CHILDREN OF THE SKY
CHAPTER 4
A chorus of divine spirits harmoniously whispered in the wind. There was a giant hall decorated with white walls and white pillars, its tiles were checkered with white and gray. A gleaming sword with a crystalline hilt was leaning on a throne made entirely out of crystals. On that throne was a sleeping boy, delicately dressed in a pure white suit. His messy white hair perfectly framed his young face. Above the throne, sunlight was bleeding through the cracks of the ceiling. And from those crevices, a black butterfly peacefully entered and fluttered around. The boy's eyes twitched and eventually he opened his green eyes. He slowly sat up as he captured the butterfly in his sight. Then he peered over the throne's armrest at his sword. His attention returned to the butterfly's black wings slowly flying away. Instinctively, the boy grasped the sword's handle and followed the butterfly. A giant set of doors were in sight and soon, the boy heard a disturbing edition of a familiar sonata. He opened the door and found a foyer opening up in front of him. There was a strange, silver haired pianist of the same age as the boy dressed in a black suit who continuously played.
"Lucian," the pianist finally stopped. "It's a pleasure having you join me."
"Thank you," the boy said.
The pianist sighed, "Did you know that you have visitors? They're waiting outside."
Lucian walked towards the entrance doors. He glanced back at the pianist who motioned him to proceed. He tried to make out the pianist's face but shadows simply sheltered it. Reluctantly, the white-haired boy pushed open the doors to a majestic walkway lined with cherry blossom trees. Underneath the nearest tree were two recognizable people. Faith knelt in the shade with Zane's sleeping head resting on her lap. As Lucian made his way down the front steps, the mansion behind him disintegrated into crystals that rained upwards into the clouds.
"Faith!"
The melodies of the birds echoed throughout the bright skies. As Lucian made his way towards his friends, a shrieking cackle shredded through the air. The pink blooming petals of the trees blew away with the strong burst of wind. The trees quickly shriveled up and died out and the image of Faith and Zane crumbled into crystallized pieces. An earthquake rumbled beneath the boy's feet and soon, mirrors emerged from the ground and formed a strange labyrinth. The boy's pulse raced as he called out the names of his friends. The maniacal laughter continued. For hours, he tried to find his way out of the maze, but it seemed to be to no avail.
"Lucian," a boyishly seductive tone echoed.
The boy stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around for the source of the voice, but only saw his reflection. Cautiously, he turned around the corner to find a staircase made of hanging mirrors. Without looking back at his crumbling trail, Lucian climbed the mirror staircase. Meanwhile, the maze behind him warped and twisted and curved until they all shattered. As he continued up the staircase, the steps behind him disintegrated.
"Lucian, why can't you remember me?"
Lucian arrived at a vast, open room bordered with mirrors that continued the theme established by the maze. There was an ominously familiar boy in a black suit that was simply standing in the middle of the ballroom. His twisted grin could treacherously seduce even the most unwavering soul. When Lucian inched closer to him, the boy simply bowed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again," he chuckled darkly.
A surge of emotions swelled up inside Lucian. Hatred's fire fueled him. Fear made him hesitate. Confusion questioned his senses. However, he just clenched onto the crystalline handle and guided his blade. He charged at the nightmarish figure, his shining blade in hand. With a smug grin, the boy pulled out a feudal katana and blocked Lucian's oncoming attack. Lucian's blade rebounded. Again, he drove his force again at his pretentious opponent. To no avail, it was blocked again. Again and again, Lucian's different attacks against the sinister boy got him nowhere. Lucian's enemy sighed in frustration and deflected another oncoming slash. He then simply smacked Lucian's face into the ground.
"You have a nascent mind," the silver-haired boy dressed in black pointed his sword at Lucian on the cold ground. "I admire your determination, but please stop degrading yourself. You need to strategize and think. Know the mind and souls of yourself and your enemies. Otherwise, you'll lose the game." He started to retreat, laughing. "You don't even know my name!"
"Your name," Lucian repeated, baffled.
"You can't remember," His footsteps stopped. His grin twisted more and more. His green eyes glowed from beneath his thick, silver bangs. He turned around, "Maybe I should engrave it into your head."
Lucian stumbled onto his feet. He grabbed his sword of light and charged at the silver-haired menace. All faded to white and thousands of unique voices all in disarray flooded the air.
