on and show your stand so we can go ahead and finish off your two sisters quicker."
"Impotent fool." Sereno smirked and pulled out a book he had dangling from chains on his belt.
As if there was no threat to him, he started reading it under the light of the lamp.
"This arrogant bastard!" Zhin growled, "What are you doing-"
Sereno loudly cleared his throat as he flipped a page.
He started to glow, which intrigued his enemies.
"This must be his stand." Lex mumbled as he saw a figure start to form, but just when it was going to be identifiable, it disappeared.
The man kept reading his book.
"Do we just attack him?" Lian asked Sarah.
"Wait for him." Sarah answered and raised her hand, "Perhaps we can avoid this confrontation…" she said and pointed to a spare wagon by the corral.
"But there are no horses." Lex told her.
"I have it understood we need no horses." Sarah looked at Moji, "With Moji's stand we can produce some locomotion. Perhaps rolling stones?"
"I think I can do that." Moji nodded.
"So you're saying we should retreat?" Zhin asked, "What if the other two are waiting for us outside of the walls? We can't face off against three stand users, considering Serica's puts us to sleep."
"I doubt they're there." Sarah said, "And wouldn't you want to avoid a fight if you could?"
"Let's do it. He seems distracted." Lex said and they all started to creep away.
Once they were a sufficient distance away, they started to jog towards the wagon.
Sereno seemed oblivious to the events that occurred, only reading his book.
"This seems too simple…" Lian grumbled as they neared the wagon, "It's like he doesn't want to fight us… Or maybe we're falling into a trap…"
"It's best to take our chances." Sarah picked up Moji to pick up their pace, "Look, we're almost there."
Sereno flipped his page.
"Quick, everyone!" Lex said as he jumped on the driver's bench, "Get on!"
Sereno flipped another page.
Just as the Moji, first passenger, was about to hop on, they all stopped in their tracks.
Not because they froze.
But because they just didn't move.
Lian, Zhin, and Sarah were moving their legs and bodies in their running, but they weren't moving.
They were quite literally stuck in place.
"What the?" Lex looked and saw that their feet were not impacting the sand, as there were no further imprints or kicked up dust coming out of their steps.
"What's going on?" Sarah asked, "Moji! Get on!" she urged her friend to hop.
"Ok!" Moji said and jumped off her arms, only to stop midair just a few centimeters from her arms, "Huh?"
"Moji, what's wrong!?" Zhin asked as Moji struggled in the air.
"I can't move!" Moji wiggled about, but she did not budge an inch.
Lex stepped off the wagon, only to suffer the same fate as Moji.
"It seems we are stuck!" he growled as he kicked and moved his arms.
"Nice observation, detective!" Lian angrily spoke, "The reason is why can't we move?"
"Perhaps its our friend bac- WOAH!" Zhin was interrupted when an unseen force suddenly yanked them back towards Sereno.
The Paladins tumbled down the sand as if they were falling off a hill even though it was flat ground, only to stop when they were around 10 meters away from their enemy.
Sereno finally stopped reading his book and watched as his enemies stood up and dusted themselves off.
"You!" Lian pointed at him.
Sereno raised his hand and pointed at his book.
"Let me ask you this." He spoke and looked intently at his pages.
"Do you believe in Gravity?"
The Paladins looked at him as if he had grown a third eye, all except for one.
Sarah.
"Gravity?" Zhin scoffed, "Of course not, I don't give two damns what a bunch of looneys in an Academy think of."
"An inferior intellect I see." Sereno shook his head and closed his book, "Would anyone care to give me a better answer?"
"Gravity is what apparently keeps us on this planet." Lian informed Zhin, "My tutors told me about it. It's apparently something we cannot see, yet it brings us down."
"Incorrect again." Sereno answered.
"Huh?"
"You're wrong, Lian." Sarah interrupted, "I believe in gravity."
Sereno's interest piqued.
"All things are destined to come together, there is a supernatural pull on everything in creation that brings us together." She started to speak, "Just like the supposed pull that brings us close to the bosom of this world, so is the pull that brings all of us together into the Grand Scheme. These forces which only the gods have control over all guide us to a greater destiny, one that we only merely travel past."
"I see you have truly seen the world of my mother." Sereno nodded.
"It wasn't your mother who said that, Sereno." Sarah coldly responded, "It was the one she took from me. I remember he told it to her… I've never seen her so mesmerized, so… happy."
The man scoffed.
"Regardless, you will believe the reality that is Gravity." He stepped up and started to glow again.
"You better show your stand this time." Lian growled.
Sereno smirked and then spat, but before the spittle hit the ground, it stopped around knee level and blobbed up.
"What the?" Zhin looked in shock as the blob of saliva slowly started to hover up, "What is going on?"
"Gravity." Sereno spoke and the spittle fell back on the Earth, "This time in the literal sense that the princess spoke of, but now I will introduce you to the true sense my mother revealed to this world!" he raised his arms.
