Rika stepped in front of the Princess to protect her showing the General and the soldier she wasn’t going to leave with them.

“I’m sorry, General, but I couldn’t help but notice you both forgot to address her Highness when you came in,” said Rika sternly.

The general and soldier quickly glanced at each other, realizing that they had messed up but still kept composed so as not to blow their cover.

Forgive us for the lack of formalities, but the Princess must come with us." Stated the General. "We need her statement on the incident that happened, and we don’t have much time."

The General stepped forward to approach the Princess, but Rika quickly brought out her weapons to guard the Princess. The General looked at Rika, not amused with Rika not compiling.

"I’m sorry, General, but the Princess has never been escorted by military personnel, and you would know if you were the actual general." Announced Rika.

The General then stepped back, sneering at Rika as she figured out they were not who they said they were. Rika smirked at them, knowing that she got them, and a little bit of pride as she was glad that trusting her instincts continued to pay off. The General stood back, standing next to the soldier, who also looked at them with a sneered look on his face.

"I’m impressed you figured us out, human." Stated the general as his voice altered and mixed with the Alpha Lurkers' mechanical tone. "We cannot allow you both to leave. Our orders are to capture the boy and the Princess for our master."

"The boy? Rika thought to herself. What do they want with him?"

The two transformed their arms into sharp metallic blades and ran towards Rika and the Princess. The Princess brought out her dual swords in time as the battle began. The Lurkers were on the offense as they were charging at our heroines with force; Rika and the Princess, however, managed to handle them as they fought back, dodging or blocking their attacks and attacked them as well. The soldier was fighting Rika as they clashed and clanged with their weapons. They came up to each other’s faces with their weapons in front of them, pushing for dominance. Seeing there was no way to push any further, the soldier opened his mouth, stretching his bottom jaw out, breaking it out of proportion as an energy ball was generating within its mouth and getting bigger. Sensing the strength of the energy ball, Rika knew at close range she wouldn’t be able to block or push it back. With quick lightning reflexes, she jumped away in time as the soldier released the energy ball as it became too big for his mouth to contain. The energy grew to the size of a cannonball as it flew past Rika and into the wall causing an explosion that blew a hole in the wall leading outside. The impact and sound of the explosion shook a part of the castle where Kevin, Caleb, and Vinnie resided; it got their attention, especially Vinnie, as his ears twitched to the sound and vibrations from the explosion.

"What was that?" Kevin asked.

Vinnie closed his eyes, trying to figure out what it was and where it came from.

"Some sort of explosion, but I can’t pinpoint its location." Vinnie replied.

Kevin looked at the two as they didn’t react to the fact that there was an explosion. He raised an eyebrow, confused as to what was not happening.

"Uh, guys. Shouldn’t you go and find out where it came from?" Kevin asked, puzzled.

Caleb and Vinnie looked at each other as they knew it would be the right thing to do. But they knew if they left, who would guard Kevin? Kevin noticed they were really thinking about this and figured he could use that to his advantage to escape. The thought crossed his mind to stay and try to apologize to the Princess, but he remembered Rika and what she would do to him if he tried to approach her. At this point, he could care less where he would go just as long as he could leave.

"Look, I can see it in your faces; you want to check it out." Kevin stated. "For all we know, the girls could be in danger, and you’re standing here guarding a weak and pathetic earthling. I would be an idiot to leave, so go and check it out."

Kevin reassured them by sitting on the bed and waiting for them to make a move. Caleb and Vinnie knew he was right; the Princess and their comrade could be in danger.

"What do you think?" Vinnie asked Caleb.

Caleb looks at Kevin sternly and points at him.

"If I find you out of this room, you’re dead kid." Caleb warned Kevin.

The two quickly left the room trying to find out where the explosion occurred. Kevin quickly jumped out of bed, rushed to the door, and peeked out to see them turn a corner as they were out of sight.

"Too easy." He said to himself.

Kevin looks around to make sure the coast was clear as he made his move quietly stepping out of the room, trying to find a way out.

"Damn, this place is like a maze. Where the hell is the exit?"

