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The Cries of the Wind

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7/29/2008 18:14:30   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Genre: Fantasy, Action

El Comments

News and updates:
29/7 = Introduction added.
31/7= Storyline changed. Introduction scrapped and Prologue added.
2/8 = Chapter 1 added.
5/8 = Chapter 2 added.
9/8 = Chapter 3 added.
12/8 = Chapter 4 added.
15/8 = Chapter 5 added.
6/11 = Story started again, Chapter 6 added.

< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 11/6/2008 9:35:48 >
DF  Post #: 1
7/31/2008 15:57:49   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Prologue: Darkness Entwined

“You are a pathetic excuse for a Caller.” The darkness drove further into my shoulders, cutting through all flesh that got in its way. “Now tell me, Jason: where is the Pyramid?” My desperate emerald eyes shot up to the pale yet muscled figure that stood tall next to my body, which lay slumped on the ground. Gripped in his hands were two rods of darkness, materialised into a weapon, which drove into my flesh. His completely black eyes seemed to attack my own, driving into them so that they could ambush the soul that laid hidden in them. However, I merely shook my head, unable to speak a word. “Then I guess I’ll have to kill you. What a shame, you are one of the few not corrupted by the Light…”

Letting go of the two rods of darkness, he started walking backwards, leaving them driven into my flesh. His black painted lips curled into a cynical smirk – one that would make children cry. After running a hand through his long, black hair, he trailed down the long leather raincoat, which was the same shade as all of his body. Around him, dark lightning danced all over his body. The electricity began to spark from all things from the grand hall we stood in: from the gallant suits of armour that stood guard of the walls, to the priceless paintings of mystical locations, to the destroyed, grand dinner table that reached from one side of the gigantic room to the other. Raising his hand, the power gathered to the pale slender fingers.

I called forth enough energy to lift my arms up to the rods of darkness. The world around me already started to become a blurred mess, so the thought of removing the objects that drove so far into my flesh that they were about to come from the opposite end had become unimaginable. His power was so massive that not even the silver-coloured, mythril armour of the Callers was enough to stop the lightest of his blows. From where I sat, looking up at the lightning fire itself into his hands to create an even larger ball of electricity, he looked like a god. A horrific, dark god.

With all the might I could conjure up, I tugged on the huge rods of darkness. The man laughed, though the sound of the lightning ringing through the air drowned out his attempts at mockery. I couldn’t let him win, not after everything everyone had done. Friends and foes had fought against this man – I could not let them die in vain.

The memories of all the people he had slain, all the villages burnt to the ground through his dark wrath, all the lives he had destroyed, pulsed through my mind. This leaked through the barrier of my brain, seeping into every muscle in my body. Slowly, I felt the poles of darkness slide out. My teeth automatically crunched together, hard. I squinted my eyes as my vision began to clear again, seeing the amount of power he had created in the large room.

“You can’t fight me. You should have stayed at home instead of leading me to the Pyramid!” He shook his head as he shouted these words. Even as the rods fell to the ground, the smirk stayed sprawled across his face. “Time to die.”

A flash of complete darkness, like midwinter’s night, engulfed the area. This flash lasted for a fraction of a second, but in it, the world came crashing down. In this moment of overall blackness, all I could feel was the great power forming up and firing itself at me. All my senses were jammed, only leaving room for me to feel this. This and the picture of him smirking, which burnt into my mind.

When light returned to the room, a rod of darkness the size of a pine tree lay embedded in my chest. Finally, the world turned into nothing. The only thing that echoed in my ears was the sound of my heartbeat. Strong at first, it slowed eventually into something barely audible. My eyes remained glued to the man, who had erupted into fits of laughter. One word; all I could think of was one word. The man’s name boiled up all anger in my heart, pumping it through my veins with even the faintest heartbeat.

I stayed on my feet. The amulet hanging around my neck began to glow. It bore the claw of an eagle gripped onto a strange orb that changed colour in different lights. It was my father’s amulet and his before that. I didn’t know anything about it, except that I had to have it instead of my other siblings. It was because of the amulet that I remained standing.. All the colours in the rainbow shone from the orb, bringing all sensations rushing back to my body.

Instinctively, my hand grabbed hold of the orb. As soon as this happened, my hand was entangled in this light, twirling around it in a strange dance. Still controlled by instinct, my hand flew into the air. From my hand's position, the light shot from it, flying towards the man. The light exploded where the man had been, though he had jumped all the way to the back of the room.

The glowing energy expanded, moulding itself into some strange figure. Two claws shaped – the talons of an eagle. On the other side, two paws fashioned themselves. Devastating chocolate-brown wings broke from the energy play-dough along with a long yellow tail. What stood in front of us had been spoken of in legends for years. What I had just Called was a Gryphon.

Majestic and fearsome, the mighty feathers made it seem elegant, whereas the coarse fur of the lion half exemplified its destructive nature. I staggered a few steps forward, a smile on my face.

“Cohah… This…this is a Gryphon - my Guardian Beast.” I felt laughter bubble up in my stomach yet I lacked the energy to realise it. Instead, my grin grew larger.

Cohah shook his head again, shrugging his shoulders this time. “Fine…if you’re so content on living, I’ll let you and your stupid pet go free. Next time, Jason, your life is mine. I promise.” He took a few steps backwards, raising his hands as if surrendering. “And remember, I never break a promise.” With a wink, a bolt of lightning absorbed his entire body.

Once the dark lightning left, nothing remained. The smile stayed stretched on my face. Even though he escaped, even though I was falling to the floor, the smile was still on my face. As consciousness disappeared, I was happy. I didn’t die.


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/15/2008 19:50:52 >
DF  Post #: 2
8/2/2008 15:34:53   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 1: Blinded and Buried
Don’t cry, Jason…everything will sort itself out. Just wait. Things have a way of fixing themselves.
“Didn’t I tell you that?”
Darn, I didn’t think you’d notice. Well, you know, it’s still good advice, even if you did give it.
“What do you mean by that? Anyway, I’m not crying!”
You ask too many questions. I’m leaving now. Promise me you’ll wake up.
“Sophia… Sophia...! I’m… I’m…”
Wake up!

“Sophia!” I shot up from underneath the cloth that draped over my body, immediately feeling the consequences of such an action. Three places in my chest echoed with a blistering pain that caused me to lay back down on the bed, cradling them in my arms. “Sophia…”

A soft giggle swiftly turned into a hearty laugh as the woman next to me approached. She placed a freezing hand on my forehead before smirking at me, her odd yellow eyes looking at something else.

“Sophia… We all wanna know where she is, kid,” she said, stepping on the bed so her heels dug into the mattress and, ripping the blanket from underneath me, she gave an almost pleasant smile. Almost. “But what I want to know is, what happened to Cohah?”

I grabbed the light red bed frame and pulled myself up. The woman standing on my bed was called Scarlet. The decorations and the colours of them all seemed to indicate that this was her dwelling. I looked around the room, eyeing what must have been a spare room in the mansion she lived in since this was the least decorated. Scarlet curtains, scarlet walls and even she wore a scarlet dress. There were one or two paintings, yet the main tones in these were, of course, light red. The carpet along the floor trailed up to a painted statue of a bird, the same shade as everything else in the room. I remember her calling that bird the Scarlet Ibis, though I never questioned her on why it was there. On the far right of the room, long windows showed the dark village.

“How am I supposed to know? I was unconscious in Cohah’s right-hand-man’s dining hall…Why aren’t I dead?” My hand shot straight to the amulet, sighing in relief once I felt the bumpy texture of the Gryphon’s talon under my fingers.

She ran a hand through her ginger hair before shrugging her shoulders. “We found you… The scouting party detected his power and went after you. Luckily I was there and made sure you were alright.” She jumped off the bed and started walking towards the tall windows. “You were out for three days.”

“I… I actually Called my Guardian Beast,” I stammered, causing her to spin around. A grin grew on her face. “The Gryphon… Like Crimson said… It was the Gryphon.”

She giggled - a light, almost girly laugh. “Crimson is chasing after Cohah himself. If you can give me any information, he might not die on his way. So, how did Cohah escape? The big lightning bolt thingy?” She turned back around and continued to walk towards the window. I looked past her, looking out to the field like she was. I could see myself reflected in the glass, so I nodded, knowing she could see me, too. “Good. I have a job for you in the meantime. Go into the village below; some Yayolite nut jobs are causing trouble…”

I started to laugh, but a pulse of pain told me to stop. “I can’t fight.” Pointing to my wounds, I shook my head.

