Chapter Three- Vengeance in The Streets of Alrischa
The woman now known to be the one called 'Vex' slowly stepped from the trees, a cautious but somehow trusting look upon her face. She stood tall for a woman, and carried herself with a silent confidence. Soleil knew Heironeous meant soon, but he couldn't have possibly believed it would be within a matter of hours. Clad entirely in black, she truly looked the part of a stealthy assassin. At least that's what Soleil had assumed. After all, Heironeous hadn't divulged much information on Soleil's soon to be companion. In the slowly brightening light of the day's dawn, he could make out small, red, ornate designs adorning her clothing. As she removed her head wrap, her long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders to her chest, and Soleil's heart couldn't help but flutter. She was very beautiful, especially considering Soleil's assumptions of her.
"Soleil De Minuit." Soleil said softly as he slowly reached out his hand.
"My name is Vex. Well, Vex Azumaki, considering you already know my first name." Vex replied as she reluctantly shook Soleil's extended hand.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Vex."
"Quite." She replied.
"So what are you doing out here?"
"I do remember asking you the same question, my friend."
"Well, to be truthful, Vex, all I'm really doing is travelling. Searching for a new place to call home to my people."
"Your people? You're human, all the same as I am. So what exactly might you mean by that."
"Well, if you know of the Republic, you surely know that it was destroyed, yes?"
"Yes. Completely destroyed."
"Right. Well, Pandora, the Republic, was home to The Order of the Lionheart. Now, we have no home. Actually, to be truthful once more, I have no home. The rest of my Brothers gave their lives in defense of the Republic. Every last one of them."
"Yet you survived. Don't tell me you're some sort of deserter, leaving your brothers behind to die."
"Quite the contrary, in fact. Brother Maxwell, our leader, instructed me to evacuate His Excellency Treize and his family, and take them somewhere safe. We sailed to my home Kingdom of Darimar, across the sea to the north."
"So in turn, you're now the last remaining member of the Lionheart?"
"Precisely. My goal is to find a new home, worthy of The Order, and start over. To return The Order to its former glory. Now that you know, would you care to enlighten me as to why someone like you happens to be following me?"
"Well, as it so happens, I am without a home as well."
"What happened to your home?"
"Your friends, the Empire, happened to come upon us on their way through the eastern mountains to the city. My village, Dahokai, was crushed beneath their grieves. But before they could kill the other survivors and myself , a great, silver dragon appeared and warded them off. The other survivors stayed to rebuild the village and start again, but I felt as though I should leave, and learn of new things. So I left in search of a dragon god. Dragons fascinate me. The grace that dragon showed, even when in possession of such great power, was simply beautiful. Anyways, I was in the Republic's capital city when you showed up. I didn't take you as a simple explorer, so I decided to follow you."
"Wait...I left Pandora two weeks ago. You've been following me this whole time?"
"Indeed I have."
"How did you know who I am?"
Vex paused.
"How about we discuss that another time, Soleil?"
"I can live with that." Soleil laughed.
"So, Soleil, where exactly are you headed?" Vex asked.
"I am a traveler with no destination. Heironeous said that I'll know I am home when I get there."
"Hmm. Well, if you don't mind, I think I'd like to tag along."
"Feel free. I just hope you are good at heart. If you show even the slightest bit of evil, I'll have to destroy you. I would hate to have to do that."
"Oh you would have to destroy me, eh? I'd like to see you try!" Vex taunted.
Extremely quickly, Vex darted forward and attempted to shove him, though Soleil, being such a large man, hardly budged.
"I admire your spirit, Vex, but you're rather lacking in the strength department." Soleil laughed.
"Yeah, well, strength isn't exactly what we're about where I'm from." Vex retorted as she collected herself.
"Oh? And what might you be about?"
Vex produced a shuriken between the tips of her fingers and, with the speed of the gods themselves, propelled it towards a tree in the distance. In amazement, Soleil ventured over to the tree and inspected his new friend's handywork. What he saw, amazed him further. Dead in the center of a small knot was a shuriken, buried half its width into the tree.