He ended up in the main hallway with the four statues of the Knights of Auran from the past. He looked at each of the proud warriors on display. He stopped at the last Statue, a tall man in his late 50s dressed in armor with shoulder-length hair, and a chiseled face covered with a finely trimmed beard. Looking at the granite marker under the statue, he read, “Here lies Sir Tristam.” He looks back up at the face, closely looking at the statute, he realized he looked familiar. With that, Kevin suddenly remembered he was flying in space; the gemstone was leading him towards Zonia. From out of the stone, he remembered seeing this Knight emerge.

“It’s you,” Kevin spoke to himself as he leaned closer to observe the face.

His hand touched the granite marker as he leaned forward, which reacted to his touch. The marker slid open, revealing a pristine broadsword and scabbard still intact under the statue. The sword had a platinum and gold decorated hilt with a tribal pattern cross guard that was shaped like a dragon with its wings spread out.

"Sweet sword." He said to himself.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Marveled at his discovery, he couldn’t help but pick up the sword as something about it drew him to it. Just holding it, he could feel the weight was hefty but then again, he hasn’t handled a sword since his martial art days. As he held the sword in his hands, he tried it out a bit with a couple of swings just to see how it felt in his hands. He stops to look at the sword and smiles as he kinda liked how it felt in his hands, it made him almost feel empowered. Suddenly, Kevin heard Rika yell in pain from a distance overhead, followed by a mechanical shrill. He looked in the direction from where he heard the sound come from and realized that he was right, the girls were in danger, and the other knights were nowhere in sight. He looked back at the sword, seeing his reflection; he saw he looked guilty and realized he couldn’t leave. He would be a jerk if he left without helping, he knew he wasn’t the kind of person that would just leave, but he also knew this wasn’t a normal fight. He let out a big sigh, knowing what he had to do.

"I must be crazy." He said to himself.

With weapon in hand, he grabbed the scabbard putting it over his shoulder. The marker closed the opening returning back to normal as Kevin ran upstairs towards the battle. Rika, exhausted, had her hand over the wound from the soldier that cut her. The soldier’s body was bruised with several injuries in which a normal person would have bled out, but it was only the body of the soldier that was injured, not the lurker within. The Lurker emerged from the Soldier’s back, chuckling as he knew it wasn’t long till it could defeat Rika.

“You seem tired, human.” Replied the Lurker soldier. “Shall I end this now?”

Ignoring the Lurker’s taunt, she prepares to fight once again. Before they continued, Kevin bursts through the door with sword in hand, ready to swing.

“Hey ugly, let them go!” Kevin shouted, trying to sound deep and intimidating.

Rika and the Princess looked back to see who came into the room. The General did the same by turning his head one-eighty, which would normally break a person’s neck. The general scanned Kevin identifying him as the one his master commanded to capture as well.

“That’s him, get him!” commanded the General.

The general turned his head back to face the Princess and continued fighting. The other soldier looked back at Rika and snuffed her as he turned to face Kevin and obey his Alpha’s orders. Rika goes to attack the soldier, but even though the soldier’s back is facing Rika, the Lurker uses the soldier’s arms to bend backwards and block Rika’s attack with his arm blades. While still controlling the soldier, the Lurker converted the tip of his tentacle-like hair into spears, stretching them towards Kevin. He ducked in time as the spears crashed into the wall, getting stuck. Using this opportunity, Kevin cuts the tentacles in half, and the Lurker shrills in pain as he retracks his severed hair. The Lurker quickly healed its wounds regenerating its hair back to normal. Seeing that the creature could regenerate limbs made Kevin nervous, trying to figure out what else he could do; he was frozen in fear. As Rika was fighting the soldier half of the Lurker, she noticed Kevin was unsure what to do as he’s never fought anything like this before; she needed to help him. The Lurker noticed Kevin was unfocused, changed its hair into dual blades, and aimed to attack him.

"Hey Newbie!" Rika yelled. Focus.

Kevin heard Rika and woke up from his frozen mental state in time to block the Lurker’s attack with his sword.

“Break his mask; it's how to defeat them.” Rika alerted.

The Lurker overheard Rika revealing its weakness, as it turns its face to her and shrills in anger. It quickly changed its blades back into its tentacle hair; and began to charge up a larger energy ball in front of its face and threw it at Rika. The energy ball was bigger than the last one making it difficult to dodge in time. With last-minute thinking, she charged up her reiki, and with her weapons, she deflected the energy ball back at the Lurker in hopes of it getting hit by its own energy. Seeing the energy ball coming back, the Lurker also dodged in time, leaving it heading towards Kevin.

