Solsae Kingdom - Part 12

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Episode 6: "Noxnuo in despair! The birth of the Avenger!"


Amami: Friendship
“It's actually a nice town…” I say with a note of unexpected bewilderment as I gaze over the sights. It's much different to Solsae - the scenery is comprised of ruins of buildings and man-made structures but the boulevard is different. It's a sort of shantytown built from whatever scraps the people could accumulate, buildings of various sizes comprised of wooden walls and huge tarp roofs spread over the trees from corner to corner to protect the inhabitants from the forces of nature.

In the middle is a ginormous lake. The water is green and foggy, but fresh water is clearly filtered into it through a large river that seems to go on forever, so it must be pure. The lake is surrounded with tents and the fishermen are already out in full force despite the early hours. It dawns on me that green water might not be unusual here. Where I’m from it's always blue though.

“It might not seem it but this is one of the best fishing spots on Terraia’!” the Devil Hood boasts.

Other than the fishermen, the rest of Noxnuo are sleeping peacefully - not a single light shines through the houses nor in the shopping district. I guess this means it was a successful infiltration! I pump my fist then ask “what next, boss?” eagerly.

“The hospital camp is over there” he says extending a finger to a fenced encampment of red dome tents. I could tell from the scale of the camp that things were dire here. I resolve within my heart to do everything in my power for the people here, too… but a small voice inside me cries out, telling me that ‘it's here, it's here…”

“Would… it be alright if I catch you up later? I have to see this place with my own eyes. And also, there is something I have to do.” I ask. The Devil Hood’s sapphire eyes are laced with hesitation.

“You want to take back the treasures I stole, don't you?” He asks. I nod in affirmation. He takes a deep breath.

“Don't do anything risky. I will regroup with you as soon as I can. But… tell me, why risk your life for some trinkets?’

“Because of Xian’s gift!” I say, my tiny fists balled with resolve.

“Xian?”

“She’s… A friend. She helped me find my place when I had none… anyway, it means a lot to me. Plus I can't let everyone else's treasures be stolen like that! So, Mr. Devil Hood, get your friend back - and then we can get out of this place!”

He hesitates. His eyes dart left, then right. He probably doesn't notice it himself, but he seems tense. His darting eyes lock on mine.

“My name is Demonix.” I gasp and cover my mouth at his sudden revelation..

“You finally told me your name!” I squeal with giddy delight. The tension melts off his expression and I see his lips curl to a genuine smile.

“Yeah. We’ll definitely get out of here. together.” He promises. He extends his fist, and I bump it with my own.

“Yep. I won't forget you! Demonix… Demonix!” I reply energetically. He smiles and nods his head, then sets off at a slow jog, before disappearing like a blue streak with a whip-like crack.

I compose myself, collecting my thoughts. “Let's go!” I tell myself… no, not just myself, but to her too. To the voice inside of my heart.

“Lead the way, Xian.”

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Amami: Search
The warm feeling that filled my chest guided me like a missile towards my target - the quill that she had given me. I might be unable to hear her right now but she is tenderly guiding me towards the light, and I eagerly follow her will.

But unexpectedly, I stumble upon something I had not expected to see. A scene unfolding before my eyes like some kind of horror movie. I peek hesitantly through the brush, fearful of what I might see, but too afraid to look away for even a moment.

Around an octagonal central stage, surrounded by camp fires, people with heavy looking hooded cloaks mingle in an oddly sombre atmosphere. The stage is made from wood and in the centre is a mat with the mark of a black bird engulfed in even blacker flames. There is a single set of stairs with a white carpet leading to the centre. I notice a man bound energetically up these stairs taking them two at a time.

When he takes centre stage all eyes fall upon him, and as though a vacuum descended, the chatter silences completely. The mans hair is tied with a white ribbon into a long, messy black ponytail that reaches down to his butt. His black shirt is decorated with golden roses on the right breast, which extend into thorny coiling, winding vines wrapped around the arm to the cuff.

