Sorn entered the Throne room with Keilan. It was large and eerie. A single throne of ice sat in the middle of the empty room. Oden and Crystal were talking, and Sorn noticed Crystal was sitting on top of an unconscious Jester. Immediately upon seeing them, Oden’s guard went up, but Crystal ran towards Keilan, giving him a hug.
Crystal: “I missed you.”
Keilan, a bit taken aback by this action, could only manage a small “yeah” while returning the hug.
Sorn looked at Oden.
Sorn: “It’ll be fine.”
odnn: “Really? I’m impressed you managed to pull that off.”
Oden looked at the throne.
Oden: “So you guys have any idea as to why we're here?”
Sorn was somewhat lost, but Keilan seemed to have an idea.
Keilan: “The darkness one seeks to find, beneath the throne it’s laid.”
Oden nodded.
Oden: “Additionally, there is the line, ‘the roses are long decayed.’ Rose is the name of my little sister.”
The energy of the room went extremely dark.
Sorn: “So, under the throne-?”
Crystal kicked the throne as he was speaking, pushing it aside and revealing a hole below.
Crystal: “Reminds you of that first cave, right?”
Oden looked down into it.
Oden: “Is anyone else coming?”
Sorn: “Not to my knowledge.”
Oden: “I would’ve liked Aria to come with us too, but we’re short on time. Are you guys ready to find the truth?”
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Sorn: “Yeah.”
Keilan: “I guess so.”
Crystal: “For sure!”
The three of them dropped into the hole.
————
From above, Lyra had descended to the Fourth Stage to find the corpses of every major fighter in the Chain Subclan.
Lyra: “Varian, you damn fool.”
————
Kaen was about to leave the room, when another man entered. Kaen gave him a blank stare as lightning emerged from his hand hidden behind his back. The man was extremely suspicious, adorning a hood that covered his face.
He pulled the hood off to reveal an angular face. Kaen couldn’t tell if the man was extremely young or old. The letters “VIII” were tattooed on his face.
Kaen: “Who are you?”
The man had an arrogant, brattish tone to his words. As though believed he had the entire world figured out.
???: “You can call me ‘Eight’. Nice to meet you, child of Varian. Or should I say, child of lightning.”
————
Sorn and the three others dropped into a strange environment. Strange glowing pink crystals littered a small tunnel. They were on the floor, attached to every inch of the wall, and some were even hanging from the ceiling. Their glow gave illumination to what should’ve been a pitch-black tunnel
Crystal: “Wow this is pretty.”
Keilan: “You can’t get distracted here Crystal, we don’t know what’s up ahead.”
Oden looked behind them to see a dead end.
Oden: “i guess we only have only one way to go.”
They collectively began to move forward, but they all stopped when someone was in their way.
Radan, the head of the First Division, was standing before them.
Radan: “You took so long, I was beginning to question if you would even come.”
Sorn concluded from the anxiety showing from his partners, this was an opponent they didn’t stand a chance against.
Oden: “You anticipated this?”
Radan: “We anticipate everything now ever since you Marauders and that outsider continue to break the Order. This gives me an excuse to kill you all here. The Marauders are still useful to our army, so I’ll use your and Bjorn’s deaths to manipulate them a bit. I must say though Keilan, this is disappointing. You were loved dearly by the Spears. Why betray us like this?”
Keilan: “You knew about this place for all this time.”
Radan sighed.
Radan: “You are still young. Some things are better left hidden. Come now, you can still redeem yourself. You don’t want to see your sister die here do you.”
Keilan hesitated, but Crystal walked up to Radan, grabbing his spear and pointing it at her chest.
Crystal: “I’m quite tired of this ‘kill your little sister’ game. If you’re going to threaten it so much, why not kill me here and now?”
Radan was visibly uneasy.
Radan: “Well, your highness, that, um, well-”
Crystal: “Can’t do it can you? How unfortunate. Because I have no issue with hurting you.”
Crystal launched a ball of ice into his stomach, sending him tumbling backwards.
Radan: “You little bitch!”
His spear left his hands as it traversed through the air, swimming like a fish towards Crystal.
Keilan: “Watch out!”
Right before these words even came out, something rushed from behind them, and a large figure used a hammer of ice to catch the spear in its tracks. Then the man used the hammer to propel the spear away into the roof of the cave.
Sorn saw Oden smiling out of the corner of his eyes. From behind, a familiar voice bellowed a great laugh.
Bjorn stood proudly, placing his hand on Sorn’s and Crystal’s head, ruffling their hair.
Bjorn: “Oh man, Oden, I had my doubts but seeing this slimy little Spear here truly has me speechless!”
He had quite a few words to say for someone who was meant to be speechless.
Bjorn: “Radan, my friend, it’s been a while. Never thought you proud and honest Spears would be involved in hiding something.”
Bjorn’s expression darkened.
Bjorn: “I don’t suppose one of those things is what happened to my brother’s family, is it?”
Radan generated seven spears, all swirling around him at rapid rates.
Radan: “It matters not. Just try and fight me while protecting the fledgelings behind you. Your death is all but certain.
Bjorn: “In that case, let me reintroduce you to my great companion. THORN!”
There was an awkward moment of pause, but suddenly, the wall next to Radan broke, and a large figure used a massive ax to slam him into the wall.
Bjorn: “That slow motherfucker.”
He looked back down at the four kids.
Bjorn: “We’ll take care of Spear boy over here. You go on up ahead.”
Oden nodded, and gave his uncle a quick hug before turning to the others.
Oden: “Alright, let’s go guys.”
The four dashed past Radan wrestling with the Marauder as they began to make it closer to their destination.
End.