Hey guys! So I know it's been a while, but the next chapter is finally here!
To make up for my lack of updates, I've made this chapter extra long, just for you awesome people :D
Without further ado, on with chapter 7!
Corvan
"So when exactly did you say they'll be here?" I ask with nervous excitement and Eight rolls his eyes, this is probably the millionth time I've asked him and he's said the same answer every time.
"In a few hours, asking more won't get them here quicker" he replies and I shrug, really wanting to meet the others in real life. Meeting them in the dream was cool enough, but this'll be so much better.
From what Eight described, Six, Marina and two other people are coming. He's never seen the two other people and he described an older man, possibly a Cepan and a young girl, who I suppose is probably a Loric who was on Earth during the invasion just like Lucas and I.
"So let me get this straight, you told your personal army to go and pick them up from the airport?" I ask and Eight nods. I don't really agree with the whole army thing, but hey, we can use all the help we get.
"Well, I guess we just wait then" I ask after a brief moment of silence and Eight shrugs, "There's not really much else for us to do" he replies and I sit on a stump next to me, waiting for the others to show up.
After what seems like hours, we finally see Sharma and the others walking up the path towards the lake. Eight jumps up and transforms into one of his deities and I roll my eyes. He's going to test them to see what we're working with. I think it's kinda stupid but he insisted on testing them so I'm not going to stand in his way.
"What the hell is this" I hear one of them ask when they see Eight standing atop of the lake but Sharma doesn't respond and instead sits down in a meditative position, closing his eyes. This might take a while.
After a while, all of them have finished their trials and it's starting to get dark. In response to this, I teleport to where Eight's standing in front of the lake in his normal form. I quickly examine the four of them, my eyes darting between them quickly. From what I've seen from the trials, Six seems to be the strongest fighter, followed by Marina then the girl.
"Corvan?" Six asks and I nod in response, "Yep, in the flesh" I joke and she rolls her eyes, the girl giggles slightly but Marina looks around, clearly slightly on edge. What she's on edge about however is a mystery to me.
"Who's this?" I ask confused and beacon to the girl who stands next to her Cepan and she steps forwards, "I'm Ella" she says cheerfully and shakes my hand.
"And I'm guessing you're her Cepan?" I question, turning to her Cepan and he nods, "I'm Crayton, we were on the second ship out of Lorien" he states and I give him a slightly confused look. I didn't know there was a second ship.
"Sweet, I guess I should show you guys around" Eight says, "What should I do?" I head Sharma ask, still sitting down. Honestly, I didn't really remember he was still there.
"It's time for us to part ways" Eight says and Sharma looks to respond but Eight cuts him off, "You should find your real Vishnu" he continues and Sharma looks slightly saddened but he maintains his composure. It may have been harsh but it's necessary. He doesn't want to bring him into the coming war.
He turns to us and starts walking towards the hut, signaling for us to follow. "What happened to your Cepan?" Marina asks gently and Eight's shoulders start to sag slightly. He's told me this story but it's good for him to get it out, holding in all those emotions isn't good for anyone.
"When we first came to India, it was just Reynolds and I" he starts, slightly sighing, remembering the times they shared, "That was until Lola came along" he says, spitting out her name, "He told her everything, including our secret" he continues, a hurt tone in his voice. Clearly hearing this, Marina moves up to him and takes his hand, comforting him slightly.
"Lola suggested that we should take a trip to the mountains, she thought it would help Reynolds and I sort out our problems" Eight explains, stiffening his posture, "We went out to get firewood, but when we came back, she was with some Mogs" he explains, his emotions causing him to skip ahead.
"He was heartbroken before he was scared. When he asked why, a Mog tossed a bag of coins on the floor. She leaped for it like a dog to a bone but they stabbed her as soon as she did" he continues, trying to drown out his sadness by raising his voice, "They couldn't kill me, every hit on me killing another one of them" he recalls, his voice breaking slightly.
"I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't quick enough. They killed him and made off with my Chest" he finishes coldly and Marina lets go of his hand as he wraps his arms around himself.
We walk in silence for a moment before Six puts her hand on his shoulder, "You have us now" she says comfortingly and Eight wipes his eyes before nodding. We reach the hut and Six whistles, clearly impressed by what Eight managed to make by himself.