The sweet smell of spring air flowed into his nose.
Faith's voice called, "Wake up!"
Lucian opened his eyes to a crowded classroom and groaned, "Not now..."
A trio of cloaked figures emerged on the vast hills overlooking the school. Their black, knee-high, pointed boots lined with silver crushed the grass beneath them. The slender black pants they wore tucked in their boots, were layered with several belts. Their midnight black cloaks flowed in the wind. Like their boots, the pockets and edges of the cloaks were lined with silver as well. On top of their shoulders were pauldrons made of diamonds. Chains with crystal trinkets connected them. Black hoods had distinctly shrouded their faces.
"Somnium Academy," a melodic androgynous voice began.
"Are you sure he's here?" Another genderless voice with a slightly higher pitch asked.
"Yeah," the velvet and seductive voice answered. "Lucian's in there. I can simply sense it."
A charcoal gray car speeds across the highways of Somnium, leaving debris flying in any direction possible. Cars, trees, lights, and grand establishments flash by. A pair of violet eyes studied the roads. His mind was deep in thought as he inhaled the mesmerizing nicotine.
"Marauders? Why would they be here?" He glanced over at Zane in the passenger seat, gazing blankly out the window. "If his power had truly been awakened, then the Light Guardian would be able to defend himself… at least until Zane and I arrive. But things aren't lining up. Why are the Marauders after him? How did they know about him? Is this linked to something the Mystical Guardians don't know about? Or is it about the Celestial Order? But why would the Celestial Order give commands to the Marauders? Maybe I'm thinking too much. But I know one thing for sure. There's something mysterious about that 'Lucian' kid."
The smoker's gray car continued to zoom across the roads.
The air was thick whiles shrieking teenagers crowded the claustrophobic halls, rushing to their next class. There was a strong smell of cigarettes coming from the bathrooms at the end of the hall. The corners were lined with paper and broken pencils and the slate gray lockers had a couple of dents in them. All, however, looked completely normal. Lucian and Faith chatted further as they trudged their way to their next class.
Lucian looked at Faith's long, flowing, reddish-brown hair. He noticed her confident smile. He wondered if their last meeting had little effect on her. He sheepishly gulped, "Sorry about what happened yesterday."
Sapphire meets emerald. Eye contact is a wondrous, but small dance of natural interaction. Faith's eyes illuminated as she looked into Lucian's core essence. With a warm smile, she reassured, "Don't worry about it. It's okay."
"Okay?" Lucian wasn't convinced.
In a second, Faith's inviting smile turned into a concerned look. She awkwardly changed the subject, "Is it me or is our English teacher an obsessive drunkard?"
They both laughed.
Without warning, chaos broke out swiftly and mercilessly. Shrill cries echoed throughout the crowds. Scarlet splattered on the lockers. Students made an effort to escape into the classrooms, however there were those who had no avail only to be brutally slaughtered.
Faith's eyes widened, "What's happening?"
A few teachers rushed, holding makeshift weapons. One of them, carrying a fire extinguisher grunted, "Get out of here!"
Lucian and Faith both caught a glimpse of the horrific monster. It was half the size of a human being. It looked like a hyena, whose fur was shielded in blood-stained scales. Its tail split into three, having sharp metal tips on each end. It lacked a bottom jaw, letting its tongue dangle freely. Its large claws were serrated like knives, digging into the flesh and tile floor. A note-worthy feature on the abomination was that it wore a chain of rusted plaques with human faces stretched over them. The fiend wore one of them as a mask.
Eyes widened in shock, Lucian covered his mouth. "What the hell is that?"
The hyena-like thing slashed several useless faculty members to shreds, letting the smell of flesh invigorate its senses; seductive bloodlust. The face on the one plaque that masked the monster opened its eyes. The pupils schizophrenically darted about. The three tails whipped around dramatically. The hyena sensed a newcomer in its territory. The hideous monster hissed, standing his ground. Lucian picked up the fire extinguisher used by one of the teachers that had rolled to his feet. Trembling, he pointed the nozzle at the hyena.
"Lucian!" Faith tried to pull him away. "What're you doing? You're going to get murdered!"