From this action his stand came out.
It had the appearance of an armored knight, but its armor was rounded and sleek and seemed to hug the form of the stand. It had two glowing yellow eyes visible from a dark opening in the iron helmet it wore, and the steel of the armor had sapphire bands coming down its chestplate. It wore a thick black belt like object across its waist that separated its body in two. Out of its elbows came out two emerald spheres that encased the area. Its fingers had sapphire knuckles at their bases and were metallically segmented. The main chestplate had engravings of clouds on it in a silvery-gold color that decorated it.
"My stand is called….
BAD!"
Sereno proclaimed as he started took a prideful stance.
"Very well, then let's have a stand off!" Lian clenched her fists, "Power Khan!" she pointed at him.
Sereno gasped at how quickly the enemy stand appeared and narrowly avoided having his stand being punched.
"This is it! BAD!"
Lian suddenly felt a tug on her body.
"Woah!" Lex tripped as he slid on the ground, "What the!?"
"The Power of my stand BAD! is the revelation that is Gravity!" Sereno said as he saw all his enemies slide on the ground.
"It feels like I'm falling off the face of the world!" Zhin yelled, "Thousand Hands!" he called out his stand, who stabbed its sword into the ground and caught its owner with its free hand, stopping him from sliding.
Sarah saw this, "Furious Flame! Pyre Bind!" she ordered her stand to grab hold of a nearby post and wrap a fiery cord around it.
"The LAW!" Lex said and grabbed Lian, "Retrieve!" he ordered his stand to shoot the same post that held Sarah and suspend him.
"WAHHH!" Moji screamed, "PO LI!" she called her stand out, which formed a small tree that caught her in its branches.
"We're all safe…." Sarah muttered, then saw Sereno walk towards them.
However, from their perspective it appeared like Sereno was walking down a large wall.
"Woah…." Zhin looked down and saw the town underneath his feet, "What's this that's going on? Huh!?" he gasped when Thousand Hand's sword slipped out of the ground.
"AHHHH!" he fell.
"Mr. Zhin!" Moji called out, then made her stand extend its branches and catch her friend, "Are you ok?" she asked him.
"Fine, thanks to you." Zhin nodded and dusted off his clothes, then looked up.
His eyes widened in shock.
"WATCH OUT!" He yelled to his allies dangling from the post.
The carriage they sought to escape with was tumbling towards them.
"Furious Flame!" Sarah yelled and called out her stand after taking control of the Pyre Bind, "Incinerate!"
The angelic stand came out and struck a pose as it extended its wings, then blew out a stream of fire from its mouth.
This fire started to consume the carriage, but parts of it still threatened to strike them.
"Power Khan!" Lian snarled and called out her stand, who grabbed the burning parts its massive hands, "A little present for you!" she glared at Sereno.
Power Khan roared as it threw a burning wheel and wall at the man like a frisbee.
"Hrrrr…" Sereno growled, then called out his stand. BAD! Punched the two burning wooden pieces and shattered them to splinters.
"I do not wish to burn…" he said and made the burning splinters start to hover upwards towards the night sky.
"Tell me more about this… Gravity…" Lex spoke as Lian made Power Khan grab more pieces of the burning wagon, "How does it work? It seems like only the gods should have this power." He started to falter in his efforts to keep them up.
"My tutors and court scholars claim that there is an invisible force that brings us down to the planet." Lian informed, "It's supposed to keep the moon in place and the sun in the sky. In fact, they claim it reaches anywhere, even to the stars. I never found it interesting, science was never my favorite subject to study… I mostly preferred history."
"Sounds like a load of posh." Lex groaned as he started to lose control of The Law's Retrieve.
"It could just help us in this fight." Sarah responded.
"I ho- AYYYYYYYYY!" Lian screamed as she and Lex suddenly fell.
"OOOF!" Lex grunted and caught Lian in his arms.
Power Khan stopped its assault when it was forcibly recalled due to the distance between it and its user, though The Law stayed in place.
"Now I have you!" Sereno laughed and walked towards Sarah, "Take this, BAD!" he called out his stand.
"Furious Flame!" Sarah called away the Pyre Bind and caught the legs of her stand as it started to fly into the sky, something that to her felt like flying backwards.
"No escape!" Sereno said and started to float upwards to catch up to her.
"So this is the power of Gravity…." Sarah murmured, "No matter, Furious Flame! Pyre Strike!"
Her stand extended its arms and sent out a stream of scalding fire.
BAD! pointed at the stream, and the flaming hot fire suddenly started to flow back towards its user.
"What the!?" Sarah said as she and her stand were covered in what appeared to be a bubble of fire, "My fire! How could it- I can't call it away!" her lips started to dry up.
"What will we do…." Moji said as she looked at Sarah while Zhin attended Lex and Lian, "Mr. Zhin, Ms. Sarah is going to be cooked!"
