Sorry for the delay. I have been studying hard for school and my dad has been hogging the only computer at my house with Microsoft word. Anyway, please enjoy this exciting, and first time ever, update that has more than SIX THOUSAND WORDS as an apology :).
Episode 6: Em'Bracing One's Deity
As the three of them finally entered the central district of the town, they looked around as they saw many different people, all buying things from items, to simply examining each other's bracelet. Zack was really interested into how many people he actually did see that had bracelets. He thought it was pretty uncommon for people to have bracelets, but seeing the many people who had one he was starting to think otherwise. He stopped though as he saw Brace and Matsu stop at a building in the area. From the look of it, it appeared to have pictures of different gems and weapons on the main heading of the building, but no actual writing.
"Is this the place we're looking for?" Zack asked, not knowing where they were. He looked as Brace nodded happily.
"Yup, this is it." She replied. Zack blinked curiously as he continued looking at the building. He had no idea as to what to expect from a building like this, and even less as to what weapons here were like. He sighed as he walked into the store with the others, seeing how they already left inside. But when he entered, he looked around confusedly, seeing how there were only hilts of weapons and no actual blades or mallets to the hilts.
"Um..." Zack started, looking around confused. Brace and Matsu turned around, seeing how Zack was just standing there with a confused expression on his face.
"Something wrong?" Matsu asked.
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind for "weapons". Where are the actual blades and such?" Matsu and Brace looked at each other confuse before looking back at Zack.
"What are you talking about? We don't use actual blades for our weapons." Brace replied.
"Then what point is there to have a weapon shop if there isn't even any weapon, and just the hilt?"
"You see." Brace said, going to the counter. The only thing at the counter at the time appeared to be a silver glass bell, and no one else. She grabbed the hilt of it before looking back at Zack. "You might feel a little bit weird at first." Brace said.
"What the heck is that suppose to mean?" Zack asked. His answer came to him as Brace began to shake the bell. At first, nothing happened and everything was the same it was as usual. Then, to his surprise, he notice the wind in the building begin to pick up. Within seconds, he gasped as he saw he was beginning to fade, more and more until there would be nothing left of him. He looked back at Matsu and Brace, wondering if they were worried about the situation as well. But to his surprise, they just smiled as they had finally completely disappeared. He looked back at his hands as he began to feel light headed. Then everything went blank as he felt nothing, and he completely disappeared, and worse yet, feeling like he never existed.
When his body finally began to appear again, he gasped as he fell to his knees, putting one of his hands over his stomachs. He felt Brace's hand over his shoulder though as he began to feel like heaving, taking quick second large breaths every now and then, shaking like his stomach was going to explode.
"Zack! Just relax." Brace said, trying to comfort him. Zack looked at her, a bit happy she was trying to comfort him, until he threw his hand over his mouth, knowing he was about to barf. Brace quickly jumped up and took a step back as she saw the disgusting pile of vomit being poured out from Zack's mouth. Zack just continued breathing as he felt Brace's hand on his shoulders again. After a few seconds without puking, he breathed heavily as he slowly got up, wobbling a bit at first as Brace pulled his arm over her shoulder, helping him keep his balance.
"S-Sorry..." He said, apologizing for the floor. Now that he paid more attention, he was in a completely different place. There was darkness everywhere, except for the floor that was white, and as he looked more closely, he saw what some strange guy smashing his hammer on the hilt of a sword on an anvil. As the stranger looked up, he lifted the helmet that protected his face from the sparks that could've gotten into his eyes.
"If your going to puke, do it somewhere else away from my work." The guy said,
as he put the hammer and the hilt away.
"Sorry. He's not from around here and isn't use to teleporting." Brace said, looking back at Zack who was still breathing heavily. The stranger looked back at Zack questionably, wondering how someone couldn't be used to teleporting. He then paid close attention to Zack's wrist, as he noticed he was wearing a bracelet. Even though he wasn't surprised, he found it confusing as to how someone who even had a bracelet could puke after. Nonetheless though, he sighed as he walked over to the two. Zack noticed as he got closer that he appeared to be taller by about two feet. The stranger looked into Zack's half open yet queasy eyes as he continued to stare.
