Standing in the Mistwood Central Square, right where the Harvest Festival was recently held, was one Commander Marus. He was a man of few words, and he was clad in Ulthosian Armor from head to toe, with a great helmet overtaking the majority of his head. He looked out into the horizon as his army fought on around him, watching the glow of the fire be reduced to a lightless smoke. As he mused to himself, one of his soldiers sprinted towards him, a palpable fear in his voice.
“C-commander, sir. The Incinerator has been taken out.” He was panting like a dog as he spoke, the smoke getting into his lungs and forcefully squeezing the oxygen out.
“Well, well. I suppose it was only a matter of time.” Marus said, turning towards his soldier. “The Mistwood fools decided to strike back, after all. This wasn’t in the job description.” He crossed his arms and thought to himself. As a mercenary, he didn’t particularly care about the glory of the Ulthosian military, though he DID care about getting the pay, and making himself look good in the eyes of the gods, of course.
“What’s our next course of action, sir?” Asked the soldier. Marus was quiet for quite a while, staring into the unknown. The soldier tensed up immediately as he began to speak again.
“Separate the units into three groups and spread them across town. The citizens are going to attempt to retaliate. We must destroy any chance of this happening. Gather the soldiers, poise them to strike. Patrol the streets if you must.” As he finished, he drew his blade, its sheen reflecting what little firelight there was left back at the soldier.
“Y-yes sir. Right away sir.” The soldier muttered, quickly straightening himself up to an uncomfortable posture at the sight of the blade.
“And if you see any Mistwood Citizen, kill them on sight.” Marus pointed his sword westwards, and the soldier scampered off in that direction in a futile attempt to avoid punishment. Marus simply continued to stare off into the horizon, awaiting the attack that he knew was coming, keeping his blade at his side.
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“Onwards!” Shouted Miranda, as the group marched through the city streets. Ill-equipped as they were, they were still miles ahead of what they were before. While the soldiers of Ulthos were far better equipped for battle, the Mistwood citizens held the fire of rage in their hearts and were confident that nothing could stop them. Alicia was stuck to Miranda’s side like glue, keeping her head down to avoid the roar of the crowd behind her. The further they marched, the louder their cries became. They were beckoning for someone, anyone to come and fight them. Sly stood behind the duo, keeping a decent distance between himself and the two of them.
“You think all this is gonna be okay?” Alicia asked Miranda, continuing to rhythmically march onwards as she spoke, realizing quite quickly that it was far too late to back down now.
“Don’t worry about it, Allie. I have full faith that we’re going to pull through this. Alicia quickly nodded in response. She was never one to question Miranda much, anyway. Especially when she’s displaying such unwavering confidence. She gave a slow nod and continued to march forward. Not a moment later, she heard someone screaming their head off. As she quickly turned to face the screamer, she was almost immediately greeted by her crowd scattering to the winds, frantically running in all directions.
“GAS!” Shouted the crowd. Alicia immediately reacted to the threat, bolting away from the center of the street, Miranda and Sly close behind. She hid behind a building, hearing the telltale sign of gas canisters going off in the street behind her. She could hear people hacking and wheezing, but she didn’t dare go out.
“So, they actually went through with it, the bastards,” Miranda remarked, rubbing an ugly-looking welt on her lower arm. Seems the long tendrils of the gas had nicked her after all.
“Has Ulthos been working on this for some time?” Sly asked, surprisingly calm about the whole situation. A bounty hunter could be counted on to be calm, Alicia supposed.
“That’s the rumor, anyway. My mom used to babble on about how we were all doomed. Truth be told, I didn’t believe her until now.” Miranda continued to rub her arm as she spoke, her head lowering as she mentioned her mother. Alicia did the same, her head filled with memories of her late mother. She breathed in, and then out. It was silly, but it stopped her from crying, and the last thing anyone needed in the middle of a battle like this was a crybaby. After she composed herself, she heard a low laugh coming from the street. Against her better judgment, she found herself walking into the street once more, looking upon the person who would dare to laugh at a graveyard. What she found was a hulking man, clad head to toe in armor, with a colossal sword at his side.
“So little effort. I was expecting something more,” Muttered Commander Marus, as he slowly walked down the street, surveying the damage from the gas bomb. “I suppose they were too primitive to handle Ulthosian technology. Very well, then. I’ll report to the higher-ups.” Alicia balled her fists in rage, though she knew better than to charge at him. A fight against this man was a fight she was sure to lose. She could see the hacking workers behind her, they were so furious a moment ago, so ready to strike, and now they were scattered to the winds. They were chased off by a powerful person out of control. She looked at the commander, knowing in her heart that all she had to do was charge at him and stab him with her sword. She was weighing the options heavily, trying in vain to figure out what to do, until the commander turned around.
