Roland, Rasche, and Rina strolled through the night shrouded city, enjoying the lights, sounds, and fireworks. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful!?" Rina exclaimed as she gazed in unrestrained awe at the brilliant display of exploding fireworks of all shapes, colors, and sizes.
"Feh!" Rasche snorted, "You see one firework, and you've seen them all."
"Rasche, how can you be so unromantic!?" Rina cried out exasperated.
Roland smirked in the dark at his two companions antics. Suddenly, his awareness skills told him that something large was headed his way, fast. Spinning he caught the flying object which turned out to be a… girl?
"Ouch!" The girl cried out as Roland set her on her feet.
"Heh," Rasche chuckled, "its rainin' girls!"
"Are you alright?" Rina asked.
"I'm fine." The girl said as she turned to Roland, "Perhaps not all knights are as weak as I thought."
"You are incorrect." Roland said. "I am no knight."
"Oh, sorry." The girl said. "Thank you for catching me."
"You're welcome." Roland said studying the girl. She was roughly the same age as Rina, but there the similarities ended. She wore a pink colored sleeveless dress that split at her navel in the front and ended at the back of her knees, ending in a flame motif. The girl had detached pink sleeves of the same design as the dress on her arms, beginning just below her armpits. The girl had dull pink hair that looked as if the tips had been dipped in purple paint. Her hair was held in a stylized split ponytail, with her bangs framing her face. Her leg wear consisted of skintight black pants that had crisscrossing white material wrapped around it, and low cut pink boots with a large white stripe running down the tops. She held a wand that ended on one end with five large pink feathers. "So tell me, do all girls fly in the night or are you a special case?" He arched an eyebrow.
"Ha ha." The girl said sarcastically, "No, he threw me!"
"He?" Rasche asked. "He who?"
Roland suddenly spun around, hand grabbing his sword. "We've got company."
A huge golem was stomping down the deserted street. It stopped a short distance away from the group. "A Golem!" Rina shouted.
Golems were large armored beings with a lot more brute force than intelligence. They stood at a towering height of ten feet tall. They all wore the exact same black bulky armor and carried massive war axes that could fell a six foot thick tree in one swing. They wore round, plumed helmets that had a grilled face shield, and if one were to look into that helm, all one would see would be darkness with two small flames for eyes staring back. Their origins were shrouded in mystery and rumor. As such no one was sure where they came from, or who they served. Golems also possessed immense strength and it usually took at least ten ordinary men to destroy one and even then, the odds were in the Golem's favor.
"Damn!" Rasche cursed, "What's one of those doing here?"
Suddenly a feline, but male voice said "I have business with that witch in training meow."
Everyone's eyes widened in shock. "No way!" Rasche exclaimed. "A talking Golem?!"
"I'm down here meow." The voice said indignantly. Everyone looked down to see a small white cat-like figure floating in the air. To Roland, the figure looked more like a toy plushy, than anything to take seriously, but look can be deceiving. Its clothing consisted of a dark purple hooded cloak with a large metal bell at its fastenings. The cloak ended in a design that made it appear more than a little tattered. The hood was long and ended with a crescent moon charm. The hood also had two protrusions stitched on it that looked like cat ears. The figure had small bat like wings that were flapping lazily, keeping the small figure aloft. On its feet, the figure wore dark slippers of the same design as the cloak. In its paws, the figure carried a staff that was taller than it was. The staff was bone white and in the rough shape of a fish skeleton.
"Oh a talking cat." Rasche said "That makes much more sense."
"MEOW! I'm not a cat meow!" The figure angrily protested.
"He's a familiar." Roland said "Probably here in place of his master."
"My name's Josie." The figure said. "And I'm with the Shadow Frost Witch meow."
Rina looked confused. "Why are you here if you're with the Shadow Frost Witch? We've stayed out of the Witch Conflict."
"You're about to join the Brilliant Witch meow!" Josie yelled, "I can't let you do that, so hand over the document, Witch-in-training!"
"Never!" The girl exclaimed. "Miss Dia entrusted me with this document! I'll never let you have it!"
