Standing by their mothers bedside she smiled at them. "I love you my children, please, remember to stay away from your father." She pleaded. "If not for him we could have a better life, I wouldn't have needed to hide and change my name." Her voice broke as she said it they could tell she hated him with all her heart.
Cough, cough!
She couldn’t help but cough violently. “Mother you shouldn’t be talking! Just rest, you are aggravating the illness!” Mera spoke.
She said nothing after that and nodded. "I will rest for a bit you two go and get dinner ready," she said. "I love you, my children."
They nodded and left for the market to get some food.
When they returned Percival and Mera stood outside of the broken-down house wearing the same clothes they had worn the day before.
Freezing in front of the house, Percival had a hole in his chest as he stared at his mother’s sleeping face through a hole in the wall it wasn’t in pain or struggling, it was relaxed, calm, without a worry, she had a small smile on her face her chest was no longer rising or falling.
“Stay here Mera I have to go…” He said and walked away opening the door Mera stared into the small house at their mothers bed, her eyes closed.
“Perce…” She called softly, “can I join you…” she asked, the sight of her mother ‘sleeping’ was too much for her to bear.
He stopped no words needed to be said as she joined him, they left and made their way into an open field away from their village.
Stopping in front of a massive oak tree Percival decided. “I think this will be a good spot. No one owns this plot of land, at least mother will have a beautiful tree to keep her company.” Percival concluded his voice on the edge of breaking.
Mera’s lips pulled ever so slightly, almost like was trying to smile. “I see you used your head for once.” He turned and looked at her.
“You make me sound like a blockhead.” He argued weakly.
She smiled sadly. "Because you are…you were always scolded by mother because of how block-headed you were, who puts their hand into an open flame to challenge the fire…" She said, "Mother always used to scold you."
He said nothing and stared back at the tree, turning he walked close to Mera and pulled her into a hug, slightly surprised at the sudden contact she looked up at her older brother he smiled at her. "You can…let your heart speak now."
Feeling her emotions suddenly take a turn Mera suddenly burst into tears as she screamed. “MAMA!!!” Dropping down to their knees he held her close as she sobbed.
“I never once saw you cry this whole time Mera, but, you can now.” He patted her head. “One day I will return to Mothers grave and tell her how well we’re doing so I am counting on you to use that big brain of yours to make something out of us.”
Mera continued crying for a what felt like an hour before she finally croaked a response, “and you...you have to use your ridiculous magic capacity, I can’t get anywhere by myself I am just a woman, and you can’t get anywhere with just brute force, together we can get revenge!” Said Mera revealing her inner thoughts.
Percival glanced down at her surprised, “how did you know?” She looked him in the eye, it scared him he would never admit it but the glint in her eye was almost…evil.
“You think I wouldn’t know what goes on in my own brother’s head? You wear your heart on your sleeve brother our father will pay with his life for forcing our mother to hide and live such a life, for forcing US to live such a life!”
He could only nod. “I didn’t want to involve you Mera but it seems I am not the only one who harbors hatred for our father,” she nodded.
Percival stood up and looked at his hand a fire sparked to life it went from red to a blue-ish white hue as it got hotter and hotter, a silent hum could be heard.
Mera stared at it in wonder. "I still have no idea how you make this fire, It's so small yet it burns so hot and bright, you do not even use incantations." She commented, he looked at his sister.
Raising his hand the ball grew larger and hotter. "I could make this even bigger and hotter if I wished to." She nodded.
“You are a freak of nature brother.” She said, he smiled at her and let the fire die down.
"As fire burns and the water runs I call upon the force of nature to my palms to burn my enemies!" her hands started to glow red as she stared at a fire dancing on the palm of her hands.
He stared at his sister in wonder, “why are you using fire magic?” He asked.
“To make a promise to myself!” She said as she grabbed her arm searing her skin all the way down to her finger tips and up to her elbow.
“Mera!” He called out as she screamed in pain. “Why would you do that to yourself!? You can never get married like this!”
She stared at her burned arm tears in her eyes, “to make sure I remember my revenge! I care not for marriage.” She said.
Percival stared at her she was closer to mother than he was but her determination was admirable in his eyes she was willing to sacrifice a future for herself for revenge.
Doing the same Percival seared his left arm, biting his tongue he looked at her and aimed his hand at the ground using earth magic he made a grave under the large oak tree. "Let's go and get mother, once we are finished we can tend to our wounds." He said.
Mera nodded, and they returned home and Percival carried his mother in his arms to the grave, the seared skin burning even more with contact. “I am sorry we cannot even afford a coffin for you mother.” He whispered and placed her into the grave.
Getting out of the grave he concentrated and pushed the dirt back into the hole, burying their mother.