"Look out!" Rika warned Kevin.

Kevin, frozen in fear, has never seen a real-life energy ball. He couldn’t avoid it; he wouldn’t make it in time. The Princess heard Rika yelling, “look out,” and looked over to see Kevin in danger as an energy ball was heading his way.

Using her reiki, she transported herself in front of Kevin. She then charged up, her red aura building around her. As the energy ball arrived, she held it in place, though it was slowly pushing her back. She charged herself with more reiki using her quick boost of energy to force it back. Kevin watched, amazed at her strength as she was able to prevent the enormous energy ball from killing them. She then builds more of her energy, causing friction between the two forces causing the energy ball to be pushed back. She launched the ball back towards the Lurker before it could react. The Lurker was blasted by its own energy ball and both it and the body of the soldier it inhabited were destroyed in the blast disintegrating into nothing. The impact of the explosion filled the room bringing up smoke, dust and debris. When the smoke and dust cleared, it revealed Rika, and the Princess created a barrier from their reiki powers to protect Kevin and themselves from the explosion. They released their barriers seeing that the threat was gone. The Princess looked back to see Kevin still impressed by what The Princess did for him.

"Are you ok?" The Princess asked.

"That- that was amazing!" Kevin exclaimed, still in awe by what he had witnessed.

Just returning the favor. She said, smiling.

Kevin smiled back, but then his smile quickly turned to fear as he saw something approaching within the rising smoke behind the Princess.

"Behind you!" Warned Kevin.

At first, she was confused as to why he was afraid, but then she remembered the general and that he may have survived the blast. She turned around to see what was left of the General. Like wearing broken armor, parts of the General’s body were gone revealing the Alpha Lurker underneath. The General’s face, with his skin, peeled off, revealing torn muscle and half a skull, glared at the Princess. Rika attempted to attack, but the Alpha grabbed Rika by the throat as it stretched its claw out, choking her. Then the Alpha quickly removed the rest of the general’s body like a lizard shedding skin as it expanded its body till it hovered over the Princess. She quickly turns away about to run towards Kevin. He could see the fear in her eyes as she tries to escape; he reaches out to grab her. The alpha then covered the Princess in its body, trapping her inside.

"You’re next." The Alpha hissed.

He was about to go for Kevin who was bracing himself to being captured till Rika, despite being choked by the Lurker, shoots it with a fist size energy ball which hits the Lurker at the back side of his head. The Lurker looked at Rika, hissing at her, and was going to kill her till Caleb and Vinnie arrived.

"Hey, its one of those things." Said Vinnie. "And it’s got Rika."

Surrounded, the Alpha Lurker released Rika and made a break to escape through the hole in the wall. Before it was out of sight, Vinnie quickly takes out a small tracking device and shoots it into the Alpha's body.

The Alpha escaped; Caleb and Vinnie looked out through the hole in the wall to watch it stretch and slither away so fast into the night as it disappeared into the shadows returning to its master. Kevin ran over to Rika who was on her knees as she was regaining her breathing.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"I’ll be fine." Rika replied. Using her Reiki she quickly healed her wound she got from the Lurker earlier. Kevin was surprised to see her cut heal instantly. "I’m glad you came just in time." She said smiling at him.

Caleb looked around for the Princess as she wasn’t in the room.

“Where’s the Princess?” Caleb asked as he continued to look around. He spotted Kevin over by Rika as he was helping her stand on her feet. He looked at him furiously as he knew he couldn’t trust him and that this was going to happen if he was left unattended.

“You’re dead meat, kid!” Caleb yelled.

Caleb stormed towards Kevin, ready to pulverize him. Kevin saw Caleb coming and nervously started backing away till Rika stood between them, forcing Caleb to stand in place.

“Now is not the time, Caleb; that thing took the Princess,” Rika announced. We got to find out where it’s taking her.

“Already taken care of.” Vinnie proudly declared as he pressed the buttons on his gloves to create a map using the hologram computer that appeared in front of him.