"Wow, for one person, this is pretty impressive" she remarks and Eight laughs slightly, "After a while up here, I got kind of bored of training and decided to make a proper shelter" he explains, returning to his normal self.
"Is it usually this cold up here at night time?" Six asks me and I nod, "You want to get a fire going?" I ask and she nods eagerly, Ella also nodding with her.
I ignite the logs in the fire pit with my pyrokinesis and Craton looks my way, "Any other tricks you would like to tell us about" he asks and I chuckle, "Not quite yet" I reply with a grin.
"So Corvan, what happened to your Cepan?" Marina questions softly and I sigh sadly, my Chest still won't open, so he's still out there, I just don't know where.
"We had been living just outside of New York, we had been there for years without any incident when the other Loric had started to appear, first it was the 'Nine now Eight, are the rest of you out there?' message" I start, memories starting to flood through me, "did anyone else see that message?" I ask curiously and Six speaks up, "I replied to it, and they found us" she answers and takes on a saddened look.
"Anyway, we waited it out for a while, not really knowing where to start our search, when reports about a powerful being in the Himalayas started to appear" I continue, everyone enthralled by my tale, "Turns out that the being in the mountains wasn't so powerful" I joke and Eight hits my lightly on the arm and I grin.
"Anyway, one day, Eight says that he has this great idea, a way to get to the far corners of the Earth, so we went to it" I say, my mood darkening and my voice becoming grim, I know what comes next, "We took the journey, and ended up in a desert, we were attacked, and Lucas got shot and let go just before we left" I choke, wiping away a tear from the corner of my eye, "And then a few weeks later, you guys show up" I finish, knowing that I left out a lot of details. I'll have the opportunity to tell the full tale later when we're all together.
Six puts her hand on my shoulder comfortingly and I smile grimly up at her, taking back control of my emotions. Eight stands up and stretches after a while, "I'm going to sleep, see you guys tomorrow" he announces and I grin. Typical Eight, I swear he could sleep through an entire day if he wanted to.
"I guess I'm going to sleep too" Six yawns and the others nod in agreement, I don't really feel that tired, but I might as well too, we have a big day tomorrow, Eight wants to head to my place in New York, so we're going to be teleporting to the desert to get to America.
I unstrap my dagger and greatsword and put them to the side, lying down on the floor.
I'm having another dream. I'm in the arena from the previous one and I know this can't be good, it's most likely one of Setrakus' dreams.
This time, it's just John and Eight here. They were here before me and already are talking amongst themselves. I walk over to them and open my mouth to talk to them, but just before I get the chance to talk, a voice booms through the arena.
"Now that you're all here, let the festivities begin!" he roars cruelly. It's clearly Setrakus behind the voice but just before anyone can respond to him, the ground in the middle of the arena falls away and a cage drops down from the ceiling.
It's Lucas.
"Let him go" I yell furiously and Eight and John both yell similar things. Setrakus just laughs and the more of the ground around the cage falls away.
"No! Devdan!" Eight shouts and jumps at the cage. Before I can stop him, he falls right through the cage into the abyss below.
"I'll kill you!" I yell to Setrakus, but he just laughs and the cage starts to lower itself down the hole and Lucas starts to scream for help.
Even from here, I can see marks of torture on his body and I feel my anger levels rise to unbelievable levels. "Fight me you coward!" I scream at Setrakus and he appears in front of me, a smirk on his face.
"You really think you can challenge me?" he booms menacingly, but I don't even flinch. Instead, I draw my weapons and take a slice at his neck with my greatsword. Before the sword can make any contact, it freezes in place and with a flick of his wrist, it goes flying out of my hand.
Without hesitation, I pull out my dagger and make two quick cuts in his abdomen. He reels back in pain slightly, but to my dismay, the wounds quickly close up and all that's left is two small scars.
"You actually thought you could hurt me" he mocks, with another hand movement, sends my dagger flying out of my hand. This is his dream, he has almost full control of everything that goes on here.
"If you want them, come and save them" he jeers and disappears. Almost immediately, John also disappears and the dream starts to dissolve into darkness.
I wake up, panicked and out of breath. Setrakus has Lucas. We need to save him. It's still dark and everyone is still sleeping, including Eight, who didn't get woken up by the end of the dream. I get up and grab my weapons, I need to go for a jog to clear my head.