"Not if we can help it, Moji." Zhin said and looked at her, "How far can you extend this tree?"
"About… that far!" the leipori pointed to a spot around 10 meters away from them.
"That's all I need." Zhin said, "Lift me up!"
Moji nodded and made Po Li bring out a huge offshoot that carried Zhin upwards.
Sereno noticed this action and grunted.
"Simpleton, do you really think you can sneak past me?"
"Yes! I can!" Zhin jumped from the branch, only to stop midair, "That won't stop my fighting spirit!" he called out Thousand Hands.
Sereno gasped as the swordsman stand came out as quickly as Power Khan, and with that same swiftness started his assault. Against this new opponent he had little opportunity to activate his ability, because unlike Power Khan, this stand had something for range- namely its sword.
"Damn it!" he yelled as his BAD! was cut across its left flank.
"Not even Power Khan is as fast my Thousand Hands!" Zhin smirked and gave a quick glance back at his friends, "Behold!" he directed his stand to turn to Sarah and made it cut the fire surrounding her to pieces.
"My sword is red hot! I'll shove it up your stupid gravity hole!"
"BAD! Show them the truth!" Sereno called out, and his stand brought out his fists.
Gravity returned to Zhin and made him fall down towards his friends.
"You won't get away that easily!" he yelled as he fell.
Thousand Hands suddenly nicked BAD! on the left cheek, causing a spurt of blood to come out of Sereno's left cheek.
"Zhin!" Sarah yelled as Zhin fell out of the range of Moji's tree.
Zhin grunted and brought his stand back towards him.
"I'm going to hit that wall!" he yelled as he saw the exterior walls of the fortress closing in.
"Lian!" Lex yelled when the princess suddenly jumped off the safety of the tree.
Zhin saw this action and grunted.
"Damn it, Lian! What are you doing!?" he yelled at her.
"I'm going to save your skin!" Lian responded as she grabbed his arm and looked at the incoming wall, "POWER KHAN!"
"RAH!" Power Khan came out fists blazing and punched the large stones, shattering them on impact.
"RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH!" it continued its barrage until it made a hole clean through.
"Down we go!" Zhin spun Lian around in order to shield her with his body as they went through a cloud of dust and debris.
"Lian!" Sarah cried out, then turned to Sereno, "You bastard!" she said, "CROSSPYRE HURRICANE BURST!"
Furious Flame crossed its arms and cast out 4 small sigils made of fire.
Sereno snarled as he saw the events unfold, "BAD! take these things out!"
BAD! Pumped out its chest and made the sigils turn into balls of fire and rendered them immobile.
"Hmmmm…." Sarah smiled.
"What are you laughing about?" Sereno murmured, then felt he started to sweat, "What is this heat?" he looked around and saw that Furious Flame was radiating heat from its wings.
"Is that-"
"Haha!" Sarah made Furious Flame swoop down and grab some of the horse manure on the sand, "Take this!" her stand threw it at the balls of fire as it pushed its owner back.
The manure caused miniature explosions that knocked Sereno backwards and allowed Sarah a chance to regroup with her allies.
The explosion momentarily stunned Sereno, causing the gravity to shift back to normal.
"Oof!" Lex and Sarah grunted when they hit the floor, Sarah catching Moji in her arms soon after.
"Ahhh!" the falling Zhin and Lian impact the ground before they hit a house.
Lian was over Zhin's chest and was holding him in an embrace.
"My, what would Lex think of this?" the swordsman commented cheekily as he helped her up.
"Shut up." Lian grunted and dusted off her dress, "Say, the gravity is back to normal."
Surely enough, the surroundings and their perspective were now leveled with the horizon. This event allowed them to reconnect with their friends, who had retreated towards their position.
"We're hoping this stand has a range limit." Lex ran up to them, "Quick, we require quicker transportation."
The Paladins looked around but saw no animals to ride upon. Since it was around midnight from what they could tell, the town around them was mostly barren and devoid of life save for a stray cat or dog popping in from an alley.
"He's getting back up, Ms. Sarah." Moji alerted as she shuffled in Sarah's arms and pointed back into the Fortress' courtyard.
Surely enough, Sereno had gathered his bearings and was now focused on them.
"Damn it! He's taking out his stand!" Zhin snarled, "Gods, I wis-"
He was interrupted by the neighing for horses.
The clamber of a wagon.
"What the…" Lian stepped back when an armored stagecoach came into view as it turned down the road, coming from its hiding place behind the castle walls.
"Enforcers…" Lex saw the sigil on the front of the carriage, but then saw that it was not an enforcer commanding the robust vehicle.
The wagon came to a halt, all the mighty horses that pulled it snorted powerfully as they lumbered to a stop.
The drive that broke these horses was not an alien face to them.
"S-S-S-Sha Lin?" The Paladins gasped in shock as the Eastern young man stood proudly on the seat.
"Come with me if you want to live."
he spoke and extended his hand.