“Don’t be so negative. You’re a fully fledged Caller now, so go do battle like you were made to do.” Her hand pointed to the door. “I left a handgun and a sword for you. Have fun, kid.”

************************************************************************

A boy, about the age of ten, scrambled across the floor, his eyes wide and his breathing faster than a marathon runner’s at the end of a race. Nobody was in the street so no one was here to witness what was going on – of course, if anyone had seen it, then no one would do a thing. Blue eyed and blonde-haired, he was a perfect Yayolite. Except a loaf of bread laid beside him, which the pair of Yayolites seemed pretty annoyed at.

The two Yayolites wore long, azure coats that trailed down their body and stopped at their ankles. On the bottom half, they wore black trousers. A blade was gripped in one of their hands: a long sword, with the words ‘The Heaven’s Will is in this Blade’. At the bottom of the hilt, a cerulean gem was embedded into them. Only one of the Yayolites pointed their blades at the young boy, though both of them frowned with condemning, judgemental eyes.

“I said boy,” the man holding the blade, with bleached blonde hair that waved in the bitter autumn wind, said in a stern, harsh voice, “Stand up. You are coming with us.”

Tears dripped down the boy’s young face, his body shaking all at once. His eyes shot from one Yayolite to the other, his heartbeat growing stronger with each glance.

“He said stand up,” the woman standing next to him bent down and reached for the boy in a rapid movement. The boy only had to blink before seeing the pale-faced woman on top of him. However, before the hand reached the trembling young boy, a bullet tore through the air, slamming into the gauntlet of the woman. Both of them turned in unison to see the mysterious attacker, their blades pointed in my direction. “You are under arrest by the Order of Yayole, place the gun down heathen!”

I shook my head, taking a few steps forward while casually waving my gun through the air. “No.”

They both seemed taken aback by this statement, but the man stepped forward. “Then we shall remove it!”

The man was the first off his feet, leaping towards me and swinging the long sword with great, unnatural force. I jumped backwards myself, raising my gun and firing a few bullets at him. With great ease, he destroyed them with simple swipes. I took a moment to gaze into his eyes, to see the overconfidence glow in the blue irises. My left foot slammed behind me and I raised my hands that were shaped as if I was holding a sphere.

At first, he raised an eyebrow. But soon he realised what exactly was going on and started to panic. His grip on the blade grew tighter causing a strange aurora to flow from his hands and up the blade. The words engraved onto the sword started to light up in the azure glow before the entire blade became this light. He pulled the blade back and swung the blade. An azure shockwave the size of a house grinded through the ground, tearing it apart on its pathway towards myself.

I took a few deep breathes, blocking out the world around me for just a few seconds. Concentrating on the space in-between my hands, the flow of my spiritual energy pushed through my body. It moved fast, like a rush of horses scrambling away from its home when someone let it out. Goosebumps appeared on all the skin it flowed passed, causing a tingling sensation to spark throughout me. This was until it reached their gateway: the palms. In the void between my hands, the energy began to swirl in every random direction. It twisted and turned, going in every direction before fading away. However, some of the energy stayed behind. The energy that was left formed some weird shape, resembling that of a scimitar sword trapped inside a circular bond.

The shape just materialised when the shockwave struck me. It felt like running headfirst into a wall, except when you run into the wall, it explodes. I flew backwards, tumbling across the floor of the dusty dirt-track road of the village. The identical houses around me seemed to twirl around me as pain throbbed from the three scars on my body.
Get up Jason! I need you to protect the boy…I need you to do that for me. Don’t ask questions, just do it.

“A Caller... Lucien does not want him living,” The man said, panting.

“Step away from the boy,” I ordered, getting to my feet and moving my hands upwards into the sphere shape position again. “Move away from him now.”

The woman standing over him with her point of the blade touching his face began to crack a smile, though she swiftly got a hold of herself. The man merely gripped hold of his blade again, causing the azure energy to flow upwards from the hilt again.

“Let us see if you can Call quicker than I can kill you.” He moved his blade so that he held it in the air, allowing him to perform the strike strong enough to attack me.

I smiled, keeping my hands in that position without stirring. The man waved his sword, creating the giant shockwave to grind through the earth towards me. I channelled the energy, immediately causing the image that appeared before to form again. In a flash of light, there was another explosion. This time, a Beast stood guard over me.

The Beast had the stature of a slender human. Over its face, a blank, rusted iron mask blocked out any features that it might have had. From the mask, strange mauve hair seemed to be stained in blood due to the cloudy sky, though this wouldn’t be that strange considering they appeared to be like long blades. Iron rings wrapped around the body of the Beast as if it were a mummy, with bits of decaying flesh showing through the gaps in the armour. The strangest thing about this Beast was that in place of arms and legs were blades. Two curved blades replaced its feet, which it used to skate across the battlefield whereas two scimitar blades replaced its forearms.

“Erikna,” I panted while wiping sweat from my brow, “meet Yayolite. Yayolite, meet Erikna, the Beast of Blades. I thought you were taught about Callers? The energy pattern was already made; I could Call Erikna whenever I wanted after that.”

The Yayolite took a few steps backwards, though his sword stayed steady in his hands. “I will have to kill your Beast…”

Erikna immediately started skating forward, slicing its twin blades as it reached the man. He blocked one strike yet the other cut him with ease. The iron blades cut the armour; even if it didn’t go all the way through, at least Erikna was able to hit him. The Beast stopped in its place to twirl back round, moving in for a second assault. After a quick glance to inspect his armour, the man jumped into the air, creating the azure energy that flowed up the blade.

Erikna darted towards the man, using all the power in its skinny, rotten legs to push itself forward. Like a bullet, it managed to launch itself into the sky. However, it was unable to reach the lengths the Yayolite did. Instead, it aimed the blade-arm up at the man preparing to attack. The blade launched from its arm, keeping attached to the body through an extremely long and – again – rusted chain. The words on the blade were not even illuminated before the blade struck the Yayolite. It rammed itself inside the armour, cutting the flesh only a little bit. He fell to the ground, plummeting with great speed due to the anchor attached to him by the Beast. Once he struck the ground, he was out cold.

“Your-” I turned to the woman, but she disappeared, leaving the boy who was drenched in his own sweat. “Damn, gone.”

I moved my hands into the sphere position, causing Erikna to evaporate into loads of tiny little sparks. They flew into the space between the hands before the symbol faded away.

“Your not a Yayolite…so that means you’re an Earthican,” a woman’s voice said in a relaxed tone, causing me to spin round and aim the handgun at her.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked, eyeing the large automatic rifle that she rested across her shoulders so she could lay her hands on it.

“No one in particular…not a Caller, not an Earthican and definitely not a Yayolite.” She removed her hand from the rifle and straightened out the straw hat on her head. “This is Earthican territory, so why are Yayolites coming here? In fact, how did they even get in? I was told I was safe in this village…You Earthican’s are getting sloppy…”

I shook my head violently, wincing my eyes as I did so. “Stop siding them with me! I’m with no one…” I began to trail off, looking off into the distance. From the corner of my eye, I could see the boy starting to pick himself up. “You, boy, stay there.”

The boy froze completely, his eyes as wide as they were when the Yayolite pointed her blade at him. My attention then moved to the girl, since I was satisfied that the boy was so scared that if a kitten told him to stay in his place, he would. She wore dark blue, mini-short jeans, revealing her long, quite muscular legs. On her top half was a chequered shirt of red and white, with the buttons done up and the sleeves rolled up. She wore leather boots. Also, long brown hair flowed from underneath the hat.

“Are you a cowgirl?” I said, smirking.

“Are you into certain strange things that girls like me should stay away from?” She giggled and pointed to my clothing.

Black leather trousers and a black leather coat that was done up was wrapped around my body. “It’s easy to move in and it’s comfy.” I rolled my eyes, turning to the boy and started walking over to him. “Why didn’t you help me with that big gun of yours if you aren’t a Yayolite?”

She shrugged her shoulders and started to follow me. “More fun. And you probably would have sent that ugly Beast after me.”