Seeing that I didn't wake anyone up, I jog off into the barely lit forest. I have no idea how long I jog for, but I finally reach a clearing with a magnificent view of the valley below. I float a large rock over to myself and sit on it, looking out into the valley. I hear a noise behind me, and immediately spin around to face it, dagger already in my hand.
"Wow, it's been less than a day, and you already want to kill me" the person jokes, it's just Six, "How did you follow me the whole way without me spotting you?" I ask curiously.
"See, you're not the only one with tricks up their sleeves" she replies, sticking out her tongue, "Invisibility" she says after a second, easing my confusion. That'll be useful in a fight.
"What's wrong?" she asks after another moment of, "You're not very hard to read, why else would you go for a jog at five in the morning?" she continues.
"It's Lucas. Setrakus has him" I say sadly, it's funny, I've only known here for less than a day, and I already feel like I can trust her with my life, now that I think of it, I kind of feel that way about all of the Loric. I guess I'm gonna have to trust them if we want to win this war.
"How do you know this?" she asks, "I had a dream, both Eight and John were there, and Setrakus had someone we all care about" I start, "Eight saw Devdan, an old mentor, and John saw someone called Sam" I say, and immediately, Six pales slightly.
"He has Sam?" she whispers and I nod slowly, a small tear streaking down Six's face before she puts on a look of determination, "We have to find them, and when we do, Setrakus will pay for what he's done" she says, hardening her resolve.
After a few minutes of silent personal thoughts, Six stands up, "I guess we should probably get back to the others" she states and I nod, "Let's go" I say, sprinting off into the forest.
I'm exhausted and out of breath, but I managed to beat Six back to the camp. Everyone is up by now, and Eight is already in the lake, doing his daily swim.
"Welcome back" Ella says cheerfully to me, sitting next to the still-smoldering fire, "Can you tell Eight we need to keep moving" Crayton says to me, slightly annoyed by him, "That's not gonna work" I reply with a chuckle and strip off my shirt, getting ready for my swim.
"You might as well get comfortable" I call to him over my shoulder with a laugh, jumping into the crystal clear water.
"Look who finally joined us" Eight calls, looking up at where Six is standing at the top of the small waterfall leading into the lake.
Six jumps in to join us, making a splash where she lands. Both Six and Eight duck down into the water and I quickly follow them. Eight swims towards Six and tackles her, forcing her backwards. Six grins and tackles him back, quickly locking him into a headlock.
"You win" Eight says when Six brings them to the surface and I laugh, "That was quick" I joke and Six lets Eight go.
"Marina, come join us" Six calls to her, "We've gotta go soon" she calls back from the side of the lake but unwilling to take no for an answer, Six swims over to her and grabs her ankle, gently pulling her into the lake.
"Oh come on, now I have to dry this" Marina complains, slightly grinning despite this. She dives under the water, but I get out, having finished my swim.
Eight gets out of the water, Six quickly following him. A few moments later, Marina climbs out of the lake, holding a algae covered Chest over her head. Eight quickly turns to her and his jaw drops, this must be his Chest.
Eight teleports to her and kisses her on the lips. After a second, he pulls away and Marina hands him his Chest. He opens it and digs through it, a huge grin on his face. Eight pulls a pencil sized golden rod out of his Chest and drops it on to the floor, causing it to take the shape of a doorframe.
"This thing is awesome, I call it the duplicator" Eight beams, stepping into the doorframe. When he steps out, there's another version of him standing in the frame. The duplicate waves to us quickly before disappearing, leaving no trace of its existence behind.
Eight touches the frame and it turns back into its smaller form and reaches for his chest again. Before he can grab anything out of it however, Crayton stops him, clearly wanting to finally get a move on.
"You can get reacquainted with your Chest later, for now we need to book a flight to America to reunite with the rest of the Garde" he says but Eight shakes his head, "We could sit on a flight for hours on end, or we could trek a few miles up the mountain, and then be there in an instant" he replies mysteriously, but I just roll my eyes.
Crayton looks at Six and Marina and they both nod at him before he says, "Alright, I guess we're gonna go with your plan" and Eight grins and rubs his hands together, "Let's do this" he says.
The hike takes about half an hour, but when we get there, the looks on Crayton, Ella, Six and Marina's faces alone are worth it. They see the steps and the door much easier than I did originally and gasp in awe. Eight puts his pendant to it and the door opens up, dropping his pendant to his chest.
