Awakened
On the other side of the battlefield, a lion Warmblood with golden fur and a blazing red mane overlooked the Everdawn Basin. Garbed in royal blue robes and silver armour that shone like fire in the angry light of the volcanoes, King Julius looked every part of the sovereign of a kingdom. His army's camp was a far cry from the Moonbloods', well defended and equipped well beyond what their enemies had. In his hand he held a golden sceptre, inlaid with precious gems and topped with a diamond the size of one's fist.
"This…is the day this all ends," he spoke softly. His soldiers stood below, awaiting the order to move forward into the next wave of attack. King Julius set his gaze upon them and raised his voice, addressing them all. "No matter what happens, we fight for peace in Falana!" he roared, earning rapturous cries from his men. "Today…is the beginning of a new era for our kingdom!"
"Liar…" a hateful snarl sounded behind him. King Julius sighed and turned around to face the source of the noise — a red-headed fox Warmblood being guarded by two soldiers. She was looking worse for wear, sporting a thin crust of blood around her nose and a black eye, but nonetheless alive.
"I don't expect a sympathiser of filth to understand," King Julius growled back. Ginger glared daggers at him, as if the deadly fire in her eyes would be enough to send the man six feet under.
"What have they ever done to you?!" she demanded. "And he won't be stupid enough to fall for your tricks…"
"We shall see," the King said with an ominous quiet to his voice. "I don't intend to fail where Gaius did." Ginger inhaled sharply and struggled against the guards holding her back. She was hardly at full strength but if given the chance she would not have hesitated to give the man a piece of her mind. "You shall see, Sympathiser. By the day's end, the race you so desperately tried to protect will be destroyed, and their precious hero will answer to me."
"Dust would never," Ginger snarled. "He didn't answer to Gaius and he sure as hell won't answer to you!"
Her outburst earned her little more than a sharp strike across the face.
"Let us see if that remains to be true," Julius growled softly. He turned to face his soldiers once more. "Move forward! If you see the white fox, let him come to me. Cut down everyone else who raises a sword against you."
Another roar of support sounded from the soldiers. On the dais where the king stood, Ginger felt sick to her stomach. She could see the soldiers surging forward to meet the army of Moonbloods ahead. She could hear the explosions of the King's canons, the ringing of swords and spears clashing blades, and the sparks of electricity as a powerful burst of lightning short circuited the cloaking devices of the assassins…
Wait, lightning?
"SURPRISE!" a voice cheered as a flash of blue-white streaked over the main battle. Ginger gasped in amazement at the sound — she knew that voice, even if she'd only met the speaker on a handful of occasions.
King Julius' army was thrown into chaos as a young Moonblood girl, followed by an older Moonblood and a squirrel Warmblood began charging through the southern wave of the battle. From a distance, Ginger couldn't see their faces but the sound of pistols going off told her than one of them had to be Kim, and the Moonblood wielding magic could be none other than Sanjin's daughter, Ashelin.
"WHAT?!" Julius exclaimed angrily. As of yet, his army had not come across any Mages in the Moonblood ranks, and now here came one with a spell that had just wiped out half of his assassins and deactivated the cloaking devices on the other half, leaving them vulnerable to Moonblood counterattacks. Ginger felt a smile creeping across her face without prompt. Ashelin had been practising magic when she'd met her last, but this was on an entirely new level. With her on side, the Moonbloods stood a chance.
"Team Elysium coming through!" Ash smirked as she struck Kim's pistols with a spell, enhancing his bullets with homing capabilities and some more explosive firepower. Taka was tearing through the Royal Army with astonishing speed, her knives moving so quickly that they left a streak of silver-blue behind them.
An order was shouted across the battlefield from the king to take out the trio but any attempt to do so was countered by the Moonblood forces, including a faction of Warmblood sympathisers who had arrived to aid them in the fight. Thanks to the information that had been provided earlier, the Moonblood forces weren't focusing their efforts on forcing the King's army back too much, merely holding their own defences. If they could occupy the King for long enough, he wouldn't get the chance to attack when the sun reached its highest point in the sky. As long as they held out past that point in the day, then they could charge forward.
Preoccupied with the chaos in the southern wave of his troops, King Julius didn't notice what was happening in the north. It wasn't until a foot-soldier came running up to the dais, out of breath and with eyes wide under his helmet, that he turned his attention towards it.
A powerful wind had begun blowing from the northern side of the battlefield, sending hot gusts of air from the volcanoes in all directions. Accompanying the wind were bursts of light, fire and lightning, often in rapid succession. Squinting, Ginger could make out a flash of cyan, closely followed by a streak of orange.
Along with the wind, there was only one person it could be.
"Dust?" she whispered without thinking. King Julius smirked — the bait had drawn in the prey.
"Sen-Mithrarin," he noted. "Now we have a fight."
In the north, Dust was tearing through the opposition with an entire legion of Moonbloods at his back. The feeling of strength that he'd felt when the Blade of Ahrah had returned to him near the Glade came back to him in full force, unleashing a power the thirteen-year-old himself had never even fathomed or dared to dream about. He was drawing nearer and nearer to the King and could just about see Ginger standing nearby.
