Tale of bonds… Travelling tales…
"No!!" Remy screams as I give chase through the room, jumping to the table and next to one the library's shelves, the fear on Remy's face only adds to my worries as I find no more places where to step on.
"Remy!" The girls shriek, dammit, I need to find something to step on or I'll… Oh no, too late…
"Why won't you use your newly gained skills, seal of destruction?" What is that blue-haired weirdo talking about? Huh? Did I finally step on something? No time to wonder I have to… I quickly return my attention toward the floating man... What? Where is that guy?
"Koel? What are you doing?" Why is Mina so worried about me…? Wha…? How did I…? When? I'm floating in the air! Well, more precisely, stepping on it…
"How did you do that?" The girls are as astounded by this as I am…
This thing of the seals is getting weirder and weirder all of the sudden… I was stepping on thin air for some seconds… before I fell on the ground and crushed my butt in the crash… However, we now must find Remy and his sister… I can't believe nobody, not even Nina or Lethe, noticed his presence until it was too late… It was like if he had just warped here…
"Koel, you know where you're heading to, right?" Mina says with increasing anxiety… but the truth is…
"Not really, I just figured we could check all the rooms in our way, and see if we could find something" I gulp as I say that… peeking over the shoulder, I see Mina's face, she's gone completely pale all of the sudden…
"You're not kidding, are you?"
"I wish I was… Even if I have to fight, we promised to help Remy after all…" And now that's a promise I intend to fulfill…
"I guess is okay, then, I believe you will protect us"
"Someone's coming" Nina says with anxiety, I can only guess it's a soldier in a patrol, it's bad, Nina nor Mina can fight at all, and I don't want to expose Lethe to danger, she isn't strong and is too light, she could get hurt pretty easily…
"Mina, you and the others get out of the mansion, and try to see if they're not taking the kids somewhere else"
"Ok, try not to get yourself killed, please" I can see it on Mina's eyes, she knows about it as well. Mina looks sad though… What will they do if I don't come back…?
"Koel… Be careful…" Mina mutters quietly, I look at her as she follows Nina and Lethe, who are now ways from here… Turning around, I notice a weird bulk creeping closer along with the shadows engulfing this corridor; I'm not alone yet… I look in shock as a humongous image appears before me from the dark hallway, "Be gone!!" The enormous thug suddenly bellows swinging his arm as thick as my torso at me with great strength; however I quickly leap back avoiding what could possibly be a death blow, it was too close for my taste…
I take a deep breath, noticing now that another giant is now standing behind me… The fear devours me, wondering how something this fucking big could creep up on me, their hollow laughs only adds to my worries… Damn it… I must calm down… I'm too freaked out… the bloodcurdling look in their eyes… What am I going to do…?
"Argh!!" I cry out in pain as my body rises into the air, I didn't even notice when he began to move… they are way too fast… "Gah…!" My… my stomach… I can't breathe… The man in front of me just knocked me out… and his clenched fist as now buried… deep into my stomach… The pain is… unbearable… I fall into the marble floor, coughing up in pain… trying to recover from such blow; I can even taste the blood in my mouth… It hurts so bad…
My knife… No… It must've slipped from… my hand when I was bashed into the air… These guys are just going to beat me to death…
My vision is foggy; I don't think I can stand another hit like that… I can hear them… they're coming for me… I close my eyes trying to "hear" where they're coming from, finally I hear a footstep, however it's too late, as I open my eyes and turn to face my assailant I find a giant fist…
The fight continues, as a massive arm swings right at my face, I quickly dive to the ground, hoping not to get hit, however, I realize with a fist sinking deep into my stomach that the second guy is there as well…
Dammit, that last punch took the air out of me… I don't think I can stand another hit like that… I think to myself, before another blow sent me into the air, everything is getting blurry, there's something pouring on my eyes… I think its blood…
I have to do something real fast or they'll get me for good… As I turn around I spot my opportunity, I leap into the air, trying to outmaneuver both behemoths, jumping from side to side, and doing somersaults sporadically all so those 2 won't catch me, finally, I land behind them and turn toward them… What? Where…? Where are they…? I could swear I saw them just before I stopped…
They just vanished… I have a bad feeling about this… I try to concentrate, but this almost painfully silence is driving me nuts… What did I get myself into this time…?
"Oof!!" Shoot, I lost my focus… my arm dangles as I leap back, it took one of their punches to break it apart… beasts… they are beasts… dang, I can't fight back like this… it would just take a… Agh…!!