“Dark Siders of Noxnuo!” he announces. His voice sounds warm and inviting. Sophisticated yet charming.

“The time is upon us to claim what we deserve! To take what is being held hostage from us! Our pride!” He explains over a silence so heavy it could be sliced. The flamboyant man keeps his eyes shut. His frayed ponytail flows and sways as he dances mesmerizingly around the stage, holding his audience captive.

“The time has come to take up arms!” he continues with charisma on par with a king or a politician. His words just seem to… grip you.

“The time has come to take back ourselves!” he raises his chin to the sky, as though looking upwards. Still, his eyes stay closed - not forced too, but peacefully as though in a light nap. I wonder, could he be blind?

“The time is now!” He finishes. He utters no other words, and practically skips off the stage.

“That man… had the quill…” I hear. Or, perhaps, I just feel. The feelings of Xian resonate in my heart calmly. How can I take it from him though…

The speaker mingles with the crowd. “Even though he leads them, he is just like them. Not a high-born, but a common man with charisma and strength of will. He’s just like Rex…” I think to myself. I start to plan out just how to take the quill from him when all of a sudden, I feel someone tap me on the shoulder and I practically jump out of my skin! My heart beating like a drum, I squeak,

“It-it-it’s not what you think!” But when I notice just who is behind me,

“You don't need to hide, friend.” He smiles, with them unopening eyes of his. He’s the man from the stage! Did he see me hiding? No… he didn't even look over here. He didn't open his eyes at all! How can he…

“Don’t worry. We won’t hurt you. After all, we are Noxnuo’s hope. Solsae’s hope. If you saw my speech, you must understand.” He says reassuringly. I won’t be fooled by such sweet words though!

“Y-you say that, but you plan to take up arms! You… you're going to kill the king…!”

“Ahh… Are you friends with my friend, Rex?” He asks gently.

“Friend? Does Rex know this man then?” the thought pounds against my head. I feel like I know who he is...

“My name… Is Kite. Do you know who I am now?” He asks as though he peered into my subconscious.

“Yes… that's it - you're the man who saved Demonix. Your Myrrh’s brother!” I exclaim.

“Wow! You know so many of my friends!” He smiles joyously, offering me his pasty white hand. I take it and notice instantly just how cold and clammy it is. I fake a smile and shake it without further hesitation.

“Well a friend of a friend is my friend!” He exclaims. “You're just in time anyway! Stay with us for a while and enjoy the party! I have something planned, and it would be a huge shame to miss it.”

I can’t squeeze out any words. I just nod. He stands and beckons me towards the gathering. I have no choice but to mingle. Maybe getting close this way will make it easier for me to take back my quill though. I step out from the bush, brush the leaves from my skirt and mingle with the party. He smiles at me again. Though I notice that the only expression he has given since I first laid eyes upon him, is that very smile. It’s like… A mask. I smile back, and wander off to mingle with the crowd. My heart is set on taking back that quill. But why… just why does he have it in the first place!

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Demonix: Despair
SHINGGG! CLAN-CLAN-CLANGGG!!!

I parry an attack at the last moment using a single ice blade along my arm then I push away the assailant with all of my force and draw in the cold around me to forge the six razor sharp blades that extend from my hands. I take a loose fighting stance and size up the mystery assailant. I feel the pounding in my chest grow heavier and the blood flowing round my body heating up.

The assailant is clad in a brown cloak and hood. If he’s hiding himself then what does that mean? I don't wait around any longer - quick as a spit I vanish and slash his neck, going for the kill. He easily avoids it but I predicted that and took the hood off for good with my other hand’s claw blades. He howls in pain, clutching his face with both hands where I scarred him before phasing through him to remove the hood. But I see clearly a face that I recognised as one of Kite's generals - Dyoni. His bloody red eyes dance like fireflies and his mouth is contorted into a smirk. He drags his fingers down the wound, smearing the blood over his face.

