-=A Party United, Part 2=-

It had been some time since Shadow’s group had gotten to Kerning City. Ever since their arrival, all of them talked to just about any warrior and ranger who appeared to possibly be chosen. Everyone they talked to was usually very powerful looking, with expensive-looking equipment. They even showed the warriors the red coin that was given to them. Despite their persistence, though, no archer made any claim to the title of lightbringer, instead usually being confused or annoyed by the talk. The same went for the warriors, whose claims were backed by the fact that none of them were able to grasp the coin; like Lance before them, the coin seemed to magically resist their touch.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Damien, the Crow, and Moira talked with a great deal of adventurers all their own. They disregarded archers, knowing that Moira was a chosen, and talked to warriors, spellcasters, and rogues. They kept their talks to those who appeared to be very powerful, bearing strong-looking weapons and regal armor. Nonetheless, no one they spoke to had any idea of what they were talking about.

Amidst their search, though, the Crow still had an odd feeling that Damien might have been the warrior they were looking for. She couldn’t say for certain, though.

——————————————————————–

Eventually, Shadow, Amber, and the Raines were finished asking everyone they could think of. With no leads to work off of, they knew they were at a dead end. Feeling that maybe the chosen weren’t in the city at the moment, they decided to expand their search to the outskirts, believing that maybe they were out training somewhere. Their walk took them to a rather empty part of the city.

“Man, I hate this,” Shadow groaned as they walked. “Just feeling around in the dark as we are…it’s like treasure hunting without a map.” The other girls merely nodded.

“Still, let’s not lose hope, at least not now,” Amber encouraged optimistically. “I know this isn’t the best way to find someone, but there are tons of people on this island, the majority of them adventurers. Those lightbringers have to be around somewhere!”

“True,” Emma said. “The only question is where. If only that were easier to answer. Wouldn’t you agree, sis?”

Genya was about to reply when she suddenly froze. She started sniffing the air a little, then more and more, as if a strong odor was provoking her. Eventually, her eyes started to water, and her eyes began showing signs of panic. Her breathing quickened; she felt her heart start to pound.

“Hey, Gen, what’s wrong?” Emma asked suddenly, staring into her sister’s eyes. “Is everything okay? You look really worried!” Shadow and Amber watched the developing scene, concerned in their own rights.

After looking around her a few times, Gen brought her mouth to Emma’s ear and whispered. At that, Emma sniffed the air herself. Sure enough, worry began to creep on her face. “Genya calls it the ‘odor of death.’ From what I’m smelling, she may be right.”

Amber, growing fearful from the update, smelled the air a bit herself, cringing from the efforts. Shadow was the last to take a whiff, after which his eyes suddenly turned dark of strong suspicion. “She’s right,” he muttered before taking off, in the direction of the smell. The others ran after him. As they ran, the smell itself began to pervade their noses easily. “It’s getting stronger!” Amber cried out between chokes.

Meanwhile, Damien’s group ended up walking towards that same empty area of the city. “Dozens of people in this place, and not a chosen in the bunch,” the swordsman muttered, kicking a discarded soup can.

“We can’t give up that easily,” Moira said, half pleadingly. “Maybe their in the outer parts of the city or something. After all, these chosen are adventurers like us, probably training their abilities.”

“Perhaps, but that can’t be said for certain,” the Crow said in a crestfallen manner. “For all we know, any one of them could be long gone from here.”

With little optimism in the air, all three of them sat down on the ground, giving their legs a break. As he rested, Damien breathed in rather deeply…until he stopped suddenly, his eyes widening. In a split second, he was back on his feet, his hand resting on the handle of his zard. “Do you smell that?” he asked his companions, still taking in the air through the metallic “nose” of his mask.

Moira and the Crow sniffed the air a bit, then they stiffened. “I know that stench,” they said at the same time. A moment after they spoke, a bloodcurling scream sounded through the air.

“This way!” Damien yelled, his sword now drawn. The three of them, weapons brandished, ran down the alleyway.