I brushed off her comments, ignoring them as I walked to the boy. He raised his arms in defence but I merely placed a hand on his shoulder. At first he flinched, but then he relaxed and looked up at me.

“Hey mate, are you ok?” I said, trying to use the friendliest tone I could conjure up. Unfortunately, I only sounded like a middle-aged man greeting someone in a pub: too jolly and too rough to be comforting. His hands moved back down to his sides, revealing a face drenched in beads of sweat and tear drops. I looked into his eyes and jumped backwards in surprise. There, in the pupils of the young boys eyes, were clouds swirling round as if a deadly storm was brewing in some forgotten part of the sea. “You’re a Caller! How hasn’t anyone noticed that? You must be like ten…”

He sniffed, smiling at my jolt of surprise. “When…” his voice was high and shaky, “when I was five, they tried to take me away…but I…got away.”

“I’ve got to go back now, do you-?”

“Don’t leave me! Please, she’ll come back!” He leapt forward and wrapped his arms around me.

I patted his back before pushing him from around my waist. “Shh, don’t worry; I’ve got a safe place for you. It’s a mansion, that’s pretty cool isn’t it?”

He looked up with teary eyes with the cuteness of a kitten, making even me think ‘awww’, “Will you be there?”

“Of course,” I nodded. “Let’s go.”


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/15/2008 18:23:44 >
DF  Post #: 3
8/5/2008 8:56:08   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 2: Rival Shades

The Yayolite woman ran through the dark, empty village with all her strength, not once looking back to see if her companion or, worse, the Caller was there. She had run for over half an hour, so her breathing had grown to large gasps for air. Only a few of the dull, bricked houses remained where she stood, allowing her to feel secure enough to stop for a breather. She was at the end of the village; not much could capture her there.

The village seemed to be deserted, and she figured it was because of their presence. Everyone feared Yayolites, the Order of Heaven’s Will. They took, they ordered and even they knew that they caused the people harm. However, the Earthican’s were no different. They too stole, corrupted the minds of the people, and killed. All this war had created was fear; the small village in the middle of long fields appeared to be testament to this. The only life around her was the fields of grass with a few trees, and the horses lying grumpily on the floor.

After a few seconds, she had caught her breath, and so she started moving again. Once she took one-step forward, the phone in her pocket began to ring and vibrate. Grabbing it, she sighed at the name that appeared on the screen. Cerulean, her leader.

“Hello,” She answered with a polite tone as if she didn’t know who was on the other end.

“Have you got the boy?” Her voice was dreary and monotonous; she obviously did not want to talk to the woman.

She sighed again, “Unfortunately, no. This village is Earthican. They sent a Caller after us.” The Yayolite immediately realised that any of them could be nearby, and started walking further into the fields around.

“So you failed?” Cerulean was the person to sigh this time; not really because the Yayolite failed her mission but the fact she had to take action herself. “Where is your partner?”

“Unfortunately he did not make it. The Caller had a Blade Beast and we were-”

“Fine, whatever. Rachael…just get out of the village, I have just been given reports saying that a powerful Earthican warrior leaves there. Azure will meet you halfway,” She said before hanging up.

Rachael looked back at the village, her face expressionless. Jason...I’m sorry. She continued her journey through the fields. Wiping all thoughts of the Caller from her mind, she focused on what was going to happen. Azure was going to meet her, which meant that this village was in grave danger.

************************************************************************

“Who said you can come?” I turned to the apparent cowgirl, glaring at her softly.

She only smirked, raising her hand halfway between us so that we could shake hands, “The name’s Wendy. Nice to meet you.”

At first, I merely glared at her stronger. This plan failed for it only made the smirk she wore grow stronger. After the seconds of this deadlock of stares, her hand did not remove from its mid-air position – she was determined, I’d give her that. After a minute passed, the boy stood in front of me and shook her hand instead.

“I’m Joe, nice to meet you too.” He laughed lightly before turning to me, saying with his eyes ‘just do it!’

I didn’t stir, still keeping my glare up at her for a few more seconds. Soon, my willpower was destroyed by the beaming face of Joe and the persistent smirk of Wendy, exhaling a giant sigh of defeat.

“Fine. I’m Jason, nice to meet you.” I shook her hand, trying to squeeze it firmly but realising she was hurting my hand more than I was hurting hers. “You can meet Scarlet, but after that you’re on your own. I’ve got work to do outside of this depressing little village.”

Joe’s eyes grew wide, “You’re not leaving me here!”

“Don’t worry; you’re safer in Scarlet’s hands much more then you are in mine…I’ve got a score to settle with someone.” I turned to the large metal gate that stood in front of us. It was dead in the middle of a scarlet-coloured brick wall that had barbed wire rung around the top. Next to the metal gate, pressed into the wall, there was a small iron box with slits in the middle and a big red button next to the slits. “Have you ever heard of someone named Cohah…?”

“You know, I can hear you from in here.” The big red button began to flash as the voice rose from the slits. “Come in already, and bring your new friends.”

The metal gates split in half, dragging itself across the gravelled path and creaking like a door in a dilapidated house. To either side of the large path, there was cleanly cut grass, all symmetrical and perfect. As we walked up the path, the gravel crunching beneath our feet, we saw figures of birds carved from bushes in the middle of the perfect grass. At the end of the path, where it met the colossal mansion, a fountain stood in the middle with two cars sitting next to them. The fountain was an image of a bird opening its mouth to let the water trickle down its beautiful body. Its wings were spread out, as if it was going to take off.

The mansion itself seemed to be just like a massive scarlet house. The only defining detail was the large triangular windows that showed a glimpse into every room. We moved forward, though Joe was hesitant to move from his space. As we walked up the path, he flinched slightly whenever he gazed at one of the bird shaped bushes. However, his feet were glued to the floor once he saw the fountain.

His breathing became heavy, and he started to walk backwards. Trembling hands rose and his mouth opened to scream yet no sound came out. I moved forward to grab him, to stop him staring at the fountain, but he kept moving backwards. Wendy ran up to him, attempting to pull him in his arms. Once she got within a few feet of him, he turned around and ran away, moving all the force his little legs could take.

Don’t just stand there, go after him Jason!
“Joe!” I shouted, immediately sprinting after him once the strange voice echoed throughout my mind. “Wendy, tell Scarlet I’m going after the boy.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but I was already done the path, chasing after Joe. “Great…now I’m on my own. Who’s he calling a boy anyway, he’s like what, 16?” She mumbled to herself turning around. The scarlet figure at the door raised an eyebrow before looking over Wendy’s shoulder. “Oh…Jason’s gone after the boy.”

“Come on cowgirl, he’s going to die if we don’t go after him…” Scarlet said, dashing inside the mansion.

Wendy sighed and began to run down the path on her own, making a swift promise to herself on her way. The next person to call her a cowgirl will explode. She would make sure that happened.

Joe darted from the mansion with all his might, unwittingly going in the same direction that the Yayolite fled. He quickly came into my eyesight – after all, I was a Caller and he was just a boy. A figure started to become clear on the horizon. A Yayolite: I could tell by the azure coat and the blade strapped to his belt. He was another with blonde hair, though his was not long and not short. A strange length, but it allowed it to ruffle in the strong wind that suddenly started to pick up.

It wasn’t until the boy was next to the Yayolite did he freeze, gaping at the mighty figure in his place. His tall stature, and that stern facial expression made him appear as fierce as a lion, despite him looking youthful. This Yayolite looked down at the boy, raising his hand before smacking him round the face, causing him to tumble to the ground.

“You are the Caller?” The man took a few steps forward.

I drew the gun from its holster, aiming it between his eyes. It took a lot of energy to put a bullet through his head. “And you are…?”

The young man’s laugh was gradual; it built up from a mild chuckle to a full bellow. “My name is not important. I originally came here for Scarlet yet you passed the test by killing one of our own.”

I felt my spiritual energy instinctively flow towards my hands. “You want to kill me?”

“No,” Scarlet shouted from only a few feet behind me. “If he wanted to do that, he would have already taken your life.” She raised her sword, identical to the Yayolite one except everything that was azure had turned scarlet. The words sprawled on the blade were not on the Earthican blade, either. “Why are you here Azure?”

