by Andrew Jones
"Stop here, I'll get the handcuffs ready for the guests," Drakkar spoke as he glared down at Blaze before walking to the carriage.
Xanadu rushed toward Blaze and helped her up on her feet.
"Are you all right?" Xanadu asked.
Blaze panted heavily, but nodded her head, "I-I'm fine..."
"Blaze, you aren't fine..." Shalya muttered as she approached them, glancing back at Drakkar and their men as they spoke together, "Do you have some kind of history with that guy?"
"That's none of your concern," Blaze responded harshly.
One of Drakkar's men approached the four of them and begun handcuffing all of them; first Xanadu, then Shalya, and last Blaze. He was visibly scared of Blaze's glare at him. She didn't like being touched by him. But as he bent down and tries to handcuff Kryptonite, he noticed that his handcuffs were too big. Like, way too big.
"Hey, boss! These handcuffs are too big for this little guy!" The man shouted back at Drakkar.
Drakkar approached them, looking a little frustrated, "Those are the only size we have..."
Kryptonite chuckled, "Don't worry, guys." He spoke as he ran his paw into his pocket and pulled out a smaller set of handcuffs.
"....." Everyone stayed quiet, noticing how fast Kryptonite was able to pull it out.
"... What? Yes, I can pull shit out of my pocket, so what?"
Xanadu laughed, "Didn't know you were into that, Kryptonite."
"Wait- what!"
Drakkar shook his head and sighed, "Just put the damn handcuffs on him and let's go already."
The man stopped his laughing and slowly put the handcuffs on Kryptonite, making them super tight. He connected a large and heavy chain to all of them, so he may be able to pull them like they were four leashes combined together. He followed the carriage as it entered through the gates, pulling on all four who were handcuffed tightly, forcing them to enter as well.
Verse V
RE: The Resurrection of Humanity
The entering of the village was as cruel as one would imagine. Everyone had lined up outside of their wooden homes, just watching the men push the carriage down the dirt trail. It wasn't a long trail, and it didn't take long at all to get to the center of the village, but it seemed like a whole decade. The people watching, they didn't seem to look away from the commotion, nor did they blink. They spilled insults from their parting lips and danced the infamous dance of the drunks. They seemed to talk a whole lot about Blaze, which made Nova and Atreyu question her past relation with this village. What exactly was she doing here so long again? And why?
The carriage made a forceful stop. It made a big thump that would push Nova onto Atreyu. She looked up at him and noticed their faces were oddly close to one another. But she didn't hesitate to pull back away from him. Atreyu seemed bothered, however. From how Nova reacted to it. He let it go, though he noticed the crowd of people surrounding the carriage. The people rioted and threw things at the carriage, directly to both Nova and Atreyu. They even threw things at Blaze, which made her frown at them all. After seeing her frown, the crowd all took a step backward, becoming somewhat fearful.
"All of you need to back to your daily activities!" Drakkar shouted at the crowd.
But one man came forth to approach Drakkar. He was a tall man, and very fat. His shirt was loose, but it didn't go low enough to cover the bottom half of his stomach. His belly button was exposed.
"Drakkar! I thought you were trying to protect us from threats like her!" The man spoke, clearly angry and confused about Drakkar's action.
"We have a business meeting, now if you'll excuse-" Drakkar explained.
The quickly grabbed onto Drakkar's shoulder in order to stop him, but as he did a group of his men grabbed him and aimed all their weapons straight toward his neck.
"Execute him," Drakkar spoke, as he led the carriage toward the castle up ahead.
Behind them, Nova and Atreyu could hear the screams of the fat man. Along with the noise of the men's blades penetrating through his body and drawing blood. And the people of the village only watching in sheer entertainment. Nova grunted, she closed her eyes and leaned her head to the side, against Atreyu's shoulder.
"Atreyu, how do you know of Drakkar?" Nova whispered, "It's a good time to tell me now before... You know."
Atreyu shook his head and held his hands onto her cheeks, making her look up at him as he spoke to her.