"So are you a customer, or a vomiter?" The stranger asked, still mad about the puke on the floor. Zack breathed for a few more seconds before he took his hands off of Brace, trying to get to his balance. Brace looked at him worriedly, as he slouched a bit while he stood.
"I guess I'm a customer." Zack replied. The stranger just stared at him for a few more seconds before raising his hand as a friendly gesture.
"Well then, I suppose welcome." The stranger said. Zack grinned a bit as he shook the strangers hand again.
"Thanks." Zack's eyes widened though as he realized that someone was missing. "Wait, where's Matsu ?" Zack said, worried that he was somewhere terrible, or even worse, stuck between dimensions.
"I'm over here dude." Matsu replied. As Zack looked, his eyes went wider as he saw Matsu standing near a rack of hilts, looking at each different design than the last. "Pretty interesting stuff here I say." Matsu said, admiring the collection.
"Will someone tell me what the big deal is over these dumb hilts? What's the point of having them if there aren't any attachments for weapons?" Zack asked, annoyed with the fact that there was nothing but hilts. The shopkeeper looked at him even more confused than before, not knowing how he couldn't understand their use.
"You really aren't from around here, are you?" The shopkeeper asked. Zack shook his head with a no.
"She told you that before. She really wasn't bluffing." Zack replied. The shopkeeper just sighed as he looked back at Matsu .
"Show him how it works." He yelled so that Matsu could hear him. Matsu nodded as he grabbed the hilt of one of the weapons. He put both his hands on it as he stared straight at it. Zack looked a bit confused before he saw what happened next. The entire weapon was glowing a bright light as it grew. The taller it got, the tip of it began to spread out. After a few seconds, the hilt had completely turned into a giant double-sided mallet. On the rims of it there appeared to be a metal casing, surrounded by spikes.
"Awesome!" Zack yelled surprised. Matsu grinned as he raised the giant mallet, then brought it back down at full force. The ground shook violently as cracks in the ground began to form, continuing to grow until it was a foot away from Brace's, Zack's, and the shopkeeper's feet.
"Still think there stupid?" Matsu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hell no! Let me try." Zack said, as raising his hands to catch. He was expecting Matsu to throw a different hilt to him that was still on the wall. But instead, he threw the giant sized mallet, which caused Zack to freak out. But as it got closer, it began to glow again as it shrunk back down. By the time Zack caught it, it reverted into a hilt again.
"Wow…"
"That's the power
of the hilts. They aren't like regular weapons. The outcome of the
weapon is determined by the user's bracelet." The shopkeeper
said, looking back at Zack.
"All you have to do is concentrate.
Just focus your energy into the hilt, and it will transform on its
own." The shopkeeper said, taking a step back to give Zack space.
Zack nodded as he grabbed the hilt with both hands. He stared at the hilt, wondering what it would turn out as after it transformed. But after waiting a few seconds, nothing happened. He squeezed on the hilt tighter, thinking he wasn't squeezing it tight enough. Still nothing. Getting a bit impatient, he grunted as he squeezed as hard as he could, shaking his hand from the amount of pressure he was putting on the bracelet, holding his breath as well. He gasped as he finally stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath. The shopkeeper raised his eyes a bit confused, unable to believe what he just saw.
"Are you even from this world?" The shopkeeper asked.
"We were putting a big emphasis on "from" when we said that I'm not from this place." Zack said, holding the hilt with one hand only. The stranger rubbed his chin, thinking about what it was that Zack said. He then looked back at the bracelet, wondering how he couldn't get his bracelet to work, even if he was from a different world.
"Let me see your bracelet." The shopkeeper said. Zack and the others looked a bit curiously as Zack held his bracelet towards the stranger. The stranger grabbed his arm as he looked on the design of it, looking all around it from the edges, the sides, and the jewel on it. Zack blinked confusedly as he saw the stranger continuing to look, as if in a trance by the bracelet. He got even more confused as he saw the stranger's eyes widening a bit, as if something was really surprising or really shocking. After a few more seconds he let go of his wrist, returning towards the anvil.