——————————————————–

The sight before the quartet of adventurers was perhaps the worst seen yet. Five adventurers, all of them appearing new to their adventuring lives, lay dead on the ground. The blood loss between all of them was enough to almost make a lake on the ground. Three male, two female, one warrior, two spellcasters, two rogues…Shadow counted them all, each number added to the total increased the fire inside him that had easily been lit the moment he saw it. Emma was just as appalled and angered from the sight, her staff gripped tightly in her hands. Meanwhile, a teary-eyed Genya was holding Amber, the red-haired girl so frightened from the scene that she couldn’t stop herself from wailing out loud.

In the middle of everything sat a black bag, untied and undisturbed, save the blood that surrounded it.

His dagger in hand, Shadow was clearly pissed, walking up towards the bag, but not touching it. Oddly enough, no one came out and attacked. Nonetheless, the bandit had just seen the last amount of death he could bear, and spoke out angrily. “I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!” he screamed. “You think this is all a GAME, don’t you?! You think you can just treat anyone this way?! You think any of this makes you a man, makes you powerful, makes you lord over anyone else?! Well, I hope you do, because I certainly DON’T! More than that, I’ve got half a mind to make certain you PAY for this! Now GET OUT HERE, you COWARD!”

“Assss you wissssssh,” came hissed words from out of nowhere. Immediately after, a lizard-like creature suddenly appeared out of thin air and sprayed a blast of liquid at Shadow’s face. Caught completely off guard, Shadow could only shield his eyes as the burning ooze splashed on him. With a sissing laugh, the lizard leapt over to the black bag, while the one-armed bandit stumbled back to his friends blindly. Shadow eventually got enough of the liquid off of his face in time to see the lizard grip the rope of the bag.

It was at this time when Damien, Moira, and the Crow got to the sight, the scene of death now upon their eyes. “NO!” Moira screamed, looking at each fallen adventurer as a mix of grief and rage overcame her. Damien’s grip on his sword became tighter and his eyes hardened as he took in the sight, blazing fury gathering itself inside him. The Crow, meanwhile, was stunned at what she saw. The Victorian Oni’s attack on Ellinia was still worse, but this was in no way something she wanted to see. Eventually, her own rage piled up inside of her as she knew just who was responsible. She stepped up to the lizard, standing by the bag. “YOU!” she yelled, pointing at it.

“YESSSSS!” the lizard bellowed. “Ah, how nicccccce to ssssssee that the treacherous asssssasssssin hasssss appeared before me! I wasssss jussssst about to unleassssssh my attack on these pitiful chossssen here, but maybe I’ll think twiccccce about it if you give yoursssssself up peaccccccefully!”

“Yeah, sure, and then you’ll unleash the monsters anyway!” the Crow spat. “Trust me, I’m not about to give myself back to you fiends, not anymore! I’ve felt this way ever since your attack on Ellinia. In fact, I never even wanted to be part of your vile plans, not even the day I was brought to you! Along time ago, I only helped you to stay alive, but now, I’d feel so much better being DEAD that returning to you!”

“Sssssay what you will, you have NO CHOICCCCCE!” the lizard shot back. “However, sssssince you’ve decided to cast your lot away from thosssse who took care of you, you’ll get to watch the lightbringers DIE!” The lizard yanked the rope off the bag and disappeared in a small puff of smoke. The bag grew in size for a few seconds, then exploded in a blast of smoke. From this sudden mist lumbered out human-like creatures, with pale skin, claws on their hands, tattered clothing, and a look of dire hunger on their faces.

“Zombies!” Amber cried out.

“THIRTY of them!” the Crow added, counting quickly.

“Unbelievable,” Emma moaned with dismay. “What’ll we do against a force this large?!”