Before the creature could attack Lucian, an ominous figure in a cloak appeared. It calmed the beast, darkly chuckling, "My, oh my. Look what my precious Kaftar did to this place. Blood does look good on the walls. Brings some color to something this tedious and boring. But he said, 'killing people is not necessary.' Oh well! Accidents happen. Blood spills. Life goes on."
Lucian didn't let his guard down, "Who are you?"
"I'm Kora." The cloaked figure stood up and pulled back its hood, revealing a surprisingly androgynous face. The contours of its face were smooth and round. Its full lips shined and its skin was flawless. The eyelashes were long and thick which framed its delicate and soft eyes. Its neck-length, brunette hair flowed, like waves. The hair was parted in the middle, however there was a thin, long lock of hair that ran down the center of the face, curved up at the cheekbone, and was tucked behind the ear.
Lucian and Faith, dumbstruck, "Are you a boy or a girl?"
Kora smiled, "What? You can't tell? Hmph," She (for the sake of avoiding any confusion on unknown gender) pointed an index finger at Lucian. "You, white haired boy... You must be Lucian."
His expression tense, Lucian readied the fire extinguisher at Kora. "What if I am?"
"How can you not be Lucian?" Kora argued. "You obviously fit the bill perfectly!" She then noticed Faith. "And who's this?"
She coldly introduced herself.
Kora delightfully continued, "Great! Now that we all know each other, would you be so kind to lower that there fire extinguisher? It's making me nervous."
"Hey!" A playful tone of voice echoed throughout the halls. "You're keeping me out of the fun!"
Kora's eyes widened when she saw a gust of golden energy whiz past Lucian and Faith's heads. In a flash, Kora summoned an intriguing weapon. The weapon held the shape of a large, stylized ring with sharp edges and blades jutting out at angles. A handle was set on the diameter of the ring. Using this chakram weapon, Kora deflected the wave of energy.
Surprised, Lucian and Faith looked behind them to see Zane with a cheeky smile at the end of the hallway. They noticed that he did not wear his hat and coat, having his ears and tail shown. He also had his glistening scythe ready in hand.
"Hi!" He waved to Lucian and Faith, tail wagging.
"Tch! Wolf boy," Kora grunted.
Zane instructed, "You two have to get out of here, okay?"
Lucian reluctantly trusted him, "Y-Yeah."
When the two fled, Kora chuckled and whispered to her summoned hyena monster, "Seize them, Kaftar." With that, the atrocity evaporated without a trace. "So," she continued with a snarky smile. "What's a filthy Guardian doing here?"
"Huh? What was that? I didn't hear you!" Zane deviously mocked, "Are you a boy or a girl? I can't tell!"
Kora flared her nostrils and grinded her teeth, "Don't test my patience!"
Zane simply smiled as his eyes changed from light blue to yellow, "Hmph. A few Marauders are here already. This'll be fun."
The irritated Kora dashed across the hall, stepping on cadavers and puddles of deep red. The chakram in the rogue's grasp twirled about, slicing the air.
Bearing his sharp teeth, Zane readied his scythe. His shimmering smile faded to a grimace when he witnessed Kora lunging towards him, chakram in hand. He took a few steps backwards, keeping his distance from his opponent. He blocked the oncoming strikes with the metal handle of his scythe. Zane winced at the sparks flying across the air. With a flick of his wrist, he twirled his scythe and parried another wave of Kora's attacks with the edge of the sickle. Afterwards, Zane slashed at Kora only to carve the air instead. He waved his hand in the air and fired bursts of golden lunar energy.
Kora chuckled as she deflected Zane's lunar energy with the chakram, "Is that all you got, wolf boy?" At that moment, Kora was invited by another onslaught of lunar energy blasts. The genderless one deflected some of the first flares successfully, but soon got hit when she lost momentum. Kora snickered as she split apart her chakram. Chains inched out of the separated handle. The circle blade severed apart into semicircles, still bonded to the handle. Kora's chakram became a chain scythe. Kora dashed towards Zane, whirling her new weapon in the air.
Zane maneuvered his scythe to block the two flying blades. His eyes widened before he felt a rough high heel forced up upon his jaw.
Faith hastily dashed through the gruesome school halls. "Lucian, keep up!"