Taking out a piece of wood Mera wrote with another stick. “At rest, a beloved mother: Aalis Wright.”
“Now let’s take care of our wounds.” He finished.
“We are leaving the charred skin, I did not burn myself just to be healed, I can do without this overwhelming pain however.” She finished.
On the carriage bound for the capital of Xufera, Don Sukishi was relaxing with a straw in his mouth the commander kept glancing at him.
Opening one eye Sukishi stared at the commander. “Do you fancy me? You keep staring!” Don pointed out, the commander quickly corrected this.
"Of course not! I am just thinking of how powerful you are, I am a candidate for the Emperor's trial and yet I don't think I am anywhere near as strong as you." Don nodded.
"That is normal," Sukishi said. "There are different realms of magic, you are very strong for your realm you have probably reached the height of Master tier, however, Master tier is not very great in comparison to Lower Emperor," Sukishi explained.
"Lower Emperor!" The commander was blown away. "You are a Lower Emperor! I did not know! There is so much you must know!"
Don nodded. "Indeed, however, I am not your master I am not here to teach you." Sukishi leaned back again and closed his eyes. "And stop staring at me." He finished.
The commander said nothing as he looked forward again feeling a little deflated, suddenly a new voice entered the conversation. “So mister emperor, would you take our commander under your wing?”
“Princess?” The commander looked back in surprise.
“I refuse.” He declined in a monotone voice.
“As your princess I order you!” She said.
“Your majesty!” The commander said alarmed. ‘He is an emperor, she cannot force him!’
Sukishi opened one eye and peeked at the princess. "I don't think you understand how this works, I am a Lower Emperor I technically outrank everyone in this kingdom even your father would have to lower his head to me and act nicely in fact many Kings and Queens would have to lower their heads and act nicely in front of me, another fact! They would be on their knees begging for a fraction of my time, this applies to a Great Nation as well, so a backwater Princess like yourself has no right to order me!" Sukishi said, he wouldn’t admit it but she had angered him. “Has all that royal blood gone to your head? I could destroy everything you own and then some!”
She rolled her eyes. “Then why do I get this feeling that you do not care for this rank you have?” She asked. “What is a great Lower Emperor doing out in the country side? Being tied up by ruffians and slapped over the head I would assume.” She bit back at him.
This obviously did not sit well with him as he sat up and looked at her, the commander now panicking.
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“My lord she didn’t mean it!” His jaw clenched as he placed his hand on his blade when he realized the situation was lost she had angered a being on the level of low tier gods.
Don started glowing a deep green as he turned and aimed his hand at her but it was deflected by the commander who put all of his strength into his blade and attacked Sukishi.
The side of the hill was destroyed as the force of the attack forced Sukishi away, he flipped and landed the look on his face was royally pissed off.
“You! A nobody dare to attack me!?” He questioned as he attacked the commander and threw a punch.
‘If that hits me I am dead.’ Alaric thought as he barely dodged it and saw an opening and gathered all of his strength in his blade and slashed at Sukishi’s upper body, the blade came to a dead stop as Sukishi grabbed it and crushed it in his hand, back handing the commander he turned and looked at the Princess.
“You should learn to respect your betters!” He charged at the Princess with his fist pulled back and glowing a deep green.
Alaric felt like his life had almost left him when the hand made contact with his armor. ‘The armor absorbed all of it but still shattered on impact…he is a monster!’ He thought as he gasped for air, he could feel his chest was collapsing. ‘That armor is supposed to be immune to blunt force and absorb all kinetic force but he tore right through it…there is no way I can stop him.’ He saw Sukishi charge at the Princess. ‘But I will never let him touch the Princess while I breathe!’ He gathered the last of his strength ran in front of the Princess. ‘I am sorry Your Majesty I could not protect your beloved daughter!’ He thought as he readied himself to receive the impact.
Sukishi scoffed as he saw Alaric jump in between them. “I will go right through you and kill that loudmouth you call a Princess!” He yelled as he crossed the distance instantly his fist pulled back.
Time slowed as Sukishi’s fist came in front of Alaric’s face and he lost his last opportunity to dodge, the fist turned suddenly and passed Alarics face and stopped next to his head, the force from his fist continued missing the carriage and hitting the mountain in the distance flattening it in its entirety and moving further creating a large gaping trench through the land before finally slamming into another mountain blowing it to pieces.
Sukishi’s angry face disappeared and he grinned and placed his hand on Alaric’s shoulder. “You pass.”
His overwhelming presence all but gone now as he climbed back onto the carriage and relaxed.
Alaric stood still confused at what just transpired, turning he looked back at the carriage and saw the Princess grinning, she looked very excited.