Shadow merely stepped forward, fury etched in his eyes. No more would he allow any deaths to go unpunished. No more would evil manage to torment or destroy the lives of others while he was around. This time, these fiends would pay in full. “We FIGHT,” he growled. Without another thought, he blasted forward, dagger pointed forward. The lead zombie lurched ahead in turn with surprising speed, a wicked grin on its face. Despite this, Shadow was clearly the faster by far, easily tearing through the zombie. The confrontation was over in a second; the undead being fell to the ground in two pieces, its body crumbling to dust right afterwards. Shadow then backflipped right back to his allies, not noticing that all but Moira were staring at him wide-eyed.

“Well, well, you ARE a powerful one, aren’t you?” the lizard’s voice mused through its invisibility. “Normally these denizens are such that only those who were very close to their third job advancement could hope to handle. We’ve only known of your existence for a short time, and yet you amaze us easily.”

“Let’s just say I’ve had plenty of time to train,” Shadow replied, standing ready for another.

“Ah, good, good,” the lizard said. “However, that was just one zombie. Let’s see you, and perhaps those with you, handle them all….ALL AT ONCE!” At those words, the zombies shambled forward, their eyes focused (somewhat) on the heads of the living.

“Well, great, they’re coming,” Damien muttered/ “All right, we’ll do this the simple way. The bandit and I carve ‘em up head on. Shooters and casters back us up. Watch your backs, we’re up against a numbers game. Not to mention they have poison breath as well, AND the right touch from ‘em will stun you.”

“Considering how much warning we had before this, I’d say that’s a good plan,” Shadow said. “Everyone! Let’s do this! Don’t worry about the odd, we can do this! We won’t let anyone’s deaths be in vain today!” He dashed forward, another zombie in his sights, with Damien close at hand.

Emma looked back at Amber and Genya. “Sis, this is going to be the hardest fight of our lives today,” she said. “Don’t worry about fighting too much, we’ll all work on that together. Just keep Amber safe.” Gen nodded in response as Emma ran up towards the fray, then turned to check on Amber. The red-head was on her knees, shivering from terror.
“So…so much death,” she whispered, tears streaming from her eyes. “Why…why is….why is this happening?”

Genya knelt by Amber and took her friend’s hands in hers. Though the Raine looked worried herself, she willed herself to stay strong, as she was charged with safeguarding the non-adventurer. “We….we’ll….fight…we’ll try….to win,” she said as steadily as she could manage.

Amber nodded in response, though still shaken. She stayed by Genya’s side, averting her eyes from the past and future carnage, while the junior Raine stood with her wand ready and aiming.

Farther in the once vacant lot, the zombie horde shambled forward. As they did, the outer sides moved farther outward, splitting off from the group. The outer zombies began moving faster, moving around the adventurers, until they managed to surround all but Gen and Amber in a circle. There, the zombies growled at them hungrily.

Despite being surrounded, the group was unfazed. “You want our brains?” Shadow taunted. “Then get your butts over here and serve yourselves!”

In response, some of the zombies lumbered inwards, waving their arms menacingly. One was quickly held up, though, as a golden bolt pierced its chest. Moira quickly locked another bolt into the crossbow and took aim, her mechanical eye gazing steadily at her target. Another bolt sped into one of the zombie’s legs, slowing it down, but it otherwise continued. It didn’t get more than a step forward, as magical claws came out of nowhere, skewering its form until it eventually collapsed in itself. Moira turned over to Emma, nodding at her.

Another zombie was stopped at a distance by dozens of kumbi slamming into it two at a time. The Crow threw unceasingly, not stopping for even a breath until the foe crumbled into a pile of dust. Her breathing was ragged already, but only from a determined heart.

Those zombies that did make it in didn’t make much progress in their brain-eating mission as two blades, long and short, made devastating work of them. Shadow’s dagger cut into his target with quick, decisive stabs as he rolled around to evade its flailing grab attempts. Damien, meanwhile, used his zard’s length to distance himself from his foe, and he used it’s bladed edge to slice the undead being with slow but devastating strikes. Before long, the first wave was a large mound of gray dust. The group nodded to each other, making sure they were okay. They had triumphed against their first zombies, but they still had more to do, and they could feel the strain from their work starting to build a little, even in Shadow to an extent.