"So…what's going on then?" Zack asked.
"Come over here." He commanded. Zack looked at the other two a bit curiously before looking back at the stranger. He shrugged to himself as he started walking over to the stranger. "Put your hand on the anvil." Zack blinked confusingly for a moment before doing as the stranger said. His eyes widened though as latches appeared out of nowhere, on both ends of the bracelet, and making it impossible for Zack to remove.
"What's going on?" Zack yelled, trying to pull his arm through the latches.
"Just hold still." As Zack looked, he grew a completely nervous look as he saw the shopkeeper with a blade that had a green glow around it.
"W-What are you doing?" Zack nervously asked, feeling sweat dropping behind his head.
"Either you hold still or your arm is going to come off." The stranger said, raising his sword. Zack's eyes widened as it came down with the shopkeeper's full force. Right when it was mere inches from the bracelet, fire burst from the bracelet itself as it was enveloped by a burning fiery aura, all around the bracelet within a sphere. Zack could see sparks fly as the sword broke on impact with the bracelet. He then saw that the fire burned the latches off, freeing his arm. He quickly tugged away and jumped back, not wanting the stranger to try again.
"What the hell was that?!" Zack stammered. He couldn't tell what was more confusing, that the bracelet enveloped in flames on its own, or why the shopkeeper was trying to cut the bracelet to begin with. He noticed a surprised look on the shopkeepers face as he saw the bracelet slowly begin to dim before the aura dissipated.
"I never would've expected it even for myself." The shopkeeper said. Brace and Matsu looked at each other confused before looking back at the shopkeeper.
"What was unexpected?" Matsu asked.
"That bracelet's deity…" He started, looking more and more closely with each passing second. "It's...It's not a commune." Zack looked back curiously as he heard Brace gasp a little.
"What's a commune?"
"Well, remember the other day when I explained how each bracelet has a different deity?" Brace asked.
"Umm...yeah?"
"Well, a commune is an original of the deities. However, very rarely will someone have a bracelet that has a deity that isn't one of the original six. In your case, you have something else than a dragon in your bracelet." Zack's eyes widened a bit as he looked down at the bracelet. The day for him has just kept getting weirder and weirder. First he finds out Kelika is under attack, then he meets some stranger that gives him a weird stone, then he throws up because he teleported for the first time in his life, then he realizes his bracelet isn't normal.
"Well if my bracelet isn't a commune thing, what the hell is it?" Zack asked, looking at it, holding it above his head.
"I don't know to be honest. Most non-commune bracelets are usually just earth or water deities. This is the first time in over a hundred years that we've seen a different deity in a fire bracelet." The shopkeeper said, looking at the gem of the bracelet. Zack looked at him a bit shocked.
"Over a hundred years?!" Zack stammered. He looked back at the bracelet again. Normally, he'd think something different would actually be a cool thing, but in a world like this it was making him think otherwise.
"Well why would Zack get a different bracelet?" Matsu said, looking at it closer. "Zack, where did you..." Matsu started, before being interrupted by the sudden rumble that was moving the ground. The four of them tried to maintain balance as the ground trembled violently. Zack looked around, wondering what was causing the ground to shake so violently, but he couldn't see anything else than what he had already seen before.
"What's going on?" Zack asked, a bit surprised.
"Something from the outside must be going on. It's affecting this world as well." Brace said. Zack looked curiously as Brace was digging through her pockets. He had no idea what she was looking for before he grew a bit nervous, pulling out a crystal bell much like the one they used to get into this area to begin with.
"W-What are you doing?" Zack asked nervously.
"Sorry Zack, but we got to get out of here. If the crystal bell at the shop is destroyed, we'll be stuck here forever." Brace said, as she began to shake it. As before, there was nothing for a few seconds until the three of them started to fade bit by bit. Zack's eyes widened though as he looked back at the shopkeeper, who was just standing there as he watched the other three fade away.
