AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Good evening, Minna-san!
(throws self on ground) I'm sooooooo sorry I've been absent..(checks last update) for almost a year and a half! Things have been really hectic in my life so I decided to take a break and sort them all out. Plus I was going to be a senior soon, and senior year is imporant to a lot of people. But anyway, I'll stop so you can go on and read this chapter. Actually, I was going to surprise you with TWO chapters, but I'm kinda stumped on the other one, so I'm uploading this one for now.
I hope you can forgive me!
Chapter Nine– Dangerous Night
Time passed. I don't know how much time passed, put the slow sinking of the sun, accompanied by the darkening of the skyline assured me that time had definitely passed since I crawled into my little hiding haven. My guess? It was probably late afternoon, almost early evening.
Picturing how ridiculous I probably looked right now, with my legs braced up against the rocks and my upper half pressed along the now cool sand, I let out a low, frustrated growl at myself. How on earth did I end up like this again? It was just my luck I had to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Azra had fallen asleep not to long ago, leaning her comfortable weight against my hip and curling herself into a ball. Her back rising every now and then to indicate her peaceful sleep.
I felt my heartache at the sight. For some strange and bizarre reason, she reminded me a lot of my feline companions back home. ' I hate to wake her up, but we need to move.' The voices of the strangers that had once been close, now sounded gradual and quite far off, indicating that they had moved quite a bit since their arrival. And because of that, I had decided now was a good chance to try and move.
Carefully, I slowly lowered my legs from their position against the boulders surface, and slid them outside of my rocky protection and into what little sun was left. ' That's a little better.' I left out a tiny sigh of relief, stretching out my long legs to remove any painful kinks. I still had to slouch my upper body so I wouldn't ram my head on the rocks, though.
' Hmm...' Once again, I was careful not jar the sleeping dragon as I eased the rest of my body out of my hiding place. Then I turned around so I was on my knees, and crawled back in. Why am I doing this, you ask? Simple. At this angle, I still hid myself, and I could spy on the group of people nearby.
' So I was right.' I thought, a smile tightening my lips into a grim, dark line. I narrowed my eyes as I watched a couple of soldiers pass my hiding spot. ' They are Renegades.'
Now, a lot of people would question my logic. And why blame them? Yuan's renegades looked exactly like any other desian. So how could I tell? The renegades had metal plating on their gloves. Where as other desians wore simple leather gloves, nothing else.
But even as I answered my doubts, another question popped into mind. What were the Renegade's doing, searching around the desert? Were they looking for something, or someone?
' What is it?' I glanced down to my right, only to see Azra looking right back up at me with sleepy, blood-red eyes. I shook my head in reply, then pointed to another opening in the rock formation, indicating I wanted her to observe as well.
' Hm, I'd say there's probably around 10-20 men.' I mused thoughtfully, as I continued to watch their actions.
' Not a whole lot if I had the others with me, but still too many for me to take them on by myself.' I paused for a moment. Or were they? Could I take them on? It was still risky, I could get caught again. And I had a feeling Kratos would not halt the journey again to save my sorry ass.
I let out an angry sigh and rested my forehead against the smooth, cool surface of a boulder.
Now what?
" Well?"
I felt my body jolt, bashing the top of my head on one of the diamond-hard rocks due to my ever-vigilant
air-headed moments. Instantly I felt the expected pain spread across the injured area like a blanket of hurt; I
gripped my head in both my hands, working hard to bite back a string of curses. But damn, that hurt! What were these rocks made of, steel?
With pain-caused tears still remaining in my eyes, threatening to overflow and run down my face, I looked up again to glare at the cause of my sudden misfortune: Ryu.
The assassin stood just mere feet away from my hiding haven, and a young woman stood beside him as he addressed his men. Her back and her hair-style looked very familiar to me, but until she turned, or at the very least, spoke, I couldn't identify her. For the moment.
" Any sign, yet?" He questioned, arms folded in a don't-mess-with-me fashion.
Seemingly nervous, several renegades exchanged glances with each other. Finally, someone spoke up. " N-No, sir." One of the soldier's answered with hesitance. " Our scout tipped us that one of the Chosen's companions was heading towards Ossa Trail directly from Triet;. traveling with the dragon fledgling at her side."
