Interlude
For one moment, I'd like to take you all to a former group going through a rough patch. Here, far off from Dreamland in a small town, lies the remaining members of the Order of the Sword. These last remaining remnants of the once significant faction have been struggling to recruit new members to regain the glory they once had. The acting leader, Lavander, the only survivor of the battle in Southwold months back, sat in the former leader's chair with her legs propped up on his desk and her light purple hair draped over her face. She lets out a depressed sigh and downs a bottle of ale. One of the members, Mark, peaks into the room and enters quietly.
"Umm…Lavander," He says softly.
"MADAM Lavander," She replied harshly.
The member gulps. "R-Right, Madam Lavander, umm…we're running low on supplies,"
"Well, go steal something,"
"Umm…you see, we would do that, but that's not helping us get any business. That, and…"
"And what?" Lavander glares at the order member.
"Our old prisoner is getting hungry. And I think he's fallen ill…"
"What prisoner?"
"The one that we tortured, beat, and threw tomatoes at to get information on the dragon key,"
"Oh…him…" Lavander rolled her eyes. "Just kill and sell his body on the black market. I wonder if those cannibal siblings Hansel and Gretel would pay a good price for him…"
"Are we not going to after Koga and that weird trio?"
Lavander suddenly tosses the ale bottle at him. The bottle explodes against the stone wall, and the glass fly's across the room. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT BASTARD'S NAME!" She screamed.
"R-Right…I was just saying…we could go and get it back from him, maybe?"
"And risk losing the remaining members we have left? Good plan, dumbass.."
"Well…what do we do then?" The order member asked.
"UGH…I don't know…I guess we coul—"
But Lavander was cut off by the sounds of a blood-curdling scream coming from down the stonewalls of their building. The order member looked down the hallway to see what the commotion was. What followed was the sound of swords clanging and bodies thumping to the cold ground.
"What the hell is going on?" Lavander said, springing from her seat.
A member of the order collapses to the ground and lets and pants. "Oh…this pain…this is new pain…a brand new sort of pain…I wonder what people will call thi—ARGGGGGHH!" The order member screamed. Mark could hear the sound of a blade stabbing him in the chest. Lavander listened to the blade release from his chest, and Mark could see the shadow of the perpetrator rise to their feet.
The cause of all of this chaos stepped into Mark's view. It was a woman clad in black armor with gold stream plating going up and down her armor and a small red jewel in the center of her chest plate. In her hands were two sai's soaked in the blood of freshly killed sword members. But what shocked Mark the most was her mask. It was the face of a demon with sharp teeth coming from its mouth, wide bulging eyes, and wild hair.
"A-A-A," Mark was frozen in fear as he stared into the eyes of the assailant's mask. "A DEMON!" He whaled, drawing his sword. Before he could even unsheathe his sword entirely, the assailant rushed forward and jabbed her sai through Mark's head. "Ow!" He cried. She yanks the sai's only for Mark's head to tilt back. "OW! OW!"
"W-What?" She pulled more.
"That feels so uncomfortable! Stop it!" Mark whined.
"LET GO!" The assailant yelled. She placed her foot on his stomach and pulled harder.
She yanks the sai from Mark's head, and he wobbles. "That feels better!" He sighed in relief. His eyes roll to the back of his head, and he flops to the floor.
Lavander gasped and she reachers for her rapier. "W-who's there? Show yourself now!" her hand trembled. The saber's metal rattles slightly. That's when the assailant stepped into Lavander's view. Lavander screamed a bit as her eyes fell on the mask. "Who the hell are you? What do you want?!"
"This is the order of the sword? I expected a little more resilience. What a pity." The assailant asked. Their voice was cold and raspy through the mask.
Lavander grits her teeth, hops over the table, and lunges at the assailant. She thrust her weapon at the assailant. But the assailant parries Lavander's rapier, thrusts her other sai into her heart, and slams Lavander to the ground. Lavander gasped loudly before her head tilted to the side, and their eyes were lifeless.
She yanks the sai out of her chest and wipes the blood with a handkerchief. "What a disappointment…" She tosses the handkerchief onto Lavander's lifeless body and leaves the room.
She strolls down the halls and makes a few turns before she comes across the holding cells. Her eyes scanned the holding cells till she stopped and placed her hands on the holding cell. Inside the cell, a man lies on the ground with chains around his wrist. He was a balled man with white hair on the back of his head and wrinkles around his forehead.
"Found you…" She whispered. "Oscar…"
The sea's water splashed against the pitch-black boats of the dark legion ships. They all sat still, parked at the docks of a town on the far west coast of the lands. Members of their selected units carried their newly taken supplies onto the ships. On one of the boats sat Dalton and Lucius. The two sat on opposite sides, playing a game of chess. Dalton had his chin resting on the palm of his left hand as he waited for Lucius to make a move. Lucius rubbed his chin, staring intensely at the chess pieces before him. He was on the losing end. Dalton sighed, then let out a small yawn.
