by Max Jager
Half of the Landians gulped nervously as Victor finished his monologue.
"Now go to the plaza, and prepare for the battle of a lifetime!"
Meanwhile, the man in the duckbill cap and the tall, muscular man who identified him smiled as they shook hands.
"Abe!" exclaimed the muscular man, "I was hoping that was you in the duckbill cap! How are you?"
Abe gasped in surprise, and pressed his finger against his lips, signaling that the man should lower his voice.
"What's up?" whispered the man as the twenty-three year old Abe War took the duckbill hat off his head and stuffed it inside his jacket pocket, "Is something wrong?"
Abe smirked at the man as he responded.
"Let's just say I did something…outrageous…earlier today. It's not a big deal, but I get the feeling I can't have anyone hear my name in the same sentence as the words "duckbill cap". I suppose I should've taken it off earlier, but I didn't think anyone here would recognize who I was in the cap… I guess I was wrong."
"Oh, sorry about that," apologized the man as he rubbed the back of his head.
"It's fine," said Abe, "Now that I'm not wearing the cap anymore, I should be fine…ironically. Anyway, how are you doing, Brayne?"
"I'm fine," responded Brayne, "but I don't think I can say the same for the Ice Lands. I got here nearly three weeks ago, but I've had to hide out after taking out some of these Landians, for I didn't think it would be a wise idea to get into the middle of…whatever is going on…all on my own. I also didn't think trying to go home would be such a good idea. If word had spread that I was back, things might have gotten bad…or at least, worse than they are now."
"Good call," said Abe as he looked around, "You know, the number of Landians around the place seems to be reducing… I think they're planning something."
"Yeah, I noticed that, too. I think we should head to Lax. That's where their headquarters are."
"Sounds good," said Abe as he nodded his head, "Anyway, have you seen Bandit or the girls yet?"
"Not yet. Although, knowing Bandit, he'll make himself known in due time."
Both men chuckled, and as they did so, they felt a hand slap both of their bottoms. They gasped in surprise, and quickly turned around to see the perpetrator. When they saw who it was, however, they sighed in relief, and wiped the sweat off their foreheads.
"Are you crazy?" asked Abe as he looked at a laughing Mary and Rachel.
"Mary, you nearly scared us to death!" exclaimed Brayne, slightly irritated.
"Sorry, boys," she said with a smile as she winked, "but I couldn't think of a better way to get your attention."
"Geez," said Brayne as he gritted his teeth.
Mary gave him a hug to comfort him, and he sighed as he returned it.
"Well, whatever," said Abe as he smiled at Rachel, "It has been a long time, you two."
Rachel was not usually the type to hug others, but she could not help but give her friend a big hug.
"It sure has," she said with a smile, "It's good to see you guys again."
When she let go of Abe, however, her demeanor became a bit more serious.
"I hate to ruin the mood," she said, "but this isn't the best time to get sentimental. I'm sure you all realized by now that…
"…life in the Ice Lands is a little more dangerous than it used to be…"
Bandit exhaled a puff of smoke from his mouth as he walked into the city of Lax.
Ah…he thought, Lax… I'm finally back. It doesn't look like this place has changed a bit.
Tired from all the walking he had been doing, he sat down on a bench he saw a few yards away, and rubbed his stomach.
Man, that was some good food I had, he thought with a smile, but I think I might have eaten a bit too much…
He looked up at the clouds in the sky as he continued to think.
I wonder how Mom is doing… I haven't seen her in about three years… I hope she's doing well…and I really hope she isn't too sad about my leaving… It's not like I planned to be gone for all these years… It just…sort of…happened… In any case, I have to think of a way to make it up to her… Maybe I can make her a meal when I get back. I know she's a chef and everything, but I'm sure she'd enjoy having her son cook for her after so long.
His thoughts were interrupted by a number of footsteps, and he looked down from the sky to see a large number of Landians running past him.
What the…? he thought, confused, Where are they going?
The Reddest Hair
At the plaza, hundreds of Landians wearing armor and armed with weapons stood awaiting orders from their leader. In the meantime, they laughed and chatted amongst themselves.
"This is gonna be good!"
"I know, right? I mean there are about one thousand of us!"
"Not to mention we all have powers of some sort!"
"No one stands a chance against us!"
"Don't get in my way, guys…because I'm gonna be the one to make Bandit Lane beg for mercy!"
"Hahaha! Yeah, right! The only one who's gonna make Lane beg for mercy is me!"
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to fighting Mercury and War. I've heard about what those two can do, and I think they're probably just as deadly as Bandit Lane."