The two turned the corner to find nothing but absolute scarlet. Another monster with razor teeth was feasting on the flesh of a student. Its slimy tongue viscerally wrapped around the intestines that spilled out from the corpse. The boy's ghoulishly pale face was covered in crimson and black. His eyes were nowhere to be seen. And still, one could hear the faint gasps from the butchered boy.
Faith prevented Lucian from yelling in terror with a cover of a mouth. "There's nothing you can do. Come on!" She dragged him away.
Lucian followed Faith and occasionally stumbled upon a body or two. The soles of their shoes became painted with blood. It seemed that every room or hall they passed held a horrifying and grotesque display.
"This… this is just a nightmare." Lucian said, panting. Faith stopped in her tracks and her eyes went livid. Lucian continued, "I'll… just wake up, right?"
"Get a hold of yourself!" She smacked him across the face. "This is real!"
Shocked and speechless, Lucian's eyes widened.
In a flash, Kora's summoned creature, Kaftar appeared from around the corner, trampling over blood-spattered corpses.
"Crap!" Faith shoved Lucian out of the way. Magical jade ribbons exploded from her wrist and out into the air. They twirled about, creating a rapier with an elegant silver hilt. It floated until Faith's slender hand grasped at its handle. She brandished her new weapon and took to a defensive pose, "Stand back!"
Kaftar cackled while the chain of faces it wore began revolving vehemently around its body.
"Where's Lucian?" A pair of high heeled boots danced across the dusty hardwood floors of a gymnasium. A delicate hand playfully twirled a chakram about. This figure robed in black was Kora's twin, albeit with a couple minute differences. The androgynous face seemed a tad more structured compared to the sibling's. This one's brown hair was longer, wilder and its long fringes were unkempt. The eyes and lips were fierce, serpentine and sinuous.
"What the hell are you?" A tanned young man with cropped hair asked from a distance. "Are you a girl or a guy?"
The Marauder stopped dead in its tracks and scanned the hostages who were all bound in chains against the walls. He (again, to avoid gender confusion) pinpointed the tanned teenager who had the audacity to mock him, "You."
"Yeah, me," The idiot decided to continue. "I can't tell who the fuck you are."
The Marauder's eyes narrowed. He flourished his chakram, disassembling it into a chain scythe. A magic circle was crudely carved into the wooden floor panels. "Vilanu," he called, "Dinner."
The floor boards warped and shattered at once. And from the ground beneath it, crawled another hideous creature. It was reptilian, similar to a komodo dragon. It wore on its back, a rusted plate with a face stretched over it, similar to the ones that Kaftar adorned. The creature had no eyes; only rusty nails jutted out from cobwebbed eye sockets. Vilanu's mouth shredded open into a crooked Glasgow grin. The chasm was filled with needle-like teeth that soon separated, revealing a slithering, black tongue. It snaked its way to its prey when dozens of erratic eyes opened on its slimy surface.
The captives shrieked in terror as the abomination inched closer.
A deafening gunshot rang throughout the air, striking the monster into the bleachers. A pair of heavy footsteps echoed in the gymnasium. Damien disposed of his cigarette and coughed, "Damn. You're one ugly motherfucker."
"A Guardian," the Marauder began, "Figures."
He reloaded his shotgun, "Cut the crap."
"Hmph. Vilanu, attack!"
The monstrosity returned from the crushed bleachers, vengeful and hell-bent on mauling Damien.
"Shit," Damien held his distance from the beast and eyed the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. The two circled each other until Vilanu eventually leaped at him. At an instant, Damien dodged the thing and strategically shot out all the hanging lights. Frenetic screams echoed throughout the darkness. The gunman's eyes blazed with a piercing violet and with an impish leer; he fired an onslaught of dark-infused bullets upon the behemoth.
Vilanu roared in retaliation and charged at Damien, offering fatal strikes. Blood flew.
The villain cackled, hysterical and mocking.
"Fuck," Damien winced, clutching onto his chest. "God… damn it." His shotgun reconstructed into an assault rifle. With a yell, he took aim and unleashed another tempest of bullets. The cacophony of battering bullets and their shells hitting the floor echoed in his ears.
Bullets were lodged into the monster's hide. Vilanu let out a gargling screech, causing forceful whirlwinds to deflect any more oncoming dark ammo. Stray bullets completely butchered a few unfortunate hostages. Damien grunted and shielded himself from the wild bullets with a barrier of darkness.