“So that's why you hid your face” I chuckle. He himself Tut-tut-tuts my conclusion like an adult chiding a child.

“Oh no no no, Demonix - Oh no, I just did this for another reason - For the ‘Lulz’!” He laughs, running his fingers through his messy blonde hair.

“What a waste of time. What do you want?” I ask in a hurry.

“Kite wants you dead. I don’t give a $%!+ of course but %€||, why not help him anyway?” He answered frankly.

“If you're saying that, you must be confident that you can kill me?” I ask. I disappear in a blue streak of lightning then throw myself like a spinning javelin at the assassin with all my claws outstretched, turning my whole body into a bladed weapon.

“Oh goodness!” He calls, dodging narrowly. I throw both claws into the dirt and use it to slingshot myself at his new position. He avoids just as narrowly - so narrowly he can’t possibly be doing this by accident, pretend as he might. I roll myself around mid air and springboard from the wall of a house. The whole block seems to shake on impact. I fly at such an immense speed that I feel my ears pop, when I reach him I bring my claws down like a cross. He unsheathes two knives and with blistering speed he blocks my claws and  holds me aloft like that.

“T-there’s no way…” I say in disbelief. I was moving faster than mach one and rotating even faster, but he still stopped me so effortlessly. The hooked blades in either of his hands drag me down into his rising knee that sends me spiraling away in a spray of blood. I hit the ground, my claws crumbling away. I form another blade, this time along the instep of my boot, and throw out a thrust kick with the blade, yet with  the same dexterity that allowed him dodge my spinning blade drill, he hops and stands on the flat of the blade. He throws his dagger at my head - which I phase right through  then he runs along the blade of ice on my leg and slashes at my throat. Once again, my body phases through it, but how well he fights has me on edge.

“I have to finish this fast - before he finds out my weakness!” I tell myself.

“One more thing!” He smirks. He reaches into his cloak and takes something out. It's a bottle. And on the label…

“Dragon Hot Sauce” it reads. I sweat a nervous sweat. “What does this mean, Dyoni!” I practically spit.

“Oh nothing. A lil’ harpy tells me you can't take the heat is all.” He is obviously trying to get to me. So does this mean he knows? He moonsaults back, away from the blade he was standing on. I shatter it and reform the blades on my hands, gritting my teeth. So what if he knows? I’m an assassin! A trained killer!

“Woah woah, looking mighty scary there, Devil!” He smirks.

I take a deep breath, I clear my mind, focusing on my father's teachings. I have the answer. I know I can beat him! I focus all of my being into my blades. I am a weapon. I exist to kill. I can kill him…! I tell myself over and over. He gives me an estranged look. I disappear quick as a flash, appearing being him far quicker than i had been moving before. My arms move before he has chance to retaliate and all of a sudden I have his head trapped, the six frozen swords running parallel along his neck.

“You give up?” I ask, my cold voice not that of the Devil Hood, but that of Demonix - the weapon, all emotion frozen, only my killing intent remaining.

“Th-this is all a joke - right? You wouldn't kill me would you?” He asks. I can't read him at all. I can't tell if that's because of who I am or who he is - but I don't care. I don't care. I can't let this hold me up any longer!

And so, with that… with not a single shred of hesitation, I execute him.

With the six claw blades as one, I slice his neck and remove his head in one fell swoop. The body drops to the ground. I want to just shout out in anger and frustration, but I hold all of that back. Because the Devil Hood knows that she is waiting for him. That Myrrh is waiting… for me. I set off at a fast pace, my fingers squeezing tightly around the tiny flask of panacea.

There are no more interruptions, I dart through the entrance to the medical camp and make my way to the front of Myrrh’s tent. My heart is beating hard. The veins next to my eyes throb uncontrollably. I swallow my fears and doubts, and call ‘I’m coming in!’, then I part the flap of the tent and I enter the dimly lit enclosed space.

My eyes dart straight to one thing in particular.

Red.