“Well, well. The soul-bearer. How does it feel to have the Soul of Laius attached to your own? Do you feel… important?” He stood at a careful distance from her, sizing up the situation. She didn’t wait for a second, quickly tearing off her necklace and drawing her blade from her chest, only to find it vanish from her hand in an instant. She could hear Marus laughing. “So, you’re not used to its power yet. Don’t worry, I wasn’t used to my soul either, at first.” He paused, looking up towards the smoke-stained sky. “You’ll grow into it, as I did. I’ve been around a long time, you know. I’ve seen a few soul-bearers come and go. You’re doing better than the one that came before you, at least.”
“Shut up!” Alicia shouted, trying to summon her sword again. It was no use. Though she could get it from her chest, she couldn’t it from vanishing from her fingers. She tried again and again but to no avail. The sword simply wouldn’t stay out.
“Strange. After all I’ve done, you have no desire to hurt me. Interesting then, that the sword chose you. I’m sure the gods are scratching their heads at that one.” Alicia was puzzled, not only by the man’s words but by the fact he was speaking to her at all. She swallowed, before feeling her necklace re-appear around her. She sighed a bit and tried to look him in the eye as best as he could.
“Why are you telling me all this? Why don’t you just kill me?” She asked, her voice rising as she remembered the atrocities this man had ordered. He stood still as a statue, his blade remaining sheathed.
“My benefactors have told me not to harm you. You have a great role to play, after all. Leave now. I’ll even let you take your group with you.” Marus continued to stand still, and Alicia questioned exactly what his goal was. Before she could really ponder this too far, she saw Miranda dart out from behind the building, followed soon by Sly, along with whatever they could quickly scrounge up from the army they’d formed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Allie,” Miranda muttered, her knife clasped firmly in her hand. “We had a job to do.” The army was shaking, though with rage or fear, Alicia couldn’t tell. Sly drew his blade and smirked.
“You’re outnumbered, Commander. Give up.” He said. The Commander simply whistled, and several men appeared from behind the buildings.
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“Not so, swordsman. I’d say we’re fairly equal, in numbers.” Marus pointed an armored hand forward, causing the soldiers to charge. The workers, clad as poorly as they were, followed suit with Sly’s order. For a brief, glorious moment, all hell broke loose. The Mistwood workers charged forward at speeds unheard of, swinging rakes and swords and whatever else they could get their hands on wildly. Alicia was fairly certain that she saw a few of them wielding scythes. Miranda and Sly were off frying their own fish, Sly furiously swinging his blade at whatever soldiers he could get it on, and Miranda slinking through the crowd and locating chinks in the armor, carefully stabbing the soldiers wherever she could. Alicia, faced with little other option, charged headfirst into battle. Since her sword wasn’t an option, she turned to the nearest thing available, a rake she found on the ground. In a blind rage, while everyone was distracted, she charged for the Commander, whacking him in the head with the rake. She knew he couldn’t harm her, even if he wanted to.
“Why… you…” He muttered, before grabbing the rake from her and snapping it in half. Alicia tried desperately to summon her sword again, though to no avail. She’d quickly let her emotions overtake her once again, and she was about to royally pay the price. “Clever girl, trying to face me one-on-one.” He muttered, before raising a fist and punching her full force in the stomach. She launched backward from the blow, crashing into several soldiers and coughing up blood from the aftermath.
“I-I… I thought you said you couldn’t hurt me…” She muttered. The Commander loomed over her and punched her again, and again, and again. He didn’t even take his sword from his belt. With each hit, more blood escaped Alicia’s mouth.
“I changed my mind,” Muttered the commander, before revving up a final punch to Alicia’s head. “Go the way of Number Five, then. Clearly, you’re too foolish to defeat Sihn.” As he raised his hand more, the world around Alicia started to slow down. She was fully and painfully aware of her own mortality. Before she could fully react, though, she felt the world slowly whirring back into focus, and the Commander roaring behind her. She’d lost track of time completely, totally unsure if it had been a few seconds or a few days that she was in front of his fist. She was cradled like a baby in Miranda’s arms, who was desperately running as fast as she could.
“M-mirand…a?” Alicia asked, coughing up more blood.
“It’s me. It’s me. You’ll be okay, Allie. You’ll be okay.” She was softly cooing as she ran, eventually making her way behind a house fashioned out of a giant ear of corn, setting Alicia down. “Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
“I can… hear you…” Alicia quietly muttered. She’d lost a lot of blood, but she was still conscious. Miranda breathed a quiet sigh of relief and slowly let her down, laying her down so that blood wouldn’t flow down her throat and choke her.
“Allie… you need to stop. You need to stop charging in, please. We can handle the fights. I promise.” Miranda had tears in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them before she could get to crying properly. “Allie, stop trying to take on everything yourself. Stop trying to bear the world’s burdens. I’ll protect you, I promise.”
“Okay…” Alicia choked out, along with another volley of blood. Miranda sighed in relief and sat down next to her, slowly stroking her hair.
“Thank you.” She quietly muttered, trying to comfort her. “You were brave, though. You’ve got a lot of guts. More than anyone else I’ve ever met. Don’t you ever forget that.” All Alicia could do was nod, her words slowly escaping her as she fought to stay conscious. The blood loss was bad, and that last punch would’ve taken her out for good. For the time being, she was surrendered to the care of Miranda, and she’d need to learn to like it.