"This so much fun," the Marauder skipped to his ravenous summon. "It's like a bloody carnival!" He bellowed an ear-splitting laugh. He slowly pulled out the dozens of long nails from Vilanu's eye sockets and threw them at Damien.
Damien's eyes widened. He grumbled and casted waves of darkness from thin air to vanquish the soaring metal stakes.
"Ugh!" The Marauder roared. "You're no fun!" He jumped in the air with his chain scythe flowing around him.
Vilanu produced its eye-covered tongue from its unhinged jaws.
Damien split his rifle into two semi-automatic handguns. "Get the fuck out."
Dark hellfire…
With a screech, Vilanu submerged into the ground, defeated.
The Marauder coughed, "Damn you, Guardian." With a yell, he returned with another daring strike from his chain scythe.
Damien dodged with a smoky sneer.
"Shit," the floorboards split beneath them. Wooden chips and rubble scattered in the air. The Marauder tried to regain his composure. "I don't think I've ever introduced myself."
"You'd really think I'd give a fuck?"
"Now, now, that's no way to be polite," he chided. "My name is Roka. What's yours?"
"Damien," he spat. "Now go fuck yourself."
"Hmph," Roka flourished his chain scythe back into a chakram. His dagger heels struck the splintered floors as he dashed towards Damien.
With a scowl, the Dark Guardian dodged the razor sharp ring with a couple of steps. Annoyed and teeth bared, he caught grasp of Roka's chakram. "Get over here!" His palms bled when forced Roka towards him. He pressed his gun's metal barrel against Roka's face and fired.
Roka stumbled back with a broken jaw and half of his face drenched in blood.
Damien drew another cigarette.
Roka snapped his jaw back into place. "I'll play with you later." He disappeared.
"God damn coward," Damien scorned and walked over to the tied up hostages. With a pocket knife, he freed the students and staff. "Go. Get the fuck out of here… now."
"Whoa!" Zane quickly deflected Kora's attacks with his scythe. "Hey, you're good!"
"Shut up and drop dead, stupid mutt," Kora persisted.
Zane retorted, "Again with the name calling?" He followed through with a furious lunar strike. Starry specks scattered through the air. The blunt force demolished nearby lockers while Kora sailed through the air and into the ground. "Are we done yet? This one just won't give up." Zane sighed and thought to himself. His scythe vanished while he turned to walk away, "I need to get Lucian and Faith to safety."
Kora stumbled back up and spat blood, "Son of a bitch!" She recombined her chain scythe back into its chakram form.
Zane's lupine ears twitched. His eyes widened, twisted with emotion.
Kora threw the chakram, cruelly carving into the back of Zane's legs. She laughed hysterically when she watched Zane fall to the ground, screaming in pain. "Pathetic," she cackled as she limped over to him. "You're… a useless… fucking… puppy!"
"I… am not… useless," Zane panted. "I am not… a puppy."
"Oh?" Kora drove her chakram deeper in Zane's wound. He gasped in agony. Blood trickled down his leg, forming a small pool. "You're not a puppy, eh?" Kora's stiletto forced Zane's head to the dirty floors. She chuckled, "Then what's this?" Her fingers wrapped around Zane's free tail and clenched it tight.
"N-No!" He gasped.
"How can you be human with this tacky thing?" She forcefully pulled on his tail.
"Gyaaaaaaugh!" He cried at the brutal pain at the base of his tailbone. "S-S-Stop," He pleaded while he coughed up blood and became paralyzed. "H-H-Help…"
Kora grinned and produced a switchblade. "I'm so going to enjoy this, you sad piece of shit." She started to sever his tail.
Zane's screaming shot up an octave. His legs scrambled. His tail twitched violently. His vision became blurry. Blood was everywhere.
"Hey!" A callous voice echoed through the hallway. A pair of combat boots swaggered through the carnage Kora's summoned monster left behind. He spat his cigarette and aimed a revolver pistol at the back of Kora's head.
"D-Damien…?"
"Fucking Guardians," Kora staggered back up and withdrew her chakram from the back of Zane's leg. The wolf-boy fully collapsed on the ground. She turned to face the gunman, "Always ruining my fun." Her weapon split back into its chain scythe form. She threw one of the scythes at Damien, who merely deflected it with a couple of bullets. Kora yelled like a baby with a tantrum and retracted her chain scythe. She disappeared in a furious frenzy.