That frown the assassin wore flipped to a smirk. " Alone? Perfect. Then it'll make things go a lot easier and faster. The woman herself won't be a problem . Spread out! She must still be hiding somewhere nearby. In the meantime, I will return to base and report to Father."
" YES SIR!"
It sounded like they were looking for something of a great deal of importance, my earlier memories warning me that it was most likely Azra; Didn't Raine say that pure-blooded dragons were supposedly extinct? That had to attract some attention if they knew what she was. Well, what ever the reason for their particular behavior was, they were going to eventually going to find me if I stayed here. I needed to move.
While keeping a careful eye on the guards who had spread themselves widely around the area, I slowly and carefully inched myself out of my hiding haven once more, one hand gripping Akiva till my knuckles went white. I never felt more nervous in my life. Well, maybe I have, it's just been awhile. Keeping low to the ground, I used my free hand to motion to Azra to follow as I began to make my way along the sandy ground.
But I hesitated when I came to the end of the rock formation. Once I left this cover, I was wide open to be spotted or attacked. How should I proceed? I preferred to get away without drawing attention from Ryu, the stranger, and the renegades. But that seemed impossible at the moment.
" Colette... has wings!" Those words left Lloyd's move with a tone of awe, as he stared at his best friend's back, where the appanages has sprouted. Just moments before they had defeated the Seal of Fire's guardian, the fire cat Kutgach. It hadn't been easy, and the cat proved to be a great foe.
But after they had managed to cooperate, and under Kratos's guide and command, they had finally been able to fall the great beast. And the reward for completing the first task, was a gift of power from Cruxis. And due to that power, Colette had earned her angelic wings.
The blond-haired Chosen, upon hearing her beloved friend speak with astonishment, turned around to face the rest of her group with a bright grin stretched on her pretty face, her sky-blue eyes twinkling.
" Uh-huh." She nodded her head in agreement to Lloyd's earlier statement. " And look, I can put them away, too." Colette turned her back to them again in order to demonstrate; one moment the pink-fuschia transparent wings stuck out of the teens back, clear as day and fluttering softly. Then, quite literally a second later, the disappeared from view, leaving a pinch of sparkles to float gently to the ground from the absence of the appendages.
Genis was the first to recover from his bout of shock, only to jump up and down in excitement. " Oh, wow! That's so cool!" The small elven boy cheered.
His apparent happiness was all that was needed to spurt on Colette's own. She looked her her shoulder, her grin impossibly larger then before. " Here. look, look!" And without further ado, the blond summoned her angelic wings forth once more. But this time she made a show of flapping her wings as fast as humanly possible, exciting her younger friend even further.
The older three of the small group turned their backs on the hyper-active teens, all of them making faces either in disapproval, annoyance, or just plain amusement.
The younger swordsman was the first to speak up, his voice raising an ocative to pronounce his eagerness. " He said the next seal is across the sea! That means we get to sail on a boat!" An excited grin, much like his best friend's when he witnessed the ceremony, spread across his face like a contagious disease. " Haha! I can't wait!"
Raine found herself suppressing the will to shudder at her student's mentioning of 'sea'. " A ship? Hmm... I wonder if there are any vessels sailing with the world in such a condition..."
Their mercenary companion let out a small, almost non-existing sigh. " At any rate, we should head to the coast and see what we can find." His amber-brown eyes flicked in Lloyd's direction for a spare second. " Evans should be waiting for us. And with any luck, she should've found someone who's agreed to help."
Lloyd perked up at the sound of his new friend's name come out of the older man's mouth, while Raine swivelled her head to look at the mercenary in slight alarm, only to relax her tense body seconds later. " Ahh, that's right. I had almost forgotten the Beverly was traveling with us on her own accord, not as part of the Regeneration." It made perfect sense why the young woman would be asking for a ride to the other side of the continent. Her goal after all, was to travel to Luin and meet with someone known as Warlic, the Blue Mage.
In all of my seventeen years of life, I have never been in a more worse situation. Here I was stuck in a scorching-hot desert with the sun beating down at my back like an angry glare, and I was still in very much danger of being discovered by the sword-armed soldiers. Talk about bad luck.