"Wait! Hey old dude, grab onto my hand!" Zack yelled, reaching his hands out. He couldn't walk closer as he could barely feel his own legs. He looked strangely as the shopkeeper just smiled.
"Relax, this is my realm. I no more than one way to leave." The guy said, as Zack and the others had finally faded away.
Zack gasped as he felt himself falling to the ground. He breathed heavily as he did before, but this time his stomach felt a little bit better than it did before. Luckily, he didn't feel like he was going to puke this time around, although his vision was still a bit blurry. He looked around the store. It seemed weird to him though. Even though his vision was blurry, he knew something was wrong. To looked to the side though as he felt Brace lifting his arm around her head, and helping him to the ground. As Brace looked back, she could see a small shade of white everywhere around his eyes, able to tell that his vision was blurry.
"Nice to see you didn't throw up this time around." Brace said jokingly. The two of them just chuckled a bit until they heard an explosion. Zack couldn't tell what it was that was going on, but he could see fire spreading around. If it wasn't for the fact there were red glowing things around, it was definitely the smoke that assured him. His vision finally started to clear more as he tried to focus more on the things around them. Brace looked at him as he shook his head a bit, rubbing his eyes with his fingers to see better. She let go of his arm as he gave the ok, letting her know he could finally stand.
"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Brace asked, worried about his uneasiness with teleporting, and the battle he had the other day.
"Yeah I'll be f..." Zack started. But as he saw behind her, his eyes widened as he saw the entire building they were in was destroyed. There was fire on other buildings as well, as the sky filled with smoke and tinder. "What the? What the heck is going on?" Zack asked, shocked at the sudden environments. He looked behind him though as he heard footsteps. He saw Matsu standing there with a more serious look than usual.
"Brace, we got to go now. The village is under siege." Matsu warned. Brace gave him a confused look as a reply.
"Under siege? By who?" Brace asked. Before Matsu could answer, they all turned around as they heard the harsh whistling of something flinging towards them. When they looked, they saw what appeared to be a giant boulder covered in fire, heading straight for them. Zack ran in front of the two, aiming his hands at it.
"I got this. Don't wor..." Zack started. But as he saw the boulder, he started having a flash back from the incident seven years ago. His heart froze in fear from the sudden sight of the giant boulder, roughly the same size as the one that crashed into his car. Zack just stood there with his eyes wide open, completely blank in fear. He couldn't get his body to respond, even if he wanted. Zack and Matsu just looked at Zack, worried about why he froze all of the sudden.
"Zack! Snap out of it!" Brace shouted. But her yelling didn't even phase Zack as he just continued to stare at the burning boulder that got closer and larger in size. Matsu immediately pushed Zack behind them, and clapped both his hands together.
"Stand back!" Matsu shouted. He then smashed his fists into the ground. Simultaneously, a large stone wall began to form in front of the three of them. It was at least twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. The giant boulder finally collapsed into the giant structure with great force, causing debris from the boulder to fly everywhere. Matsu grunted as he continued holding the entire blast from the wall, losing energy from protecting the three of them. With a final sigh, he lifted his hands from the ground, rubbing them a bit from the soreness.
"Are you ok?" Brace asked.
"Yeah, I'm f..." Matsu started. But as he turned around, thinking Brace was talking to him, he felt his sweat drop as he saw Brace looking at Zack worriedly. "Hey!"
"Zack! Wake up!" Brace said, shaking him a bit. He was still in the zombie like state he was in, unable to tell respond in anyway. After a few seconds, he finally blinked as he looked around, seeing Brace right in front of him.
"W-What happened?" Zack asked, wondering where the giant flaming boulder went.
"You tell us dude!" Matsu yelled, a bit angry that Zack's freezing almost got them killed. "One minute you say you're going to destroy the thing, next thing we know you're frozen as a statue!" Zack looked at him a bit confused before he remembered twhat just happened. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering how he would explain things to his friends.
