"What do we do?" He whispered back to Cade. Cade returned the look and shook his head. Whatever was happening, was far beyond anything he was prepared to face.
"Something very bad," He looked down at the readout on his tablet computer and sighed, "Huge power anomaly, the levels are just as great as Sage's or the minister's, maybe stronger. Only an Ancient can produce this kind of power, and if my data is correct, we may be fucked." Cade hummed as his tablet suddenly went black. He pressed the power button but received no response from his computer, "That is probably a bad sign."
"Demon," The voice of Eon beckoned, "I have awaited your return. I have amassed our army and paved the way for our glorious campaign against the living. I am ready once again to fight at your side."
"Do not respond to him!" Sage urged as he looked back at Crinnan. His tone and expression lacked any trace of the confident Sage he had come to know, "You are good, do not fall in line with this evil."
Though the light was dim, Crinnan was able to see the urgency in Sage's eyes. He was sincere in his words and his feelings, and possibly terrified, "We need to leave this place. We need to leave now. Please, put aside your anger and come with me." Crinnan looked at Cade behind him. The president nodded and then they both turned to Sage.
"You had better be right," Crinnan decided to once again follow the Elf. He felt like he had no choice; he needed his protection. Though he did not fully trust Sage or his brother Cade, he knew that neither of them had done him any true wrong up to that point.
"Do not be a fool," Eon sang. He was still hidden from view, but Crinnan could feel him nearby, "President Lynx cannot possibly offer you what I can. His coffers ran dry centuries ago. He is nothing but a shell of the Elf he was once. Your path is greatness Crinnan. I know greatness, I hold the true power. Abandon the weak that you may know strength."
"Everyone here will die," Sage turned to Crinnan and gave him a look of dire urgency, "Xydos, my brother will die. The children we saved will die. All the citizens here will die. But we will not die today." At that proclamation, Freyja and Garb hurried to Crinnan's side. He looked down at the boy and over at the misshapen Ancient Toraani and nodded his head.
"You will not die today Freyja," Crinnan promised the boy, "Do not worry." Freyja silently nodded and inched a little closer to the Black Knight. Crinnan knelt down and picked up the short sword he had scratched Cade's neck with earlier. He handed it to the boy and Freyja grabbed the handle tight.
"Kill anything that isn't us," Crinnan instructed him, "But only if we cannot protect you. Do you understand?" Freyja nodded and curiously poked the tip of the sword with his finger. It pierced his skin, and Crinnan sighed.
"Don't… don't touch that part of the sword," Crinnan sighed and immediately regretted his decision to arm the sociopathic teen.
"Look," Cade pointed east into the woods. Crinnan turned and felt his heart sink. Wading their way through the thicket of trees and vegetation were dozens, possibly even a hundred or more torches in the hands of shoddily armored Marauders. They were quite a distance away at that point, but something closer, something faster could be heard charging toward them.
Whatever it was snarled and panted like an animal as it ran. Crinnan could hear the sound of its feet slapping against the ground. As it drew nearer, twigs snapped, and leaves began to rustle furiously. Cade raised his rifle in anticipation of an attack, and Crinnan lifted his sword with one hand and pushed Freyja behind him with the other. Whatever it was, it was nearly on top of them.
"We do not have time for this!" Sage jumped in front of both of them. Almost immediately a dark being leaped from the vegetation and screeched a blood-curdling scream as Sage hurled a ball of fire at it. The beast howled as it was suddenly completely engulfed in NaNe fire. Crinnan watched it slam into the ground and writhe in pain before it flipped over and got to its feet.
"It is a Thirst stricken Vampre!" Sage shouted as he tossed more fire toward, "And more are coming!"
"I will take care of them!" Xydos charged forward, "Get the mortals out of here!" Sage turned his head and looked at his brother.
"See you again," He shouted as he started to run in the opposite direction, "Do not let it hurt this time."