' Gah, this is so frustrating!' I grinded my teeth harshly together as an attempt to rein in my negative emotions before they got me discovered. Not only was I alone, but I was also severely out-numbered and skilled. Below at my feet, Azra let out a soft coo of comfort and rubbed her scaley head against the bare skin of my leg.
The way I saw things, I only had two options: find a better hiding spot and wait for the others to pass, or fight my way through and run for the port city.
" Man! This is ridiculous!"
Startled from the sudden outburst of voice, I felt my body lose the precious balance I needed as I sat on my heels and fell backwards to land on the scorching sand. At that time I had to be thankful that the material I had landed on shifted quietly under my weight. If it had been grass, I would be a dead girl right now.
" Does the that arrogant kid actually think that we'll find that lizard in this damned desert?" The taller soldier grumbled to his companion as they made their way past the rock formation that hid me, with me making sure to shift myself and Azra so we remained out of sight as they moved.
" Watch it you fool! This is the leader's kid we're talking about." The other renegade hissed out. His voice was a little deeper then his partner's, but it made it easier for me to tell them apart. " Do you want to die?"
" Heh, are you sure about that?" I heard the taller man snort doubtfully as they came to a stop just a few feet away from my earlier position. " How can we be sure that brat is the boss's son? I mean, they look nothing alike!"
" I said shut up, you fool! If you know what's good for you–"
Sensing now would be a good time to slip away from the now bickering guardsmen, I slid away from the rocks and motioned for Azra to follow before continuing to quietly make my way away from potential danger. If I could hurry, I could still make it through the pass before the others caught up.
"- you..."
It had been the sensation that had reached me and startled me first; like a blade of ice running cruelly down my spine in a new form of torture...
But it was the voice that got to me the most– it didn't sound like anything humanly I knew of, and yet.. Why did it seem so familiar, even though I was certain I've never heard it before in my life?
' No, stopit Evans.' I shook my head roughly in attempt to clear it as I began to pick up the pace a bit. ' I really need to stop over-analyzing things at times like this!' I was making good ground away from the renegades and towards my desired destination, but even then I knew I was going to have to find shelter for the night as I eyed the darkening skyline above me.
Hopefully I could still do the trick of resting my eyes I learned when I was younger, because the more I thought about it sleeping outside in the open seemed very risky with the large amount of monsters about.
" Hey you!"
' Oh man..' I felt myself nearly trip on a uprise of sand upon hearing those words ring out in a loud volume. So those dim-witted guards finally decided to take notice.. just my luck.
" Azra, get ready!" I raised my voice for the fledgling who had now noticed I was not following anymore and was circling around to join me; I took that time to swing around to face my oncoming enemies and slid out a couple arrows out of my quiver.
I really, really didn't like this arrangement, but if I didn't take out the guardsmen before they reached me, I was in for a world of trouble that was going to be a lot harder to bail out of.
" Holy Arrow!"
The projectile flew through the air with an more incredible speed then before, as if the arrow itself sensed the dire situation and picked up the pace. I couldn't help but tighten my mouth into a grim line even as the blazing arrow managed to nail the bowman in the junction where his shoulder met his collar-bone. This was going to be one long night...
" You little brat!" His swordsman companion seethed through clenched teeth as he snatched his broadsword from it's sheath that dangled from his hip. " You'll pay for that..!"
The man was no amateur as I had originally thought as I swung to the side in order to avoid a dangerous sweep of the wide sword, but the way he stumbled after missing his desired target told me he was possibly still clumsy then Lloyd when it came to controlling it.
" Whoops..!" I murmured under my breath as I almost fell flat on my butt again as I quickly ducked another angered swipe of the broad-steel weapon. Gathering up my courage and momentum, I moved around to the front of the guard and charged.
Immediately catching the man off guard with the first punch in the jaw, I followed through with a couple more before shoving him back with a harsh kick in the chest that had him skidding a few feet. Dazed, the guard looked up to retaliate but instead got another nasty smack in the chin from my round-house kick again, forcing the man's head to snap to the side from the force.