"Look... Let's just say I'd like to keep that stuff to myself, ok?" Zack mentioned. Before Matsu could even protest, the three of them looked as they heard something coming. As they looked, they saw what appeared to be three different soldiers, all with a strange helmet that covered their head from the eyes and above. Only their mouths' were uncovered. They also had strange black capes on their backs as well, with a weird emblem on it. The emblem seemed to be in the form of some strange demonic hand.
"Who are those guys?" Zack asked.
"S-S-Shadow knights!" Brace said, shocked. Zack looked at her somewhat curious and surprised.
"Shadow knights?"
"They're descendants of the dark Balance. No one has seen them since the war a thousand years ago!" Brace said, running behind Zack. Zack looked at her curiously before looking back at the knights. He took a stance, ready for anything, as he saw the others walking towards them.
"You there! Red head!" One of the knights said, pointing a sword at him. The blade itself was completely black, and had some strange purple aura resonating around it.
"My name is Zack!" He replied.
"We will give you one chance only. Surrender that girl to us and we'll spare your pathetic lives!" The knight said, as the other two knights took out their blades.
"Like hell I will!" Zack said, stretching one of his arms out in front of Brace, letting the both of them know that he wasn't about to surrender Brace so willingly.
"Hmph, fool." When the knight swung his blade, Zack's eyes widened as he saw a black materialized blast heading straight for them. He could feel the ground shake as the blast cut across it, heading towards Zack and Brace. Zack took no hesitation this time in order to blast it back with his bracelet. The knight, who wasn't expecting it, was surprised that Zack managed to destroy the blast that came towards him.
"So, you're a user as well, huh? Not bad, even though I wasn't even trying." The knight said. He repeated his attack as the blast came at Zack, but with a much deadlier force of power. Zack tried to blast it again, hoping to end in the same results. But to his shock, his fire blasting didn't even seem to phase through it as he black wave just cut through it, heading straight for the two. Zack concentrated the fire to his arms as he covered himself around them, ready to take the brunt of the attack. He screamed a bit as he could feel the wave cutting against his skin, but unable to cut through Zack. Zack then managed to actually grab the wave, and sent it flying into the sky. When it was out of sight, there was an explosion that could be seen in it.
"Zack!" Brace said worriedly. As she looked, she saw the sides of his arms bleeding from where the blade cut him. He breathed heavily as he retook his original stance from before.
"Interesting. I've never seen anyone able to actually grab the blast wave, let alone block it themselves." The knight said, surprised.
"You haven't seen anything yet." Zack replied, concentrating his energy into his hands. At first, Zack managed to get the fire on his hands ready, concentrating for the blast. But Zack stuttered a bit, feeling immense pain into his shoulders. He dropped to one of his knees as he rubbed his shoulders, grunting.
"Zack! You can't fight them. You haven't fully healed from the fight!" Brace said, worriedly. Damn it, I doubt the teleporting from earlier is helping either. Zack thought to himself, looking back at the three knights.
"You should listen to the girl. A warrior can't fight if they can't even lift a blade." The knight said, holding his sword in front of himself. "A knight knows how to wield a blade, but a warrior knows how to fight as long as they can wield that blade. You on the other hand, can't even seem to use much energy. So I'll make you one last final offer: Surrender the girl, or die!" The knight shouted. Zack just breathed a bit heavily from the energy he just wasted, trying to form an attack. He trembled a bit as he made his way back to his feet, taking a stand.
"And I told you before, I'm not going!" Zack yelled back.
"Fool. Knights, unsheathe your blades!" The knight said. The other two did as they were told, taking out identical blades as well. "Prepare to strike! Take aim!" The three knights then shifted their blade, sideways.
"Zack, just get out of here. I'll be fine, I promise." Brace said, worried about Zack.
"Tch, no offense Brace but if you don't even like fighting, considering what these guys would do to you I doubt it." Zack said, not about to give up.