Blood shots into my mouth as a giant fist rams against my stomach again, and again, every time stronger than the last one… A savage last hit lands on me, sending me up into the air… I can't think of anything this time… I think I might as well just give up… An intense pain shoots through my body, as one of them presses my back against his humongous knee… I grit my teeth as he presses harder, I think my back is going to break any moment now… No…! I heard something snap just now… and the pain is near unbearable now…
I fall to the ground with a great thud, my back hurts so bad… I fear it might be broken… Looking at the ceiling I can only hope for a miracle… although this time… I know none will happen… Please… don't let me die here… The pain suddenly becomes unbearable, as one of my slaughterers lies his foot on my back, shattering what's left of my severed bones…
With delight I realize that my knife it's just inches away from my reach, I quickly shoot my hand to get it, however, blood frothed from my mouth as my belly was effortlessly crushed beneath his foot, my body quickly becomes numb, and I end submerged in an agony daze, I feel like I'm going to puke my own intestines…
I must reach my knife… I squirm trying to reach my knife, I grit my teeth… as my executioner applies even more weigh on his crushing foot, I fill with hope as my hand finally get hold of the golden stiletto… However, all my strength suddenly vanishes in a painful tow, as my body rises into the air… my lethargic body suddenly becomes numb due to the intense pain, and I then met the ground face-first… the man then continued to wave my body around like a whip, each crash with the ground leaves me completely shocked, I try to do anything at all but my body won't respond… and with each pull, I feel like my legs are just going to detach from my body…
Suddenly, I feel my body is embraced with some kind of strength… it feels like when Nina and Lethe were in danger… and this power feels so… familiar…
I see my opportunity, as my body passes overhead the man waving me around I lunge at him the knife, with his own speed, the knife slices the man's throat wide open, as I fly feet away from him, and crash my body with the marble walls…
My body is far from okay… but cutting that man's neck felt so relieving… I finally know they aren't beyond Ashera's might… But now… I don't think the other one will give me the chance to hit… Not that I can move now anyways…
He comes right at me with that killer glare on his eyes, I try to move, but I find myself convulsing in pain as I try to move my legs, I grit my teeth as I realize I'm done for… I let down everybody… darn it… I just screwed everything up… what am I gon… Agh…!
I try to take a deep breathe, seeing at the man's hand moving fast toward my neck, but does naught as a brutal hit lands on my stomach as I'm lifted from the ground by the neck, I feel how he tightens his grip more and more, everything starts going black in no time…
I try to focus but it's of no use… The pain takes over my body, as I try frantically to reach for my father's combat knife… all the way down to my boots… I somehow overcome the pain and get my legs to move, at least enough to let me grab my salvation, just as I think I've reached it, the immense brute sinks his fist into my stomach… Bloods froths from my mouth as my body becomes numb again… I however manage somehow to reach my knife, which just won't unsheathe… Dammit, my leg… I can't…
Then, just as the knife unsheathes, I launch a lightening quick slash and repeat again and again, desperate as I'm already low on oxygen… Before long, I fall on the ground making a loud racket as I come about crashing into the ground… And so the encounter finished… I feel relieved, but at the same time hopeless… lying on the ground… almost delirious with the pain… How am I going to explain this to mister Reguriar and the others…?
"What a disappointment…" That voice…
"As a seal, you should have been able to defeat them in matter of seconds… Yet, you're now at the brink of death…" This guy… When did he arrive…? It's like… he just floated around, just like the guys back there…
"What… are you talking… about?" Shoot… It hurts to breathe…
"Didn't Lien or Cassandra tell you?" Who…? He isn't talking about… Those two… Come to think of it… His armor does look like theirs… and yet, there's something different about him…
"No? Hmm, what were they intending to do with you?"
"Who are…? Agh…! Who are you people anyways?"
"Well, it is my obligation to tell you… since they didn't… But first …" …? What is he going to do?
"Hold on…" What's happening…? This blue aura… It's cold? He is healing me… But… why?
"There, you should be feeling better now, now follow me…"
"Why did you…?"
"Doesn't matter… Nevertheless, what I'm going to tell you IS important" His eyes… That golden glow in his eyes… he is one of them, isn't it?
"You might have guessed by my appearance, I'm related with the other 2 girls you met… The 3 of us are your "guardians"… We were created to protect the Seal of destruction…"
"And that would be me… huh? I'm so important that you try to kill me every once in a while"
"Don't get ahead of yourself… You are not important to us at all… What you hold inside of you is what matters… The seal itself, which Lien implanted on your very soul. And it's our obligation to see that the host develops at 100 the abilities granted by the seal. You and the other seals…"
"There are more like me?"
"Yes… in fact, 2 of the other seals are right here in this mansion…" Don't tell me the 2 seals are…
"When the eight seals develop all of their abilities, the next step in… their design will be revealed… You should have been able to create large fireballs without any need of magic tomes by now… But you didn't use them, why?"
"…"
"So you don't know how to use them? What a predicament… Our expectation were high, at least mine… I wonder what Lien saw in you…" Now I'm pissed off… And I don't know whether to believe this crap or not… It feels so wrong, all of this…
"Anyhow, now that you know the purpose of this little game of ours… I have a request for you… the guardians of the young seals are to complete a very important task set in another place… You might not be powerful… but that kid will follow you anywhere, even to death itself if you asked him…"
"Well, well, here we are, I'll leave now, take care of the seals on our behalf…"
"Wait…!" He's gone, and I just blinked, who are these people…? This is just too complicated… What…? This door… I didn't see it here before… I'm just going crazy, am I not?
I better check it out…
The door opens with a creak, as I enter the feebly illuminated room, at the end of the room I can distinguish 2 figures… one is Remy… the other one… that girl must be Remy's sister… Huh?! Blood is coming out of both of their chests… This is… the other seals… Darn it, I must get them out of here and fast…
What the hell is this ritual about…? This is all so screwed up… And why, these two of all the people… I need to stop this… before I destroy anyone else's life… I'll figure it out somehow… I surely will
"… Koel… You came…" Remy suddenly muttered with a low and weak voice… before closing his eyes… I hate this… because it's my entire fault…
End of Tale of Bonds…