“Not only did the Caller survive Cohah, but he manages to fight with the wounds he gave him. Is that not special to you?” Azure’s free hand clenched. “Yet, you, the second in command of the Earthicans, are in this dull, depressing village. I wonder why…”

“Get to the point,” I said, feeling warmth rise from the Gryphon’s claw on my chest. I was hoping it wouldn’t glow, yet at the same time I wanted it to save me from Azure. If his appearance was anything like his actual power, we were in trouble. “What do you want with us?”

A smirk grew on his face, one that sparked a horrifying memory in the back of my mind. That day sparked through my mind with the same dark lightning that the memory had. Cohah’s smirk – evil, cunning, relentless. I recoiled slightly at the sight of this smile. If he started to ask me about the Pyramid, I may have had to faint.

“What I want,” Azure raised his fist. Once he extended it as far as he could, azure light beamed from it, like a tiny sun in his clenched hand, “is to invite you to our competition. A tournament…it is open to all people who prove themselves. The people have suffered long because of the war between our two people. They deserve a break; they deserve something to keep their minds of the death toll we have brought so high. The greatest warriors will do battle in a competition of such magnitude that it will go down in history.” With the hand that wasn’t glowing in the air, he picked up Joe.

“Put him-”

“To make sure that you are as enthusiastic about this as we are, I’m taking the boy.” He opened his illuminated hand, causing the light to float into the air. “Now, all three of you, if you win against one of my Beasts, you shall be granted acceptance into the tournament. Meet Hammerkop.”

In an instant, the glow fired into the air, entwining itself with the clouds. The dark clouds twirled around like a whirlpool, with the giant crevice facing downwards. Lightning darted from once side to the other in the canyon until slowly they were absorbed into the middle. There, a ball of lightning gradually built up in size. Soon it grew to the size of an elephant (at least I guessed, from where I was standing) where suddenly, it exploded. The electricity lingered in the air, occasionally lighting up a space.

Azure smirked again before clapping his hands together. The noise echoed through the silent village, reaching out into every part until finally it reached the sky. With the sound of this clap, the separated lightning shot in the centre of them all. A vague shape of a bird was formed, flapping large wings, which with every beat removed some of its lightning shell, as if it was a snake shedding its skin. It soared down to earth, its figure becoming more and more apparent as it did so. Once it reached the ground, all the lightning had disappeared, leaving its long, thin legs to grind into the ground to stop it.

Hammerkop was the size of an elephant in terms of height yet it was incredibly skinny. An extended beak protruded from an almost bullet shaped head. The only thing stopping it from being associated with a bullet were the long, orange-red feathers that reached out from the back. Once down the long, ruffled neck, the body is the same shape as the head. Three spikes came from the thin legs, which drove into the earth to keep its hefty body up.

“Now, I bid you adieu,” With that, Azure ran off in the other direction.

I moved forward but a dart of lightning shot at my feet, causing me to tumble to the floor.

“Right, you want to play bird, let’s play.” The amulet on my chest began to glow in its rainbow shine, warming every ounce of my body. I could feel the mighty presence reach out from the amulet, twisting its own power with the energy from my soul. “Meet your second cousin, the Gryphon.”


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/20/2008 16:33:21 >
DF  Post #: 4
8/9/2008 14:20:04   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 3: Acceptance

“Right, I am going to hunt down Azure, kill this bird before it destroys this village,” Scarlet said, immediately darting from her position to follow the man in blue.

Part of my mind ordered me to chase after Azure, to get Joe back myself yet a strange nagging doubt pierced these thoughts. This doubt pushed out any other thoughts other than the Beast standing in front of me, its skinny wings beating the ground as it begun to take flight again. My hands clenched into a fist as I glared at the ascending figure.

Wendy raised her automatic machine gun and began firing bullets at Hammerkop. The bullets soared through the air, propelled by the sheer force of the large gun. However, once they reached Hammerkop, lightning bolts rose from every flap of its wings. The bullets were torn apart by the lightning, causing Wendy to stop so she did not waste her ammunition. The bird shot more bolts of electricity down to the ground, allowing only a small space for her to summersault out of the way. With one last round of bullets, she ran in the opposite direction.

“Are you gunna Call the Gryphon or not?” She called, firing bullets at the approaching bird.

It had forgotten about me, it merely followed Wendy, throwing bolts of electricity down to the ground in a vain attempt to destroy the woman. The lightning was coming increasingly closer towards Wendy; every flash of light coming closer to her heels. Running in a straight line wasn’t going to do anything – she needed to escape. Looking around, all there was were rows of houses with nearly empty gardens. The only thing in them were the cars, that stood lifeless as if they hadn’t been used in years. Her eyes widened as the thought swiftly crossed her mind.

I placed my hand flat against either side of the amulet, channelling the spiritual energy through my palms. Taking a few deep breaths, I blocked out everything around me. With no distractions, the power flowed from my soul and into the amulet. However, the orb in the gryphon’s claw did not intensify. It stayed at the same level light, like a small candle lit on midday in the middle of summer.

“It won’t come out… I can’t get the Gryphon from the amulet!” I screamed in response only to find she was too far away to hear. Even if she was close, the crackling sound of the lightning striking the ground would have drowned it out anyway. “I’m going to Call Erikna!”

I moved my hands away from the amulet, causing the light to fade as soon as I did so. Placing my hands in the sphere position, I channelled the energy I had already summoned into the space between my hands. The goosebumps shot through my entire body as it had done so many times before. In the void, the shape of the scimitar blade in the circle appeared.

Wendy raised her gun and fired several bullets into the side of the car she approached. The bullets destroyed the light-green paint job, smashing through the window until nothing remained except an empty space. With this space, she leapt forward, diving through the window and into the car. She flinched every time the lightning struck the car, yet she remained safe as the rubber tires absorbed the shock from each attack. After a few strikes, Hammerkop stopped. For a moment, there was complete silence, making Wendy think that the bird had stopped its assault. The moment she thought this, the thing claws buried themselves into the roof of the car.

Wind blew in from the broken window, pushing in shattered glass. Wendy crawled into where the passenger would put their legs, hiding beneath the grey plastic dashboard. With a few beats of its wings, the lifted off the ground. She felt like screaming out to me, but if she opened her mouth, glass would most probably have flown right in. All she could do was hide beneath the dashboard, cradling the machinegun while the wind gusted in.

In a flash of light, the armoured mummy dashed from its place, jumping from its feet with both scimitars raised. Hammerkop glanced in Erikna’s direction, dismissing the approaching Beast with a bolt of lightning. With one blade, it struck the bolt, tearing it apart with the strike so that it could continue its journey upwards. The bird continued to bat its wings, raising the car so that it was at least two houses high in the sky. The gap between Erikna and the bird was too vast for it to reach, so in order to reach the bird, it dug one of the blades into the side of the car.

Wendy jolted in surprise, smacking her head on the plastic above. Rubbing her head, she sighed in relief when she saw that it was the rusted blade, which pierced through the car door. An armour-plated foot rose up and rested upon the broken window, allowing the Beast to pull itself up. The bird still ignored Erikna; even as it somersaulted across the roof so that it was a mere foot away. Erikna raised its two blades and thrusted them into the wings of the unaware Hammerkop.

Two giant beams of lightning blasted from the wounds, encasing the Beast with its electrical fury. Erikna plummeted to the ground, crashing against the surface. At first it turned translucent, barely visible as its life fell away. It screeched in pain as every part of it turned invisible, fading away from the world until finally, it had gone. I cursed to myself, growling at Hammerkop.

The bird tried to bat its wings but the wounds were too large, leaving the Beast to plummet to the earth. Its claws released its grip from the roof of the car, causing that to fall alongside it. The car flipped around in mid-air before landing on its boot, crushing it completely. Inside, Wendy launched forward, slamming her head against the plastic dashboard and the metal at the bottom of the car. Hammerkop collapsed next to it, inches away from landing on top of the car. After another glass-shattering screech, it pulled itself to its feet.

“Oh no.” I shook my head, my eyes gaping at the Beast. Its long and thin beak opened wide, showing the beam of lightning that was slowly making its way up the its throat. Once my eyes laid upon the charging attack, the amulet started to glow in its rainbow light. My hands shot upwards to the Gryphon’s Claw, sighing out a, “Finally,” as I did so.