"What is this place?" Marina asks incredulously with a stunned look on his face, "From what we know, it's most likely some kind of ancient Loric temple" I reply and she nods, moving to examine the paintings on the wall.
"Why is this one broken" Six asks, slightly angrily at the painting of Eight being stabbed, Eight is about to respond before I shake my head at her sadly, "Now may not be the right time" I reply but she shakes her head at me.
"What if this is me? Do you really have the right to decide if we can see our destiny or not?" she demands and Eight looks down sadly, "It's not you, it's me" he whispers and I see Six's face soften.
"Maybe it can be avoided, maybe it's just a prediction" she says, but Eight just shakes his head, "Look around you, everything here has either happened or is going to happen" he replies sadly and Marina takes his hand to comfort him.
"Look at this one" Ella points out, standing next to a different painting on the wall and I nod, knowing which one she's talking about. It's the one where I'm covered in blood and ash, facing an unknown threat.
"Is that…" Six trails off before pulling out the same large blue pendant from underneath her shirt that's in the painting.
"I think this is yours" she says to me, holding out the pendant and I accept it from her, slipping it around my neck. As soon as I put it on, it glows a bright blue colour and I suddenly feel a flash of energy rush through me. After a few seconds, the pendant turns slightly dimmer but continues glowing none the less.
Suddenly, an explosion rocks the cave, breaking everyone out of there state of awe at the pendant. Eight disappears then reappears after a second, wide eyed, "They're here" he whispers, his voice shaking slightly.
Barely a second later, I teleport to above the cave and start tearing the Mogs to pieces with vicious swipes of my greatsword. All of my pent up anger from Lucas' torture is being let out and I find myself enjoying ripping through the Mogs. I light my sword on fire and continue my assault, flawlessly dodging both cannon fire and deflecting sword blows with my dagger.
Each one of my hits causes another Mog to turn to ash and leaves a majestic looking arc of fire hanging in the air for a bit, the arc so hot that it incinerates any cannon fire that hits it. Despite my efforts, there seems to be a never ending stream of Mogs, so I quickly teleport back into the cave to check on the others.
The others aren't in a good way, one of the explosions caused a rock to fall from the ceiling and crush Crayton.
"Please Marina!" I hear Ella yell over sobs, but Marina shakes her head sadly, "I'm so sorry El" she replies, a tear running down the side of her face.
"You need to get out of here!" I yell to Eight over the sound of cannon fire and he nods, "Can you hold them off?" he yells back and I nod eagerly. I'll make them pay for what they've done.
Only seconds later, Eight's gathered Ella, Six and Marina into a group and is holding hands with them in a circle. Ella is still sobbing and Marina is comforting her while Eight concentrates, getting ready to teleport them out of here.
"See you in New Mexico" I yell to Eight, "See you in New Mexico" he affirms before they disappear, leaving just me, Crayton's body and the Mogs behind.
I teleport back up to the surface and catch the Mogs off guard. They were focusing on trying to bring the cave down on us, and I take their surprise to my advantage. I swing my greatsword around me in an arc, leaving a trail of fire and ash behind. I quickly teleport to another group and easily annihilate them. Before the others have time to react, I'm already gone, ripping apart another group of them.
The others go down relatively quickly, with swipes of my greatsword and my dagger, I manage to dispatch them with ease, letting my instincts take over my body. Once I'm done, I teleport back to the cave. There's a large opening broken into one side of the cave and the ceiling has several huge cracks in it.
I'm quickly able to find Crayton's body and I easily lift the rubble off of it, freeing his body from where it was trapped. I haul him gently over my shoulder and bring him outside, digging a makeshift grave with my telekinesis. Placing him in it, I make a small cross out of two branches and put it in front of his grave, filling the hole in with my telekinesis. It may not be much, but at least now he can be at rest.
I grab my Chest from where I left it in the cave and teleport out, everything turning black.
So that was chapter 7! It took my a while to write, but I think I'm gonna start to make all of my chapters about this long.
Things are really starting to happen now so you guys should definitely keep reading :D
Also, if you guys could leave a review, it would really mean a lot to me, I know some of you guys are starting to review and it feels really good to know that you guys like the story!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, until next time, bye!