"Hmph," Damien scowled as he put away his gun. "Just like the other one." He rushed to Zane's side. He picked him up and carried him over his shoulder.
"Ngh… Th-Thanks…"
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Zane."
Zane chuckled pitifully.
"Just hang on," Damien said. "The Light Guardian can't be far now."
"His name," Zane coughed, "Is Lucian."
"Yeah, yeah… Lucian."
"This is not good," Faith panted, her forehead covered with blood and sweat. She turned to Lucian who was hiding around a corner. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh," he winced at a couple of gashes. "I wish I could help."
"No," she yelled. "Get out of here! Stay safe!"
"And leave you here?" Lucian replied apprehensively, "No way! What about my powers?"
"I don't know! I just don't want you to die!"
"And what about you, huh?" He was stubborn, "Are you sure you can take this thing on your own?"
"For God's sake, Lucian, I don't know!" She shuddered when she heard Kaftar's cackling roar from across the grand lobby. "Crap!" The chain of a dozen faces all levitated in the air, their eyes wide open and their toothless smiles raging mad. They muttered intense gibberish, casting fatal spells. She yelled, deflecting the incantations with her rapier. "You've got to be kidding me!" She retorted with a trio of magic spears with green auras. The beast roared; a masque or two were successfully destroyed. The ring of visages exploded with ear-splitting laughter, summoning a maelstrom of wild magic spells. Faith took cover behind a wall opposite of Lucian.
"How are you holding out, Faith?"
"I could be better," she gasped and gulped. "Here," she tossed her rapier to Lucian. "Take this and cover me."
"Are you serious?" Lucian put the fire extinguisher on his back and scurried to Faith's rapier. "That's suicide!"
"I know it's crazy," she created an energy shield, "But come on!" She rushed into the squall of magic attacks with her it. Lucian closely followed behind.
The psychotic faces went around Faith's barrier to the boy. They called like sirens on ecstasy, "Lucian…"
"Shit!" he tried to fend them off with the rapier. Fortunately, the masks were easily sliced in half. He yelled, "What do you want from me?" But like a relentless army, another wave of insane faces returned. "Damn it!"
"Get down!" Faith twisted her waist and fired a barrage of energy javelins at the chained faces. Faith turned back and struck Kaftar with her energy barrier. The sheer force caused the shield to shatter. Faith snatched her rapier from Lucian and shredded through Kaftar's side. The ring of faces had a seizure and lifelessly fell to the ground. The monster howled in agony and retreated through a set of large double doors.
"Great," Faith panted. "Now that thing's pissed." She glanced at Lucian jabbing one of the faces with his fire extinguisher. "Are you coming?"
"Yeah," Lucian broke the chains with the extinguisher and hauled a mask as a shield. The two followed Kaftar through the double doors.
Lucian and Faith stepped into what was once an impressive theatre hall. Rubble, dust and debris were everywhere; complete ruination. With its feral snickering, Kaftar stood on what remained of the stage. The entire auditorium shook with one howl. Soon, a ton of unidentifiable bodies dropped from the ceiling, hanging from nooses and surrounded by barbed wire frames.
"What the fuck?" Startled, Lucian blasted one of the corpses with the fire extinguisher. Gargling over the foam, the body quivered and fell limp. The rest of the naked bodies opened their stitched mouths to moan Lucian's name and started spewing black magic.
"Damn it, Lucian!" Faith yelled. She easily killed off several distant cadavers with her magic, while Lucian suffocated the ones closer by. "Why do they keep saying your name?"
"Hell if I know!" The fire extinguisher ran out of foam, "God damn it." Lucian resorted to beating the corpses with the blunt end of the device. With another shredding laugh from Kaftar, the ceiling began to cave in. "Crap!"
Faith grabbed Lucian's wrist and dragged him to safety. "Stay here. And I mean it."
"But Faith," Lucian's protests were to no avail. Faith headed towards Kaftar by herself. Lucian bared his teeth and fought back a lump in his throat. His fist hit the wall.
The auburn-haired girl rushed to the laughing monster, blade in hand. Kaftar bestially attacked with its dagger claws, digging into Faith's side. She cried in agony while casting her healing magic. It was all in vain when the monster's tripartite bladed tail struck her across the chest.