In his invisibility, the lizard growled. “Well done,” he spat, “but practiccccce is over. Twenty-six sssssstill remain. Can you handle them all?”

“Why don’t you come out here and face us yourselves?!” Shadow yelled out.

“Assssssss fun assssss that would ssssssound, I’m not in the mood,” the hissing voice replied. “Besssssides, you haven’t proven yourssssselvessssss worthy! Now, my minionssss, all together thisssss time! DESSSSSTROY THEM!”

The entire horde began closing in, each zombie vying for its own taste of living flesh. Watching this, the chosen could quickly see the trouble they were in. As the enemies closed in, the escape routes between undead disappeared.

Genya, quickly growing fearful of the situation, took a few steps forward to intervene. “Stop, Gen!” her sister’s voice rang out from within. “Don’t worry about us! Stay with Amber! We’ll figure something out!” Gen stood there, yet started feeling helpless. Here she was, standing outside the fray with Amber, while everyone else was fighting for their lives. Still, she knew she couldn’t fight those monsters as easily, not at her level of power….

*No,* she vowed to herself. *I will fight. I WILL help!* Her mind suddenly came alive as she focused on a zombie and fired an energy ball at it. Though it did little more than annoy it, the zombie was nonetheless provoked enough to shift its attention to its new attacker. Though shaken from its advance, Gen nonetheless aimed her wand and fired…at ANOTHER zombie. Like the first, that zombie turned away from the group and followed the first towards Genya. Her heart racing faster by the second, Gen fired another energy blast at two more zombies.

It wasn’t until the third and fourth zombies broke off from the offensive that the group noticed what was happening. “Gen, what are you doing?!” Emma shouted, panicked. “I told you, let US fight them!”

The others, however, weren’t so quick to protest. “Hang on, Emma, we can use this. She’s dividing their ranks!”

“Excellent,” Damien said, his zard reaching out against the first zombie that got close enough. “Breaking apart the enemy ranks. Brutal AND efficient!”

“Attacking from within and without,” Moira noted as she made a break for the hole that opened. “Crow, come on! We’ll assist those two on the outside!” Crow was quick to follow, taking down another zombie as the breached the new exit.

The unseen lizard, in the meantime, was not enjoying the scene. *Blast it!* he thought, his mind racing. *Those creatures are dumb enough without their arrangements being ruined like this!* As he thought of a plan, his eyes caught sight of the young Genya attracting a fifth and sixth zombie with her distracting magic, while the zombies headed toward her were cut down from behind by an assassin and an archer. His gaze was focused on her as he quietly moved in, a poison coated knife materializing in his reptilian hand.

With the closing circle of zombies thinning out, Damien and Shadow found their melee duties easier to take care of. As they ripped the zombies asunder, they even found room for teamwork. Stabbing ferociously into an undead minion, Shadow’s repeated attacks soon saw his dagger well-lodged into a zombie. Thinking quickly, he called out, “Catch!” to his teammate as he hoisted the zombie into the air, his lodged knife providing assistance. In response, Damien held his sword back, and then brought it up in a split second with frightening efficiency. The upward slash caught the flying corpse without a hitch, cutting the fiend in two through the waist. The two then moved to different parts of the undead barrier, sharing a high-five as they passed each other.

Outside the circle, Moira, Genya, and the Crow marveled as their plan bore results: the spellcaster reeled in a zombie, and the other two took it down. Even Amber couldn’t help but watch the action, admiring the way the trio worked in tandem. She was almost tempted to jump in the air and cheer, until her shifting eyes suddenly caught an odd sight: a kunai appeared to be floating in midair, a vile green liquid coating the blade. “What is that…” she started to whisper, until she saw the knife hover higher. Her eyes then caught sight of the wall it was by start to shift, as though it were moving. As she watched, her eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the strange phenomenon. In an instant, everything suddenly changed in her vision. The area around the shifting wall darkened, and the wall itself changed in color and form, until a human-like shape was revealed. The colors were black and green, with red eyes staring menacingly, at someone right next to her. Amber’s eyes went wide a split second later.