"Vex, this is incredible. This thing is no less than two inches deep into this tree! Not to mention how spot on to your target you were."
"THAT is our skill, Soleil. We do not use weapons of your sort. We do not wish to wield a big, mighty sword like all of you big, strong warriors." Vex replied mockingly.
"I imagine you're no less impressive with that bow on your back."
"You're correct." Vex laughed with a smile.
Soleil's heart fluttered again at the sight of her smile. It was beautiful to him how someone so incredibly skilled in the art of silent death could be so graceful and beautiful. He found himself shaking the thought out of his own mind to continue the discussion.
"So, Vex, do you know what lies beyond these woods?" Soleil asked as he pried the shuriken out of the tree with his knife.
"Well until I left to go to the city, I had never been beyond the walls of my village. But from what the maps say, on the other side of these woods is the harbor town of Alrischa." Vex answered.
"That will put us on the western coast. From there we can charter a ship to just about anywhere. Any idea of where we should go?"
"Well, considering the fact that neither of us have an actual destination, why don't we get there first, and then decide what to do?"
"That sounds like as good of a plan as any."
"Then Alrischa awaits."
The two set off towards the slowly rising sun, discussing in more detail what had brought them to this point in their lives. Soleil spoke of Darimar and the Lord of Chaos, and Vex reminisced of the Empire's attack on her village. At one point, the seemingly hard shell of Vex showed a crack, and a tear began to form in her eyes. Almost instinctively, Soleil gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her. This was quite the moment for the both of them, as neither of them had felt a friendly embrace in what seemed liked forever. For a brief moment, the two of them felt as though there may be some worth to humanity.
"I'm sorry, Soleil. you don't need to see me like this. I am strong. It's just very difficult to see everything you've ever known stripped away from you. I lost a lot of friends that day." Vex said softly as they parted.
"I understand better than you might think, Vex. I lost every friend I've ever had when the Empire seized Pandora." Soleil replied.
"Every friend you've ever had?"
"Yes, unfortunately. I was a nobleman in Darimar. My father owned a good majority of the shops in the castle market which, given the size of the city, was quite a bit. My mother was a seamstress exclusive to the royal family. To be blunt, I was never short on anything, at least besides friends. My parents entered me into a private school in the castle, and every student there was so self-consumed that the word 'friend' was rarely even thought of. When I came to the Republic, and joined The Order, it was the first time I had ever felt as though I belonged. Then the Empire came..."
"And the Imperial troops took the life that you had built as a normal man."
"Exactly. I suppose you could say that it's made me a stronger person, to know loss, but that doesn't make it any easier to live with."
"I agree, it really doesn't. Come on, Soleil, let's get going. Alrischa should be right over this ridge." Vex said with an understanding smile as she softly grabbed his arm.
Before long, Alrischa was upon them, its massive bronze gates almost glowing in the sunlight. The view from the top of the ridge was spectacular, the great Deralian Sea twinkling in the sun, the palms swaying in the cool oceanic breeze.
Although it seemed like a paradise, Vex spotted something unsettling.
"Soleil, look." Vex said as she pointed towards the gate. "Imperial standards. there's Imperial troops at the gates."
"Gods...Here, take my pack." Soleil cursed as he dropped his pack.
"What are you going to do?"
"I've got to take off my surcoat and tabard. Imperial troops have seen enough of these to know that I belong to The Order, it'll attract attention that we don't need." Soleil said as he hastily removed said items.
"That's probably the smartest thing. My clothing doesn't bear any symbols of my people, so I should be ok."
After finishing, Soleil stood tall in just his chainmail, studded leather armor covering it. As he turned and walked towards the city, this time it was Vex who couldn't help but look.
"Don't you look the part of a warrior? she said as she caught up with him. "I have to admit, Soleil, without the religious getup, you look like quite the fighter!"
"Well, we may be religious, but we're warriors first. Heironeous guides us in the destruction of evil. To destroy the destroyers, you must first have to know how to destroy, yourself."