Unfortunately the guardsman recovered a lot faster then I had anticipated, and managed to nail me so hard with a punch of his own that it sent me flying a couple of feet. I twisted my body, managing to land crouched down on my knees before the enemy had a chance to follow up on his attack.
' Damn, that hurt.' My jaw throbbed from the damage it had taken, but it was nothing I couldn't handle like I have in the past. Feeling irritated now, I glared up at the half-elf as I wiped excess blood from my chin. This man was so going to pay for hitting a girl's face..!
Shoving myself back to my feet, I grinded my feet against the sand before running off in a dash. But the elf swordsman must've predicted that movement, for the moment I was inches away from landing a kick to his midriff the warrior leaped in the air, flipping over my head as I skidded useless along the sand after missing my target.
" Argh! Stupid jerk!" Without getting up I reached for Akiva and a couple of arrow, not wasting anytime aiming for the guard as he fell towards the ground. " Let's see you dodge this—!"
Something with an extremely sharp edge cut along my forearm with precision, causing pain to immediately inflame along the wounded area and made me drop my weapon with a cry of pain.
' How careless, I almost forgot about the other one!' I gripped my bleeding arm tightly in attempt to stifle the extreme pain I was experiencing. But because I was so immersed in my wound I had become distracted to the danger that was still around.
The desian swordsman took advantage of this, creeping up behind me with his sword held over his head while his companion stood off to the right, crossbow at ready incase I tried to make another break for it.
' WATCH OUT!'
A chorus of grunts of pain snapped me out of my daze; acting as fast as I could I swung my leg along the earth in a arc, knocking the swordsman to the ground and allowing me to scramble to my feet and get away. The sound of wings beating against the wind alerted me to Azra's presence as I ran.
" Thank you so much, Azra..!" I gasped, glancing at the baby reptile as she flew effortlessly along my side. " That was a close one!"
'...' The young dragon was silent, and remained that way as we got a good distance away from the guardsmen. By then time we were able to reach the foot of Ossa Trail, my lungs felt heavy and ready to burst. Not to mention my my arm ached terribly from being brushed by the chilly wind. But above all I was just glad to get away alive and in one piece.
' That was reckless.' Azra folded her leather wings and plunked herself at my feet as I collapsed to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.
" Oh be quiet.." I huffed while trying to drag in much needed air at the same time. " You think.. I had.. a choice?"
The young dragon didn't reply to that, rather she let out an odd sounding snort through her nose and turned her head away as if saying, " Humans.."
For awhile I just sat there, head tilted back to receive the cool night air as I pondered over my options. Right now I wasn't too far from the Ossa Trail, maybe another ten to twenty minute walk and I would reach it no problem. But right now the skyline had completely darkened and few stars were out, making it extremely difficult to see what was in front of me.
' Staying where I am until dawn approaches is not an option.' I immediately ruled the notion out. It might've been safer, except by then the others would've caught up to me easily. They were expecting me to be waiting for them in Izoold.
" No choice then.." I murmured aloud and pushed myself to my feet, wincing when my exhausted muscles protested against the movement. " Let's get moving, Azra."
' As you wish.'
After a quick dusting of the dirt on my clothes I gathered up Akiva and the quiver, situating them on my shoulder once more before I began to stride forward towards my desired destination.
" Hmm?"
' What is it now?' This was said with a hint of impatience.
" Ah, nothing really. I just thought I felt the ground shaking... must've been my imagina–" A squeak escaped my mouth before I even released it when the sensation came again. "–or maybe not..!"
' Master, MOVE!' Azra scampered away from the heaving earth, leaving me to follow at a more slower and clumsy pace (you try running with the earth moving underneath you!). ' Master!'
" I'm moving, I'm moving!" I snapped, patience finally worn out. " And stop calling me Mast–!" The rest of the word was last in a breathless gasp as the ground under me crumbled away to nothing. All time seemed to slow down for me as I felt my body fall towards the black abyss below. Fear filled every inch of my being, until I couldn't take it anymore and allowed my mind to surrender to the darkness.
"..How do you feel, Colette?"
" Well.. I'm sorry that I cause you so much trouble."
" You idiot! It's perfectly fine, you don't have to apologize." The retort came out a playful annoyance. " You just suddenly transformed into an angel, right?"
