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Kale
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Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Government: Republic of Hekat
System: D-447
Planet: Ora
Location: Agora City, upon the sands of the Colosseum
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***
Present Time
***
The wind howls, pressing back the sand and dust from its epicenter, the object in Adonius’s hand. It is an Edict, I am sure of it. If it is anything like the one I have known, it will be a bloodbath for my people, regardless of his skill. The runes upon his arm spin, dispersing the excess energy from the Edict in arcing electricity.
“You dared to blaspheme against my God!” Adonius yells, he begins to laugh as though filled with madness “Now they send me to strike you down.”
“Run.” I breathe to the others, my feet carry me forward towards him.
My right hand extends as I run to meet him now, trying to call the Black Edict, but it does not answer my call. The demons rage in their battle still. Sekat. I take up the other blade from my boot, one in each hand. I will have to do this without them.
He swings his God’s Edict, now in the form of a mace with spikes on the end, I barely dodge it. The air cracks as shockwaves ripple where I was. Sekat, he is faster than he was before. He turns and swings wildly again, his skill has not improved. Diving towards the strike, rolling under it, I slide one of my blades across the back of his knee, severing the artery and tendons. The other I stab into his kidney. He falls to one knee swinging the Edict backwards, hitting only my shadow.
I feel others moving behind me, in my shadow now, their gait familiar to me. It is Arrum and Nekam, blades in hand. They move in unison, slashing at him as he swings his Gods Edict. Neeba follows soon after. My eyes blink as I see flashes of the futures the demon showed me in the cave of ice. My stomach turning to knots. They will die if they linger here. Soon Maki and Daki follow too, offering up their blades upon his flesh.
Within a minute Adonius is covered in hundreds of slashes and stab wounds. He gasps for breath, leaning on the Edict, kneeling upon the ground. I come again slashing arteries and stabbing him in his organs. He cries out in pain, anger in his eyes. I must end this swiftly. My blades move with a fury as they stab again and again.
“Helenius, my God… grant me more of your power.” Adonius cries.
The roar of thunder follows after lightening strikes Adonius again. More runes begin to appear on his chest, spreading over his body to his legs now, a grin rips across his face as his wounds heal once more.
Sekat this God of cowards, thwarting the song of our blades. Adonius stands now, the runes upon his body glowing brightly. He slams the Edict into the ground. Light streaks as the ground is torn asunder, blasting all of us back. Lines filled with an orange light trace upon his exposed skin, warping the flesh forming cracks as his body swells with the blessing of his God.
The others pull themselves up from the ground. There is fear in their eyes as they stare him down. Arrum is the first to move, rushing towards him. The song of his blade driving him past the fear in his bones. Adonius swipes at the air before he even gets within a few meters, sending Arrum flying backwards, tumbling into the sand. Adonius swings the Edict in a circle, gusts of wind sending the others back now too.
My feet pull me towards Adonius, rolling under the blast of air. He swings again, the edge of one of the spikes rips through the armor Kotina gave me, as though it was made of paper. Ripping open my flesh. He is faster yet again, creating a divide in the skill I have honed my entire life. Making up for his lack of skill. My knife cuts through the air, seeking purchase in his chest, it does not land. He grabs my left arm, clenching firmly, I feel the bones in it snap. The blade falling from my grasp.
“Pitiful, it’s no wonder the Kuwathi fell. Unworthy of being anything but a doormat.” He says as I try to fight against his grip.
It is too firm. He is unnaturally strong now with the blessing of his God. I can feel the hope slipping from my body.
“Who are you to defy me?” he asks incredulously, throwing me through the air with my broken arm.
My body slams into the wreckage of one of the broken pods. He is upon me before I can even stand. Kicking me in the chest, his other leg soon follows, like a sack of bricks it knocks the wind out of me, I fly into the wreckage again, my body breaking, bones splintering. Wheezing upon the ground I cough up blood.
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“You speak of my boot on your people’s neck. I will carve your body up and use it to polish them.” He says with a twisted smile, madness rolling in his eyes.
Arrum and Nekam come, jumping in his blind spot, stabbing into his back. He lets out an angry roar, spinning with his hand knocking them back. My body struggles to stand, he kicks me in the ribs, breaking several. Sharp pain fills my mind.
“I am Adonius, son of Heloc – you are nothing, son of no one.” He says, grabbing me by the hair, pulling me up as I pulled him before “The audacity for you to even look upon me, the injustice for you to defile my Noble flesh with your filth.”
My eyes look upon him in defiance.
“I will make you watch as I take all that is precious to you and…” he begins, but my blade in his throat interrupts him.