"Go!" Xydos called back at them. He paused and looked at Crinnan for a moment. The look he gave him was strangely caring, comfortable. Xydos gave him a slight final nod and waved them away. "Nora, Guntz get them out of here!" At that, another crazed Vampre leaped at him. Xydos spun and impaled it with a beam of fire that emerged like a sword from his fist.
"This way!" Nora, the rainbow-haired Faire shouted as she ran up alongside them, "Keep up!"
"Stay with me!" Crinnan instructed Freyja as he ran behind Nora. He held out his free hand and hovered it over the child's back, "Keep your eyes forward; don't look back!"
Freyja looked back. He heard the screeching and the sounds of fighting from the village and as he lost his focus on keeping up with Crinnan, his ankles crossed, and he crashed into the ground.
Crinnan cursed and immediately spun around. He saw that one of ravenous thirst stricken Vampre had passed Xydos and was eagerly pursuing them.
"Fucking stupid ass kid!" Crinnan roared as he pulled one of his revolvers from its holster. He fired at the beast as he hurried and grabbed Freyja by his thin arm.
"Run!" He shouted as the Vampre leaped at them. Crinnan ducked and swiped his sword upward, cutting through the skin of the Vampre's belly. He rolled out of the way of the blood and entrails that would have otherwise rained down on him, and as the beast crashed into the ground, Crinnan hurried forward and fired two shots into the back of the Vampre's skull.
The group entered the tree line and Sage made his hands glow brighter to better light their way. Crinnan noticed in the light of the fire that Sage's concerned look had not left him. It seemed as if the whole situation was weighing heavily on his mind. Crinnan, of course, had nothing to say that would ease his burden.
Behind them could be heard the wails of the Thirst-stricken Vampre that Xydos was dispatching. Sage looked like he was trying to tune it out and Crinnan listened to Freyja gently whimper behind him. Garb was doing his best to encourage the boy and though Freyja was trying to hide his fear and be brave Crinnan could not help but wonder if the kid was going to slow them down anymore.
"Up in the sky!" Cade shouted, "Incoming!" Crinnan turned his head and saw four Govian HAPT flyers soaring just above the canopy of the forest. He cursed, and Nora motioned for everyone to stop just in front of a small dilapidated building that may have once been a fuel station. They all slowed, and Nora spoke.
"We are going to Racon Tower," she said as her hands lit up with a bright light like Sages, "It is very close, and you all need to stick with me."
"What is at Racon Tower?" Cade asked.
"How much do they know?" Nora looked at Sage and raised an eyebrow.
"Not that much," Sage replied.
"Protection then," Nora said in response to Cade's question, "You should be able to call in your craft for evacuation." Cade nodded, thinking of Nida and his own transport.
"What about my squad?" Crinnan turned to Sage, "If we could get to them in time, we should be able to…"
"Your squad is not there Crinnan," Sage cut him off. He wore a look that suggested he wished he hadn't said that "I should say they have not been at the caverns for ninety days."
Crinnan felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He did not know what to say, and he felt the anger that was burning in him back at Pado Village spark again.
"Ninety days?" He repeated, "How is that even possible? When were you going to tell me?" Crinnan grit his teeth together and clenched his fists, "When the fuck were you going to tell me, Sage?!"
"Crinnan it is irrelevant now," Sage said sternly, "If you could just calm down…" Without another word, Crinnan threw his fist into the Elf's face and with a quick blast of electric power Sage flew backward into the building they were stopped at. A certain strange wh
iff of ozone followed the blast, and Crinnan stepped back and looked fearfully down at what he had done.
Small chains of electricity webbed across the skin of his hands and forearms. Crinnan watched it curiously as it pulsed about and ultimately faded away. His mind immediately wandered back to Xydos and Sage and how they had informed him that he had been put through Stasis.
His jaw dropped, and he looked around nervously. The NaNe energy had been entirely unexpected. Not only that, but he could not believe that he had been able to land a strike against Sage. He thought back to Sage's house earlier that day and how Sage had phased out of the way of his bullets...
"Wonderful," Nora sighed unenthusiastically, "Welcome to the club I guess."
