Burst_Swords to the Skies

by Adam Wan

  I saw a big city, it had various buildings of many kinds. Some were tall while others were artistic. The buildings were mainly white in color. There were also lanterns hanging from the ceilings of some buildings.

  A little bit closer, I saw crystal beings attacking the place. The people were running, panicking and fighting off the attack. I saw broken glass and debris on the ground.

  "Sora, wake up!" I said while tapping her shoulder to wake her up. "Hmm?" she said lifting her head. "Look!" I said pointing out the window. She gasped as she looked out the window. "We have to do something, quick" she said.

  CLO 17: The Battle Begins

  A land of human made structures of both big and small sizes was under attack. Rubble and debris was all over the place. Shattered crystals and glass were in the air.

  Shouts and cries were heard clearly even with the presence of the horses, carriages and the army's loud noises. Explosion sounds were heard too but I did not see a glimpse of any pyro activity what so ever.

  Our men started to run, the carriage's speed was starting to increase. The sounds and bumps were more prominent too. Some shouting was heard alongside sounds of swords being drawn.

  I looked at Sora, her face was serious. Her usually calm eyes turned fierce. It was a sight that I have not seen for a long time. The last time I clearly remembered seeing her fierce eyes was when I was 16, the age I first became a knight. She was fierce when she fought in battle.

  She nodded her head and looked at the right door. I nodded too and looked at the door on my side. We were drawing near, Sora seemed to be planning to jump out of the carriage. I had her on the edge of my right eye. I was ready to jump out too.

  A tip-tap was heard from my right. The sound of a door opening with the howling wind was heard too. The wind gushed into the room and blew strongly. Sora has jumped out.

  I quickly did too. I opened the door and leaped out of the carriage. The wind gushed against me as I moved through the air. A "Tss" was made as both of my swords formed in my hands at will.

  There was a flash of light in my hands as crystals formed into a sword in my hands. My feet touched the ground that was filled with grass. A "Chh" was heard as I started to run on the field.

  The city was no more than a kilometer away. I did "Sonic Boom" and sped passed everyone. My wings made a gushed of wind behind me as I ran away to the city that was under attack.

  "Haaa!!!"

  I sliced horizontally through a crystal creature that was fighting a citizen. "The citizens here know how to fight, eh?" I thought. A shattering sound was heard as the creature bursted into dust that was similar to broken tampered glass.

  I ran passed the citizen and started slashing at every one of them that I saw. With Crystallite in my right hand and Oblivion in my left, I slashed at them either one by one or many together.

  "Hyaa!!!"

  I heard a girl's voice, it was a loud shout that echoed in the area. I did a spin attack to kill three at once, each one shattering one after another. And turned my head around unintentionally.

  I saw Sora attacking the creatures swiftly and quickly. She was going left then right attacking everything in her way like a fierce warrior. Crystal dust floated in the air, it sparkled with the sun's light.

  "Pheww*"

  An arrow flew passed me in less than a blink of an eye. There was hissing coming from it as it passed by my left ear. It seemed like it had a lit fuse, like a bomb, a bomb arrow.

  A loud boom was heard from behind me. Smoke and red light was visible too. The smell of gunpowder was present in the air. Crystal dust floated in the air coming from behind me. I knew that it was a bomb arrow then.

  A familiar voice echoed, "Watch your back Cel!" it said. I shook my head and saw Ayla and her bow in hand. I was not paying attention to my surroundings. I should be careful.

  "Oh, alright! Sorry!" I shouted as I turned around and continued my attacks. Swinging left and right, side to side, my enemies died from every hit. A weird shadow was casted, I noticed it on the ground. I was moving rather slow at that moment.

  "Cel! Haaa!!!"

  A shattering sound along with dust sprinkling down my back. I turned around and saw Vergus standing behind me. I looked up saw a balcony. "I was surprise attacked" I thought.

  "One of them jumped from above. You were lucky that I was here!" said Vergus.

  "Thanks for the save. Let's do this!" I said running ahead.

  Vergus followed. The battle was just starting. The battle was not going to end so soon. This would be quite a long fight for the city of Cylius. Though there was still a question, "Where was Mia? Or Vergus's parents? Mia's parents?"

  CLO 18: Heat of the Battle

  The clanging of swords and the shouting, crying and screaming of the living beings in the city that was turned into a sea of debris and dust. Smoke, fire and crystals were in the air.

  There were countless creatures made of crystal roaming, attacking and destroying the grand city. The once grand city was turned into a battleground. I had no idea of the source of these creatures, but I knew that it must have be Kohaya's work.

  My feet were running at an average speed. There was a large gap between each step. It made a thud every step I took. Swinging my sword, right then left, from the top and sliced sideways downwards and I occasionally thrusted and spun.

