Episode 8: Em'bracing The Aftermath
The town was desolate, and destroyed. After the attack from the Shadow knights, they left many buildings destroyed, many people dead, and many people forced to leave. Within these desolate ruins, a girl was running. The girl was probably six years old, only about two and a half feet tall with pink hair. She ran for her life as the people behind her chased her. Clutched in the center of this little girls arm, was a strange, black necklace. For some unknown reason, it was the only thing didn't seem to have been dusted or wrecked from the destruction of the city. Suddenly, the little girl tripped, falling on her stomach. She rubbed her head a bit, trying to focus, when she turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the three that were chasing her. They appeared to be villagers who had survived the destruction of the city, based on their looks and scrapped clothing. They held tool in their hands as weapons. One had a crop scythe, one had a pitchfork, and one had a shovel. The girl crawled backwards in fright until she bumped into a mound of debris. Terror grew on her face as she saw the three walking closer.
"This is your last chance kid, give us that stone or we'll kill you!" One of the villagers said, stepping closer to the girl. The little girl just shook her head.
"No! It's mine! You can't have dis one!" The little girl yelled. The villager grew an angrier face as he looked at the girl. He raised his shovel up until it was above his head.
"You little brat!" The villager said, swinging his shovel down at full force. The little girl was just frozen as she watched the shovel coming down at her at full force. Then, from the sky, a green wave of energy sliced through one of the attacker's hand, and causing it to cut off completely. Everyone looked in fear as blood oozed from the cut on the villager's hand, while a driblet of blood fell on the girl's face.
"Ahhhh!" The villager said, screaming in pain. Out of nowhere, a boy, who appeared to be a teenager, stepped in front of the three villagers, and the girl. He had a green shirt on with dark green sleeves. His hair was spiky a bit with a blonde color to them. And the eyes of the strange teenager was blue. His glare was focused on the three villagers who were attacking the little girl just now.
"You...You bastard!" The villager shouted, using his other hand to punch the strange teenager. Instantly, the teenager vanished, causing the villager to hit nothing but air. The villagers blinked confusingly until they saw the teen on the mound of rubble, behind the girl. The teen's expression just continued to glare at the three, when his bracelet shined an array of vivid green colors, as well as his whole hand. The teen aimed his hand towards the center to where the three were standing. As he concentrated, the wind suddenly picked up as a strange swirl began to appear. With the ever growing wind, the swirl began to grow to an immense size, as the three began to feel the wind tugging on their clothes. Within a few seconds, the strange swirling twister grew until it was twice the size of the three men. The little girl appeared to be the only one who knew what was happening, as she began to hold on tightly to the mound of rubble behind her. The men screamed as they were being sucked into the tornado, all three of them getting blown out after awhile, into different directions, and then the twister disappearing. The teen suddenly jumped back down as he saw that the men were gone. As he turned around, the little girl was looking at him somewhat scared, and the blood that dripped onto her face slowly ran down her cheek...
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The sun was shining brightly as Zack, Matsu, and Brace walked through the woods. After narrowly escaping the Shadow Knights, and a strange encounter with Jeris, everything was back to normal as they continued their adventure of bringing Brace home. The woods seemed to be peaceful and quiet like, unlike the village they had just came from, that was totally obliterated when they saw it again. They weren't surprised though, seeing how the army set fire to the town, almost burning everything down. They don't know if anyone else survived the attack, although they felt somewhat fortunate not to see any dead bodies. Zack stared back into the sun, wondering if it's the same sun that shined on his own planet. Everything here was totally out of whack, and now that he thought of it, he wondered if the animals here are the same as well.
"Hey, how's the mappin' coming along, Matsu?" Zack asked, looking back at Matsu as the three continued to walk. As he did, Matsu just appeared to be twisting and turning, stretching and folding the map in multiple directions, due to the large size.
"Hmm...well as far as I can see..." Matsu started, holding part of the map in his arm as he pointed to a red dot on it. "The next village we're coming too is Jongolis. I think it's just a few minutes from here." Matsu said, trying to fold the map again. Zack looked back as he heard Brace sighing happily.