The blond chosen looked down at her folded hands with a sad smile. " An angel..."
" But I have to admit that I was really surprised when wings sprouted from your back!" Lloyd informed his beloved friend with his goofy grin, unaware that the last sentence caused an wave of unease to ripple through the girl.
" Ah.. were they weird?" Came the squeaked question.
" What?"
" Well, you know.." Colette fumbled nervously with her clothes. " The wings on my back."
" What are you talking about?" The duo swordsman smiled ruefully at the blond as if they had been through this talk a hundred times. " Whether you become an angel or not, you are you, and you'll always be Colette."
The chosen stared at her beloved swordsman for a moment or two in surprise, digesting what was said before she let out her relived, heartwarming smile. "..You're right!"
" Well, you should get some rest."
" Right..."
Satisfied that his friend would get the rest her body would naturally require, the brunette leaned back on his hands to turn his sight up towards the obsidian sky, to study the twinkling lights that watched over them. But as time continued to pass in silence, Lloyd's thoughts began to turn to other things.
' World Regeneration, huh...' The teen let out a quiet sigh. The journey was turning out to be a lot different then he had originally thought. It was lot more complicated, but challenging in a satisfying way; Lloyd felt his lips curling into a grin at the thought of encountering the next seal, wondering if it was going to be hard or as fun as the previous seal.
The sound of the rustling of cloth caught the brunette's short attention span, a quick careless glance to the right told him it was just his female companion shuffling in her sleep, her sunlight hair reflecting through the light of the growing fire that sat just to their left.
Lloyd couldn't help but exchange his smirk for a soft smile as he gazed fondly at the young chosen for another moment or two before returning to his stargazing. He knew the worst of Colette's 'trial' illness was over, but he still couldn't help but wonder and worry what other trial and challenges this journey of regeneration had in store for her.
Her 'mission', was far from over.
Releasing another sigh, the duo swordsman straightened his posture and reached over for his knapsack that laid discarded next him and withdrew a small bundle of cloth from within it, turning it over his hand to unfold it and reveal golden-platted almost feminine looking twin bracelets with strange wording carved into them.
Taka had worked on and processed them just before the swordsman had decided to follow after Colette, giving them to the swordsmen to finish and hand over to his newest friend, Bev.
" That girl will need all the help she can get while she's here." Lloyd recalled his earlier conversation with Taka, Iselia's weapon-smith and temporary guardian to the young outsider. " Everything in this world that's new or different to her, could be lethal."
"..Lethal?"
" Yes. Lloyd, our way of life is common almost normal to us. But this girl has lived a very sheltered and protected livelihood. That is why we must do what we can to help her to survive."
" Alright, you got it!" The duo swordsman accepted the bracelets as if they were as fragile as glass, and looked up at the elf with a grin of determination. " I'll finish this bracelets if it's the last thing I do!"
Taka smiled at the energetic boy softly, knowing he had made the right choice as he watched the brunette wrap the accessories with care in a spare cloth he had on hand.
" I'm trusting you... Lloyd."
"–Lloyd..!"
Startled back to reality by the calling of his name, Lloyd scrambled into a straighter sitting position and swung his head around to meet the source of the noise. Kratos stood behind the boy, wearing his normal emotionless mask as he looked down at the younger swordsman. But this time there seemed to be a hint of irritation towards the teen's lack of attention.
" You should get to bed soon." The mercenary sat down to Lloyd's left. " We leave just after dawn. Remember that."
" I know, I know..." Lloyd rolled his eyes slightly at the older man before returning to his task of re-wrapping the bracelets in their protective cloth. But a violet-gloved hand reached out and gently took a hold of it.
" Where did you get this?"
" Oh, those? They're for Bev. Taka our village blacksmith asked me to finish them so they would be complete for her to use before she separates from us. Said they're supposed to act as a guard for her against most damage she would take in battle."
" Hmm..." The auburn-haired man stared at the trinkets a moment longer before handing them over to Lloyd again, instead taking out a whittle stone and began to work it along his faithful double-edged sword. Lloyd safely stowed the bundle in his bag and turned back towards the older man as he made himself comfortable on his side and propped his cheek on his hand.