A crimson red stain on the otherwise bright white sheets. How could I not notice it? It feels like a punch to the gut, my breath catches in my throat and my heart beats harder and harder. I take her bedside and call out feebly to her - “Myrrh…?” like a question. I know it's her. But that's not the question I’m asking. It's not the question whose answer I already know… Her skin is white as a sheet, and her body has deteriorated so badly. Her lips are thin and dry and a bony arm hangs limply at the bedside. There are blood splotches around her mouth. The red I saw must be where she’s coughed up blood from her lungs. I wipe it away with my fingers. It's still wet. Not too cold either. It must have been recently...

I feel a small part of myself dying as my brain tries to comprehend the scene before me. As my eyes survey her limp form and my brain translates all of these tiny details, and my heart begs for hope out of a situation that my brain keeps reaffirming is a dreadfully hopeless one.

I can’t breathe. It's suffocating. I drop to my knees, gasping for air that just doesn’t seem to reach my heart, silently begging for it not to be real.

Memories flood my mind. When I crashed, and I was flung out to who knows where, when she offered me a hand, and food and water, when she nursed my wounds for days on end out in the badlands, and when she showed me the way to her home, Noxnuo. When she defended me against the people who wanted to cast me back out and she staked everything on me, all because I had… ‘Honest eyes’ as she put it. If only she could see me now, those same eyes sunken with despair, stained with tears, as I screamed inwardly, and pounded my fists against the hard tile stone flooring. That's right!

The bottle!

I fumble for it, taking the lid off and desperately, with a trembling hand, pour the entire thing down her throat. It enters her body and I push down on her chest again and again to try and get the blood to carry it round, each pump more blood spurts onto me but I can't stop. If I stop it means I give up on her. It means I really was too late to save her. It means…

It means she really is dead.

Please! Please live! I beg as I press down again and again.

Again and again and again.

Again and again and again and again!

I keep pounding until my muscles feel sore. To no avail. My teeth gritted with desperation, I push down one last time. One desperate last time against her broken and weary body.

“It's… not your time Myrrh… Please… Please come back! “

But nothing. No pulse, no heartbeat. It's too late. I was too late!

I crumble onto her.

“Why… Why!” I beg, staining her bloodied sheets with tears. This can’t happen. This is so unfair! We had such a short time together… But nobody can replace you. You were the first person who cared for me! The only one who saw a man, not the weapon they made me! So why were you taken from me?!

...

He did this.

Kite killed you. Your own brother. All for his worthless war!”

I push myself away, a new hope in my heart. No, not hope - Vengeance. For my lost friend. I swear it on my life. I grit my teeth, repeating it again and again as a mantra as I leave the tent.

“I will avenge…”

“I will avenge..!”

“I will avenge!!”

Each reputation more and more desperate as my feet drag me away from Her tent.

And just then, I hear something. A whooshing blasting sound. An explosion of light and force and heat rocks all my senses and I turn back to see the tent, surrounded in hellfire.

A huge hand drags itself out of a hellish pit, it's fingers grasping the air as though feeling for something. They stop above her tent.

“No!” I yell and I make for the tent at full speed. “You can't take her away!” The hand clicks it's fingers and a shock wave pushes me back again. It convulses sinister, the fingers twitching as though in seizure, then with one fast and forceful movement it grabs the tent in a huge magma fist, Myrrh included, like some twisted funeral pyre.

“What the hell is this?! Give her back!” I yell, trying to stop it with all I can, but no matter what I try, the force repels me. And then, the hand plunges into the pit that it spawned from just like that, and it takes her away. I leap for the portal, but before I touch down, it closes up leaving nothing behind.

“Why…” I ask over and over.

“Why did it take her?”

“Why…”

Filled with hatred and despair, I turn and look ahead. To the stormy, overcast sky. In the direction of the man who took her from me.

To Kite.

And I run, fast as I can. Like a streak of blue lightning, I run.

Because this is something I must do. Not only for me… But for her too!