"Ah, Jongolis. I remember when I went there before." Brace said, starring into the sky.
"Really? What's it like?"
"Well, when I visited the people were really nice, but their food there was awesome!"
"Sounds like a good place to spend the night." Matsu commented. Brace and Zack looked back at him confused.
"Why spend the night? It's not even noon yet." Brace replied. Matsu pointed towards a direction in the sky, which Brace and Zack looked at. In the sky, there appeared to be dark thunder clouds growing. Zack and Brace could see bits of lightning in the clouds flashing.
"Oh dang it." Brace complained. Now Zack was the only one confused about the situation.
"I don't get it? It's just a little storm passing by. Just wait in town for a few hours till the storm passes, then we can leave again...right?" Zack asked, curiously.
"I'm guessing your storms aren't like ours, huh Zack? The storms around our planet can last for a long time, possibly even for days!" Matsu stammered. Zack looked at him in disbelief.
"Days?! Aww man!" Zack complained, irritated.
"Well..." Brace started, touching her lips with her finger, going into thought. Zack and Matsu looked at her curiously, wondering what she had on her mind. "Technically, there is a bridge that connects to a cave. We could take it, but we'd have to find the Bridge Dono first." Zack looked at her confused.
"What's a Bridge Dono?"
"Oh, they're sorta like people who are in charge of lowering and activating bridges. They have a jewel that they're in charge of keeping, and making sure that they use it for their job."
"Huh...a Bridge Dono." Zack statted, sounding a bit interested.
"Up there!" Matsu said, looking to the top of a hill. "Once we cross that, we'll be in Jonholis!"" Matsu said a bit happily.
"Finally! Food, here we come!" Brace said happily, running to the top of the hill. She was thrilled with the fact they could finally get some good tasting food after awhile. All they were able to eat for the time being was anything they could find. The forest was fulll of berries and such, as well as some fish, but that's all they have been eating for the last two days. Her heart raced in joy as she finally reached the top of the hill. But, a struck of horror shot across her face as she dropped to her knees. Zack and Matsu looked a bit worried at this, instantly running for the top of the hill.
"Brace, what's wr..." Zack started, before widening his eyes at the sight of the town below the hill. At the bottom, Zack and Matsu saw the destruction left behind by the dark army. Buildings had crumbled, dust filled the city, and worst yet, there was blood in a few areas. They knew full well that only the Shadow knights would do this.
"The Shadow knights were here too?" Matsu said, unable to believe what was going on.
"What's the point of all this? What are the Shadow Knights trying to accomplish by killing everyone?" Brace asked, unable to believe the horror that was in their sight. Zack clenched his fist tighter, angry at the destruction the Shadow knights caused. He was also wondering how come the Shadow knights end up wherever they're going to go next. That's when he thought back to what Jeris said, about everything in the land of Darkness being connected. Zack's gaze suddenly shifted however, as he saw something moving. Even though it looked small, due to the fact they were way up high on a hill, he saw a little girl walking around all by herself.
"Hey you!" Zack shouted, catching her attention. The little girl just looked at him in terror, as she suddenly began to run away from the area, vanishing into the dust filled city. Brace and Matsu looked at Zack curiously, wondering what he was shouting at.
"What's wrong Zack?" Brace asked, as she stood back up.
"I just saw a little girl down there." Zack answered, pointing into the city. Brace and Matsu looked at the city for a moment, before looking back at Zack.
"Where? I don't see a girl." Matsu commented.
"I'm telling you she was right down..." Zack started, as he began walking down the hill. But he wasn't even able to take his first step before tripping, rolling down the hill at quick speed.
"Zack!" Matsu and Brace shouted worriedly, as they began to carefully run down the hill. Zack just kept grunting each time the ground hit his face. It felt like he was falling down a flight of stairs, and he was starting to grow a large headache. Finally, after what seemed like five minutes of non stop beatings to the head, Zack finally tripped for the last time, landing face first towards the ground, and scrapping against the dirt. Finally, Zack sighed, relieved that he had finally stopped tripping. As he raised his head, his eyes widened as he saw a skull with an open mouth right in his face.