Tiny sparks of lightning began to spark outside the bird’s mouth as it drove its feet further into the ground. The flash of light occurred, causing the lights to fire from the orb on the claw, forming the familiar shape of the Gryphon. The light began to peel way, revealing the majestic figure of the half-eagle, half-lion. Wings sprawled outwards, the Gryphon opened its own mouth, a beam of white energy travelling upwards from the pits of its stomach. I jumped from my position as the two figures released their power.

The beam of lightning collided with the beam of light energy, unleashing a small explosion once they made contact. The already rough road was torn apart, blowing dust and gravel upwards in my direction. I lifted a hand over my eyes and flinched as the was attacked by an onslaught of road. Once the dust faded, all that remained were the two figures caught in a deadlock of power. The white beam from the Gryphon was almost hypnotic – completely straight with a small aura of pureness around it. Looking directly in it, I thought I could get lost.

I pushed myself to my feet, running towards Hammerkop. Drawing the ruby short sword resting on my hip, I darted at fall pace at the bird. It was too preoccupied with the its deadlock of power to see me coming; I didn’t even have to be subtle. Curling my path round, I drove the sword straight into the bird’s back as soon as I reached it. This caused the Beast to falter, breaking off its assault of electricity. As soon as I struck Hammerkop in the back, I practically leapt away. The beam of light immediately made contact with the bird.

Electricity sparked out in several different directions, destroying everything it drew near. It ripped open the ground, broke through the roofs of the numerous houses, and fired straight into the air. I curled myself into a ball, gazing at the exploding Beast through the space between my arms. However, as swiftly as the lightning flew from Hammerkop, it vanished leaving nothing but a pile of dust.

I walked up to the remains of the dust, bending over to pick up a small charm that laid on the ground. A feather with a lightning bolt going through it was engraved onto a bronze triangle. Squeezing it tightly, the electricity sparked up my arms, trailing down my body until it reached my heart. When I opened my hand again, the charm was no longer there.

“Oh crap, Wendy,” I span around, my heart racing. The car laid toppled over; the boot of the car completely crush and the roof drove in. I sprinted from my spot, hoping with all my heart that Wendy was still alive. A small gap where the window formerly stayed still showed – inside there was nothing but destroyed car. My eyes raced from one end to the other, looking for any sign of life. A sigh of relief slipped out when I saw the body of Wendy slumped on the car floor unconscious; there was a light sign of breathing. I reached my arms in and gently pulled her out, careful not to cut her on the sharp pieces of metal and glass. “Wendy… You should have just left it to me.”

Then you would have lost. It would have killed you before you got the chance to Call.
I shook my head, erasing the voice from my mind and immediately making excuses about it being my imagination. “I’ll leave you in one of these houses… One of the villagers will probably let you stay.”
This village is empty. Haven’t you wondered why no ones even glimpsed out their windows? I shook my head more violently this time, lifting Wendy up so my hands held her upper-back and between her legs. Jason, go after Scarlet. She will guide you to the tournament so you can rescue that boy.

I walked up to one of the bare front gardens and rested Wendy on the grass. Moving over to the former pile of dust, I picked up my sword from the floor. “Empty… but, why?”

I had seen the village only a year before; busy with life as the villagers got on with the tedious tasks they were assigned. Children, adults, and the elderly all lived there in some fragile state of harmony while the war raged around them. Why would they all suddenly leave? There seemed to be no sign of a battle, so the Yayolites couldn’t had destroyed everything. I walked forward, keeping my eyes attached to the passing buildings with those questions constantly repeating in my mind. Like a broken record, they ran through my consciousness until that was all I could think about. Why was I so obsessed with it? I had no clue.

As I walked down the path towards Scarlet and Azure, someone watched. Sitting on a large steeple of a church sat a man wrapped in black cloaks. Relatively short hair flowed in black shades from his pale-skinned head. He lifted an extended black pole, with gold inscribed in zigzag patterns across it, and pointed it at the miniscule figure that walked towards a battle. My thoughts still raced, taking over every aspect of my mind. Soon, I was completely absorbed in them, wrapped up in my own little world. The whole world did not exist until an explosion of pain erupted in my body. The three wounds overruled everything; it took over my mind. I started to see a blurry red but soon I saw nothing. With a blink of an eye, the man disappeared.

************************************************************************

Rachael sat in the car on the outskirts of town, waiting for Azure’s arrival. She had been there for a while yet she did not worry, Azure would be safe. It was Jason she worried about – if they fought, he would die. However, there was nothing she could do except stare outside the window, watching the corn from the farm outside swish in the wind. Up in the sky, the clouds had got darker though they did not resemble rain-clouds. It was as if something had disturbed them; something powerful that could touch the sky. Only a few people could upset the world’s very balance with their power. One of them was Azure.

The phone rang and vibrated in her pocket, interrupting her in mid-thought. “Hello?”

“Scarlet accepted… I took out an insurance policy for Jason,” Azure breathed heavily down the phone. “Be ready to leave as soon as I get there.”

“Accepted?” She asked, curiosity defeating the logic she gave herself whenever she was in a mission with Azure: ‘shut up and never ask questions’.

“Hasn’t Cerulean briefed you? That is annoying. I’ll inform you while you execute our retreat.” With that, he hung up the phone.


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/10/2008 10:48:27 >
DF  Post #: 5
8/12/2008 11:33:40   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 4: Why Do You Help People?

Hey, it’s time to get up again.
“Sophia… Sophia is that you who keeps talking in my head?”
Yeah… Well if you wasn’t such a bad hero I wouldn’t have to. You should be more careful, you were injured and you charged straight into battle.
“I was fine… Until the passing out thing… It’s just-”
You wanted to help people. I know, you’ve always been like that.
“Wait, no, Scarlet asked me to! I was just following orders!”
But you’re not an Earthican so why would you follow her orders? You’re not scared of her. You were crazy enough to run into one of Cohah’s bases of operations… I doubt you’d be scared of Scarlet.
“Shh. Shouldn’t I be waking up now. You’re not very good with this waking up job.”
I don’t even know why I’m doing it I’m not your mother…
“Because you love me… I’m sorry, that… slipped out.”
Tell me Jason, why do you help people?
“I don’t help people… I’m just surviving.”

As those words exited my mouth, my eyes shot open again. Beside me, Wendy gave me a light smile, gripping the automatic machine gun in her hand. She slumped herself on a large cushioned chair that sat beside my bed with the words ‘Salia Travel Company’ sowed onto the top of it. Looking around, I saw that we were in a carriage of a train. The constant echoing as the train moved along: ‘dung, dung, dung, dung,’ and the world outside zooming passed confirmed it.

“Sophia?” She asked, running her hand across the metal interior of the cylinder carriage.

I rubbed my head and pulled myself up, “Don’t ask…” Running a hand through my blonde hair, I got out of bed. “One, where’s my jacket? Two, how long was I out?”

“I don’t even get a hello?" She shook her head, smiling. "Your jacket’s by the bed,” She pointed to the leather jacket folded neatly on a metal stand. “You were out for the night. We’re currently on a train going towards Heya. There, we get a plane to Heartland.”

I frowned, reaching into my collar and pulling out the Gryphon’s claw, twirling it through my fingers. “Why are we going to Heartland?”

“The tournament’s being held in Redon… Scarlet’s in the other coach if you want to talk to her. I’m gunna stay here for awhile.” She placed both hands on the back of her head so her shoulders pointed in opposite directions.

I ran the name through my mind for a bit, recollecting the events that occurred before I fainted. The word’s that rang in my mind – the words that told me the village was empty – screamed out through pure frustration. I needed to know the answers.

“Wendy… Why are you with me? I have no money to give. How do I know you aren’t working with Cohah?” I asked, rubbing my eyes gently to wake myself up more.

Her teeth clenched immediately at the mere mention of that name. She moved her hands from her hand and clenched her fists tightly. “Because… If I ever see that man again, I’ll kill him. Even if I die myself, I’ll kill him.” She looked straight into my eyes, all the humour that used to swirl around in there extinguished. This glance stopped me dead in my tracks, freezing my body in a state of shock. It took at least a minute to relax after seeing her in such a state of seriousness and sadness. “Besides, when I first came to the village of Brendon, you looked like you were in trouble, so I thought I’d help.” She gave a false, weak smile while her fist remained tightly squeezed together.