  There were puddles on the ground. The flames were reflected with a broken image. The red colored light flickered as it lit the area for a few seconds like how a torch would too.

  The sounds of arrows being shot and hitting walls were heard too. There were also the boom of a bomb arrow. The damage caused could cost a lot for Ayrus. I estimated that it would be around 50, 000 Cies to rebuild the place completely.

  Vergus would sometimes switch places with me. When one of us call out the other's name, we would switch positions. "Cel!" shouted Vergus from behind. He wanted to switch and be in front for a while.

  I quickly sliced horizontally with Crystallite and backed off letting Vergus take the lead. He dashed in front and thrusted his sword into his opponent. He continued and started slashing at the others in the way.

  "Where's your place?" I asked.

  "If we take the left... Argh! We should get there... Hyaa!" Vergus replied as he attacked.

  "Let's go there then!"

  "Sure!"

  He did a long horizontal attack with his sword slicing from his left and ending at his top right. He then started running down the left road, I followed shortly after. I catched up to him followed him to his home.

  After some running and fighting, we got to an apartment like building. It was mostly white and had a few windows. The first few floors had their windows shattered while the rest of the 6 storey building was intact.

  "We're here! My folks live on the 4th floor!" Vergus shouted pointing up at the 4th floor of the building.

  "Let's go!"

  Next to the apartment was a shorter building. Its rooftop was only until the 3rd floor of the apartment. Next to it were 2 storey tall shop lots. There were some thick ropes or cables too.

  We ascended the building, floor by floor. The stairs were not continues from floor to floor. Every time you climb to the next floor, there was a hallway with doors on each side and at the end was the stairs to the next floor.

  The hallways had white walls with a grey colored floor that was pure concrete. The hallways were suppose to be lit by torches on the walls but they were all blown out.

  On the 4th floor, we ran to the home we were searching for. This floor was slightly lit by some torches that were not blown out.

  Vergus stop in front of a door and said "Here! Hello? Mom? Dad? Open the door!", he was knocking the door lightly. The door opened and there stood a middle aged man. "Oh, sonny boy. You came back! Now, who's this young lad?" said the man.

  "I'll explain later. We have to go now!" Vergus said.

  "Wow wow wow, what's the rush? What happened?"

  "You don't know? The city is under attack!"


  "Attack? I never knew anything about that. Right, honey?"

  "Yes, darling" said a middle aged women.

  Suddenly, there was a shattering sound and footsteps that sounded like the shoes were made of glass. The sounds got louder and louder as they got up the stairs.

  "Run!" I said out loud.

  "But where?" Vergus asked in a panic.

  I looked out the window and saw the building I saw earlier. It did not seem to far, there was a balcony too.

  I grabbed the man while saying "Sorry! Let's go, Vergus! Carry your mom!", "Wha-wha what?" said his father. I opened the door and looked outside. It was risky but we had to try. Fighting would not end it, it would be an endless fight.

  I backed a few steps and ran quickly. I leaped over the fence and jumped. I could feel my heart beating was accelerating. I was also worrying about the life in my arms.

  I stepped on the rooftop and felt pain in my legs. It was really painful. I decided to jump to the next building. "Haa!" I heard a yell as I was walking to the other side of the building. I turned around and saw Vergus who had his mother in his arms who just landed on the rooftop.

  "I'm not used to this..." he said.

  "Me neither, let's go!" I ran and leaped across the gap and landed on a shop lot.

  Vergus followed. I jumped down to a balcony and jumped down again to the ground. I looked up and saw Vergus following me down. The shop lots were colorful, there were all kinds of colors there.

  Vergus landed on the ground safe and sound. Dust floated up as his feet touch the ground. "Let's go!" I said running. Vergus simply followed. We were on the way to place his parents in a safer place.

  CLO 19: The Explosion

  The sounds of explosions and clanging of swords were getting clearer the closer we got. The slight sound of shattering was heard as well.

  We ran across the enemies who were swinging their arms around. Their hands were like sharp cones, they had no fingers. The whole body was almost see through with a hint of light blue.

  They had no facial features nor hair. They were rigid like crystals. They attack by swinging and thrusting their arms. Their movement was as fast as an average human being.

  We ran passed them, avoiding their attacks by jumping left or right. The wind blew passed us as we ran down the black road. Glass and some other liquid s were on the ground.

  "Haaa!!!"

  I heard Sora voice echoing. We reached the others I saw Sora attacking not far from the carriage. She was part of the entrance group, the group that attacks at the entrance. She was also the lead of the team.

  Ayla was in the long range group, they attack from afar whether from rooftops or on the ground. Vergus and I were pretty much going at random.

  "Sora!" I shouted.

  Sora did "Heat Blast" while spinning her whole body around. The flames were like they exploding from her body. The flames expanded from a few meters then faded away.

