I’m back and better than ever. =D Oh, and will the sneaky culprit who gave me my 1337th like during my hiatus please stand up?

Episode 72 Lord Gilford’s Haven

A single youth stands in the middle of a brightly lit hall, surrounded by a circle of dozens and dozens of guards. He glares at them out of the corner of his eyes, almost impatiently. Kunai grabs his huge, butcher knife of a sword in his right hand, holding it loftily.

“Hey, kid!” one of the guards shouts into the tense silence. “I asked you who you are, and why you’re standing here! Answer me now, or we’ll all make you pay!”

Kunai remains silent, shouldering his sword. He stares at the guard who had spoken with a darkened face. “As fun as it sounds, I haven’t got the time to play around with you. Now, either lead me to Gilford, or remove yourselves from my way!”

“You filthy maggot!” another guard shouts indignantly. “How dare you utter Lord Gilford’s name so casually! I’ll teach you to show some more respect than that!”

The guard brandishes his laser gun at Kunai; however, in a flash, Kunai steps past him, knocking the gun out of the guard’s hands with a blow to the chest. The guard falls, while Kunai reaches into his pack and draws out a hand grenade, all within one second.

The next second, several of the guards cry out in alarm, as the entire floor explodes in one fiery blast of smoke and rubble. As debris falls from the crumbling ceiling overhead, more guards groan in pain, crushed by the falling walls and ceiling.

Kunai sprints hurriedly out of the chaos, sword still in hand. As he runs, he glances quickly over his shoulder at the pandemonium going on behind him. ‘There’s no point in wasting time by trying to be discreet. Now that I’m in, I might as well force Gilford’s audience by knocking a few walls down here and there.’

While Kunai scuttles down an empty hallway, a tiny security camera emits a few beeps overhead, capturing the footage below.

Locked within a control chamber, Lord Gilford sits comfortably in his throne, watching the security footage through a widescreen monitor. An anxious-looking deputy guard stands next to him.

“Sir,” the deputy says impatiently, “shouldn’t we send more reinforcements to capture this renegade? He is wreaking havoc dangerously near the Dark Matter Core. If that’s destroyed, the whole plant will be shut down!”

Gilford raises a hand to the guard, signaling for him to be quiet. “It is okay. Let him run about as much as he wishes. He’s only seeking my attention, after all.”

“But, sir—!” the guard cries.

Gilford shakes his head, pounding his fist on the arm of his throne. “Silence! You may go retire if you do not wish to witness this. I shall handle this entire situation myself. Please tell the remaining guards on duty to withdraw.”

The deputy guard stands still for a moment, apparently repulsed by Lord Gilford’s words. However, he humbly nods, bowing himself out. Very soon, he exits through the door, allowing it to slam itself shut.

“Very amusing!” Gilford chuckles to himself as the door closes behind him. “So, Kunai…I earnestly did not expect to see you return seeking me so soon. Is this your way of telling me you are ready to consider my offer again…?”

With a twisted smirk on his face, Gilford rises from his throne, grabbing his crimson Dragon Battle Axe. “Very well, then,” he sneers, “I shall entertain you again, here in my own Haven.”

Kunai pants impatiently, glaring around yet another empty room filled with the mysterious humming of distant machinery. Behind him, a metallic sliding door stands on its hinges, playing gateway to the busted hallway behind it.

Occasionally, sparks fly and disperse in the air, as the completely trashed and dismantled hallway stands pathetically behind Kunai’s trail of destruction.

Kunai clenches his fist angrily, pounding it through the air. He clenches his teeth, sprinting out of the small room into a much larger library hall. Huge storage devices and computers line the walls, yet not a single sign of human life is present in the room.

“Damn it!” Kunai shouts angrily into the empty silence. “Quit messing with me, Gilford! Show yourself already! I’ve had about enough of this garbage!”

“Had enough of this, you said?” a low, growling voice speaks from just behind Kunai.