"You're probably right…but who I really want to fight are those female allies of his. There's no better way to make a girl your bitch than by defeating her in battle."
"Hehe! Truer words have never been spoken!"
Meanwhile, Victor Prey watched his men chat amongst themselves from his office window.
It doesn't look like all of them have arrived yet, he thought as he rubbed his chin, but they will soon…and when they do, we will begin our plan.
He chuckled as he smiled at his men, who were all eager to engage in battle.
Lane and his friends don't stand a chance!
Meanwhile, Brayne, Abe, Rachel, and Mary ran through the street as fast as they could.
"So you think they're headed to the city of Lax, huh?" asked Mary in surprise.
"Yeah," answered Brayne, "Most if not all of them seem to have disappeared from the other cities, so they must be headed there. I don't know what they're planning, but if they are gathering together…it can't be good."
"You can say that again," concurred Rachel, "I wish we had Bandit here with us."
"Don't worry," said Abe with an amused smirk, "Knowing Bandit…"
"…he's probably already in Lax."
"You're probably right," sighed Brayne, "What a pain in the ass..."
Rachel and Mary chuckled as they smiled.
"I guess we have no choice, then," said Rachel, making the others smile.
"Let's join him!"
Five minutes later, when the plaza was filled with all of the Landians in the Ice Lands, Victor opened the window of his office, and leapt out of it while carrying a megaphone. A few men noticed this, and cheered as he landed on the ground.
"It's Victor Prey!" they exclaimed, "You know what that means!"
"The main event is about to begin!"
They watched with excitement as Victor put the megaphone up to his lips and began to speak.
"Hello, men!" he shouted, "I hope you all are ready for battle! A few pests have entered into the Ice Lands…and we're about to draw them out so we can eliminate them!"
The masses cheered and raised their arms into the air as he continued.
"We already rule over this land, so we have no choice but to defend it, right? With that being said, be as brutal as you wish in your attempts to draw the enemy out! Kill any father, rape any mother, and traumatize any child you see! Spare no one! That way, the enemy will have no choice but to reveal themselves, and when they do, we will make them suffer as much as possible, and subject them to as much pain and torture imaginable, before finally...ending them!"
He paused for a moment to allow his men to cheer once again, and resumed speaking when the cheers died down.
&
nbsp; "We have been in this land for three months now, and after we defeat the enemy, we will continue to live here…forever!"
A man named Ezekiel smiled as his allies all around him cheered once more.
This is the best thing to ever happen to us! he thought, We were the poorest of the poorer and the weakest of the weak in the Land of Power, but now, we finally have what we've always wanted in our grasp: power! We may have lost our battle to take over the Land of Power four months ago, but Victor didn't give up! When we were kicked out of our land, he decided we should take over the Ice Lands, and now look at us! We're living the dreams we had growing up on the streets without homes to live in or parents to love us! We have finally obtained everything we wanted in life, and now, we will eliminate those who wish to take it away from us!
To be able to go above and beyond what anyone has ever done before… Victor Prey, you are truly a revolutionary man, and we will follow you to the ends of the Earth!
Meanwhile, Bandit exhaled a puff of smoke from his mouth as he listened to the echoed shouts of the Landians. Curious as to what was going on, he had stood up from the bench, and was now only a few blocks away from the plaza.
These people look really scared, he thought as he looked around at the frightened Icelanders around him, What's with all the shouting anyway? Are all those Landians I saw planning to do something?
He scratched his head in concern.
I should head to where they are as soon as possible, he thought as he ran in the direction of the shouts, Who knows what they're about to do…
The Landians were still cheering, but stopped when Victor brought his megaphone to his lips once more.
"Men!" he yelled, "Prepare yourselves! The time has finally come! I want you to show no mercy to anyone, understand? I want you to be as savage as possible! Destroy buildings, set people on fire, raise as much hell as you can, and when those bastards reveal themselves, do everything you can to make them wish they were dead! But don't kill them! I just thought of the cruelest punishment for them!"
Victor chuckled before his continued.
"Do you know what I intend to do to them to break their spirits? Once they have been apprehended and beaten, I will allow as many of you as possible to "use" the women, and I will make the men watch as their friends suffer!"
Victor let out a loud, maniacal laugh, and his men cheered louder than ever before.
"Yeah!"
"Sounds like a plan, boss!"
"I want a shot at them first!"
"Now go forth, men!" Victor exclaimed, "Make me the proudest leader in the world!"
The Landians laughed maniacally as they took up their arms, and began to make their way out of the plaza.