" Hey, Kratos?"
"..What?"
" Do you.." The boy paused a brief moment, as if to rephrase his question. " Is there something you don't like about Bev? Do you not trust her?"
For the next several moments the mercenary did not answer, merely carrying on with his simply little chore of caring for his weapon. Finally, the man slipped his sword back into his protective sheath before answering.
" No, that is not it."
Lloyd raised an eyebrow in disbelief. " Really? Then what is it?"
"..." Kratos fell into silence again, the light of the dancing flames in front of them creating shadows on his face that created an illusion of dark brooding. "..Just go to sleep, Lloyd."
" H-Hey!" The teen huffed in protest when the mercenary rose to his feet and walked away, but did not pursue the subject any further in fear of waking his other companions (and invoking his teacher's wrath ). Instead, the boy rolled onto his back with his arms to cushion his head.
' Bev..' The brunette let his eyes trail up to the starry sky above. ' Be careful...'
Drip.. drip.. drip..
Ever so softly I felt that sound echo within my drifting conscious, as if beckoning to me in it's own way.
' Wh...What h-happened?' Reflexively I curled my hands and moved to shift my body in a more comfortable position when I felt pain flare from the elbow of my left arm and up. Pain was never a good sign. ' I-I think, I was outside... There were desians...' When my eyes refused to reveal the outside rule to me, I forcibly pried them open and found myself staring at a dark, almost invisible rock ceiling.
" Where am I...?" I managed to croak out loud, and winced when my throat protested with soreness. ' And how long have I been out..?' Swallowing, I moved my lead-filled arms to the sides of whatever I was laying on and pushed with all my might, cursing inwardly when my limbs quaked with the effort. Especially when the left arm continued to gave off stabs of pain from the movement.
After achieving the simple but exhausting task, I leaned myself against the cold and rough edge of a cave wall as I let my exhausted eyes wander around the small, enclosed area I was apparently in.
' A.. Cave of some sort?' I favored my smarting arm. ' I wonder– could it be...?' There was only one place that came to mind with a cave-like interior that was supposed to be in this area. If I was right on the mark, I could be meeting a certain individual soon. Or I could be completely wrong and fell in some random cave nearby. Only one way to find out.
" Up we go...!" I murmured as I hefted myself off the smashed crate and onto the soil-adorned floor, sparing a quick glance at the ruined object before wincing and hurried away. ' I'm not that heavy... am I?'
Fortunately, it only took a minute or two to leave the small enclosing and enter the main trail— which were un-conveniently (or conveniently, depends on which way you look at it) filled with nasty-looking monsters. I shivered and drew back to hide behind an out-cropping of rocky wall. ' Great... Now what?' I instinctively reached behind me and touched the weapon (which thankfully didn't fly off somewhere when I fell) on my back. And come to think of it, where the hell was Azra? Didn't she fall down the hole with me? But the groan of a nearby zombie told me that I had to make a choice, and I had to make it now.
' Ugh..!' I swallowed the invisible lump in my throat and tightened my grip on Akiva as the monster's shuffling grew louder. ' Ah hell!' I threw out all caution and whipped around, stepping out of my make-shift hideout to confront the horror. The zombie let out a high-pitched shriek upon finding new prey in it's path, it's blood red-eyes pulsing with it's insatiable hunger.
' Disgusting..!' I ducked to avoid a dangerous swipe from the distingrating creature and used the rest of the momentum to twirl gracefully to place myself behind the bumbling enemy. This type of monster, although low on the danger meter, was going to cause me some trouble.
The problem? I was necrophobic. So every undead enemy/monster I ran into was going to make my life miserable.
" Stay calm, stay calm..." I chanted under my breath as I quickly reached back and drew two arrow shafts. These things were usually slow moving, so maybe—
" Oh shit!" The squealed curse popped out of my mouth out of reflex when the dead monster whirled around in my direction before I had been able to finish my battle plan, decaying arms raised to do some serious damage to it's intended target. And because of my phobia, I was to hasty in attacking, causing my attack to go wide of it's mark; one arrow managed to nick the monster shoulder, but the other flew completely over it's head. The undead creature retaliated by taking advantage of my stumble and sent me crashing onto my back with a harsh swing of it's limb.