Kunai spins at lightning speed, just barely blocking the sneak attack from behind with his own sword. He pushes his own weight against the flash of crimson axe behind him, leaping back to better face his opponent.

For a moment, the room remains deathly silent, as Kunai and his attacker stare each other down. Kunai breathes heavily from the rush of adrenaline, his eyes roaming from the blood-red axe in his attacker’s hands and his shiny, silvery armor prepared just for battle.

“Gilford!” Kunai howls suddenly, raising one index finger as he speaks. “I’ve just got one thing to say to you before we begin.”

Lord Gilford’s face contorts in subtle surprise, his trademark smirk still apparent on his face. “Oh? Well, quite frankly, I don’t care. I won’t give you time to say anything!”

Kunai’s eyes widen momentarily, as Lord Gilford speeds towards him, taking a wild swing at him. Kunai narrows his eyes in concentration, flipping over in midair and landing a blow across Gilford’s shoulder.

Gilford clutches the wound briefly, not even flinching from the direct blow to his shoulder. “Heh, heh! That’s more like it! Whatever you have to say, you can say after we’re done!”

Dawn approaches gradually, as the light in the sky slowly begins to appear, first as a faint gray, then turning into a soft, vivid pink. Very soon, an early morning sun shines at the very rim of the horizon, shedding light only onto the highest branches of trees in the forest.

Rill and Ivy continue to relentlessly bound forward, spurred onward only by the power of Haste. “How are you holding up, Ivy?” Rill shouts over to Ivy, as the sun finally stretches over the boughs of the trees, shedding light on their faces.

“I could be better,” Ivy replies, “but I can keep going for a lot longer still.”

“It won’t be much longer till we’re there,” Rill replies, “at Haven, I mean. Just be on your guard. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ivy answers back, “I’m one hundred percent positive Kunai is waiting for us there!”

‘I don’t know about “waiting,’” Rill wonders to himself, as he leaps over the fallen remains of a tree. “Hold on tight, Ivy, we’re gonna be there in a matter of minutes.”

Kunai leaps past Gilford agilely, avoiding his multiple, devastating attacks with his unique agility. Gilford spins around promptly, firing at him with a crushing attack. “Power Strike!” he yells.

Kunai blocks the blow cleanly, cutting through it with his sword. “Refract!” The red beams of light break into shards of crimson sparks, and disperse through the air as if they had never existed.

“Enough,” Kunai says as he comes down in front of Gilford.

Lord Gilford pauses in his tracks, replacing the battle frown on his face with his disturbing smirk once again. “Enough, eh? I admit, we have been battling for hours now. It is almost dawn.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Kunai replies, his voice firm and grave. He raises his sword with his right arm, blade pointing down. “I didn’t come here to fight.” With one, sudden jerk, Kunai hurls his own sword through the air, allowing it to land on the floor with a clatter, right in front of Gilford’s feet.

Lord Gilford looks up, the smirk on his face so wide that it almost splits it into two. “Is this what I believe it is?” he growls, hardly hiding his glee.

Kunai nods solemnly. “It is. I surrender to you. Make me your apprentice…Lord Gilford.”

Gilford immediately bursts into a howling roar of laughter. “HAHAHAHAHA! I KNEW YOU WOULD COME AROUND, DIDN’T I?! DIDN’T I ALREADY PREDICT THAT YOU WOULD COME TO ME?!”

Several beeps suddenly sound from Gilford’s belt, interrupting his round of raucous laughter. He unhooks a radio receiver from it, listening to it intently for several moments, his wide, maniacal smile still on his lips.

Gilford nods after receiving the message, shutting off the radio. He replaces it in his belt, and remains strangely silent, as Kunai watches grimly. “Well, my new apprentice,” Lord Gilford says into the silence, “I’ve some guests for you to greet. It will be, shall we say, a test of your loyalty? Hahahahaha!”

Next Time: Episode 73 Premiere

Kunai: I am waiting for you…Rill.

Episode 73 Premiere coming soon!