"I won't let that happen to you," Atreyu spoke with more confidence than she had ever heard from him, and it managed to assure her that he may, in fact, be right.
The carriage stopped, and the men opened the cage to walk both Nova and Atreyu inside the castle's front doors. Drakkar crossed his arms and watched as they walked inside, where the men would escort them downstairs into the prison room of the ancient castle.
This castle was ancient, after all. It still held most of Humanity's past wealth, simply because a royal family lived within its walls. It was hard for Blaze to realize how Drakkar would've found the area before Amaya did, but she didn't wish to fathom on it. After all the men entered the castle, Drakkar held the door open to allow Blaze through. She took the opportunity to go inside before Drakkar. But he would lead her down an alternate path than the others. The hallway was more narrow, and it made Blaze feel a little claustrophobic. She noticed that her breathing became more rapid like the air became thinner as she progressed. But the door at the end of the tunnel finally revealed itself.
Drakkar opened the door slowly and allowed her through. She noticed that it was small, but another throne chair, like the one in the other room, was present.
"Do you like? It's the King's private corners." Drakkar muttered toward her as he went to sit in the throne chair.
Blaze narrowed her eyes at him, as she watched him sit on the throne chair. Though, she stopped her staring as she felt her bag being tugged. It was moving because Kryptonite, who was hiding in the bag seemed to finally wake up. He probably fell asleep on the way to the village. But Blaze elbowed the bag as hard as she could to make him stop, trying not to gain Drakkar's attention.
"Stop with the bullshit, Drakkar. Why do you have me here? And why haven't you tried to kill me yet?" Blaze asked, facing Drakkar again.
Drakkar scoffed, "I only wish for your assistance."
"I am a King to these people and all of Humanity!"
"A false King, maybe..."
Drakkar slammed his hands on the armrests of his throne chair. The loud slam made the room go quiet, but the sound of Drakkar's aggressive breathing was the only noise heard in the room.
"You want to know why I wanted you here? You're... One of the keys, Blaze." Drakkar whispered into the silence.
Blaze frowned, looking more confused than she already was, "A key?"
"Precisely. As the leader of the Resurrection of Humanity, I've found a way to save the Human race."
Blaze chuckled and held her hand on her hip, looking somewhat intrigued, "Oh, yeah?"
"The Dragoona."
"Nice. Take a chance on the rulers of this world, who haven't even shown their faces. Brilliant idea you have there."
Drakkar grinned, "Oh, but I know just how to summon them. I need the three keys. Together, in one place. And with that, I need bloodshed. Lots and lots of bloodshed that will only increase the chances of them coming forth!"
"You're crazier than I anticipated." Blaze spoke as she shook her head, "And what if I refuse to surrender myself and become this 'key'?"
Drakkar shrugged his shoulders, "I don't care, it's not like you really have a choice."
Blaze gasped as she was grabbed by two giant black hands, that had materialized from the black mass on the floor. She didn't notice the black mass, but she knew where it came from. She was being squeezed tightly by the two hands, hearing something mechanical in her body breaking as she was being squeezed. She whined in the pain, but she held her eyes open to look at Drakkar, who had those scary looking red eyes again. He blinked, finally releasing the
grip the two giant black hands had on her, and making the black mass disappear back into his body. Blaze dropped to the floor and gasped for air.
"I never knew this power would've been useful until now." Drakkar spoke, just as he kicked Blaze on her stomach, making her fall to the ground again, "Now, get the hell up and follow me."
Blaze was shaken, she struggled to get up on her feet. Knowing something was off with her body due to the squeezing of the black mass, she was still able to get up. She glared forward at Drakkar as she wiped some blood from the body of her lip after she had coughed up blood.
Nova was thrown into a prison cell, she hit the brick wall and landed right on the hard ground as she heard the cell door close. The men threw Atreyu into the cell in front of her, locking him in it as well. They quickly went out of the room, not wanting to spend the necessary time in the same room as the nasty machine and the traitor. Atreyu quickly got on his knees and looked toward Nova's cell, he saw that she was on the ground facing away from him. But she didn't move at all. He began to breathe heavily, becoming worried about Nova.