"Faith!"
"Get out of here, Lucian!" Faith stumbled, clutching on to her bleeding chest. "God forbid you die here with me," she casted more healing spells. She tightened her grip on to the sword, dragged her feet further and landed a couple of daring slashes.
"Why?"
Kaftar shrieked its infuriating laughter as it casted its deathly magic. Faith's tortured screams rang in Lucian's ears.
"Why is this happening to me?"
The daunting voice returned to him, "Are you willing to give up, Lucian?"
Lucian's right fist exploded with the power of light. With a yell, he dashed across the theatre and pummeled Kaftar into the ground.
"If you gave up, that'd certainly be a shame."
Lucian panted, standing in an aurora of pure light, his green eyes burning.
"Give up on yourself, and you would fail to stand tall… to stand beyond. You would surrender to the world… Surrender to the life's cruel deceptions… You would live forever in fear… And your love for those around you… would be for naught."
Lucian held out his right hand. In another burst of light, the sword with the crystalline hilt from his nightmares materialized in his grasp.
"There is a distant light far off out of our reach, Lucian… We all have always wondered where it would be hidden... Sadly, no mortal being will ever know... You yearn for the truth… That light… What we fear most… This day shall mark the beginning of a new chapter…"
Kaftar split apart into two in a brilliant flash of light. Lucian simply annihilated the beast with another fell swoop. The hyena monster screeched as it slowly shattered into dust. Lucian stood silent in the middle of the devastation, his expression tense.
"L-Lucian…?" Faith struggled to get up after Kaftar's merciless and lethal attacks. "Are you okay?"
He turned around, "As long as you are!" He chuckled weakly and eventually collapsed to the ground; completely knocked out cold. His sword of light evaporated in a flash.
"Seriously…?" Faith gawked at him as she put her rapier away, "Lucian, you're more than an idiot." After a moment of healing, Faith sighed and managed to pick up him up. "God, you're heavy." She hauled him out of the catastrophic destruction.
Faith dragged her feet down the halls while carrying Lucian with her. The sound of echoing footsteps rang like drums in her ears. "H-Hello…?" She called, "Help… Please…"
A smoky voice mumbled, "Who is she?"
A camaraderie voice broke, "F-Faith…?"
"Oh no." Nearly breaking into tears, Faith hurried to a spiky-haired man holding her injured friend, "Zane!"
"Hey," Zane reached to her face and coughed, "Smile…"
The tall man whispered something in Zane's ear while Faith desperately tried to compose herself. Zane nodded at him. The man's deep purple eyes studied Faith and the boy she held desperately. "We need to leave," he said. "It's not safe around here anymore."
With that, the four disappeared.
The third Marauder looked over Somnium Academy with intent; the nightmare figure was savoring the chaos. His long silver hair flew in the wind; his green eyes were lavishing. However, his twisted grin was upturned when Kora and Roka appeared in his sights. The androgynous twins were massacred from their battles.
"Saku," they cried.
"Please spare us," Kora begged.
"Have mercy on us," Roka pleaded.
The third Marauder's green eyes turned absolutely livid. "What… happened?"
"Those two stupid Mystical Guardians!"
"They're always getting in the way!"
"They hurt our poor monsters!"
"They defeated us so easily!"
"Please don't kill us," the twins cried together.
"Enough!" Saku snapped and pinched the bridge of his nose. After hearing their frightened gasps, he continued, "Your left hands… now."
Kora and Roka's eyes widened at their punishment. They had no choice but to shove out their filthy hands.
"Oh, come now," Saku chuckled. "You two look like pathetic animals." He produced a dagger from his sleeve and hacked at their wrists. Kora and Roka stifled their screams. Tears rolled down their wretched cheeks. The twins gasped and sobbed as their stark blood spilled across the grass. It wasn't long before their hands fell to the ground. The twins clamored over them until Saku stepped on them, forcing the limbs deeper into the earth. "Now then," he said. "Burn down the school. They won't be coming back."
"Y-Yes, Saku," The two proceeded to cast fire spells.
The silver-haired boy watched Somnium Academy burn to the ground. He chuckled darkly and slowly walked away.
"Do you remember me as well as I remember you, Lucian?"