”Congratulations commander! The great Lower Emperor has agree to train you!” She seemed genuinely happy.
“What…just happened?” Alaric asked, he was very confused and rightly so.
“You were being tested, I managed to get the emperor to give you a chance and you passed his test! I was never in any danger.” She revealed, Alaric fell on his butt as he fully relaxed and passed out from stress and exhaustion.
With Tyadin the sun had dropped out of the sky and he was waiting patiently in his house with his wife Elaine anxiously rubbing her forearm.
“When will he arrive?” She asked.
“He will be here any moment, remember we only need the clothes on our back and our coin, nothing more, we do not want to attract unnecessary attention.” He said, she nodded.
Knock knock.
He turned and opened the door, facing his closest friend Tyadin pulled him in for a hug. “My brother, you have arrived! When do we leave?” He asked.
Helphyre looked around. “Right now, my partner has informed me that the guards will be going on a break very soon and his shift will start.” Helphyre turned to Elaine.
“Elaine you seem well, I hope this beast has treated you well!” He asked as she nodded and blushed lightly.
“He has been nothing but kind.” She answered.
"Good! Good! Otherwise, I would have to show him a thing or two!" Helphyre said as he smiled.
“Let us leave, my wife is standing out in the cold waiting for me to return! I do not want to anger her, I do not fear anything, but she, she can put the fear of the gods in me!” He said as Tyadin laughed.
“As it should be my brother! Now let us leave!” He said.
They left and made their way to the entrance of the village.
Helphyre stopped everyone and turned back to them, “Wait here I need to confirm with my partner.” They stopped and nodded, Helphyre left and it was just the three of them standing in the dark, a small torch was burning not too far away from them.
Elaine looked at Helphyre's wife. "Amiria, how far are you in to your pregnancy? You are with child yes." She said.
Amiria nodded. “I am four months in, it is not visible yet but it will be soon.” She answered.
“I am sure he or she will be strong and healthy!” Tyadin said.
"I pray so as well," Helphyre answered as he returned.
"Let us go, my partner is waiting for us, no one else is guarding the gate at the moment."
Nodding they all made their way to the gate under the cover of darkness.
When they arrived the guard led them to the gate and opened it.
"Goodbye brother, I will see you in the next life!" Helphyre said to his partner who nodded.
"Until we meet again!" The guard said. "Good luck and goodbye!" He said as they left.
The guard locked the gate again and watched them run off.
Thwish!
Suddenly a piercing sound was heard, stopping they looked around in the darkness but nothing was amiss
“Dear…something is not right…” Amiria spoke, a bright light encompassed the area, Tyadin, Helphyre, Elaine and Amiria were exposed in the bright light.
Flinching at the light they both looked back at the village wall to see light mages and ten guards staring at them with bows and arrows at the ready.
“Oh no….” Helphyre didn’t get to finish, he smelt blood, looking to his left his wife looked fine and so did Tyadin and Elaine. ‘Where is that smell-’
“I think I was hit by an arrow…” Amiria said as blood poured out of her mouth, dropping to her knees, the arrow was on full display, piercing deep into her back and through her heart.
More blood poured out as she fell over barely conscious. “My strength…is leaving me…it’s so cold….” Coughing and choking on the blood she struggled to remain conscious.
“AMIRIA!!!” Helphyre screamed at the top of his lungs in desperation as he cradled her in his arms. “Stay awake! Do not fall asleep! Do you hear me!” He said.
Elaine got down next to her and started an incantation, aiming her hands at Amiria. "By the four elemental elements, fire, wind, water, and earth, hear my plea, source of life and holiness, I invoke you! Heal!" A green glow appeared and covered Amiria.
Thwish!
"ARHHH!" Elaine fell over as another arrow wedged itself into her shoulder. "Elaine!" Tyadin stood in front of her as four more arrows planted in his chest.
Helphyre covered Amiria with his own body as more arrows struck his back, when the bombardment ended Helphyre was covered in arrows, he caressed his wife’s cheek, her heart had stopped, she was gone, blood dripped from his back as his pupils constricted into thin slits as he growled and his fangs grew, his body doubled in size and his nails became long and thick like blades, he was covered in fur, turning into a beast driven by rage he charged at the wall on all fours.
Tyadin looked at Amiria’s fallen form with great sadness, his heart was broken, he looked down to Elaine who was groaning in pain, that could have been Elaine, it nearly was, thinking of the pain his brother must be feeling, it angered him, greatly.
“See if you can move Amiria’s fallen form and hide.” He said as he got up and grabbed the four arrows in his chest and pulled them out with no hesitation, spilling his blood on the ground he started changing, getting down on all fours he doubled in size and completed his transformation and growled in rage as he charged to the wall.