Suddenly, he started to bang on the cell bars. He tried to break out of the cage, his strength would not allow it, though. But he kept going, feeling the immense pain in his fists as he thrust them into the cell bars. After a little while, he pulled away and landed a powerful punch that would break two of the cell bars and gave him just enough room to squeeze himself through.
He felt the pain in his fists, they were still engaged and in the form of a strong fist, but they shook ferociously and had open wounds from the cell bar's effects. He rushed out toward the way the men went and found them. They were just hanging out at the end of the hallway where they talked about random nonsense, or maybe they were talking about why Blaze had returned and Drakkar has done nothing about it at all. Either way, Atreyu walked toward them while grabbing a sword from one of the soldier statues that were at the ends of the hallways. The men noticed him as they gasped, getting prepared to grab him and take him back to his cell. But Atreyu stabbed the sword right through one of their stomachs. The other one shouted and pulled out his own sword to attack him, but Atreyu slashed through his stomach, cutting the man in half and slashed the newly armed man in the throat.
The man fell to his knees and held his throat, closing it so it may not bleed out too much. He looked up at Atreyu, gasping for air and unable to speak. But Atreyu stood there with no expression on his face, awaiting the moment the man would fall to the ground and bleed to death. Unfortunately, a black wave appeared around him, causing Atreyu to grab his head and scream out in pain. He dropped the sword on the ground and fell to his knees as well, but a voice called to him.
"A-Atreyu..."
The voice was so soft, and it was filled with self-pity and sorrow. It sounded familiar like it was from some dear and close to his heart. He opened his eyes almost immediately after hearing the voice, spotting the black mass escaping out of his eyes, and going back in, changing his eye color to red. But he shook the feeling, he had to help Nova escape at the very least.
Atreyu scavenged through the men's pockets, successfully finding a set of keys he could possibly use to not only open Nova's cell but unlock most doors in the castle. He quickly rushed back to the prison room and saw Nova still on the ground, still in the same position she was in before he escaped the room. He took out the set of keys and tried one of them out, having no luck with that one.
"C-Come on!" Atreyu shouted.
His hands shook ferociously, his nervous feeling was increasing, and the rage and pain he felt were only entwining with that feeling. He hadn't treated the wounds on his fists, so they continued to bleed out. But after a few more keys that didn't fit through the keyhole, he became even angrier.
"Damn it, just open!"
Atreyu yelled loudly. He had somehow materialized enough black mass from his body to bust the cell door open. The black mass formed into a giant fist, which punched the door open, breaking the whole door off. He gasped, as he watched the black fist shatter into its former black mass form and parish back into Atreyu's body. He was afraid of what was happening, but he didn't care about that now.
He rushed to Nova, sliding on his knees next to her and picking her up. He held her in his arms and looked down into her face. Her eyes were closed, but she looked like she wasn't in any pain- like she was only sleeping. He smiled, but he didn't feel the teardrop from his eyes fall down onto Nova's cheek. He brushed the teardrop off of her cheek.
"I... I think I love you, Nova..." Atreyu whispered, but his whisper was faintly weak.
He leaned his head down and planted his lips on her lips, kissing them gently. But he did not feel any sort of movement from Nova's lips, she did not feel his kiss at all. He sighed, pulling his head away from her. He decided that he should help her escape the castle and find Amaya, without the help of Blaze.
His whining from the pain grew louder, as he pulled Nova up in his arms and proceeded out of the prison cell, making his way out of the room. As he took a step, a jolt of pain would hit his body. He had never felt this pain before, and it wasn't just from his wounds on his fists. It had to do with the black mass within him.
Verse VI
The Will of Sacrifice
Atreyu kicked open the front doors of the castle and proceeded to run outside, with Nova still in his arms. Behind him, he could hear some of Drakkar's men shouting toward him and chasing after him. Drakkar and Blaze stared out the second floor of the castle, looking down at the flooding of men running after Atreyu. There were a ton of men, but somehow Atreyu kept running.