“AMBUSH!” she screamed loud enough for everyone to hear. The others were diverted for a moment as they saw their friend dressed in white and red leap out from hiding, her body sailing in front of Genya’s. The younger Raine, confused at first, quickly saw the horror as a kunai gleaming green at the blade started flying down towards her. She recoiled in horror, but didn’t feel anything, instead only hearing a strained yell coming from someone else. She looked back up and screamed at what she saw.

An airborne Amber was falling back towards the ground, a knife embedded into her stomach. As she descended, her fluttering eyes locked with Genya’s. For a moment, the redhead seemed to smile as she looked at her friend. “Don’t stop fighting,” she whispered.

In that moment, all noise seemed to cease as all adventurers managed to catch their own view of what happened. Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl as all of them looked on, all in fright, disbelief, and anger melded together. Of all the people that could have been wounded, they neither expected nor wanted her to be hurt, even if it came about as an intent to keep another safe from harm.

As he watched, Shadow’s eye caught sight of the wavering wall. An inner fire burned within him at that moment. He found the true villain, and despite the distance, he wouldn’t waste this chance. “If you won’t reveal yourself, then I’LL REVEAL YOU!” he blared as he suddenly blazed up into the sky. He arced through the air before coming down, his dagger in perfect position.
The green lizard, who was now in ninja form, mentally cursed himself at his dagger being blocked from one of the chosen. He was about to leap in and do the work himself, until he heard Shadow’s shout, followed by a one-armed bandit descending on him. Caught off guard, the ninja jumped away, but just a bit too late as the attacking blade sliced into him a little. Clutching at his side, the ninja barely maintained his invisibility, even as a little of his green blood dripped on the ground.

“N-not bad!” he rasped. “You really are good, as they ssssay! Indeed, you may win thissss round, but thissss isssss jussssst the beginning! Very sssssoon, you will be attacked again, and when that happensssss, your deathsssss will be realized!” The wobbly figure of invisibility was replaced by a blast of green smoke, then nothing.

Without their leader, the summoned zombies soon became disorganized and clumsy, and their second deaths were made quicker than before by adventurers with hearts ablaze after seeing an innocent girl fall to an attack. Damien’s already strong attacks were further amplified by sudden, quick blasts that came from his sword, his slashes cutting into the fiends so deeply that he cleaved up to three at once. The attacks of the Crow and Moira also came more ferociously, with the assassin landing even more stars on her targets than usual, while Moira’s shots were going through the enemies. The Raine sisters didn’t hold back either, with Emma’s magic claws and Genya’s energy blasts combining to devastate the remaining zombies.

Eventually, it was all over. Piles of dust mixed in with blood on the ground. The lightbringers and their allies stood tall in their victory, all of them breathing heavily from the grand fight. Despite today’s win, none could celebrate, as their attention turned to Amber lying on the ground.

Everyone rushed around her, Genya before the rest. The young girl couldn’t hold back the onslaught of tears from her eyes as she watched Amber struggle to stay alive. Immediately, one of her hands felt one of her friend’s hands, and squeezed tightly. “Please….don’t….die,” she begged in a sobbing whisper.

The others watched as Emma and Shadow checked on her. “She’s already starting to grow cold,” Emma said, heavily concerned. “By my estimate, she may die before the sun sets if we don’t get…whatever this is, treated.”

Shadow nodded solemnly as he thought of something. “Does anyone have some sort of cloth we can use as a bandage?” Everyone looked amongst themselves. When nothing came right away, the Crow took a small knife from her pocket and used it to cut off one of her maroon moon’s sleeves and handed it to him. After taking it, he turned to Emma. “Do what Gen is doing and hold her other hand tight,” he instructed. “This may hurt her for a bit, but it must be done. You, assassin, please get her wound closed up as soon as the dagger is out.” After all the heads nodded, Shadow gripped the kunai and quickly pulled it out. Amber yelled out in agonized pain immediately after, which only made the Raine sisters squeeze her hands tighter, out of hope that it would ease her pain. In the meantime, the Crow attempted to tie her sleeve around the wound as a bandage, but came up short.