"If I knew you would take this long to make a move, I would've brought a book with me," said Dalton, scratching his lightly brown beard. Lucius just grumbled. He reached his hand out to the chess board, paused, and placed his arm back on his lap.
The doors behind the two burst open, and out came Veronica, sliding on her back. Veronica looked unamused as she stared up at the white clouded sky. Her Lucius and Dalton stared down at her.
"Bad news…our blacksmith won't make us new helmets," said Veronica.
"How unfortunate," said Dalton, indifferent.
"Ugh, I was going to make us new helmets, too!" Veronica gets to her feet and crosses his arms. "I was going to get a smiley face, and you had a frowny face; it would be super cute! I got the inspiration from that theater place we went to."
"Isn't that the theater you burned down because the princess didn't get with the housemaid?" Lucius asked.
"Yeah, and? The story was stupid! Why does the prince always have to save the princess? And why does he have to be the one that gets the girl in the end? It's such a tired troupe!" She blows her hair out of her face and then brushes it aside. "Another thing…why are you on my ship? Where's yours?"
"They're busy taking care of errands for me," Lucius replies. "They'll meet back up with us eventually."
Veronica squints his eyes at Lucius. "What kind of errands?"
"Well, that's for me to know and you to find out," Lucius looked smugly at Veronica.
"What? Can't you share what's going on with your fleet? I bet they dumped you on us because they got tired of you," She scowled at Lucius.
"You should be used to secrets. I mean…your general keeps them from us all the time,"
Veronica clenches her fist and walks towards Lucius, but Dalton places his hand in her way. "You better watch yourself, Lucius…" She said in a low, threatening tone.
"Noted," Lucius gets up from his seat. "I forfeit." He walked off and headed down the ramp.
Veronica let out a hiss as he left.
Dalton stared at her. "Really?"
Veronica turned to Dalton. "What? Hiss's are threatening…"
Lucius walks over to a tree and stands behind it. He made sure that nobody was around. He lifts his wrist and slowly swipes his hand over the green jewel. "Lieutenant Akane…are you there?" He whispered.
Akane raises his wrist, and a green flame shows Luciu's head. He let out a shout of fear when he stared at her. "Yes commander Lucius. I'm here."
"Oh my goodness…please report to me without the mask, Akane. You're going to give me a heart attack!"
Akane removes her mask, revealing short black hair, tan skin, bright red pupil eyes, and red earrings on her left ear. "My apologies, sir,"
"Anyway…did you find him?"
"Yes, sir, I did! Oscar is currently being escorted to our ship, right now."
"Excellent!" Lucius smirked. "With him…we'll get information on the truth about the dragons and their magic!"
"I am happy to be of service commander—"
Suddenly, an explosion went off. Akane ducked as rubble flew past her head. Lucius watched in confusion as Akane shut off communication. "Akane? Akane comes in! What happened?" He tried to reach her again and again. "What the hell happened? Akane, come in!"
A few minutes would go by, and Akane would finally respond.
"It's about time! What in the world is going on?" Lucius asked angrily.
"Commander Lucius…I am sorry, but…Oscar is gone!"
"WHAT?" Lucius's voice boomed throughout the area. "How did this happen?!"
"He got a hold of one of our magic scrolls and blew up a small part of our ship. He clouded the area with a smoke spell to blind us, but—"
"Akane, you fool! How could you let this happen? Yet again, power slips through my fingers!"
"Do not worry, commander. I know exactly where he'll be. I planned ahead for moments like this. Please let me make up for losing him," said Akane.
Lucius glared at Akane. "Fine. But do not fail me again…" He cuts off communication.
A loud bang came from the ship.
"What happened now?!" Akane shouted.
"Sorry, Lieutenant, but we used the repair spell, and…Eric got trapped between the boards…"
Akane would start screaming in her native language and slap her crewmate in the face. "GO FIX IT!" She yelled.
"I'm sorry sorry! Right away mam!"
Akane waves her hand across her communicator, and Oscar appears in a small boat. He was pushing the paddles back and forth furiously. "I see you, Oscar…" She said in a low voice. "Where are you going?" She expands the flame on her wrist communicator, revealing the destination that Oscar is going.
"The kingdom of Dreamland? A place where knights walk…I wonder what fierce warriors reside there…"
"Does anybody want some shoe milk?" Elfo asked.
"Eww Elfo, no," said Bean.
"Hell no," said Luci.
"Pour that out, Elfo…" said Koga.
"I'll take some!" said Turbish.