"That boy is persistent," Drakkar whispered, as he walked away from the window.
Blaze kept her eyes toward the outside, letting Drakkar walk off. Momentarily, she saw that Drakkar exited the castle after all of the men. They all ended up capturing Atreyu, after he had collapsed on the ground and dropped Nova on the ground. He shouted as he tried to reach out for Nova, but four of Drakkar's men grabbed him and pulled him away. Atreyu would elbow one of the men off of him, but that only made another swarm of men tackle him down.
"N-Nova!" Atreyu screamed as the men pulled him up on his knees.
Blaze sighed, watching as all of the commotions occurred outside. She let her head hang low, not noticing Kryptonite had jumped out of her bag and looked outside, gasping from what was going on.
"What's going on, Lady Blaze!?" Kryptonite looked back at her and shouted.
Blaze spoke hesitantly, "I-... I don't really know. Atreyu is acting odd though."
Drakkar watched as the men brought Atreyu over to him. They kept his arms and legs from moving, so all he could really do is moving his head. But even one of the men gripped his face by grabbing his jaws and forced him to look forward at Drakkar. Drakkar frowned, watching as Atreyu was trying desperately to get out of their grasp. But he quickly stopped due to his own failure, leaving him panting.
"Did you really think you could betray the Resurrection of Humanity? I told you; if you betray us, I would eliminate you. Did I not?" Drakkar asked, with his harsh tone of voice.
"N-Nova..." Atreyu grunted, letting his head hang low.
Drakkar pulled out his sword and stabbed Atreyu in the stomach, letting the blade remain in his stomach. He didn't speak, he would just listen to the sudden screams of Atreyu. He let go of the blade, and pulled out his other blade, signaling the men to drop Atreyu on his knees like he was going to eliminate him execution style.
"I've got to say though, you're admiration is quite impressive. But what has impressed me has also killed you."
Drakkar explained, raising his sword in the air in preparation to off Atreyu's head. But with a large grasp of wind, the men who held Atreyu captive flew back onto the ground, and Drakkar let his sword fly away. He looked down at his stomach where a slash wound was appearing before his eyes, opening up and spilling his blood. He slowly lifted his head and looked forward, where Blaze stood to face away from him and swiping his blood off of the tip of her
spear.
"B-Blaze!" Drakkar screamed as he fell on his knees, holding his open wound closed. "Y-You will regret that!"
Blaze turned her head back, spotting Drakkar behind her. But her facial expression didn't change. She quickly jumped back and blocked the upcoming attack from Atreyu just after he pulled out the blade that was stabbed into his stomach. Blaze held her spear up and blocked each of Atreyu's aggressive slashes, he would repeatedly thrust the blade onto her spear like he was attempting to break her spear In half. But after a while, and showing no success, Blaze kicked Atreyu on his open wound and aimed the tip of her spear at him, keeping her foot on his wound as she would pin him to the ground.
"Why did you betray us!? Because of you, Nova is dead!" Atreyu yelled loudly, gasping every so often because of the pain he was going through.
"You're an idiot. She is not dead, she needs a recharge." Blaze answered, keeping the calm and soft tone of voice, but sounding a bit harsh at the same time.
Atreyu gasped, "Recharge? So she is a machine?"
Blaze nodded her head, "I'll help her out. I am broken myself, but I'll do the best that I can."
She spoke, just as she applied more pressure on Atreyu's wound before stepping off and approaching the lifeless body of Nova. She placed her hands lightly on Nova's shoulders, where she used the tips of her fingers to press lightly and open a secret condiment. Atreyu sat up, whining from his pain, but he also watched in amazement at the efforts Blaze went just to save Nova. Blaze opened up her own condiment, where she extracted a wire from within her and plugged it into Nova.
But before she could execute any repair maintenance, Atreyu looked back to see how Drakkar was doing. He looked surprised to see Densetsu helping him up, but Drakkar told him he was all right, and then he pointed right at Atreyu.
"Eliminate the traitorous trash? It would be my pleasure." Densetsu grinned as he pulled out both of his assault rifles.