Fire burns in my eyes, he throws me to the ground. Pulling the blade from his neck. The skin folding back slowly sealing the wound. He tries to speak but his vocal chords have not healed yet.
“T’Akor!” I hear from around me. My people who have not fled as they should have, rush him now.
No…No…No… my eyes take in the folly of those who come.
His face opens in a grin once more as he spins on them, his Edict ripping them apart in droves. It is hopeless, they cannot beat him. Yet still they come, to give others time to flee. If only I had the strength to defy this God of cowards, my people needn’t die.
Maki and Daki are the first to me, they grab me up, pulling me towards the tunnels where my people flee, towards where Akaria has planned for them to go. Nekam and Neeba come next carrying Arrum who clutches his ribs.
“Leave me!” I say, trying to fight against them, but my body is broken and weak without the demon’s strength.
“No Alakin, we cannot.” Maki says.
“Will not.” Daki says.
“Agar Buki T’Akor.” Nekam says in the old tongue as we crest the tunnels entrance. Scores of my people in front of us and behind.
It is a phrase I said to them once before. Its meaning – Live today so we can rise tomorrow.
There is no tomorrow for me though, I feel the demon Valka rising in my perception, having defeated the one they call Amon. On Valka’s face a smile begins to sprawl as they move towards me.
Boom – the walls of the tunnel shake, I hear Adonius’s voice at the end of them. The screams of people being slain in his path.
“Where have you gone filthy coward?” Adonius yells down the tunnel “Crawl like the insect you are, waiting for my boot to crush you underfoot!”
The demon Valka places it’s hand upon my chest, darkness swells in me. Covering the glow of my eyes, pulling me into the Realm of Dreams. It’s voice echoes in my mind as I fall towards it.
My turn
***
Realm of Dreams
***
My eyes open, Valka is before me standing upon the mountain of stone that drives up from the sea of my soul. Amon lays upon the ground, four of the other demons hold him down, the violet spark from his eyes dimmed, barely a flicker.
“It has been too long since I was able to play in the Realm of Mortals.” Valka says, raising their hands outwards, their voice less distorted now, for the first time I realize it is a woman. Her voice nips at my ears with the cruelty in its tone. Her face begins to form in the darkness that swathes her.
Her eyes glow a deep crimson, even after the darkness rolls into the shape of a black and red dress upon her body. Her hair jet black, save the ends which look like they were dipped in her eyes glow. Her lips painted black. She wears a red petaled flower in full bloom upon the side of her head.
She moves her hands above in the sky, the dark clouds parting and a disc forming, images appearing upon it. My heart thumps as I see it is a view from the eyes of my body in the real world. Red energy arcs from my bodies hand as it holds the Black Edict, the shape of it changing as everyone around me is blown back, pressed against the walls of the tunnel by the pressure of it.
“No!” I yell, rushing up the mountain towards Valka.
She howls with laughter as the remaining demons leap on me, pressing me against the cold stone.
“You have had your turn. Now watch as I reap the souls you have abandoned to slaughter.”
I struggle to no avail against the demons. As she moves her hand, my body in the real world follows its movements, sending a blast of energy through the air, killing scores of my people. No… not like this. My heart breaks as I see the confusion in their eyes.
“Vitar…” Amon says in the old tongue, as he too struggles now “Fight against them.”
In the old tongue the meaning is clear – Strength of Will. But his words are lost on me as hope flees me. The dead she leaves in her wake as she carves a path towards Adonius making me feel powerless against her. Like I used to feel against the weight of the masters boot.
“You are stronger than you realize.” He says to me “This is your realm, your soul’s domain which they intrude upon.”
As I parse the meaning of his words, the violet spark in his eyes grows brighter once more.
“I have seen the glow of your soul… Jutarak.”
“Silence!” Valka roars, the four demons on Amon smother him, holding his mouth firmly closed.
The images from what Valka does with my body play in front of me, time beginning to slow as I see my body fast approaching a crowd, not just filled with my people. The children of the masters my people spared, clutched tightly to their mothers chests are also among them. Pain burns my memories, a scene I know too well.
My will thrashes inside me for her using my body to commit horrific acts of violence. There is a vibration within the core of my being, radiating outwards, striking at the darkness. The embers of my will spark inside of me, creating a flame. I see Arrum standing between the people with his hands outstretched, his eyes tell me his truth, echoing some of the words that I have spoken to him.
You are more than this
Do not become like them
We as a people must rise
His eyes tell me. My soul hears the words, words I once said to him. I feel meaning giving rise to action within me. My soul begins to burn under the pressure of my will, the darkness recoiling from the light as I try to pull towards the realm of reality. The Realm of Dreams shakes as the demons try to stop me, but they will not. For my will is more than my own, I carry with me still the will of my people…