The two jumped fifty meters into the air like it was nothing and started slaughtering every single one of the guards on the wall, starting with the archers.
The fight was a long and arduous one, having been cut and stabbed multiple times by the seemingly never-ending soldiers the two were slowly running out of power.
Slash!
A guard cut deep into Helphyre’s back, howling in anger and pain he turned around and grabbed the guard and tore him in two, looking around he realized that most of the guards were in pieces on the floor.
Casting his eyes around the battle, he caught Tyadin piercing a soldier’s armor with his claws, he was covered in blood, some of it was his while some of it belonged to various members of the guards.
Helphyre turned and looked at his partner who seemed to be cowering in the corner, he walked up to the small soldier, an aura of death surrounding him.
“Raphael! Was it you who betrayed me!?” He exclaimed, his voice rocking the earth, Raphael shook in fear and shook his head violently.
“Of course not Helphyre! Amiria is…was my friend and you are like a brother to me!” He defended.
Helphyre growled and yelled in anger, Raphael feeling it was safe to walk up to Helphyre placed his hand on his leg as he was much smaller than Helphyre at the moment.
Helphyre turned back into a man and dropped down to his knees as rain started pouring down, washing away the blood slowly.
Raphael walked up to Tyadin and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Take care of him.”
“Over there!” More guards could be heard coming, Tyadin came next to Helphyre and turned back into a man.
“Brother…we have to leave!” Helphyre nodded.
He just nodded weakly and stood up, turning to walk he suddenly lost all his strength and dropped down to his knees.
“What?” He questioned, Tyadin followed soon.
The guards arrived and this time the captain of the guard was among them, he was far stronger than the rest of the guards.
"Good job Raphael! You managed to catch Beastmen! This will surely land you a promotion!" The captain said. "I need to assess the situation and see how many men we lost capturing these two." He walked away.
Raphael nodded happily. "Thank you, captain!"
Helphyre looked at Raphael, pain in his eyes. “You did betray me?” He asked, not wanting to believe it.
Raphael smirked and nodded. “Thank you for the promotion Helphyre!”
“You…you…YOU! How dare you! We let you eat at our table! You laughed with Amiria and made banter with us! You even helped me help others leave the village!” Helphyre was seething with anger and disbelief, he wanted nothing more than to get off his knees and rip Raphael in two.
“I only helped you because I could profit off of it and gain your trust, once you told me you were permanently leaving, I no longer needed you, it was the only way I could maximize profit and reward.” He said.
Helphyre could not believe his ears. “You dirty pig! I will have your head for this!”
Raphael smirked. "How? You can't even get off the ground. Where you're going you won't be able to do much besides beg for a moment's rest." He mocked as he turned and walked away. "Have fun with the paralyzing agent I rubbed on you earlier!" He laughed.
The sound of laughter echoed in Helphyre’s head as Tyadin growled. “You bastard!” Struggling against the paralyzing agent Tyadin could not move, he struggled for a few moments but stopped realizing he would not be able to move.
He looked over to Helphyre who was laying on the ground not uttering a single word. Helphyre was struggling in his heart to understand such evil, he was so angry but he could not move which fueled his anger even more.
“Brother we need to find a way out! I cannot leave Elaine in the wilderness by herself!” Tyadin said, he was worried about Elaine, there was nothing much he could do here.
A dark pulse erupted from Helphyre as he started transforming, Raphael who was walking away turned back in fear.
"Impossible! That should be able to leave you paralyzed for more than a day!" He backed up in fear as Helphyre stood upright with a dark red aura surrounding him like a mist, he looked like a demon, his eyes shone a deep red.
The guards surrounded him as the captain of the guard walked up to Helphyre. "Impressive beast, you are at the lower expert level currently, it seems you have forced an evolve on yourself! You are still no match for me, I am also a lower expert however I am not battle-worn."
Helphyre stared at Raphael and spoke, it wasn’t very loud but it shook him. “I will come for your head one day!” He turned and grabbed Tyadin as fast as he could and disappeared into the night.
The next day with Don Sukishi, he was with the commander of the Xuferian Empire standing in an open field, the guards and the princess were on the wayside watching.
"Now come at me with all your strength, do not hold back," Sukishi said.
“Of course!” The man drew his sword and charged towards Sukishi, a golden glow surrounding him.
The commander swung his sword with all his might, Sukishi tilted slightly to the left and avoided the swing altogether.
Not one to be deterred by a single dodge the commander swung again and again.
"You are very skilled in combat commander, if you and I were at the same level you might have been able to defeat me." Sukishi stopped avoiding the slashes and grabbed the blade bare-handed just as it was about to decapitate him.
The sudden stop in momentum created a small shock wave.