I opened my mouth to say something in reply to her, but the carriage of train rumbled, cutting me off. We grabbed hold of the side to keep us from falling over before grabbing our weapons. The short sword and gun laid on the metal stand. The cause of the rumble seemed to originate at the dark lightning flying past the window in wavy streaks.

A few carriages down, a figure stood by a group of armed guards. His dark leather coat blew in every direction as the wind caused by the train attempted in vain to push him over. Completely black eyes stared out to the carriage where Wendy and I stood with an evil smirk sprawled across his face.

“Ok men, the others are already inside, so let us keep this quick,” The men nodded, running across the carriages. Two guards pounced into each carriage, shouting and waving their automatic guns at the terrified citizens on the train. “Time to lure out the prey.”

Raising his hand, he stopped the waves of dark electricity that cocooned the train. Instead, black fiery energy erupted from his clenched fist, oozing out and lingering around his hand. Pointing it into the sky, eight balls of black fire shot out, flying into the sky and landing on our carriage. With the remaining part of the fire energy, he slammed it into the ground, causing flames to explode all around him. The energy took the form of a giant wolf before the fire peeled away. What was revealed did not look like your normal wolf.

The last pair of guards got to our carriage before Cohah’s fire-eggs. They jumped down and pulled open the door, lifting their guns to fire at us. However, before they got the chance to scream ‘Freeze!’ several bullets fired into their body, causing them to fly out of the train. Their bodies slammed against the train tracks, never to be seen again.

“How did you know they were bad guys?” I said, feeling my spiritual energy flow to my hands.

“It’s Cohah’s men. You can tell by their uniform,” she said.

They wore rough black trousers, dark bullet proof armour and a helmet that resembled a gas mask. “Right, shall we go greet our friend?”

As I spoke those words, screams broke out from all the other carriages. Before either of us could get the chance to suggest we help the other people, eight circular dents rammed into the top of our carriage. In a matter of seconds, wolf-type creatures burst through all the windows, roaring and pouncing at us with their sharp paws. Spikes protruded up their wolf build until it reached their tail, which was on fire.

One leapt straight at me, giving little time to react with a counter-attack. I spun around to dodge the immediate strike before driving the blade across the back of the creatures. It squealed in pain as it burst into a mass of dark flames. Drawing my handgun, I fired five bullets into its skull. For a split-second before it died, the completely dark eyes gleamed straight into my own with the smugness of the person who created them. That look told met that I was going to fail – that we were going to die and he’d get a hold of the artefact he was looking for.

A moment passed and I did nothing, making the wolves think they can kill me in this moment. Two pounced at once, hoping to drive their claws into my back yet several bullets bombarded the area they stood. Many missed but there was such a high quantity that it was hard not to kill the wolves. The wolves plummeted to the ground, rolling across it and bursting into flames. She smiled at me as I gave her grateful nod before she killed three more of the wolves that were nearly on top of her. Luckily, she caught them before they jumped to get her, so it was easy enough to catch them.

The spiritual energy already flowed to my hands, making the last to wolves easy. Raising my hands, I screamed, “Hammerkop!” which fired bolts of lightning at the two monsters. The electricity encased them, destroy their bodies until they finally blew up in flames.

“What the hell were those things?” Wendy said as she threw away the last cartridge of ammo and replaced it with a new one.

“Beasts… Cohah’s a Caller. One of the most powerful in all of Yayole. It’s not hard to Call several at once, but he has some of the strongest Beasts I’ve ever seen.” I mumbled it, trying to focus most of my energy on channelling my spiritual energy.

“Why can’t you Call loads of Erikna’s at once then?”

“Because Calling takes spiritual energy. Use too much, and your soul loses all of its protection… Leaving you vulnerable to a whole load of crazy-” The rumbling of the cars started again yet this time, no electricity flowed by the window. This time, it sounded like giant footsteps galloping across the metal roof.

The sound of tearing metal echoed through all of the area, as well as more screams from the people. These screams were from the car next to us. “Hello, can Jason come out to play? He has something that belongs to me.” Without saying a word to each other, we sprinted to the door, leaning outside to see what Cohah had Called.

Long demonic claws protruded from muscled, armoured legs. Spikes shot from all sections of the Beast, making it similar to the Beasts that attacked us. It had the general physique of a wolf, except it was several times the shape. It was just smaller than the carriage of the train, though only just. Muscles bulged out of its dark-blue skin with a network of criss-crossing veins twirled around it. Cohah stood on its back where the largest spikes shot outwards for the Caller to grab hold of while it was running. At its face, fully black eyes stared at me with Cohah’s vicious glare. On its forehead, a long spike rose outwards, appearing sharper then the rest.

The end of the carriage that the Beast wasn’t standing on had been torn apart by the claws. “Well, Call one of yours and we shall get this party started! Give my Hellhound a treat.”

My body erupted in panic yet it froze at the same time. All I could muster was my right foot taking a giant step backwards. Wendy shot a confused glare. “What?”

“One of the Hellhounds of Oblivion! He… has one of the Crests of Cerberus. With all three Crests, he can Call the most powerful Beast in all of Yayole: Cerberus, Guardian of Oblivion.” I gaped at the Hellhound, feeling a sense of appending doom creep over me, sending shivers down my spine.

A beam of scarlet energy fired into the Hellhound’s back leg, causing it to tumble slightly off train. Swiftly, it pulled itself back up with minimal effort, as if nothing had even touched it. Another shockwave of scarlet energy fired at them except this time Cohah was in the firing range. He lifted his arms, grabbing the energy before it had the chance to cause any damage. With one squeeze, the energy evaporated into nothing.

“Your guards are all dead I’m afraid,” Scarlet said as she landed on the edge of our coach, the last one on the train. “You are the most hunted for all four nations Cohah. I have no clue how you survived this long.”

“I have built up quite a few allies, the enemies mean nothing to me,” he replied, the all-powerful tone of his voice faltering.

“Then why aren’t you attacking, my dear exiled Darklander?” She raised her sword, appearing as a plain Earthican sword yet hiding immense power. “Is it because you know I’ll kill that dear Beast of yours. And that I’ll cause you some serious damage.” She gave a rapid glimpse behind her though she made it an extravagant movement so he saw what she was doing. “We are approaching the Heya. One of my high-ranking soldiers and a hell of a lot of Earthican soldiers are there waiting for you. Do you really want to risk that?”

“Very well Scarlet, I did not think you would be here. I shall see you all in Redon.” Without another word, the lightning struck down on him, vaporising him so that he no longer existed.

The train continued its journey, only a few minutes away from the town of Heya. From there, though we did not know it yet, our lives would completely change. Our last chance to back out had disappeared, leaving only one path ahead. The tournament in Redon would change everything.


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/16/2008 10:02:59 >
DF  Post #: 6
8/18/2008 17:10:11   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 5: Fearing Blue

“So…” Rachael finally broke the silence as they drove through the endless, long roads of the country. Azure had said nothing since he ended the mission with only a cheeky grin that was almost like that of a child, though more sinister, sprawled on his face. “Am I entering this tournament?”

“If you wish, I have no objection,” he replied bluntly before returning to smirking at the passing environment. “We are rendezvousing with team Beta at the end of this road.”

Rachael moved her attention to the road, which seemed to go on forever. Trees loomed over the tarmac, blocking out all but a few beams of light while overgrown bushes flourished at their bases. The truth was that she had no idea if she was going into the tournament or not. The only thing certain in her mind was that she wanted to get to the end of this road swiftly, for she feared Azure with all her heart. All people who crossed paths with Azure feared him – he was a man without fear. Insane, in other words; not of sound mind by any stretch of the imagination. With that state of mind and seemingly limitless power at his fingertips, Azure earned the right to be feared.

After a few minutes (though it seemed like hours to Rachael) a large lorry sat in the middle of the road. Outside, lower-ranked Yayolites held semi-automatic guns in their hands, leaning against the trees or pacing impatiently. As soon as they heard the car’s steady approach, they all jumped to their feet, standing completely straight. Stopping the car, we both got out. Azure eyed the men for a while, his smirk fading from his face.