  The enemies attacking her shattered. She turned around and looked at us. "Take these people to safety!" I shouted running towards her.

  She ran towards towards us, a knight did as well. "Take them somewhere safe. They're Vergus's parents" I said handing them to Sora and the other knight.

  "We will!" said Sora running towards the carriage.

  I activated my swords and turned around 180 degrees. I heard a weird sound. I looked around the place, it sounded it came from the road to my right.

  "What is it?" Vergus asked. I answered by saying "Follow me" as I ran down that road. "Wait up" said Vergus as he followed me.

  The sound got louder and louder. It was a beeping sound that did not sound natural. We ran down the road that was not really that straight.

  At the end of the road was a crossroad. The size of open space fairly large. It could fit around 50 people without making it feel it cramped. Almost all of the buildings had broken windows.

  The sight I saw was unexpecting. It was a giant crystal that was shaped like a tear drop. Inside was a glowing light that was purple like in color. It looked more like a flames inside some ice.

  From it merged those crystal creatures that were attacking the city. The creatures appear anywhere near the giant crystal in a blast of light.

  "We got to get rid of this thing" I said in a stance that meant I was ready to fight.

  Originally, the plan was for the different groups to attack in different areas, slowly clearing off the creatures. But with the source of the terror around, it would be an endless battle that would just end up with our men dead.

  Though the plan was a bit unclear. I did not know about the places to sleep in or about the food. I did not think that the food we ate on the way was enough.

  Vergus nodded his head and drew out his sword. In a flash, we ran towards that thing. More of those creatures were formed and starting to run at us.

  Vergus and I raised our swords, slashing at them one by one. My arms swung and thrusted, slowly getting closer to the giant crystal.

  I did "Rapid Fire", it blew away and destroyed many of them in a flash. The bodies were knocked into the air, shattering as they flew. There was the sound of sprinkling too.

  Vergus fought the ones from the sides. Slicing left and right, the fight that seemed nearly endless was upon us.

  We were a meter or two away. Vergus and I leaped at the crystal, slicing the crystal. Debris was coming from it like waves from an ocean.

  Vergus turned around and took care of my back while I attacked it fiercely. Slowly smashing it into pieces with both of my swords. I did "Rapid Fire" again, I was rapidly hitting it at almost ten times in a second.

  A crack made its way into my ears. My sight slowly faded away, all that I saw was a plain white scene. It was like I was losing consciousness but I heard a sound.

  "Boom!!!*"

  A large boom was the last thing I heard until I turned to oblivion. I could not hear, see, smell nor touch. I would have wondered about Sora, Vergus, Ayla and everyone else. I was completely blank inside.

  CLO 20: The Dividing

  "Was the battle over? What happened?" those were the words swirling in my head as I regained consciousness.

  As I opened my eyes, I saw tree leaves and the blue sky. There was a large gap between the leaves, I was on a patch of land that was free from any trees.

  The scent of fresh air entered my lungs, making me feel cool inside. I could also smell the green leaves. Those smells were disturbed by the scent of sweat, which might be coming my own body.

  Birds were chirping, giving off a peaceful ambience. The sound of leaves blowing in the wind were present too. I was liking the place already.

  My throat felt dry. My stomach felt like there was something was bubbling inside, which meant I was hungry. I felt exhausted to move my muscles, even just a little.

  I was starting to wonder "What led to me being here? Why am I here? Where am I? Where's Sora?", I started to check my surroundings for anything that felt familiar to me.

  I sat up and looked around the area. I saw trees that were light brown in color. The trees looked like a typical tree. There were no fruits in its branches. There were some bird nests though.

  I did not know the place, it did not look like any forest or jungle. It seemed more like a forest though. There were not a lot of small plants, just trees of various sizes.

  As I was looking around the mysterious place, I suddenly remembered something: "Wait! I attacked a crystal thing in Cylius, it exploded, I think. Then, where is Vergus?". I looked down at the ground in front of me, he was not there.

  I turned around to look behind me. There lied an unconscious Vergus. I was relieved that he was there but I could not be too relieved yet. I got closer to him and place my right hand near his nose, he was breathing.

  I let out a breath in relief at last. I looked at his body, there were no injuries of what I could see. His sword was placed next to him on the ground.

  The sunlight was reflected from the sword, making it look shiny. The sword
still looked like it was new. There were only minor scratches on it.

  I was also wondering "Where can I find some water?" as I looked around the place again. I was sniffing for scent of water but I instead sniffed out the wet scent that come from the trees.

  I sat there thinking about the events traversed. "Vergus and I were attacking that thing. I was hitting it and then... I don't know... Did something else happen? Did I forget something?" I wondered with my hand on my chin.