Crinnan looked up from his hands and hurried over to where Sage had landed. The blast had thrown him into a concrete wall and left a small crack where he had hit. Crinnan looked down at Sage's smoking body, the Elf coughed.
"Pretty good," he choked with a little bit of smoke coming from his mouth. His face was severely burnt and the scorching extended down his neck and bare chest. The fur collar of the jacket he wore had been singed along with some of the hair on the right side of his head. Nora hurried up beside Crinnan and knelt down in front of Sage.
"We don't have time for this stupid shit," she hissed as she held her hands over his body. A warm light emitted from her hands and descended into Sage's chest. Moments later he was standing.
"No harm done," he proclaimed as he patted the dust off of his clothes. "Solid strike, my boy. Nora, I thank you but that was not necessary, he just gave me a little jolt."
"What…" Crinnan stammered, clearly in shock over what he had just done, "What just happened."
"Like Nora said," Sage grinned as he turned to Crinnan, "Welcome to the club." He winked at the boy and gently placed his hand on his back. Crinnan looked over at Cade, and he snickered and shook his head. Freyja stood with his mouth open, and Garb stood behind him smiling a bit.
"Now, Crinnan," Sage guided him away from the group. "To answer your question: I was not going to tell you. We were going to arrive at the caverns, and you were going to assume that your squad had left and then we were going to find a way to get you back home. Letting you believe what was not true was the only way you would let me guide you. Had I told you the truth from the beginning you would have surely done your best to get away from me, as I should say you would have thought me a bit crazy. Had I not guided you, you would have most assuredly been captured by the Govian Empire or Eon, or you may just have ended up dead again. Now, if you do not mind terribly, I would like for us to make our way to Racon Tower so that we may have a chance at surviving this terrible evening."
"Another!" Cade shouted as he pointed toward the sky. Crinnan looked up apathetically and watched another HAPT fly overhead; this one came from the North instead of the South. He returned his gaze to Sage and shook his head.
"I give up," He was exhausted and had become numb. He was tired of fighting, and too much was going on to even try to understand anything anymore. He nodded at Sage, and they turned to Nora.
"Lead the way." Sage smiled.
Chapter Two
Sarasin X
23rd of Ramlia - 346AG
14:30 - Canrom City
"My lady… can you hear me?" Eryc's voice called out, "Sarasin are you there?"
His voice was muffled by the bag that had been placed over his head. Sarasin could hear him, but a horrible and heavy feeling of panic prevented her from replying. She trembled in place and found herself barely able to breathe as she sat and listened to Eryc call out her name.
They had reached the end of the road. They were captured by Govian soldiers, on their knees and waiting for whatever fate had in store for them. Sarasin was incapable of fighting back because of the NaNe inhibitors Quint had released into the air. Inquisitors were all around her. They had bound her, and she felt the barrel of a rifle resting against the back of her head.
"Sarasin!" Eryc screamed, "Do you hear me!"
"I am here, Eryc," Sarasin mustered the strength to call back. She forced herself to breathe and tried to still her quivering body, "I am... still here."
"My lady I have failed you!" Eryc's voice was dripping with lamentation, "I am sorry Sarasin!"
"Eryc you have failed nobody," Sarasin reassured him. She tried to force a NaNe blast to her fingertips but could not. With teeth gritted from frustration, she spoke again, "It is I who have failed you, Eryc..."
"No," Eryc moaned in response, "You could never fail me, Sarasin. I am in your service."
"Quiet!" one of their captors finally shouted. He poked his rifle harder against the back of Sarasin's head, and she heard him and another soldier laugh, "Reapers are on the way to take care of you traitors. Keep your mouths shut until they get here!"
"Traitors…" Sarasin replayed the word in her head. The idea, inappropriately enough, made her snicker. She felt that she was the one who had was being betrayed. Prince Lazarus had turned the entire Govian Empire against her. She was, because of his actions, public enemy number one. Lazarus was the one who should have had the bag on his head. He was the one who should have been trembling on his knees. Finally, she called out to her guards once again,
"Stay strong guys. I did this to us; you do not need to forgive me, I am not deserving of such…"
"How many times do I need to tell you?" The soldier roared as he smacked Sarasin upside her head with his open hand. "Shut your fucking mouth!"