“Why are there so few of you?” His eyes darted from one guard to the other, making each stumble slightly at the mere sight of those azure bullets.

All knew the answer yet none could muster up the courage to deliver it. It was all in their eyes: fear burnt deep into their souls. Failure wasn’t Azure’s favourite thing, especially when you were as dispensable as a lowly guard. However, one took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Sir, they were with us one minute and then the next they were gone, sir!” Rachael could tell the man immediately regretted it. He ran his hands over his blue helmet, attempting to rub his face even though the visor was down.

Azure did nothing for a moment, merely raising an eyebrow. “Right, our men are falling out of the sky.” He raised his hand and started counting each individual, coming to ten. “Ah, well I’m sure this will be fine. Drive us to Heya airport. Rachael, get the boy from the car.”

Her entire body froze, feeling a chilling sensation crawl across her skin in the form of goosebumps. A strong, sickness weld up in the pits of her stomach, bubbling rage through her veins. Anger, even pure hatred, towards Azure started to infest the obedience she held towards him. It took all her strength not to attack him right there and then.

“W…What?” She asked, pulling back tears of frustration that welled up.

“Did I not say anything? I took that boy you were supposed to capture,” he said casually, walking up to the lorry and opening the container that was attached to it. The door flew open, allowing him to step into it. “Quickly now.”

He… He got him. Damn it! I failed. Rachael thought, nodding in confirmation as enthusiastic as she could muster. It turned out that it wasn’t very much. Rachael, you will fail when the boy is dead. Do not lose hope. Rachael froze in her place, the foreign presence lingering in her mind. She looked behind her to see if anyone said anything to her yet the guards were busy preparing to leave. Take the boy. Take him and run, Azure is distracted now but he will notice something in a few minutes. He will come after you, but just drive as fast as you can, someone will help you. Loads of thoughts of protest welled up in her mind: it was ludicrous! How could she escape the blue terror, Azure, in a car? However, a warm feeling wrapped around her like a blanket, immediately calming these thoughts.

One thought made it out of the cover, which seemed to protect her and the answer came as soon as she thought it. I am Sophia; I am a friend of you and a friend of Jason. Your fates are… unfortunately intertwined, Cohah will be after you soon. Now quickly, someone’s coming to help you! Rachael ran up to the boot of the car, opening to see the boy laying unconscious. She nudged him a few times, trying to tempt him out of the comfort of sleep though he would not be moved. Picking him up, she lugged him in the back seat. With a quick glance to see if anyone was looking, she started the engine of the car.

As soon as the engine was turned on, an azure blur flowed through the air in almost an instant. Standing in front of the car, Azure place a hand on the bonnet, an eyebrow raised. Before he could conjure any power to stop her, bullets soared through the air, ending their short path in the bodies of the guards. Immediately, all of them fell to the floor, dead. Azure’s attention shot upwards and a pair of feet landed heavily on the roof of the car, causing two dents to form.

“And who may you be?” Azure raised his hand that burnt with fiery-blue energy.

Without an answer, balls of fire shot towards him. Waving the hand through the air, an azure shield destroyed all of the attacks before they got the chance to attack. The person darted across the roof of the car, barely making a hint of noise as she moved towards Azure. The Yayolite had to jump back in order to avoid the woman, who jumped onto the ground, long staff in hand.

Her sandal-equipped feet ground into the earth while her fingers, with black finger nails, twirled around the long, black staff. The foot long blade at the bottom drove into the ground as her completely serious face glared at Azure.

“An Earthican? Why are you after me, I have not hurt any of your people today?” A grin started to creep onto his face, making Rachael’s skin crawl at the mere hint of it. However, it disappeared when met with the opposing warrior’s face. Stern as concrete, she wasn’t affected by such an insane man.

Instead, she shook her head, extremely long ginger hair, which reached down just below the bottom, waving through the air as she did so. A pair of indigo eyes attempted to penetrate the soul of her opposition. Rachael knew that it was no use – how could you do it to someone who has no soul?

“I am no Earthican, I belong to no foolish army,” She raised the staff so that the other end (this end had metal bars arranged to look like the wings of a dragonfly). “I am a protector.”

Azure began to chuckle an empty laugh, drawing a sword that seemed to come from nowhere. Rachael had seen this before: Azure’s magic was strong; he didn’t need to carry anything. One of his many talents was to transport his weapons in order to lure them into a false sense of security. At least, that was what Rachael was told.

The woman’s black dress waved furiously through the air, the wind starting to pick up out of the blue. The long slit up the leg part of the dress revealed pale, muscular legs. Azure put one foot forward, raising his blade so that it pointed at the woman.

“So you are a pawn of some other power? Cohah? Or not, you do not seem like the type Cohah would hire.” Azure exhaled a breath of laughter. “No, he wouldn’t allow someone so…”

“Watch your words Yayolite.” She snapped back. The air around her began to wave as if heated – the battle was about to begin.

Rachael was tempted to stay, to watch the woman fight even though there was no hope for her to win. Azure was the most feared Yayolite for a reason, and she did not appear to be a person strong enough to take her. But she knew what she had to do. The boy was in the back and she needed to protect him from the clutches of Azure. While he was busy eyeing the woman, Rachael shifted gear into reverse before slamming on the accelerate.

Azure pounced forward, his eyes wide as the car drove further down the path they had just come. However, the woman raised her staff, summoning powers from her very spirit in order to attack him. Lightning zapped at the Yayolite, causing him to swing his sword through the air, stopping in mid-flight. The blade caught the shock, seeming to absorb it as the shock merely disappeared.

Shifting gears again, she slammed on the accelerate again, this time moving forward as fast as she could. Azure tried to move forward but the woman leapt into his path, creating some strange shield around her in order to shield the car from Azure. Rachael drove forward, escaping the battlefield before they truly got into the fight. Looking in the rear-view-mirror, she could see Azure cursing loudly, turning to the woman to fight her. Azure energy flowed across his blade while fire burnt on the end of her staff.

She drove as fast as the car would allow her to go until the fighting in the background became small explosions. Her task seemed impossible: get on a flight before Azure and get to Redon, where she would find refuge. Though this was a huge feet that loomed over her, bringing up feelings of complete fear, the blanket of comfort wrapped around her.

************************************************************************

On the plane, riding over the lands of Earthica and flying next to the Heart Mountains, a thought clicked in my mind. “Hey, Wendy.” She turned to him, looking as though she had her eyes closed for a long while yet not getting to sleep. “In… In the airport. I saw someone who looked nearly identical to Joe. Do you think it could be him?” She shrugged, sitting up in the chair and leaning over. “Well, he wasn’t with Azure or anyone looking remotely Yayolite… But those eyes. In that boy’s eyes swirled that raw power which was in his.”

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” She asked, turning into the aisle. “If you really thought it was him you would’ve said something, right?”

I turned my head, staring at my feet. “Yeah, I guess.” In the corner of my eye, Wendy’s attention was firmly fixed on something. At first, I ignored it but after a minute of her not moving, I tapped her on the shoulder. “What are you-?”

“Shh,” She waved her hand at me. “Argh, I hate airport security… I need a weapon.”

“What?”

“That man on the back row, the one staring right into my eyes, I saw him tear apart an entire village in Heartland.” She said with such a relaxed tone that I was taken aback somewhat. It took a few seconds for me to recuperate my thoughts, tapping her on the shoulder once my mind cleared slightly. “I plan on settling the score.”

“Why would he burn down an entire village? Why were you there? Do you come from Heartland?” I replied in fast-paced bursts.

“That man belongs to Cohah. He was after me, and decided to burn the whole village while he was at it. Almost brought Heartland into the war…” Her tone grew distant, occasionally trailing her sentences off, making them sound unfinished. “I stole something from Cohah.”

“What did you steal?”

She took a deep breath. “I stole the final Crest of Cerberus.”


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 8/20/2008 16:40:17 >
DF  Post #: 7
11/6/2008 9:28:46   
Recar Dragonlance
Member

Chapter 6: Blurred Reality

Many emotions shot up at such a high speed that it was hard to feel anything in particular. At first, I thought curiosity was going to win over my mind but it bonded with anger. This new emotion sped through my veins, immediately making my fists clench. One hand gripped onto the arm of the chair, making the plastic creek slightly.