"Then I'll just have to take it meow!" Josie snapped, "Golem go!"
Before anyone could move, Roland acted. Moving quickly, he stepped in front of the girl and raised his hand, pointing his index and middle fingers at the Golem. His voice was calm as he said, "Byakurai." To the amazement and shock of everyone else; a bolt of pale blue-white lightning spat from his fingertips and blasted the Golem off its feet. "MOVE IT!" Roland shouted. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Rasche and Rina shook themselves out of their stupor and fled down the street. Roland turned and grabbed the girl's hand. "Move it girl!" Roland half pulled, half dragged her down the street.
They quickly caught up to Rasche and Rina. "We can hide in my brother's lab!" Rina said as she led the group into a large official looking building. Panting, Rina threw open the door and the group hurried inside. Rina slammed the door behind them.
Roland turned to the panting girl. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine." She replied. "But how the heck can you cast lightning!?"
"Yeah! How did you do that?" Rina asked while Rasche gripped his spear.
"Years of practice." Roland answered. "From your expressions, I'd say that male magic wielders are rare around these parts."
The pink haired girl nodded as a voice answered from behind the group. "Yes they are."
Roland whirled around so fast that he was a blur of motion to his companions. The others gasped as his blade appeared in his hand and was at the neck of a young man wearing glasses and a green sleeveless cloak with gold trim and a high collar. The young man was about the same age as Rina, but likely a little older. His outfit consisted of a white button up shirt with a large stripe of green running down the front with gold trim. His pants were black and were covered from the knees down in slim, white armored boots. He had two slim swords sheathed on the back of his waist in such a way that they formed an 'X'. "Who the hell are you?" Roland demanded.
"Brother!" Rina called out joyously as she raced forward and hugged her brother.
Roland lowered his sword but did not sheath it. "Your brother?" He asked.
"Yes, my name is Steiner; Captain of the Stinger Squad and I am Rina's older brother." The young man introduced himself. "And you are who?"
"My name's Althea. I'm the messenger sent by Miss Dia." The pink haired girl said.
"Name's Roland and we've got company." Roland said as he spun around just in time to see the Golem and Josie smash through the door of the Lab. Pieces of the door and wall covered every surface of the Lab.
"MEOW! Hand over that message!" Josie yelled.
"Who the hell are you?!" Steiner demanded.
"He claims to be with the Shadow Frost Witch." Roland said as he readied his blade.
"Why did you destroy my Laboratory?" Steiner demanded furiously.
Josie smirked, "It was collateral damage, meow."
The answer brought Steiner up short. "Collateral damage?" He asked incredulously.
Josie shrugged, "If they hadn't hid in here, I wouldn't have needed to break the wall down." His gaze turned feral. "Now hand over that Witch-in-training and maybe I'll spare the rest of you and your pathetic lab, MEOW!"
"You just made a big mistake." Steiner said with a smirk. "For this lab contains my secret weapon!"
Everyone stared at him. It was Rasche that asked the question. "What secret weapon?
Steiner's smirk grew. "You're about to find out." He turned and pointed at the ground in front of Roland, who had kept one eye on Josie and the Golem, in case they decided to attack during the distraction. "Roland was it? Hand me that large blue synth-lapis by your feet."
"What this thing?" Roland asked as he briefly glanced down at the light blue half sphere about three and a half inches in diameter with the flat end surrounded by a black metal ring, then returned his gaze to Josie. "What the heck is it?"
"It's my secret weapon!" Steiner said proudly. "The Runic Engine!"
"What are you going on about?" Josie asked now slightly worried.
"That device will allow me to harness the power of Magic." Steiner proclaimed.
"You mean like this?" Roland grinned and extended his hand. Steiner gasped as blue-white lightning spat from Roland's hand and blasted the Golem back. "This gizmo is supposed to let you…" He started to say as he knelt down and picked up the Runic Engine, his eyes never leaving Josie and the Golem. He stopped as a blinding white light flashed out of the Runic Engine. At the same time, he felt a burning pain on the back of his left hand. The hand that held the Runic Engine. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" He screamed. "IT'S BURNING! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Impossible!" Steiner exclaimed in undisguised shock. "Why is it reacting to him?!"