"AHHHHH!" Zack screamed, jumping back a bit. He then looked as he saw piles of bones and bodies. He then turned around as he heard Brace and Matsu finally coming down.
"Zack! Are you ok?" Brace asked.
"I'm fine but..." Zack said, looking back at the dead bodies as he stood. Brace looked in horror as she saw the piles of dead bodies. She suddenly felt like gagging as he started to make strange coughing noises.
"Woah, you going to be ok?" Zack asked, noticing how Brace was suddenly turning green. Brace suddenly dropped to her hands as knees as she started feeling like she was heaving.
"Give her some space." Matsu said, as he started to back up. As they were expecting, Brace suddenly vomited a pile of puke on the floor, also covering her hands in it. She started feeling light headed as her vision was getting blurry. She felt dizzy as her vision made it look like everything was phasing back, separating. As it did, she barfed one more time, unable to hold down what was left in her stomach, then suddenly collapsed on her side, passing out.
"Brace!" Zack shouted, quickly running near her and leaning her up. He couldn't tell what was wrong with her by looking, and then decided to feel her head. Sure enough, she was running a fever, and it seemed to be getting a bit hotter by the second. "She's burning up. And it's getting worse!" Zack said, carefully picking her up.
"We're going to need a doctor." Matsu said. Zack just threw a confused look at him.
"Where are we going to find a doctor? We don't even know if there's any alive!" Zack shouted.
"Well you saw that girl there, right? If she is alive, there has to be more than one survivor around here!" Matsu stated. Zack looked down at Brace, hearing her breathe heavier than before. He knew Matsu had a point, but the problem wasn't whether or not they'd find the doctor. The problem on Zack's mind was whether or not they'd be able to save her in time.
"Fine, then let's go!" Zack replied, as he started running into the city. Zack made sure he looked in ever corner and alley to see if he could find any life. There wasn't anyone around at all, and there was no sign of there ever being life. He looked back as he heard Matsu coughing a bit loudly.
"Hey dude, you alright?" Zack asked. Matsu coughed for a little bit before he finally responded.
"Y-Yeah..." Matsu started, sniffing a bit. "I think I'm catching whatever she...she..." Matsu tried to finish his sentence, but only ended with a loud sneeze in between. Zack was about to ask him something, before he noticed something strange about the sound in the city.
"Do you hear it?" Zack asked, noticing the fact that everything was quiet. Matsu tried to listen, but noticed that there wasn't any noise at all.
"What do you mean? I don't hear anything." Matsu replied, sneezing a bit after.
"Exactly." Zack replied, quickly stopping. He knew that whenever things were quiet, there was always something going on. There would never be a situation Zack had where everything was silent, unless something was waiting for him. Zack's eyes shifted as he suddenly heard something piercing through the air. He jumped in time to dodge the barrage of arrows that were being fired at him. Matsu quickly took note of it, dodging out of the way in time as well to dodge the assault of arrows. Zack and Matsu looked back at the source of the oncoming arrows. By this time the sky darkened as the city grew dark along with it.
"Show yourself!" Zack shouted, looking all around him. As Matsu looked around him too, to both their surprise, a group of people with different weapons from shovels to sledge hammers to practically bows 'n arrows, came out from the dark corners of where they were hiding, surrounding them completely. Zack felt a sweat drop, seeing how wanting people to reveal themselves weren't the best idea in this case. "Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut." Zack said, a bit nervous. He looked strangely though as he noticed how the people had cloths covering their mouths. Zack's gaze caught attention of an arrow as he heard the sound of an arrow whistling through the wind. He quickly and gently set Brace down, and quickly pulled back his sleeves. With one quick and easy blast, Zack incinerated the arrow that was shot at him. He could hear some of the people gasping and awe struck, not knowing they were fighting a bracelet user.
"H-He has a bracelet!" One of the villagers' shouted.