"Hang on, Mom…" he whispered to himself. "I'm coming." He sent Fidget on ahead and the nimbat gladly obliged, divebombing the guards holding Ginger captive as well as taking a potshot at King Julius while she was at it.
"ARGH!" Julius grunted, as a ball of energy struck him in the face. The guards holding Ginger had both suffered lightning strikes which gave Ginger the opportunity to race forward, grabbing the nearest weapon (which just so happened to be a spear) and charge at the King, who deftly blocked her attacks. Fidget in the meantime hurried back to Dust's side to continue helping him out.
"You can't take them down!" Ginger shouted with fearsome determination flashing through her eyes. "The Moonbloods have gotten stronger!" King Julius cast a quick glance to the sky. Amidst the smoky clouds, he could see the sun.
It had reached its highest point in the sky.
"Then it's a good thing that my army won't fall to their weapons," he sneered as the diamond atop his sceptre began glowing. Ginger froze in horror at the sight, taken aback long enough for the king to raise the sceptre skyward where the diamond began to glow even brighter. He began to shout an incantation to the skies, one in a language that no one recognised, and in response a ribbon of light streamed from the diamond, dancing across the sky like a river…
Until it tore the sky apart.
From the tear in the cosmos, a burst of cyan light momentarily blinded the entire battlefield. When it cleared enough for people to see, spectral beings began to appear, with appearances of both soldiers and assassins.
"What's he doing?!" Dust cried in confusion. From the other side of the battlefield, Taka and the Moonbloods were also frozen in horror.
"Is that…the Life Thread?" Taka realised in terror. At Dust's side, the Blade of Ahrah went cold.
"This is…forbidden magic…" it spoke, with a tone that was the first suggestion of horror that Dust had ever heard from the Blade.
Dust forced himself to snap out of his horrified trance to fight the new forces…they hadn't been fast enough. The sun had risen too high without them realising, and the plan to keep the king distracted had failed. To make matters worse, ordinary weapons had no effect on the spectral soldiers that the King had summoned…that gem atop his sceptre could be none other than the Eye of the Life Thread. Dust was having little to no issues with the Blade of Ahrah, and across the battlefield Taka was making do with the Starsheen Knives, but apart from that only Ash's Flameless Light was having any effect on the ghostly beings, and the spell took a lot of energy for the girl to cast.
"Rise and fight again, my loyal subjects!" King Julius bellowed into the battle. "Leave no enemy standing! Raze those who stand against you to the ground…!"
"STOP IT!" Ginger shrieked, throwing herself at the king in a desperate attempt to wrench the sceptre from his grasp. However, unbalanced and overpowered, she found herself being thrown backwards into the makeshift throne that King Julius had brought along to his army's camp. Dazed, Ginger barely had time to register the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath and King Julius standing over her, blade poised to strike…
CRASH!
The king was knocked off his feet by a burst consisting of energy, fire and lightning all at the same time, its strength magnified by a powerful storm-strength wind that kicked up a cloud of ash and dust from the ground. Through the light given off by the volcanoes, only a silhouette was visible through the haze and the king shook himself out of a mild concussion from the blast. When the cloud cleared, it revealed the one that King Julius had been searching for…
Although he hadn't been expecting him to actually be a child, regardless of what his soldiers had been telling him.
"Don't. You dare. Touch her," Dust growled, the Blade of Ahrah poised in a defensive position as he stood protectively in front of Ginger. Fidget hovered in the air next to him, teeth bared in an angry snarl, and the runes on the Blade of Ahrah glowed bright cyan, almost giving off a light blue smoke whenever the sword moved.
"You…" King Julius hissed. Dust glanced at Ginger and helped her to her feet.
"You okay, Mom?" he asked in concern. Ginger nodded and accepted the offered hand.
"Yes, thank you," she panted.
"Let's get you out of here," Dust said, dragging her off the dais and through the clearest path he could find.
"You really are nought but a child!" King Julius spat after the boy who shot a retort over his shoulder.
"SO WE KEEP ESTABLISHING!"
On the battlefield itself, things were going from bad to worse for the Moonblood army and their allies. There was nothing anyone could do to stem the flow of ghostly beings streaming from the Life Thread, and Ash was worn out from constantly trying to cast Flameless Light to clear the fields. Even arrows, which were being shot expertly from somewhere-no-one-knew-where-exactly where doing nothing to them, only cutting down regular soldiers which then added to the spectral masses.
"What are these things?!" Taka yelled, grateful that her knives were at least effective against them, but she was stuck protecting Kim and Ash who, while Ash was recovering, had no means of defending themselves against the spectres, which in turn could harm and kill the mortal soldiers of the Moonblood army.
"Ghosts?" Kim hazarded a guess. "Whatever they are, normal weapons aren't working against them!"