I let out a groan of pain, unable to move at the moment due to feeling winded from that last attack. But unfortuntely, it also made me an easier target to the monsters who were beginning to swarm around me. Great.. Could this situation get any worse?
" MASTER!"
The zombie, who had been about to strike the finishing blow, paused in it's antics and raised it's head as if to scent the air. To my bafflement, the other monsters did the same. Wasting no time in taking this chance, I mustered what little strength I managed to regain within the last several seconds and slammed my booted foot square into the zombie's cheek; the monster let out a trembling moan of pain and stumbled back.
" MASTER! WHERE ARE YOU?"
" Here, Azra! I'm here!" I called out as loudly as possible as I scrambled back to my feet. The moment I had recongnized the fledgling's voice, hope and excitement flooded through my tired body like a warm blanket and gave me the strength I needed. Although confused, I used it to throw myself back away from the zombie and retrieved another arrow from my quiver.
" Sacred Arrow!" I released the bolt and watched with complete satisfaction as it struck the undead monster with so much volcity the zombie crumbled to ash almost instantly. I looked back to see the rest of the creature's friends promptly get torched by a powerful flamethrower from my young dragon companion.
" Master!" Azra flew over, coming to a halt inches from my face that had me flinching in surprise. " Are you alright? Do you have any injuries? I'm—"
" Whoa, whoa! One thing at a time, little one!" I couldn't help but laugh as I gathered the reptile in my arms and squeezed her tightly. " I'm so glad I found you..!"
" Hey, that should be my line!" Azra huffed, wiggling so her head was free to look up at me. " I can't believe how incredibly clumsy you are! Falling down that hole–"
" Well excuse me! How the hell was I supposed to know the ground was going to open up beneath me?"
Any retort or smart-ass response the young fledgling was sure to throw back was cut off by a distant, but bone-chilling inhuman roar; the noise had the hair on the back of my neck raising and, from a spare glance in Azra's direction, it had disturbed my partner as well.
"...What the hell?" I spoke at least, instinctively reaching back to grab another arrow and froze when my fingers felt nothing but air. ' Uh-oh...' Did I just use my last arrow a moment ago? If so then I was in a lot of trouble...
" We should move, Master."
" I know, I know.." I murmured while making rounds around the small cavern room in attempt to find stray arrows that previous adventurers or miners might've left behind.
" Master NOW!"
Startled by the fledgling's burst of anger, I turned around hastily to intercept the dragon as she made to butt me in the head and ended up tripping on something hidden by the shadows on the ground; I made a show of waving my arms like a windmill in attempt to stay on my feet with no avail, surely making my partner sweatdrop as she continued to watch me fall through a weak part of the rock cavern wall and send of a cloud of dirt.
" O-Oww..." I couldn't help but whine when my back made contact with a series of hard and sharp objects on the floor of dirt. Continuing to make small noises of pain I slowly rolled off my back and onto my knees, using the wall as support as I pushed myself onto my feet again as Azra flew through the man-made hole.
" Are you alright?" There seemed to be more amusement then concern when the dragon asked the question, heightening my sense of embarrassment.
' I never expected to pull a Colette moment...' I rubbed my sore back and lifted my head to survey the room I had
"accidentally" discovered. Light filtered through a few small holes in the ceiling above, but the sunlight that managed to get through was strong enough to light up the entire chamber and it's descriptions. A handful of skeletons scattered all throughout the room, but what caught my interest the most were chains chained to the ceiling and leading down to wrap itself around an ancient yet powerful looking sword sticking from the ground.
" What is this..?"
Unfortunately, Azra had no time to answer (or at least try). The rocky wall in front of us suddenly shattered under an unknown force, sending rocks of all sizes hurtling right at us. I managed to throw myself into a clumsy back flip that put distance between me and the creature that had broken the wall; Azra flew to my side with incredible speed and placed herself in front of me, arching her back and letting out a dangerous growl like a cat would to an intruder on their territory.