“Here, use this,” Moira said, pulling a hankerchief out from one of her socks. “I always kept it as a good luck charm. Something tells me we’ll need all the luck we can get now.” Together, the Crow and Moira fashioned a longer “bandage” which was long enough to tie around Amber’s waist.

Shadow had finished a quick examination of the dagger after the bandage was made. “This is going to sound strange,” he announced, “but I know what’s wrong. It’s a poison, and I know what kind it is: ebon orchid extract. We used it back in my home world.”

“Ebon what?” the Crow asked, perplexed. “I have no idea what it is. I’ve never heard of such a thing here.”

“Understandable, as I’ve never noticed the plant from which it comes anywhere here,” Shadow said in agreement. “This is something I’ll have to keep in mind. Right now, we’d better get her to a medical center.”

“Hang on,” Damien said as Shadow, Moira, and the Crow worked together to lift Amber. “Give her this.” He pulled out a bottle with an olive-colored liquid. “It’s an antidote. Cures all poisons here.”

Shadow took the antidote. “Ebon orchid is very difficult to purge; it may take more than this,” he said. “Nonetheless, any antidote we’ll help. This bottle alone may just buy us an hour.” Carefully, he had Amber drink the liquid. When he was finished, he assisted the girls in carrying her. “Alright, let’s go.”

Before they left, Amber suddenly spoke out, albeit in a bit of a whisper. “Wait,” she said, coughing. “Please…the victims…can’t…can’t leave them….”

“Gen and I will stay behind and send their souls,” Emma quickly said. “The song isn’t a true necessity; all the magic comes from us.” Gen nodded.

“I’ll stand guard with them,” Damien offered.

With all the positions filled, Shadow and the three girls began moving the girl out. As they reached the main street, they suddenly came to a throng of people, mostly adventurers, looking on. All of them appeared to be worried. “We heard shouting,” one person said to Shadow. “Sounded like a fight. Is everything okay? Is that girl okay?”

At this rate, Shadow wasn’t about to deal with a questioning crowd, as it only fueled his frustration. “Everyone out of the way NOW!” he yelled to the crowd. Everyone immediately obeyed, intimidated by his sudden outburst.

As the Raine sisters performed the sending for the five unfortunate victims, as Damien stood watch over the event, and as everyone else raced a badly wounded Amber to a place for help, it soon became clear to them just how dire this threat was…and how much it took from all of them just to hold it at bay.

——————————————————————-

Hey everyone, my latest submission is here! This is, in my belief, though I may be wrong, my longest chapter in the series. In some parts, I could see how I could split a little off into another chapter, but the title just seems to go with every last bit of the content somehow.

A billion apologies for the early violence for those who don’t like it.

As you can see, the last part of the chapter may just generate some sort of emotion from various readers, pending on if I did it right or not. It’s a powerful part of the story, I feel, that stemmed as I wrote it. A lot of good stories seem to have moments like these, and I couldn’t help but make one for myself.

I really worked my butt off on this chapter for once, so I hope you enjoy it. I’ll work on another chapter as soon as I can, though I can’t say for certain on it. Holiday break is coming up for me, and once it starts, I don’t know when I’ll get another shot at it, at least for a few weeks anyway.

In case it doesn’t happen, I just want to say to my readers, like I usually do: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your support in this story. Personally, I feel like I took more time away from this story than I felt necessary as time has gone by, and even after those long droughts, you were still around, waiting to read my next chapter. Everyone who reads this story, I can’t tell you enough…I can never tell you enough how much your comments and your likes mean to me. It is because of you, every single one of you, that my story has made it this far and will continue to go on. It is all thanks to you guys that I will never stop writing for as long as I live.

I can never repay any of you for the generosity you’ve shown me and my work. Thank you all very much. May this website flourish for years to come.

Previous Installments:

link link
link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link link link link link link