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While Miranda tended to Alicia, Sly continued to fight like a demon on the battlefield. He wildly slashed with his sword, each swing taking out a soldier or two from the sword’s sheer size and weight. As the battle raged on, though, he was beginning to grow tired. As it turns out, he wasn’t alone, as the numbers of the workers had begun to slowly dwindle as well. It was a war of attrition, and they were losing.
“I-I can’t… fight much longer…” Sly whimpered, taking out three more soldiers with a single swipe of his sword. He’d seen Miranda dart away with Alicia, and especially now that it seemed to be Marus’ primary goal to kill her at all costs, he’d been doing his absolute damnedest to distract him, no matter the cost. With a good amount of the soldiers eliminated, he charged at the general, able to leave a good-sized wound in his armor.
“You,” Marus mumbled. “That’s expensive, you know.”
“Shut up and fight me,” Sly responded, clearly not in the mood to deal with a monologue.
“Then so be it, warrior,” Marus responded, drawing his own blade. It was much thinner and lighter than Sly’s own, and he realized he was in no shape to evade sword swipes as he did on the swordsman back in the residential area. He closed his eyes and released whatever air he’d been keeping in, instead playing on the defensive. Each of the commander’s mighty swings was met with the sharp clank of metal-on-metal, and a swift deflection from Sly’s. He smiled a bit as he watched the Commander get progressively more frustrated at the turn of events. “Fight me properly, coward.”
“I’m fighting you with what you deserve,” Sly responded, feeling his life-blood slowly dripping out of him as he continued to defend. He was doing absolutely everything he could, and he was still on the verge of losing. They’d been fighting for a long time, after all. A final clash of their swords caused Sly to fall backward, his sword clattering down behind him.
“In this war of perseverance, you lost. You, the soul bearer, and everyone else in this rotten village are nothing but worms to us. You should know what Ulthos is capable of by now.” Marus stood over him, sword poised and ready to strike. Sly shut his eyes and braced himself for death, before hearing a telltale laugh coming from the forest.
“...huh?” He muttered, opening his eyes and looking around. The soldiers all seemed equally confused. Until, as fast and as graceful as a bird, two people shot out of the forest like a bullet, one carrying the other in his arms.
“Impossible… we missed some?!” Marus roared, looking up in complete and utter disbelief at the sight. Without a second to lose, Jacques hoisted his husband into the air and tossed him down onto the world below, Sean’s body hurtling to earth like a missile, screaming and laughing the entire time, charging his fist with enough heat energy to melt a hole into just about anything he needed to.
“SEE YOU LATER, IDIOT!” Sean shouted, before his punch connected directly with Marus’s chest, causing the general to reel backward. Whatever he had under the armor was clearly singed, and he was coughing in much the same way Alicia was, though the single punch was surprisingly not enough to ruin him. He stood up, a hand over his chest.
“YOU WILL PAY FOR-” His words were interrupted with another punch to the jaw, and another, and another until Sean had properly punched his lights out. When all was said and done, he had landed roughly twenty punches on Marus’ face, and the general was lying on the stone pathways, unmoving. The soldiers backed up in fear, several of them dropping their weapons.
“Scram,” Sean said, cracking his knuckles. “You’re not welcome here.” Much to their own dismay, they turned tails and ran, sprinting for the forests as fast as they could. Jacques landed next to Sean and rolled his eyes.
“Dear, would it kill you to be less theatrical next time?” Jacques asked, before sighing and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Immediately after, he hoisted Sly upwards. He was very obviously in disbelief.
“How’d you know… when to come?” He muttered, still incredibly weak from all the fighting.
“We were on our way back, anyways, but Jacques heard of some giant commotion here. The throw was a split-second decision. It’s a bit of a tactic I’ve been working on.” Sean flexed a bit, before being quickly stopped by Jacques.
“Where’s Alicia?” He asked. Sly shrugged and pointed towards the building they ran towards.
“Last I saw, she and Miranda were booking it for that building. She was in pretty rough shape, the last time I checked.” Sly sighed and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He picked up his sword and sheathed it behind him again. Jacques nodded and faced towards the building, only to see Alicia and Miranda slowly stumbling towards them, Alicia in Miranda’s arms.
“Is it… over?” Miranda asked a dumb smile on her face. Sean and Jacques simply nodded in response, looking up at the horizon, the smoke slowly starting to clear, and the sun rising on the horizon.
“It’s over,” Sean said. “Hear that, Mistwood citizens?! It’s over!” Sean shouted to the crowd. At first, the remaining workers reacted in disbelief, stumbling aimlessly around. In time, though, they began to cheer. They stuck their fists into the air and laughed. They were strong, and they had finally become free. Even if it wasn’t true by law, they knew it was true in their hearts.
And on the horizon, the sun rose, marking a new day for Mistwood.