Sarasin's head jerked to the side, and she felt her anger well up inside her. Had she her abilities, she undoubtedly would have killed him then and there. She imagined placing her hands against the soldier's chest and blasting him over and over until he was nothing.
With a silent sigh, she kept herself quiet. She briefly thought about her fate, of what was to happen next. She knew that she was going to Korgath Prison and she was well aware of what that place was like. In her time as a Bishop General, she had sent many of those whom she had conquered to Korgath. Her mind briefly thought of them, of those that she had fought. Some she had left nearly dead; others had left her that way… she was not looking forward to seeing any of them again.
"Who are you!" one of her captors suddenly shouted, "You're not one of ours!"
She had begun to accept her fate just as the soldier suddenly cried out. She wanted to see who he was talking to, wanted to understand what was going on. The sound of swords suddenly unsheathing sent a chill down her spine and as the rifle was raised away from her head, she heard a voice that caused her heart to shatter.
"Good job guys! We will be taking over from here," She winced for she had not heard that voice since she was just a little girl. With a gasp of fear, joy, and regret, tears suddenly formed in her eyes and it took everything she had not to collapse onto the ground behind her. She focused on her breathing and waited.
The Govian soldiers protested, and Sarasin heard some of them draw their own swords. Gunfire erupted, and blades clashed and scraped against each other. Something splashed against the floor beside her, and she could feel what she knew was blood pooling beneath her. The sound of heavy metal crashing to the ground followed and for a moment, she heard labored breathing, but it quickly faded.
Something metal screeched across the floor and brushed against her knee. From the sound of it, it was a dropped sword. Behind her, she could hear Eryc whispering a sincere prayer to Dura'Ana. The sound of it was like nails on a chalkboard to her; she hated even the thought of the Goddess. Suddenly, however, the bag was lifted from her head, and she was able to see again.
A pair of deep brown eyes with crow’s feet and bags beneath them were lovingly staring into hers. The eyes seemed like they were screaming and concerned all at the same time. Sarasin felt a hand reach up and gently caress the side of her face. Her mouth dropped open, and she found herself suddenly unable to speak or breathe. She burst into tears but did not turn away.
The aged face of her Humaan father, Black Kn
ight Commander Crinnan Jamiso whom she had not seen for nearly fifteen years, leaned in and kissed the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tighter than she had ever been in her entire life. She could do nothing in his embrace, feeling she had not felt for many years suddenly rushed through her as if a dam had burst inside her. Finally, she rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed gently.
Her father was still handsome even though wrinkles had crept across his face and that his once chocolate brown hair had silvered at the temples. Sarasin felt like a helpless little girl who had been toddling toward danger and plucked up by her father at the last moment. As the man held her tight, she finally spoke.
"Daddy..." She sobbed and pulled away for another look, just to make sure it was really him, "No, Daddy… I am sorry!"
"My beautiful baby girl," her father whispered as he placed his palms on each of her cheeks. He had been weeping the entire time, for he had not seen his eldest daughter for so many years. He smiled joyfully, and tears streamed down his face, "My beautiful Sayraa, Daddy's here." He pressed his forehead against hers like he used to and the two silently sobbed together.
"There, there, I have finally found you, my angel." Sarasin's tears fell from her face and onto her father's. Her father, who was only a little bit taller than she was, gave her one last kiss on her forehead and finally helped her up off the ground.
"Listen, little Say," He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked into hers, "Now is not the time to talk, it's not the time for… any of this. Now we must act, we must fight. We need to get you out of here and cannot waste another minute. Do you understand?" Sarasin nodded her head, and her father cut loose the cords binding her hands. That was when she noticed the others for the first time.
"Rubaan," She squeaked as she watched her brother step up from behind her father. Her tears fell harder, and he gave her a wink, "Rubii thank you."
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