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Amami: Pieces
“W-what just happened…” I mutter, pushing myself to my knees, I look all about, at the waves of devastation all around. What was a huge gathering of a myriad of people, was now nothing more than death and wasteland. I get to my feet and spring over to a nearby body, checking the pulse with my fingers.

Nothing. All of them are the same. What happened here… it happened so quick. I try to gather my thoughts and make sense of the fragments in my mind, piecing the blanks together as I do so.

The people here, all at once they drew back there hoods and moved like clockwork to face the same direction. All of them fixated upon Kite.

They all knelt down as though in worship of a messiah, their heads bowed low.

They spoke in an eerie hymnal.

“In our one true king we trust, In his shadow, we do serve, In his gaze we are united, together as one.

For our homes we stand firm, For our world we do pledge, If in death we are of service, then take us, black sun.”

It sounded like some kind of spell or a curse. I know it's nothing like that, but that was the weight of the words of these thousands of people, all of them speaking in robotic unison.

“Accept this blessing - the baptism of my flames, o’ Legion. We will stand firm now, Together, as one!” Kite said in response to the pledge. He made a dramatic show of rising his arms up aside his body like a cross, palms facing forwards. Down his arms and out through his poofy, billowing smoke-like sleeves, black flames like snakes wind and twist. It reminds me of what Rex did. When he made me and Vyeblaze his vassals. No, his family. But this was different and on a whole other level of creepy. The black serpents taste the air and then shoot out like harpoons, piercing the hearts of each and every person here - not a one tried to avoid it. They all just accepted what was happening!

What was happening? I dropped to the ground with a frightened squeak and covered my head with my arms. The legion don't cry out or scream in pain though. One by one, bodies hit the ground surrounding me in this mound of death.

It feels like it went on for hours to me, my body trembling in fear of death that looms all around me - but finally I hear one last screech as the black serpents slither back to their dark master and when I got back to my feet, he was gone.

I take a deep breath, trying to come to terms with the massacre that I just saw unfold before me. It's crazy… how could someone just do that! To their own friends! He’s horrible!

I hear it then. Carried over the winds that make it sound three times as loud - a horrendous cackling laugh dripping with malice. When I saw him, standing atop the ruins of this festival, the king at the top of the hill of bodies, I noticed that for the first time his eyes had opened, and through them shined blood red. I cover my mouth, almost vomiting from the murderous aura. He was hiding such despair and bloodlust behind that smile. Such malice and such evil…! It's sickening. He’s sickening!

I notice something else. Just what was in his hand as he killed all of his people - the Quill given to me by Xian! I remember now, clear as day! He was holding it! The blast knocked it aside, but he did have it before! I scurry towards it, towards him, that violent beast of a man, and I dive to grab Xian’s gift, clutching it tight to my chest. His eyes fall onto me not unlike he was looking down at a bug. I glare back at him but I back off. If he wanted it, I’m well aware… the quill would be back in his hands and I would be another cadaver on his pile. His face contorts into some combination of a smirk and a sneer.

“Tell Rex…! The Abyss awaits! Kahahahahaha!” He spits, then returning to cackling at the stars. I run away, fast as I can, cursing my weakness. Cursing how I could have let this happen. I dread to look back and I just run and run, until with a thud! I crash right into Demonix’s chest, and am repelled backward. I can tell from the tormented expression on his face that something is bothering him.

“We… can't go back there, Demonix.” I sob, embracing him. “We have to get away… and tell the king! We have to…” he pushes me aside and pressed on ahead.

“W-wait…! You can't… he’s too strong now!” I tell him to no avail. With heavy steps, he presses further and further towards the scene of despair. I try to grab his arm and stop him, but he won’t. He’s a man on a mission. And he is going to get himself killed. I sniff back my tears and wipe my eyes. I can't stop him…

I can't even help him… all I can do is…!

With a prayer in my heart, I bound in the opposite direction.

It hurts… I feel pathetic.

But… yes, for now, this is all I can do for him!

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