"All arrows focus on the boy!" Another villager shouted. Zack's eyes widened as he saw almost everyone in the front of the circle surrounding him were archers, all aiming and ready to fire at Zack.
"Damn..." Zack cursed to himself. He knew that he wouldn't be able to block all the attacks with his fire, especially since he didn't know how to do any type of skill which involved in setting the surroundings on fire to protect him from the arrows. He also noticed how Matsu was coughing a bit more than he was before, and he would be in no state to fight if his condition worsened. As he looked around, every single archer was just preparing to fire an arrow. Right before a command was given, a voice shouted out.
"Stop!" The voice shouted. As everyone looked at the source of the shouting, they saw an old man with a cane walking past the crowds of people. Zack noticed strangely how the man had cloth covering his mouth too. When the man finally walked all the way towards Zack, considering he was hunched on his back, he was probably a foot and a half shorter than Zack was. Zack blinked a bit nervously and confused as to why the man was looking at him so weird. "Just as I had thought." The man replied.
"Eh...Thought what?" Zack asked. His reply was followed by a wack on the head with the man's cane. "Ow!" Zack yelled, rubbing his head.
"He's perfectly healthy." The man said, causing the other villagers to look surprised at Zack. Zack and the old man looked back as they heard Matsu dropping to one of his knees, coughing as he put his hand over his mouth. What grew Zack's shock was the fact he could see a bit of blood dripping from his hand he coughed on.
"Matsu! You ok?" Zack asked, running over. Matsu moaned a bit as he rubbed his head.
"Yeah...except for the fact my brain feels like a marshmallow now..." Matsu replied, groggily.
"You four, bring the girl and the large man back to the hospital. I need to have a word with the strange one."
"Hey, I'm not strange!" Matsu shouted.
"I was talking about the one with the fire bracelet."
"Hey!" Zack replied, arrogantly. As asked, two of the villagers helped pick up Brace as they carried her off through the crowd of people, while the other two grabbed Matsu's arm, helping him stand as they walked as well.
"The rest of you return to your homes. I need to speak with the strange one." The old man commanded. As told, the villagers returned without hesitation, or another word.
"Ok, before we go anywhere, I'm Zack, not the strange one, got it?" Zack stammered, annoyed by the nick name the elder was giving him. "Second of all, why did you smack me with your cane?"
"Because I needed to make sure you weren't one of the Shadow Knights." The elder yelled back. Zack looked surprised by what he said. The fact that the Shadow knights were behind the strange illnesses that befell his friends was quite a shocker to him. "The Shadow Knights poisoned the air around us, making sure no survivors got out of here alive. Those who did survive are being forced to remain here anyway." Zack looked curious at what he said.
"Why not? If you can use those masks, then why not just leave?" Zack yelled as the elder smacked him with his cane again. "Ow! What did you do that for?"
"For asking stupid questions. Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't. The poison didn't just pollute the air, it's polluted everything it's touched. If we were to head out just like this, we'd die from lack of resources, before we even reached the next town."
"Well...Isn't there anything that's close around here for a town?" Zack asked. The elder nodded as a reply.
"Well yes their is but..." The elder stopped, rubbing his chin as he went into thought.
"But what?" Zack asked.
"The only way to get there is traveling over the bridge. But the Bridge Dono refuses to give us the jewel to activate it." The old man said, as the two began walking.
"But why? If life's as terrible as people say it is around here, shouldn't the Dono give it to us so we can all travel?" Zack asked. The old man sighed, knowing he knew nothing about the earlier experiences.
"It's not quite that simple." The old man replied, pointing with his cane out towards the city. Zack turned to look at the ruined filled city, full of seemingly thicker amounts of the poisoned air.
"Our masks can't work as well in these parts of the towns. Those who have better resistance to it are able to travel, but everyone who's ventured out into the city hasn't come back." The old man said, as he started to cough loudly, causing Zack to look somewhat concerned.
"Hey, are you alright?" Zack asked. The old man simply coughed for a few seconds before replying.