"And die!" The knight yelled. Simultaneously, each of the knights shot a black wave towards Zack, with the side ones getting closer to the middle one. When they touched, each of them morphed into a giant single blade, making it nearly impossible for Zack to block in his given condition. Suddenly, a massive stone wall rose from the ground in front of them, blocking off the attack. When everyone looked, they saw Matsu with his hands to the ground. He appeared to have exhausted a lot of energy in that blast, as he seemed to be sweating a lot and breathing heavily.
"You didn't...forget about me...did ya?" Matsu said, taking a breath in between every few words. Zack and Brace smiled as they saw Matsu just saved them.
"Where were you earlier?!" Zack stammered. "You could've helped out earlier you know?"
"Be grateful I even helped you at all!" Matsu shouted back. Brace felt a sweat drop as the two bickered. "Besides, I was waiting for them to use that attack. Look at them now." Matsu said. Zack and Brace looked back curiously to see the three knights breathing a bit heavily.
"Why are the knights exhausted?" Zack asked, confused.
"It's simple for us to shoot a blast towards our targets. But it takes a large drain of energy to combine our blasts." One of the other knights' replied.
"Sweet! At least at this low power we can take 'em now!" Zack said, sounding confident.
"You think you can match with us now? We haven't even been trying!" Zack, Matsu, and Brace looked a bit shocked as they saw the three knights instantly vanished.
"What the? Where'd they go?" Zack asked, looking all around. Matsu yelled in pain a bit as he was suddenly punched on the side of his face, sending him straight into a wall a few feet over. As Zack and Brace looked, they saw one of the knight's who just stood there, his arm still out in a punching position. Zack turned around though as he heard Brace scream. When he looked back, one of the knights' were holding her with one hand holding her arm, and another arm around her neck.
"Let her go!" Zack shouted, rushing towards them. Zack's eyes widened though as a fist punched right into his stomach. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as Zack saw the knight instantly appear in front of him. Like Matsu, Zack was thrust to a wall, but not breaking through it like Matsu. Before his feet could even touch the ground, the same knight pinned him by the neck with his hand, against the wall. Zack grunted as he grabbed the knight's hand as he attempted to pull it off of him, but to no use.
"Now do you get it?" The knight who was holding Brace said. "Our strength is never equal. We've trained for over a thousand years, and there's no way a couple of kids are going to get in our way!" Brace just continued to struggle to break free from the knight.
"Let go!" Brace shouted. She moved her head down as far as possible, then, as hard as she could, smacked the back of her head against the knight's head. The knight lost his grip as he covered his nose which Brace just smacked into. "Zack!" Brace said worriedly, running over to help him. Before she could even get half way towards them though, the stranger reappeared right in front of her. Zack's and Brace's eyes widened as they knew they were not dealing with ordinary people. The knight grunted as he slapped against Brace's face fiercely with the back of his hand, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Ignorant wench!" The knight replied.
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Zack yelled in fierce anger. Suddenly, everyone looked as they saw Zack's bracelet beginning to glow an ominous yellowish-orange light. The knight who was holding him lost his grip in fear, as he took a few steps back. "W-What the heck is going on?" Zack asked, confused. By this time, Matsu finally managed to push the rubble off of him, and stood, a bit exhaustingly. His eyes widened as well as he saw Zack's bracelet glowing as well.
"H-His bracelet..." One of the other knights stuttered. Zack's eyes went wide in shock though as his pain had finally lifted, and his sore bones were completely healed. He felt like he didn't even have any feeling at all at this time. He glared back at the knights who attacked them earlier, angered by the fact they didn't care who they hurt. With immense speed, Zack suddenly reappeared, slamming one of the knights to the wall he was slammed into.
"Why you..." One of the knights shouted, as he grabbed his sword again. Before he could even take it out though, Zack shot an immense blast straight towards the knight, sending hi flying through the ruined buildings in the town. Zack smirked for a bit, seeing how everything was better, before he glared back at the knight who smacked Brace.
"Interesting power. But I wonder how long you can sustain it." The knight said, instantly vanishing. Zack looked all around, thinking that he was going to attack from somewhere. But after a few seconds, nothing happened and he knew the knight had left by then. He suddenly remembered Matsu and Brace, who were attacked as well. He ran over to Brace first, a bit worried as to if she was ok.