“You lied to me,” I said, trying with all my might to keep my voice low. “You pretended you knew nothing about the Crests of Cerberus. Why would you do that?” The tone of my voice remained at a constant pitch. Once she caught the monotone of my voice, she turned around, an eyebrow raised.

“I was sorta… trying to find out about them. I, sorta, don’t know anything about it, I just took it.” She turned to the man sitting at the back of the aeroplane. “He’s our main problem now Jason. Please, just focus on this.”

I leant over Wendy, provoking a stern look in return as my body lay across hers. Looking down the aisle, there were over-excited children barely kept in their seatbelts next to the parents trying to calm them down. Elderly couples glared at each of the children in turn while some smiled at them, obviously sharing the same anticipation. However, my attention moved to the back seat. Empty – the entire row of seats held no people.

“There’s no one there,” I said, moving back to my former position.

She span round, her facing going pale as she saw empty space. Where could he have gone? The toilet was in front of us, and the only place to go from there was forward. Had he just vanished in thin air? That certainly wasn’t possible without attracting attention, wasn’t it? Wendy shook her head, turning to me with her face screwed up.

“But he…” She turned around again, hoping to see him suddenly reappear. He did not and her face sunk. After a short period of flinging her head around, she finally gave up, slumping down in her seat, her eyes wide. “He was…”

Wendy fell silent. For the rest of the plane ride, we moved in complete silence, barely even looking at each other. She stayed in the same position until the wheels of the aeroplane touched the ground. From there, we were herded out of the aeroplane, Wendy still twisting around to see the man who did not exist. Outside, the sun was almost blinding, making us shield our eyes from the bright light. After walking a short distance across the ear-breaking area filled with aeroplanes, we made it inside the airport.

“Scarlet said we are supposed to meet someone who will give us a lift. First, we need our…” I trailed off.

A dart of coldness zapped through my body, making the skin on my body crawl. My teeth slammed together and I had to wince to bear such a swift feeling of emptiness. Once my feet defrosted from their position, I span around, eyes trailing across the airport. The cream coloured building bestowed armed guards – they were the only people I sensed as any kind of threat. The people from our flight moved in a crowd towards some sort of plastic barrier, where men stood to take your passport. To our right, a giant class window reached to the roof of the airport (which was much larger than the aeroplanes outside). Through it, all I could see were the people who had made it through passport control.

None were a threat: how could a bunch of tourists merely wishing to see the tournament be any harm. From the people here, I could tell the ones participating in the tournament had arrived much earlier. Still, I felt uneasy. Through the window, I felt the coldness, the emptiness, the darkness. Not Cohah; even that madman wouldn’t attack the airport with this much security.

Turning to Wendy, I could see she looked in that direction. Both in unison, we stepped forward. The grand plastic shield that separated the baggage collection and the passport control shattered into a million pieces as if it were glass. Bullets flung through our former position, miraculously hurting none of the people walking in that direction. We both sprinted as fast as we could to passport control though the people clogged it in a panic.

“Everyone get on the floor!” I bellowed as loud as I could, causing most of them to drop down and shield their heads with their hands. Some still persisted to get through the barriers of border patrol. Another volley of bullets arrived, striking two of the people still standing up. I couldn’t tell if it was fatal but they had collapsed to the floor none-the-less. “Get on the floor now!”

More people fell to the floor this time, granting us access to the baggage area. We ducked beneath the metal passport control hut as more bullets fired from some people’s guns. My guess was that there was at least eight of them though there were most probably more waiting throughout the airport. Despite this, the armed guards moved forward, firing their automatic machine guns in a full frontal assault. This was our time to move: we darted from our positions, keeping our bodies hunched over in case more popped out and attacked.

Bullets were returned in response to the armed guards attack. None of them were hit – there were eight guns firing their guns. At least they were only semi-automatic sub-machine guns, giving the armed guards some breathing space. They ran into the baggage area, jumping under the metal carriers that spin and take the baggage around on display. Ducking beneath the metal, they were safe, but the rubber turnstile on top began to spin, revealing the bags released from the plane.

We both dived to cover by a sweet stand. Shivering beside us was a woman dressed in a green top with an apron sprawled across it. Her long, brunette hair draped over the green shirt. She screeched in terror when we jumped next to her. Luckily the attackers were too busy with the armed guards to deal with us. There were more armed guards arriving to the scene; we could see them coming from the main entrance, running in bullet-proof vests and machine guns in their hands. They did the same as their companions: diving beneath the conveyer belt as a volley of bullets tried to shoot them down.

I took a swift glimpse over the top of the sweet stand. In that second, I saw the people we were up against. As I did, I knew that we were in more trouble then I first anticipated. However, a bullet zoomed from one of their guns, cutting just underneath my ear. I cursed, rubbing the cut as I returned to them.

“Guns won’t do much to these things...” I said, channelling spiritual energy into my hands. Goosebumps already started to prickle up my arms before I even began. This time, my body felt static as if I could pick up any electricity in the entire building. “Magic is the only way to go. Miss, this is going to get messy. Can you crawl to cover over there.” I nudged the woman and pointed to rows of chairs. “Wendy, take her there.”

Wendy at first frowned then sighed. She grabbed the lady (who hadn’t quite left the late teens yet) and began to take her away. I stood up, the spiritual energy built up in my arms. The image of that chicken like bird – Hammerkop – pulsed through my mind. Raising my arms, two bolts of lightning shot from them. The blast shot me back, luckily evading a flurry of bullets that crashed into the sweet stall and the wall behind me. Two of the eight figures were facing me, their bodies filled with holes that were slowly closing. I could just catch a glimpse of them being shot back by the lightning before the sweet stall blocked off my view.

I rolled across the floor, seeing the two figures I had shot turn into stone and then break into pieces. Though two had fallen, four of the armed guards laid injured on the floor, the healing creatures shooting seemingly endless amounts of bullets at them. Whoever had created them was extremely powerful, which only left a few options. Azure , the one they call Cerulean or Cohah. Whoever it was, they didn’t want to hurt anyone but me. Everyone who had been shot was shot in a non-fatal place. Grumbling, I sat up and pressed myself against the sweet stand.

Wendy crawled across the floor, the woman just by her side. The creatures weren’t firing directly at them – any bullets that came their way flew straight over their head anyway. Somehow, the women remained completely calm as she was guided towards the end of the rows of seats. Any normal person would have freaked out and probably got shot several times – which was why Wendy was thankful for someone like this. At the end of the rows of seats, there stood a door with a female outline on it. They crawled forward, reaching forward to press on the plastic metal door when a firm hand gripped Wendy on the shoulder. Before she could even react, this person dragged her into the women’s toilets.

I pushed against sweet stand, using it as a shield for the bombardment of bullets that came my way. As I did this, I could feel spiritual energy surge into my hands. The goose bumps tingled up my flesh as the energy flowed into the gateway of my palms. It twirled around each other until eventually fading into an image. A feather trapped in a triangle-shaped border around it. Electricity zapped through down my arms, travelling to the crest until a flash of light absorbed us.

The sheer force of Hammerkop nearly caused me to faint. The energy pushed through me and when I thought it would stop, more moved towards the crest. When the light arrived, I could feel everything start to drain out of me. I expected Sophia’s voice to reach out to me – to give me more energy than I had so I could live – but nothing happened. My thoughts remained silent. My teeth ground together as pain pushed the goose bumps away in a matter of seconds. It felt as if my very body sending energy towards Hammerkop. In a way, it was. My old Master informed me many years before that if you expended too much energy, your spirit would begin to peel away from your body.

Though it didn’t feel like peeling. It was more like someone stabbing my body with a series of knives, each longer and sharper than the other while tearing my flesh just the same. Letting out a scream, my body lost all energy, collapsing to the floor. I laid limp, lying there as my life slowly drained from my body. The noise of the shouting guards – the clamour of the shooting guns – faded into nothingness. Darkness absorbed the world: Darkness only Cohah could conjure. But Cohah was not there... Something was there, but it was not Cohah. Something extremely powerful loomed over my depleting body. In my last breath, I saw the figure that stood before me. With that, I let out a cry of pain. With that, I died.


< Message edited by Recar Dragonlance -- 11/6/2008 9:29:09 >
DF  Post #: 8
Page:   [1]
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