The thing was freaking huge. I didn't even know how it managed to stand all the wall up without constantly crashing it's head on the ceiling (probably wouldn't bother it though). Anyway, the creature in question with the monsterous height was a jet black, demonic skeleton with a nasty looking horn protruding from it's head. And when the monster lowered it's blood-red eyes and locked them onto my figure, I knew I was in a deep, heap of trouble from the shock that coursed down my spine the moment it looked at me.
Wait a moment.. I think I know the name of this monster– at least I know I've seen it in the game before. I mean, I think you would remember the names of some of the most annoying enemies in the game, wouldn't you?
Unfortunately the angry roar the monster emitted again told me I was going have to save it for another time. Tensing my whole body for action, I watched the demonic creature with careful eyes as it wrestled itself into the room, weapons and all. And when I meant weapons, I meant the dangerous and lethal looking swords and axes it wielded in all six arms, poised to sink into the tender flesh of it's intended victim. Wait a minute, why am I scaring myself?
Heinous growling that sounded from close by brought back to attention and had me redirecting my gaze to the hole behind the giant creature, inhaling sharply when I saw a group of at least two zombies and three skeleton soldiers take their place on both sides of their supposed master.
As I continued our little stare-down, the more hopeless I felt the situation become. It took me longer to fight the average field monsters that only took Lloyd and the others mere minutes to defeat, and to even try to take on these monsters while the demonic creature was around... Part of me was really hope that all of this was a really bad dream, and that if I let myself get killed I would wake up, only to wake up safe and sound in my bed and get scolded by my mother for sleeping half the day away.
The sound of scrapping against rock jolted me back into reality again as the monsters began their slow advance towards me, while I found myself stepping back in response. I knew there was another hole that I myself had made several moments ago, if I could just figure out some kind of distraction—
" MASTER!"
Already I felt my body jerk to the side in order to avoid a dangerous swipe from one of the skeleton soldiers, spinning around to place myself away from the others as the charged in pursuit. I spared the demonic skeleton a quick half-second glance as I was forced to back away from my exit, a little bothered when it made no move to join the battle, as if merely observing in curiousity or silent amusement.
Azra threw herself into the frey the moment one of the monsters had taken a swing at me, easily burning down the two zombies before they had a chance to make an attempt on my life, circling around to make the same attack on the monster soldiers. But the one that had been closer at the moment simply lifted his circular shield and blocked the rock-melting flames, prompting a screech of rage from my dragon partner.
Taking the distraction as a chance, I hurriedly moved to the opposite side of the cavern where I had seen something glinted and knelt down to inspect. If I was right...
" Yess...!" I hissed in delight upon finding a bundle of unbroken arrows. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say there where at least 10 to 20 arrows in this bundle. I quickly slipped the majority of the beads into my empty quiver while keeping at least three arrows out for use, then stood up and took aim at the group of monsters Azra was battling with.
" Damn monsters..!" I muttered darkly to myself, then let them loose. As the previous ones, the arrows gained a silvery-white aura as the zoomed towards their target, tearing the skeleton that had blocked Azra's flames in half before it's remains turned to ash and fell to the ground. Clearly outraged at the loss of their companion (or being attacked from behind), the remaining two let out growls and charged towards me. Feeling a bit more confident now I had a weapon to protect myself with again, I smirked in challange and leaped out of the way with grace.
" Azra, distract them again and I'll handle the rest!"
The young fledgling let out a roar of agreement before unleashing another blazing attack at the duo, managing to shove them off balance and into the wall. I danced to the side a leashed another arrow as quick as I could, watching in total satisfaction (and relief) as the bolt managed to pin the both of them to the wall before they turned into ash seconds later.
I drew in a deep breath and released in a long drawn-out sigh, turning with narrowed eyes to the black demonic skeleton that had yet to move. Just what on earth could be going through that thing's head...? Either way, I was still in a deep heap of trouble if I didn't figure a way to escape from this monstrous creature.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Well, there you have it, there's chapter nine. I hope it was good enough for my extended absence. Chapter Ten is just about 80% done, so it shouldn't (I'm praying it's not) take to long to finish. It the meantime I'm watching the Symphonia Animation to try to break through my writer's block.
Anyone who want's to watch it:
Go to and type in it's title in the search engine.
Jya ne!