Relentless Pursuit
Boots, belts, bandolier and bow, gloves tied tightly against the wind and books bundled up in a crowded pack, sword, staff, and above all else, a dozen skins of water. Once Rena had checked over their stock of supplies, she turned to the rising sun and started off toward the desert with Elsword and Aisha alongside. With their eyes fixed forward they left Elder behind and marched toward desolate, dust covered barrens beyond.
"Oh, wait a second, I want to test something out first." Rena stopped and pulled her bow from the hook on her belt.
"What?" Elsword turned and looked to her, the haze of the early morning still clouding his eyes. "We're already three weeks behind Wally, what do you still need to do here?"
"Just come stand over here for a second." Rena pointed to a smooth spot on the road away. Still drowsy, Elsword dragged himself over to the roadside and kicked at the ground, his hands in his pockets and his eyes only half open. Once he was in position, Rena nodded and pointed to another soft patch of the road.
"And Aisha, you stand over there."
"Um, Rena..." Aisha turned back as she headed to her appointed post. "Not that I mind, but what are we doing?"
Smiling brightly in the early morning twilight, Rena pulled her gloves tight and tapped her boots against the ground. "Well, I've been practicing a trick I heard about a long time ago. See, if you pluck a bow string just right, you can make the air around you vibrate really quickly." She drew her fingers across her bow and a faint, silvery string materialized just across her fingertips. When she let go, the string vanished and a low, soft tone spread through the air as if a dull iron bell had just been struck.
"...Can't it wait?" Elsword fought the sleep in his eyes as he tried to be upset, but in the end he was only able to manage weariness.
"It'll just take a second. Stand there- oh... hm..." Rena paused, placing her forefinger to her lips and looking to the sky. "No, actually, I need you both to run at me like you're going to attack."
Aisha smiled uncomfortably as she took her place on the far side of the road. "Where exactly is this going?"
Rena smiled and aimed her bow overhead. "Don't worry about it, just run at me."
Grumbling and blinking the sleep from his eyes, Elsword nodded and looked to Aisha. Sighing, she finally gave in and the two of them rushed toward Rena. As they approached, she drew back her bowstring, closed her eyes, and released. Aisha's eyes went wide as a burst of wind blew back her hair, lifting her from the ground and throwing her back into the forest. She fumbled for her wand as she tumbled through the air and just barely managed to right herself, floating gently to the ground some twenty yards from Rena.
"Are you okay!" Her voice on the verge of panic, Rena rushed over to the roadside and called out to Aisha. "I'm so sorry! That was only supposed to push you back a little bit."
"It's... okay..." Aisha stumbled back to to the road, shaken and slightly nauseous. Once Rena had confirmed her safety, she rushed over to Elsword who had fallen flat on his back and looked as though he had just woken from a nightmare.
"Elsword, are you alright?"
"Yeah..." He took a slow, deep breath and coughed a bit, rolling onto his side and pushing himself up to his feet. Though he was scowling as he stood, the moment he saw Rena's face, worried and distraught, his agitation faded and he glanced into the forest. "It was kind of fun, like flying, I guess..."
Though his lie was obvious, Rena took it as a sign of his safety and sighed lightly.
"Let's not try it again though, okay?" She smiled awkwardly as Aisha stood behind her, staring in disbelief at Elsword's response. As soon as they had brushed the dust from themselves, they set their feet toward the west once again. With the sun rising over the city at their back, their towering shadows marched toward the barrens, the desert, and beyond it, somewhere in the vast, breathless world, the El.
Even in the dead of winter with the freezing air clinging to her cheeks, Aisha wasn't surprised to feel the cool tingling of sweat on her forehead. Based on the maps they had received from Hoffman, the barren wastes underfoot stretched farther than a day's travel for most caravans. Past that point, a small mountain pass would take them into the desert surrounding Bethma, the only outpost in the otherwise desolate wilds. As Aisha ran through the blustering winter wind, she wished with every step that they had brought along horses for this leg of the journey even though she knew that was a firm impossibility. With El crystals so scarce, every spare stone was given to the refugees in Elder so that they might return home, leaving none large enough to encompass a single horse, much less three. Because of that, and because finding food and water in the wastelands around Bethma was less likely than finding Ruben's El unguarded in the middle of a field of flowers, Aisha, Rena, and Elsword had to carry a week's supply of food and water as they made their trek across the dust covered plains. Their pace, however, was set by a certain enthusiastic knight who insisted that they run until nightfall to make up for lost time.
"Wait!" Rena called out over the whistling wind. "It looks like there's somebody on the ground up ahead!"
The three of them quickly slowed to a stop as they watched the lump of glimmering steel just yards away. With the light of El glowing too faintly for anything to live, they approached plainly but with caution.