"I'm fine. Even being this close to the poison is deadly if you aren't resistant enough." Zack crossed his arms as he starred off into space.
"So let me see if I get this straight: You want me to travel into the poison, find this Bridge Dono guy, and then once we leave my friends will be alright?" Zack asked, looking back at the old man. He blinked confusingly though as he saw the old man was gone. After looking around for a few moments, he grew an irritated look as he saw the old man standing all the way on the other side of the street.
"Good luck to you sonny!" The old man said, before running off.
"Hey! You're not going to even help me?!" Zack shouted back, angrily. After a few seconds of shrugging it off he sighed a bit. He knew that even if the old man had helped him he would get to sick to continue on with Zack. Not wanting to wait any longer, and possibly making things worse for Brace and Matsu the longer he waited, he ran off into the thick cloud, searching for probably half an hour before he stopped to catch his breath. He never ran for so long before, and didn't know how long he could even run in this place. If there was one thing he didn't like about this planet it was the fact the stupid gravity had to be the same. He was somewhat wishing he was in a situation like superman where everything was lighter. He shrugged it off though at the fact he was getting a neat bracelet out of this whole thing, but still found it annoying. He came to a sudden stop as he heard something falling to the ground. As he ran to see the cause of it, he grew surprised as he saw a little girl with pink hair, stuck under a pile of rubble.
"Hey, are you ok?" Zack asked as he quickly ran over. The girl looked at him somewhat scarred, even as he got the pile of debris off of her. Zack put his hands under the girl's arms as he helped her to her feet, brushing off a bit of dirt that he saw on her shirt. Zack's eyes widened as he recognized the girl as the same one he saw when he first entered the city.
"Hey, I know you." Zack said, in a bit of a surprised mood. He looked curiously though as the girl was holding some strange blue orb with both of her hands, grasping it tightly. Before he could even ask about it, the little girl suddenly began to run away. "Hey, wait!" Zack yelled, running after her. The little girl looked back at him, still scarred of what he would try to do. As she looked ahead, she came to a sudden stop as her feet skidded across the ground, seeing a large fence blocking off the rest of the way. She looked back with tears in her eyes as she saw Zack suddenly coming closer. Zack suddenly realized that the girl wasn't wearing a mask around her face. "Why aren't you wearing a mask? Don't you know it's poisonous around here?" Zack asked. The little girl just backed into the wall as she slouched down, still holding the orb in between her arms tightly. Zack blinked a bit curious, knowing that the girl was afraid of him.
"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." Zack said, walking towards the girl. The girl just began to panic as she used her feet to push her back more, even though the wall was stopping her from going anywhere. As soon as Zack began to loom over her, he kneeled a bit on one leg as the girl saw him bringing his hand towards her. She buried her face into the orb as tears rolled down her eyes, thinking that he was going to hurt her. But, to her surprise, Zack just stroked her hair gently, looking back at him as he did.
"Why are you crying? Are you lost?" Zack asked. The girl just sniffled a bit, not even replying to what he said. Zack's eyes widened as he heard the sudden whistling of something coming closer. Thinking it was an arrow, he quickly scooped up the girl in his arms as he began to walk up the wall a few feet, then jumping backwards, narrowly dodging the blast that was aimed towards them. As he landed back on his feet, he looked back towards the little girl.
"Are you ok?" He asked. This time the little girl just starred at him for a few seconds before nodding slightly. He smiled a bit as he set her back to his feet, quickly standing up and looking around to see where the blast had come from. "Show yourself!" Zack demanded, shouting around him. At first, nothing happened until he heard someone's feet landing on something. As he turned around, his eyes widened as he saw a teenager who appeared to be about his height, standing on a pole at least ten feet into the air. The teen had light brown hair and a green shirt on, as well as average blue jeans. His eyes were light blue, much like the sky's color. But what really caught his attention was the bracelet he had on his right wrist. It was sort've shaped like a typhoon, but extended from his elbow to the back of his wrist.
"Y-You're an elemental user?" Zack asked, surprised. The teen just smirked.