As the light faded, everyone stared in shock as Roland looked at the Runic Engine, which was now fused to the back of his left hand. "What the hell?" Roland said as Josie burst into laughter and clutched his stomach in mirth.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Looks like your big secret weapon is a big failure! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Getting control of himself, Josie smirked like the cat that got the cream and the canary. "You have no chance of winning, so hand over the girl meow."
"Want to bet on that, Josie?" Roland grinned like a predator.
"What do you mean by that?" Josie inquired.
"How about a wager?" Roland asked, the smirk never leaving his face.
"A bet?"
"I'll fight your golem here single handedly." Roland proposed. "If you win, then you can have the message no questions asked. As a bonus I'll be dead so no one can stop you. However if I win then you let us go free unmolested. I won't even ask for your death in return."
"HEY!" Althea yelled, "YOU CAN'T MAKE A BET LIKE THAT!"
"Quiet." Roland snapped before addressing the catlike familiar. "Well Josie, how about it?"
"Hmmm." Josie pondered the proposition with a contemplative expression on his whiskered face before grinning. "Agreed. GO GOLEM!"
Roland grinned like a feral cat as he stepped forward to engage the golem. The golem made the first move by swinging its massive war axe at Roland who nimbly jumped aside. Roland countered by cleaving the shaft of the axe in two with a single cut. That single action and the ease with which it was performed left all spectators, Josie included, completely open mouthed in shock. The golem roared and swung the remaining part of the axe at Roland in an overhand chop. To the shock of everyone present, rather than dodge the attack, Roland raised his sword and blocked the strike with one hand. The spectators stared; everyone had expected the blade to shatter under the force of the blow, but amazingly, Roland's strange blade did not even move. Even more shocking was the fact that the Golem's arms were shaking as it tried to force its blade down. Roland on the other hand was smirking, his arm was immobile as he held off the Golem's attack like it was nothing. The blade-lock continued for about five seconds before Roland, to the further amazement of the onlookers, swung his sword arm and sent the Golem staggering back. Roland then leaped forward and slashed his armor encased foe, leaving a long slash in the armor from which wisps of black ichor flowed. The armored giant let out a shriek of agony as its life's substance poured from the wound. As Roland landed behind his opponent, the Golem let out a pain infused roar as it whirled around and once again swung the remains of its massive ax, this time at Roland's unprotected back. Rina and Althea let out screams as an incredible amount of dust and debris was kicked up by the impact, forcing the spectators to cover their eyes and covering the two combatants, obscuring them from view. The onlookers gasped at the sight that lay before them as the dust cleared; Roland stood next to the axe blade that was embedded in the floor. The blade appeared to have missed hitting him and separating his arm from his shoulder by no more than an inch. Half of the ax head was completely buried in the floor, so great was the force put into the swing.
"You missed." Roland said as he spun around, leaped up, and severed the golem's head. "I didn't." He stated as the helm fell to the ground. Roland sheathed his sword as the golem's headless body collapsed and both the body and weapon vanished in small explosions of smoke. The only sign that it had ever been there was the black blood that was pooled and splattered on the floor. Roland looked at the stunned Josie, who looked as if he had seen something impossible happen. Roland raised an eyebrow as he addressed the familiar. "I believe we had a bargain, Josie?"
Josie snarled in anger. "Fine! Keep the girl! But I'm telling Fatimeow! You'll be sorry!" He shouted as he flew out the giant hole in the Laboratory's wall and off into the night.
Roland smirked as he sheathed his sword. He'd heard that line before from better and worse opponents than Josie. He snorted at the thought. Just then a scream of uncontrolled rage pierced the newfound piece of the night. Roland whirled around a split second before he was forced to use a wind enhanced back flip to evade an attack from an extremely pissed off Steiner.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" He shouted as he landed and drew his sword to defend himself from this new and apparently rage consumed attacker.