Dust cut through another wave of the spectre-soldiers and assassins as they came charging towards him and Ginger. He glanced back at the dais where the King was still chanting incantations to the tear in the sky.
He had no other choice. He had to stop this before it was too late for the Moonbloods…for all of Falana.
"Mom, find Sanjin!" he instructed, breaking away from Ginger and racing back towards the king. "I've got to put an end to this!" Ginger nodded and kept running in the other direction.
"Dust, be careful!" she shouted over her shoulder.
Cutting through as many of the Souldiers (as Fidget was dubbing them) as he could, Dust made his way back to the dais where King Julius hadn't moved. Recalling his conversation with Elissa, Dust couldn't help but notice how different they both were despite their familial relationship. As he shouted to get the King's attention, Dust was struck by how different the eyes were: whereas Elissa's had been fiery violet, there had been a warmth behind them. These eyes were steely grey and ice cold.
"So this is the great Sen-Mithrarin who cut down my best General," King Julius noted as Dust and Fidget stood on the dais across from him. "My soldiers said you'd taken the form of a child. I must say, at first I was expecting someone…older."
"If I or anyone else has to explain the whole rebirth thing one more time…" Fidget grumbled. Dust let the comment slide and began trying to talk some sense into the man. If he could avoid too much bloodshed he would, and the last thing he wanted to do was to throw the kingdom into chaos by killing its king.
"All of this war and destruction…and for what?" he asked. "Racial purification?" Dust could vaguely remember Ginger saying something about how General Gaius had seen the Moonbloods as some kind of divine mistake, so he could only assume that the king felt a similar motive. He tried going for reason. "Your Majesty, please. The Moonbloods…they are an intelligent, amazing race that can help better this country!" he implored. King Julius, who until then had seemed to pay little attention to the boy-hero's pleas, turned around and seemed to look at Dust with a face that seemed to be searching for something.
"Is that truly what you believe, my old friend?" he asked. Dust froze, taken aback by the statement.
"What?" he exclaimed. Fidget looked just as confused.
"Excuse you?" she frowned. The King smirked slightly and continued, pacing around Dust on the dais as the battle around them seemed to quieten.
"There isn't a person in Falana that doesn't know of Sen-Mithrarin's exploits fifteen years ago," he explained. "But there are only a few who know who you truly are," he added, almost sadly as he looked at Dust with an near-regretful expression. "I am lucky to be one of those few…and I plan to free you from this curse that those Moonbloods have placed you under," he growled, a sudden determination ringing in his voice. Dust tensed and raised the Blade of Ahrah defensively.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I am not your friend! I never was!" Fidget was getting apprehensive. This conversation sounded oddly familiar, and the King was talking to Dust as if he already knew him…
"Not as they made you, but you were once, many years ago," King Julius corrected. "Don't you remember, Cassius?"
"What did you call me?!" Dust snapped. The name was unfamiliar to him, but Fidget recognised it and clapped two hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. This wasn't good…
"Uh-oh…" she mumbled fearfully. "Not this again…" Except this time it was worse. Now that the name had been spoken…
"Don't you remember the hours we spent training together?" the King asked, almost desperately. Dust had lowered the Blade of Ahrah, his face creasing up as if in pain. Fidget kept a nervous eye on him…one of his souls was awakening, and with it, memories were starting to resurface. "The days we spent hunting in the forest? The battles we faced side by side?!"
"No…" Dust said shakily, his hand rising to his head. "These aren't… That wasn't…"
"Oh, no," Fidget whimpered, helpless to do anything to stop what was happening before her, or at the very least unsure as to whether she could do anything.
"Gaius could not break the spell they placed on you, Cassius," Julius continued. "I swear, for his sake and yours, I will not fail." Dust dropped the Blade of Ahrah, bringing both hands to his head.
"No…stop it…" he begged.
"Dust, focus!" the Blade of Ahrah called. "Fight this!"
"Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!" Dust screamed, falling to his knees. Fidget flew down to his eye level to try comforting him, trying to do something to help him fight whatever was happening. She was so focused on her friend that she failed to notice the Eye of the Life Thread starting to glow atop Julius' sceptre.
"Dust? Dust!" Fidget cried desperately. "Focus on me! Focus on my voice!"
"So much…rushing…into…my head…" Dust panted, his voice ringing with pain.
"Don't you remember, Cassius?!" the King asked again.
"That's not…that's not my name…" Dust mumbled, his voice losing conviction with every sentence.
"Don't you remember your duty?" King Julius demanded. "Don't you remember your friends?!"
"I…" Dust began, but seemed to no longer have the ability to form a coherent sentence in a single breath. "That…changes…nothing…" Fidget could tell she was losing him.
"Dust!" she screamed. "Look at me! Stay with me!"
"Come back to us, Cassius!" King Julius ordered. "Come back to where you belong!" he shouted. Dust could no longer fight the pain, and with an anguished scream fell forwards onto the ground unconscious. As he did, the Blade of Ahrah stopped glowing and went cold and silent, clattering to the floor uselessly.