"It's called elementalist dumbass." He replied. Zack felt a nerve break, getting tired of being called an asshole by anyone, including Jeris. "I gotta admit, that was some impressive dodging back there. I can't recall the last time someone dodged my attack, let alone run up a wall." Zack just grinned.
"When you've lived in the outdoors for seven years, it does things to ya." Zack replied, holding out his arm. The teen looked a bit surprised as he saw a bracelet on Zack's wrist as well.
"Tch, you're an elementalist too it seems." The teen said, jumping down from the pole. As he looked back at Zack, he raised an eyebrow as he noticed he wasn't wearing a mask. "So, you're immune to the poisons as well it seems."
"So are you...and apparently the girl." Zack said, looking back at the girl who was hiding behind his leg. The teen's eyes widened as he saw the little girl standing behind Zack.
"Tin, what did I tell you about going out into the city by yourself?" The teen yelled, growing a confused look on Zack's face.
"And who are you to..." Zack started, before seeing the little girl running over to the teen, picking her up.
"Are you hurt?" The teen asked. The little girl just shook her head before the teen glared back at Zack. "I hope you're ready to die, because I'm not handing you the Bridge Dono!" The teen shouted. Zack blinked a bit surprised.
"You know where the Bridge Dono is? Where is he?" Zack asked. The teen just sighed irritably.
"She's right here!" The teen shouted back as the little girl dug her face into the teen's shoulder. It took Zack a few seconds to process what he said before gasping.
"Wait, what?! She's the Bridge Dono?" Zack stammered. He shook his head as he shrugged off the fact he found the Dono, knowing that he had a bigger problem too deal with. "Listen, I need her help. My friends are sick and..."
"No." The teen replied. Zack's worried expression switched to a glare, angered by the fact he wouldn't listen.
"I didn't ask you, I asked her!" Zack shouted back. He blinked somewhat curiously though as he heard sobbing from the little girl. The teen glared at Zack as he gently set the girl down gently to her feet.
"Don't cry Tin. Find some place to hide. It might get rough around here." The teen said happily, kneeling as he stroked her hair. Tin sniffled a bit as she nodded her head.
"Ok, Matt." She said sheepishly, running and hiding behind some debris as she looked back. Zack just looked confused at the whole scenario.
"You two know each other?" Zack asked, confused. Matt just blinked at him somewhat questionabbly.
"Know her? She's my little sister you idiot!" Matt shouted, causing Zack to grow a shocked look. "Don't even bother asking anymore questions. I'm gonna kill you before you even get the chance." Matt yelled, holding out his arm. Zack blinked surprised as he saw the wind itself swirling around his hand, eventually engulfing it like a tornado, with the end of it extending to the tip of his fingers.
"W-What is that?" Zack asked, surprised. Matt just smirked as he instantly vanished. Zack didn't even get a chance to blink as Matt suddenly reappeared in front of him with his fist pulled back.
"It's called Hurricane!" Matt shouted, punching straight into Zack's stomach. Zack's eyes went blank as he felt the air being pushed out of him and shot straight back. He blinked as he managed to shrug it off, planting his feet straight in the ground, skidding it a bit as he used his hands to help maintain balance. He glared back at Matt, knowing reasoning wouldn't work. "Not bad, you're quite surprising to be honest." Matt complemented, causing Zack to smirk.
"Don't flatter yourself. You just think of me as someone to push over and be unprepared as the next guy, don't 'cha?" Zack asked. Matt simply shrugged.
"Either way it comes out, the point remains is that your just another person threatening my sister." Matt replied, causing Zack to looked confused. "And to anyone who would so much lay a hand on her..." Matt started, claping both his hands together. "Must perish!" Matt shouted, as both of his hands were beginning to engulf in the wind. All at once, Matt shot a giant blast of wind in the shape of a twister, causing the ground itself to tremble, straight towards Zack. Zack was frozen in shock to move at all. Who is this guy? Zack asked himself, surprised by the incredible power his opponet had. All his thoughts were washed away as he was engulfed into the never ending wind...