"So you're trained?"
"Expertly."
"How much so?"
"Well, to put it plainly, my talents with a sword are equal to your talents with stealth and shurikens."
"Hmm. Well, I look forward to seeing this prowess in combat."
"Someday, Vex, I'm sure you will have to."
As they approached the gate, a small group of Imperial troops blocked the entrance to the city.
"What say you?" said one that stepped to the front, clearly the leader of the squad.
"We are travelers, seeking passage across the western sea." Soleil answered.
"But who are you?" he retorted.
"Well, sir, I am Soleil, a scholar from the northern Kingdom of Darimar."
"And your friend?"
"She has taken a vow of silence, sir, in honor of her fallen family members. Her name is Vex, she is a fellow scholar from our homeland." Soleil said before Vex could answer for herself.
Soleil could feel her staring daggers into his back, but if there was any skill that Soleil had outside of fighting, it was his ability to speak. He oozed charisma, and that played well to his advantage.
But more so, he could feel the evil emanating from this man's soul.
"And yourself, good sir?" Soleil asked of the soldier.
"I am Captain Azrael Tiberius!" the man said with a cocky smile.
"I see, Captain." Soleil replied. "Were you in the Battle of Pandora?"
"Indeed I was! As a matter of fact, I led a platoon that wiped out the secret headquarters of this supposedly legendary group of knights or some such shit. We killed every last one of them" Azrael replied mockingly.
"Wow, quite the accomplishment, Azrael."
"You may call me Captain Tiberius, if you really must address me." Azrael laughed.
"Well, Captain Tiberius, I think you may have one problem" said Soleil.
Azrael turned his head to laugh with his comrades, but as he turned his attention away from Soleil ever so slightly, Soleil drew his longsword and cleaved him from shoulder to hip. No later than a second after, shurikens flew into the group of men, some hit in the face, others in the throat. As the men fell in front of them, Vex rushed to Soleil and grabbed him.
"Sol, come on, we have to get out of here!" she shouted.
Soleil leaned in as close as he could to Azrael's dying face to stare him eye to eye, to haunt his last thoughts.
"You missed one." he said calmly.
As he turned, something caught his eye. something shiny around Azrael's neck. He reached down and pulled out something familiar to him. A pendant, more specifically a pendant that matched his that he held earlier, a symbol of The Order. He leaned down and snatched it off of his neck, and the two fled into an alley.
Around many corners they ran, getting as deep into the city and as far away from the fallen men as they could. They finally stopped when they reached the market at the center of town. Soleil panted as they sat down on a bench.
"You're out of shape!" Vex laughed.
"No, I just ran at least half a mile wearing near-as-makes-no-difference seventy-five pounds of armor and extra equipment." Soleil replied as he caught his breath.
"Well, regardless, I think we're in the clear." said Vex as she scanned the area for Imperials. "I'm impressed Sol, you cut that man right in half. Talk about vengeance."
"He had a very evil soul, Vex. I could feel the malevolence from a mile away. Sure, it may have avenged some of my fallen Brothers, but that isn't what it was about. He presented no danger to us."
"So why did you kill him then?" Vex asked.
"Because it is my duty, to The Order and even more so to Heironeous, to extinguish the flames of evil in the name of good, and righteousness. Do you feel the breeze? Do you feel how it is warm, yet incredibly refreshing?"
Vex closed her eyes as the winds gently wrapped around her, and she couldn't help but smile.
"That is Heironeous' blessing, his approval of our victory. He embraces us with his spirit."
Soleil sighed, and produced from his pocket the pendant he had taken from Azrael's body. He smiled slightly at it, a beautiful rendition of a lion's head with a cross-like formation under it. When he flipped it over, however, that smiled faded. His eyes immediately began to well up when he saw what was inscribed on the back of it.
"Sol, what's the matter?" Vex asked gently as she wrapped an arm around him.
She leaned down, looked at what he had seen, and immediately understood.
"Brother Maxwell..." she read softly.