"It looks like someone in armor... is that-" Aisha neared the body and immediately gasped. A pool of red cushioned the head of a knight who, judging by his tabard, was one of Wally's royal guard. There was only one visible wound on his body but it was more than enough to kill a dozen times over. The knight's head was crushed inward, his helmet bent and torn as though it was caught in the claws of a massive beast and squeezed until it was little more than pulp. The already frigid air froze over as Elsword and Aisha stood over the corpse, their eyes wide and their mouths agape. Seeing the state of the body and of her companions, Rena moved quickly and knelt alongside the fallen knight, pulling his tabard over his face and tucking it behind the remnants of his head. Rising to her feet, she turned and took a step toward the empty plains ahead.
"Come on, we've got a long way to go before nightfall." As she headed off, Aisha and Elsword collected themselves, nodding and hurrying to her side. They left, the light of El leaving with them as they carried on toward the desert. In the absence of air and El, the fallen knight lay in repose, forever frozen in the stagnant wastes.
Far to the south, the snow covered lands of Velder drifted quietly into an early evening. Though the sun was still overhead, the soldiers on patrol outside the capital were hard pressed to find it through the dense sea of silver clouds above. A pair of soldiers weary from the cold and their eight hour watch sat atop the garrison's outer wall, searching the city and sky for anything that could help them pass the time. To their dismay, all they found was an endless blanket of white, laid gently over rooftops and alleyways and abbreviated only by the flickering warmth of a hearth fire peeking out from frosted windows.
"D-Damn, how much longer are we gonna have to stare at snow fallin' on our faces?" One shivering guard shook the snowflakes form his helmet and fought the chattering of his teeth. Alongside him, another soldier brushed off her gauntlets and wrapped a hand firmly around her pike.
"Well, rejoice!" She turned to him, her voice tinged with glad mockery, "If you look through the window of that big house over there, you can see a family sitting down to... oh, it looks like chicken soup and hot cocoa with warm bread."
Her partner sniffled and glared at her. "...I hate you."
"Yes and I hate hearing you complaining for ten hours straight." She gave a jeering smile before turning back to the field of ice below.
"Seriously? What's your problem with-" The sniffling soldier's voice was quickly drowned out by a loud roar just as the wall on which he stood was enveloped by a massive shadow. Above them, a massive ship descended from the clouds and hovered in the air, its bulk supported by propellers and turbines and other mechanisms completely unknown to the soldiers of the Velder garrison.
"W-What the hell is that!"
Before his desperate cry could be answered, the air flashed red with fire as the nearby guard tower crumbled, its neighbors soon following in a series of violent explosions. As the remaining soldiers scrambled for cover, the ship's hull opened and dozens of masked mercenaries poured out from it, sliding to the ground on thick black cords and landing atop the garrison wall. The sniffling soldier clambered to his feet and readied his sword only to find his partner already standing in front of him. She turned and glanced at him over her shoulder.
"Get word to the commander! We'll hold them off here!"
"Like hell you will!" His loudest shouts could only barely reach her ears over the howling engines of the airship above them. Still, despite the deafening noise, he heard her sarcastic quips clearly.
"Yeah, you're right! I was gonna go myself, but you're way better at running away than I am!"
"Heh... idiot." Holding back a bitter laugh, he nodded and turned to the remnants of the nearest tower. As the garrison's soldiers fought and fell before an ever increasing number of mercenaries, the sniffling soldier slid down the crumbled mass of a fallen tower and ran as hard as he could, cutting through the snow as he barreled toward the palace. Behind him, shouts and screams were eclipsed by the shrill, piercing shriek of artillery falling to the ground. Keeping his head fixed forward, he rushed through the empty streets, shouting warnings to the citizens settling down to dinner in their homes as he went. It wasn't much, but he was about to accomplish something for his country, some semblance of achievement in an otherwise lackluster career when he suddenly stopped. Someone had grabbed his right arm and held it tight, keeping him firmly in place.
"Let go of me! There's no time and I've got to get word to the palace!"
His plea was met with silence. As he turned back, he saw that what was wrapped around his arm was not a hand, and it was clearly not human. A sharp metal claw held his arm and squeezed, easily tearing through his armor and crushing it against his skin. As his screams of agony echoed through the streets, the owner of the inhuman arm stepped out from the shadows and stared coldly into the soldier's eyes. Struggling to free himself, the soldier reached for his sword only to be thrown to the ground as if he were a bundle of rags. The stranger approached him, leveling a sword at the soldier's throat while his metallic, inhuman arm trembled and shook with anticipation. With a swift thrust, the tip of the blade touched the pavement, a pool of blood spilling out as it pierced the soldier's neck. Pulling his sword out sharply, the stranger turned and headed toward the Palace gates.
"No need. They'll know soon enough."