As soon as they began to do so, however, they noticed that the light that shone above them was becoming dimmer in a few places.
Surprised, Ezekiel looked up at the sky to see what was starting to block out the sunlight, and his jaw practically dropped to the ground when he did so. He dropped his weapon and gritted his teeth in shock as sweat dripped down his face.
"Wh… What the…?"
"What's the matter, Zeke?" asked a man who stood next to him, confused by his friend's shocked expression.
He looked up at the sky to see what Ezekiel was looking at, and he gasped as his eyes widened in extreme shock.
"No way…"
As the Landians in the plaza looked up at the sky, each and every one of them adopted similar expressions of shock and awe as their two comrades.
"What are those?"
"It can't be…"
"Where did they come from?"
"How is that even possible?"
Some dropped their weapons and some dropped to their knees, but there existed one common thought between the Landians, regardless of how they each reacted.
How can anyone pull this kind of thing off?
Victor Prey was the only one of the men who was only slightly shocked, and even then, his shock did not last long. He crossed his arms as he looked at the objects in the sky, and grunted.
I expected nothing less from the great Bandit Lane.
Hovering above the heads of the one thousand Landians were eight huge comets of ice, each about half the average size of a meteor.
"They're huge!" yelled a number of men in fear.
"What do we do?"
"What can we do?"
"We aren't prepared to deal with something like this!"
"We have to destroy them somehow!"
Ezekiel balled up his fists as he yelled.
"Don't be stupid! What the hell do you think we're supposed to do to defend against a bunch of giant balls of ice? We have no choice, dammit! We have to run!"
With that being said, a number of the Landians regretfully began to run away from the plaza.
Victor crossed his arms as he watched at least half of his army try to run away from their doom.
Fools…
Ezekiel tried to run away while grasping his friend's arm, but his friend resisted his attempt to pull him along.
"What are you doing, Zeke?" asked his friend, "We're facing a huge threat, and you want to just run away? We're Landians! We're from the most powerful realm in the entire world! Landians don't ru-!"
Ezekiel grunted as he grabbed his ally by the collar, and began to yell in his face.
"Shut the hell up!" he asserted, "What the hell is the matter with you? What kind of moron would try to stay here and deal with shit like this? Despite any powers we may have, none of us have the power to stop those things from crushing us!"
"But…we finally achieved our dream!" complained his friend, "Or have you forgotten all about that? We were the poorest of the poor in the Land of Power… We grew up on the streets…we stole food to survive…we were powerless in the Land of Power! But three months ago, we obtained power by coming here! We can't run away! We have nowhere else to go!"
"I… I know…" said Ezekiel solemnly, all too aware of the pain and suffering they had endured as children, "but…having power isn't gonna matter if we're dead! You have to look at the bigger picture here! We still have time to run away, you know? Most of us probably won't survive, but some of us could still make it…and when we do, we can start a new life somewhere else!"
Ezekiel's friend was about to offer another rebuttal to his argument, but suddenly gasped in surprise as he looked behind Ezekiel. Ezekiel looked at him with a raised eyebrow, confused as to what had caught his friend's attention.
"What is it, Chrono?" he asked, "You look like you've just seen a ghost or something. What hap-? Ah!"
Before Ezekiel could finish his sentence, however, he was cut off by a scream.
His own.
A fiery hand had been plunged into his back, and he screamed in anguish as he felt his insides burn.
"Ezekiel," said the man behind him who possessed the fiery hand, "I'm the leader here, not you. The only person who should be trying to convince my men to do anything…is me."
Ezekiel's eyes widened in shock when he realized that the man who had impaled him from behind was none other than the man he had respected so much. Victor yanked his hand from out of his back, and he screamed in pain once more as he fell to the ground.
Sh…Shit…he thought as blood flowed from his deadly injury.
Chrono looked at his injured friend in complete shock, nearly unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Z…Zeke… he thought as he watched his friend lie motionless on the ground.
"He didn't understand anything," said Victor coldly as he looked at Chrono, "Somewhere else… Where did he think we were supposed to go, anyway? Chrono…I hope you weren't thinking of…listening to him."
Chrono was still in shock at what had just happened to Ezekiel, but he had enough consciousness to realize what would happen to him if he made Victor even more unhappy than he already was. He quickly bowed his head as he spoke.
"No, Mr. Prey," he said nervously, "I would never leave your side! But…"
&
nbsp; Victor raised an eyebrow as Chrono continued.
"…what are we going to do about those giant balls of ice…?"
Victor cracked his neck as he looked up at the sky.