"Hey Brace? You alright?" Zack asked. Brace just continued to look at him for a few seconds before nodding. They looked back as they heard Matsu walking towards them.
"Man Zack, that was awesome! How'd you pull off all those cool stunts?" Matsu asked, impressed. Zack just grew a confused look as he looked at the bracelet, still shinning.
"I don't know. This thing just started up on it's..." Zack started , before the three of them heard footsteps again. As they looked, they could see many more different soldiers walking in files ion the street, heading towards them.
"Oh man, how many are there?" Matsu complained. At that moment, Zack's bracelet had finally stopped shinning, and turned back to normal. Zack's eyes went blank as he felt a large amount of energy from him was just drained. He collapsed to his knees as he started to breath heavily again, causing the others to look worried.
"Zack!" Brace and Matsu said worriedly.
"I'm...fine...although I don't think I'll be able to pull that off again." Zack said, worriedly.
"It's ok, we can run from here." Brace said, helping Zack to his feet. "We should be able to lose them if we get to the other side of town."
"Ok, then let's go." Zack said, as the three of them started running out of town. Meanwhile, the army of knights that were walking down the street all stopped, as they saw the three running. The knights in the middle cleared the way as a strange robbed man moved to the front, riding a strange black horse. He smirked as he looked at the three running, knowing it was pointless. At that moment, the knight who escaped earlier reappeared in front of the strange robbed man, kneeling in respect.
"Did you play your part?" The stranger asked. The knight nodded.
"Yes sir, we managed to get him to start using his burst mode. Although, he hadn't really reached up to a first level of it yet." The knight said, a bit concerned.
"It matters not. After all, we only need him to know he can burst for our plan to go." The stranger said, chuckling. "And as for you..." He started, raising his hand in front of the knight. The knight began to stare in complete fear.
"W-W-Wait sir! I did what you ordered!" The knight said, panicking.
"We have no place in this army for cowards." A large black aura started to materlize in the stranger's hand in the shape of a flame. Without hesitation, he blasted the burning black flame, completely incinerating the knight into. All that was seen after the blast was a pile of ash and cinder as it started to blow away with the breeze of the wind. The robed man looked back at the direction that Zack and the others had ran.
"Shall I give the order to charge sir?" One of the knights asked, bowing in respect. The robed figure just shook his head, giving a no.
"That won't be necessary soldier. We just needed to give them the warning. Now that they know we're after them, it's a matter of time before he returns her to her home." The man pulled his hand out in front of his face. As he focused on the palm, a black fire began to grow from it. It illuminated a purplish vision, as it showed Zack and the others who were running away. As he looked, the sight shifted to Brace's face, seeing how she kept running for her life, just like the others. "And soon, that girl will bring us to the sky...Heh heh..." The man said, as he began to chuckle.
The three of them didn't even bother to turn around, not wanting to see if they were being chased. They just kept running for their lives, and didn't plan to stop until they were out of the town. Each of them had something on their minds at the time. Zack was really confused about why an army was attacking the town, and what confused him more is how he gained so much energy, and grew exhausted from it. It's not every day he get's a bracelet that starts glowing and fills one with energy, and especially not any day for Zack until recently. Matsu was worried about where the army actually came from. He also wanted to know how they knew he was from a different world. He hadn't met anyone other than Brace and Matsu that he really got to know, and the fact that smoke filled the air and fire was burning everywhere, there was no way he'd have a second shadow out. Based on the direction that they came from, it was the same direction as Matsu's home town, which means they might have attacked the village as well. He was especially worried about whether or not his brother was alright. And Brace was the most concerned, wondering how they found her so fast. She knew that the army was for her and for her alone, yet she had no idea how they managed to find her. All she did know is that she had to return home, where she would be safe from harm, and the dark Balance. As a matter of fact, it wasn't just a matter of returning Brace back home, now that Zack realizes. He needed to get Matsu and himself there too. If it's as strong as Brace said it was, her home was the only place where the three would find safety, anywhere in this world…
