Chapter 9, after… what, like, 5 months? Haha!

Expect people to be OOC. I can’t really… remember all of them too well. ^w^;;

ATWBMH – CHAPPA 9, FEELIN’ FINE!

As the elevator began its ascent, the thieves whispered the same memorized threat to each of the heroes.

“Do not move. Do not speak. Anyone who disobeys us will be terminated. You will not be killed if you obey our commands and come quietly to our temporary base. Your pets will be left here.”

Ike took it the worst, sweating profusely. He had never been trained or hardened against these situations. However, none of the mages moved. None of them made a sound. Unfortunately, the pets were not told these commands.

Clyde, over years of loyalty to Larky, had learned when and when not to start a fight. The fear he felt from his master’s body was enough to make him simply lie down at her feet. He whimpered softly in fear for her.

Xephyra pulled Xhyro to her, cradling the baby dragon slowly. He attempted to wiggle and squirm from her grip, eager to help his master, but Xephyra knew better. She was trained as hard as Zanna was.

Tsuki was the only exception to the silence and tension of the room. As ravens have the natural tendency to do in situations of doom, he began to let out low, ominous caws. The noise only got everyone agitated, save for Ava, who knew the cry so well that it was just white noise to her.

The elevator did its duty, finally landing on the 98th floor of the Helios tower. The steel door slid open smoothly. The captors shoved the backs of their hostages roughly, sending them in a forward motion.

Bad idea. As Larky lurched forward, she slammed a foot down to catch her balance. This slam hit Clyde’s left forepaw. The surprised and enraged animal let loose a guttural growl and leapt upward at the thief holding Larky, ripping at his shoulder. The steely knife he was using to contain her fell and clinked softly to the plastic lego ground.

Clyde had started an all out pet revolt. Xephyra, who always had her moments, heaved Xhyro at Ike. Unsespecting of this action, he exhaled a surprised burst of flame, which struck Ike’s captor in the back. The bandit screamed in agony, dropping his dagger… into Ike’s foot. The priest screamed as loud as his ex-holder, immediately reaching down to heal it. He pulled the dagger out before doing so, at which point it was taken by an enraged Zanna and tossed into the neck of its owner.

Zanna’s captor was already mauled, Xephyra’s claws fresh with blood. The nameless enemy was burnt to a crisp, as well. Meanwhile, Clyde was ripping at Josh’s captor with the help of Ri. Ri went for the legs. Clyde used his powerful jaws to crush the bones in the poor man’s hand.

Josh, freed, went to save Aster. Larky was there already, but the thief was ready to slash Aster’s throat and she knew it. He brought the hwabi star he was using left of Aster’s jugular, and quickly pulled right across the red head’s neck.

The hwabi dripped a single drop of blood, a thin sliver left on Aster’s neck. The thief grinned, releasing the boy. But, unlike the movies, Aster didn’t fall. The assassin’s mistake was that he didn’t realize he cut his thumb instead of Aster’s neck.

It was moments before he was dead. He was frozen, melted, frozen again, and stabbed, all in the space of a few seconds. His hwabi had flown into the air and landed in the back of his neck, silencing him forever.

All that was left was Ava. Her captor must have been a new recruit or something, because he was quivering like a leaf. Tsuki still hadn’t stopped cawing, never leaving Ava’s shoulder.

Every guard was down except for Ava’s. Nine pairs of eyes turned to him, bloodlust in each. He stared blankly before screaming and finally dropping his knife to go hide in the corner, next to the comrade that held Ike originally.

Then… the group had to wait. In all their fighting, the elevator had descended and began to ascend again. Aster leaned nonchalantly against the wall, whistling. The pets licked the blood from their claws and faces. Everyone else was quiet except for the whimpering guard in the corner.

The elevator arrived at the top of its shaft, letting it’s signature “ding!” out and opening the door. The group stepped out casually, spattered in blood. Ike was limping. Josh’s left shoe was gone. Clyde’s red bow was tattered, as was Zanna’s fury coat.

“So, uh… we go up from here, I think,” said Ike, breaking the silence. He pointed to a ladder.

“Oh, nice one, Sherlock,” said Zanna, rolling her eyes. She took hold of the bottom rung first and began to climb up, Xephyra snatching up Clyde and flying up next to her. The wolf was so used to it that he even wagged his tail.

“Hey, kid,” called the Dark Lord, sitting on the bed in an empty house in Ludibrium, “my men aren’t back yet. Did you give us the right tip, archer?”

The “kid” growled. “I’m a bowmaster, Dark Lord. And you paid me enough that I wouldn’t give you the wrong information. Just wait.” He looked solemnly in front of him, a bag of two million mesos given to him for information sitting idly by. He felt a tiny twinge of regret in his heart, but he knew he could never pick and choose friends. It was a war. If he didn’t play it safe, he would die, just like the group of mages probably was now.

“Artanis,” said Athena Pierce, “I remember training you. Join our side, would you? Don’t betray your fellow men, your instructor… your parents.”

The bowmaster stood and slammed his hands on the table. The mesos jumped and jingled from the sudden force. “You will never, ever speak of my parents, you dirty…” he stopped, exhaling. “I’m leaving,” he said, gritting his teeth. He pulled his hat down to shield his eyes, grabbed his bag of mesos, and shoved them in his pocket. (A/N: where DO all those mesos go anyway? Seriously, I didn’t know what to put here.) Instead of climbing down the ladder, he jumped from the upper floor to the lower, landing in a crouch, and stormed from the house.

The two major leaders of their side sighed softly, standing. They had to go rally the men for an assault. They’d have to get the base camp information from the group Artanis promised them.

The eleven were finally in the brightly colored legoland. However, the usual jubilant town was silent. All of the bustling people were gone. Seppy’s car was parked and a small amount of rust was gathering on it. The Honorable Rock had been split into pieces. Graffiti was on the legos that made up buildings. The hooks and grapples and bubbling solutions in the shops were all still.

The group had no idea where to go. They had initially resolved to use the boat to go back to Orbis and then out to the Victoria continent, but the ticketing booth was deserted. The boat was moored to the docks by padlocks and chains. The little puttering engines were gone, as were some of the legos that it was built with. Not even the clock was on.

They were too late. They never thought it would happen, but it did.

The war had reached Ludibrium.

Ooooh, wow. Hope I didn’t screw anything up. But here’s chapter 9. Obviously, I’m discontinuing Lupine Dawn for now. I might go back and rewrite some things or maybe I’ll just let it rot.

ARE YOU HAPPY, ANIMA AND SHININGWINGS? I BROUGHT BACK ATWBMH. DDDD: